Breed-specific dog laws survive Ohio challenge, face another; related developments

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

TOLEDO, Ohio–Breed-specific dog legislation on July 8,
2004 survived a challenge in Toledo Municipal Court. Judge Francis
X. Gorman upheld an ordinance limiting possession of pit bull
terriers to one, insured for $100,000 liability, and requiring that
pit bulls be kept behind locked doors or fences at home, muzzled
when taken out.
Paul Tellings, 30, then of East Toledo, sued, backed by
the American Canine Foundation, of Belfair, Washington, after he
was charged with keeping too many pit bulls and not insuring them.
Gorman ruled that “The pit bull, as a breed, is not
inherently dangerous,” and that “There is no statistical evidence
which indicates that the pit bull bites more frequently than some
other breeds.” However, Gorman wrote, “There is substantial
evidence that pit bull bites cause a disproportionate number of
fatalities.” Because pit bulls have “been utilized extensively by
drug dealers, dogfighters, and urban gang members,” Gorman said,
they “create a substantial and real threat to the safety of the
public. This ordinance is a necessary and useful tool,” Gorman
concluded, “in controlling these undesirable dogs.”
ACF founder Glen Bui in a web posting called the verdict “a
very small victory but a major loss.”
Tellings and Bui indicated to Toledo Blade staff writer Robin
Erb that Tellings might next plead “no contest” to a misdemeanor
charge in order to pursue an appeal.

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Awards & honors

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Aryenish Birdie of Kansas City has received the 14th annual
Bill Rosenberg Award, presented by the Farm Animal Reform Movement
for outstanding work toward farm animal liberation by a teenager.
Past winners have included Mike Markarian (1992), now president of
the Fund for Animals; Students for Animal Protection founder Marc
Freligh (1995); actor Danny Seo (1996), now a major donor to Korean
animal welfare work; Compassion Over Killing cofounder Paul Shapiro
(1998); Student Animal Rights Alliance founder Patrick Kwan (2000);
and Mercy for Animals founder Nathan Runkle (2001).

Point Coupee Animal Shelter cofounder Ellen Mauck, 79, of
Jarrow, Louisiana, was on July 9, 2004 named “Humanitarian of the
Year” by the Humane Society of Louisiana. Involved in animal rescue
since early childhood, also legendary for her love of riding
powerful motorcycles, Mauck was a longtime welder for Caterpillar
Inc. in Springfield, Illinois, inspired by the World War II poster
figure “Rosie the Riveter.” In 1992 Mauck was among the charter
subscribers to ANIMAL PEOPLE.

No radio talk of Reno rodeo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

RENO–The first rule of journalism is “get both sides,” but
trying to do it cost KPTT-630 Radio sales manager and talk show host
Lee Adams his job on June 28, 2004.
A 28-year veteran of radio work, employed by KPTT since
December 2000, Adams learned on June 25 while preparing for his
weekly Friday afternoon talk show that the Reno Rodeo was ending that
evening, and that Steve Hindi, founder of the animal advocacy group
SHARK, has done extensive documentation of animal abuse at rodeos.
“I telephoned Hindi and invited him to participate in the
show,” Adams told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “I then learned that Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association animal welfare coordinator Cindy
Schoenholtz was in Reno, tracked her down, and invited her to be on
the show.
“When I informed her that I would also have Hindi, she told
me she would have to clear it with her superiors at the PRCA. Within
an hour she cancelled her appearance. I then got a call from my
boss, general manager Dave Wilt of Lotus Radio in Reno.”
Lotus owns 26 radio stations in California, Arizona, Texas,
and Nevada. Among them is the official Reno Rodeo station.
“Wilt was very upset,” Adams continued, “demanding to know
whose idea it was to put an animal rights activist on the air. Since
Schoenholtz had just cancelled and I wanted to have both sides, I
told him that I wouldn’t put Hindi on the air, and he hung up.

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Pro-animal coalitions organize to seek new laws in Egypt, Canada

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Ten Egyptian animal charities on June 21, 2004 formed the
Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare, electing attorney Ahmed El
Sherbiny to be founding chair. “Ahmed is also the chair of the
Egyptian Society of Animal Friends and the driving force behind
creation of the federation,” ESAF volunteer Robert Blumberg told
ANIMAL PEOPLE. “The Federation’s initial mission is, by invitation,
to help draft Egypt’s first comprehensive animal welfare legislation.
The strength of the Federation will now be used to help push the law
through the legislative process.” Contact EFAW c/o Blumberg,
<rblumberg@attglobal.net>.

The Canadian Horse Defense Coalition is “a collective of
national groups that have joined forces to ban the slaughter of
equines for human consumption in Canada, as well as the export of
live horses for the same purpose,” says founder Sinikka Crosland.
Crosland in 2003 formed the Women’s Health and Ethics Coalition “to
bring further attention to the health, humane, and environmental
concerns surrounding the use of Prempro and Premarin,” and to seek
“an end to the manufacture and export” of all products made from
pregnant mare’s urine. In 2002-2003 Crosland led the opposition to
the Ken Turcot Memorial Gopher Derby, a killing contest held to
raise funds for the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation. The event was not
held in 2004. Contact Crosland c/o P.O. Box 26097, Westbank,
British Columbia, V4T 2G3, Canada; 250-768-4803;
<info@defendhorsescanada.org>; <www.defendhorsescanada.org>.

