In this alert we have bad news for wolves, mixed news for elephants, and potentially fantastic news for dolphins.
The New York Times editorial board is starting to turn out consistently favorable columns on animal issues. Wednesday's (Sept 2, pg 22) editorial on the wolf hunt is an example. Headed "Wolf Season Begins," the editorial opens with:
"The first legal wolf hunt in decades in the continental United States began at dawn in Idaho on Tuesday. Legal wolf hunting will begin in Montana on Sept. 15. All told, some 295 wolves are likely to be killed in these two states in the next two months. Idaho has set a quota of 220, Montana 75."
The editorial tells us that the hunts are misguided, and explains why, then ends on this strong note:
"To us, the wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana seems indecent. Hunters want to kill wolves because wolves kill elk -- and the human hunters want the elk. A second reason is a love of killing things. A third is an implacable, and unjustified, hostility to the wolf. It is well past time to let gray wolves find their own balance in the Rockies."
Please check it out at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/opinion/02wed3.html and email it to your friends from that page. Papers keep note of their "most emailed" stories.
The same paper, also on Wednesday September 2, included a column by Timothy Egan headed "Hunting Wolves, and Men." It discusses chilling presidential assassination jokes made by Rex Rammell, a candidate for governor of Idaho, in the context of supporting the wolf hunt. Egan describes Rammell as a naturephobe and he writes about him:
"Until 2007, he made his living in elk ranching, which he calls 'a novel agricultural enterprise.' Imagine this majestic creature at dawn in a high mountain meadow, in all its glory. Now imagine it inside a fenced-off plot while someone tries to domesticate it into stupidity. That's elk ranching."
You'll find Egan's column, also against the wolf hunt, on line at http://tinyurl.com/m7wo33
You can post a comment below.
Both of the above columns, particularly the stance of the New York Times editorial board, call for appreciative letters to the editor. Please send a letter to letters@nytimes.com
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.
Now elephants:
The Thursday, September 3, San Diego Union Tribune has a front page story, by Jeanette Steele, headed, "PETA and zoo share very big concerns."
It opens:
"Call them the peacemaking pachyderms.
"Tina and Jewel, two former circus elephants, have helped create rare goodwill between animal-rights groups and the San Diego Zoo after years of acrimony over the institution's policies for pachyderms.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and In Defense of Animals are applauding the zoo for accepting the two elephants, which federal officials had taken from a Texas exhibitor.
"While these groups still prefer to see Earth's largest land mammal roam in the wild or live in large sanctuaries, they're acknowledging the zoo's humane efforts to rehabilitate Jewel and her longtime buddy, Tina."
We read that animal rights groups acknowledge that the zoo has the ability to provide the intensive veterinary care needed by one of the elephants. But the article hardly gives a glowing report of the zoo's elephant history. We read:
"In 2003, the San Diego Zoo was picketed by protesters who denounced it for importing young, wild elephants from Africa and sending older pachyderms to zoos in colder climates, where they died."
The article tells us how Tina and Jewell came to be at the zoo:
"In a rare move, USDA inspectors confiscated Jewel in August under authority of the Animal Welfare Act, which allows the government to take an animal living in a condition of 'unrelieved suffering.' The circus operator — Willie Davenport of Leggett, Texas — also relinquished Tina because he lacked the proper permit."
But then we read this bad news:
"Davenport denied wrongdoing and was allowed to keep a third elephant that has been with his family since the 1960s."
That poor girl is known both as Queenie and as Boo. You can read about her and of PETA's attempts to get her released at: http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=13491
You'll find the San Diego Union Tribune Article on line at http://tinyurl.com/knh2sy
It offers a perfect opportunity for letters to the editor about the use of wild animals for human entertainment. As public officials look to letters pages as barometers of public opinion, calls for the release of the third elephant could be truly helpful.
The San Diego Union Tribune takes letters at: letters@uniontrib.com
And finally, some wonderfully promising news about dolphins:
About a month ago I sent out an alert about a new film, The Cove, which covers the annual mass dolphin slaughter in Japan with such compelling story-telling that people are willing to actually see it and learn about the horror. You'll find that alert, plus my take on the film, and a trailer for it at http://tinyurl.com/kkppwr
The Cove has done fantastic box office and received stunning reviews and many awards.
But most exciting, this week we learn, as Entertainment Weekly puts it, that at least for now: "'The Cove' Worked: Dolphin Slaughter Stops in Taiji."
You'll find the Entertainment Weekly report at http://tinyurl.com/nsxovh . You can post a comment right below.
I will keep you posted on any developments but for now I am just delighted to be able to end this alert on such a cheery note.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com for a fun celeb-studded promo video and information on Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of 2008." And check out Karen's new blog at www.ThankingtheMonkey.com/blog !
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Date: Fri Sep 4 18:10:24 2009
