Pennsylvania Bureau of Dog Law shake-up worries anti-puppy mill campaigners

July 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:

HARRISBURG–Jesse Smith, heading the Pennsylvania Bureau of
Dog Law Enforcement since 2006, was on June 15, 2011 transferred to
the Office of Chief Counsel, where she said she would be “putting
together a USDA-sponsored agricultural mediation program.”
Replacing Smith, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
secretary George D. Greig announced, is Lynn Diehl. Greig
introduced Diehl as “a lifelong animal lover with a magnitude of
management skills.” Greig also announced that Pennsylvania Governor
Tom Corbett is “transitioning the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement to
the Dog Law Enforcement Office. The office will report directly to
the department’s Executive Deputy Secretary Mike Pechart,” Greig
said, “ensuring its functions are handled at the highest level.”
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Most of the Chinese dog meat traffic is already illegal, lawyers contend

July 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:

Beijing–Most of the Chinese traffic in dogs for human
consumption is already illegal, and therefore should be stopped
immediately, without awaiting passage of a national humane law,
attorneys Lu Xun, An Xiang, and Cai Chunhang told a two-hour press
conference convened in Beijing on June 15, 2011 by the Shangshan
Animal Foundation.
The lawyers joined China Veterinary Association Pet Clinic
Branch vice president Liu Lang to discuss the implications for rabies
control resulting from investigation of an incident on April 14,
2011, when Beijing activists intercepted and eventually rescued
approximately 500 dogs from a truck transporting them from Henan
province to dog meat restaurants in Jilin province.

Dogs Deserve better lands ex-Vick property

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
Tipton, Pennsylvania–The anti-dog chaining organization Dogs
Deserve Better on May 27, 2011 closed a deal to buy the site of
football player and convicted dogfighter Michael Vick’s Bad Newz
Kennels, on Moonlight Road in rural Surrey County, Virginia.
The property is to become the new Dogs Deserve Better head
office and rescue center, called the Good Newz Rehab Center for
Chained & Penned Dogs.

Verdicts split in recent cases with implications for animal shelter liability

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
SACRAMENTO, SALT LAKE CITY, ST. LOUIS–Three court cases
with implications for animal shelters and adoption agencies that hold
and rehome dogs who subsequently attack a person recently split with
one verdict for the defendant, two for the plaintiffs.
In the one case actually involving an animal shelter, the
Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District on April 26, 2011 upheld
a previous circuit court ruling that the Humane Society of Missouri
should not share liability with adopter Linda D. Rich of St. Louis
for a dog attack that occurred more than a year after Rich adopted
the dog.

Texas fatal dog attacks bring proposed life sentence & new breed-specific injury data

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

AUSTIN, SAN ANTONIO–The Texas House of Representatives on
May 4, 2011 approved by a vote of 123 to 7 a bill which could send
the keepers of a dog who kills a child or a senior citizen to prison
for life.
Assigned to the Texas Senate criminal justice committee on
May 5, the bill appeared to be unlikely to advance before the May 30
close of the Texas legislative session, but appeared to have public
as well as political favor, and–if stalled–is likely to be
reintroduced in the next session.

Case against Martin Balluch and fellow Austrian activists is thrown out of court

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

VIENNA–Austrian federal judge Sonja Arleth on May 2, 2011
dismissed all charges against Association Against Animal Factories
(VGT) founder Martin Balluch and co-defendants, just three weeks
short of three years after Balluch and 11 others representing seven
animal advocacy organizations were arrested in dawn raids on at least
two dozen homes and offices on May 21, 2008.
Three of the arrestees were released without charges soon
afterward. Balluch and nine others were released on bail 104 days
later, charged with alleged involvement in a variety of “direct
action” offenses that occurred between 2002 and 2007.

Ecuadorans pass constitutional amendment to ban cockfighting & bullfighting

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
QUITO–Ecuadoran voters in a May 7, 2011 referendum voted to
ban bullfights and cockfights that result in the animals’ deaths, as
part of a 10-point package of constitutional amendments proposed by
President Rafael Correa.
All 10 amendments passed, several after trailing at
mid-count. Topics included limiting banking activity by financial
service firms, prohibiting ownership of news media by non-media
companies, and prohibiting casino gambling. Opponents of the
amendment package alleged that Correa used the referendum to
strengthen his political position, including control over mass
media, and included the ban on lethal animal fighting to help
attract voters to the polls.

European Union follows U.S. in reinforcing truth in fur labeling

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
STRASBOURG, WASHINGTON D.C.–Updated European Union and U.S.
truth-in-fur-labeling legislation will be in effect by the start of
the 2011-2012 “fur season.”
Beginning the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, called “Fur-Free
Friday” by anti-fur protesters, and ending at Valentine’s Day, the
“fur season” annually accounts for two-thirds or more of all retail
fur garment sales.
The new European Union regulation requires that clothing makers
must include the phrase “contains non-textile parts of animal origin”
in labeling any garment containing fur, leather, feathers, or any
other material of animal origin.

ESA protection lifted, wolf killing accelerates

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

WASHINGTON D.C.–“Interior Announces Next Steps in
Protection, Recovery, and Scientific Management of Wolves,” Kendra
Barkoff of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Chris Tollefson of
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service headlined a May 17, 2011 joint
press release.
What “protection, recovery, and scientific management”
meant was that wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, western Great
Lakes region, and Oregon may now be shot, trapped, poisoned, and
strafed from aircraft as state governments see fit, so long as they
do not actually reduce wolf populations to the verge of regional
extinction.

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