News & Information
a1st January 2001
Animal Liberation (WA) Inc. wishes all a Happy New Year
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12th January 2001
From AP 12jan01
RESEARCHERS have created the first genetically modified primate in the world, a baby rhesus monkey whose name - ANDi - stands for "inserted DNA" spelled backward.
Born in October, the male monkey carries a tiny extra bit of DNA in a gene introduced as a marker that can be seen under a microscope because it actually glows green, researchers at Oregon Health Sciences University said. The creation of ANDi has been described in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.
Researchers hope they now can introduce other genes in rhesus monkeys that could trigger a host of human diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, breast cancer or HIV in order to find a way to block them at the genetic level. The technique for inserting the gene has been used for more than 25 years in mice, but comparing a mouse to a human being has limits, said Dr Gerald Schatten. He leads the research at the university's Oregon Regional Primate Center. As monkeys are close cousins to humans in terms of DNA, they may give scientists a better picture of how human disease develops, he said. "We're at an extraordinary moment in the history of humans," Schatten said yesterday. A year ago, Schatten reported the first monkey successfully cloned by embryo splitting. That monkey is named Tetra. ANDi and his surrogate mother, as well as Tetra, remain healthy, Schatten said. ANDi received an extra gene while he was still an unfertilised egg. Schatten, lead author Anthony W S Chan and other researchers, modified and then fertilised more than 200 rhesus monkey eggs. Forty embryos were produced, and resulted in five pregnancies and three live births. Of the three baby monkeys, only ANDi proved to have the modified genes.
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17th January 2001
Dr Lynette J. Dumble, medical scientist and international co-ordinator of the Global Sisterhood Network, is a former senior research fellow in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Melbourne. The world faces a pandemic of mad cow disease that may rival HIV. And argues Lynette Dumble, the British must accept the blame for spreading the disease perhaps as far as Australia. Australia and New Zealand have lately sought to reassure the public with a range of precautions against mad cow disease which has spread from Britain to more than a dozen countries in Europe in the 1990s. The message from Canberra, like the messages from Europe over the past decade, is that the situation is in hand. Should we be so easily reassured?
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27th January 2001
New Delhi. All Government ministers in the western Indian State of Gujarat have agreed to rear a cow at home to emphasise the need to care for cattle during a widespread drought. An estimated 12,000 villages in Gujarat are affected by the water shortage and about 10 million cows, buffalo, goats and camels are suffering. Cows are considered sacred animals to Hindus.
courtesy Sunday Times, Perth.
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29th January 2001
Last week Norway announced it WILL begin exporting whale meat and blubber despite an international ban. This trade will inevitably lead to more whales being killed and a resumption of full-scale commercial whaling.
Norway is seriously undermining the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and international law. If every nation took the same approach to CITES as Norway has, there would be no international bans on any trade in endangered species whatsoever.
Since Norway's announcement media reports claim that the Norwegian embassies have received very few reactions from the public, environment groups and authorities about the export decision. Furthermore, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is reported to have been surprised at the lack of interest.
The fact is that a majority of people worldwide oppose commercial whaling and the trade in whale meat. We must URGENTLY tell the Norwegian Government its decision is unacceptable. STOP the killing! Get active NOW. Your actions WILL make a difference.
What you can do: * Contact the Norwegian Embassy in your country and register your complaint.
The Norwegian Embassy in Australia: Ambassador- His Excellency Kjell-Martin Frederiksen 17 Hunter St, Yarralumla ACT 2600 Tel. (02) 6273 3444 Fax. (02) 6273 3669 E-mail: noramb@ibm.net
courtesy of Animal Lineration NSW
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26th February 2001
Attorneys for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in USA, the Australian RSPCA and other animal rights groups, are investigating the possibility of criminal charges arising from conduct on the episode of "Survivor" which aired in the USA on February 15th. (This episode will air on Channel 9 in Australia on Wednesday night, 28 February). In the past, participants have been shown killing and eating rats, chickens, and sea animals. Now, on this episode, which was filmed in Australia, a pig was stabbed to death by one of the show's contestants.
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15th March 2001
Early last year there was a public outcry when thousands of baby elephant seals were found hot-iron branded in the most brutal way in the name of scientific research. The Federal Environment Minister, Senator Robert Hill, put a stop to the practice, but now evidence has came to light that other research practises are causing further cruelty to the seals on Macquarie Island. The ABC TV program, the 7.30 Report, along with Animals Australia, exposed this on Tuesday night (for a transcript of the program see: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/s259482.htm
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22nd March 2001
CRUELTY CASE AGAINST CARR GOVERNMENT AND CIRCUS OVER SOLITARY ELEPHANT
Animal Liberation NSW has laid charges against the NSW Government and Stardust Circus in an unprecedented cruelty case over the keeping of circus elephant Arna on her own.
The Government is being called to explain why it is allowing Stardust Circus to keep Arna on her own despite this being prohibited under the Exhibited Animals Act.
Section 16.D.1 of the Standards for Exhibiting Circus Animals in NSW, which the Act enforces, states:
"As elephants are social herd animals, they must always be able to see and touch other elephants"
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22nd March 2001
By BBC environment correspondent Alex Kirby
A UK scientist says some hunted whales live for more than an hour after being harpooned.
He found that the harpoons themselves and the rifles used to finish off wounded whales were often ineffective.
On Japanese whaling trips, only 30% of the animals were normally killed immediately. Many of the long killing times recorded were linked to a failure of part of the whaling gear.
The scientist, Dr Steve Kestin, of the department of clinical veterinary science at Bristol University, UK, reports his findings in the Veterinary Record, published by the British Veterinary Association.
Dr Kestin reviewed the data on minke whale deaths between 1983 and 2000.
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27th March 2001
Stardust Circus is coming to Perth in April and according to the newspaper advert bringing a solitary elephant (could this be "Arna"), monkeys and lions.
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27th March 2001
UK To ban Pig Swill
02:30 (AEDT) LONDON: The British government says it will ban pig swill, identified as a key link in the chain of infection which spread foot-and-mouth disease across the country, and it will seek European permission to vaccinate livestock.
Agriculture Minister Nick Brown says swill infected pigs at a farm in Northern England, and the disease then spread rapidly around the country.
Brown says it's not known how the infection got into the swill, who says it may have been through an illegal shipment of meat or on produce brought into the country by an arriving passenger.
Brown has told the House of Commons, adding that the total number of cases had reached 668 in Britain.
Brown says the government will now seek permission from the European Union to vaccinate livestock, should be government choose to add vaccination to its control measures.
The government and farmers have resisted vaccination because countries that resort to it lose their foot-and-mouth-free status, with potentially devastating results for their meat and livestock exports.
Agriculture officials say the British outbreak may have started at a farm in Heddon-on-the-Wall.
News reports claim the outbreak had been traced to a shipment of meat to a Chinese restaurant.
From AP 28mar01
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14th April 2001
Where's the Beef? It's in Your French Fries
There's no denying it: McDonald's admits to using beef flavoring in its french fries.
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17th April 2001
12:15 (AEST) TWO Queensland cattle properties will be quarantined for at least 12 months after their herds were found to be infected with the incurable Johne's disease.
Jersey breeding cattle on the properties at Kingaroy in the South Burnett district were found to be infected with the deadly cattle disease.
The disease infected calves but had a long incubation period and could take up to five years to become apparent, Department of Primary Industries officer John Roberts said today.
http://www.ah.csiro.au/Topics/johnes/johnes.htm
http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/johnes
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17th April 2001
Will mad cows kill the Big Mac? Daryl Lindsey (Salon News)
With strict safety measures and new menu options, McDonald's is acting fast to stem losses from disease in Europe, and bracing for a beef scare in the U.S.
March 26, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- Ronald McDonald sat in his Oak Brook, Ill., headquarters in a mental fog. He could barely move, save for a few spastic convulsions. His brain was wasted. The outsize clown and burger peddler was suffering from what flummoxed health experts like to call "Alzheimer's on fast forward." In fact, he was North America's first diagnosed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
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18th April 2001
PRESS release: PETA's Month of Action Campaign Against BURGER KING 28/02/01
PETA has launched an international campaign following Burger King's refusal to take even minimal steps to ensure that its suppliers do not skin and dismember conscious animals, starve hens for up to two weeks to force them to produce more eggs, or cut off the beaks of baby chicks with a hot blade.
"Burger King's suppliers could be skinning and dismembering every single animal while still conscious, kicking and screaming, and yet the company does not agree that it should stop buying from such suppliers," says PETA Vegan Campaign coordinator Bruce Friedrich. "Unlike its chief competitor, McDonald's, Burger King uses suppliers that slice birds' beaks off with a hot blade and starve birds for up to 14 days to shock their bodies into another egg-laying cycle."
