Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz stopped livestock shipments to seven nations. Islamabad High Court rules that indiscriminately killing street dogs contradicts Islamic law. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan––The 2026 Haj season, meaning the pilgrimage-to-Mecca season observed by the Islamic faithful, ended on May 30-31 with both good and bad news for animals. The bad news, as ever, […]
Live sheep exports––2 years to go! with updates from the Middle East
Guest column by Katrina Love Katrina Love, of Franklin, Tasmania, Australia, describes herself as “an animal activist, politician, vegan advocate, pluviophile, photographer, writer, Earthling and animal,” and multi-time political candidate for the Animal Justice Party. Formerly campaign manager for Stop Live Exports, in Fremantle, Australia, Katrina Love continues to closely monitor live animal transports, not […]
War is hell for cats in Lebanon, but brings reprieve for cattle & sheep at Eid
Threat of rockets deters livestock shippers but not Beirut cat rescuers STRAIT OF HORMUZ, BEIRUT––Crisis situations involving animals and war were just behind the headlines in New York City’s two most prestigious newspapers on the morning of Friday the 13th of March 2026, without animals ever being mentioned. Bombing in Lebanon brought disaster to both […]
Reports from Iran: perhaps world’s most officially animal-unfriendly nation
The Iranian people have never been hostile toward animals, but the Islamist government & the Revolutionary Guard are another matter TEHRAN, Iran; JERUSALEM, Israel––Animal advocates and rescuers on opposite sides of shooting between Iran and Israel report similar responses among the dogs and cats in their care since U.S. and Israeli forces jointly bombed targets […]
Syed Abulbar Rizvi, 92, linked Islamic & western animal advocacy
Syed Rizvi, a founding member of PETA, also founded Engineers & Scientists for Animal Rights Syed Abulbar Rizvi, 92, founder of Engineers & Scientists for Animal Rights, a longtime leading link between the animal advocacy communities of Pakistan and those of the west, and a leading voice for animals within Islam, died in his sleep […]
Animal & human heroes, Charlie Kirk, & the most overlooked lesson of 9/11
Remembering & revisiting national trauma The September 10, 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA founder, evangelist, and conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University for many Americans upstaged the twenty-fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Understandably so; a third of all Americans were […]
Animal & human heroes, Charlie Kirk, & the most overlooked lesson of 9/11
Remembering & revisiting national trauma The September 10, 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA founder, evangelist, and conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University for many Americans upstaged the twenty-fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Understandably so; a third of all Americans were […]
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 […]
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 […]
“Food fight over veganism” becomes fight over anti-Israel statement
July 4 article on definitions of veganism sparks dispute over who was responsible for anti-Israel statement purportedly signed by Mercy for Animals pres & PETA science policy advisor SARASOTA, Florida––Is veganism, by dictionary definition the state of being vegan, a diet or a lifestyle? If veganism means or at least implies a lifestyle, as […]