BOOKS: A Novel Exploring the Challenges and Triumphs of Running an Animal Shelter

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

THE RIPPLE EFFECT A Novel Exploring the Challenges and Triumphs of Running an Animal Shelter

by Marcy Eckhardt 268 pages,  paperback ($17.99) or e-book ($7.99.) http://marcyeckhardt.com/

Probably close to 100% of the ANIMAL PEOPLE readership have at some point either worked or volunteered in an animal shelter. Thus probably close to 100% will either intensely identify with the characters in The Ripple Effect,  by longtime shelter worker and consultant Marcy Eckhardt,  or at least recognize them–and probably most who start to read The Ripple Effect will read it cover-to-cover  in just a couple of sittings,  as I did,  feeling that The Ripple Effect is by,  for,  and about us,  the people who know animal sheltering from the inside out, as opposed to them, who interact with shelters in various ways and often vocally criticize shelter procedures, but have little understanding of why things are done as they are. Read more

BOOKS: How to Treat Your Dogs & Cats with Over-the-Counter Drugs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

How to Treat Your Dogs & Cats with Over-the-Counter Drugs and companion edition
by Robert L. Ridgway, DVM IUniverse:  http://bookstore.iuniverse.com
168 and 104 pages,  paperback.  $15.95 and $13.95.

Along with not judging books by the cover. one must sometimes be careful not to judge them by the title.  Orlando Animal Services’ veterinarian Robert L. Ridgway’s handbook How to Treat Your Dogs & Cats with Over-the-Counter Drugs and companion edition of additional advice are useful and practical.  But the mention of over-the-counter drugs in the titles may be misleading.  Ridgway’s books are not pharmacological guides written to help pet keepers avoid the use of prescription medication. Read more

Letters (Sept. 2012)

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Salmon farming isn’t sustainable or humane
I am currently having an argument with the Scottish government over a description of salmon farming as “sustainable” by First Minister Alex Salmond.  He made this claim in quotation marks in a statement in a government press release which was posted on the government web site.

The person who eventually replied to my complaint over this claimed it was the Scottish government web site which said this and not the First Minister.  When a web site starts making statements all on its own, I might start believing that salmon farming is sustainable. Read more

Mercy for Animals exposes California slaughterhouse

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

HANFORD, Calif.–The Central Valley Meat Company in Hanford, California, specializing in slaughtering “retired” dairy cows, reopened on August 27, 2012, just seven days after it was closed by the USDA Office of Inspector General, in response to abuses documented in June 2012 by a Mercy for Animals undercover operative. Read more

New Pennsylvania dog law chief is Michael Pechert

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Michael Pechert,  previously Pennsylvania executive deputy secretary for agriculture,  on July 31,  2012 succeeded Lynn Diehl as director of the Pennsylvania Dog Law Enforcement Office. Philadelphia Inquirer animal beat blogger Amy Worden described Diehl, a former bank manager, as “a Republican Party volunteer who had no prior experience in animal welfare or law enforcement.” Read more

Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

“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
Sabrina Yeap, 49, died of leukemia on July 17, 2012 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.  “Yeap, who was orphaned when she was just a month old after her parents died in a car accident, did not have a single relative in Malaysia.  Her doctor father and her mother had eloped to Malaysia from China and lost touch with their families,” wrote Wani Muthiah of The Star of Malaysia.  “Yeap grew up in a temple and her 200-odd dogs, 150 cats and countless loyal friends were her only family,” Muthiah added. Yeap became an inspector for the Selangor SPCA, introduced the Animals Asia Foundation’s Dr. Dog program to Malaysia, and founded the Furry Friends Farm sanctuary in 2006.  Yeap also helped others to start programs, including Suzana Suliaman of Stray Cats Rescue And Treatment Community in Penang, and Irene Low of Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, who recalled to Muthiah that Yeap in 2008 donated 50 bags of dog food and paid off the organization’s veterinary debts. Read more

Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

RALEIGH,  N.C.–About 80% of feral cat colony caretakers believe feral cat management can be done in a manner that accommodates the concerns of birders, but only 50% of bird conservation professionals share this view, according to a study published on September 6, 2012 by the online science journal PLOS One.Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict, by North Carolina State University wildlife mangement professor Nils Peterson and four colleagues, “began as a class project in Peterson’s “Human Dimensions of Wildlife” course last year,” reported Jay Price of the Raleigh News & Observer.  “The researchers surveyed nearly 600 Americans who identified themselves as cat colony  caretakers or bird conservation professionals affiliated with groups such as the Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy,” Price summarized. Read more

Rotich to head ANAW board

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Nehemiah Rotich has been elected board president of the Nairobi-based Africa Network for Animal Welfare, ANAW founder Josphat Ngonyo announced on September 22, 2012.  Rotich has previously headed the Kenya Wildlife Service and East Africa Wildlife Society, and was a senior program officer for biodiversity and genetic resource issues with the United Nations Environment Program.  Ngonyo also announced the election of Ruth Mutheu Wamboa as board treasurer.  The previous ANAW board resigned en masse on July 16, 2012, citing conflicts with Ngonyo.  Ngonyo told ANIMAL PEOPLE that the major issues were unspecified conflicts of interest. Read more

Sanitation role of Indian street dogs quantified

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

NEW DELHI-The Supreme Court of India on September 3, 2012 weighed the ecological and public health role of street animals in a case brought by the nonprofit organization Safai Karmachari Andolan on behalf of the poorest of the poor.

Describing itself as “a national movement committed to the total eradication of manual scavenging and the rehabilitation of all scavengers for dignified occupations,”  Safai Karmachari Andolan extracted data from the 2011 national census to show that of 2.6 million public dry latrines still in use in India, 1.3 million discharge illegally into open drains, 794,000 are cleaned manually by humans, and 497,000 are cleaned entirely by animals– mostly dogs and pigs. Read more

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