Author: Dylan Forest

Zoos & sanctuaries

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

The sale of the city-owned
Bridgeport Zoo to the nonprofit Connecticut
Zoological Society, backed by $5.5 million in
state aid, has been delayed and perhaps halted
after three years of planning. The zoo occu-
pies park land donated by the James Walker
Beardsley family, who have the right to
reclaim the site if it is turned over to any entity
other than the city or the state. Beardsley’s
heirs say they would not exercise such a claim,
but public officials aren’t willing to take the
chance. The financially troubled city seeks to
sell the zoo, still undergoing extensive renova-
tion, because it costs about $1 million a year to
run, only $600,000 of which comes from
admissions, concession sales, and donations.

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Birds

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Psychologist Shigeru Watanabe of
Keio University in Tokyo reported in the
May edition of New Scientist that pigeons can
tell paintings by Pablo Picasso’s cubist period
from those of impressionist Claude Monet,
but cannot distinguish the works of Cezanne
from those of Renoir––which is to say they
have about the same ability to discern style as
the average art appreciation student.
The last male crested ibis in
Japan died suddenly on May 1 while carrying
grass to the nest occupied by his mate, bor-
rowed from China, and their cluster of five
eggs. The egg were to hatch circa May 10.
The dead ibis, age 21, was the next to last of
five who were taken from the wild for
attempted captive breeding in 1981. None so
far have bred successfully. The sole survivor
of Japan’s once plentiful crested ibises is a 28-
year-old female. China still has 28 of the big
birds, all in zoos and/other sanctuaries.

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“He ain’t heavy. He’s my brother.”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK–– National Park Service rangers have
killed 400 wild burros in Death Valley since 1987, but through the intervention of Wild
Burro Rescue, the 1995 quota is zero. It will stay zero for as many years as WBR is able to
rescue the number of burros the NPS would otherwise shoot to prevent ecological damage.
“I got shingles,” said WBR co-founder Gene Chontos, “but we did it,” raising
$23,000 between reaching a deal with the NPS last December and commencing the rescue
on March 18––and then rounding up 20 burros with the help of six mounted wranglers and a
rented helicopter. The team caught 19 burros the first day, with difficulty.

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RELIGION & ANIMALS

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Islamic fundamentalists on April
19 capped two weeks of railing against the
appearance of scantily clad performers b y
torching the stage and tents of the New Opera
Circus, killing a boy and a bear, as it per-
formed outside the Cox’s Bazar resort near
Eidgaon village in Bangladesh. The mob also
stabbed a tiger, an elephant, and various other
animals before police arrived, arresting three
assailants. Officials of Cox’s Bazar said they
had been unable to persuade the circus, from
the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh, to
pack up and leave.

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Fur

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Minneapolis furrier Robert
Zicari recently told Fur Age Weekly read-
ers that he’s trying to get licensing rights
from Walt Disney to promote fur goods bear-
ing the image of Snow White, and “Their
response was not altogether negative. We
have a chance if we put the cost up front.”
Linking Disney to fur would be an unlikely
coup; the 1959 Disney film 101 Dalmatians,
about Cruella DeVil’s attempt to make a
dog-fur coat, preceded a fur sales crash, and
the 1991 re-release of the film in home video
format also coincided with a skid. More is
ahead: Walt Disney Pictures on May 9 hired
Stephen Herek to direct a live edition of 101
Dalmatians, to be produced by John Hughes
and Ricardo Mestres, probably starring
Glenn Close as Cruella. Filming begins in
October. Thank Walt Disney Co. for its his-
torical role in promoting kindness toward
animals and urge it keep high standards at
500 Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521.

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RABIES UPDATE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

A rabid raccoon bit Samantha
Sorochinski, age 2, on May 5 in West Milford,
New York, prompting New York, New Jersey,
and Connecticut authorities to remind the public that
the mid-Atlantic raccoon rabies pandemic, which
crested three to four years ago, has not gone away.
Peruvian Health Ministry staff on May
8 began a 40-day drive to poison an estimated
90,000 stray dogs in Lima, the national capitol, to
reduce the risk of rabies.

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Animal control & rescue

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Flooding
Mid-May flooding stranded and
killed livestock and pets in rural areas of
Louisiana and Missisippi, but populated
areas, protected by levees and drainage sys-
tems, were only lightly hit, Jeff Dorson of
the New Orleans activist group Legislation
In Support of Animals told ANIMAL PEO-
P L E. LISA and the Louisiana SPCA did
some pet rescue in Jefferson Parish, while
Mary Hoffman and Doll Stanley-Branscum
of In Defense of Animals organized a rescue
effort around Grenada, Mississippi. “Even if
the waters recede rapidly, injured and home-
less wildlife and domestic animals will need
assistance,” Stanley-Branscum predicted.

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ALASKAN WAR ON WILDLIFE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

JUNEAU––Alaska governor
Tony Knowles has pledged to veto a bill
setting a bounty on wolves, passed by
the legislature––but that’s about the only
good news for wolves in Alaska.
On May 3, wildlife biologist
Gordon Haber, monitoring Alaskan wolf
populations for Friends of Animals,
found the last of the Headwaters pack
dead in snares––”nearly three weeks after

he end of trapping season,” wrote
Alaskan freelance journalist Tim Moffatt.
“Along with the body of a pregnant
female,” Moffat said, “were four pups,
two of them skinned; a coyote snared by
its back legs; a yearling moose; the
remains of another moose; and a cari-
bou,” possibly killed as bait. Haber docu-
mented the site and called the Alaska
State Troopers, Moffatt added.

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WILDLIFE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

The National Parks Board of South
Africa announced May 10 that, “To maintain
for as long as possible the option of translocat-
ing family groups of elephants,” only 300 will
be killed this year instead of 600 as biologists rec-
ommended. “The breeding herds will mainly be
culled in areas where the greatest damage has been
done to trees,” the NPB added. “Of special con-
cern is the declining baobob population,” in
Kruger National Park, which has about 8,000 ele-
phants in an area the size of Israel. The elephants,
including 70 bulls, are to be shot from helicopters.
Tranquilizer darts will no longer be used before-
hand because this appears to increase rather than
decrease the stress to the elephants, who afterward
are immobile but fully conscious.

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