Review: Not a chimp: The hunt to find the genes that make us human

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

Not a chimp: The hunt to find the genes that make us human
by Jeremy Taylor
Oxford University Press (c/o 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016),
2010. 338 pages, paperback. $14.95

This first book by Jeremy Taylor, for 30 years a scientific
documentary film maker, is intense. Not a chimp: The hunt to find
the genes that make us human consists chiefly of discussions of such
topics as sequence divergence, pyramidal neurons, and translocation
of chromosomes. Taylor is aware of the implications of his research
for animal rights activists, philosophers, and attorneys, and for
species conservationists, bioethicists, and biomedical researchers
too, but he limits his discussion of these matters to a few pages at
the beginning and end of what is otherwise a scientific treatise.

Read more

Review: Born Wild

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

Born Wild by Tony Fitzjohn
Crown Publishers (c/o Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY
10019), 2010.
310 pages, hardcover. $24.00.

The title Born Wild suggests an adventurous book by a daring
author. That describes it. Growing up in England, Fitzjohn loved
Scouting. Tarzan tales enchanted him. As a troubled teen Fitzjohn
landed in Outward Bound programs that eventually took him to
life-changing experiences in Africa. A letter Fitzjohn sent to Born
Free author Joy Adamson sent Fitzjohn to Kenya, where at age 22 he
became assistant to her then-husband, conservationist George
Adamson, who was then 61. Fitzjohn helped Adamson to rehabilitate
injured or formerly captive lions, leopards, and African wild dogs
for return to the wild.
Tracking lions in the bush back in those days, between 30
and 40 years ago, was considerably more difficult and dangerous than
today because radio collars had not yet been developed. Fitzjohn
despaired when beloved lions suddenly vanished, such as one named
Lisa, whose disappearance “left a big hole in our lives. She was a
lovely lioness.”
Like George Adamson, Fitzjohn spent years cultivating
relationships with lions, trying to build trust, mindful that lions
are still wild animals and may behave as such, no matter how tame
they seem. Once in 1975, “I was incredibly lucky to survive,”
recalls Fitzjohn. “My attacker’s teeth had come within millimeters
of both my carotid and jugular arteries. There are holes in my
throat that I could put a fist through, and I did.”
After several months of recovery Fitzjohn returned to help
George Adamson at Kora. The camp they built eventually became the
hub of the Kora National Reserve, initially designated in 1973 but
not added to the Kenyan national park system until 1989, after
George Adamson came to the aid of a tourist and was murdered in a
confrontation with poachers. Joy Adamson had already been killed in
a confrontation with an ex-employee in January 1980.
Conflicts with poachers and illegal grazers intensified after
a border conflict between Kenya and Somalia in 1978. Somalia lost
the war but, Fitzjohn remembers, “There were suddenly a lot of
well-armed Somali men flooding across the border into northern Kenya.
They were bandits, well-trained, ruthless and armed.”
Another camp near Kora was attacked and everything of value
was looted. Two workers were killed. Poaching escalated. The
Kenyan government was either unwilling or unable to stop it, despite
warnings that wildlife tourism could be destroyed. Political unrest,
corruption, drought, and tribal strife plagued Kenya for more than
a decade. Understates Fitzjohn, “Kenya had suddenly become a scary
place.”
Of George Adamson’s murder, Fitzjohn says, “If I had been
there it wouldn’t have happened.” Racked with guilt for having been
elsewhere, Fitzjohn moved to Tanzania –“the perfect place for me to
bury myself and reinvent myself after the events of the past few
years.”
For more than 20 years now Fitzjohn has worked tirelessly to
rehabilitate and return to the wild injured animals in Tanzania. He
has continued to defend game preserves against poachers and illegal
grazers, many of whom are armed, and to stand up to government
officials, who are sometimes indifferent, sometimes corrupt, and
sometimes just hellbent on economic development at any cost.
Fitzjohn travels the world to raise money to continue saving African
animals. And he always gives credit for his successes to George
Adamson, who made his wild life possible. –Debra J. White

Retired judge asks Texas lawmakers to ban pit bulls after two deaths in 15 days

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

TYLER, Texas–Two pit bull terrier attack fatalities in 15
days appear to have put momentum behind retired Tyler district judge
Cynthia Stevens Kent’s campaign to ban pit bull terriers in the state
of Texas.
Both fatalities came within 20 miles of Tyler. Both came
after Kent in September 2010 won a record $7 million liability award
in another local fatal attack case, and after repeated courtroom
failures of Lillian’s Law, a “punish the deed not the breed” statute
passed by the Texas legislature in 2007.

