AR-NEWS Digest 523

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Cloning News:  First Sheep, Monkeys for Research Next...
     by Lawrence Carter-Long 
  2) Medicare To Test Ornish Prevention Program
     by LCartLng@gvn.net (Lawrence Carter-Long)
  3) NIH Conference Ponders Thalidomide Risks
     by LCartLng@gvn.net (Lawrence Carter-Long)
  4) Attorneys Say Lawsuits Likely Once Thalidomide Is Available 
     by Lawrence Carter-Long 
  5) Church of the Earth - Walk with the Elephants [WA]
     by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
  6) (US - Boston)  System Administrator Needed
     by Karin Zupko 
  7) Ringling/Sea Lion Video footage needed
     by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
  8) (US - Humane Educators Needed)
     by Karin Zupko 
  9) Pumas and dogs. 
     by Lynette Shanley 
 10) Injunctions against Fur Farm Protesters
     by Dave Shepherdson 
 11) AR-News subscription options--Admin Note
     by AR-Admin 
 12) They Are Not Our Property
     by "ida" 
 13) Elephant poaching reported up in Zimbabwe
     by "Christine M. Wolf" 
 14) Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons! 
     by Shirley McGreal 
 15) [US] Fat cats
     by David J Knowles 
 16) [UK] BAAS:Sanctuary for pregnant seahorses
     by David J Knowles 
 17) [UK] Sale of wildlife park means penguins are going cheap
     by David J Knowles 
 18) [UK] Half of vegetarians are secret meat-eaters, survey reveals
     by David J Knowles 
 19) [UK] Pigeon in 1,500-mile flight back to fancier
     by David J Knowles 
 20) Job Posting
     by stanton1@ix.netcom.com (Tamara)
 21) Redding, CA: anti-hunting video on TV 10/4
     by Michael Markarian 
 22) US HUNGERSTRIKER HOSPITALIZED (US)
     by civillib@cwnet.com
 23) VEGGIE COOK-OFF
     by Porcilina@aol.com
 24) European Ban May Hurt U.S. Exports
     by allen schubert 
 25) (US) USDA To Check Slaughterhouses
     by allen schubert 
 26) Swiss Court: Altered Soybeans OK
     by allen schubert 
 27) (US)There's more to animal communication than meets the ear
     by allen schubert 
 28) (US) Sick Fish Close Another Waterway
     by allen schubert 
 29) (US) DeKalb County Jail Protest
     by allen schubert 
 30) (US) Farm Scene: Farmers Feel Wrongly Blamed for Microorganism
  Problem
     by allen schubert 
 31) (US) Maryland Shuts down another Waterway in Fish Lesion Scare
     by allen schubert 
 32) (US) Actors: The Show Must Not Go On
     by allen schubert 
 33) Royal Palace Circus 
     by SMatthes@aol.com
 34) Horse dragged behind truck
     by In Defense of Animals 
 35) [UK] Sheep export plan opposed
     by David J Knowles 
 36) [CA] Monkey saga reflects serious problems in health funding
     by David J Knowles 
 37) [UK] Science is sexier than ever
     by David J Knowles 
 38) [UK] Conservation fails birds most at risk
     by David J Knowles 
 39) [UK] Experts to check risk of a CJD epidemic
     by David J Knowles 
 40) [UK]Sprouting broccoli 'helps fight off cancer'
     by David J Knowles 
 41) [UK/US] The falcons have landed at JFK
     by David J Knowles 
 42) (CA-TW) Town welcomes hog plant
     by Vadivu Govind 
 43) (MO-HK) Bullfighters return to animal groups' anger
     by Vadivu Govind 
 44) (MO-HK) Woman versus beast in bullfight
     by Vadivu Govind 
 45) Red meat 'may lead to cancer'
     by Vadivu Govind 
 46) (AU) Campaign for worldwide whale sanctuary
     by Vadivu Govind 
 47) (SG) Jailed for burning dog alive 
     by Vadivu Govind 
 48) (JP) Cattle Museum
     by Vadivu Govind 
 49) (HK) Hope for handover to help green issues
     by Vadivu Govind 
 50) Rodeo Abuse on "Hard Copy" this week!!!!
     by Wyandotte Animal Group 
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:13:59 -0700
From: Lawrence Carter-Long 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Cloning News:  First Sheep, Monkeys for Research Next...
Message-ID: <341818C7.D85@gvn.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

What Scots Did with Sheep He Plans with Rhesus
 Monkeys Loudest in Their Demands for
 Genetically Identical Lab Monkeys are
 Researchers Battling the Aids Virus. 

 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
 Mon, Sep 08 1997 

 In Don Wolf's world, time is divided into Before Dolly and
 After Dolly. 

 Such was the impact on Wolf's field, embryology, when
 Scottish researchers announced in February that they had
 cloned a sheep named Dolly from a cell taken from a
 6-year-old ewe's udder. 

 In the years B.D., Wolf had labored at the Oregon Regional
 Primate Research Center to produce genetically identical rhesus
 monkeys that could be used as research animals. Tired of
 struggling for research funding, he opted last September for
 early retirement. 

 But A.D. - After Dolly, not Anno Domini - Wolf, 58, is back at
 work. No longer begging for money, he finds that federal
 officials are begging him to apply for their money. 

 Wolf's team will try to "do a Dolly" this fall, attempting to clone
 rhesus monkeys using techniques developed by Ian Wilmut and
 his colleagues at Scotland's Roslin Institute. 

 "I think the interest level has just exploded," Wolf said in an
 interview last week at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
 Center, where he delivered the annual Peter and Eva Safar
 Lecture in Medical Sciences and Humanities. 

 AIDS researchers have been the most vocal proponents of the
 need for genetically identical rhesus monkeys in their studies.
 But Wolf said the demand was likely to be so great among
 other scientists "we're going to have to form a triage committee"
 to figure out which research deserves first dibs on these
 animals. 

 For scientists, genetic sameness eliminates a possible variable in
 their experiments. As a consequence, they can use fewer
 animals. 

 Just a week after the Dolly announcement, some journalists
 reported that Wolf had cloned a pair of rhesus monkeys. He
 had not. He had used one of the techniques employed by
 Wilmut, called nuclear transfer, to produce the pair, born last
 August. The animals - Neti and Ditto - were not clones of a
 single individual, however, but a brother-sister pair with both a
 mother and father. 

 Wolf's work was suddenly in headlines around the world,
 though he had been unsuccessful in achieving what he had really
 hoped to do: produce identical twins. Subsequent attempts to
 do the same thing resulted in no live births. 

 "We should have quit while we were ahead," he said. 

 But Neti and Ditto are proof that nuclear transfer can work in a
 species closely related to humans. And Wilmut's cloning
 techniques appear sufficiently robust that they should work in
 any number of mammals. 

 In nuclear transfer, scientists take an egg cell and remove its
 nucleus - the part containing its genetic code. They then place
 another nucleus in its place. In the case of Neti and Ditto, the
 nuclei came from monkey embryos developed through in vitro
 fertilization. In Dolly's case, the nuclei came from a mammary
 cell. 

 By removing several nuclei from a single embryo, it should be
 possible to create genetically identical twins. This is what Wolf
 and his colleagues attempted last year; it turned out that the
 only live births came from two separate embryos from the same
 parents. 

 In addition to his work as senior scientist at the primate center,
 Wolf directs the in vitro fertilization laboratory at the Oregon
 Health Sciences Center. His interest in nuclear transfer is limited
 to research animals, he emphasized, but the technology could
 also be used to aid human reproduction. 

 For instance, eggs from older women are generally thought to
 reduce the chance of a successful pregnancy. One treatment
 today is to obtain a donor egg from a younger woman and
 fertilize it with the husband's sperm. Nuclear transfer, however,
 would allow lab technicians to first replace the donor egg's
 nucleus with a nucleus from the wife's own eggs, thus allowing
 the offspring to include genetic contributions from both husband
 and wife. 

 Though it is not supported by federal funding and not widely
 known outside the embryology community, Wolf said research
 was getting under way to test this approach at some hospitals. 

 "I can assure you my embryology unit will not be the first," he
 added. 

 Ultimately, Wolf and his sponsors at the National Institutes of
 Health would like to produce lots of genetically identical
 monkeys. The Neti and Ditto experiment was one step toward
 that goal. But reproducing from in vitro fertilized embryos is
 expensive and inefficient, Wolf said. 

 Wilmut's technology, though, could provide the additional
 steps. 

 "We were totally unaware of what he was doing," Wolf said. "It
 was a shock to the whole cloning community." 

 Genetically identical strains of laboratory mice, notably those
 produced by the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine,
 already are widely used by scientists. 

 "Primates are a lot more relevant to human biology than are
 mice," said Dr. Reed Pyeritz, president of the American
 College of Medical Genetics. "You're working on a much more
 humanlike level." 

 AIDS researchers might use rhesus monkeys to study how the
 body develops immunity against the human immunodeficiency
 virus that causes AIDS, an important step in developing AIDS
 vaccines, Wolf noted. Rhesus monkeys can be infected with
 simian immunodeficiency virus, which results in a similar
 condition to AIDS. 

 Drug studies might also be possible, added Pyeritz, chairman of
 human genetics at Allegheny General Hospital. 

 If the cloning technique proves itself in monkeys, it would be
 possible to manipulate the genes, creating new strains that
 eliminated a selected gene so its function can be better
 understood. 

 It also might mean that endangered species might be saved or
 interesting strains might be more easily reproduced, Wolf said. 

 At the Oregon center, which has about 1,900 rhesus monkeys
 among its 2,200 animals, one older female rhesus monkey has
 retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative condition that reduces night
 vision and eventually causes tunnel vision. Cloning would enable
 researchers to produce more animals with the same genetic
 makeup for further study. 

 (Copyright 1997) 

-- 

Lawrence Carter-Long
Science and Research Issues, Animal Protection Institute
email: LCartLng@gvn.net
world wide web: http://www.api4animals.org/

"The person using the Internet has the choice. Whether the 
Internet  becomes material for happiness or for suffering 
depends on your mind. The mind goes before the external 
object." -- The Buddhist monks of Namgyal Monastery
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:34:42 -0700
From: LCartLng@gvn.net (Lawrence Carter-Long)
To: kathy@pcrm.org, farmusa@erols.com
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org, vegan@maelstrom.stjohns.edu
Subject: Medicare To Test Ornish Prevention Program
Message-ID: <199709111628.MAA16919@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Medicare To Test Ornish Prevention Program In Demonstration Project 

     WESTPORT, Sep 11 (Reuters) - Medicare officials said Tuesday that
they will test the heart disease prevention program developed by Dr.
Dean Ornish in up to 1,000 patients nationwide. 

     According to Wednesday's edition of USA Today, if the program is
effective, Medicare may decide to reimburse hospitals for enrolling 
heart patients in the "Ornish program." Dr. Ornish, author of the 
best-selling book "Eat More, Weigh Less," said, "For the first time, 
Medicare has agreed to study in a demonstration project a nonsurgical,
nonpharmacologic, alternative approach to medical care." 

     The Ornish program is a strict, low-fat "lifestyle-modification 
program" that eliminates red meats, chicken and nuts from the diet. The 
program also includes regular exercise and stress-management therapies. 

     According to the results of a 507-patient study conducted by Mutual 
of Omaha and published in February, patients participating in the 
program experienced a 65% drop in angina, their blood cholesterol 
levels dropped 19 mg/dL, and exercise tolerance improved 22%. As 
reported by Reuters Health Information February 14, heart patients 
enrolled in the Ornish program cost Mutual of Omaha a maximum of
slightly more than $5,000 per person annually. However, "...for those
patients not on the Ornish plan, the insurers say, treatments for heart 
problems cost double or nearly triple that amount." 

Forty-five insurance companies currently pay for the Ornish program. 

     -Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700 
-- 

Lawrence Carter-Long
Science and Research Issues, Animal Protection Institute
email: LCartLng@gvn.net
world wide web: http://www.api4animals.org/

"The person using the Internet has the choice. Whether the 
Internet  becomes material for happiness or for suffering 
depends on your mind. The mind goes before the external 
object." -- The Buddhist monks of Namgyal Monastery





Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:38:47 -0700
From: LCartLng@gvn.net (Lawrence Carter-Long)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: NIH Conference Ponders Thalidomide Risks
Message-ID: <199709111632.MAA17353@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

NIH Conferees Continue Debate On Risk Of Thalidomide
Defects If Drug Approved 

     BETHESDA, MD, Sep 11 (Reuters) - If thalidomide receives FDA
approval for sale in the US for treatment of erythema nodosum 
leprosum, the question of how to minimize the potential risk of birth
defects gains even more immediacy. Health professionals, physicians, public
health and government officials debated that issue at a two-day National
Institutes of Health meeting, and concluded that there was no way to
completely eliminate the chance that babies would be born disfigured as a
result of maternal thalidomide intake. 

