DEAR READERS: A December article by Bloomberg News reporter Shelly Hagan, “Texas Oil Heir’s Work is Advancing Biotech,” details the establishment of a startup company funded by the legacy of a Texas oil baron. Called Colossal Biosciences, it will reportedly seek to bring back extinct animals such as the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, dodo bird and other long-gone species.

I find this venture as absurd as spending resources (and more fossil fuels) to explore outer space, rather than attending to what is needed on Earth and our “inner space” -- our values, ethics and priorities. And it is the ultimate irony that this endeavor is being funded by the fossil fuel industry -- which, along with the allied petrochemical and pesticide industries, has been the main driver of the loss of biodiversity and our accelerating extinction rates.

The recovery of species already extinct has no concordance with the urgent conservation needs of existing species, plant and animal. And if these species were brought back, where would they go? Some new “superzoo” of the biotech cyberage, where we applaud our ability to preserve species in sanitized captivity?

Rather than looking back, we must look at the future we are all creating now. How we live and what we consume should not endanger other species or their habitats, the health of which determines our own.

THE WAR ON WOLVES BY DEER HUNTERS SHOULD END

In Minnesota and other states, deer hunters are generally in favor of wolves being shot and trapped, especially when there are few deer for the hunters to “harvest,” for which hunters blame wolves. This misconception has been corrected by wolf researchers, who find that deer hunter success and wolf population size were both positively correlated with the size of the deer population.

Per a writeup by the Voyageurs Wolf Project: "Wolves are not the primary reason for changes in deer populations or deer hunter success. Indeed, one of the most important factors driving deer population change is winter severity."

For more details, see voyageurswolfproject.org/wolves-deer-hunting-data.

DEAR DR. FOX: You have been writing this Animal Doctor column for several years, and I appreciate its content and scope. I have checked your academic qualifications, since you cover a lot of issues, not all related to animal health. Since you have a doctoral degree in ethology, the science of animal behavior -- and since we humans are animals, after all -- perhaps you might offer your professional opinion on whether we will ever stop making war and seeing violence in the news, day in and day out. -- E.K., Washington, D.C.

DEAR E.K.: Opinion without facts is mere conjecture, and that is why I cite published scientific studies frequently in my columns.

Examining the ancestral, primate roots of such inhumanity and insanity, we see how history repeats itself because we have not fundamentally changed/evolved. Violence intensifies with unconstrained population growth and resource consumption. The genesis of autocratic, theocratic and militaristic regimes is as mortifying as our collective responses to them: namely, violent retribution and self-sacrifice in the name of peace through justice.

John Peacock, professor emeritus of Native American Studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art and an enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, wrote a compelling piece for the Dec. 2 Star Tribune entitled “Minnesota, 1862: a ‘distant mirror’ for Gaza, 2023.” It details the history of conflict between Minnesota settlers and the indigenous Dakota peoples, linking it with today’s Israeli-Palestine conflict. His perspective is thought-provoking and much appreciated.

Mahatma Gandhi is often credited with the adage, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” But even with open-eyed diplomacy, I believe we will fail to ever find peace and begin to restore the natural world if empathy and compassion do not prevail over ideological forces of separation and conflict, including racism, sexism and speciesism. As Albert Schweitzer advised, “Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”

For more on this topic, see my post: drfoxonehealth.com/post/mammon-versus-civil-society-and-war-without-end.

IN MEMORIAM: DEANNA KRANTZ

DEAR READERS: My beloved wife and co-worker, Deanna Krantz, died Dec. 27 after battling multiple health issues. Born June 17, 1949, she dedicated her life to animal rescue and environmental protection, working in earlier years as Acting Director of Investigations at the ASPCA in New York and as Executive Associate for the International Network for Religion and Animals in Washington, D.C. She then spent several years in India establishing an animal shelter with free community veterinary services. She co-authored the book “India’s Animals: Helping the Sacred and the Suffering” with me.

In her contribution to another book concerning animal rights, she wrote: “Spirituality is a word that has been terribly overused and misused. I embrace the spirit that I see and feel in my human crusaders and nonhuman companions. I see spirit in rocks and trees and rivers. I feel it in the wind. It is part of my work and therefore cannot motivate me as something distinctively separate. Spirituality is part of it all; it does not have a category or special place in my soul. It is part of the whole that fills my soul.”

I wish all could feel this way and make this Earth a better place for all creatures, great and small, as well as for our own kind.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: The cloning of pets has moved from science fiction to reality. People can take a beloved dog or cat to the veterinarian for a routine health check and have a few cells removed, which are frozen and shipped for storage at a pet cloning center. A processing and storage fee will be charged, and when the owners want their companion animals cloned, the center will begin the process -- after a substantial down payment has been made.

Before this new biotechnology is perfected, the cost will probably be in the six-figure range for some time before mass-production follows mass-demand. Texas-based ViaGen is currently the only company in the U.S. that clones pets. The total cost of cloning a dog or a cat is $50,000; a horse, $85,000. (See viagenpets.com/product/initiate-cloning)

Over 1,500 dogs have now been cloned, representing approximately 20% of the American Kennel Club’s recognized breeds. This makes the dog (Canis familiaris) one of the most successfully cloned mammals. However, a report details several developmental abnormalities warranting euthanasia of cloned offspring. (See study: "Insights from one thousand cloned dogs" by P. Olsson, et al, Scientific Reports, 2022.)

