A recent investigation in Texas exposed the appalling fact that shrimp fishers have been disabling special nets that are used to protect sea turtles. For years, sea turtle carcasses with decapitated heads, severed flippers and smashed shells have been found on Texas beaches. The Gulf of Mexico is home to the most endangered sea turtle in the world, the Kemp╣s ridley. The Sea Turtle Restoration Project (STRP) hopes to work with Texas activists on this issue. However, any campaign to protect sea turtles must go beyond turtle excluder devices. The only true way to save the sea turtle is to convince people not to eat shrimp!
Please do what you can to stop these atrocities!
Write to:
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt:
1849 C St., N.W., Washington, DC 20002,
fax (202) 208-5048.
Request that Padre Island (in Texas) be closed to shrimp fishing.
Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley,
Herbert C. Hoover Building,
Room 5862, 14th Street,
Washington, DC 20230.
Demand that the departments of Commerce and Interior increase funding to enforce Turtle Excluder Devices (TED) regulations, and that they conduct undercover operations. Please also ask that they close important migratory and feeding areas of the Kemp's ridley turtle.
If you are interested in assisting with this campaign, please contact:
Teri Shore with Sea Turtle Restoration Project,
Earth Island Institute,
P.O. Box 400,
Forest Knolls, CA 94933;
(415) 488-0372
seaturtles@earthisland.org.
STRP has learned that the Whole Foods in Northern California refuses to sell only shrimp caught using the TEDs. If you live in California, find out what your local Whole Foods is selling and remind them that the only way to save the sea turtle is not to sell shrimp at all.
From the Nashua Telegraph 12-31-97
Nashua, NH
EKCO TARGET OF ANTI FUR PROTEST
Group cites ‘hypocrisy’ of making pet supplies and animal traps.
Nashua- A national anti fur group is protesting Ekco Group Inc., the Nashua based kitchenwares marketer, because the group says the companies holdings include a Pennsylvania company that makes steel leghold traps used in the fur industry.
The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, based in Dallas, called Ekco officials hypocrites for their recent purchase of Aspen Pet Products while continuing to make the steel traps at Ekco’s Woodstream Corp. subsidiary in Lititz, PA.
CAFT members said they are opposed to all fur products and to the use of leghold traps, which they say end up injuring or killing pets. In a news release sent to media organizations Tuesday, the group called for a boycott of all Ekco products.
"It’s ironic that Ekco now owns a company which people who love their animals may endorse, while still manufacturing steel leghold traps which regularly maim those very same dogs and cats each fur trapping season,” said JP Goodwin, CAFT’s executive director, in a statement.
Goodwin said the group also protests at stores that sell furs, and is pursuing legislation that would abolish fur trapping.
Ekco is a major purveyor of kitchenware and houseware products like spatulas and mops. The company announced on Dec. 16 that it would buy Denver based Aspen Pet Products Inc. for about $34 million. Aspen markets pet toys, leashes, chews, litter boxes and shampoos and is prominent in the booming pet supplies market.
A New Hampshire representative of the anti fur group, Danielle Dore or Rochester, said CAFT has targeted Ekco previously for its ownership of Woodstream, which she called one of the largest makersof steel leghold traps in the US.
In August, members of the group put anti Ekco leaflets on cars outside its Spit Brook Rd. offices. She said the protests would be stepped up in 1998, including the possibility of a civil disobedience action at the companies Nashua headquarters.
"We just want to make people know about this,” she said. “Our goal is the eradication of the leghold traps,” stated Dore.
Ekco had 1996 operating revenues of about $250 million and a loss of $2.6 million.
Officials at the company could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
OSLO, Norway Jan 7 - A school of herring caught in a trawler's net refused to give up without a fight - and sank a 63-foot boat.
The trawler Steinholm was fishing off Norway's northern coast when it made a hugh catch of the fish. When the crew tried to haul in the net, the entire school of herring swam for the bottom and capsized the ship, the Oslo newspaper Dagbladet reported Tuesday.
"I have been fishing since I was 14 and I have never seen anything like it," skipper Geir Nikolaisen, 49, was quoted as saying.
Crew members tried to cut loose the net but were forced to abandon the capsized ship, which sank in 10 minutes.
Although the University of Wisconsin had originally promised that the monkeys housed at the Vilas Park Zoo would have until the year 2002 until they wore out their welcome and would have to be removed, the University was plainly pulling a fast one by claiming that the National Institute of Health (NIH) funding for the animals would run out on the 1st of February. It was reported on Friday evening, January 9th, that the monkeys will likely be headed to the Delta Research Centre at Tulane University, to be used by Dr. Gerome (notorious for his involvement in the Silver Spring Monkey scandle) which is a NIH funded facility. Activists in Madison are disgusted to find that the NIH can feed and house the monkeys at Tulane after the 1st of February, but the NIH will not feed and house the monkeys in their home of almost 20 years at the Vilas Park Zoo in Madison after that date.
The monkeys have lived in Madison in the same colony since their enslavement from the jungles of Thailand decades ago. This means that the Vilas Park Zoo monkey colony is unique in all the world. However, the University of Wisconsin, although having used the monkeys for its own research purposes in the past, will not pay for the monkey's current room and board. The public has reacted strongly against breaking the monkey clan up like slaves from an auction block. When the University used the February 1, 1998 deadline for the 150 or so individuals to be removed from the Dane County park, it was speculated that the University just wanted to get rid of the controversial animals as fast as it could.
Now that the University has admitted that they intend to send the monkeys to Delta, it seems certain that the alleged lack of NIH funding was a ruse designed to protect what was left of the University Primate Center's reputation. The University seems unable to free itself from public scandle. The normally supportive local press had bashed the Primate Center for violating their own agreement with the County Zoo to use the monkeys for only behavioral, not invasive, research. Additionally, the whereabouts of some of the monkeys still appears unknown and it seems probable that some individuals may have been used by vivisectors for painful or invasive experiments.
It is not surpising that the news of the monkeys transfer came the day after local attorney Richard Bolton, and monkey protectionist Kim Bauers argued on behalf of the monkeys' in Dane County Circuit Court. The Judge has allowed the plaintiffs another seven days to try to find presendential case law protecting monkeys but obviously this is a cutting-edge area of law and after a thoughtful three and one-half hours of argument, the Judge has indicated he will not likely find on the monkeys behalf.
Please call this caring and compassionate Judge and ask him to issue a court order sending the monkeys back home to Thailand. Judge Patrick J. Fiedler's direct line is (608) 266-4325.
The only hope for the monkeys now, for their lives, and the lives of their offspring is to be sent to a Thailand monkey sanctuary. This sanctuary has received awards and has been recognized for their reputable care of Thailand's indiginous species. However, the monkeys will not go to this sanctuary if the University has its way. Without a larger public outcry, the monkeys' fates are sealed. They need you to pick up the phone and make a call on their behalf immediately.
Please call the Dane County Board of Supervisors at (608) 266-4121 and beg the Board and County Executive Kathleen Falk (formerly the State's Public Intervenor and premier environmental protectionist) to move the monkeys to the sanctuary in Thailand, the monkey's former home. Please send your letters immediately to 210 Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin 53703.
After years of protection, the timber wolf, also known as the eastern gray wolf (canis lupus) may be coming under the gun again. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the wolf population in Minnesota has exceeded projected levels and needs to be controlled by hunting and trapping. Delisting of the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act is being sought in Minnesota.
The DNR is holding a series of meetings throughout the state to get public input on the fate of the wolves. At some meetings, arguments by the public in favor of hunting and trapping wolves have included fear over wolves killing children and pets. In North America there is no documented case of a wolf ever killing a person. Minnesota experienced severe winters in 1995-96 and 1996-97 resulting in a decrease in deer population. Complaints of depradation by wolves on domestic animals (livestock and/or pets) increased by 19% in 1997, but final numbers are not yet available. Depradation statistics for 1996 show that of households with dogs in wolf range, approximately 0.00015% experienced depradation (10 out of 68,000 households with dogs in wolf range). If you live in the area, if at all possible, please attend at least one of these meetings:
Duluth: Woodland Middle School Auditorium, 7-9 p.m., Jan. 13.
