A n i m a l W r i t e
s © sm
The official ANIMAL
RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Established 1997
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Issue # 03/07/04
Publisher ~ Susan
Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Journalists ~ Greg Lawson -
ParkStRanger@aol.com
~ Michelle Rivera -
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ Dr. Steve Best -
sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ SHARK Bites Ohio Hunters
2 ~ Remember Jerom
3 ~ Peaceable Kingdom
4 ~ Foie Gras Flap Spreads
5 ~ Lament For A Lion
6 ~ Memorable Quote
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~1~
SHARK Bites Ohio Hunters
From SharkIntl@aol.com
March
3 - I guess I should be used to it by now - the corruption of public
officials - but I'm not - I'm pissed. Yesterday I met with Ray Dixon, Chief
Ranger for Akron's Metro Parks. I asked for the return of our undercover
surveillance equipment taken by Metro Parks rangers to keep us from getting the
truth out about the murder of deer in Akron. Dixon refused to return our
equipment, although he could not state that any rule or law that was broken by
our undercover video operation.
It must have been a hilarious sight a couple days ago. Imagine a bunch of tree
police running around the Metro Parks, climbing every hill and crawling through
every valley, checking under every rock and behind every tree for a dreaded
camera that might expose them as the animal abusers they are. Imagine as they
began finding one camera after another, wondering if the rising number of
cameras would ever stop. The tree police grabbed eight of our cameras, while we
retrieved the rest. They seized well over $5,000 worth of equipment, which they
now refuse to return.
With the video operation over, we contacted Akron/Cleveland media. At this
point two television stations have covered the story numerous times, and two
newspapers should have a story today. Predictably, Metro Parks spokespeople are
claiming that all the deer were instantly killed, the truth be damned. Metro
Parks also denies any abuse to their victims. That's something to focus in on
for one moment.
The footage of what happened will soon be on a website for everyone to see. It
shows beautiful, innocent deer drawn to baited sites. The animals are not
afraid of the killers. In fact, the killers have been feeding the deer to train
them to come to the slaughter, so now the deer actually react with joyful
anticipation when the killers arrive.
In return for the trust of the deer, the murderers of Metro Parks and White
Buffalo, the serial animal killers contracted for the slaughter, blast their
victims one after the other. The deer in most cases stand there in confusion
long enough for the killers to plug a number of them. But as utterly disgusting
as this is, it gets even worse. Our footage shows numerous deer that continue
to move after being shot. This movement continues not just for seconds, but for
some minutes, until the deer is removed from camera view.
There is one particular deer that will be the litmus test for integrity,
honesty and dignity in Akron. The victim is one of three deer shot. The deer
went down when shot, but continued to struggle for life. Instead of shooting
the deer again, the killers allowed the animal to writhe in pain, and the struggling
increased as four members of the killing team approached the victim.
A minute and a half after the deer was shot, as the deer continues to struggle,
one of the killers grabs the deer by an ear, pulls her head up, and puts a
plastic bag over her head. He then tightens the bag around her neck.
Understandably the deer begins to struggle more. At two and a half minutes
after being shot, another killer grabs the deer by the hind leg, and she goes
ballistic. His reaction is to retighten the bag around her neck. Then, with the
deer still moving, the killer grabs her by the neck and pulls her out of camera
view.
Last night, television news stations interviewed a wimpy Metro Parks
spokesperson named Mike Johnson who claimed that all deer shot were killed instantly.
He said, "We are following our sharpshooting program to the letter. I saw
nothing disturbing." In response, a SHARK investigator remarked, "I
wonder what it takes to disturb an animal abuser."
It must be mentioned that the footage of the deer is so disturbing that both
television stations have refused to show it in its entirety, and have said so
in their reports. The television crews included present and former hunters, all
of whom were appalled and outraged at what they saw, recognizing the treatment
of the deer as incompetent, unethical and totally unacceptable. So it is
interesting that Metro Parks and its wimp spokesperson Mike Johnson see
"nothing disturbing." It says a lot about their character -- or the
lack thereof. And it proves yet again that those willing to abuse an animal
will be willing to lie about it.
