Four hurricanes in six weeks stretch rescue efforts from the Caribbean islands to Texas

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

ORLANDO–Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne
ripped through the Caribbean, Florida, and parts of other southern
states in August and September 2004 like the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse, scything down whatever they met.
In between, tropical storm Alex, Bonnie, and Gaston hit hard too.
More than 3,000 people were killed in Haiti, mainly by mud slides,
and at least 31,000 people lost their homes. The magnitude of the
human disaster tended to obscure the parallel animal disaster.
“An estimated 40,000 animals, including dogs, cats, and
farm animals, are in urgent need of help,” e-mailed Anne Ostberg of
the Pegasus Foundation, who helped to fund and coordinate Caribbean
relief efforts.
“The World Society for the Protection of Animals is working
with the Argentine army and ambassador to get veterinary supples to
Haiti,” Ostberg added, “with an immediate focus on disease control
and treating surviving farm animals. WSPA is also working with two
contacts in Port au Prince.”
Ostberg said WSPA was assisting as well in Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, Venezuela, and Panama.

Anti- foie gras activists swallow a promise instead of action in California “victory”

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

SACRAMENTO–Farm Sanctuary, In Defense
of Animals, PETA, and the Humane Society of the
U.S. declared victory on September 29, 2004 when
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed
a bill that will purportedly ban force-feeding
ducks and geese to produce foie gras, effective
in 2012. But as the San Francisco Chronicle
reported, “The state’s lone farm engaged in the
practice, Sonoma Foie Gras, also hailed it as a
victory.”
“We supported this bill and thank the
governor and the legislature,” Sonoma Foie Gras
owner Guillermo Gonzalez e-mailed to Andrew
Gumbel and John Lichfield of The Independent, a
London newspaper that covered the issue for
British readers.
The British-based organization Compassion
In World Farming initially applauded the
California bill, but CIWF European Coalition for
Farm Animals campaign coordinator Barbara Dias
Pais on October 7 acknowledged to ANIMAL PEOPLE
that “the news was indeed badly misinterpreted by
many of us here in Europe.”

Hunting bears with bait, dogs, traps, & loaded ballot language

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

JUNEAU, AUGUSTA–Alaska and Maine voters will decide on
November 2, 2004 whether to ban baiting bears into shooting range,
but as ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press the exact wording of the Alaska
ballot proposition remained in doubt.
Alaska Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman reworded descriptions
of the anti-bear baiting measure and two unrelated propositions after
they had already won enough petition signatures to qualify for the
ballot. The petition language was approved in June 2003 by Alaska
assistant attorney general Marjorie Vandor. Leman did not seek
approval of his rewrites from the organizations promoting the ballot
measures, and is known to oppose all three.
Half a million ballots were printed before Anchorage Superior
Court Judge Morgan Christen ruled on September 29 that Leman’s
rewrite of one proposition was illegal.
“Christen said that destroying the old ballots was the only
way to correct the misleading, biased, and factually inaccurate
working of the Trust the People initiative to strip the governor’s
authority to fill a vacated U.S. Senate seat by appointment,” wrote
Richard Mauer and Joel Gay of the Anchorage Daily News. Mauer and
Gay anticipated that Leman would appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court.

U.S. Senators make USDA subpoena for Siegfried & Roy video disappear

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

LAS VEGAS–The USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service
in mid-September agreed to settle for viewing a Feld Entertainment
Inc. videotape of the October 3, 2003 mauling of tiger trainer Roy
Horn at the Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas, without actually
obtaining a copy of the tape.
USDA/APHIS in April 2004 subpoenaed the videotape while investigating
whether Horn and his performing partner, Siegfried Fishbacher,
broke the Animal Welfare Act. Feld Entertainment, owners of both
the Mirage and the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, offered to
show the video to USDA/APHIS inspectors, but refused to give them a
copy lest it be obtained by animal rights activists or TV magazine
shows via the Freedom of Information Act.
When the USDA/APHIS continued to seek a copy, U.S. Senators Harry
Reid (D-Nevada) and John Ensign (R-Nevada) threatened to introduce an
amendment to the USDA budget which would have prevented use of any
funding to obtain the video.

