AR-NEWS Digest 419

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Students refuse to disect animals
     by Andrew Gach 
  2) Another push to irradiate food
     by Andrew Gach 
  3) Mice model for Alzheimer's
     by Andrew Gach 
  4) (HK) Food scare officials powerless
     by Vadivu Govind 
  5) Bioprotein
     by Vadivu Govind 
  6) (CN-US) US trip for Pandas may become possible
     by Vadivu Govind 
  7) (TW) Chronic disease statistics
     by Vadivu Govind 
  8) FWD: Endangered Japanese golden eagles need your help!  
     by "Matthias M. Boller" 
  9) Update on Dog Killing, Dragging in OK
     by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
 10) Sports Heroes Call Foul on Pigeon Shoots
     by Mike Markarian 
 11) (US) Oklahoma Hog Farm Legislative Fight
     by JanaWilson@aol.com
 12) CITES Elephant Calls Needed
     by Friends of Animals 
 13) Re: Ted Nugent slanders animal rights......again.
     by MsJacquie1@aol.com
 14) new book--_Contraception in Wildlife_
     by Ione Smith 
 15) Anti Trapping Action Alert
     by MINKLIB@aol.com
 16) Where to Write on OK Dog Stabbing/Dragging Case
     by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
 17) Re: Ted Nugent slanders animal rights......again.
     by Mike Chiado 
 18) (US) Administration moving on endangered species policy 
     by allen schubert 
 19) (CH) Group Warns About Tiger Population
     by allen schubert 
 20) (US) Human DNA Chunks Planted in Mice
     by allen schubert 
 21) Re: Anti Trapping Action Alert
     by Sujatha Karanth 
 22) (TH) Race against time to save elephants
     by Vadivu Govind 
 23) (HK) Underwater Devastation
     by Vadivu Govind 
 24) (HK) Handover bad news for animals?
     by Vadivu Govind 
 25) (KP) World Environment Day
     by Vadivu Govind 
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 22:11:51 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Students refuse to disect animals
Message-ID: <338D1017.867@worldnet.att.net>
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Students who won't dissect frogs spark rebellion

N.Y. Times News Service 

CHICAGO (May 29, 1997 00:37 a.m. EDT) -- In the name of scientific
enlightenment, biology students have been dissecting animals for
generations. For some, the procedure has solved some of the mysteries of
life. For others, it was simply disgusting. Either way, it was
mandatory.

But a rebellion has been growing in the science laboratories of the
nation's schools as a growing number of students refuse to dissect
animals, usually on the ground that it is inhumane.

"Animals are just as alive as we are," said Jasmine Dixon, an
Indianapolis 11th-grader who refused to dissect any animal in biology.
"They have feelings. They have families."

Many states are now pondering bills that would allow students to
complete alternative work in science if they oppose dissection. Such
laws have been enacted in California, Florida, Maryland, New York and
Pennsylvania. The Illinois House of Representatives recently passed a
similar bill, which is being debated in the state Senate.

Without such a law, students who refuse to dissect animals routinely
face sanctions, or lowered grades, from science teachers. Indeed, the
Anti-Vivisection Society sponsors a toll-free number for students facing
academic troubles for their opposition to dissection (1-800-922-3764).

Humane groups say lessons can be taught just as effectively with plastic
models or computer simulations, usually at a savings. But some
scientists see it differently.

"Sometimes there just isn't any substitute for looking at the real
thing," said Jose Bonner, an associate professor of biology at Indiana
University in Bloomington.

The issue has become more heated in recent years as more and more young
people refuse to eat meat or use animal products.

The debate over dissection flared in 1987 when a 15-year-old California
girl, Jennifer Graham, refused to dissect an animal and sued her school
district for not allowing her to complete some
alternative project.

She complained that animals were being needlessly killed simply to be
used for such projects.

A state court ruled that the school could continue to require dissection
in biology classes, but that only frogs that died naturally could be
used.

Miss Graham became something of a celebrity, often called "the frog
girl," who had the courage to stand up to the schools in her defense of
defenseless animals. The public backed her, and lawmakers in California
ultimately passed legislation protecting students who held such views,
the first law of its kind in the United States.

Her mother, Pat Davis, runs the anti-dissection telephone line for
students.

Jonathan Balcombe, an associate director for education at the Humane
Society of the United States, said growing unrest over dissection among
environmentally conscious American students had forced many schools to
offer an alternative.

About six million animals are killed each year for academic inquiry,
Balcombe said. Frogs are used most commonly, but other animals,
including cats, fetal pigs, rats and snakes, are also used for such
purposes.

"We have a moral obligation not to mistreat animals," Balcombe said. "We
should give them the benefit of the doubt that they feel pain and
suffer."

In Illinois, state Rep. Jeffrey M. Schoenberg, a sponsor of a bill in
that state to protect students who object to dissection, recalled with
discomfort the dissections he did in biology classes at Ida Crown
Jewish Academy in Chicago. "I remember it with my heart and with my
stomach," said Schoenberg, 37. "And it usually takes a lot to make me
squeamish."

Schoenberg noted that options to dissection were offered to school
children in Chicago and in many other school districts.

Miss Dixon, the Indianapolis student who objected to dissection, said
she had been a vegetarian since she was 9. She said that her decision to
oppose dissection initially puzzled her parents, a typist and a
construction worker, but that they came to respect her views.

Besides opposing cruelty to animals, Miss Dixon said she opposed the
killing of animals on environmental grounds, saying that a meat-based
farm policy was inefficient because it takes much more land to grow feed
grain, and contributes to deforestation.

After refusing to participate in dissection, Miss Dixon dropped out of
her freshman biology class.  With the help of advisers on the
anti-dissection telephone line, she worked out a solution with her
school principal. She will be allowed to take an environmental class to
fulfill her science requirement.

Bonner, the biology professor at Indiana University, contends that while
dissection is often the best teaching method, there are times when
alternatives will work. In fact, he does not use dissection in
teaching a freshman biology class.

"I don't enjoy it myself," he said. "I'm one of those people who don't
care for the sight of blood."
--By DIRK JOHNSON, New York Times
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 22:21:23 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Another push to irradiate food
Message-ID: <338D1253.6B35@worldnet.att.net>
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Food should be irradiated to prevent contamination

Reuter Information Service 

BOSTON (May 28, 1997 5:25 p.m. EDT) - The United States should irradiate
fruits and vegetables to prevent diseases despite protests from
activists who claim the procedure would hurt the quality of food, a
report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine said.

If irradiation had been used by food distributors to sterilize fruits in
1996, the nation would not have suffered an outbreak of cyclosporiasis
from Guatemalan raspberries, Michael Osterholm of the Minnesota
Department of Health wrote.

He said cyclosporiasis and other infections associated with contaminated
food are unrecognized problems because much of the food sold in the
United States -- up to 70 percent of some fruits and vegetables during
some months -- was imported from developing countries.

