Posts from the ‘Animals’ category

Westminster Porn Show

One of the world's few remaining pageants of objectification and commoditization.
The ‘Animal Rights’ Paradox

How's the animal rights movement doing? If you rate it by the simple question "How many animals have rights?" you'd have to say "Not very well." Call it the animal rights paradox.
At Sundance, a Triumph for "Unlocking the Cage"

Premiered at Sundance, the movie follows attorney Steven M. Wise as he argues to a high court judges that chimpanzee Tommy has the capacity for legal rights and should be set free…
Pigs: Smart & Machiavellian

Winston Churchill famously said: “A dog looks up to you; a cat looks down on you; only a pig treats you as an equal.” But that, of course, is hardly how we treat them…
Half the World’s Wildlife Destroyed in the Last 40 Years

In a sane world, it would be headline news. Everything else would immediately come to a screeching halt to make way for a massive, worldwide attempt to turn things around. (Of…

The Whale Who Took Down SeaWorld

Egg Industry Concession Is No ‘Victory’

For Chimps, the End of Vivisection, Almost

Cecil Is the Least of It

Major Victory for Belugas

It’s being hailed as a very significant victory for the anti-captivity movement. Today, the U.S. government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) denied the Georgia Aquarium’s…

Top Predator in Action

SeaWorld likes to talk of them as being part of “our family” – as though the top predator of the ocean can somehow be adopted and…

When It’s a Crime to Expose a Crime

“It has nothing to do with animals,” said Utah state senator David Hinkins. The cattle-ranching, race-horse breeding legislator was defending Utah’s “ag-gag” law, which makes it…

The Dolphin Who Escaped

She spent the first 10 years of her life in the ocean off the coast of South Korea with her family. Then, captured accidentally in a…

Raven Asks for Help with Quills

A young raven lands on a fence in Nova Scotia, and keeps squawking for over an hour. A girl, Collen Cleary, goes over to the fence…

‘Hey you, Double-Squeak Clickety-Click!’

A new study explores how dolphins use their individual signature whistles (equivalent to their “names”) to stay in touch with each other. Not only do they…

Time to Put an End to the Calgary Stampede

Last Wednesday at the Calgary Stampede, steer wrestler Zane Hankel wrestled a steer to the ground in 4.4 seconds. The animal never rose to his feet…

Farewell to Tea Party Chimpanzee

As a youngster, he drank tea on TV and dressed up as James Bond. When he grew up, he spent the rest of his life at a…

SeaWorld Hits Back at Movie ‘Blackfish’

SeaWorld is clearly worried about the movie Blackfish, which opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend, and across the country over the next month.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Why Humans Don’t Want Nonhumans as Persons

Steven Wise, animal rights attorney and founder of The Nonhuman Rights Project, discusses why we humans don’t like the idea of other animals being recognized as…

Colombia Bans Wild Animals in Circuses

The Colombian Congress voted on Wednesday to ban the use of wild animals in circuses nationwide. Colombia joins four other South American countries – Peru, Ecuador,…

SeaWorld Hit with Another Violation

SeaWorld Orlando has been ordered by the federal government to pay a fine of $38,500 for a “repeat violation” of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration…

For Pigs, a Match Made in Hell

Smithfield, the world’s biggest producer of factory-farmed pigs, has agreed to be taken over by Shuanghui, China’s biggest pork producer.

Shuanghui has 13 factory farms that produce more than 2.7 million tons of meat each year. For $4.7 billion, it will take possession of Smithfield and its 460 facilities that raise 15.8 million hogs a year.

What does this mean for the pigs?