Author: Archivist

A Mickey Mouse take on Africa: AND WHAT’S WRONG WITH THAT?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1999:

TOWN, HARARE, KAMPALA,
KILGALI, MAPUTO, NAIROBI– – T h e
defining attraction at Walt Disney’s Wild
Animal Kingdom is a 20-minute Mickey
Mouse version of an African photo safari.
Canvas-topped four-wheel drive
trucks haul guests on a jolting, twisting,
splashing drive through fake savannah and
jungle so seemingly real that many ask how
Disney moved the 400-year-old baobab
trees––or are they also native to Florida?
The fake baobabs stand among
more than 100,000 real African and Asian
trees which were either transplanted or grown
at the site, along with examples of 1,800
species of moss, ferns, and perennials, and
350 kinds of grass, each specific to the needs
of particular creatures.

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WATCHING THE HORSES

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1999:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif,––To know
whether the animals in a film or TV production
have been treated humanely, insiders say,
watch the horses.
Horses are not only the most commonly
used animal actors and props, they are
also easily replaced unless specially trained,
cost more to board than to buy, and are legally
classed as livestock, exempted from most animal
protection laws. Thus horses are the most
vulnerable species on most animal-using sets.
Watching the horses, ANIMAL
PEOPLE reader Mary Chipman, of Hazelwood,
Missouri, was alarmed in midsummer
by scenes from The Mummy and Joan of Arc.
Both, Chipman wrote, “featured
many horses who were yanked around and
made to fall during battle scenes. Some of it
could have been computer-enhanced, but there
is no doubt in my mind that quite a few horses
had a harrowing experience. Has there been a
resurgence in film cruelty?”

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U.N., U.S. plan world war on feral wildlife

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1999:

TOKYO––Representatives of the 175 nations that
have endorsed the United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity––including the U.S.––are to assemble in Nairobi,
Kenya, in May 2000 to draft guidelines for purging and blocking
the spread of alleged invasive species. The guidelines are
to be presented for ratification by the CBD members in 2001.
Once ratified, they could constitute a global mandate
in support of the forthcoming recommendations of the cabinetlevel
Invasive Species Council created by U.S. President Bill
Clinton on February 2, under orders to “mobilize the federal
government to defend against aggressive predators and pests.”
The mobilization is to be underway by August 2000.
The definition of “aggressive predators and pests”
addressed by both the CBD and Invasive Species Council could
include––among many other species––feral cats; feral pigs;
the mountain goats of Olympic National Park in Washington
state; street pigeons; starlings; the parrot colonies of San
Francisco, Florida, and the New York City metropolitan area;
and all wild horses and burros on public land except Bureau of
Land Management holdings, where they enjoy limited “squatters’
rights” under the 1971 Wild And Free Ranging Horse and
Burro Protection Act.

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AZA zoos move to halt suspect animal sales ––and access to information about them

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1999:

SAN JOSE, Calif.––Responding to
a four-part probe of commerce involving former
zoo animals, published in February 1999
by San Jose Mercury-News reporter Linda
Goldston, the American Zoo Association has
halted member zoos’ dealings with the Little
Ponderosa Animal Farm and Auction in
Illinois, Goldston reported on May 28.
The AZA has also begun requiring a
review of animal transfer records as a condition
of accreditation renewal.
“However,” Goldston wrote, “officials
involved with the system for recording
surplus animal dispositions are refusing to
make updates of the information available to
the public,” and International Species
Information System executive director Nathan
R. Flesness demanded unsuccessfully that the
Mercury-News remove from its web site an
analysis of the ISIS animal transfer data during
the years 1982-1988.

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REVIEW: The Life of Birds

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1999:

The Life of Birds
Five-volume video series
hosted by David Attenborough
BBC production, distributed by
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
10 hours. $89.98.

Two hours of The Life of Birds cover the
evolution of flight, three examine avian diet, one
focuses on communication, single hours look at
mating, nesting, and parenting, and the last hour
discusses adaptation to hostile environments.
The cinematography may be matched,
but is unlikely to ever be exceeded for drama and
variety, in part because The Life of Birds includes
many rare looks at species seldom seen, native to
the most remote corners of the world, and perhaps
soon to vanish, victims of habitat loss. As the press
materials boast, Attenborough’s crews took ultraslow-motion,
night vision, and micro-mini cameras
to 42 nations, flying 250,000 miles to capture
the most memorable possible shots of more than
300 species, at total cost of $12 million.

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Meat-chomping “Chickenman” convicted of assault

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1999:

OTTAWA––Eric Wolf, 26, of Ottawa,
who spent a week in a mock battery cage in 1997
as part of a performance art expose of poultry farming,
was convicted on June 18 of kicking and
punching his former girlfriend Rhonda Major.
Major spent much of the week-long
demonstration in October/November 1997 alongside
the cage, shared by Pamela Meldrum, then
27. Wolf and Meldrum were chosen by artist and
film maker Rob Thompson from among 80 people
who auditioned for the chance to win $2,500 by
enduring the entire week in the cage, which was
placed in a downtown Ottawa storefront. They
were allowed to eat only a vegetarian mush similar
to chicken feed, and were not permitted to have
books, radio, or television.

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LEGAL PRECEDENTS

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1999:

A June 23 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling in an unrelated case that
states hold sovereign immunity against
suits filed by individuals under federal
law in state courts appears to reverse, by
implication, a verdict favorable to animals
rendered by the Mississippi State
Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
Overturning a 1997 ruling by
the Chancery Court of Oktibbeha
County, the Mississippi Supreme Court
and Court of Appeals on April 22 reinstated
a case filed by In Defense of
A n i m a l s and the National Greyhound
Adoption Network, seeking custody of
12 ex-racing greyhounds who were
acquired by Mississippi State Univers
i t y from the Greenetrack raceway in
Eutaw, Alabama. IDA and NGAN held
that the deal violated the federal Animal
Welfare Act. The USDA Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service reportedly
cited MSU for neglecting Animal
Welfare Act recordkeeping requirements.

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Hard times for Queen of the Desert

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1999:

CASSELBERRY, Florida––Cat Fanciers Association
board members conferred on June 30 to discuss penalties
they might impose against Sheila Gitlin Dye, 52, breeder of
Queen of the Desert, the brown tabby exotic who was the 1997
CFA “Best kitten.”
Casselberry Animal Control supervisor Vicky
Hilburn and staff, with local police, on May 18 removed
Queen of the Desert and 13 other cats from Dye’s allegedly
feces-and-trash-filled home. Three dead cats were reportedly
found among the debris. Dye was charged with cruelty.
CFA president Don Williams, of Ocala, Florida,
told Orlando Sentinel reporter Doris Bloodworth that he knew
Dye as a fastidious housekeeper who pampered her pets.
Williams’ daughter lived with Dye circa 1992, while attending
the University of Central Florida, Bloodworth wrote.

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COURT CALENDAR

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1999:

Dog-related
Federal judge David Down of
Portage County, Wisconsin, on June 2
reduced to $300,000 an April jury award of
$940,000 to county dog warden Beverly
Kirkhart as an alleged victim of gender discrimination
when she was rejected for permanent
appointment to the post in 1994––after
she had been a member of the dog warden’s
staff on an interim basis since 1984, and had
been acting dog warden for about six months.
A man, Jon S. Barber, was hired instead, at
$3.00 more per hour. Kirkhart was then fired
in 1996, because of purported physical disabilities.
Kirkhart returned to work as dog warden
on May 17. Barber was offered a job in another
county department.

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