LETTERS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Letters

Rodenticide ban

New U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations went into effect June 1, 2011 that ban the sale of anticoagulant rodenticides,  and all rodenticides that residential customers may buy in loose or pellet form.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to this ban. Rodenticides in pellet form are very easy for dogs and cats to simply pick up and eat. Selling poisons only in bait stations will make it more difficult for non-target animals to access the chemicals. However, an ambitious and determined dog will most likely still find a way to tear apart a bait station. Read more

U.K. to ban wild animal acts from circuses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

LONDON–The United Kingdom appears to be poised to join a growing number of nations which have banned wild animals from circuses.

Defying Prime Minister David Cameron,  the U.K. House of Commons on June 23,  2011 unanimously endorsed a resolution stating that “This House directs the Government to use its powers under Section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce a regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses,  to take effect by 1 July 2012.” Read more

BOOKS: Training Your Dog the Humane Way

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Training Your Dog the Humane Way
by Alana Stevenson
New World Library
(14 Pameron Way,  Novato,  CA  94949),  2011.
194 pages paperback.  $15.95.

Training Your Dog the Humane Way,   by Alana Stevenson, squeezes into a crowded market of training manuals,  but stands out for emphasizing non-violent methods.  Stevenson doesn’t believe in the use of shock collars,  or the spiked collars often seen on bully breeds. Read more

Editorial feature: Who is speaking out for pigs & who is eating them

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Park described the suicides of some of the workers who performed the live burials,  and said she found the scenes she videotaped so depressing that she wanted to jump into the pits herself,  but she could not get close enough…”

Mercy for Animals,  having already produced more shocking undercover videos of mistreatment of animals on factory farms than all other U.S. animal advocacy organizations combined,   on June 29, 2011 shocked television and web viewers yet again with footage from inside an Iowa Select Farms facility in Kamrar,  Iowa.

Iowa Select Farms supplies Swift,  one of the biggest names in meatpacking. Read more

Homes still needed for animals left by the dissolution of Wild Animal Orphanage

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

 

SHREVEPORT,  SAN ANTONIO–Bob Barker,  the retired longtime host of The Price Is Right television game show,  has donated $230,000 toward the cost of relocating five former laboratory chimpanzees who had been exposed to HIV infection from the bankrupt Wild Animal Orphanage sanctuary near San Antonio,  Texas,  to Chimp Haven,  near Shreveport,  Louisiana.

“A team from Chimp Haven will go to Texas in late July to do health and behavioral assessments on each of the chimpanzees in anticipation of a move to our facility in August,”  Chimp Haven national advancement director Karen Allen told ANIMAL PEOPLE.   At Chimp Haven,  Allen said,  the chimps “will live in a social group in an outdoor habitat and get nutritious meals, full-time veterinary care, daily behavioral enrichment, and compassionate care.  It is the least that we can do for them.” Read more

BOOKS: Rescue Pup

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Rescue Pup
by Brenda Fiorini
Joyful Journey Books
(P.O. Box 216,  Rock Falls,  IL 61071),  2011.
32 pages,  paperback,  illust.,  $7.95.

Stranded by his people,  Buddy sits and waits for their return.  He doesn’t know yet that they are not coming back.  Gnawing hunger leads him to break through a screen door.  Like most stray dogs and cats,  he confronts hardships such as unfriendly people and road hazards,  and lack of food.  Eventually a car stops.  The driver takes Buddy to the local shelter where he finds comfort.  A family adopts Buddy and his story ends happily. Read more

Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

“I come to bury Caesar,  not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them.  The good is oft interred with their bones.” –William Shakespeare

 

Peter Falk,  82,  died on June 23,  2011.  Born in New York City,  Falk was introduced to acting at age 12 by Camp High Point counselor Ross Martin,  who also went on to Hollywood success.  After World War II duty in the U.S. Merchant Marine,  and a six-month stint as a railroad worker in Yugoslavia,  Falk earned a Master of Public Administration degree and became a management analyst with the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford.  After hours he acted at a local community theatre and took acting classes.  Falk was nearly 30 before acting professionally,  and his first professional stage appearance was in a play that closed after just one performance,  but within the year he landed his first Broadway role,  and by 1958 was getting small film parts.  His 1960 performance in Murder,  Inc. won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  Falk rose to stardom playing a variety of roles,  but is best remembered for playing the detective Columbo in made-for-TV films produced between 1968 and 2003,  and in the  1971-1978 television series Columbo.  “Falk generously donated his time to help animals by supporting In Defense of Animals’ Guardian Campaign,  to convince people that the word ‘guardian’ is a more appropriate word than ‘owner’ to describe our relationship with animals,”  recalled In Defense of Animals founder Elliot Katz.  “In IDA’s 30-second  ‘Be A Guardian:  Adopt and Save A Life’ public service announcement,”  Katz contined,  “Falk and his wife Shera Danese appear with world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall,  and actors Wendie Malick and Kristen Bell.  They urge people to save animal lives by adopting from shelters, and to always act as guardians of animals,  not owners.  Falk and his late wife were passionate about rescuing dogs,”  Katz said,  “and lived with rescued shelter dogs.”

 

Edward Gardner,  38,  of Naperville,  Illinois,  was killed by an airport limousine on May 30,  2011 while trying to shoo a family of ducklings off the roadway near the O’Hare Oasis at Schiller Park.  Gardner apparently did not use his vehicle to block oncoming traffic.

[For more on this, please click here.] Read more

BOOKS: Chutki’s Experiences

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2011:

Chutki’s Experiences
by A. Shamalatha Rao
22 pages, paperback. $4.49,
P.O. Box 5145, Pleasanton, CA 94566
or c/o <shamalatharao@yahoo.com>

Shamalatha Rao writes in the voice of Chutki, an Indian
street dog, to teach children about pet overpopulation and cruelty
to animals. Stray dogs compete for scraps with impoverished people
in the teeming slums of Mumbai and the surrounding countryside.

Read more

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