Proposed zoo standards would violate sovereignty, says EC president Senter

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

BRUSSELS––Fourteen of the 15
environment ministers representing European
Union member nations on June 17 approved a
draft directive advanced by Great Britain
which sets a framework for certifying and
licensing the European Union’s estimated
1,000 zoos, animal parks, and menageries.
“The (proposed) law is also backed
by leaders of the European Parliament,”
reported Charles Bremner of the London
Times, “which voted overwhelmingly this
year for binding measures to insure the wellbeing
of captive wild animals.”
But the plan is reportedly strongly
opposed by European Commission president
Jacques Senter, as an example of allegedly
unnecessary intervention in national sovereignty.
Taking the same position, Germany
abstained from the vote by the council of environment
ministers. The EC killed a previous
British effort to set EU zoo standards in 1991.

Sexy vegetarians challenge meat magnates

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Animal Rights International/Coalition for NonViolent
Food founder Henry Spira offers his Coordinator’s
Report ‘98 free for the asking. Featured articles: Activists
shift focus to factory farming, McDonald’s initiates farm ani –
mal humane program, USDA issues farm animal well-being
report, ARI comments to the USDA, and Campaigns and how
you can help the farm animals. Write to POB 214,
Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10024.
Hot Dinner, a new 50-second Vegetarian Society
ad shown in 250 British cinemas starting in mid-June, “begins
with a melon being stroked,” according to Ruaridh Nicoll of
The Guardian. “A woman’s fingers then roll dough, a pea is
gently tickled in its pod, hot chillis sizzle, a saucepan lets off
steam before rice shoots across a pink plate, a peach is covered
in creme fraiche, and asparagus drips oil.” Said Vegetarian
Society spokesperson Chris Dessent, “It’s definitely a bit
rude, but we want to show that vegetarians are sexy.”

DIRECT ACTION

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Convicted Animal Liberation Front arsonist
Douglas Joshua Ellerman, 19, remains at large after failing
to appear for sentencing in Salt Lake City on May 6, but a
sweep by five agencies seeking Ellerman on June 18 and 19
nabbed four Salt Lake City men who were charged on June 23
with releasing mink from the Beckstead Mink Farm in West
Jordan, Utah, on June 22, 1996 and July 17, 1996. The
actions allegedly did more than $200,000 in property damage.
The accused include Jacob Lyman Kenison, 19, and
Brandon James Mitchener, Alexander David Slack, a n d
Sean Albert Gautsch, all 22. Also charged was a fugitive
John Doe, believed to be Ellerman.
The Natrona County Sheriff’s Department, in
Casper, Colorado, said on June 21 that persons claiming to
be “Islamic Jihad Ecoterrorists” had done $100,000 in damage
to local ranchers during the preceding week by cutting fences
dividing federal, private, and state lands in Natrona,
Fremont, and Carbon counties in more than 150 locations.

WHY GREYHOUNDS RUN

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Finishing last in a race at Poole,
England, for the second time in four starts, a
greyhound named Wilma on June 2 may have
sensed the usual fate of dogs who lose, and
instead of stopping when the other dogs did,
bolted the track, still in her colors and muzzle.
She remained at large for five days,
while owner Kate Sheppard and trainer J o
Burridge insisted she would not be harmed.
Pressured by the National Canine Defense
League, Royal SPCA, Blue Cross, and
Battersea Dogs Home, the National
Greyhound Association announced within
days that it would make constitutional amendments
to clarify rules for the humane disposition
of retired racing greyhounds.

Witch doctors tell Swiss voters what to say: “Ooh-ee ooh ah ah!”

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

GENEVA, JOHANNESBURG,
WINDHOEK, LONDON, ATLANTA– –
Swiss voters on June 7 rejected a proposed
moratorium on research involving genetically
modified animals by a 2-to-1 margin.
Swiss referendums have historically
favored animals. The very first, held more
than 100 years ago, banned the slaughter of
livestock without prestunning. However,
Swiss-based multinational drug firms reportedly
spent more than $35 million to defeat the
proposed genetic research moratorium. The
coalition of 50 animal protection groups who
backed the measure spent only $1.3 million.
Swiss citizens may have relatively
little concern about the outcomes of genetic
research, but in Eehama-Omulunga, Angola,
sensational reports of transgenic experiments
fed rumors that goats kept by Mateus Shihelp
and Ricardina Otto have given birth––twice
since March––to creatures with goat-like bodies
but human heads. Neither survived.

BULLFIGHTING & RODEO

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

CHARC on June 1 disclosed 30
hours of the most intensely revealing undercover
video of bullfighting ever produced,
obtained during a three-month close-focus surveillance
of a variety of corridas in Mexico.
Included are the intentionally prolonged torture-killings
of 27 bulls, systematic torment of
bulls before they are ever released into the
ring, children crying as their parents compel
them to watch, wounded bulls who repeatedly
turn away from opportunities to gore and trample
clumsy matadors, and prominent backdrops
advertising Pepsi-Cola and Kentucky
Fried Chicken––apparently the biggest sponsors
of Mexican bullfighting. Many of the
downed Mexican victims are plainly still alive
and conscious when their ears are hacked off
to present to their killers. CHARC undertook
the bullfighting surveillance in hopes of dissuading
U.S. television executives who see

Saving frogs saves rupees

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

AHMADABAD, RAJASTHAN,
INDIA–– Gulabchand Kataria, minister of
education for Rajasthan state, India, in late
May banned frog dissection in sub-university
level exercises, saving about 100 million
frogs a year––and the cost of obtaining them.
Some rural frog-collectors may
lose seasonal livelihoods, but the business of
providing frogs for laboratory use is now
largely centralized, dominated by a relative
handful of factory-style growers who employ
relatively few people.
Kataria acted in response, he said,
to petitioning from members of Mahjanam,
an anti-violence group founded in 1994 by
retired businessman Phoolchand Gandhi.

WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

BROWNSVILLE , Texas– – T h e
U.S. Customs Service and Fish and Wildlife
Service on May 29 wrapped up Operation
Jungle Trade, a three-year undercover sting,
with the arrests of 37 alleged wildlife traffickers
in Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, and
Missouri, issuance of warrants against several
others, and simultaneous press conferences
at the Gladys Porter Zoo in
Brownsville and the San Antonio Zoo.
The sting apprehended 654 animals
in all, including 635 tropical birds, among
whom were macaws, yellow-headed Amazon
parrots, Mexican red-headed parrots,
conures, and toucans.
Among the mammals were 14 spider
monkeys, a kinkajou, a Mexican lynx,
and a puma.

Liability

July 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Carolyn Pollock, widowed
when Bill Pollock, DVM, of
Kingsville, Texas, died on October
30, 1991 after suffering for two weeks
from the herpes B virus, was on May
19 awarded $515,000 in settlement of
a lawsuit alleging that the Texas
Primate Center insufficiently warned
Bill Pollock of the risks of working
with macaques and inadequately
responded when he fell ill. Her juvenile
daughter, Elizabeth Grace
Pollock, born on January 1, 1992,
received $26,780 in trust, The Texas
Primate Center supplies nonhuman primates
to research institutions. Codefendants
included Spohn Health
System Inc., Spohn Kleberg
Hospital, Hazleton Laboratories,
Metpath Inc., and Corning Lab
Services, as well as four individuals.

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