Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news58~1.htm/text0006.txt

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>The Straits Times
24 Nov 97

Hyenas attacking flood victims in fight for dry ground in Somalia

     NAIROBI -- Hyenas competing for dry ground are attacking Somalis
marooned by     the worst floods ever, a relief agency has reported.

     The American Refugee Committee said on Saturday that the hyenas were
competing     with 6,000 to 10,000 people for dry land around the southern
town of Hagar, on the     Juba River.

     "A group of swimmers has been sent out to assess the situation in
surrounding villages,"     it said. Another area, it added, was
"hippo-infested". Other agencies said crocodiles     were a menace.
Around Bardera, also on the Juba, camels and cattle were reportedly stuck in
the mud,     with "swarms of parasites everywhere".

     Over 1,300 Somalis have been confirmed dead since the Juba broke its
banks on Oct     18, and close to 230,000 people have fled. Deaths from
illnesses such as malaria are     also on the rise.

     At least 30 people were killed on Friday in the region around
Wamlawein, north-west     of Mogadishu, local dailies reported on Saturday.
The rains are also pounding Ethiopia     and Kenya, with no let-up in sight.

     Distribution of relief supplies is hampered because airstrips are
flooded and roads     blocked.
Most relief in Somalia is being distributed in dinghies, buttwo helicopters
hired from     South Africa were due to arrive here yesterday, and another
two today.

     In Dadab, north-eastern Kenya, the rains have cut off roads to camps
holding over     120,000 refugees from Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, said Mr
Peter Kessler,     spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

     The roads will take six to eight weeks to repair once the rains stop,
he said.

     The UNHCR would try to fly in plastic sheets and biscuits for both the
refugees and     the local population, he said. -- AFP.

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 16:09:26 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (EG) Islam and bullfights
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>The Straits Times
25 Nov 97

Egypt's religious leaders lock horns over
     bullfights


     CAIRO -- The first bullfights due to be held in Egypt in almost 50
years have     provoked a new round of bitter debate between Egypt's top
Muslim religious leaders,     according to the pro-government press.

     The debate is over whether the bullfights, due to start on Thursday,
should take place.

     It pits the most senior authority of Sunni Islam, Sheikh Mohammad
Sayyed Tantawi of     Al-Azhar, against Egypt's most senior religious
official, Mufti Sheikh Nasr Farid     Wassel.
Sheikh Wassel has issued a fatwa (decree) that bullfights are haram
(forbidden) and     that "Islam prohibits anyone from attending such events".

     "Encouraging them is even haram ," he added.

     Sheikh Tantawi is the head of Al-Azhar, a religious institution where
almost all of the     world's muftis are trained.

     He is not opposed to corridas and his word carries more weight that any
fatwa issued     by the mufti .

     A bullfight is known in Spanish as corrida de toros .

"There are no objections" to organising bullfights, Sheikh Tantawi told the
Cairo
     weeklies Rose al-Yussef and Al Arabi.

     He also suggested that the meat of the dead bulls be distributed to
patients in
     government hospitals and those run by Al Azhar "as long as the animal
is killed in line     with Syariah" (Islamic law).

     The evening daily Al Messa quoted him as saying on Sunday: "If the bull
survives the     death blow and is then slaughtered according to Islamic
ritual, its meat can be eaten."

     The mufti has charged that "eating the meat from bulls killed during
corridas is contrary     to Islam" because the blood of the animals
coagulates during the fight and cannot be     drained properly in line with
Islam.
Eight Spanish and Portuguese matadors, horsemen and banderilleros are
scheduled to     participate in 12 corridas at the Shams country club in the
residential Heliopolis suburb     of northern Cairo.

     But during the week-long event -- the first since 1954 -- bulls are not
to be killed, the     organisers have said. -- AFP.


Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 16:09:32 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (CL) 60-cm-long "mutant" rats
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>The Straits Times
25 Nov 97

MUTANT RATS: A Chilean ecological group has sounded an alarm about
60-cm-long "mutant" rats which have attacked barnyard animals in a suburb of
Santiago.

     Mr Mauricio Barraza, president of the Ecological Council of Maipu, said
he believed     the rodents had grown so large because they fed on the
droppings of hormone-fattened     poultry. -- Reuters.

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 03:55:04 -0500 (EST)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: EU fur ban seen worsening row with U.S. over Cuba
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

EU fur ban seen worsening row with U.S. over Cuba
06:25 p.m Nov 24, 1997 Eastern
By Gillian Handyside

BRUSSELS, Nov 24 (Reuters) - An impending European Union ban on American
fur imports could spark off a trade war and deepen a row over U.S. laws
hitting foreign companies investing in Cuba, Iran or Libya, an EU
official said on Monday.

European trade commissioner Sir Leon Brittan told EU foreign ministers
on Monday that EU-U.S. talks had failed to produce agreement on
acceptable ways of trapping fur-bearing animals. In the absence of a
deal, the ban will automatically come into force on December 1.

