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AR-NEWS Digest 430
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) (NZ) Cancer defence discovery
by Vadivu Govind
2) (HK) Scientist closing in on shark attack mystery
by Vadivu Govind
3) (HK) Footbridge work 'threat to rare fish'
by Vadivu Govind
4) Cites meeting - Ivory
by Vadivu Govind
5) Japan on Ivory
by Vadivu Govind
6) (Dubai) Camel is a burden now
by Vadivu Govind
7) Re: vegetarian/vegan pet food
by lari@calweb.com
8) [CA] Canada imposes ban on feeds (sort of)
by David J Knowles
9) [UK[ Fox hunts face MoD land ban
by David J Knowles
10) [UK[ Why Ratty quit his riverbank home
by David J Knowles
11) [UK[ Call for ivory trading with Japan to restart
by David J Knowles
12) Request for information: Rodeo
by "Matthias M. Boller"
13) (IN) India Home To World's Tigers
by allen schubert
14) (IN) Criticism of India's Project Tiger
by allen schubert
15) CITES daily diary
by Born Free
16) CNN on "Killer" Wolf Hybrids
by Pat Fish
17) New Animal Rights Book: "Beyond Boundaries"
by Cesar Farell
18) war on cancer (fwd)
by Jean Colison
19) Ban on Ivory
by Jean Colison
20) (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News
by JanaWilson@aol.com
21) Watch Hard Copy tonight
by "Kim W. Stallwood" <75543.3331@CompuServe.COM>
22) KAIMANAWA HORSES: Muster ends, Maori Land protest
by lentils@anarchy.wn.pl.net (Wgtn Animal Action)
23) Organ/tissue growing .. good and bad news
by No1BadGrl@aol.com
24) Family's Pet Ferret Scheduled To Meet The Executioner Today
by No1BadGrl@aol.com
25) (US) Stop Coyote Trapping
by igor@earthlink.net (Coyotes)
26) Pigs as bright as primates?
by cenobyte@technologist.com (cenobyte)
27) Technology goes feral in animal fight (Australia)
by bunny
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:14:07 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (NZ) Cancer defence discovery
Message-ID: <199706090514.NAA11068@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Hong Kong Standard
9 June 97
Cancer defence discovery
AUCKLAND: Cancer researchers in New Zealand have discovered a breakthrough
link in stimulating the body's immune system to fight cancer, a newspaper
reported here on Sunday.
Wellington's Malaghan Institute, which earlier this year unveiled a
potential new cancer vaccine, says that using an antibody to a protein that
usually inhibits disease-fighting T-cells could allow the body to defend
itself against cancer and other diseases more quickly and vigorously, the
Sunday Star Times said.
The institute has so far tested only the protein antibody on mice, and it
remains unclear when it couldbe available for human use.
The institute's director of research Graham Le Gos told the paper the
results would be published in the international Journal of Experimental
Medicine later this month.
Mr Le Gos left New Zealand last week on a six-week tour of Europe in the
hope of attracting NZ$1.5 million (HK$7.98 million) to fund the research
programs.
Earlier this year the institute said it had discovered a treatment which
involved modifying a type of blood cell, known as dentritic cells, to
stimulate the immune system to fight tumours. Trials on patients should
begin later this year, it was reported.
Another pioneering research team from Christchurch Hospital and Otago
University in the South Island is close to developing a similar vaccine
which will use the body's natural defence system to target and destroy
cancer cells, the Star Times reported.
The method also works the dentritic cells _ tiny components of white blood
cells. These trigger the immune system to recognise cancer cells and attack
their proteins.
The Christchurch group is working with a Melbourne team which is developing
a breast cancer vaccine. Human trials were due to start later this year and
were expected to generate huge worldwide interest, the Star Times said.
New Zealand marked the 10th anniversary of its controversial
nuclear-free policy on Sunday with a pledge to help rid the world of all
nuclear weapons. - Agencies
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:14:18 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Scientist closing in on shark attack mystery
Message-ID: <199706090514.NAA29562@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>South China Morning Post
Monday June 9 1997
Scientist closing in on shark attack mystery
FIONA HOLLAND
For conservationists, sharks spark curiosity and concern.
Hong Kong's surprisingly high kill rate - since 1991 all seven attacks
by sharks on humans have proved fatal - spreads fear among swimmers.
Conservationists are concerned about survival too - of the sharks.
About 380 species of sharks exist worldwide, many of which migrate huge
distances, but their lives are barely documented due to the difficulties of
studying them.
Unregulated fishing for their oil, fins, skin and meat may kill up to
70 million sharks a year, threatening the future of many species.
The trade in fins - for sharks fin soup - represents perhaps sharks'
greatest enemy with rising demand from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and
China threatening populations around the world.
Hong Kong, the world capital of sharks fin soup and the most important
entrepot, imports up to six million kilograms from 125 countries each year.
Harald Kvam of Maritime Mechanic Ltd has invested $10 million in a hi-tech
vessel, equipped with sonar, which will allow the first insight into the
habits of Hong Kong sharks.
Migrating sharks may be lured into territorial waters by schools of
fish or organic pollutants from the sewage spewed into the sea.
Bite marks suggest tiger sharks are responsible for the fatal attacks
but he believes great white sharks also cruise Hong Kong's waters.
And Mr Kvam has his eyes firmly set on "special ones" he plans to
catch, tag with a sonar device and track.
"We have not seen very big ones - only three metres - these are not the ones
we are looking for," he said.
Mr Kvam says his ground-breaking research can only plug a few gaps in
the gaping knowledge about sharks in Hong Kong - but it will go a long way
towards explaining the "totally bizarre" series of fatalities.
Until then, sharks may continue to wreak unwitting revenge on a
territory whose voracious appetite for traditional soup threatens their
species' existence.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:14:22 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Footbridge work 'threat to rare fish'
Message-ID: <199706090514.NAA04599@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>South China Morning Post
Monday June 9 1997
Footbridge work 'threat to rare fish'
FIONA HOLLAND
Work on a footbridge on Lantau is threatening one of Hong Kong's rarest
species of fish, ecologists warn.
Government departments responsible for the $500,000 project say they
were unaware of any risk the work caused to fish in the Tai Ho and Tung
Chung streams on north Lantau harbour. The fertile streams contain more than
half Hong Kong's species of freshwater fish, including the rare ayu.
University of Hong Kong reader in Ecology and Biodiversity Dr David Dudgeon
said: "Tung Chung and Tai Ho streams together are the richest streams in
the territory for freshwater fish."
Tai Ho is the only known habitat in Hong Kong and southern China of the
ayu. But excavation and water diversion have caused ecological damage.
Dr Dudgeon said sensitive construction methods would have allowed the
footbridge to be built without endangering the ayu.
At least 11 of Hong Kong's 96 known species of freshwater fish are
threatened by pollution and improvement plans which alter water flow.
Friends of the Earth spokesman Lisa Hopkinson said many problems stemmed
from engineers working on projects without advice from ecologists.
Islands District Office executive officer Winnie Ho Yim-mui said
departments including the Environmental Protection Department, consulted
before work began, had raised no objection. Box culverts would allow the
free flow of the streams after work was finished.
The 30-metre long, 2.5 metre-wide footbridge will provide villagers
with access during floods.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:14:31 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Cites meeting - Ivory
Message-ID: <199706090514.NAA29205@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Hong Kong Standard
9 June 97
An emotional stomping ground
THE photographs of dead elephants, their tusks missing, are big enough for
everyone in the Johannesburg conference room to see.
The slaughter of elephants, animal rights groups say, will happen again and
again if three southern African countries obtain the partial relaxation they
are seeking for the international ban on trading in ivory.
Animal advocates predict easing the ban will mean increased poaching, more
shoot-outs with park rangers and added danger to tourists.
In the African bush, human development has been steadily encroaching on the
huge tracts of land that elephants _ their numbers rising since the ivory
ban took effect in 1990 _ need for their nomadic lifestyles. There, the
elephant can be the enemy: tromping crops, uprooting trees, killing people.
Villagers also believe millions of dollars earned from selling stockpiles of
ivory could ease their
poverty.
But with the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species beginning its two-week biennial conference on Monday in Harare,
Zimbabwe, ivory is shaping up again as an emotional debate.
