Seeking to end sacrifice KOLKATA, CAPE TOWN, LOS A N G E L E S ––Challenging public animal sacri- (Bonny Shah) fice at the Kailghat Temple in Kolkata since states prohibit animal sacrifice. Yet sacrifice is 2000, Compassionate Crusaders Trust founder exempted from coverage by the federal Debasis Chakrabarti won a September 15, 2006 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, in effect verdict from the Calcutta High Court that the since 1960, and the Indian constitution guaran- ritual killings may no longer be conducted in tees freedom of religion. open public view. The traditionally lesser educated The 200-year-old Kalighat temple, castes who eat meat and practice animal sacri- beside the Hoogly River, is among the most fice have had a much higher birth rate in recent visited sites of sacrifice to the blood goddess decades than the traditionally better educated Bunnies rescued by Wildlife In Crisis. See article on page 14. (Dara Reid) Kali. Chakrabarti previously tried to persuade vegetarian castes. Seventy years after the caste devotees that donating blood to hospital blood system was officially abolished, caste lines drives would be as acceptable to the goddess. have blurred to the point that lower caste origins The wildlife program that might Anti-sacrifice demonstrations and the are no longer an obstacle to winning economic blood drives helped to reduce the numbers of and political success, and in some districts are sacrifices, Chakrabarti told news media. even an advantage. Vegetarianism is still wide- make Milwaukee famous Moving sacrifice inside the temple walls, ly professed, but the population balance in MILWAUKEE––The Wisconsin sons other than incurable illness, injury, or Chakrabarti hopes, will reinforce the message India has shifted in the space of a generation Humane Society handles 5,000 wild ani- dangerous behavior. that it is not acceptable in modern India. from approximately half to less than a third mals of as many as 145 species per year, PAWS now handles about 4,500 But the message and reality are some- actually not eating meat. among total intake of about 18,000 ani- wild animals of 170 species, compared what at odds. Karnataka, Gujarat, Orissa, Animal sacrifice, historically used to (continued on page 18) mals. Almost as much cage space houses (continued on page 12) Himachal, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh recuperating wild creatures as houses dogs and cats. Present trends indicate that Wisconsin Humane will within another few years receive more wild animals than either dogs or cats––indicative of the success of ANIMAL PEOPLE local initiatives to reduce dog and cat over- population. News For People Who Care About Animals Among major U.S. humane soci- eties, only the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, of Lynnwood, Washington, in the greater Seattle area, appears to have as November 2006 rapidly transitioned into addressing the Volume XVI, #9 issues that will affect the most animals–– and people––in a post-pet overpopulation environment, in which relatively few dogs and cats are either at large or killed for rea- + Battery cage opponents + emboldened by success WASHINGTON D.C., LON- is reportedly under government investigation D O N – –Years used to pass between Humane in Australia. “Data suggests that the number Society of the U.S. announcements of progress of free-range hens in the country could only on behalf of battery-caged egg-laying hens. In produce about 80% of the eggs that are labeled mid-October 2006 two such announcements as such,” summarized Farmed Animal Watch. came just 24 hours apart. “Currently, 15% of eggs marketed to Nineteen years after HSUS upset Australian consumers are labeled as having consumers and donors with a short-lived come from free-ranging hens.” “breakfast of cruelty” campaign against bacon Commented Royal SPCA of and eggs, a younger generation of consumers Australia president Hugh Wirth, “There is and donors is responding enthusiastically to a enough circumstantial evidence to worry similar message. everybody, including the RSPCA, because we About 95% of total U.S. egg produc- have an accreditation scheme. Our good name tion comes from battery caged hens, but that is on the carton.” could change fast. Unclear is whether the issue is sim- Under comparable campaign pres- ply that demand for cage-free eggs is rising sure, British caged egg producers have already faster than the supply, or that the industry is lost 40% of the market, the research firm being intentionally duplicitous instead of Mintel reported in August 2006 to the replacing battery cages. “It looks to me as though they are smiling as they stretch out their legs,” wrote Department of the Environment, Food and Egg industry analysts believe U.S. Christine Townend, who took this photo of elephant polo as played in Jaipur. “You can see Rural Affairs. Demand for cage-free eggs has consumers will follow the British and there is no ankus in use. The elephants quickly learn what they are meant to do, and do it increased 31% since 2002, Mintel found. Australian examples. The only question is willingly, without goading.” The findings were published just as how rapidly the transition will occur. the British Egg Industry Council asked the On October 17, 2006, responding to European Parliament to delay implementing the development that may make U.S. egg pro- A field day over elephant polo the European Laying Hens Directive 1999, ducers most anxious, the Humane Society of banning the sale of battery cage-produced eggs the U.S. praised the Associated Residence J A I P U R–– Elephant polo, by most debates in the history of the Asian Animal in Europe after 2012. Halls at the University of Iowa for making per- witness accounts, would seem to be among Protection Network, with more than two By then, producers are required to manent their spring 2006 introduction of cage- the most unlikely of sports to generate contro- dozen participants posting in excess of 70 use larger cages, including perches, a nest, free eggs at three dining facilities that cumula- versy. It is slow-moving, and not televised in messages. Few by sports discussion forum and litter on the floor. Seemingly small as the tively use more than one million eggs per year. bar rooms. Few people watch in person. standards, that amounted to more messages changes are, the British Egg Industry Council “In advance of the vote, the univer- Fewer still participate, or could afford to, at a than there have been either elephant or human claims they cannot be met without the cost sity hosted an on-campus discussion with pre- World Elephant Polo Association-advertised participants in any elephant polo tournament causing a severe drop in productivity. sentations by both HSUS, in favor of a cage- price of $6,000 per team tournament entry, held in the past 30 years––or possibly ever, A somewhat double-edged example (continued on page 11) covering elephant rental, equipment use, since the origins of the game may be recent, officiating, and insurance. despite claims that it has ancient roots. Only the participants are likely to Within days the debate “polo-rized” bet on the games. elephant experts and animal experts world- An October 2005 “international” wide, spilling over into The Asian Age, of match in Jaipur, India, between teams of New Delhi, The Hindu of Chennai, and other three men from the Lahore Polo Club of mainstream news media. Pakistan and three women from the Amby AAPN, founded by John Wedder- Valley of Germany, ended abruptly when an burn of Hong Kong in 1996, has become the elephant stepped on the ball. None of the leading electronic medium for animal advoca- “world class” players had ever before ridden cy news and discussion serving China, India, elephants. and all points between, also attracting some Elephant polo in October 2006 American and European participation. nonetheless generated one of the most heated (continued on page 9) 2 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006
+ + ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 - 3 Editorial feature The 28-Hour Law & timely influence Among the most encouraging regulatory developments for farmed animals ever was Also in 2005, Animals’ Angels, Animal Rights Hawaii, and the Canadian Coalition the USDA disclosure on September 28, 2006, in a letter to the Humane Society of the U.S., for Farm Animals documented similar suffering among pigs shipped in weekly lots of 400 to that since 2003 it has recognized that Congress meant the Twenty-Eight Hour Law of 1873 to Hawaii from Alberta, Canada, a total journal of more than eight days. If “vehicles” really limit the time that any hooved animals could be kept aboard any kind of vehicle. means any vehicle now, ships are also vehicles and that trade could be stopped. Less encouraging was that the USDA for three years avoided having to enforce the By helping to establish transport time standards, USDA enforcement could help the reinterpretation of the Twenty-Eight Hour Act, and 1906 and 1994 amendments, by keeping European Union to introduce and enforce similar limits on the length of time animals can be knowledge that it had been reinterpreted to themselves. aboard trucks without off-truck rest, still a frequent problem, as illustrated by an October 11, “The USDA clarified its position in a 2003 internal memo distributed to government 2006 bulletin from Compassion In World Farming. veterinarians,” explained Cristal Cody of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “The policy “Six truckloads of British calves exported for veal arrived at Dover docks last night,” change came to light in response to a legal petition that HSUS filed in October 2005 to extend CIWF said, “and were expected to sail for continental Europe in the early hours of this morn- the law to trucks.” ing. However, the boat, the Claymore, only turned up at midday today.” The calves were Said USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service spokesperson Jim Rogers, loaded after spending “15 hours on the docks, packed on the trucks, without food, only able “We never considered the 1906 law as being applicable to the transport of animals by truck,” to drink water if they could reach the drinkers on the truck. Although the trucks are destined Rogers said. “Now we see that the meaning of the statutory term ‘vehicles’ means vehicle.” for Holland, France, Spain and Belgium,” CIWF continued, “the drivers have now been Summarized Farmed Animal Watch, “The change in policy was news to many orga- instructed to head for a staging post at Veurne in Belgium and give the calves 24 hours rest, nizations, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the American Trucking food and water. CIWF will seek verification that this rest does in fact take place,” the bulletin Associations. It has become common practice in the pig industry for two drivers to be pledged, “as previous experience shows that stops for food and watering are frequently assigned to every trip, avoiding having to stop along the way. Trucks carrying calves avoid ignored in continental Europe.” stopping so the animals don’t lie down, said a representative of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Enforcing the Twenty-Eight Hour Law could also be influential in India, where Association, who claims that calves travel better standing.” because cattle slaughter is legal in only two states, cattle are often clandestinely transported The livestock industry can be expected to fight the new USDA interpretation––and long distances to slaughter, under abominable conditions. This too is illegal, but enforcing disclosure that it exists may trigger a hostile Congressional response. In a parallel situation, the law is typically left to brave individual representatives of humane societies. the USDA arbitrarily exempted rats, mice, and birds from protection under the Animal Clementien Pauws of the Karuna Society, badly beaten by cattle transporters in Welfare Act from 1971 until September 2000, by leaving them out of the regulatory definition October 2006 (page 6) was only the most recent of many victims of the failures of Indian gov- of “animal.” Suddenly, after 30 years of lawsuits and lobbying, the USDA settled a case ernments to interdict a traffic which may be the nation’s leading source of bribes paid to public brought by the American Anti-Vivisection Society by agreeing to recognize rats, birds, and servants for ignoring their jobs. At least two Indian humane workers have been killed in con- mice as animals. Before 2000 ended, former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina) frontations with illegal cattle transporters since 2000. Several others have been severely pushed through Congress a budget amendment that prevented the USDA from writing a new injured. The Visakha SPCA cow shelter was burned by illegal butchers and transporters in regulatory definition of “animal,” and a year later won a further amendment that permanently 2000. Neither are police exempt from the violence when they try to intervene. Bullets fired at excludes rats, mice, and birds from Animal Welfare Act coverage. two police officers who tried to stop a cattle truck near Delhi in April 2004 killed a sleeping “We do not have enough people to even begin inspecting on the roads,” Rogers told roadside vendor. Cody, perhaps signaling that the USDA would prefer to continue ignoring the Twenty-Eight The mayhem in India underscores the importance of live transport to the meat trade Hour Law––or to have it rescinded. everywhere. The meat trade and live transport are virtually synonymous. Those whose liveli- “The livestock industry has also long attempted to evade the application of the hoods depend on live transport can be expected to try to run over anyone who gets in their Twenty-Eight Hour Law to trucks,” commented HSUS spokesperson Erin Williams. “Just way, politically if possible, but with at least one literal precedent in the February 1995 death last week in testimony before Congress, the National Pork Producers Council claimed that the of British activist Jill Phipps, 31, who was crushed by a cattle truck at a protest against ship- law was ‘enacted to deal with the movement to slaughterhouses of cattle by train’ only and ping live calves to continental Europe. strenuously opposed the ‘extension’ of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law to truck transport.” The USDA letter to HSUS, said Williams, concluded that “[w]e agree that the plain Global high stakes meaning of the statutory term ‘vehicle’ in the Twenty-Eight Hour Law includes ‘trucks’ which operate as express carriers or common carriers.” Only slaughter for human consumption involves more animals than live transport, Added Williams, “USDA also noted that it is working to investigate “alleged viola- and by a narrowing margin, as only a dwindling few percent of livestock, worldwide, are still tions of the Twenty-Eight Hour Law, and is currently investigating a shipment of breeding slaughtered at the farms where they were raised. pigs from Canada to Mexico,” a case involving the deaths of more than 150 pigs who arrived Globally, more than 20 billion chickens, 1.5 billion sheep and goats, 1.1 billion cat- by truck at a Brownsville, Texas, livestock export facility in July after an extended journey of tle, and 600 million pigs are transported to slaughter each year. more than 28 hours. HSUS, Farm Sanctuary, and other animal protection organizations have The magnitude of the humane issues involved in transport tends to increase with the asked both state and federal officials to investigate the case.” distance that the animals are moved. Partly this is because longer transport inherently means That sounds a bit more promising. more time spent in transit, and therefore more travel stress. Also of significance is that the If the Twenty-Eight Hour Law is at last enforced as Congress intended, a generation longer the haul, the greater the expense, increasing the inclination of transporters to try to before William Howard Taft banished the cows who provided the Presidential milk supply pack animals together as densely as possible, to take more on each trip. + from the White House lawn circa 1910, more animals will benefit than from any other animal Some of the earliest written records of civilization include discussions of how ani- + welfare regulation in effect worldwide. mals should be handled in taking them to market. Immediately affected will be the 40 million cattle and 123 million pigs who are Unfortunately, despite