AR-NEWS Digest 364

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) (AU) Beef ban hasty
     by "H. Morris" 
  2) (US) FWS: Too Many Snow Geese?
     by PrairieD@aol.com
  3) No Compromise Web Page!!
     by GLYNN@envirolink.org
  4) Re: (US) Are ANY Animal Tests "Required by Law"?
     by AAVSONLINE@aol.com
  5) (US) Noah's Ark Launched on Internet 
     by allen schubert 
  6) FWD: Turning life forms into corporate property
     by Andrew Gach 
  7) MI (USA) Sanilac County Ends Pound Release
     by WalshMM@aol.com
  8) (TW) emergent appeal   
     by Ming-Lee Yeh 
  9) New Balance and  the Circus (US)
     by Karin Zupko 
 10) Denver events for Tony , Stacie,Jeff
     by Jen Kolar 
 11) Another Coulston Chimp Dead
     by Suzanne Roy 
 12) [UK] Runway protest 'damages habitat'
     by David J Knowles 
 13) [UK] Drought threatens to kill wildlife
     by David J Knowles 
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 1997 00:02:23 -0500
>From: "H. Morris" 
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org" 
Subject: (AU) Beef ban hasty
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970403000213.0068bf88@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

.c The Associated Press

      SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Indonesia was too hasty in banning beef
and cattle imports from Australia due to anthrax because any
outbreaks are already under control, a state agriculture official
said today.
      Indonesia halted imports from New South Wales and Victoria on
March 10, citing anthrax disease in cattle in both states.
      Asian food buyers are particularly sensitive about beef after
Britain's problems with mad cow disease.
      But the head of the New South Wales' animal industries division,
Helen Scott-Orr, said her state should not be included in the ban
as reports of anthrax were normal and decreasing.
      ``In fact, our incidence this year has been on the lower side''
of normal, she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio - outbreaks
on six isolated farms.
      She said Indonesia appeared to be reacting to the high incidence
of anthrax in Victoria.
      About 150 cattle died in Victoria this year before anthrax was
contained through quarantines and inoculation. More than 80
Victoria farms lost cattle to the disease and more than 77,300 head
of cattle were vaccinated.
      Anthrax is a highly infectious cattle disease that leads to
ulcerating nodules, lesions in the lungs and blood poisoning. It
can also be transmitted to humans handling the infected products.
      The Sydney Morning Herald reported today that Australia's $2.7
billion beef and livestock export industries are worried about
losing access to lucrative Asian markets after an apparent
breakdown between government agencies in reporting the anthrax
infections in New South Wales.
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 03:12:09 -0500 (EST)
>From: PrairieD@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) FWS: Too Many Snow Geese?
Message-ID: <970403031208_921911642@emout17.mail.aol.com>

 
---------------------
Forwarded message:
 >From:mitch_snow@mail.fws.gov (Mitch Snow)
 Sender:owner-fws-news@dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov
 Reply-to:fws-news@dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov
  To:fws-news@dataadmin.irm.r9.fws.gov
Date: 97-04-02 19:47:43 EST

This message is from the fws-news listserver.  Please DO NOT 
REPLY (it just confuses the computers).  

Subscribers can't reply or send their own messages to the 
fws-news listserver. This listserver is designed mainly as a 
"one way street" for the rapid dissemination of information 
concerning the Service and its activities, rather than for 
gathering feedback.  To contact us, see the explanatory note 
at bottom of the message. 
============================================================
April 1, 1997                          Hugh Vickery  202-208-5634

        REPORT WARNS THAT SNOW GOOSE POPULATION EXPLOSION
                   THREATENS ARCTIC ECOSYSTEMS

In the mid-1980s, wildlife biologists and conservationists
struggled to reverse a sharp decline in duck populations by
restoring wetlands in key nesting areas.  The effort was
successful.  Boosted by 3 years of plentiful rainfall and
millions of acres of restored wetlands, this fall's duck
migration was estimated to be the largest on record.

A decade later, biologists are facing a completely different
challenge.  Instead of too few ducks, the problem today is too
many snow geese--so many, in fact, that they are causing
ecological havoc on their arctic breeding grounds.

A recently published report by the Arctic Goose Habitat Working
Group, comprised of U.S. and Canadian biologists, found that even
liberalized hunting seasons for snow geese have failed to stop
the population explosion and, by the most conservative estimates,
the number of birds is rising at 5 percent a year.

The long-term impact of the population explosion is still
uncertain, the report said, but the possibility exists that the
overabundance could cause a decline in other species that nest in
the same arctic region.  These include semipalmated sandpipers,
red-necked phalaropes, yellow rails, American wigeons, northern
shovelers, and a variety of passerines.

"The geese are literally consuming their own habitat," said Paul
Schmidt, chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Migratory
Bird Management Office and co-chair of the Arctic Goose Joint
Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.  "They
break open the turf and uproot plants, especially grasses and
sedges, leading to erosion and increased soil salinity.  In turn,
fewer plants grow and you have a vicious cycle with habitat
conditions growing worse each year.  The end result is a
degradation of the fragile arctic ecosystem.  It is an ecosystem
in peril."

The Working Group's report cited changes in agricultural
practices that have increased food supplies and reduced the
winter mortality rate among snow geese.  In addition, the growing
availability of Federal and state refuges has expanded the
suitable habitat for the birds and dispersed geese over wide
areas, increasing survival rates. 

Action needs to be taken soon, Schmidt said.  "The damage to the
ecosystem is not only severe but it also has the potential to be
long-lasting," he said.  "Experiments show it takes at least 15
years for grasses to begin to come back on damaged, hypersaline
soil." 

While hunting is certainly part of a solution, the report said
that more recreational hunting as governed by current regulations
and treaty obligations is unlikely to solve the problem by
itself. 

Possible solutions cited in the report include loosening
regulations on baiting, electronic calls, and concealment during
spring "snow goose only" seasons; expanding late season hunting
before March 10; and negotiating a revision to the Migratory Bird
Convention with Canada to allow appropriate hunting of migratory
birds between March 10 and September 1.

"These are uncommon solutions, but these are uncommon times and
we can't sit by and ignore this problem," Schmidt said.  "We
expect to discuss the problem during the coming year and develop
an effective strategy in 1998."

                              -FWS-



============================================================ 
News releases are also available on the World Wide Web at 
http://www.fws.gov/~r9extaff/pubaff.html  They can be reviewed in
chronological order or searched by keyword.

Questions concerning a particular news release or item of 
information should be directed to the person listed as the 
contact. General comments or observations concerning the 
content of the information should be directed to Craig 
Rieben (craig_rieben@mail.fws.gov) in the Office of Public 
Affairs.

============================================================
To unsubscribe from the fws-news listserver, send e-mail to 
majordomo@www.fws.gov with "unsubscribe fws-news" (and omit 
the "quotes") in the **body** of the message. You should not 
include anything on the Subject: line.  

For additional information about listserver commands, send a 
message to majordomo@www.fws.gov with "info fws-news" (and 
no "quotes") in the body of the message. 



Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 05:10:37 -0800
>From: GLYNN@envirolink.org
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: No Compromise Web Page!!
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


We are pleased to announce the launching of the No Compromise Web Page
(finally!).
After overcoming many obstacles and delays, we finally got it up!  Now you
can access some of the best articles pertaining to the grassroots animal
liberation movement on the World Wide Web at
http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/nocompromise/nc.html.

There's a special section ("Latest from the Frontlines") devoted to
currently jailed activists like Tony Wong, Stacy Schierholz and Jeff
Watkins and what you can do to help get them released so please check often
for updates.

Its obviously brand new and still needs some work but the info is there.
Check it out and feel free to e-mail us (nocomp@waste.org) with any
comments, ideas, etc.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

         FREE ALL ANIMAL LIBERATION PRISONERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 09:00:26 -0500 (EST)
>From: AAVSONLINE@aol.com
To: marcia@eci.com, ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: (US) Are ANY Animal Tests "Required by Law"?
Message-ID: <970403090025_513103917@emout07.mail.aol.com>

I tried to send this a few days ago, but I never saw it show up on the news.
 I am posting it again, as I feel the information may be of use to many
folks.

>>


In a message dated 3/29/97 9:12:39 AM, marcia@eci.com (marcia) wrote:

<>

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates cosmetics as well as
pharmaceuticals.  FDA regulation *do* specifically require animal tests for
pharmaceutical products before human clinical trials can be conducted (and
thus long before open marketing)  It would not do the animal rights movement
well to imply that animal tests are not required for pharmaceuticals, because
they unambiguously are.

As has been posted, the FDA regs on cosmetics do not specifically require
animal tests.  In point of fact, the FDA regs do not specifically require ANY
safety testing.  As has been noted, they require the posting of a conspicuous
note to that effect if they have not been tested.  However, in order to meet
FDA approval (and thus not be required to print that note on the box) animal
tests are required in many cases, unfortunately.  More on this later..

The Consumer Product Safdety Commision (CPSC), which regulates household
products does not specifically require animal tests.  To quote the CPSC, "It
is important to remember that neither the FHSA (Federal Hazardous Substances
Act) nor the Commisions regulations require any firm to perform animal
tests", and "The Commision and manufacturers of products subject to the FHSA
should wherever possible utilize existing alternatives to conducting animal
testing"  Unlike the FDA regs on cosmetics, the regs do require that the
substances under their control are tested by one means or another, and this
may require animal tests depending on the interpretation of the regulators as
to whether or not the non-animal methods offer enough data.  More on this
later...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pesticides.  I do not
believe the current regulations specifically require animal tests, but in
actual point of fact, pesticides are routinely tested on animals and would
not meet EPA approval without submission of animal data.  Previous
correspondance with the EPA indicated that acute toxicity testing including
Draize testing was deemed "necessarry information in evaluating the safety of
substances under our jurisdiction"  Last year, the EPA announced very
dramatic changes in their evaluation of pesticides based on "Rodent
Bioassays", acknowledging that data from cell cultures, and extrapolation
from known effects of similar chemicals in humans should recieve more weight
in evaluating the dangers of pesticides, specifically carcinogenicity.  By no
means does this mean that the EPA is not going to continue to use animal
tests, however.

