Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news51~1.htm/text0001.txt

Text File | 1998-04-03 | 68.6 KB | 1,575 lines

Mon, 8th September 1997
Cabinet Says Yes To RCDá(New Zealand)

Cabinet has decided to legalise the spread of the killer rabbit virus - RCD.

The Minister for Biosecurity, Simon Upton, says now the rabbit calicivirus
disease (RCD) is present in New Zealand, the Government has to face reality
and allow farmers to spread the disease.

Last week Cabinet considered the situation but called for urgent reports for
today's meeting on how the virus should be managed in the future.

Now Mr Upton says the Government has decided to pass regulations to clarify
the legality of spreading RCD which was classified as an unwanted organism.
There have been conflicting views of whether it was legal to spread RCD once
it was illegally imported into the country.

The regulations will not be retrospective and the Government has indicated
that it still considers the importation of RCD as a serious breach of law
that should be punished.

It is unlikely that farmers who had spread the disease, once it was here,
will be charged with any offence, due to the public announcement by MAF
officials that it was not against the law.

The Department of Conservation is being asked to handle the problem of
predators switching from rabbits to endangered native wildlife.

MAF officials will continue to gather more information about the virus.
Areas identified for immediate research include characterising the virus and
testing its virulence, so that its effectiveness can be determined.

End

===========================================

Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

Email>  [e-mail]

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

     /`\   /`\
    (/\ \-/ /\)
       )6 6(
     >{= Y =}<
      /'-^-'\
     (_)   (_)
      |  .  |
      |     |}
 jgs  \_/^\_/













Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 07:37:14 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Council Moves To Clarify Pork Talk
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

(may be of interest to those dealing with factory hog issues--where a pig
is not just a pig)
from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 09/08/1997 01:53 EST

 Council Moves To Clarify Pork Talk

 By JORDAN LITE
 Associated Press Writer

 DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- A horse is a horse, of course, of course, but a
 pig may not be just a pig anymore. At least not in pork-producing states.

 In an effort to eliminate discrepancies in recordkeeping, the pork
 industry has proposed a number of specific new terms for pigs.

 ``The question is, when does a sow become a sow?'' said Earl Dotson, an
 assistant vice president of the National Pork Producers Council in Clive,
 Iowa. He believes industry experts have found a practical answer.

 ``A sow is always a sow,'' Dotson said. ``But there are six different
 definitions for what a sow is.''

 More specifically, the council says an adult female pig may be a
 ``breeding female,'' a ``mated breeding female,'' a ``nursing female,'' a
 ``prospective breeding female,'' a ``removed breeding female'' or an
 ``unmated breeding female.''

 Ken Scotto, who heads the Animal Science Department at California
 Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., said the
 technical language should clarify conversations among industry members.

 ``It's a standardization of language so someone in California buying from
 the Midwest is talking about the same thing,'' he said.

 But some say the proposed terminology draws a fine line between
 standardization and doublespeak.

 While a castrated pig is commonly referred to as a barrow, for example,
 one of the eight new categories of pigs is an ``intact,'' or
 noncastrated, pig.

 It's not exactly pig Latin, but it prompted a chuckle from one professor
 who teaches courses dealing with language.

 ``You could also say a pig with four legs is an intact pig,'' said
 Kenneth Starck, a communications professor at the University of Iowa.

 But the proposed terms may mirror trends elsewhere to specify language.

 ``In every discipline they want to be more scientific and descriptive of
 their activities,'' said Sanjeev Agarwal, an associate professor of
 marketing at Iowa State University.

 ``In weather forecasting there are several different ways to describe
 snow,'' he said. ``There may be four or five different categories of
 snowfall in the northern U.S., but anywhere else it's just snow.''

 So what impact will the various terms have on everyday language? ``A pig
 is a pig,'' said Scotto of Cal Poly. ``We look at the meat on the
 counter.''

 Dotson said he doubts even farmers would use the terms in casual
 conversation.

 But Jim Sands, a statistician for Iowa's Agriculture Department, said the
 terms first proposed in March may complicate production surveys.
 ``Verbose as they are, it's going to be difficult to get people to
 listen,'' he said.

 The U.S. Agriculture Department has not committed to the language in its
 national hog surveys, said Bob Milton, the agency's chief of livestock
 and economics. ``We hesitate to do that until the terminology is more
 common to everybody,'' he said.

 At least one Iowa farmer familiar with the terms has not adjusted to
 them.

 ``This is sort of like (converting) the U.S. standard to metrics that no
 one will get used to but will (still) use,'' said Bill Raney, a Jefferson
 farmer who raises 3,000 pigs a year. ``Maybe within my lifetime I'll get
 used to it.''

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 10:02:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: CAMPFIRE
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Who is shadowrunner and why is s/he posting long NRA alerts, 3/4 of which
have nothing to do with animal rights?  Also, why is overly opinionated anti
animal rights garbage being put on here?

JP
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 09:22:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (pawsinfo)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Marine World Africa Report (SF Gadfly)
Message-ID: <[e-mail].>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

posted for Church of the Earth
----------------------------------------

September 8, 1997


Church of the Earth Members stun Marine World Africa USA
----Tourist Removed by Police---

Ten members of the newly formed Church of the Earth stood up for freedom
this Sunday at Marine World Africa USA in Vallejo, CA. The ten remained
standing and silent in the front row facing the orca tank throughout the
whale show. The members held hands, most were moved to tears.

Marine World Africa USA staff and local police surrounded the church group
but neither spoke to them nor touched them. The trainers seemed shaken, the
whales responded differently to signals and the show was shortened.

After the show, Yaka and Vigga, the two captive orcas, ignored signals to
return to their holding tank and stayed near the church group. Yaka floated
within several feet of the group and maintained eye contact with them.
Fifteen minutes after the show ended, when the whales had returned to their
tiny holding tank, the group left and was escorted to the exit by park
security.

During the event, several tourists became outraged and had to be restrained
by guards. One tourist abandoned his wife and young child to leap on the
back of a church member and had to be removed by city police. The church
member who was attacked did not respond or react. The incident was
videotaped and assault charges have been filed.

Church of the Earth founder Ben White explained that one mission of the
Church of the Earth is "to witness animal abuse and to tell the world about
it," as well as to visit and comfort imprisoned beings, such as these
orcas.  According to Church of the Earth, "there are no heirarchies: men
are not above women, people are not above other animals. Each part of
creation is perfectly suited to its role on the earth."

"A whale's role is swimming free in the ocean, not doing tricks for
tourists." said White.

Vigga is an Icelandic orca who was forcibly removed from her family in
1980. Yaka's family continues to swim free in the northern resident
community of British Columbia.  Yaka was separated from her family and
freedom in 1969.

