Day: December 1, 2006

Safe Air Travel for Animals Act questioned

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
BOSTON–Eighteen months after the Safe Air Travel for Animals
Act took effect, five years after becoming federal law, observers
are beginning to ask whether it serves any useful purpose.
The law requires airlines to report losses or deaths of pet
animals in transit, previously reported voluntarily.
“Since June 2005,” wrote Boston Globe reporter Peter J. Howe
on November 3, 2006, “airlines have reported only 74 pet incidents,
involving roughly just 0.01 percent of all animals carried in cargo
holds during that period, a review of reports filed at the U.S.
Transportation Department found.”

Read more

Human obituaries

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
Peter Roberts, 82, died on Novem-ber 15, 2006. “His
concern for animals started when after World War II service, he
settled down with his wife Anna to dairy farming in Hampshire,”
recalled Compassion In World Farming ambassador and former chief
executive Joyce D’Silva. “Peter began to take his old, barren cows
to the slaughterhouse and stayed with them to the end. The couple
refused to send their surplus calves to market, fearing they might
be bought for the live export trade and end up in veal crates in
France or Holland.” Appalled by the introduction of factory farming,
first with poultry, later with other species, “Peter wrote a strong
letter to the press and it generated a huge response,” D’Silva
continued. “Realizing that there was a groundswell of feeling
against intensive farming, he approached the major animal welfare
societies, urging them to campaign against battery cages. They
declined. Peter despaired to a solicitor friend, who said: “Peter,
you’ll just have to do it yourself. Come to my office and we’ll set
up a trust. Compassion in World Farming was born,” initially called
the Athene Trust. At first, the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries
and Food treated Peter with what he charitably referred to as ‘benign
amusement.’ But Peter had touched a chord with the public, whose
awareness had been raised by the publication of Ruth Harrison’s
seminal book Animal Machines in 1964. Now Peter provided an
organised outlet for people’s horror at keeping hens in cages and
confining calves and breeding sows in narrow crates, unable to turn
around. Peter stopped farming, and in 1978, he opened the Bran Tub
in Petersfield,” an independent health food shop. “He also set up
Direct Foods,” Silva recalled, “marketing textured vegetable
protein. He himself had become a vegetarian. For all the years that
Peter put in as director of CIWF,” D’Silva added, “he managed never
to draw a salary.” CIWF won a British ban on veal crates in 1990,
and a ban on sow gestation crates in 1999. “However, to Peter’s
regret,” D’Silva said, “he never managed to achieve a permanent ban
on the export of live animals. In 2001, Peter, by then retired due
to the onset of Parkinson’s disease, received the first ever BBC TV
award for his outstanding contribution to animal welfare.” In 2002
he was made a member of the Order of the British Empire.

Read more

Animal obituaries

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
Flip, 5, a Belgian Malinois police dog who once found 40
pounds of cocaine, was shot on November 18, 2006 in Jackson
Township, Ohio by a man “who apparently felt threatened” when Flip
wandered into his property on the dog’s day off, wrote Findlay
Courier staff writer J. Steven Dillon. Flip was partner of Findlay
Police Patrolman Bryon Deeter.

Dewey Readmore Books, 19, found as a kitten in the book
drop at the Spencer Public Library in Sioux City, Iowa, in January
1988, died on November 29, 2006 in the arms of librarian Vicki
Myron, who adopted him, held a contest to name him, and saw him
become one of the most famous library cats in the world, featured on
postcards and his own section at <www.spencerlibrary.com>.

Lakshmi, 43, resident elephant since 1966 at the Thekutheru
Krishnan Temple in Madurai, India, died suddenly on November 9
during one of her frequent visits to the nearby Sourashtra Higher
Secondary School. “She had been the centre of attraction at the
annual temple festival, and had attended the rejuvenation camp,
conducted by the Tamil Nadu state government at Mudumalai for the
past three years,” recalled The Hindu.

Ginny the donkey, protector of 26 goats kept by George and
Patty Coe of Spencer, West Virginia, was fatally wounded on
November 20, the first day of firearm buck hunting season.

Individual Compensation

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
Individual Compensation
(Chief executives &/or top-paid staff & consultants)

The chief executive salaries at the 400 largest U.S.
nonprofit organizations rose 4.8% in fiscal 2005, according the 14th
annual salary survey done by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. By
comparison, Forbes magazine found, chief executive salaries at the
400 largest U.S. for-profit companies rose 2.9%.
The Pay column below is information taken from the IRS Form
990 filings of those organizations listed in “Who gets the money?”
that have filed Form 990. Since balance sheets rarely include
equivalent data, and nations other than the U.S. do not require
public disclosure of individual compensation, no compensation data
is presented for other organizations. Pay combines salaries,
benefit plan contributions (if any), and expense accounts for the
few people who are not required to itemize expenses. Some
independent contractors such as attorneys, accountants, and
consultants are listed as well as directors and regular staff.

