Day: June 1, 1995

Fund tries to save bison, mountain goats

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

As ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, the Fund
for Animals was scrambling to prevent the shooting of
from 80 to 150 bison who had wandered from Yellowstone
National Park into the Gallatin National Forest, north of
West Yellowstone, Montana. Montana state veterinarian
Clarence Siroky said state wardens would try to chase the
bison back into Yellowstone with helicopters, but would
shoot them to prevent the spread of brucellosis, a disease
causing stillbirths in cattle, if that tactic failed. Although
there is no evidence that bison can transmit brucellosis to
other species of cattle under natural conditions, and only a
small portion of the Yellowstone herd is believed to be
infected, Montana officials shot 420 bison who left the
park during the winter.

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Agriculture

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Twelve activists were arrested and
two hurt at Brightlingsea, England, on
April 18, as they failed to halt the export of
1,200 sheep to Belgium, following an April 12
ruling by the High Court that local authorities
had no right to ban live animal exports. The
ruling undid export bans won through a winter
of protest at all major British cattle ports.
Australia’s effort to resume sheep
sales to Saudi Arabia after a four-year hiatus
hit a snag on May 8 when Saudi inspectors
diverted the first cargo of 75,000 sheep to

Jordan because they didn’t think the sheep
were healthy enough to be unloaded at Jeddah.
A second ship carrying 30,000 sheep changed
destinations voluntarily. Australia sold up to
3.5 million sheep a year to Saudi Arabia before
1991, when the frequent arrival of diseased
sheep caused the Saudis to cut off the trade.

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WARRANTS TIE PROVIMI VEAL, LAMB TO ILLEGAL DRUGS

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

MILWAUKEE––Newly unsealed
search warrants executed in September 1994
by U.S. Customs Service special agent Steve
Sutherland allege the closest links yet
between the Provimi Veal Corporation, of
Waukesha, Wisconsin, the largest distribu-
tor of milk-fed veal and lamb in the U.S.,
and the illegal use of clenbuterol, a banned
steroid. The drug speeds the growth of calves
and lambs––but humans who eat clenbuterol-
tainted meat may suffer an accelerated heart
rate, muscle tremors, headaches, dizziness,
nausea, fever, and chills.
According to the warrants, copies
of which were obtained by Humane Farming
Association investigator Gail Eisenitz, the
clenbuterol traffic directly involved Aat
Groenvelt, who founded Provimi in 1962,
introduced the use of the veal crate to North
America, and was also instrumental in pro-
moting the popularity of “milk-fed spring
lamb,” essentially the meat of lambs raised
like veal calves.

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Monkey wars

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

The German airline Lufthansa, the world’s leading
international wildlife hauler, announced May 11 that it will no
longer book cargoes of monkeys and apes destined for labora-
tory use, and will entirely cease transporting nonhuman primates
for laboratory suppliers as soon as it is authorized to do so by the
German transport ministry––probably by mid-June. The decision
was attributed to humane concerns, and comes after years of
protest over alleged high death rates among monkeys flown to
Europe and the U.S. from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Africa.
The British Union Against Vivisection charged in 1992 that the
transport mortality rate for monkeys from Indonesia averaged 19%,
while mortality among monkeys from the Philippines averaged 6%.
Monkey shipments from Africa dwindled after 1989 due to concern
over the accidental importation of the Ebola virus to a laboratory in
Reston, Virginia. While the Lufthansa announcement made no
mention of Ebola virus, it did coincide with rising global concern
over the current Ebola outbreak in Zaire. It also came six weeks
after two monkeys en route to the U.S. from Sudan were found to
have both AIDS and tuberculosis upon arrival in New York, and
were flown back to Cairo, Egypt, before being euthanized.

