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AR-NEWS Digest 385
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) (US) Environmental Showdown in House
by allen schubert
2) (BR) Progress threatens Brazil's vast wetlands
by allen schubert
3) Cocaine vaccine and other science breakthroughs
by Andrew Gach
4) Elephant birth control backfires
by Andrew Gach
5) Cat hair leads to murser conviction
by Andrew Gach
6) Boston U. WWAIL Candlelight Vigil Tonite
by Anna
7) [CA] Genetic engineering program
by David J Knowles
8) [UK] Rare snail threatens to halt =?iso-8859-1?Q?=A311m_?=
road
by David J Knowles
9) (AU) Australia Controls Koala Births
by allen schubert
10) Susan E. Paris' Damaging Article on Animal Rights
by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
11) Request for information on transplants
by Daniel Paulo Martins Ferreira
12) (US) Gov to Protect Wild Horses
by "H. Morris"
13) Co. produces Genetic cows
by "H. Morris"
14) cholesterol study
by "H. Morris"
15) (US) Millions of Animals To Be Saved by New AAVS Campaign
by allen schubert
16) Ben White - Testimonial
by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
17) FYI: Taurine & Vegans/Cats
by Pat Fish
18) Dogs & Cats IN Pet Food! (US)
by Pat Fish
19) Fwd: Researcher: Pandas Devoted Parents
by LMANHEIM@aol.com
20) National Anti Hunt Campaign - John Lewis Campaign
by Dave Shepherdson
21) [CA] Tuk's time will come in a park the bear has always called
home.
by David J Knowles
22) Job Offer - PAWS Seattle
by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
23) San Francisco live animal markets
by "Marie, Donna M (PB-dmmarie)"
24)
by Jun1022@cybernex.net (Weissman)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 00:58:07 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Environmental Showdown in House
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424005805.00685924@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
stuff about endangered species act
from CNN web page:
-------------------------------
Environmental Showdown in House
By DAVID ESPO Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) The first
environmental showdown of the year in
the House is taking shape over a
proposal to suspend the Endangered
Species Act to facilitate flood
control activities.
A provision added to a high-priority
spending bill last week would waive
provisions of the endangered species
law in regions declared federal
disaster areas in 1997 and also in
cases of "maintenance activities on
flood control facilities to prevent an
imminent threat to human lives and
property."
The provision is included in a bill
providing $8.2 billion for disaster
relief in more than 20 states North
Dakota and Minnesota among them and
for military operations in Bosnia. The
bill will be considered by the House
Appropriations Committee this week,
and is expected on the House floor
next week.
Environmentalists are out to narrow
the scope of the endangered species
provision when the appropriations
panel meets Thursday, if they are not
able to strike it altogether. "Those
who want to weaken the Endangered
Species Act anyhow have seized on the
tragic floods out in California and
elsewhere as the vehicle to do it"
said Brock Evans, head of the
Endangered Species Coalition.
Evans' comment was a reference to
free-standing legislation backed by
Reps. Wally Herger and Richard Pombo,
California Republicans, to loosen
endangered species protection.
The issue arose in the Appropriations
Committee, though, when Rep. Vic
Fazio, D-Calif., proposed a narrower
change to extend nationwide a limited
exemption that the administration had
granted 46 California counties for
emergency flood response and
short-term repair efforts.
At the suggestion of Rep. Joseph
McDade, R-Pa., Fazio's proposal was
changed in a subcommittee drafting
session last week to encompass
maintenance activities and to include
protections against a threat to human
lives and property.
A spokesman for Fazio said Tuesday the
congressman was working with Reps.
George Miller, D-Calif., and Sherwood
Boehlert, R-N.Y., to find a
compromise.
It's not clear whether conservatives
will attempt to substitute their own
proposal, more in keeping with the
measure drafted by Pombo and Herger
and approved recently by the House
Resources Committee.
The controversy is politically
significant because Republicans used
appropriations bills in 1995 to try to
sharply curtail the powers of the
Environmental Protection Agency an
attempt that ultimately failed and
handed President Clinton and Democrats
an issue in the 1996 election
campaign.
One GOP leadership aide, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said
Republicans have no desire to become
involved in a replay of the 1995
struggle, particularly on a spending
bill.
A moratorium on the filing of ethics
complaints in the House expires
tonight, although Republicans and
Democrats are expected to agree to an
extension until sometime next week. It
would be the third extension of a
cease-fire that originally was put
into effect over the winter to give a
bipartisan task force time to write
new ethics rules for the House.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey and
Democratic leader Dick Gephardt agreed
to establish the task force after
Speaker Newt Gingrich's ethics case
polarized the House along party lines.
There are widespread expectations that
the end of the moratorium would bring
a flood of ethics complaints from both
sides of the aisle. GOP sources,
speaking on condition of anonymity,
said consideration has been given to
filing complaints against Rep. David
Bonior, the House Democratic whip and
the sponsor of many of the ethics
charges against Gingrich. Democratic
officials, speaking on condition of
anonymity, have said they would
consider refiling unresolved
complaints against Gingrich and House
GOP Whip Tom DeLay.
As for Gingrich's case, the Georgia
Republican has yet to submit formal
documents to the ethics committee
relating to the $300,000 loan he
announced last week from Bob Dole. The
loan would pay the penalty Gingrich
was assessed in December for violating
House rules.
Gingrich's press secretary, Christina
Martin, said Tuesday the papers were
being drafted and would be submitted
for review.
In a floor speech last week, Gingrich
also said he would ask the House to
pass legislation affirming that his
$300,000 payment "is a voluntary
action on my part and will establish
no precedent for any other member in
the future." Ms. Martin said that
measure was still in the drafting
stage, and no timetable was set for a
vote in the House.
For continuous breaking news, see AP
Newstream
Associated Press news material shall
not be published, broadcast, rewritten
for broadcast or publication or
redistributed directly or indirectly
in any medium.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 01:02:22 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (BR) Progress threatens Brazil's vast wetlands
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424010214.00685924@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from CNN web page:
----------------------------------
Progress threatens Brazil's vast wetlands
Foes say canal would drain the Pantanal [sunset]
April 23, 1997
Web posted at: 11:17 p.m. EDT (0317 GMT)
From Correspondent Marina Mirabella
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazil's Amazon
rain forest is famous for being the largest in the
world, and because it is shrinking daily as
civilization carves into its flanks.
But Brazil has another ecological treasure, the
Pantanal, which just happens to be the largest
wetlands in the world, and it, too, is endangered.
Located in the heart of South America, the
Pantanal is home to more than 2,000 species of
birds and animals -- many of them rare. Until
recently it was largely ignored, but no more.
The reason, inevitably, is that it is threatened
by people and their hunger for progress.
"The Pantanal is a fragile and unique ecosystem
which could be facing an ecological catastrophe,"
says Paolo Nogueira-Neto of the Brazilian
Association for the Defense of the Environment.
[canopy] What worries ecologists, naturalists
and lovers of the wild is a plan to
build a water highway called Hydrovia on the
Paraguay and Parana rivers that cut through the
Pantanal.
Foes say Hydrovia would drain Pantanal
The proposed 2,100-mile (3,400 kilometers)
Hydrovia would link five South American countries:
Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia.
Supporters of the project say it will lower
transportation costs and provide a crucial link
among members of the regional trading block known
as Mercosur.
Opponents say the Hydrovia will severely alter the
Pantanal's ecosystem.
