Animals 24-7

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

Rick Collord, 72, helped lead transition from the high-kill to the no-kill era

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Headed 10 animal shelters in six states Rick Collord,  72,  a 42-year humane professional and chief executive of humane societies for most of that time,  died on January 26,  2021 in Lexington,  North Carolina,  his home since 2017. Born Irving Richard Collord III in 1948 in New Orleans,  Louisiana,  Rick Collord––no one ever called him […]

Trump allies in the animal world squirm after U.S. Capitol storming

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From “Joe Exotic” to Wayne Pacelle             WASHINGTON D.C.––Soon-to-be-former U.S. President Donald Trump and his die-hard defenders who are now facing criminal charges for storming the U.S. National Capitol building on January 6,  2021 were scarcely the only big losers from the events of the day. Former U.S. Air Force security dog handler Ashli Babbitt,  […]

Solvang animal advocate “Hurricane” Hazel Mortensen dies at 85

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Mortensen was still on the job of helping animals in every way that she could             SOLVANG, California––“Hurricane” Hazel Mortensen,  85,  remembered for nearly 50 years of dynamic animal advocacy and her hearty laugh,  died at her home on September 26, 2020 from complications of heart disease. “Born on April 26,  1935 in England,  Hazel […]

Alex Pacheco serves stale “Spay & Neuter Cookies” again for Christmas

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Pacheco says he eats them          POMPANO BEACH, Florida––600 Million Stray Dogs Need You founder Alex Pacheco,  who also cofounded People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in 1981,  is no longer distributing old photos of himself exchanging banter with soon-to-be-former-U.S. President Donald Trump. But predictably as Trump’s temper tantrums over losing the presidency to […]

L.A. city council approves TNR: “project does not encourage feeding”

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Not encouraging feeding sidesteps most objections to new Los Angeles neuter/return cat control program             LOS ANGELES, California––The long-awaited Los Angeles Citywide Cat Program on December 10,  2020 won unanimous approval from the Los Angeles City Council. “The Council vote clears the way for the city to use municipal funds to operate the Citywide Cat […]

Cat studies shortchange disabled U.S. veterans & vanishing Aussie wildlife

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White Coat Waste Project challenges Veterans’ Administration studies, while Aussie scientists question value of their own cat-killing experiment          WASHINGTON D.C.,  PERTH, Australia––Cat experiments conducted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Cleveland,  Louisville,  and Los Angeles,  and by Australian researchers at the Charles Darwin Reserve,  225 miles north of Perth,  might be said […]

Jan Salter, 82, mastered the arts of animal & human aid in Kathmandu

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Founded leading Nepal humane organization past age when most people retire             KATHMANDU,  Nepal––Jan Salter,  82, artist,  humanitarian, and founder of the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre in Nepal in 2004,  died in Lyme Regis,  United Kingdom,  on April 29,  2018. Word of her death did not reach ANIMALS 24-7 until nearly 90 days later. Born Janette […]

Cats, tahrs & feathers on Table Mountain, South Africa

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Goats gotten,  South African National Park Service scopes in on feral cats             CAPE TOWN, South Africa––Have feral cats succeeded feral Himalayan mountain goats,  called tahrs,  as the purported greatest threat to native South African wildlife at Table Mountain National Park? The few remaining Table Mountain tahrs, a cause celebré from 2001 to 2004,  are descended […]

Chickens were the most numerous casualties of the Beirut explosion

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Animals Lebanon & Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals scramble to aid animal survivors             BEIRUT,  Lebanon––How many chickens lived and died to blow up Beirut? Probably millions,  but that toll––like all others pertaining to animals––eludes estimation from the available data about the August 4,  2020 ammonium nitrate explosion that killed at least 158 […]

Anna Briggs lived for animal rights & no-kill before the movements existed

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Quiet personality long set an example,  yet did not emerge as a leader of causes Anna Catherine Briggs,  101,  died on February 15,  2011 in Berryville,  Virginia,  21 years after publishing her autobiography,  For the Love of Animals. For the Love of Animals,  a 122-page paperback, was written essentially as a fundraising device,  distributed chiefly to […]