Animal Control & Rescue

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

New Hampshire has followed

New Jersey and Connecticut in establish-

ing a statewide low-cost neutering pro-

gram. The New Hampshire program, man-

aged by the state department of agriculture

and funded by a $2.00 surcharge on dog

licenses, will subsidize neutering animals

adopted from shelters and those belonging

to people of low income.

The percentage of purebreds

among dogs received by pounds and shel-

ters appears to be edging up, e.g. from 22%

in 1991 to 25% in 1992 at the SPCA of

Monterey County, California, which keeps

some of the most comprehensive records on

purebreds. Other shelters claim to be

receiving as many as 30% purebreds. The

percentage may be up simply because total

admissions are generally down while the

number of dogs surrendered by owners is

holding even, and owned dogs are more

likely to be purebred.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer Noel

Leach of Chase City, Virginia, facing disciplinary action

for 46 alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act, sued

Friends of Animals on May 24 for purportedly defaming

his character and interfering with his business relation-

ships in connection with bringing many of the alleged vio-

lations to the USDA’s attention. Leach claims FoA under-

cover investigators trespassed on his property while gath-

ering evidence. FoA attorney Herman Kaufman respond-

ed to the suit with a request for dismissal, pointing out

that the action is based on an alleged tort in 1990 for

which the statute of limitations is just two years, and that

the statute of limitations in defamation cases in Virginia,

where the suit was filed, is only one year. Well known to

USDA inspectors, Leach was rapped for six previous

AWA violations in 1983. His primary business is selling

dogs and cats to research labs and dissection supply firms.

Who’s in charge at the National Humane Education Society? FOUNDER, 83, TAKES NO PAY; FUNDRAISER TAKES $512,909

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

LEESBURG, Virginia––The history of the

National Humane Education Society is in microcosm the

history of the humane movement in the 20th century––and

perhaps that’s the problem.

Financially struggling for 37 years, NHES con-

tracted with the fundraising firm Steve Cram and Associates

in July 1986. Tear-jerking direct mail campaigns increased

revenue from $852,007 in fiscal year 1986 to $2,230,076 in

fiscal year 1990: almost a three-fold jump. The growth in

revenue enabled the three NHES no-kill shelters to more

than double the number of animals in their care, from circa

300 to the present 800. But expenses in connection with

fundraising have claimed an increasingly large share of the

income: 39% in 1990, and as much as 52% in fiscal year

1992.

Performing Animals

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Anti-cruelty laws in most states do apply to ani-

mals at state and county fairs, carnivals, and circus,

reminds Vermont Volunteer Services for Animals humane

officer Sue Skaskiw. If you see cruelty, including live ani-

mals being offered as prizes, report it.

Christopher Ponte, 22, of Wappingers Falls,

New York, climbed a four-foot-high plastic fence at the

Fishkill Mall in nearby Fishkill on June 6 to get into an

enclosure with 10 elephants belonging to the Clyde Beatty-

Cole Brothers Circus. He was crushed to death when one of

the elephants turned, pinning him against a truck.

At least two pig-racing concessions are on the

county fair circuit this summer––Triple W Racing Pigs, run

by Wanda, Rachel, and Gene Webber of Shelby, North

Carolina, and Bob Hale Pig Racing Stables of Sikeston,

Missouri.

Habitat

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Eighty percent of the remaining old growth

forest in the Pacific Northwest would be protected from

logging under a plan to protect endangered spotted owls

and salmon runs unveiled July 2 by President Bill Clinton

in response to rulings by Federal District Judge William

Dwyer of Seattle that have restricted logging for nearly

three years. During the halt, the logging workforce has

declined from 145,000 to 125,000. The protected zones

would run along watersheds. Loggers would be allowed

to cut about 1.2 billion board feet of old growth per year

in less sensitive areas, down from five billion board feet

in the mid-1980s. While most of the plan does not

require Congressional approval, it must be ratified by

Dwyer before any old growth logging on the land covered

by his decisions can resume. Dwyer’s decision, based on

the provisions of the Endangered Species Act, is due in

mid-July. The Clinton plan, drafted with heavy input

from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, drew immediate

flak from House Speaker Thomas Foley, who indicated

he might cross party lines in an attempt to gut the ESA

when it comes up later this year for renewal.

HUNTING & FISHING

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The Illinois Department of Agriculture in June

banned captive pigeon shoots on advice of the state attor-

ney general, bringing its policy into line with the state

Humane Care for Animals Act of 1973 and a January 1992

amendment to the state Conservation Code. The ban was a

major victory for anti-pigeon shoot activist Steve Hindi, of

Plano, Illinois, who has struggled since 1990 to get

enforcement of the laws against pigeon shooting.

The Fund for Animals has announced that it

will not protest against the annual Fred Coleman Memorial

Labor Day Pigeon Shoot in Hegins, Pennsylvania, this

year. Major protests orchestrated by the Fund and PETA in

1991 and 1992 backfired when they became confrontational.

Nearly twice as many shooters and shoot supporters attend-

ed the Hegins shoot last year as before the Fund got

involved, possibly attracted by the chance an activist might

get killed in the act of rescuing a bird. The Coalition

Against Live Bird Shoots in Pennsylvania will hold a small-

er protest this year; details have not yet been announced.

Wildlife

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

British and Danish mammologists have con-

firmed the discovery of a previously unknown hooved ani-

mal in the Vu Quang Nature Reserve of northwestern

Vietnam, along the Laotian border. Dubbed Psuedoryx

nghetinhensis, the animal resembles a cow, is about the

size of a goat, and has antelope-like horns. Psuedoryx

nghetinhensis is the biggest new land animal to be found in

more than 50 years.

An investigation of the cash value

Pennsylvanians would assign to various wildlife-related

experiences, upcoming in The Journal of Environmental

Management, found a day of fishing assessed at from

$4.80 to $53.40, depending on the site, while a day of

bird-watching would go for $15.00, and the chance to

view an elk at close range would fetch $24.52. The prices

are over and above the actual cost of the activity.

Wolf Hollow

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

IPSWICH, Massachusetts––One of the newest and smallest

of the groups fighting to save Alaskan wolves is the North American

Wolf Foundation, the lifelong dream of retired clamdigger Paul

Soffron and his wife Joni. Incorporated in 1988, NAWF opened a 5-

acre wolf sanctuary two years later in the back yard of the coastal

Massachusetts home where Paul grew up. Funding thus far comes

mainly from the Soffrons’ savings, sympathetic relatives, and the sale

of Paul’s art prints and other wolf-related merchandise to the visitors

who crowd the facility every afternoon throughout the summer to see

and learn about the only grey wolves in New England.

Guest column: Supreme Court did not okay animal sacrifice

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

by Gary L. Francione and Anna E. Charlton

ANIMAL RIGHTS LAW CENTER

On June 11, 1993, the Supreme Court issued its

decision concerning animal sacrifice in Church of the

Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah. The next

day, most major newspapers carried headlines proclaim-

ing that the Court had held that animal sacrifice is protect-

ed by the First Amendment freedom of religion clause.

Typical of those proclamations was the one splashed

across the entire front cover of New York Newsday: “Top

Court OKs Animal Sacrifice.” Reading the comments of

major humane organizations in reaction to the decision,

including those such as the American Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which have the police

power to stop the infliction of cruelty on animals, we have

been distressed to realize that the decision has been read

far too broadly, and that there is the mistaken impression

that humane officers are now powerless to stop the brutali-

ties of animal sacrifice.

« 1 2 3 4 »