Little Falls: Little Falls Middle School Commons, 7-9 p.m., Jan. 14.
Twin Cities: Normandale Community College, Auditorium F, 9700 France Ave S., Bloomington, 7-9 p.m., Jan. 15.
Montevideo: National Guard Armory TACC Building, 7-9 p.m., Jan. 20.
Rochester: Rochester Community Technical College Memorial Lecture Hall, 7-9 p.m., Jan. 21.
Northome: Northome School, 7-9 p.m., Jan. 22.
Please write opposing the delisting of the wolf as well as any hunting and trapping:
Jamie Clark, Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
Rm. 3256 Main Interior Building
1849 C St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20240
Bill Hartwig
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bishop Henry Whipple Building
1 Federal Drive Fort
Snelling, MN 55111
Nancy Gibson International Wolf Center
1396 Highway 169
Ely, MN 55731
When writing to the Wolf Center, it's important to note that the Wolf Center has of yet taken no position on the proposed hunting and trapping of wolves.
For more information, contact:
The Animal Rights Coalition (ARC)
PO Box 8750
Minneapolis, MN 55420
612-822-6161
Can a whole country be wrong? The British government recently decided to ban experiments on great apes. That government has announced that it will not allow great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orang-utans) to be used for medical experimentation in future.
What would people like Joe Erwin and all other great ape experiment advocates say to this? That the government is out of step with reality? What about dying babies? Would the government representatives give their children vaccines, yawn, yawn?
To clarify the situation for those unaware of Britain's recent step, government papers and reports state that no experiments will be granted licences if they involve the use of a great ape. However, no actual legislation has been introduced yet, because it is so long-winded (like the recent U.K. ban on the testing of cosmetic ingredients) and unnecessary.
"We consider current legislation sufficient because it insists on the application of a cost/benefit analysis", said Steve Wilkes, Head of the Home Office's Animal Scientific Procedures Committee's Department recently. The cost/benefit analysis involves the weighing up of the cost to the animal (in terms of suffering) with the benefit to human beings. Only if the benefit outweighs the suffering is an experiment granted a licence to proceed. "This would never be the case if it was proposed to use a great ape'" confirmed Mr Wilkes.
Home Office Minister, Lord Williams, first announced the decision. In a policy statement he proclaimed that there would be no moral justification for using these special animals for any kind of experimentation, including AIDS or BSE research. "The government will not allow the use of great apes in future", he said.
"This is a matter of morality. The cognitive and behavioral characteristics and qualities of these animals mean it is unethical to treat them as expendable for research."
The British government now thinks along the line of one Dr. Roger Fouts of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Centre in Washington, USA, recent author of the book Next of Kin. Fouts has said - "People ask me, wouldn't I use a chimpanzee if it meant saving my child's life? If my child's life was at stake, I might want to rip out my neighbour's heart to save him. But this doesn't mean I would do so."
PACE and its members would like to congratulate the British government on this timely stand which is the first in the world to ban the use of chimpanzees.
Although the British government has made its new position clear to the European Commission (at a Commission conference last December), the existence of the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Holland which holds 160 chimpanzees and IMMUNO in Austria, which has 60, may cause significant obstacles on our way to achieving the Europe-wide ban called for. But such a ban will be persued all the more vigorously in the wake of the British decision.
JANIE REYNOLDS DIRECTOR - People Against Chimpanzee Experiments (PACE)
HEAD OF AIDS TESTING LAB CALLS FOR PATIENT QUARANTINE
Recipient of $8 Million in Federal AIDS Research Funds Says AIDS Is "Silly" Disease
A toxicologist whose private foundation has received more than $8 million in federal AIDS research funds has called for the quarantine of AIDS patients. In the December 30, 1997 Wall Street Journal, the toxicologist, Frederick Coulston, called AIDS a "silly disease" and suggested that its victims display "quarantine" signs.
"It is appalling that an individual with such a derisive view of AIDS has been entrusted with federal funds earmarked to fight this tragic disease," said Suzanne Roy, Program Director of In Defense of Animals (IDA), which has been investigating Coulston's non-profit corporation, The Coulston Foundation (TCF), for several years. TCF has a long record of violating federal animal welfare laws, and with over 600 chimps, is by far the largest captive colony of chimpanzees in the world.
TCF's federal AIDS support comes in the form of a multi-million dollar subcontract with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to house and care for HIV-infected chimpanzees. The subcontract is currently being looked into by the office of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a member of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, for possible price-gouging.
Coulston's comments about AIDS were made in a Journal article about the fate of 144 chimpanzees who are about to be divested of by the Air Force. Coulston is vying for "ownership" of the chimpanzees, as is a coalition of animal welfare organizations, led by chimpanzee experts Drs. Jane Goodall and Roger Fouts.
In press reports, Coulston has also claimed to have discovered the hepatitis B vaccine as well as a vaccine against malaria. Neither claim is substantiated by scientific evidence. In fact, no vaccine against malaria even exists, nor does Coulston have a single hepatitis-related scientific publication. In addition, Coulston, who also has no AIDS-related scientific publications, was roundly criticized last year when he claimed on CNN that a vaccine tested at his laboratory was "the answer" to AIDS. Coulston has espoused many non-scientific beliefs, such as his statements that nicotine is not addictive and does not affect health; that lead levels in the blood do not cause brain damage; and that DDT is one of the greatest inventions of man and does not thin bird eggs.
Coulston, who controls almost one-half of the entire U.S. chimp population, has also espoused fringe views regarding humans' closest genetic cousins, repeatedly stating his desire to use chimpanzees as living blood and organ banks and to test toxic chemicals.
TCF has also repeatedly violated federal law. The foundation is currently under official investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for negligent chimpanzee deaths in 1997, despite its 1996 pledge to cease and desist violating the Animal Welfare Act as part of its $40,000 settlement of formal USDA charges for previous animal welfare violations. TCF is currently being sued by several ex-employees for sexual harassment. TCF's lawyers failed in their attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, which alleges, among other things, that Coulston's son Craig, who is TCF's Vice-President, touched the breasts of one plaintiff, and put another in a bear hug and demanded that she kiss him.
"It is high time that the NIH explain why it is subsidizing a private business that cannot seem to comply with federal law and whose leader continues to espouse anti-scientific, fringe views," said Roy.
In Defense of Animals is a national animal advocacy organization with over 70,000 members based in Mill Valley, California.
The Coulston Foundation can be reached at:
1300 La Velle Rd.,
Alamogordo, NM 88310,
505-434-1725 (ph),
505-437-9897 (FAX),
coulston@zianet.com
A Statement from the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference
December 18, 1997
An Immediate Moratorium on Large-scale Livestock and Poultry Animal Confinement Facilities
Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have become a national issue. A new hog plant in Utah will produce more animal waste than the animal and human waste created by the city of Los Angeles; 1,600 dairies in the Central Valley of California produce more waste than a city of 21 million people. The annual production of 600 million chickens on the Delmarva Peninsula near Washington, D.C. generates as much nitrogen as a city of almost 500,000 people.
In North Carolina, 35 million gallons of animal waste were spilled in 1995, killing 10 million fish. In 1996, more than 40 manure spills were recorded in Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri, double the number reported in 1992. Earlier this year, microbe pfiesteria associated with the poultry industry killed 30,000 fish in the Chesapeake Bay and another 450,000 fish in North Carolina attributed to hog waste. Pfiesteria grow in waters with excessive nutrients. In the Gulf of Mexico, animal waste has helped to create a "dead zone" of up to 7,000 square miles. The Center for Disease Control has just released a report attributing foodborne diseases to food industry consolidation and the decrease in effective microbe resistance in humans from the antibiotics used to industrialize animals for confinement facilities.
