Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news47~9.htm/text0004.txt

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from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
 07/23/1997 01:52 EST

 Meat Inspection Law Criticized

 By KATHERINE RIZZO
 Associated Press Writer

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iowa meat processors can sell emu steaks or alligator
 ribs across state lines, but not their beef.

 The reason: All of that state's meatpacking plants have chosen to be
 inspected by Iowa, not the U.S. Agriculture Department.

 It's a contradiction that a lot of other states want the federal
 government to do away with so that processors can sell beef, pork and
 chicken wherever they can find customers.

 ``There is absolutely no rationale, equality, fairness or reason to hang
 onto this law,'' Iowa Agriculture Secretary Dale Cochran told federal
 regulators Tuesday.

 Under current law, only meat inspected under federal eye can be shipped
 from state to state.

 Twenty-six states do their own meat inspections, accounting for about 7
 percent of U.S. meat and poultry production. For plants in those states,
 the products must remain in that state, even though state inspection
 programs are set up with USDA approval, must be equal or better than
 USDA's program and are partially financed by USDA.

 It's a meaty issue under debate on several fronts, with small processors
 and state governments pitted against large producers and consumer
 activists. The controversy has USDA reconsidering the rule, Congress
 proposing bills to repeal it, and a court case filed by Ohio contending
 its industry has been fouled by a bias against plants that choose cheaper
 state inspections rather than federal.

 Further complicating things, Uncle Sam allows barrier-free distribution
 of meat from Mexico, Canada and 32 other countries as long as it has been
 inspected according to standards at least equal to USDA requirements.

 Michael Weaver, who is about to open a new, federally inspected beef
 jerky plant in Painesville, Ohio, said, ``The foreign trade exposes it in
 black and white.

 ``This ban on interstate shipment of meat and meat products discriminates
 against tax-paying Americans in their own country,'' he said.

 Weaver urged the regulators to give his state-inspected colleagues the
 same sales opportunities as foreign meat producers.

 But Oklahoma meat processor, Jerry Gisinger, contended states ``cannot
 provide the proper degree of protection for the people.''

 ``The state program is driven by politics and expedience,'' he told USDA
 officials at a public meeting. ``I could get relief through political
 interference.''

 That was met with varying degrees of hostility by some state officials
 who have been trying to convince Washington that their inspections are
 thorough, safe and reliable.

 ``We put people in jail for those sorts of things,'' huffed Ohio
 Agriculture Director Fred Daily.

 ``What you're saying is not true,'' said Louisiana Agriculture
 Commissioner Bob Odom. ``That's a disgrace to your industry. How can you
 say we let kids eat thousands of pounds of state-inspected meat when you
 say it's unsafe?''

 An Illinois woman whose 6-year-old son died after eating a tainted
 hamburger scolded the advocates.

 ``There's a lot of whining that's going on in here,'' said Nancy Donley
 of the consumer group Safe Tables Our Priority. ``There is nothing
 stopping any of you or any of your constituents from shipping interstate.
 Just do what is expected, follow the rules and you can do it.''

 USDA is accepting comments on the issue through Aug. 22.

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 08:08:46 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) This Dog Is on a Roll
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


(PETA in the news)
from Washingtonpost.com:
                         ------------------------------------------------

                         This Dog Is on a Roll

                         In Food Fight, It's Wienermobile and Fans Over
                         Animal Rights Activists

                         By Karl Vick
                         Washington Post Staff Writer
                         Wednesday, July 23, 1997; Page A01
                         The Washington Post

                         DUNDALK, Md., July 22ùWhatever headway it may
                         or may not have made on behalf of the world's
                         rabbits, pigs and kangaroos, People for the
                         Ethical Treatment of Animals has reigned as a
                         grandmaster of contemporary public protest.

                         Or rather, it did until 9:05 a.m. today, when
                         the animal rights PR juggernaut ran head-on
                         into the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on a
                         supermarket parking lot here. And ended up
                         looking like road kill.

                         The Wienermobile stands 27 feet long, runs on
                         six cylinders and seats four. It is at once the
                         symbol of Oscar Mayer hot dogs and an American
                         icon. Inherently cheerful and hilariously
                         designed and redesigned over the years (the
                         late Brooks Stevens, who also designed
                         Harley-Davidson motorcycles, added the buns in
                         1958), the Wienermobile is widely regarded as
                         pretty wonderful.

                         "It is," conceded PETA spokesman Bruce
                         Friedrich. "It is very, very fun.

                         "Which is why it's so invidious. It's selling
                         the idea that eating hot dogs is fun. When, in
                         fact, it is a violent, bloody business, and it
                         has got to stop."

                         Driven by this moral certainty, the group has
                         dogged the Wienermobile all summer, clearing
                         the decks for a series of clashes between two
                         titans of public relations. "You know there are
                         10 of them," Friedrich said, meaning
                         Wienermobiles. "And there are more than 400
                         stops nationwide." PETA has marshaled resources
                         sufficient to target 50 stops, including the
                         one in a parking lot outside the Giant Food
                         store on Merritt Boulevard in this blue-collar
                         Baltimore suburb.

                         "Vegetarians Attack Wienermobile," read the
                         headline on the news release PETA issued in
                         advance. In smaller type: "Company Uses
                         Children to Promote Cruelty to Pigs."

                         The children began arriving before 9 a.m., tots
                         clutching motherly hands and climbing under the
                         rope of colored flags tied around overturned
                         shopping carts. They had come to sing the
                         "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" or the "Bologna
                         Song" (their choice) in front of a video
                         camera, as they were invited to do by
                         commercials and print ads during the last two
                         weeks.

                         Touring the country on a "talent search" for
                         cute children to star in commercials is the
                         Wienermobile's regular summer assignment.
                         (Winters are spent on goodwill tours and sports
                         events; a Wienermobile was the pace car in the
                         Glenn Brenner 5K Run two years ago.)

                         "Who wants to practice?" asked Mike Ballog, one
                         of three all-American types in Oscar Mayer
                         T-shirts who travel in the Wienermobile. A
                         little boy hopped and clapped. "I do!" he said.

                         Another boy stood at the microphone with his
                         cap on backward. He was about to start singing
                         when the chanting started.

                         "Cruelty we won't tolerate! Get the slaughter
                         off the plate!"

                         The sound began beyond the minivans. Four
                         people were marching toward the assembled
                         children. Each carried a sign: "Did your food
                         have a face?" One was dressed in a pig suit.

                         "Oscar Mayer is to blame! Exploiting children
                         is a shame!"

                         The children froze. Several stared at the
                         ground. The boy at the microphone began to
                         sing, but his words were drowned out. Two of
                         the PETA people had bullhorns.

                         They marched up to the rope. Inside it, adults
                         began to fume.

                         "Oh, that makes me so mad!" Angel Brown
                         informed the mother next to her. "They're doing
                         more harm to these kids than any hot dog
                         could." She looked down at her daughter, Emily,
                         4. "Emily, don't listen to this, okay?" she
                         said.

                         Emily did not seem to know what was going on.
                         She asked her mother what "slaughter" means.
                         Nearby, another little girl wanted to know why
                         adults get to be so loud.

                         Brown, meanwhile, worked her way toward the
                         protesters. She pointed at their feet. "Wait,
                         wait!" she cried. "I do see leather shoes!"
                         Brown clearly knew how to hurt an animal-rights
                         activist.

                         "I'm a vegetarian," she explained. "Have been
                         for 18 years. I don't eat meat or meat
                         byproducts."

                         Emily does, though. "I've got no choice but to
                         feed her meat, for health reasons," Brown said.
                         "Little kids need some meat. She can't take a
                         protein supplement."

                         The protesters backed away a bit. And though
                         the chants stayed angry ("Stop the torture!
                         Stop the pain! Oscar Mayer is to blame!"), the
                         chanters began to look a little uncertain
                         themselves. The three television cameras that
                         had arrived with them were now focused on the
                         stricken faces of small children caught in some
                         strange adult cross-fire.

                         The coverage, which PETA solicited, is a PETA
                         specialty. In an era in which conventional
                         tactics of confrontation have faded well beyond
                         blase -- homeowners associations march,
                         schoolchildren picket; assignment editors yawn
                         -- PETA always has found some new bit of street
                         theater to lure the cameras.

                         One Thanksgiving, while the president was
                         inside offering the traditional pardon to a
                         turkey contributed by the poultry industry,
                         PETA found a tom that had been so zealously
                         bred for breast meat that it could not stand.
                         It was set in a wheelchair outside the White
                         House gate.

                         It was a classic PETA event, combining cartoon
                         comedy and guerrilla tactics with a jaunty
                         flair calculated to overwhelm everything except
                         the group's point. On July 10, Laurel resident
                         Paul Martin climbed a billboard in San Antonio
                         with a mock meat hook protruding from his
                         abdomen. "Hooked on Meat?" read the 50-foot
                         banner from which he dangled. "Go Vegetarian."

                         With the Wienermobile, however, the group
                         clearly bit off more than it could chew. The
                         backfire wasn't as bad as when PETA tried to
                         take out ads invoking cannibalistic serial
                         killer Jeffrey Dahmer, but there was clearly a
                         miscalculation.

                         "People really love the Wienermobile," Ballog
                         said. Wienermobile workers -- "hotdoggers" --
                         see this constantly on the road, where the
                         vehicle travels through a sea of smiles and
                         happy toots. "It's like being in a parade all
                         the time," says hotdogger Toby Jenkins.

                         But it's when the Wienermobile is stationary
                         that the affection really gushes in. Parked,
                         the Wienermobile fairly floats on a reservoir
                         of goodwill that's been accumulating for
                         generations. Toddlers too young to have learned
                         the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" from TV stare
                         up at baby boomer parents who could not forget
                         it if they tried.

                         Folks in their seventies walk up with Wiener
                         Whistles from their childhood, then ask about
                         Little Oscar, who drove the Wienermobile for
                         years. Now in his eighties, Little Oscar "talks
                         about it like it was yesterday," Ballog says.

                         In fairness, not even Oscar Mayer began to
                         fathom what it had in the Wienermobile until
                         1986, when, to celebrate its 50th birthday, the
                         company sent what was then the only surviving
                         vehicle on a farewell tour. Wienermobile
                         manager Russ Whitacre said the outpouring
                         persuaded executives of the vehicle's emotional
                         power, a power that was still not evident to
                         everyone in the Giant parking lot today.

                         After the protesters finally drifted away and a
                         new crowd of children was assembling, Peggy
                         Nemoff walked up.

                         "I'm the pig," Nemoff said, now in street
                         clothes. Her T-shirt read "Animal Liberation is
                         Human Liberation." "The parents were mad at
                         us?" she said. "Why?"

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 08:08:46 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) This Dog Is on a Roll
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


(PETA in the news)
from Washingtonpost.com:
                         ------------------------------------------------

                         This Dog Is on a Roll

                         In Food Fight, It's Wienermobile and Fans Over
                         Animal Rights Activists

                         By Karl Vick
                         Washington Post Staff Writer
                         Wednesday, July 23, 1997; Page A01
                         The Washington Post

                         DUNDALK, Md., July 22=97Whatever headway it may
                         or may not have made on behalf of the world's
                         rabbits, pigs and kangaroos, People for the
                         Ethical Treatment of Animals has reigned as a
                         grandmaster of contemporary public protest.

