AR-NEWS Digest 401

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) TLC James Burke Connections/Global Warming (N.America)
     by Pat Fish 
  2) STUDENTS: Losing Access to the 'Net?
     by Pat Fish 
  3) (VE) Shoot to "save" jaguars
     by Vadivu Govind 
  4) (Costa Rica) Save rainforests, says Clinton
     by Vadivu Govind 
  5) (HK) 'Sightings of sharks' prompt warning
     by Vadivu Govind 
  6) [UK] What dogs feel
     by David J Knowles 
  7) [UK] Genetic prints help to nail the badger baiters
     by David J Knowles 
  8) [CA] Jasper the Dumpster Dog dead
     by David J Knowles 
  9) [CA] Bravery of mother cat
     by David J Knowles 
 10) Re: Unusual webpage
     by Palomino47@aol.com
 11) Paul McCartney on AR Song
     by Pat Fish 
 12) McCartney Online, VH1, 2.5 Million Record Questions
     by Pat Fish 
 13) unusual web page
     by Perlow@aol.com
 14) Jacob needs our help
     by ARAishere@aol.com
 15) Elephant rides at the Philadelphia Zoo 
     by igor@earthlink.net (Elephant Advocates)
 16) Land O'Lorin
     by Debbie Leahy 
 17) (US) San Fran Mulls Animal Welfare 
     by allen schubert 
 18) (US) Animal Supporters At Odds 
     by allen schubert 
 19) Good News: San Fran Mulls Animal Welfare
     by LMANHEIM@aol.com
 20) (US) Frog Deformities Linked to Parasites 
     by allen schubert 
 21) And on the other hand...Fwd: Animal Supporters At Odds
     by LMANHEIM@aol.com
 22) Chimps needing a home
     by Andrew Gach 
 23) Power plants kill sea lions
     by Andrew Gach 
 24) Llama trade
     by Andrew Gach 
 25) Anti-Hunters ask FWS to Fund "Project Respect" for Schools
     by Mike Markarian 
 26) Cellular phones and genetically engineered mice
     by Andrew Gach 
 27) (Costa Rica) Save Rainforests, says US President Clinton
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 28) Animal based Asian traditional "medicines"
     by Shirley McGreal 
 29) Re:Animal based Asian traditional "medicines"
     by bunny 
 30) Technology & Fishing on MS-NBC (Monday)
     by Pat Fish 
Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 00:43:12 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: TLC James Burke Connections/Global Warming (N.America)
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


  James Burke, of the BBC's "Connections" series has been producing more US
installments of "Connections" for The Learning Channel (TLC).  They're up to
"Connections 3", and the episode that started airing on May 4th ("Feedback:
The World Wide Web") talks about the start of anti-vivisection/humane
societies, and later on, about 7th Day Adventists, vegetarianism and corn
flakes.  It's interesting (but doesn't hold together as well as the original
series from the 80's).  It can be seen on TLC at 3PM EST-US on Sun. May
11th. 
 
  TLC has also started running "After The Warming"-- Burke's speculative
view of "history" from standpoint of a 21st century Earth laden with all
manner of problems due to global warming.  In what little I've seen, they do
mention methane and beef-- Burke comments (while eating a burger) that only
rich people will be able to afford beef in the future.  "After The Warming"
can be seen on TLC at Noon till 3PM EST-US on Sun. May 11th.



Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 01:20:42 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish 
To: "* You * (and others?)":;@fang.cs.sunyit.edu
Subject: STUDENTS: Losing Access to the 'Net?
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 
 Some of you may be losing your only access to e-mail at the end of the
school year.  This is especially a problem for activists with little money. 
You can keep yourself online by the following methods:
 

* If you don't have a computer...

  Call your local college and public libraries and see if any of them
support any access at all to the internet.  If one librarian says no, ask
somebody else.  Some simply don't know what's available.  Ask for listings
of freenets such as Envirolink.org

  You can do a WWW search on "freenets" right now, before your school
closes.  With any luck you can be set up and not miss a single day.

  Once you get to a freenet, request an account.  For example, the Mid-York
Library System lets anybody Hytelnet to Envirolink.org and request an
account, from which you can have e-mail, and some limited access to
newsgroups and a text-only view of the web.  You will probably have to go to
the library to access your account on a freenet.  You can also access your
freenet account via a friend's computer, if they know how to use telnet.  If
you can find public access to the web (this is getting fairly common) you
can still get yourself e-mail by going to http://www.hotmail.com and filling
out a form.  CPEA doesn't endorse HotMail, but simply wants ensure that
activists have access to the net. 

* If you DO have a computer and modem...
 
  Some long distance companies are bundling internet access in exchange for
staying with the company.  AT&T is just one carrier offering access (but
CPEA reminds activists of the boycott against AT&T for, among other things,
their experiments with gophers).  It's not common knowledge, but many LD
companies will dicker with you over prices and rates, so shop around, or
change from company to company as they often offer incentives for switching.
Just be sure to read all the fine print and ask questions about hidden fees.
 
  You can try to carefully exploit and manage the trial time offered by many
ISPs to tide you over till the fall.  But read all the fine print, and ask
questions of the ISP about hidden charges, fees, etc.
 
  You can try to get e-mail service via juno.com.  While CPEA opposes Juno's
bigoted single-platform agenda, and it's tacit support of Intel and
Microsoft, it can be useful for activists already saddled with unethical
Wintel boxes.  Naturally, CPEA encourages people to sell off unethical
systems and replace them with more ethical platforms.  You can get their
toll free # by calling 1-800-555-1212.  When you call, they will send you
their proprietary Juno software for Intel/AMD/Cyrix/NexGen machines (or
Amigas, STs and Macs running IBM/MS-Windows emulators). 

Note: Juno and or HotMail may ask you marketing questions that you'd rather
ignore.


* Finally:  How to avoid the dreaded ever-changing e-mail addresses.

 Though I can't vouch for it myself, the only mail-forwarding service that I
can recall is bigfoot.com.  By signing up with Bigfoot, you can have a
single consistant e-mail address that never changes.  Bigfoot doesn't give
you email per se, it simply acts as an alias that routes mail to your
email-address-o'-the-month.

Pat Fish
Computer Professionals for Earth & Animals


Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 13:35:26 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (VE) Shoot to "save" jaguars
Message-ID: <199705110535.NAA11720@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Sunday Times
     MAY 11 1997                                               
     World File


     SHOOT TO SAVE JAGUARS: Venezuela plans to let hunters shoot rare
     jaguars for US$12,000 (S$16,800) per head in a controversial bid
     to protect the species, a local environmental group said on
     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.

     But private ecological group Fudena ridiculed the scheme as
     simplistic and said that conservation should not be funded
     through hunting trophies. -- Reuter.

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 13:35:36 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Costa Rica) Save rainforests, says Clinton
Message-ID: <199705110535.NAA12642@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

>The Sunday Times
MAY 11 1997                                               
     Save rainforests, says Clinton in forest

     BRAULIO CARRILLO NATIONAL PARK (Costa Rica) -- Soaked by a steady
     rainfall and surrounded by lush greenery, US President Bill
     Clinton on Friday plunged into a tropical rainforest to call
     attention to the global threat of deforestation.

     "I come here to emphasise the importance of the forest that
     surrounds us, to the chain of life not only in Costa Rica and
     Central America, but to all the world," he said in this
     rainforest outside of the Costa Rican capital, San Jose.

     Mr Clinton, on a week-long tour of Latin America that included a
     state visit to Mexico, later departed for Barbados, the last leg
     of the trip, for a one-day, 15-nation Caribbean summit yesterday.

     In Costa Rica, Mr Clinton spoke at the base of a deep gorge in
     Braulio Carrillo National Park, with dense forested hills rising
     up several hundred feet into the mist. A gushing waterfall
     streamed down about 90 m away.

     The park is named for a former Costa Rican President and is home
     to 6,000 species of trees, 500 species of birds, 135 types of
     mammals, including monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, pumas, ocelots and
     deer. The rainforest itself represents a threatened ecosystem.

     The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation has
     estimated that 15 million ha of the world's forests are lost each
     year, mostly in the Third World.

     "We destroy these resources at our peril," said Mr Clinton. --
     Reuter.


Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 13:35:48 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) 'Sightings of sharks' prompt warning
Message-ID: <199705110535.NAA02140@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition
     Saturday, May 10 1997
     'Sightings of sharks' prompt warning
     FIONA HOLLAND

     
     Police launches, a Government Flying Service helicopter and lifeguards were
mobilised yesterday amid fears of sharks off Clear Water Bay's Silverstrand
beach.

 But swimmers' reports of several sharks the size of a car on Thursday night
remained unconfirmed yesterday.

 In 1995, three people were killed after being attacked by sharks off Clear
Water Bay; in 1993 four people died after being bitten.

 A Regional Services Department spokesman said lifeguards had posted signs
warning of "big fish", but the shark flag had not been hoisted.

 Chairman of the Regional Council Ad Hoc Committee on Shark Prevention, Wan
Yuet-kau, visited the beach and said he was satisfied with the measures taken.

 Marine East Division Inspector Johny Tong Ka-hung said a police launch
patrolling the area on Thursday night and early yesterday morning saw nothing.

 "We have alerted all units to be vigilant in case of any reports."

 Hong Kong University Department of Ecology and Biodiversity Assistant
Professor Yvonne Sadovy said the suspected sightings were no surprise since
past experience indicated this was the period sharks passed through Hong
Kong waters.

 "It is about the time we would expect to see them when we have got this
weather change," she said.

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 00:21:45 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] What dogs feel
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970511002212.260f8c3c@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, May 10th, 1997

What dogs feel


Does your dog love you, or just the food you give it? Do dogs have emotions
or only instincts? For years, controversial scholar Jeffrey Masson has
reflected on such questions; these are his conclusions

"All knowledge, the totality of all questions and answers, is contained in
the dog."
Franz Kafka
Investigations of a Dog

A FEW years ago I wrote a book, with Susan McCarthy, about emotions in wild
animals. In When Elephants Weep I avoided any prolonged discussion of
domesticated animals because I thought that dogs, cats and even parrots were
perhaps "contaminated" by their
proximity to humans. It seemed to me that I would discover more about
emotions in their pure state if I looked only at animals who had little or
no contact with people. In truth, however, my ideas about animals leading
complex inner lives, filled with deep feelings, originally came from my
experiences with dogs.

Although I have had several dogs in my life, I did not have one at the time
I began to consider writing a book about their feelings. I missed having a
dog and it may be that writing about them was only an use to keep dogs once
again. I set about acquiring three dogs. I wanted at least one pure-bred
dog, and I chose Sasha, a lean short-haired German Shepherd with enormous
ears, a very long tail and sad eyes. Sasha was two years old and had been
trained as a guide dog but according to her trainers was "a bit soft" to
work with blind people. She did not have to work for a living with me; all
that I required of her was to feel.

A week later I went to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
with Sasha and allowed her to choose the next dog. She was immediately
attracted to a 12-week-old golden Labrador mixed with possibly pit-bull
terrier and Rhodesian ridgeback. She was active, lovable and very
easy-going. I called her Rat ki Rani, Queen of the Night, which is Hindi for
the night-blooming jasmine. 

A few weeks later I returned and saw a small caged puppy, whose leg was in a
cast. She was part golden retriever, part Shetland sheepdog. I was told that
she had a bad habit of biting. Evidently her previous owner had kicked her
and broken her leg. The SPCA was
thinking of "putting her to sleep" for that reason. I could not bear the
thought and asked to take her home. I called her Sima.

Soon after the dogs joined the family, Sasha was sitting next to me as I
worked on an early draft of my book. It was a quiet Friday evening. I had
been alone all day, working. There were just the two of us in the
living-room. I looked across at Sasha and noticed that she was
looking at me. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by the thought: there is another
being in this room, another consciousness. What, though, was Sasha thinking?
Why did she suddenly glance up at me? Was she just checking to make sure I
was still there? Or was it a more
complicated thought, one imbued (as many thoughts are) with feelings -
affection, for example, or perhaps anxiety? She looked so peaceful, lying
there. Was she feeling something like tranquillity?

For certain Hindu philosophers, tranquillity is the master emotion, the one
that underlies all others - it has been so fascinating to me that it  was
the subject of my PhD thesis at Harvard. Perhaps I was merely projecting my
own feelings on to Sasha. It is hard to know.

Animal behaviourists have been notoriously resistant to the notion of animal
consciousness. In university courses about animal behaviour, students are
taught that it is unscientific to ask what an animal thinks or feels. When
they pose such questions they are ridiculed and
treated with hostility. Those who are curious about animals' emotions are
often accused of anthropomorphism - ' ascribing human characteristics
(thought, feeling, consciousness, motivation) to a non-human incapable of
experiencing them. Yet to ascribe to a animal emotions such as joy or sorrow
is an anthropomorphic error only if one knows for certain that animals
cannot feel such emotions. Many scientists have made this decision, but not
on the basis of evidence.

There is, after all, no royal road leading us directly to the inner feelings
of other humans. People often do not themselves know what they are feeling,
nor are they always able to express their feelings without difficulty.
Anything we say about their inner world is, in a
sense, pure speculation. That speculation, however, can be informed. We try
to imagine what we would feel in a similar situation, or we watch the
expression in their eyes, and notice the movements they make in their
bodies. Why should we not be permitted to speculate similarly about dogs? We
watch their eyes, their ears and their tails, we listen for sounds, we delve
into ourselves and use empathy and imagination.

