Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 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


Sue Farinato,  61,
died on October 25,  2011 at her home in
Damascus,  Maryland.  Born Sue Lunson in Portsmouth,  Virginia,  she
became involved in bird rescue in childhood and continued to do
wildlife rehabilitation throughout her life,  founding an
organization called Wildlife Aid Brigade in 2007 to help train
wildlife rescuers.  She met her husband Richard Farinato in 1972,
when both were employed by the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston.  While
Richard Farinato developed his career as a wildlife specialist with
the Humane Society of the U.S.,  Sue Farinato in 1987 founded the
South Carolina animal advocacy group Peaceable Kingdom,  challenging
hunters,  trappers,  the fur industry,  roadside zoos,  and traveling
animal shows,  most prominently the notorious Tim Rivers Diving Mule
Act.  Joining her husband at HSUS in 2003, she “served in a number of
capacities including as outreach coordinator for the Wildlife Land
Trust,  issues information specialist for Animal Research Issues,
animal services coordinator at the Black Beauty Ranch,  membership
manager for the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association,  and
for the past three years as program assistant for Pet Care Issues in
Companion Animals,”  recalled HSUS president Wayne Pacelle.  Among
the last animals Sue Farinato handled was an injured pigeon whom
Pacelle and his fiancee Lisa found on a Washington D.C. street. Read more

Awards & Honors

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

The Animal Welfare Institute has honored Wayne County,
Michigan assistant prosecutors Raj Prasad and Amy Slameka with the
Albert Schweitzer Award for sending two men who burned a dog alive to
prison.   The Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian Albert
Schweitzer,  1875-1965,  in 1951 authorized AWI to present the annual
award. Read more

BOOKS: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

Dewey’s Nine Lives:
The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions
by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
Penguin USA (375 Hudson St.,  New York,  NY 10014),  2010.
320 pages,  hardcover.  $19.95.

Dewey the library cat, formally named Dewey Readmore Books,
is famous worldwide.  Dumped in the book return chute at the Spencer
Public Library in Spencer,  Iowa,  on a blustery winter night in
January 1988,  the fluffy red and white kitten was adopted by the
library staff. Reeling from unemployment,  factory closures,  and
depressed property values,  Spencer found in Dewey a symbol of
resilience.  People came to the library just to meet and greet Dewey. Read more

BOOKS: Animals and the kids who love them

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

Animals and the kids who love them:
Extraordinary true stories of hope, healing and compassion
Edited by Allen & Linda Anderson
New World Library (14 Pameron Way,  Novato,  CA  94949),  2011.  194
pages,  paperback.  $14.95.

Take out a hanky because some of the stories in Animals and
the kids who love them:  Extraordinary true stories of hope,  healing
and compassion choked me up. Read more

Congress removes restriction against USDA inspecting horsemeat slaughterhouses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

WASHINGTON D.C.--A Congressional conference committee
scrapped House-approved language prohibiting the use of USDA funds
for horse slaughter inspections while reconciling differing House and
Senate versions of the “mini-bus” Agriculture,
Commerce/Justice/Science appropriations bill signed into law on
November 18,  2011 by U.S. President Barrack Obama. Read more

Cockbreeders may lose Honolulu contract to control feral chickens & noisy roosters

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

HONOLULU--New Honolulu mayor and former city prosecutor Peter
Carlisle is expected to end a city contract which since 2005 has paid
cockbreeders Pat and Jose Royos of Royos Farm in the Waiahole Valley
$480,000 to field complaints about feral chickens and roosters
crowing. Read more

Rotary Club investigation finds links to dogfighting at Memphis Animal Shelter

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:

MEMPHIS--A report to Memphis mayor A.C. Wharton, Jr. by the
Memphis Rotary Club Animal Shelter Evaluation Committee on October
26,  2011 affirmed longtime activist suspicion that dogfighters are
operating with impunity within the city animal control department.
Opened the report,  “A review of the labor contract would
show no articles that would interfere with  or hinder the appropriate
and efficient operation of the facility. The interpretation of the
contract,  and more important,  the interference of city hall in this
interpretation, is a different matter.  Read more

People & positions

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  November/December 2011:
Tony LaRussa,  68, celebrated his fourth World Series
victory in 35 years of managing major league baseball teams by
retiring from baseball.  The Performing Animal Welfare Society
reportedly offered LaRussa a job as an elephant keeper,  but he has a
fulltime volunteer job at Tony LaRussa’s Animal Foundation,  begun
with his wife Elaine in 1991. Read more

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