Sandy Rowland. (Beth Clifton collage) Car crash ends 20-year career in Bowling Green civic affairs & politics BOWLING GREEN,  Ohio––Sandy Rowland, 77,  for more than 30 years a dynamic Great Lakes Region representative for first the Fund for Animals and later the Humane Society of the U.S.,  died on April 17,  2024 “from extensive injuries sustained in a car accident on April 3, 2024,”  reported David DuPont for BG Independent Media. Rowland “spent the last two weeks in the Toledo Hospital intensive care unit,  and was not allowed visitors due to her medical ..read more

Believe this image of animal research & you might get elected in Alameda,  California.  (Beth Clifton collage) Unlicensed lab case shows difficulty of enforcement ALAMEDA,  California––The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and other animal advocates may be celebrating an April 16,  2024 victory of sorts in Alameda,  California,  but only if they did not read the fine print in the ordinance sparking the cheers,  and did not think deeply about the consequences of the ordinance,  even if it could be enforced. “On Tuesday,  April 16 ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Both dairy & almonds are big water users.  One California industry or the other has to go. SACRAMENTO, California––The California watershed may not be big enough for its two most profitable farm commodities,  cow’s milk and almond milk. Already engaged in a shootout for consumer preference on grocery store shelves,  either the dairy industry or the almond industry may bite the dust,  at least in California,  if other agricultural production and the Sacramento River salmon runs are to survive. Cows with guns Dairy farmers and almond growers ..read more

Pei Su. (Beth Clifton collage) by Pei Feng Su Lantern Publishing & Media P.O. Box 1350 Woodstock, NY 12498 www.lanternpm.org Reviewed by Merritt Clifton The animal advocacy world knows Pei Feng Su as the intensely hard-working,  politely amiable,  fluently multi-lingual,  supremely capable and outwardly poised founder of ACTAsia for Animals,  a humane education society with offices in London,  Taipei,  and Beijing. Facebook followers are also aware that Pei Su is determinedly battling breast cancer,  raising a sixteen-year-old daughter with her Scottish ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Jewish Vegan Life urges Jews to go vegan in combined Passover/Earth Day campaign TEL AVIV,  Israel––River otters offer perhaps the best news coming out of Israel lately. War is still raging in Gaza.  The Hamas militia remains unsubdued.  Thousands of Gaza civilians are still starving,  chiefly due to the difficulty of feeding them without feeding Hamas. Iran directly entered the fray with an April 14,  2024 rocket and drone attack on Israel.  Though the attack was almost entirely repelled,  injuring only a seven-year-old Bedouin Arab ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Turfgrass industry lobbying in 2023 put nitrogen runoff regulation on hold             TAMPA, Florida––The real mystery of the whirling sawfish found in shallow Florida waters since November 2023 may be not what afflicts the fish,  but rather why almost no one investigating the fish deaths is talking about gas bubble disease and nitrogen. (Beth Clifton collage) Gas bubble disease Gas bubble disease,  relatively familiar to keepers of aquarium fish,  produces symptoms practically identical to the “w ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Five killed by pit bulls,  two by pair of Rottweilers,  one each by Cane Corsos,  Presa Canario & police dog             PORTSMOUTH,  Virginia;  VANCOUVER,  British Columbia––Cindy White,  52,  killed by three pit bulls on April 12,  2024 in Portsmouth,  Virginia,  was the second U.S. and Canadian dog attack fatality in a two-week span, following the April 1,  2024 death of Kache Grist,  11,  in Edmonton,  Alberta. (See What a Cane Corso ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Last four survivors released at Ramadan             TEHRAN, Iran––All eight living Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation cheetah conservationists who were sent to Iranian prisons for alleged espionage in 2018 are  reportedly now free. The last four imprisoned Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation personnel were released as the governments of Iran,  Israel,  and the U.S. exchanged warnings about Iranian support of the Hamas,  Hezbollah,  and Houthi militias currently fighting Israel,  and ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Unpaid Philadelphia Gun Club legal bills have apparently been at issue for ten years or more DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania––Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK] founder Steve Hindi has accused the Philadelphia Gun Club of depraved and deliberate cruelty,  and quite a lot else,  in fifteen years of campaigning against pigeon shoots hosted by the gun club since 1877. One thing Hindi has not alleged,  however,  against the notorious hangout for purportedly trigger-happy men with more money than brains,  is that the purportedly trigger-happy m ..read more

(Beth Clifton collage) Insurance industry payouts for dog attacks increased 8% in 2023 alone OMAHA, Nebraska––An April 9,  2024 attack on a mail carrier by a dog believed to be a pit bull near 16th and Pinkney streets in Omaha,  Nebraska,  coming two days into National Dog Bite Prevention Week 2024,  offered a timely reminder almost in the back yard of several of the biggest U.S. insurance companies of the risk that dangerous dogs pose to delivery personnel,  the public,  and insurers themselves. But few of the lessons illustrated by the attack are emphasized in ..read more