Alerts

Today’s, Sunday, December 15, New York Times has a long and depressing essay telling us we should accept factory farming. The Los Angeles Times has an article about a humpback whale, entangled in rope, who rescuers have tried but failed to free. At least we have good vegan-friendly news from the BBC cooking show, Saturday Kitchen, and more good news from San Antonio, which is now the most recent city to ban horse-drawn carriages, though with a five-year phase in period for the ban. I share that San Antonio news with thanks to all those in Texas, or passionate about horse-drawn carriage issues, who wrote to the San Antonio Express-News in support of the ban. I was pleased to have...

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Avian flu is currently the number one animal story, as it spreads across species, threatening their health and ours, and is behind gruesome mass culls via ventilation shutdown plus heat. It was on the Los Angeles Times front page yesterday, with a follow up story today noting its appearance in a second California child. And Time Magazine has just released a superb essay on it coauthored by Our Honor’s Crystal Heath and Farm Sanctuary’s Gene Baur. A New York Times op-ed on the topic, which I will share, has covered some of the same ground but with no discussion of our unconscionable treatment of animals. Before I share those, let me share responses to the superb Los Angeles Times coverage...

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Hello fellow Texans: With a vote coming on a ban on horse-drawn carriages in San Antonio, Saturday’s (Dec 7) News-Express ran an op-ed by Jeff Quinn, “a former River Walk boat captain, trainer and the 2016 Certified Tourism Ambassador of the Year for San Antonio,” titled, “Carriages hurt no horses, delight visitors and residents.” Here’s how it opens: “I anticipate a lively discussion Thursday when the issue of eliminating horse-drawn carriages from downtown again comes before the San Antonio City Council. “I’m an avid proponent of deferring this matter indefinitely until there are better reasons for banning horse-drawn carriages. The carriage rides are an integral part of San Antonio tourism, as much as the boats on the San Antonio River,...

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Today I break into our regular schedule of alerts, which usually go to the whole list only on weekends, for two reasons: 1) I have just received my copy of “Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story”! And 2) It’s Giving Tuesday, so it’s time for me to remind folks who love DawnWatch that your donations make this work possible. Anybody who reads DawnWatch is familiar with the brilliant Mutts Cartoon, which is syndicated in daily newspapers all over the world. Featuring the rescue dog Earl and his cat friend Mooch, it is upbeat, fun, and warm. But Mutts gently introduces its millions of fans to harder topics. Not only does it bring us “shelter stories” throughout the year, it...

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UK subscribers: The Tuesday, December 3, front page of the Times includes an article titled, “Mock meat can be worse for planet than the real thing.” It is by Eleanor Hayward. It details why the plant-based diets that are best for our health and the planet are whole foods based. Animal suffering does not merit a mention. May I ask you to remind the paper why many of us avoid animal products? Front page articles are the most likely to have responses published, especially if quite a few responses are received. Letters should be sent to letters@thetimes.co.uk and include your postal address and daytime telephone number for verification purposes. Yours and all animals’, Karen Dawn of DawnWatch

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The spread of avian flu, through dairy herds and to humans, has been featured in the Los Angeles Times repeatedly over the last week, including on the front page of yesterday’s paper and in today’s, Sunday December 1, edition. The high kill rate at Los Angeles animal shelters is on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times. The New York Times looked, Friday, at China’s focus on alternative meats.  And today that paper features, on the front page, money paid to China by worldwide zoos for panda exhibitions, earmarked for conservation, which has been misspent. ————- Saturday’s Los Angeles Times had two bird flu stories on the front page! One story , by Susanne Rust, was titled, “Bird flu worries...

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Today’s Sunday, November 24, New York Times, includes an article discussing what we might expect for animals under a second Trump administration, and an op-ed recommending that Biden dispenses with the turkey pardon. Saturday’s Los Angeles Times included an op-ed looking at the danger of rewarding huge dairy farms for capturing methane for use as natural gas. The Washington Post brings us a column championing the monkeys who escaped from the breeding facility.  And the Christian Science Monitor, which ran a wonderful cover story on animal minds on Friday, today includes a piece that notes the importance of reader feedback for shaping writer’s thoughts! ———— “What Trump’s Return Could Mean for Animals,” by Emily Anthes and Catrin Einhorn, appears on...

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I have had an eye out for a wonderful New York Times story, which ran online last week, to appear in print, which happened today, Tuesday November 19, on the cover of the Science section, titled, “A Place Among The Apes.” Today’s New York Times also includes a heartbreaking story about a baby panda who appears to have died from stress caused by firework noise. And the Toronto Star and numerous other Canadian papers have run, “What more will it take to shut down Marineland?” Good question! And the New York Post has run a super strong expose on puppy mills! —- The thoughtful New York Times article, by Emily Anthes, covers residents of the chimp exhibit at the Lincoln...

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Canadians: I am so sorry I missed sending yesterday a stunning story on the front page of the Montreal Gazette, but it is definitely not too late to respond with a quick appreciative letter that speaks for animals! I have shared a print out of it here on the DawnWatch Facebook page and here on the DawnWatch X page so you can see how incredible it looked. Titled, “Researchers beg Canada to stop importing monkeys for experimentation,” the lengthy article, by Michelle Lalonde, opened with: “As a plane carrying hundreds of live, long-tailed macaque monkeys made its way from Cambodia to Montreal’s Mirabel Airport Friday, thousands of emails from concerned Canadians landed in the inbox of federal Environment Minister Steven...

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Angelenos: With the election over, animals are back on the front page of the Los Angeles Times! Today’s front page article, by Melody Gutierrez and Alene Tchekmedyian, is titled, “State to Save Filings on Puppy Market: California stopped throwing out records that shed light on an illicit trade after a Times investigation.” It opens with: “California has stopped destroying records that contain key details about the state’s underground puppy market after a Times investigation found that some unscrupulous resellers import hundreds of dogs from the Midwest with little oversight. “Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, confirmed that the records the agency receives are now being preserved, but offered few other details about how the state...

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