Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news52~1.htm/text0000.txt

Text File | 1998-04-03 | 48.2 KB | 1,178 lines

from Mercury Center web page:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted at 3:45 p.m. PDT Saturday, September 20,  1997


As profits grow, elk ranching spreads

New York Times News Service

CORWIN SPRINGS, Mont. -- Welch Brogan climbed out
of a battered vehicle in the middle of a mountain
pasture, cupped his hands around his mouth and
yelled. ``Come babe. Come babe. Come baby.'' A few
minutes later, 40 or so curious, sloe-eyed elk,
some with massive antlers, drifted over a rise
toward him and began eating apples from his hand.

As he rubbed the neck of a bull, Brogan, an elk
rancher since 1946, recalled his start in the
business, when for just $20 apiece he bought 12 elk
culled from the thousands in Yellowstone National
Park, just 10 miles up the road.

Brogan, 89, was well ahead of his time. In the past
few years the business of raising elk for profit
has spread across the country and created a huge
demand for domesticated elk. The North American Elk
Breeders Association, for example, was formed in
1990 with fewer than 300 members. Now there are
nearly 1,400, who have an estimated 90,000 elk in
Canada and the United States.

``Unlike conventional agriculture, it's
profitable,'' said Jim Fouts, an elk farmer in
Missouri and president of the organization. ``It's
an alternative to the cattle business, which isn't
doing well.''

A rancher can sell elk meat for $4.50 a pound,
compared with 80 cents a pound for beef cattle. Elk
meat fetches a high price because it is lean and
low in saturated fats.

It is so healthy, in fact, that Colorado wildlife
officials give elk meat seized from poachers to
heart and chemotherapy patients who have a
prescription from their doctor.

But the real money from elk these days is not from
meat. The mushrooming interest in elk ranching has
sent the price paid for breeding animals soaring.
An exceptional bull can bring $25,000 or more.

There is money to be made, as well, in the sale of
antlers to parts of Asia, where it is used as a
folk medicine. When the antlers are newly grown, or
``in velvet,'' they are covered with soft, tiny
blood vessels. Prized for their supposed quality as
an aphrodisiac, the antlers earn ranchers $40 to
$100 a pound, or even more. A large set from a
single bull can weigh 40 pounds.

Some ranchers also make money by allowing trophy
hunters into their pastures to kill what are known
as ``shooter bulls'' or old elk with large antlers.

But the spread of elk husbandry has raised a host
of problems in Montana and in other states.
Wildlife experts say they are especially concerned
about North America's native wildlife populations.

``You pollute the wild animals' genetics'' with a
proliferation of domestic herds of elk, said
Valerius Geist, a professor emeritus of
environmental science at the University of Calgary
in Alberta. ``We are guardians of the natural
world, but with elk ranching we leave it up to the
whims of private owners.''

One of the biggest threats, he said, comes from red
deer, a relative of the elk domesticated in Europe.
Some wildlife ranchers in the United States and
Canada raise red deer, and some domestic elk have
been crossed with them. If these genes find their
way into the wild, the genetic integrity of wild
herds could be damaged.

The hybrids that result are misfits vulnerable to
predators, Geist said. ``It's genetic wreckage,''
he said. ``You destroy something that took
thousands of years to create.''

Several years ago, 91 red deer escaped into the
wild after they were imported to Ontario, Canada.
All were hunted down by provincial authorities.

Geist also worries that selective breeding by game
farmers -- for large antlers, for example -- could
corrupt elk genetics and potentially harm wild elk.

Officials from the North American Elk Breeders
Association adamantly challenge such claims, and
contend that they are victims of a campaign of
misinformation by the wildlife community. The
truth, Fouts said, is that elk ranchers may be
performing a public service.

``Trophy elk are harder and harder to find'' in the
wild, Fouts said. ``The day may come when our
genetics can help their genetics.''

The industry is plagued with an image of people who
skirt the rules, especially in Western states where
there are wild elk.

Brogan, for example, was convicted in 1992 of
having wild elk in his fenced pasture and was
ordered to pay $17,358 in penalties.

Brogan's elk were also implicated in an outbreak of
tuberculosis in Canada, where he had shipped some
to sell.

Montana wildlife officials have revoked Brogan's
license to raise elk, and he is in the process of
selling off his herd.

``A good many, if not most, elk farmers are trying
to be legitimate,'' said Karen Zackheim, who
regulates game farms for the Montana Department of
Fish, Wildlife and Parks. ``But it's an industry
that entices people to break the law'' because so
much profit can be made from capturing wild elk.

