Wildlife charities booted from CITES ivory talks

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

 

GENEVA--Wildlife charities including the Born Free Foundation,  Elephant Family,  the Environmental Investigation Agency,  Humane Society International, International Fund for Animal Welfare,  Species Survival Network,  and World Wildlife Fund were on August 17,  2011 excluded from attending “deliberations concerning elephant conservation,  the ivory trade,  and China’s increasing involvement in illegal ivory trade” at the 61st Standing Committee meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species,  e-mailed Rudy Rosensweig of Born Free USA to global media. Read more

WWF to review ties to logging firms

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

WASHINGTON D.C.— World Wildlife Fund director general James P. Leape on August 23,  2011 announced that WWF would review its relationship with all participants in the Global Forest & Trade Network.

“WWF’s flagship scheme to promote sustainable timber–the Global Forest & Trade Network–is allowing companies to reap the benefits of association with WWF and its iconic panda brand,  while they destroy forests and trade in illegally sourced timber,”  charged the British organization Global Witness on July 25,  2011,  in an internationally syndicated report entitled Pandering to the Loggers. Global Witness cited for example the Malaysian logging firm Ta Ann Holdings Berhad.  Ta Ann,  alleged Global Witness,  is “destroying rainforest,  including orangutan habitat,  within WWF’s own Heart of Borneo project.” Read more

NACA memorial wall

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

OLATHE,  Kansas--The National Animal Control Association is to dedicate a Memorial Wall & Gardens on October 1,  2011 at the NACA corporate office.

“The NACA Memorial Wall & Gardens is a permanent display/tribute to remember and honor NACA members employed as animal control officers who have died in the line of duty,”  said NACA executive director Johnny Mays.

“The wall will display the names of these fallen animal control officers.  The gardens will serve as a backdrop for the wall,  providing a serene and private area to reflect on the loss of these fallen members and to honor their memory.”

Matt Pepper leaves Memphis to take Albuquerque top post

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

MEMPHIS--Memphis Animal Shelter director Matt Pepper resigned effective on August 12,  2011 to become director of Albuquerque Animal Services,  beginning in mid-September.

Pepper,  35,  was hired by the city of Memphis in March 2010 to succeed Ernest Alexander,  who had headed the shelter since 2007. “Before landing in Memphis,” recalled Amos Maki of the Memphis Commercial Appeal,  “Pepper served as head of Caddo Parish Animal Services in Shreveport,  Lousiana.  When he took over at Caddo in 2008,”  Mako noted,  “that shelter’s director,  veterinarian and two others had been terminated amid accusations of mismanagement.”
This was almost the same situation that Pepper inherited in Memphis. Read more

Best Friends to run shelter for Los Angeles

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

LOS ANGELES--“The Best Friends Animal Society’s proposal to run our vacant Northeast Valley Animal Shelter as a high-volume adoption center and spay/neuter facility passed today in City Council 11-1,”  Los Angeles Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnette e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on August 16,  2011.

Built in 2008,  the $19.5 million Northeast Valley Shelter was never fully staffed because budget cuts left L.A. Animal Services without the additional $3.3 million per year that full staffing and full-scale operation would have cost.  “A proposal to open it with staff taken from six other shelters would have reduced hours and service” throughout the Los Angeles city shelter system,  and would have increased shelter killing “by as many as 10,000 animals a year,” said Los Angeles Daily News staff writers Rick Orlov and Dana Bartholomew. Read more

RSPCA honors Nick Jukes, Wu Hung, & Jill Robinson

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

LONDON-The Royal SPCA of Britain on September 3,  2011 honored InterNICHE coordinator Nick Jukes and Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan founder Wu Hung with the Lord Erskine Silver Award for outstanding contributions to animal welfare.  The award is named in memory of the member of the House of Lords who in 1822 secured passage of a bill “to prevent the cruel and improper treatment of cattle,”  introduced by Richard “Humanity Dick” Martin. Read more

Dogs saved from meat smugglers in Thailand

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

BANGKOK–Accused dog trafficker Noppadon Chaiwangrot, 40, allegedly released 600 dogs into a forest on August 11,  2011 when he realized that police were about to intercept his five-truck convoy.

Then,  “After police chased the trucks,”  the Bangkok Nation reported,  “a worker threw dog cages down,  seriously injuring the animals.”   One truck was stopped in Na Thom province and the other four in Si Songkhram,  on their way to meet a ship that was to have hauled the dogs down the Mekong River for sale to Vietnamese meat markets.   Three drivers,  one of them Vietnamese,  were criminally charged.  Two drivers escaped,  but surrendered to police after the first three were released on bail. Read more

Carlsberg India drops elephant polo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

JAIPUR,  India-– The most prominent elephant polo tournament in India,  scheduled for August 21,  2011 in Jaipur,  was cancelled just days before it was to be held when the major backer,  the brewery Carlsberg India Pvt. Ltd.,  withdrew sponsorship.

The annual tournament was begun in 2006 by Elephant Family founder Mark Shand,  brother of the Duchess of Cornwall.  Using the match to demonstrate elephant handling without the traditional use of the ankus,  or “elephant hook,”  Shand and the Elephant Family donated the proceeds to a program to aid working elephants formerly operated by the Jaipur-based charity Help In Suffering. Read more

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