A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Trident K-9 Warriors by Mike Ritland with Gary Brozek St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010), 2013. 272 pages, hardcover. $25.99.
A health issue forced Navy SEAL Mike Ritland to retire from active duty. While serving in Iraq, the precision of military dogs impressed him. So Ritland combined his love of dogs and service to the U.S. by forming a company that trains military dogs. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Unleashed: The Phenomena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs by Simon Harding The Policy Press, U. of Bristol (c/o U. of Chicago Press, 427 East 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637), 2012. 286 pages, hardcover. $100.60; Kindle $23.72.
I first saw an American Staffordshire, better known as a pit bull, during a 1989 visit to Baltimore. Three youths had stolen a cocker spaniel and were encouraging their three unleashed pit bulls to tear the spaniel apart alive. The spaniel tried desperately to escape, but was held on a short leash. By the time I reached the scene, the spaniel had collapsed, possibly dead. The youths kept kicking the remains, and the AmStaffs kept attacking. By the time the cops caught up with them, they had disposed of the evidence. They laughed in the cops’ faces: “Man, you’ll never find that dead dog, and anyway we’re juvies––you can’t touch us.” Read more
From Animal People May-June 2013—
Saving Baby: How a woman’s love for a racehorse leads to her redemption by JoAnne Normile with Larry Lindner Powder Point Publishing (P.O. Box 530, Hingham, MA 02043), 2013. 263 pages, paperback. $15.00.
JoAnne Normile entered horse racing relatively late in life, at age 43, seven years after convincing her husband to move from urban Detroit to rural Michigan, where they could keep horses.
By the end of the 1980s they had two horses. They entered the racing circuit in 1992 with Normile’s beloved Baby. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
How Animals Grieve by Barbara J. King University of Chicago Press (1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637), 2013. 179 pages, paperback. $25.00
How Animals Grieve author Barbara J. King asks, “Is it outlandish to write of animal love?” No, of course not. Some animals love and grieve differently from humans, but their expressions are real, and many animals grieve exactly as humans do. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, 2012 edition ($195 member download; $295 non-member download; $20 extra for printed copy.) American Veterinary Medical Association, 1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100, Schaumburg, IL 60173. 186 pages, paperback. AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 edition Free download from: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia-highres.pdf
The American Veterinary Medical Association charges from $195 to $315 for the U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographic Sourcebook, 2012 edition, depending on the membership status of the customer and the format in which the book is provided, but the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 edition are free for the downloading. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
CITES at 40: Perspectives, trade patterns & future prospects, compiled by United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre Free download from <www.unep-wcmc.org>
Created in 1973 by the United Nations, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora tracks and regulates commerce in about 34,000 species. About 3% are listed on Appendix I, meaning that they are endangered, or Appendix II, meaning that they are threatened. CITES compliance is voluntary. Individual nations may invoke trade sanctions against violators, but CITES itself has no enforcement mechanism. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
Guns, Excise Taxes, & Wildlife Restoration by M. Lynne Corn & Jane G. Gravelle Congressional Research Service Free download from <www.crs.gov>
“As result of the recent debate over guns, gun rights, and gun-related violence, there has been a marked increase in sales of many weapons as well as ammunition,” opens this succinct five-page resumé of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
Humane education classic The Universal Natural History: Natural History in Anecdote by Alfred H. Miles, Profusely Illustrated With Colored Plates Dodd Mead & Co., New York. 1895. 385 pages.
Clinton, Washington, where ANIMAL PEOPLE receives mail, was named in 1883 by Civil War veteran Edward C. Hinman, who came from Eagle Township in Clinton County, Michigan. Hinman “built a hotel and a dock, supplying steamships with wood and water,” local histories recount. From 1885 to 1896, Hinman ran the local post office from a general store located kitty-corner from the present post office. The building still exists, but has long been vacant. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
Four-Legged Miracles: Heartwarming Tales of Lost Dogs’ Journeys Home by Brad & Sherry Hansen Steiger St. Martin’s Griffin (175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010), 2013. 264 pages, paperback. $14.99.
Animal lovers are familiar with the 1943 classic Lassie Come Home, in which an impoverished rural family sells their cherished collie to a Scottish nobleman, but the collie returns to the boy she loves. Four-Legged Miracles is a compilation of amusing, inspirational and sometimes tearful real-life “Lassie” stories. Read more