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Putting People First / August 15, 1993
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PEOPLE'S BULLETIN
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     News and notices in the struggle against animal rights and eco-
     extremists

@1993 Putting People First
Permission to reproduce all or part of
an item id freely granted on the condition
that credit s given to Putting People First.

Putting People First is a nonprofit organization
of citizens who believe in rights for humans and
welfare for animals, and who oppose the goals and
tactics of "animal rights" and environmental extremism.

4401 Connecticut Avenue N.W.
Suite 310-A
Washington, D.C. 20008-2322
[phone]
======================================================================


     KENNEDY KIN ACCUSED OF "U.S.-STYLE BULLY TACTICS"

     Green activist Robert Kennedy, Jr., was sightseeing in Vancouver
Island's Clayoquot Sound area last month during a much-hyped visit in
support of anti-logging protesters.

     Canadian media outlets reported that Kennedy, an environmental
lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, criticized
corporations he claimed were destroying the world's remaining
wilderness.

     "We are looking at a pattern we are seeing all over North America
and Latin America when energy companies, logging companies, and
utilities are going into the last wilderness areas of the planet,
destroying valuable ecosystems and also the people who have
traditionally used those areas and called them homelands," Kennedy was
quoted as saying.

     Kennedy was referred to by some as the "interfering American."  But
Kennedy, 39, the son of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy and
nephew of slain President John F. Kennedy, countered the claim by saying
issues such as logging transcend national boundaries, becoming
international problems.

     Kennedy toured a nature trail in the Clayoquot Valley that was
developed by a wilderness group.  He met with Green activists, he did
not meet with anyone from the forest industry.

     British Columbia woodworkers were quick to denounce Kennedy's visit
to the center of a dispute between Green extremists and loggers.  "His
support for the blockades is the ultimate in American-style bully
tactics," said Gerry Stoney, president of the International Woodworkers
of America.

     Shortly before he arrived, police arrested eleven protesters who
blocked a road leading to a logging area.  Since July 5th, police have
arrested more than 140 demonstrators for blockading logging roads.
Canadian Premier Mark Harcourt, however, said the government will not
back down from its April decision to allow strictly-controlled logging
in about two-thirds of the forest.  Kennedy has suggested the U.S.
implement punitive trade measures against Canada if it doesn't reverse
its decision.

     Another U. S. meddler in this issue is Tom Hayden - '60s radical,
ex-husband of Jane Fonda, and California state senator representing
Hollywood.  He was recently seen on the streets of Vancouver, where he
told the Vancouver Sun, "I'm going to let them know they have watchful
friends to the south."



CAP'T PAUL ARRESTED

     "Captain" Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was
arrested on the high seas by Canadian authorities on July 31st.

     Watson was taken from the deck of a former coast guard vessel by a
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) helicopter.  He was charged in St.
John's, Newfoundland, with several counts of mischief because of his
actions directed against Spanish and Cuban fishing vessels.

     Watson and a crew of about two dozen on the Cleveland Amory
were on a mission to disrupt fishing fleets in the Grand Banks about 250
miles east of Newfoundland.

     RCMP took Watson into custody after his 1,400 ton black ship nearly
hit a Spanish trawler.  The Amory had been under police surveillance
after harassing a Cuban trawler in international waters the previous
day, according to the report.

     The Amory had to be towed to port by authorities because its
engines had died.  According to reports, Watson has settled with
authorities and has left St. John's abandoning the inoperable ship,
which needs an estimated $200,000 in repairs.

     Watson is a notorious publicity hound and militant "animal rights"
and Green activist.  He started the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
because Greenpeace, which he co-founded, wasn't radical enough for him.
He has fought sealing, whaling, wolf-control programs, and logging of
old-growth forests.

     In the past, Watson has claimed responsibility for sinking
Icelandic whaling ships.  As recently as last December, he claimed to
have scuttled the Nybraena, a Norwegian fishing and whaling boat while
it was tied to the dock in Norway's Lofoten Islands.

     In an April press release, Watson announced he was setting sail
from Santa Monica, California to disrupt the Norwegian minke whale hunt.
The release stated that Captain Paul anticipates "that a confrontation
with Norwegian authorities will result in an arrest of the crew."


     Watson's expectations were grandiose.  After a send off party
complete with Hollywood celebrities, he disappeared from the map,
surfacing recently near Newfoundland having missed the whale season
entirely.


"RENOWNED ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST"
ROGER CARAS TO SPEAK AT PET SHOW

     One tactic used by "animal rights" activists is to infiltrate
traditional animal welfare societies.  Once established in positions of
power, they promote their radical agenda under a respectful guise.

     This is the case with the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).  According to a program guide for an
upcoming pet grooming and trade show, Roger Caras, the National
President of the ASPCA, is scheduled to be the main dinner speaker.
Caras is described as an "animal rights activist" and a "renowned and
profound speaker on animal rights."  It also says he is much sought
after by the media when the issue is "animal rights."  Caras formerly
held positions with ABC and NBC reporting on nature and pets.

     Although the ASPCA was founded to promote animal welfare, the group
has begun espousing a radical animal rights philosophy.  Past president
John Kullberg proclaimed, "The major success of this decade [the 1980's]
has been the re-application of the concept of rights in the human
population to nonhuman species."

     ASPCA encourages vegetarianism, banning fur, and the eventual end
to all animal research - not just "cruel" animal research.  Caras will
be speaking at Groom Expo on September l8th at the Hershey Lodge and
Convention Center in Hershey Pennsylvania.


JANE NOT COWED BY PeTA PROTESTERS

     People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protested Jane
Fonda and Ted Turner last week at the International Bison Conference and
Trade Show in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, according to news reports.

