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Home , Animal Welfare Institute, Dolphin, Roger Payne

SUMMER 2018 / VOLUME 67 / NUMBER 2 Welfare Institute Jill Carey, CPA, Treasurer Jill Carey, CPA John WBoyd, Jr. are borngray butturnpinkorwhite—often withpatches of dolphin. Fewer than100remain. Strikinginappearance, they The animalisasubspecies oftheIndo-Pacific humpback densely populated western . to helpTaiwan mitigate thethreats they face along Taiwan’s United States to provide technical expertise andresources extinction for andsurvival thedolphins, asitenables the (ESA). Thedecision could well markthedifference between dolphin, as“endangered” undertheEndangered Species Act taiwanensis), also known astheTaiwanese humpback 8 to list theTaiwanese white dolphin(Sousa chinensis National MarineFisheries Service (NMFS) agreed onMay In aresponse to a2016 petitionby AWI andallies, the Protection Rare Dolphin GainsESA SPOTLIGHT Samuel Peacock, MD Roger Payne, PhD Roger Fouts, PhD Mary Lee Jensvold,Mary PhD Christine Stevens Gerard Bertrand, PhD Caroline ,Esq., Secretary Cynthia Wilson, Vice President Cathy Liss, President Chris Miller, DVM Cathy Liss Caroline AGriffin,Esq. Cynthia Wilson, Chair SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE OFFICERS DIRECTORS FOUNDER John Walsh, MD Senior Policy Advisor Specialist Coordinator Graphic Designer Agnes Van Volkenburgh, DVM, Poland Angela King, United Kingdom Ambassador Tabarak Husain, Aline SdeAluja,DVM, Mexico Alexandra Alberg Bangladesh International Program Director, Government Affairs Executive Director/General Counsel Website andCommunications Viktor Reinhardt, DVM, PhD Robert Schmidt,PhD Bill Clark, PhD Bill Clark, Nancy Blaney Brittany Bailey Nadia Adawi, Esq. Kate Dylewsky STAFF AND CONSULTANTS INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE Johanna , Esq. to oneoftherarest marinemammalsontheplanet. withtheneedtoneed for avoid irreparable clean energy harm as they proceed withthewindfarm proposals—balancing the recommendations to authorities inTaiwan to tread carefully The report helpedpersuadethecommittee to issuestrong of whichsheisamember. (SeeAWI Quarterly, fall 2017.) deliberations andconcerns to theIWC Scientific Committee, the dolphin’s habitat. Naomipresented theworkshop’s of several large offshore wind farms proposed within international workshop inTaiwan to assess theimpacts scientist Dr. NaomiRose participated inan construction oflarge windfarms. InApril2017, AWI marine boat traffic, anddevelopment—including thepotential The dolphinsare threatened by gillnetfishing, pollution, white dolphin hasuniquecharacteristics. studies, however, conclude thattheTaiwanese white dolphin by thedeepwaters oftheTaiwan Strait. New near themainlandandisseparated from theTaiwanese not distinctfrom theChinese white dolphin,whichswims petition to protect them,concluding thatthepopulationwas mottled gray—as they mature. NMFS initially denieda2014 Senior Graphic Designer Senior Advisor, Animal Cruelty Programs Alicia Prygoski Ava Rinehart Public Relations Manager Farm AnimalPolicy Associate Policy Advisor Director, MarineAnimalProgram Researcher Director, Farm AnimalProgram Membership Coordinator Marine AnimalConsultant Marine AnimalConsultant Sue Fisher Marine MammalScientist Susan Millward Wildlife Attorney Haley Frevert Ryan Ososki Kate O’Connell Eric Kleiman Dena Jones Naomi , PhD Marjorie Fishman Mary Lou Randour,Mary PhD Tara Zuardo, Esq. CFC# 10474 Tax ID#13-5655952 ISSN 1930-5109 (online) ISSN 1071-1384 (print) www.awionline.org [email protected] (202) 337-2332 Washington, DC20003 900 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE Institute information, contact: For subscription inquiries orother Senior Wildlife Attorney Staff Attorney, Farm AnimalProgram Executive Assistant Writer/Editor Wildlife Biologist Dave Tilford Erin Thompson, Esq. Regina Terlau-Benford D.J. Schubert 20 ISTOCK

AWI QUARTERLY SUMMER 2018

ANIMALS IN LABORATORIES 20 Nose for Trouble: Using to 28 In the News Detect Rodenticides 29 Lab Gasses Monkeys as Volkswagen 21 Finding Noninvasive Methods to Survey Rigs Results Wild Horse Populations 32 At ’ Expense, USFWS Sticks to Its Guns COMPANION 24 Pratt Fall: USDA Fails Again at AWA Enforcement GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS 27 Military Dogs Not Getting Their Due 15 State Legislation 22 Federal Legislation ABOUT THE COVER A hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys FARM ANIMALS imbricate) cruises the reef off IN REMEMBRANCE 12 In the News Indonesia’s Raja Ampat Islands. Habitat 10 Esmond Martin 14 AWI Report: Higher Welfare Means loss and degradation, entanglement in Healthier Animals fi shing gear, ingestion of , AWI SPECIAL EVENT slaughter for , and the tortoiseshell HUMANE EDUCATION 6 Revolutionary Science and a Reverence trade have taken a heavy toll on this 16 AWI Partners with Acclaimed Author for Life: AWI Awards Schweitzer Medal critically endangered animal. to Aid Endangered Animals to Dr. Samuel K Wasser AWI is partnering with acclaimed author Katherine Applegate and REVIEWS HarperCollins Children’s Books to raise 30 The Great Apes 2 Rare Dolphin Gains ESA Protection awareness about species threatened by 31 Hearted 4 In the News human activities and our responsibility 5 Norway and Iceland Resume 31 The New York Pigeon to ensure we don’t cause their Slaughter extinction. See page 16 to learn more about the partnership and Applegate’s WILDLIFE new endangered-species-themed “Endling” series. Photograph by Pete 11 Wilderness Way in Senegal Named After AWI Founder Oxford/Minden Pictures. 19 In the News

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@AWIonline @AWIonline MARINE LIFE

VIRGIN HOLIDAYS pool to a seaside dolphin sanctuary by scientific evidence showing that the INVESTS IN DOLPHIN 2020. At the time, the ’s CEO, turtles are still highly endangered, SANCTUARY John Racanelli, opined, “Although this and that the Northwest Atlantic decision is about a group of dolphins, subpopulation in particular faces Virgin Holidays has pledged $300,000 it is every bit as much about our severe threats from , habitat to support the creation of North humanity; for the way a society treats loss, and myriad impacts associated America’s first dolphin sanctuary and the animals with whom it shares this with climate change. the move of seven captive dolphins at planet speaks volumes about us.” the National Aquarium in Baltimore to the facility. Last year, Virgin Holidays announced—after consultation with BOWHEADS: 100-TON AWI and other stakeholders—that it LESSER PROTECTION FOR DUKE ELLINGTONS would support the creation of seaside LEATHERBACK TURTLES? sanctuaries for dolphins and would not The haunting songs of the humpback sign up any new attractions featuring The Northwest Atlantic subpopulation whale are well known. (They are literally captive dolphins performing of leatherback turtles could soon unearthly— phonograph recordings swimming with tourists. lose important protections under the of their communications are currently Endangered Species Act in response to passing through the outer reaches of The sanctuary’s exact location has yet to a September 2017 petition filed by the the solar system and into interstellar be determined, but the focus is currently Blue Water Fishermen’s Association. space aboard the Voyager spacecrafts, on Florida. As stated in an April press The petition requested that the turtles launched in 1977.) All male humpback release from Virgin: “The sanctuary will be downlisted from endangered to in the same area famously sing provide the dolphins with a much bigger threatened. Changing the turtle’s the same melody and, as songs evolve, living space, and allow them to enjoy a status could ease critical restrictions the whales adopt the changes. fully natural seaside location including and efforts to mitigate bycatch impacts. marine life tides, temperature variations, and Scientists at the University of Washington are now reporting—after other natural ocean life such as fish, In December, the National Marine years of recording along bowhead crabs and seaweed.” Humans would Fisheries Service announced a 90-day whales’ polar migratory routes—that this still care for the mostly captive-born finding on the petition, stating that the whale is also an impressive sea songster. dolphins, however. petitioned action may be warranted. The twist is that bowheads seem to Such a finding triggers a status review, follow fewer rules than humpbacks. The National Aquarium announced and the agency solicited scientific and Scientists compare the bowhead’s free- in June 2016 a revolutionary plan to commercial information pertaining form songs to riffing jazz musicians. Over move its colony of formerly performing to this leatherback subpopulation. three years, an underwater microphone dolphins from its indoor amphitheater AWI submitted comments, attaching captured 184 distinct songs from a small population. The researchers surmise that each male has a different song and that it changes from season to season.

The study is described in the Royal Society’s Letters. Want to hear the bowhead song? Visit www. awionline.org/jazz.

Leatherback sea turtle hatchlings face long odds on their way to the sea and adulthood. Downlisting the Northwest Atlantic subpopulation from endangered to threatened could

FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE AND FISH FLORIDA make life even harder.

