U.S. patent ruling just before Easter favors rabbits

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
JENKINTOWN, Pa.– The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office just
before Easter 2008 rejected a patent claim by a Japanese-owned
company called Biochemical and Pharmacological Laboratories, Inc.
which had attempted to patent rabbits whose eyes had been
deliberately damaged.
The claim was challenged by the American Anti-Vivisection
Society, the Alternatives Research & Development Foundation, and
the PatentWatch project of the International Center for Technology
Assessment.

Four sealers drown at start of 2008 Atlantic Canada hunt

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
ILES-DE-LA-MADELEINE, Quebec; St. Pierre, Miquelon–
Treacherous ice conditions for the second consecutive year inhibited
the opening of the Atlantic Canadian seal hunt.
Sixteen vessels carrying approximately 100 sealers left
Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, on March 28, heading toward a large
seal rookery in the Cabot Strait. One of the smaller boats,
L’Acadien II, with six men aboard, lost rudder control, possibly
from the rudder striking ice, and was taken in tow by the Canadian
Coast Guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander.
L’Acadien II captain Bruno Bourque and crew members Gilles
Leblanc and Marc-Andre Deraspe were killed and crew member Carl
Aucoin was missing and presumed dead after the boat hit a truck-sized
chunk of ice early on March 29, and flipped over while still under
tow. The sealing vessel Madelinot War Lord, following the tow,
rescued sealers Claude Deraspe and captain Bourque’s son,
Bruno-Pierre Bourque.

Senior conservation official charged with ordering massacre of gorillas

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
GOMA, DRC–Honore Mashagiro, formerly regional director of
the Congolese Wildlife Authority for Virunga National Park in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, was arrested at his home in Goma
on March 18, 2007 for allegedly orchestrating the killings of 10
gorillas whose remains were discovered in June and July 2007.
DRC environment minister Felicite Kalume announced the
arrest. Agence France-Presse reported that “Six foresters would also
be questioned on suspicion of having trapped and killed the animals
in the site on Mashagiro’s orders.”
“Mashagiro was in a position of great responsibility,”
Wildlife Direct spokesperson Dipesh Pabari told Claire Soares of The
Independent, “and allegedly used his authority to promote the
destruction of forest for charcoal to make money. This threatened
the gorilla habitat, so when the rangers tried to protect the
forest, he allegedly orchestrated the gorilla massacres to
discourage them.”

SPCA International founder Pierre Barnoti out as head of Canadian SPCA in Montreal

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

MONTREAL–Canadian SPCA president Pierre Barnoti has
reportedly taken an indefinite sick leave, pending replacement, and
board president Michel Poulos and treasurer Howard Scholzberg have
resigned, CTV-Montreal reported on April 2, 2008.
Acting president Nancy Breitman disclosed to CTV that the
Canadian SPCA is $4 million in debt, and is in danger of bankruptcy.
Founded in 1869, the Canadian SPCA is the oldest in Canada,
but has historically served only Montreal and nearby suburbs. It
operates shelters on the island of Montreal and in Laval, just north
of Montreal.

Chimp Haven leadership dispute ends; Chimp Haven appeals verdict favoring Primarily Primates

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

KEITHVILLE, La.–A lawsuit among the founders of the Chimp
Haven sanctuary for retired laboratory chimpanzees was on February
14, 2008 quietly dismissed by the Caddo District Court at request of
the plaintiffs.
“According to court documents, Cathe Neukum, one of the
plaintiffs, appeared in court to say she no longer wishes to pursue
the claims,” reported Vickie Welborn of the Shreveport Times on
March 27.

AAF China Bear Rescue Project halfway to 500

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
CHENG DU–“Madam Xiong, literally Madam Bear, of the
Sichuan Forestry Department has kept her promise of closing a bear
bile farm before the end of March–and 28 newly rescued bears are
here!” Animals Asia Foundation founder Jill Robinson e-mailed to
supporters at 8:09 p.m. on March 31.
The new arrivals brought the number of ex-bile farm bears
handled by the China Bear Rescue Project since July 2000 to
248–almost halfway to the total of 500 whom Robinson agreed to
accept if the Sichuan government closed the smallest, oldest bear
bile farms in the state. The survivors have become nationally
publicized witnesses against the cruelty of keeping bears in close
confinement to extract bile from their gall bladders. Bear bile is
used for a variety of purposes in traditional Chinese medicine, but
chiefly to relieve fever. About 7,000 bears remain on bile farms.

Tracking bear rescue & rehabilitation in India

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

RAJGIR, AGRA–Ten years into a deep
disagreement over how best to rescue and
rehabilitate former dancing bears, and other
bears confiscated from poachers and smugglers,
the score is approximately 460 bears accommodated
by the three bear sanctuaries now operated by
Wildlife SOS, to two Asiatic black bears claimed
to have been successfully returned to the forest
by the Wildlife Trust of India, with five more
Asiatic black bears and five sloth bears in
various stages of preparation for release,
according to a WTI project summary issued on
April 4, 2008.
WTI in March 2005 announced the release
into the Pakke Reserve Forest in Arunchal Pradesh
of two Asiatic black bears named Lucky and Leela.
Their fate is unclear. The release of two more,
Seppa and Seppi, was announced in March 2008.
“Seppa and Seppi were monitored in the wild for
over seven months last year,” WTI said, “and
when monitoring through radio collaring was
stopped as planned, this was considered the
first successful release of bears in the project.”

A brief win for Alaskan wolves

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
ANCHORAGE– Alaska Superior Court Judge William F. Morse on
March 14, 2008 obliged the state to suspend an aerial wolf-killing
program for 10 days, ruling for Friends of Animals, Defenders of
Wildlife, and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance that the Alaska Board of
Game bypassed required steps when it expanded the wolf-killing into
two areas beyond the original scope of the program.
“The Alaska aerial predator control program is in its fifth
year,” recalled Associated Press writer Anne Sutton. “Pilot/gunner
teams have killed more than 750 wolves. The goal is to reduce wolf
populations in each of the specified areas by as much as 80%. The
program has also included bears.”
Alaska voters in Nov-ember 2008 will have the chance to limit
aerial wolf control to so-called emergency hunts by state biologists.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Board of Game held an emergency meeting to
amend the rules governing predator control. Wolf-killing resumed on
March 25.
“Pilot/gunner teams have reported killing 81 wolves in five
control areas thus far this winter,” wrote Tim Mowry of the
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “The program will be suspended when
conditions deteriorate to the point that pilots can no longer land
planes to collect the wolves.”

Chilean ex-lab capuchins fly to new life at Monkey World

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
WAREHAM, U.K.–Approaching the March 2008 first anniversary
of the death of her husband and rescue partner Jim Cronin, Monkey
World cofounder Alison Cronin took on the biggest project in the
15-year history of the sanctuary: attempting to rehabilitate 88
capuchin monkeys, ranging in age from two to 30, most of whom have
never known a life beyond single housing in cages and use in
experiments.
Flown to Britain from Santiago, Chile, aboard a Chilean Air
Force C-130 Hercules prop-jet, the capuchins arrived on January 29,
2008.

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