PERFORMING WILDLIFE

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

Elephant trainers Robert

“Smokey” Jones, Scott Riddle, and Heidi

Riddle raised eyebrows on December 22 by

announcing “A hands-on course in the humane

training and handling of captive elephants,” to

be taught at Riddle’s Elephant Breeding Farm

and Wildlife Sanctuary near Greenbriar,

Arkansas. A string of unusual elephant deaths

under Scott Riddle’s supervision over the past

15 years have brought repeated allegations of

mishandling, including two deaths resulting

from conflicts between elephants at the Los

Angeles Zoo in the early 1980s and one

ascribed to a stress-induced heart attack in

1986 at the Garden City Zoo in Garden City,

Kansas. Zoo officials in the latter case asked

the Kansas state police and the USDA to inves-

tigate the possibility that the heart attack was

brought on by an overdose of electric shock, as

at age 23 the elephant was still young, and had

been believed to be healthy. Riddle was

attempting to buy her for transport to a breed-

ing colony he wanted to start in Florida.

COURT CALENDAR

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

Activism

“The Animal Liberation Front planted nine incen-

diary devices in four Chicago department stores which sell

fur,” media were told in a November 28 fax communique.

“The incendiaries were designed to start a small fire which

would in turn set off the stores’ sprinkler systems and cause

water damage. This action signals the start of a new, more

intense campaign of economic sabotage.” Five of the fire-

bombs went off November 28 and 29, doing minor damage at

Marshall Field, Carson and Saks. Three more were removed

by police and FBI agents. The ninth apparently never turned

up. Copies of a British ALF manual describing how to make

firebombs arrived in the mailboxes of numerous animal protec-

tion groups during the next few days, postmarked Palatine,

Illinois––a Chicago suburb. The incident gave furriers a con-

siderable volume of media time in which to denounce the anti-

fur movement generally.

Animal Control & Rescue

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

The value of publicity was

underscored in Cleveland, Ohio,

after county humane officer Tony

Brand rescued a pair of starving dogs

from a rooftop on December 11.

Notice of the rescue in the Cleveland

Plain Dealer brought nearly 100 calls

to the Cuyahoga County Kennel from

would-be adopters, of whom more

than 20 took dogs––five times the

usual adoption rate. Adoptions also

rose at other local shelters.

Guest column: Let’s cut a deal on feral cats

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

by Petra Murray

New Jersey Pet Overpopulation Solutions

To catch and kill or to neuter and release

are issues we have been battling over for quite

some time now. Many of us feel very strongly in

support of one approach or the other, and most

likely will not convert to the other viewpoint––so

where do we go from here?

I think it really has to sink in just how

enormous the feral cat problem is. We are talking

of somewhere between thirty and sixty million cats

nationwide––10 to 20 times as many cats as are

handled by all shelters and rescue groups combined

right now. If these numbers really hit us in the

face, we must acknowledge that even if we were

in 100% agreement over how to deal with this situ-

ation, we’d have our hands full for a very long

time. Without compromise and joint cooperative

effort, we can’t begin to make serious headway.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY MEET LISA

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana– –

Legislation In Support of Animals recently

gave the New Iberia City and Parish Council

until January 1 to make a firm commitment

to reforming their pound––or else.

“We have reached the limit of our

patience,” said mild-mannered LISA

founder and executive director Jeff Dorson,

sounding a lot more like Clint Eastwood than

he looks.

The ultimatim brought a three-part

expose of pound conditions in the local

newspaper. On December 10, New Iberia

reached an amicable agreement with LISA to

better separate animals in the pound, house

fewer per cage, provide fiberglas resting

boards, clean the cages more often, hire an

answering service to handle off-hours emer-

gency calls, and promote adoptions through

the New Iberia Humane Society.

Animal Control & Rescue

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Wildlife biologist Carol

Crane, president of the Calvert

Animal Welfare League in St.

Leonard, Maryland, has published

a survey of shelter intake and

euthanasia rates in 21 of the 23

Maryland counties, which include

95% of the state population. Her

findings “further confirm new

national estimates that animal care

and control facilities are not han-

dling as many dogs and cats as was

thought previously,” according to

Phil Arkow of the Peggy Adams

Animal Rescue League in West

Palm Beach, Florida. Arkow and

Andrew Rowan of Tufts University

have recently published estimates

that population control euthanasias

of dogs and cats probably don’t

exceed six million a year––half the

Is leukemia still #1 disease threat to cats?

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Shelter Cats Screened Cats FeLV+ %

Americ an SPCA (NY) 20,000+ 400/500 >2.5%

Anti-Cruel ty Society (Chicago, IL) 3,600 “few”

Bennington County Humane Society (VT) (“we want adoptors to take cats to a vet)

Bloomington Animal Control (MN) (“costs too much”)

Knoxville County Humane Society (TN) 30 0 0

Mari n Humane Society (CA) 1,500 30/40 >2.5%

North Shore Animal League (NY) 20,000 400/500 >2.5%

Progressive Animal Welfare Society (WA) 1,125/1,500 25/30 >2.0%

Disaster plan works: Wildfire!

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

LOS ANGELES, California––Southern California participants in the American

Humane Association’s mid-October disaster preparedness seminar had barely stepped off the

planes taking them home from Baltimore when their lessons were put to the test. Twenty-five

wildfires in 14 days, 19 of them arsons, roared through canyons in seven contiguous counties.

The disaster hot spot seemed to shift with the dry Santa Ana winds––from Escondido,

overlooking San Diego, to Malibu, northwest of Los Angeles. Each blaze seemed more men-

acing than the last, until the climactic fire swept down Topanga Canyon from Calabasas,

forked, and incinerated two separate coastal neighborhoods. Eighteen thousand acres of

If it can make it there, it can make it anywhere

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

NEW YORK, N.Y.––Richard Avanzino of the

San Francisco SPCA is quick to point out that he hasn’t

announced his plan to end population control euthanasia

as a blueprint for anyone anywhere else. He explains

carefully that it is intended as an experiment, taking

advantage of the unique conditions in San Francisco, and

that other cities should in turn learn by the San Francisco

experience before attempting anything similar.

Nonetheless, there could be implications for

New York City. Acknowledging the example of the

SFSPCA, the American SPCA announced last April that

it would cease providing animal control service to New

York City in November 1994, exactly 100 years after it

took on the job. Like the SFSPCA, the ASPCA will then

focus upon arranging adoptions, neutering, humane edu-

cation, and improving landlord/pet keeper relations.

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