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Show . The Daily Herald Sunday, December 3, 19S5 Traveling By DAVID FOSTER Associated Press Writer fraught Grant this much to activists: They don't just the easy fights. Peter Petersan pick g went to the heart of animal-right- with peril It's a chilling question that all of us even veteran airline passengers ask ourselves every time we get on an airplane: "Is this going to be the one? Is this the flight Jvhere I get eaten by a python?" j . This question takes on an even greater urgency than it usual in light of a recent filed by a Texas couple against Continental Airlines. According to an Associated Press article sent in by many alert readers, the suit alleges that the couple and their daughter boarded a Continental flight from Houston to La Guardia last Octo- law-sc- Dave 1 : Bairy The Miami Herald ber, unaware that "the passenger seated in front of them had brought a python aboard in a gym bag, tucked under the seat." As a frequent flier, I find this ironic. I mean, when I fly, I have to go through a checkstaffed by beady-eye- d point security personnel who act deeply suspicious about my laptop computer, as though I'm going to leap up in the middle of the flight and yell, "Take this plane to Cuba, or I'm going to REFORMAT MY HARD DRIVE!" And yet these same personnel just let this guy waltz through carrying a MAJOR snake. Anyway, after the plane took off, the python, as you have no doubt already guessed, decided to get out of the gym bag and stretch its legs. The couple's lawsuit states that when the mother saw the snake, it was crawling toward the daughter "in preparation for attack." The article does not state what happened next, although apparently nobody was physically harmed. Perhaps an alert passenger thrust his airline dinner entree at the python, causing it to flee in terror back into its gym bag. (On a recent flight I was handed a piece of alleged chicken that was much scarier than anything Sigourney Weaver ever fought with a flamethrower.) But the point is that, unless you like the idea of becoming Purina Brand Viper Chow at 35,000 feet, you should write to your congressperson and demand passage of a federal law requiring that any snake traveling on a commercial flight must be (1) securely locked inside an escape-proo- f container, and (2) dead, j Perhaps you don't think this issue concerns you. Perhaps you're thinking, "I rarely fly, so what do I care about snakes in airplanes? It's as not though.,.,mm snakes are ., showing up in kitchen-applian- ce cartons!" Try telling that to the woman in Roanoke, Texas, whose chilling ordeal was reported in an Oct. 5 Fort Worth story written by John Council and sent in by several alert readers. The woman brought Silex home a brand-neand Ovenmaster toaster-ovewhen she opened the box, guess what she found, writhing around on its scaly belly, flicking out its evil forked tongue? You guessed Star-Telegra- m w aboard climbed it: O.J. Simpson. No, that was a cheap shot, and I am instructing you to disregard it. What this woman snake. found was an Needless to say she screamed, because the Ovenmaster is supposed to come with a Gila monster. 18-in- ch she ; No, seriously, screamed because she was expecting a 100 percent appliance. Her hus- t I (See BARRY, Page A10) ee e right-to-lif- More than 6.5 billion animals a year are killed in the United States, according to recent y 'Lr Euthanized 0.4 Research 0.3 Fur 0.2 Hunted 2.6 studies: America to take on the Wienermo-bil- e, and he did it with relish. On a sultry August morning in West Des Moines, Iowa, Petersan circled his target: a group of parents and children gathered outside a grocery store for an Oscar Mayer talent contest. . When a boy started singing "My bologna has a first name, it's Petersan made his move. Wearing a pig costume and a "Meat Is Murder" sign, he Meat consumption Hunting and fishing In the U.S. Americans eat less red meat but more poultry and total meat consumption higher than ever. The number of hunting license holders has declined slowly in recent years; the trend doesn't apply as strongly to fishing. fish-driv- ing go ... KJHHSM 75 79 '83 '87 The Vanishing Hunter f. - ' 1 75 79 '83 '87 J W JL! '94 '91 Source: Fish and Wildlife Service Associated Press Poll Q. Do you think the use of animals to test medical treatments is ... Right under some circumstances 62 i Always right 8 Never right 14 Do you think the use of animals to test cosmetics is ... Right under some circumstances 29 Always right 2 Q" Do you think there are circumstances where it's perfectly OK to kill an animal for its fur or do you think it's ... OK, in some Always wrong 59 circumstances 36 Q; How often do you eat meat, poultry or fish? Occasionally 21 Never - Rarely 6 i ( "V' Seldom right 21 )" Do you think there are circumstances where it's perfectly OK to hunt an animal for sport or do you think it's . OK, in some - AP Photo Police officials talk with Peter Petersan before arresting him for interfering with an Oscar Meyer Wienermobile in West Des Moines, Iowa, in August. Petersan is among a growing number of animal-right- s activists who are taking their cause to the public. Always wrong circumstances 47 51 Q; Frequently 71 M Never right 46 Seldom right 15 Some people say an animal's right to live free ofsufferjng should be just as important as a person's right to live free of suffering. Would you say you... Agree strongly 38 '. i strongly 12 ) 2 J Agree somewhat 29 Disagree somewhat 18 Figures are rounded. ;;: ; Source: AP national telephone poll of 1 ,004 adults taken Nov. 1 0--1 4 by ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Pa., part of AUS Consultants. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points, plus or minus. Sums may not total 100 percent because of rounding. "Don't know" omitted. 9 "i s Fish and Wildlife Service records, meanwhile, show 5.9 percent of all Americans bought hunting licensdown from a peak es last year of 7.7 percent in 1975. "If current trends continue, hunting will not exist by the year 2050," exults Mike Markarian, national campaign director for The Fund for Animals, the nation's largest group. He hopes for an earlier end to his group's No. 1 target: Pennsylvania's pigeon shoots, in which shotgunners take aim at pigeons n released from cages. At the each Labor shoot, held Day in Hegins, protesters dash after wounded birds, rushing them to a veterinary MASH unit in the parking lot. Even some hunters oppose the Hegins spectacle as unsporting, but few believe Markarian's prediction about hunting's demise. "It's hard for me to imagine an convincing a hunter not to hunt," says Hugh Vickery, a Service Wildlife Fish and spokesman. More to blame, he says, are an increasingly urban population and "No Trespassing" signs sprouting on private land. "It's harder to find places to hunt," Vickery says. In the AP poll, opinions on sport hunting were almost evenly split, with 51 percent calling it "always anti-hunti- best-know- America now has more grazers than predators. In the AP poll, 7.5 percent say they rarely or never eat meat. U.S. f A A 12 '95 '91 Source: U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture Two-thir- tific advances. But no matter how much credit they do or don't deserve, activists like Petersan are smiling inside their pig suits. A lot of things are going their way: ' I , 0 of suffering." on more mundane things like increasing urbanization and scien- ft b M ut To be sure, America is still a killing nation. More than 6.5 billion animals die annually at human hands, mostly for food, says Stanford University researcher Linda Cork. And critics of animal-righ- ts activists say our treatment of animals hinges not so much on dancing lobsters and naked models as fe v' j 16 120 tion to themselves. But do these far-oactivists really think they'll ever influence mainstream America? Surprise: It appears they already have. A new Associated Press poll has found wide support for beliefs usually identified with a tiny minority activists. v of radical animal-righ- ts Two-thirof the 1,004 Americans polled agree with a basic tenet movement: of the animal-right- s "An animal's right to live free of suffering should be just as important as a person's right to live free items." - JMWt 150 the also say it's seldom or never right to use animals in testing cosmetics;-5percent say killing animals for fur is always wrong; and 51 percent say sport hunting is always wrong. The poll was taken Nov. 10-1- 4 by ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Pa., part of AUS Consultants. Its margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. The AP poll reinforces other statistics that show declines in hunting, consumption of red meat, and use of animals in research. "All you have to do is walk into a restaurant and open the menu to see how things have changed," says Ingrid Newkirk, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the nation's largest animal-right- s group. "Even in steak houses, you find vegetarian h YA- Per capita consumption by 1995: protest cruelty to crustaceans. They persuade fashion models to bare all and proclaim "I'd rather go naked than wear fur." Last month in 10 cities, they showed their holiday spirit by hanging banners saying "Thanksgiving Is Murder On Turkeys." Like clowns in a convent, they succeed wildly in drawing atten- ! f Slaughtered for food 95 Wienermobile and refused to budge. Police stepped up and threw the pig in the pokey. But not before Petersan got his message across. "They were exploiting children to sell their product slaughtered animals," he says. Oh, those wacky animal-right- s crusaders: They dress as lobsters to anti-hunt- er i' wrong" and 47 percent saying it's OK. Hunting was OK with 60 percent of men, but only with 35 percent of women. i i 1 S 'V .7 I" v Liberating Lab Animals The number of animals used in scientific research has dropped by about half since 1968, says Andrew Rowan, a scientist at the Center for Animals and Public Pol- A '1 X icy at Tufts University. Technological advances such cell-culturi- and computer-modelin- 1 g , have reduced demand for rats, rabbits, dogs and monkeys, Rowan says. But animal-right- s protests also have played a part, he says, forcing researchers to examine how much they really need animals. Most Americans appear willing to accept justified uses of research animals. In the AP poll, 70 percent approve of using animals in medical research under at least some circumstances. But only 31 percent believe it's and right in testing cosmetics the cosmetics trade is listening. More than 500 companies now boast they don't test their cosmetics or household products on animals, PETA says. Those that do Gillette and Proctor & Gamble are find themamong the biggest fire. under selves V," m. .haik''.