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Bird strike testing

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

CINCINNATI––General Electric Aircraft Engines pub-
licist Jim Stump recently contacted ANIMAL PEOPLE to set the
record straight about the methodology of bird-strike testing, the
subject of letter campaigns by various groups based on somewhat
garbled accounts in a variety of newspapers and trade publications.
The first misconception of the letter-writers, Stump
pointed out, is that GE is at liberty to halt the testing. “Bird-strike
testing is conducted, with other often rigorous testing, during the
development of a new engine,” he explained, “in accordance with
requirements established by agencies such as the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation
Organization. Flight safety is a primary objective, but some of the
testing relates to such matters as reducing noise and emissions.”
While the regulatory agencies still require some bird-
strike testing, GE favors the principles of reduction, refinement,
and replacement, Stump indicated. “GE Aircraft Engines pays
$15,000 annually to support and participate, with other manufac-
turers and agencies associated with the aviation industry, in the
International Bird Strike Research Group,” he wrote, “which is
trying to develop artificial birds that will be universally acceptable
for use in engine testing. Under the auspices of the Group, the
actual research on critical areas such as body density is being con-
ducted by the Central Science Laboratory, an executive agency of
Great Britain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food.”

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Ebola virus hits Zaire

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

KINSHASA, Zaire––An outbreak of an Ebola-type
virus generated global panic after becoming known to media in
mid-May, two months after it started. The disease is believed to
have spread to humans from green vervet monkeys, as in previ-
ous outbreaks, but where, when, and how is unknown.
As of midnight on May 15, there were 76 confirmed
cases with 64 dead, said Kinshasa University professor Jean-
Jacques Muyembe, the leading Zairean authority on the disease.
Most of the deaths came in Kikwit, a town of 500,000, about 300
miles from Kinshasa, the national capital. Three other towns
were affected, including Kenge, less than 125 miles from
Kinshasa, which has five million people but limited medical and
sanitation facilities. Kinshasa governor Bernadin Mungul Diaka,
desperately rotated troops in an attempt to thwart bribery that
undercut his attempt to impose a prophylactic quarantine.
There seemed little chance that people fleeing the out-
break would run the opposite way, as that would put them into
head-on collision with more than a million refugees from the
ongoing ethnic fighting in Rwanda and Burundi.

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Animal racing

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Alaska governor Tony Knowles on
May 2 signed a bill to allow the 1,049-mile
Iditarod Trail dog sled race to raise an estimated
$1 million a year via “mushing sweepstakes,”
i.e. betting on aspects of the race that purportedly
can’t be fixed, such as the number of dogs who fin-
ish or the best and worst times. The sweepstakes
are to replace sponsorship lost due to protest––
meaning that the net effect of activism led by the
Humane Society of the U.S. since circa 1988 has
been to bring the Iditarod unprecedented economic
independence. Some types of gambling on dog sled
races were already legal, and are used to support
other races that don’t attract big sponsorship.

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The Cult of Animal Celebrity by Captain Paul Watson

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Within the animal protection movement, there are
two types of animals: those with individual names and those
without. The movement is accordingly split between advo-
cates for animals with names, and advocates for all the rest.
Free Keiko, free Lolita, free Corky, free Hondo.
These are wonderful and appealing ideals––but not all captive
cetaceans can or should be freed. Not all facilities holding
marine animals are the enemy. And the huge sums raised to
free a few individuals could be more positively directed
toward ending the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of
nameless whales, dolphins, and seals on the world’s oceans.
The amount of money raised for the cause of freeing
marine mammals with names may exceed $45 million a year,
from the thousands raised to aid local seals and dolphins in
distress to the $14 million estimated cost of someday, maybe,
freeing Keiko, the orca star of the film Free Willy!

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LETTERS [June 1995]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:
Banana republic
The Agudo-Romero case is a good example of how
environmentalists and their claims, however well substantiat-
ed, are treated in many Latin American countries, including
my own––Brasil––to a great extent. However, as I understand,
the situation in Venezuela is even worse because of the wide-
spread disregard for civil rights.
The banana republic-like attitude of the Venezuelan
ruling bureaucracy, denying facts and launching a witch hunt
against these two persons, cannot be tolerated. It has expand-
ed the issue of dolphin-killing into a matter of human rights,
including the right of researchers to challenge government rul-
ings. It may not affect many of you in the U.S. and Europe,
but it certainly is a matter of daily concern for me and my col-
leagues in Latin America. Let’s not forget Romero and Agudo!
––Jose Truda Palazzo Jr.
Brazil

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