African updates

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi
in May fired Kenya Wildlife Service director
David Western, 53, who told The London
Times that he believes the reason was his
refusal to cooperate with the turnover of land
reserved for wildlife to agriculture and development
projects promoted by persons well
connected with the arap Moi regime. Western
succeeded Richard Leakey in 1994, after
Leakey was ousted over his uncompromising
stances against poaching and corruption.
The National Party, of South
Africa, on June 16 endorsed the recommendation
of the International Fund for Animal
Welfare that the South African government
should adopt “parliamentary proposals for the
special protection of lion, leopard, and cheetah,”
who are under increasing risk from habitat
encroachment and the spread of diseases
associated with domestic dogs.

How EU pays “full regard to the welfare requirements of animals”

June 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1998:

LONDON, BRUSSELS––A year after the 15
European Union member nations on June 18, 1997 signed a
binding protocol requiring them to recognize animals as “sentient
beings,” and to “pay full regard to the welfare requirements
of animals,” the practical value of it remains unclear.
No aspect of the protocol has been backed, as yet,
by tough new international animal care and handling standards.
But neither has the protocol been shoved into a file
drawer and forgotten. Diplomats are dickering daily over a proposed
phase-out of battery caging for laying hens. Negotiations
also continue over livestock transportation requirements.
The outcome on each topic may be much less than
animal advocates seek, and perhaps even expect.

House Speaker Gingrich favors research chimp retirement

June 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1998:

SAN ANTONIO––Eight adult
chimpanzees and two infants, all nearly lifelong
residents of laboratory cages, scrambled
into new quarters at Primarily Primates on
May 7––some experiencing direct sunshine
and outdoor habitat for the very first time.
“This enclosure is one of the largest
ever built for the retirement of chimps used in
research,” said Primarily Primates president
Wally Swett. “The toddlers played chase and
tickle games. The males and females are
resolving their dominance hierarchy. They are
a troop for the first time in their lives, learning
how to be chimpanzees.”
The 10 chimps arrived at Primarily
Primates from the now closed Laboratory for
Experimental Medicine and Surgery In
Primates at New York University.

1,001 tales of whales

June 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1998:

MUSCAT, Oman––The 50th annual
meeting of the International Whaling
Commission opened on May 16 in Muscat,
Oman, but lasted just one Arabian night
before chairperson Michael Canny of Ireland
suspended proceedings from Sunday, May 17,
until at least Tuesday, May 19.
In the interim Canny hoped to
resolve an impasse resulting when Japan and
seven Caribbean nations led by Antigua
demanded that all votes be via secret ballot.
The U.S. and most European nations oppose
secret votes, which would allow nations to
take private positions contravening their public
stance. Nongovernmental organizations
opposed to whaling accused Japan of purchasing
votes by linking foreign aid to whaling.

Message from Jakarta

June 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1998:

JAKARTA, Indonesia––As dogs, cats, monkeys,
students, and looters are shot in Indonesian streets, against a
backdrop of razed stores, ethnic mayhem, and jungles ablaze
across Kalimantan and Malaysia, Hindu myth almost seems to
explain it all––especially amid the additional reverberations of
five nuclear tests in the Rajasthan desert of India.
The blasts sent a warning to Pakistan, 97% Islamic,
that added to the stress in Indonesia, too, 87% Islamic.
“It is said that when great evil stalks the earth,”
explains Nanditha C. Krishna, honorary director of the C.P.
Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation in Chennai, India, “Vishnu will
appear as Kalki, and the world will go up in flames.”

Maneka faces wise-users: FIRST ACTS IN NEW INDIA GOVERNMENT ARE FOR BEARS AND BEAGLES

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

NEW DELHI––Koose Muniswamy
Veerappan, perhaps the most notorious
alleged poacher at large in the world, on April
11 reportedly sent three former henchmen to
police with a cassette containing an offer of
surrender. But Indian authorities were reportedly
unexcited. According to the Press Trust
of India, Veerappan has often in the past
offered to surrender in trade for clemency. He
is believed to be the world’s leading trafficker
in poached Asian elephant ivory and illegally
logged sandalwood.

HINDU GOVERNMENT TO INCLUDE MANEKA

April 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1998:

NEW DELHI––”Maneka Gandhi was re-elected as
an independent and has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party government,”
Help In Suffering executive director Christine
Townend faxed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on March 14. “It looks
likely she will be given a lesser cabinet ministry,” an analysis
confirmed by the editors of The Hindu, the nationally circulated
newspaper most closely aligned with the BJP.
Founder of People for Animals, the strongest Indian
animal advocacy group, Maneka thus for the third time in her
political career parlayed isolation into strength. Twenty-two
seats short of a majority in the 545-seat Lok Sabha, after
national elections held in stages from February 16 through
March 5, the BJP needs the support of every non-aligned delegate
it can get in order to take office. Previously in power only
once, for just 13 days, the BJP––if it can form a majority––
will represent the ascendency of Hindu nationalism over the
secular Congress Party, which had dominated Indian politics
since India won independence from Britain in 1948.

Independent counsel should probe whole Bruce Babbitt regime, says Cockburn

April 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1998:

WASHINGTON D.C.– – Attorney
General Janet Reno in mid-February asked a
three-judge panel to appoint an indpendent
counsel to probe allegations that Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt improperly intervened
in 1995 to keep three Chippewa tribes from
converting a dog track into a gambling casino
that would have competed against casinos
operated by five other tribes. The opponents
were represented by well-placed Democrats,
including reputed longtime Babbitt pal Paul
Eckstein, who met with Babbitt shortly before
the Chippewa bid for a casino permit was
denied. The opponents in 1996 gave $230,000
to the Democratic National Committee.

EPA WANTS TO REGULATE FACTORY FARMS AS INDUSTRIAL POLLUTERS

April 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1998:

WASHINGTON D.C.– – Environ-
mental Protection Agency chief Carol Browner
on March 5 personally announced an EPA plan
to regulate livestock feedlots, hog barns, and
poultry sheds like industrial plants.
For the first time invoking the Clean
Water Act against agricultural polluters, the
EPA will require about 6,600 of the biggest
factory-style farms in the U.S. to obtain pollution
permits and undergo routine federal
inspection. Anyone keeping more than 1,000
animal units, defined as 1,000 cattle, 2,500
swine, or 100,000 hens, would fall under the
new rules, to be phased in over seven years.
Not long ago, such a notion would
have been politically decried as a bureaucratic
assault on God, Mom, fried chicken, and
hamburgers, possibly thought up by animal
rights activists.

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