Zoos & Aquariums

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

The World Society for the Protection of Animals recently liberated Flipper, the

last captive dolphin in Brazil, near where he was captured in 1982. Before the release,

Flipper was reaquainted with life in the ocean under the supervision of Ric O’Barry of the

Dolphin Project––who also trained his namesake, the star of the Flipper TV program. Brazil

banned keeping marine mammals in captivity in 1991. The Brazilian Flipper spent the past

two years in solitude at an abandoned amusement park near Sao Paulo, and was kept alive

by the local fire department, who used their pumper truck to change his water after the filtra-

tion system in his tank deteriorated beyond repair.

Colorado’s Ocean Journey, the proposed aquarium to be built in Denver,

recently tried to head off protest by claiming it would include “only third generation captive-

born dolphins.” Pointed out David Brower, president of Earth Island Institute, “There are

no third-generation captive-born dolphins anywhere.” The Coors Brewing Company recent-

ly retreated from the dolphin controversy. According to a prepared statement issued

February 15, “Contrary to rumors and recent advertisements, Coors does not ‘want to bring

dolphins to Denver.’ Our support of this project is not focused on, nor dependent on,

cetaceans.”

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Legislation In Support of

Animals has awarded the St. Tammany

Humane Society a “platinum” star for being

the top shelter in Lousiana three years in a

row. The Louisiana SPCA won LISA’s gold

star this year; Ouachita Animal Control of

West Monroe and the no-kill Morehouse

Humane Society each earned a silver star;

and Slidell Animal Control received a bronze

star. The award winners include both public

and private facilities, with some of the

biggest and smallest budgets in the state. A

golden heart award went to two anonymous

sheriff’s deputies who arrested a pair of men

they caught torturing a mouse by dunking her

repeatedly in a beer glass, and threw the

book at them. The black star for worst shel-

ter of the year went to the Leesville Animal

Shelter. “The shelter is actually clean and by

most appearances, well run,” LISA execu-

Marine Mammals

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

“EAT WHALES,” SAYS JAPAN

TOKYO, Japan –– The Japan Fisheries Agency and

25 Japanese fishing organizations on January 29 launched an

aggressive media campaign urging Japanese citizens to eat more

whale meat. The goal is to generate pressure on the International

Whaling Commission to rescind the six-year-old global ban on

whaling at its annual meeting in May, to be held in Kyoto.

The blitz includes radio and television spots touting

whale meat as a cure for asthma and acne, and distribution of

100,000 comic books depicting the history of the Japanese whal-

ing industry. The history is likely to be inaccurate: contrary to

the industry claim that whaling is part of Japanese cultural tradi-

tion, historian Fujiwara Eiji documented in 1989 that Japanese

commercial whaling actually began in 1909, when a man named

Oka Juro brought the concept and techniques from Norway. His

activity was so detested by traditional fishers that some of them

burned his facilities in 1911.

Religion & Animals

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Pope John Paul II was scheduled to

issue “A solemn appeal for animal welfare” on

eptember 30, from the Vatican. The appeal

will not have the force of ecclesiastic law, and

is expected to be quite conservative.

A San Francisco Board of

Supervisors subcommittee on August 18

approved an ordinance to ban animal sacrifice,

modeled after similar ordinances now in effect

in various Florida and southern California

cities. Supervisor Carole Migden introduced

the ordinance after the city Department of

Animal Care and Control reported having

found evidence of at least 1,000 animal sacri-

fices during the past year. The ordinance now

goes before the full Board of Supervisors for

enactment. Migden meanwhile withdrew a

proposed to ban the sale or ownership of wolf

hybrids, since so many are already in San

Francisco that enforcement might prove

impossible.

Hunting news

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Arizonans will vote November 3

on a referendum measure to ban

trapping, portrayed by the National Rifle

Assn. and National Trappers Assn. as an

attempt to ban all hunting and fishing as

well. The initiative is sponsored, however,

by Arizonans for Safety and Humanity on

Public Lands, whose initial board of direc-

tors included a hunter and a gun dealer. The

group declined funding from the Humane

Society of the U.S. to avoid confusing the

issues.

CHILDREN & ANIMALS

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* Representatives of about 50 animal

protection and child protectionorganiza-

tions met September 14 and 15 in Washington

D.C. under the auspices of the American

Humane Association to discuss common prob-

lems and opportunities to seek solutions

together. We were there; watch for a full

report in the November issue of ANIMAL

PEOPLE.

* “Until recently,” charges the current

edition of the newsletter Notes From The

Green World, “the image of the abandoned

Latin American child was of a ragged child

sleeping in a doorway. Today the image is of

a body, lacerated and dumped in a city slum,”

especially in Brazil, where death squads hired

by local merchants torture and exterminate

suspected thieves with perhaps more impunity

than if they shot stray dogs. Editor Walter

Miale cites extensive documentation of his

charges, including by Amnesty International.

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