Zoos & Aquariums

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

The proposed marine mammal
exhibit at Colorado’s Ocean Journey, a
theme park planned for Denver, took a blow
January 20 when Animal Rights Mobiliz-
ation revealed that two veterinarians
involved in the project have records of vio-
lating marine mammal care standards. Dr.
Gregory Bossart was the veterinarian of
record at Ocean World in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, 1987-1991, when it was cited
repeatedly for dolphin care violations, while
Dr. Jay Sweeney was barred from practicing
in Florida for his part in the illegal capture
of two dolphins for the Baltimore Aquarium.

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Marine Mammals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

“EAT WHALES,” SAYS JAPAN
TOKYO, Japan –– The Japan Fisheries Agency and
25 Japanese fishing organizations on January 29 launched an
aggressive media campaign urging Japanese citizens to eat more
whale meat. The goal is to generate pressure on the International
Whaling Commission to rescind the six-year-old global ban on
whaling at its annual meeting in May, to be held in Kyoto.
The blitz includes radio and television spots touting
whale meat as a cure for asthma and acne, and distribution of
100,000 comic books depicting the history of the Japanese whal-
ing industry. The history is likely to be inaccurate: contrary to
the industry claim that whaling is part of Japanese cultural tradi-
tion, historian Fujiwara Eiji documented in 1989 that Japanese
commercial whaling actually began in 1909, when a man named
Oka Juro brought the concept and techniques from Norway. His
activity was so detested by traditional fishers that some of them
burned his facilities in 1911.

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Zoos & Aquariums

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The American Association of
Zoological Parks and Aquariums
announced November 6 that it would rein-
state the accreditation of the Columbus Zoo
in Columbus, Ohio, effective January 1.
The zoo and former director Jack Hanna
were suspended in April for violating the
AAZPA code of ethics by importing two
pandas from China for an exhibit that closed
in September after attracting 925,000 of the
zoo’s 1.5 million visitors. AAZPA con-
tends––along with most other wildlife pro-
tection advocates––that China’s panda
rentals are not in the best interest of either
the species or the individual animals. A
week after the AAZPA announcement, the
Columbus Zoo executive committee named
Hanna “director emeritus” and replaced him
with longtime general manager Gerald
Borin.

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Wildlife

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The World Wildlife Fund and
the National Wildlife Federation on
November 13 asked Interior Secretary
Manuel Lujan to impose trade sanctions on
China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Yemen
for permitting traffic in rhinocerous horns.
The wild black rhino population has plunged
from 65,000 to 2,000 since 1970.
The California condor who was
found dead October 8 suffered kidney fail-
ure from drinking antifreeze, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service has determined. The
condor was one of the first two to be
released into the wild after an intensive cap-
tive breeding program. Sixty-two California
condors remain in captivity, six of whom
are scheduled for release this month.

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Throwing wolves and sharks to the tourists: ALASKA AND HAWAII PLAN PREDATOR MASSACRES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

JUNEAU, ALASKA––Hoping
to hype tourism, the Alaska Board of
Game on November 17 announced plans
to kill up to 80% of the 700 wolves who
inhabit the 43,000-square-mile region
between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The
same day, for essentially the same rea-
son, the Hawaii Shark Task Force
nnounced it would begin killing tiger
sharks on sight.
The Alaskan massacre is to
commence as early as January, while
shark-killing off the coast of Hawaii may
already be underway. In each case, state
officials called the killing necessary to
boost the tourist industry, but in each
case and especially vis-a-vis Alaska, the
immediate result was a wildcat (sponta-
neous) boycott by potential visitors,
which within 10 days seemed likely to
become an international campaign by
animal protection and environmental
groups.

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CHILDREN & ANIMALS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

Israel on September 10
banned six British women from giving
birth in the Red Sea at a dolphin sanctu-
ary, under supervision of obstetrician
Gowri Motha. Motha told reporters she
wanted to see whether the dolphins
could communicate with the fetuses
through ultrasonic waves. “We hope to
make these children more in tune with
nature,” she said. Israeli authorities
believed the experiment might jeopar-
dize the survival of the newborns.

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Pressure from Shedd aquarium squelches expose

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

CHICAGO, Illinois––The sched-
uled October 10 debut of Modern Animal
News TV on WGBO-TV Channel 66 was
twice postponed and then cancelled by station
management under pressure from the Shedd
Aquarium. The program was to focus on the
capture of two beluga whales in northern
Manitoba, Canada, last August, and their
subsequent death at the Shedd on September
25, apparently from overdoses of worm med-
icine.

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Hunting––

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

The Michigan Public Broadcast-
ing System on September 24 aired the final
episode of Michigan Outdoors, a weekly
hook-and-bullet show that had an audience
of 200,000. The show died after host Fred
Trost said in a product review that Buck Stop
Lure Co. used cow urine in a deer scent, lost
a $4 million defamation suit the firm filed
against him, and declared bankruptcy. Trost
was also forced to suspend a magazine he
published, Michigan Outdoor Digest, circu-
lation 40,000. The latter had also been in
trouble, having been sued for copyright
infringement at one point by the Michigan
United Conservation Clubs, whose in-house
magazine is called Michigan Out-of-Doors.
Buck Stop said Trost’s attack on its product
caused sales to drop 65%. Trost, mean-
while, pledged to regroup, find backers,
and get back on the air.

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Zoos & Aquariums

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Two of the four beluga whales caught in
August for the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago died
September 22, apparently as result of overdoses of
roundworm medication. The capture of the whales was
fought every step of the way by marine mammal protec-
tion groups, including Lifeforce and the International
Wildlife Coalition.
The National Zoo in Washington D.C. is test-
ing a deer contraceptive this fall on 30 does. “We’re try-
ing to develop a technology for the humane population
control of deer where hunting is not wise, legal, or
safe,” said Montana wildlife fertility researcher Jay
Kirkpatrick, who developed the contraceptive.

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