AR-NEWS Digest 402

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) (Pakistan) Poultry trade in crisis
     by Vadivu Govind 
  2) (HK) SPCA fundraising
     by Vadivu Govind 
  3) Pill for weighty problem
     by Vadivu Govind 
  4) (KH) World biosphere reserve
     by Vadivu Govind 
  5) (TH) For sale: National park?
     by Vadivu Govind 
  6) (TH) Controversial history of protected marsh
     by Vadivu Govind 
  7) (MY) Traditional nutrition 'can be key to healthy lifestyles
     by Vadivu Govind 
  8) (Myanmar) 40m-year-old primate fossils found 
     by Vadivu Govind 
  9) (UK) Drug firms' gifts to docs
     by Vadivu Govind 
 10) [CA] Farmed salmon and human health Part 1
     by David J Knowles 
 11) [CA] Farmed salmon and human health Part 2 [Long]
     by David J Knowles 
 12) [CA] Farmed salmon and human health Part 3
     by David J Knowles 
 13) (US) Family Pioneers Red-Deer Ranching 
     by allen schubert 
 14) (CN) Pollution Causes Fish Kill in China 
     by allen schubert 
 15) (SG) Update: Dog in film
     by Vadivu Govind 
 16) (PK) Help!More on poultry crisis
     by Vadivu Govind 
 17) (LK) Price of chicken
     by Vadivu Govind 
 18) (LK) Zoos are prisons for animals
     by Vadivu Govind 
 19) (LK) Transport of illicit beef
     by Vadivu Govind 
 20) (MY) For the love of dolphins
     by Vadivu Govind 
 21) Parasite threat from fish and cetaceans
     by Vadivu Govind 
 22) (JP) Env groups criticise bank
     by Vadivu Govind 
 23) How Immoral Can the Fur Trade Get?
     by MINKLIB@aol.com
 24) German Fur Sales
     by MINKLIB@aol.com
 25) L.A. Zoo Proactive About TB in Elephants
     by glaza@primenet.com (greater los angeles zoo association)
 26) Run-Down Zoo in Kisangani, Zaire
     by "radioactive" 
 27) Jaguar Hunt in Venezuela
     by "radioactive" 
 28) Coulston Fdn. story in El Paso Times
     by eklei@earthlink.net
 29) Lawsuit Settled to Protect Grizzly Bears
     by Mike Markarian 
 30) CT: Nuisance Wildlife Bill Passes the House!
     by Mike Markarian 
 31) (BE/UK) Britain sees no quick end to EU beef ban
     by allen schubert 
 32) EU FUR BAN- LETTERS (& FAXES) NEEDED 
     by CFOXAPI@aol.com
 33) Jeff Watkins
     by "Bryan W. Pease" 
 34) "... some good things happening"
     by Andrew Gach 
 35) Chinese Science Group To Look at Cloning
     by Andrew Gach 
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:01:35 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Pakistan) Poultry trade in crisis
Message-ID: <199705120601.OAA25348@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



> The Straits Times
     MAY 12 1997    
     Wedding-meal ban fouls up Pakistan poultry trade


     KARACHI -- Pakistan's billion-dollar poultry industry is in a
     serious crisis after a government ban on serving food at
     traditional wedding receptions, industry officials said.

     Over 10,000 Pakistani poultry farmers have reduced their
     production by half or closed down their businesses in the past
     month, they added.

     "We are facing the worst crisis of our lives. Demand for poultry
     meat has dropped drastically, as our business mainly depended on
     the supply to wedding receptions," Mr Afsar Qadri of the Pakistan
     Poultry Association said.

     Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif slapped a ban on lavish wedding
     receptions after coming into power, in an effort to get rid of
     the expensive spreads, a perceived social evil. The ban has been
     largely supported by Pakistanis.

     Before the ban, wedding parties served up several types of food,
     the most popular among which was chicken. It spelled millions in
     business for poultry farmers.

     Karachi now only consumes 55,000 to 60,000 chickens daily,
     compared to previous figures of 125,000 to 150,000. -- AFP.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:01:44 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) SPCA fundraising
Message-ID: <199705120601.OAA21846@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Hong Kong Standard
12 May 97
Teddy bears and furry friends
By Desiree Au


Lorraine Mak, fund raising manager for the SPCA, said she was not sure if
the society would continue to get government support. ``We are not part of
the Community Chest, so we have to be more aggressive in fund raising
now,'' she says.

EVERYONE agrees they are unbearably cute.

Displayed on a playfully designed platform, 22 ``celebrity'' teddy bears
beckon to children with their plush bodies, doe-eyed gaze and beautifully
designed costumes.

With some luck, all of them will eventually go to loving homes where they
will become lifelong companions to their owners.

Elsewhere in the kennels of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (SPCA), many furry friends capable of giving unconditional love are
also waiting for that special someone.

It is a sad irony that the stuffed animals will find homes more quickly
than their live counterparts, but for the SPCA, which takes in more than
10,000 unwanted pets a year, it is a fact of life.

On 31 May, these ``celebrity'' teddy bears and their designers and sponsors
will lend a hand with a charity auction to help that most neglected of
causes _ animal welfare.

The feather boas, designer clothes, and ballerina tutus these adorable
bears don have been painstakingly designed and hand-sewn by costume
designers like Greg Durham, from the House of Siren Productions, Elias Ben
Avi, of The Rocky Horror Show, and Lucy Price and Elke Ho, of the Academy
for the Performing Arts.

``I was originally going to do disco bears, but people have been so used to
us doing these kitschy things I want to try something new,'' said Greg
Durham, the powerhouse behind House of Siren, an authority in party
costumes. ``I decided to tailor them to the most important event coming up
_ the handover.''

Called ``The Handover Danceover Bears'', Durham's stuffed duo represents
the marriage of East and West in Hong Kong. The male wears a
custom-tailored Union Jack blazer while the female, looking decidedly
Chinese with the help of eyeliner and jet black eyelashes, wears an
elaborate sequinned dress with furry hat.

Three people spent four days sewing all the details, including the tiny
hats and the delicate gloves worn by the bears. ``They are really well
made, and I want them to be conversational pieces,'' Durham said.

While Durham wanted his creations to be conversation pieces, hat designer
Elias Ben Avi had an educational agenda in mind when he took up Bobo and
Baba for their makeover.

``We were each given two bears, supposing they are a boy and a girl, but I
wanted to portray a different kind of relationship,'' Ben Avi said. He made
them both male.

``Using bears is the least blunt way for me to illustrate that it is a
dignified relationship,'' he continued. Sporting a trendy outfit made with
leopard skin, ``the `in' fabric of 1997'', Ben Avi only took two hours to
completely sew the ensemble consisting of cap, leather vests, shoes and
pants.

``It was very easy, I had a lot of material lying around.''

Although the actual sewing process took little time, Ben Avi was
inseparable from these bears during the few days they were with him. ``I
treated them like people _ they have passports and birth certificates,'' he
said. ``They sat with me, ate with me, went into the shower with me.''

In fact, Ben Avi is so attached to them he wants to ensure their well-being
as long as possible. ``I gave them lifetime guarantee, if anything goes
wrong, I will fix it,'' he said.

The other entries on display are no less inspiring.

The cast of The Rocky Horror Show dressed their bears with pint-sized
T-shirts, garters and fishnet stocking, while the Academy of Performing
Arts' Lucy Price and Elke Ho decked their bears out in opulent court
costumes reminiscent of the 18th century.

Two MTR conductor bears wear a trusty blue uniform and cap, and fashion
houses Esprit and Naf Naf dressed theirs up in the latest summer fashion
and accessories.

The bidding price will start at $1,200 for each pair, and the SPCA is
holding its breath for some generous support.

Lorraine Mak, fund raising manager for the SPCA, said the society was
unsure whether a government subsidy to help with operational costs _ now in
excess of $300 million _ would continue after the handover.

``We are unsure if the future government will continue to support us,'' she
said. ``We are not part of the Community Chest, so we have to be more
aggressive in fund raising now.''

The SPCA has always been an underdog of sorts, playing second fiddle to
other charities because animal welfare is not regarded as an immediate
issue in Hong Kong. ``It is very hard for us to find corporate sponsors
because people usually give priority to charities doing work with people
first,'' Ms Mak said.

Mak is working hard to get celebrities to join the auction, in hopes of
attracting more attention. ``We are learning that even in fund raising, you
need to use some gimmicks.''

*  The bears are on display at Cityplaza. They will be auctioned on 31 May.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:01:56 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Pill for weighty problem
Message-ID: <199705120601.OAA22771@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>Hong Kong Standard
12 May 97
Pill could be answer to a weighty problem

WOULDN'T it be nice _a pill that would allow people to eat what they
wanted, as much as they wanted, and not gain weight?

With an epidemic of obesity sweeping industrialised countries like Britain
and the United States _ and starting to affect other affluent places such
as Japan and Hong Kong _ both slimmers and drug companies are thinking
along the same lines.

But although the pharmaceutical industry has poured billions of dollars
into obesity drug research, the outlook is not good for a magic bullet for
the overweight any time soon.

``We need more potent and newer and better anti-obesity drugs,'' said Dr
Nick Finer, an endocrinologist at Luton and Dunstable Hospital.

The reasons why obesity drugs are needed are clear. Obese people have
higher rates of heart disease and diabetes and cost health care systems
millions of dollars. One-third of all Americans are overweight and a
quarter clinically obese.

In Britain 15 per cent of men and 16.5 per cent of women aged between 16
and 64 are obese _ defined as being 20 per cent above ideal weight or
having a body mass index (weight in kilogram divided by height in metres
squared) of above 30.

Researchers are looking at close to a dozen different approaches to
formulating new drugs. The old amphetamine-based drugs have been largely
discredited as useless and harmful.

New drug goals fall into three broad areas _ curbing appetite, reducing the
body's ability to absorb calories and raising the metabolic rate so that
what does get eaten is burned off.

The two great hopes of recent months are dexfenfluramine sold under the
name Redux and Roche Products Ltd's, now being considered for US and
European licences.

Redux works on serotonin, a neurotransmitter or message-carrying chemical
that affects mood. Redux seems to help reduce appetite _ but scientists
admit they do not yet understand the exact mechanism.

Consumers were evidently desperate for such a drug _ more than a million
prescriptions were written for it in the first three months after US
approval last year.

Orlistat (Xenical) takes a different route. By limiting how much fat the
body absorbs, it cuts calories and theoretically should help slimmers keep
weight off.

Five thousand patients put on a ``modest'' fat-reduced diet lost on average
8.5 per cent of their body weight over a year. Those given a placebo but
put on the diet lost an average of 5.4 per cent.

Experts agree that the effects of drugs developed so far are modest _ and
do not last for long.

``All drugs show the same profile,'' said Gareth Williams, an expert in
diabetes at the University of Liverpool. ``First weight drops by eight to
10 kg, then after six months it slowly drifts back up.''

Perhaps people stopped taking the drugs after that, or perhaps the body
adjusted, he said. ``We simply don't know why these drugs lose their
effect.''

Scientists seeking an answer are looking to molecular biology to find more
and more specific targets.

Another possible target is uncoupling protein (UCP), which plays a vital
role in metabolism by helping convert fat into body heat. Mice genetically
engineered to lack UCP do not become obese, even when fed a high-fat diet.

Researchers are also finding out more about the possible genetic causes
behind obesity, having identified the ob (obesity) gene and the gene for
leptin, which is secreted from fat cells and helps communicate with the
brain as it regulates feeding behaviour, metabolism and energy levels.

Then there is neuropeptide Y. ``It is probably one of the key brain
chemicals that regulates energy intake and expenditure in rodents,'' Mr
Williams said. ``It has been found to induce obesity when given
experimentally to rodents. But we can't do that in humans so we don't know
whether it does it in them.''

Many of the drugs target the same areas as anti-depressants, which Mr
Williams finds interesting. ``I guess it's all wired up together somehow,''
he said _ noting that depressed people often either over eat or under eat.

``There's a lot more basic physiology to get to grips with.''

Despite the careful focus of many of the drugs, it is becoming increasingly
clear that a variety of causes _ genetic, behavioural and biochemical _
unite to cause obesity.

Nevertheless, and despite all the research into drugs, it is agreed that
careful eating is the most effective way to lose weight.

``We do know that if we can get people to change their habits, there is
nothing magic about it and they can lose weight,'' said Andrew Prentice,
head of energy metabolism at the Medical Research Council's Dunn Clinical
Nutrition Centre in Cambridge, eastern England.

