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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1988)
Friday, October 14,1988 The Battalion Page 5 xotic animals help researchers nswer reproduction questions Photo by Dean Saito a!':; Jexas A&M is home to this llama. The animal is used to teach hoof trimming, jjhysical exams and immobilization. p.m.i f By Fiona Soltes Staff Writer African antelope, coyotes, red sheep, a llama, a lioness, an ostrich and other exotic animals are helping Texas A&M researchers find the answers to questions of reproduction. Dr. Duane Kraemer, professor of vet erinary medicine, physiology and phar macology, said the animals, which are kept in a wildlife center near Agronomy Road, are used in several University re search projects. “A lot of our work concerns embryo transfer,” Kraemer said. “We’re inter ested in the continuation of many endan gered species.” The African antelope are among the endagered species. Dr. Jim Jensen, clinical associate pro fessor of veterinary medicine, physiol ogy and pharmacology, said that A&M owns two types of antelope: African ad- dax antelope and scimitar-horned oryxes. “The addaxes are believed to be ex tinct in parts of their former range of the Sahara desert,” Jensen said. “But there are several hundred in North America in captivity. We have one breeding pair. “The oryxes are an endangered spe cies. We presently have two.” One of the the oryxes is owned by the Houston Zoo, Kraemer said. “We’ve got the scimitar on breeding loan,” he said. A&M works with several zoos, Kraemer said, including the Dallas Zoo, where suni antelopes are kept and used for research in conjunction with the University. Antelope are just one of many kinds of animals used in University research, Kraemer said. “In the past, we have used baboons, domestic cats and dogs and livestock species for embryo transfer studies,” he said. “Currently, we work with the ani mals here as well as several chimpanzees in Bastrop.” Among the animals at A&M is a lion ess who has been used in studies for more than 10 years. “The African lion is a logical host for many of our implantation studies,” Kraemer said. “But we’re not cross breeding so much as performing inter species transfer, which maintains the pu rity of the species.” Kraemer said that A&M has kept male lions in the past but has none now. Not all animals are used in the repro duction studies, Jensen said. “We have close to 45 animals, about 50 percent of which came to us as or phans,” he said. “We incorporate them into research however we can. We have about 20 white-tailed deer in captivity that we use for a food selection project. We hand-feed them to see what types of foods they prefer.” Jensen said that more animals will be coming to A&M, but nobody yet knows what kinds. “By early 1989 we will have com pleted a new treatment facility as a result of a $150,000 donation,” Jensen said. “This will allow more animals to come in from various ranches around the state for medical treatment.” Jensen said that various species of an telope and of ostrich are often available. “We’ve done experimental surgery on ostrich in the past and we’re working on improving our techniques,” he said. “Leg problems in the species are very common in young ostrich chicks. Ba sically, it means correction or death, as the chick cannot stand up to find food.” A&M has one chick, he said, which is now in intensive care. :to I •alias police forced to drop lawsuit; lelease internal affairs documents ; BALLAS (AP) — A judge on Thurs- [jgf; dal signed an order dropping a police putj* pffsiii! against a newspaper, a county issioner and the Texas Attorney ral as authorities agreed to release s previously kept from the public, lice said the department also ed to release all available Internal Srs Division documents sought by |Da//as Times Herald and Dallas ity Commissioner John Wiley Price rthe Texas Open Records Act. lodge Jerry Dellana of the 201st State ict Court in Austin signed an order insuit as the city dropped its legal jn against the Times Herald, Price '-vrilKithe Attorney General Jim Mattox, •'ssiiPaul Pearce, Dallas assistant city ab ased on the legal ramifications, it’s veforifeimly thing we can do,” said Dallas ;s are :KeChief Mack M. Vines. ; “In light of the attorney general’s rul- !pb:..*in this matter and similar cases, I a jd igree with the City Attorney’s Office hoKaifthe release of these documents is the tradiRct and proper thing to do,” Vines sis. »n a prepared statement. davsEjpJ’ve said on many occasions that we gjygitJan obligation to be as open as le- lakeapifty and ethically possible,” Vines, ie( j. »iiotook over as chief in August, said. Po®; iVWc have one of the best police de- lents in the United States and the uc l. -icision to open these records represents ter step toward making us even bet- . City Attorney Analeslie Muncy said ‘ ^decision reflects the philosophy of ness Vines brought to Dallas when ok the chief’s job in August. i ]S i ar ,>i“We, as attorneys, represent our cli ps, and we give them advice,” said jUljjtpncy. “Chief Vines chose to take our ...fimflHe in a different way than the chiefs '"■ehim. aC j, s ,j Vines said last week that two police lju tfficers had been accused of purging and ■ik;Istroying