AWI QUARTERLY 4 SUMMER 2018 MARINE LIFE WHALE, ISTOCK WHALE, FIN

Norway and Iceland Resume Whale Slaughter

t appears 2018 will be a year for whales in the The announced resumption of fi n caused an I northern hemisphere, as both Norway and Iceland have immediate outcry, including from the “Don’t Buy from issued their highest whaling quotas in years. In all, as many Icelandic Whalers” coalition—of which AWI is a founding as 1,287 minke whales could be killed by Norway, while the member. The coalition has gained commitments from Icelandic government has issued a base quota of 217 minke several retailers not to buy seafood from Icelandic whales and 209 endangered fi n whales. These quotas have seafood company HB Grandi due to its ties to Hvalur. not been approved by the International Whaling Commission High Liner Foods, Wegmans, and Ahold (the parent (IWC) and defy the intent of the IWC global moratorium on company of Stop & Shop and Giant) are among the dozens commercial whaling. of companies that have made the pledge. (See www. DontBuyFromIcelandicWhalers.com for campaign updates.) The Norwegian whaling season opened the fi rst week of April. Some 15 vessels requested a whaling permit—up from Until recently, Hvalur held over 34 percent of HB Grandi’s 11 last year, when 432 minke whales were killed. Two vessels shares and Hvalur CEO Kristjan Loftsson chaired the seafood in particular, the Reinebuen and the Kato, were responsible company’s board of directors. Two days following the for the greatest number of whales taken in 2017; both are announcement that Hvalur would resume fi n whaling came engaged in exporting whale products to Japan. As domestic the news that Hvalur would be selling its HB Grandi shares demand for whale products in Norway continues to wane, to another company. HB Grandi CEO Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson Norwegian whalers are struggling to turn a profi t, and even admitted to AWI that the sale of the shares were indeed due the companies linked to the two whaling leaders have seen to Hvalur’s decision to resume fi n whaling, and that marketing falling income in recent years. seafood had become diff icult due to the whaling issue. At its May 4 annual meeting, HB Grandi shareholders voted for a In Iceland, the Hvalur hf whaling company announced in new board of directors. For the fi rst time since the company April that it would resume fi n whales on June 10, was founded in 2004, Kristjan Loftsson was not elected. after a two-year hiatus. Hvalur exports fi n and to Japan, some of which ends up as treats. The The whaling issue has also been raised in the Icelandic company has seen little profi t from its exports, however, and Parliament, and the prime minister has indicated her has explored alternative ways to make money from killing intention to thoroughly review whaling’s impact on Iceland’s whales. Hvalur is now developing iron supplements from image and economy prior to renewing any quotas in 2019. whale meat and is rendering bones and blubber to make gelatin and food additives.

AWI QUARTERLY 5 SUMMER 2018 KRISTINA SHERK KRISTINA

REVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE and a REVERENCE for LIFE AWI Awards Schweitzer Medal to Dr. Samuel K Wasser

Wasser’s life is bound by threads so small with the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife that a thousand of them braided together Crime, INTERPOL, US Homeland Security Investigations, the SAM wouldn’t amount to a single eyelash. These US Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, the US Fish and Wildlife threads are strands of deoxyribonucleic acid, better known Service, the US Department of State, and wildlife authorities as DNA. DNA’s double helix—the two strings of nucleotides in numerous source and transit countries across Africa and that caress each other in a spiraling embrace—provides the Asia. DNA detective work at Wasser’s lab has also benefited genetic instructions for everything that lives. To Dr. Wasser, orcas, pangolins, wolves, baboons, and a host of other species. DNA provides clues—information he can use to illuminate the lives of imperiled animals and track the movements and Wasser is guided not only by the intertwined threads of methods of poachers who plot their demise. DNA’s double helix, but also by the intertwined attributes of meticulous science and ethical values. In explaining At the University of Washington, in Seattle, Wasser is the what motivates him, Wasser states, “I started working in endowed chair in Conservation Biology and director of the Africa when I was 19 years old because I loved animals. That Center for Conservation Biology. On April 10, at a ceremony was 1973. Since then, I have watched the rising toll that held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, overconsumption, habitat destruction, and has AWI awarded the Schweitzer Medal to Wasser in recognition had on the world’s most spectacular terrestrial and marine of his groundbreaking work that has contributed enormously organisms. I was unable to just stand by, and my life’s mission to the fight against wildlife trafficking. Senator Maria became developing and applying noninvasive methods to Cantwell (D-WA) presented the medal on AWI’s behalf. uncover these human impacts, show them to the world, and offer solutions for change.” In one of his most noteworthy accomplishments, Wasser has assembled a DNA reference map of elephants across Africa, The “noninvasive” aspect of his work is underscored by how he which is now widely used to determine the geographic origins handles his study subjects—or rather, how he avoids handling of poached ivory. This work has led to prosecutions of major them: He manages to uncover volumes about a wildlife transnational ivory traffickers and nurtured key collaborations population’s abundance, distribution, and physiological

AWI QUARTERLY 6 SUMMER 2018 conditions without ever disturbing, or necessarily even seeing, ivory confiscated somewhere in the Far East—and match it a single animal. That is because all the information he needs is against all those reference samples on his DNA map. Thus, (not so neatly) packaged in what they leave behind. he can pinpoint the area where the lived and ultimately was killed. In no small measure, Wasser reimages the living individuals— their health, their wanderings, their family relationships— Along the way, Wasser has developed some impressive from their feces. Laboratory examination of dung dropped new tools to solve vexing problems. For instance, how can a by animals in their natural habitats reveals trace amounts scientist extract DNA from something as hard as elephant of hormones that provide reliable information about their ivory? Grinding the stuff into a powder creates so much heat levels, nutrition, and reproductive status. Extraction of that the DNA is obliterated in the process. Wasser’s inspiration the animals’ own DNA from feces has helped Wasser identify was to use a powerful electromagnet to vibrate the ivory at high individual animals and place them within a larger web of frequency while it is submerged in liquid nitrogen at -321° F. elephants throughout the continent. This pulverizes the ivory without destroying the DNA.

I was unable to just stand by, and my life’s mission became developing and applying noninvasive methods to uncover these human impacts, show them to the world, and offer solutions for change.

Wasser has collected dung samples from more than 3,000 Repeated tests of the system have verified that it is elephants across Africa. He has identified 16 locations on the exceptionally accurate. This accuracy makes Wasser’s results chromosome containing genetic markers. Genetic variations very much welcomed by the various national and international at these loci are linked to the geographical site where the agencies engaged in efforts to combat ivory trafficking. The DNA was acquired. From such information, Wasser created most obvious benefit of such analyses is that they can be used his detailed elephant DNA map. to identify poaching hotspots. They can also be used to reveal internal smuggling routes in Africa, link separate seizures, and With this resource in hand, Wasser can take a sample of DNA illuminate the strategies employed by criminal syndicates. And from an unknown origin—for example, DNA extracted from they have served as evidence in the successful prosecution of

Dr. Wasser inspects six tons of contraband elephant ivory seized by Malaysian authorities. Wasser’s team will extract DNA from the ivory and analyze it against precise genetic markers. The samples can then be matched to specific locations in Africa based on a DNA reference

SYARIFAH KHADIEJAH SYED MOHD KAMIL MOHD SYED KHADIEJAH SYARIFAH map Wasser developed.

AWI QUARTERLY 7 SUMMER 2018 KRISTINA SHERK KRISTINA

infamous ivory traffickers such as Emile N’Bouke and Feisal Mohamed Ali. (See AWI Quarterly, fall 2016.) Because of the crime-solving component of Wasser’s work, he is sometimes referred to as the “Sherlock Holmes of the illegal wildlife trade.” (His preferred source material for sleuthing has also earned him a more colorful moniker: the Guru of Dudu.)

The medal's presenter, Senator Cantwell, has long supported Dr. Wasser’s work and has her own distinguished record on animals and the environment. During her tenure in Congress, Cantwell has sought to combat animal cruelty, protect vulnerable wildlife species and natural resources, increase transparency in government as it relates to the enforcement of environmental and animal welfare laws, and uphold and support sound science—oftentimes fending off efforts to weaken existing laws and policies that address these issues. KRISTINA SHERK KRISTINA

Prior to the ceremony, Cantwell said that “Dr. Samuel Above: AWI staff and guests mingle at the Albert K Wasser has been instrumental in safeguarding key Schweitzer Award ceremony on Capitol Hill to honor Dr. Wasser for his contributions to the fight against protections for some of the world’s most vulnerable animal poaching and illicit trade in wildlife. Below: Wasser poses populations. At every chance, he has fought for endangered with the Schweitzer Medal alongside Sen. Maria Cantwell (center) and AWI President Cathy Liss. animals, and in each case, he has made significant contributions to efforts around the globe. We cannot thank Dr. Wasser enough for all he has done

AWI QUARTERLY 8 SUMMER 2018 and will do to advance global conservation eff orts and fi ght back against poaching.”

In her address at the award ceremony, Cantwell recalled Wasser’s prediction—made at their fi rst meeting—that, once he told her what he does, she would never forget him. “I follow whale scat,” he said. Indeed, much of Wasser’s early work involved the use of trained scent-detection dogs on boats (pictured below) to gather scat samples used to study endangered southern resident orcas. True to this prediction, Cantwell never forgot him.

Dr. once said, “the friend of nature is the man who feels himself inwardly united with everything that lives in nature, who shares in the fate of all creatures, helps them when he can in their pain and need, and as far as possible avoids injuring or taking life.” The virtues that

make Wasser’s science so exceptional is its verifi cation of SHERK KRISTINA the kinship of all life—empirical discipline coupled with deep reverence for what he studies. About the Schweitzer Medal For his dogged pursuit of this mission, and the many benefi ts that have accrued from his ingenious eff orts, Shortly after AWI was founded in 1951, Dr. Albert Schweitzer AWI is proud to award the Schweitzer Medal to Dr. gave the organization permission to create a medal—bearing Samuel K Wasser. his and honoring his legacy—to be presented for outstanding in the advancement of animal welfare. In December 1953, a gold replica of the medal was presented to Schweitzer by Dr. Charles Joy in Oslo, Norway, where the famed humanitarian had gone to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. In his Nobel acceptance speech, Schweitzer admonished his listeners that “compassion, in which ethics takes root, does not assume true proportions until it embraces not only man, but every living being.”

For over 60 years, the Schweitzer Medal has been a symbol of outstanding achievement in the advancement of animal welfare. AWI has now awarded the medal to 46 individuals representing myriad disciplines—to Dr. Samuel K Wasser and other scientists, such as Dr. and , who helped us understand the social and emotional lives of wild animals and how our actions profoundly aff ect the natural world; to political leaders, such as Sen. Hubert Humphrey and Sen. Robert Dole, who championed key animal protection laws in Congress; to reporters, such as William Carr, Ann Cottrell Free, and Tom Knudson, who exposed animal cruelty in research and inhumane practices by our own government. The award has honored prosecutors and peace off icers on the front who tackle crimes against animals, foreign presidents and dignitaries who have helped preserve wildlife habitat, and individuals who did not set out to be champions for animals but who courageously stepped in when confronted with cruelty.

