Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news47~3.htm/text0002.txt

Text File | 1998-04-03 | 46.9 KB | 987 lines

---------------------------------------------
ACTIVISTS CLAIM VICTORY
AT HEGINS PIGEON SHOOT TRIAL

July 22, 1997

Pottsville, PA - Brett Wyker, 20 of Asbury Park, NJ and Dawn Ratcliffe, 24
of Charlotte, NC were found not guilty of two charges, the prosecution
dropped another and they were only found guilty of the smallest charge --
disorderly conduct -- at their trial here Tuesday for participating in a
demonstration against the killing of thousands of birds at the infamous
Hegins Pigeon Shoot last September.

Conspiracy, and trespassing charges were rejected by the 12 person jury,
which took 3 hours to deliberate after 2 days of testimony. The prosecution
dropped resisting arrest charges the day the trial began. According to an
activist who was at the trial the affair received major media attention.

Sentencing is Aug. 29, only 2 days before the next Hegins massacre, when
hundreds of activists are expected to attend to protest the action again.
The two refused to accept a plea bargain of a $500 fine, one year probation
and not being allowed to go to Hegins during probation.

                           Miscellaneous Updates

 Main Menu - Latest - Features - News - Fight Back! - A.L.F. - Commentary -
                             Trenches - Links

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 00:42:55 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Cattle Slaughter Method Poses `Mad Cow' Risks, Group Says
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from Washingtonpost.com:
                         ------------------------------------------------

                         Cattle Slaughter Method Poses `Mad Cow' Risks,
                         Group Says

                         `Stunning' Possibly Scatters Brain Tissue
                         Through Body

                         By John Schwartz
                         Washington Post Staff Writer
                         Friday, July 25, 1997; Page A02
                         The Washington Post

                         A method used commonly to prepare cattle for
                         slaughter, called "stunning," could let "mad
                         cow disease" eventually enter the U.S. food
                         supply, a consumer health group warned
                         yesterday.

                         There is no imminent risk to Americans because
                         no cases of the fatal brain disease, also known
                         as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), have
                         ever been detected in the United States, said
                         nutritionist David Schardt of the Center for
                         Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).

                         But a mid-1980s outbreak of the disease in
                         British cattle has been linked to the deaths of
                         more than a dozen people, and if BSE were to
                         appear in the United States, stunning could be
                         a route for its spread from cows to humans,
                         Schardt said. He called the practice "a hole in
                         the fire wall" protecting humans from the
                         disease.

                         Many scientists believe that BSE is transmitted
                         by eating central nervous tissues, such as the
                         brain, of infected animals. Meat packing plants
                         take precautions to remove brain and spinal
                         cord from edible meat to avoid the possibility
                         of spreading the disease.

                         But stunning might spread those tissues
                         throughout the animal's body before butchering.
                         The decades-old practice, designed to
                         incapacitate cattle while protecting
                         slaughterhouse workers, renders the animal
                         brain-dead by sending a power-driven plunger
                         through its skull. Because stunning is
                         generally considered to be a humane way of
                         preparing cattle for slaughter, some form of
                         the procedure is required by the federal Humane
                         Slaughter Act.

                         The process, especially a pneumatic variant
                         that follows the plunger with a blast of air,
                         appears to drive particles of brain matter
                         through the animal's circulatory system. Last
                         year, researchers at Texas A&M University
                         announced that they had found brain tissue in
                         the lungs of as many as as 5 percent of cattle
                         that had been stunned. At the time, the meat
                         industry said that the findings did not have
                         consequences for public health since Americans
                         generally do not eat lung tissue.

                         But new research by the Texas researchers and
                         the Canadian government's Food Inspection
                         agency has found bits of brain matter in liver
                         and other parts of the body as well, Schardt
                         said. "It splatters brain tissue, as it turns
                         out, throughout the cow's body," Schardt said.
                         Those observations, however, have not yet been
                         published in a peer-reviewed scientific
                         journal, so they must be considered
                         preliminary.

                         The more forceful pneumatic method of stunning
                         is used by 75 percent of slaughterhouses that
                         process more than 50 heads per hour, according
                         to industry estimates. A recent review of
                         stunning procedures by assistant professor
                         Temple Grandin of Colorado State University
                         suggested that the pneumatic process increased
                         the probability of contamination, especially
                         when the creature is stunned more than once,
                         which she said "pulverizes the brain."

