In 1955, The United States Fish and Wildlife (FWS) inaugurated a periodic survey focused on Americans’ recreational, wildlife-related activities. One might immediately assume that hunting and fishing would dominate this field, but that would be wrong by a long shot (pun intended). While some 40...
Some of the earliest surveys of pet ownership in the United States were carried out in the 1970s by Robert Schneider and his colleagues at the University of California in Davis. They were interested in developing a One Health solution to human cancer by studying...
It has been a year since my neighborhood journey into “standing up” for trees began. It started as so many things do for me these days, on a dog walk. My rescue companion, Duke, and I were walking across the woods and farmland when we came...
This tale is the first in a three-part series about Willie B., Atlanta's iconic ape and one of the most famous gorillas in the world. Willie B., named after the long-serving Mayor of Atlanta, William B. Hartsfield, was captured in Cameroon, probably in 1960, and...
Some wildlife species have adapted successfully to urban environments and the presence of humans and their companion animals. Garbage cans are, or can be, a significant food source for urban wildlife and may be a source of human-wildlife conflict. In Cape Town, South Africa, baboons have...
In the last few years, a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI) virus has caused the deaths of millions of seabirds and waterfowl worldwide, and many more millions of factory-farmed poultry being culled to halt the spread of the virus. WBI wrote about the emergence...
On March 2, 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (the world's environment parliament) passed a landmark resolution calling on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to produce a report on the Nexus between animal welfare, the environment, and sustainable development. This Resolution offers enormous potential...
In most countries, wildlife is owned by the state. However, there are exceptions. In Southern Africa (e.g., Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe), laws passed thirty or more years ago have given private landowners property rights over all the wildlife on their land. These property rights...
The recovery of White Rhino populations in Africa (specifically South Africa) has been widely lauded as an exceptional conservation success, and the numbers support that claim. In 1895, only 20 white rhinos were left in Africa – all in the Hluhluwe Park (pronounced glugluey with...
The bipartisan FDA Modernization Act of 2021 (S.5002) was introduced in the US Senate by Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky). Towards the end of 2022, the Act was modified and attached to the Omnibus Spending Bill. It was then signed into...