The silence of the church group was deafening to park staff, noisy tourists
and the whales. White notes that "spiritual conviction may be the one force
with the power to heal our out-of-control civilization."

White called on visitors to marine mammal parks show their spiritual
conviction and To Stand Up For Whale Freedom.  While White does not
encourage visits to marine mammal parks since it is such a painful
experience, he does encourage those intent on visiting these places to
stand and silently watch the whale and dolphin performances while
envisioning the life that these captive animals are forced to lead.

For Info Re: Church of the Earth, PO Box 1674, Friday harbor, WA 98250
360-378-8755 [e-mail]

or Bob Chorush - see signature for contact info

-----------
Thanks for support from: In Defence of Animals, Earth Island Institute,
Progressive Animal Welfare Society, Breach Marine, Zoocheck Canada, ASMA
Working Group, Tokitae
Foundation, POWER, Animal Welfare Institute, Cetacean Freedom Network.
Special thanks to IDA for providing transporation.
------------









Bob Chorush  Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 [phone] ext
862, [phone] fax
email [e-mail]      http://www.paws.org

Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 18:57:24 +0200
From: Jordi Ninerola <[e-mail]>
To: AR News <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dragon Ball and Bullfighting
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1



JORDI NI╤EROLA (Catalonia):Dragon ball is a popular serie in my country and more TV
showed this serie. This year in Valencia, Andalucia and in Madrid, the autonumos TV: Canal 9,
TeleMadrid and CanalSur decided no show this serie because has many violence's scenes. This TV
decided change this serie, in infantil primetime, for a bullfighting that they say that was less
violence than Dragon Ball.

For more information in catalan language

http://www.abast.es/~carlosg/dragball/dragball.html

JORDI

http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/academy/2855
http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/loge/3128
[e-mail]: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 13:43:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: More Richmond Animal Shelter Information (VA)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

UPDATE: The Richmond SPCA is no longer euthanising animals for the Richmond
Animal Shelter. The SPCA had agreed to euthanize sick animals for the shelter
but they found out that not all the animals being sent to them were sick. A
two part article on the shelter appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this
week- if you want a copy sent to you via e-mail please tell me.

Personal letters will have more of an impact with this situation but I will
send out a form letter over AR-news within the week for those of you that
requested it.

City Council
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
City Hall
Suite 200
900 E. Broad
Richmond, VA 23219

Mayor Chavis
Phone:[phone]
Fax:[phone]
City Hall
Suite 201
900 E. Broad
Richmond, VA 23219

City Manager
Phone:[phone]
Fax:[phone]
City Hall
Suite 201
900 E. Broad
Richmond, VA 23219

Commonwealth's Attorney
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
400 N 9th St.
Richmond, VA 23219


Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 02:20:35 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (PA-TW) Taiwan businessmen to cultivate fish in Panama
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>CNA Daily English News Wire
TAIWAN BUSINESSMEN TO CULTIVATE FISH IN PANAMA

Panama City, Sept. 8 (CNA) Peng Tso-kuei, visiting chairman of the Republic
of China's Council of Agriculture, said Monday that Taiwan businessmen will
invest in cultivating fish in Panama.

Taiwan aquaculture experts will raise mouthbreeders in a 100-acre Panamanian
lake, he said. It is estimated that after 10 months, daily output will reach
15 tons of fish, which will be processed for export to the United States.

In line with the cultivation business, Taiwan investors will also set up
plants in the Fort Davis Export Processing Zone to produce food for the fish
and to process the catch. They will also establish a farm by the lake in
which to raise young fish.

The initial investment will be approximately US$7 million, Peng said, adding
that this could increase if business goes well. (By Lin Wen-fen)

Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 03:16:25 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (TH) Tapir breeding plan a success
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>Bangkok Post
8 Sept 97

WILDLIFE / NEW ARRIVAL AT SAMUT PRAKAN
                                    ZOO
              Tapir breeding
              plan a success

              Endangered animal species gets a boost
              Uamdao Noikorn

              Like other newborns, she looks adorable and chubby.
              Weighing about 20 kilogrammes, the 22-day-old animal sniffs at
              everything in sight out of curiosity, acting playfully yet
clinging
              behind her mother almost all the time.

              But she is no ordinary baby for she is a baby Malayan tapir, one
              of Thailand's 15 reserved animal species on the verge of
              extinction.

              Her birth on July 15 brought immense joy to the staff at the
              Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo. It confirms that her big
              brother, Nong Khai's (Brother Egg) birth, was not an accident
              and the farm's tapir breeding programme was a success.

              The baby, which does not have a name yet, is healthy and has
              started eating leaves like her mother. Nong Khai was just
              separated from his mother Nong Pui because he grew up
              enough.

              According to Dr Panya Youngprapakorn, the farm's deputy
              managing director, the programme would not be successful
              without Dusit Zoo's help. The programme was set up following
              the zoo's own tapir breeding programme which was also a
              success on the grounds that other zoos should be able to emulate
              its successful effort.

              The zoo agreed to give its male tapir in exchange for one of the
              farm's three females four years ago. It selected Den, a young
              Malayan tapir, to match with ten-year-old Pui.

              It was love at first sight when they met. "Although they were a
              little bit excited, they just hit it off," said Dr Panya,
adding they
              bit each other sometime.

              Although tapirs can breed all year round and females are in the
              mood every two months, it was not until August 1994, a year
              later, before they were ready for mating. Finally, Nong Pui was
              pregnant and gave birth to Nong Khai on September 9, 1995.

              The conception of a tapir usually lasts from 390-404 days or 13
              months and there's usually one baby.

              "Nong Pui is very protective of her baby. When we try to get
              close to her, she will scream as a warning. This behaviour will go
              on for another three months," said Dr Panya.

              During Nong Khai's nursing period, Dr Panya tried to match Den
              with another five-year-old tapir called Lily to no avail.

              Although they got along, Den did not pay much interest in Lily.
              He might prefer older women, who knows?

              After nine months of giving birth to her son, Nong Pui mated with
              Den again and gave birth to the new baby girl. "It's good to see
              that both survived. It means we're successful in building an
              environment suitable for their breeding," said Dr Panya.

              The farm now suspects there may be another good news. "Lily
              might be pregnant. We've noticed her breasts are bigger. Since
              we did not see them mating, we have to wait," Dr Panya
              explained.

              He said the breeding programme was more than successful and
              hopes to breed other reserved animals in the farm. The farm
              plans to cooperate with the zoo to try breeding other endangered
              species as well.

