82% of caged broilers are burned by urine

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

LONDON––Examining the carcass-
es of 384 broiler hens raised according to the
British Farm Standard and offered for sale on
supermarket shelves, an investigation commis-
sioned by the Royal SPCA and directed by
Cambridge University professor Donald
Broom reported in July 2005 that 82% had
been burned on their legs or bodies by pro-
longed contact with ammonia from feces.
“Lack of space and fast-growing
bodies that can become too heavy to be sup-
ported by their legs increases the likelihood of
birds receiving painful burns, as the birds
spend more time in contact with floor litter,”
said RSPCA scientific officer Marc Cooper.

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LETTERS [July/Aug 1995]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

Kindest fate
The April 2005 edition of
ANIMAL PEOPLE included the
subheading “Dog Meat Farms Spread
Rabies.”
Perhaps the kindest fate for
dogs who are raised for consumption
is to be killed to prevent the spread of
disease, rather than being put through
the horrors of the dog meat markets.
Some years ago, I watched
a local TV program regarding cats
bred and sold for human consumption,
probably in southern China. What
shook and haunted me more than any-
thing else was the picture of cats
being skinned alive at the market and
being carried away alive for the pot.

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Editorial: Compromise & the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

Editorially favoring hunting, trapping, fishing, ranching, logging, rodeo, and ani-
mal use in biomedical research, the Spokane Spokesman-Review has probably never in recent
decades been mistaken for an exponent of animal rights.
Yet on September 15, 1952 the SpokesmanReview became perhaps the first and
only daily newspaper in the U.S. to editorially endorse “A Charter of Rights for Animals,”
drafted by the World Federation for the Protection of Animals.
The oldest of the three organizations whose mergers eventually produced today’s
World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the Dutch-based World Federation then
represented “humane societies in 25 countries,” the Spokesman-Review editors noted.
“Most civilized countries already have laws to cover most of the protection for ani-
mals that the federation asks,” the Spokesman-Review continued. “Beating animals, forcing
them to do work beyond their strength, transporting them in a manner to cause pain or without
adequate food, all are punishable now in the U.S., for example.”

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White tigers, green polar bears, & maintaining a world-class zoo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

SINGAPORE––When the tigers
are white and the polar bears are a blotchy
dark green, a zoo has problems.
Opened in June 1973, the
Singapore Zoo and adjacent Night Safari are
together reputedly the best zoo complex with-
in half a global orbit, together setting the
Asian zoo design and management standard.
More than 1.2 million visitors per
year view about 3,200 animals of 330 mostly
tropical species at the Singapore Zoo and
Night Safari.
The animals are chiefly housed in
semi-natural surroundings. The equatorial
Singapore climate is good for reptiles year-
round, including some of the largest tortoises,
most active monitors, and largest gharials and
salt water crocodiles on exhibit anywhere.

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PETA staffers face 62 felony cruelty counts in North Carolina

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

WINTON, N.C.––The scheduled
first court appearance of PETA staffers Adria
Joy Hinkle and Andrew Benjamin Cook on
multiple cruelty charges was on July 19, 2005
postponed until August 16.
Hinkle, 27, and Cook, 24, are
charged with a combined 62 counts of felony
cruelty to animals and 16 counts of illegal dis-
posal of animal remains.
Police sources have indicated that
other persons associated with PETA may be
charged as result of ongoing investigation.
The court date was delayed, report-
ed Darren Freeman of the Norfolk Virginian
Pilot, because the prosecution was “waiting
for lab results on chemicals found in a van the
two suspects were using when they were
arrested, and the results to determine the
cause of death of one of the animals.”
Ahoskie, North Carolina police
detective Jeremy Roberts told Freeman that the
van was registered to PETA.

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Study confirms chicken cognition

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

SILSOE, U.K.––Hens pecking
buttons to earn food rewards may have a
better awareness of passing time and be bet-
ter able to assess the prospects of future
gain than human slot machine gamblers, a
new British study suggests.
Silsoe Research Institute Bio-
physics Group animal welfare scientist
Siobhan Abeyesinghe varied the “payout”
for pecking so that her hens would get only
a small amount of food if they pecked
quickly, but would receive a large amount
if they delayed their pecks for 22 seconds,
long enough to demonstrate the ability to
mentally clock their own behavior and show
deliberate self-restraint.

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Transforming Phuket animal conditions post-tsunami

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

PHUKET, Thailand––Urbanization
is hitting Phuket much harder than the tsunami
of December 26, 2004.
What that may mean for animals on
the 400-square-mile resort island near the
extreme south of Thailand is anyone’s guess.
The Soi Dog Foundation and Gibbon
Rehabilitation Project, among Phuket’s most
prominent pro-animal organizations, are guard-
edly optimistic.
More development may mean more
homes for dogs and cats, and more donors to
support animal charities.

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University of Nevada fined

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

RENO––Substantiating complaints filed by
University of Nevada at Reno associate professor
Hussein S. Hussein, the USDA Animal & Plant Health
Inspection Service in May 2005 cited the university for
46 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act
allegedly committed between May 25, 2004 and March
21, 2005.
The university agreed to pay fines totaling
$11,400 to avoid going to court.
“The violations included repeatedly leaving
10 research pigs without adequate water between May
and September and improperly housing the same pigs,
frequent poor sanitation of animal care facilities, lack
of veterinary care, improper oversight of research
activities, failing to investigate complaints of animal
neglect and poor record keeping, and failing to proper-
ly train university farm employees,” wrote Frank X.

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