Birds

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Cowbirds, native to the

midwest, invaded California 10 to 15

years ago and are now blamed for extir-

pating at least four threatened or endan-

gered songbirds from key parts of their

range. Female cowbirds indirectly kill

as many as 48 young songbirds apiece

per nesting season by laying their eggs

in songbirds’ nests. The songbird par-

ents then raise the fast-hatching cowbird

offspring ––who push the songbirds’

own eggs out before they hatch.

Songbird species such as the Bell’s

vireo, willow flycatcher, yellow-breast-

ed chat, and white crown sparrow are

believed capable of withstanding losses

of 10% of their eggs, but decline quick-

ly when the losses exceed 20%. Studies

of white crown sparrow nests in San

Francisco’s Golden Gate Park indicate

losses to cowbirds may exceed 50%.

Hopes for the eventual recovery of the

highly endangered Bell’s vireo were

raised this year when one or two pairs

reportedly nested along the Ventura

River, near Santa Barbara, for the first

time since 1908––but a lone Bell’s vireo

seen in Monterey County, a former

stronghold of the species, failed to find

a mate. Bell’s vireos apparently haven’t

nested successfully there since the cow-

birds arrived, circa 1983.

Biomedical research

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

A George Washington University

research team revealed October 25 in

Science that it recently cloned and

destroyed a number of human embryos,

which were available for experimental use

because they had genetic flaws. It was the

most advanced genetic engineering experi-

ment to date using human tissue. The

announcement came less than a month after

300 scientists gathered in England to discuss

xenography––animal-to-human organ trans-

plants–– made theoretically possible after a

century of failures by implanting human genes

into animals raised as donors, which would

give the organs a human configuration and

help to overcome tissue rejection.

Wildlife: wolves and elephants and turtles and bison and bats and bears––oh my!

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

The North American Free Trade

Agreement could harm endangered species

and wildlife sanctuaries along the

U.S./Mexican border, a U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service impact analysis says. “There

are serious habitat problems and endangered

species problems on the border now, and we

expect that NAFTA may in fact exacerbate

some of them,” USFWS international affairs

specialist Doug Ryan told the Los Angeles

Times on September 27. The USFWS report

confirms the view of the majority of national

animal and habitat protection groups; see

“Animal and habitat protection groups split”

on page 6 of the October issue of ANIMAL

PEOPLE.

Report to Congress on Animal Enterprise Terrorism

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

WASHINGTON D.C. – – The newly released Department of

Justice/USDA Report to Congress on Animal Enterprise Terrorism man-

dated by the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 found that “The

FBI has categorized only a few animal rights-related incidents as acts of

domestic terrorism,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Sheila Anthony and

Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Eugene Branstool stated in presenting it.

Therefore, they explained, “for purposes of this report, the term

‘animal rights extremism’ includes all acts of destruction or disruption per-

petrated against animal enterprises or their employees.”

Thus widening the topic to include petty vandalism, the report

recorded 313 “animal rights-related incidents” from 1977 through June 30,

1993. None involved significant injury to either people or animals.

Among the incidents were 160 cases of petty vandalism, 77 thefts or

releases of animals, 29 personal threats, 26 cases of major vandalism, 21

arsons, 16 bomb threats, 14 fire bombs, nine bombing hoaxes, and three

actual bombing attempts. The report failed to note the role of security

agents hired by U.S. Surgical Corporation in encouraging, aiding, and

abetting Fran Trutt in the best known bombing case. Trutt, who had only

marginal involvement in animal rights, served a year in jail for placing a

pipe bomb in the U.S. Surgical parking lot in November 1988––paid for by

the operatives for U.S. Surgical, one of whom drove her to the site.

WISE USE WISEGUYS et al

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

PORTLAND, Oregon––About 100

ranchers, loggers, furriers, animal breeders,

and biomedical researchers attended the initial

conference of the National Animal Interest

Alliance in Portland on September 19. Speakers

included Edward Taub, who was twice convict-

ed of cruelty in connection with his use of mon-

keys in biomedical research but won reversals

each time on jurisdictional technicalities; Joan

Berosini, wife of Las Vegas orangutan trainer

Bobby Berosini; FBI special agent Januz

Bogdon; seal hunt defender Janice Henke;

Teresa Platt of the Fisherman’s Coalition, a

front for tuna boat owners who resent dolphin

protection regulations; and Pam Roach, a

Washington state senator who recently intro-

duced an unsuccessful bill to force animal shel-

ters to turn animals over to biomedical research.

More on Roseland’s Sizzle

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

CHICAGO, Illinois– –ANIMAL PEOPLE

readers in the Pacific Northwest recognized a pattern in

our coverage last month of Joan Dahlberg-

Meisenholder and her semi-anonymous nationally dis-

tributed tabloid attack on animal shelters, Roseland‘s

Sizzle. Issued from the Chicago suburbs in late sum-

mer, Sizzle categorically accused shelters of keeping

animals in squalid conditions, performing needless

mass euthanasia, and cremating them alive to cut costs.

She cited no specific cases and provided no documenta-

tion. At least 6,000 copies of Sizzle were sent to pet

stores from coast to coast. A second issue is reportedly

in production.

ANIMAL HEALTH

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

The September newsletter of the Missouri

Veterinary Medical Association told members that

the MVMA backed the state veterinary medical board

in establishing clinic and hospital inspections because

inspection was inevitable and otherwise the inspectors

“would probably be non-veterinarians and possibly

animal rights activists,” whose agenda might “roll

over veterinary practices.” Exactly how and why was

not explained.

Dr. James Serpell, author of several

books on the human/animal relationship, has been

named to fill the new Marie A. Moore Chair in

Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare at the University

of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

COURT CALENDAR

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

Editor’s note: The people grouped under the heading “Animal Collectors,”

below, call themselves animal rescuers. The others, purportedly, sought to make

money. In each case, however, regardless of alleged motive, the pathology and cir –

cumstances of the perpetrators seems to be the same. As humane investigator Lewis R.

Plumb of the Promotion of Animal Welfare Society in Paradise, California wrote about

a case he and his wife prosecuted, “When two people are living in a mobile home with

hundreds of dogs, with feces all over the floors and even on the bed, when in one small

container a mother poodle nurses two dead puppies who have been left in the cage,

when three dead puppies are in the freezer next to a frozen turkey and some ice cream,

then you get the idea that it just maybe is not so much criminality as insanity. How

should these people be humanely dealt with? As it is now, each felony cruelty count

under California law carries a maximum penalty of one year is prison, a maximum fine

FUR

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

ARE FUR SALES UP OR DOWN?

U.S. retail fur sales rose to $1.1

billion in 1992, ending a four-year slump

during which sales fell from $1.8 billion to

just $1 billion––says the Fur Information

Council of America.

But the FICA figures, published

in the September 21 Wall Street Journal,

are open to question––not least because it’s

hard to boost sales with markedly fewer

sales outlets. Nearly half the fur retail out-

lets of five years ago are now out of the fur

business. Among them are 34 of the 50 out-

lets formerly owned by Evans Inc., which

controlled 10% of the U.S. retail fur trade;

20 of the 49 Jindo and Fur Vault franchises;

and the entire Furrari and Antonovich

chains, both of which went bankrupt.

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