Mexico and US Go at it Again Over Dolphin-Labeling and Tuna

From the Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest....

The long-running dispute between the US and Mexico over Washington’s ‘dolphin safe’ labelling practice for tuna products is likely to see a WTO appeal, after the two parties together asked for an extension of the appeals deadline. Meanwhile, animal welfare and consumer advocacy groups in Washington are urging the US to look into options outside the global trade body for resolving the trade row.

WTO appeals deadline extended to January

At its last meeting on 11 November, the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) decided to extend the deadline for submitting an appeal on the latest Tuna-Dolphin (DS381) ruling issued in September (see Bridges Weekly, 21 September 2011).

.....Washington had partially lost its claim in this high-stakes dispute over the US “dolphin safe” label for tuna products when a panel ruled the US practice unnecessarily trade restrictive (for further analysis on the tuna-dolphin case, see Bridges Trade BioRes Review, November 2011).

Animal Welfare in the State of California

California really is at the forefront of animal welfare and this is an excellent article detailing what's going on in the State and the challenges animal welfare faces. It also does a great job at profiling Jennifer Fearing who led the victory of Proposition 2. She sounds amazing.

West Hollywood, CA, Approves Fur Ban

It's the first fur ban in the United States.

Yay! Here's hoping there are many more to come!

Followup: Some Zoo Keepers Fighting to Stop Elephant Transfer to Sanctuary

Excepted from the Toronto News....

War has erupted between Toronto Zoo elephant keepers and the animal rights group helping to co-ordinate a move of three aging elephants to a California sanctuary.

Zoocheck Canada’s Julie Woodyer told the Star she has rescinded an offer to pay for one of the dozen keepers to fly to the PAWS sanctuary this weekend with her and two councillors, Michelle Berardinetti and Raymond Cho.

She is also considering shutting the keepers out of training the pachyderms for the risky trip — a move the keepers say would be foolish and potentially dangerous for the animals they know better than anyone.

Woodyer said last week a trainer would be welcome on the trip, which follows council’s vote to override a zoo board decision to first look for an accredited zoo as a new home for Iringa, 42; Toka, 41; and Thika, 31.

That changed, she said, last Friday when one of the keepers started calling councillors directly, urging them to hold another vote and reverse the decision to send the animals to the 80-acre PAWS sanctuary in San Andreas.

“That’s insubordination — city staff can’t go above their managers’ head and do those kinds of things,” Woodyer said. “They were trying to sabotage the process. We’re happy to work with them but need them to be straight up and upfront with us.”

Followup: Witherspoon Will Stop Carrying Python Purse

I don't know what she's going to do with it, but at least she'll stop carrying it. She's supposedly a vegetarian and is friends with Walk the Line co-star Joaquin Phoenix who is a huge animal rights activist and vegan.

I still don't understand what she was doing. She knew it was an animal skin....and she spent $4,000 on it? CRAZY!

PETA is very happy.

Witherspoon in Trouble for Python Purse

For some bizarre reason (hopefully just ignorance), Reese Witherspoon has pissed off animal rights activists by purchasing and carrying around a purse made out of python skin. Python skinning is horrible, brutal and repulsive. And it's illegal for her to have it at least in the State of California.

And she paid $4,000 for it. Sorry, but that's stupid enough on its own. $4,000 for a frigging purse?!

Toronto Zoo's Remaining Elephants to Go to Sanctuary

This is excellent news. Not only is Toronto closing its elephant exhibit, but the City Council voted to send the remaining elderly elephants to the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary instead of another zoo.

Yay!

Sad Story about Exotic Animals in Ohio

The owner released them and killed himself. Now, 48 of the 56 animals have been put down. Tragic. These animals include endangered species.

What was he thinking?

Adopt a Turkey Next Month

Farm Sanctuary has a cool "Adopt-a-Turkey" project. I definitely want to do this.

Foie Gras to Be Banned in California

Apparently, this will happen in 8 months. I had no idea!

Excerpted from The New York Times.....

In eight months, the sale of foie gras will be banned in California. But for seven hours on Friday night, at a restaurant appropriately known as Animal, three chefs presented an eight-course meal that was nothing short of a glorification of this soon-to-be-outlawed delicacy. There was smoked foie gras, roasted foie gras, steamed foie gras and liquefied foie gras, injected into agnolotti. It was served with veal tongue, yogurt, prosciutto, mustard ice cream and truffles. There was even a foie gras dessert: a brownie sundae with foie gras Chantilly.

