Putting People First / October 4, 1993 ====================================== PEOPLE'S BULLETIN ====================================== News and notices in the struggle against animal rights and eco- extremists @1993 Putting People First Permission to reproduce all or part of an item id freely granted on the condition that credit s given to Putting People First. Putting People First is a nonprofit organization of citizens who believe in rights for humans and welfare for animals, and who oppose the goals and tactics of "animal rights" and environmental extremism. 4401 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Suite 310-A Washington, D.C. 20008-2322 (202) 364-7277 ====================================================================== BOCA RATON REJECTS ANIMAL BAN Although the issue was animal entertainment, humans provided the amusement last week in Boca Raton, Florida. On September 29,the City Council voted 4 to 1 to reject a proposed law that would have banned the display of animals in the city for public entertainment. In the end, Councilmember Betty Holland, who drafted the ordinance, was its sole supporter. The final decision, which came shortly after midnight, took only 15 minutes, but came after four hours of emotional and sometimes bizarre testimony by animal-rights activists, evoking Martians, slavery, crazed elephants, Adolph Hitler, steel-jawed traps, torture, Star Trek and capitalism. Putting People First coordinators Barbara Whiten, Bob Van Fleet, Marty Martin, and Steve Kendall gathered a coalition of over 150 pet owners, breeders, circus fans, and horse fanciers for the hearing. Entertainment was provided by organ grinder Lenny Schendowich, known professionally as "the Monkey's Uncle." MOUNTAIN LION ATTACKS TEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL A mountain lion boldly invaded a busy campground and attacked a 10-year-old girl on September 19 at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in San Diego County, California, according to the Los Angeles Times. Moments later park rangers chased and killed the animal. The incident occurred on the first day the park reopened after the Labor Day weekend, when a mountain lion scare had forced its closure. Animal rights activists criticized the decision to close the park as an "overreaction." It was the first time in its 60-year history that the park was closed. The victim, fifth-grader Lisa Kowalski, suffered a bloody wound on her buttocks and was taken to a hospital for a tetanus shot. Henry, the family dog, who is credited with driving the animal away, was also attacked and suffered bloody neck wounds. The rangers, Earl Jones and Laura Itogawa, who shot the cougar found the experience emotionally wrenching, according to the report. "This goes against everything I believe," said Itogawa, tears streaming down her cheeks. She and Jones embraced each other for support. Mountain lion attacks have increased dramatically since animal rights activists succeeded in banning mountain lion hunting in California. PSYCHOLOGIST GROUP FILES AMICUS BRIEF The American Psychological Association (APA) filed in July an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in the case of Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) v. University of Washington before the Supreme Court of the State of Washington. APA's brief supports the university's position that unfunded grant applications should remain confidential. APA's action was joined by the Washington State Psychological Association. PAWS, an animal rights group, sued the university under the state's public records disclosure statute to obtain access to a grant application for a proposed study involving monkeys. The proposal had been submitted to - but not funded by - the National Institutes of Health. The scientists who submitted the grant application, psychologist Gene P. Sackett, Ph.D., of the University of Washington and veterinarian Linda Cork, DVM, of John Hopkins University, proposed to examine the relationships between developmental brain abnormalities in monkeys reared in isolation and self-abusing behavior, in an attempt to understand and ultimately treat analogous behavior in children. APA has taken no position on the merits of the grant application. A lower court found partially in favor of PAWS and ordered that the group be granted access to most, but not all of the information contained in the grant application. Both parties sought review by the Washington Supreme court. In its brief to the higher court, APA, whose membership includes the great majority of psychologists engaged in academic research in the U. S., argues that permitting the disclosure of the contents of the unfunded grant application would "(1) compromise the ability to conduct certain research; (2) jeopardize the established intellectual property rights of researchers; and (3) improperly subject scientists who submit applications, and members of scientific review panels, to politically motivated harassment." The brief also states that APA "recognizes that there is a legitimate public interest in general information about research that is actually supported by public funds. However, it believes that the disclosure of a grant application - prior to any commitment of public funds - is premature and could be injurious." "What is at issue - and at stake - here is not just this one grant application or just the interests of psychological science," said APA Executive Director for Science William C. Howell, Ph.D. "How the Supreme Court of the State of Washington rules in this case could seriously affect the initiation, the review, the funding and the reporting of virtually all scientific research to the detriment of all society." -For more information contact: Doug Fizel, APA Public Affairs Office 202/336-5700 ABC, DODGE CAVE IN TO ANIMAL RIGHTS PRESSURE ON IDITAROD The United Conservation Alliance (UCA) has alerted conservationists that ABC and Dodge have sided with animal rights extremists by withdrawing support for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. As a result, the prize purse for the 1994 race will shrink by about 25 percent, and overall event support will be reduced by nearly $200,000. Iditarod Race board president Matt Desalermos said that the companies were pulling out because of pressure from the Humane Society. The withdrawal of these sponsors is surprising, says the UCA, because ABC is the network home of Wide World of Sports and American Sportsman, and Dodge has long promoted its trucks and sports-utility vehicles as "Ram tough" for use by outdoor sportsman, farmers and ranchers. In a letter to conservationists, Michael E. Berger, executive director of UCA wrote, "Apparently these companies have concluded that they have more customers in the animal rights community than among hunters, fishermen and other responsible Americans who do not object to outdoor sports." The UCA says that if sportsmen are disturbed by ABC and Dodge's