Whale-watching

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

University of Queensland PhD. candidate Ilze
Brieze reported in late October, after a year of study, that the
dolphins of Moreton Bay, off Brisbane, Australia, and at the
Australian Sea World are behaviorally unaffected by human
contact, even though the bottlenose dolphins at Sea World
appear to enjoy swimming with humans and being hand-fed.
Studies by other researchers have indicated that the wild dolphins
who interact with humans at Monkey Mia in western
Australia may have become excessively dependent upon handfeeding,
and that one result is dolphin mothers who so fixate
on humans that they neglect their infants. Studying the same
Moreton Bay dolphin population as Brieze, Mark Orams of
Massey University joined her in warning that even when there
are not obvious ill effects from contact, wild dolphins should

SIRENIANS

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Fewer than 2,000 dugongs persist along the
Australian east coast and southern Great Barrier Reef, as
numbers have crashed from 50% to 80% in recent years,
partly due to storms and coastal development which have
devastated the sea grass that Australian dugongs depend on
for food, but to greater extent as the result of gillnetting,
which accounted for 15 of 30 recent dugong deaths at Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park, according to Helene Marsh of
James Cook University. Shark nets alone caught 654
dugongs off central Queensland in 1995, along with 651 dolphins
and 4,059 sea turtles. Only 45 dugongs, 31 dolphins,
and 1,420 turtles survived. Nine newly established protection
zones off Queensland may not help, warns North Queensland
Conservation Council coordinator Jeremy Tager. “The reality
is, there is no new protection from human threats to
dugnongs in these areas,” he said.” Gill netting, hunting,
coastal development, vessel traffic, and even the use of
explosives will continue in the proposed protection areas.”

Whaling politics heat up

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

NEAH BAY, Washington––Easily winning the fall
band election––as anticipated––the pro-whaling faction of the
Makah tribe moved immediately to form a 20-member commission
to draft a whaling charter and management policy.
The Makah in June 1996 withdrew an application for
an International Whaling Commission “aboriginal subsistence”
quota of up to five grey whales, but the would-be whalers, led
by logger and fisher Dan Greene, has announced intent to get a
quota this year––and, some hint, to go whaling whether or not
the IWC approves.
Although the Makah have not been whaling in 72
years, Greene et al claim the 19th century treaty that established
the Neah Bay reservation also guaranteed them whaling
rights in perpetuity. The Bill Clinton administration supports
that interpretation.

FIELDS WARNING

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

MONTGOMERY, Alabama––Contrary to the
insinuations of an October 1996 appeal for donations issued by
Tina Fields and Ronald Denney under the name Saving
Animals From Euthanasia, listing Louis Jones, DVM, as
“attending veterinarian,” SAFE is not a legitimate charity and
Fields, Denney, and Jones remain under indictment for alleged
theft by charitable fraud and theft of charitable property in the
amount of $60,195, attorney Dennis Wright of the Alabama
Office of the Attorney General confirmed on December 16.
Wright said a trial date would probably be set in early
1997. The SAFE newsletter states that all charges against
Fields, Denney, and Jones were dropped on March 14, without
mentioning that they were promptly refiled after correction
of a technical error in the first filing.

Wills accused of rape

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Humane Society of the
U.S. staffers Virginia Bollinger and Cristobel Block, suing
former HSUS vice president for investigations David Wills
since August 1995 for alleged injuries “sustained as a result
of Wills’ repeated battery,” on October 21 filed counterclaims
to Wills’ countersuit stating that, “Wills’ repeated battery
of Block and Bollinger was consistent with his pattern
and practice of sexually assaulting and sexually harassing
female employees with whom he worked, threatening them
with adverse action if they reported his unlawful conduct,
and terrorizing them through his verbal and physical threats
and attacks. Over a 10-year period,” the document continues,
“Wills has subjected at least 13 female employees with
whom he has worked, including Block and Bollinger, to
such sexual battery.” The filing goes on to describe alleged
repeated rapes of Bollinger and alleged rape attempts on both
women that Wills was purportedly unable to consumate.
Wills, also sued by HSUS for purportedly embezzling
$93,000, has denied all charges.

“McTaggert––you’re it,” says Watson

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

VANCOUVER––Sixteen self-described founding
members of Greenpeace upstaged ceremonies in Vancouver to
mark the 25th anniversary of the start of the group with an open
letter demanding “a ceiling on salaries,” a “leveling out of the
hierarchical structure,” and other changes to insure that “the
organization which broke new ground in environmental campaigning
continues in that tradition, continues to be at the cutting
edge of environmental reform, and does not simply
become part of the institutionalized political landscape.”
The “founding members,” whose actual founding
roles came at various points from the 1969 formation of the
Don’t Make A Wave anti-nuclear testing expedition that
evolved into Greenpeace to the 1976-1977 formation of
European chapters, argued that a decline in global membership
from 4.8 million in 1990 to 30 million today reflects the treatment
of members as a source of funding, without real input
into setting policy and choosing campaigns.

Young wants to boogie on ESA

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Renewing efforts
to gut the Endangered Species Act, House of
Representatives Resource Committee chair Don
Young (R-Alaska) “will want to move an ESA bill
‘as early as possible’ in the 105th Congress because
the issue would be ‘too politicized’ in 1998,” Roger
Featherstone of Defenders of Wildlife advised in the
November 28 edition of GreenLines, an online daily
newsletter, quoting an unnamed Republican aide.
“On the Senate side,” Featherstone continued, “the
ESA is ‘absolutely a top priority’ for Senator Dirk
Kempthorne of the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction.”
Kempthorne also offered attempts to dismantle
the ESA in the 104th Congress.

Activism

December 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:

The Orange County (California) Transportation Authority on November 19 paid former bus driver Bruce
Anderson $50,000 in settlement of the religious discrimination lawsuit he brought against the OCTA after he was fired in June
for refusing, as an ethical vegetarian, to pass out hamburger coupons as part of a promotion. In August the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that Anderson had been discriminated against on the basis of sincerely held
belief. The OCTA agreed, as part of the out-of-court settlement, to amend its employee handbook to clarify policies pertaining
to religious and personal freedom.

Legal pitfalls & political traps

December 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:

ST. LOUIS––Legal otter trapping
for pelts commenced in Missouri
for the first time since 1937 on
November 20, 11 days after Judge
Robert H. Dierker of the 22nd Circuit
Court rejected the argument of state residents
Cecily Westerman, Ed Leonard,
Stan Slaughter, and the Animal Legal
Defense Fund that the otter season was
improperly authorized.
Dierker agreed that as
Missouri taxpayers, the three named
plaintiffs had standing to challenge the
regulation that established an otter season.
He also rejected Missouri
Conservation Commission arguments
that trapping is required to control the
otter population and prevent property
damage. “The record seems clear,”
Dierker wrote, “that the Commission
concluded in 1995 that there were
enough otters to accommodate commercial
trapping interests, and other reasons
to have a trapping season were at
best ancillary factors.”

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