              Asked what put tapirs on the endangered species list, Dr Panya
              cited deforestation as the main reason, followed by illegal
wildlife
              trade. "Baby tapirs are cute, coupled with their gentleness,
              people love to have them as a pet. But most never make it
              because they don't know how to raise a tapir," he explained.

              Another reason is its love for peaceful life. A tapir lives alone
              outside the mating season and prefers fleeing to fighting when in
              trouble.

              "Despite its aggressiveness when it has a baby, its herbivorous
              teeth cannot harm like carnivorous ones. We can say it has no
              natural weapons against predators."

              Farm staff agreed but warned that an angry tapir cannot be
              overlooked. "When it's angry, four young strong men can be
              easily toppled if charged," said a farm staffer.

              It is estimated there are about 100 tapirs left in Thailand.
"That's
              just an estimate because nobody has ever seen them that much.
              But one thing for sure, the situation is alarming."

              Malayan tapir is one of the three species of tapirs found in the
              world. Its habitat is only in Asia ranging from Tanaosri Range to
              Sumatra.

Article copyright Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd 1997
Reprinted for non-commercial use only.
Website: http://www.bangkokpost.net


Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 03:19:41 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ASEAN to fight protectionist tendencies of West
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Bangkok Post
8 Sept 97

ASEAN

              Group looks for
              united front on
              farm exports

              To fight protectionist tendencies of the
              West

              Chakrit Ridmontri

              Ministers gathering for the 19th meeting of Asean Ministers on
              Agriculture and Forestry (Amaf) will discuss ways of protecting
              their agriculture industries from attacks by environmental groups.

              They believe that trade bans on products, particularly shrimp, on
              environmental grounds needs to be countered.

              Agriculture Minister Chucheep Harnsawat said Thailand, which
              is hosting the meeting which starts today, will propose the
              adoption of regional policies in rebutting trading partners' and
              NGOs' allegations against Asean products.

              Participants include Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma,
              the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Cambodia as an
              observer.

              "Asian countries are facing similar problems of trade
              protectionism in which developed countries link environmental
              and health issues with the trade of agricultural products.
Thailand
              will propose a discussion on the issue," he said.

              Mr Chucheep said Asean members earlier agreed to sign a
              memorandum of understanding on sea turtle conservation and set
              up the Asean Shrimp Industry Task Force.

              Plodprasop Suraswadi, deputy permanent secretary of the
              Ministry of Agriculture, said the memorandum was Asean's
              attempt to set up a code of practice to conserve turtles.

              He said the move was designed to prevent trading partners, such
              as the United States, from demanding that shrimp exporting
              countries, especially in Asean, abide by its conservation
              measures. The US requires that a turtle excluder device be
              attached to the trawler net to allow turtles to escape if caught.

              Mr Plodprasop said the meeting would also discuss appointing
              Thailand the secretariat of the Asean Shrimp Industry Task
              Force with himself as the secretary-general.

              Its mission would be to rebut attacks on the shrimp farming
              industry by environmental groups which accuse it of destroying
              mangrove forests and the coastal environment.

              "It is now clear that the environmental NGOs worldwide are the
              major threat to the shrimp industry in the region. They are
              moving their attacks from the local to the global level, causing
              consumers worldwide to be misinformed about the shrimp," he
              said.

              "The secretariat will monitor media of all kinds to look for
              attacks against shrimp industry. If it encounters accusations, it
              will probe the source of the attacks and the reason behind the
              actions. Then it will respond."

              Mr Plodprasop said the task force would also team up with
              international shrimp advocate Global Aquaculture Allies to share
              knowledge about the industry and to organise international
              seminars on sustainable shrimp farming.

              The Amaf meeting will run from today until Saturday at Central
              Plaza Hotel, Bangkok, with the ministerial meetings being held
              from Thursday.

              Agriculture Minister Chucheep Harnsawat will head the Thai
              ministers and chair the meeting.


Article copyright Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd 1997
Reprinted for non-commercial use only.
Website: http://www.bangkokpost.net

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 16:41:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: " North American A.L.F. Supporters Group" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: A Fighting Chance: A.L.F. Activist account of Raid
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


The following article was sent to the North American A.L.F. Supporters
Group by an anonymous A.L.F. activist who participated on a mink farm
raid. It and other stories by A.L.F./E.L.F. warriors appear in UNDERGROUND
#8, available soon.
Become a member of the NA-A.L.F.S.G.: $20-30 subscription for 1 years
membership (4 issues of Underground plus updates etc. included). Cheques
and money orders payable to "NAALFSG" at:
NA-A.L.F.S.G.
Box 69597, 5845 Yonge St.
Willowdale, Ont. Canada
M2M 4K3
////////////////////////////////////////////////////


A Fighting Chance

The following is the story of just one of the many mink farm
raids that have taken place in North America in the past year and
a half.



Late one night, I sat on a small patch of grass under the stars,
listening to the dried leaves rustle in the wind. A few moments
had passed when I saw the headlights of a small vehicle turn the
corner and head towards me. After loading my gear into the trunk,
I climbed into the front seat and exchanged anxious smiles with
the driver. She gave my hand a quick squeeze before steering the
care (rented in an untraceable manner) back onto the road. We
were on our way.

As we drove, the sun came up. Stopping only to eat and refuel the
car, we continued driving all day. A few hours after the sun
disappeared, we met up with another man, well known to us and
trusted wholeheartedly. Together we headed to a dark clearing
near a small lake, and sat and discussed our plans.

Afterwards, taking special care to be sure we didn't have
unwelcome company, we hit the road and headed for our final
destination. Using detailed maps, we made many, many turns off
the main road. We found the address we were looking for and
quickly found some thick brush where we hid the car from sight.

We had brought with us a radio scanner which had already been
programmed to monitor all the local and state law enforcement
frequencies. One of my comrades double-checked that it was
working and the controls were set appropriately, secured it in
her jacket pocket and inserted the small earphone in her left
ear, leaving the other ear unobstructed. Throughout the
reconnaissance and the raid, she would listen carefully in case
the farmer or a neighbour reported any suspicious activity or in
case an undetected alarm caused an officer to be dispatched to
the farm.

We also made sure that no one was carrying any loose articles,
wearing jewellery or anything else that could inadvertently be
left behind. The last thing we did was hide the door key near the
car so no one person would be carrying it (if that person should run
into trouble, the others would have no mode of transportation).
Our pockets were empty except for the scanner, flashlight and
gloves. We were ready to go.

