Day: July 1, 2007

T-61 debate resurfaces in Serbia

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
BELGRADE, NOVI SAD–Mid-summer 2007 festivals in Belgrade
and Novi Sad, Serbia, became pretexts for street dog pogroms,
reported journalists and animal advocates Jelena Zaric and Jelena
Tinska.
Zaric, a frequent source for ANIMAL PEOPLE in recent years,
forwarded coverage from a variety of media of dog captures in
advance of the Youth Olympics in Belgrade. City veterinarian
Milivoje Lazic acknowledged killing dogs with the parlaytic drug
T-61, and claimed that the killing method was approved by the World
Society for the Protection of Animals.
Tinska, an actress, talk show host, author, and reporter
who may be the most prominent vegetarian in Serbia, alleged that
the 2007 Novi Sad music festival will put mayor Maja Gojkovic into
history as “the biggest animal killer” in the history of the city.

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Wildlife Fund Thailand shuts down

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
BANGKOK–Wildlife Fund Thailand president Pisit na Phattalung
on June 19, 2007 abruptly suspended WFT operations and laid off all
40 staff and volunteers, effective on July 27.
“Pisit cited financial constraints. WFT staff were
skeptical,” reported Apinya Wipatayotin of the Bangkok Post, “saying
Pisit used the financial problems to get rid of staff who had accused
him of misconduct– such as involvement [through his private company
Asian Wildlife Consultancy] in the export of eight Thai elephants to
Australian zoos [in November 2006], providing rare species of
wildlife to the Chiang Mai Night Safari park, and using his position
as foundation president to attain a post at the privately-run Siam
Ocean World aquarium.”

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House Rabbit Society is hopping mad at PetSmart

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

PHOENIX–Just as PetSmart Charities
should have been basking in success, the
nonprofit subsidiary of the PetSmart pet supply
chain found itself uncomfortably caught between
the parent company and the humane community.
PetSmart Charities on June 25, 2007 celebrated
the three millionth animal adoption through the
928 PetSmart in-store adoption centers since the
PetSmart chain started in 1987–five years before
PetSmart Charities was formed to manage the
adoption program and help fund the work of the
3,400 participating animal welfare agencies.
Within days, however, PetSmart
announced that it “is testing the sale of spayed
and neutered dwarf rabbits as part of the
selection of small pets we offer for sale,” at
25 selected stores.”

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Sri Lankan district court ruling puts Kandy Animal Birth Control program in jeopardy

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

 

KANDY, Sri Lanka–A District Court ruling that there are too
many dogs at large in Kandy may permit the Kandy Municipal
Corporation to resume killing street dogs on October 5, 2007, 60
days after the ruling was issued.
The killing would contravene a national no-kill policy
proclaimed in June 2006 by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa,
who reaffirmed it in July 2007–but Kandy has defied official policy
to kill dogs before.
“The Kandy Animal Birth Control program started in 2002,
with municipal cooperation,” summarized Eva Ruppel (“Padma”) of the
Save Our Friends Association. When KMC cooperation was discontinued,
we went to the courts to prevent the killing of dogs. Despite a
court-order in our favor, the KMC killed 360 dogs in August 2005.”
ABC supporters stopped the killing by charging Kandy
officials with contempt of court. The August 5 ruling dismissed the
contempt charges, and gave the ABC program 60 days to reduce the dog
population.

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Ex-Thai forest chief indicted for tiger sale

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
BANGKOK, BEIJING–The National Counter Corruption
Commission of Thailand on August 10, 2007 unanimously indicted
former Thai forest department chief Plodprasop Suraswadi for a
variety of alleged criminal offenses in authorizing the 2002 export
of 100 tigers from the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo in Chon Buri to the Sunya
Zoo in Hainan, China.
“Under the [Thai] Wildlife Protection Act, exports of
protected wildlife can be made government-to-government for research
and conservation purposes,” the Bangkok Post explained. “However,
the NCCC found that the tiger export was commercial, because Sri
Racha Tiger Zoo and Sunya Zoo are private entities.”
Responded Plodprasop, “The tigers were not from the wild and
not native to Thailand. The Sri Racha Tiger Zoo imported Bengal
tigers and raised and bred them for 10 years.”

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Noah’s Wish settles with California A.G.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
SACRAMENTO–The animal disaster relief charity Noah’s Wish is
back in business, after six months of investigation and
restructuring mandated by California attorney general Jerry Brown.
“We have entered into an agreement that will permit Noah’s
Wish to continue serving the animal victims of disasters,” the
Noah’s Wish board of directors posted on July 27, 2007.
“Under the settlement agreement,” reported Associated Press
writer Laura Kurtzman, “the state will take control of the $4
million,” of about $8.4 million raised in appeals for help for the
animal victims of Hurricane Katrina, “that has not yet been spent.
It is supposed to be given to help the animal victims of Katrina,
which happened nearly two years ago, as well as to build a new
animal shelter in Slidell, Louisiana.”

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Shanghai cat rescue is biggest yet in China

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
SHANGHAI–Rallied by Duo Zirong, 39,
“cat lovers in suburban Shanghai’s Xinzhuang area
stopped a truck carrying more than 800 cats to
diners in Guangdong Province,” reported Zhang
Kun of China Daily on July 10, 2007. The rescue
was at least the third by opponents of cat-eating
since June 2006, when activists stormed and
closed the newly opened Fang Company Cat Meatball
Restaurant in Shenzhen, winning a promise from
the owner that he would no longer sell cat meat.
“Duo called the police and stopped one
truck,” Zhang wrote. “According to Duo, three
trucks loaded with cats left before the police
took action. Duo claimed many of the cats were
hers, but the cat dealers presented documents
showing they were from a farm in Anhui Province,
with inspection and vaccination papers.”

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Animal control reform in Kyiv

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
KYIV–Kyiv mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi on July 4, 2007
announced at a public hearing that was broadcast on live television
that he had fired city animal control director Myron Kuchynskyi for
cruelty to animals and multiple counts of veterinary and financial
misconduct.
“This announcement was wildly applauded by those
present–300-plus persons,” SOS Ukraine founder and television
journalist Tamara Tarnavska told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
“The number of telephone calls to the TV station and ratings
of the program were overwhelming,” Tarnavska continued.
Encouraged by the response, Chernovetskyi and vice mayor
Irena Kilchytska at a second public hearing held on July 11, also
broadcast live, endorsed a mass animal sterilization program,
adding a sterilization clinic to the municipal shelter in Borodianka,
and opening a shelter with 30 to 50 kennels in every district of the
city.

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Saving wild burros in their native habitat

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
OLANCHA, California–Wild Burro Rescue founder Diana Chontos
has in common with the film ogre Shrek that she lives in a stone
house in the middle of nowhere, is a seldom-seen legend, and puts
saving her asses ahead of the comfort of a damsel in frequent
distress.
Among the differences are that Shrek memorably saved one ass,
in his 2001 screen debut. Chontos had already saved hundreds,
beginning in 1984. Shrek lives in a swamp, with abundant water.
Chontos lives in the high desert near parched Owens Lake, drained in
the early-20th century water diversion scandal dramatized by Jack
Nicholson in the 1974 film Chinatown.
Chontos herself could play the damsel in distress, possibly
with significantly greater fundraising success, but the role never
suited her.

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