I wanted to pursue questions that had not been asked: for example,can dogs
feel gratitude or compassion? I decided to try to get inside the mind and,
more important, the heart of the dog. 

Few who have lived with dogs would deny that dogs have feelings. Joy, for
example. Can anything be as joyous as a dog? Bounding ahead, crashing into
the bushes while out on a walk, happy, happy, happy. Conversely, can
anything be as disappointed as a dog when
you say "No, we are not going for a walk"? Down it flops on to the floor,
its ears fall, it looks up, showing the whites of its eyes, with a look of
utter dejection. Pure joy, pure disappointment. 

After a lifetime of affectionate regard for dogs, and many years of close
observation and reflection, I have reached the conclusion that dogs feel
more than I do (I am not prepared to speak for other people). They feel
more, and they feel more purely and more intensely. By comparison, the human
emotional landscape seems murky with subterfuge, ambivalence and emotional
deception, intentional or not.

Freud remarked on the fact that "dogs love their friends and bite their
enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have
to mix love and hate in their object relations". In other words, dogs are
without the ambivalence with which humans seem
cursed. We love, we hate, often the same person, on the same day, maybe even
at the same time. This is unthinkable in dogs, whether because, as some
people believe, they lack the complexity or, as I believe, they are less
confused about what they feel. Sometimes the
emotions of a dog are crystal-clear. I went to see some greyhounds that had
been rescued by a woman who had turned her ranch into a sanctuary for them.
These animals had been in danger of being shot because they were not fast
enough. Many people assume that because racing dogs make money for their
owners, they are treated well. In fact, they are often confined in small
cages, except during the race, and are never shown any affection on the
grounds that they need to be aggressive to win. After brief careers, they
are no longer
profitable and are difficult to place as pets, so they are often simply
destroyed.

What struck me about these dogs was their extraordinary forgiveness. They
forgave all the terrible things that had been done to them. When you step on
a dog's foot by mistake, somehow it knows that it was a mistake. The dog
will immediately make up with you, lick your hand and let you know that it
holds no grudge. The greyhound does this at an even more profound level. As
the dogs were brought out of their cages to see me, I found the way that
each greyhound gazed up at me with absolute trust and sweetness to be almost
unbearable. How could their friendliness have survived their being
neglected, abused and then discarded, like so much rubbish? 
                  

This almost supernatural capacity to forgive was recognised in the earliest
writings about dogs. In 1842, in a strange book entitled Animal Biography,
there is this heartbreaking story from a French newspaper:

"A young man took a dog into a boat, rowed to the centre of the Seine, and
threw the animal over, with intent to drown him. The poor dog often tried to
climb up the side of the boat; his master as often pushed him back, till,
overbalancing himself, he fell overboard. As soon as the faithful dog saw
his master in the stream, he left the boat and held him above water till
help arrived from the shore, and his life was saved."

Dogs do not lie to you about how they feel because they cannot lie about
feelings. A dog can deceive another dog, but only about facts (pretending,
for example, not to see a bone the other dog has temporarily left
unattended), not about emotion. When a dog is sad or happy, that feeling
occupies its whole being: the dog becomes pure happiness or pure sadness.

When a thought, memory or feeling becomes unbearable, we put it out of
consciousness, we repress it; dogs lack this ability. I do not believe that
dogs are capable of repression, that they can feel sad or happy and not know
it. This provides much of the pleasure of being in
the company of dogs. As Mike del Ross, of Guide Dogs for the Blind, says:
"Dogs never lie about love."

Dogs live in the moment. They are never paralysed by the need to judge and
to compare. When I was growing up, my family habitually judged one place in
comparison with another from their memory. The present, of course, could
never compete with the past. I too picked up this bad habit. A close
companion would often have to admonish me. "Why do you compare one beach
with another? You are here now; enjoy it for what it is." I learn the same
lesson from watching my dogs. They are never gloomy at the thought that this
walk was not as nice as yesterday's walk, this forest not nearly as
interesting as last week's forest. Each walk is new, unique, and uniquely
interesting, with its own set of smells and delights. I keep looking for my
dogs' favourite walks, but the truth is, they have no favourite walks; only I
do. They love all walks. They love walking. They love being wherever they
are. The reason for this - and it is a great lesson - is that they are
perfectly content to be who they are, without torturing themselves with
alternatives. They love being dogs.

So often I will see Sasha or Rani or Sima roll about in thick green grass,
with a look of sheer delight on their faces, and I will think they are doing
exactly what a dog was meant to do. How much harder it is to say of
ourselves that we are doing what a human was meant to do, especially as
nobody knows what that is.

Dogs show no sign of feeling self-pity. While walking my dogs one day I saw
a black Labrador-mix chasing a frisbee down a hill. He looked joyous and
completely absorbed in what he was doing. When he ran down the hill I
noticed with a shock that he was dragging his two hindlegs behind him. They
were paralysed. His owner told me Cinder did not seem to notice he had a
disability, in much the same way that children can seem oblivious. 

A year earlier, when he was 10 months old, he had been struck with a
mysterious virus which left his whole backside paralysed. He wears special
boots that protect him from the abrasions he would receive from dragging his
legs along the ground. 

In spite of these disadvantages, he was happy - and my dogs were delighted
to play with him. They either did not notice his disability or thought
nothing of it.

Dogs are not worried about how they will be perceived by other dogs.They do
not have to hide their joie de vivre for fear of appearing naive, and they
do not need to feign boredom for fear of appearing unsophisticated when they
are, in fact, interested.

Learning to know somebody intimately is often the beginning of dislike,
sometimes even contempt. Among humans, love often does not survive a growing
acquaintance but, in a dog, love seems to grow with acquaintance, to become
stronger and deeper. 

Even when fully acquainted with all our weaknesses, our treachery, our
unkindness, the dog seems to love strongly - and this love is returned by
most dog-owning humans. We too seem to love our dogs more the more we get to
know them. The bond grows between us and our dogs.

Where does it come from, the dog's love? Often it is assumed that providing
food to puppies and dogs lies at the heart of a dog's attachment. (A similar
theory has been posited for the emotional bond between an infant and its
mother.) A series of experiments conducted by A J Brodbeck in 1954 showed
this not to be the case, and feeding not to be a necessary part of the
development of the social bond. 

One group of puppies was automatically fed by a machine, the other group was
fed by a person. The hand-fed puppies vocalised more at the sight of the
experimenter, but this was the only important difference between the two
groups of puppies. So love on the part of the dog does not seem conditioned
merely by what we provide for the dog, nor simply a recognition that we are
a source of food. A dog does not love a robot that gives it food, but it is
capable of loving people who never feed it.

Humans and dogs seem to be the only two species capable of a great love
which crosses the species barrier. No other animal mourns for a lost human
friend in the way that a dog does.  

It is possible too, that dogs - like humans - recognise this similarity
between the two species, this ability both have to love a member of a
different species.

A dog loves with its body, and its heart, but probably not its mind. Dogs
have minds, of course, and they use them for many things, but they do not
make calculations about the advantage they might obtain from loving
(temporary flattery is another matter). Nor are they
inhibited in their love by thinking about its possible disadvantages. 

And so dogs do not make the mistakes about love that humans frequently do.
The human brain is the primary sex organ, but this is not so for the dog.
You cannot impress your dog with beauty, wealth, possessions, power or
physical prowess. We might fall in love with
somebody for any of these qualities. A dog does not fall in love, a dog
merely loves.

I am continually amazed by the dog's ability to love so unconditionally and
without ambivalence. Many people will have heard at one time or another of a
cruel or neglecting owner whose dog loves regardless of how it is treated.
It is as if once a dog loves you, it loves you always, no matter what you
do, no matter what happens, no matter how much time goes by. 

The capacity for love in the dog is so pronounced, so developed that it is
almost like another sense or another organ. It might well be termed
hyperlove, and it is bestowed upon all humans who live closely with a dog.

'Dogs Never Lie about Love: reflections on the emotional world of dogs'
(Jonathan Cape) by Jeffrey Masson is available for £15.99 plus £2.50 p & p.
To order a copy, send a cheque for £18.49 to Telegraph Books Direct, PO
1992, Epping, Essex CM16 7JL or telephone 0541
557222 (8am to 8pm daily).

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson gained a PhD in Sanskrit from Harvard and then
became Professor of Sanskrit at Toronto University. In 1970 he left to train
as a psychoanalyst. But after a decade of intensive training at the Toronto
Psychoanalytic Institute he turned on his
chosen profession, publishing several books that attacked both the theory
and practice of Freudian analysis. He was sacked from the prestigious post
of projects director of the Freud archives in London and vilified by fellow
psychoanalysts. His books became bestsellers.

Jeffrey Masson's publications include The Assault on Truth: Freud's
Suppression of the Seduction Theory (1984), Against Therapy (1988), Final
Analysis: The Making and Unmaking of a Psychoanalyst (1991) and When
Elephants Weep (1994).

He lives in California with his wife, their son, three dogs and two cats.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. 

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 00:21:50 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Genetic prints help to nail the badger baiters
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970511002218.1d5f9efa@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, May 11th, 1997

Genetic prints help to nail the badger baiters
By Tim Reid 

DNA fingerprinting evidence is to be used for the first time in a
badger-baiting prosecution case.

It follows the development of a revolutionary new technique which allows
detectives to match a dead animal to blood and hair found on its alleged
killer. Four men will face allegations that an animal's blood found on the
clothes of one of them was from a badger killed last
year. 

In the past, scientists could say only if the blood or tissue found on a
suspect was that of a badger, but not if the samples came from a specific
animal. That has allowed defendants in badger-baiting cases to claim that
they had been digging for foxes - which is allowed by law - and that any
badger tissue found on them came from the fox's den.

Inspector Darryl Street of the RSPCA, which is bringing the prosecution,
said the case rested on samples taken from the dead badger and the clothes
of one of the men. "It's a very important case because it is the first time
that DNA has been used in this way." He expects the trial in June, which
will last at least three days, to attract huge publicity. The solicitor for
the four men refused to comment on the case last night.

Badger-baiting has become a popular pastime among inner-city gangs, and many
travel to the country for organised events. 

The new technique is similar to Sir Alec Jeffreys' human DNA test, which
matches unique genetic elements found in cells. It is also an extension of
the zoologist Dr Terry Burke's research into badgers' mating habits. Dr
Burke used DNA tests to establish which males were being chosen by which
females in an attempt to explain the complex social structure of badger
society. 

Detectives tracking wildlife criminals are already using DNA genetic
fingerprinting in investigations of stolen birds and eggs. By comparing DNA
in blood samples from the chick and its alleged parent, the police can prove
if it was stolen rather than bred legally in captivity. 

Last year, a peregrine falcon breeder who bought stolen wild eggs and
hatched them using his licensed birds was convicted in this way. The
peregrine falcon is a protected species and Peter Gurr, 54, sold the hatched
chicks to other breeders for up to £550 each, claiming he had legally bred
them in captivity. Detectives used DNA testing to prove that the chicks were
not the offspring of his legally owned birds. He was jailed for four months.

Police also hope to be able to use DNA evidence to investigate the importers
of products taken from endangered species, such as the tiger or elephant, by
obtaining DNA from animal bones. One officer said: "Tiger bones are used in
some medicines, but the animal is
internationally protected and all trade is banned. If we recover a bag of
bones that we believe come from a tiger, DNA may be one way of obtaining a
conviction."

There have been rapid developments in the use of DNA analysis to aid
criminal investigations. Last month, it emerged that police scientists have
set up a research project on the use of DNA samples to build a picture of
the suspect's face.

They hope it will soon be possible to identify a criminal's race, eye
colour, hair colour and the shape of their head from traces of blood, saliva
and hair found at the scene of the crime. The project is being run by the
Forensic Science Service. Two years ago, the agency launched the world's
first DNA computer database. The genetic profiles of convicted criminals are
kept on file and can be compared with DNA samples found at crime scenes.
Already, more than 4,500 criminals have been caught in this way.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. 

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 00:21:53 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Jasper the Dumpster Dog dead
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970511002221.260f4a00@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

VANCOUVER, B.C. - According to a news report on CFMI on Friday morning,
Jasper (aka Scotty), the 14-year-old Scottish terrier who was found in a
dumpster earlier this year was euthanized by an SPCA vet on Thursday.

Jasper, who survived being tied up in a garbage bag and left in a dumpster
in freezing teperatures, was paralysed in his back legs, and had numurous
other medical problems - allegedly many of them caused by the neglect of his
human keepers. 

It was decided last week that Jasper was suffering too much as a result of
his medical problems, that his prognosis was poor, and that euthanisia was
the best option.

The case against the humans involved will go ahead.

David J Knowles
Animal Voices News

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 00:22:32 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Bravery of mother cat
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970511002300.260f8a4c@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

VANCOUVER, B.C. - When a stray cat turned up on the doorstep of Surrey
resident Laurel Taylor, little did she know what she was in for. The cat
turned out to be pregnant and soon gave birth to four kittens.

One day last week, the mother cat showed how devoted to her kittens she was
- a local dog approached the cats and attempted to attack the kittens. The
mother placed herself in between the dog and her children, and tried to
fight off the dog. Despite her best efforts, the dog managed to grab the
front right leg of the cat and left it almost completely severed.

Taylor managed to scare off the dog and prevented any further injuries, and
the kittens were safe. 

Mother cat was taken to a local veterinarian at the Angle Animal Clinic,
where he managed to save the leg. Touched by the story, and the fact that
Taylor is currently unemployed, the vet decided to only charge a minimal fee
to cover costs, but surgery and rehabilitation costs still mounted to $500. 

Taylor, in an interview with BCTV, said that she could only afford to pay
$10 at this time, and would do her best to pay off the rest of the bill as
soon as she can. She said that she was considering selling the kittens when
they were old enough, and putting this money towards the bill. She noted
that she couldn't afford to keep all five cats, but that she would like to
keep the mother if possible.

David J Knowles
Animal Voices News



 

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 03:46:28 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Palomino47@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: Unusual webpage
Message-ID: <970511034626_1457356241@emout14.mail.aol.com>

<< One of the speakers at the upcoming Washington DC animal conference in
June is Susan Altieri, president of International Society for Animal Rights.
 Check out her webpage at:
  
  http://members.aol.com/perlow/index.html >>

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 04:14:53 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish 
To: "* You * (and others?)":;@fang.cs.sunyit.edu
Subject: Paul McCartney on AR Song
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

  While looking for info on the upcoming "Flaming Pie" album and the VH1
online interview, I found this quote by PETA-helper and veggie, Paul
McCartney (it helps if you keep in mind the Liverpudlian droll he speaks
in):
                        "LOOKING FOR CHANGES"
  I'd been looking through some of the magazines like Animal Voice and
Animal Agenda, which are pretty heavy magazines. They show some of the
experimentation that goes on. For instance in the interest of cosmetics.
You have rabbits who are being injected stuff into their eyes. And they
just die with these terrible big runny eyes. And anyone who has ever been
an animal lover, you just look at that and you think. "What gives us the
right to do this to this poor animal. God! How does that animal feel like."
Talk about being unlucky, talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong
time.  "Oops! Sorry rabbit, but you're not gonna have a life."  You know you
thought you were. Anyways, so you get angry about this stuff as I said, but
it's not always easy to put into song. I started writing a kind of rock and
roll song. After having seen this picture of a cat with a machine that had
been implanted in its head. They just took off the top of its skull, and
plugged in a machine. To find some data. God knows what you're
gonna find from inside a cat's head. So I started to try and write this
song. And I started with a line, "I saw a cat with a machine in his brain."
And then just made up bits about you know "the bloke who fed him said he
didn't feel any pain. So I'd like to see him take out the machine and stick
it in his own brain." You know it's just basically how I feel you know. If
you need to experiment, stick it in your own head! You know, you don't mind
obviously. Then the hook came about "So we're looking for changes."  It's
one of those nice little three word sequences , that I haven't really heard
before, and I feel like I shoul've. Heard a million times, "We're looking
for changes." Sort of sums it up in my mind. "Looking for changes in the
way we treat our fellow creatures."

http://www.mplcommunications.com/mccartney/featured/quote5.html 

Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 05:00:25 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish 
To: "* You * (and others?)":;@fang.cs.sunyit.edu
Subject: McCartney Online, VH1, 2.5 Million Record Questions
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

PAUL IS LIVE- ONLINE

  Former Beatle and Wing, PETA-pal and vegetarian advocate Paul McCartney
will finally take part in his first live online chat on Saturday May 17 at
1PM EST-US (6PM GMT).  The online televised chat is the culmination of a
week-long McCartney festival on the cable VH1 music channel coinciding with
the release of Paul's "Flaming Pie" album.  VH1 reports that they have
broken all records, having gotten over 2 million questions after only three
weeks, insuring a mass interactive "happening".  CPEA is asking activists to
make sure we outnumber the AMP-types who will undoubtedly provoke Paul about
Linda's reported breast cancer vs. their opposition to animal research. 
With such a huge television and internet audience anticipated, animal and
veg advocates should take this opportunity to pose questions related to the
McCartney's animal and vegetarian interests.  This is a golden opportunity
to expose their fans to the issues.  To submit a question in advance, goto: 
http://vh1.com  or  http://www.flamingpie.com

Pat Fish
Computer Professionals for Earth & Animals

 VH1 RECEIVES A RECORD-BREAKING 2,476,092
    QUESTIONS FROM PAUL MCCARTNEY FANS

 PAUL MCCARTNEY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM
  FANS IN THE AUDIENCE AND VIA INTERNET
  DURING "MCCARTNEY'S TOWN HALL MEETING"

      Airs LIVE on VH1 from the The
   Bishopsgate Memorial Hall in London
  Saturday, May 17 at 1:00PM (ET/PT) and
               6:00PM (GMT)

    Worldwide Online Webcast to Follow

 New York, NY, May 5, 1997 -- VH1
 announced today that a record-breaking
 2,476,092 questions have been sent to
 Paul McCartney by fans wanting to
 interview him for VH1's live worldwide
 television special and online webcast,
 to be held in London on Saturday, May
 17. Since announcing the exclusive event
 on April 15, VH1 has been inundated with
 questions coming in through the internet
 and via phone, fax and mail.

 If Paul McCartney were to answer all
 2,476,092 questions, spending one minute
 per answer, it would mean his talking
 continuously for 24 hours a day, every
 day, for 4 years and 8.5 months.

 Said Paul: "It's an awful lot to ask of
 anyone. I don't think we'll get through
 all the questions, but we'll give it a
 go."

 Paul McCartney will answer questions
 from internet users and a small audience
 including VH1's "Fans on the Run"
 sweepstakes winners at The Bishopsgate
 Memorial Hall in London. The special,
 "McCartney's Town Hall Meeting," will
 air LIVE on VH1 on Saturday, May 17 at
 1:00PM (ET/PT) and 6:00PM (GMT).
 Immediately after, Paul McCartney will
 go online to answer questions from
 around the world for another 30 minutes.

 Paul McCartney agreed to this, his first
 live webcast complete with videostream,
 in response to acclaim for the upcoming
 Flaming Pie, his first album in four
 years. This will be the premiere U.S.
 event on behalf of the release of the
 album.

 Questions for Paul McCartney will be
 taken right up to the event. Anyone
 wanting to contribute can take their
 question to http://www.vh1.com and AOL
 Keyboard VH1. Those wishing to submit a
 question via carrier pigeon, currently
 the only method of submission VH1 has
 not seen, can send it to The Bishopsgate
 Memorial Hall, 230 Bishopsgate, London
 EC2.



Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 06:17:25 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Perlow@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: unusual web page
Message-ID: <970511061721_-1801324278@emout05.mail.aol.com>

I recentely saw a post on AR-news regarding a web site that is supposedly
mine.
My sick nephew, Tony McHugh, arranged to work on my computer and put up the
site.  He is anti-animal rights.  I request his post be removed immediately.


Perlow
Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 10:24:47 -0400 (EDT)
>From: ARAishere@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Jacob needs our help
Message-ID: <970511102445_-1667259550@emout13.mail.aol.com>

DONATIONS NEEDED FOR JACOB KENISON!
(please post this plea far and wide!)

Jacob has been in the Salt Lake City jail for nearly 3 weeks. The Direct
Action Defense Fund is trying to raise $$ to get him bailed so he can
plan his defense, and to help pay for a real lawyer. 

His case is extremely winnable. In fact, his charges only stem from the
Government Harassment experienced in Utah, and they only have lies as
their eveidence against him. Let's not let the feds have a victory at
the expense of this dedicated animal activist!

PLEASE SEND DONATIONS TO:

Direct Action Defense Fund
PO Box 57357
Tucson, AZ 85732-7357

Be sure to note that your donation is for Jacob Kenison.

OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT JACOB

Call the jail and demand he be given vegan food.

Seargeant: 801-535-5075
Administration: 801-535-5885
Fax Captain Cunningham at: 801-535-5055

SEND JACOB LETTERS OF SUPPORT!!

Letters to Jacob would also be appreciated to keep his morale high and
let him know that we aren't forgetting about him. Address them to:

Jacob Kenison
Political Prisoner
450 South 300 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84111


Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 09:48:15 -0700
>From: igor@earthlink.net (Elephant Advocates)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Elephant rides at the Philadelphia Zoo 
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I received the following reply to a letter sent to the Philadelphia Zoo,
requesting that they eliminate elephant rides at the zoo.

Dear Elephant Advocates:

Thank you for your message.

We believe all of our programs contribute to the fulfillment
of our education and conservation missions.

Thank you for sharing your perspective. We hope you and your
friends will visit the Philadelphia Zoo and see for yourself how well
our animals are cared for by of professional Zoo staff.

Sincerely,

Antoinette Maciolek
Director, Public Relations
The Philadelphia Zoo
215-243-5356
Philzoo@aol.com

Info from PeTA's web page:

Tim Hendrickson of T & T Camel in Huntington, Ind., is bringing two
elephants to the Philadelphia Zoo to give rides to the
public. Turning these majestic animals into dime-store rides is
anti-educational and can be harmful both to the psychological
well-being of the animals and to the public.

       Elephants used in circuses have recently been diagnosed with
tuberculosis transmissible to humans.
       Elephants used in circuses have gone on the rampage, injuring or
killing their trainers and innocent bystanders.
       Elephants break down under the strain of living with their legs
shackled, being chained to one spot for hours, and
       having bullhooks sunk into the most sensitive parts of their bodies.

Please urge the zoo director, Mr. Alexander Hoskins, to permanently cancel
elephant rides at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Mr. Alexander Hoskins, Director
Philadelphia Zoo
34th & Girard aves.
Philadelphia, PA 19104



Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 14:19:17 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Debbie Leahy 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Land O'Lorin
Message-ID: <01IIQVO3VWW29EKDRP@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII


AWA VIOLATOR BRINGS PITIFUL ANIMAL SHOW TO AURORA

The city of Aurora, located in Chicago's far west suburbs, is
sponsoring the Aurora Sports Festival on May 15, 1997.  It will
feature a "large exotic animal show" from Lorin Womack's Land
O'Lorin, a roadside zoo plagued with charges of severe neglect for
its animals.  Many of his 100 animals, including primates, lions,
tigers, wolves, and bears are kept on concrete slabs in small,
barren cages.

Last August, Land O'Lorin was shut down for one month and fined
$20,000 by the USDA for violations of the Animal Welfare Act which
included failure to provide adequate veterinary care, shelter,
space, and protection from predators.  The facility is still under
investigation by the USDA and may be facing a ten-year license
revocation for not giving the animals sufficient food and water,
unsanitary conditions, and poorly maintained cages.  

Land O'Lorin is currently soliciting signatures for a petition with
erroneous claims that the USDA intends to kill his animals.  The
zoo misrepresents itself as a sanctuary while engaging in the
breeding, buying, and selling of animals.  

In a desperate attempt to impress a girlfriend, Lorin Womack filed
a false police report in February, 1996, and was billed $3,190 for
police services when he claimed he was assaulted with a knife while
helping a stranded motorist.  He was covered with blood, which was
later identified as animal blood.

Please contact Aurora's mayor and let him know this pathetic animal
display is cruel to animals, an embarrassment to the community, and
an insult to legitimate sanctuaries sincerely dedicated to
providing safe haven for exotic animals.  Ask that Land O'Lorin not
be invited to future city-sponsored events.  Call/write/fax:

Mayor David Stover
City of Aurora
44 E. Downer Place
Aurora, IL  60506
Phone) 630/892-8811
Fax) 630/892-8967

-------------------------------------------------------------
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL  60555
630/393-2935
Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:33:36 -0400
>From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) San Fran Mulls Animal Welfare 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970511153334.006dbef0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
----------------------------
05/11/1997 12:16 EST 

 San Fran Mulls Animal Welfare 

 By MARTHA WAGGONER 
 Associated Press Writer 

 The San Francisco SPCA has made a pact: Within a few months the city will
try to live
 up to its namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and
nature. 

 By then, no adoptable animal, healthy or with a treatable disease, will be
euthanized,
 says Richard Avanzino, the SPCA president for the past 20 years. 

 ``What is unconscionable, abominable and outrageous is that animals,
healthy and
 well-behaved, are being killed because somebody says there are too many,''
 Avanzino says. ``That is something we do not accept. That is something we
find
 intolerable.'' 

 For 101 of its 129 years, the San Francisco SPCA served as animal control
for the
 city, enforcing the pooper-scooper law and picking up stray animals from
the street. 

 The SPCA dropped the contract in 1989 to concentrate on saving animals'
lives,
 Avanzino said. In 1994, it signed an agreement pledging to take any adoptable
 animal that couldn't find a home. 

 Many believed that San Francisco then became this country's first
``no-kill city,'' but
 Avanzino is not willing to claim that title yet. 

 In fiscal year 1995-96, 6,720 animals were euthanized. With more time and
 resources, some of those animals labeled ``unadoptable'' because of
medical or
 behavioral problems might have been good pets, says Carl Friedman,
director of
 San Francisco's animal control department. 

 The San Francisco SPCA, which has space for 450 dogs and cats now and is
 expanding, will take any animal for which other shelters can't find a
home. With the
 expansion, the SPCA also will promise to care for any animal with a treatable
 disease and find it a home, Avanzino says. 

 When San Francisco's SPCA gave up euthanizing, it was able to raise more
money
 -- it now has a $9.6 million budget -- and spend that money on low-cost
sterilization,
 he says. 

