Wild and getting wilder

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

The “Wild horse story” featured
on page one of the November 1995 A N IMAL
PEOPLE got wilder on December
17 when Doug McInnis of the New York
T i m e s office in Casper, Wyoming,
revealed that a grand jury probe of alleged
diversion of wild horses from the Bureau of
Land Management adoption program to
slaughter has been underway for four years,
not two as we had believed, with still no
indictments and no indication that key witnesses
have even been called.
The case made national headlines
on September 19, after the American Wild
Horse and Burro Alliance and nine other
groups alleged a coverup of illegal wild
horse slaughter at a press conference
attended by five current and former BLM
law enforcement agents. But the agents,
purportedly gagged by the grand jury,
didn’t speak. The only supporting evidence
offered was a letter from former BLM
staffer Reed Smith, which cited wild horses
only in the first sentence and otherwise
apparently concerned a dispute between
Smith and superiors over an oil-and-gas
leasing case. ANIMAL PEOPLE recognized
Smith as the author of many dubious
claims over the past 33 years, including
that the Nazis didn’t kill millions of Jews.

The Wright stuff

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

REND LAKE, Illinois– – Chicago
Animal Rights Coalition president Steve
Hindi, a licensed pilot, on December 16 startled
the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources, hunters culling deer at the Renn
Lake Wildlife Refuge, and fellow protesters
by soaring up in a paraglider to videotape the
action from above––as deer fled from the
sound of the aircraft, away from the hunters.
“This is going to change everything,”
Hindi told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Air
power revolutionized warfare, and it’s going
to revolutionize protest. No longer can the
DNR and the hunters hide anything from us.”

Federal grand jury indicts top veal feeder REND LAKE, Illinois– – C h i c a g o Animal Rights Coalition president Steve Hindi, a licensed pilot, on December 16 startled the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, hunters culling deer at the Renn Lake Wildlife Refuge, and fellow protesters by soaring up in a paraglider to videotape the action from above––as deer fled from the sound of the aircraft, away from the hunters. “This is going to change everything,” Hindi told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Air power revolutionized warfare, and it’s going to revolutionize protest. No longer can the DNR and the hunters hide anything from us.” Hindi’s flight was brief, due to technical problems with the brand-new equipment. By the time repairs were made, the wind had become too strong to attempt further flights. However, Hindi said, CHARC expects to have two paragliders in the air over future major events, each able to stay aloft for two hours at a time. The only significant problem, he reported, is that he’s put so much time into developing the CHARC remote video and airborne capabilities that fundraising has lagged. National activist groups make extensive use of the CHARC videos, but none have funded the equipment acquisitions. [Support for CHARC may be addressed to POB 66, Yorkville, IL 60560.] Ironically, the Rend Lake protest was backed by deer hunters who believed the cull was unethical. “I couldn’t believe how well we were treated by most of the local hunters,” Hindi said. Local hunters and activists joined on the night of December 14- 15 to drive hundreds of deer out of the Rend Lake refuge before the cull hunters were allowed in. Noise grenades set off by alarm clocks kept the deer from returning to the refuge during the three-day hunt. In consequence, Hindi said, the cull hunters killed only eight or nine deer total, compared with an expected bag of 12-plus deer per day. “It was a complete defeat for the DNR,” Hindi said. Steve Hindi and Dan Green: the Flying CHARC Squadron: ILLEGAL DRUG MAY HAVE TAINTED MEAT

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

MILWAUKEE––In the first of an expected series of indictments striking at the
brain trust and bankroll of the crate-raised veal and milk-fed spring lamb industries, a federal
grand jury empaneled in Milwaukee on December 6 charged the Vitek Supply Corporation,
Vitek president Jannes Doppenberg, and Vitek office manager Sherry Steffen with 12 counts
of conspiracy, smuggling unapproved drugs into the U.S., and illegally adding the drugs to
feed mixtures told to veal and lamb producers throughout the country.
A prepared statement from U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Schneider said, “It is alleged
in the indictment that the unapproved drugs were shipped to feed companies and growers in
Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Over 1.7 million
pounds of Vitek product containing unapproved drugs, valued at over $1.3 million dollars,
were sold by Vitek between 1988 and April 1994.”

Out of cod, Canada tells fishers “kill seals”

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland––Blaming harp seals for a
99% decline in the mass of spawning cod off the Atlantic coast of
Newfoundland, Canadian Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin on
December 18 moved to appease out-of-work cod fishers in his
home province by expanding the 1996 seal killing quota to
250,000––actually higher than many annual quotas during the peak
years of the seal hunt in the 1970s and early 1980s.
In effect resuming the all-out seal massacres that prompted
international protest until clubbing newborn whitecoats and
hunting seals from large vessels was suspended in 1983, Tobin
also pledged to maintain a bounty of about 15¢ U.S. per pound for
each dead seal landed, and said he would encourage the revived
use of large vessels to help sealers attack seal breeding colonies on
offshore ice floes.

Hunting & Trafficking

December 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment