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AR-NEWS Digest 643
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) New anti-fur coalition
by Vadivu Govind
2) Furrier Charged with Threatening Advocate for Animals
by Tereiman
3) (US) Cattleman has beef with `unfair' statement said. "That's
a very important distinction."
by allen schubert
4) (Ca) Newfoundlanders just can't win
by Ty Savoy
5) Emergency situation at African primate sanctuary
by Shirley McGreal
6) Re: address needed
by Alfred Griffith
7) Elvira, the Llama, Adds Twist to Pet Therapy
by Snugglezzz
8) (US) News special to feature convicted animal activist
by allen schubert
9) (US) Vegetarian crusade cites a higher authority
by allen schubert
10) (US) Animal-rights activist bags slot on state's wildlife panel
by allen schubert
11) [US] Mad Cow-Like Disease Found in Deer
by Steve Barney
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 15:53:52 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: New anti-fur coalition
Message-ID: <199801240753.PAA00760@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade is a new campaign set up to bring
together groups from all over Britain to fight the fur trade on a local,
national and international level. CAFT carries out research and
investigations, including filming the conditions of fur farms to expose the
true cost of a fur coat.
CAFT
PO Box 38 Manchester
M60 1NX
Tel: 0171 278 3068
Email
- Vadivu
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 09:14:15 EST
From: Tereiman
To: Tereiman@aol.com, ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Furrier Charged with Threatening Advocate for Animals
Message-ID: <44470401.34c9f739@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Furrier Charged With Threatening Advocate for
Animals
The New York Times
January 24, 1998
By JOHN T. McQUISTON
EWLETT, N.Y. -- Stephen Cowit, a furrier whose family is a major leader
in the New York fur trade, was arrested Thursday at a Long Island train
station on charges that he repeatedly made anonymous phone calls to an
animal rights advocate, threatening to harm him and his cat, law
enforcement officials said Friday.
Cowit, a board member of the Fur Information Council of America and
treasurer of the Greater Fur New York Association, was charged with
aggravated harassment.
Cowit was arraigned late Thursday afternoon in Nassau County District
Court in Hempstead, where Judge Thomas Feinman issued an order of
protection, barring Cowit from going near the man who says he was the
victim, Michael Nicosia, or telephoning him or any members of his
family. Cowit was released without bail and ordered to return to court
Feb. 23.
"I'm now trying to find a lawyer and have nothing to say," said Cowit,
42, who was reached by telephone this morning at the Manhattan offices
of his father, Henry Cowit, head of Henry Cowit Inc., a manufacturer and
retailer of fur products. Stephen Cowit's brother, Larry Cowit, is
president of Madison Avenue Furs Ltd. at 151 W. 29th St. in Manhattan.
"Right now, my first concern is my family," Cowit said.
Nicosia said Friday in a telephone interview from his home here that his
family was also his primary concern. "I live with my father and mother
and they were frightened by these calls," Nicosia said. "The phone would
ring around 6 o'clock nearly every morning and the caller would threaten
not only me, but my mother and father and my cat.
"He told my father, 'Your son is dead,' and he told my mother, 'Your cat
will die."'
"It was when he mentioned my cat, Seven, who likes to sit in the front
window in the sun, that I realized the caller must have actually come to
the house and watched us. That's when I called the police."
Nicosia, a 22-year-old freshman at Nassau Community College and a member
of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Coalition to
Abolish the Fur Trade, added, "I found myself looking over my shoulder
and wondering if this caller, who seemed so irrational and emotional,
would actually harm any of us."
With the help of telephone records provided by Bell Atlantic, a Nassau
County police detective, John Daniel, and other investigators staked out
a pay phone at the Long Island Rail Road station in Merrick, several
blocks from Cowit's home.
The police said Cowit would routinely take the 6:03 from Merrick to
Manhattan. As he waited for the train, he would use a pay phone to call
Nicosia's home and leave a message, either with his parents or on an
answering machine, the police said. Tapes of the calls were given to
Detective Daniel.
Investigators said Cowit began the calls after hearing news reports of
Nicosia's arrest at a demonstration at Macy's at the Monmouth County
Mall in Eatontown, N.J. Nicosia was among a group of protesters from the
Animal Defense League of New Jersey and the Coalition to Abolish the Fur
Trade who staged what they called Fur Free Friday on Nov. 28.
A radio news report gave Nicosia's name and noted that he lived in
Hewlett. The charge of aggravated harassment is a misdemeanor,
punishable upon conviction by up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine or
both, according to Edward Grilli, a spokesman for the Nassau County
district attorney's office.
Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 10:16:24 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Cattleman has beef with `unfair' statement said. "That's
a very important distinction."
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980124101621.00afbd44@mail.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from @marillo Globe-News http://www.amarillonet.com/oprah/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Web posted Saturday, January 24, 1998 7:01 a.m. CT
Cattleman has beef with `unfair' statement said. "That's a very important
distinction."
The war of words continued throughout O'Brien's cross-examination
testimony. He will resume testifying on Monday.
O'Brien was the second witness to be called by plaintiffs in the cattleman
vs. Winfrey trial.
He testified that he timed Harold Lyman and three cattle industry experts
on the episode in question in both the edited and unedited versions.
According to his calculations, O'Brien said 67 percent of what Lyman said
was broadcast, while only 25 percent of what cattle proponents said was
aired.
That gave more weight to Winfrey's statement, "It has just stopped me cold
from eating another burger," O'Brien said.
"That statement's extremely unfair, because in context of the program, she
makes that statement before she hears one word from the scientists she
invited," he said. "She prejudged . . . and then she edited out most of the
scientific information.
"You had a video of cattle falling down, playing boom, boom, boom -scary
music in the background; sound bites of inaccurate information and Oprah
over there cheerleading it on and putting her stamp of approval on all of
it," O'Brien said.
Winfrey's attorney Babcock tried to cast doubt on O'Brien's earlier
testimony that he made a typographical error in an e-mail letter he sent to
the National Cattleman's Beef Association.
In the letter, O'Brien wrote that the association should be prepared for
"the likely discovery of a BSE animal in the U.S. cattle herd," referring
to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
During direct testimony, O'Brien said that the word "likely" was a
typographical error.
"I have never said `likely,' " he said.
In another portion of the letter, O'Brien wrote that "one opinion shared by
most respected experts is the likelihood" that BSE could develop
sporadically.
Under questioning by Winfrey's attorney, O'Brien said he did not make an
error in his latter statement, but he now believes sporadic BSE is not
likely.
Babcock asked whether O'Brien ever corrected the error with NCBA.
"They had no question that I thought it was unlikely," O'Brien said.
Some jurors seemed restless during lengthy testimony earlier Friday about
the cattle-pricing process. One juror appeared to fall asleep briefly.
O'Brien led the jury through an at times technical description of the
cattle market, hoping to show that the show caused a severe drop in prices.
Prices dropped from 62 cents per pound before the show to 55 cents per
pound about a week later, O'Brien said.
The drop cost Texas Beef Group and other plaintiff cattle-feeding
operations $4.6 million, O'Brien said.
Paul Engler, the original plaintiff in the case, has claimed he lost $5.78
million because of the show.
In other court matters, Perryton Feeders withdrew its motion to leave the
case after filing it on Tuesday, according to court documents.
The feed yard had filed a motion to withdraw after U.S. District Judge Mary
Lou Robinson granted a defense motion to exclude evidence that feed yards
suffered financial damage on customer cattle they were feeding at the time
of the show.
However, paperwork filed Friday said Perryton Feeders Inc. withdrew that
motion during a pretrial conference at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning before the
jury selection began. The Court will not rule on the motion, according to
the brief.
Globe-News Farm and Ranch Editor Kay Ledbetter contributed to this report.
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 12:03:42 -0400
From: Ty Savoy
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Ca) Newfoundlanders just can't win
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19980124160342.008e4580@north.nsis.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
NEWFOUNDLANERS JUST CAN'T WIN
TORONTO (CP) -- Newfoundlanders can't win, says the
province's fisheries minister -- they're ridiculed by other Canadians for
taking handouts and then criticized for attempting to build up their sealing
industry.
"Those people are now dependent on your tax dollars," John Efford
told a business luncheon on Thursday in an impassioned plea for the plight
of Newfounland fishermen.
"They don't like it. They are not responsible for low groundfish
stocks."
Fishermen, stripped of their livlihood and their pride since the
federal government called for a moratorium on fishing for cod, crab and
shrimp in 1992, are "a proud people" who eke out a basic existance on $250 a
week social assistance.
Newfoundlanders weren't to blame for overfishing, he said -- the
blame should be leveled at "greedy" Canadian and foreign fishing companies.
The seal hunt is necessary to help Newfoundlanders survive.
"We need to become independent and self-supporting and not supported
by social programs," Efford said.
The greatest problem facing the seal hunt, which generated $20
million last year, is a campaign of misinformation by anti-sealing groups
which portray sealers as inhumane and cash-hungry, he said.
The hunt has become a flashpoint for debate in recent months, with
many Canadian celebrities including their names to the anti-sealing cause.
Writer Farley Mowat compared the seal hunt to the Nazi holocaust last month.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare has alleged that seals are
skinned alive, slaughtered and abandoned on the ice after their penises are
removed to be sold as aphrodisiacs in the Asian market.
"Professional sealers do not skin seals . . . it's a lie," Efford
said, his voice rising as he pounded the podium with his fists at Toronto's
Empire Club. He also denied sealers made a habit of killing baby seals,
known as whitecoats.
He added that the seal hunt is no more barbaric than cattle farming
because both industries kill animals humanely and use all the animals'
parts.
"We do not waste. We harvest in a humane way."
Efford also suggested the rising seal population could explain why
depleted cod levels haven't returned to predicted levels.
"I don't have any scientific statistics," Efford conceded, "but
seals do not eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. Seals eat fish."
But Dan McDermott, spokesman for Canadians against the Commercial
Seal Hunt, says Efford's arguments weren't backed up by statistics.
"That's a very simplistic view of the marine food chain. He can't
get any scientists to back that up."
His group argues too many seals are being killed at current quoto
levels.
But Efford maintained that in order to maintain a natural balance
between fish and seal populations, seals will have to be killed.
"If we do not again upset the balance of nature, nature will kill
the seals eventually and put the $20 million on the bottom of the ocean . .
. but what a waste."
The federal government is subsidizing the seal industry until 1999.
The subsidy was $800,000 this year.
Efford predicts the sealing industry will be self-sustainable by
then and will pour millions into the economies of Newfoundland and Canada.
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 11:25:56 -0500
From: Shirley McGreal
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Emergency situation at African primate sanctuary
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19980124162556.0071049c@awod.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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This message from Rosalind Hanson Alp is an update on the least known of the
African chimpanzee sanctuaries, the one formed in Sierra Leone. Most US
laboratory chimpanzees are or descend from animals imported to the United
States from Sierra Leone and shipped by the infamous Franz Sitter. After
Sitter's departure a sanctuary was established for chimpanzees. This is,
sadly, a pathetically low budget project but a place is needed for
chimpanzees found chained up in appalling conditions. Rosalind worked at the
Outamba-Kilimi National Park (Geza Teleki was instrumental in founding this
park) and was involved in the establishment of Tacugama.
----------------------------------------
CHIMPANZEE SANCTUARY BETWEEN FIGHTING IN SIERRA LEONE
Since the AFRC/RUF took power in a coup on the 25th May 1997, little
has changed to bring stability to Sierra Leone. Most banks, schools and
businesses remain closed, including all international embassies. While a
peace agreement has been signed between the ruling AFRC/RUF rebels and
ECOMOG (West African peace keeping force), there are problems in the details
of the agreement and there continue to be outbursts of fighting between the
two sides. If it goes through, the peace agreement will allow the former
government, under President Kabbah, to return on a power sharing basis.
However, while negotiations take place, major shortages of food and
resources have threatened a famine that could have devastating effects on
the people of Sierra Leone.
The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, in Regent, just outside the
capitol Freetown, is also fast running out of food and is literally locked
in the middle of fighting between the rebels and Nigerian ECOMOG forces. In
October, the Director, Mr. Bala Amarasekaran returned to Freetown, after
being forcibly evacuated to London when the Hotel in which he and hundreds
of people took refuge, came under attack in the coup.
During the time he was in London, Amarasekaran kept the sanctuary
going with his private funds and was in almost daily contact with the
veterinarian, Dr. Jalloh and other project staff, who worked relentlessly to
ensure the safety and security of the chimps, despite the chaos in Freetown.
Unfortunately, Dr. Jalloh had to evacuate to Guinea in October, because of
his family, and after 2 raids on camp by armed robbers, the sanctuary was
left without medical supplies or veterinary knowledge. For this reason,
sadly 5 young chimpanzees have so far died.
The RUF rebels and AFRC have set up camp on one side of the hill,
only 3km from the sanctuary and the Nigerian ECOMOG soldiers are stationed
5km on the other side. The chimpanzee sanctuary is right in the middle. On
the 19th November, fighting broke out and the sanctuary staff had to flee
into the surrounding forest as bombs exploded and gunfire was all around.
Two shells hit just behind the office building and one landed just to the
side of the dam below the sanctuary.
In the last two months, another strange event has taken place. A
wild chimpanzee female of about 11 years old has taken refuge at the
sanctuary. It is not known where she came from, but she could be the last
member of a former wild community further down the coast. She will not go
further than 300 yards from camp and nests in the trees above each night.
She plays with and comforts the young chimps, and sheltered on the veranda
of the building when the attack of the 19th took place. This is the first
time that a wild ape has come to live in a sanctuary for ex-captive apes,
and this has probably only happened because she was frightened by all the
fighting in and around the forest.
The sanctuary has enough funds ONLY to last the next two months, and
without further help the chimpanzees' lives are in danger.
Please contact us for further detailed information and photographs.
Rosalind Alp
Director
Hanson-Alp@amazed.nl
----------------------------------
IPPL has sent an emergency grant to this project. We would like to hear from
any reporters interested in this story or to receive suggestions about
potential sources of help. Whether those who have used and benefited from
Sitter animals (they know who are they) will be willing to help what was
left of Sierra Leone's chimpanzees will be interesting to see. My guess -
they won't. If you belong to any wealthy groups, please copy this message
and ask them to help carry the chimpanzees through this crisis.
|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| Dr. Shirley McGreal | PHONE: 803-871-2280 |
| Int. Primate Protection League | FAX: 803-871-7988 |
| POB 766 | E-MAIL: ippl@awod.com |
| Summerville SC 29484 | Web: http://www.ippl.org |
|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 09:48:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Alfred Griffith
To: AAVSONLINE@aol.com, ar-news@envirolink.org, chickadee-l@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: address needed
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19980124135249.2e671178@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
At 09:34 AM 1/23/98 EST, AAVSONLINE wrote:
>Does anyone have an address for Adam Weissman or the Student Abolitionist
>League? I only have an old NJ address and need to send them bulk information.
>I think they are located in New York. Please respond to me directly. Thanks
>Stephanie Shain
>American Anti-Vivisection Society
>
Stephanie
I may have the same info you have, I looked in the Bunny Huggers'
directory and this is what I have:
Student Abolitionist League
60 Mill Rd Ext
Woodcliff NJ 07675
Phone 201-930-9026
Fax 201-930-1589
E-mail JUN1022@cybernex.mailbox.net.
Alfred
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 12:55:35 EST
From: Snugglezzz
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: Elvira, the Llama, Adds Twist to Pet Therapy
Message-ID: <7112b038.34ca2b19@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
North Little Rock, Arkansas, USA: Things are getting wild and woolly at the
Veterans Hospital.
After using fish, finches, and dogs to cheer up its elderly patients, the
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center has turned to Elvira, a
smooching llama who travels in the back seat of her owner's Plymouth.
"It's not your run-of-the-mill pet therapy," says Betty Carr-Richards,
associate chief of nursing at the 215-bed hospital.
"It's the idea of experiencing warmth, love, and contact that makes a
difference in people's lives," says Dr. David Lipschitz, who directs the
Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at a VA hospital in Little
Rock. "That's frequently taken away from older people."
Animals and patients have mingled at the VA hospital in North Little Rock for
three years, but until Elvira arrived, it used Charlie the black Labrador mix,
a tank full of fish, and finches Oscar and Ophelia.
"A friend was visiting me and he saw the llama arrive. He said, 'You won't
believe what I just saw. It's not a horse, not a camel, and it's too big to be
a dog,'" recalls Jimmy Johnson, 63, a retired teacher.
The 10-month-old llama, which weighs 110 pounds and stands about 3 feet high,
came right to his bedside.
"I got to pet her and she nibbled on my gown - but she didn't pucker up," he
says.
Elvira's owner, Bobby Enwright, drives her 140 miles - and three hours - from
his Ozark Mountain farm near the Missouri line. He needs no radio.
"She hums at me and sings," Enwright says. "She lies down in the car and
doesn't move around."
Carr-Richards "interviewed" Elvira before letting her visit.
"We don't just let any animal come up here. I heard that llamas getting mad or
cantankerous can spit on people," she says. "But she's a very clean, gentle
animal."
Elvira "likes to kissy, kissy," Carr-Richards says. "She'll kiss patients'
arms or whatever they put up there."
Elvira has also visited the Pioneer Nursing and Rehab Center in Melbourne.
Clara Tate, an 82-year-old retired farmer, says she had handled chickens,
cattle, and hogs, but never a llama.
-- Sherrill
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 15:25:51 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) News special to feature convicted animal activist
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980124152549.00b11814@mail.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from Standard-Examiner http://www.standard.net/
--------------------------------------------
News special to feature convicted animal activist
News special to feature convicted animal activist January 18, 1998By TIM
GURRISTER Standard-Examiner staff
OGDEN -- A cable news show wants to interview convicted animal rights
activist Trev Poulson, part of a trio convicted of almost firebombing a
West Haven fur company.
"Trev's appeal right now comes in the drama quality of in terviewing him at
the prison," said his attorney, Geoffrey Clark. Poulson, 20, of Layton, is
at the Utah State Prison for a diagnostic evaluation prior to his
sentencing Feb. 25 on a charge of attempted aggravated arson, a
second-degree felony.
Clark said a team from the CNN FN program "Impact" has already been cleared
by prison officials to interview Poulson Jan. 21 for an animal rights
special.
A 2nd District Court jury deliberated only three hours last October before
finding Poulson guilty of trying to firebomb the Montgomery Fur Co. in West
Haven on March 19. The company sells hunting and trapping gear, and furs.
Local police and federal agents investigated.
A security guard surprised Poulson and an accomplice after they had poured
25 gallons of gasoline around the base of the building. Startled by the
guard, the men fled the scene without igniting a milk carton designed as a
fuse, according to testimony.
