Tribal baseball tradition much better documented than "suicide racing" OMAK, Washington––Add at least two more dead horses to the mounting toll from the annual Omak Stampede Rodeo “Suicide Race,” bringing the known toll since 1983 to 25, with many more suspected but undocumented, … [Read More...]
Pushing bully behavior: the ASPCA, Best Friends, & HSUS in Springfield
An open letter from Beth Clifton to: Matthew Bershadker, president, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Julie Castle, president, Best Friends Animal Society; Kitty Block, president, Humane Society of the United States Dear Matthew, Julie, & Kitty: Thank you in … [Read More...]
What does the Omak Suicide Race owe to a horse massacre & the KKK?
Uncovering the nasty origins of an ugly event OMAK, Washington––Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the “World Famous Suicide Race” held annually in Omak, Washington, is that the 12 Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation embrace as their own an event which appears to have … [Read More...]
Springfield, Missouri votes down ban on acquiring new pit bulls
First-ever election win for pit bull advocates SPRINGFIELD, Missouri––Out-spending voices for animal and human safety by a margin perhaps as high as $10,000 to $1.00, pit bull advocates on August 7, 2018 celebrated their first-ever defeat of a pit bull ban in a municipal general election. Reversing the outcome of earlier attempts to repeal pit bull bans in Miami-Dade County, … [Read More...]
Vaquita: Trump’s Trojan Horse in war on Endangered Species Act?
Beware of trade judges bearing gifts! WASHINGTON D.C.––Will U.S. President Donald Trump use the highly endangered vaquita porpoise as the Trojan Horse for his efforts to strip “critical habitat” protections from the Endangered Species Act? Protecting the vaquita as directed on July 26, 2018 by U.S. Court of International Trade judge Gary S. Katzmann would cost the Trump administration … [Read More...]
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 in 2015 photographed several deer clustered around a fire … [Read More...]
$1.5 million DC Cat Count: useful, make-work, or compiling a hit list?
Counting cats in Washington D.C. & how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall WASHINGTON D.C.––For $1.5 million, one could catch, sterilize, and microchip all of the approximately 7,000 free-roaming, not-yet-fixed cats who may be at large in the 68.34 square miles of Washington D.C., at an average cost per cat of about $214. The probable number of free-roaming cats in … [Read More...]
Wayne Pacelle & Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom celebrate returns from extinction
Sagas of alleged giant predators turned animal rights stars WASHINGTON D.C.––Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a saga of supposedly vanished giant predators, reinvented as animal rights celebrities, debuted to bad reviews on June 22, 2018, yet proved to be a box office magnet, grossing $1.2 billion in its first month. Animal Wellness Action, a political action committee … [Read More...]
“Best science” won’t protect “clean meat” from foes, warns vet of biotech wars
Fear of science & change will be weapons for animal industries trying to save their rump roasts CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts––“Do not assume that doing the best science possible will insulate you from criticism,” AquaBounty Technologies chief executive Ronald L. Stotish warned the New Harvest 2018 conference on “cellular agriculture,” toward the end of two days of intensive … [Read More...]
“Rigor mortis is our biggest problem,” meat scientist tells cell culturing conference
Animal agribiz is about dead meat; cellular ag isn't CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts––Rigor mortis is the biggest technical problem the meat industry has, John R. White Company meat scientist Benjy Mikel, Ph.D., of Birmingham, Alabama, emphasized on July 20, 2018 to the New Harvest 2018 conference on cellular agriculture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media … [Read More...]
Sages testify about overgrazing in wild horse habitat
Western range issues can be seen from space BILLINGS, Montana––No one needs to take anyone else’s word about the condition of the western range. Monitor Google Earth for a while and ancient sages will tell you all about it. First, though, it is necessary to understand the evolutionary and ecological relationships among sagebrush, grasslands, and forest. Sagebrush, … [Read More...]
Beavers gnaw way toward wolf, grizzly & economic recovery in the Cascades
Future of logging, hunting, fishing & ranching region lies with nonlethal wildlife tourism TWISP, Washington––Vanishing salmon, Washington’s worst wildfire roaring through the Methow River Valley in July 2014, and flash floods that turned roads into rivers even before Finley Canyon stopped reeking of smoke and ash have brought beaver back to the Upper and Lower Beaver Creek … [Read More...]
BLM to gather 575 Nevada wild horses, thanks to Friends of Animals’ “victory”
Friends of Animals blocked use of contraception while wild horse herd multiplied GARDNERVILLE, Nevada––One of the largest planned gathers of wild horses in recent memory, scheduled for Pine Nut Mountains Herd Management Area of western Nevada in fall 2018, results directly from Friends of Animals’ May 2016 claimed success in causing the Bureau of Land Management to retreat from … [Read More...]
Pit bulls bring turmoil & turnover to Chicago & Oakland animal shelters
Chicago animal control director out; Oakland director quit but is still there, for now CHICAGO, OAKLAND––More than two weeks after Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel controversially fired two-year Chicago Animal Care & Control director Susan Russell, and more than two months after Oakland Animal Services director Rebecca Katz put her job on the line to shake loose funding to fill … [Read More...]
Revenge-seeking Icelandic “Ahab” denies killing the great blue whale
"Blood feud" with anti-whalers began when Sea Shepherds sank two of his ships in 1986 REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Kristján Loftsson, the “Captain Ahab” of the North Atlantic, has furiously denied that the 22nd of at least 27 whales killed by his ships in June and July 2018 was the first endangered blue whale harpooned by whalers since 1978, but experts around the world think otherwise. News of the … [Read More...]
St. James Infirmary in Saskatoon: One Health 2018
Humane societies played hooky SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Canada––From the perspective of 1,500 miles and more than two weeks away, the most remarkable aspect of the recent 5th International One Health Congress in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was that even though hundreds of people participated, many of those who should have been there were not. No one attended representing any animal … [Read More...]