With all its gluttonous excess, and with the backdrop of the animal rights protesters, the sold-out dinner became the fattiest of food as political protest, offering a clash of competing passions in a battle that has reverberated across the nation but finally settled here, the first state in the nation to criminalize the sale of foie gras, the fattened liver of a goose or a duck.

It was also a perhaps belated realization by these chefs and their fans that a law signed eight years ago is truly taking effect and is about to change the way they do business drastically, putting California on the front lines of the battle about force-feeding ducks and geese to produce the silky liver delicacy.

Dutch Whale Denied Freedom; Must Go to Spanish Amusement Park

Unfortunate, but the court decided she would not survive being returned to the wild.

Here's an excerpt from the online Boston Globe...

Morgan, a 4-year-old killer whale, has lost her bid for freedom

Agriculture Secretary Henk Bleker ruled Wednesday that the orca, rescued last year ailing and emaciated from the Wadden Sea off the northern Dutch coast, should be transferred to an amusement park on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

A Dutch court had suspended the government's export permit after an animal rights coalition presented a plan to release her to the wild in stages. A judge ordered the coalition, the Agriculture Ministry and the Harderwijk Dolphinarium, which put her ondisplay after nursing her back to health, to review the scientific evidence and work out a solution.

Bleker said after hearing arguments from both sides that Morgan's chances of survival were too slim if she were freed.

"This feels like a defeat because an animal like this really belongs in the sea and not a zoo," Bleker said in a statement. "Morgan belongs in the wild, but not at all costs."

Canada's Military Goes Back to Fur Hats

I think this is just stubbornness.

Excerpted from UPI.....

Canada's military is reverting to issuing real fur winter hats to soldiers, replacing synthetic tuques for winter use, the Department of Defense announced.

An initial order for 1,000 of the new "Yukon" hats with muskrat fur has been placed at a cost of $65,000, the Globe and Mail reported.

As late as the 1990s, female soldiers were issued winter hats made from mink and the ceremonial guard in Ottawa still wear the tall bearskin hats known as a "busby" by their British counterparts in London.

Defense spokeswoman Josee Hunter told the newspaper "the uniforms worn by the Canadian Forces are a reflection of Canada's proud heritage," although animal rights activists had a different take on heritage.

Group Seeks to Ban Chinese Fur Trade with Australia

GRUESOME!

Excerpted from the International Business Times....

Humane Society International (HSI) called on Wednesday for a ban on the fur trade to Australia. The call was issued after the animal rights group discovered that the fur were sourced from the raccoon dog in China, ABC Radio Australia reports.

About 10 million dogs in China are killed for their fur, prompting an animal rights group to seek a ban on fur trade to Australia. The dog fur are used are inside lining for ugg boots.

What angered the society were reports that Chinese workers skinned the dogs while still alive. The dog's fur is used to make Ugg boots, a popular fashion brand in Australia, to line the inside of the shoe. However, the fur is passed off as sheep skin.

Besides raccoon dogs, other types of domestic dogs are also suffering because of the high demand for their fur. Verna Simpson, director for Asia Pacific of HIS, estimated about 10 million domestic dogs in China are killed yearly for their fur.

Last Bullfight Finally Held in Catalonia, Spain

Good.

Lucy the Elephant's Case to be Heard by Canadian Supreme Court?

Could be.

Excerpted from CTV News....

The Supreme Court of Canada could be getting involved in the battle over the fate of an ailing elephant in an Edmonton zoo.

Animal rights groups are seeking leave to appeal to the high court in their ongoing fight to have Lucy the elephant moved to a warm-weather U.S. wildlife sanctuary.

PETA and Zoocheck have applied to challenge an Alberta Court of Appeal split decision last month that ruled against their plan to sue the City of Edmonton over Lucy.

One of the appeal court justices wrote a dissenting opinion, saying the groups should have public standing in the case and it should go to trial.

In their Supreme Court application, the groups say private citizens have a right to seek legal remedies to ensure that governments enforce animal protection laws.

"Every day that Lucy spends at the Valley Zoo, her condition continues to deteriorate," Jeffrey Kerr, a lawyer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said Wednesday