Why is Wendy Rhodes kissing this shark?

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

Education and Action for Animals president Wendy Rhodes [above], of Redondo Beach, California, is kissing this formerly captive nurse shark––about to be released––to make observers ask questions, she admits.

Rhodes wants people to question their attitudes toward sharks, toward keeping captive sharks, and toward keeping any animals captive for entertainment.

The nurse shark in the photo, previously kept at a San Jose pizza restaurant, is one of six Rhodes has rescued within the past year from tanks they have outgrown. They were returned to the sea with the help of more than 50 sympathizers.

DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE PETITIONS FOR PROBE OF THE FARM BUREAU

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

WASHINGTON D.C. – – Defenders of Wildlife and 179 other organizations on April 10 petitioned Congress for an “investigation into charges that the American Farm Bureau Federation national leadership has harmed the American farmer and their own members by posing as an organization representing farmer interests.”

The petitioners suggested that the Farm Bureau has a conflict of interest in operating “businesses that sell to the farmer and buy from the farmer.” They also sought “an investigation into charges that the Farm Bureau misrepresents its motivations to Congress and the American taxpayer, exploiting the farmer image to win nonprofit privileges that shield them from $61.75 million annually in federal income tax.”

Defenders circulated the petition by e-mail for a month preceding an April 9 expose of the Farm Bureau broadcast by CBS 60 Minutes. The expose paralleled a series of critical reports published in the Defenders membership magazine since 1998, as Defenders and the Farm Bureau clashed over the 1995 wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho. In December 1997 the Farm Bureau won a lower court ruling, since reversed, which would have required that all the wolves and their descendants be removed from the wild.

MONEY AND POLITICS

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

Donation records for the years 1991-1998 disclosed to The Chronicle of Philanthropy by Republican presidential cand i d a t e George W. Bush show no gifts to either pro-hunting or pro-gun groups, with whom Bush is closely allied. Not itemized were gifts totaling $24,592. The only animaloriented charity among the 58 listed recipients was the Dallas Zoo, given $1,875 in 1992-1993. Medical charities got $20,950, of which $15,000 went to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1998. Southern Methodist University got the largest gift: $150,000 in 1998. Other Methodist institutions got at least $115,000. The Bush gifts totaled $468,151; $334,425 was given soon after Bush and partners sold the Texas Rangers baseball team in 1998.

U.S. nonprofit foundation grant funding for projects meant to benefit the “environment and animals” rose from circa 2% of all grants in 1989 to 6% in 1998, according to data from the Foundation Center, Giving USA, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy––but within that broad category, “animals and wildlife” in 1989 got 0.9%, while all other “environment” projects got 1.1%. “Animals and wildlife” in 1998 got 1% ($70 million); other environmental projects got 5% ($412 million).

Dolphin-safe, takings, prairie dog verdicts

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

Thelton E. Henderson, chief judge of the Federal District Court in San Francisco, on April 11 ruled that Commerce Secretary William Daley “acted contrary to the law and abused his discretion when he triggered a change in the ‘dolphin safe’ label standard.” Daley, despite the verdict, on April 12 lifted the U.S. ban on tuna imports from Mexico which had stood since 1991, imposed because Mexican fishing methods were not “dolphin safe.” New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade judge Judith Barzilay on April 14 refused to reimpose the ban. “We could start exporting like crazy now, but nobody is going to buy tuna that doesn’t have the ‘dolphin safe’ label,” said Mexican fisheries secretariat spokesperson Dalia de la Pena Wing. Since 1990, “dolphin safe” labels have designated tuna caught by means not killing any dolphins. In 1995 a General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs panel held that the U.S. law which began “dolphin safe” labeling unduly inhibited trade by excluding imports of non-“dolphin safe” tuna. The GATT decree led to extensive revision of the 1990 law, via the 1997 International Dolphin Conservation Program Act. Daley then tried to administratively extend eligibility to use “dolphin safe” labeling to all legally imported tuna, but Henderson held that Daley had not documented any need to do so. Henderson in May 1990 banned imports of yellowfin tuna from Mexico, Venezuela, and V a n u a t u, under the 1988 amendments to the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, and in January 1992 invoked the same law to ban $266 million worth of tuna imports from 30 nations. Appeals of the 1992 verdict led to the 1995 GATT ruling.

