Seal hunt ends with “thin ice” incidents

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

HALIFAX, ST. JOHNS–Sealers on the Labrador Front were
expected to complete their 2005 quota of 319,500 seal pelts, the
most in 50 years, in early May. The first phase of the 2005
Atlantic Canada seal hunt, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, killed
107,000. Another 103,000 were killed along the Labrador Front by
April 18.
The Sea Shepherd flagship, the Farley Mowat, tried to
monitor the Labrador Front killing, but was pushed away from the ice
by a storm that delayed the opening of the second phase of the hunt
for three days, and was obliged to give up the pursuit on April 15.
Confused by the delay, the Boston Globe on April 12
published a fabricated article about the Labrador Front opening by
freelance Barbara Stewart. Following an extensive apology and
retraction, the Globe published a long pro-sealing commentary by
indigenous sealing industry spokespersons Kirt Ejesiak and Maureen
Flynn-Burhoe.

Fish boycott to save seals

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

NEW YORK CITY–Legal Seafoods, a 31-restaurant chain with
anchor franchises in New York City and Boston, on May 9 joined
Tavern-on-the-Green in Central Park and the 168-store Whole Foods
Market chain in endorsing a boycott of Atlantic Canada seafood called
by the Humane Society of the U.S. in protest against the Atlantic
Canadian seal hunt (see page 7).
The boycott targets snow crabs, lobsters. shrimp, mussels,
and ground fish.
The Legal Seafoods announcement coincided with the arrival in
New York City of Canadian ambassador Frank McKenna, who was to make
several prominent appearances.
While HSUS is promoting the boycott through a media strategy,
Anthony Marr of Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 13 set out on a
90-day “Terminate the Seal Hunt Campaign Tour” of the western U.S.
and Canada. Pushing the boycott through personal persuasion and
petitioning, Marr said he had 35 speaking engagements already
booked, with about 20 more still being finalized.
“Carmen Crosland, age 14, president of Youth Against Animal
Abuse, will display a web page at <www.YAAAonline.org> of all the
seafood merchants” who join the boycott, Mar said. Mar will also
post the list at his own campaign web site, <www.HOPE-CARE.org>,
and welcomes pledges and inquiries about his itinerary at either
<Anthony-Marr@HOPE-CARE.org> or 604-222-1169.

Petting zoos can make children sick

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

PLANT CITY, Florida–At least six lawsuits filed against
Ag-Venture Farms and the Florida Strawberry Festival, both of Plant
City, may hasten the demise of petting zoos. Two sheep, two cows,
and a goat exhibited by Ag-Venture Farms at the Florida Strawberry
Festival, the Florida State Fair near Tampa, and the Central
Florida fair in Orlando allegedly infected 30 to 80 visitors with an
often disabling and sometimes deadly form of e-coli bacteria during
March and April 2005, said the Florida Health Department.
The bacterium attacks the kidneys of victims, causing
hemolytic uremic syndrome, a severely painful condition that in
early stages is often mistaken for a stomach flu. Many victims are
incapacitated for life.
About 90% of the ill petting zoo patrons were children. How
many will suffer longterm effects is uncertain. There were no
verified fatalities. Tests failed to confirm a suspected link to the
March 2005 death of Kayla Nicole Sutter, 12, of Wesley Chapel, who
visited the Florida Strawberry Festival.
All 37 Ag-Venture Animals “will be quarantined for the rest
of their lives,” health officials told Saundra Amrhein of the St.
Petersburg Times.

Greyhound racing in New England staggers after two big tracks shut down

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

PLAINFIELD, Ct., BELMONT, N.H.–The last big bet on
greyhound racing in New England may be whether it survives at all,
after two of the five top tracks in the region closed within two
weeks of each other in April and May 2005.
The Plainfield Greyhound Park in Plainfield, Connecticut,
opened in 1976, closed at least temporarily on May 14, after
rushing through the 100 racing days it had to offer in 2005 to keep a
gambling license.
New England Raceway developer Gene Arganese, of Trumbull,
Connecticut, acquired an option to buy the dog track in 2004.
Arganese closed the track, he said, in order to proceed with a $343
million plan that would use the site for a 140,000-seat auto race
track, a convention center, a 700-room hotel, and an
800,000-square-foot shopping center.
But Arganese is hedging his bets.
“We’re hoping to have dog racing back by the end of 2006,” he said.
Susan Netboy, president of the California-based Greyhound
Protection League, touched off an Internet frenzy on April 29 when
Hartford Courant staff writer Steven Goode paraphrased her warning
that as many as 1,500 greyhounds might be homeless when the
Plainfield kennels close.

