I send out this DawnWatch alert having just received the profoundly disappointing news that the owner of Ryder, the carriage horse who collapsed and then later died, has been cleared of animal cruelty charges. We have better news regarding owls, with a Los Angeles Times front-page story letting us know, “An owl-culling plan hits a roadblock.” That paper has also covered the impact of ICE raids on the Los Angeles pet shelter crisis. And media coverage from New York, including that in the Daily News, points to a shelter population crisis causing the Animal Control Center to close its door to new intakes.

Before I share those and more, let me thank all of you who responded to alerts and stories I shared last week. The Sunday Los Angeles Times ran a lengthy letter by Anneke Mendiola under the heading, “Science supports cage-free eggs” which mostly takes aim at the “anti-science” stances of the current administration.

 

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I had a letter published yesterday, Sunday, in the Modesto Bee, in response to the piece I sent out from its sister publication, the Sacramento Bee, denouncing the suit. My published response read:

“I appreciate this stand against the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn California’s animal welfare laws. The Biden administration already gave it a try, backing the pork industry in its suit before the U.S. Supreme Court. Let’s hope the current administration is equally unsuccessful.

“Let’s also hope that animal advocates on both sides of the aisle let legislators know how closely we are watching them.

Karen Dawn Animal advocacy nonprofit director”

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I also had one published yesterday, Sunday, in the New York Post, in response to the article I sent out announcing a bill that would ban sales of pet birds:

“Thank you to Voters for Animal Rights and Councilwoman Diana Ayala for attempting to right society’s wrongs.

“Over 200 years ago, William Blake nailed it when he wrote, ‘A robin redbreast in a cage puts all heaven in a rage.’

“For far too long, humanity has ignored that wisdom.”

I share those with appreciation to all of you who write. Regardless of who gets published, our letters educate newspaper editors even before they educate readers, and multiple letters received on a topic let editors know that the issue matters to their readers.

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I share today’s New York Times coverage of the Ryder verdict with disappointment not only with the verdict but also with the coverage, which omitted important details. Titled online, “N.Y.C. Carriage Driver Cleared of Animal Cruelty After Horse’s Death,” it includes the subheading, “A carriage horse named Ryder collapsed after a full day of work in the summer heat in Central Park. Three years later, his driver, Ian McKeever, was found not guilty.”

And it opens:

“One hot August day in 2022, a horse named Ryder collapsed in Midtown Manhattan after a seven-hour workday pulling a carriage through Central Park.

Videos of Ryder lying on his side on Ninth Avenue, his ribs visible through his stomach as police officers coaxed him to get up, circulated on social media, eliciting alarm.

“The fervor peaked two months later, when Ryder was euthanized: He was too unhealthy, veterinarians said, to maintain a good quality of life. The next year, the city charged his driver, Ian McKeever, with one count of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals.

“This month, Mr. McKeever became the first carriage driver in the city to stand trial for animal cruelty. And on Monday, a jury cleared him, delivering a rebuke to animal rights activists who saw Ryder’s death as ammunition for their effort to eradicate New York’s horse-drawn carriage industry, a mainstay of the city for more than 150 years.

“Mr. McKeever, 57, had faced up to a year in prison if convicted. He let out a sob and put his head in his hands when the verdict was read. At a news conference outside the courthouse, he said it had been ‘a terrible three years for me.’

“’There’s nobody who loves horses more than I do,’ he said.

“Raymond Loving, Mr. McKeever’s lawyer, said Monday that he believed the Manhattan district attorney’s office had chosen to prosecute the case because it had become a ‘cause célèbre’ for animal rights activists endeavoring to ban horse-drawn carriages from Central Park.”

 

If you are new to this case, perhaps new to DawnWatch, may I ask you to check out this earlier ABC7 coverage so you can see exactly how much McKeever loved Ryder? It notes, as the New York Times article fails to note, that Ryder’s age had been listed as 13, whereas the poor horse, whom we see collapsed on the street and mercilessly prodded to get up, as onlookers begged to McKeever to stop, was 26 years old.

I share this gift link to the New York Times article, which will surely be in tomorrow’s paper, and guidelines for anybody moved to respond.

