Why is the Humane Society of the U.S. helping horse racing to expand into new territory? ATLANTA, Georgia––Again the perennial horse racing industry attempt to legalize pari-mutuel betting and introduce thoroughbred racing to Georgia failed during the 2020 state legislative session, closed on July 3. Opposition to legalizing pari-mutuel betting came chiefly from religious groups […]
Scotland to stop shooting seals to save salmon farm profits––but not until 2021
50-year effort by Scottish seal defenders––but Humane Society of the U.S. blasts out media releases claiming credit DUMBARTON, Scotland––Culminating a half century of effort by the Save Our Seals Fund, and Animal Concern Scotland, led for decades by John Robins of both organizations, the Scottish Parliament on June 17, 2020 ratified a new Animals & Wildlife […]
“That touch of mink” & COVID-19: Dutch outbreak hints mink may be host
Fur farming to end in The Netherlands by 2024 WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands––The discovery that ranched mink can become infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus may lend momentum to the Dutch national plan to phase out mink farming entirely by 2024. Concern that mink themselves might become a COVID-19 reservoir may also dampen Chinese enthusiasm for rebuilding […]
Add to COVID-19 toll expanded hunting on U.S. Wildlife Refuges
Trump administration appointees open more federal refuges to hunting than last three administrations combined WASHINGTON D.C.––Opponents of hunting might imagine that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service chief Aurelia Skipwith waited until the public was distracted by soaring daily death tolls from the COVID-19 global pandemic to announce the biggest-ever […]
From gorillas to shelter dogs: animals caught in the COVID-19 crunch
No animals other than bats & humans are known to get COVID-19, but millions are affected by the human response WASHINGTON D.C.––Animals and animal-related projects from Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo to National Institutes of Health-funded laboratories are feeling the impact of the international COVID-19 scare underway throughout early 2020, […]
Former HSUS vp David Wills’ co-defendant gets 15 years for sex trafficking minor
Wills, facing multiple life terms, is yet to be sentenced CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas––The likelihood that former Michigan Humane Society president and Humane Society of the U.S. vice president David Keith Wills, 67, will spend the rest of his life in a federal penitentiary appeared to increase on December 18, 2019, when U.S. District Judge […]
Gadhi Mai 2019: more animals killed than in 2014, but fewer people watched
But drone videos show––again––that the body count was vastly lower than is often claimed BARIYARPUR, Nepal––More animals were slain at the 2019 Gadhi Mai sacrificial massacre in Bariyarpur, Nepal, than in 2014––a deeply disappointing discovery, after 15 years of international efforts to stop the every-five-years bloodbath held in honor of a local goddess. Drone video […]
HSUS, Donald Trump, & the PACT Act: The Art of the Deal
Good publicity for Trump, fundraising photo-op for HSUS & friends, but not much in it for animals WASHINGTON D.C.––One could almost suspect a quid-pro-quo deal––Latin for “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine”––among U.S. President Donald Trump and major U.S. animal charities, especially the Humane Society of the United States, in arranging the heavily […]
More cockfighters than stars in Doris Day/Clint Eastwood country?
Cock-breeding explodes around Carmel-by-the-Sea MONTEREY, California––By the look of it, more might have been done in Monterey County to enforce legislation against breeding gamecocks if California had remained a U.S. territory in 1850 instead of becoming a state, four years after overthrowing Spanish rule. Exulted Humane Society of the U.S. president Kitty Block […]
David Wills, ex-humane exec, convicted; may get life in child sex case
17-count conviction follows two-week trial; sentence pending ROCKPORT, Texas––David Keith Wills, a former executive of four humane organizations including the Humane Society of the United States, faces a potential sentence of life in prison, following his conviction on October 8, 2019 by a U.S. federal court jury in Rockport, Texas on 17 counts pertaining […]