News
The number of news found: 40.
10/31/2008 FERRET TORTURE JAIL SENTENCES "SEND CLEAR MESSAGE"
Animal welfare groups have welcomed the jail sentences given to two Canberra men found guilty of torturing ferrets last year during a drinking binge. Thomas Sorahan and Adriano Larobina were found guilty in the Queanbeyan Local Court of committing a serious act of animal cruelty intending to inflict serious pain. Vision was found on Sorahan's camera showing a group of men injecting one of the pets with a substance thought to be a drug. Magistrate Brian Van Zuylen said the offences were extremely serious and sentenced the pair to 10 months in jail.
10/31/2008 HERO DOG RISKS LIFE TO SAVE KITTENS FROM FIRE
A dog was hailed as a hero after he risked his life to save a litter of newborn kittens from a house fire, rescuers said. In a case which gives the lie to the saying about "fighting like cats and dogs," the terrier cross named Leo had to be revived with oxygen and heart massage after his ordeal. Fire broke out overnight at the house in Australia's southern city of Melbourne, where he was guarding the kittens. Fire fighters who revived Leo said he refused to leave the building and was found by them alongside the litter of kittens, despite thick smoke. "Leo wouldn't leave the kittens and it nearly cost him his life," fire service Commander Ken Brown told reporters. The four kittens also survived the fire and Sunday Leo, who fire fighters nicknamed "Smoky," was again back at the house.
10/30/2008 PALIN-CHAMPIONED PROGRAM EXECUTED 14 WOLF PUPS
In June, after gunning down 14 adult wolves from a helicopter, officials from Governor Palin's Department of Fish and Game rounded up 14 orphaned wolf pups and methodically shot each one in the head in clear violation of a state law. State law prohibits the targeting of pups - a practice known as denning. Maybe that's why Palin's officials tried to cover it up, making no mention of the brutal pup executions.
10/30/2008 BAN HORSE FIGHTING IN THE PHILIPPINES
On Sundays or fiesta days in the Philippines the so called "sport" of Horse Fighting is illiegally conducted. Two stallions are pitted against each other and results in horrific injuries and deaths and often last for hours. Some stallions are hit so hard in the head their eyes are popped from their sockets. If death doesn't result from the kicks and bites and gruesome injuries, then the horses are inhumanely slaughtered and barbecued and fed to the crowd. Others limp around in the arena with a glazed look in their eyes or break limbs as they try to escape from the bloody arena.
10/29/2008 FIREFIGHTERS FAIL TO RECAPTURE HAMSTER
Eight firefighters were called in to help find an escaped hamster. Two fire crews used a chocolate-covered camera and a vacuum cleaner to try and locate missing Fudgie at six-year-old Zoe Appleby's home in Dunbar, East Lothian. The girl's mother contacted the fire service after the animal had scuttled down a hole in the kitchen floor, and stayed there for six days. She had to reassure neighbors when two fire engines from Dunbar and Newcraighall pulled up outside their house on Monday afternoon. In the search for Fudgie, firefighters took the family cooker and gas pipes to pieces. They also dropped a mini-camera - coated with chocolate in an effort to lure Fudgie towards it - underneath the floorboards.
10/29/2008 PETA SAYS OHSU ABUSING PRIMATES
An animal-rights group has obtained internal records that reveal what it calls a "climate of abuse" at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, causing monkeys to suffer and die needlessly. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by PETA, show that in 2007 scientists and staff at the Hillsboro center: Allowed a monkey to suffer through labor for two days before giving it a Caesarean section, which claimed the life of the mother and infant; performed a surgery on the wrong monkey; left a sponge inside the abdomen of a baboon, causing an abscess that wasn't discovered until the animal was killed for an unrelated experiment; extracted semen 48 times from a monkey named Billy the Kid, a controversial procedure known as "electro-ejaculation" that injured the animal's penis. PETA will post the documents it obtained on its Web site, said Kathy Guillermo, PETA's director of research.
