BOOKS: You Belong in a Zoo!

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

You Belong In A Zoo! by Peter Brazaitis
Villard Books (299 Park Ave., New York, NY 10171), 2003.
368 pages. Hardcover, $24.95.

A globally recognized reptile expert, author of many
scientific papers and often called as an expert witness in
herpetological smuggling cases, Peter Brazaitis spent his whole
working life with the Wildlife Conservation Society. He began at the
Bronx Zoo when WCS was still called the New York Zoological Society,
and retired as first curator of the Central Park Zoo, following a
six-year closure for renovation.

Verdict against Makah whaling upheld; new rulings on Native hunting rights

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

SEATTLE–The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on
December 1, 2003 upheld a December 2002 ruling by a three-judge
panel from the same court that the National Marine Fisheries Service
failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act in
permitting the Makah Tribal Council of Neah Bay, Washington, to
exercise a claimed treaty right to hunt gray whales.
“The plaintiffs in the case–the Fund for Animals, the
Humane Society of the U.S., and other groups and individuals–argued
that the government failed to adequately study the ways in which the
Makah whale hunt could set a dangerous precedent and adversely affect
the environment,” explained Fund for Animals spokesperson Tracy
McIntire.

BOOKS: Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity & Snakes of the World

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity
by Eric R. Pianka & Laurie J. Vitt
University of California Press (2120 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA
94720), 2003.
346 pages, 218 color illustrations, hardcover. $45.00.

Snakes of the World
by Manuel Areste & Rafael Cebrian
Sterling Publishing Co. (387 Park Ave. S., New York, NY 10016), 2003.
256 pages, 256 color illustrations, hardcover. $29.95.

Lizards, the oldest family of land-dwelling vertebrates,
are the ancestors of us all. Fish, insects, and birds are more
broadly distributed, but as Harry W. Greene explains in a foreword
to Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity: “Lizards occur
in all but the highest and coldest places on earth. Some tropical
rain forests and deserts have several dozen species at a single
locality. They come in many sizes…Various lizards use winglike
flaps to glide through tropical forest canopies, strong claws to dig
burrows in prairie sod, and fringed toes to run bipedally over
windblown sand dunes.”

BOOKS: The World of Whales, Dolphins, & Porpoises

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

The World of Whales, Dolphins, & Porpoises:
Natural History & Conservation
by Tony Martin
Voyageur Press (123 N. 2nd St., Stillwater, MN 55082), 2003.
96 pages, hardcover. $24.95.

If you have other books describing most of the known whale,
dolphin, and porpoise species, along with the basics of how they
live and where they are found, this one may be redundant–although
it is almost up-to-date about recent changes in species
identification, which have recognized differences among many animals
who superificially look much alike. Tony Martin missed only new
identifications announced this year.
If you do not already have a good general reference on
whales, dolphins, and porpoises, this may be the one you want. It
is too large to take whalewatching, and is not presented as a field
guide, but is authoritative if you need information in connection
with doing whale education or writing to news media and public
officials.

Court calendar

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

The Constitutional Court of South Africa in November 2003
upheld the September 2001 conviction of Kalahari Raptor Center
co-director Chris Mercer for violating the Nature & Environmental
Con-servation Ordinance of 1974 by rescuing three baby caracals
instead of killing them, as mandated by the Problem Animal Control
Ordinance of 1957. Initially convicted and fined, Mercer won a
discharge and waiver of the fine on appeal to the High Court, but
was unsuccessful in seeking to overturn the 1957 law through the
Constitutional Court because the court held that he had only been
charged under the 1974 law. Publicity about the case helped to win
amendments to the Gauteng Province wildlife law, which no longer
requires that “problem” animals be killed without specific cause.

Taiwan toughens anti-dog meat law

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

TAIPEI–Taiwanese legislators on December 16, 2003 approved
stronger regulations against killing and selling dogs and cats for
human consumption.
The anti-dog-and-cat-meat measures were adopted among a package of
strengthening and clarifying amendments to the Animal Protection Law
of 1998, and were introduced with 56 co-sponsors from multiple
political parties, according to the China Post of Taiwan.
“Lacking real teeth, the old regulations only prohibited the
butchering and sale of pet meats,” without providing means of
enforcement, the China Post said.

SHARK wins Utah civil liberties case

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

PARK CITY, Utah–Conceding that an ordinance prohibiting
mobile video displays during the annual Sundance film festival and
the 2000 Winter Olympics may have infringed the First Amendment, the
Park City council on December 12 repealed parts of the ordinance that
were invoked in 2000 to block rolling protests by SHARK against the
“Command Performance Rodeo,” held as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
Park City also agreed to pay $2,500 to cover SHARK’s legal costs in
suing to overturn the ordinance.
SHARK founder Steve Hindi told ANIMAL PEOPLE that the outcome
sends a signal to other cities that may try to ban the SHARK video
trucks.

Killing animals in the name of charity

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

The Harbor Association of Volunteers for Animals in Willapa,
Washington, apparently cancelled a mid-December 2003 benefit pig
raffle after it attracted notice from PETA and the Farmed Animal Net
electronic newsgroup.
HAVA reportedly advertised, “You could keep this pig as a pet…But
Patriotic Packing has also donated processing and wrapping.”
Wrote Farmed Animal Net founder Mary Finelli, “This is
problematically similar to the common practice of animal shelters
serving meat at their social events,” which violates ANIMAL PEOPLE
ethical standard for charities #4b: ANIMAL PEOPLE recommends that
all food served for human consumption by or on behalf of animal
charities should be vegetarian or, better, vegan.

Obituaries

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence, 74, died on November 11 in
Westport, Massachusetts. The first and perhaps only veterinary
anthropologist in the U.S., Lawrence for 20 years taught a course on
animal/human relations at Tufts University, and authored five books,
but was most often quoted from a 1997 autobiographical essay
published in the journal Anthrozoos: “I gave no credence to numerous
individuals stressing the value of human medicine over veterinary
medicine, those who said women did not have the strength and stamina
to treat animals, nor to those who asserted that women’s only proper
destiny was devoting full time to marriage and family life.”

Obituaries

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