Animal obituaries

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

Sodade, a loggerhead sea turtle tagged with a radio
transmitter and tracked via satellite by the Marine Turtle Resarch
Group at the University of Exeter in Cornwall, U.K., was apparently
poached on August 25, 2004 off Cape Verde, an archipelago west of
Africa. “We started to receive an unusually large number of very
high quality location signals from Sodade,” researcher Brendan
Godley explained. “Such signals are received when a turtle spends
large amounts of time at the surface, suggesting she was likely on
the deck of a boat. Then the transmissions ceased, suggesting that
her transmitter was removed and dumped. Given the large number of
turtles captured for food in Cape Verde and the presence of fishing
boats in the area at the time, we think we know her fate.”

Peipei, 33, the oldest known panda in the world, died on
August 13 at the Hangzhou City Zoo in eastern China.

Obituaries

Are Ford Crown Victorias high-risk for police dogs?

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

MURPHY, N.C.–A Ford Motor Company spokesperson told
Asheville Citizen-Times staff writer Jon Ostendorff on September 2,
2004 that the company is unaware of any problem with the air
conditioning system of Crown Victoria Interceptor police cruisers
that might pose an inordinate risk to police dogs left temporarily
unattended in the vehicles, but Ostendorff quickly identified three
recent deaths of police dogs in recent-model Crown Victorias, and
ANIMAL PEOPLE identified two more.
Ostendorff was aware of the deaths of overheated police dogs
on July 15 in Muleshoe, Texas; August 4 in New Bern, North
Carolina; and August 19 in Murphy, North Carolina.
Queno, an 8-year-old German shepherd trained to detect
explosives, died on July 30 when senior corporal Alex Garcia, his
handler for seven years, left the dog alone for four hours in a
Crown Victoria cruiser at the end of his shift.
Gino, an 11-year-old German shepherd, died along with
Calgary police constable Darren Leggett’s own pet German shepherd on
September 1. Koko, a six-year-old German shepherd police dog,
survived. A police investigation attributed the incident to a
plugged radiator.
In September 2002 ANIMAL PEOPLE noted five other deaths of
dogs in police cars, but the only vehicle identified by make in file
information about those cases was a Chevrolet Tahoe.

Keeping elephants out of sanctuaries

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

DETROIT, SAN FRANCISCO–American Zoo Association director
Sydney Butler has warned the Detroit Zoo and San Francisco Zoo that
the AZA “fundamentally disagrees” with their decisions to retire two
elderly elephants each to sanctuaries, and will “vigorously enforce
our professional ethics and accreditation standards” if the elephants
are moved contrary to the dictates of the AZA Species Survival Plan
committee.
Detroit Zoo director Ron Kagan on May 19, 2000 announced
that the elephants Winky, 51, and Wanda, 40-something, would be
sent to the Elephant Sanctuary at Hohenwald, Tennessee, founded and
directed by former circus performer Carol Buckley.
The elephants would go from their present one-acre enclosure
to a 2,700-acre facility where they could live among a matriarchal
herd almost as if wild.
The Elephant Sanctuary has nine elephants now: six Asians,
three Africans.
“Kagan’s intent drew widespread public praise, but alarmed
many in the zoo community who believe that zoos are fully capable of
providing good lives for elephants,” understated Detroit Free Press
writer Hugh McDiarmid Jr.
Transferring any elephants outside the AZA-accredited zoo
network could become an influential argument for transferring any
elephants whose situations are less than ideal–and elephants are
perhaps the leading gate attractions at any zoo, but are in ever
shorter supply.

North America

Thai crackdown on animal trafficking hits high officials as CITES nears

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

BANGKOK–Delegates arriving in Bangkok for the 2004 meeting
of the parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species, to start on October 1, will find the clandestine animal
traffic thriving, despite a year-long crackdown.
The good news is that the crackdown is still underway,
reaching higher and farther into the web of corrupt officials who
have enabled Bangkok to persist as a global hub of illegal animal
dealing.
Wildlife Conservation Office director Schwann Tunhikorn will
head the Thai CITES delegation, replacing Manop Laohapraser, who
was removed from his post in July 2004 for alleged misconduct in
authorizing the export of 100 tigers to the Sunya Zoo in China two
years earlier. The zoo is owned by the Si Racha Tiger Farm.
An investigation headed by National Intelligence Agency
director Joompol Manmai concluded that the tiger sale was a
commercial transaction, not a breeding and exhibition loan as
defined by CITES.
“Some believe [the tigers] were destined for human
consumption,” London Observer correspondent Mark Townsend reported
on September 13.

