ANIMALNET JULY 5, 2000 -- II Four tigers die as unknown disease sweeps Indian zoo Four Malaysians infected with pig-borne nipah virus Wardens kill mauling bear; animal chewed on soldier Japanese plan to increase scientific whale catch rejected Sanctuary too far away International Marine Biotechnology Conference (IMBC 2000) Squelching belching bovine Farm-scape for July 5, 2000 (episode 465) Marine mammals Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; proposed determination of critical habitat for the peninsular bighorn sheep Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; extension of comment periods on proposed critical habitat for the spectacled eider and Stellerıs eider AnimalNet is produced by researchers at the Agri-Food Risk Management and Communication Project at the University of Guelph, is edited by Wendy Powell (wpowell@uoguelph.ca) and Douglas Powell (dpowell@uoguelph.ca), and is supported by the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, the U.S. National Pork Producers, U.S. National Food Processors Association, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Pfizer Animal Health Group, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited (Canada), Canadian Animal Health Institute, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Meat & Livestock Australia, Canadian Pork Council, Ontario Egg Producers, Ontario Farm Animal Council, U.S. National Cattlemens Beef Association, the Rutgers Food Risk Analysis Initiative, Ag-West Biotech, Land O' Lakes Feed, Capital Health, Animal Industry Foundation, American Feed Industry Assn., the Ontario Soybean Growers Marketing Board, Food Indsutry Environmental Network, Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors, Chicken Farmers of Canada, MDS Nordion, American Meat Institute, USDA Veterinary Services (Fort Collins) Alberta Farm Animal Council, and the Agricultural Adaptation Council (CanAdapt Program). archived at: http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/animalnet-archives.htm FOUR TIGERS DIE AS UNKNOWN DISEASE SWEEPS INDIAN ZOO July 5, 2000 Agence France Presse English/AP BHUBANESHWAR, India -- S.K. Mishra, deputy conservator of forests (wildlife) in Orissa, was cited as telling AFP.that at least four tigers have died in the eastern Indian state of Orissaıs Nandankanan Zoo following the outbreak of a disease, adding, "I have received confirmed news of four deaths so far. It is difficult to say how many others have been infected by the disease," Domestic news reports were cited as saying as many as 10 tigers may have died. Nadankanan Zoo is one of the largest tiger enclaves in Asia with a population of 50 cats, some of them rare white tigers. A later story was cited as saying that 10 sick Royal Bengal tigers -- including seven rare white tigers -- had died one by one at an Indian zoo despite being injected with antibiotics. Veterinarians had administered the antibiotics after a tiger died at the zoo. They found the animals had contracted sleeping sickness, or trypanosomiasis, an illness spread by tsetse flies. FOUR MALAYSIANS INFECTED WITH PIG-BORNE NIPAH VIRUS July 5, 2000 Agence France Presse English KUALA LUMPUR -- Officials were cited as saying Wednesday that four people in the east Malaysian state of Sarawak have been confirmed to be infected with the pig-borne Nipah virus that killed 105 people between 1998 and 1999,. State health director Yao Sik Chi, quoted by the official Bernama news agency, was cited as saying the four were from the Sibu area, adding that the two worked at a quarantined pig farm and the other two at an abattoir. They had tested positive for the Nipah virus in the course of blood tests on 160 people and would be referred to hospital for further examination. "At the time when their blood was taken, they were all healthy," he said. Yao was further cited as saying the department was currently collecting blood samples from farm workers and family members at eight newly-quarantined pig farms. David Teng, state public health assistant minister, was cited as saying that as of Monday15 pig farms in Sarawak were quarantined pending the result of blood tests conducted in Australia. In peninsular Malaysia more than 1,700 pigs were slaughtered recently after some were found to be infected, but there have been no reports of human infections. WARDENS KILL MAULING BEAR; ANIMAL CHEWED ON SOLDIER July 5, 2000 Calgary Sun Karen Clark Lepoole A bear that mauled an American soldier in a park south of the Alberta border has been shot and killed by wardens. Park rangers killed the bear that attacked U.S. Air Force Lieut. Jason Sansom on June 26 when it approached a house on the weekend in Two Medicine Lake, 300 km south of Calgary. Sansom said yesterday the bear chewed on him for 15 minutes as he played dead. JAPANESE PLAN TO INCREASE SCIENTIFIC WHALE CATCH REJECTED July 5, 2000 Agence France Presse English/AP/ ADELAIDE, Australia -- Plans by Japan to expand its scientific whaling program to include sperm and brydeıs whales were, according to these stories, rejected by the International Whaling Commission Wednesday. The stories notes that Tokyo currently kills 540 minke whales annually, mostly in the Antarctic, and wanted to include 50 brydeıs and 10 sperm whales in the North Pacific‹ the first time the two species have been targeted since commercial whaling was banned in 1986. A British-led resolution, while not binding, condemned the proposal by 19 votes to 12. British Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley was quoted as calling the request "a blatant act of defiance of international opinion. We are appalled at the proposal and they (Japan) were soundly condemned. We would expect Japan to withdraw that proposal and if they do not we have no hesitation in pursuing this matter through every venue open to us." In the past Japan has ignored such resolutions. The 52nd meeting of the International Whaling Commission agreed that a management plan for limited commercial whaling should be completed by February, which would enable a vote at next yearıs annual meeting in London. The nations that backed the proposal said their vote did not mean they would necessarily endorse a resumption of whaling at next yearıs IWC meeting. But observers said it was a step toward the IWC taking a more pragmatic approach to growing demands for a whaling renewal. They also noted that many states could ultimately be prepared to trade off tightly regulated, small-scale whaling in coastal regions for a permanent global ban on high-seas whaling. SANCTUARY TOO FAR AWAY July 5, 2000 The Age http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/20000706/A54012-2000Jul5.html Australia and New Zealand have, according to this story, failed in their bid to establish a South Pacific whale sanctuary. After an exhaustive debate at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Adelaide on Tuesday, 18 nations backed the planned sanctuary - a bare majority of the 35 nations called to vote and six short of the 24 votes needed to win. The Environment Minister, Robert Hill, has vowed to pursue the plan at subsequent IWC meetings, but the reaction of Japanıs commissioner, Minoru Morimoto, indicates that the battle to establish the sanctuary will be hard fought. Mr Morimoto said: "My reaction to this absurd proposal is one of bewilderment and resentment. It should be withdrawn." Japanıs IWC delegates characterised Australiaıs opposition to whaling as illogical and sentimental. They said that whales were a traditional food source in Japan, and that to hunt and eat a whale was no more horrible than hunting and killing a kangaroo. And yet a recent poll by the independent MORI organisation found that about 60 per cent of Japanese hadnıt eaten whale since childhood and only 1per cent ate it more than once a month. Of those polled, only 11per cent backed whaling. The Japanese have described minke whales - the species that is the main target of their "scientific" whaling expeditions - as "the rabbits of the sea". The president of the Japan Whaling Association, Keiichi Nakajima, has said that if the IWCıs commercial moratorium on whaling were lifted, Japan could sustainably take 2000 Antarctic minke whales a year for 100 years to come. At present, Japanese whalers take 440 minkes from the Antarctic and 100 from the North Pacific, with plans to hunt 50 Brydeıs whales and 10 sperm whales. Opponents to whaling have expressed scepticism about these statistics; American researchers, genetically testing whale meat sold in an Osaka department store, discovered that it belonged to the endangered and supposedly protected blue whale. The purpose of the commercial moratorium on whaling was to protect species that were almost hunted to extinction. The proposed sanctuary would extend that protection and further limit whatever whaling continues to take place. The number of whales in the world has dwindled because of the whaling industryıs failure in the past to set realistic sustainable quotas. The rarity of many species of whales is a potent symbol of the destruction that industry can wreak on the natural world. Today, people pay money merely to look at a whale and many experience a sighting as a magical event. Our relationship to these creatures commonly elicits an emotional response; for many that is reason enough to hope that the sanctuary proposal eventually succeeds. INTERNATIONAL MARINE BIOTECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE (IMBC 2000) July 2000 ISB News Report September 29 - October 5, 2000 Townsville, Queensland, Australia The Conference will be organized around the following topics: Marine organisms as biological models in marine biotechnology Marine biotechnological interactions Natural and cultural marine resources in marine biotechnology Socio-economic and regulatory aspects of marine biotechnology Contact: International Marine Biotechnology Conference 2000 Tel: +61 7 4781 6219 Fax: +61 7 4781 5822 Email: mailto:imbc_2000@aims.gov.au http://www.aims.gov.au/imbc-2000/imbc-00.html SQUELCHING BELCHING BOVINE July 6, 2000 The Age http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000706/A54120-2000Jul5.html Better feed and more efficient production could, according to this story, help plug a major source of greenhouse gas emissions - burping livestock. After energy production and transport, farm animals are Australiaıs third-biggest producer of greenhouse