LETTERS [November 1995]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

No-kill speech
Thank you for the transcript
of your speech to “No-Kills In
the Nineties,” held recently in
Phoenix. I have made copies of it
for the members of our Animal
Control Advisory Committee. Your
message helps people understand the
different missions of each animal
group. With that understanding, the
groups can find the common ground
to work together.
I believe every animal
shelter has an obligation to seek the
means to become a no-kill. We just
received a National Animal Control
Association award for our aggressive
adoption outreach, but just because
we have received a national award
doesn’t mean we can stop and pat
ourselves on the back. We still have
a long way to go, and we will not
stop until we get there.

––Dave Flagler
Multnomah County Animal Control
Portland, Oregon

More praise
You were absolutely brilliant
at the conference in Arizona.
What you had to say is so important
and you said it so well. I found this
event to be incredibly worthwhile
and uplifting. It was great to be surrounded
for once by people of like
mind. Keep up the great work. It is
vital to the movement.
––Richard Avanzino
President
San Francisco SPCA

Thank you both. Send
$1.00 (postage and copying cost) for
a copy of the speech, or e-mail a
requestto ANMLPEOPLE@aol.com.

Fundraising
If I receive a mailing that
contains both educational material
and an appeal, what percentage of
the total cost of the mailing is
“fundraising”? What is the formula?
Who determines what is educational
and what is simply an appeal? What
if funds are raised by an “educational”
mailing? I’ve seen a lot of what
I consider to be fraud associated
with direct mail campaigns, and I
think Sea Wolf will continue to find
other means of support.
––Jeanne McVey
Sea Wolf Alliance
San Rafael, California

There is no set legal for –
mula to distinguish an “education –
al” mailing from fundraisin in
reporting to either membership or
the IRS. That’s why many organiza –
tions report bogus figures. We use
the National Charities Information
Bureau criteria: any mailing that
asks for money and is not a legiti –
mate periodical, consisting mainly
of editorial matter, counts as
fundraising.

Empty bowl
Thanks for keeping us
informed. Your Watchdog’s empty
bowl is certainly appropriate.
––Mickey Protomastro
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Xenotransplants
I was bothered by Alan
Berger’s essay on xenotransplants
[animal-to-human transplants] in
your September edition. I am of
course totally against xenotransplants,
but I am also against human
organ transplants for this reason:
when a person dies (goes back to the
spirit world), if one of his/her
organs stays behind alive in another
person, then the one who died cannot
go about his/her business in the
spirit world. The person is stuck,
having to hang around until that
organ dies. This is very bad for the
one who has gone on.
––C. Raymer
Denver, Colorado

Oliver
Thanks so much for the
update on Oliver, the probable
bonobo chimp in your October article,
“Seven chimps safe, maybe
more.” Am I correct in assuming
that Oliver was also used as a lab
chimp? If so, that is very sad. I
wish there were something I could
do to help these poor creatures.
––Dee Holly
Marion County Animal Center
Ocala, Florida

Oliver, extensively abused
in sideshows, has not yet been used
in biomedical research, but as a
non-breeder could be potentially
used in corrosive (terminal)
research, if he isn’t purchased from
the financially struggling Buckshire
Corporation soon for placement in
an appropriate zoo or sanctuary.
Buckshire executive Sharon Hirsch
says she wants to see him go to the
most benign possible situation, but
the economic factors governing his
fate could slip beyond her control.

Holiday mail
We try to print and mail
each month in time for the issue to
reach you by the first of the next
month––but the Thanksgiving,
Christmas, and New Year’s holidays
pose serious risk that ANIMAL
PEOPLE might get caught
in postal jams if we published our
December and January/February
editions on the same dates as most
months. Rather than print and
mail on time only to reach you late
through no fault of our own, we’ll
gather news a week longer before
printing and mailing these issues,
enabling us to bring you more current
coverage. And you may not
have to wait longer to get it.
This will also enable us
to include more organizations than
ever in our annual December
report Who Gets The Money?,
presenting the budgets, assets,
and executive salaries paid by the
leading animal-related charities,
based on what they tell the IRS.
You won’t want to do your holiday
giving without it.

