Claim that killing barred owls & Catalina mule deer is to protect endangered species is at best questionable SALEM, Oregon; LOS ANGELES, California––Blazing gunfire directed at barred owls in the Coast Range of Oregon and at mule deer on Catalina Island, 26 miles west of Los Angeles, again demonstrates how successfully adaptive species can become […]
Catalina Island Conservancy invokes drone ban, starts killing 2,000 deer
Deer cull may do more for wine-growing relatives of Catalina Island Conservancy founder than for either nature or claimed pretext of fire suppression LOS ANGELES––Henry David Thoreau, had he been an observer of the Catalina Island mule deer cull now underway, might have observed that “Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find […]
Wisconsin bear hunters hound Smoky through fire season
“Hazing” bears with dogs & then baiting them increases risk of conflict MADISON, Wisconsin––Only in the warped minds of pack hunters could using dogs to roust bears from quietly feeding in the backwoods, making the bears hungrier, grouchier, and more reactively defensive, and then accustoming them to consume bait piles of human food, be construed […]
“Where’s the beef?” California wolves ask. “It’s what’s for dinner.”
California wolves eat seven times more cattle than wolves in other states DAVIS, California––Are recently self-reintroduced wolves in California targeting cattle due to a scarcity of their natural wild prey, or just as easy prey? Wolves on their way into California, raising their first surviving litter in 2016, followed mule deer and elk herds through […]
Biggest alleged rhino horn poachers yet: game farmers serving trophy trade
Convictions in one case & indictment in another challenge the hunter / conservationist narrative POLOKWANE, South Africa––Decades of hunter/conservationist pretense that poor and/or corrupt Africans are poaching rhinos toward extinction to satiate demand for rhino horn from greedy rich Asians, despite the alleged efforts of game farmers to save the species for trophy hunters to […]
Oh deer: Marineland belugas rehomed, but deer & elk allegedly slaughtered
Belugas likely to be rehomed, anyhow. Marineland history suggests not holding breath unless swimming underwater NIAGARA, Ontario––Tentative good news about the fate of animals left by the 2024 closure of Marineland at Niagara Falls was offset within a week by more of the frequent bad news about Marineland that has emerged since Ontario animal advocate […]
Hunting lobby Michigan United Conservation Clubs goes bust
Would culling the Michigan hunter population have prevented the collapse? LANSING, Michigan––Once reputedly the most influential state-level pro-hunting lobbying voice in the U.S., the Michigan United Conservation Clubs are “dissolving after almost 90 years because of ongoing financial struggles,” reported Dan Basso on May 6, 2026 for the Lansing State Journal. The fiscal collapse of […]
Elephants stomp wine grape-growing millionaire trophy hunter
Why did the death of trophy hunter Ernie Dosio attract more online notice than all 158 comparable cases over the past 20 years? LODI, California––Ernie Dosio, 75, described by Metro correspondent Jamie Pyatt, of Cape Town, South Africa, as “A millionaire U.S. big game hunter,” a longtime wine grape grower from Lodi, California, and “a […]
All the news, good & bad, about vaquitas, jaguars, & hippos, oh my!
Vaquita porpoises & a clouded jaguar seen alive, but Colombian environment minister wants to see feral hippos dead SAN FELIPE, Mexico; TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras; BOGOTA, Colombia––Recently reported good news about vaquita porpoises and jaguars, among the most endangered species in Latin America, was offset by the April 1, 2026 announcement by Colombian environment minister Irene Vélez […]
In memoriam: Mark Bittner, Edward Hoagland, Anthony McAllister
Parrot man, writer, and activist Mark Bittner, 74, who died on March 1, 2026, and Edward Hoagland, 93, who died on February 17, 2026, were both known to millions and are remembered for their unique insights into animal and human relationships. Anthony McAllister, 36, killed in a March 22, 2026 motorcycle accident, was known mostly […]