Diclofenac-related vulture death in Spain may point toward a much bigger problem Should the end times be near, whether through global warming, loss of fish from the oceans, nuclear war, or any of myriad other calamities, vanishing vultures might be among the early harbingers of the apocalypse. Vultures might be expected to descend on the […]
Sheep & cattle stranded at sea by Suez Canal blockage are moving again
3,000-year-old livestock shipping route opened by Pharoahs is unblocked ISMAILIA, Egypt––Tens of thousands of sheep, cattle, and other live animals stranded for up to six days aboard more than 20 transport vessels are moving again through the Suez Canal, as of March 29, 2021. Egyptian Lieutenant General Osama Rabei, heading the Suez Canal Authority, […]
Wisconsin hunters overkill the wolf bag limit by half in just 72 hours
But Spain, with twice as many wolves in about the same amount of habitat, puts wolves off limits to hunters MADISON, Wisconsin; MADRID, Spain––Wisconsin hunters and trappers killed 216 wolves in under 72 hours during the last week of February 2021, 97 more than the “management target” of 119, obliging the state Department of […]
How ancient bison survived in the land & times of Good King Wenceslaus
Wenceslaus, 911-935, left bison alone. Successors alternately hunted & protected them. BIALOWIEZA FOREST, Poland––European wood bison, also called wisent, at risk of extinction for far longer than their North American cousins, are no longer “vulnerable,” and have accordingly been removed from the “Red List” maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The […]
Gorilla attack just latest episode in 246 years of Zoo de Madrid infamy
Opened in 1972, “new” zoo was already obsolete MADRID, Spain––A brutal reminder of the realities of gorillas, zoos, and keeping wildlife in starkly unnatural conditions on September 27, 2020 left a 46-year-old female zookeeper with multiple fractures, head and chest trauma, and compound fractures of both arms at the Zoo Aquarium de Madrid, in the […]
Iconic animal use events fall to COVID-19: “Running of the bulls” is latest
“Social distancing” also shuts down SeaWorld, seal hunt, fur auctions, Kentucky Derby, & the carriage horses in Central Park PAMPLONA, Spain ––The 700-year-old Festival of San Fermin, featuring bullfights and the “running of the bulls” through the cobbled streets of the oldest part of Pamplona, Spain, was on April 21, 2020 indefinitely postponed due […]
Spanish Supreme Court ends 566-year-old bull-spearing rite
Judges rule against hearing further appeals against order to stop MADRID––A March 18, 2019 decision by the Spanish Supreme Court to hear no further appeals of a Castilla y León provincial order banning the traditional Toro de la Vega bullfight appears to have finally ended one of the oldest annual celebrations of cruelty persisting into […]
Can plant-based “meat” be made to satisfy the Yellow Vests?
Demand for more & cheaper meat underlies strikes over high fuel cost PARIS, SAN FRANCISCO–– The “yellow vest” riots ripping apart France, bringing at least 412 arrests on December 1, 2018 alone, more than 260 injuries, half of them in Paris, and two reported deaths, are behind the scenes adding a social peace-and-justice imperative […]
Spanish high court overturns Catalonian ban on bullfighting
Catalonian leaders pledge defiance MADRID, BARCELONA––“In Spain,” tweeted Catalonian nationalist member of the Spanish parliament Gabriel Rufian on October 20, 2016, “it is unconstitutional to ban the public torture and murder of an animal. Enough said.” The Spanish Constitutional Court, the highest court in Spain, had just voted 8 to 3 to overturn the […]
Spanish animal defenders reject bullfighting as “cultural heritage”
Toro de la Vega denounced by 300 protesters MADRID––The prolonged death of a bull named Elegido at the Toro de la Vega “bull hunt” in Tordesillas, Spain on September 16, 2014 was simultaneously ballyhooed by mayor José Antonio González as emblematic of community determination to maintain cultural traditions, and denounced by about 300 protesters […]