Author: Dylan Forest

Lancaster captive turkey shooters convicted–a first in Pennsylvania

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
LANCASTER, Pa.–The Elstonville Sportsmen’s Association on
March 9, 2007 pleaded “no contest” to eight cruelty counts brought
against the club for hosting a live turkey shoot in Rapho Township
on September 9, 2006.
The “no contest” plea acknowledged the facts of the case,
including an agreement to pay all fines, without admitting guilt.
Elstonville Sportsmen’s Association attorney Michael Winters
told Ad Crable of the Lancaster New Era that in response to the
charges the club had elected new leadership, and had adopted a new
rule that forbids “the use of any living entity for the sole purpose
of being a target,” even if the use is allowed by law.

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Beirut animal rescuers are back online

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
“Just now, after seven months, were we able to establish a
new e-mailing system,” Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
wrote on March 27, 2007, after last e-mailing directly to ANIMAL
PEOPLE on October 3, 2006, eight days after evacuating 300 animals
to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.
BETA had rescued 237 dogs and 2005 cats during two months of
fighting in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and the Hezbollah
militia.
“Even though the war is over, the political situation is
still unstable,” BETA said. “Everybody is concerned with personal
survival, scared of what will happen the next day, and defending
animals seems insignificant to most people. Rescues never stopped.
We now have 200 dogs and 130 cats in our care,” with an “urgent need
for evacuation of our dog shelter. Our neighbors are not very fond
of dogs and have issued us a month’s notice,” BETA explained.

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Kenya wildlife policy policy committee pushes “cropping,” not “hunting”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:

NAIROBI–“The National Steering Committee,” drafting
revisions to Kenyan wildlife policy, “has dropped recommendations
for killing animals for fun,” revealed The Nation environment
correspondent John Mbaria on March 16, 2007. Instead, Mbaria
wrote, “it has adopted cropping wildlife.” Mbaria explained that
the draft policy “defines cropping as ‘harvesting free-ranging
animals for a range of products, including meat and wildlife
trophies.’
“In Kenya,” Mbaria continued, “most animals are
free-ranging. Apart from Saiwa Swamp in Western Kenya, and
Aberdares and Lake Nakuru national parks, which have electric
fences, the rest of the parks and reserves are open.”

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Visakhapatnam Animal Rescue Center helped to save a troubled zoo

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
VISAKHAPATNAM–Built to a then-state-of-the-art plan in 1972,
the 625-acre Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Vis-akhapatnam is among
the world’s most spacious zoos, and is among the few in India with
authentic conservation breeding credentials.
“Captive breeding for species survival” is the mission touted
on page one of the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park brochures. Captive
breeding successes include the December 2007 births of eight dholes,
Asian cousins of the better known African wild dog.
Yet while captive breeding may have enhanced the prestige of
the Indira Gandhi Zoo among fellow zoo professionals, the mission
that really saved the zoo appears to have been opening one of the
first CZA-accredited Animal Rescue Centres for ex-circus animals, in
February 2001.

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Anti-gassing verdict

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
Atlanta–Fulton County Superior Court Judge Cynthia D. Wright
on March 23, 2007 ordered the Georgia Department of Agriculture to
enforce the 1990 state Humane Euthanasia Act, which requires that
animal shelters must use sodium pentobarbital to kill dogs and cats,
and prohibits leaving dying animals unattended. The law allowed
county animal control agencies that used carbon monoxide gas chambers
in 1990 to continue using them, but did not allow new gas chambers
to be installed. It exempted counties of under 25,000 residents.
The case was filed by former state representative Chesley
Morton, author of the Humane Euthanasia Act, and veterinary
technician Jennifer Robinson, whose dog Pacino was gassed by Clayton
County Animal Control after being hit by two cars.

Euro Commission sues Greece

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:

BRUSSELS–The European Commission on March 21, 2007
announced that it “has decided to refer Greece to the European Court
of Justice for failure to properly implement and enforce European
Union legislation on animal welfare in transport and at slaughter.
The Commission first initiated an infringement procedure against
Greece in 1998,” the announcement explained, “but terminated it
following commitments from Greek authorities to improve matters.
Food & Veterinary Office visits carried out between 2003 and 2006
revealed no substantial improvement.”

RSPCA of Australia offers beer for cane toads

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
SYDNEY–” Hops for hoppers plan likely to croak,” the Sydney
Morning Herald headlined on February 27, 2007.
A year after the Royal SPCA of Australia began offering cane
toad hunters a free beer for every toad delivered to RSPCA shelters
alive, the offer has reportedly had few takers–while hunters
continue to club cane toads, shoot them, spear them, and sometimes
lick them, to get a potentially lethal high from a poison they
secret that has reputed psychadelic effects.
Native to the Amazon rain forest, 101 cane toads were
released in Queensland in 1935 to combat cane beetles, native to
Australia, who were attacking sugar cane crops. Ignoring the cane
beetles, cane toads instead became the most successful predators of
mosquito larvae Down Under.

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Indian humane societies clash with PETA & government over wildlife rescue role

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
Indian humane societies clash with PETA & government over wildlife rescue role

by Merritt Clifton

BANGALORE–PETA/India, the Karnataka state forestry agency,
and the Central Zoo Authority of India are aligned against all five
of the local humane societies in a turf war over who has the right to
house and treat wildlife.
Summarized The Hindu on February 27, 2007, “In a petition before
the Supreme Court, PETA seeks the closure of all unrecognised zoos
and unauthorized rescue and rehabilitation centers,” allegedly
because “poor infrastructure has led to unnecessary pain and
suffering of animals housed in them.”

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Placing predators in land of 1.1 billion people

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:

Indian tigers, lions, and leopards who menace humans or
livestock are killed, as predators are in other nations–but Indian
animal advocates have long sought alternatives.
The tiger conservationist Jim Corbett, born in India of
British parents, first won fame by shooting the tigers he
memorialized in his 1946 memoir The Man-Eaters of Kumaon. Yet far
from boasting of his kills, Corbett pleaded for tiger habitat to be
set aside, within which tigers could be tigers, safe from the
threat of human encroachment.
Though tiger reserves were eventually created, as Corbett
recommended, and one of the largest was named in his honor,
poaching and encroachment have diminished most of them. The Sariska
tiger reserve, formerly among the most accessible to tourists, was
apparently poached completely out of tigers in 2003, as was
officially confirmed in November 2004. Poachers admitted killing 10
of the 20-odd tigers who were believed to have inhabited Sariska.
The rest appeared to have existed only on paper as result of counts
inflated to keep tourists coming.

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