Category: Law

Vealers under scrutiny in Europe, too

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

BRUSSELS––Concerned about the
use of illegal growth hormones in livestock
generally, and increasingly aware, as well,
of animal welfare issues, the European
Union moved recently to address both issues.
EU Farm Commissioner Franz
Fischler on November 29 convened a threeday
conference to review the EU rules on the
use of illegal meat growth hormones. On the
one hand, there is strong sentiment for maintaining
stiff standards and cracking down on
a “hormone Mafia” whose activity last year
included the assassination on the job of
Belgian animal health inspector Karrel Van
Knoppen.

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Federal grand jury indicts top veal feeder REND LAKE, Illinois– – C h i c a g o Animal Rights Coalition president Steve Hindi, a licensed pilot, on December 16 startled the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, hunters culling deer at the Renn Lake Wildlife Refuge, and fellow protesters by soaring up in a paraglider to videotape the action from above––as deer fled from the sound of the aircraft, away from the hunters. “This is going to change everything,” Hindi told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Air power revolutionized warfare, and it’s going to revolutionize protest. No longer can the DNR and the hunters hide anything from us.” Hindi’s flight was brief, due to technical problems with the brand-new equipment. By the time repairs were made, the wind had become too strong to attempt further flights. However, Hindi said, CHARC expects to have two paragliders in the air over future major events, each able to stay aloft for two hours at a time. The only significant problem, he reported, is that he’s put so much time into developing the CHARC remote video and airborne capabilities that fundraising has lagged. National activist groups make extensive use of the CHARC videos, but none have funded the equipment acquisitions. [Support for CHARC may be addressed to POB 66, Yorkville, IL 60560.] Ironically, the Rend Lake protest was backed by deer hunters who believed the cull was unethical. “I couldn’t believe how well we were treated by most of the local hunters,” Hindi said. Local hunters and activists joined on the night of December 14- 15 to drive hundreds of deer out of the Rend Lake refuge before the cull hunters were allowed in. Noise grenades set off by alarm clocks kept the deer from returning to the refuge during the three-day hunt. In consequence, Hindi said, the cull hunters killed only eight or nine deer total, compared with an expected bag of 12-plus deer per day. “It was a complete defeat for the DNR,” Hindi said. Steve Hindi and Dan Green: the Flying CHARC Squadron: ILLEGAL DRUG MAY HAVE TAINTED MEAT

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

MILWAUKEE––In the first of an expected series of indictments striking at the
brain trust and bankroll of the crate-raised veal and milk-fed spring lamb industries, a federal
grand jury empaneled in Milwaukee on December 6 charged the Vitek Supply Corporation,
Vitek president Jannes Doppenberg, and Vitek office manager Sherry Steffen with 12 counts
of conspiracy, smuggling unapproved drugs into the U.S., and illegally adding the drugs to
feed mixtures told to veal and lamb producers throughout the country.
A prepared statement from U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Schneider said, “It is alleged
in the indictment that the unapproved drugs were shipped to feed companies and growers in
Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Over 1.7 million
pounds of Vitek product containing unapproved drugs, valued at over $1.3 million dollars,
were sold by Vitek between 1988 and April 1994.”

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Hunting & Trafficking

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Chad McKittrick, 42, of Red
Lodge, Montana, was convicted by a jury
on October 25 of illegally killing one of the
15 wolves who were released into
Yellowstone National Park in February.
McKittrick shot the male wolf on April 24.
Song Ho Kim, of Vancouver,
British Columbia, was convicted November
16 on 11 counts of illegally trafficking in bear
parts. Convicted a month earlier of a similar
offense was K.H. Yong, also of Vancouver.
The two were nabbed in a crackdown apparently
begun after Peter Knights of the privately
funded Global Security Network photographed
bear parts for sale in 13 out of 20
traditional pharamacies in Vancouver’s
Chinatown.

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COURT CALENDAR

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

British High Court Justice
Richard Rougier ruled November 22 that a
pit bull terrier named Dempsey, subject of
three years of internationally publicized litigation,
need not be euthanized simply because a
friend of owner Dianne Fanneran allowed her
to run temporarily without a muzzle, violating
the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991, which
banned pit bulls from Great Britain. Rougier
wrote that the Dangerous Dogs Act, “bears all
the hallmarks of an ill-thought-out piece of
legislation, no doubt drafted in response to a
pressure group.”