internal documents ‘‘without One officer, Capt. Roger Duncan of the Internal Affairs Division, is no longer with the department, while the other, Capt. Dwight Walker, head of the divi sion, has been placed on administrative leave, officials said. The newspaper said Oct. 8 that some of the missing documents were those re quested under the Open Records Act by the newspaper. Price and Mattox regard ing Dallas police shootings. The police department filed suit against the three in an attempt to keep the records secret. Times Herald Editor Roy E. Bode, who called the suit ‘ ‘frivolous and in bad faith,” commended the city attorney’s office and Vines for dropping it. “Unfortunately, a substantial amount of time and money has been required to ensure that the public’s rights were pro tected,” said Bode. “We are studying our posture on further litigation concern ing this subject.” Price had asked for copies of all com plaints against Dallas police officers since 1980. Department sources said most of the complaints filed before Sep tember 1986 were found to have been de stroyed when the city was preparing to surrender them to the county commis sioner’s attorney. Vines said last week he did not know what records were missing. The investi gation into the purging of documents has been in progress for at least a week. The Times Herald reported last week that City Attorney Edward Perry publicly denied knowing which records were pur ged. Supreme Court halts execution of Huntsville death-row veteran 04 ©horization.” HUNTSVILLE (AP) —The U.S. Su preme Court halted the execution Thurs day of convicted killer Walter Bell, who was scheduled to die by injection early Friday for a robbery 14 years ago that left a Port Arthur couple dead. The court indicated no vote talley in its order, issued some seven hours before Bell was to be put to death. “The application for stay of execution of sentence of death, presented to Justice (Byron) White and by him referred to the court, is granted pending the timely fil ing and disposition by this court of a pe tition for a writ of certiorari,” the order said. Bell, 34, ranks third in seniority on the 283-inmate Texas death row, where he has lived nearly 13.5 years following his conviction for the deaths of Ferd and Irene Chisum, both 59, during a robbery of their home. On Thursday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans re jected a request from Bell’s attorneys for a stay, sending the case to the Supreme Court. Earlier in the week, a federal district judge and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also refused to halt Bell’s exe cution scheduled before dawn Friday. Attorney Eden Harrington of the Uni versity of Texas Law School’s Capital Punishment Clinic, who is helping rep resent Bell, contended the inmate should not be executed because he is mentally retarded. State attorneys disagreed, insisting the arguments should have been raised ear lier. The high court already has agreed to review another Texas capital punishment case that challenges the constitutionality of executing mentally retarded people. Asked to describe Bell’s attitude, Har rington replied, “I wouldn’t say ‘happy’ is the word. Obviously, he’s nervous.” In 1974, at the time of his attest. Bell — one of 13 children in his family — said he could neither read nor write and never had any schooling except for some special education classes in his home state of Louisiana. The bodies of Chisum and his wife were found in their bathtub. Chisum had been stabbed and his wife strangled and raped. Bell was arrested after he tried to cash a check from the Chisums’ bank ac count. “Another guy had the checks that be longed to the people,” he said in a death- row interview. “I told them (police) the checks weren’t mine. But they convicted me. I’m not a cold-blooded murderer. ” Police also found at Bell’s residence a container of coins taken from the Chisum home. His fingerprint also was found at their home. “They didn’t prove I killed these peo ple,” Bell added. “There were no eye witnesses. No one had seen me.” Bell first was sentenced to die in De cember 1974 for Mrs. Chisum’s slaying. That conviction, however, was vacated in January 1984 and the sentence was commuted to life. Before the commuta tion, he was convicted of the Ferd Chisum slaying and sentenced to death. Bell said he rejected a plea bargain that would have resulted in a 15-year prison term. “I’d have to live with the fact I copped to a murder I didn’t do,” he said. “I feel I was framed. ’’ ay ;r scal(5 ,ses. racei'' anil"" AM/PM Clinics Minor Emergencies Weight Reduction Program Stop Smoking Program 10% Discount With Student ID College Station 45-4756 693-0202 779-4756 ClN^PLEX ODfON $3 00 gARGAIN MATINEE DAILY AND ALL SHOWS BEFORE 6 PM PUTT THEATRES Arsmcuo thlaires chuckshowiimis POST OAK THREE 1500 Harvey Road CINEMA THREE 693-2790 315 College Avc. Die Hard r 2:00 4 : 30 z-oo 9:30 1 Pumpkinhead R 2:io 4:io 7 : io 9 : io The Accused R 2:05 4:25 7.05 9:25 I Gorillas Alien Nation r 2 : i5 4 : i5 7ii5 9;i5l Temptation R 2:30 5:30 8:30 SCHULMAN THEATRES AFTERNOON TIMES LISTED BELOW ARE FOR SAT-SUN ONLY 1 2.50 ADMISSION 1. Any Show Before 3 PM 2. Tuesday - All Seals 3. 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