Read more

REVIEWS: Earthlings

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:

Earthlings
Written, produced & directed
by Shaun Monson;
narrated by Joaquin Phoenix
Nation Earth (4000-D West Magnolia Blvd., Suite 260, Burbank, CA
91505; www.isawearthlings.com), 2006. DVD, 95 minutes. $19.95.

Actor Joaquin Phoenix in Earthlings explains video clip after
clip of shock video footage of the use and abuse of animals for food,
clothing, entertainment and medical research. Much of the material
was obtained by activists working under cover.
Earthlings has been compared to The Animals’ Film, narrated
by Julie Christie, which in 1981 helped to raise animal advocacy to
global prominence. Very few people were thoroughly aware, at that
time, of the issues that The Animals’ Film raised, and the shocking
aspects of it were demonstrably effective.

Read more

BOOKS: Making Burros Fly

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:

Making Burros Fly:
Cleveland Amory–Animal Rescue Pioneer
by Julie Hoffman Marshall
Johnson Books (Big Earth Publishing, 3005 Center Green Drive, Suite 220,
Boulder, CO 80301), 2006. 176 pages, paperback. $17.50.

The title of Making Burros Fly refers to
the well-publicized 1979 rescue of 557 wild
burros from Grand Canyon National Park,
organized by Cleveland Amory after the National
Park Service deemed them alien and invasive, and
ordained that they should be exterminated. Amory
persuaded the reluctant and skeptical agency to
allow his 11-year-old Fund for Animals to attempt
capture and relocation. Using a variety of
methods including net-gunning from the air,
Amory and his “Army of the Kind” achieved the
rescue at a cost to donors of $500,000. The
capture operation led to Amory’s acquisition in
1980 of an 83-acre property which became the
Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary. Read more

Animal Liberation author Peter Singer ires activists by calling some animal testing “justifiable”

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:

 

LONDON–Philosopher and Great Ape Project
cofounder Peter Singer, whose 1975 opus Animal
Liberation provided intellectual support to the
early animal rights movement, allegedly endorsed
biomedical research on monkeys during an
on-camera discussion with Oxford University
neurosugeon Tipu Aziz.
Aired by BBC-2 on November 27, Singer’s
remarks were previewed a day earlier by Gareth
Walsh of the London Times, under the headline
“Father of animal activism backs monkey testing.”
“I am a surgeon and also a scientist,”
Aziz told Singer. “Part of my work has been to
induce Parkinsonism in primatesŠTo date 40,000
people have been made better with [one of Aziz’s
discoveries], and worldwide at the time I would
guess only 100 monkeys were used at a few
laboratories.”

Read more

Budgets, Programs, Assets, & Overhead of Ten Opposition Organizations

Leave a comment 
 From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  December 2006:




Americans for Medical Progress
TYPE           AEV
GIVEN/EARNED    $      911,716
BUDGET          $      560,798
PROGRAMS        $      453,913
OVERHEAD        $      106,885
19%
19%
NET ASSETS      $      747,990
TANGIBLE ASSETS $     13,738
FUNDS/INVEST    $      752,006


Ducks Unlimited
TYPE           CHU
GIVEN/EARNED    $132,583,469
BUDGET          $147,764,480
PROGRAMS        $120,264,714
OVERHEAD        $ 27,499,766
19%
23%
NET ASSETS      $ 34,673,085
TANGIBLE ASSETS $ 11,402,625
FUNDS/INVEST    $  7,811,006


Heifer International
GIVEN/EARNED    $ 77,057,248
BUDGET          $ 67,749,886
PROGRAMS        $ 51,096,441
OVERHEAD        $ 16,653,445
25%
29%
NET ASSETS      $ 69,900,629
TANGIBLE ASSETS $ 36,838,678
FUNDS/INVEST    $ 20,561,544
	NOTE:  Formerly called The Heifer Project,  Heifer 
International also controls the Heifer International Foundation, 
with assets of $47.7 million.


