Chontos spent his last 24 years as a quasi-hermit TOLEDO, Washington––Gene Lee Chontos, 87, cofounder of Wild Burro Rescue and a former board member of several associations of animal sanctuaries, died on September 25, 2025, but ANIMALS 24-7 only learned of his passing on January 20, 2026. “I was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on December […]
Marian Probst, 90, “consequential advocate whom people never heard of.”
Marian Probst built the Fund for Animals behind the scenes NEW YORK, N.Y.––Marian Probst, 90, “passed away peacefully today,” Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 late on December 25, 2025. “Born on March 17, 1935, in Salem, Ohio,” Pacelle continued, “she was one of the […]
A personal tribute to vegan author John Robbins, by Vasu Murti
Diet for A New America author John Robbins dies at 77 from legacy of polio, ANIMALS 24-7 headlined on June 24, 2025, above an extensive obituary covering the facts of Robbins’ life and briefly reviewing his teachings. Robbins’ longtime friend Vasu Murti here offers his further and more personal perspective. The number of animals killed […]
Sandy Rowland, 77, longtime Humane Society of the U.S. representative
Car crash ends 20-year career in Bowling Green civic affairs & politics BOWLING GREEN, Ohio––Sandy Rowland, 77, for more than 30 years a dynamic Great Lakes Region representative for first the Fund for Animals and later the Humane Society of the U.S., died on April 17, 2024 “from extensive injuries sustained in a car accident […]
Why did the ASPCA pres get $966,004, while we got $9.70 an hour?
We are NOT the ASPCA!!! This is an exposé (and appeal) that Beth & I really did not want to have to write, but one of our faithful & reliable donors of $8.00 per month persuaded us that we had to –– because donors like her, for the most part, are paying not only for […]
Conservatism, the religious right, & the evolution of anti-vivisectionism
The right & left hands of anti-vivisectionism have rarely known what each other were doing Included in the recent ANIMALS 24-7 article What animal advocates owe to the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. was a mention that during King’s lifetime, 1929-1968, “Anti-vivisection activism had become co-opted by the radical right and was seemingly intertwined […]
“End human breeding of animals,” says Ed Duvin; ANIMALS 24-7 responds
Home-grown speciesism by Ed Duvin I have not written for publication on animal rights and animal sheltering since 1993, as I had largely achieved what I set out to accomplish and it was time for new voices to be heard. Having joined the animal rights movement in 1979, after working in the civil rights and […]
Ape learning experiments? When will humans ever learn?
Whether chimps can talk is much less perplexing than whether humans can care for them adequately after research use BLUE RIDGE, Georgia––Few people visit Blue Ridge, Georgia, population fewer than 1,500 humans, plus 78 chimpanzees retired from biomedical research use to the Project Chimps sanctuary. Quality of care issues have in 2020 emerged as a […]
Secrets of Doris Day’s life & work for animals
Publicity added much spin & gloss to what was already a positive record CARMEL, California––Doris Day, 97, died from pneumonia on May 13, 2019. Day was remembered worldwide as a singer who recorded more than 650 songs between 1939 and 1967; an actress who starred in more than 40 films between 1947 and 1968, […]
Diane Chontos of Wild Burro Rescue charged with felony neglect
Sanctuary endured 35 years, but failed to thrive OLANCHA, California––At least 67 U.S. animal shelters, nonprofit animal rescues, and animal sanctuaries failed in 2018. Twenty have failed in the first 75 days of 2019, a record pace, obliging other shelters, rescues, and sanctuaries to take in thousands of often severely neglected animals, especially dogs, cats, […]