Month: July 2010

BOOKS: Deadly Kingdom: The book of dangerous animals

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:

Deadly Kingdom: The book of dangerous animals
by Gordon Grice
Random House (1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019), 2010. 352
pages, hardcover. $27.00.

Almost all animals can be dangerous, shows Gordon Grice in
Deadly Kingdom.
Dogs, among the most familiar species to humans, inflict an
estimated 4.7 million reported bites per year in the U.S., causing
at least 800,000 people, mostly children, to require medical help.
Currently more than 30 Americans per year die from dog bites. Dozens
more are horribly disfigured. Abroad, dog bites are still the most
common vector for transmitting rabies to humans.

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BOOKS: Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:

Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time:
My Life Doing Dumb Things With Animals
by Richard Conniff
W.W. Norton & Co. (500 5th Ave., New York, NY 10110), 2010. 304
pages, paperback. $15.95.

Swimming with Piranhas opens with author Richard Conniff and
a park ranger in Botswana looking for African wild dogs. Often
maligned, Lycaon pictus is more closely related to wolves than to
domestic dogs. As with wolves, Conniff explains, “humans
persecuted them into extinction over most of their range.” Only
about 5,000 remain. Playful and gentle with each other, African wild
dogs travel in packs and rarely come into contact with humans. They
have a highly evolved social structure. Despite efforts to protect
the remaining African wild dogs on wildlife preserves, they suffer
from fragmented habitat, diseases introduced by domestic dogs, and
continued hostility from livestock ranchers and herders. They often
end up as lion lunch, too.

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Vegan ex-NHL hockey star is named deputy director of Canadian Greens

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:
MONTREAL–Recently retired vegan hockey star Georges Laraque,
33, was on August 1, 2010 named one of the two deputy directors of
the Green Party of Canada.
Laraque, born in Montreal of Haitian parents, said on his
web site that he gave up meat and later joined the Greens due to “my
deep concern for animal welfare.” Laraque has also raised funds for
relief work in Haiti.
Named “Best Fighter” by Hockey News in 2003 and “#1 enforcer”
by Sports Illustrated in 2008, Laraque played 13 years in the
National Hockey League for Edmonton, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and the
Montreal Canadiens.

What the Sea Shepherds did during the summer in the Galapagos, Faroe Islands, and Tokyo

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:

 

FRIDAY HARBOR– The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
celebrated but pledged to remain involved in the Galapagos Islands on
July 28, 2010, after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organiz-ation’s World Heritage Committee voted 14-5 to drop
the Galapagos from the UNESCO list of endangered World Heritage
sites. Added to the list in 2007, the Galapagos were downlisted in
recognition of improved environmental protection by the government of
Ecuador– including restraining alleged economic exploitation by
senior officers in the Ecuadoran navy.
The Sea Shepherds began helping the Galapagos National Park
Service to patrol the Galapagos Marine Reserve in late 2000. In
early 2001 one of the first Sea Shepherd missions undertaken with the
park service exposed the involvement of Ecuadoran navy vessels in
support of shark poaching. The Sea Shepherds later donated the
patrol boat Sirenian to the Galapagos National Park Service, and
established a permanent office in the Galapagos in support of ongoing
anti-poaching efforts.

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German zoo staff convicted of cruelty for killing hybrid tigers

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:
MAGDEBURG, Germany–Magdeburg Zoo
director Kai Parret and three members of the zoo
staff were on June 17, 2010 convicted of cruelty
for killing three tiger cubs at birth in May 2008
because their father was found to be a hybrid of
the Siberian and Sumatran tiger subspecies. A
fine of 8,100 euros was suspended on condition
that the offense not be repeated.
The charges were brought at request of
the German pro-animal organizations Animal Public
and People for Animal Rights/ Germany.
The Magdeburg Zoo bought the tigers’
parents with the intention of breeding them,
believing them both to be purebred Siberian, but
found Sumatran genes in the father in February
2008, after the mother was already in advanced
pregnancy.

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Faulty warrants kill Ontario SPCA case against Toronto Humane Society

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:
TORONTO–All pending charges against
former Toronto Humane Society president Tim Trow
and seven other former Toronto Humane Society
personnel were dropped on August 16, 2010 after
Ontario crown attorney Christine McGoey told the
court that deficiencies in the search warrant and
procedures used by the Ontario SPCA in a November
2009 raid on the Toronto Humane Society involved
“several serious breaches” of the Canadian
Charter of Rights & Freedoms, sufficient to
render inadmissible all evidence collected.

