ACTIVIST COURT CALENDAR
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1999:
The Connecticut Department of Animal
Protection on October 11 agreed to suspend fur trapping
on state land pending completion of new rules
for bidding on trapping rights, in settlement of a
September lawsuit brought by the Animal Rights
Front, Friends of Animals, and non-lethal nuisance
wildlife trapper Arlene Corey. Because of the length
of the comment and notification periods required to
produce new rukes, the agreement means that in
effect there will be no fur trapping on Connecticut
state land this winter, Fund for Animals representative
Julie Lewin told ANIMAL PEOPLE. Lewin
was among the activists who last winter bought the
trapping rights on 47,000 acres––approximately a
third of the state land offered––but were excluded by
a change of rules this year which stipulated that bidders
be able to prove they had actually sold trapped
pelts during the previous four winters.
San Diego Superior Court Judge John
M e y e r on October 5 refused to grant the F a s h i o n
Valley Mall a permanent injunction against anti-fur
protests organized by Last Chance for Animals and
individual activists Andrea Lindsay, 21, a n d
Joseph Arden, 22, against Neiman-Marcus Inc., a
mall tenant that sells fur. Ironically, LCA was not
involved in the protests, which began in 1998, until
the Fashion Valley Mall named LCA and also named
several staff members individually in a broad injunction
intended to stop protests led by others. LCA
then fought the case, winning previous rulings
against the constitutionality of the Fashion Valley
Mall policies pertaining to “expressive activity” on
June 11 and August 20.
Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition
founder Gina Lynn, 26, of Boulder Creek,
California, was jailed for up to six months on
October 5 for contempt of court, after refusing to
submit fingerprints and handwriting samples to a federal
grand jury investigating a threatening letter
allegedly sent to A n h e u s e r – B u s c h, owners of the
four Sea World theme parks. Lynn’s attorney,
Jennifer Brewer, told Lisa Fernandez of the S a n
Jose Mercury News that the letter suggested that particular
buildings might be blown up if specific marine
mammals were not released.
Matt Bullard, 24, was assisted by firefighters––reportedly
at his own request––from a
perch on the 18th floor of the 19-story Moos Tower
at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on
September 12, and was charged with fourth degree
burglary and trespassing. Bullard ascended the tower
six days earlier to protest cocaine research conducted
by University of Minnesota psychiatry professor
Marilyn Carroll, allegedly causing the deaths of 90
nonhuman primates. Bullard and two companions
later held a five-day sidewalk fast beneath Moos
Tower in protest of the same experiments. Sympathy
“cage-ins” followed at Cornell University in New
York and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Fighting cock breeders Kelly and Kara
Barger of Pawnee County, Oklahoma, on October 6
filed a defamation suit against the O k l a h o m a
Coalition Against Cockfighting, OCC chair Janet
Halliburton, OCC Tulsa office chief Steve Eberle,
and volunteer Kel Pickens, who are seeking to place
an anti-cockfighting initiative on the 2000 state ballot.
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Louisiana are the
last three states where cockfighting is allowed. The
Barger suit parallels a suit filed against the OCC and
Halliburton in September by the O k l a h o m a
Gamefowl Breeders Association and cockfighters
Jeffrey Quinn Pearce and George Robert Day.
The Ontario Black Bear/Ontario
Sportsmen and Resource Users Association, representing
146 hunting outfitters and 300 other plaintiffs,
on September 10 sued the Ontario government
and Ontario Minister of Natural Resources J o h n
S n o b e l i n, alleging that in cancelling spring bear
hunting on January 15, 1999, he committed breach
of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, abuse of
process, and conspiracy, among a long list of other
claimed offenses, as well as purportedly violating the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The
plaintiffs reportedly based their case largely on a letter
Snobelin sent to their organization stating that he
did not believe the spring bear hunt posed a threat to
the Ontario black bear population. After the cancellation,
Ontario paid the outfitters compensation of
$250 Canadian for each hunting party they had hosted
during the 1998 spring bear season.