Charges against University of Nevada laboratory whistleblower dropped

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

RENO–University of Nevada at Reno president John Lilley on
April 29 informed animal nutrition professor Hussein S. Hussein by
letter that Lilley has accepted the recommendations of a hearing
officer and three-member university panel that misconduct charges
filed against Hussein should be dropped, university spokesperson
Jane Tors announced on May 2.
“After a seven-hour evidentiary hearing on April 19, the
panel and former Carson City District Judge Michael E. Fondi found
the charges groundless,” reported Scott Sonner of Associated Press.
“Lilley said in the April 29 letter to Hussein that he was
accepting their recommendations even though he still believes Hussein
acted inappropriately” in seeking veterinary help during May and June
2004 for 10 boars that he found inexplicably placed in the same barn
as his own research animals,” said Sonner.
Hussein testified that the boars “were copiously foaming at
the mouth, including one who broke out of a pen and chased two of
his graduate students, and he thought they might be rabid or have
other diseases,” wrote Frank X. Mullen Jr. of the Reno
Gazette-Journal.

Australia, Connecticut, insurance industry look at breed-specific policies

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

Bob Carr, prime minister of New South Wales state,
Australia, announced on May 3, 2005 that his government will
introduce mandatory sterilization of all pit bull terriers, American
pit bulls, Japanese tosas, Fila Brasieros, and Dogo Argentinos.
“If you are thinking of getting a pit bull, don’t,” commented Royal
SPCA of NSW chief executive Bernie Murphy to Gerard Noonan and Bonnie
Malkin of the Sydney Morning Herald. “These are fighting dogs. They
are totally inappropriate animals to have in a residential community.”
The Connecticut House of Represent-atives on May 4, 2005
approved a bill to bar insurers from refusing to cover specific
breeds of dog, 77-70–a surprising upset in “The Insurance State.”
The state capitol in Hartford is within blocks of the head offices of
several of the largest insurance firms in the world. “The bill does
allow insurers to use breed when underwriting a homeowner’s or
renter’s policy,” explained Susan Haigh of Associated Press.
“Insurers could require owners of particular breeds to have their
dogs neutered or take them to obedience training.”

Lab shorts

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

The debut edition of Forward Focus: A P&G Update on
Innovation in Alternative Testing and Care is available for free
downloading at <www.pg.com/science/ animal_alt.jhtml>. The new
quarterly bulletin details Procter & Gamble progress in developing
alternatives to animal research.

The Vancouver (British Columbia) school board on April 18,
2005 “recognized a student’s right to refuse to participate in or
observe animal dissection, and unanimously passed a student choice
policy,” according to Lesley Fox, founder of the Vancouver-based
national anti-dissection network <www.FrogsAreCool.com>. Fox said
that Vancouver is the first Canadian city to adopt a student choice
policy, but added that a campaign seeking one “is currently being
initiated in Toronto.”

Record $45,480 award in loss of pet case

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

Seattle District Court Judge Barbara Linde on May 8 ordered
dog keeper Wallace Gray to pay $45,480 to neighbor Paula Roemer, 71,
for the February 2004 fatal mauling of her cat Yofi by Gray’s chow.
Gray was not living on the premises next door to Roemer at the time.
The chow repeatedly broke through the fence between the properties,
Roemer testified, before the fatal attack on Yofi and several other
cats. Gray, who did not defend against the lawsuit, told Seattle
Times reporters Warren Cornwall and Craig Welch that he had already
served 21 days in jail and three months under house arrest for a
related animal control violation. The award, including $30,000 for
the loss of Yofi, whom Roemer rescued on a 1992 visit to Israel,
and $15,000 for emotional distress, is believed to be the highest
yet in a loss-of-pet case. Roemer was represented by Washington
State Bar Association animal law section founder Adam Karp.

Murder-by-dog conviction reinstated

May 2, 2005 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2005:

SAN FRANCISCO–The California First District Court of Appeal
on May 5, 2005 reinstated the March 2002 second degree murder
conviction by jury of former San Francisco attorney Marjorie Knoller,
49, for the January 2001 fatal mauling of neighbor Diane Whipple,
after Knoller lost control of two Presa Canario dogs in the hall of
the apartment house where both lived. The jury also convicted
Knoller, and her husband and law partner Robert Noel, 63, of
involuntary manslaughter. Knoller and Noel both drew four-year
prison sentences. Both are now out on parole.
Trial judge James Warren of the San Francisco Superior Court,
threw out the second degree murder conviction. The appellate court
said he erred.
“Justice James Lambden, writing for a three-judge panel,
said Knoller knew that the dog who killed Whipple was a ‘frightening
and dangerous animal: huge, untrained, and bred to fight,”
summarized Associated Press legal writer David Kravets.
“The ruling could send Knoller to prison for 15 years to
life,” added San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Bob Egelko–after
all appeal possibilities are exhausted.

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