Animals 24-7

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

The Coasts of California, ecological apocalypse, & evolution

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Written & illustrated by Obi Kaufmann 639 pages $55.00 from HeydayBooks.com  Yes,  The Coasts of California would make an excellent holiday season gift for anyone interested in nature,  ecology, hiking,  or just in California generally,  if only by reason of living there and wanting to understand the habitat and the socio-economic and political issues associated […]

Bird flu means “cage free” & “free range” hens can run around indoors in the dark

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“Cage free” & “free range” producers protect their “girls” by keeping them in jail Think that “cage-free” or “free-range” label on a box of eggs or meat package amounts to more than bull-feathers? Even if it is certified by any of the major farmed product certification organizations? Amid the current global H5N1 high pathogenic avian […]

Vultures circling overhead are good news for Planet Earth

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Both black vultures & turkey vultures are rapidly expanding U.S. range and numbers Feeling down about global warming,  chemical pollution,  and reports about loss of species? See the vultures circling overhead? Both black vultures and turkey vultures are rapidly expanding in numbers and range across the U.S. Turkey vultures have even appeared in southeastern Alaska […]

“Birds Aren’t Real” ––if only those in poultry barns were not

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The good news is,  vegan food technology means the birds on the menu need not be real MEMPHIS,  Tennessee––The avian advocacy world is still aflutter,  a week after CBS News 60 Minutes reporter Sharyn Alfonsi extensively exposed the “Birds Aren’t Real” hoax conspiracy theory orchestrated from Memphis by 24-year-old University of Arkansas dropout and former […]

Will bird flu cut the U.S. appetite for chicken, eggs, ducks, & turkey?

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Public notices eagle deaths & higher prices             CHICAGO,  Illinois––Soaring egg prices,  bald eagles dropping from the skies in at least 14 states,  and 200 dead birds found at Baker Lake in the Forest Preserves of Cook County,  forty miles northwest of Chicago,  in mid-April 2022 began to bring the mainstream mass media spotlight to […]

Frustrated Georgia turkey hunters take it out on raccoons & opossums

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Experts warn killing raccoons & opossums won’t boost the over-hunted turkey population––but new open season will give hunters animals to shoot year-round             ATLANTA,  Georgia;  BERKELEY, California––Lest anyone doubt that sport hunting is all about finding the opportunity to kill something,  anything,  on any pretext,  both houses of the Georgia state legislature in late March […]

Is the ivory-billed woodpecker––declared extinct five times––still with us?

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Or have scientists just held a seance?            TALLULAH,  Louisiana––“Multiple lines of evidence indicate survival of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Louisiana,”  insist a nine-member team in a newly posted paper by that name. The lineup of co-authors,  headed by Steven C. Latta,  director of conservation at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, […]

Cockatoo Rescue collapse makes case for Animal Welfare Act inspection

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Excessive secrecy hinted at deteriorating conditions for years STANWOOD, Washington––Lori Keene Rutledge,  66,  for thirty years often among the go-to people in parrot rescue,  was on March 14,  2022 removed from her Cockatoo Rescue & Sanctuary in a rural area southeast of Stanwood,  Washington by emergency medical services. Animal control personnel who obtained a search-and-seizure […]

Coyotes, parrots, & the ghosts of George & Joy Adamson

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Four older books offer current lessons: The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa’s Wildlife by Kobie Kruger Ballantine Books (c/o Random House, 299 Park Ave., New York, NY 10171), 2001. 381 pages, hardcover, $26.95. The Daily Coyote,  by Shreve Stockton Simon & Schuster,  1230 Ave. of the Americas,  New York,   NY  10020),  2008.  279 pages, […]

Animal-friendly energy: solar takes flight, wind power gets the bird

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But even bird conservationists favor wind over fossil fuels & nukes             CHEYENNE, Wyoming––Charged with killing at least 150 bald and golden eagles over the past decade at wind farms in eight states,  the NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy on April 5,  2022 pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. […]