UPDATE: State Fair Board hearing re animal welfare policies

February 26, 2005

I sent press releases to TV, radio and print media, but only
Sacramento's Channel 13 showed up.  It was on the 5 o'clock news last night.

Animal advocates voiced their concerns about elephant rides, wild animal
acts, rodeos, petting zoos, farm animal "birthing" exhibits, and the
whipping of thoroughbred race horses, as well as public health and
safety.  The Board listened, asked a few questions, but there was very
little discussion of the issues. One board member, Kirk Breed, commented
rather rudely to us (tongue in cheek, hopefully), "I don't really care
about your opinions; I just want the facts."    Reportedly, the Board's
subcommittee will ponder the testimony, then send their opinion to the
Fair's 25-member Animal Welfare Committee for further consideration; the
AWC will then make its recommendation to the full board for a final
vote.  No dates are yet set for any of this.

Of great concern is the fact that, without exception, all 25 members of
the AWC are from the animal use community.  There's not a single
representative from the animal protection community, though Curt Ransom
(HSUS) has been invited to join. We should have much great
representation on this committee.  As now constituted, it's a case of
"the fox guarding the henhouse."   Several of the AWC members own/run
animal acts and contract with the State Fair.  These include Cotton
Rosser (Flying U Rodeo) who puts on the Fair's rodeos; Gary Johnson
(husband of Kari Johnson), who run "Have Trunk Will Travel," the folks
who do the elephant rides; Nancy Kobert (live exotic bird shows); and
Karla Majewski (monkey/reptile/etc. shows).  Not to mention Dr. Francine
Bradley from UC Davis, reportedly a fan of cockfighting....  THIS IS A
BLATANT CONFLICT OF INTEREST, AND THESE ARE SOME OF THE VERY PEOPLE WHO
WILL BE DECIDING ON WHETHER OR NOT TO REFORM THE FAIR'S OUTDATED ANIMAL
WELFARE POLICIES.  The mind boggles.  The Fair needs to hear from us on
this unfair situation.

I have copies of the Fair's latest "Animal Welfare Handbook," should
anyone want a copy.  It even includes a couple of  pages on "animal
rights organizations," some of which is laughable, some inflammatory,
lumping in ALF and Earth First! with Humane Farming Association, Farm
Sanctuary, Performing Animal Welfare Society, PETA, and the SPCA.  Worth
a read.

NOTE:  Fair CEO Norbert Bartosik announced that the Fair's computer had
been infected with a virus a few weeks ago, and that they had to delete
as many as "a couple hundred" e-mails on this issue during that time.  I
would suggest that anyone who e-mailed the Fair on this issue anytime
since February 1, should re-submit that letter.  And send me a copy,
please.  MORAL:  LETTERS ARE BETTER THAN E-MAILS.  (And bodies are
better than letters--we should have had a much better turn-out, people.)

I did peruse all the letters the Fair had received as of yesterday:  24
in opposition to our efforts (mostly in response to an alert in Circus
News, many of them form letters), and 132 in support of the proposed
changes, including letters from Senator Don Perata and Assembly Member
Loni Hancock. (Assemblyman Ray Haynes, not surprisingly, wrote a letter
of opposition.)  That's a 5:1 ratio in our favor.  Many thanks to all
who wrote/called.

The meetings of the Animal Welfare Committee are open to the public. 
I'll send out an alert when I learn of the date/time of any upcoming
meetings, and hope to see you there.



Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
  510/652-5603