PETA tried negotiating with Burger King for three months to no avail. It wants Burger King to at least commit to the minimum animal welfare standards recently adopted by its chief competitor, McDonald's. In September, PETA suspended its 11-month campaign against McDonald's after the fast-food chain announced that it will conduct unannounced audits of its slaughterhouses and stop purchasing from suppliers that fail the audits, increase the amount of living space for laying hens on factory farms, stop chopping the beaks off laying hens, and prohibit force-molting (starving chickens to force them to produce more eggs).
There will be demonstrations throughout March in more than a dozen countries, hundreds of cities, and every U.S. state. For more details about PETA's campaign and to see video footage, please visit Murder King: http://www.murderking.com/
For the latest Burger King campaign updates, you can check out PETA's Web site: http://www.peta.org/
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17th April 2001
From Patty Mark - Animal Action Rescue Team (Animal Liberation Victoria Inc.)
10 BATTERY HENS RESCUED IN NEW ZEALAND DAYLIGHT FARM RAID FOLLOWED BY NATIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE ON TV/RADIO/NEWSPAPERS...
Three Activists from Animal Liberation Victoria Inc. (Action Animal Rescue Team) flew to New Zealand to participate in Wellington Animal Action's Third National Conference on Animal Rights (held in Wellington April 13, 14 and 15th).
The conference (organised by Mark Eden) culminated in a huge Easter Sunday battery hen demonstration in front of GOLDEN GATE POULTRY FARM north of Wellington. While 50 protesters stood with banners in front of the farm on a busy tourist highway, undercover rescues teams accessed the unlocked sheds and rescued 10 hens and took dramatic video footage and photographs of the appalling conditions.
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22nd April 2001
Evidence of a Milk Link to Crohn's - by Robert Cohen
I first wrote about Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in June of 1998. There is a bacteria in milk that is not killed by pasteurization, mycobacterium paratuberculosis, that causes diarrhea in cows and then in humans. Irritable bowel syndrome often leads to Crohn's disease.
HOW MANY AMERICANS HAVE IRRITABLE BOWELS?
Estimates run as high as 15% of the population, or 40 million Americans.
WHAT HAS OUR GOVERNMENT DONE ABOUT THIS?
The United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration both believe that mycobacterium paratuberculosis is destroyed by pasteurizing milk. They are wrong. Their belief is based upon a study performed by Judy Stabile, Ph.D. The title of Stabile's work:
"Heat Inactivation of Mycobacterium Paratuberculosis in Raw Milk: Are Current Pasteurization Conditions Effective?"
The abstract of Dr. Stabile's paper claims: "Currently, it is not known whether commercial pasteurization effectively kills mycobacterium paratuberculosis in contaminated raw milk."
The second page of Stabile's paper (published in the December, 1997 issue of "Applied and Environmental Microbiology") reveals: "Bacteria were not totally inactivated until after 15 minutes of incubation (pasteurization) at 72 degrees centigrade." I've got some very bad news for all milk drinkers .... normal pasteurization at this temperature calls for a 15-second treatment, not 15 minutes!
USDA and FDA concluded that pasteurization destroyed this bacteria when that was clearly not the case.
THE LATEST EVIDENCE
A new government survey in England has found nearly ten percent of pasteurized milk samples (80 out of 802) were found to contain live cultures of mycobacterium paratuberculosis.
Translate that to milk drinkers: If you purchase one litre of milk per day for your family's consumption this year, then thirty-six of those litres will contain something that may grow in your body, causing great misery, and for many, death.
Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com
courtesy of Animal Liberation NSW
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23rd April 2001
Yahoo News
BBC Reports Suspected Human Case of Foot-and-Mouth
LONDON (Reuters) - A suspected case of the human form of foot-and-mouth disease is being investigated in northern England, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Monday.
The suspected case was found in Cumbria, a center of the foot-and-mouth epidemic sweeping Britain. It has not been confirmed by authorities and another 48 hours would be required for confirmation.
The suspected case was a man who had been slaughtering farm animals infected with the disease.
``We have been notified of a suspected case of foot and mouth. Foot-and-mouth (news - web sites) in humans is very rare but it can occur. This case is being investigated urgently,'' the Department of Health said in a statement read by the BBC.
