Holocaust survivor Bienes inspired organization builder Deckers Geoffrey Deckers, 51, co-founder of the Dutch animal advocacy organization Een Dier Een Vriend [An Animal, A Friend], died suddenly on June 29, 2020. Deckers suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on November 20, 2017, but appeared to have made a full recovery. As well as leading Een Dier Een Vriend […]
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, […]
Why COVID-19 is NOT the zoonotic illness most likely to kill you
Panicked stress may be killing more people than the disease itself SEATTLE, ATLANTA, HONG KONG––Amid escalating global panic over the worldwide rapid spread of the recently identified coronavirus COVID-19, a person not familiar with ProMED–mail might expect the most panic-stricken person of all to be ProMED–mail deputy editor Marjorie P. Pollack, M.D. ProMED-mail is […]
Concern for rare birds of the Bahamas rises after Hurricane Dorian
Little chance yet to assess the losses––but the Abaco parrot almost certainly survived CAPE FEAR, North Carolina––Hurricane Dorian, downgraded to Category 2, with peak gust speed dropping by half to a still dangerous 110 miles per hour, killed five people as it pushed north past the Carolinas, but as of midnight on September 5, […]
Cassowary victim had helped to spur ostrich-&-emu boom
“See the gentle cassowary On the plains of Timbuktu Eating up the missionary Hat and coat and hymn-book too.” Attributed to Theodore Hook (1788-1841) HIGH SPRINGS, Florida––Remembering the cassowary rhyme from childhood, and that “Cassowaries are found mainly in Australia and New Guinea. Never in Africa!”, International Primate Protection League founder Shirley McGreal was […]
Arun Rangsi, 39, “heart gibbon” of IPPL founder Shirley McGreal
Arun Rangsi was living link to IPPL origins SUMMERVILLE, South Carolina––“The International Primate Protection League is devastated to report the loss of our first lab gibbon, Arun Rangsi, who was also my ‘heart gibbon,’” IPPL founder Shirley McGreal posted to social media. Arun Rangsi was a living link to IPPL cofounder Ardith Eudey, Ph.D., a […]
Cryptozoologist & taxonomist Colin Groves, “The Ultimate Classifier,” 75
Member of International Primate Protection League advisory board since 1975 CANBERRA, Australia––Colin Groves, 75, called “The Ultimate Classifier” by the Society of Conservation Biology, a member of the International Primate Protection League advisory board since 1975, and a cofounder of the anti-pseudoscience organization Canberra Skeptics, died in Canberra, Australia, on November 30, 2017. Born in […]
James Mahoney, DVM, “the Oskar Schindler of laboratory primates,” dies at 77
Mahoney moved more than 200 chimps & monkeys to sanctuaries ahead of scheduled transfer to other labs James Mahoney, DVM, 77, “passed away on September 6, 2017 as a result of complications of Lyme disease,” International Primate Protection League founder Shirley McGreal announced on September 20. Remembered as the “Oskar Schindler of laboratory primates,” after […]
Hurricane Irma: survival stories from 27 zoos & sanctuaries
No losses of zoo & sanctuary animals reported! (See also Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma: Hemingway cats & dolphin rescuer Rick Trout rode it out in the Keys , and Hurricane Irma: how wildlife endured) Current USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service licensing data indicates that at least 217 […]
Hurricane Irma: Hemingway cats & dolphin rescuer Rick Trout rode it out in the Keys
Hemingway house cats supplied the grace, staff the courage (See also Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands.) KEY WEST, TAVERNIER––Having famously remarked that “Courage is grace under pressure,” and almost as famously doted upon the six-toed cat Snowflake, also called Snowball, who roamed his Key West home during his years there, […]