Foreign Minister Jacques Poos of current EU president Luxembourg said
the ministers had agreed that the latest U.S. offer was not sufficient,
but he added that Brittan would seek to convince Washington to improve
it.

``If he were unable to do so...the ban would enter into force as of
December 1,'' Poos told reporters after the meeting.

Brittan's spokesman Nigel Gardner earlier said there was ``no evidence
of the faintest chance of a new offer from the United States.''

Gardner said Washington was not prepared to accept the EU's demand for
an end to the use of steel-jawed leghold traps to ensnare species like
mink, otters and wolves.

The Americans wanted first to conduct tests to see whether the traps
were as cruel as the EU said they were, he said.

Critics of the traps say they do not kill the animals outright but often
break their legs and imprison them until they drown, starve or bleed to
death.

In a separate trans-Atlantic trade dispute, talks between Brittan and
U.S. State Department officials last Friday produced progress but no
breakthrough over the U.S. anti-Castro Helms-Burton law and its D'Amato
law on Iran and Libya.

The 15-member EU bloc is expected to use a transatlantic summit in
Washington on December 5 to renew its threat to challenge the United
States at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if it tries to punish EU
firms investing in the three countries, who Washington accuses of
sponsoring terrorism.

But U.S. ire at the impending fur import ban could make it even harder
to resolve the complex Helms-Burton/D'Amato wrangle, the EU official
said.

The EU is fiercely opposed to the sanctions laws, saying Washington has
no right to penalise firms outside its borders.

But America might use the example of the fur ban to accuse the Europeans
of also resorting to extra-territorial legislation when it suited them,
the EU official explained.

Gardner denied the fur ban was extra-territorial though he conceded it
could complicate the Cuba row.

``We're not using an automatic ban on these leghold traps as a weapon
for (implementing) foreign policy. We're using it because we feel these
things are cruel and their use should be phased out,'' he said.

Poos took a similar line, saying: ``I don't think you can make any
comparisons here with Helms-Burton or D'Amato legislation whereby
foreign companies are threatened with sanctions if they violate an
embargo which was declared unilaterally by the United States.''

The potential setback comes at a time when Washington and Brussels are
seeing signs of progress, albeit small, in their efforts to avert a WTO
battle over Cuba, Iran and Libya.
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:00:18 GMT
From: Chris Wright <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (UK) Bloody revenge for stag hunt ban
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

           Bloody revenge for stag hunt ban
           [From The Independent, Nov 25th]

           At least half the red deer stags in
           the Quantock Hills have been
           slaughtered in a savage reaction to
           the ban on hunting introduced by the
           National Trust and the Forestry
           Commission. Nicholas Schoon,
           Environment Correspondent, reveals a
           bloody propaganda exercise.

           The Quantock Staghounds said that if
           they were banned from carrying out
           their sport, the wild red deer on the
           Somerset hills would be wiped out by
           poachers and farmers fed up with
           their crops being eaten.

           Opponents of hunting dismissed this
           as scaremongering - but it seems the
           hunt was right. At least 36 stags
           have been shot and sold to game
           dealers in the past few weeks, out of
           the 76 counted last month. Their
           heads have been piled together and
           photographed. They have been killed
           by farmers who no longer see any
           reason not to shoot them now that
           hunting is banned on trust land. One,
           an occasional hunt follower, told the
           Independent: "I thought sod the
           National Trust, I'm going to shoot
           anything that comes into my fields.
           They didn't consult us about their
           ban." He said more than 36 had been
           killed, and he had made 10,000 by
           selling their venison.

           Since the trust intended shooting
           deer on its land to control numbers,
           it would make money from selling
           their carcasses. "Why shouldn't we?
           It's our fields that feed them when
           they come off the hills."

           Nigel Hester, the trust's local deer
           expert and custodian, said: "It's
           very sad, but its certainly not going
           to change public opinion or make the
           trust's council reconsider its
           decision on hunting. We can't be held
           responsible for people slaughtering
           the deer."

           The herd eats cereals and young grass
           but farmers had been willing to
           tolerate losses. Many are hunt
           followers, and also felt the hunt
           limited crop damage by killing deer
           and keeping them on the move.

           Last April the trust's council
           decided to ban staghunting on its
           1,300 acres in the Quantocks after a
           report showed deer suffered extreme
           exhaustion, pain and damage in the
           chase. It reaffirmed its decision
           last month after a legal challenge
           was defeated.

           The Forestry Commission has issued no
           new licences for hunting on its land
           in the Quantocks. The hunt now has
           far less freedom to roam; it goes out
           less often and kills fewer deer.
           There is no law stopping farmers
           shooting deer on their land.
           Carcasses are usually sold to a
           licensed dealer for venison, for up
           to 300.

           The slaughter, motivated by a
           combination of anger, greed and the
           desire to make a point, has taken
           place over the past six weeks.

           It came to light four days before the
           crucial second reading of MP Michael
           Foster's Bill to ban hunting with
           dogs. If it carries on at this rate,
           the herd could be in danger of
           extinction within a few months.
-----

Chris Wright
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 10:14:46 -0500
From: Animal Rights Resource Site <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: FFF97 Updated
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The Fur Free Friday 97 Events Calendar on ARRS has been updated.  Events
are in the US and Canada (so far).  41 events are listed (some are actually
multiple events).

Go to:
http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/calendar/fff97.html

allen

Animal Rights Resource Site (ARRS) http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/index.html
Fur Free Friday 97: http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/calendar/fff97.html
What's New: http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/whatsNew/recent.html
Calendar: http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/calendar/index.html
AR-Jobline: http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/ar-jobline/
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 08:31:23 -0800
From: "Bob Schlesinger" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Info Request: Re: EU fur import ban
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Does anyone have information about specifically which officials of the US government are
opposing the EU attempts to ban fur imports because leghold traps are legal here?  Please either
post additional information about this story, or reply via private email and I will write up a piece
about it to urge individuals to contact these officials.
Thank you.
-Bob Schlesinger

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 10:34:47 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Rick Bogle)
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Fw: Primate Freedom
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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----------
> From: Craig Rosebraugh <[e-mail]>
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject:
> Date: Monday, November 24, 1997 12:04 PM
>
> To: [e-mail]
> From: [e-mail] (Craig Rosebraugh)
> Subject: PRIMATE CENTER TOUR CONTINUES!!!!!!
>
> Rick,
>
>         Please forward this message to everyone and all lists you are on
> and can think of.  Thanks and I will talk with you soon.
>
> Craig
>
>
>
> >To: [e-mail]
> >From: [e-mail] (Craig Rosebraugh)
> >Subject: PRIMATE CENTER TOUR CONTINUES!!!!!!
> >Cc:
> >Bcc:
> >X-Attachments:
> >
> >The National Protest Tour of the seven regional primate centers is
heading
> >to Atlanta on December 6th to begin vigils/protests/and other events
> >againt the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center.  This is the seventh
> >stop on the seven month tour designed to increase public awareness about
> >the attrocities committed against non-human primates in biomedical and
> >scientific research.
> >
> >NOW MORE THAN EVER WE NEED YOUR INVOLVEMENT!!!!
> >
> >If there is anyway possible for you to make it to Atlanta on December 6
> >please attend the events.  If not, please take part in a demonstration
at
> >one of the other six regional primate research centers.
> >
> >DEMONSTRATIONS WILL OCCUR AT ALL SEVEN REGIONAL PRIMATE
RESEARCH CENTERS
> >ON DECEMBER 6TH.  YOUR ENERGY, DEDICATION AND PARTICIPATION IS
NEEDED!!!
> >
> >
> >To become involved, to help organize events in your local area, or for
> >more information, please contact:
> >
> >Liberation Collective
> >P.O. Box 9055
> >Portland, OR 97207
> >Tel:[phone]
> >Fax:[phone]
> >[e-mail]
> >
>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 09:31:27 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: "Wanderings" Column on Pigeon Shoots
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

[This is a syndicated column published in several Pennsylvania newspapers.]

>WANDERINGS/ walt brasch
>
>weeks of November 23-29, November 30-December 6, 1997
>
>              Legislative Manipulation Blocks Needed Legislation
>
>                                by Walt Brasch
>      Five weeks after an animal rights activist entered jail and
>began a fast to continue her protest against the Hegins pigeon
>shoot, the leadership of the Pennsylvania House of
>Representatives claimed they still didn't know about the current
>bill to ban pigeon shoots as acts of cruelty.
>      Dawn M. Ratcliffe, 24, convicted of disorderly conduct for
>her protest on Labor Day 1996, began a 45-day prison term in
>Schuylkill County prison, Oct. 3. At the time, she declared she
>wouldn't end the fast until a bill to ban the shoot submitted by
>Rep. Sara Steelman (D-Indiana) was brought out of committee and
>onto the House floor for a vote. Her protest brought hundreds of
>phone calls and letters of support to the leaders of the House.
>The Fund for Animals gave Gov. Tom Ridge a petition with
>signatures of more than 10,000 Pennsylvanians opposed to pigeon
>shoots.
>      "We were flooded [by calls and letters]," says a staff
>member of the office of House Speaker Matt Ryan (R-Delaware
>County). "I'm not aware of it," said Ryan. "I'll wait until I see
>it [the bill] before I make a decision." However, he may already
>have made a decision. Attorney I. B. Sinclair, a former resident
>of Ryan's district, says Ryan "flaps his arms like a pigeon
>whenever he sees me." Heidi Prescott, national director for the
>Fund for Animals, says several House members "flap their arms,"
>make "cooing sounds," and pretend to be shooting guns when they
>see her in the capitol.
>      Rep. John Perzel (R-Philadelphia), House majority leader,
>also says he wasn't aware of the current bill. "There's [about]
>3,000 bills [a session] that are proposed," said Perzel. "I can't
>know every one of them." However, Steelman's bill carried 46 co-
>sponsors. "It's a large number," admitted Perzel who says he
>would vote against the bill--if it were to get to the House floor
>Rep. Lita I. Cohen (R-Montgomery Co.), a member of the Judiciary
>Committee, and former sponsor of similar legislation, says the
>bill is dead in committee, and won't be brought up for even a
>committee vote. Matt Ryan claims he has "no power" to urge the
>committee to bring the bill to the full House. This, of course,
>if true, would make Ryan the most ineffective speaker not only in
>Pennsylvania history, but the least effective in all the states.
>      In 1994, the House, under Democratic leadership, voted 99-93
>to ban the pigeon shoot, but fell three votes short of the
>majority. Since then, opposition to pigeon shoots has increased,
>but the Republican leadership, supported by several like-minded
>Democrats, have refused to allow bills onto the floor for a fair
>vote. One of Perzel's senior staff told the Associated Press that
>Perzel would not allow a vote by the full House. It is this
>refusal that caused Dawn Ratcliffe to begin her hunger strike.
>Several state representatives acknowledge they have been subject
>to "arm twisting" to vote against such legislation should it ever
>be presented for a fair vote.
>      Perzel, who has supported bills opposing animal cruelty,
>says he fishes "once in awhile," but doesn't hunt or own guns.
>But, he points out, "the guy that represents the area [Rep. Bob
>Allen] is a personal friend of mine, and the people of
>Philadelphia are not fond of pigeons." Ironically, Perzel had
>written a constituent in 1993 that the Hegins pigeon shoot "sends
>the wrong message to the nonhunting public . . . and I do feel
>that it is sometimes hard to justify this practice."
>      Although only 102 votes are necessary for passage, the
>members could vote the bill onto the House floor for full debate
>by a 112-vote "super majority." It is unlikely even that vote
>will occur.
>      In the Senate's Fish and Game Committee, Ed Helfrick (R-Mt.
>Carmel) whose district is adjacent to that which includes Hegins,
>has choked a similar bill submitted by Sen. Roy Afflerbach (R-
>Allentown) that calls for a summary fine for transporting pigeons
>to shoots. Todd Roup, Helfrick's executive director, says
>Helfrick will not allow even a discussion of the bill because an
>"informal poll" indicates "it doesn't enjoy the support of a
>majority of the [committee] members."
>      Even if the House and Senate pass the bill this session,
>Gov. Tom Ridge will probably veto it. Tim Reese, the Governor's
>press secretary, claims the Governor has "not said what his views
>would be if the General Assembly sends him a bill." However, the
>Republican Governor, up for re-election, will probably veto a
>bill that is opposed by his leadership. Like other Republican
>leaders, Ridge sidesteps the issue of cruelty to animals by
>believing the bill is "a local issue," and should be decided by
>the residents of Hegins. How does the Governor know it's a local
>issue? "Just because it is," says Reese.
>      "Nonsense," says Heidi Prescott who points out that all
>animal issues are addressed by statewide laws, with the animal
>cruelty statute part of the Crimes Code. "Dogfighting and
>cockfighting are illegal statewide," says Prescott, "Why should
>pigeon shoots be any different?" State Police and humane
>societies, says Prescott, "should not have to enforce a confusing
>patchwork of local ordinances. What would happen if cockfighting
>was illegal in some townships, but legal in others?"
>      At Hegins, as at other shoots, persons with shotguns stand
>on a line, waiting for pigeons that have been poorly fed and
>cooped up for several weeks, to fly from traps about 20 yards
>away from the shooting line. At Hegins, only 15 percent of the
>birds are killed immediately by shotgun blasts; most of the rest
>are wounded, then killed by pre-teen and teenage "trappers" who
>stomp on the birds, wring their necks, or throw them into large
>barrels to suffocate. Dozens of birds are left on the ground to
>die.
>      There are at least eight shoots in the Commonwealth, with
>Hegins being the largest. The Federated Humane Societies of
>Pennsylvania oppose pigeon shoots. Forty-six states already
>declare pigeon shoots to be cruelty to animals. The International
>Olympic Committee has declared pigeon shooting is not a sport
>because of its cruelty. It's time for Pennsylvanians to tell our
>legislators that they do not have the right to forbid discussion
>or fair votes in order to protect their own "pet projects."
>
>
>      {Italic} Walt Brasch, an award-winning former newspaper
>reporter and editor, is author of 10 books, the latest of which
>is "Sex and the Single Beer Can," a compilation of many of his
>media-related columns. {end italic}
>                                     -30-

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:08:31 -0500 (EST)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: EU Letter Writing Info
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

<< Hi:
> Do you have any information about who in the US government is opposing the
ban >on leg hold traps that the EU is supporting?
 >If so, please respond (and also post at AR-NEWS) >>

We received the following email.  Assuming there are others on ar-news with
the same question I am answering this here.

Right now, the US Trade Representative is the main player that is opposing
the EU ban on US wild caught furs.  You can contact her at:

Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky
US Trade Representative
600 17th St. NW
Washington, DC 20506

Also, please contact your own representative at
The Honorable ____________
US House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

It is likely that the EU will implement the ban on Monday.  Our message to
the trade office is that they should not oppose the ban before the World
Trade Organization.

We need our congressional reps to apply pressure to the trade office, urging
them to leave the EU alone.  Please keep track of how your rep feels.  We
need to remind them how they reacted towards the fur issue come election
time.

Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade
PO Box 822411
Dallas, TX 75382
[e-mail]
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 97 11:38:02 -0800
From: In Defense of Animals <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: FFF- San Francisco press release
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit



  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact:
     San Francisco, Union Square
     Dr. Elliot Katz [phone] ext.25
     San Jose, Valley Fair Shopping Center
     Joy Menninger [phone]

Fur Protesters to Take Over Union Square

San Francisco...Sounds of a fox in distress will fill Union Square from 11:30 a.m. -  2:30 p.m. on
Friday, November 28, also known as Fur-Free Friday.  Members of In Defense of Animals (IDA)
and other groups in the San Francisco area will converge on the shoppers in Union Square to
educate them on the horrors of the fur industry.  Protesters will march around union square
pushing a 5╣ x 5╣ cage holding an activist dressed in a fox costume while playing a tape of a fox in
distress.  Huge posters of animals caught in traps and skinned for their fur will be on exhibit.
Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy╣s are the major department stores in Union Square
that sell fur garments.

│Each year, millions of fur-bearing animals are trapped, poisoned, beaten, drowned, gassed,
strangled and electrocuted to produce pelts for fur products, said Dr. Elliot Katz, DVM, IDA
president.  │Consumers have a right to know how these animals are being killed just to make a
coat or trim on a hat or glove.▓

Activists holding signs and distributing anti-fur literature will also be at Valley Fair Shopping
Center on Stevens Creek Blvd. between Highway 880/17 and Winchester Blvd. from 11a.m. -
1p.m in San Jose.

The Friday following Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year, is used by the animal
protection movement to educate the public about the suffering of fur-bearing animals.

Nationwide Fur-Free Friday activities will include demonstrations, street theater, non-violent civil
disobedience, distribution of literature and a call to boycott those department stores that still sell
fur garments.

Activists will also be on hand to collect signatures for the ballot initiative to ban cruel and
indiscriminate traps and poisons in California.  This measure would eliminate the steel-jawed
leghold trap from California.

IDA is a national, non-profit organization, with more than 70,000 members, dedicated to ending
the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitat.

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 11:56:44 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Conrail Spills Oil, Shoots Beavers
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

ACTION ALERT

CONRAIL SPILLS OIL, SHOOTS BEAVERS

A Conrail train derailed on November 3 near West Danby, NY, spilling 5,000
gallons of oil into the Cayuga Lake inlet. The resulting massive fish kill
also threatens great blue herons and otters. Shortly after the spill, a
neighbor saw a Conrail employee shooting two beavers -- one was reportedly
shot five times and took more than fifteen minutes to die.

A Conrail spokesperson denied the shooting until Syracuse TV Channel 9 aired
the neighbor's video. Conrail blames beaverwork for causing the accident,
but since a wetland runs alongside the tracks, beaver activity should have
been expected. Please ask Conrail to do the right thing and install beaver
bafflers at all such track sites next to streams to prevent future
environmental devastation.

Write to:

James Newton, President
Conrail Direct
1 Plymouth Meeting
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462

Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 17:01:41 -0500 (EST)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: We need footage and leads
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Hi everyone:  we are working in pre-production on a show called "Humane
Patrol" which seeks to expose the good and the bad done to animals of all
kinds.  We need footage, tips and articles about events to investigate.
 Examples would be undercover footage of cock fights, footage witnessing an
animal rescue, artciles from your local newspapers about an exciting animal
event or rescue or a bad thing that was fixed by the police or animal reg.
 basically a lot fo tips just like the things we read here on AR.
 Fortunately in addition to our turtle rescue, we have access to a production
company and we are very excited at the ability to make this kind of a show
happen for the good of all animals.  If you'd like to mail things send me an
e-mail and I'll give you an address.  Thanks - this will be great for the
animals. Susan Tellem
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 1997 07:47:18 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) First university-associated Veg nutrition newsletter
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


Re-posted from Sci-Veg with permission from Virginia Messina.
The invitation applies to AR-News subscribers as well.
- Vadivu
---------------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to invite sci-veg subscribers to write for a free sample issue of a
brand new newsletter devoted to vegetarian nutrition issues. This is
*Vegetarian Nutrition and Health Letter* from Loma Linda University.  It is
the first university-associated newsletter devoted to vegetarian nutrition.

