Woofs and Growls

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

Greenpeace and the Doris Day Animal League are

among the major clients of Electronic Banking System Inc., target

of a December 1 Wall Street Journal expose as an especially notori-

ous example of an “electronic sweatshop,” a term coined by inves-

tigative writer Barbara Garson in a book by that title, indicating low

wage work under intensive electronic supervision. EBS recently

settled several complaints filed by the National Labor Relations

Board pertaining to alleged union-busting.

Storm in a seapen

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

Three of five ex-Navy dolphins scheduled for return to the

sea in a deal arranged by the Humane Society of the U.S. arrived

November 30 at the Sugarloaf Dolphin Sanctuary near Key West,

Florida, after an all-day flight from San Diego. Two more dolphins

were to be flown to Sugarloaf after recovering from minor ailments.

But jubilation was short-lived. Within two weeks,

Sugarloaf owner Lloyd Good III fired director of husbandry Rick

Trout and dolphin trainer Lynne Stringer, reportedly due to conflicts

with director of rehabilitation and release Ric O’Barry of the

Dolphin Project. Trout and Stringer responded by asking the USDA

to investigate the sanctuary.

Objected Stringer, “Volunteer staff and onlookers were

hovering over the dolphins, petting and rubbing them, and encour-

aging the very behaviors that they had come to the sanctuary to

extinguish.” Various accounts indicated at least eight different peo-

ple were working with the dolphins.

Dirty Pool III: Keiko

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

ANIMAL PEOPLE hadn’t scheduled a third part

of our “Dirty Pool” series on propaganda interfering with

marine mammal protection, but as the second part went to

press on November 22, Warner Brothers and New Regency

Productions donated $2 million to a new Free Willy/Keiko

Foundation formed by Earth Island Institute, the purpose of

which is to raise $10 million to buy Keiko, the orca star of

both the 1993 film Free Willy! and a forthcoming sequel

made with out-takes; fly him to a yet-to-be-built rehabilita-

tion site in Newport, Oregon; and prepare him for eventual

release. But Keiko’s owner, the Reino Aventura amuse-

ment park in Mexico City, is apparently not yet commited.

The Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor,

Washington, made the matter look a bit like a re-run with a

November bulletin headlined “How is Keiko, and what can

be done to help?” CWR claims to have struck a verbal deal

in August 1993 with Reino Aventura, to fly him to a reha-

bilitation center in the Bahamas and prepare him for release.

However, the story goes, the Alliance of Marine Mammal

Parks and Aquariums got wind of it and dispatched execu-

tives to Mexico City in the Sea World jet to keep it from

happening. CWR gave up on the deal in May 1994.

OBITUARIES

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

Susan de Treville, 44, board mem-

ber and cofounder of The Mountain Lion

Foundation, also founder of the California

Wildlife Conservancy, died in October after a

prolonged struggle against brain cancer. A

San Diego resident, she left two young daugh-

ters, Joy Wallen and Amanda Sitton. Wrote

colleague Sharon Negri, “She was a skilled

biologist with a passion and love for animals.

From 1972 through 1976, Susan and Larry

Sitton conducted lion telemetry research in

Hunter Liggett, a rugged, mountainous range

in Big Sur, and were the first in California to

study range sizes and male/female lion interac-

tions. While big cats were her first love,

Susan also published two children’s coloring

books, worked on coastal and water quality

issues with the Environmental Defense Fund

and the Coastal Conservancy, and managed

her own consulting business. Susan’s two

daughters have scattered her ashes in mountain

lion terrain in the Hunter Liggett study area.”

Obituaries

BOOKS: The Dog I.Q. Test

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

The Dog I.Q. Test, by Melissa

Miller. Penguin Books (375 Hudson

St., New York, NY 10014), 1994.

175 pages, paperback. $7.95.

