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 […]
Seaspiracy: seas, piracy, & Cowspiracy meet fishy business
Fishing industry screams bloody murder Reviewed by Merritt & Beth Clifton Seaspiracy, whose title is a fusion of “seas” and “piracy,” and a play on Cowspiracy, the 2014 independent blockbluster documentary also produced by Kip Anderson, on March 24, 2021 premiered worldwide on Netflix. Within 10 days Seaspiracy had become a runaway hit, seen by […]
Florida regulators “put foot down” amid venomous snakes & alligators
Breeding green iguanas, pythons, & tegu lizards will be banned after 2024 TALLAHASSEE, Florida––Trying to lock the Florida swamps decades after green iguanas, pythons, tegu lizards, and countless other reptiles well-adapted to the habitat slithered in, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission on February 25, 2021 voted unanimously to add green iguanas, pythons, […]
Legendary giant turtle, believed extinct, resurfaces in Hanoi lake
Five years after the “last” giant softshell turtle died, one and possibly three more turn up, plus one in zoo HANOI, Vietnam––Five years after the January 2016 death of Cu Rua in Hoan Kiem Lake plunged Vietnam into national mourning for the legendary giant softshell turtle, then believed to have been the last of […]
China prosecutes 10 times more wildlife scofflaws in 2020 than U.S.
COVID-19 triggers sustained crackdown on illegal fishers, poachers, & traffickers BEIJING, China—Cracking down on wildlife-related crime in response to the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, China prosecuted more than 15,000 alleged perpetrators in the first nine months of 2020. About 7,000 prosecutions were for illegal fishing, 4,000 for poaching land animals and birds, and 3,000 for […]
Rare Aussie animals save themselves, no thanks to Compound 1080
Brush-tailed rock wallabies & long-nosed potoroos need habitat, poison drops CANBERRA, ADELAIDE, MELBOURNE, Australia––Investigators are finding, in the wake of bushfires that ravaged protected habitat right around the forested coastal perimeter of Australia, that many rare Australian animals apparently know how to save themselves, with or without human help. More than a billion animals are […]
Three recent deaths of people who cared about animals in very different ways
Conservation theorist Michael E. Soulé, 84; activist Linda Ann DeStefano, 76; Bill Jenkins, 53 Michael E. Soulé, 84, widely identified as the “father of conservation biology,” but an enthusiastic advocate of “compassionate conservation” by the end of his life and career, died on June 17, 2020. “Conservation is engaged in the protection of the integrity […]
Noted in passing: “Turtle God” & rhino, elephant, & lion advocates
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 […]
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