Sunday, April 5, 2026 — Edition No. 50 — The Cornmill Intelligencer

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Today’s outlook: Edition 50! Forecast: patient paws, hopeful hearts, and a 100% chance of forever homes

Dogs & Animals Rescue

The Special Boy Who Waited 500 Days: Scotland's Most Patient Rescue Dog Finally Has a Forever Home

After more than 500 days in kennels, the dog once known as Fury has a new name, a new family, and a squeaky fish toy he refuses to put down

For more than 500 days, the big American Bulldog at the Scottish SPCA's Lanarkshire centre waited. He waited through seasons changing outside his kennel window, through hundreds of visitors who looked and moved on, through mornings that began with hope and evenings that ended without a lead to a car.

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Dogs & Animals Wildlife

Giant Otter and 39 Other Migratory Species Win Historic Cross-Border Protection at UN Summit

From the rivers of the Amazon to the skies above the Arctic, 40 vulnerable species gain new international safeguards under the Convention on Migratory Species

By Henry Davenport

The giant otter — South America's magnificent "river wolf," hunted to the brink of extinction for its velvety fur — has just been granted formal international protection under the United Nations' Convention on Migratory Species.

The charismatic predator was among 40 species to receive new or enhanced safeguards at CMS COP15, held in Campo Grande, Brazil, from 23 to 29 March 2026. Representatives from more than 130 governments adopted a sweeping package of conservation measures covering creatures of the seas, skies, and rivers.

Once widespread across South America's river systems, the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) was decimated by decades of fur hunting, peaking in the 1950s and 1960s. At up to 1.8 metres long, it is the largest member of the weasel family and among the most endangered mammals in the Neotropics, with wild populations estimated at fewer than 5,000.

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News Clydebank

Walking Together Against Addiction: Clydebank Marks Good Friday With a Walk of Hope

Hope for Recovery programme celebrates first anniversary with public walk through the town, as a community rallies around those battling addiction

By Damien

On Good Friday morning, while much of Scotland battened down ahead of Storm Dave, a group of people in Clydebank chose to step outside and walk together.

They walked for hope. For recovery. For the ones who didn't make it.

The Walk of Hope, organised by Hope Community Church on Shelley Drive, marked the first anniversary of Hope for Recovery — a faith-based addiction recovery programme that has quietly become a lifeline in one of Scotland's hardest-hit communities.

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Health

The Largest Parkinson's Trial in History Is Six Months In — and Scotland Is Next

A £26 million UK-wide clinical trial aims to find the first treatment that can slow the progression of Parkinson's disease. More than 1,600 people have already signed up — and three Scottish hospitals are preparing to open their doors.

By Henry Davenport

Six months ago, a quiet revolution began in the corridors of University College London Hospital. A man named Graham Edwins took his first dose of trial medication and became the inaugural participant in the largest clinical trial for Parkinson's disease ever mounted anywhere in the world.

Today, that trial — the Edmond J. Safra Accelerating Clinical Trials in Parkinson's Disease, or EJS ACT-PD — has attracted more than 1,600 registrations across dozens of NHS hospitals throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. And Scotland is preparing to join.

Some 166,000 people in the United Kingdom are living with Parkinson's disease, including 14,000 in Scotland. Across the UK, someone receives a diagnosis roughly every 20 minutes — about 28,000 people each year.

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