     "We cannot reduce this risk to zero," said Dr. Christine Mauck, of 
the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) division of reproductive and
urologic drug products. Mauck's sentiment was repeated often
throughout the meeting. 

     But the only manufacturer currently seeking FDA approval of
thalidomide, Celgene Corp., was unwilling to concede the point. "We 
are striving for zero risk," said Bruce Williams, a Celgene official. 
"From my perspective, any baby [born with defects] is unacceptable," he 
added. 

     Celgene has developed what it calls the Thalidomide Fetal Exposure
Prevention Program. Under the program, physicians and patients would
have to sign informed consent waivers attesting that they had 
received counseling on birth defects. Women taking the drug would be asked
to use two forms of birth control and to take regular pregnancy tests, 
plus enroll in an outcomes registry. Males would be required to use 
condoms.

     But psychologists and behaviorists at the conference noted that even 
the best-laid plans can go awry, especially in the area of sexual 
behavior. Many pointed to Hoffmann-La Roche's experience trying to minimize
fetal exposure to its acne drug Accutane. That drug causes birth 
defects, as well. 

     Roche hired Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Unit to
continuously survey Accutane users on their understanding of the 
defect potential and on contraceptive use. The group also has tracked
pregnancies and defects among Accutane users. From 1989-1995, 623
pregnancies occurred among 210,000 women surveyed, despite
required use of two forms of birth control and pregnancy testing 
before the drug was dispensed and regular testing during treatment. 

     Allen Mitchell of Boston University told attendees that 9% of the 
womenwere pregnant when starting therapy, 27% did not use contraceptives,and
64% cited contraceptive failure. Two-thirds of the women had abortions, 68%
induced and 16% spontaneous. Eleven percent of the 623 pregnancies, or 74
pregnancies, resulted in live births. In that cohort, there were five
children born with hallmark Accutane defects, said FDA's Mauck. "All I can
conclude from the Accutane experience is 
that  pregnancies do occur despite everyone's best efforts," she said. 

     Dr. Gail Povar of George Washington University noted that 
thalidomide shows great promise in many diseases, but that it "...purchases
its promise at a price." She called on physicians to work closely with
patients to ensure that "...children don't suffer the consequences of
inappropriate use." 

     - Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700 

Lawrence Carter-Long
Science and Research Issues, Animal Protection Institute
email: LCartLng@gvn.net
world wide web: http://www.api4animals.org/

"The person using the Internet has the choice. Whether the 
Internet  becomes material for happiness or for suffering 
depends on your mind. The mind goes before the external 
object." -- The Buddhist monks of Namgyal Monastery





Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 09:43:43 -0700
From: Lawrence Carter-Long 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Attorneys Say Lawsuits Likely Once Thalidomide Is Available 
Message-ID: <34181FBF.3B9B@gvn.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Attorneys Say Few Suits Likely Once Thalidomide Available 

     BETHESDA, MD, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Speaking at a two-day National
Institutes of Health conference on the ethical, legal and clinical issues
surrounding possible thalidomide approval, a plaintiffs' attorney and a
lawyer from the defense bar agreed that, once the drug is made available,
there would be few lawsuits filed against the manufacturer. The two
lawyers also said that individuals with birth defects as a result of 
maternal thalidomide use would be hardpressed to win compensation. 

     Thalidomide is being considered by the Food and Drug Administration
FDA) for treatment of erythema nodosum leprosum. Celgene Corp.
applied for approval, and has proposed a detailed program to minimize
fetal exposure to the drug. 

     Even so, Frank Woodside, of Dinsmore & Shohl in Cincinnati, said 
that,if thalidomide is approved, "...there will be children born with 
birth defects, it's a fact, and there will be lawsuits." Woodside, who 
has defended drug manufacturers, said, however, that he expects there 
will be few suits filed. And, he pointed out that, with Celgene's 
extensive education and monitoring program, the firm is "...going to be 
readily able to defend themselves." 

     Thomas Bleakley, of Bleakley and McKeen, said that the current
national quest to reduce tort payouts has "eroded" the ability of
individuals who develop complications to recover damages from
negligent manufacturers. Bleakley, an attorney who has represented
plaintiffs in Bendectin cases, also said that it might be hard to prove 
to a jury that thalidomide had definitively caused birth defects. He 
cited a presentation by a Food and Drug Administration scientist who 
noted that there are competing theories on how thalidomide is 
teratogenic. 

     Woodside agreed, saying there "...will be significant causation 
issues..."involved in many new thalidomide cases. "Exposure does not 
necessarily mean causation," added Woodside. 

     Suits could be further limited by state regulations. Many states 
have passed laws that an FDA-approved drug is inherently safe, which
restricts plaintiffs' ability to sue, added Bleakley. 

     - Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700 
-- 

Lawrence Carter-Long
Science and Research Issues, Animal Protection Institute
email: LCartLng@gvn.net
world wide web: http://www.api4animals.org/

"The person using the Internet has the choice. Whether the 
Internet  becomes material for happiness or for suffering 
depends on your mind. The mind goes before the external 
object." -- The Buddhist monks of Namgyal Monastery
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 10:45:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Church of the Earth - Walk with the Elephants [WA]
Message-ID: <199709111745.KAA12574@k2.brigadoon.com.>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Seattle Center
Sunday Sept 14, 7 pm

Church of the Earth - Walk with the Elephants

The Church of the Earth - Seattle will be holding an event on Sunday night,
September 14. Church members and guests will be Walking with the Elephants
from Seattle Center to the train yards south of the Kingdome. 

The walk is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm, but times might vary so please
arrive by 7 pm at the rear exit of Seattle Center. Please be prepared for a
brisk walk as the Ringling circus moves through the streets rapidly.

We ask you please:

No signs.
No banners.
No message t-shirts.
No candles.
No talking.
This is NOT a media event.

Our mission is to visit with and comfort animals who are being cruelly
deprived of their freedom. Please maintain eye contact with the animals and
total silence during the walk. Please try to understand and feel what life
is like for them. If you can convey your understanding silently to the
animals, please do so. 

This is not a demonstration. We are undertaking this walk solely for the
sake of the animals.

The Church of the Earth is a nonsectarian religious organization
incorporated in the state of Washington. We believe that there are no
hierarchies: men are not above women, people are not above other animals.
Each part of creation is perfectly suited to its role on the earth. You need
not be a member of the Church of the Earth to participate in this event.

For Info Re: Church of the Earth, PO Box 1674, Friday harbor, WA 98250
360-378-8755 freedom@rockisland.com

or Bob Chorush, c/o PAWS, P.O. Box 1037, Lynnwood, WA 98046  425-787-2500
ext 862 bchorush@paws.org

Date: Thu, 11 Sep 97 14:20:22 -0400
From: Karin Zupko 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US - Boston)  System Administrator Needed
Message-ID: <9709111820.AA11851@titan.ma.neavs.com>

Part-Time position available for System Administrator at Boston  
Animal Rights organization.

We need someone to be responsible for the efficient functioning of  
our NeXT network and to provide support for the NeXT network in our  
Washington, D.C. office.
Please let me know if you are interested or might know of anyone who  
could help us. Contact me at sophia@ma.neavs.com.
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 13:10:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Ringling/Sea Lion Video footage needed
Message-ID: <199709112010.NAA08529@k2.brigadoon.com.>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

If anyone has video footage or good still photographs of the sea lions
currently touring with Ringling Bros. circus, can you please contact Mark
Berman at Earth Island Institute  Any photos of the sea
lions accomodations, travel trailer, etc. would be most appreciated.

This footage is needed to forward to the National Marine Fisheries Service
[NMFS] to document conditions of these sea lions and to try to prevent
future imports of these animals for entertainment.

Thanks,







Bob Chorush  Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 (425) 787-2500 ext
862, (425) 742-5711 fax
email bchorush@paws.org      http://www.paws.org

Date: Thu, 11 Sep 97 16:07:27 -0400
From: Karin Zupko 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US - Humane Educators Needed)
Message-ID: <9709112007.AA12180@titan.ma.neavs.com>

Job Announcement: Part-Time Instructor
(Deadline: 9.20.97)


The LivingEarth Learning Project is hiring part-time Instructors to  
present classroom programs on animal rights and environmental issues  
in the following locations:
     
     Western MA, near 91
     Southern VT, near 91
     Boston, MA
     Providence, RI
     

Position:  Part-time Instructor  (an average of 2 days a week during  
the school year) 


Background:   LivingEarth offers twelve interactive classroom  
programs presented to more than 20,000 students each year in public  
and private schools and colleges in New England and New York.   
Programs are designed to promote compassion, understanding and  
respect for animals and the environment for students in third grade  
through college.  Topics include animal rights, product testing,  
animal experimentation, vegan lifestyle, captive marine mammals, and  
a range of environmental issues.

Salary:  Instructors are paid $20. an hour plus compensation for  
travel time, mileage and expenses.  Instructors set their own  
schedule, visit an average of two schools a week and present several  
programs at each school.  LivingEarth provides instructors with the  
names of interested teachers and the curricula and materials  
necessary to present classroom programs. 


Qualifications:  Applicants should have a strong conviction in and  
knowledge of animal rights and environmental issues, good  
communication skills and the ability to present information clearly  
and effectively to students in 3rd grade through college.  Applicants  
must be responsible and professional.  Special consideration will be  
given to applicants who have prior experience in teaching and/or  
public speaking.  Instructors will need a car to visit schools within  
one hour of their home.
 

Training:  To assure a high level of competency and professionalism,  
LivingEarth provides two full day trainings a year, as well as a  
mentor program, a comprehensive system of assessment, and an  
extensive instructor's manual which contains lessons, activities and  
teaching strategies.

For more information, or to request an application, contact:
Melissa Feldman, Director 

LivingEarth Learning Project 

P.O. Box 2160
Boston, MA 02106
info@livingearth.org.  
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 08:02:16 +1000
From: Lynette Shanley 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Pumas and dogs. 
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970912080216.00690e64@lisp.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

l am asking for help on behalf of the Australian office of The
International Society for Endangered cats. Last week there was info on this
forum about dogs being trained to attack pumas after the pumas had been
injured and were tied down. All my attempts to find out which government
dept in Argentina our members should write to about this practice have come
up against a brick wall. This is happening in Argentina. Who is responsible
for animal welfare in Argentina and who is repsonsible for the wildlife of
Argentina. Any help is appreciated. 

We are also in need of photos of endangered South east Asian cats if any
one has any they don't mind us using. Most of the photos in magazines etc
have copyright on them. School children like photos of the fishing cat,
marbled cat, bornean bay cat etc for "Show and Tell" at school.   
Lynette Shanley
IPPL Australia
PO Box 60
PORTLAND  NSW  2847
AUSTRALIA
Phone/Fax 02 63554026/61 2 63 554026
EMAIL ippl@lisp.com.au
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 23:09:07 +-100
From: Dave Shepherdson 
To: "'Sarah Banks Green'" ,
        "'John Hartshorne Green'"
      ,
        "'Simeon Hope Green'"
      
Subject: Injunctions against Fur Farm Protesters
Message-ID: <01BCBF08.924B8E40@e1c1p35.sol.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


PRESS RELEASE

COURT BANS FUR CAMPAIGN

A harrasment injunction was served last night by Cornyhaugh Mink Farm (Kirkley Mill,
Ponteland) on Newcastle Animal Rights Coalition (NARC) and 3 press representatives for the
group.  The injunction was applied for, following the first demonstration at the farm on Sunday
which police confirmed was peaceful.  The harrasment injunction bans NARC and anyone
connected with the group from "conducting any demonstrations or protesting activities" near the
farm, using the public highway that runs alongside the farm, writing letters to the fur farmer,
'phoning him, and encouraging others from engaging in similar protest activities.  

A small number of environmental and animal welfare campaigners staged one last legal
demonstration at the farm last night after they were tipped off about the injunction.  

