Falwell’s father was a dogfighter

June 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LYNCHBURG, Virginia–Obituaries for
televangelist Jerry Falwell, who died on May 15,
2007 in Lynchburg, Virg-inia, not far from
where the Michael Vick dogfighting case was
breaking, skipped lightly over at least two
aspects of his early life.
Little mentioned was Falwell’s role as an
ardent segregationist from his debut on WBRG
radio in June 1956 until several years after the
Congress On Racial Equality tried to integrate
his church in 1964.
Not mentioned at all was that Falwell’s
father, Carey H. Falwell, a key figure in many
of his sermons, was at least twice convicted of
hosting high-stakes dogfights, at a time when
dogfighting, cockfighting, and pigeon shoots
were among the fundraising mainstays of the Ku
Klux Klan.

Rodeos kill children too

May 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
TUCSON–Tucson police chief Richard Miranda on March 19,
2007 announced that the Pima County Attorney’s Office will not charge
anyone for causing the February 22 death of five-year-old Brielle
Boisvert during the 82nd annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo
parade. Three years younger than the minimum age for parade
participants stated on the entry form, Boisvert was thrown from her
horse and trampled by a bolting team of horses who were pulling a
wagon.
The parade is promoted as the longest in the world using no
motor vehicles–and has had serious accidents before, though no
previous fatalities. “At last year’s parade,” recalled Associated
Press, “Mayor Bob Walkup bruised an arm and his wife Beth suffered a
concussion and whiplash when two runaway horses slammed into a
150-year-old buggy.”

National High School Rodeo loses top sponsor after probe affirms abuse

May 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
SPRINGFIELD–“Choice Hotels, has
terminated sponsorship, scheduled to run until
2009, of the National High School Rodeo
Association,” SHARK president Steve Hindi
announced on April 24.
“The early termination, for rules
violations and animal abuse, follows a review of
video documentation supplied by SHARK,” Hindi
said, crediting SHARK staff member Janet Enoch
for successful liaison with Choice corporate
officials.
The Choice chain “includes Clarion,
Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn,
Sleep Inn, Econolodge, Rodeway, Cambria Suites,
Mainstay Suites, and Suburban Extended Stay
Hotel,” Hindi said.

Congress passes ban on interstate transport of animals for fighting

May 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Senate on April 10, 2007
unanimously passed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act,
H.R. 137, approved by the House of Representatives on March 25,
368-39. Sent to the White House to be signed into law, the Act
creates a felony penalty for transporting animals across state
lines–including foreign export– to be used in fights.
Cockfighters and breeders mobilized to urge President George
W. Bush to veto H.R. 137, but Humane Society of the U.S. president
Wayne Pacelle was unconcerned. “We have it on good word that it will
be signed,” Pacelle told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
The Act is expected to help in apprehending and prosecuting
dogfighters and cockfighters. Dogfighting is already illegal in all
50 states. Cockfighting is illegal in 49 states plus nine of the 64
parishes of Louisiana, the last state to allow it.

“Buddy” photo caption

May 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
Buddy, above, “was confiscated from a dogfight raided in
Boso-Boso, Antipolo City, on April 2, 2007, with the help of
volunteers from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society,” wrote PAWS
president Nita Hontiveros Lichauco. “Fourteen suspects were
arrested,” she continued, and “will face charges of violation of
the Animal Welfare Act or illegal gambling.” The Philippines has
been among the frequent destinations of U.S.-bred fighting dogs and
gamecocks, but the traffic will now be illegal. Philippine humane
law was strengthened in early February 2007 when Philippine President
Gloria Arroyo endorsed a new Rabies Act. The act increases the
penalties for selling dog meat, and introduced penalties for
electrocuting dogs as a method of animal control.
(PAWS/Sherwin Castillo)

New Mexico bans cockfighting

April 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:

SANTA FE–New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on March 12,
2007 signed into law a bill banning cockfighting, leaving Louisiana
as the last U.S. state that allows it.
“Today, New Mexico joins 48 other states in affirming that
deliberately killing animals for entertainment and profit is no
longer acceptable,” said State Senator Mary Jane Garcia (D-Dona Ana),
who pushed prohibiting cockfights for 18 years.
Thirteen New Mexico counties had already individually banned
cockfighting.
Taking effect on June 15, “The bill makes participating in
cockfights a petty misdemeanor on first offense, a misdemeanor on
second offense, and a fourth-degree felony– punishable by up to 18
months in prison–for a third or subsequent offense. Spectators
could not be charged,” summarized Deborah Baker of Associated Press.
“The push for change was homegrown,” reported Los Angeles
Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi. “When Garcia took office in
1989, a male colleague suggested she try to ban cockfighting. Her
bill was easily defeated” Riccardi recalled, “and Garcia soon
learned that the ban suggestion was a sort of hazing to which veteran
legislators subjected young female colleagues.”

Justice for Animals ires South African National SPCA over Zulu bullfight

January 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
KLOOF, KwaZulu-Natal–Justice for Animals founder Steve
Smiths sought to support the National SPCA of South Africa in a
December 4, 2006 e-mail to news media, protesting against the
annual mob killing of a bull at the First Fruits Festival, a
traditional Zulu celebration.
National SPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith’s December
5 response took Smits and much of his lengthy cc. list much by
surprise.

BOOKS: The Case Against Bullfighting

January 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

The Case Against Bullfighting
by Michael A. Ogorzaly
Author House (1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, IN 47403), 2006
248 pages, paperback. $14.95.

Michael Ogorzaly, who died at age 58 on
October 14, 2006, suffered a broken neck as a
college student, when a car in which he was a
passenger was involved in an accident. Confined
to a wheelchair thereafter, Ogorzaly completed
his education and went on to teach Spanish and
Latin American history at Chicago State
University. When Bulls Cry was his second book,
addressing a topic which had become one of his
focal concerns.

The case for Ernest Hemingway

January 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:
Michael Ogorzaly in The Case Against Bullighting appears to
have quoted Ernest Hemingway far out of context. The reference is
from the opening chapter of Death In The Afternoon, in which–from
the first sentence–Hemingway bluntly acknowledged the cruelty of
bullfighting, with emphasis on the injuries done to horses.
Hemingway described his horror at how Greeks evacuating
Smyrna in 1922 broke the legs of their pack donkeys and pushed them
into the sea to drown, an episode he covered for the Toronto
Telegram Syndicate as a young reporter and described again in his
1924 short story On The Quai At Smyrna. Heming-way recounted his
intervention on many occasions (also described by others) to assist
downed horses in the streets, and his fondness for dogs and
cats–especially cats, who were his desk companions for most of his
life.

Bloodsports

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