Sea Lion Hazing & Doha Optimism
Sea Lion Hazing & Doha Optimism plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.
We have not heard much about the Doha Round of the World Trade talks but according to Deputy Under Secretary Darcy Vetter there is optimism that some progress can be made this year.
VETTER: We’ve seen some increased activity in Geneva among trade negotiators these past few months The Apex Ministerial this past fall, the G20 meeting in November all really emphasized the need for negotiators to use 2011 as the year to finally get a break though in those WTO talks.
The problem of how to keep sea lions from eating migrating salmon has seen several supposed solutions; now Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officers are on the Willamette River to scare sea lions from fish ladders. The officers are setting off fireworks five days a week below Willamette Falls to prevent them from eating salmon and steelhead. So far there are no plans to trap or kill the sea lions, like a similar program in Cascade Locks on the Columbia River.
Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.
I’ve often wondered what would happen if animal activists were given the opportunity to provide the type of animal sanctuary they so vehemently push for in their political propaganda, you know, an animal utopia where numerous species of animals live unchecked and unconfined. Well, last week I found out, when animal welfare groups were forced to euthanize dozens of sick, starving, and diseased animals on just such an “animal utopia” in Montana. How ironic and disturbing that these animals eventually became victims of the very conditions they were supposedly rescued from; all at the hands of their animal rights rescuers. As any responsible animal caretaker would have told them, even several hundred acres becomes confining when thousands of animals are left to breed unchecked. Sadly, for these animals a human fantasy led them to an existence of hunger, sickness, and eventually imposed death. The media spin on all this however focused on the “new adventure of Molly the cow”, a resident at the so-called animal sanctuary, not the twisted irony of animal rescue and welfare gone so very wrong.
Thanks Lacy. A quick note: The Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers begins its annual convention and trade show this week at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick. Attendance is expected to top last year’s record of 1,300 growers and wine makers.
That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