The statement added that ``foot and mouth is a mild illness in humans.'' It said the disease was not fatal in either humans or animals.
Environment Minister Michael Meacher told the BBC: ``This would be extremely unlikely but it is apparently possible. We have to wait until we get a full assessment from the department of health.''
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1st May 2001
Arna the elephant's case in court
From AAP
01may01
14:40 (AEST) A GOVERNMENT department and a circus are facing charges of cruelty over the plight of Arna the performing elephant, left alone since her partner Bambi died in 1996.
In what could prove to be a test case for all circuses, Animal Liberation NSW alleges Arna's solitary confinement by the Stardust Circus contravenes the Exhibited Animals Act. The Act stipulates that elephants are "social herd animals (who) must always be able to see and touch other elephants". In a brief hearing in a Sydney court today, the NSW Department of Agriculture sought to have two charges of knowingly permitting an act of cruelty by granting a licence to the circus dismissed on the grounds that it had no charge or ownership of the animal.
However Animal Liberation told the Downing Centre Local Court that it would oppose the application. Outside the court, the group's president Mark Pearson said Arna was a figurehead whose predicament undermined the practise of keeping exotic animals in captivity. "Should an animal that is essentially wild, who needs to be with her own species, who needs space and an environment where they can express their own behavioural needs, can this be provided for in any way in an animal circus?" Mr Pearson asked.
Stardust Circus faces three charges of cruelty over the elephant's solitary confinement, training and performance regimes. One of the charges relates to an incident at Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, on December 30 last year during a demonstration by animal rights groups.
Mr Pearson alleged the circus trucked in three elephants in an enclosure beside Arna to undermine the group's protest. She hadn't seen elephants for three years, she sought affection from them by extending her trunk and entwining it with the others," Mr Pearson said. "After the demonstration the three elephants were chucked back on a truck and driven away and Arna went into a rampage and became extremely distressed. "It was a despicable act to torment, abuse, infuriate and distress an animal like this."
In the short term, the group wants Arna moved to an open range zoo to have interaction with elephants. In the long-term they want all wild animals taken out of circuses. "We don't believe (that) will bring the death of circuses - they need to change," Mr Pearson said. "There are many circuses doing extremely well going back to the way circuses were originally - that is a celebration of human skills."
The matter will come before the court again on June 5.
Email from AL NSW
Yesterday (1st May 2001) was the first day of hearings where Stardust Circus and the NSW Government had to answer a summons to appear in court.
It appears that Stardust Circus will plead 'not guilty' and fight the charges, and they have asked for details of our evidence.
The Department of Agriculture (ie NSW Government) requested that the Magistrate dismiss the charges against them saying that the Government was not in charge or responsible for the elephant, Arna.
Animal Liberation President, Mark Pearson stated that this was not the case and that we will vehemently argue against that.
The magistrate indicated that he would not make that decision, and made an order for the matter to be before the court on Tuesday 4th June 2001. That day it will be clear how each party will plea, and the date for the hearing will be set.
Despite Animal Liberation not issuing a press release (as
it was only going to be a few minutes of court time), the Press were outside
the court en masse, and the case received huge coverage on last night's
TV news on a number of networks.
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1st May 2001
Animal Liberation (WA) Inc has staged a total of 13 demonstrations since the 12th of April, which is when Stardust Circus commerced using Ozone Reserve (in the City of Perth) to exhibit exotic animals. Apart from the lions, monkeys & ponies; there was one solitary elephant "Arna" in a roped off area - next to the causeway interchange in East Perth.
Protests were held over the Easter long weekend and the following 2 weekends. More demonstrations will be held over this coming weekend on the 5th & 6th of May (more info), after which the circus will tour the southwest of Western Australia where further demonstrations are planned. The circus was previously in Kalgoorlie and South Australia.
The world is watching - On 2nd of May, due to mass media coverage
in Australia of the Arna court case and the fact that Stardust circus
is touring Western Australia, Animal Liberation (WA) received a request
for a live to air interview with the BBC. This interview was taken
by AL WA president Michael Zampogna. Just goes to show that the world
is watching and has an interest in how animals are treated.
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2nd May 2001
From AAP
02may01
10:30 (AEST) A KILLING of dingoes on Fraser Island would begin immediately, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie announced today.
Mr Beattie told parliament he had ordered Queensland Parks and Wildlife officers to immediately begin a limited killing of dingoes found near camping grounds and the townships on the island.
