Tiger defenders sued

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 

BANGKOK–Wildlife Friends founder Edwin Wiek and
representatives of the Bangkok Post on February 3, 2010 entered
their responses to a defamation case filed against them by the Wat Pa
Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery, better known as the
Tiger Temple.
According to Tiger Temple publicity, the facility “started
in 1999,” with “a sick baby tiger, orphaned by poachers,” and
expanded to house other tiger orphans.”
Under Buddhist influence, the tigers “even sit for the
meditating sessions with the monks,” and also are extensively
handled by thousands of paying visitors.

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Israel to ban fur?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 

TEL AVIV–The Israeli ministerial committee on law and
constitution on February 7, 2009 unanimously approved a bill to ban
the import and export of fur garments, except for shtreimels, a
type of fur hat traditionally worn by Hassidic Jews.
“The bill, prohibiting originally only trade in cat and dog
fur, has been expanded to include all fur from all mammals,”
explained Let The Animals Live founder Eli Altman. “Now the
Education, Culture and Sports Ministry committee will vote on the
amendment,” Altman added. “With their approval the bill will be
put to a second and then third reading before finally being past into
law.”

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Beef ranchers lean on Cal Poly

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.– “Top officials at Harris Ranch are
trying to use their clout as big-money donors to censor what’s taught
at Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture,” editorialized the San Luis
Obispo Tribune News on January 17, 2010.
“Specifically,” the editorial charged, “they threatened to
withhold $500,000 in donations for a new meat-processing center,
unless the university tones down teaching about alternatives to the
traditional factory farming methods practiced by Harris Ranch.”

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Extended Canadian seal hunt kills fewest seals since 1993

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

 

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland–Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail
Shea on May 11, 2010 announced that the close of the 2010 Atlantic
Canada seal hunt would be extended to the end of May.
The sealing season was lengthened to give sealers an
“extended period of time to take advantage of potential market
opportunities,” said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a
prepared statement. Earlier, Shea increased the sealing quota to
330,000, from 280,000 in 2009, even though the European Union in
July 2009 banned imports of seal products.

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Farm animal initiative in Ohio builds on California success

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Ohioans for Humane Farms,
a coalition headed by the Humane Society of the
U.S. and Farm Sanctuary, on February 1, 2010
began gathering signatures to place an initiative
on the November 2010 Ohio state ballot which, if
approved by voters, would require the Ohio
Livestock Care Standards Board to ban lifelong
confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and
laying hens.

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Discussion of draft Chinese animal welfare bill ignites over eating dogs and cats

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 

BEIJING–Released in late 2009 to promote public discussion,
a draft Chinese animal welfare act produced by an academic committee
had by mid-February 2010 generated a media storm nationwide.
“The proposed draft will be submitted to relevant government
departments in April,” reported Deng Shasha, editor of China Daily,
the largest Chinese newspaper. “Before being adopted as a law,”
Deng Shasha explained, “the draft must go through the State Council
and then receive three readings at the National People’s Congress
Standing Committee, the top legislative authority. The draft is not
included in the legislative agenda for 2008-2013 released by the
National People’s Congress Standing Committee,” Deng Shasha
cautioned, “indicating it might be a few years before it is adopted
as a law.”

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Editorial: Humane education lessons from the Haiti disaster

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 
Inquiries to ANIMAL PEOPLE about how to help the animals of
Haiti began even before the dust had settled from the collapse of the
Haitian presidential palace and parliament buildings. At this
writing at least 170,000 people are known to have been killed by the
January 12, 2010 Haitian earthquake, with the toll still rising as
more bodies are found beneath the rubble in Port au Prince, the
Haitian capital city, and in surrounding suburbs.
As after the Indian Ocean tsunami of late December 2004,
Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, the Sichuan earthquake of May
2008, and other disasters of recent years, animal charities rushed
out emergency alerts and dispatched rescue teams in the direction of
Haiti without waiting to get particulars as to what might be needed
or how best to get it there.

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Letters [March 2010]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

Rhinos & elephants

Re “Zimbabwe suspends hunting to save rhinos,” in your
January/February 2010 edition, I have no doubt that rhino poaching
is closely linked to ivory trade. I have circulated your article to
the Kenya Elephant Forum. As a forum we oppose Tanzania’s current
proposal to downlist the African elephant population from the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species appendix I,
meaning that elephants and their parts may not be sold
internationally, to appendix II.
Tanzania and Kenya share elephant populations. Kenya was not
consulted by Tanzania before Tanzania prepared their proposal.
–Steve Itela

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Friends of Plymouth Pound & PetSmart Charities

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

 

After mentioning that PetSmart Charities
had achieved four million adoptions since 1992
through the PetSmart adoption centers, the
November/ December 2009 ANIMAL PEOPLE editorial
noted that “Friends of the Plymouth Pound, on
Cape Cod, called a boycott of PetSmart because,
after 10 years, the PetSmart store in Hyannis
chose to work with a different adoption partner.”
ANIMAL PEOPLE had on November 17, 2009
received an e-mail from Friends of the Plymouth
Pound board member Beth Hennessy stating, “I am
boycotting PetsMart and am encouraging everyone I
know to do so also.”
Wrote Friends of the Plymouth Pound
founder Gayle Fitzpatrick to ANIMAL PEOPLE on
January 28, 2009, “Friends of the Plymouth
Pound never called for a boycott of PetSmart. Beth
made a mistake and I am certain that this will
never happen again…She was not speaking for the
organization.”

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