 In addition, the SPCA has used incentives to encourage people to care for
their
 animals. For example, it pays $5 to owners who bring in a male cat for
neutering.
 And it will pay for medical care for an animal with a long-term health
problem after it's
 adopted. 

 At least three other major U.S. cities -- Milwaukee, St. Louis and New
York -- are
 taking steps toward becoming no-kill cities, says Merritt Clifton, editor
of Animal
 People, a newspaper based in Clinton, Wash. 

 ``I think the compassion and devotion people have to companion animals should
 empower most of the jurisdictions to do a lot better than what we're doing.'' 
Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:35:25 -0400
>From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Animal Supporters At Odds 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970511153523.006dbef0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
------------------------------
 05/11/1997 12:17 EST 

 Animal Supporters At Odds 

 By MARTHA WAGGONER 
 Associated Press Writer 

 RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Three times a week, Kay Redding and a colleague walked
 through the Moore County animal shelter to play God. 

 Who was obedient? Untrained? Over the hill? Too big or just the right
size? Cute, so
 ugly they're cute or just unattractive? 

 Which animals might find homes -- and which must die? 

 Redding didn't have to do this nasty work. But when she signed on as a board
 member of the Humane Society of Moore County she wanted to know exactly what
 happened there each day. 

 Every time she hears shelters boast that they do not kill animals, ``I get
a knife in my
 stomach,'' Redding says. 

 ``We have the unhappy duty of providing a painless euthanasia and a happy
last few
 days for these animals,'' she says. ``We don't have to bear the burden of
guilt that the
 people who run no-kill shelters would want us to take on.'' 

 A rift has grown among animal lovers. On the one side are traditional
shelters --
 those that euthanize to make space for more animals. 

 On the other are those that call themselves ``no kill.'' They represent a
range of
 shelters: those that won't euthanize any animal on their property; those
that will
 euthanize animals for medical or behavioral reasons; lifetime care
facilities; and
 some disreputable shelters that keep taking animals long after they no
longer have
 space. 

 Workers at traditional shelters say someone must do the dirty work of killing
 unwanted animals. Rescue and no-kill groups counter that they provide a
popular
 service and that traditional shelters won't work with them. 

 No-kill shelters are gaining in popularity in the United States; Lynda
Foro, a
 spokeswoman for the movement, says she knows of more than 600, and she
 expects that's just a fraction of the ones out there. 

 That popularity has put pressure on other shelters to become no-kill,
which isn't
 realistic, says Brian Kilcommons, director of animal behavior and training
for New
 York City's Center for Animal Care and Control. 

 ``Then the question becomes, who kills? Because somebody has to,'' says
 Kilcommons, co-author of the book ``Mutts America's Dogs'' and a faculty
member at
 the veterinary school at Tufts University. 

 In 1996, about 5.1 million animals -- 1.5 million dogs, 3.5 million cats
and some
 raccoons, skunks, ferrets, gerbils, were euthanized in shelters, says
Merritt Clifton,
 editor of Animal People, a 15,000-circulation, newspaper based in Clinton,
Wash.
 That's down tremendously from the 17.8 million put down in 1987, the peak of
 recorded shelter euthanasia, he says. 

 So the prospects for survival in shelters have improved and can be even
greater,
 says Richard Avanzino, president of the SPCA in San Francisco, which is
moving
 toward becoming a ``no-kill'' city. 

 ``It depends on whether we have the public will and personal dedication to
change a
 wrong and make a right. To me, that means finding it unacceptable to kill
mass
 numbers of animals who have done no wrong other than than to be born into a
 society which has not correctly prioritized the importance of their chance
for life,''
 Avanzino says. 

 Nonsense, says Roger Caras, president of the ASPCA in New York City. He says
 shelters that promise to find a home for any animal, regardless of its
condition, are
 selling a false dream to owners giving up a dog or cat. Some merely send
 unplaceable pets to shelters that do kill. 

 ``They're not saying the animal's not going to die; they're just saying
`We're not going
 to kill it,''' Caras says. 

 In addition, no-kill shelters or rescue groups have strict rules limiting
the animals
 they will take. Traditional shelters have more open admission policies,
which means
 they are more likely to take in animals that are candidates for euthanasia. 

 Foro, head of Doing Things for Animals in Sun City, Ariz., defends the
screening
 process at no-kill shelters. 

 If a no-kill shelter wants to keep 10 animals when 20,000 need help,
that's its
 choice, she says: ``I'm just glad the 10 more are being helped.'' 

 She adds that no-kill shelters should not try to make money at the expense
of other
 shelters by portraying themselves as holding a higher moral ground. 

 But Bill Smith, who heads a support group for euthanasia technicians in
 Tuscaloosa, Ala., says too many of them do just that. 

 ``They say, `we're the good guys. We wear the white hats. If you take them
to animal
 control or a humane shelter that kills, they won't try as hard. We're the
true believers.'
 That's why there's such a rift between no-kills and shelters involved in
euthanasia.'' 

 That rift can be healed if animal protection groups will work together,
says Carl
 Friedman, director of animal control in San Francisco. 

 ``Everybody is trying to do the right thing but they're not working
together in a
 coordinated way to reach their goal,'' he says. 

 Until then, he says, ``it's the animals who suffer.'' 
Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:39:08 -0400 (EDT)
>From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Good News: San Fran Mulls Animal Welfare
Message-ID: <970511153907_1786269216@emout08.mail.aol.com>

In a message dated 97-05-11 12:43:29 EDT, AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net writes:

 << Subj:San Fran Mulls Animal Welfare
  Date:97-05-11 12:43:29 EDT
  From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
 
 .c The Associated Press
 
       By MARTHA WAGGONER
       The San Francisco SPCA has made a pact: Within a few months the
 city will try to live up to its namesake, St. Francis of Assisi,
 the patron saint of animals and nature.
       By then, no adoptable animal, healthy or with a treatable
 disease, will be euthanized, says Richard Avanzino, the SPCA
 president for the past 20 years.
       ``What is unconscionable, abominable and outrageous is that
 animals, healthy and well-behaved, are being killed because
 somebody says there are too many,'' Avanzino says. ``That is
 something we do not accept. That is something we find
 intolerable.''
       For 101 of its 129 years, the San Francisco SPCA served as
 animal control for the city, enforcing the pooper-scooper law and
 picking up stray animals from the street.
       The SPCA dropped the contract in 1989 to concentrate on saving
 animals' lives, Avanzino said. In 1994, it signed an agreement
 pledging to take any adoptable animal that couldn't find a home.
       Many believed that San Francisco then became this country's
 first ``no-kill city,'' but Avanzino is not willing to claim that
 title yet.
       In fiscal year 1995-96, 6,720 animals were euthanized. With more
 time and resources, some of those animals labeled ``unadoptable''
 because of medical or behavioral problems might have been good
 pets, says Carl Friedman, director of San Francisco's animal
 control department.
       The San Francisco SPCA, which has space for 450 dogs and cats
 now and is expanding, will take any animal for which other shelters
 can't find a home. With the expansion, the SPCA also will promise
 to care for any animal with a treatable disease and find it a home,
 Avanzino says.
       When San Francisco's SPCA gave up euthanizing, it was able to
 raise more money - it now has a $9.6 million budget - and spend
 that money on low-cost sterilization, he says.
       In addition, the SPCA has used incentives to encourage people to
 care for their animals. For example, it pays $5 to owners who bring
 in a male cat for neutering. And it will pay for medical care for
 an animal with a long-term health problem after it's adopted.
       At least three other major U.S. cities - Milwaukee, St. Louis
 and New York - are taking steps toward becoming no-kill cities,
 says Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, a newspaper based in
 Clinton, Wash.
       ``I think the compassion and devotion people have to companion
 animals should empower most of the jurisdictions to do a lot better
 than what we're doing.'' >>


---------------------
Forwarded message:
 >From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
Date: 97-05-11 12:43:29 EDT

