Day: August 9, 2005

PETA Launches Campaign Comparing Animal Use to Slavery

Since it was so successful with its “Holocaust On Your Plate” campaign, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has followed that up with a traveling exhibit called “Are Animals the New Slaves?”

Note the oddity of the title — new slaves? Domestication of animals is believed to be about 12,000 years old. There’s nothing new about it — in fact, since animal domestication far predates any historical slavery, the exhibit would have been better called “Were Slaves the New Animals?”
Anyway, PETA special projects director Dawn Carr told WTOC-TV that,

The very same mindset in the mind today when we have animals in circuses, animals in factory farms that are beaten, branded, chained. These animals treasure their lives and want to live every bit as much as you or I do.

You can almost imagine some 19th century animal rights activist being asked if he could free a slave or a chicken which one he’d do, and having the activist reply that he’d free the chicken. Presumably, to Ingrid Newkirk, a rat is a pig is a dog is a slave.

Source:

Animal rights group showcases exhibit. Liz Flynn, WTOC TV, August 4, 2005.

Calling In Sick, WoW Style

Some nutcase named Devin Moore killed three cops and tried to blame Grand Theft Auto for the crime. The judge apparently didn’t even let him mount his GTA defense, but during closing arguments his attorney quoted Moore as saying after he was arrested,

Life is a video game; everybody has to die sometime.

Hopefully the judge will seize the opportunity to tell Moore, “Game Over” when he sentences him.

Which gets me thinking. As I get sucked more and more into World of Warcraft, maybe Moore had a point.

For example, the next time I feel ill, maybe I’ll call the boss and say, “Sorry, I can’t come in today, I’m still suffering from resurrection sickness.”

Source:

Jury Doesn’t Buy Video Game Defense. Associated Press, August 9, 2005.

Researchers Develop Test Tube Plan to Save Grey Nurse Shark

Reuters recently reported on a long-term effort by Australian scientists to use artificial insemination and growing fetuses in test tubes to save the endangered grey nurse shark.

The grey nurse shark is apparently a docile marine creature that used to be plentiful off the eastern coast of Australia. Today, however, there are only an estimated 500 grey nurse sharks left there.

According to Reuters, the grey nurse shark was inaccurately blamed for a number of shark attacks and ruthlessly hunted until the 1960s. Unfortunately the species has never recovered.

Part of the problem is the species’ reproductive system which has evolved to include intrauterine cannibalism. According to Reuters,

. . . grey nurse embryo pups develop a jaw and razor-sharp teeth very early in their development and cannibalize siblings in the womb.

The sharks have two wombs in which a dominant pup will consume its siblings, leaving only two surviving pups every two years when the shark breeds.

In order to increase the odds of the grey nurse shark surviving off the coast of Australia, researchers there are working on methods to artificially inseminate the grey nurse sharks in captivity. In July the Melbourne Aquarium began an experiment artificially inseminating a seven-gill shark. if that experiment is successful, the same technique could be applied to the grey nurse shark.

But that doesn’t solve the problem of the intrauterine cannibalism. According to Reuters, another group of Australian researchers has come up with an even more radical plan — inseminate and grow grey nurse shark embryos in test tubes.

Reuters quoted New South Whales state fisheries biologist Nick Otway as saying,

Once the embryos have developed to a certain size (10 cm) they actually have a fully functional set of jaws and teeth, then they swim around and cannibalize their siblings. We have to bypass this cannibalistic phase. Once the animal gets through that stage it fends for itself. It just swims around the womb eating, we just have to feed it.

All these techniques pioneered with animal research being turned around and used to help save endangered species.

Source:

Scientists to breed test-tube sharks. Reuters, July 28, 2005.

Once Kids Go to The Circus, They Don’t Realize Animals Are Even Alive

The Royal Hanneford Circus spent five days in Westland, Michigan in July. Members of Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow showed up to protest.

ADAPTT member Jim McNellis summarized the group’s objection to circuses when he told a reporter for the Westland Observer,

The circus has no educational value. It’s teaching kids that animal are objects, not living creatures.

This is good to know — I’d hate to take my daughter to a circus and have her emerge thinking that elephants and lions are inanimate objects rather than living creatures. I’m not quite sure how seeing moving, animated animals would lead her to that conclusion, but its apparently had that effect on McNellis, so anything’s possible.

Source:

League’s circus attracts crowds and protesters. Darrell Clem, Westland Observer, July 31, 2005.

