Horse Tips

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Prairie Bayou, the pre-race favorite in the

June 5 Belmont Stakes, suffered a shattered foreleg

while running 11th in the backstretch among a field of

13––an indication of exhaustion or injury––and was eutha-

nized half an hour later. Prairie Bayou placed second in

the Kentucky Derby five weeks earlier, and won the

Preakness Stakes two weeks earlier as another top-ranked

horse, Union City, collapsed and was destroyed due to

similar fractures. The loss of the horses drew attention to

the theories of several experts about horse racing injuries.

Veterinarian James Rooney of the Maxwell H. Gluck

Equine Center in Lexington, Kentucky, argued that the

back-to-back collapses of Prairie Bayou and Union City

were, “Pure bloody coincidence,” claiming that only 2%

of North American races result in fatal breakdowns––but

that would still mean the deaths of 1,600 horses a year.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer Noel

Leach of Chase City, Virginia, facing disciplinary action

for 46 alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act, sued

Friends of Animals on May 24 for purportedly defaming

his character and interfering with his business relation-

ships in connection with bringing many of the alleged vio-

lations to the USDA’s attention. Leach claims FoA under-

cover investigators trespassed on his property while gath-

ering evidence. FoA attorney Herman Kaufman respond-

ed to the suit with a request for dismissal, pointing out

that the action is based on an alleged tort in 1990 for

which the statute of limitations is just two years, and that

the statute of limitations in defamation cases in Virginia,

where the suit was filed, is only one year. Well known to

USDA inspectors, Leach was rapped for six previous

AWA violations in 1983. His primary business is selling

dogs and cats to research labs and dissection supply firms.

Performing Animals

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Anti-cruelty laws in most states do apply to ani-

mals at state and county fairs, carnivals, and circus,

reminds Vermont Volunteer Services for Animals humane

officer Sue Skaskiw. If you see cruelty, including live ani-

mals being offered as prizes, report it.

Christopher Ponte, 22, of Wappingers Falls,

New York, climbed a four-foot-high plastic fence at the

Fishkill Mall in nearby Fishkill on June 6 to get into an

enclosure with 10 elephants belonging to the Clyde Beatty-

Cole Brothers Circus. He was crushed to death when one of

the elephants turned, pinning him against a truck.

At least two pig-racing concessions are on the

county fair circuit this summer––Triple W Racing Pigs, run

by Wanda, Rachel, and Gene Webber of Shelby, North

Carolina, and Bob Hale Pig Racing Stables of Sikeston,

Missouri.

Habitat

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Eighty percent of the remaining old growth

forest in the Pacific Northwest would be protected from

logging under a plan to protect endangered spotted owls

and salmon runs unveiled July 2 by President Bill Clinton

in response to rulings by Federal District Judge William

Dwyer of Seattle that have restricted logging for nearly

three years. During the halt, the logging workforce has

declined from 145,000 to 125,000. The protected zones

would run along watersheds. Loggers would be allowed

to cut about 1.2 billion board feet of old growth per year

in less sensitive areas, down from five billion board feet

in the mid-1980s. While most of the plan does not

require Congressional approval, it must be ratified by

Dwyer before any old growth logging on the land covered

by his decisions can resume. Dwyer’s decision, based on

the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, is due in

mid-July. The Clinton plan, drafted with heavy input

from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, drew immediate

flak from House Speaker Thomas Foley, who indicated

he might cross party lines in an attempt to gut the ESA

when it comes up later this year for renewal.

HUNTING & FISHING

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The Illinois Department of Agriculture in June

banned captive pigeon shoots on advice of the state attor-

ney general, bringing its policy into line with the state

Humane Care for Animals Act of 1973 and a January 1992

amendment to the state Conservation Code. The ban was a

major victory for anti-pigeon shoot activist Steve Hindi, of

Plano, Illinois, who has struggled since 1990 to get

enforcement of the laws against pigeon shooting.

The Fund for Animals has announced that it

will not protest against the annual Fred Coleman Memorial

Labor Day Pigeon Shoot in Hegins, Pennsylvania, this

year. Major protests orchestrated by the Fund and PETA in

1991 and 1992 backfired when they became confrontational.

Nearly twice as many shooters and shoot supporters attend-

ed the Hegins shoot last year as before the Fund got

involved, possibly attracted by the chance an activist might

get killed in the act of rescuing a bird. The Coalition

Against Live Bird Shoots in Pennsylvania will hold a small-

er protest this year; details have not yet been announced.

Wildlife

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

British and Danish mammologists have con-

firmed the discovery of a previously unknown hooved ani-

mal in the Vu Quang Nature Reserve of northwestern

Vietnam, along the Laotian border. Dubbed Psuedoryx

nghetinhensis, the animal resembles a cow, is about the

size of a goat, and has antelope-like horns. Psuedoryx

nghetinhensis is the biggest new land animal to be found in

more than 50 years.

An investigation of the cash value

Pennsylvanians would assign to various wildlife-related

experiences, upcoming in The Journal of Environmental

Management, found a day of fishing assessed at from

$4.80 to $53.40, depending on the site, while a day of

bird-watching would go for $15.00, and the chance to

view an elk at close range would fetch $24.52. The prices

are over and above the actual cost of the activity.

Guest column: Supreme Court did not okay animal sacrifice

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

by Gary L. Francione and Anna E. Charlton

ANIMAL RIGHTS LAW CENTER

On June 11, 1993, the Supreme Court issued its

decision concerning animal sacrifice in Church of the

Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah. The next

day, most major newspapers carried headlines proclaim-

ing that the Court had held that animal sacrifice is protect-

ed by the First Amendment freedom of religion clause.

Typical of those proclamations was the one splashed

across the entire front cover of New York Newsday: “Top

Court OKs Animal Sacrifice.” Reading the comments of

major humane organizations in reaction to the decision,

including those such as the American Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which have the police

power to stop the infliction of cruelty on animals, we have

been distressed to realize that the decision has been read

far too broadly, and that there is the mistaken impression

that humane officers are now powerless to stop the brutali-

ties of animal sacrifice.

Alaska resumes wolf killing; SUES FRIENDS OF ANIMALS FOR CALLING TOURISM BOYCOTT

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska––As

many as 450 Alaskan wolves will be

trapped, snared, and shot during the next

three winters to make more moose and

caribou available to hunters, under pro-

posals adopted July 1 by the Alaska

Board of Game.

ANIMAL PEOPLE waited to

go to press until the Board of Game deci-

sion became final—a week after the nor-

mal deadline––because of the signal

importance of the wolf issue in the ongo-

ing clash between ecology-based and

hunter-driven philosophies of conserva-

tion. The board was expected to revive

the wolf control strategy scrapped last

winter under threat of a tourism boycott,

but the details were obscured in a blizzard

of 92 wolf management proposals on the

summer meeting agenda, two of them

from the Alaska Department of Fish and

Game and many others from influential

hunting associations.

Supreme Court rules: Animal sacrifice ban overturned; VERDICT DOES NOT AFFECT ANTICRUELTY LAWS

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Anticruelty laws were unaffected by a June 11 United States

Supreme Court verdict that overturned a ban on animal sacrifice imposed in 1987 by the city of

Hialeah, Florida. The Supreme Court unanimously held that although governments do have the

authority to enforce prohibitions on cruelty, the keeping of livestock, and violations of zoning,

the set of six ordinances enacted in Hialeah were unconstitutional because they were adopted in

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