COURT CALENDAR

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

Genetic patents
New York Medical College cellular biologist Stuart A. Newman,
cofounder with biotechnology critic Jeremy Rifkin of the Council for
Responsible Genetics, revealed in the April edition of Nature that on
December 18, 1996 he and Rifkin applied for a patent on three techniques of
mixing human embryonic cells with the embryonic cells of other species to produce
part-human, part-animal “chimeras,” named for beasts of Greek myth
who had lion heads, goat bodies, and snake tails. Explained Newsweek, “The
two activists hope that a patent would give them the legal means to block scientists
from using any of the methods they lay out in the application.” Patent
Office verdicts, N e w s w e e k continued, “can be appealed all the way to the
Supreme Court––a prospect that delights Rifkin and Newman. Bioethicists say
that the ensuing court battles may force the first real legislation on what constitutes
a human,” thereby legally limiting many potential uses of both human and
animal genetic material in research.

Classroom dissection

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

New curriculums introduced this academic
year exempted first-year medical students from live
pig dissection at the St. Louis University School of
Medicine and made participation in live dog dissection
optional at the University of Colorado School of
M e d i c i n e. The new St. Louis University curriculum
introduces observations of demonstration surgery on
live pigs at the second-year level, and hands-on work
as an option later. About 35 pigs were spared by the
change, pharmacology and physiology chair Thomas
C. Westfall told James Ritchie of the St. Louis PostDispatch.
The University of Colorado policy amendment
allows medical students to opt out of three 10-
week dog laboratories traditionally held each spring.
An Islamic student, Safia Rubaii, in 1993 challenged
mandatory participation as an alleged violation of her
faith, and sued the university Health Sciences Center
when the administration threatened to flunk her. In
1995, recalled Denver Post medical writer Ann
Schrader, “University officials agreed to pay Rubaii
$95,000, and promised to establish a review process to
accommodate future students whose religious beliefs
don’t allow doing experiments on animals.”

2,500 march against sealing

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

OTTAWA––At 1,000 strong, the
lightly publicized Canadians Against the
Commercial Seal Hunt rally outside the
Liberal Party convention on March 31 was
already the largest animal rights demonstration
Canada ever had.
Then 48 buses rolled in from as far
away as Quebec City and Windsor. By the
time International Fund for Animal Welfare
Canadian director Rick Smith rose to speak,
2,500 people formed “a sea of crimson CATCSH
hats that stretched from the stage across the
closed Colonel By Drive and up the spiral
staircase of the MacKenzie King Bridge,”
Don Fraser of the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Inside, the Liberal government still
didn’t get it, reportedly just barely winning a
resolution from the delegates in favor of continued
sealing and big quotas, on the false
premise that seals rather than political policy
makers are primarily responsible for the
Atlantic Canada cod crash.

WTO dumps turtle protection

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

GENEVA, VISAKHAPATNAM,
WASHINGTON D.C.––The World Trade
Organization ruled on April 6 that the U.S. in
barring the import of shrimp from nations
whose fleets are not required to use turtle
excluder devices on their nets is violating the
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs.
The WTO held that even under the
international treaty that allows exceptions to
GATT rules to protect the environment, the
U.S. may not force other nations to safeguard
endangered species. The WTO particularly
objected to the part of the U.S. TED law which
requires TED to be used in all shrimping, not
just shrimping done for export to the U.S.
U.S. trade representative Charlene
Barshefsky said the ruling “does not affect our
efforts to protect endangered sea turtles.” As
many as 150,000 sea turtles a year are
drowned in shrimp nets not equipped with
TED. But Barshefsky did not explain how the
U.S. can continue to prevent foreign shrimpers
from competing unfairly with U.S. shrimpers
who by law must use TED.

Maneka faces wise-users: FIRST ACTS IN NEW INDIA GOVERNMENT ARE FOR BEARS AND BEAGLES

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

NEW DELHI––Koose Muniswamy
Veerappan, perhaps the most notorious
alleged poacher at large in the world, on April
11 reportedly sent three former henchmen to
police with a cassette containing an offer of
surrender. But Indian authorities were reportedly
unexcited. According to the Press Trust
of India, Veerappan has often in the past
offered to surrender in trade for clemency. He
is believed to be the world’s leading trafficker
in poached Asian elephant ivory and illegally
logged sandalwood.

Abroad

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

In Germany, “animals kept in shelters are
never killed as a result of pet overpopulation,” federal
animal shelter overseer Jorg Styrie recently
wrote to Diana Nolen, president of the STOP antipet-overpopulation
project in Mansfield, Ohio.
According to Styrie, unless an animal “is incurably ill
and suffers pain, it is forbidden to put animals to
sleep.” Adoption, surrender, vaccination, and neutering
fees at German shelters are all comparable to
those in the U.S., but pet abandonment brings a fine
of about $1,500, Styrie told Nolen.

Fixing the problem

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

Cile Holloway of the Texas
Humane Legislation Network hopes to
sell $500,000 worth of “Animal Friendly”
license plates (above) by September 2001 to
endow a state trust fund which will then distribute
revenue to low-cost and no-cost pet
sterilization programs. If the sales target
isn’t reached, under the terms of the legislation
approving issuance of the plates, the
effort will be cancelled.

ANIMAL CONTROL, RESCUE, & SHELTERING

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

Jim Nakamura, of Chico,
California, whose prosecution for cat-feeding
was featured on page one of the March
1998 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE,
agreed on March 19 to a “diversion” in lieu
of contesting continued criminal prosection,
“on condition that he perform 40 hours of
work with the Chico Cat Coalition i n
Bidwell Park,” wrote his attorney, Larry
Weiss, of Santa Rosa. “Since Jim was one
of the founders of the Chico Cat Coalition,
and since feeding/trapping the cats in
Bidwell Park is all that he wanted to do
from the outset, we had no problem agreeing
to this disposition. Under the agreement
Jim is to participate in the program to trap
feral cats. That program specificially
includes feeding while the trapping is being
done. We’re very happy with the outcome,
and there is still no conviction in California
for the ‘crime’ of feeding cats.”

SPORTSMEN & SPORTSWOMEN

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

The Oregon Hunters Association
on April 12 removed Portland chapter president
Wendell Locke of Forest Grove from
office for admittedly burning a cross on the
lawn of Oregon Humane Society state director
Sharon Harmon in April 1996, but did
not expell Locke from membership.
Mary Shriver, 55, executive
director of the New Hampshire Wildlife
Federation, on April 1 pleaded guilty to illegally
allowing her tags to be used on a moose
killed by New Zealand game preserve owner
Alan Stewart, and paid a fine of $300.

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