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AR-NEWS Digest 679
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Primate Research Fellowship
by Vadivu Govind
2) (TH) Strays go hungry despite new home
by Vadivu Govind
3) [UK] We want our own MPs, say hunt marchers
by David J Knowles
4) [UK] Gangs use pets to kill foxes in urban hunts
by David J Knowles
5) (US) Vegan, vegetarian or meat-eater?
by allen schubert
6) (US) Meat is the only way to go
by allen schubert
7) K-9 Cop Given a Fine Sendoff
by Snugglezzz
8) (US) Police move on animal rights vandalism
by allen schubert
9) Vets Take a Scalpel to Pet Problem
by Snugglezzz
10) (US) Oklahoma Weekly Outdoor News
by JanaWilson
11) (US) WILDLIFE CHIEF TO REMAIN ON THE JOB
by ar-admin@envirolink.org
12) (US) DAMAGE TO OCEANS STUDIED
by ar-admin@envirolink.org
13) (US) APES LEAVE "NOTES" IN THE BUSH
by ar-admin@envirolink.org
14) LAKEWOOD, COLORADO TO BAN WILDFOWL FEEDING
by ar-admin@envirolink.org
15) Genetic technique that produced cloned calves banned in Holland
by Andrew Gach
16) (SA) Researchers Use Serums, Estrogen To Test Elephant Birth
Control
by allen schubert
17) Improving on nature - a PR plug for genetically changed animal feed
by Andrew Gach
18) Goodbye, Best Friend
by Snugglezzz
19) Land O'Lorin Sample Letter
by Debbie Leahy
20) UnScientific American: Animal Rights or Wrongs
by Mesia Quartano
21) (US) ALASKA BEAR
by ar-admin@envirolink.org
22) MONKEY PROTECTION FUND
by "Linda J. Howard"
23) [CA] CBC to air program on bear hunting
by David J Knowles
24) [UK] Countryside March
by David J Knowles
25) Creature DIScomfort: For animal advocates, circus is the cruelest show on earth
by NOVENA ANN
26) Was Jesus a vegetarian?
by bunny
27) Nesting Boxes in Jerusalem ( ISRAEL)
by erez ganor
28) (US) BAD NEWS FISH
by ar-admin@envirolink.org
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 13:10:31 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Primate Research Fellowship
Message-ID: <199803010510.NAA03386@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
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From
http://www.ns.net/orangutan/LPJ1.html
-------------------------------------------------
Orangutan Foundation International
Press Release contact: Dr. Gary Shapiro, VP- (310) 207-1655 or redape@ns.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 1, 1998
OFI Research Fellowship to Help Students
Students planning to conduct wildlife research on orangutans can seek
financial assistance from the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI). The
Lorraine P. Jenkins Memorial Fellowship for Orangutan and Rain forest
Research (LPJ Memorial Fellowship) was announced today by Dr. Gary Shapiro,
Vice President of OFI, and son of Mrs. Lorraine Jenkins who passed away on
November 21, 1997. OFI President Dr. Biruté Galdikas proposed that a new
fellowship be named after Mrs. Jenkins who was "a strong long-term supporter
of the Foundation and an inspiration to all those around her. Mrs. Jenkins
worked ceaselessly to help achieve the goals of the Foundation, and it's
appropriate that our first endowed fellowship be named after her."
The LPJ Memorial Fellowship is a competitive award open to any graduate or
undergraduate student planning to conduct orangutan, primates, or related
rain forest field research in either Indonesia or Malaysia. Priority
consideration will be given to students planning to study new populations of
orangutans. Students from orangutan habitat and tropical rain forest
countries are encouraged to apply. Two inaugural LPJ Memorial Fellowships of
$1,000.00 will be awarded in 1998.
Interested students should apply during the spring of each year in order to
be considered for an early summer award. Application forms can be obtained
by contacting OFI. Applications for 1998 are due on April 20, 1998.
Completed applications should be sent to the Orangutan Foundation
International, attn: LPJ Memorial Fellowship, 822 S. Wellesley Ave., Los
Angeles, California
90049, USA. Recipients of the inaugural LPJ Memorial Fellowships will be
notified by phone and a formal announcement will be made at the Third
International Conference on Great Apes of the World, July 3-6, 1998, in
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia.
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 13:55:29 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TH) Strays go hungry despite new home
Message-ID: <199803010555.NAA30045@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Bangkok Post
1 Mar 98
Strays get new home but still go hungry
Lack of funds blow to man's best friend
Anjira Assavanonda
More than 2,000 stray dogs moved from Tung Sikan Animal
Shelter in Bangkok to a new home in Kanchanaburi should be
happier now, enjoying the clean air, forests and rivers.
But fate does not favour them.
A fall in donations means a decrease in the quality and quantity
of their feed, and despite love and pity, shelter staff sometimes
have no choice but to let these dogs go hungry.
The dogs sometimes feel as if they are abandoned since the new
home is located somewhere far away and is difficult to reach.
Visitors who used to come to the Tung Sikan dog shelter have
disappeared. Only a few follow their four-legged friends to the
new home in Kanchanaburi.
The new animal shelter is located on a 38-rai plot (equal to that
of the former shelter) at Ban Pu Pradoo, Tambon Nongbua,
Muang district, about 22 km from the downtown area, and 3.5
km from the main road.
There are more than 2,000 animals, including 1,800 dogs, 200
cats, 12 goats, two sheep, seven ducks and one goose.
The number has been reduced from over 3,000 animals at Tung
Sikan, and the shelter has decided to take in no more animals
due to over-population, insufficient funds, and pressure of work
on shelter staff.
The animals had to be moved from Tung Sikan shelter where
they lived for over 10 years, due to a lawsuit filed by a Buddhist
temple in Thon Buri.
The temple's abbot decided to sell the land to a private business
and obtained a court order to move the animals out by the end of
last year.
Relocation started in June last year and was finished in late
October. All shacks and stables were removed to be
reassembled in Kanchanaburi.
Tap water has not yet reached the area, so the shelter staff had
to dig a large well to store rainwater for daily use.
Some of the staff said they could not imagine what could be
done, especially in the dry season.
Pimol-orn Angsavothai, 45, manager of the Animal Shelter,
disclosed that donations have decreased remarkably due to the
economic downturn and the remote location which bars many
dog-lovers, especially Bangkokians, from visiting the dogs.
"Everything has good and bad points. The animals get clean air
here, but few people visit them. The fewer people came, the less
donations we get, and that means the animals are still suffering
from hunger," said Ms Pimol-orn.
She said in the past Tung Sikan Shelter received about 200,000
baht a month for the support of animals, but donations have
decreased since the shelter was moved to Kanchanaburi four
months ago.
"So far there have been less than 25 donors, and donations have
not yet reached 100,000 baht. This was not enough even for the
dog feed which covers 70 percent of all the expenses," said Ms
Pimol-orn.
Total expenses of the shelter are about 300,000 baht a month:
200,000 is spent on animal feed, while the remainder is for
dog-keepers and medicine.
Usually the dogs are fed only once a day with different kinds of
feed - boiled rice, cooked rice mixed with canned fish, and
instant dog food. Usually six and a half bags of rice are cooked
for one meal.
Ms Pimol-orn explained that the dogs are kept in five zones, and
each zone is fed with different feeds, certainly of different
quality
due to insufficient funds.
For example, today one zone may be fed with cooked rice,
while another is given dogfood. Tomorrow will be different.
The dogs might be lucky some fine day when kind people donate
chicken bones to fill their empty stomachs, but such good days
do not come often.
"It's quite rare for these poor dogs to enjoy delicious meals.
Don't ask me to describe what kinds of food they normally
have," said Ms Pimol-orn.
One donor who had just visited the new shelter said it was a pity
to find that the food prepared for the dogs was only boiled rice
mixed with salt.
Part of the shelter's expenses is the salaries of 12 dog-keepers.
Five of them came from the old shelter in Bangkok, and are paid
4,000 baht a month, while others are new staff paid 3,000 baht a
month.
"There are also people like Aunt Somsri, Aunt Charoenchit,
Khun Renu, Khun Kitti, Khun Bua and many others who used to
be our volunteers at Tung Sikan. Now these people still visit us
at our new home at the weekend. What they did is out of nothing
but deep feelings and love for these stray animals. Their kind
spirits encourage everybody here to go on," said the manager.
Ms Pimol-orn herself has worked for the Animal Shelter for over
eight years.
Her love for these animals grew stronger and stronger.
Now at the age of only 45, she quit her job at the Revenue
Department, so that she could devote all of her time to the new
shelter.
There is a lot of work waiting for Ms Pimol-orn and other staff at
the new shelter - more public relations, more activities needed to
draw public attention and to raise funds for the shelter.
The manager admitted she was tired of such a heavy burden, but
would never give up.
"These dogs had been saved from the killings, some from the
accidents, and people brought them to us. It's these people and
everybody here who gave them new lives. When I'm tired, I tell
myself to do everything to enable the animals to live on, and any
assistance given to us means their lives are extended longer," she
said.
Article copyright Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd 1998
Reprinted for non-commercial use only.
Website: http://www.bangkokpost.net
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 23:35:49
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] We want our own MPs, say hunt marchers
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980228233549.2f673232@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, March 1st, 1998
We want our own MPs, say hunt marchers
By Greg Neale and David Wastell
COUNTRYSIDE campaigners are preparing to field candidates in Westminster
and European elections in a move that they hope will capitalise on today's
march in London.
They plan to put up candidates to fight Labour and the Liberal Democrats in
marginal rural seats and at the European elections following today's
protest, which some expect to involve up to a quarter of a million people.
Senior members of the Countryside Alliance, the field sports umbrella group
that has called today's demonstration, have drawn up plans to field
"countryside candidates" to take on
Labour MPs and others who want to ban hunting. Although a final decision
has not yet been made, the move - which echoes the Referendum Party's
campaign at the last election - will
increase pressure on the Government over rural issues.
Both William Hague, the Conservative leader, and Paddy Ashdown, the leader
of the Liberal Democrats, will attend today's march from the Embankment to
Hyde Park. A further14 members of the shadow cabinet plan to join the
march, but only two members of the Government - Michael Meacher, the
environment minister, and Lord Donoughue, the agriculture minister - will
be present, neither of them of Cabinet rank.
Countryside campaigners are convinced that last July's rally in Hyde Park
and today's march have forced the Government to pay more attention to rural
issues, and are seeking fresh ways of maintaining the momentum.
