Hurricanes Gustav & Ike test federal pet evacuation mandate

September 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2008:

HOUSTON, NEW ORLEANS– Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, hitting
the Gulf Coast barely more than a week apart in September 2008,
brought the first major test of the Pets Evacuation and
Transportation Standards Act, passed by Congress in 2006.
The PETS Act was passed after evidence surfaced that many of
the human fatalities attributed to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 resulted
from people refusing to evacuate because they could not take pets
with them. The purpose of the PETS Act is to ensure that provisions
for pet evacuation are incorporated into regional disaster planning.
“Three years after pet owners were reduced to tears while
being forced to leave their dogs and cats in neighborhoods affected
by Hurricane Katrina, emergency response officials are taking
extraordinary care to ensure animal safety,” wrote Alex Branch of
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

San Francisco supervisors consider turning S.F. Zoo into wildlife rescue center

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Board of Supervisors are to
decide in September 2008 whether to convert the zoo, one of the
oldest in the U.S., into a wildlife rescue center.
“Supervisor Chris Daly proposed the measure six months after
a tiger escaped on December 25, 2007 and fatally mauled Carlos Souza
Jr., 17, of San Jose,” San Francisco Chronicle staff writer
Marissa Lagos reported on August 8, 2008.
As drafted, “The measure would make animal welfare a
priority at the zoo,” Lagos wrote, “and would require that any
future acquisitions be rescued animals, including those who were
abused or were confiscated by law enforcement after being illegally
owned or imported. The zoo would be barred from acquiring new
animals ‘unless the needs of all animals currently at the zoo have
been met.’ Some breeding programs for endangered animals would be
allowed to continue.”

Arsons boost bill that would inhibit access to info about animal research

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
SACRAMENTO–Firebombs detonated on a porch and in a home
belonging to University of California at Santa Cruz researchers in
the early morning of August 2, 2008 are believed to have given a big
late-in-session boost to AB 2296, a bill which would allow
universities to withhold the names of animal researchers from public
documents.
Introduced in February 2008 by state assembly member Gene
Mullin (D-San Mateo) at request of the University of California
system, AB 2296 “would make it a misdemeanor to harm or intimidate a
researcher who works with animals, including publicly posting the
names, photographs, home addresses and home telephone numbers of
researchers online or elsewhere. Anyone convicted under the
legislation could face up to a year in county jail and fines up to
$25,000. The bill also allows researchers or their employers to seek
an injunction against animal rights advocates or web sites publishing
their photos or personal information,” summarized Santa Cruz
Sentinel staff writer J.M. Brown.

BLM talk of killing wild horses coincides with efforts to restart horse slaughter

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:

RENO–The September 2008 meeting of the
National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board may
discuss killing unadopted wild horses, Bureau of
Land Management deputy director Henri Bisson
disclosed to Associated Press on June 30.
“There are an estimated 33,000 wild
horses in 10 Western states,” assessed
Associated Press writer Martin Griffith. “About
half of those are in Nevada. The agency has set
the target appropriate management level for wild
horses at 27,000. About 30,000 horses are in
holding facilities.
“Last year,” Griffith continued, “about
$22 million of the BLM horse program’s $39
million budget was spent on holding horses in
agency pens. Next year the costs are projected
to grow to $26 million within an overall budget
that is being trimmed to $37 million.”

Infiltrator Sapone exposed again

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
WASHINGTON D.C.– New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg on
August 7, 2008 asked the National Rifle Association to disclose full
details of the alleged espionage activities within gun control
organizations of Mary McFate, 62, also known as Mary Lou Sapone.
McFate/Sapone was exposed a week earlier by James Ridgeway,
Daniel Schulman, and David Corn of Mother Jones magazine.
“According to Mother Jones,” summarized Lautenberg to NRA
president John C. Sigler, “Mary McFate spent more than a decade
rising through the ranks at several gun violence prevention
organizations, including CeaseFire PA, Freedom States Alliance, and
States United to Prevent Gun Violence. At the same time,
McFate-going by the name Mary Lou Sapone-reportedly was a paid
‘research consultant’ for the NRA. As a result, McFate/Sapone was in
a position to learn about, and to report back to the NRA on, the
concerns, plans and strategies of various gun violence prevention
groups.

