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 […]
How to tell a dead baby dolphin from a dead parrot
or 150,000 alleged dead penguins no one has seen BUENOS AIRES, Argentina––Two of the most timeless axioms in journalism and a great opportunity to educate the public about endangered dolphins and global warming were overlooked during the third week of February 2016 amid an international media scrum and a frenzy of activist denunciations of Argentine […]
NASA finding means calcium chloride castration can be done on Mars
Calcium chloride appears to exist, but alcohol would have to be imported to fix Martian dogs & cats SAN FRANCISCO, California––Eight scientists who analyzed National Aeronautics & Space Administration data on September 28, 2015 announced in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Geoscience that they had discovered strong evidence of the presence of liquid […]
Courts rule that orangutan in Argentina has more rights than chimp in New York state
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina; ALBANY, New York––Ruling opposite to the findings of the New York Court of Appeals just two weeks earlier, the Argentinian Second Appeals Court on December 19, 2014 agreed that an orangutan named Sandra has been improperly imprisoned for 20 years at the Buenos Aires Zoo and issued her a writ of habeas […]
Circus lion attack calls into question the will of Peruvian authorities to enforce wildlife performance ban
CUZCO, Peru––Three years after Peru officially stopped the use of wildlife in circuses, a nominally banned lion named Smith nearly killed schoolteacher Roxana Guevara Huaraca, 32, during an August 14, 2014 performance of the Monaco Circus in Santa Rosa, in the district of San Sebastian, near Cuzco. The highly public and well-publicized appearance of […]
Miguel Ángel Palacios Montoya, 19, was killed defending a dog
Miguel Ángel Palacios Montoya, 19, also known as Michelangelo Palace, was allegedly killed by a machete-wielding drunken neighbor at about six in the morning on May 4, 2014 in Envigado, Colombia, after Palacios and his brother Juan Pablo went to the defense of a dog named Jerry. Juan Pablo Palacios was also injured in the […]
Colombian constitutional court upholds circus ban
BOGOTA, Colombia––The Constitutional Court of Colombia on May 14, 2014 upheld a ban on the use of wild animals, native or exotic, in circuses and traveling animal shows. The ban was approved by the Colombian Congress in June 2013. The Constitutional Court ratified an earlier verdict by magistrate Jorge Iván Palacio. Colombia joined Boliva, Ecuador, […]