(01/09/2003) Tortoises baked in shell in Glasgow Zoo
GLASGOW, Scotland, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Seven rare tortoises died at the Glasgow Zoo in Scotland after a thermostat malfunctioned
on the hottest day of the year.
The 60-year-old Brown Burmese tortoises died on Aug. 10 of heat exhaustion when the thermostat turned on the heat in their enclosure, the London Sun reported...
[Link]
(Notice) Communiqué de presse 21.08.2003
Waimes n'acceptera dorénavant plus de cirques avec animaux sauvages sur son
territoire. C'est ce que le bourgmestre a fait savoir aujourd'hui par courrier à GAIA.
L'organisation de défense des droits des animaux GAIA félicite le Collège pour sa
décision progressiste qui contribuera au bien-être des animaux. L'interdiction vient
suite à la demande de GAIA auprès de l'administration communale, afin que celle-ci
n' accepte plus, pour des raisons de bien-être animal, de cirques qui utilisent des
animaux sauvages. Waimes est ainsi la 60ième commune de la liste.
- Les cirques ne peuvent même pas répondre aux normes minimales exigées pour
les jardins zoologiques. Des animaux sauvages tels que les singes, tigres, lions,
éléphants, hippopotames, girafes et autres animaux exotiques sont enfermés dans
des camions dans des conditions qui ne répondent absolument pas à leurs besoins
comportementaux et de bien-être. Certains, comme les éléphants, sont enchaînés.
Au cours du temps, les animaux commencent à présenter un comportement dérangé
(ils tournent continuellement en rond, se balancent sans cesse etc). Les animaux
sauvages sont contraints de faire toutes sortes de tours contre nature, le plus
souvent par la force et la violence. Les spectateurs, enfants et adultes,
reçoivent une image totalement fausse des animaux sauvages. La sécurité
laisse aussi beaucoup à désirer dans les cirques qui détiennent des animaux
sauvages. Le public peut souvent s'approcher très près des animaux. Un
rapport de GAIA sur la situation dans les cirques a révélé qu'il y a eu de
nombreux accidents au cours des dernières années, également en Belgique. Il
n'est pas rare que des animaux sauvages s'échappent, avec pour conséquence
que les autorités locales doivent faire appel à la police, aux pompiers, à
la protection civile, bref utiliser les grands moyens. Cela coûte énormément
d'argent.
- GAIA n'est certainement pas contre les cirques. Il existe aussi des cirques qui
utilisent des animaux domestiques et qui ne posent aucun problème, car en
comparaison avec les animaux sauvages, les animaux domestiques n'ont pas de
besoins de bien-être aussi particuliers. Un tel cirque doit, bien entendu, répondre
à des règles très strictes en matière de bien-être. Il existe aussi des cirques qui
n'utilisent pas d'animaux du tout, et qui présentent des spectacles magnifiques. Les
cirques avec animaux sauvages doivent s'adapter au souci croissant de bien-être
animal qui s'exprime dans notre société. Avec sa décision, Waimes y contribue
certainement. 59 autres communes avaient déjà réagi positivement à la
demande de GAIA. Le Collège recevra cette semaine une lettre de félicitations de GAIA.
Si vous désirez remercier l'Administration Communale de Waimes, envoyez un
mail à:
h.reynders@hasselt.be
Liste des communes qui n'acceptent plus les cirques avec des animaux
sauvages:
www.gaia.be/fr/
(02/09/2003) Nervous otters learn to swim
An aquarium worker is helping teach a family of baby otters to swim.
The three-and-a-half-month-old Asian short-clawed otters, based at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth, Hampshire, would normally follow their parents into the water in the wild.
But the trio are proving to be quite timid about taking their first dip in a specially-built pool.
Keeper Mat Clark has been assigned the job of teaching the youngsters what should come naturally…
[Link]
(03/09/2003) Philippines: Baguio dog (askal) won US animal award
Baguio City - The dog that saved his master's life at the height of
typhoon Chedeng just won the Lewyt Award for Heroic Compassionate Animals,
of the North Shore Animal League of America.
