Greece considers new national animal control law in anticipation of 2004 Olympic furor

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2003:

ATHENS-Greek deputy agriculture minister Fotis Hadzimichalis
on December 19,  2002 introduced a proposed national animal control
bill which according to Agence France-Press “would discourage Greeks
from abandoning their animals,  while allowing local authorities to
collect,  sterilize,  and in certain cases kill stray dogs.”
Hadzimichalis told Agence France-Presse that,  “This is the
practical answer to those who malignly accused our country of
creating crematoria for strays ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games.”
The proposed law reportedly stipulates that dogs found at
large will be vaccinated,  sterilized,  held for a reclaim period,
and then be returned to the capture point if deemed healthy and not
dangerous.  Those suffering from incurable illness or infirmity and
those considered dangerous will be killed.

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WPIX settles libel claim over dog meat expose

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

NEW YORK, N.Y.–The Tribune Co., owner of both WPIX-TV
Channel 11 in New York city and the Long Island Newsday newspaper,
announced in Newsday on January 11 that it had “reached a settlement
over a series of controversial stories that examined if dog meat was
popular in New York,” aired by Channel 11 reporter Polly Kreisman on
November 19-20, 2001.
“The agreement said that WPIX-TV aired the stories in 2001
along with footage of Ju Ho Kim and his wife Roslyn Kim, selling
what a WPIX-TV spokesman said was a mix of canine and coyote meat to
a Humane Society of the U.S. investigator,” Newsday continued. “The
Kims said in a civil lawsuit that the stories by reporter Polly
Kreisman hurt their business and harmed the Korean American
community. ”

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Ivory dealer vanishes after CITES eases ban

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

SANTIAGO, Chile; Lilongwe, Malawi–Peter Wang, also known
as Peter Onn, Y.S. Wong, and Wang Yong Shi, recently eluded a
police cordon around his home in Lilongwe, Malawi, and disappeared
just as he was about to be arrested, revealed correspondent Rory
Carroll of The Guardian on December 27, 2002.
“Investigators have told The Guardian,” Carroll wrote,
“that an apparent breakthrough in June against a vast smuggling
network has evaporated. Six metric tons of ivory bound for Japan,”
representing the deaths of about 600 elephants, “was intercepted in
Singapore, but the ringleaders escaped and the trafficking
continues, leaving game parks littered with mutilated carcasses.”
Wang, Carroll said, “is accused of being the lynchpin in a
network of African poachers and Asian buyers who flouted the global
ivory trade ban introduced in 1989.”

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China learns from Korean World Cup bashing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

BEIJING, CHENGDU–Closing 35 small bear bile farms and
taking 97 bears into sanctuary care since October 2000, Animals Asia
Foundation founder Jill Robinson was shocked in early December 2002
when International Fund for Animal Welfare acting China director
Zhang Li and World Society for the Protection of Animals director of
wildlife Victor Watkins insinuated to London Sunday Times Beijing
correspondent Lynne O’Donnell that her work might have provided cover
for expansion of the bear bile farming and poaching industries.

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New Kenya Wildlife Service chief is hired away from IFAW

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2003:

NAIROBI-Michael Wamithi,  who opened the East Africa office
of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Nairobi in 1999 and
had headed it ever since,  was on November 27 named to succeed Joe
Kioko as chief of the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Kioko retired on Novem-ber 21,  after one year as director.
Previously,  Kioko was assistant director under preceding directors
Nehemiah Rotich,  Richard Leakey,  and David Western.
Wamithi before joining IFAW was for 14 years a KWS staffer,
in posts including warden of Nairobi and Amboseli national parks,
assistant warden of Tsavo National Park,  and assistant director of
KWS intelligence.

Zimbabwe mob cruelty continues

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

HARARE-Communications from the embattled Zimbabwe National
SPCA have been few since soon after the Robert Mugabe regime
intensified censorship of outbound mail and e-mail in September 2002,
but brief messages received and forwarded by contacts in other parts
of the world indicate that Meryl Harrison and team are still doing
what they can to relieve animal suffering.
Animals kept by Zimbabweans of European descent continue to
be targeted for abuse by pro-Mugabe mobs, London Daily Telegraph
correspondent Peta Thorneycroft wrote on December 17.
At Forrester Estates, owned by German citizen Heinrich von
Pezold, wrote Thorneycroft, “Several hundred head of cattle were
recently driven into an artificial lake to drown. Others were penned
into paddocks, in searing heat, to starve. The cattle were sent to
their excruciating end by about 20 hysterical farm workers,
encouraged by government supporters. Police were unable to say if
anyone was arrested, at a time when a beef shortage is imminent and
almost half the population is on the brink of starvation.”
Little or no meat was salvaged. The carcasses were burned.

Free online vet help

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2003:

The Merck Veterinary Manual,  considered the single most
comprehensive reference on animal care,  is now accessible at no
charge c/o <www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp>.
Covering 12,000+ indexed topics,  with more than 1,200
illustrations,  the manual may be electronically searched by topic,
species,  specialty,  or disease.

Tongdaeng the street dog reawakens Thai sense of duty toward animals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2003:

BANGKOK–For the second time in five years a street dog has
grabbed the attention and affection of Thailand,  reminding Thais
that kindness toward animals is a national tradition as well as a
Buddhist teaching and moral obligation.
Among modern nations,  only India has a longer documented
history of acknowledging duties toward animals.  At that, the
difference is slim.  The animal-loving Indian emperor Asoka sent
missionaries to Thailand to teach Buddhism in the third century B.C.,
only 250 years after the Buddha died.

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BOOKS: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Dominion:
The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy
by Matthew Scully
St. Martin’s Press (175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010), 2002.
464 pages. $27.95 hardcover.

In November of 1998 I received a copy of
an article from the National Review. As editor
of Humane Religion, a bi-monthly journal, I was
used to getting all kinds of clippings from our
readers, negative and positive. And when I saw
this was taken from the very conservative
National Review, I was sure it was going to be
disheartening, at best. But I couldn’t maintain
that attitude. The article began with the
statement “Respect for God’s creatures should be
a conservative impulse.”

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