For those who are not familiar with Loma Linda University, it is a
Seventh-day Adventist school in southern CA.  This year, LLU is celebrating
the 75th anniversary of their dietetics program.  The program is unique
because it promotes knowledge about vegetarianism and so has been producing
information about vegetarian diets for 75 years.

The newsletter is produced by the LLU School of Public Health and it was
developed to be similar to the many popular newsletters on the market--Tufts
Nutrition Letter, Berkeley Wellness Letter, Harvard Health Letter,
etc--except that it is devoted exclusively to vegetarianism.  Every issue
will include a feature article written by a leading nutrition expert
(usually a researcher), short updates on the medical literature, questions
and answers from readers, practical information on menu planning, food prep,
resources and news.

The contents of the first issue include:

Feature article: "Diet and Cancer" written by Dr. John Weisberger of the
American Health Foundation
Feature sidebar: How vegetarian diets protect against cancer
Research news on tomatoes and lycopene; soy and cholesterol, fat and breast
cancer and more.
The Practical Vegetarian: Cooking with TVP
Ask the Experts: How to cook beans to reduce flatulence. How to increase
calcium intake in vegan children.
New vegetarian products: new non-dairy milks, soybutter
Announcements of upcoming vegetarian conferences
Internet resources for vegetarians

Editor in chief is Dr. Patricia Johnston of LLU;  I'm a senior editor and so
is my husband Mark Messina.  The newsletter will come out 10 times per year,
is 8 pages and costs $24.00 in the US, $34.00 USD in Canada and $44.00 USD
elsewhere.

Sci-veg subscribers can get a free sample issue by writing, emailing or
calling the subscription offices at:

Vegetarian Nutrition and Health Letter
Subscriber Services
1707 Nichol Hall
School of Public Health
Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, CA 92350

888-558-8703
email: [e-mail]

Please be certain to mention that you are a sci-veg subscriber.

Ginny


Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 22:32:06 -0500
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: FUR FREE FRIDAY - Jacksonville, FL
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

posted for Dawn <[e-mail]>
-----------------------------------------------
Who: YOU!

What: FUR FREE FRIDAY

Where: Jacksonville, Florida at the Avenues Mall in front of Gayfers
on the Public easement by the intersection of Phillips Hwy and
Southside Blvd.

When: Friday, Nov. 29th, Noon - 2:00pm (please arrive early!)

Why: Fur coats are worn by beautiful animals and ugly people.

For more information, please call [phone] or you can email Dawn
at: [e-mail]

===
Wearing fur is UnFURgivable!
               ~Dawn Flowers
[e-mail]






__________________________________________________________________
Sent by Yahoo! Mail. Get your free e-mail at http://mail.yahoo.com





Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 20:18:33
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Bill aims to outlaw pig tail-docking
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, 26th, November,1997

Bill aims to outlaw pig tail-docking
By David Brown, Agriculture Editor

A BILL to stop "the medieval torture" of docking piglets' tails will be
introduced in the Commons today.

Although routine tail-docking was banned in 1994, it is still permitted to
stop pigs biting each others' tails and is carried out on most of Britain's
13 million pigs. Animal welfare campaigners have accused farmers of
flouting the law and claim that the practice - in which about half of the
piglet's tail is lopped off with pliers or a hot docking iron - is "cruel and
painful". They blame tail-biting on overcrowded "factory farm" conditions.

The 10-minute rule Bill is being introduced by the Labour MP, Chris Mullin.
He said last night: "Of all the medieval tortures which factory farmers
inflict on their animals, tail-docking is one of the cruellest."

But Grenville Welsh, chief executive of the British Pig Association, said
that piglets operated on while suckling did not even stop feeding. "So at
worst, the pain must be fleeting," he said. "The agony suffered from
tail-biting is far worse and this affects free-range pigs as well."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

SAY NO TO APEC
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 20:15:36
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Shooting of stags 'could wipe out Quantock herd'
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, 26th, November,1997

Shooting of stags 'could wipe out Quantock herd'
By Sean O'Neill

AN unofficial cull of stags in the wake of a ban on hunting could threaten
the future of the Quantock Hills deer herd, it was claimed yesterday.

Up to 80 stags have been shot in so-called "spite killings", organised by
supporters of hunting.

One group photographed a pile of 50 stags' heads as a protest in the week
when Parliament will debate a private member's Bill to ban hunting.

Official hunt organisations have distanced themselves from the cull, which
may have accounted for half the stags in the herd, but said they feared it
was an inevitable consequence of banning hunting.