Janet George, a spokesman for the alliance, said yesterday: "There is
considerable interest in the idea of targeting certain rural seats where
MPs have small majorities and are
anti-farming. If the sitting MP and the other candidates were equally
unsympathetic to hunting, we'd certainly consider putting up a countryside
candidate if it was an area where there was a lot of support for our views."
Among the Labour MPs who are being considered as possible targets are
Angela Smith, whose Basildon constituency has a rural hinterland, and who
is a high-profile campaigner against country sports, and Ian Cawsey, the MP
for Brigg and Goole, a vociferous opponent of hunting.
The pro-Labour tide was so powerful at the last election that the party now
holds 15 of the 100 most rural seats, according to an analysis by John
Curtice, the director of the Centre for
Research into Elections and Social Trends.
Six such MPs are vulnerable to swings of less than five per cent, including
George Turner (Norfolk NW), John Grogan (Selby), Huw Edwards (Monmouth),
and Thomas Dawson
(Lancaster and Wyre). A further 32 Labour MPs hold semi-rural marginal
seats, ranging from Falmouth and Cambourne to Ribble South.
Jackie Ballard, a former anti-hunting campaigner who won Taunton for the
Liberal Democrats last May, is also a likely target. But the handful of
Conservative MPs opposed to hunting are likely to be spared a "countryside"
opponent.
The alliance might also endorse candidates from the main parties standing
against an anti-hunting MP. "We don't care what party they are - if they
back hunting and the countryside,
we'd support them," Ms George added. "We'll certainly be lobbying with
regard to this year's council elections in areas where we have a large
constituency, and in almost every area
for the European elections we will be trying to channel support for the
candidates most sympathetic to our concerns."
Protesters at the Government's policies on countryside issues will be given
fresh ammunition this week with the publication of a report by the
all-party select committee on agriculture into the state of the beef
industry. It is expected to paint a bleak picture of an industry in crisis
with farmers facing cuts in income of 50 per cent.
The Government yesterday addressed country issues with an announcement on
rural schools, proposals for improved bus services and restrictions on
lorries using country lanes, and indications that the plan to ban
unpasteurised "green top" milk has been dropped.
Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 23:42:08
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Gangs use pets to kill foxes in urban hunts
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980228234208.2dd70862@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, March 1st, 1998
Gangs use pets to kill foxes in urban hunts
By Catherine Elsworth
CITY foxes are being killed by packs of pet dogs in a spate of urban foxhunts.
Residents in Birmingham have reported gangs staging nocturnal hunts in
parks and recreation grounds. The practice, a form of "lamping", involves
baiting foxes with domestic cats snatched from gardens and killed. The
cornered foxes are then dazzled with bright
torches [flashlights] before the lurcher dogs are released on them.
City councillors and residents in the north-west of the city are launching
a campaign to encourage people to report incidents to police.
Keith Linnecor, Labour councillor for Oscott, Birmingham, said the attacks
first came to light after mutilated bodies of foxes were found at a
landfill site. Hunts were then reported on council-owned recreation land.
"It happens about 2 or 3am when nobody is about," he said. "We think it is
organised by gangs from the Black Country who have moved into Birmingham
because they think it's a soft touch. It's not a sport. It's just cruelty.
The fox isn't given a chance. The lurcher dogs are on them in a flash."
He said police had also received reports of domestic cats disappearing.
"Some have been found skinned. At first the bodies were left behind, but
now they are taking the evidence away."
The first attacks were reported 18 months ago, he said. "We can have a
spate of attacks and then nothing for a while, so it's very difficult to
stamp out."
Mr Linnecor said witnesses were often too scared to come forward. He and
his council colleague, Mike Leddy, in neighbouring Perry Barr, have
collected a petition of 1,200 names asking the council to act. Mr Leddy
said: "These thugs come in and do these violent,
despicable things. It's barbaric. What's even more heart-rending is that
they are using family pets to lure the foxes into the area. Cats are being
killed, skinned and the carcasses dragged around urban spaces to attract
foxes."
One woman who witnessed a recent attack at 3.30am in Oscott said: "I was
woken by the awful sound of squealing. I saw torches and heard dogs
barking. Then there was this terrible screaming of an animal in pain. It
went on for about 10 minutes but towards the end turned into an awful
growling sound. It was so distressing but there was nothing we could do."
One reason for the rise in urban foxhunting is simply the dramatic increase
in the animal's numbers in cities over the past two decades. The city fox
is now flourishing, sustained by the contents of dustbins - let alone
preying on domestic cats and rabbits - to the point that some groups of
"animal activists" have been catching them for release in the countryside,
where their lack of rural guile means they are frequently shot.
The RSPCA confirmed that its inspectors had received reports of lamping. A
spokesman said: "Gangs do go out lamping for deer and foxes and badger
baiting, so it's no surprise that it goes on in urban areas with domestic
pets. People who go out lamping, go out to kill." Birmingham city council
said it had received the petition but had yet to recover any evidence of
the attacks. "There are three sites we have been told about where we have
increased our
presence," a spokesman said. "Our rangers are conducting regular patrols
and investigating all reports."
Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 10:53:43 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Vegan, vegetarian or meat-eater?
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980301105340.007010f4@pop3.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from StandardNET Contacts http://www.standard.net/
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Vegan, vegetarian or meat-eater?
February 26, 1998
By JULIE GROSSHANS TX. correspondent
Most people know what vegetarians are. They eat a lot of vegetables, fruit
and sometimes eggs or dairy products but no meat. And a lot of the world's
population are carnivores, flesh-eating mammals, meat-eaters.
So what are vegans? A vegan is, according to Merriam Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, "a strict vegetarian who consumes no animal food or dairy
products; also, one who abstains from using animal products (as leather)."
What's the big deal then? Well, there isn't anything to make a fuss over,
just different opinions and ideas and diets.
Becoming a vegan generally starts out with vegetarianism. You then move in
simple steps. Maybe first you give up Twinkies, which contain animal
shortening, or stop those McDonald's quarter-pounder runs. It's just simple
steps.
Codie Nate, who was a vegetarian for one year before becoming a vegan six
months ago, says he changed his views when he saw "the exploitation of
animals and the suffering most people aren't even aware of." Nate is a
sophomore at Layton High School.
Movies have also influenced the way people think about animals. "Pink
Floyd" influenced Miranda Beck to become a vegan and "City Slickers"
changed the mind of Jenee Shumway. Beck, a senior at Layton High, has been
a vegan for two and a half months. Shumway, a vegan of four and a half
months, is a sophomore at Layton High. Both were vegetarians for five years
prior to their decision.
Others, such as Kristi Kendell, a senior at Layton High, have simply been
educated. Kendell was a vegetarian for two years and has been a vegan for
six months.
What about nutrients?
If vegans and vegetarians don't eat products such as cheese, meat and eggs,
do they feel they get enough nutrients and vitamins?
Nate feels he should probably get more B12 but he does get enough calcium
and protein.
Taking vegetarian multiples makes Shumway feel like she gets what she
needs.
Vegans choose to do and not to do a lot of things. Brie Shaw says vegans
"don't use animals for their living." Shaw, a vegan of eight months, is a
sophomore at Layton High.
Kendell says, "I don't eat any meat, dairy or gelatin, that's it.
Everything else in the world I can eat. I eat a lot of grains and
vegetables.
How 'bout a little support?
Are the people closest to them, the friends and families of vegans and
vegetarians, supportive?
Kendell says, "At first my parents and family thought I was going through
some phase and it would pass." So far it hasn't passed. Kendell's family is
more accepting, but they still don't like it.
Nate says he has influenced a lot of his friends that weren't aware of what
was going on.
"No, they hate me being a vegetarian," said Jared Fife, a sophomore at
Layton High and a vegetarian of one and a half years.
Lafe Connor, a junior at Layton High, says: "They may not agree but they
support me in whatever I choose to do." Conner is a vegetarian of one year
and recently became a vegan.
Jewel Murray says her friends and family think she is seriously "kooky" but
they still support her. Murray, a vegan of five months, is a sophomore at
Layton High.
Harmony Brzotek says that few people truly understand. Brzotek, a sophomore
and vegan of one month at Layton High, is supported by her mother.
Many vegans and vegetarians say they have been harassed by people that are
not vegans. Beck found a deer head on the top of her car once.
On the flip side, one police officer says vegans have done their own share
of harassing. "Vegans and straight-edgers are considered a gang because of
what they do," said Officer Troy Briggs, from the Layton City Police De
partment. He said vegans have been involved in incidents police
investigated at Northridge High School, although he couldn't describe them
or comment on them.
Acceptance?
Michael Cockrell, a senior at Layton High, says he doesn't mind vegans, as
long as they don't force their views on him.
Robert Porter, a sophomore at Layton High, says he will never become a
vegan or vegetarian because they are too skinny.
"I let them do what they want until it involves me," said Nathan Upp, a
sophomore at Layton High.
If all the talk about not eating meat or avoiding animals products is
getting those brain cells thinking about a change, or
you're just curious, visit the Internet.
At http://envirolink.org/arrs/vegan_views.html you can learn the views and
differences between vegans and vegetarians. Or learn about the benefits of
veganism at http://jujubee.cob.ohio-state.edu/newberry/.
Actress Kim Basinger also said, "If you could see or feel the suffering you
wouldn't think twice. Give back life. Don't eat meat."
Julie Ann Grosshans, a sophomore at Layton High School, enjoys writing,
sports and music.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 10:53:59 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Meat is the only way to go
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980301105357.006e614c@pop3.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from StandardNET http://www.standard.net/
---------------------------------------------------
Meat is the only way to go
February 26, 1998
By DENNISIA WHISLER TX. correspondent
CARNIVORE:
While many uneducated youths of our society fall into the category deemed
"rebels without a cause," there are those few who have a movement for which
they are zealots.
The latest craze with the '90s has been nutrition, health and organic,
all-natural ingredients in everything. Some teens have put a new twist on
America's sorry search for the pure well of the fountain of youth and have
decided to boycott anything that isn't all natural. They have adopted and
absorbed themselves in the religion of veganism. That, by the way, is a
metaphor. I'm explaining that so that you misled Vegans will understand
that I know what you believe, and that I'm not an idiot.
Many people believe that veganism and vegetarianism are the same thing.
These people are just as moronic as the vegans. For one thing, any child
can see that "veganism" and "vegetarianism" are spelled differently. That
would be a clue as to a difference in definition.
Also, a vegetarian can eat an egg from a chicken, while a vegan has to
substitute bananas or applesauce for it. (This is true, I got it from a Web
site.)
