Shakeup coming at NAVS?
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.
The exposes had further effect. On August 19, former NAVS attorney Reed Millsaps
told subscribers to the CompuServe PETS net-
work that he had resigned, “mainly due to the
information (brought to light by Clifton) that
was concealed from me, the staff, and proba-
bly the NAVS board.” Millsaps remained
active in animal work, volunteering his legal
services to represent protesters who were
arrested at the September 7 Hegins Labor Day
pigeon shoot.
Foy declined to discuss his findings
and recommendations with ANIMAL PEO-
PLE, but his reports to the NAVS board appar-
ently included recommending that Kenneth
Cunniff be dismissed.
