Critter News

JANUARY 3, 2011

According to this Technorati article , the Humane Society rated the states on their animal protection laws. BEST STATES California (best-yay!) BEST Illinois (best) Maine Michigan Oregon California WORST Mississippi Idaho Hawaii North Dakota Kentucky.

Animal Legal Defense Fund 100

Animal Legal Defense Fund Animal Protection North Dakota Protection 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2024

At just under 1,000 acres of reserve property with several habitat types, it hosts a diversity of plants and animals. Although the property has seen human impacts, there have been recent efforts to improve water quality and restore this important habitat. Osprey carrying a fish La Jolla Cove has a lot going on.

San Diego 189

San Diego Sea Lions Lions Birds 189

Animal Ethics

MAY 28, 2012

This is human chauvinism. The anthropomorphic side reads: "It is anthropomorphic to attribute characteristics to nonhumans that belong only to humans." The human chauvinism side reads: "It is chauvinistic not to attribute characteristics to those nonhumans who have them and to persist in the conceit that only humans do."

Humane 40

Humane Los Angeles Neglecting 2004 40

Animal Person

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

This morning I posted " On California's Animal Abuse Registry Proposal " over at Animal Rights & AntiOppression and welcome any discussion about it. The outcome: "worship of human beings." What a fitting addition to discussions about speciesism!

Animal Abuse 100

Animal Abuse Speciesism Animal Ethics 100

Critter News

OCTOBER 31, 2009

Issue 2 in Ohio would create 13-member state board to oversee the care of farm animals in the State. The Humane Society and other groups oppose it as a power grab by big agriculture to prevent another Proposition 2 (the initiative passed last year in California to improve standards for farm animal care.)

Farm Animal 100

Farm Animal Farmed Animals Animal Welfare Ohio 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2013

The general public is out and about, birds and animals are raising their young, and human/wildlife interaction is at its peak. Self-cleaning pens, never-empty feed buckets,” wrote Angel in South Carolina and Zoe in California. “A wrote Veronica in California. “I It’s August, and first on the menu is: Fried Rehabber.

Wildlife 240

Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Oklahoma New York 240

Critter News

AUGUST 15, 2010

Last week there was a slew of articles about the agreement in Ohio between the farm industry and animal welfare activists to expand cage sizes for calves (veal), hens and pigs. This concession was to avoid a November ballot vote a la California's Proposition 2.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Factory Farming 100

4 The Love Of Animals

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

I recently got an email from the Animal Legal Defense Fund. They are pioneering legislation in California to make public animal abuse registries. Please take time to read it, and if you are in California, get in touch with your representative and encourage them to support this if you believe it’s a good thing.

Animal Legal Defense Fund 100

Animal Legal Defense Fund ALDF Animal Abuse Hoarding 100

Critter News

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Outcry is growing against one of California’s top wildlife officials after a photo of him holding a dead mountain lion surfaced online last week. Hunting mountain lion is legal in Idaho, but illegal in California. KCRA 3 could not reach Richards for comment.

Mountain Lions 100

Mountain Lions Lions Humane Society Of The United States Idaho 100

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

Brown, a case in which the meat industry is attempting to invalidate a California law designed to reduce animal suffering and protect public safety. The industry sued California, arguing that Section 599f is preempted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act.

Animal Legal Defense Fund 100

Animal Legal Defense Fund Meat Humane Society Of The United States Factory Farm 100

Critter News

JANUARY 5, 2009

Another big issue gaining momentum is animal welfare. The recent passing of a proposition in California to strictly manage how laying chickens are kept serves notice, he says. He adds that this is more than just a matter of voter education, given the $8 million spent by the California poultry industry fighting the proposition.

Animal Welfare 100

Animal Welfare Industry Welfare The Humane Society 100

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 24, 2012

With regard to wild animals, the general policy recommended by the rights view is: let them be! Since this will require increased human intervention in human practices that threaten rare or endangered species (e.g., Too little is not enough. (

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles 2004 Animal Endangered Species 40

Critter News

OCTOBER 6, 2008

California recently passed a law protecting animal researchers from animal activists. Ralph Freeman has killed cats and kittens in his laboratory at UC Berkeley with no benefit for humans for over twenty years. These animals are denied movement and cut open for his insane, unscientific studies.

