BOOKS: Native American Animal Stories

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Native American Animal Stories, told by Joseph Bruchac,
Fulcrum Publishing (350 Indiana St., Golden CO 80401, 800-992-2908), 1992, 135
pages, softcover $11.95.)
Every culture has stories to teach
children about the world and the creatures
in it. If these native American stories
occasionally evoke memories of the
Grimms’ Eastern European folktales, it’s
because their respective cultures had more
in common with each other than either has
with modern industrial society. Yet,
though we raise our children on myths of
science and technology, something about
fairy tales transcends time and culture to
fascinate each new generation.

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BOOKS: Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Sexual Strategies: How Females
Choose Their Mates, by Mary Batten,
G.P. Putnam Sons (200 Madison Ave., New York, NY
10016), 1992, 248 pages, hardcover $21.95 US, $28.95
CN (ISBN 0-87477-705-4)
From the perspective of evolutionary biology,
everything in nature revolves around the struggle of genes
to survive and reproduce. During her years of researching
and writing nature documentaries, Mary Batten, presently
editor of The Calypso Log, noticed that while the scientific
establishment accepted most aspects of evolutionary biolo-
gy, it tended to ignore the often-documented role of female
choice in the evolution of species and societies.

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Marine Mammals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The U.S. Navy on May 27 flew five dolphins
from a base on San Diego Bay to the Disney World Epcot
Center “Living Seas” pavillion in Orlando, Florida––with-
out getting prior permission from the National Marine
Fisheries Service, and in apparent contravention of lan-
guage in the current appropriation for the Navy dolphin pro-
gram, which provides “no less than $500,000 only to devel-
op training procedures which will allow mammals which are
no longer required for this project to be released back into
their natural habitat. The confreres prohibit the release of
these mammals to any alternative captive environment.”
The dolphins were moved from San Diego––on a five-year-
loan to Disney/Epcot––to make room for between 40 and 55
dolphins who are being relocated from a base in Hawaii.
Disney/Epcot plans to use the dolphins for captive breeding.

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BOOKS: Paws For Thought: A Look at the Conflicts, Questions and Challenges of Animal Euthanasia

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Paws For Thought: A Look at the Conflicts, Questions and Challenges of Animal Euthanasia
by B.J. Ellis. Paw Print Press (7509-I Garners Ferry Rd., Suite 164, Columbia, SC 29209), 1993, 137 pages, softcover $12.95.
Paws For Thought may be more divisive than it is
thought-provoking.
With a cursory introduction to the causes of pet
overpopulation, Ellis arrives at the anticlimactic conclu-
sion that, “Until there is a drastic improvement in the pet
overpopulation problem, a significant part of an animal
control officer’s job will involve destroying healthy ani-
mals. The effect is to put ordinary people under extraordi-
nary stress. They love animals, but have to kill them.
How unfair. How stressful.”

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Peggy Larson, DVM and Doctor -of-Law: Committed, compassionate, qualified to castrate or sue

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

BURLINGTON, VERMONT––Among the
heroes and heroines of animal protection are ex-vivisectors
turned animal rights advocate, veterinarians who do low-
cost neutering, whistleblowers who challenge the meat
industry, articulate writers and speakers, and attorneys who
secure better humane enforcement.
Tough, skeptical, and able to debate any subject
she addresses, Peggy Larson is all the above and more. Her
37 years of professional research, activism, and advocacy
began with two years of neurophysiologic experiments on
cats at the University of Minnesota in 1956-1957, as one of
the first women to break into an overwhelmingly male-dom-
inated field. This work, she recalls, “was horrible. Succinyl
choline was commonly used at that time, which paralyzes
the cat but does not anesthetize him.”

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COURT CALENDAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Undercover probe nabs Wisconsin dog dealer; local judge lets him go
Circuit judge Donald Poppy, of
Calumet County, Wisconsin, on June 14
dismissed a felony cruelty charge against
USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer
Ervin Stebane, 72, for tying, shooting,
and disemboweling a dog he sold as meat.
Poppy claimed Wisconsin law allows peo-
ple to kill their own dogs in a humane man-
ner, called the slaughter humane, and
added, “If the legislature intended for peo-
ple not to kill dogs as food, the legislature
should pass such a law.”

Zoos

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt told the San Diego Zoo on June
25 that, “Frankly, at this time, I am not
optimistic that our biologists can issue the
permit” the zoo seeks to import three pan-
das from China under a captive breeding
loan, because the import might violate the
Endangered Species Act. Babbitt said the
zoo would be allowed to bring in the pan-
das only if it can prove that the breeding
loan “will ultimately result in enhanced
protection for the species.” He added that
his staff was concerned “that this transac-
tion will set a precedent and generate irre-
sistible pressure for the capture and export
of pandas from the only region where they
are found wild.” The San Diego Zoo has
already spent more than $1 million in
preparation to receive the pandas, who are
expected to be a record-breaking attrac-
tion, and has agreed to pay China $1 mil-
lion a year during their visit plus $600,000
per cub who lives longer than six months.

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FUR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

A frequent target of animal
rights protesters for keeping marine mam-
mals in captivity, Marine World/Africa
USA is also under fire from the California
Fur Industry Inc. for describing the near-
annihilation of wild serval cats by the fur
trade during educational presentations at the
amusement park’s Wildlife Theatre.
“Fur trade officials are now
receiving Indian Affairs funds, which
should be going to First Nations,” the
Aboriginal Trappers Federation of Canada
charged in a public statement at the recent
North American Fur and Fashion Exposition
in Montreal. The statement referred to the
allocation of funds from Indian and Northern
Affairs Canada to the Wildfur Council of
North America, a pro-trapping group with
little Native American representation.

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