Chimpanzees
Montreal Gazette c o l u m –
nist Doug Camilli much enjoyed
Carol Connare’s account in our
September edition of how Jane
Goodall greeted 100 Los Angeles
police officers as a female chim –
panzee would greet 100 high-ranking
male chimps––and convinced them
to back her “Roots and Shoots” pro –
g r a m . “So there it is: submissive
pant-grunts as a management tool for
executive women,” Camilli finished.
Responded Connare,
“Goodall’s submissive pant-grunts
caught the attention of the police
officers because the human male is
only slightly more evolved than the
male chimpanzee.”

South Africa
I was most interested in your September editorial
“Prepare for post-pet overpopulation,” and I quoted from it at
the SPCA Annual Conference in East London, South Africa.
Our National Council of SPCAs is the umbrella for 110 SPCA
shelters all over South Africa, and like most shelters, we have
the incessant traumatic job of putting down thousands of
healthy animals. In 1993 we had our SPCA Act passed by
Parliament, which requires all shelters to sterilize all animals
before homing. However, euthanasia rates remain high, and
publicity about them is affecting us adversely. There are some
no-kill shelters here, and those we have seen are disgusting,
but their no-kill posture does attract funds, and further growth
could impact our own homing rates.
Our understanding is that only a few cities, counties,
and states in the U.S. have introduced stringent restrictions on
companion animal breeding, and the implication is that lowcost
sterilization is the secret to the reduction in the euthanasia
of healthy animals which is being achieved all over the U.S.
San Francisco seems to be the leading light, but you
state that New York City, San Diego, St. Louis, Washington
state, and Connecticut state could all get to zero euthanasias of
healthy animals by the turn of the century given similar sterilization
programs. Does this projection envision stringent legislation
for breeding control as well?
We have been trying to get such legislation implemented
in South Africa, so far without any success. This was
our preferred strategy because the veterinary profession as a
whole, despite some exceptional practitioners, has not been
supportive of low-cost sterilization.
It would seem that the step some of our shelters have
taken to get into animal control is backward, in your estimation.
A local argument is that there are many dog license
defaulters, and that they are more willing to pay the SPCA than
a municipality.
––Eric Nash
Vice Chairman
National Council of SPCAs
Southdale, South Africa

The evidence is by now irrefutable that making lowcost
or even free neutering universally accessible is the only
sure way to prevent the births of surplus animals. This requires
both providing the neutering service and either taking it into
poor areas via mobile clinic, or providing transportation so
that people without cars can get their animals to and from a
fixed-site clinic. The evidence is strong that anti-breeding laws
have nil effect on most animal owners’ behavior, while high
licensing differentials for intact animals often create disincen –
tives to neutering by creating disincentives to license, as people
fear bringing an intact but unlicensed animal to a neutering
clinic lest they be fined. The San Francisco experience illus –
trates that the fastest way to make a community realize the
importance of offering low-cost or free neutering is to make tax –
payers bear the full cost of animal control, while the fastest
way for a humane society to raise the funds to provide low-cost
or free neutering is to get out of the business of killing animals
en masse for the community. Going to no-kill also tends to
stimulate visits to the shelter from prospective adopters, and
encourages people to turn in unwanted animals, rather than
turning them loose to “give them a chance” ––and, too often,
to breed while suffering a miserable life followed by premature
death. Finally, as the SF/SPCA and many others demonstrate,
the best way to deal with badly run no-kills is to outcompete
them with well-run no-kills.

Sealing their doom
Further to your articles on Canada’s Atlantic seal
hunt, I and several representatives from animal rights and welfare
organizations attended the October 3 forum on Atlantic seal
management in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The forum was
hosted by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and
was largely attended by those with a vested interest in the sealing
industry.
At this time, DFO put everything on the table for discussion,
including increased quotas of 290,000 seals and up;
reintroduction of large vessels; invitations to other countries to
join the killing; and finally, extension of the season to include
killing pregnant females.
It looks as if we are back to square one. The decision
to return to sealing as something other than a cottage industry is
still political, the science is still nebulous and contradictory,
and the Canadian taxpayer will be heavily subsidizing the
slaughter. However, except for the sale of male sex organs to
the Orient for aphrodisiacs, there is no measureable market:
none for furs, hides, blubber, or meat.
The fate of the seals is now up to the same
people––DFO––who managed the east coast fishery into oblivion.
Why should we have faith in them, and do we really want
to revisit the killing fields of Canada’s primitive past? And for
what? Sex potions?
Unless we speak out loud, clear and fast, the seal
hunt will once again become Canada’s shame!
––Anne Streeter
International Wildlife Coalition
Montreal, Quebec