The winner for the month of September, is Dagul, the well publicized
dog who signaled his master, Wilmar Castillo, when their house was about
to be devoured by the rushing mud from the mountains of Dominican Hill. If
not for the timely signals of Dagul, Wilmar could have been trapped inside
their house (which was totally buried by the land slide).
It is recalled that on June, amidst the strong rains and winds of typhoon
Chedeng, Wilmar was singing in their karaoke, when Dagul keeps barking
near their door. Wilmar ignored Dagul, and instead proceeded to his room
for a late nap. Dagul did not stop, instead, he followed Wilmar to his
room, barking incessantly. Thinking that somebody might be outside, Wilmar
opened their main door, proceeded outside to see what's going on. Just
when he was a foot outside, an avalanche of mud toppled down their house,
and Dagul was trapped inside. Luckily, Dagul was well and alive when he
was rescued the day after...
[Link]
(04/09/2003) Chinese Tiger Cubs Flown to Africa to Learn to Hunt
HONG KONG - Two Chinese tiger cubs set off on a 7,000-mile journey to South
Africa on Yesterday where animal experts will teach them how to hunt. The pair of South China tigers named Cathay and Hope will travel from a cramped
enclosure at Shanghai Zoo to a 1,235-acre reserve in South Africa.
"There's
room for them to move there. But the goal is to bring them back to China, where they have lived for millions of years," Li Quan, founder of the Save
China's Tigers Foundation, told reporters while the animals transited through Hong Kong airport ...
[Link]
(05/09/2003) Dolphins vary their acoustic signals
when hunting
Animal Sentience
Dolphins would appear to be even cleverer than we have previously assumed – they deliberately vary the volume of their acoustic echo location ‘clicking’ when hunting.
Dolphins use sonar to find their prey. With any acoustic signal, such as the dolphin ‘clicks’, the further away a target is, the fainter the echo. Radar uses the same technique...
[Link]
(06/09/2003) Resumption of Live Exports Incites Protest at Dover this Saturday
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is organising a protest in Dover this Saturday, 6th September, at the Eastern Docks between 12:00 and 17:00. The
first shipment of live lambs since January was made from Dover this week.
Marie-Claire Davies, CIWF Campaigns Officer, said "It is disgraceful that Dover is once again tarred as an inhumane port for resuming the trade in
live lambs. It is even more disgraceful that these animals were shipped from
Dover after being rejected for shipment from Berwick-upon-Tweed. We are calling on the Dover harbour master to act like his colleague in
Berwick-upon-Tweed and ban all future live exports".
CIWF has been campaigning for over 30 years to reduce the live animal transport trade, preferring to see a trade in meat across the EU. Last month
the European Commission proposed new transport directives which will create
some significant welfare improvements, but will not restrict transport to an
eight hour maximum.
Friday, 5 September 2003
Compassion in World Farming Limited
Tel: +44 (0)1730 233 904
+44 (0) 7771 926 005
Fax: +44 (0) 1730 260 791
e-mail:
press@ciwf.co.uk
(09/09/2003) Chinese Researchers Confirm SARS Came from Animals
WASHINGTON - Genetic testing of animals sold as delicacies in a southern Chinese market confirms suspicions that the deadly SARS virus jumped from
animals to people, Chinese researchers said yesterday.
The researchers found
clear differences between the animal and human versions of the virus, but said they were minor enough to show that SARS jumped from animals, as
influenza and other viruses have done...
[Link]
(10/09/2003) Turtles Lured to Disco Death in Park Dilemma
LAGANAS, Greece - Disco lights are luring baby turtles to their deaths on the fringes of a Greek marine park in the Mediterranean Sea.
Environmentalists say that rare loggerhead turtles scramble out at night from eggs in the sand on beaches in the west Greek island of Zakynthos and instinctively head for the brightest horizon - normally the white foam of waves under the stars.
But neon lights from discos and cafes along the back of the beach at Laganas, built for tourists who also go for boat trips in the bay to try to spot turtles, are often fatally brighter...
[Link]
(11/09/2003) 'Sharks' March in Singapore Against Soup Delicacy
SINGAPORE - Clad in shark suits, a group of Singapore students marched through the city state on Sunday to protest over the mass slaughter of the big fish to make shark fin soup, a delicacy throughout Asia.