"One does not need to leave home to contract traveler's diarrhea caused
by an exotic agent," he said.

While more inspections and a better system for tracking tainted food
would help, "we already have the means of virtually eliminating the
problem of cyclosporiasis associated with fruit and vegetable
consumption -- namely, irradiation," Osterholm said.

Irradiation involves bombarding food with energy from radiactive
material but does not make the food radioactive. It effectively kills
bacteria and insects, and years of testing have not found any
drawbacks to the technique, which has been supported by the World Health
Organization and approved for specific uses by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.

Although it is a tested and safe method of pasturization, Osterholm
said, "the food industry remains reluctant to use this technique out of
fear of incurring the wrath of activist groups that wrongly
proclaim that irradiation is unsafe or seriously compromises the quality
of the food product."

Osterholm said irradiation should be put to use. "We must not let any
group use arguments without a scientific basis to keep such an important
technique from the marketplace. This may be the most
crucial lesson to be learned from the story of cyclosporiasis and
imported raspberries."

Cyclosporiasis causes long-lasting diarrhea, severe fatigue and loss of
appetite. During a major outbreak in the United States and Canada last
spring and summer 978 people became ill with the disease.

The journal did not say what percentage of U.S. food is currently
irradiated.

By GENE EMERY, Reuter
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 22:36:11 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Mice model for Alzheimer's
Message-ID: <338D15CB.546@worldnet.att.net>
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Researchers create mutant mice that get 'Alzheimers'

Reuter Information Service 

LONDON (May 28, 1997 8:13 p.m. EDT) - Canadian researchers said on
Wednesday they had created a mutant mouse that exhibited many of the
symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

They said their mouse model could help learn how and why the disease
strikes. Additionally, it could be studied to find ways to treat the
disease.

Jo Nalbantoglu of McGill University in Montreal and colleagues said
their mouse had been genetically engineered to produce human amyloid
precursor protein (APP), which is involved in Alzheimer's.

The mice developed many of the symptoms of Alzheimer's as they got older
in mouse years, Nalbantoglu's team reported in the science journal
Nature.

They lost cells in the hippocampus, the part of the brain associated
with learning and memory, showed degeneration of brain cells and they
had the beta-amyloids that form the characteristic "plaques" in the
brains of Alzheimer's patients.

When tested in mazes, the genetically altered mice did not learn as
quickly as normal mice.

Mark Mattson and Katsotoshi Furukawa of the University of Kentucky said
this was one of the best attempts yet to genetically engineer a mouse
that developed Alzheimer's like a human does.

"Transgenic mouse models of AD (Alzheimer's) will provide crucial in
vivo (in a living animal) screening systems that may allow effective
approaches towards the prevention and treatment of the human disorder to
be identified," they wrote in a commentary on the findings.

But they said none of the current mice "models" being worked on
completely imitated human Alzheimer's -- notably they lacked the
"neurofibrillary tangle" of proteins in the brain on a microscopic
scale.

Critics of using animals in researching human disease point to this as
an example of why they believe it cannot work and is unjustified.

========================================================

Hope the author won't get fired for adding that unusually candid last
paragraph!

Andy
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:54:25 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Food scare officials powerless
Message-ID: <199705290554.NAA08237@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
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>South China Morning Post
Thursday  May 29  1997
     Food scare officials powerless
     RHONDA LAM WAN

     Officials yesterday admitted they were powerless to immediately close
more than 70 unlicensed food factories operating in the New Territories.

     Since the cholera outbreak this month, 82 of the 155 unlicensed
factories have shut. Of the remaining 73, only 52 are now applying for licences.
"It takes at least three to four months for the department to get closure
orders,"
 Regional Services Department assistant director Lai Kwok-tung said.

     Prohibition and closure orders can only be issued after conviction, and
court
procedures often take months.

     Mr Lai said the department was considering revising laws to empower the
department to close unhygienic food premises, strengthen the demerit points
system and tighten licensing criteria.

     Issuing quality certificates to all "Category A" food premises and
compelling all licence-holders to attend hygiene courses were also under
consideration. The
department inspected more than 4,700 premises and factories, issuing 154
summonses from May 16 to May 25.

     There are 5,635 licensed food premises in the New Territories, with
more than a third classified as the lowest Category C, requiring inspections
at least every two weeks.


Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:04:34 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Bioprotein
Message-ID: <199705290604.OAA09694@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
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>The Straits Times
29 may 97
Natural gas + bacteria + ammonia + water + a few
     minerals 
     STAVANGER (Norway) -- What do you get if you mix natural gas with
bacteria, add a little oxygen, ammonia and water, and flavour the mixture
with a few minerals? 

     Maybe not a gastronomic delight, but a highly rich protein source
called bioprotein.

     Now used to enrich animal feeds, it could soon be in the human diet. 

     "We think the human market is enormous, both in nutritional terms and
hydrolysates (taste additives)," said Mr Jon Huslid, president of Norferm, a
joint venture between Statoil -- Norway's state-owned oil company -- and
pharmaceuticals group Nycomed ASA.
 
The two aim to produce an annual 10,000 tonnes of bioprotein -- reddish-brown
granules created through a chemical process -- using Statoil natural gas. 

     "If you buy a packet of dried chicken soup, it's not real chicken, the
tastes are man-made from protein. In the future, the taste may well come
from bioprotein," Mr Huslid told Reuters. 

     European Union countries consume around one million tonnes of protein
for animal and fish feed each year. About 600,000 tonnes is derived
primarily from soya beans and milk for human consumption, such as in bakery
products and sausages. 

     The bioprotein plant will use gas from the Heidrun field in the
Norwegian Sea. Being built at Tjeldbergodden, it will be the first of its
kind. Production is expected to start next year.  Similar processes using
methanol as feedstock were developed in the 60s and 70s, but were too
costly. By using natural gas directly from the seabed, Norferm's process is
much cheaper. 

     "To produce 1 kg of bioprotein using natural gas is three to four times
cheaper than using methanol," Mr Huslid said. 

     "The resulting protein is excellent for growth and has a very high
nutritional content. It is easily converted into energy and therefore
growth," he added. 

     Bioprotein is a protein-rich biomass, based on micro-organisms, which
use natural gas as the sole carbon and energy source. Oxygen, ammonia and
minerals are also added to the process, which takes place in a closed reactor. 
The technology was developed over 10 years by Danish group Dansk Bioprotein. 

     Nycomed and Statoil took shares in Dansk Bioprotein and their joint
venture Norferm now owns 98 per cent of the group. 

     The Danish Ministry of Agriculture approved natural gas bioprotein as
an animal or fish feed additive in 1993, and the EU followed in mid-1995. 

     Norferm has asked Britain, Denmark and Norway to approve the bioprotein
for human consumption as taste additives in processed foods such as dried
soups, sauces and spices as well as in snacks. -- Reuter. 

