Lumpy skin disease––yes, it’s ugly––also set Australia & Indonesia at odds for months. KATHMANDU, Nepal––Best known as the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, circa 564 B.C., and as the land of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, Nepal during the summer of 2023 gained a more sinister distinction as ground zero for arguably the […]
Dog pack killing of 4-year-old, caught on video, shows need for ABC
20 years of India’s national Animal Birth Control program helps to quell rabies, but not to reduce dog attacks, because feeders continue to concentrate dogs in problematic places HYDERABAD, India––Video security cameras set up above a car repair garage in Amberpet, a 250-year-old suburb of 425-year-old Hyderabad, India, on February 19, 2023 shocked the nation […]
India Supreme Court moves against “dog menace”
Rejects notion that local governments & High Courts have no jurisdiction over dog control, rejects claim of unconditional right to feed street dogs, & orders Animal Welfare Board to produce data showing programs are working to reduce dog bites NEW DELHI––Advocates for no-kill animal control, feeding street dogs wherever and whenever, and defenders of dangerous […]
Elephant release marks 75th anniversary of Indian independence
(Adapted, with some explanatory text added and legal details deleted specific only to India, from a much longer version by Norma Alvares, president, People for Animals, Goa, and Alok Hiswarwala Gupta, Centre for Research on Animal Rights, published by Herald Goa on August 14, 2022.) While the people of India prepared to celebrate 75 […]
Remove bees, wasps, or hornets without getting stung
First, don’t go bugs by Merritt Clifton For years I was the fellow whom people would call for help when they had problems with bees and closely related species. I never had much trouble handling bees, wasps, or hornets, but even though handling them may not be hard, there is not any one simple answer […]
Horses die by the hundreds on pilgrimage to honor the Hindu “God of all animals”
What if 600 horses died climbing Pikes Peak? DEHRADUN, Uttarakhand, India––One might imagine that the annual pilgrimage to Kedarnath, a temple in the Himalayas built in honor of Lord Pashupatinath, the Hindu god of all animals, might be undertaken with particular attention to animal welfare. But then, one might also expect all four legs of […]
Who were the gurus who helped to inspire the animal rights movement?
Spiritual mentors sold vegetarianism before most animal advocates dared mention it PUTTAPARTHI, Andhra Pradesh, India; QUEENS, New York––Who were the unofficial gurus of the early animal rights movement, who helped to sell vegetarianism, in particular, even before any major animal advocacy groups added a vegan or vegetarian component to their message? “Guru,” in the Buddhist, […]
Irish farmers have a beef––and that’s our problem, too
Pastoral nations object to cattle cutbacks recommended for greenhouse gas emissions based on factory farm data GLASGOW, Scotland––“Cutting methane,” specifically methane emitted by cattle, “is the biggest opportunity to slow [global] warming between now and 2040,” Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead reviewer Durwood Zaelke suggested in August 2021, during the run-up to the 2021 […]
Caring for bears & a homeless woman contrasts to caring only about pit bulls
Help Asheville Bears founder stands up for human victim; Maddie’s Fund program director urges concealing dog attack risk to humans & other animals ASHEVILLE, N.C.; AUSTIN, Texas––Somewhere along the line, Help Asheville Bears founder Jody Williams learned the ethical principle of not causing harm to other living things, called ahimsa by Hindus, Buddhists, and […]
Bullfighting politics take sharp twists in India
Bullfighting foes receive national honors even as Tamil Nadu state government drops charges against 26,450 bullfighting defenders & heads of both major national parties support bullfights CHENNAI, Tamil Nadu, India––Jallikattu, the Tamil Nadu form of bullfighting in which mobs abuse the bulls as they run through the streets during harvest festivals, on February 20, […]