Animals 24-7

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

Obits: defenders of cats, dogs, wild horses, bees, crabs, & elephants

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Elaine Adair, Dayton Hyde, Susan Rudnicki,  Alana Cutland,  & Matthew Talbot had in common service to animals Elaine Adair Elaine Adair,  cofounder of the Mississippi Spay & Neuter Alliance (MS-SPAN),  born Elaine Girton on October 15, 1950 in Bloomsburg,  Pennsylvania,   died after a long struggle against cancer on October 14, 2019,  one day before what would […]

Shelters make mega-payouts to pit bull victims: what will change?

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Two seven-figure settlements in five days might make “socially responsible sheltering the new norm––if the idea isn’t corrupted             LOS ANGELES, California;  FORT WALTON BEACH, Florida––Representatives of pit bull attack victims twice in five days in early September 2019 announced apparent record-setting damage awards from animal care and control agencies for alleged negligence in allowing […]

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 […]

Neuter/return requires impact study, says Los Angeles judge

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City support of feral cat population control program stopped by lawsuit brought by American Bird Conservancy LOS ANGELES––California municipal governments may not assist or promote neuter/return of feral cats without first  completing an environmental impact report,  ruled Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas McKnew on December 4,  2009. McKnew ruled on behalf of five organizations […]

30-year ASPCA rep Julie Morris, 1955-2019: The paradox of “St. Julie”

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Morris mostly told the humane community what it wanted to hear             NEW YORK, N.Y.––Julie Morris,  63,  an American SPCA staff member since 1990,  and a 41-year veteran of humane work,  died on August 3,  2019 after a multi-year battle with cancer. Among the best-liked and most recognized people in animal welfare,  Morris was widely […]

White hats & black hats revisited,  25 years into the “no kill” era

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The 1994 San Francisco “Adoption Pact” recast the roles of animal control & humane societies––but not as intended Again,  in hundreds of cities and towns across the U.S.,  and indeed around the world,  factions are polarized in furious conflict over what their local animal control agencies,  humane societies and shelterless,  volunteer-run “rescues” should be doing. […]

Secrets of Doris Day’s life & work for animals

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Publicity added much spin & gloss to what was already a positive record             CARMEL,  California––Doris Day,  97,  died from pneumonia on May 13,  2019. Day was remembered worldwide as a singer who recorded more than 650 songs between 1939 and 1967;  an actress who starred in more than 40 films between 1947 and 1968,  […]

An Easter bunny, cat, & mongoose story from a Japanese island

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Predators wrongly blamed for losses,  ancient Amami rabbits make a comeback AMAMI,  Amami-Oshima,  Japan––The Easter 2019 bunny story of the year,  and island ecology story,  too,  with even an angle involving egg hunts by ornithologists,  is underway on Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima islands,  between Japan and Okinawa.  Much to the evident embarrassment of the Japanese Environment […]

“No-kill” debacle: will Pueblo bring “responsible sheltering” into vogue?

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90% “live release” mandate failed catastrophically in less than 90 days             PUEBLO,  Colorado––“You can’t manage an animal shelter to a number,”  Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region president Jan McHugh-Smith told Pueblo Chieftan reporter Anthony A. Mestas,  hours after her organization returned to running the Pueblo Animal Services shelter on April 9,  2019,  […]

Ahmed el Sherbiny, 66, brought “humane spring” to Egypt

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Headed three leading organizations CAIRO,  Egypt––Ahmed el Sherbiny,  66,  who with his British-born wife Jackie led the Egyptian Society of Animal Friends,  the Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare,  and the Middle East Network for Animal Welfare,  on March 7,  2019 died at home in Shabramont,  Giza,  a Cairo suburb,  after several years of fighting multiple […]