``A 2,000-calorie (per day) diet in men could cause considerable weight
loss.''

It could all be down to evolution. ``I think we have been selected for an
extremely efficient metabolism,'' said Leslie Kozak of the Jackson
Laboratory in Bar Harbour, Maine.

Humans evolved through ice ages, droughts and other times of uncertain food
supply. Those who could lay down a good supply of blubber in good times
would be more likely to survive lean times _ and pass on their genes.

It could take a long time to find a drug that could counteract the effects
of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. - Reuter


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:02:04 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (KH) World biosphere reserve
Message-ID: <199705120602.OAA25412@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition

     May 12 1997

     Environmentalists back compromise listing for region's greatest lake
     TRICIA FITZGERALD in Phnom Penh
     
     Environmentalists have embraced the nomination of Southeast Asia's greatest
lake, Ton Le Sap, as a world biosphere reserve.

 Isolated and industrially undeveloped because of Cambodia's long-running
war, the great lake is regarded by environmentalists as one of the world's
most pristine expanses of fresh water.

 Comprising a huge flood plain of endangered floating forests in central
Cambodia, the Ton Le Sap covers 1.2 million hectares after wet season rains.
It falls 12 metres to one-tenth of that size in the dry season.
International botanists and wildlife experts estimate hundreds of new plant
and animal species are likely to be discovered in the lake's unpolluted
waterways and forests.

 It was originally eyed as a possible contender for world heritage listing
as a nature reserve. But Cambodian environmental officials believe it will
only be possible to hive off certain key pockets for total protection.

 Environment Minister Mok Mareth said nominating the lake as a world
biosphere reserve, through the United Nations' Education, Science and
Culture Organisation rather than World Heritage Organisation-listing, was a
compromise. The nomination, to be forwarded next week, took into account
five million people or half the nation's population who worked the basin,
fishing and farming rice, he said.

 "The great lake is important historically, culturally and economically, not
just environmentally," Mr Mareth said.

 Bernard O'Callaghan of Wetlands International said three prime wildlife and
plant zones would be earmarked for protection, and management plans would
apply to the basin.

 The listing would bring government protection responsibilities and research
funds, he said.

 The head of the European Union's Environmental Support Programme to
Cambodia, Lincoln Young, said protection would be afforded to a range of
rare and undiscovered species, including Irrawaddy dolphins and giant catfish.

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:02:11 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TH) For sale: National park?
Message-ID: <199705120602.OAA16282@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



           May 12, 1997

        >    Bangkok Post

                                ENVIRONMENT

            For sale: National park?

            Sam Roi Yod National Park has one of Thailand's
            largest freshwater marshes,? 9e'S UNDER home to a
            rich diversity of wildlife. Although this rare
            wetland has been named as a site of international
            importance, a controversial road threatens to upset
            the delicate ecological balance?

                  PANNACHAI KONGSANIT

                  Despite its relatively small size -
                  61,300 rai or about 98 square
                  kilometres - Sam Roi Yod National Park
                  in Prachuap Khiri Khan province boasts
                  a vast array of natural habitats, from
                  limestone mountains, rocky shores and
                  sandy beaches to mangrove forests,
                  mudflats and marshes. Unfortunately,
                  the park is also well-known as being
                  problem-prone.

                  Recently, Sam Roi Yod came to public
                  attention once again when the mass
                  media reported on a road project that
                  cut through Thung Sam Roi Yod - one of
                  the country's largest and richest
                  freshwater marsh which covers an area
                  of 43,260 rai on the western side of
                  the national park. Only 23,000 rai of
                  the marsh is within the park boundary
                  though (see map).

                  Construction of the controversial road
                  - which took place without a proper
                  study of the impact it would have on
                  the ecologically precious marsh -
                  faced strong opposition from
                  conservationists and has been
                  suspended by the Forestry Department
                  as a result.

                  But this does not mean that the road
                  project will never be resurrected. In
                  fact, the road is just part of the
                  complex problem that is threatening
                  this rare wetland habitat.

                  Home to at least 116 species of birds
                  (both residents and winter migrants),
                  24 species of fish, and many species
                  of reptiles and amphibians as well as
                  insects and plants, Thung Sam Roi Yod
                  is an important reason why this
                  particular Thai national park has been
                  listed in the Asian Wetlands Directory
                  of the International Union for
                  Conservation of Nature and Natural
                  Resources (IUCN) as a site of
                  international importance.

                  But preserving the natural condition
                  of Thung Sam Roi Yod is not an easy
                  task when the Forestry Department does
                  not really have control over the area,
                  even the part within the park
                  boundary. As a matter of fact, the
                  marsh was not part of the national
                  park from the start.

                  Long before the park was established
                  in 1966, most of the wetland had been
                  claimed by villagers in the area
                  holding such land occupancy documents
                  as Bor Por Tor 5 and Sor Kor 1 which
                  allow them to use the land for their
                  livelihood but not to sell or mortgage
                  it. Villagers had obtained the
                  documents several decades ago, back
                  when Thung Sam Roi Yod was still dry
                  and could be used as farmland.

                  According to long-term resident Wandee
                  Jaiboon, who lives near the Chinese
                  shrine on the marsh's edge, Thung Sam
                  Roi Yod used to only be flooded for
                  three or four months a year. "Things
                  changed when the Phetkasem highway was
                  built," she says. "With the road on
                  one side and the Sam Roi Yod mountain
                  on the other, water is trapped
                  permanently in the old rice fields.
                  The land has turned into a marsh as it
                  is now."

                  Villagers then moved from the
                  submerged land to settle along the
                  edge of the marsh at the foot of the
                  mountain. They also changed from being
                  farmers to become fishermen using the
                  marsh as their fishing grounds.

                  In 1982, about half of the marsh was
                  annexed by the national park. Since
                  then, about 90 percent of the
                  villagers have decided to sell their
                  occupancy rights over the marsh to
                  capitalists. "We can't cultivate the
                  flooded land anyway, and we don't know
                  if we'll ever get legal ownership over
                  our land which has been included in
                  the national park boundary," says
                  Wandee.

                  Although selling the occupancy rights
                  is illegal, it is locally accepted
                  that the northern part of the marsh
                  now belongs a former MP from
                  Phetchaburi province and much of the
                  rest - both outside and within the
                  national park boundary - is owned by a
                  local construction contractor and
                  canvasser of an MP in Prachuap Khiri
                  Khan province.

                  The new owners have filled in parts of
                  the marsh and grown pine trees on the
                  new ground. Meanwhile, they are trying
                  to obtain land rights documents to
                  make their ownership legal.

                  And it comes as no surprise to learn
                  that one of the new owners happens to
                  have won the contract to build the
                  controversial road that cuts into the
                  marsh.

                  The new road, which will link the
                  western side of the mountains to the
                  eastern side (see map), will
                  apparently make it easier for
                  villagers on both sides to travel to
                  Sam Roi Yod sub-district office on the
                  Phetkasem highway. For those living on
                  the eastern side, such a trip normally
                  involves making a detour around the
                  long mountain range, a journey of 60
                  kilometres, to reach the sub-district
                  office.

                  According to a provincial officer of
                  the Office of Accelerated Rural
                  Development (ARD) which oversees the
                  construction of the road, villagers
                  need a short-cut and have signed a
                  petition to the provincial authority
                  demanding the road be built.

                  "Since the route is a local one, the
                  provincial authority has the power to
                  approve the construction," he says,
                  explaining why the road was hastily
                  constructed without the benefit of an
                  ecological impact study.

                  Chief of Sam Roi Yod national park,
                  Tawatchai Sathienkarn seems to not
                  mind having the road in his area of
                  responsibility. "The road will help
                  park rangers to patrol the marsh.
                  These days we have to do that by
                  punting in a boat," he says, adding
                  that if the road is completed, the
                  park plans to set up guard stations at
                  both ends to limit traffic.

                  "But it's right that the Forestry
                  Department ordered the suspension of
                  the project. There should have been a
                  proper study before the construction,"
                  he adds.

                  With all these problems threatening
                  the wellbeing of this crucial marsh
                  ecology, how can we save it? One thing
                  to remember, however, is that much of
                  Thung Sam Roi Yod is considered
                  private land - although legally, that
                  is doubtful.

                  Wetland expert Dr Sansanee Choowaew of
                  Mahidol University suggests: "The
                  rights over the land should be cleared
                  up. The park boundary should be
                  definite. And the areas within the
                  boundary must be strictly protected.

                  "As for the areas outside the park
                  boundary, they should be designated as
                  'environment control areas', which
                  means they still belong to the owners
                  but certain environmentally
                  destructive activities such as
                  landfilling or building construction
                  are prohibited," she points out.

                  But there are also other options.

                  "The Forestry Department can try to
                  persuade the owners to donate the land
                  for public benefit and then do
                  something to recognise their
                  contribution," she says. "Buying back
                  the marsh at a fair price is also an
                  interesting idea, but only if we have
                  the money,"

                  Regarding the buy-back plan, a
                  high-ranking source at Prachuap Khiri
                  Khan provincial authority said there
                  is no way any funds can be used for
                  this purpose. Especially when the
                  rights claimed over the land were
                  illegal from the beginning.

                  "If you look at the aerial photo which
                  was taken in 1954, you can see that
                  there was no sign of anybody occupying
                  the land in Thung Sam Roi Yod at that
                  time. The area was protected under the
                  reserved forest law," he explains,
                  "But somehow, when the national park
                  extended its boundary in 1982, the
                  area was full of people. They even had
                  the land occupancy documents."

                  He doubts the legality of the
                  villagers' documents which are now in
                  the hands of capitalists. "You can't
                  set aside government budget to buy
                  illegal things," he said.

                  The source also points out that, given
                  that the occupancy of reserved areas
                  is against the law, it is within the
                  power of the provincial governor to
                  revoke those land occupancy documents.
                  "But the recent cabinet resolution at
                  Wang Nam Khieo which allows villagers
                  to remain in reserved forests make it
                  difficult to do that," he laments.

                  A large number of these problems, he
                  said, stem from the lack of
                  cooperation among government agencies.
                  "The cabinet doesn't want to move
                  people out of the forests. But the
                  Forestry Department does. The
                  Fisheries Department do not mind where
                  people live but they do encourage them
                  to start up prawn farms even though
                  that means clearing away some mangrove
                  forest first.

                  "These are just a few examples. And if
                  we keep on this way, the future of
                  Thung Sam Roi Yod as well as other
                  reserved areas is worrisome."

                  Despite all the looming problems,
                  Thung Sam Roi Yod is still
                  spectacular. The marsh, which has the
                  mighty limestone mountains as a
                  backdrop, is teeming with birds and
                  other fauna and flora. The place
                  attracts a lot of visitors who are a
                  source of extra income for local
                  villagers punting their boats for
                  tourists.

                  Conservationists are reviving the idea
                  of nominating Sam Roi Yod national
                  park as a Ramsar Site under the Ramsar
                  Convention which aims especially to
                  protect wetland and waterbirds
                  conservation areas of international
                  importance. The status is hoped to
                  bring greater attention and protection
                  to this national park, the same way
                  the "world heritage site" label has
                  benefitted Thung Yai Naresuan and Huay
                  Kha Kaeng wildlife sanctuaries.

                  Sam Roi Yod is only about 320
                  kilometres from Bangkok, so why not
                  visit the park and its marsh sometime.
                  Who knows, you may come up with a way
                  to help this splendid place from
                  becoming history.

Article copyright Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd 1997
Reprinted for non-commercial use only.
Website: http://www.bangkokpost.net




Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:02:18 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TH) Controversial history of protected marsh
Message-ID: <199705120602.OAA16726@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Bangkok Post
May 12, 1997
Encroachment and influence
Thailand's first protected coastal marsh has a controversial history


June 28, 1966: The Forestry Department designates 38,300 rai of Kui Buri and
Pran Buri districts in Prachuab Khiri Khan as the country's first coastal
marsh protection park. The park is also the fourth oldest in the country.

April 1, 1982: The National Committee on Wildlife and Natural Resources asks
the department to incorporate 23,000 rai of surrounding freshwater marsh
into the park owing to its significance as a habitat for birds, both local
and migratory species.

 1984: 500 local villagers ask the Prime Minister's Office and the
Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to exclude the newly-incorporated area
from the park. They say they have occupied the land for many years.