The Delaney Clause, the language of which specifically stated that pesticide
residues could not remain on foods unless rodent tests showed no
carcinogenicity, was struck down last year.  Unfortunately, the practical
effect of this will probably not reduce the amount of animal tests which are
actually done, and may result in more carcinogenic pesticides on food.

Regarding products regulated by these agencies which are designed for export,
as opposed for distribution within the U.S., animal tests are often
specifically required, unfortunately.  I cannot cite any specific passages,
but certain international trade agreements specifically require animal tests
on some substances which are not specifically required in the U.S.

A very important note:  Although in many cases the laws and regulations do
not *specifically require animal tests*, the interpretation and enforcement
of the laws by the agencies may in fact require tests on animals,
unfortunately.  This is why it is so important for Federal regulatory
agencies to validate non-animal methods.  In many cases the regs require that
substances be tested by the "best available means"  Unfortunately, this
usually means animal tests, not because they are the best methods, but
because they are the only ones which are considered "validated"

Another important point: no laws, regulations, or interpretations thereof
require companies to use hitherto unseen chemical substances in their
products as opposed to time tested natural ingredients.  The use of cheap and
potentially hazardous chemicals instead of substances whose safety is already
well established is purely a matter of profit, not law.  This excuse falls
flat purely on this basis.

Andy Breslin
AAVS


Date: Fri, 04 Apr 1997 12:43:04 -0500
>From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Noah's Ark Launched on Internet 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970404124247.006cfc1c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
---------------------------
 04/03/1997 12:17 EST 

 Noah's Ark Launched on Internet 

 By DAVID BRISCOE 
 Associated Press Writer 

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Computers may not save the world, but World Wildlife
Fund is
 hoping they can provide a ``second Noah's Ark'' to help save thousands of
animal
 and plant species from extinction. 

 An Internet project launched today gives computer users around the world
access to
 information on 232 fragile ecosystems and constantly changing tally sheets on
 pollution, the money spent in illegal trade of wildlife and acreage of
lost forests. 

 ``The decisions made today are going to have far-reaching effects on what
species
 and habitats will reach the millennium beyond,'' said Eric Dinerstein, the
fund's chief
 scientist. 

 He said the new analysis of the earth's ecosystems differs from previous
efforts to
 focus on environmental ``hot spots'' because it includes a wide array of
dry, tropical
 and marine regions, not just those with a large variety of species. 

 The regions include about 80 percent of known species, Dinerstein told a news
 conference marking the last 1,000 days of the century. 

 The fund is enlisting the help of everyone from world leaders to freelance
 conservationists to school children in the three-year campaign. The
presidents of
 Mongolia and Georgia and Vice President Al Gore have already signed on to the
 Living Planet Campaign. 

 ``Not only are we losing species at an extraordinary rate, but we're
losing whole
 ecosystem types,'' fund President Kathryn Fuller said in an interview.
``But we still
 have time to save some of everything everywhere.'' 

 Scientists say half of all mammal species and thousands of other land
animals,
 water creatures and plants face possible extinction over the next century. 

 In a session of less than a minute at the new Web site, rapidly changing
meters tally
 up thousands of dollars spent in the illegal wildlife trade, more than 100
acres of
 U.S. forest lost and tens of thousands of tons of carbon emitted into the
atmosphere.

 ``You can look at this, get depressed and then click on the action button
and do
 something about it,'' said David Housely, who described himself as the fund's
 ``Webmeister.'' Options might include writing a member of Congress or buying
 products that are environmentally safe. 

 A dramatic element of the wildlife group's new Web site is a digital
clock, counting
 down in thousandths of a second to the turn of the century. 

 The site also provides computer software to make the clock an ever-present
element
 on computer screens around the world. 

 A map shows the 200 selected regions where wildlife must be protected.
Each is
 important to ``sustaining the web of life,'' the fund said. 

 ``World Wildlife Fund has exercised its impressive research capability to
create the
 most comprehensive strategy to date for the conservation of the natural
world,'' said
 Harvard University scientist E. O. Wilson, one of several experts enlisted
in support
 of the project. 

 Gore, in a statement for the launch, said: ``One of our generation's most
pressing
 challenges is to conserve the rich diversity of life on Earth.'' 

 ------ 

 The Web site for World Wildlife Fund's Living Planet Project, to be
activated shortly
 after 10 a.m. EST today, is www.worldwildlife.org/action on the Internet. 
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 1997 09:47:07 -0800
>From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: FWD: Turning life forms into corporate property
Message-ID: <3343ED1B.2EE1@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

CLONING SHEEP: CONVERTING LIFE FORMS INTO CORPORATE PROPERTY

By Jonathan King

[Editor's note: The writer is an internationally known professor
of molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has long been concerned with developing science and technology
for human liberation rather than for profit.]

The same articles reporting the production of Dolly the sheep
outside of normal sexual reproduction also reported that a small
British pharmaceutical firm had already applied for patents on the
cloning process and the animals created through it. The growing
contradiction between technological advances and private
exploitation is beginning to be recognizable.

Though the cloning of mammals and the possibility of cloning
humans has grabbed the headlines, the underlying motion is the
conversion of living creatures into corporate property. Since the
medieval period, individuals and corporations have owned herds of
cattle, flocks of poultry and fields of wheat. But they have never
owned the species cow, or chicken, or wheat, never been able to
prevent others from raising cows, poultry or wheat.

The mechanism of this transformation has been the extension of the
patent laws to cover living creatures, their components and their
genes or blueprints. Such patents provide a 20-year practical
monopoly, since patents enable one to prevent other individuals,
corporations or groups from utilizing the subject of the patent.

The U.S. patent laws, written by Thomas Jefferson, historically
excluded living creatures. With the development of genetic
engineering technology, a product of 40 years of public investment
in basic biomedical research, it became possible to modify the
genes -- the blueprints -- that control the cells of all
organisms. In the early 1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the
Chakrabarty case that genetically modified microorganisms could be
patented. This opened up the floodgates, and since then thousands
of patents on genes, cells, and even entire organisms have been
granted by the patent office.

The transformation of the organisms that have evolved over
millions of years into corporate property represents a qualitative
leap in the concept and character of corporate private property.
It represents a potential theft equivalent to having our  water
and atmosphere become private property, for sale to the highest
bidder.

The development of biomedical technology continues to open up
possibilities for the alleviation of disease, the repair of
damaged limbs and tissues, the development of new crop plants, and
the remediation of hundreds of years  of overexploiting the
environment. But these potentials cannot be realized, or are being
severely distorted, as biomedical innovation is privatized.

Consider the implications for our food supply. The W. R. Grace Co.
holds patents on genetically modified cotton and soybeans. The
patents mean that they control the use and growth of these plant
varieties. A farmer purchasing the plants cannot take the seeds
and plant them again, or give them to a neighbor. At present, this
does not seem serious, since there are a large number of varieties
of soybeans which are not patented.

But the long-term strategy of the industry involves the
replacement of the natural strains by the patented, genetically
engineered strains. This is easy if, for example, the patented
strains are resistant to some pest or pesticide. Either the fear
of these threats or their actuality leads to the widespread
replacement of the natural strains by the engineered strains. The
long-term result is the development of corporate control not just
of the distribution of food, but of primary production. These are
the conditions needed to sharply increase the price of food,
creating superprofits for the corporations and hunger for
millions.

A related process drives the pharmaceutical industry. Insulin for
diabetics has been produced for decades by cutting the pancreas
out of the carcasses of cattle and hogs, dicing them up, and
extracting the insulin. With the advent of genetic engineering,
the gene for insulin was spliced into bacteria. Now a single Eli
Lilly factory in Indianapolis produces enough human insulin to
provide for all diabetics needing it in the United States.

The bacteria synthesizing the insulin are grown in giant tanks,
like those used to make beer. It is produced at very low cost, but
sold at high prices. This ability to extract superprofits comes
from the extension of the patent system to organisms and their
components. The patents enable Lilly to prevent other
institutions, including non-profits, from producing insulin. If
the production was publicly owned, insulin would be available at a
far lower cost.

Even more important, the profit extracted from the sale of insulin
depends upon millions of people getting sick from diabetes. As
long as the profit system drives therapy, powerful forces are at
work to keep modern biomedical science from discovering or
revealing the true causes of the disease, which would allow us to
prevent diabetes.

The discovery that mutations in the two recently identified
"breast cancer" genes increase susceptibility to cancer might have
led to a sharply increased effort to identify the carcinogens in
the human ecosystem that are causing these mutations. But the
monopoly profits available through the extension of the patent
systems to genes depends on selling people the patented product.
Myriad Pharmaceutical, which owns the patents on the "breast
cancer" genes,  is marketing a screening test for $2,400 that
provides a limited amount of information of limited use to women
as to whether some damage has already accumulated in these genes.

The generation of an adult sheep from one cell of another adult
opens up the specter of human cloning: producing individuals not
from the union of the egg and sperm, but from transplanting an
adult cell into an egg lacking the egg's original instructions. If
the manipulated egg grew into a full human, it would be
genetically identical to the donor of the cell. Such cloning
transforms humans into commodities, and devalues the relationship
of humans to each other and their culture.

To be human is not the simple summation of genetic, biochemical or
physiological processes. Consciousness and knowledge do not exist
in our genes; they emerge out of the interaction between
individuals and human society. Humanity has left behind the stage
in social development -- chattel slavery -- in which humans were
treated as commodities.

The corporate pressure to patent life forms needs to be reversed.
In Europe, India and South America, significant social movements
have slowed the process. Tens of thousands of Indian farmers
demonstrated against the granting of patents on the Neem tree, an
important local food source, to W. R. Grace Co. The European
Parliament has resisted pressure to accept gene patents. Here in
the United States, a small but significant campaign is developing
to call upon Congress to return to the original sense of the
patent laws, and exclude living creatures, their parts and
components.