Several Web sites on veganism insist that life as a vegan is easy. All that
is required to be one is to follow a list of do's and don'ts and keep track
of calories, fat, protein, vitamins, minerals and whatever else you intake.
I have gone through the trouble of checking out these sites and compiling a
list that I have painstakingly named, "Vegan Do's and Vegan Don'ts: A Guide
to Living Like a Vegan" to help society, and perhaps the vegans themselves,
understand just why they believe animals are god-like creatures.
A vegan will only wear sweatshop-produced products, as they refuse to touch
leather. Let's face it, children in Third World countries are only good for
putting together clothes made from synthetic fibers. All they do is
overpopulate the world with their existence anyway. Let's buy all the
products they manufacture and then they'll all die and there will be more
grazing areas for llamas and pandas.
A vegan will not wear nail polish or cologne that has been tested on
animals. The reason vegans boycott companies who test their cosmetics and
fragrances on ani mals is because they're jealous that animals look better
and smell better with those products than the vegans ever could.
A vegan must go outside to collect sunlight in order to get enough vitamin
D to survive. They say they have to go smell the flowers or mow the lawn or
something, but in reality, they don't have any vitamin D in their bodies.
Vitamin D is only found in meat and animal by-products.
In essence being a vegan is denying man's origins and primal instincts.
According to Darwin's paraphrased law of survival of the fittest, each
organism in any system will do whatever is necessary to survive and
reproduce.
The law of the jungle abounds: Eat or be eaten, kill or be killed. The
vegans are trying to protest this by having nothing to do with animal
consumption. They are trying not to interfere with Mother Nature. They do
not wish to be associated with their fellow human beings that eat meat,
wear mink and have deluxe leather interiors in their cars.
Of course, the animals they are striving to protect would have no problem
eating their bloody carcasses for dinner. In fact, they'd probably enjoy
the treat and go looking for more.
But, because vegans are made up of primarily fruit and vegetables, the
animals would say "yuck" and then eat one of us walking heart attacks. All
the better -- more room in the hospital for me when I go into cardiac
arrest.
Dennisia Whisler, a senior at Roy High School, says she likes music A LOT
and enjoys writing articles about touchy, controversial subjects.
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 10:55:15 EST
From: Snugglezzz
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: K-9 Cop Given a Fine Sendoff
Message-ID: <107359ee.34f984e5@aol.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Stillwater, OK, USA: The mayor wished him a fond farewell. A city commissioner
recommended that his portrait hang in City Hall. The police chief called him
"one of God's amazing creations." And through all this, Diego - Stillwater's
retiring police dog - was wearing a police badge on his collar and looking
quite distinguished.
It was an unusual retirement party, featuring footlong rawhide dog bones
alongside cookies and punch at the Friday night soiree in the city
commissioners' chambers at City Hall.
Diego, the much-loved guest of honor, an 85-pound German Shepherd, was quiet
and attentive as Police Chief Norman McNickle called him "one of the best
friends a police officer could have."
Among the most amazing feats in his nearly seven-year career were three
occasions when he disarmed criminals drawing guns on police officers, McNickle
said. Once he even jumped out of the open window of a police car to take down
a man who pulled a gun while talking to two police officers.
Diego, who is 10, has lately been having difficulty walking due to spinal
compression. He'll have surgery in a couple of weeks at the Oklahoma State
University Veterinary Medicine Hospital, which has offered the medical care at
greatly reduced cost, McNickle said.
An organization called the Oklahoma Society for Compassion for Animals has
given the city $3,000 for the surgery, he said.
Ownership of Diego was transferred officially Friday night from the city to
his handler, Stillwater Police Officer Guy Palladino.
Palladino's wife, Cheryl, said Diego will continue to live with their family -
where he sleeps by her side of the bed. The Palladinos' three children were
at Diego's retirement party playing with him.
"We're glad he's going to be able to have surgery, retire and chew on bones,"
McNickle said.
A large portrait of Diego will be hung in a place of honor in City Hall, the
police chief said.
-- Sherrill
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 11:13:49 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Police move on animal rights vandalism
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980301111346.00700964@pop3.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from Standard-Examiner http://www.standard.net/
--------------------------------------
Police move on animal rights vandalism
Police move on animal rights vandalism Layton man arrested; more suspects
being sought by authorities
February 23, 1998
By GEOFFREY FATTAH Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
Animal rights activists have begun leaving their mark in Davis County,
trashing aisles in local grocery stores and slapping "warning" labels on
meat products.
From November to December a group claiming a loose affiliation with the
national group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) allegedly
vandalized four grocery stores in Layton, Kaysville and Centerville.
According to court documents, vandals entered the stores and destroyed
about $3,000 worth of hair care products, detergents and meat.
Police suspect the same group was also responsible for putting stickers on
clothing at the ZCMI store in the Layton Hills Mall.
Surveillance footage and de scriptions given to police by store employees
led to the arrest of a 20-year-old Layton man earlier this month. More
suspects are being sought.
Justin Snyder has been charged with two counts of third-degree felony
criminal mischief and one count of class-A criminal mischief.
Marjie Davis, assistant manager of Bowman's Marketplace in Kaysville, said
clerks saw Snyder and others dump more than $400 worth of shampoo and
conditioners on the floor, slash boxes of laundry detergent and put
stickers on meat products. The stickers say: "Warning! This package
contains the decomposing corpse of a small, tortured bird."
The group is suspected of do ing the same thing at the Albertson's Food
Center across the street, and the same stickers were found on meat packages
at the Ream's Food Store in Layton.
At the Albertson's in Centerville a cart full of meat was left to rot in a
remote part of the store.
So far Snyder is the only person who has been arrested and charged, but
Centerville Detective Neal Worsley said other arrests are expected.
Snyder admits to placing the stickers, which he said he ordered through a
PETA catalog, but denies destroying products.
Snyder, in a telephone interview, said he and his friends targeted certain
companies known to test their products on animals. "You're killing
something that doesn't need to die. You're torturing something that doesn't
need to die," Snyder said.
Worsley said he has no problem with people choosing to be vegetarians and
boycott products, but when they cross the line with criminal behavior he
has zero tolerance.
"He is being charged with a criminal offense because he overstepped the
boundaries," Worsley said. "He needs to keep his beliefs to himself and
leave others alone."
Snyder said he has been a vegan for two years. Vegans are a loosely knit
group whose members eschew all animal products.
He said he was introduced to the movement during high school and later
through the Internet.
Growing up in Davis County, Snyder said his views are seen by many in the
community as bizarre and extremist, including by his parents.
"I just wish that people would take the time and just listen and just
talk," Snyder said. He said animal rights activists do not want to hurt
people but they also want to get their point across. They want to educate.
He said he and his friends are frustrated when people laugh at them or
make fun of their life.
"I think people think that because we're young we wouldn't understand,"
Snyder said.
"They are trying to educate people at the expense of others," Worsley
said. "How far they will go in defense of their beliefs, I don't know."
Last year, a group claiming affiliation with the Animal Liberation Front
attempted to burn a fur company in West Haven. Another ALF-affiliated group
also attempted to burn a cattle cooperative building in North Salt Lake.
Snyder and Worsley agree that the vegan and animal rights movement is
growing among high school-age people in Davis County.
Layton police reported a group held a demonstration in front of the Lone
Star Steak House last September.
A 17-year-old boy and girl were arrested when they started harassing
customers going into the restaurant.
Snyder said it is justified to fight against what he sees is the barbaric
abuse of animals.
"The only reason for animal tests is that if somebody sues then
(corporations) can say they tested it on animals."
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 11:30:06 EST
From: Snugglezzz
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: Vets Take a Scalpel to Pet Problem
Message-ID: <50291fb7.34f98d11@aol.com>
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Tulsa, OK, USA: For the rest of the nation, one day was plenty. But not here.
Tulsa had to make it a week - and now that's not enough time either. National
Spay Day has become Local Spay Fortnight.
It's enough for some to declare spaying and neutering a certificable trend
here. Some would even say an obsession.
"We could spend every waking minute doing nothing but operating, and we still
couldn't do everybody's pet," veterinarian Mark Setser said.
Hundreds of dogs and cats - maybe a thousand - have gone under the knife in
just the last few days. Hundreds more will follow in the coming week.
The trend was set by the Animal Coalition of Tulsa, which convinced Setser and
more than 30 other veterinarians to perform the operations at cut-rate prices.
The promotion started last Monday, the day before Feb. 24 - declared National
Spay Day by the Doris Day Animal League. It was supposed to end Friday.
But with phone calls still inundating the veterinarian clinics, some asked the
Animal Coalition to extend the promotion for another week.
Setser's two clinics will continue taking appointments all this week.
"It may be months before we can do all the operations, but we'll give the
special price to anybody who makes an appointment by Friday," Setser said.
It's not about drumming up business for Setser. At $25 per cat and $35 per
dog, veterinarians like him lose money on every spaying or neutering.
"We couldn't afford to do this all year," Setser said. "We're just counting it
as our contribution to solving the pet problem."
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 11:33:41 EST
From: JanaWilson
To: AR-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Weekly Outdoor News
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
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A/w local Oklahoma City hunting and fishing news:
Oklahoma hunters, anglers and other wildlife enthusiasts can now
wear caps originally reserved for staffers of the Wildlife Dept.'s
"Outdoor Oklahoma" magazine and TV show. The caps cost
$10 if picked up or $13 by mail. They feature the "Outdoor
Oklahoma" logo and are available in camouflage, green and blue.
The Okla. Wildlife Dept. is looking for young people to attend a free
week-long fish and wildlife education camp. The first Okla. Wildlife
Law Enforcement Youth Camp will be held for both boys and girls
in June at Camp McFadden near Ponca City, Okla. Anyone applying
must have been enrolled in school the previous year (home schoolers?)
and have an interest in wildlife law enforcement, fish and wildlife
management or Oklahoma's outdoors.
The camp is being offered free of charge thanks in large part to
corporate and private sponsors. Major funding is being provided
by Conoco Oil Corp., Coca-Cola and the Oklahoma State Game
Wardens Association.
A maximum of 35 students will be selected to attend. All applicants
must submit an application form (which are available at any Conoco
station in Okla.) and a letter of reference. A 75-word essy describing
why they want to attend , why they should be selected, and what
they expect to learn also must accompany their applications. The
deadline is April 20.
A group called the Friends of Lake Thunderbird (near Norman, Okla.)
is being organized to assist park rangers in various programs and
projects. Park naturalist Julie Tarver said she hopes to get members
from all the park's user groups. A meeting will be held at 1 pm next
Saturday at the lake's auditorium.
