News for Florida animal advocates

On April 14, Everglades Wonder Gardens, a roadside zoo in Bonita Springs, announced that it would close and the property and animals sold. Early the next morning, a local resident, Steven Trew, broke into the zoo, cut the locks on almost every cage and opened perimeter gates. Deer, wild pigs and birds escaped from their […]

Coyotes are beautiful, smart, highly adaptable, and misunderstood animals. But judging from media coverage of coyote sightings, it’s obvious that some people in Florida don’t appreciate the animals as we do. Fortunately, recent news articles have also included knowledgeable voices.
In an article this week in the Ocala Star Banner, Joy Hill, a spokesperson for the […]

Good news! The National Marine Fisheries Service announced this week that it has denied an application by the Georgia Aquarium to import 18 beluga whales from Russia. The aquarium had planned to send at least two of the whales to SeaWorld in Orlando.
Last October (click here to read our previous post), ARFF asked people to […]

Between June 2012 and April 2013, Primate Products shipped 1,000 monkeys to contract research organizations, universities and government labs.
In the most recent* batch of State of Florida records that ARFF reviewed, it’s clear that business has changed for the company. Compared to the previous 11 months, Primate Products had fewer customers and shipped far fewer […]

On July 20 an alligator wrestler at the Native Village roadside zoo in Hollywood was bitten and seriously injured by an alligator. The man, Will Nace, was preparing for a common trick during wrestling shows- during which an alligator is tormented with a stick or hit on the nose until the animal opens his or […]

On June 28, U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (representing Florida’s 16th Congressional District) introduced a resolution condemning the killing of sharks for their fins. The resolution states: “the United States should ban and prevent the import of shark fins from sharks caught through the practice of finning.” Thanks Vern!
Florida U.S. Representatives C.W. Bill Young, Frederica Wilson, […]

Shriners International is a fraternal organization with 195 temples (chapters) in the U.S., Canada and around the world. More than half of the individual temples host cruel circuses as fundraisers.
The 2013 Imperial Session of Shriners International will be held June 30-July 4 in Indianapolis. At the 2012 meeting, it was reported that Shriners International had […]

There is a nondescript building at 7780 Northwest 53rd Street in Doral, not far from the Miami International Airport, that over the past 25 years has housed thousands of monkeys destined to suffer and die in research and testing laboratories. There are no signs to identify the business. The only hints as to what went […]

This week, the Colombian Congress approved a ban on wild animals in circuses. Bill sponsor Senator Juan Córdoba Suárez explained that the purpose of the ban “is to protect animals and citizens who can be exposed to possible attacks or transmissible diseases, as well as to respond to the cry of a great majority of […]

An article in Saturday’s Palm Beach Post about Larson Dairy, one of Florida’s largest dairy farms, included this photo of dozens of young calves, confined individually in small wire hutches covered with a piece of fabric for shade. Why aren’t these calves with their mother? Because humans are drinking her milk!

On large dairy farms, calves […]