And where is Anthony DeNicolla and his White Buffalo in all of this
controversy? Nowhere that we can find. They continue to murder their victims in
secrecy, for a price, knowing that the last thing they want to do it tangle
with us. Well, we will tell them here and now that they will tangle with us
again, and again, and again.
Where are we now? Ranger Dixon told me that local prosecutors are trying to
find a way to press charges against me. Interestingly, when SHARK investigator
Pat Vinet called the Summit County prosecutor's office and spoke to County
Prosecutor Douglass J. Pouley, he told her he knew nothing about the matter and
planned on having no involvement whatsoever. Imagine that - we were apparently
lied to by the Metro Parks! Who woulda thunk it?
I must say that most people we talked to love the deer. It seems to be mainly
the "authorities" who have a lust for innocent blood. The deer are
not starving. They are fat and healthy. The parks are also healthy and
beautiful, save for the merciless killers running around and stinking the place
up.
In closing, I am asking that you contact the Akron mayor and city council again
and demand that they stop this slaughter, and begin an investigation into the
deer kill program and the conduct of those involved.
Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic
Suite 200 Municipal Building
166 South High Street
Akron, Ohio 44308
Phone: 330-375-2345
Fax: 330-375-2468
Email: Mayor@ci.akron.oh.us (your postal address is required for a response
from the mayor)
Council Office
166 South High Street - Room 301
Akron, OH 44308
Phone: 330-375-2256
Fax: 330-375-2298
www.ci.akron.oh.us
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi
SHARK
<><><><><>
Later March 3 - SHARK's exposure of
the unscrupulous deer killers and the officials who are defending them has made
quite a stir. Not only did this blatant cruelty catch the attention of various
local television news stations, but it has also reached the newspapers. Please check
out the following links to read more about it:
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/2892803/detail.html
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/summit/107831491394050.xml?ncounty_summit
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/local/8092831.htm
For the Animals,
Jodie Wiederkehr
SHARK
sharkintl@aol.com
www.sharkonline.org
<><><><><>
March 5 - What a scene it was! SHARK
and a few local friends in Akron held a press conference right in front of the
Akron Metro Parks headquarters in Sand Run Park. We had called park
administrators the day before to invite them to attend, including Mike Johnson,
who heads the deer slaughter program, Chief Ranger Ray Dickson, and
spokesperson Susan Fairweather, as well as a representative of the Ohio
Department of Wildlife. None showed!
The scenario regarding the Metro Parks reps has to get some special focus. Not
only did no one show up for the press conference held literally on their
doorstep – it went way beyond that. The Metro Parks headquarters was completely
abandoned! We made considerable effort to see anyone in the windows, or even to
see any lights on in the place. The place was completely dark and empty! What
kind of characters are we dealing with here?
So we had the reporters to ourselves as we gave them an update on the theft of
our equipment, and the bogus claim that there is a criminal investigation
ongoing. Then we got to the good part. We gave the media videotaped statements
from three local veterinarians who looked at the video footage of a deer
struggling against the killers after it was shot, and these experts all
declared that the deer was still alive – contrary to the claims of the Metro
Parks spokespeople!
Following our presentation, Akron resident Brian Stormer, a former judge and
prosecutor, talked to the media about his family’s disgust with the deer kill,
and about the efforts of Metro Parks to quiet his protests.
The Metro Parks people must now have a sense of what it feels like to be one of
its victim deer, approached by an overwhelming force, having a bright light
shone in its eyes, and then blasted. Every move they make is a mistake that
only digs their hole deeper. Now they are forcing us to take legal action to
get our equipment back, and that will make more news. If they damage our
equipment or delete the video footage on it, that will make more news.
The Metro Parks obviously has nothing even remotely close to leadership, and
its apparently usual tactic of lies and deceit just isn’t cutting it this time
around.
Following the press conference, Colleen Gardner and I took a little tour
through the parks involved in the deer kill. Two of them look as if they are no
longer being used. A third apparently was used, and we may have some more
footage coming out of that park in the next day or two. Most importantly, there
were no tree police, which was a major departure from days prior. I think these
folks may just have abandoned most of the program early. Our operation, even
though discovered, has been a great success.