Brogan insists that he is the victim of a vendetta
by state wildlife officials who do not like elk
ranching. ``People think the game farms are the
biggest bunch of outlaws that ever hit the country.
That's a bunch of malarkey.'' He denies baiting
wild elk into his pasture.

The possibility of tuberculosis being passed from
domestic to wild herds concerns wildlife officials.
In 1994 tuberculosis was discovered in a deer near
a game farm in eastern Montana. Tests were
conducted on wild animals near the farm, and one
mule deer tested positive. To prevent the spread
into the wild, wildlife officials took to a
helicopter and shot every living wild animal in the
vicinity, including 116 deer, as well as elk and
coyotes.

But Fouts says elk ranchers are just as concerned
that the disease will spread from wild animals to
domesticated herds.

In Colorado, another state with a large number of
elk ranches, wildlife officials say that many of
the problems with elk ranching are under control.
Elk are tested for diseases, and for red deer
genes, before they are admitted to the state.

John Seidel, who was in charge of regulating elk
ranches for the Colorado Division of Wildlife for
six years, said that philosophical differences
remained between those who appreciate wild elk and
those who tame them.

``I don't like seeing the animal in captivity,'' he
said. ``It's a magnificent animal, very dignified.
It needs to be out there in the hills.''
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 01:17:31 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Mice Bred for Polio Vaccine Tests
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
----------------------------------
 09/20/1997 19:52 EST

 Mice Bred for Polio Vaccine Tests

 By PHILIP WALLER
 Associated Press Writer

 GENEVA (AP) -- Mice could take the place of monkeys for research purposes
 in the international effort to rid the world of polio, the World Health
 Organization said.

 Scientists have genetically engineered mice that are vulnerable to the
 disease, and they could be used to test the quality of vaccines instead
 of the monkeys currently used, the U.N. health agency said Thursday.

 ``The new technology offers great promise of advancing our knowledge
 related to the prevention or treatment of certain infectious diseases,''
 said Ralph Henderson, the assistant director-general of WHO.

 Results of the WHO-coordinated research were announced at a three-day
 meeting on new quality control tests for polio vaccines.

 Normally, monkeys have to be used to test the quality of batches of
 vaccines because the virus does not affect mice.

 But work during the last five years in France, Japan, Germany and the
 United States has succeeded in developing a strain of mice which have
 certain human genes. Researchers isolated the human gene coding for the
 polio virus receptor, making it possible to transplant the human gene to
 mice. So-called ``transgenic'' mice can get polio because the
 transplanted gene is vulnerable to disease.

 When infected, the transgenic mice develop clinical signs and changes in
 the central nervous system similar to those in primates, researchers
 said.

 Scientists have been trying to switch to mice because they are more
 acceptable to animal-rights activists and cost less.

 ``There is a tenfold difference between the cost of a mouse as opposed to
 a monkey,'' said David Wood, a WHO scientist involved in the study.

 Cost is crucial given the number of vaccines involved -- 1.3 billion
 doses are expected to be needed this year alone.

 If costs could be cut, it would boost WHO's initiative to eradicate polio
 worldwide by the year 2000, Wood said.

 Scientists are developing another test which they say could be applied
 before polio vaccines are tested on animals, leading to a possible
 reduction in animal use.

 WHO expects to deliver its final verdict on both tests next year.

 Polio, short for Poliomyelitis, is a viral infection of the central
 nervous system that can result in muscle paralysis. It used to be one of
 the most feared childhood diseases. It has now been eradicated in many
 parts of the world, although it has made a recent comeback in Albania and
 parts of the former Soviet Union because of a collapse in health systems.

Date: Sun, 21 Sep 97 04:31:06 -0000
From: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: [UK] BAAS:Sanctuary for pregnant seahorses
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Does any one on this list have the original posting about the sanctuary
for pregnant seahorses. If so could you please forward it to me. Thanks
in advance.
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 18:03:02 +0000
From: jwed <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Bull Fighting in Macau
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

PRESS RELEASE:

LOOK WHAT'S HIDING BEHIND THE BLOOD-RED
CLOAK OF BULLFIGHTING - "TRADITION"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------

Imagine having metal barbs (up to 40cm long) hammered into your flesh. Then
being repeatedly stabbed and finally killed. Worse still, imagine people just
standing there watching, even cheering each time you're impaled. For a bull,
this is what it's like to be in the bullfight, on in Macau this September and
October. Which is why only a bull would be seen dead at a bullfight.

STOP THE BLOODSHED.  BOYCOTT THE BULLFIGHT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------


This year the SPCA (HK) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
join together in protesting the return of bullfighting to Macau.

As thousands of people worldwide sign an anti-bullfight petition, 24 bulls are
on their way to Macau to be tortured in the name of entertainment.

