STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2735--A
2003-2004 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 4, 2003
___________
Introduced by Sens. PADAVAN, MALTESE, TRUNZO -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environ-
mental Conservation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the
prohibition on canned shoots
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subparagraphs 3 and 4 of paragraph a of subdivision 1 of
2 section 11-1904 of the environmental conservation law, as added by chap-
3 ter 208 of the laws of 1999, are amended to read as follows:
4 (3) the shooting or spearing of a non-native big game mammal that is
5 confined in a box, pen, cage or similar container [of ten or less
6contiguous acres] or in a fenced or other area from which there is no
7 means for such mammal to escape;
8 (4) the deliberate release of a non-native big game mammal that is
9 confined in a box, pen, cage or similar container [of ten or less
10contiguous acres] or in a fenced or other area from which there is no
11 means for such mammal to escape in the presence of any person who is, or
12 will be, shooting or spearing such non-native big game mammal.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
14 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
Vegetarian Society: Fish Is Not Vegetarian
The Publican reports that in August the UK’s Vegetarian Society began an education campaign to highlight the fact that fish is generally not considered vegetarian fare.
The campaign was to focus on restaurants and pubs. According to The Publican,
The campaign has been developed in response to reports from its members of being offered fishy meals in pubs, restaurants and even hospitals. A poll of 1,000 visitors to the society?s website found that ?significant numbers of eating establishments? considered fish to be a veggie dish.
On the other hand, surveys on both sides of the Atlantic show that quite a few self-described vegetarians do no themselves realize that fish is not vegetarian, so the restaurants and others here might simply be trying to meet the demands of those pesky pesco-vegetarians (the fact that there is a specific term for vegetarians who eat fish is, in itself, evidence that we’re dealing with some sort of post-modern version of reality here).
Source:
Fishy campaign from the Vegetarian Society. ThePublican.Com, August 6, 2003.
Heidi Prescott Speaks for Hunters Now?
In August, the Fund for Animals unsuccessfully campaigned for New York Governor George Pataki to sign a bill that would have outlawed canned hunts in that state.
Now the last time I checked, the Fund for Animal was opposed to all hunting and, in fact, publishes delusional materials claiming things like “the end of hunting is in sight” (interesting, then, that the Fund spends so much time trying to stop the creation of new hunting seasons). So it was a bit odd, then, to see the Fund’s Heidi Prescott attempting to speak for hunters in urging Pataki to sign the canned hunt bill. In a Fund press release, Prescott said,
The hunter’s concept of ‘fair chase’ includes free-ranging animals who live in the wild without enclosures. New York’s state legislators, by a two-to-one margin, understood this and wisely voted to pass the bill. We hope that Governor Pataki will also represent New Yorkers around the state and sign the bill into law.
Prescott’s been pushing this “we’re really most concerned about those unethical hunters over there” line with not a whole lot of success — it certainly didn’t seem to sway Pataki.
Source:
Undercover Investigator Steps Forward In Favor Of Law To Ban Unsporting “Canned Shoots”. Press Release, Fund for Animals, August 6, 2003.
Kidnap Threat Made Against HLS Employees
In early August, Huntingdon Life Sciences confirmed that an anonymous threat had been made to kidnap one of its managers.
The threat was made sometime in July when an unknown person made a call to a Crimestoppers lie in the UK apparently threatening that an HLS manager and his family may be subject to a kidnapping plot.
An HLS spokesman told EDP24 that the threat was investigated but the caller remained unknown. The spokesman downplayed the risk saying,
We get all sorts of threats all the time, it’s on-going. Many of the threats are fairly broad, but when you receive them personally you take notice.
Source:
Animal-testing lab plays down threat. Cat Bartman, EDP24, August 6, 2003.
Earth Liberation Front Claims Credit for $50 Million Fire
Earth Liberation Front extremists carried out their most expensive arson to date in early August when they set fire to a five-story apartment complex under construction. Estimates of the total damage was $50 million.
A 12-foot banner reading “If you build it, we will burn it” and the ELF initials was found at the scene.
About 400 people had to be evacuated from surrounding apartment complexes as the 3 a.m. fire raged.
By coincidence, Rodney Coronado just happened to be giving a speech in San Diego the same evening the fire was set, and numerous media outlets sought out the convicted arsonist for his views on the attack. The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise compiled a list of quotes of Coronado from various media sources,
- “I disagree with the FBI’s declaration that ELF is a terrorist organization. I consider a terrorist to be somebody who kills people.”
- “The fire was a message. The first intent is obviously to cause economic hardship to companies, individuals responsible for destroying the environment.”
- “I would rather see an apartment complex burn to the ground than developers making money off the environment.”
- “Regardless of how people feel about these actions, they do help bring the issue to the public’s attention and maybe when it’s enough in the public’s attention that’s when governments will be called upon to do something about it.”
Sources:
Earth Liberation Front claims responsibility for San Diego arson. Seth Hettena, Associated Press, August 18, 2003.
The Center View: Earth Liberation Front commits most dangerous arson yet. Press Release, Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, August 1-4, 2003.
Animal Testing of Chemicals in Europe and the United Kingdom
In Europe, as in the United States, environmentalists are pushing for extensive safety testing of tens of thousands of chemicals. This is putting them in the path of animal rights activists who note that the proposed changes would result in millions more animal tests.
The European Parliament should vote sometime next year on new rules that would require companies to prove a chemical is safe before it can be formally registered. That could be a lengthy process involving killing a lot of animals.
Dr. Jennifer Dandrea of the Fund for the Replacement of Animals told the Daily Telegraph that anywhere from 1.2 million to 10 million more animal tests would be required for companies to comply with the law. Dandrea added that, “Some substances have a very low hazard. For them to be test on animals is pointless.”
In July the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution released a report urging the UK to adopt laws that require more stringent rules than even the European Union regulations, with one exception. The report recommended eliminating all chemical safety tests using animals, instead requiring only that they be screened using computer models.
Sources:
Health effects of chemicals need closer scrutiny. British Medical Journal, July 5, 2003, 327:10.
Euro safety rules ‘will increase’ animal tests. David Derbyshire, Daily Telegraph, July 10, 2003.