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-
- Nobel laureate blasts
- 'extremist
- environmentalists'
-
- August 5, 1997
- Web posted at: 4:15 p.m. EDT
- (2015 GMT)
-
- WASHINGTON (AP) --
- Norman Borlaug, Nobel
- laureate and early leader of
- the "Green Revolution" in the
- underdeveloped world, says
- opposition to chemical
- fertilizers from "extremist
- environmentalists" threatens
- prospects for growing
- more food in Africa and other
- poor regions.
-
- "Realistic soil fertility
- restoration and maintenance ... in
- Africa will be the key to
- achieving needed agricultural
- growth rates," the renowned
- U.S. plant scientist told a
- U.S. Senate committee last
- week.
-
- But the debate with
- environmentalists "has confused --
- if not paralyzed --
- policy-makers," he added. "Afraid of
- antagonizing powerful lobbying
- groups, many
- international agencies have
- turned away from
- supporting the science-based
- agricultural
- intensification programs so
- urgently needed" in
- countries south of Africa's
- Sahara Desert.
-
- The result, he said, has been
- "declining food security"
- and greater, rather than less,
- damage to the
- environment as forests and
- slopes get turned into
- marginal cropland to feed
- swelling populations.
-
- The annual growth rate in food
- productivity of 5
- percent or 6 percent that many
- economists feel
- necessary to significantly
- reduce poverty in Africa will
- require using the best
- technology available, Borlaug
- told the Senate Agriculture
- Committee.
-
- After learning from
- devastating famines of 1959-60
- that manure and other organic
- fertilizers were not
- enough to support needed
- increases, China turned
- successfully to chemical
- fertilizer, Borlaug said. "This
- lesson must not be lost on
- Africa. ... We cannot turn back
- the clock," he said,
- criticizing "extremist
- environmentalists" who oppose
- even sparing use of
- fertilizers.
-
- During the 1960s, through
- traditional plant breeding,
- the "Green Revolution"
- produced higher-yielding
- varieties of grains that
- helped feed a fast-growing
- world.
-
- Borlaug's work in that effort
- won him the 1970 Nobel
- Peace Prize and world acclaim.
- Now 83, the Iowa-born
- scientist is working on
- African crop projects in
- association with Japan's
- Sasakawa Foundation and
- former President Carter, a
- fellow advocate of
- harnessing technology against
- famine.
-
- Borlaug criticized many modern
- research managers
- and scientists as "detached
- from the realities in farmers'
- fields, preferring to measure
- their achievements by the
- genetic and information
- products they generate ... (and)
- the learned papers they
- publish," instead of their
- impact on crops.
-
- Government and private
- cooperation will be needed,
- Borlaug said, to make
- affordable for small planters in
- Africa the new crop breeding
- advances of biotechnology
- already used in more
- prosperous regions.
-
- Copyright 1997 á The
- Associated Press. All rights
- reserved. This material may
- not be published,
- broadcast, rewritten, or
- redistributed.
-
- á
-
- Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 04:13:39 -0400
- From: Nicolas Entrup <106127.1133@compuserve.com>
- To: AR-NEWS <ar-news@envirolink.org>
- Subject: Austrian Publication
- Message-ID: <199708070413_MC2-1C8E-B417@compuserve.com>
- MIME-Version: 1.0
-
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
- Content-Disposition: inline
-
- Hi all,
-
- I think no austrian group has already sent this out. The results are not
- the latest ones, but might give you an overview about the situation in
- Austria (publication from the Viennese University for Agriculture, 1995 -
- data based from about 1991). Hope it is useful.
- Cheers
-
- Niki Entrup
- RespekTiere
- P.O.Box 97
- A - 1172 Vienna
- email: 106127.1133@compuserve.com
-
-
- Cattle, pig and laying hen husbandry in Austria; a behavioural perspective
-
- The effects of intensive livestock husbandry systems - on ecosystems,
- product quality, public and animal health, social welfare, farm business
- performance and man┤s attitude toward his fellow animals - provide
- sufficient justification for the rapid and widespread implementation of
- more natural, and ecologically appropriate, domestic animal husbandry
- methods.