JANE COGAN JANE AWI QUARTERLY 9 SUMMER 2018 IN REMEMBRANCE SAVE THE ELEPHANTS THE SAVE Esmond Martin by Bill Clark

e were never close but we were friendly—on the same coordinating law enforcement operations that targeted W side in every fight. And we cooperated so frequently criminals who were dealing in rhinoceros horn and elephant over the years that we came to anticipate each other’s ivory. Before most operations, I’d contact Esmond and simply involvement in the work that we shared. The news of Esmond ask what information he might have on the dealers and Bradley Martin’s murder shocked me deeply. markets in particular countries where operations were being planned. He’d usually provide some leads and these would be Esmond was an enigmatic geographer who researched passed to national law enforcement agencies for surveillance and prepared meticulous reports on criminal trafficking of and verification prior to the operation. Esmond’s tips were elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn. “How does he do it?” was precise, timely, and absolutely reliable. the most common reaction to most of those reports. It was a question no one could answer. We had a working relationship that spanned almost 40 years, often sitting at the same table in some CITES committee or He would select a stunning necktie and matching handkerchief, working group, sometimes chatting for a while in a conference stuff a sheaf of papers into a briefcase, and hop on a plane flying hall. Many commonalities helped us to gravitate toward each off to some remote (and often dangerous) neighborhood. His other: both born in seventy-some years ago, both penchant for impeccable attire and his carefully coiffed shock of increasingly aware there were fewer and fewer “old timers” in alabaster white hair certainly made him the most conspicuous our midst, both obsessed with efforts to suppress trafficking in foreigner in any of those distant urban centers. Hardly the ivory and rhinoceros horn, both worried about the infirmities of image of the traditional sleuth! He’d poke around among the creeping age, both afraid of retiring from the work we loved. sleazy ivory shops, strike up acquaintances with rhinoceros horn dealers, rub shoulders with potentially violent criminals, Esmond never retired. He was profoundly engaged in his and then fly home to Lang’ata, a leafy suburb just west of vocation until the day he died. The assailant struck on Nairobi, Kenya, and compose another breathtaking report. February 4 shortly after Esmond had returned home from another mission to Myanmar. Esmond’s wife, Chrysee, He’d document everything: wholesale prices, retail prices, discovered his body in their home that afternoon. Police say volumes of contraband, descriptions of markets, skill levels he had been stabbed in the throat during a botched robbery. of carvers, weekly inventory turnover, , numbers, Esmond Bradley Martin was not the first motivated activist locations—the works. He did it again and again, for who suffered a violent death. Quarterly readers will remember decades, often mystifying some of the world’s most notable the loss of Wayne Lotter, Emily Kisamo, and others. Although investigatory agencies. arrests have been made in connection with the Kisamo, Lotter, and Martin murders, Global Witness reports that I know he mystified those agencies because I worked 197 environmentalists died violently in 2017, and few of the with Interpol for 23 years, much of the time planning and culprits have been apprehended.

AWI QUARTERLY 10 SUMMER 2018 Wilderness Way in Senegal Named After AWI Founder

Swing open the main gate at from AWI’s Senegalese partners—an later. As a result, the Ferlo project and Senegal’s Ferlo North Wildlife Reserve acknowledgment of AWI’s energetic AWI’s involvement are now widely and a broad avenue greets you, efforts to help create a sanctuary for known throughout Senegal. unfolding for more than two miles endangered wild animals, restore the across an idyllic African landscape. habitat where they live, and cultivate The Ferlo is within the Sahel, a fragile enduring friendly relations with the sub-Saharan savanna that stretches The landscape is idyllic because it has Fulani villagers who live near the 1.18 million square miles across Africa been rehabilitated. It now flourishes reserve. (See AWI Quarterly, fall 2017.) and suffers throughout from the with abundant native grasses and evils of overgrazing and climate trees. The broad avenue passing The Honorable Amédoune Diop, prefect change. Doing nothing to reverse the through it is Boulevard Christine of the Ranérou Ferlo Department, and crisis would be catastrophic. AWI’s Stevens, so named during a festive Colonel Abdoulaye Diop, director of partnership with Senegal’s National ceremony on April 22 to honor AWI’s national parks, unveiled a Senagalese- Parks Directorate is demonstrating founder and first president. style hand-painted road marker at the a new approach that can restore ceremony. Dozens of other dignitaries the natural landscape, help wildlife “Boul Christine” as it is quickly were in attendance, some of them to recover, and provide the human becoming known, is an important making the arduous 10-hour journey community with a more hospitable thoroughfare. It provides wildlife from the coastal capital of Dakar place to live. rangers with direct access to the for the event. One of the country’s reserve’s core. It is broad because it most popular reporters, Fatoumata also serves as a firebreak. By next Banel Bamba, from Senegal’s public year, it should stretch nearly six miles broadcasting company, Radiodiffusion Below: As Senegalese children, park into the expanding reserve. Télévision Sénégalaise, was also there. rangers, and VIPs from the capital look on, the Honorable Amédoune Diop and Her report of the event was broadcast Colonel Abdoulaye Diop preside over the The boulevard’s new moniker is a on national radio and television as part unveiling of the sign marking Boulevard Christine Stevens at the entrance of gesture of goodwill and friendship of the 8:00 p.m. evening news two days Ferlo North Wildlife Reserve. PHOTOS COURTESY OF SENEGAL NATIONAL PARKS NATIONAL SENEGAL OF COURTESY PHOTOS

AWI QUARTERLY 11 SUMMER 2018 FARM ANIMALS

Animal waste being spread on agricultural fields. The enormous production of such waste at industrial farms is at the center of lawsuits in North Carolina and Delaware.

Delaware officials, the factory released hundreds of gallons of effluent that contained up to 41 times the permitted levels for nitrates and up to 5,500 times the permitted level for fecal coliform, as well as other pollutants.

Contaminants in the community’s drinking water have been traced by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the nonprofit Delaware Center for the Inland Bays to the Mountaire DIETER MEYRL DIETER plant’s spraying of wastewater onto nearby farmland. Lawyers for the PLAINTIFFS PREVAIL disposal method entails flushing hog residents filed a notice stating that the AGAINST PUNGENT waste into a pit, allowing bacteria to disposal system presents an “imminent PIG FARM break down the material, and spraying and substantial endangerment to it onto nearby agricultural fields. health or the environment.” Several A group of rural North Carolinians scientific studies have found a link prevailed in court this April against This case was only the first in a series between elevated nitrate levels in Murphy-Brown LLC, a subsidiary of of 26 federal lawsuits filed against drinking water and defects such Chinese-owned global food giant Murphy-Brown hog farms. Not satisfied as limb deficiencies, cleft palates, and Smithfield Foods. The landmark case with slashing punitive damages, North brain damage. concerned the stench of waste lagoons Carolina politicians in the pocket of Big at the company’s 15,000-hog facility passed an even more draconian in Bladen County. The jury initially bill last year to limit recovery in such awarded each of the 10 plaintiffs cases to mere property value—with no $75,000 in compensatory damages INSURER FOR compensation for health effects, etc. and a whopping $5 million in punitive BUTTERBALL BALKS AT But to ease passage, the bill was altered damages. However, under a North CLEANUP COVERAGE to make the pending Murphy-Brown Carolina law that limits punitive Butterball, a major turkey producer lawsuits exempt. damages to three times the amount of in the United States, is in court over compensatory damages or $250,000, insurance coverage of a $3.5 million whichever is greater, the final award cleanup of pollution at a Carthage, was reduced to $325,000 each. Missouri, site. The insurer, Great PLANT “FOWLS” American, claims that Butterball THE WATER never listed the site as one covered by

farm animals farm The lagoons contain millions of gallons of hog feces, attracting swarms of Residents of Delaware’s Inland Bays the policy. Butterball began cleaning flies and putting nearby residents at community are crying foul on a nearby the site when management became risk of environmental contamination Mountaire Farms chicken plant aware of unknown liquids leaking and health problems. The plaintiffs that produces millions of gallons of from unmarked tanks, overflowing argued that the company’s current wastewater a month from slaughtering containment areas, and other concerns disposal method, which has remained and processing . The plant at a site acquired in 2006. Butterball has unchanged since the 1990s, should has incurred several state wastewater since spent $3 million to remediate the have been updated as violations over the years for nitrate and site, but expects that another $500,000 changed to minimize odors. The lagoon fecal coliform releases. According to will be necessary to complete the task.

AWI QUARTERLY 12 SUMMER 2018 FARM ANIMALS

PERDUE TO END ELECTRIC slaughter plants around the country. not uncommon; in one incident, 83 of STUNNING OF POULTRY (None of the cited incidents were at approximately 200 pigs died due to Perdue Farms has become the first Perdue plants.) dehydration. major poultry producer in the United States to commit to adopting a The first location to be redesigned Hawaii waged a 15-year process of stunning with gas, known will be Perdue’s Milford, Delaware, campaign to stop the trade. They as controlled atmosphere stunning plant that slaughters chickens for the achieved notable success along the (CAS), at all of its chicken slaughter company’s organic and antibiotic-free way, including an end to the sale of plants. CAS is considered less stressful brands. The new process at this plant pork from imported animals by three to than the industry’s standard is expected to be operational in the fall Hawaii supermarket chains and the practice of electric stunning, which of 2018, with the next plant installation removal of the claim “Island Produced involves shackling conscious birds by planned for 2019. Perdue Farms Pork” from retail products derived from their legs and hanging them upside operates 10 chicken slaughter plants; mainland pigs. Last year, importers of down before running their heads its sole turkey slaughter plant switched the pigs stated that the business was through an electrified water bath. Since to gas stunning in 2011. no longer profitable. birds at CAS plants are stunned before handling by workers, both poultry welfare and the working environment for employees is improved. HAWAII HALTS LIVE PIG USDA PROPOSES FASTER SHIPMENTS SLAUGHTER, FEWER In addition to switching to CAS, The last shipment of live pigs from INSPECTORS Perdue is implementing a process the US mainland—at least for the The US Department of Agriculture that allows trucks to deliver birds in foreseeable future—has docked in recently proposed several changes redesigned crates to a fully-enclosed, Hawaii. For decades, pigs have been to the process of slaughtering pigs, temperature-controlled holding area subjected to an arduous week-long including allowing prior to slaughter. The Welfare of Birds journey by truck and ship to meet to operate without any limits on the at Slaughter in the United States, a demand on the Hawaiian Islands for speed of the line. Pigs are already 2016 report by AWI, chronicled several fresh “hot pork.” At one time, most of slaughtered on some lines at an instances of birds dying from exposure the pigs shipped to Hawaii originated astonishing rate of approximately as they languished in holding areas from farms 4,000 miles away in Canada. 1,100 per hour. With this new rule, line during inclement weather at various Sickness and death on these trips were speeds could reach up to 1,300 or even 1,500 pigs per hour—speeds virtually guaranteed to result in rougher handling and mishaps that increase the suffering of the animals. Perversely, the proposal simultaneously seeks to lower the number of government inspectors at pig slaughter plants.

