COURT CALENDAR

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Humane enforcement

Superior Court judge William Patrick on May 3

sent poodle breeder Charlotte Spiegel, 56, of Oroville,

California, to Chowchilla state prison for a 90-day pre-sentenc-

ing evaluation. A jury on March 15 convicted Spiegel of abus-

ing 350 dogs seized in two 1993 raids and later forfeited to the

Northwest SPCA. Patrick also ordered Spiegel to forfeit 57

dogs seized in later raids, and made her liable for up to

$260,000 in restitution to the SPCA for holding the dogs.

The Ottawa Shores Humane Society is in reported

financial distress after the scheduled May 16 trial of accused

animal collectors Earl Postema, 65, and his daughter Karen

Zalsman, 38, was postponed to mid-July because they fired

their attorney. OSHS volunteers in late March removed 72

goats, eight horses, and eight rabbits from their farm in Nunica,

Michigan. Four dead goats were found in a manure-choked

barn, and a dead colt was found in a field. Postema was reput-

edly involved with the Michigan militia, a private paramilitary

force whose events Oklahoma City bombing suspect Tim

McVeigh at times attended.

BOMB SUSPECT MCVEIGH WAS A HUNTER

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

OKLAHOMA CITY––Tim McVeigh, charged

with the April 19 Oklahoma City truck bombing that killed 168

people, was a hunter––and his alleged accomplice, Steven

Garrett Colbern, arrested on May 12 in Oatman, Arizona,

was reputedly a hunter, a reptile breeder, and may have been

involved in animal-based biomedical research.

McVeigh defended hunting in a letter published on

March 10, 1992 in the Lockport (N.Y.) Union-Sun & Journal.

Contrasting hunting with slaughtering, McVeigh wrote that

he’d seen cattle killed with chainsaws and machetes, without

prestunning, methods not legal in U.S. slaughterhouses within

his lifetime but perhaps practiced by survivalist associates.

Children & Animals

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Iqbal Masih, 12, of Murdike, Pakistan, was

shot dead on Easter Sunday by a man he and his relatives

Liaqat Masih and Faryab Masih caught allegedly raping a

donkey, police say. As the circumstances were not imme-

diately disclosed, media linked the murder to carpet mag-

nates whose child labor practices Iqbal Masih disclosed to

an international conference in Sweden last November. A

member of Pakistan’s Christian minority, Masih was sold

by his parents to a carpet factory at age four, where he

worked until age 10, often shackled to a loom. Foreign

carpet orders reportedly plummeted by $10 million in the

three weeks after Masih’s murder. “The $10 million is

only an immediate loss,” said Imran Malik, vice chair of

the Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters

Association. “Irreparable damage is done when Western

consumers think Pakistani carpets stand for a child’s blood

and slavery.” Despite the outcry, also affecting carpet

exports from India and Bangladesh, Indian commerce min-

ister P. Chidambaram expressed satisfaction on May 8 that

the newly created World Trade Organization is unlikely to

address either child labor or environmental issues.

Zoos & sanctuaries

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

The sale of the city-owned

Bridgeport Zoo to the nonprofit Connecticut

Zoological Society, backed by $5.5 million in

state aid, has been delayed and perhaps halted

after three years of planning. The zoo occu-

pies park land donated by the James Walker

Beardsley family, who have the right to

reclaim the site if it is turned over to any entity

other than the city or the state. Beardsley’s

heirs say they would not exercise such a claim,

but public officials aren’t willing to take the

chance. The financially troubled city seeks to

sell the zoo, still undergoing extensive renova-

tion, because it costs about $1 million a year to

run, only $600,000 of which comes from

admissions, concession sales, and donations.

Birds

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Psychologist Shigeru Watanabe of

Keio University in Tokyo reported in the

May edition of New Scientist that pigeons can

tell paintings by Pablo Picasso’s cubist period

from those of impressionist Claude Monet,

but cannot distinguish the works of Cezanne

from those of Renoir––which is to say they

have about the same ability to discern style as

the average art appreciation student.

The last male crested ibis in

Japan died suddenly on May 1 while carrying

grass to the nest occupied by his mate, bor-

rowed from China, and their cluster of five

eggs. The egg were to hatch circa May 10.

The dead ibis, age 21, was the next to last of

five who were taken from the wild for

attempted captive breeding in 1981. None so

far have bred successfully. The sole survivor

of Japan’s once plentiful crested ibises is a 28-

year-old female. China still has 28 of the big

birds, all in zoos and/other sanctuaries.

“He ain’t heavy. He’s my brother.”

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK–– National Park Service rangers have

killed 400 wild burros in Death Valley since 1987, but through the intervention of Wild

Burro Rescue, the 1995 quota is zero. It will stay zero for as many years as WBR is able to

rescue the number of burros the NPS would otherwise shoot to prevent ecological damage.

“I got shingles,” said WBR co-founder Gene Chontos, “but we did it,” raising

$23,000 between reaching a deal with the NPS last December and commencing the rescue

on March 18––and then rounding up 20 burros with the help of six mounted wranglers and a

rented helicopter. The team caught 19 burros the first day, with difficulty.

RELIGION & ANIMALS

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Islamic fundamentalists on April

19 capped two weeks of railing against the

appearance of scantily clad performers b y

torching the stage and tents of the New Opera

Circus, killing a boy and a bear, as it per-

formed outside the Cox’s Bazar resort near

Eidgaon village in Bangladesh. The mob also

stabbed a tiger, an elephant, and various other

animals before police arrived, arresting three

assailants. Officials of Cox’s Bazar said they

had been unable to persuade the circus, from

the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh, to

pack up and leave.

Fur

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Minneapolis furrier Robert

Zicari recently told Fur Age Weekly read-

ers that he’s trying to get licensing rights

from Walt Disney to promote fur goods bear-

ing the image of Snow White, and “Their

response was not altogether negative. We

have a chance if we put the cost up front.”

Linking Disney to fur would be an unlikely

coup; the 1959 Disney film 101 Dalmatians,

about Cruella DeVil’s attempt to make a

dog-fur coat, preceded a fur sales crash, and

the 1991 re-release of the film in home video

format also coincided with a skid. More is

ahead: Walt Disney Pictures on May 9 hired

Stephen Herek to direct a live edition of 101

Dalmatians, to be produced by John Hughes

and Ricardo Mestres, probably starring

Glenn Close as Cruella. Filming begins in

October. Thank Walt Disney Co. for its his-

torical role in promoting kindness toward

animals and urge it keep high standards at

500 Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521.

RABIES UPDATE

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

A rabid raccoon bit Samantha

Sorochinski, age 2, on May 5 in West Milford,

New York, prompting New York, New Jersey,

and Connecticut authorities to remind the public that

the mid-Atlantic raccoon rabies pandemic, which

crested three to four years ago, has not gone away.

Peruvian Health Ministry staff on May

8 began a 40-day drive to poison an estimated

90,000 stray dogs in Lima, the national capitol, to

reduce the risk of rabies.

« 1 2 3 4 5 »