Editorial: Compromise & the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

Editorially favoring hunting, trapping, fishing, ranching, logging, rodeo, and ani-

mal use in biomedical research, the Spokane Spokesman-Review has probably never in recent

decades been mistaken for an exponent of animal rights.

Yet on September 15, 1952 the Spokesman–Review became perhaps the first and

only daily newspaper in the U.S. to editorially endorse “A Charter of Rights for Animals,”

drafted by the World Federation for the Protection of Animals.

The oldest of the three organizations whose mergers eventually produced today’s

World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the Dutch-based World Federation then

represented “humane societies in 25 countries,” the Spokesman-Review editors noted.

“Most civilized countries already have laws to cover most of the protection for ani-

mals that the federation asks,” the Spokesman-Review continued. “Beating animals, forcing

them to do work beyond their strength, transporting them in a manner to cause pain or without

adequate food, all are punishable now in the U.S., for example.”

PETA staffers face 62 felony cruelty counts in North Carolina

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1995:

WINTON, N.C.––The scheduled

first court appearance of PETA staffers Adria

Joy Hinkle and Andrew Benjamin Cook on

multiple cruelty charges was on July 19, 2005

postponed until August 16.

Hinkle, 27, and Cook, 24, are

charged with a combined 62 counts of felony

cruelty to animals and 16 counts of illegal dis-

posal of animal remains.

Police sources have indicated that

other persons associated with PETA may be

charged as result of ongoing investigation.

The court date was delayed, report-

ed Darren Freeman of the Norfolk Virginian–

Pilot, because the prosecution was “waiting

for lab results on chemicals found in a van the

two suspects were using when they were

arrested, and the results to determine the

cause of death of one of the animals.”

Ahoskie, North Carolina police

detective Jeremy Roberts told Freeman that the

van was registered to PETA.

University of Nevada fined

July 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

RENO––Substantiating complaints filed by

University of Nevada at Reno associate professor

Hussein S. Hussein, the USDA Animal & Plant Health

Inspection Service in May 2005 cited the university for

46 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act

allegedly committed between May 25, 2004 and March

21, 2005.

The university agreed to pay fines totaling

$11,400 to avoid going to court.

“The violations included repeatedly leaving

10 research pigs without adequate water between May

and September and improperly housing the same pigs,

frequent poor sanitation of animal care facilities, lack

of veterinary care, improper oversight of research

activities, failing to investigate complaints of animal

neglect and poor record keeping, and failing to proper-

ly train university farm employees,” wrote Frank X.

COURT CALENDAR

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Humane enforcement

Superior Court judge William Patrick on May 3

sent poodle breeder Charlotte Spiegel, 56, of Oroville,

California, to Chowchilla state prison for a 90-day pre-sentenc-

ing evaluation. A jury on March 15 convicted Spiegel of abus-

ing 350 dogs seized in two 1993 raids and later forfeited to the

Northwest SPCA. Patrick also ordered Spiegel to forfeit 57

dogs seized in later raids, and made her liable for up to

$260,000 in restitution to the SPCA for holding the dogs.

The Ottawa Shores Humane Society is in reported

financial distress after the scheduled May 16 trial of accused

animal collectors Earl Postema, 65, and his daughter Karen

Zalsman, 38, was postponed to mid-July because they fired

their attorney. OSHS volunteers in late March removed 72

goats, eight horses, and eight rabbits from their farm in Nunica,

Michigan. Four dead goats were found in a manure-choked

barn, and a dead colt was found in a field. Postema was reput-

edly involved with the Michigan militia, a private paramilitary

force whose events Oklahoma City bombing suspect Tim

McVeigh at times attended.

BOMB SUSPECT MCVEIGH WAS A HUNTER

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

OKLAHOMA CITY––Tim McVeigh, charged

with the April 19 Oklahoma City truck bombing that killed 168

people, was a hunter––and his alleged accomplice, Steven

Garrett Colbern, arrested on May 12 in Oatman, Arizona,

was reputedly a hunter, a reptile breeder, and may have been

involved in animal-based biomedical research.

McVeigh defended hunting in a letter published on

March 10, 1992 in the Lockport (N.Y.) Union-Sun & Journal.

Contrasting hunting with slaughtering, McVeigh wrote that

he’d seen cattle killed with chainsaws and machetes, without

prestunning, methods not legal in U.S. slaughterhouses within

his lifetime but perhaps practiced by survivalist associates.

Zoos & sanctuaries

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

The sale of the city-owned

Bridgeport Zoo to the nonprofit Connecticut

Zoological Society, backed by $5.5 million in

state aid, has been delayed and perhaps halted

after three years of planning. The zoo occu-

pies park land donated by the James Walker

Beardsley family, who have the right to

reclaim the site if it is turned over to any entity

other than the city or the state. Beardsley’s

heirs say they would not exercise such a claim,

but public officials aren’t willing to take the

chance. The financially troubled city seeks to

sell the zoo, still undergoing extensive renova-

tion, because it costs about $1 million a year to

run, only $600,000 of which comes from

admissions, concession sales, and donations.

Birds

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Psychologist Shigeru Watanabe of

Keio University in Tokyo reported in the

May edition of New Scientist that pigeons can

tell paintings by Pablo Picasso’s cubist period

from those of impressionist Claude Monet,

but cannot distinguish the works of Cezanne

from those of Renoir––which is to say they

have about the same ability to discern style as

the average art appreciation student.

The last male crested ibis in

Japan died suddenly on May 1 while carrying

grass to the nest occupied by his mate, bor-

rowed from China, and their cluster of five

eggs. The egg were to hatch circa May 10.

The dead ibis, age 21, was the next to last of

five who were taken from the wild for

attempted captive breeding in 1981. None so

far have bred successfully. The sole survivor

of Japan’s once plentiful crested ibises is a 28-

year-old female. China still has 28 of the big

birds, all in zoos and/other sanctuaries.

“He ain’t heavy. He’s my brother.”

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK–– National Park Service rangers have

killed 400 wild burros in Death Valley since 1987, but through the intervention of Wild

Burro Rescue, the 1995 quota is zero. It will stay zero for as many years as WBR is able to

rescue the number of burros the NPS would otherwise shoot to prevent ecological damage.

“I got shingles,” said WBR co-founder Gene Chontos, “but we did it,” raising

$23,000 between reaching a deal with the NPS last December and commencing the rescue

on March 18––and then rounding up 20 burros with the help of six mounted wranglers and a

rented helicopter. The team caught 19 burros the first day, with difficulty.

Fur

June 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:

Minneapolis furrier Robert

Zicari recently told Fur Age Weekly read-

ers that he’s trying to get licensing rights

from Walt Disney to promote fur goods bear-

ing the image of Snow White, and “Their

response was not altogether negative. We

have a chance if we put the cost up front.”

Linking Disney to fur would be an unlikely

coup; the 1959 Disney film 101 Dalmatians,

about Cruella DeVil’s attempt to make a

dog-fur coat, preceded a fur sales crash, and

the 1991 re-release of the film in home video

format also coincided with a skid. More is

ahead: Walt Disney Pictures on May 9 hired

Stephen Herek to direct a live edition of 101

Dalmatians, to be produced by John Hughes

and Ricardo Mestres, probably starring

Glenn Close as Cruella. Filming begins in

October. Thank Walt Disney Co. for its his-

torical role in promoting kindness toward

animals and urge it keep high standards at

500 Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521.

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