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AR-NEWS Digest 486
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) (CN) Zoo clones disease gene
by Vadivu Govind
2) (TW) Fishing boats urged to abide by international law
by Vadivu Govind
3) (AU) Appetite-reducing hormone being tested on humans
by Vadivu Govind
4) Oriental Medicines for Fatal Diseases
by Vadivu Govind
5) Addresses for reps and senators
by L Grayson
6) (US) Food terrorism a possibility, report warns
by allen schubert
7) (US) Bioterrorism: Intentional Food Contamination
by allen schubert
8) [Fwd: August Deadline for Saving Canada's Primates]
by Sean Thomas
9) Taylor, MI: Pound Seizure Ended
by Wyandotte Animal Group
10) Festival Cancels Elephant Rides
by Debbie Leahy
11) [US] Activist Arrested at Boys Town Demo
by Debbie Leahy
12) [US] No More Circuses for Police Associa
by Debbie Leahy
13) [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
by L Grayson
14) Update on Lydia the elephant
by JTESPINOSA@delphi.com
15) Update on Lydia the elephant
by JTESPINOSA@delphi.com
16) PRIMATES Campaign: 8/8-8/10 Calendar Update
by baerwolf@tiac.net (baerwolf)
17) (PH) Manila moves to curb poaching
by Vadivu Govind
18) [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
by L Grayson
19) [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
by L Grayson
20) [Fwd: :change in trapping regulations]
by L Grayson
21) [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
by L Grayson
22) Primarily Primates offers hope for Canada's Primats
by Sean Thomas
23) Primarily Primates offers hope for Canada's Primats
by Sean Thomas
24) Fresno Bee: McD's Donates To SPCA??? (California, US)
by Lawrence Carter-Long
25) Anti-hunt protesters march through London
by Mesia Quartano
26) Fwd: UPDATE: Trapping Bills Near Floor Vote in State Legislature
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
27) urgent -Hegins deadlines
by Heidi Prescott
28) (NY) Ch. 9 on Canned Hunts
by Mike Markarian
29) widow needs help placing pigeons
by Heidi Prescott
30) (US) Feeding on freshwater fish could be hazardous
by allen schubert
31) (US) Feds Exaggerated Horse Abuse Info
by allen schubert
32) (BM) Bermuda bans McDonald's
by allen schubert
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:02:30 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CN) Zoo clones disease gene
Message-ID: <199708060402.MAA04412@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Hong Kong Standard
6 Aug 97
Hopes rise for pandas as zoo clones disease gene
BEIJING: China has succeeded in cloning a gene of the giant panda, a
breakthrough that could help to prevent some diseases among the endangered
species.
Scientists had successfully copied a panda gene linked to nervous disorders,
said a researcher at the Chengdu zoo in southwestern Sichuan province that
cloned the gene in research with the biology department of Sichuan United
University.
``This is important . . . this gene cloning technique marks a new level in
research on pandas,'' the zoo researcher said. ``It also marks preparation
for further study on cell cloning of pandas, which still seems remote at
present.''
The gene that had been cloned was known as BDNF, or Brain Derived
Neurotrophic Factor, he said.
``This is the first time in the world that anyone has successfully used this
type of copying technique on pandas,'' the researcher said. - Reuter
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:07:53 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TW) Fishing boats urged to abide by international law
Message-ID: <199708060407.MAA04613@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>CNA Daily English News Wire
TAIWAN FISHING BOATS URGED TO ABIDE BY INTERNATIONAL LAW
Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) The Council of Agriculture (COA) on Tuesday urged all
local deep-sea fishing vessels to abide by international law and practices
to avoid being punished and damaging the Republic of China's international
image.
The council renewed its appeal after a Kaohsiung-based fishing boat was
recently fined US$1 million by Argentine authorities for illegally operating
in South Atlantic waters inside Argentina's exclusive zone.
Reports from Buenos Aires said Argentine authorities also confiscated the
Taiwan ship's catch, an estimated 450 tons of squid.
The reports said the Tung Heng No. 3 was so harshly penalized because it had
covered up its identification number, was flying the Argentine flag and had
its hull painted red like many Argentine fishing boats in a bid to deceive
the Argentine coast guard.
The vessel was caught in May in Argentine waters near Tierra del Fuego on
South America's southern tip, or 100 nautical miles from the coast of
Argentina and inside that country's exclusive economic zone, according to
the reports.
Commenting on the reports, Huang Cheng-fei, a COA section chief, said the
ship will face penalties in accordance with Article 10 of Taiwan's fishery
law following its return.
Under this provision, the license of the fishing boat may be revoked for a
specified period of time or even permanently, and the licenses of its crew
members can be suspended for three months to two
years.
If necessary, Huang said, the ROC's representative office in Argentina will
offer assistance to the ship's crew. "However, we have not received any
request from the ship's owner so far," he added.
Huang went on to say the case indicates that the international community has
now attached greater importance to conservation of maritime resources. "Crew
members of deep-sea fishing vessels,
particularly their skippers, should observe regulations of relevant foreign
countries as well as international law to avoid disputes and penalties." (By
Sofia Wu)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:09:07 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (AU) Appetite-reducing hormone being tested on humans
Message-ID: <199708060409.MAA04679@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>CNA Daily English News Wire
APPETITE-REDUCING HORMONE BEING TESTED ON HUMANS
Canberra, Aug. 5 (CNA) Australian and American scientists may have
discovered a no-diet, no-exercise method of losing weight.
They have found that leptin, a hormone produced by the body, can act on the
brain to decrease appetite levels for short periods of time, according to
the Tuesday edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.
Researchers using mice as test subjects found that the rodents lost weight
over a period of four days before appetites returned to normal levels.
Leptin is now being used in human clinical trials and a
drug based on the hormone could be engineered to act on the brain in line
with the study's findings, they said.
Leptin has been a hoped-for fat buster since 1994 when the gene for the
production of the hormone was discovered to be faulty in mice prone to
obesity, they said.
It was suspected that fat people, while having high levels of leptin in
their blood, had a low level of the hormone in their brain.
Using a microsurgical technique developed at the Howard Florey Institute in
Melbourne, Australian scientist John Blair-West worked with U.S. researchers
in New York to test the effects of the long-term infusion of leptin directly
into the brains of mice.
They found that giving leptin in such a way led to a reduction in food
intake of about 50 percent over four days with a drop in body weight of 15
percent, Blair-West said.
After this period, the mice began to build their appetite back up to normal
over another four or five days, he said. However, the overall weight of mice
remained low. (By Peter Chen)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:17:00 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Oriental Medicines for Fatal Diseases
Message-ID: <199708060417.MAA04893@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>The Korea Herald
6 Aug 97
Government to Push for Oriental Medicines to Cure Fatal Diseases
A large-scale project to develop Oriental-medicinal methods to treat
major incurable diseases such as cancer and AIDS will be soon initiated
by the Korean government.
The Health and Welfare Ministry announced yesterday that it is backing
an ambitious undertaking for the treatment of seven such diseases by the
year 2010. Dubbed ``Project 2010,'' the plan is aimed at developing more
effective treatment methods for fatal diseases, which Western medicine
has thus far been unable to curtail, said a ministry official.
``But it also targets Korea to break away from its long and heavy
reliance on developed countries for medical technology,'' he said. The
ministry plans to invest 200 billion won in research and development
prior to the practical usage, beginning in 2010. The ministry will
organize a commission of related experts within this month and lay out more
specific plans to
support the research and development activities to ``overcome the
hard-to-cure diseases''' by year-end.
The commission will direct 11 local colleges of Oriental medicine to
engage in their own specified research on such diseases as senility,
cancer, cerebral apoplexy (stroke), cardiopathy (heart disease),
allergies, osteoporosis and AIDS. The 11 colleges will also be
encouraged to carry out the joint research projects with various groups in
related scientific fields such as pharmacology and medical engineering.
The ministry decided to invest in Project 2010 this year and has
already allocated about 3 billion won for 62 research projects planned
by the colleges. ``These days, even such developed countries as the
United States and Europe are making active movements to overcome the
limits of Western medicine through Oriental medicine,'' said another
ministry official.
``In this sense, we believe that Korea, which has a long history of
accumulating clinical experience and expertise on Oriental medicine,
will be able to lead the field to develop treatments for incurable
diseases,'' he said. The official noted that with world medical
communities ``conquering'' diseases on an increasing level, the project will
hopefully contribute in that direction and by finding cures for the
fatal diseases.
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 00:18:41 -0500
From: L Grayson
To: ar-news
Subject: Addresses for reps and senators
Message-ID: <33E80937.197F@earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
http://www.voxpop.org/zipper/
is the place to find the adresses for your reps and senators via zip
code
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 00:54:04 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Food terrorism a possibility, report warns
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970806005401.006d7f88@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from AP Wire page:
---------------------------------------
Food terrorism a possibility, report warns
August 5, 1997
Web posted at: 11:15 p.m. EDT (0315
GMT)
From Correspondent Eugenia Halsey
(CNN) -- Mention the word terrorism, and the image
of a salad bar isn't what comes to mind.
But a new report says authorities need to be on
the lookout for an unlikely kind of public threat:
food terrorism.
Two recent reports in the Journal of the American
Medical Association cite prior incidents in which
food was deliberately contaminated.
In 1984, someone spiked
CNN's restaurant salad bars in
Eugenia Halsey Oregon with salmonella
reports bacteria and, last year,
pastries tainted with
shigella bacteria were set out for labor workers
in Texas.
Now, researchers say, when food poisoning
outbreaks don't fit the usual patterns,
investigators should at least consider the most
extreme scenario.
"I think that the possibility that the incident
was intentionally started is something that
everyone thinks about," Dr. Thomas Torok of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Keeping an eye open for such attacks may help
investigators, but there is little consumers can
reasonably do to prevent intentional
contamination. They would be better off focusing
on ways to prevent accidental food poisoning.
"The consumer probably shouldn't worry
that much in terms of free-floating
anxiety about terrorists. The greater risk is from
natural foodborne illness or the way in which food
is prepared -- cross-contamination -- in the
kitchen," Glenn Morris of the University of
Maryland Medical Center said.
As for the prior attacks, no one died in either
incident, although about 800 people were sickened
in the salad bar case. A dozen people were hurt in
the sabotage of the pastries, a case still under
investigation.
Authorities say the salad bar illnesses were
caused by members of a religious commune. They
contend that followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
wanted to make people too sick to vote in an
election, the outcome of which they believed
critical to the commune's interests.
However rare, researchers say it's important for
investigators to be aware of the possibility of
food terrorism, so they can recognize it early
issue an alert.
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 00:58:04 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Bioterrorism: Intentional Food Contamination
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970806005801.006dbd68@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from Yahoo news page:
-----------------------------------------------
Tuesday August 5 6:44 PM EDT
Bioterrorism: Intentional Food Contamination
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Where food-borne illness does not fit usual patterns,
investigators should consider the possibility of deliberate contamination,
according to two articles in this week's issue of The Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA).
Though intentional food contamination is extremely rare, it does occur.
Just ask the 751 people who ate in 10 restaurants in The Dalles, Oregon, in
the fall of 1984. After the local health department began receiving an
inordinate amount of complaints of food poisoning, an investigation was
launched. They looked into the health of restaurant employees, the town
water supply, and the food suppliers the restaurants used, yet no common
factor could be found.
A year later, the investigators had enough information to link a religious
commune to the outbreak. The group had contaminated salad bar fixings and
coffee creamers at the restaurants with a strain of Salmonella bacteria in
the hope of keeping voters away from polling booths on Election Day; one of
the items on the ballot could have negatively affected the commune.
"This outbreak, which was caused by intentional contamination, is
unprecedented in the history of the Centers for Disease," said Dr. Thomas
J. Torok, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He and
his colleagues report on the outbreak in the August 6 issue of The Journal
of the American Medical Association. "The situation in Oregon is the only
example we have of a politically motivated instance where a group
intentionally contaminated food."
In a second article in this week's JAMA, which has biological warfare as
its theme, scientists at the CDC and at the Texas Department of Health
report on a case of 12 laboratory workers at a large medical center in
Texas who experienced severe gastrointestinal illness after eating muffins
or doughnuts left anonymously in a break room on October 29, 1996.
Investigators found that they were infected with Shigella dysenteriae
bacteria, probably taken from the lab's storage freezer. A criminal
investigation of the case is ongoing.
In order to prevent further episodes of such "bioterrorism," the study
authors recommend that guidelines for the secure storage and close
surveillance of lab stock cultures be established.
Experts estimate food contamination, other than intentional, is fairly
common. For example, Torok says more than 4 million Salmonella infections
occur each year, primarily due to eating or working with uncooked or
undercooked meat or inadequately cooked eggs. Most cases occur at home when
people fail to clean up properly after they've work with raw meats. But
Torok says about 40,000 cases annually are reported after people eat at
restaurants, and experts think there are many unreported cases for each one
that is reported.
"If a person thinks they get food poisoning after eating at a restaurant,
they should report to their physician, who would be obligated to report to
the local health department," Torok said. "Sometimes people report directly
to county health department, too." SOURCE: The Journal of the American
Medical Association (1997;278:389-395, 396-399)
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 19:05:17 -0700
From: Sean Thomas
To: ar-news@envirolink.com
Subject: [Fwd: August Deadline for Saving Canada's Primates]
Message-ID: <199708061046.GAA04208@envirolink.org>
This attachment was sent as file (File name not found)
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Note: One or more attachments were saved to your personal
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If you know the attachment was plain text, but it is
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command would be "A2ETEXT README TXT A".
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 1997 21:30:09 -0400
From: Wyandotte Animal Group
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Taylor, MI: Pound Seizure Ended
Message-ID: <199708061046.GAA04241@envirolink.org>
----------------------------- Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 1 ---- Lines: 2
----------------------------- Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 2 ---- Lines: 33
PRESS RELEASE
TAYLOR ANIMALS NOW SAFE AT CITY SHELTER:
COUNCIL ENDED PRACTICE OF RELEASING ANIMALS TO EXPERIMENTATION
LABS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETuesday, August 5, 1997
Contact: Jason Alley
(313) 753-5252
Animals at the Taylor Animal Shelter will no longer be sold for experimentation
was the unanimous decision at tonight's Council meeting. Instead, all animals
will be available for adoption or humanely euthanized at the shelter.
"We're thrilled that no more lost pets or abandoned animals at the Taylor Anima
l Shelter will wind up in animal labs. Downriver pets will continue to be an i
ssue for WAG until people learn the importance of spaying and neutering," said
Diane Schuler, WAG President.
Pound animals have unknown backgrounds and often prove to be unsuitable for exp
erimentation. The public is widely opposed to pound release and the idea of th
eir lost pets possibly ending up in animal laboratories.
"An animal shelter should exist to find new homes for animals or provide a huma
ne death for the unadopted animals, not become a clearinghouse for animal exper
imenters," said Jason Alley, campaigns director.
WAG had been urging City officials for a few months to end pound release. Poun
d release is banned in 14 states and in several counties in other states. In M
ichigan, only 13 counties and a select few cities in Wayne County engage in pou
nd release.
"Hopefully other cities in the Downriver area will learn from Taylor's decision
It is our intention to see pound release banned in the few Downriver communi
ties that still engage in it," concluded Alley.
--30--
----------------------------- Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 3 ---- Lines: 5
Jason Alley
Wyandotte Animal Group
wag@heritage.com
Taylor, MI: Pound Seizure Ended
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:25:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Debbie Leahy
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Festival Cancels Elephant Rides
Message-ID: <01IM44S6N8V28WYBSK@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
FESTIVAL CANCELS ELEPHANT RIDES
Animal Advocates Commend Decision
CHICAGO RIDGE, IL - Organizers of Ridgefest have decided against
elephant rides. The decision came after members of Illinois Animal
Action (IAA) expressed concerns for mistreatment of performing
animals and public safety issues.
Since 1983, captive elephants have killed over 20 people and
seriously injured 59, including six children. Dozens of tragedies
have panicked crowds and caused extensive property damage.
Performing elephants used for rides and circus tricks endure a
miserable life of chains, confinement, and abusive training.
Elephant rampages--and now the added danger of tuberculosis
discovered in captive elephants--pose a very serious public safety
issue.
Earlier this year, Skokie's Festival of Cultures canceled its
planned elephant rides. And just this week Waukegan officials
determined elephant rides violated city ordinances dealing with
dangerous animals.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Thank you letters may be sent to:
Eugene L. Siegel, Mayor
10655 S. Oak Avenue
Chicago Ridge, IL 60415
================================
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
630/393-2935
================================
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:25:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Debbie Leahy
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [US] Activist Arrested at Boys Town Demo
Message-ID: <01IM44SE8ITC8WYBSK@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT BOYS TOWN DEMO
On Tuesday, August 5, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals and Illinois Animal Action (IAA) protested a Boys Town office
in downtown Chicago. Before a crowd of spectators and media, IAA
member David Amundson, age 22, drove a pickup truck filled with used
kitty litter to the protest site and began shoveling the material
onto the street. The truck displayed banners that read "Boys Town's
Kitten Experiments Stink." Amundson was arrested and charged with
illegal dumping and disorderly conduct. He was released six hours
later after activists posted bail.
Responding to a PETA complaint, the National institutes of Health has
cited Boys Town's Omaha laboratory for its failure to provide
veterinary care to ill animals, failure to keep medical records on
animals, failure to have standard operating procedures in place for
the care of animals, and use of outdated drugs. The few surgical
records that exist indicate the kittens were given no postsurgical
painkillers despite the fact that incisions the length of their
entire skulls were made as researchers cut into their brains.
Federal law requires painkillers following such procedures.
=========================
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
630/393-2935
=========================
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:33:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Debbie Leahy
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [US] No More Circuses for Police Associa
Message-ID: <01IM451IS1XU8WYBFV@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
NEWS RELEASE - 2 August 1997
POLICE ASSOCIATION VOWS END TO CIRCUS SPONSORSHIP
Animal Protectionists Praise Compassionate Decision
SAUK VILLAGE, IL - Yesterday, the Sauk Village Policemen's
Association hosted its last circus fund-raiser. Citing concerns
for animal mistreatment, the association agreed to make an
appearance by King Royal Circus its last sponsorship of circuses
using animal acts.
