Trophy hunters set sights on CITES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

WASHINGTON D.C.––With the
Atlantic Canadian offshore seal hunt reopened
and up to speed last year, and Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society founder Paul Watson in
a Dutch jail, possibly en route to stand trial in
Norway for sinking whaling ships, it’s two
down and four to go for the wise-use wiseguys
in a concerted drive to reverse the influence of
animal rights activism on wildlife use and
misuse.
Ahead: a push to reopen international
trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn at
the June triennial conference of the
Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species, to be held in confirmed
wise-use wiseguy habitat at Harare,
Zimbabwe; an effort to end the International
Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial
whaling, easier for Japan and
Norway to do in October if they succeed at
Harare in downlisting minke whales from
CITES Appendix I to Appendix II; repealing
the U.S. “dolphin-safe” tuna import standard,
with the so-called “dolphin death bill” moving
quickly through the House of Representatives;
and gutting the Endangered Species Act.

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OBITUARIES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

Robert Dorsey, 71, described by
Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Andy
Wallace as “an irrepressible animal love
whose favorite line to new acquaintances was
that he worked in the biggest cathouse in
town,” died March 4 in Philadelphia. A former
cab driver, Dorsey took a job as an assistant
laborer at the Philadelphia Zoo circa
1972, when the Yellow Cab drivers went on
strike, cleaned reptile cages until promoted to
assistant keeper, and then advanced again,
becoming keeper of felines. Dorsey retired in
1987, but remained active on behalf of the
zoo and the Pennsylvania SPCA. “His idea
of a day out was to visit the SPCA, and he
took us there countless times,” son Timothy
Dorsey told Wallace.

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BOOKS: The Rules for Cats

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

The Rules for Cats
by Bradford Telford and Michael Cader, illustrated by Peter Spacek
Cader Books (c/o Dutton Signet, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014), 1997.
94 pages, hardback, $11.95.

Those of us not actively engaged in
the mating game may have overlooked T h e
Rules, a best-selling reminder of the hoary old
rules women follow to set themselves up as a
slave/enslaver of a man, through careful
adherance to such fits-all “rules” as never telephoning
him, not revealing interest, etc.

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BOOKS: Lifetimes

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

Lifetimes
by David Rice,
illustrated by Michael Mayda
Dawn Publications (14618 Tyler Foote Road,
Nevada City, CA 95959), 1997.
32 pages, $7.95 paperback or $16.95 hardcover.
Teaching guide available: 1-800-545-7475.

The theme is deceptively simple: David Rice
tells young readers how long a variety of plants and
animals live, ranging from bacteria to banyan trees,
working his way from mayflies, who live just a day, to
the age of the earth itself. Each discussion of lifespan
includes the essentials about the entity in question.

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BOOKS: Dreams of Dolphins Dancing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

Dreams of
Dolphins
Dancing
by Joan Bourque
Curtis Books
(POB 1112, Cornville,
AZ 86325), 1997.
34 pages, hardcover,
$15.95. Workbook $3.95.

“This story was
inspired by a real encounter
with a lone wild dolphin named
Honey,” the last page tells us.
“Honey still lives peacefully in
the waters around Lighthouse
Reef Resort, an atoll of the
coast of Belize, in Central
America.” Honey teaches
young Alyssa Bourque all

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BOOKS: How It Was With Dooms

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

How It Was With Dooms
by Carol Cawthra Hopcraft
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
(1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020), 1997.
64 pages, hardcover, $19.95.

If James Ramos Austin, age 2, of Dallas,
could review a book, he could tell us exactly what’s
wrong with How It Was With Dooms. Austin lost his
right index finger, his right heel, and suffered a severe
facial wound on April 2, in a mauling by a bobcat that
one Carl Pool kept illegally in his home.
“Most parents would not allow their three-yearold
child to sleep curled up next to a full-grown wild
cheetah,” admits Simon & Schuster associate publicist
Rebecca Grosee, then informs us without a hint of criticism
or qualification that former magazine cover model

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Saving right whales and lobsters too

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

Infuriating New England lobster fishers with recent
court victories that restrict their methods on behalf of endangered
northern right whales, Richard “Mad Max” Strahan
may save the lobsters too.
A vegetarian Buddhist tai chi practitioner, Strahan
has “no permanent address or telephone,” according to
Portland Press Herald staff writer Edie Lau, but does have
an e-mail address and self-taught expertise in marine biology
and law. As “a confrontational street person,” again in
Lau’s words, Straham last September forced the National
Marine Fisheries Service to produce rules published April 4
that as outlined in a NMFS summary, “restrict the federal
portion of Cape Cod Bay right whale critical habitat to certain
lobster gear types” from April 1 until May 15, and
“close the entire Great South Channel right whale critical
habitat to lobster pot fishing from April 1 to June 30.”

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Headsplitting problem on the ice

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland––Atlantic Canadian fishers
clubbed and/or shot their way toward a quota of 285,000 harp
seals and hooded seals this spring, the most in 15 years, because
they wrongly blame seals––who don’t eat much cod––for wiping
out overfished cod stocks. When the International Fund for
Animal Welfare produced videotape of illegally killed newborn
whitecoats on ice off Iles de la Madeleine, Quebec, the perpetrators
were quickly excused by DFO area manager Roger Simon.
“They’re technically white-looking seals,” Simon said.
“When the moulting process starts, the white fur is still there as
the new grey fur coming out is underneath. It’s no longer a whitecoat,
but it may appear white.”
The Canadian government used similar logic to reauthorize
the offshore seal hunt itself in late 1995, after a decade-long
suspension due to international protest. Throughout the 1980s,
governments both Liberal and Progressive Conservative traded
generous cod quotas for votes against scientific advice, until as
predicted the cod stock crashed. Forced to halt cod fishing indefinitely
in 1992, the Progressive Conservatives lost the next election––but
Liberal fisheries minister Brian Tobin turned the crisis
to his advantage by scapegoating seals. As he did, again contrary
to most scientific advice, he left the federal government to run
successfully for premier of Newfoundland.

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MORE NATIVES TO KILL GRAY WHALES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1997:

PORT ALBERNI, B.C.––Economically stressed
by the collapse of the British Columbia salmon industry, and
openly funded in part by Japanese and Norwegian whalers,
the 14-nation Nuu-Chah-Nulth native confederacy
announced in mid-April that it intends to join the Makah tribe
of Neah Bay, Washington, in killing gray whales.
Like the Makah, who live across the Straits of San
Juan de Fuca, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth haven’t killed whales in
more than 70 years. Unlike the Makah, who have the support
of the Clinton/Gore administration in applying for an
aboriginal subsistence whaling quota from the International
Whaling Commission, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth don’t have to
fool with external politics. Since Canada doesn’t belong to
the IWC, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth need only get a permit to kill
whales for “food or social or ceremonial purposes” from the
Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Thus the Nuu-Chah-Nulth could start harpooning
even before the October IWC meeting, if any gray whales
are within target range.
As the Seattle Times explained, “The Nuu-ChahNulth
have been asserting their traditional whaling rights in
negotiations with the Canadian government over sovereignty
and fishing rights.”

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