The injunction against Newcastle Animal Rights Coalition was brought out under the Harrasment
Act 1997 which was supposed to be designed to protect women from stalkers but now appears to
be being used against protesters.  A spokes person for NARC said:

"This injunction is wide ranging.  It sets a dangerous precedent in curtailing the right to peacefully
protest and even to pass along a highway.  

We are currently seeking legal advice but the exercise of these draconian laws has only made us
more determined.  We will continue to exercise our right to hold peaceful demonstrations."

For more information contact:

      Diane Sanderson, NARC(0191) 2120720
   Laura Nicol (between the hours of 1 and 3 pm):(0191) 2615981


Dave Shepherdson
Newcastle upon Tyne Green Party
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 11:22:35 -0400
From: AR-Admin 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: AR-News subscription options--Admin Note
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970915112235.006b3610@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Routine posting........

To unsubscribe, send e-mail to:  listproc@envirolink.org

In text of message:  unsubscribe ar-news
--------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some items of general information (found in the "welcome letter"
sent when people subscribe--but often lose!)...included:  how to post and
how to change your subscription status (useful if you are going on
vacation--either by "unsubscribe" or "postpone").
---------------------------------------------------------------

To post messages to the list, send mail to ar-news@envirolink.org
POSTING

To post a *news-related item* (no discussions), send your message to:

     ar-news@envirolink.org

Appropriate postings to AR-News include: posting a news item, requesting
information on some event, or responding to a request for information. 
Discussions on AR-News will NOT be allowed and we ask that any
commentary either be taken to AR-Views or to private E-mail. 
------------------------------------------

***General Subscription Information***
ALL THE FOLLOWING SHOULD NOT be sent to ar-news !!!
(send them to listproc@envirolink.org)
For all commands, use a blank Subject line.
---------------------------------------------------

To request a digest version, send mail to listproc@envirolink.org
with the following single line:

     set ar-news mail digest

To switch back to immediate mail, and to get copies of *your* postings
also, send the following command:

     set ar-news mail ack

or the following to not get your own postings:

     set ar-news mail noack

To see how you are set up ***(and to see if you are still subscribed!)***, use

     set ar-news

To temporarily stop mailings, use:

     set ar-news mail postpone

To re-enable it, use ack, noack, or digest as above.

To unsubscribe, use:

     unsubscribe ar-news

or:

     signoff ar-news

If you have to subscribe again, use:

     subscribe ar-news first_name last_name   (use false name if you want!)

If you have problems, please contact:

     Allen Schubert
     ar-admin@envirolink.org
     

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 09:49:21 -0700
From: "ida" 
To: 
Subject: They Are Not Our Property
Message-ID: <199709151645.JAA19242@proxy3.ba.best.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

In Defense of Animals kicked off their national campaign "They Our Not Our
Property, We Are Not Their Owners" on Aug. 25 at the Oakland, CA SPCA. This
event coincided with the taping of a Dateline documentary featuring Jeffrey
Masson (tentatively to be aired Sept.15), author of "When Elephants Weep"
and newly released "Dogs Never Lie About Love", who is co-chair of this new
campaign and signed the pledge at this event. The campaign focuses on
changing attitudes in regard to considering animals as property. The
following is a statement by Dr. Elliot Katz, President of In Defense of
Animals:

"Ours is a society where the objects, property and things we grow tired of
are routinely discarded or thrown away. How gruesome a concept it is for
animals to suffer the same fate... to be treated as property and things...
to be bought and sold...to be discarded, exploited or killed at an
"owner's" whim. This campaign is an international effort to free animals
from the abuse and bondage imposed on them by their current status as
property. Our goal: to have one million caring people disavow the concept
of animal ownership by the end of 1998. I urge you to join in this most
important effort by signing the pledge... United in determination, we will
make a difference."

If you are interested in signing the pledge or would like more information
on becoming involved in the campaign, please contact IDA at: ida@idausa.org
or 131 Camino Alto, Suite E, Mill Valley, CA 94941 (415)388-9641).



Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 10:10:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Christine M. Wolf" 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Elephant poaching reported up in Zimbabwe
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970402143135.2ed7cc92@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Forwarded from the CITES-L discussion list.........


>The following news story appeared on clari.tw.environment:
>
>HARARE, Sept 14 (AFP) - Zimbabwe, one of three southern African  
>countries to have won a battle to resume ivory trade, has seen a 
>rise in elephant poaching in recent weeks, a Sunday paper reported. 
>   The Sunday Standard said Zimbabwe had recorded a 50 percent  
>increase in cases of elephants poached since the international ban 
>was relaxed two months ago. 
>   The paper quoted Willis Makombe, acting head of the Department  
>of National Parks and Wildlife, saying the average number of poached 
>elephants had shot up from four per month for the first six months 
>of the year to six in July following the lifting of the ban. 
>   At a conference of the Convention on International Trade in  
>Endangered Species (CITES) in Harare in June, Botswana, Namibia and 
>Zimbabwe won a bid to relax an eight-year old ban ivory trade. 
>   The trade, which can be resumed in about 18 months, is  
>restricted to a single customer, Japan, and only after certain 
>safeguards have been established. 
>


******************************************************************
Christine Wolf, Director of Government Affairs
  The Fund for Animalsphone: 301-585-2591
   World Buildingfax:   301-585-2595
 8121 Georgia Ave., Suite 301e-mail: ChrisW@fund.org
  Silver Spring, MD 20910web page: www.fund.org

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  (Margaret Mead)

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 13:40:57 -0400
From: Shirley McGreal 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons! 
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19970915174057.00710c38@awod.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

In a letter to IPPL dated 10 September 1997, Speight Jenkins, General
Director of the Seattle Opera, stated:

        "It is quite true that Seattle Opera used a monkey in the first act
of our production Der Rosenkavalier. This was not our intention but one
specified in the text: the Animal Trainer is described as having dogs and
monkeys for sale.
        Seattle Opera procured the trained monkey from an approved
organization, one at which the monkey was born and where, insofar as we
could determine, he had been treated well.
        I am sorry that our use of a monkey offends you. I can personally
promise that we will not use a monkey again because he was too difficult for
the singer to handle properly. He was only onstage for about four minutes
and caused more trouble than he was worth. You will not be upset by a monkey
on our stage in the future."

|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| Dr. Shirley McGreal             |   PHONE: 803-871-2280                  | 
| Int. Primate Protection League  |   FAX: 803-871-7988                    |
| POB 766                         |   E-MAIL: ippl@awod.com                |
| Summerville SC 29484            |   Web: http://www.ippl.org             | 
|---------------------------------|----------------------------------------|


Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 01:45:26
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [US] Fat cats
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915014526.2f9f03c2@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From CNN Headline News

A survey done by researchers at Cornell University's Veterinary Medicine
Department has found that 25% of cats in the United States are either "fat"
or "obese". 

Overweight cats are subject to problems such as diabetes, arthritis and
muscle strain although, unlike humans, they do not suffer from heart
attacks or strokes.

Cats are classified overweight if their rib cages are not able to be felt.

The advice for those who have a fat cat is to increase exercise and cut out
between meal snacks. The survey found that so-called low-calorie food does
not make any difference. 

The authors caution not to cause too rapid a weight reduction, as this can
lead to liver failure and eventually death.  

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 01:45:36
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] BAAS:Sanctuary for pregnant seahorses
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915014536.2f9f0f1e@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Thursday September 11th, 1997

British Association for the Advancement of Science: Reports by Roger
Highfield, Robert Uhlig and Aisling Irwin 

Sanctuary for pregnant seahorses

A SANCTUARY for pregnant male seahorses has been created off the coast of
the Philippines to protect the species following the huge demands from
world trade.

The fish are extraordinary creatures because males carry the burden of
childbirth. Protecting them while pregnant forms a key part of the
conservation project. The project is being carried out in the Handumon area
of the Philippines. Dr Heather Hall, curator of lower vertebrates at London
Zoo, told the British Association meeting that the effort had met with a
"fantastic response" among local women.

She said local women, like the male seahorses, spent a lot of their time
pregnant and thus identified a great deal with the project to protect the
village's livelihood. "Seahorses are very
heavily exploited for traditional Chinese medicine, the aquarium trade and
for curiosities," Dr Hall said.

"If locals catch a pregnant male, instead of drying him on a line to curl
and selling him, they put him in a cage until he gives birth so the young
can escape. People care about seahorses in a way that it is difficult to
get them to care about cod."

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 01:45:37
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Sale of wildlife park means penguins are going cheap
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915014537.2f9f2f44@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday September 12th, 1997

Sale of wildlife park means penguins are going cheap
By Sean O'Neill 

A COLLECTION of 2,000 penguins, parrots, flamingoes and other exotic birds
is to be sold at auction next month when a wildlife park closes down.

Merley Bird Garden near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, is closing after 30 years
because visitor numbers have fallen from a peak of 150,000 per year in the
Eighties to just 50,000. Three days after the gates are shut to visitors on
Oct 19, they will open to bidders for a sale supervised by RSPCA officers.

Kevin Martin, 37, who has owned the business for 17 years, said yesterday
that he hoped collectors and wildlife parks would acquire the more exotic
birds. Merley's Humboldt
penguins might be expected to fetch £900 each but could go for much less if
the flock of 50 is sold as a job lot. The blue and gold macaws and three
Chilean flamingoes are valued at
£1,000 each.

African grey parrots are worth around £500 and a snowy eagle owl could
fetch £250. The garden's 500 budgies, which feed from visitors' hands, will
probably sell for as little as
50p each.

"All the birds have to be sold so there are no reserve prices and I have no
idea how much will be raised," said Mr Martin. "The collection is valued at
£50,000 but if it goes for £15,000 I will be pleased. There will certainly
be a few bargains. But if strangers turn up wanting a penguin we will be
asking a few questions. We do not want people trying to keep them in the
bath."

Mr Martin, who also runs a successful landscape gardening business and
lives in a 17th-century country home beside the bird garden, said his
sympathies were with the three
dedicated staff who will lose their jobs. He said: "They're terrific. It is
not unknown for them to be up at 1am tending a sick bird. But a combination
of factors has led to this decision, primarily increased costs and falling
visitor numbers.

"In the Sixties people would bring their children to play in the park, look
at the birds and have lunch. Now country pubs have playgrounds and many
even have bird collections. The last straw was a burglary in March when
birds worth £20,000 were stolen. If it had not been for the cost of
replacement we could have gone on for another year."

When the birds are sold, the four-acre walled garden will be returned to
the private use of Mr Martin, his wife and their two children.

Julie Briggs, spokesman for the RSPCA, urged potential buyers to think
carefully before attending the auction.

"Anyone wanting to own an exotic or unusual pet must make sure they
understand their needs and have the right facilities," she said "We have
had some extraordinary cases, like people owning scorpions and alligators
without understanding the danger. Officers found an ostrich in a back
garden in the North-East. The owners did not realise how much space the
bird needed. Birds such as flamingoes and penguins need a very special
environment and if a would-be owner cannot provide it they should not get
involved in trying to care for them."


© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 01:45:37
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Half of vegetarians are secret meat-eaters, survey reveals
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915014537.2f9f2a56@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, September 14th, 1997

Half of vegetarians are secret meat-eaters, survey reveals
By Victoria Macdonald and Linda Jackson 

NEARLY half of all adults claiming to be vegetarians are secret
meat-eaters, according to a new survey.

Seven per cent of adults describe themselves as vegetarian, but research by
Taylor Nelson AGB, a marketing company, found that only a four per cent
hardcore does not cheat. The survey also found that vegetarianism is higher
among women, with five per cent claiming to have stopped eating meat and fish.

The findings come as a leaked government report shows that the public is to
be warned to eat less red meat to avoid cancer. The report from the
Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (Coma), due out in the next few
weeks, is expected to target heavy meat-eaters, defined as those who rarely
eat meals without any form of meat, particularly red meat.

The Government's decision to release the report is certain to be
controversial with a meat industry already reeling from the effects of the
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and E.coli scares.

Last night farmers' leaders urged the public not to panic and stressed how
previous research shows that red meat forms part of a balanced diet.

"We hope people will have the common sense not to panic. Studies have shown
that red meat, as with other foods, can form part of a balanced diet," said
Trevor Hayes, a
spokesman for the National Farmers Union.

