Adoption Pact working

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

SAN FRANCISCO––”We predicted
that impounds would increase as the public
became aware of the Pact’s lifesaving guaran-
tee,” recounts the newly published SF/SPCA
report covering the first year of the revolutionary
no-kill animal control agreement. “The theory at
the heart of the Adoption Pact is that more peo-
ple will surrender their unwanted pets to shelters,
as opposed to abandoning or neglecting them, if
they know the animal is going to be placed in a
loving home rather than be killed. Total
impounds of San Francisco dogs and cats did
rise, by 1,314 animals.”
The SF/SPCA placed 5,054 animals
during the first 12 months of the Adoption Pact,
including 3,382 animals who required medical or
behavioral rehabilitation, 2,314 of whom would
have been euthanized at the city shelter before
the Adoption Pact, under which the SF/SPCA
accepts all healthy or recoverable animals
received by the city.

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CLENBUTEROL: Wisconsin moves to bust Vitek; Monfort will buy no show cattle

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

Acting on the findings of an
18-month federal investigation, the
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture,

Trade, and Consumer Protection on
July 31 sued to dissolve the Vitek
Supply Corp., a subsidiary of the
Dutch veterinary pharmaceutical firm
Pricor. Pricor vice president Aat
Groenvelt founded the Provimi Veal
empire in 1962 and brought the prac-
tice of crating veal calves and milk-
fed lambs to North America.
The FDA received evidence
in 1989 implicating Vitek, Provimi,
and Pricor in smuggling and selling
the banned growth stimulant clen-
buterol, a synthetic steroid, but the
probe didn’t start until February 1994,
when U.S. Customs intercepted clen-
buterol and other illegal drugs e n
route to Vitek and alerted the USDA.

Hog slurry isn’t the only stench in North Carolina

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

RALEIGH, N.C.––”Boss Hog,” a
two-section expose of the political influence
and environmental consequences of the pork
industry, published on March 19 by the
Raleigh News & Observer, became a hot item
after a manure storage lagoon broke on June 21
at Oceanview Farms in Onslow, North
Carolina, spilling more than 25 million gallons
of slurry into nearby fields and streams.
By contrast, Henry Spira of the
Coalition for Nonviolent Food pointed out, the
Exxon Valdez spill involved “only” 11 million
gallons of crude oil.
The same day, a similar spill
occurred in Sampson, N.C., and less than two
weeks later, a lagoon in Duplin County, N.C.,
dumped 8.6 million gallons of poultry slurry
into tributaries of the Cape Fear River.

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Agriculture

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

The National Cattlemen’s
Association, National Live Stock and
Meat Board, parts of the Beef Board, and
the U.S. Meat Export Federation a r e
reportedly uniting under one umbrella as the
Beef Industry Organization. Member groups
claim to have already trained 1,600 volun-
teers to help promote beef.
Pork King of Illinois on July 25
applied for a permit to reopen the defunct
Kenosha Beef slaughterhouse in Hebron,
Illinois––and nine days later withdrew the
application amid a storm of opposition from
residents, who said they no longer want a
slaughterhouse in their community.

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Woofs & growls

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

People
The American Humane Assoc-
iation on July 19 announced the appointment
of Ed Sayres as head of the AHA Animal
Protection Division, and Patricia Olson,
DVM, to direct a new subdivision,
Veterinary Medical Affairs and Studies.
Sayres formerly was president of S t .
Hubert’s Giralda, a shelter based in
Madison, New Jersey, which he joined as
director of humane education in 1974. He is
also on the board of the Delta Society a n d
Society of Animal Welfare Administrators.
Olson is on the faculty of the University of
Minnesota School of Veterinary Medicine.
* William W. Howard, CEO since 1989,
has been named interim president of the
National Wildlife Federation, succeeding
Jay D. Hair, who resigned his $257,000-a-
year post in July amid a dispute with the
board over deficits totaling about $800,000
over the past two years. The NWF is a
national umbrella for 49 state hunting associa-
tions. * Longtime World Society for the
Protection of Animals representative W i m
de Kok quit at the end of July, declining to
state a reason or mention future plans.

