News for Florida animal advocates

Although Tropical Storm Fay did not have winds strong enough to qualify it as a hurricane, it dropped record amounts of water on parts of Florida and served as a reminder of the importance of being prepared for storms of any size.
Lee County, on Florida’s west coast, is one of many in Florida that operates […]

People running for public office do some crazy things. On Monday morning, Vinny Angiolillo, a candidate for Collier County sheriff, spent half an hour on the back of an elephant waving to people driving to work. Mr. Angiolillo looked ridiculous.
The elephant, named “Makia,” was captured in Africa in the 1970s and now lives a depressing […]

The National Reptile Breeders’ Expo, one of the largest shows of its kind in the country, wrapped-up yesterday in Daytona Beach. An article in today’s Daytona Beach News-Journal featured several revealing quotes from attendees.

One man who came to the show with his son told the paper, “Snakes are easy. You just get a big plastic […]

In an editorial in today’s paper titled “Ban exotic pets,” the Miami Herald made clear what they feel about people who own tigers, pythons and other exotic animals as pets. The newspaper concluded, “The Legislature should restrict the kind of animals that private individuals can own. Any creatures that are dangerous or are a threat […]

Those were the words of Lyn Rainbow, the co-owner of a breeding farm in Ocala, following this week’s horse auction at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company. Sales were down from a year ago.
It’s likely that most of the people who didn’t get the price they wanted will hold on to their horses until the economy, […]

Friday was the first day of alligator hunting season in Florida and, as in previous years, there were several media stories about the novelty of the hunt. The Fort Myers News-Press followed one hunting party onto Lake Trafford.
After spearing a 9-foot alligator with a harpoon, dragging the animal alongside a boat and then shooting the […]

In May, sheriff’s deputies found one dead cow and more than a dozen others sick in a field in Sarasota County. The owner of the animals, Dale D. Cheetham*, was arrested and charged with one count of “Confinement of animals without sufficient food/water.” According to court documents, Mr. Cheetham admitted his guilt, saying, “It’s my […]

There was a curious article in today’s St. Augustine Record about a skeleton discovered by the city’s archeologist. Carl Halbirt was digging in the backyard (now a parking lot) of Pablo Sabate, who lived in the city in the mid-1800s, when he uncovered the remains of a young cow.
Halbirt believes that the Sabate family kept […]

“The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers” is a new book by Bryan Christy about the illegal reptile trade. The book is a true-crime story about Michael Van Nostrand, the owner of Strictly Reptiles, a Broward County-based reptile wholesaler and one of, if not the largest importer of […]

Friday marks a sad anniversary for Lolita, the solitary orca at the Miami Seaquarium. 38 years ago seven orcas were violently captured in the waters off Washington State, all destined for the aquarium industry. Lolita is the sole survivor.
This week Victoria, British Columbia’s Times Colonist newspaper wrote about the anniversary:
“It was 38 years ago this […]