The Oklahoma Wildlife Commission will meet at 9 am this coming
Monday at the dept. headquarters in Okla. City. The agenda is
routine.
For the Animals,
Jana, OKC
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 11:35:24 -0500
From: ar-admin@envirolink.org
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) WILDLIFE CHIEF TO REMAIN ON THE JOB
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980301113524.006bd940@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for STFORJEWEL@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
Colorado and the West
Wednesday, February 18, 1998
WILDLIFE CHIEF TO REMAIN ON THE JOB
Director to Continue Efforts to Lead Agency Out of the Woods; Says He'll Stay
2 More Years
By Hector Gutierrez
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
John Mumma changed his mind Tuesday, deciding to remain as head of the state
Division of Wildlife a month after he announced he was quitting. (Major
bummer.)
Mumma said his decision to stay was prompted by an outpouring of support from
wildlife division employees, the Colorado Wildlife Commission, special
interest groups, state legislators and officials.
The former US Forest Service regional director said he and his wife Myra, had
been packing to return to Montana where they own a home. But they decided to
remain at least two more years.
"(The Wildlife Commission) said they liked the work that's been accomplished,
and they liked to see more of it," Mumma said. "They indicated more work
needs to be done......I think if there wasn't any strong support, it certainly
would have made the decision a little more palpable."
Mumma, 58, surprised the commission last month when he announced that he
wouldn't seek an extension of his contract, which expires June 30, 1998.
He said he was "worn out" by his hectic schedule, a small staff, more complex
responsibilities and sharp differences among the divisions special interest
groups.
Mumma said the commission has agreed to allow some leeway in his schedule,
using other wildlife officials to attend meetings.
Mumma said his top priority is working out a compromise to preserve and
utilitze wildlife (sounds like a dicotomy to me).
"I think there's a recognition by a lot of people (that) if wildlife is going
to survive in this state, some of the opposing forces have to come to the
table and reach some understanding over what needs to be accomplished," Mumma
said.
Since Mumma took over in December 1996, he has been restructuring the
division's and his work and has won accolades from his employees.
"I like him but more importantly than liking him, I respect him and what he's
done with this agency in terms of what the wildlife commission and the
executive director asked him to do when we hired him," said Vice Chairwoman
Rebecca Frank.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 11:36:06 -0500
From: ar-admin@envirolink.org
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) DAMAGE TO OCEANS STUDIED
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980301113606.006be51c@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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posted for STFORJEWEL@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
DENVER COLORADO
SCIENCE NEWS BRIEFING
Wednesday, February 18, 1998
ENVIRONMENT
Damage to Oceans Studied
Rocky Mountain News Wire Services
WASHINGTON-
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, troubled by declining
fisheries and rampant coastal development, is beginning a new effort to
identify the problems that afflict marine ecosystems.
Ten to 20 years ago, fish kills and other problems from harmful algal blooms,
red tides and agricultural runoff were rare and limited to a few areas.
Today, every coastal state has either had such incidents or is vulnerable,
researchers say.
The report, to be completed in early 1999, will include essays by scientists
on the condition of coastal areas and how damage in some cases has been
prevented or repaired.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 11:37:01 -0500
From: ar-admin@envirolink.org
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) APES LEAVE "NOTES" IN THE BUSH
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980301113701.006bf250@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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posted for STFORJEWEL@aol.com
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
DENVER COLORADO
Wednesday, February 18, 1998
SCIENCE
Research, Medicine, & the Environment
science@denver-rmn.com
APES LEAVE 'NOTES' IN THE BUSH
By Paul Recer
Associated Press
Study: Trail Markers are Proof of Complex, Silent Communication
Philadelphia-
Researchers studying apes in the wild have found that African bonobos use
complex trail markers to silently communicate in the dense tropical forests
where they live along the Congo River.
The discovery is contrary to the belief of many scientists that apes lack the
brain structure for the use of symbolic language in complex communications,
said E. Sue Savage-Rumabugh of Georgia State University.
"The evidence is there," said Savage-Rumbaugh said in a presentation at the
national meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"We only have to look at it."
Bonobos, which are apes that closely resemble chimpanzees, live in a very
dense forest with only faint trails. They live in bands of more than 100, and
each night rest together in trees.
During the day, the apes separate into small groups and forage for food, often
traveling for miles and moving silently to avoid predators. And yet, when the
day ends, members of the band find their way back together at a new resting
place.
Savage-Rumbaugh said this behavior shows that the animals must communicate.
Just how they do it has been a mystery until now.
She said that in following the animals through the forest, she noticed that
whenever a trail crossed another trail, the lead group would stamp down
vegetation or rip off large leaves and place them carefully. "What they are
doing is leaving little notes in the vegetation," she said. "Those notes are
signals about where they are going to go."
Savage-Rumbaugh said the plants were disturbed only at the junctions of trails
and it was clear that the lead group was leaving markers for those who
followed.
Frequently, said Savage-Rumbaugh, a path intersection would have a single
smashed plant and two smashed plants would mark the selected trail.
Sometimes, she said, interactions would be marked by large leaves pointing in
the direction of travel.
In muddy areas where footprints were obvious, no plants were disturbed. When
a tree trunk crossed the path, there were smashed plants in front and behind.
If plants were disturbed only in front of the trunk, the animals then walked
on top of the trunk, following it to another trail, she said.
"These cues are not left at arbitrary points, but rather at locations where
the trails split or cross and where an individual following might be confused
as to the correct direction to take," she said.
When all the members of the band travel together, the trail markings are
absent, said Savage-Rumbaugh.
To prove her discovery, Savage-Rumbaugh said she twice followed the trail
signs far behind groups of the apes. At the end of each day, she found her
way to the reassembled band's new nesting trees.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 11:37:23 -0500
From: ar-admin@envirolink.org
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: LAKEWOOD, COLORADO TO BAN WILDFOWL FEEDING
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980301113723.006bcf28@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for STFORJEWEL@aol.com
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
DENVER, COLORADO
Wednesday, February 25, 1998
WEST METRO SECTION
CITY AIMS TO BAN FEEDING WILDFOWL
By Charley Able
Rocky Mountain Staff Writer
Although Colorado Law Prohibits the Practice, Lakewood wants to Raise Public
Awareness
LAKEWOOD-
Proposed changes in the city's animal control ordinance includes a prohibition
against feeding geese and ducks.
State law already prohibits the practice, which also attracts nuisance (?!!)
wildlife such as racoons and skunks. But animal control officers want a local
ordinance to help them educate the public.
"When people feed animals, no matter what it is intended for, it causes an
unnatural food source for other animals and that in turn causes an unnatural
growth in populations of wildlife," said Doug Kelley, Lakewood's animal
control supervisor.
Other proposed changes in the ordinance, which are scheduled for public
hearing and City Council consideration March 23, would require dogs to sport
identification tags, mandate rabies inoculation for cats and ferrets and make
it unlawful to poison any animal or abandon a pet.
The duck- and geese-feeding ban would not apply to backyard bird and squirrel
feeders.
"We have tons and tons of geese and the reason is......people will put food
out for them or they will put food out for something else," Kelly said. "This
doesn't take away the opportunity for people to feed wild birds or feed
squirrels."
"We're not going to be driving around looking for people feeding things in
their yard. It is going to basically be responsive: If we identify a
neighborhood that's having problems......, it gives us an educational tool to
show them this is what happens.
Other provisions of the animal ordinance also are aimed at raising awareness,
Kelly said.
"So much of what we do is educating people towards responsible pet ownership,"
he said. "A lot of what we deal with can be effectively dealt with by
educating the owners. Pet's don't do anything with malice. A lot of it is,
just let the owners know what the laws are and giving them suggestions on how
to provide responsible pet ownership. That's pretty effective."
The proposed ordinance would establish sentence for violators and resitution
requirements for owners whose pets kill or injure another domestic animal.
Restitution also would be required in cases in which a pet hurts a human.
Requiring ID tags for would dogs would provide a better tool for contacting
pet owners, especially when a wandering pet gets injured. The return rate for
lost dogs wearing tags is 93%, Kelly said.
"Everything goes back to providing the best care and most responsible
ownership for animals as possible and providing the safest environment for
people (how did I know that was coming-what about the safest environment for
the non-human animals?!), Kelly said.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 08:46:10 -0800
From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Genetic technique that produced cloned calves banned in Holland
Message-ID: <34F990D2.114@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Dutch banning genetic technique that cloned calves
The Associated Press
POLSBROEK, Netherlands, February 28, 1998.
The Dutch government is outlawing the technique that produced two cloned
calves, announcing the ban just as scientists were showing off the
newborn animals.
The identical female calves, Holly and Belle, lay languidly in their
sheds as photographers jostled for their first glimpse Friday, the day
the Agriculture Ministry introduced the ban. The calves were born Feb.
17, apparently healthy, on a farm in the northern Netherlands.
The newborns, cream-colored with black patches, were produced in a joint
experiment by Pharming, the country's leading biotechnology company, and
researchers from the University of Luik in Belgium.
Although U.S. scientists had already successfully cloned calves using
the same nuclear transfer technique, Holly and Belle were front-page
news here amid growing debate over cloning.
Pharming said its calf-cloning was different from that done elsewhere
because the embryos were frozen before and after the cloning to allow
more time for study.
But before Pharming could fully savor its success, the Dutch Agriculture
Ministry decided to ban the nuclear transfer technique.
"The method has not been proved necessary. There is no scientific
purpose," said ministry spokesman Paul van der Brug.
The ban won't deter Pharming, which said it will continue its research
through joint ventures with companies in the United States and Belgium.
"The knowledge we've gained doesn't go away," said Frank Pieper,
Pharming's vice-president of research and technology.
To create Holly and Belle, scientists first harvested fertilized and
unfertilized eggs from cows at a slaughterhouse.
They then took a fertilized egg and injected its nucleus into an
unfertilized egg. The researchers applied an electric shock to the newly
fertilized egg, which caused it to make multiple copies of itself.
Two copied eggs, which contained identical genetic material to the
fertilized egg, were then implanted into surrogate mothers for Holly and
Belle, who were delivered by Caesarean section.
They have been moved to a laboratory farm in the western Dutch village
of Polsbroek, where they will be raised.
Pharming produces therapeutic human proteins that are extracted from the
milk of genetically engineered animals. The company says cloning will be
a faster way to produce genetically modified livestock than its current
method of injecting embryos.