Such a move not only compromises the welfare of already vulnerable animals, but also endangers workers in slaughterhouses and risks the safety of the nation’s food supply. AWI is pressuring the USDA not to adopt this irresponsible plan.

Long-distance transport over land and sea can be extremely stressful for pigs. Thankfully, shipments of pigs to Hawaii from

SOMRERK KOSOLWITTHAYANANT SOMRERK the mainland have ended.

AWI QUARTERLY 13 SUMMER 2018 AWI Report: Higher Welfare Means Healthier Animals

hen the US Department of Agriculture withdrew has been animal production and food safety. It has long W the Organic and Poultry Practices rule been understood that the health of farm animals aff ects the earlier this year, it did so at the behest of a handful of large productivity of those animals, as well as the safety and quality organic producers that seek to profi t from low animal raising of animal products. However, owing to the fi ndings of numerous standards. The regulation, which was fi nalized in the waning scientifi c studies, it has become generally accepted that poor days of the Obama administration, would have set minimum health aff ects welfare, as well—negatively aff ecting an animal’s welfare standards for the millions of farm animals raised mental state and ability to perform natural behaviors. Science each year under the USDA Certifi ed Organic . The USDA, has brought increasing recognition that the reverse is also true: under President Trump, delayed the implementation of the poor animal welfare has a profound eff ect on animal health, rule multiple times (see AWI Quarterly, spring 2018) before and, consequently, on food safety and meat quality. fi nally scrapping it completely in March. In recent years, various animal health The USDA justifi ed its move by stating authorities, including national and that it now interprets the Organic Foods international veterinary associations, have Production Act to mean the department recognized the link between animal health can only regulate animal health care, and animal welfare. Animal agricultural not animal welfare. This stance is associations, including the Food and nonsensical. Not only has the department Agriculture Organization of the United already determined it has the authority Nations, and food safety bodies, such as the to regulate animal welfare, it has European Food Safety Authority, have also consistently done so in the past. acknowledged the link.

The USDA’s withdrawal of the rule, and In fact, the impact of animal welfare on its rationale for the action, prompted animal health has even led the US animal AWI to produce a report documenting agriculture industry to voluntarily limit or the strong connection between the eliminate entirely certain previously common health and welfare of animals raised for practices. The AWI report food. The report, entitled The Critical Relationship Between presents four such examples: 1) the administration of growth Farm Animal Health and Welfare, reviews the results of hormones to dairy , 2) extreme confi nement of dozens of scientifi c studies conducted over the past half raised for , 3) tail-docking of dairy cattle, and 4) forced century that have demonstrated this link. In fact, the USDA’s molting of egg-laying hens. More than one dozen additional own in-house research arm, the Agricultural Research examples of the undeniable link between farm animal health Service, has played a role in establishing the association. and welfare are off ered in the report’s appendix.

Historically, the primary concern of the animal agriculture The AWI report is available at www.awionline.org/fa-welfare. industry and government off icials in the United States

AWI QUARTERLY 14 SUMMER 2018 SUAREZ MIKE STATE LEGISLATION

AWI helped spark public outcry to scuttle proposals to open trapping seasons on bobcats in Indiana and Ohio.

Resources director Cameron Clark said, “We have heard from you. We appreciate the interest. We do feel as though we probably need to work more with our constituencies on sensitive rules like this.”

In Ohio, at a May 17 meeting, the state Wildlife Council voted 6–1 to indefinitely postpone the proposed bobcat trapping season. Chairman Dr. Paul Mechling indicated the council may wait for

WADE BROOKS WADE completion of an ongoing four-year study (currently in its second year) to bring the issue up for a vote again. ROTTEN EGGS: IOWA wings. The bill specifically bans the CONTRIVES TO KEEP use of battery cages, enriched cages, Bobcat numbers in both states HENS CAGED and colony cages. By allowing these plummeted over a century ago due animals the freedom to move around to hunting and trapping. While their In March, Iowa enacted a law that will in their enclosures, HB 7456 would numbers have gradually risen thanks require most egg retailers in the state provide the same level of protections to to the states’ endangered species to continue carrying “conventional” egg-laying hens that the state already protections, their recovery is far from eggs from hens raised in densely packed provides to gestating sows and calves complete. battery cages. Only those stores that raised for veal. had already fully transitioned to cage- free eggs by January 2018 and that do

not accept vouchers for government- state legislation funded food assistance are exempt. The FLORIDA STRENGTHENS bill was sold as an effort to keep cheap CITIZENS TRIP BOBCAT ANIMAL CRUELTY LAW eggs on the shelves for consumers. TRAPPING PROPOSALS IN On March 23, National Puppy Day, But it’s no secret that the real purpose TWO STATES Florida Governor Rick Scott signed was to protect Iowa’s Big Ag producers This year, Indiana and Ohio officials “Ponce’s Law” to increase penalties and prevent stores from transitioning floated the idea of establishing trapping for animal abusers. Named after a entirely to cage-free eggs—as over 200 seasons for bobcats in their respective Labrador puppy found beaten to death, companies, including Walmart and states (and a hunting season in Indiana). the new law raises animal cruelty from Dollar Tree, have pledged to do. Now in Fortunately, after local AWI members a level three to a level five offense. Iowa, incredibly, that’s a crime. and others expressed fierce disapproval Under Florida’s sentencing guidelines, of the schemes, both proposals were which assign points to offenses, this Meanwhile, Rhode Island could taken off the board in quick succession. change increases the likelihood of an become the latest state heading in the offender going to jail. Ponce’s Law opposite (sane) direction. A bill (HB The Indiana Natural Resources also allows judges to prohibit abusers 7456) passed the state House in May Commission withdrew the proposed from having contact with animals, and that would prohibit the confinement bobcat hunting/trapping season in requires shelters to take additional of egg-laying hens in such a way that that state at the commission’s May 15 steps to reunite owners and lost pets they are unable to turn around freely, meeting. Acknowledging the public after hurricanes. Ponce’s accused killer lie down, stand up, or fully extend their outcry, Indiana Department of Natural awaits trial on felony cruelty charges.

AWI QUARTERLY 15 SUMMER 2018 The clouded (at left) and the RANE AMIT Panamanian golden frog (opposite page) are among the animals featured on an educational poster created by AWI to raise awareness of endangered species.

AWI Partners with Acclaimed Author to Aid Endangered Animals

“When one is endangered, all are in peril.”

This is the overarching theme of threatens the existence of not just the Katherine Applegate’s newest young dairnes, but of every other creature in adult book, Endling #1: The Last. The their world. book—fi rst in a series—hit shelves nationwide in May. It tells the story Applegate’s previous works have of Byx, a mythical creature whose wowed critics and fans alike. Her doglike species, the “dairne,” has novel The One and Only Ivan— been hunted to near extinction. based on the true story of a gorilla With the help of some strangers who who spent decades on display soon become close friends, young in a suburban shopping mall in Byx sets out on a dangerous journey Washington state—became a #1 New to fi nd a safe haven, and perhaps York Times bestseller and went on even others of her kind, all the while to win the coveted John Newberry being pursued by those who want to Medal for children’s literature. (See eradicate her species. Together, the the spring 2013 AWI Quarterly for our protagonists uncover a secret that review.) Applegate has also authored

AWI QUARTERLY 16 SUMMER 2018 the hugely popular Animorphs series observed annually on the third Friday and other acclaimed novels for both in May (May 18 this year) to raise children and adults. With the new awareness of the continued plight Endling series, she takes readers on of endangered species and celebrate a thrilling adventure that speaks to those that have recovered because of the terrible consequences of driving conservation eff orts. species toward extinction. AWI also created a vibrant AWI was approached last fall by educational poster featuring HarperCollins Children’s Books, the photographs of 20 animals currently book’s publisher, about a potential listed under the Endangered Species partnership to promote species Act (ESA)—the red wolf, monk , conservation. We readily agreed. polar , orangutan, and hawksbill AWI staff members were already sea turtle among them. With a tagline enthusiastic fans of Applegate’s of “You can help endangered species,” writing, and the partnership was the poster and accompanying teacher seen as a way to get AWI’s message handout provide information about to a broader audience at a time when the ESA and what youth can do to protection for endangered species is make a diff erence. Thanks to the under attack. partnership with HarperCollins, the AWI is also distributing the posters poster has already been distributed at teacher conventions and is making In addition to making a generous to over 5,000 students and teachers. them available to teachers via our fi nancial contribution to AWI, During her national book tour, website at no cost. HarperCollins collaborated with AWI Applegate hand delivered the posters on a number of supporting materials, to middle schools across the country. Lastly, Applegate graciously lent including a list of ways that young her power to our “A Voice people can take action to protect wild for Animals” contest. Co- animals and their habitats. These sponsored by AWI and action items, along with interesting the Humane Education facts about endangered species, are Network, with featured in a promotional fl yer and a downloadable teaching guide tied to the book. Applegate also recorded a series of videos to promote the book and highlight these positive actions. The videos were shared on AWI’s social media channels in the days leading up to Endangered Species Day—a day

