Month: June 2001

Marine mammal theme parks hedge big bets

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

SAN DIEGO, MANILA, LA PAZ–Swim-with-dolphins attractions are making a splash worldwide, but the smart money in marine mammal exhibition seems to be betting on a future with far fewer captive whales and dolphins, at fewer facilities.

That comes as a turnabout, since the anti-marine mammal captivity movement that erupted in 1993 like the fictitious orca Willy’s leap to freedom at the climax of the first Free Willy! film took a cold bath during the past few years when Keiko, the orca who played Willy, showed little desire to be free.

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New groups and projects

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

World Animal Net, best known for maintaining a globally comprehensive online directory of animal protection groups at <www.worldanimalnet.org>, “has recently been granted consultative status with the United Nations,” cofounder Janice Cox announced on June 1. “This gives us a great opportunity to work for the improved welfare and status of animals at appropriate U.N. meetings,” especially the World Summit for Sustainable Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in September 2002. “However,” Cox cautioned, “we must make inputs on animal welfare now if they are to be considered.” For further particulars about getting animal protection concerns on the agenda, contact Cox c/o <worldanimalnet@yahoo.com>.

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Tropical Storm Allison kills 35,000 lab animals

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

HOUSTON–Flash-flooding caused by Tropical Storm Allison killed an estimated 30,000 animals between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m. on June 9 at the Baylor College of Medicine, and killed 4,700 more at the nearby University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center.

The UT losses included several hundred rabbits, 78 monkeys used mostly in longterm intelligence research, and 35 dogs. Most of the other animal victims were mice and rats. The flooding revealed an unforseen weakness in the design of the two basement animal care facilities.

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AWA, rats, mice, birds

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The Animal Welfare Act is more secure and the likelihood of the USDA promptly issuing new enforcement regulations requiring federally inspected laboratories to report their use of rats, mice, and birds is greater as result of Senate restructuring due to the resignation from the Republican Party of Vermont Senator James Jeffords.

Jeffords’ resignation cost the Republicans the Senate majority–and meant that Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) succeeded Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) as chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture.

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Human Obituaries

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

Human Obituaries

Dennis Puleston, 95, founding chair of the Environmental Defense Fund, died on June 8 at his home in Brookhaven, New York. Born in Britain, Puleston was already “an avid naturalist and skilled painter of birds” according to New York Times obituarist Paul Lewis, when he sailed a small boat to the U.S. in 1931 with a friend. He sailed on to China by 1937, before the outbreak of World War II forced his return to Britain. His 1939 marriage to Betty Wellington of New York sent him back to the U.S. as a permanent resident.

In 1942 Puleston helped to design the “Duck” amphibious landing craft, then trained Allied Forces to use it. Puleston personally participated in amphibious operations in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Burma; trained the D-Day “Duck” drivers in Britain after recovering from a spinal wound; and joined in the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. For his “Duck” work, Puleston was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1948 by President Harry S. Truman.

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Pet food and Procter & Gamble

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

LONDON, CINCINNATI–Lon-don Daily Express health editor Lucy Johnston and the British activist group Uncaged Campaigns threw an apparent World Day for Laboratory Animals heavyweight haymaker at the pet food maker Iams on May 27, along with the Iams subsidiary brand Eukanuba, and their parent firm, Procter & Gamble–but as jarring as it appeared to be, the targets had already stepped away from the impact.

“Pet lovers will be stunned,” John-ston wrote, “by an investigation that reveals a sponsor of the Crufts Dog Show carried out horrific experiments on animals. The Sunday Express has uncovered damning evidence of gruesome tests performed on dogs and cats during the development” of Iams pet foods, mostly six to 12 years ago.

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Animal care & control

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

The San Francisco SPCA on June 1 announced a 22-position, 10% staff cut and termination of the contract it has held for about one year to provide night veterinary care at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control shelter, both effective on July 1 as part of a 15% budget cut. The budget cut was reportedly the first for the SF/SPCA in more than 20 years. Critics of SF/SPCA president Ed Sayres noted that the cuts closely followed recommendations issued by former SF/SPCA operations director Nathan Winograd in an October 27 memo to SF/SPCA vice president Daniel Crain.

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Dog-and-cat-eating: the shame of Korea

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

SEOUL, South Korea–The animal faces of dog-and-cat-eating, met at the Moran market just outside the capital city of Seoul, South Korea, are as pained and haunting as any animal defender might imagine.

The silence of the dehydrated and despairing animals is an unexpected part of the shock. Most of the dogs can bark. They just rarely do. Only scattered purebred former pets and a puppy trying to gnaw the dangling end of a nylon cord show hope that anything could be different. Stunned cats exhibit bleeding wounds from apparent hammer blows to the forehead. Roosters thrust their necks between the bars of their overcrowded cages and instead of crowing, gasp for breath.

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Court Calendar

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

Court Calendar

A World Trade Organization tribunal ruled on June 19 that the U.S. ban on imports of shrimp caught by vessels which do not use Turtle Excluder Devices does not unfairly restrict trade, and may therefore stand. The U.S. ban was introduced as an enforcement regulation under the Endangered Species Act in 1987, but was held by the WTO to be an unfair trade barrier when challenged in 1996 by Thailand, Malaysia, India, and Pakistan. The U.S. then amended the import ban to allow exceptions from the import ban for shrimp caught by boats pulling TEDs, even if the exporting nations do not require TEDs. The WTO ruling takes away perhaps the best-known activist objection to the WTO system of resolving trade disputes, which allows WTO to rule against national environmental protection, animal protection, labor, human rights, and public health standards, if the standards are found to be unjustly discriminatory.

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