LETTERS [September 2002]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2002:
 
Education

It occurred to me that math should be
part of the humane education curriculum.
For example, if there are 500 female and
500 male dogs in a town whose mayor kills 499 of
the females and 499 of the males, and the
surviving female and her female offspring have
two female and two male puppies twice a year,
who survive disease, accidents and the mayor’s
death squads to reproduce at the same rate, how
many dogs will there be after five years,
assuming that there is plenty of edible rubbish
for the dogs to eat and plenty of water to drink?
If the carrying capacity of the habitat
is 3,000 stray dogs and the mayor hires someone
to kill 2,500 of them each winter, how many dogs
will there be within six months?
Another question could be on rabies: if
70% of the dogs in town are vaccinated against
rabies, and a rabid dog is dumped on the edge of
the town, will rabies spread throughout the town?
If we can communicate to the next
generation the basic math of animal population
control and disease control, we will have much
less difficulty in advancing sterilization and
vaccination in the future, in place of the
present endless cycle of cruel and ineffective
killing.
–Robert Smith
<Robert.Smith@TangoFashions.com>

 
Editor’s note:

Robert Smith, a British citizen, funds
major street dog sterilization, vaccination,
and rescue projects in Turkey and Romania.
An easy demonstration of the need to
vaccinate and sterilize 70% of a street dog
and/or feral cat population can be done with dice.
Throwing a pair of dice gives you 19
possible number combinations adding up to 11
possible totals. Designate the combinations
adding up to 2-7 and 12 as “immune” or “sterile”
(68%) and the rest as “vulnerable” to either
disease or pregnancy.
Explain to your audience that you are now
going to show them how far rabies can spread and
how large the street dog and/or feral cat
population can grow if 70% of the dogs are
vaccinated. Ask for 10 volunteers to pretend to
be 10 of the community’s dogs and/or cats, to
act out the demonstration as a skit.
Throw the dice 10 times, once for each
person, to represent any random group of 10 dogs
or cats who may be attacked by a rabid animal or
may become pregnant.
If the dice show 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
or 12, the “dog” or “cat” is sterilized and
vaccinated. She will neither get rabies nor
become pregnant. Have those volunteers step back.
If the dice show 8, 9, 10, or 11,
the “dog” or “cat” has a litter, gets rabies,
and can spread it.
Each time you get 8, 9, 10, or 11,
ask for another volunteer to step forward from
the audience, to represent the surviving
offspring from the litter who may also breed
and/or get rabies, and throw the dice again.
Continue until all of your volunteers have
stepped back.
Results will vary, but almost always you
will end “dog” and “cat” reproduction and halt
the “rabies outbreak” within fewer than 10 throws
after your initial 10– which at the normal rate
of street dog or feral cat mortality would be the
replacement population level.
To check the results, you can decrease
the numbers of “immune” combinations. The
importance of reaching 70% should soon manifest
itself.
 
World Cup

As a big Belgian soccer fan I followed my
favourites during the World Cup. As the World
Cup tournament was held in South Korea, we
learned a lot about the South Korean way of life.
After seeing a BBC documentary about the
Moran dog and cat meat market, near Seoul, I
was pleased to see South Korea not become the
world champions.
I did not know that human beings could be so cruel.
The pictures I saw at
<http://www.koreananimals.org> made me very sad
the whole day long, as I thought about what I
saw. I could not believe my eyes.
The cats, the dogs…These poor animals
are in hell. What a difference from the two cats
we have here running free in our house!
I send you this note to say how glad I am
to know there are people like you who care a lot
about what is happening over there.
–Marc Michiels
Bruges, Belgium
<marcmic1@planetinternet.be>
 
Denial

I just yesterday read the July/August
2001 edition of Animal People, which I’d somehow
missed before. I got a lot out of the article
“Gains and casualties in the no-kill revolution.”
I also really enjoyed the editorial, “Dealing
with denial in human/animal relations.” I’ve
been known to practice a little denial myself,
and find it a fascinating subject. I was a nanny
for years as a teenager, and I remember
explaining to Katie, a four-year-old, why I
didn’t eat meat. I told her that I didn’t like
the way animals are treated who are used for
meat. She absolutely would not accept that meat
comes from animals. (“It does NOT! It comes from
the store!”). She just could not accept the
connection. And that from a young person who was
not nearly so developed in the art of denial as
most adults!
–Karen Green
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
Kanab, Utah 84741
Phone: 435-644-2001
Fax: 435-644-2078
<karen@bestfriends.org>
 
And raise hell

A few months back, Animals’ Agenda
referred to you as the Jerry Springer of animal
rights. I expressed my view of you as analogous
to 60 Minutes, Dateline, or something like
that. In hindsight I was incorrect and I
apologize. Those programs are overly simplified,
superficial, sometimes sensationalized, and
skimpy compared to you. You are, rather, the
H.L. Mencken of animal rights, for as he
referred to himself in the fictionalized Inherit
The Wind, his/your job is to afflict the
comforted, and comfort the afflicted.
–Gene Schmidt
Newburyport, Massachusetts
 
The Editor replies:

Thanks for the quote and praise. The
film Inherit The Wind did put those words into
the mouth of H.L. Mencken, but the original
author was Finley Peter Dunn, another newspaper
columnist of the same era. The phrase became the
credo of animal-loving newspaper baron William
Randolph Hearst, and was most memorably uttered,
in extended form, by Orson Wells in the role of
Charles Foster Kane, modeled on Hearst, in
Citizen Kane: “The purpose of a newspaper is to
comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable,
print the news, and raise hell.”
 
