• Animals

Mink Farm Die-Off Due to COVID

• #COVID19
• animals
• disease
• mink
• outbreaks

NBC News reported that more than 10,000 minks in Utah mink “farms” have contracted COVID and died, forcing the state to close them and begin an investigation into what caused the outbreak. 

Why This Matters:  The fact that the virus spread from humans to the animals is alarming, but fortunately the risk of it spreading from minks to humans is low, according to the Utah State Veterinarian and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

• Animals

Scientists Take “Anthropause” to Better Study Urban Animals

• animals
• anthropause
• coronavirus
• urban animals

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, animals have enjoyed the freedom of a quieter world by venturing further into cities and suburbs. While this “anthropause” has made for thrilling YouTube videos, scientists have taken the opportunity to study the effects of human activity across geographic regions, ecosystems, their effect on species. Researchers have been tracking animal movements […]

• Cosmos

Monitoring Animals From the Space Station To Improve Their Conservation

• #30x30
• #endangeredspecies
• animals
• extinction
• international space station
• migration
• science
• space
• wildlife trafficking

Using inexpensive tracking technology and a large antenna installed on the International Space Station, a consortium of researchers is hoping to gather a wider range of data than they had using previous tracking technologies, including long migration patterns, allowing them to better understand how climate change and habitat loss impact wildlife. 

Why This Matters:  In addition to better understanding of wildlife migration and threats, the technology could be used for a range of other goals.

• Animals

We Need Animals to Survive—But First, We Need to Include Them

• animal welfare
• animals
• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• endangered species
• IFAW
• International Fund for Animal Welfare
• Sustainable Development Goals
• wild animals

By Beth Allgood, U.S. Country Director, International Fund for Animal Welfare It’s often said that dogs are man’s best friend. This common phrase may seem simple to most, but it holds a very important lesson: animals are important to human wellbeing. IFAW’s newest report, Animals are Key to Human Development: A Guidebook for Incorporating Conservation […]

• People

Interview of the Week: Mika Brzezinski

• animals
• Morning Joe
• MSNBC

Most of us know Mika Brzezinski as a journalist, commentator, and co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe but she has another noteworthy title: devoted animal lover. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, animals have provided us comfort, companionship, and stories about them have generated immense interest from our ODP readers. It’s why we wanted to sit down with […]

• Animals

One Cool Thing: Wildlife Comes Out At National Parks

• #30x30
• animals
• bison
• National Parks
• wildlife

Park Rangers at National Parks that have been closed for many weeks have observed things they had never seen before.  For example, pronghorn antelope in the sun-scorched lowlands of Death Valley National Park, and at Yosemite, with traffic a distant memory, deer, bobcats, and black bears have made their way into Yosemite Valley and are […]