Performing animals

October 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1994:

California governor Pete Wilson on August 29 signed a bill banning the inten-

tional tripping of horses in entertainment, a standard feature of charreada rodeo.

“Tripping and roping a horse is no different than what is done to steers and calves in Anglo

rodeos,” objected Los Angeles assemblyman Richard Polanco. “I agree,” responded Eric

Mills of Action for Animals. “Perhaps he would carry a bill to outlaw calf roping next year?”

Iams Co., the second-biggest sponsor of the 1,100-mile Iditarod dog sled race,

announced on September 13 that it will discontinue involvement after the 1995 race because

the organizers have not addressed their concerns about dog safety during the event.

Thailand on August 29 formed a working group to fight cruelty to animals at

tourist attractions. Included are representatives of the Royal Forestry Department, the

Tourist Police, the Tourism Authority, and conservation groups.

Circuses & spectacles

September 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:

Cesar, a runaway circus sea lion, was

recaptured on July 22 while napping on a parked

car, ending a four-day chase in Lake Maggiore,

Switzerland, during which activists demanded that

he be allowed to live in the lake. Cesar’s brother

Otto escaped with him, but was caught earlier––and

recaught after escaping again.

The Atlantic City SPCA said August 9

that it was satisfied with improvements the Great

Moscow Circus had made to animal holding condi-

tions at the Trump Taj Mahal Hotel, and would not

file cruelty charges. An exercise cage for the bears,

built at the insistence of Eileen Liska of the

Michigan Humane Society during the Moscow

Circus tour of 1988-1989, was reclaimed from stor-

age in Canada, and was to travel with the circus

throughout the rest of the current tour. The Taj

Mahal shows were continuously picketed by the

New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance.

Horse notes

September 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:

A legal parallel to the White

Sands situation came to light on the

Yakima Reservation, at Toppemish,

Washington, and the Warm Springs

Reservation near Madras, Oregon,

after horse enthusiast Sheila Herron

traced several injured horses she found

in a horsemeat dealer’s feedlot at Yelm,

Washington, back to annual roundups

authorized by the tribal councils.

Yakima councillors told Herron they

were “weeding out the crippled and

old,” but most of the horses at the feed-

lot were healthy, Herron said, and

some were foals. A Warm Springs

councillor said the Madras horses are

privately owned. “I was certainly

unaware,” Herron told ANIMAL PEO-

P L E, “that only mustangs and burros

from BLM or Forest Service lands are

protected by federal law. Mustangs and

burros from Park Service, Indian, mil-

itary or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

lands have no protection from being

rounded up and sold for slaughter.”

Alleged horse killers charged with murder

September 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:

CHICAGO––Illinois and federal

authorities probing a scheme to kill race and show

horses for insurance money say they have cracked

a series of the most sensational unsolved crimes in

Chicago history. Richard Bailey, 62, described

as a gigolo who cheated lonely widows out of hun-

dreds of thousands of dollars, was charged July 27

in connection with the 1977 disappearance of

Helen Vorhees Brach, the Brach candy heiress

whose will founded the Brach Foundation, a

major source of funding for animal-related chari-

ties. August 12, stable owner Kenneth Hansen, a

Bailey associate, was charged with the October

1955 kidnap-rape-murders of Robert Peterson, 14,

and brothers John and Anton Schluessler, ages 13

and 11, whose deaths, some sociologists say,

changed the attitudes of America toward hitchhik-

ing and supervision of children, and reinforced

homophobia for a generation of parents.

Spectacles

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

Bullfights and rodeos have been banned i n

Sao Paulo, Brazil, scene of more than 100 such events in

1993. The ban took effect in May.

Trying to slow the pace of the Iditarod dog

sled race from Anchorage to Nome, the Iditarod Trail

Committee has eliminated five food dropoff points, to

require mushers to pack heavier loads, and has cut the

maximum number of dogs in a team from 20 to 16. To

make up for sponsorship losses, the entry fee has been

increased from $500 to $1,750.

Horses

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

Responding to an appeal from Brigitte Bardot,

Belgian interior minister Louis Tobback on June 13 banned the

controversial Krombeke trap-horse race––as well as any demon-

strations that might be held to gloat over the victory. Held on

slippery cobblestone streets, the race resulted in frequent injuries

to horses and drivers. Tobback, who said he’d always dreamed

of getting a letter from Bardot, last year banned a similar race at

nearby Sint-Eloois-Winkel.

Six-time Canadian Olympic equestrian Ian Millar,

of Perth, Ontario, on May 30 announced the retirement of Big

Ben, the 18-year-old Belgian he rode in three Olympics. Ben,

whom Millar began jumping in 1983, was the first North

American show jumper to win more than $1.5 million, achieving

40 grand prix victories; led Canada to the 1987 Pan American

Games gold medal; and won back-to-back World Cups.

Horses

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

Jean R. Strothenke, town jus-

tice for Schroon, New York, on April

20 fined horse hauler David A. Carper, of

Frank Carper & Sons, $11,100 for ille-

gally taking 40 horses to slaughter in a

double-decked trailer, lacking individual

stalls and insulation. He was caught on

January 27, en route from New Jersey to

Canada, when the truck broke down in a

snowstorm. The fine was by far the

toughest since New York adopted legisla-

tion to cover horse transport in 1980.

Spectacles

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

Florida attorney general Bob

Butterworth on May 6 ruled that so-

called hog-dog rodeos violate the state

animal cruelty law. The rodeos pit dogs

against hogs in an enclosed arena. The

dog who corners a hog fastest is the win-

ner. Videos of dogs biting pigs’ snouts,

ears, and legs have been widely broadcast

in recent weeks, as members of United

Bay Pens Association, a hog-dog rodeo

front group, have defended the events as

“good clean family fun,” and Hardee

County sheriff Rickey Dick has refused to

arrest either organizers or participants.

State attorney Joseph D’Alessandro

promised on May 13 that no one would be

arrested if the rodeos cease, but a UBPA

spokesman said they would continue until

arrests were made.

Horses

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Wyeth-Ayerst spent $9.2 million to push the estro-

gen supplement Premarin in 1992, according to Advertising

Age, while Ciba-Geigy spent $4.7 million promoting Estrace,

the leading rival product. Both drugs are sold to treat symp-

toms of menopause. Premarin is based on urine from pregnant

mares, who spend winters strapped to collection apparatus

under conditions similar to those of dairy cattle. More than

80% of the foals are sold to the horsemeat trade. Estrace is by

contrast a synthetic product. The estrogen supplement market

is expected to grow fast: only 7.4 million women take them

now, of an estimated potential U.S. market of 26.2 million.

The American SPCA, a leading foe of the New

York City carriage horse trade, now has its own carriage,

a replica of the horsedrawn ambulance it used in rescue work

circa 1895, built by former board member LeRoy Swindell.

The carriage is to debut at the Steuben Day Parade in October .

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