E MONK E AWI QUARTERLY 17 SUMMER 2018 CATHY BERNER AT BLUE WILLOW BOOKSHOP WILLOW BLUE AT BERNER CATHY

additional backing from the Palo Alto from extinction and preserving the Doing so would politicize the process Humane Society, the contest (now in its ecosystems on which they depend. and severely undercut the science 28th year) provides high school students Yet, during the 115th Congress, over behind ESA decision-making, thus aged 14–18 with the opportunity to 60 bills have been introduced aimed placing many of the over 2,000 animal win monetary awards for essay, video, at weakening this vital law. Perhaps and plant species the law protects in and/or photographs that address the most sweeping of these eff orts is serious jeopardy. issues involving animal protection the Endangered Species Management and prevention of animal cruelty. The Self-Determination Act (S 935/HR We cannot aff ord to stand idly by while top three essay submissions in the 2134). This bill would amend the ESA to this assault on one of our nation’s 14- to 15-year-old category on the require congressional approval before most important conservation laws subject of endangered species will species can be listed as endangered or continues and species teeter on the receive a signed, personalized copy of threatened and automatically remove brink of irrevocable extinction. The Endling #1: The Last. Winners will be plants or animals from the endangered/ good news is that there are actions we announced in June. threatened lists after fi ve years unless can take in both our private lives and Congress passed a joint resolution to in our role as public citizens. Many The launch of Endling #1: The Last retain them. It would also require the of these actions are listed on AWI’s comes at a time when the ESA itself US Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain website at www.awionline.org/es. One is under siege in Congress. For more the consent of governors before making of the most benefi cial things all US than four decades, the ESA has management decisions that would citizens can do right now is to contact been instrumental in saving species aff ect species solely within their states. their members of Congress, urging them to support the ESA and oppose eff orts to weaken wildlife protections. To take this action, please visit our website at www.awionline.org/ESA- attacks or contact legislative off ices through the Capitol switchboard at 202-225-3121.

To purchase your copy of Endling #1: The Last and access the educational resources connected with the book, please visit www.harpercollins.com/ childrens/endling/home/.

Top: AWI’s new endangered species poster on display at an elementary school amid student drawings, essays, and photos promoting animal protection. Left: Katherine Applegate meets with

@TWOCATSCOMM fans at Blue Willow Books in Houston.

AWI QUARTERLY 18 SUMMER 2018 WILDLIFE

MARMOSETS SPREAD This “reverse audience” effect initially spotted near a state park north THE WEALTH WHEN NO runs counter to more self-focused of Duluth, his mouth was clamped shut ONE SEES explanations of animal . and the wire was cutting into his flesh. When giving gifts to gain social In 2007, a study at the University of status or helping out to show you The tortured animal eventually Zurich (Burkart et al., 2007) looked are a team player, an audience is wandered into Duluth. Officers tried at at cooperative behavior among generally required. And with kin first to come to his assistance but he common marmosets (Callithrix selection (helping family members to proved elusive and a decision was made jacchus). The study found that the propagate shared genes), audience to put him down. Wildwoods, a local animals spontaneously provided food shouldn’t matter at all. The authors wildlife rehabilitator, reported that the to “nonreciprocating and genetically say the results here “appear to reflect animal “had been starving, and was a unrelated individuals, indicating that a genuine concern for the immatures’ of fur and bones.” Wildwoods is other-regarding preferences are not well-being, which seems particularly drawing attention to the tragic incident unique to humans.” strong when [the adults are] solely to renew calls for a ban on such snares. responsible for the immatures.” Eleven years later, a new University of Zurich study (Brügger et al., 2018) has added a twist: Apparently, UNDER FIRE, MOTHER the marmosets get even more

SNARE CLAIMS WOLF IN ALTER TACTICS wildlife generous when no one is watching. GRUESOME FASHION The researchers documented the Brown bear mothers in Sweden are willingness of adult common A wolf in Minnesota was shot and apparently changing their reproductive marmosets to share food (crickets) with killed this February after a truly horrible strategy in response to hunting, younger members of their group. They encounter with a strangling snare. according to a new study (Van de Walle found that in the presence of others, Wolves are not legal targets for such et al., 2018). The study found that prior the adult shared a cricket with the devices, but snares are sanctioned to 2005, only about 7 percent of brown immature marmoset 67 percent of the year-round to kill coyotes in the state. bear mothers kept their cubs longer than time. But, surprisingly, when the adult The wolf, investigating the bait, ended a year and a half. Between 2005 and and youngster were alone, the sharing up with the wire wrapped tightly 2015, however, more than 36 percent of behavior jumped to 85 percent. around his muzzle. When he was moms held onto their cubs an extra year.

Hunting pressure on bears in Sweden is high, but a relatively recent law making it illegal to hunt mother bears helps explain the behavioral shift. Holding onto her cubs keeps a female bear safer and allows the cubs an extra year to develop under her care.

Long-term ramifications remain to be seen, but study coauthor Dr. Jon Swenson of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences sums it up: “Man is now an evolutionary force in the lives of the bears.”

Strangling snares are savage devices—this one especially so: It tightened around a wolf’s muzzle, cutting into his flesh

KELLY LOOBY KELLY and starving him.

AWI QUARTERLY 19 SUMMER 2018 Nose for scrupulously investigate the threat rodenticides may pose to Trouble: populations in more natural habitats. In 2016, using funds provided through AWI’s Christine Stevens Using Dogs to Detect Wildlife Award, we surveyed habitat chosen to refl ect varying degrees of human usage, including protected lands. In total, 670 kit fox scat fi nds were recorded, with 170 fresh enough for Rodenticides rodenticide analysis and 126 suitable for genetic analysis.

Dr. Ngaio L. Richards and Dr. Deborah Woollett All the tested scat samples came back negative for rodenticides. That may be a harbinger of excellent news an Joaquin kit foxes know auspicious habitat when but, to be certain, our dogs continue to be used to fi nd kit S they see it, but would not know if it is free of harmful fox scats. A single rodenticide-positive scat would be cause anticoagulant rodenticide baits or of prey contaminated for concern, and our results do not completely rule out with rodenticide residue. That’s where Working Dogs for exposure opportunities for kit fox within our surveyed areas. Conservation’s talented fl eet of kit fox scat detection dogs Consequently, as we collect additional scats they are being are invaluable. subject to more sensitive analyses to be sure we are not missing any trace-level exposure. For nearly two decades, Working Dogs for Conservation has noninvasively monitored the San Joaquin kit fox, an In addition to these future plans, we designed this current endangered species, using three generations of specially phase of surveys to off er multiple avenues of important trained dogs. The dogs have helped us obtain key information data. Invaluable genetic information has been obtained on population density and occurrence within the San Joaquin from recently deposited fresh scats. And the many older Valley of California, the only place this small fox calls home. scats found by our dogs, although not viable for rodenticide Mapping and genetic analyses of hundreds of dog-detected analysis, are precious indicators of longer-term presence scats led to over $2.5 million being levied to purchase and and distribution. In fact, our scat data have already paid permanently protect vital habitat and er areas. dividends, having been included in a presentation at a recent Wildlife Society workshop specifi cally centered on San However, the potential presence of rodenticides in these and Joaquin kit fox and conservation. other habitats would undermine even the most steadfast of conservation eff orts. Given our longstanding commitment to this species and participation in conservation eff orts, we have a keen interest An analysis of 68 kit fox carcasses collected opportunistically in its future management. We, and our dogs, will continue to over 24 years revealed exposure to rodenticides in an urban investigate, because it is imperative that kit fox—and, indeed, population. Another study determined anticoagulants were all wildlife—have access to the safe, high-quality habitat to detectable in fox feces. We built on both, using our dogs’ which they are entitled. tremendous scat-fi nding capabilities to noninvasively and

AWI QUARTERLY 20 SUMMER 2018 RICHARDS NGAIO SKY MOUNTAIN WILD HORSE SANCTUARY HORSE WILD MOUNTAIN SKY

Finding Noninvasive Methods to Survey Wild Horse Populations

Dr. Karen Herman, Executive Director, Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary

he 23,882-acre Jarita Mesa Wild Horse Territory phase I of the survey. These 41, representing an estimated 30– T (JMWHT) is located in rugged, forested mountain 40 percent of the herd, include three bachelor studs and 38 terrain in the Carson National Forest of New Mexico. Prior members of six distinct family bands. Not surprisingly, access to passage of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros to water is the primary factor driving band locations and Act of 1971, wild horses in the territory were shot to reduce travel patterns, although the impact of the Bonita wildfi re, their numbers. Subsequently, between 1971 and 2012, the which burned approximately 7,500 acres in the JMWHT US Forest Service permitted the roundup and removal of during the survey eff ort, is currently under evaluation. wild horses for population control. This research demonstrates that, in contrast to helicopter In the past, helicopter surveys were used to estimate the survey methods, utilizing low stress techniques to number of wild horses in the JMWHT herd. This estimate collect photographic data combined with on-the-ground guided calculations of the number of wild horses to be observation is an eff ective and humane way to locate, removed to achieve the predetermined “appropriate identify, and document elusive wild horses in heavily management level” (AML). However, helicopter surveys were forested terrain. Compared to helicopter surveys that rely stressful for the horses, which fl ed in response to the sight on extrapolation to develop estimates of horse population and sounds of the machines. In addition, the density of trees numbers, this new methodology permits the development on the JMWHT reduced the accuracy of such aerial surveys. of highly detailed descriptions of individual horses, band composition, and location, resulting in a more accurate Using funds obtained through a Christine Stevens Wildlife count of the total herd. Award, Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary and Dr. Allen Rutberg of Tufts University developed a methodology The survey methodology provides a model that can be used utilizing images from trail cameras, digital video and with other wild horse herds at a similar cost to traditional photographs, and on-the-ground observation to document population survey methods using helicopter counts from the identity, location, and travel patterns of each band of the air. The true innovation of this survey methodology is wild horses and bachelor studs. These data, which continue how the data will be used to improve the application of to be collected, were used to construct a database with immunocontraceptives, a minimally invasive management detailed descriptions of the composition of each band tool for wildlife population control, preserving the and the markings and identifying features of individual freedom of wild horses. The horse-specifi c descriptions, band members. In addition, a master map of the JMWHT band composition, and location data improve both the showing band locations is in development. eff iciency of immunocontraceptive administration and the quality of the data used to measure the impacts of To date, 41 wild horses—mapped across eight locations immunocontraception on the reproduction of individual within the JMWHT—have been identifi ed and documented in horses, bands, and the whole population.