The National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC) has for 75 years been a voice for participative democracy, widespread ownership of land, the defense of nature, animal welfare, support for small and moderate-sized independent family farms, economic justice, rural and urban interdependence. Such values are drawn from the message of the Gospel and the social teachings of our Church. Furthermore, we see such values best represented in the agricultural arena by what is called sustainable agriculture.
In the light of present concerns about the industrialization of agriculture and environmental pollution as represented especially by the hog industry, the NCRLC supports efforts for a national dialogue on Confined Animal Feeding Operations and their impacts on water quality, the environment, and local communities. Too much time has elapsed and too much damage has been done without an adequate national dialogue on these issues.
As a first step, the NCRLC supports a moratorium on the expansion and building of new farm factories and calls for a serious consideration of their replacement by sustainable agricultural systems which are environmentally safe, economically viable, and socially just. While the federal government, the states, and local communities reassess the structure of agriculture, such a moratorium seems especially urgent. Without a moratorium, the number of CAFOs will continue to proliferate, causing a significant increase in the devastating pollution, health, and social impacts by these confinement facilities across the country.
Included among the states currently dealing with CAFO issues are: Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington. Legislators, judges, and local citizens groups are reviewing the legal safeguards at every level to ensure clean water, a safe environment, food safety, and social justice. Such efforts are beginning to pay dividends:
In Indiana, for example, an administrative law judge has shut down a proposed confined feeding operation. In Kentucky, the attorney general has ruled that large operations are not exempt from local ordinances saying they are "not reasonable or prudent, accepted and customary." After two years of difficulties, North Carolina has imposed strong restrictions on confinement operations. South Dakota citizens recently secured sufficient signatures (31,000) to hold a statewide referendum proposing an anti-corporate farming law similar to Nebraska's. All but two of the 20 counties in Kansas had voted against new corporate hog farms. At the federal level, a new bill has been introduced to regulate CAFOs and a federal summit is being proposed to discuss animal-waste management.
As the livestock industry has been restructured, a growing dependence has developed on enormous open-air lagoon waste storage and liquid manure application systems. These systems have been prone to breaks, spills, and runoff into surface water and seepage into ground water. The Clean Water Act is again to be renewed after 25 years. While reforms of that Act are being developed, a moratorium on CAFOs is needed to forestall potentially devastating effects.
We challenge the notion that CAFOs, particularly hog factories, are a boon to local economies. Studies have shown that for every job created by a hog factory, three are lost. Every year, hog factories put almost 31,000 farmers out of business, out of their homes, and out of their communities. In 1990, there were 670,350 family hog farms; in 1995, there were only 208,780. Between 1994 and 1996, approximately 4,439 family farmers were displaced by the expansion of the top 30 pork producing companies, according to a recent study done by Successful Farming. While concentration in pork production grows, independent family farmers are being forced out. The same can be said about dairy, beef, and poultry farming.
NCRLC invites others to join the call for a moratorium and the replacement of factory farms by a sustainable agricultural system. The National Catholic Rural Life Conference is a membership organization grounded in a spiritual tradition which brings together the Church, care for creation and care for community. The NCRLC fosters programs of direct service and systemic change. As an educator in the faith, the NCRLC seeks to relate religion to the rural world; develops support services for rural pastoral ministers; serves as a prophetic voice and as a catalyst and convener for social justice.
John E. Peck c/o UW Greens, 731 State St., MN 53703 #608-262-9036
"This cause is not altogether and exclusively a women's cause. It is the cause of human brotherhood, as well as human sisterhood, and both must rise and fall together." - Frederick Douglas on women's rights, 1848
LATEST UPDATES OF THE OPRAH TRIAL
By CLIFF EDWARDS
AP Business Writer
CHICAGO (AP) -- Although mad cow disease has never been
documented in the United States, Oprah Winfrey says she had every
right to speculate on her show about the possibility of an
outbreak here.
Texas cattlemen disagree, and on Tuesday pretrial hearings begin in a lawsuit charging that Ms. Winfrey defamed an entire industry when the disease was made fodder for her talk show.
Cattlemen claim they lost millions of dollars because of the show. Oprah, her Harpo Productions Inc. and distributor King World Productions say the show was only keeping the public informed.
``I maintain my right to ask questions and to hold a public debate on issues that impact the general public and my audience,'' Ms. Winfrey said in a statement shortly after the show aired.
Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a brain-destroying disease that has ravaged cattle in Britain since the late 1980s.
It is believed to have been spread by cattle feed containing ground-up sheep parts, but it was not until 1996 that British scientists announced that humans may have contracted the disease by eating diseased beef.
Enter Oprah.
During an ``Oprah Winfrey Show'' broadcast in April 1996, a guest said that feeding ground-up animal parts to cattle, which was being done at the time, could spread the disease to humans in the United States.
To applause from the studio audience, Ms. Winfrey exclaimed: ``It has just stopped me from eating another burger!''
Cattle prices began to fall the day of the show and fell for two weeks before rising again.
Amarillo cattle feeder Paul Engler was livid.
No case has ever been reported in the United States, although eating meat from cattle tainted by the disease is believed to have killed at least 20 people overseas, mostly in Britain.
Engler, who said he lost $6.7 million because of the show, sued along with a dozen cattlemen under a 1995 Texas law that protects agricultural products from slander.
The federal lawsuit appears to be the biggest test yet of so-called ``veggie libel'' laws, which sprouted after a ``60 Minutes'' report in 1989 on the growth regulator Alar sent apple prices plummeting. Since then, 13 states have passed laws against falsely disparaging products.
Ms. Winfrey's show came at a time when drought, high feed prices and oversupply were crippling cattlemen.
England and Europe have been dealing with mad cow disease for several years, and the United States has been keeping an eye on the situation.
In 1989, the United States banned imports of beef products from England because of the disease, but meat imports from continental Europe were allowed to continue.
Last June the United States banned the feeding of most animal parts to cattle, and in December imports of cattle and sheep from Europe were banned.
But slaughtered animal parts can still be fed to pigs, chicken, fish, pets and other animals in the United States, and those animals in turn can be processed into feed for cows.
Dairy producer Bruce Krug of upstate New York believes the government and the beef industry need to stop the practice.
``We've got a potential disaster on our hands if we continue feeding animals back to animals,'' said Krug, who keeps 120 head of cattle in Constableville, about 40 miles north of Utica.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Elephants, whales and dolphins took hits in the international arena this year while some animals in the U.S. received legal protection, reports the Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization.
"Strides were made for animals in 1997," said HSUS President Paul G. Irwin. "There is a steadily building body of state law that provides legal safeguards for animals from abuse, neglect, and cruelty. The U.S. is becoming safer for animals as more state legislatures respond to citizens' interest in protecting animals."
INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
Participants at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in June reduced international protections for African elephants by downlisting elephant populations of three southern African countries from Appendix I to Appendix II allowing a regulated trade in elephant ivory and other elephant products.
Although whale advocates at the 49th annual International Whaling Conference in Monaco blocked the most harmful proposals to liberalize the killing of whales, Japan and Norway will continue to engage in commercial whaling activities. Left in doubt was a proposal advanced by the U.S. to allow the Makah tribe in Washington state to kill four gray whales even though whale killing has not been practiced by the Makah in more than 70 years. Among the victories at the conference was a hard-won agreement by Japan to halt the use of the cruel electric lance.
Elephants in South Africa's Kruger National Park were saved from slaughter as a new elephant immunocontraception and research program progressed in 1997. With human encroachment imminent, over 300 elephants were contracepted to stabilize the elephant population at 7,500.
U.S. CONGRESS HARSH ON ANIMALS
Though the U.S. Senate passed a similar amendment, the House of Representatives failed to approve an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that would have barred taxpayer dollars from going to directly support or promote trophy hunting of African elephants or international trade in ivory or rhino horn. An HSUS poll, conducted by Penn+Schoen, found that more than 84% of Americans oppose elephant trophy hunting and the ivory trade.
