Momentum for ESA revision slows

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Congressional observers predict that proposed revisions

to the Endangered Species Act won’t be taken up in earnest by the House and Senate until

1996––and that could be favorable for species protection, since drastic actions are less like-

ly in an election year. With polls showing the Republican House majority winning an

approval rating of less than 35%, and continued strong public support for the ESA in prin-

ciple, a severely damaged ESA could cost many first-term Republicans their seats.

Showing awareness of the importance of good positioning on endangered species,

the Senate on August 9 crushed an amendment proposed by Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to delete

funding for the red wolf recovery program in North Carolina and Tennessee. Helms

claimed there are 170 red wolves at large in his state, killing livestock and on one occasion

attacking a child—but was corrected by red wolf supporters, who reminded him that the

Fish and Wildlife Service puts the North Carolina wolf population at from 39 to 66; none

have ever attacked either livestock or a child; and a recent survey by North Carolina State

University found that the majority of North Carolinians favor the wolf recovery program.

YELLOWSTONE: The steam isn’t all from geysers

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK––Filmed in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone, the 1952 western classic Shane depicted stubborn men who thought them-selves reasonable in a tragic clash over limited range. Alan Ladd, in the title role, won the big showdown, then rode away pledging there would be no more guns in the valley.

But more than a century after the Shane era, the Yellowstone range wars not only smoulder on, but have heated up. To the north, in rural Montana, at least three times this year armed wise-users have holed up for months, standing off bored cordons of sheriff’s deputies, who wait beyond bullet range to arrest them for not paying taxes and taking the law into their own hands.

One of the besieged, Gordon Sellner, 57, was wounded in an alleged shootout and arrested on July 19 near Condon. Sellner, who said he hadn’t filed a tax return in 20 years, was wanted for attempted murder, having allegedly shot a sheriff’s deputy in 1992. A similar siege goes on at Roundup, where Rodney Skurdahl and four others are wanted for allegedly issuing a “citizen’s declaration of war” against the state and federal governments and posting boun-ties on public officials. At Darby, near the Bitterroot National Forest, elk rancher Calvin Greenup threatens to shoot anyone who tries to arrest him for allegedly plotting to “arrest,” “try,” and hang local authorities. Greenup is Montana coordinator of the North American Volunteer Militia.

Indo-Canadian low-cost vets accuse British Columbia Vet Med Association of discrimination

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

VANCOUVER––Alleging that they have been targeted for doing

low-cost dog and cat sterilizations, 18 Indo-Canadian veterinarians, 16 of

them members of the British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association, are

pursuing discrimination claims against BCVMA registrar Valerie Osborne.

Led by Atlas Animal Hospital owner Hakam Bhullar, the vets

have registered a lawsuit with the British Columbia Supreme Court, seek-

ing to remove Osborne from office, and have petitioned the British

Columbia Human Rights Tribunal requesting that an unusually strict lan-

guage proficiency test required by the BCVMA be repealed.

Osborne and other BCVMA representatives have said little on the

record about the Indo-Canadian veterinarians’ complaints, except to deny

that the intent of the language proficiency test is discriminatory.

Under Osborne, Bhullar told Richard Chu of the Vancouver Sun,

the BCVMA requires vets to score 92% on a standard test of spoken

English. Lawyers, medical doctors, dentists, nurses, and firefighters are

required to score only 83%, Bhullar said.

Dog round-up & shark fin controversies bite Hong Kong Disneyland

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

HONG KONG––Hong Kong Dis-

neyland had barely found a face-saving way to

retreat from serving sharks’ fins at weddings

when Hong Kong Dog Rescue founder Sally

Anderson complained to South China Morning

Post reporter Simon Perry that Disney man-

agement had lethally purged several dozen

dogs she was trying to capture at the theme

park and offer for adoption.

“Dozens of stray dogs adopted by

construction workers on the Disney site have

been rounded up and killed in the run-up to the

park’s opening in September,” Parry wrote on

July 25, 2005. “Forty-five dogs, some

believed to have been used as unofficial guard

dogs on the site during construction, have been

caught by government dog catchers at

Disney’s request.

Japan still killing whales, but moratorium holds

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

SEOUL––Japan is still killing minke, sei,

Bryde’s and sperm whales in the name of research,

and will kill humpbacks this year as well, with a total

self-set “scientific” quota for the year of 935.

