Category: North America

Why shipping live pigs to Hawaii did not end with the ancient Polynesians & Captain Cook

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2011:


HONOLULU–Five years of advocacy appears to have ended most of the retail end of the live pig trade to Hawaii.
Now comes the hard part:  ending the wholesale trade to hotels and restaurants that cater to tourists who visit Hawaii from all over the world,  but are usually there for just a few days out of a lifetime.  Hotel and restaurant demand accounted for more than 80% of live pig imports at the peak of the trade,  and with the retail trade shrinking,  may account for almost all of it now. Read more

Live market victory

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2011:

RICHMOND, Calif.–The Richmond,  California city council on September 27, 2011,  voted to end live bird sales at the city farmers’ market,  effective November 1.     “Two years ago,  live birds were sold at four Bay Area farmers’ markets.  Now, they are sold at none,”  exulted Lesbian,  Gay,  Bisexual,  & Transsexual Compassion founder Andrew Zollman.  “Further,”  Zollman said, “the Richmond city attorney confirmed our position that a new state law taking effect on January 1,  2012 will ban live poultry sales at farmers’ markets operating on any street,  highway,  public right-of-way,  or parking lot.  We hope to use this to end live poultry sales at all other California farmers’ markets.”

Mobilizing to help squirrels & sea turtles in the wake of Hurricane Irene

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2011:

Hurricane-downgraded-to-tropical storm Irene swept from the
Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico past southern Florida, blew out to
sea, then roared back inland and gusted almost straight north into
Quebec. Torrential rains inundated roads and other infrastructure,
especially in upstate New York and Vermont.
Then, after raining cats and dogs, Irene for three days
rained baby squirrels on wildlife rescuers from North Carolina to New
England. “There’s been a flood of calls about squirrels dropping out
of trees everywhere,” Humane Society of the U.S. urban wildlife
program field director Laura Simon told Pamela McLoughlin of the New
Haven Register. “It’s baby season,” Simon explained. Squirrel
nests were among the first casualties of the winds and downpour.
“We had well over 250 baby squirrels admitted,” Outer Banks
Wildlife Shelter nursery supervisor Herda Henderson told Aniesa
Holmes of the Jacksonville Daily News.

Read more

Best Friends to run shelter for Los Angeles

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

LOS ANGELES--“The Best Friends Animal Society’s proposal to run our vacant Northeast Valley Animal Shelter as a high-volume adoption center and spay/neuter facility passed today in City Council 11-1,”  Los Angeles Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnette e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on August 16,  2011.

Built in 2008,  the $19.5 million Northeast Valley Shelter was never fully staffed because budget cuts left L.A. Animal Services without the additional $3.3 million per year that full staffing and full-scale operation would have cost.  “A proposal to open it with staff taken from six other shelters would have reduced hours and service” throughout the Los Angeles city shelter system,  and would have increased shelter killing “by as many as 10,000 animals a year,” said Los Angeles Daily News staff writers Rick Orlov and Dana Bartholomew. Read more

Pierce County to appeal $2 million award to dog attack victim

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

TACOMA,  EUREKA,  EVANSVILLE--Pierce County,  Washington,  on August 24,  2011 filed notice of intent to appeal an August 12 jury award of $2.2 million to pit bull terrier attack victim Sue Gorman, 63,  of Gig Harbor.

The jury directed Pierce County to pay damages of $924,000 to Gorman for alleged negligence in responding to many previous complaints about the pit bulls who burst through an open sliding glass door late the night of August 21,  2007,  mauling her service dog and killing a Jack Russell terrier whom Gorman was keeping for a friend.  Awakened by the attack,  Gorman was injured when she tried to intervene. Read more

$330,000 jury verdict in cops-shot-dog case

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

CHICAGO–A federal jury on August 18,  2011 awarded $330,000 in damages to brothers Thomas and Darren Russell and their parents for the February 2009 police shooting of their 9-year-old black Labrador retriever during a drug raid that hit the wrong side of a duplex.  Thomas Russell–who was earlier acquitted of obstructing police–had asked if he could lock up the dog before the police entered. Read more

Wolf hunting is suspended in Sweden under EU pressure, but resumes in Montana and Idaho

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

MISSOULA,  BOISE,  STOCKHOLM–Facing possible legal action by the European Union,  Swedish environment minister Andreas Carlgren on August 16,  2011 halted wolf hunting,  eight months after wolves were legally hunted in Sweden for the first time since 1966.

But a year-long reprieve from hunting ended on August 25 for wolves in Montana and Idaho,  after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request for an emergency injunction sought by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies,  Friends of the Clearwater,  and WildEarth Guardians.  The injunction would have kept wolves under federal Endangered Species Act coverage pending the outcome of an appeal contesting the constitutionality of the April 2011 federal budget rider that removed them from protection in the northern Rockies. Read more

Responding to Texas & South Africa wildfires

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

AUSTIN,  JOHANNESBURG-– Comparable clusters of fast-moving wildfires had contrasting outcomes for animals in Bastrop and Leander counties in Texas during the first week of September 2011 and the Gateway region of Northwest Province,  South Africa,  during the last week of August.

Experienced disaster relief personnel from the Austin Humane Society,  Austin Pets Alive!,  and the Best Friends Network evacuated about 180 dogs and cats from two animal control shelters that were jeopardized by the Texas fires,  reported Best Friends Network volunteer Jessi Freud. Read more

American Zoo Association to require "protected contact" elephant care

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

SILVER SPRING,  Maryland– The American Zoo Association on August 12,  2011 announced that “As soon as possible,  and no later than September 1,  2014,  elephant care providers at AZA facilities shall not share the same unrestricted space with elephants,”  except “for the specific purposes of required health and welfare procedures, transport,  research,  active breeding and calf management programs, and medical treatments and testing.”  The new policy,  adopted after more than seven months of internal discussion and review,  will become part of the AZA accreditation standards for elephant management and care,  most recently updated in May 2011. Read more

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