National Legislation — U.S. & world

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. military is exempted from complying
with the Marine Mammal Protection Act under a rider to the 2004
defense construction authorization bill, signed on November 22 by
President George W. Bush. The rider enabled the U.S. Navy to try to
overturn an October 2003 legal settlement in which it agreed to
extensive restrictions on the use of low-frequency sonar, believed
to be lethal to whales.
WASHINGTON D.C.–Associated Press reported on December 8 that
U.S. President Bush is expected to sign the Captive Wildlife Safety
Act, despite the opposition of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,
which will be mandated to enforce it. The bill, requiring a federal
permit to sell exotic cats across state borders, cleared Congress on
December 7.

Letters: Conservation group experts urged dog shooting in Ethiopia

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

Not “euthanasia”

I am a great admirer of Virginia McKenna and Will Travers,
who started the Born Free Foundation. In the early 1960s a screening
of the film Born Free was the first major fundraiser of the Blue
Cross of India, with which I have been associated since its founding.
Over the years I have often been surprised and disappointed
to hear so-called animal advocates use the term “euthanasia” to mean
anything ranging from killing one’s pet to the mass slaughter of
animals, whether in pounds or in the wild. “Euthanasia” means mercy
killing and is only justified when it means putting a suffering being
out of its misery when the being is in severe pain which is likely to
endure.
The slaughter of the dogs at Bale Mountains National Park in
Ethiopia can be called culling or killing or worse, but not
euthanasia. I am surprised at the Born Free Foundation calling it
so.
From a personal viewpoint, reflecting neither the official
position of the Blue Cross of India nor that of the Animal Welfare
Board of India: species have gone extinct since life began. Humans
as thinking and rational beings have a responsibility to avoid
speeding up this process and to help slow it down where possible
without causing collateral damage. We cannot play God by deciding to
slaughter one set of animals in favor of another.
The Born Free Found-ation’s position on these issues should
be made clear when it solicits funds from the public.
–S. Chinny Krishna, Chair
Blue Cross of India
and Vice Chair
Animal Welfare
Board of India
Ministry of
Environment
& Forests
Government of India
1-A Eldams Rd.
Chennai
Tamil Nadu 600018, India
Phone: 91-44-234-1399
Fax 91-44-234-9801
<drkrishna@aspick.com>

Clueless

I am amazed that with homeless dog populations around the
world in virtually every developing country, the “experts” remain so
clueless about their niche and how to “manage” them. Shooting at any
animal will drive the animal further away into more remote areas.
The homeless dogs around Bale Mountains National Park should
have been vaccinated for rabies years ago: they are more of a risk
factor than owned animals.
–Julia N. Allen, PhD., DVM
c/o Emergency Management Veterinary Services
3618 39th Ave West
Seattle, WA
Tel/Fax: 206-281-0988
<DrJNA@att.net>

Chaining

I am alarmed at all that has been going on in Ethiopia with
the dogs and the wolves, including that chaining dogs for life was
recommended by government officials and conservationists as a
solution to the problem.
Vaccination and sterilization are what is needed, not
keeping dogs chained. Domestic dogs need to be part of the family,
their pack, and not be chained out as though they are not living
beings deserving of care and respect.
I urge anyone who recommends chaining to cease, and would be
happy to send educational materials in English or Spanish to Ethiopia
for use in community education.
–Tammy Sneath Grimes, founder
Dogs Deserve Better
P.O. Box 23
Tipton, PA 16684
877-636-1408
<www.dogsdeservebetter.com>

[This letter was also sent to Ethiopian officials and to the
Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program, which is financially supported
by the Born Free Foundation and World Wildlife Fund.]

Australia pays Eritrea to take sheep–and has a new live transport incident

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

PORTLAND, Australia– The Australian live sheep export trade
had just begun to regroup after the three-month Cormo Express debacle
when economic disaster hit again– induced this time by Animal
Liberation South Australia campaigner Ralph Hahneuser.
The Cormo Express sailed Fremantle with 57,937 sheep on
August 5, bound for Kuwait, where they were to be unloaded and
trucked to Saudi Arabia. Arriving on August 22, the sheep were
refused entry to Kuwait, however, because some had developed scabby
mouth disease en route.
After no other nation would accept the sheep, the Australian
government repurchased the consignment from the Saudi buyer for $4.5
million U.S., halted all further sales of livestock to Saudi Arabia,
and investigated means of slaughtering and disposing of the sheep
short of returning them all to Australia, where the sheep industry
no more wanted them than the Saudis did.

Thailand hits traffickers in wildlife & dog meat

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

BANGKOK–Thai national police raided two major zoos, seized
33,000 animals from suspected poachers and wildlife traffickers, and
arrested bunchers for Laotian and Vietnamese dog meat vendors as well
during the first six weeks of an unprecedented national crackdown on
illegal animal sales.
Caught in the dragnet were three major exhibition venues:
Safari World Inc., raided on November 22 and found to be missing 14
tigers supposed to be on its inventory; the Si Racha Tiger Farm,
raided on November 27; and the Phuket Fantasea theme park, owned by
Safari World Inc., where the 14 missing tigers were discovered on
December 4.

