Tuli elephant case reprised

June 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2006:

Eight years after video of the capture and holding conditions
endured by 30 baby elephants became the globally notorious “Tuli
elephants” case, a similar incident occurred in April 2006 at the
Selati Game Reserve in Limpopo state, South Africa, Michele Pickover
of Xwe African Wild Life told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
“Six young elephants were cruelly separated from their
families for use by the elephant-back safari industry,” Pickover
wrote. “Helicopters, guns, and electric prods were used. The young
elephants went to Howard Blight’s Elephants for Africa Forever in
Mooketsi, near Duiwelskloof.
“On the EFAF website, Blight claims that, ‘Animal welfare
is the most critical issue,'” Pickover noted, “but this kind of
capture has nothing to do with animal welfare and certainly shows no
respect for elephant family structures.”

Rabies strikes Namibian kudu

June 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2006:

WINDHOEK–Veterin-arians Otto Zapke and
Beate Voights in mid-May 2006 reportedly
confirmed that a rare outbreak of rabies
spreading from herbivore to herbivore during the
past two years was responsible for the deaths of
“thousands” of kudu in the Omaruru region of
Namibia.
“Sources in the industry have voiced
concern that the outbreak could impact negatively
on the hunting season,” reported Chrispin
Inambao of the Windhoek New Era. “People come to
Namibia because of kudus,” Inambao said a
hunting industry source told him. About 5,000
hunters per year visit Namibia.

Bear escape, mauling, & deadly fire may bring tougher Ohio exotic regs

June 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2006:

CLEVELAND–Ohio state senator Tim Grendell (R-Geauga County)
on May 26, 2006 pledged to introduce a bill to increase restrictions
on keeping exotic pets and wildlife. “State law now requires
wild-animal breeders to obtain a license and keep records, but does
not require cages,” observed Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter John
Horton.
Two incidents in three days may at last have brought
legislative attention to the hazards of keeping exotic and wild
animals, more than 22 years after the first such incident involving
one of the keepers involved.
On May 22, 2006 a 500-pound black bear escaped from a cage
at the Grand River Fur Exchange in Hartsgrove Township, one of 57
businesses in Ohio that hold permits to breed a total of 137 captive
black bears. The bear mauled Rachel Supplee, 36.

South Africa moves on canned hunts–can rules be enforced?

June 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2006:

PRETORIA–Six weeks of public comment on
government proposals to reform the South African
trophy hunting industry are expected to end in
mid-June 2006 with the recommended reforms on the
fast track to adoption–almost 10 years after the
British TV expose series “The Cooke Report”
brought to light the abuses that the proposals
address.
Introducing the proposed “National Norms
and Standards for the Regulation of the Hunting
Industry” and accompanying “Threatened and
Protected Species” on May 1 at the De Wildt
Cheetah & Wildlife Centre, west of Pretoria,
Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van
Schalkwyk predicted that they might be in effect
before the end of the year.

“Sylvester & Tweety” go global

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

Robben Island Museum, responsible for managing Robben
Island, South Africa, is again trying to eradicate feral cats.
Sharpshooters killed cats on the island in 1999 and 2005, when 58
cats were shot, but as many as 70 cats remain, environmental
coordinator Shaun Davis recently told Cape Argus reporter John Yeld.
The shooting was suspended for a time to allow animal advocacy groups
including Beauty Without Cruelty/South Africa to trap the surviving
cats and take them to mainland sanctuaries. BWC/ South Africa
spokesperson Beryl Scott told Yeld that the initial effort was “not
that successful,” partly through lack of official cooperation, but
on April 24 Davis announced that the number of traps set for cats
would be expanded from 10 to 50, and that no cats would be shot
before June. The cats are blamed by University of Cape Town avian
demographer Les Underhill for killing all but three of the fledgling
population of about 60 endangered African black oystercatchers during
the past breeding season. Allan Perrins, chief executive officer of
Cape of Good Hope branch of the South African National SPCA,
suggested that the actual culprits might have been some of the feral
rabbits on the island, who might have turned carnivorous and become
nest predators. Seals are also blamed by some observers. Seals have
been kept from re-establishing haulouts on Robben Island in recent
years to protect seabird colonies, but on April 21, 2006 “Both
Robben Island and the department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
agreed to allow the return of Cape fur seals,” e-mailed Seal
Alert/South Africa founder Francois Hugo. Robben Island, designated
a World Heritage site by the United Nations Environmental Program,
provides habitat to 132 bird species in all.

