Birds

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

The Clinton administration on

February 23 unveiled a management plan

for 24 million acres of public land in the

Pacific Northwest that cuts the rate of log-

ging to 20% of the pace in the 1980s. Most

of the 5.3 million acres of old growth on the

public lands will be off limits, to protect

spotted owls and more than 1,000 other old

growth-dependent species. Although the

plan will make permanent the layoffs of

about 9,500 forest products workers, it is

expected to be what The New York Times

called “the final blueprint” for settling the

spotted owl crisis. Studies of the impact of

logging on spotted owls go on; critics of owl

protection may enjoy the March 13 disclo-

sure that the Seattle Center for Wildlife

Conservation is getting $107,000 from the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to check spot-

ted owl guano from logging areas for hor-

monal signs of stress.

Fur

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Canadian environment minister Sheila Copps,

whose gracelessness earned her the nickname “Leader of

the rat pack” during her years as a Parliamentary back-

bencher, disrupted a meeting of top environmental offi-

cials from the seven major Western industrialized nations

on March 12 by denouncing the European Community ban

on seal pelt imports, the pending EC ban on imports of

pelts trapped by cruel methods, and opposition to the cur-

rent Canadian seal hunt. Copps claimed an alleged popula-

tion explosion of seals is causing the collapse of the

Atlantic Canada fishing industry, despite strong biological

evidence that seals do not eat many fish of the most com-

mercially valued species.

Hunting & Fishing

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

A bill to ban pigeon shoots includ-

ing the notorious Labor Day shoot in Hegins

fell three votes short of clearing the

Pennsylvania state house on March 8––and

actually drew a majority of the votes cast, 99-

93. However, 103 votes would have been

required to pass the bill from the 202-member

house to the state senate. Though the bill

would almost certainly have failed in the sen-

ate, where 38 of the 48 members have ‘A’ rat-

ings from the National Rifle Association, the

vote was a marked advance from 1989, when

the house defeated a similar bill, 126-66.

The Colorado house finance com-

mittee on February 16 killed as contrary to the

expressed intent of the electorate a bill that

would have reauthorized spring bear hunting

and hunting bears with hounds and bait––all of

which were banned by referendum in 1992.

Marine mammals

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

S. 1636, the present Marine

Mammal Protection Act reauthorization

bill, has cleared the Senate Commerce

Committee and at deadline was expected to be

passed any day by the full Senate, with House

ratification likely in April. The Humane

Society of the U.S. has asked members to

write Congress opposing S. 1636 because it

“has no provisions for effective enforcement,”

and “would allow the accidental killing of

endangered species (currently prohibited) and

the intentional shooting of seals and sea lions

solely to protect fish commercially caught or

raised.” HSUS seeks amendments that will

“ensure that marine mammal mortality in com-

mercial fishing operations reaches insignifi-

cant levels approaching zero, mandate specif-

ic punitive consequences if kill reduction goals

are not met on schedule, prohibit the capture

of wild whales or dolphins for public display,

prohibit swim-with-the-dolphin programs and

petting pools, prohibit public feeding of both

captive and wild marine mammals, prohibit

the issuance of permits to kill endangered

species in commercial fisheries,” and “prohib-

it the intentional killing of seals and sea lions

solely to protect fishing gear, catch, or net

pens.” The Animal Welfare Institute has

issued a similar appeal for action.

Sea Shepherd sinks another pirate whaler: ACTED TO ENFORCE INTERNATIONAL LAW, WATSON SAYS

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

GRESSVIK, Norway––Responding to the slaughter of 296 minke whales last

summer, in contravention of international agreement, the Sea Shepherd Conservation

Society sunk the pirate whaler Senet during the predawn hours of January 24.