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 17:29:52 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CN-US) US trip for Pandas may become possible
Message-ID: <199705290929.RAA20518@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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>CNA Daily English News Wire
US TRIP FOR PANDAS MAY BECOME POSSIBLE 


Hong Kong, May 24 (CNA) Two giant pandas will be sent to the United States
if a lease agreement can be reached, the China Daily reported on Saturday. 

According to the report, discussions started during the Atlanta Olympic
Games last year but have been on hold for the last two months. 

If an agreement is reached, donations from the United States are expected to
supply further protection for mainland Chinese pandas in the wild and those
raised in zoos, Zhao Qing-guo, an official from the Ministry of
Construction, was quoted as saying. The ministry is in charge of placing
pandas in zoos. 

For lease of the two pandas, mainland China is asking for an annual donation
of about US$1 million per year to protect pandas in the wild, and a pledge
that the two leased pandas will not be used for commercial purposes. 

The duration of the lease term is still under negotiation. 

The mainland Chinese negotiators are waiting for approval from the State
Council, while the Atlanta Zoo is waiting for necessary certification from
the US government. 

The lease was described as a goodwill gesture by mainland China, pending the
projected visit to the United States next year by President Jiang Zemin. (By
Stanley Cheung) 

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 17:30:57 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TW) Chronic disease statistics
Message-ID: <199705290930.RAA18678@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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>CNA Daily English News Wire
LIVER AND LUNG CANCERS ARE TOP CAUSES OF TUMOR DEATH 


Taipei, May 27 (CNA) A total of 27,961 persons in Taiwan died from cancer in
1996, 8.3 percent more than in 1995, according to the latest statistics. 

The statistics released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
Statistics on Tuesday show that liver cancer, which claimed the lives of
5,749 persons, and lung cancer, which killed 5,439 persons, topped all other
forms of cancer and accounted for nearly 40 percent of all such fatalities. 

Notable among the statistics is that deaths from breast cancer jumped by 7.5
percent to 987 women, or 9.48 deaths per 100,000 women. 

At the same time, prostate cancer claimed the lives of 463 men, or 4.2
deaths per 100,000 males,up a substantial 24.8 percent over the same period
of last year. 

Deaths from colon and rectal cancer increased 7.0 percent to 2,642; stomach
cancer deaths were up by 11.4 percent to 2,519; and oral cancer fatalities
increased by 15.5 percent to 1,042. 

On the other hand, cervical cancer fatalities declined by 3.1 percent to
979, which was attributed to a campaign to raise women's awareness about the
illness. (By Maubo Chang) 

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:47:45 +0100
From: "Matthias M. Boller" 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: FWD: Endangered Japanese golden eagles need your help!  
Message-ID: <199705291148.NAA28066@cww.de>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

From: Kase (y_kobaya@kenoh.hits.ad.jp)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dear Sir,
We saw your web site,
we will appreciate it if you will kindly help us in any way you can to
spread this message Thank you HELP!   HELP!   HELP!  HELP!   HELP!  
HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!

                                                    May  24    1997
To: whom it  may  concern

>From : Golden Eagles  and  Woman,  Japan  Niigata

Endangered Japanese golden eagles need your help!  We here send an
emergency e-mail for the conservation of the endangered Japanese
golden eagles. Electric Power Development Co. and Niigata prefectural
government plan to construct a pair of hydroelectric dams in
Okutadami, Niigata.  They  are totally useless and would destroy the
environment of the most densely populated area for eagles. Not only
golden eagles but also many other kinds of raptors inhabit in the
area. We are sending a message in such a rush because the governor of
Niigata Prefecture is likely to permit the construction in July. Our
group is too small to fight against the project.   We, consisting of
four women, and we kindly request your message of protest to our local
government, Niigata Prefecture.    Any message is welcome. all we want
to do is to bring the attention of the prefecture government to the
hazards associated with environmental degradation. 

Please send your message to stop the construction and save the eagles
to the prefecture government at     

 or contact   Yasuko  Saito      < y_kobaya@kenoh.hits.ad.jp>         
        


HELP!   HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!  HELP!   HELP!


Following is an article from Asahi Evening News, Monday 19.  1997. We
have the permission of the author to send this to you. _ _ _ _ _ _

Niigata eagles threatened by dam

by Kaoruko Sunazawa

NIIGATA-A local group of women is fighting dam-construction plans for
the Okutadami area,which threaten one of the largest sanctuaries of
the endangered Japanese golden eagles. The women held a symposium  on
Sunday in Niigata,issuing a call for conservation of the area,which is
on the border of Niigata and  Fukushima prefectures. Japanese golden
eagles are one of the largest birds of prey in this country and are a
designated natural treasure. Only about 300 have been sighted in
recent years. Last July,the Society for Research of Golden Eagles
discovered 13 pairs in Okutadami, a highland surrounded by mountains
that is known for its heavy snowfalls reaching more than five meters
at times.The society said the area is one of the most densely
populated area for eagles and needs wide-area conservation measures by
the government. However,the Electric Power Development Co. plans to
enhance the power generation of two dams in the area. In addition, the
Niigata prefectural government is still planning  to  build a new
hydroelectric power plant nearby in a joint venture with the power
company. The company has been conducting various preliminary
examinations using dynamite, disrupting the birds. The society and a
local group are blaming the company for the demise of an eagle chick,
eaten by a crow when its parents had to fly farther afield in search
of food. Sunday's symposium was held by the group "Golden Eagles and
Women", which was formed after the Niigata prefectural government
announced plans to build the dam in 1995. Its members include eagle
researchers and volunteer park rangers. The symposium,which attracted
the attention of about 200 citizens, discussed whether an additional
dam is necessary when conserving the environment has become a global
issue. The group adopted a resolution requesting the Niigata
government to stop further testing in the area and to conduct more
research into the demise of the chick. However,the prefectural
goverment has said it will go ahead which the dam. Construction is
likely to begin as early as this summer,sources said.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 


Matthias Boller

matthias@tierrechte.de

Member of the board
Federal Association Against Vivisection - People for Animal Rights 
matthias@tierrechte.de    -   http://www.tierrechte.de/indexe.html
Date: Thu, 29 May 97 07:01:29 UTC
From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Update on Dog Killing, Dragging in OK
Message-ID: <199705291211.IAA14522@envirolink.org>

(Tulsa World, USA): A Hulbert, OK man who allegedly stabbed to death
his dog, tied it behind his pickup truck, and dragged it nearly five
miles, was being held in the Cherokee County Jail on Wednesday.

Michael Cooper, 37, was being held on a complaint of felony cruelty
to an animal and a complaint of possession of a controlled and dangerous
substance with intent to distribute, authorities said.

James Morgan, Hulbert's police chief, said the incident began as a
domestic dispute Tuesday morning between Cooper and his wife.

Morgan said Cooper allegedly was under the influence of drugs and
was threatening to kill his wife. As the day progressed, the situation
escalated, Morgan said.

