Panic, not disease, killed Auburn raptors

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

AUBURN, Alabama–A purported deadly outbreak of the avian
bacterial disease mycoplasma galliseptum in mid-2003 caused the
South-eastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center at Auburn University to
kill 17 rare birds after eight others died, halted the tradition of
a golden eagle named Tiger flying at Auburn home football games, and
led to the June 2003 firing of raptor center director Joe
Shelnutt–but there never were any actual cases of mycoplasma
galliseptum, Associated Press writer Kyle Wingfield revealed on
August 24, 2004.
Wingfield obtained a copy of a report on the incident by
University of Minnesota Raptor Center director Patrick Redig. The
report was shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Auburn
officials in January 2004 but was not previously made public.
“Instead of a microorganism, the report blames faulty
laboratory techniques and poor decision-making,” Wingfield disclosed.
Tiger is again going to football games, with two understudies.

Judge rules against mining in Florida panther habitat

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

FORT MYERS–Ruling that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and Army Corps of Engineers improperly issued a finding of “no
jeopardy” to the endangered Florida panther, U.S. District Judge
James Robertson on August 20, 2004 invalidated the federal permits
issued to Florida Rock Industries Inc. to develop a 6,000-acre mine
site in Lee County.
“In isolation, most individual projects would impact only
small portions of potential panther habitat,” Robertson wrote.
“Multiplied by many projects over a long time, the cumulative impact
on the panther might be significant.”
The lawsuit against the mine was filed by the National
Wildlife Federation, the Florida Wildlife Federation, and the
Florida Panther Society.
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel staff writer David Fleshler
reported that the case “received support in May 2004 when Andrew
Eller, a biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service, filed a
formal complaint accusing his own agency of knowingly using bad data
on panther habitat, reproduction, and survival to approve eight
construction projects.”

Norway hits cruelty to fish but not whales

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

OSLO–The Norwegian Food Safety
Auth-ority on July 27, 2004 “revealed rampant
violations of animal protection laws after an
inspection of a plant that stores live wild cod.
The NFSA says fish are being tortured,” wrote
Frodis Braathen and Jonathan Tisdall of
Aftenposten.
The crackdown on cruelty to fish came
three days after Norway and Japan failed once
again to lift the global moratorium on commercial
whaling in effect since 1986.
Norway has permitted coastal whaling
since 1994 in defiance of the moratorium, but
has not been able to develop the commerce in
whale meat to Japan that was expected to make
whaling profitable.
Before the annual meeting of the
International Whaling Commission, held this year
in Sorrento, Italy, the Norwegian parliament
considered raising the self-set national minke
whale quota to 1,800, from 655, before settling
on 745.

Kenya rejects bid to privatize parts of Kenya Wildlife Service

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

NAIROBI–Swiss-born horticulturalist Rene
Haller, founder of the Baobab Trust, was on
August 18 appointed acting chair of the Kenya
Wildlife Service.
Haller succeeds Rhino Ark founder Colin Church.
Church was indefinitely suspended and KWS chief
executive officer Evans Mukolwe was reprimanded
after 11 days of furor over a plan advanced by
Church associate Andrew Hind to privatize the
money-making KWS activities.
As in several other recent flaps
involving the KWS, much of the uproar appeared
to result from the manner in which the plan was
made public.
“The proposed deal to turn KWS into a
commercial company was allegedly made without
Cabinet approval,” and for that matter without
the knowledge of most of the KWS board, wrote
Biketi Kikechi of the East African Standard.
Hind, at invitation of Church, drafted
the proposal on July 8. Entitled The
Commercialization of the Kenya Wildlife Service:
Concept Document, it came to public notice after
almost a month of quiet discussion.

Live elephant exports from Thailand and South Africa will be on the CITES agenda

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

BANGKOK, JOHANNESBURG –Live elephant exports as well as
ivory sales may come under heated discussion at the 2004 Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species conference in Bangkok,
opening on October 1.
CITES host nations often win special concessions, and
would-be Thai elephant merchants have been lobbying the Thai
government to seek looser elephant export restrictions, Friends of
the Asian Elephant foundation secretary-general Soraida Salwada
recently warned Somask Suksai of the Bangkok Post.
“Some private firms want the government to agree on free
trade in elephants, particularly those in the care of the Forest
Industry Organization,” Soraida Salwada said. “The private firms
have tried to convince the government that many elephants can be used
for commercial purposes.”
Soraida Salwada said there are now 2,600 Thai elephants in
captivity, and about 2,000 in the wild.
South African elephant exports have escalated over the past
two years, after a five-year hiatus from July 1998 until July 2003
while the notorious “Tuli elephants” case was before the courts.
African Game Services owner Riccardo Ghiazza and one of his staff
were convicted of cruelty to the 30 young elephants, captured in the
Tuli district of Botswana for sale to zoos.