"The project calls for straightening and dredging
the rivers and removing rock formations to allow
year-round shipping," ecologist Jean Pierre Leroy
says. "All that will end up draining the
Pantanal."
And that, argue ecologists, would kill [trees]
many of the region's plants and animals.
There is also concern that the project would
attract investment and people to the Pantanal,
which would almost certainly harm the area's
indigenous tribes.
Brazil has yet to approve Hydrovia
"More people would move out to that area to start
new business and this would have a great impact.
We know historically that this would have a great
impact in Indian areas," says Claudia Menezes of
Brazil Earthkind.
Dredging has already begun in Argentina
and Bolivia, but Brazil has yet to
approve the project. With most of the Pantanal
located within its borders, it has the most to
lose and the least to gain.
"We are conducting environmental impact studies,"
says Gustavo Krause, Brazil's environment
minister, "and if they show that a Hydrovia will
damage the Pantanal, we will not allow
construction to go ahead."
The Brazilian government likely will decide later
this year whether the Pantanal will be used to
promote regional development or whether its unique
ecosystem will be left undisturbed.
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 22:16:12 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Cocaine vaccine and other science breakthroughs
Message-ID: <335EEC9C.5F8F@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Studies shed light on cocaine's kick
Reuter Information Service
LONDON (April 23, 1997 6:55 p.m. EDT) - U.S. researchers said Wednesday
they had demonstrated how cocaine gets people "high" and predicted their
tests could help develop better drugs to treat addicts.
Tests on mice have shown that cocaine acts on dopamine, a
neurotransmitter that carries signals between brain cells and is
important to movement and motivation.
Higher levels of dopamine create feelings of euphoria.
In mice, cocaine blocks the re-uptake of dopamine -- keeping it from
being absorbed back into cells and thus keeping more of it around for
longer.
Nora Volkow of Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and colleagues
found this also happens with people.
Positron emission tomography (PET) scans showed doses of cocaine blocked
between 60 percent and 77 percent of the enzyme that is responsible for
re-uptake of dopamine.
"This is the first demonstration in humans that the doses used by
cocaine abusers lead to a significant blockade of dopamine transporter,
and that this blockade is associated with the subjective effects of
cocaine," they wrote in a letter to the science journal Nature.
The dopamine transporter enzyme would be a good target for an
anti-cocaine drug, but they said any such drug would have to be given at
high enough doses to completely block the enzyme.
Volkow's group recruited 17 cocaine users, injected them with cocaine
and used the PET scans to see what was happening in the brain. The
volunteers were asked to describe whether they felt "high, a "rush,"
"restlessness" or "cocaine craving."
Cocaine acts very quickly, which could be why it is such a popular drug,
they said.
But they also showed that cocaine's kick wears off quickly. "After peak
effects, self-reports for the high declined faster than the rate of
clearance of cocaine from the brain," they wrote.
Dopamine's role was now well known, they said. "But addiction to cocaine
involves other effects, such as craving, loss of control, and compulsive
intake; the role of the dopamine system in these effects is less well
understood."
So they used PET scans to watch what happened when 20 cocaine addicts
and 23 non-addicted volunteers took methylphenidate, a drug that acts
like cocaine.
The addicts did not get as "high" as the non-users, and also said
methylphenidate gave them cocaine cravings.
Addicts had an extra response to the drug in the thalamus, which relays
sensory input to the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain that
controls movement, sense, thought and memory. Non-addicts did not show
this response.
Volkow's group said their findings could lead to better understanding of
how cocaine acts in the brain.
Scientists are looking for a way to help cocaine addicts quit. In 1995 a
team at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., said they
had created an anti-cocaine vaccine using a chemical very similar to
cocaine, known as a conjugate, to create antibodies against the drug.
-- By Maggie Fox, Reuter
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 22:21:03 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Elephant birth control backfires
Message-ID: <335EEDBF.D5B@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Elephant birth control project backfires
Agence France-Presse
JOHANNESBURG (April 23, 1997 09:37 a.m. EDT) - South Africa's Kruger
National Park has scrapped a birth control project for female elephants,
after it backfired, causing the tusked creatures to have a heightened
sex appeal, a report said.
A group of elephant cows implanted over a six-month period with estrogen
hormones intended to prevent conception -- had instead been left
permanently in heat, Kruger Park veterinarian Douw Grobler told
Johannesburg's daily Star newspaper.
Sex-driven males had been seen crowding around the females, Grobler
said, adding administrators of the sprawling game reserve had shelved
the program.
"At one stage there were eight bulls around one cow. This is
unacceptable and that is why the implants were terminated," Grobler
said. "At least we learned from this and won't ever have something like
this happen again."
Two baby elephants had disappeared, and were presumed dead, when their
mothers strayed off while in heat, Grobler said.
Researcher Henk Bertschinger said a second birth control plan, in which
elephant cows were immunized with pig "pelludida zona" proteins, was
continuing in the park, and had so far prevented females from becoming
pregnant.
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 22:24:45 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Cat hair leads to murser conviction
Message-ID: <335EEE9D.80F@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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DNA evidence from cat hair helps convict man on murder charges
The Associated Press
NEW YORK (April 23, 1997 8:13 p.m. EDT) -- Here's an odd tale from the
annals of DNA evidence in the courtroom: A Canadian man was convicted of
murder after hairs in a bloodstained jacket were genetically matched to
his parents' cat.
The man lived with his parents and Snowball, a white American shorthair.
The case, reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, is one of
the few times that nonhuman DNA has been used this way in a murder
trial.
The murdered woman was 32 when she disappeared from her home on Prince
Edward Island in 1994. Her body was found in a shallow grave a few
months later, and police suspected her former common-law husband.
By then, the brown leather jacket had been discovered, stuffed in a
plastic bag and left in the woods. Tests showed the bloodstains belonged
to the woman.
The cat hairs were found in the lining. Police recalled seeing Snowball
at the man's home during their investigation.
They sent a blood sample from Snowball and hair from the jacket to
Stephen J. O'Brien of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md.
O'Brien has studied cat genetics for 20 years.
O'Brien and colleagues report in Nature that Snowball's DNA matched
genetic material from the root of one of the hairs.
To help O'Brien compute the likelihood that such a match would occur by
chance, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had a local veterinarian draw
blood randomly from 19 cats. O'Brien studied DNA in those samples, plus
data from a prior survey of nine cats from the United States.
The likelihood that the jacket hair DNA would match Snowball's DNA just
by chance was computed at about 1 in 45 million.
The suspect was convicted of second-degree murder last July, and the DNA
evidence was "a major contributing factor," said Cpl. Phonse MacNeil of
the Mounties in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
Nonhuman DNA evidence has been used before in murder cases. In Arizona
in 1993, a man was convicted after DNA from seed pods in his pickup
truck was matched to a palo verde tree at the site where the victim's
body was found.
Edgar Espinoza, deputy director of the government's National Fish and
Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Ore., said he had heard of
another case in which hairs on a blanket that wrapped a murder victim
were matched by DNA to a suspect's dog.
O'Brien's analysis was admitted in the Canadian court after a special
hearing. George Sensabaugh, a professor of forensic and biomedical
science at the University of California at Berkeley, said such
evidence would probably be challenged by defense attorneys in a U.S.
court.
"Frankly, I don't know whether a court would accept it or not," he said.
One objection would be that so few cats were used to compute the
likelihood of a DNA match by chance, he said. Another would be that the
particular DNA trait matched is not generally used in forensic DNA
profiling, because of concerns about ambiguous findings, he said.