The U.S. Senate voted in favor of a "compromise" measure on tuna import laws. The legislation gave commercial tuna fishermen who chase and harass dolphins immediate access to the U.S. tuna market and offers the prospect of a change in "dolphin-safe" label standards in the United States in less than two years. The "compromise" called for the Commerce Department to study the effects of chasing dolphins and encircling them with nets to catch the tuna that swim below. If by March 1999 researchers find that encircling dolphins has not caused a "significant adverse impact" on dolphin populations, the tuna caught by this method could be sold under the "dolphin safe" label. But HSUS Marine Mammal Scientist Naomi Rose, Ph.D. says that three years would be the minimum amount of time needed to detect a population trend.
U.S. HIGHLIGHTS
In April an HSUS investigation revealed regulations designed to protect sea turtles were being ignored by Texas shrimpers. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) responded to the announcement of findings with stepped up monitoring of the use of turtle saving devices.
Also in April NASA agreed to end its primate research on the Bion 12 mission. The HSUS and other animal protection groups had charged that proposed experiments were cruel, repetitive and unnecessary.
Animal protection organizations had their most impressive victories at the state level during 1997. Over forty state laws were enacted to provide new or stronger protection for animals. Seventeen states passed significant legislation favorable to animals. Ten states (TX, RI, CO, NJ, NY, LA, MS, OR, NY, NE) changed their statutes to allow for stronger penalties or more effective enforcement of basic animal cruelty statues. Two states (NC, CA) strengthened their animal fighting laws. Two new states passed lemon laws (AZ, PA) that provide anyone who purchases a sick animal be reimbursed for a portion of the veterinarian bills. The new laws encourage retail stores to buy healthy animals thereby reducing the sale of dogs from substandard puppy- mills. Humane euthanasia of nuisance wildlife legislation passed in Connecticut. Keeping wild animals in captivity will be much more closely regulated under a new Mississippi law. Thanks to a new law, Oklahoma animal shelters no longer have to turn animals over for research purposes. A constitutional right to hunt and fish in Minnesota failed to pass. A bill to allow the inhumane killing of snapping turtles was vetoed by Maryland's governor and a substantial government subsidy to the racing industry was defeated in Oregon.
Students in Maryland and Rhode Island were given greater opportunities to learn without having to dissect animals thanks to two new state laws. In addition to the new laws, efforts to end painful experimentation on live animals in microbiology labs at Ohio State University paid off. Rabbits that had been scheduled for harmful injections, slow bleeding and death were spared. The lab project that used the rabbits was eliminated after pressure to use humane alternatives was accepted.
Two more states -Texas and Connecticut -- created special license plates to enhance public awareness of animal issues in 1997, bringing the total number of state animal license plate programs to six. A similar license plate program, which began in 1996, has netted New York State almost $1 million in revenues.
In September, The HSUS released study results showing that almost one third of animal cruelty incidents reviewed also involved violent crimes against people. Those findings were part of a new program called First Strike! which will bring together experts in law enforcement, social work, education, child abuse, domestic violence, and animal protection to increase awareness of the connection between animal cruelty and human violence.
In November, 280 Canada geese scheduled for slaughter by the state of Minnesota because they were considered "nuisance animals" were rescued and relocated to Oklahoma. The HSUS successfully sued the state and an eight- member HSUS team oversaw their relocation to a Choctaw Indian reservation in Oklahoma.
The USDA revoked the license of King Royal Circus in December and levied a $200,000 fine after African elephant Heather was found dead in a crowded trailer parked in Albuquerque, New Mexico. USDA charged King Royal Circus with providing improper vet care and improper diet, using life-threatening transport methods and for neglecting and abusing performing animals.
In Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio immunocontraception of deer was used successfully in programs designed to deal humanely with deer populations. But government-sanctioned deer kills took place across the country in mistaken attempts to 'control' deer as the human population rapidly encroaches on wildlife habitat.
A cat killing spree in March brought the little town of Fairfield, Iowa, into the national spotlight in November and December when two men were convicted of breaking into an animal shelter and bludgeoning 23 cats and kittens with baseball bats. Sixteen cats died in the attack. Two assailants were sentenced to four years in the state penitentiary and 23 days in county jail. The four year prison sentence was suspended by Judge Daniel P. Wilson pending the young men's successful completion of three years probation that includes mandatory psychological counseling and participation in a youthful offenders program. Iowa state legislators will consider a new felony animal- cruelty law in 1998.
⌐1997 Maynard S Clark Vegetarian Resource Center
info@vegetarian.org
Reprinted by permission
Date: 10 Jan 1998
Source: Hong Kong Standard
By Ceri Williams
HUMANS could do nothing to prevent the deadly bird flu from striking again as it was probably impossible to control the source of the virus, a top doctor said on Friday.
Dr Stephen Ng Kam-cheung, president of the cancer screening Compuscreen Medical Diagnostics Centre in Sha Tin, said the source of bird flu was likely to be millions of mainland ducks. ``It is futile to try to stop this disease. It is the forces of nature versus the forces of man,'' he said.
``The past two flu epidemics _ the Asian flu epidemic in the 1950s and the Hong Kong flu epidemic of 1968 _ were all traced back to ducks in southern China.''
Dr Ng, who has been researching epidemiology _ the study of the detection of diseases _ for more than 20 years, said it was very likely the source of the new strain of H5N1 also came from ducks.
``There are millions of ducks _ both domesticated and wild _ on the mainland and there is no way anyone can control them because they fly where they want to.''
Dr Ng, who was the guest speaker at the Kowloon Lions Club yesterday, said people should not panic but instead realise that every year around 2,000 Hong Kong people died of pneumonia-related diseases. ``No one is panicking about that _ we just accept it as part of nature and so with this disease, we should do the same thing because we cannot control it from happening.''
Meanwhile, Professor John Tam Siu-lun, Chinese University virologist, said slaughtering the 1.5 million chickens in Hong Kong was an attempt at ``buying time'' before the virus strikes again.
He said: ``The slaughter will reduce the risk of it developing into a new mutant but I am sure that in the next five years new cases will come up again.''
Prof Tam said it was important to get the bird flu in perspective as just another disease which humans must cope with.
``There are probably more people dying of TB right now than influenza and there is at least one million people in Asia with diabetes who can also die of it.'' But he repeated earlier comments that it was important to try to eradicate bird flu before the peak flu season in March as there was a chance it could mutate and spread more easily among humans.
--------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998
Source: Nando Net
A senior health official warned Saturday that geese, ducks and other birds may have to be slaughtered if the recent mass killing of chickens fails to wipe out the so-called "bird flu." Another person -- a 19-year-old woman -- was found to have bird flu, the government said, raising the number of confirmed cases to 16. Four people have died. The woman was hospitalized in critical condition.
Dr. Margaret Chan, director of health, said the killing of Hong Kong's 1.3 million chickens was the first step in wiping out the H5N1 virus that has killed four people. Officials may have to look beyond chickens and see if the virus exists in geese, ducks and the "non-chicken population," she said.
On Friday, officials admitted they did a sloppy job in the mass gassing of the chickens. Bedraggled birds somehow survived the slaughter, and dogs were seen scampering off with carcasses. Scientists will test rats, cats and dogs to see whether animals picked up the virus from chewing on chicken carcasses intended for burial. Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa has said shortages of staff and equipment hindered the government's effort this week to stop the mysterious spread of the flu, which typically strikes poultry, to humans.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat. 3rd Jan. 1998
Source: South China Morning Post
About 68 tonnes of rotting chicken carcasses were scattered about Hong Kong last night while the Government struggled to complete its poultry slaughter.
Poultry farmers pleaded yesterday for low-interest loans to stave off bankruptcy, plus compensation of $46 per chicken - $16 more than the level set in regulations.
The Government hopes to reach agreement with the mainland on comprehensive monitoring of the bird flu virus, according to a senior official.
