And how IFAW founder Brian Davies’ $1.4 million winter home didn’t FORT MYERS, Florida––Forty-eight hours after Hurricane Ian first hit the southwest Florida coast on September 28, 2022, and minutes after it slammed into South Carolina two days later, after crossing the width of Florida and regaining momentum over the sea, animal rescuers were […]
Exotic animal sanctuarians race the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Animals in need, unchecked breeding & abandonment, limited resources, & advancing age TAMPA, Florida––The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, according to the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, are death by the sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague. But Ezekiel, though generally believed to have been a vegetarian and perhaps a vegan, was not […]
Reptiles invade Canada––but not by their own choice
Inhospitable habitat, even if herps are kept indoors EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada––Reptile breeder John Makaryshyn, 31, was on May 10, 2022 hit with 37 charges under Canadian federal law and 89 counts of allegedly violating the Animal Protection Act of Alberta in connection with the deaths of 674 reptiles and amphibians whose remains were discovered […]
Reptile diversity study findings are less scary than a snake in your boot
Mainstream reportage focused on the bad news, but reptiles remain likely to outlive us WASHINGTON D.C.––All dinosaurs except birds, all ichthyosaurs, and all pterosaurs are confirmed extinct. Dragons, griffins, and Godzilla are alive and well in human imagination, the only habitat they ever actually occupied. Among the other 10,196 reptile species for whom population and […]
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 […]
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 […]