Our team knew how important it was to be familiar with the area,
so we scouted around on foot for about an hour. Of course, while
on or near roads, anytime we saw or heard a car in the distance
we hit the ground or bush and made ourselves invisible. We
located a creek which ran through the area nearby and out to
open, wilder spaces. We also made note of the darkest areas for
hiding and which side of the country road was least lit. We set
up an emergency rendezvous point in case we were separated.

When the wind was just right, it carried the stench of the fur
farm to us -- an overwhelming assault on our senses. When I
inhaled I could taste the blood and filth, I could hear the cries
of pain, I could see the suffering and I could feel the terror of
this place. It was (and is) pure evil.

We cut across several large fields to get to the back fence of
the mink farm. When walking in open spaces, we haunched over and
let our arms hang down so that, if anyone was watching, we
wouldn't look human.  As we travelled we often had to pull
strands of barbed wire apart and squeeze through to get past
perimeter fences. We made friends with the many cows and other
animals we passed on our way towards the farm.

After checking for alarms, trip wires and video cameras, we
easily climbed the back fence and entered the concentration camp.
Still watching carefully for alarms, etc., we hurried through he
many sheds. Our presence brought the many thousands of mink to
attention. They became very excited, rustling around in their
tiny cages and "talking" to each other with short, high-pitched
squeaks. With our small flashlights, we could see their curious
little faces and inquisitive eyes -- truly beautiful creatures! I
imagined the fate that would have awaited them if we had not come
to intervene: their necks snapped or their lungs filled with gas
after a few more months of enduring the psychological and
physical torture of being imprisoned in this hell.

We took note of the cages: four rows in each shed. Filthy,
corroded cages which provided no bedding for mink that normally
nest in the wild. Simple latches held most cages shut, but some
(the breeders) had a piece of heavy gauge wire twisted around the
wires of the cage, securing the doors.

Our reconnaissance told us what we needed to know and we
retreated to the back of the field that ran behind this farm. We
sat under an old willow tree for a few hours, watching the
compound to see if anyone was aware of our intrusion. On this
evening we would leave the critters behind, but we would return.
We hiked through the fields and creeks, back to the vehicle, and
drove for about an hour. We then camped for the remainder of the
morning.

At mid morning we rose and began to further discuss a plan of
action, detailing tools we would need and delegating duties. We
had brought with us a radio scanner, dark disposable clothing,
flashlights, wire cutters, gloves, spray paint and ski masks. We
would need to purchase packaged envelopes, paper and stamps (to
send a communique after the action) as well as back up batteries.
We fuelled up the car and drove by our target once (and only
once) during the daylight to further familiarize ourselves with
the surroundings.

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent taking apart all our
equipment, and wiping it down inside and out. We went over every
detail of the plan in our heads and prepared ourselves mentally
for whatever we might encounter, including any consequences we
might face.

It began to rain. We double checked our inventory of equipment,
and then set out. We made our way back to the concentration camp,
again making sure we were not followed. Just like the night
before, we checked and secured the scanner, emptied our pockets
and hid the key to the vehicle. Again, we followed the road part
way, diving to the ground with the coming of headlights, and then
crept through the dark, still fields, towards the many mink
awaiting their freedom.

We opened the cages. After opening roughly a dozen cages in the
dark, I paused for a brief moment to shine my flashlight across
them and caught sight of a shiny, sleek figure, hopping out of
her hell-hole. The mink scurried across the ground and out of the
barn. While I wanted to focus and appreciate each and every
animal as they found their way to freedom, I knew I couldn't do
so at the expense of those who would be left behind. I had to
spend every moment on the farm opening cages to allow as many as
possible a fighting chance at a natural life.

I continued my work, frantically unlatching and cutting wires.
While I worked, several mink ran across the top of the cages
while others scurried about my feet, squeaking with joy. Before
long, these feisty critters were all over the place, running this
way and that, playing and fighting with each other. Now and then
I would briefly stop my work to separate two of the little guys
and shoo them towards the outer fences, where they would find
their freedom. RUN LITTLE GUYS, RUN!

Suddenly I heard -- or thought I heard -- a slamming noise. "The
mink have woken the farmers," I thought. "Here he comes." I
looked to the end of the barn towards the farmer's house.
Struggling to adjust my focus for such a distance in the
darkness, I made out a light colored, upright figure. Were my
eyes playing tricks on me, or was someone standing there? I grew
very uneasy and almost nauseous, as I imagined 'Farmer John,'
angry as a wasp evicted from her nest (but much more dangerous),
standing in the doorway, holding a rifle. I prepared myself for
the worst and tried again in vain to focus on the end of the
shed.

Better safe than sorry, I reminded myself and quickly left the
shed. I looked for my partners, and, not finding them, my anxiety
increased. I moved across the adjacent field and hid in some
thick, dark bushes, and watched the farm for about 20 minutes. I
saw nothing out of the ordinary and no lights were turned on, so
I eventually crept back and cautiously re-entered the compound. I
ducked into the sheds where my friends were working, to be
certain that all was well. I found them working away undeterred.
I went back to my shed and continued opening the cages.

The work was exhausting and I could feel my bones ache with the
monotony of the routine. But I kept going -- I could never live
with myself if I didn't open as many cages as was humanly
possible. I lost count at 500.

I finished my shed and checked on the others to see if they
needed help. Finding their sheds empty, I moved on to the next
one, and we finished that one off together. Sadly, we came to our
pre-designated cut-off time. Though there were many more sheds
full of prisoners, we had to leave -- the farmers would wake soon
and the rise of the sun would provide no cover for ours and the
minks' escape.

We marked some of the now empty sheds with spray-paint and then
retreated. As we fled, we chased many mink to the holes cut in
the fence. Once on the other side, we stopped for a moment to
watch the many dark figures gliding and scampering through the
fields towards the creek which would lead them to their new
prospective homes.

Using the moon as our guide, we found our way back to our hidden
vehicle. We briefly shared our experiences as we walked -- one of
our team had been bitten while attempting to open a cage. All of
us had found several mink, dead and decaying in their cages.

We piled our soaked, sore, and muddied bodies into the car. We
made frustrated faces at each other -- we were excited but knew
we could not talk in the car. We drove silently back down the
dark roads to our campsite, where we sorted out our things,
throwing all clothes and shoes into the campfire and placing
tools into bags to be discarded safely and immediately.

We talked a little more about our experiences, including what we
could do better next time. We made plans to meet again, and
shared warm hugs before embarking on our long journey home.
During the following day's drive, we heard news reports of the
raid on the radio. We smiled proudly with the satisfaction that
many that many mink had a chance at freedom that day, that the
fur trade had just become a little less profitable, and that
'Farmer John' just might go out of business.