As Cooper left his house, one of the Coopers' two dogs, which were tied
outside the home, was barking, Morgan said.

A witness told police that "Cooper just pulled out a knife and stabbed
the dog until it died," Morgan said.

Cooper allegedly then tied the year-old collie mix to his pickup truck
and dragged it from three miles east of Hulbert through town.

Morgan said Cooper dragged the dog down Hulbert Lake Road, a paved
access road that runs inside the city limits.

Police became aware of the incident when Cooper drove by the chief's
home and Morgan saw the dog being dragged behind Cooper's truck. Cooper
was driving erratically about 50 mph in a 30-mph speed zone, he said.

A Hulbert officer gave pursuit, arresting Cooper when he stopped his
vehicle on a dead-end road.

Officers recovered a bloody hunting-type knife with a 4 1/2- to 5-inch
blade, a significant amount of valium and $4,000 from Cooper's truck,
according to police reports.

Morgan said Cooper was serving a two-year suspended sentence after
he was recently convicted of possessing stolen property.

Cooper is a Hulbert native, and as far as officials there know, he has
no history of violence or domestic disturbances.

The dog was returned to Cooper's wife at her request for burial on the
Coopers' property, he said.

-- Sherrill
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 07:26:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu,
        en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Sports Heroes Call Foul on Pigeon Shoots
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970529102637.58273aec@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, May 29, 1997

CONTACT: Heidi Prescott or Mike Markarian, (301) 585-2591

SPORTS HEROES CALL FOUL ON PIGEON SHOOTS
Steelers QB and 76ers President Speak Out Against Cruelty

Harrisburg, Pa. -- Mike Tomczak, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and Pat Croce, president of the Philadelphia 76ers, have joined The Fund for
Animals' new "Pennsylvania Athletes Against the Cruelty of Live Pigeon
Shoots" campaign. The Fund today faxed petitions signed by the two sports
figures to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and House Speaker Matt Ryan.

On the petitions, which read "Shooting Defenseless Pigeons is No Sport,"
Mike Tomczak and Pat Croce "urge Governor Ridge and our state legislators to
end Pennsylvania's outdated live pigeon shooting contests that kill and maim
thousands of birds and promote violence to our children." Tomczak has played
in two Super Bowls, and Croce is a two-time national karate champion.

Gun clubs in at least six Pennsylvania counties regularly hold live pigeon
shooting contests, where shooters compete for money and prizes by gunning
down thousands of tame birds released one at a time from boxes at a distance
of about twenty yards. Young children known as "trapper boys" and "trapper
girls" collect the wounded birds, and kill them by ripping off their heads,
stomping on them, or throwing them into barrels to suffocate. Most other
states and foreign countries -- including the Olympic Games -- long ago
replaced live targets with clay ones.

Says Mike Markarian, Director of Campaigns for The Fund, "A true sport
matches willing participants of equal abilities against one another, and no
matter who wins you can shake hands and play again. Matching armed shooters
against trapped birds is like matching the Pittsburgh Steelers against a
high school football team. Pigeon shoots are an embarrassment to all sports."

-- 30 --

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 11:13:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: JanaWilson@aol.com
To: Ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Hog Farm Legislative Fight
Message-ID: <970529111345_-730886262@emout16.mail.aol.com>


According to local Okla. City news, an Oklahoma state senator
got angry Wednesday when he discovered that a House bill intended
to help solve a problem for a big hog corporation went to far.  That
caused him to send the measure back to the lower chamber.
The House will have to revise House Bill 1215 or it will die for the
current legislative session.
Sen. Robert M. Kerr said he rejected language in the bill that 
would favor Pig Improvement Co. Inc, which is operating in northwest
Okla.
When the Senate gave its blessing Tuesday to the major hog
regulation bill already approved by the House, it was agreed among
those working on the bill that a "trailer bill" was necessary.
Rep. Elmer Maddux, Rep.-Moorland, said the trailer bill was 
necessary to "grandfather in" water wells owned by PIC.
A clause in the hog regulation bill approved Tuesday states that
effluent from lagoons cannot be spread within 300 feet of an
existing water well.
Maddux said PIC would have to dig new wells at many of its 38
sites, because wells already in operation are too close to where the 
effluent is spread.  The location of those wells have already been
approved by the state Water Resources Board also said by Maddux.
A clause in the trailer bill would exempt or "grandfather in" existing
wells, which satisfied Maddux.
But Rep. Jim Glover, author of HB 1215, added another clause that
not only would exempt existing wells from the 300-ft limit for effluent
but also would exempt future private wells built by hog operators on
their land.
Glover, who is a Dem. from Elgin, said "It would be stupid" for a
farmer to spread effluent next to a well if it could the well and
groundwater.
A spokesman for the Sierra Club said Glover's bill would allow a
farmer to do whatever he wanted with his own well, even if that
meant polluting the aquifer under it.
Kerr, D-Altus, said the provision exempting future water wells was
not part of the deal. 
The fate of the trailer bill was undecided Weds night, although it
contained another provision dear to House Speake Loyd Benson,
a Democrate from Frederick.  Benson had inserted language in
the bill to provide for assessments of farmers after a vote of the
cotton growers, to provide money to eradicate the boll weevil which
is an insect that feeds on cotton plants.
The speaker was looking for another bill Wednesday to include that
language.

                                                  For the Animals,

                                                  Jana, OKC
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 08:59:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: Friends of Animals 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: CITES Elephant Calls Needed
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970529114623.63cf6d5a@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Tell the U.S. CITES Delegation:
     Just Say No to the Ivory Trade


On June 9th the Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species (CITES) will be meeting in 
Zimbabwe.  On the agenda will be proposals from 
Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to remove protection 
for their elephant populations.   

Throughout the 1980's, Africa's elephant population 
was literally decimated due to the trade in ivory.  
The numbers plunged from 1.3 million in 1981 to 
300,000 in 1989.  Friends of Animals researched, 
drafted and championed the proposal which CITES 
used to impose a worldwide ban on trade in ivory.  
Now that ban is being threatened.

The removal of the protection which CITES 
Appendix 1 Listing affords would stimulate 
elephant poaching all around Africa.  Through 
most of Africa, elephant populations are shattered 
and many herds have not had enough time to recover.  

The U.S. position has yet to be announced, 
leading to the fear that the U.S. might support 
the disastrous proposal, as they have in the past.  
Please contact Vice President Al Gore and Secretary  
of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, and demand that the 
U.S. CITES delegation vigorously object to these 
downlisting proposals.  Let them know that elephants 
and voters never forget.
     