-
- A husbandry concept orientated toward the needs of the animal is based on
- the natural, inherited behaviour patterns of domestic livestock, and on
- those critical environment aspects of natural habitats which are
- responsible for stimulating and controlling behaviour.
-
- The natural behaviour of cattle, pigs and chickens, and those aspects of a
- husbandry environment which are decisive in initiating and controlling
- natural behaviour are discussed in order to define a basis for such a
- husbandry concept.
-
- The dominant husbandry methods used on cattle, pig and laying hen
- enterprises in Austria are examined in the context of the requirements of a
- welfare-orientated husbandry environment. Data on existing conditions are
- derived from a research survey carried out on 720 randomly-chosen
- agricultural enterprises. Only the most important results relevant to
- ethological questions are presented. Special emphasis is given to those
- husbandry conditions which are not
- considered to be appropriate to the needs of the animals. Emphasis is also
- given to the use of straw, because of its particular ethological and
- ecological importance.
-
- Cattle husbandry:
-
- Data for calf husbandry are based on surveys of 337 enterprises (2179
- calves).
- Calves for breeding are kept tethered on 56.3 % of enterprises. Individual
- stalls are used on 26.9 % of the enterprises. Average available stall space
- per animal is 2.4 m2. Straw is provided on 94.7 % of the enterprises. Beef
- calves are kept tethered on 62.4 % of enterprises, with individual stalls
- used on 20.9 % of enterprises. Average available stall space per animal is
- 1.9 m2. 27.1 % of the breeding calves and 18.7 % of the beef calves drink
- from buckets without nipple drinkers.
-
- Data on young cattle husbandry are based on surveys of 349 enterprises
- (3244 cattle).
- Tethering is used on 80.5 % of enterprises. The cattle are kept in open pen
- stalls with fully slatted floors in 7.9 % of the enterprises and on straw
- in 91.7 of all enterprises.
-
- Data on dairy cow husbandry are based on surveys of 373 enterprises (4485
- cows).
- The cows are tethered on 98.6 % of the enterprises. 37.7 % of the
- enterprises keep the cows indoors all year round. Cows are provided with a
- strawed lying area in 77.3 % of the enterprises. 15.2 % of the animals are
- dehorned.
-
- Data on beef finishing are based on surveys of 216 enterprises (2150
- cattle).
- Tethering is used on 74.1 % of the enterprises. Stalls with fully slatted
- floors occur on 19.9 % of the enterprises. Straw is provided on 83.9 % of
- the enterprises.
-
- Pig husbandry:
-
- Data on sow husbandry are based on surveys of 239 enterprises (3880 sows).
- Dry and in-pig sows are kept in individual stalls in 85.8 % of the
- enterprises. Tethers are used in 40.8 % and crates in 32.3 % of the
- enterprises. 89.5 % of the enterprises provide them with straw. 61.6 % of
- the enterprises restrain lactating sows when they are in the farrowing pen.
- A separate piglet chamber is provided on 34.9 % of the enterprises. The
- farrowing pens are strawed on 98.6 % of the enterprises. 7.4 % of the
- enterprises keep the weaners in flatdecks.
-
- Data of finishing pig husbandry are based on surveys of 236 enterprises
- (23653 finishers).
- Finishers are kept in open pens on fully slatted floors on 10.4 % of the
- enterprises (which keep 26.4 % of the animals). No straw is provided on
- 43.8 % of the enterprises (67.8 % of the animals).
-
- Laying hen husbandry:
-
- Data on laying hen husbandry are based on surveys of 329 enterprises
- (281303 hens).
- According to a survey by ╓STAT (1989), 4 % of all laying hen enterprises
- were based on a cage system. This accounted for 65 % of all laying hens. In
- 19.9 % of enterprises (with 87.7 % of the laying hens), stalls are lit
- artificially. Feed is provided as a meal on 33.8 % of the
- enterprises (93.4 % of the birds).
-
-
- The discussion adresses the diverse impacts of a poor husbandry environment
- in terms of behavioural and health problems, and also animal performance.
