Animal control & rescue
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:
Effective June 28, use of
live animals as prizes in drawings,
lotteries, contests, sweepstakes,
and carnival games is illegal in
Pennsylvania. The law exempts fish,
as well as domestic animals given
away in connection with state-spon-
sored or sanctioned agricultural and
vocational programs. The Pennsyl-
vania Legislative Animal Network
and state representative Jerry Nailer
had pursued the new law since 1989.
Michigan adopted a
felony cruelty law in late April.
The new law eliminates the old
requirement that an animal be owned
for abuse to be punished, which left
homeless animals unprotected, and
weighs offenses in terms of mali-
ciousness rather than in terms of
property damage. The maximum
penalty is now four years in jail and
a $5,000 fine per offense.
Residents of Gainesville,
Georgia, have reportedly posted a
$2,500 reward for information lead-
ing to the conviction of thieves
believed to have taken more than 200
dogs during the past five months.
Cat-feeders in Santa
Cruz County, California, are
responding with suspicion and hostil-
ity to an SPCA-sponsored ordinance
that would require them to register
and neuter their colonies. The ordi-
nance also regulates puppy and kitten
sales and giveaways.
A breeding regulation
measure modeled after the contro-
versial San Mateo ordinance passed
in 1992 is meanwhile under fire in
Morro Bay, California, for alleged-
ly attempting to impose too many
fees and too much bureaucracy. The
measure was proposed by the Woods
Humane Society.
Euthanasias dropped by
nearly half during the first month of
San Francisco’s no-kill policy,
which took effect April 1. In 1993
the city shelter euthanized 572 ani-
mals during April; this year it eutha-
nized only 309. The SFSPCA reha-
bilitated 130 treatable animals from
the city shelter during the month,
while adopting out 285.
The Michigan Animal
Adoption Network, formed by
Marie Skladd of Livonia just before
Christmas 1993, consists of about 60
volunteers who gather adoptable pets
from rescue clubs, foster homes,
and shelters each Saturday and dis-
play them in area pet supply stores.
“If people see a particular dog or cat
they like, they can ask for adoption
on the spot and fill out an applica-
tion,” Skladd told R.J. King of the
Detroit News. Adoption fees range
from $35 to $70. MAAN keeps 10%
and gives the rest to the organization
that provided the animal. “We see
this as something that could go
national,” said Jack Berry, president
of Pet Supplies Plus, which has
donated $10,000 in goods and ser-
vices to help encourage adoptions.
Residents of Summit
County, Ohio, are protesting as too
light a three-day suspension without
pay given to assistant county pound-
keeper Dennis J. Bozzelli for failing
to call the owner of a licensed dog
who had been hit by a car. The dog
suffered for three days, then died,
while the owner was notified of the
pickup by certified mail. Bozzelli, a
county employee in various capaci-
ties since 1988, is the son of former
county councilman Libert Bozzelli,
who served from 1986 until 1990.
His current salary is $22,256, sub-
stantially more than the national
average for the position of $13,410.
Republican state senator
Scott Bar, of Stevens County,
Washington, has reintroduced a bill
to mandate the sale of animals from
shelters to biomedical research or
any other commercial purpose for
which there is demand. Sales must
be to the highest bidder, meaning
that laboratories would have the
chance to outbid prospective adop-
tors. A similar bill failed last year.
PetCo., one of the sever-
al major pet supply chains that
promotes shelter adoptions r a t h e r
than selling commercially bred dogs
and cats, is now selling rabbits,
birds, fish, and reptiles. Letters of
protest may be sent to Bonnie
Burns, public relations director,
PetCo. Corp., 9151 Rehco Road,
San Diego, CA 92121.
Tom Skeldon, dog war-
den for Lucas County, Ohio, has
received $7,000 from the county
and $2,500 in private contributions
to fund making a video on the
advantages of dogs over guns as a
means of insuring home security.
Local gun groups are infuriated.
Skeldon, who in 1988 led the drive
to obtain Ohio’s ban on pit bull terri-
ers, is no advocate of vicious dogs.
His emphasis is on loyalty and intel-
ligence: a good dog won’t lie in a
drawer while his/her people are
assaulted or the home is robbed,
and a well-treated dog cannot be
turned against his or her people by
an aggressive intruder.
Philadelphia has become
the fourth major U.S. city with a
support group to help
AIDS patients keep their
pets, following New York
City, San Francisco, and
Los Angeles. Philly-
PAWS, organized 11
months ago by Robert
Moffat, serves about 50
clients, assisted by 39 stu-
dents from the University
of Philadelphia veterinary
school.
Police set up an ambush
on May 13 in Jammu, India, trying
to shoot two male rhesus monkeys
who were accused of sexually
assaulting as many as 40 women
over the previous four days.
Wildlife officials ordered that the
monkeys be shot, after trapping
attempts failed, over the objections
of local Hindus who revere mon-
keys as symbols of the ape-god
Hanuman.
Police patrolman Mike
McFadden, of Beachwood, Ohio,
is a hero with local animal lovers for
climbing into a muck-filled sewer
on Mother’s Day to rescue five
ducklings who fell through a grate.
A Tale of Two Cities
The Toronto Humane
Society has reportedly achieved
up to 75% compliance with differ-
ential dog licensing requirements
by setting a low fee ($5.00 for
neutered dogs, $15 for others); giv-
ing licenced dogs a free ride home
when picked up by animal control,
a service used by about 700 dogs
per year; and doing door-to-door
canvassing, passing out free leashes
with license forms. Since the pro-
gram started a decade ago, shelter
dog intakes are down by as much as
35%, about 45% are returned to
their homes, another 45% are
adopted, and only 5% are eutha-
nized. Cat intakes are down 40%
over the same period, but 40% of
the cats received are
euthanized––still nearly half the
norm for North America as a whole.
Montreal, by contrast,
has an 83% euthanasia rate,
while city animal control services
take in about 78,000 homeless ani-
mals per year––half again more than
New York City, which has 4.5
times as many people. Montreal has
approximately as many people as
Seattle and King County,
Washington, or the Santa Clara
Valley of California, but has more
homeless animals than both of those
jurisdictions combined. City coun-
cillor Marvin Rostrand of the
minority Democratic Coalition tried
to rectify the situation in mid-May
by introducing a bill to open a city-
subsidized neutering clinic––which
the majority Montreal Municipal
Community (MCM) party pledged
to establish in 1980––but the bill
was quickly defeated.
