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 […]
Favor to speedboaters: Trump administration downlists manatees
But manatees may benefit from global warming HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Florida––After a record 104 Florida manatees were killed by speeding boaters in 2016, one might almost expect the March 30, 2017 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announcement that Florida manatees are no longer officially endangered to be followed by a shout of “April Fool!” But […]
Animal advocates cleared of Macarena barrio, Bogota bullring bombing
24 police, two civilians injured; six critical BOGOTA, Colombia––Preliminary investigation indicates that anti-bullfighting activists had nothing to do with a bombing on the morning of February 19, 2017 that rocked the Plaza de Toros La Santa María in El Barrio La Macarena. El Barrio La Macarena is the Bogota neighborhood where […]
The dolphin stories that made two authors famous
Build Me An Ark: A Life With Animals, by Brenda Peterson WW. Norton (500 5th Ave., New York, NY 10110-0017), 2000. 256 pages, hardcover. $23.95. Journey Of The Pink Dolphin: An Amazon Quest, by Sy Montgomery Simon & Schuster (1230 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10020), 2000. 320 pages, hardcover. $26.00. Reviewed by […]
Argentinian court grants zoo chimp a writ of habeas corpus
Verdict follows 2014 grant of habeas corpus to an orangutan––but writs set neither animal free MENDOZA, Argentina––A writ of habeas corpus granted on behalf of a chimpanzee named Cecelia on November 3, 2016 by Judge Maria Alejandra Mauricio, of the Third Court of Guarantees in Mendoza, Argentina, may expedite the proposed transfer of Cecelia […]
Questioning the claims of “crisis”
Bio-xenophobia (Part 4 of a four-part series. See also The animal issue that made Donald Trump a presidential candidate; How an ant doctor came to be driving public policy; and How the Twin Towers fell on animals too.) In the first decade after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 there was little opposition to mass killing […]