                         The process is prohibited for kosher slaughter,
                         although Grandin found that those procedures
                         might pose their own risk of transmitting
                         infection because they cause more "bloodsplash"
                         than captive-bolt stunning. Grandin wrote that
                         a slightly costlier method, using small,
                         hand-held, cartridge-fired guns, improved aim
                         and decreased bloodsplash. "If air injection
                         proves to be the major cause, the problem can
                         easily be eliminated by using a well-maintained
                         cartridge gun," Grandin wrote.

                         Representatives of the American Meat Institute
                         and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association
                         appeared at the press conference called by
                         CSPI. Although neither organization
                         acknowledged that the stunning process is a
                         source of risk to humans, they did announce
                         that they would sponsor a study on stunning
                         that should be completed by early December.
                         "The industry is committed to finding a better
                         way if there is a problem," said Janet E.
                         Collins, vice president for research at the
                         American Meat Institute Foundation, in an
                         interview. She added, however, that "Before you
                         can make the statement that you have a problem
                         here you have to have the data -- and I don't
                         think that the data are good."

                         Beef safety is regulated chiefly by the U.S.
                         Department of Agriculture. The two beef trade
                         organizations have asked the department to
                         examine the design of the study and its
                         results. "We agreed to review" the study, said
                         Jacque Knight, a spokeswoman for the USDA's
                         Food Safety Inspection Service. "Until we do,
                         that's about all I think we can say right now.
                         . . . We're always willing to look at
                         improvements at the way we do things."

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 00:02:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [CA] Homeless Animals' Day - Correction
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Whoops - forgot to put the date in on the original posting. Here is how it
should have read.
Sorry about that.

David

The Vancouver Humane Society will be holding a rally to commerorate Homeless
Animals' Day outside Vancouver City Hall (12th Ave @ Cambie).

Time: 2:00 PM

Date: Saturday, August 16th, 1997

Speakers include Councilor Nancy A. Chiaario, who will announce what
Vancouver Council will be doing to address the companion animal
overpopulation in the city.

Other speakers: TBA

There will also be a vigil in honour of the 1,000 dogs and 7,000 cats killed
in Greater Vancouver's SPCA shelters in 1996.

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 02:47:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Labour MP and animals
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, July 26th, 1997

Pet of the week

IF Tony Banks, Minister for Sport, is late for a meeting, it is probably
because he's been feeding Buzz, a reformed cat burglar who moved in with him
about a year ago. Buzz, named after the Disney Toy Story character Buzz
Lightyear, shares his home with Felix, another black cat, who also turned up
as a bedraggled kitten, crying on the doorstep of the Minister's east
London home.

Animals in his constituency seem to know where to get help. For Banks, a
vegetarian, is a devoted animal lover. He has stopped his government car
several times to rescue wounded blackbird fledglings or one-legged pigeons
this summer. "There's a pigeon upstairs at the moment. It's recovering well."

If parliamentary hours permitted it, Banks would have a dog (cats are
flexible enough to let themselves in and out with a cat flap).

"They don't always use it. They've discovered that if they sit near the
door, the alarm buzzer goes off and somebody has to come and let them in.
It's no fun at 4.30am."

Buzz used to sneak into the house and steal food. "He wouldn't let you come
near him and you couldn't pick him up. Now he eats everything. He thinks
that if he eats up all the food, there will be none for Felix and so Felix
will have to move out and he'll have the house to himself. He wouldn't purr
when he first came to us.

Now he purrs."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 02:47:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Following in their fin strokes
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, July 26th, 1997

Following in their fin strokes

Satellite tracking is revealing the mysteries of our oceanic cousins and the
depths to which they are prepared to sink in the quest for survival. Roger
Highfield reports

WHALES, turtles, penguins and an assortment of other creatures are
travelling further and diving deeper than we ever thought possible. Gazing
down from an orbiting satellite, biologists are now able to track epic
natural journeys across the planet, providing the first detailed glimpse of
the movements of many creatures that will be crucial for conservation
efforts, as well as for establishing new wildlife records.

This month, basking sharks join the long line of creatures that are being
tracked during epic journeys by scientists from the comfort of their
laboratories. One of the pioneers is Dr Tony Martin, who since 1983 has been
developing tracking methods at the Sea Mammal Research Unit, based in St
Andrews and Cambridge.