Hot tips on fires
On Thursday, October 6, we had a
fast-moving brush fire out here in canyon
country. It was only 15 miles from my shelter,
so I went down to the fire line to see what
I could do and where it was moving. Luckily
for us, it was moving away from the shelter.
When it neared a housing development,
I called my wife, Stacy, who joined
me on the line with our van and cages. As the
fire licked houses, and county firefighters
pounded the flames with choppers, tankers
and hoses, I removed dogs whose owners
were at work from nearby yards. I also
marked several houses for break-in, as I could
see cat dishes inside and nobody at home.
None of the houses caught fire,
thanks to superb work by the 500 firefighters
on the scene (unlike the Forest Service, who
just watches it burn). I did have one close call
as I ran with an old German Shepherd female
ahead of a wall of flame. We both got a little
smoke inhalation and a lot of heat.
After the fire was under control, we
returned the dogs to their homes. Some had
charred yards, but the danger was over.
Anyone can do this. If you are with
a shelter and have a business card, it helps.
So did my vehicle’s yellow flashing light.
And those with yellow fire jackets were
allowed through the line as if they had official
business. So get a yellow fire jacket––and a
yellow vehicle light. I can point people to fire
equipment dealers.
After the fire, the next day, I found
a little burned bunny by the side of the road
and took him to the vet. I called him “Smokey
the Bunny.” He didn’t live, but it occured to
me that with 1,400 acres gone, other bunnies,
etcetera, would need to eat. The two miles
they would have to hop to find food would be
too much for many. I loaded our truck with
alfalfa and dumped it all over the place yester-
day. I will add more daily until wildlife has a
foothold again.
This is something everyone can do.
If you don’t have a truck, take sunflower seeds
for squirrels or bags of rabbit pellets and dump
them. I am now buying squirrel food by the
50-pound bag; the fire victim squirrels are
thin and don’t eat hay. They need to store
food for the winter as well as feed themselves
now. Many survived underground, so there
are many mouths to feed. People should do
this wherever there have been fires. It would
matter to a lot of little squirrels. Replacing
lost food sources is a wonderful way of directly
helping animals in need––especially in huge
forest fire areas, where large numbers of animals
die of starvation afterward.
I hope this suggestion helps wildlife
fire victims someday. ––Leo Grillo
D.E.L.T.A. Rescue
Glendale, California’

As a former firefighter, the Editor
recommends that anyone helping at a fire
have proper safety equipment and training
(routinely given to members of volunteer fire
departments), since the would-be helper who
misjudges a hazard can put many lives at risk
as others attempt a rescue. Further, it is a
crime to impersonate a firefighter or a peace
officer. Creating a professional impression
through conduct and attitude is always a good
idea, but don’t lie about who you are. Be
aware, too, that taking animals without
authorization, even from a burning building,
is technically theft, and may
involve breaking-and-entering.
Most animal owners will be
thankful, but expect the occa –
sional jerk. (Firefighters too
run into this problem.) Finally,
when feeding animals in a fire
zone, leave the food well away
from roads, to avoid setting up
roadkills; encourage continued
foraging behavior by leaving
the food in different places each
time; and avoid being seen, as
the last thing you want to do is
make a wild animal so trusting
of humans as to walk up to a
hunter, expecting a handout.

Helen Jones 
I read with profound sadness your story about
Helen Jones. Helen Jones was one of the first people to
understand that animal rights was a truly radical philosophy
that differed in fundamental ways from animal welfare; one
of the first people to understand that animal exploitation
could not be regulated and that it needed to be incrementally
abolished; and one of the first people to understand the
connection between the oppression of nonhumans and the
oppression of people of color and women. Helen Jones was
and remains a visionary human being.
––Gary L. Francione
Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Newark, New Jersey

Helped escaping slaves
I was shocked, surprised, and very saddened to
read that certain people think it is time Helen Jones should
retire. Helen and her sisters Margaret and Ruth have devoted
their lives to relieving animal suffering. Margaret is now
dead, Ruth is ill in a nursing home, and Helen is left to
carry on alone. It seems their desire to relieve suffering is
inherited, as I am told their family ran the underground railroad
in Pennsylvania to help escaping slaves.
––Anne Boulton
Marmora, Ontario

