Month: June 2004

Human Obituaries

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

Ronald Reagan, 93, U.S. President 1980-1988, died on June
5, 2003 at home in Los Angeles. Recalled Best Friends Animal
Society cofounder Michael Mountain, “Dwight Eisenhower put in the
White House putting green, and had the squirrels trapped and removed
because, he said, they were ruining it. Jimmy Carter also tried to
relocate them because they were damaging the trees. But Ronald
Reagan would squirrel away acorns that he collected from Camp David
and keep them in his desk drawer, and the squirrels would sit
outside the Oval Office waiting for a handout. Some would eat the
acorns right out of his hand. George H. Bush scrapped the Reagan
policy and announced that the squirrels were “history,” sending his
dog Millie to chase them away. Bill Clinton continued the Bush
policy. The current President Bush has allowed his dogs to chase
them, too.” Reagan introduced 25 years of White House antipathy
toward the Endangered Species Act, which he considered an intrusion
on private property rights, but endorsed the Doris Day Animal
League, in honor of his co-star in several films, near the end of
his years in public life.

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Animal Obits

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

Jo-Bars Maggie Mae, 8, died on March 10, 2004. A black
Labrador retriever purchased by Joe Maringo of Plum, Pennsylvania,
as a breeding bitch and duck dog, Maggie hated to swim, but raised
four litters in five years before Maringo found out about pet
ovrpopulation and had her spayed within a week. Maringo went on to
found the Southwest Pennsylvania Retriever Rescue Organization. “It
was Maggy’s love that has caused me to save over 250 unwanted
companions and place them in happy homes,” Maringo wrote. “I hope I
can live up to being just half the man she thought I was.”

Beethoven, 2, & Cujo, 1, father-and-son St. Bernards kept
by Walter Smith and his daughter Elizabeth, were on June 16
euthanized by Macomb County Animal Control under the rarely invoked
1919 Michigan livestock protection act. The dogs killed two llamas,
a sheep, a pig, and a 600-pound steer, and raided a henhouse, in a
series of attacks ranging over miles of countryside between October
2003 and April 2004, before a county roadkill collector saw them
returning home from one of their raids.

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Saving dogs from– the Vampires of Bucharest

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

BUCHAREST–Bram Stoker (1897) and Bela Lugosi (1931) got Romanian vampires all wrong. Real Romanian bloodsuckers resemble neither the fictional Count Dracula nor the historical Vlad the Impaler (1431-1476), whose deeds inspired Stoker.
“Vampires” hostile to street dogs may vacation in Transylvania, but they keep their offices in Bucharest.
Real danger in Romania, for both dogs and humane donors, comes through the actions of bloated ex-Communist bureaucrats and bribe-seeking politicians, assisted by freebooting friends from the west who rushed in to help them loot what remained of the country after the December 1989 fall of the Nicolai Ceaucescu dictatorship.
Figurative vampires and their henchmen preying upon Romanian animal control and humane work hide not in the ruined castles and medieval villages that dot the countryside, where work horses may still outnumber tractors, but rather behind the guards and closed gates of some of the worst canine concentration camps that ANIMAL PEOPLE ever saw.
The vampires are seldom seen. Some may not have inspected their canine concentration camps in years.
The vampire slayers are an inspired and talented younger generation of animal advocates whose chief weapon is their hope of introducing their traumatized nation to the joy of happy dogs.

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BOOKS: Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover & The Vegan Guide to New York City

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover by Rynn Berry
Pythagorean Publishers (P.O. Box 8174, JAF Station, New York, NY
10116), 2004. 81 pages, paperback. $10.95.

The Vegan Guide to New York City, 9th edition
by Rynn Berry & Chris Abreu-Suzuki (with Barry Litsky)
Ethical Living (P.O. Box 8174, JAF Station, New York, NY 10116), 2004.
70 pages, paperback. $9.95.

Just from the titles of Rynn Berry’s two most recent books,
one may surmise that he is a vegan and animal lover who loves going
to dinner, especially with Cristina Abreu-Suzuki (who calls herself
Chris) and Barry Litsky, but would never have eaten with Adolph
Hitler even if they had been contemporaries in Vienna, back when
Hitler was still just a struggling artist who had yet to commit or
advocate mass murder.
Neither would Hitler have wanted to eat the multi-ethnic and
highly varied menu of plant food that Berry, Abreu-Suzuki, and
Litsky pursue at more than 100 restaurants of all kinds. Hitler
craved meat, especially pork and squab.
Berry, now designated historical advisor to the North
American Vegetarian Society, established his reputation as a
meticulous historian of vegetarianism and veganism with Famous
Vegetarians & Their Favorite Recipes (1989). He followed up with
Food For The Gods: Vegetarianism and the World’s Religions (1998).

