Category: Law

Taiwan toughens anti-dog meat law

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

TAIPEI–Taiwanese legislators on December 16, 2003 approved
stronger regulations against killing and selling dogs and cats for
human consumption.
The anti-dog-and-cat-meat measures were adopted among a package of
strengthening and clarifying amendments to the Animal Protection Law
of 1998, and were introduced with 56 co-sponsors from multiple
political parties, according to the China Post of Taiwan.
“Lacking real teeth, the old regulations only prohibited the
butchering and sale of pet meats,” without providing means of
enforcement, the China Post said.

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SHARK wins Utah civil liberties case

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2003:

PARK CITY, Utah–Conceding that an ordinance prohibiting
mobile video displays during the annual Sundance film festival and
the 2000 Winter Olympics may have infringed the First Amendment, the
Park City council on December 12 repealed parts of the ordinance that
were invoked in 2000 to block rolling protests by SHARK against the
“Command Performance Rodeo,” held as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
Park City also agreed to pay $2,500 to cover SHARK’s legal costs in
suing to overturn the ordinance.
SHARK founder Steve Hindi told ANIMAL PEOPLE that the outcome
sends a signal to other cities that may try to ban the SHARK video
trucks.

Regulations regarding dog & cat freedom

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

Persuaded by testimony from Peaceable Kingdom founder Liz
Jones, plus about 20 other neuter/return practitioners, the
Pennsylvania Game Commission on October 8, 2003 voted unanimously to
drop a proposal to amend a regulation forbidding the “release of
house cats” so as to prohibit the release of any dogs or cats,
including ferals, “into the wild.” The amendment was pushed by the
American Bird Conservancy.

Palm Beach County, Florida, on August 19 adopted a bylaw to
prohibit tethering dogs outside from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., effective on
September 1 and subject to review in early 2004 by the county animal
control advisory board–which reportedly plans to recommend a total
ban on tethering.

Wichita, Kansas, in early September became at least the
28th U.S. municipality to restrict dog tethering, adopting a bylaw
that limits tethering to no more than one hour at a time.

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Hong Kong evicts big dogs from public housing

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

HONG KONG–The Hong Kong Housing Authority on September 25,
2003 approved new rules, recommended by the regional government,
that will ban from public housing any dogs weighing more than 40
pounds and any dogs acquired after August 1.
Possession of the dogs prior to August 1 must be verified by
licensing, vaccination, or sterilization certificates. All dogs
must be licensed, vaccinated, sterilized, and registered with the
Housing Authority by the end of November.
Dogs will be excluded from elevators from 7 a.m. until 9
p.m., and will be evicted if they occasion two verified complaints.
Pigeons, wildlife, and domesticated farm animals remain
excluded, as under the previous regulations.
Cats, cage birds, rabbits, turtles, and fish continue to
be permitted.
About 30% of Hong Kong residents live in public housing.
Heatedly debated since May, the new rules represent the
first significant update of the Housing Authority provisions
pertaining to animals in 40 years, Hong Kong legislator David Chu
Yu-lin told the Asia for Animals conference in early September.

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Mute swan defenders make their voices heard in court

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on
September 17, 2003 agreed to withdraw all permits allowing state and
federal agencies to kill mute swans, settling a lawsuit brought by
the Fund for Animals.
The settlement agreement also requires the Fish & Wildlife
Service to withdraw the Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact that endorsed killing mute swans in 17 states.
“It began with an ill-conceived permit to kill mute swans in
Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, but now the outcome has national
implications for tens of thousands of these graceful and majestic
birds,” Fund for Animals president Michael Markarian said. “The
federal government has pulled the plug on Governor Robert Ehrlich’s
attempt to bow down to Maryland’s corporate polluters and the massive
factory farms–the real causes of damage to Chesapeake Bay–and to
turn defenseless swans into corporate patsies.”
The Ehrlich administration in July 2003 proposed opening a
hunting season on mute swans, which would require U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service approval. Meanwhile, characterizing the allegedly
non-native mute swans as a threat to the ecological integrity of
Chesapeake Bay, Maryland obtained U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
permission to kill up to 3,000 mute swans during the next 10 years.
That authorization is now revoked.

