Habitat

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Over the past 28 years, the Land and Water

Conservation Fund financed by offshore oil and gas

drilling royalties has raised more than $9 billion, the

revenues from which––$900 million a year––were sup-

posed to have been spent on acquiring land for national

parks and wildlife refuges. However, the Ronald

Reagan and George Bush administrations gradually

diverted the money elsewhere. The current federal bud-

get, Bush’s last, allocated only $284 million for land

acquisition, and Bill Clinton’s proposed budget cuts that

24%, to just $208 million.

China has set aside 77,000 square miles in

northern Tibet as a wildlife sanctuary––an area the

size of South Dakota. More than 125,000 square miles

of the remote Himalayan nation had already been

reserved for wildlife. Nearly 40% of Tibet is now offi-

cially protected habitat for yaks, snow leopards, rare

high-altitude sheep, and a vareity of antelope species.

New York City has announced plans to sepa-

rate the Central Park Reservoir from the city water

system later this year. The reservoir, one of the critical

habitats for New York’s urban wildlife, may be added to

the park area intact––or may be drained, filled, and

converted into athletic fields.

Whaling ban holds

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

TOKYO, Japan––The 47th annual meeting of

the International Whaling Commission concluded May 14

with the 1986 ban on commercial whaling still

intact––and Japan and Norway still threatening to follow

Iceland in quitting the treaty that holds the IWC together.

Norway has already announced that it will

resume commercial whaling this summer, risking trade

sanctions from the United States. Meanwhile, Norway

and Japan are already harpooning 100 and 300 minke

whales apiece per year for “research.” The rudimentary

research ends in each nation with the whale meat on

restaurant tables. Claiming that the Southern Hemisphere

minke whale population is up to 760,000 and out of dan-

ger, Japan wants to kill 2,000 a year. The Japanese gov-

ernment is also desperately worried that the IWC will

extend its authority from minkes, the smallest of the great

whales, to smaller cetaceans such as dolphins and porpois-

es. As with the great whales, some species of dolphins

and porpoises have been driven close to extinction by

aggressive huntiing, and public opinion in most of the

developed nations favors protecting them.

AAZPA ADOPTS GIANT PANDA CONSERVATION ACTION PLAN

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Stung by criticism of panda rental deals, which have enabled some U.S. zoos to rake in millions of dollars by

spending several hundred thousand dollars to borrow a giant panda from China, the American Association of Zoological

Parks and Aquariums adopted a comprehensive giant panda conservation action plan on April 23. Under the plan,

AAZPA will for the first time station a species survival coordinator in China, at cost of $100,000 a year, to make sure

money paid by U.S. zoos for panda and panda habitat protection is actually spent for the stated purpose. China is presently

receiving more than $1 million a year from AAZPA members in connection with panda rentals, but indications are that

much of the money is diverted, as was a considerable portion of the $2.5 million the World Wildlife Fund sent to China

for panda protection between 1961 and 1986. The budget for a WWF-funded panda breeding facility included building a

town-sized hydroelectric plant––and the breeding facility, for all the spending, had produced only one stillborn panda cub

as of 1990. Wildlife Conservation Society science director George Schaller, author of The Last Panda, praised the

AAZPA action as a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, concerned that money for pandas might stop coming if the last

thousand left in the wild and last 100 in captivity die without reproducing, China has over the past year announced the cre-

ation or expansion of 14 panda reserves, and the birth of 13 pandas in captivity, of whom 11 are still alive. Panda loans

continue: the San Diego Zoo has just agreed to pay China $1 million a year for each of the next three years to borrow a

breeding pair, and may renew the deal for up to 10 years.

