Transformed sleepy Scottish Anti-Vivisection Society into butt-kicking Animal Concern DUMBARTON, Scotland––John Frederick Robins, 64, probably the most colorful and dynamic animal advocate in Scottish history, despite his self-conferred title “The Eejit,” has announced his impending retirement after 41 years of directing pro-animal campaigns initially for Friends of the Earth, but chiefly as campaigns manager and […]
If plants have feelings, how does this affect our advocacy for animals?
by Karen Davis, PhD, president of United Poultry Concerns Can a tree be “strategically responsive, and exhibit kinship, or a sense of self? Is a tree intelligent?” ––Rebecca Giggs, “The Trees Are Talking,” The Atlantic, July /August 2021, published online as A Better Way to Look at Trees. This intriguing article in The Atlantic recounts […]
Complaining that seals cause “stress,” farm cuts gills from salmon alive
John Robins: “Salmon farming is cruel, plain and simple.” STORNOWAY, Scotland––The Danish-owned Scottish Salmon Company, just three weeks after complaining to media about seal attacks “stressing” farmed Atlantic salmon near Portree on Skye, has been exposed in undercover video obtained by Animal Equality U.K. for allegedly allowing routine cruelty in processing on a scale […]
Seal-shooting salmon farmers have a £5,000 price on their heads
U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act brought law to save seals in Scottish waters EDINBURGH, Scotland––Seal-shooting salmon farmers have a £5,000 price on their heads, posted by Animal Concern Scotland on February 1, 2021. The reward is specifically for information leading to the first successful prosecution under a new Scottish seal protection law, adopted on […]
Fish farming foe Kurt Oddekalv, no bunny-hugger, dies trying to save dog
The dog died too Fish farming foe Kurt Willy Oddekalv, 63, on January 11, 2020 died from drowning and hypothermia suffered in attempting to rescue his daughter’s dog Kompis, who had fallen through ice on a lake near their home in Kalandseidet, Bergen, Norway. The dog Kompis was found dead nearby. As a sergeant in the […]
Florida fishers break ranks to denounce cruelty to fish
Nothing suggests fishers are becoming as sensitive as fish themselves, but even discussing fish sentience & suffering marks a sea change SARASOTA, Florida––Cruelty to fish, just a few years ago, was a topic attracting little attention, and only derision from media serving recreational fishers, but three topics hotly discussed in Florida during October 2020 […]
Prince Charles, sea lice, & why salmon farming stinks
Norwegian investors hope to delouse the salmon industry with new facility in Maryland BALTIMORE, Maryland––Salmon farming stinks. Business media worldwide have for weeks failed to mention that fact in amplifying a July 7, 2020 announcement that the Norwegian firm AquaCon plans to build a $300 million land-based salmon farm on the eastern shore of Chesapeake […]
Scotland to stop shooting seals to save salmon farm profits––but not until 2021
50-year effort by Scottish seal defenders––but Humane Society of the U.S. blasts out media releases claiming credit DUMBARTON, Scotland––Culminating a half century of effort by the Save Our Seals Fund, and Animal Concern Scotland, led for decades by John Robins of both organizations, the Scottish Parliament on June 17, 2020 ratified a new Animals & Wildlife […]
Do fish feel pain? Victoria Braithwaite proved it to science
Led recognition of “metric tons” of fish as millions of sentient lives UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania––The biggest news in the watery world of fisheries in early October 2019 was the appearance of the 447-foot Margiris, reputedly the world’s second-largest trawler, through the mists of the English Channel just 14 miles off Brighton, East Sussex. “For […]
Three veg fun foods that terrify the animal-based food industry
Impossible Burgers, cell-cultured ice cream, & goldfish crackers––& goldfish crackers may scare the animal-based food industry most of all EMERYVILLE, California––Now you can order vegan Impossible Burgers to be delivered for a midnight meal, as thousands of people have already done. As of July 11, 2019, you could have real vegan ice cream for […]