BOOKS: Providence Of A Sparrow: Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

Providence Of A Sparrow: Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds
by Chris Chester
Anchor Books (a division of Random House, Inc.,
1745 Broadway MD 18-2, New York, NY 10019),
2004. 289 pages, paperback. $13.95.

“One popular theory,” Chris Chester
writes of bird rescue and rehabilitation with his
wife Rebecca, “has us lavishing on our sparrows
a virtual Niagara of misplaced parenting impulses
that could be directed more profitably toward
rearing offspring. Both Rebecca and I admit to
an occasional twinge of regret at not having a
child, someone to park us in a low-budget nursing
home when we finally become incontinent.”
The Chesters’ work began when Chris
Chester found an unfledged sparrow chick in his
garden, and decided to save the chick if he
could. Calling the sparrow “Birdbrain,” or
just “B” for short, was not only therapeutic for
Chester’s tendency toward melancholy, but
profoundly impressed his fiancée. She too became
awakened to the joy of caring for birds in need.

Kenya leads opposition to lifting CITES ivory trade ban, seeks lion trophy trade ban

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

NAIROBI–Kenya will again lead the opposition to lifting the
global embargo on ivory and rhino horn trafficking at the October
2004 conference of the 166 parties to the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species in Bangkok, Thailand, Kenyan
assistant minister for the environment and natural resources George
Khaniri announced on August 26.
Kenya is also proposing to ban international traffic in
African lion trophies, but the Kenyan recommendation is opposed by
the U.S. and Britain, two of the nations with the most lion hunters.
The wild African lion population is believed to have fallen
70% since 1996, to just 23,000, distributed among 89 locations.
Half live in the Masai Mara and Serengeti region of Kenya and
Tanzania, the Selous game reserve in Tanzania, Kruger National Park
in South Africa, and the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
Khaneri told The Nation that Kenya now has 28,000 elephants
and 500 rhinos, up from 16,000 and 250 since CITES imposed the ivory
and rhino horn trade bans in 1989.
Anticipating that the ivory and rhino horn embargoes might
soon be eased or lifted, poachers typically raiding from Somalia
have recently escalated their activity, as often occurs on the eve
of a CITES meeting.

Governments push hunting the big bucks, boars, et al–for the price on their heads

September 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2004:

CANBERRA, JOHANNESBURG,
NAIROBI–Australian government agencies are
missing the gravy train by hiring sharpshooters
to kill non-native wildlife, University of
Queensland faculty members Gordon Dryden and
Stephen Craig-Smith reported in early September
2004 to the Rural Industries Research &
Development Corporation.
The RIRDC is a federal think-tank formed
to create jobs in the Outback. It envisions the
Outback as a tourism draw rivaling Africa–for
one type of tourist.
“Wealthy hunting enthusiasts around the
world would be happy to cull these animals that
nobody in Australia wants, and would pay for the
privilege,” Craig-Smith said. “This would be a
niche tourism market targeted at cashed-up
hunters,” he added, “not a wholesale slaughter
of animals.”

BOOKS: Life With Darwin & Other Baboons

July 1, 2004 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Life With Darwin
& Other Baboons
by Fransje Van Riel
Penguin Books South Africa Ltd.
(2nd floor, 90 Rivonia Rd., Sandton, 2196,
South Africa), 2003. 227 pages, paperback.
113 South African Rands .
(about $21 U.S., c/o <www.exclusivebooks.com>.)

It is undeniable that baboons cause problems for farmers in
South Africa. Unfortunately, the usual response to their presence
is to shoot them. Life With Darwin & Other Baboons seeks to reduce
hostility toward baboons by providing insight into the complexities
of baboon society and the inevitable conflicts that arise when
animals and humans use the same habitat.
I once visited the South Texas Primate Sanctuary in Dilley,
Texas (now known as the API Primate Sanctuary). Founder Lou Griffin,
then still the director, knew every snow monkey and understood how
they fit into the group. When Lou introduced me to the snow monkeys,
she gave me the privilege of entering a fascinating new world. Life
With Darwin opens a similar door.
Fransje Van Riel introduces us to baboons through Karin Saks,
foster mother to an orphaned infant named Gismo. As Karin cared for
his physical and emotional needs, she realized that she would
ultimately have to find him a wild baboon family. Locating a wild
troop, she slowly introduced Gismo to it. Thanks to her
extraordinary efforts, the troop accepted him.

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