Carmody caught with clothes on

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

CAREW–Animal Rights Action Network campaigns coordinator
John Carmody, 23, may be the most often exposed activist in
Ireland, but ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett did manage to
photograph him–twice–with all his clothes on.
A more typical portrayal would show Carmody hunched over his
laptop computer wherever he can connect, e-mailing the
effervescently upbeat ARAN newsletter around the world, coordinating
countless events and demonstrations on behalf of half a dozen
international advocacy groups, and answering his cell telephone
every five minutes.
Effectively a fulltime animal rights activist since age 16,
Carmody takes clerical and sales jobs when he must to make ends meet.
The laptop is ARAN’s only “office,” other than Carmody’s bedroom,
at his parents’ home in Carew, a Limerick suburb where goats and
horses graze in green strips, and where, he insists, some
neighbors at times drag horses indoors.

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Betting on all but the dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

DELEVAN, DAYTONA, LACONIA–The 15-year-old Geneva Lakes
Greyhound Track in Delavan, Wisconsin ended live racing on November
6, 2005, with telecasting of races at other tracks due to end in
December.
About 450 of the estimated 1,000 dogs housed at Delavan were
offered for adoption by the local chapter of Greyhound Pets of
America, formed in 1989. Greyhound Pets of America is the largest
U.S. greyhound rescue group to be partially subsidized by the
greyhound industry.
Of the five greyhound tracks opened in Wisconsin during the
early 1990s, only the Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha is still
operating. Geneva Lakes Greyhound Track general manager blamed the
closures on competition from Native American gambling casinos. The
casino operators have managed to keep the Wisconsin greyhound tracks
from expanding into other forms of gambling.
The Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission on October 13 rejected an
application from the National Cattle Congress to reopen the Waterloo
Greyhound Park, closed in 1996, as hub of a riverboat casino
complex.

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Irish SPCA looks to a new era

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

KEENAGH, County Longford–When man bites dog, that’s news,
so when Irish SPCA chief executive Helen Dolan hit and killed a stray
dog with her sport utility vehicle on October 21, 2005, the
incident swiftly became tabloid and television news all over Ireland.
Dolan did not discourage the publicity. Instead Dolan took
the occasion to warn pet keepers to keep their animals secure during
the Halloween season, when the Irish traditionally detonate
fireworks to scare ghosts, mostly scaring dogs and cats instead.
Dolan also dispensed tips about avoiding roadkills and finding lost
dogs.
Hired in January 2005, Dolan brought to the Irish SPCA a
global background in hotel management and fundraising for education,
a lifelong love of dogs and horses, and no formal experience in
humane work.
In less than a year, Dolan’s flair for fundraising and
publicity has rattled quite a few cages. Some elder Irish animal
advocates grumble about Dolan’s rapid rise to national prominence.
Others say she is just what animal welfare in Ireland needed–a
charismatic young leader who isn’t afraid to spend money in order to
attract it, seizing the opportunity for humane work in Ireland to
grow with the fast-rising Irish economy.

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U.K. cruelty act update introduced

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

LONDON–British junior environment
minister and minister for animal welfare Ben
Bradshaw on October 14, 2005 introduced a long
awaited new draft Animal Welfare Bill, which if
passed by Parliament would be the first major
update of the U.K. anti-cruelty statute since
1910.
Summarized Amanda Brown of The
Independent, “The bill introduces a duty on
those responsible for animals to do all that is
reasonable to ensure the welfare of the creatures
in their care–a duty which for the first time
applies to non-domestic animals. The bill
simplifies animal welfare legislation by bringing
more than 20 pieces of legislation into one,
strengthening penalties and eliminating
loopholes. Those causing unnecessary suffering
to an animal will face up to 51 weeks in prison,
a fine of up to £20,000 or both.”