thousands of years of proscriptions against such practices as trucked to slaughter each year in the U.S. carrying poultry hung upside down by their feet, the perceived economy and convenience of “More than 50 million of the nearly 10 billion farm animals transported by truck cruel livestock transport methods has prevailed against humane teachings at almost every point every year (counting chickens, who are still not protected) must endure trips far in excess of of conflict. To people accustomed to killing animals to eat, hauling, driving, or handling 28 hours without food, water or rest,” charged Williams. For example, “A 2005 Compassion them by cruel methods has rarely been a visible concern. Over Killing undercover investigation of long-distance pig transport found dead animals left Viewers of the 2004 Animals Asia Foundation video Dr. Eddie: Friend or Food are on trucks for more than 30 hours, animals enduring extreme heat without water, and animals typically shocked, both in China where it was made and abroad, to see Guangdong live mar- suffering from a variety of injuries [received in loading and transport], including bruises, ket workers tossing jam-packed cages of dogs and cats from trucks to the ground, but count- abrasions and bleeding lacerations on their bodies, legs and ears.” less less widely distributed videos show similar treatment of every species sent to slaughter, around the world, wherever the traffic is not supervised by people who have both the will and SEARCHABLE ARCHIVES: www.animalpeoplenews.org the legal authority to intervene. Key articles available en Español et en Français! Efforts to reform livestock transport and handling have traditionally had for leverage only the certainty, in the ages before refrigeration, that animals had to be alive and healthy in appearance upon arrival at markets and slaughterhouses where buyers inspected and bargained ANIMAL PEOPLE over those they would kill. Until recently there was little profitable demand for animals dead News for People Who Care About Animals or dying from abuse. Because transportation was slow until modern times, moving animals for slaughter Publisher: Kim Bartlett – [email protected] more than a day’s walk rarely occurred. An army on the march might be followed by drovers herding animals “requisitioned” from unfortunate farmers along the route, but otherwise mov- Editor: Merritt Clifton – [email protected] ing livestock for many days to slaughter was not profitable, until the arrival of barge canals Web producer: Patrice Greanville and railways in the early 19th century coincided with the growth of cities. Suddenly the tech- Associate web producer: Tammy Sneath Grimes nology existed to make possible raising livestock far from the points of consumption––and Newswire monitor: Cathy Young Czapla newly affluent urban residents could afford to steeply increase the amount of meat they ate. P.O. Box 960 For most of human history, most people lived close to their food sources, but Clinton, WA 98236-0960 throughout the world the advent of industrial development has drawn most of the labor pool into cities, where they are sustained by agricultural systems which of necessity use ever fewer ISSN 1071-0035. 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The base rate for display advertising is $9.50 per square inch of page space. Remarkably, the risks to both animals and human health inherent in long-distance live- Please inquire about our substantial multiple insertion discounts. stock transport were recognized in the U.S. almost as soon as the practice began. The oldest U.S. The editors prefer to receive queries in advance of article submissions; unsolicit- humane society, the American SPCA, was only two years old when Congress in 1871 began ed manuscripts will be considered for use, but will not be returned unless accompanied by deliberating over the bill that became the Twenty-Eight Hour Law of 1873. (continued on page 6) 4 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 “My dog, who saved my life, is left alone.” As ANIMAL PEOPLE human being, but my dog whom I sented four times annually by the reported in your September edition, took from the street and raised, North Shore Animal League many people and animals were who saved my life, is left alone.” America, announced inside the killed in Ethiopia in severe summer ––Efrem Legese back cover of ANIMAL PEOPLE. floods. A man who lives in the city President More than 50 dogs and cats who of Diredawa gave witness to the Homeless Animals have rescued humans or other ani - Ethiopian news agency that when Protection Society mals and have been rescued them - flood waters swept over his house P.O. Box 2495 selves have been honored with and took him away, he shouted for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Lewyt Awards since the program his family, telling them that he was Phone: 251-011-654-47-56 started in 1999. Unfortunately, ––Wolf Clifton already gone, but his dog immedi-
B O I S E ––Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer on Risch on September 7 signed an executive order him $750,000, and the folks supposed to represent the people October 25, 2006 joined Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal decreeing the “immediate destruction” of about 160 captive- of Idaho, your legislature, said ‘Oh, let’s let him off the in asking Idaho Governor Jim Risch to pursue a legislative ban bred elk who escaped in August from a private hunting ranch hook,’” by passing a special bill in 2002 that forgave on hunting captive-bred elk. operated by Rex Rammel, DVM, of Ashton. Rammel’s unpaid fines. “Now you’ve got a problem,” “In Montana, we said it’s a bad idea to pen up elk, “While special hunts by state agents and the public Schweitzer lectured, “but it’s our problem too because the feed them oats, and have fat bankers from New York City killed 33 of the escaped elk,” along with seven wild elk found Yellowstone Basin is interconnected.” shoot them with their heads in a grain bucket,” Schweitzer told among them, “Idaho Fish and Game biologists believe the Rammell claimed only 12 of his animals were still at Associated Press writer Christopher Smith. domesticated animals have already crossbred with wild herds,” large as of October 15. He told Smith he had sold his Chief Risch, whose term will end in January 2007, has wrote Smith. “Elk farming and ‘shooter bull’ hunting are Joseph reserve to a California man, and had sold his remaining said he would support the legislation that Schweitzer and banned in Wyoming and Montana.” The Wyoming ban was elk to another elk rancher. Freudenthal requested. adopted in the 1970s. The Montana voters approved a ban in Officially at issue are concern that the escaped elk Wrote Smith, “The two major party candidates run- 2000. Idaho, however, has 78 elk farms and 14 penned hunt- may carry chronic wasting disease, may bring brucellosis ning for Idaho governor, Republican Representative C.L. ing camps, according to Associated Press. endemic in Yellowstone region wild elk into closer proximity to “Butch” Otter and Democrat Jerry Brady, have said they would Continued Schweitzer, “You’ve got a bad actor domestic cattle, and may include hybrid animals carrying sign legislation prohibiting domestic elk businesses.” who’s not very good at fixing a fence, your state agencies fined genes from Eurasian red deer. Also involved in the dispute is the belief of many Yellowstone-region hunting outfitters that The king, the baron, a celebrity & hunting “sportsmanship” captive hunts are cutting into their declining business. “All my elk are tested yearly for both tuberculosis The Russian business daily Kommersant on October Connection, “and registered the animal as if killed from the and brucellosis,” Rammell fulminated in an October 12 letter 19, 2006 published a written allegation by Vologda region wild population. The false tagging would be a violation of the to the Idaho Statesman. “Any elk who dies on my property, deputy hunting chief Sergei Starostin that a “good-natured and federal Lacey Act,” wrote Tad Vezner of the St. Paul Pioneer whether naturally or by hunting, has his or her brain tested for joyful bear” named Mitrofan was in August 2006 taken from P r e s s . “Gentry allegedly bought the bear from Greenly for chronic wasting disease. Elk ranching is unpopular with a cer- his home at a local holiday resort, “generously fed vodka mixed about $4,650. The bear’s death was videotaped, and the tape tain group of people,” Rammell continued. “These animal with honey,” and “pushed into a field” where “His Highness later edited so Gentry appeared to shoot the bear with a bow rights activists believe elk ranches are as reprehensible as rais- Juan Carlos of Spain took him out with one shot.” and arrow in a ‘fair chase’ hunting situation,” continued ing mink in cages for fur. These people will stop at nothing, The king, 68, “neither hunted with Russian Vezner. “The pair then shipped the bear’s hide to a Kentucky including violating private property rights, to gain their cause. President Vladimir Putin nor killed a bear,” a palace taxidermist, the indictment said.” This isn’t just about elk ranches but American liberty.” spokesperson told Paul Haven of Associated Press. Haven Gentry and Greenly could each receive a maximum Rammell in late October 2006 was banned from noted that the Kommersant account never mentioned Putin. penalty of five years in federal prison and a $20,000 fine if con- Yellowstone National Park for telling park rangers in August Vologda governor Vyacheslav Pozgalyov’s spokes- victed––but Lacey Act sentencing history indicates that they 2005 that his name was Rex Hendricks, while rangers were person Yevgenia Toloknova told Haven that the governor had would probably get much less. investigating whether he was guiding without a permit and “set up a working group, including a deputy governor and top In a comparable case, U.S. Magistrate Carolyn S. unsafely storing food in known bear habitat. In March 2006 environmental protection officials, to look into the incident.” Ostby, of Great Falls, Montana, on October 8, 2006 fined Rammel was fined $110 for the same offence. The allegation involving King Juan Carlos followed Lin Torgerson, 30, $2,500, ordered him to make $500 restitu- Rammell is also facing a misdemeanor battery charge the October 2 disclosure for Spiegel Television, of Germany, tion, and put him on probation for two years. for an October 6 incident, and has pleaded innocent to resisting that a “world record” 600-pound red deer with 37 antler branch- Not a licensed outfitter, Torgerson, of Etheridge, or obstructing peace officers resulting from a September con- es shot in 2005 by the Baron Eberhard von Gemmingen- Montana, arranged for a Pennsylvania man and his 13-year-old frontation with two sharpshooters who killed a pair of his elk. Hornberg “was no roaring wild stag of the Bulgarian beech son to obtain hunting permits, illegally coordinate a deer hunt While hunting Rammell’s elk, Idaho game officers forests,” as initial reports declared, “but rather a tame, choco- with two-way radios, kill three deer while licensed to kill just killed a seemingly tame elk with a seven-point rack, reportedly late-loving deer raised in an Austrian game reserve,” summa- two, and have the trophy mounts sent to their home. worth $10,000, who turned out to belong to the Pine Mountain rized I n d e p e n d e n t Berlin correspondent Tony Patterson. The The steepest Lacey Act penalties in connection with Ranch near Blackfoot. Blackfoot Ranch staff said they had no deer had been fed calcium tablets to enhance antler growth. trophy hunting of which ANIMAL PEOPLE has record were idea that the elk was loose. “The stag’s name was Burlei. He was completely issued in January 2006 by Judge Richard Cebull and U.S. tame. Children liked to feed him chocolate,” said his former Magistrate Richard Anderson, of Bozeman, Montana. owner, Rudolf Pöttinger, on camera. Pottinger sold Burlei for Cebull fined outfitter John Daniel McDonald, 38, £13,500. The Baron von Gemmingen-Hornberg paid the $50,000, and barred him from ever hunting or outfitting again. Etropole outfitting firm Elen Hunting £65,000 to shoot Burlei. Anderson in the same case fined McDonald’s clients The baron was unsuccessful in an attempt to sue Elen Hunting, Jeffrey Stuart Young, 46, and Frank Earl Shulze, 57, of Santa after his “record” was annulled. Rosa, California, $2,500 each; ordered them to make $16,300 The incidents involving royalty hunting in Eastern and $8,000 restitution, respectively; barred them from hunting Europe echoed U.S. federal indictments of country singer Troy for five years and fishing for two years; and placed them on Lee Gentry, 39, and captive hunting facility owner Lee two years probation. The defendants are believed to have killed Marvin Greenly, 46, on multiple charges resulting from more than 15 elk, among other animals. Gentry killing a captive-reared bear in October 2004. Anderson also ordered Young and Schultz to write “The government alleged that Gentry and Greenly apologies to Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks investigators for tagged a bear named Cubby, killed on Greenly’s property,” in accusing them of lying in letters that Young and Schultz sent to Sandstone, Minnesota, called the Minnesota Wildlife higher-ups, including then-Montana Governor Judy Martz. Ranched elk. (Kim Bartlett) Report from the National Symposium on Kenyan Wildlife by Chris Mercer, www.cannedlion.com In September 2006 I was invited by CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe. cumulatively declined by more than 40% in Otherwise, the depth of the anti- the Steering Committee of the National To avoid my participation being the past few years. Some species, such as buf- hunting culture in Kenya was brought home to Symposium on Kenyan Wildlife, appointed by blocked by pro-hunting interests, I was intro- falo, have declined by 90% or more. Roan me most vividly in a touching presentation by the Kenyan government, to attend the sympo- duced as an expert on “Community antelope are down to 900, from an estimated rural community representative Dr. Darius sium and present the case against hunting. Involvement and Benefits of Wildlife.” 