BOOKS: Homer’s Odyssey

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
Bantam Books (1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019), 2009. 296
pages, paperback. $15.00.

South Florida resident Gwen Cooper, already keeping two
rescued cats, Scarlett and Vashti, answered a call about Homer, a
scrappy black kitten without eyes. Would she adopt him? The
veterinarian’s office had barely finished describing Homer’s plight
when Cooper caved in. Shrugging off disability, Homer sharpened his
other senses, learning to snag flies in midair and to stack
cockroaches in piles, then meow for Cooper’s attention.

BOOKS: Animal Magnetism

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

Animal Magnetism by Rita Mae Brown
Ballantine Books
(1745 Broadway, New York,
NY 10019), 2009.
233 pages, paperback. $16.00.

Rita Mae Brown, best-selling author and fox hunter, in
Animal Magnetism shares poignant memories about the dogs, cats,
horses, and occasional other animals in her life and the lives of
her family members. After writing a seven-volume series of murder
mysteries set within a fox hunting club, none of which bring anyone
to justice for murdering foxes, Brown follows Ted Kerasote and
several other longtime defenders of hunting in presenting herself as
an animal lover–possibly because that’s where the money is.

BOOKS: Astro: The Steller Sea Lion

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

Astro: The Steller Sea Lion by Jeanne Walker Harvey
Sylvan Dell Publishing (612 Johnnie Dodds, Suite A2
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464), 2010. * 32 pages, paperback. $8.95.

No one knows how the baby sea lion washed upon the shore in
Morrow Bay Harbor, near San Luis Obispo, California, in December
2008. A scientist who saw the abandoned pup took him to the Marine
Mammal Center in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge
from San Francisco. Staff and volunteers named the sea lion Astro.
At ten months of age, when Astro was healthy enough for
release into the Pacific, he was fitted with a satellite tag so that
the Marine Mammal Center could monitor his travels. Astro was
returned to the beach where he was found, but the sea did not
interest him. Neither did the other sea lions lingering on the sand.
Astro waited for two days for his human friends to return for him.

BOOKS: Pukka: The Pup After Merle

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

Pukka: The pup after Merle
by Ted Kerasote
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(215 Park Ave. S., New York, NY 10003), 2010.
197 pages, hardcover. $18.95

Outdoor writer Ted Kerasote, until 2007,
was best known for his 1994 volume Bloodties, a
culture-based defense of hunting if the victims
are eaten. But Kerasote rejected trophy
hunting, which made him not much more popular
within the hunting industry than among animal
advocates.

Serenity Springs cofounder Nick Sculac convicted

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

COLORADO SPRINGS–Serenity Springs Wildlife Center cofounder
Nick Sculac, 60, was on October 26, 2010 sentenced to serve six
years in a halfway house, with probation possible in six to eight
months. The conviction was Sculac’s third for felony theft, but
Colorado mandates a life sentence for a third felony conviction only
if the felonies involve violence.
“When a volunteer was mauled by a tiger last year,”
explained R. Scott Rappold of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Sculac
bilked the man out of $40,500 by falsely claiming– according to
court documents–that he faced fines from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and that amount was his share. The USDA is still
investigating the April 2009 mauling and has not issued a fine. The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the sanctuary
$7,000,” Rappold added.

BOOKS: The Backyard Bird Lover’s How-to-guide

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)

The backyard bird lover’s ultimate how-to-guide
by Sally Roth
(Rodale Press, 33 East Minor Street, Emmaus, PA 18098), 2010.
316 pages, paperback. $21.99.

I know very little about birds except that the feeder outside
my trailer needs refilling every few days and I hear lots of
chirping. After reviewing Sally Roth’s new book, The Backyard Bird
Lover’s Ultimate How-to-Guide, I know a lot more about my feathery
friends. Roth knows birds and shares her vast experience as a
naturalist, writer and gardener. Roth introduces species including
the scarlett tanager, indigo bunting, and gray catbird, describes
what they eat, and offers recipes for birdseed mixes. “Catbirds get
corny,” for example, is a blend of suet, peanut butter, cornmeal,
wheat flour, apples, and sunflower chips.

The “bloodhounds” feared in the 19th century were a different breed of dog

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest One comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
Wrote Jim Gorant of pit bull terriers in The Lost Dogs:
Michael Vick’s dogs & their tale of rescue & redemption:
“In the 19th century a different breed of dog was considered
so vicious and insidious that it inspired almost universal fear and
loathing. That breed was the bloodhound.”
Gorant merely restated a claim often made for decades by pit
bull advocates and opponents of breed-specific legislation, but
anti-dogfighting blogger Dawn James–an animal rights activist for
more than 30 years– found this difficult to believe.

Fired founder Carol Buckley sues Elephant Sanctuary

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
NASHVILLE–Carol Buckley, cofounder of the Elephant
Sanctuary at Hohenwald, Tennessee, has sued the sanctuary, board
member Janice Zeitlin, and then-acting chief executive Mary Baker
for wrongful dismissal.
Placed on involuntary leave of absence on November 21, 2009
and fired on March 17, 2010, Buckley filed suit on September 10,
2010, but word of the case did not reach news media until October 7,
when separate reports appeared from Liz Potocsnak of Courthouse News
Service and Chris Echegary of the Nashville Tennessean.

Pete Bethune vs. Paul Watson

October 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2010:
(Actual press date November 3.)
FRIDAY HARBOR, Wa.–A split between Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson
and Pete Bethune, captain of the sunken racing
trimaran turned anti-whaling vessel Ady Gil,
flared into view on October 5, 2010, attracting
global notice as result of statements Bethune
made to New Zealand National Radio, but vanished
from his web site and that of the Sea Shepherds
just a few days later.
Joining the Sea Shepherd fleet for the
winter 2009-2010 campaign against Japanese
whaling, the Ady Gil caught up to the whalers in
early January 2010, joined on January 6 by Sea
Shepherd vessel Bob Barker. Later that day the
Ady Gil was cut in two when rammed by the
whale-catcher Shonan Maru #2. The Bob Barker
took the aft part of the Ady Gil under tow, but
the tow proved difficult as the Ady Gil took on
water. The Ady Gil was stripped and scuttled on
January 8.

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