A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:
LONDON, SEATTLE–Growing almost unnoticed amid the buzz of the Internet, Worldwide Web, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, the electronic information management industry appears to have eclipsed the annual income of animal charities worldwide even before most pro-animal campaign strategists knew what it was. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:
LONDON–The United Kingdom appears to be poised to join a growing number of nations which have banned wild animals from circuses.
Defying Prime Minister David Cameron, the U.K. House of Commons on June 23, 2011 unanimously endorsed a resolution stating that “This House directs the Government to use its powers under Section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce a regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses, to take effect by 1 July 2012.” Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:
DEN HAAG–A bill to require that all animals who are
slaughtered for human consumption must be stunned before they are
killed was on June 28, 2011 approved 116-30 by the lower house of
the Dutch Parliament and passed to the Dutch senate.
The senate is not expected to act upon the bill before fall.
The bill in effect bans traditional kosher and halal slaughter.
Though some Judaic and Islamic religious authorities conditionally
allow pre-stunning, most hold that pre-stunning is a violation of
the requirements of Mosaic and Islamic religious law that animals be
conscious when their throats are swiftly cut with a sharp blade.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
DUBLIN–Irish racing greyhounds will not soon be exported to
China, Irish agriculture minister Shane McEntee told the Dail [Irish
parliament] on May 3, 2011, but the announcement did not end the
efforts of greyhound racing opponents to deter Irish investment in
trying to develop a Chinese greyhound racing industry.
McEntee, a member of the Fine Gael majority, responded to a
question asked from the Dail floor by Labour Party member Joe
Costello. Asking if McEntee would allow the export of greyhounds to
China, Costello noted that China “has no animal welfare legislation
and no regulation, supervision or mechanism for protecting such
animals. There is no ban on killing dogs there,” Costello
emphasized, “and we are all aware that some dogs are eaten.
Obviously there is considerable scope for abuse.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
VIENNA–Austrian federal judge Sonja Arleth on May 2, 2011
dismissed all charges against Association Against Animal Factories
(VGT) founder Martin Balluch and co-defendants, just three weeks
short of three years after Balluch and 11 others representing seven
animal advocacy organizations were arrested in dawn raids on at least
two dozen homes and offices on May 21, 2008.
Three of the arrestees were released without charges soon
afterward. Balluch and nine others were released on bail 104 days
later, charged with alleged involvement in a variety of “direct
action” offenses that occurred between 2002 and 2007.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
BOTOSANI, Romania–A May 10, 2011 dog massacre that shocked
Romania was undertaken as a political trial balloon, Bucharest
veterinarian Liviu Gaita alleged to news media.
The killing occurred in Botosani, a small city in the
extreme northeastern corner of Romania, about six hours’ drive from
Bucharest. Volunteers who fed the dogs at the Botosani city pound
arrived on the morning of May 10 to find that more than 230 dogs had
already been killed by muncipal workers, purportedly by order of
mayor Catalin Mugurel Flutur. The killing was still underway, said
to be necessitated by a disease outbreak that the volunteers were
unaware of. “The volunteers called the TV stations and the police
but nothing happened,” said an anonymous message distributed within
minutes via Facebook. “They were in shock and tried to get out of
the shelter the last few puppies that were alive. They were
assaulted and offended by the guards.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
STRASBOURG, WASHINGTON D.C.–Updated European Union and U.S.
truth-in-fur-labeling legislation will be in effect by the start of
the 2011-2012 “fur season.”
Beginning the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, called “Fur-Free
Friday” by anti-fur protesters, and ending at Valentine’s Day, the
“fur season” annually accounts for two-thirds or more of all retail
fur garment sales.
The new European Union regulation requires that clothing makers
must include the phrase “contains non-textile parts of animal origin”
in labeling any garment containing fur, leather, feathers, or any
other material of animal origin.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
KYIV, Ukraine–The Kyiv Prosec-utor’s Office on May 3, 2011
announced that it had opened a criminal case against former Kyiv Zoo
director Svitlana Berzina, who now heads the city dog licensing
bureau. “Berzina is suspected of embezzling some $47,000 from the
zoo by commissioning projects that weren’t fully carried out, if at
all,” reported Associated Press.
“Berzina was fired last year,” Associated Press recalled,
“after nearly one-half of the zoo’s animals either died or
disappeared. Rights groups claimed the deaths were caused by
mistreatment, with rare animals illegally sold to private
collectors.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
LONDON–Tiny, a seven-month-old western gorilla, the first
gorilla born at the London Zoo since 1988, suffered a broken arm and
died of apparent internal injuries on May 12, 2011 in an attack by
the recently acquired silverback male Kesho. Tiny and his mother
Mjukuu had just been introduced to Kesho for the second time.
“Kesho’s arrival was recommended by experts to create a
cohesive social group, after the death of the zoo’s previous male
gorilla,” reported BBC News. “In the wild male gorillas often
attack the offspring of their rivals, so staff were cautious about
introducing Kesho to the baby, who was the offspring of the former
male. Kesho had been introduced to the two other female gorillas at
the zoo, but keepers waited many months for an introduction to the
youngster and his mother.”