At a time when Macau is reeling from front page headlines of gangster violence
on the streets and a reduction in the tourist industry as a result, it appears
that the Government's answer to months of bad press internationally is to
import yet more bloodshed and cruelty to the enclave.

The bulls, whose final destination will be selected restaurants in Macau, will
be drugged for the flight from Portugal, have their horns painfully cut and
will be kept in pens until they are transported to the bullring.  Many will
spend up to six hours in the loading crates before being released into the
ring.

As each bull enters the arena, they will be goaded into running until
fatigued,
drooling at the mouth and with chests heaving as they gasp for air.  Some will
even drop to their knees with exhaustion.  At this point the Caveliaros on
horseback will charge beside them and pierce their flesh with spiked harpoons,
severing nerves and cutting deep into skin and muscle tissue.

Dr. Oliver Young, MRCVS, made the following observation in his report to IFAW
and the SPCA (HK) after watching the tourada in Macau last year:  "The
harpoons, when administered through the skin caused immediate pain.  This was
shown by the bucking of the animals, head twisting around and pawing at the
ground. Some of the harpoons remained upstanding until the bulls had shaken
them free.  This shows that the  points had penetrated into the muscles and
when this happened the bulls' pain response was stronger than usual. There
is a
reasonable amount of blood from these wounds, which were as many as six
harpoons to one animal."

As the bulls are chased out of the ring, disabled and bleeding, to their final
destination in a Macau slaughterhouse, another is led into the ring to meet
the
same fate.  And the organisers say that it's not cruel.

"Bullfighting is not about culture or pageantry, it is about cruelty, pain and
the public torture, humiliation and slaughter of a living creature.  Does
Macau
not have enough violence on its streets without importing more in the name of
entertainment?" said Doreen Davies, Executive Director of the SPCA (HK)

Over the past few years,  the countries who gave birth to bullfighting; Spain
and Portugal, have been witnessing a massive rejection of this cruel ritual as
locals and tourists alike turn their backs against the torture of animals in
fiestas and public spectacles.  Spain now has 4 anti-bullfighting towns where
bullfighting propaganda and materials are forbidden and surveys in Portugal
reveal that bullfighting is a dying tradition.

Now the organisers are turning to Asia where people are largely unaware of the
barbaric cruelty behind this "sport".

Portuguese students in Macau last year held protests throughout the
duration of
the bullfights and waved banners which proclaimed "to have fun we don't need
torture".  One student said: "Bullfighting is a national shame.  I am
embarrassed that any Portuguese would bring such a barbaric sport to Macau".
Another said that he felt that this aspect of Portuguese culture "should be
allowed to die with all the other cruel traditions we have put behind us.
There is enough cruelty in Asia without importing this shameful slaughter".

Similarly, many locals and tourists in Macau who were interviewed after the
event last year, swore that they would never return.  They came believing that
they were going to share a part of Portugal's colourful culture and history
and
left feeling shocked and sickened that the deliberate infliction of pain and
suffering to animals could be linked with entertainment.

"Bullfighting in Macau holds as much cultural relevance as bringing
fox-hunting
to Hong Kong.  If the Portuguese want to be remembered for the good things
they
brought to Macau, they should not be importing anachronistic and barbaric
facets of their culture now" said Steven Lewis, IFAW/SCPA(HK) protest
coordinator.

Over the past two years, IFAW and the SPCA (HK) have appealed to the Governor
of Macau and the Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes, urging them to stop the
bullfights and to spend the money more constructively on something which does
not involve animal suffering.  This year the Hotels Association of Macau has
also written to the Government asking that the bullfight be cancelled.

"This barbaric sport is a relic of the past and should have no place in the
twentieth century and certainly no place in Asia.  At a time when local groups
are working hard to promote a simple tolerance and respect for animals there
are those who are actively seeking to damage this work by promoting cruelty
and
suffering" said Jill Robinson IFAW's China Director.

With the support of local environmental group, EarthCare, IFAW and the SPCA
(HK) now appeal to the people of Hong Kong to join them and "stop the
bloodshed; boycott the bullfight". Ends.................

The Press is cordially invited to an informal get together where they can meet
representatives of IFAW, SPCA(HK) and EarthCare, together with a local
Veterinary Surgeon and a UK campaigner, Vicki Moore who  suffered horrific
injuries after being repeatedly tossed and gored by a bull during a protest at
a Spanish bullfight.
Date:  Thursday, 25th September Time: 1400-1600
Venue:  SPCA (HK), No. 5 Wan Shing Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Further information:
Chinese media: Amy Chow, SPCA 28020501
English media: Steven Lewis, IFAW/SPCA(HK) protest coordinator 28020501
English media: Jill Robinson, IFAW China Director 27193340


Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 21:18:07 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Australia) Loose Pets [dogs & cats]"to be shot"
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Rogue Pets "to be shot"

West Australian Newspaper (20th September 1997)

Melbourne (Australia)

Victorian dog and cat owners have been put on notice that their pets could
be shot if they attack wildlife.