Our final stop was back at Metro Parks headquarters – the building that was
abandoned for our press conference. It was no surprise that now it was once
again inhabited. The lights were on and we could see people inside. What was
funny was their reaction when they saw our car enter the parking lot. I was
surprised that they even recognized it, but they surely did. A number of people
actually quickly moved to try to escape our notice, with one woman literally
diving for the “security” of her curtains. Others stared at us with apparent
anticipation of some dread. What it the world did they think we were going to
do?
Our battle with Metro Parks ain’t over ‘til we say its over, and we say it
ain’t over yet. Metro Parks’ “leaders” can run all they want, but they can’t
hide for long. Please continue to call the mayor of Akron and the city council,
and tell them to stop the deer kill. The city’s claim that it has nothing to do
with the kill is false. Akron passed special legislation to allow firearm use in
the parks, so just as the city allowed the killing of deer within its limits,
it absolutely has the ability to stop the killing as well. Please don’t allow
protests by the city to the contrary to sway you.
Lastly, our new website, AkronDeerTorture.com is up! There you will see some of
the video footage we shot, and some media coverage. Veterinarian statements, as
well as more media coverage and other information will soon follow. A petition
is likely to be added as well.
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi
SHARK
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~2~
Remember Jerom
By Rachel Weiss
http://lpag.org/memorials/jerom2004.html
Last year, millions of dollars – public and private money – were spent on
biomedical research on chimpanzees and monkeys housed in research institutions
across the county. 1,300 chimps and tens of thousands of monkeys live in
private and federal facilities, and are used to study all manner of naturally
occurring human diseases, and pathogens likely to be used in warfare.
For twenty years, scientists have been using monkeys and apes to develop drugs
and vaccines for HIV. The very first experiments on the virus entailed
inoculating nonhuman primates with the tissues of infected humans. It was discovered
that only the chimpanzees could be persistently infected; a large-scale
breeding program designed to supply chimps for AIDS research produced most of
the chimpanzees living in labs today. One chimpanzee, Jerom, was born during
that time, at the Yerkes Primate Center, a federal lab in Atlanta. He was
experimentally infected with three strains of the virus. To the surprise and
disappointment of the researchers, the HIV infected chimps did not develop
AIDS, and by the early 1990s, research using chimpanzees slowed down. Instead,
researchers found ways to infect some monkey species with HIV, studied the
monkey version of the virus (SIV), and created a chimera – a hybrid of the two,
SHIV. It was around the time that SHIV was created that Jerom started showing
symptoms of AIDS, over a decade after he was first infected.
Twenty years of research on nonhuman primates has not produced an HIV vaccine
or the cure for AIDS. AZT first appeared on the market in the 1960s as an
anti-cancer drug; pressure from AIDS activists in the 1990s forced the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) to test the drug in human clinical trials without
first being studied in animals. Although the protease inhibitors used in the
cocktail were tested in animals, one manufacturer has admitted that his
company’s product was delayed for years because of misleading results from
animal studies. The only AIDS vaccine that went to large-scale human clinical
trials, AIDSVAX, was tested in only a handful of chimpanzees, and was an
abysmal failure. The FDA estimates that only 5 in 5,000 compounds tested in
animals reach clinical studies in humans. It’s not possible to know how many of
the 4,995 potential pharmaceuticals screened out by the process could have been
the cure.
The biomedical industry has been developing alternatives to live animal
research, but they have not yet replaced the millions of individuals like Jerom
used every year. While the alternatives are being implemented chiefly because
of their economic benefit, some research is changing because of the recognized
ethical concerns with using especially nonhuman primates. We are moving in the
right direction.
More than ever before, nonhuman interests are being recognized. Using and
promoting alternatives is not only good for the research subjects, but is also
good for humans. We have a responsibility to the other species around us to
treat them with respect and not use them wantonly for our selfish purposes. Our
moral evolution depends on the compassion we extend.
