Wayne Pacelle on Democratic Front-Runners
Sunday, February 29, 2004
In January, Wayne Pacelle released his impressions of the Democratic candidates for president.
Written before the first few primaries, Pacelle wrote that all of the Democratic candidates were relatively strong on issues important to Humane USA (HSUS's political action committee). Of John Kerry, the frontrunner for the nomination, Pacelle wrote,
Senator Kerry was the co-author with former Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) of the successful effort to halt an annual $2 million subsidy for the mink industry - terminating a taxpayer give-away to the corporate mink industry. Kerry and Smith shepherded this amendment through the Senate during debate on the Fiscal Year 1995 Agriculture Appropriations Act, and they have repelled subsequent efforts by legislators aligned with the mink industry to revive the taxpayer boondoggle. Kerry has also been the co-author, with Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), of letters in recent years sent to the leaders of the Senate Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations to increase funding for existing animal protection laws, including the Animal Welfare Act and the Humane Slaughter Act. Thanks in part to his leadership - and collaborating with the powerful senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Robert C. Byrd -- the Congress has provided more than $26 million in new funds for animal protection programs in recent years.
Kerry has cosponsored almost every piece of animal protection legislation - including measures to combat cockfighting, bear baiting, canned hunts, puppy mills, the bear parts trade, the exotic pet trade, steel-jawed leghold traps, and the abuse of "downed" livestock - introduced on behalf of animals. A Washington Post profile of Senator Kerry, however, did create concern among animal advocates across the country. It reported that Kerry highlighted his interest in the hunting of mourning doves - an unusual activity to draw out at this stage of the campaign, given that dove hunting is illegal and enormously unpopular in both Iowa and New Hampshire, especially among Democratic activists.
As for Kerry's only major competitor left standing, John Edwards, Pacelle wrote,
John Edwards of North Carolina immediately became a much-admired figure within the animal protection community by defeating incumbent U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth, who was the chamber's only operator of an industrial hog factory. Still in his first term in the Senate, Edwards has been a consistently reliable supporter of animal protection and regularly cosponsors animal protection legislation or supports our positions on key votes, such as banning canned hunts. He did, however, oppose the amendment to halt the use of leghold traps on national wildlife refuges. His general support for our positions is noteworthy because North Carolina's agriculture, hunting, and animal fighting industries are larger and more vocal than those in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Florida - the states represented by the other senators vying for the Democratic nomination.
Source:
An animal friendly president? Press Release, Wayne Pacelle, Humane USA, Undated.
Source: http://www.animalrights.net/articles/2004/000063.html
By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated
Press
February 29, 2004
TAMPA — Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer's first victims
were the dogs he killed, severing their heads for a macabre display behind his
childhood home.
Mississippi school shooter Luke Woodham, who killed two classmates and his
mother in 1997, wrote in a journal about killing his dog by setting it on fire,
a violent act he called "true beauty."
And "vampire cult leader" Rod Ferrell, who is serving a life sentence for the
bludgeoning death of a Florida couple, first drew the attention of law
enforcement when he was charged with breaking into an animal shelter and
mutilating two puppies.
Criminologists have long believed there's a link between animal cruelty and
violence toward humans. A recently published book by University of South Florida
professor Kathleen Heide and animal activist Linda Merz-Perez provides new
research into the connection.
The study of 45 violent inmates in Florida prisons and 45 prisoners serving
time for drug and property offenses found more than half of the violent
offenders had committed animal cruelty as children. By comparison, just 20
percent of the nonviolent offenders had a history of attacking animals.
"A lot of people who want to victimize, they want to start with something
they can really control," said Merz-Perez, a former animal shelter director and
public school teacher. "The easiest thing in the world to control is a puppy.
It's a matter of escalation, they work their way up."
Their findings from the nearly 10-year-long project were the subject of
"Animal Cruelty. Pathway to Violence against People," an academic work geared
toward criminologists or for use in university courses dealing with children and
violence.
Heide is a criminologist who has drawn national acclaim for her 20 years of
research into children who kill. Merz-Perez, who now lives near Vancouver,
Wash., said she proposed the project after spending 10 years as a public school
teacher and also as an animal shelter director who saw the aftermath of animal
cruelty cases.
Their work also has taken on new significance in Tampa, where a rash of
animal cruelty cases has drawn public attention.
Earlier this month in rural Hillsborough County, Snow Girl, a pregnant
3-year-old Arabian crossbred horse was found shot, her throat slit, skinned and
slaughtered. Her owners say the horse was so gentle the killer probably had to
do little to coax her near him.
