N.Y. Racing Assn. bans selling horses to slaughter

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

NEW YORK–The New York Racing Association on December 11,
2009 announced that it would bar from competition any horse owner or
trainer who is caught selling horses for slaughter. The association
“also urged horsemen who are part of what is widely considered the
premier racing circuit in the nation to support rescue and adoption
efforts, and to find humane ways of dealing with horses who are
unable to continue racing,” reported Joe Drape of the New York Times.
The New York Racing Association governs horse racing at three
of the most prestigious tracks in the U.S.: Aqueduct, Belmont Park,
and Saratoga. The two latter host the second and third events in the
horse racing Triple Crown series, which begins each spring with the
Kentucky Derby in Louisville.
The racing association crackdown came after more than 170
starving horses were found in April 2009 at Center Brook Farm in
Climax, New York. Property owner Ernie Paragallo was barred from
racing in New York, and in August 2009 was charged with 35 counts of
cruelty.

New doping rules

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:
COPENHAGEN–New International Equestrian Federation
anti-doping rules took effect on January 1, 2010.
Federation president Princess Haya of Jordan commissioned a
review of the doping rules after six horses tested positive for
banned drugs at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, four years after three
gold medalists were stripped of their awards for illegal doping at
the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The first major test of the new rules is expected to come at
the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky.

International Rights Film Festival awards

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:
KHARKOV–Nineteen films on human rights and animal rights
themes were honored at the Third International Rights Film Festival
in Kharkov, Ukraine, during the week of December 12-19, 2009.
Another 22 films won honorable mentions.
“Steps to Freedom” statuettes for best films in category were
awarded to three films on animal rights themes. “Best short film on
animal rights” was He’d never do that, directed by Anartz Zuazua of
Spain. “Best documentary on animal rights” was “I’m an Animal: the
Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA,” directed by Matthew Galkin of the
U.S.

Cats removed from “Island of the Blue Dolphins”

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

VENTURA–Birders and feral cat defenders
both claim victory over the outcome of a cat
eradication program on San Nicolas Island, 65
nautical miles west of the California mainland.
The semi-arid 24-square-mile island was
occupied by the Nicoleño people when discovered
by Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602.
The Nicoleño were evacuated in 1835 by Spanish
missionaries who hoped to save them from bloody
raids by Russian-led Aleut sealers. None
survived exposure to mainland diseases for more
than a few years.

2010 BLM wild horse gathers start early

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

RENO–The most aggressive year of Bureau of Land Management
wild horse captures since the passage of the 1971 Wild Free-Ranging
Horse & Burro Protection Act started early, with a first gather
apparently timed to try to evade activist notice.
Explained Martin Griffith of Associated Press, “The roundup
of 217 horses and burros along the Nevada-California border ended the
day before a BLM advisory board ignored advocates’ request for a
moratorium on such gathers. It also began shortly after the BLM
postponed a nearby roundup of thousands of wild horses in Nevada
because of a lawsuit.”

Sea Shepherds trying to catch whalers

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

HOBART–The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society flagship Steve
Irwin returned to Antarctic waters on December 31, 2009, after a
60-hour resupply and refueling stop in Hobart, Tasmania.
Tailed and harried by the Japanese harpoon ship Shanan Maru
#2, the Steve Irwin and the high-speed trimaran Ady Gil failed to
locate the factory ship Nisshin Maru and the whale-catchers Yushin
Maru #2 and #3 during the first six weeks of the self-declared
five-month Japanese “research whaling” season. The whalers hope to
kill nearly 1,000 whales this winter, but have fallen far short of
their quota in each of the past three winters.
The Sea Shepherds were optimistic after the Shanan Maru #2
returned to the rest of the fleet to meet a refueling vessel and was
seen by yachters who reported its position.

Killing owls in the name of saving owls

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

PORTLAND, Oregon– Public comment on a U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service proposal to shoot barred owls to see if killing them helps
spotted owl recovery closes on January 11, 2010.
Barred owls would be shot in spotted owl study areas near Cle
Elum, Washing-ton; the Oregon Coast Range mountains; and the Klamath
mountains of southwestern Oregon. The experiment would repeat on a
larger scale a 2005 study in which seven barred owls were shot in
habitat recently vacated by spotted owls in northern Calif-ornia.
After the larger and more aggressive barred owls were killed,
spotted owls returned. The California study became the rationale
for a rewrite of the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan produced in mid-2008
by appointees of former U.S. President George W. Bush. Blaming
barred owls and wildfires rather than logging for the decline of
spotted owls, the Bush administration plan reduced the designated
critical habitat for spotted owls by 1.6 million acres, and would
have increased timber sales in the region fivefold.

Zimbabwe suspends hunting to save rhinos

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

Special to ANIMAL PEOPLE by Barnabas Thondlana
with additional research by Merritt Clifton

HARARE-Internationally criticized for
failing to stop rhinoceros poaching, the
Zimbabwe National Parks & Wildlife Author-ity on
November 30, 2009 temporarily suspended wildlife
hunting licences, interrupting trophy hunting by
foreign visitors near the peak of the season.
Trophy hunting has in recent years been
among the few reliable sources of foreign
exchange for the financially depleted Zimbabwean
government.
“National Parks & Wildlife Authority
would like to warn the public that all current
hunting permits have been suspended with
immediate effect to verify them,” said a notice
published in state-approved media. “All current
permit holders are advised to approach the Parks
Authority to verify validity of their permits,”
the notice added.

Neuter/return requires impact study, says Los Angeles judge

January 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2010:

LOS ANGELES–California municipal governments may not
assist or promote neuter/return of feral cats without first
completing an environmental impact report, ruled Los Angeles
Superior Court Judge Thomas McKnew on December 4, 2009.
McKnew ruled on behalf of five organizations representing
birders that the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services was in
violation of the California Environmental Quality Act for issuing $30
sterilization vouchers to neuter/return practitioners and for
referring people who call to complain about feral cats to charities
that do neuter/return.
“Despite official denial, the implementation of the program
is pervasive, albeit informal and unspoken,” McKnew wrote.
McKnew did not address the value of neuter/return as a feral
cat control method, or the virtues of neuter/return as public
policy. The McKnew verdict lacks precedental weight until and unless
affirmed by appellate courts.

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