Civet traffic falls in China

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

Guangzhou–Repeated health inspections of specialty meat
markets across Guangdong province hint that masked palm civets may at
last be getting some respite from Guangdong exotic meat buyers.
In January 2007, the Xinhua News Service reported, 7,000
health inspectors checked for civets at 10,000 restaurants, finding
one live civet and several frozen civet carcasses. A restaurant in
Foshan was fined for buying civets, and 18 restaurants were fined
for unspecified reasons. The contraband was markedly less than was
found in a November 2006 raid on an underground warehouse and nearby
meat shop that found 45 masked palm civets, 98 ferret badgers, and
31 other wild animals who are barred from sale for consumption.

PETA defendants in North Carolina animal killing are acquitted of cruelty, convicted of littering

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

WINTON, N.C.–A Hertford County jury on February 2, 2007
cleared PETA staffers Adria J. Hinkle and Andrew B. Cook of cruelty
charges, after a two-week trial, but convicted both of littering
for leaving dead dogs and cats in a dumpster.
The animals were taken from animal control holding facilities
in Hertford, Bertie, and Northampton counties.
“The two were each given a 10-day suspended sentence, 12
months of supervised probation, 50 hours of community service, and
a $1,000 fine. They will split the $5,975 restitution costs,”
reported Lauren King of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
“Their van will be confiscated,” added Samuel Spies of
Associated Press.

Failure to isolate & vaccinate incoming animals shuts shelter

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
LAS VEGAS–A six-member Humane Society of the U.S. shelter
evaluation team in mid-February 2007 joined Lied Animal Shelter staff
in euthanizing more than 1,000 of the 1,800 animals in custody.
About 150 of the animals were ill, and 850 were believed to
have been exposed to the illnesses, with a high likelihood of
becoming infected.
“It has been a mess, but we are almost out of the emergency
phase. Adoptions will open again soon,” Animal Foundation of Nevada
president Janie Greenspun Gale told ANIMAL PEOPLE on February 19.
Gale promised to identify a newly hired executive director for the
shelter “soon.”

Colorado blizzards hit wildlife, sanctuaries, cattle, & pigs

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
DENVER–The Colorado Wildlife Commission on February 13,
2007 authorized spending up to $160,000 on emergency feed rations for
as many as 2,000 mule deer and pronghorn antelope who remained
stranded nearly two months after a trio of blizzards paralyzed parts
of the west from the Rocky Mountains to Kansas.
“An aerial survey found distressed animals in small clusters
of 50 to 100 in a belt stretching from Burlington south to Lamar and
west to Trinidad,” Associated Press reported.
“Initially we were using food to lure animals away from
highways, train tracks and haystacks,” Colorado Division of Wildlife
southeast regional manager Dan Prenzlow said. “Now we are feeding
some of those same animals,” just to help them survive.

Scottish Natural Heritage halts Hebrides hedgehog cull –agrees to relocate instead

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

INVERNESS–The Scottish Natural Heritage
board of directors on February 20 “approved a
trial translocation of hedgehogs from the Western
Isles to the mainland,” the government-backed
trust announced.
“The move followed consideration of new
advice received from the Scottish SPCA that a
trial translocation should be conducted rather
than a cull,” Scottish Natural Heritage
admitted–without admitting that this is exactly
what the Uist Hedgehog Rescue coalition
recommended all along.
The coalition includes Advocates for
Animals, the British Hedgehog Preservation
Society, Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust, and
International Animal Rescue.

Kenyan reporter flushes out USAid effort to repeal national ban on hunting

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
NAIROBI–“Killing wildlife for fun may be re-introduced in
Kenya if the government implements a new wildlife policy believed to
have been influenced by the U.S.,” wrote John Mbaria in the February
24 edition of The Nation, the leading Kenyan newspaper.
“The draft policy calls for lifting the 1977 ban on hunting,
and asks the government to allow game ranchers and communities in
wildlife areas to crop, cull, and sell animals and their products,”
Mbaria said.
“These recommendations are a radical deviation from what
communities in 18 of the 21 wildlife regions in the country proposed
during a nationwide views gathering exercise carried out by the
National Wildlife Steering Committee,” Mbaria continued.
Affirmed Akamba Council of Elders representative Benedict
Mwendwa Muli. “We overwhelmingly said no to sport hunting. We
requested the government to restock wildlife so that we can start
receiving tourists.”

When the cat is away…

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
SYDNEY–Seven years after exterminators in June 2000 killed
the last feral cats on Macquarie Island, an Australian possession
within the Antarctic Circle, the island’s feral rabbit population
has soared from about 10,000 when the cat-killing began in the
mid-1980s to an estimated 100,000. “Rabbits are destroying Macquarie
Island’s fragile vegetation, causing erosion and exposure, which
threatens its seabirds,” University of Tasmania geographer Jenny
Scott warned in a report commissioned by Birds Australia.
The Australian federal government and state government of
Tasmania are now disputing over which is to pay the $15 million
(Australian) estimated cost of killing all the rabbits. “The last
supply boat of this season leaves Hobart in early April, so the two
sides need to come to a cost-sharing arrangement and get their people
and equipment on that boat,” World Wildlife Fund representative
Julie Kirkwood told Nick Squires of the South China Morning Post.
The plan to kill the rabbits is also supported by the
Australian Green Party.

EU rules for moles

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
BRUSSELS–The European Commission in February 2007 upheld a
ruling by the European Union Health & Safety Executive that
strychnine may no longer be used to kill moles. The verdict means
all burrowing mammals should now be safer from poisoning, either as
targeted or accidental victims.
“Last September a new EU law regulated a wide range of
poisons, including strychnine, to ensure they were safe and had no
harmful effect on the environment,” explained Charles Clover of the
Daily Telegraph. “Manufacturers failed to offer evidence that proved
strychnine does not harm the environment, so the British government
appealed to the EU on behalf of the 3,000 licensed users of the
poison who kill moles on grassland or golf courses. ”
The appeal was denied.

Battery cages are going out, too

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
WASHINGTON D.C.–Humane Society of the U.S. factory farming
campaign director Paul Shapiro is struggling lately to find new ways
of wording announcements that major buyers are, at HSUS request,
giving up using eggs from battery-caged hens.
The Burgerville restaurant chain, based in Vancouver,
Washington, announced it would make the switch on January 17, 2007.
Finagle A Bagel, of Newton, Massa-chusetts, made the switch on
January 29. The State University of New York at New Paltz dining
halls followed on February 13.

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