Category: Wild Animals

Out of cod, Canada tells fishers “kill seals”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

ST. JOHNS, Newfoundland––Blaming harp seals for a
99% decline in the mass of spawning cod off the Atlantic coast of
Newfoundland, Canadian Fisheries Minister Brian Tobin on
December 18 moved to appease out-of-work cod fishers in his
home province by expanding the 1996 seal killing quota to
250,000––actually higher than many annual quotas during the peak
years of the seal hunt in the 1970s and early 1980s.
In effect resuming the all-out seal massacres that prompted
international protest until clubbing newborn whitecoats and
hunting seals from large vessels was suspended in 1983, Tobin
also pledged to maintain a bounty of about 15¢ U.S. per pound for
each dead seal landed, and said he would encourage the revived
use of large vessels to help sealers attack seal breeding colonies on
offshore ice floes.

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BOOKS FOR GIVING

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Really Radical Reptiles & Amphibians and
Mind-Blowing Mammals, both by Leslee
Elliott. Sterling Publishing Co. (387 Park Avenue
South, New York, NY 10016-8810), 1995. 64 pages
each, $9.95 paperback.
If it’s from Sterling, you can bet it’s fact-filled and
copiously illustrated. Really Radical Reptiles and M i n d –
Blowing Mammals, the lead titles in Sterling’s new Amazing
Animals series, are print peers of the acclaimed National
Geographic Really Wild Animals videos, sure to fascinate
adolescents because they’re as entertaining as they are authoritative.
My only complaint about the Amazing Animals series
concerns the titles––especially the conclusions that the folks
who censor school libraries may jump to upon seeing them
spelled out on catalog cards. The word “radical,” lately
associated with Mutant Ninja Turtles, has not otherwise been
linked with reptilians since the eastern timber rattler ornamented
the “Don’t Tread On Me!” flag during the American
Revolution. Even worse, the phrase Mind-Blowing Mammals
implies the silverback gorilla on the cover could be in a crack
rage, while the title page lemur’s eyes may be dialated from
smoking marijuana. What’s next, Frenzied Fish? Sexy
Insects? Or Rock-and-Rolling Robins & Other Weird Birds?

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Hunting & Trafficking

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Chad McKittrick, 42, of Red
Lodge, Montana, was convicted by a jury
on October 25 of illegally killing one of the
15 wolves who were released into
Yellowstone National Park in February.
McKittrick shot the male wolf on April 24.
Song Ho Kim, of Vancouver,
British Columbia, was convicted November
16 on 11 counts of illegally trafficking in bear
parts. Convicted a month earlier of a similar
offense was K.H. Yong, also of Vancouver.
The two were nabbed in a crackdown apparently
begun after Peter Knights of the privately
funded Global Security Network photographed
bear parts for sale in 13 out of 20
traditional pharamacies in Vancouver’s
Chinatown.

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Marine mammals

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

A dead humpback whale discovered off
San Francisco on November 3 and two more
found floating near the Farallon Islands o n
November 9 brought an early halt to the controversial
Scripps Institution of Oceanography experiment
in using low-frequency sound to measure ocean
temperature and, thereby, global warming. The
$35 million Accoustic Tomography of Ocean
Climate experiment wasn’t to begin until November
8, amid precautions to monitor the effect on marine
life including transmitter-equipped elephant seals, a
sonar assessment of krill movements, and four
whale-spotters in aircraft. However, the Scripps
team turned on the ATOC sonic equipment 13 times
in preliminary tests between October 28 and
November 4, violating the protocol reached earlier
with wildlife protection groups who sued to stop the
project, arguing that the sound waves would deafen
whales and seals. At deadline the National Marine
Fisheries Service was still trying to determine
whether ATOC had anything to do with the whale
deaths, which could also have been caused by a
toxic algal bloom reported circa Halloween by
recreational divers. Alarmed by the whale deaths,

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What to do about too many deer?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

The problem

Four aircraft––each carrying
more than 100 passengers––hit deer
during October and early November
while landing at the BaltimoreWashington
International Airport. The
Federal Aviation Administration recorded
2,287 collisions between aircraft and
wildlife in 1994, but only about 60
involved mammals of any kind. One
plane hit an alligator; the rest hit birds.
Still, airport brass aren’t taking chances.
While deer shooting hasn’t yet started at
Baltimore/Washington, a USDA Animal
Damage Control team on November 15
began killing the 50-odd deer believed to
inhabit the Philadelphia International
Airport. The ADC earlier shot deer at the
Chicago, New York, and Denver airports.

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Wildlife & people

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

Waterfowl
Migrating ducks overloaded airport radar
s y s t e m s across the midwest on November 2. “It was
one of the most compressed migrations we’ve seen in
the past 25 years,” Ducks Unlimited chief biologist Jeff
Nelson told Ken Miller of the Gannett News Service.
“It was more than I’ve ever seen.” Explained Federal
Aviation Administration spokesperson Sandra
Campbell, “The primary radar system in Omaha picked
up so many targets, 29,000 to 39,000, that it shut itself
down. Ten minutes later, the same thing happened in
Des Moines. Three hours later, it occurred at Kansas
City.” This year’s total waterfowl migration is estimated
at 80 million, up from 56 million in 1990.

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GOP finds Republicans favor ESA as much as Democrats

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C. – – Con-
gressional momentum toward dismantling
the Endangered Species Act markedly
slowed in November, after House
Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged to
media that the Republican majority
“messed up on the environment” by seriously
misreading the public mood.
Gingrich was particularly rattled
by a T i m e/CNN poll conducted on
September 27-28, which showed that
63% of self-described Republican voters
and 67% of independents oppose legislation
to “reduce protection for endangered
species”––putting support for the
ESA at the same level among Republicans
as among Democrats.

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ANTI-HUNTING ACTIVISM

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1995:

The Alaska Board of Game
on October 27 cancelled plans to promote
bear hunting at the McNeil
River Falls sanctuary, known for
keeping close, peaceable relations
between humans and bears. Earlier,
Friends of McNeil River asked antihunters
to enter the lottery for permits to
kill bears at the sanctuary––and the antihunters
won all but two of the permits.
Fund for Animals representative
Michael Chiado writes,
“Citizens United for Bears has started
gathering signatures for a Michigan
state ballot initiative to eliminate the
hunting of bears with bait and dogs.
The signature collection period will last
180 days. Lots of help is needed!” To
help, call 517-337-3040, or write to
POB 1393, Lansing, MI 48826.

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