10/27/2008 JAPAN'S WHALING TOWN RESIDENTS HAVE DANGEROUSLY HIGH LEVELS OF MERCURY
A new study by two Japanese universities found that residents of Taiji, a whaling town on the Pacific coast, who frequently ate the meat of pilot whale - a member of the dolphin family - have mercury levels 10 times the national average. The hair of three tested residents contained quantities of mercury higher than 50 parts per million [ppm], a level that can lead to neurological problems. Researchers from the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and Daiichi University's College of Pharmaceutical Studies tested hair samples from 30 men and 20 women from the town between last December and July this year. The average mercury level among the men was 21.6 ppm and 11.9 ppm among women - both about 10 times the national average. Three men with dangerously high levels of mercury said they ate pilot whale meat more than once a month. Mercury levels halved among people who stopped eating the meat for two months.
10/24/2008 UNDERGROUND CATTLE TRADE THRIVES IN GAZA TUNNELS
When the calves were hauled out of the tunnel from Egypt on Tuesday, they could hardly stand up. After a terrifying, 1,000 meter (yard) underground trip into the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, what the young cattle wanted most was a long drink of cool water. Underground livestock smuggling has increased dramatically ahead of Eid Al-Adha, the day of sacrifice due December 10, when Muslims the world over slaughter animals and feed the poor to seek God's forgiveness. "Even if we brought in animals every day we would not meet the demand for the Eid," said a tunnel operator who identified himself as Abu Luqaib.
10/23/2008 EBAY TO BAN SALES OF IVORY ON ITS WEBSITE
Online auction giant eBay announced Monday that it will ban sales of ivory via its website starting next year due to concerns that it is helping to fuel poaching of endangered elephants. The announcement was made ahead of a report released Tuesday by the International Fund for Animal Welfare that tracked online wildlife-product commerce and concluded that eBay is the venue of choice for most online endangered-wildlife sales. Some 75 percent of online wildlife-product sales that were tracked in the study came from elephants, which prompted eBay's ban announcement. "We feel [a ban] is the best way to protect the endangered and protected species from which a significant portion of ivory products are derived," eBay wrote in its blog. Last year, the company banned international ivory sales on its websites, though IFAW found in its investigation that most eBay ivory sales are now done through the company's U.S. site. According to IFAW, over 20,000 elephants are poached for ivory each year in Africa and Asia.
10/23/2008 IRAQI PUPPY ADOPTED BY SOLDIER ARRIVES IN THE U.S.
A friendly mutt from Iraq has arrived at Dulles International Airport after a lengthy effort to reunite the pooch with the U.S. soldier who adopted him. Ratchet arrived from Amsterdam on Monday a day after leaving Baghdad. The black dog wearing a red, white and blue bandanna jumped out of his crate, looked around and quickly flopped down on the floor in baggage claim. He'll spend two nights in a kennel before flying to Minneapolis. Army Spc. Gwen Beberg says she couldn't have made it through her 13-month deployment without the dog she and another soldier rescued. An animal rescue group brought Ratchet to the U.S. after the military said
it could not be responsible for the dog's transportation.
10/22/2008 BELUGA WHALES IN ALASKA LISTED AS ENDANGERED
The depleted population of beluga whales that swim off the coast of Alaska's largest city was listed as endangered on Friday by the federal government. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, called the listing "premature" after she had pressed for more time to make beluga population counts.
10/22/2008 TAINTED FEED KILLS 1,500 CHINESE DOGS BRED FOR FUR
Some 1,500 dogs bred for their raccoon-like fur have died after eating feed tainted with the same chemical that contaminated dairy products and sickened tens of thousands of babies nationwide, a veterinarian said Monday. The raccoon dogs - a breed native to east Asia whose fur is used to make trim on coats and other clothing - were fed a product that contained the chemical melamine and developed kidney stones, said Zhang Wenkui, a veterinary professor at Shenyang griculture University. All of the dogs died on farms in just one village. Zhang determined that the animals died of kidney failure after performing a necropsy - an animal autopsy - on about a dozen dogs. He declined to say when the deaths occurred but a report Monday in the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper said they had occurred over the past two months.