Beluga whales are his specialty. Eskimo folklore has it that belugas are
coastal creatures that rarely dive deeper than 20 metres and can hold their
breath for only a few minutes. "Imagine our surprise then, when the first
batch of tagged whales exceeded the maximum recordable depth of 300 metres,
the second batch exceeded the revised limit of 500 metres, and then three
belugas off Alaska dived to more than 1,000 metres," he said.

"One dive to 1,170 metres is the deepest accurately recorded dive for any
cetacean. What's more, we now know that this animal can hold its breath for
around 21 minutes," he said.

The reason for the record breaking V-shaped dives of more than 800 metres
in the Beaufort Sea off north-west Canada is not known, though Dr Martin
believes that it is probably to search the underside of ice to find the next
breathing hole.

No light penetrates to such depths, but belugas use sound to explore their
environment. They may be able to listen for other whales in their direction
of travel or for the tell-tale slop of water at a hole in the ice above.

"If one is discovered, they could carry on; if not, they could turn back to
the last one from the bottom of the 'V' - literally the point of no return,"
he said. "They are going under ice in areas where no one, even the Eskimos,
had any clue they could possibly survive."

The work has shown that belugas spend most of their time foraging for fish
on the seabed, so that the "beluga restaurant" extends to most of the Arctic
basin floor. "We find belugas snuffling around on the seabed hundreds of
kilometres from land," said Dr Martin, author of the book Beluga Whales.

For other "races" of Belugas, there are quite different behaviours. Pods
that migrate to Churchill, Hudson's Bay, have a much easier life. They spend
the entire summer hanging around the river mouth, diving no more than 15
metres to find food.

The satellite-linked radio tracking data allows the team to recommend
shipping routes to avoid critical beluga habitats. "The main populations are
going to really quite tiny areas, where they feed exclusively on the
seabed," he said.

And the method allows team members to study belugas in some of the most
remote locations. "Back home in the warmth of my Cambridge lab, my
biologist's interpretation of a blip moving across a computer screen must
surely be enhanced by knowing that it represents that gleaming white brute
that bit my leg in a frigid Svalbard fjord a mere six weeks earlier," said
Dr Martin.

Similar surprises have been in store for researchers at the University of
California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, when 130 gram satellite
transmitters revealed young Antarctic emperor penguins may range well beyond
previously recorded boundaries. The species was formerly thought to live
exclusively in an icy isolated habitat in the southern hemisphere.

A three-year study by Prof Gerald Kooyman and colleagues found that
fledgling penguins travel thousands of miles from their home in the Ross
Sea, venturing north near waters that may be used by commercial fleets. "We
found what I feel were astonishing results," said Prof Kooyman. "They were
travelling so far."

"It's very exciting but also really remarkable. These (juvenile) birds go so
far north that they're in ice-free water and must be in the water constantly
for weeks, if not months," he said.

The juveniles travelled beyond the Ross Sea, nearly 2,000 nautical miles
from the South Pole. The scientists are unsure why, although it may be to
find upwellings in the ocean where food is more plentiful.

The conservation provisions of the Antarctic Treaty extend only as far north
as the 60th parallel so this study has revealed that the penguins are
entering unprotected waters. With this new information, Prof Kooyman
suggests the current boundaries may be too limiting to protect the emperors.

Other valuable information for conservationists has come from transmitters
tethered to leatherback turtles setting out across the Pacific from Costa
Rica, in a study led by Stephen Morreale of Cornell University. Although the
leatherback is the largest turtle, little is known about its marine
behaviour, where it can range over distances of up to 60 miles a day and
dive to depths of thousands of feet.

All the turtles set off from the same beach once they laid their eggs at a
nesting site near Playa Grande, and all headed in the same direction, along
a 1,600 mile "turtle highway" pointing roughly towards the Galapagos Islands.

"The existence of ocean corridors for sea turtles is important to the
development of effective international conservation strategies," said Morreale.

 A similar study is now under way on green turtles by Dr Graeme Hays of the
University of Wales, Swansea. Despite one unexpected problem - turtle
lovemaking tends to knock off the transmitters - he has successfully tracked
one individual from Ascension Island to Brazil, a distance of 1,500 miles.

The turtles must complete the round trip, which takes eight months, without
a single meal. Unlike the leatherbacks, which can feed in deep water, the
green turtles feed only on sea grass found in shallow water off South America.

