Marine Mammal Bills

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

WASHINGTON D.C. ––

Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and 19

co-sponsors have introduced a bill to

restrict dolphin exports, institute an

identification and tracking system,

limit lethal research on marine mam-

mals, and impose a moratorium on cap-

tures pending a review and revision of

care standards. If the bill, H.R. 656,

wins sufficient Congressional support,

language from it may be incorporated

into the Marine Mammal Protection

Act, which is up for renewal this year.

CHILDREN AND ANIMALS

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

1,000 selected elementary

schools are now evaluating Best

Friends, a curriculum guide developed

by the American Kennel Club. The

guide “introduces elementary school

students to the world of purebred dogs

and teaches responsible dog owner-

ship,” according to a press release.

Included are lesson plans in the areas of

reading, writing, math, art, and oral

presentation. After the trial period, the

guide will be offered––free––to all

schools. For details, call 212-696-8336.

Vivisection

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

A page one expose in The New York Times on March 23 reviewed the mounting evi-

dence that animal testing is not a valid means of measuring human risk from exposure to tox-

ins––especially carcinogens. The Clinton administration is believed likely to reduce governmen-

tal reliance on animal studies in assessing public health risks.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on March 24 lifted a 16-year-old ban on the

use of female volunteers in drug safety testing. Imposed to protect unborn children, the ban had

the effect of exposing women to greater risks from new drugs––and increased the number of

female animals used in developing some drugs.

COURT CALENDAR

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Humane Enforcement

Miami primate trafficker

Matthew Block abruptly withdrew his

guilty plea March 16 in connection with

arranging the 1990 Bangkok Six orang-

utan smuggling incident, in which three

orangutans of a shipment of six died en

route from Borneo to Yugoslavia. The

shipment was intercepted in Thailand.

Block pulled out, apparently, because of

the likelihood he would draw jail time.

HUNTING

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

The Federation of Ontario

Naturalists reports that 95% of spring bear

hunters in the province are Americans, from

states that ban spring bear hunting. In 1991,

Ontario spring bear hunters killed 6,760 bears,

9% of the estimated provincial population. A

third of the bears were females. Only 30% of

cubs who lose their mothers live to age one.

“All too many Alaska hunters are

lazy, ill-mannered, beer-guzzling, belly-

scratching fat boys, or girls,” Anchorage

Daily News outdoors editor Craig Medred

opined recently, “who want nothing more

than to ride around on their favorite piece of

high-powered machinery until they find some-

thing to shoot full of holes with their high-

powered rifle.” Medred also attacked the

Fur

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Preliminary data indicates U.S.

trapping license sales fell to 147,000 dur-

ing the winter of 1992-1993, down from

191,000 in 1991-1992; 230,000 in 1990-

1991; and 338,000 in 1987-1988, when

U.S. trappers sold 19 million pelts. This

past winter they sold just 2.5 million.

Trapping was a $10 million a

year industry in Louisiana during the

early 1980s, but is now earning only $1

million a year. Trying to revive the boom,

state Department of Wildlife and

Fisheries biologist Greg Linscombe

recently told Newsweek that damage to

bayous caused by Hurricane Andrew was

actually the fault of allegedly overpopu-

lating nutria. Nutria are muskrat-like

South American aquatic mammals

brought to Louisiana by fur farmers about

70 years ago––and are a favorite food of

alligators. The Louisiana Department of

Wildlife and Fisheries, removes 75,000

alligator eggs a year from the bayous to

stock alligator farms.

Eastern cougar lives!

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

FREDERICTON, New Brunswick––Natural Resources minister Alan Graham

announced March 1 that droppings and paw prints found near the village of Juniper are

those of an eastern cougar. The cougar was tracked by provincial biologists who had been

taught to recognize the elusive signs of a big cat’s presence by members of Friends of

Eastern Panther, led by Sue Morse of Jericho, Vermont.

The eastern cougar, or catamount, is closely related to the puma, the Texas

cougar, and the Florida panther, but may be either tawny or jet black. Once present

throughout the east, the cougar was officially extirpated from its last known habitat in

Quebec in 1863, from Vermont in 1881, and from Ontario in 1884––but then one last

specimen was shot in Vermont in 1907. After that, there were no more cougars until a

New Brunswick hunter shot one in 1938.

Zoos & Aquariums

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

The World Society for the Protection of Animals recently liberated Flipper, the

last captive dolphin in Brazil, near where he was captured in 1982. Before the release,

Flipper was reaquainted with life in the ocean under the supervision of Ric O’Barry of the

Dolphin Project––who also trained his namesake, the star of the Flipper TV program. Brazil

banned keeping marine mammals in captivity in 1991. The Brazilian Flipper spent the past

two years in solitude at an abandoned amusement park near Sao Paulo, and was kept alive

by the local fire department, who used their pumper truck to change his water after the filtra-

tion system in his tank deteriorated beyond repair.

Colorado’s Ocean Journey, the proposed aquarium to be built in Denver,

recently tried to head off protest by claiming it would include “only third generation captive-

born dolphins.” Pointed out David Brower, president of Earth Island Institute, “There are

no third-generation captive-born dolphins anywhere.” The Coors Brewing Company recent-

ly retreated from the dolphin controversy. According to a prepared statement issued

February 15, “Contrary to rumors and recent advertisements, Coors does not ‘want to bring

dolphins to Denver.’ Our support of this project is not focused on, nor dependent on,

cetaceans.”

WILDLIFE

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Babbitt moves on endangered species

Newly appointed Interior

Secretary Bruce Babbitt lost no time

demonstrating a new approach to endan-

gered species protection. As President Bill

Clinton scheduled a Forest Summit for

April 2, in hopes of resolving the long

impasse over northern spotted owl habitat

and old growth logging in the Pacific

Northwest, Babbitt on March 13 appointed

noted conservation biologists Thomas

Lovejoy of the Smithsonian Institution and

Peter Raven of the Missouri Botanical

Garden to set up a national biological sur-

vey, which will map animal and plant habi-

tat much as the U.S. Geological Survey

maps topographical features. The habitat

map will be the first step toward reorienting

Endangered Species Act enforcement to

focus upon critical ecosystems, instead of

trying to save species on a slow, costly

case-by-case basis.

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