Dirty pool (Part I of a two-part investigative series)

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

ORLANDO, NEW YORK CITY,

MYSTIC––Activists don’t believe anything

they hear from the “aquaprison industry.”

Oceanarium people don’t trust activists to

know truth when they see it. And small won-

der on either side, given the pitch of the pro-

paganda for and against keeping marine mam-

mals in captivity.

This debate differs from the equally

bitter conflicts over hunting, trapping, meat-

eating, and the use of animals in biomedical

research. Knowingly or not, the antagonists

in the oceanarium debate express smilar

visions of what oceanariums should be––and

issue many of the same criticisms of what

they are. They agree that saving marine

mammals is among the urgent moral and eco-

logical priorities of our time. Their only sub-

stantive disagreements concern the morality

of capturing marine mammals from the wild,

a practice now largely but not totally history,

and the ethics of putting them on display.

Horses

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

Premarin maker on defensive

BRANDON, Manitoba––Wyeth-Ayerst is

worried about consumer response to the disclosure by

the Farm Animal Concerns Trust and ANIMAL

PEOPLE in early 1993 that its top-selling drug, the

estrogen supplement Premarin, comes from pregnant

mares’ urine, or PMU; that the great majority of the

75,000-plus foals born to the mares each year are sold

to slaughter; and that vegetable-based alternatives are

readily available. Premarin is now under boycott by

most major animal protection groups.

Wyeth-Ayerst now answers letters of protest

with copies of a report entitled Care and Management

of Horses at PMU Production Facilities, by consul-

tant Shauna Spurlock, DVM, who argues that the

ranchers, “place their foals as they always have. The

type of foals produced run the gambit from purebred

thoroughbred foals intended for the race track, to

quarter horse foals destined for the show ring, to draft

foals that may be used for light recreational work.

Out of the flooding and into the fire in Houston

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

HOUSTON––Flood rescue in

southeastern Texas from Houston to

Beaumont was expected to become oil spill

rescue in late October along a 24-mile

stretch of the San Jacinto River and possibly

in marshes flanking the Houston Ship Canal.

As ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press,

Texaco crews were still trying to stop leaks

in a pipeline containing 2.1 million gallons

of crude oil between valve stations––the last

of five major pipelines that broke under the

floodwaters. Two gasoline lines burst

together on October 20 and erupted into

flames, injuring 69 people and nearly incin-

erating a Houston SPCA rescue team

including Nick Gilman, disaster coordinator

for the American Humane Association.

AGRICULTURE

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

Agriculture secretary Mike Espy

resigned on October 4, effective December 31,

amid allegations that while moving to more closely

regulate red meat sanitation, he improperly

accepted gifts and favors from Tyson Foods, of

Arkansas, the biggest U.S. poultry producer.

Grazing on public lands, reports the

National Wildlife Federation, has contributed to

the decline of at least 346 species of fish, birds,

and mammals that are either officially endangered

or have been nominated for endangered status.

USDA researcher Robert Wall predicts

that a way to make cows’ milk simulate the health

benefits of breastfeeding will be developed soon by

inserting human genes into cows. The first obsta-

cle will be finding a way to create a transgenic cow

for less than the present cost of $300,000 per head.

Wildlife & people

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

An Indian logging elephant named Bir Bahadur

staged a sit-down strike in February after his handler was

replaced, blocking a local official’s motorcade for hours.

Outraged, the official ordered him shot, as “mad.” However,

Bir Bahadur then broke his fetters and fled into the forest, tak-

ing two female elephants with him. He’s been at large ever

since. Maneka Gandhi, daughter-in-law of the late prime min-

ister Indira Gandhi, is now seeking a pardon for him.

Indonesian forestry minister Djamaluddin

Suryohadikusumo says elephants whose habitat has been

taken for farming should be trained to work, not be killed.

“People must be ready to accept them as part of our economic

life,” he said October 12. However, he has dispatched a hit

team to kill Crest, a bull elephant who has killed 13 people

since 1986 and has escaped three times after being shot with

tranquilizer darts.

Ohio data confirms hunting/child abuse link STRONGER THAN LINK TO RURAL POVERTY

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

TOLEDO, Ohio––The number of hunters in a county more accurately predicts the

level of child abuse than either population density or median income, according to a new

study of Ohio state statistics––and the findings apply to all four standard categories of abuse,

including physical violence, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment.

Overall, Ohio counties with more than the median number of hunters per 100,000

residents have 51% more reported child abuse, including 15% more physical violence, 82%

more neglect, 33% more sexual abuse, and 14% more emotional maltreatment.

Rural location and poverty are the two traditional predictors of child abuse––but by

Animal control & rescue

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

China Daily said October 18 that

Beijing dog licensing fees are to be set at

about $700 per year, triple the average

income of city residents; dogs will be

allowed outside only at night, on leashes;

excrement must be promptly removed; and

dogs will be banned from public places. The

12 million Beijing dwellers now keep about

190,000 dogs, who bit 21,117 people during

the first six months of this year. Since 1988,

89 Beijing residents have died of rabies con-

tracted via dog bites, sparking several dog

extermination drives. Rabies vaccination is

rare in China due to chronic vaccine scarcity.

MARINE LIFE

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

Russian prime minister Victor

Chernomyrdin on October 7 signed approval

of the International Whaling Commission

agreement, reached last May, to establish a

Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary including

most waters below the 40th parallel south lati-

tude. Just amonth earlier his administration

formally objected to the sanctuary––the cre-

ation of which Russia supported at the IWC

meeting, against heavy pressure from Japan

and Norway. Because Russia objected in 1982

to the IWC-established international moratori-

um on commercial whaling, the objection to

the sanctuary meant that under IWC rules

Russia would have been uniquely entitled to

kill whales in Antarctic waters, exempt from

retaliatory trade sanctions. The turnabout came

two days after the Russian coastguard sank a

Japanese trawler near the disputed island of

Shikotan, and six days before a Russian mili-

tary airplane fired on a Norwegian trawler

which allegedly intruded upon a military exer-

cise in Arctic waters.

Plague! INDIA, AFRICA CONFRONT THE ULTIMATE ANIMAL CONTROL NIGHTMARE; Tight urban budgets gave rat-catching and trash collection a low priority

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

SURAT, India––Inadequate animal control service was largely responsible, authorities say, for the most deadly

outbreak of plague worldwide in 28 years at Surat, India. More than 400,000 residents fled the city as the outbreak became

known, creating risk the disease would spread to nearby communities, including Bombay, 160 miles to the north.

Remembering plague outbreaks that killed thousands during the 1940s and 1950s, 950 million Indians feared the worst.

Quarantines, inexpensive prophylactic tetracycline treatments, and fast information-sharing by electronic mail were

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