Expert opinion remains divided on the subject of diet and cancer, and
previous research has shown that obesity is one of the most important
causes of ill health.

Despite the number of Coma reports that have been issued over the past five
years encouraging the public to eat less sugar and fats, the Taylor survey
also shows that there has been a 37 per cent decline in the number of
people dieting over the past three years.

Twenty-six per cent of adults also claimed to weigh more than last year. An
additional million adults say they always have a family meal together at
the weekend, while the interest in home cooking has grown to a three-year
high.

The increasing interest in ethnic food has, however, not decreased the
enthusiasm for traditional British cuisine. The survey found that five
times more meals feature boiled or
mashed potato each year than rice, bacon rashers are served seven times
more often in the home than all Chinese cuisine added together, and roast
beef joints are a larger market than curry in the home. However, more than
two-thirds of adults feel that their diet is already healthy.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 01:56:52
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Pigeon in 1,500-mile flight back to fancier
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915015652.2f9f0d22@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday September 12th, 1997

Pigeon in 1,500-mile flight back to fancier
By Paul Stokes 

A PIGEON has made a 1,500-mile flight from its adoptive home in southern
Spain to be reunited with its owner in Britain.

The two-year-old hen arrived hungry and bedraggled after its journey to its
former home, a bird loft in Skipton, North Yorks. Her original owner, Dino
Reardon, immediately recognised her as the offspring of another of his
pigeons famed for its staying power.

Two years ago, her father, Bluey, made the news when he walked 60 miles
back home after he was kidnapped and had had his wings clipped.

Mr Reardon, 66, has named his re-arrival Diana because of her courage and
her return was on the weekend of the funeral of the Princess. He had given
her to a Spanish pigeon
fancier who contacted him after reading about Bluey while on holiday in
North Yorkshire six months ago. The Spaniard took the bird back with him to
Algeciras on the southern tip of Spain, near to Gibraltar.

Mr Reardon's belief that she may have returned under her own steam was
confirmed when he checked the identity ring on her leg. He said: "She was
thin, bedraggled and completely worn out. I just couldn't believe it was
her at first. She was all skin and bones with no weight on her at all. It
was an incredible journey. I have kept pigeons for many years and in my
experience this is one of the longest trips that a pigeon has ever taken.
But I might have expected it - after all she is the daughter of Bluey and
he is pretty incredible."

Mr Reardon has been building her up again on a diet of natural yoghurt and
oatmeal and she is now looking healthy. He does not know how to contact the
Spaniard to whom he gave her.

"She didn't have a name before so I have christened her Diana as a tribute
to the Princess," said Mr Reardon. "Diana was a gutsy woman who showed
enormous determination
and this pigeon has the same qualities to travel such a distance."

Major Edward Camilleri, of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association, believed
racing pigeons could probably cover such a distance in three to five days,
depending on the weather. He said: "Racing pigeons do make long journeys,
but this is unusual. We don't hear of something like this very often. It's
quite a feat."

Pigeons have a natural homing instinct and are guided by the sun, moon and
stars, and are also helped by the Earth's magnetic field.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 13:03:29 -0500 (CDT)
From: stanton1@ix.netcom.com (Tamara)
To: ar-views@cygnus.com
Subject: Job Posting
Message-ID: <199709151803.NAA21554@dfw-ix14.ix.netcom.com>

------------------------------------------------------------------
Job Posting:

Animal protection organization in Gaithersburg seeks an individual to 
assist in targeting animal research issues. Duties will include 
correspondence, data entry & basic clerical tasks. Knowledge of animal 
protection issues, good verbal & written communication skills & a 
knowledge of WordPerfect is required. Salary: $20,806. Please send your 

resume to:

Human Resources,
The Humane Society of the United States,
700 Professional Dr., Gaithersburg, MD 20879.
You may also fax it to 301-258-3078, or to email: HSUSHR@ix.netcom.com.




Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 11:34:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Markarian 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Redding, CA: anti-hunting video on TV 10/4
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970915144809.2dbf7bb2@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

On Saturday, October 4, at 2:00 PM, KIXE-TV Channel 9 in Redding will show
The Fund for Animals' half-hour video, "What's Wrong With Hunting." KIXE,
which is the local PBS affiliate, has agreed to show the video as a balance
to the hunting programs they regularly air.

If you live in the Redding area, please watch the show and let the station
know that you support anti-hunting programming. If you live outside the area
and your local PBS station shows hunting programs, please let your station
manager know that they can request "What's Wrong With Hunting" for free from
The Fund for Animals, to balance their programming and show both sides of a
controversial issue.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 14:14:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: civillib@cwnet.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: US HUNGERSTRIKER HOSPITALIZED (US)
Message-ID: <199709152114.OAA12587@smtp.cwnet.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"



URGENT NEWS ADVISORY
Sept. 15, 1997 (4:23 p.m. EDT)



Activist Rushed to Hospital
On Day 13 of Hunger Strike

     ATLANTA – Animal rights hunger striker Sue McCrosky has been rushed to
Grady Hospital in serious condition, DeKalb County Jail officials revealed
to her attorney Lawrence Weiss Monday.

     Ms McCrosky is reportedly in stable condition, and the jail is not
disclosing her exact whereabouts because of concerns about "security" and
because of the huge volume of phone inquiries the jail is receiving from
callers all over the U.S.

     Dr. Ray Greek, a Kansas City specialist, will fly to Atlanta Tuesday
morning to examine Ms McCrosky at the hospital in response to concerns by
family and Mr. Weiss, chief counsel with the Activist Civil Liberties
Committee in California

     "We are very concerned about Sue, and have been since the jail refused to
give her the life-saving medication she requires. Now we have conflicting
information from the jail about her current condition. We hope to have all
of this resolved soon," said Crescenzo Vellucci, ACLC exec. director.

     Mr. Vellucci noted that Ms McCrosky has only refused medication that –
contrary to jail comments –  "was not her exact, doctor-prescribed
medication...we are concerned the jail was, in fact, giving her sedatives
that would damage her health and cause her to be confused."

     A medical team quickly assembled to assist on the case has noted that Ms
McCrosky should not have worsened to this point after less than 2 weeks
without food, and suggested it may be "other factor," not the strike, that
have caused her current serious condition.

     Ms McCrosky is on Day 13 of her hunger strike, and was jailed for 45 days
Sept. 3 for protesting on a sidewalk in front of the home of the chief of
Yerkes Primate Research Center last May.
-30-
NOTE: Dr. Greek will be available for comment at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning,
following his examination of Ms McCrosky, and consultation with hospital
staff. For more information, call ACLC (916) 452-7179


-----------------

Please call the jail (404-298 8515), the Medical Staff of the jail
(404-298-8531), and the judge (404-508-0368 - Judge Ralph Merck) to express
you concern about Sue.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 18:32:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: Porcilina@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: VEGGIE COOK-OFF
Message-ID: <970915183113_961590308@emout16.mail.aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit


Animal Place is holding the first Northern California VEGGIE COOK-OFF
Saturday, September 20 from noon to 3:00 p.m. in Old Town Sacramento.

Home chefs and professional chefs have entered their vegan delights.  Prizes
will be awarded to the best dishes in categories of appetizer, soup or salad,
entree, and dessert.  

If you don't want to enter a dish, stop by just to eat.  The cost is $5,
which includes 5 taste tickets.  Guitar Mac and his Blues Express will
provide entertainment as you enjoy all the healthy and humane dishes.

The VEGGIE COOK-OFF is a benefit for Animal Place – a sanctuary for farm
animals in northern California.

For more information, call 707-440-4814 or e-mail us.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:23:09 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: European Ban May Hurt U.S. Exports
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192306.006d8ff0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
----------------------------------
 09/11/1997 16:27 EST

 European Ban May Hurt U.S. Exports

 By STEPHANIE GRIFFITH
 Associated Press Writer

 BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A proposed European ban on animal by-products
 could set off a new trade dispute with the United States, a senior U.S.
 trade official said Thursday.

 Stuart Eizenstat, undersecretary of state for economic affairs, said the
 restriction could hurt the exports of American pharmaceutical and
 cosmetic manufacturers.

 The proposed ban ``has no scientific foundation and could affect billions
 of dollars of U.S. exports to Europe,'' Eizenstat told a meeting of the
 American Chamber of Commerce in Brussels.

 Hardest hit would be goods containing tallow, a product obtained by
 boiling animal carcasses that is used to make drugs and cosmetics.

 The United States and the European Union are locked in similar squabbles
 over health issues involving products like genetically modified corn and
 soybeans.

 Acting on a complaint from the United States, a World Trade Organization
 panel ruled last month that the European ban on growth hormones in cattle
 is an unfair restriction on trade.

 Eizenstat said the proposed ban on animal by-products would affect $4
 billion in U.S. pharmaceutical exports and an additional $14 billion in
 cosmetic goods. In turn, he said, Washington would block $7.5 billion in
 EU exports to the United States.

 In July, the EU banned a range of products from older cattle judged to be
 most at risk from bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
 Under the new rules, the brains, eyes and spinal cords of cattle, sheep
 and goats more than a year old and the spleen of all sheep and goats will
 be removed from the food chain.

 The ban was to take effect Jan. 1, 1998, as part of a campaign to
 eradicate the risk of humans contracting a strain of the deadly
 brain-wasting disease.

 This week, however, a panel of EU scientists recommended exempting some
 medicines from the proposed ban. It said tallow-derived products could be
 considered safe for humans if ``appropriate, validated'' and
 scientifically advanced methods are used in their production.

 Touching on a different dispute, Eizenstat also urged the EU to abide by
 a WTO panel ruling that condemned Europe's practice of promoting imports
 of bananas from its former colonies.

 The policy favors banana imports from EU territories and developing
 countries, principally in the Caribbean, with longstanding economic ties
 to the 15-nation bloc.

 Under the WTO'

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:23:29 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) USDA To Check Slaughterhouses
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192325.00691d5c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
---------------------------------
 09/11/1997 12:07 EST

 USDA To Check Slaughterhouses

 By SCOTT BAUER
 Associated Press Writer

 LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The Department of Agriculture will send  
 investigators to slaughterhouses next week to search for the   
 source of contaminated beef that led to the nation's largest   
 recall of meat, officials said today.                          
                                                             
 Investigators have yet to find who supplied the Hudson Foods   
 plant in Columbus, Neb., with beef tainted with the E. coli    
 bacteria that sickened people in Colorado and led to a recall  
 of 25 million pounds of ground beef because of possible
 contamination.

 Agriculture Department spokeswoman Jacque Knight said today that
 investigators will examine slaughter plant production, shipping records
 and records of testing for the E. coli bacteria.

 Investigators have said that the meat supplied to Hudson was contaminated
 before it ever reached the plant. The suppliers' names have not been
 released.

 The investigation will focus on those companies that supplied Hudson with
 beef on June 5, one of the days the contaminated beef was believed to
 have been processed, Ms. Knight said. She did not know how many plants
 would be checked.

 Hudson's plant in Columbus, 75 miles northwest of Lincoln, shut down Aug.
 21 after the company and the Agriculture Department recalled the 25
 million pounds of hamburger.

 The Columbus plant was a major supplier to Burger King restaurants, and a
 quarter of the nation's second-largest fast-food chain was left without
 meat for a day or two. Burger King canceled its contract with Hudson and
 the company, left without a major customer for the plant, decided to sell
 the plant to Dakota City, Neb.-based IBP.

 Earlier this month, it was announced that Tyson Foods was purchasing
 Hudson. Company officials have said that will not affect the sale of the
 Columbus plant to IBP.

 To date, about 6 million pounds of meat have been returned. The other 19
 million pounds have been consumed by customers or thrown away, Hudson and
 Agriculture Department officials said.

 No decision has been made on what will be done with the recalled meat,
 but Hudson officials have said it will not be reused for human
 consumption. It could be cooked at a high enough temperature to kill the
 bacteria and be used for pet food, Ms. Knight said.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:23:49 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Swiss Court: Altered Soybeans OK
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192347.00691e8c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 09/12/1997 12:13 EST

 Swiss Court: Altered Soybeans OK

 BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- Switzerland's supreme court has thrown out a
 challenge by environmental and consumer groups against imports of
 genetically altered soybeans.

 Greenpeace denounced the move -- made public Friday -- as ``scandalous,''
 and said it was a ``slap in the face for the Swiss public.''

