Louisiana becomes 12th state to ban balloon releases BATON ROUGE, Louisiana; GLASGOW, Scotland––Effective on August 1, 2026, intentionally releasing a balloon or planning the organized release of 12 or more balloons became illegal in Louisiana. Violations carry fines ranging from $500 up to $2,500. Act 196, amending the Louisiana littering law to include outdoor balloon […]
Icelandic “Ahab” Kristján Loftsson resumes vengeful quest to kill whales
Activists sank his battleships 40 years ago REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Kristján Loftsson, 84, chief executive of Hvalur, the last Icelandic whaling company, driven by an enduring thirst for vengeance against anti-whaling activists, on June 19, 2026 sent the last two whaling trawlers in Iceland out into the North Atlantic Ocean to kill a quota of as many as […]
Some Nordic people rally to save one whale; others rush to kill hundreds
Timmy the stranded but rescued humpback whale lived after release for about ten days BERLIN, Germany; WASHINGTON D.C.; OSLO, Norway; REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Contrasting and conflicting Nordic attitudes toward whales may never before have been more starkly evident than during the six-week drama preceding the May 2, 2026 return to the North Sea of Timmy the formerly […]
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 […]
European Union president pushes culling wolves after losing her pony
Wolf comeback from extirpation revives fear of the Big Bad Wolf BRUSSELS––September 25, 2024 dawned as a bad day for wolves in Europe even before the European Union provisionally authorized downlisting wolves from “strictly protected” to just “protected” status under the Council of Europe Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife & Natural Habitats, also […]
Has the Pied Piper come to Lassa fever & rat-plagued Nigeria?
Rat-borne Lassa fever kills more people now than either Ebola or rabies, even if you have never heard of it LAGOS, Nigeria––Amid sectarian violence and the mass kidnappings of as many as 5,000 people, most of them school children since Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu took office on May 29, 2023, it is likely […]
Animal updates from “forgotten” war in Ukraine, two years since invasion
Almost every major animal charity in Europe is involved in Ukraine somehow KIEV, Ukraine––Underway six times as long, with almost certainly six-plus times the human and animal body count, though both sides remain reticent about losses, the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 often seems to be a forgotten war in U.S. public […]
The real Barbie: inconsistent, but a leading animal advocate since 1959
Barbie’s many missteps, despite longtime pro-animal direction, mirror her society BARBIELAND––Amid the hoopla for the live action Barbie film released on July 21, 2023, Ontario film maker and animal rights strategist Stephen Best resolutely refrains from entering his local theater. “My personal choice,” Best posted to Facebook, “is that I will not pay Mattel or […]
“The poor fish were the real victims,” tank owner says after fire
Beginnings of concern for fish suffering emerge even in the desert ST. GEORGE, Utah; BERLIN, Germany––Josh Wilson of Scenic, Arizona, owner of Polaris Can-Am & Honda World in Mesquite, Nevada, a longtime sponsor of off-road races, likely will never be mistaken for a bleeding heart animal rights activist. Yet it can be said that Wilson […]
Erika Brunson, 86, animal advocate, actress, interior decorator, & furniture maker
Rose from rough start in life to philanthropic success Animal advocacy and spay/neuter philanthropist Erika Devore Brunson, 86, died in Los Angeles, California on May 17, 2022. Maria Erika Knab, her original given name, was born on September 4, 1935, “in the small fishing town of Konigsberg in East Prussia,” according to an October 16, 2013 […]