LETTERS [Oct 1999]
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1999:
Translation
I am writing on behalf of
the staff here at the Khenifra Refuge
to request a French translation of
your newspaper. The staff here are
very keen to read it, but due to the
language problem find it very hard.
I hope this is possible.
––Harry Cormack
(Veterinary intern)
SPCA North Africa
Centre de l’Elevage
Khenifra, Morocco
If funds ever become
available, we hope to publish trans –
lations of ANIMAL PEOPLE i n
Spanish and French via our web
site, and eventually to publish print –
ed Spanish and French editions. We
have been told by professional
translators that producing complete
Spanish and French texts of each
issue would cost about $25,000 a
year––a pittance compared to the
budgets of many of the big national
and international organizations, but
we currently are stretching our
credit just to mail complimentary
copies of the English version to
overseas humane societies, keenly
aware that those who cannot afford
subscriptions are among those who
value our work the most. We count
pennies each time we go to press to
find means of doing the overseas
mailings again.
We welcome copies of any
translations of particular ANIMAL
P E O P L E items that any readers
may produce for any reason, espe –
cially if they can be e-mailed to us,
for prompt posting at our web site.
Lorenzo Peoa, for instance, editor
of the publication S o r i t e s at the
CSIC Institute of Philosophy in
Madrid, Spain, very kindly fur –
nished a complete Spanish transla –
tion of our September editorial.
Serving meat
It is my understanding that
the Massachusetts SPCA is holding
a “Walk for Animals” on September
26, and will be serving meat hot
dogs and hamburgers as well as veggie
burgers.
I don’t think that organizations
committed to animal welfare
should serve animal flesh at their
public gatherings. The hot dogs and
hamburgers being served are the
result of abject animal suffering.
Animals raised in confinement and
slaughtered in places of horror are
no less feeling or entitled to their
lives than are cats and dogs. It
seems to me that it is not only inconsistent
with the purpose of the walk
to serve animal flesh, but it is also
hypocritical.
Prerequisite to helping
animals maximally is to stop perceiving
them as usable resources,
for food and otherwise.
––Batya Bauman
Amherst, Massachusetts
Korean dogs
Thank you for your July
/August coverage on domestic animal
victims in Korea. I am in the
process of putting C h o l l i m a ’ s
A r i r a n g, a collection of poems
about the plight of dogs and cats in
South Korea, on a CD-ROM. I
have eyewitness e-mail accounts
over the past year from a female
U.S. Army officer stationed in South
Korea. The dogs the Koreans love
to torture and eat the most are beautiful,
friendly golden retrievers.
What greater evil? We can help
these victims if we continue to escalate
awareness. A pen/pet pal program
between U.S. and Korean citizens
might help get intimidated
Koreans to speak up, like Kyenan
Kum and her sister.
––Diana Moreton
Intl. Aid for Korean Animals
POB 5725
Lake Worth, FL 33466
Hungary
After many years of doing
animal rescue work in New Jersey,
my husband and I, with our 14
dogs, retired a few years ago to a
small village in our native Hungary.
Hungary is a poor country,
basically animal-loving, but in
some respects downright medieval
in its ideas. This is the source of
most of the problems regarding animals
here.
In the countryside, spaying/neutering
is practically
unknown. A veterinarian I
approached told me it was “not normal.”
Meanwhile, “normal” seems
to describe puppies and kittens who
are disposed of after birth, strays
roaming the streets until they die, or
ending up in a hell of a pound to be
killed in a less-than-humane way.
There is a recently enacted Animal
Welfare Act, but nobody seems to
know or care about it. This country
desperately needs a well-organized
spay/neuter program.
Still, now that the
Communist regime is gone, some
progress has been made. Here and
there animal lovers have joined
forces, with no state or community
support, and with their own money,
sweat and tears, have started building
shelters––mostly small ones.
But they are far too few, and their
capacity is limited. Also, in most
cases the know-how is missing
along with the financing.