                         Or rather, it did until 9:05 a.m. today, when
                         the animal rights PR juggernaut ran head-on
                         into the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile on a
                         supermarket parking lot here. And ended up
                         looking like road kill.

                         The Wienermobile stands 27 feet long, runs on
                         six cylinders and seats four. It is at once the
                         symbol of Oscar Mayer hot dogs and an American
                         icon. Inherently cheerful and hilariously
                         designed and redesigned over the years (the
                         late Brooks Stevens, who also designed
                         Harley-Davidson motorcycles, added the buns in
                         1958), the Wienermobile is widely regarded as
                         pretty wonderful.

                         "It is," conceded PETA spokesman Bruce
                         Friedrich. "It is very, very fun.

                         "Which is why it's so invidious. It's selling
                         the idea that eating hot dogs is fun. When, in
                         fact, it is a violent, bloody business, and it
                         has got to stop."

                         Driven by this moral certainty, the group has
                         dogged the Wienermobile all summer, clearing
                         the decks for a series of clashes between two
                         titans of public relations. "You know there are
                         10 of them," Friedrich said, meaning
                         Wienermobiles. "And there are more than 400
                         stops nationwide." PETA has marshaled resources
                         sufficient to target 50 stops, including the
                         one in a parking lot outside the Giant Food
                         store on Merritt Boulevard in this blue-collar
                         Baltimore suburb.

                         "Vegetarians Attack Wienermobile," read the
                         headline on the news release PETA issued in
                         advance. In smaller type: "Company Uses
                         Children to Promote Cruelty to Pigs."

                         The children began arriving before 9 a.m., tots
                         clutching motherly hands and climbing under the
                         rope of colored flags tied around overturned
                         shopping carts. They had come to sing the
                         "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" or the "Bologna
                         Song" (their choice) in front of a video
                         camera, as they were invited to do by
                         commercials and print ads during the last two
                         weeks.

                         Touring the country on a "talent search" for
                         cute children to star in commercials is the
                         Wienermobile's regular summer assignment.
                         (Winters are spent on goodwill tours and sports
                         events; a Wienermobile was the pace car in the
                         Glenn Brenner 5K Run two years ago.)

                         "Who wants to practice?" asked Mike Ballog, one
                         of three all-American types in Oscar Mayer
                         T-shirts who travel in the Wienermobile. A
                         little boy hopped and clapped. "I do!" he said.

                         Another boy stood at the microphone with his
                         cap on backward. He was about to start singing
                         when the chanting started.

                         "Cruelty we won't tolerate! Get the slaughter
                         off the plate!"

                         The sound began beyond the minivans. Four
                         people were marching toward the assembled
                         children. Each carried a sign: "Did your food
                         have a face?" One was dressed in a pig suit.

                         "Oscar Mayer is to blame! Exploiting children
                         is a shame!"

                         The children froze. Several stared at the
                         ground. The boy at the microphone began to
                         sing, but his words were drowned out. Two of
                         the PETA people had bullhorns.

                         They marched up to the rope. Inside it, adults
                         began to fume.

                         "Oh, that makes me so mad!" Angel Brown
                         informed the mother next to her. "They're doing
                         more harm to these kids than any hot dog
                         could." She looked down at her daughter, Emily,
                         4. "Emily, don't listen to this, okay?" she
                         said.

                         Emily did not seem to know what was going on.
                         She asked her mother what "slaughter" means.
                         Nearby, another little girl wanted to know why
                         adults get to be so loud.

                         Brown, meanwhile, worked her way toward the
                         protesters. She pointed at their feet. "Wait,
                         wait!" she cried. "I do see leather shoes!"
                         Brown clearly knew how to hurt an animal-rights
                         activist.

                         "I'm a vegetarian," she explained. "Have been
                         for 18 years. I don't eat meat or meat
                         byproducts."

                         Emily does, though. "I've got no choice but to
                         feed her meat, for health reasons," Brown said.
                         "Little kids need some meat. She can't take a
                         protein supplement."

                         The protesters backed away a bit. And though
                         the chants stayed angry ("Stop the torture!
                         Stop the pain! Oscar Mayer is to blame!"), the
                         chanters began to look a little uncertain
                         themselves. The three television cameras that
                         had arrived with them were now focused on the
                         stricken faces of small children caught in some
                         strange adult cross-fire.

                         The coverage, which PETA solicited, is a PETA
                         specialty. In an era in which conventional
                         tactics of confrontation have faded well beyond
                         blase -- homeowners associations march,
                         schoolchildren picket; assignment editors yawn
                         -- PETA always has found some new bit of street
                         theater to lure the cameras.

                         One Thanksgiving, while the president was
                         inside offering the traditional pardon to a
                         turkey contributed by the poultry industry,
                         PETA found a tom that had been so zealously
                         bred for breast meat that it could not stand.
                         It was set in a wheelchair outside the White
                         House gate.

                         It was a classic PETA event, combining cartoon
                         comedy and guerrilla tactics with a jaunty
                         flair calculated to overwhelm everything except
                         the group's point. On July 10, Laurel resident
                         Paul Martin climbed a billboard in San Antonio
                         with a mock meat hook protruding from his
                         abdomen. "Hooked on Meat?" read the 50-foot
                         banner from which he dangled. "Go Vegetarian."

                         With the Wienermobile, however, the group
                         clearly bit off more than it could chew. The
                         backfire wasn't as bad as when PETA tried to
                         take out ads invoking cannibalistic serial
                         killer Jeffrey Dahmer, but there was clearly a
                         miscalculation.

                         "People really love the Wienermobile," Ballog
                         said. Wienermobile workers -- "hotdoggers" --
                         see this constantly on the road, where the
                         vehicle travels through a sea of smiles and
                         happy toots. "It's like being in a parade all
                         the time," says hotdogger Toby Jenkins.

                         But it's when the Wienermobile is stationary
                         that the affection really gushes in. Parked,
                         the Wienermobile fairly floats on a reservoir
                         of goodwill that's been accumulating for
                         generations. Toddlers too young to have learned
                         the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" from TV stare
                         up at baby boomer parents who could not forget
                         it if they tried.

                         Folks in their seventies walk up with Wiener
                         Whistles from their childhood, then ask about
                         Little Oscar, who drove the Wienermobile for
                         years. Now in his eighties, Little Oscar "talks
                         about it like it was yesterday," Ballog says.

                         In fairness, not even Oscar Mayer began to
                         fathom what it had in the Wienermobile until
                         1986, when, to celebrate its 50th birthday, the
                         company sent what was then the only surviving
                         vehicle on a farewell tour. Wienermobile
                         manager Russ Whitacre said the outpouring
                         persuaded executives of the vehicle's emotional
                         power, a power that was still not evident to
                         everyone in the Giant parking lot today.

                         After the protesters finally drifted away and a
                         new crowd of children was assembling, Peggy
                         Nemoff walked up.

                         "I'm the pig," Nemoff said, now in street
                         clothes. Her T-shirt read "Animal Liberation is
                         Human Liberation." "The parents were mad at
                         us?" she said. "Why?"

    (US) This Dog Is on a Roll
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 08:28:30 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RFI:  (US) Little Rock Zoo
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


Request for Information (and any help)
posted for--and send replies to:  Cassondra [e-mail]
-------------------------------------------
This is a letter I sent to the director of the Little Rock Zoo after a
recent visit. I was seriously distraught at the conditions the animals
were enduring. PLEASE HELP!!

    c/o Zoo DirectorJuly 22, 1997
Little Rock Zoo
Fair Park Blvd.
Little Rock, AR  72211

Dear Sir/Madam:

I recently visited your zoo on Thursday July 17, 1997 and I cannot
express to you how upset I was when I left your facility. I have
traveled the world over, and have been in many zoos abroad and in the
US, and I have never seen one that was as poor as yours.

The overall atmosphere, in general, is dingy and unkempt but by far
worse are the conditions of the animal pens. Not only are they
aesthetically unpleasing, they certainly cannot possibly simulate the
animals natural habitats. I can honestly say to you that I was near
tears several times during my visit. To begin with, the day was
extremely hot which seems to be par for the course in your region of the
states. Several of the animals were out in the open sun with little
shade if any. One prime example are the zebras. Their landscape was
nothing but dirt and rocks and a lone tree for shade. There was not a
hint of grass to be seen.

Moreover the bears displays were comparably desolate. In the pit where
water could be readily available for them to cool themselves there was
none.  You could actually feel their misery in their small concrete
"homes".  There is a plaque near the gorilla display that states that
the habitats are created to simulate the animalsÆ natural land. This is
the biggest joke IÆve ever heard. IF, and I mean IF, there was a patch
of green in an animals pen, it was a bunch of native (to Arkansas that
is) weeds!! Not to mention the disgusting pool of algae and slime that
resides in the middle of the gorillas cage. I pray that is not their
only source of drinking water!!

By far the most depressing display though were the catsÆ cages. An
animal that is used to running wild in an open plain had barely enough
room to take two steps before it reaches the other side of its cage. The
lions pen was by far the worst.

The conditions for these animals are UNACCEPTABLE. There is no possible
way that your facility at this time is providing the proper physical as
well as mental stimulation for  these animals. I am aware that your
facility may not have the funding of the larger more known zoos, but if
you canÆt afford to give the animals the proper habitats to assure a
healthy life, then you should not be open for business.

I am also writing letters to several animal protection agencies to make
them aware of the issues. I am not writing this letter to be a trouble
maker for your business, but from what I witnessed, I am concerned
enough to care. I hope you are too and will take my feedback seriously.


Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 08:28:30 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RFI:  (US) Little Rock Zoo
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


Request for Information (and any help)
posted for--and send replies to:  Cassondra [e-mail]
-------------------------------------------
This is a letter I sent to the director of the Little Rock Zoo after a
recent visit. I was seriously distraught at the conditions the animals
were enduring. PLEASE HELP!!

c/o Zoo Director                                July 22, 1997
Little Rock Zoo
Fair Park Blvd.
Little Rock, AR  72211

Dear Sir/Madam:

I recently visited your zoo on Thursday July 17, 1997 and I cannot
express to you how upset I was when I left your facility. I have
traveled the world over, and have been in many zoos abroad and in the
US, and I have never seen one that was as poor as yours.=20

The overall atmosphere, in general, is dingy and unkempt but by far
worse are the conditions of the animal pens. Not only are they
aesthetically unpleasing, they certainly cannot possibly simulate the
animals natural habitats. I can honestly say to you that I was near
tears several times during my visit. To begin with, the day was
extremely hot which seems to be par for the course in your region of the
states. Several of the animals were out in the open sun with little
shade if any. One prime example are the zebras. Their landscape was
nothing but dirt and rocks and a lone tree for shade. There was not a
hint of grass to be seen.

