NEWSBYPAMELA BLACK

A year has come and gone and 20 dolphins are still being kept illegally in substandard conditions as part of the Indonesian traveling circus industry. After it was discovered that the dolphins were acquired without the proper permits, the Indonesian government set up a Memorandum of Understanding last year to transfer the dolphins to Jakarta Animal Aid Network and Earth Island Institute for rehabilitation and release.

The transfer was scheduled to take place on March 10, 2011. At the last minute, the Indonesian government backed out. The dolphins continue to be transported in tiny tanks and perform circus tricks while the brand new facility built to accommodate the dolphins’ rehab still stands empty.

Dismayed by the lack of action from the Indonesian government, Barbara Napoles launched a petition asking Indonesia to release the dolphins as agreed upon in the MOU. “These dolphins were wild-captured by fishermen and sold to the circus,” Barbara told me. “They, along with 52 other traveling circus dolphins, deserve better living conditions.”

Only a handful of airlines still engage in the transportation of primates destined for research labs as cargo. Now imagine this scenario: A major airline partakes in this practice, but after becoming aware of the cruel future that awaits their cargo, the airline decides to change their policy and opt out of carrying research-bound primates.

Sounds good, right? Well, hold your victory dance, the story doesn’t end there. The airline then is told that they cannot stop transporting primates until a hearing takes place that will decide if they can change their own policy.

This is the reality that Air Canada is facing.

As California moves to prohibit production and sale of foie gras, Animal Legal Defense Fund is calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to require a consumer warning label on all foie gras products carrying the USDA seal of approval.

Come July 2012, California will join several countries around the world that understand that the delicacy of foie gras is not worth the price of animal cruelty. Farm Sanctuary estimates as many as 500,000 ducks are slaughtered for foie gras each year in the United States. The ducks live in confined cages, have a tube placed down their throat and are force-fed for weeks until their stomachs expand 6 to 10 times normal size.

By that time, the ducks have developed liver disease from the process. Many die before they are sent to slaughter. In essence, dining on foie gras means eating diseased duck liver. And paying a premium price for the opportunity.

So many feral swine have gone loose from canned hunting ranches throughout Michigan, destroying crops and property along the way. Fear of disease transmission to domestic pigs is a threat not to be taken lightly either. In response, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (MDNRE) established open hunting season on the massive omnivores last year and, more recently, decided it was time to classify them as an invasive species.

Michigan Wildlife Conservancy agrees that the state needs to take action. "Hogs will pollute streams, vegetable crops, root up crop fields, destroy forest regeneration and kill pets.  They eat livestock, deer fawns and ground nesting birds," said Dennis Fijalkowski, Executive Director of Michigan Wildlife Conservancy. "Wild hogs carry 31 known diseases, some of which can be transmitted to humans.  Pseudorabies alone has the potential to wipe out some of our agricultural industry."

But instead of going forward and declaring swine illegal, MDNRE has bowed to Governor Rick Snyder’s request to give legislators until October 8th to come up with a solution.

The Wild Burro Protection League is a coalition founded by Marjorie Farabee in 2009 to fight on behalf of wild burros. Now that Texas plans to slaughter the less than 300 wild burros at Big Bend Ranch State Park, the situation has become critical.

“It is an outrage that an animal that has served man faithfully for over 6,000 years is repaid in such an unkind and brutal manner,” said Marjorie.

Despite being protected on federal land as a National Heritage Species, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is gunning down burros on state-owned land to make room for desert bighorn sheep. This is a clear case of choosing to eradicate one species to make room for another, more desirable species. In this case, more desirable equals trophy hunting opportunities.

Enter Karen Van Atta Luce. Karen has joined with the Wild Burro Protection League to protect wild burros in Texas and brought the campaign to Change.org. In the first day, her petition received over 1,000 signatures and the number continues to grow at an amazing rate.

The Cargo Cruelty campaign, led by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, is making headway in the fight to stop airlines from transporting primates for research experimentation.

