animal cruelty

Scientists Have Created Monkeys With Parkinson’s Disease

Six months after researchers in China bioengineered monkeys to have autism, a Japanese team of scientists has used the same technology to create monkeys with Parkinson’s. It’s a scientific first, and it could lead to effective treatments—but do the ends justify the means? As reported in New Scientist, a team led by Hideyuki Okano from…

SeaWorld Will Finally Stop Using Killer Whales… After Just a Few More Years of Exploitation

SeaWorld has announced that it’s ended the practice of breeding orcas in captivity. It’ll also stop running its theatrical shows, replacing them with what it calls “natural” encounters with the animals—but only by 2019. SeaWorld currently looks after 24 orcas. In a statement, Joel Manby, the company’s President and CEO, explained that these will be…

SeaWorld Cancels Inhumane Killer Whale Show, Announces New Killer Whale Show About “Conservation”

So there’s good SeaWorld news and bad SeaWorld news. The good SeaWorld news is that, after decades of criticism, the park will phase out its infamous Shamu show next year. The bad SeaWorld news is that the killer whales will just star in a new show. Okay so there’s actually a little bit more bad…

Ruthless Driver Charged With Felony After Playing Death Race 2000 with Seagulls

If it’d been pigeons, he might have gotten away with it. But a 19-year-old Rhode Island man who mowed over three seagulls in a beach parking lot is facing felony charges for “maliciously killing or wounding animals.” Really, if nobody’d seen him do it, he also might’ve gotten away with it. But as Boston’s WCBV…

U.S. Navy Agrees to Create Safe Havens to Protect Marine Mammals From Military Exercises

The U.S. Navy has agreed to set aside vast swaths of ocean territory off the shores of Hawaii and Southern California in an effort to protect sound-sensitive marine mammals from the effects of sonar and powerful explosives used in military exercises. For years, marine biologists have warned about the detrimental effects of high-intensity, mid-frequency sounds…

Thousands of Monkeys are Being Sacrificed in the War on Terror

Since the 9/11 attacks, researchers in the United States have conducted exceptionally cruel, even superfluous, experiments on animals to develop countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction. But as BuzzFeed reporter Peter Aldhous asks: Is all this suffering really necessary? Monkeys, says Aldhous, “are the unsung heroes of the war on terror — or its hidden…

Sure, Racehorses Are Getting Faster, but at What Cost?

A new study shows racehorses have gotten progressively quicker over the past 160 years, and in sprint races, especially. But given the startling number of race-related deaths each year, it’s nothing to be proud of. University of Exeter researchers Patrick Sharman and Alastair Wilson analyzed a dataset of 616,084 British flat races run by 70,388…

Showcase Your Interest In Animal Cruelty With This Creepy “Ant Watch”

Philadelphia-based Analog Watch Co. has unveiled its latest product, a watch-like accessory that houses anywhere from three to five harvester ants. The company calls it a “living conversation piece,” but it’s probably just an April Fool’s joke. (Please let it be an April Fool’s joke!) The Ant Watch, which will apparently start shipping in April,…

Why Freeing Elephant Performers Is Not Nearly Enough

The costumes are coming off, the shackles are being unlocked, and the boxcars are opening. After more than 130 years, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus will retire its elephants. It’s an important step — but animals need legal rights, and not just laws that treat them like things. As a child, my…

Discovery Claims It Will Show A Man Being “Eaten Alive” By An Anaconda

In a bizarre bid for TV ratings, the Discovery Channel has announced an upcoming special Eaten Alive, in which a wildlife filmmaker in a “snake-proof” suit will supposedly crawl inside a live anaconda. Uh…does the anaconda get a say in this? Photo from Discovery Channel. Paul Rosolie has agreed to dive into a snake’s maw…

Why Chimps Should Never Become Pets Or Performers

Chimps who are removed from their mothers early in life and raised by humans as pets or performers are more likely to develop behavioral and social problems, according to new research. Can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s good to see work being done in this area. It’s well documented, for example, that infant chimps, when…

Texans get set to kill thousands of rattlesnakes in annual festival

Thousands of snakes will be killed in the 56th Rattlesnake RoundUp this coming weekend in Sweetwater, Texas. It’s a barbaric and environmentally reckless festival that’s also startlingly reminiscent of a classic Simpson’s episode. It’s the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup (yes, there are others), and it was started as a way to control the over-population of…

Pigs are being strung-up and shot to train army medics in Denmark

Just a week after a “surplus” giraffe was killed at a Danish zoo, Denmark is once again embroiled in an animal cruelty controversy. According to PETA’s British and German affiliates, the Danish military is using live pigs for target practice and medical training. [Warning, the following images are disturbing.] https://gizmodo.com/zoo-kills-surplus-giraffe-in-front-of-children-feeds-1519870667 It’s called Operation Danish Bacon…

The annual Taiji Cove dolphin hunt is underway. Some 250 dolphins from 5 separate pods have been corralledand now await slaughter or a lifetime of captivity — including this rare albino dolphin calf spotted by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

​What will happen after animals are legally recognized as persons?

The first real attempt to see chimps legally recognized as persons may have failed, but it’s an historic case that undoubtedly represents the first of many to come. It’ll only be a matter of time before chimps and other animals are no longer seen as mere property, but rather as subjects worthy of legal protections.…

Scientists are getting better at engineering monkeys to have human health problems, like autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. As SciAm’s Hellen Shen writes, precision gene editing is paving the way for transgenic monkeys — and they could become better disease models than mice. But given what we know about animal cognition, we’re prompted to ask:…

Canadian Government Raids Gas Plant After It Kills 7,500 Birds

In mid-September, around 7,50o migrating birds were killed when they flew into a gas flare at a natural gas facility in New Brunswick. Yesterday morning, officers from Environment Canada stormed into the facility in search of evidence that could help them in the investigation. The incident happened when thousands of songbirds, including some endangered species,…

This upsetting timelapse shows how we’re making life hell for manatees

During the winter, Florida’s manatees come to Crystal River Springs to keep warm, but that exposes them to curious tourists who just won’t leave them alone. Watch this video to see just how bad they have it. Indeed, Florida’s manatees have it tough, whether it be on account of toxic red algae, boat propellors, or…

Man harasses a baby manatee, puts pics on Facebook, gets arrested

A 21 year-old Florida man, Ryan William Waterman, is facing a misdemeanor charge that could see him pay a $500 fine and face six months in jail. He was arrested by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after being alerted to pictures on Facebook showing Waterman hugging a baby manatee. According to the Florida…

Government Scientists in the U.S. Are Set to End Most Research Done On Chimps

It has been a long time coming, but it looks like the vast majority of medical research performed on chimps in the United States is about to come to an end. A report from an internal working group was approved yesterday by the National Institutes of Health — and pending a final review by NIH…