Moreover the bears displays were comparably desolate. In the pit where
water could be readily available for them to cool themselves there was
none.  You could actually feel their misery in their small concrete
"homes".  There is a plaque near the gorilla display that states that
the habitats are created to simulate the animals=92 natural land. This is
the biggest joke I=92ve ever heard. IF, and I mean IF, there was a patch
of green in an animals pen, it was a bunch of native (to Arkansas that
is) weeds!! Not to mention the disgusting pool of algae and slime that
resides in the middle of the gorillas cage. I pray that is not their
only source of drinking water!!

By far the most depressing display though were the cats=92 cages. An
animal that is used to running wild in an open plain had barely enough
room to take two steps before it reaches the other side of its cage. The
lions pen was by far the worst.

The conditions for these animals are UNACCEPTABLE. There is no possible
way that your facility at this time is providing the proper physical as
well as mental stimulation for  these animals. I am aware that your
facility may not have the funding of the larger more known zoos, but if
you can=92t afford to give the animals the proper habitats to assure a
healthy life, then you should not be open for business.

I am also writing letters to several animal protection agencies to make
them aware of the issues. I am not writing this letter to be a trouble
maker for your business, but from what I witnessed, I am concerned
enough to care. I hope you are too and will take my feedback seriously.


    RFI:  (US) Little Rock Zoo
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 10:08:28 -0400
From: Patrick Nolan <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: USFWS news realease
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

*************************************************
* Note: the following is forwarded from the FWS-news listserv. *
* I was intrigued by the phrase "safe and ethical hunting."  Huh?  *
*************************************************

For release July 18, 1997               Hugh Vickery 202-208-1456

OLYMPIC CHAMPION KIM RHODE TOUTS HUNTER
SAFETY IN PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

"Hunting safety isn't inherited . . . you have to teach it," Olympic
Gold
Medalist Kim Rhode says in a new television public service announcement
produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will begin airing
across the country this fall.

The PSA is the fourth in a series produced by the Service in cooperation

with state wildlife agencies to promote safe and ethical hunting. Past
spots have not only encouraged parents and older hunters to teach
children
the basics of hunting safety but also to be considerate of landowners
and
obey other ethical guidelines.

Rhode, who won the International Double Trap competition at the 1996
Games
in Atlanta, appears with her mother in 30-second, 20-second, and
15-second
spots. She credits her parents with teaching her hunting safety when
they
took her hunting as a little girl.

"They not only helped me become a good shot, they taught me the most
important lesson of all -- how to hunt safely," Rhode says in the spot.
"Not everyone will grow up to be an Olympic champion, but everyone can
learn to be a safe and ethical hunter. It's up to you."

At the end of the spot, viewers are given the telephone number for the
hunter education program in their state. State wildlife agencies are
assisting in the distribution of the spots.

"We are delighted to have someone of the stature of Kim Rhode
participate
in this campaign," said Service Acting Director John Rogers. "She
epitomizes the best traditions of hunting."

"The entire campaign has been a great success because safety is a
message
you can't repeat too often," Rogers said, noting that in the past as
many
as 80 percent of the stations that receive the spots have decided to air

them. "The television stations that air these spots know they are
engaged
in a meaningful public service."

The spots were produced with funds under the Federal Aid in Wildlife
Restoration program, financed by a federal excise tax on firearms,
ammunition and archery equipment and administered by the Service.
-FWS-

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 10:15:05 -0400
From: Patrick Nolan <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: fun with PETAbashing
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1


'Hot Dog' Wins a Food Fight

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 1997; Page A01

DUNDALK, Md., July 22 ù Whatever headway it may or
may not have made on behalf of the world's rabbits, pigs and
kangaroos, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has
reigned as a grandmaster of contemporary public protest.

Or rather, it did until 9:05 a.m. today, when the animal rights
PR juggernaut ran head-on into the Oscar Mayer
Wienermobile on a supermarket parking lot here. And ended
up looking like road kill.

The Wienermobile stands 27 feet long, runs on six cylinders
and seats four. It is at once the symbol of Oscar Mayer hot
dogs and an American icon. Inherently cheerful, hilariously
designed (by the late Brooks Stevens, who also designed
Harley-Davidson motorcycles), the Wienermobile is widely
regarded as pretty wonderful.

"It is," conceded PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich. "It is very,
very fun.

"Which is why it's so invidious. It's selling the idea that eating
hot dogs is fun. When, in fact, it is a violent, bloody business,
and it has got to stop."

Driven by this moral certainty, the group has dogged the
Wienermobile all summer, clearing the decks for a series of
clashes between two titans of public relations. "You know
there are ten of them," Friedrich said, meaning Wienermobiles.
"And there are more than 400 stops nationwide." PETA has
marshaled resources sufficient to target 50 stops, including the
one in a parking lot outside the Giant Food store on Merritt
Boulevard in this blue-collar Baltimore suburb.

"Vegetarians Attack Wiener mobile," read the headline on the
news release PETA issued in advance. In smaller type:
"Company Uses Children to Promote Cruelty to Pigs."

The children began arriving before 9 a.m., tots clutching
motherly hands and climbing under the rope of colored flags
tied around overturned shopping carts. They had come to sing
the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" or the "Bologna Song" (their
choice) in front of a video camera, as they were invited to do
by commercials and print ads during the last two weeks.

Touring the country on a "talent search" for cute kids to star in
commercials is the Wienermobile's regular summer assignment.
(Winters are spent on goodwill tours and sports events; a
Wienermobile was the pace car in the Glenn Brenner 5K Run
two years ago.)

"Who wants to practice?" asked Mike Ballog, one of three
all-American types in Oscar Mayer T-shirts who travel in the
Wienermobile. A little boy hopped and clapped. "I do!" he
said.

Another boy stood at the microphone with his cap on
backward. He was about to start singing when the chanting
started.

"Cruelty we won't tolerate! Get the slaughter off the plate!"

The sound began beyond the minivans. Four people were
marching toward the assembled kids. Each carried a sign: "Did
your food have a face?" One was dressed in a pig suit.

"Oscar Mayer is to blame! Exploiting children is a shame!"

The kids froze. Several stared at the ground. The boy at the
microphone began to sing, but his words were drowned out.
Two of the PETA people had bullhorns.

They marched up to the rope. Inside it, adults began to fume.

"Oh, that makes me so mad!" Angel Brown informed the
mother next to her. "They're doing more harm to these kids
than any hot dog could."

She looked down at her daughter, Emily, 4. "Emily, don't listen
to this, okay?" she said.

Emily did not seem to know what was going on. She asked her
mother what "slaughter" means. Nearby, another little girl
wanted to know why adults get to be so loud.

Brown, meanwhile, worked her way toward the protesters.
She pointed at their feet. "Wait, wait!" she cried. "I do see
leather shoes!" Brown clearly knew how to hurt an
animal-rights protester.

"I'm a vegetarian," she explained. "Have been for 18 years. I
don't eat meat or meat byproducts."

Emily does, though. "I've got no choice but to feed her meat,
for health reasons," Brown said. "Little kids need some meat.
She can't take a protein supplement."

The protesters backed away a bit. And though the chants
stayed angry ("Stop the torture! Stop the pain! Oscar Mayer is
to blame!"), the chanters began to look a little uncertain
themselves. The three television cameras that had arrived with
them were now focused on the stricken faces of small children
caught in some strange adult cross-fire.

The coverage, which PETA solicited, is a PETA specialty. In
an era in which conventional tactics of confrontation have faded
well beyond blase ù homeowners associations march,
schoolchildren picket; assignment editors yawn ù PETA
always has found some new bit of street theater to lure the
cameras.

One Thanksgiving, while the president was inside offering the
traditional pardon to a turkey contributed by the poultry
industry, PETA found a tom that had been so zealously bred
for breast meat that it could not stand. It was set in a
wheelchair outside the White House gate.

It was a classic PETA event, combining cartoon comedy and
guerrilla tactics with a jaunty flair calculated to overwhelm
everything except the group's point. On July 10, Laurel resident
Paul Martin climbed a billboard in San Antonio with a mock
meat hook protruding from his abdomen. "Hooked on Meat?"
read the 50-foot banner from which he dangled. "Go
Vegetarian."

With the Wienermobile, however, the group clearly bit off
more than it could chew. The backfire wasn't as bad as when
PETA tried to take out ads invoking cannibalistic serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer, but there was clearly a miscalculation.

"People really love the Wienermobile," Ballog said. Wiener
mobile workers ù "hotdoggers" ù see this constantly on the
road, where the vehicle travels through a sea of smiles and
happy toots. "It's like being in a parade all the time," says
hotdogger Toby Jenkins.

But it's when stationary that the affection really gushes in.
Parked, the Wienermobile fairly floats on a reservoir of
goodwill that's been accumulating for generations. Toddlers too
young to have learned the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" from
TV stare up at baby boomer parents who could not forget it if
they tried.

Folks in their seventies walk up with Wiener Whistles from
their childhood, then ask about Little Oscar, who drove the
Wiener mobile for years. Now in his eighties, Little Oscar
"talks about it like it was yesterday," Ballog says.

In fairness, not even Oscar Mayer began to fathom what it had
in the Wienermobile until 1986, when, to celebrate its 50th
birthday, the company sent what was then the only surviving
vehicle on a farewell tour. Wienermobile manager Russ
Whitacre said the outpouring persuaded executives of the
vehicle's emotional power, a power that was still not evident to
everyone in the Giant parking lot today.

After the protesters finally drifted away and a new crowd of
children was assembling, Peggy Nemoff walked up.

"I'm the pig," Nemoff said, now in street clothes. Her T-shirt
read "Animal Liberation is Human Liberation.""The parents
were mad at us?" she said. "Why?"

     ⌐ Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 10:15:05 -0400
From: Patrick Nolan <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: fun with PETAbashing
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


'Hot Dog' Wins a Food Fight

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 1997; Page A01

DUNDALK, Md., July 22 =97 Whatever headway it may or
may not have made on behalf of the world's rabbits, pigs and
kangaroos, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has
reigned as a grandmaster of contemporary public protest.

Or rather, it did until 9:05 a.m. today, when the animal rights
PR juggernaut ran head-on into the Oscar Mayer
Wienermobile on a supermarket parking lot here. And ended
up looking like road kill.

The Wienermobile stands 27 feet long, runs on six cylinders
and seats four. It is at once the symbol of Oscar Mayer hot
dogs and an American icon. Inherently cheerful, hilariously
designed (by the late Brooks Stevens, who also designed
Harley-Davidson motorcycles), the Wienermobile is widely
regarded as pretty wonderful.

"It is," conceded PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich. "It is very,
very fun.

"Which is why it's so invidious. It's selling the idea that eating
hot dogs is fun. When, in fact, it is a violent, bloody business,
and it has got to stop."

Driven by this moral certainty, the group has dogged the
Wienermobile all summer, clearing the decks for a series of
clashes between two titans of public relations. "You know
there are ten of them," Friedrich said, meaning Wienermobiles.
"And there are more than 400 stops nationwide." PETA has
marshaled resources sufficient to target 50 stops, including the
one in a parking lot outside the Giant Food store on Merritt
Boulevard in this blue-collar Baltimore suburb.

"Vegetarians Attack Wiener mobile," read the headline on the
news release PETA issued in advance. In smaller type:
"Company Uses Children to Promote Cruelty to Pigs."

