Animals 24-7

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

Feral Cities: Adventures with Animals in the Urban Jungle

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by Tristan Donovan Chicago Review Press 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 256 pages, paperback. $16.95. $16.95 (US $16.95) (CA $19.95) http://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/feral-cities-products-9781569760673.php Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Among the species Tristan Donovan encounters in Feral Cities, at chapter length, among his “Adventures with Animals in the Urban Jungle” are rattlesnakes in Phoenix, feral chickens, snails, […]

How factory farming,  livestock disease,  & vaccination evolved together

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How the Dutch developed vaccines instead of obeying the Pope Regular readers of ProMED-Mail,  the information bulletins provided around the clock since 1994 by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases,  may have noticed how often the first warnings of outbreaks in Europe come from the Netherlands––along with the first recommendations for control measures,  and often […]

Netherlands & Mexico ban wildlife use in circuses

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Big wins for Animal Defenders International DEN HAAG, MEXICO CITY, LONDON––Announcements distributed by Animal Defenders International less than 24 hours apart on December 12 and 13, 2014 heralded Dutch and Mexican national bans on the use of wild animals in circuses. Said Animal Defenders International president Jan Creamer, “Use of animals in traveling circuses is […]

Pit bulls, immigrants, & the alleged Islamic jihad against dogs

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Alexandra Semyonova comments from The Netherlands: Every once in a while allegations that Muslim immigrants to Europe are anti-dog erupt again in the media, sometimes due to a real declaration by a radical Muslim group,  but more often due to a widely publicized incident involving someone who happens to be Muslim objecting to the presence of a dog somewhere. […]

Bern: the bear pits are gone, but culling continues

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“Zoo staff decided it would be kinder to kill the youngster” BERN––The Dahlholzli Zoo in Bern, the Swiss city named for bears,  and infamous for centuries of exhibiting bears in pits, on June 25, 2014 reignited controversy over zoo culling practices by announcing that the remains of a healthy young bear called Cub 4 would […]

Donkeys, mules, & ponies struggle to survive Kathmandu brickyards

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But some of the equines may outlive the brickyards themselves               LALITPUR PATAN,  Nepal––Some of the donkeys,  mules,  and ponies who have survived hard use in the brickyards of the southern Kathmandu Valley may long outlive the local brick industry.  Given good sanctuary care,  some of these hard-used equines […]

Dutch to push “vaccination for life” ––may end culls of healthy livestock

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May mean a million fewer pigs & cattle per year are raised for slaughter––plus multi-millions of poultry DEN HAAG––Dutch state secretary of economic affairs Sharon A.M. Dijksma on June 4,  2013 committed the Netherlands to trying to reverse European Union and other international policies which require culling livestock who have been exposed to contagious diseases […]

German zoo staff convicted of cruelty for killing hybrid tigers

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MAGDEBURG, Germany––Magdeburg Zoo director Kai Parret and three members of the zoo staff were on June 17, 2010 convicted of cruelty for killing three tiger cubs at birth in May 2008 because their father was found to be a hybrid of the Siberian and Sumatran tiger subspecies. A fine of 8,100 euros was suspended on […]