Category: North America

Sealing protest & media response

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
Conventional activist wisdom is that confrontation attracts
publicity, which builds opposition to a grievance. An ANIMAL PEOPLE
analysis of Atlantic Canadian seal hunt coverage, however, shows a
low yield from ongoing efforts to confront and document the
activities of sealers on the ice, the chief protest tactic since the
1970s.
The New York Times during the first two weeks of the 2008
sealing season published just one brief article about it, and since
1981 has published an average of just 1.4 articles per year about the
hunt. The New York Times total of 39 articles about Atlantic
Canadian seal hunting and related protest contrasts with 312 articles
about Japanese research whaling published in the same years.

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About six million U.S. dogs live on chains, Dogs Deserve Better count projects

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
TIPTON, Pa.–How many dogs are chained or penned in
abnormally close quarters as their primary means of confinement?
The quick answer appears to be about six million dogs, 9% of
the U.S. dog population, based on an ANIMAL PEOPLE analysis of data
gathered by Dogs Deserve Better founder Tammy Grimes and public
liaison director Dawn Ashby.
Grimes and Ashby in mid-April 2008 spent 12 days counting
chained or closely penned dogs in a dozen southern and southeastern
states. They found 1,051 chained dogs in 1,483 residential road
miles, or about one mile in 2,648 of the U.S. residential road mile
total.

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Order protecting duck said to be a legal first

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
MASTIC, N.Y.–A protective order issued on April 3, 2008
on behalf of a duck named Circles was believed to be a legal first.
Ylik Mathews, 21, a neighbor who allegedly shot Circles in the neck
with a pellet gun, received the order after pleading not guilty to
felony cruelty in Central Islip First District Court. Previously
convicted of first degree robbery, Mathews faces up to two years in
prison. He was held on bail of $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond.
“To my knowledge, it’s the first order of protection for a
pet in Suffolk County outside of domestic violence cases,”
prosecutor Michelle Auletta told Luis Perez of Newsday.

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Spared by court, sea lions are shot by night raiders

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
PORTLAND–The National Marine Fisheries Service is
investigating the early May 5 fatal shooting of six California sea
lions who were trapped in floating cages used by the Oregon
Department of Fish & Wildlife to capture sea lions who are believed
to be contributing to the depletion of endangered salmon runs.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 23, 2008
granted an injunction to the Humane Society of the U.S. and
coplaintiffs which allowed Oregon wildlife wardens to capture sea
lions who eat endangered salmon below the Bonneville Dam on the
Columbia River, but prohibited killing sea lions.
Eight of 61 sea lions targeted for removal were trapped on
April 24, of whom one died while awaiting transfer to Sea World.
Zoos and aquariums had agreed to accept about 20. No others were
impounded before the program was suspended. The National Marine
Fisheries Service had authorized Oregon officials to kill any for
whom homes could not be found.

Swinging Canadian elections keeps the sealers swinging clubs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
Swinging Canadian elections keeps the sealers swinging clubs
Commentary by Merritt Clifton

Thirty years ago, when I first wrote
about the Atlantic Canadian seal hunt as a rural
Quebec newspaper reporter, both the hunt and
protests against it already seemed to have gone
on forever–but I had hopes that the efforts of
Brigitte Bardot and Paul Watson would soon end
it. Bardot brought global celebrity status to
the campaign; Watson had just introduced the
then new tactic of actually confronting the
sealers on the ice, as cameras rolled.
I had known about the hunt and the
protests for close to 10 years, first hearing
of it soon after Brian Davies moved his Save The
Seals Fund to the U.S. from New Brunswick and
retitled it the International Fund for Animal
Welfare.
When the U.S. Postal Service introduced
nonprofit bulk mail discounts in 1969, the seal
hunt was among the topics that built IFAW, the
Animal Protection Institute, Greenpeace, and
the Fund for Animals. The seal hunt was already
a cause celebré before Bardot gave up acting to
start the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, before
Watson formed the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society while Greenpeace retreated from the
sealing issue.

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“Activist vegetarian” elected to head Canadian SPCA

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
MONTREAL–The Canadian SPCA board of directors on April 9,
2008 affirmed the promotion of former vice president Nancy Breitman
to acting president, following the ouster of Pierre Barnoti,
president since 1995. The CSPCA board also elected six new members
to fill eight vacancies.
Breitman told Max Harrold of the Montreal Gazette that under
Barnoti she was ostracized as “a radical, tree-hugging, activist
vegetarian.”
Breitman pledged to reduce the numbers of animals killed at
the two CSPCA shelters, in Montreal and Laval, by “as much as
possible.”
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Death of filly Eight Belles mars the Kentucky Derby

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
LOUISVILLE–Eight Belles, 3, a filly trained by Larry Jones
and ridden by jockey Gabriel Saez, 20, charged home second in the
Kentucky Derby on May 3, trailing undefeated Big Brown by four and a
half lengths, but broke both her front ankles seconds later while
“galloping out” around the first turn, and was euthanized where she
fell.
“There was no way to save her. She could not stand,”
trainer Larry Jones told Associated Press racing writer Beth Harris.
“Galloping out” is the post-race slowdown of the field.
Racehorses are stopped gradually to avoid pile-ups and injuries.
“She didn’t have a front leg to stand on to be splinted and
hauled off in the ambulance,” said track veterinarian Larry
Bramlage. “In my years in racing, I have never seen this happen at
the end of the race or during the race.”

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Hunters hit foreclosed pets

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
Grand Rapids–Pressured for just one weekend by the
pro-hunting U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the 182-store Meijer retail
chain on April 28, 2008 bagged a pet photo contest meant to benefit
the Foreclosure Pets Fund, a project of the Humane Society of the
U.S.
“Meijer Inc. ducked after finding itself in the crosshairs,”
reported Shandra Martinez of the Grand Rapids Press.
Founded in Grand Rapids in 1932, Meijer now operates stores
throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. The
Meijer contest was to donate $1.00, up to $5,000, for every entry
in the online photo contest.

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“Bard of rescue” Jim Willis convicted of dog theft

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
WILMINGTON–Jim Willis, 52, author of several
much-circulated poems and short essays about animal abandonment and
rescue, was on March 20, 2008 convicted of felony dog larcency in
Pender County, North Carolina, and sentenced to do 75 hours of
community service, spend two years on probation, and keep no more
than one pet, reported WECT-TV6 of Wilmington.
The case was one of two filed in 2007 in which neighbors
accused Willis of stealing dogs whom he said he had rescued. One dog
was recovered at a Wilmington home where Willis temporarily resided.
The charges involving that dog were not prosecuted, North Carolina
Voters for Animal Welfare founder B.B. Knowles told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
The conviction, in a case involving an elderly dog who was
well-known and well-liked in her neighborhood, according to Pender
Post staff writer Jefferson Weaver, was Willis’ second within less
than a year, with a variety of other cases pending.

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