Romanian pound dog massacre was a test of pending legislation, veterinarian charges

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

BOTOSANI, Romania–A May 10, 2011 dog massacre that shocked
Romania was undertaken as a political trial balloon, Bucharest
veterinarian Liviu Gaita alleged to news media.
The killing occurred in Botosani, a small city in the
extreme northeastern corner of Romania, about six hours’ drive from
Bucharest. Volunteers who fed the dogs at the Botosani city pound
arrived on the morning of May 10 to find that more than 230 dogs had
already been killed by muncipal workers, purportedly by order of
mayor Catalin Mugurel Flutur. The killing was still underway, said
to be necessitated by a disease outbreak that the volunteers were
unaware of. “The volunteers called the TV stations and the police
but nothing happened,” said an anonymous message distributed within
minutes via Facebook. “They were in shock and tried to get out of
the shelter the last few puppies that were alive. They were
assaulted and offended by the guards.”

BOOKS: The Bond

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them
by Wayne Pacelle
William Morrow/Harper Collins
(10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022), 2011.
432 pages, hardcover. $26.95.
Wayne Pacelle, in The Bond: Our Kindship with Animals, Our
Call to Defend Them, becomes the third president of the Humane
Society of the U.S. to produce a book during his tenure, but the
first whose book is a work of sole authorship.

Finally some legislative action in Pennsylvania vs. pigeon shoots

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
HARRISBURG–The Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee on
April 12, 2011 voted 11-3 to send a bill to ban pigeon shoots to the
full state senate for consideration.
The passage of a state bill from committee to legislative
consideration rarely attracts national notice, but the action on SB
626, introduced by state senator Patrick Browne, caused the
National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legis-lative Action to
issue a membership alert contending that SB 626 is about “banning all
hunting.”

Ecuador proposed ban on blood sports is narrowed

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
QUITO–Ecuadorans may vote to ban Spanish-style bullfighting on
May 7, 2011, as part of a 10-point set of constitutional amendments
proposed by President Rafael Correa, but the measure before them
appears to be narrower than the total ban on blood sports that Correa
promised before the ballot language was finalized.
“The question concerns spectacles in which the goal is to kill
the animal. Cockfights are not affected by this problem and will be
allowed,” Correa told Radio Huancavilca in Guayaquil. But Correa
muddled the matter in statements to the government news agency Andes.

Ohio keeps deal on veal, but backs off on exotic pets

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
COLUMBUS–The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board on April 5,
2011 voted 11-0 in favor of a standard requiring that veal calves be
kept in pens in which they have room to turn around. The vote
reversed a 6-5 vote on March 2, 2011 which would have allowed veal
crating to continue–and would have broken a June 2010 agreement
brokered by former Ohio governor Ted Strickland that kept off the
November 2010 ballot a proposal advanced by the Humane Society of the
U.S. to ban veal crates, sow gestation crates, and battery cages
for laying hens.

Dutch to get 500 “animal cops” — may ban kosher & halal slaughter

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
DEN HAAG, The Netherlands– The politics of assembling the
present Dutch coalition government are expected to put 100 new
“animal cops” on the beat in the Netherlands by the end of 2011, and
to eventually increase the Dutch animal police force to 500 officers.
Dutch coalition politics could also lead to the passage of a
proposed ban on slaughter without pre-stunning, which within the
European Union is done by electroshock for cattle and by carbon
dioxide gassing for pigs and poultry. The proposed Dutch law would
prohibit kosher and halal slaughter, practiced by Jews and Muslims.
Pre-stunning has traditionally been interpreted by most Judaic and
Islamic religious authorities– though some differ–as a violation
of the requirements of Mosaic and Islamic religious law that animals
be conscious when their throats are swiftly cut with a sharp blade.

Wolves, wild horses, bison & budget cuts

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
WASHINGTON D.C.–Removed from Endangered Species Act
protection by a policy rider, wolves in Montana and Idaho are among
the most prominent animal casualties of the Fiscal Year 2011
Continuing Resolution signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama
on April 15, 2011.
Wolves in Michigan and Wisconsin are beneficiaries of
Congressional budget-cutting, at least pending further legislation,
because the short-term funding act that preceded the FY 2011
Continuing Resolution axed the federal budget for killing “problem”
wolves in those states.

Anti-animal legislation in Iowa, Florida, Virginia

April 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:
DES MOINES, TALLAHASSEE,
RICHMOND–Stealth bills to rescind or handicap
animal protection flew through the Iowa and
Virginia legislatures in early 2011 and appeared
to be close to passage in Florida too as the
April 2011 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press.
Iowa governor Terry Branstad on March 24,
2011 signed into law a bill rescinding the state
prohibition on hunting mourning doves, which had
stood since 1918. Branstad had sought to open an
Iowa mourning dove hunting season since 1973,
during his first term in the Iowa legislature.

Ecuador to hold referendum on cockfighting & bullfighting

April 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:
QUITO–Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa has included among a
list of 10 referendum questions to be submitted to voters as early as
May 2011 a proposal to ban blood sports, including cockfighting and
bullfighting.
Both cockfighting and bullfighting were introduced to Ecuador
by Spanish conquistadors more than 400 years ago. “The more
well-heeled in the Andean nation, as in Mexico, favor the stylized
rituals of the bullfight in colonial-age ‘plazas de toros,’ where
the animals are killed by celebrated Spanish matadors,” wrote Dolores
Ochoa of Associated Press. “In Ecuador, as in neighboring Colombia
and Peru, the rings are a place to see and be seen, fixtures in the
society pages.”

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