A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
Foundation Giving Trends 2001, published recently by The Foundation Center, indicates that of all the grant money distributed by U.S. private foundations in 2000, just 1.3% was given to help “Animals and wildlife.” This was marginally more than was spent on science and technological research exclusive of health care, however, and was nearly three times as much as was spent on “Religion” and “International affairs, development, and peace.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
SAN JOSE, Calif.–Andrew Burnett, 27, on July 13 drew the maximum sentence of three years in prison for felony cruelty from Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Kevin J. Murphy. A jury on June 20 convicted him of grabbing a bichon frise named Leo from Sara
McBurnett of Incline Village, Nevada, after a minor freeway accident in San Jose airport, and hurling the dog to his death in heavy traffic.
The February 2000 incident drew global attention, not only as a dramatic example of a “Link” case, in which a man kills an animal to intimidate a woman, but also because a reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer soared to $115,000.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
DENVER, CHICAGO–Just as the last visible remnant of Animal Rights Mobiliz-ation! seemed to be fading from the movement it helped to launch, the ARM! Political Action Committee emerged seeking felony penalties for extreme cruelty to animals in Colorado and Wyoming.
ARM!/PAC claimed a preliminary victory on July 6 when Circuit Judge Randal Arp of Torrington, Wyoming, sentenced Travis Wilson, 20, to serve eight months in jail for beating, mutilating, and burning alive his ex-girlfriend’s basset hound. Wilson may get two to five years more for stealing the hound. More than 1,000 letters and 300 telephone calls resulting from ARM!/PAC alerts had urged an aggressive prosecution and stiff sentencing.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
WildAid, one of the newest international wildlife protection groups, announced on July 3 that 70% of a sample of shark fins it bought in Bangkok during May 2001 contained mercury, and one fin had 42 times the recommended limit for human consumption. “Sales of shark fin soup in Bangkok’s Chinatown plunged 70%” within the next week, Associated Press reported. Anchalee Kongrut of the Bangkok Post on July 14 said that “Restaurants selling shark fin soup lost up to 40% of their income,” despite Thai government and restaurant industry claims that their own tests of shark fins found no significant mercury content.
WildAid was formed in late 1999 by Suwanna Gauntlet of the San Francisco-based Barbara Delano Foundation, in whose honor the Suwanna Ranch sanctuary operated by the Humane Farming Association is named; Steven Galster of the Global Survival Network; Environmental Investigation Agency cofounder Peter Knights; and Steve Trent, who also in 1999 started the Environmental Justice Foundation. WildAid has offices in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Thailand, Cambodia, and Russia.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
SAN FRANCISCO–Legal experts and news media commented on how unusual the charges were back on March 27, 2001, when a San Francisco grand jury indicted lawyer Marjorie Knoller, 45, for alleged second-degree murder. The grand jury also indicted both Knoller and her husband and law partner Robert Noel, 56, for alleged involuntary manslaughter and failure to control an animal. Both Knoller and Noel have been jailed since leading police on a 200-mile car chase later on March 27, under suspicion of trying to escape the jurisdiction of the court.
Knoller and Noel were custodians of two Presa Canario dogs owned by prison lifers Dale Bretches, 44, and Paul Schneider, 38, whom police identify as reputed leaders of the white supremacist Aryan Nations gang. On January 26, the two dogs broke away from Knoller and
killed neighbor Diane Whipple, 33. The dogs had a history of attacking people and animals, witnesses testified, and one dog had allegedly injured Noel.