On one side are the ``ele-friends'', who say the world's largest land mammal
faces extinction if the ban is lifted.
Part of the attachment comes from similarities to humans _ elephants travel
in family groups, make lifelong friends and have roughly the same life
expectancy _ and from legend. Elephants are reputed to be wise and have long
memories.
``Elephants are a flagship species vital to the tourist industry that is the
arterial lifeblood of our east African economy,'' says Daphne Sheldrick, who
raised elephant orphans during her husband's three decades as warden at
Kenya's Tsavo National Park.
``They, too, have rights. They are not here simply to be utilised according
to the dictates of human vanity and greed as a mindless commodity.''
But some African countries decry ``environmental colonialism'' that puts
animals before humans.They say despite claims by animal rights groups that
elephants belong to the world, the world has not provided promised financial
support for their conservation.
Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe _ with 175,000 of Africa's estimated 580,000
elephants _ want permission for an annual sale to Japan of their ivory
stockpiles, collected from elephants that die natural deaths or that are
occasionally killed as a danger to people. The stockpiles are estimated at
more than 100 tonnes combined.
``There will be no killing, nor culling, nor has there been in the building
up of the stockpile, apart from where we have had to protect villages from
attack by elephants,'' says Joseph Matlhare, deputy director of Botswana's
Department of Wildlife.
Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring program of the World Wide Fund for
Nature and the World Conservation Union, says selling live elephants and
hunting trophies is okay. But it opposes trade in ivory or hides until
Zimbabwe, Botswana and Japan address concerns about controls to keep
illegally obtained ivory out of the sales.
Environmentalists say believing controls can work is naive.
``You have the element of greed and corruption,'' says Norbert Mumba of the
Central Bank of Zambia. ``How do you distinguish between legally and
illegally obtained ivory?''
Some worry that allowing any ivory trade will increase demand by eroding the
sense that having it is wrong.
Animal rights groups say recent elephant slaughters in India and several
African countries mean poachers already are stocking up.
However, backers of the proposal say that demand has not fallen in Japan
despite the trade ban, and that if sufficient controls can be imposed to
limit trade to Japan and prevent re-export, it might be possible to maintain
sentiment against ivory in the rest of the world.
The general fear is that legal trade in one place will spark poaching in
others.
Environmentalists say an elephant is worth more alive than dead. While one
killed by a hunter might bring in US$30,000 (HK$234,000) for a local
community or landowner, they estimate a live one will bring in many times
that over the years from tourism.
They also say the 71/2 years since the trade ban began is not enough time
for a rebound by a species in which females prefer to mate with males in
their 40s and 50s and have only one calf every five years.
Certainly no one _ except poachers _ wants a return to the 1970s and '80s,
when elephant carcasses littered game reserves across Africa and shootouts
left poachers and game wardens dead. Corruption was rife.
Environmentalists say 70,000 elephants were killed annually by poachers
before the ban, cutting their numbers in half in Africa in a decade. They
contend 94 per cent of the ivory being sold then was from poachers.
The ban has undoubtedly been effective.
Poaching has virtually halted in Tanzania, which was losing 70 elephants a
day at the height of the problem. The price of ivory, which had shot up to
well over US$100 per kilogram in 1987, plunged by about 70 per cent after
the ban.
Local residents and park rangers argue elephants can be culled to control
the size of herds, with the meat, hide and ivory sold to raise money for
local communities and conservation.
They say excessive elephant herds destroy foliage, leading to erosion, and
damage crops and huts in search of the 300 kg of food or more each elephant
eats every day. In March, for instance, dozens of elephants destroyed 8,000
hectares acres) of cotton and maize in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley. -
AP
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:14:49 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Japan on Ivory
Message-ID: <199706090514.NAA04993@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Hong Kong Standard
9 June 1997
Japanese artisans still live in ivory tower
OTHER countries have found more politically correct materials, but Japan's
tradition-steeped artisans say there is no substitute for ivory.
Craftsmen who use it for plectrums and structural parts in traditional
stringed instruments say only African ivory can produce truly authentic sounds.
Makers of bunraku puppets say only ivory can convey the subtlety of light,
shadow and expression their art relies on.
The artisans say they have tried plastic, whale bone and even mammoth tusk,
but contend they are poor substitutes.
Ivory also is used for signature stamps and seals that are sometimes affixed
to documents. So while demand for ivory has dropped in the rest of the world
since an international ban on its trade took effect on 18 January 1990, it
remains high in Japan.
The government says the country has a stockpile of about 100 tonnes that it
estimates should last four to five years.
Still, it wants to buy all the ivory that would become available if
Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe are successful in an attempt to gain a
partial relaxation of the ban and can sell their stockpiles.
In a report prepared for the 9 to 20 June conference of the United Nations
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, a panel of experts
questioned whether Japan had sufficient controls to ensure that ivory is not
re-exported or that illegal shipments are not imported.
Botswana says it has received bids of US$250 to US$500 a kilogram (HK$1,950
to HK$3,900) from Japanese buyers for its 30 tonnes of ivory.
Ivory smugglers remain active in Japan. Two men were arrested in January at
Osaka International Airport and charged with trying to bring in 13,800 small
pieces of ivory, weighing a total of 352 kg, to be used as blanks for
signature seals. - AP
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:57:48 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Dubai) Camel is a burden now
Message-ID: <199706090557.NAA05921@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>The Straits Times
9 June 97
Once the king of the desert, now a burden to owners
DUBAI -- Once venerated across the Arab world and considered the king
of the desert, the camel is now increasingly viewed as a dangerous
liability responsible for growing carnage on the Arabian peninsula's roads.
In Saudi Arabia alone, five people are killed each month in dozens of
road accidents involving camels on the kingdom's desert roads, according to
official statistics.
The grisly spectacle of rotting camel carcasses lying next to the
smashed wreckage of luxury cars is a common sight on the roads of the Gulf
states.
The financial cost to the camel owners is also high.
Standard camels raised for meat are worth between US$350 and $450
(S$490 to S$630), good work beasts fetch between US$600 and $2,500 while
thoroughbred Mehari camels usually sell for around US$4,000, although
exceptional animals can be worth up to US$200,000.
Faced with the rising death toll, the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry last
week urged all camel owners to stop their precious beasts from wandering
on to the country's highways.
The ministry issued the appeal after a spate of recent accidents,
including one of a 23-year-old Kuwaiti man on Wednesday who died after his
car rammed a camel at high speed on a desert road in the west of the country.
The beast smashed into the front windscreen and roof, ripping the
vehicle to pieces and causing massive injuries to the driver.
The ministry has also issued an appeal for drivers to remain vigilant,
and to notify the authorities if they see any camels wandering on the roads.
Concerned by the growing and deadly trend, Saudi national Mutaab Radhi
Omran al-Awfi suggested last year that camels wear luminous reflective
signs on their sides and rear ends -- allowing them to be seen from a
distance at night.
However, the Saudi Transport Ministry rejected the idea as impractical.
The emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, in the north of the United Arab Emirates, has
come up with a far more radical solution: The authorities have warned that
any animal found wandering on the highway will be sent straight to the
abattoir, with no questions asked.
"From Oct 1, stray animals will be confiscated and slaughtered without
their owners receiving any compensation," the authorities said in a statement.
What is more, the owner of any camel found wandering at will will be
liable to a fine of 1,000 dirhams (S$380). -- AFP.
Date: Sun, 08 Jun 1997 23:03:04 -0700
From: lari@calweb.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: vegetarian/vegan pet food
Message-ID: <1.5.4.32.19970609060304.006959c4@pop.calweb.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Attention companion animal caregivers:
If you have had any negative experiences with feeding a vegetarian or vegan
pet food to your companion animal, please contact Lari@calweb.com
I am writing a report and I would like to include both positive and
negative examples of altered canine and feline diets.
Thank you.
--
Lari Bryski-Wright
Visit my web page at http://www.calweb.com/~lari
Scully: "Mulder, toads just fell from the sky!"
Mulder: "I guess their parachutes didn't open."
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 02:11:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Canada imposes ban on feeds (sort of)
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970609021157.2c27853e@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>From The Province - Friday, June 6th, 1997
Candian Press
TORONTO - Canada will follow the United States in banning the use of
slaughtered animal parts in livestock feed because of fears of mad cow disease.
