LETTERS [May 1999]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1999:

Bequests
I’m looking for information
on how animal welfare groups
use endowments and how they
decide how bequests will be allocated.
I’m a board member for a shelter
which places all bequests in its
endowment fund. We then have an
across-the-board unwritten policy
that only the income may be used
for operating costs, but that principal
may be used for capital costs.
Is this the common practice
among animal protection organizations?
If not, how do most such
organizations handle bequests and
endowments?

––Kay Terry
Baltimore, Maryland

The Editor responds:
We are not aware of any
formal studies or surveys about use
of endowments and bequests, but
the procedure you describe is often
recommended by nonprofit manage –
ment consultants.
However, if an endow –
ment fund becomes markedly larger
than the annual budget of a charity,
and donors find out about it, they –
may decide the organization has
money enough. The National
Charities Information Bureau sug –
gests that available assets (cash,
securities, rental property) should
not be more than twice an organiza –
tion’s annual operating budget.
Some charities avoid this
problem by forming parallel founda –
tions to manage their endowments.
This clearly distinguishes endow –
ments from assets which may be
spent on facilities or programs.
Charities should also con –
sider that donors, including those
who leave bequests, tend to expect
that their gifts will address hereand-now
problems––not perpetuate
organizations into infinity. For
example, a person who leaves a
large estate toward eradicating pet
overpopulation in a particular town
is quite badly served if instead of
using the money immediately to
alter every animal in the town who
needs it, the recipient group hoards
the money in a bank account for 10
years or more while endlessly plan –
ning and revising plans to build a
neutering clinic. This is exactly
what several humane societies
around the U.S. apparently have –
done. Funds adequate to have erad –
icated pet overpopulation in their
communities by 1990 or even 1980
in some cases have so far done little
but pay administrative salaries and
make money for the banks.

Margaret Gurd
I was extremely sad to
read in your April edition of the
death of longtime Montreal activist
Margaret Gurd. I too have a mountain
of correspondence with her. I
can’t speak highly enough of her.
––Bill Jordan, Chair
Care For The Wild
Rusper, West Sussex, U.K.

Canada geese
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is about to launch a policy
to exterminate Canada geese.
We ask you to sign our web page
petition, at >> http://www.icu.com/
geese/epet-fr.html<<, asking the
Director of USFWS to not sign the
Final Rule Canada Goose Special
Permit that would turn over decisions
about the fate of Canada geese
to state game agencies, in violation
of the Migratory Bird Treaty.
The USFWS final rule, if
implemented, would mean: urban
hunting; Canada geese facing terror,
separation from young, and separation
from mates; Canada goose bodies
dumped at food banks as a public
relations gimmick; and Canada
goose flesh contaminated by goose
use of polluted habitat posing a
cumulative health risk to the poor.
Taxpayers are still forking
out to “restore” Canada goose populations,
yet now must also pay to
kill them!
––Ann S. Frisch, Ph.D.
National Coordinator
Coalition to Protect Canada Geese
Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Amazon
I have just finished reading
every word of “Amazing
Amazon Rainforest Realities” in
your March 1999 edition. I recommend
that all readers concerned with
ecology––not only in the Amazon––
read in its entirety this tremendously
insightful article.
––Violet Soo-Hoo
San Francisco, California

Out to lunch
Merritt Clifton’s review of
my books Everybody’s Somebody’s
Lunch and the accompanying
Teacher’s Guide in the March edition
of ANIMAL PEOPLE makes
a number of criticisms I may not
agree with, but fully accept as his
right to make.
However, I find his major
criticism totally unfair: namely,
that the books fail to make a case for
vegetarianism.
Everybody’s Somebody’s
Lunch is a story designed to give
young readers a better understanding
of the role of predators (meat-eaters)
in nature, and in particular to disabuse
children of the idea that there
are good animals and bad animals.
It was not written to make a case
against humans eating meat. Since
Mr. Clifton beliefs this is a serious
failing, I suggest his reviewing
range be limited to books on that
particular subject in the future.
––Cherie Mason
Sunset, Maine

The review noted that
Mason, in discussing human meateating,
avoided “three arguments
typically very disturbing to meateaters:
first, that humans are the
only predators who may choose to
eschew both predation and scaveng –
ing; second, that predation is for
humans an acquired rather than
innately natural behavior; and
third, that humans have no need to
eat meat at all.”

St. Francis
Father Pat McCloskey of
Cincinnati is leading local
Franciscans in seeking to have St.
Francis of Assisi named “Saint of
the Millennium.” These followers
of the Patron Saint of Animals don’t
only preach the word, but actually
live it. Their building is in an old
neighborhood where stray pets
abound, but office worker Toni
Cashnelli feeds the strays, gets
them fixed and vaccinated, and
finds homes for as many as possible.
I volunteered to help promote
recognition of St. Francis. We
plan to have a display about his life
and works at the Cincinnati Zoo,
hand out flyers downtown, and give
classroom talks.
We hope others will join
us, especially on October 4, 1999,
the Feast Day of St. Francis, which
is also World Day for Animals, and
comes just two days after the birthday
of Mohandas Gandhi, the only
lover of animals and nature who
may be better known.
––Elizabeth Lemlich
Bellevue, Kentucky

Horse killings
We were disappointed that
you had no coverage of the wild
horse torture killings near Reno.
People had a front page story on it.
––Lester & Linda Wood
Coleville, California

As we never have space or
time enough to cover as much news
as we’d like, we try to focus on top –
ics and angles that national media
do n o t report––and give priority to
cases and events which may involve
legal or political precedent.

