Animal Spectacles

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

The Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, pledged to end mule-diving exhibitions

on its famed Steel Pier on August 15. Models in bathing suits rode full-sized horses through 40-foot jumps into a tank of sea water at the Steel Pier from 1929 until 1978, when the pier was closed. Reopened this year, the Steel Pier featured Tim Rivers’ World’s Only Diving Mules, a riderless touring act from Citra, Florida, but met heavy protest when Rivers’ mule, two miniature horses, and a dog all appeared reluctant to jump from a 30-foot height.

COURT CALENDAR

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Activism

A federal grand jury in Grand

Rapids, Michigan, on July 16 indicted fugi-

tive activist Rodney Allen Coronado, 27, on

five felony counts including arson, pertaining

to a 1992 firebombing that gutted the

Michigan State University mink ranching labo-

ratory. The fire also destroyed the files of an

MSU staffer who was developing alternatives

to the use of animals in biomedical research.

Coronado, who has acknowledged involve-

ment in other direct actions including scuttling

two Icelandic whaling vessels, was reportedly

last seen in Oregon in early November 1992.

He is also sought for questioning by grand

juries probing arsons at animal research facili-

ties in Oregon, Washington, and Louisiana,

and by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in

connection with laboratory vandalism at the

University of Edmonton, in Alberta.

Hunting & Fishing

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

“We just don’t believe that

public safety is our responsibility,”

Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen direc-

tor Robert Crook told a recent Connecticut

legislative hearing on whether hunting

license fees should be raised to support hir-

ing more wardens. The CCS is backed by

the National Rifle Association.

The Texas chapter of the NRA

is up in arms over a U.S. Forest Service

proposal to limit target shooting to the

safest 500 acres of the 20,309-acre Lyndon

Johnson National Grasslands. Incidents

involving use of firearms have increased

from 286 in fiscal 1990 to 510 in 1993.

The Coalition to Ban Pigeon

Shoots will protest this Labor Day outside

a private shoot at the prestigious

Powderbourne Gun Club in East

Greenville, Pennsylvania, rather than at

the simultaneous public shoot in Hegins.

FUR

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

“The American Veterinary

Medical Association considers the steel-

jaw leghold trap to be inhumane,” accord-

ing to a single-sentence policy statement

issued in mid-July, culminating years of lob-

bying by George Clements of the

Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing

Animals. The AVMA had long been reluc-

tant to oppose trapping because many mem-

bers wish to avoid being associated with ani-

mal rights militancy. At that, the words

“steel-jaw” were reportedly added under

pressure from the National Trappers

Association, which feared that the statement

might otherwise be taken to include padded

leghold traps and foot snares. This could

have been devastating to the fur industry

push to get padded leghold traps, snares,

Los Angeles and New Jersey will stay in neutering business

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

The pioneering Los Angeles and New Jersey

discount neutering programs, in financial trouble a few

months ago, are back up to speed, top officials have

assured ANIMAL PEOPLE.

“As you noted in your June edition, City of Los

Angeles general manager Elza Lee wrote, “the city did

indeed close its low-cost neutering clinics due to a budget

crisis. But I am pleased to inform you that we have insti-

tuted another program to take its place. The Department

of Animal Regulation, with assistance from many com-

munity humane groups, is now issuing vouchers valued

up to $28 toward the sterilization of pet cats or dogs. Pet

owners who receive a voucher are referred to a participat-

ing private practice veterinarian, who will accept the

voucher as payment in full or as partial payment toward a

reduced fee surgery. Another program which is new for

us is the pre-release sterilization of dogs and cats adopted

from our animal care centers.” All six centers were “on

line with this project,” Lee said, by July 5.

Animal Control & Rescue

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Animal shelters, public or private, must hold

animals at least five days including a Saturday before

releasing them to Class B dealers or researchers, under an

amendment to Animal Welfare Act enforcement regulations

that took effect August 23. Written certification that the

holding period has been met must accompany each animal.

The Bronx SPCA, recently incorporated by

American SPCA officers Stephen Zawistowski, Eugene

Underwood, and Harold Finkelstein, exists “to make sure

we would have consistent law enforcement authority” with-

in the whole of New York City, Zawistowski told ANI-

MAL PEOPLE. The ASPCA was incorporated before the

Bronx was, and therefore the charter granted to the ASPCA

by the state of New York does not specifically authorize it

as the sole animal protection law enforcement agency for

the Bronx, as it does for the other New York City boroughs.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

The Better Business Bureau has announced that the National

Anti-Vivisection Society fails to meet requirements that “an

organization provide on request an annual report containing

information on governance (such as a roster of the board of directors) and

financial activities (such as total income and a break-

down of expenses); that its financial statements present

adequate information to serve as a basis for informed

decisions; and that it substantiate on request its applica-

tion of funds, in accordance with donor expectations,

to the programs and activities described in solicita-

tions.” Exposes by ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt

Clifton recently documented the generous compensation

NAVS provides to president Peggy Cunniff and other

members of her family, who dominate the NAVS board

and payroll. NAVS told BBB that it “has changed its

accounting and auditing methods to meet the standards

for fiscal year 1993,” but recent forced resignations,

dismissals, and staff transfers have left the Cunniffs

more firmly in control than ever.

GROWTH BY DIVISION

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Many and perhaps even most cause-oriented

groups go through splits as they grow––and in the long

run such splits tend to advance the cause, as strong

individuals create multiple influential organizations,

whose differences produce public debate and attract

support from diverse directions. Among the more

noteworthy splits in animal work:

Hot water in the North Atlantic

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Canada––Paul

Watson’s homecoming to Atlantic Canada in July and early

August may have been the most bizarre event yet of his long

career in protest. Raised in a New Brunswick fishing vil-

lage, Watson has been reviled throughout the four Maritime

provinces since 1977, when as a Greenpeace representative

he sprayed green paint on baby harp seals to protect them

from hunters. Subsequent anti-sealing expeditions after

Watson founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in

1980 have confirmed his bad reputation among those who

live by what they kill in the sea––but many Atlantic

Canadians are applauding Watson now for his July 28 attack

on a Cuban trawler, the Rio Las Casas.

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