BOOKS: Mark Twain’s Book of Animals

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

Mark Twain’s Book of Animals
Edited with Introduction, Afterword, & Notes
by Shelley Fisher Fishkin
University of Calif. Press (2120 Berkeley Way,
Berkeley, CA 94704), 2009. 325 pages,
hardcover. $27.50.

“Animals were integral to Mark Twain’s
work as a writer from the first story that earned
him national renown to pieces he wrote during his
final years that remained unpublished at his
death,” notes Shelley Fisher Fishkin. “Twain is
famous for having crafted amusing and mordant
quips about animalsŠHe is less known for being
the most prominent American of his day to throw
his weight firmly behind the movement for animal
welfare.”

Reviews

“Saving” tigers by selling them

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

JAKARTA–The Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar opened
on February 14, 2010 with schemes to “save” tigers that posed
perhaps a greater threat to tiger welfare and wild tiger survival
than even aggressive poaching that has cut the wild tiger population
in half since the last Year of the Tiger in 1998.
For nine days in January 2010 the Indonesian wildlife
protection organization ProFauna enjoyed a rare victory against both
tiger poaching and the exploitation of captive tigers. ProFauna
helped to send the most brazen tiger poacher in memory to prison,
for the August 22, 2009 pre-dawn killing and butchery of a
20-year-old tiger named Sheila in her cage at the Taman Rimba Zoo in
Jambi, capital of Jambi province.

Florida conservationists cold toward iguanas & pythons in record chill

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

MIAMI–Conservationists rushed to help endangered sea turtles
and manatees during one of the coldest winters on record in Florida,
but many vocally hoped that the January 2010 cold snaps would
extirpate non-native iguanas and pythons.
“Anecdotally, we might have lost maybe half of the pythons,”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission exotic species
coordinator Scott Hardin told David Fleshler and Lisa J. Huriash of
the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in mid-February, after several weeks
of doing habitat assessment.

Tiger defenders sued

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

BANGKOK–Wildlife Friends founder Edwin Wiek and
representatives of the Bangkok Post on February 3, 2010 entered
their responses to a defamation case filed against them by the Wat Pa
Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery, better known as the
Tiger Temple.
According to Tiger Temple publicity, the facility “started
in 1999,” with “a sick baby tiger, orphaned by poachers,” and
expanded to house other tiger orphans.”
Under Buddhist influence, the tigers “even sit for the
meditating sessions with the monks,” and also are extensively
handled by thousands of paying visitors.

Israel to ban fur?

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

TEL AVIV–The Israeli ministerial committee on law and
constitution on February 7, 2009 unanimously approved a bill to ban
the import and export of fur garments, except for shtreimels, a
type of fur hat traditionally worn by Hassidic Jews.
“The bill, prohibiting originally only trade in cat and dog
fur, has been expanded to include all fur from all mammals,”
explained Let The Animals Live founder Eli Altman. “Now the
Education, Culture and Sports Ministry committee will vote on the
amendment,” Altman added. “With their approval the bill will be
put to a second and then third reading before finally being past into
law.”

Beef ranchers lean on Cal Poly

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.– “Top officials at Harris Ranch are
trying to use their clout as big-money donors to censor what’s taught
at Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture,” editorialized the San Luis
Obispo Tribune News on January 17, 2010.
“Specifically,” the editorial charged, “they threatened to
withhold $500,000 in donations for a new meat-processing center,
unless the university tones down teaching about alternatives to the
traditional factory farming methods practiced by Harris Ranch.”

Extended Canadian seal hunt kills fewest seals since 1993

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland–Canadian Fisheries Minister Gail
Shea on May 11, 2010 announced that the close of the 2010 Atlantic
Canada seal hunt would be extended to the end of May.
The sealing season was lengthened to give sealers an
“extended period of time to take advantage of potential market
opportunities,” said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a
prepared statement. Earlier, Shea increased the sealing quota to
330,000, from 280,000 in 2009, even though the European Union in
July 2009 banned imports of seal products.

Farm animal initiative in Ohio builds on California success

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Ohioans for Humane Farms,
a coalition headed by the Humane Society of the
U.S. and Farm Sanctuary, on February 1, 2010
began gathering signatures to place an initiative
on the November 2010 Ohio state ballot which, if
approved by voters, would require the Ohio
Livestock Care Standards Board to ban lifelong
confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and
laying hens.

Discussion of draft Chinese animal welfare bill ignites over eating dogs and cats

March 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2010:

BEIJING–Released in late 2009 to promote public discussion,
a draft Chinese animal welfare act produced by an academic committee
had by mid-February 2010 generated a media storm nationwide.
“The proposed draft will be submitted to relevant government
departments in April,” reported Deng Shasha, editor of China Daily,
the largest Chinese newspaper. “Before being adopted as a law,”
Deng Shasha explained, “the draft must go through the State Council
and then receive three readings at the National People’s Congress
Standing Committee, the top legislative authority. The draft is not
included in the legislative agenda for 2008-2013 released by the
National People’s Congress Standing Committee,” Deng Shasha
cautioned, “indicating it might be a few years before it is adopted
as a law.”

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