The children began arriving before 9 a.m., tots clutching
motherly hands and climbing under the rope of colored flags
tied around overturned shopping carts. They had come to sing
the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" or the "Bologna Song" (their
choice) in front of a video camera, as they were invited to do
by commercials and print ads during the last two weeks.

Touring the country on a "talent search" for cute kids to star in
commercials is the Wienermobile's regular summer assignment.
(Winters are spent on goodwill tours and sports events; a
Wienermobile was the pace car in the Glenn Brenner 5K Run
two years ago.)

"Who wants to practice?" asked Mike Ballog, one of three
all-American types in Oscar Mayer T-shirts who travel in the
Wienermobile. A little boy hopped and clapped. "I do!" he
said.

Another boy stood at the microphone with his cap on
backward. He was about to start singing when the chanting
started.

"Cruelty we won't tolerate! Get the slaughter off the plate!"

The sound began beyond the minivans. Four people were
marching toward the assembled kids. Each carried a sign: "Did
your food have a face?" One was dressed in a pig suit.

"Oscar Mayer is to blame! Exploiting children is a shame!"

The kids froze. Several stared at the ground. The boy at the
microphone began to sing, but his words were drowned out.
Two of the PETA people had bullhorns.

They marched up to the rope. Inside it, adults began to fume.

"Oh, that makes me so mad!" Angel Brown informed the
mother next to her. "They're doing more harm to these kids
than any hot dog could."

She looked down at her daughter, Emily, 4. "Emily, don't listen
to this, okay?" she said.

Emily did not seem to know what was going on. She asked her
mother what "slaughter" means. Nearby, another little girl
wanted to know why adults get to be so loud.

Brown, meanwhile, worked her way toward the protesters.
She pointed at their feet. "Wait, wait!" she cried. "I do see
leather shoes!" Brown clearly knew how to hurt an
animal-rights protester.

"I'm a vegetarian," she explained. "Have been for 18 years. I
don't eat meat or meat byproducts."

Emily does, though. "I've got no choice but to feed her meat,
for health reasons," Brown said. "Little kids need some meat.
She can't take a protein supplement."

The protesters backed away a bit. And though the chants
stayed angry ("Stop the torture! Stop the pain! Oscar Mayer is
to blame!"), the chanters began to look a little uncertain
themselves. The three television cameras that had arrived with
them were now focused on the stricken faces of small children
caught in some strange adult cross-fire.

The coverage, which PETA solicited, is a PETA specialty. In
an era in which conventional tactics of confrontation have faded
well beyond blase =97 homeowners associations march,
schoolchildren picket; assignment editors yawn =97 PETA
always has found some new bit of street theater to lure the
cameras.

One Thanksgiving, while the president was inside offering the
traditional pardon to a turkey contributed by the poultry
industry, PETA found a tom that had been so zealously bred
for breast meat that it could not stand. It was set in a
wheelchair outside the White House gate.

It was a classic PETA event, combining cartoon comedy and
guerrilla tactics with a jaunty flair calculated to overwhelm
everything except the group's point. On July 10, Laurel resident
Paul Martin climbed a billboard in San Antonio with a mock
meat hook protruding from his abdomen. "Hooked on Meat?"
read the 50-foot banner from which he dangled. "Go
Vegetarian."

With the Wienermobile, however, the group clearly bit off
more than it could chew. The backfire wasn't as bad as when
PETA tried to take out ads invoking cannibalistic serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer, but there was clearly a miscalculation.

"People really love the Wienermobile," Ballog said. Wiener
mobile workers =97 "hotdoggers" =97 see this constantly on the
road, where the vehicle travels through a sea of smiles and
happy toots. "It's like being in a parade all the time," says
hotdogger Toby Jenkins.

But it's when stationary that the affection really gushes in.
Parked, the Wienermobile fairly floats on a reservoir of
goodwill that's been accumulating for generations. Toddlers too
young to have learned the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" from
TV stare up at baby boomer parents who could not forget it if
they tried.

Folks in their seventies walk up with Wiener Whistles from
their childhood, then ask about Little Oscar, who drove the
Wiener mobile for years. Now in his eighties, Little Oscar
"talks about it like it was yesterday," Ballog says.

In fairness, not even Oscar Mayer began to fathom what it had
in the Wienermobile until 1986, when, to celebrate its 50th
birthday, the company sent what was then the only surviving
vehicle on a farewell tour. Wienermobile manager Russ
Whitacre said the outpouring persuaded executives of the
vehicle's emotional power, a power that was still not evident to
everyone in the Giant parking lot today.

After the protesters finally drifted away and a new crowd of
children was assembling, Peggy Nemoff walked up.

"I'm the pig," Nemoff said, now in street clothes. Her T-shirt
read "Animal Liberation is Human Liberation.""The parents
were mad at us?" she said. "Why?"

     =A9 Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

    fun with PETAbashing
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 07:35:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Friends of Animals <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: California Trapping Initiative
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


        Friends of Animals was a charter member of the committee that
developed the 1998 California Trapping Initiative,  and incorporated as
Protect Pets and Wildlife,  also known as ProPAW.  After investing
considerable resources including many months of staff time in developing
the 1998 California Trapping Initiative proposal,  Friends of Animals
regretfully resigned from the committee and withdrew from active support of
the initiative, shortly before the initiative language was
announced--because in our assessment,  that language does more to disguise
cruelty than to prevent it.

        Friends of Animals understood from the beginning the necessity of
balancing ideal objectives with the realities of obtaining voter support.
We understood that a successful California Trapping Initiative could go no
farther than preventing those cruelties we might convince the majority of
Californians to vote against.  Our objective,  therefore,  was to put forth
the strongest possible bill that could obtain majority support.  We
recognized that while majority support for a clear,  simple anti-cruelty
proposal could be won,  according to extensive public opinion surveys,
obtaining passage of any anti-trapping bill would require a hard political
struggle against hunters,  trappers,  and agribusiness.

        Conventional political wisdom holds that,  "As California goes,  so
goes the nation."  Animal use industries will spend heavily to defeat any
proposal which challenges their control of wildlife and habitat management.
Thus a successful initiative campaign must be prepared to meet
no-holds-barred opposition,  whom no compromise will satisfy.  An
initiative against cruel trapping must win in California not by winning
over undecided voters,  as it might in a less politically polarized and
contested state,  but rather by attracting a large turnout of voters,  the
majority of whom--as confirmed by polling--may be strongly motivated in
support of a clear,  direct,  effective anti-cruelty proposal.

        Support for an anti-cruelty ballot proposal becomes less motivated,
again as polling confirmed,  when a clear,  direct,  effective proposal is
encumbered with exceptions--in the case of the California Trapping
Initative,  to permit certain types of cruel trapping to continue,  in a
misguided effort to reduce opposition.

        In short,  when inevitably facing committed opposition,  it is more
effective to rally friends than to try to buy off foes at cost of losing
friends.  Trapping defenders in California are committed;  trapping
opponents,  albeit in the majority,  must be motivated to defeat them.

        Friends of Animals from the beginning of discussion warned the
California Trapping Initiative committee against adopting initiative
language which permits cruelty to continue,  while perhaps conveying to the
public the misguided notion that passage of the initiative will prevent it.
Some other committee members held that the most important objective of the
California Trapping Initiative is simply achieving a symbolic victory,  to
sustain the momentum achieved by the passage of stronger measures in other
states and signify to elected officials the need for humane redirection of
public policy.

        Friends of Animals recognizes the value of symbolism,  sustaining
momentum,  and sending messages to legislators.

        Yet a symbolic "victory,"  Friends of Animals recognized,  would
come no more easily in California than a real victory,  achieving real
change--and a symbolic "victory" might become a significant defeat if it
permits recognized cruelty to continue,  even as voters are persuaded that
passage brings abolition.

        The specific language of the initiative proposal is self-defeating
in stating in the preamble of the list of traps to be banned by the
California Trapping Inititative that,  "It is unlawful for any person to
trap for the purposes of rereation or commerce in fur any fur-bearing
mammal or nongame mammal,"  because such language addresses the motivation
instead of the practice.  If the trapper pretends to be controlling
nuisance wildlife,  the trapper may continue to use any or all of the
banned traps.  Already,  according to California state statistics,  of the
15,011 animals who were trapped by potentially banned methods in 1995,  25%
(3,730) were trapped by just one nuisance wildlife control agency,  the
Animal Damage Control unit of the USDA,  including exactly two-thirds of
the 3,700 coyotes.  In addition to the ADC,  there are countless private
nuisance wildlife trapping agencies in California,  whose records are not
public.  It is thus highly probable that the majority of trapping in
California is already done for purported nuisance wildlife control,  or
could be said to be done for that reason,  and it would not be difficult
for any trapper to proclaim a primary objective other than recreation and
fur-selling.

        The California Trapping Initiative addresses this possibility with
further language declaring that,  "It is unlawful for any person to buy,
sell,  barter,  or otherwise exchange for profit the raw fur" of any mammal
trapped by the types of trap that are to be banned.  This clause is
unenforceable,  however,  because state wildlife law enforcement personnel
have no jurisdiction over the U.S. Postal Service,  nor over other forms of
interstate transport by which trappers might send pelts to the major fur
auctions,  all of which are already held in other states.

        Two further clauses additionally weaken the California Trapping
Initiative even while superficially appearing to strengthen it.  First,
the initiative proposes that it shall become "unlawful for any person,
including employees of the federal,  state,  county,  or municipal
government,  to use or authorise the use of any steel-jawed leghold trap,
padded or otherwise,  to capture any game mammal,  fur-bearing mammal,
nongame mammal,  or any dog or cat."

        This appears to extend the leghold trap prohibition to nuisance
wildlife trappers--but it allows such trappers to continue using snares and
Conibear traps,  which are as cruel as leghold traps in usually causing
prolonged suffering,  even if the victim animal does eventually strangle or
drown.  ADC data indicates that 30% of trapped coyotes,  40% of trapped
badgers,  72% of trapped raccoons,  95% of trapped beavers,  and 100% of
trapped muskrats are killed with snares and/or Conibear traps.  Applying
these ratios to the total number of animals trapped in California suggests
that snaring and Conibear trapping account for about two-thirds of all
trapping:  approximately 10,055 of the 15,011 animals killed.

        The California Trapping Initiative language then adds,  "The
prohibition in this subdivision does not apply to federal,  state,  county,
or municipal government employees or their duly authorized agents in the
extraordinary case where the otherwise prohibited padded-jaw leghold trap
is the only method available to protect human health or safety."

        Since all wildlife may bite,  transmit zoonotic disease,  carry
fleas,  drop feces,  or otherwise represent a transient threat to human
health and safety,  if humans don't use common sense in interactions with
the animals in question,  and since ADC trappers are duly authorized
governmental agents,  this clause amounts to an open-ended negation of much
of the rest of the California Trapping Initiative.  Other would-be
"nuisance wildlife" trappers may also be permitted to use padded leghold
traps in connection with work authorized by government,  which need involve
no more than a "contract" to kill any and all furbearing animals found
within a particular city or county jurisdiction.  The language indeed gives
trappers considerable incentive to curry local political favor,  to the
longterm deteriment of winning strong enforcement of the intent of the law.