"They don't stop day and night on that migration route, just keep on going
50 miles a day every day," he said. "They go like little wind-up toys."

The satellite suggests that, at the moment, the turtle is resting for an
hour or two at a time on the seabed, before rising to the surface for an
occasional breath of fresh air. "'It is recovering from the trip," said Dr
Hays, who hopes to use the technique to explore how the turtles navigate - a
feat thought to rely on magnetic fields or wave direction.

Conservation is also at the heart of another tracking study of the
mysterious basking shark, the world's second largest fish, launched this
month off the west coast of Scotland. This is the second attempt to attach
four satellite transmitters to the backs of the fish - the fish eluded them
when they first tried last year, said David Wilson, the Scottish Wildlife
Trust's regional officer. "They all appeared after we left."

The team will approach the fish from behind in a motor boat. A long
aluminium pole will be used to attach the transmitter by a small dart. The
transmitter will send measurements of water pressure, temperature and
location via a French satellite to Durham whenever the fish surface.

Basking sharks, once a common sight off the west of Scotland between June
and October, get their name from their habit of basking on the surface with
their jaws open, harvesting plankton. The team is hoping to discover whether
the giant creatures, which grow up to 30ft long and weigh four tons, linger
on the ocean floor over the winter months or travel farther afield.

The ú20,000 project has been funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and will be
run by Dr Mark O'Connell and Tim Thom of Durham University with the
assistance of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. "No one knows whether they travel
the world, or go into a semi-hibernation over the winter," said Mr Wilson.
"We don't even know if the European population is an isolated one or
interacts with others around the globe."

Anecdotal evidence suggests that at the end of the 1980s there was a marked
decline in numbers. "It is very hard to convince the statutory agencies that
there has been a fall in numbers because the data is so hard to come by,"
said Mr Wilson.

"The powers that be need hard statistics and that is what we are trying to get."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 02:49:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Following in their fin strokes
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


Annalise,

Thought some of the info in this article might be of interest to you.

I'll try to make it Saturday/Sunday - but no promises.

David

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, July 26th, 1997

Following in their fin strokes

Satellite tracking is revealing the mysteries of our oceanic cousins and the
depths to which they are prepared to sink in the quest for survival. Roger
Highfield reports

WHALES, turtles, penguins and an assortment of other creatures are
travelling further and diving deeper than we ever thought possible. Gazing
down from an orbiting satellite, biologists are now able to track epic
natural journeys across the planet, providing the first detailed glimpse of
the movements of many creatures that will be crucial for conservation
efforts, as well as for establishing new wildlife records.

This month, basking sharks join the long line of creatures that are being
tracked during epic journeys by scientists from the comfort of their
laboratories. One of the pioneers is Dr Tony Martin, who since 1983 has been
developing tracking methods at the Sea Mammal Research Unit, based in St
Andrews and Cambridge.

Beluga whales are his specialty. Eskimo folklore has it that belugas are
coastal creatures that rarely dive deeper than 20 metres and can hold their
breath for only a few minutes. "Imagine our surprise then, when the first
batch of tagged whales exceeded the maximum recordable depth of 300 metres,
the second batch exceeded the revised limit of 500 metres, and then three
belugas off Alaska dived to more than 1,000 metres," he said.

"One dive to 1,170 metres is the deepest accurately recorded dive for any
cetacean. What's more, we now know that this animal can hold its breath for
around 21 minutes," he said.

The reason for the record breaking V-shaped dives of more than 800 metres
in the Beaufort Sea off north-west Canada is not known, though Dr Martin
believes that it is probably to search the underside of ice to find the next
breathing hole.

No light penetrates to such depths, but belugas use sound to explore their
environment. They may be able to listen for other whales in their direction
of travel or for the tell-tale slop of water at a hole in the ice above.

"If one is discovered, they could carry on; if not, they could turn back to
the last one from the bottom of the 'V' - literally the point of no return,"
he said. "They are going under ice in areas where no one, even the Eskimos,
had any clue they could possibly survive."

The work has shown that belugas spend most of their time foraging for fish
on the seabed, so that the "beluga restaurant" extends to most of the Arctic
basin floor. "We find belugas snuffling around on the seabed hundreds of
kilometres from land," said Dr Martin, author of the book Beluga Whales.

For other "races" of Belugas, there are quite different behaviours. Pods
that migrate to Churchill, Hudson's Bay, have a much easier life. They spend
the entire summer hanging around the river mouth, diving no more than 15
metres to find food.