20,000 at peak. Rob Carr-Hartley believes that Mombo. After recounting the horrifying dam- Hunting has been banned in Kenya The Symposium was a great success. within two years Tsavo West National Park age suffered by his community from wild ani- since 1977, and dealing in wildlife trophies It was jam packed for both days by everyone may be denuded of wildlife. Poaching is com- mals straying out of Tsavo, including 47 since 1978. who was anyone in wildlife conservation, pletely out of control. Deforestation in all six human deaths, mainly caused by elephants, Attended by about 160 people, the except former Kenya Wildlife Service chief watershed areas of Kenya is causing the rivers and crop destruction of unthinkable propor- Symposium was held as an indirect result of a Richard Leakey and his successor David to dry up. Even the Mara is expected to run tions (about 80% of some crops were lost), as campaign lavishly funded by Safari Club Western, whose paper was read by one of his dry sooner or later. well the as social upheaval caused by, for International in 2004, which involved flying assistants. The presentations were delivered I was given 20 minutes to speak. example, children being too tired to attend Kenyan conservationists and officials to elite mainly by Kenyan scientists, academics and There were gasps of shock from the audience school because of all-night vigils to keep wild hunting farms in South Africa and Zimbabwe wildlife experts. The current Kenya Wildlife as my first videos showed a poor lioness being animals out of crops, Mombo might have been in order to persuade the Kenyan government to Service director was in attendance. shot out of a tree with an arrow and a wounded expected to endorse the calls for hunting. resume trophy hunting. No expense was I was treated at all times as an hon- lion charging a hail of bullets from a mob of Instead he announced that his whole spared. Industry experts regaled the Kenyan ored guest, and was introduced to all the hunters. When I followed this by explaining community was against any form of hunting, representatives with statistics purporting to senior officials. Unlike in South Africa, the colonial aspects of hunting, and showing including for problem animal control, because show how much money Kenya could make out where animal welfarists are deliberately how hunting perpetuates colonialism, many “It makes the animals angry with us.” All his of trophy hunting, as opposed to ecotourism. excluded from participating in wildlife and delegates cheered. I moved on to statistics community wanted was a fair system of com- A bill to legalise hunting was secre- environmental policy-making, I felt as if I published by Africa Geographic, showing pensation for losses. Afterwards I shook his tively prepared and rushed through the Kenyan were a member of the Symposium family, how poorly revenue from hunting benefits a hand and told him that he had restored my legislature without debate. Before President rather than a foreigner. nation, compared to ecotourism. faith in human nature. Mwai Kibaki could sign the bill into law, Youth for Conservation cofounder After my presentation, I was given a however, Youth for Conservation and other Josphat Ngonyo, more recently founder of the further ten minutes to take questions from a HILDREN HUNTING grassroots animal welfare groups and wildlife African Network for Animal Welfare, kept me forest of hands, and then we broke for tea. I C organisations began an unprecedented joint informed at all time. I also connected with was at once besieged and surrounded by dele- I have just read your September campaign against it. Twenty- two animal wel- Rob Carr-Hartley, son-in law of Daphne gates. Most were congratulatory, but a few 2006 editorial “Culture, coonhunting & child fare organisations arranged for petitions signed Sheldrick, founder of the famous elephant were visibly angry. One woman scientist hunters,” and just wanted to echo your dis- by thousands of Kenyans to be presented at orphanages operated by the David Sheldrick demanded to know where I got my statistics. may at this practice. Only last week my wife, 100 separate demonstrations throughout Wildlife Trust at Nairobi National Park and Apparently she had given a report to the gov- a second grade teacher, came home disgusted Kenya. At the same time, hundreds of Tsavo National Park. Now that Sheldrick is ernment which relied upon the figures given to with an interaction she had with a girl in her demonstrators delivered a petition against the 75, Rob and Sheldrick’s daughter Gillian her by the hunting industry. She was therefore class. The girl told my wife that it was her bill to the President’s house in Nairobi. Woodley manage the orphanages. highly embarrassed, pointing out that if my birthday. My wife asked her whether she had Unlike in South Africa, there is no The picture that emerged at the figures were correct she had in effect given the received a present and she replied “a BB hunting culture in Kenya, and the majority of Conference was not happy. The situation for Kenyan government a false report. gun.” My wife asked her if she had wanted Kenyans are opposed to hunting. Under great wildlife in Kenya is critical. Refugees from The pro-hunting types were visibly one and the girl replied “No. My dad wants pressure, Kibaki referred the hunting issue to strife-torn Somalia and Sudan have added to glum and shell-shocked, but the animal wel- to teach me how to hunt.” What a sad world. a national public participation process, to con- the impact of the Kenyan birth rate, now fare brigade was delighted. ––Stephen Heaven tinue until April 2008. among the highest in the world. The Kenyan The only time I felt I was back in President/CEO The National Symposium that I population rose from five million in 1946 to 30 South Africa was when Lord Andrew Capital Area Humane Society attended was the first step in the process million in 2006. This has resulted in massive Eniskellin, an elderly land owner, gave a 7095 W. Grand River Ave. ordered by the President to test Kenyan public human encroachment into the land surrounding monotonous reading of his belief that his estate Lansing, MI 48906 opinion––but the conference was sponsored by the national parks, and in turn causes could not survive without the income from Phone: 517-626-6821, x17 the U.S. Agency for International Develop- human/animal conflict and wildlife snaring for hunting, and that Kenyans should not be Fax: 517-626-2560 ment, which has long used U.S. tax money to bushmeat on an unimaginable scale. swayed by “interfering foreigners who are not
CITES suspends ivory trade permits Tethering restrained in Scotland, California G E N E V A–– The Secretariat of the United pending domestic ivory sales and rounding up 285 The Animal Health & L o w e n t h a l (D-Long Beach), takes Nations-administered Convention on International alleged poachers. The poachers were, however, Welfare Scotland Act, taking effect on effect in January 2007. It makes excep- Trade in Endangered Species on October 5, 2006 charged with unlawfully killing kudus, impalas, October 6, 2006, increases the poten- tions for dogs tied to running lines and suspended the permission granted in 2002 to allow waterbucks, warthogs, and fish. tial penalty for cruelty to a fine of up to pulleys, used for hunting or herding South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia to export ele- The Zimbabwean government-controlled £20,000 plus a year in jail; authorizes sheep or cattle, and those staying in phant ivory. Harare Herald on October 18 reported that “Two animal health officers, state veterinary campgrounds,” explained Los Angeles South Africa was to have been permitted to suspected poachers were arrested while 22 elephant officers, and Scottish SPCA inspectors Times staff writer Nancy Vogel. sell 30 metric tons of ivory, Botswana 20 metric tusks were recovered at Chizarira National Park in to warn suspected violators and initiate Earlier, on September 18, tons, and Namibia 10 metric tons, “on condition,” Gokwe, after a group of suspected Zambian poach- animal seizure proceedings; restricts Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill the U.N. News Service explained, “that the ers killed 11 elephants. The poachers exchanged tethering dogs; and prohibits docking increasing from $5,000 to $25,000 the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) gunfire with Zimbabwean security officers,” the dogs’ tails. “Let us hope that the new fine for killing sea otters, other marine system establish up-to-date and comprehensive base- Herald said. obligation on animal owners will mean mammals, or other fully protected line data on poaching and population levels. Today’s But Angus Shaw of Associated Press on no more animals kept in conditions mammals, and requiring kitty litter meeting of the CITES Standing Committee deter- the same day reported from Harare about allegations which are barely tolerable,” Advocates bags to carry a warning that cat feces mined that this condition has not yet been satisfied.” of “disgruntled and underpaid rangers profiteering on for Animals spokesperson Libby flushed down toilets can spread t o x o - Requests from these and other African meat and illegal ivory,” and recounted a recent inci- Anderson told BBC News. plasmosis gondi, a cat parasite that kills nations for annual ivory quotes were rejected by the dent described by the independently funded California Governor Arnold sea otters. Although the full toxoplas - triennial CITES Conference of Parties in 2004. Zimbabwean Conservation Task Force in which S c h w a r z e n e g g e r on September 27, mosis gondi reproductive cycle occurs Zimbabwe, unsuccessful in many previous rangers shot five elephants. One of the elephants 2006 signed into law a ban on keeping a only in cats, many species can carry it, attempts to win an ivory export quota from CITES, was believed to have killed a safari park caretaker dog tethered for longer than three hours. and it is most often transmitted by con- positioned itself for another try in July 2006 by sus- near the Zambian border. “The legislation, by Senator Alan suming the meat of an infected animal. Legislation to require pet evac plans
W A S H I N G T O N D . C . – – U.S. President George W. Bush in early October 2006 signed into law the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Stand- ards Act, requiring all states to produce pet evac- uation plans in order to qualify for Federal Emerg- ency Management Agency funding for disaster pre- paredness. “The law also auth- orizes FEMA to provide + additional money to create + pet-friendly shelters and provide special assistance to pet owners,” said American SPCA spokes- person Shonali Burke. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco signed a bill implementing pet evacuation planning on June 23, 2006. The bill was passed unanimously by both houses of the Louisiana legislation. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized a similar bill on September 27, 2006. “There appears to be language that will allow us to use planning funds, but there does not appear to be any additional money,” cautioned Maine Emerg- ency Management Agency acting director Charles Jacobs, to Mal Leary of the Capitol News Service. But Jacobs acknowledged the need for the law. “We’ve been moving in this direction for several years,” Jacobs said.
TRIBUTES In honor of the Prophet Isaiah, St. Martin De Porres and John Wesley. ––Brien Comerford –––––––––––––––––––– ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 - 11
Battery cage foes emboldened (from page 1) free egg policy, and the Iowa Egg Council, For several years the egg industry the bureau has ruled against an against it,” HSUS noted. “Both the Iowa City seemed inclined to try to dodge consumer agricultural enterprise for claiming Press-Citizen and Daily Iowan editorialized in pressure by merely changing the labels on egg its animals are happy,” Hugs For favor of the cage-free egg policy.” cartons. That strategy ran into legal trouble. Puppies director Nick Cooney told That came in the middle of the U.S. “A certification program must not be Patrick Burns of the Lancaster agricultural heartland. promoted in a way that misleads consumers,” Intelligencer Journal. “The claim A day later, on October 18, HSUS warned District of Columbia attorney general of ‘happy and well-treated hens’ is praised Wild Oats Community Market for Robert J. Spagnoletti in September 2006, not only way out of line with the dropping sales of eggs from battery-caged announcing an agreement between United Egg scientific evidence, but also with hens. Producers and 16 states under which the egg what the overwhelming majority of “Major grocery chains such as producers agreed to permanently quit printing Americans consider to be humane Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural the slogan “Animal Care Certified” on egg treatment,” Cooney added. Marketplace have stopped selling cage eggs,” boxes, and to pay the states $100,000 toward “A Hugs For Puppies HSUS recited. “Trader Joe’s has converted its the costs of legal fees and consumer education. member pleaded guilty earlier this private line eggs to cage-free. Bon Appétit, a United Egg Producers in November year to trespassing at Kreider Rescued cock at Pasado’s Safe Haven. (Kim Bartlett) major food service company, is phasing out 2005 suspended use of “Animal Care Farms when he videotaped conditions inside seek a negotiated settlement. the use of cage eggs in all of its 400 cafés. Certified” after Compassion Over Killing com- one of the company’s chicken houses,” Burns “Elizabethtown District Judge Jayne Frozen dessert maker Ben & Jerry’s is also plained to the Federal Trade Commission that mentioned. Activist Chris Price was arrested F. Duncan heard about five and a half hours of phasing out the use of cage eggs in its ice it was deceptive. Participants in the labeling in March. testimony from two of the four witnesses the creams. Even companies such as AOL and program now use the phrase “United Egg Repeatedly stung by hidden-camera prosecution planned to present,” reported Google have ended the use of cage eggs in Producers Certified.” investigations, the egg industry has pursued Martha Raffaele of Associated Press, “and their employee cafeterias. In a parallel case, the Philadelphia strengthened penalties for trespassing, citing then attorneys for both sides spent more than “Tufts University, the Massachus- activist group Hugs For Puppies in May 2006 concern that intruders might introduce or an hour in private conference with their clients. etts Institute of Technology, Marist College, won an agreement that Kreider Farms will spread poultry diseases, and has tried to keep After the hearing, neither side’s lawyers would Vassar College, Roger Williams University, change web site advertisements claiming cases out of court if they might result in wider say why they chose to negotiate a settlement Clark University, Lesley University, Emman- Kreider laying hens are “happy and well-treat- exposure of conditions. instead of continuing with the trial.” uel College, and the University of New ed” to state that the hens are “contented and In Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, a HSUS funded the prosecution, by Hampshire have joined 100 others across the well-treated.” Brokered by the Better Business high-profile prosecution of Esbenshade Farms permission of the Lancaster County District country in enacting policies to eliminate or Bureau, the agreement was not disclosed until chief executive H. Glenn Esbenshade and farm Attorney. The evidence reportedly consisted greatly reduce their use of cage eggs,” HSUS late August. manager Jay Musser for alleged cruelty to chiefly of undercover video made by activist added. The difference in the wording may chickens was suspended on August 6, 2006 John Brothers, while employed by Esben- Ben & Jerry’s, using about 2.7 mil- not seem large, but “marks the first time that after the prosecution and defense agreed to shade Farms. lion pounds of egg yolks per year, told Associated Press writer Wilson Ring that com- pleting the conversion to cage-free will take about four ® years, while producers Announcing Maddie’s revamp their systems to meet the new requirements. “We’re pleased to include free-range eggs in our European ice cream,” Ben & NEW SPAY/NEUTER GRANTS Jerry’s London affiliate said, “but we have not yet found an economically manageable $200,000 over two years way to do the same for our U.S. production.” Founded in 1978 by Maddie's Fund® is offering new spay/neuter grants for counties with Live Animal Vermont entrepreuers Ben Release Rates of 40% or less––counties where the animal control, traditional and rescue shelters Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry’s was purchased are euthanizing 60% or more of the total shelter population of dogs and cats. in 2000 by the Dutch-based + Unilever conglomerate. In Applicants must submit a proposal outlining a county spay/neuter program that targets + earlier gestures toward improved animal welfare, problem areas which generate high shelter admissions of dogs or cats. The proposal must Ben & Jerry’s quit buying show how a maximum number of above baseline surgeries will be performed with grant funds milk from cows whose pro- duction has been stimulated provided. by the hormone drug bovine somatotropin (BST), and in • Applicants will need to provide shelter statistics (using Maddie's Animal Statistics August 2006 quit buying eggs from Michael Foods at HSUS Table and definitions) from county animal control, traditional and rescue shelters to document request. their eligibility. Ben & Jerry’s dropped Michael Foods two • Counties must have a human population of 50,000 or more. months after HSUS marketing • The lead agency can be a 501(c)3 animal welfare organization, a municipal animal outreach coordinator Erin Williams disclosed hidden control agency or a veterinary medical association. camera video of alleged abus- • Surgeries can be performed in non-profit spay/neuter clinics, governmental es at a Michael Foods battery cage facility in Wakefield, spay/neuter clinics or private veterinary hospitals. Nebraska. The video showed For more information about Maddie’s new Spay/Neuter grants, e-mail “live hens confined in cages with decomposing birds, hens [email protected] or go to: http://www.maddiesfund.org/grant/index.html unable to untangle themselves [after becoming] caught in the wire cages, sick and injured hens, and immobilized hens dying from starvation, only inches away from food and water,” Williams told S i o u x City Journal staff writer Bret Hayworth. “Michael Foods supplies eggs to Pillsbury, Hellmann’s, Kraft, and Hostess,” Hayworth wrote.