NORTH AMERICAN A.L.F. SUPPORTERS GROUP
Box 69597, 5845 Yonge St.
Willowdale, Ont. Canada M2M 4K3

For Merchandise and Distro Info:
NA-A.L.F.S.G Distro
Box 767295, Roswell, GA
30076, USA


Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 18:17:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: PAWS <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Sacto Bee Article
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 This article on PAWS appeared in the Sacramento Bee on Sept. 2:

Owner of Exotic Animal Haven Prowls for Abusers
By Cynthia Hubert
Bee Staff Writer

On a soft summer morning in rural paradise, Pat Derby pierces the silence
with a feral yell.  HooHooHoo, she calls out stepping through the sliding
glass door to begin rounds at PAWS, her burgeoning compound of exotic
animals in Galt.  She chirps. She grunts. She growls. She barks and
coos and clicks her tongue.   The baboons and tigers and elephants and
monkeys, aging and scarred refugees of the exotic animal trade talk back.
The big cats purr like helicopters when she approaches.  The primates
press their faces against their cages and seem to smile.  The elephants
flap their ears.  "I'm so jealous,"  joked keeper Merry Woods, who helps
feed and tend the 38 animal residents of PAWS.  "They all adore her."

But it is not only the animals who are listening to this coppery-haired
Doctor Doolittle in rubber boots, black jeans, and an oversized shirt.
Derby, a British born former actress and Hollywood animal trainer, has
become perhaps the world's most visible advocate for animals in
entertainment.

She has the ear of the US Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, with whom
she met recently to push for stricter enforcement of regulations to
protect cirus animals. She appeared on television and in newspapers
across the country recently with actress Kim Basinger to protest the
death of a performing elephant.  She has publicly butted heads with such
entertainment icons as Disney and Ringling Brothers. The small office on
her compound is inundated with inquiries and reports of animal abuse from
around the globe.

"They ask for the research department; they ask for our archives," said
Ed Stewart, Derby's partner at PAWS and in life for the past 22 years.
"they think we're in some high rise in LA!"

In fact, the nerve center at PAWS is a scattered-looking room adjacent to
the home of Stewart and Derby on the pastoral 30-acre spread just south
of Sacramento. Four office assistants answer constantly ringing
telephones, maintain a busy fax machine, and store files in a cabinet
draped with a curtain imprinted with images of cats. On the walls are a
few commemorative plaques and discolored photos of PAWS' benefactor
Amanda Blake of "Gunsmoke" fame.  Roaming the room is a friendly tabby
named Banky.

It is the busiest time of the year at PAWS..circus time.  "It's so
obvious to me," Derby said over lunch.  "Why would anyone want to risk
the life of a beautiful elephant so they can watch it sit up on its hind
legs and perform?"

Derby, a devotee of ballet and literature who once made a living training
such animals as Christopher, the cougar that roared in Lincoln Mercury
commercials, founded the PAWS sanctuary in 1985.  For more than two
decades, she has fought to end the practice of using animals for fun and
profit. Progress has come slowly, she said. "But I think people are
beginning to wake up."

Following the death of an elephant that collapsed in a trailer of a
traveling circus last month, Derby flew to New Mexico and organized a
media campaign featuring Kim Basinger.  The USDA has temporarily
suspended King royal Circus' licenses and, at Derby's urging, is seeking
to revoke them permanently.

Armed withnews of the latest circus tragedy, Derby is gearing up for a
protest of Ringling's annual summer appearance in Sacramento.   To her
supporters, Derby is a tough and effective advocate driven by her love
and respect for animals.  But her critics claim she covets publicity for
her personal satisfaction and will stop at nothing to destroy her
enemies.

"She does it as a means of support and for the attention of course," said
Joan Berosini, a Las Vegas animal trainer who, with her husband Bobby,
has been embroiled in a legal fight with Derby. "she likes the power and
the animal don't talk back. She has a lot of hate in her."

The Berosini's nearly put PAWS out of business. They sued Derby, PAWS and
other animal activists for publicly releasing a video tape showing Bobby
Berosini striking orangutans that he uses in his act at the Stardust
Hotel.  A large judgement against the activists that threatened to
bankrupt PAWS was later reversed.

"I don't like her approach," Steven Kendall of the Animal Care
Association in Pittsburgh, which represents circuses and other
entertainment organizations, said of Derby.  "she's a media hound and she
attacks."

"She was once in Hollywood and didn't make it, so she's made it her goal
to get back at everyone who has been successful.  a lot of the charges
she has made have been unfair."

Fair or not, Derby has been effective in bringing public attention to her
cause.  In April, Derby and her friend Basinger met with the Agriculture
Secretary in Washington, bending his ear for nearly an hour about
treatment of circus animals.

"She is one of a group of activists who is very persistent and media
savvy and seems to express the concerns of a lot of people,"  said USDA
spokesperson Patrick Collins.  "that is a combination that definitely can
be effective."

Derby's home is a monument to a colorful life.  A descendant of Percy
Bysshe Shelley, Derby has filled her shelves with the works of Whitman,
Thoreau, and Kafka, alongside of which are investigative videotapes of
animals being beaten and poked with electric prods.  Photographs of
herself in younger years, an Ann-Margret look-alike schmoozing with
Hollywood stars and trained lions and bears, line the wall above her
desk.  Her living room is filled with replicas of the huge animals she
loves most--elephants.  There are ceramic ones, brass ones, pewter ones,
wooden ones, wicker ones, and even soap ones in the bathroom.  "I think I
was born in love with elephants,"  Derby said with a smile.   She was
born in rural Sussex, England to parents who taught her to respect all
living things.  "Walk carefully among the buttercups," her father, who
taught literature at Cambridge, used to tell her. "There are whole little
worlds down there."...

At 15, Derby left Sussex and traveled to New York where she worked as a
dancer. She found greater success in Hollywood where her trained animals
made appearances in TV shows including "Lassie," and in movies such as
"The Love Bug."  She used "gentle techniques" to coax animals...but she
saw other trainers shock, beat and abuse their charges.  "I came to
realize that you can't be in this industry without inflicting some kind
of abuse," she said. "The mere act of chaining an animal or loading it
into a truck is cruel."  Disenchanted, Derby left with her animals to
manage a resort in Mendocino.

By that time, she had divorced her husband, animal trainer Ted Derby, and
was involved with Stewart, a tall Midwesterner 10 years her junior who
became smitten with her in 1976 at a Lincoln dealership in Cleveland
where Christopher was making appearances.

The couple lived in the Mendocino resort for seven years before moving to
the Sacramento area with their retired animal entertainers in 1984.  "We
didn't intend to start a sanctuary," Derby said. "We wanted to try to
change the rules, to help pass a few laws to protect animals in captivity."