AWI QUARTERLY 21 SUMMER 2018 FEDERAL LEGISLATION

ANIMAL PROTECTION hunting practices within the preserves in the care of the Bureau of Land STAYS ON BOARD via other means.) Management or its contractors. OMNIBUS Congress finally passed an “omnibus” While holding off attacks on wildlife, Despite the fact that the Marine funding measure for the remainder of we were able to make positive gains, as Mammal Commission’s funding the current fiscal year. Thanks to the well. The US Department of Agriculture was zeroed out in the Trump intervention of our allies in the House received funding increases for its administration’s proposed budget, and Senate, the barrage of messages enforcement of the Animal Welfare the omnibus included funding for to Congress from animal activists, and Act and the Horse Protection Act. this independent agency, which is the sustained efforts by the animal Congress renewed its directive that mandated by the protection community, the bill included the USDA not license or relicense Protection Act (MMPA) to further the provisions benefiting animals and did Class B dealers who sell dogs and conservation of marine and not include provisions that would have cats obtained from random sources their environment. damaged key wildlife protection laws. for use in experimentation. Congress also took the USDA to task for its Efforts to deny protection for the purging of inspection and enforcement gray wolf, lesser prairie-chicken, and documents from its website and its TRYING TO TORPEDO Preble’s meadow jumping mouse inadequate efforts to return those THE MMPA documents to public inspection. failed, as did efforts to eviscerate core The picture for marine mammals isn’t components of the Endangered Species entirely rosy, however. After 45 years Protections for domestic and wild Act. A policy rider that would have as the nation’s premier law protecting horses were reaffirmed. The bill allowed the slaughter of mother bears marine mammals, the MMPA faces and cubs as they hibernate also did not prevents the return of horse slaughter federal legislation several attacks in Congress. Of particular to the United States by barring the make it into the final omnibus package. concern are HR 3133, the Streamlining use of federal funds for inspecting The National Park Service currently Environmental Approvals (SEA) Act, horse slaughter plants. (No slaughter does not allow aggressive, scientifically and HR 4239, the Strengthening the plants can sell meat across state lines indefensible “predator control” Economy with Critical Untapped without USDA inspection.) The bill practices for nonsubsistence hunting Resources to Expand (SECURE) also prohibits funding for any activity on national preserves. (However, the American Energy Act, both of which resulting in the destruction of healthy, Trump administration is moving to would remove key protections afforded unadopted wild horses and burros strike the rules banning such cruel to marine mammals under the MMPA in to relieve oil and gas companies of responsibility for harming wildlife and habitats. Especially outrageous is language added to HR 4239 in committee exempting these extractive industries from any accountability for the deaths of birds resulting from their activities. Although both bills have been reported out of committee, they have few and floor consideration has not been scheduled.

A spending bill rider to allow the killing of hibernating mother bears and cubs in Alaska national preserves was removed; the Trump administration, however, is still

PATRICK MOODY PATRICK seeking to sanction the practice.

AWI QUARTERLY 22 SUMMER 2018 FEDERAL LEGISLATION

In the farm bill, Iowa Rep. Steve King sought to nullify other states’ efforts to improve welfare for egg- laying hens and other animals. The bill was voted down.

KILLING OVERSIGHT VIA THE CURES ACT A law passed in 2016—the 21st Century Cures Act—has given the research industry the opening that it has sought to reduce oversight of the treatment of animals. This law requires a review of all regulations and policies “for the care and use of laboratory animals” with the goal being “to reduce administrative burden on investigators while maintaining the integrity and credibility of research

MIKE SUAREZ MIKE findings and protection of research animals.” The commitment to that last goal is debatable. A panel composed FARM BILL use affects threatened or endangered entirely of industry representatives The Agriculture and Nutrition Act of species. An approved amendment would submitted a number of proposals for 2018, HR 2, was defeated on May 18 in have done more damage by allowing alleviating the “regulatory burden” the US House of Representatives by a federal sanction of projects regardless of imposed on researchers. A primary goal vote of 198-213. their impact on listed species or critical appears to be the elimination of the habitat so long as there are existing (or annual inspection and the requirement This massive farm bill came to the merely proposed) measures to improve to conduct a literature search for floor loaded with provisions designed that species’ habitat elsewhere. alternatives to painful procedures— to reverse gains in animal welfare and requirements that have been on the weaken endangered species protections. A number of other proposed books for more than 30 years. Language offered by Rep. Steve King (R- amendments that would have had IA) would undermine states’ authority to serious consequences for endangered At a “listening session” with the set standards for animal welfare within species, farm animals, and animals agencies tasked under the law with their own borders, likely invalidating used for research were not allowed to reporting back to Congress, AWI restrictions many states have placed be considered. President Cathy Liss challenged on gestation crates for pigs, horse researchers to produce proof of this slaughter, and the sale of pets from Unfortunately, provisions banning the so-called burden. She also reminded puppy mills. It would also jeopardize dog and trade and clarifying them of the lip service that has been food safety standards, state sovereignty, the application of federal animal given to the mantra “good animal care worker protections, environmental fighting law in the US territories were and good animal science go hand in quality, and consumer safeguards. also victims of this defeat, but the bill hand” and asked how rolling back the as a whole did more harm than good minimum requirements of the Animal In addition, HR 2 would hobble the for animal welfare and endangered Welfare Act is consistent with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by species. As of this writing, the House industry’s supposed commitment to allowing federal agencies to essentially may engage in a maneuver allowing the protection of research animals. This ignore the impact some of their it to vote again on this same bill. is an ongoing process in which AWI is activities have on imperiled species. Regardless, the House will have to pass firmly engaged, and we are determined For example, the bill exempts the a farm bill sooner or later and AWI will that “promoting regulatory efficiency” Environmental Protection Agency from continue to work to keep that bill free will not be done at the expense of having to evaluate whether of dangerous provisions. animal welfare or sound science.

AWI QUARTERLY 23 SUMMER 2018 PRATT FALL: USDA Fails Again at AWA Enforcement

a November 15, 2014, Des settlement in July 2013 shutting down the proper standard of care for dogs in Moines Register article, the kennel. She was fined $7,800. her possession.” The $7,800 fine was IN Debra Pratt was called “a the largest in Iowa history. poster child” for the “kind of animal But the settlement and fine were neglect that the phrase ‘puppy not levied by the USDA. Instead, the So why are we writing about a puppy mill.’” After years of damning US Iowa Department of Agriculture and mill shuttered in 2013? Department of Agriculture inspection Land Stewardship (IDALS) took that reports documented unspeakable enforcement action, filing a complaint Because the USDA waited to file its cruelty to dogs at her facility, her against Pratt on May 17, 2013, to own enforcement complaint against kennel became known as the “Pratt permanently revoke her Iowa permit Debra Pratt until January 11, 2018— Mill.” Multiple publications called it to operate as a USDA Animal Care 10 years after it began citing the Pratt one of the most notorious puppy mills commercial establishment (Iowa law Mill, and five years after the IDALS in Iowa. Finally, after two horrific requires only a three-year revocation). had filed its complaint. And because USDA inspections on February 14 and As part of the settlement, Pratt the USDA’s actions in this case are a March 26, 2013, Debra Pratt signed a admitted that “she failed to provide particularly egregious example of this

AWI QUARTERLY 24 SUMMER 2018 Abysmal veterinary care was commonplace at the now-shuttered “Pratt Mill.” Top: a Chihuahua with an untreated mass in her mammary area. Bottom: a dachshund with severe eye irritation.

department’s longstanding failure to enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and support its inspectors on the ground who document these horrific abuses (often at their own peril). Once again, the USDA has failed to use years of AWA citations in any kind of enforcement action—as if the animal suffering documented for so long never even existed.

The USDA complaint comprises just three pages and includes no citations prior to 2013 because of a five-year statute of limitations. The two most damning allegations come from the February 14 and March 26, 2013, inspections—the ones the IDALS relied on to file its own complaint and take significant enforcement ANIMALS COMPANION OF FRIENDS IOWA OF COURTESY PHOTOS USDA action. But one would never know their severity by reading the USDA’s need of medical treatment seen by them. He had scabs covering a majority woefully deficient complaint.1 the Attending .” There is of both ears as well as the top of his nothing in the complaint about the head. (Pratt stated the scabs were THE 2013 INSPECTIONS dogs’ condition, which took up an the result of the dog scratching.) Both These two inspections alone, totaling entire page of the inspection, or the eyes had red swollen tissue protruding 23 pages, document well over 40 other three pages of alleged violations. from the bottom with yellow/green alleged AWA violations, including discharge. Given the truly pitiful state failure to provide adequate veterinary The inspection undoubtedly would she allowed the dog to descend to, this care to over 20 dogs. (The AWA allows a have been far worse, in fact, had it not sudden need to rush to the vet was penalty of up to $10,000 per violation.) been cut short. Why? So Pratt could clearly a ploy to end the inspection. get medical attention for one of the five The February 14 inspection detailed dogs! As the inspectors wrote on page What more would the inspectors have the suffering of five dogs who needed four, “An English bulldog the owner found if Pratt had not interrupted veterinary care and noted other major called Mike was in need of immediate this inspection to get care for Mike issues relating to documentation, veterinary care, so the inspectors the day the inspectors showed up? housing, sanitation, ventilation, and stopped the inspection before the entire The March 26 inspection (after Pratt pest control. All this is reduced to one facility was inspected so the owner had illegally denied inspectors access sentence in the USDA complaint— could take the dog to the veterinarian.” on March 21 and March 22) may that Pratt “unreasonably delayed provide an indication: It totaled 19 having approximately five (5) dogs in The inspection indicated that Mike was pages detailing 25 separate citations. suffering from extreme hair loss over After being interrupted a month his entire body. His was red and earlier, the inspectors this time 1 Unbelievably, this was the first enforcement complaint the irritated. The inside and outside of both issued citations for 21 dogs needing USDA had filed under the AWA since March 2, 2017. In fact, from October 1, 2016, through March 1, 2018, the USDA his ears were severely thick and swollen, veterinary care, as well as for more filed just three enforcement complaints, including this one. with yellowish discharge coming from enclosure and ventilation issues.

