MARINE LIFE

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

Russian prime minister Victor

Chernomyrdin on October 7 signed approval

of the International Whaling Commission

agreement, reached last May, to establish a

Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary including

most waters below the 40th parallel south lati-

tude. Just amonth earlier his administration

formally objected to the sanctuary––the cre-

ation of which Russia supported at the IWC

meeting, against heavy pressure from Japan

and Norway. Because Russia objected in 1982

to the IWC-established international moratori-

um on commercial whaling, the objection to

the sanctuary meant that under IWC rules

Russia would have been uniquely entitled to

kill whales in Antarctic waters, exempt from

retaliatory trade sanctions. The turnabout came

two days after the Russian coastguard sank a

Japanese trawler near the disputed island of

Shikotan, and six days before a Russian mili-

tary airplane fired on a Norwegian trawler

which allegedly intruded upon a military exer-

cise in Arctic waters.

Wiseguys don’t faze Watson

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.– –Kathleen Marquardt, chair of

the anti-animal rights group Putting People First, debuted October 3 as

host of Grassroots Radio, a daily two-hour talk show on the Talk America

Network, carried 4-6 p.m. EST. First-week guests, a who’s who of wise-

use wiseguys, included biomedical researcher Adrian Morrison, predator

restoration foe Troy Mader of Abundant Wildlife, and Ron Arnold, self-

designated founder of the “wise use” movement, whose funding reputedly

comes largely from Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church.

The second week, Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd

Conservation Society debated George Blichtfield of the pro-whaling High

North Alliance, whom he was to have debated on July 6 while en route to

protest whaling off the northern coast of Norway. That debate was can-

celled when the Norwegian patrol boat Andennes rammed Watson’s ves-

sel, the Whales Forever. “He asked me if it was true that I’d said some

day we will be able to communicate with whales and will regret what

we’ve done to them,” Watson chuckled. “I said ‘Yes. What’s your point,

George?’ He said, ‘That’s stupid,’ and then just lost it. Marquardt

seemed pretty timid––she hardly said a thing.”

From Trouble to good faith: A chat with Dale Schwindaman, top cop for the Animal Welfare Act

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Dale Schwindaman called

to talk about Trouble.

As USDA Deputy Administrator for Regulatory

Enforcement and Animal Care, Schwindaman is the top cop

at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service––the exec-

utive responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act. On

the beat since the act was passed in 1966, Schwindaman

took charge two years ago with strong concerns about long-

standing problems that hadn’t been effectively addressed,

determination to do something about it, and a few ideas

about doing it by speaking softly while carrying a big stick.

Pet theft in particular bothered him. Schwindaman

spent much of his time from 1966 until 1981 trying to nab

the “random source” animal dealers who fence stolen dogs

and cats to laboratories. In those days he didn’t have the

laws, the budget, or the political backing to succeed. After

moving to the USDA veterinary branch for a decade, how-

ever, Schwindaman returned to APHIS just as the Pet Theft

Act of 1990 took effect, enabling the USDA to crack down

on dealers who can’t document the origin of the animals they

sell––whether or not the animals are traced to theft.

Hawaii dolphins lived, by Steven C. Sipman

November 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:

It has been brought to my attention that an otherwise excellent and infor-

mative article in the September 1994 issue of ANIMAL PEOPLE in which my

name was mentioned contains a few errors which should be corrected. The article

unfortunately omitted documented facts regarding the release of two bottlenose dol-

phins from a University of Hawaii research station in 1977. The article stated,

“One vanished; the other was killed within 24 hours when waves dashed her

against a coral reef. Her chances of survival were dubious to begin with.”

Neither dolphin vanished. Puka, the first dolphin, simply swam away.

The other, Kea, was not killed, as was reported. Witnesses confirmed that she was

slightly roughed up in a bungled recapture attempt by inept volunteers.

