A Michael Broad Blog
The world hates rats. Unfair. Speciesism in action. Although, some people love them and this story may change the public profile of this much maligned ‘pest’ so mercilessly persecuted by humans. They are smart and eminently trainable with memories as good as the best sniffer dogs. Being a lot smaller they can rummage around …
NEWS AND OPINION: My research tells me that in 2019 (or perhaps 2020), an amendment was made to South African’s Animal Improvement Act (AIA) to reclassify lions as farm animals. The government amended the AIA to include lions as a “species” that can be bred as livestock. There was no public consultation. The amendment …
Kota Kinabalu is the capital of the relation state of Sabah in the northern part of the island of Borneo where, we are told, there are massive floods and, in these floods, there are many animals requiring rescue which resulted in this fantastic photograph (albeit not very sharp) of a good woman whose name …
The dog and cat meat trade in Cambodia is thriving as it is in China and other Far Eastern countries. There is, however, a slight awakening towards the immorality, as I would describe it, of this business. There are green shoots as they say of a different relationship between these companion animals and the …
You may not know it, but many captive wild cat species have been declawed in the USA and around the world. Declawing is a very contentious operation. It is, to be brutally frank, barbaric and that word comes both from me and from Dr. Bruce Fogle DVM the well-known veterinarian and author. The news …
This infographic lists the wild cat species on the African and South American continents and in Southeast Asia. Remarkably there are a similar number of species in each region. The weight ranges are also listed per species. All of them are endangered to varying degrees through human activities of various kinds. Conservation is the …
If a culture has superstitions, they are bound to include the domestic cat. The domestic cat attracts superstition and has done so for many centuries. It is no different in Vietnam. But also, in Vietnam, there are many other superstitions. They are, I would have to add, a superstitious people. It has to be …
I have been trying to make some sense of the mysterious ‘Mary Dandruff’. Clearly a made-up name and one which is associated with sticking objects onto cats which look like engorged (with blood) ticks. The pictures look very convincing, and they have indeed convinced many social media users on Facebook and YouTube who are …
