Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news52~2.htm/text0000.txt

Text File | 1998-04-03 | 48.4 KB | 1,072 lines

     For some time IPPL Australia has received complaints regarding the
conditions in which the baboons were living at Wallacia, Australia. The
baboon colony is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council
and is administered by the Royal Prince Alfred hospital. The complaints
were not confined just to the conditions, but also to the treatment of the
primates. At first our hands were tied as one of the informants was still
working there. We did however, raise some of the problems with officials
but denial was the name of the game.
     In March this year the NSW government held an inquiry into the NSW Animal
Research Regulations. l was issued with a subpeona to give evidence in
camera regarding the colony.
     A month later the complaints had been passed onto the Animal Research
Review Panel (ARRP), which is part of the Dept of Agriculture, to
investigate. One of my informants agreed to meet with the Panel as long as
l was present and his name was protected, and as long as he had
parliamentary privilege.
     We were advised by the ARRP they would keep us informed. A member of the
ARRP suggested euthanasia of many animals. There are witnesses to these
statements.
     A member of the ARRP stated she realised that there were many problems and
had spent the previous days talking to the manager of the baboon colony,
instructing him  to upgrade conditions.
     Some of the complaints were as follows.
1. On arrival at work one morning a female baboon had suffered a stroke and
was paralysed down one side. She could not move. A staff member was ordered
to leave her lying there and hose around her. He tried to give her food but
she could not take it. The animal was left lying in full sunlight until 5pm
when she was taken into the vet at Royal Prince Alfred hospital.

2. A complaint was registered by an employee about an eye injury to one
baboon. It took the vet more than two weeks to come out to the colony and
attend the injury. Three weeks later the animal had to be euthanased.

3. The use of an air rifle to make the animals move was witnessed. Banging
the side of the cages, poking sticks at them etc. were other ways of making
them move. This however caused stress resulting in the baboons taking it
out on each other, resulting in more injuries.

4. Vet based at Camperdown. it takes approx 2 hours to get to the colony.
Vet reportedly did not visit colony often.

5. If baboons died within the first twenty four hours of birth they were
allegedly recorded in the records as stillbirths.

6. When it rains for 2-3 days, which it often does at Wallacia, the
drainage system reportedly does not work, causing faeces and rotting food
scraps to come up through the gravel. The animals have to sit in this until
the drainage system works.

7. Another animal found injured in the morning. he was placed into a
metabolic cage for approx 3 weeks. Later he had to be euthanased.

8. Wasting disease reportedly affected many baboons.

9 Vet and one of the two joint managers carrying out their own research on
animals. This was alleged to be a conflict of interest.

10. Alleged overcrowding, causing more injuries.

11. No privacy corners. Cages to small for any animal to get away from an
aggressor.

There were many other allegations.

Then during the week of 15/9/77, four months later, still nothing had been
done since that meeting that we were aware of. Sometimes it takes years for
these problems to be worked out, but in the meantime the animals go on
suffering.

Last Monday 15/9, l accompanied by a reporter and photographer from the
Sydney Morning Herald, climbed gates, fences and barbed wire. The Herald
wanted to see the premises to see if the problems had been reported
accurately. The problems were reported the next day in the newspaper. The
next day l was also taken out to the colony by Channel 10, to be
interviewed. l also met with all four TV channels whilst there.
     That day l spoke on several radio shows and the problems were featured on
all four TV channels and the 7.30 Report. The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
is now denying some of the claims made by my informants.
     A month ago another informant came forward complaining about the operating
theatres procedures and alleged lack of sterile environment etc.
     As a result of all this the minister is now changing legislation to allow,
for the first time ever in Australia, the RSPCA to have access to research
laboratories in NSW. For the first time ever, control will now no longer be
totally under the control of the research community. Outsiders are to gain
access. This is a major step forward. The minister has now ordered the
RSPCA to do a report on the conditions. It has been reported in the
newspapers that the RSPCA said the conditions were excellent. The RSPCA has
said that is not true, and at this stage they can only comment on whether
the animals have adequate food and shelter.
     The minister has now also guaranteed that no animal will be euthanised. If
need be homes will be found for them all.
     The is a step forward and the minister has ordered immediate reports. The
National Health and Medical research Council has also ordered a report.
     l have also reported to the National Health and Medical research Council,
reports l have received about another bredding colony in Australia. Once
again those in charge have denied the reports.

Lynette Shanley
IPPL Australia
PO Box 60
PORTLAND  NSW  2847
AUSTRALIA
Phone/Fax [phone] 554026
EMAIL [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 02:24:07
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [IN] Can you swallow this?[Long]
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[Comments about this article can be sent to [e-mail] Please note
that the Electronic Telegraph is npt usually very good at replying to
e-mails.]