The proposal is among amendments to wildlife protection legislation before
State Parliament.

Premier Jeff Kennett defended the legislation yesterday, saying native
animals had to be protected from "wild pets".

But Melbourne Lost Dogs Home and Cat Shelter general manager Graeme Smith
described the new powers as unbelievable and a knee-jerk reaction.

Under the changes to the Wildlife Act, wildlife officers will have the power
to destroy a cat or dog if they believe it had rushed at, attacked, bitten,
worried or chased wildlife while at large on public land.

They would have to make reasonable attempts to capture dogs or cats roaming
in nature reserves and wildlife sancturies, but if unsuccessful could
destroy them.

Mr Kennett said the law sent a clear message that wildlife should be protected.

"We don't want our fauna and flora destroyed by wild pets," he said.
"If you have a pet you have a responsibility, both to the animal and to the
broader community."

RSPCA president Hugh Wirth supported the amendments, saying native animals
had the right to be protected from the ravages of dumped dogs and cats.



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

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: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 22:46:41 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (USA)FROG MORTALITY: CAUSE FOUND
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 05:51:55 -0400 (EDT)
Source: Sandra Blakeslee, International Herald Tribune, Thu. 18 Sep. 1997


The report states that Dr Earl Green of Maryland, USA, found an unknown
species of parasite in the skin of frogs found dead in the jungles of
Panama in Dec.1996 and collected by Dr Karen Lips of St Lawrence
University, Canton, New York.  There was no obvious pathology.  The theory
put forward is that the parasite damages the oxygen-absorbing ability of
the frog's skin and also allows dehydration.  The parasite is said to
resemble a known parasite that kills oysters (name not given). It is now
thought to be responsible for the wave of deaths of tropical frogs that has
been spreading south from Costa Rica since it was first noticed there in
1988, and may have already reached Nicaragua.

Up to 1987 there were hundreds of thousands of golden toads in the
Monteverde Reserve of Costa Rica.  In 1989, only 5 were left, and it has
not been seen since. Twenty other species of frogs and toads have
disappeared from the region since then.

The report states that an Australian pathologist has found a similar
parasite in frogs in Queensland, which have been dying of unexplained
causes since the 1980s. It also says frog declines have been noticed on all
continents starting about 15 years ago.

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

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: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 12:22:41 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Hunting Weighed As Bears Get Bolder
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

(ref to Fund For Animals)
from AP Wire page:
--------------------------------------
 09/21/1997 12:03 EST

 Hunting Weighed As Bears Get Bolder

 By DAVID DISHNEAU
 Associated Press Writer

 OAKLAND, Md. (AP) -- The portable outhouse wasn't pleasant but it was the
 best refuge four kids could find when a thunderstorm pounded their
 campsite in the Potomac State Forest.

 Fifteen-year-old Brian Wolfe grew even more grateful for shelter when he
 peeked outside to gauge the downpour and saw two large black bears
 sniffing around the clearing in the dim evening light.

 The bears' deep growls convinced him the outhouse was the best place for
 him, his pal Jason Polling and the two younger children they were
 baby-sitting.

 ``We were so scared, we couldn't scream or anything,'' said Wolfe, who
 waited an hour for the bears to go away.

 Bears are turning up with sometimes harrowing frequency in western
 Maryland parks, back yards and garages.

 State wildlife managers last year rejected hunting as a means of
 controlling the rising bear population. Now, they're reconsidering,
 despite opposition from animal-rights activists.

 ``We want to keep that population at a level people are willing to
 tolerate,'' said Joshua L. Sandt, director of the Department of Natural
 Resources' wildlife division. ``We have had several incidents where
 people were really scared, getting between a sow and a cub. No one has
 been injured but there is that potential.''

 Maryland's bear population has exploded in the past 20 years from a mere
 handful to more than 300, living mostly in the forests of Garrett and
 Allegany counties atop the Appalachian mountains. The bears' boldness
 seems to be increasing with their numbers.

 Wendell and Ruth Beitzel installed electric fencing in their back yard
 near Deep Creek Lake after a female bear and two cubs visited twice last
 month.

 The first time, ``I hollered and whistled at it and tried to scare it off
 but it wasn't any more interested in what was going on around it than the
 man in the moon,'' Beitzel said.

