Animals 24-7

News on dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature

Puppies & kittens everywhere, but none in shelters to adopt

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Suspension of spay/neuter & intake services due to COVID-19 cuts adoptions by a third from 2019             NEW YORK CITY––Celebrating rehoming every dog and cat in custody soon after COVID-19 shutdowns began,  animal shelters from coast to coast are suddenly––and predictably––weeping,  wailing,  and tearing hair about having no adoptable animals to offer in response to […]

COVID-19: animal shelter “experts” circle back toward pet overpopulation

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by Ruth Steinberger Founder, Spay FIRST A dear friend once shared the adage,  attributed to Herman Wouk,  “When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.” Never has a better example of this adage been seen than in the current movement by so-called shelter management experts to support a return to intact […]

Feral cats poop where someone feeds them––& that’s the big problem

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Two studies confirm skepticism of waiting for studies to confirm the obvious             LOS ANGELES––The unacknowledged takeaway lesson from two new studies of neuter/return feral cat control,  published respectively by the City of Los Angeles and the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science,  may be that by the time academia,  the courts,  and public policymakers […]

New York bans declawing cats; Massachusetts next?

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2015 “Favorite Vet” contest outcome tipped balance toward declaw bans across North America             ALBANY,  New York––Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 22, 2019 signed into law Assembly Bill A-1303,  making New York the first U.S. state to ban declawing cats. There are about 4.2 million cats in New York state,  about half of them in […]

Albuquerque sued again for allegedly rehoming dangerous dogs

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Earlier cases allege rehoming dangerous cats, too             ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico––Already sued half a dozen times in under four years over issues pertaining to rehoming dangerous animals,  the city of Albuquerque was in the fourth week of October 2018 sued yet again,  this time by former Albuquerque Animal Welfare employee Victoria Murphy. Murphy in her filing […]

TNR protects African wildcats from “genetic pollution” & ferals from cruelty

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Alley Cat Rescue begins project at Kruger National Park             KRUGER NATIONAL PARK,  South Africa––Alley Cat Rescue,  of Mount Ranier,  Maryland,   is now “working to implement trap-neuter-return programs for stray/feral cats around Kruger National Park,”  according to founder Louise Holton,  to keep African wildcats from hybridizing with their domestic descendants. Having “advocated for the humane […]

Mystery marine toxo host kills sea mammals; cats wrongly blamed

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Toxoplasma gondii finding in beluga whales points same way as sea otter and monk seal studies––& not toward cats             MONTREAL––A new study widely publicized for allegedly linking domestic cats to losses of endangered beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River estuary actually shows almost the opposite,  read in context––and contributes to a growing stack of […]

Feline Fix by Five: the F-word campaign

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One simple change can have profound results by Philip A. Bushby, DVM, MS, DACVS The Veterinary Task Force on Feline Sterilization for Age of Spay and Neuter Surgery was convened in January 2016 to review issues surrounding the overpopulation of cats and the standard recommendation that ovariohysterectomy and castration of cats be delayed until cats are […]

How a shelter “Blackjacked” adopters with the “nanny dog” myth

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Four-year-old nearly lost eye to pit bull rehomed by the Humane Society of Catawba County             LENOIR,  North Carolina––Responding to a week of intensive pit bull adoption promotion by the Humane Society of Catawba County,  mother of two toddlers Justina Danielle Turner on April 28,  2018 visited the Catawba County Animal Services shelter in Newton,  […]

Are Southern California coyotes eating 68% fewer cats than 20 years ago?

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Data indicates steep drop in the feral cat population             LOS ANGELES,  California––Southern California coyotes may be eating 68% fewer feral and free-roaming pet cats in 2018 than they did 20 years ago,  indicate comparisons of findings from five major studies of coyote diet. Since coyotes are opportunistic predators who tend to eat whatever they […]