Jerom was a teenager when he died eight years ago today. He was alone and
scared for many months. He was afraid of humans and he wasn’t allowed contact
with other chimpanzees. When he died, he hadn’t seen the sun in at least six
years. On the evening before he was euthanized, I gave him some donuts and a
candy bar; we spent hours together, sitting and grooming. His interest in
living a life free from human control was impossible to ignore, but because his
interests did not rise to the level of the human interest in doing research, he
was afforded only the minimal level of legal protection.
Researchers claimed that Jerom’s death proved definitively that HIV causes
AIDS. His short, bleak life was spent in service to humans to prove a premise
that did not need proving. He was not the first, and he will not be the last.
Most people can agree that there is a possibility that the use of animals as
surrogates for humans in medical studies is doing some amount of damage by
wasting research dollars and leading
scientists down blind alleys. If that possibility exists, don’t we owe it to
the humans who depend on medicines to live to begin a serious, national inquiry
about the efficacy of animal-based science? Caging sentient beings and
performing medical experiments on them does irrevocable harm not only to the
study subjects, but also to the researchers and care-givers who must develop a
thick skin about the cruel work they are doing. Don’t we owe it to our ideal of
a fair and equitable society to find a way to continue to expand our ethical decision-making
to encompass and recognize the interests of nonhumans? The time is now.
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~3~
Peaceable Kingdom
"Peaceable Kingdom" now available at Tribe of Heart
Please forward widely and order your copy today!
Finally, the video/DVD we've all been waiting for. This is the second of a
series of videos, following "The Witness," produced by Tribe of
Heart.
At a time when the public is more concerned than ever about the health and
environmental problems associated with large-scale factory farming,
"Peaceable Kingdom" explores another angle of this unfolding story:
the interconnected life journeys of farm animals, former farmers, and animal
rescuers struggling against an out of control industrial system. Breaking
generations of silence in the farm community, Peaceable Kingdom weaves together
themes of respect, forgiveness, commitment, and healing, offering a vision of a
more peaceful world that is well within our reach.
You can order and preview this video/DVD at:
http://www.tribeofheart.com/pk.htm
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~4~
Foie Gras Flap Spreads - Bill Would Ban Duck Dish
By John M. Hubbell, Chronicle Sacramento
Bureau
But haute cuisine restaurateurs say proposal goes too far
Sacramento -- A proposal by a powerful Bay Area lawmaker could make California
the first state to ban the production and sale of foie gras -- a move that
would wipe the controversial delicacy from menus throughout this food-savvy
state.
State Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, is expected to
introduce a bill this week [early February] that would virtually prohibit foie
gras by essentially putting the Western United States' sole producer out of
business while denying chefs ready access to the hyper-fattened duck liver.
The idea is being viewed with alarm by high-end restaurants in California and
across the nation that serve foie gras, a dish enjoyed by many who fancy haute
cuisine.
Burton's bill seeks to block the sale of foie gras produced by the
controversial "speed-feeding" method in which grain is streamed
through a pipe inserted down the throat of a duck or goose for weeks at a time
toward the end of their lives. The method, which rapidly enlarges the bird's
liver, is standard industry practice but considered abhorrent by animal rights
activists, who maintain that it causes the birds to suffer.
"You don't need to be cramming food down Donald Duck's throat to have foie
gras," Burton said in an interview, calling the procedure "an
inhumane way to be dealing with our fine feathered friends."
$1,000 a day fine
If Burton's bill becomes law, a California producer employing the technique
would be subject to a $1,000 fine per bird, per day.
The legislation -- which Burton predicts will pass easily in the Senate but
faces an uncertain fate in the Assembly -- is seen by backers as a major step
in reaching a long-sought goal of eliminating domestic foie gras production altogether.
New York is the only other state in which foie gras is made at large farms, and
a bill to ban its manufacture has been introduced there.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office had no immediate comment on the bill
Monday.
Several European countries have banned foie gras production, but France, where
the food originated and remains popular, exports some to the United States and
other countries.
