Senior conservation official charged with ordering massacre of gorillas

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
GOMA, DRC–Honore Mashagiro, formerly regional director of
the Congolese Wildlife Authority for Virunga National Park in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, was arrested at his home in Goma
on March 18, 2007 for allegedly orchestrating the killings of 10
gorillas whose remains were discovered in June and July 2007.
DRC environment minister Felicite Kalume announced the
arrest. Agence France-Presse reported that “Six foresters would also
be questioned on suspicion of having trapped and killed the animals
in the site on Mashagiro’s orders.”
“Mashagiro was in a position of great responsibility,”
Wildlife Direct spokesperson Dipesh Pabari told Claire Soares of The
Independent, “and allegedly used his authority to promote the
destruction of forest for charcoal to make money. This threatened
the gorilla habitat, so when the rangers tried to protect the
forest, he allegedly orchestrated the gorilla massacres to
discourage them.”

Chimp Haven leadership dispute ends; Chimp Haven appeals verdict favoring Primarily Primates

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:

KEITHVILLE, La.–A lawsuit among the founders of the Chimp
Haven sanctuary for retired laboratory chimpanzees was on February
14, 2008 quietly dismissed by the Caddo District Court at request of
the plaintiffs.
“According to court documents, Cathe Neukum, one of the
plaintiffs, appeared in court to say she no longer wishes to pursue
the claims,” reported Vickie Welborn of the Shreveport Times on
March 27.

Olympian efforts for animals in China

April 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
BEIJING–Four months before the 2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing, China has yet to introduce a long hoped for and officially
hinted at national humane law–but a newly decreed ban on poultry
slaughter in traditional live markets strikes at the economic
viability of live markets themselves.
“Despite protests by poultry vendors who fear that the ban
will affect their livelihood, the policy will go into effect on
April 1, 2008 and all chicken, geese and ducks should then be
slaughtered at licensed abattoirs,” warned Chinese National Science
Council chair Chen Chien-jen.
Chen Chien-jen also heads the Chinese cabinet task force on
prevention of the H5N1 avian flu, which has killed 19 of the 29
Chinese known to have become infected.
Five H5N1 outbreaks hit poultry in China during the first
quarter of 2008. The most recent Chinese human fatality was a
44-year-old woman from Haifeng County in Guangdong who died on
February 28.

Asia
Law

Dogs Deserve Better founder Grimes sentenced to 300 hours, $3,879 penalties

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
HOLIDAYSBURG, Pa.– Blair County Court Judge Elizabeth Doyle
on February 22, 2008 sentenced Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy
Grimes to do 300 hours of community service, in a capacity helping
humans rather than animals, and to spend a year on probation, for
removing an elderly and apparently painfully dying dog from the yard
of Steve and Lori Arnold of East Freedom, Pennsylvania in September
2006.
Grimes was unsuccessful in attempting to bring a cruelty
prosecution against the Arnolds, after the Central Pennsylvania SPCA
and Blair County district attorney Richard Consiglio refused to press
the case. Grimes was convicted of theft and receiving stolen
property in December 2007.

Judges overturn Bush sonar waiver

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
LOS ANGELES, HONOLULU–U.S. President George W. Bush on
January 15, 2008 exempted the U.S. Navy from a preliminary
injunction creating a 12-nautical-mile no-sonar off Southern
California, meant to protect marine mammals, but the Navy is not
“exempted from compliance with the National Environmental Policy
Act,” U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled on February 4
in Los Angeles.
Three days later, on February 7, U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth
Laporte of San Francisco found that the Navy failed to take adequate
precautions to protect marine mammals before using low-frequency
sonar in submarine detection exercises. Laporte directed the Navy to
establish sonar-free zones around eight locations worldwide that
attract sound-sensitive species.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
then ruled on February 29 in Los Angeles that the Navy must observe
Cooper’s February 4 ruling.

U.S. Supreme Court upholds breed-specific legislation

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Supreme Court on February 19, 2008
upheld the constitutionality of breed-specific dog regulation by
refusing to hear an appeal of Toledo vs. Tellings, a challenge to
the Toledo ordinance limiting possession of pit bull terriers to one
per person, and requiring that pit bulls be muzzled when off their
home property.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of Toledo in August
2007. The Ohio Supreme Court verdict followed other court decisions
upholding breed-specific legislation in Arkansas, Colorado,
Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Utah, Washington,
and Wisconsin.

“Right to rescue” cases in Michigan, Texas, and Ontario, Canada

March 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2008:
The nationally publicized prosecution and sentencing of Dogs
Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes was only the most prominent of
several similar cases attracting significant regional attention at
almost the same time.
“Two dogs chained for five frigid weeks outside an abandoned
home in Eaton County [Michigan] are now in compassionate hands at the
Capital Area Humane Society,” reported John Schneider of the Lansing
State Journal on February 23, 2008. “After arguing with concerned
neighbors for more than a month that he had no legal right to
intervene, Eaton County Animal Control Director Larry Green seized
the dogs Friday morning and delivered them to the humane society.
“Green had been telling residents urging him to act on behalf
of the abandoned animals–and who, out of pity, had been giving
them food and water–that as long as they were being fed and watered,
Animal Control couldn’t use ‘neglect’ as grounds for intervention,”
Schneider recounted.

Dogs Deserve Better founder to be sentenced after Have A Heart for Chained Dogs Week

January 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2008:

HOLIDAYSBURG, Pa.–Tammy Grimes, 43, who founded the
anti-chaining organization Dogs Deserve Better in 2002, will
celebrate Valentine’s Day 2008 by coordinating her 6th annual “Have A
Heart for Chained Dogs Week,” which annually delivers valentines and
treats to as many as 8,000 dogs who live their lives on chains.
Grimes will then be sentenced on February 22 for theft and receiving
stolen property.
Grimes on September 11, 2006 removed an elderly and
apparently painfully dying dog from the yard of Steve and Lori Arnold
of East Freedom, Pennsylvania, after the Central Pennsylvania SPCA
failed to respond to repeated calls about the dog from neighbor Kim
Eichner. Grimes took the dog to the office of Altoona veterinarian
Noureldin Hassane, who testified that he found the dog was in
extremis. Later Grimes took the dog from the clinic and placed him
in a foster home for the remainder of his life. He died on March 1,
2007.

Primarily Primates wins appeal

January 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2008:
SAN ANTONIO–The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on
January 16, 2007 upheld the agreement by which Ohio State University
transferred a research chimpanzee colony to Primarily Primates in
early 2006. The verdict affirmed the earlier finding of the trial
court in Bexar County, Texas. Opposed by both researcher Sally
Boysen and PETA, the transfer touched off a two-year legal battle
that escalated after one chimp died on arrival and another died soon
afterward, both from pre-existing heart conditions.
The dispute included the forced resignation of Primarily
Primates founder Wally Swett; a merger with Friends of Animals; a
six-month court-ordered receivership, during which Primarily
Primates was staffed largely by PETA personnel; and the transfer of
the surviving OSU chimps to Chimp Haven, in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The receivership was terminated in May 2007, after the Texas
Office of Attorney General agreed in an out-of-court settlement to
“fully and completely release, acquit, and forever discharge
Primarily Primates” of allegations brought by PETA. FoA is now
pursuing litigation to recover the chimps, plus animals who were
sent to other sanctuaries.

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