Author: Dylan Forest

Vivisection

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The winter 1992/1993 edition of
National Boycott News, a well-reputed
annual directory of boycotts, includes
detailed coverage of the ongoing boycott of
Carme Inc., a cruelty-free cosmetics manu-
facturer acquired by International Research
and Development Corp. in 1989. The boy-
cott, called but not recently promoted by
PETA, might be forgotten by now except
that attorneys for IRDC, a major animal-
testing laboratory, have threatened numer-
ous protesters and media who have covered
the situation with lawsuits––including
National Boycott News, when the editors
offered them the opportunity to respond to
various allegations made by boycott litera-
ture. IRDC did sue two cruelty-free dis-
tributors who dropped the Carme product
line. The case was settled out of court by
the firms’ insurance companies.

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Zoos & Aquariums

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The American Association of
Zoological Parks and Aquariums
announced November 6 that it would rein-
state the accreditation of the Columbus Zoo
in Columbus, Ohio, effective January 1.
The zoo and former director Jack Hanna
were suspended in April for violating the
AAZPA code of ethics by importing two
pandas from China for an exhibit that closed
in September after attracting 925,000 of the
zoo’s 1.5 million visitors. AAZPA con-
tends––along with most other wildlife pro-
tection advocates––that China’s panda
rentals are not in the best interest of either
the species or the individual animals. A
week after the AAZPA announcement, the
Columbus Zoo executive committee named
Hanna “director emeritus” and replaced him
with longtime general manager Gerald
Borin.

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COURT CALENDAR

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

Humane Enforcement
The U.S. Supreme Court is be-
lieved likely to overturn the city of Hialeah,
Florida’s five-year-old ban on animal sacri-
fice. The Supreme Court heard arguments
in the case of Church of Lukuki Babalu Aye
vs. Hialeah on November 3. The church
practices the Santeria religon, popular
among Caribbean immigrants, in which ani-
mal sacrifice is central to many rituals. The
Santerians’ argument that the ban violates
their freedom of religion is backed by the
Presbyterian Church, the American Jewish
Committee, the Catholic League for
Religious and Civil Rights, and other groups
representing Mormons, Mennonites, and
Seventh Day Adventists. The latter church
includes vegetarianism and kindness to ani-
mals as central tenets, but like the others
fears legal precedents that could open the
way for other laws proscribing worship. If
the Hialeah ban is overturned, similar bans
in San Francisco and Los Angeles will also
fall.

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Wildlife

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The World Wildlife Fund and
the National Wildlife Federation on
November 13 asked Interior Secretary
Manuel Lujan to impose trade sanctions on
China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Yemen
for permitting traffic in rhinocerous horns.
The wild black rhino population has plunged
from 65,000 to 2,000 since 1970.
The California condor who was
found dead October 8 suffered kidney fail-
ure from drinking antifreeze, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service has determined. The
condor was one of the first two to be
released into the wild after an intensive cap-
tive breeding program. Sixty-two California
condors remain in captivity, six of whom
are scheduled for release this month.

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Fur

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The Dutch Advertising
Standards Authority has upheld allega-
tions of misleading advertising leveled
against the fur trade by the anti-fur group
Bont Voor Diren [Fur For Animals.] The
Standards Authority ruled that,
“Considering the way fur is being produced,
by means of unnatural catch in the wild
often by means of a leghold trap, fur farms,
and as byproduct of factory farming for the
production of meat, it cannot be maintained
that fur is ‘ecological’…According to the
judgement of the authority, the production
of fur has nothing to do with the natural
relations that exist between animals and the
environment they live in. Nor can the pro-
cessing of fur be called ecological or envi-
ronmentally friendly, since materials are
used that damage the environment.” Earlier,
the Standards Authority ruled that the fur
trade couldn’t describe the welfare of ani-
mals on fur farms as “excellent.”

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Hunting

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

HUNTER CHARGED WITH HOMOSEXUAL RAPE
Fourteen million Americans hunted
in 1991, according to newly released U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service statistics; 34.5
million fished; and more than 76 million
watched, photographed, or fed wildlife
without feeling the need to kill.
Or rape.
Hunting critics who equate the
lethal pursuit with perversely sublimated
sexuality got an apparent case in point
November 4 when police charged hunter
Antone Mendes Jr., 40, of Plymouth,
Massachusetts, with open and gross lewd-
ness, lewd and lascivious speech or behav-
ior, assault and battery, assault with a dead-
ly weapon, attempted kidnapping, and leav-
ing a firearm in a motor vehicle unattended.
The charges allege that Mendes
sexually assaulted his hunting partner, an
unidentified 23-year-old man.

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Performing Animals

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

Greyhound racing profits in New England
are sharply down, hurt in part by publicity surrounding
abuse cases at the Lakes Region, Green Mountain, and
Raynham raceways. Betting at Raynham was off 9%
this year from last, and down 26% from the peak
reached in 1989. Receipts at the Plainfield raceway
were down 22% from last year. Some New England
trainers have begun sending their dogs to Brazil, where
greyhound racing is just catching on.
The American Humane Association has given
the Warner Brothers film Pure Country a “questionable”
rating because of rodeo scenes. The film stars George
Strait and Leslie Ann Warren.
An occasional novelty since the 1930s,
female bullfighters are now the rage in Spanish rings.
One, 20-year-old Cristina Sanchez, is expected to
become the first Spanish woman to achieve the rank of
matador.

Horses

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The November 16 edition of Sports Illustrated
shocked the horse world with an expose of horse murders
committed to collect insurance money, based on the con-
fessions of convicted horse-killer Tommy Burns, nick-
named the Sandman for his ability to “put horses to sleep”
in deliberate “accidents” with electric current. Burns is to
be sentenced for interstate insurance fraud and cruelty to
animals in December. He got caught when instead of elec-
trocuting one horse, he broke the animal’s leg with a crow-
bar. He had allegedly been hired to kill the horse by Donna
Brown, wife of former U.S. Equestrian Team member
Buddy Brown. The FBI is reportedly investigating numer-
ous cases to which Brown made reference, possibly includ-
ing the death of renowned stallion Alydar at Calumet Farms
in November 1990. Alydar was put down after suffering an
extremely unusual leg fracture. Calumet Farms was $120
million in debt; Alydar was insured for $36.5 million, but
projected revenues from the horse for 1991 were only $7
million because most of his breeding rights had already
been sold.

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