T-61 debate resurfaces in Serbia

July 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
BELGRADE, NOVI SAD–Mid-summer 2007 festivals in Belgrade
and Novi Sad, Serbia, became pretexts for street dog pogroms,
reported journalists and animal advocates Jelena Zaric and Jelena
Tinska.
Zaric, a frequent source for ANIMAL PEOPLE in recent years,
forwarded coverage from a variety of media of dog captures in
advance of the Youth Olympics in Belgrade. City veterinarian
Milivoje Lazic acknowledged killing dogs with the parlaytic drug
T-61, and claimed that the killing method was approved by the World
Society for the Protection of Animals.
Tinska, an actress, talk show host, author, and reporter
who may be the most prominent vegetarian in Serbia, alleged that
the 2007 Novi Sad music festival will put mayor Maja Gojkovic into
history as “the biggest animal killer” in the history of the city.

Animal control reform in Kyiv

July 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
KYIV–Kyiv mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi on July 4, 2007
announced at a public hearing that was broadcast on live television
that he had fired city animal control director Myron Kuchynskyi for
cruelty to animals and multiple counts of veterinary and financial
misconduct.
“This announcement was wildly applauded by those
present–300-plus persons,” SOS Ukraine founder and television
journalist Tamara Tarnavska told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
“The number of telephone calls to the TV station and ratings
of the program were overwhelming,” Tarnavska continued.
Encouraged by the response, Chernovetskyi and vice mayor
Irena Kilchytska at a second public hearing held on July 11, also
broadcast live, endorsed a mass animal sterilization program,
adding a sterilization clinic to the municipal shelter in Borodianka,
and opening a shelter with 30 to 50 kennels in every district of the
city.

Fire hits Dubrovnik shelter

July 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
DUBROVNIK–Rescuers evacuated 200 dogs from the Drustvo Za
Zastitu Zivotinja dog shelter just ahead of one of the worst of the
midsummer 2007 forest fires that ravaged the Croatian/Serbian border
region.
The shelter occupies a fort dating to Napoleonic times, used
by Serbians who shelled the walled city of Dubrovnik in 1991-1992,
killing about 250 residents. Little changed since the 13th century,
Dubrovnik is a United Nations-designated World Heritage landmark.
“The fire damaged parts of the shelter, but no animals were
injured,” reported Vier Pfoten founder Helmut Dungler on August 8.
Based in Vienna, Austria, Vier Pfoten has helped Drustvo Za Zastitu
Zivotinja to sterilize dogs, and also aids a Dubrovnik feral cat
project.

RSPCA changes guard

July 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

Jackie Ballard, the former Member of Parliament who has
headed the Royal SPCA of Great Britain since 2002, will on October
22, 2007 become chief executive of the Royal National Institute for
the Deaf, RNID announced on July 30, 2007. The RSPCA reportedly
will not begin seeking her successor until after she has left.

32 British activists held after May 1 raids

June 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LONDON–More than 700 police officers on
May 1, 2007 raided 29 addresses in 12 British
counties, two addresses in The Netherlands, and
one in Belgium, detaining 15 men and 17
women–all in Britain–on suspicion of
involvement in arsons and vandalism committed in
the name of animal rights.
The dawn raids reportedly seized £100,000
in cash, numerous mobile telephones, computer
equipment, and documents.
The most prominent address raided was the
25-year-old Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre in
Merseyside. Freshfields manager Dave Callender,
47, in March 1996 was sentenced to serve 10
years in prison for conspiring to commit arson.
“A jury at Birmingham crown court heard
he had enough material to make more than 100
incendiary devices,” wrote Guardian crime
correspondent Sandra Laville. “The prosecution
alleged that he was planning a ‘campaign directed
at targets which included cattle farms,
slaughterhouses, meat traders, egg production
farms, and also societies connected with hunting
and other field sports.’

Attempt to legally adopt chimp goes to appeal

June 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
VIENNA–Austrian judge Barbara Bart on April 24, 2007
rejected the request of British teacher Paula Stibbe, 38, a
longtime resident of Vienna, that she be allowed to legally adopt
Hiasl, 26, a male chimpanzee, whom she has visited weekly at a now
bankrupt sanctuary since 1999. Stibbe immediately appealed the
verdict.
Stibbe petitioned to adopt Hiasl, she said, out of concern
that he might be sold to a laboratory outside of Austria. Bart ruled
that the adoption could not proceed because Hiasl is neither a
mentally impaired human nor in a crisis situation requiring emergency
intervention.

ENPA gets ex-Mafia farm

June 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
ROME–Fourteen years after the late American SPCA president
Roger Caras issued a tongue-in-cheek appeal to Mafioso to leave their
estates to animal welfare, the Italian national animal charity ENPA
has received one–in a manner of speaking. Confiscated from the
Sicilian Mafia, the small farm near Palermo was judicially awarded
to ENPA for use in teaching humane and moral education. The farm
will produce honey, beeswax, and natural silk by methods that do
not harm the insects.

Bullfighters seek cultural shield

June 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LISBON– The Spanish-based
pro-bullfighting Platform for the Defence of the
Fiesta Nacional debuted just in time to give a
publicity boost to the International
Anti-Bullfighting Summit held in Lisbon,
Portugal, three weeks later.
PDFN director Luis Corrales in late April
2007 introduced half a dozen artists, actors,
and other celebrities who pledged support for his
petition to the United Nations Educational &
Scientific Organization seeking World Heritage
status for bullfighting.
UNESCO recognition, if conferred, would
amount to an internationally influential
declaration that bullfighting is an art form of
global significance.
Corrales claimed to have 1,300 Spanish
signees on a petition favoring bullfighting. He
told Barcelona correspondent for The Independent
newspaper group Graham Keeley that he hopes to
attract 5,000 signees by year’s end.

Israel bans cosmetic & cleaning product testing on animals; EU advisory body approves alternatives

June 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
JERUSALEM–The Knesset on May 21, 2007 voted 29-0 with two
abstentions to approve on third and final reading a law prohibiting
animal testing of cosmetic and cleaning products.
Taking effect immediately on passage, the law “frees the
2,000-3,000 animals in Israel who are currently used to test cosmetic
and cleaning products,” said the Jerusalem Post. However, the law
allows continued laboratory use of animals in developing medicinal
products and health care procedures.
Bill author Gideon Sa’ar of the Likud Party told the Knesset
that he intrduced it at request of his 16-year-old daughter, Daniella.
“On the basis of what Daniella saw and learned,” Sa’ar said,
“she convinced me that this bill needed to be passed. I am very
proud of this new generation, who want a more humane society.”

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