Toddler brings confirmed cases to 15 A three-year-old boy was confirmed with the killer bird flu on Friday. The toddler's condition was being assessed, the Health Department said.
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa on Friday admitted a plan to slaughter all chickens in Hong Kong in a bid to eradicate the bird flu has not been handled properly.
Chickens stay out of killers' clutches More than 800 chickens were still waiting for their death sentence on a Yuen Long farm yesterday despite claims that the slaughter of 1.4 million chickens is complete.
It has cost millions of dollars to bury 1.4 million recently slaughtered chickens in landfill, Environmental Protection Department assistant director John Rockey said yesterday.
Executive Councillor Tam Yiu-chung accused the Government yesterday of underestimating the deadly bird flu.
Warning on eggs, frozen chickens Medical experts warned yesterday that eggs and frozen chickens could be contaminated with the deadly bird flu, despite health officials' claims they are safe to eat.
Patients urged not to rush for tests. Only flu patients with a sudden high fever should visit emergency wards and request urgent tests for the H5N1 virus, a medical expert said yesterday.
Authorities at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport are on bird flu alert amid fears the fatal virus might be exported from the SAR.
Mr Dan Kritchman - Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture has declared that all stray and wild animal should be killed. On a radio interview which he gave the morning of December 21, he said the wild animals in Israel are causing "the eruption of diseases and damage to agriculture".
Kritchman said that if it were up to the "Green People", humans will have to be put behind bars, while animals would roam free, since they have more rights than people...
The Israeli Nature Reservation Authority began mass killing of animals in the Galilee Region and the Sharon region on December 20th. Dogs, cats, foxes, wolves,jackals,hyaena etc. are victims of the carnage. The Head of the Nature Reservation Authority admitted they are killing rather than use oral vaccinations because it is cheaper. He also claims that the use of oral vaccinations was never proved to be effective.
Please fax to the offices below and protest against the mass killing of stray animals and wildlife. You might suggest an alternative such as the oral rabies vaccination that is being used in other countries ( although, Prof. Shimshoni - Head of Vet services in the Ministry of Agriculture keeps finding excuses why it can't be used in Israel).
Please say you are going to send copies to the Israeli Embassy in your own countries, and also threaten to boycott Israeli Agricultural products or Tourism in order to stop the mass killing.
1) Minister of Agriculture - Mr. Refael Eitan
Fax:+972-3-6968899
2) Mrs. Nehama Ronen - Director General, Ministry
of Environment
fax:+ 972-3-6913893
3) Ministry of Health
Fax: +972-2-6787662
4) Ministry of Finance
Fax:+972-2-5635769
5) The Vet' services in the Agriculture Ministry
_ Professor Shimshoni
Fax: +972-3-9681573
Please also Fax the Palestinian Authority Chief of the Cabinet:
Mr. Isam R. Shawa,
Fax:+972-7-824090
ask the Palestinian Authority to enforce an Anti-Rabies policy which will prevent Rabies in the Area. Urge the Palestinian Authority to act in the most humane way without shooting animals.
BLOOMFIELD, Iowa (AP) Two men who broke into an animal shelter and beat 23 cats with baseball bats, killing 16, were sentenced Friday to 23 days in jail one day for each of the injured or dead animals.
Chad Lamansky and Daniel Myers, both 18, were found guilty last month of two misdemeanors for offenses against an animal shelter and one misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass.
Judge Daniel P. Wilson said he received more than 1,000 letters and electronic messages from across the country about the case. The men were given credit for time served; 12 days in Myers' case and three days for Lamansky.
They were also fined $2,500 each, ordered to pay restitution that will be determined later, placed on three years probation and ordered to serve in the Youthful Offenders Program, which will require psychiatric evaluations, counseling and close supervision.
The men had no comment afterward but apologized just before being sentenced.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry. ... I'm sorry to my family and to my friends," Lamansky said.
Myers said: "I'm sorry, your honor, for what I did."
To: Chief, Office of Scientific Authority, U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service
From: Ronald M. Nowak, Zoologist, OSA, FWS
Subj: Retirement
I have today submitted to the Division of Personnel Management an application for early retirement. If approved, I would plan to depart on the last day of the currently authorized period, 30 December 1997.
My primary reason for seeking this opportunity to retire is that this agency is no longer adequately supporting the function for which I was hired, the classification and protection of wildlife pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and indeed, often is working against this function. I have become particularly concerned about the agency's seemingly unrestrained use of public funds to carry on litigation and other actions to thwart or delay appropriate classification and regulation of species, such as the lynx. It also recently was unsettling to learn that the agency is essentially supporting the destruction of the wolf in Central Asia to justify issuance of permits for American hunters to import trophies of the threatened argali sheep, which itself may be contrary to regulations. My own efforts to call attention to and mitigate these problems have failed.
Notwithstanding the above, I readily acknowledge that this and associated agencies have many dedicated employees and worthwhile programs, notably (but not limited to) those involved with wolf conservation and research.
Another factor in my application is that work-related pressures, to which I have been subject, especially within the last year, have been the cause of considerable stress and may be aggravating conditions potentially damaging to my health.
I do not want, and will not accept or participate in, any party, gift, card, testimonial, or any recognition of what to me is a distressing event.
If, after retirement, my services might be useful relative to measures that would appropriately classify, protect, or study the urial sheep, koala, wolf, or any other foreign or native species, I would be glad to be of help to the extent that circumstances may allow.
I ask that my home address and telephone number (see below) be given freely to parties seeking my attention or assistance. Anyone, whether in or outside of this agency, is welcome to contact me at any time.
Ronald M. Nowak
2101 Greenwich Street
Falls Church, Virginia 22043
(phone 703-237-6676)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - A traveling circus whose elephant was found dead inside a trailer in New Mexico has had its license revoked and was ordered by a federal judge to pay a $200,000 fine, officials said Friday.
Department of Agriculture Judge Victor Palmer ruled Thursday that the Texas- based King Royal Circus abused three elephants and eight llamas and permanently barred it from exhibiting animals in the future.
It was believed to be the largest fine ever imposed in an animal abuse case in the United States and the circus claimed it was unfair.
``We thought that evidence was available which showed this was simply an accident. These sanctions and the revocation of the license is not an appropriate remedy,'' attorney Ron Koch said, adding that the circus would appeal the ruling.
Albuquerque police discovered the animals crammed in a poorly ventilated trailer last August. One elephant, an 8-year-old African elephant named Heather, had died.
The case provoked a nationwide outcry from animals rights activists who appealed to the federal government to intervene.
``This was no accident,'' said Lisa Jennings of The Animal Protection of New Mexico, Inc.
``This is the way they do business, and it's the way a lot of circuses do business. The less money and the less care they put into the animals, the more money they make, and that's the bottom line,'' Jennings said.
Palmer said in his ruling that the circus's violations were ''severe and directly affected the health and wellbeing of the animals,'' and ``were part of a long-term failure to provide adequate care.''
The city of Albuquerque took away the circus's other two elephants and eight llamas after the incident and is holding them at a city park. Koch said the circus planned to sue the city to regain custody of the animals.
Tuesday, December 9, 1997:
Yellowstone National Park's strategy for managing its bison herd
this winter will do little to prevent the intentional slaughter
of the animals, conservationists warned Friday.
Yellowstone Superintendent Michael Finley announced the park's
decision on animal management under the Interim Bison Management
Plan for this winter. Finley announced measures aimed "to
reduce the number of bison that are killed," but the
National Parks and Conservation Association warned that a repeat
of last year's slaughter depends more on Montana's plans than on
measures the park takes on its own.
The Park Service hopes to maintain the bison herd at its current
level of about 2,200 animals. To do so, bison who leave the park
in North Yellowstone will be tested for brucellosis and only
those who test serol positive will be killed. The others will be
held in captivity until spring time when they will be herded back
into the park.