- Possible alternatives are also presented which would see future livestock
- husbandry based on more ethological and
- ecological criteria.
-
- For a comprehensive and rapid conversion to more natural and ecologically
- appropriate husbandry methods, the following legislative measures would
- need to be passed immediately by Government: national animal protection
- legislation which genuinely addresses prevailing ethical, ethological and
- ecological issues.
- legislation that guarantees that the farmer receives compensation from the
- taxpayer for all extra investment costs incurred when converting to a more
- natural animal husbandry system.
- legislation that demands that animal products be labelled according to
- origin (conventional, ecological and/or welfare-friendly), and which
- establishes the basis for the reliable regulation and control of such
- declarations.
-
- University for agriculture Vienna, 1995
- Date: Thu, 07 Aug 1997 07:54:01 -0400
- From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US) 26 Convicted of Wild Horse Abuse
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970807075359.00696c88@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from AP Wire page:
- ----------------------------------
- 08/07/1997 01:18 EST
-
- 26 Convicted of Wild Horse Abuse
-
- By The Associated Press
-
- A computer check of all federal prosecutions in 1985-95 found 26
- convictions for abuse of federally protected wild horses and burros. The
- Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and
- Burro Act, had claimed 125 convictions under the act. Just three
- convictions on this list, in 1989, 1993 and 1995, were won under the act.
-
- ------
-
- 1985 -- Texas man pleads guilty to selling three untitled wild horses;
- sentenced to two years unsupervised probation.
-
- 1985 -- Texas man pleads guilty to forging veterinarian's name on
- application for title to adopted horse; was fined $20.
-
- 1986 -- Wyoming man convicted of abusing adopted horse and fined.
-
- 1987 -- Wyoming man pleads guilty to harassing five wild burros in
- Nevada; fined $250, sentenced to one year probation.
-
- 1987 -- Nevada man convicted of illegally capturing wild horse; fined
- $250, sentenced to one year probation.
-
- 1989 -- Three Arizona men plead guilty to killing two wild burros; fined
- $100 and sentenced to six months probation.
-
- 1989 -- Ten Utah men plead guilty under Wild Horse and Burro Act to
- illegally capturing 10 burros in the Gold Butte area of Nevada; each
- fined $1,000, sentenced to six months probation.
-
- 1989 -- California man convicted of abandoning, abusing two horses that
- starved to death; fined $1,000 and given three-year suspended sentence.
-
- 1991 -- U.S. attorney defers violation of Wild Horse and Burro Act to
- state of Nevada, where prosecutors obtain conviction for animal cruelty.
-
- 1992 -- Two Utah men plead guilty to federal misdemeanor charges for
- theft of wild horses from BLM property in southeastern Nevada. While on
- probation, one man continues to receive contracts from the BLM to round
- up wild horses.
-
- 1993 -- Three Kentucky men plead guilty under Wild Horse and Burro Act to
- falsifying power of attorney forms to adopt 72 wild horses, then selling
- animals; sentences ranged from 15 months in prison to six months
- probation.
-
- 1995 -- Nevada man pleads guilty under Wild Horse and Burro Act to taking
- nine horses from public land, converting wild horses to private use;
- sentenced to six months in prison.
-
- Date: Thu, 07 Aug 1997 07:55:56 -0400
- From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US) Polluted Water Means Unsafe Fish
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970807075553.0068a6b4@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from AP Wire page:
- -----------------------------------
- 08/06/1997 23:47 EST
-
- Polluted Water Means Unsafe Fish
-
- By MICHAEL TIGHE
- Associated Press Writer
-
- BOSTON (AP) -- Residents of 47 states are being warned not to eat certain
- types of freshwater fish as states find pollution in more lakes and
- rivers.
-
- The Environmental Protection Agency said there are nearly 2,200 fish
- consumption advisories in effect in the United States -- an all-time
- high. And those advisories increase by more than 20 percent a year.
-
- Fifteen percent of the nation's lakes -- including all of the Great Lakes
- -- and 5 percent of its rivers were covered by an advisory at the end of
- 1996, the EPA said.