10/20/2008 U.S. AND CANADA WIN EU BEEF HORMONE APPEAL AT WTO
The World Trade Organization's (WTO) top court largely backed the United States and Canada on Thursday in a mixed ruling in an appeal over the European Union's long-standing ban on beef treated with growth hormones. The dispute, dating back to the 1980s, has led to U.S. and Canadian sanctions of $125 million a year on European products from Roquefort cheese to mustard, and has highlighted the power of food safety issues to disrupt trade. The appeal was over a challenge by Brussels to the right of the United States and Canada to continue applying sanctions against the EU.
10/19/2008 SYRIAN CITY PUTS PRICE ON STRAY DOGS' HEADS
The Syrian city of Aleppo has offered a reward for killing stray dogs. The al-Watan newspaper reports that citizens handing in a severed dog's tail to the authorities will receive a payment of 200 Syrian lira, worth 2.87 euros. Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, is suffering from a plague of stray dogs. Two thousand people have reportedly been bitten this year. In a previous campaign against strays, 900 animals were killed.
10/19/2008 BILLION-STRONG JELLYFISH SWARM IRISH COAST
Ireland could see another huge surge in immigration, however this time in the form of deadly jellyfish that are approaching the Irish coast. According to 4NI, a mass invasion of Mauve stingers were discovered near Portrush, Co Antrim and as far south as Co Sligo. The billion-strong swarm could potentially stretch for hundreds of miles around the Irish coast. 4NI says that last year a 10km square infestation wiped out over 100,000 salmon in a fish farm off the coast of the Glens of Antrim, 50 miles north of Belfast. Billions of the jellyfish flooded into the cages about a mile into the Irish Sea last year, and there were so many of the jellyfish that they covered an area of 10 Km square and were so numerous as to be down to a depth of 12m.
10/18/2008 ARMY BLOCKS SOLDIER FROM BRINGING PUPPY BACK
More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let an Iraqi puppy come home with a Minnesota soldier, who fears that "Ratchet" could be killed if left behind. "I just want my puppy home," Sgt. Gwen Beberg of Minneapolis wrote to her mother in an e-mail from Iraq, soon after she was separated from the dog following a transfer. "I miss my dog horribly." Beberg, 28, is scheduled to return to the U.S. next month.
10/18/2008 COURT DECLARES SEAL HUNT OBSERVERS INNOCENT
Yesterday, Judge Jean-Paul Décoste declared the defendants in the case against five seal-hunt observers innocent. This verdict has been anticipated by The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International since the case first began in October 2007. "The evidence showed without a doubt that my clients were innocent and I thank Judge Décoste for seeing through the Crown's illogical arguments to the contrary and finding them innocent," said Clayton Ruby, lawyer for the accused. The defendants - Canadians Rebecca Aldworth and Andrew Plumbly, Americans Chad Sisneros and Pierre Grzybowski, and British citizen Mark Glover - are all representatives of The HSUS and HSI. In March of 2006, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Department of Fisheries and Oceans Officer Jean-Francois Sylvestre charged the five defendants with violating a condition of their observation licenses which requires they remain at least 10-metres from sealing activity. The defendants were in the Gulf of St. Lawrence documenting the commercial seal hunt to bring to the world the shocking images of baby seals being clubbed, shot and even being skinned alive.
10/17/2008 SINGING TO FEMALES MAKES MALE BIRDS' BRAINS HAPPY
The melodious singing of birds has been long appreciated by humans, and has often been thought to reflect a particularly positive emotional state of the singer. Researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan have now demonstrated that this can be true. When male birds sang to attract females, specific "reward" areas of their brain were strongly activated. Such strong brain activation resulted in a similar change in brain reward function to that which is caused by addictive drugs.