Untested, low risk bison that roam out of the park in West
Yellowstone will be allowed to graze freely. Low risk bison are
bulls, yearlings and calves, as the most common cause of
brucellosis infection is from aborted fetuses.
Some Yellowstone bison, as well as elk and other wildlife, carry
brucellosis, a bacterial disease that can cause cattle to abort.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has determined that Yellowstone's intentions
to allow untested low-risk bison on public lands in the West
Yellowstone area this winter will not jeopardize Montana'
brucellosis class-free status. However, Montana may still object
to Yellowstone's plan, claiming that other states may refuse
Montana cattle over brucellosis fears.
"The State of Montana can still shoot any bison that leave
Yellowstone, no matter what the Park Service does," said
Mark Peterson, NPCA Rocky Mountain Regional Director. "The
federal agencies involved have reached a consensus on how they
would like to manage the herd, but there is still no agreement
with state officials. There's no indication Montana won't go
right ahead with the zero tolerance policy that wiped out nearly
1,100 bison last year."
Montana has defended its policy toward Yellowstone's bison by
claiming that the APHIS would sanction Montana's cattle industry
if bison were allowed in the state.
"The bison kill problem will not be solved until suitable
public lands outside the park are found where bison can graze
without being shot," said Peterson.
NPCA has endorsed a land exchange deal being negotiated by the
U.S. Forest Service and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation with
the Royal Teton Ranch, a prime migration corridor just outside
the north entrance to Yellowstone. The exchange would provide a
route for bison leaving the park to reach safe grazing lands.
For more information, contact Jerome Uher, NPCA, (202)223-6722
ext. 122.
Copyright 1997, Environmental News Network
By William Booth Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, December 11, 1997; Page A01
YOSEMITE VALLEY, Calif.—Bear Number 2061, a beautiful
sweet-smelling blonde with a white blaze on her chest, had become
a problem animal, a repeat offender with a rap sheet four pages
long -- a dumpster diver, a mauler of cars, and worse. Her death
was foretold.
The biologists nicknamed her Miney, and with her two cubs by her
side, she worked the parking lots of Yosemite Valley, sniffing
and searching, until she found the locked vehicles that smelled
-- if ever so faintly -- of human food.
And then Miney placed her long, stout pencil-thick claws on the
automobile door frame and heaved, until the window popped, the
glass shattered, the metal frame twisted, and the car opened like
a can of beans, available for consumption. She sent the cubs in
first and they often tore their way through the back seat, en
route to the trunk, as if they were ripping a log apart on a hunt
for termites.
Kate McCurdy had her eye on Miney for several years. Though the
bear had never hurt a visitor, her behavior had become
increasingly brazen. She was observed on at least 20 occasions
breaking into vehicles -- sometimes early in the evening as a
crowd looked on, appalled yet mesmerized.
To those so inclined, McCurdy's work might seem like a dream come
true, working as a wildlife biologist in the glacier-carved
cathedral of America's most glorious national park. Except that
McCurdy now hates her job. Or more specifically, this part of it.
"I didn't get into this to kill animals," she said
quietly in the apple orchard that serves as a parking lot for
Curry Village in the commercial heart of Yosemite Valley. Those
were about the only words spoken during the early morning hours,
when she and three other wildlife specialists performed their
duty with a grim efficiency -- and a quiet respect for the
condemned.
Though many visitors do not realize it, the wild places and wild
creatures Americans treasure have become increasingly managed by
man -- down to the smallest details.
Today, the endangered panthers of the Florida Everglades are kept
extant with the introduction of new gene lines from Texas
cougars. The Colorado River that roars through the Grand Canyon
is released by the twist of a knob from engineers at a dam
upstream. And the black bear population of Yosemite, a delight
for sightseers, has become divided into good bears and bad bears.
A good bear eats acorns and elderberries, is wary of humans, and
is rarely seen. A bad bear likes chili-cheese nachos and car
air-fresheners. These bears are bold, are viewed all the time,
and display little fear, even after being repeatedly assailed --
as Miney and her cubs were -- with pepper spray, slingshots,
firecrackers and bear dogs. They have developed behaviors that
put them on a collision course with humans, or more accurately,
with human possessions.
Bear attacks in Yosemite are exceedingly rare, fatalities
nonexistent, but property damage this year alone is estimated to
have reached $500,000 -- a record -- with more than 600
documented car break-ins from the spring until now, as the bears
begin to disappear for their winter hibernation.
There is a reason bears perform in the circus. They are extremely
clever, and very dexterous. "I'm always amazed at how smart
they are," said Steve Thompson, McCurdy's boss and the other
wildlife biologist at Yosemite. "It makes situations like
this all the more tragic when you recognize that you're dealing
with an almost conscious animal."
McCurdy has seen bears unscrew peanut butter jars with their
paws. She has watched them open food lockers, using one paw and
their snout to trip the latch.
When the park introduced dumpsters whose mouths shut like a
mailbox, the bears learned to climb up, open the slot, and drop
down into the dumpsters, head first, to disappear into the
garbage, with only their back legs clinging to the open door.
Hundreds of bears have slipped during this delicate maneuver to
become trapped inside. If the garbage collectors, on their
morning rounds, do not find them first, they can be emptied into
the truck's compactors and crushed. A handful of bears have died
this way in the last few years.
In the back country, bears are now found at higher elevations
that held little food for them until the arrival of backpackers.
Hikers were once instructed to hang their supplies over tree
limbs with a rope, until the bears learned to chew through the
cords. Now, backpackers are supposed to cache their food in a
complex counterbalance method, but bear sows are -- somehow, it
is a mystery -- communicating with their cubs, who climb the tree
and bounce up and down on the tree branches until the food sacks
fall, or failing that, climb above the caches and dive down onto
the bundles.
The two full-time wildlife biologists at Yosemite are quick to
point out that the real problem animal is, of course, not the
black bear but the visitor -- and the concessionaires and park
managers who, citing tight budgets, have delayed too long
employing anti-bear strategies such as food lockers and secure
dumpsters.
Bear management in places like Yosemite, however, has evolved
over the years and shows clearly how human perceptions of nature
and its denizens have changed.
Beginning in the 1920s, as park managers worked to build a
constituency of visitors, the bears were baited to "feeding
pits" in the valley and fed restaurant scraps, for the
enjoyment of guests. But the pits encouraged bears to rely on
human food and so the animals became ever more intrusive and the
pits were phased out by the mid-1950s. Visitors, however, simply
shifted their viewing to the smoldering open garbage dumps, where
the bears feasted on refuse until the dumps were closed in the
early 1970s -- in part to control the bears and to restore the
valley to a more pleasing aesthetic.
Yet as they had now adapted to high-fat fast foods, the bears had
become serious "pests." Until 1975, it was park policy
to routinely kill problem animals in the valley. Accurate records
were not kept, but Thompson said that as many as 60 bears may
have been shot each year. It was not until hikers discovered a
bear burial mound on a cliffside that a public outcry led to new
management practices.
The park, with the support of the private Yosemite Fund, has been
slowly installing anti-bear food lockers at campsites and rigging
dumpsters with snap-locks. But opportunities still abound. In
Yosemite Valley alone, there are 325 trash cans, 227 dumpsters
and 300 recycling bins -- most outfitted now with devices to foil
the bears, but not all. There is still a dearth of lockers at the
popular tent cabins and at trailheads, leaving little alternative
but for visitors to hide extra food in car trunks. This is still,
indeed, allowed. But it is a big mistake.
While no bear is born "bad," Miney may have learned her
bad habits from her mother. The biologists nicknamed the mother
"Swatter" and Thompson, sitting in his truck on a
recent hunt, while on stakeout for Miney, explained why.
"I've never encountered a bear as aggressive as she
was," Thompson said. "She swatted this British tourist
across the face and lacerated him. This was after we had
relocated her once by helicopter, she and her three cubs,
including Miney, which is really complex and expensive, and two
weeks later they were back and she went after the British
tourist.