[For more information and copies of the "No Patents on Life"
petition, contact the Council for Responsible Genetics, 5 Upland
Road, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140.]

[Jonathan King is available to speak through the People's Tribune
Speakers Bureau -- email speakers@noc.org]

******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition),
Vol. 24 No. 4 / April, 1997; P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL
60654, pt@noc.org or WWW:

             http://www.mcs.com/~jdav/league.html

For free electronic subscription, email pt-dist@noc.org
with "Subscribe" in the subject line.

Feel free to reproduce; please include this message with
reproductions of this article.
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 15:02:41 -0500 (EST)
>From: WalshMM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: MI (USA) Sanilac County Ends Pound Release
Message-ID: <970403145633_383626828@emout12.mail.aol.com>

NEWS RELEASE & ACTION ALERT

After more than a year of lobbying. A  local animal protection group (Sanilac
County Animal Advocates) has convinced the county commissioners in Sanilac
County, Michigan to end the sale of animals from the Sanilac Animal Shelter
to a Class B Dealer, (Hodgins Research). The commissioners also agreed last
week (week of March 24)  to discontinue the practice of gassing unwanted
animals in a 55 gallon barrel and are switching to lethal injection by sodium
pentobarbitol as a means of euthanasia.

The local group was disappointed, however, that their request to take over
the daily operations at the shelter was denied, and in fact, they have been
asked to leave the shelter as volunteers. They had been volunteering there
for over a year and have paid for many needed changes at the shelter. The
adoption rate has increased during that time.

The commissioners indicated that it was their belief that animal control and
an animal protection group could not work together.

Please write to the Sanilac County Commissioners:

1) Thank them for ending pound release and the gassing.

2) If you are working well with your animal control dept., let them know it
can work. Encourage them to work WITH the local group.

Sanilac County Commissioners
Sanilac County Courthouse
60 West Sanilac
Sandusky, MI 48471

If you need more information, please e-mail me privately: WalshMM@aol.com

Thank you.

Marilyn Walsh
Ionia County Humane Society
Michigan Animal Tracks



 
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 15:26:49 -0500 (EST)
>From: Ming-Lee Yeh 
To: BHGazette@aol.com
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org, tllin@udel.edu
Subject: (TW) emergent appeal   
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

If you want to speak for pigs in Taiwan, you can also call Mr. Hu, the
representative of Taiwnanese Government in the Washington DC office. Their
number is 202-8951800
 or write to him: Representative Jason Hu
       TECRO
       4201 Wisconsin Ave., Washington DC 20016
------------------------------------------------------------------
Emergent signature collection -- appeal for using humane methods to
terminate foot-and-mouth infected hogs [Taiwan]

According to 3/27 Taiwanese newspapers, the epidemic situation of the
foot-and-mouth disease is continuously  increased. Over 716 farms and
146,713 hogs have been infected and more than 76,065 pigs were killed.
This disaster has impacted national economy and threatened farmers'
survival. At this moment, slaughtering all diseased animals for
minimizing the negative impact seems to be inevitable. However, numerous
cruel images are seen on all media recently, such as, burying animals alive, 
beating animals to death, and incorectlly electrocutting animals
leading them suffering in half death. The scene of cruelty is to the
degree that even farmers and soldiers, who implement the slaughter,
can not bear and have both complained about their mental stress they 
had received. These images have raised the publics awareness that such a 
cruel and inhumane termination will have an extremely negative impact on 
our next generation in Taiwan.

This outbreak of Foot-and-mouth disease has indeed affected the country
economically. Have we not handle it carefully, it may also hurt the
society and morally psychologically, sue to our cruel actio. Eased on the
belief of all lives are precious and should be treated with respect, the
Life Conservationist Association (LCA) urges the authority to use the most
humane method to terminating animals to minimize animals' suffering before
they die.

The LCA suggests:
1. to use the effective electrical stunning to knock out the animals
before they are shot by gun

2. to mobilize professional veterinarians to implement the above 
procedure, assisted by military and farmers;

3. the electrial stunning must be provided with sufficient current that
is passed through an animal's brain, inducing immediate unconsciousness
and insensibility to pain

4. gun shooting must be accurate to the fatal point in the animal's head,
which will immediately terminate theiir lives and reduce their fear and
pain. It can also avoid to spread the virus cased by bloodletting.

Considering the equipment and work-forcer, the effective electrical 
stunning and gun-shot is the "most" feasible, fast and humane method which
can be suggested now. Currently using bar-beating and ineffective
electrical stunning will result in burying or burning animals that are
still alive and conscious. In order to stop the cruel termination and its
negative impact to our society, the LCA APPEALS to your support!

