Yesterday I did a radio interview to share all the successes we had as a movement in 2018 and to discuss what the future holds for 2019 and beyond. Although the interview was 45 minutes long, I did not get to cover all the things I wanted to talk about. So here is my list (in no particular order): We made it illegal to eat dogs and cats by banning it in the 44 states…
As many of you may know, PETA has demanded that I reveal the names of individuals who have worked at PETA and spoke to me on condition of anonymity about PETA’s killing. The information they provided was used to corroborate newspaper articles, on the record sources, government documents received under the Public Records Act, testimony and information from civil and criminal cases against PETA, photographs, videotape evidence, and admissions by PETA officials. Their testimony was…
The new year will bring three much-needed new laws (and bring us one year closer to two others) that further protect and promote the rights of animals in California. Starting tomorrow: Dogs, cats, and other animal companions will be treated like family, rather than property in divorce cases. California courts will now consider the best interest of those animals in awarding custody. “As more divorcing couples fight over who gets to keep their pets, a…
Part III of a series of 2018 animal news in review. McDonald’s McVegan made a European debut to rave reviews. Early in the new year, I’ll be doing a radio interview highlighting the biggest animal stories and trends of 2018 and what the future holds for 2019. Although I’ll be primarily speaking about all the ways we got closer to winning the war against shelter killing (and we are more than 90% of the way…
Part II of a series of 2018 animal news in review. Early in the new year, I’ll be doing a radio interview highlighting the biggest shelter animal stories and trends of 2018 and what the future holds for 2019. I’ll be talking about community cat programs and pitty parties, and a whole lot more. Details coming soon: Earlier, I posted that 2018 marked a tipping point when it comes to dogs we classify as “pit…
Part I of a series of 2018 animal news in review. Me in Austin, TX, which has made headlines of its own this year. In 2009, 7% of dogs were killed in the Austin municipal shelter ostensibly for “aggression.” In 2015, it was 1%. In 2018, it is 1/20th of 1%. Early in the new year, I’ll be doing a radio interview highlighting the biggest shelter animal stories and trends of 2018 and what the…
A new, national study finds that in the last two years, more than one out of every four people who share their homes with an animal — 28% — had difficulty getting needed veterinary care because of its high cost. This not only impacted the quality of life (and in cases where they could not afford emergency care, the actual life) of the animal, it also negatively impacted the emotional health of the people. It…
A new analysis in the journal Biological Conservation calls for reform. To many environmentalists, animals are judged worthy of activism on their behalf in relation to how useful they are to humans or how many members of their species exist. There is no objection to taking the lives of animals such as crows, raccoons, or rats; species that are plentiful or have no material value to humans. Yet if there are limited numbers of a…
Shining a light on Snopes.com’s lack of objectivity and due diligence when it comes to PETA. Snopes.com claims as its mission truth-seeking, writing that it “lights the way to evidence-based and contextualized analysis.” But when it comes to PETA, it has utterly failed in that regard. Recently, it claimed to do such “evidence-based and contextualized analysis” regarding the authenticity of a postcard Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s founder and the architect of their mass killing and…
“A BBC documentary crew in Antarctica abandoned their ‘no interference’ rule to save a group of baby penguins.” The baby penguins “got trapped inside an icy ravine” and would have otherwise died. They are now OK. This should be the rule, not the exception. In the past, the crew filmed the death of a baby elephant even though it was in their power to help. Defending such a policy because it is supposedly “natural,” or…