Along with almo st Maddie’s Fund® The Pet Rescue Foundation (www.maddiesfund.org) is a family foundation endowed through the every article from back generosity of Cheryl and Dave Duffield, PeopleSoft Founder and Board Chairman. The foundation is helping to fund the editions, the ANIMAL creation of a no-kill nation. The first step is to help create programs that guarantee loving homes for all healthy shelter dogs P EOPLE web s ite offers tra nslation s of and cats through collaborations with rescue groups, traditional shelters, animal control agencies and veterinarians. The next key it ems into Fre nch & step will be to save the sick and injured pets in animal shelters nationwide. Maddie’s Fund is named after the family’s Spanish ...Lewyt beloved Miniature Schnauzer who passed away in 1997. Award- winnin g heroic & c ompassionate animal stories ...vet info links... Maddie’s Fund, 2223 Santa Clara Ave, Suite B, Alameda, CA 94501 handbooks for down- loading... f und-ra ising 510-337-8989, [email protected], www.maddiesfund.org how-to... ou r guid e to 12 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 Milwaukee wildlife program... (from page 1) with about 4,000 dogs and cats, but most of the PAWS Despite the success of the San Francisco experi- wildlife workload was acquired through a 1999 merger ment, other big-city humane societies were hesitant to try with Olympic Wildlife Rescue, which was already among to emulate it. The American SPCA dropped the New the largest wildlife rehabilitation centers in the world. York City animal control contract in 1994, but no other Unlike the Wisconsin Humane program, which is entirely major humane societies had done so before Wellens led on the same premises as the dog-and-cat facilities, the Wisconsin Humane in a disengagement from animal con- PAWS wildlife program works from both a rescue center trol that made the San Francisco and New York disen- in Lynnwood and the former Olympic Wildlife Rescue gagements look comparatively simple. headquarters in McCleary, on the Olympic Peninsula. Unlike the San Francisco SPCA and the Despite the size and groundbreaking aspect of American SPCA, which each had only one municipal ani- the Wisconsin Humane wildlife program, wildlife mal control contract to turn over to a newly established received barely a mention in the announcement when 12- city agency, the Wisconsin Humane Society had contracts year Wisconsin Humane executive director Victoria with 19 different municipalities. For a time they appeared Wellens in October 2006 received the American Humane inclined to go in as many as 19 separate directions, but in Lifetime Achievement Award. This could be interpreted 1996 the municipalities formed the Milwaukee Area as either reflecting the low profile of wildlife work within Domestic Animal Control Commission. most humane societies, or as indicative of the magnitude Both MADACC and Wisconsin Humane built of Wellens’ contributions to dog and cat work. new shelters, opened in August and December 1999, Recently elected first president of the newly respectively. The MADACC shelter, at just under 22,000 formed National Federation of Humane Societies, square feet, is a traditional animal control facility, operat- Wellens may have the shortest tenure in animal work of ing in more-or-less the traditional manner––although the any Lifetime Achievement Award winner, but her leader- workload is already markedly reduced. ship ability was evident almost immediately. The Wisconsin Humane shelter, at 40,000 Wellens arrived at Wisconsin Humane just as square feet, was among the first big-city shelters designed the San Francisco SPCA created a furor by introducing the to resemble shopping mails rather than traditional ken- Adoption Pact, an agreement with the San Francisco nels––or “animal jails,” as visitors often perceive them. Department of Animal Care & Control that guarantees a Critics complained at first that Wisconsin Humane was home to any healthy and non-vicious dog or cat. The purportedly leaving the majority of stray and abandoned Adoption Pact culminated a five-year phase-out of San animals to be housed briefly and then killed in relatively Francisco SPCA involvement in animal control, while the cramped surroundings, while giving the animals with the DACC was created, followed by five years of aggressive- best adoption prospects relative luxury. That criticism Fox rescued by Wildlife In Crisis. (Dara Reid) ly escalating dog and cat sterilization. (continued on page 13) Events Nov. 15: Lg. of Humane Voters 5th anniv. cele - b r a t i o n , New York City. Info: 212-889-0303;
–––––––––––––––––– IF YOUR GROUP IS HOLDING AN EVENT, please let us know–– we’ll be happy to announce it here, and we’ll be happy to send free samples of ANIMAL PEOPLE for your guests. ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 - 13 Milwaukee wildlife program (from page 12) was short-lived, as adoptions rose and shelter killing fell. urbs. Wildlife has taken advantage of the grow- The Wisconsin Humane shelter debuted about a year ing opportunity to slip through yards and bed after the San Francisco SPCA unveiled Maddies’ Adoption down under bushes or in crawl spaces without Center, a year before the opening of the present Oregon being barked at. Native predators now compete Humane Society shelter and others that pioneered the “mall” with feral cats for prey––and sometimes eat the concept. The main entrance literally resembles a shopping cats, too, contributing to the reduction of the mall. Major departments are accessed through “storefront” cat population. The presence of urban coyotes doorways. Now emulated by new shelters worldwide, the mall in Milwaukee became recognized in 2004, atmosphere was then so unique that American SPCA vice presi- when three were hit by cars, two were trapped, dent of national outreach Julie Morris called it, “A stunning and a hue-and-cry broke out over coyotes eating example of the cutting edge in animal sheltering,” devoting an pet cats. Osprey nested in Milwaukee County entire page of ASPCA Animal Watch to it. for the first time on record in 2005. Bald eagles The escalated Wisconsin Humane emphasis on steril- nested in Milwaukee County in 2006 for the ization helped to cut the numbers of animals killed in greater first time since 1875. Milwaukee area shelters from 20.0 per 1,000 human residents The “Tweety & Sylvester” argument in 1995 to 10.5 in 1999, and only 4.1 a year later, in the initial over the role and impact of feral and free-roam- year of a five-year contract that gave Wisconsin Humane the ing cats in urban ecosystem is still hot in first right of refusal on any animal deemed adoptable by the Wisconsin, a decade after University of MADACC staff. During the five-year contract, Wisconsin Wisconsin at Madison wildlife biology profes- Humane accepted about half of the animals offered by sor Stanley A. Temple produced an estimate MADACC, keeping the Milwaukee area rate of shelter killing that cats kill about 39 million birds per year in between 4.7 in 2001 and the low of 4.1, reached again in 2003. Wisconsin alone. However, after Wellens briefly experimented with Often debunked, but still amplified by birders’ web Raccoon rescued by Wildlife In Crisis. (Dara Reid) adopting out pit bull terriers and Rottweilers who passed behav- sites, the Temple claim would have it that the Wisconsin cat 30,000 in recent years. ioral screening, dangerous incidents involving some of the toll on birds is nearly 40% of the national total projected in Wellens is seeking to amend a Milwaukee ordinance dogs persuaded her to suspend pit bull and Rottweiler adop- 2003 by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Bird that inhibits use of neuter/return by subjecting people who feed tions. Because 74% of the dogs coming to MADACC in recent Management Office biologist Albert Manville. or release cats to fines. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Humane years are pit bulls and Rottweilers, MADACC executive direc- The Wisconsin Humane web site includes a guessti- feral cat program has sterilized 850 feral cats in the past five tor Len Selkurt chose not to renew the exclusive agreement in mate that there are 190,000 feral cats in Milwaukee. Applying years, and even that relatively small number appears to have 2005. The shelter killing rate rose to a six-year high of 4.8 per four different approaches to estimating feral cat numbers, been enough to keep MADACC cat intake stable at just over 1,000 humans. based on food availability and animal control trends, A N I - 7,200 per year, suggesting that even modest expansion of Despite the pit bull and Rottweiler abundance, dog MAL PEOPLE found the numbers converging on a probable neuter/return could bring a steep decrease. and cat sterilization has markedly reduced the numbers of dogs peak feral cat population for the Milwaukee area at between Wellens and Wisconsin Humane had their most visi- and cats found at large in Milwaukee and the surrounding sub- 62,000 and 70,000, and indicating a summer high of 21,000 to ble role in bridging concern for wildlife and concern for cats in April 2005, when the 12,031 attendees at the annual state- wide caucuses of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress voted 57% to 43% in favor of a pro- posal to allow hunters to shoot feral cats. But the vote split along regional lines. Fifty-one caucuses mostly in the sparsely populated northern and western parts of Wisconsin favored shooting cats. Twenty caucuses in the densely populated Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, and Green Bay areas rejected cat-shooting. Governor Jim Doyle made clear the next day that no authorization to hunt cats would get past his veto. Wisconsin Humane + demonstrably does as much + bird rehabilitation––or more–– than anyone else in the state. One currently promi- nent Wisconsin Humane cam- paign, Wisconsin Night Guard- ians for Songbirds, WINGS for short, urges owners of high- rise buildings to turn off their lights rather than lure migrating birds into window collisions. The Wisconsin Humane web site promoted WIINGS in fall 2006 beside announcements for National Feral Cat Day. “Having wildlife advo- cacy and dog and cat advocacy under one roof has really helped us,” Wellens empha- sizes, because when a public issue presents a potential con- flict among the interests of dif- ferent species, the department heads can be quickly meet to develop a mutually acceptable response. From long experi- ence at working together, the Wisconsin Humane department (continued on page 14) Please make the most generous gift you can to help ANIMAL PEOPLE shine the bright light on cru- elty and greed! Your generous gift of $25, $50, $100, $500 or more helps to build a world where caring counts. Please send your check to: ANIMAL PEOPLE P.O. Box 960 Clinton, WA 98236 14 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006
The wildlife program that might make Milwaukee famous (continued from page 12) heads have developed a level of mutual under- ple, Wisconsin Humane personnel are experi- Wisconsin wildlife rehabilitation centers. ing stream for wildlife rehabilitation and edu- standing and trust rarely seen between cat and enced at capturing animals inside buildings. Among their collaborative activities, Diehl cation is probably the biggest challenge they bird advocacy group leaders. When a deer bounds through a window, the mentioned relocating orphaned animals among face, and will be an even bigger challenge for Wellens is personally credited by deer is leaving DNR territory, where a frac- the different centers to ensure that the orphans other human societies, much less experienced, staff with developing a cooperative atmos- tious animal might be shot, and entering the are raised with their own kind. as they inevitably find themselves drawn more phere that was markedly lacking before her bailiwick of humane officers. Unlike dog and cat programs, which into handling urban wildlife. time, when disputes between factions within The advice that Wisconsin Humane are self-funded, in part with revenue from But Wellens sounds confident in the Wisconsin Humane board and shelter staff dispenses to citizen callers often differs little, adoptions and other services provided to pets, pointing out that everything the humane cause frequently spilled into news media. if at all, from the advice offered by nature the Wisconsin Humane wildlife program has has ever done required developing public Wellens came to Wisconsin Humane centers, but the pitch is different because it is few funding sources of its own. Subsidized by awareness of a new approach to solving prob- with a background in child welfare work that presented as part of being kind to animals, the dog and cat programs, the wildlife work lems. Helping the public learn to live peace- also helped her to create a uniquely child- instead of as the perspective of wildlife man- consumes about 15% of the total program fully and mutually respectfully with wildlife, friendly atmosphere in the Wisconsin Humane agers, acculturated to promoting hunting, expense of the organization. she believes, will be no more than just the nat- shelter. There are, for example, no sharp cor- fishing, and trapping, and conservationists, Wellens and Diehl both point out ural next phase of growing into the “be kind to ners on any of the shelter furniture. All of the whose chief concern is preserving native bio- that raising public awareness to create a fund- animals” mission. ––Merritt Clifton educational materials are developed in-house, diversity rather than preventing suffering. and are designed to school library standards. The unspoken message conveyed by Chicago pioneered urban wildlife habitat But observers believe Wellens’ abili- humane societies that do not offer wildlife help ty to resolve disputes was the key skill she may be that wild animals are beyond humane conservation, but not “be kind to animals” brought to the job. Although most of the key concern, Wellens worries, seeking to set a personnel remained in their positions, infight- different example. Wildlife may be hunted, C H I C A G O–– Urban wildlife habitat Unlike in Milwaukee, however, an ing and factionalism soon disappeared––and so trapped, poisoned, or harassed in many ways conservation is often traced to the 1914 cre- hour’s drive or train ride to the north, the did friction with other charities. that would be illegal if done to dogs and cats, ation of the Forest Preserve District of Cook major Chicago-area humane societies and ani- Wellens credits her predecessor, and humane societies that refer callers to County. Foresighted planning bequeathed to mal control agencies have yet to become Leon Nelson, with introducing the Wisconsin wildlife agencies may be inadvertently indicat- Chicago and surrounding suburbs a protected deeply involved with wildlife. Humane wildlife program circa 1983. Wellens ing that they think this is acceptable. greenbelt and wildlife migration corridors that Focusing on dogs and cats is still credits the growth and development of the pro- “We consider public education that today hosts an abundance of animals of most enough to keep them busy. Yet this means gram to husband-and-wife team of Scott and helps to prevent the need for wildlife rehabili- species common to the midwest. ceding the primary role in responding to public Cheryl Diehl. Cheryl Diehl was among the tation to be the most important of our goals concerns about wildlife to other institutions, founding staff. Scott Diehl joined the team a and most critical part of our mission,” Scott whose focal message is not “be kind to ani- + mals,” of all species, and whose agendas are + year later. “Integrating our wildlife depart- Diehl told ANIMAL PEOPLE. ment into our mission is key to our service A call to Wisconsin Humane, for often at odds with humane concerns. delivery,” Wellens told ANIMAL PEOPLE. example, or visit to the Wisconsin Humane Henry Bergh, who founded the “When people have conflicts with wild ani- web site,
SHARK wants to get rodeos off the government dole.
