AGRICULTURE

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The General Agreement on Trade

and Tariffs will increase the amount of pork

the U.S. can export to Europe to 624,000 met-

ric tons by 1999, six times the 1991 volume.

Drawn by relatively weak U.S. pollution

laws, European hog producers are rushing to

set up U.S. branches, including the Pig

Improvement Co., of Great Britain, the

world’s largest hog breeder, which hopes to

raise 100,000 hogs per year at a site near

Hennessy, Oklahoma. The facility will gen-

erate as much sewage as a town of 170,000

people. A Danish firm is reportedly planning

an even bigger operation: a 600,000-hog con-

finement farm to be sited in Alaska, where

there are virtually no laws pertaining to farm-

related pollution because farming ventures

there have historically failed.

ZOO NOTES

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Willie B., a silverback gorilla

kept in isolation at the Atlanta Zoo from his

capture in the wild in 1962 until 1988,

became a father on February 9, at the age of

35. The mother of the newborn is Choomba,

age 30, making the couple the oldest to breed

successfully in captivity. The zoo built bigger

gorilla quarters in 1988 to house a 17-member

colony borrowed from the Yerkes Primate

Research Center, also in Atlanta. Hoping to

add Willie B.’s genes to the limited captive

breeding pool, the zoo initially paired him

with much younger females, in the belief they

would heighten his sexual appetite, but he

failed to impregnate any of them, and was

suspected of sterility. He and Choomba were

paired only after they signaled their interest in

each other from separate cages for months.

Endangered ocean species

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Russian whaling commissioner

Alexei Yablokov on February 21 confirmed

that Soviet whalers for decades killed far

more whales than they reported to the

International Whaling Commission. For

instance, he said, in the 1960s one ship reported

killing 152 humpbacked whales and 156 blue

whales, but actually killed 7,207 humpbacks,

1,433 blue whales, and 717 right whales, a

species protected by the IWC since 1946.

Another ship killed 1,568 humpbacks and 1,200

right whales during the winter of 1961-1962,

but reported none of the right whales while the

USSR said its entire fleet killed only 270 hump-

backs all year. Two years later the same ship

killed 530 blue whales; the USSR said the fleet

total was just 74. The revelations mean IWC

estimates of whale numbers may be far too high.

WATSON TRIAL BEGINS; SEA SHEPHERD MAY GET INTO THE SEAL WOOL BUSINESS

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland– –

Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd

Conservation Society was confident and perhaps

even exhuberant March 21, after the Canadian

government presented its case concerning four

counts of criminal mischief brought in connec-

tion with a July confrontation between The

Cleveland Amory, Watson’s vessel at the time,

and the Cuban dragnetting vessel Rio Las

Casas. Three of the counts, pertaining to

alleged reckless endangerment of human life,

could bring Watson a life term in prison.

Editorial: Zoo issue isn’t individual vs. species

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

A unique attempt to cut through mutual mistrust will occur in late April as 10 top

officials of major zoos, aquariums, and species survival plans, five delegates from animal

protection groups, and 14 academics, veterinarians, and journalists––including the Editor

of ANIMAL PEOPLE––gather at the White Oaks Conservation Center, near Jacksonville,

Florida, for a summit organized by the Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy, with

the support of the Gilman Foundation.

Zoos and humane advocates have major interests in common, and should be work-

ing together to protect endangered species; improve public knowledge of animals; close

abusive roadside zoos; and perhaps most urgent, deal with the growing problem of wildlife

being bought, bred, and sold as pets by generally unqualified individuals whose ani-

mals––after outgrowing backyard quarters––are frequently either anonymously tossed over

a zoo fence at midnight or left tethered to the front door of an animal shelter.

McDonald’s agrees to adopt humane code: PRECEDENT RAISES CARE STANDARDS FOR INDUSTRY

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

OAK BROOK, Illinois––McDonald’s, the world’s biggest beef purchaser,

pledged February 16 to issue a statement of humane principles to all the meat and poultry

slaughterhouses that supply the 14,000 U.S. McDonald’s restaurants, with a request that it be

forwarded to all the farmers who supply them. An abbreviated edition of the statement is also

to appear in the 1993 McDonald’s annual report to shareholders.

McDonald’s general counsel and senior vice president Shelby Yastrow agreed to

ratify and distribute the statement in exchange for the withdrawal of a stronger and more spe-

cific statement advanced as a shareholder resolution by Henry Spira of Animal Rights

International and Nanette Coco of the Franklin Research and Development Corporation, rep-

Diet & Health

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

The USDA proposed March 9 to apply the same

sanitary standards to poultry as to red meat. Currently, no

trace of fecal matter is permitted on red meat, but fecal matter

is tolerated on poultry under a grading system that also consid-

ers the presence of bruises, feathers, and protruding bones. A

dead bird is deemed unfit for human consumption only if it

receives a failing cumulative score. Earlier, the USDA said it

would seek Food and Drug Administration approval of the use

of radiation to kill bacteria on red meats. Whether the request

would be extended to cover poultry too was unclear.

Children & Animals: NABT MOVES TOWARD STRONGER SUPPORT OF CLASSROOM DISSECTION

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

WASHINGTON D.C.––The National Association of Biology Teachers has withdrawn its monograph The

Responsible Use of Animals in Biology Classrooms “due to ethical concerns about some of its classroom exercises and about

the unequal representation of animal rights and biomedical research groups in the resource list,” according to the

February/March 1994 edition of National Science Teachers Association Reports. NABT executive director Patricia

SPECTACLES

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

The film Free Willy, the Paul

McCartney song Looking for Changes

and episodes of the TV comedies T h e

Simpsons and Dinosaurs took the top hon-

ors at the Genesis Awards ceremony March

12. Presented by the Ark Trust, the

Genesis Awards honor entertainment and

reportage that furthers awareness of animal

protection. The Simpsons, a surprise

choice, was recognized for an episode in

which underachiever Bart Simpson and his

sister Lisa disrupt a rattlesnake roundup.

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