Princeton Township Ban on Feeding Deer Upheld

A Superior Court judge this week upheld a Princeton Township ordinance that foribds property owners from feeding deer.

Princeton Township’s efforts to manage its deer population have attracted animal rights attention after the township brought in marksman to thin the deer herd.

The township also passed an ordinance forbidding peopel to feed deer on their property, whcih brought a legal challenge from the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance and 30 other groups and individuals who argued the ordinance was arbitrary and unreasonable.

Judge Linda Feinberg agreed with the township that,

Put simply, the artificial feeding is causing exactly the effects the township is trying to combat, namely, that the deer are concentrating on properties in alarmingly high numbers resulting in a deterimental imapct on the environment and neighboring propertis.

Plaintiffs attorney Bruce Afran told The Princeton Packet that the plaintiffs would appeal the decision saying it violated the rights of property owners and that the township had not sufficiently proven that deer feeding posted a real threat to the environment and people of Princeton Township.

Sources:

Township’s deer-feeding ban upheld by court. David Campbell, The Princeton Packet, December 13, 2002.

Ban on feeding deer upheld. Robert Stern, The Times (New Jersey), December 13, 2002.

Feed deer, get fined in NJ,. Associated Press, December 13, 2002.

Pigs Off to Slaughter After Passage of Florida Amendment

In November Florida voters passed an amendment to their state constitution banning the use of gestation crates for pigs. Rather than try to comply with the law, the two pig farmers affected by the law have decided to get out of the pig farming business altogether and send their animals off for slaughter.

One of those farmers is Henry Mathis who had about 250 sows covered by the amendment. Rather than comply with the law, which Mathis maintains would be too expensive, he decided to sell his 250 sows to be made into sausage, as well as dumping the other 2,000 hogs on his farm.

Fellow pig farmer Steve Basford, the only other Florida pig farmer covered by the law, has also reportedly begun sending his pigs to slaughter.

And what do animal rights activists who pushed for the law think about its passage leading to farmers sending their pigs for slaughter? Some of them love it.

Mike Winikoff of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida told The St. Petersburg Times,

We think that’s an excellent thing. And hte factg that some of the pigs might get slaughtered earlier, in the big picture, we see that as a good thing. It’s going to lessen their suffering and hasten the end of their miserable lives.

Slaughter early, slaughter often.

Source:

Amendment is final straw for pig farmer. Wes Allison, St. Petersburg Times (Florida), December 13, 2002.

With narrow stalls banned, pregnant pigs face slaughter. Jennifer Maloney, The Miami Herald, December 12, 2002.

David Blenkinsop Receives Prison for Animal Rights Bombing Campaign

British animal rights activist David Blenkinsop, 36, was sentenced this week to five-and-a-half years for his role in an animal rights bombing campaign. Blenkinsop is already serving a four-and-a-half year sentence for other a break-in at a guinea pig farm and his role in the assault on Huntingdon Life Sciences managing director Brian Cass.

Blenkinsop admitted that in August 2000 he made incendiary devices and helping Animal Liberation Front activists place the devices under trucks owned by a meat processing plant and cars owned by employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Blenkinsop tried the “change of heart” routine in which his lawyer said he was a fundamentally “decent man” and read a letter from Blenkinsop in which the activist said he had turned his back on animal rights violence (only after being punished with prison for such activities, of course).

Sources:

Animal rights man jailed for car bombs. Cambridge News, December 13, 2002.

Animal activist bomber jailed. Ananova, December 12, 2002.

David Barbarash Search Warrant Quashed

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge agreed with Animal Liberation Front spokesperson David Barbarash’s legal complaint and quashed a search warrant that had been executed by police at his home on July 30, 2002.

In a written decision this week, Justice Elizabeth Bennett ruled that the evidence used to support the search warrant — a single photocopied newspaper article — was not sufficient grounds for issuing the warrant. Bennett wrote,

I conclude that the information to obtain does not contain reliable information upon which to base reasonable grounds for the search warrant . . . The search warrant is quashed.

Still up in the air is the status of Barbarash’s property seized by police. Among other things, police removed two computers, dozens of computer discs, about 100 video tapes, and numerous papers and documents. All of that property will remain sealed until a scheduled hearing in 2003 at which police plan to seek permission to turn some of the seized property over to U.S. law enforcement.

Source:

Animal rights warrant quashed. Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun, December 12, 2002.

Anti-Stephens Protester Continues Appeal of Sentence

Mike Durschmind, 42, was one of those arrested in 2001 at a Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty-sponsored protest at a Stephens Life Insurance building in Little Rock.

Durschmind spent three days in jail and was found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct in January 2002. He appealed that sentence to Pulaski County Circuit Court which this week affirmed the conviction and fined Durschmind $100.

Not finished yet, however, Durschmind’s lawyer says he will appeal the County Circuit Court’s decision.

Source:

Stephens protester fined $100. Associated Press, December 12, 2002.