Biomedical research, teaching, and testing

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

The report in our November issue

that a George Washington University team

had cloned human embryos was in error,

based on an erroneous article in The New York

Times. What the researchers actually did was

achieve artificial embryonic cell division,

which creates the possibility of conceiving

twins via in vitro fertilization.

Veterinarian/astronaut Dr. Martin

Fettman on October 30 performed the first

dissections in space, assisted by Dr. Rhea

Seddon, aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

Diet & Health

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Unhealthy diet follows smoking as

the leading cause of preventable death i n

the U.S., according to a new study co-

authored by Dr. Mcihael McGinnis, deputy

assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services. McGinnis is

responsible for designing U.S. disease pre-

vention strategy. Preventable deaths account

for about half of the U.S. death rate. The

study appeared in the Journal of the American

Medical Association.

AGRICULTURE

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

The USDA on November 5

approved the sale of milk produced with the

use of a genetically engineered bovine

growth hormone, bovine somatotropin,

effective when a Congressionally imposed

moratorium expires February 3. In the interim,

the anti-genetic engineering Foundation on

Economic Trends and small dairy farmers are

trying to form a national boycott of dairies that

buy milk from BST users. The potential

impact of BST is indirectly illustrated by newly

released statistics showing California is the top

dairy state in the US., with only 2,000 farms

and 1.2 million cows, compared with 29,000

farms and 1.5 million cows for Wisconsin, the

runner-up. Most Wisconsin farms are family-

run; most California production comes from

mega-scale factory farms, whose cows may

never go outdoors or taste fresh grass. BST is

expected to tilt farm economics further in favor

of the factory farmers.

Pit bull murder rap a national first

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

CLEVELAND, Ohio––After nine

hours of deliberation, a Cleveland jury on

November 23 convicted unemployed welder

Jeffrey Mann, 36, of murder for siccing a pit

bull terrier named Mack on his live-in girl-

friend, Angela Kaplan, 28, during a quarrel

on the night of September 2, 1992.

Following mandatory sentencing guidelines,

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court

Judge Linda Rocker imprisoned Mann for 15

years to life.

It was the first-ever U.S. murder

conviction in which an animal figured as the

weapon. Mack bit Kaplan more than 70

times, almost exclusively on the undersides

of her arms. Afterward, she bled to death on

a living room sofa while Mann purportedly

slept in the family bedroom.

Swett keeps Primarily Primates

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

SAN ANTONIO, Texas––Conclu-

ding that charges of mismanagement against

Primarily Primates founder and president

Wallace Swett were much less serious than he

had been led to believe, Texas assistant attor-

ney general John Vinson on November 16

dropped a petition to remove Swett from the

sanctuary in exchange for structural conces-

sions. To improve oversight, Swett is to

expand the present five-member board to

seven members, of whom four must live with-

in 100 miles of the San Antonio facility. In

addition, Primarily Primates will no longer be

a membership-controlled organization with

Swett as the sole voting member, which in

effect gave him veto power over the board.

COURT CALENDAR

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Crimes against wildlife

Hong Kong authorities confiscat-

ed $20,000 worth of rhinoceros horn in a

series of late October raids on apothecaries,

following leads provided by the London-based

Environmental Investigation Agency. But the

raids may have come too late to save rhinos in

the wild, as fewer than six remain in protect-

ed areas of Zimbabwe, according to wildlife

veterinarian Dr. Michael Kock, who could

find only two in a two-week aerial search.

There were 3,000 when Zimbabwe achieved

native sovereignty in 1980. Kock sawed the

horns off about 300 rhinos a year ago, trying

to make them worthless to poachers, but dis-

covered that even the nub left behind after

dehorning will fetch $2,400 U.S. Kock says

he has evidence that the Asian poaching car-

tels are actively trying to “kill every rhino,”

because, “If they eliminate the rhino, the value

of the horn will skyrocket. They can sit on a

stockpile for 10 years; they know there is

always going to be a market.”

Zoos

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

World Society for the Protection of

Animals field officer Neil Trent flew to Tbilsi

in the former Soviet republic of Georgia on

November 26 in an emergency effort to save

starving animals in the city zoo––among them

two tigers, several lions, a polar bear, a leop-

ard, a wolf pack, and 25 birds of two species

(down in recent months from 1,000 birds of 40

species). The animals have reportedly received

only a third of their normal rations for months.

They were to be sent to the better-funded Baku

Zoo in Azerbaijan, but the deal was vetoed by

the Tbilsi mayor for reasons of regional pride,

according to anthropologist Mary Ellen

Chatwin, who called WSPA after other groups

declined to help. The Tbilsi Zoo used to draw

500,000-plus visitors a year, with a staff of

120. Attendance fell with the economy when

civil war broke out following the collapse of the

Soviet Union; some of the present staff of 60

are paid under 50ç a month. Worldwide, the

menageries of at least four major zoos have

starved in the last two years, all due to war.

Animal Control & Rescue

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Wildlife biologist Carol

Crane, president of the Calvert

Animal Welfare League in St.

Leonard, Maryland, has published

a survey of shelter intake and

euthanasia rates in 21 of the 23

Maryland counties, which include

95% of the state population. Her

findings “further confirm new

national estimates that animal care

and control facilities are not han-

dling as many dogs and cats as was

thought previously,” according to

Phil Arkow of the Peggy Adams

Animal Rescue League in West

Palm Beach, Florida. Arkow and

Andrew Rowan of Tufts University

have recently published estimates

that population control euthanasias

of dogs and cats probably don’t

exceed six million a year––half the

The Watchdog: Who gets the money?

December 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Except where otherwise indicated, the following

financial data comes from current Internal Revenue Service

Form 990 filings, covering either calendar year or fiscal

year 1992. (1993 filings won’t be available until next fall.)

To place these numbers in perspective, consider

that the National Charities Information Bureau requires

approved charities to spend at least 60% of their budgets on

program services, not including direct-mail fundraising.

This standard is stricter––and more indicative of an organi-

zation’s priorities––than the Internal Revenue Service rules,

which allow charities to write off some direct-mail fundrais-

ing costs as program service under the headings of “mem-

bership development” and “public education.” Thus the fig-

ures that organizations declare and the figures as amended

in accordance with NCIB guidelines are often very differ-

ent. You’ll find the differences explained in the footnotes.

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