180,000 people & their pets flee fires; 200,000 more warned to be prepared to go LOS ANGELES, California––Six drought-fueled wildfires driven up coastal canyons by the ever-powerful Santa Ana winds erupted within 48 hours in the north and northeastern Los Angeles foothills as the second week of January 2025 began. Still burning after sunset on […]
Asian Animal Protection Network founder John Wedderburn, 83
Medical doctor John Wedderman quietly linked 759 Asian animal advocates into the beginnings of an international movement HONG KONG––Asian Animal Protection Network founder John Wedderburn, 83, among the most influential yet least well-known builders of the global animal rights and humane movements, died on November 25, 2024 at his retirement home in West Java, Indonesia. […]
PETA warned USDA: Pure Prairie Poultry starves 1.6 million chickens
Hurricane Helene poultry deaths were due to disaster. Pure Prairie Poultry just didn’t pay bills. NORFOLK, Virginia––People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] twice warned the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety & Inspection Service that the heavily federally subsidized Pure Prairie Poultry company was inhumanely starving chickens in the month before Pure Prairie […]
Florida animal care community picks up the pieces after Hurricane Milton
Daisy the dog’s story is in microcosm the story of survival LOXAHATCHEE, Florida––Neonatal nurse Julie Wing Whitehead of Fort Pierce, though one of the 119 tornados spun off from Hurricane Milton destroyed her home, recovered her nine-month-old golden retriever Daisy after an all-night search assisted by many denizens of social media who cross-posted her frantic […]
First reports from animal agencies & rescuers after Hurricane Milton
Port St. Lucie took the hardest hits––that we know about so far PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida––As of three in the morning on October 10, 2024, animal agencies and advocates in Port St. Lucie in southeast Florida appeared to have taken the hardest hit from Hurricane Milton the previous evening––but with more than 1.1 million people caught […]
Skunks, raccoons, bears, bad bugs & pit bulls, oh my! in the Carolinas
The buzz over Asheville: furious displaced yellow jackets ASHEVILLE, North Carolina––Wasp predators including skunks, raccoons, bears, opossums, blue jays, crows, robins, and eastern kingbirds may not exactly be missed by refugees, rescuers, and others digging out of deep mud in the wake of Hurricane Helene, with no time for wildlife-watching, but their diminished numbers are […]
Hurricane Helene huffed & puffed, but most pig sanctuaries survived
Farmed pigs were not so lucky. They never are. PROVIDENCE, North Carolina––Farmed animal sanctuaries throughout the Hurricane Helene disaster zone are looking to Providence for help, hope, and leadership. Specifically, to Providence, North Carolina, just south of the Virginia state line, home of Ziggy’s Refuge Farm Sanctuary, now coordinating pig and other farmed animal sanctuary rescue […]
Hurricane Helene: for animals & rescuers, recovery has just begun
Ed & Donna Duvin escape from Asheville was microcosm of the experience of tens of thousands SUMTER, South Carolina–– “We’re okay, safe in small town Sumter,” emailed Ed Duvin, a frequent ANIMALS 24-7 guest columnist whose Animallines newsletters more than 35 years ago helped to link the animal rights and humane movements. Duvin, 82, […]
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 […]
Hurricane Helene raises hell & high water, but animal shelters survive
Alligators in the streets, yet most animal shelters––so far––report little damage TAMPA, TALLAHASSEE, ATLANTA, ASHEVILLE––Twenty-four hours after Hurricane Helene hit late on September 26, 2024, alligators in the streets were reported throughout north central Florida, yet no many major animal shelter, zoo, or other animal care facility along the path of the storm reported experiencing […]