 Two days later, he said, the same bears climbed a tree 20 feet from the
 Beitzel's outdoor deck. When loud noises failed to drive them off,
 Beitzel got his garden hose and sprayed the mother bear in the face.

 ``She just started drinking water as if to say thank you,'' he said.

 Gerald Polansky, another Deep Creek Lake resident, said he came
 face-to-face with a 250-pound bear that entered his garage through an
 open door, apparently drawn by the scent of a hot fudge sundae that a
 house guest had left on a bench.

 ``The only thing I knew how to do was yell,'' he said. The startled bear
 reared up on its hind legs and looked Polansky in the eye before turning
 and ambling out.

 Deep Creek Lake, ringed by vacation homes, is about 10 miles north of
 Oakland, a western Maryland town of 1,700 that is trying to rebuild its
 economy through tourism after losing coal-mining and manufacturing jobs.

 In addition to a bear hunting season, the state is considering landowner
 permits to kill crop-damaging bears and trying to scare away the bears
 from populated areas with rubber bullets or Mace, which has had limited
 success in other states.

 The department anticipates making a recommendation early next year.
 Public hearings on any proposal would be held in March.

 Hunting opponents defeated a proposed bear season last year. The state
 classified bears as game animals but agreed to deal with crop-damage
 complaints by selling $5 stamps and decals to the public to raise money
 to compensate farmers.

 The program has produced about $5,700 since last October, far short of
 the $20,000 the state hoped to generate annually. But Sandt said stamp
 sales are increasing, reflecting more aggressive marketing by the state
 and anti-hunting organizations, such as the Fund for Animals in Silver
 Spring, that supported the concept.

 Michael Markarian, director of campaigns for the Fund for Animals, said
 the state should consider other fund-raising measures, including special
 license plates like those that support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

 ``With more education among Maryland residents and more technical
 assistance programs, these problems can all be resolved and we don't even
 need to discuss a bear hunting season,'' Markarian said.

 But Beitzel said only guns will keep the bears at bay.

 ``It's almost as if the bears' rights are more important than people's
 rights,'' he said. ``If they were hunted, I think they would keep their
 distance and respect humans a little more.''

Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 13:44:44
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [CA] McDonalds' face unionization
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

McDonalds' workers in St Hubert, Quebec, are trying to unionize their
workplace - despite the opposition of the employer.

Staff members, who earn little above the province's minimum wage, have
applied to join the Teamsters Union.

The Teamsters, in turn, have now asked the provincial government to get
involved and allow the workers to exercise their right to unionize.

A demonstration organized by members of the Quebec Federation of Labour,
was held outside the local establishment Saturday.

The franchise owner stated that he was not, as the union pointed out, a
"big business" but was, in fact, a small business operator who treat his
staff "very well."

(Source: CTV News, CBC Radio News.)
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 06:29:19 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Canada) Botulism in Canada-Seal blubber etc
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 13:52:50 -0700

Source: HPB/Food Directorate/Bureau of Microbial Hazards/Botulism Reference
Service
Via: Infectious Diseases News Brief (Canada), Sept. 12, 1997
      http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/main/lcdc/web/bid/dsd/news/nb3297_e.html


Outbreaks of Botulism: Northwest Territories and Quebec

The Botulism Reference Service (BRS) in Ottawa has confirmed that there
were 3 unrelated incidents including 2 outbreaks of botulism last month.
In the outbreak in the Northwest Territories, which was caused by
_Clostridium botulinum_ type E, 6 people consumed the food item, 4 were
affected, with one death.  An incident in the Northwest Territories was in
a person who had consumed muktuk (a food consisting
of fermented chunks of blubber, skin, and meat from a white whale).  Both
the muktuk and the patient's serum tested positive for botulinum
neurotoxin.  The BRS is culturing the muktuk and gastric fluid for viable
_C. botulinum_.  The patient has recovered.  The second outbreak, without
fatalities, occurred in northern Quebec.  A family became ill after
consuming seal meat.  Antitoxin was administered.  The BRS has confirmed
the presence of botulinum neurotoxin in serum from the most affected
patient.  While gastric fluid and seal meat were both negative for
neurotoxin, the gastric liquid contained viable type E _C. botulinum_.

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

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, 22 Sep 1997 06:31:04 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (UK)BSE & CJD (NEW VARIANT) NEW UK EPIDEMIOLOGY GROUP
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

BSE & CJD (NEW VARIANT) NEW BRITISH EPIDEMIOLOGY GROUP
******************************************************


Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 18:50:15 -0700

Source: The Times and The Electronic Telegraph, September 1997.


An expert panel has been set up to weigh the risk of an emerging epidemic
of the new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the British Government said
yesterday.

