Animals 24-7

News & perspective for the humane community

43 Americans & Canadians killed by dogs in 2018, 34 by pit bulls

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Fatal & disfiguring attacks declined, but pit bulls––just 5.6% of the U.S. dog population––inflicted upward of 75% Far fewer dogs killed and disfigured people in the U.S. and Canada in 2018 than in 2016 and 2017,  which saw new records set in almost every dog attack category that ANIMALS 24-7 tracks from media reports––but pit […]

Last acts for animal circuses in Russia, India, New Jersey, & Hawaii

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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 […]

Frustrated fishers push to kill West Coast sea lions & seals

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Newly formed Pacific Balance Pinnipeds Society gives voice to anger             VANCOUVER,  B.C.;  PORTLAND,  Oregon––Removing a longtime irritant to the British Columbia wild salmon fishing industry––and a major economic competitor––the British Columbia government and First Nations have agreed to phase out 17 commercial salmon farms operated since 1987 by a company called Marine Harvest off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.             The […]

Ontario allows hunters to kill 50 cormorants a day

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“The worst wild game management decision in Canadian history” by Barry Kent MacKay Artist & naturalist:  www.barrykentmackay.ca Director of Canadian & Special ProgramsBorn Free             Doug Ford,  the recently elected prime minister of Ontario,  who at one time claimed to be an ethical vegetarian,  has just proposed what I believe is the single worst wild […]

Rather than kill pit bulls, Ontario SPCA quits busting dogfights

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Ontario SPCA also quits investigating cockfighting, farmed animal,  & horse-related cases             TORONTO, Ontario––Paid $5.75 million per year by the Ontario government to enforce animal-related legislation,  the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has unilaterally––and without public announcement or prior disclosure to the government––opted out of enforcing laws including the 2006 provincial ban […]

Over-counting jaguars, over-estimating poaching

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1964-1966 flood rescue data suggests there were never as many jaguars in Suriname as World Animal Protection claims have been poached PARAMARIBO,  Suriname––Claims recently amplified on social media about the alleged extent of jaguar poaching in Suriname appear to have inflated at most a handful of rare,  scattered incidents occurring over many years into a […]

Mystery marine toxo host kills sea mammals; cats wrongly blamed

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Toxoplasma gondii finding in beluga whales points same way as sea otter and monk seal studies––& not toward cats             MONTREAL––A new study widely publicized for allegedly linking domestic cats to losses of endangered beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River estuary actually shows almost the opposite,  read in context––and contributes to a growing stack of […]

Pit mix fatality spotlights failure of so-called “Calgary model”

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Victim killed by her own dog while defending grandchild              CALGARY,  Alberta––Lisa Lloyd,  50,  of Langdon,  Alberta,  killed by her own pit bull/boxer mix on September 16,  2018 while defending her two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter from attack,  lived about 21 miles,  28 minutes of travel time,  from Calgary Animal Services. “The child was taken to hospital with serious but […]

Trainer who pushed pit bulls for police work indicted for fraud

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Animal Farm Foundation funded suspect to boost the image of pit bulls             MONTREAL,  SAN ANTONIO––The pit bull advocacy organization Animal Farm Foundation,  of Bangali,  New York,  had already had a difficult week,  even before a federal grand jury in San Antonio,  Texas on August 23,  2018 returned an indictment against Bradley Croft,  46,  on […]