You probably don’t need to give

your dog an I.Q. test to know he’s no rocket

scientist––but because I’m not a rocket sci-

entist either, I tested the test by completing

Miller’s questionaires for each of our three

dogs and myself. Our German shepherd,

Tasha, predictably outscored 85% of all

dogs, while our lab/spaniel mix, Francesca,

scored dimmer than 85%. Our husky mix

Zooky, however, scored just one point

below Tasha, which probably explains why

I’m not smart enough get her to obey any

command but “Come eat the cat puke.”

Meanwhile, I learned I am supposed to be

smart enough to handle huskies, but not to

handle a shepherd. Fortunately Tasha dis-

agrees. She thinks throwing a ball takes the

same genius as rocketry.

BOOKS: The Animal Rights Movement In The United States, 1975-1990

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

The Animal Rights Movement

In The United States, 1975-1990:

An Annotated Bibliography, by Bettina Manzo. Scarecrow Press (POB

4167, Metuchen, NJ 08840), 1994. 306 pages, $39.50 hardcover.

The evolution of mass movements

is defined by bibliography. By organizing

the literature of a cause over a specified

timespan, bibliographers create landmarks:

works included become a canon, while

works overlooked tend to elude historical

notice.

REVIEWS: Children’s books

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

From Simon & Schuster (1230 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10020):

Animals Under Cover, by Stephen Savage. $10.95 hardcover.

My First Pop-Up Book of Prehistoric Animals,

illustrated by Roma Bishop. $12.95 hardcover.

Nature by the Numbers With Pop-Up Surprises,

by Lynette Ruschak, art by G.B. McIntosh. $12.95 hardcover.

Wetlands, by Downs Matthews, photos by Dan Guravich. $15.00 hardcover.

From Scholastic (555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012):

All About Alligators, written and illustrated by Jim Arnosky. $14.95 hardcover.

Bats: Night Fliers

by Betsy Maestro, illustrated by Giulio Maestro. $14.95 hardcover.

Fur, Feathers, and Flippers: How Animals Live Where They Do,

by Patricia Lauber. $16.95 hardcover.

Reviews

BOOKS: So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed, Fun-Filled Book To Help Kids Help Animals

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

So, You Love Animals: An Action-Packed,

Fun-Filled Book To Help Kids Help

A n i m a l s, by Zoe We i l. Animalearn (c/o The

American Anti-Vivisection Society, 801 Old York

Road, #204, Jenkintown, PA 19046-1685), 1994.

190 pages, paperback, $14.95.

It is generally agreed that reaching young people

with a humane message is among the most important goals

of the animal protection community. Unfortunately and

inexplicably, proportionate resources are not directed into

humane education by either national or local humane organ-

izations. Because of this, materials intended for general

distribution to children and teenagers are of special utility.

So, You Love Animals is just such a tool. One

needn’t wait for a humane education program to materialize

in the local elementary school: you can simply donate a

copy of So, You Love Animals to the school library. Along

with Ingrid Newkirk’s Kids Can Save The Animals, it ought

to be in all libraries.

Why shelters and sanctuaries get stoned from within

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

As Lynn Cuny’s Wildlife Rescue and

Rehabilitation sanctuary has expanded, the incoming presi-

dent of the Association of Sanctuaries has learned to study

human as well as animal behavior. After absorbing a

media bashing led by former volunteers in late 1992,

between similar bashings endured by distant neighbor

Wally Swett of Primarily Primates, Cuny shared some the-

ories with ANIMAL PEOPLE that have subsequently

proved valid in many other sanctuary and shelter blow-ups.

“Problems don’t begin because of just one per-

son,” she said. “They begin with a particular combination.

You may have a potential problem smouldering for years in

someone who’s otherwise a very good employee or volun-

teer. This will be someone with low self-esteem, a pro-

found poverty mentality, who needs and wants an inordi-

nate amount of encouragement and recognition. If you are

a successful sanctuary or shelter, your success at animal

care can make these people crazy. They see the animals

being loved and appreciated, and money being spent on

care and medicine, and they don’t believe they could ever

have these things in their own lives. They become jealous.

« 1 2 3 4 »