Animals 24-7

News & perspective for the humane community

Noted in passing: “Turtle God” & rhino, elephant, & lion advocates

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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 […]

Cat Tale:  The Wild,  Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther

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by Craig Pittman Hanover Square Press,  2020.  336 pages. Hardcover,  Kindle,  and MP3 CD editions available from all major online booksellers. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Cat Tale:  The Wild,  Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther could in many ways be called a sequel to longtime Tampa Bay Times environmental reporter Craig Pittman’s previous four […]

Elephant trophy auction covers for opening bushmeat trade

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Global warming intensifies pressure to profit from wildlife before habitat loss depletes species GABERONE,  Botswana;  HARARE,  Zimbabwe;  DAR ES SALAAM,  Tanzania––Big as they are,  the 60 elephants whose lives were auctioned at Bobonong Kgotla,  Botswana on February 7,  2020 may be the least of the casualties from attempts by the governments of Botswana and Tanzania […]

Denver repeals pit bull ban on night that pit bulls kill two people

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Ink dried in Denver before the tears in Chicago,  Los Angeles,  & Tampa DENVER,  CHICAGO,  LOS ANGELES,  TAMPA––Pit bulls made news in four major U.S. cities on the night of February 10,  2020. In Plainfield,  Illinois,  a Chicago suburb,  25-year-old Devin J. White died from severe bites to his arms inflicted two nights earlier by […]

Tim Stark: 120-count conviction, yet roadside zoo remains open

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Features animal-handling sessions             CHARLESTOWN,  Indiana––Wildlife In Need (WIN) roadside zoo operator Tim Stark on February 7,  2020 told WDRB reporter Chad Mills that he intends to appeal the February 3,  2020 permanent revocation of his USDA license to exhibit animals by chief administrative law judge Channing D. Strother and remain in business. The Wildlife […]

Mountain goat massacre begins in Grand Tetons

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Shaky science may doom mountain goats in their own habitat             JACKSON,  Wyoming––The northern and western slopes of the Cathedral Mountains in Grand Teton National Park were on January 5,  2020 closed to the public to allow air gunners flown by Baker Aircraft of Baker City,  Oregon,  to massacre as many as 100 mountain goats […]

Sidney Holt, 93, achieved goal that great whales would outlive him

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70-year scientific career focused on whale conservation PACIANO, Italy––Marine scientist Sidney J. Holt,  93,  died on December 22,  2019 at his home in Paciano,  Italy,  about 80 miles north of Rome and 10 miles north of his previous longtime home in Citta della Pieve,  Italy. Holt thereby realized his often stated life’s ambition of having […]

Iran to keep six cheetah conservationists in prison. Two more await fate.

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Sentences of six to 10 years come amid violent repression of anti-government protests & five-day Internet shutdown TEHRAN, Iran––The Iranian theocracy headed by Hassan Rouhani on November 20,  2019 celebrated “victory” over six days of public protest over fuel prices soaring by as much as 300%––and sent a warning to the protesters––by sentencing six of eight […]

Fur sales, wildlife acts, & hiding dog bite history banned in California

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Fur-bearing animals & adopters of shelter/rescue dogs win protections             SACRAMENTO,  California––The new animal-related law in California that Governor Gavin Newsom and mass media said least about,  to help protect Californians against recklessly rehomed dogs with bite history,  may in the end become the most emulated among the raft of bills sent to Newsom’s desk […]

Bird bloodbath over Britain & Scotland: regulatory failures, royal hypocrisy

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“General licenses” mean open season on 22 non-game species LONDON,  Edinburgh––Birds are in steep decline over Europe,  as they are over the U.S. and Canada,  reports the British-based organization BirdLife International,  monitoring bird populations since 1922––but the chief cause of the European bird crash appears to be simply that hunters,  including the British royal family,  […]