Chimpanzee Decisions a ‘Very, Very Important Milestone’
The decision by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to phase out medical research on chimpanzees and to send all but 50 of the 360 who…
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Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project
This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.
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Is the Sloth Sanctuary a Zoo?
The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica was the first of its kind for these wonderfully engaging animals, and it was a model for others that followed. But questions have arisen. And…
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Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary
Tafi Atome looks like a typical forest in Ghana. The monkeys have been revered in this village for two centuries. But being “sacred” is no guarantee of survival.
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The Great Irony of Animal “Rights”
The great irony of the animal rights movement is there is still only one species that has any rights at all: humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project is setting out to change that.
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Why Mass Extinction Is Part of Human Nature
Why would a supposedly “intelligent” species behave in a way that’s bringing about a mass extinction – one that will likely take us down along with so many other animals?
Is the Stock Market a Global Ponzi Scheme?
Sacred Activism in the Service of Animals
Of Humans and Persons
James Gandolfini’s Last Supper: Foie Gras
James Gandolfini’s family quoted his autopsy as saying that the 51-year-old actor had “died of a heart attack, of natural causes.”
But there’s nothing “natural” about dying of a heart attack when you’re 51 years old. Especially when you read what Gandolfini had for dinner the night he died.
More Dolphins Go Tail Walking
Call it a fad or a fashion, the latest craze, a new wrinkle, or just what the kids are doing these days. In the world of…
How History Is Like a Roll of Toilet Paper
If the history of our planet were on a roll of toilet paper – unrolled across the floor or down a hill – where would we…
The Pinwheel Galaxy
Great photo of one of our cosmic neighbors, the Pinwheel Galaxy – our nearest face-on spiral galaxy, just 27 million light years away. This photo was…
Just Like a Duck Takes to Water
After being penned up with a hoarder, two dozen ducks figure out their new pond. They’re from a group of 130 birds rescued by the Woodstock…
Don’t Say ‘Meat’; Say ‘Protein’
Is the very notion of “meat” becoming so icky that food companies are getting worried about saying the very word itself? According to Businessweek, Taco Bell…
Travis, Tragedy and the Other Chimpanzees
Travis and Charla when he was a youngster In February, 2009, 14-year-old chimpanzee Travis attacked Charla Nash, a friend of the woman who “owned” him. He…
The Dog Who Doesn’t Want a Bath
. . . really, really, would prefer not to have one, if you don’t mind.
Congressional Cave of the Week
All it took was one letter from the meat lobby – and Congress caved. In keeping with a growing number of institutions that promote “Meatless Monday”…
Enough Already!
One of the gorillas at the Dallas Zoo has finally had enough of a bunch of out-of-control kids yelling abuse at him through the glass. This…
Fires Seen from Space Station
The Indonesian fire that’s burning down forests for palm oil plantations, killing more of the remaining orangutans, and choking nearby Singapore. [readon] The West Fork Complex…
ABC Nightline Takes On SeaWorld
Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. With the movie Blackfish currently playing at the American Film Institute festival in Washington DC, ABC’s Nightline looks into…
Colbert on Chicken Cages
Stephen Colbert takes the side of (and you know what that means!) Iowa Rep. Steve King, who’s pro-dogfighting, against evacuating pets in natural disasters, and angry…
The Other Stone Henge
The Avebury henge, by Gregg Parker. This is the Avebury Stone Circle, which surrounds the village of Avebury, near Stonehenge in southwest England. Built nearly 3,000…
Did Hitchcock Have It Right about Birds?
Are the birds out to get us? When movie director Alfred Hitchcock decided to scare us all to death with seagulls and crows in his movie…
Otterly Fun
Aussies in Borneo get a wannabe hitchhiker. “After we got him out, he proceeded to chase the car up the dirt track like a dog.”
James Cameron’s Vegan Epiphany
I’ve had an epiphany recently. I want to challenge all of you as people of deep conscience, people who are environment stewards of the earth and…
A Conservative Catholic Plea for the Elephants
It’s always special when Matthew Scully writes about animals. He’s done it again with a remarkable article in The Atlantic about the “global industry that’s slaughtering…
On Banning Bestiality
What exactly makes it a crime, punishable by potentially many years in prison, to have sex with a goat, a sheep or a cow, while, for example, it’s perfectly OK to kill that same animal and eat her? Or, indeed, to be entertained by her in any number of other ways?