The satellite-linked radio tracking data allows the team to recommend
shipping routes to avoid critical beluga habitats. "The main populations are
going to really quite tiny areas, where they feed exclusively on the
seabed," he said.

And the method allows team members to study belugas in some of the most
remote locations. "Back home in the warmth of my Cambridge lab, my
biologist's interpretation of a blip moving across a computer screen must
surely be enhanced by knowing that it represents that gleaming white brute
that bit my leg in a frigid Svalbard fjord a mere six weeks earlier," said
Dr Martin.

Similar surprises have been in store for researchers at the University of
California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, when 130 gram satellite
transmitters revealed young Antarctic emperor penguins may range well beyond
previously recorded boundaries. The species was formerly thought to live
exclusively in an icy isolated habitat in the southern hemisphere.

A three-year study by Prof Gerald Kooyman and colleagues found that
fledgling penguins travel thousands of miles from their home in the Ross
Sea, venturing north near waters that may be used by commercial fleets. "We
found what I feel were astonishing results," said Prof Kooyman. "They were
travelling so far."

"It's very exciting but also really remarkable. These (juvenile) birds go so
far north that they're in ice-free water and must be in the water constantly
for weeks, if not months," he said.

The juveniles travelled beyond the Ross Sea, nearly 2,000 nautical miles
from the South Pole. The scientists are unsure why, although it may be to
find upwellings in the ocean where food is more plentiful.

The conservation provisions of the Antarctic Treaty extend only as far north
as the 60th parallel so this study has revealed that the penguins are
entering unprotected waters. With this new information, Prof Kooyman
suggests the current boundaries may be too limiting to protect the emperors.

Other valuable information for conservationists has come from transmitters
tethered to leatherback turtles setting out across the Pacific from Costa
Rica, in a study led by Stephen Morreale of Cornell University. Although the
leatherback is the largest turtle, little is known about its marine
behaviour, where it can range over distances of up to 60 miles a day and
dive to depths of thousands of feet.

All the turtles set off from the same beach once they laid their eggs at a
nesting site near Playa Grande, and all headed in the same direction, along
a 1,600 mile "turtle highway" pointing roughly towards the Galapagos Islands.

"The existence of ocean corridors for sea turtles is important to the
development of effective international conservation strategies," said Morreale.

 A similar study is now under way on green turtles by Dr Graeme Hays of the
University of Wales, Swansea. Despite one unexpected problem - turtle
lovemaking tends to knock off the transmitters - he has successfully tracked
one individual from Ascension Island to Brazil, a distance of 1,500 miles.

The turtles must complete the round trip, which takes eight months, without
a single meal. Unlike the leatherbacks, which can feed in deep water, the
green turtles feed only on sea grass found in shallow water off South America.

"They don't stop day and night on that migration route, just keep on going
50 miles a day every day," he said. "They go like little wind-up toys."

The satellite suggests that, at the moment, the turtle is resting for an
hour or two at a time on the seabed, before rising to the surface for an
occasional breath of fresh air. "'It is recovering from the trip," said Dr
Hays, who hopes to use the technique to explore how the turtles navigate - a
feat thought to rely on magnetic fields or wave direction.

Conservation is also at the heart of another tracking study of the
mysterious basking shark, the world's second largest fish, launched this
month off the west coast of Scotland. This is the second attempt to attach
four satellite transmitters to the backs of the fish - the fish eluded them
when they first tried last year, said David Wilson, the Scottish Wildlife
Trust's regional officer. "They all appeared after we left."

The team will approach the fish from behind in a motor boat. A long
aluminium pole will be used to attach the transmitter by a small dart. The
transmitter will send measurements of water pressure, temperature and
location via a French satellite to Durham whenever the fish surface.

Basking sharks, once a common sight off the west of Scotland between June
and October, get their name from their habit of basking on the surface with
their jaws open, harvesting plankton. The team is hoping to discover whether
the giant creatures, which grow up to 30ft long and weigh four tons, linger
on the ocean floor over the winter months or travel farther afield.

The ú20,000 project has been funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and will be
run by Dr Mark O'Connell and Tim Thom of Durham University with the
assistance of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. "No one knows whether they travel
the world, or go into a semi-hibernation over the winter," said Mr Wilson.
"We don't even know if the European population is an isolated one or
interacts with others around the globe."

