Notorious as one of the world’s worst zoos for 25 years PHUKET, Thailand––The first good-news animal story of 2022, if all goes according to plan, may be the impending evacuation of 11 tigers and two bears from the defunct Phuket Zoo, a target of animal advocacy protest almost from the day it opened in 1996. […]
Horsemeat, dog meat, & how “angel” Marc Ching fell from grace
Donors ignored years of warnings about convict turned “rescue” celebrity LOS ANGELES––Marc Ching, who in November 2018 offered to sell the city of Los Angeles vegan food for impounded dogs at a substantial discount, is reportedly to be arraigned in December 2020 on one misdemeanor count each of practicing veterinary medicine without a license, false advertising, […]
Queen Elizabeth II honors Thai street dog rescuer John Dalley
Global recognition for Soi Dog Foundation PHUKET, Thailand––John Dalley, co-founder and president of Soi Dog Foundation International, was on October 10, 2020, the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for service to animal welfare in Southeast Asia. The term “Soi […]
Are animal charity donors at risk from the Blackbaud data security breach?
Consequences of the data security failure are still just coming to light CHARLESTON, South Carolina––How many animal charity donors’ personal information may be at risk from a four-month security breach at the fundraising, data management, and financial services firm Blackbaud? The number may be in the tens of thousands, or even the millions, but even […]
COVID-19: India feeds stray dogs; ASPCA says “don’t fix them”
ASPCA advice to shelters could increase puppy & kitten litters by about half a million While pet keepers in the developed world fret about the apparently infinitesimally small risk of pets and humans infecting and reinfecting each other, following the discovery of COVID-19 infecting one cat in Liege, Belgium, and two dogs and a cat […]
From pit bulls to street dogs, irresponsible advocacy inflames “dog menace”
Dismissing dangerous dog behavior––or blaming the victims––disregards public trust SPRINGFIELD, Missouri; PHUKET, Thailand––Superficially, the dog-versus-human conflicts raging in Springfield, Missouri, where breed-specific legislation is at issue, and in Phuket, Thailand, where few dogs have any evident breed-specific traits, could scarcely look more different. Pit bull attacks are the problem in Springfield: 38 in three […]
Soi Dog Foundation & Indian Ocean tsunami heroine Gill Dalley, 58
Lost legs rescuing a dog in 2004 PHUKET, Thailand––“It is with profound regret and unfathomable sadness that we announce the passing of Gill Dalley,” the Soi Dog Foundation announced on February 13, 2017. “The inaugural winner of the Canine Hero of the Year award at the 2011 Animals for Asia conference in Chengdu, China, […]
Largest dog and cat meat market in South Korea set to close by May
Cages and slaughtering facilities coming down now SEOUL, South Korea––The Seongnam city government and the vendors’ association of Moran Market, representing 22 dog and cat meat dealers whose stalls occupy four short blocks on one side of the marketplace, on December 13, 2016 jointly announced plans to start removing their cages and slaughtering facilities […]
Dog meat trade spreads rabies in Vietnam
YEN BAI, Vietnam––Closing the Vietnamese border to imports of dogs for human consumption as a rabies control measure may have come two years too late for Yen Bai province, high in the ethnic Hmong region of the north. At least 1,900 Yen Bai residents were bitten by suspected rabid dogs during the first five […]