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AR-NEWS Digest 392
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Fwd: Actor Baldwin Protests Geese Plan
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
2) Fwd: Taiwan Pork Industry in Crisis
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
3) European Commission adopts paper on human health
by Vegetarian Resource Center
4) Indiana officials can't confirm laters CJD death
by Vegetarian Resource Center
5) (NI) INDIGENOUS/ENVIRO CRISIS-NICARAGUA
by Persephone Moonshadow Howling Womyn
6) (US) 7-ELEVEN ENDS FUR SALES
by allen schubert
7) (US) LUCKY LOBSTER GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE
by allen schubert
8) (US) "KERMIT" DISCOURAGES DISSECTION AT OHIO SCHOOLS
by allen schubert
9) (US) "BIG BIRD" TO IGNITE PROTEST AT EXXON
by allen schubert
10) (US) "CHICKENS" FLOCK TO PROTEST POULTRY CONFERENCE
by allen schubert
11) India Destroy's Illegal GE Test Field
by allen schubert
12) (HK) Sad victims of tradition
by Vadivu Govind
13) (HK) `Turtle lover' the cause of unacceptable suffering
by Vadivu Govind
14) (MY) Mangrove forest threatened
by Vadivu Govind
15) [UK] British election results [long]
by David J Knowles
16) [CA] Human doctors treat dog
by David J Knowles
17) [UK] Farmers call for limits on EU beef
by David J Knowles
18) [UK] Artificial leeches? We will be sticking with nature
by David J Knowles
19) Rodeo to become official 'sport' of Texas?
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
20) Greyhounds - Actions against Dog Racing
by baerwolf@tiac.net (baerwolf)
21) [CA] Protests at MacBlo & Interfor AGM's
by David J Knowles
22) Re: NATIONAL WILDLIFE WEEK, 1997
by Liz
23) A Bear Story
by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
24) (US) Court KOs Anti-Boll Weevil Plan
by allen schubert
25) (US) RFI: Deer Population
by allen schubert
26) New England Vegetarian Conference
by allen schubert
27) AR-News Admin Note
by allen schubert
28) UPC Action Alert: Sutton Place Gourmet Selling Emu
by Franklin Wade
29) (US) Oklahoma Hog Farm Update
by JanaWilson@aol.com
30) Job Opportunity - PAWS (WA)
by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
31) (US) Protest at Seabrook Greyhound Park
by Karin Zupko
32) Punxsutawney Phil Condemns Woodchuck Hunt
by Friends of Animals
33) (UK)er...i thought they were pro-veg....
by "H. Morris"
34) vaccine "protects" chimps from AIDS
by "H. Morris"
35) "meatier" chicken.
by "H. Morris"
36) oped on bison
by "H. Morris"
37) Living With Beavers & Deer
by Mike Markarian
38) Alert to Protect Brown Bears
by Mike Markarian
39) DESPERATELY NEEDING VET ASSISTANCE (MN)
by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
40) help for a friend
by carol
41) (US) WAFC Forest Focus - May 2, 1997
by Persephone Moonshadow Howling Womyn
42) Fwd: Norway Opens Whaling Season
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
43) AR Groups aghast at Feds' plan to gun down gulls
by Vegetarian Resource Center
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:03:36 -0400 (EDT)
>From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Actor Baldwin Protests Geese Plan
Message-ID: <970502000333_1188996543@emout18.mail.aol.com>
In a message dated 97-05-01 22:54:56 EDT, AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net writes:
<< Subj:Actor Baldwin Protests Geese Plan
Date:97-05-01 22:54:56 EDT
From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
.c The Associated Press
NYACK, N.Y. (AP) - Alec Baldwin has a town official in his cross
hairs.
Baldwin was disgusted at Clarkstown Supervisor Charles
Holbrook's plan to kill Canada geese that leave their droppings in
the town's parks.
``I would like to see Holbrook get on TV and start blasting away
at the geese for everyone to see,'' the actor told protesters
gathered Tuesday at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center.
Baldwin, an animal rights activist, was invited to speak by the
group Wildlife Watch.
Baldwin, who recently starred in the movie ``Ghosts of
Mississippi,'' urged protesters to write the Clarkstown Town Board
with pleas to halt another slaughter. Last June, the town just
north of New York City killed 251 geese. >>
---------------------
Forwarded message:
>From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
Date: 97-05-01 22:54:56 EDT
.c The Associated Press
NYACK, N.Y. (AP) - Alec Baldwin has a town official in his cross
hairs.
Baldwin was disgusted at Clarkstown Supervisor Charles
Holbrook's plan to kill Canada geese that leave their droppings in
the town's parks.
``I would like to see Holbrook get on TV and start blasting away
at the geese for everyone to see,'' the actor told protesters
gathered Tuesday at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center.
Baldwin, an animal rights activist, was invited to speak by the
group Wildlife Watch.
Baldwin, who recently starred in the movie ``Ghosts of
Mississippi,'' urged protesters to write the Clarkstown Town Board
with pleas to halt another slaughter. Last June, the town just
north of New York City killed 251 geese.
AP-NY-05-01-97 0733EDT
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: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:06:20 -0400 (EDT)
>From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Taiwan Pork Industry in Crisis
Message-ID: <970502000617_2084148545@emout18.mail.aol.com>
In a message dated 97-05-01 21:31:57 EDT, AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net writes:
<< Subj:Taiwan Pork Industry in Crisis
Date:97-05-01 21:31:57 EDT
From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
.c The Associated Press
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - It's a time of crisis for Taiwan, so it
was natural to see the president stepping up to the TV cameras the
other day to offer his people reassurance.
He did so by eating a pork knuckle.
Lee Teng-hui's action was meant to calm a populace in panic over
an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease that is decimating pig herds
and the economy in general.
Troops have been mobilized for a mass pig slaughter so
horrifying that the government asked TV stations not to show
footage during mealtimes.
An ominous byproduct is a rumor pulsing through Taiwan that
China deliberately planted diseased pigs on the island to damage
its rival's economy. How else to explain a disease that hasn't hit
Taiwan for 83 years?
Such rumors are hardly helpful to an already volatile political
relationship, and the government has been quick to clarify that the
diseased pigs could have come from anywhere in East Asia.
Meanwhile, Japan, which buys half of Taiwan's annual $3.2
billion pork production, has halted imports, and officials say the
outbreak may shave up to 1.4 percentage points from Taiwan's
estimated 1997 economic growth rate of 6.2 percent.
More than 700,000 of Taiwan's 11 million pigs have died of the
disease, and 3.6 million more are being slaughtered. All but one of
Taiwan's counties have been ravaged since the outbreak was detected
in mid-March.
The industry, which employs over 100,000 people directly and
untold more in related industries, may take three years to recover,
say agriculture officials.
Hoof-and-mouth disease is characterized by high fever and
bleeding blisters in the animals' mouths and feet that prevent them
from eating. Humans can carry the virus, but don't develop the
sickness.
Still, not unexpectedly, consumers are repulsed by the idea of
putting diseased meat in their mouths.
The government has sought to boost domestic sales by ordering
civil servants to serve pork at official banquets.
But such gestures, and Lee's televised pork feast, seem to have
had limited success.
``The meat those officials are eating on TV has been rigorously
safety-checked. But it's hard to trust what you just buy in the
market,'' said one shopper at Taipei's Tungmen market, who wouldn't
give her name.
However, restaurant-goers are back to ordering pork dumplings,
wontons and soup, says Tsai Tien-hsiang, owner of a family-run
chain of Taipei noodle shops.
Taiwanese eat nearly 90 pounds of pork a year on average,
compared with less than seven pounds of beef, and butchers say
prices are stabilizing, if only because the slaughter has left so
little pork on the market.
``The price is slowly recovering, but the customers still aren't
coming,'' says Lin Yu-sheng, who runs a pork stall at Tungmen.
He says he used to sell 80-90 pounds of pork a day, but sells
only 10-20 pounds now. Pork chops, $3.60 a pound before the disease
hit, bottomed out at less than half that, before climbing back to
$2.70 a pound, says Lin.
The government has promised farmers $430 million to ease the
blow and finance low-interest loans.
Delays in procuring vaccines may have worsened the crisis.
Several thousand of Taiwan's 25,123 pork farms bought smuggled
Chinese vaccines, despite doubts about their effectiveness, the
Agricultural Council says.
Meanwhile, the Council has been denounced by animal rights
groups for allowing pigs to be bludgeoned to death or buried alive.
Supplies of electric prods are sufficient now, though lack of
equipment at first led to some ``undesirable'' practices, says Chen
Chung-chang, vice director of the Council's Animal Industry
Department.
Buddhist groups have set up altars to appease the spirits of
slaughtered pigs. >>
---------------------
Forwarded message:
>From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
Date: 97-05-01 21:31:57 EDT
.c The Associated Press
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - It's a time of crisis for Taiwan, so it
was natural to see the president stepping up to the TV cameras the
other day to offer his people reassurance.
He did so by eating a pork knuckle.
Lee Teng-hui's action was meant to calm a populace in panic over
an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease that is decimating pig herds
and the economy in general.
Troops have been mobilized for a mass pig slaughter so
horrifying that the government asked TV stations not to show
footage during mealtimes.
An ominous byproduct is a rumor pulsing through Taiwan that
China deliberately planted diseased pigs on the island to damage
its rival's economy. How else to explain a disease that hasn't hit
Taiwan for 83 years?
Such rumors are hardly helpful to an already volatile political
relationship, and the government has been quick to clarify that the
diseased pigs could have come from anywhere in East Asia.
Meanwhile, Japan, which buys half of Taiwan's annual $3.2
billion pork production, has halted imports, and officials say the
outbreak may shave up to 1.4 percentage points from Taiwan's
estimated 1997 economic growth rate of 6.2 percent.
More than 700,000 of Taiwan's 11 million pigs have died of the
disease, and 3.6 million more are being slaughtered. All but one of
Taiwan's counties have been ravaged since the outbreak was detected
in mid-March.
The industry, which employs over 100,000 people directly and
untold more in related industries, may take three years to recover,
say agriculture officials.
Hoof-and-mouth disease is characterized by high fever and
bleeding blisters in the animals' mouths and feet that prevent them
from eating. Humans can carry the virus, but don't develop the
sickness.
Still, not unexpectedly, consumers are repulsed by the idea of
putting diseased meat in their mouths.
The government has sought to boost domestic sales by ordering
civil servants to serve pork at official banquets.
But such gestures, and Lee's televised pork feast, seem to have
had limited success.
``The meat those officials are eating on TV has been rigorously
safety-checked. But it's hard to trust what you just buy in the
market,'' said one shopper at Taipei's Tungmen market, who wouldn't
give her name.
However, restaurant-goers are back to ordering pork dumplings,
wontons and soup, says Tsai Tien-hsiang, owner of a family-run
chain of Taipei noodle shops.
Taiwanese eat nearly 90 pounds of pork a year on average,
compared with less than seven pounds of beef, and butchers say
prices are stabilizing, if only because the slaughter has left so
little pork on the market.
``The price is slowly recovering, but the customers still aren't
coming,'' says Lin Yu-sheng, who runs a pork stall at Tungmen.
He says he used to sell 80-90 pounds of pork a day, but sells
only 10-20 pounds now. Pork chops, $3.60 a pound before the disease
hit, bottomed out at less than half that, before climbing back to
$2.70 a pound, says Lin.
The government has promised farmers $430 million to ease the
blow and finance low-interest loans.
Delays in procuring vaccines may have worsened the crisis.
Several thousand of Taiwan's 25,123 pork farms bought smuggled
Chinese vaccines, despite doubts about their effectiveness, the
Agricultural Council says.
Meanwhile, the Council has been denounced by animal rights
groups for allowing pigs to be bludgeoned to death or buried alive.
Supplies of electric prods are sufficient now, though lack of
equipment at first led to some ``undesirable'' practices, says Chen
Chung-chang, vice director of the Council's Animal Industry
Department.
Buddhist groups have set up altars to appease the spirits of
slaughtered pigs.