Loss of Maneka Gandhi

The animal welfare movement in India will
suffer a lot with the exit of Maneka Gandhi from
the post of Minister for Animal Welfare,
Statistics & Programme Implementation. She was
instrumental in providing grants to animal
welfare organisations for purposes such as
building animal shelters, purchasing animal
ambulances, and operating Animal Birth Control
programs. She also provided funds through the
Animal Welfare Board of India and helped in
rehabilitation of animals rescued from
laboratories. She did more for the animals of
India, by creating the Animal Welfare ministry,
than anyone else in government had done in the
past 50 years.
She was ousted because she took a tough
stand on behalf of enforcing the rules and
regulations which are supposed to govern the care
of animals who are subjected to biomedical
research. This is a great loss for the animal
protection movement, as well as to the poor
creatures for whom a lot of work remains to be
done.
She had already vigorously enforced the
various rules and regulations pertaining to
horse racing, and animal exhibition, had banned
the use of wild animals in circuses and oversaw
their confiscation, pursued strict regulation of
slaughterhouses, and made the Animal Birth
Control program for street dogs a matter of
national policy. She also inhibited the
transportation of animals by train to West Bengal
and Kerala for illegal slaughter.
It is also said that Maneka Gandhi was
removed from office due to pressure from her
estranged Sister-in-Law, who is Leader of the
Opposition in India.
Whatever may be, animal welfare will be in doldrums.
–Dr.Sandeep K.Jain
People For Animals/Ludhiana
2696/IA, Sunder Nagar
Near King Palace
Ludhiana 7, 141 007
India
Phone: 0161-650051
Fax: 0161-664407
<animal1969@sify.com>
 
Animal Welfare Act

The July/August 2002 ANIMAL PEOPLE
editorial, “Congress delivers 9/11 to the Animal
Welfare Act,” stated that the USDA in truth
never actually did protect rats, mice, and
birds as the law directed.
We would add that the USDA is not
required to enforce any regulation under the
current Animal Welfare Act.
During the federal lawsuit, the
out-of-court settlement of which briefly appeared
to require the USDA to protect rats, mice, and
birds, the court stated that due to how Congress
wrote the Animal Welfare Act, the USDA is not
required to enforce their own standards, and
failure to enforce the standards cannot be
challenged.
The wording cited was Title 7, Chapter
54, Section 2146, Administration and
enforcement by Secretary, (a) Investigations and
inspections, which states that “The Secretary
shall make such investigations or inspections as
[he deems necessary] to determine whether any
dealer, exhibitor, intermediate handler,
carrier, research facility, or operator of an
auction sale subject to section 2142 of this
title, has violated or is violating any
provision of this chapter or any regulation or
standard issued thereunder.”
The phrase “as he deems necessary”
apparently makes rigorous enforcement optional.
Also, I-SPEAK and the Humane Farming
Association were the only humane societies
openly against the Senate-corrupted downed animal
bill. That bill would have allowed the farm
industry to just supply one-time treatment
“intended” to get a downed animal up, with no
further care, to be in compliance. A few
well-known humane societies supported this bill
and attacked our concern by saying anyone against
the bill must be working with the animal
industry. These same societies then came out in
support of its defeat.
As ANIMAL PEOPLE noted, there was
silence on the bill disallowing protection for
rats, mice, and birds.
Maybe if all the different organizations
were not busy pursuing their own individual
agendas, more could be accomplished.
–Marc R. Jurnove
Executive Director
International Society for the Protection of Exotic Animal Kind
& Livestock, Inc.
998-C Old Country Road, #142
Plainview, NY 11803
Phone: 516-935-4607
<ISPEAKInc@aol.com>
 
House calls

I didn’t realize until I called to try to
get help talking some sense into my neighbor that
the Arizona Humane Society no longer will send
staff out to talk to people about animal care!
Is this happening everywhere when cruelty
becomes a felony? That suddenly only the police
or sheriff will go out to talk to people? You
know how hard it is to get the police out for
anything, unless you are very sure a crime is
being committed!
I rode along with the officers back when
I worked for the Arizona Humane Society, in the
early 1990s, and most of the cruelty calls then
were remediable through humane education. For
instance, it is not illegal to not provide shade
for a horse here in Arizona, but we would go
talk to someone who left a horse out to bake, or
talk to someone whose dog was having her 14th
litter. Now no one does this.
–Patty Finch
Phoenix, Arizona
<pfinch@Vview.org>
<http://humanelink.org>
 
Editor’s note:
Humane societies in many cities seem to
have curtailed making humane education house
calls, but primarily, we understand, because
of budget cuts and personnel reductions
necessitated by the current fundraising slump and
investment fund slide. Humane education house
calls are effective, but labor-intensive, and
therefore are often among the first programs to
be axed–a matter of being penny-wise but
pound-foolish, ANIMAL PEOPLE believes, since an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
 
