Animal labs blocked, ESA editorial, bear-hunting lobbyist, dire wolves, veg burgers + .. 4/30/25

We have such extraordinarily good news happening for animals, those of us who have been committed to helping them for some time are pinching ourselves. Some of it, cuts on funding for university animal research, is shared in the New York Times with a ludicrous headline spin. The UK’s Independent has similarly spun coverage. Meanwhile, only the conservative Malaysian paper, The Star, seems willing to focus on yesterday’s wonderful announcement that the new National Institutes of Health head, Jay Bhattacharya, is actively moving away from animal research in favor of human models at the agency. The Washington Post has just released an editorial about the endangered Endangered Species Act, calling for subsidies to help landowners mitigate the cost of environmental regulation.  Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal front page featured DC’s hottest new lobbyist, an old bear-hunting friend of Donald Trump Jr’s.  Sunday’s Los Angeles Times front page discussed the gullibility of the media in response to claims that the dire wolf was being brought back from extinction. And today’s Toronto Star celebrates veggie burgers!

Before I get to those, let me thank all of you who responded to the Pope’s death with letters that celebrated his groundbreaking words on animals. Activist extraordinaire Eric Mills of Action for Animals Oakland, whose activism always includes letters to the editor and who encourages others to write them, had his beautiful letter published in the Wall Street Journal, and I share this gift link to it in the hope that you might read it and be inspired, and share it.

And thanks to those of you who responded to the negative front-page Los Angeles Times story about wolves. That paper ran two letters, the first of which, by Linda Nicholes, opened with:

“Wolves are hardly an old nemesis (“Beautiful, deadly: Wolves stalk rural California,” April 21). They are the animals that keep other wild animals in check and in balance. They help to protect what little remaining wilderness we have left and keep it wild and prospering….”

The second, by Eduardo Kneler, reminded readers that large dogs such as Pyrenees protect herds.

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Today’s, Wednesday April 30, New York Times story, by Emily Anthes, is titled, “Lab Animals Euthanized as White House Slashes Research Funding.” (Page A22.)

It opens:

“Animal testing remains a fundamental part of biomedical research. But as funding evaporates, mice, rats and even monkeys may be euthanized.”

Ugh. You get the gist. While the article discusses animals being used in tuberculosis testing, in Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the way we Treat Animals I discussed truly shocking university research, including painful and fatal testing on primates in order to learn more about premenstrual syndrome in humans.

At least, after way too much discussion of how much the researchers care for the animals and how terrible the funding cuts are, the article ends with:

“For some animal rights activists, downsizing the federal animal research enterprise is something to celebrate. “For a lot of these animals, being euthanized before being experimented on is probably a best-case scenario,” said Justin Goodman, a senior vice president at the White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit that advocates the end of federally funded animal research. (The organization would prefer to see lab animals placed in new homes, he noted.)

“Delcianna Winders, who directs the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School, said she hoped these cuts would spell the end of the national primate centers. But she said she was concerned that cuts and layoffs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, would weaken the nation’s ‘already extremely lax oversight’ of lab animal welfare.

“Dr. Locke hopes that this crisis might be a “wake up call” for the nation to move further toward alternatives to animal research. But that transition should happen in a thoughtful way, he said.

‘I don’t think it’s OK to cull millions of animals from research,’ Dr. Locke said. ‘I don’t think that’s societally acceptable. I don’t think it’s scientifically acceptable, and I think we need to recognize that that is a likely outcome.’”

I will share this gift link from DawnWatch, which I am not sure is a great idea to share widely given the slant of the headline, with headlines being what most people read these days, but in case some of you wish to respond.

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The Independent, in the UK, covered the story under the headline, “How the Trump Administration’s Health Cuts Could Kill Thousands of Test Animals.”  Despite the headline, the article has strong quotes from PETA as well as the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the White Coat Waste Project, and more context on the overall situation. Reporter Julia Musto reminds us:

“The Trump administration’s Food and Drug Administration has recently moved to ‘phase out’ animal testing for certain drugs.”

And she shares more fantastic news:

“On Tuesday, the NIH announced a new initiative to move away from animal testing. Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said that it would ‘fundamentally reimagine the way research is conducted’ and marked a ‘critical leap forward for science, public trust, and patient care.’”

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That beautiful news, mentioned in The Independent article above, but otherwise largely hidden in Western Mainstream media for now, is shared today in Malaysia’s conservative paper The Star, headlined, “U.S. NIH prioritizes human-based research technologies.”

The article this quote from new NIH director Dr Jay Bhattacharya:

“For decades, our biomedical research system has relied heavily on animal models. With this initiative, NIH is ushering in a new era of innovation. By integrating advances in data science and technology with our growing understanding of human biology, we can fundamentally reimagine the way research is conducted – from clinical development to real-world application.”

You can respond with a letter, including your full name, address and phone number.

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The Washington Post has just released an editorial, the paper’s own opinion, titled, “The Endangered Species Act needs market-based reforms: To maintain biodiversity, give Americans an incentive to protect it.”

Here’s a gift link.  As one of the comments notes, the piece is effectively calling for subsidies for landowners to mitigate the cost of environmental regulations. You may wish to join the lively comments discussion on the website, or send a letter to the editor as the editorial is likely to appear in tomorrow’s paper.

