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…
“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…
One of the healthy puppies killed by PETA, after PETA staff promised they would find a home. For more than two decades, I have been working to expose the grisly truth about PETA: that far from being a voice for the rights of animals as is commonly believed, employees at PETA headquarters in Norfolk, VA commit daily violence against them, injecting thousands of healthy puppies, kittens, dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, and other animals every year…
Californians are voting on several initiatives, one of which is Proposition 12. Prop. 12 “would ban the sale of meat in California from calves raised for veal or breeding pigs unless the farms that raise them — both in the state and in other states — meet minimum standards for pen size. It also would ban the sale of eggs from hens that are kept in cages that don’t meet minimum standards.” If you live…
“Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle:” I oppose Ingrid Newkirk because under her direction, PETA employees seek out and either kill or cause to be killed thousands of animals every year, including healthy puppies and kittens. This is not only immoral, it is cruel. I oppose Donald Trump & Co. because not only are his policies cruel to his family and to other people,…
Delaware Gov. John Carney signs the cat bill into law. The State of Delaware has taken another step forward by protecting community cats and making community cat sterilization the preferred method of “animal control” throughout the state. This week, the Governor signed HB235 which mandates that “visibly healthy cats admitted to a shelter, not placed for adoption, and lacking discernible owner identification, are sterilized, vaccinated against rabies, ear-tipped, and returned to a safe location where…
New York City Council Member Robert Holden to introduce shelter reform legislation that prohibits convenience killing and mandates the programs and services of the No Kill Equation. This week, I received the exciting news that New York City Council Member Bob Holden has “started the legislative drafting process” for a shelter standards law based on the Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA), the model shelter reform legislation written by the No Kill Advocacy Center, my organization.…
In light of historical, ongoing, and as I posted this past week, recent revelations of animal care deficits in New York City’s pound system, and in light of the fact that the Health Department is attempting to push through a 34-year contract in secret which will maintain the status quo until 2052, I’ve sent a letter, on behalf of the No Kill Advocacy Center, to the Mayor, City Council, and Health Commissioner requesting reform of…