But word spread quickly about an organization that the couple named the
Performing Animal Welfare Society and the animal kept coming. Mara, an
African elephant, arrived from a petting zoo that she had overgrown.
Now, she and "71", and an African elephant, live ina 1 1/2 acre compound
with a lake, a fountain,and a heated barn.  Two older elephants, Tammy
and Annie, came to PAWS froma Milwaukee Zoo whose handlers were charged
with abusing them.

Other PAWS residents include Lennie, the bear, who lived in a box as part
of a traveling show and was abandoned when his owner went bankrupt.  He
lives with two other bears in a spacious enclosure with trees, stumps,
and a pool.  PAWS also has several lions and tigers.

PAWS has about 30,000 contributors world wide and an annual budget of
$750,000.  Its produce bill alone is $500 a week.

The society's income from donations, foundations, and open houses and
other fund raisers allows for a comfortable, if not extravagant,
lifestyle, Derby said.  Although she has some fond memories of her past,
Derby has no regrets about the way her life has turned out,she said.  One
a typical day, she and Stewart rise before dawn and eat breakfast
together. While answering machines record messages from the East Coast,
they spend the next three hours getting their four elephants ready for
the day.    Stewart hoses them down with warm water and Derby prepares
their meal of grains and chopped fruit.  Stalls are cleaned, feet
soaking, and nails clipped.  Then the elephants, caressed and reassured
throughout the routine, are released into their expansive corrals.

Derby then retreats to her office for administrative work while Stewart
oversees maintenance of the grounds and remaining animals.  The couple
put the elephants back in their stalls around 7 pm.  In the evenings, if
they have no videotapes to review, Stewart flips on the baseball game and
Derby escapes into a hot bath and a murder mystery.  The two rarely take
a vacation.  "We've talked about going on a cruise, but I don't think it
will ever happen,"  she said.  "No time."  No matter, she concluded.
"Really, if I had my way, I would never leave here,"  she said,
splattered with mud, lugging a bucket of peanuts toward an elephant
stall. " I would be out here with my flowers and my animals and I would
never leave the property.  But I've got to keep going,"  she said.  " I
can't retire because I want to be sure that when I die, all these guys
and all the others out there like them will have security for life."
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 01:25:17 +0000
From: "Miggi" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Barry Horne Hunger Strike Update.
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Due to the length of the latest mail-out, I have not posted it to
ar-news but all the information is available at:
http://village.vossnet.co.uk/m/miggi/barry.htm
-
Barry has now been on hunger strike for 4 weeks, please send messages
of support to: [e-mail]
These messages are passed on daily to him.
-
Love N Liberation .......... Miggi
Type Bits/KeyID    Date       User ID
pub  1024/BBFB4A25 1997/08/01 Mark Ridley <[e-mail]>

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Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 17:29:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Suzanne Roy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Imp't Scientific American Article
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The following profile of an important animal welfare whistleblower appears
in the current (September) issue of Scientific American.

   *JAN MOOR-JANKOWSKIA Whistle-Blower's Wars
        SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, SEPTEMBER 1997

At the bus stop in Greenport, N.Y., the village where he has retired to tend
his wounds, Jan Moor-Jankowski is waiting. He holds out a hand, towering
over me with a straight-backed, military posture softened by a slight stoop
of politeness. Tired folds of skin hang around his eyes, giving him the sad
look of a basset hound. His old war injuries have become inflamed,
Moor-Jankowski tells me, walking with a slight limp: "It's probably
stress-related." His voice, too, sounds tired and halting. He has
nightmares, these days, of being forever barred from the laboratory he created.

Moor-Jankowski co-founded and for 30 years directed the Laboratory for
Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), a facility
affiliated with New York University. In 1995 Moor-Jankowski and M. Louis
Dinetz, the assistant director of LEMSIP, were dismissed, and N.Y.U. made
plans to sell the facility. Moor-Jankowski says he was harassed, and
ultimately fired, by N.Y.U. Medical Center for protesting violations of
federal rules at another animal experimentation lab at N.Y.U

.Peter L. Ferrara, senior director of public affairs at N.Y.U. Medical
Center, says that LEMSIP had become a financial liability, and its
management was transferred to the Coulston Foundation, which dismissed
Moor-Jankowski. But the foundation states that it started managing LEMSIP
only in 1996 and had nothing to do with the firing.

Moor-Jankowski and Dinetz are suing N.Y.U., as well as the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, which administers the Animal Welfare Act. Although the USDA
fined N.Y.U. $450,000 for violations of the act--the largest such fine ever
levied--Moor-Jankowski charges that it failed to respond to his pleas for
whistle-blower protection. The USDA declined to comment, citing the litigation.

The case of Moor-Jankowski provides the extraordinary spectacle of a
scientist who experiments on chimpanzees, no less, receiving succor from
antivivisectionists. "At times I hate him, for what he does [to animals],"
says Geza Teleki, a primate conservator in Washington, D.C. "At times I like
him, because he stands by what he says." LEMSIP was exceptional among
American animal laboratories in that its doors were open to animal-rights
activists and the media. "It is not necessary to hide [animal research],"
Moor-Jankowski declares. "I find that open discussion in a democracy is a
basis for formulating judgment."

A breeze rustles through the shady garden of his summer home; we settle down
on the porch, on either side of a crystal vase filled with roses from a bush
gone wild. His wife, Deborah, arranges a lunch of pates, cheeses and
strawberries and bids Moor-Jankowski to tell me some war stories: "Your
sense of honor and integrity begins young," she says with startling conviction.

Born in Poland, Moor-Jankowski was 15 when World War II arrived. In 1942 his
parents died, and Moor-Jankowski was incarcerated by the Nazis in a Warsaw
prison. He emerged one day under guard to find the surroundings burned down
after a Jewish uprising. Someone started shooting, the guards fell to the
ground, and Moor-Jankowski dashed into the ruins. The young man was later to
be captured by, and to run from, German and Soviet soldiers innumerable
times. "I always knew I had to run," he says, fixing me with his large eyes.
"I never believed in waiting. All my life, I was always for going forward."

In 1944 Moor-Jankowski found himself in Berlin in the uniform of a German
officer, participating in an elaborate scheme run by the Polish underground.
He ferried arms from Italian partisans to Polish ones and transported Jewish
and other deportees between Warsaw and Berlin so they could escape
persecution. Later that year an explosive bullet burst in his knee, and
Moor-Jankowski was shifted from hospital to hospital--apparently speaking
German even under anesthesia--until in April 1945 he escaped to Switzerland.

