Biomedical research, teaching, and testing

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

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.

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AGRICULTURE

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.

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Pit bull murder rap a national first

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.

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Swett keeps Primarily Primates

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.

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COURT CALENDAR

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.”

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Zoos

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.

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Animal Control & Rescue

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

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The Watchdog: Who gets the money?

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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