Marine mammals

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

S. 1636, the present Marine

Mammal Protection Act reauthorization

bill, has cleared the Senate Commerce

Committee and at deadline was expected to be

passed any day by the full Senate, with House

ratification likely in April. The Humane

Society of the U.S. has asked members to

write Congress opposing S. 1636 because it

“has no provisions for effective enforcement,”

and “would allow the accidental killing of

endangered species (currently prohibited) and

the intentional shooting of seals and sea lions

solely to protect fish commercially caught or

raised.” HSUS seeks amendments that will

“ensure that marine mammal mortality in com-

mercial fishing operations reaches insignifi-

cant levels approaching zero, mandate specif-

ic punitive consequences if kill reduction goals

are not met on schedule, prohibit the capture

of wild whales or dolphins for public display,

prohibit swim-with-the-dolphin programs and

petting pools, prohibit public feeding of both

captive and wild marine mammals, prohibit

the issuance of permits to kill endangered

species in commercial fisheries,” and “prohib-

it the intentional killing of seals and sea lions

solely to protect fishing gear, catch, or net

pens.” The Animal Welfare Institute has

issued a similar appeal for action.

Guest column: Reject, isolate, abandon undisciplined ALF

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

by Paul Watson

Captain, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Much controversy has been gener-

ated over the last few years by the Animal

Liberation Front and most recently by the

attacks on the fur departments of major

department stores in Chicago. The ALF has

been condemned for terrorism and has made

itself a primary target for investigation by

the FBI. It is only a matter of time until

some serious arrests are made and perhaps it

is only a matter of time until the now

unblemished record of the animal and con-

servation movements is irreparably tar-

nished.

To date, there has not been a sin-

gle human being injured or slain by an ani-

mal rights, animal welfare, or conservation

movement person or organization. Perhaps

it is inevitable that such a thing will some

day happen, but I believe that we should do

everything in our power to keep that day far

into the future. Our strength lies in our

morality and in the ethical advantage of

remaining steadfast in our respect for life.

All life must always be of paramount con-

cern.

Guest Opinion: In defense of the Animal Liberation Front

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

by Gary Francione

Rutgers Animal Rights Law Clinic

The January/February ANIMAL PEOPLE edi-

torial condemned the Animal Liberation Front for planting

nine firebombs in four Chicago department stores.

Although I agree completely that the cause of animal

rights is or should be a movement of peace and nonvio-

lence, and that the use of firebombs or any other action

that threatens human or nonhuman life is morally unac-

ceptable and inimical to the philosophy of animal rights, I

am concerned that ANIMAL PEOPLE’s broad condem-

nation of the ALF focused attention on the wrong topic.

First, while the condemnation did except the

clandestine information-gathering in support of Animal

Welfare Act enforcement that characterized many early

actions, it otherwise lumped together all ALF activities.

For the first decade the ALF was active in the United

States, it generally rejected any action that jeopardized

human or animal life and safety, and confined its activi-

ties to removing animals from laboratories or farms, and

on occasion, to destroying equipment used to exploit ani-

mals. The first arson attributed to ALF in the U.S. did not

occur until 1986, and there were few others before 1991.

Letters [March 1994]

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Iditarod

Whether I have skeletons

in my closet does not matter. I pro-

vide information on the Iditarod to

humane and animal rights groups so

that they can take action. If I am

bad, then all the more reason to

protest, right? Only through protest

will the Iditarod Trail Committee

clean up its act. The more protest,

the cleaner the race will be. What

more would you want?

Letters

Editorial: Wanted: vets on wheels at combat pay

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Just over two years ago ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett disregarded

warnings that she was taking her life in her hands and took an experimental neuter/release

project into inner city Bridgeport, Connecticut––the city with the highest per capita murder

rate and greatest rate of drug-related violence of any in North America. Among the burned-

out, abandoned shells of factories and tenements where families lived six or eight people to

a room on welfare, Kim found a community who for the most part already knew about pet

overpopulation, were worried about the homeless animals they fed at their doorsteps, and

were readily receptive to her help in obtaining neutering and vaccination. Bridgeport had

and probably still has a high density of feral cats not primarily because anyone was ignorant

or indifferent, nor because even the poorest of the poor were unwilling to pay for neutering

their pets––albeit that most couldn’t afford to pay anything close to the going veterinary

rates. On the contrary, Kim was welcomed as “the cat lady” where even police feared to

walk. Children ran up and down the shabby side streets knocking on doors, asking neigh-

bors to bring out their animals. Elderly women without even a warm coat and third genera-

tion welfare mothers produced tattered and painstakingly preserved ten-dollar bills to make

the most generous contribution they could to assist the effort. The nun whose tiny convent

school was among the last outposts of hope in the inner city gave Kim her full support.