Soon the war was over. Moor-Jankowski earned a medical degree; his thesis
described the flexible leg brace he invented and wears to this day. But his
primary interest involved blood types, then the only known genetic marker.
Moor-Jankowski found that an isolated Alpine population had an exceptionally
high frequency of blood group O, carried by a recessive gene, and Rh
negative. The discovery offered proof of the theory of genetic drift, by
which random genes can become lost over time.

In 1959, at the University of Cambridge in England, Moor-Jankowski began to
study primates as models for human immunology. He discovered that serum
proteins could initiate an immune reaction and described the serum
allotypes, or groupings, in mice, monkeys and humans. Soon after,
Moor-Jankowski moved with his animals to the U.S. Along with Edward
Goldsmith, a prominent surgeon, he was invited by a group of medical schools
in the New York City area to set up a primate laboratory. LEMSIP was born,
moving in 1967 to Sterling Forest, a suburb north of the city.

LEMSIP became a center of research on hepatitis, blood diseases such as
sickle cell anemia and later, AIDS. The laboratory, designated a World
Health Organization Collaborating Center for Hematology in Primate Animals,
served as a model for primate facilities around the globe. In 1983
scientists from the Pasteur Institute in Paris announced the first vaccine
for hepatitis B, developed on LEMSIP's chimpanzees. Moor-Jankowski organized
conferences, launched a series of monographs and in 1971 founded a journal,
all on animal experimentation. For his scientific and wartime achievements,
he received numerous awards. And meanwhile, LEMSIP enjoyed good relations
with animal-rights groups because of its open-door policy.

Even so, Moor-Jankowski always seemed to be in trouble of some kind. LEMSIP
had a successful breeding colony of chimpanzees, funded by the National
Institutes of Health; however, in 1979 the NIH shifted its contract--and the
entire colony--to another facility that offered cheaper rates. LEMSIP sued.
Although not pursued, the suit damaged Moor-Jankowski's relations with the
NIH. (And the colony failed to breed in its new location.) In 1981 monkeys
in a laboratory in Silver Spring, Md., were discovered chewing on their own
arms and legs, the nerves to which had been cut for studies on nerve growth.
Although some researchers testified that the animals had received adequate
veterinary care, Moor-Jankowski said that was not possible on the 55 cents a
day that the laboratory charged the NIH per primate. LEMSIP charged $2.50,
and the monkeys it used in similar experiments did not self-mutilate.

That public statement won Moor-Jankowski no friends in the medical
community. "He has his own ethics," Teleki notes. "And it certainly does not
involve toeing the line." And soon he was in real trouble. In 1983, as chief
editor of the Journal of Medical Primatology, he published a letter by
chairwoman Shirley MacGreal of the International Primate Protection League.
She was criticizing a plan by an Austrian pharmaceutical company, Immuno, to
establish a hepatitis research station in Sierra Leone using wild-caught
chimpanzees. Immuno sued Moor-Jankowski and several other parties for libel.
Ultimately, everyone settled but him. Seven years later the New York Court
of Appeals threw out the suit in a landmark ruling that extended First
Amendment protections to letters to the editor.

Still, the triumph was bitter. Moor-Jankowski received no support from
scientific or medical groups; rather the National Association for Biomedical
Research filed a brief in support of Immuno, arguing that a scientific
journal should not offer a forum to an animal advocate. Those who did come
to his aid were television companies, newspapers, New York--area
universities--and animal-protection groups

.Meanwhile trouble was brewing at N.Y.U. Medical Center. Moor-Jankowski
served on its animal care committee, a body required by law to oversee
animal research. It transpired that Ronald Woods, a researcher at another
N.Y.U. facility, was depriving his monkeys of water in an unapproved procedure.

Moor-Jankowski protested the water deprivation. "I'm not an animal lover,"
he explains. "But they are sentient beings, and they deserve their fair
share." He was also convinced that Woods's studies were scientifically
questionable. In 1993 three of the monkeys died after undergoing botched
surgery. The USDA came in to investigate, and Moor-Jankowski cooperated.

It was at this time, Moor-Jankowski recalls, that LEMSIP started having
bureaucratic problems. He had raised $1.2 million for improving cage sizes
and primate care at the facility. But, he says, N.Y.U. Medical Center
"didn't allow me to spend the money," so that LEMSIP ended up violating the
new animal welfare regulations. Ferrara denies these claims and adds that
updating LEMSIP would have required "three or four" million dollars.
Moor-Jankowski and Dinetz also claim they were asked by N.Y.U. Medical
Center to inflate overheads on a grant proposal. "It's clearly not something
we would ask him to do," Ferrara responds. (But earlier this year N.Y.U.
Medical Center paid a $15.5-million settlement for overbilling the federal
government, the largest such payment by a university.)

In early 1995 N.Y.U. started to make plans to sell LEMSIP. Claiming he was
being harassed for having helped USDA investigators, Moor-Jankowski sought
whistle-blower protection from the agency. On August 8 the USDA informed
David Scotch, associate dean of N.Y.U. Medical Center, of the complaint.
"The day after, Scotch came into my office and fired me," Moor-Jankowski
recounts.

Moor-Jankowski also charges that he was not allowed to collect his
blood-grouping reagents and personal papers and that a guard was appointed
to bar his entrance to LEMSIP. Mail was not forwarded, so he had to
relinquish his editorship of the journal. His life's work, he says, remains
locked inside LEMSIP. All of this, Ferrara says, is "clearly untrue."
Meanwhile the fate of the institution is in limbo.

It is getting late in the afternoon, and Moor-Jankowski is exhausted. He
goes inside to lie down, while I walk to the seaside with Deborah. She is
worrying about his health; the case, which has barely progressed, is taking
a toll. Although the USDA initially stated that N.Y.U. Medical Center "did
in fact bring reprisals" against Moor-Jankowski, it later claimed there was
not enough evidence. The defendants have asked for the case to be dismissed,
which Moor-Jankowski's lawyer has vigorously opposed. For Moor-Jankowski,
the larger goal is to force the USDA to protect the whistle-blowers who help
it to uphold the law: "If it is so difficult for me, with all my awards and
recognition, a young man who sees fraud has no chance."

This battle may turn out to be his longest one yet.

--Madhusree Mukerjee

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 20:44:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: Allen Schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Squirrel Brains May Be Unsafe
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

from AP Wire page:
--------------------------------------
 09/08/1997 15:22 EST

 Squirrel Brains May Be Unsafe

 By CHARLES WOLFE
 Associated Press Writer

 FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) -- Squirrel brains are a lip-smacking memory for
 Janet Norris Gates. They were the choicest morsels of the game her father
 once hunted in Tennessee.

