Animals 24-7

News on dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature

A Traitor To His Species:  Henry Bergh & The Birth Of The Animal Rights Movement

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by Ernest Freeberg 322 pages,  hardcover.  $30.00. Basic Books Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104 www.basicbooks.com Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Perhaps the first question to ask about a new biography of Henry Bergh,  of whom more than 50 have reputedly been written already,  with at least four close to […]

Pit bulls, wolves win in Colorado; horse racing wins in Nebraska; Hsiung loses

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Colorado goes to the dogs             DENVER, Colorado; LINCOLN, Nebraska;  BERKELEY, California––Democratic challenger Joe Biden narrowly led Republican incumbent Donald Trump at 1:45,  Pacific time,  on November 4,  2020. The three major ballot issues and one mayoral race directly involving animals appeared to have ended,  however,  with a win for pit bulls in Denver,  a […]

Horsemeat, dog meat, & how “angel” Marc Ching fell from grace

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Donors ignored years of warnings about convict turned “rescue” celebrity LOS ANGELES––Marc Ching,  who in November 2018 offered to sell the city of Los Angeles vegan food for impounded dogs at a substantial discount,  is reportedly to be arraigned in December 2020 on one misdemeanor count each of practicing veterinary medicine without a license,  false advertising,  […]

Homeless man led through Galveston by mounted cops sues for $1 million

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Videotaped incident shocked the world, including former mounted police officer Beth Clifton of ANIMALS 24-7 GALVESTON, Texas––Donald Neely,  43,  a homeless black man with acknowledged mental health issues,  who was on August 3,  2019 handcuffed by two mounted police officers,  clipped to a rope with a noose at the other end,  and led eight blocks […]

Judge boots wild horse foe William Perry Pendley from top office at BLM

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Federal judge finds Pendley illegally headed the BLM for nearly half of his tenure HELENA, Montana––Wild horse nemesis William Perry Pendley was on September 25,  2020 removed from his position as acting director of the Bureau of Land Management by Chief District Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District of Montana. Morris ruled that Pendley has served […]

Mark Twain’s Book of Animals

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Edited with Introduction,  Afterword,  & Notes by Shelley Fisher Fishkin University of California Press https://www.ucpress.edu/ 325 pages,  hardcover.  $27.50. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Wrote Ed Duvin,  whose 1989 Animalines newsletter essay “In The Name of Mercy” prophesying  “no kill” animal sheltering is widely considered a classic of humane literature,  to ANIMALS 24-7 a few days […]

Rare Aussie animals save themselves, no thanks to Compound 1080

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Brush-tailed rock wallabies & long-nosed potoroos need habitat,  poison drops CANBERRA,  ADELAIDE,  MELBOURNE,  Australia––Investigators are finding,  in the wake of bushfires that ravaged protected habitat right around the forested coastal perimeter of Australia,  that many rare Australian animals apparently know how to save themselves,  with or without human help. More than a billion animals are […]

Girl, 11, & father killed over a bull mastiff? Race horses involved too?

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Former thoroughbred owner shot son & granddaughter of renowned jockey & racing judge PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida—Why did Ronald John Delserro,  82,  on July 6,  2020 fatally shoot two of his longtime Port St. Lucie neighbors,  11-year-old Harper Hansman and her father Guy Alexander Hansman,  55? Was Delserro’s grievance only because the Hansman family brought […]

Horse racing fails to win, place, or show in Georgia, despite HSUS support

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Why is the Humane Society of the U.S. helping horse racing to expand into new territory? ATLANTA, Georgia––Again the perennial horse racing industry attempt to legalize pari-mutuel betting and introduce thoroughbred racing to Georgia failed during the 2020 state legislative session,  closed on July 3. Opposition to legalizing pari-mutuel betting came chiefly from religious groups […]

“Animals & thugs”: horses, dogs, police & the George Floyd protests

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Horses & dogs used and misused by both cops & demonstrators              NEW YORK, N.Y.–– “Stop treating us like animals and thugs,  and start treating us with some respect!” fumed New York Police Benevolent Association president Mike O’Meara to a June 9,  2020 media conference. That was all O’Meara had to say about animals. The passing mention,  however,  raised […]