A PM's Office working group decides the department should return land over
which local people claim ownership, or which they used before the area
became a national park.

A new boundary is drawn up by local forestry officials and villagers'
representatives awards them about 10,000 rai. (The Forestry Department has
yet to agree to the plan.)

 November 5-7, 1990: The forest encroachment suppression and prevention
special unit, led by former police director-general Pratin Santiprabhob,
arrests some villagers for trespassing in the park.

1991: Media starts reporting the widespread encroachment into the national
park by shrimp farming businesses, mostly carried out by local influential
people and politicians. 

1993: Shrimp farming takes a turn for the worse due to inappropriate
management of the land. The ecosystem of the freshwater marsh is also
reported to be worsening due to waste water discharged from shrimp farms.
Most shrimp farming businesses abandon or suspend operations.

 October 26, 1993: The wetland management subcommittee, set up by the
National Environment Board, proposes that Khao Sam Roi Yod National Park
become a Ramsar site under the Ramsar Convention. The proposal aims to
stimulate both local and international organisations to protect the wetland
area from further destruction.

 June, 1994: The Seub Nakhasathien Foundation holds a seminar entitled
"National Park for Sale" to call on the government, particularly the
Forestry Department, to stop their plan to exclude about 8,750 rai of land,
mostly shrimp farms, from of the national park.

October 6, 1994: The Prime Minister's office asks the department to report
on progress.

1995: Media reports on rock cutting carried out by local villagers in the
limestone mountain range in the national park. The stolen rock is carved
into Buddha images and amulets which are popular among local and foreign
Buddhists. The rock, known locally as "relics of the Lord Buddha stone", has
fragments of marble embedded in it which makes it look like the holy relics.

 November 10, 1995: The Forestry Department asks the PM's Office to revise
its decision to remove the 10,000 rai from the park. The department also
asks for time to work with the Land Department in checking the legal status
of the land before any of the property is excluded from the park.

1996: Environmentalists and the subcommittee on wetland management propose
that the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment designate the
surrounding areas of the national park as environment protection areas.

The proposal is believed to be a way to stop the wide encroachment and
destruction of local businessmen into the park and its surrounding area.

 February, 1996: The Forestry Department abandons the idea of proposing the
park as a Ramsar site.

December, 1996: The Wildlife Fund Thailand, Seub Nakhasathien Foundation and
Green Earth Foundation submit a petition to the Forestry Department
demanding investigation into the alleged malpractice of local forestry and
land officials. The officials allegedly issued land rights documents
covering about 170 rai of land for a private developer to build a beach
resort on land once recognised by local people as part of the national park.

May, 1997: Seub Nakhasathien Foundation holds a seminar to call for a public
boycott of the beach resort project carried out by Diamond Group Company
Ltd. The seminar is held a few months after the Forestry Department
maintained that the developer legally obtained the land rights documents to
run its resort business.

The environmentalists, however, wonder whether it is right for the
government agency to turn a blind eye to the project which would cause a lot
of disturbance to waterbirds. The environmentalists also point out that the
resort will further damage the delicate ecosystem surrounding the wetland site.


Article copyright Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd 1997
Reprinted for non-commercial use only.
Website: http://www.bangkokpost.net

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:02:24 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (MY) Traditional nutrition 'can be key to healthy lifestyles
Message-ID: <199705120602.OAA25131@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Star 
                   Sunday, May 11, 1997
                   Traditional nutrition 'can be key to healthy
                   lifestyles'


                   JOHOR BARU: The health sector has been urged to do more
                   research on traditional methods of staying healthy so
                   that a larger section of the public can enjoy better
                   lifestyles.

                   Traditional nutrition methods, which have long been
                   discarded for a pill-popping culture, could provide
                   cheaper and more effective alternatives, especially for
                   the poor.

                   Johor Association of State Assemblymen's Wives (Juita)
                   chairman Datin Prof Dr Jamilah Ariffin urged the health
                   department to spearhead such research.

                   "I hope the health sector can have more publicity
                   campaigns to promote traditional methods and prepare
                   programmes that are suited to a wider range of people,"
                   she said at the launch of a healthy lifestyle campaign.

                   "We feel that people living in the orang asli
                   settlements, estates, Chinese new villages and squatter
                   areas do not have enough information and knowledge on
                   health matters.

                   "Through state assemblymen and other associations, we
                   will go to such places and provide information and
                   services so that the campaign will take effect from the
                   grassroots level," she said.

                   Dr Jamilah, who is the wife of Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul
                   Ghani Othman, said this would also ensure that such
                   groups were not sidelined by the state's development.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:02:30 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Myanmar) 40m-year-old primate fossils found 
Message-ID: <199705120602.OAA19693@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Straits Times
 MAY 12 1997                                               
     40m-year-old primate fossils found in Myanmar


     YANGON -- The fossilised remains of an amphipithecus primate,
     believed to have lived 40 million years ago, were recently
     discovered near Pa-lei township, about 600 km north-west of
     Yangon.

     A research team, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Than Tun of the Office
     of Strategic Studies, which included vertebrate paleontologist
     professor Tin Thein, exhibited its find here yesterday. In 1923,
     similar remains of an amphipithecus primate were found near
     Pa-lei by Mr Barnum Brown of the US Museum of Natural History.
     American anthropologist Edwin Colbert named them amphipithecus
     mogaungensis in 1937.

     Fossilised remains of the same type of primate were again
     discovered by a team of geologists from Mandalay University in
     1978.

     The latest discovery, on March 18, was of a fragment of the right
     mandible of a primate with molar one and two. On April 13, the
     left and right mandibles of an amphipithecus primate were found
     in the same area.

     "Analysis revealed that the latest find also belongs to the genus
     of the formerly discovered remains of amphipithecus primate. The
     exploration team named the new find amphipithecus bahinensis
     after the name of the village, Bahin, near where the remains were
     found.

     "All those primate fossils were recovered from the
     40-million-year-old Pondaung formations in the north-western part
     of Myanmar," geologist Aye Ko Aung, a member of the research
     team, explained at yesterday's ceremony. -- Kyodo.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:02:36 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (UK) Drug firms' gifts to docs
Message-ID: <199705120602.OAA17345@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Straits Times
     MAY 12 1997                                               
     Drug firms 'offering gifts to doctors'

     LONDON -- British drug firms are offering doctors and pharmacists
     gifts, including holidays in Australia, mountain bikes and goods
     worth hundreds of pounds from leading department stores, to
     induce them to supply restricted medicines to patients.

     A Sunday Times report said many of the inducements broke
     government and pharmaceutical-industry rules.

     It said doctors' leaders had criticised the companies for
     encouraging the sale of potentially lethal drugs for reasons
     which might not be in the patients' best interests.

     The Sunday Times discovered evidence that drugs worth millions of
     pounds were being sold each year through the controversial
     schemes.

     The Department of Health said it would consider prosecuting
     offending firms, which could face substantial fines.

     One scheme involved Norton Healthcare, Britain's largest
     distributor of non-branded drugs.

     According to the newspaper, an advertisement in a trade magazine
     informed chemists that if they spent 600 (S$1,400) on its drug
     Terfenadine forte, a hay fever treatment, they would receive
     Marks and Spencer vouchers worth 60.

     Those who spent 900 could get a mountain bike worth up to 150.

     The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority --
     Britain's drug industry's watchdog -- has criticised the the
     scheme. It said the promotion was "unacceptable" and in clear
     breach of the industry's code of practice.

     The Sunday Times said despite the ruling, drugs firms were still
     flouting the guidelines. Posing as a pharmacist, a Sunday Times
     reporter contacted several leading drug companies.

     One large firm, Lagap Pharmaceuticals of Bordon, Hampshire, said
     it had just introduced a promotion with Sainsbury's vouchers to
     run alongside existing voucher offers for Marks and Spencer and
     Dixons.

     Another Lagap scheme offers air miles from British airlines.

     Many of the drugs involved in its promotions are highly potent
     and available on prescription only. They include Selegiline, used
     for Parkinson's disease; Hypolar, used against high blood
     pressure and angina; and Ketaprofen, an anti-inflammatory drug
     for arthritis and rheumatism.

     Pharmacists buying certain drugs from Approved Prescription
     Services of Leeds receive vouchers for holidays or electrical
     goods.

     Drug wholesalers also offer inducements.

     Ms Cathy Miller, a sales representative of Europharm, of Worhing,
     West Sussex, said the company had often given away Marks and
     Spencer vouchers in exchange for drug purchases.

     Medical experts condemned the schemes.

     Dr George Rae, a member of the British Medical Association's
     General Practitioners' prescribing committee, said: "It is
     totally unacceptable for non-medical benefits to be offered in
     this way.

     "Such an inducement can clearly cloud one's medical judgement."

     Dr David Roberts, chairman of the Dispensing Doctors'
     Association, described the practice as "utterly unethical".

     The drug firms said intense competition forced them to adopt
     aggressive marketing tactics. Lagap's marketing director John
     Bartlett said the practice was widespread. "We do know that there
     are other schemes in operation and we are taking legal opinion.

     "We've bitten the bullet and we now have an important decision to
     make," he said.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 01:02:04 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Farmed salmon and human health Part 1
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970512010235.26af123c@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Province - Sunday, May 11th, 1997

Farm - salmon protests on menu at restaurants
By Charlie Anderson
Staff Reporter & Canadian Press

Protesters are stepping up their campaign against farmed salmon by putting
the squeeze on prominent consumers

Greenpeace, the Georgia Straight Alliance and the Friends of Clayoquot Sound
say restaurants have a duty to distinguish between farmed and wild salmon.

Environmentalists gathered outside Vancouver's Earl's on Broadway restaurant
last week. [Earl's is a locally-based chain with 14 restaurants in the Lower
Mainland and several others elsewhere in BC].

More protests are planned this summer at Earl's in Victoria and Nanaimo, and
other dining establishments.

"Salmon farms pose a significant threat to the environment, to our wild
salmon stock and to other marine creatures," said Catherine Stewart of
Greenpeace.

"As a major purchaser, we feel Earl's has a responsiblity to put some
pressure on the industry to clean up their act."

The campaign is aimed at pressing the government to maintain a moratorium on
new fish farms.

Cabinet is expected to make a decision soon.

Stewart said the public should know about the use of drugs on salmon farms.

"There's been evidence come forward during the environmental assessment
review that farm fish may contain residuals of drugs including
antibiotics,"she said.

"If you're using tetracycline on these farmed animals and people are
consuming that, and there's residual antibiotics in the food they consume,
that may build up our tolerance .... to antibiotic's used to treat human
disease outbreaks."

Greg D'Avignon, executive director of the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association,
said experts have concluded that the industry poses only a low risk to the
environment and to humans.

 


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 01:02:06 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Farmed salmon and human health Part 2 [Long]
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970512010238.23974c5c@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Province - Sunday, May 11th, 1997

Fishing for trouble

By Wendy McLellen - Health Reporter

SOOKE, B.C. - In Harry Hammer's opinion, there is nothing sentimental about
salmon farming.

You buy tiny smelts, put them in a net pen and feed them until they are big
enough to send to market. The faster and bigger they grow, the better.

"It's a feedlot," says Hammer, who has been a fish farmer in B.C. for 11
years. "There is no romance here. They are in and out as quick as possible."

AT his two-hectare (five-acre) farm in the Sooke Basin, one of 130 fish
farms along the B.C. coast, he has 115,000 fish penned in 22 net cages. Some
of the fish are only 50 grams or so, others are nearly ready for market at
4.5 kilograms (10 pounds).

Hammer spends an average of 20 months raising each batch of his Atlantic
salmon. The fish are fed at least three times a day, protected from
predators and monitored for disease.

Like all of B.C.'s fish farmers - and their terrestial counterparts - Hammer
uses antibiotics added to the feed to prevent infections and treat diseases.

Veterinarians prescribe the drugs, then feed manufacturerers combine the
medication with feed pellets.

The handful of antibiotics used in fish-farming are the same ones used to
treat many human infections. With growing concern worldwide about the
increasing number of antibiotic-resistant superbugs, scientists question the
health implications of dropping antibiotics designed for humans into the ocean.

"Most people don't object to antibiotics in feeds," says Dr. Julian Davies,
head of the deaprtment of microbiology at the University of B.C.. "The
objection is to using compounds (that) will allow bacteria to develop
cross-resistance to antibiotics useful in human therapy."

