Dog sledding

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

The United Coalition of Animal

Rights Volunteers is asking animal protec-

tion groups to endorse “Six Humane

Treatment Rules” for the annual Iditarod

dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome pro-

posed by UCARV founder John Suter, who ran

poodle teams in the Iditarod until they were

barred in 1992, following incidents that caused

death or injury to poodles in three consecutive

years. Suter’s proposed “humane rules” include

an “Equal Run/Equal Rest” rule that would

penalize racers who drive their dogs at a slower

pace by obliging them to take longer breaks,

and a “Drop a Dog, Rest the Team” rule that

would penalize drivers who leave injured dogs

at checkpoints rather than forcing them to con-

tinue in harness. Despite the likelihood that

Suter’s rules would cause more harm to dogs

rather than less, they are already backed by the

International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Horses

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

University of Minnesota re-

searcher Julie Wilson will present a paper to

the American Association of Equine

Practitioners this month asserting that 840

racehorses suffered fatal breakdowns on U.S.

tracks in 1992––one for every 92 races.

Further, Wilson says, 3,566 horses––one

every 22 races––were so severely hurt they

were unable to finish the events.

New York City’s five-year-old

carriage horse protection law is to expire at

the end of this month. Following the defeat of

incumbent mayor David Dinkins, who vetoed

a previous attempt to weaken carriage horse

protection, counsellor Noach Dear has intro-

duced a bill to increase the horses’ work week

to 70 hours, abolish most of the safety and

humane provisions of the current law, and

allow the carriages to re-enter heavy traffic.

They are now restricted to Central Park. “To

see a carriage horse marooned in New York

City traffic is to see a 19th century artifact

cruelly transported into a 20th century night-

mare,” The New York Times editorially

responded.

ANIMAL HEALTH

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

A mystery hantavirus that killed 26 peopleear-

lier this year could spread across the U.S., the November 5

issue of Science warned. The Pulmonary Syndrome

Hantavirus, as it is now called, PSH for short, was traced

to deer mice after killing 19 people near the junction of

Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado––and deer

mice range over most of North America. Cases have now

been confirmed as far north as Montana and the Dakotas,

as far west as coastal California, and as far east as

Louisiana. The southwestern outbreak may have occurred

as result of heavy rains in early 1992 that produced a

bumper crop of pinon nuts and grasshoppers, both staple

foods for deer mice, whose population exploded. The

Centers for Disease Control suspects the outbreak was

detected only because so many cases appeared at once.

Blind trust: Dogs for people who can’t live without them

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK–– The

July 7 accident stunned New York City. Before dozens of

witnesses, a blind woman fell from the platform at

Pennsylvania Station, losing her grip on her guide dog’s

harness. As she scrambled back toward safety, and the

frantic dog barked a warning, the 9:18 southbound express

thundered into the station, and though the motorman threw

his full weight against the emergency brake, it knocked her

20 feet through the air.

Five minutes before 10:00 a.m., when she would

have reported for work, Vision Services for the Blind asso-

ciate executive director Pamela Schneider, 49, died of her

extensive injuries.

PERFORMING ANIMALS: Iditarod race critic John Suter has poodle skeletons in closet

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Reporter Doug O’Hara of the mag-

azine We Alaskans revealed October 17 that

Iditarod sled dog race critic John Suter, of

Chugiak, Alaska, is “the man who drove

poodles in the trans-Alaska race until the

practice was effectively banned as inhumane

two years ago.” Suter has mailed more than

2,000 letters to animal rights groups since,

alleging cruelty by trainers and breeders,

including dicing cull puppies to feed adult

dogs. His letters have been used as source

material by numerous national organizations

in organizing opposition to the Iditarod.

Horses

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Days End Farm Horse Rescue is

offering a cash reward for “any information

leading to the arrest and conviction of the

person responsible for the recent assault and

mutilation of horses in Maryland.” The

reward fund is named for Star, a mare who

was sexually assaulted and subjected to muti-

lation resembling an internal episiotomy in

Urbana on October 5. Similar attacks

occurred in the area on August 26 and

September 4; in Great Falls, Virginia, last

year; and have been baffling police in

England for a decade. The attacks may be

linked, as they seem to be done by someone

skilled at horse-handling, and there is con-

siderable traffic between the horse communi-

ties of England and the greater Washington

D.C. area. Days End Farm Horse Rescue

also seeks information about similar attacks

anywhere, at any time, by anyone, in an

effort to build a psychological profile of the

perpetrator. Send material to P.O. Box 157,

West Friendship, MD 21794.

Marine mammals

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

The Dolphin Alliance, of

Melbourne Beach, Florida, announced

September 22 that Bogie and Bacall, the

Ocean Reef Club dolphins, will be going

home to the Indian River Lagoon as soon

as they complete rehabilitation with former

“Flipper” trainer Ric O’Barry, who heads

the closely allied Dolphin Project.

Publicity surrounding the 1988 capture of

Bogie and Bacall influenced the National

Marine Fisheries Service to ban further dol-

phin captures for the benefit of facilities

not open to the public. When the Ocean

Reef Club was sold recently, it lost the

grandfather clause enabling it to keep

Bogie and Bacall.

Agriculture

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on August 9

announced plans to hike grazing fees on 280 million acres

of public lands, from the present $1.86 per animal unit per

day to $4.28––still below market value, and half the $8.70

fee the House passed in July 1991, later killed by the

Senate. An earlier attempt by Babbitt to up grazing fees

was delayed by President Clinton until his budget cleared

Congress.

The European Commission on July 13 proposed

that horses in transport should be watered and fed every six

hours; calves under four weeks old, every eight hours; and

adult cattle every 16 hours. Horses and pigs would get 10

hours of rest after traveling 12 hours. If adopted, the new

rules will protect all animals traveling between member

nations.

Horse Tips

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Reporters Rans Pierson of The New York Post and Phillip

Nalbone of the Wall Street Journal recently followed Phyllis Orrick of

the New York Press in amplifying ANIMAL PEOPLE’s April and

July/August exposes of the treatment of horses in making the estrogen

supplement Premarin. Up to 75,000 pregnant mares spend half of each

year catheterized for urine collection and confined to narrow stalls;

most of their foals are sold to slaughter. Their numbers could triple

when the manufacturer, Ayerst Organics Inc., completes expansion of

its urine processing plant in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. According

to Pierson, more than eight million American women take Premarin

for menopausal symptoms. Costing half as much as synthetic alterna-

tives made by Ciba Pharmaceuticals, Mead Johnson, and Abbott

Labs, Premarin holds 80% of the estrogen supplement market, and is

now the most prescribed drug in the U.S. An Ayerst spokesperson said

the number of horses involved is much lower than the 75,000 estimate

produced by longtime estrogen industry observer Tom Hughes of the

Canadian Farm Animal Care Trust, adding that the firm isn’t responsi-

ble for the fate of the foals anyhow. Medical columnist Zoltan Rona,

M.D., meanwhile argued in the July issue of Alive magazine that

menopausal women could avoid needing estrogen supplements by

avoiding meat and taking appropriate vitamins, minerals, and herbs.

« 1 … 28 29 30 31 32 … 34 »