Human obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

Frank Perdue, 84, died on March 31 at
home in Salisbury, Maryland. His father,
Arthur Perdue, started an egg farm in the year
that Frank Perdue was born. After leukosis
killed their 2,000 leghorns in the early 1940s,
they switched to raising broiler hens, began
developing factory-style protection methods, and
prospered during the World War II meat shortage.
Frank Perdue took over the $6 million a year
business in 1952. Annual revenues were up to $56
million in 1970, when Perdue introduced the
Perdue Farms brand name to supermarkets,
appearing in approximately 200 TV commercials
during the next 24 years to promote it. By 1991
Perdue Farms was the third largest poultry firm
in the U.S., worth $1.2 billion a year. In
April 1997, Animal Rights International founder
Henry Spira asked Perdue to lead the way in
reducing the suffering to poultry that results
from factory farming. After Perdue ignored
repeated requests from Spira, Spira in October

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Animal obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

Becky Louise, 14, among the last survivors of the 1991-1992
ANIMAL PEOPLE test of neuter/return feral cat control in northern
Fairfield County, Connecticut, died peacefully and unexpectedly on
March 26. She was one of two indistinguishable littermates who were
named after Alley Cat Allies cofounders Becky Robinson and Louise
Holton. As the owner of the apartment complex where the cats were
trapped did not want them returned, and they were not adoptable
because they could not be handled, Becky and Louise were among 21
cats from the neuter/ return test who were evacuated in July 1992 to
the first ANIMAL PEOPLE headquarters near Shushan, New York, along
with 10 previously rescued cats. In August 1992 a female coyote who
had lost a front paw, probably in escaping from a leghold trap, ate
nine of the feral cats, in as many days. As either Becky or Louise
was among the coyote victims, but we did not know which, the
survivor became Becky Louise. Becky Louise then moved, by her
choice, into the house from the basement with outdoor access that
had been been adapted into a habitat for the ferals. Relocated with
ANIMAL PEOPLE and all the other surviving cats in 1996 to Clinton,
Washington, Becky Louise never tamed, never groomed herself, and
required heavy sedation before her squirrel-sized mats could be
shaved off. Probably because of her poor hygiene, Becky Louise had
low status among the cats, though she was tolerated by all. Since
the death of her twin sister, Becky Louise had only one close
friend, Miriam, another shy feral whom ANIMAL PEOPLE rescued in
2003. Among the 320 cats involved in the 1991-1992 Connecticut
project, the known survivors are Sombra and Punto, kept by ANIMAL
PEOPLE webmaster Patrice Greanville, and Rosalba, Peetee, and
Sylvie, still with ANIMAL PEOPLE. There may be other survivors
among the 45 cats who were adopted out. To our awareness, the last
of the 237 cats who were returned to their habitat either died or
were tamed and adopted by mid-1995.

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Dogfighting, meth cookers, & the KKK

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

ANDERSON, S.C.–Firefighters responding to a March 20
explosion and fire at a methamphetamine still in Anderson County,
South Carolina, found 23 pit bull terriers chained to nearby trees,
along with 24 Chihuahuas and an Akita. Burn victim John Woods was
airlifted to Augusta, Georgia for emergency care. Quilla Ralph
Woods, 59, and Brenda Joyce Keaton, 51, with charged with
illegally manufacturing methadrine. Q.R. Woods “has a 15-page
criminal history dating to 1966 and is listed on the state’s sex
offender registry,” reported Charmaine Smith and Kelly Davis of the
Anderson Independent-Mail. Q.R. Woods also was charged with
possession of a firearm by a felon.
The circumstances under which the dogs were found would
appear virtually certain to bring related criminal convictions, but
prosecutors have often run into legal obstacles in pursuing charges
against suspected breeders of fighting dogs and the breeders’
spouses. The main difficulty is in proving that the breeders and
their spouses knew that the dogs were used for criminal activity.
Different judges have twice in four months thrown out
racketeering charges filed against Luther Johnson Jr., 38, of
Wetumka, Oklahoma, alleged organizer of a dogfighting ring that
police hit with a series of raids between May and July 2004.

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Channel Islands National Park ex-chief hits cruelty of killing “invasive species”

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

SANTA BARBARA–Denouncing “systematic biologic genocide”
committed by the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy in
Channel Islands National Park, off the California coast, retired
park superintendent Tim J. Setnicka has affirmed almost every
criticism of the cruelty of “invasive species” eradication that
animal advocates have issued since the killing in the islands began
circa 1970.
Setnicka published his 3,500-word confession in the March 25,
2005 edition of the Santa Barbara News Press.
A globally recognized search-and-rescue expert, Setnicka
developed his skills during approximately 30 years of killing
non-native species in the Channel Islands. “The Park Service
reassigned him to other duties before his retirement. He lives in
Ojai,” on the nearby mainland, the News Press said.
Setnicka was apparently brought to catharsis after viewing a
slide show of the history of Channel Islands National Park at a
celebration of the 25th anniversary of the official park opening.
“A large portion of the park’s history revolved around
killing one species to save another,” Setnicka saw.

