Board-level hunter influence and allegations of mismanagement afflict the 143-year-old Cork SPCA

November 1, 2013 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

CORK, Ireland––The Cork SPCA, one of the oldest in
Ireland, has thanked the pro-hunting Irish Working Terrier Federation
for an August 2013 donation of dog food, and apologized to the
federation for deleting a public thanks on Facebook.
“Unfortunately the post thanking the federation had to be
withdrawn after concerted pressure from a vocal ‘Anti’ minority (the
Irish Taliban),” recounted the Irish Working Terrier Federation web
page.

Natural England revokes permit for badger cull

November 1, 2013 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

LONDON––The British wildlife agency Natural England on
November 29, 2013 revoked a license granted to the Department of
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to cull 70% of the badgers in two
areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset, to see if the culling might help
to reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis.
Badgers as well as cattle are susceptible to bovine TB, and
have long been blamed by farmers for failed efforts to eradicate the
disease from British herds.

Public moral concerns warrant EU seal product import ban, rules WTO

November 1, 2013 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

BRUSSELS––The World Trade Organization on November 25, 2013
upheld most of the 2009 European Union ban on the import of seal
products, overturning the ban only when applied to “seal products
derived from hunts conducted by Inuit or indigenous communities and
hunts conducted for marine resource management purposes.”
The WTO ruling allows governments permitting seal hunts the
opportunity to redefine commercially motivated massacres as “marine
resource management,” but those governments would then have to
demonstrate a need for such management that would be persuasive to
international regulators.

EU labs using fewer animals

November 1, 2013 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

BRUSSELS, LONDON–– The European Coalition to End Animal
Experiments on December 12, 2013 “cautiously welcomed a decrease of
4.3% in the number of animal experiments carried out across the European
Union,” representing 519,501 fewer animals used than in 2008, when
EU data was last published.
But the coalition attributed the drop to the “economic
climate, as none of the EU member countries have a committed strategy
for reduction in place.”

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds culls goats at Loch Lomond

November 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

DUMBARTON, Scotland––Less than two days after representatives of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds pledged to Scotland for Animals that they would fully investigate the possible alternatives to culling 40 feral goats at Inversnaid, on the banks of Loch Lomond, RSPB conservation planning officer Anne McCall announced that the killing “has ended as we have reached the target of 20 culled goats for this year.” Read more

Bullfighting fails to draw crowds in Mississippi––and Spain & France

November 1, 2013 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2013:

JACKSON, Mississippi––“A small crowd” attended a
heavily promoted December 7, 2013 attempt to introduce Portuguese-style
bullfighting to the U.S., understated Roslyn Anderson of Mississippi
News Now.
` “Based on the amount of cars at the event, we think there
were probably only 100 attendees,” said Shelby Parsons, one of 10
protesters who stood vigil outside the 2,500-seat Kirk Fordice Equine
Center. More than 8,000 people signed an online petition posted by
Kimberly Spiegel of Oxford, Mississippi in opposition to the so-called
“bloodless bullfight.”

BOOKS— Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History

October 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2013: (Actually published on November 20, 2013.)

Wolves in Ireland: A Natural and Cultural History by Kieran Hickey Four Courts Press (7 Malpas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland); in U.S. c/o ISBS, 920 NE 58th Ave., Suite 300, Portland, OR 97213), 2011. 155 pages, hardcover. $45.00.

National University of Ireland geography lecturer Kieran Hickey in Wolves in Ireland assembles apparently every extant scrap of information available in ancient manuscripts and public records to make a case that wolves had a formative role in shaping Irish culture. Read more

Ethicist addresses making euthanasia decisions in a no-kill context

October 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2013: (Actually published on November 20, 2013.)

BARCELONA–– Among the more unusual and useful offerings at the 2013 International Companion Animal Welfare Conference was a session entitled “Ethical decision making,” presented by Dorothy E.F. McKeegan, British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow. Read more

What do horses & donkeys tell us about dogs in Romania?

October 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2013: (Actually published on November 20, 2013.)

By Merritt Clifton

Two days after Dutch animal advocate and rescuer Nathalie Klinge addressed the ICAWC conference in Barcelona about her observations of dog population control in Romania, I tested her findings by doing 1,500 kilometers of dog-censusing in Romania myself. Read more

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