Dr. Graham Clarke, of the Candian Food Inspection Agency, said the ban will
be in force when the U.S. policy kicks in Aug. 4.
No meat or bone meal from slaughtered animals - including cattle, sheep and
goats - can be used as feed.
There are execptions where there are "no known risks," he said. These
include pigs, horses, animal fat, milk products and restaurant "plate waste."
Mad cow disease caused public panic last year when the British government
announced a new version of a fatal human brain illness might have been
caused by eating infected beef.
The disease killed at least 10 Britons.
Mad cow disease is a slow-developing disorder in adult cattle that attacks
the nervous system and eats microscopic, sponge-like holes in the cow's brain.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 02:11:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK[ Fox hunts face MoD land ban
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970609021159.24a7cf62@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, June 9th, 1997
Fox hunts face MoD land ban
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
A REVIEW of fox hunting, which could lead to the sport being banned on more
than half a million acres of land, was announced by the Ministry of Defence
yesterday.
The review follows a similar one launched by the Forestry Commission last
month, though never officially announced, and brings to 3.4 million acres
the total area under threat of a ban. The reviews were promised by Labour's
animal welfare spokesman, Elliot Morley, before the election though they did
not figure in the party's manifesto.
The British Field Sports Society said that around 60 hunts could be affected
by a ban on hunting on government land, some by a few days a season and up
to a dozen being forced to close. But it said that the loss of goodwill with
neighbouring landowners that a ban would cause would make it an unattractive
proposal for either the MoD or the commission. Pro-hunting landowners around
Salisbury Plain have written to the MoD threatening to withdraw permission
for exercises currently allowed on 100,000 acres of private land in return
for permission granted to hunt over MoD land.
Janet George, of the British Field Sports Society, said farmers with land
bordering Forestry Commission territory would be furious unless foxes were
kept down by shooting - a laborious and expensive task in areas covered by
rights of way. She said: "There is not much benefit and a hell of a lot of
hassle for the Government in trying to get at hunting through the back door,
which is what this is. They don't relish the prospect of pushing a total ban
through Parliament, but they want to have something to offer the
anti-hunting lobby."
No timetable has yet been set for the MoD review, which will consider
alternative methods of controlling fox numbers, such as shooting, but it is
expected to start soon.
© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 02:11:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK[ Why Ratty quit his riverbank home
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970609021201.24a7ff7a@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, June 9th, 1997
Why Ratty quit his riverbank home
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
RATTY the water vole has been evicted from his ancestral home on the
riverbank and now survives in drastically reduced numbers on the urban
fringes, in canals, city lakes and garden ponds, according to a study.
The discovery that the vole, also known as the water rat, has become largely
a city dweller will come as a blow to generations of children who learned
their love of the countryside through the escapades of Ratty, the capable
water rat in Kenneth Grahame's children's story
The Wind in the Willows.
Scientists are finding that Ratty is now seldom, if ever, found in his
"Edwardian gentleman's residence", a well-ventilated burrow on the main
river, described by Grahame in 1908. He is more often found living beside
polluted waterways in order to survive. At the current rate of decline, he
may be extinct by 2000.
A major factor in the vole's decline is predation by an enemy even more
fearsome than the stoats and weasels of Grahame's Wild Wood - the American
mink, which originally escaped from fur farms and has since resisted all
attempts to eradicate it. Mink are better equipped
than stoats and foxes to catch voles because they can pursue and take them
in the water. The female mink is also small enough to get into the voles'
burrow and can wipe out a whole family. Mink, however, are wary of human
disturbance and shy away from urban areas.
Scientists and volunteers from the Environment Agency and the Wildlife
Trust's Water Vole Watch project, who carried out the study, found that
country water voles were now most likely to live in the headstreams of
rivers or in drainage dykes, where there was human disturbance. Most voles,
however, lived on the urban fringes or in poorer quality urban watercourses,
city lakes, canals and garden ponds - all places where the mink is least
likely to be found.
At one drainage ditch near Maidenhead, Berks, walkers have become familiar
with the sight of voles eating grass and the bark of willow trees. Mink do
not favour areas with a lack of cover and the frequent presence of people
and their dogs. Urban areas are by no means
safe for water voles, however, because of the risk from domestic cats and
urban foxes.
Fragmented populations of water voles also thrive where mink are controlled
by river keepers or where the native otter is making a return. Isobel
Bretherton of the Wildlife Trust said: "The otter is a larger animal and
tends to displace the mink, though it doesn't appear to kill it. So the key
to the water voles' survival may be the recovery of the otter."
The latest findings are developed from a nationwide survey in 1989/1990
which found that in the preceding 10 years, water voles had disappeared from
more than two-thirds of sites where they once bred. This means that the
water vole is one of the most rapidly declining animals in Britain. If its
present rate of decline continues experts say it is likely to be extinct by
2000. The full reasons for its disappearance include the classic symptoms of
habitat damage and loss from land drainage, agricultural and river
"improvement", and changes in riverbanks owing to low flows in the past few
dry summers, in addition to predation by mink.
Alastair Driver, of the Environment Agency, who heads a panel of experts
working to save the water vole under the Government's Biodiversity Action
Plan, said: "The survey information which has been gathered by volunteers
and scientists is vital because we can now start to focus on safeguarding
known water vole populations by locally managing habitats and discouraging
mink. Many of these populations are on urban fringes and canals and so we
must strive to protect them from future development and disturbance."
As part of efforts to save the vole, researchers at Oxford and Newcastle
Universities are looking into ways "to enable water voles to co-exist with
mink". When pressed, however, wildlife experts admit this is likely to mean
exterminating mink in large numbers.
© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 02:11:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK[ Call for ivory trading with Japan to restart
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970609021204.242f1484@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, June 9th, 1997
Call for ivory trading with Japan to restart
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
PROPOSALS to reopen international trade in elephant ivory and to restrict
trade in mahogany and caviar are to be debated at a two-week meeting on
endangered species which starts today in Zimbabwe.
The 81 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species, meeting in Harare, will be asked by Zimbabwe, Botswana
and Namibia to down-list the African elephant and allow trade in whole tusks
with Japan.
British officials point out that the African elephant was listed on Cites
Appendix 1, which prohibits all trade in ivory, in 1989 against the wishes
of southern African countries including South Africa, Malawi and Zambia. The
ban controlled an epidemic of ivory poaching
throughout Africa.
There remains a strong feeling in the three countries proposing the
down-listing that they have conserved their elephant populations well since
the big game hunters brought them low at the beginning of this century.
Their populations have increased by 60 per cent in 13
years. The southern African countries say that a down-listing to Appendix
II, which would set quotas and import permits for ivory, would mean that
useful revenues could be raised for conservation by selling ivory stockpiles.
Wildlife bodies such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the
Environmental Investigation Agency are opposed to any lifting of the ban,
because they say that it would be seen as an invitation for poachers to
start operating again. More critically, any reopening of
the ivory trade is opposed by a majority of African nations.
Britain says there are good reasons for opposing resumption, even with a
single trading partner such as Japan, because Japanese controls are far from
watertight and controls within at least one of the proposer nations,
Zimbabwe, have been severely criticised.
There remains a sense that the southern African nations have a legitimate
grievance which has gone unaddressed for eight years. They may be tempted to
leave Cites, which would make the enforcement of the ivory trade ban
impossible. So a senior Britain official last week offered the possibility
of consensus on the down-listing of the African elephant to Appendix II, on
the understanding that a zero quota was agreed for the trade in ivory.
A proposal more assured of success is from the United States and Bolivia for
listing big-leaf mahogany. It is the first time Cites has been asked to
regulate a major commercial timber species. Listing big-leaf mahogany would
require exporter nations to issue permits and others,including the EU, to
issue import permits.
A proposal by Germany to include all 27 species of caviar-bearing sturgeon,
largely because of free-for-all fishing in the Caspian Sea, has the support
of most European countries including Britain.
© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 13:44:39 +0100
From: "Matthias M. Boller"
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: stephan_weber@magicvillage.de
Subject: Request for information: Rodeo
Message-ID: <199706091144.NAA18028@cww.de>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Hello,
I recently received a request about the effects of rodeo on the
animals used. As we are based in Germany, I don't have any detailed
information and did not find much on the WWW, so I would like to ask
for information here.