- - , AP Photo Veterinarian Melina Maritasto, right, tends to a pigeon wounded in the annual Hegins, Pa., pigeon shoot last year. In addition to protesting the event, activists tried to save the lives of injured pigeons. "We've reduced the number of animals we have to use for new products," says Michael Petrina, spokesman for the Cosmetics, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. "But we're not at a point where we can completely replace animal testing. Fur Better Or Fur Worse? Whom to believe? Furriers say sales are holding steady and need just a spell of cold weather for a big revival. Anti-fu- r protesters say the industry is fading like a fox in a leg-hotrap. ld PETA keeps a long list of top fashion designers, including Calvin Klein, who refuse to use fur. The Fur Information Council of America has its own long list of designers who do use fur. Public opinion appears to be shifting toward Calvin. In the AP poll, 59 percent oppose killing an animal for its fur. That's up from a 1989 ABC News poll, worded exactly the same, which found 46 percent opposed. Happily for furriers, opposition softens among those who actually (See ANIMALS, Page A 10) Women in military say u nsrorms just don t fit By NOLAN WALTERS Newspapers n, rep-tije-fr- s meat-eatin- ! : Animal Knight-Ridd- WASHINGTON To Deb Witt, a mer artillery officer, it was the Army's for- exer- cise shorts. "They're much too short. If you've got any type of derriere at all, it literally hung out," she said. "Plus, it's got an inner lining that was specifically designed for men and for something we'll never have, if you get my drift." To Sgt. Robin Shawlinski, an Army journalist at Fort Benning, Ga., it was the preg' nancy uniform. "I don't really have a problem with the BDU (Battle Dress Uniform, the Army's woik-a-da- y fatigues), but I've just had a been wearing the BDU materand I've baby and it's just terrible," said uniform nity Shawlinski, who feels the Army has designed a maternity suit specifically to -- make you "stick out." After listening to female soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines gripe about their uniforms for nearly 45 years, a women's defense advisory panel says it has had enough. "I would be surprised if uniform issues haven't been on our agenda every year." said Washington lawyer Holly K. Hemphill, the incoming chief of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. This isn't just a matter of changing the cut of some serv ice member's jib. The advisory committee is raising the prospect of or privatizing the entire current process," as its official recommcn-- . dation says. Almost nobody denies that a lot of people in the services, especially females, complain about their outfits, and with women now 12 percent of U.S. military personnel and increasing, the Pentagon says it is taking the recommendation seriously. "The uniform for women has kind of evolved, and I don't know if there has ever n been a (evaluation) you know 'Let's start from the ground floor and go all the way through the thing and make complete changes to it,'" said Fred Pang, the assistant secretary of defense for force manfull-blow- agement. Over the years, hundreds of women have complained to the women's advisory group about white pants that reveal underwear, blouses that uncover bellies when women salute, clothing that can't even be altered to fit, improper sizing, and uniforms that are simply unavailable. Maj. Mary Finch, who has just been assigned to woik on pilotless spy planes in Alabama, said she is lucky to have that "right Army body type" and has even mod eled uniforms for the top brass. But she's an exception. "For some reason, when (many women) put that uniform on it does something to them," she said, "like, 'What is that!'" "We have heard it all," said Hemphill which is the reason the advisory committee wants to have an independent panel investigate everything. "This is something bigger than an individual service," she said. And the huge, tradition-ric- h some say and cumbersome way uniconfusing forms are created should provide plenty of avenues for investigation. Sensitive to even the slightest movement of a ribbon or stripe, the services argue among themselves constantly about uniforms. Among the decisions of the most recent Air Force "Uniform Board" was allowing members to "carry bags with straps over the left shoulder." |