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. […]
European zoos consider killing “surplus” gorillas
The algebra of zoo management is Harambe times X-number equals what amount of public outrage cutting into profits? AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands––Is the European Association of Zoos & Aquaria heading full speed toward the 2016 Harambe debacle at the Cincinnati Zoo times a dozen? Or a hundred? Or any number in between? Did someone among the 340 […]
Geoffrey Deckers & Marion Bienes brought animal rights to the Netherlands
Holocaust survivor Bienes inspired organization builder Deckers Award founded in Deckers’ name––see Comments, below. 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 […]
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 […]
Will “monkey shortage” due to COVID-19 bring new research methods?
Researchers scrape the bottom of the barrel DAVIS, California––Will a purported national monkey shortage force COVID-19 researchers to develop new non-animal testing methods? Or is the alleged monkey shortage really just a ploy by the seven National Primate Research Centers to perpetuate their own existence, taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to win more federal […]
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 […]