-
- The advisories list a total of 45 contaminants in lakes and rivers, but
- virtually all of them are due to the presence of mercury, PCBs,
- chlordane, dioxin and DDT in the water bodies. Contaminants enter waters
- through dumping, runoff and underground seepage and take decades to break
- down into less harmful forms.
-
- But the rising tide of advisories -- another 453 were issued last year,
- raising the total to 2,193 nationwide -- does not necessarily mean that
- more contamination is seeping into America's inland waters, the EPA said.
-
- ``The increase in advisories issued by the states generally reflects an
- increase in the number of assessments of the levels of chemical
- contaminants in fish and wildlife tissues,'' the agency said in a fact
- sheet released last week.
-
- Only Alaska, South Dakota and Wyoming, along with Guam, Puerto Rico and
- the Virgin Islands, had not issued any advisories by Dec. 31.
-
- Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA has determined how much of a chemical
- can be present in a freshwater body before it is considered contaminated.
- Using that data, states conduct the sampling and issue advisories if
- necessary.
-
- The advisories pertain only to non-commercial fishing.
-
- Water sampling is intended to prevent a situation similar to that of
- Japan's Minimata Bay, where for decades, hundreds of people have died
- after eating fish contaminated by mercury dumped by chemical companies.
-
- But some fishing industry representatives said the high number of
- advisories results from the EPA's overzealous regulations concerning
- contaminants in the environment.
-
- ``The numbers get inflated but it really has to be taken with a grain of
- salt as to what it means,'' said Lee Weddig, executive vice president of
- the National Fisheries Institute, a trade association. ``Many of them are
- based on too conservative a risk assessment for many of these
- chemicals.''
-
- American Sportfishing Association president Mike Hayden applauded the
- EPA's concern for public health, but questioned the sampling techniques
- and the language of the advisories. For example, contaminants are
- measured in the entire fish -- including scales, eyeballs and entrails --
- but most people only eat a fillet.
-
- Also, an advisory can be specific for a species, a location and a
- consumer such as pregnant women, nursing mothers or children. Too often,
- those finer points are lost on the general population.
-
- ``Oftentimes these advisories are stated in a way that the public doesn't
- understand it,'' Hayden said.
-
- The EPA did not return several phone calls seeking comment on the
- advisories.
-
- Date: Thu, 07 Aug 1997 08:03:26 -0400
- From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US) Use of Sludge on Crops Defended
- Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970807080324.006d1b5c@clark.net>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- from AP Wire page:
- ----------------------------------
- 08/07/1997 01:25 EST
-
- Use of Sludge on Crops Defended
-
- By PAUL TOLME
- Associated Press Writer
-
- PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Sewage sludge spread on farmlands in many parts
- of the country poses no health threat despite containing small amounts of
- heavy metals, a federal environmental official says.
-
- Federal rules governing the use of sludge as fertilizer are overly
- stringent, Alan Rubin of the Environmental Protection Agency told a
- seminar Wednesday.
-
- ``It's the most evaluated material ever regulated by the EPA,'' Rubin, an
- EPA expert on sewage sludge, said during a conference of the Association
- of American Plant Food Control Officials.
-
- Some environmentalists worry the misuse of sludge, which comes from
- sewage treatment plants, could contaminate water, ruin the nutrient
- balance of soil or result in higher levels of heavy metals, such as lead,
- in vegetables or farm animals.
-
- Consumers who buy the produce, or citizens living near farms using sludge
- as fertilizer, could face health problems, they fear.
-
- The issue has gained attention in Washington state, where
- environmentalists and concerned citizens have encouraged state officials
- to outlaw sludge's use as fertilizer.
-
- But Rubin said such criticism is based on a lack of understanding.
-
- Sewage sludge is used on a small percentage of farmlands, making it
- unlikely consumers would even eat such produce, Rubin said.
-
- ``The chances of you picking up a head of lettuce (fertilized with
- sludge) is one in a thousand,'' he said.
-
- States are free to impose stricter guidelines, he noted, and many,
- including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have.
