Month: March 2013

Big Cat Rescue wins $953,000 judgement against traveling exhibitor

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

TAMPA,  Fla––U.S. District Court Judge Mary Stenson Scriven on February 8,  2013 ruled that Oklahoma wildlife exhibitor Joe Schreibvogel,  doing business as Entertainment Group.  Inc. and G.W. Exotic Memorial Animal Foundation, has since 2010 infringed on copyrights and trademarks belonging to Big Cat Rescue,  of Tampa,  Florida,  by using photos belonging to Big Cat Rescue and a logo similar to that of Big Cat Rescue to promote his shows under the name “Big Cat Rescue Entertainment.”  Scriven at the same time dismissed counterclaims filed by Schreibvogel.  Scriven awarded Big Cat Rescue damages of $653,000 plus $300,000 for legal expenses.       Read more

Dolphins in India

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

CHENNAI––The Animal Welfare Board of India on January 14,  2013 ordered state governments and wildlife agencies to deny permits to anyone who “proposes to import or capture any cetacean [whale or dolphin] species for training,  to use as a performing animal for commercial entertainment,  private or public exhibition,  private or human interaction, educational or research purposes.”  The directive formalizes policies which have informally prevailed against would-be marine mammal exhibitors since 1998,  when a now defunct Chennai aquarium called Dolphin City imported four dolphins from Bulgaria.  All four died within six months.  Whether the AWBI directive can be enforced is likely to be tested by would-be developers of dolphin parks in Mumbai,  Delhi,  and coastal Kerala state.

BOOKS: For Love of Cats

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:


For Love of Cats by Animal Rescue League of Iowa, Inc. Landauer Publishing Co. (3100 NW 101st St., Suite A,  Urbandale, Iowa 50322,  2012.  160 pages,   paperback.  $21.95.

 

For Love of Cats,  presented by the Animal Rescue League of Iowa,  draws upon years of shelter experience with cats and making successful adoptions of cats,  beginning with what to consider when choosing a cat.  Factors include age,  gender,  and whether the cat is a purebred or a rescued stray. Read more

How to protest against killing contests without promoting them vexes animal defenders

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

MIAMI,  Fla.,  HOLLEY,  N.Y.,  ADIN,  Calif.,  CHICAGO,  Ill.––The Python Challenge was pushed by the Florida Wildlife Commission in the name of conservation,  albeit without strong scientific support.  The Hazzard County Squirrel Slam in Holley,  New York,  and the Pit River Rod and Gun Club’s Seventh Annual Coyote Drive in Adin,  California,  were promoted as opportunities to introduce young people to recreational killing,  though older hunters were more in evidence. Pigeons netted off the streets of Chicago at instigation of Alderman James Cappleman were allegedly killed at pigeon shoots in Indiana. Read more

BOOKS: Experiencing Animal Minds

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

Experiencing Animal Minds:  An Anthology of Animal-Human Encounters Edited by Julie A. Smith & Robert W. Mitchell Columbia University Press (61 West 62nd St.,  New York,  NY  10023),  2012.   380 pages.  $19.24/Kindle,   $105.00 hardcover,   $35.00 paperback.

Experiencing Animal Minds is a fascinating collection of 21 essays by animal researchers and academic scholars. Many of the authors discuss how animals interact with each other and with humans,  including United Poultry Concerns founder Karen Davis.   Read more

MOVIE REVIEWS: The Hunter

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:

The Hunter Starring Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, & Sam Neill. Directed by Daniel Nettheim. Adapted from novel The Hunter by Julia Leigh. Porchlight Films, 2011 (Australia). U.S. release on April 6, 2012.

By Kim Bartlett & Wolf Clifton A year after release, the 2012 film The Hunter remains worth a second look. Based on the novel The Hunter by Julia Leigh, the film version stars Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, and Sam Neill. Dafoe, a mercenary, hunts the last living thylacine, or “Tasmanian tiger,” on assignment from a biotech company that hopes to isolate, identify, and somehow use the toxin that thylacines are said to have used to paralyze prey. Read more

BOOKS: Training the Best Dog Ever

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

Training the Best Dog Ever by Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz & Larry Kay Workman Publishing (225 Varick St.,  9th floor,  New York,  NY 10014),  2012. 287 pages,  paperback.  $14.95

Training the Best Dog Ever is the paperback release of a manual originally published in 2010 as the Love That Dog Training Program. Co-author Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz,  who died in January 2011,  was renowned as trainer of three water spaniels for the late Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy,  and of Bo,  the current White House dog. Read more

Letters [March 2013]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

Letters

Animal rights law pioneer Larry Weiss checks in

Here’s what’s happened since I retired in 2003,   after 18 years of practicing animal law in California.  I remain involved in mentoring young attorneys and giving occasional presentations at law schools and vegan gatherings. Read more

Inflated cat stats panic birders

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  March 2013:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Inflating the U.S. pet cat population by ten million,  the outdoor pet cat population by closer to 50 million,  and the best documented estimates of the feral cat population by up to 64 million,  Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute ornithologists Scott Loss and Peter Marra and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Tom Will on January 29,  2013 alleged in the journal Nature Communications that domestic cats in the U.S. kill up to 3.7 billion birds and as many as 20.7 billion mice,  voles,  and other small mammals. Read more

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