Agriculture

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The Food and Drug Admini-
stration held hearings May 6-7 on whether
to approve the sale of milk produced with
the aid of the genetically engineered hor-
mone bovine somatotropin (BST), and if
sale is approved, whether the milk should
be specially labeled. Four chemical
firms––Upjohn, Monsanto, American
Cyanamid, and Eli Lilly––have reportedly
spent $500 million to develop and introduce
BST, which boosts milk production per cow
by up to 20%. BST is opposed by con-
sumer groups concerned about the possible
effects of the drug on human health, which
may include altering the growth rate of
bone and liver cells; animal protection
groups worried that BST may increase the
stress on cows; and dairy farmers anxious
that many of them could be put out of busi-
ness, since BST enables fewer cows to pro-
duce more milk, which is already in over-
supply. The same debate is underway in
Canada, where a multi-department review
of the possible effects of BST is to be com-
pleted later this year.

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Guest column: Instead of breeding bans

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

by Margaret Anne Cleek
I am convinced that breeding bans will not work.
This broad-brush approach is inappropriate because the
majority of pet owners are responsible. The people pro-
ducing the surplus are a relatively small percentage of the
population (perhaps one dog owner in three and one cat
owner in five according to the pro-breeding ban Humane
Society of the U.S.), but because of the high fertility rate
of the animals involved, the numbers of animals resulting
from their litters is great. We have to separate the animal
numbers from the people numbers to understand this.
Production control principles apply: you have to know the
source of the problem to address it.

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Horses and Cattle

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-New York) have reintroduced the Downed Animal Protection Act, as S. 367 and H.R. 559, which would require stockyards to promptly euthanize sick and injured animals. Support for the measure may be addressed to Senators and Congressional Representatives.
The American Horse Protection Association’s sixth annual training seminar for equine cruelty investiga-
tors will be held May 20-21 at College Park, Maryland. Get details from Ellen Foysyth, 202-965-0500.
Norma Bearcroft, president of the Canadian Wild Horse Society, has asked members to approve a resolution to disband the struggling group by year’s end.

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HUNTING

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

The Wildlife Legislative Fund of
America, a hunting and trapping lobby,
recently sneaked an amendment to the 1994-
1995 Ohio Department of Natural Resources
budget through the state House of
Representatives that would raise $450,000 a
year for a subsidiary, the Wildlife Conserv-
ation Fund of America, through a 25¢ sur-
charge on the sale of hunting, fishing, and
trapping licenses. The amendment was intro-
duced by representative Ronald Amstutz, at
request of WLF director Tom Addis. After the
proposed diversion of public money to a spe-
cial interest lobby became known, Amstutz
claimed it was all a mistake. “I was misin-
formed,” he told Michael Sangiacomo of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I thought it was a
small raise for the people who write the licens-
es. I made certain assumptions, and apparent-
ly I was wrong. I never looked at the lan-
guage.” ODNR legislative liasion Scott Zody
said his agency “did not ask for” the amend-
ment, “and does not support it.”

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COURT CALENDAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

Animal Trafficking
Worldwide Primates propri-
etor Matthew Block, 31, of Miami,
drew 13 months in federal prison on April
17 for his part in arranging for six infant
orangutans to be smuggled from Indonesia
to the Soviet Union––the 1990 Bangkok
Six case. Hoping to win a plea bargain,
Block testified against three accomplices
and helped set up the January 26 arrest of
a Mexican zoo director for allegedly trying
to smuggle a gorilla. However, assistant
U.S. attorney Guy Lewis told U.S. district
judge James Kehoe that Block had never
fully cooperated with either investigation,
had lied about his degree of involvement
in the orangutan deal, and was still in
touch with smuggling associates. Block
now faces USDA action for allegedly
feeding primates at his facility spoiled
food, failing to provide water, and keep-
ing them in vermin-infested cages.

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Wild Cats

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

Genetic researchers trying to save
the highly endangered Florida panther on
April 9 recommended a shift away from cap-
tive breeding, the focus of present recovery
efforts. Instead, the team suggested, closely
related Texas cougars should be released into
panther habitat to diversify the gene pool by
natural means. Under the plan, panther kittens
would no longer be removed from the wild for
use in captive breeding, since their gene pool
is presently so narrow that the offspring would
be likely to inherit genetic defects.

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Bill to stop wolf-strafing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

WASHINGTON D.C.––As he
promised he would last winter, Oregon Rep.
Peter DeFazio has introduced amendments to
the Airborne Hunting section of the Fish and
Wildlife Act of 1956 that would bar using
aircraft to kill native endangered or threat-
ened species on public lands––even for
wildlife management purposes. Support for
the bill, H.R. 1391, may be addressed to any
member of the House or Senate.

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

The Los Angeles City Council’ s
ad hoc committee on the ongoing municipal
budget crisis has dropped plans to merge
city and county animal control, as a merger
might hurt service without saving money.
The Agricultural Subcommittee
of the Maine legislature has unanimously
killed as impractical a bill to institute
statewide cat licensing.
Washington state senator Scott
Barr’s bill (SB 5832) to force pounds and
shelters to surrender animals to research lab-
oratories recently cleared the state senate
agriculture committee 6-0. The committee is
headed by Marilyn Rasmussen, who is
author of another bill, SB 5532, that would
strip humane societies of the power to
enforce anti-cruelty laws, and exempt dog
and cat breeders, circuses, zoos, aquariums,

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Can we outlaw pet overpopulation?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

SACRAMENTO, California –– Neuter your cat
or else!
In legal language, “An owner of a cat over the age
of six months shall have the cat sterilized by a veterinarian if
the cat is permitted outdoors without supervision.”
As drafted, California state assembly bill AB 302
admits no exceptions. Introduced in early February by
assemblyman Paul Horcher, AB 302 sounds like a shelter
worker’s dream––but may be mainly symbolic, since it
includes neither an enforcement mechanism nor specific
penalties for disobedience. Due to the difficulty of identify-
ing cats, some legal experts believe it could never be
enforced without instituting a universal statewide system of
cat licensing, something never before attempted on any
comparable scale, and almost certain to be opposed by
many cat-keepers.

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