Four books for summer reading with summer half over Reviewed by Merritt Clifton ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Beyond The Boundaries: The Life & Times of Dr. Jeff The Rocky Mountain Vet by Melinda Grohol 186 pages, paperback. 2026. https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Boundaries-Times-Rocky-Mountain/dp/B0FHN8T5BG “My name is Jeff Young,” opened Jeffrey Young, DVM, on July 24, 2017, in what became the most popular […]
Kaporos, October 7, Israel, Gaza, antisemitism & the animal rights movement
Days that live in infamy NEW YORK, N.Y.––Kaporos, the chicken-swinging ritual practiced annually by the men of about 130,000 Hassidic Jewish households worldwide, mostly members of the evangelical Chabad sect, will occur during the early morning hours from September 20, 2025 to October 1, 2025, the day immediately preceding Yom Kippur. A week after that […]
Pope Francis, friend of animals, died just after Easter, just before Earth Day
Though scarcely an animal rights activist. Pope Francis leaned farther in that direction than any Pope before him VATICAN CITY––Pope Francis, 88, heading the Roman Catholic Church since 2013, died on April 21, 2025, one day after Easter and one day before Earth Day. The Vatican announced that Pope Francis died from a cerebral stroke […]
Seeking Pennsylvania votes, Trumpists turn to Amish raw milk scofflaw
Now a Trump campaign focus, Amos Miller has also sought support from Sovereign Citizens, other organic farmers, & animal rights activists BIRD-IN-HAND, Pennsylvania––Linked by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Food & Drug Administration to a 2014 listeria outbreak that killed a raw milk consumer in Florida, and repeatedly fined for selling […]
A world away, Animals Lebanon copes with an even bigger disaster
Hurricane Helene was bad, but falling bombs are even deadlier than falling trees & power lines BEIRUT, Lebanon––“Last night was the worst we have had, and bombing continues,” Animals Lebanon cofounder and vice president Maggie Shaarawi emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 on the morning of September 28, 2024. Hurricane Helene had just ripped across five southern […]
Noah did not land the ark to sing “Kumbaya” to the animals
Wild Chorus: Finding Harmony with Whales, Wolves, and Other Animals by Brenda Peterson 240 pages, hardcover. $24.95. Mountaineers Press 1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134 www.mountaineersbooks.org The very title of Wild Chorus: Finding Harmony with Whales, Wolves, and Other Animals sounds the first warning that this book, while rewriting many of the […]
No miracles for pigs in genetically modified kidney & heart transplants
More than 2,000 years of ethically questionable results continue BOSTON, Massachusetts––Possibly not since Jesus allegedly cured two demon-possessed men by casting a legion of demons into a herd of pigs have more people been excited by the prospect of pigs becoming human saviors than in the wake of the March 16, 2024 first-ever transplant of […]
No miracles for animals or anyone else at Bethlehem this year
And apparently no real-life manger scenes anywhere in the war zone BETHLEHEM, GAZA, RAMAT GAN––Images of real-life manger scenes might have been expected to emerge from war-torn Gaza in particular at Christmas 2023, showing Palestinian refugee families huddled among donkeys, sheep, and camels, with parachute flares lighting the sky like the Star of Bethlehem, but […]
So is cruelty to animals more a part of Hispanic heritage than Catholicism?
Cultural defenses of steer-tailing and bullfighting ignore both U.S. anti-cruelty laws and 456 years of Catholic prohibition BELVIDERE, Illinois; LOS ANGELES, California––Responded Showing Animals Respect & Kindness founder Steve Hindi to the December 6, 2023 report Los Angeles council vote against rodeo opens new fight against charreada, which also mentioned that a Boone County, […]
Dogs, sheep, & storks seek safety in Gaza & Israel, two weeks into war
Birds far outnumber humans, but humans have the guns GAZA, Palestine; TEL AVIV, Israel––As many as 500 million birds per year, of approximately 250 species, migrate over Gaza each year, including most of the storks in the world, seasonally moving among Africa, Asia, and Europe. Hundreds of thousands of birds are on the wing over […]