International Fund for the Conservation of Resources
TYPE           AE
GIVEN/EARNED    $    196,878
BUDGET          $    197,555
PROGRAMS        [not able to determine]
OVERHEAD        [not able to determine]
NET ASSETS      $     58,917
TANGIBLE ASSETS $     57,475
FUNDS/INVEST    $      1,442


Foundation for Biomedical Research
TYPE           AEV
GIVEN/EARNED    $    905,597
BUDGET          $    998,331
PROGRAMS        $    698,247
OVERHEAD        $    300,084
30%
30%
NET ASSETS      $ 10,906,454
TANGIBLE ASSETS $    125,772
FUNDS/INVEST    $ 10,372,252


National Animal Interest Alliance
TYPE           AE
GIVEN/EARNED    $     74,763
BUDGET          $     78,585
PROGRAMS        $     60,576
OVERHEAD        $     18,009
30%
30%
NET ASSETS      $     12,232
TANGIBLE ASSETS $      2,814
FUNDS/INVEST    $      9,418


Safari Club International Foundation
TYPE            H
GIVEN/EARNED    $  2,874,134
BUDGET          $  2,568,964
PROGRAMS        $  1,957,055
OVERHEAD        $    611,909
24%
24%
NET ASSETS      $  8,658,874
TANGIBLE ASSETS $  6,033,489
FUNDS/INVEST    $  2,150,659
	NOTE:  Safari Club International has more than 160 
independently funded U.S. affiliates.


U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance
TYPE            H
GIVEN/EARNED    $    782,158
BUDGET          $    968,938
PROGRAMS        $    811,150
OVERHEAD        $    157,788
16%
16%
NET ASSETS      $      82,851
TANGIBLE ASSETS [none claimed]
FUNDS/INVEST    $     245,654


U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation
TYPE            H
GIVEN/EARNED    $   2,186,081
BUDGET          $   1,544,260
PROGRAMS        $   1,324,287
OVERHEAD        $     219,973
14%
14%
NET ASSETS      $   4,207,632
TANGIBLE ASSETS $     720,784
FUNDS/INVEST    $   2,588,803
	NOTE:  The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and U.S. Sportsmen's 
Alliance Foundation are affiliates,  under common governance.


White Buffalo
TYPE            H
GIVEN/EARNED    $    493,474
BUDGET          $    355,491
PROGRAMS        $    353,402
OVERHEAD        $      2,089
  1%
10%
NET ASSETS      $    466,077
TANGIBLE ASSETS $    192,122
FUNDS/INVEST    $    283,576
	NOTE:  White Buffalo claims "To conserve native species and 
ecosystems by sponsoring,  supporting,  and conducting scientific 
research and education...To aid and assist in the management of 
wildlife populations through reduction or enhancement."  What White 
Buffalo mostly does is enable founder Anthony DeNicola to hunt deer 
at taxpayer expense.  Hired by local governments,  DeNicola and 
assistants have within the past six years reportedly killed at least 
3,168 deer  at sites in Iowa,  New Jersey,  Ohio,  and Pennsylvania. 
DiNicola has long outspokenly denouncd contraceptive means of 
controlling deer.  Yet DeNicola was also hired to test the 
experimental deer contraceptive SpayVac in Princeton Township,  New 
Jersey,   and the Cleveland Metroparks during 2005.  Both tests 
failed.  DiNicola at last report was testing another promising 
contraceptive,  GnRH,  in Princeton Township.

Chimps go from Primarily Primates to Chimp Haven

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
SAN ANTONIO–Seven chimpanzees who were at the center of
recent PETA allegations against the Primarily Primates sanctuary were
on November 16 relocated to Chimp Haven, in Keithville, Louisiana,
near Shreveport.
“The move sparked a rush of high emotion outside the
sanctuary,” summarized Jordan Smith of the Austin Chronicle, as
neither Primarily Primates senior staff nor the Primarily Primates
attorneys had been told that the chimps were to be moved.
Opened in October 2005, after 10 years of fundraising and
construction, the $14 million Chimp Haven complex houses 84 former
lab chimps in all, mostly under a contract from the National
Endowments of Health which allows the NIH to reclaim chimps for
further study if at any time they develop a medically interesting
condition or for any other reason are again wanted for lab use.
Not accredited by either the American Sanctuary Association
or the Association of Sanctuaries, Chimp Haven was itself intensely
controversial in January 2002, when ANIMAL PEOPLE explored the
debate about it. But it was Ohio State University researcher Sally
Boysen’s destination of choice for her nine chimps after OSU quit
funding their care–and the destination of choice for PETA, to whom
Boysen appealed for help when OSU sent the chimps to Primarily
Primates instead, along with $324,000 for their housing and $72,000
for their upkeep. The funding is to follow the chimps wherever they
end up, said OSU spokesperson Earle Holland.

Read more

1 2 3 4