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, September 20th, 1997

Can you swallow this? (From the 'Life & Times' section)

Take one live murrel fish. Fill its mouth with a foul-tasting yellow paste
and then gulp it down whole. A cure for asthma that thousands of Indians
swear by. Tahir Sha reports.

India is a land of miracles. Godmen levitate or walk on water; oracles
speak from mountainsides; effigies of elephant gods have even been known to
spontaneously drink milk. But by far the greatest Indian miracle of all is
revealed on a single day each year, a few hours before the first monsoon
downpour.

Every June, at the first sighting of the Mrigasira Karthe star, about half
a million people converge on a tiny whitewashed house in the Old City of
Hyderabad. They travel from all corners of India. Frenzied, wheezing, and
weary after the journey, they queue up to swallow live fish. What's more,
most make the trip three years in a row. Animal rights groups are
apoplectic: but their pleas fall on deaf ears. For in Hyderabad swallowing
a live fish is part of a mysterious 'miracle cure' - a cure for asthma.

The free miracle remedy is handed out by the Gowds, a modest, impecunious
family whose home is embedded in the labyrinth of narrow lanes and back
streets that make up Hyderabad's Old City. The current generation is
continuing a tradition that began more than a century and a half ago.

With Indian cities more polluted than any others in the developing world,
asthma is an ever more menacing problem. Spend a few days in Old Delhi,
Calcutta or Bombay, and you find your chest tightening as if crushed in a
vice. Every year tens of thousands of Indians are diagnosed as asthmatics.
Most are suspicious of the temporary relief that Western
pharmaceuticals provide. Why use an expensive inhaler all the time when a
live fish can be swallowed for a permanent cure? It's this straightforward
thinking that sends asthmatics flocking in droves to the Gowds'  two-room
residence.

Rather than being appalled by the unorthodox treatment, Indian asthmatics
can't seem to get enough of it. In the first week of June, special trains,
buses and flights are laid on to ferry people to Hyderabad from the
farthest reaches of India. Many stake their life savings to make the
journey. Others bring their entire families for the expedition of a
lifetime. It has become a
pilgrimage.

In a rare show of solidarity, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains and Hindus from
every caste gather with their belongings. By the eve of monsoon, every
hotel an guest house is full to bursting. Mosques and temples, wayside
cafes, bus depots and railway stations ar cluttered with panting asthmatics
from far away.

Hyperventilating and bent double after the arduous journey, the majority
spill on to the streets. They wait expectantly to be touched by the
miracle. As word of the cure's efficacy spreads, politicians hurry to
endorse the event, and businessmen volunteer to fund it.

Each person clutches a transparent water-filled plastic bag. Like children
with goldfish home from the fair, they hold them up to the light. The bag
contains a speckled black murrel fish, an oily cousin of the sardine. The
fish vary in size: anything from three to six inches. The
longer the better. Their beady eyes blinking innocuously, they swim about
in the limited space of the plastic bag. They may be wondering what's going
on. But a murrel fish would have a hard time imagining the precise details
of its fate.

When they get to the front of the queue each asthma sufferer hands over
their plastic bag to a member of the Gowd family. First, the fish is
removed from the bag. Then its miniature jaws are prised apart. A magical
and foul-smelling yellow paste is stuffed into its mouth. And, as the
patient sticks out his tongue, the fish, replete with ointment, is thrust
down his throat.

There are less than 12 hours to go, for the star of Mrigasira Karthe will
be in alignment at 8am on June 8. Harinath Gowd, second eldest of the five
brothers, sits in the tiny courtyard of the family home and casts an uneasy
eye at the main entrance. The battered blue door bends inwards as the crowd
presses against the other side. The Old City's narrow streets are clogged
with asthmatics for miles around. Most arrived days ago, for fear of
missing the astrological timing of the event.

Harinath attends to last-minute arrangements. Two hundred kilos of the
magical paste have been prepared, concocted according to a secret Ayurvedic
recipe. Pujas - religious ceremonies - carry on around the clock to appease
malevolent forces. The air, which is thick with incense, only aggravates
the asthmatics' difficulties. Police are briefed in case of rioting. The
astrological tables are double-checked.

Harinath Gowd rubs his greying beard anxiously and reinforces the tattered
door with a plank of wood. 'Every year more and more people turn up,' he
declares. 'See how popular is this miracle of miracles.'

It all started with Harinath's great-great-grandfather. 'He was a very
generous man. He was known throughout Hyderabad for his good deeds. During
the monsoon of 1845 he saw a Sadhu, a holy man, sitting in the pouring
rain. The mystic was cold, hungry and abandoned by the world. So, my
ancestor, Veerana Gowd, brought him here, into this house. He fed him
and nursed him back to health. Weeks passed. Then, just before the Sadhu
was about to go on his way, he revealed the fish miracle to my forefather.'

