Hunting

March 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:

Robert “Buzz” Barry, 64, assis-

tant executive director of the Sportsmen’s

Alliance of Maine, told reporters on January

21 that he’s giving up hunting mammals after

40 years because of second thoughts he’s had

since a TV debate with an anti-hunter in

November; because his anti-abortion convic-

tions have caused him to review his attitudes

toward the sanctity of life; and most of all

because of the pain and fear he’s seen in the

eyes of animals he’s killed. He asserted, how-

ever, that he isn’t an “anti,” and said he hadn’t

yet decided if he’ll quit shooting birds.

MARINE LIFE

March 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:

Biologist Macarena Green of Quito, Ecuador, on January 12

issued an Internet SOS for marine life in the Galapagos islands. On

October 15, 1994, she said, the Ecuadoran government opened the region

to sea cucumber collection for the first time, setting a quota of 550,000 to

be picked over the next three months. “However, in two months the take

exceeded seven million,” Green stated. “Fishermen were not only collect-

ing sea cucumbers, but also sea horses, snails, sea urchins, and black

coral. Also, one fisherman admitted he had already sent to Japan sea lion

penises as a try-out for a new aphrodisiac. The Japanese buyer paid $50 for

each penis.” The sea cucumber season was closed due to the abuse on

December 15, but, “The people involved during the lucrative yet devastat-

ing enterprise were not about to accept that. During the first days of

January they took over installations of the Park Service and Darwin Station.

They kept all the people inside as hostages, including the wives of many of

the workers and children. They threatened to kill all the tortoises in captivi-

ty at the station, and they threatened to start fires on little islands,” which

would also kill endangered tortoises. Green begged that letters on behalf of

keeping the sea cucumber season closed, permanently, be sent to Arq.

Sixto Duran Ballen, Presidente Constitucional de la Republica de Ecuador,

Palacia de Gobierna, Quito, Ecuador.

AGRICULTURE

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

Famine driven by drought is devastating the

Tarahumara tribe, of Chihuahua state, Mexico––a shy people

known for vegetarianism, endurance running, and such usually

good health that their language reportedly lacks a word for malnu-

trition. Their plight became known when health officials reported

in late October that Tarahumara women––who hadn’t eaten in

days––were carrying starving and dehydrated babies out of the

mountains to find help, walking up to five hours to reach a clinic.

At least 34 Tarahumara babies died at clinics during September

and October. The toll in remote villages is believed to be far high-

er. The crisis was apparently aggravated by ranchers whose cattle

drained local water sources before more than 100,000 head suc-

cumbed. Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari finally

promised food aid on October 27, but refused the appeal of

Chihuahua governor Francisco Barrios Terrazas, a member of the

opposition, for disaster relief funds. While the politicos dithered,

photographer Ismael Villalobos, 60, trucked tons of rice and

beans to the Tarahumara, gifts from a Mexico City women’s group.

Wildlife & people

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

An Indian logging elephant named Bir Bahadur

staged a sit-down strike in February after his handler was

replaced, blocking a local official’s motorcade for hours.

Outraged, the official ordered him shot, as “mad.” However,

Bir Bahadur then broke his fetters and fled into the forest, tak-

ing two female elephants with him. He’s been at large ever

since. Maneka Gandhi, daughter-in-law of the late prime min-

ister Indira Gandhi, is now seeking a pardon for him.

Indonesian forestry minister Djamaluddin

Suryohadikusumo says elephants whose habitat has been

taken for farming should be trained to work, not be killed.

“People must be ready to accept them as part of our economic

life,” he said October 12. However, he has dispatched a hit

team to kill Crest, a bull elephant who has killed 13 people

since 1986 and has escaped three times after being shot with

tranquilizer darts.

MARINE LIFE

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

Russian prime minister Victor

Chernomyrdin on October 7 signed approval

of the International Whaling Commission

agreement, reached last May, to establish a

Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary including

most waters below the 40th parallel south lati-

tude. Just amonth earlier his administration

formally objected to the sanctuary––the cre-

ation of which Russia supported at the IWC

meeting, against heavy pressure from Japan

and Norway. Because Russia objected in 1982

to the IWC-established international moratori-

um on commercial whaling, the objection to

the sanctuary meant that under IWC rules

Russia would have been uniquely entitled to

kill whales in Antarctic waters, exempt from

retaliatory trade sanctions. The turnabout came

two days after the Russian coastguard sank a

Japanese trawler near the disputed island of

Shikotan, and six days before a Russian mili-

tary airplane fired on a Norwegian trawler

which allegedly intruded upon a military exer-

cise in Arctic waters.

Hawaii dolphins lived, by Steven C. Sipman

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

It has been brought to my attention that an otherwise excellent and infor-

mative article in the September 1994 issue of ANIMAL PEOPLE in which my

name was mentioned contains a few errors which should be corrected. The article

unfortunately omitted documented facts regarding the release of two bottlenose dol-

phins from a University of Hawaii research station in 1977. The article stated,

“One vanished; the other was killed within 24 hours when waves dashed her

against a coral reef. Her chances of survival were dubious to begin with.”

Neither dolphin vanished. Puka, the first dolphin, simply swam away.

The other, Kea, was not killed, as was reported. Witnesses confirmed that she was

slightly roughed up in a bungled recapture attempt by inept volunteers.

Both dolphins have been reported together and in the company of other

dolphins by University of Hawaii scientists, professional divers, lifeguards, and

Harbor Patrol employees, days, weeks, and months after their release. Such evi-

dence has been entered into court under oath.

Birds

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

A study of more than 1,200

cormorant regurgitations conducted

by the National Biological Survey and

the New York Department of

Environmental Conservation has con-

cluded that lake trout and salmon make

up only 0.5% of the birds’ diet.

Further, cormorants eat only 5% of the

volume of smaller fish that the trout

and salmon eat. Thus the estimated

12,000 cormorants now living along

the eastern shore of Lake Ontario are

no threat to the sport fishing industry,

contrary to the claims of hunting and

fishing groups, which have been call-

ing for cormorant control––often in the

form of an open season on cormorants,

generally considered inedible.

Wildlife briefs

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Three related California bills to
decriminalize accidental killings of protect-

ed species, improve scientific review of

species proposed for protection, and allow

some killing of endangered species in eco-

nomic activities providing compensation was

made died September 2 when a coalition of

business interests and environmentalists split

over the definition of the word “conserve.”

The business groups objected that the word

might commit them to species recovery work,

not just to paying for habitat or individuals

lost. The bills were touted as potential mod-

els for reforming the federal Endangered

Species Act, reauthorization of which is more

than two years overdue.

ANIMAL HEALTH

September 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:

No face-branding halt yet despite what mass media reported

July 7 media reports that the USDA would no longer require face-branding of steers import-

ed from Mexico were incorrect. Such an announcement was expected, but was apparently delayed by

the White House to get input on the rules change from the National Cattlemen’s Association. The

USDA did amend the import rules for Mexican heifers, who now must be given a local anesthetic

prior to spaying, and are rump-branded. The steers are branded to help inspectors backtrack cattle car-

rying bovine tuberculosis; the heifers are spayed to prevent the transmission of brucellosis.

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