The Terminator kills proposal to terminate animals sooner

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

SACRAMENTO–“I realized last night that I made a mistake on
the budget,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted at a
hastily convened June 26 press conference. “My daughter called me.
I have reinstated the six-day waiting period for lost animals,”
Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger spoke 24 hours after media revealed that his fiscal
2004-2005 budget included repealing the 1968 Hayden Act. Humane
organizations responded almost immediately, but irate individual
citizens were already flooding the Capitol with messages of protest.
The Hayden Act requires shelters to hold impounded animals
for at least six business days before killing them, unless they are
deemed incurably injured, ill, or vicious. The Hayden Act also
requires that impounded animals be scanned for microchip
identification, and bars animal abusers from adopting shelter
animals within three years of conviction.
Schwarzenegger had initially endorsed a December 2003
recommendation by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office that
the holding time for dogs and cats be cut back to 72 hours, the
pre-Hayden requirement, and that there be no required holding time
at all for small mammals, reptiles, and livestock. Facing a budget
deficit of $15 billion, the Legislative Analyst’s Office advised
that repealing the Hayden Act could save the state $10 million a year
in reimbursements paid to animal control shelters.

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PetCo tests adopting out rabbits instead of selling them

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

SAN DIEGO–In lieu of selling rabbits, four PetCo stores in
the Minneapolis area have begun offering rabbits for adoption from
the Minne-sota House Rabbit Society.
Since 1965 PetCo has offered dogs and cats for adoption from
shelters, instead of selling puppies and kittens from breeders.
PETsMART has done likewise from inception in 1986. Neither chain,
however, has felt before that rescue groups for small mammals,
birds, and reptiles could provide a sufficiently reliable supply of
animals to enable the stores to hold market share.
The test of rabbit adoptions brought PetCo some good
publicity in an otherwise difficult year, including a PETA pledge
to boycott PetCo until it quits selling animals.
Settling suits brought by five California communities, PetCo
in May 2004 agreed to pay a total of $711,754 in fines and
investigative costs for allegedly neglecting animal care and
overcharging customers, and to spend at least $202,500 to improve
store equipment.
In January 2004 Texas district judge Darlene Byrne ordered
PetCo to pay $47,000 to Carol Schuster of Austin, including $10,000
each for emotional anguish, loss of companionship, and punitive
damages. Schuster’s minature schnauzer had escaped from a PetCo
employee while being walked after grooming, and was killed by a car.
The verdict was overturned in June by the Texas 3rd Court of
Appeals, upholding an 1893 precedent limiting damages for the loss
of a dog to material costs plus legal expenses.
Schuster’s attorney told Veterinary Practice News that the
case will be taken to the Texas Supreme Court.

Another investigator sues Friends of Animals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

ANIMAL PEOPLE on July 14 received a copy of a lawsuit
alleging “gender and sexual orientation discrimination and
retaliation” recently filed against Friends of Animals, FoA
president Priscilla Feral, and FoA Washington D.C. office director
Bill Dollinger by Virginia Leone Bollinger, who was FoA director of
investigations from May 2001 to November 2003.
The lawsuit itemizes 10 claims of alleged abusive behavior by
Dollinger, and charges that FoA president Priscilla Feral failed to
protect Bollinger from his actions.
“FoA, Dollinger, and Feral deny the allegations and believe
the claims are entirely unfounded,” FoA operations director Bob
Orabona told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “The court has already dismissed the
claims against Feral,” which overlapped the case against FoA. “As
the matter is pending litigation,” Orabona added, “we decline to
comment further.”
Bollinger worked for PETA from 1986 to 1993, including five
years as an investigator and one year as chief investigator, before
becoming director of investigations for the Humane Society of the U.S.
In August 1995 Bollinger and former PETA and HSUS legal
investigator Cristobel Block sued then-HSUS vice president for
investigations David Wills for alleged sexual battery. Wills,
widely seen as successor-in-waiting to then-HSUS president John Hoyt,
was fired two months later, was sued by HSUS in a case parallel to
the Bollinger/Block case, and was convicted of embezzling from HSUS.

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Raccoon rabies spreads to Cape Cod, Rhode Island

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

YARMOUTH, EAST PROVIDENCE–Massachusetts state budget cuts
that reduced funding for oral anti-rabies vaccination of raccoons
from $209,000 in 2001 to just $60,000 in 2004 left the Cape Cod
Rabies Task Force nearly penniless at the end of June. Rabies first
hit raccoons in Massachusetts in 1992, but a decade of successful
vaccination kept the disease from jumping the Cape Cod Canal until
March 2004. Twenty-two rabid raccoons were found in four Cape Cod
towns by June 13.
The rabies outbreak also hit Rhode Island. The East
Providence Animal Shelter on May 6 reportedly impounded five
raccoons, in violation of protocol; left them with a foster family
for a month; and then exposed them to a sixth raccoon who was found
acting strangely at a golf course.
That raccoon turned out to be rabid. All of the raccoons
were killed. At least 46 people who handled the raccoons were given
post-exposure vaccination.
Raccoon rabies spread into the northeast from the
mid-Atlantic states after a group of coonhunters and trappers
translocated 3,500 raccoons from a rabies-endemic part of Florida to
the Great Smokies and Appalachia in 1976.

Four new books about doing animal-related law enforcement

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Animals: Welfare, Interests, & Rights
by David Favre
Animal Law & History Web Center
(Michigan State University/Detroit College
of Law, East Lansing, MI 48812), 2003.
504 pages, hardcover. $78.

Animal Cruelty: Pathway to Violence Against People
by Linda Merz-Perez
& Kathleen M. Heide
Alta Mira Press (c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1630
North Main Street, #367, Walnut Creek, California 94596), 2004.
176 pages, paperback. $24.95.

Brute Force: Policing Animal Cruelty
by Arnold Arluke
Purdue University Press ( P.O. Box 388,
30 Amberwood Parkway, Ashland, OH 44805), 2004. 170 pages,
paperback. $24.95.

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