WOOFS & GROWLS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

>>MARMAM@Uvvm.Bitnet<<, the online Marine
Mammals Research and Conservation Discussion hosted by
Robin Baird of the University of Victoria, in January appealed
for $5,000 toward operating costs. The Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society started the kitty; ANIMAL PEOPLE
sent $100 and challenged other institutional users to proportionally
match it. As of February 2, MARMAM had raised just
half the amount, including gifts from Japanese whaling industry
flak Alan Macnow and Georg Blichtfeldt of the pro-sealing/whaling
High North Alliance, who may be the two least
popular users; William Burns of the GreenLife Society North
American Chapter; the International Marine Mammal
Association; Paul Nachtigall of Aquatic Mammals; Leslie
Strom of Wide Angle Productions; Phoebe Wray of the Center
for Action on Endangered Species; and private citizens
Andrew Morse and Keith Ronald. Paul Watson of the Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society promised to donate as soon as
he resolved a modem-link problem. Absent were major animal
and/or habitat protection groups––including HSUS, the heaviest
single user––and any marine mammal exhibition facilities.

The December 20 edition of the German magazine
Aif Einen Blick claimed Whale Rescue team leader Peter
Wallerstein was with Greenpeace in the 1970s, after which he
“managed the group Sea Shepherd from 1983 to 1993,” leaving
both because, he alleged, they “spend much money on offices,
salaries, and other things.” Responded Sea Shepherd
Conservation Society captain Paul Watson, providing documentation,
“We are a volunteer organization with only one
office and one paid employee, administrator Carla Robinson.
As president and founder, I have never received a salary. Peter
Wallerstein did not work with Greenpeace in the 1970s. I was a
founding member of Greenpeace and I know for a fact that he
was not involved. Wallerstein did not get involved with Sea
Shepherd until 1985. He was not a director until 1988. He was
dismissed for illegally taking funds in 1991. He was never a
manager of Sea Shepherd, nor did he hold any executive post
other than director. Wallerstein did not found the Whale
Rescue Team,” Watson added. “It was originally a project of
Sea Shepherd. We provided Mr. Wallerstein with his rescue
boat and his equipment, on the understanding that he would
continue his efforts to protect marine mammals.”
Reports reaching ANIMAL PEOPLE in late
January have it that International Society for Animal
Rights president Helen Jones, who began the group as the
National Catholic Animal Welfare Society in 1959, was ushered
into retirement at an emergency board meeting called after
the last staffer quit. Arizona attorney and board member Henry
Holzer is believed to have settled lawsuits against ISAR by
other former staff, and to have hired a new executive director,
but did not answer repeated inquiries. The turnover apparently
resulted from an October 1995 ANIMAL PEOPLE e x p o s e ,
detailing alleged animal collecting and other bizarre behavior
by Jones as described––separately––by numerous former staff
and volunteers. Holzer reportedly rejected similar complaints
in 1992 when presented by former board member Mary Leah
Weiss, of New York City, who then resigned.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, after
announcing a move to Seattle last May, is reportedly now looking
at relocating to either Atlanta or Hampton Roads, Virginia.
The Alberta SPCA is revising a year-old teacher’s
manual, after distributing just 100 copies, to satisfy complaints
from the Alberta Foundation for Animal Care, a livestock
lobby. The Alberta SPCA is known in Canada for an accommodating
attitude toward rodeo, especially the Calgary
Stampede, and failed to respond to ANIMAL PEOPLE’ s
request for a detailed policy statement.