Orangutan Sadly Used as Tourist Attraction
In 1989, before going on stage at the Stardust Hotel
in Las Vegas, Bobby Berosini was videotaped punching
and using a metal rod to beat the orangutans he used
in his act . Berosini is now using a baby orangutan
as a living prop and charging visitors to the Tropicana
Hotel who pose in photographs with her.
While the Tropicana says it does not have a contract
with Berosini, they are allowing him to conduct business
inside the hotel. Please write the Tropicana and ask
them why.
Write to:
Dennis Gomes,
President of Resort Operations
Tropicana Hotel
3801 Las Vegas Blvd., South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
tel.: 702-739-2222
fax: 702-739-3636
Please Help Stop the Cycle of Animal Abuse Among
Children
Comanche was a young, beloved horse companion living
with the Milner family in Murchison, Texas. On the
evening of June 10, the Milners fed Comanche and kissed
him goodnight, leaving him in his stall for the night.
When they returned the next morning, medication bottles
littered the barn floor and Comanche was dead; poisoned,
with his skull crushed in on both sides.
This was not the first case of animal cruelty to occur
on the Milner farm. A few months previously, Brinda
Milner heard her daughter's cat, Tom, crying on the
porch and had gone out to find him alive, but with
his legs cut off. Tom was immediately euthanized.
According to police, two neighbors, brothers of 10
and 12 years of age, admitted to killing Comanche
and Tom and slitting the throat of another horse.
Because one boy was only nine years old when he cut
off Tom's legs, he will not face charges.
The boys were taken to the Juvenile Detention Center
and released 48 hours later, pending adjudication.
Tommy Downing, head of the Henderson County Juvenile
Detention Center, said that releasing the boys was
not a careless oversight; calling the torturing and
killing of three animals merely "a crime against
property."
A trial is pending, though, with possible sentences
ranging from probation, rehabilitation, or "hard time"
at the Texas Youth Commission.
Please write to the following officials, urging them
to regard these crimes as serious in themselves and
also as a warning of possible crimes yet to be committed.
These young boys have already shown their capacity for
cruelty and violence and are clearly a threat to all
animals. They may also be a threat to other humans, as
animal abuse often leads to human abuse.
Tommy Downing, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer
Henderson County Juvenile Detention Center
201 J. East Larkin St.
Athens, TX 75751
Nolan Wickel, Assistant County Attorney
Henderson County Courthouse, Rm. 100
Athens, TX 75751
Please also write to the editors of the local
newspaper about this case.
Athens Daily Review
P.O. Box 32
Athens, TX 75751-0032
Urge the USDA to donate to the Elephant Sanctuary
Ringling Bros.' settlement with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) over the death of Kenny, a
3-year-old baby elephant, requires it to donate
$10,000 to an elephant sanctuary approved by the
USDA. Many "sanctuaries" are merely training and
breeding facilities for elephants. To ensure that
the money will not propagate further elephant
exploitation, it is imperative that the sanctuary
chosen be a member of The Association of Sanctuaries
(TAOS). Please urge the USDA to send the money to
the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, or
to a member of TAOS.
Write to:
Mr. Dan Glickman, Secretary
United States Department of Agriculture
14th St. and Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20250
tel: 202-720-3631
fax: 202-720-2166
e-mail: danglickman@usda.gov
In Taiwan, no law prohibits cruelty to animals.
Recently, PETA's president, Ingrid Newkirk, went
to Taiwan and saw for herself the horrors these
dogs suffer every day. Officials tell us that mass
dog drowning in the city of Keelung has stopped
as a result of Ms. Newkirk's trip to Taiwan, but
we await confirmation. Meanwhile, unofficial reports
continue to surface. It is reported that, in most
cases, garbage men, who are responsible for dog
roundups, discard living dogs by methods that require
the least amount of work. Some reports describe
poison being sprayed onto dogs, causing them to die
slowly after they lick themselves. They report dog
electrocutions lasting 20 minutes while the dogs
scream in pain and smoke rises from their fur. Some
citizens tell us that dogs are caged and then left
to starve or are dropped into abandoned mining shafts
and left to die.
Some improvements have been made but much more action
is needed, immediately. Please write to the Taiwanese
government and let them know that:
1) All cruelty in the pounds must stop, immediately.
2) Taiwan's first animal cruelty law that is now
pending must be passed without excuses or delays.
Send your letters to:
Premier Vincent Siew, Executive Yuan
No. 1, Sec. 1, Chung Hsiao E. Rd.
Taipei, Taiwan
e-mail: ey_mail@ey.gov.tw
fax: 011-886-2-2396-9546
Below is a graphic picture of a typical dog in Tawain's "shelters".
