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The Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary has welcomed a macaque! He had been found living in horrendous conditions (see how bad by watching this
53-second video, and then compare it with this 13-second video of our Primate Sanctuary!) at a roadside zoo in Mississippi after an undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States revealed serious animal welfare issues there. The macaque, as yet unnamed, was taken from the zoo on Jan. 25 and on the next day arrived at our 186-acre sanctuary in south Texas. According to Sanctuary Director Tim Ajax:

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A white boxer puppy allegedly suffering from neglect was not present when police and the city animal shelter director visited McDonald's Pet & Gift Shop on Jan. 24. But officials still cited the manager of the store for violating a city ordinance prohibiting neglect of animals, in this case rodents including hamsters.

Link: TheStarPress.com

The Sumatran elephant could be extinct in the wild within three decades unless immediate steps are taken to slow the breakneck pace of deforestation, environmentalists warned Jan. 24. The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently listed the animals as "critically endangered" after their numbers dropped to between 2,400 and 2,800 from an estimated 5,000 in 1985.

Link: Huffington Post

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced in early January that it will propose a new wolf-hunting season for as early as this fall. Management of the population is expected to fall back into state hands after the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes region is officially removed from federal endangered species protection later this month.

Link: Minnesota Public Radio

You would never force an animal to live in a cramped, barren cage suspended over her own waste. But hundreds of thousands of animals on “fur farms” are forced to endure such unconscionable misery while awaiting their grim fate. While many European countries have banned or severely restricted fur farming, the United States has largely turned a blind eye to this barbaric industry. You can help by signing our petition that asks upscale Barneys New York to stop selling fur and, if you live in one of the "dirty dozen" fur farm states, by contacting your elected officials. Born Free USA’s groundbreaking report “Cruelty Uncaged: A Review of Fur Farming in North America” revealed that, in addition to the inherently cruel conditions mink, fox and even bobcats suffer, the farms also place native wildlife at risk and are sources of environmental pollution.

Tim Ajax, director of the
Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary
(photograph by Mike Di Paola)

The approach to the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary in Dilley, Texas, has an ominous look — lonely dirt road, padlocked gate, a sign warning “Not Open to the Public.” Inside the fence, however, the place is full of life, with dozens of macaque monkeys roaming the grounds.

“There’s something inherently wrong with these animals living their lives in little cages,” says the sanctuary director, Tim Ajax. Most of the more than 500 nonhuman primates here have the run of a 56-acre area, while the rest stay in fairly spacious enclosures. “We’re at capacity right now,” Ajax says, but he’s
preparing for more newcomers.

Link: Bloomberg.com

Thai customs officials said they had seized four boxes of smuggled tiger skins and bones worth tens of thousands of dollars, believed to be destined for interior decoration. The tigers, whose parts were found earlier this week, were thought to have come from Indonesia and eventually be destined for China, according to Somchai Poolsawasdi, director general of Royal Thai Customs.

Link: ChannelNewsAsia.com

Retired fisherman Sada Fall is upbeat. His two sons are returning from sea with a boatload of "gold", as he calls shark fins, whose value has near-obliterated the ocean's top predator in these seas. Fall, 62, walks along the beach in this fishing village in the north of Senegal, his blue-grey boubou flapping in the dry, dusty wind, a bright red flowered umbrella shielding him from the scorching sun.

Link: Agence France-Presse