Ignoring Nature No More: The Case for Compassionate Conservation

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

 Ignoring Nature No More:  The Case for Compassionate Conservation Edited by Marc Bekoff The University of Chicago Press,  Ltd.  (427 East 60th St.,  Chicago,  IL 60637), 2013. 456 pages.  Paperback $38.00.  Kindle $19.89.

When I was a child,  the Earth seemed huge and full of exciting places where wild animals roamed,  where as yet no human had set foot.  There were only three billion of us back then. Feeding us all seemed to be the main problem.   Read more

BOOKS: Rhinos and Elephants on the brink of extinction

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

The Last Rhinos:  My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Treasures by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence Thomas Dunne Books,  c/o St. Martin’s Griffin (175 Fifth Ave.,  New York,  NY  10010),  2012. 333 pages,  paperback.  $16.99.

Kony’s Ivory:  How Elephant Poaching in Congo Helps Support the Lord’s Resistance Army by Kasper Agger and Jonathan Hutson Co-produced by the Enough Project,  The Resolve,  Invisible Children,  & the Satellite Sentinel Project (with DigitalGlobe),  January 2013. 16 pages.  Free download from Enough,  1333 H St. NW,  10th floor,  Washington,  DC  20005;  <www.enoughproject.org>.

The Last Rhinos,  by the late South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony and his brother-in-law Graham Spence,  and Kony’s Ivory,  by Enough Project staff members Kasper Agger and Jonathan Hutson,  offer superficially opposite perspectives on the role of the Lord’s Resistance Army in poaching,  particularly of elephants for ivory,  in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Read more

Ohio activist kills herself plus 31 dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2013: (Actually published on November 20, 2013.)

Sandra Lertzman,  62,  was found dead with 31 dogs on November 8,  2013 in a running car in the garage of her home in Moreland Hills,  Ohio,  six days after she was last seen.  Said to have been involved in animal rescue for 45 years,  Sandra Lertzman styled herself executive director of the Animal Rights Foundation,  but Guidestar,  contracted by the IRS to share IRS Form 990 filings,  shows no record of ARF. Read more

BOOKS: Deerland: America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance & the Essence of Wilderness

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

Deerland:  America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance & the Essence of Wilderness  by Al Cambronne  •  Lyons Press (246 Goose Lane,  Guilford,  CT  06437),  2013.  263 pages,  paperback.  $18.95.

Opens Al Cambronne,  “We live in Deerland.  The U.S. now has over 30 million deer,  a hundred times more than a century ago.  They routinely disrupt entire ecosystems.  They ravage our gardens and suburban landscaping,  and every year they kill and injure hundreds of us on our highways…Still,  deer are magical.  Their mere existence makes the woods feel wilder.  They signify far more to us than just meat,  antlers,  or a graceful,  mysterious creature slipping through the shadows…We commute farther and borrow more so that we can live beside them.  If money remains,  we buy vacation homes where we’ll see even more of them.  A few of us happily spend two or three years’ salary for a small piece of untillable land on which we can hunt them…Regardless of how you may feel about hunting,  in many parts of America we now have a very real problem with too many deer.  In some of those places,  hunting is a big part of the solution.  It’s also,  some would argue,  a big part of the problem.” Read more

Obits: Angela Cope, 97, senior RSPCA volunteer

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

Angela Cope,  97,  died in London on October 28,  2013.  “She was a lifelong animal welfarist of the practical rather than the sentimental type,”  former Royal SPCA director general Peter Davies told ANIMAL PEOPLE,  recalling that one of her projects was organizing a working horse show to benefit the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.  “She was involved with the Central London Branch of the RSPCA for many years,”  Davies continued.  “When the RSPCA Putney Animal Hospital was created,  she formed the Friends of Putney Animal Hospital Committee,  which raised substantial sums for the hospital,  largely through the onsite shop that she ran with volunteers selling donated goods.  She was a long-serving member of the RSPCA Council,”  but was retired in 2001,  along with fellow RSPCA vice presidents William Jordan and Dame Janet Fookes,  who were replaced on the council by celebrities Geri Halliwell,  Elton John,  and Cliff Richard.   Read more

Stop dogfighting by addressing supply side economics

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

Police in Montgomery,  Alabama on October 1,  2013 took custody of the last 16 of at least 386 pit bulls who were impounded after raids in August 2013 on an alleged multistate dogfighting ring.  Thirteen defendants,  from Alabama,  Georgia,  Mississippi,   and Texas,  are facing related charges. Initiated by the Auburn,  Alabama police department,  the investigation and impoundments were assisted by at least 15 humane organizations,  both locally and nationwide.   Read more

Closing live markets stopped killer flu

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)  

HONG KONG–Closing 780 live poultry markets in the Chinese cities of Shanghai,  Hangzhou,  Huzhou and Nanjing stopped an April 2013 outbreak of a deadly new subtype of the H7N9 avian flu strain,  confirmed Hong Kong University researchers Hongjie Yu,  Joseph T. Wu,  Benjamin J. Cowling with data published in the October 31,  2013 edition of The Lancet.  Read more

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