ANIMAL HEALTH & BEHAVIOR

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Chinese authorities have begun

purging officials of Shenqui county in

Henan province for collaborating with

Wang Zhiqiang, an entrepreneur who built

a rural empire around a factory that manu-

factured fake veterinary medicines––among

them “antibiotics” made of talcum powder

and cornstarch, and “intravenous solution”

made of monosodium glutamate dissolved

in water. Wang allegedly bought off police

and politicians, held investigators for ran-

som, and tortured witnesses. Federal

authorities finally arrested Wang and shut

down his No. 1 Veterinarian Medicine

Factory, as he styled it, last

COURT CALENDAR

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

Animal Trafficking

Worldwide Primates propri-

etor Matthew Block, 31, of Miami,

drew 13 months in federal prison on April

17 for his part in arranging for six infant

orangutans to be smuggled from Indonesia

to the Soviet Union––the 1990 Bangkok

Six case. Hoping to win a plea bargain,

Block testified against three accomplices

and helped set up the January 26 arrest of

a Mexican zoo director for allegedly trying

to smuggle a gorilla. However, assistant

U.S. attorney Guy Lewis told U.S. district

judge James Kehoe that Block had never

fully cooperated with either investigation,

had lied about his degree of involvement

in the orangutan deal, and was still in

touch with smuggling associates. Block

now faces USDA action for allegedly

feeding primates at his facility spoiled

food, failing to provide water, and keep-

ing them in vermin-infested cages.

Doberman deeds

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

When a tiger abandoned her newborn cub recently at

the zoo in Chhat Bir, India, the zookeeper in desperation gave the

cub to his Doberman pinscher to nurse. After 17 days, both dog

and tiger were reportedly doing well.

Orphaned by Hurricane Andrew when his original fam-

ily lost their home and left him at the SPCA in Jefferson Parish,

Louisiana, a Doberman named Max found a new home with Ava

Mareno of New Orleans last October. On March 27, Max saved

her two-year-old daughter Brittany’s life by pulling away another

dog who was mauling her.

Oceans

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

The International Whaling Commission commenced

its annual meeting in Kyoto, Japan, on April 19 as a throng of

1,000 demonstrators marched outside to demand an end to the cur-

rent global whaling ban, in effect since 1986. The IWC scientific

committee met during the last week of April to review current data

on whale populations, while the general commission meeting is

set for May 10-14. Japanese whalers, who already kill 300 minke

whales a year under the auspices of a government research pro-

gram, want to resume whaling on a commercial scale. Iceland has

already resumed commercial whaling, after qutting the IWC.

HUNTING

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

The Federation of Ontario

Naturalists reports that 95% of spring bear

hunters in the province are Americans, from

states that ban spring bear hunting. In 1991,

Ontario spring bear hunters killed 6,760 bears,

9% of the estimated provincial population. A

third of the bears were females. Only 30% of

cubs who lose their mothers live to age one.

“All too many Alaska hunters are

lazy, ill-mannered, beer-guzzling, belly-

scratching fat boys, or girls,” Anchorage

Daily News outdoors editor Craig Medred

opined recently, “who want nothing more

than to ride around on their favorite piece of

high-powered machinery until they find some-

thing to shoot full of holes with their high-

powered rifle.” Medred also attacked the

Fur

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Preliminary data indicates U.S.

trapping license sales fell to 147,000 dur-

ing the winter of 1992-1993, down from

191,000 in 1991-1992; 230,000 in 1990-

1991; and 338,000 in 1987-1988, when

U.S. trappers sold 19 million pelts. This

past winter they sold just 2.5 million.

Trapping was a $10 million a

year industry in Louisiana during the

early 1980s, but is now earning only $1

million a year. Trying to revive the boom,

state Department of Wildlife and

Fisheries biologist Greg Linscombe

recently told Newsweek that damage to

bayous caused by Hurricane Andrew was

actually the fault of allegedly overpopu-

lating nutria. Nutria are muskrat-like

South American aquatic mammals

brought to Louisiana by fur farmers about

70 years ago––and are a favorite food of

alligators. The Louisiana Department of

Wildlife and Fisheries, removes 75,000

alligator eggs a year from the bayous to

stock alligator farms.

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