Anecdotal evidence suggests that at the end of the 1980s there was a marked
decline in numbers. "It is very hard to convince the statutory agencies that
there has been a fall in numbers because the data is so hard to come by,"
said Mr Wilson.

"The powers that be need hard statistics and that is what we are trying to get."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 21:15:25 +0800
From: jwed <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (CN) Aquarium offers stroll into underwater world
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

China Daily 26th July 1997
Shark! Look out!
For a moment, I almost forget where I am, as the spotted zebra sharks and
whitetip reef sharks lurking in the deep suddenly scuttle towards me.
I lean forward to take a good look at the voracious creatures and
accidentally squish my nose and forehead against the invisible plastic
screen.
That reminds me.
I'm in the glass-tube tunnel of the Nanjing Underwater World, a new
aquarium at the foot of Zijin Mountain to the east of the city.
The transparent acrylic barrier is a mere 6 centimetres thick. Fish of all
kinds and colours swim beside, around and above me. New acrylic technology
enables visitors like me to be submerged in the mysterious underwater world
of the sea, with its rich tapestry of marine life, without getting wet.
Eyes and mouths wide open, visitors around me are overwhelmed when they
first step into the 74-metre-long acrylic tubes. Their initial silence is
immediately followed by a hum of excitement. For most of them, who probably
have never been to the seashore, this must be an almost surreal experience.
I know that to most of these inland visitors, the word "fish" only means
something they eat for dinner. But here, for the first time, they learn to
enjoy fish with their eyes instead of their stomachs.
Since the aquarium opened to the public in January, it has drawn more than
600,000 visitors from the city and its nearby areas, including even
Shanghai. With 15,000 fish representing more than 300 varieties, the 200
million yuan ($24 million) investment by Singapore's Alliance Technology
and Development Ltd (ATD) has become a must-see spot among the natural and
historical tourist attractions dotting centuries-old Nanjing.
As a result of a slight optical distortion, the fish look a little smaller
than they actually are. So does a diver when he slides into the
six-metre-deep water to feed the sharks. People watch, their expressions
suggesting they find it all rather hard to believe.
"It must be a robot," someone mutters. Others argue with the guide after he
assures them it is a human diver.
I thought of the Old Testament -- when Moses parts the Red Sea and leads
his people across and out of Egypt. But I know most Chinese would probably
be reminded of the Monkey King, a spirited character in ancient legend, who
used to part the sea to visit the palace of dragons.
Watching the diver swimming at ease beside the sharks was terrific. If
instead of being a shark's prey man could be its playmate, there might be
reason to believe that the world will find peace some day.
My journey into the marine world actually began in a gallery where goldfish
and tropical fresh-water fish of varied shapes and bright colours were
swimming in aquariums set into the walls. Bubble-eye and lionhead goldfish
were cruised languorously behind the glass. Their diaphanous tails swung
like elaborate trains of lady's dresses.
Most of the visitors were amused by the very name of the Kissing Gourami,
which make contact with each other with their mouths. Onlookers explode in
laughter when told that kissing is in fact the fish's special way of
fighting.
The Aba Aba has an interesting Chinese name -- nude-bottom fish. Its
scientific name is Gymnarchus Niloticus. Its perfect swimming style and
streamlined figure is sure to win the envy of human swimmers.
An exhibition hall has some of the most treasured species of sea creatures
on display. The hawkshell turtle often draws the most spectators. Weighing
about 275 kilograms, it is the second largest marine turtle in the world.
It is at home in most tropical and temperate seas around the world.
Even though there are written descriptions of the fish, many of the
visitors find it hard to believe they aren't fake, perhaps even made of
wax. "It will take a long time for people to learn about the sea and the
mysterious marine life there," said Guan Jing, who works for the aquarium's
education department, which often arranges lectures for children. Free
textbooks on marine life are distributed to them, and an expert lecturer on
marine life is available.
The aquarium integrates education and entertainment to bring profit to the
community as well as to itself. Among the 600,000 visitors, 70 per cent are
children from primary and secondary schools. For these curious youngsters,
the aquarium is a top choice for an outing, and their parents are willing
to pay for it.
"I got to learn more about underwater life from the aquarium," Ren Wei, a
primary school student, wrote in his assigned composition. "The pictures of
marine life that I had seen in books came to life."
In addition to the acrylic tunnel that provides visitors a panorama of
deep-ocean life, a small pool allows children to get close to the fish.
Here they are allowed to touch various sea creatures: starfish, lobsters,
cat sharks. But I could only be a spectator.
Most children shrunk at first from the ferocious-looking fish. But they
soon became engrossed when encouraged and convinced that the fish would not
bite them. Their shouts and laughter were constantly echoing in the
underwater world.
A king crab that looks like a plate was their favourite. The living fossil
comes from the Devonian period, 350-400 million years ago. The guide told
me that the king crab practices monogamy.
A few steps farther, I found myself surrounded by lush tropical plants. A
river ran alongside me to some unknown destination. A dilapidated hut, some
undecipherable stone carvings and inscribed tablets led me to imagine life
before the dawn of history. An explanatory plaque hanging above the exit
told a tale of life along the riverside.
"The ruined city is flooded," it explains, "creating a special habitat for
the piranhas." Piranhas are dagger-toothed predators that swarm in some
rivers of tropical South America.
The story continued as did the river, and I followed. A crocodile rested on
a rock beside his pool. Two salamanders, "baby fish," as the Chinese have
nicknamed them, waited quietly at the bottom of a fountain.
I was told they would become active at night and would leave the fountain
to visit the other underwater life. To keep them in their own habitat, the
fountain was covered with a net at night.
"But the crocodile is active only when enjoying his dinner," said Guan. The
crocodile is fed with small fish twice a day. Then visitors see how a
crocodile moves about and swims -- and experience an unforgettable moment
when the crocodile really sheds tears before gulping down its prey.
"It is one of nature's vivid lessons," said Guan. "The weak are bullied by
the strong and the small eaten by the big."
After about 45 minutes, my marine journey ended. I believe that most
visitors will share my feelings about the experience. They will come into
the underwater world with a mixture of doubt and curiosity. And they will
leave feeling delighted, with just a touch of regret for an experience over
too soon.
Author: Ji Tao