AP-NY-05-01-97 0732EDT
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: Fri, 02 May 1997 00:21:04 -0400
>From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org, Veg-News@envirolink.org
Subject: European Commission adopts paper on human health
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970501234451.01d9a320@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESS RELEASE: IP/97/360
DOCUMENT DATE: APRIL 30, 1997
Consumer Health : towards a proper food policy
The European Commission adopted a Communication on Consumer Health and Food
Safety with the aim of introducing a proper food policy as announced by the
Commission's President, Jacques Santer, before the European Parliament on 18
February 1997. The Commission has already separated responsibilities for
legislation from those for scientific advice and control and put the latter
under the responsibility of the Commissioner in charge of Consumer Policy and
Health Protection, Emma Bonino. The staff of the relevant Directorate General
(DG XXIV) will be strengthened with 263 officials, mostly from internal
transfers and partly through new recruitments for which the Commission today
made the corresponding budget proposals. In today's Communication, the
Commission indicates that scientific advice will be sought from eminent and
fully independent scientists, that their opinions and working methods will be
accessible to all interested parties and that scientific committees will be
regrouped and coordinated by a Scien
Recent experience has clearly demonstrated that food safety is not only of
concern to the consumer, but is also at the very root of a proper functioning
of the market. Food safety will therefore also serve the interests of
producers and those involved in processing and marketing of foodstuffs and
relevant agricultural products.
To achieve these objectives the Commission has undertaken a radical reform of
the departments dealing with consumer health . The Commission has in
particular placed the management of all the scientific committees and
responsibility for inspection and control under the authority of the
Commissioner for consumer policy and health protection and has reorganised
the relevant Directorate General (DG XXIV) to have the particular
responsibility for consumer health.
>From the point of view of financial resources, assistance is requested from
the Budgetary Authority in order to meet the additional needs arising from
the new approach. Following the audit report from the Commission's
Inspectorate-General, in addition to the 97 posts transferred on April 1st to
DG XXIV, it is necessary to dispose of further resources for an effective
implementation of the new approach. These new resources are estimated at 166
posts. A part of these will be covered through internal transfers. Another
part, that is to say 97 posts - which essentially correspond to specialised
tasks of scientific, veterinary or phytosanitary nature - is requested to the
Budgetary Authority through the Supplementary and Amending Budget (SAB).
This communication explains in detail the new approach of the Commission on
consumer health and food safety, in particular with respect to scientific
advice and to control and inspection.
Scientific Advice on Consumer Health: a proactive approach
In matters relating to the consumer health, scientific advice is of the
utmost importance at all stages of the drawing up of new legislation and for
the execution and management of existing legislation. This is also the case
in other areas such as animal health and animal welfare. The Commission will
use this advice for the benefit of the consumer in order to ensure a high
level of health protection.
In reviewing its approach to scientific advice for consumer health protection
the Commission will reinforce three main principles: excellence, independence
and transparency.
Scientific advice must be of the highest possible quality. It is therefore
essential that the evaluation of potential hazards is undertaken by eminent
scientists (principle of excellence).
Scientists serving in the scientific bodies shall be free from interests
which may be in conflict with the requirement to give independent advice as
necessary to contribute to a high level of protection of public (principle of
independence).
In line with the overall policy of transparency operated by the Commission,
it is necessary for interested parties, including consumers and producers,
both individuals and associations, as well as for the Institutions of the
European Union and the national Authorities to have easy access to
information on the working procedures of the Committees and to their advice
(principle of transparency).
The Commission will concentrate efforts to build a reliable and flexible
structure to enable high quality and independent scientific advice as well as
to ensure transparency and consideration of scientific advice in the
legislative activities of the Community Institutions. The regrouping of all
Scientific Committees, coordinated by a Scientific Steering Committee, will
pave the way to greater synergy and an effective coordination.
Control and inspection: a new approach
The new approach for control and inspection will be based on the following
three main orientations. Firstly, in view of the wide range of areas covered
by legislation, and the limited resources available, risk assessment
procedures will be introduced to allow control priorities to be established.
Secondly, control activities will be reorganised to ensure that the whole of
the food production chain is properly covered (''plough to plate'' approach).
Thirdly, the approach will be further developed through the general
introduction of formal audit procedures, to allow an assessment of the
control systems operated by the competent national authorities. The new
approach will ensure the most cost effective use of resources, whilst
respecting the principles of transparency and subsidiarity.
The Commission will implement this new approach through its Food and
Veterinary Office. The Office, which will be moved to Ireland, will have as
its principal missions the monitoring of the observance of food hygiene,
veterinary and plant health legislation within the European Union and
elsewhere, and to contribute towards the maintenance of confidence in the
safety of food offered to the European consumer.
The Commission has prepared a detailed report on the reinforcement of
resources needed to allow the proposed expansion of the control services to
take place. A detailed account of the resource requirements for the full and
effective implementation of this reorganisation is submitted to the Budgetary
Authorities, in the form of a supplementary and amending budget for 1997.
The overall goal will be to provide a harmonised approach to control and
inspection activities for all parts of the food production chain, through a
managed programme based upon the careful targeting of inspection and control
resources. Sufficient financial expertise and personnel resources must be
made available if this goal is to be achieved. However, it must be emphasised
that no control system can offer zero risk in terms of consumer health
protection.
Close links will be maintained with the scientific committees to make sure
that inspection and control activities are kept informed of the most recent
developments in the relevant fields.
The Commission will ensure a rapid follow-up of emergencies related to
consumer health. This will include action in respect of safeguard measures
and the rapid alert system. Furthermore, information supplied by consumers
and producers will be dealt with in the shortest delay.
The problems experienced because of the BSE crisis have demonstrated the need
to involve in a more open fashion consumers and producers in all aspects of
food production. The Commission, by bringing together the existing inspection
services under a single Directorate General, with specific responsibilities
for consumer interests and health protection, and through the action outlined
in this paper, is contributing to this objective. To reinforce this
undertaking, a number of initiatives are proposed such as:
a two-way flow of information on food hygiene and related matters between the
control services and all interested parties in the food, veterinary and plant
health sectors will be established through formal links and clear procedures;
through the publication of regular reports, consumers, producers, other
socio-economic operators, scientists and outside organisations will have a
right of access to the findings and activities of the control services,
subject to the need to respect commercial confidentiality;
members of the public will have access to the control services through
telephone, fax and e-mail contact numbers as well as an Internet site;
the control services will extend the existing emergency information system to
give Member States (notably the health authorities), the European Parliament,
citizens, consumers and consumer associations, producers and producer
associations and other socio-economic operators the maximum possible
information on the identification of hazards, disease outbreaks and related
emergencies.
END OF DOCUMENT
08:57 04-30-97
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 00:21:09 -0400
>From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org, Veg-News@envirolink.org
Subject: Indiana officials can't confirm laters CJD death
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970501234418.01d9a320@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The wire service report linking Gabor's death to CJD sparked panic in
U.S. cattle markets Wednesday. CME live cattle futures plunged the
daily maximum of 1.50 cents per lb as traders sold the market down on
ideas an outbreak in the U.S.
could scare consumers away from eating beef.
In March, a U.S. Agriculture Department scientist said since 1990
department scientists examined brain samples from 5,427 high-risk
cattle in 47 states and Puerto Rico through February 28, and none
showed any sign of the deadly disease.
The U.S. government in 1989 banned cattle imports from Britain and
two years later extended the ban to several other European countries.
It also banned or restricted imports of animal feed, bull semen and
fertilized eggs from cows in nations where BSE is known to exist.
In the wire service report, Gabor's wife said her husband may have
contracted the disease from garden fertilizer containing bone meal
that he spread on his roses.
19:54 04-16-97
Date: Thu, 01 May 1997 21:59:41 -0700
>From: Persephone Moonshadow Howling Womyn
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (NI) INDIGENOUS/ENVIRO CRISIS-NICARAGUA
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970501215924.00807390@206.86.0.11>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
/* Written 10:36 AM May 1, 1997 by nfnena in igc:nfn.tempforest */
/* ---------- "INDIGENOUS/ENVIRO CRISIS-NICARAGUA" ---------- */
>From: Native Forest Network-ENA
International Indigenous & Environmental Alert--May 1997
CENTRAL AMERICAUS LARGEST VIRGIN RAINFOREST
IMMINENTLY THREATENED
International Neoliberalists Set To Chainsaw Nicaragua's North Atlantic
Coast
by the Native Forest Network Eastern North America Resource Center AND
the Burlington/Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi, Nicaragua Sister City Program
A bilateral delegation of US. and Nicaraguan environmental activists
recently returned from the Atlantic Coast with alarming information. The
group traveled up the Rio Coco to the isolated Bosawas Reserve, visited
displaced Miskito and Sumu communities near the gold mines of Bonanza
and Rosita, surveyed new logging roads on sacred indigenous land in
Wakamby and met with numerous governmental and non-governmental
organizations.
Logging in Nicaragua's North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) is
widespread already, but the indigenous community and environmental
destruction that will follow the new logging concessions in the North
Atlantic Coast will be severe. The concessions have been granted from
Nicaragua's central government to SOLCARSA. SOLCARSA, also know as Sol
de Caribe, is a Korean multinational.
Close to the boundaries of the BOSAWAS Reserve, which is the largest
tract of virgin rainforest in Central America, lies Wakamby. Wakamby is a
large tract of uncut tropical hardwood forest located between Rosita and
the BOSAWAS Reserve. SOLCARSA is cutting a road into valuable
hardwoods about 11.5 kilometers from the existing road. This area was
given in a concession as if it was private land, but it is not--it is
indigenous communal land. To date, this new project has cut only 4.5
kilometers, but given the speed of the operation, the 40 kilometers to
Puerto Cabezas, the regional capital and largest port, should not take long.
Plans are underway to lengthen the cityUs dock to accommodate the
increased trafficking of lumber and other products. Additionally, the
newly protected BOSAWAS Reserve (of which the indigenous peoples of the
region had little or no say in its formation)seems intended to legitimize
the opening of logging concessions that will decimate the rainforest
surrounding the BOSAWAS borders.
In Wakamby, the Miskito work force gets 30-45 Cordoba ($3-5) per day.
These workers were happy to get the work, but complained about the
wages. They keep 8 chainsaws running and are taking out an average of 80
large trees per day. Once the road is constructed this average will
increase considerably. Workers reported seeing tigers just two days prior
where they are cutting and other locals told us that numerous other bird
and animal species live in the area, including several types of wild boars,
wild cats, monkeys, deer, parrots, wild turkeys and ducks.
The community of Finicia is a mix of Sumu and Miskito indigenous people
located just outside of the mining town of Rosita. When SOLCARSA entered
this area last year, the household heads were each offered 1,500-2,000
Cordoba (US$120-$160) to relocate. They were also promised money to
move, a school and scholarships, electricity, drinking water, jobs and more.
And since the deal had already been signed with the leading member of the
Regional Council, Efrain Josejos, the leaders felt that they had little
ground to stand up to the company. But when community members continued
to show concern and displeasure with the deal, they were visited by 30
authorities including members of local and regional government and the
local military. It became dangerous for them to continue speaking out, and
the military threatened to blockade the road to their community if they did
not agree. So, they accepted and moved. The small amount of money that
was given was used up in moving expenses, and none of the other promises
were upheld.
This community has been asked again to move to make space to store the
wood that is being cut around them. They fear that the company will come
and clear all their fruit trees to make more room for their milling
operations. They are afraid of being forcibly evicted and left with even less
then they have now--basically a small, single-roomed bamboo shack with a
few pots and pans, one change of clothing per person and no bedding. When
the village leader, an elder, went numerous times to complain to officials
about broken promises by the corporation, the local courts decided in favor
of the concessions. The elder was told that the promises that were given to
the community were from the past company administration and that the
new administration had no obligation to uphold them. When members of the
community tried to pick up scrap lumber to improve their houses, they
were turned away. SOLCARSA would rather burn what they considered
waste then to help in any way the very people that they have dislocated.
The elder told us that to some people the children of their community may
have no value, but to the people of Finicia, they are the world. He asked us
to please make a clear, honest story for the international bodies of justice
and human rights to Rsay what is happening to the daughters and sons of
the Indigenous Land.S
Another SOLCARSA installation is further northwest in an area known as
Kukalaya. It involves most valuable mahogany in the region, also on sacred
Sumu land. We were brought to the area by Ernesto Almendrez, the
President of TRENAMAKS--the Territory for the Sustainable Development
of the Mayanna (Sumu) of Kuhkanawas. These seventeen TRENAMAKS
communities, made up of 356 families from the banks of the Rio Bambana,
have outlined a 90,000 hectare piece of their traditional land upon from
which they are being forced to relocate. Due to the irreversible
contamination of the Rio Bambana, the most contaminated river in the
region (with mercury and other toxins from the silver and gold mines of
Siuna-Rosita-Bonanza), these communities must find a healthier place to
live. The contamination of the rivers destroys the livelihood of the
community. The fish that they eat has long since died or is unsafe to
consume, the beans that they grow on the banks of the river donUt survive in
the now infertile land. The wild bamboo that they use to build houses is
disappearing from the contamination. Up and down the river, women put
themselves in danger as they spend many days waist-high in the river
washing clothes; the children swim there, unaware of the toxicity.