   Vice President Al Gore 
  Old Executive Office Building
   Washington DC 20501
    (202) 456-2326
   (202) 456-7044 (fax)
     
Secretary Bruce Babbitt
Department  of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
(202) 208-7351
(202) 208-6956 (fax)

For more information, contact
Bill Dollinger, Friends of Animals
(202) 296-2172

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 12:30:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: MsJacquie1@aol.com
To: Ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: Ted Nugent slanders animal rights......again.
Message-ID: <970529123003_576631153@emout20.mail.aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit


  On May 28, PETA brought its anti fishing campaign to of Detroit area
elementary schools.  They were there to encourage children to choose
something other than fishing this summer.  The next day on a local radio
station, the dj, Ted Nugent spent his entire morning blasting PETA, animal
rights, and vegetarianism.  Ted Nugent spends his mornings on the local
station since January, promoting hunting, guns, and anti-animal rights.  On
this particular day I decided to write down things he was saying.  After
reading them,  I hope you will do as I did, and write/call, and express how
you feel to them about allowing such slander to take place on their morning
air waves.  There is no way that an animal rights group would be allowed to
hold a daily radio show, and use the slandering phrases as he does.  Please
also contact the FCC, and tell them that you are offended that they would
allow this type of discrimination to be broadcasted.  
 Ted Nugent said: 
 “Animal rights people are imbesols, stupid, ignorant, and idiots”.
 “PETA people probably kill their children.”
 “They don’t understand the quality of life.”   “Fish don’t feel pain.” 
 “PETA people are bad people.”  “I spit in the face of animal rights people.”
 “They are jokes, and nobody takes them seriously.  I laugh in their face.”
 “They are ignorant and dangerous. They defy the balance of nature, and the
circle of life.”
 “Every child should go fishing, catch them, gut them, kill them and go
Yeah!”
 “Animal rights people have no morals, no ethics.” “They are absolutely gone
with the wind.”
     
 He closed his show by saying “I have a standing invitation for any animal
rights person who want to call in.  They don’t come on the show because they
got nothing.”
 
 I heard that this type of thing was happening on his show, so I had to hear
it for myself.  No animal rights people called in, they would have been
attacked and ridiculed.  The target audience for the show is males 18-24 year
olds.  The show doesn’t even place in the top 20 in the ratings, but there
are quite a few people that are hearing this slander.  Please write and/or
call the address below and let them know that we do not think slander and
discrimination on the radio is appropriate.  
 
   WDZR 102.7Phone #(810) 589-7900    Fax #(810) 589-8295 
 850 Stephenson Hwy
 Suite 405
 Troy, MI 48083          Ted Nugent’s personal radio fax and phone lines:
     Phone #(517) 524-5000    Fax #(517) 524-1000
     
 

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:25:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ione Smith 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: new book--_Contraception in Wildlife_
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

I thought the folks who get involved in "we have to kill animals to save
the population" arguments would like to know about this new book--

_Contraception in Wildlife, Book 1_. Cohn P.N., Plotka E.D., Seal U.S.,
eds. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, 1996.

Ione

==================================================
http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~ilsmith/ethics.html
     for all sides of the AR/AW/anti-AR debate

http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~ilsmith/stereo.html
       the stereotypical behaviors database
  --under construction--all additions welcomed!--
==================================================

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 13:32:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: MINKLIB@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Anti Trapping Action Alert
Message-ID: <970529133237_-764438060@emout19.mail.aol.com>

The National Trappers Association has teamed up with Master Card MBNA America
Bank to produce their own credit card.  Everytime someone with this card
makes a purchase part of the profit goes to the NTA to push their pro
trapping propaganda.

Please flood MBNA with calls of complaint, and demand that they stop helping
the National Trappers Association make money to promote animal suffering
with.

Call 1-800-847-7378

Please spread this number around.

Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
PO Box 822411
Dallas, TX 75382
Date: Thu, 29 May 97 13:43:59 UTC
From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Where to Write on OK Dog Stabbing/Dragging Case
Message-ID: <199705291845.OAA01606@envirolink.org>

Please send letters and ask that Michael Cooper, the Hulbert
man who brutally stabbed, then dragged his dog behind his pickup,
be prosecuted. It wouldn't hurt to add the correlation between
animal abuse and human violence, since many courts in OK don't take
animal abuse seriously. Thanks so much for your help!!

Assistant DA Jerry Moore
213 W. Delaware
Tahlequah, OK   74464
(Their fax isn't working right now)

-- Sherrill
Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 16:25:39 +0100
From: Mike Chiado 
To: MsJacquie1@aol.com, Ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: Ted Nugent slanders animal rights......again.
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Ted Nugent has been embarrassing himself on Detroit radio for years.  No
activists bother to call his show because he is not taken seriously.

If you write the station, you might want to remind them that Nugent settled
out of court for $75,000 with Heidi Prescott, Director of The Fund for
Animals, for calling her a slut and whore and various others nasty things.
His then host station, WRIF, also settled with Heidi for $50,000.  The
animal rights community definitely has the last laugh.


Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 21:17:31 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Administration moving on endangered species policy 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970529145257.00692da8@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from Mercury Center web page:
----------------------------------------------
Posted at 6:54 a.m. PDT Thursday, May 29, 1997       

Administration moving on endangered species policy    

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration is
formally proposing that private land owners be
exempted from the Endangered Species Act if they
voluntarily protect fish and wildlife.

As part of a court settlement with
environmentalists opposed to the idea, the Interior
Department published the proposed rule change today
and began accepting public comment on the so-called
``no surprises'' policy.

``No surprises'' refers to the promise made to land
owners that if they meet certain conditions of
habitat conservation plans, they won't be subject
to more rigid prohibitions in the future on land
use activities such as logging, mining and grazing.

Eight environmental groups sued in November to
block the policy, adopted informally three years
ago. The groups say the voluntary agreements don't
provide enough assurances that species will
survive.

They say the new comment period opens legal avenues
to challenge habitat conservation plans that timber
companies, states and others already have entered
into with the federal government.

But Donald Barry, acting assistant Interior
secretary, said he doesn't anticipate significant
change in the way the administration has been
carrying out the policy.

More than 100 scientists meeting at Stanford
University in February went on record with concerns
the plans could ``become habitat giveaways that
contribute to, rather than alleviate, threats to
listed species and their habitats.''

``When surprises happen, and they will according to
biologists, the species will go extinct,'' said
Eric Glitzenstein, attorney for the lead plaintiff,
the Spirit of the Sage Council based in Pasadena,
Calif.

The administration presented the idea to Congress
in 1994 as a way to appease the new Republican
majority, making the act more user-friendly by
emphasizing voluntary protection.

It is intended to provide certainty to land
managers, such as timber company executives who
have to plan logging rotations up to 75 years
ahead.

``It's the only way companies would ever enter into
such agreements,'' said Chris West, vice president
of the Northwest Forestry Association in Portland,
Ore.

By the end of the year, the administration will
have entered into agreements covering 18 million
acres of state and private land. The largest covers
more than 1.6 million acres in Washington state.

The proposed rules leave the option of the
government or others paying for additional
protection. Glitzenstein said that is unlikely.