-
- Supporters say the practice is preferable to incinerating sludge or
- dumping it in landfills. If done correctly, soil is improved and landfill
- space is saved, pathogens die and heavy metals bind with the soil, they
- say.
-
- Nonetheless, some at the seminar cautioned that federal rules work only
- if state and federal officials closely monitor the amounts of toxins in
- sludge.
-
- --------
-
- TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- President Clinton's choice for a top Agriculture
- Department financial job managed an investment program as Kansas state
- treasurer that lost more than $20 million in securities trades.
-
- Clinton announced Wednesday his intention to nominate Kansas State
- Treasurer Sally Thompson as Agriculture's chief financial officer. The
- appointment would require Senate confirmation.
-
- The White House cited Thompson's work to reform laws on investing
- government money and on improving efforts to find owners of unclaimed
- property. Thompson also was a Democratic Senate candidate in 1996.
-
- But in 1995 and 1996, Thompson was criticized for her management of the
- Municipal Investment Pool, and the Legislature later stripped her office
- of its authority to make day-to-day investment decisions.
-
- Legislators created the investment pool in 1992, at Thompson's urging. It
- allowed cities, counties, school districts and townships to combine their
- money to receive better investment returns.
-
- In 1996, the Legislature combined the pool's assets with the state's for
- investment purposes.
-
- The state never required the pool's investors to assume the losses from
- the trading. Instead, it kept the losses on the books and bought them
- down by shaving ongoing interest earnings.
-
- Thompson, 57, has served as state treasurer for seven years. She won
- office in 1990 by touting her experience as an accountant and financial
- manager for banks and savings and loans in Colorado and Kansas.
-
- Asked whether the controversy might become an issue in confirmation
- hearings, Thompson said: ``Our answer will be the same. Nobody lost
- money.''
-
- Date: Thu, 7 Aug 1997 10:36:40 -0400 (EDT)
- From: JanaWilson@aol.com
- To: Ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News
- Message-ID: <970807103637_-1939991530@emout10.mail.aol.com>
-
-
- The Oklahoma Bowhunters's Council will be offering a bowhunter
- education course on Aug 9th at the Oklahoma Wildlife Dept.
- headquarters in Oklahoma City. The cost of the course is $5
- and students are required to take a state certification test upon
- completion of the course. The course is taught by certified
- instructors from the International Bowhunters Education Program.
- It includes such items as the bowhunter's responsibilities, safety,
- game laws, survival, first aid and available sources of proper
- equipment and shooting instruction. It also covers bowhunting
- techniques such as stalking, blood trailing, field dressing, care of
- meat, scouting and practice.
- The course is divided into two segments which consist of a classroom
- portion and field exercise. During the field portion, students are given
- an opportunity to shoot their bows and discuss with instructors
- the procedures to follow in selecting and matching equipment.
- The students may also participate in a simulated blood trailing
- exercise. Students should also bring their own bow and arrows
- tipped with field points.
- The students will receive the course material and when successfully
- completing the course will receive a patch and certification card.
- Pre-registration is required.
-
- Oklahoma big game hunters, or any Oklahoman planning a
- late summer vacation, may be interested to know that Oklahoma
- City businessman Mr. Tony Elison has bought the Horseshoe
- Mountain Guest Ranch near Del Norte, Colo. His cabins and
- property are now open for fishing and other warm weather activities.
- Elison said he would have the lodge open for elk and deer hunters
- this fall. The ranch on Pinos Creek which is 30 minutes from
- Wolf Creek Ski Resort is bordered on two sides by national
- forest land where public hunting is permitted. Horseshoe Mountain,
- a 12,000 ft peak, adjoins the ranch. For more info call
- 1-405-691-4404.
-
- For the Animals,
-
- Jana, OKC
- Date: 07 Aug 97 13:27:47 EDT
- From: 0 <74754.654@CompuServe.COM>
- To: Ian Lance Taylor <ar-news@cygnus.com>
- Subject: request to have this message posted on ar-news
- Message-ID: <970807172746_74754.654_EHL42-1@CompuServe.COM>
-
- GOOD NEWS FROM ISRAEL - ANIMAL AMBULANCE FINALLY ALLOWED
- DUTY-FREE
- ENTRY
-
- Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI) has won its battle
- over the equal treatment of ambulances for people and animals.
