War on rabbits goes awry Down Under

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

ADELAIDE, S.A.––Australian
officials admitted November 27 that the premature
release of calicivirus into the outback
of New South Wales and South Australia
state in October was an accident.
Apparently carried to the mainland
by insects after deployment at a test site on
Wardong Island, the disease soon killed
850,000 rabbits––22 an acre––in Flinders
Ranges National Park alone. Ranger David
Peacock said that was counting only rabbits
who died in the open; experts predicted
most afflicted rabbits would die underground.
Farmers eager to get rid of rabbits
were reportedly paying $75 apiece for
infected rabbits to release on their property.
Australia has been trying to eradicate
rabbits for more than a century.

Help for dogs who have been hit by cars

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana––The Purdue University School of Veterinary
Medicine’s Center for Paralysis Research seeks dogs with spinal fractures, to participate in a
study of oscillating field stimulators, a type of surgically implanted rehabilitative device.
Eligible dogs cannot weigh more than 35 pounds; must be two to eight years old; must have
suffered fracture and dislocation of bones in the spinal column, a type of injury common in
dogs hit by cars, within the past 14 days; and must be completely paralyzed in the hindquarters.
Prospect dogs must be brought to the center by the owners. The center will cover all
medical costs of dogs accepted into the study. For further details, call 317-494-7600.
This is the second major Purdue study of spinal injuries in dogs to use only dogs
who already need medical help. A study of naturally occurring disc herniations, begun in
1988, has helped more than 300 dogs, 90% of whom were otherwise euthanasia candidates.

Animal Health

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

Ebola virus
The World Health Organization
on December 16 declared a two-year drive
to discover how Ebola virus is transmitted
from other primates, who often survive it, to
chimpanzees and humans, in whom it is usually
fatal. An early clue came from Colonel
Nancy Jax of the U.S. Army Medical
Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, in
Frederick, Maryland, who reported in the
December 22 edition of the British medical
journal The Lancet that Ebola is probably
transmitted by airborne droplets, much like
the common cold. Jax observed that two
monkeys kept in cages 10 feet from others
who had Ebola also developed Ebola and
died in 10 and 11 days, respectively, even
though they had no physical contact with the
sick monkeys. “The findings emphasize the
advisability of at-risk personnel employing
precautions to safeguard against ocular, oral,
and nasopharyngeal exposure,” Jax wrote.

So-called sportsmen

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

Hunting writer and safety
instructor Roger Vanderlogt, 43, of
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, drew 15 years in
prison on December 9 plus 15 years on probation,
for producing sexually explicit photographs
and videos of very young girls.
William Douglas Hinson, 71, of
Myrtle, Mississippi, pleaded guilty on
November 28 to conspiring with his granddaughter,
Teresa Jean Hutcheson, 30, to
murder her husband Jimmy Dean Hutcheson
for life insurance proceeds in a staged “hunting
accidenct.” Each drew five years in
prison. Hinson has two great-grandchildren
by his granddaughter, with whom court officials
said he has had sex since she was 11.

Fall was hard on squirrels

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

ALBANY, N.Y.––Prolonged summer/fall drought had a
mixed effect on wildlife in the Northeast, generally helping birds but
hurting other species. Already menaced amphibian populations suffered
as breeding pools dried up and shallow water made both surviving tadpoles
and adult frogs easy pickings for great blue herons and
egrets––who also thrived on exposed small fish. Pennsylvania and New
Jersey delayed trout-stocking because of the risk they would be killed by
oxygen depletion in low streams and lakes. Beavers became unusually
vulnerable to foxes and coyotes. Bears and deer were driven down from
the hills to find water, into often dangerous proximity with humans.
Authorities in Ottawa, Ontario, relocated 62 black bears during the
summer, 10 times the usual number. But crickets and grasshoppers
hatched in high volume, much to the benefit of wild turkeys and quail.
New York state biologists reported extraordinary numbers of
dead squirrels on highways. New York Department of Environmental
Conservation wildlife pathologist Ward Stone said one person counted
922 dead squirrels along the New York State Thruway––where roadkills
are normally relatively few––just between New Paltz and Albany.