"He'd improperly stored his food nearby, sat up and she
jumped on him, whacked him once and ran away. So, we went up
there to catch her and all of a sudden, we heard this screaming
and hollering, these people with their flashlights running around
and there she was . . . like a scene out of Dante's
Inferno."
Thompson found Swatter in the spotlights. "She was staring
at us, sizing us up, talk about aggressive. I darted her right in
the chest. It was pandemonium."
Swatter was euthanized in 1993, but her three cubs -- tagged and
identified -- were allowed to live. McCurdy feared they might
starve, but early this summer, Miney reappeared in Yosemite
Valley with two cubs of her own. They quickly got into trouble.
The Bear Activity Log tells the story, in 26 separate entries:
"Cubs in vehicle, sow eating food out in woods. Window
pulled out."
"Camper shell popped open."
"Bears (all three) in van with lots of eats in and out.
Extremely difficult to scare away. Bluff charge."
"Door frame pulled down and seat torn. Both cubs seen on top
of vehicle. Cubs scared away by horn, sow by using sling shot.
Estimated damage $1,000. This break-in occurred 15 minutes after
chasing all three into rocks behind tent cabins."
Miney, like her mother before her, had been relocated away from
the populous valley several times. But researchers now believe
that relocations do not work.
"We recognize that it is a tragedy to have to destroy any
black bear in the park," McCurdy wrote in her official
memorandum asking permission to destroy Miney, "let alone
one with two cubs. It has been especially difficult for us to
give up on these bears, as the presence of human foods in Curry
Village has clearly led to their demise. Almost half the cars
these bears break into have had copious amounts of food inside, a
situation easily remedied by provision of food storage facilities
in the Curry area and strengthening of food storage
regulations."
The order was signed.
And so on a night late last month cold enough to freeze standing
water, McCurdy and Thompson, along with seasonal workers Dan
Walsh and Tori Seher, met in the parking lot at Curry Village.
With still warm leftover prime rib donated from the valley's
Ahwahnee Hotel kitchen, the biologists rigged some bait in an
apple tree and waited for bears. Over the next four hours, six
bears were sighted. But no Miney. The biologists dispersed after
midnight and went home for a few hours' sleep.
At dawn, when they returned, the parking lot at Curry Village
looked like the aftermath of a looter's rampage. Seven cars had
been hit, their doors pried open as if by crowbars. But this was
the work of bears.
Tufts of fur clung to one window of a maroon Saab. Smeared paw
prints, measuring four inches -- Miney's size -- covered a Toyota
Celica's doors and roof. The car's interior looked like it had
fielded a rugby match.
As McCurdy made her rounds, early-rising visitors gawked at the
damage. Tourists came out to see their cars trashed, their
vacations ruined. One gruff guest told McCurdy, "You ought
to kill them bears." Then, over his shoulder: "I'll get
my gun and help you."
That night, McCurdy and her companions began their stakeout after
midnight. An hour later, the bear and her two cubs were spotted.
"Oh, boy," McCurdy sighed.
Miney's last crime scene was a rented silver Geo Metro and her
last meal -- rooted out of the trunk, as the cubs tore their way
through the back seat -- was a jar of salsa, a brick of tofu and
a grapefruit.
It was completely quiet in the apple orchard parking lot as
McCurdy and Thompson loaded their guns with barbed darts filled
with ketamine and xylazine. They slowly approached the car. Miney
turned and watched them. The cubs, chowing down in the back seat,
emerged. And then: Pop. Pop. Pop.
Miney, hit, ambled away, circling the car until she began to
weave like a drunk. Then she stopped, sat on her haunches and
crumbled in a heap. Both cubs climbed an apple tree after being
darted. One eventually fell like a sack of potatoes. The other
passed out in the branches and had to be chased and darted again.
Miney, who weighed about 220 pounds, was rolled onto a gurney.
She flopped over on her back. Her light brown fur was soft to the
touch and she smelled woodsy.
In the chill night air, McCurdy pulled on a pair of surgical
gloves and drew 10 cc of succinylcholine chloride into a big
syringe. She felt for the thick vein on the inside of the bear's
right hind leg. Miney lay there, her tongue lolling, eyes glazed
but open. McCurdy found the vein, slid the needle home, depressed
the plunger and waited for death to come.
It did not come quickly.
McCurdy squatted beside the bear and placed her hand on the
animal's chest, feeling her heart.
At first, it beat strong and measured, but as the poison moved
through Miney's system, the rhythm quickened, became irregular,
faster, then slowed, grew faint and finally could not be felt.
And then the bear began to jerk and twitch. This took another few
minutes. In a gesture old and unconscious, McCurdy held the
bear's paw for a moment. She stood up, exhaled deeply and said,
"Okay, let's do the cub."
After a few hours, all three were dead and loaded into the bed of
one of the trucks. The biologists drove the bears to a hidden
place and rolled them onto the ground, where they will become
food for other bears, ravens, coyotes and bugs, problem animals
no more.
⌐ Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
Background story follows this update
The following was sent on behalf of the 90 organizations that
signed below
Ben White
Animal Welfare Institute
_____________________________________________________
The Honorable-----------------
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Re: Opposition to U.S. Trapping Proposal Set for a Vote on Dec. 8
Dear Minister----------------:
On behalf of the organizations listed at the end of this letter,
we respectfully request that you reject the trapping proposal
offered by the U.S. Government. We strongly object to the
excruciating pain caused by all leghold traps, and the proposal
does not mandate any significant change in trapping practices to
reduce the trauma.
As you know, the U.S. Federal Government has stated repeatedly
that it does not have the authority to regulate trapping in each
of the fifty states. Therefore, it would be up to the state game
departments to implement the terms of the Agreed Minute and Side
Letter. These documents, which comprise the U.S. offer, are full
of loopholes which the state authorities are poised to exploit.
"Conventional" leghold restraining traps can continue
to be used after 6 years because of the numerous derogations.
Further, any state game department can allow use of leghold traps
if it claims these traps are necessary.
The current U.S. proposal is weaker than the proposal offered in
October (calling for a phase out of leghold traps in 4 years)
which was determined to be unacceptable to the Commission and
Council of Ministers! It is not equivalent to the Canada/ Russia
Agreement and will not stop the terrible suffering caused to
millions of animals annually in leghold traps.
Please uphold the intent of Regulation 3254/91 by voting
"no" on the fraudulent U.S. trapping proposal.
