News for Florida animal advocates

This Sunday, PBS’ Nature program will feature “Unforgettable Elephants,” award-winning filmmaker Martyn Colbeck’s documentary about the life of one family of African elephants.
The description of the program on PBS’ website begins, “We have seen them dressed in costumes and dancing at circuses, living solitary lives at zoos . . . . But the largest land […]

We don’t know what Zelph Ridgeway was thinking. For years, Mr. Ridgeway has operated a reptile breeding facility in Port Charlotte. But, according to his website, he had big plans- opening a “Reptile Park” and an alligator farm, and adding tigers, lions and leopards to “our collection of exotic animals.” We don’t know if there’s […]

An article in Monday’s Miami Herald highlighted “Make Mine Chocolate,” a campaign by the Columbus House Rabbit Society to educate the public about the challenges of properly caring for rabbits, and to discourage giving live rabbits as Easter gifts.
Each year, unwanted, former Easter rabbits fill local rabbit rescues and humane societies (these are the lucky […]

Several national newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times reported today that celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is finished serving foie gras. The cruel dish has vanished from Spago and all of his numerous restaurants and cafes (including his cafes in Orlando and Sunrise).
In addition, his restaurants will stop buying eggs from […]

An article in yesterday’s Okeechobee News left us scratching our heads. On Wednesday, a “mock terrorist attack” in the city brought together the sheriff, police and fire departments, a local hospital and the Red Cross.
Here was the scenario, according to the paper: “A group of local citizens were invited to attend the ground breaking of […]

Last week, the board of the Destin History and Fishing Museum voted to end its sponsorship of the Destin Deep Water Shark Tournament. The 2006 event was Destin’s first shark tournament since 1995, when it was halted due to concerns about the declining shark population (shark populations have not recovered). During the four-day event, eleven […]

It would be a criminal act, likely a felony in Florida, if someone intentionally buried or crushed an animal to death. But that is exactly what is happening- and has happened thousands of times- to the gopher tortoise in Florida.
Jennifer Hobgood, a program coordinator for the Humane Society of the United States, explained the sad […]

A story in today’s Tallahassee Democrat described a program in Leon County that helps children connect with the environment and learn about animals. 90 fourth-graders from Ruediger Elementary School recently enjoyed a day outdoors at a wildlife refuge, and used binoculars to identify birds. One fourth-grader described the trip, “I learned that birds are important […]

On Monday, the Los Angeles Zoo announced that “Ruby,” a female African elephant would be retired to the Performing Animal Welfare Society’s 75-acre sanctuary in central California. The move to a sanctuary instead of another zoo comes after a long campaign by animal activists. The PAWS sanctuary will provide the space and natural conditions that […]

This week, the City of New Port Richey took a stand against the cruel confinement of chickens in factory farms. The city council unanimously passed a resolution opposing “battery cage egg production, based on the inherent cruelty of confining egg-laying hens in battery cages.” The resolution also encourages consumers, “not to purchase eggs produced by […]