Will Pennsylvania humane officers lose their badges?

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania––

Five bills before the Pennsylvania state legis-

lature, a court case pending in Ohio, and a

political fracas in Wisconsin together signal

that humane enforcement is no longer a

backwater of police work, easily left to ama-

teurs and the bottom of the court calendar.

It is almost certain that before 1994

is over, the structure of humane enforcement

in Pennsylvania will either be reinforced or

demolished, depending upon which mea-

sures from the competing bills best survive

the process of committee review and amend-

ment––and how one interprets the results. It

is possible that the Ohio court decision,

expected this summer (separate story, page

15), could spark a similar burst of legisla-

tive activity. In Wisconsin, rules governing

search warrants could be amended. In all

three states the humane community is wor-

ried because opponents are all but salivating

at the prospect of forcing “activist” anti-cru-

elty officers off the beat. Some of the pro-

posed Pennsylvania legislation would

exempt farmers from humane enforcement;

Sea Shepherd sinks another pirate whaler: ACTED TO ENFORCE INTERNATIONAL LAW, WATSON SAYS

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

GRESSVIK, Norway––Responding to the slaughter of 296 minke whales last

summer, in contravention of international agreement, the Sea Shepherd Conservation

Society sunk the pirate whaler Senet during the predawn hours of January 24.

The S e n e t was one of 28 vessels that took part in Norway’s first commercial

whale hunt since the International Whaling Commission declared a moratorium on com-

mercial whaling in 1986. The Senet crew killed five of the 160 whales massacred under

Norway’s unilaterally declared commercial quota, while 12 other vessels killed an addi-

tional 136 whales in the name of scientific research. Mostly sold to Japan, the whale meat

brought the whalers about $12.5 million. The Norwegian government reputedly spent near-

NEW YORK STATE STATISTICS SHOW LINK: Hunters and molesters

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

ALBANY, New York–-As a team of 165 volun-

teers shoved snow from the frozen forest floor near

Raquette Lake, where hunter Lewis Lent Jr. said he’d killed

and buried 12-year-old Sara Anne Wood last summer,

ANIMAL PEOPLEconfirmed through a county-by-county

comparative analysis of 1992 New York state hunting, trap-

ping, and crime statistics that children in upstate New York

counties with more than the average number of hunters per

capita are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted

than children in the notoriously crime-ridden Bronx district

of New York City. (Statistics begin on page 6.)

Lent, 43, of North Adams, Massachusetts, was

arrested January 7 after attempting to kidnap 12-year-old

Rebecca Savarese as she walked to school in nearby

Pittsfield. Within hours Lent became the primary suspect in

a string of at least eight kidnap/rape/murders of children in

Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, and in an

attempted kidnapping in Bennington, Vermont, only days

before his capture.

OSTRICH AND EMU SPECULATORS: Will they get rich quick or just get the bird?

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

DALLAS, Texas––More than 115,000 giant flightless

birds––ratites––roam North American pastures, including 80,000

ostrichs, 35,000 emus, and the occasional rhea. Ratite numbers

have doubled since last year and quadrupled since 1991. At the

present rate of breeding, stoked by speculation, the ratite popula-

tion could double again this year, and perhaps next year, too.

But many of those “pastures” are little more than back yards.

There is as yet no significant market for ratites other than specula-

tion in breeding stock. When no one else wants to cash in insur-

ance policies, mortgage property, and drain life savings to buy

ratites at spectacularly inflated prices, the pyramid of breeders,

dealers, franchisers, and support service vendors will col-

lapse––maybe not this year, but almost certainly soon.

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