Fights to enforce NYC foie gras ban & win governor’s signature to prevent octopus farming also still underway NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––”New York City Council speaker Julie Menin just publicly endorsed Romanch’s Law, formerly known as Ryder’s Law, the bill that would finally end the horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City,” exulted newly designated […]
World Animal Day survived the Holocaust, but the founder did not
“Heinrich Zimmermann’s name deserves a place among the pioneers of animal rights,” argues Wim Dekok. Guest columnist Wim Dekok, originally from the Netherlands, grew up on a dairy farm, but soon changed careers, going on to found and lead many animal protection campaigns, organizations and coalitions, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Dekok is currently […]
Hoarding: how animal shelters create the crisis they claim to solve, by Ed Boks
Why managed intake without prevention breeds rescue hoarding, warehousing, and predictable animal suffering. This ANIMALS 24-7 guest column originally appeared as the January 26, 2026 installment of author Ed Boks’ own blog, Animal Politics with Ed Boks. Boks may be reached at animalpolitics8@gmail.com. Ed Boks’ resumé in animal welfare includes having headed the animal control […]
Pigeon shoots, pigeon racing, gambling, theft, & multiple murders
What about pigeons attracts the worst sorts of people? HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania; CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas; BRUSSELS, Belgium––Pigeons and disreputable human conduct appear to go together like statues and guano, with the most and rankest guano accruing to the high and mighty. Investigative reporters including Stephen Caruso of Spotlight PA, Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post, and […]
Mark Twain’s Book of Animals
Edited with Introduction, Afterword, & Notes by Shelley Fisher Fishkin University of California Press https://www.ucpress.edu/ 325 pages, hardcover. $27.50. Reviewed by Merritt Clifton Wrote Ed Duvin, whose 1989 Animalines newsletter essay “In The Name of Mercy” prophesying “no kill” animal sheltering is widely considered a classic of humane literature, to ANIMALS 24-7 a few days […]
Video helps nab alleged killer of “Rescue Ink” star Al “Alley Cat” Chernoff
Surveillance video may accomplish something that the six episodes of “Rescue Ink” did not: an arrest leading to the conviction of a suspect PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania––A decade after his brief heyday as one of the stars of the short-lived “reality TV” series Rescue Ink, Al “Alley Cat” Chernoff died on November 4, 2019 as the […]
“Dog Fighting Awareness”: what the ASPCA ignored
Busts plummet as pit bull advocacy has all but legalized dogfighting NEW YORK CITY, N.Y.––Designated National Dog Fighting Awareness Day by the American SPCA, April 8, 2019 and the next several days appear to have passed without a single dogfighting bust or other noteworthy event pertaining to dogfighting occurring anywhere in the United States. […]
Who is the “outlier” now?
Something changed on Groundhog Day Did you ever see the film Groundhog Day, in which actor Bill Murray lived the same day over and over until he made some of the right ethical choices? We had already seen much of the humane cause leadership endlessly repeating unethical conduct, at the expense of animals, volunteers, and […]
Pit bulls, “outliers” & Humane Society of the U.S. prez Wayne Pacelle
Pits kill four people in five years within 15 minutes of Pacelle’s family home, but he calls us insanely aggressive A 10-year-old girl in Bridgeport, Connecticut will require multiple surgeries over the next several years to repair damage inflicted on July 18, 2017 by a family member’s pit bull. The pit bull first attacked a […]
“We face a humane education crisis!” says HSUS historian Unti
Orphan cause was foundation of the animal advocacy movement (See also HSUS bails out of humane education; ASPCA & AHA already did.) SEATTLE, Washington––To see overt cruelty to animals––and humans––today, one need only go to Facebook or search on the Worldwide Web. No sort of cruelty or misery is far from view, despite the efforts of […]