Anyone east of the Mississippi who has been bitten by a Lone Star tick & eats red meat is potentially vulnerable––and the tick could spread west CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia––Texas ranchers, with a cattle inventory exceeding 12 million, leading the U.S. in beef production, would no doubt prefer that the phrase “Lone Star” be associated with the […]
“Murder hornets” murder two Americans, five years after panic, in Laos
Ordinary bees, wasps, & hornets meanwhile kill 72 Americans per year on average LUANG PRABANG, Laos––Flagged as a deadly invasive threat to Americans and especially American honey bees by the first Donald Trump administration in May 2020, so-called “murder hornets” have finally murdered two Americans. But in Laos, not the United States. And not in […]
Stop importing & rehoming rabid pit bull puppies, Colorado tells rescues
Two-time offender Moms & Mutts: Colorado rescue hit with license suspension ENGLEWOOD, Colorado––Moms & Mutts: Colorado Rescue for Pregnant & Nursing Dogs Inc., a nonprofit organization noted by ANIMALS 24-7 on August 17, 2024 for exemplifying an inherently dangerous modus operandi, “has had their license suspended by the state,” reported Steve Staeger and Amanda […]
What’s stupider than rehoming rabid pit bull puppies? Denying the risk.
Denying rabies risk is not likely to help win much-needed protection for Colorado pumas & bobcats, either SHERIDAN, Colorado––The August 7, 2024 discovery of rabies in a litter of pit bull mix puppies rehomed as “shepherd mixes” on July 20, 2024 by Moms & Mutts Colorado should have sent a “heads up” warning to […]
H5N1 avian flu goes global: what that means for for us & for animals
H5N1, much less deadly than it once was, has spread from pole to pole & from birds to cats & mice ANNAPOLIS, ATLANTA––No one at either the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases [ProMED] or the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is saying so yet, but the chances of keeping the avian influenza H5N1 from […]
New Zealand exempts cats from killing contest, finds cure for FIP
But all other land predators & even non-native waterfowl remain in the crosshairs CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand––Nationally hellbent on destroying any semblance of a natural, normal predator/prey ecology since the introduction of the Predator Free 2050 program in 2012, New Zealand might be the last place the rest of the world might expect to produce a […]
“Asian murder hornet”: surrogate for COVID-19 terror
Or, how two “great sparrow bees” incited a national hunt for alleged Chinese alien invaders BLAINE, Washington––How did the Asian giant hornet, known for centuries in Japan as the “great sparrow bee,” generally regarded as beneficial to farmers for killing insect pests, suddenly become feared in the U.S. as the so-called “murder hornet”? After […]
Blue Buffalo, Rachael Ray, Nutro, & 13 other brands linked to rare disease
When being big-hearted is not good in a dog SILVER SPRING, Maryland––Dogs are supposed to be big-hearted, but not in the literal sense. An abnormally enlarged heart can kill a dog, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on June 27, 2019 warned for the second time in two years, this time linking the warning […]
Will feral pigs eat Hong Kong before Hong Kong eats the pigs?
Feral pigs may be poached as African swine fever & trade war cut off pig imports HONG KONG––A three-way collision among African swine fever, feral pigs, and the global pork industry, U.S. interests included, may be only days away in Hong Kong. Whatever the outcome, pigs––both factory-farmed and living free––are already the big net […]
Federal shutdown helps disease race from gamecocks to egg barns
Deadly exotic Newcastle outbreaks were all but ignored even before U.S. President Donald Trump furloughed most of the government personnel who could have responded RIVERSIDE, California–– Pleading for urgent attention to the recent spread of exotic Newcastle disease from southern California cockfighting flocks to commercial egg barns, Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) moderator […]