Category: Activists & Organizations

Could Steve Hindi be Zorro?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

CHICAGO––Chicago Animal
Rights Coalition founder Steve Hindi, 43,
“pioneers a new brand of brass-knuckled
activism,” Jonathan Eig warned hunters and
fishers in the August edition of Outside magazine.
Under the headline “Put that Bunny
Down, or I’ll Kick Your Butt,” Eig described
Hindi’s recent public challenge to Mexican
matadors to meet him in the ring for a Zorrostyle
sword-and-cape fight with someone
who’ll fight back with a chance of success.
While awaiting a response (and not
holding his breath in expectation of getting
one), Hindi called a boycott of Pepsi Cola
over Pepsi subsidies to bullfighting via prominent
advertising in Mexican bull rings.
Replied Pepsi group manager for
customer relations Christine Jones, “Although
some arenas in Mexico may carry Pepsi signage
because our soft drinks are sold there,
this should not be construed as an endorsement
of bullfighting. We do not contribute funding
nor do we sponsor bullfighting events.” The
Pepsi banners appearing in the background of
many of Hindi’s photos and videos of bullfights,
Jones said, “remain in place for all
activities held at these venues.”

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Excerpts from VEGANISM AS THE PATH TO ANIMAL LIBERATION: PERSONAL VIEWS

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

Excerpts from VEGANISM AS THE PATH TO ANIMAL LIBERATION: PERSONAL VIEWS
by Matt Ball, Jack Norris, and Anne Green [selected by Henry Spira, founder, Coalition for Non-Violent Food.]

Two groups of people protest. The
largest group are those recently aware and just
getting involved. Most soon burn out. Their
protesting might have filled a temporary need
to make a public statement, or perhaps when
nothing changes after a few protests they
become disenchanted. The others are veteran
activists––extremely dedicated but few.
Unable to turn our backs on obvious
atrocities, our movement focuses on smallscale
and short-term successes: trying to save
high-profile animals, change business practices
of large corporations, and shame/intimidate
women wearing fur.
What has been gained? A miniscule
fraction of the total number of animals suffering
each year have been spared the most indefensible
deaths. This has not occurred because
of any understanding of the philosphy of animal
liberation, but rather because the companies
were concerned about their bottom line.

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Help Sea Shepherds stop Makah whaling by Michael Kundu

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

Two centuries ago, gray whales migrating
north past Neah Bay in Washington State were
harpooned by Makah tribal whalers. The killing,
done from cedar canoes with wooden harpoons,
was a tradition. Trading oil from the gray whale
made the Makah prosperous. But over time, the
gray whale population dwindled. Then, for many
decades, the killing stopped.
This October, 76 years after the Makah
last killed a whale, the Makah Whaling
Commission intends to resume whaling, within
waters now part of the Olympic National Marine
Sanctuary. The killing will signal an international
escalation of illegal commercial whaling. Pirate
whaling nations, primarily Japan and Norway,
have furtively promoted this and other so-called
indigenous whale hunts the world over.

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CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

Twenty years ago the Yoplait division of General Mills began selling yoghurt in conical
cups which foraging animals, especially skunks, sometimes got stuck on their heads.
After wildlife rehabilitators identified 14 such cases in 1997, General Mills redesigned the
cups. Modified to enable animals to extricate themselves, the new cups are now in stores.
That didn’t satify Animal Protection Institute staffer Camilla Fox, who according to
Los Angeles Times staff writer Susan Abram, recently ripped General Mills “for testing the
new container on a simulated model of a skunk-sized animal,” instead of on real skunks.
“You can’t test this on a real animal because that would be cruel,” responded
General Mills spokesperson Jack Sheeham, apparently better getting the point of decades of
humanitarian protest against animal use in product testing.
We have praised Fox for her handling of several previous campaigns, but this time
her ethical inconsistency and inability to say thanks won her and API the ANIMAL PEOPLE
“Head-In-A-Jar Award” for self-defeating tactics.

