Zimbabwe/North Korea “Noah’s Ark” animal deal is reportedly cancelled due to international pressure

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2010:

HARARE–The Zimbabwean government “has aborted a wildlife
trade deal with the secretive Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea
amid widespread condemnation from pressure groups,” Bernard Mpofu of
The Independent reported on June 17, 2010.
The Independent is the largest Zimbabwean newspaper not
controlled by the Zanu-PF political party, which is headed by
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
The $23,000 deal was “blocked after local and international
natural resources campaigners criticised the destined living
conditions of the animals at Pyongyang Zoo,” Mpofu said.

Greyhound neglect case

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

Though dog breeder neglect cases seem to surface about as
often in Missouri as snags along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers,
the case on television as voters went to the polls on November 2,
2010 was neither in Missouri nor a puppy mill case. It was, however,
one of the worst cases of racing greyhound neglect on record.
Responding to complaints from neighbors about vile odors,
sheriff’s deputies in Washington County, Florida, on the evening of
October 29 found 33 dead greyhounds and four more close to death,
three with duct tape wrapped around their necks that constricted
their breathing. Trainer Ronald John Williams, 36, of Ponce De
Leon, was charged with 37 counts of felony cruelty to animals.
Sheriff’s deputies in nearby Walton County on Halloween found
another eight dead dogs near Williams’ home.
The Florida Department of Business & Professional Regu-lation
revoked Williams’ pari-mutual license on election day. Williams had
reportedly been fined 12 times for various violations since 1994.

Maximum fine does not save ducks from oily ponds

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
EDMONTON-Attorneys for the oil sands extraction giant
Syncrude Canada on October 22, 2010 agreed in the St. Alberta,
Alberta provincial court that Syncrude will pay the maximum
allowable penalities under both Alberta law and Canadian federal law
for causing the deaths of 1,600 ducks in an oil-saturated tailings
pond near Aurora, Alberta on April 28, 2008.
On October 25, 2010 Syncrude Canada allegedly repeated the
offense at another location.

Madeleine Pickens buys 14,000 acres for her long-promised wild horse sanctuary

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
RENO–Madeleine Pickens, owner of the Del Mar Country Club
in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and wife of Texas oil billionaire
T. Boone Pickens, in early October 2010 purchased the 14,000-acre
Spruce Ranch, 70 miles east of Elko, Nevada, as proposed home for
many of the 36,000 wild horses presently kept in Bureau of Land
Management holding facilities. Pickens’ plan is reportedly to start
with 1,000 horses, adding more as the securely fenced portion of the
Spruce Ranch is expanded to keep horses inside, and as facilities
are built to accommodate visitors.
“Pickens purchased the ranch, which she plans to rename the
Mustang Monument preserve, for an undisclosed price. The property
comes with grazing rights on 540,000 acres of public land,” reported
Associated Press writer Martin Griffith. “Pickens also is
negotiating to buy an adjoining 4,000-acre ranch that has grazing
rights for 24,000 acres of public land,” Griffith added.

EC to seek suspension of cloning animals for food

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

BRUSSELS–European Union commissioner in charge of health and
consumer policy John Dalli on October 19, 2010 announced that the
European Commission, in its capacity as advisory body to the
European Parliament, “will propose a temporary suspension of animal
cloning for food production in the EU.”
Explained a prepared brief, “The Commission also plans to
suspend temporarily the use of cloned farm animals and the marketing
of food from clones. All temporary measures will be reviewed after
five years. The establishment of a traceability system for imports
of reproductive materials for clones, such as semen and embryos of
clones, is also envisaged. The system will allow farmers and
industry to set up a database with the animals that would emerge from
these reproductive materials.”

10-year Vier Pfoten effort to introduce street dog sterilization to Bucharest gets go-ahead

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

BUCHAREST–“Authorities in Bucharest, Romania, have finally
agreed to cease killing stray animals and allow our teams to treat
and neuter the city’s 40,000 [street] dogs instead,” the
Vienna-based animal charity Vier Pfoten announced on October 6, 2010.
Vier Pfoten said the pact “may be the biggest breakthrough”
in the more than 10 years that it has sent veterinarians to Romania.
The Vier Pfoten dog and cat sterilization project began in
Bucharest, then expanded into parallel projects elsewhere in
Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Jordan, Egypt, and South Africa.
The initial project in Bucharest was thwarted, however, when
then-Bucharest major Traian Basescu ordered a purge of free-roaming
dogs in 2001. Bucharest pounds killed 48,000 dogs that year, and
have continued to kill dogs ever since. Basescu–long controversial
for many reasons–meanwhile ascended to the presidency of Romania,
and oversaw the admission of Romania to the European Union, whose
public health policies disfavor high-volume killing as an animal
control method.

EU seal pelt ban upheld

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
LUXEMBOURG–European Court of Justice Judge Marc Jaeger on
October 28, 2010 rejected an appeal against the European Union ban
on the import of seal products, clearing the way for full
enforcement–at least pending the outcome of Canadian and Norwegian
government appeals to the World Trade Association.
The appeal was brought by Inuit sealer Tapirilt Kanatami and
15 co-plaintiffs, including the Canadian Seal Marketing Group, the
Fur Institute of Canada, NuTan Furs, the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference Greenland, and GC Reiber Skinn AS of Norway. Adopted in
July 2009, the EU ban on imports of seal products included an
exemption for seal pelts hunted and sold by Inuit. The appeal
contended that Inuit seal pelt sales would suffer as result of the
ban, despite the exemption. Justice Jaeger ruled that the
plaintiffs lacked evidence to document this claim.
The European Union ban officially took effect on August 20,
2010, but the European Court of Justice on August 19 stayed
enforcement against the plaintiffs.
The Inuit kill about 10,000 adult seals per year. The
Atlantic Canada commercial hunt kills about 325,000 juvenile seals
per year.

Spanish Senate defeats bill to protect bullfighting as cultural heritage

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

MADRID–The Spanish Senate on October 6, 2010 by a 129-117
vote rejected a motion to seek to have bullfighting protected by the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on a
list of monuments, artifacts, and practices defined as part of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The intent of the
bullfighting industry in seeking UNESCO protection of bullfighting
was to thwart legislation prohibiting or restricting traditional
practices.
Introducing the motion, Pio Garcia Escudero of the
opposition Popular Party contended that bullfighting is an art.
“Bullfighting is decadence and this decision today means a
popular rejection of this activity,” rebutted Senator Josep
Maldonado of Catalan. The Catalan parliament on July 28, 2010 voted
68-55 to ban bullfighting after January 1, 2012. The Canary Islands
banned bullfighting in 1991, and Extremadura has banned several
practices associated with bullfighting, including tormenting
tethered bulls and setting fire to objects attached to their horns.

Rhino poachers hope to outlast South African & Zimbabwean will to stop them

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

PRETORIA–Poachers in Borakalalo National
Park, near Brits, South Africa, sent a message
found on October 17, 2010 that mass arrests and
rangers shooting to kill won’t stop them: they
killed and dehorned yet another white rhino,
just days or perhaps even hours after rangers
killed one poacher and wounded another in Kruger
National Park.
A third poacher was arrested within
Kruger National Park two days later, but two
others escaped. A rhino fleeing the poachers ran
over and injured two park rangers who were
involved in making the arrest.

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