LETTERS [Oct 2000]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2000:

Who are we?
I have been a subscriber
for many years, but because of my
own rescue efforts and enormous vet
bills I can only subscribe and not
contribute at this time. Thank you
for your efforts on behalf of creatures
large and small, for your interesting
newspaper, your excellent
editorials, and your Watchdog
exposes.
If I have missed it, I
would love to read a bio on Merritt
Clifton and Kim Bartlett (are they
married?), and, of course, the artist
Wolf Clifton—the heroes with such
extraordinary energy, intelligence,
and compassion behind such a publishing
endeavor. Heartfelt thanks to
each of them.

One negative, I am sorry
to say, is the full page Humane
Farming Association ad about the
live skinning at IBP-Wallula.
Animal people know the horror stories;
why beat us over the head? I
stopped subscribing to A n i m a l s ’
A g e n d a because of all the reactionary
articles and advertisements.
Why doesn’t Humane Farming use
their resources to disseminate information
to people who are unaware
of the process and need to know the
t r u t h—instead of choosing an
already informed audience?
––Myrna Cohen
San Jose, California

The Editor replies:
While people who have
read ANIMAL PEOPLE for years
are aware of the horrors of slaugh –
terhouses, we also reach thousands
of people who have not been
involved in animal protection for as
long, and/or whose previous aware –
ness has extended only to dogs,
cats, horses, marine mammals or
wildlife. We avoid publishing pho –
tos which so vividly depict cruelty as
to make readers turn away, but the
HFA ad (opposite) doesn’t even
show the situation it describes.
HFA is in fact taking this
same ad to the general public, by a
variety of media.
Brief staff bios: A N IMAL
PEOPLE publisher Kim
Bartlett, editor Merritt Clifton, and
webmaster Patrice Greanville have
provided original investigative cov –
erage of animal issues as a team
since 1986, when Kim became edi –
tor of Animals’ Agenda after 15
years as a volunteer dog rescuer,
fundraiser, humane educator, and
campaign coordinator in Texas.
A t Animals’ Agenda K i m
met Patrice, a cofounder of the
Animal Rights Network. Born in
France, raised in Chile, Patrice
had been reporting and editing for
animal rights and human rights
media since the early 1960s.
Soon thereafter, Kim and
Patrice hired Clifton. A secondgeneration
vegetarian, Clifton had
covered the environment, agricul –
ture, consumer affairs, animal pro –
tection, and human rights for both
print and electronic media since
1968, initially in California, later
in Quebec and Vermont.
Clifton and Bartlett were
married in January 1990. Son Wolf
was born in September 1990. Wolf
began drawing in September 1992,
as his parents prepared to go to
press with the first edition of ANIMAL
PEOPLE, after leaving
Animals’ Agenda to seek greater
editorial independence.
Wolf has drawn for A N IMAL
PEOPLE since May 1996.
Our fourth staff member,
longtime Vermont gardening colum –
nist Cathy Czapla, has worked with
Clifton on four different publications
since 1980. Czapla has monitored
electronic news media for ANIMAL
PEOPLE since June 1996.

WENT VEGGIE

ANIMAL PEOPLE w a s
among the printed material I kept
running across as editor of a local
animal welfare league’s newsletter,
and later while recovering from a
skiing accident that would change
my life forever. It was during this
time that I was able to read and do
research to try to restore my health
after my immune system ran amok
due to the accident. Because of
ANIMAL PEOPLE and other
things I read, I committed to vegetarianism,
along with my husband,
on August 3, 1993. Our journey
continues as we try to continually
improve, learn, and grow.
––Char Newman
Aurora, Illinois

Watchdog Report
Thank you very much for
sending me the ANIMAL PEOPLE
2000 Watchdog Report on
Animal Protection Charities.
Because it is so informative, I find
it very distressing. Organizations
seem to start with noble intentions,
but along the way the animals are
forgotten and the needs for egogratification
and money take over.
The information you have
provided will probably result in my
eliminating about half the groups to
whom I have been sending contributions.
Perhaps I will double up on
those I consider worthwhile.
––Rosalind Hendrickson
Bridgewater, New Jersey

The 2000 Watchdog
Report on Animal Protection
C h a r i t i e s describes the programs
and any program, policy, or
administrative issues of note involv –
ing the 60 charities we are most
often asked about. The price is
$20.00. Order from A N I M A L
PEOPLE, P.O. Box 960, Clinton,
WA 98236.

Taiwan 

Two years have gone by since the passage of the Taiwan animal protection law. Thousands of us overseas who helped with several major international campaigns for Taiwanese homeless dogs now must be informed that the heartbreaking conditions that the dogs suffer remain unchanged. The law has not been enforced at all. It was an empty law meant only to ease international pressure. Stray dogs are still killed by brutal handling and sometimes strangulation. Now the Taipei mayor plans to outlaw feeding street dogs.

Please help us demand that new Taiwan president Chen Shuai Pian enforce the law, carry out cruelty prosecutions, stop the abusive handling of strays, conduct nationwide humane education, and improve the facilities at dog pounds. Please contact Asians for Humans, Nature and Animals, at www.ahan.org, <ahan@worldnet.att.net>, or 415-379-9938.

––Mira Fong

International Alliance for Taiwan Abandoned Dogs

 

Fireworks!

