Animals 24-7

News & perspective for the humane community

Wolves, grey whales, & sea lions targeted to preserve meat-getting traditions

by

Cultural demand for killing wildlife is much stronger than economic interest             SEATTLE––The good news for wolves,  grey whales,  and California sea lions in the Pacific Northwest is that all three once-endangered predators,  now long off the U.S. endangered species list,  are reclaiming small niches in habitat that for millennia they dominated,  before human activity––especially […]

Mercury Toxicity as a Cause for Stranded Marine Mammals is not a Mystery

by

by Bill McGraw (Ph.D. in aquaculture, Boquete, Panama;  www.newaquatechpanama.com) Approximately 37% of marine mammal species are in danger of extinction,  according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.  Among the most often reported concerns regarding deaths of whales and dolphins are the phenomena of these animals beaching or “stranding” themselves en masse. Episodic […]

Vaquita, totoaba:  Gunfire on the Sea of Cortez

by

Alleged poacher tried to recover net confiscated by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society             SAN FELIPE,  Baja California, Mexico––An alleged poacher and two apparently uninvolved passers-by were reportedly hit by gunfire in a March 28,  2019 confrontation with Mexican marines in San Felipe,  Baja California,  Mexico. The shooting incident was among the most violent yet in […]

Shark-dragger gets five weekends in jail, fine of $2,500

by

Copped a plea;  last alleged participant will go to trial TAMPA––Florida man Michael Wenzel,  22,  who shot a shark in June 2017,  then was videotaped exulting as the dying shark was dragged behind a speedboat,  will spend five weekends in jail for related offenses,  beginning on March 8,  2019,  is to pay a fine of […]

Study: killing cormorants tripled losses of salmon & steelhead

by

“This goes down as one of the really significant failures in wildlife management in recent decades.” PORTLAND, Oregon––Cormorant massacres at East Sand Island,  near the mouth of the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington,  not only did not save any salmon and steelhead from predation in 2015 through 2017,  but may have tripled predation losses,  […]

U.K.: “Nation of animal lovers” or of wildlife assassins?

by

Royal SPCA,  Royal Society for the Protection of Birds,  et al disregard & even promote cruelty on a shocking scale             LONDON,  U.K.––The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Great Britain,  the world’s oldest western-style animal advocacy organization,  founded in 1824 and granted a royal charter in 1840 by Queen Victoria,  wants […]

Why killing predators won’t bring back the salmon

by

Gulls join sea lions,  seals,  & cormorants in the crosshairs             VICTORIA,  British Columbia;  PORTLAND, Oregon––Blaming seals and sea lions for declining salmon stocks,  Pacific Balance Pinniped Society founder Thomas Sewid is frustrated these days because,  Sewid posted to Facebook on January 23,  2019,  “My firearm possession and acquisition license is expired.  I cannot hunt […]

Frustrated fishers push to kill West Coast sea lions & seals

by

Newly formed Pacific Balance Pinnipeds Society gives voice to anger             VANCOUVER,  B.C.;  PORTLAND,  Oregon––Removing a longtime irritant to the British Columbia wild salmon fishing industry––and a major economic competitor––the British Columbia government and First Nations have agreed to phase out 17 commercial salmon farms operated since 1987 by a company called Marine Harvest off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.             The […]

Ontario allows hunters to kill 50 cormorants a day

by

“The worst wild game management decision in Canadian history” by Barry Kent MacKay Artist & naturalist:  www.barrykentmackay.ca Director of Canadian & Special ProgramsBorn Free             Doug Ford,  the recently elected prime minister of Ontario,  who at one time claimed to be an ethical vegetarian,  has just proposed what I believe is the single worst wild […]

Mystery marine toxo host kills sea mammals; cats wrongly blamed

by

Toxoplasma gondii finding in beluga whales points same way as sea otter and monk seal studies––& not toward cats             MONTREAL––A new study widely publicized for allegedly linking domestic cats to losses of endangered beluga whales in the St. Lawrence River estuary actually shows almost the opposite,  read in context––and contributes to a growing stack of […]