-- By JENIFER CHAO, Associated Press Writer
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 11:56:59 -0500
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (SA) Researchers Use Serums, Estrogen To Test Elephant Birth
Control
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19980301115656.00709d4c@pop3.clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from Associated Press http://wire.ap.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
02/26/1998 18:42 EST
Researchers Use Serums, Estrogen
To Test Elephant Birth Control
By ADIL BRADLOW
Associated Press Writer
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa (AP) -- Times have changed
for park ranger Douw Grobler.
Once he fired tranquilizer darts to sedate elephants selected
for killing in a culling program that reduced South Africa's
burgeoning herds. These days, he shoots elephants to help save
them.
From the back of a helicopter, he aims a modified 20-gauge
shotgun loaded with darts at a small herd of elephants 65 feet
below. With the dull thump of each shot, a behemoth slumps to
the ground.
A ground crew of American and German scientists rushes in to examine the
three sedated animals. Their mission: to check if a contraception
experiment started about a year ago can limit population growth enough to
prevent the resumption of culling.
Before opposition to culling halted the practice in 1994, Grobler spent
eight years firing a stronger tranquilizer that knocked out elephants so
they could be shot to death more easily and safely. Up to 600 a year were
killed that way in Kruger National Park, which has an elephant population
of more than 8,300.
Since the end of culling, herds have again outgrown their environment,
destroying vegetation and threatening local communities.
``At Kruger we try to limit the elephant population by non-lethal means
as much as possible,'' said the park's resident elephant expert, Dr. Ian
Whyte.
The main way has been to move elephants to less-populated game parks. But
relocation is expensive, and on average only a few dozen elephants can be
moved a year due to the lack of places to send them. In the three decades
through 1997, just 1,339 elephants were moved.
``They are reproducing at such a rate that we may be forced
to look at culling again,'' Whyte said.
But researchers hope to show birth control can limit
elephant herds, without the bloodshed.
The helicopter carrying Grobler swooped after a herd of
elephants charging through the bush. The ranger picked out
three of the elephant cows in the experiment, each
identified by a mud-caked collar, and fired his dart gun.
The research team moved in on the three cows lying within 20 yards of
each other, snoring gently from the tranquilizer. Within minutes the
scientists had set up equipment and started their tests.
Along with blood and fecal exams, a specialized team from
the German Institute of Biology and Wildlife Research in
Berlin performed a trans-rectal ultrasound pregnancy test
on the slumbering creatures.
``Definitely not pregnant'' concluded Thomas Hilderbrandt
while watching the progress of the ultrasound probe through
a specially designed helmet. His colleagues, looking at a
similar display set up on the elephant's stomach, nodded in
agreement.
The researchers tested 48 elephants over a 10-day period --
18 in the core group that had been treated with an
anti-pregnancy serum, 10 that were given estrogen implants
at the start of the test and 10 in a control group that received no
contraceptives.
Using vaccine derived from pig ovaries, the researchers periodically shot
the 18 cows in the core group with darts that injected booster doses of
purified protein. The protein provokes the buildup of antibodies that
prevent sperm from binding to eggs. The method is widely used in zoos.
Ten cows in the group treated with the vaccine were found to be not
pregnant, while eight conceived. In the control group, 18 of the 20 cows
were pregnant.
While the results are statistically significant, serious problems remain
for developing an effective birth control program for elephants in the
wild, the scientists said.
For the Kruger park, which is about the size of Israel, they estimate
more than 3,000 elephant cows would have to be on the program at any one
time.
``Each elephant would have to be periodically located to receive its
booster shots. The logistical and cost constraints are prohibitive,''
said Dr. Richard Fayrer-Hosken, a veterinarian from the University of
Georgia.
The experiment highlighted such problems. One of the
original 20 core group elephants couldn't be located
during the testing period and another was found to have
been pregnant before the test started.
The parallel experiment using estrogen implants had to be
abandoned because it caused the 10 elephant cows to remain
in heat for extended periods.
``The bulls were following them around all the time,
hassling them,'' Grobler said.
While none of the 10 became pregnant, the experiment was dropped because
``this was not the kind of behavior we were looking for,'' he said.
Despite the problems, Grobler said all involved hope for a practical
solution to one of Africa's most persistent environmental debates.
``Nobody wants a return to culling,'' he said. ``We just have to find an
alternative.''
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 08:54:28 -0800
From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Improving on nature - a PR plug for genetically changed animal feed
Message-ID: <34F992C4.2B4@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Biotechnology may lead to healthier eating
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, March 1, 1998.
Imagine soybean oil that contains far less fat because of a genetic
change in the plant itself. Or grain fed to animals that has been
altered to produce leaner cuts of pork and beef.
The latest wave in the burgeoning science of agricultural biotechnology
is using genetic engineering to produce better nutrition, easier food
processing and a healthier diet for both humans and livestock.
"These are products that could really make a difference for consumers,"
said Lisa Watson, biotechnology spokeswoman for Monsanto Co. "The
opportunities are unlimited."
Until now, companies like Monsanto, DuPont and Novartis Seeds have
concentrated their resources on creating new corn, soybean, potato and
cotton varieties that either resist pests or tolerate herbicides that
kill competing weeds. Farmers have been snapping up these crops across
the country.
The new focus is on so-called "output" traits: that is, creating hybrids
that perform a specific function for the end user, be that a consumer, a
cow or a processing plant.
DuPont, in a joint venture with the Pioneer Hi-Bred International seed
company, this year is offering farmers a premium of 65 cents a bushel to
plant about 25,000 acres of a new low-fat soybean variety.
Because certain genes are blocked, the soybean oil's saturated fat
content is cut by one-third and the oil becomes more stable. That means
it does not have to be hydrogenated, a widely practiced processing
technique that prevents oil from breaking down or becoming rancid when
it is cooked or baked in potato chips, cookies or in deep fryers.
The problem with hydrogenation is that it produces trans fatty acids,
which many medical researchers believe raise blood cholesterol in
people. This new soy oil -- called Hi-Oleic oil -- would eliminate that
threat.
"This offers consumers something that has a nutritional benefit," said
Nicholas Frey, a vice president of the DuPont-Pioneer joint venture.
At the same time, the oil does not suffer from the problems any dieter
can attest to with many low-fat products: bad flavor or texture.
"Here we have an oil low in saturated fat without any penalty for flavor
or function," said Walt Fehr, agronomy professor at Iowa State
University. "For many people, it's good news."
Indeed, if all soy oil were produced in this way, Frey estimated that
900 million pounds of saturated fat would be eliminated from the
American diet each year, or about 3 pounds a person.
Of course, practical problems with the new technologies remain.
Companies must be convinced that genetically altered crops will sell and
that they offer a product that can't be produced another way at lower
cost.
In addition, farmers must be persuaded that the new varieties will make
money through sufficient yields. In the DuPont-Pioneer soybean example,
the company is contracting with growers and guaranteeing the purchase of
the entire crop.
"As a farmer, I'm not going to buy that product unless it can be proven
to me," said Steve Wentworth of Oreana, Ill. "I need to have some
incentive for me to do something."
But, if they pan out, the new varieties also have implications for the
environment. The Agriculture Department recently developed a type of
genetically altered feed corn that reduces the phosphorus in chicken and
hog manure, a prime source of water pollution from farm runoff.
And in years ahead, researchers could go even further, using genetics
for so-called "nutraceutical" crops in which vegetables, fruit and
grains are altered to increase the intake of vitamins and other
substances known to reduce diseases such as cancer.
Other possibilities include plants that could use their natural sunlight
energy processes to manufacture plastics, synthetic fibers or biofuels.
"In most cases, these kinds of products are little more than a twinkle
in the eyes of researchers," said Kyd Brenner, vice president of the
Corn Refiners Association.
By CURT ANDERSON, AP Farm Writer
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 12:27:24 EST
From: Snugglezzz
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: Goodbye, Best Friend
Message-ID: <64b65077.34f99a7e@aol.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Tulsa World, OK, USA: You have lost your favorite pet, your beloved companion
and confidant. You are grieving. You are not alone.
Linda Stice-Gill, a Tulsa speech therapist, is one who knows.
Every time Linda tries to describe her feelings for Fluffy, her Maltese-Poodle
mixed breed, tears well up in her eyes. Despite efforts not to break down in
front of others, she cries.
Fluffy died Oct. 17, 1997, in a Tulsa animal hospital. She was 17.
After Linda and her husband brought Fluffy's body home from the hospital, they
laid her in a place where the other dogs could see and touch her.
"We thought it important they realize that Fluffy no longer had life, and to
say 'good-bye' in their own way. They sniffed around her, then Crissy put his
nose down to her nose and mouth, as if to see if she was breathing. Finally,
Fluffy's two dog friends realized that Fluffy was no longer alive. We thought
doing that was important, because dogs mourn, too. Fluffy and Crissy had been
especially close."
Fluffy was cremated, her ashes scattered around the "Companions Forever" Pet
Memorial Wall just south of the city, and her name was added to the wall.
Annie and Crissy went with them for the ritual.
"After Fluffy died, people would say to me, 'It's just another dog.' Well,
would they say that if your child had died?...'It's just another child?'"
Linda wondered, weren't there other pet owners out there who were bereaved
and needed an understanding ear, as she did? Where were they?
A few weeks ago, she decided something needed to be done and that she would do
it. So the "Pet Loss Support Group" was born. So far, it's just a telephone
number, but there will be a person who answers - one who understands, Linda
said. Their slogan is "We know. We care. We listen."
An ordained minister, Linda said she is thinking about writing a simple
memorial service.
The "Pet Loss Support Group" telephone number is (918) 627-9795.
Other numbers for help on grieving over the loss of an animal:
A national hot line is maintained by the Tufts University School of
Veterinarian Medicine. The hot line is open to all: 508-839-7966. They respond
to all voice-mail messages.
University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine: 352-392-4700, Ext. 4080.
Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Bonnie Wheeler,
517-372-2543; Dr. Michael Rogell, 517-372-2300.
University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine: 916-752-4200.
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: 800-946-4646 (then
punch 1407211 on touch-tone phone).
The internet, through "Animal Friends Online" has a multitide of links that
deal with the various aspects of pet loss.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 12:42:53 -0500 (EST)
From: Debbie Leahy
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Land O'Lorin Sample Letter
Message-ID: <01IU5I039J1E95QJED@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Please feel free to re-word the following sample, time is extremely urgent on
this. If the USDA issues yet another license to Land O'Lorin, animals will
continue to suffer there indefinitely.
