Opposition builds to dog-and-cat eating

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

WELLINGTON, BERN, BANGKOK, TEL AVIV, BEIJING, SEOUL– – Calling Korean dog meat eaters “sadists” and “ghouls” because of the beatings and burnings to which they are subjected to increase the levels of adrenaline in their flesh, New Zealand First political party leader Winston Peters suggested on May 14 that dog exports to Korea and other nations where dogs are eaten should be banned.

Present animal export regulations, Peters warned, “do not totally guarantee the safety of the animal and its ultimate fate.”

Peters cited reports from Switzerland and elsewhere that dog breeders in Korea and China are seeking St. Bernards as breeding stock for meat production. The Swiss office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare on March 31 led a demonstration in Bern, the capitol of Switzerland, demanding a ban on dog exports to China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Korea, and the Philippines.

ANIMAL SPECTACLES

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

Reporter Tom Lyden, 34, of KMSP-TV, Channel 9, in Minneapolis, was on May 15 charged with theft, unauthorized borrowing, and tampering with a motor vehicle, all misdemeanors, for taking a videotape of dogfighting from a car which was parked outside the home of junior flyweight boxer William Grigsby during an April 27 police raid. The car turned out later be Grigsby’s. Police and humane officers seized 13 pit bull terriers and other evidence that Grigsby may have been involved in dogfighting, but missed the video, which according to those who have seen it appears to depict Grigsby at a dogfight. Lyden called taking the video “aggressive reporting.” The Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists called it a major breech of reporting ethics.

Municipal court judge Thomas F.X. Foley of Freehold Township, New Jersey, in early April dismissed due to lack of evidence a case brought by M o n m o u t h County SPCA chief cruelty investigator Stuart Goldman against the Clyde BeattyCole Brothers Circus, of Deland, Florida, for allegedly overworking an elephant named Helen during a series of performances in August 1999. Goldman previously tried to prosecute the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus in 1996 for allegedly violating an ordinance by exhibiting elephants in a parking lot.

An attempted prosecution of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for allegedly abusing seven elephants before an appearance in San Jose, California, on August 23, 1999 also failed due to lack of evidence, San Jose Mercury News r e p o r t e r Linda Goldson disclosed on May 9. Santa Clara County deputy district attorney R o b i n W a k s h u l l told Goldston that although the Humane Society of the Santa Clara Valley could establish that some of the elephants were injured, it was never able to identify exactly who injured them. Since criminal offenses must be charged to a particular person, no case could be brought.

U.S. District Court Judge Earl Britt of Wilmington, North Carolina on May 8 dismissed a claim by Oregon Trail Films coproducers Eric Epperson and Alan James that veteran movie animal handler A l i c i a Rudd misrepresented her ability to direct a trained mule named El Berta. Epperson and James held that delays caused by El Berta balking cost eight hours and $111,111––about a fourth of their total cost overrun in making the soon-to-be-released film, called Morgan’s C r e e k. Rudd told the judge that James had tried to overwork El Berta. Britt reportedly ruled that to be stubborn is a mule’s time-hon

U.S. Supreme Court raps ranchers & other big farm cases

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

Ruling 9-0 against the wise-use orie n t e d Public Lands Council, t h e A m e r i c a n Farm Bureau Federation, t h e A m e r i c a n Sheep Industry Association, the Association of National Grasslands, and the N a t i o n a l Cattlemen’s Beef Association, t h e U . S . Supreme Court on May 15 upheld the authority of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt under the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act to impose grazing reform rules governing the use of 170 million acres of leased federal property in 13 states. The Supreme Court ruling finalizes changes Babbitt ordered in 1995 which ended quasi-automatic grazing permit renewal for approximately 20,000 tenured leaseholders; allowed non-ranchers to bid on grazing permits, including for the purpose of holding land as wildlife habitat; and stipulated that fences, wells, and other improvements made on federal land by leaseholders become property of the federal government. A further effect of the ruling is that banks may no longer feel confident in making business loans to ranchers, accepting their grazing leases as collateral in lieu of owned real estate. The net outcome is expected to be more wildlife and fewer cattle and sheep on western rangeland.

PEOPLE & DEEDS

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

The Sea Shepherd Conservation S o c i e t y has added longtime S t u d e n t Conservation Association e x e c u t i v e Valerie J. Shand as chief operating officer, and former National Science Foundation Antarctic expeditions technician M i k e Gallagher as facilities director.