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Dog butcher jailed

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

BAGUIO CITY, The Philippines– Municipal trial court judge
Tomas Tolete on October 6 sentenced convicted dog butcher Enrique
Palaque, 51, of San Pedro, to serve six months in prison.
Reported Agence France-Press, “Palaque was arrested while en
route to another court hearing, where he is a defendant in a similar
case. A lower court in Manila earlier fined Palaque $54 for a
similar offense,” according to regional police superintendent Marvin
Bolabola.
The Philippines banned dog slaughter in 1996, but the law
was rarely enforced before late 2002, after Baguio City journalist
Freddie Farres and the anti-corruption group Linis Gobyerno made the
non-enforcement a public issue.

Bangladesh tiger killers get hard time

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

DHAKA, Bangladesh –Five former Dhaka Zoo employees who
allegedly poisoned four Bengal tigers during a 1996 labor dispute
were on September 10, 2003 sentenced to serve 14 years in prison at
hard labor.
The Pakistan Daily Times heralded “The first-ever verdict on
the killing of animals in Bangladesh,” which from 1948 until 1971
was East Pakistan, separated from the rest of Pakistan by India.
Published from the capital of Bangladesh, the Dhaka Daily
Star did not call the case a first, but gave it prominent coverage
on a day when the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001 al
Qaida terrorist attacks on the U.S. dominated the news.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge Habibur Rahman acquitted nine
co-defendants.
Rahman issued the stiff sentences to the remainder under the
Special Powers Act of 1974, pertaining to crimes allegedly committed
to destabilize the nation.
The tigers were allegedly poisoned between November 9 and 13,
1996, after zoo curator Ashraf Uddin transferred the defendants and
18 other staff members in a crackdown on corruption.
Invoking the Special Powers Act enabled Rahman to impose the
death penalty, but he was lenient, he said, because the “neglect
and indifference” of the prosecution had allowed the case to drag on
for seven years.

Appeals failed, Ferdin jailed

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2003:

LOS ANGELES–Actress Pam Ferdin, 41, on July 16 began
serving a 30-day jail sentence in Los Angeles, California, after
exhausting her appeals of a January 2000 conviction for allegedly
possessing a weapon while on a picket line.
What Ferdin actually had, everyone on either side of the
case agreed, was an ankus, or “bull hook,” used by elephant
handlers. Ferdin displayed it as a prop during an August 1999
demonstration against a San Fernando Valley performance of the Circus
Vargas–and ran afoul of a 1978 ordinance that was passed to curtail
violence during labor disputes. Ferdin fought the charge as an
alleged infringement of her right to free speech.
Ferdin’s husband, surgeon and noted animal advocate Jerry
Vlasek, M.D., on July 18 said she had begun a hunger strike. Both
Ferdin and Vlasek have conducted previous hunger strikes after
arrests in connection with protest.
Ferdin debuted as a child actress in 1964 and worked steadily
in both screen and voice roles through 1979. She continues to do
occasional voice roles, but has focused on a nursing career and
animal advocacy since circa 1990.
A brief but influential Ferdin performance was her 1973 role
in the animated feature Charlotte’s Web as the farm girl Fern, who
pleads with her father to spare the life of the runt piglet she has
raised by hand.

No dogs or homeless humans allowed in Bangkok historic zone

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2003:

BANGKOK, PHUKET, Thailand– Street dogs and homeless humans
are barred from the Rattanakosin historical district in central
Bangkok, city governor Samak Sundaravej declared on August 1.
Issuing an edict that would have excluded the Buddha and his
followers from an area famed for its Buddhist temples, Samak spoke
at a Thai Foreign Ministry meeting held to discuss plans for
beautifying Bangkok before the October 21-22 Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation summit.
Said Samak, according to Supoj Wancharoen of the Bangkok
Post, “Our city is not Calcutta. We must not allow such an eyesore.
They [street dogs and homeless people] must not be there at all
times, not just during the APEC summit.”
Continued Supoj, “A city hall source said the Livestock
Department has set up a shelter in Sa Kaew for some 1,000 stray
dogs,” at estimated cost for feeding and vaccination of $240,000 per
year.

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