Bipartisanship against animal testing! Plus rats, whale deaths, dog-rescue pilot 2/10/25

Over the last week we have seen truly exciting animal news: a bipartisan congressional stand against animal testing. Both the Courthouse News and Center Square covered bipartisan animal testing bills, which I discussed on the Mark Thompson show last Monday. Then a groundbreaking Federal Government Oversight hearing, which took place on Thursday, was covered by the Washington Times and the UK’s Daily Mail. The Los Angeles Times put climate-driven rat infestations on Saturday’s front page, and a crisis in the crabbing industry, resulting from efforts to save whales, on today’s. That paper today again covers the California horseracing industry’s attempts to hang on through hard times. Canadian front pages announce the death of yet another Beluga at Marineland. And the New York Times ran, on Saturday’s front page, the story I noted last week when it appeared online, about the passing of dog-rescue pilot Seuk Kim.

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The Courthouse News story, last Monday, let us know:

“The Virginia Senate unanimously passed a bill Tuesday to put primates in sanctuaries after their time in laboratories.

“Republican Senator William Stanley, with help from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, introduced the first-of-its-kind bill requiring publicly funded animal testing facilities to offer primates they no longer need to accredited sanctuaries.”

Last week I noted that a Center Sqauare article covered news of another bill, which is federal, and not limited to primates, aimed at pushing the Food and Drug Administration to speed up its approval of new testing methods that don’t involve animals.

I discussed those bills on the Mark Thompson Show podcast last Monday. The focus of our discussion was the strong bipartisan support, unanimous support, even in this current political climate. I hope you’ll check it out and give the video a thumbs up – that’s such a quick and easy way to help animals as it helps get the video shown by YouTube to more people. Comments are even better!

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An Oversight Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday was titled, “Transgender Lab Rats and Poisoned Puppies: Oversight of Taxpayer Funded Animal Cruelty.”  I watched the whole hearing, which is a little over an hour (it starts right around minute 22 at the link above) and I highly recommend you do too if you’d love to realize the horrors of animal testing are finally on their way out, due to a bipartisan desire to see them go.

Representative Nancy Mace is known as a leader in the battle against animal testing; in this hearing we saw strong support for her position from both sides of the aisle. Fellow Republican Laurent Boebert, known for her love of gun rights, suggested the NIH should change its acronym to FOD – Faces of Death. Meanwhile Democratic Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, outspoken in his views on the current “unconstitutional takeover” of government, mentioned that he is vegan and cares deeply about these issues. There were way too many other sympathetic stances to note them all. It was stunning.

You can read the conservative Washington Times’ coverage of the hearing and send an appreciative letter to the editor.  The UK’s Daily Mail coverage is well worth reading and responding to, though I warn progressive DawnWatch subscribers that its headline blames the “Woke Biden administration” whereas the actual hearing makes clear that this kind of useless animal torture to raise funds for institutions has been going on for decades. The transgender issue is just the latest money-maker in the animal research field. If you respond to the Daily Mail (news@dailymail.co.uk ) I urge you to speak for animals and celebrate the bipartisan push to get rid of these horrors.

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Saturday’s Los Angeles Times front page story titled, “Rats! Yet another climate change challenge” offers us an opportunity to weigh in on our relationship with the natural world. Here’s an AOL link for those that hit a paywall at the LA Times.

Today’s Los Angeles Times front page story (Monday, February 10) gives us another opportunity under the heading, “Regulations an existential issue for crab fishers.” That story tells us:

“There were 34 whale entanglements, including 29 humpbacks, recorded off the Pacific Coast in 2024, a six-year high, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Twenty-seven whales were reported entangled in 2023 and 30 whales in 2022, which environmental groups say is probably an undercount. It’s an improvement from years past; in 2016, 71 whale entanglements were reported off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, prompting conservationists to file a lawsuit against California. The settlement agreement led to many of the current regulations.”

Here’s a Yahoo link for that one.

