Animals 24-7

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

D.C. Cat Count confirms low feral cat population, lots of free-roaming pets

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Birder claims about feral cats hugely exaggerated             WASHINGTON D.C.––Three years & expenditure of $1.5 million after it started,  the D.C. Cat Count results are in,  if not yet formally published in scientific media. The D.C. Cat Count findings demonstrate chiefly what ANIMALS 24-7 has argued for decades:  both birder and cat advocacy organization claims […]

Audubon writer allegedly recommended poisoning cats

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Editor-at-large Ted Williams suspended, then reinstated WASHINGTON D.C.––National Audubon Society president David Yarnold on March 26,  2013 announced that Audubon magazine editor-at-large Ted Williams had been reinstated after a 10-day suspension for allegedly urging the use of the over-the-counter pain reliever acetaminophen to poison feral cats. Though the alleged recommendation was later withdrawn,  it received […]

Shooting war: cats win, feeders lose in East Bay Regional Park District

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East Bay Regional Park District agrees to ceasefire if cat rescuers remove cats from sensitive wildlife areas             OAKLAND, California––Histrionic headlines and activist alerts aside,  what the East Bay Regional Park District board of directors really did at a heated June 15,  2021 meeting over cat policy was to: Permanently reassign staff biologist David “Doctor […]

“Return to Field” from an animal care & control perspective

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by Dawn D. Danielson, RVT,  former director,  County of San Diego Animal Services The subject of intake, holding and release of cats into the community from which they were brought to a shelter is becoming an emotionally charged debate over, among other things, the lawfulness of programs operating under such names as “community cats,” “return […]

“Stand your ground” fails in both iguana case & pit bull attacks

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Florida attorney general’s office says “Stand your ground” law does not apply to animals WEST PALM BEACH, Florida––Rejecting a “stand-your-ground” defense,  Palm Beach County judge Jeffrey Gillen on May 28,  2021 ordered P.J. Nilaja Patterson,  43,  to stand trial on June 30,  2021,  for alleged cruelty to an iguana whom Patterson beat,  dragged,  and kicked […]

San Diego showdown: trap-neuter-return advocates sue vs. return-to-field

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Court case hinges on the difference between a truly feral cat and a tame, friendly cat found at large SAN DIEGO, California—A lawsuit brought against the San Diego Humane Society & SPCA by the Southern California animal rescue charities Pet Assistance Foundation and Paw Protectors seeks to establish,  for the first time,  a clear legal […]

Factory-farmed pigs get a break from vaccine breakthrough

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For factory-farmed pigs,  avoiding African swine fever may be about as good as the grim news gets GREENPORT, New York––With all eyes on the progress of vaccination against the global COVID-19 pandemic,  which has to date killed nearly 3.5 million people,  the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service in early May quietly announced a breakthrough […]

British feds to cull badgers, ignoring lessons of 1,000 years

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Bio-xenophobia hits pine marten & grey squirrels,  too LONDON, U.K.––Though culling predators has come to be recognized as one of the larger ecological mistakes of the Romans,  the Normans,  the Georgians in the 18th century,  and 20th century British governments,  British environment secretary Owen Paterson on February 27,  2013 announced that badgers will be culled […]

Bullets for bison in Grand Canyon National Park

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Bison again under fire,  50 years after film “Bless the Beasts & the Children” exposed the massacre,  shocking the world             GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Arizona––The National Park Service accepted 45,000 applications from would-be volunteer bison shooters during a 48-hour window opening on May 3,  2021 at midnight. A dozen shooters will be selected by […]

Animal charity management: mobilized millennials bumping off boomers?

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Regime change underway at Animal Legal Defense Fund,  National Audubon Society,  & Tony La Russa’s Animal Foundation COTATI,  WALNUT CREEK,  California;  NEW YORK,  N.Y.––Are unionization at the Animal Legal Defense Fund,  the resignation of five members of Tony La Russa’s family from Tony La Russa’s Animal Foundation,  though not La Russa himself,  and the exit […]