AWI QUARTERLY 25 SUMMER 2018 The USDA complaint, however, of the condition of any one of those as Michael Vick, could register as a reduces this horrifi c suff ering to three 20+ dogs, no mention that Iowa carrier or intermediate handler, and it sentences (including one each for shut down the facility in a muscular would be perfectly legal. primary enclosure and ventilation enforcement action based on the citations). For the sentence regarding USDA’s own inspections, no indication In a June 2015 inspection, the the 21 dogs, the USDA simply that the USDA had issued Pratt two USDA cited Pratt for failure to have substituted “21” for the “5” in the warning letters in 2012—which cited valid health certifi cates signed by February 14 inspection. Every other at least eight inspections and alleged for two pug puppies part of the sentence in the complaint is violations dating back to 2008. (The whom she, as an intermediate handler, exactly the same. Verbatim. warning letters themselves did not even had dropped off in Missouri. (Iowa is mention the 2010 inspection fi nding no second to Missouri in the number of THE USDA SETTLEMENT fewer than 10 bulldogs with cherry eyes. USDA-licensed dog breeders—and In the end, egregious problems from The October 2012 inspection involving both states have long been notorious these two inspections were given the dachshund and pug came after the for puppy mills.) The puppies were then cursory treatment while dozens warning letters were issued.) taken to a pet store in New York, which of USDA citations prior to 2013, rejected them—speaking volumes documenting years of animal abuse This USDA complaint is also regarding their likely condition. and horrible conditions at the facility, missing crucial legal language. The fell by the wayside—out of reach absence of a common enforcement Moreover, the USDA inspection showed because the USDA failed to act within complaint paragraph, “Allegations that Pratt had 126 puppies in her the fi ve-year statute of limitations. Regarding Size of Business, Gravity of inventory—at the same address listed To cite just two examples: In August Violations, Good Faith, and History of by the USDA for the Pratt Mill! One 2010, the USDA found “No fewer Previous Violations,” raises yet more wonders what “care” Pratt provided than ten Bulldogs had cherry eyes questions. These are legal factors them, or what may have been their [prolapsed eyelid glands]” with no used to determine the penalty for eventual fates. evidence of veterinary care. An October violations alleged in a complaint. Their 2012 inspection found a dachshund absence, combined with fi ve-year-old According to the USDA complaint, with “greenish pus like substance allegations, raises the question: Was Pratt is currently registered as a in both eyes,” with brown crusted this insubstantial complaint fi led with carrier, and can transport dogs to matter and raw areas around the eyes a quick and paltry settlement in mind? and from her puppy mill pals (among from scratching, while a pug had a Because that is exactly what happened other destinations), despite the years “brownish growth” on his left eye. in this case: Pratt didn’t even bother of abuse and cruelty she infl icted to fi le a reply; 14 days later, she signed on dozens of dogs at the infamous The settlement gave no indication of the settlement. Unlike the IDALS, the Pratt Mill. And because of the USDA the severity of citations at the Pratt USDA did not force Pratt to admit site wipe, “homestead businesses” Mill over many years, no description anything. She was issued an order to such as Pratt’s—despite her terrible cease and desist violating the AWA and record—cannot be monitored for paid a pathetic $2,000 fi ne. AWA compliance online using USDA’s redaction-riddled “search tool.” DEBRA PRATT IS STILL IN THE USDA-REGULATED DOG As for the unconscionably delayed, BUSINESS anemic USDA complaint and At the time of the Pratt Mill closure, settlement, AWI believes it exemplifi es and after her USDA license was what APHIS Administrator Kevin terminated (not revoked), Pratt was Shea has publicly stated: Enforcement still registered as an intermediate delayed is enforcement denied. handler. As we reported earlier (see AWI Quarterly, spring 2018), USDA We thank Iowa Friends of Companion registrations for intermediate handlers, Animals for their invaluable carriers, and research facilities cannot contributions to this article. be suspended or revoked. People with records of horrifi c animal abuse, such

AWI QUARTERLY 26 SUMMER 2018 THE US ARMY US THE

Military Dogs Not Getting Their Due

Since 2000, Congress has acted to improve the treatment of that handlers were not “prioritized” for adoptions, “suff icient Military Working Dogs (MWDs) by facilitating their adoption management and oversight” of the program were not at the end of their careers and authorizing the creation of provided, and there was no plan for placement of TEDDs after a program of post-retirement veterinary care. Thanks to the program ended. The result: The contractor mishandled the these new provisions, MWDs—after years of being treated as dogs, often adopting them out without giving their handlers “surplus equipment”—should have been assured the respect the opportunity to adopt them (the law requiring handler they deserve. preference was not enacted until 2015, after this program was terminated) and without screening potential owners for their A recently released audit by the Department of Defense ability to handle these specially trained animals. Disposition Off ice of Inspector General (DoD OIG) suggests otherwise, records were incomplete or missing, and some dogs were left at least when it comes to a signifi cant subset of MWDs. languishing in cages for nearly a year. The audit evaluated the post-deployment treatment of the Army’s tactical explosive detection dogs (TEDDs), a separate Staff at the kennel where many of the dogs were housed and temporary “capability” intended to support brigade felt that the Army was determined to “get rid of the dogs as combat teams in Afghanistan. The TEDD program, which ran quickly as possible.” While documenting the Army’s failure from 2010 through 2014, was regarded as a “nontraditional” to follow established MWD processes, the DoD OIG’s report MWD function. Due to the urgent need for this specialized failed to fully examine the actions of Soliden , a detection capability that the MWD command was unable to private fi rm that adopted 13 of the dogs under false premises. meet, the dogs were neither procured nor retired through the Saying that they would be trained as service dogs, the authorized MWD system but rather through a contractor. company in fact planned to send the dogs to foreign countries for military use. This plan fell through and the dogs were When former handlers were rebuff ed in their eff orts to locate abandoned at the kennel. Eventually, the majority of the dogs their dogs after their tours of duty, they raised alarms about were reunited with their former handlers. the fate of the animals. They were right to be worried. In 2016, the US House Armed Services Committee “expressed concern In the end, these war heroes were treated like surplus over the Army’s lack of suff icient responsiveness in addressing equipment—and worse—after all. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), generally known challenges to the TEDD adoption process,” a longtime champion of MWDs and the author of some of which included “persistent concerns raised by former TEDD the provisions to protect them, believes further inquiry is handlers regarding their opportunity to adopt a TEDD.” The warranted. “It’s time for us to ask for some updates on the committee requested an independent investigation by the programs and process, and that’s what I intend to do.” DoD OIG. Among other things, the inspector general found

AWI QUARTERLY 27 SUMMER 2018 ANIMALS IN LABORATORIES

BABOON BREAKOUT AT to her. In 2017, a baboon sustained agents responded. Block then sought a BIOMEDICAL LAB second-degree burns on his hands and permanent restraining order against the feet from touching a heater pipe, while animal rights activists who appeared Four baboons housed in an outdoor two male macaques required immediate initially to have sent the letters. corral escaped from the Texas medical attention for injuries acquired Biomedical Research Institute (TBRI) after they opened a divider between Turns out Block himself sent the letters by using a 55-gallon barrel to scale their enclosures. Of the four inspection with the (nonhazardous) white powder. the enclosure. The clever monkeys had reports since January 2016, three Block (already a convicted felon for pulled the barrel upright, next to the documented “critical” citations. his role in the attempted smuggling of barrier to gain the necessary height. baby orangutans years ago) was trying Apparently, one baboon returned to the The latest incident, thankfully, resulted to frame the activists and buttress his facility while the other three took off in no injuries (other than, perhaps, to argument for the restraining order, through the San Antonio neighborhood. the pride of the pursuing staff). But it according to the Miami . He One of the three caused a stir by offers yet another example of TBRI’s pleaded guilty this time to a federal running down a road with exasperated distressing track record when it comes of intentionally conveying false research facility staff dressed in surgical to providing proper care for its . information through the mail and masks and gloves in pursuit. agreed to serve five years of probation and pay $14,872 in restitution for the This is not the first breach for the police investigation. facility, which was fined $25,714 by A DEALER’S the US Department of Agriculture for PITIFUL CON incidents related to the 2009 death of Envelopes with white powder and a a juvenile rhesus monkey who escaped ARS USES KITTENS AS his enclosure and the 2010 escape of threatening message were sent to two TOXIC TEST TUBES two baboons, causing employee injury. people associated with Matthew Block, In 2015, a male baboon lifted a chute founder of Worldwide Primates, which A decades-long Agricultural Research animals in laboratories animals in door and attacked a mother and her imports primates for experimentation. Service (ARS) project has intentionally infant, killing the baby. And in another One went to Block’s mother, the other killed untold hundreds of kittens. incident that same year, TBRI allowed to a company employee, berating them According to the White Coat Waste three male baboons into a chute already for their association with the primate Project, which exposed the study, the occupied by a female, causing injuries trade. Police, firefighters, and federal Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, feeds two-month- old kittens Toxoplasma gondii–infected raw meat, collects their feces for two to three weeks to obtain the parasite for use in other experiments, and then kills the kittens. The USDA has strongly defended the research.

On May 7, Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) sent a powerfully worded letter to the USDA, stating, “It appears that this project uses kittens as test tubes. Put simply, it creates life to destroy life.” He subsequently introduced the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now (KITTEN) Act of 2018, which directs the USDA to “end the use of cats in experiments that cause pain or stress.”

A cat—possibly one of the mother cats used to produce the doomed kittens—at the USDA’s Animal

USDA Parasitic Diseases Laboratory.

AWI QUARTERLY 28 SUMMER 2018 ANIMALS IN LABORATORIES

welfare record. In 2011, the lab was fined $21,750 for multiple Animal Welfare Act violations—including, but not limited to, a failure to ensure alternatives to painful or distressful procedures (specifically, a cardiac venipuncture) and a failure to provide adequate housing, causing a rhesus monkey to “[choke] to death struggling to free himself after a hook in [his] enclosure became caught on his jacket.”

