Marine mammals

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

Small whales
The Sacramento Bee warned in
June that the vaquita whale is “on the verge
of extinction, a victim of commercial gill net
fishing” in the Sea of Cortez, and that the
reserve set up to protect the vaquita may be “a
sanctuary in name only.” The vaquita is a
small toothed whale, a class not protected by
the International Whaling Commission.
Romanian Institute for Marine
Research scientist Alexandru Bologna says
only 10,000 dolphins remain in the heavily
polluted Black Sea, down from 70,000 in
1970, and one million in 1950, when the former
Communist regime began “economic capitalization
of dolphins,” i.e. slaughter.

Greenpeace gets wet

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

LUXEMBOURG––Major conservation
groups have historically been quiet
about fishing––and Greenpeace, founded on
oceanic campaigning, is no exception.
The world’s second-largest environmental
group, trailing only the World
Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace withdrew from
active opposition to sealing in Atlantic
Canada in 1986, even before seals were
blamed for crashing cod stocks. The
Greenpeace campaign against toxic pollution
in the St. Lawrence River was promoted in
part as an effort to improve fishing.

Jane Goodall gets a clue

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

RIDGEFIELD, Connecticut––Vegetarianism is rapidly
gaining among the young, suggest findings by the polling firm Smith
& Co., in a market research report prepared for the Roots & Shoots
environmental education project of the Jane Goodall Institute.
The pollsters also found that attitudes of youth toward laboratory
use of animals are increasingly skeptical, while broad attacks
on zoos, aquariums, and circuses on general principle may be foredoomed
to failure because the abolitionist perspective contradicts animal
lovers’ direct experience.
The Goodall Institute, based in Ridgefield, Connecticut,
hired Smith & Co., of nearby Monroe, to survey 396 students in the
sixth, seventh, and eighth grades within 12 local school districts.
The area is reasonably representative of the U.S. as a whole in
urban/suburban/rural population balance and income level, and is
historically associated with both biomedical research and the rise of
the animal rights movement. Both Friends of Animals and U.S.

Four studies of cat ownership

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

Data gathered in Las Vegas by Dr. Roger Nassar in
1983, in Santa Clara and San Diego counties of California by
Karen Johnson and Laura Lewellyn of the National Pet Alliance in
1993 and 1995, and in the Boston area by Carter Luke of the
Massachusetts SPCA, also in 1995, is arranged below by date of
survey. The findings are remarkably consistent. The decline in
number of homes keeping dogs from 1983 to 1993-1995 is about
twice as steep as other pet ownership studies indicate, but is consistent
with a 20-year national trend. The lower percentage of
owned cats who are former strays in the Boston area probably
reflects the impact of the harsh northeastern winter on the homeless
cat population.

Electioneering

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

The Farm Animal Reform Movement’s Compassion
Campaign ‘96 seeks volunteers to help gather position statements
on animal issues from candidates and delegates at the Republican
Convention, August 10-16 in San Diego, and the Democratic
Convention, August 26-29 in Chicago. Info: 1-888-ASK-FARM.

Action for Animals asks animal activists to back the reelection
bid of Oklahoma senator Lewis Long, whose bill to ban
horse-tripping and bear-wrestling and stiffen the law against
spousal abuse was signed into law by state governor Frank
Keating on May 20. Address Long at POB 888, Glenpool, OK
74033.

Indian wolf terror

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

LUCKNOW, India––Uttar Pradesh
chief forest conservator Ashok Singh pledged
July 5 to quickly exterminate a wolf pack
blamed for killing and disemboweling more
than 30 small children since March in Uttar
Pradesh state, northern India.
“It was initially difficult to track
down the wolves’ hideout,” Ashok Singh said,
“but now that it has been done, we are sure to
kill the beasts.” The lair was found in the
Kusfara forest on July 2 near the half-eaten
remains of a two-year-old, who like many
other victims was snatched from bed in an
open-air hut. One wolf was killed at the scene.

DeCoster fined $3.6 million for abuse of workers

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

BOSTON––U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich
announced on July 12 that DeCoster Egg Farm, of Turner,
Maine, has been fined $3.6 million for multiple alleged violations
of wage and hour standards, safety codes, housing codes,
and workers’ rights, some of them allegedly ongoing for 30
years. Related criminal charges may follow. DeCoster is
expected to appeal, having repeatedly won reductions of lesser
fines imposed by various agencies and courts.
Most of the 325 DeCoster employees, many of them
Hispanic or Vietnamese immigrants, are densely housed in
run-down trailers on site. In January 1995, the Maine Supreme
Judicial Court ruled that DeCoster violated their civil rights by
excluding visitors, including social workers and legal advisors.
DeCoster Egg Farm, with 1995 sales of $40 million,
is solely owned by lifelong Turner resident Austin J. DeCoster.

Groups win reversals

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

Farm Sanctuary on June 13 won a New York
Appellate Division reversal of rulings by the Town of
Orange Board of Assessment Review and the Schuyler
County Supreme Court, which held that running a facility
incorporated for “the benevolent care of abandoned and maltreated
animals” is not a charitable purpose entitling the organization
to a property tax exemption. Such exemptions, they
contended, are limited to projects benefitting people, human
kind, or the community. The unanimous Appellate verdict
drew upon Matter of Hamilton, 1946, which upheld the will
of a woman who left her home and $400,000 in trust “for the
care, comfort, and benefit of dumb animals.” The court in
that case cited “the common view that the care and comfort
of animals are generally beneficial to mankind.”

New USDA dog and cat regs announced

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

WASHINGTON D.C. – – The
USDA on July 3 proposed to amend
Animal Welfare Act regulations for the
care of dogs and cats to disallow tethering
as a primary means of holding
dogs; require that air temperatures in
dog and cat housing be kept below 90
degrees Fahrenheit; and require coated
wire flooring in dog and cat cages.
The proposed rules, applicable to
breeders and dealers involved in interstate
commerce, are a weaker version
of proposals advanced by 110 members
of the House of Representatives
and three Senators in a letter to
Agriculture Secretary Daniel Glickman
circulated for signatures in June 1995.

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