Local humane society says nothing ESSEX, Ontario––Why has the Harrow Fair, the official fair of Essex County, Ontario, elected to become internationally notorious for promoting so-called “parlor pigeons” as “the bowling balls of the avian world?” Why has the county allowed it? Why did the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society say and do nothing about it […]
TNR protects African wildcats from “genetic pollution” & ferals from cruelty
Alley Cat Rescue begins project at Kruger National Park KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa––Alley Cat Rescue, of Mount Ranier, Maryland, is now “working to implement trap-neuter-return programs for stray/feral cats around Kruger National Park,” according to founder Louise Holton, to keep African wildcats from hybridizing with their domestic descendants. Having “advocated for the humane […]
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 […]
Leaving The Wild: The Unnatural History of Dogs, Cats, Cows & Horses
by Gavin Ehringer Pegasus Books, distributed by W.W. Norton & Co. 364 pages. $27.95 hardcover. In stores December 5, 2017. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Remember the most gripping and informative few books you ever read about dogs, cats, cows, and/or horses, by authors as thorough as the multi-time best sellers Desmond Morris, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, […]
Eight hundred years of zoos in London
New book and 2004 volume detail the origins of zoos as we know them LONDON, U.K.––Scheduled for official publication by Viking/Pegasus on April 4, 2017, The Zoo: The Wild And Wonderful Tale Of The Founding Of London Zoo, by British television producer Isobel Charman, has drawn pre-publication raves from reviewers fortunate enough to receive […]
The animal issue that made Donald Trump a presidential candidate
Or, what is bio-xenophobia? (Part I of a four-part series. See also How an ant doctor came to be driving public policy; How the Twin Towers fell on animals too; and Questioning the claims of “crisis.”) With just six weeks left of the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign season, xenophobia, the fear of foreigners, has thus far […]
How an ant doctor came to be driving public policy
Who is E.O. Wilson? (Part 2 of a four-part series. See also The animal issue that made Donald Trump a presidential candidate; How the Twin Towers fell on animals too; and Questioning the claims of “crisis.”) Perhaps the most influential author and thinker from the rise of the late 20th century environmental movement to today, and certainly […]