Human obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2001:

Dorothy Checci-O’Brien, 70, died on August 27 at home in
Plymouth, Massachusetts. A longtime valuable news source for ANIMAL
PEOPLE, Checci-O’Brien stood under five feet tall and weighed less
than 100 pounds, but was fined $405 in October 1985 for allegedly
beating up two hunters she caught trying to shoot waterfowl near her
house despite her “No Hunting” signs. Considered the most effective
pro-animal lobbyist in Massachusetts, working strictly as a
volunteer, Checci-O’Brien earlier led a long and eventually
successful effort to wrest the Ellen Gifford Sheltering Home for Cats
in Brighton from the allegedly self-aggrandizing control of corporate
attorney John G. Kilpatrick Jr., and closely monitored the financial
affairs of the Massachusetts SPCA and the Animal Rescue League of
Boston. New England Anti-Vivisection Society president Theo Capaldo
called Checci-O’Brien “the mother of animal activism in
Massachusetts.” Friends of the Plymouth Pound held a memorial
celebration of her life on September 29.

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Aid afoot for Jaipur elephants

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2001:

JAIPUR–To call the 90-odd tourist elephants of Jaipur
“neglected” presents a paradox. Among the most photographed animals
in India, they attract constant attention as they amble up to 10
times a day through the 18th century Pink City and climb the mountain
to the 16th century Amber Fort of Akbar the Great and his son
Jahangir.
Sacrifices of goats and other animals carried out almost
continuously at the Amber Fort temple to Kali, the blood goddess,
recall the harsher side of Akbar, the conqueror/ prophet who united
much of India by proclaiming religious tolerance and trying to
synthesize Islam and Hinduism.

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LETTERS: Stop Smoking Camels

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2001:

We are British veterinarians, volunteering for Help in
Suffering in Jaipur, India. We are trying to set up a mobile camel
clinic. Our goals are to place reflectors on camel carts to reduce
night road accidents; worm the camels; give treatment and advice to
camel owners concerning saddlery; and to discourage the traditional
use of burning as a “cure” for various ailments.
A pilot effort has been very successful, attending to more
than 700 camels, and was well received by the camel owners–but we
need funding to continue. We have prepared a detailed proposal and a
detailed budget which we would be happy to send to interested people
and organizations.
–Emma and Richard Morris, DVMs.

Animal obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2001:

Ralf, 17, resident porcupine at the Science North center at
the University of Guelph, Ontario, since 1984, except for a stint
at the 1990 World’s Fair in Osaka, Japan, died on August 6. As
many as three million visitors had petted Ralf, including the Prince
and Princess of Wales in 1991.

Haida, 21, the oldest of the five orcas at Sea World San
Antonio, captured from the wild in 1980, died suddenly of an
unknown cause on August 2.

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BOOKS: Blood Relations

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2001:
Blood Relations: Animals, Humans, and Politics by Charlotte Montgomery
Between The Lines (720 Bathurst St., Suite #404, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M58 2R4), 2001. 337 pages, paperback. $26.95.
Charlotte Montgomery admits that Blood Relations is not a
complete portrait of the animal rights movement in Canada.
“What I could do,” she writes, “was offer a representative
sample, a selection of people and issues that would give the gist of
the animal movement. Think of it as somewhere to start. The
activists who once rescued living turkey chicks from a garbage bag
full of dead bodies are not here. Nor is Floyd the lonely monkey,
who doesn’t know humans are trying to help him, nor a special green
parrot, both of whom I met during my research and will remember.
Nor are the people who defend whales or give donkeys and greyhounds a
home–or a lot of issues and people who arguably should be.

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An overture comes from Korea

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2001:

OAKLAND, Calif.; SEOUL, Korea–The September 11 terrorist
hijackings and mass murders at the World Trade Center and Pentagon
caused International Aid for Korean Animals founder Kyenan Kum to
call off scheduled September protests against dog and cat eating at
South Korean embassies and consulates–but a letter she received a
few days earlier from the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries gave hope that two years of intense campaigning are making
gains in Seoul.

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