The Nicaraguan North and South Atlantic Autonomous Zones make up 50% of
the land mass of the nation but contains a diverse population (Miskito,
Sumu, Creole, Garifuna, Mestizo and Rama)of barely 500,000. This region is
becoming known internationally for the abundance of natural resources,
with almost no barriers to rampant exploitation, and a desperate labor
force that can be hired for low wages. Although legally granted political
autonomy by the Sandinista government in 1987, the limitations of the
regionUs law are becoming more and more evident. The central
governmentUs hesitancy to allow change comes from their ability to control
almost all of the regionUs natural resources and these sales. For example,
the majority of land is property of the indigenous communities and it is
written in the constitution that IT CANNOT BE SOLD; still large sales are
common. It is also in the constitution that the natural resources (i.e..
minerals below the ground, or trees above) belong to the state. And while it
is also states that the natural state of the country should be maintained,
the wording is so broad sweeping and general that there are no avenues to
confirm compliance or to provide oversight.
WHAT YOU CAN DO--Fax or send letters of protest to MARENA (Nicaragua's
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), demanding that the logging
concessions granted to SOLCARSA be rescinded and the rights and
sovereignty of the indigenous peoples be respected:Ministro de MARENA, Sr.
Roberto Statadhgen, Carretera Norte Km. 12.5, Managua, Nicaragua FAX
(505-2)631373 or (505-2)631274.
For further information please contact the Native Forest Network and/or
the Burlington/Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi Sister City Program. We will be
mounting an international campaign to stop this travesty:
Burlington/Puerto Cabezas-Bilwi Sister City Program, Attn.: Mary Brook,
21 Church St., Burlington, VT 05401 USA, Tel: (802) 865-4074, FAX: (802)
863-2532
Native Forest Network, Attn.: Orin Langelle, POB 57, Burlington,VT 05402
USA, Tel: (802) 863-0571, FAX: (802) 863-2532, e-mail: nfnena@igc.apc.org
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:32:16 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) 7-ELEVEN ENDS FUR SALES
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502013205.006b1f28@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from PETA web page:
-------------------------------
7-ELEVEN ENDS FUR SALES
Convenience Store Chain Drops Pelt Promotion
For Immediate Release:
April 22, 1997
Contact:
Michael McGraw 757-622-7382, ext. 310
Dallas -- 7-Eleven's Slurpees and sodas are still sold round the clock,
but the retail giant has put the freeze
on a line of key chains that made the fur fly.
The key chains--made of real fur--were displayed next to cash registers
in 7-Eleven stores across the
country and raised the ire of consumers who do not think it acceptable
that animals in the fur trade are
drowned, beaten, suffocated, injected with poison, and have their necks
snapped for their pelts.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched a
letter-writing campaign early this year, urging
consumers to contact 7-Eleven's parent company, the Southland
Corporation, to ask that the offensive items
be pulled from display racks.
7-Eleven has now confirmed to PETA that it will no longer sell the furry
key chains.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:33:00 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) LUCKY LOBSTER GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502013258.006b1f28@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from PETA web page:
---------------------------------
LUCKY LOBSTER GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Jamestown's 100-Year-Old "Louie" Released Off Coast of Maine
For Immediate Release:
April 24, 1997
Contact:
Dawn Carr 757-622-7382
Jamestown, N.Y. -- Thanks to Jamestown animal lovers, "Louie" the lobster
is off to retirement in Maine.
The 16 pound lobster--estimated to be more than 100 years old--has a one
way ticket to freedom.
Louie might have had his goose cooked if alert animal advocate Sue
Coffaro hadn't stepped in to save his
life. When Ms. Coffaro heard that Tops Market in Jamestown planned to
sell Louis in a promotion for the
grand opening of the store, she called PETA's Dawn Carr, who devised a
plan for crustacean liberation.
This evening at 6 p.m., Ms. Coffaro will take Louie to the Federal
Express office at 3201 Airport Drive, where
he will be packed in a special container and sent to a PETA member in
Kennebunkport, Maine. He will be
released into the ocean tomorrow morning, free to live out the rest of
his life far from the boiling pot, as it is
illegal to catch lobsters of Louie's unusually large size in Maine.
Lobsters are known to live more than 145 years in the ocean and can
travel more than 100 miles a year.
Lobsters have sophisticated nervous systems and are capable of
experiencing pain and suffering. Some
lobsters are right-handed, and some are left-handed. In their natural
ocean homes, they have been
observed walking hand-in-hand, the old leading the young.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:34:12 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) "KERMIT" DISCOURAGES DISSECTION AT OHIO SCHOOLS
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502013410.006b1f28@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from PETA web page:
--------------------------------------
"KERMIT" DISCOURAGES DISSECTION AT OHIO SCHOOLS
Alicia Silverstone's Frog Campaign Hits Schools Around the State
For Immediate Release:
April 24, 1997
Contact:
Michael McGraw 757-622-7382, ext.310
Cincinnati -- "Kermit" is jumping at the chance to tell students how
animals suffer for dissection. The
6-foot-tall "dissected" frog mascot-- complete with plastic entrails,
organs, and muscles showing through
his cut-open chest--is wrapping up a week-long tour of ten Ohio middle
schools this afternoon.
Kermit wants students and teachers to know that dissection (the practice
of cutting into and studying dead
animals) is a crash course in animal cruelty. While biology instructors
may think that animals died of
"natural causes," PETA's investigation of dissection-supply companies
documented cases of frightened
cats and rats being crudely gassed, then injected with formaldehyde. Some
cats wore collars and name
tags--evidence that they had been someone's companion animals.
This semester, PETA launched a national "Cut Out Dissection" Campaign
featuring Alicia Silverstone in a
30-second TV spot in which she urges students to use their right to
choose an alternative to dissecting
animals in the classroom. Nationwide, students are taking a stand against
cutting open dead animals to
"learn about life." Most non-animal tools and lessons last for many years
and cost far less than preserved
animal bodies, which are used once and thrown away. The typical science
lab at many schools now offers
computer models as an alternative to animal cadavers.
"Kermit is right: It's not easy being green, especially if you're a frog
destined for dissection," says PETA's
Violet Kelly. "Our children deserve 1997-style teaching methods. Students
leap at the chance to work with
modern, interactive computer programs and sophisticated models. We can't
teach about life by studying a
corpse."
Broadcast-quality copies of Alicia Silverstone's new 30-second TV spot
will be available on site.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:35:35 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) "BIG BIRD" TO IGNITE PROTEST AT EXXON
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502013533.006b1f28@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from PETA web page:
---------------------------------
"BIG BIRD" TO IGNITE PROTEST AT EXXON
Exxon Blasted for Burning Birds in Hazardous Stacks
For Immediate Release:
April 29, 1997
Contact:
Judy Sweetland 757-622-7382
Dallas -- A giant flaming "Big Bird" will be the centerpiece of a PETA
action outside Exxon's annual meeting
to protest the company's slaughter of millions of birds and bats in its
oil field exhaust stacks.
Wednesday, April 30
9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
Morton Myerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St.
PETA will join the Texas Establishment for Animal Rights to confront
Exxon shareholders outside the
meeting.
"Exxon operates open-ended oil and gas stacks, in which millions of birds
and bats have died. Knocked
unconscious by poisonous fumes, birds fall into the stacks and are unable
to fly out. They die of starvation or
asphyxiation or burn alive trying to navigate through the hot pipes. Some
stacks become so clogged with
corpses that they have to be blasted out with high-pressure hoses.
Many of Exxon's open stacks are located along major migratory bird
routes. Owls, hawks, bluebirds, and
other migratory birds have been killed in the stacks, violating the
United States' Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Placing simple cone-shaped caps over the stacks would stop bird and bat
deaths and cost Exxon as little as
$14 per stack. While Exxon representatives continue to stall--leaving
two-thirds of their stacks
uncapped--most other oil companies, including Amoco, Chevron, Phillips,
Mobil, Shell, and Texaco, have
capped their stacks to prevent more animals from dying.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:36:50 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) "CHICKENS" FLOCK TO PROTEST POULTRY CONFERENCE
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502013648.006b1f28@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from PETA web page:
--------------------------------
"CHICKENS" FLOCK TO PROTEST POULTRY CONFERENCE
Animal Cruelty and Contaminated Meat at Issue
For Immediate Release:
April 30, 1997
Contact:
Michael McGraw 757-622-7382, ext. 310
St. Louis -- Feathers will fly in St. Louis on Thursday as vegetarians
face off against poultry industry bigwigs.
PETA "chickens," holding a banner that reads, "Poultry Industry: Stop
Crippling Chickens," will protest
outside the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association conference:
Thursday, May 1
12 noon to 1 p.m.
Airport Hilton Hotel, 10330 Natural Bridge Road
Why the big flap over poultry? Chickens and turkeys on factory farms
suffer painful debeaking and
declawing without anesthesia. To increase profits, turkey and chicken
factory farmers commonly genetically
manipulate birds and feed them growth hormones, which often cripples
them. Smothering, heart attacks
from stress, and diseases from overcrowding are also common. Another
reason to go vegetarian? Each
year, the chickens exact a little revenge: An estimated 1,680 people die
of salmonella poisoning, which
originates in egg hatcheries and broiler houses.
"One in three supermarket birds is contaminated with salmonella and other
bacteria, and chicken and turkey
are loaded with fat and cholesterol," says PETA's Ingrid Newkirk. "The
only way to ensure your family's safety
and health is to throw all the flesh foods out."
Consumers may obtain easy, tasty, free vegetarian recipes by calling
PETA's toll-free hotline,
1-888-VEG-FOOD.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 01:46:38 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: India Destroy's Illegal GE Test Field
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502014636.006c9650@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from McLibel e-mail list:
-------------------------------------
Subject: India Destroy's Illegal GE Test Field
Date: May 1, 1997
>From: Reclaim The Streets
INDIA STOPS GENETICALLY ALTERED CROP The Agricultural Research Institute
was forced to destroy a test field of eggplant that had been genetically
engineered for insect resistance. The researchers did not have permission
to grow the genetically altered crop, and could face fines and prison terms
under India's Environmental Protection Act. "Bitter Fruit," WALL STREET
JOURNAL, February 4, 1997.
RESOURCES "Bija: The Seed," a quarterly monitor on biodiversity,
biotechnology and intellectual property rights; Research Foundation for
Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, A 60 Hauz Khas, New Dehli
110016.
Reclaim the Streets
PO BOX 9656
London
N4 4JY
0171 281 4621
http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/campaigns/rts.html
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PO Box 62 Phone/Fax 802-586-9628
Craftsbury VT 05826-0062 http://www.mcspotlight.org/
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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:19:25 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: jwed@hkstar.com
Subject: (HK) Sad victims of tradition
Message-ID: <199705020619.OAA01434@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Letter to Editor
>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition
May 2 1997
Sad victims of tradition
I saw two thin cats shivering inside a dirty cage, when I visited the
mainland last Easter.
I could help thinking, what a tragic waste of life.
I think their prospects were probably bleak and they were destined to
become a meal for humans.
I also read about cases of cruelty to animals in Hong Kong. Even some
children are guilty of such cruelty. According to Chinese tradition, it is
acceptable to eat any living creatures whose backbones face the sky. People
learn this kind of thinking from childhood.
In Hong Kong, the public is concerned about child abuse, but how about
animal abuse?
I was touched when I saw a fireman rescue a dog from the scene of the Mei
Foo fire. I hope the Government will promote the message of protecting animals.
The fireman's spirit should set an example for the rest of society.
JASMINE KWOK
Sha Tin
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:19:31 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) `Turtle lover' the cause of unacceptable suffering
Message-ID: <199705020619.OAA31465@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Hong Kong Standard
May 2 1997
`Turtle lover' the cause of unacceptable suffering
By Cannix Yau
A TURTLE enthusiast inflicted suffering ``worse than death'' on 10 temple
terrapins he kept without food in a harsh environment for profit, a court
was told on Thursday.
Eastern Magistracy heard the 10 giant turtles discovered this week in the
Wan Chai home of Ng Keung, 43, had been kept in cruel conditions and had
suffered unnecessarily.
Two Agriculture and Fisheries Department (AFD) officers said they had found
the animals on the tiled floor of Ng's flat when posing as buyers on
Monday.
They said Ng offered to sell them for $12,000 each, then dropped the price
to between $8,000 and $9,000.
On Tuesday, they visited again and were offered a price of $6,000 if they
bought all 10 terrapins.
They court heard that another two officers and a veterinarian then entered
and asked Ng if he was licensed to sell the terrapins. Ng, a businessman,
was arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of illegal trading in 10 live
turtles and inflicting cruelty to them.
The court heard Ng had failed to provide vegetation, food and sufficient
water for the terrapins. The place they had been kept was too cold.
Magistrate James Lee Chung-yin said said the animals would have suffered
unacceptable levels of stress and were ``very likely to die'' in such an
environment.
``The turtles are so miserable. You should not abuse them. They are the
symbol of long life.''
Ng said he loved turtles but had been unaware of the AFD's regulations.
Sentencing was adjourned until 20 May.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:19:40 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (MY) Mangrove forest threatened
Message-ID: <199705020619.OAA31436@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> The Star Online
Friday, May 2, 1997
Report: Mangrove forest threatened
By Jacqueline Ann Surin
PETALING JAYA: More than 20 per cent of the Sungai
Merbok mangrove forest reserve in Kedah has been
converted into shrimp ponds, exceeding limits set by the
National Mangrove Committee in 1986.
According to a report entitled Guidelines for
Sustainable Utilisation and Management of Mangrove
Forests in Kedah, the Kedah Forestry Department has
estimated that more than 25 per cent of the 5,379
hectares of mangroves has been converted for this
purpose.
The recommended limit is not more than 20 per cent.
The study, jointly conducted by Universiti Malaya's
Institute of Advanced Studies and Wetlands
International-Asia Pacific, was published in June last
year.
"The Sungai Merbok mangrove forest is the biggest in
Kedah. It is one of the most diverse mangrove ecosystems
in the world containing 80 bird species and 50 species
of finfish and shellfish.
"However the mangroves are threatened by ad hoc clearing
for pond culture and unsustainable logging activities,"
the report said.
The report called for a review in present forest
management.
"The management plan should address the need for
replanting since natural regeneration is poor or
non-existent. It should be revised periodically."
However the report said the mangrove forest reserves in
Pulau Langkawi were still reasonably intact and
possessed high potential for ecotourism activities.
It also said the value of charcoal timber in the Sungai
Merbok reserve was estimated at RM6 million a year.
"Charcoal production has been proven to be sustainable
but the prawn culture industry may not be in the long
term as shown in Taiwan, the Philippines and Thailand."
There are about 641,000ha of mangrove forests in
Malaysia, of which about 70 per cent has been gazetted
as forest reserves.
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 23:36:57 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] British election results [long]
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970501233721.24bff8e4@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The latest results of the May 1 general election in Britain show the Labour
Party with 410 seats out of 659 parliamentary seats available. The former
Conservative government has been reduced to under 200 seats, with most of
the votes left to count being in Northern Ireland, where the main political
parties don't run.
With the largest ever victory by Labour, and providing they stick to their
manifesto promises, things look a little better for both the non-human
animal population and the environment.
Labour's published policy on animal welfare promised to:
Hold a free vote on legislation to abolish hunting with hounds (fox- &
stag-hunting, and hare-coursing);
Press for a redefinition of farm animals as 'sentient beings' in the Treaty
of Rome, instead of 'agricultural products', as at present;
Examine the possibility in European law of banning the export of calves
destined for veal
crates abroad that are illegal in the UK;
End fur farming of wild animals such as mink and fox as soon as practicable;
Support a Europe-wide ban on the use of animals in testing cosmetics
Review Britain's quarantine laws while maintaining Britain's rabies-free status
On the environment, they promised to:
Set up an environment task force using money from a windfall levy on the
privatised utilities, part of their pledge to get 250,000 under-25 year-olds
off benefit and into work;
Develop a self-financing national programme of energy efficiency, creating
thousands of jobs, while making homes easier to heat and saving energy;
Improve public transport, promote walking and cycling in a national
integrated transport
strategy, and set minimum air quality standards for all areas;
Strengthen protection for valuable habitats and implement action plans to
protect rare and
endangered species;
Establish a parliamentary environmental audit committee, to scrutinise
government policy
across every department;
Play a leading role in international environmental treaties
Although these reforms don't please everyone - angling and shooting were
left out of the proposed ban more out of political expediency than anything
else, and other reforms didn't go as far as the Liberal Democrats (Britain's
third party), who wanted to ban disection in the classroom; ban battery
cages and the debeaking of chickens, end the sale of cats and dogs in pet
shops, ban the importation of most exotics that would be sold as pets, and
many other measures - they are still pretty positive.
The hunting fraternity will, of course, put up quite a fight. The main
problem for any proposed hunting ban will be getting any legislation through
the House of Lords, where many of the landed gentry participate in such
activities. On the other side, as reported earlier, the Royal Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ,the League Against Cruel Sports and
the International Fund for Animal Welfare announced plans to fight any
opposition with a joint campaign.
Looks like the real battle is now about to start.
David J Knowles
'Animal Voices' News
Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 23:37:11 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Human doctors treat dog
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970501233734.2c376144@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>From The Province - Thursday, April 30th, 1997
CANDIAN PRESS
EDMONTON - The plight of a 13-year-old terrier mutt stricken with cancer has
touched the hearts of doctors at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute.
They've begun giving the dog radiation treatments.
Atreyu, named for the canine warrior in the movie The Never Ending Story,
has a tumor in the muscle of [his] rump. A veterinarian operated to remove
it, but determined there were still some cancer cells left and that
radiation would be needed to kill them.
In stepped Dr Raul Urtasun, a radiation oncologist at the cancer institute,
who is volunteering his services.
"I really want to help and am doing it after hours and I don't charge," he
said. "The poor dog has to be helped and there are no facilities here to
treat a dog."
Dr Tony Fields, director of the publicly funded institute, stressed that the
dog's owner is compensating the institute out of her own pocket for the time
of technicians and the use of a low-energy nachine that is not used on humans.
"We're not in the business of treating animals," said Fields, explaining the
rules have only been bent once before, for a cat that had cancer on an eyelid.
"We do this as an exception, out of the goodness of our heart, and it
doesn't disrupt in any way the care of patients," Fields said.
Atreyu needs 16 one-minute radiation doses, spread out over several weeks.
Urtasun said it's tricky to treat the pooch because [he] has to lie down
and, when left alone, tries to get up.
Urtasun opted for a restraint rather than an anesthetic because "the dog is
13 years old, which means he is almost like a senior citizen."
[Update - In today's Province, another article mentioned a complaint from
the premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein.
Klein said he thought it was inappropiate for a human hospital, and doctors
to be treating a dog, and this was a waste of the public's money. He also
said that he believed that animals should only be treated in animal
hospitals, by vets.
Klein cut back healthcare in Alberta, closed several hospitals and sacked
1,000's of healthcare workers. He was recently forced to reinstate some of
the funding after severe criticism from the Albertan public. This might
explain his statements]
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:01:09 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Farmers call for limits on EU beef
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970502000132.2c376de0@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, May 2nd, 1997
Farmers call for limits on EU beef
By David Brown, Agriculture Editor
BEEF industry leaders demanded urgent restrictions on imported meat
yesterday as farmers reeled from a further collapse in cattle prices to
their lowest level since 1981.
They would be seeking urgent talks with the new Minister of Agriculture
from today to end EU "discrimination" which was threatening to drive many
British farmers out of beef production. Don Curry, chairman of the Meat and
Livestock Commission, the statutory sales promotional body, said: "We find
ourselves in the absurd position that, while British beef of the highest
standard cannot be exported, Britain is importing beef of lower standards.
This cannot be
right or acceptable."
The EU's worldwide ban on British beef exports was costing the industry ú650
million a year and there was "no scientific or medical justification for
it," he said. In an angry outburst at Beef '97, an international exhibition
at the Royal Welsh showground at Builth Wells, Mr Curry said the beef
industry was still in crisis.
Average market prices for beef cattle have plunged to 90.38p a kilo this
week - more than 2p lower than last week and about 7p a kilo lower than at
the height of the beef crisis last year.
"The combination of the strong pound, a European beef market flat on the
floor and plenty of chiller wagons looking for return loads has led to a big
increase in low priced beef imports."
Imports soared in January. "Our market intelligence tells us that imports
rose again in February, March and continued in April."
Farmers' leaders will press today for more compensation from the European
Union and the Government.
⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:01:12 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Artificial leeches? We will be sticking with nature
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970502000135.24bf7244@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, May 2nd, 1997
Artificial leeches? We will be sticking with nature
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
A WELSH leech farm yesterday brushed off the threat to its 40,000 wriggling
charges posed by the announcement that a pharmaceutical firm is to market a
component of leech saliva for medical use.
Hirudin is one of a cocktail of anticoagulants in leech saliva under study
for the prevention and treatment of blood clots, and is being tested on
10,000 patients for the treatment of angina and heart attacks. Hoechst
Marion Roussel, health care division of Hoechst, said that it is now mass
producing hirudin from genetically-altered yeast grown in a fermenter,
pointing out that 10,000 leeches would have to be killed to produce enough
to treat a single patient. "It is the first recombinant hirudin on the
market," said a spokesman in Frankfurt. The hirudin has already been
approved for use by patients who are allergic to heparin, a traditional
anticoagulant.
Biopharm in Hendy, near Swansea, denied yesterday that the advance would
make its leeches redundant. A spokesman said: "It does not affect us at all.
It is a different market."
The leeches are in demand because anticoagulants in their saliva are of
great value in microsurgery and plastic surgery when there is a danger that
fine vessels will become blocked because of low blood flow. The spokesman
added: "We have isolated eight or nine different products from the leech
saliva and it seems to be the mixture that is of most benefit"
When a leech bites into its host to feed, it injects a cocktail of
chemicals: in addition to the anticoagulants are an anaesthetic, to keep the
victim unaware it is becoming a meal, and substances that suppress
inflammation, dissolve the glue between cells, and widen blood vessels.
Other blood suckers are also under study by Biopharm, which was set up by Dr
Roy Sawyer. Born in South Carolina, he first became attached to them when he
encountered leeches during dips in local water holes.
⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 03:04:19 -0400 (EDT)
>From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Rodeo to become official 'sport' of Texas?
Message-ID: <970502030418_-532114905@emout10.mail.aol.com>
A Texas Letters for Animals subscriber sent me an article dated 4/27/97, from
an unnamed Texas newspaper, about Texas State Rep. Bill Siebert (R-San
Antonio) wanting to proclaim the "great sport of rodeo" the official sport of
Texas.
Seems that the world's first recorded rodeo was held in Pecos, Texas, in
1883.
The piece says Siebert anticipates possible opposition from football
fans...it doesn't mention animal advocates!
Address Rep. Bill Siebert at House of Representatives, PO Box 2910, Capital
Station, Austin, TX 78768. Texas residents should write to their own state
representative and senator in Austin, asking them to vote against this idea
if it ever comes up in the legislature.
Lynn Manheim
Letters for Animals
PO Box 7-AO
La Plume, PA 18440
717-945-5312
Fax: -3471
http://members.aol.com/DAL
I67/LforA.html
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 03:16:06 -0400 (EDT)
>From: baerwolf@tiac.net (baerwolf)
To: Veg-Boston@waste.org, ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-ne@empire.net
Subject: Greyhounds - Actions against Dog Racing
Message-ID: <199705020716.DAA23671@mailrelay.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
ABOLISH DOG RACING IN MASSACHUSETTS
Summary of Transmission:
1) May 3rd, 1997 - 11:30AM protest at Wonderland.
2) Call, Email, and Write Sens & Reps to
vote HB3434 out of Committee favorably.
3) May 17th, 1997 - 11:00AM *** Big*** protest at Seabrook.
Includes a dog funeral service.
4) May 24th, - 11:00AM *** Big *** protest at Wonderland
Note: Watch for in June Big protest at Taunton/Raynham
tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
1)
Saturday - May 3rd, 1997 - 11:30AM
Informational Picket/Protest Against Dog Racing
at Wonderland Dog Track in Revere, MA.
Meet outside of the Wonderland train station
on the MBTA toll collector side at 11:00AM.
Posters, literature, banners will be provided, but bring any you have.
Parking is available.
(Park at the Shopping Center, it's free;
otherwise MBTA parking is $2.00.)
For further information
call Libby at 617-567-0280
or Steve at 508-393-5339.
2)
To help the "Bill To Ban Dog Racing In Massachusetts"
HB3434 succeed, please do the following before
the executive session of the (MA State) Joint Committee
on Government Regulations takes up the Bill.
(They went into exec session on 4/30/97 to discuss
a number of bills they heard testimony on during March & April)
( A) Call/ Write/Fax /or E-Mail the two Chairmen of the
Joint Committee on Gov. Regulations
a) Sen Michael Morrissey
617-722-1494
b) Rep Daniel Bosley
617-722-2030
e-mail: Rep.DanielBosley@house.state.ma.us
-- Ask them to report HB3434 favorably out of committee. --
( B) Call/ Write/Fax /or E-Mail a copy of the above
to your
Representative and Senator.
-- Also tell your Rep/Sen that dog racing is not a sport
and you want it banned in Massachusetts.
( You can find the name of your Rep./Sen. by either calling
the town clerk's office, or by calling 617-722-2000 ( the House
switchboard.)
( C) Thank Representative Shaun Kelly ( tel. 617-722-2230)
for introducing HB3434, the Bill to Ban Dog Racing in MA.
If you have any questions or need information call Greta at 413-442-6079
3)
Saturday - May 17th, 1997 - 11:00AM
Protest Against Dog Racing at Seabrook Dog Track
in Seabrook, NH
Clergy will lead a funeral service for the thousands of dogs
and animals killed each year because of the dog racing industry.
Bring BIG signs, banners and posters. Dogs are also invited.
4)
Saturday - May 24th, 1997 - 11:00AM
BIG-BIG-BIG Protest Against Dog Racing
at Wonderland Dog Track in Revere, MA.
Meet outside of the MAIN GATE OF
Wonderland Dog Track at 11:00AM.
Bring Posters, Signs, & Banners.
(Some will be provided.)
Media attention is anticipated
Note:
Stay Tuned for the BIG BIG BIG
Taunton/Raynham dog racing protest in mid-June
sbaer
steven baer
baerwolf@tiac.net
Massachusetts
HOW DEEP INTO SPACE MUST HUMANS GO BEFORE THEY REALIZE
ALL THE NEIGHBORS THEY'VE TORTURED ON PLANET EARTH.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:20:52 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Protests at MacBlo & Interfor AGM's
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970502002115.24bf7724@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
VANCOUVER, BC - Protestors from local environmental groups, including
Greenpeace, P.A.T.H., Forest Action Network and Bear Watch, took part in
information pickets yesterday and today.
Yesterday's action was targeted at MacMillan Bloedel - the largest logging
corporation in operating in BC.
Today's action was against Interfor, who have logging rights for the
Stoltmann Wilderness area.
Both actions tool place outside dowtown hotels where the logging companies
were holding their respective Annual General Meetings, and both remained
peaceful.
The scene for the next actions will probably be the actual logging areas
themselves, where things may well heat up.
David J Knowles
'Animal Voices' News
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 00:32:40 +0000
>From: Liz
To: MikeM@fund.org
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: NATIONAL WILDLIFE WEEK, 1997
Message-ID: <3369355C.587D@earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Not withstanding all the discussions about the
sense,cents,value,meaning, etc, of this proclamation, this week (approx
April 19 [+ 7]) is World Lab Animal Week. World Wildlife Week, to my
knowledge, has always been in October- yes?
Mike Markarian wrote:
>
> > THE WHITE HOUSE
> >
> > Office of the Press Secretary
> >
> > _______________________________________________________________
> >
> > For Immediate Release April 19, 1997
> >
> >
> > NATIONAL WILDLIFE WEEK, 1997
> >
> > - - - - - - -
> >
> > BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
> >
> > A PROCLAMATION
> >
> >
> > Our Nation is blessed with a wealth of wildlife, wild
> > places, and natural resources that enrich the lives of all
> > Americans. Conserving our wildlife -- whether antelope or
> > grizzly bear, salmon or serpent, or plumed bird -- is of urgent
> > importance. Our vast system of wildlife refuges has played a
> > vital role in this endeavor. Helping to ensure greater harmony
> > between people and nature, more than 92 million acres of land
> > and waters are dedicated to wildlife conservation, encompassing
> > 500 refuges, with at least one in every State and within a short
> > drive of most major cities. These wonderful resources provide
> > opportunities for people of all ages and from all walks of life,
> > and from cities, suburbs, and the rural heartland, to learn
> > about and participate in the effort to preserve the places and
> > wildlife that contribute so much to our Nation's heritage and
> > natural wealth.
> >
> > The appreciation and protection of wildlife, particularly
> > of endangered or threatened species, is both the right and
> > responsibility of all Americans. Indeed, countless individuals
> > and private volunteer organizations across the United States
> > have already made a significant contribution to wildlife
> > protection. Only by engaging communities in conservation,
> > by taking note of and rewarding community service efforts,
> > and by maintaining diverse approaches to wildlife protection,
> > can we preserve our wildlife today and for future generations.
> >
> > We set aside this week to celebrate the role that citizens
> > and private volunteer organizations play in engaging in service
> > activities, and in advancing the knowledge, appreciation, and
> > protection of wildlife and the environment. Let us also work
> > to spread this message to broader audiences and encourage all
> > individuals and groups to contribute to this national goal. I
> > urge all Americans, private organizations, businesses, community
> > leaders, elected officials and governmental agencies to do all
> > they can to preserve and value the role of wildlife resources
> > in our lives. This tradition of nature education will continue
> > to teach our children how to be lifelong stewards of the
> > environment and help to build the knowledge and understanding
> > essential to the protection of nature's abundant gifts.
> >
> > NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
> > United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested
> > in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States,
> > do hereby proclaim April 20 through April 26, 1997, as National
> > Wildlife Week. I ask all Americans to find ways to promote the
> > conservation and protection of our wildlife and wild places.
> >
> > IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
> > nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen
> > hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the
> > United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first.
> >
> >
> > WILLIAM J. CLINTON
> >
> >
> > # # #
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
Date: Fri, 2 May 97 07:30:59 UTC
>From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: A Bear Story
Message-ID: <199705021229.IAA04975@envirolink.org>
(Tulsa World,Tulsa, OK USA) 5-2-97: Julia Bailey had just left church
Wednesday night and was going home to the Claremore, OK area when she
tangled with "smokey" on the highway.
Bailey wasn't quite sure herself that her 1995 Pontiac Bonneville had
collided with a fully grown 200-pound black bear until a Salina police
dispatcher called her at home.
Bailey and her brother and sister-in-law were unhurt, she said.
The bear, however, was convalescing at the Tulsa Zoo in guarded
condition, while "surgery" is certain for Bailey's car.
When she hit it, she said she "knew it was bigger than a poodle, thought
it looked like a bear, but thought noone would believe it."
Officers responded to the scene, tranquilized the bear, and transported
it to The Tulsa Zoo.
The zoo's ultimate goal is to return the bear to the wild as soon as
possible.
-- Sherrill
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 08:37:38 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Court KOs Anti-Boll Weevil Plan
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502083735.006c58e0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------
05/02/1997 07:57 EST
Court KOs Anti-Boll Weevil Plan
By PAULINE ARRILLAGA
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The Texas Supreme Court has struck down a
grower-financed
program for fighting the boll weevil. The decision is a victory for cotton
farmers who
blamed the pesticide-spraying for millions of dollars worth of lost crops.
The court ruled that the Legislature violated the state constitution by
delegating
broad government authority to the private Texas Boll Weevil Eradication
Foundation.
``Hallelujah!'' said Harlingen cotton grower Lamar Smith, one of 120 Rio
Grande
Valley farmers who sued the foundation. ``Hopefully, it means that we're
out from
under this fiasco that they call the boll weevil eradication program.''
On other fronts in the war against pests:
--Arizona Gov. Fife Symington vetoed a bill that would have shrunk buffer
zones
required to protect schools, day-care centers and health-care facilities
from pesticide
spraying. He said the health and safety of children must take priority.
Arizona law requires a buffer zone of a quarter-mile around schools and
day-care
centers, and 400 feet around health-care facilities. The vetoed bill would
have cut the
zone to 300 feet for aerial spraying.
--The Tennessee Agriculture Department is working on a plan to keep fire
ants out of
the state's nurseries.
The state will spend more than $130,000 on personnel, equipment and fire
ant bait
this spring and summer. State officials will concentrate on the
infestation that
stretches along the southern end of the state from Shelby County (Memphis)
to Polk
County near Chattanooga.
Gray Haun of the Agriculture Department said the chief goal is protecting
the nursery
industry by being able to certify that the state's nursery stock is free
of ants.
--North Dakota is looking to avoid another costly grasshopper invasion
this year. A
late frost last fall gave female grasshoppers more time to lay eggs and
that could
spell trouble.
Officials advise farmers and ranchers to closely monitor the development of
grasshoppers once they begin hatching in late May and June, and to spray
before
the hoppers begin migrating. To avoid expensive spraying -- $7 an acre --
farmers
are hoping for a cool, wet spell after the hatch to kill the pests.
--Maryland is spraying 11,400 acres in southern Maryland and the Eastern
Shore to
try to prevent gypsy moths from destroying forests. The moths wiped out
more than
133,000 acres of trees in the state in 1990.
The spray area this year is the smallest since the program began in 1982. The
moths eat leaves off trees and the trees are left without a way to nourish
themselves
adequately.
Under the now-invalidated Texas program for battling boll weevils, farmers
in nine
regions of the state were given the option to join the program and pay a
per-acre
assessment each year. Some farmers who initially supported the effort turned
against it, claiming the pesticide killed beneficial bugs that eat the
weevil and other
harmful insects.
Rio Grande Valley cotton growers lost $140 million in sales in 1995 after a
disastrous season that they blamed primarily on the eradication program.
In 1996,
growers successfully launched a recall election and voted to discontinue
spraying.
Although they halted the spraying, farmers continued to be assessed $12 to
$18 per
acre to pay for a $9 million debt they incurred from participating in the
program.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 09:52:27 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: jeffgail@batavia.k12.il.us
Subject: (US) RFI: Deer Population
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502095224.006bf938@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for Jeffrey Gail
send all responses to: jeffgail@batavia.k12.il.us
------------------------------------------------
I am a sixth grade teacher in Batavia, Illinois. Our students will be
working on a problem in class dealing with the overpopulation of deer.
The students are to research and make a proposal on how to handle the
population problem. In order to make this as real as possilbe we are
looking for someone to talk about the rights of deer and other issues
related to this problem.
Jeffrey Gail
Batavia Middle School
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 10:36:03 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: New England Vegetarian Conference
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502103601.0069175c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for ddore@ccmailpc.ctron.com:
--------------------------------------------------------
Just a reminder that the 5th Annual New England Vegetarian Conference
is only 9 days away!
Saturday, May 10, 1997 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Portsmouth
High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Featuring:
Gary Francione, Luise Light, Zoe Weil, and plenty of vegan dishes!
Discussions will include health, environment, nutrition, and animal
rights.
For more details call (508) 255-6095 or (603) 625-9081 or e-mail me.
Hope to see you there!
- Danielle Dore-Hodgkins, Spokesperson
Animal Allies
New Hampshire
ddore@ccmailpc.ctron.com
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 10:52:26 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: AR-News Admin Note
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502105223.00688a68@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
routine posting........
Please do not post commentary or personal opinions to AR-News. Such posts
are not appropriate to AR-News. Appropriate postings to AR-News include:
posting a news item, requesting information on some event, or responding to
a request for information. Discussions on AR-News will NOT be allowed and
we ask that any
commentary either be taken to AR-Views or to private E-mail.
Continued postings of inappropriate material may result in suspension of
the poster's subscription to AR-News.
Here is subscription info for AR-Views:
Send e-mail to: listproc@envirolink.org
In text/body of e-mail: subscribe ar-views firstname lastname
Also...here are some websites with info on internet resources for Veg and
AR interests:
The Global Directory (IVU)
http://www.veg.org/veg/Orgs/IVU/Internet/netguid1.html
World Guide to Vegetarianism--Internet
http://www.veg.org/veg/Guide/Internet/index.html
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:10:01 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Franklin Wade
To: Ar-News
Subject: UPC Action Alert: Sutton Place Gourmet Selling Emu
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
ACTION ALERT
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED
EMUS NEED YOUR HELP
The commercial exploitation of emus is a tragedy. Wildlife should never
be treated as a commodity to be bought, sold, used up, and thrown away.
On April 1, 1997 The Washington Post reported that ground emu meat and
fillets are on sale at Sutton Place Gourmet. In response to protests from
United Poultry Concerns members, Giant Foods has discontinued the sale of
emu meat.
PLEASE CONTACT SUTTON PLACE GOURMET AND LET THEM KNOW HOW YOU
FEEL ABOUT
THIS:
Mr. Tom Johnston, CEO
Sutton Place Gourmet
6903 Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
(301) 564-0483 (fax)
Emus are living creatures who are capable of feeling pain and pleasure.
It is indefensible to introduce another class of birds into a system that
does not extend basic welfare protection to birds.
Emus are defeathered while fully conscious in order to save the feathers
for sale. According to USDA guidelines they are immobilized for dry hand
picking and clipping with wing tips and tails removed as the final step in
the picking process. British veterinarians who have viewed the process
have described it as "terrible". Emus are being denuded and tortured to
death.
Emus belong to the oldest living family of birds on earth, the ratites, or
flightless fowl. They are nomads, designed by 90 million years of
evolution to roam over vast tracts of land. With their long powerful legs
and camel-like feet adapted for speed, they can run up to 40 miles an
hour, covering 9 feet in a single stride.
A press report on an emu farm in Queenstown, MD describes the emus as
being confined in a 100 foot long "running pen". An emu can move just 11
strides in a 100 foot pen. And, of course, the article does not mention
how many birds are crammed into this pen.
Emus are gentle, friendly birds with a strong family life in which the
father plays an active role in nest-building and in the incubation and
rearing of chicks. Emus grow to be 5 to 6 feet tall, weigh up to 140
pounds, and live for 25 to 30 years.
Your contribution to United Poultry Concerns will help us to continue to
fight the commercial exploitation of emus, ostriches, rheas, chickens, and
turkeys.
United Poultry Concerns
P.O. Box 59367
Potomac, MD 20859
_____________________________________________________________________
franklin@smart.net Franklin D. Wade
United Poultry Concerns - www.envirolink.org/arrs/upc
Compassion Over Killing - www.envirolink.org/arrs/cok
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:40:44 -0400 (EDT)
>From: JanaWilson@aol.com
To: Ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Hog Farm Update
Message-ID: <970502134044_-498560802@emout04.mail.aol.com>
Oklahoma's Governor Frank Keating signed rules Thursday
imposing stiffer regulations on corporate hog farm operations.
This was done despite opposition from several farm-related groups.
"These rules are a good first step toward protecting Oklahoma's
water supply while balancing economic growth in rural Oklahoma,"
Keating said.
The state Board of Agriculture earlier passed the rules 4 to one.
Panhandle rancher Paul Hitch, who raises thousands of hogs in
conjunction with Seaboard Farms, voted against it.
The permanent rules call for new hog operations to be certain
distances from their neighbors. Hog barns for larger operations
will have to 3/4ths of a mile from a neighbor's house, while
smaller operations must locate at least one-quarter mile away.
Other provisions require that the Ag Board to conduct public
hearings before granting permits to a new corporate hor farm
or before one can expand. Previously, only written notice
to landowners within 1/2 mile was required. The Oklahoma
attorney general said that fails to provide "due process"
as required by the law.
In addition, the Ag Dept. must now approve a pre-site plan
prior to the construction of hog facilities. An animal waste
management plan must be approved by the agency. Annual
site inspections of licensed facilities are also required.
Both the Oklahoma Pork Council and Oklahoma Cattlemen's
Association have pleaded with the governor to reject the rules.
Also, legislation is pending that could result in restrictions
against hog farms, following weeks of meetings and very vocal
protests from neighbors of the hog farms.
The joint Oklahoma House-Senate committee is considering
a bill that has been weakened, then strengthened several
times. Opponents of the hog farms, including the Family Farm
Alliance, are concerned that weak legislation will be the final
result with provisions added that could negate protions of the
current stricter rules.
For the Animals,
Jana, OKC
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 10:42:18 -0700 (PDT)
>From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Job Opportunity - PAWS (WA)
Message-ID: <199705021742.KAA08377@siskiyou.brigadoon.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Job Opportunity - Newsletter Writer/Editor
Many skills are required for the performance of this job. Writing, graphics,
marketing, development and knowing about (or learning about) PAWS - its
past, its programs, philosophies and policies.
The job may have to be divided among two or more people. This position is
budgeted at an average of 20 hours per week. Rate of pay depends on many
factors - skills and abilities of person who takes the job and what portion
of the job they take.
If you are interested in this job opportunity - in whole or in part- please
submit áone page letter about your interest, outlining what abilties and
experiences you have to offer. Also submit samples of your work.
Deadline for submission: May 8, 1997.
NOTE: This job is in Lynnwood, WA (approx. 10 miles N of Seattle). Although
work may be done from home, the job requires residence within a reasonable
driving distance of PAWS.
Submit to:
PAWS, c/o M. Fox, Box 1037, Lynnwood, WA 98046 email: mfox@paws.org
or
PAWS, c/o J. Wasserman, Box 1037, Lynnwood, WA 98046 email: jeannewas@aol.com
************
Bob Chorush Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 (206) 787-2500 ext
862, (206) 742-5711 fax
email bchorush@paws.org http://www.paws.org
Date: Fri, 2 May 97 14:43:25 -0500
>From: Karin Zupko
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Protest at Seabrook Greyhound Park
Message-ID: <9705021943.AA06147@titan.ma.neavs.com>
Posted on Behalf of Save the Greyhound Dogs!
May 17 (Saturday) - PROTEST AT SEABROOK GREYHOUND PARK
Seabrook, NH. Sponsored by Save the Greyhound Dogs! 11 am (10:30 am
set-up). Rain or shine. Bring BIG signs, banners and posters. You
may bring your greyhounds. A funeral service will be held at the
rally for the thousands and thousands of greyhounds who have died in
the racing industry. Clergy will be present, and everyone is urged
to attend.
For more info., call Scotti at 802-879-8838.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:23:36 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Friends of Animals
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Punxsutawney Phil Condemns Woodchuck Hunt
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970502151115.5e27dcf4@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
For Immediate ReleaseContact: Bill Dollinger
May 2, 1997 (202) 296-2190
Friends of Animals and "Punxsutawney Phil" Fight Groundhog Massacre
Statement Issued By World's Most Famous Groundhog
Friends of Animals (FoA) has enlisted the aid of "Punxsutawney Phil" the
world's most famous groundhog, to condemn "Woodchuck Hunt 97", a woodchuck
killing contest in Canajoharie, New York on May 4. FoA supporters from
across New York State will protest and deliver a statement from the
Punxsutawney Groundhog Club outside the Canajohorie Fish and Game Club on
Carlisle Road in Canajoharie, NY at 8:30 AM. (Activists will also be on
sight when the hunters bring in the dead woodchucks to Firemen's Park, in
Fort Plain, NY at 3:30 PM.) The protest will also include a lineup of
"Howard the Coward" scare-crows, to represent the contest participants who
believe it is a manly accomplishment to spend the day slaughtering woodchucks.
According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, which oversees the world
famous weather prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil, "The systematic elimination
of groundhogs for sport does nothing to enhance a hunters image. It has
long been the tradition -for the past 100 years- of the Punxsutawney
Groundhog Club members to go out and capture live groundhogs, with bare
hands, and to pay them proper tribute by releasing them safely back into
the environment. Anyone can shoot a groundhog."
According to FoA spokesperson Matt Dunn, "Woodchucks are great soil
conservationists whose constant digging aids in the formation of valuable
topsoil. But on May 4, the soil the woodchucks have helped to improve will
be soaked with their blood. At this time of year, the killing of even one
adult female can mean the extermination of an entire family, and terrible
suffering for orphaned infants who will starve to death before their eyes
have even opened."
Friends of Animals is an international animal protection organization with
more than 200,000 members and supporters and headquarters in Darien,
Connecticut.
-31-
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 17:18:36 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: (UK)er...i thought they were pro-veg....
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502171827.00720d8c@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
c The Associated Press
By RON KAMPEAS
LONDON (AP) - Champagne, honeyed ham, brie and espresso - the
bash celebrating Labor's landslide election victory underscored how
much the party has changed since Tony Blair became its leader.
The campaigners who got invitations to the victory bash inside
the gleaming halls of the Royal Festival Hall spoke in the clean,
fluid tones of the middle class that the Labor leader has made it
his mission to reach.
``The whole country sees it as a start of a new era,'' said
Virgin empire millionaire Richard Branson. ``I like Tony Blair
enormously, he can take the country forward.''
Blair's publicists had called Branson and asked him to join the
fun as soon as they had an inkling a landslide was in the offing.
He brought along a gaggle of stewardesses.
Waiters were asked not to crack open the French champagne until
1 a.m., when the first solid results would come in.
But the mood was so certain, that the bubbly - along with the
ham, the cheese and the chicken roasted with wild mushrooms - came
out at midnight, barely two hours after polls had closed.
Once, the Labor party was predominantly working class, and its
celebrations were stained with brown ale, its songs drawn from the
music hall.
From Thursday night until this morning, as much white wine as
beer spilled onto the Royal Festival Hall's parquet, and the
night's theme song was ``Things are going to get better,''
delivered by teeny bop idol D:Ream.
That jibes with Blair's striving to push his party up-market.
``This was a vote for the future, not a vote for outdated dogma or
ideology,'' Blair said, to cheers.
Some supporters stressed their hope for a return to the caring
they felt was lacking with the Conservatives.
``Under the Conservatives, you felt there was no real
alternative,'' said Martha Estcourt, who was 6 years old the last
time Labor was in power, 18 years ago. ``You felt it didn't matter
if you voted or not.''
Others spoke in the language that Labor's enemies - including
talk show hosts and tabloid columnists who claim to speak for the
working class - revile as champagne socialism.
``Now we might shift focus from male-dominated to
female-dominated politics,'' said Jenny Lumley, approving of the
increase in women members of parliament. ``Women have a more
holistic, round approach.''
By morning, cappuccinos and espressos were on order to battle
encroaching hangovers.
``The whole country is jubilant,'' said Simply Red's lead singer
Mick Hucknall, twirling the elegant, tiny espresso cup on one
finger. ``I don't know if the Conservative Party even exists.''
Denise Rounds, a campaigner from the nearby working-class
neighborhood of Lewisham didn't get a pass to party inside, so she
waited all night to hear Blair address crowds who danced along the
Thames embankment.
``Is he coming out this way?'' she asked a reporter. ``He should
greet us as well.''
But his no-show didn't disappoint her. ``I'm overjoyed. I wasn't
sure until now. What happened in 1992 was such a letdown,'' she
said, referring to the last parliamentary vote, which Labor
narrowly lost.
``I wasn't going to get my hopes up this time.''
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 17:33:47 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: vaccine "protects" chimps from AIDS
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502173333.00720d8c@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
April 30, 1997
Vaccine Protects Two Chimps From AIDS Virus
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN
WASHINGTON -- A novel vaccine has protected two chimpanzees that were
deliberately injected with the AIDS virus, scientists said Tuesday.
The experiments involved a vaccine made by incorporating weakened genes
from HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The experimental vaccine, which is
based on DNA, is also being tested on humans, but it is too early for any
meaningful results, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the head of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Many vaccines and other therapies that work in animals fail in humans,
and it is far from certain that scientists yet possess the knowledge to
develop an effective AIDS vaccine for humans.
The authors of the chimp study injected large amounts of HIV into the
animals. Tests showed that the virus could be detected only once and in
very small amounts during a 48-week monitoring period. In comparison, large
amounts of HIV were continually detected in another chimpanzee that
received a different, weaker vaccine, the team of authors, led by Dr. David
B. Weiner of the University of Pennsylvania, report in the journal Nature
Medicine.
"The good news is that we are making another step toward broadening the
spectrum of different vaccine concepts that might ultimately be proven
effective in human clinical trials," said Fauci, whose agency helped pay
for the research.
But he added, "The news that is not so exciting is that we have seen
protection in chimps before with other concepts for an AIDS vaccine and
still do not have an effective vaccine for humans."
The virus injected into the vaccinated chimpanzees is "a weak one," the
study did not determine what component of the immune system might be
protecting the chimpanzees, and the number of animals and the type of
immune responses were too small "to make you say, 'Wow, this is
significantly different from the others,' " Fauci said in an interview.
Scientists say it is important to identify the specific immune factors
that might provide protection against infection with HIV because such
knowledge can be used to determine the effectiveness of vaccines in human
trials.
More than a dozen experimental AIDS vaccines have been tested in a small
number of people in this country. Among them is one genetically engineered
from a weakened form of the canary pox virus.
The experimental vaccine in the chimp experiments differs from most
standard viral vaccines, which are derived from either dead or weakened
viruses.
As part of the broad vaccine effort, the DNA-based vaccine is also being
tested in about 30 humans at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
Before any vaccine or drug can be marketed, it must pass the Food and
Drug Administration's rigorous three-stage testing system, a process that
usually takes years. The DNA-based vaccine is being tested in very small
doses -- far lower than those in a standard vaccine -- to determine how
well it is tolerated by the body and to study the degree and variety of
reactions it produces in the immune system.
DNA vaccines are based on research that startled scientists when they
learned about seven years ago that injection of naked genes into muscle
could lead to production of proteins, a finding that countered the thinking
of the time.
Hoping that the finding might lead to a new approach to developing safe,
inexpensive and effective vaccines, scientists are trying to develop DNA
vaccines against infection with influenza, herpes and other infectious
agents.
Like several other experimental AIDS vaccines, the one Weiner's team used
is being tested in two ways. One is among uninfected individuals to
determine whether it can prevent infection. The other is among infected
patients to determine whether it can slow the progression of infection to
full-fledged AIDS.
The University of Pennsylvania experiment involved four chimpanzees,
three of which received the experimental vaccine. To test the vaccine's
effectiveness, the scientists injected 250 times the amount of AIDS virus
that is needed to produce infection into two of the three immunized
chimpanzees. The third chimp, which acted as a control, did not receive an
injection of the virus.
Using a test that can detect as few as 50 copies of virus per milliliter
of blood, the scientists found the virus in the two protected animals, but
only once. In one animal, it was in the sixth week after the virus was
injected; in the other animal, it was in the eighth week. The virus could
not be detected at other times, indicating significant protection.
The fourth chimpanzee received an inoculation that did not contain
genetic material from the AIDS virus. Tests showed 10,000 copies of HIV in
that chimpanzee.
In an editorial in the same issue of Nature Medicine, Dr. Ronald C.
Kennedy of the University of Oklahoma wrote that he was guardedly
optimistic about the prospects of a human AIDS vaccine. But Kennedy said it
was not clear why Weiner's chimpanzee experiment succeeded when an earlier
one by other researchers failed.
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 17:36:53 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: "meatier" chicken.
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502173646.00720d8c@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Look what so called "important" research is really for--helping the meat
industry,
Surprise surprise.
May 1, 1997
A Lab Breeds a Mighty Mouse
By DENISE GRADY
A new breed of mice with more than twice the normal amount of muscle may
lead to meatier chickens and cows and, eventually, new treatments for
people with muscle diseases, researchers are reporting.
The mice, described on Thursday in the journal Nature, owe their bulging
physiques to the lack of a gene that would normally limit muscle growth.
The function of the gene was previously unknown, and its discovery, by a
team led by Dr. Se-Jin Lee of Johns Hopkins University, is considered an
important advance.
"It has opened up completely new ideas about the control and regulation
of muscle growth," said Dr. Brigid Hogan, a professor of cell biology at
Vanderbilt University.
Another researcher who was not involved in the study, Dr. Lee Niswander
of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, said: "Until
now, we didn't have a clue about what told muscle cells to stop dividing.
This gives us a handle on understanding it. It's powerful."
Lee and his colleagues actually found the gene in 1992 but did not know
then what it did. Within a year or so, they had determined that it was
active in muscle but still did not know just what role it played.
To find out, they began developing a strain of mice in which the newly
found gene was "knocked out," or deleted, a standard research technique.
Abnormalities in the knockout mice were then studied for clues to the
function of the missing gene.
The first knockouts were born last year and by about six weeks of age had
developed an odd body shape, with unusually big shoulders and hips. When
these mice were examined after death, the bulges turned out to be muscle:
the skeletal muscles were two to three times the size of those in normal
mice. (No other types of muscle, like cardiac muscle or the smooth muscle
of the intestines, were affected.)
The researchers were surprised.
"We thought maybe the mice wouldn't have any muscle at all," said
Alexandra McPherron, a Johns Hopkins graduate student who was the lead
author of the Nature paper. "We certainly didn't expect they'd have more
muscle."
The gene being studied -- myostatin, or growth/differentiation factor 8
-- is the newest known member of a family of genes, now numbering about 30,
that regulate cell growth and organ development.
"We got interested in the family because a number of the factors in it
showed enormous promise in terms of clinical applications," Lee said.
The family is known as transforming growth factor-beta genes. Members
that Lee cited as examples included bone morphogenetic proteins, which are
being tested in people as an aid to fracture healing, and a substance known
as a neurotrophic factor that may prove to have a role in treating
Parkinson's disease and Lou Gehrig's disease.
Lee said the most immediate application of the myostatin findings might
be to agriculture. Chickens, cows and pigs all have the gene, and he said
that if it works in them as it does in mice, knockouts might produce twice
as much meat with no more fat.
Humans also have the gene, and Lee said he hoped the research might
ultimately lead to new treatments for diseases like muscular dystrophy and
for the severe muscle wasting that causes disability and premature death in
some people with cancer and AIDS.
"But that's a long way off," he added, "years away."
One concern is that turning off the myostatin gene might cause cancer.
Other genes in its family are tumor suppressors, and when they are removed
or blocked, the animals die of cancer. The new mice are being watched for
this, Lee said.
So far, with some of the animals over a year old -- about half the life
span of a mouse -- no tumors have been found. Except for their big muscles,
the mice appear physically normal, the researchers said.
But they do behave differently from ordinary mice. Ms. McPherron, who was
bitten by one of the animals at the news conference announcing their debut,
nonetheless described them as gentler than normal mice, and "a little
sluggish."
"A normal mouse runs away when you poke it," Ms. McPherron said. "These
only move a little."
The researchers do not know why, she said.
"I'm guessing," she said. "When I look at bodybuilders, I think they
probably can't run very fast, can't drag all that muscle around."
But when the mice finally do move, she added, they move normally. Asked
if they might be less fearful, or less intelligent, than normal mice, she
said: "Big and stupid? We don't know. Maybe they don't understand that when
somebody pokes you, you should get out of the way. Or maybe the gene
affects aggression."
Other Places of Interest on the Web
Nature Vanderbilt University
http://www.nature.com/
Department of Cell Biology -- Hogan Laboratory
http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/vumcdept/cellbio/hogan.html
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
http://www.mskcc.org/
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 17:39:04 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: oped on bison
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502173859.00720d8c@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
appeared in the NYTimes...and look who the author is......and what she
wrote (see bottom)
April 26, 1997
Opinion: Bison Herds and Yellowstone National Park
By ALSTON CHASE
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The long-gone frontier remains vivid in the American
imagination, and the bison, also called buffalo, is the totem creature that
embodies the romance of those times.
In a nod to that mystique, Yellowstone National Park, home to a few
thousand bison, has a policy of not culling its herds. For nearly 15 years
now, bison have been wandering out of Yellowstone and grazing their way
through Montana towns and pastures, where they are occasionally shot by
state officials. Last winter, when weather that was colder and snowier than
usual drove bison out of the park in search of food, state authorities
killed approximately 1,080 of the park's herd of 3,500.
This practice has sparked much debate. Many ranchers support it. They
fret that bison could transmit brucellosis, a disease that causes
spontaneous abortions in animals, to their cattle. On the other side, the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition, an environmental group, denounced the
shootings as a slaughter of the "lone descendants of the country's last
wild bison" and has unsuccessfully tried to halt the killings through
litigation.
Unfortunately, the cacophony has drawn attention from the real
significance of this exodus of bison from Yellowstone: The park's refusal
to cull grazing animals has led to an overpopulation of bison and elk,
which have destroyed vegetation needed by other wildlife, from beavers to
grizzly bears.
For millennia, American Indians were the primary predators of buffalo. By
the 1840's, Shoshone Indians, after decimating the herds in the Snake River
Plain in Idaho, cleared a trail across Yellowstone to reach better hunting
grounds to the east. But Indians were soon evicted from the park, and the
bison herd began to grow.
In 1901, the United States Cavalry, then running Yellowstone, began to
breed bison to bring their numbers back. But by 1928, the park's first
scientific study concluded that Yellowstone could not sustain a bison herd
larger than the one at the time -- about 1,000 animals. Later, it was
decided that even that number was too high. Consequently, rangers began to
shoot bison in the park itself.
In 1967, park officials adopted a "natural regulation" policy. The idea
was that starvation would prevent overpopulation. This is still the policy
at Yellowstone.
But natural regulation has failed to check the number of bison, whose
numbers have multiplied tenfold in 30 years. Having run out of food in the
park, they are leaving, but not before severely harming the range.
Today, there is much legitimate concern about environmental threats to
Yellowstone from surrounding suburban development and unwise grazing and
logging practices. But these threats pale in comparison with the ecological
damage inside the park. "I have not seen worse overgrazing since the 1960's
in Costa Rica," says Daniel H. Janzen, a biologist at the University of
Pennsylvania. Indeed, in parts of Yellowstone's Firehole Geyser Basin,
buffalo have eaten virtually every blade of grass.
What should be done? Some environmentalists call for setting up a bison
range outside the park.
But this would make things worse, not better. So long as natural
regulation remains in place, bison herds will grow until they reach the
limits of their new habitat, no matter how large. The only solution is to
resume culling in Yellowstone. But such a sensible policy will not be
politically feasible until Americans start putting ecology above mythology.
Alston Chase is the author of "In a Dark Wood: The Fight Over Forests and
the Rising Tyranny of Ecology."
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:05:18 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Mike Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu,
en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Living With Beavers & Deer
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970502171252.5b1f87d6@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Fund for Animals has two new resources available on the web:
"Living With Beavers" -- http://envirolink.org/arrs/fund/pubs/livbeav.html
"Living With Deer" -- http://envirolink.org/arrs/fund/pubs/livdeer.html
Both publications are written by Dr. Thomas Eveland, reknowned wildlife
ecologist. They are in-depth tools for dealing humanely with beaver/human
and deer/human conflicts, complete with lists of repellents and unpalatable
vegetation, and illustrations of fencing techniques.
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:17:17 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Mike Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu,
en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Alert to Protect Brown Bears
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970502172453.578f82d4@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Forwarded at the request of Animal Welfare Institute:
>
>URGENT ACTION ALERT TO PROTECT BEARS
>
>At the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International
>Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) there is a
>proposal to increase the level of protection afforded brown bears in the
>eastern hemisphere (Europe, Asia, and the former Soviet Union). The United
>States position on this vital proposal is "under review" and there is
>serious concern that the US delegation may oppose "uplisting" the species
>from Appendix II to Appendix I.
>
>Please contact the Fish and Wildlife Service immediately urging US support
>for the proposal by Finland, Bulgaria and Jordan. Deadline for comments is
>May 9. Some of the facts outlined in the proposal follow and can be used in
>your letter which, of course, should be in your own words.
>
>Address comments to:
> Chief, Office of Scientific Authority
> 4401 North Fairfax Dr.
> Room 750
> Arlington, VA 22203
>
> or Fax them to: 703-358-2276
>
>Brown Bears (Ursus arctos)
>
>-Uplisting proposal sponsored by Finland, with similar submission by
>Bulgaria and Jordan;
>-Human populations increases and worldwide deforestation have fragmented
>brown bear habitat;
>-Ursus arctos is already extinct in many European countries with 110, 905 -
>120,715 brown bears remaining in the eastern hemisphere;
>-Some European and Asian countries fully protect brown bears while others
>afford the species little protection;
>-CITES enforcement of existing bear protection is complicated by visual
>similarity of removed bear parts.
>
>The Proposal is to Transfer of all populations of Ursus arctos remaining in
>the eastern hemisphere from Appendix II to Appendix I. Finland's proposal
>notes that "[p]oaching of brown bear and illegal trade in bear parts is at
>its most severe in the Russian Far East" and that "...the Russian Mafia is
>heavily involved in the illegal wildlife trade." The eastern hemispheric
>illegal bear parts trade embodies a complex smuggling web where: "illegally
>imported hunting trophies from Romanian bears have been seized in Spain",
>"German sport hunters circumvent domestic legislation prohibiting the import
>of trophies from Romanian bears by passing them through Russia first", and
>"[i]llegal trade into Greece provides an opening into the whole EU"
>(European Union).
>
>Adoption of Finland's proposal will add an immeasurable level of protection
>to the declining populations of brown bears throughout Europe, Asia, and the
>former Soviet Union and hopefully will be passed expeditiously. It will not
>only protect brown bears from the pressure of the bear parts trade, but
>other CITES-listed bear species whose parts are difficult to distinguish
>when dissociated from the carcass. CITES Parties should support all attempts
>to facilitate enforcement of commercial trade restrictions on listed species.
>
>If passed CITES Parties will be acting in the best interest of all
>endangered bears by taking a proactive measure in accordance with the
>"precautionary principle" and recognizing the threat that brown bears face
>by these intricate and extensive poaching and smuggling operations.
>
>If denied Brown bear populations across Europe and Asia will dwindle under
>increased pressure from poachers seeking to exploit the lucrative markets in
>bear parts such as paws, bile and gallbladders, while other bear species
>throughout the region will suffer increased poaching.
>
>For further information contact:
>Adam M. Roberts
>Animal Welfare Institute
>PO Box 3650
>Washington, DC 20007
>202-337-2332 phone
>202-338-9478 fax
>A_Roberts@animalwelfare.com
>
>
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 18:14:55 -0700 (PDT)
>From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: DESPERATELY NEEDING VET ASSISTANCE (MN)
Message-ID: <199705030114.SAA06542@siskiyou.brigadoon.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
forwarded for orignal sender. If anyone can help please contact
medic@thecomputerplace.com
***********
Do you assist pet owners who can't afford life-saving veterinary care
for their pets? I live in Minnesota and I have an eight year old cocker
spaniel with a cancerous thyroid tumor. Our vet feels that it can be
successfully removed, and has referred us to the University of
Minnesota's veterinary oncology department to receive the treatment.
however, as a single mother and full-time nursing student, I cannot
afford the treatment. I am searching desperately to find somebody who
can help me. This dog can be saved with the surgery, but without the
funds to cover the procedure, she will not receive the help she so
urgently needs. If you can help us, or can direct us to another agency
that could...please e-mail me at: medic@thecomputerplace.com Thank you
for any assistance that you can offer us. Suzy Sherbrooke
************
Bob Chorush Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 (206) 787-2500 ext
862, (206) 742-5711 fax
email bchorush@paws.org http://www.paws.org
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 18:41:11 -0700 (PDT)
>From: carol
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: help for a friend
Message-ID: <199705030141.SAA25395@mail.calweb.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
can anyone help my friend?
>My dog Fawn (lhassa-cocker mix) has chronic keratoconjunctivitis sicca. The
>white part of the eye is blood red and a heavy mucus covers the rest of the
>eye. A new vet suggested I get cyclosporine, mix it in virgin olive oil and
>use the mixture as eyedrops for the dog. Shering Plough is the only company
>licensed to sell this "orphan" drug and the price for 5 mls is 250.00.
>Does anyone know of a company that makes a 1% solution of cyclosporine.
>Thanks, Phyllis
don't go to the circus or the rodeo and don't support animal abuse of any
kind ...
Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 18:45:27 -0700
>From: Persephone Moonshadow Howling Womyn
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) WAFC Forest Focus - May 2, 1997
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502184424.008323f0@206.86.0.11>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Date: Fri, 02 May 1997 14:44:22 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Western Ancient Forest Campaign
>Subject: WAFC Forest Focus - May 2, 1997
>
>FOREST FOCUS, the Bulletin of the Western Ancient Forest
>Campaign, May 2, 1997 To reach us call (202)879-3188, fax
>(202)879-3189, or email WAFCDC@igc.apc.org
>
>
>OR FORESTRY BOARD VOTES TO PROHIBIT LOGGING ON
>STEEP SLOPES: Associated Press reports that "After the failure of a
>voluntary ban, the state Board of Forestry has voted to ask the
>Legislature for authority to prohibit timberland owners from logging if
>it poses a risk of landslides." The Oregonian reports that some loggers
>and landowners have been refusing to voluntarily stop clearcutting
>above homes and highways. At least seven high-risk sites have been
>proposed for logging in recent weeks and one company, West Coast
>Land and Timber Co. actually circulated a pamphlet urging landowners
>to log such sites as quickly as possible.
>
>YELLOWSTONE'S "WINTER USE PLAN": Since the 1980s
>snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park has gone from nil to
>becoming a major local problem with as many as 2,000 of the machines
>in the Park per day. This invasion into "America's Premier
>Wilderness" during what was traditionally a rest period has led to air
>and noise pollution and to a modification of animal movement patters.
>The Park Service's "Winter Use Management Plan" for Yellowstone is
>expected to be released soon, to be followed by hearings in
>communities surrounding the Park, and that is THE PROBLEM. The
>communities that benefit from Yellowstone -- towns like Jackson and
>Cody in WY, and W. Yellowstone in MT -- are dominated by their
>growth-oriented chambers of commerce and see development within the
>Park as feeding money into their cities. Holding hearings there will
>guarantee "citizen input" favoring bigger, glitzier winter "programs"
>that are anathema to wilderness. Input from around the country is
>badly needed. Contact Yellowstone NP, Mike Finley, Superintendent,
>NPS, Box 168, YNP, WY 82190, phone 307/344-2002, fax 307/344-
>2005 or email Mike_Finley@nps.gov
>
>PROTESTERS TO CONVERGE ON LUMBER COMPANY
>TOMORROW: Activists will be holding a protest at Souther Lumber
>Co. on Saturday May 3, at noon to protest the suppliers continued use
>of clear-heart redwood lumber made from ancient redwood trees.
>Southern Lumber Co. has repeatedly declined to sign on to a program
>organized by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) that has lumberyard
>pledge to stop stocking and selling the "clear heart" grades. Over 400
>building professionals have signed RAN's pledge so far. For more
>information, please contact Rainforest Action Network: Michael
>Passoff 415/398-4404.
>
>TORRICELLI INTRODUCES CLEARCUT BAN BILL IN SENATE:
>Sen. Bob Torricelli (D-NJ) has introduced the Act to Save America's
>Forests in the Senate. Torricelli said he wants lawmakers to weigh his
>measure against one sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) which limits
>citizen appeals and lawsuits to stop logging.
>
>LACK OF SNAGS THREATENS WILDLIFE: A report by Forest
>Guardians found that on the Carson National Forest, there are too few
>standing dead trees or snags, essential to nesting birds and other
>wildlife. Bryan Bird who conducted the study said there are only 1.5
>snags per acre when the Carson NF Forest Plan calls for at least three
>large snags per acre. "High road density and past management
>practices led to the low snag density," said Bird. Sam Hitt of Forest
>Guardians thinks another problem is the continued use of closed forest
>roads and unregulated firewood cutting. "Every other National Forest
>in this nation except the Sante Fe and Carson has mandatory
>restrictions on where people can get firewood, said Hitt, "People need
>to be cutting firewood in stands of green trees, not stands of old growth
>trees which support critical wildlife habitat.
>
>Steve Holmer
>Campaign Coordinator
>Western Ancient Forest Campaign
>1025 Vermont Ave, NW, 3rd Floor
>Washington, D.C. 20005
>202/879-3188
>202/879-3189 fax
>wafcdc@igc.apc.org
>
>
>
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:03:57 -0400 (EDT)
>From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Norway Opens Whaling Season
Message-ID: <970502220357_483265455@emout15.mail.aol.com>
In a message dated 97-05-02 14:56:31 EDT, AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net writes:
<< Subj:Norway Opens Whaling Season
Date:97-05-02 14:56:31 EDT
From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
.c The Associated Press
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Norway opened its controversial commercial
whaling season Friday, with a limit one-third higher than the
previous year.
The limit was raised from 425 minke whales to 580 for this year,
even though hunters took only 382 whales in 1996.
One of the 34 authorized whaling boats was damaged by an arson
fire Wednesday night, severely enough that it was unclear if it
could be repaired in time to take part in the hunt, which ends July
21.
The same boat, the ``Senet,'' also was sabotaged in 1994. Paul
Watson, leader of the Sea Shepherd environmental group, was
convicted of the sabotage in absentia and sentenced to 120 days in
jail.
Watson was seized in Amsterdam last month and is fighting
extradition to Norway, where he faces not only having to serve the
sentence but also charges of ramming a naval vessel during a
whaling protest.
A previously unknown group called ``Agenda 21'' claimed
responsibility for Wednesday's fire.
The Greenpeace environmental group, which opposes both whaling
and extremist tactics, denounced the sabotage.
Because of tough ice conditions in the Arctic regions where the
hunt takes place, it is unlikely that many boats will be able to
start the whaling at the start of the season.
A new feature of this year's hunt is that each boat can only
have an inspector on board for six weeks, effectively limiting
individual boats' hunting season to six weeks, even though the
season lasts longer.
Norway decided to resume whaling in 1993 after it was determined
that the minke whale is not threatened by extinction.
Norway has been subject to extensive international condemnation
for the whaling. >>
---------------------
Forwarded message:
>From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
Date: 97-05-02 14:56:31 EDT
.c The Associated Press
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Norway opened its controversial commercial
whaling season Friday, with a limit one-third higher than the
previous year.
The limit was raised from 425 minke whales to 580 for this year,
even though hunters took only 382 whales in 1996.
One of the 34 authorized whaling boats was damaged by an arson
fire Wednesday night, severely enough that it was unclear if it
could be repaired in time to take part in the hunt, which ends July
21.
The same boat, the ``Senet,'' also was sabotaged in 1994. Paul
Watson, leader of the Sea Shepherd environmental group, was
convicted of the sabotage in absentia and sentenced to 120 days in
jail.
Watson was seized in Amsterdam last month and is fighting
extradition to Norway, where he faces not only having to serve the
sentence but also charges of ramming a naval vessel during a
whaling protest.
A previously unknown group called ``Agenda 21'' claimed
responsibility for Wednesday's fire.
The Greenpeace environmental group, which opposes both whaling
and extremist tactics, denounced the sabotage.
Because of tough ice conditions in the Arctic regions where the
hunt takes place, it is unlikely that many boats will be able to
start the whaling at the start of the season.
A new feature of this year's hunt is that each boat can only
have an inspector on board for six weeks, effectively limiting
individual boats' hunting season to six weeks, even though the
season lasts longer.
Norway decided to resume whaling in 1993 after it was determined
that the minke whale is not threatened by extinction.
Norway has been subject to extensive international condemnation
for the whaling.
AP-NY-05-02-97 1447EDT
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: Fri, 02 May 1997 23:04:48 -0400
>From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: Veg-NE@waste.org, Veg-Boston@waste.org
Subject: AR Groups aghast at Feds' plan to gun down gulls
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970502230436.010f16bc@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Animal rights groups aghast at Feds' plan to gun down gulls
by Jules Crittenden, Boston Herald, Friday, May 2, 1997
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has stopped poisoning gulls on Cape Cod
after last year's debacle.
But news that it may shoot gulls instead has some animal rights activists
"up in arms."
"We plan an action some time next week," said Peter Souza of the Monomoy
Gull Liberation Corps. "Our people have made plans to be arrested.
There's no need to kill those gulls."
The federal agency wants to help terns and pipings plavers, endangered
species that complete with more aggressive gulls for nesting space on South
Monomoy Island. The agency poisoned 1,000 gulls last summer. Last year,
some activists staged a midnight assault oby sailboat, placing a charcoal
antidote in gull nests. Others protested in Chatham.
A general uproar ensued when gulls that were meant to die n their nests on
Monomoy Island flew to Cape Cod, where their carcasses were found by the
hundreds. But USF&W spokesman Spence Conley said that the agency won over
some activists when it ruled out poisoning.
"It's clear that something went wrong," he said. Biologists have not yet
determined whether they will shoot gulls, destroy nests, or destroy eggs.
Gull numbers boomed in recent decades, fed by open-air dumpts. But some
observers say that a natural balance is returning anyway.
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