AKC and “not good” with children

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

NEW YORK, N.Y.––The American
Kennel Club on April 8 apologized to “dog
owners and breeders” belonging to 500 member
clubs and 4,000 affiliates for identifying 40
dog breeds as “not good” with children in the
19th edition of the AKC Complete Dog Book.
Thirty thousand copies were published
in December 1997. About 10,000
unsold copies were recalled on January 28 due
to protest over the breed identifications.
The book will be reissued in June,
the AKC said––without the list.

“Puppy mill” cases come to a head

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

BUNA, Texas––Scheduled to make
a court appearance on March 25 to answer
neglect charges, dog and horse fancier Joyce
Goodrich, 59, of Buna, Texas, instead killed
herself with a fatal dose of phenobarbital. The
Beaumont Humane Society had seized 17 horses,
including several starving former show
champions, and about 20 dogs from Goodrich
a week earlier. The dogs were reportedly
mostly purebred Australian shepherds and
King Charles cavalier spaniels, both varieties
in strong demand, but whether Goodrich was
trying to breed them was unclear.
Reputedly a former veterinary assistant,
Goodrich most recently worked at a fast
food franchise, evidently not earning enough
to keep the animals fed.
The Goodrich case was one of several
going to court in March and April that
involved blurred distinctions among alleged
puppy-milling, backyard breeding, and animal
collecting. Humane society literature generally
defines puppy-millers as persons who keep animals
in poor conditions simply to maximize
profits; backyard breeders as smalltime puppymillers;
and animal collectors as animal lovers
and sometimes even rescuers whose good
intentions get far out of control.

British rural leaders of (criminal) conviction

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

George Lyon, 41, of Kildavannan
Farm, Rothesay, Isle of Bute, newly
elected president of the National Farmers’
Union of Scotland, was fined £250 on
March 30 for allowing seven ewes to be
transported while sick and unfit, and £150
more for allowing a ewe with a damaged
knee joint to suffer pain and distress.
David Watkiss, 58, owner of the
unincorporated Rare Breed Animal
Conservation Trust in Prestwood, Buckinghamshire,
was jailed for three months
and banned from keeping animals for life on
March 26, after conviction on 36 counts of
cruelty for starving a herd of pigs. Watkiss’
business partners, Jeremy Smith a n d
James Cozens were fined £1,200 and
£1,450, respectively, for allowing the suffering
to continue.

“Euthanize the Summit,” says Berger

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.–– The
1998 Summit for the Animals, an assembly
of animal protection group leaders held annually
since 1983, met March 26-28 in
Hollywood, California, with expected
income of $17,905, of which only $11,455
had been collected. Unpaid dues and sponsorship
totaled $5,500, according to a balance
sheet distributed to participants. But even if
all debts were collected, expenses of $23,846
would leave a deficit of about $6,000.

Seeking legal weapons

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

Save The Doves, after gathering
100,000 petition signatures failed to
persuade Ohio legislators to restore a
state ban on dove hunting, repealed in
1995, has until June 5 to gather another
140,000 signatures to put the matter
directly to the voters. Coordinator
Ritchie Laymon welcomes help at 1-
800-868-DOVE, or POB 21834, Columbus,
OH 43221. Save The Doves’
chief backer is reportedly the Humane
Society of the U.S., said to have contributed
$70,000 over the past three
years. Leading the opposition is the
Wildlife Legislative Fund of America,
which entered the fight with assets of $2
million––but WLFA vice president Rick
Story boasted in March that his group
has already raised about $1 million of
the $2.5 million it expects to need to
“own the airwaves” before the voting.

Hindi learns the meaning of honor among thieves, HSUS, and Hollywood

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.––Awaiting introduction
from the stage by Ark Trust founder and Genesis Awards host
Gretchen Wyler at the March 28 Genesis Awards ceremony in
the Beverly Hilton, Chicago Animal Rights Coalition founder
Steve Hindi might have thought he didn’t have to watch his
backside among the assembled celebrities and animal protection
organization leaders.
After serving five weeks of a five-month sentence in
the McHenry County Jail, for allegedly committing contempt
of court by asking hunters to stop killing geese, Hindi had been
released on appeal bond two weeks earlier by order of the
Illinois Supreme Court.
Now Hindi was to be acknowledged, for the first
time outside of ANIMAL PEOPLE, for his extensive undercover
video documentation of the use of electroshock to make
bulls buck at rodeos. Not credited on the air, Hindi’s work
was the basis for two Genesis Award-winning September 1997
episodes of the TV news magazine show Hard Copy.

PARE MEANS “STOP!”

May 1, 1998 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

CAGUAS––Emilio Massas,
founder and director of Protectores de
Animales Regional y Estatal, not only
invited me to visit when I called, but
dropped everything to drive across town
and lead me to the shelter.
I had been told by Alice Dodge
of Pet Search that Massas ran the best shelter
in Puerto Rico, and therefore saved
calling him for last.
But I also had been told by others
that there were good shelters elsewhere in
Puerto Rico, only to find on a visit that
each had serious deficiencies. One location
listed as a shelter by some activist groups
turned out to be a porch with one dog. The
best Puerto Rican shelter I’d already seen,
Villa Michelle in Mayaguez, was great––if
you could find it––but was far too small to
fully serve the community.

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