And if you didn’t grab the chance to celebrate the dire straits the California horseracing industry is in after last week’s Los Angeles Times story, you have another chance with today’s, “Horse racing in state bets on machines as its saviors” on page D6. (Here’s a Yahoo link.) And again,  those who don’t know why we would celebrate trouble in that particular paradise should check out Horseracing Wrongs.

Any of those stories present a great opportunity to lend animals your voice with a letter in one of the world’s most influential newspapers – the one read by much of the entertainment industry.

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Saturday’s Niagra Falls Review, Welland Tribune and St Catherine’s Standard all carried the frontpage story, “Marineland euthanizes ‘sweetheart’ beluga.”

It opens:

“Eos, a seven-year-old beluga whale at Marineland, has been euthanized at the Niagara Falls park.

“In a statement released Thursday on its Instagram page, Marineland said the whale was “humanely” put to death Wednesday “after a hard-fought battle with multiple medical conditions.”

“The park added she was ‘a much-loved sweetheart’ and was often regarded as ‘the cutest whale.’

“The brief statement from Marineland did not specify what Eos was suffering from.

“Eos is the 18th beluga to die in captivity at Marineland since 2019. Three belugas sold to a Connecticut facility four years ago have also died.

“Kiska, the last captive killer whale in Canada, died at the park in March 2023. She had been at the park since 1979.

“Camille Labchuk, executive director of advocacy group Animal Justice, said whales are dying at the park at a ‘devastating rate’ despite numerous visits by Animal Welfare Services.”

And Labchuk is quoted at the end of the article with:

“We’re very concerned about what Marineland’s long-rumoured sale means for the rest of the animals in the park and urge action to protect them against being sold to subpar aquariums, or euthanized.

They deserve government intervention and plans to provide for their long-term care.”

That story is behind a paywall but there is plenty above for  Canadians, or anybody with a passion or expertise in this area, to respond to. To submit a Letter to the Editor, please email: angus.scott@niagaradailies.com

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Last week I noted that The New York Times had run, online, an in-depth story on the death of volunteer dog-rescue pilot Seuk Kim. That story finally appeared in print on Saturday’s front page under the heading, “After Dog Pilot’s Last Flight, a Good Home, and an Empty One.” You can grab some tissues and check out this gift link and perhaps you’ll be inspired to respond!

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During the week Angelenos received an alert about two other important stories in the Los Angeles Times: an article on the continued spread and mutation of Avian flu, titled, “Deadly form of H5N1 seen in dairy herds, and a story on a bear holed up under a house in Altadena during the fires, who was treated with kindness by the humans he met.

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And in major media animal news posted over the last week to the DawnWatch X Feed and DawnWatch Facebook Page:

People Magazine shared a sweet story of Kelly Ripa, of ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Mark,” breaking down as she talked about having to euthanize her 17 year-old dog whom she had fallen for when the pup was on the show looking for an adoptive home. So touching.

NPR’s Morning Edition interviewed DC Vegan’s Leah Curran Moon, asking about egg substitutes in light of soaring egg priced due to the slaughter of millions of hens in attempts to control bird flu.

Florida Politics brought us news of a great new tough-on-crime bill: “Tom Leek bill seeks to name and shame animal abusers.”

The Rhode Island Current covered a bill seeking to ban some parrot sales in pet shops, inspired by a legislator’s volunteer work at Foster Parrots.

Wyley Miller of Non Sequitur comic strip nailed it for dog lovers on Friday. (Thanks to Elaine Livesey-Fassel for sending us that, and so many Los Angeles Times stories.)

The Washington Post brought us a heartening animal cruelty turns animal rescue story: puppies left out with the trash in blistering Mississippi July heat have come a long way.

And folks furious that Michael Vick got only two years for his egregious cruelty to dogs, and went straight back to being a sports hero, will be happy to read a New York Times story about a Georgia man who was sentenced to 475 years for dogfighting. That’s more like it! Here’s a gift link.

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch