Editorial: Dealing with denial

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

States of Denial: knowing about atrocities and suffering, by London School of Economics and Political Science sociology professor Stanley Cohen, mentions animals only twice in 344
pages–but one of those mentions points out the most fundamental issue in animal protection: persuadiing people to care, first of all, that suffering occurs, and then convincing them to do something about it.

“Each new moral demand makes coping harder,” Cohen writes on page 289. “Yet another filter or priority must be set up,” because no one person can respond to every atrocity and every suffering being, no matter how altruistic that person tries to be. “I have tested this,” Cohen admits, “by looking at my own reactions to animal rights issues. I know that the treatment of animals in cruel experiments and factory farming is difficult to defend. I can even see the case for becoming a vegetarian. But in the end, much like people throwing away Amnesty International leaflets, my filters go into automatic drive: this is not my
responsibility, there are worse problems; there are plenty of other people looking after this. What do you mean, I’m in denial every time I eat a hamburger?”

Turkey invents The Natural Dog Shelter

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/august 2001:
ISTANBUL–The Natural Dog Shelter at the sprawling Kemerburgaz Rubbish Dump Project outside Istanbul has location in common with many American shelters, but not much else.

Now just a vast tract of superficially desolate hills, the dump was closed, capped with earth, and vented to prevent build-ups of flammable gas in mid-1999. A closer look at the site shows a thriving suburban wildlife ecology of small burrowing mammals and reptiles, birds, and feral pigs. Near the center stands a fast-growing plantation of evergreen trees. The trees are surrounded by chain link fence.

Gains and casualties in the no-kill revolution

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
HARTFORD, Connecticut–The no-kill movement has catch-and-kill on the run, but what happens next? Winning public favor means the 600-plus no-kill advocates expected at the 2001 No Kill Conference in Hartford in mid-August are inheriting the three perennial animal care-and-control problems–and now must provide solutions.

Problem #1 is dog and cat overpopulation. Problem #2 is reforming animal care-and-control institutions that do not want to change. Problem #3 is extending services to regions and neighborhoods where despite the progress made in more affluent places, humane services are still just a rumor.

Street dogs keep the developing world from going to the rats

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
MUMBAI, NEW DELHI–“Some bloody idiot,” Indian minister of state for social justice and empowerment Maneka Gandhi e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on July 26, “has come forward to say dogs give leptospirosis to humans. So the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (city of Mumbai, also called Bombay) has gone to court to restart the killing of strays,” halted repeatedly by judicial order in recent years as executive health officer Alka Karande and other local officials have sought pretexts to continue.

Rabies, the previous pretext, killed 35 of the 18 million Mumbai residents in 2000. Leptospirosis, mostly a rat disease, killed 17, is believed to have killed another 19 people in
unconfirmed cases, and killed 19 more during the first half of 2001. “Drains are overflowing, garbage accumulating, and people are defecating in the open–and the city wants to find someone to blame for their inability to keep the city clean,” charged Susi
Wiesinger of Ahimsa/Mumbai.

SHARK

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
SHARK

“The income of HSUS is almost 1,000 times that of SHARK, which translates into over a million dollars a week,” SHARK founder Steve Hindi pointed out in the June 2001 SHARK newsletter editorial. “Is there anyone who believes that HSUS is 1,000 times more effective? Even more appalling, HSUS has actually inhibited SHARK’s efforts,” Hindi charged. For example, Hindi mentioned, “Those of you who saw the Hard Copy story on rodeos in 1997 may remember that HSUS claimed it was starting a nationwide anti-rodeo campaign. That claim was false,” since the campaign has not materialized, “and was apparently designed merely to funnel donations to HSUS for work actually done by SHARK,” whose undercover videography Hard Copy featured.

Race tracks in trouble–horses starve in Pakistan, are butchered in Japan and U.S.

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

KARACHI–A globally distributed July 2 expose by Associated Press writer Zahid Hussain brought help to about 60 starving racehorses at the closed Karachi Race Club in Pakistan–but about 70 horses had already died by the time Hussain found out about the situation. Another 310 horses were still stabled at the race club, of whom about 100 were reportedly struggling on “starvation diets,” Adam Lusher of the London Telegraph reported on July 15, while the rest were still in relatively good shape.

An Olympian opportunity for humane work in China

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
BEIJING–A seven-year window of opportunity for humane work in China opened on July 13 when the International Olympic Committee on July 13 awarded the 2008 summer Olympic Games to Beijing. Said Grace Ge Gabriel, China director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, whose office is in Beijing, “We think that having the Olympics in Beijing will be good for animals. It will open China more to new ideas, and will encourage China to be further engaged with the rest of the world, adhering to international standards.”

Added Asian Animal Protection Network founder John Wedderburn, M.D., “Now that the Chinese have the games, they know they will be under scrutiny for the next seven years, and we have a chance to persuade them to introduce reforms.” Based in Hong Kong, Wedderburn travels extensively in mainland China as an on-call medical escort for foreigners who become injured or ill and must be evacuated.

IFAW to build a new head office

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
IFAW to build a new head office

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, with 110 personnel now working out of headquarters at Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, plans to build an $8 million new head office on a 7.5-acre site nearby. The IFAW budget and staff have quadrupled since IFAW moved into the present headquarters.

Rough riding for Colorado, Illinois horse rescue groups

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
LONGMONT, Colo.; WOODSTOCK, Illinois–Two of the best-respected horse rescues in mid-America, Colorado Horse Rescue and the Hooved Animal Humane Society, have taken hard tumbles.

Colorado Horse Rescue, often internally troubled but a longtime favorite of animal rights activists, has been denounced by Rocky Mountain Animal Defense and other humane groups for poisoning prairie dogs. CHR may escape legal consequences due to conflicts in Colorado law concerning prairie dog poisoning and property rights, but there will be financial repercussions, since CHR and RMAD both mainly serve the region surrounding Denver, and are believed to have significantly overlapping bases of support.

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