The one shelter I am in
touch with is lucky to have adequate
grounds and buildings to care for
about 80 animals, with decent food,
medical help, and a responsible
placement program. They get ANIMAL
PEOPLE on a regular basis.
Reading your publication has
encouraged me to write this, to
make your readers aware that there
is a small country in the middle of
Europe which against all odds is trying
to do right by all unfortunate
creatures. If anyone can offer them
any kind of help, advice, or encouragement,
they are the Elekagh
Foundation, 2316 Tokol, FO-UT
129, Hungary.
––Alice Kengyel
Kaposhomok, Hungary
Turkish earthquake
Soon after the August 17 earthquake that devastated Turkey, ANIMAL PEOPLE contacted as many of our Turkish readers as she could, asking for particulars of the animal relief effort and how we could help. We received these responses:
Thank you for your concern about the earthquake which struck Turkey’s Marmara Zone. The zone includes Istanbul, Izmit, Gölcük, Degirmendere, Yalova, Adapazari, Düzce and Bolu.
The disaster is terrible: many people died, and many are still missing. Everybody is doing his/her best to help the victims. Rescue teams came from different parts of the world. They did a wonderful job. The International Fund for Animal Welfare sent Jennifer Homcy and Shirley Minshew. My daughter and I took them to the earthquake sites, and took food, sleeping bags, tents and toys for the children. There were only a few animals left. We found three skinny puppies around debris in a very bad condition in Gölcük. We took them to my Samandira Shelter, where we look after 400 stray dogs. We also found a terrier/beagle dog digging the earth to find his beloved owner, but unfortunately the lady and her son had died during the earthquake and the father’s whereabouts were not known. We took the dog to my house to keep him until the day of Jennifer and Shirley’s departure. Then they took him and one of the puppies with them.
Thanks God everything is okay in my shelter except that we are having a hard time finding food.
P.S.––We just had two more shocks. The first was the strongest shock since the earthquake on August 17. The center is again Izmit. More buildings collapsed.
––Suna Develioglu
Istanbul Hayvan Sevenler Dernegi (Istanbul Animal Lovers Society)
Bahariye cad. Beyaz Saray, #68 Kat:3 Daire :5
Kadiköy-Istanbul, Turkey
>>nesedilber@superonline.com<<
Thousands of animals perished in addition to thousands of people. There are no available figures for the animals, but it is believed many were crushed and buried under the ruins of the buldings just like many people. In the coastal town of Golcuk the sea covered a large area of land. Many streets, buildings, cars, trees, and so forth are now under water. The animals must have drowned along with the human inhabitants. Also, some small animals were poisoned by a gas leak from a chemical plant.
On the positive side, we have read in newspapers about a few rescued animals. A pet dog was excavated from under the rubble after nine days. He was fed and taken care of by the rescuing fire squad. In another case, there was a photo of a mother cat with her kitten in the arms of a rescuer. They seemed to be very scared but in safe hands. I also saw photos of one kitten and then a pet bird in a cage being rescued. It seems that animals were given the same consideration as human victims, and were rescued with similar effort.
The Ministry of Agriculture sent a team of veterinarians to the region to help farm animals such as cows, sheep, and cattle.
I must also note that the sniffing dogs who came with the foreign rescue teams became very popular and much adored by the Turkish people. It is sad that we do not have such trained dogs, but now there are plans to train some.
An extraordinary amount of aid is flowing to the region. However the organisation for distribution is not efficient. There is no organised help for animals: they depend on the good will and kindness of animal loving people. There is no animal organisation here with the financial strength to undertake this kind of work.
––Asst. Prof. Dr. Gulgun Tuna
Department of Intl. Relations
Bilkent University Ankara, Turkey
gtuna@Bilkent.EDU.TR
Hunting is abuse
I find your idea that hunting
constitutes child abuse excellent.
See my chapter in Ethics & Wildlife,
just published by Edwin Metler
Press. Keep up your good work.
––Priscilla Ferrater-Mora
(Priscilla Cohn, Ph.D.)
