VictoryLand greyhound track closes

June 11, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

SHORTER, Alabama–Greyhound racing ended at VictoryLand in
Shorter, Alabama on May 30, 2011, 27 years after the track opened
in September 1984.
Then called the Macon County Greyhound Park, the track at
peak employed 2,000 people. Only 200 people worked there when
spokesperson Bill Cunningham announced the end of daily racing on May
10, 2011. Five more racing days were held to fulfill contractual
agreements. The track was reportedly six months in arrears on
property taxes. “The only viable way to keep the live greyhound
racing was to have electronic bingo,” Cunningham said.

Ireland will not sell greyhounds to China

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

DUBLIN–Irish racing greyhounds will not soon be exported to
China, Irish agriculture minister Shane McEntee told the Dail [Irish
parliament] on May 3, 2011, but the announcement did not end the
efforts of greyhound racing opponents to deter Irish investment in
trying to develop a Chinese greyhound racing industry.
McEntee, a member of the Fine Gael majority, responded to a
question asked from the Dail floor by Labour Party member Joe
Costello. Asking if McEntee would allow the export of greyhounds to
China, Costello noted that China “has no animal welfare legislation
and no regulation, supervision or mechanism for protecting such
animals. There is no ban on killing dogs there,” Costello
emphasized, “and we are all aware that some dogs are eaten.
Obviously there is considerable scope for abuse.”

Dolphins to be freed from traveling shows

April 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:
JAKARTA–“We have identified 73 ‘blood dolphins’ who were
captured illegally from the Indonesian national parks,” Dolphin
Project founder Ric O’Barry e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on March 26,
2011. Working with the Indonesian Foresty Ministry, O’Barry said,
“We will confiscate them in groups of three to five.”
The Jakarta Animal Aid Network and the Dolphin Project,
working in recent years under the auspices of Earth Island Institute,
expect to release back to the wild 70 dolphins from Karimun Jawa
National Park in Central Java and three more from Ujung Kulon
National Park in Banten.

BOOKS: A Lady & Her Tiger

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
The Lady & Her Tiger by Pat Derby with Peter S. Beagle
Performing Animal Welfare Society (P.O. Box 849, Galt, CA 95632),
1976; reprinted for PAWS. Paperback, 263 pages. $10.00.
Performing Animal Welfare Society cofounder Pat Derby did not
see the modern animal rights movement coming 35 years ago, when her
memoir The Lady & Her Tiger became one of the books that launched it.
Published by E.P. Dutton in May 1976, six months after Peter
Singer’s Animal Liberation, and 20 months after Cleveland Amory’s
Man Kind?, The Lady & Her Tiger won an American Library Association
award and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Reissued as a
Ballentine paperback in 1977, The Lady & Her Tiger ensured that the
treatment of performing animals was prominent on the nascent animal
rights agenda–but Derby remained a Hollywood animal trainer, albeit
in the doghouse with much of her profession after exposing their
methods, for another eight years.

Guinness delists elephant polo

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
LONDON–Guinness World Records Ltd. on January 24, 2011 wrote to
PETA that it will no longer recognize elephant polo in the annual
Guinness Book of World Records. “The decision was based on expert
counsel which advised that the activities related to elephant polo
could be potentially harmful to the animals,” said Guinness editor
Craig Glenday.

Thai “tiger temple” defamation case fails to silence Wiek of Wildlife Friends

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
BANGKOK–A year after the notorious Thai “tiger temple” sued
Wildlife Friends founder Edwin Wiek and representatives of the
Bangkok Post for defamation, Wiek is still speaking out about how
the temple keeps the tigers it exhibits and the case appears to be
dead.
Located in Kanchanaburi, about two hours by tourist bus from
Bangkok, the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery
claims it “started in 1999,” with “a sick baby tiger, orphaned by
poachers,” and expanded to house other tiger orphans.”

Illinois axes subsidy for National High School Rodeo Finals

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
SPRINGFIELD, Illinois–The Illinois Department of
Agriculture on January 27, 2011 notified the National High School
Rodeo Association that it can no longer afford the $1 million annual
cost of underwriting the National High School Rodeo Finals, a 10-day
event held in Springfield in 2000, 2001, 2006, and 2007, due to
have returned to Springfield in 2012 and 2013.
“While Illinois is claiming cancellation of the rodeo is due
to budget cuts, the negative publicity generated by SHARK’s expose of
the rodeo’s animal cruelty year after year undoubtedly played a part
in the decision,” said SHARK founder Steve Hindi. In 2007 the
National High School Rodeo Finals lost the sponsorship of Choice
Hotels, including 11 leading midprice national motel chains, two
years before the sponsorship contract was to expire.

Two major zoos defy Chinese order to halt animal acts

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
Guangdong–Defying a nationally publicized order from
Beijing–and claiming it was never received–the Shenzhen Safari Park
and Xiaomeisha Sea World have continued daily animal acts using
birds, tigers, lions and dolphins, the Guangdong Daily Sunshine
reported on February 2, 2011, without hinting at what the Chinese
federal authorities might do about it.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development,
responsible for zoo regulation in China, on October 26, 2010
“suggested” in an official web posting that zoos should adequately
feed and house animals, should stop selling wild animal products and
serving wild animal parts in restaurants, and should stop staging
circus-like trained animal acts, including feeding live prey to
carnivores, because “These activities go against the public good.”

Lion airlift

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
LOS ANGELES–Campaigning against animal circuses in Latin
America since 2006, Animal Defenders International on February 16,
2011 flew 24 former Bolivian circus lions to the Rocky Mountain
Wildlife Conservation Center in Keenesburg, Colorado, doing
business as the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Retired Price Is Right host
Bob Barker, who donated $2 million to fund the rescue, was present
to witness their arrival.

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