Norway continues killing minke whales in

coastal waters, and Iceland has resumed whaling, but

all still without world approval, as the 57th annual

meeting of the International Whaling Commission ended

in Ulsan, South Korea on June 24 with no major suc-

cesses for the pro-whaling faction.

“We entered the week with a strong fear that

the balance of power within the IWC would shift to a

pro-whaling majority,” summarized Whalewatch

Coalition leader Philip Lymbery. His delegation repre-

sented the Royal SPCA, Earth Island Institute, Whale

& Dolphin Conservation Society, Whale Watch, and

Humane Society International.

“Six new pro-whaling nations joined the IWC

this year,” Lymbery continued, “countered by just

three new anti-whalers. Anti-whalers held the majority

largely due to tactical lobbying and absentees,” and

India caught up on back dues and sent a delegation just

in time for the most critical ballots.

Most wanted poachers busted in India & Nepal

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

DELHI, KASARA– – The

two most notorious living poachers on

the Asian subcontinent were arrested on

June 30 and July 20, respectively, as

result of separate investigations.

The Indian Central Bureau of

Investigation apprehended Sansar

Chand, 47, after tracing him to his

Delhi home by identifying his newspa-

per reading habits: a native of

Rajasthan, Chand read Rajasthani

papers in a neighborhood where few oth-

ers did.

First arrested for poaching and

wildlife trafficking at age 16, in 1974,

when he was found in possession of 676

animal pelts including those of tigers

and leopards, Chand worked with at

least five close relatives. He was report-

edly convicted 15 times without serving

any significant sentence, even after he

was caught with 28,486 contraband pelts

in 1988. Fifty-seven cases are pending

against him in nine Indian states, wrote

London Independent Delhi correspon-

dent Justin Huggler.

PETA splits freedom of expression verdicts

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

Ruling at the Newcastle Crown Court,

British High Court Judge Peter Langan on June

16 refused to grant Covance Laboratories a n

extended injunction to prevent PETA from airing

undercover videography of a Covance facility in

Vienna, Virginia, but allowed a previous injunction

to stand for another 14 days to allow Covance time

to appeal.

Covance pledged to appeal, but on June

23 withdrew parallel motions filed in Fairfax,

Virginia, where Covance is pursuing a lawsuit

against PETA and investigator Lisa Leitten, a for-

mer primate technician, for alleged fraud and viola-

tion of an employee contract.

Editorial: Compromise & the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

Editorially favoring hunting, trapping, fishing, ranching, logging, rodeo, and ani-

mal use in biomedical research, the Spokane Spokesman-Review has probably never in recent

decades been mistaken for an exponent of animal rights.

Yet on September 15, 1952 the Spokesman–Review became perhaps the first and

only daily newspaper in the U.S. to editorially endorse “A Charter of Rights for Animals,”

drafted by the World Federation for the Protection of Animals.

The oldest of the three organizations whose mergers eventually produced today’s

World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the Dutch-based World Federation then

represented “humane societies in 25 countries,” the Spokesman-Review editors noted.

“Most civilized countries already have laws to cover most of the protection for ani-

mals that the federation asks,” the Spokesman-Review continued. “Beating animals, forcing

them to do work beyond their strength, transporting them in a manner to cause pain or without

adequate food, all are punishable now in the U.S., for example.”

PETA staffers face 62 felony cruelty counts in North Carolina

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

WINTON, N.C.––The scheduled

first court appearance of PETA staffers Adria

Joy Hinkle and Andrew Benjamin Cook on

multiple cruelty charges was on July 19, 2005

postponed until August 16.

Hinkle, 27, and Cook, 24, are

charged with a combined 62 counts of felony

cruelty to animals and 16 counts of illegal dis-

posal of animal remains.

Police sources have indicated that

other persons associated with PETA may be

charged as result of ongoing investigation.

The court date was delayed, report-

ed Darren Freeman of the Norfolk Virginian–

Pilot, because the prosecution was “waiting

for lab results on chemicals found in a van the

two suspects were using when they were

arrested, and the results to determine the

cause of death of one of the animals.”

Ahoskie, North Carolina police

detective Jeremy Roberts told Freeman that the

van was registered to PETA.

« 1 … 132 133 134 135 136 … 169 »