Farmers who have been shooting the animals said that they would no longer
feed deer nor would they tolerate crop damage caused by the herd. Feelings
have been running high in the Quantocks since the National Trust banned
deer hunting on 1,300 acres in April. Effective
hunting ceased during the summer when licences to hunt on 2,300 acres of
Forestry Commission land were suspended.

The Quantock Stag Hounds still meet but if the commission decides to impose
a complete ban the hunt will have to disband. The recent killings have been
fuelled by farmers' anger at the hunting ban, a need to prevent crop damage
and the opportunity to make money by selling carcasses and antlers.

Some supporters of hunting are concerned that the photograph of the stags'
heads will damage rather than promote their cause. Opponents of the hunt
described it as crude propaganda and questioned its authenticity. One
Quantocks landowner who does not allow hunting on his land said: "It is a
disgraceful picture, rigged for propaganda purposes. The deer are not being
decimated like that."

But one informed source said there was growing evidence that heavy culling
had been taking place and that the stag population had been suddenly and
significantly reduced.

"The farmers have fed the deer in the past, and the pro-hunting farmers fed
them because they could then be hunted," he said.  "But if the hunt is gone
the farmers will feed fewer deer and they will not tolerate deer wandering
on to their land. They can turn a cost into an asset by shooting the deer
and selling the carcass for meat.

"There are powerful emotions at work. People have been talking of spite
killings and revenge killings, of punishing the victors.

"It is unpleasant but it is not illegal. Using the right weapon at the
right time of year the landowner has a right to kill every single deer on
their land."

Robert Rowe, who farms 900 acres in the Quantocks, said he had employed a
marksman to kill deer on his land but would not disclose how many had been
shot. He said the photograph had been taken locally and estimated that 80
stags had been killed on the hills since September.

"Common sense tells you that this was going to happen, it is a direct
result of the ban on hunting," said Mr Rowe.

"The Trust imposed a ban but had given no thought to what would happen
next. They were not thinking of the welfare of the deer but about their
members and their annual subscriptions. There was no consultation with the
farmers and that has angered us more than anything. They thought that
banning hunting would mean less cruelty, but I fear there will
be far, far more."

Paddy Groves, joint master of the Quantock Stag Hounds, said he was
appalled by the scale of the shootings.

"It is terrible to say, 'I told you so', but this is what I most feared and
dreaded happening," he said.

Peter Martin, of the Somerset Wildlife Trust, appealed for the cull to be
controlled.

"In strict conservation terms our concern is that culling should not reach
the point of threatened extinction of the herd," he said. "I deplore any
dramatic cull of this kind."

A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said the reports of a
widespread cull were misleading. He added: "It is rubbish to say that since
the National Trust banned hunting more stags are being shot. It is just not
the case."

 A live debate, featuring a telephone poll of up to three million people,
will be televised on ITV ahead of Friday's House of Commons debate on the
Bill to ban hunting.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

SAY NO TO APEC
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 20:09:18
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Ten Cabinet members will miss hunt vote
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, 26th, November,1997

Ten Cabinet members will miss hunt vote
By Joy Copley, Political Staff

TONY Blair and most senior members of the Cabinet will be absent from the
Commons during the controversial vote on fox-hunting on Friday.

The Prime Minister will be on a long-standing foreign engagement as will
John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, who will be in Australia, and
Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, who will be visiting Poland.

The most senior member of the Cabinet planning to vote for the Wild Mammals
(Hunting with Dogs) Bill to ban hunting of foxes, deer, hare and mink, will
be Gordon Brown, the Chancellor. A Daily Telegraph investigation shows that
10 members of the Cabinet will be out of town on what advisers were at
pains to stress were "pre-arranged" appointments. But a further nine have
pledged to turn up and vote in favour of the Second Reading of the Bill
being piloted by Michael Foster, the Labour MP for Worcester.

All members of the whips' office are said to be voting for the Bill,
including Nick Brown, the Chief Whip. But the business managers are still
adamant that the Bill must not be allowed to proceed to the Lords because
opposition from Tory peers would cause serious delays to key parts of
flagship legislation on crime, education and devolution.

Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, whose department would be in charge of any
ban on fox-hunting, will not vote and will instead visit the Home Office
immigration office in Croydon. Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary, will be
addressing a conference in Plymouth.

Donald Dewar, the Scottish Secretary, has long-standing engagements in
Dundee and an evening awards ceremony in Glasgow and Jack Cunningham, the
Agriculture Minister, will be opening the new Food and Science building at
the University of Nottingham.

Mr Cunningham has often been named as one of the three members of the
Cabinet who are against legislation to ban foxhunting in principle, along
with Mr Cook and Mr Straw. But, in a surprise move, the Agriculture
Minister's adviser said Mr Cunningham wanted to stress that had he been in
London he would have voted for the Bill. Clare Short, the International
Development Secretary, will be in Brussels representing Britain at the EU
Development Council, but says she would have backed the Bill. David
Blunkett, the Education Secretary, will be attending official and
constituency engagements in Sheffield and Mo Mowlam, Northern Ireland
Secretary, is not expected to vote as she will be in Northern Ireland.

Those who pledged to be in London to vote for the Bill are Gordon Brown;
Alistair Darling, Chief Secretary to the Treasury; David Clark, Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster; Chris Smith, Heritage Secretary; George
Robertson, Defence Secretary; Margaret Beckett, Trade and Industry
President; Ron Davies, Welsh Secretary; Ann Taylor, Leader of the House,
and Gavin Strang, Transport Secretary.

A Labour opponent of fox-hunting will ride with hounds today to gain
first-hand experience of the sport he wants to ban, writes Sean O'Neill.

Dan Norris, MP for Wansdyke, Somerset, who will vote in favour of the Bill
on Friday, will join the Mendip Farmers' Hunt this morning. Mr Norris said
although he was against hunting he felt obliged to hear the views of its
supporters. He said he would be riding as a guest rather than participating
in the hunt. "I have been invited repeatedly to go on the hunt and they
have persuaded me it would be a good idea to do so," he said.

"I have made a commitment to represent the views of my constituents on this
issue. I have had 700 letters since the election and about 80 per cent
support a ban. But it is right that I should make an informed decision." Mr
Norris, a novice rider, added: "I will not be attempting any jumps. But I
want to do my best to get as accurate a picture as I can and getting on
horseback is the way to do that." He has also attended a drag hunt which he
found "very interesting with a real sense of occasion".

Kenneth Osborne, joint master of the Mendip Farmers' Hunt, which has been
hunting since 1760, said: "We just wanted him to come and see for himself
what hunting is really about. At the moment he is completely ignorant of
the procedures, as are so many other people."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

SAY NO TO APEC
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 20:22:17
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [CA] Clinton orders veggie meal
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

BURNABY, BC - President Clinton, in Vancouver for the APEC economic forum,
found himself with some time on his hands last night. Without the presence
of wife Hillary, who was unavaible to attend the conference, and turning
down the invitation of a local strip joint to come sample their
entertainment, Clinton called up a few friends from Seattle and went to a
local restaurant for dinner.

Andy Crimp, co-owner of The Raintree restaurant in Vancouver, said they
only received one hours notice of the visit.

Chefs were asked to prepare what was described as "a low fat, non-dairy
vegetarian" meal for Clinton and his party of 20.

In a round up of trivia surrounding APEC, it was also noted that Clinton
refused to use the feather pillows at his hotel - which required a quick
shoppping trip to a local department store to by foam ones.

On the other hand, a Clinton aide told a local reporter that although the
president gets a bad press on his diet, he does eat food from the infamous
golden arches and, along with the other 17 APEC leaders, appeared at the
final public session wearing a brown leather jacket - supposedly a
"traditional" Canadian outfit.

David Knowles
AVN


Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 23:49:52 -0500
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) FDA clears improved pig heart valve for humans
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from Mercury Center http://www.sjmercury.com/news/breaking/
------------------------------------
Posted at 3:53 p.m. PST Tuesday, November 25, 1997

FDA clears improved pig heart valve for humans

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Reuters) - A new kind of
artificial heart valve made from pig tissue was
approved for U.S. marketing Tuesday by the Food and
Drug Administration.

The Toronto SPV valve is the first pig-tissue valve
to hit the market that is stentless, or lacking a
plastic or metal cuff around the opening attaching
it to the heart muscle.

That lets blood flow through it more efficiently
and may make it more durable, manufacturer St. Jude
Medical Inc. of St. Paul, Minn., said in a
statement. The Toronto SPV is St. Jude's first
tissue valve available on the U.S. market, which is
estimated to be worth nearly $150 million, the
medical devices maker said.

St. Jude is the world's largest maker of artificial
heart valves, which are implanted in the human
heart when its natural valves wear out.

Artificial valves that are mechanical can be made
of long-lasting metal or carbon. Tissue valves are
fashioned from the heart valves of pigs, whose
hearts are anatomically similar to those of humans.

Tissue valves work more efficiently than mechanical
valves, but they tend to calcify, or harden,
requiring more frequent replacement and limiting
their usefulness in younger patients. St. Jude has
been among the leaders in improving the durability
and efficiency of tissue valves, analysts said.

``Stentless valves do not have frames or sewing
cuffs, which provides for a larger orifice area for
better blood flow,'' the company said, adding that
the stentless valve might also last longer because
it works more like a real valve and puts less
stress on itself.

First implanted in Canada and Europe in 1991, the
Toronto SPV was cleared for European marketing in
1995 and is the leading stentless porcine valve in
those markets, the company said.



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