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 22:34:27 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CH) Group Warns About Tiger Population
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970529223423.006b7350@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-------------------------------
 05/29/1997 22:03 EST

 Group Warns About Tiger Population

 By ERICA BULMAN
 Associated Press Writer

 GENEVA (AP) -- The world's few thousand remaining tigers are dying off at
 the rate of one a day, many of them sold in pieces to ``cure'' everything
 from laziness to rabies, a wildlife organization said Thursday.

 The tigers are caught in a ``slow, downward spiral of death,'' said
 Elizabeth Kemf, a species specialist at the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

 The Switzerland-based group said an increase in the illegal trade of
 tiger bones, skin and other parts for traditional Chinese medicines was a
 major threat to the cats.

 Other threats include habitat loss due to deforestation and diminishing
 populations causing inbreeding and genetic deterioration.

 Tigers, the largest members of the cat family, are hunted largely for
 their body parts, which are ground up and sold in East Asia as
 traditional medicines for $1,000 a pound or more.

 Tiger brain, for example, is said to cure both laziness and pimples,
 while the animal's fat is said to take care of vomiting, dog bites and
 bleeding hemorrhoids.

 ``We have great respect for Chinese traditional medicine,'' Fund
 spokesman Javier Arreaza said. ``But we believe alternatives can and
 should be found.''

 Though most countries have some type of prohibition against tiger
 poaching and trading, few have included all the provisions of a 1994
 global accord, a Fund report said.

 Kemf said Russia and Nepal were showing showed signs of improvement in
 tiger management.

 In China, domestic trade in tiger and rhinoceros products has been banned
 since 1993, and illicit trade carries a maximum penalty of death.

 Chinese authorities reportedly executed a farmer in 1993 for killing a
 tiger in a zoo and spiriting away the carcass.

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 22:43:23 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Human DNA Chunks Planted in Mice
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970529224320.006c697c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-------------------------------
 05/29/1997 17:01 EST

 Human DNA Chunks Planted in Mice

 By MALCOLM RITTER
 AP Science Writer

 NEW YORK (AP) -- Scientists have managed to insert large chunks of human
 DNA in mice, an astonishing breakthrough that will allow a new generation
 of research into genes, birth defects and genetic diseases.

 Researchers have put human DNA into mice for years, but not on this
 scale. Some of the newly developed mice have a complete human chromosome
 -- one of the rod-like structures that hold genes -- containing some 50
 times the amount of DNA scientists had been able to transfer before.

 Not only did the transplanted genes work normally, but some of the mice
 were also able to pass the chunks of DNA they got onto their offspring.

 Nearly all the mice looked normal, though some males had small testes and
 were sterile.

 The results are ``incredible,'' said Alcino Silva, a mouse genetics
 researcher at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor,
 N.Y.

 Scientists didn't think that chromosome-size chunks of DNA from one
 mammal could settle in permanently in a different mammal and function
 normally, he said.

 And ``it's amazing that such large fragments of DNA can be passed on to
 their offspring,'' Silva said.

 ``This is a quite important research breakthrough,'' said gene expert
 Huntington Willard of the Case Western Reserve University School of
 Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland.

 The work is reported in the June issue of the journal Nature Genetics by
 scientists at the Central Laboratories for Key Technology at the Kirin
 Brewery Co. in Yokahama, Japan, and elsewhere in Japan.

 Even Isao Ishida, one of the study authors at Kirin, said he was
 surprised it worked.

 He and colleagues made hybrid mouse-human cells that contained single
 human chromosomes or chunks of chromosomes. Then they fused these cells
 to embryonic mouse cells, and put these cells into early mouse embryos.
 The embryos were then put into mice to grow into newborns.

 Some of the resulting mice contained the human chromosome 22 in many of
 their cells. And mice that had gotten a fragment of human chromosome 2
 were able to pass it on to some of their offspring.

 Ishida said scientists wanted to create mice that make human versions of
 blood proteins called antibodies. The proteins could be useful in
 medicine.

 But Silva and Willard said the implications of the work go far beyond
 that, to allowing new kinds of studies of how genes work normally and in
 disease. That research that might eventually turn into new medical
 treatments.

 Genes act like members of a neighborhood on their chromosomes, responding
 to other genes that can be a good distance away. The new work means
 entire genetic neighborhoods can be transplanted into mice, so scientists
 can study what turns particular genes on and off, Willard said.

 Since the mice carry the transplanted DNA from well before birth, they
 could help scientists learn about how genes work in early human
 development. That could shed light on birth defects.

 In addition, large-scale transplants will enable scientists to reproduce
 human diseases that occur when parts of chromosomes are duplicated, Silva
 said.

 The Japanese scientists said they are already developing mice with a
 human chromosome 21 to investigate Down syndrome, which is caused by
 having an extra copy of that chromosome.

 In the past, human DNA put into mice has attached itself to a mouse
 chromosome. But in the Japanese work, the transplanted DNA stayed apart.
 Silva said that's an advantage, because it might allow scientists to
 transplant even bigger chunks.

Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 23:37:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sujatha Karanth 
To: MINKLIB@aol.COM
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: Anti Trapping Action Alert
Message-ID: 
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

A note:

MBNA also has a card out for IFAW. I'm going to cancel my card, but I
thought that IFAW should also hear about it. -Sujatha

On Thu, 29 May 1997 MINKLIB@aol.com wrote:

> Please flood MBNA with calls of complaint, and demand that they stop helping
> the National Trappers Association make money to promote animal suffering
> with.
> 
> Call 1-800-847-7378
> 
> Please spread this number around.
> 
> Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
> PO Box 822411
> Dallas, TX 75382
> 

Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:42:44 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TH) Race against time to save elephants
Message-ID: <199705300342.LAA28720@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Friday  May 30  1997


     Race against time to save elephants
     REUTER in Bangkok

     A team of vets was battling against the clock yesterday to save the
lives of wild elephants believed to be dying after drinking poisoned water
or being infected by a deadly virus in a southern province.

     Officials said the team was hunting for the elephants after two of
them, from a herd of about 100, were found dead near a watering hole in
Kuiyaburi district of Prachuab Khirikhan province, about 270 kilometres
south of Bangkok.

     The death of the two this week sparked an outcry from wildlife
conservation groups who alleged that pineapple growers in the area may have
poisoned the elephants to keep them from destroying their crops.

     "The cause of death is still a mystery. But it is unlikely that they
died from poisoned water as earlier suspected because fish were alive in the
watering hole," Kuiyaburi district chief Paiboon Chansilp said.

"The vets believe that the elephants might have been infected by some virus
and died," he added.

     Mr Paiboon said after several days of trekking, the vets had found that
a number of elephants were desperately ill and urgently in need of help.

     "The fluid waste found along their trek shows that a number of them are
suffering diarrhoea and urgently need medical treatment, otherwise they will
soon die."

