LETTERS [May 2003]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

Drive Fishery

Thank you for helping to stop the “drive fishery” dolphin
slaughter in Futo, Japan.
The Ito City Fishing Co-operative gave up the drive fishery
this year. The season for the fiscal year 2002 drive fishery expired
on March 31, 2003. We gladly report that no drive fishery was
carried out. According to the Yomiuri newspaper, the Ito City
Fishing Cooperative abandoned the drive fishery because it feared the
criticism of animal protection groups.
The Elsa Nature Conserv-ancy collected nearly 3,500
signatures on our petition seeking to stop the drive fisheries and
promote dolphin and nature watching in Futo instead, reinforced by
more than 2400 signatures against the drive fishery from
organizations abroad.

We also received 3,000 e-mails against the drive fishery from
abroad through the efforts of <www.BlueVoice.org>. According to Blue
Voice more than 9,000 e-mails were already sent to public officals.
We appreciate such strong support!
Unfortunately, despite worldwide opposition to the drive
fishery, the Ito City Fishing Cooperative declared that it will
conduct a drive fishery during the next season, which starts on
September 1, 2003.
We anticipate that the drive fishery in Futo is doomed,
because the fishers who kill dolphins in this manner are getting old,
and the Ito City Fishing Cooperative is having difficulty finding
younger people to carry on.
However, dolphin and nature-watching off the shores of Futo
and Jogasaki is growing, attracting up to 244 guests on 37 recent
expeditions.
–Eiji Fujiwara
President
Elsa Nature Conservancy
P.O. Box 2
Tsukuba-Gakuen
Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8691
Japan
Phone: 81-29-851-1637
Animals’ Angels talks about tactics

I would like to comment on the March 2003 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE:
1) Thank you for the editorial “Conferences build
movements.” I do not like conferences, but I stage them and
participate in them. We even sit with our adversaries from the
livestock trade, which I find hard, because I have to stay firm on
the issues but demonstrate nice manners nonetheless. Attend-ing
conferences of veterinarians and police officers has been a great
help for the animals in the past regarding transport.
2) Concerning Steve Hindi’s guest column “Why animal
advocates’ ‘war on terror’ must be nonviolent,” we have it in our
employment description that our work must be strictly non violent. I
have already sacked two people for using bad language toward police.
3) Concerning “Slaughter in the streets,” our investigations
in Lebanon found that purchasing stun-guns for the slaughterhouses
was not a success. At first only the Christian slaughterhouses
actually used them. Dr. Rosemari Jaouhari may now have succeeded in
persuading more facilities to use them.
A far more sucessful approach was recently tried by Petra
Sidhom, DVM, in Cairo. With the help of Al-Asrah Univer-sity Dr.
Sidhom established a training program for local mullahs to address
the illegal slaughter of animals on the street at Abd-el-Kabir. The
Egyptian government decreed that at Abd-el-Kabir the official
slaughterhouses must offer their services free to everyone. This
resulted in a dramatic slowdown of slaughter in the streets of Cairo,
verified by Animals’ Angels.
–Christa Blanke
Animals’ Angels
Bismarckallee 22 – D-79098
Freiburg, Germany
Phone: 49-761-2926601
Fax: 49-761-2926602
<AnimalsAngels@t-online.de>
<www.animals-angels.de>
Adopt-a-Shelter Cat Month freebies

Each year, the American SPCA celebrates Adopt-a-Shelter Cat
Month in May by offering free materials to animal groups worldwide.
This year we are offering:
1) One free copy of “Sharing the World with Animals,” a
curriculum guide for grades 3-5 featuring 30 classroom-ready
activities, for the first 2000 respondents. It is available in
English and Spanish and those requesting it should specify which
language they want it in.
2) One free copy per agency of our new publication “Mission
Possible – Comfy Cats: How to Create a Feline Behavioral Enrichment
Program in Your Shelter.” This is available upon request though
August 2003 courtesy of Fresh Step cat litter.
3) One free Laurel Burch Adopt-a-Shelter Cat poster.
Our packet of handout master copies on a wide variety of
topics for adopters, also available in CD form, is not part of this
year’s Adopt-a-Shelter Cat Month promotion, but as always is
available to humane organizations through our National Shelter
Outreach program.
Humane groups should contact us by phone or email.
–Julie Morris
American SPCA
National Shelter Outreach
424 East 92nd St.
New York, NY 10128
Phone: 212-876-7700, extension 4403
<outreach@aspca.org>
<www.aspca.org>
The Pet Psychic