"It's a product that's produced with such cruelty and such suffering that
an outright ban would surely help alleviate that suffering," said Cem
Akin, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in
Norfolk, Va.
Attack on free market
Opponents said Monday that they view the bill not as a potential boost to
animal rights but as an attack on free market values.
"This is the first time a societal issue with respect to what's morally
right ... would govern what people get to put on their plates," said
Robert Julian, a lawyer with the San Francisco law firm Winston & Strawn,
which represents California's only foie gras producer, Sonoma Foie Gras. He
accused Burton of "doing the bidding of these people who have done
criminally conspiratorial stuff."
Burton's bill follows a spate of vandalism surrounding the issue in Northern
California. In August, Sonoma Saveurs, a specialty shop in the city's plaza
supplied by Sonoma Foie Gras, was damaged extensively, while homes of the
shop's partners, Didier Jaubert and Laurent Manrique, were defaced a month
before. Manrique was also left with a chilling videotape that showed his family
being unknowingly observed in their home, accompanied by a letter stating
flatly that they were being watched. Threatening letters thereafter warned
Jaubert and Manrique to "stop or be stopped."
Manrique, who is also the executive chef of Aqua, a highly rated restaurant in
San Francisco's Financial District, said he has only seen the demand for foie
gras increase since he began cooking in the United States several years ago.
The force-feeding method is the only way to make good foie gras, he and other
chefs said.
'A chef, not a politician'
"Every night in San Francisco, a lot of people ask for it," he said.
"I'm a chef, not a politician. If the law says no more foie gras, I'm not
the one who is going to suffer -- the customer is going to suffer." To not
have foie gras in a French restaurant, he said, is "like if you don't have
a green salad on the menu."
Already, chefs and restaurateurs are fighting the proposed ban. On Friday, the
Golden Gate Restaurant Association dispatched a four-page alert to many Bay
Area restaurants declaring foie gras "under siege" and supplied a
form letter to be sent to Burton.
"It's a freedom of choice thing," said James Ormsby, executive chef
of the Plumpjack restaurant group in San Francisco, who signed the letter and
occasionally serves foie gras. "If you want it, you should be able to eat
it."
News of the proposed ban exasperated restaurant owners from Los Angeles to New
York on Monday.
'Talk of the town'
"You're kidding me," said Nikos Mavreas, owner of Aix, a French
restaurant on New York's Upper West Side. The summer vandalism at Sonoma
Saveurs "became the talk of the town here," Mavreas said, and
"just the mention of foie gras has spiked our sales. Our chef would never consider
taking off the foie gras."
At L'Orangerie, a fixture on the West Hollywood culinary scene for 26 years,
owner Gerard Serry met news of Burton's bill wearily. "You can go very far
with it," he said of its philosophical argument. "Why then would you
sell caviar? Why do we kill lamb?"
Burton, who sponsored similar bills on foie gras while in Congress decades ago
to no avail, said he is introducing the legislation in California because
"I think it's the right thing to do."
"I've eaten foie gras," he added. "It ain't my cup of tea."
<><><><><>
For more information on this issue, and what you can do, see the following
website:
Foie Gras Ban
http://www.avar.org/foiegras2.html
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~5~
Lament For A Lion
By Kathleen Allen
Back and forth the endless pacing
filled with the longing to be free
but man in his wisdom has decided
this is how his life will be
Not for him the African sun
his ancestors had known before
not for him to stand on a mound
and fill the air with his great lion roar
Taken for ever the animal joy
to lie with his mate beneath the stars
denied the age old hunt for food
as it's pushed on a stick between the bars
and to our children we proudly state
here stands the king of the jungle now
heed not his anguish in the cage
heed not his head in sadness bowed
stripped of dignity and pride
to the staring crowd he slowly turns
and deep within those golden eyes
the light of faraway land still burns.
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~6~
Memorable Quote
"All that breathes is precious. Who is to say that the suffering of an
animal is less worthy of solace than the pain of man? The spark of life is no
dimmer simply because it is encased in fur or leather."
~ Anonymous
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal
Rights Online=-
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
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