Animals 24-7

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

Reptile diversity study findings are less scary than a snake in your boot

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Mainstream reportage focused on the bad news,  but reptiles remain likely to outlive us WASHINGTON D.C.––All dinosaurs except birds,  all ichthyosaurs,  and all pterosaurs are  confirmed extinct. Dragons,  griffins,  and Godzilla are alive and well in human imagination,  the only habitat they ever actually occupied. Among the other 10,196 reptile species for whom population and […]

Bans on pit bulls & backyard chickens survive repeal votes in Winnipeg

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Pit bull ban would have been replaced by “one free bite” WINNIPEG, Manitoba––Rejecting both of the leading pet-keeping fads of the past two decades,  both often covers for animal fighting and organized crime,  the Winnipeg city council by identical 9-7 votes on April 28,  2022 upheld reputedly the oldest pit bull ban in Canada and […]

Will bird flu cut the U.S. appetite for chicken, eggs, ducks, & turkey?

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Public notices eagle deaths & higher prices             CHICAGO,  Illinois––Soaring egg prices,  bald eagles dropping from the skies in at least 14 states,  and 200 dead birds found at Baker Lake in the Forest Preserves of Cook County,  forty miles northwest of Chicago,  in mid-April 2022 began to bring the mainstream mass media spotlight to […]

Marineland of Canada & Mystic Aquarium in hot water over beluga deaths

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Two of five “healthy” beluga whales sold by Marineland to Mystic in 2021 have died & a third is reportedly ill MYSTIC,  Connecticut;  NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario––Two of the longtime most controversial marine mammal exhibition venues in North America are taking heat––again––after the deaths of two out of five beluga whales who were transferred from one […]

20 murdered at U.S.-owned Mexican cockpit

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Three U.S. citizens identified among the dead ZINAPECUARO,  Mexico––Three U.S. citizens died and a fourth was critically wounded at an illegal cockfight on March 27,  2022 in Zinapecuaro, Michoacan state,  Mexico,  about halfway between Mexico City and Jalisco. The four U.S. citizens were among the 20 dead and six reported survivors in killings that Mexican […]

Ghost of seal hunt haunts Canadian trucker blockades over COVID-19 testing

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Former seal hunt defender Brian Peckford,  79,  makes political last stand at expense of cattle,  pigs,  & public health OTTAWA, Canada––Canadian cattle and pigs fed grain from the United States are going hungry.  Some cattle and pigs en route from Canada to finishing and slaughter in the U.S. may be stuck aboard trucks. Entering a […]

McDonald’s McPlant: can it save the world from becoming McToast?

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McPlant will save animals from becoming Big Macs––millions?  Billions? CHICAGO,  Illinois––Sixty years after the first McDonald’s attempt to introduce a meatless burger became perhaps the most notorious flop in fast food history,  the company appears poised to try again––and not a moment too soon for animals and the earth. Beginning on Valentine’s Day 2022,  600 […]

“Spay-It-Forward” says Dr. Jeff, Rocky Mountain Vet

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Veterinarian Jeff Young updates an idea from Menander, Ben Franklin,  & Ralph Waldo Emerson DENVER, Colorado––Jeff Young,  DVM,  star of the reality TV show Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet,  reaching more than a million viewers per episode since 2015,  wants to sell the veterinary and humane communities on the concept he calls Spay-It-Forward. Young,  an animal control officer […]

Pit bulls, greenhouse gases, & poop: the solution is not dilution

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Or,  pit bull breeding kennels & the Tower of Babel VAUGHAN, Ontario;  CAERPHILLY, Wales;  DURBANVILLE,  South Africa;  OKLAHOMA CITY,  Oklahoma––“The solution to pollution is dilution,”  industrial polluters frequently persuaded politicians,  back in the early days of the environmental movement,  long before either pit bull attacks or greenhouse gases became a hot public issue. In the […]

Native opposition to fur farming joins COVID-19 to kill the B.C. mink industry

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British Columbia government accepts recommendation of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs VICTORIA, B.C.––British Columbia agriculture minister Lana Popham on November 5, 2021 made British Columbia the first jurisdiction in North America to announce a permanent ban on mink farming. In so doing,  Popham responded,  six months later,  to an April 6,  2021 urgent […]