Throwing ships aground, tsunami left Japanese coastal whaling high & dry

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
AYUKAWAHAMA–“There was Sea Shepherd, and now this,”
retired whaler Shinobu Ankai told Martin Fackler and Makiko Inoue of
The New York Times. “Whaling is finished,” Ankai assessed.
“This could be the final blow to whaling here,” agreed
fellow retired whaler Makoto Takeda.
‘”Whaling is impossible. Reviving it may take 20 to 30
years,” former whaling vessel stoker Yoshiya Endo told Japan Times
earlier.

Editorial feature: Getting wise to “invasive species” rhetoric

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:

In the name of eradicating non-native
“invasive” species, the Texas House of
Representatives on April 4, 2011 voted 137-9 in
favor of a bill to allow landowners to sell
hunters the chance to shoot feral pigs and
coyotes from helicopters.
Feral pigs have only been in Texas for
about 300 years, twice as long as ten-gallon
Stetson hats and Texas-style cowboy boots, but
coyotes have evolved in the vicinity from their
Miacias ancestors for 12 to 15 million years.
Indeed coyotes much resembling those of today had
already inhabited Texas for approximately nine
million years before the first creature even
dimly resembling a Texas legislator evolved
knuckle-walking in what is now Kenya and Ethiopia
and began to stand upright.

Letters [May 2011]

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:

Camel Rescue Centre

Thanks so much for publishing “Camel Rescue Centre in India
is world’s first,” such an interesting and well researched article.
One important point is that the idea for the Camel Rescue Centre
originated from Janine Vogler, president of Animaux Secours in
Arthaz, France. She has always been particularly concerned about
the condition of the camels in Rajasthan, and additionally about the
poverty of the camel owners. In 2008 it was Vogler who said that she
would find the money if Help In Suffering could buy the land and
build the Camel Rescue Centre.

Uncategorized

Ohio keeps deal on veal, but backs off on exotic pets

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
COLUMBUS–The Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board on April 5,
2011 voted 11-0 in favor of a standard requiring that veal calves be
kept in pens in which they have room to turn around. The vote
reversed a 6-5 vote on March 2, 2011 which would have allowed veal
crating to continue–and would have broken a June 2010 agreement
brokered by former Ohio governor Ted Strickland that kept off the
November 2010 ballot a proposal advanced by the Humane Society of the
U.S. to ban veal crates, sow gestation crates, and battery cages
for laying hens.

Dutch to get 500 “animal cops” — may ban kosher & halal slaughter

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
DEN HAAG, The Netherlands– The politics of assembling the
present Dutch coalition government are expected to put 100 new
“animal cops” on the beat in the Netherlands by the end of 2011, and
to eventually increase the Dutch animal police force to 500 officers.
Dutch coalition politics could also lead to the passage of a
proposed ban on slaughter without pre-stunning, which within the
European Union is done by electroshock for cattle and by carbon
dioxide gassing for pigs and poultry. The proposed Dutch law would
prohibit kosher and halal slaughter, practiced by Jews and Muslims.
Pre-stunning has traditionally been interpreted by most Judaic and
Islamic religious authorities– though some differ–as a violation
of the requirements of Mosaic and Islamic religious law that animals
be conscious when their throats are swiftly cut with a sharp blade.

Evacuees risk radiation to save pets

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
TOKYO-The Japanese government on April 21, 2011 introduced
penalties of up to 30 days in jail and fines of $1,000 for people
caught infiltrating the 20-kilometer “no-go” zone surrounding the
failing Fukushima nuclear reactors.
The penalties came into effect two weeks after the leading
Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported that “An increasing
number of people from the 20-kilometer evacuation zone are defying
authorities to return temporarily to take care of their pets,” four
weeks after a March 11 earthquake of record magnitude and ensuing
tsunami critically damaged the Fukushima nuclear complex.
“Volunteers from animal protection groups also have been entering the
evacuation zone at pet owners’ request for such purposes as feeding
the pets,” Yomiuri Shimbun added.

Wolves, wild horses, bison & budget cuts

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
WASHINGTON D.C.–Removed from Endangered Species Act
protection by a policy rider, wolves in Montana and Idaho are among
the most prominent animal casualties of the Fiscal Year 2011
Continuing Resolution signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama
on April 15, 2011.
Wolves in Michigan and Wisconsin are beneficiaries of
Congressional budget-cutting, at least pending further legislation,
because the short-term funding act that preceded the FY 2011
Continuing Resolution axed the federal budget for killing “problem”
wolves in those states.

Anti-animal legislation in Iowa, Florida, Virginia

April 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:
DES MOINES, TALLAHASSEE,
RICHMOND–Stealth bills to rescind or handicap
animal protection flew through the Iowa and
Virginia legislatures in early 2011 and appeared
to be close to passage in Florida too as the
April 2011 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press.
Iowa governor Terry Branstad on March 24,
2011 signed into law a bill rescinding the state
prohibition on hunting mourning doves, which had
stood since 1918. Branstad had sought to open an
Iowa mourning dove hunting season since 1973,
during his first term in the Iowa legislature.

Ecuador to hold referendum on cockfighting & bullfighting

April 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:
QUITO–Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa has included among a
list of 10 referendum questions to be submitted to voters as early as
May 2011 a proposal to ban blood sports, including cockfighting and
bullfighting.
Both cockfighting and bullfighting were introduced to Ecuador
by Spanish conquistadors more than 400 years ago. “The more
well-heeled in the Andean nation, as in Mexico, favor the stylized
rituals of the bullfight in colonial-age ‘plazas de toros,’ where
the animals are killed by celebrated Spanish matadors,” wrote Dolores
Ochoa of Associated Press. “In Ecuador, as in neighboring Colombia
and Peru, the rings are a place to see and be seen, fixtures in the
society pages.”

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