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TRIPLE TROUBLE FOR HUMANE SOCIETY OF US

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––August 10 dawned bright
for the Humane Society of the U.S., as newspapers across the
country carried a photo of HSUS director of legislative affairs
Wayne Pacelle and Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) decrying
puppy mills at a press conference held the day before to
announce that Santorum and 14 other Senators had jointly
signed a letter to Agriculture Secretary Daniel Glickman,
seeking stiffer enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act.
Then someone noticed that the letter Santorum sent
was markedly different from the letter sent by 110 House
members and three Senators in the same cause––and the
effect of Santorum’s letter was to undercut the House letter,
whose signers were rallied by Rep. Glenn Poshard (D-Ill.)
The Poshard letter, circulated to potential signers
on June 27 and delivered to Glickman on August 8, asked for
Glickman’s “strong support” in imposing ten specific new
standards for puppy and kitten breeding facilities: “Increase
basic cage size for companion animals permanently housed in
the facilities; improve flooring within the primary enclosures
by requiring plastic-coated wire of a specific width; increase
the size and material of the resting surface for each animal in
a primary enclosure; require constant access to potable water
for all animals housed in the facility; limit the number of
times/frequency breeding stock can be bred over a certain
time period; strengthen the sanitation requirements for the
primary enclosure; eliminate the ability to tether animals;
reexamine temperature guidelines; require more specific
daily exercise of animals at the facilities; exclude ‘another
dog’ as acceptable exercise.”

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Hunting & trapping

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

Results of a major public
opinion survey commissioned by
the Colorado Division of Wildlife
“indicate that a substantial major-
ity of Coloradans would vote to
ban wildlife trapping,” human
dimensions coordinator Linda
Sikorowski advised the brass on
July 13. “A substantial proportion
of Colorado residents are positively
oriented toward wildlife rights and
wildlife welfare values,” she contin-
ued. “Trapping solely for the pur-
pose of recreation or for economic
gain is not adequate justification for
trapping to the Colorado public.”
The survey found that trapping
could best be sold as a means of
rabies prevention and wildlife popu-
lation control––but this might not be
for long, as the advent of oral rabies
vaccination of wildlife reinforces the
22-year-old position of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
that trapping is neither effective
against rabies nor in lastingly
depressing wildlife populations.

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Humane education with Jane Goodall by Carol A. Connare

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

In moments, she went from sipping
coffee with patrolmen to getting a surprise
audience with the top 100 captains of the Los
Angeles Police Department. Adrenaline
pumping, Dr. Jane Goodall thought fast. “I
said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get their attention,
or they won’t hear a thing I say.’” Deputy
Chief Kroeker introduced Goodall to the men.
She stood up and said, “If I were a female
chimpanzee and I walked into a room of
high-ranking male chimpanzees, it would be
foolish if I didn’t greet them with a submis-
sive pant-grunt,” which she proceeded to do.
All eyes looked up, the men lis-
tened intently to her ten-minute talk, and
Chief Willie Williams agreed to endorse her
educational program––Roots and Shoots––
and help introduce it to inner city kids.
As humans, we take superiority for
granted. But Goodall feels strongly, based
on years in the bush, doing zoological
research, that we are not as different from
other animals as many of us think.

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Momentum for ESA revision slows

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

WASHINGTON D.C.––Congressional observers predict that proposed revisions
to the Endangered Species Act won’t be taken up in earnest by the House and Senate until
1996––and that could be favorable for species protection, since drastic actions are less like-
ly in an election year. With polls showing the Republican House majority winning an
approval rating of less than 35%, and continued strong public support for the ESA in prin-
ciple, a severely damaged ESA could cost many first-term Republicans their seats.
Showing awareness of the importance of good positioning on endangered species,
the Senate on August 9 crushed an amendment proposed by Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) to delete
funding for the red wolf recovery program in North Carolina and Tennessee. Helms
claimed there are 170 red wolves at large in his state, killing livestock and on one occasion
attacking a child—but was corrected by red wolf supporters, who reminded him that the
Fish and Wildlife Service puts the North Carolina wolf population at from 39 to 66; none
have ever attacked either livestock or a child; and a recent survey by North Carolina State
University found that the majority of North Carolinians favor the wolf recovery program.

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