.c The Associated Press
By MARTHA WAGGONER The San Francisco SPCA has made a pact: Within a few months the city will try to live up to its namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and nature. By then, no adoptable animal, healthy or with a treatable disease, will be euthanized, says Richard Avanzino, the SPCA president for the past 20 years. ``What is unconscionable, abominable and outrageous is that animals, healthy and well-behaved, are being killed because somebody says there are too many,'' Avanzino says. ``That is something we do not accept. That is something we find intolerable.'' For 101 of its 129 years, the San Francisco SPCA served as animal control for the city, enforcing the pooper-scooper law and picking up stray animals from the street. The SPCA dropped the contract in 1989 to concentrate on saving animals' lives, Avanzino said. In 1994, it signed an agreement pledging to take any adoptable animal that couldn't find a home. Many believed that San Francisco then became this country's first ``no-kill city,'' but Avanzino is not willing to claim that title yet. In fiscal year 1995-96, 6,720 animals were euthanized. With more time and resources, some of those animals labeled ``unadoptable'' because of medical or behavioral problems might have been good pets, says Carl Friedman, director of San Francisco's animal control department. The San Francisco SPCA, which has space for 450 dogs and cats now and is expanding, will take any animal for which other shelters can't find a home. With the expansion, the SPCA also will promise to care for any animal with a treatable disease and find it a home, Avanzino says. When San Francisco's SPCA gave up euthanizing, it was able to raise more money - it now has a $9.6 million budget - and spend that money on low-cost sterilization, he says. In addition, the SPCA has used incentives to encourage people to care for their animals. For example, it pays $5 to owners who bring in a male cat for neutering. And it will pay for medical care for an animal with a long-term health problem after it's adopted. At least three other major U.S. cities - Milwaukee, St. Louis and New York - are taking steps toward becoming no-kill cities, says Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, a newspaper based in Clinton, Wash. ``I think the compassion and devotion people have to companion animals should empower most of the jurisdictions to do a lot better than what we're doing.'' AP-NY-05-11-97 1216EDT
 Copyright 1997 The
Associated Press.  The information 
contained in the AP news report may not be published, 
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without 
prior written authority of The Associated Press.
To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles. For all of today's news, go to keyword News. Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:40:59 -0400 >From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Frog Deformities Linked to Parasites Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970511154057.006924b8@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" (followup to a post from Fall of last year) from AP Wire page: ------------------------------ 05/11/1997 12:01 EST Frog Deformities Linked to Parasites By DAVID REED Associated Press Writer STONY MAN MOUNTAIN, Va. (AP) -- In an isolated mountaintop lodge with the lights turned down, 80 scientists from the United States and Canada clustered around a projector to view slides of misshapen, mutant frogs. The scientists looked at frogs with legs protruding from their stomachs and frogs with no legs at all. They heard about frogs with eyes staring disconcertingly from their backs and frogs with suction-cup fingers growing from their sides. What, they wanted to know, is causing the gross deformities turning up with alarming frequency in North America's frogs? And if they are the victims of a tainted environment, they wondered, can humans be far behind? ``Maybe these frogs are pointing out that there is a more widespread problem,'' suggested Kathy Converse of the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. There have been reports of unusually high numbers of deformed frogs in Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin and Quebec. Clusters of deformed frogs have also been found in California, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Ohio. At the conference last month in Shenandoah National Park, scientists ranging from molecular biologists to herpetologists examined theories that link the frog deformities to chemicals or parasites. ``My best guess is that it has more to do with pesticides,'' Martin Ouellet of McGill University in Montreal said. Ouellet and four other scientists have been studying deformed and normal frogs found in more than 100 ponds in the St. Lawrence River Valley during the past four years. Normally, less than 1 percent of frogs are deformed, and that's about what Ouellet found in frogs taken from pristine ponds. But in ponds where pesticides are used on surrounding land, as many as 69 percent of the frogs were deformed, he said. If a pesticide is causing deformities, it's probably a new brand because large numbers of frog deformities have not been noticed before, Ms. Converse of the Wildlife Health Center said. ``It's less likely to be one of the older chemicals, like DDT or PCBs,'' she said. David Gardiner, a molecular biologist from the University of California at Irvine, believes that the deformities may be linked to a new generation of chemicals that mimic growth hormones. Gardiner said the same kind of frog deformities that have been found in marshes and ponds -- including extra legs and eyes -- have been replicated in laboratory experiments. ``I can make a frog that looks like any frog you've seen at this meeting,'' said Gardiner, who specializes in cell regeneration. Scientists have induced the deformities with retinoic acid, a byproduct of a workhorse chemical called retinoid that is found in acne medicine and skin rejuvenation creams. Retinoids powerfully effect development, and if they are inside a growing animal at the wrong place at the wrong time, they can cause deformities, he said. That's why pregnant women are warned not to use skin medicines that contain retinoids. Recent laboratory experiments have determined that a pesticide can mimic a retinoid and, conceivably, cause defects in frog development, he said. ``We should start screening chemicals, and we should start with pesticides, to see if they mimic naturally occurring retinoids in the body,'' Gardiner said. Stan Sessions, a developmental biologist, questioned whether a chemical could be the culprit because there were no deformed fish or other animals found in the ponds where the deformed frogs were captured. He believes parasites cause the deformities. Sessions, a professor at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., put a three-legged frog recently found in Vermont under a microscope and invited his colleagues to share in his discovery. In his partially dissected specimen, tiny parasitic flat worms were packed into the joint where the frog was missing a leg. Sessions told of a lab experiment in which he mimicked the invasion of parasites in a tadpole and caused it to sprout an extra leg as it developed into a frog. ``The mystery is beginning to resolve itself,'' Sessions said. Some scientists in Oregon, trying to unravel the riddle of deformed frogs in that state, decided that trematodes, a parasite commonly known as flukes, were burrowing into the places where legs form when the frogs are tadpoles, causing additional legs to grow. Some of Sessions' colleagues at the conference were intrigued and some said he was on to something. But others were skeptical. Finding the answer to the deformed frog mystery will probably take three to five years of research, said Joe Tietge, conference organizer and research biologist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laboratory in Duluth, Minn. One of the goals of the conference was to direct research, Tietge said. The scientists at the meeting determined what kind of data will be included in a national reporting system that the U.S. Geological Survey is developing. At the end of May, the EPA and other federal agencies will award grants to scientists studying the phenomenon of the deformed frogs. Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:43:04 -0400 (EDT) >From: LMANHEIM@aol.com To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: And on the other hand...Fwd: Animal Supporters At Odds Message-ID: <970511154304_-1097857671@emout20.mail.aol.com> In a message dated 97-05-11 12:44:31 EDT, AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net writes: << Subj:Animal Supporters At Odds Date:97-05-11 12:44:31 EDT From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net .c The Associated Press By MARTHA WAGGONER RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Three times a week, Kay Redding and a colleague walked through the Moore County animal shelter to play God. Who was obedient? Untrained? Over the hill? Too big or just the right size? Cute, so ugly they're cute or just unattractive? Which animals might find homes - and which must die? Redding didn't have to do this nasty work. But when she signed on as a board member of the Humane Society of Moore County she wanted to know exactly what happened there each day. Every time she hears shelters boast that they do not kill animals, ``I get a knife in my stomach,'' Redding says. ``We have the unhappy duty of providing a painless euthanasia and a happy last few days for these animals,'' she says. ``We don't have to bear the burden of guilt that the people who run no-kill shelters would want us to take on.'' A rift has grown among animal lovers. On the one side are traditional shelters - those that euthanize to make space for more animals. On the other are those that call themselves ``no kill.'' They represent a range of shelters: those that won't euthanize any animal on their property; those that will euthanize animals for medical or behavioral reasons; lifetime care facilities; and some disreputable shelters that keep taking animals long after they no longer have space. Workers at traditional shelters say someone must do the dirty work of killing unwanted animals. Rescue and no-kill groups counter that they provide a popular service and that traditional shelters won't work with them. No-kill shelters are gaining in popularity in the United States; Lynda Foro, a spokeswoman for the movement, says she knows of more than 600, and she expects that's just a fraction of the ones out there. That popularity has put pressure on other shelters to become no-kill, which isn't realistic, says Brian Kilcommons, director of animal behavior and training for New York City's Center for Animal Care and Control. ``Then the question becomes, who kills? Because somebody has to,'' says Kilcommons, co-author of the book ``Mutts America's Dogs'' and a faculty member at the veterinary school at Tufts University. In 1996, about 5.1 million animals - 1.5 million dogs, 3.5 million cats and some raccoons, skunks, ferrets, gerbils, were euthanized in shelters, says Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, a 15,000-circulation, newspaper based in Clinton, Wash. That's down tremendously from the 17.8 million put down in 1987, the peak of recorded shelter euthanasia, he says. So the prospects for survival in shelters have improved and can be even greater, says Richard Avanzino, president of the SPCA in San Francisco, which is moving toward becoming a ``no-kill'' city. ``It depends on whether we have the public will and personal dedication to change a wrong and make a right. To me, that means finding it unacceptable to kill mass numbers of animals who have done no wrong other than than to be born into a society which has not correctly prioritized the importance of their chance for life,'' Avanzino says. Nonsense, says Roger Caras, president of the ASPCA in New York City. He says shelters that promise to find a home for any animal, regardless of its condition, are selling a false dream to owners giving up a dog or cat. Some merely send unplaceable pets to shelters that do kill. ``They're not saying the animal's not going to die; they're just saying `We're not going to kill it,''' Caras says. In addition, no-kill shelters or rescue groups have strict rules limiting the animals they will take. Traditional shelters have more open admission policies, which means they are more likely to take in animals that are candidates for euthanasia. Foro, head of Doing Things for Animals in Sun City, Ariz., defends the screening process at no-kill shelters. If a no-kill shelter wants to keep 10 animals when 20,000 need help, that's its choice, she says: ``I'm just glad the 10 more are being helped.'' She adds that no-kill shelters should not try to make money at the expense of other shelters by portraying themselves as holding a higher moral ground. But Bill Smith, who heads a support group for euthanasia technicians in Tuscaloosa, Ala., says too many of them do just that. ``They say, `we're the good guys. We wear the white hats. If you take them to animal control or a humane shelter that kills, they won't try as hard. We're the true believers.' That's why there's such a rift between no-kills and shelters involved in euthanasia.'' That rift can be healed if animal protection groups will work together, says Carl Friedman, director of animal control in San Francisco. ``Everybody is trying to do the right thing but they're not working together in a coordinated way to reach their goal,'' he says. Until then, he says, ``it's the animals who suffer.'' >> --------------------- Forwarded message: >From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net Date: 97-05-11 12:44:31 EDT
.c The Associated Press
By MARTHA WAGGONER RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Three times a week, Kay Redding and a colleague walked through the Moore County animal shelter to play God. Who was obedient? Untrained? Over the hill? Too big or just the right size? Cute, so ugly they're cute or just unattractive? Which animals might find homes - and which must die? Redding didn't have to do this nasty work. But when she signed on as a board member of the Humane Society of Moore County she wanted to know exactly what happened there each day. Every time she hears shelters boast that they do not kill animals, ``I get a knife in my stomach,'' Redding says. ``We have the unhappy duty of providing a painless euthanasia and a happy last few days for these animals,'' she says. ``We don't have to bear the burden of guilt that the people who run no-kill shelters would want us to take on.'' A rift has grown among animal lovers. On the one side are traditional shelters - those that euthanize to make space for more animals. On the other are those that call themselves ``no kill.'' They represent a range of shelters: those that won't euthanize any animal on their property; those that will euthanize animals for medical or behavioral reasons; lifetime care facilities; and some disreputable shelters that keep taking animals long after they no longer have space. Workers at traditional shelters say someone must do the dirty work of killing unwanted animals. Rescue and no-kill groups counter that they provide a popular service and that traditional shelters won't work with them. No-kill shelters are gaining in popularity in the United States; Lynda Foro, a spokeswoman for the movement, says she knows of more than 600, and she expects that's just a fraction of the ones out there. That popularity has put pressure on other shelters to become no-kill, which isn't realistic, says Brian Kilcommons, director of animal behavior and training for New York City's Center for Animal Care and Control. ``Then the question becomes, who kills? Because somebody has to,'' says Kilcommons, co-author of the book ``Mutts America's Dogs'' and a faculty member at the veterinary school at Tufts University. In 1996, about 5.1 million animals - 1.5 million dogs, 3.5 million cats and some raccoons, skunks, ferrets, gerbils, were euthanized in shelters, says Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, a 15,000-circulation, newspaper based in Clinton, Wash. That's down tremendously from the 17.8 million put down in 1987, the peak of recorded shelter euthanasia, he says. So the prospects for survival in shelters have improved and can be even greater, says Richard Avanzino, president of the SPCA in San Francisco, which is moving toward becoming a ``no-kill'' city. ``It depends on whether we have the public will and personal dedication to change a wrong and make a right. To me, that means finding it unacceptable to kill mass numbers of animals who have done no wrong other than than to be born into a society which has not correctly prioritized the importance of their chance for life,'' Avanzino says. Nonsense, says Roger Caras, president of the ASPCA in New York City. He says shelters that promise to find a home for any animal, regardless of its condition, are selling a false dream to owners giving up a dog or cat. Some merely send unplaceable pets to shelters that do kill. ``They're not saying the animal's not going to die; they're just saying `We're not going to kill it,''' Caras says. In addition, no-kill shelters or rescue groups have strict rules limiting the animals they will take. Traditional shelters have more open admission policies, which means they are more likely to take in animals that are candidates for euthanasia. Foro, head of Doing Things for Animals in Sun City, Ariz., defends the screening process at no-kill shelters. If a no-kill shelter wants to keep 10 animals when 20,000 need help, that's its choice, she says: ``I'm just glad the 10 more are being helped.'' She adds that no-kill shelters should not try to make money at the expense of other shelters by portraying themselves as holding a higher moral ground. But Bill Smith, who heads a support group for euthanasia technicians in Tuscaloosa, Ala., says too many of them do just that. ``They say, `we're the good guys. We wear the white hats. If you take them to animal control or a humane shelter that kills, they won't try as hard. We're the true believers.' That's why there's such a rift between no-kills and shelters involved in euthanasia.'' That rift can be healed if animal protection groups will work together, says Carl Friedman, director of animal control in San Francisco. ``Everybody is trying to do the right thing but they're not working together in a coordinated way to reach their goal,'' he says. Until then, he says, ``it's the animals who suffer.'' AP-NY-05-11-97 1217EDT
 Copyright 1997 The
Associated Press.  The information 
contained in the AP news report may not be published, 
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without 
prior written authority of The Associated Press.
