ANIMAL PEOPLE News for People Who Care About Animals
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European Parliament moves to halt mon- key use in labs Malaysia lifts ban on macaque Lawsuit filed on behalf of camel jockeys & other camel news is on page 6. (Kim Bartlett) sales to labs & Dogs symbolize the west in Iran Malaysian street macaques await possible sale to labs or Chinese butchers. [Page 19] (IPPL photo) T E H R A N ––Radio Free Europe Friday prayer leader Hojatoleslam STRASBOURG––Four hundred thir- drew more support than any previous European on September 14, 2007 amplified and elab- Gholamreza Hassani, known for his hard- ty-five of the 785 members of the European Parliament animal welfare measure, “and the orated upon accounts circulating for more line stances, was quoted a few years ago as Parliament on September 6, 2007 endorsed a third highest number of signatures on any dec- than six weeks that Iran has embarked upon saying that all dog owners and their dogs two-part written declaration asking the laration since 2000,” said Animal Defenders an intensified campaign of harassment should be arrested. European Commission to “make ending the use International press officer Allison Tuffrey against dog keepers. “In the past,” Radio Free Europe of apes and wild-caught monkeys in scientific Jones. “Since the creation of the Islamic recounted, “dog owners have received experiments an urgent priority,” and to “estab- European Parliament animal welfare republic in Iran in 1979,” Radio Free warnings or were forced to pay fines for lish a timetable for replacing the use of all pri- panel chair Neil Parish enlarged the topic to Europe said, “the acceptability of dog own- having a pet dog. Despite such harassment, mates in scientific experiments.” other species, telling news media that the dec- ership has been debated by the authorities. (continued on page 9) The declaration against primate use (continued on page 19) ANIMAL PEOPLE News For People Who Care About Animals September 2007 Volume XVII, #6 + Michael Vick case + blows whistle on RICHMOND, Virginia– – P l e a d i n g Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, coach guilty on August 24, 2007 to felony conspira- Bobby Petrino, his teammates, and “all the cy, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick young kids out there for my immature acts.” will face a maximum sentence of five years in “Dogfighting is a terrible thing, and I prison and a fine of $250,000 when he appears did reject it,” Vick said. before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson “Acceptance of responsibility is one for sentencing on December 10. of the factors Judge Hudson will consider in By then the 50 surviving pit bull ter- handing down Vick’s sentence,” pointed out riers who were seized in April 2007 from the Dave Forster of the Virginian-Pilot. For a first dogfighting kennel that Vick confessed to offense, “The federal sentencing guideline financing for seven years may have already range is projected at a year to 18 months, but received the death penalty. Hudson can impose up to maximum.” Vick agreed to plead guilty after co- Technically Vick is still a member of defendants Quanis L. Phillips, 28, Purnell the Atlanta Falcons, because of financial Peace, 35, and Tony Taylor, 34, pleaded issues involved in unconditionally releasing guilty to the same conspiracy charge. Each him. “The team intends to pursue the $22 mil- had agreed to testify against Vick if his case lion in bonus money that he already received Above: Kitten rescued from quake rubble in Pisco, Peru, by Unidos por los Animales. went to trial. in a $130 million contract signed in 2004,” Below: One of the many forest fires that hit Central Europe in midsummer 2007 briefly Vick admitted in a signed statement wrote Forster. imperiled the Drustvo Za Zastitu Zivotinja dog shelter, overlooking Dubrovnik. All 200 dogs that he was present twice when his co-defen- “We cannot tell you today that were safely evacuated. dants killed losing dogs after test fights at the Michael is cut from the team,” Blank told Surry County property where his kennels and a news media. “Cutting him today may feel bet- fighting arena were maintained. The statement ter emotionally for us and many of our fans. Summer 2007 disasters challenge said the dogs “were killed by various methods, But it’s not in the long-term best interests of including hanging and drowning.” our franchise.” the global humane community Following Vick’s guilty plea, Sixty-six dogs in all were seized National Football League commissioner Roger from Vick’s kennels, including 52 pit bulls, LIMA, DHAKA, GUWATI–– Hurricane Andrew demonstrated the Goodell suspended Vick for “cruel and repre- 13 beagles and mixed breeds, and one dog Busy in Peru, Bangladesh, northeastern need for pre-prepared response plans, inter- hensible” conduct and “significant involve- who was returned to a person who was not India, around the Caribbean, and forest fire agency coordination, and orderly means of ment in illegal gambling,” an offense often charged in the case. Impounded dogs who zones