San Francisco murder-by-dog defendant gets new trial

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

SAN FRANCISCO–San Francisco Superior Court Judge James
Warren on April 12, 2002 granted a new trial to attorney Marjorie
Knoller, who was convicted by a Los Angeles jury on March 21 of
second degree murder for the dog mauling death of her former neighbor
Diane Whipple.
Knoller, 46, was also convicted of manslaughter and keeping
a dangerous animal, as was her husband, fellow attorney Robert
Noel. Noel indicated that he would also appeal the jury verdict.

SHARK files conspiracy suit vs. Wauconda

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

CHICAGO–The activist group SHARK on April 24 sued Illinois
associate judge for the 19th Judicial Circuit John T. Phillips,
state’s attorney Michael Waller, assistant state’s attorney Daniel
Shanes, the Wauconda County Chamber of Commerce, Wauconda police
chief Daniel Quick, and three current and former members of the
Wauconda County Sheriff’s Department, alleging that for nine years
they engaged in a criminal conspiracy to deprive SHARK members of
their civil liberties in connection with protests against the annual
Wauconda Chamber of Commerce rodeo.

Anti-terror bill targets Yellowstone bison, elk herds

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK–The bison management wars along
the northern border of Yellowstone National Park may intensify with
the anticipated passage of the 2002 Farm Bill, if the joint
committee working to reconcile the different versions passed by the
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives accepts the inclusion of the
Animal Health Protection Act, added as a late amendment to the
Senate version by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).
The amendment purportedly was written to speed the USDA
response to epidemics in livestock, such as the hoof-and-mouth
outbreak that devastated the rural British economy in 2001, and also
to better enable the USDA to deal with bioterrorism.

“Baby monkeys” case indictments

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

CHICAGO–A federal grand jury on April 14 returned a 12-count
indictment for illegally importing wild-caught monkeys against Labs
of Virginia, Inc., former Labs president David M. Taub, 59, Labs
board chair Charles J. Stern, 44, and Labs board member William
Curtis Henley, 43. LABS and Taub were each charged with eight
felonies and four misdemeanors.
The federal indictments alleged that between February 20 and
May 30, 1997, LABS flew to the U.S. in four groups a breeding
colony of 1,312 macaques purchased from Indonesian Aquatics Export
CV, called Inquatex. However, the transaction and import documents
allegedly misrepresented wild-caught macaques as captive-bred; the
wild-caught macaques were not legally exported from Indonesia; and
from 17 to 19 macaques were improperly brought to the U.S. while
nursing unweaned young.

Rats, mice, birds amendment, Jesse Helms & Johns Hopkins

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

CHAPEL HILL, NC.; baltimore, Md.–With a joint U.S.
Senate/House of Representatives conference committee expected to
decide any day on whether or not to include in the final reconciled
version of the 2002 Farm Bill a late amendment by Senator Jesse Helms
(R-North Carolina) to permanently exclude rats, mice, and birds
from protection under the Animal Welfare Act, PETA on April 18
disclosed dramatic and gruesome undercover video of technicians at
the laboratories of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
allegedly handling and killing rats and mice in an inhumane manner.
The video footage was obtained by PETA investigator Kate
Turlington, 24, a North Carolina State University graduate who
worked for six months as a technician in the Thurston Bowles animal
research building, near the University of North Carolina Hospitals
complex.

New animal-related legislation passed and signed in seven states

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

Florida Governor Jeb Bush on April 19 signed into law a bill
requiring anyone convicted of intentionally torturing or killing an
animal to attend an anger management counseling workshop.

Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating on April 14 signed into law a
bill prohibiting the construction of new poultry barns within
100-year flood plains, within 300 feet of any state-owned waterways;
and within a mile and a half of any designated scenic river area,
public drinking water well, or water body designated as Outstanding
Resource Waters by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. The new law
also adds restrictions on poultry manure distribution as fertilizer.

Meat & human murder

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

ANTWERP, Belgium–More than 200 witnesses are expected to
testify in the anticipated seven-week trial of four men for the
February 1995 murder of Belgian veterinary inspector Karel Van
Noppen, shot multiple times in his car while investigating illegal
traffic in clenbuterol, a banned steroid used to promote livestock
growth. The trial began in Antwerp on April 14, 2002.
Van Noppen was believed to have been the victim of a “hit” by
the so-called “hormone mafia.” He was seeking indictment of cattle
breeder Alex Vercauteren at the time of his murder, but police were
unable to build a case against Vercauteren, now facing charges,
until an unidentified informant fingered arms dealer Carl De Schutter
and traveling fair worker Albert Barraz, who reportedly became
acquainted while serving prison time together. Apprehended in France
in 1996, De Schutter named Vercauteren and livestock dealer Germain
Daenen.

Laboratory updates

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine
professor Janet K. Yamamoto, who with Niels Pedersen of the
University of California at Davis codiscovered the feline
immunodeficiency virus in 1986, in March 2002 announced that she has
developed an immunization against FIV, and that the USDA has
authorized Fort Dodge Animal Health, of Kansas, to put it into
commercial production. The FIV immunization may be available through
local veterinarians by midsummer, priced at $15-$25. Up to 25% of
all cats may carry FIV in dormant phases. An estimated 5% develop an
active infection. Yamamoto predicted that the vacination method she
used might prove helpful in combatting the human immunodeficiency
virus, as well, whose victims develop AIDS. But Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center immunologist Norman L. Letvin, M.D., told
Boston Globe staff writer Stephen Smith that her approach had already
been tried against HIV, and had failed.

Fixing dog & cat overpopulation

May 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

Ed Boks, director of the Mari-copa County Animal Care &
Control department in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 16 introduced
differential incentives to encourage residents to sterilize and
release feral cats instead of turning them in to be killed. The
county will now charge $61 to kill a cat–or $20 to sterilize the cat
and send him or her “home.” The Arizona Humane Society, which
requests a $15 donation to kill a cat, reports an increase in cat
intake, as have smaller local shelters. However, said Maricopa
County Animal Care & Control spokesperson Julie Bank, “We’ve spent
30 years trying to control feral cats the traditional way, and the
problem is not stopping, ” with feral cat turn-ins averaging a
steady 10,000 a year. “We hope in the next three to five years to
see a decrease,” Bank added.

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