CRIME & PUNISHMENT

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Crimes Against Humans

* The FBI and local police are seeking a

serial killer who is believed responsible for

shooting a bowhunter, a deer hunter, two

fishermen, and a jogger since 1989 in rural

eastern Ohio. An anonymous letter to a local

newspaper from the purported killer indicates

he himself is a hunter; he demonstrates a

hunter’s knowledge of firearms. The man

boasted that these are not his only murders.

* Imperial Food Products owner Emmett

Roe pleaded guilty Sept. 14 to 25 counts of

manslaughter in connection with a Sept. 3,

1991 blaze at the company’s chicken process-

ing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. Similar

charges against Roe’s son and another plant

official were dropped as part of a plea bar-

gain. Roe was setenced to 20 years in prison

for locking exits and neglecting fire precau-

tions. Roe was earlier fined $808,150 for fire

code violations, and still faces 19 civil suits

from bereaved survivors.

DOGS & CATS

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* Wildlife officer Ric Nattrass of the Queensland (Australia) National Parks

and Wildlife Service has concluded that, “Based on data collected by wildlife staff

at the Moggill Centre (in Brisbane), there is no evidence to date that the domestic

cat is a major threat to the long term survival of the city’s native fauna. From a

purely conservation point of view, neither the numbers nor the species taken by cats

are cause for alarm when compared with the losses to urbanization, industrializa-

tion, motor traffic, and the creation of the horse paddock.” Nattrass’ report is

based on the experience of a single metropolitan area, as critics are quick to note,

and flies in the face of conventional belief; but it is worth pointing out that the only

other major study of domestic cat predation to date, by John Lawton and Peter

Churcher, was also based on the experience of a single location, a village in thesub-

urbs of London, England, and also concluded that while cats kill significant num-

bers of animals, the overwhelming majority are common mice, voles, and birds

(principally sparrows).

Agriculture

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

October 2 was the 10th anniver-

sary of World Farm Animals Day, declared

in 1983 by the Farm Animal Reform

Movement to coincide with Gandhi’s birthday

and World Vegetarian Day. Major commemo-

rations were scheduled in New York, the

Washington D.C. metropolitan area, Iowa,

Florida, California, and Hawaii.

The contribution of cattle to global

warming has significantly increased over the

past three years, along with the world cattle

population, International Union of Air

Pollution Prevention Associations director

general John Langston warned the 800-mem-

ber group in early September.

Horse notes…

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Horse racing, banned for nearly

60 years, may be revived in China.

Racing dates have recently been held in

Canton, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing,

drawing crowds of up to 3,000. Parimutual

betting is not yet legal, but is likely to be

legalized in the near future. Since gambling

is historically as popular in China as baseball

in the U.S., this may become the impetus to

make racing take off..

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* The Sprint telephone service and the

American Humane Association have set up a

nationwide hotline to help reunite lost pets

with their keepers. Reporting a stray is free:

call 1-800-755-8111. To report a lost pet, call

1-900-535-1515. The cost for lost pet calls is

$1.95 per minute, a portion of which is donat-

ed to AHA. The average lost pet report takes

four minutes to complete, according to Sprint.

* Paige Powell and Tama Janowitz of

New York City produce a TV show in cooper-

ation with the animal rescue groups Being

Kind and the Animal Project to promote pet

adoptions. Called It’s A Dog’s Life, the show

airs on channels 16 and 17.

Watson & Hughey charities are in trouble again

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The states

of Connecticut and Pennsylvania are suing the

Cancer Fund of America and three other chari-

ties for alleged fraudulent accounting in

describing the use of donations.

The Cancer Fund of America,

based in Knoxville, Tennessee, solicits con-

tributions by claiming that it does not fund

research using animals. In actuality, it funds

little or no cancer research of any kind, and is

one of eight charities promoted by the Watson

and Hughey direct mail fundraising firm, of

Alexandria, Virginia, which were fined a total

of $2.4 million in 1991 for using misleading

sweepstakes appeals.

Woofs and growls:

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for

the 11th Circuit on August 18 upheld a lower

court decision that Soldier of Fortune maga-

zine must pay $4.3 million in damages to the

sons of Richard Braun, an Atlanta business-

man who was murdered in 1985 by a contract

killer whose “gun for hire” ad the magazine

published. The killer, Michael Savage, 44,

of Knoxville, Tenn., and eight of his clients

have been convicted of criminal conspiracy in

connection with the Braun case and at least

two others. Soldier of Fortune has recently

amplified a series of National Rifle

Association attacks on the animal rights move-

ment and anti-hunting activists.

Religion & Animals

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Pope John Paul II was scheduled to

issue “A solemn appeal for animal welfare” on

eptember 30, from the Vatican. The appeal

will not have the force of ecclesiastic law, and

is expected to be quite conservative.

A San Francisco Board of

Supervisors subcommittee on August 18

approved an ordinance to ban animal sacrifice,

modeled after similar ordinances now in effect

in various Florida and southern California

cities. Supervisor Carole Migden introduced

the ordinance after the city Department of

Animal Care and Control reported having

found evidence of at least 1,000 animal sacri-

fices during the past year. The ordinance now

goes before the full Board of Supervisors for

enactment. Migden meanwhile withdrew a

proposed to ban the sale or ownership of wolf

hybrids, since so many are already in San

Francisco that enforcement might prove

impossible.

Hunting news

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Arizonans will vote November 3

on a referendum measure to ban

trapping, portrayed by the National Rifle

Assn. and National Trappers Assn. as an

attempt to ban all hunting and fishing as

well. The initiative is sponsored, however,

by Arizonans for Safety and Humanity on

Public Lands, whose initial board of direc-

tors included a hunter and a gun dealer. The

group declined funding from the Humane

Society of the U.S. to avoid confusing the

issues.

« 1 … 166 167 168 169 »