Information

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1997:

Dick Weevil, host since the 1991 inception
of the Animals & Society subsection of the Pet
Care Forum on America OnLine, and founder of a
new Rescue subsection, was fired February 17 by
the veterinary firm that owns the forum, apparently
due to conflicts over resource allocation with the
heads of subsections run by animal fanciers. Under
Weevil, also targeted for at least two years by
anonymous hunters and trappers using the screen
names “Ster600” and “MdPhdStud,” Animals &
Society was among the 50 most visited features
among the more than 5,000 AOL offerings. Weevil
indicated that he might start his own online forum.
Several Animals & Society assistant hosts and
facilitators resigned in solidarity with Weevil,
including ANIMAL PEOPLE, a regular presence
at Animals & Society since January 1994, with
compensated status since October 1996. ANIMAL
PEOPLE had declined an offer to publish our electronic
archives through Animals & Society, opting
to stay with our own web site.

The Animals’ Agenda and Animals’
Voice magazines, both financially faltering, have
merged––but according to a telephone message left
by an advertising representative, they will have
only 1,000 more subscribers combined than either
did alone. Founded in 1981 by Doug Moss and Jim
Mason, Animals’ Agenda moved into the black ink
under the editorship of Kim Bartlett, 1986-1992.
Moss left in 1988 to found E: The Environmental
Magazine. Bartlett and Merritt Clifton, Animals’
Agenda news editor 1988-1992, left to found ANIMAL
PEOPLE, after which the Animals’ Agenda
subscription renewal rate reportedly fell from 84%
to 35%, and publication frequency dropped from
10 issues a year to 4-6 a year. The Animals’ Voice,
begun in 1986 as a newsletter by former Animals’
Agenda typesetter Laura Moretti, lost heavily,
according to IRS Form 990 filings, after expanding
into a slick magazine under the patronage of entrepreneur
Gil Michaels, who was reputedly annoyed
with Animals’ Agenda because editor-at-large
Patrice Greanville opposed the 1988 presidential
campaign of Robert Dole, a former recipient of the
Animal Welfare Institute’s Albert Schweitzer
award. Greanville now produces the ANIMAL
PEOPLE web site.