Day: October 1, 2010

More health findings hit PMU industry

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

LOS ANGELES, DALLAS–The fast-falling numbers of horses bred
to produce estrogen supplements made from pregnant mares’ urine are
expected to drop further after publication of new findings from the
U.S. government-funded Women’s Health Initiative linking estrogen
supplements to elevated rates of death from breast cancer and risk of
developing kidney stones.
The new findings came eight years after the Women’s Health
Initiative in July 2002 reported thatestrogen supplements appear to
be linked to increased risk of women suffering heart attacks,
strokes, and blood clots in their lungs.

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Pet-Abuse-com founder pleads for registry data standards

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
Recently, legislation has been proposed by state and local
governments to initiate individual animal abuse registries.
Similar to Megan’s Law for sex offenders, this legislation
would require individuals convicted of animal abuse crimes to
register with the public database or potentially face fines and/or
jail time.
We at Pet-Abuse.Com wholeheartedly support these efforts,
and applaud the legislators, advocacy groups, and individuals who
have worked so hard to get them this far. We were founded on the
belief that such registries are vital to the safety and welfare of
animals and humans alike, and it has been exciting to see such
progressive movement in this direction over the past year.
However, as we watch the momentum behind legislation for
registries continue to build, we become increasingly concerned that
what seems like a step forward might actually be a step backwards if
the planning and technical execution of these registries are
insufficiently considered.

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Letters [Oct 2010]

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

Zero grazing

Thank you so much for Animal People’s September 2010
editorial feature “Zero Grazing vs. the Five Freedoms.” It covers a
subject that has been of great concern to me since I worked on
Compassion In World Farming’s Livestock Revolution project over a
decade ago.
I first saw zero grazing in Kenya when the International
Livestock Research Institute took me to see what they called good
practice in smallholder livestock systems in the countryside outside
Nairobi. I was shocked to see dairy cows barricaded into small
wooden stalls on mud flooring, eating piles of grass that had been
cut and carried from nearby lush grasslands. As you rightly point
out, this barren environment was clearly against the Five Freedoms,
and caused me to wonder how such a cruel and inequitable system could
have become so entrenched as to be considered “good practice.”

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Studies reveal injury rates in greyhound & horse racing

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

SOMERVILLE, Mass.–The Massachusetts-based anti-greyhound
racing organization Grey2K USA on October 14, 2010 embarrassed the
Iowa greyhound racing industry for the second time in two years by
publishing an analysis of injuries to racing greyhounds.
Like the 2009 Grey2K report, the 2010 report is based on
data reported to the Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission. The 2009
report detailed injuries suffered by 101 greyhounds during 2008,
including 10 greyhounds who were euthanized due to the severity of
their injuries.

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Controlled atmosphere poultry stunning moves ahead

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

FREDERICKSBURG, Pennsylvania–Controlled
atmosphere stunning on October 22, 2010 moved an
influential step closer to U.S. industry
acceptance when New York Times business writer
William Neuman broke as an exclusive the
decisions of the premium niche poultry producers
Bell & Evans and Mary’s Chickens to introduce
controlled atmosphere systems in mid-2011.
Bell & Evans, Mary’s Chickens, and MBA
Poultry of Nebraska, which has used controlled
atmosphere stunning since 2005, have among them
about half of 1% of U.S. poultry industry market
share. Bell & Evans kills about 840,000 birds
per week, Neuman said, while Mary’s Chickens
kills about 200,000. Their combined annual
slaughter volume is about equal to the weekly
volume for Tyson Foods.

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Charitable standards & the discerning donor

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

ANIMAL PEOPLE has over the years often
criticized the charity evaluation methods of both
the Wise Giving Alliance, a project of the
Council of Better Business Bureaus, and Charity
Navigator, whose easily accessed online star
ratings of charities are now by far the charity
evaluation method most used by donors.
The Wise Giving Alliance evaluations, as
ANIMAL PEOPLE has in the past explained in
detail, require charities to meet a set of
standards for governance which for animal
charities and most small charities actually work
at cross-purposes to the goal of maintaining a
strong focus on the charitable mission.

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Missouri voters approve anti-puppy mill initiative

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

ST. LOUIS–Missouri voters on November 2, 2010 approved
Proposition B, to increase regulation of dog breeders, by a margin
of more than 60,000 votes.
Won by a coalition called Missourians for the Protection of
Dogs, Proposition B was backed by the Humane Society of the U.S.,
the Humane Society of Missouri, the Best Friends Animal Society,
and the American SPCA. It requires dog breeders who keep 10 or more
breeding dogs to provide dogs with larger cages that allow them
freedom of movement, with access to opportunities for outdoor
exercise; prohibits keeping dogs on wire floors and in stacked
cages; and mandates that every dog in a breeding kennel of 50 or
more dogs must receive an annual veterinary examination. Ill or
injured animals must receive prompt treatment. Breeders will not be
allowed to keep more than 50 breeding dogs.

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Chinese government announces a crackdown on zoo animal abuses

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

BEIJING–Moving to bring zoos into compliance with
regulations included in a draft Chinese national anti-cruelty law,
the Ministry of Housing & Urban/Rural Development on October 27,
2010 “suggested” in an official web posting that zoos should
adequately feed and house animals, should stop selling wild animal
products and serving wild animal parts in restaurants, and should
stop staging circus-like trained animal acts.
The ministry “said inspections would be carried out to see if
zoos were complying,” reported Agence France-Press. “The ministry
pointed out that some zoos had been turned into for-profit
organizations, leading to poor management and to some animals dying
in abnormal conditions or maiming people. The suggestions laid out
include providing necessary health care and banning animal
performances to ‘prevent animals from being alarmed or provoked,'”
Agence France-Press continued.

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Can “National Heritage” status save elephants in ever more crowded, faster moving India?

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

DELHI, GUWAHATI– The largest of land animals, but neither
faster than a poacher’s speeding bullet nor more powerful than a
locomotive, elephants are now officially protected with tigers as
“National Heritage Animals of India,” declared Indian environment
and animal welfare minister Jairam Ramesh on October 21, 2010.
Unclear is whether National Heritage status will help elephants any
more than it has helped tigers, who since gaining their National
Heritage designation in 1973 have been poached and illegally poisoned
for preying upon livestock to the verge of extinction across most of
India.
National Herit-age status helped to secure land and funding
for tiger conservation, and for about 30 years the tiger population
was believed to be recovering, but more recent findings have shown a
steep decline that was not previously noticed due to faulty research
and corrupt management in some tiger reserves.

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