Tag: Miscellaneous

Prison Guard Convicted for Crushing Kittens in Trash Compactor

Ronald Hunlock, 47, was found guilty this week of aggravated cruelty to animals for crushing to death five kittens in a trash compactor at Sing Sing prison where he was a guard.

Hunlock discovered the kittens during a search of an inmate’s cell. Hunlock ordered the prisoner to put the kittens in the trash compactor as a punishment, but when the prisoner refused to do so, Hunlock placed the kittens in the machine and started it himself.

Hunlock’s defense argued that the facts were largely irrelevant since New York’s Felony Animal Cruelty Laws was excessively vague and overly broad. The judge in the case, Peter M. Leavitt, disagreed, finding the law consistent with New York’s constitution.

Hunlock faces sentencing on March 19, 2002, and faces up to two years in prison.

Sources:

Conviction applauded by animal activists. Zachary R. Dowdy, Newsday, December 19, 2001.

Guard convicted of crushing kittens. Associated Press, December 18, 2001.

Federal Officials Tried to Fake Lynx Data

An ongoing point of controversy in the western part of the United States is the protection of lynx habitat. Environmentalists claim that lynx habitat is endangered and want new restrictions on private and public lands, while developers and others argue that lynx habitat is not endangered and new regulations are not needed. In the midst of this controversy comes word that federal employees of the U.S. Forest Service and The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service apparently tried to plant evidence indicating lynx were present in a federal forest that is currently part of a three-year study of the species.

The research in question was a three-year study authorized by the Clinton administration to study the habitat of the lynx population in and around the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state. The study used rubbing posts in the forests which were then examined for the presence of lynx hair.

But at least seven government officials were disciplined for planting at least three samples of lynx hair on the posts. When the DNA of the lynx hair was analyzed, two of the samples matched a lynx living in an animal preserve, and the third sample match that of a lynx that had been held by the government until its owner reclaimed it. The government officials had taken hair from those animals, and affixed it to the rubbing posts to make it appear as if lynx had been in the area.

Had the ruse succeeded, this could have led to restrictions on human activity within the two parks.

When caught, the three Forest Service employees, two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, and two Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employees claimed they were simply trying to “test” the lab’s DNA expertise. Those who participated in the scheme have been banned from any further participation in the survey, although the government will not release their names citing privacy issues.

Source:

Rare lynx hairs found in forests exposed as hoax. Audrey Hudson, The Washington Times, December 17, 2001.

Did Animal Activist Torture Cat?

The Toronto Sun ran an intriguing article yesterday about a Canadian case of animal cruelty. A raid by Toronoto police last month resulted in the seizure of animal skeletons and over 70 videotapes including one depicting a cat being tortured and killed.

Two men, Anthony Ryan Wenneker, 24, and Jessie Champlain Powers, 21, have already been arrested and charged with animal cruelty in the case, and a third man, known only as “Matt”, is being sought. The twist is that “Matt” is apparently well known in the area as a vegan and animal rights activist.

So far police are saying that the motive for the torture and killing of the cat and other animals was unclear, but already there is speculation by some anti-animal rights activists that the trio may have been creating video scenes of animal torture to pass of as pro-animal rights propaganda. Only time will tell if that speculation is accurate.

Source:

Third suspect sought in animal torture. Jonathan Jenkins, Toronto Sun, June 12, 2001.

Sweden Wants European Union Animal Welfare Office

On May 29, Sweden requested that the European Union create a single animal welfare authority that would be able to set animal policies for the entire EU.

Swedish Agricultural Minister Margareta Winberg told an EU conference that, “Animals are sentient beings with an intrinsic worth,” and that what she called short-term economic objectives shouldn’t be pursued at the cost of mistreating animals.

“A Swedish answer to these important questions is that we need an animal ombudsman or an animal welfare authority” to protect animals’ rights as well as promote awareness of animal issues.

Source:

Sweden puts animal rights on the political map. Agence-France Presse, May 29, 2001.

German Animal Rights Leader on Trial for Fraud

At the beginning of April the former head of a German animal rights foundation, the German and European Animal Relief Organization, was arrested and charged with embezzling more than $45 million in donations which they allegedly laundered through a series of dummy corporations. The alleged fraud took place from 1994-1999.

Wolfgang Ullrich, 57, fled to Thailand when authorities were on his trail, and was extradited back to Germany in February of this year. He had been imprisoned in Thailand for refusing to pay a $1.8 million fine for illegally importing a yacht into that country.

Source:

Former animal rights foundation head goes on trial for alleged fraud. Associated Press, April 2, 2001.

Americorps "Volunteer" Takes High School Students on Eco-Protest Field Trip

Eight high school students and a 19-year-old Americorps “volunteer” were recently arrested for their role in an Earth First! logging protest in Humboldt County during what they had told school officials would be a field trip to look at alternative agriculture methods.

The students are enrolled in an alternative education program, San Francisco Unified School District’s Urban Pioneer Program, and Americorps worker David Wehrer had arranged a field trip to take the students to a Humboldt Country ranch where they were supposed to learn about organic farming. Instead Wehrer apparently decided to take the children to the anti-logging protest where he managed to evade arrest but his young charges were scooped up along with adult Earth First! protesters.

Wehrer has been charged with 16 criminal charges, including 8 counts of felony child endangerment and 8 counts of misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Environmentalists are protesting logging by Pacific Lumber Col. in an ongoing controversy over old growth Douglas firs. Prosecutors argue that taking children to the protest constitutes criminal child endangerment, noting that a protester was killed by a falling tree in 1998 at the same site.

“To use kids as cannon fodder for a cause is an example of completely misplaced values,” Humboldt County District Attorney Terry Farmer said.

The San Francisco Chronicle didn’t mention it, but if Wherer was acting in an official capacity as an Americorps volunteer — which he seems to have been doing — he was violating federal law in engaging in political advocacy (this is an ongoing problem with the Americorps program).

Source:

8 students skip school, get busted at protest; 19-year-old volunteer faces felony charges. Mark Martin, San Francisco Chronicle, May 18, 2001.