The problem, Davies says, is that bacteria can easily transfer their
drug-resistant genes to other strains of bacteria.

So, although humans are not infected by the same bugs that attack salmon,
the bacteria can pass along their genes to bacteria that do attack people.

Davies says humans can pick up antibiotic-resistant bacteria by eating
farmed salmon, or by eating other species that have picked up the bacteria
from the ocean.

"We shouldn't use any drugs on fish, or animals [sic], that are also used
for human treatment.," Davies says.

It's unlikely he will be given his wish. Drug companies don't develop
antibiotics specifically  for fish; they develop them for humans. When the
human market is exhausted, animals are next.

Only three antibiotics are approved by the federal government for use in
aquaculture. A handful of others are prescribed by veterinarians even though
they haven't been specifically approved for fish. All are similar to
antibiotics used for human diseases.

"If they really want, companies could develop compounds that wouldn't
compromise human drug therapies," Davies said.

The evidence that bacteria can pass their resistance to other bacteria is
controversial.

The aquaculture industry has  few drug available to prevent and treat fish
diseases and would like to increase the number  of useful antibiotics.

The industry claims that there is no direct evidence that using antibiotics
also used for human diseases compromises human health, and that the idea of
cross-resistance is possible but unproven.

Dr. Francis Law, an environmental toxicologist at Simon Fraser University,
said research has proven that fish can absorb only two to 10 per cent of
antibiotics they are fed.

Even if they eat all of the medicated feed, at least 90 per cent is passed
back into the environment in feces or through the gills.

"We know how much is absorbed. We don't know how the antibiotics effect the
ocean," Law said. "We're just guessing at this point. There is not much
research in this area and, with cutbacks, there is no research money."

Dr. Bill Bowie, an infectious diseases expert at UBC, said more research is
needed into how bacteria transfer resistance, but studies that show it is
possible should be enough to cause concern.

"We don't know all the answers, but even theoretically, throwing antibiotics
into the ocean is not something I take a lot of comfort from.

"I'm not against aquaculture. I'm very upset about (fish farmers') ability
to use drugs without concern for what they are used for in humans.

"These antibiotics are potentially  important for human health, not just the
salmon-farming industry."

Bowie said the issue of salmon farming has become a political debate over
its economic value and its effect on wild fish stocks. The question of
speeding up the antibiotic resistance of bacteria has been sidelined as a
theoretical risk.

Davies said Canada should set regulations on what kinds of antibiotics can
be used for animals and farm fish.

"In 50 years' time, as we use more and more antibiotics in animal and fish
feed and with over-prescription, we will build up more and more
antibiotic-resistant organisms. Unless we start to change things, we're
going to have the same (drug) resistance in the community as we have now in
hospitals - and I'm considered an optimist."  
 

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 01:02:09 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Farmed salmon and human health Part 3
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970512010240.23974346@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Province - Sunday, May 11th, 1997

Antibiotics you'll find in the sea

In 1995, about 10.5 tonnes of medicated feed was produced for B.C.'s fish
farms, representing 2.1 per cent of the total fish feed produced that year.

OXYTETRACYCLINE: Used as a preventative treatment when smelts are introduced
to sea water. Also used to medicate salmon infected with bacterial diesases.
According to a 1995 report prepared by B.C.'s chief veterinarian,
oxytetracycline represents 89.6 per cent of the antibiotics added to feed.

All tetracylines are related. In humans, they are used to treat sexually
transmitted diseases, tick-borne infections and upper respiratory
infections. However, the drug class has been used to treat human and animal
diseases since the 1940's and many bacteria have already developed a high
level of resistance to it.

TRIMETHOPRIM - SULFADIAZINE and ORMTHOPRIM-SULFADIMETHOXINE: In fish,
these
antobiotics, known by their brand names Tribrissen and Romet, are used to
treat bacterial diseases. They represent about 10 per cent of the
antibiotics added to fish feed, according to the 1995 report.

Both drugs are a combination of two drugs similar to the antibiotic Bactrim,
whicj is used to treat urinary tract infections, upper respiratory
infections and in some cases "traveller's diarrhea."

ERYTHROMYCIN: In fish, it is used primarily as a preventative treatnent for
salmon used as broodstock. In humans, erythromycin is commonly used to treat
respiratory and skin infections, as well as strep throat and chlamydial
infections. It is also used to treat community and hospital-acquired
pneumonia and legionaire's disease. [Also used for other STD treatments
where the patient is allergic to penicillin].

ENROFLOXACIN: In fish, it is used to treat bacterial diseases. It is part of
a relatively new class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. That is a
large class of drugs used for less than 15 years in the treatment of serious
human diseases, such as hospital-acquired pneumonia, as well as bone and
blood infections.

Because it is a new class of antibiotics, infectious-disease experts are
hoping to reserve it for serious infections that can't be treated with other
drugs, so as to reduce the speed of resistance in susceptible bacteria.

Enrofloxacin has a similar structure to ciprofloxacin, an important drug
used in hospitals and in the community to treat a wide range of infectious
diseases.

Enrofloxacin is also in the same class as two other compounds, ofloxcin and
levofloxacin.

When a bacterium develops resistance to any of the drugs in the floxacin
class, it becomes resistant to all of them.

FLORFENICOL: In fish, it is used primarily as a preventive treatment for
salmon used as breeding stock.

It has a similar chemical composition to the human drug chrolamphenicol,
which is used in rare instances to treat several diseases in humans,
including staph and strep infections, chlamydia and  community-acquired
pneumonia.  

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 05:52:12 -0400
>From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Family Pioneers Red-Deer Ranching 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970512055209.006f110c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
----------------------------
05/12/1997 01:22 EST 

 Family Pioneers Red-Deer Ranching 

 WOODBURY, Ga. (AP) -- It took an act of the Legislature for Tommie Lynne
 Cashion's family to raise red deer commercially on the west Georgia ranch
they
 manage. 

 With state law now behind her, Ms. Cashion sees a big future raising the
animals,
 which are related to elk. ``It's one of a few animals I see being
profitable,'' she said. 

 Red-deer meat sells for an average $6 to $7 a pound, with better cuts
going for as
 much as $16. 

 Ms. Cashion, with a bachelor's degree in animal science from the
University of
 Georgia, helps her father, Tommy Cashion, run Flint Land & Cattle Ltd., a
5,000-acre
 ranch about 40 miles north of Columbus. It is owned by Dutch businessman
Frits
 Van Vlissingen. 

 The Cashions raise cattle, horses and hay, but they also have the largest
herd of red
 deer in Georgia -- about 600 animals. They helped form the Georgia Deer
Farmers
 Association, which has about a dozen members. 

 The new state law, for which Ms. Cashion lobbied in this year's
Legislature, allows
 red deer and six related breeds to be raised for slaughter, said Ken
Riddleberger, a
 biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. Previously,
exotic deer
 could be raised only for breeding purposes. 

 The law requires that the deer be kept behind eight-foot fences, and the
state must
 be notified if they escape. 

 ``Our major concern was the problem it would create if these exotic species
 escaped and became established in the wild,'' said Riddleberger, whose
office will
 help the Agriculture Department regulate deer ranchers after the law takes
effect July
 1. 

 State law still prohibits commercial raising of whitetail deer, which
thrive in the wild
 throughout Georgia. 

 Red deer are native to Europe and Asia, although they are raised elsewhere
in the
 United States. The Cashions acquired their first red deer about a year ago
from
 Texas breeders. 

 Raising red deer is similar to raising cattle, and the animals have
adapted well to
 the environment in Georgia, Ms. Cashion said. 

 In addition to their meat, the male deer are valuable for their antlers.
Males can grow
 a massive rack weighing up to 15 pounds, and stags lose antlers each year. A
 Columbus business plans to use antlers from the Cashions' deer to make light
 fixtures and furniture. 
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 05:59:22 -0400
>From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CN) Pollution Causes Fish Kill in China 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970512055919.006ea3e8@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------
 05/12/1997 04:11 EST 

 Pollution Causes Fish Kill in China 

 BEIJING (AP) -- More than 500 tons of carp were found dead and floating on
a lake in
 central China, killed by heavy pollution, a Chinese newspaper reported
today. 

 The dead carp covered the surface of Moshui Lake for more than a mile, the
 Economic Daily (Jingji Ribao) reported. 

 A photograph showed a rowboat surrounded by floating fish so dense the
surface of
 the water could not be seen. The stench was overpowering when a reporter
visited
 the lake on May 6, the report said. 

 It quoted a local official as saying the fish kill was caused by heavy
pollution. 

 Moshui is one of three large lakes in Wuhan, one of China's main
industrial cities. 

 Before the 1980s, clear water in the lake sustained many kinds of aquatic
life,
 including soft-shelled turtles, silver carp and clams. But as Wuhan's
development
 speeded up under national economic reforms, the lake became a cesspool of
 sewage and industrial waste, the report said. 

 Recently, only two kinds of common carp survived in its waters. There has
been
 much talk about cleaning up the lake, but it was ``all thunder and little
rain,'' the
 report said. 
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:40:16 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (SG) Update: Dog in film
Message-ID: <199705121240.UAA06460@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I posted the original Straits Times article,  "S'pore film raises talk", to
AR-News in April 97.

The following was my letter to the newspaper which I subsequently sent to
the Primary Production Department when it was not published:

I refer to "S'pore film raises talk" (ST Life!, 2 Apr 97).

I am concerned about the poodle who was "put to sleep temporarily" and
"subjected to [the film makers'] manipulation". We are told that the poodle
woke up in the end but died a few months ago.

I suppose it is too late to enquire whether the poodle died as a result of
what s/he had to undergo during the filming. But it is not too late to ask
how the poodle was effectively "put to sleep" and by whom and what
"manipulation" the poodle underwent and whether these acts are chargeable
offences under the Animals and Birds' Act.
 
In America, the American Humane Association has the authority to send
representatives to any movie or television program to monitor the treatment
of performing animals. Can the relevant authorities comment on the
application of this idea to Singapore? This is all the more important as our
local film-making industry is growing.

Computer generated images are becoming an important aspect of film-making
and in preventing the use of animals for entertainment purposes. This means
advancement not just in technology but in compassion. Could local
film-makers take this into consideration in their artistic endeavours?

We are appalled when we learn about stray animals being mistreated on the
street. How then can we condone what could have been similar inhumane
treatment just because it is done to satisfy our need for a night out at the
movies? 

Yours faithfully,
Ms Vadivu Govindar Rasu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

This was PPD's reply to me:

SINGAPORE FILM RAISES TALK: GOD OR DOG

        Thank you for your letter dated 14 Apr 97 and for your feedback on
the use of animals in the entertainment industry.

2       We agree with you that animals used for entertainment purposes
should be given proper care and treatment at all times.  You may be pleased
to know that any person who wishes to use an animal for oublic exhibition or
entertainment must apply for a licence from the Primary Production
Department (PPD).  The aim of this measure is to ensure that animals are
properly cared for and handled during the period of the
exhibition/.activity, and are not subjected to any form of ill treatment or
abuse. PPD's officers will also make unnannounced visits to check that
animal care and handling are acceptable.

3       Our Department's animal welfare iofficers have looked into the case
of the poodle used in the movie "God or Dog", and found that the producers
of the movie have re;leased wrong information about the death of the poodle.
The poodle is still alive today.  You may be pleased to know that the
filming was done in the presence of the owner of the dog as well as an
attending veterinarian who was responsible for sedating the dog and ensuring
that it was handled  safely and not subjected to any ill-treatment.

4       I hope the above information addresses your concerns. Once again, I
thank you for your feedback.

Yours sincerely,

DR CHOO LI NAH
HEAD, CORPORATE MANAGEMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
for DIRECTOR OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION       



Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:40:52 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (PK) Help!More on poultry crisis
Message-ID: <199705121240.UAA00159@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

           
This is more detailed than the one I posted earlier. Please look at
penultimate paragraph. Maybe those interested could write to the paper
correcting this myth and drawing attention to the vested interests at play
here. 
Address of Editor is . The paper specifically asks
for brief and succint letters with full name, address and telephone number
of letter-writers.

You could use same/similar letter for my post entitled (LK) Price of chicken.

Thanks! 