Sir Kenneth Calman, Chief Medical Officer, announced the formation of a
sub-group of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to review
data on nvCJD and to spot emerging trends.

The special epidemiology group will be chaired by Peter Smith of the London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

--

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

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













Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 21:51:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Fwd: Hunting Weighed As Bears Get Bolder
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

In a message dated 97-09-21 12:30:47 EDT, AOL News writes:

 << Subj:Hunting Weighed As Bears Get Bolder
  Date:97-09-21 12:30:47 EDT
  From:AOL News
 BCC:LMANHEIM

       By DAVID DISHNEAU
       OAKLAND, Md. (AP) - The portable outhouse wasn't pleasant but it
 was the best refuge four kids could find when a thunderstorm
 pounded their campsite in the Potomac State Forest.
       Fifteen-year-old Brian Wolfe grew even more grateful for shelter
 when he peeked outside to gauge the downpour and saw two large
 black bears sniffing around the clearing in the dim evening light.
       The bears' deep growls convinced him the outhouse was the best
 place for him, his pal Jason Polling and the two younger children
 they were baby-sitting.
       ``We were so scared, we couldn't scream or anything,'' said
 Wolfe, who waited an hour for the bears to go away.
       Bears are turning up with sometimes harrowing frequency in
 western Maryland parks, back yards and garages.
       State wildlife managers last year rejected hunting as a means of
 controlling the rising bear population. Now, they're reconsidering,
 despite opposition from animal-rights activists.
       ``We want to keep that population at a level people are willing
 to tolerate,'' said Joshua L. Sandt, director of the Department of
 Natural Resources' wildlife division. ``We have had several
 incidents where people were really scared, getting between a sow
 and a cub. No one has been injured but there is that potential.''
       Maryland's bear population has exploded in the past 20 years
 from a mere handful to more than 300, living mostly in the forests
 of Garrett and Allegany counties atop the Appalachian mountains.
 The bears' boldness seems to be increasing with their numbers.
       Wendell and Ruth Beitzel installed electric fencing in their
 back yard near Deep Creek Lake after a female bear and two cubs
 visited twice last month.
       The first time, ``I hollered and whistled at it and tried to
 scare it off but it wasn't any more interested in what was going on
 around it than the man in the moon,'' Beitzel said.
       Two days later, he said, the same bears climbed a tree 20 feet
 from the Beitzel's outdoor deck. When loud noises failed to drive
 them off, Beitzel got his garden hose and sprayed the mother bear
 in the face.
       ``She just started drinking water as if to say thank you,'' he
 said.
       Gerald Polansky, another Deep Creek Lake resident, said he came
 face-to-face with a 250-pound bear that entered his garage through
 an open door, apparently drawn by the scent of a hot fudge sundae
 that a house guest had left on a bench.
       ``The only thing I knew how to do was yell,'' he said. The
 startled bear reared up on its hind legs and looked Polansky in the
 eye before turning and ambling out.
       Deep Creek Lake, ringed by vacation homes, is about 10 miles
 north of Oakland, a western Maryland town of 1,700 that is trying
 to rebuild its economy through tourism after losing coal-mining and
 manufacturing jobs.
       In addition to a bear hunting season, the state is considering
 landowner permits to kill crop-damaging bears and trying to scare
 away the bears from populated areas with rubber bullets or Mace,
 which has had limited success in other states.
       The department anticipates making a recommendation early next
 year. Public hearings on any proposal would be held in March.
       Hunting opponents defeated a proposed bear season last year. The
 state classified bears as game animals but agreed to deal with
 crop-damage complaints by selling $5 stamps and decals to the
 public to raise money to compensate farmers.
       The program has produced about $5,700 since last October, far
 short of the $20,000 the state hoped to generate annually. But
 Sandt said stamp sales are increasing, reflecting more aggressive
 marketing by the state and anti-hunting organizations, such as the
 Fund for Animals in Silver Spring, that supported the concept.
       Michael Markarian, director of campaigns for the Fund for
 Animals, said the state should consider other fund-raising
 measures, including special license plates like those that support
 the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
       ``With more education among Maryland residents and more
 technical assistance programs, these problems can all be resolved
 and we don't even need to discuss a bear hunting season,''
 Markarian said.
       But Beitzel said only guns will keep the bears at bay.
       ``It's almost as if the bears' rights are more important than
 people's rights,'' he said. ``If they were hunted, I think they
 would keep their distance and respect humans a little more.''
       AP-NY-09-21-97 1203EDT>>


---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Hunting Weighed As Bears Get Bolder
Date:    97-09-21 12:30:47 EDT
From:    AOL News

