HERPETOLOGY

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

Letters endorsing the addition of
alligator snapping turtles, American softshell
turtles, map turtles, timber rattlesnakes,
eastern diamondback rattlesnakes,
and sailfin lizards to the list of
animals protected under Appendix II of the
Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species, and supporting the
move of gila monsters and beaded lizards
from Appendix II to Appendix I, must by
October 11 be received by the Chief, Office
of Scientific Authority, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive,
Room 750, Arlington, VA 22203; fax 703-
358-2276. All three turtle species and both
snake species are jeopardized by export to
Asian meat and traditional medicine markets.
Recorded exports of map turtles, for instance,

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Recreational animal-killing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

Six percent of all Ohio
traffic accidents, 1989-1994, were
deer/car collisons. The Ohio
Division of Wildlife says the deer/
car crash peaks reflect “increased
deer movement associated with
breeding.” Fifty-two percent of all
deer/car crashes came in October,
November, and December, coinciding
with the hunting season; 25%
occurred in November alone, the
peak month for hunting. The peak
hours for deer/car accidents were 5
a.m. to 7 a.m., when the most
hunters were in the woods, and as
many deer were hit then as in the
seven hours from 5 p.m. to midnight.
At least 33 states are
holding special youth hunts this
f a l l. In New Jersey, the National
Rifle Association and Friends of the
NRA will stock seven wildlife areas
with pheasants on November 2 for
its second annual Take A Kid
Hunting Day. Arkansas is offering
hunting opportunities for six-yearolds.
Pennsylvania is holding a twoday
squirrel hunt on October 12 and
14––targeting squirrels, a spokesperson
said, because “they are easy
to find” and “not impossible to hit.”

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AGRICULTURE

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

A USDA proposal to allow schools
to substitute yogurt for meat in federally
subsidized lunches has the meat industry howling.
Other permitted meat substitutes include
cheese, beans, eggs, and peanut butter.
“The USDA should be promoting meat, not
pushing it under the counter,” said Senator
Larry Pressler (D-S.D.)
The 1996 edition of the American
Cancer Society’s dietary guidelines,
released September 17, recommend choosing
“most of the foods you eat from plant
sources,” and limiting “intake of high-fat
foods, particularly from animal sources.

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IFAW ups the ante: Election contribution could change animal protection politics

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

LONDON––Challenging blood sports pound-for-pound and upping the ante, International Fund for
Animal Welfare founder and president Brian Davies donated one million pounds sterling to the British Labour Party
on September 1 via the Political Animal Lobby, an officially independent organization equivalent to U.S. political
action committees, claiming 50,000 active supporters.
Davies said he made the gift because the Labour Party has declared that if it wins the upcoming
Parliamentary election, it will permit a free vote in the House of Commons on a bill to ban hunting with
hounds––which in Britain means fox hunting.
“After careful analysis of response and positions,” Davies
stated, “it was determined that Labour, at the moment, offers the best
across-the-board deal for animals. Naturally we would consider a similar
donation to the Conservative Party if it adopted an equally robust
position.”

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Greyhound racing goes to the dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

Opened in November 1995, the
Shoreline Star greyhound track i n
Bridgeport, Connecticut filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy on July 16, six days after owner
A. Robert Zeff asked a federal judge to rule
that audio tapes were illegally seized in a
June 25 police raid on his Westport home. A
state police task force is reportedly probing
allegations that Zeff bribed former Connecticut
gaming policy board chair Francis Muska
and possibly other officials, seeking to avoid
questions about his financing. Zeff was
charged on June 27 with destroying evidence
and interfering with the search.

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No case in Texas probe of wild horse program

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

SAN ANTONIO––The Del Rio,
Texas grand jury probe of alleged illegal sales
of wild horses to slaughter has apparently
ended without issuing criminal charges.
Acting on the advice of Charles
Brooks, trial attorney for the Environment and
Natural Resources Division of the Department
of Justice, U.S. attorney James William Blagg
and John E. Murphy, first assistant U.S. attorney,
criminal division, on July 5 recommended
to the Department of the Interior that “the
investigation within the Western District of
Texas into the incident involving Don
Galloway and the 36 horses placed on a ranch
in Terrell County, Texas should be closed.”

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Liability-and-animal care rulings

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

MADISON, Wisconsin––In a ruling
of import to shelter staff, the Wisconsin
Supreme Court by 4-3 decision on June 27
reversed a Milwaukee County Circuit Court
jury award of $81,445 to part-time worker
Cheryl Armstrong, of Thistlerose Kennels in
Greendale, who was bitten by a Siberian
husky belonging to John and Ann Mack in
January 1991. Armstrong sued the Macks
and Milwaukee Mutual Insurance. Writing
for the majority, Justice Janine Geske argued
that Wisconsin law defines a dog owner as
anyone who owns, harbors, or keeps a dog.
In boarding the Macks’ dog, Thistlerose
became the dog’s owner for legal purposes;
Armstrong became the owner’s agent.
The ownership statute “is rendered
meaningless,” said Geske, “if one who in the
course of employment exercises control over
and provides care for a dog is not found to be
that dog’s keeper.”

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Humane enforcement

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

The Coulston Foundation announ-
ced June 20 that it will pay the USDA a civil
penalty of $20,000 and make $20,000 in
improvements to the Primate Biomedial
Research Center Laboratory, which it manages
at Holloman Air Force Base in New
Mexico, to settle charges resulting from the
1993 overheating deaths of three chimpanzees.
Arnim John Kudinow of Lake
Oswego, Oregon, in June drew 112 years in
prison for ramming a police car with his pickup,
throwing a knife at police, and killing a
Dutch Malinois police dog named Ronnie with
a septic bite to the nose––for which Kudinow
also was ordered to pay $595 and serve two
years on probation if he ever gets out.

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DeCoster fined $3.6 million for abuse of workers

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

BOSTON––U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich
announced on July 12 that DeCoster Egg Farm, of Turner,
Maine, has been fined $3.6 million for multiple alleged violations
of wage and hour standards, safety codes, housing codes,
and workers’ rights, some of them allegedly ongoing for 30
years. Related criminal charges may follow. DeCoster is
expected to appeal, having repeatedly won reductions of lesser
fines imposed by various agencies and courts.
Most of the 325 DeCoster employees, many of them
Hispanic or Vietnamese immigrants, are densely housed in
run-down trailers on site. In January 1995, the Maine Supreme
Judicial Court ruled that DeCoster violated their civil rights by
excluding visitors, including social workers and legal advisors.
DeCoster Egg Farm, with 1995 sales of $40 million,
is solely owned by lifelong Turner resident Austin J. DeCoster.

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