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 11:18:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: Debbie Leahy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [US] Protetst Oakbrook Elephant Rides
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

CHICAGO SUBURB PLANS ELEPHANT RIDES FOR FUNDRAISER

Please speak out against exotic animal rides at an upcoming
event in west suburban Chicago.  Oakbrook Terrace is
planning to provide elephant rides at a Run for Kids
fundraiser on August 30.  Let the organizer know that you
oppose the use of animals at this event and urge them to
cancel the animal acts.  Mention:

* Performing animals are often subjected to continual
  confinement, total domination, and fierce punishment.

* Animals used in traveling shows are deprived of all their
  natural behaviors.

* Elephant rides are extremely dangerous for both riders and
  viewers--many elephant rampages have resulted in deaths
  and injuries.

* A human form of tuberculosis is spreading rapidly among
  captive elephants and to people exposed to them.

Please call or write as soon as possible!  Contact:

Cathy Caldarazzo, Tourism Director
City of Oakbrook
Department of Tourism
17 W 261 Butterfield Rd.
Oakbrook Terrace, IL  60181
phone) 630/941-8300  fax) 630/941-7254

==============================
Debbie Leahy
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL  60555
630/393-2935
==============================
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 12:22:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: President of 2002 Olympics is big game killer, etc.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

USA Today, Thursday, 6/24/97

Salt Lake City - Tom Welch is cutting short an African safari to meet with
Olympic officials Wednesday, when they'll discuss his future as president of
the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.

He is expected to return with his son today from the elephant hunting
expedition to face a charge of domestic violence battery, a class B
misdemeanor, based on allegations he bruised and restrained his wife, Alma
Welch, during an argument July 9.

A court date is not set.  Welch's lawyer, Max Wheeler, said he spoke with
Welch on Tuesday, the day the committee called for the special meeting that
will take place behind closed doors.

"He was unaware of the whole firestorm surrounding this and was quite
surprised," Wheeler said Wednesday.

Welch, 52, the mainstay of the original Olympic bid team since 1985, began
receiving his $325,000 a year salary after Salt Lake won the bid in 1995.
 Before his Olympic involvement, he was a corporate attorney for Smith's Food
and Drug, a large regional supermarket chain.

Welch denied to Wheeler there was "a  physical assault."  Alma Welch told
police that her husband threw her into a wall and put her in a "headlock"
during an argument over her husband's relationship with another woman.