One of the comments notes, “And what a sad description of American society. We won’t do the right thing unless we’re paid.”

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I must use that comment as a segue into a New York Times article I sadly missed when it was published last Wednesday, titled, “Seeing Red at the Table.” It discusses the popularity of the Carnivore Diet and lets us know that “On average, Americans ate nearly 7 percent more meat last year than before the pandemic, according to one report.” You can read it at this gift link if you are willing to be depressed.

As the Washington Post comment above states, it can be a losing battle to try to get people to do things just because it’s right, or kind. (That’s why DawnWatch is such a vehement supporter of cell-cultured, slaughter-free meat, even though of course I wish folks would just stop eating meat because they are about animals.)

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I noted above that today’s Toronto Star celebrates veggie burgers. The article is titled,  “Toronto’s best veggie burgers go beyond Impossible meat – here’s how local chefs are reinventing the plant-based patty,” and opens with:

“The humble veggie burger has come a long way from its days as a frozen afterthought for non-meat eaters. While the arrival of Beyond Meat and Impossible patties brought veggie patties to the forefront in the late 2010s, the past five years have seen a growing appetite for simpler, whole-food ingredients. Today, chefs are no longer treating veggie patties as mere meat substitutes – they’re crafting them as standout dishes in their own right.

“As a meat eater, I’m still inclined to try a house-made veggie burger – it’s a chance to taste a chef’s creativity at work. A veggie patty can be an endless mix of vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and mushrooms. Each restaurant has its own preferred blend and a secret trick to keep the patty from falling apart, achieving a bouncy, chewy texture that holds up in a toasted bun and under a heap of toppings. The Beyond Meat hype has since died down, the city has stepped up with a broader and more inventive range of veggie burgers.”

I am frustrated that the only shareable link I can find to the article online is broken, and despite having written to the reporter to see if he knows of another, I have had no luck. But I wanted to make sure Canadian subscribers knew about the article in case they can dig it up and wish to respond.

While I was looking for it I stumbled on the great news that McDonald’s is testing a veggie burger again in Canada, this one more like a veggie burger than a fake meat burger.

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Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal front-page article, “MAGA Loyalists Are Gaining a Foothold in D.C. Lobbying” is a bit of a rough read, which includes:

“His firm, Checkmate Government Relations, is preparing to open its Washington office next month on Pennsylvania Avenue. McDowell is decorating it with hunting trophies, antique Oriental rugs and an office chair custom-made out of crocodile hide.”

Here’s a gift link to that one, sent with a warning that the first photo you see includes a stuffed dead bear.

The beautiful letter about the pope and animals published last week tells us there might be somebody who gives a darn about our cause at the letters desk, so why not write? Just remember that papers are far more likely to publish letters that praise rather than slam them, so it’s best to find a way to stand for animals without standing against fellow humans, especially our potential friends in the media.

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A Los Angeles Times front page headline on Sunday announced, “Genetics firm did achieve a hype breakthrough; Colossal Biosciences’ dubious claim of dire wolf’s ‘de-extinction’ was swallowed whole by the media.”

The article looks at coverage of claims by a company that it had resurrected dire wolves, with columnist Micheal Hiltzik noting, “Its achievement drew Page 1 reportage and plaudits from conservationists and animal welfare groups who saw it as a path to ‘making extinction events a thing of the past’…”

He writes, “Many in the genetics community have questioned whether the three animals produced at Colossal’s genetics laboratory and currently housed at an unidentified preserve are truly dire wolves, as opposed to modern-day gray wolves with relatively modest genetic alterations.”

Here’s an AOL link to the article that is not behind a paywall.

Though Hiltzik mentions the delight of animal welfare groups, I think of a line Chris DeRose of Last Chance for Animals once shared with me: “There’s no suffering in extinction.” While conservationists focus on species, animal welfare and rights activists are generally more concerned with the fate of each individual animal.

The article, however, opens the door for letters to the editor about our relationships with members of other species, so why not walk through it with a note?

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In other mainstream media animal news, which I have shared over the past week on the DawnWatch X Feed and DawnWatch Facebook page:

• The Daily Mirror in the UK not only called out trophy hunting as “sickening,” it did so boldly on its front page. I shared a photo on X for those who want to see the fabulous front-page display.

• KTLA thoughtfully covered LA Zoo’s announcement that it might send its elephants to another zoo, under the headline, “Cruel practice’: Activists want aging L.A. Zoo elephants sent to sanctuary.”

• NBC of Palm Desert followed up a rodeo fluff piece with a wonderful story on the cruelty of rodeo, after being contacted by Chef Tanya, of Chef Tanya’s Kitchen, who is the founder of Native Foods. Interestingly, the follow-up has now been taken off the website – probably revealing the power of lobby groups, or perhaps pro rodeo activism – but I’ll share my Facebook post that takes you to the defunct link so that you know it really happened. Thank you, Tanya!

• Wyoming’s Cowboy State Daily ran a lengthy letter by activist Peggy Larson, an ex-bareback bronc rider and ranch veterinarian, which I include here to inspire you – and educate those who don’t know much about rodeo.

• And the UK’s Independent, just today, ran the story, “Eating white meat was meant to be good for you – now, apparently not.”   It certainly isn’t good for the animals! Some folks, especially UK folks (or UK chaps and lasses) might want to respond to that one.

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch