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AR-NEWS Digest 659
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) [UK] Vets 'wasted two years' in battle against BSE
by David J Knowles
2) [UK] The woman who discovered BSE
by David J Knowles
3) (Aust)Application to import Bumble Bees
by bunny
4) CNN: Cat still purring at 33
by "Cari Gehl"
5) (Aust)RFI Live rabbit imports for meat production
by bunny
6) Anniversary of Victory for Animal
by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
7) Shrine Circus
by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
8) Toronto: Seal Hunt Protest
by Cesar Farell
9) [US] EDITORIAL: "Shared duty to save monkeys" (TCT, 2/5/98)
by Steve Barney
10) Computer Internship
by Michael Markarian
11) [US] "Monkey proposal advances through county panel"
by Steve Barney
12) [US] "Zoo monkeys need protection"
by Steve Barney
13) (US) Engler: He was 'shocked'
by allen schubert
14) (US) Engler: Oprah's show was 'bomb' that led to drop in
cattle prices
by allen schubert
15) Letters Needed to Dane County (Wisconsin) Board of Supervisors
by "Linda J. Howard"
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 00:39:39
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Vets 'wasted two years' in battle against BSE
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980209003939.27cf77d0@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, February 9th, 1998
Vets 'wasted two years' in battle against BSE
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
GOVERNMENT vets wasted a year in the fight against mad cow disease by
overlooking the first recognised case and another through delays in tests
to establish the nature of the epidemic.
A researcher into scrapie, the sheep equivalent, said scientists could have
reacted to news of the first BSE case in weeks, rather than years. The
Ministry of Agriculture has always said the first case was confirmed in
November 1986 in Kent by the Central Veterinary Laboratory.
But Government experts had discovered the disease more than a year earlier,
one of a number of oversights detailed in a four part BBC2 series, Mad Cows
and Englishmen, starting on Sunday.
A post mortem report by Carol Richardson, from the Central Veterinary
Laboratory, dated Sept 19 1985, reveals how she had seen spongiform
encephalopathy in brain tissue from a fresian from Peter Stent's farm near
Midhurst, West Sussex. She said seven others had earlier been lost with
"nervous" symptoms. A vet, David Bee, had seen the first cases before
Christmas 1984.
No reference to this outbreak was made by Dr Gerald Wells and colleagues at
the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Surrey when they published the first
description of the symptoms and pathology of the Kent case in Oct 1987 in
The Veterinary Record.
A letter to the laboratory from the Veterinary Investigation Centre near
Winchester in June 1987 also referred to the Carol Richardson case and to
another from the same farm a year later. The first case officially noted
followed a report from Colin Whitaker, a vet from Ashford, puzzled by
strange behaviour in the dairy herd at Plurenden Manor Farm that dated back
to April 1985.
When Mr Whitaker described the cases to a meeting in London, Mr Bee
realised that it was the same disease that had been diagnosed as cow
scrapie by Carol Richardson. Dr Wells had even reviewed and amended her
"cow scrapie" report, first within a few days of it being written and then
in June, 1987. But he made no reference to it in his Veterinary Record
paper, even though her report referred to "neuronal vacuolation" in the
midbrain and brain stem that is typical of scrapie in sheep and the disease
we now call BSE.
He had also changed her diagnosis from mild to moderate vacuolation, on
first examining the pathology slides, though he blamed it on a toxic cause.
With hindsight, he told the BBC2 programme, the Stent cases were the first
investigated but he said he lacked information to put the findings into
context.
Nine months later, a type of antelope, a nyala, died of spongiform disease.
The findings were reported but it took the chief veterinary officer 18
months to clear the article.
⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 00:46:48
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] The woman who discovered BSE
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980209004648.0a3714b6@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, February 9th, 1998
The woman who discovered BSE
THE first person to recognise that scrapie, the sheep disease, may have
infected cows to cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow
disease, was Carol Richardson, a pathologist at the Central Veterinary
Laboratory.
The events that led to the discovery began on Dec 22, 1984, when David Bee,
a vet in Petersfield, Hants, was contacted by Peter Stent, a farmer, after
one of his dairy cows began behaving strangely and did not respond to
treatment.
"She'd lost weight. She was looking unwell and her back was up in the air,"
said Mr Bee, who describes his experience in Mad Cows and Englishmen, a
four-part series for BBC2, starting on Sunday at 8.05pm. On routine visits
to the Pitsham Farm in West Sussex, he found it "really spooky" when he
noticed that the problem was spreading to other cows. The original cow was
by then worse, showing head tremor. It died the next February.
The vet followed a number of leads without success, dubbing it "Pitsham
Farm Syndrome". By then, Mr Stent had lost nine cows and had become
desperate, taking the 10th victim to the local ministry laboratory.
The head was sent to the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Weybridge,
Surrey, where its brain was examined by Ms Richardson. She said: "My
specialisation is foetal pathology but in September 1985 I acted as a duty
pathologist."
She can still remember that it was a "nice sunny day" when, on Sept 19,
1985, she looked into a microscope and saw tiny holes, or vacuolations, in
stained sections of the cow brain, a feature that she had seen many times
before in sheep affected by scrapie.
"What was exciting was that this was in a cow," she said. "This was the
first time I had seen these lesions in a cow." She took the slides to a
colleague. She said: "He agreed with me that it was a case of bovine
scrapie, which he had never seen before." Her colleague thought that the
senior neuropathologist, Dr Gerald Wells, had seen similar cases. Dr Wells
was away that day. However, his corrections to her post mortem report
reinforced her diagnosis.
He told the programme that he did not make the connection with the sheep
spongiform disease. The problem was put down to toxic poisoning. No
reference to this outbreak was made by Dr Wells and his colleagues in
Weybridge when they published the first description of the symptoms and
pathology of an outbreak in Ashford at the end of October 1987 in the
Veterinary Record.
Ms Richardson went on maternity leave, assuming that the matter was being
investigated and believed that Dr Wells had already seen similar cases. But
at a Christmas party, after Dr Wells reported the first official case in
November 1986, she was told that she had seen the first case of BSE. In
July 1988, Ms Richardson left the Central Veterinary Laboratory. When the
makers of the programme showed Dr Hugh Fraser, a scrapie expert, her
findings of Sept 10, 1985, he said that they "meant one thing and one thing
only to me, and that is scrapie in cattle".
That was the first that he had heard of the case. He said: "That would
suggest to me that there were, probably, a large number - and how many I
don't know - unrecognised cases of this disease occurring in cattle
elsewhere, probably before 1985."
In recent research, Prof Roy Anderson of Oxford University found evidence
that people were exposed to the disease as early as 1980. Up to 54,000
infected animals were slaughtered for human consumption between 1980 and 1985.
The new evidence on the first case will be submitted to the BSE public
inquiry, which began on Jan 27 and will report in March. Ms Richardson, 56,
has two sons and a daughter. She now lives near Woking with her husband,
John, and 10-year-old daughter. She continues to eat beef, and said: "I
insist now that we have only British beef."
⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 18:39:54 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Aust)Application to import Bumble Bees
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19980209183216.22d7160c@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Monday 9th February 1998
Proponents have put forth a submission to import the Bumble Bee into Australia.
The issue has been publicised very little and apparently comment has only
been requested on the issue from Government organisations and environmental
organisations. The topic was discussed on ABC radio today and they said if all
went well we might have the bunble bee introduced into Australia within a year!
EARTHBEAT:
Saturday, 7th February, at 7.30am & Monday, 9th February at 2.30pm
Earthbeat this week follows the flight of the Bumble Bee - it could come
straight from Europe into our backyard. Sectors of the agricultural industry
want to introduce the Bumble Bee because, they say, it increases the yield
and quality of some fruit crops. If the application's successful, we could
see Bumble Bees in Australia within months. But what effect will they
have on our environment when they go feral? And Australia already has its
own Bumble Bees - could they do the job just as well? Cop the buzz on
Earthbeat.