Near the end of their trek, done as part of an annual charity event, the university students staged a mock "finning," where a fisherman cuts off the shark's fin and throws its body back in the sea to drown...
[Link]
(12/09/2003) Primates and Culture - Rwanda Tries to Lure Tourists
SABYINYO VOLCANO - Standing next to a mountain gorilla is a phenomenal
experience. About 500 pounds of male silverback tilts its huge face toward
tourists peering back through giant nettles in awe.
The only sound on the lush mountainside is the crunching of mountain celery as the gorilla feeds, an occasional low-pitched ah-oomph answered in kind by game guards so that both humans and apes know the other is happy just to observe.
With only about 650 mountain gorillas left in the world, visiting Rwanda's ape families has long been the jewel in the small country's tourist crown.
But Rwanda's image has been battered by its 1994 genocide and the instability that followed. The country now wants to put itself back on travel agents' maps.
Gorillas will remain central to the plan, but Rwanda is looking to expand.
"The issue we face in Rwanda is the obvious," said Malik Fal, project director at a consultancy called On the Frontier, referring to the reaction of many people to the idea of vacationing in a country which has seen so much bloodshed...
[Link]
(13/09/2003) Nigeria and Cameroon Plan Frontier Wildlife Haven
JOHANNESBURG - Nigeria and Cameroon plan to create a cross-border park
to protect rare birds and a type of endangered chimpanzee threatened by
the bushmeat trade, a conservation group said yesterday.
The announcement was made at the 5th World Parks Congress in the South African port city of Durban, where more than 2,000 scientists, policymakers and activists are meeting to examine the state of the world's protected areas.
"The mountain forests, savannah and grasslands of the Gashaka Gumti National Park in (eastern) Nigeria and Tchabal-Mbabo in Cameroon...form a single ecosystem, artificially divided by the international boundary," BirdLife International said.
The conservation group said the area hosts 28 bird species, including 13 only found in the mountain
chain...
[Link]
(14/09/2003) Over 700 Threatened Species Not Protected - Study
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - More than 700 endangered animal species
inhabit ranges that have no formal protection, underscoring the need to
set aside more land globally for conservation, a new study showed
yesterday.
The study, unveiled at the 5th World Parks Congress in the South African port city of Durban, also says that many protected areas are too small to conserve threatened species.
"At least 223 bird, 140 mammal and 346 amphibian species threatened with extinction have no protection whatsoever over any part of their ranges," said the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS), which did the study.
"Without an immediate and strategic expansion of the protected area system, scientists expect a major wave of extinctions within the next few decades," they said in a statement...
[Link]
(16/09/2003) Infamous Taiji Dolphin Drive Frishery supplies
victims to Dolphin-Assisted-Therapy Program
The following is the latest information concerning the Dolphin Healing Center in Kagawa prefecture, Japan. I
will itemize what we investigated below.
We need LOTS OF protest letters from abroad to be against the construction of this Center as soon as
possible, for we found that there is a high possibility that letters from abroad will be able to
stop this project.
What we would like to ask you to do:
1) Please write a letter, short or long, and fax/e-mail
it to the place below as soon as possible.
To: Mr. Shinya Akazawa, Mayor of Sanuki city, &
Machidukuri-suishin-ka
Fax: +81-87-894-4440
E-mail:
hisyo@m.sanuki.ne.jp
Address:5385-8, Shido, Sanuki-shi, Kagawa-ken, 769-2195 Japan
2) Please send this information to wherever, and ask
people to send faxed letters or e-mails.
3) Will you please send the copy of your letter to Elsa
Nature Conservancy, Japan:
E-mail:
PAH03724@nifty.ne.jp
Fax: +81-29-851-1637) so that we can show it to the media?
Please read the following Background & Information so that you can understand why we asked you the above.
Background & Information:
In Sanuki city, Kagawa prefecture, about 500 km southwest from Tokyo,
Japan, a plan to build a big Dolphin Healing Center is progressing. It
already experimentally started with two dolphins from Taiji drive
fisheries a few years ago. This plan was once suspended, because the town
which started this project was mergered with other towns to become a city.
However, the project itself was taken over by the new city, whose name is Sanuki, and a number of scientists
showed interest in it and started to support the plan. A citizen- organization(NGO) already started sign-on
campaigns to promote this plan.
1) Sanuki-city keeps three bottlenose dolphins in the sea pen at present. This plan started by Tsudamachi
(name of a town) with two dolphins from the drive fisheries in Taiji. In January, this year, they
brought in additional three Taiji dolphins, but one of them died in February, and another female died on
August 21, this year.
2) The coastal sea area where the sea-pen for dolphins was constructed is well known as the place hottest in
summer and coldest in winter, and, accordingly, the temperature of the sea water extremely rises up in
summer, and goes down in winter. The place of the sea pen is next to the reclaimed land, and often occurs a
red tide. The degree of the transparecy of the water is very low.
3) As mentioned at 2), the environment of the sea pen is very bad, but the city/people concerned mentioned
that this was an experiment whether dolphins can survive in this environment or not.
4) As I mentioned at 1), dolphins they keep are from Taiji. If the plan is promoted, they continue to
supply dolphins caught by drive fisheries in Taiji.
5) This plan was originally started by Tsudamachi before the merger of towns. Though former Tsudamachi
insisted that the plan should be taken over and promoted by the new city, it seems that the city
itself is not so enthusiastic about this project. And I heard that GAIATSU, the external pressure, would be
very effective to stop the project just like in Futo, where the drive fishery has been suspended for three
years and dolphin watching started last year. We think that if we could send many protest letters against the
facilities, or request letters to stop this project, we might be able to make a complete halt of this
project.
6) The city assembly will be opened around September 10, and this issue will be discussed and the budget
for the new fiscal year for this plan will be decided. (It is needed to make them not to admit this budget,
first.)
5)A group named "Tsuda Dolphin Tomo no Kai"(Friends of Dolphins in Tsuda) already collected about 10,000
signatures to request to promote the plan of this Dolphin Healing Center. This group is going to submit
them to the mayor of Sanuki-city around September 10 in time for the city assembly.
With respect to this issue, the external pressure is very important. If we could send many letters, faxes
or e-mails to the place, we might be able to stop this project, which will give significant influence on the
future construction of this kind in Japan.
Elsa Nature Conservancy
P.O.Box 2, Tsukuba Gakuen Post Office
Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8691 Japan
Tel & Fax: +81-29-851-1637
Sent by Richard O'Barry
Marine Mammal Specialist
WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals).
34 Deloss Street, Framingham, MA 01702 USA
Tel: (305) 668-1619
Fax: (305) 668-1619
e-mail: wspa@bellsouth.net
Internet:
www.wspausa.org
(17/09/2003) Iceland Kills Whale in Whale Watching Bay
Reproduced with credit to IFAW
Icelandic whalers have killed a minke whale in a whale watching bay,
just south of Reykjavik, despite promises from the Ministry of Fisheries
that the whalers would steer clear of whale watching areas.
The International Fund For Animal Welfare, (IFAW), which has been
tracking the whaling boat since Iceland resumed whaling last month, filmed
the whale being butchered at sea.
Whale watching operators in Iceland said they were deeply disappointed
by the government's broken promises.
A whale watching boat carrying overseas tour operators was close to the scene
of the slaughter, but alerted by IFAW observers, its captain decided to
change course rather than allow his guests to witness a spectacle likely
to deter them from bringing foreign tourists to Iceland.
Erin Heskett, IFAW's observer currently on the scene in Iceland, said:
"The whalers have shown an arrogant disregard, not just for the cruelty of
their actions, but for the international reputation and economic future of
Iceland.
"Tourism - based on the country's spectacular wildlife and scenery -
is Iceland's fastest growing industry. It is now the second biggest source
of foreign currency, as well as providing a livelihood for thousands of
people."
"The government's decision to resume whaling could do serious harm to the Icelandic economy," Heskett said.
[Link]
(18/09/2003) CIWF challenges heartless Australian Government to deal with stranded export
sheep
Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) is calling for the Australian Government
to take urgent action to relieve the suffering of the sheep stranded on-board ship in the Persian Gulf in temperatures of over 30 degrees.
