Booking agency sues SHARK for dissuading entertainers from performing at rodeo

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
CHEYENNE–Romeo Entertainment, incorporated in Omaha but
based in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, on April 16, 2008 sued the
animal advocacy organization SHARK, of Geneva, Illinois, for
allegedly using “false and misleading information” and “threats of
negative publicity” in successful efforts to dissuade singer Carrie
Underwood and the band Matchbox 20 from performing at the Cheyenne
Frontier Days rodeo in July 2006 and July 2008, respectively.
SHARK founder Steve Hindi sent video of alleged animal abuse
at past Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo performances to both Underwood
and Matchbox 20, he acknowledged. Romeo Entertainment, headed by
Bob Romeo, “has arranged for night show entertainers for Cheyenne
Frontier Days at times over the last 20 years,” says the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed nine days before Cheyenne Frontier Days
animal care committee chair Bob Budd announced a ban on “the use of
hand-held electric shock devices at the rodeo except in emergency
situations where they are needed to prevent injuries,” according to
Cary Snyder of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

PETA littering convictions overturned in N.C.

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
RALEIGH–The North Carolina Court of Appeals on April 15,
2008 overturned the February 2007 littering convictions of former
PETA employees Adria J. Hinkle and Andrew B. Cook.
Hinkle and Cook, who then worked for PETA, were arrested in
June 2005, after a police stakeout in Ahoskie, North Carolina,
caught them in the act of disposing of dog and cat carcasses in a
supermarket dumpster.
Judge Rick Elmore wrote for the three-judge appellate panel
that while the defendants’ actions leading to the conviction were
undisputed, the prosecution failed to prove that the supermarket
dumpster where Hinkle and Cook left the remains was an illegal place
to dispose of them.

What is the cost of fraud & theft to animal charities?

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
NEW YORK, N.Y.– Data gathered by the Association of
Certified Fraud Examiners and evaluated by four professors of
nonprofit accounting indicates that U.S. charities are losing about
13% of their annual income to fraud and theft– more than twice the
6% rate of loss for all organizations, including government agencies
and for-profit businesses.
The sum stolen, estimated at about $40 billion in 2006, is
roughly equal to the sum of all giving by corporations and private
foundations, Independent Sector president Diana Aviv told Stephanie
Strom of The New York Times.
The amount stolen from animal charities, if proportionate to
total charitable giving, would be about $400 million: three times
the total income of the Humane Society of the U.S., with about half
the amount stolen from animal care organizations and the rest from
organizations chiefly involved in advocating for wildlife and habitat.
Among 58 cases reported to the fraud examiners in a random
survey of charities, the typical thief was a female employee paid
less than $50,000 a year, who had worked for the organization at
least three years. The average amount she stole was less than
$40,000.\

Nepalese royals misused National Trust for Nature Conservation, says audit report

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

KATHMANDU–A three-member audit committee on March 26, 2008
confirmed years of rumors that the Nepalese royal family had
extensively misused the King Mahendra National Trust for Nature
Conservation.
Examining financial records from 2000-2006, the audit
committee reported that, “Millions [in Nepalese rupees] were spent on
travels abroad and lavish parties,” summarized the Nepal Horizons
News Service, in an account also internationally distributed
verbatim by the Indo-Asian News Service.

SPCA International founder Pierre Barnoti out as head of Canadian SPCA in Montreal

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

MONTREAL–Canadian SPCA president Pierre Barnoti has
reportedly taken an indefinite sick leave, pending replacement, and
board president Michel Poulos and treasurer Howard Scholzberg have
resigned, CTV-Montreal reported on April 2, 2008.
Acting president Nancy Breitman disclosed to CTV that the
Canadian SPCA is $4 million in debt, and is in danger of bankruptcy.
Founded in 1869, the Canadian SPCA is the oldest in Canada,
but has historically served only Montreal and nearby suburbs. It
operates shelters on the island of Montreal and in Laval, just north
of Montreal.

Chimp Haven leadership dispute ends; Chimp Haven appeals verdict favoring Primarily Primates

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

KEITHVILLE, La.–A lawsuit among the founders of the Chimp
Haven sanctuary for retired laboratory chimpanzees was on February
14, 2008 quietly dismissed by the Caddo District Court at request of
the plaintiffs.
“According to court documents, Cathe Neukum, one of the
plaintiffs, appeared in court to say she no longer wishes to pursue
the claims,” reported Vickie Welborn of the Shreveport Times on
March 27.

AAF China Bear Rescue Project halfway to 500

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
CHENG DU–“Madam Xiong, literally Madam Bear, of the
Sichuan Forestry Department has kept her promise of closing a bear
bile farm before the end of March–and 28 newly rescued bears are
here!” Animals Asia Foundation founder Jill Robinson e-mailed to
supporters at 8:09 p.m. on March 31.
The new arrivals brought the number of ex-bile farm bears
handled by the China Bear Rescue Project since July 2000 to
248–almost halfway to the total of 500 whom Robinson agreed to
accept if the Sichuan government closed the smallest, oldest bear
bile farms in the state. The survivors have become nationally
publicized witnesses against the cruelty of keeping bears in close
confinement to extract bile from their gall bladders. Bear bile is
used for a variety of purposes in traditional Chinese medicine, but
chiefly to relieve fever. About 7,000 bears remain on bile farms.

Tracking bear rescue & rehabilitation in India

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

RAJGIR, AGRA–Ten years into a deep
disagreement over how best to rescue and
rehabilitate former dancing bears, and other
bears confiscated from poachers and smugglers,
the score is approximately 460 bears accommodated
by the three bear sanctuaries now operated by
Wildlife SOS, to two Asiatic black bears claimed
to have been successfully returned to the forest
by the Wildlife Trust of India, with five more
Asiatic black bears and five sloth bears in
various stages of preparation for release,
according to a WTI project summary issued on
April 4, 2008.
WTI in March 2005 announced the release
into the Pakke Reserve Forest in Arunchal Pradesh
of two Asiatic black bears named Lucky and Leela.
Their fate is unclear. The release of two more,
Seppa and Seppi, was announced in March 2008.
“Seppa and Seppi were monitored in the wild for
over seven months last year,” WTI said, “and
when monitoring through radio collaring was
stopped as planned, this was considered the
first successful release of bears in the project.”

Chilean ex-lab capuchins fly to new life at Monkey World

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
WAREHAM, U.K.–Approaching the March 2008 first anniversary
of the death of her husband and rescue partner Jim Cronin, Monkey
World cofounder Alison Cronin took on the biggest project in the
15-year history of the sanctuary: attempting to rehabilitate 88
capuchin monkeys, ranging in age from two to 30, most of whom have
never known a life beyond single housing in cages and use in
experiments.
Flown to Britain from Santiago, Chile, aboard a Chilean Air
Force C-130 Hercules prop-jet, the capuchins arrived on January 29,
2008.

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