 The government initially gave the go-ahead to the import of genetically
 modified soybeans, produced by St. Louis-based chemicals giant Monsanto
 Co., last December.

 It was forced to put that decision on hold in January because of a legal
 challenge from Greenpeace, the Worldwide Fund for Nature and Swiss
 consumer groups. In March, the Interior Ministry overruled the challenge
 and said the soybeans could be imported immediately.

 Greenpeace and its partners took the case to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
 But the supreme court said the groups had no right of appeal.

 Even though genetically altered produce is legal in most of the world,
 some environmental and consumer groups worry that the food products could
 reduce the effectiveness of antibiotic medicines.

 Genetically modified soybeans must be labeled in Switzerland. They are
 used in food products ranging from chocolate to sauces to baby food.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:24:10 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US)There's more to animal communication than meets the ear
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19691231190000.00691e8c@envirolink.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
---------------------------------
There's more to animal communication than meets the ear

Killer whales with accents, prairie dogs with vocabularies 

September 11, 1997
Web posted at: 11:23 p.m. EDT (0323 GMT) 

>From Correspondent Rusty Dornin 

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- It is commonly thought that animal communication is
confined to a few fundamental sounds such as a menacing bark, a few warning
chirps or the bawl of a lost cub. 

But researchers say that the way animals communicate may be more elaborate
and sophisticated than it appears. 

Kangaroo rats, for example, communicate by stamping their feet. Recordings
of their syncopated toe-tapping suggest to researcher Jan Randall that
there is more there than just a congenital sense of rhythm. 

"It doesn't have pitch," Randall said, "but the animals can modify it so
it's different, so it has the components of a language." 

Researchers have distinguished when a rat is drumming for territory,
drumming for a mate or drumming to warn off its worst enemy, the snake. 

"What the rat is saying it when it foot-drums an alert is 'I'm alert ... I
see you ... go away.'" 

Bio-acoustical engineer Bernie Krause has gone from the equator to the
Arctic Circle, eavesdropping on the animal kingdom. He believes animal
communication is quite complex. 

"I'll see evidence of creatures having exchanges between one another ...
behavior that kind of relates to vocal communication that's astounding."
Killer whales with accents  Krause says killer whales have detailed chats
when on the attack, and that the accent of one pod might be different from
that of others. 

"There may be groups in the area that have the same language and
articulation," Krause said, "but each pod or group of animals has its own
vocal accent which is unique to that pod."  Ornithologist Luis Baptista
says sparrows sing different dialects in each region. He says birds can
also give more than one danger call. 

"A little one means 'Watch it!'" Baptista said. "But if it's very serious,
they say 'Very, very careful!' And some birds have a danger signal that
says 'a hawk is overhead.' So some birds have danger signals for 'above' or
'on the ground.'" 

Another researcher says that prairie dogs bark differently depending on the
predator. There's one bark for coyotes, one for hawks and one for humans.
The researcher claims there's even one for a human carrying a gun. 

Some scientists scoff at such interpretations and say animals are
capable of only the simplest alert calls. But a growing number agree that
talk amongst the animals is anything but dull. 
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:24:31 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Sick Fish Close Another Waterway
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192429.006bf760@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-------------------------------------
 09/14/1997 20:09 EST

 Sick Fish Close Another Waterway

 By JAMES FRANKLIN
 Associated Press Writer

 BALTIMORE (AP) -- Part of another river on Maryland's Eastern Shore was
 closed Sunday after an outbreak of lesions was discovered in the river's
 fish population.

 It's the third Maryland waterway where fish lesions or kills have
 occurred in the past month.

 Lesions were first seen Saturday evening on thousands of menhaden
 swimming in the Chicamacomico River, said Nancy Howard, spokeswoman for
 the state Department of Natural Resources.

 ``They're not dead. They're swimming,'' Ms. Howard said. ``Most ... have
 lesions.''

 Fish kills or lesions have been reported in the lower Pocomoke River and
 tiny Kings Creek off the Manokin River. Though they haven't proved it
 conclusively, scientists believe a toxic microbe called Pfiesteria
 piscicida is causing lesions and sores on fish and also causing health
 problems in some humans.

 Pfiesteria is a harmless one-celled organism unless something triggers it
 to change form and emit a poison that attacks fish, allowing the organism
 to feed on them until they die.

 The toxic chemical given off by pfiesteria also causes human health
 problems such as short-term memory loss.

 So far, there have been no human illnesses specifically linked with the
 Chicamacomico River's waters, Ms. Howard said. Gov. Parris Glendening
 announced the closing of the six-mile area Sunday.

 Scientists suspect excessive nutrients from chicken plants and farms in
 the Eastern Shore may be running into waterways and nourishing the
 microbe.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:24:42 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) DeKalb County Jail Protest
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192439.006d0848@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Animal Rights Activists Picket Jail

found on CNN web page:
----------------------------------------
Reuters
15-SEP-97                    

(DECATUR) -- Animal rights activists are demanding answers from the DeKalb
County Jail this morning. One of their members, Sue McCrosky, is serving a
45-day sentence in the jail after a violent protest last April at Emory
University's Yerkes Primate Research Center. The protestors claim that
jailers are denying McCrosky life-saving medication and say she is housed
in unsanitary conditions. 
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:24:52 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Farm Scene: Farmers Feel Wrongly Blamed for Microorganism
  Problem
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192449.006d31ec@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
----------------------------------
September 15, 1997 7:09 am EDT 

Farm Scene: Farmers Feel Wrongly Blamed for Microorganism Problem

SHELLTOWN, Md. (AP) Barbara Asanovich already has seen her charter boat
business on the skids because of bad publicity from the toxic microbe
pfiesteria piscicida. Now she wonders if her poultry operation will be next. 

A government commission has been formed to look into stronger regulations
on farms and chicken houses in the belief that a reduction in nutrient
runoff will starve the deadly microorganism threatening rivers and creeks
on Maryland's lower Eastern Shore. 

Asanovich says rules on cover crops, fertilizers, sediment ponds and
chicken manure would hurt her poultry business. But pfiesteria, which has
caused fish kills and human health problems, has scared away of lot of
charter boat traffic, she said last week. 

"I'm between a rock and a hard place," Ms. Asanovich said. The lower eight
miles of the Pocomoke River, tiny Kings Creek off the Manokin River and a
six-mile stretch of the Chicamacomico River all tributaries of the
Chesapeake Bay have been closed because of suspected pfiesteria and worries
it could cause short-term memory loss and respiratory problems in humans. 

The Pocomoke borders part of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which also has
closed its half of the river. 

The farm community feels besieged. Although no definite link has been made
between farm runoff and pfiesteria, scientists in North Carolina, where the
microorganism was first detected in 1988, believe nutrients such as
phosphorous and animal wastes help the toxic algae to grow in heavier
concentrations. 

Maryland watermen have blamed farmers. So has the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, a conservation group that specifically targets runoff from
poultry manure as a suspect. 

But the announcement that a government commission was being formed with an
eye toward new farm laws next year led many farmers to believe they are
being indicted without hard facts to back up the charge. 

Rick Nelson, president of the Somerset County Farm Bureau, said he has no
doubt that the amount of farm runoff has lessened not worsened in the last
decade, making the connection between this year's pfiesteria episodes and
runoff tenuous. 

He said most farmers are willing to accept whatever it takes to get rid of
the microorganism, including mandatory programs and stricter regulations.
But they want someone to make sure those steps will work before they accept
them and pay the financial price of government regulation. 

"They're trying to blame too much of this on agriculture," said Nelson, an
insurance agent who has two chicken houses. "Our problem is, we want to
know what is going on as much as anybody else. We've got to live here.
We've got to raise our families here." 

Even Donald Boesch, who runs the University of Maryland Center for
Environmental Science in Cambridge and advises state officials on studying
pfiesteria, said there remain some doubts farm runoff is the cause. 

"We could take all these steps and still have pfiesteria problems," Boesch
said, adding that the evidence linking runoff and the microorganism is far
from conclusive. 

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:25:04 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Maryland Shuts down another Waterway in Fish Lesion Scare
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192502.006d0cac@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

found on CNN web page:
--------------------------------------
September 15, 1997 7:16 am EDT 

Maryland Shuts down another Waterway in Fish Lesion Scare

AP
15-SEP-97

BALTIMORE (AP) Environmental officials have closed six miles of a Eastern
Shore river, the third Maryland waterway shut down in the past month
because of sores and lesions found on fish. 

The Chicamacomico River was closed Sunday, just days after afflicted fish
were seen in tiny Kings Creek off the Manokin River. Fish kills or lesions
also have been reported in the lower Pocomoke River. 

Fish with lesions were first seen Saturday evening in the Chicamacomico,
which runs close to the town of Vienna, said Nancy Howard, spokeswoman for
the state Department of Natural Resources. 

"They're not dead." Ms. Howard said. "Most of that you see have lesions." 

Though they haven't proved it conclusively, scientists believe a toxic
microbe called Pfiesteria piscicida is causing the sores and also causing
health problems in some humans. 

Pfiesteria is a harmless one-celled organism unless something triggers it
to change form and emit a poison that attacks fish, allowing the organism
to feed on them until they die. The chemical given off by pfiesteria also
causes human health problems such as short-term memory loss. 

So far, there have been no human illnesses specifically linked with the
Chicamacomico, Ms. Howard said. 

Researchers in North Carolina, where the microorganism was first detected
in 1988, believe nutrients such as phosphorous and animal wastes help the
organism to grow in heavier concentrations. 

Scientists suspect excessive nutrients from chicken plants and farms in the
Eastern Shore may be running into waterways and nourishing the microbe. 
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:29:05 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Actors: The Show Must Not Go On
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970915192902.00693708@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 09/12/1997 17:03 EST

 Actors: The Show Must Not Go On

 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Actors Judge Reinhold and Ali MacGraw have
 asked the federal Agriculture Department to revoke the license of King
 Royal Circus, the owner of an elephant found dead in a trailer last
 month.

 ``It's becoming obvious to good people that these magnificent creatures
 do not belong in leg shackles; that they do not deserve to be beaten into
 submission ... so they can perform idiotic tricks for people,'' Reinhold
 said in a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals statement.

 MacGraw added in a letter to the USDA, ``They cannot be allowed to go
 back to people who have shown such obvious disregard for their welfare.''

 The USDA suspended King Royal's federal license for exotic animals Aug.
 20 after Heather, an 8-year-old African elephant, was found dead inside a
 trailer near the Albuquerque airport. The city of Albuquerque was granted
 temporary custody of eight llamas and two other elephants that were in
 the trailer. The animals are being kept at the Rio Grande Zoo.

 Also Thursday, Rep. Steve Schiff, R-N.M., asked Agriculture Secretary Dan
 Glickman for an assessment of what federal laws might apply to the Aug. 6
 incident and ``on behalf of exotic animals in general who fall under the
 Animal Welfare Act.''

 Circus attorney Ron Koch could not be reached for comment.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:39:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: SMatthes@aol.com
To: 
Cc: alf@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us, nnetwork@cwnet.com, BHGazette@aol.com
Subject: Royal Palace Circus 
Message-ID: <970915193622_1717959095@emout02.mail.aol.com>

Does anyone have info on the Royal Palace Circus?  They are scheduled for a
performance in Sarasota, Florida on Tuesday, September 23rd.  Sarasota In
Defense of Animals is planning a public demonstration at Sarasota Co.
Fairgrounds-Robarts Arena, 3000 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota, Florida at 5:30
p.m., Sept. 23.   Circus showtime is 7:00 p.m..  Coupons are being
distributed all over the city for FREE child admissions.  


Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:24:36 -0700
From: In Defense of Animals 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Horse dragged behind truck
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

On Friday (Sept.12), a man in Union County, Mississippi chained his horse
to a trailer and proceeded to drive off with the horse attached to the
trailer. After four or five miles that horse fell and he continued to drive
for 3,125 ft leaving a trail of blood which was witnessed by a number of
people including a seven-year-old girl. It is a misdemeanor in Mississippi
to cruelly transport a horse and a felony to transport with malicious or
mischievous intent. The sheriff did not respond to this situation until a
news station brought attention to the incident. As of right now, the horse
is in possession of this man who dragged it, no charges have been filed and
the sheriff has excused the man saying he didn't know the horse had fell
and the sun was in his eyes. The town is outraged that no action has been
taken against this man, and calls need to be made by people both inside and
outside of Mississippi to encourage the sheriff to charge this man with the
crimes he committed. Contact: Sheriff Joe Bryant, 601-534-1941.


Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:49:39
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Sheep export plan opposed
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915174939.224ff860@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, September 13th, 1997

Sheep export plan opposed


A PLAN to export 4,000 live sheep a week to the continent  from Whitby,
North Yorks, has met strong opposition.

Scarborough council's harbour committee, which agreed in principle to the
export of live animals in 1980 but has not received an application until
now, is under pressure to refuse permission when it meets on Wednesday.
Whitby councillor, Dorothy Clegg, expressing the feelings of protesters,
said yesterday: "In my view the export of live animals is nothing less than
cruelty and we cannot allow it."

But the plan, drawn up by a Hull shipping agent, has the support of several
councillors keen to encourage business in Whitby, an unemployment blackspot.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:49:19
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Monkey saga reflects serious problems in health funding
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915174919.224fc366@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Vancouver Sun - Friday, September 12th, 1997

By Mark Kennedy
Southam Newspapers

OTTAWA - The fate of 115 research monkeys is just the latest in a string of
emotional controversies that have swirled around Canada's health protection
branch.

Fundong has dropped from $237 million in 1993-94 to $136 million this year.
By 1999 - 2000, the branch will get $118 million. The cuts have prompted a
restructuring of operations and raised public concern that the health of
Canadians could be in danger.

The monkeys, who were to be killed next week because they could no longer
be afforded and who then received a repreive after a public outcry, are
part of a much larger story.

Canada's equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversees the
safety of everything from food and drugs to cardiac pacemakers and condoms.
The Health Canada branch also stands watch for emerging diseases such as
AIDS and ebola.

The result of the cuts and restructuring, critics and some and the branch's
own scientists say, is the quiet dismantling of the branch. They point to:

- The closure of labs that study food contaminants and drug reactions

- The transfer of food inspectors to a new agency that is mandated to keep
the food supply safe, but also promote the food industry.

- An internal review to determine whether its division that regulates drugs
and medical devices should be turned into a "special operating agency"
loctaed outside the health department.

Once these changes are in place, the branch could lose most of its
regulatory power and be reduced primarily to a disease watchdog, with the
Laboratory for Disease Control at its core. That surviving entity would
likely be renamed the Centre for Public Health and serve mostly as a source
of information on epidemics.

"We're in the final phase of deregulation," says Dr Michelle Brill-Edwards,
a former Health Canada bureaucrat who now heads an Ottawa-based public
interest group. "This is the phase of actually dismantling the structures
that provide the basis for employees of the department to uphold the Food
and Drugs Act."

Brill-Edwards alleges the government has capitulated to powerful
pharmacutical companies, the food industry and chemical firms that produce
seeds and fertilizer for the agriculture sector.

She says Canadians will no longer have one health-safety branch managed by
a senior bureaucrat who acts as a "quarterback" in times of crises -
coordinating food inspectors, drug regulators and epidemiologists. In
short, no one will be in charge.

Dr. Shiv Chopra, a drug regulator in the branch, agrees. He says regulators
are increasingly pressured to conduct speedy drug reviews, and there has
been a philisophical shift toward providing a "service" to the industry.

"There has been a constant pressure to downgrade the role of the Food and
Drugs Directerate and to redefine the client."

About 75 food research scientists were so alarmed this summer that they
signed a petition and had one of their own, Dr. Bobn Dabeka, deliver it to
Health Minister Allan Rock's office.

Their letter predicted "disastrous health and economic implications" that
would "seriously affect the future health of Canadian infants, children and
adults." They maintained their action was not motivated simply to protect
their jobs [many are being relocated elsewhere in government] but by a
sincere desire to protect public safety.

Rock has said only that he is studying the overhaul he inherited with the
portfolio in June.

Dr Joe Losos, assistant deputy ministerof the health protection branch,
says the bureau is responding to budget cuts and focussing on emerging
priorities.

"We're a vibrant organization. But we can't stand still. So we have to
redesign."

New Democrat health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis accuses the government of
slowly dismantling the branch to hide its larger deregulatory agenda from
the public.

"It's a very clever approach. It's done bit by bit and people won't get a
sense of what's happening until the damage is done."

The 115 monkeys, now repreived, were part of a 20-year study on how monkeys
react over time to low levels of lead and mercury. The end of the project
would also dash researchers' hopes that they could learn more about human
dementia.

Debeka, of the food labs, argues the government will never get this kind of
long-term, expert research done by contracting a university professor and
his students to do the work.

"The work we do is relevant. You can end up with enormous health-care
savings."

But Losos says the research can be done eleswhere. "We've never had the
monopoly on science."

  
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:50:10
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Science is sexier than ever
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915175010.2bd73942@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, September 13th, 1997

Science is sexier than ever

To coincide with the British Association meeting at Leeds University,
Graham Farmelo analyses our hopes and fears for a brave new world

SCIENTISTS have an image problem. People worry that they are playing God,
spending too much money on the wrong things - or so we are told. In fact,
things aren't as bleak as they seem.

Although some people are fearful of what science has in store, an
impressive 81 per cent believe they are fortunate to live in a fast-moving
scientific age, 30 per cent more than the
number who felt the same way almost 40 years ago.

That's one of the astonishing results of this year's Gallup survey of
public attitudes to science, the 10th commissioned by The Telegraph. There
are plenty of surprising findings
here for the scientists to debate with the public at the annual meeting of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, now under way in
Leeds.

Many will be surprised to see a topic as unfashionable as pollution-free
transport top the list of funding priorities, receiving support from a
remarkable 92 per cent of the public. Most will be taken aback by the
concern over the scientists' new ability to manipulate life, through
cloning and by genetically altering crops and animals bred for food
consumption.

Everyone will be intrigued by the contrasting attitudes of men and women -
not only are women usually more concerned than men about advances in
medical science, they are also invariably more reluctant to spend money on
technological research.

As the information technology revolution gathers momentum, computers are
becoming more intelligent by the year. "We shall be lucky if they keep us
as pets," said Marvin Minsky, the American artificial intelligence guru.
The survey shows that six out of every 10 people are concerned that they
might soon be in the same position as the astronauts in the film 2001: A
Space Odyssey, where they were outwitted by HAL, the smooth-talking
computer. Men and women are equally perturbed by this prospect.

But, predictably, people seem less worried about computer technology than
about what is probably going to be the most revolutionary technology of the
next century, when it will be
commonplace for biologists to tinker with the very stuff of life. The
survey is shot through with the public's aversion to science that seems
contrary to the natural order of things - advances with a distressingly
high "yuk factor".

People seem ill-disposed towards the idea of artificial wombs, the use of
human tissue taken from aborted foetuses and even research that aims to
extend life indefinitely. In each case, two out of every three people are
troubled by the very idea of these things. Scientists have a lot of work to
do if they are to make such developments palatable and to bring them into
the mainstream of medical science. At the moment, I suspect that they give
most people the creeps.

Women are particularly unhappy about some of these attempts to interfere
with nature. They are far more concerned than men about the use of animal
organs in transplant operations and about the ability to predict an
individual's risk of disease, which is becoming possible
through genetic screening. This procedure could have a huge impact on
health services in the coming decade, when it may become more widely
available if the professionals judge it to be worthwhile and if patients
want it.

The survey demonstrates that the public have some surprising views on how
money should be spent in the technological research labs. The public seem
remarkably utilitarian in their attitude to new ideas. Four people in five
want to find safer ways of harnessing nuclear power and of making
artificial organs for transplants. In addition, almost two in three are
eager to develop ways of enabling people to work from home (teleworking).
Perhaps this reflects further concern about the state of our transport system.

Virtual reality - the computer generation of almost life-like, simulated
environments - has yet to capture the public imagination, but it can be
only a matter of time before this obsession of many young people is shared
more widely. I wonder how many of the survey's participants realise what
may be possible with this technology: in your own home, you might be able
to do anything from virtually wrestling with a dinosaur to making virtual
love to your favourite film
star. If this technology does come on stream, the writer JG Ballard has
warned that "it will represent the greatest challenge to the human race
since the invention of language".

But perhaps virtual reality is only the latest boy's toy of new technology
and so has limited appeal. Women are certainly far less keen than men to
invest more money in it. More
surprising still is that they are even less interested than men in
supporting work on producing pills to help people avoid putting on weight:
only about one adult in three thinks such work is important.

This finding will be especially puzzling to those in the slimming industry,
which manages to sell products and services to people who desperately want
to weigh less but who normally don't lose anything in the long term except
money.

Most people seem happy to reap the benefits of living in a scientific age
even if they have concerns about the direction of future research,
particularly in biomedicine, which is
poised dramatically to change our lives in the coming century. It is
important that specialist scientists take heed of these worries and that
they address them in open dialogue with the rest of us.

The author is head of exhibitions at the Science Museum, London

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:50:45
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Conservation fails birds most at risk
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915175045.2bd78e9c@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, September 15th, 1997

Conservation fails birds most at risk
By A J McIlroy 

CONSERVATION programmes to rescue the country's most endangered species of
birds are failing, according to a report by the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds.

A sample survey of 18 of its 65 initiatives to help UK native birds shows
that only seven are making satisfactory progress.

Six action plans are in difficulties and involve birds in the society's Red
Category of most-threatened species. The species in trouble are the
bittern, black grouse, capercaillie,
grey partridge, and hen harrier.

A further five programmes are rated "probably satisfactory". These involve
conservation of the song thrush, skylark, Scottish crossbill, crested tit
and the chough.

Satisfactory progress is being made with the white-tailed eagle, stone
curlew, roseate tern, red kite, corncrake, Montagu's harrier, and the cirl
bunting.

In their report, Birds in the Balance, which is published today, the
society details the progress of each of the sample programmes. The
"unsatisfactory" category makes gloomy
reading.

In England, the bittern, one of the most endangered of all the UK species,
had confirmation of only 11 males compared  with 22 last year. The decline
is linked to a poor breeding
season followed by a severe winter.

The population of the black grouse is also in rapid decline, at 6,350 males
down to a quarter of what it was a decade ago due to overgrazing of habitat
and collisions with deer fencing. A programme to conserve the capercaillie
has been set back for similar reasons.

In spite of monitoring, public education, enforcement and research into the
effects of forestry, hen harrier numbers are also down. Persecution of the
bird is rife, with up to 74 female harriers killed illegally every year.

The dramatic decline in grey partridge, down to 150,000 pairs in 1992,
continues with blame falling on pesticides, the loss of hedgerows and
ungrazed grasslands.

There is better news for some other species. In Scotland, the corncrake has
enjoyed another good breeding season, with at least 610 male birds counted,
while in Wales, red kites have reached the milestone of 100 breeding pairs.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:17:53
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Experts to check risk of a CJD epidemic
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915191753.23cf17ac@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, September 16th, 1997

Experts to check risk of a CJD epidemic
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor 

AN expert panel has been set up to weigh the risk of an emerging epidemic
of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease linked to beef infected with mad cow disease,
the Government said yesterday. 

Sir Kenneth Calman, Chief Medical Officer, announced the formation of a
sub-group of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to review
data on "new variant" CJD so
that any emerging trend could be identified as soon as possible.

"There is still a lot we do not know about this disease, including
information on incubation, route of infection, level of exposure required
to cause disease and the role of genetic
susceptibility.

"One obvious question is how many cases of new variant CJD are there going
to be," said Prof John Pattison, the committee chairman.

Head of the new sub-group will be Prof Peter Smith, of the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who gave a warning earlier this year that
there remains the potential for
a 100,000-case epidemic of new variant CJD.

The Department of Health yesterday published the fifth annual report of the
national Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease surveillance unit. A total of 23 variant
CJD cases have come to light since the new strain became known in March
last year, although the official figure stands at 21. "The rate at which
new cases appear has remained pretty consistent,"
said Prof Pattison.

One case, that of Clare Tomkins, 24, from Tonbridge, Kent, attracted
considerable publicity as a vegetarian who had not eaten meat for 11 years,
when the first confirmed case was
published in 1986.

However, Prof Pattison said that the likeliest explanation is exposure to
beef products before 1985. "It is likely that in the early days, when
numbers were very low, and nobody had recognised this disease, we missed
one or two. The agent must have been around since 1981."

