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Dr. Anthony Fauci and then-National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins reportedly pressured a group of scientists to abandon a paper they were authoring on the origins of COVID-19 and the possibility that COVID-19 was “genetically manipulated” and could have leaked from the Wuhan Insitute of Virology (WIV). “Neither Drs. Fauci or Collins edited our Proximal Origins paper in any way. The major feedback we got from the Feb 1 teleconference was: 1. Don’t try to write a paper at all — it’s unnecessary or 2. If you do write it don’t mention a lab origin as that will just...

The US moratorium on gain-of-function experiments has been rescinded, but scientists are split over the benefits—and risks—of such studies. Talha Burki reports. On Dec 19, 2017, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that they would resume funding gain-of-function experiments involving influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus. A moratorium had been in place since October, 2014. At the time, the NIH had stated that the moratorium “will be effective until a robust and broad deliberative process is completed that results in the adoption of a new US Government gain-of-function research policy”. This process...

Fox News’ Steve Hilton shared an investigation that breaks down the origins of the coronavirus, and not only links it back to U.S. commissioned research, but also to Dr. Anthony Fauci.The host of the “The Next Revolution” told his viewers that the evidence uncovered “points to the most likely cause of the pandemic and it’s worse than anything that we have heard so far.”Highlighting a study 10 years ago in the Netherlands involving ferrets, which have respiratory systems that operate similar to humans, Hilton said researchers “were trying to see if the virus that starts out without the ability to...

Pat Wright loves ferrets — a forbidden love in California, where owning the animals has been illegal since 1933. The state's complex ecosystem and ferrets' outlaw reputation as chicken killers make the weasel-like creature verboten here and in Hawaii. Like many ferret owners whose malfeasance gets reported to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wright says he's paid a high price for his pets. He's served 17 days in a maximum security prison, performed 300 hours of community service, and shouldered civil lawsuits, all because he refuses to quit his decades-long crusade to grant ferrets the same legal standing as...

My daughter left for college. She had three ferrets, one is left alive now. I have to clean its cage and feed and water it. It looks lonely; it wants to come out and play. But once out of the cage, it doesn’t “interact” on a personal level. Not like our cat who went around *shredding* everything once my daughter had been gone for a week. Cats have more personality. Dogs, apparently even more. Is this related to gyri and sulci in the brain? Brain size? Internal wiring and size of different brain regions? It comes back to the idea...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Authorities removed nearly 200 animals from a Virginia Beach home, including 89 frozen ferret carcasses. Police spokeswoman Margie Long said animal control agents found more than 100 live ferrets, a dog, a bird and three cats, most of them suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. Long said the frozen bodies of 89 ferrets, a cat, a rat and an otter were discovered in freezers in the house and garage. Sixty-one of the live ferrets had to be euthanized because of poor health.

I am not a pet person. I mean, I love animals, I just don't like being responsible for more than I have to. ... So we bought two cute little ferrets along with a cage and supplies. The first cage wasn't "right," so we had to get another one. We started "potty-training," which apparently means if we see a ferret "about to go," we stick them in the litter box and hope they do their business before climbing out. Buying pets is just the beginning. You are responsible for their very lives. You have to feed them, clean them, care...

Eight In One Announces Nationwide Recall of All Lots Of Dingo® Chick’n Jerky Treats for Dogs, Cats And Ferrets Contact: Jamie Tully Victoria Hofsted 212-687-8080 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Cincinnati, Ohio -- March 30, 2007 -- Eight In One, Inc., a division of United Pet Group, Inc., is voluntarily recalling nationally all lots of Dingo® CHICK'N JERKY treats due to Company concerns that the jerky treats have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, which can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination, in people, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune...

No love lost on ferrets, poll finds SURVEY NIPS PLANS TO MAKE THEM LEGAL PETS Almost everyone in California knows what a ferret is. And most think the creatures should remain illegal, according to a new poll that has ferret lovers frowning - and some at each other's necks - across the state. As it turns out, same-sex marriage (43percent) rates higher in California than legalizing those pointy-nosed polecat descendants. "Only 38 percent favor legalization. That's kind of absurd," said Pat Wright, who founded Ferrets Anonymous in 1993 and directed a fundraising campaign to pay for the $6,000 Field Research...

Mother: Ferret, not pit bull, gnawed off baby's toes BENTON, La. – The parents of a month-old girl whose toes were gnawed off while they slept apparently disagree about whether the culprit was their ferret or their 6-week-old pit bull. Mary Hansche, 22, told KTBS-TV on Tuesday that she thinks it was the ferret. "The way the bite marks were on her foot. The ferret being out of its cage. I knew it wasn't the dog," she said. [snip] "We were told that the puppy had blood on its fur. But when the officers arrived there, the animal did not...

Student files ADA complaint to keep pet in dorm room SAN ANTONIO - A student has filed an Americans With Disabilities Act complaint against a university because it won't let her keep her pet ferret at her dormitory. Freshman Sarah Sevick, 19, said in a complaint filed with the U.S. Justice Department that she needs the ferret, named Lilly, at Our Lady of the Lake University to calm her during panic attacks. "I'm not suing the school, and I'm not asking for money. I'm just trying to get her here," she said. Sevick said she has been diagnosed with psychiatric...

Licorice ingredient ferrets out herpes Nathan Seppa A compound in licorice homes in on lab-grown cells infected with a herpes virus and induces them to self-destruct, a new study finds. These results suggest that a drug based on the compound could seek and destroy herpes viruses hiding in people's bodies. Current antiherpes drugs attack the virus only when it's causing symptoms. The virus in the new study is Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), which causes skin and lymph cancers. The researchers suspect that the gene responsible for KSHV's capacity to hide out is latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA). Researchers at New York...

Cats 'can catch and pass on Sars' Medical researchers have found cats can catch Sars and pass it on to other animals. A team of US scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston say the finding raises the question of whether cats can pass the virus to humans. Researcher Dr Robert Shope, an expert on emerging diseases, said: "You might want to quarantine the pets as well as the people. If it's been shown that the virus can transmit from cat to cat, it doesn't take much of a leap of faith that it will transmit to...

Ferret ownership 'growing among young women' New research claims ferrets are becoming a hit with young, single women. A study by two psychology experts from the University of Warwick shows owners of the mammals are as likely to be female as male. The researchers believe the shift towards more young people remaining childless and single has led to the growing popularity of ferrets and rabbits. Dr June McNicholas and Dr Glyn Collis, surveyed 142 male and female ferret owners across the Midlands. Most owners were aged 26-45, while more than 77% were childless. Nearly all - 82% - had not...