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 […]
Animal agribusiness on defense worldwide as U.S. Farm Bill battle looms
Agribusiness stakes hopes on getting EATS Act into the Farm Bill WASHINGTON D.C.––From Capitol Hill corridors in Washington D.C. to the East London docks in South Africa and the fur farms of Finland, animal agribusiness is on the defensive lately as never before, and not just because the National Geographic web site on August 7, […]
COVID-19 skins fur trade: Ireland bans fur farming; Finland vaccinates mink
Ireland becomes 15th European Union nation to ban or phase out the mink industry DUBLIN, HELSINKI––Responding to continuing discoveries of the COVID-19 coronavirus in factory-farmed mink, the government of the Republic of Ireland has elected to ban fur faming. The Finnish Food Authority, by contrast, is experimentally vaccinating farmed mink in hopes fur demand […]
Second Finn dog study conflates defensive behavior with aggression
But the Finn study does not discount the influence of genetics on aggression HELSINKI, Finland––The same Finn researchers who in March 2020 published a study strongly affirming the importance of breeding in dog behavior have in May 2020 published a second analysis of the same data which––at a glance––argues just the opposite. The second […]
Mink ranching survives in Denmark despite risky COVID-19 mutation
Danish mink industry was to be liquidated from fear that COVID-19 mutation could neutralize vaccines in development COPENHAGEN, Denmark––The Danish mink industry, on the verge of liquidation as of November 4, 2020 to control a COVID-19 coronavirus mutation, appears to have politically mobilized to win a reprieve––for the mink ranchers, however, not the mink […]
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 […]
Dog study let pit bull owners lie & still found behavior is breed-specific
Finn study is third in six months to refute the saw that “It’s all in how you raise them.” HELSINKI, Finland––For the third time in six months a major new study of the heritability of dog behavior, published by a leading peer-reviewed scientific journal, has refuted the shibboleth of pit bull advocacy that “It’s all […]
Why U.S. furriers don’t advertise much any more
Mink coat ads vanish from newsprint SACRAMENTO, California––A furrier somewhere in the U.S. may yet buy a page of advertising, in what little remains of 2019, in one of the thousands of newspapers that are electronically searchable at www.NewspaperArchive.com. As of December 29, 2019, however, the year appeared to be ending without a single NewspaperArchive […]
Drove out the snakes? What did St. Patrick do with the Irish wolves?
He made friends with them! DUBLIN, TEL AVIV, ROME––As of St. Patrick’s Day 2019, there are still no wild snakes in Ireland, more than 1,660 years after the patron saint of Ireland allegedly drove them all out. Paleontologists say there were never any wild snakes in Ireland in the first place. But there were […]
A few words about fur from Finland
Hi! I notice you do not have any news from Finland. Here is some: the Finn politician Jörn Donner arrived at a party with his wife Bitte Westerlund, whose red dress was made of sealskin. He said, “This is a political statement. It is for the fishermen, because seals eat fish. I think men must […]