Harinath Gowd pauses to recite a string of orders to his son. 'The holy
man,' he continues, 'said that from henceforth the well in the courtyard
would be full of magical water. And that it was to be used in making a
special paste which was to be put into the mouth of a living murrel fish.
The water, the ingredients of the paste, and the astrological timing
together form the magic of the miracle. The Sadhu said that my family were
to serve a free cure for asthma on the first day of the monsoon. But if any
fee was charged for the remedy, it would have no effect. Charge money, and
the magic would be broken. That was 152 years ago. True to our word, my
family have never charged for the cure.'

Initially, word of the miracle antidote was slow to spread. In the first
few years, asthmatics from the back streets adjacent to the Gowds' house
turned up. But, as the years passed, more and more people heard of the
miracle. And, as more heard of it, and tried it, word
spread faster and further. Two years ago about a quarter of a million
asthmatics ventured to the Gowds' house to be cured. This year, an
estimated 530,000 turned up.

In any other country, if half a million patients arrived at your house
appealing for a miracle, the authorities would demand forms to be filled
and permits to be signed. But in India, where miracle remedies are a way of
life, things are more straightforward.

Watching a Hindi movie on television the night before, the five Gowd
brothers seemed remarkably relaxed. Didn't it bother them that half a
million asthmatics were pounding on their door? Or that the responsibility
of stuffing several tons of live oily fish down throats would prove too
tiresome?

Shivram Gowd, the eldest of the brothers, stretches out to turn up the TV's
volume, to drown out the frenzied groans of asthmatics in the street. 'Of
course we're not worried,' he says. 'Remember, this isn't a feeble
allopathic medicine - but a miracle cure.'

The sheer number of patients demanding the unconventional prescription has
meant that, in recent  years, the Gowds have had to take on extra
volunteers. More than 500, speaking every major Indian language and
dialect, help to make sure that things go smoothly. Hundreds more hand out
free drinking water and custard creams, donated by local businesses and
charities. And, whereas sufferers were all once treated in the Gowds'
ancestral home, special stalls are now erected in neighbouring streets to
administer the physic to the maximum number over the 24-hour period.

The Sadhu's directions ensured that the Gowds make no profit from their
miracle cure. But, it is obvious that they enjoy being the centre of
attention for one day a year. 'We are proud to help people in this way,'
intones Shivram Gowd warmly, 'for the rest of the year we are
toddy tappers [who extract palm sap for fermentation]. '

Would he prefer that the miracle cure be handed out on  more than one day a
year? Shivram Gowd pauses to take in the cries of the hopeful outside. Then
rolls his eyes. 'No,' he whispers, 'one day a year is quite sufficient.'

All night, mantras are repeated over the great basins of mysterious yellow
paste. Then, as dawn rises over the Mughal city of Hyderabad, a prolonged
ritual begins in the confined courtyard of the Gowd ancestral home.

The five brothers sit on a raised platform surrounded by their families, as
their forefathers did before them.Dressed in sacred saffron robes, they
bless the tubs of oily ointment. Out in the maze of winding lanes, the
asthmatics and their families jostle about with restless
anticipation. The miracle is near.

At the front of the queue is Krishna Punji, an aged farmer from Orissa. He
pokes a wrinkled finger into a small plastic bag to check that the murrel
fish, which he bought from a vendor the night before, is still alive. 'I've
been here six weeks,' he announces feebly, 'I wasn't sure when the miracle
was to be held. So I came a bit early. You see, I've got very bad asthma.'
He lets out a deafening wheeze to prove his point.

At the stroke of 8am, Harinath Gowd stuffs a pellet of  the yellow paste
into the waiting mouth of a murrel fish, and thrusts it down his brother
Shivram's throat. The Gowds always start by taking the medicine themselves.
They swear by it. Moments later, the battered doors of their home are
pulled inward and the great tidal wave of sufferers surges into the
courtyard. At its crest is Krishna Punju. He hands over his fish, opens his
toothless mouth as wide as he can and, before he knows it, the three-inch
speckled charcoal murrel fish is swimming towards his stomach. The miracle
cure has begun.

Crushed together, and filling every inch of the Old City, the endless lines
of patients form a gargantuan sea of life. Many bought their fish the night
before. For those who didn't, hundreds of murrel fish dealers sprout up
from nowhere. Every street urchin and miscreant is suddenly crying out
'Machhi! Machhi!', 'Fish! Fish!' The competition between sellers, who get
their stocks from the Department of Fisheries, keeps the prices down. A
standard-sized murrel (three to six inches) costs three rupees (six pence).
The emphasis is very much on
large. Everyone believes that the larger the fish, the better it will clean
out the throat as it goes down.

'The wriggling of the fish is very beneficial,' calls Harinath Gowd, as he
shoves his complete hand into a woman's mouth. She begins to choke because
her fish is so large - almost seven inches long. A harsh thump on her back
dislodges it. The murrel fish can be seen amid her two rows of teeth,
frantically trying to swim backwards, towards safety. Engulfed by the waves
of asthmatics all holding up their transparent bags, Harinath Gowd again
rams his fingers down the woman's throat. The seven-inch fish heads into
the dark abyss of the patient's oesophagus, never to surface again.

If you recoil at the prospect of swallowing an oversized antibiotic, forget
the Gowds' miracle cure. It's traumatic for the patient; and is no easy
remedy to administer.  Every step of the procedure has its own obstacles.
When removing it from the bag, the fish tends to flail about and fall into
the mud underfoot. With the throng so tight, bending down to search for a
lost fish is distinctly hazardous. More cumbersome still is the business of
levering the murrel's jaws apart and inserting the nugget of paste. Even
when this has been achieved, the creature has to be propelled head-first
down the sufferer's throat. Administering the medicine a single time would
be an achievement worthy of praise. But performing it half a million times
in a day is a miracle in itself.

Every city, town and village of the subcontinent seems to be represented at
the Gowds' tiny home. Buddhist  monks, Assamese tribesmen, businessmen from
Bangalore, Goans and Tamils, Pathans and Sikhs - all congregate together
into a whirlwind of life; all frantic for the miracle. Many are gasping for
breath, seized by asthmatic attacks brought on as the swarm of bodies
presses tighter and tighter. Others scream hysterically as they are
separated from their children. Every moment the turmoil heightens to a new
pitch. The mob is compressed like liquid injected through a syringe. Then,
suddenly, it is rife with rumours. The stocks of fish are running out. The
supplies of miracle paste are almost at an end. A stampede follows. Babies
are clutched above heads to prevent them from being sucked down. Moments
later, the half million murrel fish are not the only casualties of the day.
Two elderly men are killed in the stampede, trampled underfoot.

For Anila Mathani, an Indian living in Singapore, swallowing a murrel fish
is no longer a novelty. This is her third time. 'You have to take the
medicine three years running to get permanent relief from asthma,' she
says, holding up her carefully-chosen specimen. 'This
year volunteers are handing out the cure in the streets around the Gowds'
home. I will only take it in the house itself; and from the hand of one of
the Gowd brothers.This is where the magic spell was cast; and it was here
that the Sadhu revealed that the miracle would work.'

Does she believe in the remedy? Anila Mathani nods vigorously. 'Of course
it cures asthma,' she says. 'Three years ago I was confined to bed. My
doctor said I hadn't long to live. Now look at me. Remember, Indians are
shrewd people: do you think they would spend time and money travelling here
if there was nothing in it?'

Diehard believers in the miracle cure follow a strict regime in the days
after their appointment with the murrel fish. They restrict their diet to a
list of foods prescribed by the Sadhu in 1845. These include such
comestibles as snake gourd, old rice, dried chillies, mutton, dried pieces
of old mango, and milk which has been left with a piece of porcelain in it.
On the 15th,
30th and 45th days after the miracle, the patient is expected to swallow
two extra pellets of the magical yellow paste.

Vegetarians have it easy. They don't have to swallow the fish but can
consume the repellent salve in a mixture of jaggery (dark molasses). But
the Gowds frown on those without the will to gulp down a live fish.

With news of the Gowds' medication spreading throughout India and abroad, a
regular stream of fraudsters have tried to capitalise on the miracle cure.
Quacks and charlatans in every large city advertise a similar antidote on
the same day each year. Most claim to be related to the Gowds. Unlike the
five brothers from Hyderabad, they charge for the medicine. 'It's expected
that fakes will try to make money from this, says Harinath Gowd
pragmatically. 'We have been offered millions of rupees by multinational
drug companies for the formula, too. But we don't have any fear of the
con-men, or of people copying our recipe through reverse engineering. They
can copy us all they like, but we have one thing that they can never have -
the magical blessing of the Sadhu.'

As the multitude of asthmatics choke down live fish, supporters for the
Society for Animal Rights, a local pressure group with modest support,
stand on the sidelines. But their calls for an immediate end to the
slaughter of innocent murrel fish go unheeded. 'Imagine what an agonising
end those poor little fish are having,'  says Dilip Narayan, the society's
spokesman. 'This is an act of primitive barbarism. It must be stopped.'

By and large, the medical profession is equally reproachful. Not because of
the pain the murrel fish  may suffer, but for the dubious effect that the
cure has on treating asthma. 'This isn't miracle healing, but faith
healing,' explains Dr Madan Kataria, a respected Bombay physician. 'People
line up for hours and go through the traumatic experience of swallowing a
live fish. Then they feel better. The improvement has got to be due to a
psychosomatic effect.'

The Gowd family's miracle cure for asthma may be the laughing stock of the
medical establishment. And it may sound like nothing more than mumbo jumbo
to the rest of us. But it seems that the remedy could have a scientific
grounding after all. Scientists at the Royal
Prince Alfred Institute of Respiratory Medicine in Sydney recently
published a possible cure for asthma. And it happens to be very fresh, oily
fish. A study at the institute found that only fresh fish (canned fish, for
instance, doesn't work) has anti-inflammatory properties. Oily fish such as
murrel, which contain omega-3 fatty acids, can decrease the amount of
inflammation in an asthmatic's airway.

Back outside the Gowds' ancestral home, the local police officers had given
up trying to keep control. Pickpockets were busy taking advantage of the
crowds. A contingent of Naga warriors was waging a full-blown military
offensive to raid the stall dishing out free custard creams. But, worst of
all, I found myself at the head of the queue.

I handed over the bag containing my four-inch murrel fish to Shivram Gowd.
A blob of the vile miracle paste the size of a walnut was forced into the
fish's mouth and around its face. The paste, which has the consistency of
marzipan, has the smell of putrefying offal.

A bystander indicated for me to stick out my tongue. At  the last moment,
the fish and I exchanged a troubled glance. The murrel seemed to be
demanding an explanation. Alas, I was in no position to start justifying
the unusual treatment. What came next was a new
experience for the both the fish and me. Having a grown man's hand lunging
to the back of one's throat is deeply unpleasant. But it is nothing in
comparison to the sensation of a live and terrified fish bearing fetid
miracle ointment swimming down one's oesophagus.
After all this, the cure did nothing for my asthma.

Hour after hour, thousands of asthmatics receive the treatment. All through
the day, the afternoon, and then the night. By 6am the next morning, the
short-lived shantytown around the Gowds' two-room house begins to break up.
The pickpockets board trains for other
cities. Balloon-sellers, beggars, and most of the half-million asthmatics
have disappeared. By 7am, the fish merchants are frantic to get rid of
their supplies.The bottom has fallen out of the murrel fish market for
another year.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 02:00:09
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Bush telegraph on heroic pets
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, September 20th, 1997

[Pets Section]

Bush telegraph on heroic pets

PET HEROES, the new book by Paul Simons, sings the praises of the heroism
of dogs during the world wars. Stories of brave and clever animals have
been recounted throughout history:

- In April 1995, a silver-backed gorilla named Jambo saved the life of a
boy who had fallen into his enclosure at Jersey zoo. He kept away the
younger gorillas as they threatened to attack the child.

- Balto, a half-breed wolf, is remembered as one of  the heroes of the
Alaskan North. In 1925 there was an outbreak of diphtheria in the remote
town of Nome, and a party was sent to Anchorage, 600 miles away, for more
antitoxin. On the return journey an accident befell
the sledsmen, but Balto led the dogs across the icy wilderness back to
Nome, saving the lives of many children.

- Murphy, an Australian Army donkey, was posthumously awarded the Purple
Cross for bravery during the Gallipoli campaign. He carried troops, wounded
at the frontline, on perilous journeys down rocky gullies to reach the
field hospital.

- When Sir Henry Wyatt was imprisoned in the Tower of London by Richard
III, his cat caught a pigeon from a nearby dovecote every day and brought
it to his cell as food.

-  While sailing home to the island of Lesbos, the ancient Greek poet Arion
was set upon by the rapacious crew of the ship, who were determined to
murder him and have his riches. He begged to be allowed to play one last
tune, after which he threw himself into the sea. A dolphin, who had been
seduced by his music, reputedly carried him on his back to land.

- When, after his travels, Ulysses arrived home in Ithaca in disguise, he
was recognised only by his faithful dog Argos, who then dropped dead.


⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 08:15:40 -0400
From: "Zoocheck Canada Inc." <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Fouts, Redmond & Goodall Lectures Now on Sale
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"

<x-rich>Dear Friends:


Zoocheck Canada is pleased to announce lectures by celebrity
scientist/chimpanzee advacate Roger Fouts and wildlife biologist Ian
Redmond this fall. In addition, tickets to the October 30th presentation
of Jane Goodall are still available.


On November 4th, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252
Bloor Street West, Toronto, 7.30 pm, <bold>Dr. Roger Fouts</bold> will be
presenting a lecture entitiled NEXT OF KIN. Tickets are priced at only
$10 each.


Dr. Fouts is famous for being the first scientist to converse with
chimpanzees through American Sign Language.


Wildlife biologist/photographer <bold>Ian Redmond</bold> will be
presenting lectures in Thunder Bay, Ontario (December 6), Fredericton,
New Brunswick (December 8), Moncton, New Brunswick (December 9), London,
Ontario (December 11) and Toronto (December 12). Tickets are $10 each.


Ian Redmond is renowned for his unique study of the cave elephants of
Mount Elgon, Kenya; his years of studying mountain gorillas with Dr. Dian
Fossey; and for his international work to end the trade in elephant
ivory.


There are still tickets available for Zoocheck Canada's presentation of
<bold>Dr. Jane Goodall</bold> at Centennial Hall, 550 Wellington Street,
London, Ontario on October 30th, 1997. Tickets are priced at $22.50 and
$20.00


E-MAIL, FAX [phone]) OR TELEPHONE [phone]) ZOOCHECK CANADA
FOR TICKETS OR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF THESE EVENTS.



Zoocheck Canada Inc.

3266 Yonge Street, Suite 1729

Toronto, ON M4N 3P6

Ph [phone]  Fax    [phone] or [phone]

E-Mail:  [e-mail]

Web Site:  http://web.idirect.com/~zoocheck

Registered Charity No. 0828459-54
</x-rich>
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 09:55:22 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Peru animal-lovers save cats from cooking pots
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
----------------------------------
Reuters
20-SEP-97

The following is a collection of human interest stories that have moved
separately. Peru animal-lovers save cats from cooking pots
LIMA - A last-minute appeal from Peruvian animal-lovers persuaded
authorities on Friday to cancel a festival of cat cookery intended to
celebrate a local saint's day.

Organizers announced with regret that the ``Great Gastronomic Kitty
Festival,'' scheduled for Saturday in the southern coastal town of Canete,
had been cancelled at the insistence of animal rights' groups.

``We have saved the cats' lives. The cat is not an animal for domestic
consumption, it can transmit diseases like toxoplasmosis,'' said Rosario
Quintanilla, president of Peru's association of animals' friends.

Publicity ahead of the annual celebration of Canete's Saint Efigenica
showed locals, aided by rats and nets, pursuing the cats, which are prized
locally as a delicacy. Sioux Chief's remains to go home after 105 years
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 10:16:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Oklahoma City Animal Collector Case
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


According to local Oklahoma City TV news, the Okla. City shelter
confiscated 40 starving and sick pets out of a NW Okla. City home.
There were 7 dead animals in the house and one of the dead dogs
in a back bedroom had been there since July.  The house was
condemned by the Okla. City Health Dept.  The home was owned
by an older woman and her adult daughter.  No charges will be
filed against the women because both are considered mentally
ill.  All the confiscated animals were put to sleep because of their
health problems. The home as shown on TV was completely
filled with filth and debris and neither of the women thought there
was anything wrong with their home and the conditions in it.

                                                          For the Animals,

                                                          Jana, OKC
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 10:22:46 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) 6 States To Collaborate on Sick Fish
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

More on Pfiesteria (...if only they'd figure out to get rid of factory
farms!  and go vegan!).
from AP Wire page:
----------------------------------
 09/20/1997 05:28 EST

 6 States To Collaborate on Sick Fish

 By TODD SPANGLER
 Associated Press Writer

 ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- The fight against a toxic microbe blamed for
 killing fish and sickening people who work on tributaries of Chesapeake
 Bay has drawn together the governors of six mid-Atlantic states.

 The governors of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
 Delaware and West Virginia agreed Friday to lobby the federal government
 for help in tackling the microbe, Pfiesteria piscicida, and to inform
 each other about reports of dead or dying fish.

 Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening compared Pfiesteria-infected waters and
 its environmental causes with coal miners using canaries to signal the
 presence of gas in mine shafts.

 ``The canary is dying,'' he said. ``We've got to do something about it.''

 Pfiesteria is a harmless one-celled organism unless something triggers it
 to change form and emit a poison that attacks fish, allowing the organism
 to feed on them until they die.

 Though the link hasn't been conclusively established, scientists believe
 the chemical given off by Pfiesteria also causes human health problems
 such as short-term memory loss. Those most vulnerable are watermen and
 others who come in contact with infected waters for long periods of time.

 Some scientists believe Pfiesteria, an algae, may be encouraged by water
 pollution and farm runoff.

 In recent months, Maryland's lower Eastern Shore has been the site of
 fish lesions and fish kills as well as short-term memory loss,
 respiratory ailments and flu-like symptoms in fishermen and residents.

 Medical research indicating the illnesses could be linked to the
 Pfiesteria toxin prompted Glendening to close the lower eight miles of
 the Pocomoke River. Two smaller waterways, tiny Kings Creek and
 Chicamacomico River, were closed last week after reports of fish with
 lesions.

 In Virginia, where fish lesions have been detected in the Rappahannock
 River, Gov. George Allen has kept the river open, saying there have been
 no reports of human health problems in the river.

 Allen said he will review Maryland's findings on the Pocomoke -- the
 Virginia portion of which Allen did close -- but won't make snap
 decisions on closing the Rappahannock.

 ``(If my advisers) tell me there is a risk to public health, I'll close a
 river,'' he said. ``We're trying to make the best judgment we can in
 protecting the public.''

Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 10:27:48 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Deer Deaths Fuel Battlefield Fight
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
 09/19/1997 15:29 EST

 Deer Deaths Fuel Battlefield Fight

 By H. JOSEF HEBERT
 Associated Press Writer

 GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The ghosts of the historic Civil War fight hang
 over the fields and wood lots of this once bloody battlefield. And
 unknown to many visitors, a modern battle rages, too, over the killing of
 hundreds of deer.

 ``The deer were eating the park,'' said park superintendent John
 Latschar. ``At times you could see more deer than tourists.''

 To limit the damage, the National Park Service systematically shot and
 killed nearly 900 deer on the battlefield during the past two winters.
 Another attempt to trim the herd this fall was put on hold by a federal
 judge because of a lawsuit.

 The problem is not limited to Gettysburg. As they search for food,
 growing numbers of deer are straying into suburban back yards, along a
 federal seashore on Long Island, N.Y., and into farm fields, where they
 decimate crops. Last April during rush hour, one wandering deer paid a
 visit to the White House and became trapped in the fence.

 ``We've seen the whitetail deer go from where it was a rare event to see
 one to where it is now the most abundant big-game species in North
 America,'' said Douglas Inkley, a biologist for the National Wildlife
 Federation.

 At Gettysburg, the deer herd grew without challenge from natural
 predators and from humans, since hunting is not allowed in the park.

 Depending on who tells the story, the deer kills have been either a
 necessary action to save one of America's most sacred war memorials or an
 arrogant and unnecessary slaughter of nearly 1,000 animals with little
 regard to history or environmental consequences.

 Beginning in the fall of 1995 and following through two winters, park
 rangers waged military-style campaigns to eradicate the Gettysburg herd.
 Riflemen in camouflage shot deer from tree platforms and from the backs
 of pickup trucks. They often worked at night, using spotlights and
 night-vision goggles to find deer as they fed.

 The Park Service said 503 deer were killed in 1995 and 355 were killed
 last year. Critics put the number much higher, saying many wounded deer
 wandered outside the park to die. Some got caught in fences and died; at
 least one crashed through the picture window of a nearby house.

 One resident, Joan Murphy, complained in a court deposition of ``rangers
 in a party mood doing wheelies in trucks while shooting deer on the most
 sacred spots of the battlefield.'' Her neighbor, Lisa Settle, said she
 ``imagined constantly a stray bullet coming into my window.''

 Park officials said they could not comment on the specific allegations
 made in connection with the lawsuit and referred questions to the Justice
 Department.

 Latschar said some of the claims raised by critics are ``farfetched.'' He
 said the herd-reduction program, which he ordered, was the safest and
 cheapest way to deal with the problem.

 But many of the critics question whether the deer were actually
 threatening the historic nature of the battlefield, or whether they were
 more of an economic nuisance to influential tenant farmers.

 ``It's a complete ruse,'' argued attorney Katherine Meyer, who represents
 the Last Chance for Animals, Fund for Animals, and a half-dozen local
 residents in the lawsuit.

 Gerald Stone, a wildlife biologist at Penn State University, who
 conducted much of the research used to support the deer eradication
 program, said an unchecked herd would have caused ``major changes in the
 species composition'' of the battlefield.

 But Meyer cited historians who argue that the large farms, which did not
 exist in the 1860s, themselves betray the historic landscape, and the
 dense wood lots, which officials say the deer had threatened, also are
 not as they were a century ago.

 She also pointed out that the Park Service's own consultant once
 suggested the deer may add to the historic accuracy of the battlefield by
 ``serving the same function as cattle and intensive wood lot management
 100 years ago.''

 Bert Frost, the park's wildlife biologist, took a visitor to a grove of
 trees where 134 years ago Confederate soldiers launched ``Pickett's
 Charge,'' their final, losing fight at the Battle of Gettysburg.

 It was in those same woods that Frost and four other rangers waited on
 tree platforms before dawn one November day two years ago.

 ``As the deer moved out of their nightly bedding grounds in the woods and
 moved into the field, we began to shoot. ... That morning we shot 25
 deer. We came back that evening and shot 15 more.''

Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 15:27:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail] (paws)
Subject: Re: Elephant rides at the Renaissance Festival
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit


In a message dated 97-09-16 18:48:57 EDT, [e-mail] writes:

<< I attended the Maryland Renaissance Festival this past Sunday,
 and was shocked to find that elephant, camel, and pony rides
 have been added this year.
  >>