Sincerely,
Action for Animals- USA
Actors and Others for Animals-USA
Advocates Working for Animals and Respect for the Environment-USA
Alliance for Animals-USA
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals- USA
Animal Defense League-USA
Animal Emancipation-USA
Animal Legal Defense Fund-USA
Animal Legislative Action Network-USA
Animal Liberation League-USA
Animal Protection Institute-USA
Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition-USA
Animal Rights Foundation of Florida-USA
Animals Alliance of Canada-Canada
Animal Welfare Institute-USA
Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights-USA
Born Free Foundation-UK
Cetacea Defense- UK
Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade-USA
Compassion over Killing- USA
Djurens Stod Grupp- Sweden
Djurratts Alliansen- Sweden
Dolphin Action and Protection Group-South Africa
Dolphin Data Base-USA
Doris Day Animal League-USA
Earth Island Institute-USA
ECCEA- St. Lucia
Eliminera Palsindustrin-Sweden
Elsa Nature Conservancy-Japan
European Cetacean Organization-UK
Forenade Djur-Sweden
Free Animals Network-Japan
Freedom Information Network-USA
Friends of Animals-USA
Great Bear Foundation-USA
Grupo de Los Cien-Mexico
Hawley and Wright-USA
Humane Society of the United States-USA
Humane SPCA of Columbia, South Carolina-USA
Humanitarians for Animal Rights, Education-USA
I CARE- USA
In Defense of Animals-USA
International Fund For Animal Welfare-USA
International Wildlife Coalition-USA, Brazil
Last Chance for Animals-USA
Letters for Animals-USA
Marine Mammal Fund-USA
Mountain Lion Foundation-USA
National Huane Society-USA
New England Anti-Vivisection Society-USA
No Compromise-USA
Nordiska Samfundet Mot Plagsamma Djurforsok-Sweden
Orange County People for Animals
Orca Lab-USA
Osterreichischer Tierschutzverein-Germany
People Acting for Animal Liberation-Canada
People for Parks-USA
People for Reason in Science and Medicine-USA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
-PETA-USA
-PETA-Europe
-PETA-Netherlands
-PETA-Germany
Performing Animal Welfare Society-USA
Pet Hope-USA
Pet Assistance-USA
Predator Education Fund-USA
Progressive Animal Welfare Society-USA
Propaw-USA
Protect Our Earth’s Treasure-USA
Rada Delfinerna-Sweden
Rainforest Action Network-USA
Re-Earth-Bahamas
RespecTiere -Verein zur Beendigueng von Tierland-Austria
S.K.U.N.K.S.-USA
Society for Animal Protection Legislation-USA
Sonoma Peope for Animal Rights-USA
South Carolina Association for Marine Mammal Protection-USA
Tennesee Network for Animals-USA
THE ARK TRUST INC-USA
The Fund for Animals, Inc-USA
The WRITE CAUSE-USA
Tsitka-USA
United for Life-USA
Vegan Resistance- Sweden
Veganska Ambassaden-Sweden
Voice for a Viable Future- USA
Whale Rescue Team-USA
Wildlife Damage Review-USA
World Society for the Protection of Animals-USA, Canada
Zoocheck-Canada
EUROPEAN UNION ACCEPTS SPURIOUS U.S. TRAP PROPOSAL TO AVOID TRADE WAR
U.S. Makes Empty Promise to Ban Leghold Traps in Six Years to
Keep European Fur Market
SACRAMENTO, CA -- In a last-ditch effort to avoid a trade war
with the U.S., the European Union (EU) caved into political
pressure and announced this morning that it has accepted a
"compromise" proposal from the U.S. that will allow
trappers in the United States to continue using steel-jaw leghold
traps for at least another six years. The agreement comes on the
first day an EU regulation goes into effect banning fur imports
of 13 different species from countries still using the leghold
trap. The European General Affairs Council must ratify the
agreement on December 8 to allow the U.S. to continue selling
leghold-trapped furs to Europe.
Passed by the EU in 1991 in an effort to reduce pain and
suffering to furbearing animals worldwide, Regulation 3254/91 was
to be implemented January 1, 1995, but was successfully delayed
by the U.S. and other fur-exporting countries.
Animal advocates see the agreement as a delay tactic that will
allow the U.S. to push for further compromises to the regulation.
The agreement is non-binding which means it is up to the
individual states to prohibit use of leghold traps. "This
agreement is simply an empty promise to phase out leghold traps,
but there is no regulatory power behind it," said Camilla
Fox, Wildlife Program Coordinator for the Animal Protection
Institute. "The U.S. has had six years to ban the leghold
trap and now our government is demanding six more years to do
further trap testing of a device known to break bones, sever
ligaments and rip flesh. And even after that six years there is
nothing in the agreement that specifically requires states to
prohibit leghold traps," Fox added.
It is believed that the EU accepted the weak proposal because of
continued threats from the U.S. to challenge the regulation as an
illegal trade restriction under GATT.
Leghold traps and other body-gripping traps kill an estimated 4.5
million "target" animals each year in the U.S. and maim
or kill another 8-10 million non-target victims, including
endangered species and pets.
As the U.S. government delays banning the infamous leghold trap,
outlawed in more than 80 countries, the American people have
taken this issue into their own hands. California may become the
fourth state to ban leghold traps through the public ballot
initiative process. The Animal Protection Institute is one of
seven national animal advocacy organizations sponsoring the
"Protect Pets and Wildlife" initiative for the November
1998 California ballot.
On December 2, Hollywood celebrities, including Alicia
Silverstone, will participate in a Los Angeles press conference
to support the initiative and bring attention to the 15,000
animals trapped for their fur in California each year. The
initiative would ban the use of body-gripping traps for
commercial and recreational trapping in the state.
"Until the U.S. gives up the leghold trap, voters in more
and more states will ban this cruelty at the ballot box,"
Fox said. "As a nation purporting humanitarian concern for
the just treatment of all, the United States should hide its head
in shame for thwarting the European Union's efforts to ban a
device Charles Darwin once called the cruelest invention of
mankind."
ATLANTA Militant animal rights activists from throughout the
U.S. and the commander of an "Ape Army" will
participate in a major demonstrationat the Yerkes Regional
Primate Center at Emory University.
Police have threatened to arrest anyone who gets close to the
laboratories.
In April, 64 people were arrested, and several injured including
at leastone police officer after DeKalb County and Emory
University police usedtear gas, pepper spray and stun grenades to
attack about 150 to 200 activists who had gathered at the primate
labs.
The protest is part of a national campaign undertaken by Rick
Bogle, a 41-year-old Oregon 6th grade teacher. He has toured the
seven Yerkes isthe last regional U.S. primate centers since May
to bring attention to U.S. primate research labs. He takes his
"Ape Army" hundreds and hundreds of toy, stuffed
monkeys with him to each lab.
Bogle has been allowed to hold a 9-day sit-in at all the labs,
except University of California, Davis, where, in November, he
was jailed for 6days after being arrested twice in 1 day trying
to peacefully distribute literature.
At Yerkes, Bogle will be reinforced by activists from as far away
as NewYork, Minnesota, Oregon and Arizona, as well as throughout
the southern U.S.
""I have driven more than 8,000 miles and sat in
protest at NIH Regional primate centers for more than 800 hours
to call attention to the horror andcruelty being inflicted on the
monkeys and apes imprisoned by the U.S.government," said
Bogle. "When people know the truth, they will act from their
hearts," he added.
"During its history, Yerkes Primate Center has been
inhumane, unproductive,and the discoverer of nothing," said
Jean Barnes, of In Defense ofAnimals/Atlanta.
Dozens of organizations are sponsoring the Yerkes demonstration,
including In Defense of Animals, a national animal protection
organization with 80,000 members; Animal Abuse Watch/Atlanta;
Animal Defense League/Atlanta and ActUp/San Francisco.
HSUS Congressional Scorecard
Posted on behalf of Wayne Pacelle of HSUS (waynepp@ix.netcom.com)
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I am happy to report that the just-issued HSUS
"Scorecard" for the First Session of the 105th Congress
is on our web site. The "Scorecard" includes House
votes on two critical issues (tuna/dolphin and CAMPFIRE) and
records cosponsorship for three bills (the "Bear Protection
Act"; the "Captive Exotic Animal Protection Act,"
otherwise known as the canned hunt bill; and the Downed Animal
Protection Act) introduced in each chamber of Congress. It also
indicates which members have taken the lead in protecting
animals. There are 28 members of the House who achieved perfect
scores.
You can access the scorecard by calling up the HSUS web site (http://www.hsus.org) and going
into "What's New." Click on Scorecard and you are
there.
The scorecard gives an excellent indication of where legislators'
sympathies are on animal issues. I urge everyone to read it, and
read it carefully. Please draw others' attention to it.
Also, if you represent an organization, feel free to reprint any
portion of the scorecard in your newsletter or add the
information to your web site.
It is critical that activists know who serves them in Congress
and how they vote. Please provide feedback to legislators,
expressing approval if they have achieved a favorable
"score" and disapproval if they have not.
You can reach House members by writing:
The Honorable _____ U.S. House of Representatives Washington,
D.C. 20515
You can reach Senate members by writing:
The Honorable ______ U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510
You can reach all members of Congress by calling the
Congressional switchboard at 202-225-3121. Almost all members
have e-mail addresses as well.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Wayne Pacelle Vice President Government Affairs and Media