Suicide by nitrogen asphixiation NEW YORK, N.Y.––Animal advocate and philanthropist Mary Max, 52, wife of pop artist Peter Max, was on June 9, 2019 found dead in their apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City from allegedly self-induced nitrogen asphyxiation, a bag-over-the-head method described by Hemlock Society founder Derek Humphrey in […]
Hen caging & greyhound racing go before voters in 2018 election
Animal advocates & agribusiness split over California Proposition 12; Republicans split over Florida Proposition 13 SACRAMENTO, California; ORLANDO, Florida––The axiom that animal politics cut diagonally across partisan divides could scarcely be better illustrated than by the alignments for and against the two major ballot initiatives on animal issues going before voters on November 6, […]
“Clean meat” advocate Shapiro pushes product to stretch hot dogs
Factory egg farmers meanwhile align behind HSUS-backed Proposition 12 SACRAMENTO, California––Paul Shapiro, the former Humane Society of the U.S. farmed animal campaigns manager and vegan advocate who resigned in January 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations, is now pushing a product meant to stretch hot dogs, burgers, and meatballs. A “blend of wheat protein, mushroom, […]
Wayne Pacelle & Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom celebrate returns from extinction
Sagas of alleged giant predators turned animal rights stars WASHINGTON D.C.––Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a saga of supposedly vanished giant predators, reinvented as animal rights celebrities, debuted to bad reviews on June 22, 2018, yet proved to be a box office magnet, grossing $1.2 billion in its first month. Animal Wellness Action, a political action […]
How will the HSUS board respond to Wayne Pacelle’s shadow?
Will Groundhog Day bring HSUS a change of climate? WASHINGTON D.C.––Groundhog Day, February 2, 2018, is likely to see the Humane Society of the U.S. striving to rid itself of the shadow left by thirteen-year president Wayne Pacelle. Pacelle is not expected to remain in office––or at least not for long––after a February 1 board […]
Is Wayne Pacelle on his way out at the Humane Society of the U.S.?
“Workplace misconduct” investigation could be the beginning of the end WASHINGTON D.C.––Is the Humane Society of the U.S. close to changing the guard? Recent indications are that HSUS president Wayne Pacelle, heading the organization since mid-2003, may be on his way out at the 2018 HSUS midyear annual meeting, if not sooner, in favor […]
Bob Brown & Lisa Shapiro used marketing to help farmed animals
Robert A. Brown, 82, and Lisa Shapiro, 51, who shared their concern for farm animal welfare but took starkly opposite market-based approaches to expressing it, died recently in Tucson, Arizona, and Boulder, Colorado. Brown can be credited with initiating the “happy meat” approach, seeking to reform agribusiness by developing competition from farmers committed to rearing animals […]
Courting hen & egg producers leads animal charities into deep @#$%
FRESNO, California––Which came first, the American Humane Association and Humane Society of the U.S. courting dances with hen and egg producers, or egg on the faces of spokespersons trying to explain the chicken poop outcomes? Frequently bitter rivals since 1954, when former American Humane Association publicist Fred Myers left the AHA to found HSUS, […]
Norm Phelps, 75, spiritual mentor to the animal rights movement
by Merritt Clifton Norm Phelps, 75, died on December 31, 2014 at the Meritus Health Hospital in Hagerstown, Maryland. Phelps had battled myasthenia gravis, an auto-immune neuromuscular condition that causes severe fatigue and weakness, since 2002. A vegan since 1984, survived by his wife and fellow longtime animal advocate Patti Rogers, Phelps quit eating meat […]