Two gorillas at San Diego Zoo in California have tested positive for COVID-19, in the first reported cases of great apes contracting the novel coronavirus. Three of the primates showed symptoms as of this week, and zoo authorities have not ruled out other troop members also being infected. Since the pandemic broke out last year, […]
Tag: coronavirus
Alaska SeaLife Center Needs Support Rehabilitating Animals
The Guardian recently published news that the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC), an aquatic rehabilitation, scientific research, and education site, has had trouble during 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. The ASLC rescues and rehabilitates animals like Pushki, a sea otter, and is the only facility in the state to do so. With visitors down because of […]
Petition: House Members Reintroduce Bill to Ban Trade of Wild Animals for Human Consumption
House members reintroduced The Preventing Future Pandemics Act of 2021 on the first day of the new Congress. The bill would end the import, sale, and export of certain wild animals for animal consumption and medicine in the United States. The bill, supported by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) was introduced by […]
Pollution, water cuts strengthen calls for environmental law reform in Malaysia
In September 2020, more than a million households in Malaysia’s densely populated Klang Valley suffered extended water cuts after illegal chemical dumping debilitated the region’s aging water purification systems. In the midst of the pandemic, residents donned masks and lined up to fill buckets with water. A month later, before courts could identify and charge […]
Petition: Wild Mink Tests Positive for Coronavirus in Utah
A wild mink has tested positive for the coronavirus. This is the first instance of coronavirus detected in a wild animal. The result was confirmed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), who shared that the wild mink was found close to a Utah fur farm. “To our knowledge, this is the first free-ranging, native […]
Coronavirus is a Threat to Endangered Primates
Research found that endangered primates including the Sumatran orangutan and western lowland gorilla are vulnerable to coronavirus infection because of shared genetic similarities to humans. Like the tigers at the Bronx zoo that likely caught the coronavirus from zookeepers, scientists say the potential for humans to give the virus to endangered animals is likely. Study […]
Petition: Demand Government Officials Help Save Pangolins
Although pangolins are one of the most trafficked animals in the world, most people hadn’t heard of them prior to the pandemic, when scientists found that pangolins at a wet market in Wuhan, China were likely responsible for coronavirus. These scaly mammals are so shy and gentle that they curl up in a ball when […]
Petition: Tell Denmark to End Mink Fur Farming
This year, the world has come face to face with the consequences of how we treat animals and our environment. Coronavirus is a zoonotic disease, meaning that it spreads between humans and animals, and likely originated from a wet market. As humans continue to encroach on animal habitats, consume animals, and keep the animals that […]