U.S. FDA Bans Antibiotic Baytril In Poultry

In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a report announcing that the antibiotic Baytril would be banned from use in poultry effective September 12, 2005. The drug will remain on the market and approved for use in treating infections in dogs, cats and cows.

The FDA took the extraordinary move out of concern that use of Baytril in poultry could lead to antibiotic-resistant form of the campylobacter bacteria. Campylobacter is common in the intestines of turkey and chickens, but it doesn’t usually cause the animals disease. When Baytril is administered to poultry, it tends to lead to the emergence of antibiotic resistant forms of the bacteria.

The FDA fears that, while not causing illness to poultry, these antibiotic resistant forms of campylobacter could find their way to human beings, impairing the ability of existing antibiotics to treat these human infections.

The Associated Press reported that,

Resistant bacteria my be present in poultry sold at retail outlets. [FDA commissioner Lester] Crawford noted that since the drug was introduced for poultry in the 1990s, the proportion of resistant campylobacter infections in humans has risen significantly.

That can prolong the length of infections in people and increase the risk of complications, Crawford said. Complications can include reactive arthritis and blood stream infections.

Bayer, the manufacturer of Baytril, has 60 days to appeal the FDA’s decision.

The full FDA report on Baytril can be read here (2 mb PDF file).

Source:

FDA bans use of Baytril in poultry. Randolph Schmid, Associated Press, July 29, 2995.

PETA Asks Palisades Park to Stop Squirrel Slaughter

In July, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to the mayor of Palisades Park, California, asking her to put an end to a city program of poisoning squirrels.

In a press release, PETA said,

Today, following a barrage of complaints from outraged Santa Monica residents, PETA fired off a letter to Santa Monica Mayor Pam OÂ’Connor, urging her to order city employees to immediately remove all pesticide currently being used to poison ground squirrels at Palisades Park and to establish strict policies prohibiting the use of poisons in Santa MonicaÂ’s parks. PETA points out that if the city is concerned about the possibility of the spread of disease, it should be targeting fleas and not squirrels or other animals.

Poisons cause immeasurable suffering and prolonged deaths for the animals who ingest them and for “nontarget” animals who consume—even in part—the poisoned bodies. As PETAÂ’s wildlife caseworker, I often receive requests for information on proven humane methods of managing urban wildlife populations. For instance, if city officials are concerned about disease outbreaks, they should be targeting fleas rather than squirrels. To prevent the spread of plague, an online pamphlet produced by the LA County Department of Health called Facts About Plague in Los Angeles County outlines an effective flea-control strategy that employs bait stations to distribute insecticide dust on squirrelsÂ’ fur as they enter the stations. The flea powder, harmless to squirrels, kills the fleas living in squirrelsÂ’ fur, and when the squirrels carry the powder back to their subterranean homes, the powder also kills the fleas living in these burrows.

“Death from the poisons being used by the city is slow and agonizing,” says PETA Wildlife Biologist Stephanie Boyles. “No one knows how many animals have suffered and died, but the mayor has the power to stop this cruel program and the obligation to stop any violations of local, state, or federal laws relating to the poisoning.”

But PETA didn’t quite have all of the facts in the matter.

Palisades Park Mayor Pam O’Connor told the Santa Monica News that all poison bait had actually been removed in June. Moreover, the use of poison bait had been ordered by the Los Angeles County Department of Health, which PETA cites in its letter as favoring alternatives to poisoning!

O’Connor said,

The City of Santa Monica is not performing any ground squirrel suppression measures at this time. We stopped the last week of June, removing all the bait from the stations.

As you know, the City was ordered to suppress the ground squirrel population [by Los Angeles County]. The coastal belt of California is one of the high-risk areas for plague. Keeping the ground squirrel population down is a precaution against humans and pets being infected.

And while PETA’s letter said it had received “a barrage of complaints from outraged Santa Monica residents,” city officials told the Santa Monica News they had only received a complaints from a handful of people.

Judy Rambeau, assistant to the City Manager in charge of community relations, told the Santa Monica News,

I’ve gotten numerous calls and emails from two people. We heard a lot from the same people over and over and over again.

Of course, in PETA World, if two activists each call and e-mail officials 12 times, that translates to dozens of complaints!

Source:

Animal rights group calls for end to squirrel killings. Jorge Casuso, Santa Monica News, July 29, 2005.

PETA Calls On Santa Monica Mayor To End Cruel, Deadly Squirrel-Poisoning Program. Press Release, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, July 27, 2005.