Estrogen therapy fills horsemeat slaughterhouses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

BRANDON, Manitoba––Two new reports from
the Canadian Farm Animal Care Trust affirm that the fast-
growing estrogen drug market is driving the equally fast
expanding Canadian horsemeat export trade––as ANIMAL
PEOPLE reported in April, based in part on earlier CAN-
FACT publications.
The Manitoba Animal Rights Coalition is asking
other animal protection groups to join it in an international
campaign to publicize the source of the increasingly popular
“natural” estrogen replacement drug Premarine: PMU, the
urine of catheterized pregnant mares, who are kept standing
in barns from September to April of each year. This is the
peak period for equine estrogen yield, coming in the fourth
through tenth months of the mares’ 11-month gestation
cycle. Draft breeds are preferred because of their placid
nature and greater capacity for producing urine.

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Habitat

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Eighty percent of the remaining old growth
forest in the Pacific Northwest would be protected from
logging under a plan to protect endangered spotted owls
and salmon runs unveiled July 2 by President Bill Clinton
in response to rulings by Federal District Judge William
Dwyer of Seattle that have restricted logging for nearly
three years. During the halt, the logging workforce has
declined from 145,000 to 125,000. The protected zones
would run along watersheds. Loggers would be allowed
to cut about 1.2 billion board feet of old growth per year
in less sensitive areas, down from five billion board feet
in the mid-1980s. While most of the plan does not
require Congressional approval, it must be ratified by
Dwyer before any old growth logging on the land covered
by his decisions can resume. Dwyer’s decision, based on
the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, is due in
mid-July. The Clinton plan, drafted with heavy input
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, drew immediate
flak from House Speaker Thomas Foley, who indicated
he might cross party lines in an attempt to gut the ESA
when it comes up later this year for renewal.

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FUR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Someone used rat poison in late
April to kill more than 17,000 mink at
the Sakhalin Fur Industrial Association fur
farm on Sakhalin Island in the former
Soviet Union. The fur farm claimed a loss
of $2.8 million, although at current world
pelt prices the actual loss was probably
closer to $400,000. Possible suspects
include rival fur entrepreneurs trying to
boost prices for their own pelts by creating
a shortage and simultaneously wiping out a
rival; someone in management attempting
to cash in on the limited insurance cover-
age; and/or disgruntled employees.

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COURT CALENDAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Dog Crimes
The Cuyahoga County, Ohio
grand jury on April 23 indicted Jeffrey
Mann, 36, for murder, alleging that he
ordered his pit bull terrier to fatally maul his
common-law wife, Angela Kaplan, 28, on
September 2, 1992. The indictment came
as result of an eight-month probe by
Cleveland homicide detective Michaelene
Taliano, and extensive observation of the
dog’s nature by animal behaviorist Karen
Arnoff. Taliano suspected the attack was a
murder, not an accident, because the dog
bit Kaplan more than 100 times, but never
around the neck and throat, the usual sites
of fatal bite wounds. Mann pleaded inno-
cent and was freed on $25,000 bail.

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Diet & Health

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The USDA on May 5 announced
that it will begin requiring labels on raw
meat and poultry to include cooking and
handling instructions, explaining how to
prevent health hazards such as the growth of
E:coli bacteria, which in January and
December killed four children who had just
eaten undercooked hamburgers. The label-
ing rules are to be formally proposed by
August 15. The new requirement comes in
settlement of a lawsuit brought by Beyond
Beef and the parents of one of the January
victims. U.S. trade representative Mickey
Kantor meanwhile denied in a series of press
releases and public statements that such
strengthened food labeling laws could be
overturned under that General Agreement on
Trade and Tariffs and/or the North American
Free Trade Agreement, as alleged obstacles
to international commerce. Last year, the
two agreements were invoked to overturn the
use of U.S. dolphin protection legislation to
exclude imports of tuna netted “on dolphin,”
at considerable cost in dolphin lives.

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Agriculture

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The Food and Drug Admini-
stration held hearings May 6-7 on whether
to approve the sale of milk produced with
the aid of the genetically engineered hor-
mone bovine somatotropin (BST), and if
sale is approved, whether the milk should
be specially labeled. Four chemical
firms––Upjohn, Monsanto, American
Cyanamid, and Eli Lilly––have reportedly
spent $500 million to develop and introduce
BST, which boosts milk production per cow
by up to 20%. BST is opposed by con-
sumer groups concerned about the possible
effects of the drug on human health, which
may include altering the growth rate of
bone and liver cells; animal protection
groups worried that BST may increase the
stress on cows; and dairy farmers anxious
that many of them could be put out of busi-
ness, since BST enables fewer cows to pro-
duce more milk, which is already in over-
supply. The same debate is underway in
Canada, where a multi-department review
of the possible effects of BST is to be com-
pleted later this year.

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Horses and Cattle

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-New York) have reintroduced the Downed Animal Protection Act, as S. 367 and H.R. 559, which would require stockyards to promptly euthanize sick and injured animals. Support for the measure may be addressed to Senators and Congressional Representatives.
The American Horse Protection Association’s sixth annual training seminar for equine cruelty investiga-
tors will be held May 20-21 at College Park, Maryland. Get details from Ellen Foysyth, 202-965-0500.
Norma Bearcroft, president of the Canadian Wild Horse Society, has asked members to approve a resolution to disband the struggling group by year’s end.

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Diet & Health

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

The Burger King franchise at
Watkins Glen, New York, in February qui-
etly introduced the spicy bean burger sold
by British Burger King outlets. Priced at
$2.29, the vegetarian burger is made from
kidney beans, carrots, onions, potato
flakes, and peppers, breaded and deep
fried, served on a bun with catsup, cheese
(optional), and tomato. Associated Press
quoted the manager as saying six weeks
later, “The demand is unbelievable. People
are coming from all over. There’s not a seat
in the restaurant. They say there are 12 mil-
lion vegetarians in the U.S. If we can kick
into that market, it’s well worth our while.”
According to AP, the spicy bean burger
will be introduced nationally if it remains
popular in Watkins Glen through the end of
the summer.

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BOOKS: The Newfoundland Pony

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

The Newfoundland Pony, by
Andrew F. Fraser. Creative
Publishers (St. John’s, Newfoundland,
Canada), 1992. 213 pages. $14.95.
The Newfoundland pony is on the
cusp of extinction, no match for progress in
the form of tractors and snowmobiles.
Numbers of Newfoundland ponies have
dwindled from more than 10,000 in 1976 to
barely 400, as the greater part of its popu-
lation has been sacrified to the insatiable
Moloch of the slaughter trade––in particu-
lar, to the killing plants of Quebec, which
supply the French appetite for horseflesh.

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