Jones & the Pope
It is to be hoped that a full investigation will be
made of the International Society for Animal Rights, which
has steadily led the way for animal rights. When the
National Catholic Humane Society was still in working condition
as such, I wrote to Helen Jones asking for help. Our
group, Animal Crusaders of Arizona, had introduced the
Animal Birth Control program to Arizona. Hispanics and
others said that it was against their religious beliefs to
neuter dogs and cats. We pointed out that they did not ride
stallions, usually, but rode geldings; ate steers rather than
bulls; and caponized fowl, but it was no use. Jones contacted
the Irish National Catholic Society, and a delegation
visited the Pope in Rome, who declared it was okay to
neuter cats and dogs.
Now we come to old age, which is far worse than
death, be the truth known.
––B.B. Eilers
Arizona Representative
The Animals’ Crusaders, Inc.
Mesa, Arizona

Ann Millan
Congratulations on your address to “No-kills in
the Nineties.” It is wonderful, inspirational, and eloquent.
Once, when Margaret Jones still ran the old
humane society on Gibson Street in Scranton, I went there
to volunteer, but the conditions for the animals were so
appalling that I could not return. Many years ago I also visited
Animal Haven, in Hollis, Queens. An epidemic had
attacked the cats and they were dying all over the place.
That too brought a week of insomnia and nightmares.
After those two experiences, I stayed away from
no-kills. Embarrassed that I had never seen Ann Millan’s
place, I finally confided that I was afraid to, and told her
why. I could tell she was hurt, and resolved to go at the
first opportunity. When I did, I was very pleased with what
I saw. Since then, I’ve been there several times. It has
always been clean and orderly. The cats are truly chubby.
Ann has someone else do her adoptions because
she realized long ago that it was too difficult for her to let
the animals go. She is naturally protective of them, but I’m
not sure a true collector would delegate adoptions ––or even
do adoptions.
Maybe her shelter was a mess before I ever saw it,
but I can tell you it is not a mess now. I give Ann tremendous
credit for fighting on. ––Lynn Manheim
Dalton, Pennsylvania

Our expose of deficient animal care at the ISAR
offices, alleged often by people associated with ISAR in
recent years, mentioned two November 1992 raids on sites
in nearby Scranton, Pennsylvania, where ISAR president
Helen Jones’ longtime friend Ann Millan and her associate
Denise Matyewicz were found to be keeping 24 dogs and 41
cats in seriously substandard conditions.

White rabbits
In your October article “Bad
dogs or bad dog laws?” you wrote that
in 1986 I released white rabbits
removed from Oregon State University
laboratories by the Animal Liberation
Front beside a busy road. That reflects
very negatively on me as an animal
rights activist. More importantly, it
damns the ALF. I was unexpectedly
assigned three rabbits in addition to 100
rats, 30 mice, and 11 hamsters. My
aunt Edith and I drove over 100 miles to
the Oregon coast to deliver the rabbits
to animal rescuer Nanette Benson. Her
veterinarian found a University of
Oregon tattoo in an ear. He called the
police and they found my name in
Nanette’s files. My aunt and Nanette
are now in a higher plane of existence,
and I like to believe they are surrounded
by grateful animals. Note: UofO is not
OSU. ––Roger Troen
Portland, Oregon

Troen is identified as having
received all of the rabbits taken from
OSU and having released them “in the
hills,” where four were found beside a
busy road, in a handwritten account of
the OSU raid we received from a selfdescribed
participant whose writing
matches that of Bill Ferguson in a
handwritten statement about another
ALF-related case. Ferguson has at var –
ious times been named as both a sus –
pect and a suspected informant in
connection with the OSU raid. He
denies having been an informant.

Not a DVM
Thanks for the kind words
in ANIMAL PEOPLE about our
Equine Awareness in Media Award.
But I am not, never have been, and
after seeing some of the really bad
cases of horse injury we come
across, would never want to be a
DVM. I am a cinematographer.
––Enzo Giobbe
HorseAid
Rancho Palos Verdes, California

We were mixed up by
Giobbe’s well-informed discussion of
“doctoring” horses.