The rodeo industry knows we can do it. That’s why rodeo promoters have complained to the FBI that our meticulously law-abiding undercover videography of unprosecuted rodeo mayhem constitutes a terroristic threat. As FBI founder J. Edgar Hoover put it, “One is honored by one’s friends, and distinguished by one’s enemies. We are very distinguished.” Please help us! Thank you, Steve Hindi, founder To donate to SHARK and help our work: SHARK • www.sharkonline.org • PO Box 28 Geneva, IL 60134 Join our E-mail Update and Newsletter lists at [email protected]. 16 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006
The Watchdog monitors fundraising, spending, and The political activity in the name of animal and habitat protec - tion—both pro and con. His empty bowl stands for all the bowls left empty when some Watchdog take more than they need.
PETA, Friends of Animals clash over future of Primarily Primates Rocky Mountain Wildlife AUSTIN, SAN ANTONIO– – separately alleged by PETA, but denied that were relocated during the next two weeks. will continue operating Longtime Primarily Primates board and staff this has resulted in any neglect or mistreatment The Houston SPCA took 78 chickens, 37 The Rocky Mountain Wildlife member Stephen Tello, elected president of of either animals or resources. “The staff at guinea pigs, 22 turkeys, 20 peacocks, four Conservation Center, in Keenesburg, the sanctuary on October 25, testified and was Primarily Primates attempt to care for animals goats, four dogs, two ponies, and a horse Colorado, on October 16, 2006 announced cross-examined for more than three hours at an whom the world wants to forget,” Tello wrote, Swett had kept since his 1978 arrival in Texas. that it had received enough funding to stay October 30, 2006 hearing in Austin that may “including animals PETA has sent to Primarily The birds were kept at Primarily Primates to open. “We’re still not out of the woods,” determine Primarily Primates’ future. The Primates––although PETA has not donated a consume insects, minimizing use of pesticides founder Pat Craig told Denver Post s t a f f hearing, the first opportunity Primarily penny in a decade or more to help them. We on the grounds, and the goats were used writer Christine Tatum. The 26-year-old Primates has had to respond to PETA allega- know we can’t save them all, but we also instead of lawn mowers. Houston SPCA exec- sanctuary houses about 150 animals, tions of mismanagement in a legal forum, was believe that we should try to find animals a utive director Patti Mercer filed a brief in sup- including 75 tigers and 30 bears, on 140 to resume on November 7. home before we pull out the syringes.” port of the PETA-led takeover. acres. Craig warned on August 15, 2006 Witnesses supporting the PETA Tello said a clinic at Primarily If Primarily Primates survives, FoA that it was out of money and might close, position testified on October 27, cross-exam- Primates that was built with PETA funding would manage it much as the Animal then closed to public visits on September 2. ined by a Primarily Primates defense team about 20 years ago is no longer used, because Protection Institute manages the former South funded by Friends of Animals. The Primarily PETA refused repeatedly to fund upkeep and Texas Primate Observatory, also near San member of the International Wildlife Primates board on August 28 accepted the res- repairs. Tello testified that Primarily Primates Antonio. Lou Griffin, the South Texas Rehabilitators Association board of directors. ignation of former president Wally Swett, who provides bottled water for staff as per Texas Primate Observatory director for 22 years, is The raid came five weeks after headed the sanctuary for 28 years, and voted law, not because the sanctary well is polluted; on the Primarily Primates board, and would be Bexar County Civil District Court Judge Andy to accept an FoA offer of merger. that a macaw missing many feathers was sur- part of the leadership team, Feral said. Mireles dismissed a PETA-backed lawsuit PETA director of investigations rendered to Primarily Primates because of his The Austin hearing originated from against Primarily Primates, and withdrew the Mary Beth Sweetland in an October 17 open self-plucking habit; that Sweetland inaccurate- the October 14 unannounced seizure of appointment of attorney Charles Jackson III as letter urged the FoA board to “stop supporting ly described the Primarily Primates drainage Primarily Primates by agents for the Texas a special master to oversee care of the seven the suffering of animals” at Primarily and septic systems; and that “many of the ani- Attorney General’s Office and Bexar County surviving chimpanzees and two capuchin mon- Primates, called Swett “an animal hoarder,” mal enclosures have ropes, climbing struc- sheriff’s department, responding to PETA keys from the research colony formerly kept and alleged that “There is no reputable animal tures, trees, and toys,” contrary to the affidavits. The Texas Attorney General’s by Ohio State University psychology professor protection group that believes Primarily appearance of PETA photos showing mostly office named wildlife rehablitator Lee Sally Boysen. OSU retired the colony to Primates is a decent place for animals,” indoor ‘nesting box’ accommodations. Theisen-Watt, of Frisco, Texas, to be receiv- Primarily Primates in February 2006, with an although it has received animals from many Asked Tello, “Is PETA’s true intent er and interim director of Primarily Primates. endowment of $324,000 for their quarters and prominent animal advocacy groups and simply to end the work of Primarily Primates, Theisen-Watt, a former employee of upkeep, over the objections of Boysen and humane societies, as well as from zoos, labo- destroy and kill, move the high-value animals the Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary near Tyler, PETA. Nine chimps arrived from OSU, but ratories, and private keepers, and has been to [other] institutions, and liquidate what Texas, in 2004 founded an organization called one died from a pre-existing heart condition featured in many organizations’ membership amounts to be $2 million to $3 million in land Advanced Primate Ethical Studies, worked at while being unloaded. Another died, also magazines and newsletters. and equipment assets of Primarily Primates?” the Lamar Dixon Expo Center handling ani- from a heart condition, two months later. Tello responded to Sweetland that About 200 of the 800 animals at mals rescued from New Orleans after Jackson recommended that the Swett has “alcohol dependency problems,” as Primarily Primates before the October 15 raid Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, and is a chimps should be relocated to Chimp Haven, a National Institutes of Health-funded retire- What became of the International Network for Religion & Animals? ment facility for former lab chimps in Shreveport, Louisiana. WASHINGTON D.C.––What ever Galvin as her executor. Galvin, when the will paid $24,667 in 2003, and Kathy Gerard was PETA has since 1992 backed repeat- became of the International Network for was written, was senior partner in a law firm paid $20,000. Peter Gerard was paid $52,000 ed efforts by disgruntled former staff to Religion & Animals? Realtor Joanna Harkin including Doris Day Animal League president in 2004, as the only listed paid staff member. remove Swett and Tello from Primarily of Washington D.C. recently wondered. Holly Hazard and longtime Animal Legal The Gerards did not respond to Primates, beginning soon after Swett criti- The late Virginia Bourquardez, Defense Fund staff attorney Valerie Stanley. inquiries from ANIMAL PEOPLE, sent to cized PETA for liquidating the sanctuary it “Ginny Bee” to fellow activists, founded Bourquardez named Peter Gerard as alternate them at a variety of addresses associated with formerly operated at Aspen Hill, Maryland. INRA circa 1981, winning charitable status in executor. As Galvin had retired, moved, and their names in the vicinities of Washington 1986. The INRA board included scholars and dissolved the law firm before Bourquardez D.C. and Reno, Nevada. Sea Shepherds don’t clerics from a variety of religions, but the died, Gerard succeeded to the duty. This was not the first time A N I - organization disappeared after Bourquardez By then Bourquardez had spent sev- MAL PEOPLE had occasion to ask them get fast ship after all died in May 2000, at age 88. eral years in nursing homes. INRA was long where money went. Both Gerards worked in “I was a friend of Ginny’s,” Harkin inactive––and Gerard also headed it. Soon the early 1990s for the now defunct National Two months after Sea Shepherd told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “She used to say, after INRA received Bourquardez’s residuals, Alliance for Animal Legislation. After taking Conservation Society founder Paul Watson ‘I’ll be a lot more good to the animals when Gerard dissolved INRA. The assets were control of the National Alliance from founder announced the $2 million purchase of the I’m dead,’” referring to her estate, which she given to a new entity the Gerards formed, Syndee Brinkman, Peter Gerard directed the former Canadian patrol boat Lady Chebucto, often said was left to INRA. called the National Organization for Animals 1990 “March for the Animals” in Washington believed to be as fast as the Japanese whal- Harkin began her search for INRA & their Habitats, NOAH for short. A private D.C., which attracted less than a quarter of the ing factory ship Nisshin Maru, the deal fell by checking the deed to Bourquardez’s former foundation, NOAH had $107,031 in remain- projected crowd of 100,000. Gerard then through, reported Andrew Darby of the home in Forest Glen, Maryland. Harkin ing assets at the end of 2004, the most recent staged a 1996 encore that also projected atten- Melbourne Age on October 11, 2006. “It found that the house had passed to Peter year for which IRS Form 990 is available. dance of 100,000, but drew just 3,000. Both was registered in Antigua,” Watson Gerard, an attorney whose name before mar- NOAH claimed program expenses marches were endorsed and supported by most explained, “and Antigua would not allow us riage to the former Kathy Sanborn was Peter of $36,174 in 2002, $50,173 in 2003, and major U.S. animal advocacy groups. to sail it as a yacht.” Linck. At marriage, both changed their sur- $62,184 in 2004, incurred to “Rescue wild The 1996 march program thanked Registering Sea Shepherd vessels names to Gerard. In June 2005 the Gerards and domestic animals,” and to “acquire rescue donors for contributions totaling more than as yachts reduces regulatory require- apparently sold the house for $443,000. equipment” plus “developmental materials for $750,000. Asked by ANIMAL PEOPLE, ments––but registering in Antigua was prob- Bourquardez’s will showed that, animal protection education.” Itemized expen- Friends of Animals, In Defense of Animals, lematic, Watson indicated, because Antigua “She gave the house to Peter Gerard,” Harkin ditures included $1,740 for “wildlife supplies” and the Elephant Alliance to account for the receives foreign aid from Japan, and has found, “but made INRA the residual benefi- and $624 for “animal rescue supplies” in funds, Gerard provided financial statements supported Japanese efforts at International ciary of her estate. That translated into a 2002; $2,021 for “animal rescue supplies” and indicating receipts of upward of $950,000 in Whaling Commission meetings to reopen bequest of about $232,000.” “It is my express $3,290 for “animal rescue vehicle expenses” cash and donated goods and services, claim- commercial whaling. desire,” Bourquardez wrote, “that this in 2003; and $87 for “animal care” plus ing cash expenses of $674,339. This was “I am confident that we will have a bequest be used to advance the cause of ani- $1,672 for “animal supplies” in 2004. more than triple the pre-march estimate given second ship for the [winter] campaign mal rights within the world’s great religions.” Kathy Gerard was paid $19,000 in to donors, and included about $207,000 in [against Japanese whaling in Antarctic Bourquardez named attorney Roger 2002, the only salary listed. Peter Gerard was apparently still unexplained expenditures. waters],” Watson said.
