Six SHAC suspects convicted–five for “animal enterprise terrorism”

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

TRENTON, New Jersey–Six individuals
associated with “direct action” animal advocacy
and the organization Stop Huntingdon Animal
Cruelty were convicted on March 2, 2006 of
criminal acts against employees of Huntingdon
Life Sciences and companies that did business
with Huntingdon.
“Convicted of conspiracy to commit animal
enterprise terrorism and interstate stalking were
Joshua Harper of Seattle, Andrew Stepanian of
Huntington, New York, and Lauren Gazzola,
Jacob Conroy and Kevin Kjonaas, who lived
together in Pinole, California,” reported John
P. Martin and Brian T. Murray for the Newhouse
News Service. “A sixth defendant, Darius
Fullmer of Hamilton, New Jersey, was found
guilty only on the conspiracy charge,” Martin
and Murray added.
All six had previous arrests in connection with animal advocacy.
Harper, 31, and Conroy, 30, were arrested in
May 1999 for allegedly interfering with an
attempt by members of the Makah tribe to kill a
grey whale in Puget Sound.

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How many times must the ape traffic be exposed, before it is forever banned?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

CAIRO, KANO, NAIROBI–Ten years after the World Society for
the Protection of Animals exposed the Cairo connection in the
international live great ape traffic, five years after Egyptian
customs officials refocused attention on the traffic by drowning a
four-month-old gorilla and a baby chimpanzee in a vat of chemicals at
the Cairo airport after seizing the apes from smugglers, the alleged
perpetrators are still in business, charge independent investigator
Jason Mier and wildlife photographer Karl Amman.
Worse, Mier and Amman say, the alleged perpetrators still
appear to be protected by the apparent collusion, corruption,
indifference, and inefficiency of public officials and airline
personnel in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cameroon.
Some of the same people and ports of entry are apparently
involved in clandestine ivory trafficking exposed by Esmond Martin
and Daniel Stiles in four reports published since 2000.
Mier and Amman recently completed a year-long investigation
of a “group of smugglers I am convinced is the largest operating in
Africa,” Mier told ANIMAL PEOPLE. A zoologist by training, Mier has
worked in Africa since 2000. Amman has investigated African wildlife
trafficking since 1990.

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Breed bans hit court opposition; anti-tethering laws gain favor

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

TOLEDO, TIPTON (Pa.)–A three-judge panel of the Ohio Sixth
District Court of Appeals on March 3, 2006 struck down as
unconstitutional both the Toledo ban on pit bull terriers, in effect
for more than 20 years, and the parts of the Ohio Revised Code on
which the ban was based.
The 2-1 opinion, written by Judge William Skow with assent
from Judge Arlene Singer, reversed a 2004 ruling by Toledo Municipal
Court Judge Francis Gorman.
Lucas County dog warden Tom Skeldon reluctantly instructed
his staff to stop citing Toledo residents for possession of multiple
pit bulls, not carrying dog bite liability insurance, and not
keeping pit bulls under close control.
“We’re not in the pit bull business any more. We’re not in
the vicious-dog business any more,” Skeldon told Erica Blake of the
Toledo Blade. “They’ve taken away our ability to enforce
containment, whether of a German shepherd or a pit bull, whether
the dog has bitten someone or not.”

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New Jersey sues coin-can fundraiser

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

NEWARK–New Jersey Attorney General Zulima V. Farber and
Consumer Affairs Director Kimberly Ricketts on February 1, 2006 sued
seeking “civil monetary penalties and to enjoin the National Animal
Welfare Foundation Inc. and its principal, Patrick G. Jemas, from
any future charitable activities in New Jersey,” they announced in a
joint news release.
“Between fiscal years 2002 and 2005, NAWF collected $70,795
in canister donations,” Farber and Ricketts explained, “but spent
$75,891 on fundraising, payroll, meals, automobiles, printing,
and other undefined areas. In only one fiscal year,” Farber and
Ricketts continued, “did reported donations exceed reported
expenses.”
Jemas’ activities came to light in September 2002 though a
“phony organizations” alert issued by Associated Humane Societies of
New Jersey executive director Rosanne Trezza, then assistant
director.

