COURT CALENDAR

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Humane enforcement

Superior Court judge William Patrick on May 3

sent poodle breeder Charlotte Spiegel, 56, of Oroville,

California, to Chowchilla state prison for a 90-day pre-sentenc-

ing evaluation. A jury on March 15 convicted Spiegel of abus-

ing 350 dogs seized in two 1993 raids and later forfeited to the

Northwest SPCA. Patrick also ordered Spiegel to forfeit 57

dogs seized in later raids, and made her liable for up to

$260,000 in restitution to the SPCA for holding the dogs.

The Ottawa Shores Humane Society is in reported

financial distress after the scheduled May 16 trial of accused

animal collectors Earl Postema, 65, and his daughter Karen

Zalsman, 38, was postponed to mid-July because they fired

their attorney. OSHS volunteers in late March removed 72

goats, eight horses, and eight rabbits from their farm in Nunica,

Michigan. Four dead goats were found in a manure-choked

barn, and a dead colt was found in a field. Postema was reput-

edly involved with the Michigan militia, a private paramilitary

force whose events Oklahoma City bombing suspect Tim

McVeigh at times attended.

Agriculture

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Twelve activists were arrested and

two hurt at Brightlingsea, England, on

April 18, as they failed to halt the export of

1,200 sheep to Belgium, following an April 12

ruling by the High Court that local authorities

had no right to ban live animal exports. The

ruling undid export bans won through a winter

of protest at all major British cattle ports.

Australia’s effort to resume sheep

sales to Saudi Arabia after a four-year hiatus

hit a snag on May 8 when Saudi inspectors

diverted the first cargo of 75,000 sheep to

Jordan because they didn’t think the sheep

were healthy enough to be unloaded at Jeddah.

A second ship carrying 30,000 sheep changed

destinations voluntarily. Australia sold up to

3.5 million sheep a year to Saudi Arabia before

1991, when the frequent arrival of diseased

sheep caused the Saudis to cut off the trade.

Birds

May 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1995:

“The only good great horned owl is a dead

one,” says Minnesota state senator Charles Berg, who has

introduced a bill to allow free range turkey farmers to catch

the owls with padded leghold traps––which can easily

crush an owl’s foot––as well as a bill to allow mourning

dove hunting. Letters asking that either bill be vetoed if

passed may be sent to Governor Arne Carlson, 130

Capitol, St. Paul, MN 55155.

“Small nature preserves, which work fine for

preserving plants, don’t work for migratory birds,”

Illinois Natural History Survey scientist Scott Robinson

says, after an extensive study of the relationship between

vanishing songbirds and cowbirds, who lay their faster-

hatching eggs ino other birds’ nests. While cowbirds are a

short-term cause of species decline, the longterm cause is

shrinking habitat, as deep forests where the songbirds are

safe give way to the edge habitat that cowbirds prefer.

Animal health

May 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1995:

Fifteen thousand cattle have

died so far in Tanzania from an outbreak

of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia––

and it could spread to Zambia, Malawi,

and the rest of southern Africa, United

Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza-

tion animal health officer Peter Roeder

warned on March 29. “Cattle movements

from Uganda and Kenya, sometimes as

result of civil strife, have already caused

major outbreaks in Zaire and Rwanda,” he

said.

Canine distemper is on the

wane in Serengeti National Park, says

Melody Roelke-Parker, chief veterinarian

for Tanzania National Parks––after it

killed 80% of the now rebounding lion

population.

Tales from the cryptozoologists

April 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1995:

Freelance writer Peter Zahler and math teacher Chantal Dietemann, of

Watertown, New York, recently rediscovered the woolly flying squirrel in the Sai Valley of

northern Pakistan. Presumed extinct, the two-foot-long squirrel, with a two-foot tail, was last

seen in 1924. Although Zhaler and Dietemann actually recovered partial specimens of the

squirrel from around the nests of eagle owls last summer, they delayed the announcement until

March, to obtain scientific confirmation of their findings.

Australian zoology student Elizabeth Sinclair recently captured a pair of Gilbert’s

rabbit kangaroos in a live trap set for short-tailed kangaroos, according to the March edition of

Geo magazine. Considered extinct for more than a century, Gilbert’s rabbit kangaroos were last

seen alive in 1869. A radio transmitter was strapped to the male, who was then released. The

female, who had young in her pouch, remains in captivity.

Tiger beat

April 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1995:

Tigers could decline past the point of viability in the wild within 10 years and be extinct in the wild

with 20 years, International Union for the Conservation of Nature cat specialist group chair Peter Jackson warned

on March 12, while lauding a March 2 agreement between China and India to protect tigers along their disputed

frontier, and a similar deal reached on March 6 among Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, which share circa 500

wild tigers. China reportedly has about 80 wild tigers left, divided among three different species.

Fifty-seven Siberian tigers have been born since 1986 at the Hengdaozi Breeding Centre in northeast-

ern Heilongjiang province, China, of whom 53 have survived, the Xinhua news agency reported on February 21.

WORLD WILDLIFE REPORT

April 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1995:

Asia

About 30,000 orangutans remain in Borneo, say Indonesian offi-

cials, but only about 300 survive in East Kalimantan province, due to rainfor-

est logging and poaching––plus 165 orangs kept at a rehabilitation centre in

Samboja, near the Sungai Wein jungle preserve. Rescued from smugglers,

most suffer from hepatitis and/or tuberculosis contracted in captivity.

Thai authorities circa January 20 confiscated 21 endangered

Burmese bear cubs from a smuggler who boasted of having already shipped 70

cubs to South Korean restaurants this year alone––and got off with an on-the-

spot fine. The cubs were taken to a captive breeding center, where three died

within a day.

Cats not guilty

March 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:

A year-long study of feline predation

commissioned by the Petcare Information

Advisory Service, an Australian pet industry

front, found that from April 1993 to April

1994, the owners of 1,550 cats were able to

verify the killings of only 4.76 animals per cat.

Only 2% of the cats killed Australian native

mammals; 7% killed native birds; 17% killed

native reptiles and amphibians; and 41% killed

only introduced species, mostly mice, rats,

and rabbits. Of the cats in the sample, 40%

were kept in at night; 94% were neutered.

The study refutes the 1988 findings of Dr.

David Paton of Adelaide University, who

reported after a study of 700 cats that they

killed an average of 32 small animals per year

apiece. Paton responded to the new data by

asserting that perhaps Australian cats are

runnng out of native widlife to kill.

Wildlife & People

March 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:

A hungry hippopotamus,

rampaging through rice fields and

upsetting canoes in the Selingue dam

district of Mali, was said to have

magical powers in January after elud-

ing vigilantes for more than a month.

Alaska Department of

Fish and Game officers shot a

mama moose because of “ill disposi-

tion” on January 14 at the University

of Alaska campus in Anchorage, after

she tried to kick professor Bruce

Kappes as he sprinted to class. A few

days earlier the moose fatally stomped

Myung Chin Ra, 71, when he tried to

pass her to enter a building.

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