The 57,000 sheep were exported from Fremantle in mid-August. Having been
rejected by the Saudi authorities due to disease concerns, they now have no
buyer and no destination and have been at sea for seven weeks.
Joyce D'Silva, CIWF Chief Executive, says: "Already nearly 4,000 sheep have
died on the Cormo Express, mainly due to heat exhaustion. This is a crisis
situation.
These sheep must now be humanely euthanased either by getting a
team of vets on-board and, if that is not possible, then they must be returned to Australia to be humanely despatched there.
"CIWF has been inundated with calls and emails about these sheep. The Australian Government's temporary suspension of the live export trade to
Saudi Arabia is cynical tokenism. We join with caring people here and in Australia in calling on the Australian Government to ban its live export
trade today."
Australia exports around 6 million live sheep and 1 million cattle each year. In 2002, over 73,700 Australian export sheep and 2,000 cattle died
during journeys to the Middle East and Far East. This latest disaster well
may result in equivalent figures for 2003.
A media briefing on the Australian live export trade is available from the CIWF press office. CIWF is calling on its supporters to write to the
Australian High Commission and to join in a protest outside the High Commission in the Strand at 1.00pm on October 2nd (World Farm Animals Day).
Updates on this situation will appear on our website -
www.ciwf.co.uk
(19/09/2003) BUAV Undercover. In depth interview with 'Kate', a BUAV undercover
investigator
The Autumn 2003 issue of Campaign Report, the BUAV's supporter magazine, contains a revealing interview with 'Kate', the BUAV undercover investigator
who exposed lab animal suffering at Cambridge University.
An extract of the
interview was published in Real Magazine in June this year, but Campaign Report has the interview in full. Here's an extract:
"My last assignment was working for ten months at the marmoset monkey facility at Cambridge University... Some monkeys (under anaesthetic) had
their head clamped and the top of the skull removed with a surgical saw - one of the researchers described this like "taking a lid off a monkey".
Others had holes drilled in their skull and toxins injected into parts of their brain.
The nearest I came to having my cover blown was whilst watching the top of a
marmoset's head being cut open, his skull being sawn off and then his brain
being damaged. As I was secretly filming this operation I just felt so nauseous seeing a live animal undergoing such a horrible procedure that I
started to feel I would faint. Around me the researchers were laughing and
joking about the whole thing and I had to pretend I was okay about it too,
when inside I felt like any moment I might keel over. I knew if I did my hidden camera would be revealed and my cover blown. I just couldn't let
this happen and so I forced myself to breathe deeply and concentrated very
hard. I kept telling myself that there would be an end to it for me, but not
for the animals who never leave the labs except in yellow refuse sacks to go
to the incinerator."
If you don't currently belong to the BUAV Campaigner supporter scheme to receive the quarterly Campaign Report, you can still get the inside track on
what it was like to pull off one of the most revealing UK lab animal undercover investigations in years, by reading the interview in full on
www.buav.org
You can join the BUAV on-line by clicking "How to Help" from the home page
or email us at
info@buav.org for more information.
(20/09/2003) Spanish Navy Shocks Blamed for Giant Squid Deaths
MADRID - Shockwaves from scientific tests carried out by the Spanish navy have killed four giant squid - one the length of a bus - off Spain's coast in recent days, the head of a marine protection agency said yesterday.
"The navy ship the Hesperides is working in the area...and the shock waves (are the cause of death)," said Luis Laria, president of marine protection agency CEPESMA. The giant squid, mythologized as the monster that attacked Captain Nemo's Nautilus in the Jules Verne adventure "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," is the world's largest invertebrate and lives at depths of up to 6,562 ft...
[Link]
(21/09/2003) Giant rodent astonishes science
By Jonathan Amos
BBC News Online science staff
The
fossil remains of a gigantic rodent that looked something like a monster
guinea pig have been identified by scientists in Venezuela.
The 700-kilogram beast - about the size of a buffalo - lived among the reeds and grasses of an ancient river system that threaded its way into the Caribbean Sea eight million years ago.
