Apologies for not putting one together last week! But the good news is, I have a bunch of articles to share. I enjoy putting these lists together, but it takes some time to do and I wonder if my readers even find them worthwhile? These posts don’t seem to get many hits. Maybe I can make this more fun for you. If you have an interesting article to share (especially if it’s something you wrote), let me know by commenting or tweeting me @thepawreport.

Animal Law

Leaving an animal in a hot vehicle is now a crime in Rhode Island: FINALLY! My home state of Rhode Island has “misdemeanor to leave an animal in a vehicle that puts it in a life-threatening situation because of prolonged extreme temperatures.”

India bans foie gras: India has now banned the import of foie gras! Let me be clear, I think eating all animals is wrong. But this is a good step forward. Hopefully, more people make the connection to other animals and consider the inherent cruelty in exploiting animals for food.

Environment

Our oceans will be infinitely poorer if we lose our sharks: Steve Backshell of Shark Trust describes his experiences with sharks, and warns readers that continuing unchecked exploitation and unrestricted trade will cause devastation to shark populations.

California Extreme Drought Explained: Except it’s not explained at all, really. I’m sharing it only to comment on how pathetic it is that the New York Times does not mention animal agriculture ONCE in the video. If you care to actually know more about the drought in California, please read this informative piece: California Drought — Who’s Really Using All the Water?

Wildlife

Florida panthers rebound as wildlife services offers ranchers payment plan: Humans take up way too much space and we’ve made things real, real shitty for Florida panthers. 17 of them have already been killed this year. Land for panthers to roam and thrive (i.e., LIVE) is needed, and the plan is to pay ranchers $22 per acre to maintain such critical land. Of course, ranchers don’t like panthers very much, since the big cats eat their livestock, so… Not sure about this plan, but at least it’s something.

Health

Vegetarians live longer, pollute less — and you no longer have to take their word for it: Yeah! This vegan now has science on her side!

Healthy Friends Linked to Healthy Food: This is some interesting research recently covered in Scientific American. The next time you find yourself in a group of friends, know that your decision to eat vegan may influence their decision to choose a vegan dish as well. What’s more, the more dishes such as salads or vegetarian options were ordered, the more they were liked.

Antibiotic Resistance of Food Born Germs Rises: Well this isn’t good news. “The most recent data shows that multi-drug resistant Salmonella decreased during the past 10 years. However, in Salmonella typhi, the germ that causes typhoid fever, resistance to drugs increased to 68 percent in 2012, raising concerns that one of the common treatments for typhoid fever may not work in many cases.” By the way, it was a salmonella outbreak at Foster Farms that caused over 600 people to fall ill. The salmonella strain involved in the outbreak is antibiotic resistant. Even Congress is calling on the USDA to shut Foster Farms down.