=====================================================================
========
/`\ /`\ Rabbit Information Service,
Tom, Tom, (/\ \-/ /\) P.O.Box 30,
The piper's son, )6 6( Riverton,
Saved a pig >{= Y =}< Western Australia 6148
And away he run; /'-^-'\
So none could eat (_) (_) email: rabbit@wantree.com.au
The pig so sweet | . |
Together they ran | |} http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
Down the street. \_/^\_/ (Rabbit Information Service website updated
frequently)
Jesus was most likely a vegetarian... why aren't you? Go to
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4620/essene.htm
for more information.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
- Voltaire
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 03:12:41 PST
From: "Cari Gehl"
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: CNN: Cat still purring at 33
Message-ID: <19980209111242.805.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
For anyone that wants a smile, go to:
http://cnn.com/US/9802/03/fringe/old.cat/
Grandpa's birthday was last Tuesday and he is doing great! It's a cute
article with pictures and some Quick-Time video of his birthday party.
There is also a link to last year's article with video and pics from his
32nd birthday party. For all the bad news we get, it's always nice to
see some happy stories - I know it made me smile!
Take care and best wishes to everyone!
Cari Gehl
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 20:43:47 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Aust)RFI Live rabbit imports for meat production
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19980209203611.2c7f69e2@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I just heard from someone in South Australia that there are to be
20,000 breeding does (rabbits) imported from the Netherlands for some
huge rabbit production set up in South Australia/Victoria.
If anyone knows more on this, please contact me as soon as possible.
(rabbit@wantree.com.au)
It is amazing that Australia declares the European rabbit a "target organism"
with rabbit calicivirus(rabbit hemorrhagic disease) the "agent organism"
under the Biological Control Act [Australia]
(to eradicate the European rabbit) and someone has supposedly been allowed to
import 20,000 breeding does from the Netherlands to breed meat rabbits.
Obviously the farmers have seen dollar signs in the lucrative Asian and
Chinese markets (previously supplied with wild rabbits shot by shooters).
Before RCD, we had shooters controlling feral rabbit numbers and we had
"Outback foods" who supplied millions of dollars of game rabbits (shot by
the shooters) to overseas buyers. Now Outback foods are bankrupted and the
shooters are out of work and we have an uncontrollable hemorrhagic virus we
never had before and yet the farmers want to fill sheds with breeding does from
the Netherlands to breed meat rabbits for export. How disgusting.
=====================================================================
========
/`\ /`\ Rabbit Information Service,
Tom, Tom, (/\ \-/ /\) P.O.Box 30,
The piper's son, )6 6( Riverton,
Saved a pig >{= Y =}< Western Australia 6148
And away he run; /'-^-'\
So none could eat (_) (_) email: rabbit@wantree.com.au
The pig so sweet | . |
Together they ran | |} http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
Down the street. \_/^\_/ (Rabbit Information Service website updated
frequently)
Jesus was most likely a vegetarian... why aren't you? Go to
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4620/essene.htm
for more information.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
- Voltaire
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 98 07:00:26 UTC
From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: Anniversary of Victory for Animal
Message-ID: <199802091253.HAA09587@envirolink.org>
(From PETA's calendar): On this day in 1996, Chevron Oil Corporation
agreed to birdproof its United States stacks, to prevent birds from
flying into them and being burned alive.
-- Sherrill
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 98 07:07:51 UTC
From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: Shrine Circus
Message-ID: <199802091300.IAA10083@envirolink.org>
Does anyone have any information on George Carden International,
the producer of the Shrine Circus? This circus is coming to Tulsa
February 26th. We're putting an ad in the paper about animals in the
circus.
Thanks,
Sherrill
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 14:12:09 -0500
From: Cesar Farell
To: ar-news postings
Subject: Toronto: Seal Hunt Protest
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
ATTENTION ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO END THE COMMERCIAL SEAL HUNT
IN CANADA:
On Saturday Feb. 28, 1998, four Toronto animal welfare
groups will band together to hold a huge rally at Yonge and
Bloor followed by a parade down Yonge St. to raise awareness
about the atrocities of the Candian commercial seal hunt.
Meet at the NE corner of Yonge and Bloor streets at 12 noon,
Saturday, Feb. 28.
The aim of this rally and parade is to draw public support
for a total ban of the commercial seal hunt in Canada. This
Toronto event will be a prelude to the National Commercial
Seal Hunt Rally in Ottawa on Fri., March, 20, 1998.
