From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

Jim Nakamura, of Chico,
California, whose prosecution for cat-feeding
was featured on page one of the March
1998 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE,
agreed on March 19 to a “diversion” in lieu
of contesting continued criminal prosection,
“on condition that he perform 40 hours of
work with the Chico Cat Coalition i n
Bidwell Park,” wrote his attorney, Larry
Weiss, of Santa Rosa. “Since Jim was one
of the founders of the Chico Cat Coalition,
and since feeding/trapping the cats in
Bidwell Park is all that he wanted to do
from the outset, we had no problem agreeing
to this disposition. Under the agreement
Jim is to participate in the program to trap
feral cats. That program specificially
includes feeding while the trapping is being
done. We’re very happy with the outcome,
and there is still no conviction in California
for the ‘crime’ of feeding cats.”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1998:

Fixing the problem

During the first decade that the
Humane Society of Charlotte ran a lowcost
neutering clinc, 1985-1996, it fixed
71,000 animals, reports president P a t t i
L e w i s, achieving a cumulative drop of
60,295 dogs received by Charlotte Animal
C o n t r o l, with continuing declines. Cat
intakes, peaking in 1989, are down 16%.
Doing Things For Animals,
publisher of the No-Kill Directory and organizer
of the annual No-Kill Conference
series, began providing direct animal care
as well in February, when director of animal
services Christine French won foundation
support to start a neutering assistance
project in the Verde Valley of Arizona.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1998:

Not doing the job
“Fearing lawsuits charging poor
enforcement” of public safety and
humane laws, Los Angeles city attorney
James Hahn’s office in January moved “to
change city law so that the Animal Regulation
Department no longer is bound to
impound abused or neglected animals on
private property,” Los Angeles Daily News
reporter Patrick McGreevy revealed on
January 29. “The department also would no
longer have to keep detailed records on all
impounded animals, a change that would
reduce the city’s liability is a pet is killed by
mistake,” McGreevy continued. The effort
was delayed, pending public hearings, by
city councillor Laura Chick. Hahn’s office
in late 1997 defended the Animal Regulation
Department against a suit by C i t i z e n s
for a Humane Los Angeles, who alleged
that former Animal Regulation Department
head Gary Olsen for at least eight months
improperly ignored an illegal cat shelter
housing more than 600 cats, to avoid the
political and fiscal fallout that might have
resulted from closing it and seizing the cats.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1998:

The Arizona Humane Society h a s
become the first U.S. shelter to try out injection
sterilization of male dogs. Already used
since 1994 in Mexico and Costa Rica, the sterilization
chemical, Neutersol, was developed
by the University of Missouri at Columbia
medical school. The active ingredient is zinc
gluconate, combined with arginine. “Within
24 hours of injection, the sperm count begins
to go down, and within 100 days there’s a
100% reduction,” AHS director Ken White
told Linda Helser of the Arizona Republic.
The one-shot procedure costs about $10.
City animal control advisory panels
in Los Angeles, California, and Austin,
Texas, in December 1997 began formal study
of no-kill animal control, following the San
Francisco model.

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