“A compassionate movement can’t exist in a state of intellectual & moral bankruptcy & maintain its credibility.” Editor’s note: ANIMALS 24-7 guest columnist Ed Duvin began his long career in social justice movements in civil rights and anti-poverty work during the Lyndon Johnson presidential administration. He later advised animal advocacy organizations including the Humane Society […]
Ed Duvin: “I saw the best minds of animal advocacy destroyed by madness”
The no-kill movement is not yet old enough to be suffering from advanced dementia This will be a different essay than I normally write, not carefully constructed and edited, but a stream of thoughts shared with fellow activists. Why? Issues that should elicit a sense of urgency in the movement, from the rising bloodshed by […]
Tommy was a good dog today: the heartbreak of behavioral euthanasia
by Beth Clifton We made the difficult but necessary decision to end Tommy’s eight-year life today. This morning Tommy woke up hungry and happy. That boy could eat! Tommy was a mix, but definitely had Great Dane and hound in him. Two veterinary clinics we visited with him agreed that he weighed just over 100 […]
2026 dog census: more Labs than pits, but 3 times more pits in shelters
Labs & pits are together more than 40% of the dogs offered for sale or adoption The data from the 2026 edition of the most comprehensive annual survey of the U.S. dog population done anywhere by anyone is in––and what it shows is not good news for the shelter and rescue community. Once again the […]
Pit bulls kill more children; dogfighting busts; & shelters rehome pits for free
Evidence from breeders busted in dogfighting cases illustrates why pit bulls are inherently high risk LADSON, South Carolina; BAKERSFIELD, California; CHARLOTTE, North Carolina; BESSEMER, Alabama; CINCINNATI, Ohio; TACOMA, Washington––If one happened to follow the news from the Carolinas, Alabama, central California, Ohio, and the Puget Sound region of Washington, one might have seen coverage encapsulating […]
Ridglan Farms beagle purchase: smokescreen for Farm Bill disaster
1,500 beagles win; 76 million pigs lose. WASHINGTON D.C.; MIDDLETON, Wisconsin––Even as the U.S. House of Representatives on the morning of April 30, 2026 passed the 2026 Farm Bill, by a vote of 224-200, which if also passed by the U.S. Senate would erase Wayne Pacelle’s signature political achievements on behalf of 76 million farmed […]
“Open rescuers” lick wounds; Ridglan Farms cited for deep do-do
Dane County Sheriff’s Office response on April 18, 2026 was most violent in history of U.S. animal advocacy MADISON, Wisconsin––Two days after about 200 animal advocates on April 18, 2026 attempted an open rescue of 1,500 to 2,000 beagles at the Ridglan Farms laboratory research beagle breeding facility near Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, the most […]
Ridglan Farms round #2: tear gas, mass busts, & no beagles rescued
About 200 protesters were met with clouds of gas & a media release barrage of excrement BLUE MOUNDS, Wisconsin––The one reliable statistic emerging from the April 18, 2026 attempted open rescue of 1,500 beagles believed to remain at the Ridglan Farms breeding complex near Blue Mounds, Wisconsin was that not one beagle was removed […]
U.K. Bully XL ban slows Bully XL fatalities, but pit bull attack deaths go on
Two fatal pit bull variant attacks in two days underscore that pit bulls by any name are unsafe LONDON, United Kingdom––Bully XL fatalities have dropped from ten in 2024, when the breed was banned in the United Kingdom, to four in 2025, to none more than four months into 2026, but fatal attacks in the […]
Verdict in long-delayed Elisa Pilarski pit bull death trial not due before June
Charged with manslaughter in the 2019 case, fiancé Christophe Ellul is expected to receive light sentence SOISSONS, France––The legal outcome of the most publicized pit bull attack ever, the November 16, 2019 dismemberment death of 29-year-old Elisa Pilarski, six months pregnant at the time, will for her fiancé and manslaughter defendant Christophe Ellul, 51, remain […]