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New Hampshire greyhound execs hit by indictments

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

CONCORD, N.H.– Responding to a report by New Hampshire
attorney general Kelly Ayotte that a consortium called the New
Hampshire Gaming Association is unfit to hold a dog racing license,
“The Lakes Region Greyhound Park is actively seeking a buyer and upon
finding one, may surrender its racing license under a tentative deal
with the attorney general’s office even before the state Pari-Mutual
Commission conducts hearings on whether to revoke it,” Fosters Daily
Democrat staff writer John Koziol reported on March 29, 2005.
The Lakes Region Grey-hound Park has reportedly lost money recently
and laid off staff.
Former Lakes Region Greyhound Park general manager Richard
Hart and assistant general manager Jonathan Broome were among 17
people indicted in January 2005 for allegedly running a five-state
illegal betting ring based in Concord, New Hampshire that handled
$200 million in just four years. The ring allegedly operated within
an entity called the International Players Association.
The money “was laundered through various off-site betting
companies, including Euro Off-Track on the Isle of Man in the United
Kingdom,” wrote Providence Journal State House Bureau reporter
Scott Mayerowitz.

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New murder-by-dog case filed in Virginia

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

FREDERICKSBURG–The first murder-by-dog case filed in
Virginia was on March 24, 2005 set for an April 20 preliminary
hearing in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court, three days after a
grand jury indicted Deanna Hilda Large, 36, of Partlow, on one
felony count of involuntary manslaughter, carrying a possible
10-year prison sentence, and three misdemeanor counts of allowing
dangerous dogs to run loose.
Large was briefly jailed but was released on $10,000 bond
after police determined that her three unneutered male pit bulls on
March 8, 2005 killed distant neighbor Dorothy Sullivan, 82, and
Sullivan’s Shih Tzu in Sullivan’s front yard.
The first sheriff’s deputy to arrive, after an emergency
call by Sullivan’s daughter, reportedly shot two of the pit bulls at
the scene. The third was captured and euthanized later. Local
police shot two more pit bulls outside Large’s home two days later
when they charged as the officers interviewed her.
“The [five] dogs were suspected of killing other pets in the
neighborhood, including a German shepherd [on March 1, 2005] and a
kitten,” wrote Emily Battle and Keith Epps of the Fredericksburg Free
Lance-Star. “Sources said that although Large was questioned in
those cases, there was not enough evidence to file charges.”

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Safari Club International lobbyist to head U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

WASHINGTON D.C.–U.S. Interior Secretary Gail Norton on March
17 appointed former Safari Club International chief lobbyist Matthew
J. Hogan to be acting director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,
succeeding Steve Williams, who resigned a week earlier.
Williams resigned hours after formally admitting that the
Fish & Wildlife Service used incomplete and misleading data on
Florida panther movements in assessing several high profile land use
applications. Most involved projects favored by Florida Governor Jeb
Bush, younger brother of President George W. Bush.
“Dan Ashe, the service’s top science adviser and a member of
the review panel, said the agency relied too much on data collected
only in late morning hours to establish the panthers’ home range.
Panthers are most active at dawn and dusk,” explained John Heilprin
of Associated Press.
“The agency announced it would revise documents that
understated the panther’s habitat and painted an over-optimistic
picture of its prospects,” added Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel staff
writer David Fleshler. “The review [of panther research] came after
an agency biologist, Andrew Eller, filed a petition last May under
the federal Data Quality Act accusing the agency of knowingly using
flawed data to rubber-stamp eight construction projects in panther
habitat.”

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Murder on the animal control beat

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

Dennis L. Rader, 59, longtime code enforcement and animal
control officer for Park City, Kansas, a Wichita suburb, was on
February 27, 2005 charged with serially killing 10 people in Wichita
since 1974. The killings were claimed in letters to local media from
“BTK,” short for “Bind, Torture, Kill.” Rader’s tenure in animal
control coincided with two long interludes between murders. Park
City and Wichita are both in Sedgewick County, where the rate of
animal control killing per 1,000 human residents is more than twice
the U.S. norm.

Chi Luu Linville, 57, of Loxahatchee, Florida, was on
March 11 convicted of trying to hire Palm Beach County sheriff’s
detective Kim Bradley to kill animal control officer Tammie Craw-ford
in October 2003, after Crawford impounded Linville’s goats and
cattle, and said she would return to impound Linville’s pigs and
cats. Explained Palm Beach Post staff writers William Cooper Jr. and
Larry Keller, “A judge had barred Linville–cited many times for
neglect and animals running loose–from keeping animals without court
approval. Linville feared losing an agricultural exemption on her
10-acre property if all animals were removed, assistant state
attorney Dan Galo said. Linville testified that her property taxes
would triple if she lost the exemption.” Linville contended that
Bradley entrapped her by posing as the stepdaughter of an
acquaintance.

H5N1 & Marburg outbreaks

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2005:

HANOI, LUANDA–If an epidemiologist’s worst nightmare isn’t
the avian influenza strain called H5N1, it might be Marburg
hemorrhagic fever, a virulent close cousin to the better known Ebola
virus. Both are zoonotic diseases, meaning that they spread to
humans from animals. With a quirk or two of virus evolution, both
could depopulate continents. The worst-ever outbreaks of each are
raging right now in Southeast Asia and Central Africa.
H5N1, discovered after it killed three people in Hong Kong in 1997,
apparently crossed from migratory wild birds to ducks and geese
reared in huge outdoor pens and paddies in southern China, crossed
to indoor-raised chickens, then raced throughout Southeast Asia with
the mostly illegal but lightly prosecuted commerce in gamecocks.
Killing about 70% of the humans who contract it from birds,
H5N1 has not killed millions chiefly because it has not evolved into
a form that spreads easily from human to human, and does not spread
easily from bird to human. Only the estimated 25 to 40 million
Southeast Asians who raise poultry are believed to be at risk of
becoming infected by the bird-to-human route.

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