        Friends of Animals recognizes that it may be necessary to permit a
very limited exemption for the use of certain otherwise prohibited trapping
methods in circumstances where no other method can as expediently prevent
imminent risk to public health and safety.  However,  the California
Trapping Initiative language does not provide a narrow exemption for the
exceptional case.  Unlike the Arizona initiative passed in 1994,  it does
not limit the use of padded leghold traps to regularly employed personnel
of health departments.  Under the California Trapping Initiative,  any
public agency could authorize anyone as "agent" to use padded leghold traps
to capture wildlife,  in the pretense that the mere presence of the animal
might be hazardous to human health or safety.  Nothing stipulates that the
purported threat must be imminent,  significant,  or even remotely
probable.

        The California Trapping Initiative also addresses poisoning,  in
recognition that livestock producers may turn to poison if they are not
allowed to use cruel traps against predators.  The attempt to forestall the
substitution of one cruel practice for another is well-advised,  but the
prohibition is excessively narrow in stipulating that it applies only to
the use or attempted use of "sodium fluroacetate,  also known as Compound
1080,  or sodium cyanide."  While these may be the poisons of most
immediate concern,  and while many other means of poisoning animals may be
restricted by other legislation already in effect,  for instance the
requirement that pesticides must be approved and registered by the
Enviuronmental Protection Agency,  additional means of poisoning wildlife
may be discovered and/or adapted from practices which would remain legal.
Friends of Animals contends that little or no cruelty is prevented if,  for
instance,  instead of using Compound 1080,  ranchers drain their old
antifreeze into dishpans and then leave them near coyote trails.  Such
"accidental" poisoning with a legal substance causes no less animal
suffering.  A flat prohibition on poisoning furbearing and nongame wildlife
would be far more to the point.

        Friends of Animals recognizes the value of collective support of
positive proposals which might reduce animal suffering,  even when such
proposals fall short of seeking everything that they might.  When full
steps forward cannot be taken,  Friends of Animals may support
half-steps--if they are still in a forward direction,  and do not inhibit
subsequent full steps.  Friends of Animals believes,  however,  that the
California Trapping Initiative as ratified by ProPAW may at most only jog
in place.  Even if won,  at tremendous cost of animal protection resources,
it may accomplish no more than changing the rationale for cruelty.  Worse,
in obliging trappers to pretend to motives other than fun and profit,  it
may cause the trapping industry and allied interest groups to escalate the
hate campaigns long waged against such lucratively trapped "nuisance"
species as muskrats coyotes,  beavers,  raccoons,  and skunks,  to the
longterm detriment of these animals,  who already suffer intense
persecution despite their positive roles in naturally controlling other
so-called nuisance species and conserving wetlands.  If the California
Trapping Initative indirectly encourages more abuse of "nuisance" wildlife,
it will amount to taking a giant step backward,  showing trappers a way to
circumvent humane concerns while rebuilding the trapping industry.

        Owing to the serious self-defeating aspects of the California
Trapping Initiative,  Friends of Animals has withdrawn from the ProPAW
campaign.  We continue to put our energy and resources behind other
campaigns and proposals which we believe have a far more realistic
opportunity to reduce and prevent animal suffering.


                        #       #       #

                                                Priscilla Feral
                                                President, Friends of Animals
                                                July 22, 1997


Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 10:54:05 -0400
From: "West, Jamey" <[e-mail]>
To: "'[e-mail]'" <[e-mail]>
Subject: FW: fun with PETAbashing
Message-ID:
<c=US%a=_%p=NIH%l=[e-mail]>

Anyone who would like to send letters to the Washington Post; please
send them to Letters to the Editor,  The Washington Post,  1150 15th Street,  Northwest
Washington DC
20071
All leters must be signed, with address, and phone(business and home)
(they will call before printing).  They are tough to get in, so spend some
time and thought.  Keep it brief, less than 300 words,and to the point.
Good Luck and thank you.

----------
 From: Patrick Nolan[SMTP:[e-mail]]
 Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 1997 10:15AM
 To: [e-mail]
 Subject: fun with PETAbashing

'Hot Dog' Wins a Food Fight

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 23, 1997; Page A01

DUNDALK, Md., July 22 - Whatever headway it may or
may not have made on behalf of the world's rabbits, pigs and
kangaroos, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has
reigned as a grandmaster of contemporary public protest.

Or rather, it did until 9:05 a.m. today, when the animal rights
PR juggernaut ran head-on into the Oscar Mayer
Wienermobile on a supermarket parking lot here. And ended
up looking like road kill.

The Wienermobile stands 27 feet long, runs on six cylinders
and seats four. It is at once the symbol of Oscar Mayer hot
dogs and an American icon. Inherently cheerful, hilariously
designed (by the late Brooks Stevens, who also designed
Harley-Davidson motorcycles), the Wienermobile is widely
regarded as pretty wonderful.

"It is," conceded PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich. "It is very,
very fun.

"Which is why it's so invidious. It's selling the idea that eating
hot dogs is fun. When, in fact, it is a violent, bloody business,
and it has got to stop."

Driven by this moral certainty, the group has dogged the
Wienermobile all summer, clearing the decks for a series of
clashes between two titans of public relations. "You know
there are ten of them," Friedrich said, meaning Wienermobiles.
"And there are more than 400 stops nationwide." PETA has
marshaled resources sufficient to target 50 stops, including the
one in a parking lot outside the Giant Food store on Merritt
Boulevard in this blue-collar Baltimore suburb.

"Vegetarians Attack Wiener mobile," read the headline on the
news release PETA issued in advance. In smaller type:
"Company Uses Children to Promote Cruelty to Pigs."

The children began arriving before 9 a.m., tots clutching
motherly hands and climbing under the rope of colored flags
tied around overturned shopping carts. They had come to sing
the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" or the "Bologna Song" (their
choice) in front of a video camera, as they were invited to do
by commercials and print ads during the last two weeks.

Touring the country on a "talent search" for cute kids to star in
commercials is the Wienermobile's regular summer assignment.
(Winters are spent on goodwill tours and sports events; a
Wienermobile was the pace car in the Glenn Brenner 5K Run
two years ago.)

"Who wants to practice?" asked Mike Ballog, one of three
all-American types in Oscar Mayer T-shirts who travel in the
Wienermobile. A little boy hopped and clapped. "I do!" he
said.

Another boy stood at the microphone with his cap on
backward. He was about to start singing when the chanting
started.

"Cruelty we won't tolerate! Get the slaughter off the plate!"

The sound began beyond the minivans. Four people were
marching toward the assembled kids. Each carried a sign: "Did
your food have a face?" One was dressed in a pig suit.

"Oscar Mayer is to blame! Exploiting children is a shame!"

The kids froze. Several stared at the ground. The boy at the
microphone began to sing, but his words were drowned out.
Two of the PETA people had bullhorns.

They marched up to the rope. Inside it, adults began to fume.

"Oh, that makes me so mad!" Angel Brown informed the
mother next to her. "They're doing more harm to these kids
than any hot dog could."

She looked down at her daughter, Emily, 4. "Emily, don't listen
to this, okay?" she said.

Emily did not seem to know what was going on. She asked her
mother what "slaughter" means. Nearby, another little girl
wanted to know why adults get to be so loud.

Brown, meanwhile, worked her way toward the protesters.
She pointed at their feet. "Wait, wait!" she cried. "I do see
leather shoes!" Brown clearly knew how to hurt an
animal-rights protester.

"I'm a vegetarian," she explained. "Have been for 18 years. I
don't eat meat or meat byproducts."

Emily does, though. "I've got no choice but to feed her meat,
for health reasons," Brown said. "Little kids need some meat.
She can't take a protein supplement."

The protesters backed away a bit. And though the chants
stayed angry ("Stop the torture! Stop the pain! Oscar Mayer is
to blame!"), the chanters began to look a little uncertain
themselves. The three television cameras that had arrived with
them were now focused on the stricken faces of small children
caught in some strange adult cross-fire.

The coverage, which PETA solicited, is a PETA specialty. In
an era in which conventional tactics of confrontation have faded
well beyond blase - homeowners associations march,
schoolchildren picket; assignment editors yawn - PETA
always has found some new bit of street theater to lure the
cameras.

One Thanksgiving, while the president was inside offering the
traditional pardon to a turkey contributed by the poultry
industry, PETA found a tom that had been so zealously bred
for breast meat that it could not stand. It was set in a
wheelchair outside the White House gate.

It was a classic PETA event, combining cartoon comedy and
guerrilla tactics with a jaunty flair calculated to overwhelm
everything except the group's point. On July 10, Laurel resident
Paul Martin climbed a billboard in San Antonio with a mock
meat hook protruding from his abdomen. "Hooked on Meat?"
read the 50-foot banner from which he dangled. "Go
Vegetarian."

With the Wienermobile, however, the group clearly bit off
more than it could chew. The backfire wasn't as bad as when
PETA tried to take out ads invoking cannibalistic serial killer
Jeffrey Dahmer, but there was clearly a miscalculation.

"People really love the Wienermobile," Ballog said. Wiener
mobile workers - "hotdoggers" - see this constantly on the
road, where the vehicle travels through a sea of smiles and
happy toots. "It's like being in a parade all the time," says
hotdogger Toby Jenkins.

But it's when stationary that the affection really gushes in.
Parked, the Wienermobile fairly floats on a reservoir of
goodwill that's been accumulating for generations. Toddlers too
young to have learned the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle" from
TV stare up at baby boomer parents who could not forget it if
they tried.

Folks in their seventies walk up with Wiener Whistles from
their childhood, then ask about Little Oscar, who drove the
Wiener mobile for years. Now in his eighties, Little Oscar
"talks about it like it was yesterday," Ballog says.

In fairness, not even Oscar Mayer began to fathom what it had
in the Wienermobile until 1986, when, to celebrate its 50th
birthday, the company sent what was then the only surviving
vehicle on a farewell tour. Wienermobile manager Russ
Whitacre said the outpouring persuaded executives of the
vehicle's emotional power, a power that was still not evident to
everyone in the Giant parking lot today.

After the protesters finally drifted away and a new crowd of
children was assembling, Peggy Nemoff walked up.

"I'm the pig," Nemoff said, now in street clothes. Her T-shirt
read "Animal Liberation is Human Liberation.""The parents
were mad at us?" she said. "Why?"

     (c) Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 10:50:24 -0500
From: "Michael B. Harris" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Ted Nugent in the News
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


                         Founder Ted Nugent spurned
                         volunteer group, regional
                                leader says.


  Taken from The Milwaukee Journal/Sentienl, July 21, 1997.

  Milwaukee, WI: The regional director of a Ted Nugent United Sportsmen
  Chapter Withdrew from the organization Sunday, saying the rock star
  spurned his invitation to meet with volunteers.

  Todd Mascaretti said he traveled to meet with Nugent in Peoria, Ill.,
  Saturday and asked him to meet with volunteers and thank them for
  their efforts in the Hunters for the Hungry program and other activities.

  Mascaretti thought Nugent could stop in Racine on his way to play a
  Sunday night gig at the Waukesha County Fair. He was wrong. According
  to Mascaretti, Nugent had this response to his request: " I don't
  need you. I don't need those people. Tell them to go home. Tell
  them to kiss my ..."