Vadivu
_____________________________________________________________


>Pakistan Link
12 MAy 97

Pakistan's poultry industry faces crisis after wedding
                                    ban

          KARACHI: Pakistan's billion dollar poultry industry is
          facing a serious crisis after a government ban on
          serving food at traditional wedding receptions,
          industry officials said.
               Over 10,000 poultry farmers across the country
          have either reduced their production by half or closed
          down their businesses in the past month, they added.
               "We are facing the worst crisis of our lives as
          demand for poultry meat has dropped drastically as our
          business mainly depended on the supply to the wedding
          receptions," Afsar Qadri of the Pakistan Poultry
          Association said.
               Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif slapped a ban on
          lavish wedding receptions after coming into power in an
          effort to get rid of the expensive spreads, a perceived
          social evil. The ban has been largely supported by
          Pakistanis.
               "Sharif's step is appreciable and that is how we
          can get rid of these social evils. Lavish wedding
          receptions were sheer waste of money and had become a
          curse," said Hilda Saeed, a member of Women Action
          Forum.
               Prior to the ban, thousands were invited to
          wedding parties where several types of food were served
          and the favourite meat was chicken which meant millions
          in business for poultry farmers.
               According to Economic Survey of Pakistan, poultry
          meat production jumped from 150,000 tons in 1991 to
          321,000 tons in 1996. The price for eggs almost doubled
          in three years.
               "This was yet another incentive for people to
          enter the business and invest heavily," said Shabbir
          Siddiqui, a poultry farmer in Karachi.
               "Our main business was not selling eggs but was
          selling chickens. We are in a very big crisis and we
          are not going to overcome it," Hasan Hashmi said.
               Hashmi last week gave away 15,000 chicks to
          passers-by at Karachi's seaside.
               "I cannot afford to rear the chicks anymore. I
          have no options now but to give them away. I do not
          have the heart to kill them," he said.
               Like Hashmi, many poultry farmers are closing up
          shop as they feel the ban cannot be reversed. Some have
          shut their farms and are turning to other means of
          earning. While chicken prices in the market have
          dropped, farmers say at the prevailing rates, "they
          simply cannot compete.'
               "I am not getting back even half of what I invest
          in chickens then there is no use in doing business,"
          said poultry farmer Khalid Hasan Ansari, who now only
          has 20,000 chickens at his farm against 70,000 two
          months back.
               The country's commercial capital of Karachi now
          only consumes 55,000 to 60,000 chickens daily, against
          previous figures of 125,000 to 150,000.
               Pakistan's Poultry Association warns if the crisis
          continues, the price of poultry meat will start rising
          soon as production goes down.
               "We are ruined and see no hope in the improvement
          of situation," said Ansari echoeing the concern of
          thousands of poultry farmers. Chicken meat is still a
          conventional dish even though it is cheaper than mutton
          and beef, poultry framers said, adding "there is need
          to create awareness that white meat is healthier and
          people should start eating it as in other western
          countries."
               "We are planning to advertise and we have appealed
          to the government to come forward and help us. We know
          that they will not lift the ban but (they) can give us
          other incentives but they are not listening to us,"
          said Qadri.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:41:05 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (LK) Price of chicken
Message-ID: <199705121241.UAA02078@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


Please see related post entitled (PK) Help!More on poultry crisis. 
See last line in this post. We could write a letter (same or similar to the
one for the above-mentioned post) on the health hazards of chicken (and
other meat) to the Editor of Daily News at . 

Thanks!

Vadivu
_____________________________________________________________


>Daily News
Monday 12, May 1997
Letters to the Editor

Price of chicken

Within a period of just six months, consumers have watched helplessly the
rising price of broiler chicken. This is despite some relief measures given
by the government in respect of duty reduction on animal food.

First it was the price of beef that took off over the Rs. 100 barrier; fish
has been steadily going out of reach, and now chicken has crashed through
the Rs. 100 barrier, in fact upto Rs. 120 per kg.

Before we think or embark on any ambitious programs of development should
we not declare war on price increases. The poultry industry is now almost a
monopoly in the hands of one company and prices are merrily increased while
no one seems to care.

For consumers to resist price increases, the state must provide
alternatives.

One would be to import broiler chicken immediately and market it at a
reasonable price. The late Lalith Athulathmudali did so?

After all, if we can import other food items to steady prices, why are
important proteins like chicken ignored.

R. SILVA,
Dehiwela



Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:41:12 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (LK) Zoos are prisons for animals
Message-ID: <199705121241.UAA03195@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Daily News
Monday 12, May 1997
Letters to the Editor
Animal prisons

So, there is a plan for another zoo near Pinnawela. A zoo is a prison for
animals.

Life is fast becoming a rat race. We must definitely turn to nature and our
own past civilisation to remain human, and not blindly follow the rest of
the world.

Thousands of years ago we had hospitals for animals. We never had prisons
for animals until the western civilisation reached us.

Kalu Manike
Colombo


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:41:18 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (LK) Transport of illicit beef
Message-ID: <199705121241.UAA02326@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Daily News
Monday 12, May 1997
Letters to the Editor

Transport of illicit beef

We should congratulate the Kandy police for having seized tons of illicit
beef unloaded from a lorry at the Kandy central market.

This has been happening for a number of years - beef covered by gunny bags
openly being carried by men to the meat stalls.

Most of this illicit meat is brought to Kandy town from Madawella, Digana,
Iriyagama and Akurana. So if the police are vigilant and catch lorries
coming through the four entrances to kandy town, mainly Katugastota bridge,
Tennakumbura bridge, Peradeniya bridge, those illicit meat lorries could be
caught. They come into town between 8-10 am.

The fines are low as the law stands. There should be a fine of at least Rs.
25,000 for a lorry load, meat and animals seized and the lorry confiscated.
This will be the only way to stop this well organised operation by
immensely wealthy businessmen.

I understand that quite a few eating houses in Kandy town purchase this
illicit meat in bulk.

Dr. C. GODAMUNNE,
Kandy Humanitarian Society


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:41:27 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (MY) For the love of dolphins
Message-ID: <199705121241.UAA03563@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



RELATED STORY
Parasite threat
> The Star Online
                   Monday, May 12, 1997
                   For the love of dolphins
                   By Uma Rudd


                   MAKING big bucks was the last thing on Chitramala
                   Nadarajah's mind when she decided to major in marine
                   biology.

                   What was her inspiration then? Purely a love for science
                   and marine life - mainly dolphins!

                   This 23-year-old beauty who has devoted her life to
                   studying cetaceans (marine mammals) said she was aware
                   that preserving marine life wasn't going to make her
                   rich.

                         [Image]
                       Chitramala
                      Nadarajah ...
                     'treat dolphins
                     as you want it
                     to treat you.'

                   "Well, at least I have the satisfaction of doing what I
                   always wanted - work with cetaceans."

                   Chitra gladly acknowledges that credit must go to
                   Orlando's Sea World for arousing her interest in and
                   introducing her to marine life.

                   "My dad was a diplomat and we used to travel a lot. When
                   I was 10, we had a family holiday at Orlando, Florida -
                   and that was the first time I saw real-life dolphins.
                   They are such intelligent mammals and I was very
                   fascinated by them.

                   "Since then, I've wanted to be a marine biologist. But I
                   must say that I disagree with some of the principles at
                   water parks like animal captivity and breeding in an
                   enclosed environment.

                   "It is a cruel thing to do. Once these cetaceans start
                   living in 'protected' environments, it becomes almost
                   impossible to return them to the wild," she says.

                   Having returned to Malaysia six months ago after
                   completing her degree in zoology and her MSc in Marine
                   Science and Fisheries in Aberdeen, Scotland, Chitra now
                   works as a scientific researcher for Worldwide Fund for
                   Nature (WWF).

                   "During this time, I had the opportunity to work with
                   dolphins and research them. Well, not exactly live
                   dolphins, but those that died after being stranded on
                   the shores as I was doing my thesis on dolphin
                   parasitology (study on parasites in the dolphin's body).

                   "Most of my study was off the coasts of Britain, along
                   Ireland, where I conducted post-mortem on 25 common
                   dolphins that were stranded or caught."

                   Chitra says that live dolphins are a rare find and after
                   hours of being at sea on a boat, one is lucky if one
                   gets to spot the cetacean's fin on the water surface or
                   hear a blow (the sound dolphins make when they breathe
                   on the surface).

                   "I think that's what makes me love dolphins so much -
                   the fact that they're so hard to spot. They're not
                   exactly obvious in the water so you really have to work
                   at finding them.

                            [Image]
                      A stranded dolphin
                      found in Malaysia.

                   "It's such a challenge and it's so rewarding when you
                   finally get to see them," she says.

                   While most trainers evaluate the intelligence of
                   cetaceans by their aquatic dexterity at marine shows,
                   Chitra begs to differ.

                   "Teaching a killer whale to swim from one end of a pool
                   to the other in exchange for a few fish isn't a sign of
                   intelligence. This is more survival than anything else.

                   "One thing that should be classified as intelligence
                   would be the dolphins' close family bond. New-born
                   dolphins usually stick close to their mums. Once they're
                   much stronger, the male dolphins join the older males.

                   "Most cetaceans have a tendency to strand themselves on
                   shores when they are physically ill. Because of the
                   close family bond, other family members also follow the
                   sick dolphin and end up stranded on the shore.

                   "To humans, this can be characterised as suicidal, an
                   act of stupidity. Yet it is a form of marine
                   intelligence, as these dolphins stay together even in
                   death.

                   "Cetaceans also have the ability to judge a distance by
                   sonar (the sound they make). Each sound wave bounces off
                   the object in front of them and when it returns,
                   cetaceans can basically make out the distance of the
                   object and its size.

                   "They are also able to say which way is up and which is
                   down when they are in the water - something that we
                   can't do!

                   "That is why killer whales can attack prey with their
                   eyes closed - their aqua notion is very accurate."

                   When asked if wild dolphins are dangerous, Chitra says:
                   "No way. They're not vicious but very curious. Plus,
                   they have bad eyesight and have to come near to see
                   objects.

                   "Dolphins appear aggressive when they are frightened but
                   they don't intend to hurt anybody. However, we don't
                   encourage people to pet wild dolphins.

                   "We encourage people to follow one golden rule - treat
                   dolphins as you want it to treat you. Don't pet a
                   dolphin on its head because that's where its blow hole
                   (nose) is. No one would like it if a dolphin stuck its
                   fin up his nostril!"

                   In love with science and nature, Chitra also hopes to
                   pursue a PhD in dolphin behaviour.

                   "That's part of the reason why I am with WWF - I'm
                   hoping to gain more experience and while in Malaysia, I
                   also plan to study the dugongs (sea cow/manatee) off the
                   Sabah coasts which should help me get my doctorate," she
                   says.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:41:39 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Parasite threat from fish and cetaceans
Message-ID: <199705121241.UAA05652@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 
RELATED STORY
For the love of dolphins

> The Star Online 
                   Monday, May 12, 1997
                   Parasite threat
                   By Uma Rudd

                   A SUPPOSEDLY harmless parasite found in fish and
                   cetaceans has proved to be a threat to humans.

                   Known as anasakis simplex, the parasite can be found in
                   the innards of fish, crustaceans and cetaceans and is
                   similar to tapeworm, only more fatal, says marine
                   biologist Chitramala Nadarajah.

                   "Although the parasite remains dormant in the body of
                   fish and crustaceans like squids and crabs, when
                   cetaceans like dolphins eat these infected fish, the
                   parasites tend to grow bigger and start breeding," she
                   says.

                                           [Image]
                              A common dolphin being readied for
                                        post-mortem.

                   "That's when the problem starts - these parasites breed
                   rapidly, possibly because the condition and temperature
                   of a mammal's body is perfect for them."

                   Each reproduction means 1,000 more parasites. However,
                   upon reproduction, the female parasites die.

                   "The parasites which grow from stages L1 and L2 (dormant
                   stages) in fish, tend to progress to L3 (development
                   stage) and L4 (reproduction stage) in dolphins. Anasakis
                   causes stomach ulcers in dolphins as it feeds on their
                   stomachs and intestinal walls.

                   "The process is like a cycle: through the dolphin's
                   faeces, these parasites spread to fish and other
                   crustaceans and then they are eaten by dolphins, where
                   they grow and breed. Without dolphins and other
                   cetaceans, these parasites can't live.

                   "Up to this point, it isn't really hazardous as
                   dolphins' stomachs are much stronger. But if one of us
                   eats an infected fish, the anasakis parasite could have
                   a fatal effect."

                   What can be done to control this parasite? Chitra says
                   that the subject is still very new. But the situation is
                   very serious, especially in Ireland.