Required reading
As a course requirement,
my honors American history students
must participate in an activity
involving animals or the environment.
They may work in an animal
shelter, or join in anti-fur rallies,
beach cleanups, letter writing campaigns,
petitions, and other projects
of that nature. Artistic students have
covered my classroom walls with
murals depicting wildlife scenes.
Several students chose to
donate to organizations that help
animals. Enclosed please find $100
from those who chose to support the
great work done by ANIMAL
PEOPLE.

––Andrew J. Navarro
North Miami Beach High School
North Miami Beach, Florida

Pepsi

Further to the SHARK
and Last Chance for Animals boycott
of Pepsi-Cola for advertising
in Mexican bullrings, I would like
to inform you that Pepsi is among
the three main advertisers at the
recently constructed bullring in
San Sebastian, Spain. It is probable
that Pepsi promotes bullfighting
worldwide.

––Bart Goes
Plataforma Antitaurina
Zezenplazaren Aurkako
Plataforma
The Netherlands

We asked Pepsi to com –
ment on April 6, 1999. We
received no response.

Spanish greyhound rescue

I am enclosing details of
our recent effort to save 239 Irish
greyhounds who were sent to race at
the Pabellon track in Barcelona,
Spain, and were to be killed when
the track closed in early March. The
killing was prevented by determined
protest from activists including Anna
Clements; Anne Finch of the British
group Greyhounds in Need; and
Albert Sorde, a Barcelona veterinarian.
The official veto came from
Barcelona vice mayor and animal
advocate Pilar Rahola.
I travelled to Barcelona
with North Carolina veterinarian
Ralph Yerex and Randy Barrow,
director of Greyhound Friends of
North Carolina, who took medicine
and supplies.
The 239 greyhounds were
transported to the Defensa i Proteccio
des Animales shelter in Vic, Spain.
Some of the dogs were placed in
Barcelona by the staff at Vic, but
unfortunately others were taken by
hunters––a cruel fate [as by Spanish
custom they may be killed at the end
of the hunting season]. Twenty have
been taken to England. The Irish
SPCA is taking responsibility for the
remaining 98 dogs. A few will stay
in Barcelona to be placed as pets.
Hopefully all the remainder will
make it out and be transported for
adoption in Germany, other
European nations, and the U.S.,
where we expect to receive some.
Homes must also be found
for 200-plus greyhounds recently surrendered
to the Scooby Animal
Rescue organization in Medina del
Campo. These are coursing greyhounds,
now extraneous because of
the conclusion of the coursing season.
In addition, we have received
notice via Greyhounds in Need that
as many as 150 greyhounds may
require placement following the closure
of the track at Mallorca.
––Louise Coleman
Greyhound Friends Inc.
167 Saddle Hill Road
Hopkinton, MA 01748

Lobster victory

The Redondo Beach
Lobster Festival has officially been
cancelled after four years. It began
as the most successful first-time
event ever held here, but died due
to lack of community support. The
cancellation statement noted that
Education & Action for Animals
had been a constant presence since
the beginning, urging locals to
avoid the barbaric event, which
killed 20,000 lobsters a year.
The Lobster Festival
travels throughout the country. We
believe we are the first city ever to
officially cancel it.
––Wendy Rhodes
Education & Action for Animals
Redondo Beach, California

San Francisco live animal trial

Enclosed please find for
your review and records a copy of
the appeal brief I filed on April 14
re the July 1998 Superior Court verdict
in Coalition for Healthy and
Humane Business Practices v.
Never Ending Quails [and 10 other
San Francisco vendors of live animals
for human consumption].
We hold that trial judge
Carlos Bea made many errors which
effectively denied us a fair trial on
substantial issues, including:
1. He refused to apply
health laws which prohibit keeping
food and animals in the same business
establishment, because he felt
the plain meaning of the actual language
of the laws was too restrictive.
2. He ruled that if it is not
possible to kill an animal without
cruelty, then it is justifiable to kill
the animal with cruelty.
3. He refused to apply the
anti-cruelty laws to non-physical
suffering, ruling out legal authority
that the anti-cruelty laws do not protect
only against physical suffering.
As you can see, composing
the 42-page brief was an enormous
effort. I was joined in this
work by Bryan Kortis, a member of
the New York bar, and Tracy
DeMartini, a law student at the
University of Santa Clara. I definitely
want to also acknowledge
again the assistance and contributions
you and so many others have
made to the legal effort, and
express my appreciation for making
prosecution of the case possible. It
is with some humility that I must
inform you again of the tremendous
time and cost that has and will continue
to go into this case, and ask
that you please spread the word that
I will cheerfully accept donations to
the cause, in any amount.
––Baron L. Miller
Miller & Miller
1390 Market Street, Suite 1204
San Francisco, CA 94102