Animal exhibitions in the Islamic world

May 2, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

Bear-baiting

“Punjab [Pakistan] authorities have stopped an illegal bear
baiting event from going ahead for the first time in twenty years,”
World Society for the Protection of Animals publicist Jonathan Owen
announced on April 8, 2005. “The event, to have climaxed a
week-long fair at Pir Mehal in March, famed for bear baiting, was
disbanded after WSPA representatives warned police and wildlife
officials. Mehmood Ahmed, Secretary of Forests & Wildlife in Sindh
state, Pakistan, on March 7 announced at a ceremony in Hyderabad
honoring staff for successful actions against bear baiting with dogs
that his department is seeking amendments to the Sindh Wildlife
Ordinance that will ban bear baiting entirely. Mehmood Ahmed thanked
WSPA for “controlling bear baiting up to 80%,” the Pakistan Times
reported. Repres-enting WSPA, Animals’ Rights in Islam author
Fakhr-I-Abbas told the gathering that while the wild bear population
of Pakistan is in jeopardy, exhibitors of dancing bears and
promoters of bear baiting hold as many as 850 bears captive. In 2002
WSPA donated to the Pakistani government a bear sanctuary at Kund
Park in the North West Frontier province that WSPA built in 2000.

13 killed, 350 injured in Indian bull events

March 1, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2005:

ALANGANALLUR–At least 13 people were killed and more than
350 injured during the third weekend in January 2005 at traditional
“Jallikattu” bullfights and bullrunning events held around Tamil Nadu
state, India, to celebrate Pongal, a Hindu holiday.
“Jallikattu is held at temples,” explained Justin Huggler of
the London Independent. “At the most famous, at Alanganallur, the
spectacle began with young men competing to grab a gold chain tied
around horns of the first bull.
“After that, 500 bulls were released into the crowd, as at
Pamplona,” in the most famous Spanish bullrunning event. “But in
Pamplona the crowd runs,” Huggler continued. “In Tamil Nadu they
compete with each other to try to bring the bulls under control.
“Unlike in Spanish bullfighting, the bulls are not killed.

Video law holds up in first test against animal fighter

January 1, 2005 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2005:

PITTSBURGH–Reaching a unanimous verdict in only 45 minutes,
a federal jury on January 13, 2005 convicted video distributor
Robert Stevens of three counts of selling depictions of illegal
cruelty to animals across state lines.
The case was the first court test of 1999 legislation
introduced by Representative Elton Gallegly (R-California).
U.S. Senior District Judge Alan N. Bloch rejected federal
public defender Michael Novara’s contentions that the law violated
Stevens’ First Amendment right to freedom of expression, and that it
was misapplied because the law was introduced to address “wanton
cruelty to animals designed to appeal to a prurient interest in sex.”
The law prohibits the interstate distribution of videos or
films depicting illegal cruelty to animals, if they are without
“serious religious, political, scientific, educational,
journalistic, historical, or art value.”
Stevens, 64, of Pittsville, Virginia, in 2003 sold two
videotapes of dogfights and one video of a “hog/dog rodeo” to
investigators for the Pennsylvania State Police and USDA Office of
the Inspector General. Stevens advertised the videos for sale in the
Sporting Dog Journal, whose publisher James Fricchione, 34, was
convicted in March 2004 of six felonies and five misdemeanors for
allegedly promoting dogfights.

Rodeo commissioner quits under fire

December 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2004:

LAS VEGAS–Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association
commissioner Steven Hatchell resigned on December 10 during the 2004
National Rodeo Finals to become head of the National Football
Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
Hatchell was credited with expanding national TV coverage of
PRCA events from 48 hours in 1998 to 300 hours in 2004, boosting
live attendance to 24 million. That made rodeo the seventh leading
spectator activity in the U.S.–but Hatchell was seen by some PRCA
members as a threat to participant control of rodeo. Hatchell had
reportedly recently formed a separate investor group to promote rodeo
events.
With rising visibility came rising controversy, amplified at
the National Rodeo Finals by Steve Hindi of SHARK, whose TV truck
prowled Las Vegas airing undercover video of other recent PRCA
rodeos, challenging Hatchell to a public debate.
“Much of the footage shows violations of the PRCA guidelines
on animal welfare,” reported Ian Mylcreest of the Las Vegas Business
Press. “Horses were repeatedly teased and goaded. One horse had his
head repeatedly slammed against a gate. Others had their tails and
ears twisted. Handlers routinely shocked animals with a 5,000-volt
prod, including applying it to their faces.”

Basketballers, footballer investigated for pit bull, Rottweiler mayhem

November 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2004:

PORTLAND–Oregon Humane Society and Clackamas County
Sheriff’s Office investigators found evidence linking basketball
player Qyntel Woods to dogfighting in October 11 and October 15
searches of his Lake Oswego home, reported Emily Tsao of the
Portland Oregonian on November 6, 2004.
Clackamas County Judge Robert Selander unsealed 26 pages of court
documents for Tsao, with names, addresses, and witness statements
blacked out to maintain the security of the investigation.
The Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball
Association on October 11 suspended Woods, 23, without pay.
Woods came under suspicion a week earlier when Multnomah County
Animal Services traced to him an injured female pit bull terrier
found in an alley. Woods claimed he gave the dog away, but KATU-TV,
an ABC affiliate, reported that Woods dumped the dog for losing a
fight.
Clackamas County detective Jim Strovink on October 21 told
Allen Breitman of the Oregonian that his office had received a tip
that more than one Trail Blazer had attended dogfights in Linn County.
Woods’ Trail Blazers teammate Zack Randolph told Geoffrey C. Arnold
of the Oregonian that he has owned and bred pit bulls, but denied
involvement in fighting.

