Category: Law

New Mexico bans cockfighting

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:

SANTA FE–New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on March 12,
2007 signed into law a bill banning cockfighting, leaving Louisiana
as the last U.S. state that allows it.
“Today, New Mexico joins 48 other states in affirming that
deliberately killing animals for entertainment and profit is no
longer acceptable,” said State Senator Mary Jane Garcia (D-Dona Ana),
who pushed prohibiting cockfights for 18 years.
Thirteen New Mexico counties had already individually banned
cockfighting.
Taking effect on June 15, “The bill makes participating in
cockfights a petty misdemeanor on first offense, a misdemeanor on
second offense, and a fourth-degree felony– punishable by up to 18
months in prison–for a third or subsequent offense. Spectators
could not be charged,” summarized Deborah Baker of Associated Press.
“The push for change was homegrown,” reported Los Angeles
Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi. “When Garcia took office in
1989, a male colleague suggested she try to ban cockfighting. Her
bill was easily defeated” Riccardi recalled, “and Garcia soon
learned that the ban suggestion was a sort of hazing to which veteran
legislators subjected young female colleagues.”

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South Africa regulates–but does not ban–killing captive lions

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
CAPE TOWN–“We are putting an end, once
and for all, to the reprehensible practice of
canned hunting,” insisted South African
environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk at a
February 20, 2007 press conference in Cape Town.
“South Africa has a long standing
reputation as a global leader on conservation
issues. We cannot allow our achievements to be
undermined by rogue practices such as canned lion
hunting,” van Schalkwyk continued.
Effective on June 1, 2007, van Schalwyk
said, the new regulations will prohibit “hunting
large predators and rhinoceros who are ‘put and
take’ animals–in other words, a captive-bred
animal who is released on a property for the
purpose of hunting within twenty-four months.
Hunting should be about fair chase,” van
Schalkwyk said. “Over the years that got eroded
and now we are trying to re-establish that
principal.”

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Iditarod musher not charged for beating dogs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:

ANCHORAGE–Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters on
March 19, 2007 told news media that 2002 and 2003 Iditarod dog sled
race runner-up and 1999 Yukon Quest winner Ramy Brooks, 38, of
Healy, Alaska, would not be investigated or charged with cruelty
for allegedly beating his team about 90 miles from the end of the
2007 Iditarod.
Twenty-two miles from the end, one of Brooks’ dogs, named
Kate, died. A necropsy on the three-year-old dog was inconclusive,
race marshall Mark Nordman told Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen.
“Brooks admitted to spanking each of his 10 dogs with a trail
marker after two refused to get up and continue running outside the
checkpoint of Golovin on the Bering Sea coast,” reported Associated
Press writer Jeannette J. Lee.

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Ex-orang trainer Berosini loses again

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2007:
SAN FRANCISCO–The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on
February 6, 2007 upheld a lower court order that former Las Vegas
orangutan trainer Bobby Berosini owed $340,230 in legal fees and
interest to law firms representing former PETA executive director
Jeanne Roush.
The money was paid in May 2000, but Berosini appealed. The
appellate verdict appeared to end 17 years of litigation originating
in 1988, when PETA distributed a video clandestinely made by one of
Berosini’s employees, which showed Berosini striking an orangutan
backstage. Berosini won a $3.1 million defamation verdict against
PETA in 1990, but lost on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

PETA defendants in North Carolina animal killing are acquitted of cruelty, convicted of littering

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

 

WINTON, N.C.–A Hertford County jury on February 2, 2007
cleared PETA staffers Adria J. Hinkle and Andrew B. Cook of cruelty
charges, after a two-week trial, but convicted both of littering
for leaving dead dogs and cats in a dumpster.
The animals were taken from animal control holding facilities
in Hertford, Bertie, and Northampton counties.
“The two were each given a 10-day suspended sentence, 12
months of supervised probation, 50 hours of community service, and
a $1,000 fine. They will split the $5,975 restitution costs,”
reported Lauren King of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
“Their van will be confiscated,” added Samuel Spies of
Associated Press.

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EU rules for moles

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
BRUSSELS–The European Commission in February 2007 upheld a
ruling by the European Union Health & Safety Executive that
strychnine may no longer be used to kill moles. The verdict means
all burrowing mammals should now be safer from poisoning, either as
targeted or accidental victims.
“Last September a new EU law regulated a wide range of
poisons, including strychnine, to ensure they were safe and had no
harmful effect on the environment,” explained Charles Clover of the
Daily Telegraph. “Manufacturers failed to offer evidence that proved
strychnine does not harm the environment, so the British government
appealed to the EU on behalf of the 3,000 licensed users of the
poison who kill moles on grassland or golf courses. ”
The appeal was denied.

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Appeals Court upholds Texas horse slaughter ban

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
NEW ORLEANS–The 5th U.S. Circuuit Court of Appeals on
January 20, 2007 ruled that Dallas Crown Inc. of Kaufman, Texas,
and Beltex Corp., of Fort Worth, have killed horses for human
consumption in violation of a 1949 state law. The ruling in effect
reinstated the law, but halted horse slaughter at the two facilities
for only two weeks.
Holding about 100 horses who were already on the premises or
en route when the court ruled, Dallas Crown refused an offer from
the Humane Society of the U.S. to take them to a sanctuary, and
killed them on February 5, said HSUS media contact Polly Shannon.
“A trailer from Cosco Container Lines Americas, Inc. was seen parked
outside the plant,” Shannon said, but what was actually done with
the horses’ meat was unknown.

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BOOKS: Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty:
A Guide for Veterinary & Law Enforcement Professionals
by Leslie Sinclair, DVM, Melinda Merck, DVM,
& Randall Lockwood, Ph.D.
Humane Society Press (c/o Humane Society of the U.S., 2100 L St.,
NW, Washington, DC 20037), 2006. 262 pages, paperback. $59.95.

Cruelty investigators and shelter veterinarians who take
their jobs seriously will read Forensic Investigation of Animal
Cruelty cover to cover, then wear it to tatters re-reading and
referencing it. The $59.95 price tag is steep for a paperback book,
but the information within it can save the cover cost many times over
in resolving even one cruelty case, by saving investigative time,
helping investigators to avoid false alarms and dead ends, bringing
more perpetrators to justice, and winning more convictions on
stronger charges.

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Landmark verdict in Jaipur elephant case

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:
JAIPUR–Eighteen years after a jeep killed an elephant used
to give tourists rides up the narrow, winding road to the Amer
Palace overlooking Jaipur, the Rajasthan High Court on December 20,
2006 upheld a 1993 ruling by the Motor Accident Tribunal of Jaipur
that elephant owner Saddique Khan should be compensated the same
amount as if the elephant had been a human being.
The sum, about $12,500 U.S. plus interest, is to be paid by
the New India Insurance Company. The company contended that it
should only pay the standard rate for livestock of equivalent size,
about $41.50 as of 1988, when the accident happened.

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