     The team initially spotted a herd of about 12 elephants near the
watering hole but failed to subdue them with anaesthetising darts because of
the rugged terrain.

Elephant herds used to roam freely in the Kuiyaburi jungles but have now found
themselves trapped in some jungle stretches as farmers clear tracts of land
to grow pineapples.


Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:48:30 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Underwater Devastation
Message-ID: <199705300348.LAA20733@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Friday  May 30  1997
     The team that aims to save our coral
     FIONA HOLLAND

     When Hong Kong marine biologist Dr Gregor Hodgson returned last year to
the site he had studied for his doctorate - a coral reef off El Nido, in the
Philippines' Palawan island - he found his former Garden of Eden desolate.

     The rainbow of corals remained but the place was eerily empty, its
inhabitants - mature garoupas, giant clams and lobsters - absent, plundered
by fishermen, who, fresh from fishing out the island of Cebu, were seeking
new pastures.

     Coral reefs in Hong Kong have long been bereft of fish but Dr Hodgson
was alarmed by the fact the same fate had befallen such a remote reef in the
Philippines. "It got me really worried," he says.

     It came as a double blow for Dr Hodgson, whose doctoral studies had
helped halt the logging that threatened Palawan's pristine reefs in the 1980s.
In a bid to save the world's coral reefs, Dr Hodgson devised an innovative
approach:
     Reef Check, the first global survey of the health of these unique
marine phenomena.

     Hong Kong may seem an unlikely base for an international survey of
tropical reefs. But, with corals clinging to the fringes of their range -
they prefer the turquoise tropics to Hong Kong's murky, sediment-laden
waters - it is in some ways the ideal location.

     Though they survive against the odds of pollution and coastal
development, the territory's reefs remain highly vulnerable, as was
demonstrated recently by a
construction project amid the corals of Ping Chau.
Agriculture and Fisheries - the department responsible for conservation -
gave the green light for a temporary pier at a site earmarked as a marine
park. Alas the development destroyed some of Hong Kong's best coral.

     Not content with damaging its own reefs, Hong Kong's long arm reaches
far into Asia and beyond to fulfil an ever-increasing demand for live reef
fish, a trade centred on the territory.

     "Quite a number of problems on reefs are caused by Hong Kong," says Dr
Hodgson.

     Reef Check 97, a key event in this the international year of the reef,
involves more than 100 volunteer diving teams from 35 countries. They will
conduct a "health check" of around 450 reefs on any day between June 14 and
August 31.
Reefs to be surveyed in Hong Kong include those off Ping Chau, Hoi Ha Wan (a
small bay in the north of Sai Kung peninsula) and Shelter Island.

     Through the first volunteer global scientific survey of how human
behaviour is affecting reefs, Dr Hodgson hopes to chart the causes, and
raise awareness about these underwater ecological storehouses. As a
repository of life-saving cancer drugs (extracted from sponges), as a fish
nursery, and as a bulwark against coastal erosion - the reefs have a high
medicinal, economic and ecological value.

     According to Dr Hodgson, scientists have traditionally focused on the
biology and ecology of reefs, examining animal interactions rather than
their importance to humans.
     "We want to focus on the human impacts because human impacts are
preventable. We can prevent pollution, dynamiting, cyanide fishing and
overfishing if we manage our reefs better."

     Dr Hodgson has some reason for concern but the world's leading reef
scientists are divided on how endangered the reefs are. An ambitious attempt
to define their status - at a 1993 colloquium in Miami - grappled with the
question.

     "The best that could be said was that reefs near human habitation were
in pretty bad shape and reefs further away were in pretty good shape,"
recounts Dr Hodgson.

But mounting evidence that reefs were facing unprecedented threats could not
be ignored. In particular, scientists could not keep track of the rapidly
spreading practice of cyanide fishing.

     In 1995 the first authoritative report on cyanide fishing, by coral
reef ecologist Robert Johannes and fisheries economist Michael Riepen,
alerted the world to the damage this destructive practice was wreaking
across Asia.

     Diving fishermen armed with a tube of the deadly substance and a
primitive air-supply system, were scouring the coral in search of those
grand old survivors of the reef, mature Napoleon wrasse and garoupas, often
several decades old - to feed the growing demand for live reef fish in Asia.
They squirted cyanide into dark corners of the coral - favourite hiding
places for fish large enough to survive the chemical warfare - wiping out
smaller marine creatures, and in some cases killing off the reef itself.

     In February, at the International Coral Reef Initiative - a forum held
in Japan - Indonesian marine biologists reported that the cyanide fishermen
had already badly damaged remote reefs in the east of their island
archipelago, areas that had been pristine as recently as 1993.

     Despite their riches and unlike rain-forests - which rose to
international prominence under a canopy of concern about rapacious logging -
the plight of coral reefs is little known and even less understood.
Dr Hodgson hopes Reef Check will change that. Each team, led by a marine
biologist, will carry out a scientific survey covering 800 square metres,
checking the reality against criteria devised by the organisers and Hong
Kong University of Science and Technology. Their findings will then be
verified by the Hong Kong Marine Conservation Society and diving clubs.

     The survey, looking in detail at the health of "indicator" species and
assessing the state of the coral habitat, is designed to answer three simple
questions, says Dr Hodgson.

     "Are there any reefs that have not been significantly affected by
humans, any that have not been degraded? And if so where are they?"

     Dr Hodgson added that the survey would also chart the distribution and
level of human impact on reefs worldwide. Although pollution might pose
problems to reefs near the coast, Dr Hodgson says, a greater threat on an
oceanic scale may be posed by such traditional human activities as fishing:
"Overfishing seems to be happening everywhere . . . this can result in major
damage to coral reefs by tipping the balance in favour of animals and plants
that can
     out-compete corals."

     A dozen regional and national co-ordinators around the world will
assist in Reef Check, among themthe Marine Conservation Society, which is
sending 100 volunteers to six sites within the territory and several further
afield in the South China Sea.

     Conservation Society council member Marc Smith-Evans agrees the
territory's reefs will rank "pretty low" on the world scale - mainly because
of overfishing elsewhere.

     "Because we have a high diversity of corals we should have a high
diversity of life associated with it. But the whole balance is upset," he says.

     With commercial trawlers hoovering up all the big fish, reefs in Hong
Kong are bare, except for sea urchins which, free from predators, flourish -
to the detriment of the coral.

     Dr Hodgson estimates billions of long-spined black sea urchins graze
the territory's coral. "They are ceaseless scrapers of the reef," he says,
"preventing settlement of young corals."

     The sea urchin is one of the "indicator" species that volunteer diving
teams, trained by a marine biologist, will look for.

As the pioneer of the first global scientific survey using volunteers, Dr
Hodgson - who estimates a professional exercise of a similar size would cost
US$33 million (about HK$257 million) - is putting his professional academic
reputation on the line.