The S e n e t was one of 28 vessels that took part in Norway’s first commercial

whale hunt since the International Whaling Commission declared a moratorium on com-

mercial whaling in 1986. The Senet crew killed five of the 160 whales massacred under

Norway’s unilaterally declared commercial quota, while 12 other vessels killed an addi-

tional 136 whales in the name of scientific research. Mostly sold to Japan, the whale meat

brought the whalers about $12.5 million. The Norwegian government reputedly spent near-

Sea life

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

Foiled when a crew from the Shedd Aquarium in

Chicago caught three Pacific whitesided dolphins on

November 27, protesters who hoped to disrupt the capture

effort instead spent the next month keeping the dolphins’ hold-

ing pen at the Kettenburg Marine wharf in San Diego under

around-the-clock surveillance. Steve Hindi of the Chicago

Animal Rights Coalition took video that he claimed shows dol-

phins swimming “in a bathtub ring of their own excrement,”

which a Shedd spokesperson claimed was salt added to the

water to simulate the chemistry of the ocean. The video also

showed “frenzied Shedd officials erecting a barrier to obscure

the traumatized dolphins from view,” Hindi said, and enabled

members of the Whale Rescue Team to identify “a steady

stream of visitors,” including Tim Hauser, who reputedly cap-

tures marine mammals for many aquariums, and a number of

Navy personnel, whose presence was unexplained. The Navy

has applied, however, to do underwater weapons testing in one

area where the dolphins might have been caught, the Outer-Sea

Test Range. Designated in 1946, the range lies seaward of the

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The proposed test-

ing will involve “incidental” deaths and injuries to any marine

mammals who happen to be near test explosions, and is

opposed by many of the same groups that opposed the dolphin

captures, as well as the usually conservative National Audubon

Society. As Christmas approached, the Shedd team was hold-

ing daily “desensitizing drills,” preparing the dolphins for trans-

port by raising and lowering them in a cargo sling.

COURT CALENDAR

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Crimes against wildlife

Hong Kong authorities confiscat-

ed $20,000 worth of rhinoceros horn in a

series of late October raids on apothecaries,

following leads provided by the London-based

Environmental Investigation Agency. But the

raids may have come too late to save rhinos in

the wild, as fewer than six remain in protect-

ed areas of Zimbabwe, according to wildlife

veterinarian Dr. Michael Kock, who could

find only two in a two-week aerial search.

There were 3,000 when Zimbabwe achieved

native sovereignty in 1980. Kock sawed the

horns off about 300 rhinos a year ago, trying

to make them worthless to poachers, but dis-

covered that even the nub left behind after

dehorning will fetch $2,400 U.S. Kock says

he has evidence that the Asian poaching car-

tels are actively trying to “kill every rhino,”

because, “If they eliminate the rhino, the value

of the horn will skyrocket. They can sit on a

stockpile for 10 years; they know there is

always going to be a market.”

Wildlife

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

A study of the efficacy of the Endangered

Species Act by wildlife biologists with the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service and the University of Idaho at Moscow

reported November 12 in Science that, “Few species have

actually recovered,” because population goals are set too

low in 60% of the cases where vertebrate populations can

be counted. “Even if population goals were achieved”

they added, “60% of the ESA’s threatened or endangered

vertebrate species would remain in peril, with roughly a

20% probability of extinction within 20 years or 10 gener-

ations, whichever is longer.”

The wild population of bonobo apes, or

pygmy chimpanzees, who are the closest relatives of

humans after the common chimpanzee, has fallen from

50,000 to under 10,000 in two decades; extinction is pro-

jected within seven years. Native to Zaire, bonobos are

threatened by habitat loss, meat poachers, and pet traders

who traffic in the orphaned infants. Young bonobos typi-

cally die within days when apart from their mothers. The

usual customers are visiting non-Africans, who buy

bonobo babies in misguided hopes of saving them, says to

primatologist Jo Thompson. But this encourages the

poachers to capture more. The human and bonobo DNA

sequences differ by only 2-3%.

Guest column: Attacks on Sea Shepherd are unfair

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

by Captain Paul Watson

Much criticism of the Sea

Shepherd Conservation Society has come

recently from elements in the animal rights

movement who accuse us of selling out the

effort to free captive dolphins.

I would like to set the record

straight and clear up any misunderstanding

concerning the objectives of Sea Shepherd.

I founded Sea Shepherd in 1977 specifically

to pursue the investigation, documentation

and enforcement of laws against activities

that threaten the survival of wild marine

life. Sea Shepherd is an ecological organi-

zation. Our mandate is the conservation of

endangered marine species and ecosystems.

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