Tapirs in trouble

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

“The insatiable human appetite for meat and

animal products is devouring the mountain tapir’s pre-

cious Andean home,” writes wildlife ecologist Craig

Downer, “even within Sangay National Park,

Ecuador, a UNESCO World Heritage area. In my six

years there, my study area has gone from lightly to

grievously invaded by cattle. Fires set by vaqueros

have substantially reduced the cloud forests, the

tapirs’ most essential habitat. Hunters have killed at

least 50 tapirs within the park, including four of the

seven I have radio-collared. As a member of the

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Species survival commission, I am presently prepar-

ing an action plan for the rescue of this species.”

RELIGION & ANIMALS

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

Self-styled Santerian priest Rigoberto

Zamora, 58, was charged July 18 with four counts

of felony cruelty for killing 11 birds, three goats, and

a lamb in his Miami Beach apartment on June 26,

1993. Zamora, whose priestly credentials are chal-

lenged by other Santerians, staged the slaughter to

celebrate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling two weeks ear-

lier that bans on animal sacrifice per se violate the

First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The

court left intact anti-cruelty statutes, which may

affect where and how sacrifices are made, without

prohibiting them outright.

Afflicted with an inflamed stomach,

Shin, a 10-year-old Himalayan snow leopard who

lives at the San Francisco Zoo, hadn’t eaten in two

weeks as of June 10, when she was visited by 11

Tibetan monks from Gyuto Tantric University in

Tenzin Gang, India. The monks performed a five-

minute puja for her––a healing chant. Reported Jorge

Aquino of Religion News Service, who photographed

the event, “As the monks began their blessing, Shin

came down from her 15-foot perch and sat down to

face the monks. She watched and listened, apparent-

ly transfixed.” Shortly after the chant ceased, she

resumed eating her regular rations.

Zoos

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

Alleged embezzling rocked two leading animal exhibition insti-

tutions during the summer. The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association is

officially mum about the discovery that $72,000 of the $7.5 million it

received last year from concession sales is missing. The discrepancy was

discovered in early June, but has not been reported to police, as the associa-

tion apparently hopes to resolve the case internally. In a similar but unrelat-

ed case, the International Marine Animal Trainers Association recently

found $60,000 missing; did not press charges against the former IMATA

treasurer, who acknowledged responsibility; and has informed membership

that it has received partial restitution. IMATA pledged it would not reveal

the identity of the individual in question, whose identity is nonetheless

known to ANIMAL PEOPLE. She no longer works in the animal field.

As the Missouri River rose in the Dakotas in June, a patron

donated use of a private jet to Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago) and Milwaukee

County Zoo staffers, who collected 30 piping plover eggs then and 114

more later, along with 116 eggs from least terns. Both the plovers and the

terns are endangered, and the riverbank nesting sites of both were wiped

out. Ninety-one plovers and 67 terns hatched, the first of their species to be

successfully artificially incubated. Captive breeding may be the birds’ best

hope of survival, as they’ve lost about 80% of their habitat since 1950, and

are quite vulnerable to predation and bad weather in the remaining habitat.

Why call it science? by Ric O’Barry

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

A lot of people have a misconception about how

we prepare captive dolphins to return to the wild. They

think we t r a i n them for that. We taught them to jump

through hoops; now we teach them to survive in the wild.

And how do we teach them? Scientifically.

Even many of the people working to readapt and

release captive dolphins think this is what we’re doing. But

how could dolphins be taught what they ought to know when

what they need to know is not to listen to me or anyone else?

What I actually do is so simple that most people

don’t get it. There is no mystery to it. In my protocol for the

readaption and release of captive dolphins, I have three

basic rules: 1) Assume you know nothing. 2) Maintain

sustained observation. 3) Consider the obvious.

