Category: North America

Wolves may be left with nowhere to run

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003–

WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on March
18 began the process of downlisting grey wolves in the Lower 48
mainland states from “endangered” to “threatened” status, except for
Mexican grey wolves in Arizona and New Mexico and the reintroduced
population in and around Yellowstone National Park.
USFWS said there are now about 664 wolves in the Yellowstone
ecosystem, 2,445 wolves in Minnesota, where they were downlisted in
1978, and 600 in Wisconsin and Michigan.

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Atlanta Humane gives up animal control

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003–

 

ATLANTA–The Atlanta Humane Society, managing the Fulton
County Animal Control shelter as well as its own facilities since
1974, on March 20 returned animal control duties to the county.
After rejecting bids on the animal control contract from the
Southern Hope Humane Society of Cobb County and a newly formed
for-profit company called Synergy Management Services, deputy county
manager Terry Todd reached an 11-day temporary agreement with
Southern Hope at 5:40 p.m. on March 20, and agreed to buy $350,000
worth of animal control equipment from Atlanta Humane.
“A panel of county staff recommended Synergy Management” as
the preferred new longterm animal control provider, wrote Ty Tagami
of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Synergy Management “promis-ed a
smooth transition by hiring the Atlanta Humane pound director,”
Tagami said.

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Recent dog attack cases continue trend toward stiffer charges & sentencing

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003–

Benjamin Moore, 28, of Richmond, California, who left
neighbor Shawn Jones, 10, for dead after Moore’s three pit bull
terriers mauled Jones beyond recognition in June 2001, was sentenced
on March 14 to serve six years plus eight months in federal prison on
a plea bargain for possession of cocaine with intent to sell. Moore
will not be prosecuted for Jones’ mauling because no applicable
charge would carry a stiffer sentence than he received on the drug
conviction.

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Cockfighters spread worst U.S. outbreak of Newcastle since 1971: 3 million birds killed

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003:

 

SAN DIEGO–Cockfighters are blamed for the worst outbreak of
Newcastle disease to hit the U.S. in 30 years. Agriculture officials
had ordered the killing of more than three million chickens on 20
California ranches through March 19, in futile efforts to contain
the spread of Newcastle. Other cases were reported on the Colorado
River Indian Reservation in Arizona, and were suspected in a
backyard flock near Goodyear, Arizona.
More than 12 million chickens and other poultry were killed
to control the worst-ever U.S. Newcastle outbreak, discovered in
California in 1971 but eventually afflicting most states with
significant poultry industries. That outbreak, costing poulry
producers and taxpayers $56 million, arrived with wild-caught
parrots.

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Cockfighting foes face hard fight to keep Oklahoma initiative gains

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

OKLAHOMA CITY–Oklahoma cockfighters are not just taking
their battle to stay in business to the state Supreme Court; they
are trying to take the state Supreme Court off the case.
Oklahoma voters approved an initiative banning cockfighting
in November 2002, 56%-44%, but in 57 sparsely populated rural
counties, of 77 counties in all, the majority voted to keep
cockfighting legal.
Local judges in 27 of the 57 rural counties soon thereafter
held the anti-cockfighting initiative to have been unconstitutional.
The first prosecution under the initiative was attempted by
the Kingfisher County sheriff’s department in early December, after
one Luis Rangel was found with more than 100 suspected gamecocks
while sheriffs’ deputies were investigating an alleged case of horse
neglect. But Kingfisher County assistant district attorney Ard Gates
on December 5 refused to press the case against Rangel.

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Cockfighting foes face hard fight to keep Oklahoma initiative gains

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

OKLAHOMA CITY–Oklahoma cockfighters are not just taking
their battle to stay in business to the state Supreme Court; they
are trying to take the state Supreme Court off the case.
Oklahoma voters approved an initiative banning cockfighting
in November 2002, 56%-44%, but in 57 sparsely populated rural
counties, of 77 counties in all, the majority voted to keep
cockfighting legal.
Local judges in 27 of the 57 rural counties soon thereafter
held the anti-cockfighting initiative to have been unconstitutional.

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American Humane, fighting losses, drops Farm Animal Services –FAS to go independent

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

Washington, D.C.–The fiscally troubled American Humane
Association on February 20 cut loose Farm Animal Services, which had
been the first major new program started under AHA auspices since it
began supervising the screen industry in 1940.
While Farm Animal Services may continue to certify products
from animals raised according to standards it has developed for
dairy, poultry, and egg producers, FAS vice president Gini Barrett
said, it is discontinuing the Free Farmed logo program that it
started in partnership with the AHA.

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Stegman strikes out at Tony LaRussa’s ARF

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

CONTRA COSTA, Calif.– David Stegman, executive director of
Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation since May 1997, resigned for
undisclosed reasons on January 17, 2003.
Stegman ended a six-year career as a major league outfielder
playing for LaRussa with the Chicago White Sox in 1983-1984. His
successor at ARF has not yet been named.
LaRussa and Stegman in 1999 contracted with Maddie’s Fund,
of Alameda, California, for ARF to become the lead agency in
administering a planned five-year program to take Contra Costa County
to no-kill animal control. It was to have been the first of many
such programs sponsored by Maddie’s Fund–but ARF withdrew after
failing to meet some of the first-year goals.

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ESPN drops weekly rodeo broadcasts

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

CHICAGO–“Ever heard of the Outdoor Life Network? I
haven’t,” SHARK founder and longtime anti-rodeo campaigner Steve
Hindi e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE at deadline. “Nevertheless, that is
where most of the televised rodeos for the 2003 Professional Rodeo
Cowboys Association season will be aired. The love affair between
the ESPN and the PRCA seems to be over.
“We don’t know the sordid details of the apparent breakup,”
Hindi added, “but we have some clues. A few weeks ago, I was
called by a producer for an ESPN show called ‘Outside the Lines.’
This program, I was told, delves behind hype and headlines in
examining sports issues. Incredibly, ‘Outside the Lines’ was
interested in looking at rodeo. I told the producer that if ‘Outside
the Lines’ did a story on rodeos, ESPN would never be able to air
another rodeo, as the truth would be known and admitted to by the
network. The producer said he wanted to go forward nonetheless.

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