Jeanie,
Thank you for posting about the elephant and camel rides at the Maryland
Renaissance Festival.  I have just confirmed that the elephants and camel are
owned by the Murray Family of Shirley, Arkansas.  We have been looking for
them!
For several years they were under contract to VidbelÆs Olde Tyme Circus.  For
the 1997 season, however, their contract was not renewed.  For the FIRST TIME
since it opened in 1984, VidbelÆs Olde Tyme Circus has NO ELEPHANTS in the
show.
For the past two seasons (95 and 96), animal activists throughout the
Northeast protested and leafleted at many performances of VidbelÆs Olde Tyme
Circus.  I also produced a Video tape showing one of their elephants being
beaten while giving elephant rides and a baboon being kicked in the groin
while rehearsing.  This video was distributed to activists, sponsors,
potential sponsors and local media in areas where VidbelÆs was performing.
VidbelÆs dropped the baboon act for the 96 season but retained the elephants.
The two elephants are both Asian females and are named Annette and Topsey.
 Topsey is crippled; her right hind leg is shorter than her left and she
exhibits a severe limp when she walks.
CIRCO-NJ will send a copy of the tape to the Maryland Renaissance Festival.
The Renaissance Festival continues every Saturday and Sunday through October
19, 1997 from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm.

CIRCO- New Jersey is a circus information clearing center dedicated to the
liberation of animals from circuses, zoos and traveling shows.

Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 16:42:16 -0700
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: LAST CALL FOR WORLD FARM ANIMALS DAY!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1


Dear Fellow Activists:
   There is still time to take part in this year's 15th annual
observance of World Farm Animals Day!  If you have not planned an
observance and registered with us, please do so today by calling
1-888-FARM-USA or sending e-mail to [e-mail].  World Farm
Animals Day is the one occasion each year when every caring person is
conscience-bound to alert his/her friends and neighbors to the tragedy
of farm animals.

   Judging from the information we have received thus far, this should
be the largest observances ever.  Scores of groups throughout the US and
a dozen other countries will be leafleting, picketing, and holding
vigils in front of local McDonaldÆs, Burger King, WendyÆs, and/or
Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets.  Some will be doing street theater using
animal costumes or mockups of breeding sow stalls and battery cages.
The objectives are to persuade the national chains to offer a choice of
meatless entrees and treat animals humanely, to inform the public of the
tragedy of farm animals, and to obtain favorable media coverage.
   Some folks have come up with other creative ways.  A Connecticut
group has built an æAware MobileÆ that will bring literature and vegan
food samples to communities in the state. Vegetarian festivals are
scheduled in Seattle, Iowa City, and several Florida locations. There
will be billboards in Kansas City and Syracuse and a blesing of the
animals in a Kingston (NY) church.  Dozens of restaurants in Virginia's
Hampton Roads area will be offering vegetarian specials.  Nearly 50
groups are requesting proclamations from their governors or mayors.
   We hope that you are already registered with us and that your
planning process is on schedule. But, if not, donÆt despair.  Three
dedicated individuals can set up a picket line in three hours, two
people can do an information table in two hours.  Even one person can
write a couple of letters to editors in one hour.
    PLEASE CALL US AT 1-888-FARM-USA OR RESPOND BY E-MAIL TODAY TO
RECEIVE AN ACTION KIT!

Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 07:52:57 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: NZ article-home brew RHD virus and vaccine!!!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The Dominion 19/9/97.

Canterbury Farmers Spread Rabbit Virus

North Canterbury farmers are spreading rabbit calicivirus
by the same do-it-yourself approach as their Mackenzie
Basin counterparts as rabbits in the region are starting
to breed.
The virus has been spread throughout some of the more
rabbit-prone parts of the region during the past two weeks,
even though it is not yet legal to possess or spread it.
John Acton-Adams, who farms in the Amberley foothills
50 kilometres north of Christchurch, said spreading the
virus in North Canterbury had only taken place in the past
fortnight, after Cabinet decision to try to legalise its spread.
The Government has not yet passed regulations to make the
virus legal.
The rabbit breeding season had started, and farmers were in
a rush to get the virus spread as soon as the Government
cleared up the legal position, Mr Acton-Adams said.
Newborn rabbits were immune to RCD for the first eight weeks
and farmers wanted to achieve a kill while they were still
dependant on adults and unable to survive by themselves.
Farmers were sharing inoculant or having rabbits inoculated,
waiting for them to die, then using the organs to make more
"rabbit smoothie" inoculant, which was mixed with pulp or
jam or sprayed on oats or carrots.
Farmers were first given clues on how to prepare the RCD
inoculant by Ministry of Agriculture's semi-arid lands group
at Lincoln, in 1991.
They were told that the livers and spleens of rabbits infected
with the virus could be put through a blender, and if a vaccine
was required to protect domestic rabbits, the rabbit smoothie
could the be inactivated with formalin.

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

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: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 08:43:22 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RFI-Shooting pet dogs/cats legalised-Victoria,Australia?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Please, could someone notify me if the state of Victoria (Australia)
has legalised the shooting of cats and dogs found to be harrassing wildlife?
Someone phoned me yesterday and said the legislation in Victoria supporting
this approach was now a fact.

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

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  \_/^\_/






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