Front pages on cultivated meat, sharks, organs, vegan films, + birds, Peets, more 3/17/25

The weekend brought us a fascinating front-page New York Times story on the politics behind bans on cell-cultivated, or slaughter-free, meat, plus a slew of articles in the Los Angeles Times celebrating nature including a front-page love letter to sharks, an article on the reintroduction of bighorn sheep to Texas, coverage of the public’s dismay at the death of an eagle chick, and the celebration of a Filipino vegan bakery. And today’s Los Angeles Times covers a recently released condor who has died from lead poisoning. Meanwhile London’s Times has announced that thanks to Sir Paul McCartney and PETA, Peet’s coffee is dropping its plant-milk surcharge. Those and more below.

First let me thank all of you who wrote to the New York Times in response to Noah Shachtman’s wonderful March 3 New York Times essay questioning taxpayer support of horse racing. The paper devoted Sunday’s letters column to the issue, under the headline, “Horse Racing: The Dark Side and the Upside, with the paper noting, “Readers express sharply differing reactions to an Opinion guest essay by Noah Shachtman.” The paper printed three against the piece and in favor of horseracing, and two that spoke for the animals – one from PETA’s Kathy Guillermo and one from Judith Mazzucco who reminds us that “the fate of thousands of these racehorses each year is to be shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.”

Of course, I wish that the paper had received so many more letters supporting the article that such an even-handed letters column would not have been reflective. Legislators and other decision makers look to letters pages as barometers of public opinion so our efforts can have a profound influence on public policy. They matter. That said, given that horseracing is not only still legal, but is taxpayer subsidized, having a full page of letters on which the issue is debated and where animals have a strong voice is of immense value, so again I thank all who wrote and thereby helped make that happen.

You have lots more opportunities:

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Two of the stories I sent out in Thursday’s alert made the front page of the international version of the New York Times, bookending the weekend. They are ripe for responses from folks outside the United States:

The awful pig organ donation fluff piece was on Friday’s front page, titled, “Hope arrives on tiny hooves.” Here’s that gift link again.

And the delightful coverage of the vegan film critic who includes warnings of violence if an actor drinks a glass of cow milk is on today’s front page.

Here’s that gift link.

Both stories online note:

“The comments section is closed. To submit a letter to the editor for publication, write to letters@nytimes.com”

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On Saturday, March 15, the New York Times front page included, “Meat Made It Out of the Lab. Getting It on a Plate Is Harder.” The story by Andrew Jacobs and Emily Anthes focuses on the politics around cell-cultivated meat bans, though we learn that an impending ban in Mississippi, “unanimously passed by the House of Representatives,” though that’s not something for which we would hope to see bipartisan support, given that the product will “provide meat eaters a protein that does not require the slaughtering of animals.”

The political battle has been interesting and varied:

“The opposition to cultivated meat has mostly taken hold in red states, but the trend defies easy categorization. Trade groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Meat Institute have come out against restrictive measures, and Republican lawmakers in Wyoming and South Dakota have quashed similar bills, with many describing the proposed bans as anathema to conservative values like limited government and free trade.”

Here’s a gift link to that article. Again, we read, “The comments section is closed. To submit a letter to the editor for publication, write to letters@nytimes.com.”

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Sunday’s Los Angeles Times front-page story on sharks was titled, “Baby great whites swim by, but surfers stay off the menu.” Here’s a Yahoo link where you won’t hit a paywall. It’s both thrilling and a joy to read!

Sunday’s story, “What the great Texas bighorn sheep experiment tells us,” page A17, covers Texas’s efforts to replace the bighorn sheep it wiped out during the first half of the twentieth century, noting advantages to having them in the wild, such as drawing large predators away from cities and pets.

Here’s an MSN link (compliments of Lew Regenstein.)

The story “Dismay for Big Bear’s eagle family as chick disappears” on page B8 of that paper. While of course its sad to learn that Jackie and Shadow lost one of their eaglets, the public dismay is heartwarming indeed. Here’s a Yahoo link to that one.

And the Weekend section of that same paper gave us cause to celebrate with the headline, “Long lines greet Filipino vegan Bakery” (page L8). That here at the LA Times site and also on Yahoo.

Finally, from the Los Angeles Times, today, Monday March 17, we read the sad headline, “California condor dies just months after zoo release” on page B3, with the opening paragraph of that story telling us:

“Tragedy struck the Yurok tribe’s condor restoration efforts when one of the critically endangered birds succumbed to lead poisoning — an entirely preventable, human-caused threat — just months after being released from the Los Angeles Zoo into the wild.” Here’s a Yahoo link to that one.

As always, I thank Elaine Livesey-Fassel for her invaluable contribution as she helps keep a close eye on that paper for us.

Now I share some bad news: The Los Angeles Times’ longtime letter editor, Paul Thornton, beloved to Los Angeles animal advocates due to his own concern for our cause and openness to sharing our thoughts, has left the paper. We don’t know what to expect from whomever his replacement will be, but we sure can’t take the continued Los Angeles Times’ interest for granted. I urge all animal advocates, though particularly those in Los Angeles, to continue to nurture our relationship with that paper (where, thankfully, Thornton was not the only animal person on staff) by sending thoughtful and appreciative letters that speak for those who need our voice. The paper takes letters here.

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In other major media animal news that I have shared over the last week to the DawnWatch x page and DawnWatch Facebook page:

The Associate Press shared that a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Troy Nehls, a Texas conservative, and Democrat Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a California liberal, urged the Trump administration to scrap plans to kill more than 450,000 invasive barred owls…” to save spotted owls, calling the killings “grossly expensive.”

Now there’s the kind of bipartisan action we like to see!

The Washington Post came down hard on a social media influencer who thought it was a good idea to grab and pose with a baby wombat, freaking out both joey and mama. Here’s a gift link.

The Los Angeles Times, on Thursday, covered murders of crows, shot out of trees, in the Westchester area. Some of you may wish to respond to that, as I did.

People Magazine publicized an adorable dog rescue video put out by PETA, of Dylan McDermott with his rescue dog Otis.

The Baltimore Banner shares a touching story of vultures clearly in mourning for a fallen flock member.

Parade Pets tells us about cat food recalls, and covers how to protect our cats from the H5N1 avian flu virus which is so deadly to them.

London’s Times, today, Monday March 17, brings us fun Paul McCartney news: “Peet’s in the US withdraws its surcharge on non-dairy options after the singer politely threatens a campaign with Peta animal rights activists.” UK fans of Sir Paul and animals might like to respond to letters@thetimes.co.uk .

The New York Times Style Magazine has put out a story online, likely to appear in it next print edition, titled, “It’s a good time to be an egg hater.”

And for all of us who love rats, National Geographic has a sweet story about the retirement of a Hero Rat named Carolina, who detected over 3000 cases of tuberculosis in her life, saving tens of thousands from the spread of the disease.

Enjoy!

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch