OBITUARIES

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

George Huebner, 51, died

of cancer on May 26 at

home in Houston.

Huebner became aware of

humane issues as curator of

laboratory animals from

1961 until 1977 at the now

defunct Texas Research

Institute for Mental

Sciences. That job over-

lapped 22 years as head of

the veterinary paramedic program at Houston

Community College. In 1973 Huebner

cofounded Citizens for Animal Protection,

serving on the board from 1977 on as it grew to

run three Houston-area shelters.

Obituaries

Whales for missiles: SANCTUARY CREATED––BUT WHALING GETS THE GO-AHEAD TOO

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, and WASH-

INGTON D.C.––As whale defenders cheered the May 26 cre-

ation of the Southern Whale Sanctuary around Antarctica, the

International Whaling Commission on May 27 unanimously

approved a U.S. motion to provisionally accept the Revised

Management Plan, a formula for setting renewed commercial

whaling quotas. Mexico, Ireland, and India voiced reserva-

tions but did not formally oppose the consensus.

The Southern Whale Sanctuary starts at the 40th par-

allel south latitude, dipping to the 55th parallel around the

lower tip of South America. It connects with the extant Indian

Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Although the IWC has no policing

power, the sanctuary designation means that whaling is per-

manently illegal in approximately half of the world’s waters,

protecting––on paper––about 80% of the surviving baleen

whales, an estimated 80% of the time.

Vets talk about low-cost neutering: PART TWO OF A NEW NATIONAL STUDY

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

PORT WASHINGTON, New York––The issue is money. Most veterinarians

want to be paid more for neutering cats and dogs, most pet keepers think they already pay too

much, and most animal control and rescue workers feel caught in the squeeze, trying to talk

veterinarians into neutering for less in order to convince the public to neuter as many animals

as is necessary to stop population control killing.

That’s no news to anyone who reads ANIMAL PEOPLE. The real news, emerg-

ing from a national survey done by ANIMAL PEOPLE for the Spay USA program of the

North Shore Animal League, is that much of the friction could be reduced or ended.

GATT panel says U.S. can’t protect dolphins

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

On May 23, one week before the U.S.

Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibition on the

import of tuna netted “on dolphin” took full effect,

a General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs panel

ruled for the second time that the prohibition vio-

lates GATT because GATT does not allow trade

bans based on commodity production methods.

As in 1991, the U.S. ignored the GATT

ruling, bringing the ban on non-dolphin-safe tuna

into place as scheduled on June 1. The previous

ruling was brought on behalf of Mexico, which

did not seek enforcement to avoid jeopardizing the

North American Free Trade Agreement, then

before Congress for approval. The May 23 ruling

was brought on behalf of the European Union,

and was slightly more favorable than the 1991 rul-

ing in that it did recognize––in theory, if not in

practice––the legitimacy of national attempts to

mandate international environmental protection.

FILM REVIEWS

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

Early-Age Spay/Neuter, distributed by Cats In

Need of Human Care (POB 431, Pomona, CA 91769,

attn. Tiffany Curry). $10.00, or $13.00 including addi-

tional information for veterinarians.

“I began early-age neutering in early 1988,”

recalls veterinarian W.M. Mackie in a commentary distrib-

uted with the Early-Age Spay/Neuter video. “By the summer

of 1989, the Coalition for Pets in Los Angeles assigned

Phyllis Daugherty to video me in a show-and-tell. It is an

amateur production,” Mackie acknowledges of the newly

released product. But the technical faults don’t get in the way

of the message. “The purpose,” Mackie continues, “is to

show my anesthesia protocol and to demonstrate that the skill

required is not extraordinary. Shown quite clearly is that

recovery of youthful patients is quick.”

COURT CALENDAR

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

Activism

The U.S. Supreme Court on

June 13 upheld federal court and Court

of Appeals rulings that communities

cannot consititutionally ban the display

of political signs on citizens’ own prop-

erty. Issued on behalf of anti-Persian Gulf

War protester Margaret Gilleo, of Ladue,

Missouri, who is now a Congressional

candidate, the ruling applies as well to

people who have been ordered to cease

displaying signs on behalf of animals.

Friends of Animals in early

June won a judgement against the State

of Alaska for attorney’s fees incurred in

defending itself against governor Walter

Hickel’s failed attempt to sue FoA for libel.

The Hickel suit was filed in June 1993 in

an apparent attempt to prevent FoA from

further publicizing the Alaskan plan to kill

wolves in order to make more moose and

caribou available to hunters.

Horses

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

Responding to an appeal from Brigitte Bardot,

Belgian interior minister Louis Tobback on June 13 banned the

controversial Krombeke trap-horse race––as well as any demon-

strations that might be held to gloat over the victory. Held on

slippery cobblestone streets, the race resulted in frequent injuries

to horses and drivers. Tobback, who said he’d always dreamed

of getting a letter from Bardot, last year banned a similar race at

nearby Sint-Eloois-Winkel.

Six-time Canadian Olympic equestrian Ian Millar,

of Perth, Ontario, on May 30 announced the retirement of Big

Ben, the 18-year-old Belgian he rode in three Olympics. Ben,

whom Millar began jumping in 1983, was the first North

American show jumper to win more than $1.5 million, achieving

40 grand prix victories; led Canada to the 1987 Pan American

Games gold medal; and won back-to-back World Cups.

Summer Book Reviews

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

The Cats of Thistle Hill, by Roger Caras.

Simon & Schuster (1230 Ave. of the Americas, New

York, NY 10020), 1994. 236 pages. $22 hardcover.

An excellent book for youngsters who demand to

know why they cannot have as many pets as they like, The

Cats of Thistle Hill is a melange of feline biographies,

information about the origins of the species and current

breeds; hints on the care, feeding, and behavioral problems

of cats; and anecdotes about the other animals on Thistle

Hill Farm, which seems to be less a farm than an animal

refuge. Roger Caras, now president of the American SPCA

and formerly an ABC television personality, apparently

maintains the fiction of farming as a front for animal rescue.

BOOKS: New wildlife titles

July 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1994:

The Zoo Book, by Allen W. Nyhuis. Carousel

Press (POB 6061, Albany, CA 94706-0061), 1994. 288

pages, 79 photos. $14.95 paperback.

Exhaustive but not definitive, The Zoo Book will give

zoogoers a general idea of what to expect at approximately 100

institutions, including 53 major U.S. zoos plus many aquariums,

foreign zoos, and other venues for observing captive wildlife.

Assessing each zoo from a tourist’s perspective, The Zoo Book

unfortunately gives good ratings to some whose animal holding

conditions and programs for the benefit of wildlife are poor to

mediocre. It also overlooks most small zoos. This justly penal-

izes the notorious roadside zoos, but may also tend to steer visi-

tors away from some outstanding small zoos, such as the

revamped collection at Watertown, New York, where a few

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