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ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 - 17 “Year of the Dog” brings help for dogs in China––and cats Dogs killed on their holiday BEIJING, SHANGHAI––“The year of the dog has are not vaccinated because the farmers contend that they have KATMANDU, Nepal––Street sweepers on been difficult for man’s best friend,” South China Morning no exposure to potentially infected street dogs. October 20 shocked Narayan Municipality, a suburb of Post reporter Jane Cai observed on October 26, 2006. “Tens Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Dailekh, Nepal, by poisoning 23 dogs “on the first day of of thousands of canines have been culled across the nation in virologist Tang Qing shared her findings that in the Guangxi Tihar and even into Kukur Tihar––the second day of the sec- the past few months and more will be clubbed to death soon by Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hunan Province, and Guizhou ond greatest Nepalese festival,” reported Hariharsigh local governments fearing rabies.” Province, three regions with high incidence of rabies, between Rathour of the Katmandu Post, explaining that “On the sec- True enough, but the 2006 Year of the Dog appears 3% and 7% of the dog population are infected at any given ond day of Tihar, dogs in Nepal are adorned with flower gar- also to have been the year that purging dogs began to give way time. All three regions are hubs of dog meat production. lands around the neck and red tika on the forehead. They are to vaccination. All year, the Beijing-run state newspapers and Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute of Zoology then offered a great meal and then ritually worshipped.” news web sites have been exposing and denouncing dog mas- researcher Zhang Zhongnin emphasized that rabies can be pre- Narayan official Nirak Rawal told Rathour that the sacres, always in the past either praised or ignored. vented without cruelty. “There is no need to be scared,” Zhang city had asked locals to keep dogs indoors, “But we didn't An October forum on humane rabies control, held in Zhongnin said. “Culling is allowed by law, but should only be give any order to kill stray dogs on Kukur Tihar,” he said. Shanghai, drew high-profile national coverage. used when the situation is extremely bad.” “After the killing evoked wide condemnation,” “Human rabies infections have rebounded rapidly Dog culls continued late into the fall, but met active Rathour continued, “municipal executive officer Birendra since 1996,” warned Chinese Centre for Disease Control and resistance, including in the Guangdong suburbs. Dev Bharati gave directives to do the killing only after the Prevention researcher Zhang Yongzhen, presenting scary num- “On September 27,” reported Sophia Cao of the festival. But as soon as he left to celebrate, inebriated bers: 2,154 human rabies deaths in the first nine months of China Digital Times, “ten urban administration officers in sweepers were found roaming with poison bottles and meat.” 2006. Three hundred ninety-three people were bitten by rabid Dongguan went to Shangjiangcheng village to kill stray dogs. dogs nationwide in September alone, resulting in 318 human They beat seven or eight dogs to death in five minutes, fright- them, explained Beijing vice mayor Ji Lin. “Catching and deaths, twice as many as in 1996 for the entire year. ening some women. Three young men ran out with kitchen inoculating all the stray dogs is a major way to curb the spread For five consecutive months rabies caused more knives and tried to stop them. Some villagers complained that of rabies,” Ji Lin said. human deaths in China, the forum delegates heard, than any the violent scene would scare children; some complained that “Shelters and health facilities are to be built in other infectious disease––and worse outbreaks could occur. they lost their watchdogs.” Beijing for the hundreds of thousands of stray animals wander- In the first seven months of 2006, more than 110,000 An accompanying photograph showed a young man ing the streets of the capital, according to the city bureau of Beijing residents and 52,500 Shanghai residents received post- confronting a uniformed dog killer, knife in hand. agriculture,” the official Xinhua News announced at the outset exposure rabies vaccination after being bitten by an unvaccinat- “After about a dozen dogs were killed, farmers beat of the Beijing campaign. “A spokesperson said the bureau had ed or suspected unvaccinated dog or cat. the hired culling team with iron bars,” added Jane Cai of the completed drafting a regulation on constructing an urban shelter Rates of dog vaccination vary in China from a safe South China Morning Post. system, now awaiting approval from the municipality. 75% in Beijing to under 5% in some rural areas––especially the “The bureau will also subsidize animal clinics that areas where dogs are raised for meat. So-called “meat dogs” Increasing vaccination vaccinate, sterilize, and treat homeless cats, paying half the Shanghai recently moved to improve track- costs,” working in partnership with animal charities, Xinhua Philippine crack-down on dog meat ing vaccination compliance by microchipping News added. The Beijing Association for Small Animal 65,000 licensed dogs. BAGUIO CITY, Philippines––Embarrassed by reports that Protection Association estimates that the city has more than More than 550,000 dogs are licensed in Benguet province might attempt to repeal or circumvent enforcing the 400,000 feral cats distributed among 2,400 neighborhoods. Beijing, 90,000 more than in 2005, “but statistics 1998 Philippine national ban on selling dog meat, officials of the National from the Beijing Association for Small Animal Meat Inspection Service, Baguio police, and representatives of the Protection show that there are over one million Animal Kingdom Foundation in early October seized 104 kilos of dog dogs in Beijing,” Xinhua News Agency editor meat from the public market stalls of vendors Lita Dizon and Victorino Fiona Zhu reported. Montano, “who are reportedly known as dog meat vendors,” wrote Jane Forty-five clinics open 24 hours a day and Cadalig of the Baguio City Sun Star. 277 clinics in all offer post-exposure vaccination “To appease the diplomatic community,” Cadalig added, “the in Beijing. The coverage is good enough, and Provincial government decided to hold a production making dogs the main dog vaccination compliance high enough, that no performers on November 30,” at a celebration of the 106th anniversary of human rabies cases have resulted from bites in the creation of Benguet, a landlocked province in the Coridillera moun- Beijing in recent years. However, rabies deaths tains. “Provincial Administrator Modesto Andong said the idea is to clear have occurred in Beijing, as some victims have the misconception that circulated against the province when it earlier fallen ill in Beijing after receiving bites else- passed a resolution advising law enforcement agencies to coordinate with where, and others have been flown to Beijing for proper government agencies such as the Bureau of Animal Industry before palliative care. conducting raids on restaurants serving dog meat,” Cadalig reported. In August 2006, “police inspections in Philippine Animal Welfare Society president Nita Lichuaco in more than 1,000 Beijing neighborhoods netted December 2005 asked Baguio City veterinarian Bridget Pick to enforce the 230 cases of illegal dog keeping,” reported Chen ban on selling dog meat against several restaurants which allegedly sold it Zhiyong of China Daily. openly. Pick told Lichuaco that a proposal to legalize dog meat was That was just before Beijing authorities already far advanced. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo escalated dogcatching efforts that through mid- fueled speculation that dog-eating might be legalized by asking questions October had netted 8,961 dogs, only 831 of about dog meat during a December 27, 2005 state dinner. whom were strays found running at large. Beijing police also “shut down a local underground dog Horse show abuse updates trade market in Tongzhou District and confiscated 79 unregistered and illegally-traded dogs there, The Tennessee Walking the alternate competition] came after wrote Wu Jiao of China Daily. Horse Breeders & Exhibitors weeks of criticism by horse trainers, “The campaign aims to protect the public A s s o c i a t i o n on October 16, 2006 many of whom threatened to boycott against ferocious stray dogs and rein in unlicensed cancelled the alternate “grand cham- the show,” reported Nashville Tenn- dogs,” but by vaccinating them, not killing pion” competition it had announced essean staff writer Brad Schrade. At Animal Rescue Beijing. (Kim Bartlett) on September 21. British Show Jumping To have been held in Mur- A s s o c i a t i o n chair Penny Crutwell Wyeth wins mistrial to end second Premarin case freesboro, Tennessee, the alternate confirmed on September 27 that Philadelphia Common Farm Animal Concerns Trust i n was actually liable for the damages, competition was to have replaced the blood tests had confirmed that four Pleas Court Judge Norman April 1993, Premarin was still the by reason of negligence, was to final judging at the Tennessee ponies ridden by contenders at the A c k e r m a n on October 11, 2006 top-selling prescription drug world- have been the subject of the second Walking Horse National Celeb- association’s junior championships declared a mistrial in the first phase wide in 2001, but sales plummeted trial phase. ration in Shelbyville on August 21, in Jersey on September 9 were of a scheduled two-part trial in after the Women’s Health Initiative Wyeth on September 15, which never took place. Of the 10 covertly sedated. which Jennie Nelson, 66, of study funded by the U.S. N a t i o n a l 2006 won the first of about 4,500 horses selected for the final judging, “Police were called to Dayton, Ohio, contended that she Institutes of Health in July 2002 pending lawsuits from former estro- seven were disqualified after USDA investigate an allegation that K i m developed breast cancer in 2001 as determined that the Premarin com- gen supplement users, when a feder- inspectors detected scarring that may B a u d a i n s , 36, fed a sedative to result of taking the Wyeth hormone ponent of PremPro appears to be al jury in Little Rock, Arkansas, have shown the horses’ hooves were ponies in an attempt to help her 12- drug Prempro for about five years. associated with increased risk from ruled that Linda Reeves, 67, had sored to train them to use the high- year-old son Josh win the under-16 PremPro is a combination heart attacks, strokes, and blood ignored precautionary warnings sold stepping walking horse gait. Young Show Jumper of the Year of progestin and Premarin, a brand clots forming in the lungs. with the supplements. Reeves took “The decision [to cancel final,” summarized Richard Savill name derived from “pregnant mare’s Ackerman sealed the rea- Premarin, progestin, and the com- of the Daily Telegraph. urine.” Producing Premarin requires son for his mistrial ruling. The mis- bined Premarin/progestin drug “A tablet of ACP (acetyl- keeping mares pregnant, breeding a trial declaration erased a jury award PremPro for at least five years promazine), a veterinary sedative, constant surplus of foals, many of to Nelson of $1.5 million one week before discovering in 2000 that she was allegedly found on the ground,” whom are sold to slaughter. Under earlier, and cancelled the second had breast cancer. Savill continued. “Police later called boycott by animal advocacy groups phase of the trial. The jury verdict Wyeth and a third plain- off their investigation, and said no worldwide since shortly after A N I - came just hours after Ackerman tiff, Carol McCreary, 59, of one would be charged because no MAL PEOPLE published inves- replaced one juror with an alternate, Reno, announced on October 4 that Jersey laws had been broken.” tigative findings by the C a n a d i a n after the original jury deliberated for they had reached an out of court set- six days. The jury then found proba- tlement, on the eve of going to trial. We have rescued many dogs and ble cause to believe that taking The terms were not disclosed. cats, including this mother and her PremPro contributed to Nelson’s ill- Between 4,500 and 14,000 kittens. Your donation to our ness, and that she had suffered $1.5 similar cases are pending, according sanctuary fund will help us save many million damages. Whether Wyeth to conflicting reports. more from the terrible cruelty of the Korean dog and cat meat markets. We have bought the land to build Korea's first world-class animal shelter and hospital. A donor paid for the foundation with a promise to put on the roof if we can raise the
money to build the middle. true! Mark your donation for KAPS Shelter Fund, and send to: International Ai d for Korean Animals / Korea Animal Pr otection Society POB 20600, Oakland, CA 94620 18 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 Who can, or will, enforce new Quebec humane legislation? MONTREAL––Once a six-year-old lishment of the provincial wildlife law enforce- “This has been my battle for the past nothing returned to the animals. We asked if pianist at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, ment agency some 30 years earlier, in place of 13 years,” Barnoti told ANIMAL PEOPLE. the file could be removed from the agriculture 30-year broadcast journalist and 20-year CFCF wardens hired by local consortiums of “Obviously the voice of the industry speaks department. Paradis said it could be done, news anchor Mutsumi Takahashi on her web landowners organized under hunting club louder than that of animal lovers. The Quebec agreeing that agriculture was the worst possi- site says she plays piano to her dogs to help umbrellas. But existing agencies were not government has chosen to create a paragovern- ble place for it. We all agreed that Public maintain her on-air poise. eager to take on humane law enforcement. mental agency called Anima Québec, on the Security would be a better fit.” Serene as she seems, Takahashi Animal advocates were reluctant to see the job board of which sits prominently a representa- Replied McCann, “As a member of makes no secret of caring about animals, and entrusted to the provincial agriculture depart- tive of the pet industry,” McCann, “who the Anima Quebec board, my responsibilities of being frustrated at perennially ineffective ment. And the Quebec National Assembly among his members counts puppy mill opera- are focused on financing the new association. Quebec humane law enforcement hesitated to fund a new agency that many tors,” Barnoti charged. “To the Quebec gov- I am not party to the work of the inspection On the evenings of August 27-29, members felt could be funded with donations. ernment, the pet industry represents over a bil- committee, nor do I have any doings with 2006 Takahashi introduced Puppies for Profit, Creating Anima Quebec under agri- lion dollars a year, generated by the posses- inspectors and carrying out inspections. All a three-part series by CFCF reporter Annie culture department auspices was the resulting sion of pets from puppy mills. Correcting the official inspections are carried out by govern- DeMelt that exposed the recent rapid growth compromise. Like the Montreal SPCA and problem equals closing a lot of the pet sources, ment-appointed inspectors, without any inter- of the Quebec puppy mill industry. regional humane societies, Anima Quebec is a and this scares the government.” ference by board members. “Why is Quebec the puppy mill capi- nonprofit corporation––but structured to McCann, a Montreal SPCA inspec- “One thing is sure,” McCann added. tal of Canada?” Takahashi asked Anima include board representatives from the pet tor during the Joan Clark regime, left the orga- “All shelters in Quebec, like any other pet Quebec executive Joan Clark, Montreal SPCA trade. Anima Quebec received a provincial nization before Barnoti was hired. establishment, stand to be inspected by Anima executive