NOVEMBER STATE BALLOT MEASURES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

Alaska Ballot Measure 9, the Wolf
Snaring Initative, qualified to face the voters on
August 17, when the Alaska Supreme Court overturned
without comment a May ruling by Superior
Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline that if it passed, it
would infringe upon the Alaska Legislature’s exclusive
right to manage wildlife. Backed by Friends of
Animals, the bill bans all snaring of wolves.
Arizona Proposition 201, the Cockfighting
Initiative, survived a court challenge on
September 22 when Judge Robert Myers of the
Maricopa County Superior Court threw out a suit by
the Arizona Game Fowl Breeders Association which
attempted to invalidate more than 42,000 of the
153,494 signatures that the Arizona Secretary of State
earlier ruled were valid––40,000 more than were necessary
to put the bill to ban cockfighting to a vote. The
well-connected Game Fowl Breeders have killed anticockfighting
bills in agricultural committees of the
Arizona Legislature 23 times since 1954, but may be
out of tricks. The Arizona Star reported on September
3 that an independent poll found 87% of Arizona voters
are opposed to cockfighting. Cockfighting is currently
legal in the U.S. only in Louisiana, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, and Missouri––but Missouri too
may ban it this November.

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Regional aspect of Duffield plan will be controversial

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

CONCORD, Calif.––The most
controversial aspect of Richard Avanzino’s
strategy for using Duffield Family Foundation
funding to build a no-kill nation may prove to
be not his goal but his strategy: trying to do it
city by city, state by state, region by region.
As a tactical blueprint, the regional
approach may build momentum, especially in
California, where Avanzino’s success in San
Francisco is already well known and easily
witnessed. Pressure from local activists, news
media, and surrounding communities may
combine, as Avanzino expects, to force any
holdouts to change their methods.
But the regional strategy may bitterly
disappoint many struggling no-kill organizations
elsewhere. Many are already calling,
faxing, and e-mailing pleas to Avanzino and
to anyone they hope might intercede with him,
including ANIMAL PEOPLE.

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NO FIGHTING, NO BITING OVER THE MONEY

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

CONCORD, Calif.––Richard Avanzino with
Duffield Family Foundation backing may now be ready to “roll,
roll, roll” the concept and tactics of achieving no-kill animal
control across the U.S., but one prerequisite he outlined at the
No-Kill Conference for doing it may be a taller order than
effectively ending pet overpopulation.
“Everybody needs to work together and accept our
core values to get funded,” Avanzino warned. “Our core values
are honesty, integrity, and mutual respect.”
In other words, Avanzino repeated several times, he
wants to end bickering and finger-pointing within communities
among organizations of differing and perhaps even conflicting
philosophies and mandates.

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Crud & sand: CHARC takes a bullfighting lesson by Steve Hindi

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

On the morning of August 22, 1998,
Chicago Animal Rights Coalition members
Greg Hindi and Ike Goetsch attended a bullfighting
school in San Diego, the so-called
California Academy of Tauromaquia, to
receive a free introductory lesson.
The “school,” and the two individuals
who run it, drew our attention via media
reports. Having recently documented the actuality
of 28 recent bullfights with close-up
video, we now hoped to explore the bullfighter
mentality.
Greg and Ike were on time.
Instructors Peter Rombold and Coleman
Cooney came late. There were supposed to be
other students, including some from Mexico,
but only one other person showed up, a young
woman named Patricia, who accompanied one
of the instructors.

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Meatless goes mainstream

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

by Henry Spira, founder, Coalition for Non-Violent Food

It would be difficult to imagine a more
mainstream endorsement of the meatless lifestyle
than came in June 1998 in the latest edition of Dr.
Spock’s Baby and Child Care. The perennial best
seller grabbed national headlines when the world’s
leading pediatrician recommended that children be
raised on a vegan diet.
Yet this is just one among many current
opportunities to inspire the public to adopt the
meatless/less-meat lifestyle.
Recognizing the enormous destruction
caused by meat eating, the Sierra Club has joined
the debate on the negative impact of factory farming.

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LETTERS [Oct 1998]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

Gifts
A statement by Leo Grillo on
page 17 of the September ANIMAL
PEOPLE hit the nail on the head concerning
“free gifts” to donors and
prospects from animal organizations. It
has been a sore subject with me for some
time. How do we convey the message
that our money is intended to help animals,
not to distribute greeting cards,
coffee mugs, calendars, etc.? I resent
the use of my money for unsolicited gifts,
whether sent to me or to someone else.
In exasperation, I wrote to one
organization. The nest time I heard from
them, they had noted “Doesn’t want
gifts.” The point, however, is that I
don’t want them spending any money
meant for animal welfare on gifts, for
me or anyone else.

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Editorial: Henry and the No-Kill Conference

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

The late Henry Spira was invited to attend the recent No-Kill Conference in
Concord, California, but failing health forced him to decline.
Spira died at home in New York as the conference was in progress, having accomplished
more for animals caught up in farming and scientific research than anyone, perhaps,
since Mahavira and the Buddha. No one ever drove more successful bargains to spare animals––by
the million––from misery. Neither has anyone else in the animal protection cause
ever put more effort into teaching others the method Spira developed of systematically bringing
about change through what he called “stepwise incremental action.”
Though devoted to his cats, Spira didn’t work much on companion animal issues.

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Maneka claims cabinet post for animals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

NEW DELHI, India––”You will
be happy to know that I have finally gotten
the animal welfare department, which is the
first of its kind anywhere in the world,”
People For Animals founder Maneka Gandhi
e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on
September 8.
“It is now a part of my ministry,”
Maneka said, as welfare minister for the government
of India, “and I would like to make
it into a full-fledged department.”
A senior independent member of
the Indian parliament, representing her New
Delhi district since 1989, Maneka is among
the power brokers in the coalition government
of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata party. She may actually have more
clout now than she did during two appointments
as environment minister while a member
of the Janata Dal party, from which she
was ousted in 1996 for denouncing alleged
corruption among fellow ministers.

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Activists gain standing to sue to enforce Animal Welfare Act

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1998:

WASHINGTON, D.C.––Seven of
the 11 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the D.C. Circuit agreed on September 1 that
New York activist Marc Jurnove has standing
to sue the USDA seeking enforcement of the
Animal Welfare Act against the Long Island
Game Farm and Zoological Park.
“This is a landmark decision for anyone
concerned about promoting humane treatment
for animals,” said Animal Legal Defense
Fund staff attorney Valerie Stanley, who had
pursued the standing issue since 1988. “When
federal agencies fail to protect animals, citizens
may now go to court to seek a legal remedy.”

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