Religion & animals

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

The first deed of the shortlived Hindu fundamentalist
government of India, inaugurated May 24 only to
resign five days later, was to introduce a bill to ban cow
slaughter. Killing cows is against the Hindu religion, practiced
by 750 million Indians, but 110 million Moslem citizens
eat beef. Paradoxically, though Moslems are only 14%
of the total Indian population of 930 million, 10% of all the
Moslems in the world live in India; only Pakistan has more.
The Shaolin Temple, in central Henan province,
C h i n a, on June 6 won a lawsuit against the Luohe Canned
Food Factory, which had used actors depicting the Buddhist
monks of Shaolin in a TV plug for ham. Devout vegetarians,
the Shaolin monks devised and still teach the martial art of
kung-fu to avoid using lethal weapons in self-defense.

Deer roundup

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

Urban deer problems spread to Manhattan for
the first time on June 1, when a two-year-old whitetailed
doe startled passengers exiting the 190th Street
subway station. The Center for Animal Care and
Control tranquilized her in nearby Port Tryon Park and
relocated her to the 150-acre Green Chimneys Farm
and Wildlife Center in suburban Brewster.
That approach wouldn’t be legal in
Cincinnati or Cleveland, according to an April directive
from the Ohio Department of Wildlife. Noting that
sport hunting is ineffective and impractical in populated
areas, the directive urges habitat modification to
discourage deer, and lethal culling when deer must be
removed. Any deer who is tranquilized must be killed.

Conflicts with wildlife

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

The fourth annual Dr. Splatt
roadkill survey, coordinated by
Brewster Bartlett of Pinkerton
Academy in Derry, New Hampshire,
found a marked decrease in roadkill
frequency, for the third year in a row,
but a sharp rise in roadkilled beavers
––especially in the Derry area. Forty
schools participated in the nine-week
roadkill count this year. The distribution
and participation level is sufficient
to produce credible roadkill estimates
for the northeast, with just
enough information from other
regions to make crude national projections
possible, which are nonetheless
the best supported by data of any
made to date. The northeast is
believed to have the greatest roadkill
frequency because it has the most
wildlife habitat in close proximity to
large human populations, with the
most heavily traveled roads and also
the most old, narrow, and winding
roads. The overall roadkill frequency
is probably down primarily because
the unusually long winter depressed
wildlife breeding populations, while
beaver kills were up, Bartlett
believes, in part because beavers had
a successful breeding season last year
in heavily surveyed parts of New
Hampshire where busy roads cut
through wetlands. Most of the dead
beavers in that area, Bartlett told
ANIMAL PEOPLE, appeared to be
young, apparently just setting out to
find their own territory.

Jumping on kangaroo verdict

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

CANBERRA––Australian environment
minister Robert Hill’s April 29 ruling
that koalas don’t qualify for endangered
species protection is under fire from both Sue
Arnold of Australians for Animals and
Deborah Tabart of the Australian Koala
Foundation.
Hill’s verdict was in keeping with
the Australian Endangered Species Scientific
Subcommittee finding that koalas “should not
be listed on Schedule 1 of the Endangered
Species Protection Act 1992. However,” the
ESSS stated, “while the koala is still relatively
abundant and widespread on a national
basis, and does not meet the criteria for
endangered or vulnerable at this time, it is
clearly declining in parts of its range, and
there is much scientific and public concern
about its conservation. Therefore the finalization
and implementation of a National
Koala Conservation Strategy is urgent.”

Flaws in the laws

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

Calls to reform Massachusetts
child neglect law rose on May 23 when Essex
County authorities filed cruelty charges against
Heidi Dreher, 25, of Hyannis, and Kenneth
Reader, 25, of Windham, New Hampshire,
for leaving a border collie locked in a hot car,
but were unable to charge them for leaving two
small children in the same vehicle. Police officer
Albert Inostroza did arrest them for possession
of crack cocaine. Reader was also
charged with assaulting Inostroza; Dreher was
additionally charged with disorderly conduct.
The children were turned over to the state
Department of Social Services, while the dog
was taken to the Methuen shelter of the
Massachusetts SPCA. State senators Frederick
Berry and James Jajuga said on May 28 that
they were drafting appropriate legislation.

The wild west

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

HERRO OF THE HOUR
LAS VEGAS––Believing the nonprofit Animal
Foundation International could adopt out more animals and euthanize
fewer than the for-profit Dewey Animal Control Center, AFI
president Mary Herro bid successfully on the Las Vegas animal
control sheltering contract, taking over the job in December.
After five months, AFI had received 3,409 dogs and
cats from animal control, only five fewer than Dewey, and had
returned 652 animals to their owners, 29 more than Dewey.
Adoptions were right at Herro’s target pace of 500 a month:
2,534, up from 686 under Dewey, and the euthanasia percentage
was down to 31%, from 46%, already low compared to the
national norm of about 65%, reflecting the impact of the 75,000
discount neutering surgeries done by AFI since 1989. But
euthanasias were also up, from 1,871 under Dewey to 2,041 under
AFI, because public turn-ins rose from 487 under Dewey to 1,463
under AFI, and owner surrenders jumped from 179 to 1,650.

GOP still gunning for ESA

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Endangered species protection
programs, already crippled by budget cuts, would
be deeply cut again under the proposed Interior Department
budget for fiscal 1997 approved on June 5 by the House
Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. Total Interior
spending would be $12 billion, down $500 million from
fiscal 1996, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budget
was cut by $12.5 million, including a 39% cut in the
budget for researching endangered species listing proposals,
and a 50% cut in U.S. support of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species.
The proposed cuts were in line with a revised
strategy for dismantling the Endangered Species Act reportedly
favored by Louisiana Representative Billy Tauzin,
who struck as U.S. Fish and Wildlife chief Mollie Beattie,
49, fell ill again with brain cancer. Undergoing her first
surgery in December, Beattie returned to work in April
after a second operation, but three weeks into May was
forced to go back on sick leave, and resigned on June 5,
leaving administration of the ESA to deputy director John
Rogers––who inherited multiple political headaches.

Law & order

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Law-and-order advocate Senator
Charles Williams (R-Fla) on October 13, 1995 hosted the Second Annual
Predators Dove Hunt in Dixie County, Florida. Eighty-eight hunters
reportedly slew more than 440 doves who were drawn to fields and nearby
roads littered with corn, millet, wheat, and milo. Three hours into the
event, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cited all participants.
Thundered House Resources Committee chair Don Young (RAlaska),
as he opened a May 16 hearing into the incident, “While I do not
know whether this was a good or bad bust, a number of those cited strongly
believe that the only thing baited, trapped, tried, and fined on that hot
October day were law-abiding citizens. Among those cited were three
county sheriffs, a regional commissioner of the Florida Game and
Freshwater Fish Commission, mayors, clerks of the court, Florida prison
officials, and city and county commissioners.”

Wildlife serial-killing

July 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

Legislation
California state senator
Milton Marks on May 22 introduced
SB 2171, to require that
trapped animals either be released or
be killed promptly and humanely.
Explains Camilla Fox, executive
director of The Fur-Bearer
Defenders, “Currently California
laws are silent on how a trapped animal
must be killed.” However,
according to the Department of Fish
and Game manual Get Set to Trap,
“Adequate tools are a heavy iron
pipe or an ax handle. Most furbearers
can be killed by first sharply
striking them on the skull. It is highly
recommended that the animal be
struck two times. To ensure death,
pin the head with one foot and stand
on the chest of the animal for several
minutes. Do not step off an unconscious
animal until it is dead.”

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