How often has Sylvester killed Tweety?

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
How often has Sylvester killed Tweety?
by Judith Webster
The summer 2009 edition of B.C. Nature included an article
entitled, “Cat licensing: A conservation strategy that can work.”
As a cat and bird lover, I was inspired to investigate author
Sherril Guthrie’s claim that cat licensing and confinement bylaws
would “protect and restore our bird and small mammal populations, as
well as return cats to their rightful place as valued pets and
companions.”
Guthrie relies on American Bird Conservancy “Cats Indoors!”
campaign literature, which includes too many disputable studies,
extrapolations, and anecdotal reports to delve into deeply here.
However, in her strong opening paragraph, Guthrie discusses a new
bird count analysis by the National Audubon Society revealing that 20
of North America’s most common birds have lost over half their
population since 1967.

Namibian seal hunt proceeds despite E.U pelt import ban & only buyer’s attempt to sell out

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

BRUSSELS, WINDHOEK, CAPE TOWN–The European Council of
Ministers on July 28, 2009 voted 24-0 to implement a ban on
importing seal products into the European Union within nine months.
Approved by the European Parlia-ment on May 5, 2009, the
ban will take effect before the next sealing season in Atlantic
Canada, but might not be enforced in all European Union nations
before the end of the 2009 Namibian sealing season.
“The ban was approved without debate,” wrote Constant Brand
of Associated Press, “although Denmark and Romania abstained from
backing the measure, which Ottawa is protesting as an unfair trade
restriction. Austria also abstained because it wanted an even
stricter ban.”

Animals are among losers of “War on Terror”

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
BARSTOW, JACKSONVILLE– Wars are lost by losing lives and
land. Thus whales, burros, pigs, and desert tortoises far from
any battlefield are among the losers of the War on Terror,
informally declared in 2001 by then-U.S. President George W. Bush.
The Barack Obama administration in March 2009 abandoned use
of the phrase “War on Terror” to describe what are now called
“overseas contingency operations,” and are no longer rhetorically
linked, in recognition that U.S. troops are fighting different foes
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But changing terminology has not changed the issues. Even
before “War on Terror” was used to drum up support for the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, it was used to quell opposition to military
training exercises that harm animals and habitat. Military projects
harmful to animals that began or expanded in the name of the “War on
Terror” are still underway, often bigger than ever.

Watching new Eagle Vick “like a hawk”

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
PHILADELPHIA–Michael Vick, considered possibly the best
quarterback in the National Football League before becoming the most
notorious dogfighter ever, is again playing football. Rising to
stardom with the Atlanta Falcons before his April 2007 arrest in
connection with dogfighting, the 29-year-old Vick is now an
expensive backup for the Philadelphia Eagles, behind five-time Pro
Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb.
“I lobbied to get him here,” said McNabb. “I believe in
second chances and what better place to get a second chance.”
Whether Vick was a football star gone bad or a would-be
dogfighter who happened to be good at football is among the open
questions among observers. Vick set up his dogfighting operation,
Bad Newz Kennels, in 2001, the same year he became the first pick
in the NFL draft.

Editorial: Keeping shelters open when money & time are tight

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

The good economic news from the nonprofit
information-tracking web site Guidestar is that only 52% of U.S.
charities reported declining donations during the winter of
2008-2009. This was no worse than the rate of decline during the
preceding summer.
Animal charities appear to have enjoyed less severe declines
than those serving other sectors, but since animal charities raise
only about 1% of total contributions to charity in the U.S., even
moderate losses hurt.
Economic analysts now predict that we may have reached a
turnaround. Yet even in the most hopeful scenario, fall and winter
budgets must be planned conservatively. If more money arrives than
is expected, more can be done, but meanwhile it is prudent to avoid
becoming over-extended. If we are not yet coming out of the
recession of the past two years, the recent stresses on animal
shelters will only get worse.

Letters [July/Aug 2009]

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:

Lucy elephant

Lucy is a female Asian elephant living alone since 2007 at
the Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alberta. She has lived there for 30
years. Many people feel that Lucy should be moved to a sanctuary
because she is socially isolated, Edmonton is too cold for
elephants, her enclosure is too small, and she has many health
problems that the zoo has been unable to take care of. Two
accredited sanctuaries have offered to take her and pay for her
transportation. We would like Lucy’s story to get more exposure in
hopes of continuing to build public pressure so that the zoo may one
day let her go.
–Bhavithra Aloysious
c/o Zoocheck Canada
788 1/2 O’Connor Drive
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M4B 2S6
Phone: 416-285-1744
Fax: 416-285-4670
<bhavithra@zoocheck.com>
< zoocheck.com/action.html>

Letters

Animal Birth Control gains speed

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
CHENNAI, DELHI, MUMBAI –Indian minister of state for
environment and forests Jairam Ramesh served notice in July and
August 2009 speaking appearances that he means to put wheels under
the Indian national Animal Birth Control program.
Now Chinny Krishna, who engin-eered the ABC program, needs
to put new wheels under the Blue Cross of India surgical team to keep
up with increasing demands for service. “We have been inundated with
requests from municipalities asking us to undertake ABC,” Krishna
told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “In addition to the cost of doing more
operations, we are handicapped for want of enough vehicles, since
all these new areas are some distance from Chennai,” where the Blue
Cross of India is based.

Egypt uses H1N1 flu as pretext to massacre pigs

July 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:

CAIRO, PARIS–After condemning the pointless massacre of
pigs in Egypt in response to a “swine flu” that swine rarely get and
have yet to verifiably pass to any other species, the 2009 meeting
of the Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on May 24 elected Nihat
Pakdil of Turkey to become OIE European region secretary general.
Pakdil, as Turkish deputy undersecretary for agriculture,
in 2005 ordered a pointless massacre of dogs in response to the avian
flu H5N1, even though dogs have never been infected by H5N1.
Despite Pakdil’s ascent, Africa Network for Animal Welfare
founder Josphat Ngonyo was hopeful, he told ANIMAL PEOPLE, that the
OIE conference discussion would prevent anything like the Egyptian
pig killing “from ever occurring again, through the concerted effort
of OIE, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, and the
international animal welfare community.”

Castaway dogs trouble Malaysian conscience

June 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2009:
PULAU KETAM, Malaysia– Striving to rescue more than 150
dogs who survived being deliberately marooned on a remote swampy
island in the Straits of Malacca, the Malaysian animal charities
Furry Friends Farm, Selangor SPCA, and Save A Stray had among them
caught just a few dozen in a month of effort as ANIMAL PEOPLE went to
press–but they had stimulated awareness of surgically sterilizing
dogs wherever television, radio, and online media reach in the
Malay language, including Singa-pore and Indonesia as well as
Malaysia.
The Pulau Ketam dog rescue showed promise of expanding into
the beginnings of a regional Animal Birth Control program, modeled
after ABC successes in India. Malaysian Department of Veterinary
Services director general Abd Aziz Jamaluddin told Lestor Kong of The
Star that the department will send 10 veterinarians to Palau Ketam to
sterilize dogs on June 27-28.

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