55% of Michigan voters reject wolf hunting season LANSING, Michigan; AUGUSTA, Maine––Ballot initiative campaigns heavily funded by the Humane Society Legislative Fund arm of the Humane Society of the U.S. won symbolic and temporary protection for wolves in Michigan on November 4, 2014, but failed to protect bears in Maine. Blogged HSUS president Wayne Pacelle in […]
Baiting bears & a governor in Maine and New Jersey
AUGUSTA, Maine; TRENTON, New Jersey––Asking Maine voters to abolish baiting bears by ballot initiative on November 4, 2014, the Humane Society of the U.S. appears to be taking the politically most ambitious approach to the issue, but Friends of Animals on October 22, 2014 introduced the most attention-grabbing tactic. Vegan donuts Announced FoA campaign director […]
When are alleged fighting dogs not pit bulls?
When the Humane Society of the U.S. sends the media release SEVIERVILLE, Tennessee––When are 50 pit bulls seized from an alleged fighting dog breeding kennel in rural Tennessee not pit bulls? When the Humane Society of the U.S. helps with the bust, writes the press release about it, and distributes it to media nationwide, while […]
Don’t repeat our mistake of passing CAPA, say Delaware residents
“Horrible legislation” The State of Delaware passed the Companion Animal Protection Act in 2010, recommended by No Kill Advocacy Center founder Nathan Winograd and now under consideration in many other jurisdictions, and it has been horrible legislation for the taxpayers and for the animals of our state. We are a small state that has a […]
Igor, 58, ex-laboratory gibbon
Igor, 58, a male gibbon who had resided at the International Primate Protection League sanctuary in Summerville, South Carolina since 1987, was euthanized on October 13, 2014, three days after suffering a stroke that left his right side paralyzed and not responding to treatment. “Igor could not swing or climb,” IPPL founder Shirley McGreal told […]
Note to animal abusers: Big Brother is watching you!
WASHINGTON D.C.–– Federal Bureau of Investigation director James B. Comey on September 17, 2014 announced that the FBI will add cruelty to animals to the national Uniform Crime Report Program as a unique category of offense. Including crimes against animals in the Uniform Crime Report Program is unlikely to change broad understandings about the […]
Nathan Winograd in perspective
Why did Winograd dodge a challenge? On July 11, 2014 the AR-2014 conference hosted in Los Angeles by the Farm Animal Rights Movement was to feature a talk and video presentation by No Kill Advocacy Center founder Nathan Winograd, who was allocated more than 90 minutes. When FARM offered me 15 minutes to speak in […]
Charity Navigator issues “donor advisory” about HSUS & coplaintiffs’ $15.7 million settlement with Ringling
Replaces “three star” rating of HSUS with “donor advisory” WASHINGTON D.C.––Responding to the May 15, 2014 agreement by the Humane Society of the United States and codefendants to pay Feld Entertainment Inc. $15.75 million, in settlement of a lawsuit accusing HSUS and the codefendants of racketeering, the online nonprofit evaluation agency Charity Navigator has […]
Bull-riding sponsor Forrest Lucas forms anti-animal advocacy “Super PAC”
“Protect the Harvest,” or “Protect the Professional Bull Riders” franchise? DAVENPORT, Iowa––Why did oil magnate Forrest Lucas form Protect The Harvest, among the most aggressive and best-funded of anti-animal advocacy fronts? Perhaps it was just to protect the enormous Lucas Oil Products investment in Professional Bull Riders, Inc., whose Touring Pro Division bears the Lucas […]
Animal rights movement pioneer Belton Mouras, 90
Began with raccoon rescues Belton Paul Mouras, 90, died on May 14, 2014 at his home in Sacramento, California. The son of a disabled sharecropper from the Louisiana bayou country, Belton Mouras spoke only Cajun French until he started school at age eight. While other boys of the time and place trapped and hunted, Mouras […]