River dolphin capture plans

June 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:

DALLAS––Rumors flying since November
1996 that major aquariums are conspiring to capture
Amazon river dolphins, boto for short, were partially
confirmed by the mid-April disclosure that the Dallas
World Aquarium, not associated with the Dallas Zoo
and Aquarium and not accredited by the Alliance of
Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, has applied to
the National Marine Fisheries Service to import four
boto for display.
Representatives of at least 13 groups from the
U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Columbia, and Finland
had protested to NMFS and the aquarium itself by April
21––but as ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press on May
28, the application had yet to be formally accepted for
publication, after which it will go through a 30-day
public comment period before NMFS announces
approval or rejection. NMFS spokesperson Catherine
Anderson said the application was “under review” to see
if it was complete, and that it would be released for
comment “possibly within the next few weeks.”

NORWAY OFFERS DEAL TO AFRICA: “You kill elephants, we’ll kill whales.”

June 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:

HARARE, Zimbabwe––Hosting the
10th triennial conference of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species,
June 9-23, Zimbabwe intends to press the
home advantage, seeking to lift the 1989
CITES moratorium on international ivory sales.
With Namibia and Botswana, and with South
African endorsement in principle, Zimbabwe
hopes to move the southern African elephant
population from CITES Appendix I, the list of
endangered species barred from trade, to
Appendix II, meaning a species warrants monitoring
but may be traded.
South Africa, as in 1994, wants to
resume selling white rhino horn––but if CITES
agrees to such sales in principle, will settle for
a temporary “zero quota,” giving demand a
chance to rise in anticipation, even as the political
flak settles.

“They eat fish––kill ‘em!”

May 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

Sea lions had a rough fourth week of March:
In New Zealand, fisheries minister John Luxton
finally closed the Auckland Islands squid season on March
25, four days after he was advised that observed accidental
killings of endangered Hooker’s sea lions had reached 34.
Projected to the squid fleet as a whole, the indicated toll was
102, significantly more than the 73 sea lion deaths permitted
under the Fisheries Act.
In Peru, the Peruvian fisheries ministry announced
it was considering a “pilot program” to allow fishers to kill
up to 60 sea lions who allegedly tear nets, and export their
genitals to the Asian aphrodisiac market.

Neutering needed, not neutralization

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

by Patrice Greanville

Editor’s note: ANIMAL PEOP
L E website designer Patrice Greanville,
raised in Chile, spentt November traveling
on business in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina.
He has assisted humane societies, environ –
mental and animal rights groups, and ani –
mal-oriented media in all three nations.

The problems in Latin America
with all kinds of animals are staggering, and
humane education is still in its infancy. Stray
dogs and cats are all over, in terrible condition,
and the rate of roadkills easily surpasses
what we see in the U.S.––partly, I suspect,
due to poor road design, the penchant for
speed, and other bad driving habits. Even
the access highways to major cities are littered
with carcasses, including the remains
of horses, chickens, and hogs, who like
dogs and cats wander with little supervision.

ANIMALS IN ENTERTAINMENT

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Tracks hounded out of business

BRIDGEPORT, Ct.– – Grey-
hound racing foes are torn between
rejoicing that the $30 million Shoreline
Star track has shut for the winter and perhaps
forever, after just one year, and
mourning the dogs who may be destroyed
because the closure of eight tracks in
three years has glutted the demand for
greyhound pets.
About 200 dogs were believed
to have been at Shoreline Star when the
track, still open for simulcast betting, on
November 30 suspended live racing until
at least May 1. Owner Robert Zeff filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization
last summer. The track reportedly
generated just $14 million in revenue,
less than 25% of the $60 million first projected.

SIRENIANS

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Fewer than 2,000 dugongs persist along the
Australian east coast and southern Great Barrier Reef, as
numbers have crashed from 50% to 80% in recent years,
partly due to storms and coastal development which have
devastated the sea grass that Australian dugongs depend on
for food, but to greater extent as the result of gillnetting,
which accounted for 15 of 30 recent dugong deaths at Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park, according to Helene Marsh of
James Cook University. Shark nets alone caught 654
dugongs off central Queensland in 1995, along with 651 dolphins
and 4,059 sea turtles. Only 45 dugongs, 31 dolphins,
and 1,420 turtles survived. Nine newly established protection
zones off Queensland may not help, warns North Queensland
Conservation Council coordinator Jeremy Tager. “The reality
is, there is no new protection from human threats to
dugnongs in these areas,” he said.” Gill netting, hunting,
coastal development, vessel traffic, and even the use of
explosives will continue in the proposed protection areas.”

Herpetology

November 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

U.S. Court of International Trade
judge Thomas Aquilino ruled in early October,
responding to a motion from the Earth Island
Institute Sea Turtle Restoration Project, that the
State Department may no longer permit wildcaught
shrimp imports from nations that don’t
have a sea turtle protection program. Brazil and
China are likely to be most affected.
Louisiana Republican House members
Billy Tauzin, Jimmy Hayes, and Bob
Livingston held up a National Marine Fisheries
Service attempt to strengthen turtle excluder
device requirements by slipping a rider into the
omnibus appropriations bill signed on
September 30 by President Bill Clinton that
requires more study and consultation. The new
rule, mandating that TEDS have a rigid frame,
was to take effect December 31.

Reptiles

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

Herp traffic
The 72 Malagasy ploughshare tortoises
stolen from a captive breeding project at
the Amphijoroa Forest Park in Madagascar in
May have turned up “for sale in Prague,”
reports Allen Salzberg of the New York Turtle
and Tortoise Society. But due to corrupt
authorities, herpetologists “have little hope of
getting them or the people selling them,”
Salzberg adds. The Austrian Chelonical
Society warned in June that any members who
buy any of the stolen tortoises will be expelled.
German customs officials on July
8 announced the arrest of a 32-year-old man
caught at Augsburg with 328 tortoises
“stacked up like plates” in his luggage. The
man, who may get up to five years in prison,
reportedly “admitted selling around 3,000 rare
and protected tortoises since 1991,” either
caught or bought cheaply in Serbia.

Conflicts with wildlife

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

The fourth annual Dr. Splatt
roadkill survey, coordinated by
Brewster Bartlett of Pinkerton
Academy in Derry, New Hampshire,
found a marked decrease in roadkill
frequency, for the third year in a row,
but a sharp rise in roadkilled beavers
––especially in the Derry area. Forty
schools participated in the nine-week
roadkill count this year. The distribution
and participation level is sufficient
to produce credible roadkill estimates
for the northeast, with just
enough information from other
regions to make crude national projections
possible, which are nonetheless
the best supported by data of any
made to date. The northeast is
believed to have the greatest roadkill
frequency because it has the most
wildlife habitat in close proximity to
large human populations, with the
most heavily traveled roads and also
the most old, narrow, and winding
roads. The overall roadkill frequency
is probably down primarily because
the unusually long winter depressed
wildlife breeding populations, while
beaver kills were up, Bartlett
believes, in part because beavers had
a successful breeding season last year
in heavily surveyed parts of New
Hampshire where busy roads cut
through wetlands. Most of the dead
beavers in that area, Bartlett told
ANIMAL PEOPLE, appeared to be
young, apparently just setting out to
find their own territory.

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