ANIMAL
PEOPLE
is
the
leading
independent
newspaper
providing
original
investigative
coverage
of
animal
protection
worldwide.
Founded
in
1992, ANIMAL PEOPLE has
no
alignment
or
affiliation
with
any
other
entity.
The European Court of Justice on May 24 rejected a French attempt to overturn
a European Union requirement that animal testing of cosmetics cease in
the 25 member nations by 2009, along with imports of animal-tested cosmetic
products. The French government argued unsuccessfully that the E.U. regulation
would unjustly harm the competitive position of French cosmetics manufacturers.
Australian Federal Court Judge James Allsop, of Sydney, on May 27 dismissed
an attempt by Humane Soceity International Aust-ralia director Michael
Kennedy to sue the Japanese whaling firm Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd. for
killing whales inside the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary, declared by the Austral-ian
government but not recognized by Japan. Allsop accepted the argument of
Australian attorney general Philip Ruddock that it cannot enforce a territorial
claim not recognized by all parties to international agreements. Allsop
allowed HSI, the global arm of the Humane Society of the U.S., to appeal
to the full bench of the Federal Court.
Justice Stanley Burnton of the British High Court on April 12 authorized
the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection to pusue an application
for judicial review of decisions made by the Home Office when it licensed
invasive experiments on monkeys at Cambridge University in 1998. The BUAV
contends that the monkeys are used in ways that contravene the Animal
Scientific Procedures Act of 1986.
The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled on April 20, 2005 that Oregon Health
& Science University need not disclose the names of researchers at
the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center. In Defense of Animals argued
that the identities of researchers should be disclosed in the public interest,
but Oregon law specifically exempts Oregon Regional Primate Research Center
employees.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Doherty, of Lafayette, Louisiana, ruled on
May 30, 2005 that the United Gamefowl Breeders Association, based in Albany,
Ohio, had failed to establish that a 2002 federal law prohibiting interstate
transport of gamecocks discriminates against Cajuns and Hispanic people.
Doherty also rejected claims that cockfighting cannot be regulated as
commerce because it is a hobby, and that the federal law usurps states’
rights in attempting to regulate morality.
A three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on April
11 agreed that Lancaster Township has the right to enforce a 1982 ordinance
against spotlighting, even though state law permits it. Hunters often
sweep deer habitat with bright lights in the weeks before deer hunting
season opens to track herd movements and find bucks they might try to
shoot. Spotlighting can, however, startle rural residents who suddenly
and repeatedly find their bedrooms lit up at odd hours. A related practice,
“jacklighting,” uses light to cause deer to freeze, enabling
an illegal night hunter to kill them more easily.
