Month: March 2005

Letters [March 2005]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

Belgrade zoo

I am a concerned citizen asking for guidance on how to help
the animals who reside at the Belgrade city zoo. Built in 1936, on
six hectares of rocky fortress, this privately operated zoo is among
the oldest in Europe. It is located in the Belgrade city center, on
city property. It has approximately 2.000 animals of about 200
species. Many big animals are in very small cages. Many animals
look distressed. They often show signs of “stereotypic behavior,”
such as pacing, head-bobbing, neck-twisting, bar-biting and
sucking, coprophagia, over-grooming, and self-mutilation. Many
animals have been born who are not in the zoo, including tigers,
bears, and a hippo. What has become of them?
–Jelena Zaric
Belgrade, Serbia
<jelena.zaric@gmail.com>

쩻࿏ௐ耀

What can Bruce D. Patter-son himself add to more than 100
years of discussion?
Quite a lot, as it happens. Patterson and Dr. Samuel Kaseki
of the Kenya Wildlife Service have retraced every known step of the
stories of The Ghost and The Darkness, who hunted humans together
more avidly yet elusively than any other lions on record.
Discovering a compass error in Colonel John Patterson’s
description of the site, Bruce D. Patterson and Kaseki found and
explored the long-lost cave that the lions had supposedly filled with
human remains. Flooding long since emptied it, and it may have been
a tribal burial location, not a lion dining hall–but even if it was
a tribal burial chamber, the lions might have feasted there.
Looking into local history, Patterson established that the
attacks of The Ghost and The Darkness were not without precedent,
nor without subsequent parallel. Meat-hunting to feed the railway쵺࣐ఀ耀

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

Just back from helping with post-tsunami animal relief work
in Sri Lanka, Noah’s Wish founder Terri Crisp has announced her 2005
disaster relief training schedule.
Eleven regional three-day workshops will offer interactive
training in animal intake, reclaim, and lost-and-found; shelter
management; emergency management; safety; search and rescue, the
emotional aspects of disaster response; and disaster preparedness.
“Participants will stay on-site the entire three days,”
spokes-person Shari Thompson said, “to give them a realistic
experience of the physical challenges of responding to a disaster.”
Workshop dates and locations include March 4-6 in
Charles-ton, South Carolina; March 18-20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma;
April 1-3 in Nashville, Tennessee; April 22-24 in Columbus, Ohio;
May 6-8 in Boston; May 20-22 in Flagstaff, Arizona; May 27-29 in
Pr챹৑എ耀

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

NAIROBI–Used to fighting heavily armed Somali poachers who
strike Tsavo National Park from the northeast, Kenya Wildlife
Service wardens found themselves under fire from a different
direction near Lake Jipe on January 21 when they ordered a battered
blue Toyota pickup truck to stop.
Hauling two eland carcasses, the truck appeared to be
engaged in routine bush meat trafficking. Bush meat traffickers
rarely risk their lives in shootouts. They tend to try bribery
first, then pay a small fine and perhaps spend a few days in jail.
But this time the wardens’ vehicle was quickly disabled by a
.404 slug from an elephant gun. The wardens shot back.
“Two middle-aged poachers died on the spot. Three made a
hasty escape through the scrubland, leaving their bloody cargo and a
shotgun behind,” Kenya Wildlife Service deputy director for wildlife
security Peter L콸૒฀耀

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

Miriam Rothschild, 96, died on January
20 in Northamptonshire, England, recalled by
The Times of London as “Beatrix Potter on
amphetamines.” Like Potter, Rothschild
performed dissections and vivisection early in
life, but became a strong animal advocate later
in life. The daughter of banker Charles
Rothschild, who as a hobby identified more than
500 flea species, Miriam Rothschild catalogued
more than 30,000 flea species between 1953 and
1973. Her uncle Lionel Walter Rothschild also
encouraged her interest in biology, collecting
more than 2.3 million butterflies, 300,000 bird
skins, 300,000 birds’ eggs, several pet
cassowaries, and 144 giant tortoises. Miriam
Rothschild followed them into entomology,
working with Nobel Prize-winning chemist Tadeus
Reichstein to decode the relationship between
insects’ consumption of t Read more

