Father of Lions: Saving Starving Animals at the Mosul Zoo by Louise Callaghan 383 pages, 2020. Forge Book, c/o Tom Doherty Associates; available in multiple print & electronic formats c/o Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and Kindle at prices from $12.99 up. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton “Good afternoon. I am writing because I want to […]
Mad Russians overrun Ukraine rabies belt; refugee canines flee west
Invasion stops progress against fox rabies outbreak raging since 2004 KHARKIV, Ukraine; ATLANTA, Georgia; SURPRISE, Arizona––The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] web site has quietly announced, without an accompanying media release, that it “is working to expedite import permit requests for dogs that originate in Ukraine and surrounding countries for persons wishing […]
Kaavan flies to sanctuary with “elephant singers” Cher and Amir Khalil
World of friends help “world’s loneliest elephant” ISLAMABAD, Pakistan; PHNOM PENH, Cambodia––Kaavan, long billed “the world’s loneliest elephant,” was a flying elephant this morning, November 30, 2020, en route from the defunct Marghuzar Zoo in Islamabad, Pakistan, to share a 25,000-acre habitat with three female Asian elephants inside the the one-million acre Kulen-Promtep Wildlife […]
Chickens were the most numerous casualties of the Beirut explosion
Animals Lebanon & Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals scramble to aid animal survivors BEIRUT, Lebanon––How many chickens lived and died to blow up Beirut? Probably millions, but that toll––like all others pertaining to animals––eludes estimation from the available data about the August 4, 2020 ammonium nitrate explosion that killed at least 158 […]
Animals for ransom: zoos & the COVID-19 cash flow crunch
Is COVID-19 really Armaggedon for zoos, or just another funding pitch? HONG KONG, LONDON––Seven thousand animals at Ocean Park in Hong Kong and as many as 20,000 animals at the London Zoo and subsidiary Whipsnade Zoo are only the most politically conspicuous of thousands of menageries now at risk––and perhaps being held for ransom […]
Heart failure fells Vier Pfoten (Four Paws) founder Helmut Dungler, 56
Dungler died at the Lionsrock sanctuary he founded BETHLEHEM, South Africa––Helmut Dungler, 56, founder of the international animal charity Vier Pfoten (Four Paws), died on January 5, 2020 from a sudden massive heart attack suffered on one of his frequent visits to the Lionsrock sanctuary, among the biggest and most ambitious of the many […]