Bush & Kerry each seek an animal-friendly image, have contrasting records on animals

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

WASHINGTON D.C.–Animal issues historically have little
resonance with voters, but the appearance of animal-friendliness is
all-important for U.S. Presidential campaigns, conventional
political wisdom holds.
Only three presidents have ever been elected without mention
being made of their pets, and none since 1880, according to Claire
McLean, curator of the Presidential Pet Museum in Lothian, Virginia.
Some analysts of image-making believe voters may have
preferred Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore in 2000
because Bush fed his cats on camera, in his bathrobe, presenting a
caring appearance, while Gore, in a business suit, only patted his
dog while speaking of other things.
Alexandra Kerry, daughter of Democratic nominee John Kerry,
opened her July 29 address to the Democratic National Convention in
Boston with a pet story.
“It hasn’t been easy to sift through years of memories about
my father and find those few that might best tell you who John Kerry
really is,” Alexandra Kerry began.
“So, let me begin with one July day when [sister] Vanessa
and I were kids. It’s a silly story, but it’s true, and it’s one
of my favorite memories about my father.

Editorial feature: The Fund, HSUS, & merging packs

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

Rumors that the Fund for Animals and the
Humane Society of the U.S. are holding merger
talks reached ANIMAL PEOPLE on July 26.
Confirmation came a few days later.
In the interim, on July 30, five closely
spaced shotgun blasts followed by frantic yelping
disturbed the woods about half a mile from our
remote rural office. Someone apparently dumped
two black Labrador retriever mixes, a mother and
nearly grown son, and fired the shots to keep
the dogs from following his truck.
Ignoring rabbits who boldly ran right in
front of them, the dogs survived by scavenging
for several days before stumbling upon the
feeding station we set up for them.
For almost a month, we fed and watered
them at the same spot–waiting more than a week
for box traps to arrive, and then waiting for
the dogs to get used to the traps enough to begin
eating inside them. Finally the dogs were
caught, first the mother and then the pup.
Now comes the even more difficult process
of integrating the two new dogs into our pack of
three older dogs.

PetCo urges “Think adoption first”

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

SAN DIEGO–Customers seeking any live animal at any of the
680 PetCo Animal Supplies Inc. stores will now be advised to “Think
Adoption First,” the PetCo Foundation announced on August 20 at the
2004 Conference on Homeless Animal Management and Policy.
“PetCo does not sell dogs and cats, and for almost 40 years
has worked with shelters to find homes for adoptable animals, but
our stores offer small animals, reptiles, and birds,” spokesperson
Shawn Underwood said. “As part of ‘Think Adoption First,’
PetCo–with the help of Petfinder.com –will reach out to shelters
that offer these other animals for adoption. Although PetCo will
continue to offer companion animals in their stores, they will
encourage customers to seek adoptable animals in the community as a
first option.”
“Working with more than 7,100 animal welfare organizations,
Petfinder.com offers a searchable data base of adoptable animals,”
Underwood said.
Petfinder claims to have helped place more than 1.5 million
animals in 2003.
As a separate but parallel test, four PetCo stores in the
Minneapolis area in July 2004 began offering rabbits for adoption
from the Minnesota House Rabbit Society.

BBB asks FTC to probe “animal care certified”

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

Washington D.C.–The Better Business Bureau on August 25,
2004 asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate as a
potential case of deceptive labeling the use of the phrase “Animal
Care Certified” by members of the industry trade group United Egg
Producers.
The BBB National Advertising Review Board on May 9 upheld a
November 2003 ruling by a lower panel that the UEP use of “animal
care certified” is misleading, and should either be dropped or be
significantly altered. The UEP board on May 10 voted to revamp their
web site to give more information about what the label means, but
the BBB found that this did not meet their objection.
The initial complaint about “animal care certified” was
brought to the BBB by Compassion Over Killing, which earlier filed
similar complaints with both the Federal Trade Commission and the
Food & Drug Administration.

What happened to the circling vultures?

September 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

NEW DELHI–“The government is taking its own sweet time in
phasing out a veterinary drug blamed for bringing vultures to the
verge of extinction,” Chandrika Mago of the Times of India news
network charged on September 8, 2004.
Washington State University microbiologist Lindsay Oaks in
January 2003 identified the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac as the
cause of the loss over the past decade of more than 95% of the once
common Oriental white-backed vulture. Also fast declining are
long-billed and slender-billed vultures.
“Vultures have an important ecological role in Asia, where
they have been relied upon for millennia to clean up and remove dead
livestock and even human corpses,” explained Peregrine Fund
biologist Munir Virani when the diclofenac link was disclosed.
“Their loss,” Virani continued, “has important economic,
cultural, and human health consequences,” especially for millions
of Parsees, about 1% of the Indian population, for whom exposing
corpses to consumption by vultures is a religious mandate.
The Bombay Natural History Society warned in February that
continued sale of diclofenac could cause the extinction of Indian
vultures. A similar warning came in June from Samar Singh,
president of the Tourism & Wildlife Society of India. Yet diclofenac
is still in unrestricted over-the-counter veterinary use.

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