In December, two Tarpon Springs teenagers were arrested in the brutal beating
of Phil, a pig being raised as part of an agriculture class at the local high
school. The 55-pound pig was hit in the face with a concrete block; the
teenagers were arrested after $8,000 in reward money was posted. Phil is now
recovering and the boys are facing felony cruelty charges.
Merz-Perez got the idea for the study while working as an art teacher at a
Palm Harbor elementary school. A little girl with tears in her eyes approached
Merz-Perez to tell of a boy in her class who had spent the lunch hour telling
her how he had tortured and killed a puppy.
"To say that a child is going to hurt an animal and end up being a future Ted
Bundy, we have to be careful with that, it pegs a child," she said. "But it's
very clear in the book that this type of violence against animals, to mutilate
an animal, is a warning sign."
Heide said they worked with the Florida Department of Corrections to randomly
select the pool of inmates. By delving into their criminal records and
backgrounds, and then sitting with each inmate for lengthy interviews, they were
able to glean data showing links between crimes against animals and later
violence against humans.
They broke the incidents of violence down into four categories: violence
against wild animals, farm animals, strays and pets. They found a connection
between those who are violent to the most trusting of animals, the family pet,
and cruelty to other people.
Heide said inmates serving time for both violence and nonviolent offense have
incidence of animal cruelty in their past, but the key difference is the
nonviolent offenders came to understand hurting "feeling, breathing beings" is
wrong.
One particularly violent inmate, a 30-year-old serving a life term for a
murder in which he set his victim on fire, told researchers he had enjoyed
torturing cats over the years. The inmate seemed to enjoy telling the story, the
researchers said.
Other prisoners from badly dysfunctional homes told the researchers of seeing
others torturing pets and being able to identify with the injured pet. One
burglar told them of having killed a neighbor's pig with a pellet gun and
learning his lesson when his grandfather forced him to work at the man's home to
repay him for the lost animal.
"When dealing with youths who have done this, the critical piece is helping
them develop empathy," Heide said. "If all we did was punish and lock these kids
up, you would see kids graduating into greater violence."
Heide and Merz-Perez said their work should serve as a warning in
jurisdictions where animal cruelty cases are not vigorously investigated or
prosecuted.
Many law enforcement agencies do not take animal cruelty cases lightly, said
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Maj. Gary Terry, who oversees investigations and
is himself an expert on serial murders.
"You can't do that anymore," Terry said. "A lot of us recognized these are
indications of violence that might be in the future and maybe even the
not-too-distant future."
Alison Gianotto, a Del Mar, Calif., animal rights activist who two years ago
began compiling cruelty cases in a database now used by shelters and law
enforcement, said greater attention needs to be paid to those who treat animals
cruelly.
She said some people who torture animals are serial criminals, purposely
going to shelters to adopt cats and dogs for the sole purpose of maiming and
killing them. Her Web site, Pet-Abuse.Com, tracks offenders to alert shelters to
not allow those with a record of harming animals from adopting more pets.
The Web site even tracks animal abusers worldwide, listing those who have
committed crimes against pets from as far away as Spain and Brazil.
"Folks who are doing this aren't just doing it once. You just don't decide
one day that kicking your dog is an OK thing and the next day it's not,"
Gianotto said. "Animal crimes are really hard to prove. Unless someone saw it,
the victims can't tell you."
Pet-Abuse.Com: http://www.pet-abuse.com/
Humane Society of the United States: http://www.hsus.org Source: http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/florida/article/0,2071,NPDN_14910_2690590,00.html
Samar town mayor shot
dead
in cockfight arena
Posted: 11:57 PM (Manila Time) | Feb. 29, 2004
By
Joey A. Gabieta
Inquirer News Service
CALBAYOG CITY-A town
mayor was shot dead Saturday evening by unidentified men inside the cockpit of
the city sports complex in what could be the first election-related killing in
the Eastern Visayas region.
Mayor Aniceto Olaje of Tarangnan, Samar, 45,
died from a bullet wound in the head. One of his police escorts, identified as
PO1 Sebastian Pinanggay, was wounded in the right thigh and brought to the
Calbayog District Hospital.
<snip>
NEWS RELEASEFor Immediate Release-Monday, March 1, 2004
Texas Animal Health Commission
Box l2966 •Austin, Texas 78711 • (800) 550-8242• FAX (512) 719-0719
Bob Hillman, DVM • Executive Director
For info, contact Carla Everett, information officer, at 1-800-550-8242, ext. 710,
or ceverett@tahc.state.tx.us
Intensive Poultry Testing PlanAnimal health officials are initiating a targeted disease surveillance plan for poultry flocks in and around Gonzales County to ensure that avian influenza (AI) is eradicated from Texas. A flock of nearly 7,000 broiler chickens were destroyed February 21 after the H5N2 strain of AI was confirmed February 19 in several birds from the flock. The H5N2 AI strain has not been shown to cause human disease or to compromise food safety. It is not the same AI strain that has caused disease and death loss in poultry and disease in some persons in more than 10 Asian countries.