No cultural defense for cockfighting in Hawaii, judge rules; federal case pending

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

NEW ORLEANS–Eighteen months after filing a “cultural
defense” lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Louisiana,
which has yet to be heard by Judge Rebecca F. Doherty, the United
Gamefowl Breeders Association still hopes a claim of discrimination
will overturn the two-year-old U.S. law prohibiting interstate
transport of gamecocks.
The anti-gamecock transport law appears to be untested in
court. There have been no prominent prosecutions.
But the legal theory behind the case against it was on August
31, 2004 rejected by Hawaii 2nd Circuit Court Judge Joel August.
August ruled in an 11-page verdict that even though the Hawaii
constitution protects native customs and traditions, and native
Hawaiians practiced a form of cockfighting called haka moa before
Hawaii was annexed by the U.S., cockfighting does not fit the
definitions of protected activity.
The plaintiffs did not make a case or even press a claim that
haka moa was demonstrably integral to practicing the native Hawaiian
religion, August pointed out. Neither could the practice of haka
moa be called a subsistence right.

Hunting dog neglect cases overshadowed by dogfighting

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

CHARLESTON, S.C.–Broad exemptions in humane laws for
standard hunting practices have historically tended to exempt hunting
packs from scrutiny.
Parallel neglect cases in North and South Carolina might now be
challenging lawmakers and public officials to rethink the presumption
that an investment in breeding and training ensures that dogs will be
cared for–but that aspect of at least one case is overshadowed by
crowded shelter conditions resulting from an unrelated case involving
dogfighting.
Responding to an anonymous tip that starving dogs were eating
each other, Citizens for Animal Protection of Warren County
investigator William Roberts on September 10, 2004 visited the
Parktown Hunting Club near Warrenton, North Carolina, and soon
called for help from animal control officer James Solomon,
veterinarian Chris O’Malley, and a sheriff’s detective.
Acting on the erroneous advice of Solomon and Warren
magistrate W.T. Hardy that suffering dogs could be seized without a
warrant, Roberts took 24 of the 60 dogs they found to his home.
O’Malley took the two in the weakest condition to his clinic.

No radio talk of Reno rodeo

July 1, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

RENO–The first rule of journalism is “get both sides,” but
trying to do it cost KPTT-630 Radio sales manager and talk show host
Lee Adams his job on June 28, 2004.
A 28-year veteran of radio work, employed by KPTT since
December 2000, Adams learned on June 25 while preparing for his
weekly Friday afternoon talk show that the Reno Rodeo was ending that
evening, and that Steve Hindi, founder of the animal advocacy group
SHARK, has done extensive documentation of animal abuse at rodeos.
“I telephoned Hindi and invited him to participate in the
show,” Adams told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “I then learned that Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association animal welfare coordinator Cindy
Schoenholtz was in Reno, tracked her down, and invited her to be on
the show.
“When I informed her that I would also have Hindi, she told
me she would have to clear it with her superiors at the PRCA. Within
an hour she cancelled her appearance. I then got a call from my
boss, general manager Dave Wilt of Lotus Radio in Reno.”
Lotus owns 26 radio stations in California, Arizona, Texas,
and Nevada. Among them is the official Reno Rodeo station.
“Wilt was very upset,” Adams continued, “demanding to know
whose idea it was to put an animal rights activist on the air. Since
Schoenholtz had just cancelled and I wanted to have both sides, I
told him that I wouldn’t put Hindi on the air, and he hung up.

Spring 2004 state legislation

June 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco on June 3 signed a bill
banning so-called hog/dog rodeo, in which dogs attack penned pigs,
to take effect on August 15, but efforts to ban cockfighting failed
to clear the state house agriculture committee. Louisiana and New
Mexico are the last two states to allow cockfighting.
Vermont Governor James Douglas and Tennessee Governor Phil
Bredesen have signed 2004 bills creating felony penalties for cruelty.
The Tennessee bill, however, only allows a felony penalty
for a second offense, exempts animals who are injured while being
“trained,” and exempts animals who are being used for work or
hunting. Further, the cost of jailing convicted offenders is to be
taken from the Tennessee pet overpopulation fund, raised by license
plate sales. Jailing just a few offenders could drain the fund. The
original purpose of the Tennessee bill, retained in the final
version, was to require peace officers who may encounter dangerous
dogs to be trained about dog behavior.
The Alaska legislature passed a felony cruelty bill on May 9,
but it had not been signed by Governor Frank Murkowski. as of June 23
The Humane Society of the U.S. reported on June 15 that more
than 90% of animal cruelty prosecutions involve neglect. Seven
neglect cases were prosecuted as felonies in 2002; 23 in 2003, only
seven of which brought convictions; and eight in 2004 through May 1.

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