MSPCA in a labor dispute

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.–Rowley Memorial Animal Hospital, a
branch of the Massachusetts SPCA, has “demanded that newly hired
certified veterinary technicians not be part of” Service Employees
Union Local 285, and that vet techs already on the job “be given an
option to leave the union,” according to Springfield Valley Advocate
reporter Chris Kanaracus.
In addition, the MSPCA is asking Rowley staff to pay 10% of
their health insurance premiums, now entirely paid for them. Local
285 representative Tim Oppenheimer noted that while the MSPCA lost
money in 2001, all six of the top-paid MSPCA officers received
substantial raises, including president Gus Thornton, due to
retire, whose pay was boosted 18% to $258,400.

BOOKS: Welfare Ranching

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Welfare Ranching:
The Subsidized Destruction of the American West
edited by George Wuerthner and Mollie Matteson
Island Press, (P.O. Box 7, Covelo, CA 95428), 2002.
346 pages. $75.00 hardback, $45 paperback.

As a southerner now living in the West, I am intrigued by
the similarities between what is happening today to the Western
cattle culture and what happened more than a century ago to the old
Southern plantation culture.
Both were products of an entrepreneurial spirit that
exploited people and the environment for economic gain. Both
developed romanticized veneers that appealed to Americans trying to
formulate a national identity–but Southern genteel society attempted
to mimic European aristocracy, while the rugged individualism of
pioneering Westerners symbolized, to some degree, an escape from
Old World trappings.

BOOKS: Sightings: The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Sightings: The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey
by Brenda Peterson & Linda Hogan
National Geographic Society (1145 17th St. NW, Washington, DC
20036), 2002. 286 pages., hardcover. $26.00.

Defenders of gray whales migrating along the Pacific coast of
Mexico, the U.S., and Canada won two important court decisions
within 18 days as 2002 closed and 2003 began.
First, on December 20, a three-judge panel of the Ninth
U.S. circuit Court of Appeals ruled in San Francisco that Makah
tribal treaty rights granted in 1855 do not supersede the intent of
Congress in enacting the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The verdict
requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct an
extensive environmental impact review before authorizing the Makah to
hunt any more gray whales.

BOOKS: From The Horse’s Mouth

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

From the Horse’s Mouth
by Eugene Davis
Rhoman Books (1708 21st Ave. S., #146, Nashville, TN 37212),
2002. 181 pp, paperback. $14.99.

In this novel, Tennessee Walking Horses talk and dream about
their lives. Unfortunately, their lives are filled with horrible
abuse by men who care only about the financial rewards of winning at
competition. The book is rich with history and facts about the world
of Tennessee Walking Horses.

Human Obituaries

January 1, 2003 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Edward J. Blotzer Jr., 78, died on November 28, 2002 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A retired locomotive engineer and local
newspaper editor, Blotzer served on the board of the animal rescue
group Animal Friends from 1960 until 1997. In 1970 Blotzer and his
late wife Katherine, who owned a printing business, founded the
Animal Care & Welfare SPCA. Claiming an 85% conviction rate in
prosecuting cruelty cases, Blotzer was among the first humane
officers licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture after
it gained authority to regulate who could be a humane officer in
1994. He was also a founding member of Mobilization for Animals,
and an active supporter of many other animal advocacy groups, as
well as a frequent news source for ANIMAL PEOPLE.

Obituaries

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