Day: May 1, 2007

Greenhouse gases are invisible– as is “green” recognition of meat as source

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
NORWALK, Connecticut– Posting “Ten easy
steps to cutting out the #1 contributor to global
warming: farmed animals!” on April 6, 2007,
the Earth Day Network could not have been more
explicit about the most helpful action that
average citizens can take to cut greenhouse gas
emissions and slow the pace of climate change.
But the Earth Day Network message barely reached
the celebrants.
Among more than 8.9 million web postings
worldwide about Earth Day 2007, 26% mentioned
food, mostly as a component of festivities.
Only 1% mentioned “livestock,” “cattle,”
“vegetarian,” or “vegan” in any way.
Yet “vegan” was mentioned in 88,300
postings. Greenhouse gases, so named because
they contribute to the earth-warming “greenhouse
effect,” were mentioned in only 83,700 postings,
and methane, the most damaging greenhouse gas,
emitted mainly by livestock, got just 71,800
mentions.
The “Green Tips for Earth Day” web site,
posted by Earth 911 with the support of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, omitted any
notice of animal production and meat-eating.
Noting that Earth Day is now more a
cultural celebration than a day of
awareness-raising and protest, Vermont
environmentalist author Bill McKibben and friends
organized “Step It Up 2007,” a “National Day of
Climate Action” held on April 13, a week ahead
of Earth Day, to try to increase attention to
global warming.
More than 1,400 organizations headquartered in
all 50 states and many nations abroad took part.
“What do you feel guilty about not
doing?” New York magazine writer Tim Murphy
asked New York City “Step It Up 2007” coordinator
Ben Jervey.

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“Buddy” photo caption

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
Buddy, above, “was confiscated from a dogfight raided in
Boso-Boso, Antipolo City, on April 2, 2007, with the help of
volunteers from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society,” wrote PAWS
president Nita Hontiveros Lichauco. “Fourteen suspects were
arrested,” she continued, and “will face charges of violation of
the Animal Welfare Act or illegal gambling.” The Philippines has
been among the frequent destinations of U.S.-bred fighting dogs and
gamecocks, but the traffic will now be illegal. Philippine humane
law was strengthened in early February 2007 when Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo endorsed a new Rabies Act. The act increases the
penalties for selling dog meat, and introduced penalties for
electrocuting dogs as a method of animal control.
(PAWS/Sherwin Castillo)

Mother Nature fights the seal hunt

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland– Climatic
conditions appeared likely to do the annual
Atlantic Canadian seal hunt more economic damage
in 2007 than all the protests and boycotts
worldwide combined.
As ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press on April
25, sealers were still assessing the combined
cost of a sealing season that was almost without
ice in much of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while
drifting sheet ice trapped and badly damaged
sealing vessels along the Labrador Front,
northeast of Newfoundland. A dozen crews had
abandoned their boats after ice cracked the hulls.
“Two Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers,
the Ann Harvey and the Sir Wilfred Grenfell, are
trapped in the ice along with the sealing
vessels. Helicopters are flying food and fuel to
the stranded crews on the ice,” reported Paul
Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
As many as 90 sealing boats were trapped
in ice, as of April 23, up from 60 ten days
earlier, according to the St. Johns Telegram.
The icebreakers had managed to free only about 10
boats in five days of effort, before becoming
stuck themelves.

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How Chinese ingredients contaminated U.S. pet foods

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

BEIJING–How and why melamine came to contaminate wheat and corn
gluten and rice protein concentrate manufactured in China is still
unknown.
But, as a maker of wheat gluten, MGP Ingredients vice
president Steve Pickman has voiced an idea.
“It is my understanding, but certainly unheard of in our
experience,” Pickman told media, “that melamine could increase the
measurable nitrogen emitted from gluten, and then be mathematically
converted to protein. The effect could create the appearance or
illusion of raising the gluten’s protein level. Understandably, any
acts or practices such as this are barred in the U.S. How the U.S.
can or cannot monitor and prevent these types of situations from
occurring in other parts of the world,” Pickman concluded, “is the
overriding question.”

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Liability cases loom over melamine-tainted pet food

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

EMPORIA, Kansas–“To the extent that we identify that the
cause of any expenses incurred [by pet keepers for veterinary care] are related to the food, Menu will take responsibility,” Menu Foods
chief executive Paul Henderson pledged, after ordering the first of
a flurry of pet food recalls.
But that was just before pet keepers and law firms coast to
coast began alleging in more than two dozen attempted class action
cases that Menu Foods responded too slowly to the crisis, caused by
melamine contamination of pet food ingredients. The contamination
kills dogs and cats–especially cats–by attacking their kidneys.

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Cracking the case of the pet food killer

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

PORTLAND, Oregon–As many as 39,000 American dogs and cats
may have been injured or killed by pet foods contaminated by
melamine, a chemical formerly considered safe, during the three
months or longer that the tainted food was in distribution.
Banfield Pet Hospitals, operating 615 veterinary clinics
around the U.S., produced this preliminary estimate from information
on client visits, from December 2006 through mid-March 2007. During
that time the Banfield hospitals handled more than one million animal
visits, and saw a 30% increase in cases of cats suffering from
kidney failure.
The data suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and
dogs who ate the contaminated pet food developed kidney failure,
Banfield told Associated Press.
Receiving consumer complaints about pet foods allegedly
poisoning healthy dogs and cats, Menu Foods Inc. ordered test
feedings. After 16 cats and dogs died from kidney failure during the
laboratory test feeding, Menu Foods on March 16, 2007 recalled 60
million cans of dog and cat food. A Canadian firm with U.S. plants
in Emporia, Kansas, and New Jersey, Menu Foods supplied products
to at least seven different companies, who sold Menu-made pet food
under more than 100 brands.

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Vier Pfoten buys South African game lodge to turn into sanctuary

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

BETHLEHEM, South Africa––What will become of lions reared
in captivity by South African ranchers to be shot as trophies, who
after June 1, 2007 may no longer be killed before enjoying two years of
a semi-natural life?
Racing to complete a new sanctuary called Lionsrock by
mid-summer, projected as the world s largest, the Vienna-based
international animal charity Vier Pfoten anticipates taking in at least
some of the lions.
Best known for operating mobile dog and cat sterilization
clinics in Bulgaria, Romania, and other former Communist nations of
eastern Europe, Vier Pfoten has gradually expanded into many other
animal welfare activities, including disaster relief and wildlife
rescue.

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