Soon those will be plant-based meatballs Lady and the Tramp are eating. Disneyland just announced that they are adding a plant-based menu to every single one of their restaurants: over 400 vegan dishes in all, including cheesecake. This comes on the heels of KFC successfully test marketing a “Kentucky fried plant-based chicken” which sold out in five hours with lines around the block. And after Burger King and Red Robin added a plant-based burger to…
Earlier this week, the student-run Kansas State University newspaper published an article proclaiming support for pounds that kill and questioning the ethics of No Kill shelters. It used the very same debunked excuses for killing that PETA routinely uses: open admission shelters can’t be No Kill (they can and there are many that are), everyone who works at a pound loves animals (they don’t all love animals), and No Kill equals hoarding (it doesn’t). It…
Delaware announced they were the first No Kill state in the country. Now Michigan is saying they are a No Kill state, too, and they did it first. Neither claim is true. Some pounds in Michigan kill more than seven out of 10 cats. And yet some are calling Michigan a No Kill state. The pound in St. Clair County, MI, killed more cats than they placed: 53%. The pound in Berrien County, MI, killed…
An op-ed in The New York Times by Alexandra Horowitz, a scientist who studies canine cognition, questions the now routine sterilization of dogs and suggests we no longer do so. It is going to infuriate those who have internalized the movement orthodoxy that surgical sterilization is a core component of responsible stewardship and should continue without question. But such a reaction would be a mistake. Although her piece perpetuates some harmful and disproven dogma regarding…
The City of Los Angeles has finally published a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in order to implement a community cat program. If you want Los Angeles City shelters to sterilize community cats, instead of killing them, now is the time to make your voice heard. The draft EIR and how to comment are here. In 2009, several anti-cat groups filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles in a bid to prevent community…
After California banned the retail sale of commercially-bred dogs and cats (and rabbits) in pet stores, Maryland passed a similar ban. It is set to go into effect on January 1. But pet stores and out of state commercial breeders have filed a lawsuit in a bid to stop the Maryland law from taking effect. They claim the ban is unfair (and violates the Commerce Clause), but such a claim will almost certainly fail. Federal…
Earlier this month, “multiple Phoenix TV stations reported that the temperatures inside the county’s west shelter topped 100 degrees, citing photos [taken by volunteers] sent to the stations showing hand thermometers with temperatures reading as high as 108 degrees.” According to volunteers, Maricopa County, Management knew that it had been a problem last year and new swamp coolers had been ordered. A few were replaced, however the remaining weren’t due to be replaced until September…
First they came for the cats, now they are coming for the dogs. There was a time when the environmental movement’s mission was to protect plants and animals from poisons, chainsaws, traps, and guns. Since it has been hijacked by Invasion Biology, an ecologically jingoistic philosophy masquerading as science, it has turned that mission on its head. It now uses poisons, chainsaws, traps, and guns to kill plants and animals. In San Francisco, the local…
When a cause becomes so popular that politicians begin to incorporate promises about it into their campaign platform, that cause has arrived. When that politician is a candidate for the President of the United States — such as Julián Castro who is promising the creation of a No Kill nation as part of his wider animal welfare platform — we have truly become a potent force for change. As part of a 19-page plan that…
Yesterday, I posted an article in response to the false claim by Best Friends and Brandywine Valley SPCA that Delaware is the nation’s first No Kill state. Although killing is down over 90% from its high water mark, Best Friends and Brandywine Valley SPCA had nothing to do with it. In addition, animals are still being killed who can and should be saved; some of them historically killed “off book.” As such, it is not…