Wildlife advocates say that Albany's failure to enact laws against bear poaching and the sale of bear gallbladders and bile has drawn the hunters to the state. Bear gallbladders are generally sold to Asia or to Asian communities in the US for use in traditional medicines, but the New York State Assembly recently introduced a bill to ban the "possession, sale, barter, offer, purchase, transportation, delivery, or receipt of bear gallbladder, bile, or any product, item, or substance containing, or labeled or advertised as containing, bear gallbladders or bile." Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal said, "Frankly it is embarrassing when New York State lags behind other states." more ›

A street sweeper employed by the Doe Fund, a charity that employs homeless New Yorkers to clean city streets, picked up a $2,500 bonus last month by defending the pigeons on the Upper East Side. According to In Defense of Animals, Desi Stewart witnessed a man spreading bird seed on the ground and “netting a large number of pigeons.” more ›