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How do you know who is a vegetarian?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

A problem inherent in discussing whether Hitler or any
prominent person is or was vegetarian is that people often change
their eating habits–and what they say about their eating
habits–over the course of a lifetime.
In the cases of the Buddha, Isaiah, Pythagoras, Leonardo
da Vinci, Mohandas Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, and Leo Tolstoy,
ethical vegetarianism was a conscious choice made early in life, and
the public record, though scanty for the earlier figures, affirms
that they were consistent with their professed beliefs.
In the case of consumer advocate Ralph Nader, the public
record has been wildly contradictory for 40 years. Often described
as vegetarian, Nader may never actually have practiced vegetarianism
for any length of time.
But the late labor organizer Cesar Chavez was a conscientious
vegetarian for the latter half of his life. This was rarely
reported, though it was on the record.
In the cases of contemporary entertainment celebrities, the
choice to become vegetarian may be much publicized, yet may be
sustained for no longer than a few days.

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India vaccine breakthrough

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

BANGALORE–A new anti-rabies vaccine “developed by the
Indian Institute of Science, which promises to reduce rabies
prevention costs by nearly 75%, has been cleared for commercial use
on pet dogs and other animals by the Drug Controller of India,” T.A.
Johnson of The Times of India reported on May 16.
“Based on a novel hybrid of a DNA recombinant vaccine and
cell culture vaccine, the new vaccine will be produced and marketed
by Indian Immunologicals under the name Dinarab,” Johnson said.
But IIS scientist P. Rangarajan cautioned that although
Dinarab has been successfully tested on monkeys and mice, it has
not yet been approved for trials in humans and “will take a while
before reaching the market.”
Meant to be used mainly as a post-exposure treatment by
public health clinics, Dinarab may alleviate chronic shortages of
post-exposure vaccines in India, associated with lack of reliable
refrigeration plus problems in manufacture and transport.

Wars destroy Abidjan Zoo & Gaza Zoo

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast; RAFAH, Gaza Strip– The Abidjan Zoo
was once among Africa’s largest and the pride of Ivory Coast. The
two-acre Gaza Zoo, between the embattled Rafah and Brazil refugee
camps near the border of Israel and Egypt, was among the smallest,
but still offered thousands of Palestinian children their only chance
to see animals other than dogs, cats, and domestic livestock.
War has destroyed them both, the Abidjan Zoo by attrition
since civil war broke out in September 2002, and the Gaza Zoo in a 3
a.m. onslaught by Israeli tanks and bulldozers on May 20 that
reportedly also smashed 43 homes.
“Like much of the other destruction in the six-day Israeli
offensive, the demolition of the zoo seemed more a psychological
attack on Rafah’s population than a military strike against the
Pelestinian guerrillas who maintain a strong presence in the city.
Even people whose homes or shops were destroyed had anger and anguish
to spare on behalf of the zoo,” observed Newsday correspondent James
Rupert.
Israeli military spokespersons said the action was meant to
intercept Palestinian arms smugglers.

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New Austrian law tops global legislative achievements

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

VIENNA–The Austrian parliament on May 27 unanimously passed
a new national humane law widely acclaimed as perhaps the most
sweeping and advanced in the world.
The Austrian law “forces farmers to uncage chickens, bars
pet owners from clipping their dogs’ ears or tails, outlaws the use
of lions and other wild animals in circuses, and makes it illegal to
restrain dogs with chains, choke collars, or devices that
administer mild electric shocks,” wrote William J. Kole of
Associated Press.
Added Kate Connolly of The Daily Telegraph, “It also
stipulates that it is illegal to place animals in the care of minors,
or to display pets in shop windows.”
Pre-sedation is required as a condition of performing kosher
or hallal slaughter.
Pushed for 20 years by Herbert Haupt, who is now minister
for social affairs, the new law was endorsed by all four major
Austrian political parties. It provides for fines of up to $18,000
for violations. It is to take effect in January 2005.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel called the new law “a
pioneering example,” and pledged to seek similar legislation at the
European Union level. Schuessel is a Christian Democrat, a party
with parallel organizations in many other EU nations and strong
influence in the European Parliament.

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Did whipping cost Smarty Jones the horse racing Triple Crown?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:

BELMONT PARK, N.Y.–Did Smarty Jones
lose the Belmont Stakes and his chance to win the
horse racing Triple Crown on June 6 because
jockey Stewart Elliott whipped him?
Counterpunch writer Becky Burgwin thinks
so, and said so in her column of June 9 from a
perspective of expertise.
“I am a huge animal lover,” Burg-win
began, “and though I come from a long line of
jockeys, trainers, and breeders, I think
thoroughbred racing is inhumane. Track racing
especially bothers me because it’s so unnatural.
And then there’s the part where the horses get
whipped. There they lose me.
“When I heard that Smarty Jones had won
the Preakness by seven lengths without having a
crop laid on him,” after winning the Kentucky
Derby,” Burgwin continued, “I was intrigued.
I’ve watched that race [on video] and they’re
right. Elliott never touched him. So I was
thinking, maybe this small, mellow,
sweet-as-all-get-out horse can make it look cool
to win with no whippings, thus affecting change
for all horses in future races.”

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