BOOKS: Defending Animal Rights

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 200&

Defending Animal Rights
by Tom Regan
University of Illinois Press (1325 S. Oak St.
Champaign, IL 61820), 2006.
200 pages, paperback. $20.00.

Most of this collection of nine essays on
matters pertaining to animal rights originated as
lectures, originally published in 2001.
Though best known as a philosopher,
Regan ventures beyond moral philosophy. For
example, chapter eight, entiled “Ivory Towers
Should Not a Prison Make,” relates the hostility
and disparagement that Regan has encountered from
some of his academic colleagues.

BOOKS: Your Cat: A Revolutionary Approach to Feline Health and Happiness

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007

Your Cat:
A Revolutionary Approach to
Feline Health and Happiness
by Elizabeth M. Hodgkins, DVM, Esq.
Thomas Dunne Books
(c/o St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York,
N.Y. 10010), 2007. 320 pages, hardcover. $27.95.

How gullible we all are. How easily we accept the
blandishments of the big pet food producers that their dry and
unnatural pellets are a “balanced and complete” food for our
companion animals. Common sense should tell us that this cannot be
so. The main component of these mass-produced convenience foods
often consists of cereals such as corn, for which a carnivore’s
digestive system is not designed. One will not see a wild cat
chewing on a corn cob.
Of course it is so convenient to open a packet of kibbles and
pour them out into a bowl. No cooking, no mess, no cleaning up and
the dry pellets can stay out all day.

Universal Declaration wins key preliminary to U.N. approval

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 200&
PARIS–The 169-nation World Organization for Animal Health
(Office International des Epizooties) on May 25, 2007 ratified the
present edition of the Univ-ersal Declaration on Animal Wel-fare,
including recognition of animals’ sentience.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals and ancestral
bodies have sought since 1952 to win United Nations approval of
various versions of the Universal Declar-ation, which evolved out of
documents drafted for presentation to the League of Nations in 1924
and 1926.
If approved by the U.N., the Universal Declaration would
become international law. OIE ratification is regarded as a critical
preliminary to placing the declaration before the U.N., which has
not yet reviewed any of the drafts. Created by the League of Nations
in 1920, the World Organization for Animal Health was among the few
surviving League projects that were moved to the U.N. when it formed
in 1945.

BOOKS: World Society for the Protection of Animals Members Manual

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:

World Society for the Protection of Animals Members Manual
Looseleaf binder & CD formats – 348 pages. Annual membership fee: $80.00.
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/1948_becoming_a_u_s_member_society.cfm

As “Go forth and multiply!” is the first commandment of
survival for institutions and causes, as well as species, some of
the first publications of the earliest British and American humane
societies were essays encouraging sympathizers in distant places to
organize in a similar manner.
The 348-page WSPA Members Manual is probably the most
ambitious such effort yet. It draws liberally from many other humane
how-to publications, not always with acknowledgement. Each chapter
ends with an extensive list of further information sources.

Cultural defense of cruelty to bulls succeeds in South Africa

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
CAPE TOWN–Asked to recognize
bullfighting as a “World Heritage” cultural rite,
the United Nations Educational & Scientific
Organization may look toward South Africa for
precedents–and find sharply contradictory
examples.
On the one hand, UNESCO project officer
for peace, human rights and democracy Ben Boys
in 2003 lauded South Africa for becoming the
first nation in Africa to add humane education to
the national school curriculum.
On the other, the South African National SPCA
has repeatedly been unable to accomplish anything
to reduce the ritual mayhem inflicted on bulls as
part of the Zulu “First Fruits” festival,
revived in 1992 after the end of apartheid.

Melamine hit Africa too

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
CAPE TOWN–At least 30 and possibly as many as 65 dogs died
after eating melamine-contaminated pet food in Cape Town, South
Africa, veterinary pathologist Fred Reyers told Helen Bamford of the
Cape Argus in April 2007.
Little noticed beyond Cape Town, the South African cases
followed much the same trajectory as the high-profile melamine pet
food contamination crisis in the U.S.
“Royal Canin, which makes its own brands as well as Vets
Choice, said in a statement that corn gluten contaminated with
melamine was delivered to South Africa by a third party supplier and
originated from China,” Bamford wrote.

Melamine fed to fish

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
VANCOUVER–The potential for global ecological disaster as
result of cheating in international trade was illustrated on May 8,
2007, when the Vancouver-based Canadian division of Skretting
International recalled fish food sold to 25 Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife hatcheries because it contained melamine.
As melamine is water-soluable, it does not accumulate in the
bodies of fish, unlike heavy metals such as mercury and chemical
compounds, such as PCBs.
“We do not believe this poses any significant human health
threat,” said FDA food safety chief David Acheson.
But melamine itself was not the cause for worry. The greater
concern was what if the contaminant had been more volatile,
longer-persisting, or biologically active?

Falwell’s father was a dogfighter

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LYNCHBURG, Virginia–Obituaries for
televangelist Jerry Falwell, who died on May 15,
2007 in Lynchburg, Virg-inia, not far from
where the Michael Vick dogfighting case was
breaking, skipped lightly over at least two
aspects of his early life.
Little mentioned was Falwell’s role as an
ardent segregationist from his debut on WBRG
radio in June 1956 until several years after the
Congress On Racial Equality tried to integrate
his church in 1964.
Not mentioned at all was that Falwell’s
father, Carey H. Falwell, a key figure in many
of his sermons, was at least twice convicted of
hosting high-stakes dogfights, at a time when
dogfighting, cockfighting, and pigeon shoots
were among the fundraising mainstays of the Ku
Klux Klan.

Israel bans cosmetic & cleaning product testing on animals; EU advisory body approves alternatives

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
JERUSALEM–The Knesset on May 21, 2007 voted 29-0 with two
abstentions to approve on third and final reading a law prohibiting
animal testing of cosmetic and cleaning products.
Taking effect immediately on passage, the law “frees the
2,000-3,000 animals in Israel who are currently used to test cosmetic
and cleaning products,” said the Jerusalem Post. However, the law
allows continued laboratory use of animals in developing medicinal
products and health care procedures.
Bill author Gideon Sa’ar of the Likud Party told the Knesset
that he intrduced it at request of his 16-year-old daughter, Daniella.
“On the basis of what Daniella saw and learned,” Sa’ar said,
“she convinced me that this bill needed to be passed. I am very
proud of this new generation, who want a more humane society.”

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