Russian law protects Moscow State Circus monopoly MOSCOW, NEW DELHI––New legislation in Russia, whose circuses have for almost a century been the most attended worldwide, and in India, where the circus tradition started, appear to be among the final acts in several thousand years of traveling exhibitions of performing animals. The new Russian “Law […]
Wayne Pacelle & Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom celebrate returns from extinction
Sagas of alleged giant predators turned animal rights stars WASHINGTON D.C.––Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a saga of supposedly vanished giant predators, reinvented as animal rights celebrities, debuted to bad reviews on June 22, 2018, yet proved to be a box office magnet, grossing $1.2 billion in its first month. Animal Wellness Action, a political action […]
Driving at demonstrators costs “Big Lick” champ’s insurers $50,000
Billygoboy wins again TUNICA, Mississippi––Having organized boycotts that have shut down “Big Lick” walking horse shows in at least 13 southern cities, semi-retired attorney Clant Seay, 71, better known as Billygoboy, is now celebrating a victory of a different sort. This time Seay has collected $50,000 on behalf of four clients, plus himself, in […]
Big win over the “big lick” walking horse industry in 2018 federal budget
“Big lickers” kicked, but Congress kicked back WASHINGTON D.C.––Winning increasingly often against initially steep odds, BillyGoBoy and friends opposed to soring horses to make them step higher appear likely to enjoy the last horse laugh over the walking horse show industry. Walking horse shows have been infamously dominated for decades by trainers who––defying the […]
Leaving The Wild: The Unnatural History of Dogs, Cats, Cows & Horses
by Gavin Ehringer Pegasus Books, distributed by W.W. Norton & Co. 364 pages. $27.95 hardcover. In stores December 5, 2017. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Remember the most gripping and informative few books you ever read about dogs, cats, cows, and/or horses, by authors as thorough as the multi-time best sellers Desmond Morris, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, […]
Could soring horses leave top Republicans limping in red-state Tennessee?
Political columnist & senior attorney both think so CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee––Could being associated with soring horses to induce the “Big Lick” goose step favored at walking horse shows cost the Republican candidates the 2018 Tennessee gubernatorial and U.S. Senate elections? Roy Exum thinks it could. And attorney Clant Seay, a 72-year-old walking horse show breeder turned […]
Hurricane Maria: monkeys hold on, horses endure
“Oh my goodness, how could anything have survived this?” CAYO SANTIAGO, Puerto Rico––Hurricane Irma mostly missed the renowned Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque colony, on an island just east of the Puerto Rican mainland, but Hurricane Maria hit it head-on, at full Category 5 strength. The thousand-odd macaques on Cayo Santiago are ninth generation descendants from […]
Hurricane Harvey: how horses, cattle, lab & zoo animals fared
Many still need help HOUSTON, Texas––How have horses, cattle, and animals kept in laboratories and zoos fared through Hurricane Harvey and aftermath? Soggy doggies and cats took the media spotlight during the first week of the Harvey crisis, but animals of every species shared the impact of the record deluge. (See also Hurricane Harvey: who is […]
Trump triumph: zapping USDA web site zapped “puppy mill” law too
Maryland legislature & SAEN try to undo some of the damage BALTIMORE, CINCINNATI––Can a federal agency nullify state law just by taking down a web site? While proposing budget cuts that would hamper animal-related law enforcement under every federal agency with relevant jurisdiction, the Donald Trump administration on February 17, 2017 at least temporarily […]
Thumbing nose at lawsuits, USDA-APHIS hides more info
Deletes documents posted in response to Freedom of Information Act requests WASHINGTON D.C.––Hit with a second lawsuit, draft legislation, and letters from 119 members of Congress demanding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture restore web sites including Animal Welfare Act enforcement information, the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service has instead thumbed its collective […]