Category: North America

Monkey-laundering?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
HONG KONG–Is a small amount of monkey-eating in southern
China covering for a large amount of monkey trafficking from the wild
to U.S. labs?
Among the reasons for vigilance:
* Monkey-trapping and smuggling appear to be increasing
throughout Southeast Asia, allegedly for Chinese markets. Yet
reports from within China indicate no rise in monkey consumption,
amid increasing efforts to suppress eating contraband wildlife.
* U.S. lab use of nonhuman primates has more than doubled,
from 25,534 in 2002 and 25,834 in 2003, to 54,998 in 2004, and
57,531 in 2005, the latest year for which the USDA Animal & Plant
Inspection Service has complete data.

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Quebec wardens bust a poaching legend

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
MONTREAL–For more than 30 years rumors
circulated among Quebec game wardens about trophy
hunting outfitters north of the St. Lawrence
River who would allegedly trap wolves and bears
with baited hooks, then fly rich clients out to
shoot them.
The perpetrators allegedly also chased
big moose and caribou to exhaustion with
helicopters, to give unscrupulous and
politically powerful customers easier shots.
But none of the suspects were ever caught
in any of the acts and arrested. Catching
ordinary deer poachers in relatively populated
southern Quebec was difficult. Catching
well-funded and well-equipped poachers hundreds
of miles from any accidental witnesses was deemed
almost impossible.

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Primarily Primates digs out after six & a half months of receivership

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
SAN ANTONIO–A month after returning to Primarily Primates,
executive director Stephen Rene Tello told ANIMAL PEOPLE,
“Ninety-five percent of the debris” left by six and a half months of
court-appointed receivership had been cleaned up.
From October 15, 2006 until May 1, 2007, Primarily
Primates was managed by receiver Lee Theisen-Watt, whose background
was in wildlife rehabilitation, and a variety of PETA staff and
volunteers.
The sanctuary was seized largely based on claims by two
former Primarily Primates staff members who had been dismissed for
cause. The allegations were forwarded to now retired Texas assistant
attorney general John Vinson and Office of the Texas Attorney General
investigator Christopher Krhovjak in May 2006 by PETA counsel for
research and investigations Leona Stormont.

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ELF/ALF strategist sentenced as terrorist

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
EUGENE, Oregon–Stanislas Meyer-hoff, 29, on May 23, 2007
drew 16 years in federal prison for his admitted participation in a
string of arsons attributed to the “Earth Liberation Front” and
“Animal Liberation Front.” The fires, set in five western states,
did more than $40 million damage, according to federal prosecutors.
Meyerhoff was the first of 10 admitted ELF and ALF arsonists
to go before U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for sentencing, and was
expected to draw the longest sentence.
“According to the government,” wrote Bryan Denson of the
Portland Oregonian, who covered the case from the first actions
onward, “Meyerhoff co-owned a pair of MAK-91 semiautomatic rifles,
helped write the Earth Liberation Front’s manual on how to set fires
with electrical timers, coached others on how to make [explosive
devices], and led arsons.”

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ADL-LA fined $49,600 for demos

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LOS ANGELES–A Los Angeles Superior Court judgment on May 3,
2007 fined the Animal Defense League of Los Angeles $49,600, after
representatives pleaded “no contest” to seven criminal charges,
including trespassing and conspiracy, arising out of a series of
demonstrations held outside the homes of Los Angeles Animal Services
employees in 2004 and 2005.
“Seven other charges were dropped by city prosecutors,”
Associated Press reported.
The court placed all members of the Animal Defense League of
Los Angeles under three years of probation, including a prohibition
on “annoying, harassing, threatening, stalking or committing any
act of force or violence” against L.A. Animal Services staff.
“The group is barred from demonstrating within 100 feet of
the homes of previously targeted workers,” said Associated Press,
“and the league must remove their photos and personal information
from its web site.”

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NIH makes permanent chimp breeding freeze

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
WASHINGTON D.C.– The U.S. National Institutes of Health on
May 24, 2007 announced that for financial reasons, it will make
permanent a moratorium in effect since 1995 on breeding chimpanzees
kept by the National Center for Research Resources.
The center is responsible for about 500 of the 1,200 chimps
who remain in U.S. laboratories.
Only nine U.S. labs still use chimps.
“NCRR’s prudent decision is timely,” said New England
Anti-Vivisection Society president Theo Capaldo, “since not only
U.S. but world sentiment is growing in support of the day when no
chimpanzees will be used in lab research.”
The NIH escalated chimp breeding in the early 1980s,
anticipating that many chimps would be used in HIV-AIDS research.
However, chimpanzees proved to be extraordinarily resistant
to the human forms of HIV-AIDS.

Marin County HS names Neil Trent

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
Novato, Calif.–The Marin County Humane Society on May 14,
2007 announced that Neil Trent, 56, will succeed Diane Allevato as
executive director. Allevato is retiring after heading the society
since 1980.
Trent spent 21 years in law enforcement, shelter management,
and overseas training with the Royal SPCA of Britain. After five
years as a field officer and regional director for the World Society
for the Protection of Animals, he moved to Humane Society
International in 1997, where he has been executive director since
1998.

Spring 2007 legislative sessions send pro-animal bills to the governors of 14 states

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:

 

Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has signed a bill requiring
that engine coolant or antifreeze that contains more than 10%
ethylene glycol must include denatonium benzoate, a bittering agent,
to keep animals and children from drinking it by accident.
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell has signed a bill, based on a
model promoted nationally by the Humane Society of the U.S., that
requires the state to include provisions for pets and service animals
in disaster planning.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels on May 4, 2007 signed a bill
which makes killing an animal to threaten, intimidate, coerce, or
terrorize a household family member a Class D felony, punishable by
up to three years in prison and a fine of $10,000. The new law also
makes sexual intercourse or deviate sexual conduct with an animal a
Class D felony.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver on May 15, 2007 signed a bill
prohibiting Internet hunting, in which hunters kill animals from
distant locations using web cameras to spot their targets and a
mouse-click to shoot. Model anti-Internet hunting bills have been
promoted nationally in recent years by HSUS.
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has signed a bill that bans
chaining dogs outside and unattended in unsafe or unsanitary
conditions, at least the third state-level legislative success for
Dogs Deserve Better and other opponents of chaining. The offense was
made a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up
to 90 days in jail. Before passing the bill, the Maryland Senate
removed language from the original draft which specified that
inclement weather is an unsafe condition, while the Maryland House
of Delegates excised a ban on chaining dogs outside between midnight
and six a.m.
Nebraska Governor Dave Heine-man as of the end of May 2007
had signed bills making reckless animal abandonment a felony offense
and banning Internet hunting. Nebraska became the 30th state to
outlaw “Internet hunting.” Still awaiting Heineman’s attention was a
bill to strengthen state regulation of commercial dog breeding.
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons on May 23, 2007 signed into law
a bill requiring that pets and service animals must be provided for
in state disaster planning.

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Horse slaughter for human consumption halted

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
SPRINGFIELD, AUSTIN, WASHINGTON D.C.–Horse slaughter for
human consumption appeared to be ended within the U.S. on May 24, as
result of legislation signed that day by Illinois Governor Rod
Blagojevich, killed by the Texas legislature the same day, and
allowed to stand without comment by the U.S. Supreme Court two days
earlier.
Illinois House Bill 1711, introduced by state
representative Bob Molaro and state senator John Cullerton,
prohibits killing horses for human consumption, effective
immediately. Cavel International had operated the last horsemeat
slaughtering plant in the U.S. in DeKalb, Illinois.

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