The order follows the fatal attack by dingoes on nine-year-old Clinton Gage on Monday. The boy's seven-year-old brother Dylan survived the attack.
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4th May 2001
News.com
04may01
20:30 (AEST) THE federal court today rejected an application by Aborigines and conservationists to stop the slaughter of dingoes on Fraser Island.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie ordered a limited dingo cull on the island yesterday following Monday's fatal mauling of nine-year-old Brisbane boy, Clinton Gage. By late today, 18 dingoes near campsites on the island had been killed, with the government planning to cull around 30 of the wild dogs.
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4Th May 2001
Los Angeles: Vegetarians have a beef with McDonalds, claiming the fast food giant has misled customers for more than 10 years.
A class action lawsuit has been filed in Seattle alleging the food chain's fries are not vegetarian. Lawyer Harosh Bharti says that contrary to the company's publicity McDonald's fries were prepared using BEEF fat.
The vegetarians now want a slice of McDonald's profits - more than $40 billion in the U.S. in 1999 - to compensate for eating fraudulent fries.
The lawsuit began as an attempt to address the concerns of Hindus, who are vegetarian.
Friday May 4 3:53 PM ET
Hindu Group Vandalizes McDonald's
By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - A Hindu fundamentalist group on Friday vandalized a McDonald's restaurant in a Bombay suburb to protest against the alleged use of beef flavoring in the chain's French fries in the United States, police said.
Restaurant customers fled, as members of the Bajrang Dal charged into the restaurant in Thane, a northeastern Bombay suburb, and smashed furniture and ceiling lights. There were no reports of injuries, police said.
McDonald's Corp. says it does not use any animal extracts in its French fries in India, where the cow is considered sacred by most Hindus.
In southern Bombay on Friday, a McDonald's store was surrounded by demonstrators from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who shouted slogans and smeared cow dung on the restaurant's mascot.
The Shiv Sena, another Hindu group, had said it would protest outside the corporate office of McDonald's in India on Saturday after front-page newspaper reports of a lawsuit filed in the United States. An Indian-American lawyer accused McDonald's of using beef fat in the preparation of French fries more than a decade after it said it would cook its fries in vegetable oil.
The lawsuit for unspecified damages was filed on behalf of two Hindus who don't eat meat and one non-Hindu vegetarian Tuesday in King County Superior Court, in Seattle.
Most of India's Hindus - 85 percent of the population - are vegetarians, although with urbanization and migration more Indians are becoming meat eaters.
After news reports about the court case, McDonald's India issued a brief statement: ``McDonald's India categorically states that French fries that we serve in India do not contain any beef or animal extracts, of whatsoever kind.
``Right from the processing stage until it is cooked and served to the customer, we only use 100 percent vegetable oil in India,'' the statement said.
Jai Bhagwan Goyal, the local head of Shiv Sena, was skeptical of the McDonald's assurance, saying the company had made similar promises in the United States 10 years ago, but continued to use beef flavoring in French fries.
``How do we know what they are serving in India? We can't take them at their word,'' said Goyal.
The Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's Corp. announced in 1990 that its restaurants would no longer use beef fat in making French fries and that only pure vegetable oil would be used.
The fast-food chain released a statement Wednesday saying it has never claimed the fries it sells in the United States are vegetarian. The statement said the recipe for the fries uses a ``a minuscule trace of beef flavoring, not tallow.''
Tallow is essentially shortening made from beef fat. McDonald's adds a small amount of beef extract while the potatoes are being cooked, it said. McDonald's India, which opened its first restaurant in India in October 1996, now has 28 outlets in New Delhi, Bombay, Pune, Jaipur and on the Delhi-Agra highway.
full story: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010504/bs/india_mcdonald_s_1.html
Cheers
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7th May 2001
From AFP
07may01
06:50 (AEST) AN agriculture official from Rio Grande do Sul state has confirmed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Brazil near the border with Uruguay, according to press reports today.
The outbreak still had to be verified in laboratory tests, the reports said.
If confirmed, together with five other suspected outbreaks in the area, it will be the first foot-and-mouth outbreak in the area since more than 11,000 livestock were slaughtered last year to prevent the spread of an outbreak in Joia town.
Brazil's southern states have been administering preventive vaccinations in areas that border Argentina and Uruguay, where the dreaded animal disease is rampant.