PETA is looking for anecdotes that relate experiences that animals have had with fireworks. We are also very interested in locating research that documents how animals respond to loud noises, especially fireworks.

We are motivated by the high volume of correspondence we have received from members and nonmembers alike who are concerned about how fireworks have affected their companion animals or wildlife.

We are taking significant steps to educate the public on this matter, including presenting ways to protect animals from suffering harm from fireworks. We are also attempting to work with public officials across the country, as well as with the fireworks industry, to establish reforms that will eliminate the danger of fireworks to animals.

––Tim Enstice c/o PETA

501 Front Street Norfolk, VA 23510

757-622-PETA, x610 Fax: 757-622-0457

<time@peta-online.org>

 

Coon hunting

I just came across the following item in the May/June 2000 edition of U n i t y , a newsletter from the International Paper Company:

“In 1977 Dexter Whatley, a general mechanic at IP’s Texarkana Mill, learned his daughter had cystic fibrosis. He found a way to combine two things he enjoys: raccoon hunting and raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. For the past 14 years, Whatley has coordinated an annual coon hunt in Atlanta, Texas. All proceeds went to the CF Foundation. The hunt has raised more than $280,000 for CF research.”

––Philip Kiernan

Irish Council Against Blood Sports

30 Austin Friars Street Mullingar, County Westmeath Ireland

Tel.: 353-1-497-1985 Fax: 353-1-497-0072 <icabs@tinet.ie>

 

“DOGMAN” SAYS THANKS

I would like to thank
everyone who helped us to file our
long-planned suit against the
Kentucky Commissioner of
Agriculture, 70 county judge/executives,
and 325 county magistrates
and commissioners for refusing to
implement and enforce the state
animal control statutes, as reported
in the September 2000 A N I M A L
P E O P L E cover article “‘Dogman’
says Kentucky officials need courtordered
obedience lesson.”
The documentation gathered
by The Trixie Foundation
since 1997 could not have become
the present court case without the
contributions of Katie Brophy of
the Animal Legal Defense Fund,
who had the audacity to tackle and
file such a large and unprecedented
lawsuit after other Kentucky
lawyers lacked the courage and the
vision; Elliot Katz of In Defense of
Animals and Alan Berger of
Animal Protection Institute, who
donated $2,500 each to pay the filing
fees, after Katz took the time to
listen to my plea and then informed
Berger of the situation; and others
who spent countless hours working
behind the scenes to make the case
happen, including Pam Rogers of
the Fund for Animals, Russell
Tenofsky of In Defense of
Animals, Sheila Rodriguez of the
Animal Protection Institute, and
Keith McKinney, co-counsel for
the lawsuit.
Finally, I’d like to thank
Merritt Clifton, editor of A N IMAL
PEOPLE, as being most
responsible of all for bringing the
lawsuit to fruition. His knowledge
of the issues and the respect of his
peers ultimately brought it all
together for the animals.
In closing I’d like to say
it’s absolutely amazing what people
and organizations can do collectively.
Working individually, I
probably could never have brought
the case this far.
––Randy Skaggs
Founder
The Trixie Foundation
P.O. Box 1
Webbville, KY 41180
Telephone: 606-738-4276
Fax: 606-738-4438

Alabama

Concerning the letter by Angie Nelson in your July-August edition, headlined “Alabama animals need help,” I can only sympathize. Having been a humane officer and humane society director in Alabama for nine years, I can add that much of the fault lies with noncaring officials of humane societies who seem more concerned with tea parties than with the care and protection of animals.

As vice president of the Alabama Humane Federation for several years, I worked hand-inhand with Lynn Anderson, the president of AHF and then director of the Baldwin County Humane Society. We watched helplessly over the years as good animal welfare workers all over Alabama were either fired or forced out of their jobs through board apathy and unconcern. The people in charge seemed to almost fear diligent animal welfare work and prosecution of cruelty cases as an embarrassment to their social life.

Anderson (now resigned from the Baldwin County Humane Society) has begun an organization called Circle of Friends, which she hopes will become able to aid shelters and beginning animal care organizations in Alabama. She can be contacted at: <southpawsi@aol.com>.

––Mary Mansour Point Clear, Alabama

 

Neuter/return
In “Fighting animal control
canon,” your July/August cover
feature, you mentioned that Alley
Cat allies brought neuter/return feral
cat control to the U.S. in 1991.
While Alley Cat Allies went national
with the idea at that time, small rescue
groups had been doing neuter/
return for years before that, including
my group, Spay, Neuter &
Protect Strays, which was the first
in New Jersey to do so. We incorporated
in 1987, but had already been
doing the work for four or five years.
We were encouraged by
the late Alice Herrington, founder
of Friends of Animals and a longtime
New Jersey resident. “We”
were a relative handful of cat lovers
who were galvanized into action
after a fire on a local boardwalk
revealed numerous ferals living
under it. The cats were even more
homeless after the fire, and something
had to be done. FoA obtained
for us the classic Universities
Federation for Animal Welfare video
on neuter-return, helped us with
fundraising, and gave us fantastic
rates at the high-volume spay/neuter
clinic they formerly operated in
Neptune, New Jersey, which had
been Herrington’s dream.
We remain involved in
feral cat rescue, and still manage to
fix about 1,000 cats per year.
––Petra Murray
SNAPS
94 Church Road
Howell, NJ 07731