Was it a rescue––or a theft?

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

WADSWORTH, Ohio– – The

samoyed/chow paced the dark garage. A

broken chain, wired together, cut into his

neck. He suffered from heartworms. His

overgrown toenails curled downward, and

his fur was matted with feces. Feeding and

watering were irregular. His mother had

died the year before in that same garage.

Brian Gilligan, 36, felt com-

pelled to act. Frustrated with “weak state

laws that humane officers must follow,” he

says, he took the dog in January 1993.

Veterinary records document the

dog’s condition. His “overall appearance

was poor because of neglect,” according to

Larry Markley, DVM, who performed an

examination and provided treatment.

COURT CALENDAR

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Humane Enforcement

The toughest cruelty sentence ever

issued in Vermont went to Donald Bliss, of

Barre, on a December 14 plea bargain. Bliss

admitted to keeping a starving Belgian mare staked

outside for most of the winter of 1992-1993. He

drew a year in jail with immediate probation, a

suspended fine of $2,000, was ordered to donate

$1,000 to the Central Vermont Humane Society,

and was obliged to pay the town of Barre $1,100

for boarding the mare until she was adopted by

Anne Cole Butler, of Orange.

Poachers

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

California wardens on

January 28 broke up the Ace

Hunting Club, a bear poaching ring

allegedly run by William Jim Taek

Lee, 35. Trophy hunters paid Lee

$1,500 apiece to be guided to bears;

Lee then sold bear parts both local-

ly and to Korea. The operation

reportedly killed 30 bears and net-

ted $600,000 In a parallel but

apparently unrelated case, t h e

Pennsylvania Game Commission

five days later charged Tae-Ukand

Elaine S. Kang of Coatesville,

Pennsylvania, with illegally traf-

ficking in bear galls.

SPECTACLES

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

A group of Ecuadoran school children

in late January donated their allowances, sold toys,

and performed on street corners to raise funds to

feed polar bears, elephants, seals, and horses aban-

doned in Quito by the Circus of Czars, from St.

Petersburg, Russia. The circus manager vanished

with the receipts from a successful tour, leaving the

human performers stranded, as creditors seized

their equipment. As ANIMAL PEOPLE went to

press, help was reportedly en route from business

leaders and environmental groups.

Fur

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

While the ISO moved to accept

padded leghold traps as “humane,” a

Massachusetts judge ruled they are not on

December 27, 1993, overturning a 1989 rul-

ing by the state Division of Fisheries and

Wildlife that padded traps were not banned by

the state law that banned steel-jawed leghold

traps in 1974. “It is apparent from the opera-

tion of the Woodstream ‘soft-catch’ trap,”

Suffolk Superior Court judge Patrick King

wrote, “that it will cause injury to many ani-

mals.”

Animal Control & Rescue

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

The Canadian SPCA

was stunned February 3 when it

lost the Montreal pound contract

to a private bidder, Berger Blanc,

for at least a two-month trial period.

Berger Blanc handles animal control

for several Montreal suburbs, but

has been accused of selling animals

to biomedical research. The

Montreal contract forbids such sales.

The CSPCA was nearly bankrupted

under its previous two-year pound

contract, loosely modeled after the

contract New York City has long

had with the ASPCA, under which

it was expected to provide pound

service at a substantial loss––

$450,000 in 1993––in exchange for

the proceeds from all dog licenses

sold after the first 10,000.

Woofs and growls

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Who gets the money?

Animal and habitat protection

groups currently failing to meet the National

Charities Information Bureau’s wise giving

standards include the Cousteau Society, the

National Anti-Vivisection Society, the

National Humane Education Society and

PETA. The Cousteau Society and NAVS

flunked on criteria designed to prevent nepo-

tism and material conflicts of interest among

board members and administrators; the

Cousteau Society also flunked for excessive

fundraising expense; NHES flunked for lack

of accountability and excessive fundraising

expense; and PETA flunked for having only

three board members instead of the requisite

five. Additionally, the NCIB questions

whether Humane Society of the U.S. fundrais-

ing costs are reasonable relative to income.

Texas to refile vs. Primarily Primates

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS– –

Texas assistant attorney general John Vinson

on January 14 filed a federal court petition

seeking to return jurisdiction over complaints

against Primarily Primates to state court, in

order to reinstate a suit seeking to remove

Primarily Primates president Wally Swett and

secretary Stephen Tello from the administra-

tion of the San Antonio-based sanctuary.

Vinson alleged that Swett hadn’t met the

terms of an out-of-court settlement reached in

November. As the terms were eventually

finalized, Swett was to undertake structural

revisions to the Primarily Primates bylaws

which would take away a defacto veto he had

held over board decisions; was to pay the

Texas attorney general’s office partial reim-

bursement from Primarily Primates of costs

incurred in handling the case, in the amount

of $15,000; and was to expand the Primarily

Primates board to nine members, including

“at least two persons from the San Antonio

area and a veterinarian or someone with for-

mal animal care training.”

PETA wins Berosini reversal

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

RENO, Nevada––The Nevada Supreme Court

on January 27 emphatically reversed the $4.2 million libel

verdict won by orangutan trainer Bobby Berosini in

August 1990 against People for the Ethical Treatment of

Animals, PETA director of investigations Jeanne Roush,

the Performing Animal Welfare Society, PAWS execu-

tive director Pat Derby, and dancer Ottavio Gesmundo.

Berosini contended that a videotape Gesmundo

secretly recorded backstage was false and defamatory.

The videotape was given to mass media by PETA, while

Derby commented upon it for Entertainment Tonight.

However, in a strongly worded 32-page opinion, the

four judges who reviewed the case concluded unanimous-

ly that, “The videotape is not false because it is an accu-

rate portrayal of the manner in which Berosini disciplined

his animals backstage before performances. The video-

tape is not defamatory because Berosini and his witnesses

take the position that the shaking, punching, and beating

that appear on the tape are necessary, appropriate and

justified for the training, discipline, and control of show

animals. If Berosini did not think that the tape showed

him doing anything wrong or disgraceful,” the decision

continued, “he should not be heard to complain that the

defendants defamed him merely by showing the tape.”

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