Animals 24-7

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

Pig transport truck kills animal advocate Regan Russell outside slaughterhouse

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Accident reprises 1995 death of British protester Jill Phipps             BURLINGTON, Ontario––Regan Russell, 65,  of Hamilton,  Ontario,  was on June 19,  2020 crushed to death by an 18-wheel livestock transport truck delivering pigs to slaughter at Fearman’s Pork Inc.,  the largest and oldest slaughterhouse in Ontario. A local landmark since 1852,  and the scene of […]

Dolphin death incidents illustrate why ANIMALS 24-7 exists

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Finding the truth amid emotive incidents “What Have We Done to the Whale?” headlined the August 17,  2020 online edition of The New Yorker. Added the subhead,  “The creatures once symbolized our efforts to save the planet;  now they demonstrate all the ways we have devastated it.” The hand-wringing essay by Amia Srinivasan that followed also appeared […]

Prince Charles, sea lice, & why salmon farming stinks

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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 […]

Wrestler Megan Milner is first Canadian pit bull fatality of 2020

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Milner is fifth of six dog attack deaths in two weeks, four by pit bulls             HALIFAX, Nova Scotia––Wrestler,  martial arts expert,  and experienced pit bull owner Megan Milner,  38,  of Middle Musquodoboit,  Nova Scotia,  on the morning of June 9,  2020 became the twentieth known pit bull fatality of the year in the U.S. […]

Fatal truck crash spotlights lack of attention to safety in dog transport

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Pit bull rescue was hauling 48 dogs to Canada             SHELLEY, Idaho;  PHOENIX, Arizona––Dog rescue-and-rehomers elsewhere around the U.S. on May 20,  2020 celebrated “National Rescue Dog Day.” Many from Phoenix,  Arizona,  and southern Idaho,  however,  searched the hills and woods around U.S. Interstate 15 milepost 105,  just south of Shelley,  Idaho,  for nine dogs––mostly […]

Pandas follow the Calgary Stampede out of town––and back to China

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COVID-19 red ink left the Calgary Zoo with a black-and-white choice  CALGARY,  Alberta,  Canada––Giving up hope that a rare giant panda exhibit will continue to pay for itself––and of managing to keep the pandas fed through the COVID-19 pandemic––the Calgary Zoological Society on May 12,  2020 disclosed to media that it has asked the Canadian […]

Kathi Travers, 69, vehemently non-“animal rights” animal advocate

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Legendary for deeds with ASPCA & WSPA,  but worked nearly twice as long for the British Columbia SPCA in St. George             PRINCE GEORGE,  British Columbia,  Canada––If Kathi Travers,  69,  could still shout aloud,  she might be shouting yet,  more than six months later,  about the first sentence of her Prince George Citizen obituary. Belatedly […]

Takaya the “sea wolf” headed for home, but hunter shot him

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Lived for eight years almost within sight of British Columbia provincial parliament             VICTORIA, B.C.,  Canada––Takaya,  10,  the “sea wolf” star of the 2019 CBC Nature of Things documentary “Takaya: Lone Wolf,”  was on March 24,  2020 shot by a hunter near Shawnigan Lake,  British Columbia,  possibly after being chased and/or mauled by the hunter’s […]

COVID-19 hot tip for coffee growers:  don’t go bat-@#$% nuts!

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COVID-19 shows “Eat @#$% & die!” is a warning,  not a metaphor KUNMING,  China;  LONDON, U.K.;  SEATTLE––One might imagine that the midst of a global pandemic of COVID-19,  a disease apparently originating in bats, would not be the best time for selling bat-processed coffee. At this writing,  COVID-19 has infected nearly 175,000 people,  worldwide,  killing […]

“Invasive” grey squirrels, feral pigs, & rats: leave ’em alone, say scientists

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Studies suggest grey squirrel, feral pig,  & rat control are barking up the wrong tree BELFAST;  GUAM;  VANCOUVER––“Invasive” grey squirrels are allegedly extirpating red squirrels in the British Isles by transmitting squirrel pox. Feral pigs allegedly run amok to the detriment of rare native plants on Guam,  a remote Pacific island. Rats present a perennial […]