Chronology of humane progress in India (Part Three)

Special: Chronology of humane progress in India

by Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animal People News

PREFACE:

The “Chronology of Humane Progress in India” covers only events originating before 2007,  to give more recent events time to settle into perspective.  The outcomes of court cases in which judgements were rendered more recently are discussed in light of antecedents which have evolved for much longer…”

Chronology part 3: 1977 to 2010

(continued)

1977 – Shirley McGreal,  the wife of a U.S. diplomat,  in 1973 founded the International Primate Protection League in Thailand to fight Thai monkey exports.  She enjoyed her first campaign success in India,  however,  after becoming acquainted with then-Indian prime minister Moraji Desai through diplomatic connections.
Recalled McGreal in 1995,  “In 1977 IPPL amassed documents about the U.S. use or misuse of imported Indian rhesus monkey use in military experiments,”  in violation of the terms of a 20-year-old export agreement.  Desai had been elected prime minister in 1977.  McGreal knew that,  “Desai was a lifelong vegetarian [in fact,  a strict vegan] and animal lover.”   She appealed to him.  On December 3,  1977,  Desai’s government barred monkey exports,  effective on April 1,  1978.  The introduction of the export ban was eased politically by the publication of an exposé by Nanditha Krishna in the March 26,  1978 edition of The Illustrated Weekly of India,  which explained that the ban was imposed “after it was discovered that the Pentagon used monkeys in military research–to test the radiation effects of nuclear explosions.  Continued McGreal,  “Desai saved a species and hundreds of thousands of individual animals from suffering and death in foreign laboratories.  Powerful users exerted heavy pressure on Desai.  He stood firm,”  as have his successors.  “In an attempt at historical revisionism,”  McGreal continued,  “claims were made by U.S. scientists that the Indian ban resulted from conservation concerns and the dwindling numbers of rhesuses.  IPPL contacted Desai,  by then retired,  for clarification.  In a handwritten letter dated April 16,  1985,  Desai stated,  ‘You are quite correct in saying that I banned the export of monkeys on a humanitarian basis and not because the number was lessening.  I believe in preventing cruelty to all living beings in any form.'”  Read more

Chronology of humane progress in India (Part Two)

Special: Chronology of humane progress in India

by Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animal People News

PREFACE:

The “Chronology of Humane Progress in India” covers only events originating before 2007,  to give more recent events time to settle into perspective.  The outcomes of court cases in which judgements were rendered more recently are discussed in light of antecedents which have evolved for much longer…”

Chronology part 2:  1910 to Project Tiger

(continued)

1910-1947 – Indian organizations were represented at the first International Humane Congress,  held in Washington D.C. in 1910,  and at the six ensuing International Humane Congresses,  convened at sporadic intervals in London,  Helsingborg,  Copenhagen,  Philadelphia,  Brussels,  and Vienna.

1924 – Hoping to win support from the League of Nations,  French author Andre Géraud produced “A Declaration of Animal Rights,”  a document which in 1926 inspired an “International Animals Charter”  drafted by Florence Barkers.  Attempts to create a declaration of animals’ rights in English that might be endorsed by the League of Nations apparently began with a 9-point “Animals’ Charter” authored at an unknown date by Stephen Coleridge (1854-1936),  the longtime president of the British National Anti-Vivisection Society. The Coleridge edition was then expanded into “An Animals’ Bill of Rights” by Geoffrey Hodson (1886-1983),  who was president of the Council of Combined Animal Welfare Organizations of New Zealand.   Read more

Chronology of humane progress in India (Part One)

 

Special: Chronology of humane progress in India

by Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animal People News

PREFACE

The “Chronology of Humane Progress in India” covers only events originating before 2007,  to give more recent events time to settle into perspective.  The outcomes of court cases in which judgements were rendered more recently are discussed in light of antecedents which have evolved for much longer…”

Organizations mentioned are included either because they are believed to be the oldest within their respective regions,  or because for some reason they are of national or international note.  Among the many founded more recently than 10 years ago,  only the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations is mentioned;  it is included because it is a representative body providing a forum and collective voice to the entire Indian humane movement.        Read more

Correction regarding which Pohlmann son was fined

ANIMAL PEOPLE has learned,  11 years after publication, that the November 2000 article “Million hens killed in Ohio-twister hits like forced molt” conflated the identities of two sons of Anton Pohlmann,  who built battery egg production complexes in both Lower Saxony,  Germany,  and Ohio.

Both complexes have been in frequent legal difficulty  for decades over a variety of labor,  occupational safety,  and environmental quality issues. Read more

Humane Trends: Measuring the Status of Animal Protection in the U.S.

 

Humane Trends:   Measuring the Status of Animal Protection in the U.S.
Humane Research Council (P. O. Box 6476  *  Olympia, WA 98507), 2011.  Download from <www.HumaneResearch.org>.

 

Humane Trends,  compiled by the Humane Research Council, “is a barometer of the status of animal protection in the U.S.,” begins the introduction.  “This study brings together a collection of 25 diverse indicators to assess the status and progress of animal well-being,  providing a comprehensive view of animal use and abuse in the United States.” Read more

How many tigers in private hands?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

 

How many large carnivores are in private hands in the U.S.?
There are no comprehensive lists of most species.  Guesstimates
commonly hold that there are more tigers alone,  just in Texas,  than
the 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild,  or at least more than the
1,400 tigers still in the wild in India. Read more

Green mambas, crocs, & the risk of infection lurked

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

BANGKOK-The floodwater rising over Thailand was one problem,
and what was in it was–and remains– another.  Along with the threat
of zoonotic disease and insect plagues that accompanies most floods,
Bangkok rescuers found themselves handling more than 200 animals of
protected species,  “ranging from deer and tigers to monkeys,”
reported Apinya Wipatayotint of the Bangkok Post,  amid rumors that
“deadly green mamba snakes got loose in Nonthaburi after escaping
from a flooded house in Pak Kret.” Read more

Ukrainian government agrees to a six-month moratorium on animal control killing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

 

KYIV,  KHARKOV“Let us stop the deaths of poor stray dogs
for half a year and build shelters together,”  Ukrainian environment
minister Mykola Zlochevsky told media on November 17,  2011.
“This is a fantastic victory for Ukraine,  its citizens,  and
its animals,”  declared John Ruane,  director of the British
organization Naturewatch.  Ruane had for two years organized an
international campaign in support of Ukrainian animal advocates’
efforts to reform animal control. Read more

Animal sheltering

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

An allegedly speeding drunk driver and three passengers were
unhurt after flying off an overpass and crashing through the roof of
the Friendicoes animal shelter in New Delhi,  India,  at 1:30 a.m. on
November 23,  2011,   but a puppy was killed,  22 dogs were injured,
and the shelter required urgent repairs at estimated cost of $47,000.
The accident came less than a month after the death of Gautam Barat,
Friendicoes’ shelter manager since 1980.  (Obituary on page 18.) Read more

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