News
The number of news found: 25.
12/30/2004 ANIMAL PROTECTION ACTIVISTS APPLAUD FAMOUS PLAYERS' DECISION TO STOP WINTER FUR ADVERTISEMENTS!
Vancouver - After two years of relentless campaigning, Skinned! a BC-based animal protection group has successfully brought the Canadian public's strong anti-fur sentiments to the attention of Famous Players' top brass. Advertisements for independent furriers and the Fur Council of Canada had typically been a part of Famous Players' national pre-show ad line up for the past three years, but the notable absence of fur advertising in Famous Players theatres this year suggests that Skinned!'s efforts may have moved the company away from any association with the abhorrent fur industry."We are very pleased that Famous Players has finally stopped advertising for the Fur Council of Canada and for independent furriers this winter season. Our campaigning efforts generated 9,000 emails of complaint against Famous Players' fur ads. With this phenomenal amount of negative public feedback, it seems that Famous Players has put ethics before profit," said Rae Vasudevan. "We hope their de facto disassociation with the fur industry will be a permanent one," added Ms. Vasudevan.
12/27/2004 RUSSIA CRASH KILLS 2, ENDANGERS DOLPHIN!
Veliky Novgorod, Russia, Dec. 25 -- Two people were killed and another was injured in Russia Saturday when two trucks, one transporting two dolphins and a baby walrus, collided.The truck carried the two dolphins and walrus in three large aquariums filled with water, Interfax News Agency reported Saturday. The animals were being taken to the Utrishsky dolphinarium in St. Petersburg.The accident caused one of the aquariums to overturn, spilling a dolphin out into the snow. The aquarium was quickly refilled, and the dolphin was returned to the water.
12/26/2004 ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS ARE MORE STRESSFUL THAN PREVIOUSLY RECOGNIZED!
Washington - Mice, rabbits, rats, beagles, geese, and other animals all show measurable physiological stress responses to routine laboratory procedures that have been up until now viewed as relatively benign. The findings come in a new report published in Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science, based on an extensive review of the scientific literature by ethologist Jonathan Balcombe, Ph.D., of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).
12/25/2004 25 CAPTIVE DOLPHINS HEADING TO THE BAHAMAS!
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has learned from an informed source that the Atlantis Resort at Paradise Island in the Bahamas is preparing for a one billion dollar expansion. Included in these plans is a large dolphinarium.Presently the Resort does not have a captive facility and guests have been going off site to see dolphins in the wild. The Atlantis Resorts want to keep these tourists dollars and is looking at providing an all-inclusive package to tourists to the Bahamas staying at their facility.Atlantis Resorts owned by Kerzner International Resorts Inc. reportedly has already purchased 25 dolphins for the facility.
12/24/2004 EURASIAN GRIFFON PROTECTED BIRDS KILLED BY HUNTERS!
In last five days on Croatian island Rab NGO Eco-Center Caput Insulae-Beli (ECCIB), non-profit and non-governmental organisation established to protect the natural and cultural-historical heritage on Island of Cres - Croatia found 20 killed Eurasian Griffon. After pathology in Veterinarian Institut in Zagreb it was found that they were killed by poisoning. Hunters introduced wild pigs on the island as they are allowed for killing and they need a more place for them. As on island is protected area thy killed them to make more space.
12/23/2004 ZOO WORKERS RISK EXPOSURE TO NONHUMAN PRIMATE VIRUS!
Zoo workers who come into close contact with nonhuman primates, such as apes and monkeys, are at increased risk for exposure to simian virus 40 (SV40), suggest the results of a study of North American zoo workers. However, the investigators emphasize that larger studies are needed to determine the precise level of risk and to determine whether there are health consequences of SV40 infection in humans. SV40 causes cancer in laboratory animals, and SV40 DNA has been observed in some human tumors, although possible routes of infection are unknown, Dr. Eric A. Engels, from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and colleagues report in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.They tested 254 zoo workers for antibodies to SV40. 25 of 109 of the workers who had direct contact with primates (23 percent) tested positive for SV40, as compared with 15 of 145 workers (10 percent) who had no direct contact with primates. The increased rate of SV40 exposure in primate handlers remained after an "added level of stringency" was incorporated, the team notes, namely, a test to eliminate possible false-positive results that may have picked up 2 SV40-related human viruses. The "mostly low-level" of SV40 exposure observed in the workers suggests that there is no ongoing replication of SV40, Engels and colleagues note.
12/22/2004 OUTBREAK OF Q FEVER IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA!
South Australia is dealing with its largest outbreak of Q fever in more than a decade. It has been confirmed that 9 farmers in the state's mid-north have the disease, and there are another 6 suspected cases.Dr. Jack Shephard, from Jamestown, says anyone who comes into contact with sheep, cattle, goats, or kangaroos could contract the disease. Shephard says it's likely his patients got it from the local sheep saleyards in October 2004. He said, "We've had people racing in demanding to be tested straight away, but testing is not simple. We have to prepare a special batch of skin testing. It's been excellent publicity to make people realize they should really come and be tested if they're going to handle sheep or goats or any other animals like them in the future."
12/21/2004 1 IN 10 BIRD SPECIES COULD VANISH WITHIN 100 YEARS!
By 2100, about 10% of all bird species probably will be extinct, killed off by habitat loss, hunting and climate change, conservation biologists estimate. "We are changing the world so much that even birds cannot adapt," says biologist Cagan Sekercioglu of Stanford University, who led the extinction analysis.Roughly 1,200 bird species, about 12% of the total, are threatened with extinction. A "critically endangered" 179 of those species face an extremely high risk of immediate disappearance. Last month, for example, the last known Hawaiian po'ouli bird died.
12/20/2004 ABANDONED ZOO ANIMALS FREEZE TO DEATH!
Four animals of a mobile zoo died of starvation and cold in Russia's Vladimir region. A tragedy has recently occurred in the town of Murom, Russia's Vladimir region. Three people of the personnel and animals of the zoo circus Fauna have been left to the mercy of fate, when the director of the circus disappeared. The animals had to spend a week in their cages in freezing weather. Exhaustion and cold killed a camel, a wolf, a bobcat and a tiger. Murom residents saved other animals from starvation. The arrival of the zoo circus became quite an important event for Murom. There is no zoo in the city, but the zoo circus gave children and their parents a chance to see wild animals. There was a bobcat, a couple of tigers and lions, camels, bears, monkeys, horses, ponies and exotic birds in the circus. "The circus was really large - there were about 15 wagons in it. It was a great experience for children, because they could ride a pony there and take a picture of themselves with monkeys. However, the circus gave just a few shows, and then everything went quiet there. One could see that the animals were in there, although the people just vanished," town resident Svetlana Smolova told the Izvestia newspaper. It became known later that the zoo circus director disappeared. The animals were left for two boys, who could not speak Russian, and a man, who was taking care of the animals. The man told local residents that the director had left for Moscow, but the man did not know if he was coming back or not.
12/19/2004 FAMED NEW YORK HAWK TO REGAIN HIS PERCH!
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A celebrated red-tailed hawk evicted last week from his upscale New York digs can move back to the ritzy apartment building where his nest was perched following an agreement on safety arrangements, building management said on Tuesday night. Pale Male's nest was abruptly removed from its Upper East Side site last week after complaints from building residents about falling debris, including gnarled remains of pigeons. The removal sparked noisy protests from fans who had watched the hawk and his mates raise more than 20 chicks in the spot overlooking Central Park since 1993. Late on Tuesday, New York City Audubon Society and the building's board said they had agreed to restore the metal spikes supporting the hawk's nest and erect a guardrail around its 12th-floor roost to safeguard residents and passersby. An architectural firm was retained to consult on design and construction.
12/17/2004 HUNTING ACCIDENT CLAIMS CUCIUFFO!
Buenos Aires: Argentine 1986 World Cup winning defender Jose Luis Cuciuffo died after being shot in a hunting accident, Argentine newspapers reported on Sunday. He was 43.Cuciuffo, a central defender in the side captained by Diego Maradona that won the 1986 tournament in Mexico, was fatally wounded in the stomach while out hunting in southern Buenos Aires province on Saturday evening, they said on their websites. He died in hospital.He played in the Argentine first division for Talleres, in his home city of Cordoba, Velez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors and French clubs Nimes and Reims.
12/15/2004 BILL ALLOWS HORSES TO BE SOLD FOR MEAT!
Washington -- The same law that gives government agencies billions of dollars in funding is also opening the door for Americans to sell wild horses and burros for their meat. President George W. Bush signed the $388 billion spending bill Wednesday. Among its provisions is one letting people sell wild horses that could potentially be used as meat in other countries.The law applies to horses more than 10 years old, or younger horses which have been passed over for adoption three times. Government corrals around the country hold about 20,000 wild horses now, and one senator said the new law is intended to help spur adoption efforts.
12/14/2004 RARE BIRD FALLS TO AVIAN MALARIA!
An extremely rare Hawaiian bird has died in captivity, possibly marking the extinction of its species only 31 years after it was first discovered. The Po'o-uli, which was suffering from avian malaria, belonged to one of the world's most threatened bird families -- the Hawaiian honeycreepers. 13 other honeycreeper species have already died out, in what some are calling Hawaii's extinction crisis. Many species are in decline due to habitat loss and introduced predators. "The tragic death of this bird means that we may now be too late to prevent the addition of the Po'o-uli to the depressingly long list of recent extinctions in Hawaii," said Stuart Butchart, of BirdLife International. "It should serve as a wake-up call to redouble our efforts to save Hawaii's threatened species."
12/13/2004 WOMAN STRANGLES ROTTWEILER!
Police are considering charges against an American woman who strangled her neighbour's Rottweiler, which she said had attacked her Yorkshire terrier. Robin Bush, was inside her home on Wednesday when the Rottweiler, Rox, slipped away from his owner and attacked the Yorkie, Candy, who was outside with Bush's 10-year-old son, police told the Port St Lucie News. When Ms Bush heard her son scream, she ran out of the house, threw a beer bottle at the dog, kicked it, grabbed it by the collar and strangled it, while banging its head against the wall. A Miami prosecutor considered whether to bring charges against Ms Bush for cruelty to the Rottweiler.
12/12/2004 RARE SIBERIAN TIGER SHOT DEAD!
A rare Amur tiger was shot and killed overnight after it escaped from a downtown ZOO over a 5m-high electric fence in southern Denmark. The one-year-old tiger was in its outdoor cage for the first time when it climbed the fence, ZOO manager Gunnar Schoenveller told TV2.The tiger, along with its female mate, arrived in the Nykoebing Falster Zoo on November 20 in downtown Nykoebing, 130km south of the capital, Copenhagen."The animal was dangerous because it was scared," Mr Schoenveller said, adding that the tiger roamed the park surrounding the ZOO. Police had closed the park while they searched for the animal. Veterinarians and rescue officers with rifles surrounded the 120kg tiger and shot him, police spokesman Kim Bak said. Mr Bak said a decision was made to kill the tiger because of fears it might get out into the city.Fewer than 400 Amur tigers remain in the wild. About 160 are in zoos and wildlife parks in North America. The species are native to Russia and northeast China.
12/10/2004 HUNTS CAN STILL CHASE AND KILL FOXES!
The difficulties faced by rural police forces in enforcing the new hunting ban were underlined by the Government on Monday, when it acknowledged that hunts would still be able to chase and kill foxes - provided they did not do so deliberately. In an internal briefing document inadvertently sent to the WMN, the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that police and prosecutors would have to demonstrate that those committing offences under the new Hunting Act had done so intentionally.
12/09/2004 ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTEST AT AUSTRALIAN EMBASSY IN PARIS!
Lunchtime shoppers and visitors to the Australian embassy in Paris on Friday were greeted by animal rights activists dressed as sheep. The protest by members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was part of a wider campaign being waged in cities worldwide against Australia's live sheep trade and the practice of mulesing. Mulesing involves lambs' rump flesh being cut off to prevent flystrike. "Australia's war on sheep is a disgrace," PETA Europe Campaign Coordinator Andrew Butler said in a statement. "Kind people won't buy wool when they learn about mulesing mutilations and live export, both of which could end today." Similar demonstrations were planned in other European cities, including Brussels and The Hague.
12/08/2004 RABBINATE BACKS PETA!
In an alliance of thoroughly improbable bedfellows, Israel's Chief Rabbinate is effectively backing an outspoken US animals' rights group and opposing a leading Orthodox kashrut supervisor in a much-publicized fray over practices at a US slaughterhouse. The rabbinate told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that it would not consider as kosher cows that appear in an undercover video of ritual slaughtering at the AgriProcessors Inc. plant in Postville, Iowa. The rabbinate's opinion contradicts a halachic ruling by the Orthodox Union in the US. The video was released this week by the animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), which is denouncing AgriProcessors' practices as outrageously cruel and has filed a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture. Since posting the grisly video on its Internet site, PETA, which insists it is not going after all kosher slaughter, has received widespread publicity in the US for its campaign against AgriProcessors. The footage shows cows in the Iowa slaughterhouse slamming their heads on the floor, staggering and even standing shakily minutes after their throats were cut and their trachea and esophagus ripped out. PETA states on its Internet site that, in most cases, kosher slaughter is supposed to be kinder and quicker than standard slaughter methods.
12/07/2004 HUNTER'S STRAY BULLET SERIOUSLY INJURES PREGNANT WOMAN!
Casey Burns, 18, of the 1500 block of Clearview Road was listed in critical condition Wednesday night at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, hospital officials said. She is seven months pregnant with her first child. Police and Burns' family members say she was sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle in her driveway about 4:45 p.m. when a bullet shattered the front driver's side window and struck her in the head. "We've interviewed several hunters that were in the area at the time," said state police Capt. Scott Snyder of Troop M in Bethlehem. "Our investigation is not complete yet and we haven't come to a definitive conclusion, but it seems likely that it was a stray bullet from a hunter," he said. Burns' home is surrounded by privately owned land that is suitable for hunting, Snyder said. He did not say how many hunters police interviewed in connection with the shooting, or whether any of them had permission from the property owner to be there Tuesday. Monday marked the first day of deer hunting season in Pennsylvania, and Snyder said incidents involving stray bullets are common around this time.
12/06/2004 ARTIST EATS FOX IN PROTEST!
London (Reuters) - Forget the soiled bedsheets and pickled animals, art has taken another outrageous turn in an example of the unspeakable swallowing the uneatable. Performance artist Mark McGowan, who counts among his feats pushing a peanut along the road to Tony Blair's Downing street home with his nose, has eaten a fox, in protest at the public fixation with a government ban on fox hunting. He described the roast fox, which he ate in public, as quite tasty, although he admitted to nearly vomiting at times. "It was a bit like rack of lamb," he told Reuters. "The trouble was the retching noises from the other people in the room."
12/05/2004 EUROPEAN LYNX ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION!
It's Europe's biggest conservation crisis, yet most of us have never heard of it. Within the next five years, we could see the first modern extinction of a big cat - on our own doorstep. Hunters, disease and now EU subsidies could wipe out the Iberian lynx, a mysterious creature known to locals as `the phantom of the forest'. Eduardo Gonçalves, co-author of a new book - the first in English about the lynx - uncovers the secret story, and unfolding tragedy...When we think of exotic big cats, our minds usually picture the jungles of Africa, the rainforests of South America, the peaks of distant mountain ranges. Snow leopards or Siberian tigers, you may think, are the world's rarest felines.However, there is one species which faces such a serious risk of extinction it may disappear well before this decade is out. And it lives much closer to home.The Iberian lynx, which inhabits the hills and open forests of south-western Spain and Portugal, is heading for extinction at a dramatic rate. In 1988, there were just 1,200 lynxes thought to remain. Today, though, as few as 300 of these magnificent animals are left.
12/04/2004 MAJOR DOLPHIN CAPTURE IN JAPAN!
Responding to an order placed by members of the dolphin captivity industry, the fishermen of Futo, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, have driven a pod of about 100 bottlenose dolphins into Futo harbor. This is the first time dolphins have been captured in Futo since 1999. The harbor has been sealed with a net so that the dolphins can't escape, and all public access to the area has been blocked with ropes to prevent anyone from videotaping the scene.Divers from at least two Japanese aquariums arrived in the morning of November 12 to select up to 30 "show-quality" dolphins for their facilities. Some of the dolphins were killed for research.
12/03/2004 CHINA PREPARES FOR 2008 OLYMPICS!
In preparation for the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing in 2008, China has decided that it is time to tackle the problem of stray dogs. Due to fears of rabies, these animals are not generally eaten and have become widespread in some cities. Instead of introducing a plan of spay and neuter as has been done in many more civilised countries, the Chinese solution is far more immediate and, not surprisingly, brutal. In Cixi between 10th and 16th October 2004 an unverified estimate of 40,000 dogs were slaughtered! The city of Guilin is planning a similar massacre during December.
12/02/2004 MAN SENTENCED TO 20 DAYS FOR CRUELTY TO ANIMALS!
KALISPELL - A man who admitted taking kittens advertised as "free to good homes" and using them to train a hunting dog was sentenced to a jail term last Friday on a charge of cruelty to animals. Jon Lawler, 19, said he used the kittens to train his Walker hound, turning them loose so the dog could tree them and then shooting them.Justice of the Peace David Ortley sentenced Lawler to 20 days in jail, giving him credit for 12 already served. He also was assigned to read two books on hunting ethics and write his thoughts about the books. He also was fined $560 and banned from hunting mountain lions for two years.
12/01/2004 DETROIT ZOO TO FREE ELEPHANTS!
The Detroit Zoo will become the nation's first major animal facility to give away its elephants solely on ethical grounds. Winky and Wanda, the latest in an 81-year-old tradition of pachyderms at the zoo, will be sent to one of two U.S. refuges this summer or early fall. The decision to send them away comes amid a nationwide push to provide better care for elephants, widely considered to be among the Earth's most intelligent creatures. They form strong social bonds and have a powerful need for physical and intellectual stimulation. "People's traditional expectation of zoos is that they see lions and tigers and elephants," zoo Director Ron Kagan, 52, said Wednesday. "But it's also their expectation that an animal has a good life." Although the Detroit Zoo is widely recognized as being a leader in animal care, and even though the elephants' 1-acre enclosure vastly exceeds new standards being phased in nationwide, Kagan said that is not enough. The Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak "is the first to make a purely voluntary decision of this nature," said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States. "This is precedent-setting," Pacelle said. "It will reverberate throughout the zoo community, and by extension, be an indictment of what goes on in circuses where elephants are chained 22 hours a day."
The number of news found: 25.
