Hog/dog rodeo like porn, says prosecutor

March 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2004:

COFFEYVILLE, Alabama–The legality of so-called “hog/dog
rodeo” in Alabama will be tested soon as result of arrests made on
February 21, 2004 by Clarke County Sheriff Jack Day.
Hog/dog rodeo, practiced chiefly in the rural South,
consists of setting pit bull terriers against purportedly feral pigs
in an enclosed arena. The dog who corners and holds a pig fastest is
the winner.
Hog/dog rodeo was openly promoted in both Alabama and Florida
until May 1994, when then-Florida attorney general Mike Butterworth
ruled in response to videos of dogs mauling pigs at a site in Hardee
County that the practice violates the state anti-cruelty law.
That left Alabama, where the most prominent hog/dog venue
of several openly operating is reputedly that of H&H Kennels owner
Johnny Hayes, near Coffeyville.
Coffeyville police chief Frankie Crawford and Clarke County
Democrat editor Jim Cox had both repeatedly denounced hog/dog rodeo
and drunken parking lot violence that often went with it, but to no
avail until a February 12, 2004 investigative report by Mike Rush of
NBC-12 in Mobile.
Shown video similar to the footage that ended open hog/dog
rodeo in Florida, Clarke County District Attorney Bobby Keahey told
Rush that he had never prosecuted Hayes and others involved because
Sheriff Day had never arrested them.

American Humane regroups as Humane Farm Animal Care takes lead on farm care

March 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado– American Humane on
February 10, 2004 announced the hiring of former
American Red Cross interim chief executive
officer Marie Belew Wheatley as president and CEO.
“At the Red Cross, Wheatley served as a
national disaster response officer,” wrote
American Humane public information manager Anna
Gonce. “Wheatley worked with many volunteer
organizations, including American Humane, to
care for animals affected by disasters.”
Ten days after introducing Wheatley,
American Humane announced receipt of a grant of
$50,000 from the U.S. Department of Education
Fund for the Improvement of Education. Secured
by Colorado U.S. Senators Wayne Allard and Ben
Nighthorse Campbell, the money will be used “to
expand existing educational programs that help
students and communities learn to prepare for and
care for animals during disasters,” Gonce said.
The Wheatley hiring followed extensive
restructuring at American Humane that included
the separate resignations in June 2003 of former
president and CEO Tim O’Brien and former Film &
TV Unit chief Karen Goschen, after the earlier
departure of Free Farmed program founder Adele
Douglass.

Where wolves, bears and people live together

March 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2004:

“People and wolves can live together,” says Carpathian Large
Carnivore Project director Christoph Promberger. “What we have found
is that carnivores can cope extremely well with people.”
Promberger has spent the past 10 years studying large
carnivores in the southern Carpathian mountains and teaching
livestock herders and beekeepers to use nonlethal techniques to
control predation. Since 1995 Promberger and the CLCP have also
introduced eco-tourism to a region which previously economically
benefited from wildlife only through hunting by the Communist ruling
elite–and not benefiting much, at that.
Promberger is now building the Carpathian Large Carnivore
Center, to further establish the idea that the Piatra Craiului
National Park region in the southern Carpathians can become to Europe
what the Yellowstone National Park region is to the U.S.–both a
critical wildlife habitat and the chief economic engine in an area
with few non-extractive industries.
The Carpathian mountains are home to one third of Europe’s
large carnivores west of Russia. There are 3,500 wolves in Romania,
a nation the size of Michigan. This is almost as many wolves as
exist in the entire U.S. There are 5,500 brown bears, nearly five
times as many as there are of their cousins, the grizzlies, in the
U.S. Lower 48. Lynx are seen as often in the southern Carpathians as
anywhere.

Animal Obits

March 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2004:

Stumpy, age 40+, an 80-ton pregnant North Atlantic right
whale, familiar to New England Aquarium, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute, and Center for Coastal Studies researchers since 1975,
was found dead from a ship strike off Virginia in early February.
Wrote Cape Cod Times staff writer Emily C. Dooley, “From 1975
through 2002 there were 292 documented cases of ships striking large
whales across the globe. Of these, 38 strikes involved North
Atlantic right whales, according to the Large Whale ship Strike
Database compiled by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric
Administration.” North Atlantic right whales are the rarest of the
great whales, with only about 325 surviving.

Wolf #42, alpha female of the Druid Peak Pack in Yellowstone
National Park, was found dead on February 3 atop Specimen Ridge
after a fight with Mollie’s Pack, also called the Crystal Creek
Pack. #42 became the Druid Peak Pack alpha after killing her
tyrannical sister, #40, who may have earlier killed one of #42’s
first litters. Her more benign sister, #41, left the Druid Peak
Pack in 1998 to become founding alpha female of the Sunlight Basin
Pack. Suffering from mange and a broken foot, #41 and another wolf
recently left the pack. Seen feeding on a freshly killed calf on
private land on February 6, #41 was shot by a U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service agent on February 15. #42 and #41 were the last of the 31
wolves brought to Yellowstone as part of the 1995-1996 species
reintroduction.