Researchers think the creature, which was 10 times as big as today's largest
rodents, could have run in huge packs.
Evidence suggests it also had to dodge the constant attentions of super-sized
crocodiles and carnivorous birds, which stood three metres tall...
[Link]
(22/09/2003) Canada Mulls Family Reunion for Killer Whale
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The fate of a lonely killer whale off Canada's Pacific coast is expected to be resolved next week when officials decide whether to accept a plan to move the animal back to U.S. waters.
Scientists are worried about the safety of the whale, officially named
L98 but nicknamed Luna, amid reports that it has been injured by the boats
and float planes it has been looking to for companionship.
An international scientific panel is working on final details of a plan for Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), which must approve any relocation attempt in co-ordination with U.S. officials...
[Link]
(23/09/2003) Crocodile Sightings Baffle the Experts
SINGAPORE - A rare sighting of four crocodiles in densely-populated Singapore, including one near a commercial bank, since early August has baffled wildlife experts who say they may have swam from neighboring Malaysia.
"It's very unusual. We're not sure where they came from," said Lye Fong Keng, head of the Wildlife Regulatory Branch at the Singapore government's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority...
[Link]
(24/09/2003) Gorilla stew coming off the menu in Cameroon
YAOUNDE - Gorilla, chimpanzee and elephant will now be off the menu in
Cameroon.
Authorities in the central African country announced on Monday that
any restaurant caught serving meat from endangered animals could face up
to three years in prison and a fine of more than $16,000.
Top wildlife official Denis Koulagna said the animals might be exterminated within a decade if hunting for so-called 'bushmeat' was not stopped.
As well as being the main source of protein for many impoverished villagers in Cameroon's forests, bushmeat is a delicacy for rich city dwellers.
[Link]
(25/09/2003) Fur Flies as 7,000 Mink Released
HELSINKI - Some 7,000 mink were released Sunday night from a fur farm in northwest Finland, with no group yet claiming responsibility, officials said Monday.
Police said they had no suspects in what fur farmers have called the
biggest attack on a Finnish mink farm.
Some two thirds of the mink released near the town of Kokkola, around 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of capital Helsinki, remained free by nothis week. Local residents were joining the hunt to try to catch them...
[Link]
(26/09/2003) Bear Found Hanging Out on Furniture Deck
STILLWATER, Minn. - She had to bear the image. A woman in Minnesota went to pull the shade closed on a sliding-glass door Friday night only to find a 300-pound black bear sitting on her deck furniture and calmly licking bird seed from a feeder.
"I tapped on the window lightly and it looked at me and kept feeding," said Heidi Stevenson...
[Link]
(27/09/2003) Seal 'Whisperer' Fights To Keep On Helping
Francois Hugo has been rescuing and rehabilitating seals in South
Africa for five years, but officials are now threatening him with jail if
he continues.
In an inflatable boat, Hugo patrols daily the bay around Cape Town,
searching for seals in trouble. They may need food, medical care or
assistance getting untangled from fishing nets or other hazards.
While the Cape Town community supports Hugo's activities, South
Africa's Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) has made things hard for the
seal rescuer by passing a new law making it illegal to feed seals.
Starvation is an all-too-common problem among the seals. Hugo spends
his own money to buy food for the marine animals. He feeds them from his
boat or from a platform in the bay.
After several hearings on the matter, Hugo has been denied a permit
that would exclude his seal rescue operation from the new law. He has
actually been charged with breaking the law; if he is caught again feeding
the seals, he could face one or two years in prison.
Hugo has now started a campaign to raise funds for his legal campaign
to overturn the ruling, a task which promises to be daunting.
Seals were once abundant in South Africa, but now, 11 out of the
country's 20 seal islands have no seal populations.
Seals are being hunted for their fur and body parts, and dying from
starvation, from man-made pollution and from entanglement in fishing nets.
Furthermore, the MCM is offering South African fishermen a R200 (US
$26) bounty for each scientific tag collected from seals, and they want
the seals brought in dead.
The seals have been tagged for the past 30 years. There are about
80,000 tags to be recovered. The government intends to spend about R16
Million (US $2.1 Million) to recover the dead seals, but will offer little
to rehabilitate the sick, starving or injured.
