Meat & human murder

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

ANTWERP, Belgium–More than 200 witnesses are expected to
testify in the anticipated seven-week trial of four men for the
February 1995 murder of Belgian veterinary inspector Karel Van
Noppen, shot multiple times in his car while investigating illegal
traffic in clenbuterol, a banned steroid used to promote livestock
growth. The trial began in Antwerp on April 14, 2002.
Van Noppen was believed to have been the victim of a “hit” by
the so-called “hormone mafia.” He was seeking indictment of cattle
breeder Alex Vercauteren at the time of his murder, but police were
unable to build a case against Vercauteren, now facing charges,
until an unidentified informant fingered arms dealer Carl De Schutter
and traveling fair worker Albert Barraz, who reportedly became
acquainted while serving prison time together. Apprehended in France
in 1996, De Schutter named Vercauteren and livestock dealer Germain
Daenen.

Laboratory updates

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine
professor Janet K. Yamamoto, who with Niels Pedersen of the
University of California at Davis codiscovered the feline
immunodeficiency virus in 1986, in March 2002 announced that she has
developed an immunization against FIV, and that the USDA has
authorized Fort Dodge Animal Health, of Kansas, to put it into
commercial production. The FIV immunization may be available through
local veterinarians by midsummer, priced at $15-$25. Up to 25% of
all cats may carry FIV in dormant phases. An estimated 5% develop an
active infection. Yamamoto predicted that the vacination method she
used might prove helpful in combatting the human immunodeficiency
virus, as well, whose victims develop AIDS. But Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center immunologist Norman L. Letvin, M.D., told
Boston Globe staff writer Stephen Smith that her approach had already
been tried against HIV, and had failed.

Fixing dog & cat overpopulation

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

Ed Boks, director of the Mari-copa County Animal Care &
Control department in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 16 introduced
differential incentives to encourage residents to sterilize and
release feral cats instead of turning them in to be killed. The
county will now charge $61 to kill a cat–or $20 to sterilize the cat
and send him or her “home.” The Arizona Humane Society, which
requests a $15 donation to kill a cat, reports an increase in cat
intake, as have smaller local shelters. However, said Maricopa
County Animal Care & Control spokesperson Julie Bank, “We’ve spent
30 years trying to control feral cats the traditional way, and the
problem is not stopping, ” with feral cat turn-ins averaging a
steady 10,000 a year. “We hope in the next three to five years to
see a decrease,” Bank added.

New Mexico pound worker breeds pit bulls

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

AZTEC, New Mexico–Among the more incongruous personal
histories of which ANIMAL PEOPLE has lately heard in the animal
control field is that of Aztec Animal Shelter employee Kristen
Valencia.
On October 10, 2001, Valencia was reportedly one of two
witnesses who affirmed an anonymous written allegaton to Animal
Protection of New Mexico cruelty inspector Michele Rokke that Aztec
Animal Shelter personnel improperly killed animals with
inanesthetized intracardiac injections.

Dogfighting

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 to 3/31_____
Major busts 11 24 54 66 75 27 [projects to 108] Related drugs/homicide 3 9 13 12 16 6 [projects to 24] People involved 76 136 237 297 282 40 [projects to 160] Dogs seized 95 365 791 896 869 428 [projects to 1,612] Felony convictions 1 2 7 25 18 14 [projects to 42]

Cockfighting
Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 to 3/31_____
Major busts 10 15 18 19 35 20 [projects to 80] Related drugs/homicide 0 6 6 3 5 3 [projects to 12] People involved 350 498 389 874 1508 460 [projects
to 11,840] Birds seized 725 763 1023 876 7995 1759 [projects to 7,036] Felony convictions 0 0 3 9 0 1 [projects to 42]

A “major bust” for the purposes of this table is defined as
any police seizure or arrest of any size that was recognized as
newsworthy by local news media. This definition is used because we
have no practicable way of tracking the volume of activity which goes
unreported, and because excluding cases simply because they involve
relatively low numbers of animals or alleged perpetrators might miss
important trends–such as the apparent decline of casual
street-corner dogfighting in 2002, even as the number of “major
busts” is up 33% and the average number of dogs seized per case has
almost doubled from 2001.

Cockfighting tripled in five years

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The number of reported U.S. cockfighting
arrests has more than tripled in five years, a review of ANIMAL
PEOPLE file data has discovered.
The number of fighting cocks seized by law enforcement is up tenfold.
Law enforcement agencies throughout the nation are anxiously
looking toward the 2002 Farm Bill for help, as an amendment approved
by the House of Represent-atives in October 2001 and by the Senate
in February 2002 could bring federal aid by outlawing the interstate
transportation of fighting cocks. As ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press,
however, cockfighting lobbyists and members of Congress from New
Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana were reportedly still trying to
strip the anti-cockfighting amendment from the reconciled Farm Bill
that was expected to go before the House and Senate for final
approval perhaps as early as April 25.

Hangin’ judge Roy Bean “justice” prevails in Texas for feral cats

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

WACO, Texas–Circa 1883, Val Verde County justice of the
peace Roy Bean, “The Law West of the Pecos,” ruled at one of the
most infamous trials in U.S. history that “There ain’t no law in the
state of Texas against killing a Chinaman.”
That verdict was recalled on March 19 in Waco when a McLennan
County jury decided that there is no law in the state of Texas
against killing a feral cat, no matter how it is done.

Feral cats, “gophers,” & Canadian politics of cruelty

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

TORONTO, OTTAWA–Con-vincing Ontario Court Judge Ted Ormston
that their intent was to produce an artistic statement about
slaughtering animals for meat, two men who videotaped themselves as
they slowly tortured a cat to death walked free on April 18.
Anthony Wennekers, 25, was sentenced to the time in jail he
had already served since his June 2001 arrest. Jesse Power, 22,
reportedly the son of two wealthy Montreal artists, drew 90 days in
jail to be served on weekends, plus house arrest and three years on
probation.

Bad spring for seals

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland–Northeastern Newfoundland sealers
in mid-April 2002 reported their most profitable seal hunt in
decades, while sealers from the west of Newfoundland, the Magdalen
Islands, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Labrador were
all but excluded from the killing.
Ice failed to form over much of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
and melted early where it did form, drowning thousands of newborn
harp seals whose remains washed ashore in western Newfoundland.

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