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 […]
Lost in translation: “personhood” verdict reportedly won for elephant
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 […]
Finches found in hair curlers: trafficked to sing, or to fight?
Singing said to be behind smuggling busts, but the money may be in fights among caged finches NEW YORK, N.Y.––Circumstantial evidence hints that some or perhaps all of a parade of men caught in the act of allegedly bootlegging Guyanese seed finches into the U.S., purportedly to sell for use in high-stakes singing contests, might […]
Last acts for animal circuses in Russia, India, New Jersey, & Hawaii
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 […]
Over-counting jaguars, over-estimating poaching
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 […]
“We can still save them”: wild cat conservationist Alan Rabinowitz, 65
The “Indiana Jones of wildlife conservation” was an optimist in a field dominated by doom-and-gloom NEW YORK CITY––Wild cat conservationist Alan Rabinowitz died of cancer on August 5, 2018 in Manhattan, New York City, after an 18-year struggle that began with a diagnosis of leukemia in 2001 and spanned most of the achievements for […]
Yellow fever mosquitoes now killing at 10 times the rate of pit bulls
Monkey killings contribute to disease outbreak death tolls in Brazil & India RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil; SINGHUDURG, India––Panic-driven monkey massacres are contributing to human illness and death, with yellow fever deaths up 60% since the end of fiscal 2017, and could help to spark global epidemics, warn Brazilian health officials. More than 718 Brazilians […]
Death of Florida 6-year-old reminds that bat rabies can strike anywhere
Humans & bats evolved to live in frequent proximity, yet rarely meet. That keeps us both safe. ORLANDO, Florida––The January 14, 2018 death of Ryker Roque, 6, at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, just 20 minutes from Disney World and half an hour from Walt Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom, came as […]
Russ Rector, “the feared activist feared even among activists,” dead at 69
Said of marine mammal parks, “We’re all showing our age, but I don’t have to pass building inspections.” FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida––Russ Rector, 69, a former Ocean World dolphin trainer whose campaigns on behalf of marine mammals later closed Ocean World, unexpectedly died from natural causes at about 10:00 p.m. on January 7, 2018. Though […]
Time Is Short And The Water Rises
by John Walsh with Robert Gannon (E.P. Dutton & Co., 1967. 224 pages, hardcover.) Reviewed by Merritt Clifton One can still find battered copies of Time Is Short And The Water Rises through online book search services, often selling for less than the orignal cover price of $6.95, plus postage. My copy was discarded years […]