                   "About 70 per cent of the dolphins in the Irish coasts
                   are infected by anasakis. Each batch of fish caught is
                   checked to see if it's infected.

                   "So far, there have been two recorded cases of people
                   being infected with the bacteria after eating fish and
                   both were in Ireland.

                   "We (marine biologists) are sure that fish in coasts
                   world-wide are infected with this bacteria. However the
                   percentage is unknown. It may be more rampant in certain
                   coasts.

                   "The best that anyone can do at the moment is to test
                   fish to see if it's infected and avoid eating fish in
                   these areas," she says.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:41:47 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (JP) Env groups criticise bank
Message-ID: <199705121241.UAA06281@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>Daily News
Monday 12, May 1997
ADB hit by donor fatigue, environmental criticism

By Uday Khandeparkar

FUKUOKA, Japan, May 11 (Reuter) - The Asian Development Bank opened its
annual meeting on Sunday as biggest donor Japan warned of cuts in aid and
bank officials admitted an urgent need for setting a new direction.

The bank, marking its 30th anniversary, faced severe criticism from
environmental groups which said it was funding projects without concern for
the environment.

Bank officials strongly rejected the charges saying it was very much
concerned with environmental issues.

A more serious matter, they said, was redefining what the bank should be
doing now that its traditional role as aid provider was diluted by the
large flows of private capital.

"I think you can be critical of the bank. Yes, we have completed 30 years
but what next ?" the ADB's chief strategy and policy officer Shoji
Nishimoto said.

ADB president Mitsuo Sato said: "The region's and the bank's progress over
the last 30 years is highly encouraging. But formidable challenges remain."

The multilateral financial institution, owned by 56 countries, has been
affected by two factors -- traditional donors have tightened their purse
strings as their own budgets have come under pressure and secondly the need
for a quasi-governmental lender is no longer so pressing.

With new concepts like Build-Operate-Transfer, governments in the region
have been able to attract private investors.

Sato, who called the bank a "family doctor" which saw Asian nations through
their early rapid development, said despite the impressive growth, almost
one billion people or 30 percent of the region's total population, lived in
absolute poverty.

Sato's grim reminder was preceded by a stern warning from Japanese finance
minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, host to the meeting in this southern Japanese
city until Tuesday, that development aid to poor nations might have to take
a back seat because of budgetary constraints at home.

Japan was proud to have given the most development aid of any
industrialised nation in recent years, Mitsuzuka said.

But, he added, "Since our fiscal situation is the worst among industrial
countries, fiscal reform is among our top priorities...When implementing
fiscal structural reforms, however, the Official Development Aid cannot be
exempted from our effort to cut down on expenditure."

There was however consensus at the meeting, attended by about 3,000 finance
ministers, central bank governors, businessmen and other economic
officials, that the overall picture for Asia remained bright.

"What Asia lost in the 19th century will be regained in the 21st century,"
Indian finance minister P. Chidambaram told a seminar on challenges facing
the region.

An ADB report released at the seminar said South Asia was now poised to
catch up with the Asian tigers.

Although the 936 million population of India, the biggest country in South
Asia, has been a major factor in the widespread poverty there, in the next
few years its people could be the trigger for growth, it said.

The demographic situation favoured South Asia as a large number of its
people would now enter the workforce, it added.

"Three of five Indians today are born after 1960. They are impatient and
not wedded to any ideology. They want economic growth," Chidambaram said.

              India must act on oil subsidies soon - minister

FUKUOKA, Japan, May 11 (Reuter) - India needs to act quickly to ensure that
large subsidies on oil were cut back and the government was considering a
mix of options to tackle the issue, finance minister Palaniappan
Chidambaram said on Sunday.

"The Prime Minister has started a debate by indicating that the question
cannot be ducked for too long. Some arrangement has to be made, some
decision has to be taken," Chidambaram told Reuters Financial Television in
this southern Japanese city where is attending the annual meeting of the
Asian Development Bank.

Cutting the subsidies would mean raising domestic fuel prices and that is a
politically sensitive issue.

"I think the petroleum minister is considering a mix of options,"
Chidambaram said.

The options would be to raise domestic product prices along with cutting
import duties on crude oil and petroleum products.

But there again it is a tough choice.

"It is difficult to lower import duties right now because the budget
assumed a certain amount of revenue. Now if there are compensatory duties
elsewhere, then one can think of lowering duties ... I think we should go
for a mix of options," Chidambaram said.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 11:20:06 -0400 (EDT)
>From: MINKLIB@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: How Immoral Can the Fur Trade Get?
Message-ID: <970512112000_641147471@emout10.mail.aol.com>

Mink rancher Lee Moyle of ID has been examining the possibilities of cloning
mink.  Moyle states that cloning would be too expensive for standard mink
breeding, but that it migh have profitable benefits with certain color
mutations, whom he could make bigger and more productive at breeding.

Moyle states that it will be several years before cloning could reach his
farm.  This fur rancher would be likely to experiment with this as he has a
reputation of being an innovator, and for experimenting with new ideas on his
fur farm.

This would open the door for the animal rights movement to join forces with
all sorts of religous sects that oppose cloning.  Even Rush Limbaugh has
stated that he would work with animal rights groups to stop cloning.  As the
fur trade dives to new lows they make their abolition that much easier for
us.

Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
PO Box 822411
Dallas, TX 75382

Membership is $15 a year.


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 11:31:40 -0400 (EDT)
>From: MINKLIB@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: German Fur Sales
Message-ID: <970512113126_-1131522729@emout03.mail.aol.com>

The US fur trade magazines claim that German fur sales are up 12%.  Hopefully
that is exagerated propaganda, but I'm sure the German AR activists will step
it up and push them back either way.

One thing that was interesting though, was that it was claimed that in
Germany only about 1/4 of the fur sales were in speciality fur shops whereas
the rest was in dept. stores and womens apparel stores, and is said to have
included profits from the sale of fur trimmed outerware.

A look at whose buying what at the international fur auctions indicates that
fur trim is big in Germany.  My advice to anybody in Germany that is heading
up anti fur campaigns would be to forget the little fur shops for now, and
take on the dept. stores and anyone with fur trim.  This seems to be where
the bulk of the killing is at present.

Anyone who wants to coordinate international anti fur campaigns should feel
free to contact us.

JP Goodwin
Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
PO Box 822411
Dallas, TX 75382
MINKLIB@aol.com
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 09:21:26 -0700 (MST)
>From: glaza@primenet.com (greater los angeles zoo association)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: L.A. Zoo Proactive About TB in Elephants
Message-ID: <199705121621.JAA15941@primenet.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The following Zoo Press Release is and has been accessible to anyone who
visits the Los Angeles Zoo's website at www.lazoo.org for the past 3 weeks.
It reports that Annie, the Asian elephant, died of a bacterial infection,
although she tested positive for TB, and that a positive result does not
necessarily mean an active case.


L.A. Zoo Proactive About TB In Two Elephants

Annie, the 30-year-old elephant who died on March 22 from a bacterial
infection, and Calle, a 30-year-old elephant recently transferred on loan to
the San Francisco Zoo, both tested positive to tuberculosis from blood test
analysis.   
A recent report from the County of Los Angeles, Tuberculosis Control,
suggested that Annie had a "minimal burden of tuberculosis if any at all."
Two other elephants presently living at the Zoo have tested negative.

"Tuberculosis in animals is not a new disease," explained Dr. Charles
Sedgwick, director of animal health services.  "Zoos have been dealing with
it for decades.  Many animals can carry inactive tuberculosis throughout
their lives.  It only becomes a critical issue when this zoonotic
disease--one that can be transmitted to other animals and humans--becomes
active, thus contagious.  There is no threat to our Zoo visitors."

Confirming tuberculosis in elephants is difficult, but it can be diagnosed
through blood as well as skin tests.  However, active tuberculosis can only
be confirmed through culture growth, or most recently, DNA testing methods,
which often times takes weeks or months.  Deteriorating health--bloody
diarrhea, weight loss,lethargy, loss of appetite--are indicators of a
medical problem; but,
they are not definitive signs of several diseases from which elephants can
suffer.

"Now that we know that two of our former Zoo elephants tested positive for
tuberculosis, albeit most likely inactive, we will be even more aware of any
health issues that surface in the group," said Sedgwick.

The L. A. Zoo will continue to take the following measures to protect its
staff and animals from potential infection from zoonotic diseases: on-going
staff education about disease transmission and cleanliness; continuing
mandated tuberculosis screening tests for staff having direct contact with
animals; continuing tuberculosis screening on primates every two years;
ordering specialized respirators (masks) fitted specifically to staff who
have regular, direct contact with bio-hazardous materials; and performing
screening tests on animals to b eshipped from the L.A. Zoo to reside in
another institution.

As is standard procedure with a zoonotic disease, the following government
agencies are working with the Los Angeles Zoo: United States Department of
Agriculture, Animal Health (USDA) California Public Health Services (CPHS);
Medical Waste Services; California Occupational Health and Safety
dministration(Cal/OSHA); Los Angeles County Tuberculosis Control; and
the Federal Center for Disease Control.

Luz Morales
for Los Angeles Zoo

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 13:52:45 -0400
>From: "radioactive" 
To: "Animal Rights" 
Subject: Run-Down Zoo in Kisangani, Zaire
Message-ID: <199705121754.NAA05592@mail.mia.bellsouth.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
     charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Run-down zoo mirrors life in general in Kisangani


    By David Fox
    KISANGANI, Zaire, May 11 (Reuter) - The last animal at
Kisangani zoo was given what its keepers regard as the ultimate
tribute when it died last month. They refused to eat it.
    The animal, a crocodile which zookeepers said had spent at
least 20 years in captivity at the Kisangani Biological Gardens,
was instead dumped below the picturesque Tsope falls, where it
drifted into the Zaire river from where it originally came.
    ``It hadn't eaten for a long time and was sick,'' said Moses
Imwenza, now the only remaining keeper at the zoo. ``You can't
eat a sick crocodile, so when it died we pushed it back.''
    Kisangani's zoo, set in lush, overgrown gardens on the banks
of the Tsope river, is a metaphor for the faded glory this
central African city once enjoyed.
    Made famous in the west by Joseph Conrad's novel ``Heart of
Darkness'' and more recently by V.S. Naipaul's ``A bend in the
River,'' Kisangani is a dusty, sweltering city on the frontier
of the jungle. Its sole industry seems to be petty swindling.
    Imwenza told Reuters at its peak in the 1960s the zoo had
dozens of animals, including lions, leopards and gorillas, and
hundreds of people would visit at weekends to picnic in the
gardens.
    Today, the jungle is taking over the cages and enclosures
and the only animals to be seen are birds flitting through trees
and lizards warming themselves in dappled patches of sunlight.
    Kisangani city itself seems to be in the process of being
slowly swallowed up by the jungle of northeastern Zaire.
    Once-elegant Belgian colonial houses lie in ruins on either
side of the river that splits the city, Zaire's third largest.
    Roads have not been repaired for years and streetlights were
long ago vandalised and looted for any wire they might contain.
    Residents blame three decades of neglect, corruption and
misrule under Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko for Kisangani's
decline, but others say the problems are more deep-rooted here.
    ``It is very hard to warm to Kisangani or the people,'' said
a missionary who has spent decades in the region. ``Sometimes I
wonder what purpose Kisangani has.''
    In its heyday, Kisangani was the last navigable port before
the Stanley Falls on the Zaire river. Its population was swelled
by the arrival of white traders and Indian merchants keen to try
to make a profit from the diamonds, ivory and gold in the area.
    But it also developed a reputation for ruthlessness, a place
where you could have your throat cut for looking at someone in
the wrong way or where a whole village would be wiped out
because of a rumour that its residents had found a valuable gem.
    Today every other shop is still a diamond dealer, but few
are open. Gaudy signs boasting ``Rambo diamonds'' or ``Star of
the east'' entice small diggers, but most prefer to deal
directly with Indian buyers who trade furtively from their hotel
rooms.
    ``If you know what you are doing you can buy diamonds here
for up to 40 percent less than anywhere else in the world,'' one
buyer said. ``The problem is you have to pay so many people just
to get established.''
    The Indian dealers are buying up to $250,000 worth of gems
per trip, taking them back to India for cutting, polishing and
resale and then using the profits to air freight basic goods to
Kisangani.
    These are then sold at enormously inflated prices in the
city's markets to finance another spree of gem-buying. ``This is
Kisangani's economy,'' said another diamond dealer.
    Residents welcomed Laurent Kabila's Alliance of Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire when they took the city
on March 15 on their offensive that has taken them to near the
capital Kinshasa.
    But few Kisangani residents have felt any difference in
their lives since then. The only industries still running are
the power station above the Tsope falls and the nearby brewery.
    Water costs $10 a bottle, tinned food is well past its
sell-by date and aid workers and the few remaining journalists
in the city are weary of a diet of stringy chicken and banana
chips.
    Even rabble-rousing reports on rebel radio describing either
Kinshasa's fall or imminent fall fail to motivate. ``So what,''
said one man listening. ``Nothing will change. Kisangani will be
the same.''




Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 13:54:24 -0400
>From: "radioactive" 
To: "Animal Rights" 
Subject: Jaguar Hunt in Venezuela
Message-ID: <199705121755.NAA05970@mail.mia.bellsouth.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
     charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 
Venezuela proposes jaguar hunt to protect species


    CARACAS (Reuter) - Venezuela plans to let hunters shoot rare
jaguars for $12,000 per head in a controversial bid to protect
the species, a local environmental group said
Friday.
    Funds raised by the exclusive hunt, proposed by the
Environment Ministry, would be used to ensure the survival of
the 3,600 big cats left in the country.
    Private ecological group Fudena ridiculed the scheme as
simplistic and said conservation should not be funded through
hunting trophies.
    ``It's a defeatist attitude to the problem,'' Fudena
director Adrian Hardy said.
    The proposal is based on the theory that ``if the farmers
don't kill them then the hunters will and so we'll charge them
and use the resources to finance conservation,'' he said.
^REUTER@



Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 13:59:46
>From: eklei@earthlink.net
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Coulston Fdn. story in El Paso Times
Message-ID: <3.0.1.16.19970512135946.08e768d0@earthlink.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

"Primate testing lab faces new inquiry"
by David Bennett
New Mexico Reporter
Copyright El Paso Times
May 10, 1997

ALAMOGORDO -- A New York congresswoman's staff is investigating
allegations that The Coulston Foundation, a primate biomedical
research laboratory based in Alamogordo, has been overcharging the
federal government for its care of at least 24 chimpanzees being
used for AIDS research.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-NY, a member of the powerful House
Government Reform and Oversight Committee, has her staff looking
into allegation brought to light by an animal rights group that the
foundation is possibly price gouging the federal government as it
maintains chimpanzees used in AIDS research.

"We are looking at The Coulston Foundation because they receive
through a subcontract money from the federal government to conduct
research," said Mark Guiton, legislative assistant for Maloney. 
"If it is costing much more to take care of these animals than it
should, then my boss wants to know about that."

A spokesman for The Coulston Foundation declined comment on the
allegations, but he did say that Maloney has not contacted the
foundation nor has she visited the facilities to examine records.

"Our records are posted in accordance with National Institutes of
Health regulations," said Don McKinney, spokesman for the
Foundation.

Maloney's investigation is the latest in a recent series of
allegations to shake the foundation.

* In January and March, two young, healthy chimpanzees died at the
facility -- one after being anesthetized and another after being
injured by an older chimpanzee in an adjacent cage.  The U.S.
Department of Agriculture is investigating the deaths for possible
violations of the Animal Welfare Act.

* Craig Coulston, son of the foundation's president and himself a
vice-president of Coulston International Corp., is facing sexual
harassment lawsuits filed last year in federal court in Las Cruces
by two women who previously worked for the company.  A third woman
who filed a similar sexual harassment lawsuit reached an out-of-
court settlement with the company earlier this year.

McKinney would not comment directly about the lawsuits.  Craig
Coulston did not return phone messages requesting comment.

"There are two sides to every case that goes into court," McKinney
noted in an electronic mail message sent to a Times reporter.  "You
and your newspaper don't know any of the sides."

Regarding the allegations of price gouging, In Defense of Animals'
research shows that the foundation is allegedly charging Science
Applications International Corp. of San Diego $718,000 for
maintaining 12 chimpanzees under a one-year subcontract.

According to In Defense of Animals, that comes to $163 per day per
chimpanzee -- four times the industry-standard per diem charge of
about $40/day.  Another similar subcontract is for $860,000,
meaning a $196/day rate.

In a series of letters to Rep. Maloney, In Defense of Animals has
urged the congresswoman to request an investigation by the Health
and Human Services Inspector General or the General Accounting
Office.

Dr. Frederick Coulston, 82, a researcher in toxicology and
infectious diseases, created the foundation in 1993 from his
private manufacturing company, Coulston International.

The foundation now controls 550 chimpanzees, by far the largest
captive colony in the world.  The foundation also has a contract
with the Air Force to care for its 150 chimpanzees, holdovers from
the early days of space exploration when chimpanzees were the
world's first astronauts.

The foundation runs the chimpanzee center at Holloman Air Force
Base, and another facility in Alamogordo.  Coulston employs 150
people, making it the third-largest employer in Alamogordo.

Coulston is considered anathema by animal rights groups, who have
relentlessly tracked the foundation's record of treatment of
chimpanzees and monkeys.

"He has repeatedly shown extreme negligence in running the
facilities," said Suzanne Roy, program director of In Defense of
Animals.

The foundation denies the charge.

"The death rate at our facilities is negligible, especially when
you compare it to the murder rate in El Paso," McKinney said.  "If
I could ever get these animal rights people in a room alone, I'd
like to ask them:  Would you like it if your children didn't have
a vaccine against polio, or smallpox or whooping cough?"

McKinney points with pride to what he says is research being done
at The Coulston Foundation into a possible AIDS vaccine.  Late last
month, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, announced that a new vaccine under
testing had protected two chimpanzees at The Coulston Foundation
that were deliberately injected with massive amounts of the AIDS
virus.

The experimental vaccine also is being tested on humans, but it is
too early for any meaningful results, Fauci said.

In Defense of Animals scoffs at Coulston's claim that they are
involved in actual research at the facility in Alamogordo.

"The research that Coulston and his doctors try to claim for
themselves is in reality controlled by off-site virologists," said
Eric Kleiman, research director for In Defense of Animals. 
"According to National Institutes of Health (NIH) records, no
independent, investigator-initiated, grant-supported AIDS research
is conducted at the foundation."

Several animal rights activists said Coulston is the wrong person
to have in control of so many chimps.  In Defense of Animals noted
that seven veterinarians have come and gone at the facility in the
past three years.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has expressed
official concern about the veterinarian staffing situation.

"It's a travesty that our government has allowed [the Air Force's
150] chimpanzees to fall into the hands of Fred Coulston, whose
egregious record of animal care speaks for itself," said Lauren
Sullivan of In Defense of Animals.

More than two dozen chimps and other primates have died from
preventable conditions at the facility since 1993, Sullivan said.

The USDA charged the Coulston Foundation with violating the Animal
Welfare Act, and last summer Coulston and the USDA settled the
charge and others with the foundation paying a $40,000 fine and
promising to make improvements that would prevent similar
accidents.  He also promised to never again violate the Animal
Welfare Act.

But now the USDA is investigating two more deaths in January and
March.

Jan. 21, an 11-year-old male chimp named Jello, recently arrived
from a laboratory in New York, died after being sedated for
transfer from one cage to another.  The foundation says Jello was
killed when another chimp stepped on his neck.

But In Defense of Animals says a necropsy found food in the chimp's
throat, indicating he may have choked to death on food.  Animals
and humans, Roy noted, are supposed to fast for 12 hours before
being given anesthesia.

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 09:54:51 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Mike Markarian 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu,
        en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Lawsuit Settled to Protect Grizzly Bears
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970512125626.52d78a54@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 12, 1997

CONTACT: Eric Glitzenstein, 202-588-5206
         Michael Markarian, 301-585-2591

WILDLIFE GROUPS AND INTERIOR DEPARTMENT SETTLE LAWSUIT TO PROTECT
GRIZZLY BEARS

WASHINGTON -- The Fund for Animals has reached a landmark settlement
agreement with the federal government over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service's "Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan."

U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman had ruled in September 1995 that
the Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act and "acted
in a manner that is arbitrary and capricious" by "issuing a Recovery Plan
that fails to establish objective, measurable criteria which, when met,
would result in a determination, in accordance with the provisions of the
Endangered Species Act, that the grizzly bear be removed from the threatened
species list." Avoiding an appeal, the parties have now settled the lawsuit
because the Fish and Wildlife Service has committed to develop "objective,
measurable, habitat-based recovery criteria for grizzly bears in the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem" and other areas where grizzly bears exist, and has
agreed to "make the draft criteria available to the public for review and
comment."

The settlement will prevent efforts to "delist" the grizzly bears
prematurely and expose them to sport hunting and other destructive
activities. The Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Swan View Coalition, and a
number of other organizations were co-plaintiffs in The Fund's lawsuit. In
addition, the National Audubon Society had filed a similar lawsuit, which
was also settled.

"This is the first time a species recovery plan has been successfully
challenged in court," says Eric Glitzenstein, attorney for The Fund. "Our
victory sets precedent that the Fish and Wildlife Service is required by law
to base its recovery plans on scientific data and objective evidence of real
recovery -- not on the desires of those who wish to hasten delisting for
their own purposes."

Grizzly bears have been listed as threatened in the lower 48 states since
1975, and currently occupy less than 2 percent of their original range. The
Fund led the charge to list the grizzly bear in 1975, and won a court order
halting grizzly bear hunting in Montana in 1991. The only state which
currently allows grizzly bear hunting is Alaska. Adds Michael Markarian,
campaign director for The Fund, "Montana and Wyoming have already signaled
their interest in resuming trophy hunting of grizzly bears, and delisting
would have spelled disaster for these creatures."

For a copy of the 9-page settlement agreement and order, please call The
Fund at 301-585-2591.

# # #

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 15:03:51 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Mike Markarian 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu,
        en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: CT: Nuisance Wildlife Bill Passes the House!
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970512180529.5c0fbb8a@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Great News in Connecticut!

The Connecticut House of Representatives has passed HB 6577 by a vote of 126
to 13 -- the largest margin for an animal protection bill every passing in
Connecticut!

HB 6577 will prohibit nuisance wildlife control trappers from using cruel
methods such as drowning, body-crushing traps, and injections of paint
thinner. It will also require them to receive training in prevention
measures and humane capture and release.

The bill will soon come up for a vote in the Senate, possibly on this coming
Wednesday! If you live in Connecticut, please call your State Senator
immediately and ask him or her to support HB 6577. You can call
1-800-842-1420 for Senate Democrats, or 1-800-842-1421 for Senate
Republicans. Call your local Registrar of Voters if you need to find out
which State Senator represents you.

Thank you!

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:35:14 -0400
>From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (BE/UK) Britain sees no quick end to EU beef ban
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970512203512.006f4750@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
-------------------------------
                     Britain sees no quick end to EU beef ban

                     May 12, 1997          
                     Web posted at: 5:14
                     p.m. EDT (2114 GMT)

                     BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuter) -- Jack Cunningham,
                     Britain's new Agriculture Minister, sought on
                     Monday to make a quick start to improving
                     relations with the European Union but did not see
                     any early lifting of a world ban on British beef
                     exports.

                     Only 10 days after Labour won a landslide victory
                     in British elections, Cunningham met EU farm chief
                     Franz Fischler to discuss prospects for lifting
                     the 14-month-old ban.

                     But he declined to give any forecast for an end to
                     the crippling ban, imposed in March 1996 after the
                     former Conservative government admitted that mad
                     cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy
                     (BSE), could be caught by humans.

                     "I think we can do better. I'm not setting any
                     dates or putting any deadlines," he said, avoiding
                     raising hopes that the EU would approve a British
                     "certified herd scheme" to identify cows from
                     BSE-free herds which could then be exported.

Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 21:29:07 -0400 (EDT)
>From: CFOXAPI@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: EU FUR BAN- LETTERS (& FAXES) NEEDED 
Message-ID: <970512212757_35252717@emout06.mail.aol.com>

Note:  After I posted this alert in April, a number of people have requested
fax numbers for the Dutch officials.  I am re-posting with the fax numbers
included.  
-Camilla  

___________________________________________________________________

                                  ACTION ALERT  ***** MAY-JUNE 1997

          LETTERS NEEDED IN SUPPORT OF EUROPEAN FUR IMPORT BAN

In 1991, the European Union (EU) passed precedent-setting legislation to
reduce pain and suffering to furbearing animals worldwide.  The ban was
adopted with two explicit purposes:  first, to prohibit use of leghold traps
within the EU; second, to ban fur imports from countries still using leghold
traps, or not complying with "internationally agreed humane trapping
standards" (no such standards exist today).  The first provision of
Regulation 3254/91 has already gone into effect-the leghold trap is now
banned in all 15 EU member countries.  Phase two of the ban, however, has yet
to be implemented.  

