News
The number of news found: 25.
09/30/2005 FIGHTING FASHIONABLE FUR!
After years of being shunned by the stars and condemned as cruel - fur sales are again surging. The trend has seen activists turning up the heat on fur's supporters in the fashion world.Several protesters stormed the catwalk at Julien McDonald's show in London this year to make their views public. And Heather Mills McCartney has also joined the cause. Earlier this month she stormed Jennifer Lopez's New York offices to campaign against the use of fur in her clothing range. Celebrities like Sophie Ellie Bextor and Charlize Theron have also drawn attention to the cause. But according to retailers they are losing the battle - with fur sales rising by a third in the last year. This is despite many high street stores banning the real thing.
09/29/2005 USA: A NEW DEADLY, CONTAGIOUS DOG FLU VIRUS IS DETECED IN 7 STATES!
A new, highly contagious and sometimes deadly canine flu is spreading in kennels and at dog tracks around the country, veterinarians said. The virus, which scientists say mutated from an influenza strain that affects horses, has killed racing greyhounds in seven states and has been found in shelters and pet shops in many places, including the New York suburbs, though the extent of its spread is unknown.How many dogs die from the virus is unclear, but scientists said the fatality rate is more than 1 percent and could be as high as 10 percent among puppies and older dogs.
09/28/2005 TOOL TO REDUCE USE OF LABORATORY ANIMALS!
The EU is funding the BioSim Network of Excellence in order to structure efforts to develop simulation models for the design, selection and testing of drugs. Thanks to the biosimulation approach, the lengthy and costly development process for a drug could be reduced by two to three years in time, and lead to a significant reduction of the use of laboratory animals and test persons.
09/27/2005 NEW YORK SKYSCRAPERS DIM LIGHTS TO SAVE BIRDS!
The city that never sleeps will darken the lights of the famed Manhattan skyline after midnight to help save migrating birds. New York civic leaders on Tuesday, Sept. 20, said the lights of buildings above the 40th floor will be turned off after midnight in the fall and spring migration seasons to save birds.Since 1997, more than 4,000 migratory birds have been killed or injured from colliding into skyscrapers, bird experts said.
09/26/2005 MILKY STORKS FACING EXTINCTION IN MALAYSIA!
The milky storks (Mycteria cinerea), numbering only 10 in the country now, are facing extinction, according to the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). The 10 wild storks are at the Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve in Perak.MNS scientific officer (Ornithology) Yeap Chin Aik said human disturbance of nesting colonies, mangrove habitat loss and poaching had caused the number of these storks to dwindle. "It would be no surprise if the milky stork is extinct in Malaysia in the next five years," he said at the Bird-Watching seminar at Kolej Ugama Sultan Zainal Abidin.
09/25/2005 ELLIS-BEXTOR SPARKS FUR CONFUSION
British pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor sparked confusion over her stance on the fur trade this week when she attended the opening party for a new Versace boutique in London, which stocks fashion garments incorporating fur.The 26-year-old says, "I did that campaign to raise awareness, so people think about what they're buying before they do. I don't have a complicated view about it. I don't wear fur, but I don't mind other people wearing it, or standing here in a shop that sells it at all."
09/23/2005 THE U.S. SENATE VOTES 68 TO 29 TO PASS HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN!
On September 20, the U.S. Senate passed the Ensign-Byrd amendment to ban horse slaughter for human consumption. By a vote of 68 to 29, the Senate demonstrated its support for an end to horse slaughter.Because the amendment is part of the Agriculture Appropriations bill, it will only be effective for one year. However, it may help save the lives of the more than 50,000 horses who would otherwise be sent to slaughter in 2006.The ultimate solution is passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503) to place a permanent ban on horse slaughter for human consumption.
09/22/2005 8000 LAB ANIMALS DIED FROM FLOODING, STARVATION AND EUTHANASIA!
New Orleans - Thousands of laboratory animals - many genetically engineered with human diseases like cancer and painstakingly bred and cared for - perished along with vital tissue samples thawed in abandoned labs.Important work on heart disease, cancer, AIDS and a host of other ailments may be lost forever to scientists at Tulane and Louisiana State universities' medical schools in New Orleans. LSU lost all of its 8,000 lab animals, including mice, rats, dogs and monkeys. Many drowned. Others died without food and water and the rest were euthanized, said Dr. Larry Hollier, dean of the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Medicine.
09/21/2005 PETA PUTS EXHIBIT ON DISPLAY AGAIN!
Richmond, Va. - One month after suspending a provocative display comparing animal cruelty to slavery, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is resuming the traveling show on the West Coast. PETA came under fire after a man began yelling that the exhibit was racist during an Aug. 8 showing in New Haven, Conn. The incident outraged national civil rights groups, who said it demeaned blacks.But after weeks of reviewing e-mail and conducting an online poll, PETA officials are confident the exhibit should continue, said spokeswoman Dawn Carr. "What we kept seeing is that the complaints always boiled down to not wanting to be compared to animals - which is the very bias we're trying to challenge."The project involves a display of panels juxtaposing graphic images of slavery and other human abuse with pictures of chained animals.
09/20/2005 DIESEL FROM DEAD CATS!
A German inventor has claimed to found a way to make cheap diesel fuel out of dead cats. Dr Christian Koch, 55, says that his method uses old tires, weeds and animal cadavers, which are heated up to 300 Celsius to filter out hydrocarbon, which is then turned into diesel by a catalytic converter. He said that the high quality bio-diesel costs just 15 pence per liter, and only 20 cats are needed to produce 2.5 liters of fuel. Animal rights associations, however, have criticised the method. "This is as bad as experimenting on animals," Annelise Krauss of the Dresden Animal Protection Association was quoted as saying.
09/19/2005 WORLD BANK CONTRIBUTING TO EXTINCTIONS AND OVERFISHING!
Forest Knolls, California - Only weeks after the World Bank announced a new project to promote sustainable fishing, a new report documents how controversial bank investments in longline fishing in the Pacific are contributing to overfishing for tuna and an extinction crisis for sea turtles and seabirds. As the World Bank prepares for its annual meeting on September 24-25th, new questions arise as to the destructive impact of investments by the World Bank and other multilateral development banks on the ocean and fisheries resources.
09/18/2005 KATRINA RESCUE EFFORT BEGINS FOR DOLPHINS!
Jackson, Miss. - Scientists are trying to rescue eight dolphins that were swept out of their aquarium tanks by Hurricane Katrina and have been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico.The dolphins were spotted while swimming near the Port of Gulfport on last Saturday by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducting an aerial survey to assess hurricane damages to natural resources.The dolphins' home had been a 30-foot high tank at Gulfport's nearly 50-year-old Marine Life Oceanarium, which had survived Hurricane Camille but was destroyed by Katrina.
09/17/2005 ORANG-OUTANGS IN DANGER OF LOSING OUT!
Kuala Lumpur - The orang-outang is in danger of losing almost half its habitat in the next five years. Found only in Borneo and Sumatra, the only great ape that inhabits Asia has a bleak future, according to prediction by the United Nations Environment Programme.The UNs World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation predicts that orang-outangs in Malaysia and Indonesia could lose 47 per cent of their habitat in the next five years if the current pace of development persists.
09/16/2005 SEA TURTLES IN DANGER ON THE WEST COAST!
On Tuesday, September 20, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, which is responsible for managing fisheries off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington, will be considering a proposal to grant exemptions to a small number of fishers to a measure that closes a large area of the California coast to destructive gillnet fishing that injures and kills large numbers of endangered sea turtles, sharks, billfish and marine mammals. Also known as "curtains of death," gillnets kill everything it catches including the ancient leatherback sea turtle which now teeters on the brink of extinction in the Pacific Ocean.
09/15/2005 USA: FEDERAL GOVERNMENT KILLS MORE THAN 2.7 MILLION WILDLIFE IN 2004!
Washington, DC - Even as some federal agencies spend millions to protect wildlife, another federal agency spends millions to kill wildlife in record numbers, according to agency reports released today by two environmental groups, Sinapu and Public Employees for environmental Responsibility (PEER). The number of nuisance wildlife destroyed by the federal government rose to more than 2.7 million animals in 2004, an increase of more than a million from 2003.
09/15/2005 PETA HALTS CAMPAIGN AGAINST BENETTON!
After nearly a year of vigorous campaigning to urge Benetton not to use wool that comes from Australian lambs subjected to the "mulesing" mutilation and live sheep exported overseas in horrific conditions, the international retail giant has announced that it is backing the landmark agreement between the Australian Wool Growers Association (AWGA) and PETA US that has led to a new brand of wool. The new brand comes from farmers who are part of a structured plan to end mulesing and live exports. In Benetton's letter to the AWGA, the company agreed to buy this new brand of wool and urged "the entire Australian wool industry" to adopt the agreement, which will end the two cruellest practices in Australian sheep farming.
09/14/2005 THREE CHIMPS KILLED AT NEBRASKA ZOO AFTER ESCAPE!
Royal - Three chimpanzees from a small-town zoo were shot and killed after they escaped from their enclosure and could not be captured, the zoo director said.The primates at Zoo Nebraska were able to get out of the cage Saturday when a padlock was not completely closed after cleaning, said zoo director Ken Schlueter Jr. He killed the animals with a deputy's service revolver after a tranquilizer gun didn't show any effect.
09/13/2005 McCONAUGHEY SAVES THE ANIMALS!
Actor Matthew McConaughey gave up his Labor Day celebrations to save 70 pets left stranded in Slidell, Louisiana, by Hurricane Katrina. The Sahara star flew into the disaster zone surrounding a hospital where a stranded doctor had promised to take care of evacuees' dogs, cats and hamsters until they were rescued. The actor helped to make sure the 50 dogs, 18 cats and two hamsters were ferried to safety on rescue boats, admitting he was stunned by the heroics of the doctor who stayed behind to look after them. He says, "He said, 'I will not leave until the dogs are safe.'"
09/12/2005 FREE PIG SOLD WITH EVERY NEW HOUSE!
A housing developer in Britain is offering a live pig as a pet to anyone who purchases a property from him, a spokeswoman said, adding that the unusual offer had already attracted two buyers. The rare Gloucester Old Spot pig will be fully house-trained before it delivered to its new family.Those who do not fancy getting trotter marks on their carpets can opt to have their pig kept on a farm and turned into pork chops or rashers of bacon.Property developer Jeremy Paxton has promised to supply a pig to anyone investing in a home on the exclusive Lower Mill estate, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, south west England. "It will make a change from having a Labrador," a spokeswoman said.
09/11/2005 HSUS PLEADS WITH FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AGENCIES TO HELP RESCUE THOUSANDS OF STRANDED PETS!
Washington - With the situation for the animals on the Gulf Coast at a critical juncture - as thousands of animals have just a couple of days to live - The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is calling for federal, state, and local responding agencies to immediately assist with animal rescue efforts. "We are throwing unprecedented resources at the problem, but its magnitude is beyond our capacity. We need help right now," said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO. "Federal, state, and local assistance is critical to our efforts to save the thousands of stranded and abandoned pets still out there."
09/10/2005 GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER PLANS TO VETO PUPPY SALES BILL!
Even though puppies that are weaned too early are susceptible to illness and premature death, many puppies as young as two weeks old are shipped from Mexico into California every year and sold in pet stores. A new bill (SB 914) introduced by Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) would prohibit the sale or purchase of puppies that have not been nursed by their mothers for at least eight weeks. Yet Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in deference to the pet sales industry, has announced plans to veto the bill, putting puppies' lives in danger.
09/09/2005 HUNDREDS OF ANIMALS DYING WHILE GROUPS AWAIT PERMISSION TO ADMINISTER URGENTLY NEEDED AID!
Project Hope, a project of the international animal protection organization, In Defense of Animals (IDA), is calling on state officials to allow animal protection groups permission to enter disaster stricken areas of Mississippi. The group, which has set up a rescue and recovery effort at the County Fairgrounds in Jackson along with Mississippi Emergency Response for Animals (MEPA) and the Disaster Animal Response Team (DART) to help animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, is prepared to venture into areas affected by the storm and deliver medical assistance and supplies, yet is being halted by the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
09/08/2005 VICTORIA MOVES TO BAN KILLER DOGS!
Dangerous dogs and restricted breeds such as pit bulls will have to be desexed - effectively breeding them out of existence, under new laws to be introduced in Victoria. Under the laws, owners of restricted breeds will be required to desex their dogs as will owners of dogs that have been declared dangerous by their local municipal councils. Other restricted dog breeds include Japanese tosas, Argentinean fighting dogs and Brazilian fighting dogs, but only American pit bull terriers and pit bull terriers are known to be in Australia. In the past year, there have been more than 50 dog attacks in Victoria reported to local councils allegedly involving American pit bull terriers or pit bull terriers. The proposed changes to the Domestic (Feral and Nuisance) Animals Act 1994 will also include doubling the penalty to $1,048 for failing to provide a restricted breed dog declaration or providing false information on a restricted breed dog declaration.
09/05/2005 CANANDAIGUA ACTS TO PROTECT DOGS!
CANANDAIGUA - This Ontario County city has shortened the leash on dog owners who keep their pets chained outside for long periods of time. After a yearlong effort spearheaded by animal rights activist and retired social worker Joel Freedman, City Council on Thursday approved an ordinance that makes it illegal to tether dogs outside for more than 16 hours a day. Although communities in other states around the country have enacted such laws, Freedman said Canandaigua's law is believed to be the first of its kind in New York.
09/04/2005 PETA COMES TO AGREEMENT ABOUT PHASING OUT MULESING!
Activists around the world have been campaigning against the Australian wool industry for the past year to end two cruel practicies, mulesing mutilations of lambs and live sheep export. After hundreds of international demonstrations and other actions, PETA and Australian wool farmers have come to an agreement that would phase out mulesing through a series of quantifiable steps, starting now and securing a total end to the practice by the end of 2009, and require that live export standards meet Australian domestic animal protection laws, with the provision that if, by September 2006, it is shown that the industry can't meet these standards, sheep farmers who have signed on to this agreement will, within the next five years, stop shipping sheep overseas.
The number of news found: 25.
