Watson acquittal reversed

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
Prince Edward Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Cheverie on
November 29, 2006 overturned the April 2005 acquittal of Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson for allegedly too
closely approaching a seal kill.
Eleven other Sea Shepherd crew members were convicted of the
charge, filed after seven of them were beaten on April 1, 2005 by
members of the crew of the sealing vessel Brady Mariner. Watson
escaped conviction under an exemption for people who witness seal
kills from their homes, by contending that the Sea Shepherd flagship
Farley Mowat was his permanent home.

Pacific rim anti-dog & cat meat activism gains momentum

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

HONG KONG, BANGKOK, MANILA–Tuen Mun magistrate Kwok
Wai-kin on December 22, 2006 sentenced four men to serve 30 days in
jail apiece for killing and butchering two dogs just 40 days earlier,
on November 12.
Kwok Wai-kin “rejected the defendants’ argument that eating dog was
simply a matter of culture, saying society could not accept or
condone such an act,” reported Jonathan Cheng of the the Hong Kong
Standard.
The four men–Lau Lap-kei, 49; Wong Yung-hung, 44; Liu
Wai-hong, 40; and Wong Chun-hung, 49–immediately appealed their
sentences, and were released on bail.
Slaughtering dogs and cats has been illegal in Hong Kong
since 1950, but the four are believed to be the first offenders who
have received jail sentences.

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International adoption pioneer in trouble in California

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

SAN MARCOS, Calif.–Mina Sharpe, 25, who founded the
Taiwan Abandoned Animal Rescue Foundation in Taipei at age 12, may
be charged with violating probation, after San Marcos animal control
officer Tunis VanBerkum on December 9, 2006 found her keeping 16
dogs and two rabbits in allegedly filthy conditions in a
700-square-foot home.
The animals were surrendered to the Escondido Humane Society.
Earlier in 2006 Sharpe was convicted of keeping 18 dogs in
unsanitary conditions at her former home in Carlsbad, and was
ordered to find other homes for all but two of them.

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Mercury poisoning may save whales

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
TAIJI–Three days after Christmas 2006, a long-anticipated
confrontation between the two-ship fleet of the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society and the Japanese whaling fleet inside the
International Whaling Commission-designated Southern Oceans Whale
Sanctuary had yet to develop–but Ric O’Barry took the fight against
Japanese whaling right into Japanese supermarkets, and on Boxing Day
2006 scored a second round knockout against the Taiji coastal whalers.
Taiji coastal whaling little resembles high seas whaling.
Instead of shooting great whales with harpoon guns and butchering
them aboard the factory ship Nisshin Maru in the name of scientific
research, the coastal whalers drive small whales into shallow water
where a few are selected for sale to marine mammal parks.

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Rabbit fur farming exposed

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

The Portuguese animal rights group ANIMAL on December 9,
2006 unveiled a nine-minute video showing conditions in the
Portuguese rabbit fur farming industry.
“The film finishes showing the rabbits in the skinning
factory, tied upside down in a line before being skinned alive,”
said ANIMAL president Miguel Moutinho. Live skinning, Moutinho
said, follows “slaughter without proper stunning, with the rabbits
still conscious when having their throats slit.

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HSUS catches major retailers selling dog fur

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
NEW YORK CITY–The Macy’s fashion store chain on December 22,
2006 withdrew from sale two styles of Sean John brand hooded jackets,
after mass spectrometry testing commissioned by the Humane Society of
the U.S. revealed that “imitation rabbit fur” and “faux fur” collars
were made from the fur of tanuki dogs, members of the domestic dog
family with raccoon-like markings, native to China and Korea.
“A Sean John snorkel jacket on sale for $237.99 at Macys.com
specifically identified the materials used as ‘Nylon/faux fur/goose
down,'” HSUS said. “When investigators purchased the coat, they
found that the labels read ‘Made in China’ and ‘genuine raccoon fur.'”

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Exterminator called to Primarily Primates

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
SAN ANTONIO–The messy plight of the Primarily Primates
sanctuary reportedly became messier still in early December 2006, to
the point that PETA-backed, state-appointed receiver Lee
Theisen-Watt called in ABC Pest & Lawn Services on December 13 to
kill rats, mice, and cockroaches.
“ABC is proud to be able to take on this project for free as
our holiday gift to the community,” said ABC general manager Mark
Ambrose.
“It was probably the worst roach infestation I’ve ever
seen,” Ambrose later told Chicago Tribune correspondent Howard Witt.
“Cockroaches carpeted the floors and walls of some animals’
sleeping houses.” wrote Witt, “Rats had colonized others.”

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Editorial: Developing compassion for feral pigs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
Here come the pigs! See page one and the constellation of
related sidebars beginning on page 12 for particulars.
Nobody expected feral pigs and street pigs to become a
ubiquitous humane concern in the early 21st century–but not because
of indifference toward pigs. Most people just didn’t think of pigs
as a free-roaming species who might turn up almost anywhere, capable
of thriving without human help. But the timing is right for feral
pigs and street pigs to claim humane attention. More pigs may be at
large today, worldwide, than ever before. Certainly more pigs are
at large in North America.
Pig hunters are all but exempt from most of the laws that
govern other forms of hunting, since pigs are considered a
non-native invasive nuisance. So-called hog/dog rodeo, in which
packs of pit bull terriers are set upon captive feral pigs, has only
been illegal in many Southern states for under two years, and–like
dogfighting and cockfighting–still has a substantial following.

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Saving one small dog informs the world

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia– Resembling a
skull buried up to the hollow eye sockets, the
70-year-old Italian fortification called Gido
Washa stood for death from the day it was built.
Long after the last Italian troops left
Ethiopia, after the last wood and metal parts of
Gido Washa were blasted or burned, and only the
concrete shell remained, it became deadlier than
ever.
“For the last 20 or so years local people
threw unwanted dogs into the pits, where they
died of starvation,” Ethiopian/American
physician Anteneh Roba e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE
on June 25, 2007. As founder of the Amsale
Gessesse Memorial Foundation, begun to honor his
deceased mother, Roba was in Ethiopia to help
the Homeless Animal Protection Society to expand
their street dog sterilization and vaccination
project.

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