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We saw the welcome front-page news in Saturday’s July 19, Los Angeles Times, under the headline, “An owl-culling plan hits a roadblock,” presented as not necessarily welcome by the Los Angeles Times, a paper with a wonderfully animal friendly history but an unwillingness to acknowledge that any actions taken by the current administration might have an upside. Letters that speak strongly for animals while avoiding politics might help reframe the issue.

The article opens:

“An unusual alliance of Republican lawmakers and animal rights advocates, together with others, is creating storm clouds for a plan to protect one threatened owl by killing a more common one.

“Last August, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a plan to shoot roughly 450,000 barred owls in California, Oregon and Washington over three decades. The barred owls have been out-competing imperiled northern spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest, as well as California spotted owls, pushing them out of their territory.

“Supporters of the approach — including conservation groups and prominent scientists — believe the cull is necessary to avert disastrous consequences for the spotted owls.

“But the coalition argues the effort is too expensive, unworkable and inhumane. They’re urging the Trump administration to cancel it and lawmakers could pursue a reversal through special congressional action.

“Last month, The Times has found, federal officials canceled three owl-related grants to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife totaling roughly $1.1 million, including one study that would remove barred owls from over 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

“Two were nixed before federal funding was allocated and never got off the ground, Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the state wildlife agency, said. Another, a collaboration with University of Maryland biologists to better understand barred owl dispersal patterns in western forests, was nearly complete when terminated.”

Buried far deeper in the article we read:

“In the months leading up to the GAO determination, bipartisan groups of U.S. House members wrote two letters to the secretary of the Interior laying out reasons why the owl-cull plan should not move forward. In total, 19 Republicans and 18 Democrats signed the letters, including seven lawmakers from California — David Valadao (R-Hanford), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles), Gil Cisneros (D-Covina), Josh Harder (D-Tracy), Linda T. Sánchez (D-Whittier), Jim Costa (D-Fresno) and Adam Gray (D-Merced).”

In other words, as usual, animal protection is a bipartisan issue, though the Los Angeles Times is currently attempting to frame it otherwise.

The article does bring us viewpoints from both sides of the aisle:

“Rep. Troy E. Nehls (R-Texas), an ardent Trump supporter, signed the initial letter, and is ‘currently exploring other options to end this unnecessary plan, which prioritizes one species of owls over another, and wastes Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,’ communications director Emily Matthews said.

“Kamlager-Dove said also said earlier this year that she objected to killing one species to preserve another. ‘And as an animal lover, I cannot support the widespread slaughter of these beautiful creatures,’ she said.”

(Kamlager-Dove is a Democrat.)

And it includes these thoughts from Wayne Pacelle of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy:

“The land area where the barred owls need to be controlled is just too vast, he said. And barred owls from elsewhere, he said, will simply fly in and replace those that are felled.”

Here is Yahoo Link to the article with no paywall, which I share with the hope that some will respond with letters that speak for animals and avoid politics. As I have noted in previous alerts, studies have shown that publications are far more likely to publish letters that praise rather than slam their coverage.

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The Los Angeles Times mixed politics with animal welfare earlier in the week, this time, thankfully, with an animal-friendly slant under the headline,  “ICE raids leave some L.A. cats and dogs homeless.” That lead story (Tuesday, page B1) was sent out again in the LA Times weekend newsletter and then we got a follow-up yesterday under the page B2 headline, “Dog whose owner was seized by ICE is found at shelter.” Here’s an AOL link to that story on Chuco.

I shared the stories on the DawnWatch Facebook page with the caption, “As usual, animals suffer the most.”

They open the door for letters about our inhumanity.

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Speaking of our inhumanity: Sunday’s New York Daily News announced that New York’s ACC, at bursting point, has suspended intake. The New York Daily News report in Sunday’s paper opens with:

“For the first time in its history, the Animal Care Centers of NYC is taking care of 1,000 shelter animals at one time and won’t be able to take in any more pets, the agency said Saturday.

“Reaching total capacity last week, the ACC will be suspending general intake, but will remain open for adoptions, plus drop-offs of animals that require emergency medical care, are a public safety risk, or are dropped off by government agencies, officials said.

“The agency called its reaching maximum capacity a “crisis” and is out of space to take in any more, despite more pets arriving every day.