Clark promised a quick appeal, saying his "standout freak" client was
convicted because of his animal rights beliefs, distrust of government and
other philosophies that lay outside the mainstream
"He has strong beliefs," Clark said. "He's a vegan, that means no animal
products, not even clothes. With CNN he is going to admit to the attempted
firebombing and apologize for it as an inappropriate step. But he hasn't
renounced his beliefs." The program will air the same week Poulson is
sentenced, he said.
Poulson is a member of two animal rights groups, the Animal Liberation
Front and People for Equal Treatment of Animals, Clark said, and subscribes
to an online service for animal rights activists.
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 15:26:36 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Vegetarian crusade cites a higher authority
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980124152634.00b11960@mail.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from New Jersey Online (The Star-Ledger)
http://www.njo.com/features/ledger/stories/6b4b55.html
----------------------------------------------
Vegetarian crusade cites a higher authority
01/23/98By Judith CebulaRELIGION NEWS SERVICE
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is on a quiet crusade to
persuade Christians to go vegetarian.
"It's what Jesus would do," said Bruce Friedrich, the 28-year-old Roman
Catholic leading the campaign.
In letters to more than 400 U.S. Catholic bishops and four prominent
evangelists -- Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts and Billy Graham
-- Friedrich laid out a case arguing Jesus was a vegetarian and all his
followers should give up meat out of mercy for God's creation.
"Eating meat mocks God by torturing animals, polluting the Earth and
destroying our own health," he wrote.
Citing Genesis 1:29, in which God commands his human creation to care for
all living beings and eat only plants, the letter asked the Christian
leaders to use their pulpits to promote vegetarianism as an ethical way of
life.
But the Virginia-based advocacy group would be pleased even if church
leaders just begin to pray about the idea, Friedrich said. The campaign
isn't drawing much of a response from the religious leaders, he
acknowledged.
Although he has asked for a response from each bishop and evangelist, he
has received just three letters so far.
One bishop merely thanked him for the letter. Bishop James Timlin of the
Diocese of Scranton, Pa., said he would give serious consideration to
encouraging the idea. And a representative of the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association wrote to dispute the claim the Bible mandates meatless eating
while encouraging all people to find salvation in Jesus.
Friedrich said it was the Catholic bishops who inspired the campaign, and
their discussion last November over restoring the longtime Catholic
tradition of meatless Fridays as a symbolic sacrifice demonstrating the
church's opposition to abortion.
Although Catholics have historically considered meatless Fridays to be an
act of sacrifice and discipline for God, Friedrich said PETA wants it to
become a new statement of social justice because Jesus, he said, called on
believers to have compassion for all living beings.
He argued Jesus himself was a vegetarian, a member of the meat-shunning
Jewish sect called the Essenes.
It's a view most religious scholars say has no historical backing, said
theologian James Vanderkam of the University of Notre Dame. Vanderkam added
it is probable Jesus ate lamb while sharing the Passover meal with his
disciples and that fish was part of his diet.
That doesn't matter to Linda Clemons, an Indianapolis morning radio show
host who says "amen" to the PETA campaign. For 10 years she has followed a
vegetarian diet because she believes it is the will of God.
Four years ago, she created a Christian vegetarian eating plan -- the
Temple Cleansing Program -- and began teaching it at her Indianapolis
Church, Light of the World Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
"Do you know that your body is a temple of God?" she asked, referring to
Paul's letter to the Corinthians. "Eating animals does not honor that
temple."
Ridding one's diet of all animal products -- meat, poultry, dairy, eggs and
fish -- is central to Clemons' concept.
Clemons main motive for Christian vegetarianism is a longer, healthier life
of service to God. But she agrees with the nonviolent ethic PETA is
promoting.
"I don't eat anything that has a mother or a heartbeat," she said. "We must
respect the rights of all in God's kingdom, and that does mean that we do
not eat our fellow citizens."
Sister Mary Margaret Funk is also vegetarian, and vegetarianism is part of
her spiritual life. But the Catholic Benedictine nun takes the middle path
-- avoiding meat without criticizing those who do eat it.