BOOKS: How Animals Talk And Other Pleasant Studies of Birds and Beasts

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

How Animals Talk And Other Pleasant Studies of Birds and Beasts
by William J. Long
Bear & Co. (1 Park Street, Rochester, VT
05767), 276 pages, paperback. $18.00.

William J. Long (1867-1952), was a
United Church of Christ minister who became one
of the best-known U.S. authors of nature books of
the early 20th century.
How Animals Talk followed earlier Long
hits including Ways of Woodfolk, Beasts of the
Field, Fowls of the Air, and Secrets of the
Woods. It appeared 12 years after Theodore
Roosevelt, then U.S. President, enduringly
identified Long as the most egregious of the
alleged “nature-fakers,” in remarks amplified by
Roosevelt’s hunting buddy Edward B. Clark, White
House correspondent for the Chicago Evening Post.
Naturalist John Burroughs had already
been attacking Long for propounding “sham natural
history” since 1903, with Roosevelt’s warm
endorsement, but it was Roosevelt’s invention of
the term “nature-faker,” that demolished Long’s
stature well beyond his own lifetime, even
though Long far outlived all of his critics.

Lebanon chimp case exposes traffic

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

BEIRUT–“A recent botched attempt to rescue three endangered
chimpanzees and a baboon who were smuggled into Lebanon has exposed a
lucrative market for exotic animals, flourishing due to lax
enforcement of laws on animal importation and ownership,” opened
Meris Lutz in the April 19, 2006 edition of the Daily Star of
Lebanon.
Lutz affirmed in much greater detail the allegations of
would-be chimp rescuer Jason Mier, published in the April 2006
ANIMAL PEOPLE article “A planned chimpanzee rescue is thwarted in
Lebanon.”
Mier’s claims were also affirmed by Animals Beirut.
“Any chimpanzee held here is being held illegally,” Lebanese
agriculture ministry representative Fadallah Monayer told Lutz. Yet
the three chimps were openly exhibited.

Spain may introduce law to protect great apes

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

MADRID–The Socialist Workers Party of Spain, leading the
ruling parliamentary coalition since 2004, on April 24 announced
that it intends to introduce legislation to protect great apes.
Responding to news stories that linked the proposal to the
Great Ape Project goal of extending human rights to great apes,
Pamplona archbishop Fernando Sebastian reportedly called it
“ridiculous,” while Amnesty International representative Delia Padron
told the Indo-Asian News Service that she was “Surprised” that apes’
rights might be protected when some basic human rights still are not.
“We are not talking about granting human rights to great
apes, but about protecting their habitat, avoiding ill-treatment
and preventing their use in circuses,” clarified environment minister
Cristina Narbona.

Sealers overkill quota, mob observers

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

OTTAWA–Atlantic Canadian sealers reportedly killed as many
as 16,000 more infant seals than their 2006 record quota of 325,000,
“yet not one sealer was arrested,” observed Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society founder Paul Watson.
Logistic problems kept the Sea Shepherds away from the
Atlantic Canada seal hunt in 2006, but Watson initiated a boycott of
Costco stores. Costco executives on March 1 told Sea Shepherd
volunteer Stephen Thompson that Costco would quit selling seal oil
capsules, Watson said, only to renege less than two weeks later
under pressure from Newfoundland politicians.

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