  Nugent could not be reached in Waukesha Sunday night to respond to
  Mascaretti's comments.  Mascaretti said the exchange pushed him to
  announce his withdrawal from the national sportsmen's group, which
  Nugent founded nearly a decade ago.

  "His representation and comments toward the people who are doing all
  the work are not what we deem needed." Mascaretti said. "We don't
  need that type of attitude and representation."  Volunteers in the
  Hunters for the Hungry program, and off-shoot of Nugent's United
  Sportsmen, collect food for needy residents and participate in
  other charitable causes.  Mascaretti said Nugent had turned his back
  on the people who have helped make his organization a success.

  This is not the first sign of a rift between Mascaretti and Nugent.
  The rock star criticized Mascaretti in October 1995 for using the
  name of Nugent's organization in his attacks on plans to build a new
  stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers.  Mascaretti fought the stadium
  plans and ran against Sen. George Petak in a 1996 recall election
  won by Kimberly Plache (D-Racine). Mascaretti, running as a Libertarian
  finished third in the election.

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 09:32:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: New Address
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The Fund for Animals' campaign office in the D.C. area has moved. Our new
address is:

The Fund for Animals
World Building
8121 Georgia Avenue, Suite 301
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Our phone and fax numbers remain the same.

Thank you.

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 13:08:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: EU Allows Fur Import
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

By David Fox     BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuter) - The European Union Tuesday
agreed to allow imports from Canada and Russia of fur from animals caught by
leg-hold traps despite such devices being banned in the 15-nation bloc.

EU diplomats said Britain, Austria and Belgium voted against a proposal for
an agreement on leg-hold trap standards, but a key change of mind by France
meant the law will go through.

The proposal had three times been rejected by EU environment ministers, but
the 15-nation-bloc's foreign ministers -- who are responsible for trade
policy -- passed the agreement on a majority vote.

European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan hailed the agreement as a
triumph of sense over emotion. "This will ensure, for the first time, that
nations have to abide by minimum standards when it comes to trapping
fur-bearing animals," he told Reuters.

But animal rights groups immediately condemmed the move with the Europgroup
for Animal Welfare saying: "This is not a painless solution -- under the
terms of this agreement animals will continue to suffer immensely while
Canada and Russia will claim that their trapping methods are humane."

The EU has long been at odds with Russia, Canada and the U.S. over imports of
fur from animals such as beaver and muskrat caught with jawed leg-hold traps
or so-called "drowning traps."

It passed a law in 1991 making it illegal from January 1995 for the EU to
import any fur from animals caught by such devices, but the law was postponed
for a year and has still never been implemented.

The Commission -- the EU's executive -- persuaded member states that they
faced a serious risk of World Trade Organization action if they banned
imports of trapped fur.

Under the proposal, in agreement with Canada, there would be a ban on all
kinds of jaw-type leghold traps for seven of 12 Canadian species under
consideration.

Use of such traps for the remaining five species would be outlawed from March
31, 2000, but only provided the deal is in place before October 1 this year.

Under the deal Russia will ban the traps by Dec. 31, 1999 and will be given
financial help to do so.

The Commission hopes the deal will pressure the United States into coming on
board.

Russia, Canada and the United States argue that trapping fur is a legitimate
way of life for thousands of indigenous ethnic groups and a ban on their
products is unacceptable extra-territorial trade legislation.

23:57 07-22-97

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 13:38:45 -0400
From: Mesia Quartano <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: EU to allow fur imports
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

01:18 PM ET 07/22/97

EU to allow fur imports
       By David Fox

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuter) - The European Union Tuesday
agreed to allow imports from Canada and Russia of fur from
animals caught by leg-hold traps despite such devices being
banned in the 15-nation bloc.

EU diplomats said Britain, Austria and Belgium voted against
a proposal for an agreement on leg-hold trap standards, but a
key change of mind by France meant the law will go through.

The proposal had three times been rejected by EU environment
ministers, but the 15-nation-bloc's foreign ministers -- who are
responsible for trade policy -- passed the agreement on a
majority vote.

European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan hailed the
agreement as a triumph of sense over emotion. ``This will
ensure, for the first time, that nations have to abide by
minimum standards when it comes to trapping fur-bearing
animals,'' he told Reuters.

But animal rights groups immediately condemmed the move with
the Europgroup for Animal Welfare saying: ``This is not a
painless solution -- under the terms of this agreement animals
will continue to suffer immensely while Canada and Russia will
claim that their trapping methods are humane.''

The EU has long been at odds with Russia, Canada and the
U.S. over imports of fur from animals such as beaver and muskrat
caught with jawed leg-hold traps or so-called ``drowning
traps.''

It passed a law in 1991 making it illegal from January 1995
for the EU to import any fur from animals caught by such
devices, but the law was postponed for a year and has still
never been implemented.

The Commission -- the EU's executive -- persuaded member
states that they faced a serious risk of World Trade
Organization action if they banned imports of trapped fur.

Under the proposal, in agreement with Canada, there would be
a ban on all kinds of jaw-type leghold traps for seven of 12
Canadian species under consideration.

Use of such traps for the remaining five species would be
outlawed from March 31, 2000, but only provided the deal is in
place before October 1 this year.

Under the deal Russia will ban the traps by Dec. 31, 1999
and will be given financial help to do so.

The Commission hopes the deal will pressure the United
States into coming on board.

Russia, Canada and the United States argue that trapping fur
is a legitimate way of life for thousands of indigenous ethnic
groups and a ban on their products is unacceptable
extra-territorial trade legislation.
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 11:43:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Christine M. Wolf" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Elephant poaching incidents
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The following is forwarded from the CITES-L discussion list:


>I have now received the following information on poaching incidents around
>the time of the recent CITES meeting and since.  This information was sent
>to me from Tusk Force in the UK: I have not been in touch with the sources
>directly, and have no more details.
>
>Zambia
>1) 12 elephants poached in one week in lower Zambesi. Source: Melanie
>Shepherd.
>
>2) "At least 2 large gangs of 28 and 19 poachers gone into the North part
>of the South Luangwa National Park" Source: Rex Haylock (North Luangwa
>Conservation Project).
>
>CAR
>1) "200 elephants poached in northern CAR, near the Sudanese border
>before CITES". Source: Verbal report by UNESCO to EIA on 20 June.
>
>Kenya
>1) "Approx 200 armed Somali bandits on their way into Tsavo East" verbal
>report to Simon Trevor on 19 June (day of downlisting).
>
>2) On 20 May Ian Redmond heard in Kenya that 6-8 elephants were killed by
>Walingulu bow hunters in south Tsavo, near Chuma Gate, and 4-5 killed in
>northern section by armed Somali bandits, one of whom was caught in an
>ambush by KWS rangers and admitted he was ivory poaching because he'd
>heard the ban would be lifted soon. Souce: Daniel Woodley, KWS pilot via
>Anthony Russell, tour operator.
>
>Ghana
>22 July 1997
>
>" I regret to inform you that just a few weeks after CITES, we have
>recorded our first elephant poaching incident in Mole National Park, the
>premier park in Ghana. This has never happened since 1988.
>
>The elephant was shot twice below the ear but ran towards a game post
>where it dropped along the way. The elephant, however, had its only tusk
>intact probably due to the fact that it had got close to the camp, and
>the poacher(s) feared to risk arrest.
>
>The incident occurred on or about 17 June 1997. It is significant to note
>that the poaching started soon after the decision to down-list some
>southern African elephant populations to Appendix II.
>
>G.A Punguse
>Chief Wildlife Officer"
>
>
>
>--
>Ronald I. Orenstein                           Phone: [phone]
>International Wildlife Coalition              Fax/Modem: [phone]
>1825 Shady Creek Court
>Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 3W2          Internet: [e-mail]
>
>
>
******************************************************************
Christine Wolf, Director of Government Affairs
  The Fund for Animalsphone: 301-585-2591
   World Buildingfax:   301-585-2595
 8121 Georgia Ave., Suite 301e-mail: [e-mail]
  Silver Spring, MD 20910web page: www.fund.org

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  (Margaret Mead)

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 14:36:24 +0000
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: 4 arrests Marineland July 5th NZ
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

 In support for World
Day for Captive Dolphins we (nz activists)  did  a protest at
Marineland in Napier on Sat July 5th, what follows is just my run down
of what happened, followed by copies of some of the local news
articles/stories that reported it. The main problem with coordinating
an anti-Marineland campaign is that Napier is so far away, its 5 hours
drive from me! Protests cannot be regular and its hard to get people
willing to travel so far - as this usually entails having to stay over
in Napier and it all gets rather expensive! Because protests at
Marineland cannot happen often, I thought we should go all out to get
media attention and cause as much disruption to Marineland as possible
and planned a CD [civil disobediance] action for biggest impact.
Though the protest made 6pm and late news on both major TV chanels
here - being second biggest story of the day on chanel three, it
didn't get reported in the national newspaper; the Herald. It did make
local papers however, including Wellington's 'the Dominion' -
(Wellington is the Capital of NZ).

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

 Friday July 4th was World Day for Captive Dolphins. Frustrated at the
 lack
of action and campaigning against Aotearoa's own Dolphin prison
activists from around the country decided that this year, something
would be done to highlight the plight of the four female dolphins
being held at Marineland. Many groups including Auckland Animal
Action, Wellington Animal Action and S.A.F.E (Save Animal From
Exploitation).  were involved in the protest. A national day of action
was called for Saturday July 5th, and this day now marks the start of
a campaign to free Cassana, Kelly, Shona and Selina.

BACKGROUND

 All four dolphins at Marineland were captured from the wild in the
 Hawkes
Bay area. They were ripped from their families and their home in the
open ocean. The dolphins, used to swimming miles each day are now
confined to a small circular tank, a barren environment. The only fish
they see are the dead ones handed to them by the trainers, no plants
in the pool,  no barnacles, no ocean currents, only two performances a
day infront of staring crowds of humans, only plastic balls and hoops.
No use for echo location - only the walls of the tank to find.  Yet
incredibly some may percieve these dolphins to be the 'lucky ones'
when it comes to Marineland. Because most of the dolphins who come
into contact with Marineland end up dead. Most dolphins do not survive
long at all in captivity, about 5 months is the average. These four
dolphins are the survivors. Marineland's death toll already stands at
68. We are asking that the killing ends. 68 dead. Just think about it.
Why didn't Marineland stop after the first 5 they caught died, or the
first 10, ...the first 20...30? Marineland  say that they care about
the worlds dolphins, that they want people to support their
conservation, that they want to teach people to care about dolphins.
Yet still after 40 deaths, 50 deaths, 60 DEATHS they contnued on.
Until at last some survivors. Yet even these, who probably represent
the strongest, most resiliant of their kind;  that have managed to
survive in their small tanks, suffering the boredom, the deprivation,
the loss of their families, even these individuals, from the moment of
their capture are doomed. As soon as a dolphin is placed in captivity
their life expectancy is immediately halved.  Two of the dolphins at
Marineland have already been in captivity for 20 years.

