Animals in China: from the “four pests” to two signs of hope

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

Animals in China: from the “four pests” to two signs of hope
by Peter Li

In February 2002, a college student in Sichuan province
microwaved a four-week old puppy, reportedly in retaliation against
his wayward girlfriend.
Five zoo bears were at the same time viciously assaulted with
sulfuric acid at a zoo in Beijing. The perpetrator, Liu Haiyang,
was a student at Tsinghua University, whose alumni include President
Hu Jintao, former Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, and Chairman of China’s
legislature Wu Bangguo.
The public was outraged in each instance, but found solace
in the belief that these were isolated cases.
The subsequent outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
awakened China to the cruel reality of wildlife exploitation across
the country–and put the acts of deranged individuals into the
uncomfortable context of being not far different from business as
usual at live markets and in the traditional medicine trade.
Wildlife has been used in China for human benefit for more
than two thousand years. Because wildlife use is part of the Chinese
culture, it has been widely viewed as politically untouchable.

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Ferrets for Schwarzenegger

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

“Ferret owners are rejoicing,” American Ferret Association
founder Freddie Ann Hoffman said of the October 7, 2003 election of
actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace recalled California Governor
Gray Davis.
Hoffman credited Schwarzenegger with helping to popularize
ferrets in his 1990 film Kindergarten Cop, while blasting Davis for
pledging to veto any bill to legalize the possession of ferrets that
might clear the state legislature.
Ferrets and many other non-native predators have been banned
in California for more than 70 years, initially as alleged threats
to the poultry industry.
The PawPAC political action committee was less enthusiastic
about Schwarzenegger.
“Like everyone else, we know nothing of Schwarzenegger’s
positions on animals,” said a pre-election PawPAC release. “Former
gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan stated at a recent event that
his friend Arnold ‘loves his dogs.’ Schwarznegger has been endorsed
by the California Farm Bureau, an organization that regularly
opposes animal welfare legislation.”

Cat killer thrown out of office

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2003:

 

PALMYRA, Nebraska–Village chair Rex Schroder, 30, was
recalled on August 5, 130-55, a month after state attorney general
Jon Bruning charged him with cruelty for trapping and killing
neighbor Heather Bruns’ cat, trapping her dog, and killing a feral
cat. Schroder, a 15-year Palmyra resident and five-year elected
official, indicated that he believed rural values and property
rights would prevail, but after the vote, wrote Barbara Nordby of
the Lincoln Journal Star, “Attempts to find supporters of Schroder
in Palmyra were unsuccessful.”

Animal welfare in India a year after ouster of Maneka Gandhi

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2003:

NEW DELHI, CHENNAI–Bijar district magistrate Pankaj Kumar
on August 9, 2003 overturned a local court ruling that elderly widow
Janki Devi’s dog must be killed for alleged biting. The case drew
note throughout India, wrote Imran Kan of the Indo-Asian News
Service, when “other people said that the land mafia, with an eye
on Devi’s property, leveled false charges against the dog.”
Hearing of the plight of the dog and the widow, former federal
minister for animal welfare Maneka Gandhi petitioned on their behalf,
offering to adopt the dog herself if need be to save his life.
Triumphs have been few for Mrs. Gandhi in the year since she
lost her ministry under pressure of an alliance of the biomedical
industry with practitioners of animal sacrifice, but this time she
won a round of symbolic importance, affirming that a dog’s life has
moral value.
There were fears when Mrs. Gandhi was ousted from her
position as an independent within the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata party coalition government that animal welfare in India might
fall into an abyss.

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British fox hunting ban is near

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2003:

LONDON–The British House of Commons on July 9,  2003 voted
317-145 in favor of a national ban on fox hunting,  a week after
voting 363-154 to enact a total ban instead of a compromise that
would allow some hunting to continue for predator control.
The votes brought close to fulfillment the 1997 election
promise of Prime Minister Tony Blair to ban fox hunting if the Labour
Party won the Parliamentary majority.  Blair and Labour have led the
government ever since,  but have put other matters ahead of the
proposed hunting ban,  while anti-hunting private members’ bills have
cleared the Commons only to die in the House of Lords.
The Hunting Bill,  now presented with the full support of the
Blair government,  is scheduled for second reading by the Lords on
September 17,  followed by detailed review in October.  The Lords,
who hold their seats by heredity rather than election,  can amend and
delay legislation.  The anti-fox hunting Commons majority,  however,
has become strong enough to override the Lords.

