Month: May 1996

Wise-use wiseguys

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

Putting People First was reportedly set to link
Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski, Earth First!, and
animal rights activism at an early-April press conference in
Montana––but the Unabomber’s manifesto, published last year
by The New York Times, described animal rights activists as
delusionary; the San Jose Mercury-News on April 8 published an
interview with Jo Ann DeYoung, a former high school classmate
of Kaczynski, who remembered that he once slipped the
pelt of a dissected cat into her locker; and on April 10 The New
York Times published letters Kacynski wrote to a friend, describing
how he hunted rabbits. Kacynski’s brother David, who
turned the suspect in to the FBI, was meanwhile described by
The New York Times as a vegetarian “bunny-hugger.” PPF cancelled
the press conference, allegedly because it received anonymous
threats but couldn’t get police protection. The purported
Earth First! link was made, however, on April 9 by ABC World
News Tonight. Kacynski had no known association with Earth
First! itself, but of the three people killed and 23 hurt in the 17-
year string of Unabomber attacks, two victims worked for firms
named on a “hit list” issued in 1992 by Live Wild Or Die,
newsletter of a splinter group led by Mike Jakubal, which broke
away in 1989, after Earth First! renounced tree-spiking. The list
was in fact the list of co-sponsors of a 1989 wise-use conference.

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New trends emerge in pet theft

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

The third biennial update of the
ANIMAL PEOPLE pet theft log shows dramatic
changes in patterns of both pet theft
itself and prosecutions since the 1990 Pet
Theft Act amendments to the Animal
Welfare Act took effect in January 1992.
Since January 1992, 56 perpetrators
have stolen 218 pets in cases where the
fate of the stolen animals is known. Taken
were 189 dogs (87%) and 29 cats.
Thefts by dogfighters accounted for
48 missing animals (22%); other sadism
accounted for 47 more (22%). Sadism
accounted for 44% of the thefts overall.

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Why no photographs?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

That this feature appears without illustrations in itself illustrates one of the
most difficult aspects of the research debate: in the absence of openness and honesty
about just what is going on, it is difficult to fairly and accurately interpret much of the
evidence. ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton wished to show this point with
two photographs, shocking at a glance, and definitely depicting situations unacceptable
to people who care about animals, which nonetheless may not have shown the atrocities
they seemed to show, a possibility Clifton postulated after blowing them up to four
times their original size for study on a computer screen.
ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett vetoed inclusion of the photos in
keeping with our policy against using photos which may be too painful for people who
care about animals to to view while also reading potentially disturbing text.
The photographs in question depicted rhesus macaques, and were apparently
taken at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center in Madison, or predecessor
facilities, at some point prior to the founding of ANIMAL PEOPLE in 1992. They
were mailed to us anonymously, among a group of eight related photos, without explanation,
in response to our first publication announcement.

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IT WORKS IN SAN FRANCISCO–– WHAT ABOUT MILWAUKEE?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

MILWAUKEE––Wisconsin
Humane Society executive director Victoria
Wellens isn’t worried about the flak she’s
catching for giving up 19 animal control
contracts over the next year and a half. She’s
been shot at since she was hired in 1994.
Formerly executive director of the
Chistophe Memorial YMCA in Waukesha,
Wellens inherited a dilapidated shelter, a
building fund that wasn’t growing fast
enough to build much soon, a falling adoption
rate, plunging donations, a demoralized
staff, and perhaps the most militant cadre of
critics between New York and San
Francisco–– despite overall intake, adoption,
and euthanasia statistics that couldn’t
have been closer to the U.S. norms.

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Bill Clinton kisses up to hunters

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

WASHINGTON D.C. – –
Fending off “vicious rumors that the
president is anti-hunting,” as one
White House official put it, Bill
Clinton on March 25 issued an executive
order recognizing hunters and
fishers as “first partners” in managing
the U.S. National Wildlife Refuges.
“Compatible hunting, fishing,
wildlife observation and photography,
and environmental education
and interpretation are especially recognized
in this Executive Order,”
Clinton said.

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I was a fish killer by Steve Hindi

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

I first fished at age five, with my
brother Greg, who is one year younger.
Each of us caught a perch out of a lake in St.
Paul, Minnesota. Fascinated, we watched
the two perch swim around in a small bucket
until first one and then the other died. I don’t
remember what happened to their bodies, but
I know they were not large enough to eat.
Perch are plentiful, and easy to
hook, and are therefore considered to be a
good species for practice fishing.
Many members from both sides of
my family were fishers, as well as hunters,
trappers, and ranchers. A couple of dead
perch didn’t rate much concern. Like most
children, we learned what we were taught,
setting aside whatever qualms we may have
felt. Our mother raised us to care for cats and
dogs, and we regularly took in strays,
despite housing project rules which forbade
it. However, we were told that fish had no
feelings, and we killed them with abandon.

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LETTERS [May 1996]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

Working in China
I was interested in the letter
from David Usher about animal
fighting for entertainment at
Wonderland of Southwest China,
published in the April edition of
ANIMAL PEOPLE. As the Far
East Representative of the Born Free
Foundation (which includes
ZooCheck) this kind of problem is
very much in my remit. It is a vast
problem quite beyond our tiny
resources, but we do what we can.
We have several thrusts to
our policy:

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Editorial: Peace talk

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

One of our cover stories this month deals with the ongoing process of strategic disengagement,
on both sides, from the 200-year-old battle over animal use in laboratory
research––not as a matter of either side abandoning goals, but as a matter of recognizing
that common goals may be achieved more readily if the conflict is less intense.
ANIMAL PEOPLE over the past year has advanced 10 suggestions for strategic
disengagement in a manner which would simultaneously meet the major practical demands
of the animal rights community and the major needs of biomedical research. They are based
largely on inclinations already evident among both activists and researchers.
ANIMAL PEOPLE does not pretend that these suggestions can resolve the
inescapable conflict over the rightness or wrongness of animal use per se. But they might
form a mutually acceptable protocol for progress.

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EDITORIAL: Peace talk

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  May 1996:


One of our cover stories this month deals with the ongoing process of strategic disengagement, on both sides, from the 200-year-old battle over animal use in laboratory research ­­not as a matter of either side abandoning goals, but as a matter of recognizing that common goals may be achieved more readily if the conflict is less intense.

ANIMAL PEOPLE over the past year has advanced 10 suggestions for strategic disengagement in a manner which would simultaneously meet the major practical demands of the animal rights community and the major needs of biomedical research. They are based largely on inclinations already evident among both activists and researchers. Read more

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