 ``In our family, we saw it as a prized piece of meat, and if he shared it
 with you, you were pretty happy. Not that he was stingy,'' said Mrs.
 Gates, an oral historian in Frankfort, ``but there's just not much of a
 squirrel brain.''

 Now, some people might want to think twice about eating squirrel brains,
 a backwoods Southern delicacy.

 Two Kentucky doctors last month reported a possible link between eating
 squirrel brains and the rare and deadly human variety of mad-cow disease,
 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, thought to strike one person in 1 million,
 produces holes in the brain. Symptoms include loss of muscle control and
 dementia. It may take years, even decades, for symptoms to appear.

 Dr. Eric Weisman, a behavioral neurologist who practices in rural western
 Kentucky, reported in the distinguished British medical journal The
 Lancet that he has treated 11 people for Creutzfeldt-Jakob in four years,
 and all had eaten squirrel brains at some time. Six of the victims,
 ranging in age from 56 to 78, have died.

 The normal incidence of the disease in the area should be one case in
 about 10 years, he said.

 Weisman and co-author Dr. Joseph Berger, chairman of the neurology
 department at the University of Kentucky, cautioned that the number of
 cases is small, and no squirrel brains have actually been examined for
 the disease. They said many questions remain, including how the squirrels
 would contract the disease, since they do not eat meat.

 ``However, it is perhaps best to avoid squirrel brains and probably the
 brains of any other animal,'' Berger said.

 Philip Lyvers, a farmer and hunter in central Kentucky whose wife simmers
 squirrels, head and all, with sauteed onions and peppers and serves them
 over rice, said ``two guys' opinions'' in a medical journal won't make
 him change his ways.

 ``I know more old hunters than I know of old doctors,'' Lyvers said.

 Mrs. Gates said that given all the other environmental hazards around,
 she is not frightened by the doctors' findings. ``There's no way I can
 undo what I've done. But I certainly enjoyed eating them,'' she said.

 Cooked squirrel brain is about the size of a pingpong ball and is said to
 taste something like liver, only kind of mushy.

 Hunters annually bag about 1.5 million squirrels in Kentucky. Some people
 have also been known to cook up road kill squirrels, which concerns
 Berger. A crazed squirrel may be more likely to dash into traffic and get
 killed.

 Exactly how many people eat the brains is not clear.

 The menu for the 18th annual Slone Mountain Squirrel Festival in Floyd
 County last weekend did not include squirrel brains, or any other part of
 the squirrel for that matter.

 ``We don't even fix squirrel gravy anymore,'' said Otis Hicks, one of the
 organizers. ``We don't serve any wild animal whatsoever. The health
 department said they'd all have to be checked, so we just decided not to
 fool with it.''

 Michael Ann Williams, who teaches food customs in a folklore program at
 Western Kentucky University, said some students can recall their parents
 eating squirrel brains, usually scrambled with eggs.

 ``I don't think I've had a student who said, `Oh yeah, I think squirrel
 brains are yummy myself,''' Ms. Williams said.


Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 20:50:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ray <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ALF
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Nature
Aug 28, 1997

Oxford scientists attacked by animal activists

Property belonging to five scientists at the University of Oxford, including
Colin Blakemore, professor of physiology, was attacked last week by animal
rights activists. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has admitted to carrying
out the attacks to draw attention to a jailed member who is on hunger strike.
Barry Horne, an inmate of Bristol prison, is protesting the government's
refusal to convene a royal commission on the use of animals in research,
despite a pre-election promise to do so. The scientists' cars were damaged
and their houses sprayed with graffiti. An ALF spokesman said "the severity
of actions can be escalated."

Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 21:08:03 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Farm To Free Endangered Turtles
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

                    Farm To Free Endangered Turtles

     GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) - A farm that has bred the
  world's most endangered species of turtles for about 15 years is
  planning to return its 352 charges to the wild in Mexico, the
  farm's manager said this week.

     The Cayman Turtle Farm has begun talks with the Mexican National
  Institute of Fisheries to return most of its Kemps Ridley turtles
  to the wild. The increasing turtle population has surpassed the
  resources at the farm, where males and females have been separated
  to prevent further breeding.

     The farm plans to retain only a small population for research
  and to resume breeding in the future if needed.

     Humans have been responsible for killing off much of the Kemps
  Ridley turtle population. Some are taken for food, but many more
  die in shrimp nets.

     The farm joined the effort to save the species in the early
  1980s when it signed an agreement with the Mexican government and
  began breeding the turtles. Among the 352 turtles now at the farm
  are some of the original breeding pairs, manager Kenneth Hydes
  said.

     Kemps Ridley turtles weight about 60 to 70 pounds, much smaller
  than the better known green sea turtles that can weigh up to 700
  pounds.

  {APWire:International-0906.369}    9/6/97



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Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 09:33:43 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RFI UK Govt broken promise-research animals
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

In "ALF" (posted 8/9/97) it is stated that the UK government promised to
convene a royal commission on the use of animals in research,
and now refuses convene the royal commission despite a pre-election promise
to do so.

Can someone give me the correct UK Minister to write to
with regards this issue or the address of the UK Prime Minister.

Kind regards,

Marguerite

===========================================

Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

Email>  [e-mail]

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

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Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 22:09:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Allen Schubert <[e-mail]>
To: ar-news <[e-mail]>
Subject: (CA) Canada Takes Steps to Prevent Mad Cow Disease
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

from CNN web page:
----------------------------------
Canada Takes Steps to Prevent Mad Cow Disease

Xinhua
08-SEP-97

OTTAWA (Sept. 7) XINHUA - Canadian farmers will no longer be permitted to
feed their cattle, sheep and goats ground-up bits of other ruminants, the
government has announced.

Canada changed the regulations because of public health concerns about the
so-called mad cow disease, or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a
report said today.

The new steps are "necessary to safeguard Canada's animal health status
and maintain domestic and international confidence in the safety of
Canadian animal products," said Dr. Graham Clarke, official at the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Canada has had only one case of mad cow disease, in a herd of Alberta
cattle which was destroyed in 1993, the report said.

The World Health Organization requests that all countries ban the feeding
of ruminant tissue to ruminants because of Britain's mad cow disease.

Research in Britain has linked cattle feed containing ground bone and body
parts from sheep with the appearance of brain-wasting BSE in cows in the
1980s.

Before the latest ban, ground-up bits of ruminants often made up 20
percent or more of cattle feed in Canada.

Under the new regulations, feed manufacturers and farmers are also
required to take steps to avoid cross-contamination when mixing feed.

In addition, all products containing banned materials should be clearly
identified under the new labeling requirements.



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