No cultural defense for cockfighting in Hawaii, judge rules; federal case pending

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

NEW ORLEANS–Eighteen months after filing a “cultural
defense” lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Lafayette, Louisiana,
which has yet to be heard by Judge Rebecca F. Doherty, the United
Gamefowl Breeders Association still hopes a claim of discrimination
will overturn the two-year-old U.S. law prohibiting interstate
transport of gamecocks.
The anti-gamecock transport law appears to be untested in
court. There have been no prominent prosecutions.
But the legal theory behind the case against it was on August
31, 2004 rejected by Hawaii 2nd Circuit Court Judge Joel August.
August ruled in an 11-page verdict that even though the Hawaii
constitution protects native customs and traditions, and native
Hawaiians practiced a form of cockfighting called haka moa before
Hawaii was annexed by the U.S., cockfighting does not fit the
definitions of protected activity.
The plaintiffs did not make a case or even press a claim that
haka moa was demonstrably integral to practicing the native Hawaiian
religion, August pointed out. Neither could the practice of haka
moa be called a subsistence right.

International Legal Precedents

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

Justice Richard C. Gates of Ontario Superior Court on
September 7, 2004 struck down a 2002 city of Windsor bylaw barring
exotic animal acts, on grounds that it violates circus performers’
right to freedom of expression, as defined by the Canadian Charter
of Rights & Freedoms. While the bylaw was written as a public
safety measure, Gates explained, and as such could have overridden
the relevant degree of concern for freedom of expression, “because
it was passed for the ulterior purpose of animal welfare, the
Respondent City failed to provide at least a reasonable degree of
evidence to causally link exotic animal performances to public
safety. There was insufficient examination of any evidence to
rationally support the secondary purpose of protection of the
public.” Issued on behalf of the Shriners Circuses, the Ontario
ruling may be cited as a precedent in an anticipated follow-up
lawsuit against animal act bans passed in 1999 by the Town of Mount
Royal and Ville St. Laurent, then independent cities and now
boroughs of Montreal.

Hunting dog neglect cases overshadowed by dogfighting

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

CHARLESTON, S.C.–Broad exemptions in humane laws for
standard hunting practices have historically tended to exempt hunting
packs from scrutiny.
Parallel neglect cases in North and South Carolina might now be
challenging lawmakers and public officials to rethink the presumption
that an investment in breeding and training ensures that dogs will be
cared for–but that aspect of at least one case is overshadowed by
crowded shelter conditions resulting from an unrelated case involving
dogfighting.
Responding to an anonymous tip that starving dogs were eating
each other, Citizens for Animal Protection of Warren County
investigator William Roberts on September 10, 2004 visited the
Parktown Hunting Club near Warrenton, North Carolina, and soon
called for help from animal control officer James Solomon,
veterinarian Chris O’Malley, and a sheriff’s detective.
Acting on the erroneous advice of Solomon and Warren
magistrate W.T. Hardy that suffering dogs could be seized without a
warrant, Roberts took 24 of the 60 dogs they found to his home.
O’Malley took the two in the weakest condition to his clinic.

Three years for using dog to “discipline” kids

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

PORTLAND, Oregon–Washington County Presiding Judge Marco
Hernandez on September 23, 2004 sentenced David E. Hoskins, 46,
of Hillsboro, to serve three years in prison for disciplining his
7-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son for at least two years by
allowing a dog named Nigel to attack them.
After completing his prison term, Hoskins is to have contact
with the children during the next two years only with the written
consent of child welfare workers.
The sentence was widely seen as far too light, especially in
comparison to the 10-year sentence given earlier in September to
dogfighter Carey D. McMillian, 23, of Dallas, Texas, who was
charged with a single incident. (Page 14.)
Hernandez indicated that he would issue an even lighter
sentence on October 14 to the children’s mother, Joyce Hoskins, 47,
“based on the woman’s limited mental abilities,” wrote Holly Danks
of the Portland Oregonian.
Neighbor Voight Barnhardt called police on March 19 in
response to screams from the girl.
“Officers found Joyce Hoskins more worried about the animal
than her daughter, who was bleeding on a bed” from at least 12 bite
wounds that will cause permanent scarring, summarized Danks of
testimony by deputy district attorney Andrew Erwin.

Education & certification for animal welfare professionals

October 2, 2004 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2004:

MIAMI–Advertised as paying the
successful applicant from $82,403 to $130,446,
depending on qualifications and experience, the
open executive director’s job at the Miami/Dade
County Animal Services Division is among the most
demanding positions in the animal
care-and-control field.
The hiree will supervise 70 people, from
veterinarians to low-wage cage-cleaners. Serving
one of the most culturally diverse communities in
the U.S., the new executive director will be
expected to perform as a top-drawer white-collar
professional.
Yet, like most similar posts, the
Miami/Dade job is described to applicants as a
senior post for personnel of mostly blue-collar
background. Some formal education, is
expected, but the job description anticipates
that most applicants will have worked their way
up through the ranks, like master sergeants,
not graduates of officer candidate school.

North America

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