So there are many concerns other than financial. The cloned dogs will not be exact replicas of peoples’ beloved animal companions, and many clones will probably have to be destroyed because of various birth defects. Abnormalities may also develop later in life. Clones of other species often have abnormal internal organs, neurological and immunological problems, and may be abnormally large at birth due to a defective growth-regulating gene function.

And what about the quality of life of the thousands of caged female dogs who will be exploited by the pet-cloning industry, and the procedural risks to their health and overall welfare?

Do the ends justify the means? There is no evident benefit to the animals themselves. Instead, why not adopt a dog or puppy who looks like the one you miss? Or you could donate money -- perhaps equivalent to what it would cost to produce one clone -- toward improving the welfare of hundreds, even thousands of dogs and other animals around the world.

For more details on animal cloning, see this post on my website: drfoxonehealth.com/post/dont-clone-your-dog-or-cat.

CARBOHYDRATE, FIBER INFO ADDED TO PET FOOD LABELS

New labeling regulations for pet food went into effect on Jan. 1 with the approval of the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Manufacturers who adopt the rules will disclose products' total carbohydrate and dietary fiber content, comparable to the disclosures on human foods. (Full story: Veterinary Information Network, Nov. 30)

This initiative is long overdue and has been called for by veterinarians and informed pet owners for decades.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: I hope you all had a good holiday season, and I wish you all the best for this coming year.

It seems self-evident that modern “civilization” has become increasingly disconnected from nature -- from respect for, and protection of, the lives in the oceans, forests, mountains and grasslands of planet Earth. Otherwise, we would not be facing today's climate and extinction crises. I am deeply concerned that many Americans, and citizens of other countries, are supporting politicians who are evidently psychopathic, yet who are establishing new cultural norms in their voiced opposition to human rights and environmental protection.

Poor nations are receiving only a fraction of what they need to adapt to climate change, despite being promised the money by rich countries, which are most responsible for causing the problem.

The headline for a recent writeup on Nature.com says it all: "Low-income countries need 10-18 times more global funding than they are receiving to help them adapt to climate change." From the article:

“Studies show that for every $1 billion (U.S.) invested in coastal flood protection, you avoid $14 billion in damages,” says climate researcher Henry Neufeldt, the chief scientific editor of a new report from the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). “We have floods, droughts, and heat waves all over the world and it’s just getting worse and worse. This newest data is a wake-up call.” (Full story: Nature.com, Nov. 6)

“There is already clear evidence that climate change is harming the health of people across the globe,” says Elizabeth Robinson, director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in London. “Without much greater investment in adaptation, health impacts of climate change will only get worse.” (Full story: Nature.com, Oct. 9)

It is no secret that the rich keep getting richer, and that wealthy corporations and individuals are the major drivers of not only unbridled capitalism, but of social and environmental injustice. A report released in November puts startling numbers to these ideas. The report, co-produced by various scientists, the charity Oxfam and The Guardian, says that the world’s richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than do the poorest 66%. It also estimates that the emissions produced by the 1% in 2019 alone could have been sufficient to cause the heat-related deaths of 1.3 million people between 2020 and 2100.

“The super-rich are plundering and polluting the planet to the point of destruction and it is those who can least afford it who are paying the highest price,” says Chiara Liguori, a climate-justice adviser. These emissions come from extravagant superyachts, huge mansions, private jets and even spaceflights, as well as from less-flashy sources like investments in fossil-fuel companies.

With insufficient action on these issues, there will be more immigrants seeking refuge in more secure and affluent countries; more riots over food, fuel and water; more extensive suffering of livestock lacking feed, water and veterinary care; and an escalating extinction rate of indigenous wildlife species.

We must learn the lesson of the wolf and other predators, whose numbers are always far fewer than their prey. As evolving carnivorous apes living as gatherer-hunters for millennia, humans were few and often nomadic. But once we began to domesticate plants and animals and became more sedentary, our numbers began to escalate, now to over 8 billion. We now have rising poverty and famine and crime and ever more political and economic-environmental refugees.

Our rising population and consumption rates are unsustainable and are leading to the demise of wildlife and their habitats along with climate change, which we are now experiencing as it intensifies. We should be raising and consuming less meat, fish, eggs and dairy products, regardless of how profitable these items are for Big Ag and Big Pharma -- the latter of which produces and markets many vaccines and drugs to these food-animal industries that are not without risk to the environment and to consumers.

We must collectively achieve a complete phase-out of fossil fuels, reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. This will not be achieved without funding and development of alternative energy sources.

What is now called for is a new order: not of human domination, exploitation and consumption, but of responsible, empathic planetary CPR -- conservation, protection and restoration. Father Thomas Berry called this the "ecozoic era," where humans live in a mutually enhancing relationship with Earth and all creatures. In such a world, equal consideration will be given to the protection and rights of all species, plant and animal, under the global vision of One Health.

For more details, go to drfoxonehealth.com/post/one-earth-one-health-a-manifesto-for-action.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)