Ruling reverses attempt to gut the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1919 NEW YORK CITY––“It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime,” wrote U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni in an August 11, 2020 decision upholding enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 as it […]
COVID-19: speedboat toll on manatees soars, but large land mammals get a break
Trump administration downlisted manatees to “threatened” status before body count doubled ST. PETERSBURG, Florida; DAVIS, California––More manatees, but fewer large land mammals, appear to have been hit by motor vehicles during the first five months of COVID-19 lockdowns, studies from four states show. The bad news for manatees, reported by the Florida Fish & Wildlife […]
Rare Aussie animals save themselves, no thanks to Compound 1080
Brush-tailed rock wallabies & long-nosed potoroos need habitat, poison drops CANBERRA, ADELAIDE, MELBOURNE, Australia––Investigators are finding, in the wake of bushfires that ravaged protected habitat right around the forested coastal perimeter of Australia, that many rare Australian animals apparently know how to save themselves, with or without human help. More than a billion animals are […]
Three recent deaths of people who cared about animals in very different ways
Conservation theorist Michael E. Soulé, 84; activist Linda Ann DeStefano, 76; Bill Jenkins, 53 Michael E. Soulé, 84, widely identified as the “father of conservation biology,” but an enthusiastic advocate of “compassionate conservation” by the end of his life and career, died on June 17, 2020. “Conservation is engaged in the protection of the integrity […]
COVID-19 kills Roy Horn, 75, of Siegfried & Roy, role model for “Joe Exotic”
Manicured image as “positive reinforcement” trainer & conservationist was, like the Siegfried & Roy show, largely illusory LAS VEGAS––Entertainer Roy Horn, 75, whose illusion acts with longtime partner Siegfried Fischbacher famously featured white tigers, pythons, and elephants, died on May 8, 2020 in Las Vegas, his home for nearly 50 years, from complications of […]
Guerrillas gun down 12 gorilla guards & five others in Virunga, DRC
Resurgent Ebola and COVID-19 escalate threats to already high-risk habitat VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of the Congo––At least 17 people, including 12 Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation rangers whose primary duty is protecting critically endangered mountain gorillas, were killed in an April 24, 2020 ambush attack. No gorillas are known to have been caught […]
Add to COVID-19 toll expanded hunting on U.S. Wildlife Refuges
Trump administration appointees open more federal refuges to hunting than last three administrations combined WASHINGTON D.C.––Opponents of hunting might imagine that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service chief Aurelia Skipwith waited until the public was distracted by soaring daily death tolls from the COVID-19 global pandemic to announce the biggest-ever […]
From gorillas to shelter dogs: animals caught in the COVID-19 crunch
No animals other than bats & humans are known to get COVID-19, but millions are affected by the human response WASHINGTON D.C.––Animals and animal-related projects from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo to National Institutes of Health-funded laboratories are feeling the impact of the international COVID-19 scare underway throughout early 2020, […]
Ancestors of the Tiger King: Peter Batten & Living Trophies
Living Trophies: A Shocking Look at the Conditions in America’s Zoos by Peter Batten Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1976. 246 pages, hardcover. Available from major online booksellers at prices ranging from $7.50 to $25.00. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton First aired on March 20, 2020, the six-part Netflix documentary series Tiger King, produced by Eric […]
Noted in passing: “Turtle God” & rhino, elephant, & lion advocates
Victims of cancer, assassins, & two killed by the species they loved “Turtle God” Peter Pritchard, 76, died in hospice care on February 26, 2020. Known as “the Turtle God,” recalled longtime Tampa Times environmental reporter Craig Pittman, Pritchard at his home in Oviedo, Florida kept what Pittman believed to be “the largest private collection […]
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