OBITUARIES
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:
Cesar Chavez, 66, died in his
sleep April 25 in San Luis, Arizona. Best
known as founder of the United Farm
Workers union, Chavez was a self-educated
former fruit picker, a staunch advocate of
Gandhian nonviolent tactics for social
change, a vegetarian from early youth on,
and a longtime member of the Animal Rights
Network Inc. advisory board.
German wildlife film maker Dieter
Plage, 57, was killed April 3 in an acciden-
tal fall from an airship he was using as a
camera platform while producing a docu-
mentary for the National Geographic Society
and Survival Anglia Ltd. Films. Plage was
noted for a 1975 TV film on the mountain
gorillas of Zaire that drew worldwide atten-
tion to the plight of the highly endanged
species, eight years before Dian Fossey pub-
lished Gorillas In The Mist; for a profile of
Scottish elephant behaviorist Iain Douglas-
Hamilton; for contributions to the CBS
series World of Survival; and for a 1980
autobiography, Wild Horizons.
Gary Frazell, 60, founder of the
Society for Animal Welfare Administrators,
died of lymphoma February 10 in Lincoln,
Nebraska. Frazell formerly ran the commu-
nity shelter in Naples, Florida, was general
manager of the Michigan Humane Society
and the Nebraska Humane Society, and
from 1979 until his retirement in March
1992 was executive director of the New
Orleans-based Louisiana SPCA.
His tenure in New Orleans included
two landmark controversies. In 1987 the
Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association
asked the state veterinary licensing board to
suspend the four vets who staffed the
LSPCA discount clinic, under rules barring
vets from practicing with non-vets, except
within governmental institutions. The
LVMA claimed the LSPCA clinic hurt vets
in private practice. The board complied,
and the 19th Judicial District Court upheld
the suspensions in 1988. To keep the clinic
open, the New Orleans city council in April
1989 declared the veterinarians were city
employees, since the LSPCA then got
$187,000 a year to provide the city with ani-
mal control and rescue service. The LSPCA
then appealed the suspensions. On August 3,
1989, the Lousiana First Circuit Court of
Appeal ruled unanimously that, “The pro-
tection of the public from sick and diseased
animals is a proper function of government,
and if a certain segment of the population
cannot afford the services of private veteri-
nary care, it is also proper for government
to step in and fill that void.” On January
24, 1990, the Lousiana Supreme Court
affirmed the verdict, setting an important
precedent for other humane societies con-
fronted by veterinary opposition to low-
cost neutering and vaccination clinics.
Later in 1990, New Orleans can-
celled its contract with the LSPCA due to a
civic budget crisis. On January 1, 1991,
the LSPCA ceased performing animal con-
trol and rescue duties. Legislation In
Support of Animals, a comparatively tiny
volunteer group, took over until
September 1991, when the city paid the
LSPCA $100,000 to resume service as
usual.
The Edmonton SPCA, of
Edmonton, Alberta, has received the $3.5
million estate of artist Margaret
Chappelle, who died in June 1992 at age
77. The bequest is nearly three times the
size of the shelter’s annual budget.
Bob the Weather Cat, 13, of
Portland, Oregon, perhaps the best-known
cat in America before Chelsea Clinton
brought Socks to the White House, was
euthanized recently due to liver cancer. A
former stray adopted by KATU-2 TV news
staffer Bob Foster, Bob (whose actual
name was Hank-dog) appeared on the
weather segment of the station news broad-
cast every Friday, wearing a seasonally
appropriate costume. Most of the costumes
were mailed to KATU-2 by fans. Usually
patient with the attention, Bob also
appeared in numerous magazines.
Memorial contributions were directed to
the Oregon Humane Society, while anoth-
er former stray, also adopted by Foster, is
now on the program.