Subsequent years brought more citations. In June 2014, US Department of Agriculture inspectors found that four had died needlessly because of their struggles in a nose-only inhalation restraint device; two had suffered spinal fractures, another was bleeding from the mouth and ear, dead from asphyxiation. A cynomolgus monkey suffered a compound fracture of his leg and facial trauma, requiring euthanasia, because the lab had placed him in the wrong cage/social group. A rhesus monkey suffered a wound, exposing his frontal bones, and was euthanized. His injury was caused by a substandard transfer tunnel. A cynomolgus monkey was agitated and screaming while restrained, and when returned to his cage would not put weight on his left leg. He had a spiral fracture, caused by getting his leg through a small gap in his enclosure, and was euthanized. Another rhesus monkey was found dead in his cage with the chain from the around his neck. KRITHNA RONG KRITHNA In October 2014, a mini-pig was found to have a fractured leg after the pig had repeatedly pulled the leg into the restraint device during a procedure, apparently causing the fracture. He Lab Gasses Monkeys as was euthanized. LRRI was also cited for violations in March 2015, June 2015, July 2016, October 2016, April 2017, and Volkswagen Rigs Results December 2017. As of March 1, 2018, no USDA enforcement complaint has been filed against LRRI regarding inspections “I feel like a chump.” that occurred after the 2011 fine.

So said Dr. Jake McDonald, science officer at Lovelace In 2014, however, Volkswagen cared only that LRRI had Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) in Albuquerque, experience doing this type of study. A few examples from New Mexico, to , after he learned that the lab’s research published 2013-2014: a nonhuman Volkswagen had rigged the Beetle used for his 2014 diesel primate model of cigarette smoke-induced airway disease; fume tests on monkeys. The company had equipped the car inhalational anthrax in monkeys; influenza in monkeys (this with a “defeat” device that would produce artificially low diesel paper was retracted); rats exposed to plutonium; rats and emissions when the software detected the car was being tested. mice exposed to inhaled diesel and gasoline exhaust; effect on blood brain barrier in mice from exposure to inhaled Of course, McDonald feels he is the victim here, not the 10 vehicle emissions. cynomolgus monkeys he placed into airtight chambers to inhale diesel exhaust for four hours. The inhumane tests were So many parts of this story are disturbing, but one truly chilling condemned by many, including the German government. aspect apparently escaped poor, victimized LRRI: As Bloomberg Businessweek reported on April 2, “The experiments would In the midst of its own massive fraud, Volkswagen apparently have provoked outrage anywhere, but were especially horrifying did not concern itself with LRRI’s less-than-spotless animal in Germany, for obvious historical reasons.”

AWI QUARTERLY 29 SUMMER 2018 REVIEWS

THE GREAT APES in primate societies. This shift allowed primatologists to Chris Herzfeld / University Press / 344 pages understand complex social networks in such societies.

The Great Apes: A Short History, recently translated from Pre-primatology’s taxonomic categorizations of nonhuman French into English, is a comprehensive history of primatology. primates were tangled with confusion: Chimpanzees at one Many readers may not know that the roots of primatology lie in time or another were placed in categories with sloths, , and the exploits and adventures of early travelers and explorers in even Lucifer. Current primatology has evolved and is incredibly the 1600s and 1700s. Author Chris Herzfeld recounts the myriad interdisciplinary; the book examines the views of many key ways humans have pursued their fascination with apes— thinkers and details the various disciplines behind primatology, from early collections of bodies for museums to collection of including behaviorism, sociobiology, and . living beings for zoos, breeding colonies, and laboratories. Chimpanzees, the subjects of early exploration on Earth, later The lives of many home-reared apes are described in detail that were made to become the explorers themselves in space travel. accentuates their ability to acquire human cultural habits. There is a relatively short section on the problems of apes growing In delving into the history of our species’ relation with other up in homes. Hopefully, readers don’t miss these paragraphs, apes, Herzfeld calls out biases in perceptions of apes and in which are critical in any description of such environments. The treatments that reflect those biases. Objectification, superiority, public sees images of cute babies in arms; it rarely connects this patriarchy, violence, aggression, racism, and the dichotomy to the mature versions, who always end up behind bars. of Western dualist logic are all part of this perspective. For contrast, we learn of Japanese primatology, which is seldom This book hits a home run with its coverage of studies. well described in Western publications. An entire chapter These dramatically expanded our understanding of apes is devoted to female primatologists, who have challenged and monkeys, as they provide an opportunity to see these the predominant theories of hierarchy and aggression and primates living within the cultures and places that allow introduced theories that include the roles that females their full potential to bloom. Studies of captive apes always

AWI QUARTERLY 30 SUMMER 2018 REVIEWS

fall short because of the inherent inability of institutions to Although he clearly objects to trophy hunting, Loveridge replicate nature’s challenges and freedoms. expresses worry that, absent other measures, shutting down the trophy hunting business could result in loss of lion habitat. The author describes the boundary between humans and apes Unfortunately, he does not mention the Kenyan experience. as “porous,” and an underlying theme is the crossing over Kenya banned trophy hunting in 1977 and never looked back. from being ape to being human and visa versa. In the end she And the Kenyan lions today have much better numbers and retains the boundary, which is inherent in dualism. Perhaps demographics as a consequence. some readers will instead conclude we can abandon it. Lion Hearted: The Life and Death of Cecil & the Future of Africa’s —Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold, AWI board of directors, Iconic Cats introduces readers to the intricacies of lion society Fauna Foundation, and Friends of Washoe and is fascinating on that basis alone. But its importance lies more in its sound repudiation of several tropes that the trophy hunting industry has for decades used to shore up its perverted of sportsmanship and wildlife conservation. LION HEARTED Andrew Loveridge / Regan Arts / 280 pages

Author Andrew Loveridge is a veteran wildlife biologist THE NEW YORK PIGEON with many years’ experience working on lion research in Andrew Garn / powerHouse Books / 144 pages Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. Raised in Zimbabwe and educated at Oxford, he’s the biologist who, in 2008, Photographer Andrew Garn’s book is a coffee table love letter first applied a radio collar to Cecil, one of the park’s most to a that doesn’t always get much love. Garn explains their habituated and approachable lions. He tracked and studied long history cohabitating with humans. He examines their Cecil until that fateful night in 2015 when the big cat was shot physiology and development. He talks up their underrated with an arrow by an American dentist as Cecil fed on bait. . And he profiles pigeon people—the ones you see feeding the birds at the park or keeping coops on Brooklyn Analysis of the radio collar transmissions is the firmest rooftops—who cherish these strutting, head-bobbing birds. evidence that Cecil was shot in a location where lion hunting was prohibited, and that “Cecil the lion died slowly and But the book’s main feature is its eye-popping pigeon portraits. painfully to allow a hunter the ultimate vanity of claiming he We often see pigeons in a somewhat disheveled state as they had killed a huge lion with a bow and arrow.” It apparently suffer the soot, slings, and arrows of city life. Garn, however, took 10 to 12 hours for the mortally wounded Cecil to die. shows them in a different light, gracefully navigating “the The data further provides evidence of a cover-up: Some canyons of the city.” He also brings them into the studio time after Cecil died, his radio collar was moved to a place for their closeups, and in so doing displays them in all their where lion hunting was authorized. And then the radio collar dazzling, multihued glory. His studio subjects are birds in or disappeared. But the data remains. just out of rehab. Wild Bird Fund (WBF) Executive Director Rita McMahon—who contributed an afterword to the book— Cecil was one of 41 lions Loveridge and his team have radio says that more than half the 6,000 birds her organization collared that were later slain by trophy hunters. In Africa, a treats in a year are injured or lead-poisoned pigeons. dead male lion’s cubs are soon killed by the next adult male to take over the pride, so the loss of these 41 adults actually Garn, who volunteers for WBF, seeks to rehab their image, as reflects the losses of hundreds of young. “It is a fallacy,” writes well. The New York Pigeon: Behind the Feathers shows them as Loveridge, “that old males can be trophy hunted with little resilient city-dwellers, lovely to the eye and worthy of respect. disruption to lion society.”

Bequests If you would like to help assure AWI’s future through Donations to AWI, a not-for-profit corporation exempt under a provision in your will, this general form of bequest is Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), are tax-deductible. suggested: I give, devise and bequeath to the Animal Welfare We welcome any inquiries you may have. In cases in which you Institute, located in Washington, DC, the sum of have specific wishes about the disposition of your bequest, we $ and/or (specifically described property). suggest you discuss such provisions with your attorney.

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AT ELEPHANTS’ EXPENSE, USFWS STICKS TO ITS GUNS

In November 2017, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposing a regulation and inviting public comment. (Had it announced it was reversing a 2014 Obama administration ban done so, interestingly enough, the November 2017 counter on the importation of sport-hunted elephant trophies from pronouncement would have been ineff ective on similar Zimbabwe and Zambia. (See AWI Quarterly, spring 2018.) grounds—as it, too, was made without notice and comment.)

Days later, President Trump contradicted his own agency’s Twitter and talk show statements do not constitute policy, pronouncement by tweeting “Put big game trophy decision however, and it was very unclear what to make of it all. Would on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts.” Trump follow through on his expressed sentiments and direct and “[I] will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this the USFWS to take the procedural steps necessary to make horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or the trophy ban stick? any other animal.” He reiterated this stance during a January interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, stating He would not. On March 1, the USFWS announced it will emphatically “I didn’t want elephants killed and stuff ed and henceforth consider permits to import elephant trophies from have the tusks brought back into this [country].” African nations on a “case-by-case basis.” The agency did not elaborate on the criteria; however, Interior Secretary Zinke Meanwhile, in December, a federal appeals court stirred is an ardent of trophy hunting. One can assume, the pot further by ruling that the Obama-era USFWS had therefore, that the USFWS fully intends to allow trophies in… failed to follow proper procedures in issuing the ban in and to treat Trump’s tweets as just so much chirping. the fi rst place. It should have initiated a formal process of