Birds are Still Singing in Our Suburbs and Bella & Charlie Are Not the Problem, argue team from the University of Queensland KENMORE, Queensland, Australia––Two new studies from scientists associated with the Australian Pet Welfare Foundation and the University of Queensland challenge the notion that cat predation has much of anything to do with bird […]
What if your cat could kill 10 billion insects?
Allegation that cats are an existential threat to bugs is multi-magnitudes even more exaggerated than allegations of cats’ threat to birds SÅO PAULO, Brazil––Somehow a Brazilian undergraduate paper purportedly portraying domestic cats as an existential threat to insect life managed to buzz around the world and the web for six months before coming to […]
Friend of birds, feral cats, & all other animals Bob Sallinger dead at 57
Headed Portland Audubon for 30 years PORTLAND, Oregon––Bob Sallinger, 57, executive director of both Willamette Riverkeeper and Bird Conservation Oregon, died unexpectedly on Halloween, October 31, 2024, while working late at the Willamette Riverkeeper office in Oregon City, just south of Portland, Oregon, where he spent almost all of his life and career. “The cause […]
Best Friends’ no-kill initiative power play, by Ed Boks
Ed Boks’ resumé in animal welfare includes having headed the animal control departments in Maricopa County, Arizona; New York City; Los Angeles; and Yavapai County, Arizona, plus the Spokane Humane Society. Boks produces the blog Animal Politics with Ed Boks. He may be reached at animalpolitics8@gmail.com. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Through the looking glass The Best Friends Animal […]
H5N1 avian flu goes global: what that means for for us & for animals
H5N1, much less deadly than it once was, has spread from pole to pole & from birds to cats & mice ANNAPOLIS, ATLANTA––No one at either the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases [ProMED] or the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is saying so yet, but the chances of keeping the avian influenza H5N1 from […]
Cat control “trial of the century” cleared to proceed in San Diego
Preliminary ruling against “return to field” may be problematic for neuter/return feral cat control programs too SAN DIEGO, California––The trial of the century, at least for cats impounded in San Diego city and county, is tentatively set to begin on April 26, 2024. San Diego County Superior Court Judge Blaine K. Bowman on March 28, […]
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 […]
New Zealand exempts cats from killing contest, finds cure for FIP
But all other land predators & even non-native waterfowl remain in the crosshairs CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand––Nationally hellbent on destroying any semblance of a natural, normal predator/prey ecology since the introduction of the Predator Free 2050 program in 2012, New Zealand might be the last place the rest of the world might expect to produce a […]
Shooting cats to save lizards, or to please billionaire birders?
The Cayman Islands may have more billionaires’ mansions than rock iguanas, but cats are not to blame GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands––If free-roaming cats were really a significant threat to iguanas––of any subspecies––one might expect most of Florida to be devoid of iguanas. Florida, after all, has reputedly the most optimal habitat for feral cats […]
Vultures circling overhead are good news for Planet Earth
Both black vultures & turkey vultures are rapidly expanding U.S. range and numbers Feeling down about global warming, chemical pollution, and reports about loss of species? See the vultures circling overhead? Both black vultures and turkey vultures are rapidly expanding in numbers and range across the U.S. Turkey vultures have even appeared in southeastern Alaska […]