BOOKS: The Intimate Ape

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

The Intimate Ape
by Shawn Thompson
Kensington Publishing (119 West 40th St., New York,
NY 10018), 2010. 320 pages, paperback. $14.95

“I know more about orangutans than any normal human being
should and apparently not enough about human nature,” says Shawn
Thompson in his new book, The Intimate Ape, his account of living
among these fascinating yet sometimes unpredictable creatures and the
people who care for them.
Thompson’s relationship with orangutans, a threatened
species, began in 2001 on a trip to the swampy jungles of Borneo.
At age 50, some people think of life after retirement. Not
Thompson, a writer and editor. At 50, he expanded his career by
studying orangutans.

Money crunch brings another leadership change at Wild Animal Orphanage

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
SAN ANTONIO–Under new management for the second time since
September 2009, Wild Animal Orphanage remains mired in litigation
pertaining to the leadership transitions, and in a cash flow crisis
coinciding with the national recession of the past two years. But
ANIMAL PEOPLE was told by sources with conflicting views about a
variety of other matters that many of the most alarming rumors about
the sanctuary circulating in early May 2010 appeared to be
exaggerated.
“Our office has taken no legal action against this San
Antonio facility nor do we anticipate any, at this point,” Texas
Office of Attorney General spokesperson Tom Kelley told ANIMAL
PEOPLE. “We are monitoring their efforts daily, nothing more.”
“We have made the proper arrangements, are currently in good
standing, and are in no way getting foreclosed,” acting Wild Animal
Orphanage director Jamie Cryer told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

Is Zimbabwe loading animals two-by-two to send to North Korea?

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
HARARE–“We were recently informed that two of every species
of animal in Hwange National Park are to be sent to a zoo in North
Korea,” charged Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force chair Johnny
Rodrigues in a May 13, 2010 e-mail alert.
“According to the report,” Rodrigues said, “the animals
will include two 18-month-old elephant calves. It is believed that
this is a gift from Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, to Kim
Jong-il, president of North Korea.
“Capture and spotting teams have been seen in the park,”
Rodrigues continued, “and there have been reports of armed men
standing around key waterholes waiting for the animals to appear so
they can radio the information back to the capture teams. There have
also been reports of National Parks vehicles towing cages around.

New threat to Kenya hunt ban

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
NAIROBI–A draft Wildlife Bill proposed to the Kenyan
parliament but not yet raised for debate would split the Kenya
Wildlife Service into three separate agencies–and ease the way for
reintroducing sport hunting to Kenya, after a 33-year hiatus,
charges African Network for Animal Welfare founder Josphat Ngonyo.
Kenyan wildlife policy formation would be done under the
Ministry for Wildlife, rather than within KWS under ministerial
authority. A new Kenya Wildlife Regulatory Authority would be
created to supervise wildlife management on private land. The
present Kenya Wildlife Service would contract to focus on managing
the 61 Kenyan national parks and wildlife reserves, conducting law
enforcement, and doing wildlife research.

Gassing in animal shelters nears abolition, but continues on farms & in fields

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

Momentum toward abolition of gassing
shelter animals was evident in seven of the last
states where gassing continues as the May 2010
edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, but a
faxed publicity release received near deadline
made clear that abolishing carbon monoxide
chambers will be just the start of abolishing
gassing altogether.
The publicity release touted kits for
connecting the exhaust pipes of cars, trucks,
and lawn mowers to hoses, in order to gas
burrowing animals with unfiltered hot fumes.
The American Veterinary Medical
Association still accepts use of gassing to kill
small animals, including dogs, cats, and
captive wildlife, but not gassing with exhaust
fumes. “Fumes from idling gasoline internal
combustion enginesŠare associated with problems
such as production of other gases, achieving
inadequate concentrations of carbon monoxide,
[and] inadequate cooling of the gas,”
summarizes the AVMA publication Guidelines on
Euthanasia. “Therefore, the only acceptable
source is compressed carbon monoxide in
cylinders.”

Gulf oil spill rescuers prepare & wait

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
NEW ORLEANS–Almost a month after the British Petroleum
drilling platform Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010 in
the Gulf of Mexico, 45 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana,
rescuers from Texas to Florida were still awaiting an anticipated
influx of animals from a disaster projected by many experts as
perhaps the worst-ever oil spill for wildlife.
“I think we ruined every child’s summer in New Orleans,
because we bought all the kiddie pools,” Louisiana state marine
mammal and sea turtle stranding coordinator Michelle Kelley told
Associated Press writer Janet McConnaughey.

Tadpoles screaming underwater show unsuspected sentience

May 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
BUENOS AIRES–The ethical significance of the discovery that
tadpoles scream when threatened may take some time to occur to
scientists, ethicists, and animal advocates. A breakthrough in
scientific recognition of animal sentience, the finding took more
than three years just to win widespread notice after formal
publication in a leading journal.
Tadpoles might have been audibly screaming when threatened
for more than 200 million years before Guillermo Natale, Ph.D. of
the National University of La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina heard
the multi-note metallic sound emitted by tadpoles of the horned frog
Ceratophrys ornata.

Wolves kill teacher in Alaska, boosting anti-wolf policy

April 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2010:
CHIGNIK LAKE, Alaska– Wolves on March 8, 2010 killed and
partially ate special education teacher Candace Berner, 32, a 4’11”
weightlifter and boxer who was on a solo training run in preparation
to compete in a marathon.
Originally from Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, Berner had
been in Alaska for only six months. Her cause of death was
documented by 150 feet of tracks and blood showing her struggle with
the wolves. Alaska Department of Fish & Game staff shot the two
wolves believed to have attacked Berner.

CITES protects elephants but not sharks & polar bears

April 1, 2010 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2010:

DOHA, Qatar–Leading a last-minute rally to keep ivory
billiard balls out of fashion, the Kenyan delegation ran the table
on behalf of African elephants at the 15th triennial meeting of the
signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species, held in Doha, Qatar from March 13 to March 25, 2010.
Formed by the United Nations in 1973, CITES in 1989 banned
international traffic in elephant ivory, but CITES triennial
meetings have several times authorized exemptions allowing Botswana,
Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe to sell stockpiled ivory from
legally culled elephants, confiscated from smugglers, and collected
from elephants who died of natural causes. The exemptions–and
rumors that exemptions may be granted–have repeatedly been followed
by resurgent poaching throughout the wild elephant range in Africa
and Asia, as illegal traffickers respond to the opportunity to
market poached ivory under forged legal cover.

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