The 5 main reasons we are calling for an end to the
commercial seal hunt are:
- seal pups: the killing of seals under one year old
- quotas: "saving seals for future generations"
- seal penises: the ramifications of killing seals solely
for their genitals
- subsidies: a poor return on Candian tax dollars
- cruelty: inherent in the commercial seal hunt
This posting on behalf of:
ARK II, Action Volunteers for Animals, CATCSH (Canadians
Against the Commercial Seal Hunt), SETA (U of T)
For more information, contact: ARK II (416) 536-2308
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 16:59:50 -0600
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News
Subject: [US] EDITORIAL: "Shared duty to save monkeys" (TCT, 2/5/98)
Message-ID: <34DF8A66.239249D9@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: MULTIPART/MIXED;
BOUNDARY="Boundary_[ID_FhNEQDAkc9bBtHCO6ugnMQ]"
"Shared duty to save monkeys"
Editorial
The Capital Times
Madison, WI
US
Page 10A
Reply to E-mail: tctvoice@captimes.madison.com
[Image]
An editorial
Shared duty to save monkeys
Feb. 5, 1998
For more than three decades, the monkeys at the Henry Vilas Zoo have served
both the University of Wisconsin and Dane County.
They have served the university's interests as the subjects of behavioral
studies pursued by the UW's Primate Research Center. They have served the
county's interests as the residents of one of the most popular exhibits at
the county-operated zoo.
Now that federal research funding for UW studies involving the monkeys has
dried up, the university wants to ship 100 of the creatures to a facility
in Louisiana, where they could become the subjects of dangerous
experiments. The other 50 monkeys are slated to be sent to an
as-yet-nonexistent nature center in Thailand.
The county is interested in finding a way to keep the monkeys here, as
County Executive Kathleen Falk indicated in a letter to university
officials. Falk sought a 45-day delay in any transfer of the monkeys from
the zoo because, she determined, at least that much time was needed to find
an alternative to the UW's plans.
Since the university owns the monkeys, Falk needed a commitment by the UW
before she could go ahead with a plan to attract public and private support
for maintaining the zoo's monkey house.
Falk's request was reasonable, and it was disappointing that Graduate
School Dean Virginia Hinshaw, who oversees the UW's Regional Primate
Research Center, rejected the full 45-day delay without any good reason.
But Hinshaw offered a ray of hope, both in her decision to delay transfer
of the monkeys until at least March 2, and in her indication that the
university might agree to pay for the upkeep of the zoo's monkey house
through the end of the year.
Hinshaw says she wants a "firm commitment'' from the county to take over
responsibility for the care of the monkeys before the university will agree
to continue paying for the care of the monkeys. And we think that it will
be possible to get such a commitment by March 2.
What we hope, however, is that both the university and the county will
recognize an ongoing responsibility to keep these monkeys in Madison. That
responsibility is not a legal one, and there will be debate about whether
it is a moral one.
But at some fundamental level, these monkeys have become a part of Madison
-- just as the zoo and the university are a part of this community. Rather
than pointing fingers of blame and attempting to pawn off responsibility,
officials of the university and the county should recognize the sincere
desire of thousands of children and adults to keep the monkeys in Madison.
And they should act in consort to make that desire a reality.
Tell us what you think
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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⌐ 1998 The Capital Times
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Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 14:50:57 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: ppetersan@fund.org
Subject: Computer Internship
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19980209175509.3ed7e946@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Fund for Animals is seeking an intern to work in its Silver Spring,
Maryland office, to enhance and maintain the organization's site on the
World Wide Web (http://www.fund.org). Stipend is $500 for three months; most
students can earn college credit. Must be proficient with HTML programming
and have a general knowledge of the animal rights movement. Send inquiries to:
Peter Petersan
The Fund for Animals
World Building
8121 Georgia Avenue, Suite 301
Silver Spring, MD 20910
ppetersan@fund.org
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 17:23:07 -0600
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News
Subject: [US] "Monkey proposal advances through county panel"
Message-ID: <34DF8FDB.A6BFDB46@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
"Monkey proposal advances through county panel"
The Capital Times
Madison, WI
US
Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998
Page 4A
-- Beginning --
Monkey proposal advances through county panel
A second committee of the Dane County Board has given its approval for
an official inquiry into retaining the UW monkeys at the Henry Vilas
Zoo.
The Public Works and Facilities Management Committee unanimously
approved the plan Tuesday night. The resolution, introduced by
Supervisor Tom Stoebig, calls for the zoo Commission and the zoo
director to develop options for keeping the monkeys.
