Efforts continue to ban the “elephant hook”

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

BOSTON–“All ears to the plight of the
GOP symbol,” according to Boston Herald reporter
Jessica Van Sack, Massachusetts state senator
Robert Hedlund has tried since 2004 to ban
keeping elephants in chains and striking them
with the ankus, or bullhook. The 2006 edition
cleared the Massachusetts senate, but not the
house of delegates. The 2009 edition reached a
legislative hearing on November 16.
A Republican representing Weymouth,
Plymouth and Norfolk, Hedlund distances himself
from those he calls “politically correct
left-wing do-gooders,” but concerning chaining
and the ankus, “”The more I got involved in the
issue, the more I became passionate about it and
emotionally tied to it, knowing the abusive
conditions these animals have to endure,” he
told Van Sack.

Dog dealers raided at jet speed

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

PHILADELPHIA–Will air power trump horse-and-buggy in the
courts of law and public opinion?
Main Line Animal Rescue founder Bill Smith on October 7,
2009 bet that it will, relying on jet speed to gather evidence that
he hopes will finish the image of Pennsylvania puppy millers as
plain, simple people who are just out of step with modern times.
Amish dog breeders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and
upstate New York have come to dominate the dog breeding industry in
the northeastern U.S. during the past 20 years. The Amish reputation
for producing quality handcrafted furniture, growing pesticide-free
fruit and vegetables, and managing farms that look like those of a
century ago has helped the dog breeders–but traditional commercial
dog-breeding practices were unacceptable to the humane community even
120 years ago, and are much less so in light of vastly increased
knowledge about what dogs need to become happy, healthy,
well-behaved pets.

India bans keeping elephants in zoos & circuses

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

NEW DELHI–The Central Zoo Authority of
India on November 9, 2009 sent a rumble
throughout the world with a decree that elephants
may no longer be exhibited by zoos and circuses.
Rumored to be coming for more than 18
months, the order came from the government of
the nation with the most captive elephants,
about 3,500 in all; the oldest history of
elephant use and exhibition, about 3,500 years;
the largest population of wild Asian elephants,
approximately 28,000; and the longest record of
protecting both elephants and elephant habitat,
beginning about 2,240 years ago.

Florida busts chase pens

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

FORT WALTON BEACH–The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation
Commission in mid-November 2009 concluded ten months of both
undercover and aerial surveillance of unlicensed chase pens by
charging 12 people with buying and possessing live foxes and coyotes
without having permits, and issuing citations to 46 people who
brought dogs to pursue the foxes and coyotes.
There are six legal chase pens left in Florida, where dogs
may be released to harass and attack foxes and coyotes who cannot
escape from the pens, though they may have hiding places. The foxes
and coyotes must be vaccinated against rabies, and must come from
rabies-free states.

Animals key in Le murder & Dugard kidnap cases

September 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut; ANTIOCH, Calif.– Animals were

central to two of the most sensational crimes against humans coming
to light in late summer 2009.
Yale University lab animal technician Raymond Clark III, 24,
was on September 18, 2009 charged with killing Annie Le, 24, a
pharmacology Ph.D. candidate. Le disappeared on September 8. Her
remains were found on September 13–scheduled to have been her
wedding day–hidden behind a wall in the lab where she and Clark both
worked.

“One free bite” common law premise is overturned in Ohio & Texas

September 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:
COLUMBUS–Ruling against the centuries-old “one free bite”
presumption of common law, the Ohio Supreme Court on August 26,
2009 upheld the constitutionality of a Youngstown ordinance that
defines a vicious dog as any dog who has “a propensity, tendency or
disposition to attack, to cause injury to or otherwise endanger the
safety of human beings or other domestic animals,” or any dog who
“attacks a human being or another domestic animal without
provocation.”
The Youngstown ordinance breaks from common law in that it
does not require a prior history of dangerous behavior to define a
dog as vicious. The Youngstown ordinance itself is not
breed-specific, but it implements an Ohio state law which defines
pit bull terriers and other fighting breeds as inherently vicious.
The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the state law in 1991.

U.S. Marine Corps pit bull, Rottweiler, & wolf hybrid ban is now in effect

September 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:

HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS,
Virginia–Residents of U.S. Marine Corps base
housing worldwide have until October 11, 2009 to
meet new requirements for keeping any pit bull
terriers, Rottweilers, or wolf hybrids they
already have. No resident of Marine Corps
housing has been allowed to acquire any new dog
of these breeds since August 11, 2009.
Signed by Major General Edward Usher,
deputy commandant of installations and logistics
worldwide, the Marine Corps order was finalized
nine days after Trista Talton of the Marine Corps
Times published excerpts from a draft version and
predicted that it might take effect in September.

1990s HFA campaign still bringing vealer convictions

September 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:
MILWAUKEE–Brown Packing Company, a leading U.S. veal
producer, on August 10, 2009 agreed to plead guilty to felony
conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and to pay a fine of
$2 million for illegally giving hormones and steroids to veal calves
between 1997 and 2004, while marketing the meat as “all natural.”
The case was the latest of a 15-year series of successful
prosections of major players in the veal industry for misuse of
hormones and steroids. An informant tipped the Food & Drug
Administration to the violations in 1989, but serious
investigation did not start until February 1994, after an outbreak
of poisoning caused by the synthetic steroid clenbuterol hit at least
140 people who ate contaminated veal in an unrelated case in Spain.
Pressured by the Humane Farming Association, the U.S. Department of
Justice eventually won convictions of at least eight executives of
leading veal firms. Among them were the Dutch entrepreneurs who
brought the crated veal industry to the U.S. in the first place,
circa 1962.

Busting puppy mills vs. busted budgets

September 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2009:
LANSING, MI; WASHINGTON D.C.– Impoundments of dogs from
alleged puppy mills are coming at a pace, entering the last quarter
of 2009, that could top 10,000 for the year–up from about 8,000 in
2008 and 3,000, then the most on record, in 2007.
Many of the seizures are enabled by the passage of new
legislation regulating conditions at dog breeding facilities, at pet
stores, and in transit. The impoundments are in turn attracting the
attention of lawmakers, bringing further regulatory reinforcement.
Among the last acts of the 2009 California legislature was
sending to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger “The Responsible Breeder
Act of 2009, ” limiting the number of dogs and cats an individual or
business may keep to breed for the pet market.
“Arizona, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington passed
legislation [earlier] this year to address puppy mills. In 2008,
Virginia, Louisiana and Pennsylvania passed similar laws,”
recounted Humane Society Legislative Fund president Mike Markarian,
celebrating the passage of a second round of legislation in
Pennsylvania.

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