Animal control & rescue

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1997:

The SPCA of Texas, formerly the
Dallas SPCA, recently celebrated the one hundred
thousandth pet sterilization since it began
offering on-site neutering surgery in 1976. In
1996, the SPCA of Texas––which claims a
92% adoption rate––placed 10,091 animals in
new homes, and neutered 11,601.
Because the Argentine senate clerk
“accidentally” sent a 1995 update and revision
of the Argentine Criminal Law for the Protection
of Animals to the wrong committee after it
was approved by the legislature, the bill was to
die due to inaction on November 30––despite
the signatures of more than 150,000 Argentine
citizens who signed petitions favoring it. At
deadline the Club de Animales Felices asked
the world to e-mail messages of support for passage
to >>quinzio@senado.gov.ar≤≤.

Despite recent history around the U.S.
showing that deferring animal shelter construction
may be penny-wise but pound-foolish, the
Colorado Springs city council refused on November
10 to commit itself to paying $248,000 more per year
than it now pays for animal control, so that the
Humane Society of Pikes Peak can build a $5 million
new shelter. The humane society is reportedly
now close to dropping the animal control
contract––and wherever humane societies have
dropped animal control contracts in recent years,
cities have ended up paying more for less service as
well as footing higher costs to build shelters. A similar
stall earlier in 1997 cost Fort Worth, Texas,
approximately $350,000.
“Confirmed cases of canine rabies in
South Texas are expected to drop to fewer than 20
in 1997,” Diane La Morte of the Corpus Christi
C a l l e r – T i m e s reported on November 13. “Rabies
cases have steadily dropped since 1995, the second
year the airdrop program was modified to make oral
vaccination baits more appealing to coyotes.”
A recent Massachusetts SPCA survey of
200 veterinarians found that 71% had treated animals
who fell or jumped from open trucks, and indicated
that statewide about 600 dogs a year are hurt in
such accidents. Projected nationally, this would be
about 32,000 dogs hurt per year.
University of Texas psychologist
David Buss reports that an inventory of personality
traits associated with marital infidelity
puts indifference toward roadkilled animals
very high on the list of predicting factors,
especially for women. Other major predictors
include running up debts and leaving indoor
lights needlessly on, according to Buss.
These seeming quirks appear to be indicative
of underlying narcissism, impulsiveness, and
low empathy.