Born a “displaced person,” Biruté Galdikas spent her life aiding & advocating for displaced orangutans LOS ANGELES––Orangutan researcher, rescuer, and conservationist Biruté Galdikas, 79, died on March 24, 2026 in Los Angeles, after a prolonged illness. “Born in Germany, on May 10, 1946, while her parents were en route from Lithuania to Canada,” as displaced […]
Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton, 83, felled by bees
Studied everything about elephants from their psyches to the tips of their tails & fought for elephant survival from the northern Kenyan desert to lecture halls in Beijing, China NAIROBI, Kenya––Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton, 83, died on December 8, 2025 at his home in Nairobi, Kenya. Excellence in all things was expected of […]
Weasel words on the monkey beat: did FDA really end experiments?
White Coat Waste Project says National Center for Toxicological Research ended monkey studies, but FDA indicates they might resume “in the future based on agency needs” JEFFERSON, Arkansas––The White Coat Waste Project on both August 30 and September 18, 2023 declared victory in shutting down nicotine addiction experiments at the National Center for Toxicological Research […]
The real Barbie: inconsistent, but a leading animal advocate since 1959
Barbie’s many missteps, despite longtime pro-animal direction, mirror her society BARBIELAND––Amid the hoopla for the live action Barbie film released on July 21, 2023, Ontario film maker and animal rights strategist Stephen Best resolutely refrains from entering his local theater. “My personal choice,” Best posted to Facebook, “is that I will not pay Mattel or […]
Four chimps shot dead at the Furuvik Zoo in Sweden––why?
Shootings, as info emerges, look more like panic than a safety precaution GAVLE, Sweden––The more information emerges about the December 14, 2022 fatal shooting of four chimpanzees and wounding of another at the Furuvik Zoo, about 100 miles north of Stockholm, the Swedish capital city, the more the shootings look like an ill-informed panic […]
Buffalo attack death mystery recalls injuries & deaths of other animal advocates
Shando Mathebula, Steve Ross, Jerry W. Brown, & Angela Glover JOHANNESBURG––The South African National Park Service [SANParks] and South African Police Service [SAPS] are reportedly investigating the May 4, 2022 death of Kruger National Park field ranger and dog handler Shando Mathebula, 36. Mathebula, while on patrol in the park, was either fatally gored by […]
Forever Young: Thoreau, Einstein, Bronte, Thurman, Goodall, & Carson
Forever Young: How Six Great Individuals Have Drawn upon the Powers of Childhood and How We Can Follow Their Lead by William Crain, cofounder of Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary Turning Stone Press Reviewed by Karen Davis, PhD, president, United Poultry Concerns Our society’s children seldom experience nature anymore. They move between poles of a cold-blooded […]
Uttam Dahal, 33, was dynamo for animals in Nepal despite ill health
Dahal won 2014 Supreme Court of Nepal case against Gadhi Mai mass sacrifice KATHMANDU, Nepal––Nepal Animal Welfare & Research Center founder Uttam G.P. Dahal, 33, died on July 26, 2019 after battling illness for most of his brief but dynamic life. Dahal left Santana Sharma, his wife of just two years and two months, […]
Death of Koko, 46, raises question what will become of her rejected mate Ndume?
Koko was among the last great apes used in still controversial 1970s language research WOODSIDE, California––With Koko deceased, what now will become of Ndume, 37, the last and least famous of the three gorillas who once shared the Gorilla Foundation sanctuary and primate language research laboratory in the Santa Cruz Mountains, south of San […]
Why is Asia for Animals excluding man who won case against Gadhi Mai?
Court victory upstaged host Jane Goodall Institute Nepal KATHMANDU, Nepal––Nepal Animal Welfare & Research Center founder Gita Prasad “Uttam” Dahal, hospitalized in Delhi, India, for internal bleeding that has plagued him since a childhood spleen removal, on November 7, 2017 received an e-mail from Sangita Sapkota, program coordinator for the Jane Goodall Institute Nepal, which […]