BOOKS: Echosystem: Poems & Poem Cycles

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Echosystem: Poems & Poem Cycles, by James Strecker. Mini Mocho
Press (Jackson Stn., POB 57424, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8P 4X2), 1993, 94
pages, paperback.
In this eclectic collection of jazz
poems, romantic poems, socially relevant
and commemorative poems, James
Strecker frequently considers the plight of
animals in a world dominated by humans.
These, too, reflect a diversity of approach.
Vivisection and the Cat, for example, is a
jazz riff with a blues beat. Like the more
classically structured Thoughts on Reading
and Writing, it dwells on the unspeakable
and offers little hope of redemption.

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BOOKS: Animals, Politics and Morality

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Animals, Politics and Morality, by Robert
Garner. Manchester University Press (Room 400, 175
Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010), 1993. 258 pages,
$59.95 hardcover or $24.95 paperback.
“That humans exploit animals is indisputable,”
Robert Garner writes in Animals, Politics and Morality.
“Of greater import is the extent to which this exploitation is
justified.”
Outlining the general historical evolution of
human attitudes toward use of animals, Garner explores in
depth the issues surrounding the use of animals in agricul-
ture and biomedical research, the need for zoos and other
artificially maintained sanctuaries, and the tendency of peo-
ple to view wildlife differently from domesticated species.

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BOOKS: Where The Money Is: A Fund Raiser’s Guide To The Rich

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Where The Money Is: A Fund Raiser’s Guide To The
Rich (2nd edition), by Helen Bergen. BioGuide Press (POB
16702, Alexandria, VA 22302), 1993, 257 pages, $29.95.
Two items in this issue of ANIMAL PEOPLE indicate the
value of attracting wealthy benefactors: a $4.1 million bequest received
by the Fund for Animals, more than the Fund’s total worth just a few
years ago, and the death of Doris Duke, who left more than $1.2 billion
to charity. Helen Bergen underscores the point repeatedly in Where The
Money Is by citing similar examples, noting that a third of the funds
raised in the typical campaign come from the 10 to 15 biggest gifts. Her
volume is dense with hints on donor research and development. Her
investigative methods are sound (familiar to reporters as well as fundrais-
ers), but they are time-consuming, her text is oriented toward education-
al charities, and there’s little here pertaining to the peculiarities of
fundraising for humane work, one of which is that most big bequests
apparently come not from the wealthy, but rather from people of ordinary
means who have no children and have long relied upon animals for com-
panionship. Humane groups will probably raise more money by develop-
ing means of providing longterm quality care for pets left behind than by
pursuing the rich, no matter how aggressively and astutely.
––M.C.

BOOKS: The Human Nature of Birds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

The Human Nature of Birds, by Theodore
Xenophon Barber. St. Martins Press (175 Fifth Ave,
New York, NY 10010), 1993, 226 pages, hardcover
$19.95 US, $26.95 in Canada.
What if we all woke up one day to discover the world
around us filled with alien intelligences? Theodore X. Barber
has, and he wants this revelation to become commonplace.
Young children and so-called primitive cultures take
for granted that all creatures on earth share the same fears and
desires, that we are all intelligent in our own way––at least
they do until convinced otherwise by self-styled authorities. In
The Human Nature of Birds, Barber attempts to reverse our
beliefs by examining our “closest wild neighbors, the birds.”
From a lifetime’s experience in psychological research and six
years’ study of birds in nature and in the scientific literature,
he concludes that, “not only are birds able to think simple
thoughts but they are fundamentally as aware, intelligent,
mindful, emotional and individualistic as ordinary people.”

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BOOKS: In The Name of Science

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

In The Name of Science:
Issues In Responsible Animal Experimentation
by F. Barbara Orlans, Oxford Univ. Press (200 Madison Ave., NY 10016)
1993, 304 pages, $39.95.
Christine Stevens of the Animal Welfare
Institute describes In The Name of Scienceas being “writ-
ten for scientists by a scientist.” Stevens is technically
right, as Barbara Orlans is certainly a respected scien-
tist––a former heart disease researcher at the National
Institutes of Health, now a physiologist at Georgetown
University––and she is primarily addressing her col-
leagues. But Orlans’ lucid writing is easily accessible to
anyone who might read ANIMAL PEOPLE, and ought
to be read by anyone who wants to be conversant on the
use of animals in science.

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BOOKS: Wild Wild West & Vanishing Species

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Wild Wild West: Wildlife Habitats of Western
North America, by Constance Perenyi. Sasquatch
Books, (1931 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98101), 1993, 40
pages, $8.95 ($11.95 Canada).
Vanishing Species: the Wildlife Art of Laura
Regan, written by Michelle Minnich, researched
by Laurie Ann Macdonald. Cedco Publishing (2955
Kerner Blvd., San Rafael, CA 94901), 117 pages, $19.95.

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FURRIERS STRUGGLING

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

If fur is making a comeback, it isn’t evident in the retail price index kept by
ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton since 1988. The volume of fur merchandise
advertised in the greater New York metropolitan area as of Fur Free Friday 1993 was identi-
cal to 1992, as was the average price, excluding sable. The advertised volume of sable,
the highest-priced fur, was up fivefold, with the average price up from $25,000 to
$38,750––but the advertised volume of mink held steady, while the average mink price was
down 30%. “They’re in a steep slump and swinging for home runs to compensate,” Clifton
said. “Mink is traditionally 80% of their trade, but they aren’t picking up new customers
even at steep discounts, so they’re trying to buy sable low from the cash-strapped former
Soviet republics and sell it high to the handful of customers they’ve kept.” It’s too early to
project sales figures for the whole winter, Clifton continued, with the Christmas and
Valentine’s Day sales periods still ahead, “but so far there’s no sign that increased fur adver-
tising expenditures are significantly paying off. They’re just spending more money to stay
where they are.” Just before the fall fur ad blitz began, Evans Inc., accounting for roughly
10% of U.S. retail fur sales, reported a second-quarter drop of 7.4% in same-store sales as
compared to last year.

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Horses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

University of Minnesota re-
searcher Julie Wilson will present a paper to
the American Association of Equine
Practitioners this month asserting that 840
racehorses suffered fatal breakdowns on U.S.
tracks in 1992––one for every 92 races.
Further, Wilson says, 3,566 horses––one
every 22 races––were so severely hurt they
were unable to finish the events.
New York City’s five-year-old
carriage horse protection law is to expire at
the end of this month. Following the defeat of
incumbent mayor David Dinkins, who vetoed
a previous attempt to weaken carriage horse
protection, counsellor Noach Dear has intro-
duced a bill to increase the horses’ work week
to 70 hours, abolish most of the safety and
humane provisions of the current law, and
allow the carriages to re-enter heavy traffic.
They are now restricted to Central Park. “To
see a carriage horse marooned in New York
City traffic is to see a 19th century artifact
cruelly transported into a 20th century night-
mare,” The New York Times editorially
responded.

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