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$1.2 million for wrongful dismissal

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

HOUSTON–The Texas 1st Court of Appeals in mid-February 2006
upheld a $1.2 million state district court jury award for wrongful
dismissal made to former Houston city veterinarian Sam Levingston,
DVM, 75.
“The case began when Levingston, who worked for the city for
eight years, sued the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care after he
was fired in May 2000,” wrote Alexis Grant of the Houston Chronicle.
“He said he was fired for complaining that employees were not
properly caring for animals. The city said Levingston was fired
because a dog and her puppies died while in his care.”
Houston city attorney’s office division chief Connie Acosta
said the city would seek a rehearing.

Jail time for cruelty in Croatia

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

ZAGREB–A Croatian court for the first time jailed an animal
abuser, Animal Friends Croatia e-mailed on January 27, 2006, after
Judge Jasna Zoretic gave Ostoja Babi five months, one month less
than the maximum, for severely beating his dog in December 2004. A
police officer shot the dog to end her suffering.
“Animal Friends Croatia staged a demonstration in front of
Babic’s house and collected more than 2,400 petition signatures in
less than a week,” demanding the prosecution, the AFC e-mail said.
Animal Friends Croatia is now seeking to increase the
Croatian penalties for extreme animal abuse, and bar persons
convicted of extreme abuse from ever again keeping animals.

Film star gets year in prison for poaching

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

JODHPUR–Indian film star Salman Khan, 40, on February 17,
2006 was sentenced to serve a year in prison and was fined an amount
equal to about $125 U.S. for poaching two chinkara deer on the nights
of September 26-27, 1998.
This was the first of four poaching cases pending against
Khan, who is also fighting vehicular manslaughter charges in Mumbai
for killing a man in a 2002 traffic accident.
Jodhpur Chief Judicial Magistrate B.K. Jain acquitted seven
others accused in the 1998 chinkara poaching case, including
comedian Satish Shah.
Among the stars-of-the-month depicted in the 1999 World
Wildlife Fund-India calendar, Salman Khan often led illegal shooting
parities into the Rajasthan desert during fall 1998, witnesses
testified, but repeated complaints to police and wildlife officials
failed to bring him to justice.

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Lousiana Supreme Court allows local cockfighting ban

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

NEW ORLEANS–Cockfighting is legal in Louisiana because no
state law says it isn’t. However, since no law expressly authorizes
it either, Caddo Parish has the right to ban it, the Louisiana
Supreme Court ruled on January 19.
“The decision overturned a district court order which kept
Sheriff Steve Prator from enforcing the parish animal cruelty
ordinance,” wrote Janet McConnaughey of Associated Press. “The
parish ban was passed in 1987, but Prator said it had never been
enforced until numerous complaints about cockfights at the Piney
Woods Game Club and the Ark-La-Tex Game Club Inc. prompted him to
look into the parish laws.”
The clubs sued, arguing that parrots and canaries are the
only birds covered by the state anti-cruelty law. Ark-La-Tex
secretary Drena Nix told McConnaughey that she expects to sue again,
since her club was given a business license when opened in 1997.

Hong Kong tries again

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

Hong Kong banned keeping chickens and ducks as pets,
effective on February 20, 2006, after H5N1 was confirmed in 10 wild
birds of four different species.
Hong Kong tried to ban and cull other bird species kept as
pets when H5N1 first appeared in 1996, killing six residents, but
many people released their pets rather than allowing them to be
killed–which might have spread the disease if any of the pet birds
had been infected.
Doing door-to-door inspections, the Hong Kong Agriculture,
Fisheries and Conservation Department found 42 illegal bird-keepers
with 180 chickens and 57 other fowl in their possession, among the
first 43,600 households visited. They also found 1,000
chickens at an illegal slaughterhouse.
The Hong Kong Health, Welfare, & Food Bureau asked the
Legislative Council to ban live poultry sales by 2009, a goal the
bureau has pursued for more than 10 years. Under a permit buy-back
plan introduced in 2004, 272 of 814 live chicken vendors and 30 of
200 Hong Kong chicken growers have gone out of business, the bureau
said.

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