ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:
* The Sprint telephone service and the
American Humane Association have set up a
nationwide hotline to help reunite lost pets
with their keepers. Reporting a stray is free:
call 1-800-755-8111. To report a lost pet, call
1-900-535-1515. The cost for lost pet calls is
$1.95 per minute, a portion of which is donat-
ed to AHA. The average lost pet report takes
four minutes to complete, according to Sprint.
* Paige Powell and Tama Janowitz of
New York City produce a TV show in cooper-
ation with the animal rescue groups Being
Kind and the Animal Project to promote pet
adoptions. Called It’s A Dog’s Life, the show
airs on channels 16 and 17.
* Muttmatchers Messenger, a tabloid of
pet adoption notices, completed five years of
publication with the Sept./Oct. 1992 issue. A
production of the Humane Animal Rescue
Team, the California and Washington editions
of Muttmatchers Messenger each reach
150,000 readers, for a combined total of
300,000, helping to place about 6,000 animals
a year—”most of them disabled, abused, and
senior dogs and cats,” according to the editors.
Get details from P.O. Box 920, Fillmore, CA
93016; 805-524-4542.
* The Geauga Humane Society in Russell,
Ohio, on September 16 commenced a free
eight-week course in animal rescue and abuse
detection. The course, the first of its kind in
the U.S., is intended to enable volunteers to
effectively support the GHS animal rescue and
anti-cruelty staff.
* The USDA significantly stepped up
Animal Welfare Act enforcement in 1991,
according to newly released statistics. The
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service assessed $213,350 in fines for AWA
violations, a 187% increase over 1990; sus-
pended or revoked 176% more licenses; and
issued 163% more cease-and-desist orders.
The total number of inspection visits to regu-
lated facilities was up 16%, to 15,148. The
AWA enforcement staff includes 38 animal
care inspectors plus 49 veterinarians.
* A six-month moratorium on the use of
leghold traps within Los Angeles city limits
expires at the end of October. Letters of sup-
port for renewing the moratorium and/or mak-
ing it permanent may be addressed to City
Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA
90012. The deadline for letters to be received
before the vote is October 9.
* Linda Chernak, assistant animal con-
trol officer for Stratford, Conn., has sued
the city for cutting her hours, allegedly in
retaliation for her refusal to back two police
officers who shot a pair of dogs they consid-
ered vicious. Chernak said she was able to
feed the dogs cookies.
* The 57-year-old Michigan Anti-Cruelty
Society shelter in inner Detroit “will probably
be out of business in three years,” according
to secretary Marilyn Iskra, due to lack of sup-
port from the impoverished community and
inability to attract donors from wealthier sur-
rounding communities, who mostly support
the much larger Michigan Humane Society.
Aware of numerous inner city shelters in a
similar plight, Carol Moulton of the American
Humane Association suggests the solution
might be in reviving or founding programs to
assist abused and neglected children—one of
the original purposes of humane societies, and
still part of the AHA mandate. Helping both
children and animals sounds like increasing the
workload for already overstressed staff,
Moulton acknowledged in discussion with
ANIMAL PEOPLE, but assisting children
could strengthen links to both adults in the
community and other providers of social ser-
vices.
* Anglo-dominated humane groups may
get little support from Hispanic neighbor-
hoods, but that doesn’t indicate lack of con-
cern for animals. Aaron and Sharon Gonzalez
of San Antonio, Texas, cut off their own
water and sewer systems and worked until two
a.m. September 14 to rescue five of seven two-
week-old puppies who had fallen down a pipe.
City officials told them to chop up the remain-
ing two with a plumber’s snake and flush them
away—until neighbor Joe Perez called his city
councilman. Then 15 city workers came to the
rescue with a backhoe.
* The Astro-World Series of Dog Shows
on Sept. 13 in Houston honored 10 dogs who
had been rescued by member societies of the
All Breed Rescue Association. ABRA
cofounder Susan Cloer told media that she
hoped the attention to rescued dogs would
remind the public of the consequences of irre-
sponsible breeding.
* The Glueck Neuter/Spay project and
no-kill shelter in Chicago has disbanded due
to the founders’ advancing age. Elmer and
Grace Glueck had placed 96 of the 122 cats
they had sheltered as of the ANIMAL PEO-
PLE deadline, and were hopeful of finding sit-
uations for the remaining 26, either in homes
or at other no-kill facilities.
* Amy Smith of League City, Texas, has
received $5,000 compensation for the loss of
her Australian shepherd, whom the city pound
sold to the University of Texas Medical
Branch in nearby Galveston 24 hours before
the mandatory three-day holding period for
strays expired. A tag or tattoo could have
saved the dog’s life.
* After the King County, Washington,
County Council finally approved a controver-
sial anti-pet overpopulation ordinance, prima-
ry sponsor Ron Sims praised the Progressive
Animal Welfare Society and the King County
Humane Society for exemplary effort in break-
ing the apathy surrounding a long-neglected
issue. The debate over the ordinance, adopted
last June 16, produced 57,000 letters, calls,
and petition signatures, pro and con, as well
as 16 hours of live testimony at two public
hearings.
* After a two-year moratorium,
Walgreens is again selling glue trapsbecause
of “very strong and expanding demand for this
item as well as the continued sale by all of our
direct competition,” according to government
and corporate relations director Edward King.
Protest to 200 Wilmot Road, Deerfield, IL
60015. Riser Foods, meanwhile, has discon-
tinued use of glue traps. Send thanks to 5300
Richmond Road, Bedford Heights, OH
44146.
* New legislation obtained by the Alliance
for Animal Legislation of Missouri expands
the Missouri Dept. of Agriculture’s authority
to inspect puppy mills, kennels, pounds,
shelters, pet stores, and facilities run by ani-
mal brokers. The new law, the Animal Care
Facilities Act, also requires that animals
released from pounds and shelters must be
spayed or neutered, and enables municipalities
to mandate spay/neuter.
* An estimated 15 dogs were stolen in
Phoenix, Arizona, during the first two weeks
of August, mostly chows, while 70 dogs,
mostly larger breeds, were stolen in western
Suffolk County, New York. The Phoenix
thefts are believed to be the work of a dog-
fighting ring; fighting dogs are trained by
encouraging them to kill cats and smaller dogs.
The New York thefts coincided with the late
summer school supply ordering rush, and may
be related to dissection exercises—not neces-
sarily in the New York City area.