decision, they should contact their local Dodge dealer and ABC affiliate station to press their displeasure and disappointment,and say that the UCA brought this matter to their attention. -For more information contact: United Conservation Alliance P.O. Box 820706 Houston, TX 77282-0706 Phone 713/558-1399 SAGINAW COUNTY REJECTS HIGHER DOG LICENSES The Board of Commissioners of Saginaw County, Michigan, has rejected a proposal by the County's Animal Control Advisory Committee to raise licensing fees for neutered dogs from $5 to $7, and for unneutered dogs from $10 to $35. The board's Courts and Public Safety Committee rejected the plan after commissioners objected that raising license fees would only punish owner s who properly tag their dogs, instead of attacking the real problem of strays. Commissioner Walter C. Averill III said, "You don't have to have a dog fixed to take care of it." Saginaw County Humane Society President Melanie Jungerheld disagreed, saying, "Just because your dog is in your yard doesn't mean another dog won't climb the fence and mate with your dog." FISH STORY PETA ATTACKS ANGLERS Last April, Fund For Animals executive director Wayne Pacelle surprised many when he broadened his attack on hunting, saying, "I personally oppose fishing, too." Now PETA has opened its own attack on sportfishing, saying a hooked fish feels pain equivalent to "a human having his hand impaled and being jerked off the ground by a hook through flesh," according to Washington Times outdoors writer Gene Muller. Maryland Tidewater Administration Director of Fisheries Pete Jensen, a professional biologist, responds: "There is no scientific evidence that suggests that fish even feel pain." Dr. Robert Bachman, a biologist who wrote his doctorate on the behavior and life cycle of the brown trout in limestone creeks, says, "Pain is a subjective term associated with animals with well-developed neocortex, the thin, gray, outer layer of the brain.... As far as fish are concerned, I say they do not feel pain." Dr. Jim Gilford, a biologist and former professor at Hood College in Frederick, Md., says,"I say fish cannot feel pain in the only way we know how to interpret it - the human sense. They do very well after being hooked, properly handled, then released. It's foolish to suggest otherwise." BUAV ADVERTISING RULED DECEPTIVE The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled against an advertisement by a group called the Anti Vivisection Agency (AVA). The British patients' organization Seriously Ill for Medical Research (SIMR) reports that the AVA ad was composed of "highly misleading or simply untrue statements followed by an appeal for donations." The Research Defense Society (RDS) brought the ad to the attention of the ASA, objecting to its false assertions that the laboratory use of primates could lead to their extinction; that animal experiments were pointless; and that the thalidomide tragedy was caused by animal research. The RDS also objected to the ad's use of a foreign photograph to misrepresent British research. -For more information contact: Seriously Ill for Medical Research PO Box 504 Houghton Regis Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU5 5YW FISH STORY HOME ALONE, PART III A British man has been cleared of charges of abandoning his pet fish in Maidenhead, England. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) charged David Sharod, a 31-year-old electrician, with abandoning two fish in his home aquarium for three days. The charges were dropped after Sharod produced a book written by one of the RSPCA's own experts that said it is safe to leave fish alone for up to two weeks. Fish expert Lydia Gold said the fish in question, a South American sucking loach and sucking plec, "like to be left alone... they enjoy peace and quiet." Sharod's legal fees topped $3,000. British taxpayers shelled out over $12,000 for the two-day hearing. Sharod called the affair "a total waste of time and money." ENDANGERED "SPECIES"? Texas Wildlife reports that the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), with a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, has issued a report on the Endangered Species Act (ESA), published in Conservation Biology. According to EDF's figures, 70% of animals and 80% of birds listed as "endangered" in 1985-91 were not "species" at all, but were subspecies (e.g. northern spotted owl) or local populations (e.g. Florida panther) of abundant species. Moreover, as Ken Smith of the Washington Times reported last year, 65% of the animals that are candidates for listing are actually insects, arachnids, gastropods, bivalves, and crustaceans. Plans by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia to destroy their samples of the smallpox virus (which has been eradicated outside of the laboratory) might be a violation of ESA. "It might help illustrate the excesses of this law if someone were to petition to protect the virus from extinction," comments one wag. "This might help inject a note of sanity as the renewal of the act is debated." If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were to deny a petition for emergency listing of the smallpox virus, they would be vulnerable to a lawsuit. FEDERAL REGISTER REVIEW Mexican spotted owl. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a perfect example of intractable government bureaucracy and the foolishness it creates once it is set in motion. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it will not delist the Mexican spotted owl from the list of threatened and endangered species. It says a petition from the Board of Directors of Apache County, Arizona did not present substantial scientific or commercial information to warrant delisting. The county argued that the owl's listing would result in a loss of jobs and negatively impact business, education, recreation and other human concerns. The feds responded that these concerns "are not relevant ... and cannot be considered in making listing determinations." Clarence Bigelow, Apache County Manager told Putting People First that the ESA spells trouble when species protection is "pursued to the exclusion of humans." Said Bigelow, "If this logic is pursued, its not just the loggers that will be harmed. Anyone who decides that a species should be protected, even if its in downtown Washington, DC or New York City, can shut down the place. There is the potential of shutting down the whole U. S." 58 Fed. Reg.49467 (Sept. 23, 1993). -For more information on the Mexican spotted owl listing contact: Howard Hutchinson of the Arizona/New Mexico Coalition of Counties 505/539-2692 Increased grazing fees. The Department of Agriculture, Forest Service announced it has extended the public comment period for a proposed increase in grazing fees and rangeland reform. At the request of the public and Western governors, the date has been extended from September 13, 1993 to October 20, 1993. 58 Fed. Peg. 48808 (Sept. 20, 1993).