Obituaries

Maine lab bootlegged avian flu virus; ex-execs charged

March 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2004:

BANGOR–The avian flu virus involved was H9N2, not the H5N1
strain now rampaging through Southeast Asia, nor one of the other
deadly H5 or H7 strains.
Still, an avian flu virus smuggling scheme recently exposed
in connection with the multi-count prosecution of three former Maine
Biological Laboratories executives has scared biological security
experts worldwide.
Former MBL chief financial officer Dennis H. Guerrette, 40,
of Brunswick, and former MBL vice president for production Thomas C.
Swieczkowski, 47, of Pittston, pleaded innocent on January 5 to
conspiracy, serving as accessories after the fact to biological
smuggling, and three counts each of mail fraud. Each mail fraud
count carries a penalty of as much as 20 years in prison and a fine
of up to $50,000.
The third ex-MBL executive, Marjorie Evans (whose age was
not stated) was charged with making false statements to investigators
and violating the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act.
Former MBL lab technicians Walter Gogan, 63, and Peggy
Lancaster, 47, in November 2003 pleaded guilty to related charges.
Gogan admitted being an accessory after the fact, which could carry
a sentence of up to 30 months in prison. Lancaster admitted to
ordering staff to falsely label vaccines, carrying a possible
penalty of one year in prison.

Editorial: Bring breeders of high-risk dogs to heel

January 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2004:

On January 5, the first regular business day of 2004, New
York City Center for Animal Care and Control director Ed Boks and
actress-turned-animal advocate Bernadette Peters tried to make pit
bull terriers more adoptable by announcing that henceforth they would
be offered for adoption as “New Yorkies.”
The scheme lasted less than three days.
Having worked long and hard to rehabilitate the image of New
York City, the tourist industry wanted no part of any potential
association with gangs, drugs, and hostile behavior.
“I think it would create a bad image for New Yorkers,” public
relations executive Howard Rubenstein told Heidi Singer of the New
York Daily News. “Our bark is worse than our bite. With pit bulls,
their bite is worse than their bark.”
Representing media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, casino baron
Donald Trump, hotelier Leona Helmsley, and New York Yankees owner
George Steinbrenner, among others, Rubenstein, 67, is among the
acknowledged New York City power brokers. When Rubenstein speaks,
City Hall listens.
Animal shelter experts around the U.S., called for comment,
remembered the 1996 attempt by the San Francisco SPCA to re-invent
pit bulls by calling them “St. Francis terriers.”

How to hit narcissists with the anti-fur message

January 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2004:

How to hit narcissists with the anti-fur message
by Irene Muschel

Here we are, 30 years after the
publication of Animal Liberation by Peter Singer
and Man Kind? by the late Cleveland Amory marked
the beginning of the modern-day animal rights
movement, and it is impossible to walk anywhere
in New York City, still the global hub of the
fur industry, without seeing people in fur
coats, jackets, accessories, and especially
fur trim.
Stores that never sold fur before are now
selling it, often without identifying the
animals it came from. The labels just say,
“Real fur, imported from China,” or “Genuine
fur.” This could be dog or cat fur. Although
importing dog or cat fur garments is illegal,
items priced at under $150 are exempt from the
federal requirement that furs be accurately
labeled.
I am left with feelings of despair and
anger that the animal rights movement has failed
so miserably in this area, through the use of
futile, self-defeating tactics, the absence of
vigilance, not monitoring what works and what
does not, and rigidly refusing to change methods
to become more successful.

It is not their fault for not listening

January 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2004:

It is not their fault for not listening
by Carole Lewis

If the public is not getting our message,
it is not their fault for not listening. It is
ours, for inadequately or inappropriately
communicating.
I believe that most people who have petted a
bobcat will not be able to shoot one for fun, or
wear one for fashion. I believe that most people
who have come face to face with a tiger in a
moment of appreciation will not pay to watch
someone sacrifice the majesty of the tiger to
make him perform stupid pet tricks.
When people have the chance to see that
their choices can inflict great pain, most learn
to make better choices. I have the opportunity
to give sanctuary tours and talks about wildlife,
and the phrase I hear most often is, “I had no
ideaŠ”
Animal rescue facilities such as mine
cannot handle the number of creatures in need of
sanctuary when public ignorance fuels the market
for an endless supply of cute and cuddly cubs.

Euro Commission refuses Euro Parliament order to ban dog & cat fur

January 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2004:

BRUSSELS–Claiming lack of jurisdiction, the European
Commission has refused to draft a ban on dog and cat fur imports into
the European Union that was overwhelmingly approved in principle by
the European Parliament in mid-December 2003.
To take effect, the ban would have to be presented by the EC
to the Council of Ministers, and would then have to receive the
ministers’ ratification.
Introduced by Struan Stevenson, a Conservative member from
Edinburgh, Scotland, with four cosponsors, the dog and cat fur
import ban was endorsed by 346 members of the European Parliament in
all, with only 314 needed for a majority. Stevenson also claims to
have the support of Council of Ministers members representing France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Denmark,
Sweden, and Britain.
Denmark on October 1, 2003 independently enacted a law
banning traffic in dog and cat fur. Violators may be jailed for up
to four months.
The EU dog and cat fur ban was demanded by the European
Parliament in only the sixth order that the Parliament has ever given
to the EC to draft legislation, a procedure bypassing the usual
legislative process.

Europe
Law

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