Birds

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

Hard-pressed sturgeon, sharks, and

rays got a break courtesy of the birds in May when

the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge

closed a popular fishing road to protect the nests of

threatened snowy plovers. Killed mainly for kicks,

not eating, the sturgeon, sharks, and rays are less

protected than the plovers but perhaps in greater

jeopardy of extinction because of their rapid deple-

tion and slow reproductive rate.

Oregon State University professor

Morrie Craig has received an award from the

American Racing Pigeon Union for developing a

way to test guano to detect the use of performance-

altering drugs. Doping has lately become a prob-

lem in pigeon racing, as the top prizes in interna-

tional competition have soared above $200,000.

Horses

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

Jean R. Strothenke, town jus-

tice for Schroon, New York, on April

20 fined horse hauler David A. Carper, of

Frank Carper & Sons, $11,100 for ille-

gally taking 40 horses to slaughter in a

double-decked trailer, lacking individual

stalls and insulation. He was caught on

January 27, en route from New Jersey to

Canada, when the truck broke down in a

snowstorm. The fine was by far the

toughest since New York adopted legisla-

tion to cover horse transport in 1980.

Spectacles

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

Florida attorney general Bob

Butterworth on May 6 ruled that so-

called hog-dog rodeos violate the state

animal cruelty law. The rodeos pit dogs

against hogs in an enclosed arena. The

dog who corners a hog fastest is the win-

ner. Videos of dogs biting pigs’ snouts,

ears, and legs have been widely broadcast

in recent weeks, as members of United

Bay Pens Association, a hog-dog rodeo

front group, have defended the events as

“good clean family fun,” and Hardee

County sheriff Rickey Dick has refused to

arrest either organizers or participants.

State attorney Joseph D’Alessandro

promised on May 13 that no one would be

arrested if the rodeos cease, but a UBPA

spokesman said they would continue until

arrests were made.

Agricultural veterinary medicine

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

The trade journal Beef Today and the

Colorado Cattlemen’s Association have urged the beef

industry to join animal protection groups in urging the

USDA to abolish face-branding cattle imported from

Mexico. The cattle are painfully face-branded––and cows

are spayed without anesthesia––as part of an anti-bovine

tuberculosis program. Of 438 cases of bovine TB found in

1993, 427 were in cattle of Mexican origin. Exposed in an

ongoing series of newspaper ads by the Coalition for Non-

Violent Food, face-branding was also discussed recently by

the Animal Welfare Committee of the AVMA. AVMA

policy presently supports face-branding, but related pro-

posed policy amendments are up for review by the AVMA

executive board.

AVMA says mad cow disease won’t hurt public

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

SCHAUMBERG, Illinois––University of San

Francisco researchers led by Dr. Stanley Pruisiner reported

on April 22 that they have discovered how disease-carrying

agents called prions replicate, a key step toward finding a

way to fight scrapie, a fatal brain disease of sheep and

goats, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), bet-

ter known as “mad cow disease.” More than 100,000

British cattle have been destroyed due to BSE since 1986,

while isolated cases have appeared in seven other nations.

The spring 1994 Farm Sanctuary newsletter

meanwhile asserted that “At least two British dairy farmers

whose cows had BSE, and who had been drinking milk

from their herds, died from CJD, the human counterpart to

mad cow disease…There is evidence to suggest that BSE

has existed in the United States for some time. In 1985,

several thousand mink at a Wisconsin fur farm died of

transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) which was

caused by their diet, primarily ‘downer’ cows. Research

done in the U.S.,” Farm Sanctuary continued, “has linked

BSE with the use of ‘downer’ cows… Scientists are now

concerned that the disease currently referred to by the U.S.

meat and dairy industries as ‘downer cow syndrome’ could

actually be BSE.”

AGRICULTURE

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

The USDA on April 26 announced yet another pro-

posal to raise grazing fees on federal land. This version would

boost the base fee to $3.96 per head-month by 1997, but would

provide incentive discounts for ranchers who undertake various

forms of conservation and/or rangeland improvement.

Comments will be reviewed until July 28. An Environmental

Protection Agency impact study published May 18 estimated that

current management practices would bring a 3% decline over the

next 20 years in stream quality in the affected habitat, while the

proposed changes would bring a 27% improvement.

A National Agricultural Statistics Service survey of

the 10 largest corn-producing states, which raise 80% of the total

U.S. corn crop, reports that less than 1% is lost to wildlife. The

average loss per acre is 0.66 bushels. Of the 35.4 million bushels

eaten by wild animals, deer eat 13.9 million, while birds eat 9.6

million. The 1993 crop came to 5.14 billion bushels in all.

ANIMAL HEALTH

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

“Often dogs show signs of lead intoxication

before children, and the signs in humans are more subtle

than in dogs,” University of Missouri veterinary toxicologist

Stan Casteel advises. Canine symptoms include prolonged

diarhea, vomiting, and stomach upset.

Fort Dodge Laboratories, a division of

American Home Products, has introduced the first vac-

cine for treating and preventing ringworm in cats. T h e

vaccine replaces traditional oral and topical treatments.

Michigan State University professor of veteri-

nary medicine Sally Walshaw, 49, on May 1 became the

ninth annual winner of the Leo K. Bustad Companion

Animal Veterinarian Award––and the first female recipient.

Walshaw teaches laboratory techniques. Said Richard

Walshaw, her husband and a fellow member of the MSU

veterinary teaching staff, “Before Sally, few people really

ever bothered understanding laboratory animals’ feelings,

and they indeed have a lot of feelings.”

Hartz Mountain ignites a powder keg

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

HARRISON, New Jersey––The Hartz Mountain

Corporation on May 6 lit a powder keg by donating 10 cases

each of Blockade flea and tick repellent to numerous animal

shelters. Blockade hasn’t been controversial recently, but

some shelter staff recalled the history of the product and

responded by not only rejecting the gift, but also setting up

a telephone tree to warn other shelters.

The initial furor erupted in 1987, when Blockade

was introduced. Within a year it was blamed for 366 pet

deaths, 2,700 pet injuries, and 56 “alleged unsubstantiated

human injuries,” according to a letter Hartz Mountain sent

the EPA in December 1987, when it took Blockade off the

market for further testing.

New species discovered in the jungles of Southeast Asia

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia– –Exploration teams in the

jungles of Southeast Asia reported two extraordinary finds in late

April––a small herd of kouprey, an extremely rare wild cow, and an

entirely new deer species, the giant muntjac.

Italian veterinarian Maurizio Dioli tracked the kouprey in

northeastern Cambodia from March 27 until April 7, never actually

seeing any, but collecting evidence of their presence, also observing

“one of the largest populations of Asian elephants and Sumatran tigers

in Asia,” and evidence, too, of enough poaching to “present a major

threat to the survival of the wildlife.”

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