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Shelter killing falls to lowest rate in six decades despite two years of weak economy

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2010:



          Animals killed  YEAR  1,000s   Animals
         per 1,000 people       of people  killed
---------------------------------------------------------
Toronto               2.1  2008  2,632     5,526
Calgary               3.1  2008  1,043     2,803
Montreal              7.4  2007  1,621    12,000
Edmonton              6.5  2008    782     5,107
---------------------------------------------------------
CANADA (7.5%)         4.2       33,213   139,495

New York City         2.1  2009  8,300    17,080
NEW HAMPSHIRE         2.3  2008  1,316     2,374
Brookhaven (NY)       1.0  2009    500       475
---------------------------------------------------------
NORTHEAST (30%)       2.0       33,971    66,430

New Castle/Sussex, DE 1.2  2009    727       880
NEW JERSEY            4.4  2008  8,866    37,673
Pr. George Cty, MD    7.1  2007    841     6,000
Philadelphia         10.5  2008  1,611    15,286
---------------------------------------------------------
MID-ATLANTIC (49%)    5.0       24,497   122,120


Broward County        7.3  2008  1,751    12,782
Dekalb County, GA     7.4  2009    737     5,462
Cobb County, GA       8.5  2009    698     5,958
Miami/Dade County     9.1  2009  2,297    21,000
Gwinnette Cty, GA     9.8  2009    776     7,608
VIRGINIA             11.3  2009  7,883    88,730
Palm Beach County    12.8  2009  1,294    16,600
St. Johns Cnty, FL   13.0  2007    169     2,201
Manatee County, FL   13.6  2008    316     4,294
Alachua Cty, FL      14.4  2009    240     3,459
Pinellas Cty, FL     15.9  2008    910    14,500
Tampa region         16.5  2008  1,205    19,837
Lee County, FL       19.1  2007    571    10,907
NORTH CAROLINA       21.7  2008  9,381   203,490
Duval County, FL     23.5  2007    838    19,662
Columbia, SC         23.5  2007    468    11,000
Clayton County, GA   23.4  2009    272     6,257
Charleston, SC       24.1  2007    332     8,000
Clay County, FL      27.3  2007    179     6,542
Robeson Count, NC    34.6  2009    130     4,500
Volusia County, FL   42.3  2007    497    21,000
Clay County, FL      44.7  2007    179     8,000
Macon, GA            46.0  2009     93     4,278
---------------------------------------------------------
SO. ATLANTIC (62%)   16.2       50,192   813,110

Montrose, CO          2.5  2009     16       383
Reno/Washoe           3.5  2009    414     1,453
Weld County, CO       6.2  2009    244     1,500
Denver metro area     6.5  2008  2,397    15,570
UTAH                 11.9  2009  2,784    35,528
NEVADA               14.4  2009  2,643    38,163
Las Vegas/Clark Cty  14.4  2009  2,000    28,937
Phoenix/Maricopa     14.8  2008  3,955    57,287
Albuquerque          23.8  2007    505    12,029
Tucson               25.3  2008  1,014    25,600
NEW MEXICO           33.7  2007  1,978    66,709
Clovis, NM           48.9  2009     37     1,821
--------------------------------------------------------
WEST (68%)           16.0       22,123   353,963             Animals 
killed  YEAR  1,000s   Animals
         per 1,000 people       of people  killed
---------------------------------------------------------
Louisville           13.0  2008    722     9,368
Nashville            16.0  2009    626    10,000
Memphis              20.0  2008    671    13,416
Kanawha/Charleston   34.1  2007    192     6,553
---------------------------------------------------------
APPALACHIA (46%)     17.8       15,319   272,678


Plano, TX             5.3  2009    268     1,430
Richardson, TX        9.4  2009    102       957
Dallas               11.7  2008  2,346    27,355
Austin/Travis Cty.   11.9  2008    921    10,916
Jefferson Parish     16.9  2008    456     7,720
Shelby County, AL    16.9  2007    178     3,000
Houston              18.4  2007  3,886    71,395
San Antonio          19.6  2008  1,329    26,000
Fort Worth           21.3  2007    682    14,546
Mobile               22.1  2009    406     8,971
El Paso              24.0  2009    751    18,000
MISSISSIPPI          24.8  2007  2,939    73,000
Garland, TX          25.0  2009    226     5,651
ALABAMA              25.7  2007  4,662   120,000
Caddo Parish         26.1  2009    253     6,600
Waco/McLennan Cty.   27.0  2008    230     6,204
Brownsville          28.4  2009    176     5,000
Tuskaloosa, AL       31.1  2009    178     6,019
Baldwin County, AL   34.5  2009    174     5,063
Mesquite, TX         41.6  2009    132     5,488
Amarillo             58.8  2009    187    11,000
Odessa/Ector Cty.    71.4  2008    132     9,423
---------------------------------------------------------
GULF COAST (56%)     21.5       37,025   796,038