Originally due to take effect January 1, 1995, the fur import ban provision
of this regulation has been delayed four times and is now in jeopardy of
being weakened by an "international trade agreement."  This spurious
agreement would classify some leghold devices as "humane" and would allow
major fur-producing countries to continue using leghold traps for at least
four more years and to continue selling leghold-trapped fur to Europe.

Although more than 80 countries prohibit the use of leghold traps, including
all EU member countries, millions of animals continue to suffer in these
cruel traps in North America, their pelts still sold to European and other
foreign fur buyers.  The US and Canadian governments, working with North
American fur and trapping industries, have spent thousands of taxpayer
dollars lobbying European Union to circumvent this ban.  They have threatened
international trade sanctions under the World Trade Organization's (WTO)
trade rules and delayed implementation of the ban four times.  The
Netherlands, however, refused to delay the ban another year and enacted the
regulation at its borders in January 1996.

The Netherlands is currently serving as President of the Council of
Ministers, a sixth month rotating position they will hold until the end of
June.  The Dutch Presidency has indicated that the final decision on the ban
is to be made by the Environment Council by the end of June.  It is vital
that we convey, loud and clear to EU decision makers, that the majority of
Americans oppose use of leghold traps and support implementation of the ban
immediately.

Your help is needed to encourage Dutch officials, Minister-President W. Kok
and Minister of Agriculture Jozias J. van Aartsen to implement the ban, in
its original form, as soon as possible.  Please write to them:

   His Excellency W. KokMinister Jozias J. van Aartsen
    Minister-PresidentMinister of Ag., Nature Management & Fisheries
     P.O. Box 2001Postbus 20401
    2500 E.A. The Hague2500 EK's Gravenhage
    The NetherlandsThe Netherlands
   Fax=011-31-356-4683Fax= 011-31-70-347-8228 (or
011-31-70-339-1350)

Points to include in your letters:

*Urge Minister-President Kok and Minister van Aartsen to reject the so-called
humane trapping agreement with Canada and Russia which completely undermines
the original Regulation 3254/91 and provides enormous loopholes
for countries still using leghold traps. 

*Let them know that the majority of Americans support a ban on leghold traps
as evidenced by the results of a recent national poll that shows that 74% of
Americans believe leghold traps should be outlawed entirely and by the 1996
passage of public ballot initiatives in Colorado and Massachusetts that ban
leghold traps statewide.  Remind them that close to 50 U.S. members of
congress are co-sponsoring a federal bill to ban leghold traps nationwide and
support for this legislation is growing.

*Commend the Dutch Ministers for taking a strong stance against animal
cruelty by implementing the ban within the Netherlands and urge them to
ensure that Regulation 3254/91 is implemented by the entire EU as soon as
possible! 

LETTERS SHOULD BE SENT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Please send API copies of any responses you receive (to the attention of
Camilla Fox).    Thank you!

Animal Protection Institute
P.O. Box 22505
Sacramento, CA  95822
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 21:32:41 -0400 (EDT)
>From: "Bryan W. Pease" 
To: ar-news@envirolink.com
Subject: Jeff Watkins
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


The following press release was sent out today.  Below it you will find 
several numbers to call and places to write.
-----------------------------------------------


Animal Activist's Sentence Extended
Solitary Confinement to Begin Next Monday


SYRACUSE -- Jeff Watkins, an animal liberation activist jailed since last
February for protest related charges, was found guilty on Friday of
another charge of violation harassment.  Dewitt Town Court Judge Jack
Schultz handed down the maximum sentence of 15 days, pushing ahead
Watkins' release date to late July.  

The charge stemmed from a roadside confrontation last January between
Watkins and local animal trapper Al LaFrance.  Each claimed the other was
following him when both parties pulled over and began arguing. The judge
sided with LaFrance despite factual errors in his testimony. 

Ironically, Watkins had been driving to pick up his roomate, Joel
Capolongo, from jail after he had been rousted from bed and arrested by
police -- accompanied by a federal agent -- for the exact same charge of
violation harassment against another trapper.  That charge was dropped
when video evidence was presented showing that the trapper, Al Burns, had
actually been harassing Capolongo and other activists.  The District
Attorney refused to prosecute him however. 

"The relationship between the law enforcement community and lobbying
groups for industries which exploit animals is becoming ever more
apparent," stated Bryan Pease, a spokesperson for the Animal Defense
League.  "Activists who speak out against the killing and maiming of
wildlife are being arrested and jailed for 'harassment,' yet trappers who
call our houses constantly and pull into our driveways are not charged
with anything." 

Meanwhile inside the jail, Watkins is facing ten days in the "hole" --
solitary confinement -- for speaking up for an inmate falsely accused by a
guard of insulting him. 

Watkins claims he was working in the prison kitchen when a white inmate
yelled that one of the guards was a "faggot."  The guard then mistakenly
grabbed one of the Black inmates, at which point Watkins spoke up. 

"I've had conversations with that guy, and that word is not even in his
vocabulary," Watkins said in a phone conversation from the jail.  "When I
told the guard he had it wrong, he threw me in the hole for three days,
during which time I was denied my mail, grievance papers, phone calls,
and any food that I could eat."  Watkins consumes no animal products as a
matter of conscience. 

Last Thursday, before an all-white panel, Watkins was given the additional
10 day sentence of solitary confinement, which he is appealing within the
jail.  He has also lost his job in the kitchen, which will make it very
difficult for him to determine what foods he can eat.  Already on one
occasion, the jail fed him mashed potatos which the guards claimed
contained no animal products but were later found to contain whey, a dairy
product. 

The Animal Defense League is planning on holding several prisoners' rights
rallies outside of the jail beginning May 19, when Watkins is expected to
begin his punishment if he loses his appeal.  Other local social justice
organizations will be encouraged to participate as well. 


- 30 -


WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT:

Contact the following people and politely inform them that you are a 
citizen concerned with what is going on.

Honorable Jack Schultz
48 Ely Dr.
Fayettville, NY 13066
(315) 446-3557

Judge Schultz is an attorney who is also a part time town judge.  His 
office is the following:

333 E. Onondaga, NY 13202
(315) 476-1600

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

Albert J. LaFrance
Estey Rd.
Manlius, NY 13104
(315) 682-2050

Al LaFrance is a member of the Central New York Fur Harvesters (sic), and 
he is also the head of S.M.A.A.R.T.  (Sportsmen and Merchants Against 
Animal Rights Terrorism), a group which isn't too active, but the name is 
funny nonetheless!

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

District Attorney William Fitzpatrick
421 Montgomery St. (office)
Syracuse, NY 13202
(315) 435-2470

This is the headquarters of all the hired guns sent out by animal abusers 
to prosecute activists and protect those who terrorize animals.

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

Albert Burns
7700 Devaul Rd.
Kirkville, NY 13082
(315) 687-1080

This is the trapper who has threatened activists on videotape, been seen 
at their homes, and made threatening phone calls to them.  When Joel C. 
saw him at work and followed him to get his license plate #, Burns 
turned him in for harassment.  Joel was rousted from bed by federal 
agents (!), interrogated ("no comment"), and this led indirectly to 
Jeff's charge when he went to pick him up and was accosted by Al LaFrance.

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

Onondaga County Correctional Facility
(315) 435-5581
fax:  435-5596

CALL AND DEMAND JUSTICE FOR JEFF!!!

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


Please do not harass any of the above people because that would be illegal.


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

To write Jeff:

Jeff Watkins
PO Box 143
Jamesville, NY 13078


Let him know that you support him, and also encourage him to appeal the 
harassment charge and that we will be behind him the whole way.
 
If Jeff does not appeal, he will simply have six days added to his current
sentence (5 days concurrently, and 2/3 of the remaining 10 for good time),
putting his release date at July 21.  If he does appeal, he will be
released July 15, but if he loses, he will have to serve the sentence at
some later date.  While this will be annoying to have to go back to jail,
it will generate more awareness and motivation when and if it happens, so
we can turn the negative into a positive. 



On the MOVE,  Bryan

Check out the NO COMPROMISE web page!

-=[ http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/nocompromise/ ]=-


Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:24:21 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: "... some good things happening"
Message-ID: <3377DEE5.6DE4@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

It's ironic - and very sad - that the state with the richest fauna and
flora in the US should have the most militant pro-business,
anti-environmental legislature.

Andy

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

Alaska lawmakers override veto on pollution measure

Reuter Information Service 

JUNEAU, Alaska (May 12, 1997 12:56 p.m. EDT) - Alaska's
Republican-controlled legislature on Sunday overrode a veto by the
state's Democratic governor, ensuring that polluters who admit and
rectify any contamination will be immune from civil penalties.

The vote in the special joint session of the legislature was 43-16 in
favor of the override. Alaska law requires a two-thirds majority in the
60-member legislature for a veto override.

The self-audit bill was similar to measures enacted in other states
aimed at encouraging voluntary compliance with environmental laws. It
grants limited immunity for timely disclosure and correction of
violations.

"I think it's a good day for Alaska," state Sen. Loren Leman, an
Anchorage Republican who sponsored the bill, said after the vote. "I'm
very hopeful that we will find that self-auditing ... will result in
some good things happening."

Leman said he had not expected the self-audit bill to be vetoed. He said
Governor Tony Knowles' administration helped craft changes in the bill
and appeared to support the final product.

The bill was supported by several business and municipal organizations,
but environmentalists campaigned against it.

The Alaska Environmental Lobby and other groups derided it as the "Dirty
Little Secrets Bill".

Knowles on Saturday said he vetoed the bill because it contained
provisions that kept information about toxic spills secret.

He supported suspending fines for polluters who disclose and correct
their own violations, he said, but considered a provision that kept
secret information about releases the bill's "fatal flaw."

The governor characterized the audit privilege bill as part of an
anti-environment agenda he said was being pushed by the legislature's
Republican majority.

"I am deeply troubled by the current Legislature's aggressive and
cumulative efforts to thwart our commitment to doing (development)
right, and undermine the public's confidence in government and the
industry's ability to be good neighbors," he said in a news release.

By YERETH ROSEN, Reuter News Service
Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 20:28:33 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Chinese Science Group To Look at Cloning
Message-ID: <3377DFE1.7A49@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

China academy bans research into human cloning

Reuter Information Service 

BEIJING (May 12, 1997 12:50 p.m. EDT) - The Chinese Academy of Sciences
has banned all research into the cloning of humans, saying sexual
reproduction was fundamental for survival of the species, the Xinhua
news agency said Monday.

"Banning the use of cloning to copy humans is absolutely necessary to
maintain ethical morality [sic] which holds together today's human
society," the agency quoted Academy Vice President Xu Zhihong as saying.

British scientists created the world's first cloned sheep out of frozen
cells in late February, sparking controversy around the world with
scientists, politicians and writers discussing the possibility that ways
may be found to duplicate humans.

"CAS (the Chinese Academy of Sciences) takes a clear-cut and firm stand
in banning all kinds of research related to the use of cloning
technology to copy humans," Xu said.

"Maintaining diversified lives which are produced by the sexual method
has become the fundamental condition for man to adapt to the environment
and survival."

Xu warned that application of cloning to copy animals, plants and
micro-organisms could threaten environmental safety.

"We must keep sober minds and think about the problems caused by the
breakthrough in cloning technology," Xu said.

To control the use of human genes, the Chinese Society of Genetics had
set up a national committee on ethics, society and law with regard to
human genes, he said.

Xu urged China to set up a national committee of ethics and law on
cloning of animals to define the rights, duties, and responsibilities of
scientists in cloning, he said.

"While paying full attention to the negative aspects of cloning
technology, CAS firmly believes that man is able to stop the misuse of
scientific achievements," he said.

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

This is the first instance I know of when a scientific organization has
expressed anything short of wholehearted endorsement of animal cloning.  

Hopefully, the national committee set up to examine the ethical and
legal issues won't be loaded up with animal researchers!

Andy



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