Villanova, Pennsylvania
4-H is , too
Thanks for exposing hunting
for what it is. I hope you’ll also
take a look at 4-H. Every year here
we have a week of 4-H shows with
kids and their livestock. They are
taught to pamper these animals and
then sell them for slaughter at auction.
The heartbreak this causes is
child abuse, and it ought to be
against the law!
––Carol Layton
Rapid City, South Dakota
ALDF, success, and mendicant lawyers
A recent Animal Legal Defense Fund mailing
seeks donations on the pretext of funding prosecution
of animal abuse. It claims:
“Our Special Prosecutor Program in Multnomah
County, Oregon, which provides a team of experienced
trial attorneys to help the local District Attorney
prosecute animal abuse cases, has proven so successful
that 19 other cities have asked us to bring the program
to their communities.”
However, at the Multnomah County Prosecutor’s
office, district attorney Fred Lenzser states that it is a
wholly inactive and virtually non-existent program.
No cases have been tried by any of ALDF’s
vaunted stable of volunteer attorneys since the inception
of this program some years ago, as is confirmed
by Officer Corey of the Oregon Humane Society’s
anti-animal abuse program.
The ALDF program exists only on paper, and
does nothing.
This is not because there is no animal abuse or
cruelty in Oregon. Factors at work to inhibit prosecution
of cases include that law enforcement agencies
give animal abuse a low priority, governments resist
assigning it a higher priority, and citizens fear retaliation
for reporting abuse cases.
ALDF’s solution, unfortunately, is to take a bow
for work they haven’t done, declare a hollow victory,
and scam the public.
––Gail R. O’Connell-Babcock, Ph.D.
Citizens for Humane Animal Legislation
148 “B” Avenue
Lake Oswego, OR 97034
>>dogslife2000@yahoo.com<<
The Editor and ALDF reply:
ANIMAL PEOPLE asked ALDF to respond
three working days (and a weekend) before going to
press. Clippings from The National Law Journal,
Portland Oregonian, and Associated Press faxed by
ALDF executive director Joyce Tischler right at final
deadline establish that the Special Prosecutor Program
was jointly announced on May 21, 1997 by the ALDF,
Oregon Humane Society, and Multnomah County
D.A.’s office, which according to Oregonian reporter
Laura Trujillo “appointed eight lawyers to go after
animal abusers”––but the lawyers were not named.
Instead, Trujillo wrote, “Trial attorneys in
private practice will volunteer to prosecute animal
abusers.” Whoever those lawyers were to be, the
arrangements were announced before the staffing
arrangements and other details were final.
ALDF hired attorney Dana Campbell to
coordinate the Special Prosecutor Program nearly two
years later. Campbell on June 22, 1999 met with
Multnomah County prosecutor Fred Lenzser, and one
day later sent him “the existing list of attorney volun –
teers for Multnomah County. I would be happy,” she
wrote, “to contact them to confirm that they are still
willing to offer their services now, two years later.”
That seems to be where the Special
Prosecutor Program ended.
“To my great frustration,” Campbell told
ANIMAL PEOPLE, “to date I have never received a
response from Lenzser. It appears the only one accept –
ing unwarranted accolades,” Campbell charged, “is
the Multnomah County D.A.’s office, which happily
accepted the press coverage surrounding the launch of
the program and prmptly buried it once the lights
dimmed, for political reasons. ALDF’s Portland attor –
ney volunteers have been trained and stand ready to
assist at any time, and the Special Prosecutor Program
continues to grow in other cities around the country.”
But the ALDF appeal, again, states that
“Our Special Prosecutor Program in Multnomah
County, Oregon…has proven so successful…”
And the exact same wording appeared in two
otherwise different recent ALDF mailings.
Regardless of whose fault the failure is, the
program is emminently not successful.
We pointed this out to Tischler. She
acknowledged that indeed the ALDF appeals, sent out
above her signature, were misleading. She claimed
she did not write the appeals herself, and had not pre –
viously been aware that they included a misstatement.
We believe an attorney, especially represent –
