The banyan tree is alive––but so are the animals, if they get help now! KAHULUI, Maui, Hawaii––Ten days and counting after the August 8, 2023 firestorm that razed Lahaina, efforts to save a banyan tree spreading over almost two acres have taken the mass media spotlight away from the human body count, stalled over the […]
First firestorm, then frustration: rescuers wait to aid Lahaina animals
Priority goes to finding human dead rather than to rescuing live animals KAHULUI, Maui, Hawaii––Five days into the aftermath of the firestorm that razed Lahaina, shock, sorrow, and anxiety over the fate of nearly 1,000 missing persons from the town that had a human population of just over 13,000 remain the dominant emotions among survivors. […]
The wrong sort of vultures circle over fire-hit Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
Maui animal charities need all the help they can get. Nationals with their hands out need a sense of shame. WAILUKU, Maui, Hawaii––Vultures are not native to Hawaii, but metaphorical vultures of the human variety are now conspicuously circling over the smoking ashes of Lahaina and several other parts of Maui, begging donations via […]
Animal updates from the Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii fire disaster
Many animals lost, few found as yet, but rescue teams are searching WAILUKU, Maui, Hawaii––The first flames reached Lahaina at around 6:30 a.m. on August 7, 2023. Hit by the worst of wildfires driven by winds from Hurricane Dora, the small city was obliterated two days later, just hours after the Lahaina fire was reported […]
Hawaii wildfires: who is helping animals on smoldering Maui?
Communications down, info scarce, but rescuers are on the job WAILUKU, Maui, Hawaii––With 53 human dead and counting, 1,700 homes burned, 3,000 acres razed, cell phone and internet service down all over the island, and more than 13,000 people homeless, animal news from the Maui fire disaster area as of the evening of August 10, […]
Corinne DiLorenzo, worst convicted U.S. hoarder, violates plea bargain
But six months after notification, Will County, Illinois has yet to impound pigs––if still alive––and chickens DiLorenzo is not permitted to keep CRETE, Illinois––“Corinne DiLorenzo is still in possession of animals,” reader Brian Duda emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 on the morning of August 7, 2023. Duda referenced the convicted perpetrator of the animal hoarding case […]
Birds killing cats? Avian flu hits cats in Poland, FIP hits cats in Cyprus
FIP rages. Avian flu outbreaks among cats are few, but hint at increasing vulnerability of mammals to bird diseases NICOSIA, Cyprus; WARSAW, Poland; HELSINKI Finland––Potentially catastrophic disease outbreaks hitting cats in Cyprus and Poland, and farmed foxes in Finland, have epidemiologists worried about emerging mutant strains of feline infectious peritonitis, a coronavirus best known as […]
Cat-haters Down Under set up rare birds for an attack of H5N1 avian flu
Attempted cat purges overlook value of predation to maintaining the health of species WELLINGTON, New Zealand; PERTH, Australia––The cat news from Down Under on June 28, 2023 provoked a global explosion of hissing and spitting, focusing––as cat news from Down Under usually does––on ever more cruel, bizarre, and inevitably futile attempts to exterminate cats, rationalized […]
Cat advocate Joan Miller, 88, linked breed fanciers & humane world
Architect turned lobbyist won 1990 law requiring California shelters to do spay/neuter before adoption Joan Miller, 88, who for more than 30 years bridged the divide between cat fancy breeders and the humane community by directing funds into spay/neuter work and effort into collaborative projects, died from complications of pneumonia on May 16, 2023 in […]
Aussies try to put aboriginal happy face on failed cat-killing schemes
Not many aboriginal hunters seem interested ALICE SPRINGS, Australia––The Northern Territory government, Victoria Ellis of ABC Rural breathlessly revealed on June 9, 2023, hopes to expedite ridding the 60,344-square-mile Gibson Desert of feral cats by giving an all-female aboriginal ranger team called the Tjuwanpa Women Rangers target practice with firearms. Of course the feral cats […]