1st chimp at Tacugama kills man, leads escape

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone– Bruno, 20, the orphaned
chimpanzee for whom Bala Amarasekaran founded the Tacugama Chimpanzee
Sanctuary in 1995, led 31 other chimps in an April 23 mass breakout,
killing tourist driver Issa Kanu.
The three American passengers, in Sierra Leone to help build
a new U.S. embassy about two miles from Tacugama, were reportedly
flown to Atlanta for treatment of undisclosed injuries.
Reuters identified them as Gary Morris, Paul Gregory, and
Donald Ford. Agence France-Press said they were Alan Robertson,
Gary Brown, and Richie Goodie.
“The men are recovering gradually from shock and their wounds
are no longer life-threatening,” a nurse told AFP.

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Beyond “Sylvester & Tweety”

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

FOSTER CITY, Calif.–Tired of playing stereotypical opposing
roles in endless political re-runs of the “Sylvester & Tweety”
cats-vs.-birds battle, Homeless Cat Network “cat manager” Cimeron
Morrissey, Sequoia Audubon Society conservation committee chair
Robin Winslow Smith, and Foster City management analyst Andra Lorenz
in 2004 quit competing for TV sound bites and formed Project Bay Cat
instead.
They all knew what the problem was: more than 170 feral cats
lived along the Bay Trail, a popular scenic hiking route that
follows a long abandoned shoreline railway. Mostly the cats hunted
small rodents. Like other predators, they caught mostly the old,
the young, the sick, and the injured.

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Editorial: The Sierra Club vs. anti-hunting legacy of founder John Muir

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

That Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson
would eventually resign from the Sierra Club board of directors was
widely anticipated almost from the moment of his election in 2003.
Watson was elected as part of an aggressive challenge to a range of
Sierra Club positions and policies, was elected without sufficient
supporters and allies to have much chance of success, and was
predictably isolated throughout his tenure from the rest of the
Sierra Club power structure.
Yet Watson did not resign until April 17, 2006, just a
month before the end of his three-year term. When Watson did resign,
he left in protest against the Sierra Club executive issuing an
unprecedented and unequivocally strong endorsement of sport hunting,
directly contrary to the views of founder John Muir.

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Odds are risky for whales at IWC

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

ST. KITTS–The outcome of the 58th annual meeting of the
International Whaling Commission, upcoming at the St. Kitts & Nevis
Marriot Resort and Royal Beach Casino, looks like an even bet.
“This year the pro-whaling nations look likely to achieve
their first majority,” assess environment correspondents David
McNeill and Michael McCarthy of The Independent–but that was just
before Israel joined the IWC, possibly tipping the balance against
whaling
“Over the past six years, at least 14 nations have been
recruited to the IWC as Japan’s supporters,” McNeill and McCarthy
note. “Most of them have no whaling tradition. Some, such as
Mongolia and Mali, do not even have a coastline.

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17-year-old’s death changes lawmakers’ view of exotic cats in private hands

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

TOPEKA–Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius on April 17 signed
into law a bill requiring Kansans who keep big cats, bears, and
non-native venomous snakes to hold a U.S. Department of Agriculture
exhibitors’ license plus $250,000 worth of liability insurance.
To take effect on October 1, 2006, the bill sailed through
the Kansas senate unanimously, and cleared the state house 101-24.
Just eight months earlier the new Kansas law might never have
escaped a legislative subcommittee. Press coverage of a much weaker
regulatory effort was not sympathetic.
“Exotic cats keep Kansas couple purring, but regulations
could take pets away,” headlined the Kansas City Star on August 6,
2005, above a feature by Leann Sulzen of Associated Press about hog
farmers Rod and Rita Rose, of Salina, Kansas.

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