Wildlife

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

New head of USFWS

faces fight to renew ESA

LAND USE CONFLICTS ERUPT ALL OVER

WASHINGTON D.C.– – Nominated

by President Bill Clinton to head the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, forester Mollie Beattie

of Grafton, Vermont is expected to be Interior

Secretary Bruce Babbitt’s chief mapmaker, as

the administration seeks to secure renewal of a

strong Endangered Species Act by reorienting

the law to protect critical habitat rather than

individual species.

Her main duty, she told Burlington

Free Press reporter Nancy Bazilchuk upon

receiving word of her nomination, will be to

“map and inventory the country’s ecosystems,

so we know which ones are scarcest and need

more protection.”

AAZPA ADOPTS GIANT PANDA CONSERVATION ACTION PLAN

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Stung by criticism of panda rental deals, which have enabled some U.S. zoos to rake in millions of dollars by

spending several hundred thousand dollars to borrow a giant panda from China, the American Association of Zoological

Parks and Aquariums adopted a comprehensive giant panda conservation action plan on April 23. Under the plan,

AAZPA will for the first time station a species survival coordinator in China, at cost of $100,000 a year, to make sure

money paid by U.S. zoos for panda and panda habitat protection is actually spent for the stated purpose. China is presently

receiving more than $1 million a year from AAZPA members in connection with panda rentals, but indications are that

much of the money is diverted, as was a considerable portion of the $2.5 million the World Wildlife Fund sent to China

for panda protection between 1961 and 1986. The budget for a WWF-funded panda breeding facility included building a

town-sized hydroelectric plant––and the breeding facility, for all the spending, had produced only one stillborn panda cub

as of 1990. Wildlife Conservation Society science director George Schaller, author of The Last Panda, praised the

AAZPA action as a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, concerned that money for pandas might stop coming if the last

thousand left in the wild and last 100 in captivity die without reproducing, China has over the past year announced the cre-

ation or expansion of 14 panda reserves, and the birth of 13 pandas in captivity, of whom 11 are still alive. Panda loans

continue: the San Diego Zoo has just agreed to pay China $1 million a year for each of the next three years to borrow a

breeding pair, and may renew the deal for up to 10 years.

Greyhound racers, cultists on the run in Brazil

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

SÅO PAULO, Brazil––As of January, the Brazilian

humane group Uniao em defesa das baleias/Uniao em defsa da

natureza had no files on greyhound racing. Then, president Ana

Maria Pinheiro told ANIMAL PEOPLE, “Dino Miraglia imported

30 greyhounds from New England.”

Quick to investigate, Pineiro obtained thick dossiers on

greyhound racing and training as practiced in the U.S. from the

World Society for the Protection of Animals, translated the materi-

als into Portugese, “invited the press, and had a meeting with the

attorney general,” who is empowered to enforce the Brazilian

humane laws.

Tough sledding

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The United Coalition of

Iditarod Animal Rights Volunteers is

asking that letters be sent to sponsors of

the 1,100-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog

sled race, asking them to either withdraw

or back rules that would require teams to

be rested at all checkpoints; disqualify

mushers who have a dog die during the

race; bar competitors from holding orga-

nizing or officiating posts; and require

independent drug testing of dogs. The

major sponsors include Chrysler Corp.,

12000 Chrysler Drive, Highland Park, MI

48288-0857; IAMS, 7250 Poe Ave.,

Dayton, OH 45414-5801; Timberland,

P.O. Box 5050, Hampton, NH 03842-

5050; and ABC Wide World of Sports,

47 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023.

POUND SEIZURE FIGHT RESUMES

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The term “pound seizure” may be

unfamiliar to animal protection people who

have been involved for less than a decade,

but the battle over it is heating up––again.

The most bitterly fought issue in

humane work for decades, “pound seizure”

is the practice of laboratories requisitioning

dogs and cats from shelters for research use,

which is known to discourage many people

from surrendering animals to shelters. After

the National Society for Medical Research

formed in 1945 to promote pound seizure, it

became mandatory in Minnesota (1948),

Wisconsin (1949), and New York (1952).

Animal Control & Rescue

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The North Shore Animal League

on May 13 became official sponsor of Spay

USA. NSAL sponsorship is expected to

result in a major expansion of the program,

a hotline to help pet owners locate afford-

able neutering (1-800-248-SPAY; 375-

6627 in Connecticut).

The New York State Humane

Association is supporting 13 bills to

strengthen state humane laws, including

measures to set up a state Animal

Population Control Fund similar to those in

New Jersey and Connecticut, and to give

judges the authority to take animals away

from convicted abusers. New York resi-

dents may get details from 914-255-7099.

Calif. neutering bill stalled; SEEN AS THREAT TO NEUTER/RELEASE

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

SACRAMENTO, California––

Apparently ready to clear the California

state legislature without opposition, a bill to

require that free-roaming cats be neutered

was stalled at the last minute by unexpected

objections from the San Francisco SPCA.

The bill, AB 302, by assemblyman Paul

Horchner, reads simply, “An owner of a

cat over the age of six months shall have the

cat sterilized if the cat is permitted outdoors

without supervision.” Violators would be

given citations similar to traffic tickets,

with all penalties waived if their cats were

neutered within a 30-day grace period. The

bill had the active support of the California

Veterinary Medical Association, numerous

national organizations, and almost every

humane group in the state, including sever-

al who neuter and release feral cats.

Direct action

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

U.S. District Judge Fremming Nielsen freed

Jonathan Paul, 27, from the Spokane County Jail on April

10, 158 days after Paul was held in contempt of court for

refusing to testify to a federal grand jury probing an Animal

Liberation Front raid on a Washington State University labo-

ratory in August 1991. Paul had been asked to testify about

his former housemate Rod Coronado, a suspect in several

ALF actions who has been sought for questioning for over a

year. Paul’s twin sisters, one of whom is TV actress

Alexandra Paul, waged a national campaign to free him that

eventually led to a two-page spread in People magazine.

Activists John Paul Goodwin, 20, Michael

Karbon, 20, and Jesse Keenan, 19, all of Memphis,

Tennessee, pleaded guilty April 19 to petty vandalism in

connection with spray-painting three fur stores last year,

slashing the tires of a truck, and signing the action “ALF.”

They drew a year in jail apiece (which may be suspended),

fines of $2,000 each, and were ordered to make restitution.

It’s to make you turn green

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The United Conservation Alliance,

an association of hunters and trappers whose

name only sounds like an environmental group,

teamed with the Fur Information Council of

America to distribute 100 public service

announcements to 50 leading TV stations just

before Earth Day. The 30-and-60-second

announcements ––which apparently were not

aired by most of the stations––quoted Greg

Lincombe of the Louisiana Department of

Wildlife and Fisheries, claiming, “Commercial

trapping through the fur industry is the only

viable solution to keep muskrat and nutria in

check.” Actually, Louisiana alligators eat a lot

more muskrat and nutria than trappers catch, and

they’d eat even more if Linscombe’s department

didn’t remove as many as 75,000 alligator eggs a

year for resale to alligator farmers––but it’s the

sale of trapping permits (down 90% in five years)

that keeps him in a job.

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