BOOKS: Native American Animal Stories

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

BOOKS: Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

REVIEWS: The Promise

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The Promise, music video, CD, and audio

tape by Cathy Kinsman, Vital Scenes Productions Inc.,

Swansea Postal Station, Box 88558, 34 Southport St.,

Toronto, Ontario M6S 4Z8 Canada. $20 in video or CD

format; $15 as tape.

Marine Mammals

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

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

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.”

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

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.”

COURT CALENDAR

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

FUR

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

1 2 3 4 »