10/17/2008 IDAHO MAN SHOT IN HUNTING ACCIDENT
The Madison County Sheriff's Office says a 53-year-old southeastern Idaho man was shot in the leg while duck hunting. Police issued a statement on Sunday that identified the man as Idaho Falls resident David Pancheri, who was shot Friday in what appears to be an accident. Police say Pancheri and a friend were duck hunting in Madison County last week while another group was hunting for deer in the same area. Madison County authorities say a deer hunter fired his gun at the same time Pancheri was shot.
10/15/2008 BABY ELEPHANT'S EARS SEVERED, LEGS AXED BY MAHOUTS
A Manorama news TV channel showed a video of elephant harassment. In the video the mahouts of a 3 year old baby elephant Kannan of the Evoor Srikrishnaswamy temple in Mavelikkara in kerala cuts the elephant's ears with a big knife, cuts the elephant's legs with the sickle knife like striking with a knife on wood. The elephants body, eyes all parts have been cut, bruised, beaten by the cruel mahouts and the elephant was rolling in pain. The incident happened as a ritual by mahouts as part of tieing it, on the land behind the temple, reports the channel. One of its ear is almost severed. The elephant with blood oozing from wound was rolling with pain. It was tied to a tree tightly with chains. When people surrounded the mahouts smeared mud on its wound and dragged the unhealthy bleeding elephant away, the news channel reported.
10/15/2008 SUPPORT FOR A BAN ON SNARING GROWS TO 79%
A new public opinion poll is showing that support for a ban on snares continues to grow with nearly four-fifths of people in Scotland (79%) now supporting a ban on these cruel and indiscriminate traps. The poll was commissioned by Advocates for Animals and is released in the week that the SNP is to debate at its conference a Resolution calling for the SNP Government to review its decision earlier this year not to ban snares. The new poll shows that support for the animal protection organisation's call for a ban on snares has grown even higher than in 2007 when a poll showed 75% support for a ban. The public support is echoed by vets in Scotland, 75% of whom think the use of snares should be made illegal. Earlier this year the Government admitted that 99.9% of correspondence on the issue of snaring had called for a ban.
10/14/2008 PENGUINS WASHED UP ON TROPICAL BEACHES IN BRAZIL
More than 370 young penguins, who were mysteriously washed up on tropical beaches in Brazil, have been airlifted to safety in cooler water. A Hercules military aircraft flew the flightless birds to Pelotas, in south Brazil, where they were released to cheers from a group of spectators. The young birds were among a thousand Magellanic penguins, which have appeared on Brazil's warm north-east shores over the last few months. The other birds either died or were too unhealthy to send back. The healthy penguins, which had been kept at an animal rehabilitation centre in Salvador, north-east Brazil, were flown 2,500km (1,550 miles) south on a plane usually used for transporting military hardware. They were released with a smaller group of adult penguins that had been rescued after being caught in an oil slick. Experts from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, who helped organize the airlift, hope these older birds will guide young ones south to the Patagonia. Magellanic penguins breed in large colonies in southern Argentina and Chile, and migrate north as far as south-west Brazil between March and September.
10/13/2008 UNDERCOVER VIDEO SHOWS RABBITS SCREAMING DURING SLAUGHTER
The undercover investigations of rabbit fur farms in China and France - two countries from which Armani has bought rabbit fur - revealed pitiful living conditions for rabbits, who are confined to tiny wire cages before they are slaughtered. In the video footage from the investigation, workers at the Chinese farm pull rabbits out of cages by their ears and shoot the screaming animals in the head with captive-bolt guns, often multiple times. Rabbits with slit throats can be seen twitching and shaking, with their eyes wide open, before they die. Armani now sells fur, including rabbit-fur coats for babies and children.
10/13/2008 EPA AND BUSH ADMINISTRATION BUSTED FOR GUTTING FACTORY FARM POLLUTION LAWS
In 2007, Organic Bytes reported that the Bush Administration had eliminated pollution laws that required factory farm pollutants to be monitored and documented. In place of the old regulations, a new program was created that invited factory farms, which are more specifically known as CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations ), to monitor their own pollution and voluntarily submit those reports to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last week, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report indicating the new factory farm pollution policies aren't really working very well. According to the report, the EPA "is responsible for regulating CAFOs and requires CAFOs that discharge certain pollutants to obtain a permit." Yet according to the report, the EPA isn't effectively regulating factory farm pollution, because the agency currently has little data on how much and what type of pollution these CAFOs are putting out. Even more embarrassing, the EPA's data is so weak, they don't even know how many CAFOs there are. Given the fact that one of these factory farms can put out as much raw sewage as a U.S. city, the GAO report suggests it might be a good if the EPA considered restarting that whole monitoring and enforcing thing it used to do.
10/12/2008 SEMI-NAKED ANTI-BULLFIGHT PROTEST AT EU PARLIAMENT
Around 30 people taking part in the protest organized by PETA lay on the ground with banderillas, the traditional darts used to wound and weaken bulls in the fight, attached to their backs, some spattered with fake blood. Bullfighting - ever popular in Spain - and the European Union's lack of action to stop the practice, have long raised the hackles of animal rights activists in Europe and the debate has increased in recent years.
10/12/2008 McDONALD'S CLOSED FOR TAX EVASION
On October 9, 2008, all 115 Venezuelan McDonald's shops were closed by government Tax officials (Seniat). This measure was taken by Seniat after an examination of accounting books showed, McDonald's have not been paying taxes as requested by local law. This is not the first time, Venezuelan McDonald's have been fined for Tax Evasion. A similar closure took place in 2005. Venezuelan McDonald's is a franchise run by three local companies: Alimentos Nasif C.A., Alimentos Arcos Dorados de Venezuela C.A and Compañía Operativa de Alimentos-Corp C.A
10/11/2008 PORTUGAL'S CIRCUS ANIMALS NOT INSPECTED BY COUNCILS
Circuses are free to set up in Portugal without any inspections by municipal veterinarians before, during or after the shows, provided they have a licence from the local Câmara. The surprising situation was uncovered by The Resident following last week's article about the collapse of an elephant at the Victor Hugo Cardinali circus in Tavira.
10/11/2008 EUROPEAN CONSUMERS REJECT PRODUCTS FROM CLONED ANIMALS
Nearly six out of ten people in Europe (58%) feel that animal cloning for food production should never be justified, according to a Eurobarometer survey. In addition, 43% said they were "not at all likely" to buy food from cloned animals while 41% said they would not consider products from the offspring of cloned animals. The survey was commissioned by the European Commission to help it decide whether it should approve the controversial practice within the EU. The survey results are published just weeks after the European Parliament voted on September 3 with 622 votes in favour of a motion for resolution urging the Commission to prohibit cloning of animals for food and any products from cloned animals and their offspring.
10/10/2008 AIRLINES REFUSE TO TRANSPORT PRIMATES FOR RESEARCH FOLLOWING PUBLIC OUTCRY
The BUAV has applauded those airlines that have responded to public concern and stopped transporting primates destined for the research industry. An extensive analysis carried out by the animal protection organization as part of its promotion of cruelty-free consumer choice has
revealed that major airlines including US Airways and Eva Air have pulled out of the business while some of the world's largest airlines, including United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Northwest Airlines, Qantas Airways, South African Airways, Delta Airlines and China Airlines have re-confirmed their commitment to eliminating "cargo cruelty" by opting out of carrying non-human primates as freight for the research industry.