The Zoo Conunission approved the measure last week, and the Ways and
Means Committee is scheduled to debate the matter Feb. 11.
Pending the approval of all three committees, the resolution will go
before the full County Board on Feb. 19. If approved by the board, a
second inquiry by the county, in addition to one by the county
executive, will be sparked into the possibilities of keeping at least
some of the University of Wisconsin monkeys at the zoo.
That study would have to be completed by March 1, according to the
resolution.
The UW, which previously announced plans to send the monkeys to a
Louisiana primate center and to Thailand, now says it would maintain the
monkeys through the end of the year if the county agrees to take care of
them after that time.
"The County Board meeting will be crucial," said Tina Kaske, executive
director of Alliance for Animals.
"We will need everyone to call their county supervisors and tell them
how much these monkeys mean to the entire county."
Debate by the County Board will likely reveal whether county politicians
have an interest in finding funds in the 1999 budget to pay for keeping
the monkeys at the zoo. ,
-- End --
Related info:
http://www.uwosh.edu/organizations/alag/#Issues
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 17:43:48 -0600
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News
Subject: [US] "Zoo monkeys need protection"
Message-ID: <34DF94B4.E44AF6F4@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
"Zoo monkeys need protection"
Letter to the Editor
By Lesley Arena
The Capital Times
Madison, WI
US
Thursday, Feb. 5, 1998
Page 11A
-- Beginning --
Zoo monkeys need protection
Dear Editor: The situation with the Vilas Zoo monkeys is very
disturbing. I have to ask some very disturbing questions:
1.Why has there been no action by zoo director David Hall against the
UW Research Center, regarding the numerous violations of the 1989
agreement between the primate center and the zoo? It is incredible to
me that no one has held the university or the primate center accountable
for this outrage.
2. Why is it that Hall shows absolutely no concern for the animals who
have lived at our zoo for so long? He is quite willing to send them
away. The monkeys that are slated to go to Tulane's research facility
will be used for invasive research. Dr. Gerone, the Tulane director,
has admitted that whatever monkeys are not being used for breeding, will
be subject to research. Also, any offspring of the Vilas Zoo monkeys
are going to be used for research. The baby monkeys are taken from
their mothers soon after birth. The research these monkeys face is
cruel and deadly.
After giving all these years of their lives to research, the surviving
Vilas Zoo monkeys deserve to be protected - either in our zoo, or in an
appropriate and safe place, such as a sanctuary. If Hall is so uncaring
about animals at the zoo - isn't he in the wrong job?
3.The university's argument for discarding these monkeys - that federal
funding has been discontinued - is inadequate. The UW has admitted
selling monkeys from the Vilas Zoo group over the years, for research.
Others have been taken from the zoo and used in fatal research here at
the primate center. The very least the UW ought to do is to provide for
humane care for the remaining monkeys.
Perhaps they can consider it as reparation to this community, for the
numerous cruel and fatal violations of their own agreement with the
zoo. This university has received millions of dollars in the recent
past, for expansion of the Primate Research Center and the purchase of
new animals. There is funding for new endeavors, but "no money
available" to care for animals who have been used for so many years, to
the benefit and profit of researchers and the university.
4.If the university sees herpes B as such a threat, perhaps the entire
Primate Research Center ought to be shut down. After all, if the public
is "in danger" from monkeys at the zoo, who are enclosed behind glass
and fencing, surely the hundreds of primates housed in the research
center must also pose a threat.
Lesley Arena
Madison
-- End --
Related info:
http://www.uwosh.edu/organizations/alag/#Issues
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 21:00:02 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Engler: He was 'shocked'
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980209205959.00b2a2c4@pop3.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from Amarillo Globe-News http://www.amarillonet.com/oprah/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Web posted Monday, February 9, 1998 1:11 p.m. CT
Engler: He was 'shocked'
Cattlemen vs. Oprah Winfrey
By KAY LEDBETTER-Farm and Ranch Editor
"Shocked" best described the feelings Paul Engler had when he first watched
"the Oprah Winfrey Show" dangerous foods segment, the Amarillo cattleman
testified Monday in court.