SHARK wins a round in court re use rodeo videos

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
CHEYENNE–U.S. District Judge William Downes on July 29, 2008
dismissed a lawsuit filed by Romeo Entertainment Group Inc. against
Show-ing Animals Respect & Kindness, better known as SHARK.
The case alleged that SHARK used “false and misleading
information” and “threats of negative publicity” to influence singer
Carrie Underwood and the band Matchbox 20 to cancel shows at the
Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo in 2006 and 2008.
Downes ruled that while the case could not be pursued in
Wyoming, due to lack of jurisdiction, it could be refiled in either
Illinois or Oklahoma. Romeo Entertainment attorney J. Kent Rutledge
told Associated Press writer Bob Moen that either the ruling would be
appealed or the case would be refiled in another state.

Dog racing ban on Massachusetts ballot

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
BOSTON–The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on July
16, 2008 allowed the Committee to Protect Dogs, co-chaired by Grey
2K cofounder Christine Dorchak, to place on the November 2008 state
ballot an initiative that would ban greyhound racing and would put
the last two tracks in Massachusetts out of business by January 2010.
The first Grey 2K effort to ban greyhound racing in
Massachusetts failed by 1% of the vote in 2000. In July 2006 the
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejected as overbroad a
proposed ballot initiative that would have prohibited greyhound
racing and would have provided stiffer sentences for dogfighting and
harming police dogs.
The greyhound industry may have less money this year for
campaigning. The city of Revere, Massachusetts in July 2008
foreclosed on the Wonderland Greyhound Park over $789,293 in unpaid
taxes, and is owed $16,674 in water and sewage bills, reported
Katheleen Conti of the Boston Globe on August 1. “Wonderland is the
city’s eighth-largest taxpayer, and now its largest tax delinquent,”
Conti wrote. “In 1994, Wonderland paid $1.6 million in back taxes.
The city placed a lien on the property in June 2007.”

Misunderstanding over what HFAC “Certified Humane” means

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
WASHINGTON D.C.–A mix-up by Eggology liquid egg white
company founder Brad Halpern and publicist Amy Dunn about the
relationship between the Humane Farm Animal Care “Certified Humane”
program and the Humane Society of the U.S. led to late-summer
headaches for both HFAC and HSUS, after the web site
www.HumaneMyth.org alleged that HSUS had endorsed Eggology despite
opposing debeaking hens, which HFAC allows.
The HumaneMyth web site was launched in June 2008 by Tribe of
Heart sanctuary founders and video producers James LaVeck and Jenny
Stein in response to “An idea propagated by the animal-using industry
and some animal protection organizations that it is possible to use
and kill animals in a manner that can be fairly described as
respectful or compassionate or humane.”

“Crush video” law overturned

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
PHILADELPHIA–The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
on July 18, 2008 held unconstitutional the 1999 federal law that
forbids selling videos of cruelty to animals. Passed in response to
videos depicting women and transvestites crushing small animals with
their feet, the law was used just once, to convict Robert J.
Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia, for selling videos of dogfighting
and “hog/dog rodeo.” His conviction was reversed by the 10-3
verdict.
“Usually, videos and photographs are protected as free
speech, even if they show illegal or abhorrent conduct,” explained
Los Angeles Times staff writer David G. Savage. “But in 1982, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sexual depictions of children could be
prosecuted as a crime despite the 1st Amendment. Government lawyers
said the animal cruelty law should be upheld on the same basis.
However, wrote Judge Brooks Smith for the majority,
“Preventing cruelty to animals, although an exceedingly worthy goal,
simply does not implicate interests of the same magnitude as
protecting children from physical and psychological harm.”

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