10/08/2008 PIGGERY WORKERS CONTRACT HEART INFECTION
Two piggery workers have survived a potentially deadly disease of the heart valves after contracting a bug from animals bound for the abattoir. Doctors at Canberra Hospital have treated a 46-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man, both from NSW, for fevers, sweating and severe weight loss caused by endocarditis, a serious condition where bacteria settle on the heart valves and spread infection throughout the body. The woman required a heart valve replacement to survive. The bacterium, Streptococcus suis, is common in pigs and can transfer to humans through contact with live or dead pigs, though exactly how is unknown. It has taken a heavy toll in the industry, most recently in 2005, when 215 Chinese butchers and meat processors became infected, killing more than half of them.
10/08/2008 THOUSANDS CALL FOR SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT TO BRING AN END TO KILLING OF SCOTTISH SEALS
Thousands of people have called for an end to the killing of seals in Scottish waters over the past three months as the Government's consultation on a new Marine Bill closed on Monday October 6. Advocates for Animals has been leading the call for Scottish seals to be given full legal
protection by calling on the public to support its LOOK OUT for SEALS campaign. Every year thousands of seals are needlessly shot in Scotland by the fish farming and fishing industries. The existing Conservation of Seals Act 1970 is widely agreed to be ineffective and unenforceable, allowing seals to be shot even when they are pregnant or with dependent pups. The Act does not require any standard of marksmanship, meaning that seals can suffer and die at sea after being shot and wounded. Some reforms of the Conservation of Seals Act 1970 have been proposed under the Scottish Marine Bill consultation, but these will not provide full legal protection for seals. Scotland is home to globally important populations of both grey and common seals and the guardian of most UK seals, with about 90% of the total UK population living in Scottish waters.
10/07/2008 RSPCA REFORMERS PUSH VEGAN DIETS
A radical push has been staged within the RSPCA to endorse vegan diets as the best way to prevent cruelty to farmed animals. One of the supporters of the push has been elected to the board of the RSPCA SA branch and will stand for the presidency. The motion was put by a "reformer" - one of a group within the RSCPA that aims to make the organisation more proactive on animal rights. However, critics within the RSPCA have slammed the policy push as "pie in the sky" and out of touch with community values. The "reformer" who proposed the motion, former Animal Liberation president Peter Adamson, admitted he was branded a "food Nazi" at the meeting. But he defended the push and said the general public should consider vegetarian diets to reduce animal cruelty.
10/06/2008 BOY FEEDS ANIMALS TO CROCODILE IN AUSTRALIA ZOO BREAK-IN
A seven-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said. The boy jumped a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre in central Australia early, then went on a 30-minute killing spree, using a rock to kill three lizards, including the zoo's beloved, 20-year-old goanna, which he then fed to "Terry," an 11-ft, 440lbs saltwater crocodile, said zoo director Rex Neindorf.
10/06/2008 SCIENTISTS MAY BE FORCED TO REPORT EXACTLY HOW MUCH ANIMALS SUFFER IN LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS
Scientists may for the first time be legally required to describe the level of suffering endured by animals in their laboratories under new proposals. Currently institutions have to say in advance whether planned procedures are likely to inflict "mild, moderate or substantial" suffering on animals. However the degree of suffering animals actually experience is not reported. The new system would additionally make it necessary to grade animal suffering as "mild, moderate or substantial" after an experiment is over. Out of a group of 10 mice, for example, seven may have experienced "mild" suffering, two "moderate" and one "substantial". Under the new proposals this information would have to be reported to the Home Office. It would be used to provide national figures on the actual experience of animals in Britain's laboratories. But there would be no "league table" of distress caused to animals. The figures would be pooled together to provide an overall picture without individual institutions being named.
10/05/2008 POLAR BEARS RESORT TO CANNIBALISM AS ARCTIC ISE SHRINKS
Disappearance of Arctic ice cover may affect storm systems, storm tracks and crops, according to researchers. Scientists have noticed increasing reports of starving Arctic polar bears attacking and feeding on one another in recent years. In one documented 2004 incident in northern Alaska, a male bear broke into a female's den and killed her. In May, the U.S. Department of Interior listed the polar bear as a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act. In a news release, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne stated, "loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat. This loss of habitat puts polar bears at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future, the standard established by the ESA for designating a threatened species." Some scientists believe that in just five years, the Arctic may be ice-free during the summer. "The Arctic is kind of the early warning system of the climate," Meier said. "It is the canary in the coal mine, and the canary is definitely in trouble."
