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AR-NEWS Digest 449
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) URGENT: Young activist's dog dying. Expensive surgery can save her.
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
2) Young activist's dog dying
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
3) WWF lists zones at-risk from global warming
by Vegetarian Resource Center
4) (ZA) Navy to wage war on baboon raiders
by Vegetarian Resource Center
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 1997 02:26:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: URGENT: Young activist's dog dying. Expensive surgery can save her.
Message-ID: <970628022605_375112356@emout05.mail.aol.com>
YOUNG "SAVE THE ANIMALS CLUB" FOUNDER FIGHTS TO SAVE HER OWN
While there is still the least shred of hope, Jessica Victoria, 13,
will keep fighting to save the life of her beloved five-year-old
Brittany Spaniel, Mia Angel ("my angel").
"Mia" for short, the dog needs an expensive operation to correct a
blood flow problem to her liver, but the Victoria family simply
cannot afford the steep tab. Julie Victoria, a single mother who
came to the United States from Guatemala 16 years ago, has only
part-time employment helping Spanish-speaking students with their
homework. The Victoria's savings have already been consumed by vet
bills, three types of medication and special food for Mia.
"She's such a pure angel," says Jessica, who has had Mia since her
mother purchased the six-week-old puppy. "I wanted to adopt a dog
from the pound, but at the time my mother wasn't passionate about
animals. Mia changed her mind."
An eighth grader and "A" student before her dog fell ill, Jessica
is an outspoken defender of animals--debating her teachers at Stout
Middle School in Dearborn, Michigan, and challenging her principal
to allow the hanging of animal rights posters. So far no luck on
that score.
Last December, Jessica started "Animal Lovers 4Ever," an official
kids club on America Online which quickly grew to 500 members. By
March the youngsters had raised nearly $500 to send to an animal or
environmental organization. Ironically, the fund-raising for her
own dog is not going so well. To date she is still $850 short of the mark.
Ill for several months, Mia has deteriorated seriously in the last
few weeks. Described by Jessica as a bag of bones, the dog is
now having seizures and has collapsed numerous times. Jessica
stopped going to school towards the end of her semester in order to
"spend every last minute with Mia." Her grades slid while she
devoted full time to a herculean effort to save her dog--emailing,
phoning and faxing well over 100 veterinarians, notifying the
media, and posting hundreds of appeals over the Internet.
On June 16, Jessica posted an email message deeply moving for its
desperation and dignity:
"...Unless she has a liver surgery my beloved Mia will die within
four weeks. ...she's now strong enough for surgery! Before she
didn't even have a chance, but the miracle of your wonderful
prayers has helped so much! ...the doctors strongly believe Mia has
a shunt in her liver (lack of blood supply). What they need to do
is open her stomach, and pump blood to her liver. This could give
Mia an extension of life for about four to five years. It makes me
cry to see that she has another chance, but it has to slip. We have
spent every last penny we had in her treatment and medical bills.
So, I ask you all, you have done so much good already, can you help
just a little more? ...She has a chance! I know that you may be
stunned that I'm begging you to help Mia live, a stranger's beloved
pet. It's hard for me to ask strangers, yet you have been such
warm friends to us, praying for Mia. ...If you could find it from
the bottom of your kind hearts...please help me to try to save her
precious life by sending your quarters, dimes, nickels or pennies."
A veterinary clinic in Columbus, Ohio has agreed to treat Jessica's
dog for $1,000, but will not operate until the fee is collected.
Checks can be sent to the attention of Susan at Medvet, 5747
Cleveland Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43231, 1-800-891-9010, Fax: 614-
891-2081. All funds will be returned if the surgery is not
performed.
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 1997 02:28:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Young activist's dog dying
Message-ID: <970628022810_579665701@emout01.mail.aol.com>
Whoops! Forgot to assert my copyright. Sorry...have to do that because this
piece will appear in two newspapers. I'm jumping the gun by posting it here,
since the matter is so urgent.
Lynn Manheim
Letters for Animals
P.O. Box 7-AO
La Plume, PA 18440
717-945-5312
Fax: -3471
Letters for Animals - how
it works
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 1997 11:20:45 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: WWF lists zones at-risk from global warming
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970628112045.013e2550@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Subject: WWF lists zones at-risk from global warming
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 11:01:13 PDT
From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
Newsgroups: biz.clarinet.web.sample, biz.clarinet
ClariNet story UN-EARTH-WWF from AFP
WWF lists zones at-risk from global warming
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse / Tue, 24 Jun 1997 11:01:13 PDT
GENEVA, June 24 (AFP) - The world's polar caps, mountains and certain animal
species are all under threat from global warming, warned an environmental
study
released here Tuesday, in time for the second day of a UN Earth summit.
The study, by the Swis-based Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), said
environmental
damage by gas emissions, especially vehicle carbon dioxide fumes, had
melted ice in
the European alps, the Himilayas and in Alaska.
But the hardest-hit had been the north and south poles, it said. Whale
food-chains were
in danger in the Antarctic, and the Arctic had shrunk by five percent,
posing a danger to
polar bears and seals, WWF said.
Elsewhere, global warming was having a distrous effect on environments
sustaining
gizzly bear, panda and tiger populations, the organisation added.
In Europe, the zones most at-risk listed by the report were: Switzerland's
national park;
Majella park in Italy; the Hohe Tauern and Nockberge reserves in Austria;
and the Ben
Lawers reserve in Scotland.
At the opening of the Earth Summit II at UN headquarters in New York,
countries were
reviewing progress made since the 1992 Rio environment conference.
A general pessimism has marked the summit with the United States -- the
world's
biggest emitter of carbon dioxide -- refusing to set goals to reduce its
contribution to
global warming.
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 1997 11:25:56 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: (ZA) Navy to wage war on baboon raiders
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970628112556.0106ba44@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
From: "Arthur"
Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 00:37:04 +0200
Subject: Navy to wage war on baboon raiders
Navy to wage war on baboon raiders
19/6/97
Doors and windows locked - and children kept off streets
JERMAINE CRAIG - Staff Reporter
The navy is to mount "baboon patrols" to drive away the troublesome troop
that has been terrorising families in the naval village of Da Gama Park
near Simon's Town.
The patrols will be armed with thunderflashes - devices used in military
training - and will work with nature conservation and South Peninsula
municipal officials.
Meanwhile, residents of Da Gama Park, in a mountain valley above
Simon's Town, are threatening to shoot the baboons.
Parents in the village of about 400 homes are keeping their children
off the streets and locking doors and windows.
A navy spokeswoman described the situation as "critical", when she
announced today the deployment of the patrols.
"In light of the baboons' recent aggressive behaviour, it is intended to
take more action than merely depriving them of food , to ensure the safety
of people and property," said Captain Susan McCarthy.
She said extreme measures, like killing the baboons, would be taken "only
in a life-threatening situation".
The problem has been developing for months, and on Tuesday about 15 baboons
raided the home of Clifford and Amanda Powell, ransacking it and causing
damage estimated at R20 000.
The Powells' belongings were strewn about, and there were baboon droppings
on tables and carpets.
Mrs Powell found the baboons on the rampage when she arrived home for
lunch, and immediately ran into the house among the animals and rescued her
dog, Candy.
"They were all over the place. I was hysterical and began screaming. Only
now, when I look back, do I think how stupid I was, but I'm a dog lover. I
just went right in the middle of them and got the dog out," she said.
She said all the windows were closed when the family left in the morning,
but two of them had been forced open.
The baboons had also broken into the Powells' neighbours and ransacked
their home.
The Logistics Officer for the Simon's Town Naval Base, Captain Arend Gert
van Schalkwyk, described the situation at Da Gama Park as "critical" and
said tempers were running high.
"The baboons are getting more and more aggressive. Parents can't even have
their kids playing outside anymore," said Captain Van Schalkwyk.
Residents were on the verge of taking the law into their own hands by
shooting the baboons, he added. "They feel humans are more important than
animals."
Nature conservationists had suggested removing the baboons' sources of food
to solve the problem, but this had proved unsuccessful.
A Cape Argus team that visited Da Gama Park yesterday saw about 40 baboons
that were seemingly oblivious of humans.
One resident said: "We have endless problems with these baboons, they wreck
everything.
"They are generally very docile animals, but they can turn very dangerous,
very quickly. It feels like we're living in a jungle. Even if you were a
baboon lover you wouldn't remain one for very long if you lived here."
Cape Nature Conservation assistant director Zane Erasmus said the
department could never condone shooting them.
All Material - copyright Independent Newspapers 1997.
arthur hunt
vervet monkey primatologist
tzaneen
northern province
south africa
e-mail vervets@pixie.co.za
http://www.enviro.co.za
arthur hunt
vervet monkey primatologist
tzaneen
northern province
south africa
e-mail vervets@pixie.co.za
http://www.enviro.co.za
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