“The 1,000th pet, taken in on Thursday, was a dog named Rocky, said to be 10 to 13 years old. Rocky was reportedly nervous entering the new environment. Rocky had lived with his family for the past seven years, but his owners had to give him up.”

Warning – the photo of Rocky will break your heart.

Here’s a Yahoo link to the story in case you hit a paywall at the Daily News.

I hope you’ll respond to the Daily News. And I would highly recommend checking out (and hopefully sharing) the sensitive ABC7 report on the issue for inspiration.

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Angelenos received an alert last week about an awful fluff piece celebrating women who participate in the Pamplona running of the bulls. (Thanks, as always, to Elaine-Livesay Fassel for keeping such a close eye on that influential newspaper.)

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In other major media animal news which I have shared to the DawnWatch Facebook Page and/or DawnWatch X Feed over the last week:

• I will start with what may be my favorite due to the online reception it is getting. Here is WKRC’s report on a woman arrested for attacking, with mace, somebody who harassed and then sped past her when she had stopped to let a chicken cross in front of her car, with the other driver killing the bird. It is heartening to see the online support she has, with folks starting to organize Go Fund Me pages for her defense.

 

• A Guardian article titled, “NIH under fire for funding dog tests despite vow to cut animal research,” told us, “Analysis of project documents and those obtained through Freedom of Information Act (Foia) requests reveal that the NIH has approved nine new grants for dog research since their April announcement, costing the taxpayer over $12m, as well as extending about nine already active, with total study costs of $42m. White Coat Waste says these are in addition to the approximately 193 ongoing NIH-funded dog and cat studies, costing about $1.3bn.”

 

• In other research news, WBTV reports that in response to complaints and a USDA investigation into the primate breeding facility Alpha Genesis, after violations including the death of 22 primates from carbon monoxide poisoning, the CEO has said that the company doesn’t deal with “mealy-mouthed terrorists” generating “false and misleading gibberish.”

 

• The UK’s Independent covered the Advertising Standards Authority’s choice to ban a #DairyisScary ad by the nonprofit Viva, which compared a baby being kidnapped from her crib, with her mother in a panic, to a calf being kidnapped from the mama cow so that humans can drink the milk.

• The Independent also shared distressing photos and video of a stunning manta ray being captured, legally, for a theme park.

• On a similar note, KLAS 8 News Now from Las Vegas did a good job covering protests of a heartbreaking mustang round-up, which included the quote, “It’s very tragic to see our beloved, free-roaming, wild neighbors reduced to captive animals in a small corral.”

• The Guardian has covered attempts by a South Korean activist to protect a pod of dolphins by arguing for them to have legal rights.

• Detroit News has shared efforts by Representative Shri Thanedar to have bear baiting banned.

• KHOU 11 News brought us a beautiful story of a mailman adopting a dog from his mail route whose human had died. Those in the animal advocacy world, watching the video and seeing a large black, older dog, will be hit with the irony as the man rushes to the shelter to be “first in line.”

• And finally, I posted, late, as it came out a couple of weeks ago (and I send thanks to Carole Hamlin for making sure we didn’t miss it completely) a beautiful Washington Post Book World review, by the extraordinary writer Lydia Millet (author of “We loved it all”) of Will Potter’s book, Little Red Barns. Here’s a gift link to the review in which Millet writes:

“I approached ‘Red Barns’ gingerly, expecting harrowing descriptions of slaughterhouses and a litany of woes that would flatten me — and possibly, finally, drive me to the veganism I’ve long resisted because of my fondness for cheese.

“Such reluctance to engage with the ongoing tragedy of corporate meat production, after all, is the ugly cross that animal rights activists have to bear. Environmentalists advocating for wild landscapes and creatures have breathtaking panoramas and wildlife charisma to help with their public calls to action. Look at this beauty! they can say. Help us save it! But activists trying to put a stop to the heartbreaking misery of animals being raised for food by large corporate entities have no beauty to sell. All they’ve got is: Look at this torture!

“Most of us prefer not to. Luckily, ‘Little Red Barns’ isn’t a depressing litany, though it may well change your mind about buying industrial meat.”

Yours and all animals’,

Karen Dawn of DawnWatch