The decision was reached after Illinois Animal Action (IAA)
representative Cindy Michalowski relayed King Royal's shocking
history of animal abuse to the association's secretary, John
Wiszowaty.
King Royal was penalized $8,000 by the U.S.Department of
Agriculture (USDA) last year after being charged with physically
abusing animals and failing to keep dangerous animals under
control. Charges stemmed from the public beating of a baby
elephant named Mickey during a performance in Oregon. This tragic
beating, which caused Mickey to bleed, gasp for air, scream in
pain, and collapse led horrified spectators to file animal cruelty
charges with the local police. The elephant trainer was penalized
$10,000 and his USDA license was revoked. The incident, captured
on videotape, has since been featured in several news documentaries
exposing animal cruelty at circuses.
Says IAA president Debbie Leahy, "We are very pleased that the Sauk
Village Policemen's Association has joined the ranks of many other
charitable organizations that have abandoned, or never used, circus
fund-raisers."
The Willow Springs Lions Club did not invite the circus back again
after IAA protested its sponsorship of King Royal last year.
Performing animals endure a miserable life of chains, confinement,
and abusive training. Elephant rampages--and now the added danger
of tuberculosis discovered in captive elephants--pose a very
serious public safety issue.
###
Illinois Animal Action, Inc.
P.O. Box 507, Warrenville, IL 60555
Phone: 630/393-2935 Fax: 630/393-2941
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:55:26 -0500
From: L Grayson
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
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From: Debbie Leahy
Subject: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D
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ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT BOYS TOWN DEMO
On Tuesday, August 5, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals and Illinois Animal Action (IAA) protested a Boys Town office
in downtown Chicago. Before a crowd of spectators and media, IAA
member David Amundson, age 22, drove a pickup truck filled with used
kitty litter to the protest site and began shoveling the material
onto the street. The truck displayed banners that read "Boys Town's
Kitten Experiments Stink." Amundson was arrested and charged with
illegal dumping and disorderly conduct. He was released six hours
later after activists posted bail.
Responding to a PETA complaint, the National institutes of Health has
cited Boys Town's Omaha laboratory for its failure to provide
veterinary care to ill animals, failure to keep medical records on
animals, failure to have standard operating procedures in place for
the care of animals, and use of outdated drugs. The few surgical
records that exist indicate the kittens were given no postsurgical
painkillers despite the fact that incisions the length of their
entire skulls were made as researchers cut into their brains.
Federal law requires painkillers following such procedures.
=========================
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
630/393-2935
=========================
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 1997 20:57:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: JTESPINOSA@delphi.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Update on Lydia the elephant
Message-ID: <01ILZ7R2SLD48WWTCY@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Update on Lydia the elephant (original post follows)
Illinois Animal Action has learned that an elephant used for rides is, oddly
enough, being heavily promoted to Chicago suburban communities by a
Bridgeview animal control officer who is friends with exhibitor David Tesch.
According to USDA documents, Tesch has been cited for numerous
noncompliances to the Animal Welfare Act, including failure to provide
adequate veterinary care; transporting Lydia in a dirty, rusty trailer
without proper ventilation; repeatedly storing food near contaminants;
failing to maintain her enclosure; and ignoring multiple warnings to supply
an itinerary.
Please note the correction to the spelling of the name of the Mayor of
Chicago Ridge. The correct spelling is Siegel, not Fiegel.
Joe Espinosa
Illinois Animal Action
PO Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
(630) 393-2935
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia the elephant to be used for the miserable spectacle of elephant
rides.
Lydia the elephant is to be used to give rides at three different events in
suburban Chicago in the upcoming weeks. Such uses of wildlife are
remarkably degrading, presenting a sight that is the epitome of human
domination of other animals. When elephants are used for such
purposes, there is a very real danger to public safety as well. Many
cases have been documented of frustrated or confused elephants lashing
out aggressively to harm people and property. Not surprisingly, many
deaths have been caused by such avoidable mishaps.
Elephants used for entertainment are violently trained, requiring enough
beating and deprivation to break their spirits' before they begin to serve
humans from fear. The conditions that these animals endure during
their performing lives are best described as grossly inadequate.
Performing elephants spend the vast majority of their lives in chains,
unable to move about freely or engage in other natural behaviors. This
treatment does take its toll on the elephants who react with bored
frustration, aggression and disease susceptibility.
The elephant to be used for the elephant rides in these three events is a
prime candidate for such a violent outburst, having attacked four
elephants in the past. Two of the elephants attacked died as a result of
their injuries. Imagine the amount of strength it takes to kill another
elephant. Releasing this same energy in an attack on a much smaller,
weaker human would lead to predictably lethal consequences. Such
aggressive behavior is unheard of amongst female elephants in the wild
and is purely the result of the miserable existence Lydia endures. Most
recently, an elephant expert reviewed photos and film of Lydia's feet
and stated that they were being improperly cared for, and the USDA
has cited Lydia's exploiter for various violations of the Animal Welfare
Act. Please write, phone and fax to keep Lydia from being forced out
onto the hot, hard pavement for the folly of ignorant humans.
Planning to have elephant rides at the "Ridgefest"city festival Aug.
8,9,10:
Chicago Ridge Mayor Eugene L. Siegel
10655 S. Oak Avenue
Chicago Ridge, IL 60415
phone (708) 425-7700
fax (708) 425-9942
Planning to have elephant rides at the Bridgeview city festival Aug. 28-
Sept 1:
Mayor John Oremus
Bridgeview City Hall
7500 Oketo Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
phone (708) 594-2525
fax (708) 594-1584
Planning to have elephant rides again (had them the June 29th
weekend) the third week in September to promote her business:
Renee Grabinski-owner
Pup-n-Pop Hot Dogs
8258 S. Harlem Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
phone (708) 458-7425
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 1997 20:57:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: JTESPINOSA@delphi.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Update on Lydia the elephant
Message-ID: <01ILZ7R0T24I8WWTCY@delphi.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Lydia the elephant to be used for the miserable spectacle of elephant
rides.
Lydia the elephant is to be used to give rides at three different events in
suburban Chicago in the upcoming weeks. Such uses of wildlife are
remarkably degrading, presenting a sight that is the epitome of human
domination of other animals. When elephants are used for such
purposes, there is a very real danger to public safety as well. Many
cases have been documented of frustrated or confused elephants lashing
out aggressively to harm people and property. Not surprisingly, many
deaths have been caused by such avoidable mishaps.
Elephants used for entertainment are violently trained, requiring enough
beating and deprivation to break their spirits' before they begin to serve
humans from fear. The conditions that these animals endure during
their performing lives are best described as grossly inadequate.
Performing elephants spend the vast majority of their lives in chains,
unable to move about freely or engage in other natural behaviors. This
treatment does take its toll on the elephants who react with bored
frustration, aggression and disease susceptibility.
The elephant to be used for the elephant rides in these three events is a
prime candidate for such a violent outburst, having attacked four
elephants in the past. Two of the elephants attacked died as a result of
their injuries. Imagine the amount of strength it takes to kill another
elephant. Releasing this same energy in an attack on a much smaller,
weaker human would lead to predictably lethal consequences. Such
aggressive behavior is unheard of amongst female elephants in the wild
and is purely the result of the miserable existence Lydia endures. Most
recently, an elephant expert reviewed photos and film of Lydia's feet
and stated that they were being improperly cared for, and the USDA
has cited Lydia's exploiter for various violations of the Animal Welfare
Act. Please write, phone and fax to keep Lydia from being forced out
onto the hot, hard pavement for the folly of ignorant humans.
Planning to have elephant rides at the "Ridgefest"city festival Aug.
8,9,10:
Chicago Ridge Mayor Eugene L. Fiegel
10655 S. Oak Avenue
Chicago Ridge, IL 60415
phone (708) 425-7700
fax (708) 425-9942
Planning to have elephant rides at the Bridgeview city festival Aug. 28-
Sept 1:
Mayor John Oremus
Bridgeview City Hall
7500 Oketo Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
phone (708) 594-2525
fax (708) 594-1584
Planning to have elephant rides again (had them the June 29th
weekend) the third week in September to promote her business:
Renee Grabinski-owner
Pup-n-Pop Hot Dogs
8258 S. Harlem Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
phone (708) 458-7425
Update on Lydia the elephant (original post follows)
Illinois Animal Action has learned that an elephant used for rides is, oddly
enough, being heavily promoted to Chicago suburban communities by a
Bridgeview animal control officer who is friends with exhibitor David Tesch.
According to USDA documents, Tesch has been cited for numerous
noncompliances to the Animal Welfare Act, including failure to provide
adequate veterinary care; transporting Lydia in a dirty, rusty trailer
without proper ventilation; repeatedly storing food near contaminants;
failing to maintain her enclosure; and ignoring multiple warnings to supply
an itinerary.
Please note the correction to the spelling of the name of the Mayor of
Chicago Ridge. The correct spelling is Siegel, not Fiegel.
Joe Espinosa
Illinois Animal Action
PO Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
(630) 393-2935
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lydia the elephant to be used for the miserable spectacle of elephant
rides.
Lydia the elephant is to be used to give rides at three different events in
suburban Chicago in the upcoming weeks. Such uses of wildlife are
remarkably degrading, presenting a sight that is the epitome of human
domination of other animals. When elephants are used for such
purposes, there is a very real danger to public safety as well. Many
cases have been documented of frustrated or confused elephants lashing
out aggressively to harm people and property. Not surprisingly, many
deaths have been caused by such avoidable mishaps.
Elephants used for entertainment are violently trained, requiring enough
beating and deprivation to break their spirits' before they begin to serve
humans from fear. The conditions that these animals endure during
their performing lives are best described as grossly inadequate.
Performing elephants spend the vast majority of their lives in chains,
unable to move about freely or engage in other natural behaviors. This
treatment does take its toll on the elephants who react with bored
frustration, aggression and disease susceptibility.
The elephant to be used for the elephant rides in these three events is a
prime candidate for such a violent outburst, having attacked four
elephants in the past. Two of the elephants attacked died as a result of
their injuries. Imagine the amount of strength it takes to kill another
elephant. Releasing this same energy in an attack on a much smaller,
weaker human would lead to predictably lethal consequences. Such
aggressive behavior is unheard of amongst female elephants in the wild
and is purely the result of the miserable existence Lydia endures. Most
recently, an elephant expert reviewed photos and film of Lydia's feet
and stated that they were being improperly cared for, and the USDA
has cited Lydia's exploiter for various violations of the Animal Welfare
Act. Please write, phone and fax to keep Lydia from being forced out
onto the hot, hard pavement for the folly of ignorant humans.
Planning to have elephant rides at the "Ridgefest"city festival Aug.
8,9,10:
Chicago Ridge Mayor Eugene L. Siegel
10655 S. Oak Avenue
Chicago Ridge, IL 60415
phone (708) 425-7700
fax (708) 425-9942
Planning to have elephant rides at the Bridgeview city festival Aug. 28-
Sept 1:
Mayor John Oremus
Bridgeview City Hall
7500 Oketo Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
phone (708) 594-2525
fax (708) 594-1584
Planning to have elephant rides again (had them the June 29th
weekend) the third week in September to promote her business:
Renee Grabinski-owner
Pup-n-Pop Hot Dogs
8258 S. Harlem Avenue
Bridgeview, IL 60455
phone (708) 458-7425
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 10:03:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: baerwolf@tiac.net (baerwolf)
To: Veg-Boston@waste.org, veggie@envirolink.org, veg-ne@empire.net,
veg-nyc@waste.org, veg-ct@waste.org, ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: vrc@tiac.net
Subject: PRIMATES Campaign: 8/8-8/10 Calendar Update
Message-ID: <199708061403.KAA19834@mailrelay.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Dear Human -
Our primate cousins need you to help them move closer toward freedom from
being tortured in labs.
The effort continues - please find below the activities that will precede
the "changing of the guard" with respect to the non-stop informational
tabling/vigil lead by Rick Bogle that began August 2nd.
It now becomes incumbent upon we who remain vigilant to seek assurance from
our communities, from our State and from our Nation that no animal shall be
forced to undergo such heinous manipulations and trauma as has been the
practice by people in institutions such as the New England Primate Center in
Southboro, MA.
To get involved in the Primate Freedom Campaign call NEAVS at 617-523-6020,
or Steve at 508-393-5339.
For Harvard Square actions and helping to make the Ordinance to " Abolish
Primate Exploitation And Slavery Within The City Of Cambridge, MA ," a
reality call Bill at 617-625-1451.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PRIMATE RIGHTS CAMPAIGN ACTIVITY LIST - updated
(Some items listed are subject to final verification)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today -Aug 10 (Sun) - Informational Protest at New England Regional Primate
Center 1 Pine Hill Drive, Southboro, MA on the Marlboro line. About one mile
south of Rte 20.
++ See full set of directions below. ++
Non-stop protest. Come for the day; come for the duration, or as you please.
Your participation supports non-stop protesters, and sends vivisectors and
media a message.
Bring vegan food, water, insect repellent, necessities.
Bring anti-vivisection posters, banners and flyers if you have any.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at 617-523-6020 for info and carpooling
arrangements.
*Aug 8 (Fri) Vigil at New England Regional Primate Center
6:00PM-8:00PM - Southboro, MA.
Restraint Chair, Posters, Paper Tombstones
Call NEAVS 617-523-6020 for carpooling and more info.
*Aug 9 (Sat) Neighborhood Primate Awareness Walk
Literature distribution 2 PM - 4 PM
Meet at 1PM at Parmenter Road Parking Area or Rick's "Ape Army" Table
across from 1 pine Hill Drive (NRP Center) for Literature & Group Assignments
Leave awareness notices and talk with residents whose houses are
near the primate research center.
Aug 9 (Sat) 24 Hour Hunger Fast - Calling for a Moratorium on
Animal Experimentation/Mourning the Torture of Animals at NERPC in Southboro
Fasting continues from 2PM Saturday until 2PM Sunday.
Restraint Chair, Posters, Paper Tombstones
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at 617-523-6020 for info and carpooling
arrangements.
*Aug 10 (Sunday) Bearing Witness Vigil
Sun-up(~5AM) till 2PM
On site will be, among other items, a Primate Restraint Chair,
Hunger Fasters, Moratorium mail-in letters,
and (weather permitting) videos on Primates in Experimentation.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at 617-523-6020 for info and carpooling
arrangements.
On-going
1) Distribute Flyers in Malls, and other public places in your area.
Flyers specific to Southboro serve to inform the public about the treatment
of primates there.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 for flyers, or pick some up at Cambridge or
Southboro tables.
2) Write for Primates
- Letters to the NIH, Southboro and other primate labs,
- Newspaper op-ed pieces against primate exploitation,
- Letters to legislators about financial waste of primate exploitation.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 for details, or email baerwolf@tiac.net
Aug 16(Sat)-Nov 4(Tue) - Neighborhood Campaigning in Cambridge for
the Ordinance to Abolish Primate Exploitation and Slavery (Proposition
A.P.E.S).
Call Bill at 617-625-1451 or Steve at 508-393-5339 for literature and
coordination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AN ORDINANCE TO ABOLISH PRIMATE EXPLOITATION
AND SLAVERY WITHIN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE, MA.
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF EVIDENT, THAT ALL PRIMATES ARE
CREATED
EQUAL AND ARE ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN INALIENABLE
RIGHTS,
AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
THESE RIGHTS WILL BE PROTECTED IN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
HENCEFORTH, IN THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE NO PRIMATE WILL BE,
(1.) USED IN ANY EXPERIMENT HARMFUL TO HIS/HER PHYSICAL OR
PSYCHOLOGICAL
WELL-BEING,
(2.) FORCED TO PERFORM IN ANY MANNER CONTRARY TO HIS/HER NATURE,
(3.) BOUGHT OR SOLD OR,
(4.) DEPRIVED OF AN APPROPRIATE ENVIRONMENT, ADEQUATE FOOD, EXERCISE,
COMPANION, AND INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION.
ANY ABROGATION OF THE RIGHTS OF PRIMATES WILL BE PUNISHABLE BY A
FINE OF
$5000, SIX MONTHS IMPRISONMENT OR BOTH, AS OF THE DATE OF ENACTMENT
OF THIS
LAW.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Directions to Southboro --
------------------------
--------
MA Pike (Rt. 90) to Exit 11A (Rt 495 North)
Rt. 495 North Exit 24A (Rt. 20 East)
Follow Rt. 20 East ( ~ 2+ miles)
On Right at lights see Mobil Gas Station - then Farm Rd.
Take Right onto Farm Rd.
Pass Marlboro Airport (on left)
Take left onto Broadmeadow Rd (~ 0.5 mi)
Then Take Right onto Parmenter Rd (~ 0.5 mi)
~0.8 mi on Right is the NE Primate Center
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for bringing this dark side of humanity out
for public scrutiny and correction.
For any and all that you do to help primates,
and animals in general, have a better life,
I Praise You,
sbaer
steven baer
baerwolf@tiac.net
Massachusetts
HOW DEEP INTO SPACE MUST HUMANS GO BEFORE THEY REALIZE
ALL THE NEIGHBORS THEY'VE TORTURED ON PLANET EARTH.
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 22:08:20 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (PH) Manila moves to curb poaching
Message-ID: <199708061408.WAA02769@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>CNA Daily English News Wire
MANILA MOVES TO CURB POACHING
Manila Aug. 6 (CNA) In its biggest and most concrete move yet to curb
poaching in Philippine territorial waters, the Philippine Senate on
Wednesday approved a third and final reading of the proposed Fisheries Code
of 1997.
Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani, principal author of the measure, said the
bill added more teeth to the government's campaign against foreign poaching
by imposing stiffer penalties against offenders.
A fine of $100,000 will be imposed and the catch, fishing equipment and
vessel of the illegal fishermen confiscated.
"We have to protect our remaining marine resources against poaching by
foreign fishermen and ensure that only our local fishermen benefit from the
bounty of our seas," Shahani, a presidential
aspirant said.
The navy has regularly arrested foreign fishermen, mostly mainland Chinese,
for fishing in the country's territorial waters, she noted, adding that the
government is losing about four billion pesos-worth of fish stocks annually
due to these intrusions.
The bill's enactment into law will also ensure additional protection for the
country's one million fishermen, by limiting commercial fishing in municipal
waters and bays. (By Timothy Sun)
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:55:26 -0500
From: L Grayson
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
Message-ID: <199708061406.KAA23204@envirolink.org>
This attachment was sent as file (File name not found)
It was saved in file 02570000 ATTCHMNT A
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Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 10:39:51 -0500
From: L Grayson
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
Message-ID: <33E89AC3.5960@earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------53613E6B3E2F"
ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT BOYS TOWN DEMO
On Tuesday, August 5, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals and Illinois Animal Action (IAA) protested a Boys Town office
in downtown Chicago. Before a crowd of spectators and media, IAA
member David Amundson, age 22, drove a pickup truck filled with used
kitty litter to the protest site and began shoveling the material
onto the street. The truck displayed banners that read "Boys Town's
Kitten Experiments Stink." Amundson was arrested and charged with
illegal dumping and disorderly conduct. He was released six hours
later after activists posted bail.
Responding to a PETA complaint, the National institutes of Health has
cited Boys Town's Omaha laboratory for its failure to provide
veterinary care to ill animals, failure to keep medical records on
animals, failure to have standard operating procedures in place for
the care of animals, and use of outdated drugs. The few surgical
records that exist indicate the kittens were given no postsurgical
painkillers despite the fact that incisions the length of their
entire skulls were made as researchers cut into their brains.
Federal law requires painkillers following such procedures.
=========================
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
630/393-2935
=========================
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Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:25:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: Debbie Leahy
Subject: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D
To: ar-wire@waste.org
Message-id: <01IM44SGJB5I8WYBSK@delphi.com>
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ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT BOYS TOWN DEMO
On Tuesday, August 5, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals and Illinois Animal Action (IAA) protested a Boys Town office
in downtown Chicago. Before a crowd of spectators and media, IAA
member David Amundson, age 22, drove a pickup truck filled with used
kitty litter to the protest site and began shoveling the material
onto the street. The truck displayed banners that read "Boys Town's
Kitten Experiments Stink." Amundson was arrested and charged with
illegal dumping and disorderly conduct. He was released six hours
later after activists posted bail.
Responding to a PETA complaint, the National institutes of Health has
cited Boys Town's Omaha laboratory for its failure to provide
veterinary care to ill animals, failure to keep medical records on
animals, failure to have standard operating procedures in place for
the care of animals, and use of outdated drugs. The few surgical
records that exist indicate the kittens were given no postsurgical
painkillers despite the fact that incisions the length of their
entire skulls were made as researchers cut into their brains.
Federal law requires painkillers following such procedures.
=========================
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
630/393-2935
=========================
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 10:45:24 -0500
From: L Grayson
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [Fwd: :change in trapping regulations]
Message-ID: <33E89C0E.2911@earthlink.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject:
: change in trapping regulations
Date:
Wed, 6 Aug 1997 07:48:28 -0400
From:
"Bina Robinson"
from Aug 6/97
>From an AP report in "The Hornell Evening Tribune" of August 4: "In
response to the outcry over Valentine's (the beloved dog) highly
publicized
death, the state Department of Environmental Conservation is drafting
statewide changes in trapping regulations. After reviewing comments
solicited from trappers, community officials and citizens across the
state
(Has anybody called you?), the DEC will put a proposal out for public
comments, said Gordon Barcheller (DEC's Mr. Trapper), a wildlife
specialist
at the agency.
"The new law (what law?) would targetkill-type body-gripping traps like
the
Conibear, as opposed to leghold or cage traps. The law would be applied
to
high-use recreational areas, Batcheller said. It could ban the traps on
land or make changes in how they can be used.
"The trap that killed Valentine was legally set in all respects except
that
it wasn't labeled with the trappers name and addres, Batcheller said."
Meg Massaro (dateline of story was NISKAYUNA) was running with her two
dogs
along "a paved bike path". Valentine darted after a squirrel and wound
up
with head caugh in a Conibear 200 trap. Meg, her husband, and
passers-by
were unable to spring the trap. You can imagine how hard they must have
tried. By the time an animal control officer arrived, Valentine was
dead.
Meg has formed the Trail Users Group (TUG) and want the state to ban
trapping within 500 feet of bikeway which runs for 42 miles along the
river
northwest of Albany. That's all I know right now. - Bina
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 10:39:51 -0500
From: L Grayson
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [Fwd: AR-Wire: Chicago Activist Arrested at Boys Town D]
Message-ID: <199708061454.KAA00804@envirolink.org>
----------------------------- Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 1 ---- Lines: 30
ACTIVIST ARRESTED AT BOYS TOWN DEMO
On Tuesday, August 5, members of People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals and Illinois Animal Action (IAA) protested a Boys Town office
in downtown Chicago. Before a crowd of spectators and media, IAA
member David Amundson, age 22, drove a pickup truck filled with used
kitty litter to the protest site and began shoveling the material
onto the street. The truck displayed banners that read "Boys Town's
Kitten Experiments Stink." Amundson was arrested and charged with
illegal dumping and disorderly conduct. He was released six hours
later after activists posted bail.
Responding to a PETA complaint, the National institutes of Health has
cited Boys Town's Omaha laboratory for its failure to provide
veterinary care to ill animals, failure to keep medical records on
animals, failure to have standard operating procedures in place for
the care of animals, and use of outdated drugs. The few surgical
records that exist indicate the kittens were given no postsurgical
painkillers despite the fact that incisions the length of their
entire skulls were made as researchers cut into their brains.
Federal law requires painkillers following such procedures.
=========================
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL 60555
630/393-2935
=========================
----------------------------- Content-type: MESSAGE/RFC822
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 2 ---- Lines: 47
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If you know the attachment was plain text, but it is
now unreadable, it may need translation from ASCII
to EBCDIC. If it was saved as "README TXT A", the
command would be "A2ETEXT README TXT A".
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 11:07:53 -0700
From: Sean Thomas
To: ar-news@envirolink.com
Subject: Primarily Primates offers hope for Canada's Primats
Message-ID: <33E8BD6C.5B72@sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------41C863E944D3"
An incredible offer was made yesterday by Primarily Primates, a primate
sanctuary located in Texas, to take all of Canada's research monkeys.
Please show your support for this proposal by demanding that Health
Canada retire its monkeys to this sanctuary, and allot the appropriate
funds to provide for their long-term care there.
The Minister of Health can be reachd by writing:
The Honourable Allan Rock, T.C., M.P., Minister of Health
Brooke Claxton Building,
postal locator 0916A, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0K9 (no stamp in Canada)
Phone (613) 957-0200
Fax (613) 592-1154
www.hwc.ca
We really do have a chance to save these monkeys from further torture.
Sean Thomas
Co-Director, Animal Action
Ottawa Citizen Hit reload or refresh if you're not getting today's
Online date.
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[National - Ottawa Citizen Online]
Wednesday 6 August 1997
U.S. group offers monkeys refuge
Health Canada could send research animals to Primarily
Primates 'retirement home'
Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen
A Texas animal sanctuary wants to ride to the rescue of
the 750 Ottawa research monkeys whose future is being
studied by a Royal Society panel of scientists and
philosophers.
Primarily Primates Inc., which runs a rural "retirement
home" near San Antonio for about 450 apes and other
primates that have served in research labs, as pets, or
in circuses throughout the United States, has written to
the Royal Society offering sanctuary to all 750 of Health
Canada's long-tailed macaques -- for a price.
"If federal funds are available to assist in the purchase
of suitable land, construction of necessary enclosures
and endowment funds to maintain the animals, Primarily
Primates will consider retiring the entire colony in your
care," wrote corporate secretary Stephen Tello on July
18, after he was sent Citizen reports on the appointment
of the expert panel. "While our offer to retire the
entire primate colony may sound a bit overwhelming, we
are making this offer in the sincere interest of the
primates."
The proposal, which would pull the monkeys out of
scientific testing and provide for them a permanent,
semi-natural habitat in which to live out their days, has
emerged at the same time that the Toronto-based Animal
Alliance of Canada is requesting that the expert panel's
terms of reference be amended to specifically include the
option of creating a sanctuary for the Health Canada
monkey colony.
In a letter sent yesterday to Health Minister Allan Rock,
alliance director Liz White urges that a veterinary
representative and an animal welfare expert be added to
the five-member panel, which includes three men with
scientific research backgrounds and two with social
sciences training in philosophy and ethics.
"Although the panel claims to consider the welfare of the
animals," there is no framework in place through which
decisions that affect the welfare of the colony can be
made," the AAC letter states.
The Ottawa monkeys, offspring of a brood brought to
Canada from the Philippines in 1983, have been used for
research into AIDS and herpes, to screen polio vaccines
and to probe the effects of ingesting chemicals ranging
from PCBs to caffeine. The colony is described in one
Health Canada report as "unique in the world" because it
is free of a herpes virus that taints many of the
research primates in North America and because its
genetic history is known for two generations.
But facing deep budget cuts that have financially
crippled its animal resources division, Health Canada is
seeking expert advice on what to do with a scientifically
valuable resource that the federal government appears
unable to afford.
The department has acknowledged that although there is
strong potential demand for the macaque colony among
industry and university researchers, there is also a
declining general interest in the use of primates for
research because of the high cost of maintaining the
animals and because of battles with animal rights
activists.
The Royal Society panel, chaired by University of
Waterloo philosophy professor Conrad Brunk, is to issue
its recommendations in November.
Animal welfare activists have urged Health Canada to stop
using the monkeys for research or to at least incorporate
some kind of sanctuary into the future of the colony --
providing a leafy, cageless refuge for groups of monkeys
that have "given their due" for the sake human health.
But only brief mention was made of a sanctuary in a list
of options outlined in a preliminary Health Canada report
that focused largely on the commercial potential of
breeding the monkeys for sale.
Primarily Primates is a charitable organization located
in the southwest Texas hill country that raises its own
funds to feed and maintain animals but also seeks
financial contributions from whatever organizations kept
the animals previously. Along with primates, the
operation houses about 200 birds and mammals on a
four-hectare compound with open-air and indoor
facilities.
In the letter to the Royal Society, Mr. Tello first urges
the creation of a Canadian sanctuary for the macaque
colony.
"These animals, who have been used to aid Canadians,
deserve the opportunity of retirement," the letter
states. "This may be the first and only opportunity they
may ever have to find true retirement and your
recommendations to create this facility could help set a
precedent for the way animals in research are cared for
when they are no longer needed."
But the letter suggests that if federal authorities
decide it isn't feasible to build a sanctuary to house
the macaques, Canada should consider moving the entire
colony to Texas. The move would be "a resolution to this
dilemma whereby these primates will find the permanent
and safe retirement they deserve after being used for the
service of humankind."
Health Canada officials could not be reached for comment.
"We don't want to be a dumping ground," he says. "In
order for us to take on these animals, including the
Canadian colony, we would have to receive some kind of
ongoing support."
But he says the cost of maintaining the relatively small
macaque would be about $3 per day per animal -- about
half of the $6 per diem for chimpanzees and much less
than the cost of maintaining monkeys in laboratory
settings.
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Copyright 1997 The Ottawa Citizen
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 11:07:53 -0700
From: Sean Thomas
To: ar-news@envirolink.com
Subject: Primarily Primates offers hope for Canada's Primats
Message-ID: <199708061511.LAA04499@envirolink.org>
----------------------------- Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 1 ---- Lines: 21
An incredible offer was made yesterday by Primarily Primates, a primate
sanctuary located in Texas, to take all of Canada's research monkeys.
Please show your support for this proposal by demanding that Health
Canada retire its monkeys to this sanctuary, and allot the appropriate
funds to provide for their long-term care there.
The Minister of Health can be reachd by writing:
The Honourable Allan Rock, T.C., M.P., Minister of Health
Brooke Claxton Building,
postal locator 0916A, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0K9 (no stamp in Canada)
Phone (613) 957-0200
Fax (613) 592-1154
www.hwc.ca
We really do have a chance to save these monkeys from further torture.
Sean Thomas
Co-Director, Animal Action
----------------------------- Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN
---- M U L T I P A R T ---- Decoded from: 7BIT
---- Part 2 ---- Lines: 170
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[National - Ottawa Citizen Online]
Wednesday 6 August 1997
U.S. group offers monkeys refuge
Health Canada could send research animals to Primarily
Primates 'retirement home'
Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen
A Texas animal sanctuary wants to ride to the rescue of
the 750 Ottawa research monkeys whose future is being
studied by a Royal Society panel of scientists and
philosophers.
Primarily Primates Inc., which runs a rural "retirement
home" near San Antonio for about 450 apes and other
primates that have served in research labs, as pets, or
in circuses throughout the United States, has written to
the Royal Society offering sanctuary to all 750 of Health
Canada's long-tailed macaques -- for a price.
"If federal funds are available to assist in the purchase
of suitable land, construction of necessary enclosures
and endowment funds to maintain the animals, Primarily
Primates will consider retiring the entire colony in your
care," wrote corporate secretary Stephen Tello on July
18, after he was sent Citizen reports on the appointment
of the expert panel. "While our offer to retire the
entire primate colony may sound a bit overwhelming, we
are making this offer in the sincere interest of the
primates."
The proposal, which would pull the monkeys out of
scientific testing and provide for them a permanent,
semi-natural habitat in which to live out their days, has
emerged at the same time that the Toronto-based Animal
Alliance of Canada is requesting that the expert panel's
terms of reference be amended to specifically include the
option of creating a sanctuary for the Health Canada
monkey colony.
In a letter sent yesterday to Health Minister Allan Rock,
alliance director Liz White urges that a veterinary
representative and an animal welfare expert be added to
the five-member panel, which includes three men with
scientific research backgrounds and two with social
sciences training in philosophy and ethics.
"Although the panel claims to consider the welfare of the
animals," there is no framework in place through which
decisions that affect the welfare of the colony can be
made," the AAC letter states.
The Ottawa monkeys, offspring of a brood brought to
Canada from the Philippines in 1983, have been used for
research into AIDS and herpes, to screen polio vaccines
and to probe the effects of ingesting chemicals ranging
from PCBs to caffeine. The colony is described in one
Health Canada report as "unique in the world" because it
is free of a herpes virus that taints many of the
research primates in North America and because its
genetic history is known for two generations.
But facing deep budget cuts that have financially
crippled its animal resources division, Health Canada is
seeking expert advice on what to do with a scientifically
valuable resource that the federal government appears
unable to afford.
The department has acknowledged that although there is
strong potential demand for the macaque colony among
industry and university researchers, there is also a
declining general interest in the use of primates for
research because of the high cost of maintaining the
animals and because of battles with animal rights
activists.
The Royal Society panel, chaired by University of
Waterloo philosophy professor Conrad Brunk, is to issue
its recommendations in November.
Animal welfare activists have urged Health Canada to stop
using the monkeys for research or to at least incorporate
some kind of sanctuary into the future of the colony --
providing a leafy, cageless refuge for groups of monkeys
that have "given their due" for the sake human health.
But only brief mention was made of a sanctuary in a list
of options outlined in a preliminary Health Canada report
that focused largely on the commercial potential of
breeding the monkeys for sale.
Primarily Primates is a charitable organization located
in the southwest Texas hill country that raises its own
funds to feed and maintain animals but also seeks
financial contributions from whatever organizations kept
the animals previously. Along with primates, the
operation houses about 200 birds and mammals on a
four-hectare compound with open-air and indoor
facilities.
In the letter to the Royal Society, Mr. Tello first urges
the creation of a Canadian sanctuary for the macaque
colony.
"These animals, who have been used to aid Canadians,
deserve the opportunity of retirement," the letter
states. "This may be the first and only opportunity they
may ever have to find true retirement and your
recommendations to create this facility could help set a
precedent for the way animals in research are cared for
when they are no longer needed."
But the letter suggests that if federal authorities
decide it isn't feasible to build a sanctuary to house
the macaques, Canada should consider moving the entire
colony to Texas. The move would be "a resolution to this
dilemma whereby these primates will find the permanent
and safe retirement they deserve after being used for the
service of humankind."
Health Canada officials could not be reached for comment.
"We don't want to be a dumping ground," he says. "In
order for us to take on these animals, including the
Canadian colony, we would have to receive some kind of
ongoing support."
But he says the cost of maintaining the relatively small
macaque would be about $3 per day per animal -- about
half of the $6 per diem for chimpanzees and much less
than the cost of maintaining monkeys in laboratory
settings.
FRONT PAGE | CITY | SPORTS | BUSINESS | NATIONAL | WORLD
| EDITORIALS
ENTERTAINMENT | YOUR MONEY | INTERNET | COLUMNISTS |
CLASSIFIED
FEEDBACK | GATEWAY
Copyright 1997 The Ottawa Citizen
Primarily Primates offers hope for Canada's Primats
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 09:07:39 -0700
From: Lawrence Carter-Long
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: lcartlng@gvns1.gvn.net
Subject: Fresno Bee: McD's Donates To SPCA??? (California, US)
Message-ID: <33E8A14B.A07@mail-1.gvn.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Letter To The Editor that was printed in today's paper:
CRUEL IRONY August 6, 1997
FRESNO BEE : An interesting little item appeared at the
bottom of Page B2 in the July 25 Bee. It announced that
four Valley McDonald's restaurants have raised $7,400,
which will be donated to the SPCA.
''SPCA'' stands for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals.
An organization dedicated to stopping people from being cruel to
animals. Animals. Ironic, considering the ''billions and billions''
of cow-animals, chicken-animals, fish-animals, pig-animals and God
knows what other animals who are murdered each year to be
''served'' on a bun with ''special sauce.''
Let's not forget that McMurder isn't just cruel to animals; it's cruel
to our digestive, cardiovascular and moral systems, as well.
Lawrence Carter-Long
Coordinator, Science and Research Issues
Animal Protection Institute
phone: 916-731-5521
LCartLng@gvn.net
"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of too
much life by doing so. Aim above morality. Be not simply
good; be good for something." -- Henry David Thoreau
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 13:32:36 -0400
From: Mesia Quartano
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Anti-hunt protesters march through London
Message-ID: <33E8B534.4744@usa.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
11:04 AM ET 08/02/97
Anti-hunt protesters march through London
LONDON (Reuter) - About 2,000 anti-hunt campaigners marched
through London Saturday to protest the first day of Britain's
traditional, but now threatened, deer-hunting season.
The protesters gathered in central Hyde Park to listen to
speeches before setting off for Trafalgar Square, waving banners
and chanting.
Other protest groups said they intended to disrupt hunts in
western England.
The hunting of foxes and deer with hounds could be banned if
a bill put forward by a Labor member of parliament is passed.
But the bill may never become law because the Labor
government, which took office in May, is giving priority to
other legislation. Parliament may simply run out of time to
debate and vote on it.
Last month, around 100,000 hunt supporters gathered in
London to demonstrate their opposition to the banning of the
traditional sport.
The sight of red-jacketed horse riders and packs of baying
hounds in pursuit of a deer or fox has been part of the British
landscape for centuries.
In recent years the sport has become increasingly
controversial, with repeated clashes between hunters and
protesters, who disrupt the hunts using whips and whistles to
scare the horses.
But one anti-hunt group said it opposed the protests and the
London rally, saying dialogue was now preferable to
confrontation.
The League Against Cruel Sports said it would monitor stag
hunts in the southwest England counties of Somerset and Devon
using video cameras, but would not intervene.
"We have much to celebrate, many new areas in the West
Country...look likely to become havens for deer, free from the
barbarity of hunting," said the league's Graham Sirl.
Britain's National Trust, a heritage organization, recently
banned deer hunting on the vast areas of land it owns after a
report detailed the stress the animals suffer.
-- REUTER --
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 14:11:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: UPDATE: Trapping Bills Near Floor Vote in State Legislature
Message-ID: <970806141119_361673972@emout12.mail.aol.com>
In a message dated 97-08-06 11:09:58 EDT, tjancek@northweb.com (Theresa E.
Jancek) writes:
<< Subj:UPDATE: Trapping Bills Near Floor Vote in State Legislature
Date:97-08-06 11:09:58 EDT
From:tjancek@northweb.com (Theresa E. Jancek)
To:FYI-NYAlert@mrin77.mail.aol.com
The NY State Senate and Assembly have adjourned without voting on
Assembly Bill No. A01635-A and Senate Bill No. S03561-A (Title:AN ACT to
amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the trapping of
beaver, otter, muskrat and mink).
Both bills remain in the Rules Committees in their respective houses,
however. I do not know how likely it is that they will be reported to
the floor for a vote when the Legislature reconvenes (January 1998,
unless a Special Session is called earlier). My understanding is that,
unless the bills are discharged from Rules, either could be reported to
the floor for a vote anytime after the Legislature reconvenes.
At least the bills weren't passed into law in the now-characteristic
last-minute frenzy of voting before the summer recess.
It would be a good idea for those of you who have contacted Speaker
Silver and/or Senator Bruno to thank them for holding back the bills.
You might also wish to reiterate your opposition to this legislation,
should any chance exist that it might be resurrected when the
Legislature reconvenes.
I'll keep you posted as I learn more about the fate of this unwise and
unnecessary legislation.
Thanks for your interest and efforts,
Terry
____________________________________________________
Theresa E. Jancek
Mail: PO Box 276, Hannawa Falls, NY 13647-0276 USA
Tel: +1 315 262 2120
E-Mail: >>
---------------------
Forwarded message:
From:tjancek@northweb.com (Theresa E. Jancek)
To:FYI-NYAlert@mrin77.mail.aol.com
Date: 97-08-06 11:09:58 EDT
The NY State Senate and Assembly have adjourned without voting on
Assembly Bill No. A01635-A and Senate Bill No. S03561-A (Title:AN ACT to
amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the trapping of
beaver, otter, muskrat and mink).
Both bills remain in the Rules Committees in their respective houses,
however. I do not know how likely it is that they will be reported to
the floor for a vote when the Legislature reconvenes (January 1998,
unless a Special Session is called earlier). My understanding is that,
unless the bills are discharged from Rules, either could be reported to
the floor for a vote anytime after the Legislature reconvenes.
At least the bills weren't passed into law in the now-characteristic
last-minute frenzy of voting before the summer recess.
It would be a good idea for those of you who have contacted Speaker
Silver and/or Senator Bruno to thank them for holding back the bills.
You might also wish to reiterate your opposition to this legislation,
should any chance exist that it might be resurrected when the
Legislature reconvenes.
I'll keep you posted as I learn more about the fate of this unwise and
unnecessary legislation.
Thanks for your interest and efforts,
Terry
____________________________________________________
Theresa E. Jancek
Mail: PO Box 276, Hannawa Falls, NY 13647-0276 USA
Tel: +1 315 262 2120
E-Mail:
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 12:26:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: Heidi Prescott
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: urgent -Hegins deadlines
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970807163104.3777026e@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Activists,
The Hegins pigeon shoot is now less than 1 month away. We are in
the last weeks of organizing and need an accurate count of how many people
are participating in the rescue/documentation effort and the planning
dinner. We have a limited number of sponsorships available, so it is
important to contact us if you need to be sponsored. If you have not yet let
us know you are coming, please contact The Fund (301) 585-2591. Peter
Peterson, the person in charge of organizing Hegins, will be increasingly
busy as the weeks progress, so the more we can assign teams and identify the
areas we need additional people, the smoother things will go. We still need
people, so please contact us ASAP.
Heidi Prescott.
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 13:33:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (NY) Ch. 9 on Canned Hunts
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970806164755.52874c1a@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>The Ch. 9 piece (New York City area) on canned hunts that was supposed to
>run tonight (Wednesday) has been postponed. It will run either Thursday or
>Friday of this week or Monday or Tuesday of next week, at 10:00 P.M. I will
>post an exact date when I find out.
>
>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 13:37:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Heidi Prescott
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: widow needs help placing pigeons
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970807174143.3d9f32d4@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
A 77 year old widow who lives in Pensylvania contacted us because she has
between 200 and 300 pigeons in coops. She feels that she will soon no
longer be able to care for them and does not want them to end up at the
Hegins pigeon shoot. Is there anyone out there who can help? Please
contact us for her number. She is in Lake Ariel, PA.
Thanks,
Heidi
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 20:30:23 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Feeding on freshwater fish could be hazardous
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970806203020.006cc790@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Another reason for people not to fish/eat fish...
from Mercury Center web page:
----------------------------------------------
Posted at 6:56 a.m. PDT Wednesday, August 6, 1997
Feeding on freshwater fish could be hazardous
BOSTON (AP) -- Anglers who eat freshwater fish
could flip through nearly 2,200 warnings before
selecting a main course because states are finding
potentially harmful contaminants in more lakes and
rivers.
Fish consumption advisories are at an all-time high
and continue to grow by more than 20 percent a
year, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
Last year, states issued 453 such advisories -- a
26 percent increase from 1995 -- raising the total
to 2,193 for inland waters fished for sport.
Although the advisories list a total of 45
contaminants, virtually all of them cite the
presence of mercury, PCBs, chlordane, dioxin and
DDT in the water bodies. Those contaminants entered
the waters through dumping, runoff and underground
seepage and take decades to break down into less
harmful forms.
The EPA said 15 percent of the nation's acres of
lakes -- including all of the Great Lakes -- and 5
percent of its miles of rivers were covered by an
advisory at the end of 1996.
Minnesota had the most advisories, with 709, while
Wisconsin had 431.
Only Alaska, South Dakota and Wyoming, along with
Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, had not
issued any advisories by Dec. 31.
The EPA said the rising tide of advisories does not
mean more contamination is seeping into America's
inland waters.
``The increase in advisories issued by the states
generally reflects an increase in the number of
assessments of the levels of chemical contaminants
in fish and wildlife tissues,'' the agency said in
a fact sheet.
But some fishing industry representatives said the
high number of advisories results from the EPA's
overzealous regulations concerning contaminants in
the environment.
``The numbers get inflated but it really has to be
taken with a grain of salt as to what it means,''
said Lee Weddig, executive vice president of the
National Fisheries Institute, a trade association.
``Many of them are based on too conservative a risk
assessment for many of these chemicals.''
Water sampling is intended to prevent a situation
similar to that of Japan's Minimata Bay. For
decades, hundreds of people have died after eating
fish contaminated by mercury dumped by chemical
companies.
Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA has determined
how much of a chemical can be present in a
freshwater body before it is considered
contaminated. Using that data, states conduct the
sampling and issue advisories if necessary.
The advisories pertain only to non-commercial
fishing. Some examples include large-mouth bass in
Tyngsboro's Flint Pond, crayfish in California's
Putah Creek and shorthead redhorse in Minnesota's
stretch of the Mississippi River.
The U.S. sport fishing industry generates $100
billion in economic activity and 1 million jobs,
according to the American Sportfishing Association,
a lobbying group. ASA president Mike Hayden
applauded the EPA's concern for public health, but
questioned the sampling techniques and the language
of the advisories.
For example, contaminants are measured in the
entire fish -- including scales, eyeballs and
entrails -- but most people only eat a fillet.
Also, an advisory can be specific for a species, a
location and a consumer such as children or
pregnant women. Too often, those finer points are
lost on the general population.
``Oftentimes these advisories are stated in a way
that the public doesn't understand it,'' Hayden
said. ``That hurts fishing and that hurts the
consuming public.''
NFI's Weddig said the EPA shouldn't have uniform
standards for chemical exposures.
``It doesn't make sense to tell people with
different ages or sexes to have the same type of
concern over a contaminant,'' he said.
No EPA official was available for on-the-record
comment Tuesday.
Sometimes, though, the advisories aren't bad news.
Minnesota's included statements that locations were
safe for all fishing.
``Maybe being very scrupulous has given people the
wrong impression,'' said Buddy Ferguson, spokesman
for the Minnesota Department of Health. ``It isn't
a case of Minnesota having uniquely contaminated
waters or uniquely contaminated fish.''
Since the EPA tally, the land of nearly 15,000
lakes has issued another 50 advisories, some good
and some bad.
Massachusetts has issued 71 advisories, including
20 last year. The commonwealth has issued bans on
all fish from at least 10 bodies of water.
``It's a little misleading and you have to be kind
of careful,'' said Elaine Krueger, chief of the
commonwealth's environmental toxicology program.
``The more you sample, the more you find.''
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 20:57:26 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Feds Exaggerated Horse Abuse Info
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970806205722.006dfe90@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
More on the BLM horses...
from AP Wire page:
----------------------------------
08/06/1997 16:06 EST
Feds Exaggerated Horse Abuse Info
By MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press Writer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Federal agents, already catching heat for
allowing the slaughter of thousands of wild horses, gave false
information to Congress this year while trying to prove aggressive
enforcement of a law meant to protect the animals, The Associated Press
has found.
The Bureau of Land Management declared 125 people had been convicted of
violating the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act from 1985 to 1995.
Government records, however, reveal a far slimmer tally.
Using computer databases, the AP reviewed records of all federal
prosecutions in 1985-95 and found only three convictions under the wild
horse law. Twenty-three people were convicted in the same period of
assorted other crimes related to the abuse of wild horses or burros.
The discrepancy needs ``more explanation,'' acknowledged BLM spokesman
Bob Johns.
``I would suspect that Justice defines convictions differently than we
do,'' Johns said. ``I don't think there was any deliberate intention to
mislead the public.''
Johns said the BLM defines convictions to include indictments, citations,
fines and even cases that U.S. attorneys decline to prosecute.
In early June, after four months of promises to produce records of the
125 convictions, Johns said the Interior Department's solicitor would
release no further information.
The lack of criminal convictions is evidence that people who adopt wild
horses can sell them for slaughter with impunity, more than a dozen
former BLM law enforcement agents told the AP.
``The law is supposed to keep wild horses and burros out of the
slaughterhouse, but without enforcement there's no teeth to it. It's a
joke,'' said Dale Tunnel, a retired agent who ran BLM law enforcement for
Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas in the 1980s and early '90s.
The BLM made its claim about convictions in January, just weeks after the
AP reported the adoption program was in disarray. In a series of stories
this year, the AP has reported many people who adopt wild horses or
burros under the $16 million-a-year program could not account for their
animals, that thousands of horses had ended up in slaughterhouses and
that politics had shut down a Texas grand jury's 1996 criminal
investigation into the program.
In the weeks after the first stories appeared, several members of
Congress asked the BLM for evidence the adoption program was working. The
BLM's response to their inquiries was additionally posted on the Internet
and sent to newspapers. The BLM said it was ``committed to doing all that
it can to ensure that wild horses are adopted by people who provide
humane care.'' Those who neglect or abuse the animals are prosecuted, the
BLM insisted.
``For example, in the years 1985 to 1995, the BLM investigated numerous
possible violations related to the wild horse and burro program resulting
in 125 convictions, despite the fact that these are often difficult cases
to prove,'' Thomas Pogacnik, chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program,
said in the statement.
Pogacnik did not return calls from the AP seeking an explanation for the
misleading claim of 125 convictions.
The BLM ``should know better,'' U.S. Rep. Steve Schiff, R-N.M., told the
AP last month. Schiff had earlier called for a congressional inquiry into
the wild horse program.
Federal officials should realize that a request to prosecute is not a
conviction, said Schiff, a former Albuquerque district attorney.
In defending its attempts to enforce the law, the BLM may actually be
trying to defend a law that is unenforceable.
Justice and Interior records show that U.S. attorneys dropped or declined
at least 75 cases in the last decade. In many more incidents of abuse,
including thousands of horses shot dead on public lands, no one was even
arrested.
``It's not a good criminal statute,'' said Rhonda Backinoff, an assistant
U.S. attorney in Albuquerque who has declined to prosecute three Wild
Horse and Burro Act cases. Many prosecutors regard the law as ambiguous
and open to interpretation on violations.
``It's a beautiful piece of writing, talking about the wild horses and
the wild plains, but you need to be real specific in a criminal statute,
and this one wasn't tightly drawn,'' Backinoff said.
The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act was passed by Congress 25 years
ago to control the animals, which compete with cattle for forage on
public lands, and keep them from ``disappearing from the American
scene.''
The law says the Interior Secretary establishes how many animals public
lands can support, rounds up the extras and offers them for adoption.
Wild herds with more than 40,000 animals now roam vast expanses of 10
states; authorities hope to get that down to a permanent herd of 29,000
next year.
Most people who adopt horses make them pets or ride them for pleasure.
Those who abuse or neglect adopted animals face fines of up to $2,000 and
a year in jail. Those who harass or disturb the animals on public lands
are also subject to prosecution.
Many ranchers consider the law a slap at the traditions of the West,
where rounding up wild horses, training the good ones and selling the old
for slaughter is an age-old profession called ``mustanging.''
``We run horses all our life, yes, ma'am, and I'm proud of the fact that
my family, whenever we needed money, we made our money off the
mustangs,'' said George Parman, a Eureka, Nev., rancher.
Parman is one of the rare individuals to be even prosecuted. In 1990, he
was caught with 117 wild horses he'd allegedly stolen on public land. He
maintained the Duckwater Indians had hired him to remove the horses from
Indian land. But the horses in his trailers were clearly BLM horses.
Parman and several other men were tried but found not guilty because, as
Parman put it, his attorneys ``poked holes all over the case.''
``I thought they had a good case against us,'' Parman said, ``but I feel
that the Wild Horse and Burro Act is practically unenforceable. My gosh,
it's about as big of a mess as they could have.''
In May, acting BLM director Sylvia Baca told Congress that while
``enforcement ... continues to be controversial,'' agents were committed
to investigating every report of harm to a free-roaming or adopted horse
or burro.
But retired officers say it just isn't happening.
``You have a law that's supposed to protect the horses, but if you have
ineffective law enforcement, it's as if there is no law,'' said Steve
Sederwall, a retired agent.
Tugging on one end of his handlebar mustache, Sederwall added, ``It's the
horses that pay the price.''
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 1997 22:09:07 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (BM) Bermuda bans McDonald's
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970806220903.006d15a8@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from CNN web page:
----------------------------------
Bermuda bans McDonald's
Nation has just one fast-food outlet; New law's
legality to be challenged
August 6, 1997: 2:39 p.m. ET
HAMILTON, Bermuda (Reuter) - Bermuda
Gov. Thorold Masefield has signed into
law the Prohibited Restaurants Bill, the
final step in banning U.S. fast food
titan McDonald's Corp from the
conservative British colony, officials
said Wednesday.
The signing of the bill Monday
ended a protracted battle by grassroots
organizations and some legislators to
stop former Premier Sir John Swan from
opening a chain of McDonald's
restaurants on the island.
The row was deemed partly
responsible for the sudden resignation
in March of Premier David Saul, though
he had denied that he was privy to the
decision of the ruling United Bermuda
Party to grant Swan permission to open
the chain.
The Prohibited Restaurants Bill
survived a tempestuous 18 months of
debate in the island's House of
Assembly, revealing deep divisions
within the UBP.
The bill bans fast-food
restaurants, but does not name any
chains specifically. There is one
fast-food restaurant in Bermuda, a
Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet that
opened in the 1970s. The government did
not allow any further restaurants to
open, however, until the McDonald's
proposal that spurred the bill.
The bill was first rejected by
the Senate and sent back to the House,
which passed it a second time and
returned it to the Senate. The Bermuda
constitution barred the Senate from
blocking the legislation a second time.
Swan will challenge the legality
of the new law in the Supreme Court,
sources close to the former premier
said.
The governor, who had the bill
for nearly a month, was doubtful that it
was constitutional and withheld his
approval until he had received legal
advice, a political source said.
Masefield, as governor, is the
representative of the British Crown on
the wealthy, self-governing island,
which has been a British colony since
1684. Bermuda, with an area of only 20.5
square miles, lies 570 miles southeast
of North Carolina.
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