Wildlife & people

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

A day camp worker and a park

ranger on July 28 captured a three-foot

alligator in Kissena Park Lake, Queens,

New York. Days later, two young alligators

were found roaming Central Islip––and then

two pet rhesus monkeys escaped from their

owner’s home in Hauppauge, one of whom

bit an animal control officer. When an 11-

year-old hooked a piranha in Lake

Ronkonkoma, Long Island Newsday probed

the local exotic pet trade and found an Oyster

Bay store displaying alligators, monkeys,

ferrets, pythons, bobcat cubs and a wallaby,

all in violation of both state and town law.

WHAT’S BREWING IN MILWAUKEE?

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

MILWAUKEE––The Milwaukee County Board committee on parks, recreation, and culture

on July 12 ordered the county corporation council to share records pertaining to the Wisconsin Humane

Society with Wisconsin Animal Protection Society president Kay Mannes, but refused to probe allega-

tions of animal abuse and mismanagement at WHS, which closed its books and meetings to the public in

1990. WHS executive director Victoria Wellens, hired at $90,000/year in mid-1994 despite having no

background in animal work, recently ired both staff and outside critics by trading in several vehicles used

to haul animals and supplies for a $28,000 Ford Bronco, from which animals are barred.

Animal control & rescue

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

New legislation

An update of Louisiana animal

protection laws long sought by

Legislation In Support of Animals, the

Coalition of Louisiana Animal Advocates,

and other state groups includes the stiffest

felony cruelty statute in the U.S., mandat-

ing a fine of not less than $1,000, up to

$25,000, plus from one year in prison up

to 10 years at hard labor; fines for misde-

meanor cruelty of up to $1,000 and 48

hours of community service plus jail time;

the extension of the cruelty law to cover

parrots, parakeets, and lovebirds (but not

fighting cocks); the extension of the state’s

anti-dog theft law to cover other pets, with

stiffer penalties; and the creation of a fund

to help save the scarce Louisiana specta-

cled bear, funded by sales of a special

license plate. Known for gung-ho effica-

cy––on a budget of just $50,000/year––

LISA celebrated by bringing the

Spay/Neuter Assistance Program mobile

clinic from Houston to New Orleans for a

weekend of providing free neutering to

low-income families.

ANIMAL HEALTH

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

RABIES NOTES

Post-exposure shots for 665 people

who came into contact with a rabid kitten in a pet

store in Concord, New Hampshire, last October,

together with other essential follow-up, cost $1.5

million, says the CDCP.

The Pet Savers Foundation has pro-

posed establishing a National Rabies Awareness

D a y. “Letters to Congress supporting Rabies

Awareness Day would be very helpful,” Charlie

McGinley of Pet Savers told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

Get details c/o 14 Vanderventer Ave., Port

Washington, NY 11050; 516-944-5025.

Two residents of San Rafael,

California, were bitten by rabid bats in June,

including a 5-year-old boy playing near a backyard

pool and a woman who was swimming. The bats

in each case were apparently attracted by insects

hovering over the water.

A laborer from Anhui province,

China, bit four people including a pregnant

woman on July 19 in the city of Suzhou, a month

after he was bitten by two rabid dogs.

Chase pens spread rabies

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

ATLANTA––Hunters illegally translocating coyotes from Texas could cause rabies out-

breaks “the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s,” warns

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rabies section chief Dr. Charles Rupprecht.

“This is a hot bug for dogs,” Rupprecht explained on August 10. “Dogs are the biggest

indicator of this outbreak, and we do not want it to get out of south Texas.”

Transmission occurs when coyotes or foxes in the latent phase of rabies––when they are

often easiest to catch––are trapped for use in chase pens, where hunters “train” hounds by setting

them on the captive animals, a growing pastime in much of the country. The coyotes or foxes may

either bite the hounds or escape from the pens to spread rabies elsewhere. At one Florida chase pen,

eight dogs were infected late last year, obliging 26 people to get post-rabies exposure shots, while

a 20-square-mile area was put under quarantine.

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