Half an hour with Stacy LeBaron of the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society NEWBURYPORT, Massachusetts––North American awareness of human impact on natural habitat is sometimes traced back to Henry David Thoreau’s 1849 essay A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, which preceded his much better known essay Civil Disobedience by a matter of […]
How “secondary poisoning” kills your outdoor cats
Threat to both ferals and indoor/outdoor pets by Merritt Clifton Asked one of the most dedicated of the multitude of “cat ladies” of my acquaintance, “Do you know if there’s truth to the idea that if cats eat rats who have been into bait stations, the cats will also get the effects of the warfarin?” The […]
How a birder’s mistakes incited 100 years of cat hatred
The Domestic Cat: Bird Killer, Mouser and Destroyer of Wild Life; Means of Utilizing and Controlling It by Edward Howe Forbush Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1916. [Free 112-page download from <http://books.google.com/books>.] Reviewed by Merritt Clifton The 1916 tract The Domestic Cat: Bird Killer, Mouser & Destroyer of Wild Life; Means of […]
What Brexit means for “pet passports” & lab animals
Part IV of a five-part series. (See also Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?, Farmed animals & the Brexit “diet plan,” Farmed animals & money talks, and Back to the Jungle Book: U.K. wildlife law post-Brexit.) LONDON, U.K.––Among the signal achievements for animal welfare during the 43 years that the United Kingdom has been […]
“Vagrant” or “feral” cats: part 2 of What to Call Cats & why it matters
by Merritt Clifton Part 2 of a four-part series. See also: What to call cats, & why it matters: evolving terms; Feral cats & street dogs; and “Community cats” vs. community health. Krazy Kat, alley cats, & strays In the beginning of the mass media era, before George Herriman introduced the 1913-1944 Krazy Kat cartoon series, […]
Feral cats & street dogs: part 3 of What to call cats & why It matters
by Merritt Clifton Part 3 of a four-part series. See also: What to call cats, & why it matters: evolving terms; “Vagrant” or “feral” cats; and “Community cats” vs. community health. The arrival of “feral” From 1920 through 1991, according to NewspaperArchive.com, “feral cats” had been mentioned in U.S. daily newspapers just 134 times. From 1992 to date, […]
“Community cats” vs. community health: Part 4 of What to call cats & why it matters
Changing names does not change issues Part 4 of a four-part series by Merritt Clifton. See also: What to call cats, & why it matters: evolving terms; “Vagrant” or “feral” cats; and Feral cats & street dogs. “Community” cats In October 2009 the Best Friends Animal Society marked National Feral Cat Day by announcing a campaign to […]
Declawing, ear-cropping, & tail-docking: more nasty legacies from dogfighters
Time for feds to act Fifty-one members of Congress nearly three months ago wrote on February 12, 2016 to federal Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Julian Castro, asking Castro “to prohibit public housing authorities from requiring declawing as a condition of residency for tenants with cats.” Agreed the Congressional Representatives, some of whom seldom […]
A 21-vaccination salute to the founders of ProMED
Editorial by Merritt Clifton Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases cofounder Jack Woodall and Martin Hugh-Jones, who was among the ProMED founding moderators, have been separately selected to receive two of the highest honors in veterinary epidemiology. Hugh-Jones is on July 15, 2016 to receive an honorary fellowship from the British Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Woodall […]
Deadline looms for claiming refunds from Blue Buffalo
Settlement in alleged consumer fraud case ST. LOUIS, Missouri––Applications to the IRS for income tax return are due on Monday, April 18, 2016, but another deadline, four days earlier, may mean more money––up to $200––for people who bought Blue Buffalo pet food products between May 7, 2008 and December 18, 2015. Reimbursements of up to […]