To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles. For all of today's news, go to keyword News. Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:20:45 -0700 >From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Chimps needing a home Message-ID: <3376463D.1BD3@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Chimps freed from research labs find nowhere left to go Los Angeles Daily News LOS ANGELES (May 11, 1997 01:37 a.m. EDT) -- For the first time in its 21-year history, the Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest northeast of the city has turned away exotic animals in need -- leaving uncertainty about the fate of 47 chimpanzees and other primates. The international sanctuary for wild and exotic animals closed the door last week on accepting more primates "retired" from research laboratories, the director said Saturday. "I cried," said Martine Colette, who founded the way station on more than 160 acres in the forest area in 1976. Colette said the $600,000 yearly cost of caring for primates already is straining the way station's $2.5 million annual budget for more than 5,000 exotic animals, including tigers and bears. The chimpanzees and other primates range in age from a few months to 40 years. They came from laboratories across the country, where most of them outlived their usefulness in research. Colette said scientists have been retiring a growing number of primates because of laboratory closings and opposition by animal-rights groups to the use of primates in research. Because primates are highly intelligent and require lots of attention, caring for them is costlier -- as much as $20 per day for a chimpanzee -- than caring for other animals, Colette said. "Sometimes (laboratories) are more willing to let these animals go rather than incur such (costs)," Colette said. "I have chimps here who have spent 40 years in biomedical research." The way station's budget relies on sponsor donations and membership dues. Colette said she is looking for new members and sponsors to enhance the facility's ability to take in animals. BY ERIC WAHLGREN, Los Angeles Daily News Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:31:35 -0700 >From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Power plants kill sea lions Message-ID: <337648C7.68EF@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Impact of power plant's on marine mammals is little known Scripps-McClatchy Western SACRAMENTO, Calif. (May 11, 1997 00:31 a.m. EDT) -- Electric power plants on both coasts are swallowing sea lions and seals with cooling water from the ocean, a situation that is little known and legally murky. Hundreds of the marine mammals have surfaced inside Southern California power plants over the past 20 years, mostly at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which drinks 1.6 million gallons -- roughly the equivalent of nine high school swimming pools -- per minute. On the East Coast, Seabrook Station, a nuclear power plant in New Hampshire, is having the same trouble. Last year, 13 seals died there, twice the number of the year before. Some animals at San Onofre survive the trip through the intake pipes, but more than half are found dead, records supplied by Southern California Edison show. Some of the bodies are decomposed, suggesting the animals died of sickness or injury before they were drawn into the plants' pipes; others may drown on the journey. "It's not like we want to go out and capture animals intentionally," said Kevin Herbinson, senior research scientist at Southern California Edison, which runs San Onofre and other plants that have drawn in marine mammals. "If we could not ever see another one, we'd be more than happy." But the problem is worsening. In the past five years, at least 119 seals and sea lions were reported dead in California power plants, more than double the number of the previous five years. Whether the California power plants are breaking the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act is a matter of dispute. And the situation has drawn little attention from conservationists and regulators because few people have known much, if anything, about it. "I'm actually floored," said Susan Hansch, deputy director of the California Coastal Commission. "It's something we did not realize was an issue," Hansch said. "The information we always had ... is that they (the animals) were released unhurt, or with minimal damage. No one ever told us there were any dead animals." Just last month, the Coastal Commission ordered San Onofre to undertake more than $100 million in projects to compensate for its effects on the ocean. Scientists assembled by the commission spent some 15 years and $48 million studying the power plant's influence on the marine environment. They concluded that the ocean cooling system kills millions of fish eggs, larvae, juvenile and adult fish each year, and has shrunk a nearby kelp bed. Southern California Edison, which has contributed money to a fish hatchery, now must help restore wetlands and build an artificial kelp reef. Mark Massara, a Sierra Club lawyer in San Francisco, was flabbergasted that the issue of marine mammals never arose. "How closely does someone have to watch these things in order to get this information?" he asked. Hansch said she doesn't know how the study missed marine mammals. "We looked at every little fish," she said. "That's the most thorough study ever done." Southern California Edison and at least two other utilities have reported marine mammal encounters as required by law to the National Marine Fisheries Service regional office in Long Beach. Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist who records the incidents, said he never discussed the matter with the Coastal Commission because the question didn't come up. Cordaro's boss James Lecky, chief of the regional protected species management division, didn't make an issue of it because the population of California sea lions and harbor seals is robust. He attributed the rising number of incidents to the burgeoning number of animals. There are 170,000 sea lions and 31,000 harbor seals living off the California coast, Lecky said. "We would prefer to spend our time and energy on projects that actually make a difference to the mammals that are involved," he said. Records from Southern California Edison and the fisheries service show more than 400 incidents of marine mammals surfacing in power plants since 1977, 234 of them dead. On rare occasions, sea turtles, which are threatened and endangered species, also wash in. Except for Edison plants, the accounting is incomplete because full reports were not available from the fisheries service. Why the animals go into the water pipes is uncertain. Researchers do not believe the animals are sucked in because the intakes draw water relatively slowly, to avoid gulping fish. "We suspect ... they are naive animals, most of which are probably young, and it's curiosity," said John Hart, an engineer at Seabrook in New Hampshire. "It's like a little kid, you know?" Herbinson said divers at San Onofre, in San Diego County, have seen seals and sea lions swim into and back out of the two intake pipes, which are 18 feet in diameter and extend some 3,000 feet from the beachfront power plant. The openings atop the pipes are large, and Herbinson said water is drawn in at less than 2 mph. It speeds up inside the pipe, so that an animal that becomes confused would then be drawn into the plant's cooling-water pool, an eight-minute journey for an object riding the current. If the animal doesn't drown, it generally would not be hurt once inside, Herbinson said. The underground bay, though dark and cavernous, has oxygen. It also is full of fish, which researchers speculate may be why seals and sea lions enter the pipes. Herbinson said the animals don't endanger the plant, but operations may be slowed while workers retrieve them. How to keep the animals out of the intakes is a puzzle, Herbinson said, because grates would quickly clog with kelp and other debris. Not all shoreside power plants draw in marine mammals. The occurrence apparently is most prevalent where intake pipes run offshore in unprotected waters. At least eight electric plants in California have reported taking in marine mammals in the past 20 years. Most belong to Southern California Edison: Mandalay and Ormond Beach generating stations in Ventura County; El Segundo and Redondo Beach generating stations in Los Angeles County; Huntington Beach Generating Station in Orange County; and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County. Others are: Scattergood Generating Station in Los Angeles, owned by the city Department of Water and Power, and the Pacific Gas and Electric plant at Moss Landing, north of Monterey. The federal Marine Mammal Protection Act forbids interference with marine mammals, whether by killing them or simply disrupting their natural behavior. The National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible for enforcing the act. Policy-makers in the fisheries service headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., who only recently learned of the issue, say the California power plants are breaking the law. Officials in the California office say the plants aren't. "In my view, these guys are legal," said Lecky, the regional chief of protected species. "Their take (of animals) is authorized." His office years ago gave that authorization by making affected utility companies part of the marine stranding network. Network members rescue and rehabilitate stranded sea animals, and study dead animals for research. Members generally are aquariums, schools and animal-care centers. Cordaro, coordinator of the stranding network and a fisheries service biologist, said utility companies were brought into the network in the early 1980s because there was no other option to keep them within the law. "We knew the animals were dying," he said. But Ken Hollingshead, a fisheries service biologist who oversees marine mammal act exemptions nationwide, said the California utilities aren't properly authorized and need a "small take" exemption. Getting one requires power plant operators to make plans to minimize encounters with marine mammals. The application for exemption also is open to public review, whereas an application for joining the stranding network is not. Hollingshead said he became aware of the problem in California about six months ago, shortly after he learned about similar problems at Seabrook Station in New Hampshire. Fisheries service officials in the Northeast began focusing on the issue when the number of seals washing in dead rose sharply from two in 1993 -- the first year the problem surfaced -- to 13 in 1996. Jim Martin, a Seabrook spokesman, said the plant will do what it must to solve the problem and is considering trying noise-makers to deter the animals. Herbinson, the Southern California Edison biologist, said his company will seek whatever authorization it needs to abide by the law. "We'll do whatever we have to do," he said. By EDIE LAU, The Sacramento Bee Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:38:10 -0700 >From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Llama trade Message-ID: <33764A52.592D@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Exotic animals are a burgeoning regional industry The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (May 10, 1997 7:25 p.m. EDT) -- In the movie "City Slickers" urban dwellers get back to nature thanks to beasts of burden that accompany them deep into the wilderness. In real life that's happening in Western North Carolina as more and more tourists from as far away as New York City take part in a burgeoning industry: taking not horses but llamas to secluded, scenic camping spots. Unlike the movie though, "llama trekking" is a no-hassle proposition for campers who load tents, bunsen burners and lots of good food on friendly animals named Beeper, Echo and Rocky, who then accompany campers and guides into the woods. The animals take their cargo almost anywhere, on or off trails, up or down steep hills. Their padded feet do less damage to the ground than human ones and they only need occasional snacks -- a few leaves on a tree will do. And llamas, like their camel cousins, can go long stretches without water. But the humpless llamas aren't just threading through the forested mountains with campers and day trippers. More North Carolinians are breeding llamas and either shearing their wool for coat manufacturers or even raising them to watch over sheep. All of which leads to bills with funny sounding titles filed in the General Assembly, one to "Promote Llama Breeding" and another addressing "Liability for Llama Activities." A big focus is getting llamas recognized as livestock instead of exotic animals, which would officially sanction their use in the tourist and textile trades. The bills, introduced by Rep. Charles Beall, D-Haywood, address concerns of some 70 llama-operation owners in Western North Carolina and literally across the state. Llama breeders and farms have popped up in such places as Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Wilmington and even Charlotte, in addition counties such as Buncombe, Haywood, McDowell and Rutherford. Buncombe resident Ginny Moser, president of an eight-state association of professional llama owners, says North Carolina has at least 1,000 llamas. Across the territory of the Southern States Llama Association -- also covering South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana -- there are at least 5,000. The U.S. contains at least 30,000 of the distinctly South American animals, which have been domesticated for 5,000 years, Moser said. Llama breeding has proved an unusual but rewarding 12-year career for Moser and husband Artus, who operate Avalon Farm in Swannanoa, a half-mile from her son's llama trekking business. "I'm a registered nurse," laughs Ginny Moser, who admires llamas' loyalty to owners, their cleanliness and ease of handling, even by the handicapped or the elderly. "I never thought I would be raising llamas." Llama treks have been such a good thing locally that early investors in the Swannanoa operation formed another business in Haywood County. Most customers for the treks come from a 300-mile radius -- notably places like Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville -- with others occasionally traveling from Washington, D.C., and New York. One set of impressed llama trekkers at the inn recently came from South Bend, Ind. Anne and John Pyle and their three children. The llamas, Beeper included, carried everything. "Extremely relaxing," said Anne Pyle, who found out about the inn and llama trips through brochures mailed by the state tourism office. "We were really glad we did it." Shopkeeper Sarah Gorder says the real-life "City Slickers" she sees imitate the movie in another way. They become so enamored of the animals' personalities that they want to take the creatures home as pets. Interested in Asheville-area llama treks through the mountains? Contact Avalon Llama Treks at 704-299-7155 or Windsong Llama Treks 704-627-6986, or the N.C. Tourism Department about other companies. By ED BRACKETT, The Citizen-Times of Asheville Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:39:49 -0700 (PDT) >From: Mike Markarian To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu, en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org Subject: Anti-Hunters ask FWS to Fund "Project Respect" for Schools Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970511184024.36df3e00@pop.igc.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 12, 1997 CONTACT: Norm Phelps, 301-739-7087 Mike Markarian, 301-585-2591 R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Anti-Hunters ask Fish and Wildlife Service to Fund "Project Respect" for Schools The Fund for Animals, the nation's largest anti-hunting organization with hundreds of thousands of members nationwide, has just applied for a $142,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fund "Project Respect: An Educational Program for Young People." Anyone can apply for Fish and Wildlife Service grants, providing the projects meet criteria listed in the Federal Register. The Fund feels that "Project Respect" would meet the criteria to "provide innovative approaches to introducing people to hunting and fishing including emphasis on families" and "promote natural resources and environmental education of K through 12 students." Says Norm Phelps, program coordinator for The Fund for Animals, "Teaching students to respect wildlife, rather than to use them as moving targets, is the most innovative approach we've heard yet. The Fish and Wildlife Service, which is supposed to be a public service agency, has funded only one side of the hunting debate. It's time students hear the other side -- the animals' side." The Service gave two grants totaling $330,000 to the Council for Wildlife Conservation and Education (an arm of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for firearms and ammunition manufacturers) for pro-hunting videos distributed to schools. The Fund for Animals believes that students should hear both sides of the hunting debate, and if the federal government funds pro-hunting materials it should also fund anti-hunting materials. The Fund for Animals has produced a half-hour video for students called "What's Wrong With Hunting," featuring Coach Marv Levy of the Buffalo Bills, Alexandra Paul of Baywatch, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen of Beverly Hills 90210, Craig Paquette of the Kansas City Royals, and many wildlife biologists and humane professionals who debunk the hunting myths. The Fund has also produced a booklet for teenagers called "Think Like the Animal: Questions to Ask Before You Kill," and an "Animal Crusaders" newsletter for elementary school teachers. The Fund's "Project Respect" program will include increased distribution of the video, the development of curriculum units for elementary, middle, and high school teachers, and an interactive CD-ROM for schools. For a complete copy of The Fund for Animals' 14-page grant proposal, or to view the "What's Wrong With Hunting" video, please call our campaign office at 301-585-2591. # # # Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 15:54:49 -0700 >From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Cellular phones and genetically engineered mice Message-ID: <33764E39.330@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mouse research suggests cellular telephone-cancer connection The Associated Press NEW YORK (May 9, 1997 11:13 p.m. EDT) -- A mouse study has found the firmest animal evidence yet that cellular telephones may cause cancer, and suggests that more research needs to be done before scientists can say for certain that the portable devices are safe. In the 