She said she gave up meat 25 years ago out of concern for animals and the
high environmental and economic cost of raising them for food.
But her vegetarianism has become a tool for deeper meditation and prayer --
eating lightly, she has removed food as a distraction from God, she said.
Funk sees the inconsistencies of scriptural passages on meat-eating as a
call to tolerance of differences. In Genesis 1, God calls only for eating
plants. But in Genesis 9, God says "everything that lives and moves should
be food for you." New Testament passages in Romans and Corinthians send
similar conflicting messages, she said.
By refraining from eating meat, Funk and some 35 other nuns at her
Indianapolis monastery set an example for others of the peace of mind and
spiritual coming with vegetarianism.
"But it's best not to judge others," she said. "Discernment governs each
person's practice."
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 15:40:35 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Animal-rights activist bags slot on state's wildlife panel
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980124154033.00b11e80@mail.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from The Capital Online, Annapolis MD http://www.capitalonline.com/
-------------------------------
Animal-rights activist bags slot on state's wildlife panel
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Joseph Lamp said he wasn't hunting for controversy when he sought
appointment to Maryland's Wildlife Advisory Commission.
But as the first animal-rights activist on the citizens board that
recommends hunting and trapping policies, the Arnold resident is in the
thick of it.
Anti-hunting groups praised Mr. Lamp's recent appointment by Gov. Parris
Glendening as a national milestone for their movement. Hunters decried it
as capitulation by the Department of Natural Resources to city dwellers
with no sense of nature's rhythms.
"I find it mind-boggling," said Porter Hopkins, a former commission
chairman. "This is someone who is totally opposed to what the commission
has tried to do for more than 100 years."
Mr. Lamp, a soft-spoken speech professor at Anne Arundel Community College,
said he wants to give the nine-member board a new perspective on wildlife
management. He doesn't oppose using hunting as a last resort to control
animal populations but said other measures, such as contraception, should
be considered first.
"Hunting should not be the immediate default that we seem to turn to," Mr.
Lamp said. "We've got to continue exploring the nonlethal alternatives to
hunting, with public education being given greater priority."
A former deer and rabbit hunter, Mr. Lamp, 48, traces his conversion 20
years ago to a National Geographic television program about Dian Fossey's
work with mountain gorillas in Africa. He belongs to 11 animal rights and
animal welfare groups and participated in protests of managed deer hunts at
Sandy Point State Park in November 1996.
"Animals are sentient beings. They feel pain, they think and they have
rights, too, and I think their rights need to be respected, as well as
rights of humans who live here," he said.
Ray Feldmann, a spokesman for Mr. Glendening, said Natural Resources
Secretary John Griffin recommended Mr. Lamp for the post to bring more
balance to a board that, like its counterparts in other states, consists
overwhelmingly of hunters.
The governor "thinks it is important that there be people with different
backgrounds and various views when important recomendations are being made
about state wildlife policy," Mr. Feldmann said.
Maryland's wildlife managers are taking a "more holistic" approach to
conservation aimed at benefiting both hunters and nonhunters, according to
Eric Schwaab, director of the state's Forest, Wildlife and Heritage Service.
With hunters' numbers shrinking, animal-rights advocates are gaining more
influence over Maryland wildlife policies. They persuaded the DNR in 1996
to at least postpone bear hunting in Western Maryland in favor of a
crop-damage compensation program that isn't working. Earlier this month,
they defeated a plan to kill 200 deer in Gaithersburg for a housing
development.
Sportsmen pay for virtually all of the state's $5.2 million wildlife
management budget through state license fees and federal taxes on hunting
gear, but Mr. Schwaab said that doesn't mean they alone should recommend
management policies.
Just 3 to 4 percent of Marylanders hunt, according to the DNR.
