Month: January 2012

NIH to quit funding new chimp studies– but broke past pledges

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 2012

By Merritt Clifton, Animal People

 

WASHINGTON D.C.–Deferring without delay to recommendations from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council,  issued just hours before,  the National Institutes of Health on December 15,  2011 suspended making new grants for biomedical and behavioral research on chimpanzees.  The NIH also agreed,  for the first time,  to apply uniform scientific and ethical criteria to evaluating chimp studies.

Reported the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council,  “Recent advances in alternate research tools have rendered chimpanzees largely unnecessary as research subjects.” Read more

Dutch ritual slaughter ban referred for study

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

DEN HAAG, The Netherlands— A proposed ban on slaughtering
animals without pre-stunning that cleared the Dutch House of
Representatives 116-30 in June 2011 was on December 20,  2011 amended
in the Senate into a pledge that undersecretary for agriculture Henk
Bleker’s office will draft standards to ensure that halal and kosher
slaughter,  practiced by Muslims and Jews,  are done in a manner that
minimizes animal suffering.  Pre-stunning has traditionally been
interpreted by most Judaic and Islamic religious  authorities–though
some differ–as a violation of the requirements of Mosaic and Islamic
religious law that animals be conscious when their throats are
swiftly cut with a sharp blade.

Proposed by the Party for the Animals,  which holds two seats
in the House and one in the Senate,  and is a part of the coalition
government,  the ban on slaughter without pre-stunning gained
momentum after being endorsed by the far right Party for Freedom,
whose focal issue is discouraging Islamic immigration.  About one
million of the Dutch population of 16 million are immigrants from
Islamic nations.

L.A. shelter deal transfers cash crunch to Best Friends

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:


LOS ANGELES–“There is progress in Los Angeles!” exulted City
of Los Angeles Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnette on
January  5,  2012,  anticipating the imminent transition of the idle
Northeast Animal Care Center from a costly liability to an operating
asset,  run by the Best Friends Animal Society.

“The contract between the city and Best Friends for the
operation of an adoption and spay/neuter services center at the
Northeast Animal Care Center in Mission Hills was completed over the holiday break,”  elaborated city spokesperson Jason Killeen.  “Our goal is to have the facility open to the public by the end of
January.” Read more

Japan uses tsunami relief funds to defend whalers against Sea Shepherds

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

FREMANTLE–Even whalers quoted by The New York Times believed
that the March 11,  2011 tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan
had probably killed the whaling industry–but that was before prime
minister Yoshihiko Noda took office in September 2011.

Noda,  from Chiba prefecture,  a longtime hub of coastal
whaling,  diverted 2.28 billion yen–$30 million–from tsunami relief
and rebuilding funds to quadruple the $10 million annual government
subsidy for “whaling research,”  to be conducted by killing from 900
to 1,000 whales in Antarctic waters designated off limits to whaling
by the International Whaling Commission. Read more

No more live birds sold in Stockton

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

STOCKTON,  Calif.– “Effective on January 7,  the first 2012
market,  live birds will no longer be sold at the Stockton Farmers’
Market!” Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Compassion founder Andrew
Zollman e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on January 6,  2012.
“We worked with the Animal Services division of the Stockton
Police,”  Zollman said.  “They agreed that California Penal Code
section 597.4,”  adopted in 2011 to control abuse of animals at flea
markets and other public events,  “does not exempt live poultry sold
as ‘food.'” Read more

Who is behind "Humane Society for Shelter Pets" campaign against HSUS?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

WASHINGTON D.C. –Full-page ads in USA  Today,  the Los Angeles Times,  the Chicago
Tribune,  and New York Times on November 31,  2011 marked the public debut of the Humane Society for Shelter Pets.

 

Incorporated on February 2,  2010  as the HSAP Operating Fund,  with IRS employer
identification number 27-1814295,  the original HSSP mission was “to provide grant support to needy local shelters across the U.S.”  The organization later changed missions,  “from
financial to educational support for shelters,” according to IRS Form 990. Read more

Russians will not buy Canadian seal pelts

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

YARMOUTHPORT,  Mass.–“The Customs Union of Belarus,
Kazakhstan,  and the Russian Federation has banned the import and
export of harp seal skins,”  International Fund for Animal Welfare
anti-sealing campaign coordinator Sheryl Fink announced on December
19,  2011.

Not announced by the nations involved,  the ban was described
in “World Trade Association documents unearthed by IFAW,”  said
Friends of Animals Canadian correspondent Dave Shishkoff.
Russian president Vladimir Putin ended Russian sealing in
2009,  but Russia remained the largest buyer of Canadian seal pelts.

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