Buying time

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana–A recent study of a week of television
broadcasting on affiliates of seven national networks, done by
Indiana University researchers with Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
support, affirms the view several times expressed in ANIMAL PEOPLE
by “Neutress of the Night” Kat Chaplin, of Roanoke, Texas, that
animal advocacy groups are making a big mistake if they rely on
public service announcements instead of paid advertising to spread
their message on the airwaves.

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Cat show breeder Rexelle convicted

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

Prominent show cat breeder Debra Rexelle, 50, was on May 17
convicted of four felonies and four misdemeanors pertaining to the
alleged gross neglect of 212 cats found at her rented home near
Modesto, California, in August 2000. She was acquitted of nine
other charges, including a felony count relating to the discovery of
about 50 dead cats at the same site.
Rexelle was fined for keeping more than 50 cats on the
property without the correct license in 1993, but claimed to have
passed an inspection by local animal control officers in February
2000.

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Wrestling with WWF

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

LONDON–Outweighed by the World Wildlife Fund in two British
trademark court decisions, the World Wrestling Federation on May 7
reintroduced itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, leaving the
other WWF to wrestle with itself, after WWF-Japan representative
Shigeki Komori reportedly told news media on the eve of the
International Whaling Commission meeting (see page one) that if
various conditions were met, “we can no longer deny the logic that
regulated commercial whaling can resume.”
“WWF does not support commercial whaling in any
circumstances. We will sort out our office in Japan if they are
saying anything different,” said WWF endangered species program
director Susan Lieberman.

Greyhound abuse

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa; EAGLE CREEK, Oregon; LILLIAN,
Alabama–Three greyhound racing scandals broke in different parts of
the U.S. within just three days preceding the Memorial Day weekend,
and all three seemed to confirm the darkest allegations of
anti-greyhound racing protesters about how the dogs are trained and
culled.
“Investigative reports released by the Iowa Racing and Gaming
Commission show that Victor ‘Jay’ Rangel, 33, of Council Bluffs,
was accused by witnesses of using a whip on the greyhound Primco
Glasco, and striking the dog with his hand,” William Petroski of
the Des Moines Register reported on May 20.

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Alternatives to sterilization surgery still delayed

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

ATLANTA– “A commercialized alternative to surgical
castration or ovario-hysterectomy for either dogs or cats” may still
be 10 years away, AlcheraBio senior partner Linda Rhodes, DVM,
told the 2002 International Symposium on Nonsurgical Methods for Pet
Population Control, held April 19-21 in Atlanta.
Rhodes’ prediction came as a letdown after the optimism of
many of the same speakers two years earlier.
At the Spay/USA symposium on immunocontraceptives and
chemosterilants, held in July 2000 at Bentley College in Waltham,
Massachusetts, at least two researchers hoped that their products
could clear the regulatory hurdles and be on the market by now. In
Atlanta, however, neither those researchers nor any others ventured
even a hypothetical timetable for bringing any contraceptive or
sterilant drug or antigen for animals into commercial production.

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Wise-users kill Canadian ESA, anti-cruelty bill

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

OTTAWA–Canadian Alliance leader John Reynolds gloated on
April 30 that the third attempt of the Liberal government to pass a
national endangered species act appeared to be dead. The current
Parliament is to adjourn on June 21. Liberal house leader Ralphe
Goodale–insisting that the currently introduced Species-at-Risk Act
will “get to the finish line by mid-June”–had by May 28 made no new
move to push it. The Liberals are strongest in Quebec and Atlantic
Canada; the Canadian Alliance dominates the west.

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Friends of Animals board chair resigns over anti-chaining bill veto

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

HARTFORD–Connecticut state representative Kenneth Bernhard
(R-Westport) has resigned his longtime position as Friends of Animals
board chair, in protest against the role of FoA president Priscilla
Feral in persuading Governor John G. Rowland, a fellow Republican,
to veto what would have been the first state law to explicitly limit
the number of hours per day that dogs could be chained, caged, or
kenneled.
Drafted by Animal Advocacy Connecticut founder Julie Lewin,
the anti-chaining bill was approved 124-17 in the state house and
30-6 in the state senate. Lawmakers backed the bill partly out of
sympathy for dogs chained outdoors alone in all kinds of weather,
and partly due to increasing recognition that prolonged chaining,
caging, or kenneling tends to make dogs more territorial and
reactive, resulting in more frequent bites and more serious bites
than if the dogs have the option of moving away from a threat or
challenge.

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Saskatoon gopher derby may go into the hole

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

SASKATOON, Saslatchewan–Started on April 1, the Ken Turcot
Memorial Gopher Derby was touted by Saskatoon Wildlife Federation
business manager Len Jabush as perhaps the biggest killing contest in
Canadian history.
Jabush told Karen Morrison of The Western Producer that he
distributed 10,000 entry forms, expecting 2,000 contestants to pay
$20 each to have their “gopher” tails counted, and was “scrambling”
to print more. He did not say, “April fool!”

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Rats, mice, birds, dogs and bears all lose in weakened U.S. Farm Bill

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

WASHINGTON D.C.–U.S. President George W. Bush on May 13
signed a Farm Bill that The New York Times editorially called “a
regrettable reversion to some of the worst polices of the past.”
The New York Times referred in specific to “a $50 billion
increase in subsidies to big producers of row crops such as feed corn
over the next 10 years–a 50% jump over present levels and a complete
reversal of promising attempts to wean farmers off all subsidies.”
The chief effect of the higher row crop subsidies will be to continue
artificially suppressing the cost of feeding poultry, hogs, and
cattle in intensive confinement.

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