     The dynamic duo, who raise about 1,000 bison on their ranch in New
Mexico, were attending the conference promoting bison as an alternative
to beef cattle.

     Two protesters, who identified themselves as vegetarians, wore t-
shirts saying: "meat stinks" and held a banner reading "Buffalo aren't
Fonda of Jane."  We are appalled Jane Fonda would have a part in this,"
said PeTA representative Tracy Reiman.

     Later, while signing autographs after a speech, Fonda said the
animal rightists don't under stand "if you we going to save buffalo
there has got to be a market element to it."


CAMPAIGN TO TURNER/AUDUBON SPONSORS

     On Sunday, August 8th, the Tuner Broadcasting System aired the
National Audubon Society's "Backlash in the Wild," an attack on "the
Wise Use Movement," meaning farmers, ranchers, logging communities, and
property rights.

     At the Washington, DC, premiere of the film on July 27, Audubon
President Peter A.A.Berle admitted, "We reject the idea of property
rights."

     The Multiple-Use Network (MULTA) is urging supporters to call and
fax the program's sponsors to let them know about Berle's comments and
the slant of the program, and ask them not to sponsor repeat broadcasts
on August 14th and 16th.  A similar campaign caused General Electric and
Ford to drop sponsorship of a similarly slanted Audubon/TBS program in
1991.

     "We encourage free speech," said Chuck Cushman of MULTA.  "These
companies have a right to sponsor whatever they want.  But we also have
a right not to buy their product."


Major Audubon sponsors:
MCI, Paul Simms          [phone]
                    Fax  [phone]
Volkswagon, Greg Stein   [phone]
                    Fax  [phone]
Discover, Art Barmash    [phone]
                    Fax  [phone]

Other sponsors:
Mobilink, American Express, Soloflex,
FTD Florists, Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Dura Shears, Sprint, Dupont, Nordic Track

Also call Audubon's TOLL FREE number "for more information about the
issue movement" [phone]



CLINTON FOREST POLICIES ALREADY FRAMING LUMBER PRICES

     Prices for U.S. softwood framing lumber used in home construction
have risen l6% in the past three weeks, according to Random Lengths, a
wood product price reporting service.  During that period, prices rose
to $341 per thousand board feet up from $295 per thousand board feet.

     "As the home construction industry begins to understand the
Clinton forest plan, they are seeing it will lead to further mill
closures and inflationary lumber prices even in this weak housing
market," said Gus Kuehne, president of the Northwest Independent
Forest manufacturers, an association of independent mills in the
Northwest.

     Single family housing starts have been disappointingly weak so
far this year, totaling virtually the same in the first half of 1993
as during the recession level of the first half of 1992.

     Kuehne explained: "There simply isn't enough lumber available to
construct more houses than were built in 1992.  There has been an
almost complete cessation of timber sales from federal lands in the
Northwest.  Even with the lowest mortgage rate in decades, low rates
can't build homes - it takes lumber and plywood, and much of that
comes from the Northwest."

     "If demand for wood products does increase, prices will simply
skyrocket to the level where fewer people will be able to afford it,"
said Kuehne.  "This is simple high school economics of supply and
demand, which unfortunately President Clinton doesn't seem to
understand."



FEDERAL REGISTER REVIEW

Wolf Recovery.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced the
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed
introduction of the gray wolf to Yellowstone National Park and central
Idaho is available for public comment.  Public hearings we also
scheduled.

     According to the Abundant Wildlife Society of North America
(AWS), an international wildlife conservation organization based in
Gillette, Wyoming, it is not surprising the plan recommends
transplanting wolves.

     "There is big money in wolf recovery for government bureaucrats,"
said Troy Mader, head of the Research Division of AWS.  "And I can
guarantee you this recovery will cost more than $6 million."

     The people of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming don't want the
voracious predators transplanted to their states.  Mader says all
three state legislatures have either passed resolutions or signed
petitions opposing wolf recovery.  AWS and other groups have also
collected over 25,000 petition signatures opposing the measure.

     The hard push for wolf recovery is coming from "animal rights"
and green groups who are being helped by the USFWS and National Park
Service, plains added.

     He believes wolf recovery can be stopped.  He has started
circulating a "No Wolf Alterative" survey which can be filled out and
sent to the USFWS in response to their request for comments on the
proposed DEIS.  The survey has been thoroughly researched by the AWS
staff and can be verified on every point, he says.

     The survey is very effective, according to Mader.  It was used in
New Mexico to oppose a recovery plan for the Mexican wolf where "no
wolf" responses overwhelmed pro-wolfers by a margin of 4 to 1.

Comments on the wolf plan will be accepted by the USFWS until October
15, 1993. 58 Fed.  Peg. 38134 (July 15, 1993.)



For more information and a copy of the "No Wolf Alternative" survey
contact:


Abundant Wildlife Society of North America
12665 Hwy. 59 N.
Gillette, WY 82716

307/682-2826



Captive Bred Wildlife Regulation.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) has proposed changes to regulations for exotic captive bred
animals.  According to Robert Kitchen, education director for the
Circus Fans Association of America, the proposed changes "will
jeopardize the ability of patrons of all ages to view non-native
species including elephants, tigers and lions in the circus."  Circus
fans feel that viewing these animals encourages people to learn more
about the species and to work for their conservation in the wild.  The
Circus Fans Association is urging everyone to write letters supporting
the educational value and conservation benefits of exhibiting wild
animals.  Comments must be received by September 9, 1993. 58 Fed.  Reg
32632 (June 11, 1993.)


For more information contact:
Robert Kitchen 508/674-0230.