I was asked for books, articles or other literature about the welfare
of animals used for rodeo and any contact persons or organisations
who deal with the animal aspects of rodeo.
Please send information directly to:
Stephan Weber
stephan_weber@magicvillage.de
Thank you,
Matthias
matthias@tierrechte.de
Federal Association Against Vivisection - People for Animal Rights
matthias@tierrechte.de - http://www.tierrechte.de/indexe.html
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 07:49:26 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (IN) India Home To World's Tigers
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970609074902.006d2364@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from AP Wire page:
---------------------------------
06/09/1997 01:36 EST
India Home To World's Tigers
By RANJAN ROY
Associated Press Writer
BANDIPUR, India (AP) -- Deep in the jungle of the Bandipur animal reserve
stands a straw shack. It shelters a key -- and perhaps weakest -- link in
the campaign to save India's tigers from extinction.
Sipping black tea, a rusty .314-caliber, bolt-action rifle slung over his
shoulder by a pajama drawstring, forest guard D.P. Rathore sits in the
shack surrounded by a ditch that keeps the wildlife at bay.
He is one of only 16 officers who guard against poaching in the
320-square-mile Bandipur forest in southern India. Every day, Rathore
saunters in his rubber sandals 10 miles back and forth through the
jungle. To report trouble, he has to walk 9 miles to the nearest park
office with a radio.
Thirteen years after India started Project Tiger with the goal of saving
the big cat in its last natural habitats, conservationists say it is
woefully underfinanced and has little to show for its efforts.
Game wardens in the reserve forests have few jeeps, no radios, no
uniforms, and few weapons, none of them modern.
An average of one tiger is killed every day in India, which is home to
the majority of the world's tigers. Only about 3,000 are estimated to
remain in the wild here, down from 40,000 at the beginning of the century
when the world had 100,000 tigers. The world total now stands at about
5,000 tigers.
Poaching is spurred by growing international demand for tiger parts for
use in traditional Asian medicines. Ethnic Chinese are the main
consumers, but many others are increasingly turning to balms and lotions
made of tiger parts in the belief it cures a host of ailments from
infertility to rheumatism.
The World Wildlife Fund estimates illicit trading in tigers and other
endangered animals is worth $6 billion a year around the world.
At the front lines of the war to protect tigers are Rathore and his
colleagues at Bandipur. He works eight straight days, then gets a day
off.
``He is like a beat policeman,'' says S.N. Rajagopal, deputy conservator
of forests in Bandipur, one of the largest of India's 23 tiger reserves.
Bandipur gets about $140,000 a year from Project Tiger, which is partly
financed by international environmental groups. Other parks get more or
less depending on their size. The project is controlled by federal
bureaucrats, often with little or no experience in conservation, and
officials of the Indian Forest Service.
``I was given one pair of shoes when I joined this job six months back. I
have to use it carefully,'' says Rathore, whose monthly salary is 2,600
rupees, or a little more than $70.
Nine park wardens in Bandipur are supposed to have jeeps, but only one
does.
``On paper there are a lot of vehicles, but most of them are condemned to
the garage,'' Rajagopal says as he bounces along a forest track in a
minibus used both for officials and tourist safaris. ``We have very
little money to increase the facilities. Seventy percent of our money
goes in wages.''
Critics contend very little of Project Tiger's money trickles down to the
parks and low-ranking rangers who do the main work in protecting tigers
and managing forests. Most of the money is spent on wages, repair and
upkeep of equipment.
``I would hazard a guess that not more than 10 percent of the money was
actually spent in the field to protect the tiger,'' says Bittu Sahgal,
editor of Sanctuary magazine and a well-known environmentalist.
Park officials say Bandipur has 70 tigers. Many local conservationists
think it is less, saying the official figure is based on poor counting
techniques.
Tiger sighting are so rare the park has a register to record them. A
recent check showed just two sightings by hundreds of visitors and the
200 members of the park staff.
Rajagopal, the deputy conservator, insists his park has not been ravaged
by poachers, as have many in northern India. He says the last poaching
occurred in Bandipur two years ago, but many conservationists say most
poaching goes unreported.
``If a poaching incident is reported, for instance, the officer is quite
likely to face a departmental inquiry for failing to perform his duty,''
says Sahgal, the New Delhi-based conservationist.
Indeed, local newspapers recently reported a new wave of poaching in the
region. A conservation group describes the area around Bandipur,
including two neighboring elephant reserves, as a veritable marketplace
for animal products.
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 07:51:36 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (IN) Criticism of India's Project Tiger
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970609075134.006d32ec@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
06/09/1997 01:37 EST
Criticism of India's Project Tiger
By RAMOLA TALWAR
Associated Press Writer
VAIRAT, India (AP) -- Every time 12-year-old Laxman Khade drinks
foul-smelling, brown water, he thinks of a fresh water spring his father
helped dig in the nearby forest.
That spring is now off limits to Khade and other members of the
forest-dwelling Gawli people. The fresh water is in a nature reserve, and
Laxman's plight is a grim consequence of India's efforts to save the
tiger.
``What kind of a world takes care of the tiger and leaves people to die?
We dare not step into the sanctuary for water or we will be fined and
beaten,'' says Laxman's father, Gondo.
Six children were hospitalized after drinking filthy water in a recent
two-month period in Vairat, a hamlet on a hill surrounded by the Melghat
sanctuary, 710 miles north of Bombay.
Already accused by conservationists of failing its mission, India's
Project Tiger now is being criticized for the effects on some of the
weakest members of Indian society.
``Take (tribes people) out of their villages and they will die faster,''
says Satchit Bhandarkar, a welfare worker.
In the early years, the Korku and Gawli people, the predominant tribes in
the region, were allowed to share the Melghat park with tigers. But three
years ago, planners began setting aside land exclusively for the cats.
The sanctuary consists of 144 square miles where people are not allowed
to live, 210 square miles where villagers are under few restrictions, and
460 square miles dotted by villages whose inhabitants are not allowed to
graze their cattle or draw water in much of the surrounding forest.
There have been proposals to move 22 villages and their 10,000 residents
out altogether, but the tribals are resisting.
``We will not go anywhere. Farming is what we know,'' says Santulal
Dhandekar, a Korku tribal in Pistalai village.
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 14:56:12 +0100
From: Born Free
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: CITES daily diary
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970609145227.006a9804@pncl.co.uk>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
For a unique view on the latest happenings at CITES please vist the Born
Free Foundations web site where you will find a daily diary from our
director, Will Travers, who is currently attending the conference.
Thankyou
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/bornfree/index.html
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 11:29:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: Pat Fish
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: CNN on "Killer" Wolf Hybrids
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Weds. at 10PM EST CNN's "American Edge" will be running a piece about
wolf-dog hybrids. The teaser asks "are they killers?".
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 14:27:39 -0400
From: Cesar Farell
To: ar-news postings
Subject: New Animal Rights Book: "Beyond Boundaries"
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Announcement: New Animal Rights Book
BEYOND BOUNDARIES
Humans and Animals
by Barbara Noske
BEYOND BOUNDARIES takes the reader where WHEN ELEPHANS WEEP
should have, but didn't. It steps out into hitherto unknown
territory in taking an interdisciplinary approach to the
subject of animals: the author criticizes the biological
dterminism characteristic of many biologists as well as the
anthropocentrism of many environmentalists and 'greens' who
fail to see domestic animals, or even humans, as part of
'nature'. While she shares with other feminists their
critique of sexism in both social and natural sciences, she
also takes issue with most feminists for their tendency to
speciesism: their generally defensive attitude toward
animal-human continuity. Nor are animal liberationists
spared her critical eye: Noske expresses her
dissatisfaction with the limitations of the apolitical,
ahistorical approach of ethical philosophers.
Barabara Noske dedicates her book to "all animals, wild and
tame".
"Since animals form the bridge as well as the boundary
between humanity
and nature, it is imperative that the controversies over
human-animal
similarities and differences be explored.
"What constitues animalness and what are animals? Almost no
student of
human society ever pauses to ask these questions, indeed, I
have met very
few with even a remote interest in animals for their own
sake, let alone
with the willingness to pose the same questions about
animals as are
being asked about humans.
"People do not usually begin to ask questions out of the
blue; my
questions stem from my own growing dissatisfaction with the
images of
humankind and animalkind as conveyed by many different
groups of people
in our society."
-- Barbara Noske
256 pages, index, bibliography
Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-078-3 $23.99
Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-079-1 $52.99
Ordering Information:
Bookstores and Libraries:
In Canada: 1-800-565-9523
In the USA: 1-800-283-3572
In the UK: 0-800-1066 00
In Austrailia: 02-566-4400
For Individuals:
In Canada & the USA: 1-800-565-9523
or, send pre-paid order, plus $3.50, your name and
address to:
Black Rose Books
C.P. 1258, Succ. Place du Parc
Montreal, Qc
Canada
H2W 2R3
(514) 844-4076
http://www.web.net/blackrosebooks
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 14:32:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jean Colison
To: Ar-news
Subject: war on cancer (fwd)
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Our Losing War Against Cancer
By Daniel S. Greenberg
Monday, June 9, 1997; Page A19
The Washington Post
Over many years, John C. Bailar III has spoken unpalatable
truths about the war on cancer, deeming it a failure in
reducing deaths and calling for more research on
prevention, even if that means less research on cures.
A physician and biostatistician, Bailar made himself
unwelcome within the government's health establishment by
showing, in clear numbers, that the quest for improved
cures hadn't succeeded. Many cancer treatments are
effective, he emphasized, but despite the expenditure of
billions of research dollars, improvements for treating
most cancers have been negligible.
Bailar raised this argument at a time when politics, pushed
by cancer lobbies and patient groups, had eagerly embraced
cancer research as a sacred enterprise, rendering pessimism
impermissible. Moreover, research on cures offended no one,
while the search for carcinogens in industrial effusions
and food inevitably provoked a backlash.
Bailar's analysis was greeted with a curious mixture of
disdain and flimsy assurances that preventive research was
already on a par with curative research in the government's
order of priorities.
He later moved on to academe, and now, located in the
Department of Health Studies at the University of Chicago,
he is back on the subject with a blockbuster report,
"Cancer Undefeated," co-authored with Heather L. Gornik, in
a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Bailar's negative conclusions conflict with the impression
of wondrous progress that researchers, anxious for public
support, regularly convey to a hopeful public via a
gullible press. If good news reports could heal, the
scourge of cancer would long be gone, obliterated by
excited accounts of new insights into the origin of cancer
and new therapies -- just around the corner.
Yes, there have been some improvements in treatment, Bailar
concedes, and research for cures certainly should continue,
though with a lesser claim on the budget. But, overall,
Bailar asserts, the life-extending effects actually have
been extremely small, and "the salient fact remains that
age-adjusted rates of death due to cancer are now barely
declining."
From 1991 to 1994, the article notes, mortality rates,
adjusted for the aging of the population, did fall by one
percent. But that was after a rise of 6 percent in
mortality between 1970 and 1994 -- a period that included
two decades of the heavily funded war on cancer.
Cancer deaths per 100,000 of population totaled 1.99 in
1986 and 200.9 in 1994, the authors point out, noting that
cancer currently causes about 550,000 deaths per year.
Bailar recalls that when he expressed doubts about the
curative strategy in 1986, he was hammered with the
argument that "new research findings were on the way" and
would shortly make an impact on the death toll. But a
decade later, the sad statistics belie that promise, the
article states, and are grounds for doubt toward the
current round of expectations about molecular wizardry
spawning long-elusive cures.
"In our view," the co-authors state, "prudence requires a
skeptical view of the tacit assumption that marvelous new
treatments are just waiting to be discovered."
Cancer prevention, they acknowledge, remains in large part
a scientific mystery, but that's all the more reason for a
broad research effort extending from behavioral studies on
cancer-promoting lifestyles to the identification of
genetic predispositions to cancer. The authors add that "in
an age of limited resources this may well mean curtailing
efforts focused on therapy."
Bailar makes no grand claims. Will a shift to prevention
"ultimately succeed in the way that treatment research was
expected to succeed?" he and his colleague ask. "There is
no guarantee that it will," they reply, adding, "The
ultimate results may be as disappointing as those to date
from treatment efforts, but it is time to find out."
The writer is editor of Science & Government Report, a
Washington newsletter.
© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 14:34:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jean Colison
To: Ar-news
Subject: Ban on Ivory
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Washington Post
Letters-to-the-Editor
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20071
The Misguided Ivory Ban and the Reality of Living With Elephants
By Wendy Marston
Sunday, June 8, 1997; Page C02
The Washington Post
HARARE, ZIMBABWE
On the outskirts of the capital city of Zimbabwe, there is a building
that some sardonic government officials have dubbed "Fort Knox." Inside,
beyond the armed guards and locked doors, sit tons of animal tusks and
horns. They might not be worth as much as the gold that the U.S.
government used to keep in Fort Knox, Ky., but they are worth millions
of dollars -- at least potentially.
The shelves of the climate-controlled storeroom are lined with pair
after pair of elephant tusks, collected from pachyderms that perished of
natural causes or were culled to limit herd size. Each bears the
official Zimbabwean stamp of approval. Yet, for now, these treasures are
effectively worthless. Because of a ban on ivory trading since 1989,
there is no legal market for the elephant tusks, and thus no government
revenue.
Zimbabwe, as well as Botswana and Namibia, are pushing to change all
that. When the biennial Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) of wild flora and fauna, takes place from June 9 to June
20, Zimbabwean officials will propose that elephants be removed from the
most endangered category of animal; that the ivory ban be lifted; that
Zimbabwe be allowed to sell a shipment of tusks once a year to Japan;
that Zimbabwe and other countries also be allowed to export elephant
hides; and that they be allowed to trade in live animals, such as
selling elephants to zoos. These ideas are sure to be contested sharply.
The question of reopening the ivory trade pits two visions of wildlife
conservation against each other: pure protection and sustained
utilization. Pure protection seeks to insulate, if not isolate,
endangered species from the encroachment of civilization. It regards
legalized trading in rare animals or plants as an inherent threat to
species survival. Sustained utilization, by contrast, seeks to maintain
a healthy population of animals or plants so that they can be hunted or
cultivated for profit. Unless wildlife has a dollar value, this approach
holds, the people who live around it will have no incentive to protect
it.
While pure protection is morally and theoretically attractive,
sustainable utilization has practical advantages that may not be obvious
at first glance. Allowing people to make money off of threatened species
can, if regulated properly, actually help save a species. That's one
reason why Zimbabwe's proposals have drawn a surprising amount of
cautious support.
The secretariat of CITES, has come out in support of Zimbabwe's
proposals. The World Wildlife Fund, which has historically tended toward
the pure protection positions, favors removal of the "endangered
species" label from elephants, but wants the ivory trade ban to remain
at least for another two years. The United States, while commending
Zimba bwe's efforts to protect elephants, opposes lifting the ban.
One vocal proponent of sustainable utilization is Buck DeVries, the
managing director of Gwayi Conservancy, a fenced area within Zimbabwe's
Hwange National Park where hunting is allowed. He stands in the middle
of his land, sporting mutton-chop sideburns, wearing shoes made from
elephant hide. His pet lion sits nearby.
"We want the elephant to be a commodity, because if it isn't, it might
as well be dead." DeVries is an ex-rancher, but doesn't regret his
career change: "All our cattle were killed by the wildlife from the
parks, so I finally figured, if you can't beat them, join them."
DeVries sells hunting licenses now and makes 10 times the money he
earned from ranching.
The few elephant-hunting licenses granted are issued only to kill
elderly bulls, a group DeVries has no patience for. "Big bulls -- they
don't breed, they just fight. Fifty percent of them die anyway because
they kill each other, or they die in the water and no one makes any
money. Maybe it's good for the leopards and the hyena, but nature is our
living."
DeVries's observations are in line with studies commissioned by the
World Wildlife Fund. Cattle ranching is a fraction as lucrative as
wildlife, and does more harm to the terrain. DeVries does keep some
cattle -- mostly as food for his crocodile farm.
In fact, crocodiles are the golden example of sustainable utilization.
Sixteen years ago, they were almost extinct, until the government here
gave landowners permission to collect their eggs and incubate them. In
the wild, crocodile eggs have a 2 percent chance of making it to
adulthood. In captivity, the crocodiles had a 95 percent survival rate
and 1.5 million of them survived that first incubation. Of that number,
about 20,000 were set free in national parks, the rest raised for their
hides. Today the wild population is stable, if not excessive. "You know
why?" DeVries asks, lighting another cigarette. "Money."
In the communal lands around Zimbabwe's national parks, elephants are
feared and dreaded. In a single hour, an elephant can destroy an acre of
corn -- and often does. "They come back year after year," says
Christophe Atube, a village official in the Tsholotsho district, arid
woodlands that abut Hwange National Park. "Sometimes a herd will split
into groups, raid different fields, join up afterward and move away. We
can do nothing."
Yet the Tsholotsho district owes much to these animals. Under Zimbabwe's
Campfire program, or Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous
Resources, villages are compensated for damage from elephants and other
wildlife through revenue from hunting licenses; a license to kill one
bull costs $8,000.
"When people see an elephant, they also see money," says Taurai Dube,
the district manager. But according to the Zimbabwean government,
Campfire isn't seeing enough money. "We are praying for an electric
fence," says Dube, referring to one of the few barriers elephants
respect, a project that could be funded by the sale of hunting licenses
for another dozen or so elephants -- but that will take another few
years. Tantalizingly, a more immediate source for funding is sitting
only a few hundred miles away in "Fort Knox" in Harare in the form of 30
tons of ivory. A fraction of the money from the sale of this ivory to
the Japanese could finance the Campfire program and more electric
fences.
If you want to see the unintended consequences of protecting endangered
species, take a look at Zimbabwe's baobab trees. These trees, which can
live for more than 1,000 years, thrive in semi-desert areas, When
Zimbabwe created many of its national parks 20 years ago, the baobabs
thrived. But now most of the trees are ringed with deep scars carved by
elephants with their tusks while foraging. Many of the trees, after
surviving hundreds of years, have fallen over and died. One by Victoria
Falls has an armed guard, making sure elephants and tourists stay away.
The fact is, it is not easy to live with elephants. They do not tread
lightly. They are impatient, finicky eaters, daily consuming around 50
gallons of water and 250 pounds of grass and leaves. They browse --
meaning they strip leaves off branches with their trunks and eat them.
They uproot trees to get to tasty seed pods on top, eat for a few
minutes and move on. Elephants are partial to maize and sorghum, adore
watermelon and, true to cliche, they never forget where they have grazed
before. As their population grows, going from around 50,000 in 1989 to
more than 60,000 today (according to government estimates), the impact
on the land intensifies.
So it is expensive for Zimbabwe to manage its elephants. Right now, the
country has the legal right to cull its elephant herds to prevent
overpopulation. (The CITES agreement affects only trade laws, not
internal control.) But the government estimates that it costs about $350
to kill one elephant and killing more than one is usually necessary.
Elephants live to about 65 in matriarchal groups, and have strong,
eerily humanlike ties to each other. They communicate through infrasound
-- noises too low for humans to hear -- and touch each other constantly
with their trunks. Elephants nurse for two years and, if orphaned, are
rarely, if ever, adopted by other herds. Herds do not function well
without a matriarch, so culling them requires killing an entire family
group. Sometimes groups numbering more than 20 must be shot at once. The
tusks are then removed and taken to "Fort Knox."
It is a gory sight, one that was used very effectively in direct
mailings by the major wildlife organizations advocating pure protection
to rally support for the 1989 trade ban. Gunning down a large,
intelligent animal that is probably older than the human who fires the
shot seems to many people in the United States -- a nation with a
multibillion dollar pet industry and the home of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals -- the height of barbarity. Somehow, the sight of a
toppled 1,000-year-old tree, tusked to death by too many elephants, or a
rural farmer complaining about his season's work destroyed by a single
elephant, isn't nearly as heart-wrenching.
But elephants in southern Africa are not endangered and living with
these animals is a different story than seeing them in a zoo, on the
Discovery Channel or an occasional trip. Zimbabwe is one of the most
politically stable African nations, and has (with the exception of the
rhino, which has been poached almost to extinction all over the
continent) successfully managed its wildlife. The ivory-trade ban
effectively penalizes Zimbabwe for supporting a healthy population of
elephants.
Elephants are perfectly capable of paying their own way in southern
Africa. It's simply a matter of allowing it.
Wendy Marston, a contributing editor to Health magazine, writes about
science and the environment..
@CAPTION: A park warden adds to the 10-ton pile of elephant tusks and
rhino horns to be destroyed at a ceremony in Kenya's Nairobi National
Park; above, left: rifle-wielding Zimbabwe wildlife rangers, with a haul
confiscated from poachers in 1986; above, right: those who want to
remove elephants from the endangered species list say that the animals'
growing population has ruined crops and precious flora.
©Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 15:38:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: JanaWilson@aol.com
To: AR-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News
Message-ID: <970609153600_1890631262@emout01.mail.aol.com>
The Oklahoma WildlifeCommission met last week and approved
a recommendation designed to prevent problems between quail
and deer hunting on Oklahoma wildlife management areas where
public hunting is allowed.
Under this new rule, quail hunting on WMA lands will begin 1 Nov,
which is the first day of the season, but no quail hunting will be
allowed during the Nov. 22 thru Nov. 30 deer gun season or during
controlled hunts which are scheduled on nine WMAs before the
gun season starts. These areas will reopen after gun season and
remain open for public hunting thru Jan. 31st when the quail season
ends.
The rule change which was recommended by Mr. Alan Peoples, the
assitant game ranger for the Okla. Wildlife Dept, was approved
unanimously with little discussion. "If it doesn't work, we'll make
a run at something else next year," said Peoples.
The Okla. Wildlife Commission has changed the time of its regular
monthly meetings to 9 am instead of the 9:30 am start. This will
begin in August as the Commission will not meet in July. Meetings
are usually held the first Monday of each month.
Red River Rippin Raider, owned and handled by Mr. Bruce Loeffelholz
of Ardmore, has qualified to compete in the 1997 National Amateur
Championship Stake on June 15 thru the 21st near Hibbing, Minn.
"Raider", which is a 5 year old male black Lab retriever, is the first
dog from Okla. to qualify for a National Championship in field trial
competition in more than 12 years. He was jointly trained by
Loeffellhoz and pro trainer Larry Rybarski of Rippin Labs which is
near Wichita Falls, Texas.
For the Animals,
Jana, OKC
Date: 09 Jun 97 16:53:31 EDT
From: "Kim W. Stallwood" <75543.3331@CompuServe.COM>
To: AR-News
Subject: Watch Hard Copy tonight
Message-ID: <970609205331_75543.3331_GHJ96-4@CompuServe.COM>
Tune in to Hard Copy tonight (Monday the 9th) to watch a segment on CAMPFIRE.
To recap, CAMPFIRE (Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources)
is a Zimbabwean program intended to benefit impoverished rural people by
permitting trophy hunting of wild animals. Trophy hunting of African elephants
represents 64 percent of income generated by the program. Other hunted animals
include leopards, lion, baboons, hippos, and zebras.
What's more, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has already
subsidized CAMPFIRE with $7 million, and plans to spend considerably more over
the next two years. In addition to being an unethical and wasteful use of U.S.
taxpayer dollars (USAID's own evaluation of the program found that it was not
benefiting local communites to the extent predicted nor was it self-sustaining),
CAMPFIRE's implementors stand behind Zimbabwe's push to resume the international
ivory trade (currently being decided on at the CITES meeting). It is clear that
the people who benefit the most from this cruel and corrupt program are wealthy,
foreign trophy hunters.
Hard Copy is syndicated, so check your local listings for time and channel.
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 10:28:15 -0400
From: lentils@anarchy.wn.pl.net (Wgtn Animal Action)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Cc: sara@fisher.biz.usyd.edu.au, mj.sherwood@nepean.uws.edu.au
Subject: KAIMANAWA HORSES: Muster ends, Maori Land protest
Hi all, this is off the wild horse web site today
http://www.nzsail.co.nz/wildhorses/
9/6/97 Muster phase ends: slaughter phase begins.
Just how many wild horses will be slaughtered, or have already been killed,
because of the DoC's ill conceived muster is unknown. Until next time,
the helicopters are grounded and the capture pens empty. Hundreds
of mares stallions and foals are huddled in separate paddocks at the
mercy of farmers who known very little about how to handle them.
At a cost of half a million NZ dollars, the Kaimanawa Wild Herd has
been decimated. Their fate is now in the hands of a Minister who looks
capable of believing his own publicity, that they will 'go to good homes.'
The reality is of course that all but a few hundred will be slaughtered.
This is the beginning of the end.
DoC claim to have caught 1,100 and left behind on Army land 530. No
objective scrutineers have been allowed to verify these figures on
Army land or at the Taihape farms. What we do know is that of the
approx. 200 horses which had home ranges on Maori land just one month
before the cull began only a handful remain.
DoC claim to have shot 7 horses only since the muster began. Two were
said to be in poor condition and the others to be suffering from
serious injuries 'not attributable to the muster."
However, this claim is widely disbelieved. Aside from the four horses
found shot dead on Maori land on 21/6/97 and the as yet unexplained
explosions from the area two days earlier, on Sunday, 8/6/97, DoC
cell phone communications were breached and they were heard to
order a digger to bury horses near the Paradise Road area of the
Army base.
Media and activists attempted to get to the spot but were buzzed at
low altitude by helicopters and finally stopped short of the large
hole by a wall of police and Army.
Furthermore, later that same Sunday a trailer unit, holding 8 Kaimanawa
horses was discovered abandoned on SH 1. Near the truck was a large
pool of blood.
Reacting to charges of cruelty which refuse to go away, this morning the
Minister of Conservation assured the public that "the RNZSPCA and
Veterinary Association have been present throughout (the muster)"
but a leaked email from DoC's Head Office paints a very different
picture.
In it, Peg Loague, the President of the RNZSPCA, is seen to have
contacted Ann Sheridan, the woman in charge of the public relations
section of the operation on 21/6/97 to tell her that "she wanted to
be kept informed of what was going on rather than as she said "find
out on t.v."
Someone who is present throughout the muster, or has representatives
who are present, has no need to ask the body they are supposed to be
supervising what is happening...to pretend otherwise is to attempt to
mislead the public.
The leaked email also makes it clear that Doc did not want a constant
supervision throughout the cull but preferred that it be "sporadic/random"
Indeed in the past, DoC has refused MAF requests to allow supervision of
the helicopters during the muster. Naturally media scrutiny has been
strictly supervised, limited and sanitized.
It is further suspected that horses have gone to slaughter throughout
the muster as has been the policy in past musters. Activists attempting
to follow trucks carrying wild horses, but not heading in the direction
of the holding farms at Taihepe, have been routinely pulled over and
stopped by Police. The Police then proceed to check license details,
registrations, warrants of fitness and ask questions until the trucks,
and all hope of tracking them to a slaughterhouse, are long gone.
The Minister is to announce soon how many wild horses will be
eventually be slaughtered. No doubt he'll blame the wild horse
lobby for failing to find what does not exist - 'good homes' for
1,100 wild horses in an urbanized 20th century society.
After all, as he is fond of saying, he "does not want to be
responsible for the deaths of hundreds of horses..."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Maori take a stand. Ngati Whiti Kaupeka return to the land.
About 30 Maori, men women and children, have moved onto land which
is part of their larger land claim over thousands of hectares of
Defence land which until DoC moved in was home to the Kaimanawa
Wild Horses. They have built huts and intend to stay on the land,
a council owned picnic ground near State Highway 1 at the Waiouru
Army village until they have received satisfaction the Crown over
their grievances.
The Maori, of Ngati Whiti Kaupeka hapu (sub tribe) have claim to
the land along with Ngati Tama Whiti and as part of a larger claim
by their overall tribe, the powerful Ngati Tuwharetoa, which has
been more than generous to the Crown in the past. The magnificent
World Heritage Park at Tongariro was gifted to the nation by the
paramount chief of Tuwharetoa last century. And the wild horses
were gifted by him to the hapu which now challenges DoC's right to
dispose of them.
Furthermore, land ownership and the usual rights associated with
ownership automatically gives the hapu rights over the wild horses
which have effectively been stolen from under their noses by the Crown,
in the same way as the land was taken just one generation ago. DoC's
conduct over the horses is insulting in the extreme.
The Maori feel that they have exhausted every other avenue and turn
to civil disobedience with reluctance. It is a fact that DoC refused
to include them in the Working Party which recommended that the herd
be culled. It is a fact that their point of view was not included
in the public discussion paper and final Plan which the Government
approved. It is a fact that the Waitangi Tribunal found that the
DoC had failed to consult Maori as they are required to do under
Section Four of their empowering Act and instructed them to do so
immediately. Still DoC refused to consult with Maori. As Hape
Lomax, the spokesman for Ngati Whiti Kaupeka said, "they have forced
us back and back until we are against the wall. Now is the time to
stand and take that wall down."
Furthermore, the census data has never been handed over for validation,
attempts to force DoC to consult have resulted in crippling legal bills
and wild horses from Maori land adjoining the claimed land have
disappeared or been found shot during the DoC muster.
The Minister's response to all this? Nick Smith claimed to day that
the activists were discrediting Maori and that "The claim had been
heard and rejected by the Tribunal." The Tribunal responded by saying
that the claim would not be heard for two to three years. Could we have
a reality check please Minister?
Meanwhile, the Ruapehu District Council is meeting today to decide
whether to issue trespass notices and send in the police to remove
the Maori and their families.
The Mayor, Weston Kirton, is quoted as saying "we can't have people
taking over land and doing what they want....building structures
without consents... We have to be consistent."
(Not unless those people are the Department of Conservation perhaps Wes...?)
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 19:17:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: No1BadGrl@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Organ/tissue growing .. good and bad news
Message-ID: <970609191739_470443491@emout11.mail.aol.com>
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Biotechnology and tissue engineering firms
are working on a wide range of techniques, many involving
manipulating human cells, to replace or repair organs and nerves. A
sampling:
Neuro-Genesis Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., formed just two months
ago, is working on nerve regeneration, using gene manipulation, to
repair brain and spinal cord injuries.
LifeCell Corp. of The Woodlands, Texas, is developing heart
valves and vascular bypass conduits for use in cardiovascular
surgery; it also makes implantable human tissue for use in
reconstructive surgery and burn treatment.
Massachusetts-based biotechnology companies Genzyme Corp. and
Diacrin Inc. are jointly developing transplants of fetal pig brain
cells to treat Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Genzyme
already sells Carticel to repair torn knee cartilage; it's made
from enzymes and from cells from patients' remaining cartilage.
Dow B. Hickam Inc. of New York last year got approval to sell
BioBrane, a synthetic membrane coated with pig proteins, to boost
clotting and cover burn wounds temporally before skin grafting.
Organogenesis Inc. of Canton, Mass., is selling its Apligra, a
living ``human skin equivalent'' to treat wounds and ulcers, in
Canada and seeking approval for U.S. sales.
In a related area, MatTek Corp. of Ashland, Mass., is marketing
its EpiDerm System and Advanced Tissue Sciences of La Jolla,
Calif., has developed Skin2. Both are for product testing, such as
for skin irritation and toxicity, and are intended to replace or
reduce animal testing.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 19:18:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: No1BadGrl@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Family's Pet Ferret Scheduled To Meet The Executioner Today
Message-ID: <970609191833_644080996@emout03.mail.aol.com>
SAGINAW, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 1997--"Kodo the Kute"
-- whose plight has garnered world-wide media attention and massive
cries of outrage -- is scheduled to meet his maker today when the
animal is executed, barring a successful last minute appeal to
rescind Michigan state and county prosecutors' victorious
death-penalty conviction of one Saginaw, Michigan's family pet
ferret.
Despite thousands of dollars raised from contributors around the
world to defray Kodo's legal costs, and despite thousands of phone
calls, e-mails, faxes and letters of protest to Michigan governor
John Engler, state and county prosecutors and Michigan media outlets,
and despite the retention of a political consultant and national
publicist, Robert Jacobs and his family are still unable to
understand why their message isn't getting through to government
officials who seemingly fail to use common sense and ignore stated
fact.
The Jacobs' family patriarch who was forced to leave work and
fight for his children's -- Crystal (8) and Eric (9) -- pet in court,
is at a loss of words to explain the potential tragedy to his
children. Moreover, following this arises a new one on the Jacobs'
family horizon: local publicity from the pet struggle sparked their
landlord to deliver a "notice to quit" their mobile trailer park
home for harboring an "exotic" pet, even though the ferret isn't
exotic (it's domestic).
Last month Jacob brought the family's pet ferret to a mall pet
exhibition -- on the first day of National Pet Week -- at the request
of local animal control officer Karen Burns. A senior gentlemen
reached to pat the ferret when he accidentally scraped his finger on
the pet's nose and tooth. The scrape broke skin causing minor
bleeding.
"The gentleman later humorously remarked to his wife, upon seeing
a blown-up photo of a vicious dog bite, that his `bite' wasn't nearly
as bad," Jacobs said, referring to the gentleman's court testimony.
"But within twenty minutes, Burns, having overheard the man, arrived
at my area with a `bite report' which correctly stated `Minor, No
stitches, Scratch Did Bleed.' Then she took Kodo away from me! We
haven't had him since."
If the ferret had rabies, it would have died within ten days. In
addition, Kodo had already been vaccinated with a rabies shot.
Nevertheless, government officials keep fighting for Kodo's
execution.
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 15:32:02 -0700
From: igor@earthlink.net (Coyotes)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Stop Coyote Trapping
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
STOP THE COYOTE TRAPPING!!!!
-city of Villa Park, Orange County, California.
1. Call :
City council of Villa Park at 714-998-1500
2. Write to the City Council. Address your letters to Mayor and City Council
members:
Fax: 714-998-1508
17855 Santiago Blvd.
Villa Park, CA 92861
3. Contact the land owners who are allowing the city to trap on their
property. Ask them to not allow this brutal, unnecessary slaughter of animals
on their property at 18102 Mesa Drive in Villa Park.
Babak Sotoodeh
Phone: 714-662-2664
Fax: 714-838-0585
5 Hutton Centre Drive
Suite 860
Santa Ana, CA 92707
Mohamad Sadrieh
Phone: 415-331-0410
Fax: 714-545-7804 ( in care of Tim Sotoodeh)
4. Come to the city council meeting on June 24 at 7:30pm at the address
listed in # 1
Deborah Famiglietti
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 18:51:25 -0600
From: cenobyte@technologist.com (cenobyte)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Pigs as bright as primates?
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Pig Video Arcades Critique Life in the Pen
by Miguel Helft
3:00pm 6.Jun.97.PDT -- Wilbur was so special that his friend Charlotte
labored through the night to shape her web into the words: "some pig." Now
evidence is surfacing that shows other pigs, possibly all pigs, may be as
special as the lovable hero of E. B. White's classic tale.
Joystick in snout, Hamlet and Omelette, the two animals that could become
their species' poster children, were seen playing videogames earlier this
week in a BBC documentary that aired in the United Kingdom.
The animals' skills show that, at least in some respects, pigs could be as
smart as chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates, says Stanley Curtis, a
professor of animal sciences at Pennsylvania State University. Curtis, who
has been doing research on pigs for more than 30 years, helped the pair
hone their videogame skills, and is ultimately interested in finding more
livable quarters for the farm animals.
So what do livable quarters have to do with videogames? The hope, Curtis
says, is that some day pigs may be able to tell humans what they do and
don't like in terms of living arrangements. But first, pigs have to be able
to communicate with humans. The video experiments are a way to test their
cognitive skills, and videogames could eventually provide the animals with
symbolic language, Curtis says.
"The first thing we have to do is know more about their thought processes,"
Curtis says. "So far, in the videogame tasks that we have given them, they
have performed remarkably well and quickly."
Hamlet and Omelette aren't playing Doom, Myst, or Quake, yet. But using a
joystick they control with their snouts, they have learned to move a cursor
and line it up with other items on the screen.
To conduct his studies, Curtis had to build an experimental arcade for
pigs. He began by modifying a US$10 joystick he bought at the local
Wal-Mart. First he replaced the stick's handle with a plastic stem and
capped it with a tractor gear-shift knob so the pigs could easily grab it
with their snouts. Then, over a period of six weeks, Curtis worked on
getting the pigs interested in the joystick by handing out rewards every
time they grabbed the knob with their snouts.
Next, Curtis hooked up the joystick to an IBM PC and a 13-inch monitor that
he installed behind a clear plastic screen about 18 inches away from the
pigs' faces ñ a distance that was recommended by a veterinarian
optometrist. Teaching the animals to make the connection between the
joystick manipulation and the movement of the cursor on the screen turned
out to be easier than expected.
"Our colleagues who had done work with primates told us not to worry about
this step," Curtis says. "And indeed [Hamlet and Omelette] learned that
very quickly."
The final hurdle involved teaching the pigs to line up the cursor with an
icon on the screen. Again, Curtis turned to the reward method. He installed
a machine that would automatically deliver an m&m every time the pigs
performed the routine correctly. It took just a few hours for Hamlet and
Omelette to figure out the trick.
Curtis says the pigs learned to play the simple games every bit as quickly
as primates. In fact, Hamlet and Omelette exhibited more interest in the
task at hand than their primate cousins.
"They weren't just lever-pressing on the joystick," says Bill Hopkins, a
professor at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. As a researcher at the Yerkes
Primate Center in nearby Atlanta, Hopkins has been doing similar work with
chimpanzees and other apes for several years. "They looked like they were
catching on that there was more to it," he says. "They looked engaged."
About the only problem so far is one of attention span: About 15 minutes
into a videogame session, Hamlet and Omelette usually get tired of playing
and lie down. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, play for hours on end.
The pigs are still far from being very accurate, but the work is promising,
Hopkins says. "If the animals reliably develop the use of this system, down
the road I think some really interesting stuff could be coming out of
this."
This summer, Curtis plans to train two other pairs of pigs to play
videogames. Taking them through the initial stages faster, Curtis hopes the
new pigs will take to videogames with renewed vigor.
In the future, Curtis will focus on more challenging exercises to see if
pigs can pick between several characters or icons that represent objects.
That would constitute a rudimentary form of symbolic language. With similar
techniques, primates have been able to express themselves in "languages"
with a vocabulary of up to 500 words.
"I'm not surprised that pigs are pretty bright and capable," says Curtis,
who over years of watching the animals became convinced pigs were among the
most intelligent farm animals.
"But I was gratified by it," he says. "We think human beings are pretty
special. And we believe the nonhuman primates [because of the resemblance
to humans] should be rather special, too. When a pig can learn things as
quickly as chimpanzees, that's remarkable."
Some pigs.
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Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 09:45:06 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Technology goes feral in animal fight (Australia)
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970610093737.1abf6aa2@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Technology goes feral in animal fight (Australia)
By John Stapleton
Technology is being deployed in the war against feral animals amid fears that
control on gun ownership and the spread of the rabbit calicivirus could lead to
the rapid expansion in the number of pigs, foxes and goats.
In the south-eastern forests, which stretch over a million hectares across
the NSW-Victorian border,scientists are about to launch a widespread radio
tagging of feral animals.
The moves come as the Federal Government finalises a national bid for fox
control and on the eve of calls for public submissions on cats, goats and
rabbits.
In the elaborate network of State forests and national parks through the
area,populations of wild hunting dogs and deer released from unprofitable
farms have become recent problems, while feral pigs have been a problem
since being released by hunters in the late 1970's.
The object is to electronically collar adults and juveniles of feral species
and
use them to track populations.
"There is a lot more to learn than just going out and blasting them" says
NSW State Forests Ranger Bryce Thornhill.
"Some pigs travel, some have their home range. We need to know their habits and
habitats. We want to pre-empt their movements by working out their movements."
State and federal government bodies, along with community groups, have
formed the Feral Animal Working Group to coordinate the assault.
"We hope to eradicate feral animals entirely," says wildlife manager for the
south-eastern forests Dr Jim Shields.
"We have legal and moral obligations. Feral animals are the major threat to
many native species."
End
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