Animals 24-7

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

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 […]

Guerrillas gun down 12 gorilla guards & five others in Virunga, DRC

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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 […]

From gorillas to shelter dogs: animals caught in the COVID-19 crunch

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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,  […]

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 […]

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 […]

Feds probe alleged rapes & murders by WWF-funded anti-poaching militias

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U.K., Germany,  & Switzerland also concerned about World Wildlife Fund-backed paramilitary operations             WASHINGTON D.C.–– The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and other federal agencies are investigating allegations repeatedly raised for more than a dozen years by media––chiefly by the online periodical BuzzFeed News,  but also including ANIMALS 24-7––that funds granted by the U.S. government […]