To Ensure Disease Eradication, Help Regain Trade Status
AI is a respiratory disease of birds that usually is transmitted by bird-to-bird contact. However, the virus may be in the feces of infected birds, and the disease can be spread to other sites if equipment, boots, clothing or tires are contaminated with infective manure.
“Since mid-February, more than 250 noncommercial and commercial flocks have been tested within a 10-mile radius of the affected farm, and to date, no additional AI infection has been detected,” said Dr. Max Coats, deputy director for Animal Health Programs for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state’s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency. “In order to efficiently manage the disease eradication efforts, the TAHC and U.S. Department of Agriculture have established a unified incident command post in Gonzales, and plans are underway to evaluate the flocks within the area by employing a series of tests. The disease surveillance strategy will include testing of commercial and non-commercial poultry and birds within a 30-mile radius around the affected farm, so we can assure trading partners that AI has been eradicated. This action should help us to re-establish our ability to ship poultry meat and poultry products to more than 30 countries as rapidly as possible.”
Dr. Coats said the 30-mile disease surveillance area has been divided into three zones around the affected farm. The affected zone extends to a five-mile radius around the affected farm, while the surveillance zone is a circular band that extends from five to 10 miles from the farm. The third area, referred to as the buffer zone, is the largest circular band, incorporating the area 10 to 30 miles beyond the affected farm.
Dr. Coats said the 19 flocks that have a link to the affected farm also will be retested, regardless of where they are located. Tests will be required on birds supplied to live bird markets, where customers select fowl for on-site slaughter and processing. As always, poultry owners are urged to contact the TAHC or USDA at 1-800-550-84242, to report unusual death losses or signs of illness in flocks.
“Owners of the 39 noncommercial and five commercial flocks within the five-mile affected zone may move poultry or eggs only after obtaining a permit from a TAHC or USDA representative,” said Dr. Coats. “Movement controls during the the period of surveillance evaluation are required in order to regain the poultry industries access to overseas markets.”
“The flocks in the affected zone will undergo a minimum of four retests, as these birds are the most likely to have been exposed to the AI virus,” commented Dr. Coats. Strict biosecurity measures will be utilized to prevent the potential transmission of disease from one farm to another. “We don’t want anyone to worry when they see testing teams wearing white disposable overalls, hair coverings, rubber gloves and rubber boots. The teams will disinfect equipment, boots and vehicle tires, and sanitize and bag all disposable gear. We urge poultry owners to take similar precautions, and prohibit unnecessary traffic onto farms.”
Dr. Coats noted that the testing teams will have proper identification, and will revisit the noncommercial flocks for four consecutive weeks to collect swab samples from the throat and cloaca of the birds. Swabs will be placed in specially pre-prepared test tubes, appropriately packaged and packed for shipping,along with identifying paperwork, to either the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in College Station, or the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
“As an additional biosecurity measure, TAHC and USDA personnel will not be collecting the samples in the commercial operations within any of the three disease surveillance zones. Instead, the required blood and swab samples in these facillities will be collected by or under the supervision of the USDA accredited veterinarians employed by the commercial companies,” noted Dr. Coats, who explained that commercial flocks participate in an ongoing testing program for diseases, including AI.
“Movement permits are not needed in the five- to 10-mile surveillance zone,” explained Dr. Coats. The 178 noncommercial operations in the surveillance zone will be revisited for swab sample collection during the first week of the plan, and again, aproximatey 21 days later. There are 35 commercial flocks identified in this zone."
Poultry in the buffer zone, which extends 10 to 30 miles from the affected farm, will be subjected to the least amount of testing.
“Beginning in about three weeks, we’ll be testing noncommercial flocks located within three-tenths of a mile from commercial poultry houses or operations. This one-time targeted testing will be sufficient to determine the health status of these outlying flocks,” he said. Dr. Coats said information is still being collected on the commercial poultry house locations and the nearby farms in the newly added buffer zone.
Dr. Coats said international trade regulations stipulate that the surveillance zones be delineated by distance instead of roads or other convenient landmarks to assure uniformity. The map included shows where the zones are located.
“Poultry owners within the affected and surveillance zones have been contacted and their flocks tested once,” commented Dr. Coats. “If we have missed anyone who owns poultry, or if producers have questions, please call the Texas Animal Health Commission at 1-800-550-8242. During the next week or 10 days, we will contact poultry owners in the buffer zone, if they need to have their birds tested.”
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