Defenders of Animal Rights shelter picketed

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

PHOENIX, Md. — Weekly protests

outside the Defenders of Animal Rights shel-

ter just north of Baltimore commenced on

August 14, coordinated by the Animal

Welfare League of Greater Baltimore. The

protesters, including former shelter employ-

ees and volunteers, alleged unrecorded

euthanasias, financial abuses, and miscella-

neous other irregularities paralleling some of

those alleged against Primarily Primates one

month earlier, also by former volunteers and

staffers. Several protesters contacted ANI-

MAL PEOPLE, including AWLGB president

Elizabeth Kirk, but none documented any-

thing at DAR that substantially deviates from

common shelter practice., nor did they pro-

vide evidence that anyone at DAR is collect-

ing unusually high remuneration.

Shakeup coming at NAVS?

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

CHICAGO, Ill. — Independent auditor William Foy assumed administration of the

National Anti-Vivisection Society on August 1 for an indefinite period, replacing president

Mary Margaret Cunniff, who took a paid maternity leave. .

The NAVS board of directors hired Foy to perform an internal audit shortly after an

expose by ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton revealed that over a fourth of the NAVS

stock portfolio was invested with firms who perform or commission vivisection and/or have

become notorious for environmental abuses—including U.S. Surgical, whose sales demonstra-

tions on live dogs Cunniff denounced in print in May 1991, only days before purchasing

$46,745 worth of U.S. Surgical shares. The stock had nearly doubled in value when sold.

Earlier exposes traced the extensive use of NAVS funds to benefit members of Cunniff’s family,

including her husband, attorney Kenneth Cunniff; her sister, Catherine Curran; her father,

George Trapp, who preceded her in the presidency; her brother-in-law, Patrick Rocks; and her

uncles, Robert Mahoney and Al Lamier. Cunniff and her husband alone received an estimated

$172,000 in salaries and benefits during 1991. During their administration, according to well-

placed staffers, NAVS membership has fallen from 53,000 to 11,000; following the exposes,

the organization was believed to be losing from $25,000 to $50,000 a month.

Fighting isn’t over for the Old War Horse

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

LONDON, U.K. — The late Dorothy

Brooke founded the Brooke Hospital for

Animals as the Old War Horse Memorial

Hospital. Brooke specified that her primary

purpose was to protect retired military horses

and donkeys. Military organization wasn’t nec-

essarily part of her plan–but after assuming the

top post at the Old War Horse approximately

one year ago, following his retirement from the

Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Col. Brian

Thompson quickly moved to establish military

order—including institution of a rigid chain-of-

command, increased paperwork to track activ-

ities, a lid on information released to the press,

and an apparent ban on cooperation with per-

ceived rivals.

No time for monkey business at Primarily Primates

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. — Primarily Primates

has survived an attempted putsch, at least for

now, but the future of the showplace sanctuary

could yet be jeopardized by animal rights move-

ment politics.

Founded over a decade ago by former

zookeeper Wally Swett to house primates res-

cued from laboratories, roadside zoos, and

abusive exotic petkeepers, Primarily Primates

has expanded to accommodate nearly 400 ani-

mals. As Swett admits, there have been grow-

ing pains. Animals have often arrived at a

faster rate than funds to feed and shelter them.

Sometimes Swett and his volunteer staff have

been obliged to handle species they’ve never

seen before. Frequently they receive non-pri-

mates for temporary housing until other situa-

tions can be found—which can be difficult. A

What’s going on at The Animals’ Agenda?

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

MONROE, Conn. — Five months after the

Animals’ Agenda board of directors sacked

most of the staff and forced editor Kim

Bartlett’s eventual resignation, the publication

is in “dire financial peril,” according to a late-

September appeal issued by board president

Wayne Pacelle..

Under pressure from numerous national

organizations who were irate over exposes of

group financial practices, among them PETA,

the National Anti-Vivisection Society, the

Doris Day Animal League, In Defense of

Animals, and the American SPCA, the board

abruptly fired news editor Merritt Clifton,

now editor of ANIMAL PEOPLE, last May

1. Simultaneously, the board terminated use

of otherwise vacant space at the magazine

offices by Bartlett’s feral cat rescue project.

Shelter bashing wasn’t planned

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

A late summer wave of shelter-bashing by

animal rights groups took humane workers by

surprise, including some of the most outspo-

ken critics of shelter administrations. Protests

outside numerous shelters on Homeless

Animals Day, August 22, coincided with

campaigns against the management of the

Primarily Primates shelter in San Antonio,

Texas, and the Defenders of Animal Rights

shelter in Phoenix, Maryland. (See separate

items.)

Hunting news

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Arizonans will vote November 3

on a referendum measure to ban

trapping, portrayed by the National Rifle

Assn. and National Trappers Assn. as an

attempt to ban all hunting and fishing as

well. The initiative is sponsored, however,

by Arizonans for Safety and Humanity on

Public Lands, whose initial board of direc-

tors included a hunter and a gun dealer. The

group declined funding from the Humane

Society of the U.S. to avoid confusing the

issues.

Letters [Oct. 1992]

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

I am feeling sad and sick about what

is done to helpless animals. After receiving

photos of torture for almost two years from

PETA, Greenpeace, In Defense of Animals,

et al, I feel I just can’t stand it. Is this normal?

I have saved 10 kitties and my neighbors

always have my cats in their yard. I spend lots

of time saying “I’m sorry.” I wish I could

have more, but I look like some nutty cat lady.

Anyway, back to my question: how do I stop

feeling bad?

—Alexandra Robertson, Rocklin,

California.

Letters

Guest Column: Violence and hatred won’t stop the pigeon shoot by Marjorie Spiegel

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

The string is pulled. The lid of the box opens,

and a bird flutters a few feet up into the air and is imme-

diately shot once, twice. If it is a clean shot, the bird

lies motionless. The crowd cheers. “That one’s dust,”

says a spectator. If the shooter is less accurate, we see

one wing, perhaps, twitching in the air, or a bird strug-

gling on the field. Boys in yellow shirts run to the birds,

throw a body in the bag, twist a neck, then into the same

bag. Sometimes a commotion: someone has made it

onto the field. She is pursued, yet reaches the string

lines or the boxes. The lids open, and eight or so pigeons

fly off to freedom, the most beautiful sight on a day

filled with much to be sorry for.

That is the essence of the Labor Day pigeon

shoot in Hegins, Pennsylvania: some people wish to use

these pigeons for target practice, and others wish to see

this ended and to let the pigeons go free.

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