India bans dolphin exhibitions
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
DELHI––“We will not allow dolphinariums,” Indian environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan on May 8, 2013 told Chetan Chahan of the Hindustan Times. Read more
Category: Asia
Jaipur working elephant death rate soars––but more elephants are on the job
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
JAIPUR, India––Four years after the Rajasthan state government took over administration of the working elephant aid program in Jaipur, the Rajasthan capital city, the death rate among the Jaipur elephants has markedly accelerated. Read more
Indian ban on tail-docking undone
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
CHANDIGARH––Kennel Club of India general secretary Harinder Singh Aulakh in mid-April 2013 advised dog breeders via the Indian Kennel Gazette that they may resume cropping the ears and docking the tails of dogs, after the Madras High Court ruled that the Animal Welfare Board of India lacked the authority to ban ear-cropping and tail-docking if done by a “qualified veterinarian.” The AWBI had issued an order against ear-cropping and tail-docking in November 2011. Read more
Bear bile proposal fails
From Animal-People May/June 2013
CHENGDU––Guizhentang Pharmaceutical, China’s largest producer of bear bile, in April 2013 for the second time in two years withdrew a proposal to sell stock to raise the capital needed to increase the number of bears it keeps from 400 to 1,200. Read more
Record seizures of dogs from meat traffic in China and Thailand stretch rescue capacity
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
BEIJING, BANGKOK––Stopping a truck hauling 250 dogs to slaughterhouses in Maoming, Guangdong on April 7, 2013, Kunming Yixin Stray Animal Shelter volunteers had kept the truck surrounded at An Ning, in Kunming, for 48 hours as the April 2013 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, despite acts of attempted physical intimidation by the truckers and reinforcements called by the truckers. Read more
After shooting street dogs, Malaysia massacres long tailed macaques
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia––Malaysian natural resources and environment minister Douglas Uggah “has ordered an immediate investigation by a team from his ministry into the alleged inhumane massacre of wild monkeys by its contractors,” Michelle Chun of the Sun Daily reported on March 29, 2013. Read more
Japanese whalers killed fewest whales ever in 2013 Antarctic hunt
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
TOKYO––The Japanese whaling fleet in 2013 killed just 103 minke whales out of a self-assigned quota of 935, and killed none of the 50 humpback and 50 fin whales they had hoped to kill, acknowledged Japanese agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at a homecoming media conference. Read more
Dolphins in India
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
CHENNAI––The Animal Welfare Board of India on January 14, 2013 ordered state governments and wildlife agencies to deny permits to anyone who “proposes to import or capture any cetacean [whale or dolphin] species for training, to use as a performing animal for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition, private or human interaction, educational or research purposes.” The directive formalizes policies which have informally prevailed against would-be marine mammal exhibitors since 1998, when a now defunct Chennai aquarium called Dolphin City imported four dolphins from Bulgaria. All four died within six months. Whether the AWBI directive can be enforced is likely to be tested by would-be developers of dolphin parks in Mumbai, Delhi, and coastal Kerala state.
Seals in hotels
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2013:
BEIJING––China Daily on February 22, 2013 spotlighted an Internet campaign against the fast-spreading practice of keeping seals in tanks as an attraction at hotels and restaurants. The campaign was initiated by the Panjin Harbor Seal Protection Volunteer Association, of Panjin, Liaoning province, and the Green Beagle Environment Institute of Beijing, whose volunteers have documented the presence of 43 captive seals at 20 facilities––most of them small and severely substandard.