THE PROTEST

 We arrived in Napier on Friday night - 4th July. After checking out
Marinelands front doors we found that they were perfect for D-locking
closed. We had brought down five D-locks. Marineland had two doors at
their front entrance, with just one more D-lock we figured we could
lock both sets of doors and have 4 activists, one representing each of
the four captive dolphins locked to each handle of the doors.  Getting
up early the next morning we rushed out to buy the sixth D-lock.
  Since several press releases had gone out there were worries that
Marineland would know we were coming. We later found out that the
protest had been anounced on the 6am news that morning on the radio!
Fortuneately no one at Marineland listens to the news! The four of us
locking on dressed tidily that morning, not just to look respectable
for the press, but so that we would not look like protesters and so
not arouse suspicion while approaching marineland - if they had heard
about a demo they may have put on extra security. The four of us left
the cars first, at about 10 minutes to 10am. Quietly and quickly we
reached the entrance to Marineland. One door was open, we shut it,
no-one was even on the front desk to see us attach the larger and
stronger D-locks around each of the main doors, then D-lock ourselves
around our necks to each of the four door handles. So much worry! But
soooo easy!! It took several minutes before anyone noticed that people
were locked to the doors and the entrance was blocked. At first we
thought we heard laughter from inside, then someone came and tried to
open the door from inside and found we had locked the doors shut, some
commotion could be heard as staff came out of a side entrance, and
were greeted by the main body of protesters who were now arriving with
signs, banner and mega phone.
 Press were also present by now, having been told the protest would
 start
at 10am.  Camera's rolled and interviews began with those of us locked
to the doors. These made the evening news on both main TV chanels. The
first show at Marineland was to start at 10.30am, people soon started
to arrive, it being the first Saturday of the school holiday's this
was mostly people with families. Several families thought twice about
coming and turned around leaving, at least one stating their approval
of our cause and honking in support as they drove away.
 Seeing all this Marineland staff got a bit over enthusiastic and
 scuffles
broke out as they attempted to push protesters away from the side
entrance they weretrying to herd people through. A good close up of
one man pushing a Wellington activist was caught on camera and aired
on nationwide TV.
 Those of us chained to the doors never really saw any Marineland
 staff as
they were busy at the side entrance. Eventually when police arrived
they brought the manager over who asked us officially to leave, we did
not and were later cut off with bolt cutters - really big ones. We
were herded into a waiting police wagon and taken to Napier police
cells.
  Four arrests were made -of the four people D-locked to the doors.
  They
are: Deidre Bourke, Auckland Animal Action; Cassie Carney; Marianne
MacDonald and Gary Reese the Auckland SAFE co-ordinator. As you only
have to give you name, address, date of birth and occupation to police
that is all we gave. This made them very angry. They yelled at us,
called us silly and unco-operative and threatened to hold us until
court was open - in three days time - if we didn't supply additional
information like where we were born, our phone numbers etc. Eventually
they relented and stopped trying to get this out of us and took us to
our cells. The other protesters soon arrived outside the police
station - they told police we were vegan and would need vegan food. In
the end police agreed to pass on some food for us - tofu luncheon,
dried apricots, potato chips, orange juice, and best of all,
strawberry soy drinks [my personal favourite]. We were held for about
three hours before being released, the threats to hold us till Tuesday
obvious scare tactics with no substance.  We were charged with
trespass and told we had to be in court on that coming Tuesday to
enter our plea's.
  This meant we could not go home that evening and had to hang around
Napier for the next few days - unfortunately for marineland this meant
more demo's. Although the four of us were only locked to their doors
for an hour or so, we later found out that the two larger D-bolts,
which we had secured around Marinelands doors had stayed on well into
the afternoon, taking about 4-5 hours to remove, and meaning their
main entrances stayed locked most of the day.
 The next day we again showed up to the 10.30am show. We leafleted
 outside
until we heard the show begin. A van was driven up to Marinelands
fence so that we could sit on its roof with placard's visible to the
crowd of people inside. The megaphone was then used to talk over the
Marineland show, disrupting visitor's nice peaceful day out.
 You would think this protest would be an 'easy' issue. But we
 actually got
lots of hostility from people. Napier is very proud of its number one
tourist puller. But the issue was also a very hard one for most people
as most people attending the show really did believe that they loved
dolphins and so they were all the more defensive. No one wants to
think they support the abuse of dolphins after all. I guess the more
an issue confronts people the more argumentative they seem to be. It
was funny how many people told us we should be working and didn't we
have anything better to do - only to be rebuffed by the obvious
defence that it was a Sunday and we didn't go to work on our weekends!
And the number of people who tried to rationalise that the dolphins
were safer in that small tank than in the wild! I wonder how those
same people get out of their homes I mean they might get run over or
something. Its a dangerous world out there!
 On Tuesday we went to court and entered a plea of 'not guilty'. We
 will
have to return Napier for our trial also. This means more Marineland
demo's are planned!
 With the costs of D-locks and travelling it was defintiely the most
expensive demo Auckland Animal Action have ever organised - but well
worth it I think. Here's the pressclippings...

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

NEWS CLIPPINGS

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

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
SATURDAY, JULY 5 1997
Lead Story, page one - with picture of group of 6 activists, including
the four D-locked to Marineland doors.

"ARRESTS FOLLOW DOLPHIN PROTEST"

Four people were arrested outside Marineland this morning during a
protest against dolphins being kept in captivity.

A group of about 15 protesters armed with placards, banners and
loudspeakers set up outside the Marine Parade attraction just beofre
opening time at 10am.

Four protesters padlocked themselves to the main entrance and Napier
police were called. After discussions with both Marineland management
Gary Macdonald and the protesters, police cut them free with
boltcutters and they were led away peacefully.

Not so peaceful was the protesters first attempts to block punters
from entering Marineland. There was a brief scuffle as staff helped
the first people into Marineland via a side entrance. Shouting by
protesters failed to sway any more of the small group of people who
did enter the building.

All the protesters were from out of town and belonged to various
animal-rights groups including Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE),
Gary Reese from SAFE, said the protest was to mark World Day for
Captive Dolphins.

"Keeping dolphins for human entertainment is unethical and outdated.
It's an archaic thing to do in this dy and age", he said.

The previous Conservation Minister was approached about placing a ban
on dolphins and other such species in captivity but nothing
eventuated. The protesters were certain the present minister would be
approached in future.

Marineland had killed 68 dolphins since it opened in 1965 and most
people now realised how easy it was to see dolphins in the wild, Mr
Reese said.

Mr Macdonald said there was no dispute over the number of dolphins who
had died at Marineland. However, most of these deaths occurred in the
first few years it was open through inexperience. The last dolphin to
die had died in 1989 of old age.

Greenpeace had checked out the facility and while it would not accept
dolphins being kept in captivity, conceded Marineland dolphins were
well looked after.

He understood the Conservation Minister did not have the authority to
enforce a ban and only an Act of Parliment would suffice.

However, the time would come when the Napier City Council would have
to make a decision about Marineland's future, most likely when the
four dolphins currently at Marineland had died.

The council had promised to undertake a major review of the facility
in four years time. That review would determine whether dolphins would
continue to be a part of the display or not. If this was the case, it
would entail an upgrade of present facilities, Mr Macdonald said.
Marineland had no desire to capture any more dolphins at present.

The last protest at Marineland occurred in 1986.

The remaining protesters were unsure whether they would contnue their
protest following the arrests.

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

HAWKES BAY HERALD TRIBUNE
JULY 7th 1997
PAGE

"FOUR TO FACE TRESPASS CHARGES"

Four people arrested on Saturday during a protest outside Marineland
have been charged with trespass, Sergeant Cary Howat said today.

The four, a 31 year old male and three females, aged 32, 25 and 20,
are all from Auckland.

They were among a group of about 15 protesters outside the Marine
Parade attraction about 10am protesting against dolphins being kept in
captivity.

The protesters belong to various animal-rights groups.

They held the protest on Saturday to mark World Day for Captive
Dolphins.

The four were arrested after they padlocked themselves to the
Marineland gates and forced police to use boltcutters to cut them
free.

They were led peacefully away by police.

The four will appear in the Napier District Court tomorrow.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
------ --------------------

THE DOMINION
JULY 7th 1997

"MARINELAND PROTEST"
Police were called in to keep the peace on Saturday as about 15 animal
liberation activists tried to block entrances to marineland in Napier.
The activists were proesting against the keeping of dolphins in
captivity.

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

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
JULY 7TH 1997
PAGE 2

"FOUR WILL APPEAR IN COURT AFTER DOLPHIN PROTEST"

Four Aucklanders will appear in Napier District Court tomorrow after a
protest outside Marineland on Saturday.

A group of about 15 protesters demonstrated against keeping dolphins
in captivity. They locked the doors to the marine mammal centre with
D-locks and four protesters attached themselves to the building with
D-locks before police cut them free with boltcutters.

A 31 year-old man and three women aged 20,25 and 32 will appear in
Napier District Court tomorrow charged with trespass.

More protesters returned to Marineland yesterday. Manager Gary
Macdonald said the protest remained on the street although it became
noisy during the moring show when protesters directed their loud
hailers over the wall.

Save Animals from Exploitation (SAFE) spokesman Gary Reese said they
would maintain a public presence in Napier today and tomorrow and a
longterm campaign was planned by SAFE and other animal interest groups
to free Marineland dolphins and to pressure the government into
banning the future capture of dolphins. he was worried two of the
older dolphins might be reaching the end of their lives and Marineland
would want to replace them.

Mr Reese said although there was a better chance of rehabilitating the
younger dolphins into the wild, the older ones could be released into
an enclosed marine sanctuary if they were unable to adjust.

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

Deidre Bourke
Auckland Animal Action
PO Box 34 641; Birkenhead, Auckland,  Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Tel/Fax [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]/~aaa
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~aaa


Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 14:29:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail],
        [e-mail]
Subject: VT Alert: Calls Needed for Mute Swans
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering killing eight
mute swans at Lake Arrowhead in Milton, Vermont, because they are considered
a "non-native" species. The DFW is apparently taking a survey on whether
callers are for or against the swan killing.

Please call, fax, or write, asking the DFW not to kill the eight mute swans.

Mr. Ron Regan, Director
Division of Wildlife
Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife
103 South Main, 10 South
Waterbury, VT 05671

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 14:30:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail],
        [e-mail]
Subject: Mary Tyler Moore Speaks Out for Beavers
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, July 23, 1997

Contact: Marion Stark, 518-439-2631

MARY TYLER MOORE ASKS ASSEMBLY SPEAKER SILVER TO CHOKE AND
STRANGLE THE
SNARE BILL

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Actress and author, Mary Tyler Moore, has added her strong
voice to environmental and wildlife advocacy groups and the general public's
outcry against the legalization of the underwater snare trap on New York
State beavers during open season and the lengthening of the trap check times
to three full days. The snare trap injures and kills animals by strangulation.

In her letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Mary Tyler Moore requests
that he defeat the snare bill and adds, "I appeal to you (Speaker Silver) to
choke and strangle this proposal instead of our friend the beaver and
animals such as the bald eagle, dogs, calves and otters which have been
caught in these traps too."

