Elaine Adair, Dayton Hyde, Susan Rudnicki, Alana Cutland, & Matthew Talbot had in common service to animals Elaine Adair Elaine Adair, cofounder of the Mississippi Spay & Neuter Alliance (MS-SPAN), born Elaine Girton on October 15, 1950 in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, died after a long struggle against cancer on October 14, 2019, one day before what would […]
30-year ASPCA rep Julie Morris, 1955-2019: The paradox of “St. Julie”
Morris mostly told the humane community what it wanted to hear NEW YORK, N.Y.––Julie Morris, 63, an American SPCA staff member since 1990, and a 41-year veteran of humane work, died on August 3, 2019 after a multi-year battle with cancer. Among the best-liked and most recognized people in animal welfare, Morris was widely […]
Uttam Dahal, 33, was dynamo for animals in Nepal despite ill health
Dahal won 2014 Supreme Court of Nepal case against Gadhi Mai mass sacrifice KATHMANDU, Nepal––Nepal Animal Welfare & Research Center founder Uttam G.P. Dahal, 33, died on July 26, 2019 after battling illness for most of his brief but dynamic life. Dahal left Santana Sharma, his wife of just two years and two months, […]
Hero of pit bull attack paid much higher price than convicted owners
Severely injured Duane Eddie Vanlanham won a medal & a lawsuit, but no payout SAGINAW, Michigan––Duane Eddie Vanlanham, a 2009 recipient of the Carnegie Medal for Civilian Valor for fighting off three pit bulls to rescue neighbor Bridgetta Hadley, at huge cost to himself, died on June 14, 2019 as quietly as he had […]
Activist Mary Max, 52: maxed out as artist Peter Max, 81, peters out
Suicide by nitrogen asphixiation NEW YORK, N.Y.––Animal advocate and philanthropist Mary Max, 52, wife of pop artist Peter Max, was on June 9, 2019 found dead in their apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City from allegedly self-induced nitrogen asphyxiation, a bag-over-the-head method described by Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphrey in […]
Wild Kingdom star Jim Fowler, 89: the truth behind the legend
Florida roadside zoo showman starred on TV for 50 years NORWALK, Connecticut––Few viewers of the NBC nature documentary television series Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom during the original run of the program, 1963-1971, might have expected that host Jim Fowler would die quietly at home at age 89––but he did, on May 8, 2019, in […]
Secrets of Doris Day’s life & work for animals
Publicity added much spin & gloss to what was already a positive record CARMEL, California––Doris Day, 97, died from pneumonia on May 13, 2019. Day was remembered worldwide as a singer who recorded more than 650 songs between 1939 and 1967; an actress who starred in more than 40 films between 1947 and 1968, […]
Noted in passing: Tresz, Muliro, Ndou, Hanson, Broecker, Lagerfeld
Six people with little in common except influencing how humans see animals Hilda Tresz, Freddy Mahamba Muliro, and Joel Celestine Mambou Ndou, none of them ever famous, in various ways devoted their lives to great apes. Wade Hanson spent the last 24 years of his life as a humane officer. Wallace Broecker for more than 50 […]
Kay McElroy, 74; her Cedarhill Animal Sanctuary carries on
With partner Cheryl Craig, planned transition CALEDONIA, Mississippi––Cedarhill Animal Sanctuary founder Kay McElroy, 74, died at the sanctuary after a multi-year illness on January 3, 2019. “In the final weeks of her life, as McElroy’s illness progressed, she was confined to her bedroom. From there, she could look out and watch the animals she had nurtured […]
Johnny Rodrigues, 69, fought to save wildlife in Zimbabwe
Felled by cancer after surviving two wars, poachers’ gunfire, & the Mugabe regime QUARTEIERA, Portugal––Johnny Rodrigues, 69, founder of the the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force and an enthusiastic contributor of information and occasional guest columns to ANIMALS 24-7, died on September 17, 2018 at his daughter Lorraine and son-in-law Gavin Randall’s home in Portugal, after […]