"The wildlife populations and the public lands belong to all the people in
the state," Mr. Schwaab said. "What's really important in this is that we
provide a place in the process for dissenting opinons, as opposed to
forcing those with dissenting opinions to seek other means of being heard."
Mr. Lamp's appointment may be a first in the nation, according to Susan
Haygood, wildlife issues specialist with the Washington-based Humane
Society of the United States, the nation's largest anti-hunting group.
"We hope this is the beginning of a trend, that the 97 percent of
Marylanders who don't hunt have an increasing voice on this commission,"
she said.
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 14:51:16 -0600
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News
Subject: [US] Mad Cow-Like Disease Found in Deer
Message-ID: <34CA5444.B27E8ADE@uwosh.edu>
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January 24, 1998
Mad Cow-Like Disease Found in Deer
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Filed at 3:49 a.m. EST
By The Associated Press
ESTES PARK, Colo. (AP) -- The emaciated mule deer
stares blankly into space. Then, stumbling in small
circles, it falls over dead, another victim of chronic
wasting disease.
It is a grim sight for wildlife officials working in
the Rocky Mountains on the border of Colorado and
Wyoming, one of only two spots in the world where the
disease has appeared.
For health officials, a frightening question must be
answered: Will this terrible illness cross over to the
human population?
The National Institutes of Health is investigating
because mad cow disease, similar to the chronic wasting
disease that has struck mule deer and elk, has been
linked to a brain-wasting malady in humans --
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -- that has killed 20 people
in Europe.
``We know there's a link between the diseases, not a
causal link necessarily, but they're the same kind of
disease,'' said Byron Caughey, biochemist at the NIH's
Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont.
``Of great interest is whether we have to worry about
it being transmitted into other animal hosts, whether
cattle or humans,'' he said.
About 6 percent of mule deer in the area of northern
Colorado and southern Wyoming suffer from chronic
wasting disease, or CWD, said Todd Malmsbury, spokesman
for the Colorado Division of Wildlife in Denver.
There are an estimated 550,000 mule deer -- a brown,
white-tailed species with big ears -- in all of
Colorado.
Like mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, and the new strain considered its human
equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CWD destroys
brain tissue and kills its victims.
Both Creutzfeldt-Jakob and CWD leave spongelike holes
in victims' brains.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob may lie dormant for years, but once
symptoms appear -- loss of muscle control and dementia
-- it quickly destroys the brain.
It is rare, afflicting just one in a million people
annually in the United States. But it's fatal, killing
about seven months after symptoms appear.
All three diseases -- mad cow, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and
the wasting disease -- are blamed on infectious rogue
proteins called prions, which are mutant versions of
proteins that occur normally in the body.
An American biochemist, Stanley Prusiner, won the Nobel
Prize in medicine in October for discovering the
Jekyll-and-Hyde protein that causes these
brain-destroying illnesses. Prions are considered an
entirely new type of disease-causing agent, distinct
from bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites.
No one has become sick from carrying the wasting
disease -- but wildlife officials require hunters to
turn in the heads of deer or elk they've killed. If the
brains test positive, the hunters are advised to dump
the meat.
Forty deer turned in during the past hunting season
tested positive, Malmsbury said.
While the NIH is interested in whether the wasting
disease can jump to humans, federal and state agencies
have launched three studies to determine its
transmissibility to cattle, said Mike Miller, a state
wildlife veterinarian.
In Iowa, researchers are injecting brain material of
infected wildlife into the brains of cattle. At the
University of Wyoming, infected brain material is being
given to cattle orally.
In addition, researchers are investigating whether the
disease can be spread through contact, letting cattle
live with deer herds that have contained infected
animals.
Many scientists believe cattle in Britain became
infected with mad cow disease by eating parts of sheep
with a similar ailment, a practice outlawed in the
United States, he said.
Mad cow disease was first diagnosed in 1986. No case of
mad cow disease has been reported in the United States.
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