Cheap wedding?
Re the Watchdog subhead
“Cheap Wedding?” in your October
issue coverage of the David
Wills/HSUS situation, what I actually
said was, “Lori White has so
many friends in D.C. that she
couldn’t afford to have a wedding
there.” I didn’t say it was a “cheap”
wedding; I said it was a very humble
wedding. And we hired beach rental
horses, not carriage hores, but I
know you meant rental horses.
––Sherry DeBoer
Alamo, California

Misattribution
In your September issue you
mentioned me as one of two sources for
reporting that World Society for the
Protection of Animals chief executive
Andrew Dickson was in the U.S. to talk
to Ric O’Barry about river dolphin relocation
in China. I have never communicated
with ANIMAL PEOPLE on this
issue. At WSPA, where I no longer
work, I had no dealing with it and was
even unaware of what was going on.
––Wim de Kok
Jamaica Plan, Massachusetts

We misattributed to de Kok a
memo received on June 6 from WSPA
international projects director John
Walsh. Both Walsh and de Kok had
been asked for information.

Blew it again
Thank you for your correction
in the September edition about the
Roberts family not being associated with
Dolphins Plus, but you still didn’t get
the story straight. The Roberts family
does not run the Dolphin Research
Center. While I used to work there, and
still have a relative employed by DRC,
we have never run DRC.
––Karen Roberts
Colonial Beach, Virginia

March
I have just received a promotion
for the 1996 “March for the
Animals.” Interestingly, the march
is billed as “the largest gathering of
animal advocates in the history of
the humane movement.” The march
will bring “our message to mainstream
audiences around the world”
through the “resources of ethical corporations”
and “compassionate
celebrities and legislators.”
There is not a mention of
animal rights. Please compare this
promotion with the one for the 1990
march, which involved a very
explicit endorsement of animal
rights.
As Bob Dylan once pointed
out, “the times, they are achanging.”
––Gary Francione
Professor of Law
Rutgers Law School
Newark, New Jersey

Pig collectors

Almost 40 pigs were confiscated by
Los Angeles County animal control officers and
the L.A. SPCA in mid-September. We tried
without success to find a safe house for the
pigs, who remain at the animal control shelter.
We are now advising animal control about feeding
the pigs and adopting them out. Ironically,
the woman who had the pigs thought she was
doing “pig rescue.” Her house was described as
manure-filled––but she insists on continuing to
“rescue” pigs, even now.
Days later, we received a call from a
“pig rescuer” in Chico, Texas. Her first remark
was, “Can you take 40 pigs?” She has been
asked to leave the house she is living in. The
pigs could stay, but she isn’t willing to leave
them. She has now called us many times. She
also has the media involved. Well-intentioned
coverage could backfire, as she is already in
trouble and will not––I asked her pointblank––turn
a pig away.
Add to these another potential disaster
in Colorado. I truly think pig collectors are
upon us. Please tell ANIMAL PEOPLE readers
to thoroughly check out any pig rescues
and/or sanctuaries. I include us. When we
take a pig, we tell everyone that if for any reason
they don’t like what they see, to turn
around and take their pig with them. We won’t
be insulted.
––Jim Brewer
PIGS: A Sanctuary
10 Sanctuary Lane
Charles Town, WV 25414

We’re publishing PIGS’ full address
because the sanctuary needs donations of blan –
kets to keep the pigs warm this winter.
UPDATE: As ANIMAL PEOPLE
went to press, Brewer called to say the situa –
tion in Colorado had “exploded”: the
Clemenswine Memorial Pot-Bellied Pig
Sanctuary, of Sedalia, Colorado, with a mail –
ing address in Castle Rock, had collapsed,
leaving 105 pigs on a lot without running water
or electricity. The Boulder Humane Society
took 30 pigs; advised of the crisis by Rocky
Mountain Animal Defense, Brewer and part –
ner Dale Riffle were trying to place the other
75, including 15 boars, many of them report –
edly starving. There was inconclusive evidence
of possible cannibalism of younger pigs.
Clemenswine was founded in July
1993 by Sylvia Francisco and Rhonda Slogar,
who already had 16 pigs between them. Within
six months, Slogar told ANIMAL PEOPLE
in November 1994, they had over 100. Slogar,
then age 27, quit her job to look after the pigs
fulltime in March 1994. Francisco left
Clemenswine in July 1994, by which time they
had 131 pigs, 19 goats, nine dogs, six cats,
five sheep, and two ferrets. Beginning to do
adoptions, Slogar got down to 113 pigs, one
dog, and two ferrets–– but owed $4,000 to her
veterinarian.
Slogar’s whereabouts, according to
Brewer, are presently unknown.