Prairie dogs with monkeypox blow the whistle on the exotic pet trade

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

CHICAGO, ATLANTA– With sentries ever
vigilant atop burrows, uttering different
whistles to denote flying, four-footed, and
two-footed gun-toting predators, what prairie
dogs do best is alert their whole habitat to the
approach of any danger.
In recent weeks prairie dogs alerted the
U.S. to the risk of little known lethal diseases
arriving from abroad through the exotic pet trade.
The triggering event was the arrival of
monkeypox, a milder cousin of smallpox, with 18
Gambian giant pouched rats and a number of
Ghanian dormice received on April 21 by Phillip
Moberly of Phil’s Pocket Pets in Villa Park,
Illinois.

Dog chaining bill signed in Connecticut

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

HARTFORD–Animal Advocacy Connecticut founder Julie Lewin
announced on July 10, 2003 that Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland
had signed the Confinement and Tethering of Dogs Act and three other
bills endorsed by AACT. To take effect on October 1, the
Confinement and Tethering of Dogs Act is the first state law in the
U.S. to limit how long a dog can be tethered outdoors.
Rowland vetoed a similar bill in 2002 that included specific
restrictions on tethering, but approved this one, spokes-person John
Wiltse told Associated Press, because it requires only that
tethering may not be for an “unreasonable period.” What is
“unreasonable” may vary with the weather and the breed and age of the
dog.

Canada cancels help for whales, dolphins caught by accident–308,000 worldwide

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

CAPE BROYLE, Newfoundland; BERLIN, Germany; LIMA,
Peru–Environment Canada has ceased funding Whale Release &
Stranding, a nonprofit organization that frees trapped whales and
other marine mammals from fishing gear, and the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans and Parks Canada have not picked up the slack,
Dene Moore of Canadian Press reported on June 15.
Whale release & Stranding received 55 reports of marine
mammals caught in fishing gear during 2001-2002, director Wayne
Ledwell told Moore. Ledwell and assistant Julie Huntington are the
only two paid employees of the group, which was partially funded by
the Canadian Coat guard until 2000, when Environment Canada took
over.

Neutersol hits the market; Third World seeks a price break

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

COLUMBIA, Missouri–Globally anticipated for more than 12
years, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March
2003, and officially introduced to the U.S. veterinary drug market
in May 2003, the injectible sterilant Neuterol is finally here–but
not there yet, overseas, in the impoverished nations where
uncontrolled reproduction of street dogs is most problematic.
As marketed so far by Addison Biolog-ical Laboratories,
Neutersol is only for American puppies, and then only for those
puppies whose caretakers are willing to pay almost as much for
sterilization by injection as for a conventional surgical castration
or vasectomy.
“Work is continuing with the FDA toward a clearance for cats
and older dogs,” Addison president Bruce Addison told Vet Practice
News.

Creating positive images of animals in Turkey

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

Fethiye, Turkey–Setting out in 2000 to end the annual
pre-tourist season poisoning of street dogs and feral cats by
sterilizing at least 70% within five years, Fethiye Friends of
Animals reached the goal in just three years, founder Perihan
Agnelli announced in June.
Agnelli celebrated by asking the students at 15 local schools
to create positive visual images of animals. All 450 students who
sent drawings received commemorative t-shirts. Sixty drawings were
selected for a four-day public show. The April 19 opening was
attended by 6,000 Fethiye residents and was broadcast live on local
television. An art jury presented gold-on-silver medals to the
artists in each of three age groups whose works were judged best;
silver medals went to the runners-up.
The art contest was sponsored by the Marchig Animal Welfare
Trust, founded by Jeanne Marchig, widow of Swiss painter Gustave
Marchig.
[Contact Fethiye Friends of Animals c/o Degirmenbasi Mevkii,
Orman Deposu Karsisi, Fethiye, Mugla, Turkey; 90-252-613-5825;
<ragnelli@superonline.com>.]

Court Calendar: Precedental verdicts

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

A three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled 2-1
on July 9 that a ballot initiative prohibiting the state government
from confiscating private property without first obtaining a criminal
conviction against the owner was structured in violation of state
constitutional rules. Passed by two thirds of the voters but not yet
enforced, the initiative was challenged by the Lincoln Interagency
Narcotics Team with several humane societies as co-plaintiffs. If
enforced in cruelty cases, the initiative could prevent taking
animals into protective custody upon charging the defendants, and
therefore might expose the animals to continued suffering.

Five convicted of murder-by-dog, three charged in new cases

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

TEMECULA, California–Baby sitter Jackie Batey, 30, was on
July 9 charged with felony child endangerment and involuntary
manslaughter for the June 20 fatal mauling of Sumner Clugston, age
2, in the front yard of her home in Riverside County, California.
Batey allegedly left Clugston and three other children alone with her
pit bull terrier.
The charges against Batey followed five convictions on felony
charges in three other murder-by-dog cases during the preceding 12
days.
The Batey charges came 20 days after Kathleen Josephine
Hansen, 60, and her son Roger Allen Hansen, 35, were jailed and
charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of a
child, reckless endangerment, and dog law violations after a
similar incident in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. In that case,
Roger Hansen allowed his three Rottweilers to escape while Kathleen
Hansen was playing with her two-year-old granddaughter Lillie
Krajewski of Buffalo.

The “Carnivore crowd” licks chops at chance to repeal Kenya no-hunting policy

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

NAIROBI–Roars are often audible at the
Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters on the fringe
of Nairobi National Park–and not just from the
dwindling numbers of resident lions, fast being
poached to extirpation by Masai who see the park
as not only a buffer between their grazing land
and urban sprawl but also a source of grass for
their cattle and firewood now that drought and
overgrazing has turned their commons into
semi-desert.
Losing in competition for fodder, wild
ungulates have migrated from Nairobi National
Park into the distant hills. Hungry lions have
turned to hunting Masai cattle. Now the Masai
are hunting the lions.

Legislative Calendar

July 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2003:

Reviewing proposed amendments to the Fiscal Year 2004
Agriculture Appropriations Act, the House of Representatives on July
14 added $800,000 to the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection
Service budget to support enforcement of legislation banning the
interstate transport of gamecocks and fighting dogs, by a vote of
222-179, but voted 202-199 against an amendment by Representatives
Gary Ackerman (D-NY) and Steve Latourette (R-Ohio) that would have
forbidden processing non-ambulatory livestock for human consumption.
This was the closest that Ackerman has come yet in many attempts to
pass “anti-downer” legislation.

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