= = = = SAMPLE LETTER TO USDA REGARDING LAND O'LORIN = = = =
Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyre, Sector Supervisor
USDA, APHIS, AC
2568-A Riva Rd., Suite 302
Annapolis, MD 21401
FAX: 410/571-6279
Dear Dr. Goldentyre:
I am both shocked and deeply saddened that the USDA is seriously contemplating
re-licensing one of the country's most disgusting roadside zoos. The USDA has
a responsibility to offer protection for animals by enforcing the Animal
Welfare Act. Issuing license after license to flagrant offenders makes a
farce of federal law and leaves animals vulnerable to abuse.
Whether it's called Land O'Lorin, Deerpath Animal Haven, or yet another name,
the fact remains this deplorable facility is the home of Lorin Womack with a
collection of animals crammed into a tiny chunk of his backyard. Womack's
history of continual neglect is a matter of record. Its successor, Deerpath
Animal Haven, collapsed in just a few short months. Three animal keepers
quit, the veterinarian quit, a lengthy list of board members quit. Womack
will continue to manipulate and harass anyone who attempts to improve the
living conditions of animals residing on his property.
This is not an independent facility undergoing new management. It is the
property and dwelling of an AWA-violator who will always maintain control of
the operation, regardless of who or what is technically listed as the USDA
license holder. Surely, the USDA will not allow this sham to continue by
issuing a third license in less than a year to Womack's roadside zoo.
Thank you for considering my concerns and I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
CC:
The Honorable Dan Glickman, Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
200-A Whitten Building, 14th St. & Independence Ave. SW
Washington, D.C. 20250
FAX: 202/720-5437
Dr. Ron DeHaven, Acting Deputy Administrator-Animal Care
U.S. Department of Agriculture
4700 River Road Unit 97
Riverdale, MD. 20737
FAX: 301/734-4993
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
We would appreciate copies of your correspondence. Thanks for your help!
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
Tel: 630/393-2935 Fax: 630/393-2941
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 12:48:55 -0800
From: Mesia Quartano
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: UnScientific American: Animal Rights or Wrongs
Message-ID: <34F9C9B6.B166217A@usa.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
UnScientific American
Animal Rights or Wrongs
by Jack H. Botting and Adrian R. Morrison
(Posted February 20, 1998 · Issue 25)
From: Biomednet (http://biomednet.com/hmsbeagle/)
Abstract
In 1997, Scientific American published a set of pro and con articles on
the merits of animal use in biomedical research. The authors who wrote
the essay favoring animal studies felt that the companion article
included unsubstantiated and erroneous claims. Since Scientific American
did not provide an opportunity for airing these concerns, the current
essay does so.
In the February 1997 issue of Scientific American there appears a debate
on the use of animals in medical research. We argued the case that
"Animal Research is Vital to Medicine" [1] and were required to produce
references and photocopies from primary sources to justify our
assertions. The case against, Animal Research is Wasteful and
Misleading," was put forward by Neal Barnard and Stephen Kaufman [2],
representing the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the
Medical Research Modernization Committee, well-known animal-rights
organizations. In our view, Barnard and Kaufman based their arguments
upon misrepresentations of scientific fact that should have no place in
the pages of an authoritative scientific journal, as we pointed out to
the editors prior to publication.
Our essay is based on the actual email letters we sent to Scientific
American's editors after reviewing our opponents' draft. (Barnard and
Kaufman reviewed ours as well.) Our hope was that the editors would come
to their senses and realize that they would harm science by lending the
magazine's prestigious name to an article that grossly distorted medical
history. Our prediction has unfortunately come true, for reference to
Barnard and Kaufman's article as a legitimate scientific source has
appeared in the fundraising material of an
animal-rights organization and in debate in the media. Because the
organization of the "debate" did not permit rebuttal in Scientific
American, we offer it here.
Poliomyelitis
Barnard and Kaufman claimed that during the 1920s and 1930s, experiments
on monkeys led to "gross misconceptions that delayed the fight against
poliomyelitis." They stated that the erroneous conclusion that the polio
virus affects only the brain contradicted "previous human studies
demonstrating that the gastrointestinal system was the primary route of
infection." In fact, the only way to study the then totally invisible
virus was to show its presence by the paralysis it produced on
administration to the spinal cord of monkeys. Indeed, the "previous
human studies" mentioned showed that washings of the gut of patients ill
with polio, or who had died of the disease, could produce paralysis in
monkeys [3].
The subsequent claim that animal studies delayed the development of a
vaccine, an advance that became possible only after Enders et al. in
1949 [4] managed to
cultivate the virus on human tissues, is equally spurious. The primary
inoculum used by Enders was obtained from mouse brain, and its identity
was verified by the "character of the disease it produced in white mice
following intracerebral injection." Enders did indeed prove that the
virus was replicating in culture because, after many subcultures (and
therefore dilution of the original inoculum), the culture fluid still
"on inoculation into mice and monkeys, produced typical paralysis." The
fact that the sources actually cited by Barnard and Kaufman refer to
animal-based experiments as contributing to the polio workers'
discoveries is sufficient condemnation of their contentions.
Stroke Research
In further arguing that medical advances have been delayed by misleading
results from experiments with animals, Barnard and Kaufman refer to an
opinion
paper by Wiebers et al. [5]. This secondary source gave its own
interpretation of a study reported by Pulsinelli and Buchan [6].
Actually, Pulsinelli and Buchan point out that the events following
brain ischemia shown by a variety of methods in several animal species
accurately predicted those occurring in people. They then ask why
various compounds did not prove effective in treatment. They
answer by noting that their review of a variety of studies indicated
that insufficient numbers of animals had been used before clinical trial
or there had been weak experimental design and technique. In other
words, the blame should be put on the research designs, not the animals.
Although Wiebers et al. were critical of animal-based research on stroke
for the reason that, according to them, acutely induced conditions in
animals can not adequately replicate chronic human disease, they
concluded their paper by saying that animals "will contribute
substantially to research in stroke for the foreseeable future. . . ."
They also
acknowledge, "There is also no current alternative to animal studies of
safety and effect in the screening of agents that may benefit patients
with stroke." They then
ask for the development of better research techniques to use directly in
people. No one could quarrel with this, however far in the future it
might be.
Drug Side Effects
A further misrepresentation concerns the hackneyed accusation that
medicines declared safe after animal tests have been subsequently shown
to be toxic after widespread use with patients. Four examples, including
the antiviral drug fialuridine, were given. This is a completely
spurious argument against animal experiments. Before a drug is marketed
- and after the standard animal safety studies (involving a maximum of
1,400 individual animals) - the potential medicine is subjected to the
standard three-phase clinical investigation in normal volunteers and
patients, usually involving up to 3500 persons. Obviously, side effects
with an incidence of less than 1 in 2,000-3,000 are unlikely to be
detected in either the animal or the more extensive human studies. It is
fatuous to suggest that reliance on animal work is responsible for
post-marketing toxicity.
The use of fialuridine as an example is particularly erroneous. This
drug had shown a remarkable effectiveness for the treatment of hepatitis
B infection in two short trials. During the planning of a more extensive
study a patient in the second trial died of liver failure four months
after its conclusion. In all, five patients died showing an unusual type
of long-delayed toxicity possibly due to damage to mitochondrial DNA
[7]. A review of the drug trial by the American Institute
of Medicine concluded that animal experiments should be carried out to
establish the nature of this type of long delayed toxicity [8].
Presumably experimental studies designed to detect such delayed toxicity
will become part of the routine preclinical examination of a potential
medicine, just as teratological studies were introduced after the
thalidomide tragedy.
Birth Defects Produced by Thalidomide
Barnard and Kaufman claim that "most animal species used in the
laboratory do not develop the kind of limb defects seen in humans after
thalidomide exposure; only rabbits and some monkeys do." This ignores
the many other congenital defects induced by thalidomide: lesions of the
eyes, ears, heart, kidneys, and digestive tract, for example [9]. Also,
they do not mention that congenital deformity of some form can be
produced by thalidomide in rats, mice and hamsters [10-12] as well as
the rabbit and three species of monkey they do
mention. One should also note that only a strong stand by an official in
the Food and Drug Administration prevented marketing of the drug in the
United States.
She noted that thalidomide had been inadequately tested in Germany,
thereby averting even more harm in the United States [9]. The dismissal
of the case of
thalidomide as an argument against animal experimentation is surely
rendered complete by posing the question: would thalidomide pass the
teratogenic
tests subsequently implemented as a result of the tragedy, if it were
produced as a new chemical entity today? The answer is an emphatic no!
The Miracle of Insulin
To argue against the important role animals played in the discovery and
development of insulin as Barnard and Kaufman did is silly as well as
irresponsible. Even though it was known that pancreatic malfunction led
to diabetes and death, physicians had no way of knowing without animal
research what was essential in the pancreas. Furthermore, the isolation,
purification, and
manufacture of insulin required the use of animals. In the early 1920s,
emaciated, comatose, diabetic children at the brink of death experienced
"the closest approach to the resurrection of the body that our secular
society can achieve" [13] thanks to the discovery and commercial
availability of insulin.
Conclusion
We could continue rebutting practically line by line, but let us
conclude by quoting from an editorial we wrote to alert biology teachers
to Scientific American's unfortunate gaffe. "Our view was that the
exercise would harm science because an animal-rightist article would
finally have a respectable reference to cite for all time. Furthermore,
although we were certain that many readers would be sophisticated enough
to identify faulty logic and sweeping generalizations, we knew they
would not know enough medical history (let alone
the past history of the writers) to know what was false, or at best,
trickily presented.
"In conclusion, the ethics of using animals in various ways can and
should be debated. Furthermore, we respect and support the wish of most
to use animals
thoughtfully. But the history of medicine is so clear on their
contributions to our understanding of the causes, preventions, and cures
of diseases, as well as the
development of a host of other treatments and surgical procedures, that
only the untutored or those with a hidden agenda could argue that animal
research has not
been fundamental to medical progress and human understanding. We hasten
to add, though, that scientists conduct such research in conjunction
with or cognizant of a variety of other approaches. Nature's complexity
demands this of us. Unfortunately, Scientific American fell prey to a
political agenda and chose to discuss the merits of one methodology in
unnatural isolation [14]."
Jack H. Botting is a science consultant in London, and is former
scientific consultant to the London Research Defense Society.
