China completes draft animal welfare legislation

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
BEIJING, MOSCOW– China on July 7, 2009 announced the
completion of a draft national animal welfare law. To be published
for public comment in August 2009, “The proposed draft clearly
delineates how animals should be raised, transported, and
slaughtered,” reported China Central Television, the state
broadcasting company. “It also calls for penalties and criminal
punishment for animal abuse. The draft law covers wildlife, farm
and companion animals.”
“Severe violators could be sent to prison, while lighter
punishments would include fines and detention of fewer than 15 days,”
elaborated a report in the English-language Global Times.

Asia
Law

Helmsley estate case

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
NEW YORK CITY–The Humane Society of the U.S., Maddie’s
Fund, and the American SPCA on August 11, 2009 asked the Manhattan
Surrogate Court to overturn a February 2009 ruling by Judge Troy K.
Webber that allowed the trustees of the late hotelier Leona
Helmsley’s estate to allocate about $5 billion to human service
charities, instead of for the benefit of dogs, as Helmsley asked in
her will. The trustees in April 2009 distributed $136 million to
human service charities, $900,000 to charities that train guide
dogs, and $100,000 to the ASPCA, the only animal charity named.

Ontario pit ban upheld

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
OTTAWA–A three-judge panel of the Supreme Court of Canada on
June 11, 2009 refused to hear Ontario dog keeper Catherine
Cochrane’s last appeal in an attempt to overturn the 2005 Dog Owners’
Liability Act. The act bans from Ontario any dog who “has an
appearance and physical characteristics that are substantially
similar” to those of pit bull terriers, Stafford-shire bull
terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, and American pit bull
terriers.
Pit bulls already in Ontario when the law passed may be kept
if they are licensed, sterilized, and kept muzzled and leashed when
in public.
“The total ban on pit bulls is not ‘arbitrary’ or ‘grossly
disproportionate’ in light of the evidence that pit bulls have a
tendency to be unpredictable and that even apparently docile pit
bulls may attack without warning or provocation,” the Ontario Court
of Appeal ruled in October 2008.
Cochrane was represented by renowned civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby.

Finch fighting busted in Connecticut

June 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
DERBY, Connecticut–All 19 defendants in the first
finch-fighting case in the U.S. that anyone could remember on August
11, 2009 surrendered title to 150 saffron finches who were seized in
a July 26 raid on the home of Jurames Goulart, 42, of Shelton,
Connecticut. Goulart, Sebastian Andrade, 37, and Nonato Raimundo,
51, both of Danbury, were charged with organizing a finch-fighting
ring that drew gamblers from as far as Massachusetts, New York, and
New Jersey. The other arrestees were charged as spectators.

Verdict pending in trial of two Sea Shepherd crew

June 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:
SYDNEY, Nova Scotia– Provincial court judge Jean Whalen on
April 30, 2009 said she would rule on June 30 as to whether Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society crew members Alex Cornelissen of Sweden
and Peter Hammarstedt of the Netherlands sailed closer to sealers
three times in 2008 than is allowed without an observer permit.
Cornelissen and Hammarstedt, captain and first mate of the
impounded Sea Shepherd vessel Farley Mowat, were tried in absentia.
Deported from Canada after the Farley Mowat was seized, they were
barred from re-entering, according to the Sea Shepherds. The
prosecution claimed that defendants in trials are allowed to return
to Canada to face charges in court proceedings.

European Union bans seal products

June 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:
RAMKIN INLET, Nunavut; BRUSSELS–The European Union on May
5, 2009 banned the import of seal pelts and other sealing
byproducts. Canadian governor general Michaelle Jean on May 27,
2009 responded by taking a bite from the heart of a freshly killed
seal.
“Hundreds of Inuit had gathered for a community feast in
Rankin Inlet in Nunavut, the first stop on Jean’s trip to nine
remote northern communities as Canada’s head of state and
representative of Queen Elizabeth II,” recounted Agence
France-Presse. “Jean reportedly knelt above the carcass of a freshly
slaughtered seal and used a traditional ulu blade to slice meat off
the skin. She then asked one of her hosts: ‘Could I try the
heart?”’ Jean swallowed one piece, according to Canadian Press,
pleasing her Inuit audience, the Atlantic Canadian sealing industry,
and the Canadian fur trade.

European seal pelt import ban will hit fur trade already in decline

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
STRASBOURG–The European Parliament is likely to approve a
ban on the import of seal pelts at a May 5, 2009 plenary session,
but is expected to allow Canada and Norway to continue exporting seal
pelts through the European Union member nations to reach markets in
China and Russia.
The ban will also exempt seal products made “for cultural,
educational or ceremonial purposes” by the Inuit people of northern
Canada.
Information leaked to ANIMAL PEOPLE at deadline indicates
that the draft ban approved on March 2, 2009 by the European
Parliament’s internal market and consumer protection committee was
amended before presentation to the plenary session to mitigate
concerns that Canada and Norway will appeal the legislation to the
World Trade Organization.

New Mexico ends gassing just ahead of big gamecock bust

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:

SANTA FE–New Mexico Gov-ernor Bill
Richardson on April 7, 2009 signed a bill making
New Mexico the 18th U.S. state to ban gassing
dogs and cats.
The bill allocates $100,000 to help the
last four shelters in the state that use gas
chambers convert to using lethal injection.
Richardson also endorsed a bill that will
permit state-licensed euthanasia technicians to
buy and use euthanasia drugs. The technicians
need not be veterinarians and need not work in
the presence of a vet.

Ontario pit bull ban appealed to Supreme Court

May 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
TORONTO–Civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby on April 16, 2009
petitioned the Supreme Count of Canada to appeal an October 2006
Ontario Court of Appeal verdict which upheld the breed-specific Dog
Owners Liability Act.
The 2005 act forbids breeding, selling, or keeping a pit
bull within Ontario, except for pit bulls who were already licensed
in Ontario when the act took effect. Those dogs must be sterilized,
and must be kept leashed and muzzled when in public. A lower court
weakened the act in March 2007, holding the term “pit bull terrier”
to be too imprecise, but the Ontario Court of Appeal restored the
act as written.

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