COURT CALENDAR
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:
Humane Enforcement
Concluding a three-year probe
begun in September 1990, the USDA in
October charged American Airlines w i t h
multiple violations of the Animal Welfare
Act. Seventy-one animals died aboard U.S.
domestic flights in 1990, the worst toll since
the USDA began monitoring air transport of
pets in 1976. Numerous airlines were
charged. 1992, however, was worse yet, as
50 puppies died aboard a single TWA flight
from Missouri to St. Louis. The puppies
were en route from breeders to pet shops.
In other recent USDA enforce-
ment actions, Burlington Air Express was
fined $3,000 for transporting animals in
improper cargo space and failing to monitor
their health. Mr. and Mrs. Stan Kopunec
of Fairplay, Colorado, were fined $10,000
for operating a roadside zoo called Western
Safari Ranch without a permit. David and
Marietta Thielen of the Gatorama roadside
zoo in Palmdale, Florida, were fined $2,500
with $5,000 suspended, for repeated viola-
tion of health and safety standards. Animal
dealer Ethel Muck, of Puppyland Kennel
in Gordon, Nebraska, was fined $10,000;
lost her license to sell animals for 10 years;
was ordered to cease and desist from all dog
breeding during the next 10 years; was
ordered to dispose of all of her animals with-
in 60 days, to USDA-licensed dealers or
exhibitors only; and was barred from
engaging in any activity that would require a
USDA permit. Muck was accused of multi-
ple health and safety violations and failure
to keep records on the acquisition, descrip-
tion, and identification of animals, which in
USDA parlance often indicates suspicion of
trafficking in stolen pets.
Judge Randolph Reeves of
Montgomery County, Alabama, on
October 14 fined a local architect $500 for
failing to give his dog heartworm medicine.
The architect contended that Montgomery
County Humane Society executive director
Mary Mansour was out of line in ordering
him to get veterinary care for the dog, cam-
paigned against her in local media, and
threatened to sue her, but Reeves would have
none of it. Mansour, profiled here in
July/August, apparently has the best convic-
tion record of any cruelty officer in the U.S.
who has handled at least 50 cases.
Police in Rochester, New
Hampshire, are seeking vandals who massa-
cred more than 3,000 fish, rabbits, snakes,
turtles, iguanas, and reptiles September 29
at the TLC Pet Shop and Aquarium. Some
victims were stabbed more than 20 times.
Activism
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled September 17 that E c o
Warriors author Ric Scarce has no “schol-
ar’s privilege” to refuse to testify to a grand
jury investigating an August 1991 Animal
Liberation Front raid on Washington State
University. The court ruled that neither
scholars nor journalists have a legal privilege
to withhold information from a grand jury.
Scarce is believed to have sheltered fugitive
Rod Coronado while the latter planned the
raid. Coronado is under indictment for
allegedly leading a similar raid at Michigan
State University in early 1992, but has not
been seen for about two years. Scarce has
been in jail for refusing to testify since May.
On October 5, Oregon activist Kim
Trimview, 21, joined Scarce in jail for
refusing to talk to the same grand jury,
which had summoned her three times since
last March. Similar grand juries are sitting in
Oregon, Michigan, Utah, and Louisiana.
October 1, the Alberta Crown
Prosecutor appealed the suspended sentence
given to Darren Thurston, 23, on August 19
in exchange for pleas of guilty on charges he
burned trucks belonging to a fish company in
December 1991 and broke into a University
of Alberta laboratory in June 1992. The
Crown is arguing that the sentence should
have been three years in prison, in keeping
with “the principle of general deterrence.”
British Columbia Supreme Court
Justice John Bouck on October 15 shocked
44 protesters who blocked a logging road in
the Vancouver Island rainforest last summer
with 45 days in jail apiece, except for a two-
time offender who drew 60 days, plus fines
of from $1,500 to $3,000. Among the jailed
were B.C. Green Party leader Stuart Parker.
Crimes against humans
Los Angeles has a murder war-
rant out on Michael Anthony Leslie, 23,
who on September 31 allegedly shot a
German shepherd in the leg without provoca-
tion, and then fatally shot owner Transito
Velado, 39, in front of his wife and five
children, laughing as he ran away.
Nicknamed “Psycho,” Leslie was on parole
for manslaughter.
Los Angeles area police are also
seeking alleged burglar Eric Ross Baer, 30,
known for feeding pets as he sacks the loot.
Crimes against wildlife
October 6, the California
Department of Fish and Game announced
that a six-month undercover effort had cul-
minated in the arrests of 12 alleged frog
poachers and the seizure of 800 live bull-
frogs from five different sites in the northern
part of the state. The gang purportedly
caught 1,400 frogs a week, taking in
$15,000 a month by selling them to fish mar-
kets that serve the ethnic trade.
Jean–Marie
Guillette, 42, of Stornoway, Quebec, has
been fined a record $45,625 on 27 charges
resulting from his alleged role as leader of a
gang that illegally captured whitetailed deer
for resale to game ranchers and canned hunt
