Ocean damage and pet rescue after fires, horseracing, veggie Denmark + more 2/2/2025

Today’s, Sunday February 2, Los Angeles Times includes a heartwarming story about animal rescue after the Los Angeles fires, but it comes on the heels of a front-page story, on Thursday, of the ocean destruction those fires are wreaking. Today’s LA Times also has a story on the California horse racing industry, asking if it is too late to fix it. (Let’s hope so!) The New York Times has run an in-depth story on the death of volunteer dog-rescue pilot Seuk Kim. And the Guardian has a story on efforts to encourage plant-based eating in Denmark, which could serve as a course in effective activism.

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Today’s lead Los Angeles Times story on post-fire pet rescue, on page B1, is titled, “Furry, feathery tales from the fires front lines.”

Reporter Steve Lopez followed the work of rescuer Jessica Davis of Boomer’s Buddies and has also shared other rescue stories, including a touching effort to save a goldfish. If you hit a paywall at the link above you can use this Yahoo link instead.

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Thursday’s front-page Los Angeles Times story, “Blazes may worsen ocean pollution,” tells us:

“The smoke that has choked Los Angeles, the debris piled up along decimated streets, the charred and toxic remnants of thousands of destroyed homes, businesses, cars and electronics — nearly all of it, eventually, will come to rest in the ocean.”

We learn that as the fires raged, “Wildlife counts were temporarily suspended when the smoke became too thick to make out seabirds and marine mammals.

Fire debris clouded the ocean’s surface as far as 100 miles offshore.”

And we read:

“The rain this week was the first significant precipitation in the region since May. In addition to the fires’ ash and chemical residue, it was also the first flush of nine months’ worth of daily pollution into the sea.

“Local environmental groups like Heal the Bay have urged beachgoers to avoid water contact at any beaches from Malibu’s Surfrider Beach down to Dockweiler State Beach near L.A. International Airport.

“The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has issued similar ocean precautions and even beach closures, along with a map of closed or contaminated beaches.”

Here’s a Yahoo link to that story in case the link above doesn’t work for you.

Coverage of the Los Angeles fires continues to offer us opportunities to speak for animals in the Los Angeles Times so why not send a letter? Animals need our voices.

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Folks passionate about the horse racing industry should respond to today’s Sports section article, by John Cherwa, titled, “Not in a Golden State: Declining purses, smaller field sizes and dwindling foal crops put California’s horse racing industry in trouble. Is it too late to fix it?”

What’s missing from the story is the issue of animal cruelty. If you aren’t familiar with the dark side of the industry, please check out the Horseracing Wrongs website, which explains, “You can love horses.

You can love horseracing. You can’t love both.” And it details why. The article gives us the opportunity to do the same for Los Angeles Times readers.

My thanks go, as always, to Elaine Livesey-Fassel for making sure we don’t miss a beat from the Los Angeles Times.

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On Friday, the Guardian ran a story, “‘Insanely tasty green food’: how the meaty Danes embraced a world-first plant-based plan.” As I noted above, I share it because it is so full of tips for effective activism.

The article describes Denmark’s successful “action plan for plant-based foods” and we read:

“So how did Denmark’s plan to promote beans and vegetables come to get widespread support and funding?

“Food is deeply personal and has enormous cultural significance, making it a minefield for climate action. So, the transition away from meat and towards plant-based eating had to be approached delicately, says Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, head of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark and one of the key actors in delivering the Danish plan. Dragsdahl says, appropriately enough, that carrots not sticks were crucial to getting agreement on the policy.

“’One of the key reasons was talking about what we want more of, instead of talking about what we want less of, that is how we got broader support,’ he says. ‘There was a delicate balance. People had to feel welcome, even when they had not just differing opinions, but maybe even different versions of the truth. This was a tricky but important balance, because that’s how you secure the continued participation of people.’”

The article is well worth reading and sharing, and, as you’ll see in the last line, it pulls no punches even while guiding us to do so!

Enjoy!

Don’t hesitate to send an appreciative letter to The Guardian.

I send thanks to Susan Costello for sending the article our way.

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In other major media animal news shared to the DawnWatch X Feed and DawnWatch Facebook Page over the last week:

The Washington Post shared a happy-ending story about a dog who was lost for seven years! (Thanks to Lew Regenstein for sending that our way.)

The Gateway Pundit shared, “American Taxpayers are Still Funding Animal Tests at Iranian and Chinese Labs.” (Thanks to Cathy Lawson for making sure we saw that.)

The New York Times covered the rescue of 1000 sea turtles in Florida. (Thanks to Teresa D’Amico for that one.)

KIRO 7 in Seattle covered the 96 year old Southern Resident Orca, Ocean Sun, who has lived through horrors including the Puget Sound orca kidnappings, which took her likely daughter Lolita/Tokitae to languish, for decades, at the Miami Seaquarium.

The Center Square has covered bipartisan legislation brought by Senator Cory Booker, with strong support from Senator Rand Paul and others, to strengthen an earlier act aimed at replacing animal testing with kinder and more effective research methods.

A Global Data story on the Yahoo Finance site tells us that a French Court ruled to overturn a decree banning the use of traditionally meaty words to describe veggie products. Apparently French citizens are likely to work out that a “hamburger vegetarien” contains no meat.

And finally, Saturday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette brought us, “Take a bite of Veguary — Black veganism has a month of its own: The Afro-Vegan Society promotes a plant-based diet for personal health and social justice in February.” I urge all Pittsburgh area subscribers or others with a special interest in or expertise on that topic to send an appreciative letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch