AR-NEWS Digest 443

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Fwd: Dublin's Ghetto a Horse Capital
     by LMANHEIM@aol.com
  2) [CA} McLibel protest in Vancouver
     by David J Knowles 
  3) [CA] Exotic animal ban
     by David J Knowles 
  4) [CA] Maple Ridge to consider cat registration
     by David J Knowles 
  5) JERUSALEM:  Israel Outlaws Alligator Wrestling
     by No1BadGrl@aol.com
  6) Animal Issues
     by Andrew Gach 
  7) [Fwd: McLIBEL VERDICT HANDED DOWN AFTER LONGEST EVER ENGLISH
TRIAL]
     by FARM 
  8) [UK] Ministers plan to sabotage hunt ban Bill
     by David J Knowles 
  9) North East England McTour
     by Dave Shepherdson 
 10) Re: Animal Issues
     by Animal Rights Hawaii 
 11) AR-News Admin Note: Animal Issues
     by allen schubert 
 12) Calls needed to release puppies to Kim Basinger
     by Weirforanl@aol.com
 13) (US) Rattlesnake Hunt Raises Funds
     by allen schubert 
 14) (BM) Bermuda Bans McDonald's, Others
     by allen schubert 
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 00:22:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Dublin's Ghetto a Horse Capital
Message-ID: <970622002233_135601891@emout16.mail.aol.com>

I've been out of the state and haven't checked recent ar-news digests, so
please excuse me if this has already been posted.

In a message dated 97-06-14 12:19:23 EDT, AOL News writes:

 << Subj:Dublin's Ghetto a Horse Capital
  Date:97-06-14 12:19:23 EDT
  From:AOL News
 BCC:LMANHEIM
 
       By HELEN O'NEILL
       Associated Press Writer
       DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - They gallop bareback through city
 streets, scruffy kids on scruffy horses, the slums and mountains of
 Dublin at their backs.
       ``Gerrup ...!'' they cry, yanking on crude ropes that pass for
 reins, digging their sneakers harder into the ribs of their skinny
 steeds. ``Faster boy, faster!''
       Thundering across the urban prairie, the hooves crunch the
 debris of the night before: discarded heroin needles, beer cans,
 broken bottles.
       Past the grimy concrete towers they race, past the burned-out
 shells of stolen cars and the dank, foreboding stairwells smeared
 with graffiti and stinking of human waste; past the wailing babies
 and howling dogs and tough-looking vigilantes that scour the
 apartment blocks for drug dealers and their wares.
       Ghetto kids whipping ghetto ponies through a high-rise project,
 where 20,000 people live in government flats and crudely painted
 bedsheets flap from the rooftops: ``Drug dealers get out. No heroin
 sold here.''
       Ballymun. Dublin's drug capital. Home of the urban cowboys.
       It started simply enough, with the revival of Dublin's
 inner-city horse market in the late 1980s, perhaps linked to the
 government's attempt to settle itinerant travelers, or gypsies,
 around the city.
       Soon, gypsy ponies began wandering into the poor neighborhoods,
 into Tallaght and Finglas and Coolock and Ballymun. And the cowboys
 started buying and breeding. Today, the patches of scrub originally
 built as football fields are home to hungry herds. You see them
 limping down busy roads, foraging for food, tethered to rusting
 goalposts, squeezed into living rooms and back yards the size of
 horse boxes.
       There are hundreds, maybe thousands of these ``urban horses,''
 and they've become such a problem that the government has passed a
 law to round them up for good.
       The cowboys are ready for a showdown.
       Ireland's horse culture is as old and rich as its
 heather-covered bogs. From the working shires that lumber through
 Dublin, carting barrels of Guinness and sacks of coal, to the sleek
 thoroughbreds racing across the flatlands of County Kildare, to the
 sturdy little ponies that pull the caravans of travelers, horses
 are part of the country's history and life.
       But the Ballymun broncos are a new phenomenon, one the
 traditional horse culture shuns. Undernourished and often
 mistreated, they're a far cry from the mythical creatures portrayed
 in movies like ``Into the West,'' where a snow-white stallion
 brings beauty and joy into a poor child's life.
       These cowboys and their horses, bought cheap from shady dealers,
 have little of either.
       ``The government's got an answer for the horses,'' says Vicky
 McElligott, a tough-talking Ballymun matriarch with nine children,
 some with children of their own, most with ponies. ``What's their
 answer for our children?''
       The newspapers chart the slaughter: the drug overdoses, the
 suicides, an unemployment rate of up to 80 percent, the killings -
 human and animal.
       About two horses a week are put out of their misery in Dublin
 projects by animal welfare agencies, some shot in the streets by
 veterinarians as their young owners look on. Others drop dead from
 hunger and disease. Hundreds more are rounded up and herded off to
 city pounds.
       The roundups take place in the dead of night when the cowboys
 are sleeping. It's too dangerous to confront them in daylight.
       ``People seem to think they have a divine right to own a horse
 regardless of where they live,'' says Therese Cunningham, director
 of the Dublin Society For the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
 sitting in her cozy office in the hills, a couple of rescued horses
 grazing comfortably outside.
       ``They say horses are part of our Irish culture that goes back
 to the mists of time,'' she says. ``It's not part of your culture
 if you were born in a 15-story block of flats.''
       Cunningham is the main force behind the new Control of Horses
 Act, which requires all horses to be licensed, increases penalties
 for animal cruelty, and bans the sale of horses to children under
 the age of 16. The goal is clear: Get rid of the urban horses.
       ``Holy Saint Therese!'' jeer the cowboys, as they stoke a
 stubborn bonfire outside the Ballymun corral. ``Would yer listen to
 that woman? Sure, she'll save all the poor ponies in Dublin
 herself.''
       The corral is a run-down, corrugated iron shed originally built
 as a workingman's club and shut down when it couldn't get a liquor
 license. It's been converted into a makeshift stables for about 20
 horses. They have names like Elvis and Rocky and Billy-the-Kid and
 are guarded by unemployed fathers who while away their days smoking
 and storytelling and keeping a watchful eye for the posses from the
 pound.
       The corral makes a bold stab at legitimacy: Horse owners are
 asked to contribute a few pounds a week and its official name,
 scrawled in a hand-painted sign over the entrance, is ``The
 Ballymun Horseowners Association.''
       In reality, the place is as illegal as the horses on government
 land. The squatters don't care. They'll stay until they get a
 better deal for their kids. Sure, their horses aren't as pretty as
 the polo ponies in the Phoenix Park. But they're keeping the kids
 out of trouble, away from drugs and boredom and stealing cars for
 kicks.
       ``If it wasn't for the horses, I'd probably be on the gear, on
 heroin,'' says David Thomas, 13, trotting into the corral on a
 scrappy chestnut filly called Sally. ``There's nothin' else to do
 round here.''
       McElligott offers a more philosophical argument to anyone who
 will listen.
       ``We're a nation that churns out thoroughbreds and racehorses
 that are sold all over the world,'' she says, gleefully nailing a
 couple of plainclothes cops as they drive past the corral.
       ``Why should horses be just for the rich?'' she demands, as they
 stare back, stone-faced, from the cruiser. ``Who has the right to
 chase horses away from us just because we are poor?''
       The cowboys cheer. The law be damned, they shout. We're not
 surrendering without a fight.
       The cops shake their heads and drive on.
       Cunningham gets impatient with the stories that portray her as
 the villain, the chain-smoking sheriff hounding young cowboys.
       ``They make it sound so romantic,'' she says. ``It's not
 romantic for the poor horse.''
       The DSPCA's daily log documents the suffering: a blind horse
 abandoned in a public park, a herd of frightened ponies charging
 motorists on a busy road, a stampeding colt that tripped over a
 child's carriage, knocking the baby to the ground.
       Cunningham points to the gangs that break into the pounds and
 steal back the horses rather than pay the government fines,
 co-workers driven out of their homes after smoke bombs were flung
 through their letterboxes and fires set in their cars, thugs who
 hurled iron horseshoes at her at the Smithfield market, where the
 horses are bought and sold.
       ``We're not trying to take horses from underprivileged kids,''
 she says. ``We are trying to save animals that are abused and
 abandoned and ridden into the ground by children who don't know the
 first thing about caring for a pony.''
       But the battle is taking its toll. Cunningham doesn't go to
 Smithfield anymore.
       The first Sunday of each month, cowboys come from miles around
 to gather in the dusty, cobblestone square in the heart of the
 city, riding horses they'll trade in for faster, bigger models. The
 dealers stream in with horse boxes and caravans.
       By noon, there are 2,000 horses, snorting and whinnying and
 stamping as the cowboys shout and barter. Deals are sealed with a
 spit on the palm and a slap on the back. There isn't a saddle or
 stirrup in sight.
       Horses sell for anywhere from $80 to $400, depending on their
 condition and a child's ability to pay. ``Confirmation money,'' the
 cowboys say, straight-faced, when asked how they can afford a
 horse. ``Me ma gave me the money.''
       Smithfield is as illegal as nearly everything else to do with
 the urban horses, but it's too dangerous to break up the market.
       For one thing, the cowboys hate the government-sponsored horse
 pounds even more than they hate ``Saint Therese.'' They trade war
 stories around all-night bonfires if they get tipped about a
 roundup.
       After a raid, the younger cowboys sometimes go to the pound and
 try bargaining for their horses. It helps if their da's come too.
       The older ones fight back their own way - with crowbars and
 gangs They steal back their horses as soon as it's safe - usually
 in the middle of the night.
       Before the heroin, and long before the horses, Ballymun was
 considered something of an urban marvel, a decent bit of housing
 for the poor, far removed from the desperate poverty of the
 tenements being torn down in the city. Built as a social experiment
 in the 1960s, the towers were named after the martyred rebel heroes
 of the Easter 1916 revolt: Plunkett, Connolly, Pearse.
       ``Them flats were beautiful, when I first moved in,'' says
 McElligott, who raised all her children in Ballymun. ``I had
 central heating galore and all the hot water I wanted.''
       She speaks with pride of the enduring community spirit,
 ``neighbors that would lend you their last shilling.'' She sees a
 glimmer of hope in the fact that people are finally talking about
 the plight of the urban cowboys. There are even rumors that ``a
 wealthy establishment type'' will build a center for the children
 and their ponies.
       But no one knows what will come of it, and McElligott has little
 faith in the future. She tells her children the only way out is to
 emigrate.
       They're all still here, raising families in the flats, riding
 horses through the slums, dreaming of when life will be different.
       ``We're getting out of this kip!'' cry the cowboys.
       ``We'll get a plane to America!'' they shout, galloping across
 the fields toward the airport runway, where the green Aer Lingus
 jets lift off to London and New York. ``We'll be jockeys and be
 famous!''
       Over the ditch and onto the football field they fly, a ragged
 pack of warriors who should still be at school.
       Yelling. Whooping. Cursing. Smoking.
       ``Ciaran, you're a flier! Would you look at him go?''
       At 10 years old, with a stallion in your hands and the wind
 whipping your face, it's easy to dream you're a cowboy - like John
 Wayne in the Wild West, or maybe a famous jockey like Lester
 Piggott tearing down the raceway at the Phoenix Park.
       Anywhere but the badlands of Ballymun.
       AP-NY-06-14-97 1212EDT



---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Dublin's Ghetto a Horse Capital
Date:    97-06-14 12:19:23 EDT
From:    AOL News



      By HELEN O'NEILL
      Associated Press Writer
      DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - They gallop bareback through city
streets, scruffy kids on scruffy horses, the slums and mountains of
Dublin at their backs.
      ``Gerrup ...!'' they cry, yanking on crude ropes that pass for
reins, digging their sneakers harder into the ribs of their skinny
steeds. ``Faster boy, faster!''
      Thundering across the urban prairie, the hooves crunch the
debris of the night before: discarded heroin needles, beer cans,
broken bottles.
      Past the grimy concrete towers they race, past the burned-out
shells of stolen cars and the dank, foreboding stairwells smeared
with graffiti and stinking of human waste; past the wailing babies
and howling dogs and tough-looking vigilantes that scour the
apartment blocks for drug dealers and their wares.
      Ghetto kids whipping ghetto ponies through a high-rise project,
where 20,000 people live in government flats and crudely painted
bedsheets flap from the rooftops: ``Drug dealers get out. No heroin
sold here.''
      Ballymun. Dublin's drug capital. Home of the urban cowboys.
      It started simply enough, with the revival of Dublin's
inner-city horse market in the late 1980s, perhaps linked to the
government's attempt to settle itinerant travelers, or gypsies,
around the city.
      Soon, gypsy ponies began wandering into the poor neighborhoods,
into Tallaght and Finglas and Coolock and Ballymun. And the cowboys
started buying and breeding. Today, the patches of scrub originally
built as football fields are home to hungry herds. You see them
limping down busy roads, foraging for food, tethered to rusting
goalposts, squeezed into living rooms and back yards the size of
horse boxes.
      There are hundreds, maybe thousands of these ``urban horses,''
and they've become such a problem that the government has passed a
law to round them up for good.
      The cowboys are ready for a showdown.
      Ireland's horse culture is as old and rich as its
heather-covered bogs. From the working shires that lumber through
Dublin, carting barrels of Guinness and sacks of coal, to the sleek
thoroughbreds racing across the flatlands of County Kildare, to the
sturdy little ponies that pull the caravans of travelers, horses
are part of the country's history and life.
      But the Ballymun broncos are a new phenomenon, one the
traditional horse culture shuns. Undernourished and often
mistreated, they're a far cry from the mythical creatures portrayed
in movies like ``Into the West,'' where a snow-white stallion
brings beauty and joy into a poor child's life.
      These cowboys and their horses, bought cheap from shady dealers,
have little of either.
      ``The government's got an answer for the horses,'' says Vicky
McElligott, a tough-talking Ballymun matriarch with nine children,
some with children of their own, most with ponies. ``What's their
answer for our children?''
      The newspapers chart the slaughter: the drug overdoses, the
suicides, an unemployment rate of up to 80 percent, the killings -
human and animal.
      About two horses a week are put out of their misery in Dublin
projects by animal welfare agencies, some shot in the streets by
veterinarians as their young owners look on. Others drop dead from
hunger and disease. Hundreds more are rounded up and herded off to
city pounds.
      The roundups take place in the dead of night when the cowboys
are sleeping. It's too dangerous to confront them in daylight.
      ``People seem to think they have a divine right to own a horse
regardless of where they live,'' says Therese Cunningham, director
of the Dublin Society For the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
sitting in her cozy office in the hills, a couple of rescued horses
grazing comfortably outside.
      ``They say horses are part of our Irish culture that goes back
to the mists of time,'' she says. ``It's not part of your culture
if you were born in a 15-story block of flats.''
      Cunningham is the main force behind the new Control of Horses
Act, which requires all horses to be licensed, increases penalties
for animal cruelty, and bans the sale of horses to children under
the age of 16. The goal is clear: Get rid of the urban horses.
      ``Holy Saint Therese!'' jeer the cowboys, as they stoke a
stubborn bonfire outside the Ballymun corral. ``Would yer listen to
that woman? Sure, she'll save all the poor ponies in Dublin
herself.''
      The corral is a run-down, corrugated iron shed originally built
as a workingman's club and shut down when it couldn't get a liquor
license. It's been converted into a makeshift stables for about 20
horses. They have names like Elvis and Rocky and Billy-the-Kid and
are guarded by unemployed fathers who while away their days smoking
and storytelling and keeping a watchful eye for the posses from the
pound.
      The corral makes a bold stab at legitimacy: Horse owners are
asked to contribute a few pounds a week and its official name,
scrawled in a hand-painted sign over the entrance, is ``The
Ballymun Horseowners Association.''
      In reality, the place is as illegal as the horses on government
land. The squatters don't care. They'll stay until they get a
better deal for their kids. Sure, their horses aren't as pretty as
the polo ponies in the Phoenix Park. But they're keeping the kids
out of trouble, away from drugs and boredom and stealing cars for
kicks.
      ``If it wasn't for the horses, I'd probably be on the gear, on
heroin,'' says David Thomas, 13, trotting into the corral on a
scrappy chestnut filly called Sally. ``There's nothin' else to do
round here.''
      McElligott offers a more philosophical argument to anyone who
will listen.
      ``We're a nation that churns out thoroughbreds and racehorses
that are sold all over the world,'' she says, gleefully nailing a
couple of plainclothes cops as they drive past the corral.
      ``Why should horses be just for the rich?'' she demands, as they
stare back, stone-faced, from the cruiser. ``Who has the right to
chase horses away from us just because we are poor?''
      The cowboys cheer. The law be damned, they shout. We're not
surrendering without a fight.
      The cops shake their heads and drive on.
      Cunningham gets impatient with the stories that portray her as
the villain, the chain-smoking sheriff hounding young cowboys.
      ``They make it sound so romantic,'' she says. ``It's not
romantic for the poor horse.''
      The DSPCA's daily log documents the suffering: a blind horse
abandoned in a public park, a herd of frightened ponies charging
motorists on a busy road, a stampeding colt that tripped over a
child's carriage, knocking the baby to the ground.
      Cunningham points to the gangs that break into the pounds and
steal back the horses rather than pay the government fines,
co-workers driven out of their homes after smoke bombs were flung
through their letterboxes and fires set in their cars, thugs who
hurled iron horseshoes at her at the Smithfield market, where the
horses are bought and sold.
      ``We're not trying to take horses from underprivileged kids,''
she says. ``We are trying to save animals that are abused and
abandoned and ridden into the ground by children who don't know the
first thing about caring for a pony.''
      But the battle is taking its toll. Cunningham doesn't go to
Smithfield anymore.
      The first Sunday of each month, cowboys come from miles around
to gather in the dusty, cobblestone square in the heart of the
city, riding horses they'll trade in for faster, bigger models. The
dealers stream in with horse boxes and caravans.
      By noon, there are 2,000 horses, snorting and whinnying and
stamping as the cowboys shout and barter. Deals are sealed with a
spit on the palm and a slap on the back. There isn't a saddle or
stirrup in sight.
      Horses sell for anywhere from $80 to $400, depending on their
condition and a child's ability to pay. ``Confirmation money,'' the
cowboys say, straight-faced, when asked how they can afford a
horse. ``Me ma gave me the money.''
      Smithfield is as illegal as nearly everything else to do with
the urban horses, but it's too dangerous to break up the market.
      For one thing, the cowboys hate the government-sponsored horse
pounds even more than they hate ``Saint Therese.'' They trade war
stories around all-night bonfires if they get tipped about a
roundup.
      After a raid, the younger cowboys sometimes go to the pound and
try bargaining for their horses. It helps if their da's come too.
      The older ones fight back their own way - with crowbars and
gangs They steal back their horses as soon as it's safe - usually
in the middle of the night.
      Before the heroin, and long before the horses, Ballymun was
considered something of an urban marvel, a decent bit of housing
for the poor, far removed from the desperate poverty of the
tenements being torn down in the city. Built as a social experiment
in the 1960s, the towers were named after the martyred rebel heroes
of the Easter 1916 revolt: Plunkett, Connolly, Pearse.
      ``Them flats were beautiful, when I first moved in,'' says
McElligott, who raised all her children in Ballymun. ``I had
central heating galore and all the hot water I wanted.''
      She speaks with pride of the enduring community spirit,
``neighbors that would lend you their last shilling.'' She sees a
glimmer of hope in the fact that people are finally talking about
the plight of the urban cowboys. There are even rumors that ``a
wealthy establishment type'' will build a center for the children
and their ponies.
      But no one knows what will come of it, and McElligott has little
faith in the future. She tells her children the only way out is to
emigrate.
      They're all still here, raising families in the flats, riding
horses through the slums, dreaming of when life will be different.
      ``We're getting out of this kip!'' cry the cowboys.
      ``We'll get a plane to America!'' they shout, galloping across
the fields toward the airport runway, where the green Aer Lingus
jets lift off to London and New York. ``We'll be jockeys and be
famous!''
      Over the ditch and onto the football field they fly, a ragged
pack of warriors who should still be at school.
      Yelling. Whooping. Cursing. Smoking.
      ``Ciaran, you're a flier! Would you look at him go?''
      At 10 years old, with a stallion in your hands and the wind
whipping your face, it's easy to dream you're a cowboy - like John
Wayne in the Wild West, or maybe a famous jockey like Lester
Piggott tearing down the raceway at the Phoenix Park.
      Anywhere but the badlands of Ballymun.
      AP-NY-06-14-97 1212EDT
Copyright 1997 The
Associated Press.  The information 
contained in the AP news report may not be published, 
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without 
prior written authority of The Associated Press.


To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles. 
For all of today's news, go to keyword News.
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 01:18:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA} McLibel protest in Vancouver
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970622011926.2e5717c6@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Ten protestors visited three McDonald's restaurants in
downtown Vancouver Saturday afternoon.

The protestors, members of the Student's Coalition Against McDonald's (SCAM)
and Animal Allies, handed out "What's Wrong WIth McDonald's" leaflets
outside the Granville & Smythe; Granville & Dunsmuir; and Vancouver Public
Library (on Robson Street) branches, both inside and outside the restaurants.

Public reaction was mainly good, although there was some animated debate at
times. Some of those opposed to the action stated they felt there were "more
important  things to worry about," that the protesters were wasting their
time trying to change the world.

At the Granville & Dunsmuir store, customers, passers-by and staff were
entertained by two of the protestors playing the role of McDonald's
customers being won over by the information being provided, while at the
Granville & Smythe store, passers-by and customers entering or leaving were
also informed about the results of the McLibel trial by one of the
protestors using a megaphone.

The  manager refused to comment on the contents of the leaflet, stating that
he didn't mind the leaflets being handed out, so long as it wasn't done
inside the restaurant. 

At the Granville & Smythe branch, the store manager requested that the
protestors remove themselves away from the entrance, but otherwise no action
was taken against the protestors.

Most ironic sights of the day werr those of a one passer-by congratulating
the protestors and taking a leaflet while carrying a McDeath burger and
shake in his other hand, and the looks on the faces of customers as they
read the leaflets whilst simultaneously devouring their Big Macs.

David J Knowles
Animal Voices News  

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 01:18:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Exotic animal ban
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970622011931.19378e3a@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Province - Friday, June 20th, 1997

Canadian Press

SIMCOE, Ont - Exotic animals are no longer allowed in on the streets of this
community.

A new bylaw bans pythons, boa constrictors, elephants, gorillas, anteaters,
walruses hyenas, sloths and bears.

City council received dozens of complaints from fearful citizens after a
couple of men took their snakes shopping recently.

One of them, Robert Robins, says he's kept his harmless four metre Burmese
pyython indoors since the controversy erupted.

"Why didn't they pick on pit bulls and Rottweilers?" he said. "I've heard of
pit bulls ripping a person's face off, but I've never heard of a snake doing
it."

And python owner Nick Verbinnen said snakes wouldn't be an issue if they
were "fuzzy, cute, and had four legs."

But Coun. John Kinnear said the public's fears of strange animals had to be
addressed.

So if you're caught walking your anteater in Simcoe, expect a $100 fine. 

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 01:26:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Maple Ridge to consider cat registration
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970622012651.2e575c34@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Province - Friday, June 20th, 1997

(From Sterling News Service)

In a  bid to contro; a feline boom, Maple Ridge council is looking at a
licencing law similar to one used for dogs.

Maple Ridge Mayor Carl Durksen said the district will forward a resolution
to September's convetion of the Union of B.C. Municipalities calling for
cats to be computer-controlled.

Under the program, all cats would be registered, and a computer-readable
microchip would be inserted beneath their skin. It's a system already in use
by veterinarias to identify dogs.

"In some places it's just overrun by cats," said Durksen. "They do damage to
gardens,and the noise and so forth.

"We just feel the cats should be treated a little better than they have."

Durksen said the idea came from the SPCA, which advocates some sort of
registration scheme for cats that would help ensure owners are more responsible.

In the Greater Vancouver area alone, the SPCA destroys between 6,000 and
7,000 cats each year. John Vanderhoeven, director of field operations with
the B.C. SPCA, siad he likes the idea of a registration scheme for cats.

"More and more people are saying, 'Why should cats be different to dogs?'"

He said funds from a cat registration system could be plowed back into
spaying and neutering.

He admitted, however, that requiring owners to licence cats may be difficult
to enforce.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
[The following is additional information which, hopefully, will be of
assistance in understanding the local situation.]

[BACKGROUND: Maple Ridge is a municipality within the Greater Vancouver
Region, in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The issue of a cat
licencing program/mandatory spaying/neutering has been raised in other
municipalities in the area. the biggest of these have been in Vancouver,
Burnaby and New Westminster. The major problem/excuse has been that the
Municipal Act, which governs the powers of the local authorities in the
province, does not specifically include cats under the definition of
"domestic animals." This is because the Act is based on old English common
law which classified cats as wild animals. (This has now been ammended in
the UK.) Because of this, there as always been some legal concerns regarding
whether the act could be interpeted to include cats  - the act could very
easily be ammended if the political will existed. 

In Vancouver, the problem is that the city has its own charter, which is
similar in nature to the Muncipal Act in its exclusion of cats.    

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 11:58:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: No1BadGrl@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: JERUSALEM:  Israel Outlaws Alligator Wrestling
Message-ID: <970622115802_-1127344258@emout10.mail.aol.com>

 JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday outlawed
wrestling between humans and alligators as a spectator event.
      The high court overturned last year's ruling by a Tel Aviv court
that the show at the Hamat Gader alligator is no different than
circus shows and need not be banned.
      Animal rights activists hailed the ruling as a ``great
victory.''
      The three-judge panel was shown a video filmed at the alligator
farm in northern Israel in which a man seized an alligator's jaw,
pulled it back and turned the animal on its back.
      Justice Mishael Cheshin said there is no justification for such
treatment of the animal ``just for the amusement of spectators.''
But courses could continue for backpackers headed toward Latin
America to train them to defend against alligators, he said.
      Eti Altman of the animal rights group ``Let the Animals Live
said the decision put Israel in the forefront of enlightened
nations.
      ``In Florida alligator-wrestling is still going on. Today's
ruling shows that Israel is even more enlightened than the United
States in prevention of cruelty to animals,'' she told The
Associated Press.
      The director of the Hamat Gader farm, Roni Lotan, said he would
comply with any changes required by the ruling. Lotan said the term
``alligator wrestling'' misrepresented what he insisted was
primarily an education event.
      ``We show the infant alligator hatching from its egg, and all
the stages in its development,'' he said.
      But he admitted that in part of the show a Cuban employee,
Hannibal Rodriguez, has ``contact'' with an adult alligator about
15 feet long.
      The show has been canceled for the past two weeks since the
animal bit Rodriguez in the leg, Lotan said. Earlier it bit off one
of his fingers.
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 11:19:53 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Animal Issues
Message-ID: <33AD6CC9.51E9@worldnet.att.net>
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A subscriber has objected to items about health and nutrition being sent
to the list.  The person felt that pieces of this kind don't belong to a
list that deals with animal issues.

My rational in submitting such pieces is that both medicine and diet
involve massive misuse and exploitation of animals.  To show that these
industries are self-serving and do not confer genuine benefits to humans
may have a far greater effect in reducing animal mistreatment than
highlighting individual instances of animal cruelty.  
Similarly, articles pertaining to the environment don't always have
direct bearing on animal issues, and yet, as we well know, protecting
the environment is a matter of survival for all the living.

The mainstay of the argument used by industries that exploit animals and
the natural world is that their activities are indispensable for human
well being. As long as this argument is given credence by most, little
can be accomplished.  If feel it is essential to demonstrate that the
interest of non-human animals don't conflict with human interests; on
the contrary, what hurts one also hurts the other.
 
In lack of a sharp line between what belongs to ar-list and what
doesn't, I will abide by the wishes of the list administrator and the
majority of subscribers.

If you'd like to express an opinion, please send it Alan and to me,  
not the entire list.  Thank you.

Andy
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 14:36:54 -0700
From: FARM 
To: A/R News 
Subject: [Fwd: McLIBEL VERDICT HANDED DOWN AFTER LONGEST EVER ENGLISH
TRIAL]
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To: farmusa@erols.com
From: mclibel@globalnet.co.uk (McLibel Support Campaign)
Subject: McLIBEL VERDICT HANDED DOWN AFTER LONGEST EVER ENGLISH TRIAL
X-UIDL: dc8acc34bf
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McLibel Support Campaign
5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, UK.  Tel/Fax 0171 713 1269
For independent information on the case and McDonald's:
http://www.McSpotlight.org/

Press Release  19th June, 1997


McLIBEL VERDICT HANDED DOWN AFTER LONGEST EVER ENGLISH TRIAL

CAMPAIGN UNSTOPPABLE

'Victory Day Of Action' this Saturday at 500+ McDonald's UK stores, and
worldwide


Today Mr Justice Bell delivered his verdict in the McLibel Trial (at 314
days in court, the longest trial in English history, and 3 times the length
of the previous longest libel trial) at the Royal Courts of Justice in
London.  He read out a summary of his personal judgment (having denied the
Defendants their right to a jury trial) lasting approx two hours.  The full
judgment, around 1,000 pages long, was handed down to McDonald's and Steel &
Morris.  (Summary and full judgment accessible on the Internet:
www.mcspotlight.org).

The Defendants believe that their stance in fighting the case has been
vindicated; that evidence (see over) in the trial has backed up all the
criticisms made of McDonald's over the promotion of unhealthy food, and
exploitation of people, animals and the environment; and that the campaign
has become unstoppable.

The Corporation called its big guns into the witness box - US and UK
executives, departmental heads and consultants etc.  As the trial wore on
they were forced under lengthy cross examination to make damaging admissions
and concessions on all the issues.  In fact, McDonald's basic case on each
major issue having collapsed, the only REAL bones of contention by the end
of the trial were legal technicalities and arcane arguments over
interpretation of the exact meaning of the text and the accompanying
satirical banner headlines and cartoons in the 1986 London Greenpeace
Factsheet (which was out of print before the writs were served in 1990).

Pre-trial publication by McDonald's of 300,000 leaflets and press releases,
attacking criticisms of the Corporation as 'lies', sparked a counterclaim by
the Defendants for libel.  The company was unable to bring a single piece of
evidence to substantiate its defamatory assertion.

The case has been described by the media as the biggest Corporate PR
disaster in history and things look like getting worse for McDonald's.  This
Saturday campaigners are holding an International VICTORY DAY OF ACTION and
will be leafleting outside McDonald's stores around the world to demonstrate
McDonald's failure to silence its critics.  Over 500 of the company's 750 UK
stores will be leafleted in a display of solidarity with the McLibel
Defendants and show of conviction that all the criticisms in the "What's
Wrong With McDonald's?" leaflets are true.  As the Defendants have been
denied a jury trial, the public are in effect the wider jury and campaigners
are committed to continuing to provide the public with the facts they need
to judge for themselves.  (The Corporation, after all, spends $2 billion
every year on its global advertising and propaganda.)  A week of action is
also planned for Oct 11-18th, around Oct 16th UN World Food Day / World
Anti-McDonald's Day.

During the verdict, supporters of the McLibel Defendants held a picket
outside the court and distributed "What's Wrong With McDonald's?" leaflets
to passersby.  2 million of these leaflets have already been handed out in
the UK since the writs were served on the Defendants.  On leaving the court,
the Defendants joined in distributing these leaflets.

Please note: On Monday 21st June, the McLibel Campaign plans to issue a
Press Release analysing the judge's full judgment, and reporting on
Saturday's UK and global protests.

A Press Conference was held by the McLibel Defendants shortly after the
judgment was given.  The chair, Michael Mansfield QC, believes that McLibel
was the 'trial of the century' because of the vital importance of the issues
to people's everyday lives.  Defence witnesses from the trial were also on
the panel, including Charles Secrett (Executive Director of Friends of the
Earth), Tim Lobstein (co-director of the Food Commission), Iain Whittle
(former McDonald's crew member), and Frances Tiller (former private
investigator hired by McDonald's to infiltrate London Greenpeace).  Also
speaking were Maureen & John Hopkins (the parents of Mark Hopkins, who was
fatally electrocuted while working at a McDonald's store in Manchester).

Legal controversies are set to continue - Having been denied Legal Aid and a
jury trial, and up against complex libel laws stacked in favour of
plaintiffs, the Defendants are now preparing to take the British government
to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the UK's unfair and
oppressive libel laws and to continue the fight to defend the public's right
to criticise multinational corporations.  The Corporation would not have
been allowed to bring this case in the USA.


EVIDENCE from McDonald's witnesses' own mouths and from their own documents
backing up the statements in the London Greenpeace factsheet.

DIET AND ILL HEALTH - Asked his view of the statement contained in the
London Greenpeace factsheet "A diet high in fat, sugar, animal products and
salt and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals is linked with cancer of the
breast and bowel and heart disease", McDonald's cancer expert replied:  "If
it is being directed to the public then I would say it is a very reasonable
thing to say."  (Day 22, p32, line 19).  McDonald's expert witness Professor
Verner Wheelock admitted that a typical McDonald's meal was high in fat,
saturated fat and sodium content (Day 21, pp29-31).  Paul Preston
(McDonald's UK President) admitted that McDonald's products were low in
fibre (Day 5, p22, line 7).

UNETHICAL ADVERTISING - The corporation's official and confidential
'Operations Manual' was read out in court: "Ronald loves McDonald's and
McDonald's food.  And so do children, because they love Ronald.  Remember,
children exert a phenomenal influence when it comes to restaurant selection.
This means you should do everything you can to appeal to children's love for
Ronald and McDonald's." (Day 42, p62, line 32)

FOOD POISONING - McDonald's have admitted that they were responsible for an
outbreak of E.Coli 0157 food poisoning in the USA in 1982, and in Preston
(UK) in 1991, in which people suffered serious kidney failure.  (Day 294
p17, Day 125 p10, & Day 66 p20)

ANIMAL SUFFERING - David Walker of McKey Foods (sole hamburger supplier to
McDonald's UK) admitted that "as a result of the meat industry, the
suffering of animals is inevitable".  (Day 78 p63 line 48)

LOW PAY AND HOSTILITY TO TRADE UNIONS - Richard Rampton QC questioning Lynne
Meade, McDonald's regional Human Resources Manager for London and the South,
asked "The question I have is, given this overall -- one can pick nits but
that is not my habit -- it looks as though the basic McDonald's starting
rate is below the general averages for that kind of work in the country at
large; would you agree with that?".  Answer: "Yes"  (Day 133, p37).  Sid
Nicholson, McDonald's UK, Vice President and former Head of Personnel said
employees "would not be allowed to carry out any overt union activity on
McDonald's premises" (Day 120, p5, line 27).

RAINFORESTS - McDonald's admitted in their opening speech that they had used
beef in Costa Rica from cattle reared on former rainforest land (Day 1,
p50).  The company also admitted importing Brazilian beef into the UK in the
1980's (Day 78, p21).  Some of their current declared supplies to their 250
Brazilian stores emanate from areas of Goias State defined by Defence
experts as former rainforest areas destroyed to make way for cattle ranches
(Day 251, pp18-23).

PACKAGING - Ed Oakley, Vice President of McDonald's UK admitted that the
polystyrene packaging collected during a nationally-publicised UK scheme
"for recycling into such things as plant pots" was in fact "dumped" (Day 59,
p64).  He also admitted that in the UK all McDonald's packaging (barring a
small pilot scheme) ends up as litter or in landfill sites.  (Day 61, page
33, line 47).

LITTER - "When one considers that McDonald's each day is serving food and
drink to approximately three-quarters of a million people in the UK, it does
not take a genius to conclude that our packaging will be prevalent on the
streets whilst littering continues." - McDonald's Local Store Marketing
news-sheet May 1990 (Day 6 p53).


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

McLibel Support Campaign
5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, UK.  Tel/Fax +44-(0)171 713 1269
For independent information on the case and McDonald's:
http://www.McSpotlight.org/


McLIBEL VERDICT BACKGROUNDER
19th June, 1997


The McLibel Trial began on 28th June 1994 and lasted 313 days in court (314
including verdict) spanning 30 months.  Closing speeches were completed on
13th December 1996.  It is the longest trial in English history and is also
over three times as long as any previous UK libel trial (the previous
longest being a mere 101 days!).

The case was brought by the $30 billion a year McDonald's Corporation
against two supporters of London Greenpeace - Helen Steel (bar worker, 31)
and Dave Morris (single parent and ex-postman, 43) - who have between them
an annual income of less than 7,500 pounds.  McDonald's sued Steel & Morris
for alleged libel over a 6-sided factsheet produced by London Greenpeace,
prophetically entitled "What's Wrong With McDonald's?  Everything they don't
want you to know", which McDonald's alleged they distributed in 1989/90.
(London Greenpeace was the original Greenpeace group in Europe - set up in
1971.  It is independent of Greenpeace UK.)

The factsheet criticised McDonald's and other multinationals for promoting
unhealthy food; damage to the environment through mountains of unnecessary
packaging and the effects of cattle ranching; exploiting workers through low
pay and hostility to Trade Unions; causing suffering of animals; and
exploiting children through advertising.

130 witnesses from the UK and around the world gave evidence in court,
including environmental and nutritional experts, trade unionists, animal
welfare experts, McDonald's employees, top executives, and five infiltrators
employed by McDonald's.   Other witnesses submitted evidence in writing.

The main reason that the case took so long is because McDonald's alleged
that every criticism in the Factsheet was libellous.  Those criticisms are
common sense views on matters of great public interest, not just directed at
McDonald's but at the food industry and multinationals in general.
Defending such views made the case very wide-ranging.  Often, McDonald's
forced Steel & Morris to prove the obvious - for example, that much of its
packaging ends up as litter, that diet is linked to ill-health, that
advertising to children gets them to pester their parents to take them to
McDonald's, and that McDonald's pays low wages to its workers.

Mike Mansfield, a leading UK QC, stated recently:  "The 'McLibel' case is
the trial of the century as it concerns the most important issues that any
of us have to face living our ordinary lives.  This David and Goliath battle
has it all."

The Corporation called its big guns into the witness box - US and UK
executives, departmental heads and consultants etc.  As the trial wore on,
they were forced under lengthy cross examination to make damaging admissions
and concessions on all the issues.  In fact, McDonald's basic case on each
major issue having collapsed, the only REAL bones of contention by the end
of the trial were legal technicalities and arcane arguments over
interpretation of the exact meaning of the text and the accompanying
satirical banner headlines and cartoons in the 1986 London Greenpeace
Factsheet (which was out of print before the writs were served in 1990).

Steel & Morris were denied their right to a jury trial and, with no right to
Legal Aid, have been forced to conduct their own defence against McDonald's
team of top libel lawyers.  The denial of a jury caused Marcel Berlins, a
leading legal commentator, to remark "I cannot think of a case in which the
legal cards have been so spectacularly stacked against one party".

After McDonald's issued 300,000 leaflets nationwide on the eve of the trial
calling their critics liars, the Defendants took out a counterclaim for
libel against McDonald's which ran concurrently with McDonald's libel action.

At the time of the first anniversary of the Trial (June 1995), it was widely
reported that McDonald's had initiated secret settlement negotiations with
Steel & Morris.  They twice flew members of their US Board of Directors to
London to meet with the Defendants to seek ways of ending the case.
McDonald's were, and still are, clearly very worried about the way the case
has gone for them and the bad publicity they are receiving.

A confidential internal memo from McDonald's in Australia (leaked to and
broadcast widely by the media during the trial) revealed the Corporation's
dilemma around the world with media coverage of the case: "Contain it as a
UK issue".  "We could worsen the controversy by adding our opinion".  "We
want to keep it at arms length - not become guilty by association".  "This
will not be a positive story for McDonald's Australia".  The aim is to
"minimise any further negative publicity".

It is clear that McDonald's aim of suppressing the "What's Wrong With
McDonald's?" leaflets has totally backfired.  Over 2 million leaflets have
been handed out to the public in the UK alone since the writs were served
and thousands of people have pledged to continue circulating the leaflets
whatever the verdict.  Protests and campaigns against McDonald's continue to
grow in over 24 countries.

Additionally the 'McSpotlight' Internet site, an on-line library and
campaigning tool, was launched in February 1996.  It makes available across
the globe over 10,000 separate files containing everything that McDonald's
don't want the public to know, and includes full transcripts of the McLibel
Trial (http://www.mcspotlight.org/).  McSpotlight has been accessed over 13
million times since its launch.



- ENDS -


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Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 23:32:07 +0100
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To: farmusa@erols.com
From: mclibel@globalnet.co.uk (McLibel Support Campaign)
Subject: SUBSTANTIAL & SIGNIFICANT PARTS OF THE McLIBEL CASE WON BY THE
DEFENDANTS
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McLibel Support Campaign
5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, UK.  Tel/Fax +44-(0)171 713 1269
For independent information on the case and McDonald's:
http://www.McSpotlight.org/

Press Release
20th June 1997

SUBSTANTIAL & SIGNIFICANT PARTS OF THE McLIBEL CASE WON BY THE
DEFENDANTS

Judge finds it to be a fact that McDonald's 'exploit children' through their
advertising and promotions, that McDonald's promotion of its food as
nutritious is deceptive, that McDonald's is 'culpably responsible' for
cruelty to animals, that McDonald's pays low wages to its workers in the
UK and is anti-union.

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

Mr Justice Bell yesterday ruled, in his personal verdict in the McLibel
Trial delivered at Britain's High Court, that substantial and significant
parts of the London Greenpeace Factsheet criticising the company have been
proved to be true by the evidence brought by the McLibel Defendants, Helen
Steel & Dave Morris.

There follows extracts from the official Summary of the Judgment by Mr
Justice Bell in the McLibel Trial which was yesterday read out in a
courtroom packed with journalists, supporters of the McLibel Defendants, and
McDonald's top executives and their lawyers.  The full Summary (running to
45 pages) is available on the McSpotlight Internet site
(www.mcspotlight.org) and the full judgment (approx 1000 pages) will be
uploaded onto the site soon.  The McLibel Support Campaign will be issuing a
Press Release on Monday 23rd June analysing in detail the judge's full
judgment, and reporting on Saturday's UK and global protests against the
company.


ADVERTISING (p 26)

[The criticism in] the leaflet to the effect that [McDonald's] exploit
children by using them, as more susceptible subjects of advertising, to
pressurise their parents into going to McDonald's is justified.  It is true.

In my judgment McDonald's advertising and marketing makes considerable use
of susceptible young children to bring in custom, both their own and that of
their parents who must accompany them, by pestering their parents.


McDONALD'S FOOD (pp 21 & 23)

At the material time of publication of the leaflet between September 1987,
and September 1990, McDonald's food was high in fat (including saturated
fat) and salt (sodium) and animal products and it has continued to be so.

I..find that various of [McDonald's] advertisements, promotions and booklets
have pretended to a postive nutritional benefit which McDonald's food, high
in fat and saturated fat and animal products and sodium, and at one time low
in fibre, did not match.


THE REARING AND SLAUGHTER OF ANIMALS (p 29)

[The criticism that McDonald's] are culpably responsible for cruel practices
in the rearing and slaughter of some of the animals which are used to
produce their food is justified, true in substance and in fact.


EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES (pp 33 & 37)

[McDonald's UK] does pay its workers low wages, thereby helping to depress
wages for workers in the catering trade in Britain.

[McDonald's] are stongly antipathetic to any idea of unionisation of crew in
their restaurants.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Defendants were cheered by hundreds of people as they came out of court.
They believe that their stance in fighting the case has been vindicated;
that evidence in the trial has backed up all the criticisms made of
McDonald's over the promotion of unhealthy food, and exploitation of people,
animals and the environment; and that the campaign has become unstoppable.



- ENDS -


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To: RedBreast 
From: mclibel@globalnet.co.uk (McLibel Support Campaign)
Subject: DAVE MORRIS QUOTES
Cc: donna@anarki.net, worldpeace@gn.apc.org, farmusa@erols.com
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Albert/David - please send to Listserver ASAP.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

QUOTES FROM DAVE MORRIS following the Judgment in the McLibel Trial
21st June 1997

"I think the public will now want to know what recompense McDonald's should
be ordered to pay to the children, workers and animals who, the judge has
ruled, have been exploited by the company."

"Following the Judgment in the McLibel Trial, the RSPCA* are now inquiring
into McDonald's role in the cruelty of animals reared for the food industry
with a view to a prosecution.  What are the Advertising Standards Authority
going to do to stop the exploitation of children by McDonald's through their
advertising?"
* Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

"It's only thanks to our stance that the crimes of McDonald's have been
exposed.  Why should we pay damages to them?  Instead, effective sanctions
should be imposed on this unaccountable corporation for exploiting children,
deceiving the public by promoting their food as nutritious, for cruelty to
animals, and for paying low wages."

"The McDonald's Corporation is amazingly refusing to comment on the verdict,
claiming falsely that it's a UK issue.  Don't they realise they are the
first and leading plaintiff in this action?  They obviously know the
damaging nature of the findings made against them and in the evidence as a
whole throughout the trial.  We believe their refusal to comment is an
admission of a humiliating defeat.  It's a damage limitation exercise."


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From: mclibel@globalnet.co.uk (McLibel Support Campaign)
Subject: RSPCA STUDIES McLIBEL 'CRUELTY' RULING
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Press Association
20th June 1997

RSPCA STUDIES McLIBEL 'CRUELTY' RULING
by Jo Butler, Consumer Affairs Correspondent, PA News

The RSPCA was today preparing to study transcripts of the record-breaking
McLibel court case to see if it should probe animal cruelty involving
fast-food giant McDonald's.

The animal charity said it would be studying the High Court judgment
delivered at the end of the longest case in English legal history which
upheld claims that McDonald's was responsible for cruelty to some of the
animals used in its food.

Mr Justice Bell awarded the chain #60,000 damages after a 314-trial and
ruled that most of the claims made in a leaflet by penniless green activists
Helen Steel and Dave Morris were libellous.

But he upheld claims in their pamplet "What's Wrong With McDonald's" over
animal welfare and said there was evidence that hens producing eggs for
McDonald's lived in cramped cages and that some chickens were fully
conscious when their throats were slit.

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: "We will be looking at the evidence that
was put forward to see whether there are any grounds for an investigation
and see if there should be a prosecution."

McDonald's is estimated to have spent #10 million in legal cost suing former
postman Mr Morris, 43, and former gardener Ms Steel, 31.


- ENDS -


Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 13:47:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Ministers plan to sabotage hunt ban Bill
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[The Electronic Telegraph is the on-line version of the Daily Telegraph,
which is part of the Holinger Group, controlled by Conrad Black. Editorialy,
the Daily Telegraph is pro-hunting.]

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, June 22nd, 1997

Ministers plan to sabotage hunt ban Bill
By Tom Baldwin and James Hardy 

A POWERFUL coalition of senior ministers is planning to kill the backbench
Bill to abolish fox hunting next year before its passage through Parliament
threatens to delay other key pieces of Government legislation.

Cabinet ministers lined up against it include Jack Straw, the Home
Secretary, Jack Cunningham, the Agriculture Minister, and Robin Cook, the
Foreign Secretary - who is a keen supporter of point-to-point horse racing. 

They are joined by Peter Mandelson, the powerful Minister without Portfolio,
who along with Mr Straw is said by close allies to be "unconvinced that this
Government should be seeking to ban anything else so soon after the action
we have taken on guns".

But other members of the Government, including it is believed Frank Dobson,
the Health Secretary, and Chris Smith, the Heritage Secretary, are long-time
opponents of fox hunting, and any attempt to stop the Bill will have to be
justified on "legislative rather than ideological grounds".

Labour has a manifesto commitment to allow a free vote on the issue, but
officials last week stressed that the pledge fell short of the party's
promise in 1992 to allow Government time for legislation to ban the sport.
One minister told The Telegraph last week: "We will do
whatever we can to stop this going through. It certainly won't get any time."

Another said: "If, by any chance, this Bill got as far as the House of
Lords, it would be like a small quarry about to be ripped to pieces by the
dogs when the sniper in the woods decides to shoot it through the head."

Michael Foster, the Labour MP for Worcester, yesterday he insisted he would
press ahead with his campaign to ban hunting with hounds despite the lack of
support from the Government. As a new MP he has already faced pressure from
ministers to back down and he admitted the Bill had overshadowed his first
weeks in the Commons.
    
He said: "I've not counted my grey hairs in the last week but I know I've
got a few more than when I first arrived and certainly more since I won the
Private Member's Ballot." 

His Wild Mammals (Hunting with Dogs) Bill, which was tabled last week, is in
pole position for Private Member's legislation after he came top of the
ballot of backbench MPs. With the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs - as
well as many Liberal Democrats and Conservatives - opposed to fox hunting,
the Bill is likely to clear its next hurdle on November 28.

But after its committee stage, when the Bill would have its Third Reading in
the Commons, opponents are certain to table a series of sabotaging
amendments and attempt to "talk it out". Even supporters accept that they
would be likely to need extra time to overcome this
opposition - and Government whips have already made it clear that no extra
time will be made available. 

Nick Brown, the Chief Whip, who plans to vote for the legislation in his
personal capacity, said yesterday: "The Government has a very full and
ambitious legislative programme. Other measures which we would have liked to
have brought foward have already had to be delayed - there is just no extra
time to be had."

However, with the next months set to see an unprecedented campaign by animal
welfare groups to ban the sport, as well as intricate Parliamentary
manoeuvring, ministers accept it remains possible that the Bill will still
go through to the House of Lords, where pro-fox -hunting Tories have a huge
majority.

If that is the case, a plan being drawn up by Mr Straw to put the whole
issue out to lengthy discussion in a new select committee - possibly drawn
from both Houses of Parliament - is likely to be put into operation.

Brown is understood to be particularly concerned that key pieces of
legislation, including the Government's plans for Scottish and Welsh
devolution, which already face a bumpy ride through the Lords, could become
ensnared in lengthy delays caused by wrangling over the fox-hunting Bill.

The House of Lords makes no distinction between time allowed for Government
legislation and that proposed through Private Member's Bills, prompting one
minister to say yesterday: "We will not allow anything to happen in the
Commons which fouls up the passage of
Government legislation in the Lords."

Last week Lord Bancroft, one of the leading supporters of hunting, was
already preparing for battle. He said: "We have not yet seen the Bill but if
it is anything like previous Bills there is no doubt it will need
substantial revision because they have normally been very badly drafted."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 22:10:52 +-100
From: Dave Shepherdson 
To: "'ar-news@envirolink.org'" 
Subject: North East England McTour
Message-ID: <01BC7F59.894D6960@tc1p56.sol.co.uk>
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Saturday's Victory Action Day was well celebrated by Anti-McDonald's campaigners in the North
East of England.  The day began early with several drive-.thrus finding their doors chained closed
before opening.  >From breakfast time onwards a group travelled from one restaurant to another
varying their tactics from "breaking down" in drive-thrus, to "partying" inside the restaurants. 
This involved sitting down and eating prepared veggie burgers and offering them to customers as
well as juggling and blowing whistles.  Discussions with staff ensued.  They were intrigued and
mostly quite communicative.  A demo took place outside Newcastle upon Tyne's main
McDonald's with about 35 protesters.  An impromptu march resulted in other city McDonald's
stores being visited, including one in a shopping centre.  There, veggie burgers were served. 
Management and security got excited but wouldn't join us - presumably because they weren't
hungry!  After about 8 stores had received attention, the police and McDonald's management
were becoming a little anxious.  Advance warning seemed to be given to the remaining stores that
we may be visiting them.   In all, 15 restaurants were visited in the North East of England and
over 4000 leaflets were distributed.  The public response was excellent, and McDonald's were
horrified that people still dare to criticise them.  No doubt they will be pleased we have more
demos planned for the near future!  For more information contact: Tyneside Anti-McDonald's
Campaign, PO Box 1JY, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE99 1JY. 

An alternative "Ronald McDonald" was busy on tour on Saturday.  He managed to entertain and
educate the customers at the following restaurants: Northampton, Kettering, Wellingborough,
Bedford and drive-thrus at Weston Favell, Six Fields and Bedford.  The police accused him of
travelling around in a stolen car, but it turned out to be their mistake ...!



Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 12:20:38 -1000 (HST)
From: Animal Rights Hawaii 
To: UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: Animal Issues
Message-ID: <199706222220.MAA18665@mail.pixi.com>
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I have always found Mr. Gach's posts to be of interest; the health info is
excellent to save for arguments for those whose concerns are not for the
animals- but for themselves; I have always found his posts to be informative
and useful- and much more animal friendly than posts from purely veg/veg*n
lists.

I believe that our community is not big enough to expel someone whose posts
do not AT ALL TIMES refer to purely animal issues - I have been an AR
activist for over 20 years- I still learn new things every day through
informative and useful posts.

with aloha,

Cathy

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 20:01:42 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: AR-News Admin Note: Animal Issues
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970622200140.0070bef0@clark.net>
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Those having disagreements with posts should take it up with the original
poster and/or me (AR-News listowner) and not take it to the list.  The
AR-News list charter is pretty broad in scope.  Keep in mind that there is
a new e-mail list devoted to AR issues on waste.org that is more activist
oriented, narrower in scope, and lower in traffic (probably due to newness
of the list).

Comments about appropriateness of postings or the defense of these postings
should not go to the list.  If postings are well out of bounds of the list
guidlines (for those who *lost* the welcome letter, see:
http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/wgtar/ar-news-views/ ), feel free to point
that out to me and, if necessary, I'll contact the person.  Or...e-mail the
original poster directly and "cc" me.

Keep in mind that as AR-News listowner, I am not constantly available and
must answer/respond at my convenience.  An alternative is to set this list
up as a *moderated* list--meaning nothing gets posted without listowner
approval, severely hampering timeliness of posts.  (I would rather risk
inappropriate posts and seek to correct problems after the fact than to
restrict information flow.)

Further...if individuals posting to AR-News get harrassing e-mails from
other subscribers on AR-News, let me know and I'll consider banning that
individual.

allen

-------------------------
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: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 23:00:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Weirforanl@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Calls needed to release puppies to Kim Basinger
Message-ID: <970622230027_356196946@emout10.mail.aol.com>

The Performing Animal Welfare Society congratulates Kim Basinger and PETA for
stopping Huntington Life Sciences Lab from conducting tests of a fracture
healing drug which involved sawing and breaking the legs of 36 beagle
puppies.  The puppies were to be exterminated after completion of the
research.  

And thanks also go to the Japanese pharmaceutical firm, Yamanouchi, which
originally ordered the study, for deciding to stop this horrible research.
 This drug has already been tested extensively on humans in Japan.

However, PAWS is asking all animal rights groups and activists on this list
to please call Huntington Life Sciences Lab on Monday, during regular
business hours, to insist that the puppies be released to Kim Basinger, who
has offered to find a home for all of them.  As yet, Huntington has refused
to say what will now happen to the puppies.  The phone number for the Lab,
which is located in East Millstone, New Jersey, is 732-873-2550.

Unless these puppies are surrendered to Kim their fate is in the hands of the
researchers.  You can make a difference and save their lives.  Please
remember to call on Monday.

For the Performing Animal Welfare Society,
Vernon Weir
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 23:20:57 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Rattlesnake Hunt Raises Funds
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970622232054.006cab48@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
--------------------------------------
 06/22/1997 19:03 EST

 Rattlesnake Hunt Raises Funds

 By MICHAEL RAPHAEL
 Associated Press Writer

 CURWENSVILLE, Pa. (AP) -- This year, the humans won.

 The town fire company held its 10th annual rattlesnake hunt and bagging
 contest Sunday, and for the first time in a long time the paramedics on
 standby had little to do but sit back and enjoy the show.

 Seven teams of two contestants entered a screened-in cage, grabbed up
 five poisonous rattlesnakes into a bag and then walked out. Not a one
 suffered a bite.

 Hundreds of spectators, however, were bitten by the thrill of the chase.

 ``It's a lot like going to a NASCAR race,'' said Don Kitko, 45, of
 Altoona. ``It's the same sort of expectation ... like waiting for a
 crash.''

 The contest is fairly simple. One teammate holds the bag, the other a
 stick to handle the snakes. Crowds lining the ring in makeshift bleachers
 fall silent as one by one the snakes are snapped up and bagged. Then they
 erupt in applause.

 There are few rules: Keep the top of the bag above knee-level, don't
 abuse the snakes, and make sure they go in tail first.

 Any blood from a bite is a three-second penalty.

 Curwensville is one of four contests held in Pennsylvania each June. Top
 qualifiers at each event go on to state championships.

 Bob Couturiaux, who drove from Niagara Falls, N.Y., said hunting
 rattlesnakes made him feel alive. ``Why do something sissy like, like
 play golf?'' he said. ``There's no challenge without the rattles. My
 little kids can pick up the little ones.''

 The poisonous out-of-state rattlesnakes were anything but little -- the
 biggest weighing in at over 4 pounds. Pennsylvania law prohibits handlers
 from using local rattlesnakes, so organizers bring in western
 diamondbacks from Oklahoma.

 Bill Wheeler Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Reptile Club, and the
 so-called snake master, spent a week rounding up the rattlers, then
 carted them home -- carefully.

 He knows firsthand how dangerous they can be; last year, he was bit on a
 finger. His hand swelled up like a catcher's glove and the poison made it
 all the way to his hip.

 ``It was more pain that I ever felt in my entire life,'' he said, showing
 pictures of the finger, black and crusty then, now practically immobile.
 Wheeler lived through his bite -- as most do. It's small children and
 those allergic that have the most to worry, he said.

 So why do they do it?

 ``Just because of what I feel right now,'' said Rory Bradley, a
 28-year-old foreman from Cresson. ``There's nothing else like it. I ain't
 done nothing today -- no beer, no nothing. And I feel like I'm on a
 rocket ship.''

Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 23:29:25 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (BM) Bermuda Bans McDonald's, Others
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970622232923.006c86dc@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from AP Wire page:
---------------------------------
 06/22/1997 19:38 EST

 Bermuda Bans McDonald's, Others

 HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) -- Seeking to preserve its Old World image,
 Bermuda has banned McDonald's and other foreign fast-food restaurants
 from operating on the island.

 Supporters of the legislation argued it would safeguard the tourist
 appeal of the British colony, where gambling is prohibited and the top
 speed limit is only 20 mph.

 The issue was raised when a permit was granted for a McDonald's outlet
 last year.

 The overwhelming vote in parliament Friday night also cut short reported
 plans for Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants. ``It's been a long haul,''
 lawmaker Ann Cartwright DeCouto said. ``Myself and my colleagues were
 righting a wrong.''

 McDonald's had said earlier it had begun discussions with some Bermuda
 investors about a franchise, but no deal had been concluded.

 One of the expected McDonald's investors, lawmaker Maxwell Burgess,
 called the law unconstitutional and indicated he was considering a
 lawsuit.

 Some residents of Bermuda, 600 miles east of North Carolina in the
 Atlantic Ocean, had developed a taste Big Mac hamburgers when a
 McDonald's operated here on a U.S. military base that closed in 1995.