in central Europe and the northern identifying, evacuating, and rehoming lost or punished in professional sports by lifetime have been bred and trained to fight are usually Rocky Mountains, among other disaster abandoned pets whose people may also be dis- expulsion. killed as soon as their custody is forfeited to scenes, and still working in New Orleans too, placed and distressed. Seeking to save his career, Vick the impounding agency, since ex-fighting animal disaster relief workers took only brief Out of Hurricane Andrew came pro- apologized at a press conference to Goodell, (continued on page 14) notice of the second anniversary of Hurricane grams that gradually shifted from splinting Katrina hitting southern Louisiana and and bandaging to vaccinating and sterilizing Mississippi. Few noticed at all the 15th dogs and cats, some of which evolved into anniversary of Hurricane Andrew ripping sustained feral cat rescue projects and adop- through trailer parks and low-income suburbs tion transport networks. in southern Florida after all but jumping over Hurricane Katrina tested on an the affluent east coast. unprecedented scale the infrastructure devel- Bringing relief teams into areas that oped from the Hurricane Andrew experience, were decades behind much of the rest of the confirmed the power of the Internet in rallying U.S. in providing even basic humane services, response, and as donors responded, brought Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina transformed commitments from national humane organiza- humane outreach from providing brief emer- tions to not only rebuild but expand humane gency help to preparing for multi-phase sus- services throughout the stricken region. tained missions. (continued on page 12) 2 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2007 + + Editorial feature ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2007 - 3 How to eradicate canine rabies in 10 years or less “Rabies could be gone in a decade,” BBC News headlined worldwide on medical doctor Oscar Larghi demonstrated during the mid-1990s, for example, that inex- September 8, 2007. “Rabies could be wiped out across the world,” the BBC report contin- pensive three-month dog vaccination drives could succeed in even the largest and poorest ued, “if sufficient vaccinations are carried out on domestic dogs, according to experts.” shanty-towns. Larghi also demonstrated that while reducing the street dog population may BBC News went on to quote staff of the Royal Dick Veterinary School at be of some value in reducing the numbers of dogs to be vaccinated, dog population reduc- Edinburgh University in Scotland, who were among the cofounders of the Alliance for tion is not otherwise a significant or essential part of an effective rabies control strategy. Rabies Control and promoters of the first World Rabies Day, held on September 7, 2007. Reported Larghi to the members of the International Society for Infectious None of the Alliance for Rabies Control spokespersons appear to have actually set Diseases in May 1998, “Control of rabies in developing countries can be very successful if any sort of timetable for possibly eradicating rabies, but no matter. Experts have recog- based on appropriate planning, health education of human populations, 70% vaccine cover- nized for decades that rabies is wholly eradicable from all species except bats through tar- age of dog populations, and epidemiological surveillance. These parameters, with little geted mass immunization––and the chief obstacle to eradicating bat rabies is that no one emphasis in dog population reduction (less than 10% of the estimated population), were has developed an aerosolized vaccine that could be sprayed into otherwise inaccessible applied in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Argentina (10.5 million inhabitants), caves and tree trunks. Inventing such a vaccine is considered difficult but possible. Lima-Callao, Peru (6.5 million inhabitants), and Sao Paulo, Brazil (14 million inhabitants). U.S. Centers for Disease Control rabies program chief Charles Rupprecht on World Dog rabies cases were reduced to zero, from close to 5,000 cases per year in Buenos Aires, Rabies Day formally pronounced the U.S. free of canine rabies, but similar informal procla- 1,000 in Lima, and 1,200 in Sao Paulo.” mations have been issued for years. In each city, the rabies control teams impounded and euthanized only dogs who “The tools for effective rabies control are available. What is lacking is the motiva- appeared to be already rabid, aggressive, or otherwise severely unhealthy. tion, commitment and resources to tackle the disease effectively,” the Alliance for Rabies The preventive vaccination approach also works in wildlife. Anne Arundel Control declared. “Mass vaccination of the domestic dog provides the most cost-effective County, Maryland, for example, had 97 cases of animal rabies in 1997, when county offi- and efficient strategy for controlling canine rabies and hence transmission from dogs to cials began experimentally distributing oral rabies vaccine pellets to immunize raccoons.