A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
Fat Paws, dachshund companion of Blue
Cross of India chair Chinny Krishna and C.P.
Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation director Nanditha
Krishna, died on May 1, 2007 in Chennai. Known
for sitting upright on his hind legs and flapping
his forepaws like a penguin’s wings, Fat Paws
was among the first participants in the Blue
Cross of India’s “Dr. Dog” program.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
MONTREAL–For more than 30 years rumors
circulated among Quebec game wardens about trophy
hunting outfitters north of the St. Lawrence
River who would allegedly trap wolves and bears
with baited hooks, then fly rich clients out to
shoot them.
The perpetrators allegedly also chased
big moose and caribou to exhaustion with
helicopters, to give unscrupulous and
politically powerful customers easier shots.
But none of the suspects were ever caught
in any of the acts and arrested. Catching
ordinary deer poachers in relatively populated
southern Quebec was difficult. Catching
well-funded and well-equipped poachers hundreds
of miles from any accidental witnesses was deemed
almost impossible.
This belated July/August 2007 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE appears soon after publication of the ninth annual ANIMAL PEOPLE Watchdog Report on Animal Charities a 52-page handbook that took nearly three times as long as an edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE to complete.
Now evaluating 150 of the most prominent animal charities worldwide, The Watchdog Report was conceived as a supplementary reference for serious donors that could be assembled between editions of the ANIMAL PEOPLE newspaper, sold separately, at $25 per copy.
But The Watchdog Report long since outgrew that idea. Researching and updating The Watchdog Report has become a year-round project in itself, punctuated by the production phase, when we distill the information into the most compact format possible.
The Watchdog Report evolved out of Who gets the money? , the annual financial page on major animal charities that the ANIMAL PEOPLE team began publishing in early 1991, about 18 months before ANIMAL PEOPLE itself existed.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:
Hugh Holbrook Tebault II, 89, died on May 10, 2007 in
Alameda, California. Tebault was introduced to humane work by his
mother, a close associate of Edith Latham, who founded the Latham
Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education in 1918. Tebault
headed the Latham Foundation from 1953 to 1998, and also served on
the American Humane Association board of directors for many years,
beginning in 1968. The Latham Foundation is now headed by his eldest
son, Hugh H. Tebault III. Early Latham projects included sponsoring
Kind Deeds Clubs, publishing a school newsletter called The Kindness
Messenger, and hosting essay contests and poster competitions.
Tebault II began exploring the use of electronic media to promote
humane education by hosting a radio program, then in the 1950s
produced the Brother Buzz television program on KPIX Channel 5, San
Francisco, which became The Wonderful World of Brother Buzz,
syndicated nationally in the 1960s. In the 1970s Tebault II produced
another nationally syndicated TV show called Withit, which in 1975
produced an influential episode about animal-assisted therapy. After
helping to organize two national conferences on animal-assisted
therapy, Tebault II in 1981 formed the Delta Committee as a project
of the Latham Foundation. A year later the committee evolved into
the Delta Society, an independent organization that promotes
animal-assisted therapy, now based in Renton, Washington.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
SAN ANTONIO–A month after returning to Primarily Primates,
executive director Stephen Rene Tello told ANIMAL PEOPLE,
“Ninety-five percent of the debris” left by six and a half months of
court-appointed receivership had been cleaned up.
From October 15, 2006 until May 1, 2007, Primarily
Primates was managed by receiver Lee Theisen-Watt, whose background
was in wildlife rehabilitation, and a variety of PETA staff and
volunteers.
The sanctuary was seized largely based on claims by two
former Primarily Primates staff members who had been dismissed for
cause. The allegations were forwarded to now retired Texas assistant
attorney general John Vinson and Office of the Texas Attorney General
investigator Christopher Krhovjak in May 2006 by PETA counsel for
research and investigations Leona Stormont.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
EUGENE, Oregon–Stanislas Meyer-hoff, 29, on May 23, 2007
drew 16 years in federal prison for his admitted participation in a
string of arsons attributed to the “Earth Liberation Front” and
“Animal Liberation Front.” The fires, set in five western states,
did more than $40 million damage, according to federal prosecutors.
Meyerhoff was the first of 10 admitted ELF and ALF arsonists
to go before U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken for sentencing, and was
expected to draw the longest sentence.
“According to the government,” wrote Bryan Denson of the
Portland Oregonian, who covered the case from the first actions
onward, “Meyerhoff co-owned a pair of MAK-91 semiautomatic rifles,
helped write the Earth Liberation Front’s manual on how to set fires
with electrical timers, coached others on how to make [explosive
devices], and led arsons.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LOS ANGELES–A Los Angeles Superior Court judgment on May 3,
2007 fined the Animal Defense League of Los Angeles $49,600, after
representatives pleaded “no contest” to seven criminal charges,
including trespassing and conspiracy, arising out of a series of
demonstrations held outside the homes of Los Angeles Animal Services
employees in 2004 and 2005.
“Seven other charges were dropped by city prosecutors,”
Associated Press reported.
The court placed all members of the Animal Defense League of
Los Angeles under three years of probation, including a prohibition
on “annoying, harassing, threatening, stalking or committing any
act of force or violence” against L.A. Animal Services staff.
“The group is barred from demonstrating within 100 feet of
the homes of previously targeted workers,” said Associated Press,
“and the league must remove their photos and personal information
from its web site.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
LONDON–More than 700 police officers on
May 1, 2007 raided 29 addresses in 12 British
counties, two addresses in The Netherlands, and
one in Belgium, detaining 15 men and 17
women–all in Britain–on suspicion of
involvement in arsons and vandalism committed in
the name of animal rights.
The dawn raids reportedly seized £100,000
in cash, numerous mobile telephones, computer
equipment, and documents.
The most prominent address raided was the
25-year-old Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre in
Merseyside. Freshfields manager Dave Callender,
47, in March 1996 was sentenced to serve 10
years in prison for conspiring to commit arson.
“A jury at Birmingham crown court heard
he had enough material to make more than 100
incendiary devices,” wrote Guardian crime
correspondent Sandra Laville. “The prosecution
alleged that he was planning a ‘campaign directed
at targets which included cattle farms,
slaughterhouses, meat traders, egg production
farms, and also societies connected with hunting
and other field sports.’
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2007:
VIENNA–Austrian judge Barbara Bart on April 24, 2007
rejected the request of British teacher Paula Stibbe, 38, a
longtime resident of Vienna, that she be allowed to legally adopt
Hiasl, 26, a male chimpanzee, whom she has visited weekly at a now
bankrupt sanctuary since 1999. Stibbe immediately appealed the
verdict.
Stibbe petitioned to adopt Hiasl, she said, out of concern
that he might be sold to a laboratory outside of Austria. Bart ruled
that the adoption could not proceed because Hiasl is neither a
mentally impaired human nor in a crisis situation requiring emergency
intervention.