Adrian R. Morrison is a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the
University
of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia; a senior
research
fellow at the Center on Neuroscience, Medical Progress, and Society at
George
Washington University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; and president of
the
National Animal Interest Alliance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Endlinks:
The original debate articles are available here:
"Animal Research Is Vital to Medicine"
Botting, J.H. and Morrison, A.R.
http://www.sciam.com/0297issue/0297botting.html
"Animal Research Is Wasteful and Misleading,"
by Neal D. Barnard and Stephen R. Kaufman
http://www.sciam.com/0297issue/0297barnard.html
an extensive editorial overview:
http://www.sciam.com/0297issue/0297trends.html
and reader feedback on the issue:
http://www.sciam.com/forum/animaldebate.html
"Animal Research Articles Draw Fire" - this article from the March 31,
1997 issue of The Scientist discusses the reaction to the Scientific
American articles.
http://www.the-scientist.library.upenn.edu/yr1997/mar/durso_p1_970331.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
1. Botting, J.H. and Morrison, A.R. 1997. Animal
research is vital to medicine. Sci. Am.276(2):83-85.
2. Barnard, N.D. and Kaufman, S.R. 1997. Animal
research is wasteful and misleading. Sci. Am.
276(2):80-82.
3. Paul, J.R. 1971. A History of Poliomyelitis. Yale
University Press, New Haven and London, pp.
126-136.
4. Enders, J.F., Weller, T.H., and Robbins, F.C. 1949.
Cultivation of the Lansing strain of poliomyelitis virus
in culture of various human embryonic tissues. Science
109:85-87.
5. Wiebers, D.O., Adams Jr, H.P., and Whisnant, J.P.
1990. Animal models of stroke: Are they relevant to
human disease? Stroke 21:1-3.
6. Pulsinelli, W.A. and Buchan, A. 1989. The utility of
animal ischemia models in predicting
pharmacotherapeutic response in the clinical setting. In
Cerebrovascular Diseases (M.D. Ginsberg and W.D.
Dietrich, eds.) pp. 87-91. Raven Press, New York.
7. Brahams, D. 1994. Deaths in US fialuridine trial.
Lancet 343:1494-1495.
8. Anon. 1995. Nature Med. 1:480.
9. The Insight Team of the Sunday Times. 1979. Suffer
the Children: The Storey of Thalidomide. Andre
Deutsch, London.
10. DiPaolo, J.J. 1963. Congenital malformation in
strain A mice: Its experimental production by
thalidomide. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 183-41.
11. King, C.T.G. and Kendrick, F.J. 1962. Teratogenic
effects of thalidomide in the Sprague Dawley rat.
Lancet 2:1116.
12. Homburger, F., Chaube, S., Eppenberger, M. et al.
1965. Susceptibility of certain inbred strains of
hamsters to teratogenic effects of thalidomide. Toxicol.
Appl. Pharmacol. 7:686-693.
13. Bliss, M. 1982. The Discovery of Insulin.
University of Chicago Press, p. 11.
14. Morrison, A.R. and Botting, J.H. 1997. Confusion
in the ranks. Am. Biol. Teacher 59:388-389.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 13:08:54 -0500
From: ar-admin@envirolink.org
To: AR-NEWS@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) ALASKA BEAR
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980301130854.006a9a4c@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for STFORJEWEL@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------
The Denver Post
Denver, Colorado
The Nation Section
>From the Associated Press
ALASKA BEAR KILLS OIL SURVEY WORKER
SOLDOTNA, Alaska
A member of a crew surveying a potential oilfield was killed by an Alaskan
brown bear.
The six-man crew was mapping potential oil deposits when it walked past the
bear's den Sunday. The animal attacked Audelio Luis Cortes, 40, of Charo,
Mexico, from behind and bit his head, killing him almost instantly.
Brown bears are light sleepers, and "when a bear wakes up, it's not in a great
mood to begin with," said state wildlife biologist Ted Spraker. Brown bears
can weigh as much as 1,400 pounds and stand up to 9 feet tall. (No word on the
fate of the bear-Ed.)
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 14:57:24 -0800
From: "Linda J. Howard"
To: "AR NEWS"
Subject: MONKEY PROTECTION FUND
Message-ID: <01bd4565$66aa6b60$d22eaccf@default>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0032_01BD4522.58872B60"
thought
MONKEY PROTECTION FUND
PLEDGES NEEDED IMMEDIATELY
MARCH 2, 1998 DEADLINE: The Alliance for Animals in Madison, Wisconsin
needs to raise $50,000 for the Vilas Park Zoo Monkey Protection Fund. The
money is necessary to secure a sanctuary home for the monkeys.
International Primate Protection League has generously pledged $1,500 and
PeTA has donated $5,000. Individual animal advocates are pledging amounts
from $100 to $500. Any pledged amount will be greatly appreciated!
PLEASE SEND A PLEDGE IMMEDIATELY: If the money is not raised, the Vilas
Park Zoo macaques may be sent to Tulane Regional Primate Research Center
in Louisiana where Peter Gerone intends to use the monkeys in leprosy
studies. [Many of you may remember Gerone from the Silver Spring Monkeys
case he is an outspoken critic of animal rights.]
MAJOR ANTI-VIVISECTION VICTORY: Imagine monkeys from one of the seven
regional primate research centers being released to animal advocates! If
the money is raised in time, these beautiful macaques will be safe
protected for the duration of their lives.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW: It is imperative that we raise enough money to
save these monkeys. Please call the Alliance for Animals at 608-257-6333
with your pledge as soon as possible.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 15:19:54
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] CBC to air program on bear hunting
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980301151954.47c76a02@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Just caught a trailer for a show CBC TV is going to air on Saturday, March
14th at 9:00 pm.
Called "open Season", the show will deal with question of whether bears
are: "... a renewable resource which can be killed for sport, or a living
thing with an inherent right to exist on the planet."
David
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 15:27:45
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Countryside March
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980301152745.47c70104@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The BBC reports that the pro-hunting march in London today was attended by
about 250,000 people - based on police estimates.
BBC World news carried a report by their environment correspondent, who
stated it was clear with "..tens of thousands of people taking part, it is
clear that they want the countryside protected."
However, with so many different issues being covered, "...it was difficult
to know from who and from what."
A League Against Cruel Sports observer noted that although such a large
number would make the government notice, they would also notice and could
not ignore the wishes of the vast majority of British people and MP's who
are opposed to the barbaric sport of fox-hunting.
David
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 20:21:09 EST
From: NOVENA ANN
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Creature DIScomfort: For animal advocates, circus is the cruelest
show on earth
Message-ID: <200138ed.34fa0987@aol.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Creature DIScomfort
For animal advocates, circus is "the cruelest show on earth'
Sunday, March 1, 1998-Richmond Times-Dispatch
BY BILL McKELWAY
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
It is only a pipedream. But when the circus comes to town, Alanna
Wiggins likes to imagine she's the only one who shows up.
Megaphone in hand, she takes up her usual position outside the Coliseum
along Seventh Street downtown. The usual targets of her harangues --
unsuspecting parents towing little kids stuck to $8 gobs of cotton candy
-- are nowhere to be seen.
Still lurking about, though, are the very people who inspired her
crusade to start with: the circus hands who, she is certain, mistreat
the animals.
She imagines herself unloading a last few spiteful words of
discouragement on the folks who need it most: "Don't you wish you'd
listened? You never believed us when we told you animal circuses are not
family fun; they are cruel. See what happens when you con children into
believing it's OK to whip and scare animals for entertainment?"
With the crowds gone, she imagines the elephants and the llamas, the
mina
ture ponies and the trained sheep dogs leaving their manure-filled
places of confinement and retiring to climatically correct sanctuaries
of green grass.
"Someday I'd like to have a refuge for farm animals," Wiggins says
sincerely. "Varina would be a good place."
Of course, the dream hasn't come true. Not yet, anyway.
Finding an empty Coliseum when the "greatest show on earth" rolls into
town is as remote a possibility as discovering Alanna Wiggins wearing a
new mink stole to a Winn-Dixie meat counter.
The truth is that Wiggins' threadbare, rust-colored frock and her
darkened, sleep-deprived eyes are destined to be as much a fixture
outside the Richmond Coliseum during circus week as Ginger the elephant
is inside it.
But after years in a sideshow role relegated to fourth-ring status at
best, Alanna Wiggins and animal rights protesters like her seem to be
making a difference.
"You don't see the circus come into town anymore with celebrities riding
the elephants and the crowds lining the streets, do you? That's because
they don't want to attract attention to what's happening. They know
we'll be out there," Wiggins said.
Wiggins has been protesting on behalf of animal rights since she was 14.
"I don't know why I let it affect me so much. But I see it as being a
central part of my life forever," she said.
"They're here every year," David Kiser, a spokeman for Ringling Bros.
and Barnum & Bailey Circus, said one day last month, as a matinee
performance got under way near the end of the circus's 11-day show stand
here.
He eyed Wiggins and a few dozen associates across North Seventh Street,
some of them in makeshift chicken-wire cages and animal masks.
"Animal abuse, no excuse. Animal abuse, no excuse," they shouted.
Kiser, a clown for 17 years who is now a Ringling spokesman and
supervisor, winced.
"Usually, there are only about seven or eight of them outside here.
Inside, we've got thousands," he said. "Who do you think is having more
success?"
"Fantastic," he said, when asked how attendance had measured up in the
face of the protests preceding each of the Richmond shows.
"They raise these allegations all the time about abuse but they don't
seem to have facts," Kiser said. "Our animals are treated like family.
But sometimes, things happen. It's inevitable."
The protests occur in almost every city, circus veterans said. The
fiercest opposition, one circus source told Wiggins, comes in the
nation's capital, headquarters of the circus.
One time, Wiggins said, the elephant handlers purposely walked their
animals along a route uphill from Washington activists who'd chained
themselves to a building.
"That way the urine and trickled downhill and they couldn't move
out of the way."
It's all part of the battle.
In Richmond, Wiggins shrugged off Kiser, the swelling crowds and the
daunting numerical mismatch facing her companions. She won't be moved.
"Read this," she said, handing a reporter seven pages of federal
Department of Agriculture violations filed against Ringling Brothers
over the past two years, most of them dealing with faulty or unclean
cages.
News clips also recorded the death in January of Kenny, a baby elephant
that animal welfare groups fear was worked to exhaustion. A cause of
death has not been formally determined.
Also in January, a Bengal tiger attacked longtime Ringling animal
trainer Richard Chipperfield during a photo session in St. Petersburg,
Fla. Chipperfield's brother then killed the 350-pound animal with five
blasts from a shotgun. Chipperfield is recovering; his brother quit the
circus.
"The public needs to know these things are going on and we're doing our
best to get the word out," said Wiggins. "The circus is not a fun
place."
