GROUP WANTS CHIMP ACT PULLED FROM POPPY FEST.Byline: CHARLES F. BOSTWICK Staff Writer LANCASTER - An animal-rights organization that is suing a Hollywood animal trainer is urging city officials to drop his animal act from this weekend's California Poppy California poppy: see poppy. California poppy Annual garden plant (Eschscholzia californica) in the poppy family, native to the western coast of North America and naturalized in parts of southern Europe, Asia, and Australia. Festival, saying he mistreats his chimpanzees and that they have bitten people. City officials said they visited Sid ``Ranger Rick'' Yost and watched his training techniques, talked to other animal trainers about him, have had his animals at previous parks events without problems and concluded there is no reason to bar his animals from the festival. ``We have absolutely nothing in our experience to relate to these accusations. We believe there's nothing but positives in having him appear,'' Lancaster city spokeswoman Anne Aldrich said. ``We really looked into this.'' Animal Legal Defense Fund The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) is an American non-profit animal rights law organization focused on protecting and advancing the interests of animals through the legal system. executive director Stephen Wells said in a letter to Mayor Frank Roberts Frank Roberts may refer to:
The lawsuit says a woman who spent 13 months as a part-time volunteer working with Yost saw him and other trainers physically and psychologically abuse chimpanzees. The fund's lawsuit, set for trial in November, aims to take away four chimpanzees, including the chimp named Cody that appeared with the mayor and other city officials at a February news conference announcing the poppy festival. An animal trainer for more than 30 years, Yost has denied the accusations in court and filed a counterclaim A claim by a defendant opposing the claim of the plaintiff and seeking some relief from the plaintiff for the defendant. A counterclaim contains assertions that the defendant could have made by starting a lawsuit if the plaintiff had not already begun the action. for defamation defamation In law, issuance of false statements about a person that injure his reputation or that deter others from associating with him. Libel and slander are the legal subcategories of defamation. Libel is defamation in print, pictures, or any other visual symbols. against his critics. He submitted declarations from other individuals who observed him working with chimpanzees and who said that he used humane training tactics and that they never saw him abuse any of the chimpanzees, court records show. The counterclaim was dismissed last month by a federal judge based on First Amendment free-speech grounds. The judge ruled Yost had waited too long to file the counterclaim and that he was a public figure who must be able to prove that a defamatory statement was made by a person who knew it was false, and was made with ``actual malice Actual malice in United States law is a condition required to establish libel against public figures and is defined as "knowledge that the information was false" or that it was published "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. .'' Yost said his critics' goal is to stop the use of chimpanzees in the entertainment industry.``The case is in litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. and we are looking forward to moving on with the case,'' Yost said Thursday. ``We also are looking forward to being up there at the Poppy Festival.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts is shown in February with Cody the chimpanzee chimpanzee, an ape, genus Pan, of the equatorial forests of central and W Africa. The common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, lives N of the Congo River. Full-grown animals of this species are up to 5 ft (1. and its trainer Sid ``Ranger Rick'' Yost. |
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