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Horse slaughter moratorium weakened

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

U.S. President George W. Bush on November 4, 2005 endorsed
into law an eight-month suspension of federal funding for inspecting
horse slaughterhouses, included as a rider to a USDA appropriation
bill. As originally passed by both the U.S. Senate and the House of
Representatives, the moratorium was to start immediately, having
the effect of suspending horse slaughter for human consumption, and
was to run for a year, but House Appropriations Subcommittee on
Agriculture chair Henry Bonilla (R-Texas) won a 120-day delay of
implementation in conference committee. “Bonilla managed to sneak in
confusing language that may allow horse slaughterhouses to hire their
own meat inspectors and continue their operations,” added Gannett
News Service correspondent John Hanchette.

Anti-chaining & feral cat ordinances

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

The cities of Burnaby and Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada, in October and November 2005 adopted anti-chaining
ordinances that Animal Advocates of B.C. founder Judy Stone believes
are “the best in North America.” Animal Advocates of B.C. began
promoting anti-chaining ordinances through advertising in ANIMAL
PEOPLE about seven months before Tammy Grimes formed the U.S.-based
anti-chaining organization Dogs Deserve Better, and 20 months before
Connecticut passed an anti-chaining law sought since 1986 by National
Institute for Animal Advocacy founder Julie Lewin. The Animal
Advocates, Dogs Deserve Better, and NIAA campaigns have now won
banning or restricting chaining in almost as many cities as children
have been killed by chained dogs (58) since Grimes began counting in
2003.

The Indianapolis city council on October 10 voted 26-1 to
make a neuter/return program run by the local organization IndyFeral
a part of the official city animal control policy. “Indy-Feral
charges colony caregivers $20 per cat for their service, compared to
approximately $120 per cat trapped and killed by Indianapolis Animal
Care and Control,” noted Nuvo Magazine writer Mary Lee Pappas.

Will Thai zoo crowd eat Kenya wildlife?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

BANGKOK, NAIROBI–A long-controversial sale of 135 wild
animals from Kenya to the Chiang Mai Night Safari zoo in Thailand on
November 10 appeared to be almost a done deal.
Kenya president Mwai Kibaki and Thai prime minister Thaskin
Shinawatra ceremonially signed the agreement at the State House in
Nairobi.
The transaction is to include both black and white rhinos,
elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, servals, hippos,
and at least 14 hooved species.
But the deal was originally to have included more than 300
animals, as described in July 2005. It was scaled back after Youth
for Conservation rallied international opposition to the animal sale,
over a variety of humane, tactical, precedental, and conservation
considerations.

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Rescued donkeys bring peace to bloodsoaked ancient battlefields

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

LISCARROLL, County Cork–In time the
Donkey Sanctuary of Ireland may be remembered as
the most significant institution in the history
of the blood-soaked rolling hills of Liscarroll.
The 350 donkeys peacefully grazing at the
impeccably tidy 30-acre visitor center and the
equally well-managed 70-acre donkey retirement
farm together form a living monument to a
globally influential turning point in
animal/human relations.
Donkeys are known to have lived at
Knockardbane, the farm that became the visitor
center, since 1926, when Donkey Sanctuary
manager Paddy Barrett’s grandfather retired from
a career as a police officer, and took up
grazing livestock instead.
But in all likelihood donkeys have
inhabited the site for almost as long as donkeys
have been in Ireland.

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Animal Friends Croatia halts beagle experiments & wins circus animal act bans, but who are they?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

ZAGREB–The difficulty of getting from one part of Croatia to
another may have kept Animal Friends Croatia from attending the
International Companion Animal Welfare Conference in Dubrovnik–but
they were busy.
Between October 10 and November 11, Animal Friends Croatia
won bans on circus animal acts in ten cities: Mursko Sredisce,
Varazdin, Donji Mholjac, Rovinj, Velika Gorica, Split, Delnice,
Gospic, Cakovec, and Ozalj.
The string of victories started 81 days after Animal Friends
Croatia exposed and ended a series of debilitating surgical
experiments on 32 beagles at the University of Zagreb Medical School,
following just six days of campaigning.
The campaign was amplified by all radio and TV stations in
Zagreb, five days in a row, and was endorsed by 15 leading Croatian
public figures, including national president Stejepan Mesic.
Eventually the beagles were surrendered to Animal Friends Croatia.

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