- CHAI had sought to donate an animal ambulance to the SPCA in
- Tiberias, Israel to enable it to pick up sick, stray and injured
- animals and transport them to medical help. However, while
- ambulances for Israel's public hospitals were allowed to enter the
- country duty-free, CHAI's identically equipped animal ambulance for
- a public animal shelter was charged $40,000 customs duties (the
- ambulance cost $26,000).
-
- Instead of allowing shelters to receive donated ambulances that
- would have allowed them to fulfill their function of controlling
- the animal overpopulation in humane ways, the government continued
- to mass strychnine poison animals in the fields and streets,
- claiming they had no humane alternative.
-
- Years ago, CHAI replaced the strychnine poisonings in the municipal
- pounds with use of the humane euthanasia drug sodium pentobarbitol.
-
- To replace the poisonings in the fields and streets - which the
- Veterinary Services claimed they carry out to control rabies - CHAI
- urged the Veterinary Services to field test the oral rabies vaccine
- that has wiped out rabies in Western Europe. The vaccine was
- successfully field tested, but the Veterinary Services has not yet
- purchased and distributed it, citing financial considerations and
- concerns that rabid animals will just come across the border.
-
- While CHAI continues to work to end these poisonings, it sought to
- make it possible for the animal shelters to pick up animals before
- the municipal authorities would resort to poisoning them. The
- imposition of exhorbitant customs duties prevented this humane
- solution.
-
- Many organizations and individuals appealed to the Israeli
- government to show compassion, including 25 U.S. Senators and
- Congresspeople, Nobel Laureate and former CHAI Advisory Board
- member Isaac Bashevis Singer before his death, the heads of many
- Jewish organizations (including the one that sends human ambulances
- to Israel) and many animal protection organizations. Even Israel's
- two Chief Rabbis (Ashkenazi and Sephardic) wrote that the
- government's action violated Jewish law by denying help to
- suffering animals. All appeals were rejected.
-
- Many CHAI members who are contributors to Israel, including to the
- United Jewish Appeal and Israel Bonds, withheld their contributions
- in protest. Finally, with the help of Knesset members Avraham
- Poraz (sponsor of Israel's first Animal Protection Law), Uzi
- Landau, and Maxim Levy, a bill to change the government's policy on
- the ambulances was finally introduced into the Knesset (Israel's
- Parliament). CHAI Advisory Board member Rep. Tom Lantos wrote to
- every member of both majority parties in Israel (Labor and Likud),
- asking for their support of the Knesset bill. Many responded
- favorably, including the Vice-Chairman of the Knesset.
-
- The bill has been referred to the Knesset Finance Committee and
- CHAI will continue to press for its passage. To avoid further
- delaying the ambulance getting to the Tiberias shelter while
- awaiting passage of the legislation, however, Knesset member
- Avraham Poraz shortcut the legislative process and succeeded in
- convincing the Finance Ministry to take the customs duties for the
- first donated vehicle from the Treasury. The ambulance will be
- shipped to Israel August 24th and will arrive September 13th.
-
- The duty-free entry of Israel's first animal ambulance sets a
- precedent. Once it arrives and begins its life-saving work at the
- new Tiberias shelter, the other shelters in the country will demand
- that they, also, be allowed to have this means of carrying out
- their function. There can be no justification for granting the
- privilege to one shelter while denying it to another.
-
- CHAI thanks everyone for your support in this long, drawn-out
- struggle. It's a shame so much time and energy had to be expended
- on establishing the obvious - that animals suffer no less
- than humans and that their suffering matters no less than human
- suffering - but the ambulance can now begin its important work
- saving thousands of animal lives. We continue to urge anyone with
- contacts with Knesset members to urge them to pass the bill that
- will set this policy of compassion into stone forever.