At age 21, Wiggins is at the center of a small but unrelenting knot of
Richmond-area circus bashers and animal lovers called the Richmond
Animal Rights Network.
The group's symbol is a human clenched fist beside a dog's paw.
"We have a mailing list now of about 78 people," said Wiggins, who grew
up in Washington and whose first memory of the circus is a nightmare.
"All I can remember is that it was smelly and loud with whips cracking
and guns going off," she said. A year earlier, when she was 7, a cousin
turned her on to vegetarianism during a Maine vacation.
She refused a turkey sandwich on the plane trip home and has never
looked back.
Standing outside the Coliseum before circus performances here last
month, Wiggins unloaded a shrill litany of horrors about the treatment
of circus animals on clusters of unsuspecting ticket-buyers, wary police
officers and circus bigwigs.
Her voice echoed against the Coliseum facade, doubling her message:
"Confined elephants spend 22 percent of their time in abnormal actions,
such as repeated head-bobbing or swaying, and confined bears spend about
30 percent of their time pacing," she shouted through a megaphone.
"Circus animals are forced to live in cramped, crowded conditions,
brutally trained to perform humiliating and demeaning tricks, which has
at times driven some to the point of insanity.
"Cruelty to animals is not entertaining. Make this your last animal
circus," she pleaded, reading from a prepared script.
Her message seemed to fall on deaf ears or get swallowed up by the
louder, amplified chant of a circus barker welcoming the crowds.
"Leave me alone. We're here to have fun," one fellow told protester
David Wildey, sweeping Wildey's outstretched arm and a handbill out of
his path.
Other circusgoers said they just ignored the group and hoped their
children were too young to understand.
Wiggins said Network members have grown accustomed to verbal taunts,
obsene gestures, police harassment and streams of spit from passing
cars. A parking garage attendant told her she couldn't talk to a
reporter inside the facility.
That's mild treatment compared with an annual Pennsylvania pigeon shoot
where Wiggins said the locals delight in confronting protesters.
"They'll come up to you and bite the heads off the pigeons with their
teeth. One time a man and his kids pulled a pigeon apart right in front
of us."
Wildey tried his best to empathize with the people who ignored him.
"Maybe I'd have more luck if I didn't have this hanging around my neck,"
he said, referring to the circus picture with a big slash across its
face.
"We're in a difficult situation. Here I am handing these things out to
grown men and women and suggesting to them in front of their little
children that perhaps they have made a mistake in judgment by coming to
the circus."
His handbills described Ringling Bros. as "the cruelest show on earth."
Circling the Coliseum, a pickup truck carrying Lisa Ferrel in the back
drew gasps from bus passengers, circusgoers and folks streaming out of
the nearby Maymont Flower and Garden Show at Richmond Centre.
Maybe that's because Ferrel, dressed in a tiger suit and caged in the
back of the truck, was growling menacingly at anyone who looked her way.
Driver Melba Lowe, wearing a clown suit, chuckled at the reactions. "A
few people are acting like they think Lisa is a real tiger," she said.
Each time she drove past a parking lot, the attendant yelled, "Eat more
tiger meat!"
Lowe said the crowds are getting more considerate and responsive to the
message, except at the State Fair. "That is a rather hostile
environment," she said.
Network members expected to demonstrate yesterday against the Royal
Palace circus that was scheduled to appear at the State Fairgrounds. The
new McDonald's at VCU is a frequent target.
"We call it McDeath's," said Wiggins.
With scant financial backing ($500 in donations in two years) and no
defined leadership ("we don't like the idea of a hierarchy"), Wiggins
and other Networkers are making torturously slow progress.
But it is progress.
"This was our best year by far," Wiggins said, summing up the group's
activities during the recently completed Ringling Bros. stint.
"This was the first time we used a bullhorn all 11 shows. We got more
press attention than ever and we even had people coming up to us saying
they had a hard time enjoying the circus because of what we told them
about what goes on."
Reporters and television cameras flocked to the Network's protest when
the American Civil Liberties Union challenged threats by Richmond police
to charge the group with violating the city's noise ordiance.
"They try to harass us every year," Wiggins said of the police. "The
circus brings a lot of money to town."
Working from a Hanover Avenue home she rents with other activists,
Wiggins keeps up a Web site that has attracted 14,000 hits in two years,
coordinates protests with other activists around the country and tries
to keep enough money coming in to stay solvent.
Network Central is an office inside the home filled with books
cataloging purported animal abuses and alleged circus misdeeds. A poster
from a previous protest against Procter & Gamble, which Wiggins said
tests products on animals, hangs above the computer.
It is a picture of a toothpaste tube spurting blood. "Crest: A brush
with death," the caption reads.
Stored elsewhere in the home is an unusual donation: a fur coat
splattered with blood. "We use it for fur protests," Wiggins said,
noting that the group will soon be initiating its annual spring campaign
against local furriers.
But last week Wiggins and a small band of Network faithful first made
sure they said goodbye to Ringling Bros. in proper fashion.
That meant waiting for the elephants, llamas, ponies and horses as they
made their way behind a police escort Sunday night from the Coliseum
across the Manchester Bridge to Norfolk Southern's South Side freight
yard off Sixth Street.
It was an eerie passage that bathed the elephants in blue-red police
emergency lights and left the bridge heaving slightly under the weight
of the massive soft-footed animals that move with rhythmic tail-to-trunk
grace.
The parade was devoid of frivolity. It was more a getaway: a fast-paced,
businesslike procession that attracted a small band of circus life
cogniscenti.
"We came for the elephant poop," said Bill Altice, loading garbage bags
of the stuff into a car with buddy Danny Brisbane. "It's great for the
garden."
Nearby, 71-year-old Calvin Davis, a circus buff for life, filmed the
loading operation just as he'd done every year for decades.
"My wife said why do I keep at it. They're all the same thing. But to
me, each one is different," said Davis, who hired on with the circus as
a kid to earn passes to the show. "I'd tote water, carry chairs.
Whatever they asked."
Davis said he understands where the animal rights people are coming
from. He's seen abuses during a lifetime around circuses. "But most
times, the animals are treated like family. Without animals you wouldn't
have a circus," he said. "And Ringling Bros. is still the greatest show
on earth."
Filming the procession as well was Wiggins, using a palm-sized, hidden
camera borrowed from another animal rights group.
"I can't bear to see what they go through. It's just too much," Wiggins
said as she watched the elephants. Her eyes filled with moisture from
the wind and cold and emotion. The long train rides without exercise
must be unbearable, she said.
"In the wild, an elephant can walk up to 25 miles a day," she noted.
The 13 giant, gray ovals moved so routinely and uniformly into position
inside the railroad cars that they seemed to be under remote control.
Only if you looked closely, Alanna Wiggins said, could you see the light
flicker off the handles of the bullhooks.
It was 9 p.m. and the loaded railroad cars rocked slightly in the
nighttime air. "They're hardly any trouble at all," said a keeper whose
solitary shift would end at 3:30 the next morning, a Monday.
Wiggins noted the time and left for home. "I'm exhausted," she said.
"This takes a lot out of me."
At 7 Monday night, the elephants arrived in Norfolk under the watchful
eye of volunteers from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Another city, another protest and the show went on.
Wiggins was having trouble letting go.
"That means the elephants were in the cars for 22 hours. That's two
hours short of being a violation of the state's Animal Welfare Act," she
said, referring to provisions that limit confinement in conveyances to
24 hours.
The circus, said Wiggins, came in just under the wire. "They may not be
guilty of violating the letter of the law, but they violated the
spirit."
She said she'd store the memory away for next year's protest when the
circus comes to town.
And when the crowds, Alanna Wiggins hopes, might be just a little
smaller.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Richmond Animal Rights Network can be reached at
P.O. Box 4288, Richmond, Va. 23220 or through the Internet at
http://members.aol.com/novenaann/organiz2.htm
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 10:15:27 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Was Jesus a vegetarian?
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19980302100729.389787b2@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Anyone looking for information on :
(a)"Was Jesus a vegetarian" and
(b)information on the teachings of Jesus that were favourable to animals and
women
the Essenes have a very informative website at
http://www.zworx.com/kin/esseneteachings.htm
=====================================================================
========
/`\ /`\ 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, 02 Mar 1998 06:08:33 +0200
From: erez ganor
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: Nesting Boxes in Jerusalem ( ISRAEL)
Message-ID: <34FA30C0.3E6459DE@netvision.net.il>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The Israeli Society for Nature Protection is working to protect the red
Falcons ( lesser kestre) in Jerusalem.
Distributing hundreds of nesting boxes around the city will increase
the nesting
and protect the nest and the chicks from irritated neighbours.
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 23:24:26 -0500
From: ar-admin@envirolink.org
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) BAD NEWS FISH
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19980301232426.006c0994@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for STFORJEWEL@aol.com
--------------------------------------------------
THE DENVER POST
DENVER, COLORADO
BAD NEWS FOR FUTURE OF FISHES
By William K. Stevens
The New York Times
NEW YORK-
As overfishing depletes such prized species as snapper, tuna, cod and
swordfish, commercial fishermen are moving farther down oceanic food webs in
search of a catch, a new study has found. If this quest is pursued to its
logical end, scientists warn, it will lead to a wholesale collapse of marine
ecosystems.
One symptom of this practice of "fishing down" the food chain is that second-
level creatures normally preyed upon by the fish at the top of the chain are
increasingly appearing on restaurant menus, said Dr. David Pauly, a fisheries
biologist at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, who is the
study's chief author. One example is squid.
"Americans wouldn't eat squid before," he said. "It was used as bait, and now
Americans are eating bait. It has all kinds of fancy Asian names, but it's
bait."
The downward shift is global, according to the study, published in the current
issue of the journal Science. Fisheries experts have believed for some time
on the basis of anecodotal evidence that the shift was taking place, but the
new study is thought to be the first that has tried to document it
systematically and statistically.
Pauly and four colleagues, one in British Columbia and three at the
International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management in the
Philippines, combined two sets of data to reach their conclusions. One was
worldwide fisheries statistics complied by the UN Food and Agricultural
Organization. The other was an analysis of the food web derived from models
of marine ecosystems.
If the rate of decline suggested by the study continues, Pauly said, many
marine food webs will be "collapsing in on themselves" in three or four
decades.
The researchers offered no detailed prescription for a remedy, but they did
suggest that in the next decades, fishery managers must emphasize the
rebuilding of fish populations within large "no take" marine protected areas.
The study has limitations, Pauly pointed out, not least because the quality of
the UN data varies.
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