Cherokee elders move to close infamous reservation bear pits

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

CHARLOTTE,  North Carolina––Eastern Band of Cherokee tribal elders Amy Walker and Peggy Hill on September 23,  2013 served notice of intent to sue the operators of the Cherokee Bear Park for violating the federal Endangered Species Act if the resident bears are not transferred to a suitable sanctuary within 60 days. “The Cherokee Bear Zoo is an open concrete grave for these intelligent animals.  They must be moved from this despicable facility to a place where they’ll be cared for,  not abused and neglected,”  Walker told Mitch Weiss of Associated Press. Read more

BOOKS—Human Origins: Are we hybrids?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

Human Origins:  Are we hybrids?   by Eugene McCarthy Free download from:  http://www.macroevolution.net/human-origins.html#.Ud5d8GSgn6k

Recalling my April 2012 review of evolutionary geneticist Eugene McCarthy’s provocative opus On the Origins of New Forms of Life:  A New Theory,  British ANIMAL PEOPLE online reader Mervyn Sanders wrote recently to mention that “Dr. McCarthy is now claiming that humans are a hybrid of chimp and wait for it, pig.  Yet he appears to be able to back his claims up with well researched evidence.” Read more

Friends of Animals sues to stop plan to kill barred owls instead of protecting spotted owl habitat

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

 SACRAMENTO––A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service plan to kill federal protected barred owls to benefit endangered northern spotted owls violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,  Friends of Animals alleged in an October 1,  2013 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento,  California. Read more

BOOKS—One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Tales of Animals Caring for One Another

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Tales of Animals Caring for One Another by Lisa Rogak St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan,  175 Fifth Ave., New York,  NY  10010),  2013.  145 pages,  paperback.  $14.99.

Lisa Rogak in One Big Happy Family treats us to short but sweet stories of animals caring for animals of other species.  Among the most unusual cases is that of Hiroko,  a cat kept by Japanese farmers Norio and Yoshiko Endo.  Hiroko had three kittens in 2007,  but all of them died.  Soon afterward Hiroko was accidentally left in a room with a pair of duck eggs.  She apparently hatched the eggs and was found––and photographed––keeping the ducklings warm. Read more

Lawsuits for failure to impound pit bulls

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

CHARLESTON,  W.V.––The West Virginia Supreme Court on September 27,  2013 reinstated a lawsuit brought against  Monroe County dog warden Patricia Green for failing to impound several pit bulls,  allegedly the subjects of frequent complaints,  who on November 27,  2009 mauled Lowell Bowden,  70,  of Lindside. “Maimed beyond recognition,”   according to the brief filed by Bowden’s widow,  Dreama Bowden,   the victim died seven days later. The case also names Monroe County itself,  the American Modern Home Insurance Company,   and the four people whose pit bulls attacked Bowden.   Read more

BOOKS—Loving Animals: Toward a New Animal Advocacy

From Animal People September 2013:

Loving Animals:  Toward a New Animal Advocacy   by Kathy Rudy University of Minnesota Press (111 Third Avenue South,  Suite 290,  Minneapolis, MN 55401),  2011.  260 pages hardcover,  $16.98.

Trained in theological ethics and women’s studies,  Kathy Rudy describes herself as neither an ethologist nor an animal behaviorist, but writes “It would not be an overstatement to say that most of the important and successful relationships I’ve had in my life have been with nonhuman animals.” Rudy posits that “you never really love [animals] in general.  You always love the particular.”  This directly contradicts the outlook of most of the “people who care about animals” who read ANIMAL PEOPLE,  many of whom helped to build the animal rights movement of the past several decades.   Read more

Ivory speculation makes captive elephants in Thailand & India worth more dead than alive

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

BANGKOK,  Thailand;  THIRUVANATHAPURAM,  India––Unscrupulous owners of working elephants are increasingly often deciding that the rising cost of elephant care and soaring prices paid by speculators for ivory mean their elephants are worth more dead than alive––and are resisting legislation to protect the elephants,  who have often been illegally captured from the wild. Read more

Abolishing wildlife captivity gains momentum in Latin America

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

SAN JOSE,  Costa Rica––An appeal to an administrative law court filed by the zoo management foundation Fundazoo is the last hope the 97-year-old Simón Bolívar Zoo in San José and the Santa Ana conservation center have to remain open past 2014. Read more

BOOKS—Wild Planet: Celebrating wildlife photographer of the year

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

Wild Planet:  Celebrating wildlife photographer of the year
Natural History Museum 
(Cromwell Road,  London SW7 5BD,  U.K.),  2013.
143 pages,  paperback.  $23.95.

Anthologizing 80 winning entries from the Natural History Museum’s “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” competition,  Wild Planet is a celebration of wildlife indeed.   Read more

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