-
- For further information, contact Nina Natelson, CHAI's Director, at
- POB 3341, Alex., VA 22302, tel. (703) 658-9650, fax (703) 941-6132,
- e-mail: 74754,654.compuserve.com
-
-
-
-
- Date: Thu, 07 Aug 1997 14:27:27 -0400
- From: Shirley McGreal <spm@awod.com>
- To: ar-news@envirolink.org
- Subject: Another baby monkey nightmare
- Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19970807182727.00713778@awod.com>
- Mime-Version: 1.0
- Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
-
- This morning IPPL in the mail received documents related to the shipment of
- monkeys from Inquatex, Indonesia to LABS, South Carolina which reached
- Chicago on Air France on 30 May 1997. We had requested these documents using
- the US Freedom of Information Act.
-
- Previously we had posted information about a shipment which reached Chicago
- on 10 April 1997. A USFWS inspector claimed on the Form 3-177 that 100% of
- the shipment was inspected, but it turned out that he had inspected neither
- the animals nor the documents.
-
- So the inspector was clueless about the presence of 20 babies in the
- shipment, which was in apparent violation of the Lacey Act regulation (CFR,
- Sec. CITE 50 CFR Sec. 14.105 Title 50, Subchapter B, Part 14, Subpart J)
- which states in part:
-
- >(2) A nursing mother with young, an unweaned mammal unaccompanied by its
- >mother, or an unweaned bird shall be transported only if the primary purpose
- >is for needed medical treatment and upon certification in writing by the
- >examining veterinarian that the treatment is necessary and the animal is
- >able to withstand the normal rigors of transport. Such an unweaned mammal or
- >bird shall not be transported to the US for medical treatment unless it is
- >accompanied at all times by and completely accessible to a veterinary
- >attendant.
-
- The 10 April shipment was accompanied by a certificate that all the animals
- were healthy. So they were NOT being shipped for "needed medical treatment."
-
- The shipment that arrived on 30 May consisted on 253 crab-eating macaques
- shipped in 48 crates. The shipper was Inquatex and the importer was LABS.
- The Form 3-177 showed that "0% of wildlife [was] inspected" by the same
- inspector who had claimed to have inspected 100% of the April shipment. The
- shipment originally consisted of 255 animals. However one mother was dead on
- arrival at Paris and her tiny baby was killed so the Form 3-177 registered
- just 153 monkeys.
-
- Some monkeys had escaped at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris. They had been
- recaptured and the crates reinforced, according to CDC. The shipment had
- been delayed for two days in Paris.
-
- A roster of animals accompanied the 30 May shipment. Again, there were
- babies in the shipment, this time there were 19 of them. One baby was born
- on 5 May (this little fellow started his international trip at just THREE
- weeks old). 13 of the 19 babies were born in April, some were FOUR weeks
- old. IPPL considers it cruel and inhumane to ship a baby monkey just three
- weeks old on a gruelling international trip. This is why it is progibited by
- Lacey Act regulations.
-
- The May shipment was accompanied by a health certificate signed on 27 May
- which stated that all the monkeys were healthy. So the exemption does not
- apply. Again, monkeys were shipped in apparent (some might say "clear")
- violation of a US regulation.
-
- Six monkeys shipped in May were between 2-3 months pregnant (17 shipped in
- April were pregant). Shipment of baby and pregnant monkeys is expressly
- recommended against in the International Air Transport Association rules,
- yet Air France accepted both these shipments.
-
- Among the adult animals were:
-
- 9 monkeys sixteen years old
- 9 monkeys fifteen years old
- 19 monkeys fourteen years old
-
- Indonesia bans export of wild-caught monkeys. The CITES export permit for
- the May shipments stated that the monkeys were II(C) - CITES Appendix II,
- captive-born (as was said of the April shipment). IPPL was told by an
- Indonesian source that the exporter is getting rid of his entire stock,
- including breeding animals. A US trade source suggests that it is unlikely
- that every single animal is captive born, as claimed on the Indonesian
- export permit and health certificate.
-
- This shipment left Indonesia on 27 May. It did not reach Chicago till late
- 30 May. Here is what the monkeys endured: 17 hours plus ground time flying
-