Author: Nathan J. Winograd

Australian nativists are employing a new weapon in their war against cats. It is a laser-sighted device that sprays cats with a lethal gel that they lick off while cleaning themselves. The gel causes the cats to die from anoxia (oxygen deprivation). They suffocate. “All poisoned cats captured on video were initially lethargic, then had difficulty walking (ataxia) before lying down and remaining largely motionless.” It can take anywhere from a few hours to several…

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Last month, the City of Austin passed a sweeping new law to enshrine lifesaving protections, including the right of rescue. Based on several provisions of the Companion Animal Protection Act, model legislation from the No Kill Advocacy Center, the new Austin ordinance requires the municipal shelter to notify rescuers, the former owner (absent evidence of neglect or cruelty), and the finder, offering them the ability to save the animal to prevent killing. There are a…

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Make it easy and delicious for people to do right by animals and more of them will. The proof? Surging sales of plant-based foods, more vegan options at restaurants (including an upcoming “chicken” burger at Burger King) and 400 new choices at Disneyland, California’s oldest dairy switches from cows to almonds as the dairy industry loses another billion dollars to alternatives, and NYC bans foie gras. Burger King is having its best quarter in years…

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There is no doubt that living with people is good for dogs. As Jennifer and I argue in Welcome Home, our book about living with dogs and cats, dogs “have successfully adapted to us and our ways, seizing the opportunity that our planetary dominance presents, greatly increasing their numbers, and extending their range beyond what was possible in the absence of people.” That’s a roundabout way of saying that we provide food, water, shelter, veterinary…

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Yesterday, the No Kill Advocacy Center, my organization, received a telephone message from a distraught young girl at a local school about a “baby animal” she found on the sidewalk. She told us her mother would not let her bring him home and told her to leave him at school. Upset and hurting, she put the little critter in a pot near some benches and after she got home, called the No Kill Advocacy Center…

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