Animal Research 100

Animal Research Research Animal Liberation Oakland 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2015

The vast majority of you reading this accept it is happening, and for the time being it is caused by humans. I doubt we have to worry about Herring Gulls , Ruby-throated Hummingbirds or California Towhees going extinct, though their abundance and distribution will surely shift in time. Climate Change. It’s that simple.

North America 208

North America Birds San Francisco Suffering 208

Critter News

JANUARY 29, 2009

It turns out that she was the former Humane Society Chief Economist. She used to head United Animal Nations too. Tags: proposition 2 california humane society farm animal welfare. Pretty impressive bio (please note that the bio is from her time at HSUS). I couldn't find any information on her current activities.

Proposition 2 100

Proposition 2 HSUS Animal Welfare Farm Animal 100

Critter News

FEBRUARY 6, 2012

A federal judge for the first time in US history has heard arguments in a case that could determine whether animals enjoy the same constitutional protection against slavery as human beings. Sea World's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, called the lawsuit a waste of the court's time and resources. when the constitution was adopted.

San Diego 100

San Diego PETA Ethical Treatment Whales 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2013

Andean condors are vultures and feed exclusively on “carrion” dead animals. It is true that condors eat dead animals. It is also true that condors will spot cows and other livestock giving birth and guard the animal to be there and take advantage of the placenta and other leftovers.

Livestock 172

Livestock Chile Colombia Ecuador 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2016

Most humans cannot say that. Like their relatives, the California condors, Andean condors have bald heads.” It’s true, they prey on baby or weak animals as well, but carrion makes up the majority of their diet. I love condors and vultures.

California Condor 100

California Condor Livestock Endangered Species Killing 100

Critter News

JUNE 9, 2011

LA Animal Services is the subject of an internal investigation surrounding missing animals. Brenda Barnette, General Manager of the Animal Services Department, said 64 animals have disappeared from six shelters in roughly a year,” Zanhiser reports. The majority of the unaccounted-for animals were dogs, Barnette said.”

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Shelters Animal Kennels 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2012

When staying with Daisy’s family in Yorba Linda, California, I often wake up early in the morning and take the short walk up to the southern end of Carbon Canyon Regional Park to do some birding. Despite, or maybe because of the active human intervention, quite a few species can be seen in a couple hours in the morning. (I

Coyotes 101

Coyotes California Mammals Sparrows 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2014

Some people think it’s just plain fun to kill enormous numbers of animals and pile up their bodies, and when there’s no “bag limit” it’s legal to do so. It also brings to mind the uncontested link between animal abuse and violent behavior toward fellow humans. Plain old fashioned Fun.”.

Killing 272

Killing Slaughter Slaughtered Animal Abuse 272

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2020

After some hours of recording in northern California, and then, painstaking analysis and listening, he determined the number to be 37, at which point he, palpably exultant, announces to the reader: “a decades-long quest fulfilled.”. To humans, birdsong is akin to Joycean language, isn’t it?

Virginia 232

Virginia Boston North America 2020 232

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2018

And, he literally wrote the book(s) on California birds. We might expect that as the earth warms, biomes or regionally defined habitats will move north, and with them, their plants and animals. People often think of human caused climate change as something that has happened over recent years, or the last couple of decades.

2018 101

2018 Science Humane Species 101

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

There are also some things we cannot learn by using humans, if we respect their rights. Tom Regan , The Case for Animal Rights , updated with a new preface [Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2004], 388 [first edition published in 1983]) The rights view merely requires moral consistency in this regard. (

Science 40

Science Los Angeles 2004 Morals 40

Critter News

NOVEMBER 16, 2008

From the website : Just after sunrise on Halloween, a sole trick or treater descended on the home of University of California-San Francisco primate vivisector Stephen Lisberger. As Stephen and his wife Chieko slept in San Francisco, tubes of superglue were used to fill his front door locks.

