Record $7 million verdict in pit bull fatality case & related legal updates

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
HENDERSON, Texas–A Rusk County District Court jury on
September 17, 2010 held pit bull terrier owners Rick and Christi
George of Leveritt’s Chapel responsible for a record $7 million in
damages for allowing their two dogs to escape and kill skateboarder
Justin Clinton, 10, on June 15, 2009. “The jury heard evidence
from 46 witnesses and viewed 125 exhibits which documented the
vicious attack and conduct of these two animals,” attorney Cynthia
Kent told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
“Although several defense witnesses testified that they had
never seen the dogs act aggressively and one even referred to the
dogs as ‘lovable little fluff balls,’ law enforcement officers and
other witnesses testified to the dogs’ vicious and aggressive nature
as compared to other breeds,” Kent added. Kent, representing the
victim’s family, was previously a district judge in Tyler, Texas.
Soon after the fatal attack Kent announced that she would pursue the
passage of legislation to restrict or prohibit breeding or keeping
pit bulls.

Hyenas replace dogs in Addis Ababa

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
ADDIS ABABA–Predators, including hyenas, are in decline
across Africa–but not in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.
Like coyotes in North American cities, hyenas are becoming
established in the suburbs, parallel to a steep drop in the numbers
of free-roaming dogs.
Chiefly nocturnal, the Addis Ababa hyenas are seldom seen,
but the staff of the Donkey Sanctuary clinic in the grain market
district on the west side of the city see increasing numbers of hyena
bites to the hindquarters of donkeys, along with the more familiar
injuries resulting from overloading, traffic accidents, and
improper care–and the rabies and anthrax cases that are also not
uncommon in Ethiopia, where animals are rarely vaccinated against
either disease.

E.U adopts new rules for lab animal care & use

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
STRASBOURG–The European Parliament on Sept-ember 8, 2010
ratified an updated edition of the 25-year-old European Union rules
for animal use in laboratories. Member nations have two years to
establish compliance.
The new rules state that “When an alternative to animal
testing can be found it must be used.” Animal researchers are now
required to keep written histories of each individual non-human
primate, dog or cat used in experiments to document that their
welfare needs are met.

Dogs in hot cars

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
At instigation of Animal Issues founder Phyllis Daugherty and
state assembly member Anthony Portantino, the 2011 California Dept.
of Motor Vehicles drivers’ handbook is to include a warning about the
dangers of leaving dogs unattended in vehicles–which can carry a
fine of up to $500 plus six months in jail if harm to the dog
results. The handbook advisory follows a public education campaign
by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Net-cutting claimed by German activists fails to free dolphins from “The Cove”

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
TAIJI, Japan–Japanese authorities, coastal whalers,
longtime opponent of coastal dolphin-killing and capture Ric O’Barry,
and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society observers at the Taiji
dolphin-killing cove Scott and Elora West all appeared surprised on
September 28, 2010 by a web-posted announcement that “Divers from
the European conservation organisation Black Fish last night swam out
and cut the nets of six holding pens in Taiji, Japan, that were
holding dolphins caught during a dolphin drive hunt a few days
earlier.

Animal advocates debate use of OvoControl to halt massacres of pigeons & geese

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)

NEW YORK CITY–Controversy raged in New York City and suburbs
throughout summer 2010–as in most summers–over bird control.
In 2010, however, the disputes expanded from whether or not
birds should be killed to a division of opinion among animal
advocates over the possible introduction of OvoControl, a new avian
contraceptive made by Innolytics LLC, of California, as an
alternative to killing.
New York City Council member James Oddo, of Staten Island,
has pushed for the use of OvoControl against pigeons since 2007. New
York City Council members Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, and Letitia
James and New York state senator Eric Adams on August 11, 2010
joined representatives of In Defense of Animals at a City Hall rally
calling for the use of OvoControl instead of lethal culling against
nonmigratory Canada geese.

Letters [Sept 2010]

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)

Saving African habitat

In September 2005 the Kenyan minister for tourism and
wildlife declared that Amboseli National Park would become a National
Reserve. Management of the park would be removed from the Kenya
Wildlife Service and placed with the Olkejiado County Council. The
new Kenyan constitution effectively keeps Amboseli under the national
government. The High Court accepted our submission and will issue a
court order quashing the notice that purported to change Amboseli
National Park to Amboseli National Reserve.
Fighting the case cost us $13,350. We have paid $6,650,
leaving a balance to be paid of $6,700.

Letters

New Mexico governor creates wild horse refuge & proposes chimp sanctuary

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
ALBUQUERQUE–New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on September
17, 2010 announced a plan to use $2.9 million in federal economic
stimulus money to multiply the size of Cerrillos Hills State Park,
20 miles south of Santa Fe, more than tenfold by adding the former
Ortiz Mountain Ranch to it, turning it into the largest wild horse
sanctuary in the world.
Then, just ahead of a September 21 media conference called
to discuss the wild horse sanctuary, Richardson toured the
Alamogordo Primate Facility on Holloman Air Force Base near
Albuquerque and recommended that it should become a non-invasive
behavioral research lab.

Fur trade thwarts anti-fur legislation

September 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2010:
(published October 5, 2010)
BRUSSELS, TEL AVIV, SACRAMENTO–Fur trade lawyers and
lobbyists three times in less than 40 days kept anti-fur legislation
from taking effect.
The European Union ban on imports of seal products, mostly
pelts, officially took effect on August 20, 2010, more than a year
after final passage in July 2009, but the European Court of Justice
on August 19 stayed enforcement against the plaintiffs in a lawsuit
seeking to overturn the ban, brought by the Canadian Seal Marketing
Group, the Fur Institute of Canada, NuTan Furs, the Inuit
Circumpolar Conference Greenland, and GC Reiber Skinn AS of Norway,
as well as individual hunters and trappers. Among them, the
plaintiffs include most of the sealing industry. The General Court
gave them until September 7 to file arguments against the ban. A
verdict is due before the start of the 2011 Atlantic Canada sealing
season.

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