OBITUARIES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, August/September 1996:

Mollie Beatty, 49, died of brain
cancer on June 27 in Townsend, Vermont,
three weeks after resigning as U.S. Interior
Secretary due to her illness. Appointed in
1993, Beatty was the first female Interior
Secretary, and the first non-hunter. Only
weakly backed by the White House, Beatty
nonetheless vigorously defended the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, Endangered
Species Act, and Yellowstone wolf reintroduction
against a hostile Congress, taking
time out to personally rub cool water on one
hot wolf’s belly. “Any day I can touch a
wild wolf is a good day,” she said

Douglas Chapman, 76, died July
9 in Seattle. A wildlife statistician,
Chapman in 1960 joined British fisheries scientist
Sydney Holt and Australian bioligst K.
Radway Allen in developing the system used
by the International Whaling Commission to
estimate whale stocks––and eventually used
to shut down commercial whaling. Born in
Provost, Alberta, Chapman served on the
University of Washington School of
Fisheries faculty from 1949 to 1984.

Peter Larkin, 71, died July 10.
Known chiefly for his research on Stellar sea
lions, Larkin served on the 1981-1986 Royal
Commission on Seals and Sealing, whose
much-debunked report is still the basis of
Canadian sealing policy. A longtime member
of the University of British Columbia
faculty, Larkin received the Order of
Canada in 1995 and the Order of British
Columbia in 1996.

Alamo Reaves, 60, died June 18
in Tucson, Arizona. Reaves in 1968 took a
course in training her dog to assist her in living
with rheumatoid arthritis. Inspired, in
1974 she founded Handi-Dogs, which has
taught more than 1,100 disabled, deaf, and
elderly people to train service dogs to serve
their specific needs. In 1984 she lobbied a
bill recognizing service dogs through the
Arizona Legislature. She was inducted into
the National Hall of Fame for Persons with
Disabilities in 1985, and was named Woman
of the Year for 1988 by the Metropolitan
Tucson Chamber of Commerce.

Lord Houghton of Sowerby,
Britain, 98, died on May 2. “Lord
Houghton was president of Advocates for
Animals,” remembered Shirley McGreal of
the International Primate Protection League.
“For most of his life he worked tirelessly
with many organizations and inside and outside
of government to make the world a better
place for animals.”

Miguel Naguera, 29, of Miami,
a native of Guatemala, was electrocuted on
June 28 when he touched a high-voltage wire
while trying to coax a neighbor’s escaped
cocktiel to perch on a pruning hook.

Fred Lee, executive director of
the San Diego Humane Society, died on
July 4.