     The few scientists who attempt to reach out from ivory towers to the
wider community risk losing the respect of their peers as they grapple with
the difficulties of explaining research in layman's terms.

     Professor Gary Heinke, director of the university's Institute for the
Environment and Sustainable Development, backs Dr Hodgson. The University of
Science and Technology is lending its full logistical and financial backing
to the job of co-ordinating Reef Check in these islands.
"There will be some scientists who will discredit this kind of effort and
say it is not accurate enough," Professor Heinke admits. "I am not one of those.

     "Even if it is close to being accurate, that is a lot better than
having no information."

     The professor maintains that too many scientists focus their lab or
field work and see little need to explain their research to the wider community.

     "If you don't let people know why this thing is important, why should
anybody care?"

     Dr Hodgson says harvesting in the Philippines and Indonesia is
depleting fish stocks so rapidly "there is no longer sustainable supply of
seafood".
But the biggest threat from cyanide fishing is not - contrary to popular
belief - massive  devastation of large reef tracts, Dr Hodgson says, but the
more indiscriminate fish slaughter.

     "There have been a couple of incidents where people have dumped 50-gallon
     [225-litre] drums of cyanide and killed off just about everything," he
says.

     To most fishermen it makes no sense to "trash" the source of their
livelihood. The real problem with cyanide fishing is that it threatens the
sustainability of fish populations, leading to ecological imbalance in the
longer term, says Dr Hodgson.

Removing the most mature fish leaves only small specimens, which, although
more numerous, produce 40 per cent fewer young.

     Yvonne Sadovy, of the Hong Kong University Department of Ecology and
     Biodiversity, acknowledges that insufficient monitoring of Asian reefs
makes it hard to quantify the amount and damage cyanide fishing - but
reports are so widespread she believes it is considerable.

     Vaughan Pratt, president of the International Marine Life Alliance in
the Philippines, vehemently rejects any suggestion the impact has been
exaggerated.

     "If anything, the data being talked about is conservative," he says,
estimating the toll in terms of millions of coral stands, covering many
square kilometres of reef, a year. "The live reef fish collectors target the
best of the best reefs. They are some of the most pristine and biologically
diverse reefs on Earth. The live reef fish trade is, without a doubt, the
most biologically expensive trade on Earth."

     Reef Check, its results available worldwide by stellite this October,
should reveal just how much damage cyanide fishing and other human impact
has caused to global reefs.

     Whether the news is good or bad, Dr Hodgson, who says reefs face "an
international crisis", believes that the more publicity Reef Check
generates, the greater the chance of saving this unique habitat.

Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:50:07 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Handover bad news for animals?
Message-ID: <199705300350.LAA24083@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"




>Hng Kong Standard
30 May 97

Handover might scupper efforts to save tiger: lobby
By James Kelly 

                                            
WWF officer Alex Yau with a fake paw and tiger products. Picture: Taras Kovaliv 

WILDLIFE protectors are concerned Hong Kong could lose its reputation as a
world leader in cracking down on the trade in tiger parts after the handover. 

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said any relaxation in controls on the
trade of wildlife parts with the mainland could threaten the tiger with
extinction. There are about 5,000 tigers left in the world.  A report
released on Thursday by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade-monitoring program
partly sponsored by WWF, found Hong Kong has taken the toughest action
against traders since an
international 1994 resolution on tiger conservation. 

TRAFFIC's East Asia director, Judy Mills, said fines of up to $5 million
appeared to have been a deterrent, but concerns remained. 

``Hong Kong needs to be diligent after the handover,'' she said. 

``We are discussing it with Beijing and Hong Kong authorities. 
``We are more at ease than we were. There will be wildlife trade controls,
but the worry was that there would be free trade in wildlife parts at the
border.'' 

The report says many countries have failed to take the urgently needed
action they promised in 1994 to help save the tiger. 

The study found that Hong Kong has handed down the world's toughest
penalties for trading in products even purported to contain tiger bone. 

``We figure if there's much trade it's done underground,'' Ms Mills said. 

Despite China's ban on tiger and rhinoceros products in 1993 and its
introduction of the death penalty as a deterrent, TRAFFIC investigators _
who issued a separate report on Thursday _ said they were still available on
the mainland. 

Ms Mills said there were three reasons for the residual demand for tiger
bone: economic benefits from trading in it, its use as a traditional
medicine and a lack of law enforcement. 

``TRAFFIC and the Chinese government agree there's a need for improved law
enforcement,'' Ms Mills said. 



Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:52:43 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (KP) World Environment Day
Message-ID: <199705300352.LAA27038@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"




>The Korea Herald
 05-30-97 : Seoul Declaration to Be Signed to Mark World Environment Day 
                             

     Environmental activists and policymakers world-wide will gather in
Seoul next week to adopt a policy for increased efforts to protect the world
environment, amid seven days of events and celebrations planned across the
nation to mark ``Environmental Week.'' 

     The Seoul Declaration, to be signed in Seoul next Wednesday, the eve of
the U.N-designated World Environment Day, will call for the redefinement of
environmental ethics for the 21st century, Environment Ministry officials
said yesterday. 

     ``It is to change our views on the natural environment and to show our
ethical commitment to keeping our promises to the Earth,'' Environment
Minister Kang Hyon-wook said. The declaration contains four main principles
and a 27-point platform to promoting international cooperation in
environmental fields, said officials. 

     The four principles include promoting spiritual values over
materialism, the pursuit of environmental justice, and the development of
environmentally-friendly technologies. The declaration also urges
government, industry, civic and religious groups, and the media to share  in
the responsibility and efforts required to keep the environment a priority. 

The Environment Ministry has designated June 1-8 as ``Environmental Week,''
with various events and ceremonies to be held in Seoul, provinces and cities
across Korea. The largest ceremony, dubbed ``Life on Earth,'' will be held
in Seoul Thursday to mark the 25th anniversary of World Environment Day. 

     ``The theme focuses on the survival of all the species and ecosystems
that help sustain life on  Earth, Kang said. ``All life forms must co-exist
in harmony.'' Seven-thousand people from Korea and abroad will attend the
Seoul ceremony, organized by the Environment Ministry and the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP). U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annon  and Swedish
Prime Minister G. Persson will deliver congratulatory speeches via satellite,
officials added. 
Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a U.N. under-secretary general and U.N.E.P. executive
director, will present awards to Global 500 laureates. Global 500 awards go
to those who have made significant contributions to world environmental
protection activities. On Friday, approximately 80 Korean and foreign
parliamentarians will meet in Seoul to discuss means of promoting
environmental technologies. 

     More than 30 additional events and ceremonies in Seoul, and some 100
other various functions province-wide in local provinces are also slated for
next week. Included are the International Environmental Cartoon Festival,
wild-flower exhibitions, dramas, concerts and seminars on environmental
protection.  

The United Nations first designated June 5 as World Environment Day in 1972.
South Korea celebrated the day informally for many years, but officially
began recognizing it last year. 



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