O'Brien said he made up for his small number of cats by making
comparisons at 10 sites in the DNA, more than usual in human cases. And
the DNA trait he used gave clear results in the Snowball case, he said.
O'Brien said his team did the analysis during O.J. Simpson's murder
trial.
"We were all watching the DNA evidence go down the toilet in the O.J.
Simpson case, and we were determined that was not going to happen to us,
" he said.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 02:01:24 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Anna
To: Veg-Boston@waste.org, ar-news
Subject: Boston U. WWAIL Candlelight Vigil Tonite
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEAVS Contact:
KarinZupko,Ph.D.
April 23, 1997
(617) 523-6020
BU SETA Contact Anna Hoveskeland
ahoves@bu.edu
CANDLELIGHT VIGILS COMMEMORATING ANIMALS
WHO SUFFER AND DIE IN LOCAL LABS
Students will hold a candlelight vigil April 24, World Day
for Animals in Labs (WDAL), 730 pm, Marsh Plaza (735 Commonwealth
Ave.) near the Martin Luther King Memorial Statue. WDAL is the
world's foremost united effort to reform medical research and bring
attention to animal experimentation or vivisection. The week of
April 20 - 27 is World Week for Animals in Labs (WWAL).
"We're sponsoring the events for WWAL to call public
attention to the more than 25 million animals in the U.S. who suffer
and die each year in laboratories for product and cosmetic testing,
in education and in biomedical experimentation," says Anna
Hoveskeland of BU Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Moreover, according to Dr. Zupko of the New England
Anti-Vivisection Society "Vivisection may satisfy experimenters'
scientific curiosity, but it does not provide answers to human health
problems. NEAVS supports humane research that is directly applicable
to humans, like clinical research, epidemiology and in vitro studies
with human cells and tissues."
Student groups at Tufts, BU, Harvard, and Tufts Medical are
also participating in tabling for WWAL and vigils for WDAL. Events
are planned throughout the world, including major US cities, New
York, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Seattle, and Atlanta.
END
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 01:10:09 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Genetic engineering program
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970424011050.0cc7e1b6@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
As part of a special day's programming on Vancouver Cooperative Radio
yesterday (April 22nd) to mark Earth Day, 'Animal Voices' aired a special
program which took a critical look at genetic engineering. (Also aired in
recognition of the Days of Action Against Genetic Engineering)
(Coop Radio is a Vancouver-based, non-profit, community radio station).
Appearing on the show was Dr John Fagin; Isobel Miser, coordinator for the
genetic engineering campaign at Greenpeace International in Amsterdam;
Rebecca Kneen, of Farm Folk/City Folk in Vancouver, B.C.; Jane Thornthwaite,
a Lower Mainland area Registered Dietician and Nutritionist who is also a
member of the B.C. Biotechnology Circle; and Brewster Kneen, publisher of
'The Ram's Horn', which deals with food system analysis, and who is also a
member of the B.C.B.C.
Areas covered in the program included the examples of the companies
involved; the plants and animals that have been genetically engineered; who
regulates the industry; the patenting of lifeforms; what has gone wrong with
gentic engineering to date, what the main concerns are; and what opposition
there has been.
Thanks to all those who helped in getting the show on air.
[If anyone is interested in obtaining a copy of the show, please e-mail me
privately.]
David J Knowles
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 03:00:57 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Rare snail threatens to halt £11m
road
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970424030138.0cc79218@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Thursday, April 24th, 1997
Rare snail threatens to halt £11m road
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
A RARE, 2mm-long snail found on the route of a £11 million bypass in Dorset
threatens to halt the scheme.
A large population of Desmoulin's whorl snail, which is strictly protected
under European law, was found on the route of the A351Sandford and Northport
bypass north of Wareham. It is the same species of snail which held up the
construction of the A34 Newbury bypass but the study says the population
found on Wareham meadows is larger.
The 10-mile Sandford and Northport bypass, which has yet to go to public
inquiry, has been described as "extremely damaging" by English Nature, the
Government's statutory conservation body. English Nature has objected
because it will destroy wet grassland and heath in the valley of the River
Piddle which is important for several species, including 10 pairs of rare
Cetti's warblers.
Discovery of Desmoulin's whorl snail means that English Nature will have to
decide whether to designate the site as a special area of conservation under
the EU habitats directive. In the recent case of the A34 Newbury bypass,
English Nature decided the population on the River Lambourn was not large
and could be moved. Dr Phil Sterling, Dorset county ecologist, said of the
new discovery: "This population is not small or moveable. It is just another
species
associated with this very important habitat."
Dr Lesley Haskins, Dorset Wildlife Trust's scientific adviser, said: "The
whole of the bypass is a problem because it goes through some wonderful
heathland but the Northport section is devastating for wildlife." The trust
will be opposing the bypass proposals for this stretch of road when the
planning applications are published later this year and will be pressing for
a public inquiry.
However, local residents, frustrated by long tailbacks and traffic
congestion during the summer months, have called for the bypass scheme to
include the Northport section. Robin Hilton, Sandford parish council
chairman, said: "There comes a point where the environment has got to be
carefully balanced with the needs of homo sapiens."
© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 08:12:00 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (AU) Australia Controls Koala Births
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424081157.006a0ac0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------
04/23/1997 22:07 EST
Australia Controls Koala Births
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Australian scientists are implanting birth
control
hormones in koalas in a landmark experiment aimed at stemming a population
explosion of the cuddly critters in a few areas.
The trial on 100 koalas began Wednesday in response to a unique problem
facing
the species: while the koala population is dwindling in most parts of
Australia, a few
overpopulated pockets are running out of food for the animals.
Australia introduced koalas on six isolated islands some 70 years ago in a
bid to
preserve the species from extinction, but the animals bred rapidly and are
facing
starvation after eating themselves out of available food, said Peter
Menkhorst, a
member of the birth control program.
Koalas live off leaves from certain types of eucalyptus trees. When a
population
grows too big, trees can be stripped bare by the hungry teddy bear-like
marsupials.
Menkhorst said the hormone implants will be tested for effectiveness as
contraceptives for up to five years. It is believed to be the first time
in hormones have
been used to manage wild animals anywhere in the world.
The trials involve injecting a small silicone tube containing a hormone
just beneath
the skin between shoulder blades of both males and females at the Tower Hill
Game Reserve near Warrnambool, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of
Melbourne.
``Some measures have had to be taken to reduce the ecological damage that
koalas are causing,'' said Menkhorst, the senior wildlife policy officer
at the
Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
``Culling was unacceptable and on balance we chose trial birth control for
both
males and females as the best available option,'' he said.
The koalas have been tagged to allow the effects of the hormone to be
evaluated.
In healthy populations, koalas produce one joey every year.
Last year, Australia embarked on another experiment in which vets performed
vasectomies on 30 male koalas on French Island near Melbourne.
No results have been released, but Menkhorst described the program as
promising.
Last year the government of the state of South Australia considered, but
rejected, a
plan to shoot koalas, which have overpopulated an island there.
Overpopulation of a species born from the same stock limits genetic
diversity, which
can be harmful to the species in the long term. A family with a limited
genetic pool
may be vulnerable to a disease, which could end up wiping out the entire
population.