Primates 100

Primates San Francisco Animal Welfare Act Research 100

Critter News

OCTOBER 29, 2008

It's from September 30, from the Humane Society. on Prop 2 campaign reports a tidal wave of voter and donor support from Californians backing the effort to stop the cruel and inhumane treatment of animals on industrial factory farms. The writer is Jennifer Fearing, the CHIEF ECONOMIST for the Humane Society. Chief economist?

Proposition 2 100

Proposition 2 Prop 2 Factory Farm Factory Farming 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The unrivaled aerial champions of the Americas have to be the two species of Condor, the one-time almost nearly extinct California Condor and the truly massive Andean Condor. The California Condor has a story well-known by anyone with an interest in birds. California Condor , photo by Sheridan Woodley. Old Wold Vultures.

California Condor 175

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 175

Animal Ethics

JUNE 12, 2012

That individuals can be harmed without knowing it has important implications for the proper assessment of the treatment of animals. Modern farms (so-called factory farms), for example, raise animals in unnatural conditions. Those animals who are raised intensively, then, let us assume, do not know what they're missing.

Factory Farm 40

Factory Farm Factory Farming Los Angeles Animal 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 6, 2014

BRUCE FRIEDRICH Senior Policy Director Farm Sanctuary Washington, March 4, 2014 To the Editor: The humane laws for hens in California that provide them more space in which to live should be countrywide. Chickens deserve to live humanely. People seem to lose sight of the fact that these are sentient animals, not food machines!

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Farm Sanctuary Battery Cages 40

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Here's the good news: This is a very readable explanation of how animals in the Hundred Heartbeat Club (there are 100 or fewer individuals in the wild today) got to be in the club. This is irksome, as the premise is that we need to save the animals (and which ones is an interesting discussion) because we will suffer if they are gone.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears California Condor Bald Eagle Lions 100

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 5, 2008

Here is a Los Angeles Times story about California's Proposition 2, which passed yesterday. On the one hand, it improves the lives of many farm animals. On the other hand, it entrenches the idea that they may be used as mere means to human ends. In the long run, measures such as this may make things worse for farm animals.

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Proposition 2 For Animals Rights 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

It is simply projustice, insisting only that the scope of justice be seen to include respect for the rights of animals. The animal rights movement is not for the faint of heart. How we change the dominant misconception of animals—indeed, whether we change it—is to a large extent a political question.

Animal Rights Movement 40

Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Los Angeles 40

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

They feed on animal plankton and build their nests by burrowing in the dirt on offshore islands. Last year, beginning about Halloween, thousands of juvenile auklets started washing ashore dead from California’s Farallon Islands to Haida Gwaii (also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands) off central British Columbia.

Science 151

Science Iraq Research Birds 151

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

And, that sparrow I heard in California that sounded so different really is a Song Sparrow?” The six chapters that follow explore bird communication in mating; defending territory; rearing children; responding to predators; interacting with neighbors and functioning in large groups; and communicating successfully in a noisy human world.

North America 278

North America Research Birds Groups 278

4 The Love Of Animals

AUGUST 10, 2012

“Frankenweenie” follows in the footsteps of Tim Burton’s other stop-motion animated films “Corpse Bride” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”—both of which were nominated for Academy Awards®. Stop-motion animation is one of the oldest animation styles. On average, one animator can only produce 5 seconds of animation per week.

Apes 100

Apes Animal Dogs California 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

People have moved useful plants and animals around with them as long as they had the wit to do so. So that New Zealand would end up with quite a few species of animal not originally found here is hardly surprising of itself. California Quail are familiar birds to West Coast birders of North America, and Kiwis too now.

New Zealand 161

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 161

Animal Ethics

JULY 24, 2012

The initial attractiveness of utilitarianism as a moral theory on which to rest the call for the better treatment of animals was noted in an earlier context. Because animals are sentient (i.e., Because animals are sentient (i.e., To secure the philosophical foundation for animal rights requires abandoning utilitarianism. (

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Animal Rights Movement Factory Farm Factory Farming 40