A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2012:
JAKARTA, MELBOURNE–– Australian cattle and sheep exporters barely had time to anticipate ramped up live animal shipments to Islamic nations, under new protocols announced on October 21, 2011 by agriculture minister Joe Ludwig, when word came from Jakarta that Indonesia is likely to accept barely half as many live cattle from Australia as were landed in 2011. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2012:
FREMANTLE–Even whalers quoted by The New York Times believed
that the March 11, 2011 tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan
had probably killed the whaling industry–but that was before prime
minister Yoshihiko Noda took office in September 2011.
Noda, from Chiba prefecture, a longtime hub of coastal
whaling, diverted 2.28 billion yen–$30 million–from tsunami relief
and rebuilding funds to quadruple the $10 million annual government
subsidy for “whaling research,” to be conducted by killing from 900
to 1,000 whales in Antarctic waters designated off limits to whaling
by the International Whaling Commission. Read more
Special: Chronology of humane progress in India
by Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animal People News
PREFACE:
The “Chronology of Humane Progress in India” covers only events originating before 2007, to give more recent events time to settle into perspective. The outcomes of court cases in which judgements were rendered more recently are discussed in light of antecedents which have evolved for much longer…”
Chronology part 3: 1977 to 2010
(continued)
1977 – Shirley McGreal, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, in 1973 founded the International Primate Protection League in Thailand to fight Thai monkey exports. She enjoyed her first campaign success in India, however, after becoming acquainted with then-Indian prime minister Moraji Desai through diplomatic connections.
Recalled McGreal in 1995, “In 1977 IPPL amassed documents about the U.S. use or misuse of imported Indian rhesus monkey use in military experiments,” in violation of the terms of a 20-year-old export agreement. Desai had been elected prime minister in 1977. McGreal knew that, “Desai was a lifelong vegetarian [in fact, a strict vegan] and animal lover.” She appealed to him. On December 3, 1977, Desai’s government barred monkey exports, effective on April 1, 1978. The introduction of the export ban was eased politically by the publication of an exposé by Nanditha Krishna in the March 26, 1978 edition of The Illustrated Weekly of India, which explained that the ban was imposed “after it was discovered that the Pentagon used monkeys in military research–to test the radiation effects of nuclear explosions. Continued McGreal, “Desai saved a species and hundreds of thousands of individual animals from suffering and death in foreign laboratories. Powerful users exerted heavy pressure on Desai. He stood firm,” as have his successors. “In an attempt at historical revisionism,” McGreal continued, “claims were made by U.S. scientists that the Indian ban resulted from conservation concerns and the dwindling numbers of rhesuses. IPPL contacted Desai, by then retired, for clarification. In a handwritten letter dated April 16, 1985, Desai stated, ‘You are quite correct in saying that I banned the export of monkeys on a humanitarian basis and not because the number was lessening. I believe in preventing cruelty to all living beings in any form.'” Read more
Special: Chronology of humane progress in India
by Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animal People News
PREFACE:
The “Chronology of Humane Progress in India” covers only events originating before 2007, to give more recent events time to settle into perspective. The outcomes of court cases in which judgements were rendered more recently are discussed in light of antecedents which have evolved for much longer…”
Chronology part 2: 1910 to Project Tiger
(continued)
1910-1947 – Indian organizations were represented at the first International Humane Congress, held in Washington D.C. in 1910, and at the six ensuing International Humane Congresses, convened at sporadic intervals in London, Helsingborg, Copenhagen, Philadelphia, Brussels, and Vienna.
1924 – Hoping to win support from the League of Nations, French author Andre Géraud produced “A Declaration of Animal Rights,” a document which in 1926 inspired an “International Animals Charter” drafted by Florence Barkers. Attempts to create a declaration of animals’ rights in English that might be endorsed by the League of Nations apparently began with a 9-point “Animals’ Charter” authored at an unknown date by Stephen Coleridge (1854-1936), the longtime president of the British National Anti-Vivisection Society. The Coleridge edition was then expanded into “An Animals’ Bill of Rights” by Geoffrey Hodson (1886-1983), who was president of the Council of Combined Animal Welfare Organizations of New Zealand. Read more
Special: Chronology of humane progress in India
by Merritt Clifton, Editor, Animal People News
PREFACE
The “Chronology of Humane Progress in India” covers only events originating before 2007, to give more recent events time to settle into perspective. The outcomes of court cases in which judgements were rendered more recently are discussed in light of antecedents which have evolved for much longer…”
Organizations mentioned are included either because they are believed to be the oldest within their respective regions, or because for some reason they are of national or international note. Among the many founded more recently than 10 years ago, only the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations is mentioned; it is included because it is a representative body providing a forum and collective voice to the entire Indian humane movement. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2011:
BANGALORE–A purported lynching by animal rights activists in
Bangalore, India, on November 1, 2011, headlined by media
worldwide, might actually have been attempted cattle rustling or
extortion of bribes by imposters. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2011:
BANGKOK–-The floodwater rising over Thailand was one problem,
and what was in it was–and remains– another. Along with the threat
of zoonotic disease and insect plagues that accompanies most floods,
Bangkok rescuers found themselves handling more than 200 animals of
protected species, “ranging from deer and tigers to monkeys,”
reported Apinya Wipatayotint of the Bangkok Post, amid rumors that
“deadly green mamba snakes got loose in Nonthaburi after escaping
from a flooded house in Pak Kret.” Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2011:
WUXI, China–Tipped off at 10 p.m. on August 3, 2011 that truckers planned to illegally haul a load of cats to live markets in Guangzhou, Guangdong at dawn, disguised as a cargo of furniture, members of the Wuxi Animal Protection Association in Jiangsu province mobilized overnight to intercept the truck at a toll booth at about 5:00 a.m. on August 4. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2011:
BEIJING, BANKOK, HANOI-– Public outrage on September 21, 2011 brought the abrupt cancellation of the eighth annual dog meat festival in Zhejiang, China, which had been scheduled for October 18.
From five to ten thousand dogs were to have been caged in the streets of Jinhua City, Zhejiang province, to be killed and butchered to visitors’ order. “Dogs’ yelping fills the air throughout the the festival,” reported The Shanghaiist. Read more