Indo-Canadian low-cost vets accuse British Columbia Vet Med Association of discrimination

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

VANCOUVER––Alleging that they have been targeted for doing
low-cost dog and cat sterilizations, 18 Indo-Canadian veterinarians, 16 of
them members of the British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association, are
pursuing discrimination claims against BCVMA registrar Valerie Osborne.
Led by Atlas Animal Hospital owner Hakam Bhullar, the vets
have registered a lawsuit with the British Columbia Supreme Court, seek-
ing to remove Osborne from office, and have petitioned the British
Columbia Human Rights Tribunal requesting that an unusually strict lan-
guage proficiency test required by the BCVMA be repealed.
Osborne and other BCVMA representatives have said little on the
record about the Indo-Canadian veterinarians’ complaints, except to deny
that the intent of the language proficiency test is discriminatory.
Under Osborne, Bhullar told Richard Chu of the Vancouver Sun,
the BCVMA requires vets to score 92% on a standard test of spoken
English. Lawyers, medical doctors, dentists, nurses, and firefighters are
required to score only 83%, Bhullar said.

Read more

Axed SNAP founder Sean Hawkins starts over

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

HOUSTON––Either Spay/Neuter Assistance
Program founder Sean Hawkins was fired on May 26,
2005, as the June edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE
reported, or Hawkins was still CEO, as the SNAP
board claimed in a June 6 statement.
Whichever it was, Hawkins on June 20 sub-
mitted his formal resignation, and on July 5 announced
the formation of a new charity, Saving Animals Across
Borders, to carry out a mission similar to that of SNAP
but with a stronger international emphasis.
“Based in Houston, Saving Animals will pro-
mote the adoption of healthy dogs and cats,” Hawkins
said on July 5, “and will increase the availability of ani-
mal sterilization services, to ultimately wipe out animal
homelessness in communities where these programs and
services are not available.

Read more

Dog round-up & shark fin controversies bite Hong Kong Disneyland

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

HONG KONG––Hong Kong Dis-
neyland had barely found a face-saving way to
retreat from serving sharks’ fins at weddings
when Hong Kong Dog Rescue founder Sally
Anderson complained to South China Morning
Post reporter Simon Perry that Disney man-
agement had lethally purged several dozen
dogs she was trying to capture at the theme
park and offer for adoption.
“Dozens of stray dogs adopted by
construction workers on the Disney site have
been rounded up and killed in the run-up to the
park’s opening in September,” Parry wrote on
July 25, 2005. “Forty-five dogs, some
believed to have been used as unofficial guard
dogs on the site during construction, have been
caught by government dog catchers at
Disney’s request.

Read more

Japan still killing whales, but moratorium holds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

SEOUL––Japan is still killing minke, sei,
Bryde’s and sperm whales in the name of research,
and will kill humpbacks this year as well, with a total
self-set “scientific” quota for the year of 935.
Norway continues killing minke whales in
coastal waters, and Iceland has resumed whaling, but
all still without world approval, as the 57th annual
meeting of the International Whaling Commission ended
in Ulsan, South Korea on June 24 with no major suc-
cesses for the pro-whaling faction.
“We entered the week with a strong fear that
the balance of power within the IWC would shift to a
pro-whaling majority,” summarized Whalewatch
Coalition leader Philip Lymbery. His delegation repre-
sented the Royal SPCA, Earth Island Institute, Whale
& Dolphin Conservation Society, Whale Watch, and
Humane Society International.
“Six new pro-whaling nations joined the IWC
this year,” Lymbery continued, “countered by just
three new anti-whalers. Anti-whalers held the majority
largely due to tactical lobbying and absentees,” and
India caught up on back dues and sent a delegation just
in time for the most critical ballots.

Read more

PETA survives IRS audit

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

NORFOLK –The Internal Revenue Service
announced on May 16 that a 20-month audit of PETA and
the subsidiary Foundation to Support Animal Protection
found no reason to revoke their tax-exempt status.
FSAP holds two-thirds of the assets under PETA
control according to IRS Form 990, including 75% of the
cash and securities.
FSAP in recent years has paid the mortgage on the
PETA headquarters, has leased the site to PETA, and has
done direct mail fundraising on behalf of PETA. This has
enabled PETA to avoid declaring the full extent and nature
of PETA assets and spending on IRS Form 990.

Read more

Most wanted poachers busted in India & Nepal

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

DELHI, KASARA– The
two most notorious living poachers on
the Asian subcontinent were arrested on
June 30 and July 20, respectively, as
result of separate investigations.
The Indian Central Bureau of
Investigation apprehended Sansar
Chand, 47, after tracing him to his
Delhi home by identifying his newspa-
per reading habits: a native of
Rajasthan, Chand read Rajasthani
papers in a neighborhood where few oth-
ers did.
First arrested for poaching and
wildlife trafficking at age 16, in 1974,
when he was found in possession of 676
animal pelts including those of tigers
and leopards, Chand worked with at
least five close relatives. He was report-
edly convicted 15 times without serving
any significant sentence, even after he
was caught with 28,486 contraband pelts
in 1988. Fifty-seven cases are pending
against him in nine Indian states, wrote
London Independent Delhi correspon-
dent Justin Huggler.

Read more

PETA splits freedom of expression verdicts

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

Ruling at the Newcastle Crown Court,
British High Court Judge Peter Langan on June
16 refused to grant Covance Laboratories a n
extended injunction to prevent PETA from airing
undercover videography of a Covance facility in
Vienna, Virginia, but allowed a previous injunction
to stand for another 14 days to allow Covance time
to appeal.
Covance pledged to appeal, but on June
23 withdrew parallel motions filed in Fairfax,
Virginia, where Covance is pursuing a lawsuit
against PETA and investigator Lisa Leitten, a for-
mer primate technician, for alleged fraud and viola-
tion of an employee contract.

Read more

Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust takes over in Sri Lanka

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka– –The
Tsunami People/Animal Welfare Coalition on
July 26, 2005 wrapped up emergency relief
operations begun after the December 26, 2004
Indian Ocean Tsunami, rolling all remaining
assets over into the Tsunami Memorial Animal
Welfare Trust.
Coalition and Trust cofounder
Robert Blumberg arranged that ANIMAL
PEOPLEofficially sponsored the last of a six-
month series of vaccination missions by Pets V
Care mobile clinics into refugee camps and
tsunami-stricken coastal villages.

Read more

Pound electrocutions stopped in Manila

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

MANILA––Seeking a cheaper,
faster way to kill dogs than either lethal injec-
tion or use of an antiquated carbon monoxide
chamber, Manila Veterinary Inspection Board
members Manuel Socorro and Condenio
Panogan reportedly electrocuted approximate-
ly 100 dogs from mid-May 2005 to mid-July
before word of their work leaked out.
“Socorro “said they were given a
one-year permit by the Bureau of Animal
Industry to conduct a study of electrocution as
a tool to put down dogs,” wrote Evelyn
Macairan of The Philippine Star. “This
involved conducting a series of tests wherein
the voltage would be set starting at 100 volts
and be slowly raised to 500 volts.”

Read more

1 2 3