Parke-Vermillion, IN  1.5  2009     17        25
St. Charles Cty., MO  2.4  2009    349       820
Oakland County, MI    2.6  2009  1,202     3,125
Dane County, WI       3.8  2009    477     1,797
Mason County, MI      3.9  2007     30       116
Duluth                4.0  2009     86       344
Livingston Cty, MI    5.9  2009    183     1,084
St. Louis             5.9  2009    356     2,105
Chicago               6.7  2008  2,851    19,228
Macomb County, MI     7.2  2007    833     6,000
Jefferson Cty., MO    8.5  2009    224     1,900
Porter County,  IN    8.7  2007    160     1,384
Dayton/Montgomery    10.1  2009    538     5,431
Kansas City, MO      10.9  2008    452     4,912
Quad Cities, IL-IA   12.7  2009    312     3,944
Sangamon Cty, IL     14.7  2008    195     2,857
St. Clair Cty, MI    15.3  2007    170     2,600
Indianapolis         16.7  2007    866    14,470
Genesee County, MI   18.9  2009    424     8,000
Tulsa                18.9  2009    386     7,303
Oklahoma City        28.0  2007    691    19,365
Shelby County, IN    29.4  2008     44     1,293
River Rouge, MI     129.4  2007      9     1,165
--------------------------------------------------------
MIDWEST (18%)        10.1       60,124   607,252
          Animals killed  YEAR  1,000s   Animals
         per 1,000 people       of people  killed
---------------------------------------------------------
San Juan Capistrano   1.3  2007     37        48
San Francisco         1.3  2009    815     1,031
Whidbey Islsnd, WA    2.2  2009     60       132
San Diego             4.0  2007  2,942    11,700
Orange County, CA     4.3  2007  3,002    13,000
Los Angeles city      5.1  2009  3,834    19,561
Santa Barbara Cty.    5.3  2008    405     2,136
Portland/Multnomah    6.1  2009  2,049    12,500
Los Angeles total     6.8  2007  9,503    64,457
Los Angeles County    8.5  2007  5,082    43,373
Anchorage             9.1  2007    275     2,490
Clallam County, WA   10.0  2009     71       708
CALIFORNIA           10.9  2008 36,757   400,000
San Bernardino Cty   15.5  2009  2,061    32,000
Long Beach           13.0  2007    469     6,075
Spokane              16.8  2008    463     7,824
Kern/Bakersfield     22.8  2009    824    18,811
Fresno               35.0  2009    942    33,000
---------------------------------------------------------
PACIFIC (80%)        10.7       49,445   529,062

U.S. TOTAL           11.6      307,007 3,560,658

	(The regional and national totals appearing in bold are not 
tallies of the data used to produce them,  but are rather estimates 
proportionately weighted to reflect demography.  The percentage 
figure in parenthesis is the percentage of the human population 
encompassed within the shelter service areas from which the totals 
were derived.)




U.S. progress against shelter killing

1950     2.0    13.5

1970    23.4   115.0

1985    17.8    74.8

1997     4.9    21.1
1998     4.9    19.4
1999     4.5    16.6
2000     4.5    16.8
2001     4.4    15.7
2002     4.2    15.3
2003     4.5    14.8
2004     4.9    17.4
2005     4.4    14.8
2006     4.0    13.6
2007     4.2    13.8
2008     3.6    11.6



More progress for dogs than for cats

(The numbers of dogs and cats killed in U.S. and Canadian
shelters were approximately equal in the mid-1990s.)

Region                Cats killed       Dogs killed        Ratio
---------------------------------------------------------
CANADA           114,386       25,109     82/18
Northeast         47,165       19,265     71/29
Mid-Atlantic      86,705       35,415     71/29
So. Atlantic     457,256      357,768     56/44
Appalachia       147,246      125,432     54/46
Gulf Coast       429,861      366,178     54/46
Midwest          376,496      230,756     62/38
West             184,034      169,905     52/48
Pacific          333,309      169,300     63/37
---------------------------------------------------------
U.S. TOTAL     2,062,072    1,474,019     57/43

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Bear kept by wrestling promoter kills worker

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2010:
Pressure on Ohio Governor Ted Strickland to issue a promised
executive order to ban private possession of exotic and dangerous
animals intensified on August 20, 2010 when one of nine bears kept
by bear wrestling promoter Sam Mazzola killed Brent Kandra, 24, a
six-year employee at Mazzola’s 17-acre compound in Lorain County.
The bear was reportedly not one used in the wrestling shows.
Begun circa 1986, Mazzola’s traveling barroom bear wrestling
act briefly disappeared after Mazzola was sent to Ohio state prison
in 1990 for alleged cocaine trafficking. The act was closed or
prohibited by authorities in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Ontario,
and Manitoba between 1994 and 1998. In 2008 the USDA took away
Mazzola’s exhibiton license and fined him $14,000 for allegedly not
permitting inspections and threatening officials.
In September 2009 Mazzola “pleaded guilty in U.S. District
Court to two federal criminal charges of exhibiting and selling
exotic animals without a license. He was sentenced to three years
probation and ordered to do community service,” reported Amanda
Garrett of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

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