India reaffirms support of Animal Birth Control program

October 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
NEW DELHI, ISTANBUL, BUCHAREST,
BELGRADE–The historic progress of compassionate
teachings about animals from east to west
appeared evident yet again in September 2006
rabies and street dog population control
developments.
India in September 2006 reaffirmed
neuter/return and vaccination as the official
national anti-rabies strategy.
Turkey was embarrassed by exposés of
inadequate supervision of a similar policy,
brought into effect by law in June 2005.
Several Romanian local governments,
including in the capital city of Bucharest,
appeared to be either ignoring or trying to roll
back animal control holding requirements, to
expedite killing.

Streaking Pamplona

September 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:

PAMPLONA, Spain– “More than 1,000” nude or semi-nude
protesters, according to PETA, “several hundred” according to
Associated Press, on July 5, 2006 streaked the 825-meter route of
the “Running of the Bulls” that has preceded the nine-day Festival of
San Fermin bullfighting orgy for more than 500 years.
The PETA-sponsored “Running of the Nudes” debuted in 2003,
held each year one day before the official San Fermin events begin.
The 2005 edition attracted 700 participants, Associated Press said.
The Pamplona bull run and similar events in which often
inebriated runners try to stay ahead of panicked bovines appear to be
more popular than ever, worldwide, but bullfighting itself is in
general decline, especially in Spain.

League Against Cruel Sports wins first Hunting Act foxhunting conviction

September 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:

DEVON, U.K.–The League Against Cruel
Sports on August 3, 2006 won the first
conviction for fox hunting under the Hunting Act
of 2004, which banned fox hunting throughout
England and Wales. Barnstaple Magistrates’ Court
District Judge Paul Palmer fined Exmoor Foxhounds
huntsman Tony Wright, 52, £500 plus prosecution
costs of £250 after an intensely publicized
week-long hearing. Wright allegedly hunted a fox
with dogs on April 29, 2004.
“The League brought the case at a total
cost of more than £100,000 after Avon and
Somerset Police declined to take the case,”
reported BBC News.

Another OBE for animal welfare work

September 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:

Alan Knight, chief executive of International Animal
Rescue and chair of British Divers Marine Life Rescue, is the third
animal advocate to receive the Order of the British Empire in 2006,
following Daphne Sheldrick, founder of the David Sheldrick Wildlife
Trust elephant and rhino orphanage in Kenya, and Stella Brewer
Marsden, founder of the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Association
sanctuary in Gambia.
Earlier recipients include Care For The Wild founder Bill
Jordan, now heading the Bill Jordan Wildlife Defence Fund (2005);
Dogs Trust chair Clarissa Baldwin (2003); and Animals Asia
Foundation founder Jill Robinson (1998).

Progress against docking dogs

July 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2006:

EDINBURG, JOHANNESBURG–The Scottish Parliament on May 31,
2006 approved inclusion of a ban on tail-docking dogs in a pending
Animal Health & Welfare omnibus bill, while leaving open the
possibility of exempting working dogs. The Scottish language
parallels language approved by the British Parliament in March 2006,
as part of a general update of anti-cruelty legislation. Similar
language was introduced in 2005 but not put to a vote in New Zealand.
The South African Veterinary Association ruled meanwhile that
vets who dock dogs’ tails after June 2007 may be charged with
“unprofessional, improper or disgraceful conduct.”
Australia banned tail-docking dogs except for medical reasons
in 2004. Tail-docking dogs was already prohibited in Sweden,
Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, and Denmark. Nations
including Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Luxembourg, and Switzerland
have ratified the Convention on the Protection of Pet Animals
proposed in 1987 by the Council of Europe, which includes a
tail-docking ban, but have not adopted anti-docking legislation of
their own.

Fate of U.K. ex-racing greyhounds exposed

July 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2006:

LONDON–The London Sunday Times on July 16, 2006 exposed the
fate of as many as 10,000 ex-racing greyhounds over the past 15
years. Reporter Daniel Foggo and a photographer documented building
supply dealer David Smith in the act of shooting greyhounds, whom
Smith buried on his property near Seaham in Durham. Smith took over
the business of killing “slow” greyhounds from his father, Foggo
wrote.
About 75% of the racing dogs in Britain are bred and trained
in Ireland, Foggo reported. About 10,000 racing dogs per year are
“retired” and replaced, but the National Greyhound Racing Club can
account for about 3,000 “retired” dogs per year.

Coping with elephant moods

July 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2006:

The debate over whether elephants can be kept safely and
humanely spread to China after a sick elephant named Qing Qing on
June 8, 2006 used his trunk to smash the head of 15-month Shanghai
Wild Animal Zoo attendant Li Guohoa, as Guohoa, 43, prepared to
clean the elephant’s food basin.
But zoos continue to believe they can somehow find ways to
resolve the many problems associated with elephant-keeping.
An elephant named Patna died from cancer in early May 2006 at
the Zagreb Zoo, in the capital city of Croatia. The keepers feared
they would lose Patna’s longtime companion Suma, too.
“Suma was refusing to eat, became uncommunicative, and
showed all the signs of a serious depression,” Zagreb Zoo director
Mladen Anic told Agence France-Presse.
Suma in early June blew stones through her trunk at five
musicians who came to the zoo to play classical music. “But as soon
as the concert started,” Anic recalled, “Suma leaned against the
fence, closed her eyes and listened without moving” through
compositions by Mozart, Vivaldi and Schubert. This inspired Anic
and staff to begin daily music therapy sessions.
“We are so glad that we can provide things that Suma really
enjoys,” Anic said.

Europe

Israeli foie gras ban now is in force

July 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2006:

JERUSALEM–“Foie gras production has ended in Israel,”
Israeli activist Adela Gertner affirmed on July 13, 2006.
“Suspected delinquents are being investigated. Otherwise, producers
are obeying the law.”
ANIMAL PEOPLE had asked Gertner to find out if Israeli foie
gras producers were at last complying with court rulings against
force-feeding. Most recently, the Israeli High Court of Justice
ruled on February 22, 2006 that force-feeding geese was to end by
April 15, 2006, “while expressing harsh criticism against the
state for not enforcing” an earlier ruling that force-feeding was to
have ended in March 2005, attorney Keren Klar told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
Klar represented Let the Animals Live and Anonymous for Animal Rights.

Roaster ducks go without water

July 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2006:

LONDON–Cruel as the foie gras industry
is, ducks on French foie gras farms live under
more natural conditions than most ducks raised
for meat.
“Farmed ducks endure worse conditions
than battery hens,” bannered The Independent,
of London, above a July 6 exposé of the roaster
duck industry by Sanjida O’Connell.
Both wild and domestic ducks who are
given their choice of habitat spend about 80% of
their time in water, but “Most of the 18 million
ducks reared for meat in Britain have no access
to water,” O’Connell reported. The same is true
of most of the 26 million ducks raised for
slaughter in the U.S., and actually of most
ducks raised for slaughter almost everywhere
except southern Asia-where governments are trying
to abolish rice paddy duck-rearing to stop the
spread of avian flus.

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