Author: Dylan Forest

Infiltration and disruption of activism

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

A federal court jury in Oakland, California, on June 11
ordered the FBI and the Oakland Police Department to pay $4.4 million
in reparations and damages to Earth First! activist Darryl Cherney,
46, and the estate of Judi Bari, who died of cancer at age 47 in
March 1997. On May 24, 1990, as Bari and Cherney drove through
Oakland on their way to Santa Cruz to rally fellow anti-old growth
logging activists, a nail bomb detonated under the seat of Bari’s
car. Cherney escaped with minor injuries, but a shattered pelvis and
lower back injuries left Bari permanently disabled. Although no
evidence ever linked Bari and Cherney to the bomb, both were
arrested within hours for allegedly possessing it.

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Meat is murder

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Arms dealer Carl DeSchutter, livestock dealer Germain
Daenen, cattle breeder Alex Vercauteren, and traveling fair worker
Albert Barrez were convicted on June 3 in Brussels, Belgium, of the
1995 murder of veterinary inspector Karel Van Noppen. Van Noppen was
investigating Vercauteren in connection with alleged use of the
banned synthetic steroid clenbuterol to expedite the growth of veal
calves. “Van Noppen’s zeal drew criticism from a superior, who
hanged himself after Van Noppen’s murder,” Agence France-Presse
revealed. An informant identified DeSchutter and Barrez, who were
former jail cellmates; DeSchutter implicated Vercauteren and Daenen
after his arrest in 1996.

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Animal enterprise cases

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera on June 18 sued
Petco for “cruelty and a pattern of brazen violations of city health
and safety standards, continued over three years,” he told San
Francisco Chronicle staff writer Ilene Lelchuk. Herrera reportedly
hopes to obtain a court order prohibiting Petco from selling animals
within San Francisco. Founded in 1965 with a single store in La
Mesa, California, Petco introduced the practice of allowing local
animal shelters to offer dogs and cats for adoption, instead of
selling puppies and kittens from breeders. Petco now has 573 stores
in 42 states, and only rival PETsMART places more shelter animals in
homes–but Petco is also under PETA boycott for allegedly failing to
enforce high care standards, and for continuing to sell reptiles,
birds, and small mammals from breeders.

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The costs versus benefits of making a big bust

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Four almost simultaneous June cases spotlighted the costs and
often unpredictable risks to humane societies of confiscating large
numbers of animals in cruelty and neglect cases:

On June 6, the city of Edgewater, Florida, severed an
animal control impoundment contract with the Southeast Volusia Humane
Society because the shelter killed 14 dogs and cats who were taken in
April from the home of Valerie White, 38. The animals were killed
within hours after Volusia County Judge Mary Jane Henderson issued a
handwritten order that, “The City of Edgewater may advise the Humane
Society that those animals are available for adoption.” Edgewater
officials disputed the contention of shelter director Suzy Soule that
the animals were in poor health. White was charged nearly two weeks
later with three counts of unlawful abandonment or confinement of
animals, and one county of cruelty.

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Another mega-bucks pit bull attack award

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

BINGHAMPTON, N.Y.–A New York State Supreme Court jury on
June 3 awarded $208,750 in damages to Maressa Ann Zawisky, 9, for
severe injuries to her nose, cheek, and jaw suffered when in March
2000 a chained pit bull terrier belonging to neighbor Willie Harris
jumped a fence and mauled her in the yard of her mother and
stepfather, Cookie and Robert Rieger.
The apparently unattended pit bull, who had attacked a
nine-year-old boy in 1999, gave birth to seven puppies earlier
during the morning of the attack.

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San Francisco judge voids murder-by-dog verdict

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

SAN FRANCISCO–Overturning the March 21 verdict of a Los
Angeles jury, San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren on
June 17 voided the second degree murder conviction of attorney
Marjorie Knoller, 46, for allowing two Presa Canario dogs to escape
her control and kill neighbor Diane Whipple, 33, in January 2001.
“There is no question in this court’s mind that in the eyes
of the people, both defendants are guilty of murder,” Warren stated
on live television. “In the eyes of the law, they are not.”

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Did alleged nonresponse to pit bull calls lead to addiction and murder?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla.– Involved in a landmark case more
than a decade ago pertaining to the legal liability of a humane
society for dog attacks, the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society was
sued again in June 2002 in another case which, if successful, could
extend the liability of animal care and control agencies to indirect
effects of traumatic incidents.
Arthur Cheney, husband of murder victim Rhonda Kimmons
Cheney, 42, contends that PAWS and county officials improperly
ignored complaints about aggressive and vicious behavior by a pit
bull terrier who lived near Florosa in Santa Rosa County.

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State legislative summaries

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

A felony cruelty penalty and a statewide system of
registration, regulation, and inspection governing private animal
rescuers take effect in Virginia on July 1.
The felony cruelty provision applies only to deliberately
fatal injuries inflicted upon owned pet dogs or cats. Offenders may
be jailed for up to five years.
The bill governing rescuers was requested by the Virginia
Federation of Humane Societies in response to complaints about lost
animals not being reunited with their families, because the
discovery of the animals running at large was never reported to local
shelters. The bill also anticipates the possibility that dogfighters
may use “breed rescue” as cover to obtain animals, a scam recently
uncovered in several other states.

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20th century leaders squandered the 19th century humane movement legacy

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

BOSTON–Animal Welfare Insti-tute founder Christine Stevens,
introduced as “Mrs. Roger Stevens,” may be the only person still
alive who was noted as a humane movement leader by William Allen
Swallow in The Quality of Mercy, a 1963 “history of the humane
movement in the United States” published by the Mary Mitchell Humane
Fund, a subsidiary of the Massachusetts SPCA.
Stevens may also be the only person whom Swallow mentioned as
a contemporary humane movement leader whose name is still widely
recognized.

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