Matthew Tosh | cc by 2.0 A female African elephant named Umoya was found lying on the ground with severe injuries Thursday morning at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. She died shortly thereafter. Umoya was one of seven elephants ripped from their home in Swaziland in 2003 and shipped halfway around the world to … Read more »
A round of applause, please. A new AP-Petside poll reveals that more than half of companion-animal guardians adopted their animals, with one-third of people taking in strays off the streets and another third adopting animals from shelters, rather than buying them from breeders or pet stores, which contribute to the animal homelessness crisis. Looks like … Read more »
© Anthony Aneese Totah Jr | Dreamstime.com The last time that John and Julia Von Achen saw their beloved dog, J, alive, they were boarding a flight from Moscow to New York. When the Von Achens disembarked, they discovered that their dog had apparently frozen to death in the cargo hold during the 11-hour flight. … Read more »
After its request to dismiss the OSHA case against it was rejected, SeaWorld called its first witness, Jenny Mairot, the supervisor of animal training at the Orlando park. Mairot started at SeaWorld a year after graduating from high school and has never received formal training as an animal behaviorist or trainer outside the organization. Despite … Read more »
A fascinating glimpse into the lives of animals who are often seen as little more than Thanksgiving centerpieces.
The University of Utah just got slapped with an official warning from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for repeatedly violating the federal Animal Welfare Act by failing to properly review and oversee experiments on animals. If the university is caught violating this law again, it could face up to $10,000 in fines per incident. … Read more »
Rojer | cc by 2.0 After a fall recess, SeaWorld is back in court to resume its fight against a citation imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which found that the theme park exposed its employees to serious risks after trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by the orca Tilikum last year. SeaWorld … Read more »
Downed cows—those who are too sick or injured to stand up—are of little use to callous cattle auctioneers. So when a cow collapsed at a Texas livestock auction company, what did the employees do? They simply wrapped a chain around her leg, attached the chain to a truck, dragged the cow into a dirt lot … Read more »
Why would the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order up animals for experiments from a company that has repeatedly violated federal animal welfare laws? I’m not sure. The CDC has had contracts with the now notorious Pennsylvania ferret-breeding factory farm Triple F Farms, Inc., totaling more than $1.5 million since 2006. But PETA’s … Read more »
Brrr! A cold spell has gripped us here in Los Angeles, with night temperatures dipping down into the 50s—much too cold for Angelenos … and for goldfish. When the guardians of one rescued goldfish, Sadie, turned on her tank’s water heater this week, she immediately swam over to bask in the warmth, just like a … Read more »
Did you know that in Ukraine, a dog or cat found wandering the streets can be shot on sight or poisoned and left to suffer? Their bodies are tossed into a cremation truck and burned, and some are reportedly burned while alive. It is estimated that in the city of Kiev alone, 20,000 dogs have … Read more »
Photo: Gabrielle Revere New York socialite and cruelty-free fashion connoisseur Cornelia Guest is taking her passion for helping animals to great lengths in a brand-new anti-fur ad for PETA: Cornelia—who is the daughter of one of the best-dressed women of the 20th century, C.Z. Guest—used to wear fur, but she had a change of … Read more »
Yesterday, a military court convicted U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs of the “thrill kill” murders of three Afghan civilians and sentenced him to life in prison. He was also convicted of 12 related charges, including taking fingers and teeth from the victims as trophies, which he compared to “keeping the antlers off a deer … Read more »
Alarming new findings from Britain’s Health Protection Agency reveal that many people could still be infected with, and eventually die from, mad cow disease. In humans, it is referred to as “new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,” or vCJD. As leading vCJD expert Professor John Collinge notes, “The incubation period, where there are no symptoms, can last … Read more »
UPDATE: Random-source dealers will no longer have a license to kill—or, more precisely, a license to sell to killers. Congress approved the ban on funding U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) licenses for Class B dealers. Without a license from the USDA, the Class B dealers cannot operate. One danger faced by dogs and cats who are left outside or … Read more »