There are no firm figures on the total koala population in Australia, but
estimates
range up to 80,000.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 97 07:32:25 UTC
>From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Susan E. Paris' Damaging Article on Animal Rights
Message-ID: <199704241234.IAA28788@envirolink.org>
I've been told that The Tulsa World is denying the article was even
in their paper. Well, I've got it on my desk in full sight as I type
this. If anyone wishes to write the newspaper and voice his/her opinion
on the article: The Tulsa World, "The People's Voice," PO Box 1770,
Tulsa, OK 74102 USA Fax#: 918-581-8353
The article appeared in the April 22nd Tulsa World newspaper, page A-11.
-- Sherrill
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 13:55:46 +0000 (GMT)
>From: Daniel Paulo Martins Ferreira
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Request for information on transplants
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Hy everybody.
I would like to know about the real role of animal research on
the development of transplants of every kind.
Any bit of information will be appreciated.
Regards.
Daniel Ferreira
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:53:35 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: (US) Gov to Protect Wild Horses
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424105326.0070196c@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
c The Associated Press
By MARTHA MENDOZA
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The federal government announced
tougher regulations Wednesday aimed at keeping wild horses and
burros out of the slaughterhouse. The crackdown came 3 1/2 months
after The Associated Press revealed abuses in a program designed to
find homes for the animals.
``There were allegations made, we checked into those
allegations, we decided a number of changes needed to be made and
we're making them,'' said Bob Johns, a spokesman with the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management.
The BLM manages about 42,000 wild horses and burros on public
lands in 10 Western states. During the past 25 years, more than
175,000 of the animals have been rounded up and placed with
adopters for about $125 each.
Earlier this year, the AP found out that thousands of the
animals were being slaughtered and that BLM employees were
profiting. The AP also discovered that the BLM had lost track of
about 32,000 animals placed with adopters.
Under the new guidelines, new adopters will be contacted within
six months, home inspections will increase and BLM employees will
no longer be allowed to adopt at reduced prices.
``We're going to be checking in on more adopters to make sure
horses are properly cared for, we're going to spot-check
slaughterhouses to make sure they comply with the law, and we're
going to keep better track of horses and adopters,'' said BLM
acting director Sylvia Baca.
Also, adopters who care for an animal for one year can apply for
title of ownership to the animal, and those who don't apply after
15 months will be contacted by the BLM.
``These changes will result in better management of wild horses
and greater assurance of successful adoptions by caring and
qualified individuals,`' said Ms. Baca.
Ms. Baca said the agency will work to ensure that no untitled
wild horse or burro is slaughtered and processed for human
consumption.
However, Johns said in Washington that the agency will not end
it's policy of allowing titled horses to be sold to slaughter -
often for profit. Animal rights groups have argued that federal law
prohibits selling an adopted horse for slaughter even after the
adopter obtains a title.
``We are confident of our interpretation of the law which
essentially says once horses become titled they are private
property and are no longer protected,'` he said.
Several horse slaughterhouse managers have said they routinely
kill wild horses without checking whether the government still has
legal title to the animals. The horses are recognizable by distinct
federal freeze brands on their necks.
On Wednesday, Jack Bond, manager of the Central Nebraska Packing
horse slaughterhouse, said BLM spot checks ``wouldn't bother me a
bit.`'
``Whatever I get I have a title for,`' he said. ``I just don't
take the untitled horses.'`
Ms. Baca also announced that complaints about alleged criminal
activity in the horse adoption program would now be referred to the
Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, which investigates
charges of public corruption.
Justice Department spokesman Joe Krovisky said referring such
complaints to the Public Integrity Section is unusual.
``On this particular case there have been a lot of allegations
about internal misconduct by some BLM employees,`' he said.
``They're taking this special step to protect the integrity of an
investigation.'`
Karen Sussman, who rescues wild horses and burros from
slaughterhouse auctions in Arizona, said she was encouraged the BLM
is looking at the program but doesn't think the new rules will make
much difference.
``Unless they're going to tighten up their screening process of
who gets horses in the first place, they're just going to have the
same old problems,`' Ms. Sussman said.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:54:51 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: Co. produces Genetic cows
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424105442.006fdf30@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Phone numbers are included for those of you who would like to ummm,
errrr, learn more......
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1997--Alta (TSE AGI.)
Alta Genetics Inc. ("AGI") announced that Mr. Douglas G. Blair,
president and chief executive officer of AGI, purchased 93,300 common
shares of AGI through a series of purchases between April 11 and
April 22, 1997 by way of the facilities of The Toronto Stock
Exchange.
Mr. Blair now holds 500,500 (approximately 10.0 percent) of the
outstanding common shares of AGI.
Mr. Blair acquired the securities for investment and intends to
make future purchases of common shares of AGI through the facilities
of The Toronto Stock Exchange from time to time.
Alta Genetics is engaged in the production, research and
marketing of products and services based on cattle genetics. The
company specializes in bull semen, cow embryos, live cattle, and
reproductive technologies. Research is focused on the application of
technology to maintain the company's worldwide reputation for
quality genetics. About half of the company's 1996 revenues were
derived from products exported to over 50 countries. Common shares
of Alta Genetics Inc. trade on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the
symbol "AGI".
CONTACT:
Alta Genetics Inc.
Douglas G. Blair, 403/239-8882
403/241-4524 (FAX)
or
Alta Genetics Inc.
Donald B. Dufault, 403/226-4238
403/226-4259 (FAX)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:55:01 -0400
>From: "H. Morris"
To: "ar-news@envirolink.org"
Subject: cholesterol study
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424105456.006ec5c0@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
This study was funded by Wyeth Aherst- horse torturers--which explains the
lack of emphasis on vegetarianism as a potential means to lower cholesterol
levels.
.c The Associated Press
By BRENDA C. COLEMAN
CHICAGO (AP) - Women with heart disease are getting far too
little treatment for dangerously high levels of so-called ``bad''
cholesterol, which can lead to early death, researchers found.
The study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical
Association found that fewer than one of every 10 female heart
patients had received treatment that lowered their bad cholesterol
to a safe level.
With proper treatment, researchers said 80 percent of them could
have achieved safe levels of LDL, the low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol that promotes fatty deposits in arteries that can cause
a heart attack or stroke.
Treatment usually requires cholesterol-lowering drugs,
controlling high blood pressure and diabetes, and lifestyle changes
including quitting smoking, losing weight, eating properly and
exercising.
Dr. Helmut G. Schrott, the lead author and an associate
professor of preventive and internal medicine at the University of
Iowa, said the findings suggest that either doctors aren't treating
women aggressively enough, or women aren't taking the drugs
prescribed for them.
``I suspect it is the first one,'' he said.
Almost half of the 2,763 women in the nationwide study were on
cholesterol-lowering drugs, but only 9 percent of the total had LDL
levels at or below 100 milligrams per tenth of a liter of blood,
the federally recommended maximum for heart patients.
Part of the problem, said an accompanying editorial by experts
not involved in the study, is that women are often believed to be
less threatened by heart disease or less responsive to treatment -
both erroneous assumptions.
Heart disease is the leading killer of women. Some 233,000 women
die annually from heart attacks, 87,000 more from strokes. The
total is more than sevenfold the annual toll from breast cancer.
Dr. Dean Ornish, a heart disease prevention expert not involved
in the study, disagreed with Schrott's view that inadequate
treatment was behind the high levels of bad cholesterol in women.
``This study clearly shows that most people don't take their
pills,'' said Ornish, adding that most patients aren't motivated
long-term to take drugs that don't improve the way they feel for
``some hoped-for future benefit.''
Ornish advocates using drugs to lower cholesterol only as a last
resort. Patients can feel vastly better and reach safe LDL levels
with an extremely low-fat vegetarian diet, exercise and stress
reduction, said Ornish, director of the Preventive Medicine
Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif.
Most women studied were overweight and sedentary; almost one in
every eight still smoked. Excess weight and lack of exercise
promote higher LDL levels; smoking hastens the damage that excess
blood cholesterol can cause, previous studies have indicated.
The study was funded by Wyeth-Ayerst, the manufacturer of
Premarin, a hormone-replacement drug taken by millions of
postmenopausal women. Subjects included women taking hormones and
those not taking hormones.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 12:07:27 -0400
>From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: AAVSDC@aol.com
Subject: (US) Millions of Animals To Be Saved by New AAVS Campaign
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970424120724.006b8c4c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
posted for AAVSDC@aol.com:
----------------------------------------------
News Release
For Immediate Release: Contact: David Cantor, 215-887-0816
April 24, 1997
American Anti-Vivisection Society Unveils Campaign
To End Animal Suffering in Antibody Production
The nation's longest-operating organization advocating for animals in
laboratories--the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS)--brought together
scientists and animal advocates at the New York Academy of Sciences
yesterday, April 23rd, to announce its groundbreaking petitions to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health to require
U.S. laboratories to stop using a method of monoclonal antibody production
that is cruel to animals.
Monoclonal antibodies are specially designed to attach to just one foreign
material in the body. Every day they affect the lives of people throughout
the world. Early detection and treatment of many cancers, pregnancy tests,
and diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections are some of the many uses of
monoclonal antibodies. They are also used in essentially every field of
biomedical research.
"But such widespread use is no excuse for continuing to cause more than a
million animals to suffer and die each year in U.S. laboratories when readily
available alternatives are superior," says John McArdle, Ph.D., the AAVS'
science advisor and director of the Alternatives Research & Development
Foundation (ARDF), the AAVS' scientific affiliate dedicated to advancing the
use of alternatives to animals in laboratories. A procedure still used in
many laboratories involves implanting tumor cells in animals' abdomens,
McArdle explains. "The animals suffer terribly from tumor growth, swelling,
and the draining of antibody-containing fluid from their bodies."
Scientists from the U.S. and The Netherlands who took part in today's news
conference point out that the animal method is already banned in The
Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. A European panel of scientists
ECVAM, the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods--just
this month published its recommendation that the entire European Union adopt
News Release Page Two
a ban because alternatives are sufficient. "It is a sad commentary that U.S.
animal-use policy is so far behind other countries on antibody production,"
McArdle says.
The ARDF funded development of one of the simplest and least expensive
alternatives for monoclonal antibody production: gas-permeable tissue culture
bags. These plastic bags, specially designed to allow precise exchange of
gasses, are now available from DiagXotics, Inc., in a kit containing all
necessary items to make antibodies. John Reddington, D.V.M., Ph.D.,
president & CEO of DiagXotics, explained to those in attendance today that
the kit can produce antibodies at one-third of the cost of the animal method.
Antibodies accumulate much more quickly in the bags, Reddington said,
without the contamination that occurs with the use of animals.
AAVS Executive Director Tina Nelson says early results of McArdle's recent
survey of registered U.S. laboratories indicate a need for a policy change.
"Many people who use animals for antibody production requested information
on the alternatives. That is a positive sign," Nelson said. "The National
Institutes of Health is required by law to ensure the use of alternatives.
The Department of Agriculture is supposed to enforce the Animal Welfare Act,
which requires that experimenters consider alternatives before using animals.
Our petitions are designed to make sure they do their job so needless
suffering in monoclonal antibody production ends quickly."
Nelson noted that the launch of the AAVS' Antibodies without Animals Campaign
coincides with World Week for Animals in Laboratories, an annual occasion in
which animal protection organizations throughout the world hold special
events to advocate for animals used in biomedical experimentation.
The AAVS is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting
the well-being of all animals. Founded in 1883, its primary mission is to
ensure humane research and instruction by working to end animal
experimentation and classroom use of animals, including dissection. The AAVS
pursues its objectives through legal and legislative efforts, education, and
publications.
- 42 -
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 09:09:35 -0700 (PDT)
>From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Ben White - Testimonial
Message-ID: <199704241609.JAA03313@olympic.brigadoon.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
In celebration of BEN WHITE, a friend of animals who'll go to the wall, and
hang a banner from it.
What follows is a brief profile of Ben White and a rough sketch of his
tenacity and effectiveness. This outpouring of sentiment is coming forth
partly because we feel it's good for those working for animals and habitats
to get to know each other, and partly because it seems about time Ben got
some well deserved thanks. Ben has long demonstrated his high integrity and
dedication to whales, dolphins, and the myriad miracles of life, but he is
refereshingly unusual among gung-ho activists in that he not only speaks, he
listens, and learns from others. So it seems only right, and entertaining,
to recall his adventures and savor his successes with him.
For almost thirty years Ben has been a gutsy activist on many fronts. In
1968, at 16 years old, Ben infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan for a high school
paper, turning in his findings to the FBI. Ever since then, Ben has worked
to stop the abuse of animals and the destruction of the planet through an
almost unbelievable trail of direct actions, legal challenges and public
awareness campaigns.
In 1971 Ben dove among some dolphins off Hawaii. As he commingled with their
sentient intelligence he saw through the cultural wall that separates us
from our fellow creatures and learned something then that has never left
him, about the completeness and grace of dolphins, and their fascinating and
mysterious ways. From then on Ben has had an incredibly high profile in the
Save The Whales movement. In 1981 he joined Sea Shepherd Society to document
and try to stop the killing of gray whales. After he became an officer in
Sea Shepherd in 1983, he went from one direct action to another, from
getting primates released from a zoo in Grenada to obstructing a seal hunt
in Newfoundland, where he faced possible life in prison.
Ben and Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd were a very effective pair of radical
activists for almost ten years. Eventually, however, they parted company on
the issue of keeping whales and dolphins in captivity. Ben continues to
campaign, negotiate, network, orchestrate and cut nets to liberate cetaceans
confined as commodities for human use and abuse. All this direct action has
created a need for crafty and dedicated lawyers, who also deserve thanks for
managing to keep Ben out of jail for more than a few days or facing huge
fines. Seven years ago in South Carolina Ben assisted South Carolina Assn.
for Marine Mammal Protection and Humane SPCA of SC in halting the
construction of a $60 million marine park which would have displayed six
species of cetacean. This victory was expanded as these grass roots groups
had legislation passed that prohibited the display of cetaceans in the
state of South Carolina.
In 1993 Ben was crucial to negotiations that led to an agreement to release
Keiko. The agreement was sabotaged by the marine park industry the next day,
but the release plan generated such public support that the the big boy may
get home yet. Last year Ben's defense against trespassing charges helped
overturn the forest closure law, which led to the release of over 200 people
who had been arrested with Ben as they protested clear-cutting old growth
forest. These are just a smattering of the highlights.
Ben deserves huge thanks for all the work he has done recently to try to
liberate the Taiji orcas. As soon as he heard about the captures, he went to
Japan to get them out. He couldn't get close to the nets to cut them open
for the orcas to swim out, so he returned to sit by the orcas on a hunger
strike and send a message to the world. But by the time Ben got there with
his tarp and water, the last orcas had been moved to an aquarium overnight
and there was not even a trace of the sea pens. Now we hear that the orca
communities around Japan have been almost extinguished in the past few
decades, giving even greater urgency to public awareness campaigns in that
country.
Ben just doesn't let up. He has been pivotal to invoking long-ignored laws
against animal cruelty and to passing needed legislation to protect our
fellow animals and whole habitats. He'll go straight to the top if need be.
Al Gore has experienced Ben's incisive tongue. Once on a slow day Ben
successfully threatened Disney into calling off their capture of elephants,
giraffes and rhinos in Africa. Dozens of small whales and dolphins are today
swimming free after escaping through holes cut by our friend Ben. He often
goes straight to the point of injury to alleviate pain caused by greedy
humans who are oblivious to the suffering of others, and when he does, he
goes beyond his own comfort level, as a kind of prayer and worship in his
gratitude for the blessing of living on this plentiful planet. He has
inspired and educated many of us with his high sensitivity for the feelings
of animals and his resolute actions to help them. His two young kids, Julia
and Bennie, no doubt learn from Ben every day and are a joy to behold. Ben's
work has infused new reverence for life into that sluggish body politic
called mainstream society, and he continues to show by his words and
deeds how to live in harmonious diversity on our precious Planet Earth.
Thank you, Ben, We're with you.
Signed by:
Tom Ahola - Finland
Steven Aikenhead - Canada
Janet Allen - Canada -
Janine Anderson - Australia
Will Anderson - US
Chantal Nahir Arguiano - Argentina
Sue Arnold - Australia
Marcio Augelli - Brazil
Stefan Austermuhle - Germany
Michael Bailey - US
Ken Balcomb - US
Kelley Balcomb-Bartok - US
Cara Banks - Canada
Scott Banks - Canada
Bryn Barnard - US
Rebecca Barnard - US
Gabriela Bellazzi - Argentina
Mark Berman - US
Dean Bernal - Turks & Caicos
Lesli Bisgould - Canada
Ed Bourke - US
Laura Bourke - US
Jody Boyman - US
Bobby Bradley - US
Katherine Bragdon - US
Ricky Bribriesca - US
Lloyd Brown - US
Stephanie Brown - Canada
Jim Burton - US
Henry Brzezinski - US
Doug Cartlidge - United Kingdom
Jane Cartmill - US
Barbara Caselli - US
Hugo Castello - Argentina
Kathy Cetron - US
Ellen Chaillet - US
Mark Chaillet - US
Bob Chorush - US
Fran Clarke - United Kingdom
Alan Cooper - United Kingdom
Anne Crimaudo - US
Gail Dallaire - Canada
Patricia De Broin - Canada
Noelle Delaquis - Switzerland
Maria Pia DiNanno - Argentina
Danielle DiVincenzo - Canada
Margaux Dodds - United Kingdom
Carl Dortch - US
Mary Ellen Drayer - US
Sam Duncombe - Bahamas
Tony Duncombe - Bahamas
Robin Duxbury - US
Catherine Ens - Canada
Niki Entrup - Austria
Max Farrugia - Malta
Frank Florio - Canada
Mitchell Fox - US
Lori Frieburger - US
Jim Frohoff - US
Anna Frolich - Sweden
Sally Gamble - Bahamas
Erez Ganor - Israel
Howard Garrett - US
Diane George - Canada
Jessica Glatzer - US
John Gleiber - US
Corinne Goyetche - Canada
Mac Hawley - US
Donna Hertel - US
Steve Hindi - US
Patrick Lee Hord - US
Erich Hoyt - Scotland
Charlene Inglis - US
Steve Jarvis - US
Francis Jeffrey - US
Hardy Jones - US
Tanya Jones - New Zealand
Kelly Keagy-Bullock - US
Kathy Kelly - US
Cathy Kinsman - Canada
Gini Kopecky - US
Kyenan Kum - South Korea
Lisa Lange - US
Debbie Leahy - US
Leah Lemieux - Canada
Ken LeVasseur - US
Doris Lin - US
Robin Lord - US
Jane Mather - Bahamas
June Medina - Canada
Angi Mentzer - US
Mark McAlpine - Canada
Athena McEntyre - US
Brian McHattie - Canada
Donna Metzer - Germany
Wayne Mercier - Canada
Steve Miller - US
Martina Mohrbach - Germany
Dan Morast - US
Sergio Mendez Moreno - Mexico
Liz Noetzel - US
Valerie Nilsson - Canada
Padraic Nolan - US
Susan Oseth - US
Jose Truda Palazzo - Brazil
Nina Pardo - Peru
James Pearson - Canada
Ken Petersen - Canada
Jenny Pike - US
Brendan Price - Ireland
Debra Probert - Canada
Tove Reece - Canada
Adam Roberts - US
Heather Rockwell - US
Daniel Rolke - Sweden
Bill Rossiter - US
Suzanne Roy - US
Ruth Samuels - US
Liz Sandeman - United Kingdom
Val Schirmer - Germany
Walter Schirmer - Germany
Amy Schlachtenhaufen - US
Bob Schoelkopf - US
Jennifer Semro - US
Brigitte Sifaoui - France
David Smith - United Kingdom
Annelise Sorg - Canada
Paul Spong - Canada
Rick Spill - US
Chris Stroud - United Kingdom
Ann Swartz - US
Viivi Syrja - Finland
Matt Texier - US
Jane Tipson - US
Barbara Tracy - US
Ruth Van Der Leij - Netherlands
Diederik Van Liere - Netherlands
Scott Van Valkenburg - US
Andrea Villiers - Canada
Peter Wallerstein - US
Simon Waters - US
Lisa Wathne - US
Don White - US
Suzie White - US
Brian Wilson - US
Nancy Wilson - US
Pat Wilson - US
Julie Woodyer - Canada
Jim Yates - US
Lisa Ziobro - US
Mindy Zuschlag - US
Lillian Zuyovich - US
Bob Chorush Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 (206) 787-2500 ext
862, (206) 742-5711 fax
email bchorush@paws.org http://www.paws.org
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 13:16:01 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish
To: nnetwork@cwnet.com
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: FYI: Taurine & Vegans/Cats
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Apparently Taurine can now be manufactured without animals, since it's now
present in the Vegan cat foods that I'm aware of. But you should always ask
for the source of such items, because unless it specifically states "vegan"
it's probably from an animal source [meat, eggs milk]. Anecdoteally, the
Vegan cats I know of are doing fine- in fact, better than when they were on
the usual pet industry "stuff". Certainly their allegry problems are
improved.
howej@sunyit.edu is fairly knowledgeable about veggie dogs and cats. Drop
her a line.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 13:31:16 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish
To: "* You * (and others?)":;@fang.cs.sunyit.edu
Subject: Dogs & Cats IN Pet Food! (US)
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
FOOD PETS DIE FOR
CBS affiliate WTVH (Syracuse NY) is running a series of segments on the
garbage in "pet" food, including dead dogs and cats.
You can see the story updated daily at: http://www.wtvh.com
The reporter, Maureen Green, says dogs and cats come from, among other
places, many animal shelters. Even without your animal eating other dogs
and cats, most of what's in even the "reputable" pet foods are the items
"unfit for human consumption". Here's an outtake from their website:
----
The Food and Drug Administration also allows a concoction of the "Four
D's." They include animals that are diseased, disabled, dying, or dead
from an *unknown* cause. An FDA publication claims high temperatures
kill all possible harmful bacteria and viruses. You're probably
wondering if that's good for the pet you love and you must be curious
about where the dead dogs and dead cats are coming from.
----
The reports will be aired sequentially at 6PM each night till Friday night.
If you have additional information for the report, please contact:
satkinsn@wtvh.com, awood@wtvh.com, jbernier@wtvh.com
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 15:02:40 -0400 (EDT)
>From: LMANHEIM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Researcher: Pandas Devoted Parents
Message-ID: <970424150239_839908940@emout04.mail.aol.com>
This article reports some humane progress in China--at least where Giant
Pandas are concerned.
In a message dated 97-04-24 09:06:58 EDT, AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net writes:
<< Subj:Researcher: Pandas Devoted Parents
Date:97-04-24 09:06:58 EDT
From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
.c The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) - Panda mothers are devoted to their young and
breed much better in the wild than in zoos, according to a Chinese
researcher who has spent two decades studying the cuddly looking
creatures.
During 20 years in the rugged mountains that are home to China's
1,000-some giant pandas, Beijing University biology professor Pan
Wenshi has found that the only way to ensure the survival of the
extremely endangered species is to protect their habitat, the
official China Daily reported today.
The animals, which have trouble conceiving and rearing healthy
cubs in zoos, are much more prolific breeders when not in
captivity, Pan found.
One female panda observed for almost five years, Jiaojiao,
produced four living cubs over the past eight years or so.
``Jiaojiao's steady reproduction shows that pandas living in the
wild reproduce far faster and better than we expected when we
started our research,'' Pan was quoted as saying.
The behavior of her family has given the researchers much
valuable information about the species, the report said.
The second cub, a female, has been seen helping her mother care
for the younger two cubs, with yet another cub, an older male,
staying close by, Pan reported.
``That scene is valuable in research because it indicates pandas
maintain a close-knit family relationship,'' Pan said.
He said the practice of ``rescuing'' panda cubs left alone in
caves or tree holes and then putting them in breeding centers for
protection is mistaken.
``We've found, through our observation, that mother pandas can
leave their babies for more than 50 hours, but the mothers will
always return,'' he said.
Newborn pandas are underdeveloped, unable to see or hear, so
``female pandas always take great care of their own cubs,'' Pan
said.
Pan and fellow researchers object to proposals to breed
``test-tube'' pandas, saying that so little is known about the
reproductive physiology of the animal that such research would only
cause the animals harm.
To protect the pandas, Pan said protected areas must be expanded
to guarantee them a large, natural habitat, and poaching must be
prevented.
Giant pandas are native only to China. They are divided into at
least 24 small populations separated by mountain ranges, rivers,
roads, clear-cut forests and towns, the report said.
Some of the panda populations number only about 20, making their
survival doubly difficult because of a lack of genetic diversity.
Research by Pan and his students prompted China to designate 14
new special reserves for giant pandas, ending clear cutting of
timber in northern Shaanxi province, where 230 giant pandas live. >>
---------------------
Forwarded message:
>From:AOLNewsProfiles@aol.net
Date: 97-04-24 09:06:58 EDT
.c The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) - Panda mothers are devoted to their young and
breed much better in the wild than in zoos, according to a Chinese
researcher who has spent two decades studying the cuddly looking
creatures.
During 20 years in the rugged mountains that are home to China's
1,000-some giant pandas, Beijing University biology professor Pan
Wenshi has found that the only way to ensure the survival of the
extremely endangered species is to protect their habitat, the
official China Daily reported today.
The animals, which have trouble conceiving and rearing healthy
cubs in zoos, are much more prolific breeders when not in
captivity, Pan found.
One female panda observed for almost five years, Jiaojiao,
produced four living cubs over the past eight years or so.
``Jiaojiao's steady reproduction shows that pandas living in the
wild reproduce far faster and better than we expected when we
started our research,'' Pan was quoted as saying.
The behavior of her family has given the researchers much
valuable information about the species, the report said.
The second cub, a female, has been seen helping her mother care
for the younger two cubs, with yet another cub, an older male,
staying close by, Pan reported.
``That scene is valuable in research because it indicates pandas
maintain a close-knit family relationship,'' Pan said.
He said the practice of ``rescuing'' panda cubs left alone in
caves or tree holes and then putting them in breeding centers for
protection is mistaken.
``We've found, through our observation, that mother pandas can
leave their babies for more than 50 hours, but the mothers will
always return,'' he said.
Newborn pandas are underdeveloped, unable to see or hear, so
``female pandas always take great care of their own cubs,'' Pan
said.
Pan and fellow researchers object to proposals to breed
``test-tube'' pandas, saying that so little is known about the
reproductive physiology of the animal that such research would only
cause the animals harm.
To protect the pandas, Pan said protected areas must be expanded
to guarantee them a large, natural habitat, and poaching must be
prevented.
Giant pandas are native only to China. They are divided into at
least 24 small populations separated by mountain ranges, rivers,
roads, clear-cut forests and towns, the report said.
Some of the panda populations number only about 20, making their
survival doubly difficult because of a lack of genetic diversity.
Research by Pan and his students prompted China to designate 14
new special reserves for giant pandas, ending clear cutting of
timber in northern Shaanxi province, where 230 giant pandas live.
AP-NY-04-24-97 0547EDT
Copyright 1997 The
Associated Press. The information
contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without
prior written authority of The Associated Press.
To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles.
For all of today's news, go to keyword News.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 20:46:46 +-100
>From: Dave Shepherdson
To: "'AR-News'"
Subject: National Anti Hunt Campaign - John Lewis Campaign
Message-ID: <01BC50F0.D2FCFEA0@ppp19.almac.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Newcastle upon Tyne 24/4/97
John Lewis Partnership, owners of Waitrose and a chain of other stores in the UK, run a shooting
estate in Hampshire where their staff blast away at thousands of pheasants, ducks, pigeons,
partridges and squirrels.
At their Newcastle store, Bainbridges, a demonstration was held to mark a visit by other store
managers who were judging the efficiency of each others stores. The demonstrators from NARC
and the Green Party handed out leaflets in the store and released banners suspended by balloons
inside the store. Despite it being a peaceful demonstration 4 of the demonstrators were arrested
on conspiracy charges and another person was arrested later when the houses of the detained
protesters were raided by the police.
John Lewis Stores:
Peter Sloanes, Bonds, Caley's, Cole Bros, Heelas, Jessop and Son, Knight and Lee, George Henry
Lee, Robert Sayle, Trewins, Tyrrell and Green
NARC (Newcastle Animal Rights Coalition)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 13:18:54 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Tuk's time will come in a park the bear has always called
home.
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970424131916.22cf4f56@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
[Sorry about the delay in posting this - I only just came across it]
>From The Vancouver Sun - Wednesday, April 23rd, 1997
Pete McMartin column
Usually, the bear enclosure in Stanley PArk is shaded and cool, but the sun
will clear the tree canopy by early afternoon and beat down on the
enclosure's concrete floor. On this day, Tuk, the park's solitary polar
bear, shuffled out of his cage, lay down with all the laboriousness of old
age, and, lolling there in the sun, went to sleep. A puddle of drool
collected on the concrete beneath his mouth.
The small crowd that witnessed this was the usual odd flotsam you would find
in Stanley Park on a weekday afternoon: A Japanese tourist in an orange hat
who whistled at Tuk, trying to rouse him; her husband, recording Tuk's
breathtaking immobility on videocam; a man in a soiled winter coat who
regarded Tul, then walked off, muttering, "If only I had something to wake
him with ...."; and a small feral-looking boy, the kind who looks as if he
had grown up between cracks in the concrete, who hurled a handful of peanuts
at the sign in the enclosure that read "Do Not Feed The Bears." The peanuts
rained down around Tuk. He ignored them.
Eventually, he roused himself, and came slowly up on all fours. He held his
head low to the ground in a hang-dog droop, and he sagged in the belly, in
the jowels and at his throat, which hung as a flapping pouch beneath his
jaw. His pelt draped so loose on his haunches he appeared to be wearing
trousers. His paws were the size of throw pillows, and still impressively
clawed, but he walked gingerly - a geriatric tenderly negotiating gravity.
His once-black muzzle had whitened, has had his eyebrows, and he looked out
at the world beyond the enclosure with a watery near-sighted squint. (It
took a while before the resemblance came to me: Mr Magoo.) As for his
once-pristine white pelt, it had discolored to a uniform nicotine stain. Tuk
was 36 - an impossibly advanced age for a bear - and he looked like an old
worn rug.
"His fur coat was quite a bit thicker a couple of months ago," Mike
Mackintosh said.
"With the weather warming up, he doesn't look as bushy as he did during the
winter."
Mackintosh, the zoo curator, is the man responsible for Tuk's well-being,
and will, when the time comes, put him down. Tuk is beyond our remorse and
new-found sensibilities concerning captivity, and all that is left now for
him, Mackintosh said, is the denouement. Tuk - too brittle to survive
relocation - will die in the cage he lived his life in.
"We have to let time take its course now," Mackintosh said, "and he's got
very littl;e time left."
His death will mark the end of the bear pit's blemish on Stanley Park.
People still complain about it, as they did in 1962, when Tuk, orphaned by
an Inuit hunter, first arrived from Cape Bathurst. But, Mackintosh said:
"Tuk's doing well. I'd say his health's improved since Lady was put down."
Lady, the exhibit's only female polar bear, was a harridan who regularly
terrorized Tuk. She was put down in 1993 after breaking a leg. Left to
himself, Tuk has eased into old age.
"He eats is breakfast much more slowly, just like my father-in-law. He tends
to relish is breakfast a little more, knowling there's no one there to
snatch it away from him.
"It's going to be a sad day when he dies, but it's going to be a relief,
I've always been torn by Tuk."
Mackintosh told the story about the time Tuk saved a kitten. In 1983, a
group of kids lobbed a kitten into the enclosure, where it fell into the
pool. Tuk slipped into the pool and emerged with the drowning kitten
daintily held at the scruff of his neck in his teeth. Tul licked it dry ,
and kept it safe from the other bears until his handlers could rescue it.
"A lady wrote a book called "Animal Heroes", I think," Mackintosh said, "and
Tuk was in it. I understand the Fox Network called her about it, wanting to
do something on him."
We watched Tuk scratch his neck along the serrated edge of a pipe. He
yawned. Old age had given him a sweet face, and a young mother pushing a
stroller cooed at him as if he was one of her own. "You're an old baby,
aren't you? Yes, you are."
"You anthropomorphize about animals at your peril," Mackintosh said, "but he
was always the most amiable of the bears.
"Tuk was a serendipity bonzo, off on his own."
An analogy suddenly struck Mackintosh. Smiling, he said:
"He was sort of your goofy little brother. He was the Beaver."
[ A little while ago, I spoke with a local councillor, who was one of the
volunteers who helped feed some of the bears when they arrived 35 years ago.
She told me that, at the time, it seemed the right thing to do. The bears
were orphans, and would have died if they had been left. Now, she says, she
feels a little differently, thinks that the life the bears led in captivity
was cruel, and wonders if they did the right thing after all.]
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 13:52:47 -0700 (PDT)
>From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Job Offer - PAWS Seattle
Message-ID: <199704242052.NAA17987@olympic.brigadoon.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Office Manager / Campaigner
To coordinate advocacy and office work for animal protection org. Exp. in
writing, research, organization, computers. Sal. +/- 19K plus benefits.
PAWS, c/o M. Fox, Box 1037, Lynnwood, WA 98046, mfox@paws.org
Bob Chorush Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 (206) 787-2500 ext
862, (206) 742-5711 fax
email bchorush@paws.org http://www.paws.org
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 15:58:30 -0700
>From: "Marie, Donna M (PB-dmmarie)"
To: "'ar-news'"
Subject: San Francisco live animal markets
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Forwarded from veg-sf:
-------------------------------------------------
It's official. Animal rights activists have gone to court in an
attempt to
stop 12 merchants in San Francisco from selling live frogs, chickens,
and
rabbits. (for human consumption)
The suit was brought by 10 animal rights groups across the country, as
well as 75 individuals, who claim that the merchants are piling live
frogs and turtles in bins and packing so many fish in tanks that many
of them are flopping around, gasping for air.
The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court, seeks a prelimary injunction
stopping the practice of selling live animals.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
For the full story, see the S.F. Chronicle, 4/16/97, page A15.
P.S. There's another article, (S.F. Chronicle), 4/22/97, page A11
which mentions that SF Supervisor Leland Yee thinks this is a racially
motivated issue,"since only Chinatown businesses were targeted, and
that no Fisherman's Wharf merchants were named as defendants"..
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 23:27:05 -0400
>From: Jun1022@cybernex.net (Weissman)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
John Weintraub of Students for Education and Animal Liberation at New York
University was arrested within the last two hours at Zamir Furs in NYC
during a SEAL protest. After Justin Taylor was pushed while sitting on the
steps of Zamir by the woman who aparently owns the store, and a fight
almost ensued, Jon wen to the sotrefronto suport Justin when cos arrived.
the cops told them that the push wasn't asult because Justin wasn't
bloodied and it was done on the store's property. Jon threw down his sign
in frustration and walked off and sat on the corner. Soon, cops came and
pused him agaisnt a wall and ilegally searced his bag. Jon told them this
was illegal and asked if he was being arrested. I n response to the first
questions John was told "this isn't a search" and in response to the second
he received no answer. Evenutally he turned his head around to see what was
going on with his bag, and the caps grabbed him by his necks and slammed
him into the hood of the car, holding him in a chokehold. A his face
turned red, he told them he counldn't breth, but they didn't loosen their
grip. Jon was arrested on charges of assault, resisting arrest, and
Obstructing Government Administration. He will likely be held at least
two days until his arraignment.
Here are some numbers to call:
The Precinct:
(212) 741-4811
(ask to speak to the highest ranking officer present. At this time this is
SGT. Garel (pronounced Gar (as in Garfield) Rel (as in relative).
Community Officer(212) 741-4826 (when i Called there was no one at this number)
Civilian Complaint Review Board (technically calling them should do nothing
since none of us were involved in the incident, but if they get LOTS of
calls, perhaps it will pique interest when John files a complaint)
800 741-2272
Internal Affairs (same not as above; these guys won't do shit but it can't
hurt to call and let them know they get a headache when ARAs are arrested)
800 PRIDE PD (makesyou want to puke,doesn't it)
When I called the Precinct (Precinct #6), I called on behalf of the Civil
Liberties Defense Fund, the Animal Liberation League Civil lib group, and
told them that my organization's members will be alling them. So it would
be cool if folks instead of calling as ARAs could call as civil libbers.
BTW, I went put of my way to play good activist... now you all get to play
bad activists!! (Why should cops get all the fun with psychology tricks?)
Free John Weintraub!!
For the Minks and for the Fox...
SMASH THEIR WINDOWS, GLUE THEIR LOCKS!!!!!
adam
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