Wildlife refuges

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

The comptroller’s office of Colombia reported
November 7 that guerrilla bands are operating out of 20 of
the nation’s 42 national parks and nature reserves; drug
traffickers are based in 15 more; and six of the remaining
seven are full of bandits. But U.S. wildlife refuges are
scarcely less embattled, at least in the political sense.
Among the more noteworthy Congressional efforts to dismantle
the refuge system are HR 1675, an attempt by Rep.
Don Young (R-Alaska) to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to close refuges, obstruct the creation of new ones,
and open all existing refuges up to hunting and trapping by
defining hunting as a purpose of the refuge system. Young
is also boosting legislation to allow commercial alligator
farms to collect gator eggs from wildlife refuges, on condition
that they return a certain number of captive-reared alligators
to the habitat. Louisiana has had a similar program
in effect for over a decade, requiring the return of 17% of
the hatched alligators over four feet long––but wildlife biologists
say the captive-reared alligators don’t survive well,
tending to challenge cars, in particular, instead of hurrying
away. Working on a smaller scale, Rep. Frank Lucas (ROkla.)
is merely promoting a bill to sell off 13,000 acres of
wildlife habitat in northwestern Oklahoma, coveted by
hunters and developers, and use the proceeds to set up a
325-acre Washita Battlefield National Historic Site.
Sending a message to the would-be refuge-rapists, especially
Young, President Bill Clinton has thus far kept his word
to veto any and all budget bills that include provisions to
open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Endangered Species Act
Rep. Jim Saxton (R-N.J.) in February or March is
expected to introduce an Endangered Species Act reauthorization
bill authored according to specifications from
House speaker Newt Gingrich. Gingrich is currently saying
ESA reauthorization won’t move to the House floor earlier
than April. Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is also
rumored to be planning to release an Endangered Species
Act reauthorization bill in spring, possible an adaptation of
the anti-“takings” bill introduced last fall by Dirk
Kempthrone (R-Idaho). Pending the resumption of the actual
ESA debate, most recent ESA-related activity in
Congress has focused on riders and amendments to freeze
the designation of new endangered species, and/or prevent
spending on specific species protection projects.

Wolves

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

Wolf reintroduction ran into trouble in
both the northwest and southeast during November
and December––and not just from Congress, where
Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana) failed in an
attempt to amend the Interior appropriations bill to
prevent further wolf reintroductions to Yellowstone
National Park, but succeeded in cutting the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf reintroduction budget
by a third. Three of the five wolf project staff
were laid off, but private funders donated the
$30,000 needed to buy radio collars for a group of
15 Canadian wolves who in early January will be
released to join the 21 wolves already in the park.
On November 5, one of the three pups
from the Boulder wolf pack in western Montana
was found shot, a month after the trio plus two
adults were moved into Glacier National Park and
radio collared because their pack killed three calves.

Wildlife

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

The Cornell University
College of Veterinary Medicine
has begun trying to hatch and rear
threatened Blanding’s turtles in
captivity. Habitat loss and predation
has caused the loss of whole
turtle generations, says project
chief George Kollias, DVM.
Exxon has pledged to
contribute $5 million over the
next five years to the Save The
Tiger Fund, formed by Congress
in 1984 and managed by the
National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation.

Racehorses on a PMU line? Don’t bet on it

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

LOUISVILLE, Ky.––The
North American Equine Ranching
Information Council, representing
more than 450 PMU farms, has
opened a breed registry to promote
the use of Thoroughbred stallions in
impregnating PMU-producing
mares.
PMU stands for “pregnant
mare’s urine,” and is the basic
ingredient of Premarin, the most
often prescribed estrogen supplement
for relief of menopausal symptoms––and
the only estrogen supplement
made from an animal product.

« 1 2 3 4 5 6 »