Read more

Calgary agencies are concerned about online sales of suspected fighting dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

CALGARY–Discoveries of scarred, earless pit bull terriers
and proliferating online ads apparently worded to sell fighting dogs
in early November 2010 caused Calgary Humane Society executive
director Patricia Cameron and Calgary Animal Services director Bill
Bruce to appeal for community vigilance against dogfighting.
Cameron and Bruce asked the online trading post Kijiji.ca to
block dog ads using phrases such as “large head size” and “fearless,
aggressive and strong,” reported Kenyon Wallace of The National Post.
Kijiji.ca already claimed to have blocked ads for pit bulls.
“When there’s a suspicion that we’re dealing with such ads where a
poster might be trading a dog for the purpose of fighting, we’re
going to take down the ad,” Kijiji head of customer support
Christian Jasserand told Wallace.

Read more

Grandfather clause contributes to attack

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

DES LACS, N.D.–Grandfather clauses are a common feature of
animal control ordinances, included to ease the passage and initial
enforcement of provisions excluding poultry, livestock, exotic
pets, horses, or dogs of high-risk breed.
The underlying hope of a grandfather clause is that animals
who already live in a community when an ordinance is passed will be
minimally problematic if they are not replaced or augmented by others.

Read more

Awards & Honors

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

Australian philanthropist Phil Wollen on November 30, 2010
awarded the Winsome Constance Kindness Gold Medal and accompanying
cash prize of $25,000 to Cornell University professor emeritus of
nutritional biochemistry T. Colin Campbell. Wollen lauded Campbell as
“arguably the most powerful force in this generation for educating
human beings on the serious health dangers of eating animals.” Past
Kindness Medal recipients have included animal advocacy organization
founders Maneka Gandhi, Jane Goodall, Paul Watson, Pradeep Kumar
Nath, Christine Townend, and Jill Robinson, and cancer researcher
Ian Gawler.

Read more

44% of animal charities see fewer donations in 2010

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

NEW YORK–44% of animal charities saw decreased donations in
the first nine months of 2010 as compared to 2009, reports the
Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. 31% of animal
charities saw increased donations, while 23% saw no change, the
Center on Philanthropy found.
No sector surveyed by the Center on Philanthropy experienced
a steeper drop in revenue. The center’s October 2010 eighth annual
fundraising survey included data from 151 animal charities.
As a whole, 36% of the 2,356 public charities and 163
private foundations surveyed reported increased income in 2010,
while the number reporting a decline decreased to 37%, from 51% in
the 2009 survey.

Read more

Reptile refuge downsizes after caiman deaths

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

SURREY, B.C.–Urban Safari Rescue Society and Cinemazoo
Animal Agency founder Gary Oliver on November 23, 2010 agreed to
reduce by about a third the number of animals housed at the former
Rainforest Reptile Refuge.
The Urban Safari Rescue Society came under investigation by
the British Columbia SPCA after three caimans died of suspected
hypothermia.

Read more

South African Supreme Court overturns 2007 ministerial ruling against hunting captive lions

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2010:

 

Bloemfontein, South Africa–Lions will continue to be killed
in put-and-take “canned hunts” in South Africa, the South African
Supreme Court of Appeal ordained on November 29, 2010, reversing a
February 2007 edict by then minister of environmental affairs
Marthinus van Schalkwyk that captive-bred lions had to be returned to
the wild for two years before they could be hunted.
“No doubt the minister was entitled to take account of the
strong opposition and even revulsion expressed by a substantial body
of public opinion to the hunting of captive bred lions,” wrote Judge
Jonathan A. Heher, ruling on behalf of the South Africa Predator
Breeders’ Association. “But in providing an alternative,” Heher
continued, “he was bound to rely on a rational basis. The evidence
proves he did not do so.”

Read more

1 2 3 4 5