AR-NEWS Digest 512 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) by rabbit@wantree.com.au 2) Concerns amongst New Zealand rabbit owners/breeders by bunny 3) Fwd. Beaver deceiver by LMANHEIM@aol.com 4) (ID) Julia Roberts filming for orang-utan documentary by Vadivu Govind 5) Request for information by Daniel Paulo Martins Ferreira 6) Why cats always bads? by Jordi Ninerola 7) NZ Authorities should say "NO" to RCD(rabbit hemorrhagic disease) by bunny 8) Cabinet Defers RCD Decision by bunny 9) (US) Hegins Update by allen schubert 10) Admin Note--Subscription Options by allen schubert 11) HEGINS (11:30pm EST) by civillib@cwnet.com 12) It could happen again by Andrew Gach 13) (US) Activists Block Way to Pigeon Shoot by allen schubert From: rabbit@wantree.com.au Cabinet To Consider RCD (New Zealand) Prime Minister Jim Bolger says cabinet will be considering a report on the RCD virus today, and has indicated that perhaps MAF had been too cautious in holding back on the introduction of the virus.. The Ministry of Agriculture has prepared advice on several options, including whether to let the virus run its course. Rabbits living on hundreds of thousands of hectares of the central South Island are now believed to be deliberately infected with RCD by farmers. MAF's chief vet, Barry O'Neil, has already said he doubts RCD can be contained in the South Island or rabbit-prone areas. But he says MAF's objective is to give the Government as much information as it can, including the extent of the spread and how much monitoring should be in place. Conservation issues are also on the agenda, with advice from the Department of Conservation on whether predators are expected to switch to native fauna if rabbits aren't around. But it's not expected that Cabinet will make any decision today on whether MAF should begin a controlled release of RCD to unaffected areas of the country. Meanwhile, neither the police nor MAF will comment on claims by a group of South Island farmers that RCD was sent to New Zealand through the mail from Australia. End =========================================== Rabbit Information Service, P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm (Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently) /`\ /`\ (/\ \-/ /\) )6 6( >{= Y =}< /'-^-'\ (_) (_) | . | | |} jgs \_/^\_/ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 12:50:09 +0800 From: bunny To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Concerns amongst New Zealand rabbit owners/breeders Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970901123137.22df48a4@wantree.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" A first hand account of the dilemmas of what happens in a country where renegade farmers spread deadly hemorrhagic disease as a pest control method of wild rabbits after their own government said "No" to this disease. (Incoming email from New Zealand)1st September 1997 *************************************************** >From Elayne to Rabbit Information Service I have just been going through the biosecurity act [New Zealand] and have found out that these farmers can be prosecuted. So now we are trying to find a lawyer who will do the job. I have contacted rabbit breeders around the country they are all keen to prosecute. When it all boils down to it these guys (the farmers) have broken the law. I have had a number of rabbit breeders ring me about vaccinations, their vets don't seem very clued up about the whole thing. Can you tell me, when should young rabbits be vaccinated (against RCD)? Is it 8 weeks or 12 weeks and will they need a vaccination every year. My phone hasn't stopped ringing, I had someone ring me at 11. 0 clock last night. The farmers have gone quiet now because they have heard they made be prosecuted, they are asking the Govenment for indemnity. It's makes you sick. They are all being hailed as heroes. The cabinet are meeting today to decide whether or not to legalise RHD as a biocontrol. End =========================================== Rabbit Information Service, P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm (Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently) /`\ /`\ (/\ \-/ /\) )6 6( >{= Y =}< /'-^-'\ (_) (_) | . | | |} jgs \_/^\_/ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 01:24:05 -0400 (EDT) From: LMANHEIM@aol.com To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Fwd. Beaver deceiver Message-ID: <970901012404_299009246@emout06.mail.aol.com> (Allen...this time I saved the article to disk, opened it in the word processor, removed HTML code, saved as a text document, opened it in AOL, copied and pasted it onto an email page. If this doesn't do the trick, I ~really~ resign! Lynn) ARGYLE, Maine (AP) - He admits it: Skip Lisle wants to put some beavers behind bars. Or at least behind the cedar posts and wire fencing of his Beaver Deceiver - a contraption he invented to prevent the washed-out roads and other damage wrought by the web-footed rodents. Beavers blocking your brook? Critters clogging your culverts? The solution is to confuse, not kill, the animals, says Lisle, wildlife biologist for the Penobscot Indian Nation and self-proclaimed ``beaver buster.'' When it comes down to it, beavers just want a little peace and quiet. They can't abide the sound and sensation of running water, Lisle says, so they are compelled to build dams to quiet the noise. They prefer shallow water along narrow stream outlets and tend to build dams perpendicular to the water's current. The Beaver Deceiver prevents damming by blocking access to such sites. Wooden posts form a four-sided pen around the upstream end of the culvert. Sheets of wire fencing are strung between the posts, with openings wide enough to allow fish and other animals through. Although culverts themselves are sometimes made more level so water flows through them more quietly, it's the angle of the fence that provides the key detractor for the beavers by preventing them from building dams at a right angle to the water flow. ``If they were intuitive, they'd just dam right across the front of the fence,'' Lisle said. ``I hate to say it, but they're just not very smart.'' They are fast, however. According to Lisle, beavers can block a 12-inch culvert in about 20 minutes. Lisle developed the contraption at the request of the tribe's Department of Natural Resources, which was faced with flooded roads caused by culverts blocked so solid Lisle had to climb into the pipes and clear the massive debris with a rake. A former carpenter, Lisle tinkered with his initial design until he found the best fencing material (wire grids used to reinforce concrete) and the best shape (trapezoidal). Two years and more than a dozen Beaver Deceivers later, he appears to have succeeded in bewildering the beavers. Although active lodges remain near all the sites, the beavers have done little more than pile a little mud along the sides of the fences. In Massachusetts, where Lisle recently has built two Beaver Deceivers, the animals have been observed tugging in vain at the wire. ``They really hate it,'' he said. ``They want to get in there in the worst way.'' Costing between $150 and $1,000, the Beaver Deceiver may seem expensive, but Lisle reasons that it is a small price to pay for something that could keep beavers at bay for the next 20 years. Towns or states may be more willing to pay for such contraptions if they view them as part of a road design rather than a wildlife issue, he said. But some still ask: wouldn't it be cheaper just to shoot the pests? ``If you shoot one, as soon as you turn around, another will come along,'' he said. Elsewhere in Maine, state officials have found other solutions to beaver problems, said Edwin Butler, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's program for animal damage control. Butler, who estimates that 80 percent of the state has some kind of beaver damage, said fences similar to the Beaver Deceiver concept have helped some, but not all, sites. In other locations, wire mesh is rolled into cylinders that are placed in a horseshoe shape around culverts to block beavers' access. In other places, beavers are trapped and moved to new locations. Lisle credits the Penobscot tribe with giving him free rein to develop a creative solution to the beaver problem and urges other agencies to take a less adversarial approach to the animals. ``There are hundreds of possibilities out there that haven't been explored,'' he said. ``People need to focus on the positive benefits, and not see them as threatening. It doesn't have to be a disaster. ... Beavers are part of the landscape, like water. They're here to stay.'' Beavers, North America's largest rodent, can be found almost anywhere in the United States, with the exception of the desert Southwest. Trapped to near extinction by the turn of the century, the sharp-toothed critters have made a strong comeback in many regions. Although the animals create wetland habitats for other species, they also undermine roadways, clog drainage canals and flood valuable timber and pasture land. In the Southeast alone, beavers cause an estimated $100 million in property damage each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's program for animal damage control. The program, which is part of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, assists states with controlling the beaver population through a variety of non-lethal methods: Installing perforated plastic pipes through beaver dams to drain the water when it reaches a desired level. Building fences upstream from a culvert to force beavers to dam against the fence instead of at the entrance to the culvert. Trapping beavers and moving them to other locations. Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 15:53:40 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (ID) Julia Roberts filming for orang-utan documentary Message-ID: <199709010753.PAA09548@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >South China Morning Post Monday September 1 1997 Roberts' ape odyssey American actress Julia Roberts has been in Indonesia filming in the forests of Central and East Kalimantan for a forthcoming documentary on orang-utans, reports said yesterday. Since arriving on Friday, the 29-year-old actress has visited Kutai National Park and the Wana Riset Semboja orang-utan rehabilitation centre, near the East Kalimantan capital of Balikpapan, the Jakarta Post reported. The centre works with orang-utans that have been kept as pets and returns them to the wild once they have been rehabilitated, at a cost of some three million rupiah (HK$7,900) per ape. More than 250 orang-utans have been returned to the jungles of Kalimantan since 1991, the newspaper report said. Telephone calls to Roberts' presidential suite were refused and no press coverage has been allowed of her trip. Roberts and her nine-member film crew from Tigress Productions also visited the Tanjung Puting National Park, in Central Kalimantan, before leaving Indonesia yesterday. Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 13:03:19 +0000 (GMT) From: Daniel Paulo Martins Ferreira To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Request for information Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hi everybody. I need to contact the International League of Doctors for Abolition of Vivisection. The mail adress Lynmouth - Devon EX35 6EE is not valid anymore. Can anyone send me an e-mail or mail adress? Thank you very much. Daniel Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 00:54:29 +0200 From: Jordi Ninerola To: AR News Subject: Why cats always bads? Message-ID: <9709012358.AA16623@blues.uab.es> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Because. Because cats always are bads in movies, games, books. I discover today a free games for Windows 95 that the important to win are bonk repeatdly with a cartoon mallet. Game's story are that Alicia fight with her żevil? cat Gizmo. I believe that this games promote the violence with animals. You can visit the page in http://www.geocities.com/~megadem/index.html JORDI http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/academy/2855 http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/loge/3128 SA385@blues.uab.Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 07:17:55 +0800 From: bunny To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: NZ Authorities should say "NO" to RCD(rabbit hemorrhagic disease) Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970902065902.2ae75222@wantree.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" New Zealand Authorities should say "No" to RCD/RHD as a Biological Control. (2nd September 1997) The illegal spread of RCD (rabbit hemorrhagic disease) in New Zealand by farmers is no reason for the New Zealand government to reverse its previous decision of "NO" to RCD/RHD which was based on thorough scientific investigation into the issue. The back-door approach of rogue New Zealand farmers in importing the deadly disease of mammals for which there is no cure and no safe vaccines to protect any species other than rabbits, is deplorable. If New Zealand cabinet considers legalising the RCD/RHD disease only on the basis that it it out of control now due to illegal spread, they make a mockery of their own consideration process which considered over 800 submissions from around the world and they make a mockery of their own legal system. Those who imported and spread the disease broke the law and a thorough investigation of the whole matter should be continued by police. This should involve investigation of authorities in both New Zealand and Australia, especially considering that Australian authorities are working on the preparation of RCD baits and this is the technology used by New Zealand farmers to spread the disease (New Zealand farmers mixed the internal organs of infected rabbits with oats and spread these baits both manually and possibly from helicopters). The question has to be asked "Were Australian authorities involved in the illegal import of RHD/RCD into New Zealand?". It is well known that Australian authorities at the highest levels lost face when New Zealand said "NO" to the use of RCD/RHD as a biological control agent. 4 out of 5 major calicivirus groups already cause disease in humans. RCD/RHD is the last group not yet proven to also cause disease in humans. However, preliminary antibody levels observed in humans in Australia supposedly exposed to RCD have been far greater than those persons not exposed to RCD (Rabbit Information Service has obtained these figures). Antibodies are usually the result of infection. Therefore it seems highly irresponsible to deliberately spread this deadly hemorrhagic disease of mammals which has only been in existence since 1984. End. =========================================== Rabbit Information Service, P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm (Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently) /`\ /`\ (/\ \-/ /\) )6 6( >{= Y =}< /'-^-'\ (_) (_) | . | | |} jgs \_/^\_/ Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 07:19:15 +0800 From: bunny To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Cabinet Defers RCD Decision Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970902070021.2ae757ac@wantree.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Tue, 2nd September 1997 Cabinet Defers RCD Decision The Minister for Biosecurity, Simon Upton, says now the rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) is present in New Zealand its eradication is no longer possible. Cabinet considered the situation yesterday but Mr Upton says the Government has called for three urgent reports for next Monday's Cabinet meeting on how its future management is to be handled. Cabinet has asked the Ministry of Agriculture to report on the merits of a managed release of the virus as against observing the unmanaged spread which is now occurring. Mr Upton says the Department of Conservation has been asked to report on how its contingency plan to handle the problem of predator switch from rabbits to endangered native wildlife is to be implemented, noting that it has already begun monitoring the situation. He says there is an urgent need to gather more information about the virus now circulating in New Zealand. Areas identified for immediate research include characterising the virus and testing its virulence so that its effectiveness can be determined. As the spring advances it will also be necessary to monitor insects active in the vicinity of the virus to ascertain whether there are naturally occurring vectors for transmission. MAF would continue to manage monitoring and surveillance until a research programme is underway. Mr Upton says the Department of Conservation had also started monitoring the location of high priority protected species for evidence of increased predator activity. He says no decision has yet been made on whether further action should be taken to exploit the use of RCD as a rabbit control tool in a managed programme, but he will be meeting with parties interested in the use of RCD as a control tool tomorrow. Mr Upton says MAF had advised that releases of rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) virus have been made by landholders in the most rabbit prone areas of the South Island and possibly in the North Island, and that it is no longer feasible to eradicate the virus from New Zealand. Information to date indicated the virus had been widely used as a biocide (i.e. spread to rabbits through baits or injections) and that only minor "rabbit-to-rabbit" spread appeared to be occurring in many areas. The Cabinet agreed that MAF should now scale down its emergency response procedures to a managed regime. This will mean the closure of both the local and national Outbreak Response Centres. Monitoring and surveillance in the field will continue. MAF's Enforcement Unit, supported by the Police, will also continue to give priority to investigating offences associated with the illegal importation of the virus. =========================================== Rabbit Information Service, P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm (Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently) /`\ /`\ (/\ \-/ /\) )6 6( >{= Y =}< /'-^-'\ (_) (_) | . | | |} jgs \_/^\_/ Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 22:23:04 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Hegins Update Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970901222302.006f673c@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Six to eight activists using lockboxes blocked a main entrance road from at least 7am to well into the afternoon. At least one activist was reported to have suffered from heat related injuries. Traffic was routed around the protest. (Though we strongly supported their actions, this did delay and confuse the Rescue convoy for Fund For Animals.) I do not know the status of the activists at this time--especially the one with the heat injury (other reports will be coming out soon, I'm sure). Certainly, blocking the road made it difficult for many Shoot Supporters (SS) to get to the site and may have discouraged some people from attending (as well as causing great difficulty for one Hegins resident's yard sale). Other actions... --Red paint splattered on Hegins since on the interstate. --Reports of shattered windows at the home of one of the Hegins Shoot organizers. --Protestors lined the the streets of Hegins on the remaining route to enter the park. --One car in a far parking lot was set ablaze. A few assaults occured on activists within the park while engaged in Rescue activities by SS. A large SS crowd gathered around a tree, money was collected to motivate an SS member...said SS member climbed the tree to a point about three stories above ground to capture/dismember a wounded pigeon. He did not succeed. Upon returning to the ground, Hegins police promptly removed him from the area and, reportedly, arrested him. The police reported a "riot" situation at the Vet Vans after the Shoot officially ended. ("Riot" was the word used--I was filing an assault report with local police at the time when the report came over the radio.) A large SS mob gathered around the Vet Vans. I didn't catch the full situation--however, police intervened and the SS mob eventually broke into their own version of *protest* by sitting in the parking area and singing, "God Bless America"--a scene lasting 2-3 minutes (did they forget the words?). Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 22:28:00 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Admin Note--Subscription Options Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970901222758.006f0e34@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Why constantly repost this? Well, some people didn't keep the welcome letter....... Here are some items of general information (found in the "welcome letter" sent when people subscribe--but often lose!)...included: how to post and how to change your subscription status (useful if you are going on vacation--either by "unsubscribe" or "postpone"). --------------------------------------------------------------- To post messages to the list, send mail to ar-news@envirolink.org POSTING To post a *news-related item* (no discussions), send your message to: ar-news@envirolink.org Appropriate postings to AR-News include: posting a news item, requesting information on some event, or responding to a request for information. 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To unsubscribe, use: unsubscribe ar-news or: signoff ar-news If you have to subscribe again, use: subscribe ar-news first_name last_name (use false name if you want!) If you have problems, please contact: Allen Schubert ar-admin@envirolink.org Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 20:32:05 -0700 (PDT) From: civillib@cwnet.com To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: HEGINS (11:30pm EST) Message-ID: <199709020332.UAA15194@borg.cwnet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 8 activists are still being held at District Court in Hegins -- all on $50,000-$75,000 bail for multiple felony and misdemeanor counts. We are trying to get a final list of the charges which include riot, conspiracy to riot, obstructing a roadway, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and conspiracy. The bail was originally $75,000 but according to one report may have already been reduced. They are NOT IN JAIL. Seems the Hegins people want to make a windfall profit -- along with murdering thousands of birds -- collecting it. No such luck. The 8 have announced a mass hunger strike, despite some serious injuries sustained from their nearly 12 hour blockade of the one and only road through Hegins to the shoot. One activists has burns on her arm caused by the oil on a saw blade, and another has cuts on his arm caused by the saw. Several others were taken to the hospital for heat related exhaustian. The bail will not be paid; the protestors want their protest to continue, and urge others to follow suit. A representative from the Activist Civil Liberties Committee is now being with the judge. More when we have it. cres Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 20:26:33 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: It could happen again Message-ID: <340B8769.7C94@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit U.S. approval hearings will revive thalidomide demons Reuter Information Service WASHINGTON (September 1, 1997 11:34 a.m. EDT) - It sounds like a miracle drug, working against such scourges as cancer, leprosy and AIDS, but the seemingly wondrous drug being considered for approval by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee next week is thalidomide, which caused thousands of children around the world to be born with horrendous birth defects. The very name of the drug, prescribed with the benign intent of helping pregnant women overcome morning sickness, evokes images of people with flippers instead of arms, confined to wheelchairs by withered legs. Thalidomide was banned worldwide in 1962, but not before up to 12,000 children were born with deformities. Now the drug is enjoying a resurgence. The very qualities that make it so dangerous to developing embryos make it useful against the growth processes that lead to tumors. On Thursday the Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee will discuss a request by Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Celgene Corp., which wants the drug, which it would market as Synovir, licensed for treating leprosy. Celgene says it has also found positive effects against the wasting that accompanies AIDS, and other drug companies are lining up behind it. Rockville, Maryland-based EntreMed Inc says the drug may work against prostate cancer. Working with the National Cancer Institute, the company says it has also seen good results with brain cancer, glioblastoma, a tumor of the central nervous system, and Kaposi's sarcoma -- a once-rare cancer that is now one of the markers for AIDS. Bristol-Myers Squibb has the rights to thalidomide analogs that are being developed as oral anti-angiogenic drugs -- drugs that block the growth of tumors by stopping the blood vessels that feed them. A study published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" in May found thalidomide worked against mouth ulcers in people with AIDS, although it had many side-effects. The mouth ulcers can be serious -- some of the patients have to be fed through tubes because they cannot eat normally. "Thalidomide is the first treatment shown in a scientific study to heal those ulcers, but the course should be carefully monitored and limited in its duration because of the drug's potential toxicity," said Jack Killen of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Division of AIDS. Other researchers said it might work in graft-versus-host disease, which can kill transplant patients. Thalidomide has been used for decades in Brazil, having been given to an estimated 25,000 of that country's 240,000 patients with leprosy. Victims of the drug are watching cautiously. They want it carefully controlled, and warn it may have leave a legacy across the generations. Brazil's Thalidomide's Victim's Association says illiterate users are unaware of the risks of the drugs, and often pass it on to friends. It says thousands of deformed babies have been born as a result. The British-based Thalidomide Action Group says 11 of the 380 children born to thalidomide victims there have limb defects themselves. It is backing a controversial Australian scientist, William McBride, who says he has evidence the damage done by thalidomode can be passed down from generation to generation by altering the DNA in sperm and egg cells. McBride was struck off the Australian medical register in 1982 after he falsified results on another drug. McBride, who first warned of the dangers of thalidomide 30 years ago, said he was afraid it "could happen again." By MAGGIE FOX, Health and Science Correspondent =========================================================== On the margin: Thalidomide had been tested extensively on various animal species before its release; none of the animal studies predicted birth defects. The drug companies are trying to revive their investment now, putting the lives of patients at risk as they did in the 60s. Andy Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 23:41:33 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Activists Block Way to Pigeon Shoot Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970901234130.006efd68@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from AP Wire page: ----------------------------------- 09/01/1997 22:16 EST Activists Block Way to Pigeon Shoot HEGINS, Pa. (AP) -- Seven animal rights activists created a human road block Monday by linking their arms within 10-gallon containers of concrete, closing the main road leading to an annual pigeon shoot for 10 hours. Protesters at the Hegins Labor Day Pigeon Shoot, where participants shoot at an estimated 5,000 pigeons released from cages, dashed after wounded birds and rushed them to medical attention in the parking lot. The shoot has drawn protests for years. The road block, however, was a new twist. The protesters could not be moved because they sat on the ground in a circle on Route 25 with their arms linked through plastic tubes that were encased in the concrete-filled containers. Rescue crews had to use special equipment to cut through the concrete. The road is the main route from Interstate 81 to the event in this town 30 miles northeast of Harrisburg. Despite the road block, the shoot went on without a hitch, state police said. Traffic was rerouted to another road. Organizers say the shoot, which began in 1934, attracts 10,000 people each year and raises about $40,000 for the park and local charities. Last September, the Fund for Animals, which has protested the shoot since the 1980s, compiled about 27 certificates signed by producers, screenwriters and actors, including Alec Baldwin, Alicia Silverstone and Dennis Leary, urging Gov. Tom Ridge to stop the event. Ridge has refused to ask Hegins to stop the shoot, saying he doesn't want to interfere in local decisions.