Barn & kennel fire deaths are preventable

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

Catastrophic fires at the end of January and beginning of
Febuary 2005 illustrated yet again the importance of avoiding fire
hazards at animal facilities and developing contingency plans that
allow for fast smoke-venting and/or animal evacuation.
Three fires erupted on January 24.
The first was discovered at 2:45 a.m. at the Shepherd’s Way
Farm near Nerstand, Minnesota, the largest producer of sheep’s milk
in the U.S., founded by Stephen Read and family in 1994. Of the
flock of 800, about 113 ewes and 228 lambs were killed outright.
University of Minnesota veterinary students and volunteer faculty
later euthanized another 80-plus, chiefly due to lung damage from
smoke inhalation.
Believed to have been an arson, the fire came four days
after someone torched a stack of 30 round hay bales in a roadside
pasture. There were no immediate suspects.
Smoke inhalation is the chief cause of death of both humans
and animals in fires, but is somewhat more preventable in barns than
in houses, if hay is stored away from the animals, if large doors
can be opened on all sides, and if the large exhaust fans often used
to vent manure fumes remain operable after a fire begins. Relatively
few barns meet these requirements.

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Wolf reintroduction wins twice in federal court

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

ALBUQUERQUE, PORTLAND –February 1, 2005 was a good day for
wolves, at least in court.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. District Judge Christina
Armijo dismissed an effort to force the removal of Mexican gray
wolves from southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona. The
wolves were reintroduced to the region in 1998. The New Mexico
Cattle Growers Association, Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico Counties
for Stable Economic Growth, and co-plaintiffs held that the
reintroduction–debated for more than a decade–was done with
insufficient study.
Ruling for a coalition headed by Defenders of Wildlife, U.S.
District Judge Robert E. Jones of Portland, Oregon meanwhile
reversed an April 2003 ruling by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
that the gray wolves of the continental U.S. form three separate
populations, and are endangered only in the west.

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Other wildlife cases

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

U.S. District Judge Barry Ted Moskowitz ruled on January 19,
2005 in San Diego that the Honolulu-based King Diamond II became a
fishing vessel under U.S. law when it collected 32 tons of shark fins
from 26 swordfish and tuna fishing boats between June and August
2002. The prosecution is the first under the five-year-old U.S.
anti-shark finning law. Tai Loong Hong Marine Products Ltd., of
Hong Kong, boat owner Tran & Yu Inc., and captain Chien Tan Nguyen
face up to $620,000 in fines for alleged possession of shark fins
without the bodies of the sharks, which have little sale value. The
King Diamond II operators allegedly paid $300,000 for the fins, with
an estimated retail value of $775,000. They retrieved and sold the
fins after posting bond for that amount.
District Judge David Rice of Havre, Montana, on February
12, 2005 rejected claims by three ex-game ranchers that Initiative
143, approved by voters in November 2000, was an illegal “taking”
of their property because in banning game farming, it put them out
of business. “The state does not owe compensation for injury to the
value of a business that exists only because the Legislature has
allowed it,” Rice wrote. Rice pointed out that the ex-game farmers
are “free to make other economically viable use of their property.”

Garments & the Gorilla Foundation

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

SAN MATEO, California– Former Gorilla Foundation employees
Nancy Alperin, 47, and Kendra Keller, 48, both of San Francisco,
on February 15, 2005 sued the foundation in San Mateo County
Superior Court for alleged wrongful dismissal and gender
discrimination, claiming damages of $719,830 and $366,192,
respectively.
Alperin and Keller in January 2005 gave the California
Department of Fair Employment and Housing “identical reasons for why
they were fired: ‘I refused to expose my breast to perform acts of
bestiality with one of the gorillas,’ said San Francisco Chronicle
staff writer Patricia Yollin.
“The lawsuit goes into more detail,” Yollin added. “One
example: ‘In at least two incidents in mid-to-late June 2004,
Patterson intensely pressured Keller to expose herself to Koko while
they were working outside where other employees could potentially
view Keller’s naked body.'”