Brutal cop

We want the world to know what happened
on June 8 in Rio de Janeiro. While searching for
the murderer of reporter Tim Lopes in the shanty
town Morro da Caixa d’Agua, a police officer
smashed a kitten. The report and photos
published in the O Globo newspaper speak for
themselves. In the first photo the police officer
looked at the poor animal, and in next photo,
smashed her with his boot. Without international
protest, probably nothing will happen to this
individual.
–Preci H. Grohmann
Vice President
Sociedade Zoofila Educativa
Av. Paulo De Frontin, 499
Rio Comprido
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Phone: 55-21-527-7158
Fax: 55-21-286-3940
<preci@mail.marlin.com.br>
–Ana Yates
President
Uniao Societaria Protetora De Animais
Praca Santos Dumont, 138/106-B
Rio De Janeiro, R.J.
Brazil 22470-060
Phone/fax: 55-21-4621915
<gatayates@hotmail.com>
 
ANIMAL PEOPLE has electronic copies of
the photo sequence, which thoroughly document an
act of deliberate cruelty.
 
Malaysia

Greetings! We met in Manila at the 2001
Asia for Animals conference. We were the only
Malaysian representatives.
We have begun a trap/ neuter/release and
spay/neuter subsidy program for low-income pet
owners. We are preparing a fundraising food
fair to support this, and would also greatly
appreciate any donations from ANIMAL PEOPLE
readers.
Thanks. We look forward to seeing you at
the next Asia for Animals conference.
–Lily Leng
SPCA PENANG
Jalan Jeti Jelutong
Penang, Malaysia 11600
<spcapg@pd.jaring.my>
<www.spca-penang.com>
 
“Speak truth to power” and the “suffering angle”

I strongly agree with ANIMAL PEOPLE
publisher Kim Bartlett and director Patrice
Greanville that downplaying the “animal rights
angle” is counterproductive when it comes to
enacting laws to help animals. In the
legislative arena, however, I would prefer to
call it the “suffering angle,” as the label
“animal rights” raises unnecessary flags.
A political axiom worth heeding is,
“Speak truth to power.” First, you cannot build
a political constituency and lobbying presence on
vagueness, nor can you get respect and
familiarity with your ideas. Second, if
politicians do not know clearly what you really
want, they do not know when not to compromise.
Add subsidiary reasons, but do not lead with
them. Subsid-iary reasons can help pro-animal
legislators or county or municipal officials who
feel they need a “cover,” and they may pick up a
couple of votes that will bring you to a winning
margin. But you will not win with them.
In Connecticut, the organized opponents
of our anti-dog chaining bill managed to spin the
focus away from the “suffering angle,” enabling
Governor John Rowland to veto it even though it
was overwhelmingly approved by both houses of the
state legislature. Hunters and dog breeders were
able to do this because they remain far better
organized politically than animal advocates.
Together they can swing elections. We
cannot–yet.
Animal advocates will continue to fail
the animals until we understand that it is
essential to focus on political organizing, and
not to think of political awareness and action as
optional.
–Julie Lewin
President & Lobbyist
Animal Advocacy Connecticut
and Director
National Institute for
Animal Advocacy
P.O. Box 475
Guilford, CT 06437
Phone: 203-453-6590
<jlewin@igc.org>
 
The National Institute for Animal
Advocacy’s debut political training workshop will
be held October 19-21 in Madison, Conn-ecticut.
Says Lewin, “Seasoned and successful political
organizers from other issue groups and top
political aides will instruct you in how to think
politically and how to establish your own voting
block and political lobbying organization.”
 
Building vegetarian reference library

AR Media, also known as The ARMEDIA
Institute, is seeking to build a comprehensive
set of research relating to vegetarianism,
veganism, and farm animals, from which to draw
broad conclusions for vegetarian advocacy and to
avoid redundancy in future research. Examples of
such work include polling data from the
Vegetarian Resource Group
<www.vrg.org/nutshell/poll2000.htm>, and AR
Media’s focus group report
<www.armedia.org/focus.htm>, conducted earlier
this year.
AR Media is requesting articles,
reports, links, or any other reference to
qualitative or quantitative studies relating to
vegetarianism and/or farmed animals. When in
doubt, please send it along, and include as much
detail about the research as possible.
–Ché E. Green
AR Media Group
PO Box 70180
Seattle, WA 98107
<submit@armedia.org>
 
Robert Smith, (R-N.H.)

I recently received a brochure from
Senator Robert Smith, (R-N.H.), who is running
for re-election to the U. S. Senate in the
September 10 New Hampshire primary against
Representative John Sununu (R-N.H.).
Senator Smith helped to ban the sale of
dog and cat fur items priced over $50 in the
U.S., helped to pass a bill to promote the
adoption of retired military dogs, has helped
lead efforts to ban federal subsidies to the mink
industry, and has worked to stop space research
involving primates.
–Carole L. VaJames
Ipswich, Massachusetts
<caroleandchris@juno.com>