Using AI to help animals
This and other news for the week ending July 18, 2025
In other news: A little flyer takes to the sky. New state law bans backyard breeders and other exploiters from selling dogs, cats, and rabbits at flea markets and other transient public places. Another week, another case of tainted pet food. Do you have what it takes to save lives? Communities are looking for someone to run or help run their animal shelters. Army to retire cavalry units. National Institutes of Health to focus on non-animal studies.
These are some of the stories making headlines in animal protection:
A little flyer takes to the sky
As those of you who read my piece about finding yet another sick/injured bird, I wrote that it feels like the 1970s all over again, with stray animals increasingly visible on the streets and “shelters” failing to live up to their responsibility. Since the pandemic, misguided and corrupt organizations such as Austin Pets Alive, Best Friends Animal Society, and Maddie’s Fund have promoted “community sheltering,” leading shelters to turn away animals and leaving the burden of rescue to residents who already fund these services with tax dollars. This puts animals in danger and leaves compassionate individuals scrambling to care for them on their own.
As I also recently wrote about the rescue of a sick pigeon and a kitten who had taken up residence in a car’s engine block, our public and private agencies — animal services and wildlife rehabilitation facilities predominantly, and at least in Oakland, CA, where I live, the police and fire departments, too — refuse to protect vulnerable animals.
As a result, I found myself with yet another pigeon, one that was sitting on a sidewalk and refusing to move. Monty (renamed Lilly when we found out she was a girl) received emergency care, but not at the local shelter or wildlife rehabilitation facility — the local shelter wouldn’t help, and the local wildlife facility would have killed her. Instead, I took her to an emergency veterinarian who said the little bird was so sick she would probably die within 24 hours. However, after intubating Lilly, providing nutrition and hydration, and treating her for parasites, followed by antibiotics and care at my home, I am happy to report that she recovered, gained weight, and this week, took to the sky to rejoin her mate and flock.
Live long and prosper, Lilly.
New state law bans backyard breeders and other exploiters from selling dogs, cats, and rabbits at flea markets and other transient public places