<HTML><PRE><I>.c The Associated Press</I></PRE></HTML>

      By DAVID DISHNEAU
      OAKLAND, Md. (AP) - The portable outhouse wasn't pleasant but it
was the best refuge four kids could find when a thunderstorm
pounded their campsite in the Potomac State Forest.
      Fifteen-year-old Brian Wolfe grew even more grateful for shelter
when he peeked outside to gauge the downpour and saw two large
black bears sniffing around the clearing in the dim evening light.
      The bears' deep growls convinced him the outhouse was the best
place for him, his pal Jason Polling and the two younger children
they were baby-sitting.
      ``We were so scared, we couldn't scream or anything,'' said
Wolfe, who waited an hour for the bears to go away.
      Bears are turning up with sometimes harrowing frequency in
western Maryland parks, back yards and garages.
      State wildlife managers last year rejected hunting as a means of
controlling the rising bear population. Now, they're reconsidering,
despite opposition from animal-rights activists.
      ``We want to keep that population at a level people are willing
to tolerate,'' said Joshua L. Sandt, director of the Department of
Natural Resources' wildlife division. ``We have had several
incidents where people were really scared, getting between a sow
and a cub. No one has been injured but there is that potential.''
      Maryland's bear population has exploded in the past 20 years
from a mere handful to more than 300, living mostly in the forests
of Garrett and Allegany counties atop the Appalachian mountains.
The bears' boldness seems to be increasing with their numbers.
      Wendell and Ruth Beitzel installed electric fencing in their
back yard near Deep Creek Lake after a female bear and two cubs
visited twice last month.
      The first time, ``I hollered and whistled at it and tried to
scare it off but it wasn't any more interested in what was going on
around it than the man in the moon,'' Beitzel said.
      Two days later, he said, the same bears climbed a tree 20 feet
from the Beitzel's outdoor deck. When loud noises failed to drive
them off, Beitzel got his garden hose and sprayed the mother bear
in the face.
      ``She just started drinking water as if to say thank you,'' he
said.
      Gerald Polansky, another Deep Creek Lake resident, said he came
face-to-face with a 250-pound bear that entered his garage through
an open door, apparently drawn by the scent of a hot fudge sundae
that a house guest had left on a bench.
      ``The only thing I knew how to do was yell,'' he said. The
startled bear reared up on its hind legs and looked Polansky in the
eye before turning and ambling out.
      Deep Creek Lake, ringed by vacation homes, is about 10 miles
north of Oakland, a western Maryland town of 1,700 that is trying
to rebuild its economy through tourism after losing coal-mining and
manufacturing jobs.
      In addition to a bear hunting season, the state is considering
landowner permits to kill crop-damaging bears and trying to scare
away the bears from populated areas with rubber bullets or Mace,
which has had limited success in other states.
      The department anticipates making a recommendation early next
year. Public hearings on any proposal would be held in March.
      Hunting opponents defeated a proposed bear season last year. The
state classified bears as game animals but agreed to deal with
crop-damage complaints by selling $5 stamps and decals to the
public to raise money to compensate farmers.
      The program has produced about $5,700 since last October, far
short of the $20,000 the state hoped to generate annually. But
Sandt said stamp sales are increasing, reflecting more aggressive
marketing by the state and anti-hunting organizations, such as the
Fund for Animals in Silver Spring, that supported the concept.
      Michael Markarian, director of campaigns for the Fund for
Animals, said the state should consider other fund-raising
measures, including special license plates like those that support
the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
      ``With more education among Maryland residents and more
technical assistance programs, these problems can all be resolved
and we don't even need to discuss a bear hunting season,''
Markarian said.
      But Beitzel said only guns will keep the bears at bay.
      ``It's almost as if the bears' rights are more important than
people's rights,'' he said. ``If they were hunted, I think they
would keep their distance and respect humans a little more.''
      AP-NY-09-21-97 1203EDT
      <HTML><PRE><I><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2> Copyright 1997 The
Associated Press.  The information
contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without
prior written authority of The Associated Press.<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3>
</I></PRE></HTML>


To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles.
For all of today's news, go to keyword News.
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 1997 10:50:31 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RFI - Serious illnesses and Vegan diet
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



Originally posted to Vegan-L.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,
I'm writing a story for Vegetarian Times magazine on a group in
New York City that serves organic, vegan meals to people with
compromised immune systems, mostly people with AIDS. I'd like to
augment the story with examples of other organizations serving
vegetarian meals to people with severe illnesses, because of the
diet's health benefit. If you know of anyone engaged in this kind
of work, I'd appreciate hearing about it. Please contact me via
e-mail <[e-mail]>.

Thanks for considering this.

