Month: May 2006

Gaming politics & greyhounds

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

BOSTON–Does anyone care if Native American-run gambling
casinos donate to campaigns to end greyhound racing?
The Massachusetts-based anti-dog racing group Grey2K USA
“receives support from the Humane Society of the U.S.,” which
“routinely accepts cash donations from Indian casinos,” alleged
Boston Herald chief investigative reporter Dave Wedge on April 20,
2006, raising two questions: are casinos actually involved in
anti-greyhound racing efforts, and if they are, is there anything
questionable about opponents of gambling on animals accepting support
from promoters of non-animal based gambling, especially in view that
hundreds of humane societies are partially supported by raffles and
bingo?
“In my recollection, the only time we have partnered in any
financial way with Indian casinos was in fighting efforts by
greyhound tracks to [get state legislatures to] allow slot machines
at their tracks,” HSUS president Wayne Pacelle told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
This was a fight recently lost in Florida, where the
Hollywood Greyhound Track is now allowed to have slot machines. A
similar proposal is still under legislative consideration in
Massachusetts.

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Kindness Clubs grew into the Ghana SPCA

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

Kindness Clubs grew into the Ghana SPCA
by Debra J. White

Scraggly dogs and hungry cats foraging on the crowded streets
of Kumasi tugged at schoolteacher Roland Azantilow’s heart. Besides
his love for children, including his own three, Azantilow was
always fondness of animals. Indifference to animal mistreatment
troubled him. There were no private or public agencies that helped
animals in distress.
Born and raised in Ghana, Azanti-low was educated at the
Technical Teachers Training Institute, Madras Southern Region, in
Chennai, India. Chennai is headquarters of the Animal Welfare Board
of India, and of the Blue Cross of India, one of the most
influential humane societies in Asia, but “I never had any contact
with anybody in animal welfare,” Azantilow recalls. He did,
however, take a course about animal welfare.

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RSPCA of Australia wins big case but loses face with activists

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

“Two months after opposing Australia’s live animal export
trade for slaughter, the Royal SPCA has endorseed a large shipment
of dairy cattle from the Port of New-castle bound for Japan,” the
Australia Broadcasting Corporation revealed on April 25, 2006.
Explained Bernie Murphy, RSPCA chief executive officer for
New South Wales, “I need to emphasize the difference between live
export for breeding, and the RSPCA’s stated and continued opposition
to live export for slaughter. We consider that totally unnecessary,”
Murphy said. “We think the animals should be processed in humane
conditions in Australia.”
“I’m perplexed and utterly stunned that they have made this
exception and are supporting Livecorp,” the exporter, “when
Livecorp are also responsible for the transport of thousands of
animals to be slaughtered,” said Lynda Stoner of Animal Liberation
Australia.

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A 2nd ex-OSU chimp dies at Primarily Primates

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

SAN ANTONIO– A second former Ohio State University
laboratory chimp has died soon after arrival at the Primarily
Primates sanctuary in Leon Spring, Texas.
Bobby, 16, was found dead in his cage on April 20, about
seven weeks after the death of Kermit, 35, who was at Primarily
Primates for less than a day.
Necropsy results due as the May 2006 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE
went to press are expected to find that as with Kermit, Bobby died
from a pre-existing heart condition. “Bobby did visit a cardiologist
about five years ago and was put on heart medication,” Primarily
Primates spokesperson Vernon Weir told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “I understand
that the university stopped this medication several years ago,
presumably because it was not necessary over the long term.

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Sealers overkill quota, mob observers

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

OTTAWA–Atlantic Canadian sealers reportedly killed as many
as 16,000 more infant seals than their 2006 record quota of 325,000,
“yet not one sealer was arrested,” observed Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society founder Paul Watson.
Logistic problems kept the Sea Shepherds away from the
Atlantic Canada seal hunt in 2006, but Watson initiated a boycott of
Costco stores. Costco executives on March 1 told Sea Shepherd
volunteer Stephen Thompson that Costco would quit selling seal oil
capsules, Watson said, only to renege less than two weeks later
under pressure from Newfoundland politicians.

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From Youth for Conservation to the Africa Network for Animal Welfare

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

U.S. and European conservationists long ago narrowed their
goals to preserving an abundance of wildlife, whether to hunt,
watch, or to maintain biodiversity by preventing the extinction of
endangered species.
Youth for Conservation founder Josphat Ngonyo, of Kenya,
initially accepted a conventional American or European
perspective–but the more Ngonyo learned about animals and about the
feelings of fellow Africans, the more his outlook shifted. First he
began trying to become a vegetarian. Then he began to see potential
for providing Africa with a new kind of pro-animal leadership.
Youth for Conservation under Ngonyo received tremendous support from
fellow Kenyans, partly for anti-poaching and trash removal projects
that were and are the focal YfC program, but most enthusiastically
for two departures from mainstream conservation philosophy.

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Letters [May 2006]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

A clergyman revisits Animals, Ethics, & Christianity

In response to the review by Chris Mercer and Bev Pervan of
Matthew Priebe’s book Animals, Ethics, & Christianity, published
in the January/February 2006 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE, I share
Priebe’s conviction that God certainly is not only keenly interested
in all his creatures, but also lovingly cares for them, and expects
us to do the same.
However, a few critical remarks should be made re the way
Priebe reads scripture.
For example, on page 9 reference is made to the severe
restriction on the eating of blood made in Genesis 9:4, continued in
Leviticus, and affirmed as applicable also to Christians in Acts
15:28, 29. Priebe goes on to say, “Paul reaffirms this policy in
Acts 21:25.” It was not Paul, but the elders in Jerusalem,
probably including James, who reaffirmed the policy.

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1st chimp at Tacugama kills man, leads escape

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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”

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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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