Please SIGN your name or WRITE Your statement on this letter, and FAX
to:
011-886-2-7191044;  011-886-2-2866403;  011-886-2-2402688

Tel: 011-886-2-7150079 (LCA)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Organization: _________________________
Your name (print): ___________________________
Signature: ___________________________
Tel #: _________________________
Fax #: _________________________
Address: _________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to speak for pigs in Taiwan, you can also call Mr. Hu, the
representative of Taiwnanese Government in the Washington DC office. Their
number is 202-8951800

If you prefer to fax your signature to LCA, any of the following number is
avaiable: 011 (US)+ 886-2-7191044; +886-2-2866403; +886-2-2402688;
                  + 886-2-9825630; +886-2-2681465

Animal Protection Act is still needed to pursue, whithout which, the same
tragedy will repeat!

All support are most appreciated!!

Sincerely,
Minglee Yeh
Representative in the US
Life Conservationists Association of Taiwan






Date: Thu, 3 Apr 97 15:35:34 -0500
>From: Karin Zupko 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: New Balance and  the Circus (US)
Message-ID: <9704032035.AA16864@titan.ma.neavs.com>

Posted on behalf of Boston activists:

Protest the Big Apple Circus - Calls and Letters Needed!

New Balance, a company that makes athletic shoes, is sponsoring
the Big Apple Circus, which uses animal "acts."  It is now in Boston  
through May 4. Please call and write, and tell New Balance that  
animals don't belong in circuses.  

 

Contact the New Balance National Headquarters: 


Katherine Shepard, Public Relations Director
New Balance
61 North Beacon Street
Brighton, MA 02135

Phone: 617-783-4000

Thank you.
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 15:01:40 -0700 (MST)
>From: Jen Kolar 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, ar-views@envirolink.org
Subject: Denver events for Tony , Stacie,Jeff
Message-ID: <199704032201.PAA13561@monsoon.colorado.edu>


----- Begin Included Message -----

>From owner-adl_ara@miagra.ucs.indiana.edu Thu Apr  3 09:04 MST 1997
Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 09:03:17 -0700 (MST)
>From: Jen Kolar 
To: adl_ara@indiana.edu
Subject: Denver events for Tony , Stacie,Jeff

This Saturday at 11 am protestors from:
 Rocky Mountain Animal Defense,
 Prisoner Right's Project of the Rocky Mountain Peace Center
 Committee to Abolish Control Unit Prisons
 American Friends Service Committee
 American Civil Liberties Union
 Student Environmental Action Coalition
 Amnesty International
 CISPES
 and many environmental groups

will meet in a joint protest of human and animal rights
violations to demand the release of Tony, Stacie, and Jeff and to
demand and end to the barbaric practices in the fur industry
as laid out by the hunger strikers... and of course, an end
to the fur industry all together.

We will march from the Denver Federal Building (sure to attract attention
as the Oklahoma bombing trial is there now) in a chain gang processession
with prisoners and animals in bonds, down the main downtown of denver,
past the capitol and ending in a press conference in civic center
park in front of the capitol.

Lively actions are planned to kick of the media event which will
give a history of the prisoner's, and demand actions on their
behalf.

All who cannot make it to Indianapolis and who live near Denver -
PLEASE COME!! We will meet at the Civic Center Park at 11am, by the
pillars and go from there.
For more info: 
email jkolar@monsoon.colorado.edu
call: 303-449-4422


----- End Included Message -----

Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 18:17:34 -0600 (CST)
>From: Suzanne Roy 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Another Coulston Chimp Dead
Message-ID: <199704040017.SAA21707@dfw-ix10.ix.netcom.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


The following is a news release about another chimpanzee death at The
Coulston Foundation.  Also below is the text of the article announcing the
death, and a list of all the primates who have died at TCF since 1993.

=====================================================================
=======
  Date:  3 April 1996Contact:  Eric Kleiman, 717/939-3231

ANOTHER CHIMPANZEE DIES AT THE COULSTON FOUNDATION

IDA ASKS FOR USDA INVESTIGATION OF 25TH NON-HUMAN PRIMATE DEATH AT
NEW
MEXICO FACILITY SINCE 1993

Alamogordo, N.M. . . . In Defense of Animals (IDA) has asked the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to investigate another "accidental" death
of a young chimpanzee at The Coulston Foundation (TCF), a New Mexico-based
primate testing laboratory.  In a complaint filed today, IDA charged that
the latest death raises serious questions about the animal care and
husbandry practices at TCF.

"The fact that this chimpanzee died "accidentally" just two months after
another chimpanzee named Jello died under suspicious circumstances at TCF,
is particularly troubling," said Suzanne Roy, IDA program director.  "When
placed in context with TCF's poor record,  this latest death raises grave
questions about the health and safety of all the non-human primates at this,
the largest captive chimpanzee colony in the world."

On March 26, 1997, TCF issued a statement claiming that a young chimpanzee
died on March 24 after being "severely injured by another chimp in an
adjacent cage."  The chimpanzee is the 25th non-human primate to die
"unexpectedly" at TCF in just three and one-half years.  IDA's complaint
charges that the death of this chimpanzee, like many other primate deaths at
TCF, was a direct result of negligence.  The young chimpanzee was apparently
housed adjacent to an older, more aggressive animal, something chimpanzee
veterinary experts say should not be done.  In addition, the chimpanzee's
cage apparently lacked mesh between the bars to prevent the animal from
cross-cage injuries.  Experts inform IDA that such mesh would be standard
equipment in such a housing situation.  If proved true, these conditions
would constitute violations of Animal Welfare Act requirements for adequate
housing and husbandry.

TCF is already under investigation by the USDA for Jello's death in January.

"Like the death Jello, the death of this young, healthy chimpanzee could
easily have been prevented had TCF followed standard animal care practices,"
said Roy.

TCF has been the center of controversy for several years because of numerous
chimpanzee and other primate deaths from overheating, water deprivation, and
other violations of animal welfare laws, as well as Coulston's advocacy of
using chimpanzees in toxicology testing.  In July 1995, the USDA filed
formal charges against TCF for multiple violations of the Animal Welfare
Act.  In June 1996, TCF agreed to settle the charges by paying a $40,000
fine, the second-largest ever levied against a research institution.

IDA is a national animal advocacy organization with over 70,000 members
based in Mill Valley, California.
- end -
================================================================
Alamogordo Daily News, March 26, 1997

Coulston chimp dies after injury

     A chimpanzee has died at the Coulston Foundation's biomedical research
facility at Holloman Air Force Base.  
     
     According to a news release issued this morning, a young chimp died after
being "severely injured by another chimp in an adjacent cage."

     The Coulston Foundation is currently looking into the circumstances
surrounding the accident, the release stated.  In a phone conversation with
the Alamogordo Daily News, Coulston president Dr. Travis Griffin said the
chimp died Monday, March 24.

     Another chimp died Jan. 21, after a chimp stepped on its neck, cutting off
oxygen supply for an extended period of time during a group sedation procedure.

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

PRIMATE DEATHS AT THE COULSTON FOUNDATION, 1993-1997

           NAMEBIRTH    DEATH CAUSE OF DEATH
     
  1. James(chimpanzee)?       Oct. 31, 1993Overheating/Cooked to Death
  2.  Raymond  (chimpanzee)?Oct. 31, 1993Overheating/Cooked to Death
   3.  Robert (chimpanzee)?Oct. 31, 1993Overheating/Cooked to Death
  4.  Cynomologus Monkey (f)?Dec. 18, 1993Dehydration/Died of thirst
   5.  Cyno Monkey (f)?Dec. 18, 1993Dehydration/Died of thirst
    6.  Infant cyno monkey1993Dec. 18, 1993Dehydration/Died of thirst
    7. Infant cyno monkey1993Dec. 18, 1993Dehydration/Died of thirst
    8. Rhesus Monkey Mother?1993Botched C-Section
       9.   Infant rhesus19931993Bled to death
       10. Infant rhesus19931993Bled to death
      11. Infant rhesus19931993Bled to death
       12. Infant rhesus19931993Bled to death
    13. Juvenile Rhesus Monkey ?June 14, 1994Choked on own vomit
    14. Juvenile Rhesus Monkey ?June 14, 1994Choked on own vomit
    15. Juvenile Rhesus Monkey?June 14, 1994Choked on own vomit
    16. Juvenile Rhesus Monkey?June 14, 1994Choked on own vomit
    17. Valon (chimpanzee)1975July 27, 1994Acute Gastritits/ Anesthesia
      18. Domino (chimpanzee)1986July 29, 1994Meningitis
      19. Joe11/3/72  10/ 20/94Heart Failure
      20. Robert5/5/73  10/ 29/94Liver/Kidney Failure
       21. Chimpanzee1988Feb. 27, 1996Meningitis
       22. Chimpanzee1988Feb. 28, 1996Meningitis
       23. Chimpanzee1988Feb. 28, 1996Meningitis
     24. Jello (chimpanzee)1986Jan. 22, 1997Choked on own vomit
     25.Chimpanzee?March 24, 1997?Injured by chimp in next 
     cage?




Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 20:22:42 -0800 (PST)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Runway protest 'damages habitat'
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970403202256.25afd1ce@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, April 4th, 1997

Runway protest 'damages habitat'
By David Graves 

CAMPAIGNERS against Manchester airport's second runway claimed yesterday
that protesters at the site were causing "untold damage" to the natural habitat.

The Cheshire Wildlife Trust, the major environmental objector to the runway
expansion at a public inquiry in 1995, said the demonstrators were damaging
ancient woodland and grassland it wanted to protect.

"It may seem rather ironic to criticise other so-called environmentalists,
but we are very worried we will not be able to conserve the areas we had
hoped to because of the actions of the protesters," said Jackie Begg, the
trust's deputy director.

"They have sited their protest camps in the very areas where we were hoping
to save ancient grassland and woodland and are causing untold damage. We
have pointed this out to them, but they claim they are not causing any damage."

After a Government inspector ruled in favour of the £172 million, two-mile
runway after the 101-day public inquiry, the airport agreed that it would
pay £17 million towards "mitigation measures" for the environmental damage
that would occur and a 15-year landscape management plan.

The measures include the transplanting of woodland and flower-rich
grassland, restoration of hedgerow, recreation of 94 ponds and the transfer
of protected wildlife, including badgers, bats and great crested newts.

Miss Begg said it was "vitally important" that the relocation measures were
carried out unhindered by the activities of "less conventional objectors" to
the runway, who have turned the protest into a re-run of the A30 dual
carriageway confrontation at Honiton, Devon, two months ago. 

The most notorious A30 eco-protester, Swampy, whose real name is Daniel
Hooper, has dug a network of tunnels 50 feet under the runway site, and
other activists have built protest platforms in trees at five sites. They
claim the runway will be an environmental disaster
because it will destroy the countryside. But Miss Begg said the planned
environmental scheme required "careful seasonal timing" and it was vital
that work was completed before construction of the runway started.

The airport is to apply to Manchester High Court next Thursday for land
possession orders to evict the protesters. Officials claim the extension of
the airport will help create 50,000 jobs in the region. Building contracts
were awarded in February.

The wildlife trust said it had used the democratic process to object to the
runway at the public inquiry and wanted the protesters to help it rescue
what could be saved from the site's natural habitat. 

Chris Mahon, its director, added: "Disruption to the mitigation schedule,
campfires, trampling of ground flora and re-routing of  money towards the
costs of removing protesters from the site are all potentially detrimental
to the overall objective of conserving as much natural habitat as possible."

A spokesman for the airport said last night: "It is pretty galling that
after our environmental officials have been tip-toeing through the runway
area to avoid interfering with the habitat the protesters are now trampling
over it."

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997 20:22:45 -0800 (PST)
>From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Drought threatens to kill wildlife
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970403202300.25afd9bc@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, April 4th, 1997

Drought threatens to kill wildlife
By Colin Randall, Chief Reporter 


ENVIRONMENTALISTS predict the disappearance in some areas of familiar
species of animals and birds because of the worsening drought that makes
hosepipe and sprinkler bans a near-certainty this summer.

A severe lack of rainfall, obliging water companies to extract more water
from rivers and boreholes, is at the root of what is now acknowledged to be
a crisis. But while pressure is mounting on householders to show more
willingness to cut down on waste, the water industry insists there is no
immediate danger of standpipes becoming necessary for the first time since a
water-workers' strike 13 years ago.

A report this week from the Environment Agency has highlighted the
desperately low levels of many of the rivers of England and Wales. Of 35
"indicator" rivers regularly monitored for signs of drought, 19  were at
less than half the flow expected in spring.

Only one - the Conwy at Cwm Llanerch, near Llandudno, north Wales - was
flowing above normal. The agency said this was because it was a "flash
river" which filled rapidly after rainfall, causing dramatic fluctuations.
In areas of Kent and Sussex, the flow  has fallen to between 15 and 33 per
cent of normal levels. 

"We are heading for what will be the third successive summer without
substantial rain and the effect on wildlife is severe," said Ray Kemp, of
the agency's southern region in Worthing, West Sussex. "The reality is that,
although climate change has been widely predicted, it is actually here and
we are starting to live with it."

Otters, badgers, kingfishers and barn owls are especially at risk Mr Kemp
said. "Many species people take for granted could be wiped out for ever in
parts of this region."

He cited the example of the river Lavant at Chichester, which three years
ago threatened to flood the town but was now bone dry. In parts of Kent,
notably the Romney Marsh area, farmers were coping with the drying up of
"wet fences", the dykes that normally prevent
cattle from straying.

Parts of southern and south-eastern England rely heavily on natural
underground reservoirs for water supply. After two dry winters, they are now
significantly low. From about the middle of this month, they will cease to
benefit from any further rainfall, which would be absorbed by plants and trees.

Water companies are urging domestic users to take simple conservation
measures to reduce current levels of wastage. Valerie Homer, technical and
regulatory director of the Water Companies Association, representing 18
companies in England and Wales, said
there would undoubtedly be supply problems this summer year if the dry spell
continued but there would be no need for standpipes. She urged people to
avoid leaving taps running while cleaning their teeth and to fit simple
gadgets to hosepipes to stop water flowing longer than necessary.

Yorkshire Water said it was "confident but not complacent" about the coming
months. Reservoirs that were half-empty this time last  year are now 95 per
cent full. Southern Water, serving two million people, has sprinkler bans in
parts of Sussex. There were no plans to extend them to areas of Kent and
Hampshire covered by the company but a spokesman said: "We are not ruling it
out." 

South East Water, with 620,000 customers in areas of Sussex and Kent, says
its problems - a hosepipe ban imposed in August, 1995, was lifted only last
month - would be solved if the Environment Agency gave the go-ahead for a
third reservoir.


© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.




ARRS Tools  |  News  |  Orgs  |  Search  |  Support  |  About the ARRS  |  Contact ARRS

THIS SITE UNDERWRITTEN IN PART BY:
Cyberian Outpost

The views and opinions expressed within this page are not necessarily those of the
EnviroLink Network nor the Underwriters. The views are those of the authors of the work.