Wheeler said Welch expressed concern for the effects of the incident on his
family.  The couple has six children and are expecting their first grandchild
soon.

Police were dispatched to the Welch residence again Monday afternoon after a
heated argument between Alma Welch and two of her adult children.

By Lisa Riley Roche
Special for USA TODAY


Date: Saturday, July 26, 1997
From: [e-mail] (Aaron Medlock)
To: [e-mail] (POSTING)
Subject: CA Volunteers Needed For Ballot Measure
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO COLLECT
SIGNATURES FOR WILDLIFE PROTECTION BALLOT MEASURE!

    Protect Pets and Wildlife (ProPAW), the political committee
organizing the campaign in California to ban cruel traps and poisons,
needs volunteers who are registered to vote in California to circulate
petitions and gather signatures from mid-September through
mid-February.  More than 650,000 signatures must be collected during
this five-month period.

    If enough signatures are gathered, California voters will have the
opportunity to vote "yes" in November 1998 to ban the use of the
steel-jawed leghold trap; to ban the use of any body-gripping trap
(including snares and Conibears) for the purposes of recreation or
commerce in fur; to ban the selling of pelts taken in the state with
any body-gripping trap; and to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium
cyanide (commonly used in M-44s).

    If you are a REGISTERED CALIFORNIA VOTER and can help collect
signatures for this campaign, please respond to this email and provide
ProPAW with the following information:

    YOUR NAME
    YOUR MAILING ADDRESS
    YOUR DAY and EVENING TELEPHONE NUMBERS

    You will be added to a growing list of volunteers who want to make
a difference for wildlife, and you will receive a signature-gathering
packet of official petitions and instructions in a few weeks.

    If you are NOT REGISTERED TO VOTE but live in California and want
to help, please respond with the same information as above and let us
know how you can help.  For instance:

    -- coordinating volunteers at a particular location, or in a town
or city;
    -- volunteering at our soon-to-be-opened Los Angeles office;
    -- organizing a fund-raising event;
    -- monitoring your local newspaper and sending relevant clippings
to ProPAW;
    -- obtaining endorsements of the ProPAW initiative from local
animal protection, environmental, political, religious, civic or social
groups.

    Protect Pets and Wildlife is sponsored by the American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Animal Protection Institute,
The Ark Trust, Doris Day Animal League, The Fund for Animals, The
Humane Society of the United States, and the International Fund for
Animal Welfare.  Aaron Medlock is the ProPAW campaign manager.



Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 13:56:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Decorating with Trophy Deer Heads
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


This question and answer appeared in the real estate section
of an Okla. City newspaper:

                      No dear; No deer allowed

Q:  My son has shot his first deer (we live in Vermont and hunting
is a way of life up here).  We have most of the deer in the freezer;
but my husband had the head mounted and wants to hang it over
the fireplace.  I'm not really keen on the idea -- from a design point
of view only.  Our living room is country but not rustic.  I'm afraid
a trophy would just look tacky.  What do you think?

A:  See if you can't talk that deer head into the family room or front
hall, if it really upsets your decor.  But as long as you put the rest
of the deer to good use, I say don't give "tacky" another thought.

                                           For the Animals,

                                           Jana, OKC
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 11:10:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Apology
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Seems like after been off-line for a couple of weeks, I've become a little
rusty. Please ignore my second posting on "Following in their fin strokes."
This was not meant to be sent to the list.

Sorry for any inconvenience. (My only excuse is that I just waded through
about 400 e-mails yesterday.)

David

Date: Sat, 26 Jul 1997 16:30:39 -0400
From: SHELTON WALDEN <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: WALDEN'S POND RADIO PROGRAMS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

GREETINGS!


WALDEN'S POND RADIO PROGRAMS NOW AVAILABLE!


The best of "Walden's Pond", the weekly radio program on animal
rights, human rights, veganism, and the environment, are now available
to you.

Since 1989, "Walden's Pond" has broadcast programs on such topics as
mad-cow disease, human genital mutilation, vaccinations, hunting,
men's rights, women's rights, and other social and political issues.
Featured guests have been Alice Walker, Gary Francione, Howard Lyman,
and many others. "Walden's Pond" is available on audio cassette and/or
transcript at 1 888 31 RADIO, or call or fax at 212 864 4206/662 3385.

Write to:

Walden's Pond Productions
P.O. Box 20605
New York, New York 10025-1515

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