David Brower, 87, a member of the Sierra Club since 1933, resigned from the board for at least the third time in May, over frustration with moderate policies. Brower was first executive director of the Sierra Club, but was fired in 1969 after conflicting with the board, and went on to found Friends of the Earth, the League of Conservation Voters, and Earth Island Institute, typically moving on after similar board conflicts. He was elected to the Sierra Club board in 1983, 1986, 1995, and 1998, but has rarely completed a term of office.

Activists & Organizations

SEALS, DOLPHINS, AND WHALES

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans on May 9 extended the Atlantic Canada offshore seal hunt until the end of May. Between low pelt prices and poor ice conditions, sealers had killed only 86,000 seals out of quotas of 275,000 harp seals and 10,000 hooded seals.

The Vancouver Public Aquarium announced on April 26 that it will cease exhibiting orcas. Opened in 1956, the aquarium in 1967 became first in the world to keep an orca. The last resident orca, Bjossa, 23, is to be transferred to Sea World, which has 20 orcas among four facilities, each offering many times as much tank space. Bjossa has lived at the Vancouver Aquarium since 1980. Finna, her longtime male companion, died in 1997, and the aquarium staff was unable to find a replacement.

Veggie bust

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

The Winnipeg Vegetarian Association on May 14 solicited donations toward the cost of a bronze bust of vegetarian advocate Howard Lyman. Sculpted by K a t h y Lazzareschi, of Oroville, California, the bust is to be presented to Lyman at the W o r l d Vegetarian Congress in Toronto this July.

A few days earlier, the A n i m a l Rights 2000 conference hosted in Washington D.C. by the Farm Animal Reform Movement is to induct five people whose identities are undisclosed into a newly created “Animal Rights Hall of Fame.”

Of more pragmatic interest, the Sabina Fund, named by FARM founder Alex Hershaft in honor of his late mother, is offering grants of $500-$2,000 “for grassroots projects promoting a plant-based diet and exposing the devastating impacts of animal agriculture.” Hershaft said that the next Sabina Fund application deadline will be November 15, adding that “FARM welcomes applications from groups outside the USA.” Application forms and further details are online at .

Meanwhile, instead of endorsing a meatless diet, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies has reportedly endorsed a national meat labeling program based on the “Freedom Food” program managed by the Royal SPCA of Britain. “The certification reassures consumers that the meat they purchase is from an animal raised in the most humane and ethical manner possible,” wrote Gina Tell of the Calgary Herald.

MACHO SPORTSMEN

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

The Ohio Division of Wildlife has lifted a three-year-old rule limiting access to the Milan Wildlife Area to hunters, fishers, and trappers. “The Division of Wildlife closed the woods to discourage sexual activity by people, mostly homosexuals, who took the wildlife area’s Lover’s Lane address literally,” wrote Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Michael Sangiacomo.

British hunting writer G e o f f r e y Allen, 45, of Worcestershire, was imprisoned for four years in February on charges of buggery, indecent assault, and gross indecency against two 13-year-old boys, according to H o w l , the magazine of the Britishbased Hunt Saboteurs Association.

H o w l also reports that, “Tory finance spokesman Glyn Davies,” a defender of fox hunting, “was stopped by police driving a load of sheep,” wearing only boots, undershorts, and a jacket. “Refusing the stereotype of Welsh farmer + Tory politician = sheepshagger,” H o w l c o n t i n u e d , “Mr. Davies explained he had fallen in manure, so had to take his clothes off.”

People Energetically Teasing Abusers

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

As encore to its brief “Got beer?” c a m p a i g n parodying the National Dairy Council’s “Got milk?” ads, PETA placed a parody ad asking “Got zits?” in the May 31 edition of the student newspaper at Central High School in Brookfield, Illinois. The ad argued milk can aggravate acne. High school papers in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, and Vermont refused the ad, said PETA campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich.

Irritating cowpokes too, PETA asked Wyoming governor Jim Geringer to remove from the state’s license plates the bucking rodeo horse which has been the state symbol since 1936.

25% of top U.S. charities say they get something for nothing

June 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2000:

WASHINGTON D.C.––More than 25% of the U.S. charities which collectively rake in more than 90% of all donated dollars are declaring expeditures of zero on fundraising, revealed the Chronicle of Philanthropy in a May 18 cover feature.

A Chronicle of Philanthropy analysis of Internal Revenue Service data for tax year 1996 “found that more than one fourth of the 4,889 nonprofit organizations that received $500,000 or more in gifts from private sources reported spending nothing on fundraising,” the authors stated. Their findings were affirmed by the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy.

Examining IRS Form 990 filings from tax years 1997 and 1998, the Urban Institute found that between 25% and 35% of charities with at least $500,000 in contributions from private sources declared that they had spent nothing on fundraising.

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