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:25:49
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK]Sprouting broccoli 'helps fight off cancer'
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915192549.23cf6012@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, September 16th, 1997

Sprouting broccoli 'helps fight off cancer'
By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent 

A TABLESPOON of broccoli sprouts eaten every day could give powerful
protection against cancer, scientists claim today.

The three-day-old sprouts, grown in the same way as alfalfa or bean
sprouts, contain high proportions of a substance known to boost cancer
protection. Scientists say that while
vegetables such as mature broccoli also contain the substance, a handful of
the sprouts can provide up to 50 times more of it than an equivalent weight
of mature broccoli. They are testing broccoli seeds to see which varieties
contain the highest proportions. 

Scientists have known for some time that broccoli - and other vegetables
such as cauliflower and cabbage - contain the chemical sulforaphane which
is known to boost the body's natural cancer-fighting abilities. 

The drawback has been that mature broccoli contains highly variable amounts
of the substance and there is no way of telling which plants are going to
be high producers. Even
broccoli with a high concentration of the chemical does not furnish enough
when it is eaten in average amounts.

They compared the contents of broccoli sprouts with 22 varieties of fresh
and frozen broccoli on sale and found that the sprouts had more consistent
concentrations of the substance as well as being more potent.

Finally the researchers tested broccoli sprout extract on rats exposed to
carcinogens and found that it reduced the incidence of tumours and their
size. The work is published in
today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Broccoli sprouts have never been commercially available," said Prof Paul
Talalay, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

 "I don't know why. They are just baby broccoli. They taste delicious. They
have rather more of the sharpness that we find in types of compounds that
are responsible for anti-cancer activity which are not unlike mustard."

But he warned: "Most seeds are sold for growing commercially and are
treated with pesticides and fungicides.That's not suitable for these
purposes. We are very anxious
to make them available as soon as possible to the public."

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:34:29
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK/US] The falcons have landed at JFK
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970915193429.23cf5fa6@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, September 16th, 1997

The falcons have landed at JFK
By Charles Laurence in New York 

THIRTEEN falcons with six falconers to control them have been put on the
payroll at New York's Kennedy Airport in the latest effort to protect
passengers' safety.

Their job is to frighten away seagulls and vast flocks of migrating birds
which could cause serious accidents if sucked into jet engines. The airport
managers have brought the
4,000-year-old art of falconry into the world of jet engines and radar
beacons after struggling for years to control birds.

Two teams of falconers, each with specially equipped vans,  now patrol
around the clock, ready to release a peregrine falcon. "Just the sight of
an actively hunting falcon is enough
to scare away almost any bird within half a mile," said Thomas Cullen, one
of the falconers, on patrol with a bird called Basil.

The falcon programme was introduced last year, and airport authorities say
it was so successful that they now propose to make it permanent. A £140,000
annual contract with the
falconers has been approved.

A measure of success was that while Department of Agriculture pest control
officers shot 6,700 hazardous birds the year before, the number dropped to
2,000 once the falcons were introduced.

"It is worth spending a little to save major costs from damage to aircraft
and, God forbid, loss of life or limb," said  Albert Graser, the Port
Authority manager of airport operations and security.

The authority said other airports in Europe, Taiwan and Canada had
experimented with falcons, but none on the scale of the team at Kennedy.
The US air force is also running trials on the technique. Kennedy is
particularly vulnerable to bird intrusion because it is built on a seashore
which is a natural breeding and feeding ground for birds.

The National Park Service has set up a huge bird sanctuary next door at the
Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Canada geese and migrating swallows
both use Jamaica Bay
as a resting station on their journeys from north to south and back again.

Fifty thousand swallows are expected at the airport's north east corner
next month. But the greatest hazard is now reported to be thousands of
laughing gulls, a species hunted almost to extinction for its feathers but
now rebounding.

Their numbers have multiplied since the Park Service launched a breeding
programme early in the 1980s, and there are at least 3,000 nests within a
mile of the main Kennedy runway. The Federal Aviation Administration says
bird strikes cause about £250 million in damage to civilian and military
aircraft every year in America.

In 1995, 24 people died when an air force surveillance jet crashed after
four geese were sucked into its engines.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:22:44 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CA-TW) Town welcomes hog plant
Message-ID: <199709160322.LAA00989@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>CNA Daily English News Wire

CANADIAN TOWN WELCOMES TAIWAN HOG PLANT 

Ottawa, Sept. 11 (CNA) Mayor David Carpenter of Lethbridge, southern
Alberta, welcomed the building of a Taiwan-invested hog processing plant
Thursday, saying it marked a special day that will be recorded "among the
highlights of our city's history." 

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for Yuan Yi (Canada) Co. Ltd.'s
US$10.9-million investment project, which will hire as many as 800 in full
production, Carpenter said, "It is a day that will long live in our memories." 

The mayor spoke highly of the Lee family, which is making a bold move from
southern Taiwan to Canada, saying he has been impressed "not only by their
business acumen, but by their warmth, their graciousness and their concern
for their new community." He added that Yuan Yi will make a
wonderful addition to Lethbridge's corporate family. 
"Yuan Yi has put Lethbridge on the map -- world wide -- but particularly in
Taiwan and Japan," he told a gathering of well-wishers, including those from
Japan who have been Yuan Yi's customers since 1977, when Lee Chi-Hsiang took
over the board chairmanship of the company. 

The mayor said many communities across Canada vied for the honor of being
selected as host community. He was proud that his city was chosen, for many
factors. 

He said that Lethbridge won not merely because of its advantages in terms of
hog production and processing but also because the city "offers something
special in the way of infrastructure, in the way of support and in the way
of lifestyle that is available here and nowhere else." 

Construction of the frozen pork processing plant on a 50-acre site is
scheduled for completion next spring, so it will start exporting to Japan in
the fall of 1998. Yuan Yi has also opted to buy 14 acres of adjacent land to
build a frozen vegetable processing facility. 

Lethbridge, population 60,000, lies 217 km southwest of Calgary and boasts
such successful companies as Sakai Spice, Canbra Foods and York Foods. The
small community also has both a college and a university. (By S.C. Chang) 

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:23:07 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (MO-HK) Bullfighters return to animal groups' anger
Message-ID: <199709160323.LAA03189@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Hong Kong Standard
16 Sept 97
Bullfighters return to animal groups' anger
By Renato Reyes 

LAST year the cavaleiros won hands down. 

They sprinted on horses around a soccer pitch, stabbed their spears on a
charging beast and raised their sombreros amid spectators in a makeshift
arena across the Hotel Lisboa in Macau. 

Except for bad weather, the show went on without a hitch. 

The men on horseback had their bulls and ate them too. 

Now they are back once more for another round of bullfighting that animal
rights groups failed to stop. 
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (SAC) to Animals and the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Hong Kong acknowledged that
their campaign made little impact last year. 

People paid to watch the bullfights, with some estimates placing their
number at around 25,000. 

``The attitude of the people was quite lethargic,'' Jill Robinson, IFAW
Representative in Hong Kong and China, said. 

``That sort of attitude makes profits for the bullfights.'' 

But it's not over yet as the IFAW and SPCA try a new approach to woo people
away from thebullfights. But is it going to work this time? 

Last year the two organisations focused on getting one of the major
sponsors, the Sociedade de Tourismo E Diversoes de Macau, to withdraw its
support. 

They appealed to casino magnate Stanley Ho, who controls the company, to
intervene. 

But Mr Ho, a former SPCA president, proved to be more a businessman than an
animal lover. 

``We didn't have any control over him,` SPCA spokeswoman Amy Chow said. ``We
could only appeal to him.'' 

But the two groups failed to organise a concerted campaign against the
bullfights. 

Whatever assault they delivered was more sporadic than organised, like the
few scattered commentsthey made every time the media came calling to get
their reaction to the issue. 

``We didn't make a big thing of the bullfights,'' Ms Chow says. ``We didn't
want to give them free publicity.'' 

In fact, the bullfights proved to be more popular than the animal rights
campaigners first thought. 

Ms Robinson and a handful of student volunteers held protests at the venue
but to no avail. 

But from the moment the cavaleiros arrived in their fancy outfits on their
trusty steeds the waiting crowds were riveted. 

There is something about a bullfight that sparks an animal-like curiosity
among the public. 

They feel they must see for themselves a form of entertainment they only
usually see on television. 

In fact, bullfights are among the favourite attractions of tourists who
visit Spain and Portugal. 

Although the arena was not filled last year, the bullfights made enough
money to entice back the bullfight organiser, Taurus. 

It will hold five shows on the weekends between 27 September and 5 October
at the same 5,000-seat bullring on Macau Workers' soccer pitch. 

The organisers have even added a new treat by featuring the first woman
bullfighter on horseback, Marta Manuela, to ride in Macau. 

``This is a typical response,'' Ms Robinson says. ``When people go to Macau,
they go to the bullfights because it is something to do there.'' 

She says the Chinese people they surveyed at the gates of the arena told
them they were ``dismayed'' after seeing the bullfights. ``They said they
were not going back,'' she says. 

Ms Chow says Chinese people know nothing about the cruelty of bullfighting
because it is part of a culture alien to them. 

The challenge now for animal rights activists is to mobilise the converted
and convince the curious to stay away from the bullfights. ``We are
launching a hard-hitting advertising campaign this year at least to deter
people from buying tickets,'' Ms Robinson says. 

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the International
Fund for Animal Welfare have enlisted the help of a pop group, Beyond, and
an advertising company, J Walther Thompson, to help educate the public about
the cruelty of bullfighting. 

J Walther Thompson is designing the posters which will be posted at bus
terminus and the Star Ferry. 

Animal rights volunteers are also trying to get the support of people in
malls and on the Internet since the end of July, when they started the
campaign. The campaign will culminate in a press conference on 22 September
and in protests during the bullfights. 

``If we have posters, the public will know that they should not go,'' Ms
Chow says. 

 The campaign, although a bit tame compared to the aggressive tactics of
animal rights groups in the West, may be enough to convince some people in
Hong Kong to condemn the bullfight. 

Letters to newspapers expressing outrage at the bullfights were pouring in.
One reader said she would rather see the bullfighter go down in the ring
than the bull itself. 

``They couldn't let the bull fight more than once. He would soon learn which
was the man and which was the cape _ though this wouldn't bother me too much
since I'd be rooting for the bull anyway.'' 

The controversy has become heated, even comical, as some people have reacted
to the bullfighting hysteria and condemned, as one reader calls it, this
show of ``political correctness that verges on misanthrophy''. 

Miguel Aurelio, a cigar-chomping, steak-eating man, says he plans to watch
the bullfight and no amount of campaigning will convince him to stay away. 

``What's a few drops of blood, or even a dead bull, compared with centuries
of history and culture,'' he says. 

``The next thing you know they will want to ban meat-eating and we will all
have to eat vegetables all day and wear plastic shoes,'' he says. 




Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:23:13 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (MO-HK) Woman versus beast in bullfight
Message-ID: <199709160323.LAA04084@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>South China Morning Post
Tuesday  September 16  1997

     Bullfight organisers billing event as woman versus
     beast

     OLIVER POOLE

     Bullfight organisers in Macau trust a female touch will attract crowds
to the bloody
     event plagued last year by bad weather and animal rights protesters.

Portuguese cavaleira Marta Manuela, 24, will be one of the top bullfighters
appearing
     in the five-day $5 million fiesta aimed at attracting tourists.

     Ms Manuela is the world's only female cavaleira - Portugal's most
prestigious level of
     mounted bullfighters who ride horses as they challenge the 500-kilogram
animals.

     Two dozen bulls and three horses are being flown in especially for the
event, which will
     be held on September 27 to 28 and October 1, 4 and 5.

     Last year, the tournament was condemned by students and animal rights
protesters and
     a purpose-built stadium was two-thirds empty during the opening touradas.

     Another day was cancelled because of heavy rain.
Campaigners have this year promised to petition Macau's Governor and plan to
protest
     against the event.

     But organiser Jose Pinto said he was not concerned about campaigners:
"Last year we
     had an average of 4,000 people per show, compared to only a dozen
protesters. I
     think we can conclude they have no meaning."

     Any protests or attempts to disrupt the spectacular would be "all part
of the show", he
     said.

     He said the event had broken even last year on ticket sales. It is
hoped 70 per cent of
     spectators at this year's fiesta will come from Hong Kong. Visitors to
the enclave
     dropped by eight per cent in the first seven months of this year.