10/03/2008 STUDY EASES FEAR ABOUT WIND FARM THREAT TO BIRDS
Wind turbines do not drive birds from surrounding areas, British researchers said on Wednesday, in findings which could make it easier to build more wind farms. Conservation groups have raised fears that large birds could get caught in the turbines and that the structures could disturb other species. But scientists found only one of the 23 species studied, the pheasant, was affected during their survey of two wind farms in eastern England. The findings published in the Journal of Applied Ecology could help government and business efforts to boost the number of wind farms as a way to increase production of renewable energy.
10/03/2008 CHILE CREATES MASSIVE WHALE SANCTUARY IN TERRITORIAL WATERS
Chile's recent decision to make its Pacific Ocean territorial waters a whale sanctuary is another step in the right direction to protect the world's declining populations of marine mammals. In September, the Chilean Congress unanimously passed a bill put forward by President Michelle Bachelet that bans whale hunting for commercial and scientific purposes off Chile's expansive coastline. The news is encouraging, especially in light of recovering humpback whale populations in the Straits of Magellan, as well as the discovery of the blue whale nursery in the Gulf of Corcovado, which separates Chiloe Island from the Chilean mainland.
10/02/2008 MEXICO SEIZES CIRCUS ANIMALS AFTER ELEPHANT ESCAPE
Mexico has seized 12 animals from a circus a day after one of its elephants wandered onto a highway and was struck and killed by a bus. Mexico's Environmental Protection office says the two Asian elephants and 10 Siberian tigers were not properly contained and were at risk of escaping. The office said in a statement that inspectors found the elephants tied to the tire of a trailer. Doors on several of the trailers also lacked proper locks. On past Tuesday, a five-ton elephant named Indra escaped the circus, wandered onto a highway outside Mexico City and was hit by a bus carrying 41 passengers. The driver and the pachyderm died. Mexican media reported that the elephant escaped as its keeper arrived to feed it.
10/01/2008 GILLIAN IN ARMANI FUR FIGHT
Just weeks from giving birth to her third baby, The X-Files star and animal rights campaigner Gillian Anderson has upped the tempo by agreeing to spearhead a campaign against Italian genius Giorgio Armani. She claims he has gone back on his word and incorporated rabbit and fox fur into his latest creations. Significantly, she has timed her attack to coincide with Milan Fashion Week. Last year in Paris, Armani announced he would no longer use real fur after viewing a disturbing video made by PETA whose high-profile supporters include Stella McCartney and Ricky Gervais. Campaigners say Armani has abandoned his pledge because his ready-to-wear collection this season includes outfits featuring both rabbit and fox fur. What particularly upset Gillian is a new line of fur coats for toddlers and even a fur snow suit for babies.
10/01/2008 POLICE OFFER £40,000 TO ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTERS
A police force has offered £40,000 in compensation to animal rights campaigners, including supporters of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), after they were prevented from joining a protest against livestock exports. The group of London-based protesters, representing several animal rights groups, accused Kent police of heavy-handed tactics after their coach was stopped as it entered Dover in July 2006 en route to a demonstration against the shipping of sheep and cattle to the Continent. The campaigners, who included a disabled boy and several elderly people, claimed they were threatened with arrest after leaving the vehicle to plead their case with police. They were photographed before being escorted back to London by two police cars and two motorcycles. Now lawyers for Kent police have offered each of the 32 protesters £1,250 in an out-of-court settlement following a claim brought against the force alleging that the group was unlawfully denied the right to protest.
The number of news found: 40.
