Special prosecutor to probe University of Wisconsin use of decompression

June 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2010:
MADISON–Dane County Circuit Court Judge Amy Smith on June 2,
2010 found probable cause to believe that nine University of
Wisconsin at Madison researchers and faculty members have for more
than 20 years violated state law by killing sheep in a hyperbaric
chamber, also known as a decompression chamber.
Judge Smith appointed attorney David A. Geier to serve as
special prosecutor in determining whether the scientists and their
supervisors should face criminal charges.
Of 303 sheep exposed to decompression since 2000 in
experiments performed at the university’s diving physiology
laboratory, funded by the U.S. Navy, three sheep have died while
still in the hyperbaric chamber. Another 23 sheep have died within
24 hours of being removed from the chamber.

Appellate court upholds warrantless entry and seizure to save animal’s life

June 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2010:

LOS ANGELES–A three-judge panel of the California Second
District Court of Appeal ruled on June 3, 2010 that warrantless
entry of private property and seizure of an animal may be permitted
if necessary to save the animal’s life. The verdict was among the
first to recognize “exigent circumstances” in an animal-related case
reaching an appellate court.
Wrote the court, “Where an officer [of law enforcement] reasonably believes an animal is in immediate need of aid due to
injury or mistreatment, the exigent circumstances exception to the
warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment may be invoked.”
William Heyman, attorney for defendant Keith Chung, pledged
to further appeal the verdict.

Judge dissolves embattled Hudson SPCA

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
JERSEY CITY–Ruling that the Hudson County SPCA “has
repeatedly conducted business in an unlawful manner, at a great
loss, with great prejudice to the interests of creditors, in a
manner prejudicial to the public,” Hudson County Superior Court
Judge Thomas Olivieri on April 22, 2010 ordered that the
121-year-old society be dissolved.
“The Hudson County SPCA has suspended ordinary activities for
lack of funds,” Olivieri found, while “The record clearly and
convincingly substantiates that at least $800,000 disappeared.”
Olivieri ruled in a case brought by the New Jersey attorney
general, Hudson Animal Advocates, and the Jersey City Division of
Health, against Hudson SPCA president Hector Carbajales, his wife
Zoey Carbalales, and unnamed board members.

New threat to Kenya hunt ban

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
NAIROBI–A draft Wildlife Bill proposed to the Kenyan
parliament but not yet raised for debate would split the Kenya
Wildlife Service into three separate agencies–and ease the way for
reintroducing sport hunting to Kenya, after a 33-year hiatus,
charges African Network for Animal Welfare founder Josphat Ngonyo.
Kenyan wildlife policy formation would be done under the
Ministry for Wildlife, rather than within KWS under ministerial
authority. A new Kenya Wildlife Regulatory Authority would be
created to supervise wildlife management on private land. The
present Kenya Wildlife Service would contract to focus on managing
the 61 Kenyan national parks and wildlife reserves, conducting law
enforcement, and doing wildlife research.

Gassing in animal shelters nears abolition, but continues on farms & in fields

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

Momentum toward abolition of gassing
shelter animals was evident in seven of the last
states where gassing continues as the May 2010
edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, but a
faxed publicity release received near deadline
made clear that abolishing carbon monoxide
chambers will be just the start of abolishing
gassing altogether.
The publicity release touted kits for
connecting the exhaust pipes of cars, trucks,
and lawn mowers to hoses, in order to gas
burrowing animals with unfiltered hot fumes.
The American Veterinary Medical
Association still accepts use of gassing to kill
small animals, including dogs, cats, and
captive wildlife, but not gassing with exhaust
fumes. “Fumes from idling gasoline internal
combustion enginesŠare associated with problems
such as production of other gases, achieving
inadequate concentrations of carbon monoxide,
[and] inadequate cooling of the gas,”
summarizes the AVMA publication Guidelines on
Euthanasia. “Therefore, the only acceptable
source is compressed carbon monoxide in
cylinders.”

Massachusetts bans devocalizing dogs

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
BOSTON–Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick on April 24,
2010 signed into law An Act Prohibiting Devocalization, only the
second state law to ban debarking dogs, the first to cover almost
all dogs, and the first anti-devocalization law covering most dogs
to advance with a strong chance of passage since 2000.
“New Jersey has a law banning devocalization, but there are
a number of broad exceptions that make it generally unenforceable,”
explained Animal Law Coalition attorney Laura Allen, who drafted the
Massachusetts law. “The only exception in the Massachusetts law,”
Allen said, “is for medical necessity as determined by a licensed
veterinarian for disease, injury or a congenital condition that is
causing or could cause the animal harm or pain and suffering.”

U.S. Supreme Court strikes down law that banned cruelty videos

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Supreme Court
on April 20, 2010 by a vote of 8-1 struck down
18 U.S.C. § 48, the 1998 federal law that
prohibited interstate sales of video depictions
of illegal cruelty to animals.
The law was written to ban “crush
videos,” a form of pornography in which the
participants trample small animals, but the only
case brought to court under 18 U.S.C. § 48 was
U.S. v. Stevens, a 2004 federal prosecution in
Pennsylvania of Virginia resident Robert G.
Stevens for selling videotapes of Japanese
dogfighting and “hog/dog rodeo.”

Suicides of suspects may be trend in animal cases

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
MISSOULA–A coroner’s jury on April 16, 2010 ruled that
accused cat torturer Gary Lee Bassett, 63, shot himself on February
4, 2010, seconds after Missoula police with a warrant for his
arrest on felony charges kicked his door open.
Bassett was among four animal cruelty and neglect suspects
who were found to have shot themselves in February 2010, while
accused in cases that provoked community outrage. Criminal suspects
in cases that bring strong public shame have long been known to be at
steeply elevated risk of suicide. Crimes against animals have
usually not been associated with suicide, but the flurry of recent
cases suggest that this may be changing.

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds 2008 California anti-downer law

April 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2010:

SAN FRANCISCO–The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit on March 31, 2010 upheld both California legislation
prohibiting the slaughter of downed livestock and the principle that
states may enforce livestock handling and slaughter standards more
stringent than those required by federal law.
Introduced by assembly member Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank) at
request of the Humane Farming Association, the California law made a
misdemeanor of buying, selling, processing, or butchering a
non-ambulatory animal for human consumption. Downed animals must
instead be euthanized.

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