High-Tech Activism

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

High-Tech Activism
The high cost of losing vs. the economics of victory
by Steve Hindi
president, Chicago Animal Rights Coalition

In 1992, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage
County, Illinois targeted thousands of “surplus” deer for
slaughter by sharpshooting and by rocket-netting followed by
captive bolt dispatch. While we opposed killing healthy deer
by either method, sharpshooting at least theoretically offered
the possibility of instant death. Rocket-netting was an entirely
different matter.
Rocket-nets are explosive devices that literally blast
a heavy net over groups of deer drawn to a baited site. People
who live nearby often call rocket nets “howitzers,” as their
roar can be heard for miles. The stress to the victims cannot
be overestimated, as the explosives detonate just a few feet
from the victims as they feed. Rocket-netting also causes a
high incidence of unintended injury, as frightened deer hurt
themselves trying to escape.

The price of meat

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.–– Eating
meat costs Americans $28.6 billion to $61.4
billion per year in extra health care, Dr. Neal
Barnard, Dr. Andrew Nicholson, and Jo Lil
Howard of the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine reported in the edition
of the peer-reviewed journal Preventive
Medicine published November 21. The
PCRM team based their estimate on studies
of large groups of Americans, mostly
Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists,
whose living habits differ chiefly in eating or
not eating flesh. In every such study to date,
meat eaters have had more health problems.
About 29% of all heart disease is related to
meat consumption, the PCRM team calculated,
costing $9.5 billion a year––but meatrelated
diabetes costs even more, they said,
at $14 billion to $17 billion per year.

FUR

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

The European Union Commission on November 22
announced yet another postponement of the European Union
ban on imports of furs that may have been caught by leghold
trapping. The ban, originally to take effect on January 1, 1995,
is vigorously opposed on behalf of the fur trade by the U.S. and
Canadian governments. EU officials were reportedly moved by
visits from Canadian Native Americans, who claimed the ban
would harm their people without mentioning that Native trappers
account for less than 5% of Canadian trapped pelts and less than
1% of total North American trapped pelts. Great Britain broke
with the rest of the EU, moving to impose the ban unilaterally.
The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility
for releasing 2,400 mink from the Dargatz farm in Chilliwack,
British Columbia, on October 23, and 4,000 mink from the
Rippin farm in Aldergrove, B.C., on November 14. Most were
quickly recaptured, but at deadline about 140 remained at large
in Chilliwack and about 600 in Aldergrove. Canadian wildlife
officials predicted that some, at least, might survive the winter.
The Canadian Mink Breeders Association posted a reward of
$50,000 for the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

Voting to kill Flipper

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––“The attempt to gut the Marine
Mammal Protection Act [by repealing dolphin-safe tuna import standards,
as reported on page one of the November 1995 ANIMAL PEOPLE],
backed by the Clinton/Gore Administration, the wise-use movement, and
a handful of conservation groups, is floundering on Capitol Hill,” Craig
Van Nolte of the Monitor conservation, environmental, and animal welfare
consortium told member organization lobbyists on November 14.
“Senator Ted Stevens and Don Young, the two Alaska
Republicans who are pushing the legislation, are finding virtually no
backers. As one key Congressional staffer observed, ‘Who wants to be
seen voting to kill Flipper?’ Sources report that major political and financial
supporters of the Administration are denouncing the dolphin sell-out
in written and face-to-face communications with both President Bill
Clinton and Vice President Albert Gore. White House political operatives
on the West Coast are warning that the scheme could poison political support
in next year’s election. The White House has opened a major backchannel
operation with Stevens and Young in recent months,” Van Nolte
continued, “in an effort to save the Commerce Department and to gut the
MMPA. The two powerful Alaskans are actively helping block the killCommerce
legislation being pushed by radical House Republicans;

LETTERS [Dec. 1995]

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Best Friends
Thanks for all the copies of the latest Animal
People, and the article on Best Friends. I think it really
captures the atmosphere of the place, especially with
the long opening section about the Anasazi people.
Everyone here enjoyed reading it, and we’ve seen various
comments online already about it, from people who
have really sat up and said, “What an extraordinarysounding
place!”
And, of course, I’m now following every
minute of the HSUS saga. Now it’s even appearing in
the regular newspapers.
Good wishes from all here, and love from all
your furry friends.
––Michael Mountain
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
Kanab, Utah

Letters

Editorial: Help the ones who really help animals

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

“I gave those people all I had,” the caller wept. “I don’t have a lot, but I thought I
was helping animals. I sent them my inheritance.”
We’d published warnings about this crooked outfit for years.
Unaware, the caller sent them money enough to neuter every dog and cat in the
county, or to equip an anti-poaching patrol to save African elephants and rhinos, or to provide
humane education to every school in the state.
But the people she trusted blew every penny. About half went for further
fundraising. The rest bought a customized motorcycle, a sports car, a boat, many nights in
Las Vegas, and evenings of snorting cocaine in their seaside condominium.
The caller, still determined to help animals, asked for one favor:
“Please,” she begged. “If I send you a list of animal groups I send donations to,
could you tell me which ones are good?”

Setting the floor for horse haulers

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

WASHINGTON, D.C.––Just days
ago S1283/HR2433, the Safe Commercial
Transportation of Horses for Slaughter Act of
1995, was rated the one humane bill with a
chance to clear the present Congress.
Introduced by Senator Mitch
McConnell (Kentucky) and Representative
Bill Goodling (Pennsylvania), both members
of the Republican majority, S1283/HR2433
was jointly endorsed by the leading horse
industry group, the American Horse Council;
the American Horse Protection Association;
the Humane Society of the United States; the
American Association of Equine
Practitioners; the American Humane
Association; and the American SPCA.

What you should know before you give

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Walt Disney explained fundraising succinctly in his animated edition of Robin
Hood––an account of “What really happened in Sherwood Forest,” as narrated by
Chaunticleer the Cock, voice and music by Roger Miller, which seems as historically accurate
as any.
As local representative of the first nonprofit institution, the Church, badger-of-thecloth
Friar Tuck worked to relieve the misery of the poor, against the oppression of maneless
lion Prince John, the Phony King of England. Friar Tuck depended initially on the donations
his congregation left in the poor box, but as John’s taxation policies increased the numbers of
poor and left the remaining citizens less able to give, Tuck turned to Robin Hood, the fox,
the quintessential fundraiser. Sometimes Robin Hood went out disguised as a poor old soul,
crying “Alms! Alms for the poor!” to the general public. But that was just image-building.
Robin Hood’s real fundraising schtick was collecting funds from the rich. Best known for
“robbing from the rich to give to the poor,” Robin Hood the fox actually used wit and stealth

ADC does damage control–– could be killed by Farm Bill

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Caught in a political trap, the
USDA Animal Damage Control program is battling for survival.
The ADC still has powerful friends, including western Senators of
both major parties, but the forthcoming Farm Bill debate could kill
it, after 65 years.
Conservative Republicans are queasy about the ADC
because it’s a federal subsidy for private enterprise: of the $19.6 million
1994 ADC budget, $10 million went to protect livestock.
Eastern politicians of both parties see the ADC as
expendible because it does little for their constituents: $9.7 million––97%––of
the livestock protection funds were spent in the 17
western states.
Environmentalists hate the ADC because it helps keep cattle
on federally owned land.

« 1 … 518 519 520 521 522 … 648 »