Sealers overkill quota, mob observers

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

OTTAWA–Atlantic Canadian sealers reportedly killed as many
as 16,000 more infant seals than their 2006 record quota of 325,000,
“yet not one sealer was arrested,” observed Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society founder Paul Watson.
Logistic problems kept the Sea Shepherds away from the
Atlantic Canada seal hunt in 2006, but Watson initiated a boycott of
Costco stores. Costco executives on March 1 told Sea Shepherd
volunteer Stephen Thompson that Costco would quit selling seal oil
capsules, Watson said, only to renege less than two weeks later
under pressure from Newfoundland politicians.

Read more

Beyond “Sylvester & Tweety”

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

FOSTER CITY, Calif.–Tired of playing stereotypical opposing
roles in endless political re-runs of the “Sylvester & Tweety”
cats-vs.-birds battle, Homeless Cat Network “cat manager” Cimeron
Morrissey, Sequoia Audubon Society conservation committee chair
Robin Winslow Smith, and Foster City management analyst Andra Lorenz
in 2004 quit competing for TV sound bites and formed Project Bay Cat
instead.
They all knew what the problem was: more than 170 feral cats
lived along the Bay Trail, a popular scenic hiking route that
follows a long abandoned shoreline railway. Mostly the cats hunted
small rodents. Like other predators, they caught mostly the old,
the young, the sick, and the injured.

Read more

Editorial: The Sierra Club vs. anti-hunting legacy of founder John Muir

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

That Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson
would eventually resign from the Sierra Club board of directors was
widely anticipated almost from the moment of his election in 2003.
Watson was elected as part of an aggressive challenge to a range of
Sierra Club positions and policies, was elected without sufficient
supporters and allies to have much chance of success, and was
predictably isolated throughout his tenure from the rest of the
Sierra Club power structure.
Yet Watson did not resign until April 17, 2006, just a
month before the end of his three-year term. When Watson did resign,
he left in protest against the Sierra Club executive issuing an
unprecedented and unequivocally strong endorsement of sport hunting,
directly contrary to the views of founder John Muir.

Read more

17-year-old’s death changes lawmakers’ view of exotic cats in private hands

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

TOPEKA–Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius on April 17 signed
into law a bill requiring Kansans who keep big cats, bears, and
non-native venomous snakes to hold a U.S. Department of Agriculture
exhibitors’ license plus $250,000 worth of liability insurance.
To take effect on October 1, 2006, the bill sailed through
the Kansas senate unanimously, and cleared the state house 101-24.
Just eight months earlier the new Kansas law might never have
escaped a legislative subcommittee. Press coverage of a much weaker
regulatory effort was not sympathetic.
“Exotic cats keep Kansas couple purring, but regulations
could take pets away,” headlined the Kansas City Star on August 6,
2005, above a feature by Leann Sulzen of Associated Press about hog
farmers Rod and Rita Rose, of Salina, Kansas.

Read more

Rights-&-Freedoms defense failed for Sea Shepherds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I.–Rejecting a “freedom of expression”
defense in December 2005, Prince Edward Island Provincial Court
Judge Nancy Orr on January 17, 2006 convicted 11 crew members from
the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Farley Mowat of being
within half a nautical mile of sealers during the 2005 Atlantic
Canada seal hunt.
The 11 defendants were arrested after several were assaulted
by sealers, who were not charged.
Orr found Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson not guilty
because he did not leave the Farley Mowat during the March 31, 2005
confrontation, and “because it was established that the Farley Mowat
was a place of residence,” Watson said. The Canadian Department of
Fisheries and Oceans requires anyone who approaches sealers to have a
permit, but people may witness the hunt from their homes.
Three days later the Crown Prosecutor dropped charges against
Watson for alleged violations of the Canadan Shipping Act filed over
the same incident.

Read more

UARC files First Amendment case in Salt Lake

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

Utah Animal Rights Coalition members Eric Waters and David
Berg on March 1, 2006 sued representatives of six different state
agencies for allegedly violating their First Amendment right to
freedom of expression, one day after Utah Highway Patrol trooper
Preston Raban stopped them from leafleting outside the Utah state
capitol against two bills which would lower the minimum age for
hunting.
Waters and Berg are represented by Salt Lake City attorney
Brian Barnard, who has handled other high-profile civil rights cases
involving animal advocates.
“According to court documents, Raban told Berg and Waters
that handing fliers to anyone who didn’t ask for one was against
state law and was considered soliciting,” summarized Jennifer Dobner
of Associated Press. “The lawsuit also contends that Raban
threatened to arrest Berg and Waters.”

Activist wins civil rights case in Oklahoma City

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

Oklahoma City vegetarian activist Alissa Finley on January
25, 2006 won dismissal of charges brought against her on October 18,
2005 in connection with her attempts to photograph the scene of a
truck accident at which police eventually shot as many as 60 injured
pigs by the roadside.
“Due to my very dedicated attorneys, the photos of the day,
and a 1965 U.S. Supreme Court decision against Birmingham, Alabama,
upholding a petitioner’s right to be on a public sidewalk, we have
maintained at least some First Amendment rights in Oklahoma,” Finley
e-mailed.
“Now, on to the civil suit.”
Elaborated Finley to ANIMAL PEOPLE, “Living in Okl-homa as a
vegan activist, I continually bump up against instances such as
this, which are clearly a violation of my civil rights due to what I
believe is prejudicial treatment against animal activists.”

Verbally aggressive tactics raise issue of freedom of speech vs. uttering threats

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

SAN DIEGO, PHILADELPHIA, LONDON, NEW
YORK– FBI agents on February 22, 2006 arrested
Rod Coronado, 39, of Tucson, Arizona, for
statements made in a 2003 speech at the
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Community Center
in Hillcrest, California.
“Coronado was indicted in San Diego on
charges of demonstrating how to make a
destructive device with intent that the
information be used to commit arson,” reported
San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Onell R.
Soto.
“You’re damn right when you say I’ve
shown people how to make a firebomb,” Coronado
told the Union-Tribune in July 2005. “I’ve done
my time for my crimes, and I should be able to
talk about them.”

Read more

PETA loses espionage lawsuit vs. Ringling

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

FAIRFAX, Virginia–A Fairfax County Circuit Court jury on
March 15 found Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus owner Kenneth
Feld not guilty of illegally conspiring to infiltrate and harm People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals between 1988 and 1998.
The verdict may not conclude a lawsuit that PETA first filed
in May 2001. PETA attorney Philip Hirschkop told Brian Westley of
Associated Press and Matthew Jones of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
that PETA would appeal. Hirschkop, soon to retire, later told
ANIMAL PEOPLE that the decision to appeal would have to be made by
PETA president Ingrid Newkirk–“But I know what I would do,” he said.
Hirschkop said the case was only the second loss of his
career in a jury verdict. “The jury asked for instructions from the
judge on the difference between harm and injury,” Hirschkop recalled.
“During the nine-day trial, Ringling internal documents
showed that the circus hired private investigators who infiltrated
animal rights groups, obtained credit card and other personal data,
and stole stacks of confidential papers, such as donor lists and
strategy memos,” summarized Tom Jackman of the Washington Post.

Read more

1 80 81 82 83 84 321