Animals 24-7

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

“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 […]

Are conservationists becoming an endangered species?

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Three alleged murders among five recent deaths of note The butterfly guys             OCAMPO,  Mexico––Monarch butterfly conservationists Homero Gómez González, 50,  and Raúl Hernández Romero,  44,  were found dead on January 29,  2020 and February 1,  2020,  respectively,  at the El Rosario butterfly preserve that they helped to found and develop […]

Montreal carriage horse trade ends, after 354 years

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“Calèche” industry was long intertwined with defunct harness track,  start of the Premarin industry,  horse slaughter,  and a notorious glue factory              MONTREAL, Quebec––The last vehicle-pulling horses in Montreal,  Quebec,  are to be off the streets before sunset on December 31,  2019––an hour which,  as this article is posted,  has already come and gone. “Far […]

Don’t know pigeons from bowling balls? Among pigeon rollers, you’ll fit right in

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Local humane society says nothing             ESSEX,  Ontario––Why has the Harrow Fair,  the official fair of Essex County,  Ontario,  elected to become internationally notorious for promoting so-called “parlor pigeons” as “the bowling balls of the avian world?” Why has the county allowed it? Why did the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society say and do nothing about it […]

Lost in translation: “personhood” verdict reportedly won for elephant

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Transfer-of-goods tax ruling followed precedent for nonprofit transactions             CHAPADA DOS GUIMARÅES, Mato Grosso,  Brazil––The retired Asian elephant Ramba,  52,  arrived late on October 18,  2019 at the Santuário de Elefantes do Brasil,  or Elephant Sanctuary Brazil,  after a 73-hour journey from Chile.   The transaction was completed after the elephant […]

Why did chuckwagon racer Devin Matsuing dare a grizzly bear to fight?

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The grizzly bear had better sense             BANFF, Alberta––Convicted on September 13,  2019 of disturbing a grizzly bear more than four years earlier,  professional chuckwagon racing driver Devin Mitsuing,  35,  was on September 13,  2019 fined $4,000 by Canmore Provincial Court Judge George Gaschler. Mitsuing was given until October 16,  2019 to pay the fine […]

Concern for rare birds of the Bahamas rises after Hurricane Dorian

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Little chance yet to assess the losses––but the Abaco parrot almost certainly survived              CAPE FEAR, North Carolina––Hurricane Dorian,  downgraded to Category 2,  with peak gust speed dropping by half to a still dangerous 110 miles per hour,  killed five people as it pushed north past the Carolinas,  but as of midnight on September 5,  […]

Hurricane Dorian helps to solve the mystery of the extinct Abaco wild horses

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But Dorian destroys remnants of a 50-year effort to save the herd             TREASURE CAY, Little Abaco,  Bahamas––“This is like listening to a cosmic version of Ravel’s Bolero.  Feeling nervous about when the brass kicks in,”  wrote would-be wild horse savior and local dog rescuer Milanne “Mimi” Rehor,  in her last posting to Facebook before […]

Three more chuckwagon horses killed as Calgary Stampede 2019 ends

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Six horses killed in 10 days; most since 1986              CALGARY,  Alberta––The 2019 Calgary Stampede ended on the night of July 14,  2019 with reportedly the second-highest attendance in the history of the event,  and three more horses killed in the climactic last heat of the Rangeland Derby,  the chuckwagon races that for almost a […]