A 6,000-seat bamboo arena has been built alongside the Avenida Infante
D'Henrique
     for the fiesta. Tickets range from $90 to $400.

     A procession through the enclave has been organised for 5 pm on
September 26.

     The Macau Government has contributed $2.5 million towards the event.

     The bulls are expected to arrive four to five days before the contest
from Portugal. Mr
     Pinto said the bulls would be slaughtered after the contest and the
meat sold to
     restaurants.

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:23:21 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Red meat 'may lead to cancer'
Message-ID: <199709160323.LAA02586@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Tuesday  September 16  1997
     Red meat 'may lead to cancer'
     AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in London

     Eating large amounts of red meat could significantly increase the risk
of developing     stomach or bowel cancer, according to a British government
research group.

     The Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy is planning to warn
consumers this     month not to eat more than 140 grams of cooked red meat a
day to avoid running an     increased cancer risk, the Financial Times reported.

     The paper said 140 grams of cooked meat was equivalent to about 250
grams of raw     meat.

Research suggested a link between consumption of large quantities of red
meat and a     higher incidence of cancers of the stomach and the intestine,
the paper said.

     About 15 per cent of Britons eat large amounts of meat.

     The warning will be a new setback for the meat industry, already hit by
the impact of     mad cow disease.


Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:23:59 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (AU) Campaign for worldwide whale sanctuary
Message-ID: <199709160323.LAA04184@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>CNA Daily English News Wire
AUSTRALIA TO SPEARHEAD CAMPAIGN FOR WORLDWIDE SANCTUARY FOR 
WHALES 

Canberra, Sept. 13 (CNA) Australia will spearhead an international campaign
for a worldwide sanctuary for whales and confront Japan and Norway to end
commercial whaling, Environment Minister Robert Hill said recently. 

He told reporters Australia would lead the world to end commercial whaling
and that the global sanctuary will be promoted at the annual meeting of the
International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Monaco next month. 

He said the sanctuary would amount to a blanket moratorium on commercial
whaling in the absence of enforceable international laws. 

The only water not covered by the sanctuary would be each coastal nation's
12-nautical-mile territorial zone. 

The decision by Australia to end commercial whaling comes in response to a
national task force report on whaling which recommends the global sanctuary
or, as a lesser option, a 50-year moratorium on commercial whaling. 

The IWC figures show as few as 200 blue whales left in the oceans of the
southern hemisphere and only 550 humpbacks in the western North Atlantic. 

Yet nations, including Norway and Japan, continue to kill whales,
purportedly for research, while others have joined them in pressing for a
resumption of commercial whaling. 

Hill promised to carry the fight to Japan and Norway, beginning in Monaco. 
In 1996, Norway reported taking 503 whales for 730 tons of meat, while
Japan, through its international cetacean research organization, admitted to
killing 440 whales for 1,995 tons of meat. 

"There is no humane way to kill whales and there is simply no need to
harvest these beautiful and graceful animals," he said. 

The new global sanctuary proposed by the task force would extend the
existing whale sanctuaries in the Southern and Indian oceans, within which
the taking or killing of whales and other protected species is prohibited. 

"Ideally we would like a global whale sanctuary to include all waters up to
the low-water mark, but we recognize that this would involve significant
difficulties with national sovereignty," the task force report stated. (By
Peter Chen) 

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:24:29 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (SG) Jailed for burning dog alive 
Message-ID: <199709160324.LAA01649@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Straits Times
12 Sept 97
Four workers jailed for burning dog alive 

     By Lim Seng Jin 

     FOUR Thai construction workers who burnt a dog while it was still alive
because they     wanted to eat it were each jailed for two months yesterday. 

     The animal had to be put to sleep because of the extent of its injuries. 

     Samornram Narong, 22, and Thansamai Khotjan, 33, were dealt with for
the animal     abuse, while Boonmee Jeiythaisong, 37, and Chalerlermkiat
Phimsri, 35, were each     sentenced to an additional month's jail and three
strokes of the cane for entering Singapore illegally. 

     Samornram and Thansamai were dealt with in a magistrate's court and the
other two     were sentenced in a district court as they faced the
additional immigration charge. 

     Police prosecutor Richard Lim told District Judge John Ng that at 8.15
pm on Sept 2,     the four men were with two other Thais when they spotted
the stray mongrel. 

     One man suggested catching the dog to cook it, and all six surrounded
the animal. One     of them hit it with a pipe. 

     Samornram and Thansamai handed an acetylene torch to Chalerlermkiat, and
     Boonmee used it to burn the dog, scraping off its fur with a knife. 

     But they were spotted nearly two hours later by a policeman on his
rounds and he     arrested the four dealt with yesterday. The other two
escaped and are still at large. 
Pleading for leniency, the men said they were drunk and had never done
anything like     this before. Police prosecutor Rosalie Lee urged District
Judge See Kee Oon to pass     deterrent sentences on Boonmee and
Chalerlermkiat. She said: "Burning a dog alive     with a torch is not only
inhuman, it's grossly inhuman." 

     Inspector Lim had made a similar application to the magistrate's court
in the morning. 

     All first offenders, the men could each have been jailed for up to six
months and fined     up to $500. 

     The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said after
yesterday's     hearing that it had written to the Attorney-General to say
that the men deserved a stiffer     sentence. 

SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss said it had made an appeal "because of
the     extreme torture inflicted on the animal". 


Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:24:55 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (JP) Cattle Museum
Message-ID: <199709160324.LAA31741@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>Special to Asahi Evening News 
LIFE/ Hoofing along to the Cattle Museum
By JACQUELINE RUYAK 

14 Sept 97

This being the year of the ox, what better time to visit the Cattle Museum?
The only full-fledged museum of its kind in Japan, it opened two years ago
in Maesawa, a town of about 15,000 peopleand who knows how many cattle, in
southern Iwate Prefecture. 

Maesawa calls itself the home of cattle, and its beef is among some of the
most expensive on the market. No wonder that Maesawa cattle are the stars of
the municipal museum. 

The Maesawa Cattle Museum also explores the multi-faceted relationship
between people and cattle around the world. 

For example, you learn that some 12 hundred million dairy, beef or work
cattle are now raised worldwide, and that even-tempered, hard-working, and
loyal cattle have been an intimate part of human life in cultures around the
world. For millennia, oxen and water buffalo, along with horses,
made agriculture easier. Today, cattle still provide meat, milk, hides, and
bone meal to many. 

Through the ages, cattle have also been important in art, religion,
literature and folklore. Paleolithic paintings of aurochs, those now-extinct
ancestors of cattle, decorate the caves at Lascaux and Chauvet in France. 

China's Chan Buddhism produced the sublime "Ten Oxherding Pictures" which
depict a parable about an oxherd and his ox and symbolize the path to
enlightenment. Generations of Americans grew up on tales of Paul Bunyan and
Babe, his mythical blue ox. In India, cows remain sacred, while in
China and Japan it was long believed that rubbing a cow, or a figure of one,
brought good health or fortune. 

When it comes to displays, the museum does a remarkable job. 

First-floor displays are devoted to Maesawa cattle, a handsome breed of
black Japanese bovines produced by crossing Shimane cows with Tajima (Hyogo
Prefecture) bulls. 

Kiyokiku, a stuffed specimen of the breed, greets visitors to this section.
Curator Aki Tanuma confessed that, won by his soft and expressive brown
eyes, she starts work each morning with a hello to Kiyokiku. She would
probably give him a pat or hug, too, if not for the sign saying, "Don't
touch me." A similar sign is placed by each stuffed specimen in the museum,
and understandably so.
It's truly hard to keep from reaching out and patting these lifelike figures. 
For its juicy taste and marbled texture, Maesawa beef, which has been called
a work of art, ranks first in Japan, locals claim. 

Raised in special well-ventilated sheds, Maesawa cattle are fed a diet based
in part on rice straw. Farmers take very good care of them. On top of that,
the region is known for a group of top-flight seed bulls. 

Proof of the breed's excellence is that in the past decade, six Maesawa
cattlemen have taken top honors in a national competition for cattle raising. 

"You've got to be close enough to your cattle to communicate with them,"
advises one of the winners. 

Both first and second floors have intriguing fossils (or their
reproductions) aplenty. Downstairs there are whales, oysters, and other such
creatures from long ago when Maesawa was still ocean bed. 

Displayed upstairs are fossils of huge bison, wild oxen (including one found
in Iwate Prefecture), and of the little leptomeryx eansi, a distant ancestor
of today's cattle, with a skeleton that suggests a creature as delicate and
as large as the common domestic cat. There is even a fossilized bison skull
for visitors to touch and hold. 

Other second-floor displays explain just about everything about cattle,
except how they end up on you table. DNA, artificial insemination, what
their teeth are like at 14 days or 18 years, what those four stomachs look
like and what they do to food, are just part of the fascinating information
provided. 

Who would have guessed that in the early 1950s carrier pigeons were used to
transport bull semen around Japan? 

Four cattle breeds, all the result of crossbreeding, are now recognized as
Japanese, but a 1310 scroll depicts nine of the 10 cattle breeds then found
in Japan. 

The museum has an 18th century reproduction of that scroll. Cattle also
appear in woodblock prints, on stamps, currency, plates, votive paintings,
and as toys of all kinds. 

One corner of the museum is devoted to houses of the Toraja people of
Sulawesi, Indonesia, which are elaborately decorated with water buffalo
horns and carvings. 

I first heard of the museum because of its collection of brass, bone and
bamboo cow bells from around the world. 

On this past New Year's Eve, some 300 people gathered at the museum to ring
in the Year of the Ox with those bells. That won't happen for another 12
years, but meanwhile visitors can ring the bells on display. 

Built on a hilltop, the museum affords a lovely panoramic view of the
Kitakami River, terraced rice fields, and distant mountains. 

I don't eat meat, but if you want to try Maesawa beef at its source, head
next door to Maesawa Garden, which serves a variety of beef dishes, from an
800-yen hamburger steak to a 12,000-yen sirloin. 

Free recipes from the restaurant are also available at the museum. 

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:25:16 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Hope for handover to help green issues
Message-ID: <199709160325.LAA01177@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>South China Morning Post
Tuesday  September 16  1997

     Hope for handover to help green issues
     STAFF REPORTER

     The handover may push environmental issues up the mainland agenda,
according to the     ambassador of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

     Speaking at the launch of a charity walk for the fund's Mai Po bird
reserve, actress and     Miss Hong Kong 1994 Theresa Lee Yee-hung said: "It
is 1997 and we are now part of China. I really hope we can bring our
environmental knowledge to China because it  is a beautiful country - packed
with natural resources and unusual animals."

     Mai Po, near Yuen Long, attracts 68,000 birds flying south from Siberia
and northeast     China, including the rare and endangered Black-faced
Spoonbill.

     But the centre, which includes training facilities, costs $4 million a
year to run. It is     hoped the fund-raising walks on November 30, December
7 and 14 will pull in $1     million with a tickets $400 each and entry for
a family at $1,200.

     WWF communications manager Margaret Chan Mo-kit said: "Next year we are
hoping to use some of the money to improve disabled's access to Mai Po and
also to     construct some new educational facilities."

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 23:47:11 -0400
From: Wyandotte Animal Group 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Rodeo Abuse on "Hard Copy" this week!!!!
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970916034711.3e2757ea@mail.heritage.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from private e-mail:

>Hard Copy will being doing a segment on rodeo abuse this week:
>
>Wednesday 9-17-97 (check your local TV guide for the time)
>Thursday 9-18-97     (check your local TV guide for the time)
>
>Steve Hindi has traveled around the country getting footage of extreme abuse.
> Hard Copy will expose this for all to see.  Anyone interested in assistance
>or information, please contact CHARC.  If you are having a rodeo protest in
>your area, check with CHARC for protest advice, support or anything you need
>help on.
>
>Chicago Animal Rights Coalition
>P O Box 66
>Yorkville, IL 60560
>847-733-1732
>Fax: 708-208-0562
>Email:  shindi@aol.com





Jason Alley
Wyandotte Animal Group
wag@heritage.com



ARRS Tools  |  News  |  Orgs  |  Search  |  Support  |  About the ARRS  |  Contact ARRS

THIS SITE UNDERWRITTEN IN PART BY:
Gorilla Foundation

The views and opinions expressed within this page are not necessarily those of the
EnviroLink Network nor the Underwriters. The views are those of the authors of the work.