Headed three leading organizations CAIRO, Egypt––Ahmed el Sherbiny, 66, who with his British-born wife Jackie led the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends, the Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare, and the Middle East Network for Animal Welfare, on March 7, 2019 died at home in Shabramont, Giza, a Cairo suburb, after several years of fighting multiple […]
What if the cheetah defenders on trial for their lives were pit bulls?
Voice of America notices “the sounds of silence” from animal advocates TEHRAN, Iran––If Iranian cheetah conservationists Taher Ghadirian, Houman Jowkar, Morad Tahbaz, and Niloufar Bayani were pit bulls accused of “sowing corruption on earth,” facing the death penalty for killing someone, tens of thousands of animal advocates worldwide would long since have signed online […]
Are kosher & halal slaughter bans anti-Semitic & Islamophobic?
Animal advocacy, religious teaching, & cultural insecurity collide in Belgium BRUSSELS, Belgium––Is Belgium moving rapidly to ban slaughter without pre-stunning out of concern for animals, or are prohibitions of the traditional kosher and halal slaughter methods rooted in latent anti-Semitism and Islamophobia? Slaughter without pre-stunning becomes illegal Whatever the political truth is, legal reality […]
Iranian cheetah defenders face the death penalty
Accused of “sowing corruption on earth” TEHRAN, Iran––Because fair trials in Iran are historically scarcer than the highly endangered Asiatic cheetah, who survives only in remote habitat in the eastern part of the country, the global conservation, scientific, and human rights communities are anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof about “espionage” […]
Live animal markets in New York City: a cut-throat business at best
Customs change with waves of immigration NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Escaping the Iranian Revolution with her parents at age 6, artist Sara Rahbar as an adult has produced an internationally recognized portfolio on themes often involving human and animal suffering. Yet Rahbar found herself wholly unprepared for the misery she met close to hand on […]
The poop on live transport, whaling, & Ramadan 2018
Old ships, ancient customs FREMANTLE, Australia––Seventy thousand Australian sheep aboard the 38-year-old livestock carrier Al Messilah, or anyhow those who survive the journey, are due to reach Kuwait on May 14, 2018, according to VesselFinder.com. The voyage continues a trade that Animals Australia likens to whaling in terms of cruelty and obsolescence, but which […]
The many faces of Nasim Aghdam, vegan turned YouTube shooter
Social media performer more engaged in self-promotion than in message-focused statement SAN DIEGO, California––Claiming more than 300,000 people had viewed her 60-odd (and sometimes very odd) YouTube videos on vegan and animal rights themes, Nasim Aghdam on April 3, 2018, two days before what would have been her 38th birthday, abruptly multiplied her audience and […]
Kaporos: chicken soup for the soulless?
UPDATE: Opponents of Kaporos will on September 28, 2017 hold a candlelight vigil in Borough Park, Brooklyn, co-hosted by the Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund, Their Turn, NYCLASS, Long Island Orchestrating for Nature, New York Farm Animal Save, New York Animal Defenders, and the Alliance to End Chickens as Kaporos, a project of United Poultry Concerns. […]
The animal & human heroes & most overlooked lesson of 9/11
Remembering national trauma Today, September 11, 2016, marks the fifteenth anniversary of the national trauma the U.S. experienced as result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The aftermath of those attacks brought global traumas including ongoing warfare in much of the Middle East, Central Asia, […]
Egyptian writer gets three years in prison for criticizing Eid slaughter
Allegedly insulted Islam CAIRO, Egypt––Found guilty of insulting Islam for criticizing mass public slaughter of animals at the 2015 Eid al Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice, Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot, 52, was on January 26, 2016 sentenced to serve three years in prison and to pay a fine of 2,000 Egyptian pounds, amounting to […]