director Pierre Barnoti, and Pet subsidy of about $150,000 Canadian for each “PIJAC Canada stands on record in Quebec. Some shelters,” McCann mentioned, Industry Joint Advisory Council/Canada exec- of its first three years, but is expected to raise full support of the new Quebec animal protec- “were inspected to see if they could meet the utive director Louis McCann. additional funds. It employs four inspectors. tion legislation, and of Anima Quebec,” requirements to become housing facilities for Their discussion flushed into the But the Montreal SPCA, with rapid- McCann responded. “PIJAC Canada is also on animals seized by Anima Quebec. I am not open a running dispute over just who can, or ly rising revenues under Barnoti’s tenure, now record for supporting a proposed regulation aware of any shelters shutting down as a result should, enforce Quebec humane laws––but has an annual budget of over $9 million, that would call for the mandatory registration of Anima Quebec operations,” McCann con- brought it no closer to resolution. already has nine inspectors, Barnoti told the of all commnercial establishments operating in tinued. “The SPA de la Mauricie shelter in Founded in 1869, the Montreal CFCF audience, and has offered to train 25 Quebec that deal with cats and dogs. This reg- Trois-Rivières was closed by the government’s SPCA historically claimed the mandate but more to cover all of Quebec. ulation has not seen the light yet.” health and safety department, as it posed a lacked the budget, the inspectors, and the More still are needed, Barnoti McCann noted that the PIJAC/ threat to the animals and employees due to prosecutors to reach often or far beyond the emphasized, pointing out that Ontario has 231 Canada position was in opposition to the posi- presence of mold and fungus. It has since Montreal suburbs. humane inspectors. tions of “a handful of dog breeders.” reopened with a brand new facility.” Regional humane societies that tried “You don’t build up a police force But Barnoti is scarcely the only critic Anima Quebec has in fact raided to bring prosecutions in the mid-1990s com- overnight,” Clark said. who alleges that the PIJAC/Canada influence puppy mills, beginning by seizing 23 adult plained of Montreal SPCA interference, as Clark, an attorney and author, within Anima Quebec is holding back law German shepherds from an alleged illegal Barnoti economically strengthened the organi- served as the Montreal SPCA board president enforcement. A furious letter from Catherine breeder in LaPlaine on Marcy 31, 2005. zation and sought to consolidate authority. for 17 years preceding Barnoti’s tenure. Bégin of the Lost & Found Pet Network in Cheryl Cornaccia of the M o n t r e a l Commercial dog breeders exploited During the Clark years the Montreal Laval prompted ANIMAL PEOPLE to ask Gazette saw that as an overdue new beginning. the conflict. SPCA maintained friendly relations with dog former Montreal SPCA board member Anne “For years, Quebec has been seen as The Quebec government eventually and cat breed fanciers, struggled to shake a Streeter, no Barnoti fan, for her perspective. one of the worst places in North America for became convinced of the need to establish an reputation as one of the last bastions of “They turn a blind eye to the most animal welfare,” Cornaccia recounted. independent province-wide animal law English-speaking dominion in Quebec, held outrageous puppy mill situations,” Streeter “Ontario, British Columbia, New Brunswick enforcement authority. the Montreal animal control contract, and charged, “but have inspected the SPCA and Alberta have all passed tougher animal This might have paralleled the estab- killed more than five times as many dogs and Monteregie four times, at the request of a dis- welfare laws and put up substantial amounts of cats per 1,000 Montreal residents gruntled ex-employee, the Sherbrooke SPCA, provincial money to bust puppy mills. Quebec than are killed now by the present and a well-run small independent shelter. has done little but sit on the fence––and on a animal control contractor, Berger Their deliberations are confidential so no one package of tough animal welfare laws that Blanc, the Montreal SPCA, and all knows what they have done. were first introduced in the National Assembly other local humane societies com- “SPCA Monteregie founder Linda in 1993,” passed in January 2005 as the law bined. Robertson, myself, and two others met with now cited as P-42. Formed in 1983, Berger Brome-Missisquoi MNA Pierre Paradis a cou- Anima Quebec director Huguette Blanc won the Montreal Urban ple of weeks ago,” Streeter continued. Lepine told Cornaccia that the agency is work- Community animal control contract, “Paradis,” a member of the Quebec National ing closely with the two professional orders covering 14 cities, by underbidding Assembly since 1980 and Quebec environment that representing Quebec veterinarians, to the Montreal SPCA in early 1994. minister 1989-1994, “understands the issues enlist and train vets and vet techs to perform Barnoti responded by and gave us quite a bit of time. We discussed inspections and lay charges under P-42. escalating Montreal SPCA promo- the intolerable situation, the underground Barnoti points out that the Montreal tion of low-cost pet sterilization, economy, the lack of registration for breeders, SPCA already has vets and vet techs capable adoptions, and involvement in high- and the vast sums of money going into govern- of doing the job––but for more than 100 years (Eileen Crossman) profile anti-cruelty law enforcement. ment coffers [from pet-related sales taxes] with it mostly did not. ––Merritt Clifton Seeking to end animal sacrifice (continued from page 1) dispose of surplus bull calves and other less Cape Argus. Kapporat is a custom in which the sins of a participate in slaughter, competitions to cap- productive livestock, may be practiced by National SPCA inspector Kingstone person are symbolically transferred to a fowl. ture and kill animals have evolved into scram- more Hindus today than ever before since Sizaba said the Xhosa belief is “bull and The fowl is held above the person’s head and bles after footballs. Witnesses drink to cele- Vedic times. doesn’t hold water. The crying (of the animal) swung in a circle three times while certain brate goals, not kills. Except among some Within two weeks of the Calcutta is a sign of pain and suffering and not a com- words are spoken. The fowl is then slaugh- animists and practitioners of voodoo, the can- High Court ruling, as many as 3,000 animals munication with anybody.” tered so that the person may have a good, dle placed in a skull to chase ghosts from the were reportedly sacrificed at the 341-year-old Actual confrontation between the peaceful life. Sometimes the chickens are doorstep where animals are slaughtered is now Kakakhya temple in Guwahati. National SPCA and practitioners of animal given to the poor as food. a jack o’lantern pumpkin. Two hundred were killed at a temple sacrifice came in March 2006, after police “Nowhere is the practice of Kapp- In seeking to transform blood sacri- in Satbhaya and 50 at a temple in Osanagara, officers at the Nyanga Station in Cape Town orat even mentioned in the Torah,” Boks con- fice into blood donation, Chakrabarti followed both in defiance of the Orissa law. The law reportedly killed a goat and several chickens to tinued. “It is a pagan tradition that has been a history of removing slaughtering from ritual was unlikely to be invoked. Orissa revenue ritually cleanse the premises of bad spirits muddled into the religious practices of a small sacrifice, exemplified by substituting mone- minister Manmohan Samal in March 2006 suf- occasioned by rumors about a human murder. Jewish sect.” Supporting statements were tary offerings for sacrifice. This was intro- fered only transient embarrassment after The killing was videotaped. included from Jewish legal code historian duced in most branches of Hinduism between reportedly attending animal sacrifices in “The SPCA laid a complaint,” wrote Rabbi Joseph Caro, former Israeli Chief Rabbi 1,500 and 2,300 years ago, and in Judaism Rameswarpur, his home district. Samal Humane Education Trust founder van der Shiomo Goren, and Jewish animal advocates more than 500 years before the first written acknowledged visiting the temple, but denied Merwe in Animal Voice, the newsletter of the Karen Davis, founder of United Poultry documentation of Kapporat. that animals were killed in his presence. South African branch of Compassion In World Concerns, and Richard Schwartz, author of Indeed, the first records of Kapporat Farming, “but the Directorate of Public Judaism & Vegetarianism. were rabbinical opinions written against it. Animist sacrifice Prosecutions refused to prosecute. However, Despite Boks’ advice that Kapporat Much of the written record pertain- Animal sacrifice is also increasingly the incident was raised in Parlia-ment. Now might constitute prosecutable cruelty, it open- ing to animal sacrifice in all major religious visible in South Africa, though not necessarily ritual slaughter is to be regulated.” ly continued, with no arrests. traditions describes the efforts of a few of the practiced by more people. A dozen years after Said chair Manie Schoeman at the best educated faithful to persuade other people the collapse of apartheid and introduction of August 4, 2006 Constitutional Review Psychological defense to give it up. majority rule, citiizens of tribal descent are Committee hearing, “Despite the fact that Slaughterhouse designer Temple Yet animal sacrifice persists, trau- increasingly inclined to revive cultural tradi- there are regulations governing kosher and Grandin in a 1988 landmark study titled matic as ever for the animal victims and the tions, often in conflict with neighbors of halaal slaughter, no such regulations exist “Behavior of slaughter plant and auction children for whom watching or participating in African, European and Asian descent. regarding ritual slaughter according to African employees towards animals” used surveys to the killing is often a part of cultural initiation. The first public example was the custom. Twelve years since the advent of define the three basic psychological mecha- Defenders of animal sacrifice con- 1992 revival of young men ritually torturing a democracy, this is an intolerable situation. nisms that humans use to cope with killing. tend that opponents just do not understand it. bull to death at the annual First Fruits Festival The Department of Agriculture is instructed by Some people, Grandin found, dis- As a former child guru and as an near Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal, described this committee to draw up such regulations.” tance themselves from the crying animals and ordained minister, respectively, Chakrabarti in the October 2006 edition of A N I M A L any feelings of guilt, often through use of and Boks understand the importance of reli- P E O P L E. Exempted from prosecution as a Kapporat alcohol or other intoxicants. Some become gious ritual in holding societies together. religious exercise, the First Fruits Festival was By contrast, Los Angeles Depart- sadistic. Some ritualize the proceedings, As founder of the Humane Edu- invoked as a precedent in 2005 when Xhosa ment of Animal Regulation chief Ed Boks’ rationalizing their part with a pretense that cation Trust, instrumental in adding humane medical doctor Manduleli Bikitsha announced September 27 warning to practitioners of killing is for the greater good. education to the national school curriculum in he would sacrifice a cow in his yard in Kapporat attracted notice partly because few Each approach can menace social South Africa, van der Merwe understands the Somerset West, a Cape Town suburb. people had ever seen or heard of it, outside of and economic stability. Thus the progress of effects of cruelty witnessed in childhood on “The bellowing of the dying cow Hassidic Jewish communities. civilization itself might be measured by the adult behavior. when slaughtered in the Xhosa ritual is indica- Explained Boks’ press release, success of efforts to restrain slaughter and the Chakrabarti, Boks, and van der tive that the ceremony is accepted by ances- “Every year for six days before Yom Kippur behavior associated with it, a topic of the ear- Merwe understand animal sacrifice. That is tors, but to animal welfare organisations it is (the Jewish Day of Atonement on October 2) liest known legal codes. precisely why they seek to persuade their com- cruelty,” explained Myolisi Gophe of T h e some Jews perform the ritual “Kapporat.” Over time, as fewer people actively munities to leave it behind. ––Merritt Clifton ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 - 19 Mink farm raids European Parliament moves against dog & cat fur, seal pelts The European Parliament on October 13, 2006 approved a Seal Alert founder Francois Hugo, of Huot Bay, South Midnight raiders on October 14, ban on importing and selling dog and cat fur in member nations, as Africa, objected that the European Parliament declaration did not 2006 released 11,000 mink from a farm in Oza part of the first European Community plan for animal protection. explicitly include a ban on the import of seal pelts from Namibia. does Rios, Spain, and released as many as Earlier, on September 6, 368 European Parliament legisla- “Whilst Canada kills four times more seals, it does not kill 5,000 from two other sites in Galicia. tors signed a declaration asking the European Community to ban nursing baby seals, and sets its quota at 30% of the pups,” Hugo said, Galician farmers produced about imports of seal products from Canada. Not formally endorsed by the “whereas Namibia awards quotas that kill every pup, and even with 80% of the 400,000 mink who are pelted each European Union assembly, the non-binding request sought to reinforce lengthened sealing seasons still cannot be filled from a seal population year in Spain, the Barcelona-based animal legislation already in effect in Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands, declining and suffering from repeated mass die-offs due to starvation.” rights group Fundacion Altarriba told and adopted in October by Germany. Norway, the largest European Namibian fishers, like their Atlantic Canada counterparts, Associated Press. buyer of Canadian seal pelts, is not a European Community member. blame seals for fished-out waters. About 6,500 mink got past the farm perimeter fences, Galician authorities said. About 4,550 were recovered within 48 hours, Three states are sued over trapping methods Nutria bounty increased 70% of them dead. The Animal Protection Institute, of on October 10 sued the Colorado Wildlife The Louisiana Department of Having fast metabolisms and no Sacramento, California, on September 20 and Commission for authorizing the use of box Wildlife & Fisheries has upped the bounty on hunting experience, ranched mink rarely October 12, 2006 sued the Minnesota traps to capture mink and pine marten, who nutria to $5.00 a tail, trying to keep trappers thrive after release, but mink who survived in Department of Natural Resources and Maine would then be killed and pelted. The autho- active despite fur prices lagging far behind the Britain are blamed for hunting water voles to Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife for rization was issued on July 13, at request of rising cost of fueling boats and off-road vehi- the verge of extinction. Efforts to extirpate the permitting trapping by methods that jeopardize the Colorado Trappers Association. cles. Paid for by the federal Coastal Wetlands mink have not succeeded, but reintroducing endangered and threatened species. Sinapu and Forest Guardians contend Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, the otters is working, reported Laura Benesi of the In Minnesota, API director of that the authorization violated the intent of a bounty program “has removed more than 1.1 Oxford University Wildlife Conservation wildlife programs Camilla Fox told Associated 1996 amendment to the Colorado state consti- million