News for Florida animal advocates

This year in Monroe County, four school buildings will become pet-friendly hurricane shelters in the event of a Category 1 or 2 hurricane (Keys residents should evacuate to the mainland during stronger hurricanes). Schools make ideal shelters: they are built to withstand hurricanes and they usually are easy-to-locate. In Sunday’s Key West Citizen, the county’s […]

The National Institutes of Health supports centers located at academic institutions nationwide that breed and make available for research a variety of animals including chimpanzees and monkeys, pigs, mice, zebrafish and salamanders. This week the Miami Herald profiled the National Resource for Aplysia, which is based at the University of Miami (aplysia californica is the […]

Today’s Daytona Beach News-Journal reported on the grand opening of the Daytona Beach Kennel Club’s new facility. The track was most likely pleased with the crowd, which was larger than the track usually gets on Friday nights. But some bettors noted that seating for the live races has shrunk, while the poker room has doubled […]

This week, Miami New Times released its “Best of Miami 2008″ list. The weekly gave its tongue-in-cheek “Best Financial Black Hole” award to Miami’s Jungle Island. Due to disappointing attendance, the attraction has been unable to pay back a $25 million loan that was secured to build its new facility in 2003. Miami-Dade County and […]

Update: It’s been 27 days and 13 of the 15 monkeys who made a bold escape from a wildlife park in Polk County are still on the loose. Read our earlier post about the jail-break here.

A couple weeks ago we wrote about a man with a history of animal abuse who is now the main suspect in two rapes. Sadly, there has been another incident in which someone with a history of animal cruelty has targeted humans.
On Mother’s Day, a woman and her two young children were murdered in Lutz […]

There was an encouraging article in Monday’s St. Petersburg Times that we wanted to mention. The Animal House pet store (413- 62nd Ave North in St. Petersburg) has stopped selling puppies. Instead, the store is partnering with local rescue groups and showcasing animals available for adoption.
The article explained that puppies are easy money for small […]

Swans are beautiful, graceful birds. But surely Florida’s native birds, such as herons, ibis, egrets or cranes equal the beauty of a swan?
Downtown Orlando’s Lake Eola Park has been home to mute and black swans for many years. The story is that an Orlando businessman purchased a group of swans in England around 1910 and […]

Last weekend, a few short weeks after Japan’s whaling fleet returned to port with the bodies of 551 minke whales killed in the waters of the Antarctic, Norway killed its first whale of the season on the other side of the globe. Norway hopes to kill over 1000 whales in 2008.
In 1986, after many species […]

The 2008 Regular Session of the Florida Legislature ended on Friday with some good news for animals and some bad news.
The only animal-related bill that ARFF supported that passed was the “Gertrude Maxwell Save a Pet Act.” The Act creates an organization within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that will raise funds to […]