Animal control & rescue abroad

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1997:

The Royal SPCA of New South
Wales, Australia, on June 28 won State
Parliament passage of a new cruelty law
which bars steeplechasing and hurdling
with horses, steel-jawed traps, the serving
of live food in restaurants, grinding sheep’s
teeth, attending cockfights, docking dogs’
tails after five days of age, clitoridectomizing
greyhounds to prevent detection of doping,
and dogs riding untethered in open
vehicles. The law also renews a clause
from the previous legislation that allows
private parties to bring cruelty cases.
The Czech Union of Nature
Conservation magazine NIKA recently
published an English edition to familiarize
the rest of the world with Czech environmental
efforts. Copies are available c/o
NIKA, Slezaka 9, 120 29 Prague 2,
Czechoslovakia. Generous gifts to cover
printing and postage will be appreciated.

New Zealand accident compensation
claims for dog attack injuries
totalled 170 in 1990-1991, about as many
serious bites as are reported per year just in
Washington County, Arkansas, population
113,409. The population of New Zealand is
3.6 million. New Zealand compensation
claims increased to 513, however, in
1992-1993, about 10% of the annual severe
bite total in Chicago, population 2.8 million,
and have since leveled off, at 497 in
1994-1995, and 509 in the most recent fiscal
year. Cumulative dogbite compensation
in New Zealand has increased from
$149,846 in 1991 to $289,074 last year.
The dogs of New Zealand may be much
friendlier than American dogs because
sheep ranchers have vigorously discouraged
the import of aggressive breeds and tolerance
of aggressive behavior. Intelligent
herding breeds, however, have been much
prized and encouraged.
Of the 477 licensed pit bull terriers
in Calgary, 56––12%––bit someone
last year, alderman Jon Lord told the city
council on June 4, unsuccessfully seeking a
pit bull ban.
British convictions for cruelty
to cats increased 27% in 1996, from 185 to
235, according to the RSPCA, while convictions
for cruelty to dogs rose 16%, from
768 to 892. The records did not distinguish
between crimes of aggression and crimes of
neglect. The British owned cat population
is 7.7 million; the owned dog population is
seven million.
The Alliston Humane Society
on the outskirts of Toronto on August 5
posted a reward of $2,000 for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever
dumped at least 28 kittens along a
rural roadside––believed to be a breeder,
since many were of special varieties commonly
sold for $100-$250 apiece. Public
contributions boosted the fund to $4,200
within two days. Ddespite severe malnutrition
and dehydration, 18 kittens survived.

Three hundred new monthly
pledge donors who responded to an appeal
by the Cape Town Star newspaper in early
August saved the Irwin Animal Sanctuary
at Henley-on-Klip, South Africa. The
sanctuary houses 400 dogs, 50 cats, and
various other animals.
The Street Cats Rescue Society
of Calgary, threatened with closure,
reached a last-minute deal with the Alberta
Racing Corporation on August 13 to continue
sheltering cats at a horse barn in
Stampede Park. Street Cats director Dawn
Hanson agreed to cut her use of space from
five rooms to two, restrict veterinary care
to a vet’s office, and keep the number of
resident cats down to 20.
The city of Taipei, Taiwan, has
begun paying subsidies of $11 per male
pet and $22 per female pet to encourage
residents to neuter their dogs and cats.
Neutering operations in Taipei cost about
$55 per male cat or dog and $90 per female,
according to the Taipei Veterinary
Association. Taipei has also begun encouraging
residents to use microchip pet ID.