Mark Harris
Vegetarian Times, writer



Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 23:01:18 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Fish Kills, Facts and Pfiesteria...My Patients and the
  River Told Me What I Had to Know
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from WashingtonPost.com:
-----------------------------------------
Fish Kills, Facts and Pfiesteria
My Patients and the River Told Me What I Had to Know
By Ritchie C. Shoemaker
Sunday, September 21, 1997; Page C01
The Washington Post

On Wednesday, July 30, I got a call at the office where I practice family
medicine in Pocomoke City, Md. "I think I've got the pfiesteria thing," the
man on the phone told me. I asked him to come in right away.

As I examined the man later that day, I looked for clues as to what might
have caused the headache he complained of and the rash he showed me. One
thing stood out. The man described to me how he had spent an hour
water-skiing on the Pocomoke River at Williams Point, just south of
Shelltown, Md., three days before. He had fallen ill within a few hours of
coming home. His head hurt; he couldn't remember simple things; he had
trouble walking and talking. When he woke the next morning, he had a crop
of some 30 flat, red sores over his body. They looked just like the
distinctive rash described by physicians in North Carolina: It showed up
after contact with Pfiesteria piscicida, the microbe that has since caused
Maryland authorities to close off two waterways. I sent the water-skier off
to have medical photographs taken.

About an hour later, a bartender who'd been a patient of mine for several
years came in complaining of "funny zits" on his face. He had been on a
family outing the same Sunday a little upriver. He had spent about 15
minutes swimming. The sores and the similar experiences had to be more than
coincidence. By the next day, when a woman who had been watching the
water-skier came in with similar complaints, I was certain that what I had
seen were three cases of pfiesteria-related human illness.

I'd been on the lookout for problems from pfiesteria ever since watermen
began finding fish with grotesque lesions near Shelltown almost a year ago.
And, after a fish kill in May when water samples demonstrated that the
pfiesteria microbe was present, the Maryland Department of Health had sent
a letter to physicians in the area, telling us to report fish-related
illness, using common sense and noting the symptoms in patients around "a
20 percent fish-kill area." I had done just that. But now I realized I was
on untraveled ground, pitting my local knowledge, my interest in ecology
and my medical expertise against the scientific community and political
interests that over the past year had been stressing that humans were not
at risk from the mysterious microbe.

The Pocomoke River area, where I live with my wife and 13-year-old
daughter, has been a source of fascination and fulfillment over the past 17
years. I've been involved in conservation projects -- a nature trail,
demonstration non-tidal wetlands ponds, a wetland garden and a fishing pier.

Pocomoke means "dark water" or "broken ground" in the language of the
Algonquin tribes. The river's upper reaches are cypress swamps with red bay
trees and crossvine, plants generally found in North Carolina. It is home
to a vast range of wildlife -- otters, bald eagles and ospreys -- as well
as myriad fish. Local residents like to say the north and the south meet here.

With the Eastern Shore's low elevation, it can take as long as three weeks
for the river's water to flow the 13 miles downstream from Snow Hill to
Pocomoke City. Twice a day, the current is met with a strong upstream
surge, mixing waters from the bay and the Pocomoke Sound with run-off from
Worcester and Somerset counties. Though the area is sparsely populated,
development along the river banks and the growth of Ocean City as a family
resort has changed the contents of the upriver water. From Pocomoke City to
the bay, chicken and tomato farms now extend to the banks.

Despite these changes, I had found it hard to believe that our beautiful
river could be unsafe for fish when I first started hearing reports last
October from watermen of finding quantities of dead fish -- at first the
oily menhaden, then fish of all species. Many had sores on their sides; on
some, the flesh had been eaten away to the bone. Local fishermen I knew,
like the Maddox and Howard families who have worked the waters for
generations, told me they'd never seen anything like it. The lesions didn't
look like the "propeller blade cuts and crab pot scrapes" that fish
sometimes have, though that's how one health official later tried to
explain them away. And the fishermen couldn't explain why they had been
suffering bouts of pneumonia, abdominal cramping and diarrhea while they
were pulling dead fish out of the waters.

Through fellow conservationists, I set out to learn more about the microbe.
In early July, Eric May, a fish pathologist with the state-federal
biological laboratory in Oxford, Md., explained to me how low levels of
pfiesteria destroy enzymes in the protective slime that covers fishes'
scales, gills and tails, leaving them vulnerable to secondary infections.
High levels of pfiesteria kill quickly. Before they die, affected fish act
strangely, swimming in circles, apparently oblivious to predators. May
performed autopsies on some and found they had mild brain inflammation.

Continuing fish kills caused mounting concern. In July, the state
Department o

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