Ever since the director of the Marine Mammal Commission (MMC), a federal agency, deemed Lolita’s tank at the Miami Seaquarium noncompliant with federal regulations, animal rights activists have wondered what it means for the nearly 50-year-old orca. This past September 4, officials at the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection…
Dr. Rebecca Lent, the executive director of the Marine Mammal Commission (MMC), sent shockwaves across the internet when she deemed the tank of orca Lolita’s at the Miami Seaquarium substandard due to a five-foot-thick concrete island at the center. Though officials at the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service…
For decades animal rights activists have claimed that Lolita, the orca at the Miami Seaquarium, is living in substandard conditions at the marine mammal park. They contend her tank is legally too small for an animal of her size due to a concrete work island at the center that limits…
In a 4-3 vote last night in the small Panhandle town of Eastpoint, the seven-member Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) resolved that there will not be a bear hunt this year. State officials said that by scrubbing this year’s hunt they will have “more time” to develop innovative…
Tomorrow, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will meet in Eastpoint — in the Panhandle — to discuss whether Florida will have another bear hunt this fall. A controversial hunt last year resulted in the deaths of more than 300 bears. FWC staff and hunters maintained that the hunt…
Last week a federal court judge dismissed a case by animal rights activists that alleged Lolita, the orca at the Miami Seaquarium, was being mistreated under the the Endangered Species Act. In her order dismissing the case, the judge acknowledged that Lolita is being held in “less than ideal” conditions,…
Ever since Lolita, the sole orca at the Miami Seaquarium, was declared an endangered species last year, activists have pushed to retire her by suing the marine park for violating protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In May of 2015, Howard Garrett, the president of the Seattle-based Orca Network,…
When the city of Hollywood was founded in the 1920s, Florida was still very much a segregated state. Understanding that his black workers would not be allowed to stay in the city after dark once it was incorporated, J.W. Young, the developer of Hollywood, created an area specifically for African-Americans: Liberia. …
An animal-rights group is engaging in controversial practices as it targets not just animal researchers — but their friends and relatives. Gary Serignese is president of South Florida Smash HLS (so-called for Huntingdon Life Sciences, a British animal-testing lab that was the group’s first target). For years, he has been…
In a 6-1 vote, Hollywood city commissioners approved an ordinance yesterday that bans the retail sale of pets that come from puppy mills. The goal of the ban is to rid the area of mills, which have animal activists have decried for years due to concerns that the large scale…
The Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida is poised to honor Gov. Rick Scott on Sunday at its annual BlueGreen Event for his work in fish and wildlife conservation. The foundation, which is a citizen support group of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), promises the event will…
The director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Nick Wiley, declared Sunday evening that the state’s weeklong bear hunting season had closed due to hunters having killed nearly the maximum allowed number of bears. Though the FWC had set the limit of quota bears at 320, by…
On June 26 of this year, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that state-level bans on same-sex marriage — like the one Florida had in place since 2008 — are unconstitutional because they violate the due-process and equality clauses of the 14th Amendment. The ruling, in the case…
In June, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), approved a hunting season on Florida’s black bears from October 24 to 30. Today at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina, the commission was meeting and was expected to set “harvest objectives” — i.e., to put an exact figure on how…
In late January 33-year-old Leroy Strothers took to the roof of his apartment building in Lake Worth and began screaming. He waved his handgun in the air, terrifying the people below, and then shot it toward the sky. Several people feared he was a sniper and called 911. Deputies from…
For months, a unit at the Public Storage on Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers went unclaimed. Though warehouse staff sent several letters to the renter of the space, Maria Gamez, no responses or payments were made. In an effort to clear out the unit so it could be leased by someone…
In May, Emily Bloch, a student at Florida Atlantic University, wrote an article for the school’s newspaper, the University Press (UP), about an alleged campus gang rape. About one week after her article was published, a similar piece surfaced on the Boca Raton Tribune’s website. The byline said it was written…
Today the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) released their decision on Obergefell v. Hodges. With a 5-4 ruling, they decided that state laws which bar same-sex couples from marrying are unconstitutional. Although regulating marriage licenses remains an issue for the states, they cannot issue licenses…
Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) have approved a one-week black bear hunting season this October—- even though the agency does not have an official estimate of the bear population. Activists are devastated, to say the least. “The Florida black bear was just removed from the…
In 1974 officials at the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) listed the Florida black bear as a threatened species. The protected status prevented the public from hunting the vulnerable bears, helping them to make considerable population gains despite increasing habitat loss. By 2002, there were about 3,000 bears in…
Currently the nation is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to release its decision on two legal questions. The first is whether states must allow same-sex couples to marry, and the second is whether states that ban same-sex marriage must recognize such marriages performed in other states and countries. Some…
Under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the Miami Seaquarium is required to renew its exhibitor’s license every year with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), an agency under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before the marine mammal park’s license expired in 2012, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a California-based animal advocacy…