Death of Keiko may coincide with rise of anti-whaling movement in Norway, Japan

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

TAKNES FJORD, Norway; TAIJI, Japan–Keiko, 27, the orca
star of the Free Willy! film trilogy, died suddenly on December 12,
2003 from apparent acute pneumonia.
His death concluded perhaps the most Quixotic, costly, and
popular episode in 138 years of documented efforts by some humans to
save whales from exploitation by others, beginning with the
post-U.S. Civil War anti-whaling crusade waged in the North Pacific
by Captain James Waddell and the crew of the ex-Confederate cruiser
Shenandoah. Waddell and his few dozen men destroyed 38 whaling ships
and took more than a thousand prisoners without killing anyone before
they were apprehended.
Their mission, recounted by Murray Morgan in Dixie Raider
(1948) inspired Paul Watson to found the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society in 1977.

BOOKS: Above All, Be Kind

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

Above All, Be Kind:
Raising a Humane Child in Challenging Times
by Zoe Weil
New Society Publishers (P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island,
B.C. V0R 1X0, Canada), 2003. 272 pages, paperback. $17.95.

On page 127 of Above All, Be Kind,
veteran humane educator Zoe Weil advises parents
to teach their children the CRITIC approach to
analytical thinking developed by Professor Wayne
Bartz. “CRITIC,” Weil explains, “stands for
Claim? Role of the claimant? Information
backing the claim? Test? Independent testing?
Cause proposed?”
Weil shows how CRITIC might be applied in
evaluating ads for a diet product.

LETTERS [December 2003]

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

Tail-docking

I noticed that the November 2003 full page ad from Animal
Rights International asking the American Veterinary Medical
Association to adhere to ethical animal treatment did not mention the
AVMA position on tail-docking. Their policy is very “fudgy,” and
AVMA members dock tails wherever state law allows it.
The new American Assoc-iation of Equine Practioners policy
on tail docking, adopted in July 2003, protects horses against
cosmetic tail amputation, but not against all amputation. The AAEP
position reads:
Tail docking in horses should only be performed when it is a
medical necessity or when it is vital to ensuring the horse’s safety
in a work environment. Tail docking should not be performed for
cosmetic reasons. To protect the health and welfare of the horse,
tail docking should be performed by a licensed veterinarian to ensure
adequate pain management, sterile technique and appropriate
aftercare. Tail docking should always be done in compliance with
individual state laws.
If European horse users can put full-tailed horses into
multiple hitches without endangering anyone or anything, how come we
cannot? You and I know what will happen: The person with a horse
who wants to be like his “peers” will plead safety issues and get the
tail lopped off.
Draft horse judge John Blaisdell, P.E.I. tells me that if
there are two teams competing in the ring with identical scores, he
has to chose the team with the shortest tails as winners. Where are
the winners here? The judge is weak, the horses are mutilated,
the handler remains uneducated. A dock-tailed horse proclaims the
ignorance of his handler and trainer. Blaisdell also cites many
cases in his experience where this totally unnecessary operation led
to infection and worse in the horses.
The new president of the AAEP is Thomas D. Brokken of Ft.
Lauderdale. He works exclusively with thoroughbred racehorses. He
has served on the AAEP ethics committee and educational programs.
The headquarters for the AAEP is 4075 Iron Works Parkway, Lexington,
KY 40511; 1-800-443-0177; or fax 1-859-233-0147. Email:
<aaepoffice@aaep.org>.
–Sharon Cregier
Montague
Prince Edward Island
Canada
<scregier@pei.sympatico.ca>
Read more

Letters

Actress-turned-politician sends 100 working elephants to camp

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

CHENNAI, TRIVANDRUM– Credit Jayalalithaa, the actress
turned Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, India, with at least
offering a different sort of animal-related sideshow from the usual
in Indian politics.
Instead of either killing dogs or railing against alleged
Muslim cow slaughter, Jayalalithaa and the Department of Hindu
Religious and Charitable Endowments from November 15 to December 15
hosted a rest-and-recreation camp for working elephants at the
Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Thepakkadu, near Coimbatore.
Held against the opposition of federal environment minister
T.R. Baalu, a liquor merchant who like Jayalalithaa comes from
Chennai, the elephant camp attracted 45 elephants from the Forest
Department, 37 from Tamil Nadu temples, and 18 belonging to private
individuals.
It also attracted 10,000 tourists.

Radio Ethiopia investigates dog-shooting at Bale Mountains National Park

December 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

ADDIS ABABA–The shooting of homeless
dogs at Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia,
and the history behind it, reported on page one
of the November 2003 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE,
reached the Ethiopian public for the first time
on December 15 via Radio Ethiopia.
“The journalist sent to report what was
going on reported the reality,” e-mailed Homeless
Animal Protection Society cofounder Efrem
Legesse, including “the interviews he got from
us, the local community living around the park,
the park warden, and Ethiopian Wolf Conservation
Program director Stuart Williams. It was
broadcast three times at noon, when most
Ethiopians listen to the news.”

1 2 3 »