gases, contributing 15 per cent of the total output. But Cattle Council of Australia policy adviser Angus Hobson was cited as saying yesterday that the industry was in a good position to deal with the problem and that agriculture had ample land to establish greenhouse sinks. There was also work on feeds and overall productivity which, especially in cattle, could reduce the amount of burping. FARM-SCAPE FOR JULY 5, 2000 (EPISODE 465) July 5, 2000 Farm-Scape Manitoba Pork Council is urging itıs members to fully participate in public consultation meetings under the provincial governmentıs "Livestock Stewardship 2000" initiative. Iım Bruce Cochrane and this is Farm-Scape...a presentation of Manitobaıs pork producers. Iıll be back...in a moment. Commercial Break The ŒSustainable Livestock Development Panelı travels to Arborg today, for the second in itıs series of six public information meetings on livestock industry development. Manitoba Pork Council has asked itıs producers to make presentations. Council Chair Marcel Hacault says, people naturally only attend a public meeting when thereıs something to complain about, so itıs important to ensure the significant part of rural Manitoba that is dependent on livestock is well represented. Clip-Marcel Hacault-Manitoba Pork Council Well the province has said that it wants to hear from people and thatıs brought out the anti farm lobby loud and clear so this is perhaps a way for our industry to bring forward our views of our industry and what weıre willing to do as an industry to ensure weıre doing it right because and weıre trying to get the province to acknowledge that, as a group of producers, weıre doing what we can, I guess, to ensure that our industry can grow sustainably. Weıre right there on the front line. We drink the water, we in most cases live in the community with the barns and we have just as much at stake here as anyone else and itıs important that everyone else realize that too. Hacault says the new government is on a learning curve right now and this is itıs effort to gain a better understanding of the importance of livestock agriculture to rural Manitoba as it works to develop policies that will work for all of Manitoba. He stresses this is the public process on which government will base itıs decisions so itıs important for people to get out there and tell their side of how they view livestock and the importance of agriculture in the rural areas. MARINE MAMMALS July 5, 2000 Federal Register (Volume 65, Number 129) [Notices] [Page 41447] [DOCID:fr05jy00-66] http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&doci d=00-16935-filed DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [I.D. 060800C] Marine Mammals AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce. ACTION: Issuance of photography permit no. 963-1535. SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that Wild Things Photography, P.O. Box 34517, 4474 Julep Street, Juneau, Alaska 99803, has been issued a permit to take by Level B harassment one species, harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), of non-threatened, non-endangered marine mammals for purposes of commercial photography. ADDRESSES: The permit and related documents are available for review upon written request or by appointment in the following offices: Permits Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 13130, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301/ 713-2289); and Regional Administrator, Alaska Region, 709 W. 9th Street, Federal Building Room 461, P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802 (907/586-7235). ENDANGERED AND THREATENED WILDLIFE AND PLANTS; PROPOSED DETERMINATION OF CRITICAL HABITAT FOR THE PENINSULAR BIGHORN SHEEP July 5, 2000 Federal Register(Volume 65, Number 129) [Proposed Rules] [Page 41405-41424] [DOCID:fr05jy00-40] http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&doci d=00-16925-filed DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17 RIN 1018-AG17 Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Determination of Critical Habitat for the Peninsular Bighorn Sheep AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose designation of critical habitat for the Peninsular bighorn sheep pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The proposed critical habitat boundary encompasses approximately 354,343 hectares (ha) (875,613 acres (ac)) of Peninsular bighorn sheep habitat in Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial Counties, California. Critical habitat identifies specific areas that have physical and biological features that are essential to the conservation of a listed species, and that may require special management considerations or protection. The primary elements for the bighorn are those habitat components that are essential for the primary biological needs of feeding, sheltering, reproduction, dispersal, and genetic exchange. If this proposed rule is made final, section 7 of the Act would prohibit destruction or adverse modification of critical habitat by any activity funded, authorized, or carried out by any Federal agency. Section 4 of the Act requires us to consider economic and other impacts of specifying any particular area as critical habitat. We solicit data and comments from the public on all aspects of this proposal, including data on economic and other impacts of the designation. We may revise this proposal to incorporate or address new information received during the comment period. DATES: Comments from all interested parties must be received by August 31, 2000. A public hearing is scheduled to be held on July 20, 2000, in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California (see ADDRESSES section below for details). ADDRESSES: Comments: You may submit your comments and materials concerning this proposal by any one of several methods. 