Chontos spent his last 24 years as a quasi-hermit TOLEDO, Washington––Gene Lee Chontos, 87, cofounder of Wild Burro Rescue and a former board member of several associations of animal sanctuaries, died on September 25, 2025, but ANIMALS 24-7 only learned of his passing on January 20, 2026. “I was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on December […]
Ukrainian dogs may be the winners of Putin’s war
Indifferent a generation ago toward suffering street dogs, Ukraine is now a dog-loving nation KIEV, Ukraine––The outcome of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine has yet to be determined, eleven years after Russian troops seized Crimea and more than three years after Russian tanks rolled into the Ukrainian mainland, but Ukrainian dogs––for the time […]
What’s happening with animals amid worst-ever Los Angeles wildfires?
180,000 people & their pets flee fires; 200,000 more warned to be prepared to go LOS ANGELES, California––Six drought-fueled wildfires driven up coastal canyons by the ever-powerful Santa Ana winds erupted within 48 hours in the north and northeastern Los Angeles foothills as the second week of January 2025 began. Still burning after sunset on […]
San Diego Rodeo, SF live markets, & the last refuge of scoundrels in California
Cultural defenses of abuse prevail over cultural mandate to “Be kind to animals” SAN DIEGO, SAN FRANCISCO––Samuel Johnson, author of the first dictionary of the English language, never saw and most likely never even heard of either San Diego or San Francisco, let alone saw or heard about either the San Diego Petco Park rodeo […]
How “Vegan Mayo” going “Plant-Based” helps Catalina Island mule deer
Tossed salad & the future of animal advocacy LONDON, U.K.; CATALINA, California––Two of the biggest names in salad rocked the vegan, vegetarian, animal rights, and conservation worlds on May 29, 2024 with near-simultaneous announcements from 5,552 miles away that superficially had beans to do with each other, and only a tangential relationship to the price […]
Why animals make Israel vs. Hamas look like an Old West range war
The place ain’t big enough for everyone’s herd TEL AVIV, GAZA––Though the Gaza war is fought with jets, tanks, rockets, automatic rifles, and bitterly opposed world views, ideology, and international politics, recent incidents involving sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, and pigs illustrate that it is, beneath everything else, fundamentally an Old West range war. Rustlers are […]
Animals & animal rescuers caught in the Hamas/Israel crossfire
Even if the shooting ends by Ramadan, a ceasefire will not bring peace for animals RAFAH, Gaza; RAMAT GAN, Israel–– “Sergeant major Adi Eldor, 21, a combat soldier in Maglan commando, was killed last night by anti-tank missiles, alongside his teammate, sergeant major Alon Kleinman, also 21,” the Israeli animal charity Let The Animals Live […]
No miracles for animals or anyone else at Bethlehem this year
And apparently no real-life manger scenes anywhere in the war zone BETHLEHEM, GAZA, RAMAT GAN––Images of real-life manger scenes might have been expected to emerge from war-torn Gaza in particular at Christmas 2023, showing Palestinian refugee families huddled among donkeys, sheep, and camels, with parachute flares lighting the sky like the Star of Bethlehem, but […]
Gaza cats hide, dogs run, & donkeys go on working amid Israeli bombing
Animal rescue activity is nearly completed in evacuated parts of Israel attacked by Hamas AL ZAHRA, Gaza; TEL AVIV, Israel––Amid the explosions and chaos of the Israeli Defense Force incursion to destroy Hamas tunnels, dogs run, cats hide, and the Gaza donkeys go on working. Indeed, the surviving Gaza donkeys are working perhaps harder than […]
Wild horses chased by choppers in U.S.; shot from choppers in Australia
Australia has no Wild & Free-Roaming Horses & Burros Act DAVIS, California; SYDNEY, Australia––“Now through February,” American Wild Horse Campaign currently warns via social media, “over 7,000 wild horses will be chased by helicopters, ripped from their families, injured, or in the worst case, killed. “The survivors will be funneled into overburdened holding facilities, sometimes […]