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The “Carnivore crowd” licks chops at chance to repeal Kenya no-hunting policy

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2003:

NAIROBI–Roars are often audible at the
Kenya Wildlife Service headquarters on the fringe
of Nairobi National Park–and not just from the
dwindling numbers of resident lions,  fast being
poached to extirpation by Masai who see the park
as not only a buffer between their grazing land
and urban sprawl but also a source of grass for
their cattle and firewood now that drought and
overgrazing has turned their commons into
semi-desert.
Losing in competition for fodder,  wild
ungulates have migrated from Nairobi National
Park into the distant hills.  Hungry lions have
turned to hunting Masai cattle.  Now the Masai
are hunting the lions.

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Legislative Calendar

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2003:

Reviewing proposed amendments to the Fiscal Year 2004
Agriculture Appropriations Act,  the House of Representatives on July
14 added $800,000 to the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection
Service budget to support enforcement of legislation banning the
interstate transport of gamecocks and fighting dogs,  by a vote of
222-179,  but voted 202-199 against an amendment by Representatives
Gary Ackerman (D-NY) and Steve Latourette (R-Ohio) that would have
forbidden processing non-ambulatory livestock for human consumption.
This was the closest that Ackerman has come yet in many attempts to
pass “anti-downer” legislation.

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Hancock still fighting for animals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  June 2003:

SACRAMENTO–Loni Hancock (D-Berk-eley) on May 1 withdrew a
Farm Sanctuary bill to ban the use of gestation crates for pregnant
sows.  Opposed by the California Farm Bureau Federation,  the bill
was three votes short of clearing the California assembly Agriculture
Committee.
The “Chronology of Humane Progress” published in the May
edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE stated that in 1976 the San Francisco SPCA
became the first U.S. animal control agency to halt killing animals
by decompression.  The precedent actually came in Berkeley,  across
San Francisco Bay,  on a 1972 motion by then-city councillor Loni
Hancock,  backed by fellow councillor Ron Dellums,  who has since had
a staunchly pro-animal record in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The history of the Berkeley bill was recounted by Lara Diana
Sukol in The Politics of Dogs in Berkeley,  1968-1972,  an M.A.
thesis presented to the history faculty at the University of Vermont
in March 2000.  Hancock moved to abolish the decompression chamber at
urging of a group called The Dog Responsibility Committee,  formed by
Myrna Walton,  Julie Stitt,  and Sukol’s parents,  George and Diana
Sukol.

Will new Kenya government lift hunting ban?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

NAIROBI–Kenya has a new President, National Rainbow
Coalition candidate Mwai Kibaki, succeeding Daniel arap Moi,
President since 1978.
Kibaki, a longtime leading member of the parliamentary opposition to
the arap Moi regime, almost immediately replaced the entire Kenya
Wildlife Service board of directors, fueling concern that Kibaki may
next move to overturn the national ban on sport hunting enforced
throughout arap Moi’s tenure as–according to Ghosts of Tsavo author
Philip Caputo–a gesture of respect to Daphne Sheldrick, widow of
Tsavo National Park founder David Sheldrick and pioneer of successful
rehabilitation of orphaned elephants.
The removal of two-time KWS director Richard Leakey from the
KWS board is of particular concern, International Fund for Animal
Welfare regional director Amed Khan told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “We know for
sure that the sport hunting crowd couldn’t be happier, as they have
long felt that Leakey was the only person standing in their way”
post-Moi, Khan continued.
KWS chief Michael Wamithi, who previously headed the IFAW
office in Nairobi, “is going to need all the help he can get,” Khna
added.

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