Day 15 of the case between Engler and other cattle interests against
Winfrey and a guest on her show started late as attorneys from both sides
met with U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to discuss Lester Crawford,
a food safety expert, who had been testifying at the close of court Friday.
Crawford had a family emergency and was unable to return to the witness
stand this morning.
Interest in the trial appears to be waning. The media section was half
empty today, and there was enough seating in the general public area to
accommodate a government class from San Jacinto Christian Academy.
Engler, the CEO of Cactus Feeders Inc. and Cactus Growers, was called to
the stand, and was asked by his attorney, Joseph Coyne, to describe his
feelings when he first viewed the program the day it aired April 16, 1996,
while he was on a business trip in Chicago.
"I was shocked. I was shocked to hear the false statements that were being
made," Engler said. "Particularly painful was that we could expect an
epidemic that would make AIDS look like the common cold."
He said also there were statements throughout the program that implied that
beef wasn't safe.
"This was a product for over 50 years I had taken great pride in
producing."
Asked whether he thought these statements were directed at him, he said,
"without any question, they had to be talking about me as well all the rest
of the livestock producers," because Cactus Feeders is a major player in
the cattle industry.
During most of the morning, jurors were presented a history lesson in the
establishment of the cattle feeding industry in this area as well as the
location of the IBP plant here through Engler's efforts.
Jurors also received a lesson in trading cattle on the futures market with
Engler explaining who the players are, the terms used, why the futures
market is used and how to figure break-even costs of cattle.
Engler testified cattlemen know the risks associated with their industry.
The major risk is weather, followed by death losses due to diseases that
cannot be controlled by vaccines.
He also talked about the inherent market risks. Coyne asked Engler whether
selling a futures contract was not speculating.
"No, we're not speculating; we're establishing a price for future delivery;
we're decreasing our risk," he said.
He also discounted the defense's argument that other factors including
drought, exports and feed prices cause the drop in cattle prices.
He said the Winfrey show was the sole cause of the drop.
He speculates with his own money on the cattle markets but does not use
company money to do so.
Date: Mon, 09 Feb 1998 21:00:19 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Engler: Oprah's show was 'bomb' that led to drop in
cattle prices
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980209210017.006b302c@pop3.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from Amarillo Globe-News http://www.amarillonet.com/oprah/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Web posted Monday, February 9, 1998 7:01 p.m. CT
Engler: Oprah's show was 'bomb' that led to drop in cattle prices
By CHIP CHANDLER
Globe-News Staff Writer
Lead plaintiff Paul Engler took the stand in the Oprah Winfrey
beef-defamation trial Monday, saying Winfrey was "the bomb" that led to a
severe drop in cattle prices.
Engler, testifying in the trial's 15th day, denied that other media reports
had a significant impact on the market.
"Ms. Winfrey's show was the bomb. That was the bomb that set everything
off," he said.
Winfrey hosted a show on dangerous foods on April 16, 1996. Included in the
broadcast was a 10-minute segment on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or
mad cow disease. The plaintiffs allege that Winfrey, her production company
and a guest made false and disparaging comments about beef during the BSE
segment.
Winfrey's attorney, Charles Babcock, led Engler through a list of factors
the defense contends hurt the market. Engler stuck to his position that
Winfrey was responsible.
Babcock referred to an April 4, 1996, press conference by Texas Agriculture
Commissioner Rick Perry in which Perry said businesses in the state had
been affected by media reports about mad cow disease.
Engler forcefully denied Babcock's assertions.
"The market reacted to `The Oprah Winfrey Show.' We have proof of that. The
market did not react to this (Perry's conference). The market was ignoring
this, or else it would have been going down," he said in a booming voice.
Babcock also tried to cast doubt on the amount of money Engler claims to
have lost because of the market's drop.
Engler testified earlier Monday that he had to hedge some cattle, or lock
in their price by selling contracts to ensure his selling price wouldn't go
lower. He said hedging cost his companies more than $4 million.
Hedging was a "catch-22," Engler said. Had prices gone back up, his company
would have lost out on some profit, he said.
"If we did not hedge and prices continued to go down, we probably would
have much worse damages than we are claiming," he said.
"You want (Winfrey) to pay for a business position you took?" Babcock
asked. "Absolutely," Engler answered.
