Animal advocates wean themselves from the “gaushala” dairy tradition NEW DELHI, India––The billboard message “#DontGetMilked. Ditch Dairy! Go Vegan!” posted recently in Nehru Place, New Delhi by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO), is a crowd-stopper. It might not rate a blink, let alone a shocked doubletake from visiting American and European […]
Could non-leather Zoa make the majors in sports before fashion?
Two high-tech sporting goods pioneers think so COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.; CHENNAI, India––If sports are the testing ground for style, then Modern Meadow Inc., makers of Zoa brand cultured leather, should be pleased as punch with reader response to the ANIMALS 24-7 feature article No animals skinned to make new Zoa “biofabricated” leather, published on October 9, 2017. […]
What if the U.S. Supreme Court ruled rodeo unconstitutional?
It happened in India! NEW DELHI, India––Imagine the U.S. Supreme Court resoundingly rebuking the Donald Trump presidential administration by holding rodeo to be unconstitutional, regardless of how culturally entrenched it is among “red state voters,” his support base. Difficult though it may be to imagine newly appointed U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions moving under […]
Farmed animals & the Brexit “diet plan”
Part II of a 5-part series (See also Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?, Farmed animals & money talks, What Brexit means for “pet passports” & lab animals and Back to the Jungle Book: U.K. wildlife law post-Brexit.) LONDON, U.K.––Quipsters have it that Brexit, as the June 23, 2016 choice of United Kingdom […]
Feral cats & street dogs: part 3 of What to call cats & why It matters
by Merritt Clifton Part 3 of a four-part series. See also: What to call cats, & why it matters: evolving terms; “Vagrant” or “feral” cats; and “Community cats” vs. community health. The arrival of “feral” From 1920 through 1991, according to NewspaperArchive.com, “feral cats” had been mentioned in U.S. daily newspapers just 134 times. From 1992 to date, […]
India drops animal welfare rep from lab oversight board
Animal Welfare Board of India chief ousted for opposing bullfighting CHENNAI, India––Crippling the ability of the Animal Welfare Board of India to monitor animal use in biomedical research and product safety testing, Indian minister of environment and forests Prakash Javadekar has removed AWBI chair R.M. Kharb from his position on the 13-member Committee for […]
Showdown at the Indian-style bullfighting corral
Animal Welfare Board faces off against the BJP government CHENNAI, NEW DELHI––The elected government of India and the appointed but constitutionally empowered Animal Welfare Board of India appear to be headed toward a showdown before the Indian Supreme Court––a showdown which precedent indicates the Animal Welfare Board would win. In the interim, however, challenging […]
The good guys don’t harm horses
Facing charges, protesters claim they didn’t DEHRADUN, KANSAS CITY––Populist protest leaders in Dehradun, India and Kansas City, Missouri are facing charges and on the defensive in the court of public opinion for alleged assaults on police horses during political rallies. The big white equine alleged victims look enough alike to have been a matched […]
Supreme Court of India rules against harvest festival mayhem
Animal Welfare Board of India chair R.M. Kharb & vice-chair Chinny Krishna refuse to quit NEW DELHI, CHENNAI––Animals may be killed and injured by the hundreds of thousands during the 2016 Indian harvest festivals, January 12-18, but the mayhem may not proceed with government approval, ruled a two-judge bench representing the Supreme Court of India […]
Madras High Court rules against temple cockfights
CHENNAI––Striking at judicial corruption and moving to close the biggest legal loophole that has allowed cockfighting to persist in India, 54 years after it was nominally banned, the Madras High Court on August 21, 2014 ruled that lower courts may not direct police to permit temple cockfights, in contravention of the Prevention of […]