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Animal advocates get Order of British Empire

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

Wildlife veterinarian Bill Jordan is to receive the Order of
the British Empire on April 27, Buckingham Palace announced on
January 1. Jordan debuted in wildlife medicine as consulting vet for
the Chester Zoo, then extended his skills in Iran 1964-1970, and in
South Africa for three years after that.
Jordan went on to found the wildlife department at the Royal
SPCA, authored the wildlife care manual Care For The Wild (1982),
and in 1982 founded the international animal aid charity Care For The
Wild. Also author of an influential critique of zoos, The Last Great
Wild Beast Show (1990), Jordan was a founding member of the British
Zoological Veterinary Society, and a longtime director of the
Captive Animals Protection Society. Jordan left CAPS in 2000 and
left Care For The Wild in 2001, going on to found the Bill Jordan
Wildlife Defence Fund.
Jordan is at least the third prominent animal advocate to
receive Buckingham Palace recognition in recent years. Animals Asia
Foundation founder Jill Robinson received the Order of the British
Empire in 1998, while Dogs Trust chair Clarissa Baldwin received it
in 2003.

United Egg Producers are sued for false advertising

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

TAKOMA PARK, Maryland–Compass-ion Over Killing on February
15, 2005 sued Giant Food Inc. of Landover, Maryland, Lehman’s Egg
Service Inc. of Greencastle, Pennsylvania, and Brookville
Supermarket of Washington, D.C., alleging that their use of an
“Animal Care Certified” logo introduced in 2002 by United Egg
Producers is false advertising.
Under the United Egg Producers guidelines, Compassion Over
Killing points out, farmers may “Confine birds in cages so small
they can’t even spread their wings, slice off parts of their beaks
without painkiller, and starve them [to induce a new egg-laying
cycle by so-called ‘forced molt’] to the point where they have lost
up to 30 percent of their body weight.”
United Egg Producers spokesperson Mitch Head told Gretchen
Parker of Associated Press that about 80% of all U.S. egg farmers
meet the standards.
The Better Business Bureau National Advertising Review Board
in May 2004 upheld a November 2003 ruling by a lower panel that the
“Animal Care Certified” logo is misleading and should either be
dropped or be significantly altered. In August 2004 the BBB asked
the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate the alleged
deceptive labeling.

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Human/animal abuse link cases

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

Tequilla Fields, 34, and Lachan Russell, 29, were on
February 15, 2005 jailed without bond in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
facing charges of criminal homicide, arson, and reckless
endangerment for setting a dog on fire at about 2:15 a.m. on July 11,
1990. Tied to their house, the dog ran onto the porch, igniting
the house and killing Fields’ children, Montelle Thornhill, 2, and
Charita Thornhill, 3. Wrote Joe Mandak of Associated Press, “The
children’s great-grandmother, who has since died, doused the dog
with water, police said. The dog, Fay Lou, then ran inside the
house and was found dead under Montelle’s bed. Their uncle, Andre
Robinson, then 15, tried to save the children but couldn’t find
them in the thick smoke. He jumped from a third-floor window to save
himself, police said.” Police commander Maurita Bryant said the
case was cracked by re-interviewing about 20 witnesses, after which
Fields and Russell each gave statements blaming the other.

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USDA closes C.C. Baird

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

ST. LOUIS–C.C. and Patsy Baird, of Williford, Arkansas,
longtime suppliers of random-source dogs and cats to laboratories,
have paid a record penalty of $262,700 to the USDA for breaking
“practically every regulation and standard applicable to dogs and
cats,” USDA attorney Colleen Carroll told Todd Frankel of the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch on February 1, 2005, three days after the
settlement was finalized.
The Bairds’ daughters Jeannette and Patricia reportedly also
worked in the business.
Wrote Frankel, “The agreement between the USDA and the
Bairds calls for the fine, plus the permanent loss of the family’s
four animal breeding and dealer licenses and the threat of an
additional $250,000 fine if they are caught handling animals in the
next five years. As part of the deal, the Bairds neither admitted
nor denied the allegations.”
Frankel said that about 90 dogs and 120 cats rescued from the
Baird kennels were up for adoption.
In August 2003 federal and state investigators turned over to
rescue groups about 125 dogs seized from the Bairds. Many were
believed to be lost or stolen pets.
Last Chance for Animals called the USDA action a victory,
after an eight-year campaign against the Bairds, “but Carroll said
her office’s investigation did not rely on the group’s work and she
never viewed the videos” that LCA sent her, Frankel wrote.

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