Indo-Canadian low-cost vets accuse British Columbia Vet Med Association of discrimination

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

VANCOUVER–Alleging that they have been targeted for doing
low-cost dog and cat sterilizations, 18 Indo-Canadian veterinarians,
16 of them members of the British Columbia Veterinary Medical
Association, are pursuing discrimination claims against BCVMA
registrar Valerie Osborne.
Led by Atlas Animal Hospital owner Hakam Bhullar, the vets
have registered a lawsuit with the British Columbia Supreme Court,
seeking to remove Osborne from office, and have petitioned the
British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal requesting that an unusually
strict language proficiency test required by the BCVMA be repealed.
Osborne and other BCVMA representatives have said little on
the record about the Indo-Canadian veterinarians’ complaints, except
to deny that the intent of the language proficiency test is
discriminatory.
Under Osborne, Bhullar told Richard Chu of the Vancouver
Sun, the BCVMA requires vets to score 92% on a standard test of
spoken English. Lawyers, medical doctors, dentists, nurses, and
firefighters are required to score only 83%, Bhullar said.

Dog round-up & shark fin controversies bite Hong Kong Disneyland

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

HONG KONG–Hong Kong Disneyland had barely found a
face-saving way to retreat from serving sharks’ fins at weddings when
Hong Kong Dog Rescue founder Sally Anderson complained to South China
Morning Post reporter Simon Perry that Disney management had lethally
purged several dozen dogs she was trying to capture at the theme park
and offer for adoption.
“Dozens of stray dogs adopted by construction workers on the
Disney site have been rounded up and killed in the run-up to the
park’s opening in September,” Parry wrote on July 25, 2005.
“Forty-five dogs, some believed to have been used as unofficial guard
dogs on the site during construction, have been caught by government
dog catchers at Disney’s request.
“Disney last night denied the strays had ever been officially
used as guard dogs and said it had called in dog catchers because the
animals were roaming in packs and posing a threat to staff.”
Reuters sent the story worldwide.

Japan still killing whales, but moratorium holds

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

SEOUL–Japan is still killing minke, sei, Bryde’s and sperm
whales in the name of research, and will kill humpbacks this year
as well, with a total self-set “scientific” quota for the year of
935.
Norway continues killing minke whales in coastal waters, and
Iceland has resumed whaling, but all still without world approval,
as the 57th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission
ended in Ulsan, South Korea on June 24 with no major successes for
the pro-whaling faction.
“We entered the week with a strong fear that the balance of
power within the IWC would shift to a pro-whaling majority,”
summarized Whalewatch Coalition leader Philip Lymbery. His
delegation represented the Royal SPCA, Earth Island Institute,
Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society, Whale Watch, and Humane
Society International.

PETA survives IRS audit

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

NORFOLK–The Internal Revenue Service announced on May 16
that a 20-month audit of PETA and the subsidiary Foundation to
Support Animal Protection found no reason to revoke their tax-exempt
status.
FSAP holds two-thirds of the assets under PETA control
according to IRS Form 990, including 75% of the cash and securities.
FSAP in recent years has paid the mortgage on the PETA
headquarters, has leased the site to PETA, and has done direct mail
fundraising on behalf of PETA. This has enabled PETA to avoid
declaring the full extent and nature of PETA assets and spending on
IRS Form 990.
PETA claimed in fiscal 2003, for example, that only 14% of
its expenditures were for fundraising and administration, but if
FSAP and PETA were seen as a single fundraising unit, counting the
cost of all mailings with fundraising appeals as fundraising expense,
following the Wise Giving Alliance accounting standard, actual
fundraising and administrative expense came to 50% of budget.

North America

Most wanted poachers busted in India & Nepal

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

DELHI, KASARA–The two most notorious living poachers on the
Asian subcontinent were arrested on June 30 and July 20,
respectively, as result of separate investigations.
The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation apprehended Sansar
Chand, 47, after tracing him to his Delhi home by identifying his
newspaper reading habits: a native of Rajasthan, Chand read
Rajasthani papers in a neighborhood where few others did.
First arrested for poaching and wildlife trafficking at age
16, in 1974, when he was found in possession of 676 animal pelts
including those of tigers and leopards, Chand worked with at least
five close relatives. He was reportedly convicted 15 times without
serving any significant sentence, even after he was caught with
28,486 contraband pelts in 1988. Fifty-seven cases are pending
against him in nine Indian states, wrote London Independent Delhi
correspondent Justin Huggler.
Apprehending Chand became an Indian government priority after
he was linked to the annihilation of the tiger population at Sariska
National Park. The loss of tigers, confirmed in November 2004 after
months of suspicion, destroyed the tourism appeal of one of India’s
former top visitor attractions.

