Sadly, the biggest animal news of the last week, likely to affect the most animals, is a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against the state of California, attempting to overturn the animal welfare laws based on Prop 12 (which the Biden administration unsuccessfully attempted to overturn) blaming them for the high cost of eggs nationally. In happier legal news we saw PETA sue the American Kennel Club for the harm done for French Bulldogs, a New York legislator is attempting to ban the sale of captive birds as pets, and the courts have denied a new trial for Joe Exotic, the star of Tiger King. I will also share, below, a new Washington Post story on the plight of immigrants working in the horse racing industry.

Before I share those and more, I have a follow-up to last week’s alert covering the New York Times front-page story on the EPA’s attempt to adopt out rats who had been previously destined for experiments. I can send those of you who like to listen to your news podcast-style, to the Mark Thompson Show segment: From Lab Rats to Family Pets, where he and I discussed the article, and the unfortunate media slant in support of animal testing , seemingly a backlash against the current administration’s moves against it.  Just giving the segment a thumbs-up is a great way to help give animals a voice, and comments that speak for animals are always invaluable.

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The Trump administration’s lawsuit against California over the state’s egg laws has received little mainstream newspaper coverage, but I will share the Associated Press coverage of it, which opens with:

“The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers’ pocketbooks.

“The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Wednesday, challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008. They require that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens.

“The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the state’s outsize role in the national economy. …

“Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer.”

(Kudos to the Associated Press for noting that 175 million birds were destroyed rather than “euthanized.” The killing method is horrendous, and the birds do not wish to die.)

Let me also share a strong response, penned by Sacramento Bee opinion editor Stephanie Finucane, which opens with:

“Talk about hen-pecking.

“Donald Trump has taken his feud with California to a ridiculous new level by suing us for being too nice to chickens.

“Apparently, his administration believes we coddle our egg-laying hens by allowing them to occasionally take a break from their duties — maybe stand up and spread their wings — rather than confining them in cages where they can barely budge.

“It’s fine for Californians to set standards for our own chickens, but the lawsuit alleges that we cannot impose the same requirements on other states that want to sell eggs here. It demands that all states be allowed to sell eggs in California, as long as they comply with national standards for egg farms.”

Legislators look to letters pages as barometers of public opinion, and that is especially so for the letters page in a state capital, so I hope Californians, especially, will respond with letters to the editor, making it clear that animal people on both sides of the aisle care deeply about these issues.

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PETA’s lawsuit against the AKC has been covered in outlets including the New York Times, where it appears, online only for now, under the heading, “American Kennel Club Harms French Bulldogs’ Health, PETA Says in Suit.”

It opens:

“An animal rights group accused the American Kennel Club on Tuesday of harming the health of French bulldogs and several other popular dog breeds by promoting physical characteristics that cause deformities.

“The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, made the accusation in a lawsuit that seeks to eliminate the kennel club’s standards for the breeds, which PETA says conflict with the organization’s stated mission of advancing ‘canine health and well-being.’”

And it notes:

“Veterinarians have warned that the big heads, bulging eyes and recessed noses that make Frenchies appealing also create what Dan O’Neill, a dog expert at the University of London’s Royal Veterinary College, calls ‘ultra-predispositions’ to medical problems.”

Those medical problems are covered in the article. Here’s a gift link from DawnWatch for you to enjoy and share.

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An article from the New York Post published today, July 14, titled “NYC bill would ban pet stores from hawking birds — leaving activists crowing and small-biz owners crying fowl” opens with:

“City pet shops would be barred from hawking birds under a new local bill that’s pitting animal activists against mom-and-pop peddlers.

“The animal-rights camp says the proposed New York City Council plan — introduced less than a year after the Big Apple banned shops from selling cats, dogs and rabbits — is needed to thwart cramped, inhumane breeding mills.

“’Birds are not decorations, toys, or commodities—they are living, feeling animals who should not spend their lives caged in tiny New York City apartments,’ said Allie Feldman Taylor, founder and president of Voters for Animal Rights, which has been pushing for the ban alongside Councilwoman Diana Ayala.”

Please leave a comment, or at the very least “like” some of the animal-friendly comments below the article. And why not take a couple of minutes to send a note of support to letters@nypost.com ?

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The good news about the star of Tiger King came to us via yesterday’s July 13 Dallas Morning News in an article titled, “Court denies new trial for ‘Tiger King’ star.” (Page 26.)

We read:

“Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage (né Schreibvogel), is serving a 21-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, after being convicted in 2019 of hiring two men, including an undercover FBI agent, to kill rival Carole Baskin.

“Maldonado-Passage, a former Oklahoma zookeeper, was also convicted of breaking federal wildlife laws, including the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.

“He had fatally shot five of his tigers without a veterinarian present, officials said.”

I hope Texan animal advocates and other big fans of the show will submit a letter to the editor giving animals a voice.

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A Washington Post article released online today, Monday July 14, but not yet in print, is titled, “Horse racing depends on immigrants who are suddenly working in fear: The backbone of an American industry is the workers at tracks across the country. Can a coalition of powerful stakeholders protect them?”

I share a gift link to it hoping some of you might respond with letters that find a balance between care for human and nonhuman animals, though the article ignored the latter. If anybody reading this newsletter is unfamiliar with the enormous harm to animals done by the horseracing industry, please check out https://horseracingwrongs.org.

The first lines you will see there are:

“You can love horses.

You can love horseracing.

You can’t love both.”

 

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I share that with news from Canada’s CTV that a horse has been killed at the Calgary Stampede.

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In other mainstream media animal news shared over the last week on the DawnWatch Facebook Page and/or DawnWatch X Feed:

• New Zealand’s The Post, this weekend, brought us beautiful coverage of an all-female anti-poaching unit in South Africa.

• The Los Angeles Times brought us a joyful story on the release of 14 pelicans who were sickened by a deadly algae bloom and nursed back to health. Here’s an AOL link to that with no paywall.

• Weekend Edition with Scott Simon covered cats being reunited with their humans after the Texas floods. (Thanks to Elaine Livesey-Fassel for making sure we caught that one.)

• Meanwhile People covered a family dog having survived in a floating washing machine.

• The New York Post brought us a lovely story on the rescue work of Humane Long Island.

• A Euronews article titled, “Raccoons may look cute, but scientists warn they’re causing ecological havoc in Germany” describes the animals as “invasive predators,” which seems a bit rich coming from humans.

 

• The UK’s Observer shares a snarky but strong review of a swanky London vegan restaurant, Gauthier.

• A story from Phys.org on tortoise emotions shares: “With reptiles becoming increasingly common as pets, it is essential for us to study their moods and emotions to try to understand how captivity may impact them.”

 

•  And we’ll end today with more legal news, as USA Today covers the lawsuit involving Peanut the Squirrel and Fred the Raccoon.

Yours and all animals’,

Karen Dawn of DawnWatch