Both dolphins have been reported together and in the company of other

dolphins by University of Hawaii scientists, professional divers, lifeguards, and

Harbor Patrol employees, days, weeks, and months after their release. Such evi-

dence has been entered into court under oath.

Where are the Ocean World dolphins?

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Twelve dolphins from the

defunct Ocean World marine park in Fort

Lauderdale were flown to the St.

Anthony’s Key dolphin swim facility in

Honduras on September 15 in an expedit-

ed deal that raised the suspicion of release

advocates––especially after former Ocean

World dolphin trainer and longtime critic

of the facility Russ Rector said September

18 that an Ocean World staffer had told

him six dolphins were never unloaded at

St. Anthony’s, but instead were flown on

to the Isla Mujares resort near Cancun,

Mexico, where visitors may swim with

either dolphins or sea turtles.

MARINE LIFE

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Earth Island Institute and

Public Citizen on September 14 sued

the Commerce Department, alleging

non-enforcement of the requirement

that Gulf of Mexico shrimpers use tur-

tle excluders to keep endangered sea

turtles from getting caught in their

nets. The Commerce Dept. says the

excluders cut shrimp catches by 5%;

the Texas Shrimp Association says it’s

more like 20%. Irate shrimpers are

blamed for killing more than 270 tur-

tles whose mutilated remains have

been found since March. The National

Marine Fisheries Service has posted a

$10,000 reward for information bring-

ing the arrest of the culprits.

Russia objects; MAY IGNORE WHALE SANCTUARY WITH IMPUNITY

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

MOSCOW, Russia– – Already

holding a formal objection to the global whal-

ing moratorium decreed by the International

Whaling Commission in 1986, Russia on

September 13 filed an objection to the May

creation of the Southern Ocean Whale

Sanctuary as well––meaning that under IWC

rules, Russia not only may kill whales com-

mercially without fear of trade sanctions, but

also may kill whales below the 40th parallel,

where about 80% of the world’s surviving

baleen whales spend up to 80% of their time.

Intended to protect whales in

Antarctic waters, the sanctuary was in effect

won by the U.S. delegation at cost of conced-

ing the passage of a Revised Management

Plan for setting commercial whaling quotas.

AGRICULTURE

September 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:

The central event at the American Humane Association annual confer-

ence, Sept. 28-Oct. 1, is to be an already controversial “Livestock forum,” at which

four university livestock experts, often critical of industry norms, are to outline for

humane officers “which current farming practices are acceptable, which can be chal-

lenged, and how” under existing laws, and “which desperately need to be changed.”

Claiming the speakers are too close to the livestock industry, representatives of the

Humane Farming Association, Humane Society of the U.S., and Fund for Animals

have offered themselves as speakers instead. Responded Adele Douglass of AHA,

who set up the forum, “This session is not to talk about ideals; it’s to inform people

about what’s being done now, why it’s being done that way, and what kind of farm-

related cases a humane officer can hope to prosecute successfully under today’s laws.”

BOOKS: Seeking the truth of whales

September 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:

The Year of the Whale, by Victor B. Sheffer.

Scribner, 1969. 244 pages, paperback, out of print.

Gone Whaling, by Douglas Hand. Simon &

Schuster (Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the

Americas, New York, NY 10020), 1994. 223 pages,

$22.00 hardback.

Published 25 years apart, The Year of the Whale

and Gone Whaling came to ANIMAL PEOPLE, the former

at a library book sale and the latter for review, within 24

hours of one another. Victor Sheffer’s faintly fictionalized

account of the first year in the life of a sperm whale might be

remembered as the book that saved the whales, except that it

isn’t remembered at all despite the acclaim it received on pub-

lication, including the Burroughs Medal for the year’s best

book about natural history. Douglas Hand’s exploration of

the growing human fascination with orcas owes ancestry to

Sheffer’s work, even though the odds are good that Hand

hasn’t ever heard of Sheffer, much less read him. Though

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