Obituaries [July/Aug 2008]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
Dave Maehr, 52, a University of Kentucky professor known
for his work on Florida panther conservation issues, was killed on
June 20, 2008 along with citrus grower and pilot Mason Smoak, 33,
when Smoak’s light plane crashed after takeoff at the Placid Lakes
Airport in Highlands County, Florida. Maehr and Smoak, a prominent
member of the Florida Farm Bureau Federation, were doing an aerial
survey of the Highlands County black bear population.

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Animal Obits

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
Tony, 17, a chimpanzee who escaped from the Keeling Center
for Comparative Medicine and Research on March 21, 2008, was
fatally shot by University of Texas police officer Paul Maslyk, 43,
after Maslyk disregarded warnings from the capture team to stay in
his car, according to police reports and witness statements obtained
in July 2008 by Joshunda Sanders of the Austin American-Statesman.
Wrote Sanders, “Maslyk told police investigators that after he
watched Tony take the tranquilizer gun and break it, the chimp
headed toward him… Fearing for his safety, Maslyk said he twice
shouted, ‘I’m gonna shoot,’ in accordance with UT police policy,
and then fired. Maslyk lost his footing, the police report says,
and continued to shoot at the chimp as the chimp passed him.”

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San Francisco supervisors consider turning S.F. Zoo into wildlife rescue center

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Board of Supervisors are to
decide in September 2008 whether to convert the zoo, one of the
oldest in the U.S., into a wildlife rescue center.
“Supervisor Chris Daly proposed the measure six months after
a tiger escaped on December 25, 2007 and fatally mauled Carlos Souza
Jr., 17, of San Jose,” San Francisco Chronicle staff writer
Marissa Lagos reported on August 8, 2008.
As drafted, “The measure would make animal welfare a
priority at the zoo,” Lagos wrote, “and would require that any
future acquisitions be rescued animals, including those who were
abused or were confiscated by law enforcement after being illegally
owned or imported. The zoo would be barred from acquiring new
animals ‘unless the needs of all animals currently at the zoo have
been met.’ Some breeding programs for endangered animals would be
allowed to continue.”

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Arsons boost bill that would inhibit access to info about animal research

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
SACRAMENTO–Firebombs detonated on a porch and in a home
belonging to University of California at Santa Cruz researchers in
the early morning of August 2, 2008 are believed to have given a big
late-in-session boost to AB 2296, a bill which would allow
universities to withhold the names of animal researchers from public
documents.
Introduced in February 2008 by state assembly member Gene
Mullin (D-San Mateo) at request of the University of California
system, AB 2296 “would make it a misdemeanor to harm or intimidate a
researcher who works with animals, including publicly posting the
names, photographs, home addresses and home telephone numbers of
researchers online or elsewhere. Anyone convicted under the
legislation could face up to a year in county jail and fines up to
$25,000. The bill also allows researchers or their employers to seek
an injunction against animal rights advocates or web sites publishing
their photos or personal information,” summarized Santa Cruz
Sentinel staff writer J.M. Brown.

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BLM talk of killing wild horses coincides with efforts to restart horse slaughter

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:

 

RENO–The September 2008 meeting of the
National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board may
discuss killing unadopted wild horses, Bureau of
Land Management deputy director Henri Bisson
disclosed to Associated Press on June 30.
“There are an estimated 33,000 wild
horses in 10 Western states,” assessed
Associated Press writer Martin Griffith. “About
half of those are in Nevada. The agency has set
the target appropriate management level for wild
horses at 27,000. About 30,000 horses are in
holding facilities.
“Last year,” Griffith continued, “about
$22 million of the BLM horse program’s $39
million budget was spent on holding horses in
agency pens. Next year the costs are projected
to grow to $26 million within an overall budget
that is being trimmed to $37 million.”

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Bizarre backstory to South Korean dog cloning

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
SEOUL, LONDON–Animal advocates scrambled on August 5, 2008
to more fully identify the background of a woman named Bernann
McKinney, who paid $50,000 to RNL Bio of Seoul, South Korea to
clone her deceased pit bull terrier.
At a press conference in Seoul, held to announce the
cloning, the woman cuddled five pit bull puppies and claimed that
the deceased pit bull had once saved her life when she was attacked
by a much larger dog–but no record of the incident could be found. Read more

Why the RSPCA and Compassion In World Farming push rose veal

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
LONDON–Animal rights groups worldwide on August 17, 2008
abruptly found themselves explaining that they do not endorse veal,
the Royal SPCA of Britain and Compassion In World Farming had to
explain that they are not animal rights groups, and the public was
probably just downright confused after Rachel Shields, a food writer
for The Independent, wrote that “Animal-rights groups have been
campaigning to get it off the menu for decades, but now, in an
abrupt U-turn, they are clamouring for veal to come back to British
dining tables.
“The RSPCA and Compassion in World Farming are trying to
redeem the meat in the eyes of U.K. consumers,” Shields continued,
“most of whom now view veal as the ultimate ethical no-no.”

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WSPA board role of Danish wildlife researcher Bjarne Clausen raises questions

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
World Society for the Protection of Animals board president
Dominique Bellemare is not the only WSPA board member whose history
of associations with prominent defenders of the Canadian fur and
sealing industries has caused ANIMAL PEOPLE to ask questions. Board
member Bjarne Clausen, a Danish biologist, spoke in 1981–the same
year that WSPA was founded–as part of the Northwest Territories
Department of Renewable Resources’ “Fish, Fur, & Game for the
Future” program.
Like Bellemare, Clausen appears to have no public record of
speaking or writing against the fur trade, either in Canada or
Greenland, a Danish protectorate where Clausen formerly did studies
of otters and other wild furbearing mammals.

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Infiltrator Sapone exposed again

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
WASHINGTON D.C.– New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg on
August 7, 2008 asked the National Rifle Association to disclose full
details of the alleged espionage activities within gun control
organizations of Mary McFate, 62, also known as Mary Lou Sapone.
McFate/Sapone was exposed a week earlier by James Ridgeway,
Daniel Schulman, and David Corn of Mother Jones magazine.
“According to Mother Jones,” summarized Lautenberg to NRA
president John C. Sigler, “Mary McFate spent more than a decade
rising through the ranks at several gun violence prevention
organizations, including CeaseFire PA, Freedom States Alliance, and
States United to Prevent Gun Violence. At the same time,
McFate-going by the name Mary Lou Sapone-reportedly was a paid
‘research consultant’ for the NRA. As a result, McFate/Sapone was in
a position to learn about, and to report back to the NRA on, the
concerns, plans and strategies of various gun violence prevention
groups.

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