CHILDREN & ANIMALS
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1994:
University of New Hampshire soci-
ologist David Finkelhor reported in the
October issue of Pediatrics that a telephone
survey of 2,000 children aged 10-16 had dis-
covered 15.6% were assault victims within the
previous year, triple the 5.2% reported by the
1991 National Crime Survey; 0.5% had been
raped, five times higher than the NCS esti-
mate of 0.1%; and 75% of the attacks were by
other youths, including 41% of the sexual
assaults. From 30% to 40% of the victims had
never reported the assaults, Finkelhor said.
Egyptian health minister Ali
Abdel-Fattah on October 19 reneged on a
promise population minister Maher Mahran
made to the United Nations Conference on
Population and Development in September
that Egypt would push for a law banning
cliterodectomies––a procedure done to an esti-
mated 91% of Egyptian women to prevent
them from feeling sexual pleasure. Instead,
Abdel-Fattah said he might try to repeal the
law barring the operations in government hos-
pitals and clinics. Cliterodectomies are now
usually performed under unsanitary conditions
by untrained people, without anesthetic.
The Elsa Wild Animal Appeal’s
Leo M. Lobsenz Wildlife Education Fund
provides material support for humane educa-
tion programs. Get application info from POB
675, Elmhurst, IL 60126.
Psychologist Soledad Larrain of
the United Nations Childrens Fund reported
October 20 that two-thirds of Chilean children
are beaten at home; 34% receive frequent and
severe beatings. Only one victim in 10
receives medical help for serious injuries,
while fewer than one in 20 receives legal help.
Domestic violence wasn’t criminalized in Chile
until September of this year.
California governor Pete Wilson
on September 29 signed a bill setting up a
“900” telephone number to enable parents to
keep track of the location of the state’s estimat-
ed 41,000 convicted felony child molesters.
The system, meant to pay for itself with an
estimated volume of 6,000 calls per month, is
to be operating by July 1, 1995.
Bangladesh police on October 9
arrested three Moslem elders who flogged a
13-year-old girl 101 times for alleged fornica-
tion. The girl, known only as Juleka, said she
would kill herself if the men were not pun-
ished. Her friend Firoza, 14, did kill herself
last year rather than endure such a flogging.
Liberian head of state David
Kpomakpor called on October 7 for the aboli-
tion of forced conscription of child soldiers.
Of the 60,000 combatants in the ongoing
Liberian civil war, he said, “The great majori-
ty are children who have yet to complete their
primary education.”
Paul Watson credits The Kindness
C l u b, founded in 1959 by the late Aida
Flemming, as a major inspiration to his career
in wildlife defense. Membership is $3.00 U.S.
or Canadian funds per child, or $15.00 for
groups of 5-10 members. Each child gets a
pin, information packet, and quarterly news-
letter. Write to 65 Brunswick St., Fredericton,
New Brunswick, Canada E3B 1G5.
The American Anti-Vivisection
Society is soliciting nominations for its 1995
Student Animal Advocate Award and entries
in its second annual Young Activist Campaign
ontest. Get details from Dean Smith at 800-
SAY-AAVS, or write to 801 Old York Road
#204, Jenkintown, PA 19046-1685.
A study of “Student Achievement
and Attitudes in a Pilot Study Comparing
an Interactive Videodisc Simulation to
Conventional Dissection,” published in the
October 1994 edition of The American
Biology Teacher, reinforces the findings of
previous studies done in 1969 and 1977,
agreeing that simulation “can be as effective
as traditional frog dissection in the high school
biology laboratory.”
