News for Florida animal advocates

Yesterday the St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a plan by the National Elephant Center, a partnership of over 70 U.S. zoos, to create an elephant holding and breeding facility on land at the western edge of the county (The Center is not a sanctuary). The approval was not unexpected, […]

2009 was a tough year for animal shelters in Florida. Shelters struggled with an increase in abandoned and surrendered animals at the same time as their budgets were cut. But there was some good news. According to an article in Wednesday’s Miami Herald, many shelters reported an increase in adoptions. Broward County Animal Care and […]

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a holiday to honor one of history’s greatest advocates for equality. On Monday at the South Florida Fair, one of the featured events was “Mutton Bustin’,” a rodeo event in which young children ride terrified sheep. The ridiculous event is not good for the child or the sheep, […]

Under natural conditions, a female cow might live for 20 years or more. It is rare for a cow on a dairy farm to survive to her fourth or fifth birthday. The bleak cycle of pregnancy, birth and milking places cows under constant stress and puts them at risk of illness, infection, and disease. Not […]

It has warmed our hearts during the recent cold snap to hear about Floridians taking steps to help vulnerable animals. Last week on this blog we wrote about an instructional video with tips on helping iguanas who have become immobilized by the cold. Today we have a new video for you: Erin Saley from Pompano […]

Tonight outside American Airlines Arena in Miami, ARFF activists- bundled up against the cold- will protest opening night of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. This week the Miami Herald and New Times ran preview articles about the circus that featured ARFF spokespersons (click here and here to read the articles).
By any measure, […]

ARFF would like to thank the SPCA Wildlife Care Center and the Miami Herald for an excellent instructional video- view here- about how to assist iguanas who have become immobilized by the frigid weather.
The video is in stark contrast to other stories in the media this week that encouraged people to take advantage of the […]

For those of you who are hesitant to try a low-fat vegan diet as a method for healthy weight loss, University of South Florida researcher Barbara Hansen has a diet for you.
Hansen has spent over 30 years, and $13 million dollars in federal grant money, studying obesity in rhesus monkeys. She uses rhesus monkeys for […]