CHILDREN & ANIMALS

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Jeanne McVey of the Sea Wolf

Alliance was the only animal protection repre-

sentative at the mid-September International

Conference on Population and Development

meeting in Cairo, Egypt. “I am working quite

well with the environmentalists,” McVey

faxed ANIMAL PEOPLE on September 9.

“This is the occasion for minimizing our dif-

ferences with other groups and countries.” A

precedent for animal protection as well as for

women’s rights was reached when the confer-

ees agreed to oppose female genital mutilation

in their final report. From 85 million to 115

million women worldwide have been genitally

maimed, mostly in Africa, by procedures

intended to promote chastity by inhibiting sex-

ual pleasure. About two million adolescent

women a year still suffer genital mutilation,

according to the World Health Organization.

The importance of the ICPD statement to ani-

mal defenders is that a world governmental

body has now agreed that at least in this

instance, neither culture nor custom is an

acceptable excuse for cruelty.

Chicago nurse gets four years

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

CHICAGO, Illinois––Cook County

judge Vincent Bentivenga on August 31 sen-

tenced registered nurse Lise Olsen, 45, to

serve four years in the Illinois State

Penitentiary for allegedly attempting to fire-

bomb a railroad trestle on July 4, 1992.

Olsen insists the purported gasoline-

filled firebombs were actually homemade

lanterns, which she learned to make while

serving as a missionary in the Sudan, and were

intended to illuminate an antifur banner hung

in a railway trestle.. Experts disagree as to

their explosive potential.

COURT CALENDAR

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Animal Welfare Act

In recent Animal Welfare Act

enforcement cases, the USDA on August

29 fined James Joseph Hickey of

Albany, Oregon, $10,000 and suspended

his Class B dealer’s permit for 10 years for

a variety of offenses dating to 1990,

including the purchase of 46 random

source dogs and cats from unlicensed deal-

er Jerry R. Branton, who did not raise the

animals himself and therefore did not qual-

ify as a legal seller. The fine was the sec-

ond of $10,000 levied against Hickey’s

business in the past five years. David W.

Lance, of Just Quality Pets in Philadel-

phia, Pennsylvania, has been fined

$10,000 for selling at least 138 animals

without the proper permits. William,

Carmen, and Bonnie Winey of Winey

Farms in Deloit, Iowa, lost their Class B

animal dealers’ license for multiple health,

sanitation, and recordkeeping violations.

Diet & Health

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

“Jack Sprat is the only per-

son in the English lexicon to promote

vegetarianism,” claim Jeff and Dana

Dorson, who recently opened the first

of a projected chain of vegan fast food

restaurants called Jack Sprat’s

Vegetarian Grill in the French Quarter

of New Orleans. “We’re going to make

Sprat into a character in costume, have

him go around in public places, pass

out vegetables, and teach people how to

eat healthy,” the Dorsons continue.

“We hope to stage a national debate

with Ronald McDonald.” The Dorsons

have shown their ability to build a

strong organization via Legislation In

Support of Animals, now six years old,

with 1,200 members (profiled in the

January 1994 issue of ANIMAL PEO-

PLE). Their menu already gets raves

from New Orleans restaurant critics.

Pigeons not animals

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

HEGINS, Pennsylvania––The Fund for

Animals is urging activists to send copies of the

dictionary definition of “animal” to Pennsylvania

State Police Commissioner Glenn Walp, for refus-

ing to charge participants and staff at the Hegins

pigeon shoot with animal abuse. Walp said his

legal advisors are uncertain if pigeons are “ani-

mals” and therefore protected by state law.

The Hegins shoot, held each Labor Day

since 1934, went on as scheduled this year after the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court on September 2

rejected an appeal of a lower court’s refusal to issue

an injunction to stop it. The shoot organizers

refused an offer of $70,000 to call it off, delivered

by Rutgers Animal Rights Law Clinic director Gary

Francione on behalf of an anonymous donor. The

shoot raises about $20,000 a year for the Hegins

recreation department, but costs almost as much to

run––and far more when the cost of the state troop-

ers who provide security is factored in. The offer

was controversial in animal protection circles

because the shoot organizers might have demanded

similar amounts to call off future shoots.

Hunting

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Hunter harassment

WASHINGTON D.C.––A federal hunter

harassment statute became law with the August 26

passage of the Crime Bill of 1994. Added to the

Senate version of the Crime Bill by Senator Conrad

Burns (R-Montana), it cleared the Senate without

debate and was kept in the final version by a

House/Senate conference committee as a concession

to the National Rifle Association, which was irate

over the ban of 19 assault rifles named in the bill.

The statute may be considered the first fed-

eral lawmaking achievement of Humane Society of

the U.S. vice president for governmental relations

Wayne Pacelle––who can claim indirect credit for

getting more state legislation passed than any other

animal defender. Pacelle assumed his current post

after staging dozens of high-profile hunter harass-

ment actions from late 1988 into early 1994 in his

former position with the Fund for Animals. Only

four states had hunter harassment laws in 1986,

when Pacelle rose to prominence as a Yale under-

graduate with a successful constitutional challenge of

the Connecticut statute, which was thrown out in

1988 but was amended and restored by the state leg-

islature. There are now hunter harassment laws in 48

of the 50 states––and the NRA, recruiting around the

issue, now boasts a record high membership.

Birds

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

A study of more than 1,200

cormorant regurgitations conducted

by the National Biological Survey and

the New York Department of

Environmental Conservation has con-

cluded that lake trout and salmon make

up only 0.5% of the birds’ diet.

Further, cormorants eat only 5% of the

volume of smaller fish that the trout

and salmon eat. Thus the estimated

12,000 cormorants now living along

the eastern shore of Lake Ontario are

no threat to the sport fishing industry,

contrary to the claims of hunting and

fishing groups, which have been call-

ing for cormorant control––often in the

form of an open season on cormorants,

generally considered inedible.

AGRICULTURE: California downer bill may ratify neglect of hurt cattle

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

SACRAMENTO, California––California governor Pete Wilson on September 16

signed SB 692, the California Downed Animal Protection Act, passed by the legislature on

August 26. Endorsed by Farm Sanctuary, the Doris Day Animal League, and the Association

of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, SB 692 was fought by the Humane Farming Association

and Friends of Animals, who charge that amendments made to win the support of the Farm

Bureau Federation mean the new law only ratifies the present treatment of injured and ill cattle.

Of most concern to HFA and FoA is clause 599f.(b), which originally mandated that,

“No slaughterhouse, stockyard, auction, market agency, dealer or hauler shall hold a nonam-

bulatory animal without immediately humanely euthanizing the animal.” As amended, 599f.(b)

deletes haulers from the list, enabling cattle truckers to continue to accept downers for trans-

port. Further, instead of requiring that downers be immediately euthanized, which precludes

slaughtering them for human consumption, the bill now requires only that “immediate action”

must be taken “to humanely euthanize the animal or remove the animal from the premises.”

Wildlife briefs

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

Three related California bills to
decriminalize accidental killings of protect-

ed species, improve scientific review of

species proposed for protection, and allow

some killing of endangered species in eco-

nomic activities providing compensation was

made died September 2 when a coalition of

business interests and environmentalists split

over the definition of the word “conserve.”

The business groups objected that the word

might commit them to species recovery work,

not just to paying for habitat or individuals

lost. The bills were touted as potential mod-

els for reforming the federal Endangered

Species Act, reauthorization of which is more

than two years overdue.

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