GONE TO THE DOGS

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

Dog breeder Peter Gronbeck, of Emmetsburg, Iowa, told media in midApril that Iowa Pet Breeders Association members have voted to switch their registrations from the American Kennel Club t o the rival American Pet Registry, because AKC now requires breeders to submit DNA samples to establish the paternity of any dog said to have sired more than seven litters.

Crufts dog show judge Caroline Gatheral, 65, and her 63-year-old sister Mary, pleaded guilty on March 22 in Durham County, England, to 83 counts of severely neglecting their own dogs while nursing a widowed sister who had suffered a brain hemorrhage. The Gatherals were barred from keeping animals for two years.

Mesker Park Zoo changes

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

Evansville mayor Russ Lloyd Jr. on April 4 obtained the resignations of 13- year Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden director Ron Young and assistant director Ted Grannan, a week after the zoo again failed to regain accreditation by the American Zoo Association. The AZA suspended the Mesker Park accreditation in 1998 for a variety of reasons, including failure to update and improve exhibits and allegedly engaging in improper wildlife transactions. Lloyd named as interim director retired local attorney Daniel J. McGinn, 50, a volunteer for Friends of the Mesker Park Zoo since February 1999.

Wildlife Waystation battles bushwhacking by California DFG

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. ––Moving fast on the dubious strength of a scathing report by consultant Diana Grenados, the California Department of Fish and Game on April 7 closed the worldrenowned Wildlife Waystation sanctuary to visitors; ordered it to stop accepting animals and to reduce the sanctuary population, now at about 1,200 animals; and shared copies of the Grenados report with media, days before Wildlife Waystation founder Martine Colette got it––and a week, Colette said, before she got a list of her alleged offenses.

The Los Angeles Times in particular vividly amplified Grenados’ allegation that the Waystation is “a roadside disaster,” which purportedly puts staff and visitors at constant risk from badly caged carnivores and mythical feces-flinging HIV-positive chimpanzees.

Grenados further asserted that the Waystation is dangerously overrun by ground squirrels, wild coyotes, and feral peacocks, whom she said should be “controlled.” Grenados complained that she could smell the 125 resident big cats’ urine, where––like all cats––they marked their territory.

Anti-cockfighting bills

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

WASHINGTON D.C.– – Federal legislation to ban the transport of fighting cocks from states where cockfighting is illegal to the three remaining states where it is still permitted advanced in the House of Representatives during April, but was stalled in the Senate by Tim Hutchinson (R-Arkansas), who put a “private hold” on S-345, the Senate version of the bill, introduced by Wayne Allard (R-Colorado.)

The House version, introduced by Representative Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), on April 12 cleared the Agriculture Committee subcommittee on livestock and horticulture over aggressive opposition from cockfighting lobbyists J. Bennett Johnson, formerly a U.S. Senator from Louisiana, and Steve Symms, formerly a U.S. Senator from New Mexico.

A similar bill applying only to Florida, introduced by state senator Ron Klein (D-Boca Raton), unanimously cleared the state senate criminal justice committee on April 11. A companion bill introduced by representative Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood) was apparently dead in the state house, however, after agriculture committee chair Adam Putnam refused to add it to the agenda.

SF/SPCA teaches veggie living

May 1, 2000 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2000:

SAN FRANCISCO––In New York, the American SPCA magazine touts “free range” beef and poultry products. In Minneapolis, activists are begging the Humane Society of Hennepin County to at least offer vegetarian options alongside the hot dogs at an annual “Walk for Animals.”

In San Francisco, however, the San Francisco SPCA hosts regular workshops in vegetarian living: what to eat, how to cook it, and how to cope with any problems.

Each of the three workshops held so far drew just over 50 participants.

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