Bell Canada not funding centennial Stampede rodeo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:

Bell Canada not funding centennial Stampede rodeo

CALGARY, RENO-Bell Canada spokesperson Jacqueline Michelis on July 3, 2012 confirmed to Lauren Krugel of Canadian Press that the telecommunications company will not sponsor Calgary Stampede rodeo events. The 100th anniversary running of Calgary Stampede was to be held July 6-13, 2012.

“We have decided to focus on the entertainment part of the Stampede,” Michelis said. Bell Canada continued to sponsor non-rodeo Stampede events, including free live entertainment at the newly opened Bell Centennial Plaza on the Stampede grounds. Read more

Indian official lynched for stopping crocodile show called "sacrifice"

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  June 2012:

Indian official lynched for stopping crocodile show called “sacrifice”

    BANGALORE–Madan Naik,  54,  assistant conservator of forests in Danduli,  Karnataka,  India,  was on May 6, 2012  allegedly dragged from his car and stoned by a group of 16 drunken visitors to Crocodile Valley,  a tourist attraction illegally operating on the bank of the Kali River near the Dandelappa temple,  inside the Dandeli-Anshi tiger reserve. Read more

BOOKS: Death at SeaWorld, by David Kirby

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  June 2012:

Death at SeaWorld  by David Kirby
St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan (175 Fifth Ave.,  New York,  NY 
10010),  2012.  480 pages,  hard cover.  $26.99.

Marine mammal trainer Dawn Brancheau,  age 40,  was on February 24,  2010 killed at SeaWorld in Orlando,  Florida,  toward the end of a lunchtime show with Tilikum,  known to most of the world these days as an orca,  but still called a  “killer whale” by SeaWorld.

Tilikum “had Dawn Brancheau in his mouth,”  writes Death at Seaworld author David Kirby.  “The orca would not release his trophy. Ten minutes later,  workers pried the trainer’s lifeless body from the whale’s mouth.  How could this happen despite corporate training and safety measures?” Read more

Pepsi drops the "Big Lick"

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  June 2012:

Pepsi drops the “Big Lick”

SHELBYVILLE,  Tennessee-– Walking horse trainers are still trying to force horses into taking the “big lick,”  the equine equivalent of a goosestep,  but Pepsi will no longer be paying the Walking Horse National Celebration to associate the “big lick” with Pepsi beverages.

A sponsor of the Walking Horse National Celebration since 2010,  Pepsi had paid $25,000 per year for exclusive rights to sell an estimated $50,000 worth of soft drinks during the event.  Pepsi dropped support of the prestigious “big lick” show on May 17,  2012, less than 24 hours after the ABC News programs Night-line  and Good Morning America aired videotape obtained by an undercover investigator for the Humane Society of the U.S. showing extensive abuse of horses at Whittier Stables in Collierville.   Read more

South Korean judge tells marine park to release dolphins

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May 2012:
South Korean judge tells marine park to release dolphins

    JEJU, South Korea-Jeju District Court Judge Kim Kyeong-seon on April 5,  2012 ordered the dolphin show promotion company Jeju Pacific Land to release five dolphins who were illegally captured from waters surrounding Jeju Island.  Judge Kim Kyeong-seon also fined Jeju Pacific Land $9,000 and issued suspended jail sentences to the company president and one employee.  The five dolphins who are to be released were among 11 who were allegedly captured for Jeju Pacific Land.  The newsaper Dong-A Ilbo reported that five of the dolphins died.  One was traded to a zoo for two sea lions. Read more

Luck runs out but racing goes on

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2012:

    SANTA ANITA,  CHELTENHAM–Home Box Office cancelled the made-for-TV Dustin Hoffman/Nick Nolte drama series Luck on March 14, 2012 after three on-set horse fatalities in three years of videotaping at the Santa Anita race track in Arcadia,  California. At Cheltenham,  Glou-cestershire,  United Kingdom,  however,  the annual four-day Festival jumps meet continued before 220,000 spectators despite the deaths of three horses on opening day,  the same day that Luck ended,  and two horse deaths more the next day. Read more

Carlsberg India drops elephant polo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

JAIPUR,  India-– The most prominent elephant polo tournament in India,  scheduled for August 21,  2011 in Jaipur,  was cancelled just days before it was to be held when the major backer,  the brewery Carlsberg India Pvt. Ltd.,  withdrew sponsorship.

The annual tournament was begun in 2006 by Elephant Family founder Mark Shand,  brother of the Duchess of Cornwall.  Using the match to demonstrate elephant handling without the traditional use of the ankus,  or “elephant hook,”  Shand and the Elephant Family donated the proceeds to a program to aid working elephants formerly operated by the Jaipur-based charity Help In Suffering. Read more

Ocean Park will not import wild belugas

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

HONG KONG--Ocean Park chair Allan Zeman on August 29,  2011 announced that the Hong Kong exhibition facility had decided against importing six wild-caught beluga whales from Russia for inclusion in a Polar Adventure attraction scheduled to open in 2012.  “Everyone can rest assured no belugas from the wild will be imported into Ocean Park–not from Russia or from anywhere else,”  Zeman told media. Read more

U.K. to ban wild animal acts from circuses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

LONDON–The United Kingdom appears to be poised to join a growing number of nations which have banned wild animals from circuses.

Defying Prime Minister David Cameron,  the U.K. House of Commons on June 23,  2011 unanimously endorsed a resolution stating that “This House directs the Government to use its powers under Section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce a regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses,  to take effect by 1 July 2012.” Read more

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