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Dr. Goodall christens sanctuary |
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May 8, 2008
Famed naturalist Jane Goodall cut the ribbon at the Foster Parrots
Wildlife Sanctuary, opening the doors to the new permanent home for 300
birds that are not adoptable.
"You may know me as someone who
studies chimpanzees," Goodall said to 200 supporters. "But my interest
in parrots started way back."
Goodall's first exposure to
parrots came early. A housekeeper owned a parrot whose bright colors
and use of human words captivated her as a child. When she was old
enough to read, she enjoyed the story of Doctor Dolittle, whose parrot
Polynesia taught him how to speak animal languages.
That interest in parrots was coupled with a love of all animals.
In
the 1960s, Goodall observed chimpanzee behavior up close, eventually
being accepted as a member of a tribe of chimps for almost two years.
She chronicled her experiences for National Geographic with "My Friends
the Wild Chimpanzees."
Now 74, Goodall no longer spends months
at a time living among the primates. She established the Jane Goodall
Institute in 1977 and today travels 300 days a year educating the world
about wildlife.
The birds now living at Foster Parrots under the
care of director Marc Johnson have plenty of room to roam, a major
improvement on their previous habitat, as Goodall noted.
"The last time I saw Marc and the parrots, we were all in Marc's house," she said.
At
that time, the entire collection of birds were sheltered inside
Johnson's home. It was so crowded and noisy from the birds that it was
difficult to find a place quiet enough to talk.
Massachusetts
legislator Bob Hedlund, who also helped cut the ribbon to the new
facility, said "the word facility doesn't fit the old location. It’s
like the difference between Little League and the Boston Red Sox."
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Undercover video at Turlock farm shows egg-laying chickens being abused |
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May 6, 2008
An animal protection organization is throwing back the curtains on the
West Coast's largest distributor of eggs, releasing a hidden-camera
video that shows chickens being mistreated by handlers and locked in
cages so small the birds can't spread their wings.
The footage,
shot covertly by an undercover investigator with the group Mercy for
Animals, shows workers kicking and stomping on chickens and snapping
the necks of sick hens. It also shows birds left with untreated wounds
and crowded into cages, sometimes amid rotting corpses.
Officials with the animal protection group said the video was shot
this year at Gemperle Enterprises, a Turlock farming outfit that
supplies giant NuCal Foods Inc., the biggest supplier of eggs in the
western United States.
Nathan Runkle, executive director of the Chicago group, said animal
protection activists believe such abuse is probably the rule rather
than the exception for an industry that they contend puts profits ahead
of humane treatment.
"Unfortunately, we believe this abuse is likely rampant across the
country," Runkle said. "As long as these birds are treated like
egg-producing machines, the abuse will likely continue."
NuCal Food referred calls to Chris Myles, a spokesman for the
Pacific Egg and Poultry Assn. Myles said the association condemned many
of the "graphic images and activities depicted in this film," calling
them "in violation of our high standards for animal welfare."
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Race Illustrates Brutal Side of Sport |
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May 5, 2008
Why do we keep giving thoroughbred horse racing a pass? Is it the
tradition? The millions upon millions invested in the betting?
Why isn’t there more pressure to put the sport of kings under the umbrella of animal cruelty?
The sport is at least as inhumane as greyhound racing and only a couple of steps removed from animal fighting.
Is
it the fact that horse racing is imbedded in the American fabric? And
the Triple Crown is a nationally televised spectacle? Or is it the fact
that death on the track is rarely seen by a mainstream television
audience?
The sentiment was summed up by Dr. Larry Bramlage on
Saturday when, asked about fillies racing against colts, he said, "One
death is not an epidemic."
But this isn't about one death. This is about the nature of a sport that routinely grinds up young horses.
A
national audience was exposed to the bittersweet experience of a
tremendous victory by Big Brown and - moments later - the stunning news
that Eight Belles had been euthanized. As we watched Big Brown's owner
celebrate the unmitigated joy of winning the Derby, we watched Bramlage
describe the details of Eight Belles's horrible death: She had
completed the race, finishing a heroic second to Big Brown. She was
around the turn at the start of the backstretch when her front ankles
collapsed.
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