Mike Baker of Brooke Hospital named to head WSPA

April 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2009:
LONDON–Mike Baker, chief executive
officer of the Brooke Hospital for Animals since
June 2001, will in June 2009 succeed Peter
Davies as director general of the World Society
for the Protection of Animals, WSPA announced
on March 6, 2009.
“I hope still to be active in the
movement,” Davies told ANIMAL PEOPLE. WSPA had
announced Davies’ retirement in July 2008.
Davies, previously director general of the Royal
SPCA of Britain, had headed WSPA since mid-2002.
Baker, 44, served as political manager
for the British Union Against Vivisection,
1989-1994, and then headed the BUAV in
1995-1998, after an interlude with Amnesty
International. From November 1998 until Baker
became the Brooke chief executive he was United
Kingdom director for the International Fund for
Animal Welfare.
Read more

Congress vs. states over horse slaughter

April 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2009:
BISMARCK, BOISE, HELENA, WASHINGTON D.C.–A political race
to the wire over horse slaughter pits Congressional support for the
proposed Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, which would prohibit
interstate transport of horses for slaughter, against a field of
state legislation written to expedite the resumption of horse
slaughter, suspended in the U.S. since the last three horse
slaughterhouses closed in 2007.
The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act 2009, introduced by
Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) had 103 cosponsors as of
March 23.
Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, had on his
desk a bill passed by the Republican majorities in the state house of
representatives and senate to encourage construction of a horse
slaughterhouse.

Dogs among the heroes of the Mumbai attacks

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
MUMBAI, India–Among the most popular heroes of the
three-day terrorist rampage through Mumbai that started on November
26, 2008 are the street dog Sheru, the sniffer dog Jessica, and
the therapy dogs Goldie and Onet.
At least 170 people were killed and 230 were wounded by 10
heavily armed men believed to be Pakistanis, who are believed to
have hijacked a boat to reach Mumbai, killing the crew. On arrival,
they shot up the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, the Taj
Mahal and Oberoi-Trident hotels, a Jewish outreach center, and a
restaurant, and left bombs in two taxi cabs.

Rescuing greyhounds from the most remote track in the world

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
HAGNATA, Guam; BOSTON– Between the depressed U.S. economy
and the passage of an initiative ban on greyhound racing in
Massachusetts after January 1, 2010, greyhound rescuers expected a
winter of tracks closing and ex-racing dogs needing homes.
But few expected to be coordinating a major rescue on the
Pacific island of Guam –among the most remote of U.S. territories,
and until November 6, 2008 the most isolated outpost of greyhound
racing in the world.
Like the Wonderland and Raynham tracks in Massachusetts, the
32-year-old Guam Greyhound Track was killed at the ballot box–but
indirectly. The Guam Greyhound Track drew 250 to 300 people per night
in recent years, down from 800 per night in 1990, reported Steve
Limtiaco of Pacific Daily News. The track on November 4, 2008 asked
Guam voters to approve a proposition which would have enabled the
facility to build a $30 million convention center and expand into
casino gambling. When the proposition was defeated, track owner
John Baldwin halted dog racing and listed the property for sale at
$15.9 million.

Dairyland disaster

January 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2009:
KENOSHA, Wisconsin–Three greyhounds broke their legs
running on the frozen Dairyland Greyhound Park track on December 19.
2008, despite a warning from track veterinarian Jenifer Barker that
she could not approve the surface. Dairyland cancelled 11 races the
next day.
Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel used the
Wisconsin open records law to get Barker’s e-mails to Wisconsin
Gaming Division chief Robert Sloey and Dairyland chief steward Dan
Subach, expressing her concerns.
Dairyland officials reportedly expected to lose as much as
$2.8 million in 2008, after losing similar amounts in each of the
preceding several years. The Menominee tribe of Wisconsin and the
Mohegan tribe of Connecticut jointly hold an option to buy the track,
the last in the state, for $40.5 million, if they can obtain
permits to add a casino and convention center to the property.

Remembering Marco

October 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)
Remembering Marco by Geeta Seshamani
The September 2008 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE included a photograph of a donkey named Marco, with a memorial for him from ANIMAL PEOPLE artist Wolf Clifton and president Kim Bartlett.
An editor s note on page six mentioned that after rescuing Marco while traveling in India in January 2007, Bartlett funded an equine care mobile unit to help the working donkeys and horses along the heavily traveled Agra/Delhi corridor, and added that the unit is operated by Friendicoes SECA, which already had an equine unit in Delhi.
There was much more to the story.

Indian states act finally on behalf of captive elephants

October 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)
MYSORE, THRISSUR Acting on complaints filed by the Bangalore-based Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilition Centre and by Compassion Unlimited Plus Action, also of Bangalore, Mysore Division deputy conservator of forests Shashwati Mishra on October 28, 2008 seized three elephants from a Great Bombay Circus encampment in Mysore, due to alleged neglect of foot ailments.
Forestry department officials said they had decided to shift the elephants on the basis of a report submitted by veterinarians of the Mysore zoo, who had inquired into the matter, The Hindu said. The elephants were transported to Bannerghatta National Park for treatment.
The elephants were taken into custody 12 days after Kerala principal chief conservator of forests T.M. Manoharan seized a three-year-old elephant named Kannan from the Mavelikara Evoor Sri Krishna temple in Mavelikkara.
The plight of Kannan came to light last week when two youngsters captured on their mobile phone cameras scenes of mahouts brutally torturing the elephant, reported The Hindu. The visuals were passed on to TV channels and forests minister Binoy Viswom issued instructions for an enquiry.

Big U.S. election wins for farm animals, greyhounds & pro-animal candidates

October 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)
SACRAMENTO, BOSTON, WASHINGTON D.C. Animals won big on November 4, 2008 on all political fronts.
California voters approved giving battery-caged chickens room to spread their wings, and banned veal crates and sow gestation stalls.
Massachusetts voters banned greyhound racing making Massachusetts the first state to ban greyhound racing while still hosting active greyhound tracks.
Arizona voters crushed a proposition which would have made it nearly impossible to pass any future ballot initiative dealing with animal protection, exulted Humane Society Legislative Fund president Mike Markarian.
At 12:47 a.m. on November 5, with ballots in many close races still being counted, 248 candidates endorsed by the Humane Society Legislative Fund had won seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Only 10 had lost.

Dog racing ban on Massachusetts ballot

July 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
BOSTON–The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on July
16, 2008 allowed the Committee to Protect Dogs, co-chaired by Grey
2K cofounder Christine Dorchak, to place on the November 2008 state
ballot an initiative that would ban greyhound racing and would put
the last two tracks in Massachusetts out of business by January 2010.
The first Grey 2K effort to ban greyhound racing in
Massachusetts failed by 1% of the vote in 2000. In July 2006 the
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejected as overbroad a
proposed ballot initiative that would have prohibited greyhound
racing and would have provided stiffer sentences for dogfighting and
harming police dogs.
The greyhound industry may have less money this year for
campaigning. The city of Revere, Massachusetts in July 2008
foreclosed on the Wonderland Greyhound Park over $789,293 in unpaid
taxes, and is owed $16,674 in water and sewage bills, reported
Katheleen Conti of the Boston Globe on August 1. “Wonderland is the
city’s eighth-largest taxpayer, and now its largest tax delinquent,”
Conti wrote. “In 1994, Wonderland paid $1.6 million in back taxes.
The city placed a lien on the property in June 2007.”

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