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Editorial: Wolf & Simon

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

Having formed perhaps the farthest-reaching animal protection
newsgathering network ever, we may receive and read more cruelty
reports, from around the world, than anyone else who ever lived.
Readers reeling from the shock and horror of just the handful
of cases they’re familiar with often wonder how we cope.
We look out the window. The joy and surprise of animals is
never far, from the flash of a diving redtailed hawk, the chirp of newly
hatched songbirds, and the whir of a hummingbird, to the sentinel work
of our German shepherd, Tasha; the industry of the rats, mice, chipmunks,
squirrels, and rabbits who loot spillage from our bird feeder;
and the indefatigable concentration of our cats, who never tire of watching
them, tails twitching, from behind secure fences and screens.
Shrews, snakes, and even giant banana slugs likewise give us
moments of appreciative interest. Some creature is always doing something,
and frequently the action is not only heartening but unexpected.

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Primarily Primates gets 30 space chimps

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

SAN ANTONIO––In the end,
nothing could stop the U.S. Air Force––
except Primarily Primates.
On August 6, two months after the
initial deadline for deciding the fate of the
former National Aeronautics and Space
Administration chimpanzee colony, who
have been kept at Holloman Air Force Base
in southern New Mexico for more than 40
years, Air Force associate deputy assistant
for science, technology, and engineering
Colonel Jack Blackhurst announced at a
Washington D.C. press conference that of the
141 survivors, 111 will go to the Coulston
Foundation, of Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Headed by Frederick Coulston, 84,
the Coulston Foundation has managed the
colony under contract since 1993. It is also
the world’s largest supplier of chimps to labs.
Primarily Primates, the only other
applicant to meet the Air Force criteria to
receive the chimpanzees, will be given 30.

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Fixing for a fight of Leviathans

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

NEAH BAY, Wash.; NEWPORT,
Ore.––If the media drama underway in the
Pacific Northwest was a professional wrestling
match, it would be billed as the Makah
Harpooners vs. Willy the Whale, alias Killer
Keiko, orca star of the hit films Free Willy!,
Free Willy II, and Free Willy III.
Scrapping for air time, they might
make a show of enmity, and their partisans
might fall for it, but more cynical viewers
would suspect they were working for the same
syndicate.
But who might own the syndicate––
Hollywood, or Japan?
Whoever wrote the “Keiko-vs.-
Makah” script, literal or figurative, seems to
have worked for four years to bring about an
autumn battle of Leviathans. Captain Paul “The
Pirate” Watson and fellow voyagers of the Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society will try to put
themselves between the Makah whalers and
migrating gray whales. The Free Willy/Keiko
Foundation, led by David Phillips, also head of
Earth Island Institute, will meanwhile prepare
Keiko to become the first of his species ever
returned to the ocean after prolonged captivity.
The real struggle will come through
your TV and mailbox, as their causes vie for
public interest and donations.

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Who is this Leo Grillo?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

ACTON, Calif.––Halfway from the Dedication and
Everlasting Love To Animals Rescue shelter to actress Tippi
Hedren’s Shambala sanctuary for exotic cats and elephants,
located six miles west on the same road, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue
founder Leo Grillo hit his brakes, swerved his four-wheel
drive vehicle off the pavement, and made a quick U-turn.
Instant hypothesis #1: Grillo missed a turnoff. But
there wasn’t supposed to be one.
Hypothesis #2: Grillo forgot something. That notion
was dashed when he cut to his right, down a steep dirt road
that was almost a washout, toward a railway crossing.
Hypothesis #3: Grillo lost his mind, four-wheel
drive or not.

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Sexy vegetarians challenge meat magnates

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Animal Rights International/Coalition for NonViolent
Food founder Henry Spira offers his Coordinator’s
Report ‘98 free for the asking. Featured articles: Activists
shift focus to factory farming, McDonald’s initiates farm ani –
mal humane program, USDA issues farm animal well-being
report, ARI comments to the USDA, and Campaigns and how
you can help the farm animals. Write to POB 214,
Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10024.
Hot Dinner, a new 50-second Vegetarian Society
ad shown in 250 British cinemas starting in mid-June, “begins
with a melon being stroked,” according to Ruaridh Nicoll of
The Guardian. “A woman’s fingers then roll dough, a pea is
gently tickled in its pod, hot chillis sizzle, a saucepan lets off
steam before rice shoots across a pink plate, a peach is covered
in creme fraiche, and asparagus drips oil.” Said Vegetarian
Society spokesperson Chris Dessent, “It’s definitely a bit
rude, but we want to show that vegetarians are sexy.”

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