Hong Kong tries again

March 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

Hong Kong banned keeping chickens and ducks as pets,
effective on February 20, 2006, after H5N1 was confirmed in 10 wild
birds of four different species.
Hong Kong tried to ban and cull other bird species kept as
pets when H5N1 first appeared in 1996, killing six residents, but
many people released their pets rather than allowing them to be
killed–which might have spread the disease if any of the pet birds
had been infected.
Doing door-to-door inspections, the Hong Kong Agriculture,
Fisheries and Conservation Department found 42 illegal bird-keepers
with 180 chickens and 57 other fowl in their possession, among the
first 43,600 households visited. They also found 1,000
chickens at an illegal slaughterhouse.
The Hong Kong Health, Welfare, & Food Bureau asked the
Legislative Council to ban live poultry sales by 2009, a goal the
bureau has pursued for more than 10 years. Under a permit buy-back
plan introduced in 2004, 272 of 814 live chicken vendors and 30 of
200 Hong Kong chicken growers have gone out of business, the bureau
said.

How popular were pit bulls once upon a time?

March 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

While few doubt that pit bull terriers have long been bred as
fighting dogs, most discussion of pit bull traits or regulation
meets claims such as that “The American pit bull terrier and its
cousins had a well-deserved reputation as a loyal and trustworthy
family pet in the early years of this century,” (from
canismajor.com), and that “By World War I the American pit bull
terrier had became a well loved and desired dog,” (from
americanpitbullregistry-.com).
Newspaper Arch-ive.com now provides a quick way to check the
record, via 28.9 million pages of text-searchable microfilmed
newspapers from the 18th century to today. This includes the
classified dogs-for-sale ads.
ANIMAL PEOPLE recently ran searches on 34 dog breeds and
breed types for the years 1900-1950, limiting each search to U.S.
newspapers only, and adding the word “dog” to each search to avoid
pulling up entries for “husky” football players, St. Bernard the
Roman Catholic monk, boxers and pugs who were human prizefighters,
etc.

Companion Animals

Alaska Board of Game scraps own accountability rules to allow shooting wolves from aircraft

March 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

ANCHORAGE–Ten years after Alaskans banned hunting wolves
from aircraft by ballot initiative, 157 pilot/gunner teams are
shooting wolves from aircraft by authorization of the Alaska Division
of Wildlife Conservation and Board of Game–as hunters have every
winter since 2003/2004–and there is nothing that Friends of Animals
can do through the law to stop it, Alaska Superior Court Judge
Sharon Gleason ruled on January 31, 2006.
On January 17, 2006, three years after FoA sued seeking to
stop the airborne wolf hunt, Gleason ruled that the Board of Game
violated its own rules by failing to publish written justification
for it, including explanations of why alternatives to lethal control
such as wolf sterilization could not be used.
The 2006 airborne wolf hunt was suspended for two weeks after
only 24 wolves were killed, out of a quota of more than 500. The
quota exceeds the total of 445 wolves killed during the first three
winters of the program.

Is Belgrade rabies panic covering for dog /cat skinners?

March 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

BELGRADE–A dog pogrom started in Belgrade, the capital of
Serbia, just before the January 2006 escalation of dog-killing in
Bucharest.
The Belgrade pretext was an alleged rabies outbreak that
appeared to have been proclaimed by animal control officials trying
to keep a lucrative fiefdom.
“Belgrade activists obtained heavy documentation,” e-mailed
ANIMAL PEOPLE reader Jelena Zaric, “that instead of using donations
for animals’ sake, dogcatchers were killing the animals. There is
no need to remind you,” Zaric opined, “that Serbia is known for dog
and cat fur, and for inhumane treatment of stray animals.
“On January 27,” Zaric continued, “Belgrade animal
advocates obtained information that city officials would announce a
rabies outbreak in two days, after Belgrade activists filed a
complaint about illegal activities that surround a couple of city
officials and one leading animal welfare organization.

Hitting fur in the high Himalayas

March 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

NEW DELHI, CHENNAI–Rajasthan police on
February 3, 2006 arrested Nepal-based Tibetan
wildlife trafficker Tshering Nema, also known as
Neema Kampa, in north Delhi, finding him in
alleged possession of the skins of 34 leopards
and four otters.
“The consignment was en route to Siliguri
in West Bengal,” reported the Times of India
News Network, “to be then dispatched to Tibet
through Nepal.”
Identified by the Indo Asian News Service
as “an associate of notorious poacher Sansar
Chand,” Nema is believed to have been a kingpin
in the gang that in 2004 exterminated tigers
within the Sariska tiger reserve, significantly
reduced the Ranthambore reserve population, and
poached down the populations at 12 of India’s 25
other tiger reserves.
Nema allegedly relayed poached pelts to
Tibet via his father, Tamdin Vangyal of Nepal.
Rajasthan Police spokesperson A.K. Jain said that
Vangyal was also in Delhi when Nema was nabbed,
but eluded arrest.

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