nutria,” reported Associated Press. Research Unit in September 2006. Press, “Between 2002 and 2005, at least 13 tution which prohibits any use of poisons, Bonesi and team released 17 otters Canada lynx were incidentally trapped in leghold traps, or body-gripping traps on public Anti-fur week in London into the upper Thames. “When the otters snares and traps set for other species. In land. Sinapu and Forest Guardians also con- Seventy demonstrators passed out arrived there were 60 or more mink in this Maine, records show that a minimum of five tend that the Colorado Wildlife Commission 12,000 anti-fur leaflets in London between small area,” Bonesi told Sunday Times e n v i- Canada lynx were caught in traps in 2005 lacks information about the abundance and dis- October 9 and October 14, 2006, the ronment editor Jonathan Leake. “The mink alone. At least two of the lynx were kittens.” tribution of mink and pine marten, and violat- Coalition Against the Fur Trade reported, did not disappear completely, but within a few Sinapu, of Boulder, Colorado, and ed its own rules of procedure in approving the focusing on Knightsbridge, a reputed fur sales months they were doing much less damage.” Forest Guardians, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, trappers’ request. stronghold. Wanted: 192 missing greyhounds Greyhounds killed at British sanctuary? T U C S O N ––Greyhound Protection records documenting the fate of only eight M A N C H E S T E R––The Leigh Ani- Sanctuary kills half the dogs it receives,” League president Susan Netboy has offered dogs. Those eight were placed by Colorado mal Sanctuary in Greater Manchester, Britain, Foggo said. A 50% euthanasia rate is not $10,000 for information leading to the discov- Greyhound Adoption, of Littleton. on September 17, 2006 began refusing to unusual in the U.S., but is almost unheard of ery of the fate of 192 ex-racing greyhounds Favreau did not comment to Willett, accept greyhounds, the same day that Daniel in Britain, which as a nation kills fewer shel- who vanished in 2005 and early 2006 after but told Clancy that the missing dogs were Foggo of the London Sunday Times recounted ter animals than some large U.S. municipal they were taken from the Tucson Greyhound “fine.” Wrote Clarncy, “The Arizona Depart- that “a reporter posing as a trainer who wanted animal control shelters, and where “Ameri- Park by Richard Favreau, 37, of Calhan, ment of Racing, which regulates greyhound two healthy dogs killed” met “an employee can” pit bull terriers, making up more than Colorado. tracks, is trying to get to the bottom of it.” called David [who] accepted £70 in cash to kill half the U.S. shelter toll, have been banned “All we can do is pray that someone Offering purses less than a third the two young greyhounds,” no questions asked. since 1991. will respond so that these dogs don’t become size of those at the Phoenix Greyhound Park, “Three greyhound trainers have The ban exempts “Staffordshire” casualties of the greyhound racing industry the Tucson track is considered the end of the given interviews, on condition of anonymity, bull terriers however, who are essentially the like the other 15,000 greyhounds who disap- line for dogs who don’t win. stating that the sanctuary has been the killing same dog breed in white rather than brindle pear each year,” Netboy told Anslee Willett of Dogs retired from Phoenix often ground of choice for the greyhound racing coloration, and are now the dogs most likely the Chicago Tribune. “They just disappear. In become breeders, or are placed in homes by industry in the northwest for many years,” to be surrendered to British shelters; grey- our opinion, they are destroyed.” Arizona Adopt a Greyhound, Adopt a wrote Foggo. hounds may be a distant second. Dogs Home About 28,000 greyhounds per year Greyhound spokesperson Kari Young told In July 2006 Foggo disclosed the Battersea, believed to lead Britain in placing are retired from U.S. tracks. Some are adopted Clancy. By contrast, Arizona Greyhound activities of a private individual, David Smith both ex-racing greyhounds and Staffordshires, out, some kept as breeders, but most are Rescue president Mary Freeman said, the four of Seaham, County Durham, who had in mid-October 2006 disclosed that believed to be sold to laboratories. southern Arizona greyhound placement groups allegedly killed as many as 10,000 retired Staffordshires made up 15% of their dog Greyhound Network News p u b l i s h e r cannot come close to coping with the Tucson greyhounds over the years using a captive bolt intake in 2005, and 36% in September 2006. Joan Eidinger, of Glendale, Arizona, told castoffs. gun, burying the remains in a large garden. Mongrels by contrast were 28% of admissions Michael Clancy of the Arizona Republic t h a t Favreau in mid-October 2006 “was Opened in 1975, the Leigh Animal in 2005, 16% in September 2006. Favreau sold 2,652 dogs to the Colorado State suspended for 60 days and fined $1,000 by the University veterinary medical school in a Arizona Department of Racing, the maximum Bang the drum slowly for Irish greyhounds recent three-year period. amounts, for failing to keep proper records on D U B L I N ––The Irish Greyhound locally and made from goat or calf skin. In Summarized Willett, “Between the dogs,” Clancy continued. “The racing Board reportedly used DNA profiling to trace every tourist shop you go into, those mass-pro- November 2005 and July 2006, Favreau con- stewards [also] referred the case to the director the owner who abandoned a racing greyhound duced bodhrans would be from the subconti- tracted with the Tucson Greyhound Park to for further investigation and possibly harsher in Tramore, County Waterford, in April 2006, nent and would generally be greyhound or take dogs to Colorado and place them with penalties.” Favreau was summoned to a after cutting off her ears to remove her tattoos. some other poor-quality skin.” adoption organizations. He was paid $150 per November 29 hearing. The Waterford SPCA found the greyhound Responded Niall Walton, managing dog, more than double the average price of “The Tucson track has a spotty roaming at large. The owner was located in director of Walton’s Music in Dublin, selling $60, to transport each greyhound.” record with the Racing Department,” Clancy Munster. No further information about the more than 5,000 bodhrans a year, “I have But Netboy said she could find noted. “Earlier this year, several track offi- case has been disclosed. never seen or heard of any skin other than goat cials had their licenses suspended and paid A furor broke meanwhile when John being used.” Class action in greyhound fines for their roles in the loading and transport O’Connor, manager of Custy’s Traditional About 24,000 greyhounds are regis- theft for sale to labs case of 35 dogs to a track in Juarez, Mexico. Eight Music Shop in Ennis, County Clare, admitted tered each year in Ireland, home of the dogs died in transit.” selling bodhran drums covered with greyhound bodhran. Most are made these days in MILWAUKEE––Greyhound racing Opened in 1944, the Tucson Grey- skin. “We sell greyhound,” O’Connor told Pakistan, which has no western-style grey- trainer George Panos, of Hudson, Wisconsin, hound Park drew 66,787 bettors in 2001, but Mark Tighe of the London Sunday Times, hound tracks, but has some hare coursing and in mid-October 2006 filed a class action law- only 51,743 in 2005, a slide of 22%. “but the majority of our bodhrans are sourced point-to-point greyhound racing. suit on behalf of as many as 1,000 racing dog owners against former Greyhound Adoption of Iowa president Daniel Shonka for allegedly selling dogs to lab- oratories without the owners’ consent. Shonka claimed to be placing the dogs in good homes, the suit alleges. Shonka on February 6, 2003 pleaded guilty to both felony and misdemeanor theft of greyhounds by fraud. The own- ers were told either that Shonka was racing their dogs at the now defunct St. Croix Meadows Greyhound Racing Park in Hudson, Wisconsin, or that he had placed the dogs in homes. Instead, said Wiscon- sin Division of Gaming chief administrator Scott Scepaniak, Shonka sold approximately 1,050 greyhounds to the Guidant Corporation for use in cardiac research. He was paid between $374,000 and $500,000, according to court documents. St. Croix County Judge Scott Needham sentenced Shonka to serve nine months in jail, followed by four years on probation, and to pay fines and restitution totaling $110,000. 20 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006 The Medici Giraffe The World of the Polar Bear by Norbert Rosing And Other Tales of Exotic Animals and Power Firefly Books (P.O. Box 1338, Ellicot Station, Buffalo, NY 14205), 2006. by Marina Belozerskaya 202 pages, hardcover, illust. $45.00. Little, Brown & Co. (1271 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY Among Wild Horses: 10020), 2006. 412 pages, paperback. $24.99. A portrait of the Pryor Mountain Mustangs Marina Belozerskaya has given us a lection of captive wild animals at his prosper- diverse collection of mini histories beginning ous capital city. The conquistadores under Photos by Lynne Pomeranz. Text by Rhonda Massingham in ancient Egypt. She examines exotic ani- Hernando Cortes set fire to the zoo, burning Storey Publishing (210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247), 2006. mal-keeping in the Roman Empire, all the animals to death, in order to advance 134 pages, hardcover, illustrated. $16.95. Renaissance Florence, Aztec Mexico, their colonial goal of terrorizing the natives. Bohemia, Napoleonic France, and the early And so on. The reader discovers The World of the Polar Bear a n d fast shrinking the bears’ seal hunting habitat 20th century U.S. how Rudolf XI, the Emperor of the Holy Among Wild Horses are a world apart from and flooding foxes out of their dens as the per- Through time and across continents, Roman Empire in early 17th century Europe, most of the other coffee table books we’ve mafrost thaws into vast bogs. Belozerskaya reveals the use and abuse of neglected his affairs of state, with dire conse- seen lately. Compared to the Arctic, the Pryor exotic animals by powerful people. quences for all of Europe, because of his First of all, the exquisite photos Mountain wild horses inhabit a veritable A postscript about the sale from obsession with wildlife and the study of flora show authentic wild animals, in panoramic Garden of Eden along the Montana/Wyoming China to the U.S. of two giant pandas, at an and fauna. We learn that while Napoleon views of the wild, except for some mustangs border. The Crow tribe, who share much of exorbitant price, in order to cement relations Bonaparte was off butchering millions of in Among Wild Horses who appear to be in a the horses’ range, point out that the habitat in between the two global powers, shows that Europeans, his wife Josephine assiduously holding corral after a recent round-up. all directions from Pryor Mountain is much when it comes to using animals to advance the acquired, from as far away as Australia, a Second, the text actually describes less hospitable. goals of ambitious people, nothing has large collection of animals for her private zoo- what the photos show, and often explains The Pryor Mountain horses have changed in two and half thousand years. logical park. In early 20th century America, how the photographer captured the scene. been protected from roundup for slaughter Nearly 300 years B.C., the Roman news magnate William Randolph Hearst bur- Neither The World of the Polar Bear n o r since the 1968 creation of the Pryor Mountain general Ptolemy Philadelphos kept a magnifi- dened his huge publishing empire with the cost Among Wild Horses is a recycled thesis, Wild Horse Range, three years before the cent menagerie of captive wild animals at his of purchasing exotic animals from all over the going into depth and detail about biological 1971 passage of the Wild Free Roaming palace in Alexandria. He spent a fortune on world to stock his 60,000 acre private zoo at facts while evading the controversies sur- Horse and Burro Act. Yet the Pryor Mountain capturing wild elephants, the battle tanks of San Simeon, California. rounding their subjects. mustangs––and all wild horses––are still at the ancient world, for military use. For the most part the stories end The World of the Polar Bear a n d risk as result of federal policies favoring Roman rulers frequently bought badly for the animals, and continue to have Among Wild Horses largely save their plead- ranchers, who perceive the mere 40,000 hors- political popularity with the blood of captured bad endings in our own time. Belozerskaya, ing for the last pages, but both are direct es still on the U.S. range as threats to the well- African and Asian wildlife. But according to for example, might have mentioned Cecil appeals for animals who are jeopardized by being of more than four million cattle. Pliny, the emperor Pompey once misjudged John Rhodes, the English colonial who present U.S. policies. Both World of the Among Wild Horses opens with how even brutal Roman spectators would annexed Southern Africa to the British Crown Polar Bear author/photographer Norbert Hope Ryden’s account of how her work as a respond to a group of some twenty elephants at at the turn of the 20th Century. Rosing and Among Wild Horses photographer television reporter helped to save the Pryor the infamous Circus Maximus. Like so many potentates, Rhodes Lynne Pomeranz make their cases mostly with Mountain horses in 1968, and concludes with “When they had lost all hope of imported exotic animals for his private zoo, the photos and anecdotes that they collected in Rhonda Massingham’s appeal on their behalf escape,” Pliny wrote, “they tried to gain the located on the slopes of Table Mountain, person during long stays among their subjects. today. “The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse compassion of the crowd by indescribable ges- looming over Cape Town. Among the exotic As well as capturing almost every Range falls under the Bureau of Land tures of entreaty, deploring their fate with a imports were a few Himalayan tahrs, who aspect of wild polar bear life, Norbert Rosing Management, U.S. Forest Service, and sort of wailing, so much to the distress of the escaped, adapted well to Table Mountain, and provides many memorable shots of the crea- National Park Service management, all of public that they forgot Pompey and his munifi- by 2004 had reached a population of several tures who share their habitat, especially which juggle the health and well-being of the cence, carefully devised for their honor, and hundred. In that year the South African Arctic foxes, who along with ravens are polar horses there with other values,” Massingham bursting into tears rose in a body and invoked National Parks Board decided that all “alien” bears’ frequent sidekicks. Rosing even caught points out. “Due to these multi-agency and curses on the head of Pompey, for which he animals would be exterminated. The killing one Arctic fox in the act of nipping at a polar multi-use agendas, the Pryor Mountain mus- soon afterward paid the penalty.” took several weeks of military-style assault, bear’s heels––perhaps, Rosing speculated, to tangs are restricted to a much smaller, less We learn how Lorenzo de Medici, using ground troops and helicopter gunships. urge the bear to go hunt a seal for both of productive range than they roamed when the the powerful Florentine merchant who wished No doubt Hernan Cortes and his them. The bear shows no sign of inclination law was passed. The BLM reports that this to attain royal status, kept a menagerie of arsonist conquistadors would have applauded to harm the fox. Dangerous as polar bears can area cannot presently sustain the number of exotic animals, whom he habitually traded for the bloodshed. be, they tend to be more patient and playful horses on the range.” political favours. --Chris Mercer than menacing toward anything that isn’t In recent years the Pryor Mountain In Mexico the 16th century Aztec
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