# # #

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 18:27:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: EU ACCEPTS SPURIOUS TRAPPING AGREEMENTS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit



                                              ANIMAL PROTECTION INSTITUTE
                                              ****URGENT NEWS ADVISORY****


     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT:  Camilla Fox
          July 23, 1997
[phone]

Trapping photos available

                                 U.S. MUST COMPLY WITH SO-CALLED "HUMANE"
                              TRAPPING STANDARDS, SAYS EUROPEAN UNION

SACRAMENTO, CA -  After two years of delay, the European Union (EU) General
Affairs Council voted on July 22 for new agreements with Canada and Russia on
"humane" trapping standards that will ensure the use of the cruel leghold
trap for an indefinite period of time.  The Council also called upon the
European Commission to reach an equivalent official agreement with the United
States.

     U.S. officials have refused to give up leghold traps and say they will not
sign a negotiated agreement that requires any phase-out of leghold trap use.

     The new agreements nullify the original intent of Regulation 3254/91 (the
European Union Leghold Trap Fur Import Ban) to ban imports of fur pelts from
countries still using the leghold trap or not complying with "internationally
agreed humane trapping standards." Passed by the EU in 1991 and originally
scheduled to begin in January 1, 1995, the regulation is intended to reduce
pain and suffering to furbearing animals worldwide.

     The Clinton administration has threatened international trade sanctions
through the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the EU implements the ban.

     The new agreements exempt Canada and Russia from the ban and permit
continued use of standard steel-jaw leghold traps for two to four years.
 Other forms of leghold traps may be used for at least eight more years and
indefinitely if they meet certain trap standards.  In addition, a 300 second
threshold has been accepted for kill-type traps allowing animals to suffer in
excruciating pain for up to five minutes.

     The weakened agreements are a great disappointment to animal advocates and
to those who have fought for more than two years to ensure implementation of
the ban in its original form.

     "Millions of animals die in cruel leghold traps each year," said Camilla
Fox, Wildlife Program Coordinator for the Animal Protection Institute.  "The
regulation has been reduced to the lowest common denominator, allowing
fur-exporting countries to claim that animals will now be trapped æhumanelyÆ
according to æinternational trapping standards.Æ  It is a terrible tragedy
that concern for free trade has preempted concern for improving the welfare
of animals worldwide."

     The U.S. will face an import ban in December if a similar agreement is not
signed by then.  Animal advocates are urging the Clinton administration to
support HR 1176 that would ban the leghold trap nationwide and bring the U.S.
into compliance with the EU regulation.  "The U.S. government should be
ashamed of undermining this progressive European legislation," said Fox.
 "More than 80 countries have already banned the leghold trap.  It is time
our country took a stand and banned this instrument of torture forever."

                                                                ###

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 20:04:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: CA ACTIVISTS: HELP SAVE RED FOXES
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


                *****Wildlife at Shoreline Park in Mountain View Need Help
Now*****

        Officials at Shoreline Park plan to trap and kill red foxes using
taxpayer dollars.

The reasons given for this indiscriminate killing have changed over the past
months once spurious claims were challenged and disproved by animal
protection organizations.

The senseless trapping and killing any animal is cruel and unnecessary when
there are a number of non-lethal alternatives available.  These alternatives
have been supplied to both Glen Lyles, Shoreline Manager and David Muela,
Community Service Director and have been ignored.

The park should educate the public and institute guidelines on how to
co-exist with wildlife and should most importantly ***leave the animals
alone***.

                                       What you can do:

Please join us in a peaceful protest to educate the public and the media
about this issue.

**When:  Sunday, July 27th

**Time:  11:00am

Where:  entrance to Shoreline Park (Hwy. 101 to Shoreline Blvd. exit; follow
signs for Shoreline Amphitheater on Shoreline Blvd.; Shoreline Blvd. dead
ends to Shoreline Park, gather at entrance to park).

Please also call or write:

Mr. Dave Muela
Shoreline Park Supervisor
[phone]
City of Mountain View
P.O. Box 7540
Mountain View, CA  94039

**For more information, please call Simone Haas at [phone]

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 21:49:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Franklin Wade <[e-mail]>
Subject: UPC Alert: DA Won't Prosecute Emu Beaters
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

                     United Poultry Concerns
                          Action Alert
    No Prosecution of Men Who Beat Twenty-Two Emus To Death?


July 23, 1997

     Today in Tarrant County the District Attorney's Office
announced it will not press cruelty charges against Steven and
Russell Vinson, the two medical doctors who beat to death twenty-
two penned emus with aluminum baseball bats on June 28, 1997.

     The district attorney's office told UPC president Karen
Davis on July 21 that there was no proof that the men's conduct
was cruel. He said that maybe if the men had starved the birds or
set them on fire the case might be different. The last bird to
die in the pen was described by the humane investigator as
"vomiting blood and staggering until it fell on the ground and
couldn't get up anymore."

     Attorney Richard Alpert, who recommended not to prosecute,
told Karen Davis that breeders all over Texas are beating their
emus to death "even as we speak." He said the only difference
between the Vinsons and others is that the other breeders
"generally tie the birds up first." He said this as if to say
that the fact that others are beating their emus to death makes
it a common practice so it is not "cruel" or a crime under the
law.

What Can I Do?

Contact:
Robert Mayfield
Deputy Chief, Misdemeanor Court
Tarrant County Criminal Justice Building
401 West Belknap
Fort Worth TX 76196
ph: 817-884-1649
fax: [phone]

Tell him to revise the decision and to recommend prosecution of
Steven and Russell Vinson, the two brothers who beat their
captive emus to death. Their decision compounds the evil and
sends a message to other breeders that they can beat their birds
to death without fear of legal consequences.

_____________________________________________________________________
[e-mail]                                   Franklin D. Wade
    United Poultry Concerns - http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/upc
    Compassion Over Killing - http://www.envirolink..org/arrs/cok



Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 10:38:56 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Jailbirds treated to emu stew
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Thursday  July 24  1997

     Jailbirds treated to emu stew

     ASSOCIATED PRESS in Phoenix

     The sheriff who dresses inmates in pink underwear, houses some outdoors
in army tents and keeps them in check with cameras mounted on dog patrols,
has a new treat for prisoners: ostrich or emu casserole.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, agreed to accept a donation
yesterday of nearly 40 ostriches and emus from a Phoenix couple who operate
an ostrich farm and want to reduce their inventory.

 "I almost hate giving inmates such a fine quality meat product, but at
least it's free," the  sheriff said.

     The birds should provide enough meat to feed nearly 7,000 inmates two
meals of ostrich casserole, he said. He has ordered his kitchen staff to
begin experimenting with    recipes for the meat. "We've never served this
stuff before and we want it to at least  taste good," the sheriff said.

     No one is predicting how the inmates will like the exotic meat, but the
sheriff said they should not complain because it has significantly less fat,
calories and cholesterol than beef.

The sheriff has asked his food services manager to look into the possibility
of starting a  prison meat-processing plant so the sheriff's office can
accept and process meat donations of any kind. "It makes sense and it may be
a good vocational programme for  inmates," he said.

Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 10:54:05 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Spare organs grown from cells
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Thursday  July 24  1997

     Spare organs grown from cells

     ASSOCIATED PRESS in Boston

     Scientists have grown replacement organs for sheep, rats and rabbits
using the animals'  cells in a technique that could at some stage be used to
make spare parts for humans.

     While scientists have already found ways to grow skin and cartilage,
two Harvard  researchers claim to be the first to have grown animal tissue
from organs, including the heart, kidneys and bladder.

     "As surgeons, that's what we dream about - having a shelf full of body
parts," said Dr  Anthony Atala, who pioneered the technique with Dario Fauza.

     Their new method - which was to be presented yesterday at a conference
of the British  Association of Paediatric Surgeons in Turkey - has already
been used to build new    bladders and windpipes for sheep, a kidney for a
rat, and leg muscles for a rabbit.

     The organs - built with tissue taken from grown and baby animals - were
transplanted  into the creatures and have worked fine so far, the
researchers said.

     The two doctors said the greatest hope for the technique could be in
correcting common birth defects. They have developed a method for growing
replacement organs  for newborns while they are still in the womb. For
example, if a foetus has a malformedtrachea, surgeons could extract some of
those cells from the womb, grow the new    windpipe in the lab and have it
ready to be transplanted when the baby is born.

     Tests on humans, in the womb and out, are set to begin within a year,
and the  researchers hope to get approval from the Food and Drug
Administration for routine  use within five years.
     Cornell University researcher Thomas McDonald said the method appeared
to be a  way around the biggest obstacle to organ transplants - the body's
rejection of foreign   parts.


Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 23:14:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Stop elephant rides by Lydia
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

Lydia the elephant to be used for the miserable spectacle of elephant
rides.

Lydia the elephant is to be used to give rides at three different events in
suburban Chicago in the upcoming weeks.  Such uses of wildlife are
remarkably degrading, presenting a sight that is the epitome of human
domination of other animals.  When elephants are used for such
purposes, there is a very real danger to public safety as well.  Many
cases have been documented of frustrated or confused elephants lashing
out aggressively to harm people and property.  Not surprisingly, many
deaths have been caused by such avoidable mishaps.
Elephants used for entertainment are violently trained, requiring enough
beating and deprivation to break their spirits' before they begin to serve
humans from fear.  The conditions that these animals endure during
their performing lives are best described as grossly inadequate.
Performing elephants spend the vast majority of their lives in chains,
unable to move about freely or engage in other natural behaviors.  This
treatment does take its toll on the elephants who react with bored
frustration, aggression and disease susceptibility.
The elephant to be used for the elephant rides in these three events is a
prime candidate for such a violent outburst, having attacked four
elephants in the past.  Two of the elephants attacked died as a result of
their injuries.  Imagine the amount of strength it takes to kill another
elephant.  Releasing this same energy in an attack on a much smaller,
weaker human would lead to predictably lethal consequences.  Such
aggressive behavior is unheard of amongst female elephants in the wild
and is purely the result of the miserable existence Lydia endures.  Most
recently, an elephant expert reviewed photos and film of Lydia's feet
and stated that they were being improperly cared for, and the USDA
has cited Lydia's exploiter for various violations of the Animal Welfare
Act.  Please write, phone and fax to keep Lydia from being forced out
onto the hot, hard pavement for the folly of ignorant humans.

Planning to have elephant rides at the "Ridgefest"city festival Aug.
8,9,10:
Chicago Ridge Mayor Eugene L. Fiegel
10655 S. Oak Avenue
Chicago Ridge, IL  60415
phone [phone]
fax [phone]

Planning to have elephant rides at the Bridgeview city festival Aug. 28-
Sept 1:
Mayor John Oremus
Bridgeview City Hall
7500 Oketo Avenue
Bridgeview, IL  60455
phone [phone]
fax [phone]

Planning to have elephant rides again (had them the June 29th
weekend) the third week in September to promote her business:
Renee Grabinski-owner
Pup-n-Pop Hot Dogs
8258 S. Harlem Avenue
Bridgeview, IL  60455
phone [phone]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Espinosa
Illinois Animal Action
PO Box 507
Warrenville, IL  60555
[phone]

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