1) Mysterious tumors kill sea turtles by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 2) Smokey the Bac by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 3) Scientific research institute offers 298 tons of whale meat by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 4) Re: Kay Bee STores by "veegman@qed.net" <veegman@qed.net> 5) [CA] Wayward salmon by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 6) [NE] IWC BOWS TO PRESSURE FROM JAPAN FOR SECRET VOTING by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 7) (HK) Pet Fair Asia '97 by jwed <jwed@hkstar.com> 8) Restaurant shark snatched from jaws of death (HK) by jwed <jwed@hkstar.com> 9) Website: Animal Protection Visual Materials by "allen schubert, arrs admin" <arrs@envirolink.org> 10) [CA] Donkeys' keeper faces charges by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 11) CA Primate Center by paulbog@jefnet.com (Rick Bogle) 12) (AU) Australian Activists Inside Piggeries by Coral Hull <animal_watch@envirolink.org> 13) Noble Boxers Now In Need of Homes by Snugglezzz@aol.com 14) Crossposting--Admin Note--was--Re: Support dawn Ratcliffe by allen schubert <ar-admin@envirolink.org> 15) Admin Note--was--Re: Support dawn Ratcliffe by allen schubert <ar-admin@envirolink.org>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 21:21:46 -0700
From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Mysterious tumors kill sea turtles
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Mysterious tumors killing endangered sea turtles
The Associated Press
MARATHON, Fla. (October 23, 1997 7:40 p.m. EDT)
A fishing boat captain spots a giant sea turtle in shallow water near a
stand of mangroves just off the coast. He's seen turtles here before,
only this time there's something horribly wrong. The green turtle, as
big as the roof of a compact car, is covered with a gruesome growth of
gray, bulbous tissue. The mass -- half the size of the turtle itself --
is slowly starving the animal by covering the eyes it uses to find food.
The growths, noncancerous tumors called fibropapillomas, have turned up
in alarming numbers on sea turtles all over the world, and researchers
are scrambling to find a cure while there are still turtles left to
save.
"The disease is taking the turtles faster than Mother Nature can replace
them," said Richie Moretti, who runs the Turtle Hospital in the Florida
Keys. "It's definitely a race."
The tumors themselves don't kill as much as they smother. Eyes and noses
get covered. Lungs and the heart are constricted by the tumors on the
inside. The turtle found by the boat captain was not only blinded, but
the mass also covered its rectum, preventing it from eliminating waste.
Nicknamed Mini Pearl, after the fishing boat that saved it, the turtle
underwent surgery at the hospital to remove the tumor and was recovering
in a swimming pool. The giant, flaking mass was sent to a lab for study.
Researchers believe something is causing turtles' immune systems to
weaken. What that is, they don't know.
But the prevalence of tumors in turtles found near shore areas suggests
a possible link to runoff from fertilizer or farm waste. Some turtle
habitats have an infection rate as high as 90 percent.
"Runoff is definitely a possibility because you see turtles with
papillomas mostly in heavily populated areas," said Glenn Harman, a
marine biologist at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. "But really, we just
don't know. I wish I did."
Scientists also have speculated that cyclical changes in water
temperature may be decreasing the cold-blooded animals' ability to ward
off viral intruders.
"There's some worldwide problem going on and how to tie it all together
is not easy," said University of Florida veterinarian Elliott Jacobson,
who has done research on the tumors.
Jacobson doesn't know how many green sea turtles have been affected by
the tumors, or how many of the endangered turtles remain.
Turtles with tumors have been seen from Brazil to the coast of Florida,
from Hawaii to Australia, and in Indonesia. Green sea turtles aren't the
only ones turning up with the tumors; they have also been seen on
loggerheads and olive ridley turtles.
A study last year by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
found that 10 percent of live loggerhead turtles caught in Florida Bay,
at the southern tip of the state, are affected.
For Moretti, who has worked the last 10 years to heal injured and sick
turtles, the tumor is the worst enemy yet.
"We're losing them to something we can't see," he said.
Mini Pearl is about 6 years old and 24 pounds with the tumor. The
disease primarily afflicts young turtles, ages 5 to 10, and few turtles
with the tumors survive, unless the growths are surgically removed.
At the Turtle Hospital, built on the site of a former strip joint, that
is veterinarian Doug Mader's specialty. These days, much of his time is
spent removing the fibropapillomas, although the hospital also has
repaired turtle hernias, removed fishing line from turtle digestive
tracts, and plans to perform soon what is thought to be the first ever
turtle cornea transplant.
The operation on Mini, which required the reconstruction of the turtle's
rectum, was a success. If the turtle stays healthy, it should grow to
more than 500 pounds and live to be about 100.
"A few animals may be releasable, and many tumors may grow back,"
Jacobson said. "But there's a lot that's learned from doing it, and
there's some education of people about this, so this is helpful."
By DAVID ROYSE, Associated Press Writer
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 21:28:11 -0700
From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Smokey the Bac
Message-ID: <3451755B.4A1C@worldnet.att.net>
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USDA unveils 'Bac' to fight foodborne illness
1997 Reuters
WASHINGTON (October 24, 1997 7:22 p.m. EDT)
The U.S. government launched a campaign Friday to urge consumers to
prevent food poisoning by washing their hands, thoroughly cooking meat
and taking other basic precautions in the kitchen.
The heads of the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) and the Health and
Human Services Department said the advertising campaign was part of a
wide-ranging effort to improve food safety from farm to fork after a
series of recalls of tainted meat this year.
"Food safety is a complicated issue. There is no one silver bullet,"
said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. "There has to be responsibility
at every stage of the food production, processing
and delivery chain."
The public education campaign urges consumers to "fight bac" -- short
for bacteria -- by washing their hands before cooking, separating raw
meat from vegetables and cooking foods thoroughly. Posters, public
service announcements and an Internet Web site all feature a cartoon
depiction of a bacterium.
Glickman said the USDA, which created the Smokey Bear character for the
U.S. Forest Service division, hopes the green fuzzy bacterium will
become just as well known.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more
than 9,000 Americans fall sick each year to food-borne illnesses. That
costs the U.S. economy nearly $35 billion in lost work and medical
costs, according to some experts.
Food safety was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this year when an
outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 illness in Colorado forced Hudson Foods Inc
to recall a record 25 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties.
Some 450,000 pounds of contaminated hamburger was recalled last month by
BeefAmerica Inc, and South Korean officials found tainted hamburger in a
shipment of U.S. imports.
Carol Tucker Foreman, a former USDA official who now works with consumer
food coalitions, said the campaign doesn't absolve meat processors or
the food industry of their responsibility for food safety.
"No matter what we do, the system is never going to be perfect," Foreman
said. "This is something that industry and government and consumer
groups have taken on in addition to other steps."
The Clinton administration has proposed giving the USDA the authority to
order recalls of suspicious food and to impose stiff fines of $100,000 a
day against companies that don't meet safety standards.
But some animal rights groups criticized the education campaign as
wrongly trying to shift the food safety focus away from processing
plants.
"Are rubber gloves, forceps and sterilizing alcohol the kitchen
implements of the future?" said a spokesman for Farm Animal Reform
Movement.
By JULIE VORMAN, Reuters
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 21:34:29 -0700
From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Scientific research institute offers 298 tons of whale meat
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As whale conference ends, Japan puts meat on sale
1997 Reuters
TOKYO (October 24, 1997 07:40 a.m. EDT)
A Japanese research institute put 298 tons of minke whale meat on sale
Friday just as an international conference on whaling
ended its annual meeting in Monaco.
Anti-whaling groups in Japan called the timing insensitive, but the
Institute of Cetacean Research said it was coincidental.
The government-funded operation, which engages in so-called "research
whaling" in the Antarctic and northwestern Pacific Oceans, put on sale
the meat from 100 minke whales caught between May and July.
This week in Monte Carlo, the International Whaling Commission (IWC)
came up with a compromise proposal that would allow limited coastal
whaling of abundant species but only for local consumption and would ban
whaling on the high seas.
The proposal, introduced by Ireland, would also phase out scientific
whaling, carried out by Japanese hunters who kill over 400 whales a year
for research.
The Japanese institute that sold the whale meat said it had nothing to
be ashamed of because effective utilization of whales caught for
scientific purposes has been approved by the International Convention
for the Regulation of Whaling.
"I'm amazed at the insensitivity of the Japanese government," said Sanae
Shida of the Japanese branch of international environmental group
Greenpeace.
"Japan started selling whale meat in the middle of the Monte Carlo
conference where they have come up with compromises this time ... they
must have done it on purpose, aiming for a reverse effect," Shida said.
Japan gave up commercial whaling in compliance with an international
moratorium that went into effect in 1986 but has been carrying out
