..........she hoped foot-and-mouth disease would reach the US..........
Leaving a donation to the nearest animal sanctuary is what many pet lovers do when they die. But Ingrid Newkirk has taken her animal-loving beliefs just a little bit further.
Ms Newkirk, founder and president of the radical group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), has decreed in her will that a portion of her body (she doesn't specify which) should be barbecued as a protest against "fleshfoods". She also wants her feet to be turned into ornaments to remind the world of the "depravity" of using animals in a such a fashion.
And that's not all. Ms Newkirk has also laid down that part of her skin be turned into a leather product to show that human skin and animal skin are the same thing and that neither is a "fabric". Ms Newkirk's will also holds bequests to two people. One is the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, who can expected to receive both her eyes, appropriately mounted, as a message that Peta will continue to watch the agency until it stops using animals in experiments.
The second beneficiary is Kenneth Feld, owner of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. He can expect to receive her pointing finger to stand as "the greatest accusation on Earth" on behalf of animals used for public entertainment.
Her stipulations are in accord with the spirit of outrage fostered by Peta, which is based in the United States. In the past, its members have dropped a dead raccoon on the plate of a lunching Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue, over the use of fur in the magazine and claimed – without evidence – that the fat in milk contributed to the prostrate cancer of the former mayor of New York, Rudy Guiliani.
Ms Newkirk also said in her will that she hoped foot-and-mouth disease would reach the US since it would harm those "who profit from giving people heart attacks".
Ms Newkirk, 53, who was born in England, is still going strong as the mainstay of Peta. She stressed that the final decision over the use of her body remained with Peta. When she does die, lunching fashion editors may feel the need to examine the contents of their plates a little more carefully than usual.
............"If we had a Newcastle outbreak, it would be more devastating than anything the Humane Society could do."..............
OKLAHOMA CITY- The state's cockfighting industry may shut down its fighting pits because a deadly viral disease that kills chickens has been reported in two neighboring states.
Exotic Newcastle disease has been detected in three New Mexico and two Texas counties around El Paso, Texas.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman declared an extraordinary animal disease emergency last week and ordered a quarantine in the five counties.
The cockfighting industry has volunteered to close its pits for two or three weeks because of exotic Newcastle, said Burke Healey, state veterinarian.
"If the situation in El Paso worsens, that's something we might look at," Healey said.
The contagious disease has killed 3.5 million birds in California since it began in October. Birds at 2,425 premises including 22 commercial poultry operations have been died.
Songbirds, parakeets, commercial poultry, game birds and other bird species are at risk.
Exotic Newcastle was detected April 9 in an El Paso backyard flock.
Healey said he met with representatives of Oklahoma's multimillion-dollar commercial poultry industry to go over safety measures and emphasize contacting the Agriculture Department if they find suspect birds.
Four weeks ago, Oklahoma agriculture officials began delivered fliers to feed stores, schools, bird exhibitions and other locations, detailing symptoms and listed contact numbers in case sick or dead birds are found.
Judy Hamilton, who owns a bird fighting pit near Kingston, said worried game-bird owners are working with the state Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.
"We're willing to take any precaution we need to take," Hamilton said Friday. "It's my business, it's my livelihood.
"If we had a Newcastle outbreak, it would be more devastating than anything the Humane Society could do."
Healey said veterinarians have found no more diseased birds in Texas outside of El Paso.
The USDA may release the quarantine in Arizona and Nevada in two or three weeks, he said. USDA officials hope to be able to lift El Paso's quarantine soon.
California cockfighters were told not to bring their birds or personally show up at Oklahoma pits or farms. There is concern they might have picked up the virus in poultry manure or mucus and might spread it into Oklahoma with infected shoes, vehicles or other means.
The Oklahoma game-bird industry is also refusing fighting birds from Lubbock, Texas, south and west into New Mexico, Hamilton said.