Transforming Phuket animal conditions post-tsunami

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

PHUKET, Thailand–Urbanization is hitting Phuket much harder
than the tsunami of December 26, 2004.
What that may mean for animals on the 400-square-mile resort
island near the extreme south of Thailand is anyone’s guess.
The Soi Dog Foundation and Gibbon Rehabilitation Project,
among Phuket’s most prominent pro-animal organizations, are
guardedly optimistic.
More development may mean more homes for dogs and cats, and
more donors to support animal charities.
Paradoxically, more development could even mean more
protected wildlife habitat. Tourism employs one Phuket adult in
four. The August-to-November bird migration season drives tourism
from midsummer until the winter holidays. That makes safeguarding
bird habitat, at least, a high priority for planners.
Yet more people might mean more traffic and less tolerance of
street dogs, already considered a nuisance by much of the Buddhist
majority, and mostly abhored by Muslims.

Letters [July/Aug 2005]

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

Kindest fate

The April 2005 edition of Animal People included the
subheading “Dog Meat Farms Spread Rabies.”
Perhaps the kindest fate for dogs who are raised for
consumption is to be killed to prevent the spread of disease, rather
than being put through the horrors of the dog meat markets.
Some years ago, I watched a local TV program regarding cats
bred and sold for human consumption, probably in southern China.
What shook and haunted me more than anything else was the picture of
cats being skinned alive at the market and being carried away alive
for the pot.
As a Christian I believe that animals have souls, and I
believe that regardless of personal beliefs, we will each be
accountable to God for the cruelty we perpetrate upon His glorious
creation.
–Dave Thorpe
Cape Town, South Africa
<davidbthorpe@yahoo.com>

Letters

Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust takes over in Sri Lanka

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

Colombo, Sri Lanka–The Tsunami People/Animal Welfare
Coalition on July 26, 2005 wrapped up emergency relief operations
begun after the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, rolling all
remaining assets over into the Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust.
Coalition and Trust cofounder Robert Blumberg arranged that
ANIMAL PEOPLE officially sponsored the last of a six-month series of
vaccination missions by Pets V Care mobile clinics into refugee camps
and tsunami-stricken coastal villages.
“ANIMAL People recognized almost immediately after the
tsunami that something of major consequence had taken place regarding
animal welfare,” Blumberg wrote in the last Coalition update.
“Within days after the tsunami hit, Animal People sent financial
assistance to start the Tsunami People/Animal Welfare Coalition.
This allowed us to get on the road, assessing, treating and
vaccinating. So far the Coalition itself has vaccinated more than
14,000 animals in the tsunami zones,” Blumberg said. “Animal People
sponsored our first trips and now our last vaccinating trip, and is
now supporting the Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust as it
sterilizes and vaccinates in the tsunami zones and refugee camps.”

Pound electrocutions stopped in Manila

July 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2005:

MANILA–Seeking a cheaper, faster way to kill dogs than
either lethal injection or use of an antiquated carbon monoxide
chamber, Manila Veterinary Inspection Board members Manuel Socorro
and Condenio Panogan reportedly electrocuted approximately 100 dogs
from mid-May 2005 to mid-July before word of their work leaked out.
“Socorro “said they were given a one-year permit by the
Bureau of Animal Industry to conduct a study of electrocution as a
tool to put down dogs,” wrote Evelyn Macairan of The Philippine Star.
“This involved conducting a series of tests wherein the voltage would
be set starting at 100 volts and be slowly raised to 500 volts.”
Four days after Philippine Animal Welfare Society volunteer
and veterinary student Emil Reban witnessed some of the
electrocutions and described what he saw, the Bureau of Animal
Industries’ Committee on Animal Welfare revoked the permit
“immediately and indefinitely upon hearing PAWS president Nita
Lichauco’s petition to cancel it,” e-mailed PAWS member Ramona
Eliza T. Consunji on July 11.

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