In Uruguay, the number of reported outbreaks has leapt to 200 over 11 days.
Farmers there warned today that the worst was yet to come and that repercussions of the disease would be felt nationwide when economically devastated producers were unable to pay taxes.
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10th May 2001
From AAP
10may01
13:40 (AEST) IRON ore company Hamersley Iron plans to cull dingoes it says are becoming too accustomed to workers at a mine in Western Australia's north.
The government department responsible for nature conservation says pastoral land owners are obliged under state law to control dingo numbers, and the mining giant does not need its approval for a cull.
The move by the Rio Tinto-owned company comes after nine-year-old Brisbane schoolboy Clinton Gage was mauled to death by a dingo on Fraser Island, prompting the Queensland government to order a limited cull of dingoes.
Hamersley Iron spokesman Bruce Larson said today the plan to kill about six dingoes around the Tom Price minesite was prompted by Clinton's death, although the mine had been aware of the issue for some time.
"There's been a reasonable pack of dingoes hanging around the mine for some time and we now need to look at culling them," Mr Larson said. "There are about six of them which have become very accustomed to human beings, they're looking for food. "They can become quite vicious." Mr Larson said staff had been feeding the dingoes. "As you do - you have something left over from your lunch and throw it out," he said. However, the dogs had become used to the times when they could get food.
A memo was distributed to mine workers discouraging feeding of dingoes, but the company had decided to arrange a cull of the problem dogs. Mr Larson said Hamersley Iron would finalise soon how this would be carried out. "We won't be doing it ourselves, we'll approach professionals," Mr Larson said. "The action will be taken in the interests of our workforce and our community."
The WA Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) said dingoes were classified as unprotected fauna on pastoral areas of the state, and land owners were under obligation to keep the dogs' numbers under control. CALM director of nature conservation Gordon Wyre said the mine therefore did not need approval for a cull.
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6th June 2001
IAMS - Pet Food Cruelty Exposed
This article appeared in the Sunday Express, 27 May 2001. (national UK newspaper)
Exclusive By Lucy Johnston, Health Editor.
A major sponsor of Crufts dog show has carried out horrific experiments on animals, it can be revealed today.
Thousands of weekend holiday visitors to the famous show at the NEC in Birmingham will be shocked to learn the truth about IAMS, a pet food made by Procter and Gamble.
The Sunday Express has uncovered damning evidence of gruesome testsperformed on dogs and cats during the development of the product, which is being heavily promoted at the event. IAMS has also been backed by theRSPCA - but after being told of our findings the animal welfare charitysaid it would sever all ties.
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15th June 2001
From AFP
15jun01
Mad cow risk worldwide: experts
05:15 (AEST) MATERIALS potentially infected by mad cow disease have been distributed throughout the world, medical experts and veterinarians meeting in Paris have warned.
They have called on all countries to conduct a risk assessment.
In a statement issued after talks organised by the World Health Organisation, they say BSE and the human form vCJD should be considered an international issue.
The group warned potentially infected BSE materials have been distributed throughout the world through trade of live cattle, certain cattle products and by-products.
They say all countries should evaluate their potential exposure and take necessary actions.
The warning was issued after a four-day meeting of 150 experts brought together by the WHO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Animal Health Organisation.
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15th June 2001
From AAP
15jun01
21:40 (AEST) A CULL of grey headed flying foxes in Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens has ended, but gardens management refuse to say how many were killed.
Animal welfare activists, who've secretly camped inside the gardens since January in an effort to protect the bats, welcome news of the cull's end.
But they're calling for assurances that no more bats be killed and are demanding to know full details of the extent of the cull.
The controversial three-month cull began after the gardens' bat population hit 20,000.
Gardens management say the creatures were damaging its collection of rare plants, and a limited cull was needed to ease their destructive impact.
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2nd July 2001
Burger King Complies With Demand for Improved Animal Welfare Standards
Norfolk, Va. - PETA's "Murder King" Campaign, which has involved provocative ads, celebrity support from Alec Baldwin, James Cromwell, and Richard Pryor, and more than 800 protests at Burger King restaurants worldwide, has been called off following the fast-food giant's announcement today that it will exceed the animal welfare standards that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) negotiated with McDonald's last year after similar protests. PETA is now eyeing other chains, such as Wendy's, as possible targets for animal welfare improvements.