Sarah Kite, Director of Communications at BUAV, sent me the latest updates, stating: “The BUAV's Cargo Cruelty campaign has been successful in persuading an increasing number of airlines to stop their involvement in this cruel trade.”

The newest airlines to adopt a transport ban on research-bound primates are Caribbean Airlines and Lufthansa. Previously, Lufthansa adopted the policy not to transport primates internationally, but was required by the German government to continue shipping primates within the country for the German research industry.

This is no longer the case. Lufthansa announced to BUAV yesterday that the airline has enacted a full and “self-imposed embargo” on transporting research primates.

Adolfo Sansolini, Coordinator for the 8hours campaign, shared with me the story of Antoine, a young bull on a recent transport truck from France to Morocco. The itinerary covered a total of three trucks, one with 60 bull calves and the other two with 4 or 5 adult bulls for breeding. The route would take a travel time of over 62 hours, or 2.5 days.

A day after departure, the trucks reach the first control post in Spain. Despite adequate space, fresh water and food, many of the calves were suffering from respiratory problems. Antoine was observed lying down and foaming at the mouth.

Arriving 1.5 hours late, the veterinarian quickly determined that Antoine was not fit for travel and would remain at the control post for observation. The vet also noted that Antoine was most likely not fit for transport at time of departure. Ten minutes later, Antoine was dead.

Antoine’s story is only one of 50 billion animals slaughtered each year. Across the European Union, an alarming number of livestock still travel for days at a time to reach the slaughterhouse. The 8hours campaign aims to change current EU legislation to limit transport of animals for slaughter to eight hours. "[The campaign] has the potential to bring to an end additional and easily avoidable suffering of millions of farmed animals in Europe,” said Adolfo. 

“We don’t let animals suffer here,” claims Marine Mammal Conservancy's Director of Stranding Operations, Robert Lingenfelser. Perhaps that should come with the following disclaimer: Unless it will benefit MMC.

On May 5th, a pod of 23 pilot whales became stranded on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Fifteen died before rescuers arrived. Two males were deemed healthy enough for release, and three were humanely euthanized. That left R300, R301 and R302 in the care of MMC.

It was decided to euthanize R302, but not before the whale was observed urinating blood (among other symptoms of severe illness) for a week. The decision to euthanize may have been humane for R302, but waiting for so long was anything but. The pattern of delayed decisions continues with R300 and it has been suggested the reason she is still alive is to bring in money.

In order to train for severe burns, gunshot wounds, and amputations that can occur in combat, military medics use live animals. At the end of the training session, if the animals are not dead from the trauma they are subjected to, they are euthanized.

The switch to non-animal models is gaining momentum in medical research facilities across the United States. This move is not only for animal welfare but for more accurate results.

Now, House Resolution 1417 aims to bring the same superior training procedures to our armed forces. This would not only save the lives of more than 6,000 animals per year, it will provide our military personnel with better training methods that cost less.

Also known as the Battlefield Excellence through Superior Training (BEST) Practices Act, the bill aims to replace pigs, goats and monkeys in Department of Defense combat trauma training with human-based alternatives.

Following the annual International Whaling Commission conference, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is using the Pelly Amendment to impose sanctions on Iceland for engaging in whale hunting. The law states that a country in violation of global conservation standards for fisheries is eligible to receive economic sanctions.

Many thanks go out to the more than 11,000 Change.org members who signed Greenpeace’s petition pressuring Secretary Locke to take action against Iceland.

The IWC imposed a moratorium on whaling back in 1984 to protect whale populations from threat of extinction. Iceland, Norway and Japan continue to hunt whales despite the ban in place. U.S. officials are particularly concerned with Iceland because the country has increased its fin whale quota to levels that scientists believe threaten the species' survival, and the industry is trying to create new markets for fin whale meat.

In a statement regarding his decision, Secretary Locke noted: “It's critical that the government of Iceland take immediate action to comply with the moratorium." Now it is up to President Obama to decide the level of economic and diplomatic sanctions that will be imposed on Iceland.