Humanitarians confront the Cold War legacy

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

“Hello,” Ioana Stoianov posted to various
Internet bulletin boards on November 11. “I’m a 23-
year-old student from Romania, and I’d like to do
anything in order to improve the dogs’ lives in my
country. For example, in a big town, Braila, the
dogs without a master are shot to death, and it’s
legal! Can’t we do something? Please write me.”
Her message, which could as easily have
come from the rural U.S., was just one of many like it
posted recently from inside the former Soviet empire.

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Richey rules again on Animal Welfare Act

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

WASHINGTON D.C.––An October 29 ruling
by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Richey that USDA
regulations issued under the Animal Welfare Act in fact
violate the AWA has a quality of deja vu.
In fact, Judge Richey issued a similar opinion
on March 29, 1991, but was overruled on July 25,
1994, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of
Appeals, which held that the plaintiffs, the Animal
Legal Defense Fund and Roseann Circelli, Mary Eagan,
and Marc Jurnove as individuals, lacked standing to
bring the case.
The ALDF then restructured and refiled the
case. While Richey ruled again, as he did in the first
case, that the ALDF does have standing to pursue it, an
inevitable appeal by the USDA will almost certainly
again focus on the matter of standing, as have most
cases brought on behalf of animals, and it is not clear
that the Court of Appeals will this time agree with
Richey.

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Activism

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Jailed for alleged contempt of court by McHenry
County judge James Franz on November 6, but ordered released
on appeal bond by the State of Illinois Appellate Court Second
District on November 21, Chicago Animal Rights Coalition
founder Steve Hindi finally got out late the evening of November
25, after Franz had delayed holding a bail hearing through the
weekend of November 23-24. On a hunger strike for the preceding
16 days, Hindi celebrated his release with a spaghetti dinner.
Hindi was hit with the contempt charge for participating in
protests outside the Woodstock Hunt Club on October 12 and
again on November 4, after receiving a temporary restraining
order which Hindi said to his understanding only prevented him
from flying ultralight aircraft over the hunt club to direct geese
away from the hunters. Hindi and fellow protesters Steve and
Carol Gross, who also received temporary restraining orders,
were at the same time sued for $410,000 by Woodstock Hunt Club
proprietor Earl Johnson––but while Hindi was in jail, Johnson
died, leaving uncertain whether the case would be pursued.

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COURT CALENDAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Allegedly violating people and animals

For about two months a group of
as many as 30 Kentucky youths purported to
drink their own blood and animal blood, calling
themselves The Vampire Clan. Police
identified but didn’t charge several of them
while investigating a break-in and mutilation
killings of two puppies at the animal shelter in
Murray, Kentucky. The apparent leader,
Sondra Gibson, was eventually arrested and
charged with trying to coerce a 14-year-old
boy into having sex with her as an initiation
rite, but by then The Vampire Clan was on a
rampage. Arrested in Baton Rouge on
November 29, in connection with the
November 24 bludgeon murders of Richard
Wendorf, 49, and his wife Naoma Ruth
Wendorf, 53, in their home at Eustis, Florida,
were their daughter Heather, 15; Roderick
Ferrell, 16, son of Gibson; Howard Scott
Anderson, 16; Sarah “Shea” Remington,
a.k.a. Charity Lynn Keesee, 16; and Dana
Cooper, 19. Ferrell and Anderson were also
charged with the shelter break-in.

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Zoos

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

The zoo management and animal rights communities shared mixed
shock, outrage, and grief on December 17 at the revelation by Newsweek that
the San Diego Zoo and the Chengdu Zoo in Sichuan province, China, had concealed
since July the deaths from dehydration and exposure of two extremely rare
white rhinos whom the San Diego Zoo had purchased from the Pittsburgh Zoo,
then sent to China in a deal that looked mighty like an even-up swap for the two
pandas who arrived at the San Diego Zoo from China a few weeks later and went
on public display November 1. Though aware that the rhinos were going to China,
the Pittsburgh Zoo sold the rhinos to the San Diego Zoo in part because of the San
Diego Zoo’s internationally recognized rhino breeding and handling: 77 rhinos
have been born at the San Diego Zoological Society’s Wild Animal Park in
Escondido, and of the 67 rhinos the zoo has transported to other facilities, the
only previous death it acknowledged in the aftermath of the losses was a rhino who
was shipped to Taiwan 18 years ago. Pittsburgh Zoo rhino curator Les Nesler
escorted the pair as far as New York City, saw them safely aboard a commercial
Boeing 747 cargo flight to Shanghai, and believed all would be well. However,
the arrangements were two weeks behind schedule, and in that interval, heavy
flooding hit central and eastern China, complicating ground transportation.

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ANIMALS IN ENTERTAINMENT

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.

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Animal control & rescue

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

The multi-party Home Affairs Committee recommended to the
British Parliament on December 18 that the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act be amended
to eliminate mandatory death penalties for alleged pit bull terriers and other
dogs of purportedly dangerous breed who haven’t committed an offense; provide
“bail” for dogs pending a hearing; allow owners to visit dogs kenneled for cause
more often; and reintroduce national dog licensing, scrapped as unenforceable
about a decade ago.

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PetsMart buys 50 British stores

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

PHOENIX––PetsMart, only founded in
1989 but already operating 311 U.S. stores in 33
states, on October 25 expanded to Great Britain,
purchasing the 50-store Pet City Holdings chain for
$239 million. PetsMart CEO Mark Hansen said the
acquisition “provides a platform for expansion in
Europe,” which he said “represents a 900-to-1,000-
store opportunity,” about the same size as the niche
PetsMart seeks in the U.S. market.
One secret of PetsMart success is privatizing
and making profitable at affordable prices some
of the otherwise money-losing functions of nonprofit
humane societies. PetsMart stores provide local
humane societies with an adoption venue, rather
than selling purpose-bred dogs and cats, and frequently
include in-house low-cost neutering clinics.

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CHILDREN & ANIMALS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

“Let’s put this in perspective,” said football
coach Tom Smythe of McNary High School in
Salem, Oregon, to Portland Oregonian correspondent
Cheryl Martinis on November 25, after 18-
year-old linebacker Thomas Shepard was arrested
and charged with felony animal abuse for allegedly
clubbing a stray cat to death. “He didn’t rape,
maim, or pillage anyone. He committed a foolish
act that cost a dumb animal its life. So let’s not drag
this out forever.” Charged with Shepherd was Darle
Dudley, also 18. In October 1995, seven McNary
students including four football players were charged
with aggravated animal abuse for beating an opossum,
then burning her alive. They videotaped the
killing and showed the video in a classroom while
the teacher was out.

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