BOOKS: And No Birds Sing

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

And No Birds Sing:
A True Ecological Thriller Set in a Tropical Paradise
by Mark Jaffe
Barricade Books (150 Fifth Ave., Suite 700, New York, NY 1OO11), 1997.
283 pages, paperback, $12.00.

On a small island, thousands of
miles across the Pacific, the birds have all
but disappeared. And No Birds Sing, paced
like a page-turning mystery, seeks the
answer. Mark Jaffe chronicles prolonged
governmental and scientific ineptitude in
responding to an event that had no recognized
model: the annihilation of birds on
Guam by the accidental import of the brown
tree snake. Jaffe centers on the story of
Julia Savidge, a doctoral candidate at the
University of Illinois, hired to do research
by the Guam Division of Aquatic Wildlife
Resources, who had the courage to fight
bureaucracy and bogus “scientific rules” for
years in order to prove the impact of the
snake, which she had deduced from field
observation, interviews with local people,
and archival research.

Updates on Carroll Cox investigations done for Friends of Animals

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

While employed by
Friends of Animals, Carroll Cox
investigated––among many other
topics––the U.S. Navy practice
bombing of Farallon de Medinilla,
an uninhabited Pacific island used
extensively by endangered, threatened,
and otherwise protected
seabirds; the reason why the
Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species secretariat
last year rejected the fiscal 1994
U.S. wildlife import/export data
submitted by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service; the alleged misuse
of a scientific research permit
issued to Albright College professor
Marsha Green, both by Green herself

Germ war on rabbits

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand––
Frustrated by governmental caution, farmers in
at least six districts of the South Island of New
Zealand separately introduced the deadly rabbit
calicivirus in late August. Their evident strategy
was to goad the government into undertaking
large-scale deliberate releases, as Australia
did in October 1996, a year after an accidental
release from a test site on Wardang Island
turned four of the six Australian states into––in
effect––a germ warfare experiment.
Concerned about liability, New
Zealand authorities held back a long discussed
release. On the verge of the rabbit birthing season,
highland farmers finally forced the issue
by importing from Australia the internal organs
of rabbits who had died of calicivirus, pureeing
the organs in blenders with bait such as oats,
jam, or carrots, and pouring the mess around
rabbit warrens.

No relief for wild horses

September 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1997:

Fighting allegations that
wild horses removed from Bureau of
Land Management property are
clandestinely sold to slaughter, Salt
Lake District BLM state wildforce
manager Glade Anderson on July 28
told Deseret News staff writer
Steven R. Mickelson that Utah
Hunter Association volunteers
would henceforth screen prospective
adoptors and inspect their facilities.

Bombed birds can’t be found

July 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1997:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field supervisor
for ecological services Brooks Harper on May 16
issued a new Biological Opinion for Gunnery and
Aerial Bombardment Practice at Farallon de
Medinilla, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands. As Friends of Animals special investigator
Carroll Cox described on page 17 of the March edition
of ANIMAL PEOPLE, Farallon de Medinilla is a
tiny island north of Guam, uninhabited by humans but
heavily used by protected sea birds and sea turtles
––between U.S. Navy bombing and strafing.
The new Biological Opinion, issued preliminary
to more bombing and strafing, notes that the most
endangered bird on the island, the Micronesian
megapode [ovenbird] is “likely to remain underneath
brushy cover, and therefore, deaths or injury from
either direct strikes or indirectly from shrapnel would
be difficult to detect from aerial surveys,” as if finding
anything left of a bird the size of a robin who’s been
hit by a bomb might be likely anyway.

Secrets of the Forbidden Island

July 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1997:

NIIHAU, Hawaii––Conflict of
interest questions raised by the recent designation
of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback
Whale National Marine Sanctuary may go
well beyond the competing mandates of different
government agencies. The well-connected
heirs of Eliza Sinclair and their designated
agents could potentially make millions
of dollars through the lease or sale of the
island of Niihau to the U.S. Navy for inclusion
in the Pacific Missile Range––after
keeping it out of both the whale sanctuary
and, earlier, the Northwestern Hawaiian
Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which
includes all the islands north of Niihau.

Kaimanawa horse shooting commences

June 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:

WELLINGTON, N.Z.––A five-year struggle to save the wild
horses of Kaimanawa, New Zealand, apparently ended in gunfire on May
25, equine behaviorist Sharon Cregier told ANIMAL PEOPLE. Cregier,
of Prince Edward Island, Canada, relayed a faxed report from former New
Zealand Horse & Pony editor Peg Harvey that, “Reporters and photographers
are being kept from the slaughter area. Horses are being driven into
trucks bound for slaughter. Others are being shot and the carcasses left to
rot. Twelve hundred horses are expected to be shot. The roundup, slaughter
transport, and killings are under the auspices of the Department of
Conservation. The New Zealand Wild Horse Protection Association and
International League for the Protection of Horses have protested the killings,
some protesters chaining themselves to the trucks and being sent to jail.”
The Kaimanawa herd, descended from military horses released
during the 1860s and deliberately supplemented with Exmoor ponies and
Welsh stallions in 1877, is to be reduced to 500 of the healthiest horses,
who will be confined to an area less than half the size of their present range.
Only 200 of the horses survived as of 1981, when they were protected by
cabinet order.

“They eat fish––kill ‘em!”

May 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

Sea lions had a rough fourth week of March:
In New Zealand, fisheries minister John Luxton
finally closed the Auckland Islands squid season on March
25, four days after he was advised that observed accidental
killings of endangered Hooker’s sea lions had reached 34.
Projected to the squid fleet as a whole, the indicated toll was
102, significantly more than the 73 sea lion deaths permitted
under the Fisheries Act.
In Peru, the Peruvian fisheries ministry announced
it was considering a “pilot program” to allow fishers to kill
up to 60 sea lions who allegedly tear nets, and export their
genitals to the Asian aphrodisiac market.

BOMBS AWAY!

March 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1997:

by Carroll Cox, Wildlife consultant, Friends of Animals

For many years the U.S. Navy
has leased the western Pacific island of
Farallon de Medinilla, Commonwealth
of Northern Marian Islands, uninhabited
by humans, for use in bombing practice.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service internal
reports indicate that the Navy bombs the
island at least four times a year, and considers
it an especially important target
site because so many other targets have
been placed off limits––chiefly to protect
endangered wildlife. This came to light
when the Navy requested a USFWS permit
to “take” migratory birds incidental
to their bombing activity. At first the
USFWS denied the permit, but then
reversed course and issued it.

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