Animals 24-7

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

Animal friends Kim Crumbo, David Amess, & Ali Laoual Abagana remembered

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Rewilding Earth board member,  Member of Parliament,  & giraffe advocate at CITES Crumbo presumed dead in Shoshone Lake,  Yellowstone National Park Conservationist Kim Crumbo,  74,  remembered by Project Coyote founder Camilla Fox as “a true environmental hero for wildlife and wildlands,”  has been missing and presumed dead since September 20,  2021,  when the remains of […]

Will captive lions caught in wildfire light a fire under South African legislators?

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Promised bill to ban breeding lions for cub-petting, trophy shoots,  & bone commerce awaits introduction––and action             BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa––Five months after South African minister of forestry, fisheries & the environment Barbara Creecy announced that she would pursue legislation to ban breeding captive lions for cub-petting,  trophy shoots,  and exports of lion bones for use […]

NRA loses deal to promote hunting via the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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Biggest trophy the NRA bagged from the Trump administration WASHINGTON D.C.––The National Rifle Association spent $16.3 million during the 2020 U.S. national election campaign to try to secure pro-gun and pro-hunting concessions granted by ex-president Donald Trump. After Trump lost,  the National Rifle Association spent $3.3 million more on federal lobbying. Despite all that,  the […]

South Africa debates end to “canned lion” industry & ivory sales

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“High-Level Panel Report on Lions, Rhinos, Elephants & Leopards” recommends turnabout in national wildlife policy             JOHANNESBURG, South Africa––A South African government wildlife policy study recommends an end to breeding captive lions for cub-petting, trophy shoots of captive-bred and raised lions,  and exports of lion bones for use in traditional Chinese medicine. The paper also […]

U.K. “animal sentience” law: “victory” claimed before the fight begins

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Recognizing animal sentience is part of an “Action Plan for Animal Welfare” yet to be written into draft bills,  let alone passed by Parliament LONDON, U.K.––A week-plus after the Conservative government of the United Kingdom introduced an “Action Plan for Animal Welfare,”  much of the animal welfare sector worldwide has already declared “victory,”  with the […]

Did Chinese zoos buy 170 Namibian elephants sold at secret auction?

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Namibian officials say disclosing purchasers might jeopardize the deal             WINDHOEK, Namibia––Who bought 170 elephants,  auctioned off by the Namibian government against international law,  despite months of protest? Suspicion is growing that Namibia will not disclose the elephants’ buyers until the elephants have already been flown to their destinations,  probably Chinese zoos,  the buyers of […]

“Conserving” rhinos to the brink of extinction

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Zoo births one rhino,  scientists make five rhino embryos,  trophy hunters buy rights to shoot dozens,  & poachers kill 1,000-plus per year DUBBO, Australia;  BERLIN, Germany––The Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo,  Australia,  on March 1,  2021 informed media that it “is celebrating the birth of a critically endangered black rhino calf.” Born to a four-time […]

Murder along the equator: seven die defending parrots & gorillas

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Colombian and Congolese wildlife guardians were ambushed RONCESVALLES,  Colombia;  VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK,  Democratic Republic of Congo––Simultaneous sad reminders of the human cost of wildlife conservation came on January 10,  2021 from the Reserva Loros Andinos in southwestern Colombia and Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Reserva Loros Andinos and Virunga […]

Feds quit funding guns & ammo for “anti-poaching” militias

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MacGregor throws the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society & others out of the lettuce patch             WASHINGTON D.C.––Deputy Interior Secretary Katharine MacGregor on September 18,  2020 quietly ordered major reforms of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] programs which have for decades routed millions of dollars in funding […]

Wildlife Waystation closure: where are the animals now?

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32 chimps still need homes             SYLMAR, California––32 chimpanzees are the last residents of the former Wildlife Waystation sanctuary in Little Tujunga Canyon,  east of Glendale and Los Angeles. A year after Wildlife Waystation closed,  on August 13,  2019,  by order of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife,  finding the funds to rehome the […]