1. You may mail written comments and information to the Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2730 Loker Avenue West, Carlsbad, California 92008. 2. You may hand-deliver written comments to our Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2730 Loker Avenue West, Carlsbad, California 92008. 3. You may send comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to FW1PBSH@fws.gov. Please submit comments in ASCII file format and avoid the use of special characters and encryption. Please include ``Attn: [RIN number]ıı and your name and return address in your e-mail message. If you do not receive a confirmation from the system that we have received your e-mail message, contact us directly by calling our Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office at phone number 760-431-9440. [[Page 41406]] Public Hearings We have scheduled two public hearings for Thursday, July 20, 2000, from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. and from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel, 888 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California. Document Availability Comments and materials received, as well as supporting documentation used in the preparation of this proposed rule, will be available for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Berg, Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, at the above address (telephone: 760/431- 9440; facsimile 760/431-9624). ENDANGERED AND THREATENED WILDLIFE AND PLANTS; EXTENSION OF COMMENT PERIODS ON PROPOSED CRITICAL HABITAT FOR THE SPECTACLED EIDER AND STELLERıS EIDER July 5, 2000 Federal Register(Volume 65, Number 129) [Proposed Rules] [Page 41404-41405] [DOCID:fr05jy00-39] http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2000_register&doci d=00-16923-filed DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service 50 CFR Part 17 RIN 1018-AF92; RIN 1018-AF95 Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Extension of Comment Periods on Proposed Critical Habitat for the Spectacled Eider and Stellerıs Eider AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of extension of comment period. SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), provide notice that we are extending the comment periods on the proposed rules designating critical habitat for the spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri) and the Alaska-breeding population of the Stellerıs eider (Polysticta stelleri). We are extending these comment periods to allow the public the opportunity to comment simultaneously on the proposed rules and the associated economic analyses, which we anticipate will be available for public review in August 2000. All interested parties are invited to submit comments on these proposed rules. DATES: The comment periods for the proposed rules concerning spectacled eiders and Stellerıs eiders, which previously closed on June 30, 2000, now close on August 31, 2000. ADDRESSES: Submit written data or comments on the spectacled eider to the Field Supervisor, Ecological Services Field Office, Anchorage, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 605 W. 4th Ave. Rm G-62, Anchorage, AK 99501; fax: 907/271-2786. Submit written data or comments on the Stellerıs eider to Ted Swem, Northern Alaska Ecological Services, 101 12th Ave., Rm 110, Fairbanks, AK 99701. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For the proposed rule concerning spectacled eiders, contact Ann G. Rappoport, Field Supervisor, Ecological Services Field Office, Anchorage (see ADDRESSES above), phone: 907/271-2787 or toll-free 800/272-4174; fax: 907/271-2786. For the proposed rule concerning Stellerıs eiders, contact Ted Swem, Endangered Species Branch, at Northern Alaska Ecological Services (see ADDRESSES above), phone: 907/456-0441; fax: 907/456-0208. To subscribe to AnimalNet, send mail to: (subscription is free) listserv@listserv.uoguelph.ca leave subject line blank in the body of the message type: subscribe animalnet-L firstname lastname i.e. subscribe animalnet -L Doug Powell To unsubscribe to AnimalNet, send mail to: listserv@listserv.uoguelph.ca leave subject line blank in the body of the message type: signoff animalnet-L For more information about the AnimalNet research program, please contact: Dr. Douglas Powell dept. of plant agriculture University of Guelph Guelph, Ont. N1G 2W1 tel: 519-824-4120 x2506 fax: 519-763-8933 dpowell@uoguelph.ca http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood archived at: http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/animalnet-archives.htm