18-month study, mice exposed to radio signals similar to those produced by cellular phones were twice as likely to develop cancer as their unexposed counterparts. "It's certainly the first animal evidence that suggests that radio frequencies might cause cancer under some conditions," said John Moulder, professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Since cellular phones first came into use, people have worried about their possible health effects. At least eight people have sued, claiming that using the phones caused brain cancer or other medical problems. But, for lack of scientific evidence, none of the lawsuits has ever made it to court. The new study won't change that, because it doesn't come close to showing that cellular telephones are hazardous. It does raise questions that need to be investigated before the devices can be declared completely safe. "We believe the study reported here indicates a need for further research," Michael Repacholi of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and five colleagues write in the current issue of Radiation Research. They performed the experiment on mice that were genetically engineered to be prone to lymphoma, a cancer of the body's infection-fighting lymph system. Doing research on animals that are especially susceptible to disease is a relatively new practice, designed to increase the rates of cancers that otherwise would be too rare to detect in a practical experiment. Of the 101 exposed mice, 43 developed lymphoma. In the unexposed group, only 22 animals developed cancer. The odds of that happening by chance were less than 1 percent, the Australian researchers reported. "Nobody has reported things like that in this area," said Henry Lai, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. Lai and other researchers have found that cellular phone signals can cause DNA damage in rat brain cells. But so far other animal studies have failed to find a link between radio signals and cancer. The advantage of the Australian study could also be its undoing, however. Nobody yet knows whether experiments on animals that are especially cancer-prone also apply to normal animals. So at this point, researchers can say only that the Australian experiment demonstrates the need for more research. "These animals are very new," said Moulder, who is an associate editor at the journal that published the research. "We need to know if it also happens in other mice." It would also help to know if there is any realistic mechanism by which cellular phone signals could cause cancer. All the ways that have been proposed so far, such as producing excess heat in cells, haven't been supported. "The biggest hazard is the increased rate of automobile accidents from using (cell phones) while driving," Moulder said. ============================================================= If they studied the health effects of cellular phone use among the millions of people who've been using those devices for years, instead of on genetically altered mice, they might have arrived at a meaninful conclusion instead of the "need for more research." For crying out loud, they aren't even sure whether conclusions drawn from the genetically altered mice are valid for normal mice - let alone for people! The work of such 'reputable scientists' is supported by millions of dollars of tax funds, including the money collected from you and me. Enough to make one cry. Andy Gach Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 20:58:58 -0400 >From: Vegetarian Resource Center To: AR-News@envirolink.org Subject: (Costa Rica) Save Rainforests, says US President Clinton Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970511093119.00ddccc8@pop.tiac.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The Sunday Times MAY 11 1997 Save rainforests, says Clinton in forest BRAULIO CARRILLO NATIONAL PARK (Costa Rica) -- Soaked by a steady rainfall and surrounded by lush greenery, US President Bill Clinton on Friday plunged into a tropical rainforest to call attention to the global threat of deforestation. "I come here to emphasise the importance of the forest that surrounds us, to the chain of life not only in Costa Rica and Central America, but to all the world," he said in this rainforest outside of the Costa Rican capital, San Jose. Mr Clinton, on a week-long tour of Latin America that included a state visit to Mexico, later departed for Barbados, the last leg of the trip, for a one-day, 15-nation Caribbean summit yesterday. In Costa Rica, Mr Clinton spoke at the base of a deep gorge in Braulio Carrillo National Park, with dense forested hills rising up several hundred feet into the mist. A gushing waterfall streamed down about 90 m away. The park is named for a former Costa Rican President and is home to 6,000 species of trees, 500 species of birds, 135 types of mammals, including monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, pumas, ocelots and deer. The rainforest itself represents a threatened ecosystem. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation has estimated that 15 million ha of the world's forests are lost each year, mostly in the Third World. "We destroy these resources at our peril," said Mr Clinton. -- Reuter. Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 21:29:06 -0400 >From: Shirley McGreal To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Animal based Asian traditional "medicines" Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19970512012906.00881058@awod.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" This message was posted by Vern Weitzel to another list and makes sickening reading. It seems few animals are spared from being used as medicine. A GLIMPSE OF THE TRADITIONAL MEDICINES OF ANIMAL ORIGIN Besides drugs of vegetable origin, its basic source of medicines, Vietnamese traditional medicine makes good use of the very rich fauna of the country, as well as a number of mineral substances. Insects, molluscs, fish, reptiles and mammals are used either whole or in part and made up in either simple or complicated preparations and have proved to be effective therapeutic remedies. Some of these medical substances of animal origin have been fairly thoroughly studied with modern scientific methods, and their curative properties confirmed although not always explained. Many others have yet to be subjected to scientific analysis and tests before their real value can be judged. They will be mentioned here for information. The prescriptions for drugs of animal origin have come down to us either from ancient medical texts written most often in classical Chinese or from formulas handed down from generation to generation within a family, a tribe or an ethnic group. They have been collected and a selection made by many researchers working either separately or collectively, and have been tested many times over to check their medicinal properties. I. Popular Experience Let us first briefly review the medical substances of animal origin which appear most commonly in written accounts of traditional medicine as well as in popular medicine. first the invertebrates and then vertebrates. Among the invertebrates insects should be mentioned first. The mulberry bombyx, or the silkworm, contains many therapeutic agents. Caterpillars, treated with bobytis and dried on quicklime, are administered to children with convulsions. They are used also as an aphrodisiac. Bombyx excrement is an ingredient found in antirheumatic and antihaemorrhagic prescriptions. The cricket, or more precisely the two species Gryllotalpa unispinolpa and Gryllodes berthellus, is used as a diuretic. The legs and wings are removed. The cicada discharges a chitinous membrane, the periostractum cicadae, during its metamorphosis in summer, and this is collected to make an antispasmodic drug prescribed for infantile fever (otitis, bronchitis, and influenza). The chrysalis of the Brishaspa strostigmella is found as a parasite in the stalks of graminaceous plants in winter. The stalk is split, the worm taken out and killed by immersion in salted water. It is then dried in the sun or in a drying cupboard, and after being impregnated with honey, it is dried again. It is then macerated in alcohol and the result is a tonic elixir against neurasthenia and general fatigue. The honey of the melliferous bee is both a highly nutritive foodstuff and a therapeutic agent. Besides its general invigorating effect, it is prescribed to be taken as honey for gastric pains, dry cough and laryngitis. It is also used as a healing ointment for boils, wounds, ulcers, and burns. Bees wax serves as excipient in the preparation of various ointments, plasters and pills. (Bee poison has been collected in a special way and used recently with success in intradermic injections in acupunctural zones against rheumatism, bronchial asthma, high blood-pressure, and chronic headache.) The xylocopa (Xylocopa dissimilis, Xilocopa phalotus) akin to the bee, lives in bamboo stalks. By setting fire to its habitat, one can kill a whole swarm of xylocopas, and the dried and pulverized insects are recommended against ailments affecting the mouth and the pharynx. Then come the arachnid. The Buthus martensii, boiled in salt water and then dried, is prescribed as an anti-convulsive remedy. It also cures facial paresis. Spiders (Uroctes compactilis) that are caught alive and crushed to a paste, are applied as poultices against boils. They are also given to children to treat some nocturnal enuresis. The bites of the scolopendra (Scolopendra morsitana) can be serious but this insect has many therapeutic uses. Macerated in alcohol, it gives an alcoholic tincture that gives relief when painted on inflammations caused by insect stings. Boils are also treated with the tincture. Pounded to powder and mixed with an equal amount of liquorice powder, it constitutes remedy against facial paresis and rheumatic pains. Many kinds of earthworms, among them the Pheretima asiatica, have febrifugal and bron~hodilating properties, and are prescribed for bronchial asthrna, high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, and chronic headache. Next let us examine the molluscs. Calcined, powdered oyster shell taken orally reduces gastric hyperacidity, relieves fatigue and stops haemorrhage. It is also sprinkled over open wounds and boils. The pear}s from oysters are highly appreciated in jewellery but few people suspect their therapeutic qualities. Topical ocular medicine uses them to remove keratoses; they have some anti-inflammatory effect on conjunctivitis Cuttlefish bones, the inside shell of this mollusc, is given to young birds in European countries to sharpen their beaks on. In Vietnam, it has a recalcitrant for rickets, as a healing agent in the treatment of gastro-intestinal troubles, as a local anti-haemorrhagic, and is an anti-infectant in cases of otitis. The flat shell of the haliotis or sea-ear with its iridescent inside is powdered and taken orally to improve visual acuity to remove keratoses and to counteract hemeralopia. There are better drugs of animal origin in Vietnamese traditional medicine to be found among the vertebrates than among the invertebrates. Small animals are generally used whole, but often only some parts of larger ones, like wild beasts and the cervidae are used, such as their skin, horns, bones, gall bladder, etc. A bone jelly called cao can be made of the bones of certain animals. One of the most highly-valued drugs in Vietnamese traditional medicine is undoubtedly tiger-bone pieces (cao ho cot or cao ho) made with bones from the entire skeleton The bones are completely cleaned of flesh and ligaments, carefully washed, and broken to remove the marrow. Then they are immersed in a tincture of ginger, which takes away their smell, before being put into a big cooking-pot filled with water, and boiled for 24 hours, when more water is added to compensate for the quantity that has evaporated. Two hours later the first liquid is taken off. A second, then a third operation of the same kind is repeated. The liquid obtained as a result of the three operations are boiled together over a slow fire until the mixture has the desired glue-like consistency. The semiliquid is poured onto a tray coated with oil to avoid sticking, and when cool it is cut into 100-gram pieces. The yield is 30 kg of cao ho for 100 kg of bones. Tiger-bone pieces are above all prescribed for rheumatic pains, and as a supertonic. They are used per se or macerated in alcohol with various plant therapeutic agents. An original way to administer this valuable medicine is to put 1~20g of it in the abdominal cavity of a small chicken with a small glassful of alcohol. Steam the chicken until the bones soften and press the liquid out of the bird. This is recommended for convalescents. Other animals' bones can also be used for the production of cao, such as bears, leopards, mountain goats and macaques. Their bones are used to make medicaments which are used for different purposes. Macaque-bone for instance is primarily prescribed for the treatment of gynaecological ailments, while the others are used as general tonics. The superficial growths of animal are also used in different ways in traditional therapeutics. First of all, there are horns such as those of stag antler or deer antler, which is made in the same manner as the tiger bones. It is a general tonic, an anti-rheumatic, and polyvalent anti-hemorrhagic to be prescribed for haemoptysis, haematuria, metrorhagia, and too heavy menses. It is used in dried pieces or in an elixir, i.e macerated in alcohol. The antler-shoots of stags or deer are a very highly valued tonic. At the end of each summer, many cervidae lose their antlers, which grow again in the spring of the following year. These young antlers are not yet ossified, and when they are five to ten centimetres long, they are very soft and have a velvety appearance. They are sawn off, (care is taken to stop bleeding), immersed in alcohol, and dried on sand before being macerated in brandy. The elixir obtained is a strong tonic prescribed for asthenia, low blood-pressure, and in periods of convalescence. The squamae of pangolins (Manes pentadacyla) which are a kind of feather rather than "scales" as they are wrongly called, appear in many prescriptions tor boil plasters. They are grilled on a sand-bath and sprinkled with vinegar while they are still bot, and given to mothers who produce insufficient milk. They are also effective in clearing obstruction of galactophorous ducts. children and as a polyvalent antihaemorrhagic. It is dissolved in boiling oil and n~ixed with lead minium and other therapeutic agents to give an anti-haemorrhagic, anti-inflammatory, and healing plaster. The skins of certain animals also have therapeutic value. An elephant skin preparation taken orally heals wounds and persistent boils. It is carbonized or grilled with talc and powdered and applied externally for the same purposes. Donkey-skin, with the hair removed, is cut into small pieces, and made into a glue, in a similar way to the bone-glues. The liquid obtained is purified with potassium alum and evaporated on a slow fire. Sugar and alcohol are added to give the gluey consistency. Donkey-skin glue is a tonic and a polyvalent anti-haemorrhage. It also calms nervous ailments and can be used to prevent abortion. The shells of the freshwater tortoise (Amyda sinensis) and the land-tortoise (Chinemys reevestii) are medical materials in great demand. They are administered in the form of powdered decoction or glue made in the same way as the bone glues. The shell of the fresh water tortoise is a general tonic prescribed in cases of overwork; it cures vesical calculuses and amenorrhoea. The shell of the land tortoise, also a general tonic, is used in cases of persistent coughs, sperrnatorrhoea, leucorrhoea, and lumbar and rheumatic pains. It is also administered in cases of chronic dysentery, recurring malaria, asthenia and adynamia, haemorrhage, maternal, prenatal and post natal complaints rickets and many others. The gall of certain animals is reputed among ordinary people to have miraculous curative virtues. Bear's gall is very valuable commercially because of its special therapeutic properties. There are two species of bears whose gall has the necessary properties: the tall Selenarctos thibetanus, recognisable by the V-shape white crescent on its chest, and the smaller Ursus arctus listotus. The gall-bladder is dried in the shade and afterwards kept in a hermetically sealed container with some quicklime as a desiccant. People have long used bear's gall to treat gastric and muscular pains, indigestion, jaundice, poisoning and other ailments. But because of the high price of the medicine a family will normally only have a small piece for treating sprains, wrenches and ecehymosis. A small quantity of gall (about the size of a grain or rice) diluted in purified water is used as an eye-lotion to bathe conjunctivitis and other external eye inflammations (extemporaneous preparation). A tincture, five percent bear's gall in alcohol, is used as a ointment for pains and sprains and to reduce ecchymosis. Bear's gall has an entry in the Vietnamese Codex (First edition - 1971). Ox gall is used in the same way as in European medicine: being chologogic and choleretic, it is also prescribed for constipation. Hog's gall has the same properties as that of oxen. A dried extract of hog's gall is also administered in the basic treatment of bronchial asthma. Cock's gall is employed in popular medicine as a cure for whooping-cough. Snake's gull is highly valued in the traditional medicine of the scholars. There are three kinds of snakes whose gall is used combined in drugs: the Cobra naja-naja, the Bungarus fasciatus, and the Ptyas-mucosus. The extraction lakes place in winter, from all three snakes together. It is advisable that the snakes be left without food in a closed basin for a few days; the gall is unusual in being hardly bitter at all. It leaves a sugary after-taste in the mouth, reminiscent of liquorice. It is also to be noted that snake's gall is not in the least toxic. In traditional medicine, the three snakes' gall combined with old tangerine skin make a very efficacious remedy against coughing. Snake's gall is also used for its anti burn properties, in the treatment of rheumatic pains, and amenorrhoea. Gall-stones are considered a valuable medicine and fetch high prices. The gall-stones of oxen, known as Bezoar orientalis on the international market, is the major active element of a well-known remedy for fever and convulsions, primarily for children. The gall-stones of macaques (Macaca mulatta and Macaca rhesus) has febrifugal, anti-spasmodic, purifying, anti-oedematic, cough-relieving and anti-asthmatic properties. The flesh of certain animals is also very appreciated both as a remedy and a tonic. The toad's flesh is widely used in popular medicine to combat infantile dyspepsia and athrepsia. Patients are fed the dried and powdered flesh that is left after carefully removing the head, skin, viscera and other interior organs, and gives the patient the result as food. Snake's flesh is much appreciated in the traditional medicine of the scholars. The three species Cobra naja, Bungarus fasciatus and Pytas mucosus form an invariable trio in their writings. The three snakes are decapitated and disemboweled, and their flesh and skin are macerated in ten litres of 30o- 40o alcohol along with plant therapeutic agents. The snake elixir, with its tonic and anti-burn properties, is a powerful tonic and is especially prescribed for rheumatic pains. The human placenta is one of the components of a tonic. Aseptic placentae from healthy women are used, and are administered either as powder, or in maceration (either in alcohol or in honey, where it completely dissolves within one or two months due to the action of proteolytic diastases). Powdered or macerated placenta is the principal ingredient of a pharmaceutical preparation called "Ha sa dai tao" which is very effective as a general tonic, and is prescribed in convalescence and in the treatment of broncho-pulmonary ailments, rheumatism, and spermatorrhea. Certain animals' secretions and excretions also have curative properties. One can stimulate toads electrically or mechanically to secrete a venom through its skin that is contained in glands situated behind its auricular orifice. This venom is scraped off the animal and dried. Used in very small doses of a few milligrams toads' venom proves Io l~ very efficacious in the treatment of boils, laryngitis, and toothache. The male musk-bearer (Moschus moschcifera) has a gland containing an odoriferous substance of high commercial value, known on the international market, where it is valued as a fixer in the perfume business, under the name of Tonking musk (Tonking was the name given by the French colonialists to the northern part of Vietnam). In traditional medicine, musk is used for the treatment of neurasthenia, giddiness, coma and certain ocular ailments. It is also a component of a great number of pharmaceutical products. The civet (Viverriculala malaccensis) has also a musk gland producing civet musk, which is used for the same purposes as Tonking musk. The excrement of certain kinds of bats have curative properties when administered to people suffering from xerophtalmia, hemeralopia, and diminished visual acuity. Drinking fresh urine of boys' under 12 years old, utilised orally, is said to relieve chronic headache, stop haemorrhage, and alleviate thirst. It is also used as an ointment to treat sprains and contusions. Urine is also drunk with certain plant drugs, such as the rhizome of Cypernus rotundus, to give them supplementary pharmacological properties. Let us now look at the animals that are used as a whole. As we have noted above, these are generally small animals. The Hemidactylus frenatus (a lizard) is a remedy against tuberculous adenitis. Some patients take it alive. The gecko, another reptile of the same family as the Hemidaclylus frenatus which owes its name to the cry of the male, is gutted and dried to make a strong tonic, the therapeutic value of which, according to popular experience, is comparable to that of Panax ginseng. It is used powdered, as pills or as an elixir, in the treatment of precocious ejaculation, persistent coughing and, neurasthenia. The hippocampus or sea-horse is an aphrodisiac and is administered either powdered or in pills in cases of either male impotence or female sterility. II. A Scientific Approach It is to be noted that like oriental medicine, occidental medicine uses drugs of animal origins. Before the successful synthesis of cortisone, folliculin, and their derivatives, European medicine made use of extracts of the cortiso-suprarenal glands and the ovaries of mammals. Although the total synthesis of insulin has been achieved, the pancreas remains the major source of this hormone. Post-hypophyse extract is still employed to treat insipid diabetes and to combat uterine inertia. Dehydrocholic acid, a classical cholagogue, is synthetised from cholic acid extracted from ox gall. Gelatine is extracted from the skin and the bones of animals. The venom of vipers is administered to rheumatism sufferers in the form of ointment. Both traditional and modern medicines use honey for the same therapeutic objectives. Ox gall likewise. Ha sa dai tao based on human placenta, is matched in European medicine by extract of placenta which is injectable or drinkable and is made according to the Filatov method. Explanations offered by traditional medicine are not always convincing, but these drugs have survived over the centuries, even for thousands of years; their effectiveness has been proved. It is now our task to retrieve this national heritage, with a view to: - verifying the pharmacologic effects of the drugs in order to see whether they correspond to the ancient texts; - studying how the drugs work; - studying and isolating the active principles that result in the pharmacological action. Over the past twenty years, many scientific studies of this nature have been done in our country. We have also made used of the results of similar research done in other countries, particularly in China and Japan. The overall information available is still scanty but the first results are encouraging. III. A Chemical Approach The effect of a certain number of pharmaceutical preparations can be easily explained by the chemical composition of the drug. The soothing properties of the cuttlefish shell in cases of gastralgia, for example, can be explained by the presence of carbonate and phosphate of calcium. To neutralize gastric hyperacidity, one also makes use of calcinated oyster shell, and here the relevant active ingredient is composed of oxide of calcium with alkaline reaction. Glue made from animal skin and bone is mainly constituted of gelatin; gelatin is also used in European medicine, in drinkable or injectable form or as a local dressing, to stop haemorrhage. The results of the chemical analysis of the flesh of toads reveal that it contains 53.37% protein and 12.66% lipid. Toad protein contains many fatty acids, such as asparagine, histidne, glutamic acid, glycocoll, threonine, aminobutyric acid, tyrosine, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, tryptophane and cysteine. These give toad flesh its high nutritive value in prescriptions in cases of dyspepsia and infantile athrepsia. Snake flesh contains 113 fatty acids, 7 of them being vital to humans, namely: lysine, threonine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, arginine, and histidine. These fatty acids are found in the elixir of snake used as a tonic. As for the anti-inflammatory properties, they might be due to the presence of flavoroids in the snake skin, which were recently discovered during work at the Hanoi College of Pharmacy. However, chemical analysis can by no means provide a satisfactory explanation of curative properties in every case. The isolation of an active principle in substances of animal origin is far more difficult than in plant drugs. It is difficult to explain the tonic action of bone glues by the presence of gelatine. At present we are unable to explain by chemical analysis alone why the glue of the bones of one animal has different therapeutic uses from those of another one, for the analysis reveals almost identical nitrogen, fatty acids, ashes, arsenic, chlorine, calcium, phosphate, etc, content. IV. Pharmacologic Approach Answers to the question are therefore often sought in the pharmacological approach. Research done in the Soviet Union shows that budding stag or deer antlers increase appetite, are sleep inducive, reduce feelings of fatigue, increase diuresis, help the movements of the intestine and the stomach, aid digestion of proteins and fats, and speed up the healing of wounds and sores. There is a special pharmaceutical product in the USSR called "Pantocrine" - in solution to be taken orally or injectable solution made from budding stag antlers which is highly appreciated as a general tonic. Japanese researchers have found that Bezoar orientalis (gall stones of oxen) inhibits stimulation by camphor, caffeine and picrotoxin without suppressing the spasmodic stimulation caused by strychnine. But when Bezoar orientalis has been administered for a long period it actually prolongs the tranquillising effects of hydrate of chloral, or urethane or barbital in hypodermic injection given to inhibit the centage in haemoglobin in the blood and has no use of Bezoar orientalis as an antispasmodic in traditional formulas. The use of the gecko as a tonic was demonstrated in vivo by the Hanoi College of Pharmacy early in the 1960's: the gecko elixir promotes growth, increases the number of hematocytes and the percentage in haemoglobin in the blood and has no influence on the leucocytes. The work done in recent years at the college has been aimed at verifying the pharmacodynamic properties and effects of the gall and the flesh of snakes. Published results show that the snake gall of the three above mentioned species combined is not toxic when administered orally or parenterally to animals, the whole content of a cobra gall-bladder introduced by intravcnous Injection into rabbit provokes no toxic reaction. Likewise, no abnormal manifestation is observed on rats weighing 250-300 grammes after they have been injected with the contents of a whole gall-bladder of a cobra. Electrocardiograms of the animals that undergo the experiment do not show any appreciable change. The anti-inflammatory action of snake gall has been demonstrated by the following method: an inflammation is provoked in the paw of a white mouse by the injection of a suspension of kaolin. The inflammation is measured by comparing the volume of the normal paw with that of the paw subjected to the experiment. The paws of the mice that are given snake-gall orally (both separate galls and a mixture of the galls of the three kinds of snake) have always returned to normal more rapidly than the paws of the control mice. Clinical studies made in several hospitals in Hanoi have proved the efficacy of snake-gall as an anti-rheumatic and anti-asthmatic remedy. In order to verify the therapeutic effect of the flesh and the skin of snakes particularly in cases of rheumatism and articular pains, a study has been made of the following pharmacologic effects: growth-inducing effects, anti-inflammatory effects, and anti-histaminic effects. Experiments have been done on extracts of snake flesh with skin, extracts of flesh without skin and extracts of snake-skin. Experiments relating to growth have been done on laboratory rats. Very probative results have confirmed the use of the elixir of snake as a tonic. The anti-inflammatory effects have been tested by the same method of injection of kaolin into the paw of a mouse. The results have shown that all extracts of snake have properties which cure experimentally provoked inflammation and that the snake-skin extract was the most effective. Experiments on the antihistaminic effects have been done on guinea pigs, which have been injected with snake extract in the peritoneum. The lethal dose of histamine given to guinea pigs injected with snake extract is found to be larger than that given to the control animals, the difference being statistically significant. Thus the chemical and pharmacologic approaches allow us to partly explain the tonic, anti-rheumatic, and antiallergic effects of the snake elixir, one of the anti-rheumatic preparations widely used in our country and in great demand as an export product. V. Prospects Vietnam's fauna constitute a self-replenishing source of drugs. But will it continue to be a medicinal supply source? In the face of a myriad of medicines of chemical origin used by modern medicine, will the drugs of animal origin pass into disuse, mentioned only in treatises on the history of medicine? We do not think so. In European countries, in the past century, drugs of plant origin have gradually become less important compared with those of chemical origin. But in recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in plant drugs. In our case, a combination of favourable historical and socio- economic factors has led to the continuous transmission of this national heritage; we are just as interested in animal and plant drugs as past generations have been. We do not apply all the reasoning and practice of our predecessors mechanically and dogmatically. The work done to exploit and valorize this national heritage is as yet limited, but it allows us to foresee the course to be followed. First of all we have to take precautions to protect our natural environment and maintain the ecological balance. While we appreciate the beneficial effect of tiger-bones or bear-gall we will not go to the length of permitting intensified hunting of these animals and thus threaten their existence. Necessary measures have been taken for their protection. One of these measures consists in rearing the wild animals used in medicine. There is now a special monkey island; and on the outskirts of Hanoi, a whole village specializes in breeding snakes. In Nghe An and Ha Tinh province and on the High Plateau stags and deer are reared. Another measure is to develop the use of substitutes. In some Chinese provinces, buffalo horns are used to replace those of rhinoceri; a mixture including cholesterol, cholic acid, biliary salts, calcium salts, is known under the name of "artificial Bezoar". In Vietnam, we have begun to use the bones of domestic animals (pig, ox, cock, etc.) to make a glue as good at that made of the bones of tigers or other wild beasts. Both domestic and mountain goats can be used in making medicines. The Hanoi College of Pharmacy envisages the possibility of using sea-snakes for medicines in the same way as land snakes are used. A solution of acetic acid has been used in place of traditional vinegar in making certain drugs; child's urine can also be replaced by a solution of urea and natrium chloride with which to impregnate the Cyperus rotundus when this operation is truly indispensable as required by old medical texts. We shall know in due course whether the replacement of rare animals and complicated pharmaceutical techniques, by domestic animals and chemical products or by simplified techniques, is rational or not. It seems, for instance, that the superior curative value of bear gall compared with the gall of other animals is due to the presence of ursodesoxycholic acid, the principal constituent of the bear-gall, and this biliary acid is only found in negligible quantities in other animals. Does the Ursodesoxycholic acid synthetized and marketed by the Japanese have all the properties of bear-gall and can it be considered a substitute for bear-gall, as the Japanese researchers claim? For medical purposes, is the Rawwolfa serpentina of India comparable to reserpine, tea to caffeine, quinquina to quinine, the root of pana ginseng to its glucosides, the isolated or synthesized chemical substances they contain being only part of the constituents of the entire original drugs? Considerable study will be necessary before we can make final decisions on any particular drugs. Pharmacist NGUYEN XUAN THU Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman International Primate Protection League, POB 766 Summerville SC 29484 USA Phone: 803-871-2280 Fax: 803-871-7988 E-mail: ippl@awod.com Web page (revised January 1997): http://www.sims.net/organizations/ippl/ April IPPL News is now out featuring news of Limbe Wildlife Sanctuary in Cameroon NOTE; THE OLD E-MAIL ADDRESS AT SC.NET WILL NOT BE IN USE AFTER 15 JUNE, PLEASE DIRECT ALL E-MAIL TO IPPL@AWOD.COM Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 10:37:24 +0800 >From: bunny To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Re:Animal based Asian traditional "medicines" Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970512102845.23a78c76@wantree.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear AR, Re(Animal based Asian traditional "medicines") After reading this posting and realising how many people there are in Asia, its amazing that more animals there aren't extinct! The cruelty aspect of the issue is beyond words. There is obviously a large gap between East and West on treatment of animals and on the casual taking of so-called health improving remedies as part of daily life with no thought of the impact long term of such practices or the cruelty aspect. Hopefully education may reverse some of this trend. (Also, some of these remedies seem downright dangerous. We have poisonous spiders in this part of the world [see spider based remedies] and heaven help anyone with a bee allergy given bee venom or bee based medicine. Kind regards, MArguerite ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere ai te karohirohi i mua tonu i o koutou huarahi. -Maori Prayer (May the calm be widespread, may the sea be as the smooth surface of the greenstone and may the rays of sunshine forever dance along your pathway) ("\''/").___..--''"`-._ `9_ 9 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) (_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-' _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' .' (il).-'' ((i).' ((!.-' Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 23:28:14 -0400 (EDT) >From: Pat Fish To: "* You * (and others?)":;@fang.cs.sunyit.edu Subject: Technology & Fishing on MS-NBC (Monday) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Monday, May 12th, MSNBC's international TV network will run a segment on technology used for fishing, and the impact it's having on "fisheries". The piece will run on "The Site", a cooperative show between the Ziff-Davis publishing empire, and the MicroSoft/NBC. The program runs at 7PM, 1AM and 4AM US-EST. People without this channel may visit www.thesite.com . In the past, "The Site" has gotten major thumbs-down by CPEA for it's promotion of Shockwave games involving beating penguins and seals with clubs, encouraging viewers to buy exotic pets via the US postal mails (The Site staff ordered a large exotic spider for the program), and promoting a site that sold, among other things, fur and goat-skin drums. They also ran a special on a Xerox employee who enjoyed the hobby of "bullfighting". Rumor has it that they will soon have a segment on shark attacks-- with the usual paranoia that has lead to devastation of shark populations. Look for a graphic video at http://www.thesite.com/cgi/soledad.cgi The program has also run a couple of very middle of the road segments on humane societies use of technology. Send your thoughts on the show to: thebin@zd.com kathy_moore@zd.com richard_fisher@zd.com stephanie_abrams@zd.com CPEA
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