Northern Ireland gets new anti-cruelty law

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:

 

STORMONT, Northern Ireland –The first update of the
Northern Ireland Welfare of Animals Act since 1972 cleared the
Northern Ireland Assembly on February 22, 2011. It is expected to
take effect in April 2011, after the formality of royal assent.
Ulster SPCA director Stephen Philpott called the update “A
complete sellout,” because it gives law enforcement authority for
non-farmed animals to local councils, as in Britain. Such authority
had by default devolved to the Ulster SPCA.

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High-profile cases not criminally prosecuted

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:

 

BROOKLYN, N.Y.; SAN ANDREAS, Calif. ;
WARMINISTER, Pa.–Prosecutors around the U.S.
have warned in recent months that steep budget
cuts would result in more cases being dropped
instead of testing evidentiary issues by going to
trial.
Three controversial dispositions of
politically sensitive animal-related cases in
mid-March 2011 officially had nothing to do with
budget, but may be illustrative of how cases can
be shunted aside.

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Canada Revenue Agency moves to muzzle animal charities

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:

OTTAWA–The Canada Revenue Agency on February 5, 2011
published new regulations governing animal charities which would
revoke the nonprofit status of any who oppose vivisection, hunting,
trapping, the fur trade, seal-clubbing, animal agriculture, and
any other legal use of animals.
“Under common law, an activity or purpose is only charitable
when it provides a benefit to humans,” the Canada Revenue Agency
regulations assert. “As far back as the 19th century, the courts
have stated that promoting the welfare of animals ‘has for its
object, not merely the protection of the animals themselves, but the
advancement of morals and education among [people].’ To be
charitable, the benefit to humans must always take precedence over
any benefit to animals. If a purpose or activity that promotes the
welfare of animals harms humans, or has a real potential to cause
significant harm to humans, it is likely not charitable.”

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Thai “tiger temple” defamation case fails to silence Wiek of Wildlife Friends

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
BANGKOK–A year after the notorious Thai “tiger temple” sued
Wildlife Friends founder Edwin Wiek and representatives of the
Bangkok Post for defamation, Wiek is still speaking out about how
the temple keeps the tigers it exhibits and the case appears to be
dead.
Located in Kanchanaburi, about two hours by tourist bus from
Bangkok, the Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno Forest Monastery
claims it “started in 1999,” with “a sick baby tiger, orphaned by
poachers,” and expanded to house other tiger orphans.”

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Montana governor reprieves Yellowstone bison, signs death warrant for wolves

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
BOZEMAN–U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell on February
13, 2011 appeared to have doomed 525 bison who were to have been
trucked to slaughter after wandering outside Yellowstone National
Park, rejecting a Buffalo Field Campaign application for an
emergency injunction against the killing. A day later, however,
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer issued an executive order
prohibiting the transport of wild bison through Montana for 90 days.
The order means the bison and any others captured by the
National Park Service after leaving Yellowstone will have to be held
in corrals at Stephens Creek, northwest of Gardiner, until spring.

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Two major zoos defy Chinese order to halt animal acts

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
Guangdong–Defying a nationally publicized order from
Beijing–and claiming it was never received–the Shenzhen Safari Park
and Xiaomeisha Sea World have continued daily animal acts using
birds, tigers, lions and dolphins, the Guangdong Daily Sunshine
reported on February 2, 2011, without hinting at what the Chinese
federal authorities might do about it.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development,
responsible for zoo regulation in China, on October 26, 2010
“suggested” in an official web posting that zoos should adequately
feed and house animals, should stop selling wild animal products and
serving wild animal parts in restaurants, and should stop staging
circus-like trained animal acts, including feeding live prey to
carnivores, because “These activities go against the public good.”

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Meat biz barks for puppy mills

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.–Rural Missouri lawmakers backed by
agribusiness hope to overturn the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act,
approved by almost a million voters in November 2010–52% of the
electorate–as Proposition B on the state ballot.
Leading the lobbying effort against the Puppy Mill Cruelty
Prevention Act is Missourians for Animal Care, a coalition including
the Missouri Agribusiness Associ-ation, Missouri Cattlemen’s
Association, Missouri Corn Growers Association, Missouri Dairy
Association, Missouri Egg Producers, Missouri Equine Council,
Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Federation of Animal Owners,
Missouri Livestock Marketing Association, Missouri Pet Breeders
Association, Missouri Pork Associ-ation, Missouri Soybean
Association, the Poultry Federation, the Professional Pet
Association, and two financial institutions.

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Progress against public bullfighting in Tamil Nadu but not in Uttarakhand

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2011:

 

CHENNAI,  Dehrudun–The first weekend of 2011 Pongal harvest festivals in Tamil Nadu,  India,  brought a drop in reported deaths and injuries in jallikattu,  the predominant Indian form of participatory bullfighting–but chiefly because new rules discouraged many communities from hosting jallikattu.  Relative to the unrestrained mayhem at Bunkhal village in Uttarakhand state a month earlier,  that was major progress.

Where jallikattu proceeded,  deaths and injuries continued, despite  enforcement of the new rules by the Animal Welfare Board of India at direction of the Supreme Court of India.  Injuries to bulls are seldom tabulated,  but may be inferred from the counts of human deaths and injuries,  chiefly suffered in attempts to tackle bulls. Read more

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