Alerts

Californians: The wonderful Los Angeles Times deserves some attention today! The lead front page story, by Lila Seidman, is titled,  “A bear swipes at a woman and a furious wildlife debate ensues.” It is extraordinarily thoughtful, including the information that the woman swiped and injured by Victor the Bear, who was then killed by authorities, “didn’t want her brother bear to hurt.” If you are stopped by a paywall, you’ll find the same article online at the Gazette Extra. The lead California Section story, Page B1, by Melody Gutierrez and Alene Tchekmedyian, is titled, “Action urged to rein in illicit puppy trade.” The online version opens with three bullet points which summarize it: –A Los Angeles Times investigation found a pipeline of puppies from Midwest...

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Today’s, Sunday, September 22, New York Times, has a superb front-page story on the advent of cell cultivated meat. The Los Angeles Times includes a thoughtful lead story on bears breaking into houses. And both the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, and numerous other outlets, have covered a report suggesting, once again, that the Covid-19 pandemic began at the Wuhan live animal market, providing us with an opportunity to write about animal cruelty. Before I cover those, let me thank all who sent letters to the Los Angeles Times in response to last Sunday’s superb investigative report on puppy mills. Today’s Los Angeles Times has a stunning page of letters under the headline, “Turn off the Puppy Mill Pipeline.”...

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The Sunday, September 15th, Los Angeles Times front page lead headline announces a Times investigative report on the illegal flood of puppy mill dogs into California. The New York Times front page includes a headline, pointing to a Metro Section from page story on a troublesome situation with Happy, the elephant at the Bronx Zoo. Sunday’s Boston Globe shares that same New York Times story. I have posted a photo, on the DawnWatch Facebook page, of the stunning Los Angeles Times front page upper half, . “A Times Investigation” is above a photo of dogs in transport crates, with the headline, “A Puppy Mill Pipeline,” underneath it, and then the subheading, “Unsuspecting dog buyers in California can face heartache and thousands...

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The Wednesday, September 11, International edition of the New York Times includes an important article, titled, “Live Animal Markets Take Few Precautions,” which appeared in the New York edition on the 10th, titled, “Animal Wet Markets Unnerve Scientists.” Before I cover that and other recent animal news, let me thank all of you who responded to the New York Times coverage of the Transfarmation Project. The paper published activist Hilary Rettig’s superb letter in print yesterday. I have shared a print out of the web version on the DawnWatch Facebook page. Please remember that the New York Times is practically begging women to write. Legislators and other decision makers look to the letters pages as barometers of public opinion, so let’s...

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Today’s, Wednesday August 28, New York Times includes an article on the deli meat market’s challenges, and a thoughtful write-up on the HBO series “Chimp Crazy.” The latter refers to an edition of New York Magazine that I am sorry to have missed when it came out but was happy to still find on newsstands today, which focuses on our relationships with the nonhumans in our families — whether they are good for them and us. I will share more on that below. Also, today’s Charlotte Observer has a front-page story on a lawsuit filed by Perdue against a whistleblower. Before I discuss those, let me thank all of you who wrote to the New York Times regarding the “What to eat...

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Canadians: The Toronto Star has run a superb column, by Linda McQuaig, on page 13 of the Thursday August 22 paper, titled “Ford helps factory farmers keep secrets.” It is also available on Rabble. Will you take just a moment to jot off a very quick note of thanks to the editor , which says something on behalf of animals? Yours and all animals’, Karen Dawn of DawnWatch

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Angelenos: It’s pretty darn depressing to see, as the headline on the lead Entertainment story, page E1, in the Tuesday August 20 Los Angeles Times, “Chasing a Dream in Rodeo Ring.” The subheading reads, “Grab a seat at the Bill Pickett Invitational as a photographer documents Black Cowboy Culture.” The story, by Adam Davis, opens with: ” As someone who’s spent the better part of a decade living and photographing in Los Angeles, few things felt more exciting than capturing my first rodeo here and the Black riders who personified athleticism, passion and courage. As part of my journey over the past several years to find Black faces and places to document in ways only my ancestors could have dreamt...

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After a short dearth, as everybody focused on the upcoming elections, we have had an explosion of animal news over the last few days! Both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times look, today, at the inequity making it harder for people of lower economic means to keep beloved pets. Today’s New York Times also includes an article about persuading people to eat more beans, as part of its “What to Eat on a Burning Planet,” series, and yesterday the New Times International Edition covered the transformation of a pig farm into a mushroom farm. Numerous Canadian papers have covered fines levied on Marineland related to its treatment of bears. Meanwhile Vox has released an extraordinary series on ending factory...

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Canadians: Numerous papers have covered, yesterday and today, Marineland being fined for “failure to comply” after having been ordered to improve the conditions in which three bears are housed. The Canadian Press version of the story, by Paola Loriggio, was on page 2 of the Friday, August 16 Toronto Sun and is on page 10 of the Aug 17, 2024, Waterloo Region Record. But the Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune and St Catherine’s Standard have the story, penned by Alison Langley, on the Saturday August 17 front page! I was truly shocked when I read of the paltry size of the bears’ enclosures, and don’t think there is much question as to whether or not the living conditions constitute cruelty....

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Yes, as numerous folks let me know today (thanks Lew Regenstein, Carole Hamlin and Karen Rubio), Nicholas Kristof has done it again! Before I share his extraordinary column comparing the way human society treats dogs vs pigs, let me thank all of you who responded to the Los Angeles Times article on the dangers of deep sea mining and share the two letters printed in response, one by marine ecologist Dennis Lees who expressed concern about how little we know about the potential impact on the “critters” of the sea, and one by Linda Nicholes who notes that animals flee deep-sea mining areas and that battery minerals are recyclable at a 95% rate so we should “leave our precious oceans alone.”...

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