Rodeos kill children too

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
TUCSON–Tucson police chief Richard Miranda on March 19,
2007 announced that the Pima County Attorney’s Office will not charge
anyone for causing the February 22 death of five-year-old Brielle
Boisvert during the 82nd annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros rodeo
parade. Three years younger than the minimum age for parade
participants stated on the entry form, Boisvert was thrown from her
horse and trampled by a bolting team of horses who were pulling a
wagon.
The parade is promoted as the longest in the world using no
motor vehicles–and has had serious accidents before, though no
previous fatalities. “At last year’s parade,” recalled Associated
Press, “Mayor Bob Walkup bruised an arm and his wife Beth suffered a
concussion and whiplash when two runaway horses slammed into a
150-year-old buggy.”

Cuban animal law

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
HAVANA–The Scientific Veter-inary
Council of Cuba has drafted a law to guarantee
the right to life of all animals in the country,
board member María Gloria Vidal Rivalta recently
told Dora Pérez Sáez, of the Cuban newspaper
Juventud Rebelde.
“The draft is being presented to the
Ministry of Agriculture and is expected to go to
the National Assembly of People’s Power soon,”
reported Pérez Sáez.
“Legal protection for animals,
sterilization as a way of reducing the stray dog
population, and safety for wild birds are some
of the aspects to be addressed by Cuban
specialists at the 6th International Congress of
the Veterinary Sciences in Havana,” Vidal said.
Vidal also mentioned a need to address “children
who attack animals, dogfighters, people who
throw things at zoo animals, and others who keep
pets in inappropriate conditions.”

National High School Rodeo loses top sponsor after probe affirms abuse

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
SPRINGFIELD–“Choice Hotels, has
terminated sponsorship, scheduled to run until
2009, of the National High School Rodeo
Association,” SHARK president Steve Hindi
announced on April 24.
“The early termination, for rules
violations and animal abuse, follows a review of
video documentation supplied by SHARK,” Hindi
said, crediting SHARK staff member Janet Enoch
for successful liaison with Choice corporate
officials.
The Choice chain “includes Clarion,
Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn,
Sleep Inn, Econolodge, Rodeway, Cambria Suites,
Mainstay Suites, and Suburban Extended Stay
Hotel,” Hindi said.

Judge says horse slaughter violates National Environmental Policy Act

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

WASHINGTON D.C.–U.S. District Court Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly on March 28, 2007 ruled in Washington D.C. that the
USDA violated the National Environment-al Policy Act by allowing
horse slaughterhouses to continue killing horses for human
consumption, after Congress in 2005 cut off funding for mandatory
USDA inspections.
The USDA responded to the Congressional budget cut by
allowing the three horse slaughterhouses left in the U.S. to fund
their own inspections. Judge Kollar-Kotelly held that this action
should have been subject to an environmental impact review.

Letters [May 2007]

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

Cats & rabbits

I read with interest the March 2007 ANIMAL PEOPLE article
“When the cat is away,” about the feral rabbit population increasing
tenfold on Macquarie Island since the island feral cats were
exterminated in June 2000.
As a neuter/return volunteer, I have fought extremely hard to change
attitudes towards feral cats in a similar situation locally,
involving Robben Island, where former South African president Nelson
Mandela spent most of the 27 years that he was imprisoned for
opposing apartheid. The situation is dire.
–Rita Brock
Cat Assistance Team
P.O. Box 48157
Kommetjie
South Africa
082-806-3144
<rijo@icon.co.za>
Read more

Letters

What we learned from zoos

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
Early zoo visits helped to motivate the lifelong pursuits of
both ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett and editor Merritt Clifton.
Recalls Bartlett, “I have always been at odds with people
who want to close down all zoos, because the animals mostly have
nowhere to go.
“Some of my very earliest memories are of the zoo in Jackson,
Mississippi, which was among my favorite places to be, second only
to the mimosa tree in my great aunt Minnie’s front yard. The Jackson
zoo was probably a hell-hole for the animals, but I thought of it as
a truly magical place full of wonderful animals.”

Zoos & Aquariums

Editorial feature: The lessons zoos teach, & how to teach them better

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

Trying to talk to animal advocates about good zoos, when
most have seen only bad zoos, is much like the proverbial effort to
introduce six blind men to an elephant. Merely describing a good
zoo, and especially describing how bad zoos can become good zoos,
tends to strike most as describing a series of contradictions in
terms. Each grasps a different part, and none have any idea how to
reconcile the tusks, tail, ears, legs, belly, and trunk.
Unfortunately, the same is also true of trying to describe
to zoo planners what makes a good zoo, from an animal welfare
perspective. Many zoos include some excellent quarters for species
whose needs are well understood by the management, alongside
horribly botched exhibits based on gross misunderstandings. An
expansive concrete floor polished to resemble ice, for example, is
anything but homelike to a polar bear–but the bear may thrive in a
habitat which in no way resembles the Arctic, if the habitat
includes mental stimulation of equivalent intensity of interest to
the bear as the challenge of finding seals beneath ice.

Congress passes ban on interstate transport of animals for fighting

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Senate on April 10, 2007
unanimously passed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act,
H.R. 137, approved by the House of Representatives on March 25,
368-39. Sent to the White House to be signed into law, the Act
creates a felony penalty for transporting animals across state
lines–including foreign export– to be used in fights.
Cockfighters and breeders mobilized to urge President George
W. Bush to veto H.R. 137, but Humane Society of the U.S. president
Wayne Pacelle was unconcerned. “We have it on good word that it will
be signed,” Pacelle told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
The Act is expected to help in apprehending and prosecuting
dogfighters and cockfighters. Dogfighting is already illegal in all
50 states. Cockfighting is illegal in 49 states plus nine of the 64
parishes of Louisiana, the last state to allow it.

New state legislation

May 1, 2007 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2007:
The Iowa House of Representatives on April 17, 2007 approved
a bill to ban private possession of dangerous wildlife, 80-19.
Previously approved unanimously by the Iowa Senate, the bill was
sent to Governor Chet Culver.

The Oregon House on April 17, 2007 sent to Governor Ted
Kulongoski a bill to make Oregon the 13th state to include animals in
emergency planning. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine earlier in April
endorsed into law a similar bill, introduced by state senator Walter
Stosch.

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