All of this is taking place despite South Africa's own Seal Protection
act of 1973.
"Seals only beach themselves after a long downward spiral, usually
caused by lack of food due to illness or injury," Hugo said.
His group, called "Seal Alert SA", locates distressed seals in the
harbor before they beach themselves and rehabilitates them in the wild by
supplying much needed nourishment. "Once seals regain their strength, they
naturally return to the sea," Hugo said. "Without Seal Alert SA fighting
for them everyday, their future looks in indeed."
Captain Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society, said, "Sea Shepherd is the first proud sponsor of
Seal Alert SA and is in full support of Francois Hugo and his fight to
save South Africa's seals."
Sea Shepherd is demanding the SA government rescind its new regulation
against helping distressed seals, and/or provide a permit to Hugo, so he
can continue to assist the seals without being harassed or threatened with
prison.
Elefanten, Bären und Affen - sie alle sollten nach dem Willen der hessischen Landesregierung aus dem Zirkus verbannt werden. Hessen-Premier Roland Koch referierte deshalb jetzt im Bundesrat über seiner Meinung nach untragbare Haltebedingungen in den fahrenden Betrieben. Doch die Bundesregierung spielt den schwarzen Peter zurück.
Berlin - Das Bundesverbraucheministerium erklärte im Bundesrat, die artgerechte Haltung von Wildtieren im Zirkus werde durch das Tierschutzgesetz und darauf basierende Richtlinien gewährleistet. Defizite gebe es nicht bei der Gesetzgebung, sondern beim Vollzug. Tierschutz sei aber Ländersache...
[Link]
(28/09/2003) Bear hunter attacked by moose in western Maine
NEWRY -- A bear hunter from Newry is recovering from serious injuries after being attacked by a 900-pound moose over the weekend in the western Maine town of Albany Township.
"Oh, I've seen them act funny, but I never had one come at me or anything," said Jim Osgood.
Osgood said he was bear hunting with a friend when the bull charged him and picked him up with his antlers. He was knocked unconscious...
[Link]
(29/09/2003) Man Questioned in Australia Over Mutilated Whale Carcass
SYDNEY - Australian environmental officials were investigating last
week the mutilation of one of nine sperm whales washed up on a remote
beach after the jaw of one of them was hacked off with a chainsaw and axe.
The nine whales were beached on Thursday in a remote inlet near Bremer Bay, about 250 miles southeast of Perth in Western Australia.
The whales, which weighed up to 20 tonnes each, had all died by late on Thursday, park ranger Peter Collins told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
He said he had confiscated a whale's jawbone and a chainsaw from a man he found near the beach...
[Link]
(30/09/2003) 2,000 Baboon Noses Discovered At Airport
by Maria A. Schulz
Dutch customs officials working at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport
recently discovered an abandoned, foul-smelling suitcase packed with
smuggled baboon noses.
Over 2,000 baboon noses were found in the suitcase when it was
inspected on Wednesday, September 3. The suitcase was thought to have come
from Lagos, Nigeria, and was destined for the United States.
The owner of the suitcase, who has not yet been identified, had flown
from Lagos to Amsterdam, but apparently abandoned the suitcase for fear of
being caught with it.
Dutch customs police turned their gruesome find over to the
Agriculture Ministry's Inspection Service, which said it had several leads
that may help it track down the perpetrators.
The noses - weighing around 66 pounds - were probably meant to be
eaten or used in traditional medicine by immigrants, officials said.
"It is known that many inhabitants of Asian and African countries
ascribe beneficial properties to these medicines and use them for that
reason," the Inspection Service stated.
Baboons are protected under international law, and their body parts
cannot be exported without authorization. They are listed as an endangered
species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or
CITES.
The noses were all destroyed, according to Louis Steens, a spokesman
for the Inspection Service.
"It's not unusual to find animal organs, such as eyes and brains, or
plants in baggage from Asia and Africa-whose people use them as
ingredients of their traditional medicines for healing purposes," said Mr.
Steens.
"We have to prevent something like this from happening again," he declared.
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