Reindeer wasted

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

While Alaskan officials pretend-

ed wolves had to be massacred so that

there would be enough caribou to feed

natives, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service in December quietly massacred

790 reindeer on Hagemeister Island, a

wildlife refuge 300 miles south of

Anchorage. Introduced by an Eskimo

rancher in 1965, the reindeer were endan-

gering native lichen. Nome medical doc-

tor Donald Olson (also an Eskimo) hired a

team to fly another 120 reindeer to safety

at an abandoned dairy farm. Natives were

given 172 reindeer carcasses; the rest

were left to rot. “It’s the worst wanton

waste case since the buffalo,” said tribal

elder Moses Kritz. At deadline, another

193 reindeer were slated for killing.

Vivisection

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Physicians for Human Rights on February 6 asked the American Medical

Association to lead a probe of how German medical doctor Hans Joachim Sewering, 76,

became president elect of the World Medical Association. Sewering,a member of the Nazi SS

from 1933 until 1945, is accused of complicity in sending 203 people, including children, to

their deaths at Eglfing-Haar, a

euthanasia site for the disabled.

Ironically, the WMA was formed in

1947 in response to Nazi medical

abuses.

HUNTING

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

The 1992-1993 hunting season

closed with a spate of killings by hunters

apparently desperate to shoot anything.

Victims included three rare trumpeter swans,

shotgunned January 1 on the Winterthur

Museum grounds in Wilmington, Delaware; a

tame deer slain at the St. Clair County

Humane Society in Port Huron, Michigan,

January 4; 13 cows killed in Clay County,

Missouri, between Christmas and New Year’s

Day; and three dairy cows killed near

Warsaw, Ohio, on January 16. Michael

Adamson, 20, of Barberton, Ohio, and a 17-

year-old companion face charges in the latter

case. Ronald Smith, 30, and his infant

daughter escaped injury December 30 when

hunters trying to jacklight rabbits––after mid-

night–– sprayed the baby’s bedroom with gun-

fire. Charles W. Tipton, 44, of Lorain,

Fur

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service has proposed to take red, western

gray, and eastern gray kangaroos off the

threatened species list, which would mean

their pelts could be imported in greater

numbers. Protected since 1974, the

Australian kangaroos now number about

18 million, up from 10 million in 1984,

and are killed for pelts at the rate of about

5.2 million a year. Public comments will

be received until March 22. Address

Office of Public Affairs, USFWS, Dept.

of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240.

Block pleads guilty

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Miami animal trafficker Matth-

ew Block pleaded guilty to felony conspira-

cy February 9 for his role in the 1990

Bangkok Six case, in which six desperately

ill baby orangutans were intercepted in

Thailand en route from Malaysia to Moscow

via Yugoslavia in a crate marked “birds.”

Three of the orangutans died. The deal was

arranged in violation of the Convention on

International Trade in Endanged Species;

the U.S. prosecutor indicated it was initiated

by the KGB, which hoped to resell the

orangutans after they reached Moscow to

raise hard currency. The guilty plea came

two months after U.S. District Judge James

Kehoe on February 9 refused an attempted

Zoos & Aquariums

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

COURT CALENDAR

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Humane Enforcement

Houston police and animal con-

trol officers on January 2 seized 16 pit bulls

at the scene of a dogfight––the fourth big

dogfighting bust in the U.S. in two months.

Simultaneous raids on January

1 7 netted 35 spectators at a cockfight in

Mossy, West Virginia, and five alleged

cockfight organizers in Gilroy, California,

where more than 500 fighting cocks were

seized. About 20 to 25 people evaded the

police in West Virginia, and an estimated 60

got away in California.

Dogs & Cats

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Fire chief John Dugan, of Wellsboro,

Pennsylvania, credited a cat named Puff for saving the

lives of Charles and Sandra Bergenstock on January 18

by waking them up and alerting them to thick smoke.

“There’s no question about it,” Dugan said. “They had

no smoke detectors.”

SEPTA, the Philadelphia public transitsys-

tem, on February 4 suspended the use of dogs to evict

homeless people from subway passages––one day after

city council member Jannie Blackwell was allegedly

roughed up by transit police while investigating allega-

tions that dogs were being used to attack the homeless.

Sue Turkington, 32, of Austin, Texas, told

reporters she plans to use some of the $7.2 million she

won in the January 15 Texas lottery to “start breeding

dogs.”

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Los Angeles County on January 5 became the

largest and most populous jurisdiction in the U.S. to require

cat licensing. Cats must wear either collar identification or

ear tags. The new ordinance is modeled after ordinances

already in effect in Carson and Lomita, California, but

enforcibility remains in doubt. The ordinance was passed at

the urging of Citizens for Sheltered Animals, who argue

that it will reduce the euthanasia rate for cats picked up by

animal control: 39,000 of 42,000 in 1992.

Zoocheck Canada seeks letters supporting pas-

sage of the Ontario Animal Welfare Act, eight years in

development, “which would license and set standards for

the care and keeping of animals in zoos, aquaria, wildlife

displays, pet stores, pounds and shelters, breeding and

boarding establishments, and native wildlife rehabilitation

centers.” Address Bob Rae, Office of the Premier,

Legislative Bldg., Room 281, Queen’s Park, Toronto,

Ontario M7A 1A1.

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