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Animal control & rescue

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Legislation
The San Mateo County (California)
pet overpopulation ordinance is “a legislative
f a i l u r e , ” according to The Animal Council, an
association of dog and cat fanciers, in a newly
published “evaluation of statistics and reports.”
But the evidence is ambiguous. Countywide
euthanasia records going back to 1970 show dog
euthanasias peaking at 20,191 in 1971, declining
steadily to 1,298 in fiscal year 1990-1991, just
before the controversial San Mateo County ordinance
was adopted in March 1992. Since then,
dog euthanasias have continued to drop at approximately
the previous rate, to 1,111 in fiscal year
1993-1994. Cat euthanasias peaked in 1970, at
21,796; bottomed out at 4,697 in 1979; were
steady between 6,988 and 7,417 from 1985-1986
through 1991-1992; and since then have fallen to
5,134. Noting that 18 cities in San Mateo County
have not ratified the county ordinance, which
applies in unamended form only to the relatively
small unincorporated part of the county, the
report notes that, “Unincorporated cat euthanasias
in 1993-1994 were 46% greater than in 1990-
1991, the year prior to implementation” of the
ordinance, “compared to a 27% decrease countywide.”

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Wildlife & people

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Waterfowl
Migrating ducks overloaded airport radar
s y s t e m s across the midwest on November 2. “It was
one of the most compressed migrations we’ve seen in
the past 25 years,” Ducks Unlimited chief biologist Jeff
Nelson told Ken Miller of the Gannett News Service.
“It was more than I’ve ever seen.” Explained Federal
Aviation Administration spokesperson Sandra
Campbell, “The primary radar system in Omaha picked
up so many targets, 29,000 to 39,000, that it shut itself
down. Ten minutes later, the same thing happened in
Des Moines. Three hours later, it occurred at Kansas
City.” This year’s total waterfowl migration is estimated
at 80 million, up from 56 million in 1990.

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GOP finds Republicans favor ESA as much as Democrats

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C. – – Con-
gressional momentum toward dismantling
the Endangered Species Act markedly
slowed in November, after House
Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged to
media that the Republican majority
“messed up on the environment” by seriously
misreading the public mood.
Gingrich was particularly rattled
by a T i m e/CNN poll conducted on
September 27-28, which showed that
63% of self-described Republican voters
and 67% of independents oppose legislation
to “reduce protection for endangered
species”––putting support for the
ESA at the same level among Republicans
as among Democrats.

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Woofs & growls

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

The House Ways and Means Committee has recommended
legislation, similar to a proposal from the Clinton
administration last summer, that would enable the IRS to
order charity officials to refund compensation judged excessive
to their respective charities or be fined; require charities
to furnish copies of IRS Form 990 to anyone requesting them,
for a “reasonable” photocopying fee; and enable the Treasury
Department to fine charities more heavily for failing to file
IRS Form 990 in a complete and timely manner.
“Previously, the public relations firm BursonMarsteller
in New York kept a list for the beef industry of
reporters who ate steak,” the Wall Street Journal reported
on November 10. “Two years ago, Carma International
joined the effort,” the Washington D.C. media-monitoring
firm whose efforts on behalf of the Department of Energy
were exposed in late October. “Now, each month, Carma
reviews piles of press clips of dozens of journalists and spits
out computerized reports on how favorably they portray beef,
using a scale from zero to 100. Highly ranked reporters may
get star treatment; laggards are targeted for sit-down talks on
being fair to beef.”

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FUR

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

The European Union Commission on November 22
announced yet another postponement of the European Union
ban on imports of furs that may have been caught by leghold
trapping. The ban, originally to take effect on January 1, 1995,
is vigorously opposed on behalf of the fur trade by the U.S. and
Canadian governments. EU officials were reportedly moved by
visits from Canadian Native Americans, who claimed the ban
would harm their people without mentioning that Native trappers
account for less than 5% of Canadian trapped pelts and less than
1% of total North American trapped pelts. Great Britain broke
with the rest of the EU, moving to impose the ban unilaterally.
The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility
for releasing 2,400 mink from the Dargatz farm in Chilliwack,
British Columbia, on October 23, and 4,000 mink from the
Rippin farm in Aldergrove, B.C., on November 14. Most were
quickly recaptured, but at deadline about 140 remained at large
in Chilliwack and about 600 in Aldergrove. Canadian wildlife
officials predicted that some, at least, might survive the winter.
The Canadian Mink Breeders Association posted a reward of
$50,000 for the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

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