Category: Law

New Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Act including anti-cruelty language comes into effect

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2011:

PETALING JAYA,  Malaysia— The arrival of 2011 in Malaysia brought into full effect the Wildlife Conservation Act,  a sweeping update of 30-year-old previous legislation that includes under one heading the corpus of Malaysian law covering almost every aspect of human interaction with wild animals.  Like most national wildlife laws,  the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Act covers hunting,  fishing,  capturing wildlife, protection of endangered and threatened species, and dealing with dangerous and “nuisance” wildlife.  It also includes language prohibiting cruelty to wildlife,  including captive wildlife, and establishes basic requirements for zoo management. Read more

What does the Food Safety Modernization Act mean for farmed animal welfare?

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2011:

WASHINGTON D.C.–-U.S. President Barack Obama on January 4,  2011 signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act,  the most extensive update of U.S. food safety legislation since 1938.  The enforcement regulations are due to be completed by 2014.

Though not specifically an animal welfare bill,  the Food Safety Modernization Act has huge implications for animal welfare,  especially in regard to livestock and poultry disease control. The Food Safety Modernization Act specifically does not amend or supercede the Federal Meat Inspection Act,  the Poultry Products Inspection Act,  the Egg Products Inspection Act,  and the Packers & Stockyards Act.  However,  the act includes 28 specific mentions of animals.  Most of the mentions stipulate that the provisions of the Food Safety & Modernization Act extend to protecting animal health as well as human health. Read more

U.S. retail fur industry didn’t get big holiday bounce–& did get Truth in Fur Labeling Act

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2011:


WASHINGTON D.C.-– Experiencing sales declines of 15.5% in 2008 and 7% in 2009,  U.S. retail furriers ballyhooed hopes for a big comeback during the 2010 holiday season.  But the first available sales data suggests they didn’t get it.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that apparel sales were up 2.7%.  But the increase came mostly at department stores,  whose sales were up 2.8%,  not at high-end luxury boutiques.

The department store contribution to the U.S. retail fur trade consists chiefly of selling inexpensive fur-trimmed garments, mostly made abroad.

The biggest news for that branch of the fur trade during the 2010 holiday season was that U.S. President Barack Obama  on December 18 signed into law the Truth in Fur Labeling Act.

Taking effect in March 2011,  the Truth in Fur Labeling Act “finally closes a loophole in federal law that currently allows some animal fur garments to go unlabeled if the value of the fur is $150 or less,  leaving consumers in the dark as to whether they are buying faux or animal fur,” explained Humane Society Legislative Fund president Mike Markarian. Read more

“Lizard King” sentenced

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia–Anson Wong Keng
Liang, 52, on November 6, 2010 saw the
Malaysian High Court increase to five years a
six-month sentence he received from Selang
Sessions Court on September 6 for smuggling boa
constrictors.
Initially trafficking in reptiles via the now
defunct Bukit Jambul Reptile Sanctuary, Wong was
called by Bryan Christy “the most important
person in the international reptile business” in
Christy’s 2008 exposé book The Lizard King.
Arrested in Mexico City in 1998, Wong was
extradited to the U.S., where he served a a
71-months prison term after pleading guilty to
40 counts of smuggling, conspiracy,
money-laundering, and other violations of
wildlife laws.

Read more

Retired judge asks Texas lawmakers to ban pit bulls after two deaths in 15 days

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

TYLER, Texas–Two pit bull terrier attack fatalities in 15
days appear to have put momentum behind retired Tyler district judge
Cynthia Stevens Kent’s campaign to ban pit bull terriers in the state
of Texas.
Both fatalities came within 20 miles of Tyler. Both came
after Kent in September 2010 won a record $7 million liability award
in another local fatal attack case, and after repeated courtroom
failures of Lillian’s Law, a “punish the deed not the breed” statute
passed by the Texas legislature in 2007.

Read more

Grandfather clause contributes to attack

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

DES LACS, N.D.–Grandfather clauses are a common feature of
animal control ordinances, included to ease the passage and initial
enforcement of provisions excluding poultry, livestock, exotic
pets, horses, or dogs of high-risk breed.
The underlying hope of a grandfather clause is that animals
who already live in a community when an ordinance is passed will be
minimally problematic if they are not replaced or augmented by others.

Read more

South African Supreme Court overturns 2007 ministerial ruling against hunting captive lions

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

Bloemfontein, South Africa–Lions will continue to be killed
in put-and-take “canned hunts” in South Africa, the South African
Supreme Court of Appeal ordained on November 29, 2010, reversing a
February 2007 edict by then minister of environmental affairs
Marthinus van Schalkwyk that captive-bred lions had to be returned to
the wild for two years before they could be hunted.
“No doubt the minister was entitled to take account of the
strong opposition and even revulsion expressed by a substantial body
of public opinion to the hunting of captive bred lions,” wrote Judge
Jonathan A. Heher, ruling on behalf of the South Africa Predator
Breeders’ Association. “But in providing an alternative,” Heher
continued, “he was bound to rely on a rational basis. The evidence
proves he did not do so.”

Read more

12 years for dragging horse

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

SAN JUAN, P.R.– Georgenan Lopez, 24, the first person
to be convicted at a jury trial under the Puerto Rican felony cruelty
law passed in August 2008, was in November 2010 sentenced to serve
12 years in prison for dragging a mare behind a truck.
“Judge Jose Montijo told Lopez he had an attitude problem,
did not communicate well with people, and noted that the accused
faced burglary and drug charges previously,” wrote Danica Coto of
Associated Press.
Defense attorney Julian Claudio pledged to appeal the
sentence. Puerto Rican bar association president Osvaldo Toledo
called the length of the sentence a dangerous precedent, and said he
would seek legislative review of the penalties provided by the law.
Surviving the dragging, the mare now lives at a sanctuary in
northeastern Puerto Rico.

New “crush video” bill sent to Obama

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

WASHINGTON D.C., BEIJING– U.S. President Barack Obama was
expected to sign legislation reinstating a ban on the sale of “crush”
videos “in the next week or so,” Humane Society Legislative Fund
president Mike Markarian told ANIMAL PEOPLE near press time. The
bill was approved by the House of Representatives on November 14,
2010, and by the Senate on November 19. It replaces a 1999 law
struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2010 as excessively
broad.
The 1999 bill was opposed by major journalism societies as a
potential threat to news reportage, but most took no position on the
redrafted replacement bill.

Read more

1 … 19 20 21 22 23 … 169