Obviously your critic Lucy David has never watched an episode
of “The Pet Psychic,” Sonya Fitzpatrick. Sonya bridges the
communication gap between animal and human in a genuine, loving way.
To see someone who does so much good for so many be criticized tells
me that perhaps Ms. David is jealous of Sonya’s gift or just doesn’t
have enough to do. She also doesn’t understand the importance of
supporting each other in pursuit of the common goal of what’s best
for animals. Sonya is not only awe-inspiring and uplifting–she’s
the real deal.
–Laura Deitemeyer
Sarasota, Florida
Lucy David responds:

Here is another Sonya classic: last week I saw her on
“Animal Planet.” A woman in the audience said that she put her dog
to sleep and now is feeling that maybe she did the wrong thing. The
Pet Psychic got in contact with the lady’s dog and said, “He’s
telling me you did the right thing. He was in pain, and he’s happy
now and he’ll wait for you…” How predictable! I would have liked
to have seen her tell the lady, “Your dog is telling me that he
misses you terribly and he wasn’t in pain and he wasn’t ready to go.
He wishes you would have thought about it a little longer and made
the right decision and kept him alive!”
Origins of humane societies

Congratulations on your excellent “Chronology of humane
progress.” Your history, however, omits one key detail.
It is sometimes said that SPCAs began taking the name “humane
society” to signify a broader focus after the 1874 “Mary Ellen” case,
in which the ASPCA used an animal protection law to rescue an abused
child. (Ironically, ASPCA founder Henry Bergh opposed SPCAs taking
on dual roles. He co-founded a separate organization to protect
children, and in 1875 wrote to Women’s SPCA of Philadelphia
cofounder Carolyn Earle White in an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade
her from trying to “serve two masters” by renaming her organization
the Women’s Humane Society.)
However, in North America, the term “humane society” has
been used to describe animal protection groups at least since the
formation of the Oregon Humane Society in 1868. Henry David Thoreau
mentioned an anti-hunting “humane society” in Walden (1854), and the
Missouri Humane Society was founded in 1870.
The term “humane society” seems to have originated in the
Netherlands in 1767. The English counterpart of the Dutch group was
the “Institution for Affording Immediate Relief to Persons Apparently
Dead from Drowning,” begun in 1774, which became “The Humane
Society” in 1776 and “The “Royal Humane Society” in 1787. It
continues today in its original role of rescuing drowning victims and
teaching water safety.
Similar humane societies sprang up along the New England and
Mid-Atlantic seacoasts as early as 1786, where they opened “Humane
Houses” for shipwrecked sailors. They were forerunners of the U.S.
Lifesaving Service and U.S. Lighthouse Board, which became the U.S.
Coast Guard. Nowhere in their mission statements can I find anything
about helping animals.
So how did the term “humane society” become linked with
animal protection?
–Phil Arkow, Chair
Animal Abuse & Family
Violence Prevention Project
The Latham Foundation
Stratford, New Jersey
<arkowpets@snip.net>
Cat buddy

I love ANIMAL PEOPLE! When I receive each edition, I glance
through it and then put it in my “read” pile for when I get a chance
to give it closer attention. I then make notes about specific items
that I may want to bring out at another time. Sometimes I e-mail
some items to friends before filing my copy. I especially enjoy the
editorials.
–Linda Gubbe, founder
SCAT Street Cat
Rescue Program Inc.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada
<catbuddy@sasktel.net>
<www.quadrant.net/streetcat>
Estate planning

Your Estate Planning Guide is the best I have seen yet. Your
idea of listing charities to be benifitted in an annually updated
codicil is great.
–Muriel Geach
Long Beach, California
The ANIMAL PEOPLE Estate Planning Guide is free on request.
Please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
Stop vivisection

Please revive attention to the need to abolish vivisection,
which is being buried by other concerns.
–B.B. Eilers
Mesa, Arizona