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 […]
Japan hands whales a Christmas gift camouflaged as coal
Withdrawal from IWC covers for decision to halt Antarctic whaling TOKYO––Handing whales a Christmas Day gift camouflaged as coal, Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga on December 25, 2018 confirmed months of speculation and decades of threats that Japan would withdraw from membership in the International Whaling Commission, which has maintained a global moratorium on […]
The gift of reindeer dwarfs the value of Christmas
Reindeer stand between us & the next Great Flood Admit it: you did not think about reindeer even once between the last Christmas season and this one. Even when you last did think of reindeer, you thought about them in association with Santa Claus. You probably never thought of reindeer as defenders of the Far […]
Revenge-seeking Icelandic “Ahab” denies killing the great blue whale
“Blood feud” with anti-whalers began when Sea Shepherds sank two of his ships in 1986 REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Kristján Loftsson, the “Captain Ahab” of the North Atlantic, has furiously denied that the 22nd of at least 27 whales killed by his ships in June and July 2018 was the first endangered blue whale harpooned by whalers since 1978, […]
A whale for the saving in Nova Scotia––and what the rescue means
More than 100 Atlantic Canadians turn out to help in sub-zero cold HALIFAX, Nova Scotia––Farley Mowat, whose 1972 book A Whale for the Killing helped to transform human attitudes toward whales worldwide, would have been gratified by the scene on January 1, 2018 at Rainbow Haven Beach, just east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. On […]
Why mink releases don’t stop fur farm cruelty
Few industries are more cruel than the fur trade, but some anti-fur tactics take matters from bad to worse OSLO, Norway; SEATTLE, Washington––The Norwegian Court of Appeals on October 18, 2017 ordered four members of the anti-fur organization Nettverk for Dyrs Frihet (Network for Animal Freedom) to pay damages amounting to 21,000 euro, plus […]
“Salmon farming is an environmental disaster”
by John F. Robins, Animal Concern Scotland About thirty years ago an Animal Concern Director and I attended one of the first annual conferences of the Scottish fish farming industry. It was held in a wee hall in Oban and there were perhaps a hundred people attending. A student from University of Stirling gave a […]
Reindeer are the presents for remote Yamal herders
Gift reindeer may help for a while, but global warming dooms the herding way of life YAMAL PENINSULA, Siberia––Reindeer did not deliver presents to 45 families of herders on the remote Yamal Peninsula of Siberia at Christmas Eve 2016, but rather were the presents. The reindeer were sent to help the Yamalo-Nenets residents recover […]
Harpoon: Into the heart of whaling
by Andrew Darby DaCapo Press (11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142), 2008. 320 pages, hardcover. $25.00. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Long covering whaling and whale-related politics for the Melbourne Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, Andrew Darby enjoys a reputation as the best there ever was on the whale beat, at least since Herman Melville […]
Norway proposes to pelt the fur trade
OSLO, Norway––Norwegian finance minister Siv Jensen on May 12, 2015 presented a Revised National Budget to Parliament that includes a proposed 17.8 million kroner cut in agricultural subsidies to fur farmers. The proposed cut, amounting to $2.35 million in U.S. funds, or 2.1 million euros, would halve the total amount of aid to fur […]