Reprieve for Alaskan wolves, But the Yukon opens fire; Tourist boycott of Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta underway

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

WHITEHORSE, Yukon, Canada –– Dispatched in near-secrecy circa
February 5 by the Yukon territorial government, a helicopter attack team will have killed
150 of the estimated 200 wolves in the Aishihik Lake region, and be heading home again
as ANIMAL PEOPLEgoes to press.
The scheduled 20-day mission was undertaken in direct defiance of international
appeals and threats of a tourism boycott. Protests held at various points in Canada and the
U.S. on February 8 were ignored by Yukon minister of renewable resources Bill Brewster.

Read more

Wildlife

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill contin-
ues to kill Alaskan wildlife, researchers revealed
February 5 at a symposium hosted by the
University of Alaska and the American Fisheries
Society. Among the victims are 14 orcas, who dis-
appeared and are presumed dead; 300,000 murres,
a bird species that hasn’t nested successfully since
the spill; and sea otters and ducks, who are still
being poisoned by mussels who in turn have been
poisoned by oil.
Zimbabwe is trying to raise $2 million
to spend on culling 5,000 elephants from a nation-
al herd officially estimated at 80,000.

Read more

Woofs and growls…

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Fed up with nonprofit executives who hide the size of
their salaries by dividing them among related groups who file sepa-
rate returns, the Internal Revenue Service asks on the 1992 Form
990, “Did any officer, director, trustee, or key employee receive
aggregate compensation of more than $100,000 from your organiza-
tion and all related organizations, of which more than $10,000 was
provided by the related organization?” If the answer is yes, detailed
explanations are required.
The Senate Select Committee on Prisoners of War and
Missing In Action Affairs has recommended that the IRS should
crack down on charities who report fundraising costs as “educational”
program expenses. This would affect many animal-related charities;
see the notes accompanying the financial tables on over 60 national
groups published in the December 1992 and January/February issues
of ANIMAL PEOPLE. (Copies are still available at $2.00 each.)

Read more

Wildlife

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The World Wildlife Fund and
the National Wildlife Federation on
November 13 asked Interior Secretary
Manuel Lujan to impose trade sanctions on
China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Yemen
for permitting traffic in rhinocerous horns.
The wild black rhino population has plunged
from 65,000 to 2,000 since 1970.
The California condor who was
found dead October 8 suffered kidney fail-
ure from drinking antifreeze, the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service has determined. The
condor was one of the first two to be
released into the wild after an intensive cap-
tive breeding program. Sixty-two California
condors remain in captivity, six of whom
are scheduled for release this month.

Read more

Woofs & Growls

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

Introduced October 5, an agribusi-
ness-backed bill to gut the Endangered Species
Act died with the closure of the 102nd Congress,
but will be reintroduced in the 103rd, according
to the sponsors, Rep. Jack Fields (R-Tex.) and
W.J. Tauzin (D-La.) The bill, which has no
number or title pending reintroduction, is
endorsed by the National Cattlemen’s
Association, American Farm Bureau Federation,
and 38 other groups. It would subordinate
Endangered Species Act enforcement to econom-
ic considerations, and probably won’t be favored
by the Clinton administration. The ESA came up
for renewal this year but was ducked by legisla-
tors up for re-election, and now must be either
extended or amended by the 103rd Congress.

Read more

Dogs And Cats

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

President elect Bill Clinton’s first clash with the
White House press corps came November 18, before he
even got to the White House, when he ordered photogra-
phers to stop harassing his daughter’s altered tomcat,
Socks, outside the Arkansas governor’s mansion.
New York restauranteur Laura Maioglio
imported $2,500 worth of white truffles from Italy and
buried them in her restaurants’ garden November 23, to
allow Princess Diana of Britain to show off the skills of her
pet truffle-hunting terrier. The dog found the truffles, all
right––and ate them before a handler could get them away.
The County Prosecutor in Middlesex, New
Jersey, has barred use of police dogs in crowd control
situations. The city faces legal action in connection with a
biting incident in such a situation, and the trained dogs are
considered too valuable to risk exposing to injury.

Guest Column: Wildlife Ballot Initiatives And Why They Fail by Dena Jones Jolma

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

The initiative process is the most difficult and expensive approach to reforming
wildlife management at the state level. Opponents of wildlife management reform,
including the powerful National Rifle Association and Wildlife Legislative Fund of
America, are willing and able to spend in excess of one million dollars to defeat individ-
ual state initiatives. These groups have been successful in turning around public opinion
on issues such as banning steel-jawed leghold traps by financing intense media cam-
paigns.
Not since 1930 in Massachusetts have voters approved a trapping ban in a
statewide election. On this past Election Day, the voters of Arizona turned down a ban
on use of steel-jawed traps on public lands by a three-to-two margin. With that vote,
Arizona joined Oregon (1980) and Ohio (1977) as states where trapping bans have failed
in recent years.

Read more

Election Roundup: ANIMALS WIN! Apparent Gains at Every Level

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

WASHINGTON D.C. –– Outgoing U.S. president George Bush bought a hunting
license on Election Day. Both U.S. president elect Bill Clinton and vice president elect Albert
Gore claimed to be hunters during the election campaign––but they went jogging. Whether they
actually hunt or not, indications are that the next four years should be politically much more
favorable toward animal and habitat protection than the preceding twelve years. Neither Clinton,
a reputed wild turkey hunter, nor Gore, a one-time deer hunter, has ever been known to shoot

Read more

WAR IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN: Saving Children and Animals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– The
press dispatches should have warned the
world. “Rivers and water holes have
dried up for the first time anyone can
remember, starving and burning to death
some 400 hippos,” Associated Press cor-
respondent Angus Shaw wrote from
Zimbabwe in mid-July. “Dead birds have
dropped out of shriveled trees, tortoises,
snakes, rodents, and insects have disap-
peared, and predators are killing more
weakened animals than they can eat… As
southern Africa suffers its worst drought
ever, thousands of animals have died and
officials are continuing to shoot many
more to feed the increasingly desperate
human population. The meat from the
culled animals has been targeted for chil-
dren showing signs of malnutrition.”

Read more

1 51 52 53 54