Catch-22 and Canadian sealing

April 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1997:

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland––Atlantic Canadian
sealers are ready to smear the ice with the blood and brains of
285,000 harp and hooded seals, the biggest sealing quota in 15
years, unleashing the frustrations of yet another year idle
because they fished cod to commercial extinction, elected
politicians who let them do it, blamed seals for falling catches,
and remain representatives of the corner of Canada with the
least economic prospects, the lowest average level of education,
and the most alcoholic violence.

A “FINAL SOLUTION” IS PROPOSED FOR WHALES

April 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1997:

REYKJAVIK, Iceland––Apparently hoping to lure
Iceland back into the International Whaling Commission, IWC
secretary Ray Gambrell on March 1 in Reykjavik proposed a
“final solution” to the stalemate within IWC over permitting the
resumption of commercial whaling. So-called “traditional and
cultural” whaling would be permitted within the 200-mile
Economic Exploitation Zones that nations maintain over fisheries,
while high seas whaling would remain forbidden.
According to High North Web News, published by
the pro-whaling High North Alliance, “Gambrell explained that
his optimism was based on the closed and informal IWC commissioners
meeting in Grenada in January.”
Politically, the Gambrell “final solution” might work.
It would authorize the present unilateral Norwegian commercial
whale hunt, a similar hunt off Iceland, the coastal hunt Japan
seeks to revive, and all existing and proposed aboriginal hunts,
including those of the Makah off Washington and the Maori off
New Zealand. If high seas fishers killed some whales too, then
transferred the corpses to whalers inside the 200-mile limit
before heading to port, no one need know about it.

Recreational mayhem

April 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1997:

Zimbabwe environment
and tourist minister Chen
Chimuten-gwende said after discussions
on March 8 with French environment
minister Corrine Lepage
that France has eased its former
strong opposition to resumed traffic
in elephant products, and may favor
“controlled” trade in ivory and hunting
trophies in June, when
Zimbabwe hosts this year’s triennial
meeting of the Convention on
International Trade in Engangered
Species. French prime minister
Alain Juppe is an avid hunter.

FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE USES REFUGES AS PROP FOR FUR TRADE

April 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1997:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Any illusions that animal and
habitat defenders might have had that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is acting in good faith as regards trapping in National
Wildlife Refuges would appear to be shattered by a newly leaked
28-page memo issued to “All Refuge Managers” on January 28
by Stan Thompson, acting Division of Refuges chief.
The Thompson memo makes clear, in thinly veiled
language, that refuge managers are to back fur trade opposition
to the twice-delayed European Community ban on the import of
pelts from animals possibly caught by leghold trapping.
The memo further indicates that a Congressionally
mandated internal review of trapping within National Wildlife
Refuges is to be done in such a manner as to produce documents
of propaganda value in opposition to the EC ban.

Deer hunting kills birds

March 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment