India high court halts bullfights

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:
NEW DELHI–The Supreme Court of India on January 30, 2009
reaffirmed a July 2007 ruling that public “bull-taming” exercises
called jallikattu are illegal, and that jallikattu events held under
a limited exemption granted in January 2008 did not meet the Supreme
Court-imposed condition that cruelty to the bulls must be prevented.
Traditionally held during Pongal season festivals, chiefly
in Tamil Nadu state, jallikattu includes bullock cart races,
bullfights, and participatory torment of bulls similar to the mob
attacks on bulls practiced at festivals in parts of Spain, Latin
America, and South Africa.
Acting on a motion by Animal Welfare Board of India senior
advocate K K Venugopal, Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice
P. Sathasivam issued a restraining order against further jallikattu
during the 2009 Pongal season, after 21 people were killed and at
least 1,614 were injured in January 2009 jallikattu events. They
extended the order on February 13. The Supreme Court is to rule on
the Animal Welfare Board’s request for a permanent injunction against
jallikattu later in 2009.

A misunderstood coyote tries to avoid trouble

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:

Captioned “An urban coyote strolls through West Hills, a
suburb of Los Angeles, California, in July 2002,” this photo
appears in Coyote Attacks: An Increasing Suburban Problem, in which
Robert M. Timm, Rex O. Baker, and USDA Wildlife Services employees
Joe R. Bennett and Craig C. Coolahan allege that coyotes are losing
their fear of humans, and are increasing threats toward humans and
pets.
The evidence in the photo, on closer look, tells a
different story. The little girl in the background appears to be
completely unaware of the coyote, but rather than stalking her, the
coyote is not trying to conceal himself. His tail is held low in a
submissive or defensive posture. He is not running as if flushed
from cover, but is walking in the apparent shadows of trees that may
have been cover he has just abandoned. His left ear is cocked toward
the photographer.

Dogfighters vs. the Taliban

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:

ISLAMABAD–“Thousands of villagers” attended a dogfighting
tournament in Toba Tek Singh, Pakistan on February 15, 2009,
“chaired by the social and political personalities of the area,”
Ravi Foundation executive director Ashfaq Fateh told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
“At least 34 dogs took part,” Fateh added.
A schoolteacher and prominent advocate of both human and
animal rights, Fateh had reason to be gravely concerned when the the
chief minister of North West Frontier Province of Pakistan announced
on February 16, 2009 that the Pakistani government will recognize
Taliban rule of the embattled Swat valley, in exchange for a
temporary ceasefire. The deal allows the Taliban to enforce an
interpretation of Islamic law that includes keeping women indoors
and prohibiting female education.

Confusion over Icelandic posture on whaling

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:

REYKJAVIK, Iceland–Leaving office on January 27, 2009
after the collapse of the coalition government in which he was
fisheries minister, Einar Gudfinnsson as his last official act in
office authorized Icelandic whalers to kill up to 150 fin whales and
150 minke whales per year.
Fin whales are internationally recognized as an endangered
species. Icelandic whalers had killed seven since 2006.
Gudfinnasson’s action was seen as a gesture of defiance
toward the European Union, which “would be likely to demand an end
to whaling as a condition of membership,” said BBC News environment
correspondent Richard Black. Much of the Icelandic fishing industry
opposes joining the EU, in resistance to the EU’s Common Fisheries
Policy.

Whale wars in Washington D.C. & the Southern Oceans

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:
WASHINGTON D.C.–“The American people
care deeply about protecting whales and do not
want the U.S. to be the broker who capitulated to
those who still want to kill whales for
commercial gain,” declared U.S. House of
Representatives Natural Resources Committee chair
Nick Rahall in a February 4, 2009 letter asking
the acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce to replace
William Hogarth as U.S. representative on the
International Whaling Commission. Hogarth is
also the current IWC chair.
The Rahall letter reinforced a February
2, 2009 appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama by
the Whales Need Us coalition, representing 13
prominent anti-whaling organizations, headed by
Animal Welfare Institute wildlife biologist D.J.
Schubert.

Atlantic Canada seal hunt starts slowly

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:
HALIFAX–The 2009 Atlantic Canadian seal hunt opened quietly
on Hays Island off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, on February 4, with
only one sealing vessel sailing. The much larger Gulf of St.
Lawrence and Labrador Front phases of the hunt were expected to start
several weeks later
The most prominent protester appeared to be Atlantic Canadian
Anti-Sealing Coalition spokesperson Bridget Curran. The Humane
Society of the U.S. and International Fund for Animal Welfare usually
make appearances at the start of the Gulf of St. Lawrence hunt. The
Sea Shepherd Conserv-ation Society ship Farley Mowat, seized by the
Canadian government after confronting sealers near Cape Breton in
April 2008, remains in custody in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Cowboys lose copyright case

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:
CHICAGO–The Electronic Frontiers Foundation on February 12,
2009 announced that the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has
agreed to pay $25,000 and accept restraints on making claims of
copyright violation against the animal advocacy group Showing Animals
Respect & Kindness.
Asserting that SHARK had violated the federal Digital
Millennium Act, the PRCA in December 2007 pressured YouTube into
removing from the web several videos of rodeo violence posted by
SHARK. The Electronic Frontiers Foundation then sued the PRCA on
SHARK’s behalf.
“The money goes to EFF, not us,” SHARK founder Steve Hindi
told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “That’s only fair, as they put a lot of time
into the case, and we could never have won it without them. The
exciting part for us is that the PRCA has agreed not to enforce a ‘no
videotaping’ provision in its ticket contracts against us, unless it
enforces the same provision against others. This means the PRCA may
no longer selectively enforce the provision against critics.”

Relief aid reaches animals in Gaza

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:
Livestock, working animals, and the surviving animals at
the Gaza Zoo on January 29, 2009 received food and veterinary
supplies donated by ANIMAL PEOPLE readers and the World Society for
the Protection of Animals. Thirty truckloads of oats, hay, and
medicines reached Gaza after the Israeli charity Let The Animals Live
won special authorization for the relief convoy from the Israeli
defense ministry. Distribution of the food and supplies in Gaza was
coordinated by Imad Atrash of the Palestine Wildlife Society. “This
collaboration between us and the Palestinians is proof that the
animals are not part of the political conflict,” said Let The
Animals Live spokesperson Eti Altman. “I am hoping that through the
animals we will be able to draw the two sides closer together.”

Puppy mill raids boost lawmaker interest

March 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2009:
The 2009 state legislative sessions in at least six states
opened with introductions of proposed anti-puppy mill bills, with
many more bill introductions reportedly pending.
Stimulating the legislative activity were some of the biggest
dog seizures from alleged puppy mills on record in Minnesota,
Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington–all involving
small breeds and small mixed breeds, the dogs least often available
from shelters and most in demand through pet stores and Internet pet
brokerages.
The Everett Animal Shelter, just half an hour by car and
ferry boat from the ANIMAL PEOPLE offices in the outer Seattle
suburbs, on February 9, 2009 took legal custody of nearly 160 dogs
who were seized on January 16 in the first of a multi-day series of
raids on sites in rural Snohomish and Skagit Counties. The raids
netted more than 600 dogs in all, most of them of small breeds and
small mixed breeds. Many were pregnant, though humane officers
said Internet reports that thousands of puppies were expected were
exaggerated.

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