Day: September 1, 2013

BOOKS—One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Tales of Animals Caring for One Another

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Tales of Animals Caring for One Another by Lisa Rogak St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan,  175 Fifth Ave., New York,  NY  10010),  2013.  145 pages,  paperback.  $14.99.

Lisa Rogak in One Big Happy Family treats us to short but sweet stories of animals caring for animals of other species.  Among the most unusual cases is that of Hiroko,  a cat kept by Japanese farmers Norio and Yoshiko Endo.  Hiroko had three kittens in 2007,  but all of them died.  Soon afterward Hiroko was accidentally left in a room with a pair of duck eggs.  She apparently hatched the eggs and was found––and photographed––keeping the ducklings warm. Read more

Lawsuits for failure to impound pit bulls

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

CHARLESTON,  W.V.––The West Virginia Supreme Court on September 27,  2013 reinstated a lawsuit brought against  Monroe County dog warden Patricia Green for failing to impound several pit bulls,  allegedly the subjects of frequent complaints,  who on November 27,  2009 mauled Lowell Bowden,  70,  of Lindside. “Maimed beyond recognition,”   according to the brief filed by Bowden’s widow,  Dreama Bowden,   the victim died seven days later. The case also names Monroe County itself,  the American Modern Home Insurance Company,   and the four people whose pit bulls attacked Bowden.   Read more

BOOKS—Loving Animals: Toward a New Animal Advocacy

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From Animal People September 2013:

Loving Animals:  Toward a New Animal Advocacy   by Kathy Rudy University of Minnesota Press (111 Third Avenue South,  Suite 290,  Minneapolis, MN 55401),  2011.  260 pages hardcover,  $16.98.

Trained in theological ethics and women’s studies,  Kathy Rudy describes herself as neither an ethologist nor an animal behaviorist, but writes “It would not be an overstatement to say that most of the important and successful relationships I’ve had in my life have been with nonhuman animals.” Rudy posits that “you never really love [animals] in general.  You always love the particular.”  This directly contradicts the outlook of most of the “people who care about animals” who read ANIMAL PEOPLE,  many of whom helped to build the animal rights movement of the past several decades.   Read more

Ivory speculation makes captive elephants in Thailand & India worth more dead than alive

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

BANGKOK,  Thailand;  THIRUVANATHAPURAM,  India––Unscrupulous owners of working elephants are increasingly often deciding that the rising cost of elephant care and soaring prices paid by speculators for ivory mean their elephants are worth more dead than alive––and are resisting legislation to protect the elephants,  who have often been illegally captured from the wild. Read more

Abolishing wildlife captivity gains momentum in Latin America

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

SAN JOSE,  Costa Rica––An appeal to an administrative law court filed by the zoo management foundation Fundazoo is the last hope the 97-year-old Simón Bolívar Zoo in San José and the Santa Ana conservation center have to remain open past 2014. Read more

BOOKS—Wild Planet: Celebrating wildlife photographer of the year

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

Wild Planet:  Celebrating wildlife photographer of the year
Natural History Museum 
(Cromwell Road,  London SW7 5BD,  U.K.),  2013.
143 pages,  paperback.  $23.95.

Anthologizing 80 winning entries from the Natural History Museum’s “Wildlife Photographer of the Year” competition,  Wild Planet is a celebration of wildlife indeed.   Read more

Newly found ferret badger rabies strain raises concern about dogs

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

Taipei,  Taiwan––A new rabies strain identified in Taiwanese ferret badgers may have the potential to exponentially increase the risk of rabies transmission by dogs.  But even if the new rabies strain does not behave in dogs as it does among ferret badgers,  it has ignited unprecedented public controversy in Taiwan over the value of animal testing. Read more

Spay/USA founder Esther Mechler critiques the California Sheltering.org “white paper”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

We are extremely concerned about the implications of the recently published California Sheltering.org “white paper” formally titled Charting a Path Forward: Achieving California’s policy to save all adoptable and treatable animals. The paper never even pays lip service to the prevention of unwanted litters. In addition,  shelters are encouraged to turn away even healthy,  friendly cats rather than run the risk of ever having to euthanize any.   Recommends the white paper on page 29:  “Best practice:  No healthy cat,  regardless of temperament, should be admitted by an animal shelter if the admission of that cat would cause the death of that cat or another cat in the shelter…This recommendation also applies to private humane organizations that take in animals.” Read more

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