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 […]
“Cry Me A Cockroach”: Valentine’s Day sadism & the San Antonio Zoo
Cockroaches & rats named after ex-spouses to be fed to snakes SAN ANTONIO, Texas––San Antonio Zoo executive director Tim Morrow and staff appear to be going full speed ahead with a Valentine’s Day “Cry Me A Cockroach” event, despite complaints from around the world that it is mean-spirited, sadistic, and misleading, promotes a hostile […]
Fur sales, wildlife acts, & hiding dog bite history banned in California
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 […]
Animal rescue amid wildfires at either end of California
Record 2018 fire season isn’t over yet PARADISE, MALIBU, California––Some good news for animals, habitat, and ultimately humans may yet emerge from the firestorms simultaneously razing the Sierra Nevada foothills city of Paradise and parts of the far distant coastal city of Malibu––if the already record-setting 2018 California wildfire season gives an anticipated boost […]
What did the deer know before the deadly Carr Fire?
At least 17 fires in 170 years have swept the same canyons, but none before as big or fast-moving FRENCH GULCH, California––The Carr Fire, called a “wildfire tornado” by Cal Fire officials as it burned with enough intensity to create its own weather system, began about five miles where ANIMALS 24-7 social media editor Beth Clifton […]
Two inches of rain means life or death to animals in Kenya
Flash floods broke devastating drought, but not drought cycle menacing wildlife & livestock NAIROBI, Kenya––Just two inches of rain over two days, about what Seattle gets on average in just two weeks, in mid-March 2018 triggered flash floods killing at least 15 Kenyans, marooning six tented camps for wildlife tourists in the Maasai Mara […]
Florida: Bashing the brains out of iguanas as alleged illegal aliens
Iguanas were in Florida first––by 16 million years FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida––Bashing or shooting the brains out of iguanas essentially for the hell of it would be illegal almost anywhere if done to pets. Braining iguanas in the name of research, however, brought University of Florida wildlife biologist and research coordinator Jenny Ketterlin and 14 […]
Russ Rector, “the feared activist feared even among activists,” dead at 69
Said of marine mammal parks, “We’re all showing our age, but I don’t have to pass building inspections.” FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida––Russ Rector, 69, a former Ocean World dolphin trainer whose campaigns on behalf of marine mammals later closed Ocean World, unexpectedly died from natural causes at about 10:00 p.m. on January 7, 2018. Though […]
Naming Nature: The clash between instinct & science
by Carol Kaesuk Yoon W.W. Norton & Co. (500 5th Ave., New York, NY 10110), 2009. 344 pages, hardcover. $27.95. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Though you may never have heard of either “taxonomy” or “cladistics,” the two central concepts in Carol Kaesuk Yoon’s 2009 opus Naming Nature, it remains a fascinating read for […]
Hurricane Harvey hits hunters & fishers harder than wildlife
Shrimp, sea turtles, “sport fish,” teal & doves all get a break HOUSTON, Texas––As hard as Hurricane Harvey hit humans, pets, livestock, and some of the most vulnerable wildlife along the Gulf Coast of Texas and adjacent part of Louisiana, especially big birds who could not escape from the wind, early damage assessments indicate that […]