“God is not Dracula”–but sacrifice continues

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

KATHMANDU, MULTAN– “God is not Dracula!” protested Animal
Save Movement Pakistan president Khalid Mahmood Qurashi via posters,
web postings, and press releases as the annual Eid ul Azha began in
Saudi Arabia on November 27, 2009, and continued around the world
for four days.
Qurashi reminds fellow Muslims every year that Islam requires
charitable acts at the Eid, not blood sacrifice. This year Qurashi
found himself reminding Hindus, too, as the Eid slaughters were
compounded by the sacrificial massacre days earlier of more than a
quarter of a million animals in Bariyarpur, a Nepalese village near
the Bijar border.

“Reality TV” & Rescue Ink Unleashed

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:
“Reality TV” & Rescue Ink Unleashed
National Geographic Channel: 10 p.m. Fridays. Debuted September 25, 2009

After the success of Animal Precinct, Rescue Ink Unleashed
was inevitable. Since the beginning of television, each successful
series theme has been followed by variations, trying to emulate the
aspects of the prototype that captured an audience, while adding
twists that the producers hope might attract even more viewers.
Typically the successful prototype is a gritty realistic
drama. After knock-offs exploit that approach to the point of
running out of ideas, caricatures follow. Some are forthrightly
cartoons: The Flintstones (1960) followed The Honeymooners (1955).
Others are merely cartoonish in live-action format: Charlie’s Angels
(1976), for instance, was a distant descendant of the cop show
format pioneered by Dragnet (1951).

Awards & honors

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November-December 2009:

The Humane Society of the U.S. on October 29, 2009 honored
the Animal Compassion, Advocacy, Respect, & Education Club of
Sweetwater Union High School in National City, California, as 2009
Humane Society Youth Club of the year. The Animal CARE Club has
about 100 members. Among the club projects were sterilizing about
200 dogs for free or at low cost; raising funds for the Baja Animal
Sanctuary in Rosarita, Mexico; and hosting a program to train high
school students as certified veterinary assistants.

Obituaries [Nov/Dec 2009]

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

Joyce Kitsemble, 70, of Wisconsin Rapids, suffered a fatal
heart attack on December 1, 2009 at the Wisconsin state capitol in
Madison while waiting for Governor Jim Doyle to sign a bill
strengthening regulation of dog breeders. (See page one.)
“Kitsemble, who had past troubles breathing, arrived at the capitol
with an oxygen tank. As Doyle spoke, she appeared suddenly to
struggle for breath and the governor interrupted his remarks so she
could be taken out of the room in a wheelchair,” reported Jason
Stein of the Wisconsin State Journal. A longtime volunteer for the
South Wood County Humane Society in Wisconsin Rapids, Kitsemble had
lobbied for the new law for 10 years.

Obituaries

Animal obituaries

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

Felony, 11, a black Lab employed since 2002 by the Howard
Lake Police Department in Wright County, Minnesota, escaped from
his kennel on October 30, 2009. Tammy Bren of Howard Lake found
Felony and took him to the Animal Humane Society in Buffalo,
Minnesota, the next day. The Animal Humane Society posted his photo
online, but he was not identified until after he was euthanized on
November 6, due to poor body condition and difficult disposition.

Obituaries

Further thoughts about service dogs

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

Further thoughts about service dogs
Commentary by Merritt Clifton

In November 1993, when the use of service dogs other than to
guide the blind was still quite new to most of the public, ANIMAL
PEOPLE devoted a cover feature to the legal and philosophical issues
involved, including the perspectives of leading figures in the
animal rights movement as to whether training dogs for human service
constitutes exploitation. We followed up several times, until the
precedents recognizing the use of hearing dogs, seizure alert dogs,
and various other now common uses of service dogs appeared to be
clearly established, and ethical objections to the use of service
dogs were no longer commonly voiced.

Struggle for humane euthanasia continues in U.S., Philippines

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

An employee of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter in
Lincolnton, North Carolina escaped serious injury on October 20,
2009 when a newly installed gas chamber exploded. The man had just
killed several dogs. “Carbon monoxide was clearing out of the
machine when a fireball, propelled by pressure, blew open the door
of the gas chamber, burning the man and slamming the chamber door
into him,” reported Diane Turbyfill of the Gaston Gazette.
North Carolina Coalition for Humane Euthanasia secretary
Michele King, of Garner, North Carolina, forwarded to ANIMAL
PEOPLE a purchase order which she said “shows that the gas chamber
was formerly used in Reidsville, at Rockingham County Animal
Control,” where King said it “leaked repeatedly and was finally
removed. The same gas chamber company, Cutting Edge Fabrication in
Gastonia, sold another used gas chamber to Iredell County last
year,” King added. “That chamber also later exploded,” on July 22,
2008, with 10 dogs inside at the time.

BOOKS: Bombproof

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

Bombproof: A true story of second chances
by Leana Beasley & Stephen Sawicki
L’Universe Inc. (1663 Liberty Drive,
Bloomington, IN 47403; www.iuniverse.com),
2009.
288 pages, paperback; $18.95. E-book download: $6.00.

Bronson, a young Rottweiler mix, almost
died at a Washington animal shelter. But a dog
trainer for the Prison Pet Partnership Program at
the Washington Corrections Center in Pierce
County sensed something special about Bronson,
formerly known as Bruce, as she scouted the
shelter for candidate dogs to be trained by
inmates to assist the disabled. Sergeant Barbara
Davenport, master canine trainer for the
program, chose to give him a chance.”

Florida busts chase pens

November 1, 2009 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

FORT WALTON BEACH–The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation
Commission in mid-November 2009 concluded ten months of both
undercover and aerial surveillance of unlicensed chase pens by
charging 12 people with buying and possessing live foxes and coyotes
without having permits, and issuing citations to 46 people who
brought dogs to pursue the foxes and coyotes.
There are six legal chase pens left in Florida, where dogs
may be released to harass and attack foxes and coyotes who cannot
escape from the pens, though they may have hiding places. The foxes
and coyotes must be vaccinated against rabies, and must come from
rabies-free states.

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