Babcock pressed Engler, asking whether he wanted Winfrey to pay even
though:
* prices went back up on May 2, 1996;
* she did an April 23 follow-up show; and
* a beef industry survey still showed high consumer confidence in the
safety of American beef.
"Unfortunately, the damage was done on the original show," Engler said.
Engler is expected to return to the stand on Tuesday.
Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 22:01:05 -0800
From: "Linda J. Howard"
To: "Steve Barney"
Cc: "AR NEWS"
Subject: Letters Needed to Dane County (Wisconsin) Board of Supervisors
Message-ID: <01bd35e9$465e9e20$8631accf@default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
LETTERS ARE NEEDED -
REQUEST THAT DANE COUNTY (WISCONSIN) BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
SUPPORT RESOLUTION 241 WHICH COULD FREE THE VILAS PARK ZOO MONKEYS
Please send an e-mail to members of the Dane County, Wisconsin Board of
Supervisors (names and e-mail addresses below.) Politely and respectfully
ask that the Board of Supervisors support Resolution 241, "Directing the Zoo
Commission and Zoo Director to develop options to retain the monkey colonies
at Henry Vilas Zoo."
If Resolution 241 passes, the 150 Vilas Park Zoo macaques will not belong to
the University of Wisconsin (or NIH!) any longer. This is potentially a
precedent setting case, since no NIH sponsored monkey colony has been
relinquished to private stewardship. Thank you for your help!
DANE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
Kevin R. Kesterson
Ruth Ann Schoer
Helen Hellenbrand
Larry Olson
J. Michael Blaska
David M. Gawenda
[Sample Letter by Steve Barney]
Dear Dane County Board Supervisor:
Please vote in favor of Resolution 241, "Directing the Zoo Commission
and Zoo Director to develop options to retain the monkey colonies at
Henry Vilas Zoo," and keep the monkeys in the Henry Vilas Zoo until
arrangements can be made to either maintain them at the zoo permanently,
or to send them to sanctuaries such as the one in Thailand which is
currently under consideration by the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research
Center.
Do this for the benefit of the State of Wisconsin, as well as the
citizens of Dane County, and the colonies of 150 rhesus macaque and
stump-tailed macaque monkeys which the Wisconsin Regional Primate
Research Center has owned and maintained at the Henry Vilas Zoo's monkey
roundhouse since 1963.
These particular monkeys have become near and dear to the Madison and
surrounding communities over the years. They became famous celebrities
as the subjects of important best selling scientific publications about
their intimate lives (_Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in
Humans and Other Animals_, _Peacemaking among Primates_, both by Frans
de Waal). Those publications have proven to the world that these
individuals have not only minds and personalities, but moral
personalities. They are intensely social animals, which suffer when
separated from each
other.
Besides the loss to Dane County and other Wisconsin residents, the
current plan to send the rhesus monkeys to the Tulane Regional
Primate Research Center, in Louisiana, is in violation of the spirit of
the current agreement between the WRPRC and Vilas Zoo, because Peter Gerone,
Director of the Louisiana Center, may use them in harmful experiments,
and will require three months of isolation in quarantine for each monkey
- a practice which is certain to cause intense suffering to the monkeys
because of their intensely social nature. (You may ask Victor Reinhardt
(Madison) about the suffering this isolation will cause. Victor is a
former veterinarian of the WRPRC, and spearheaded a national movement
away from individual caging of monkeys in primate labs). This is
especially unacceptable in light of the admission by the University of
Wisconsin, despite denials by the WRPRC itself, that the WRPRC itself
violated the agreement, because this violation gives the WRPRC and the
University of Wisconsin an obligation to make up to the public and the
monkeys with a genuine show of good will by means of cooperative action
with Dane County and Wisconsin residents.
One of the missions of zoos, generally, is environmental education.
According to the most comprehensive scientific assessment of threatened
species ever produced (1996 World Conservation Union Red List of
Threatened Animals), "the highest proportion of threatened species are
in the orders that include monkeys and apes." Don't make a mockery of
the environmental education mission of the Henry Vilas Zoo by allowing
these rare and precious individuals to be treated as if they are no more
than disposable tools for research.
Sincerely,
Steve Barney
1301 Algoma Blvd.
Oshkosh, WI 54901-2703
Phone: 920-235-4887
E-mail: BARNES99@uwosh.edu
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