Under Burger King's new guidelines, the company:
* will conduct unannounced inspections of its slaughterhouses and take action against those facilities that fail the inspections
* will establish animal-handling verification guidelines for all cattle, swine, and poultry slaughterhouses
* will give laying hens 75 square inches of cage space (3 inches more than McDonald's agreed to) and require that the birds be able to stand fully upright
* will require two water drinkers per cage
* will stop purchasing from suppliers who force-molt (starve chickens to force them to lay more eggs)
* will develop auditing procedures for the handling of broiler chickens
* will institute humane-handling procedures for chickens at the slaughterhouse
* will begin purchasing pork from farms that do not confine sows to stalls
* has petitioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enforce the Humane Slaughter Act
Says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk, "The only way to avoid cruelty in meat production is to go vegetarian, but today Burger King has taken giant steps to improve the lives of millions of animals. We are ending our Burger King protest and examining other chains, such as Wendy's, as potential targets for improvements in animal welfare."
For more information, including videos of animals in factory-farm
conditions, visit PETA's MurderKing.com
Web site.
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14th July 2001
Violence erupts at Stardust Circus Demonstration in Perth, Western Australia. Read a supporters view of the incident.
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14th July 2001
Man Gets Maximum Sentence in Road Rage Dog Death - July 13, 2001 1:48 pm EST
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - A California telephone repairman convicted of hurling a lap dog to its death in speeding traffic was sentenced to the maximum of three years in state prison on Friday after the judge in the case said he saw no real sign of remorse.
Andrew Burnett, 27, was convicted last month of felony animal cruelty for causing the death of "Leo," a bichon frise he grabbed from his owner's car and hurled into traffic after a minor accident outside San Jose International Airport on Feb. 11, 2000.
Burnett had described the incident as an accident, saying he reacted instinctively after Leo allegedly bit his hand. A county probation investigator this week recommended that he be sentenced to probation rather than jail time.
But San Jose Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy agreed with prosecutors, who said Burnett had shown no real remorse for the incident and passed the maximum sentence -- to cheers from animal rights advocates and others attending the hearing.
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2nd August 2001
A petition calling for the banning of Circuses using exotic animals was today tabled in the Western Australian Parliament by John Quigley MLA (member for Innaloo).
The petition, containing approximately 13,500 signatures, was orgainsed by Jonathon & Judy Smith. Jonathon Smith presented the petition to the Member for Innaloo outside Parliament House. The presentation was attended by members of several animal welfare/rights groups, The West Australian Newspaper and Channel 7 News.
The petition was well received by Parliament with further support from Mark McGowan MLA (member for Rockingham & Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier) who stated that it was his personal view that Circuses should not use animals.
The Animal Welfare Bill 2001, which was reintroduced to Parliament the previous day, was also mentioned with the Labor Party stating its intention to toughen the proposed penalties even further and to broaden the scope of the Bill. Some ammendments to the Bill were envisaged as there were seen to be loopholes that would exempt certain acts of cruelty; eg circus acts such as lions being forced (tormented) to stand on their hind legs and growl etc.
With the Animal Welfare Bill back before Parliament, all those concerned with animal welfare and rights should contact their local member of Parliament and express their support for passing of the Bill.
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28th August 2001
Bardot gets bullfight
called off
From AFP
28aug01
AN unlikely alliance including French former actress Brigitte Bardot and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church prevailed in their fight to have a bullfight in Moscow cancelled when the city's mayor ordered the event to be called off.
A spokesman for Mayor Yury Luzhkov said the city authorities considered the two-day corrida, scheduled for September 8 and 9, to be "an unacceptable demonstration of violence".
The organisers were not immediately available for comment.
Last week, the French animal rights campaigner and former actress published an open letter to Luzkhov denouncing bullfights as "archaic and cruel (events which) symbolise man's darkest and most wretched aspects".
And Patriarch Alexis II lent his weight to the campaign, backed by several animal rights groups, in a letter published by the daily, Komsomolskaya Pravda, in which he denounced bullfighting as "propaganda for violence".
Moscow hoardings have carried advertisements for the Portuguese-style corrida for the past several weeks, and tickets are already on sale.
The event, a first in Russia, was to have been held in Moscow's 1980 Olympic complex.
The Portuguese variation on bullfighting differs from the Spanish version in that the bull is not killed and its horns are shaved to reduce the risk to the bullfighter and horses.
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