“Bard of rescue” Jim Willis convicted of dog theft

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
WILMINGTON–Jim Willis, 52, author of several
much-circulated poems and short essays about animal abandonment and
rescue, was on March 20, 2008 convicted of felony dog larcency in
Pender County, North Carolina, and sentenced to do 75 hours of
community service, spend two years on probation, and keep no more
than one pet, reported WECT-TV6 of Wilmington.
The case was one of two filed in 2007 in which neighbors
accused Willis of stealing dogs whom he said he had rescued. One dog
was recovered at a Wilmington home where Willis temporarily resided.
The charges involving that dog were not prosecuted, North Carolina
Voters for Animal Welfare founder B.B. Knowles told ANIMAL PEOPLE.
The conviction, in a case involving an elderly dog who was
well-known and well-liked in her neighborhood, according to Pender
Post staff writer Jefferson Weaver, was Willis’ second within less
than a year, with a variety of other cases pending.

New AVMA elephant standards may help the working elephants of India

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
SCHAUMBURG, THRISSUR, BANGALORE–Far from India, and
perhaps not even thinking of Indian temple elephants, the American
Veterinary Medical Association executive board on April 12, 2008
issued a new policy on the humane treatment and handling of elephants
which may eventually influence the care of more working elephants in
India than the entire elephant population of the United States.
“Elephant handlers and veterinarians generally use two tools
in handling and training elephants, tethers to restrict movement
temporarily, and a shaft with a blunt hook near one end known as a
guide,” explained a May 6, 2008 AVMA press release.
The “guide,” in India, is called an ankus, and in the U.S.
is more commonly called an elephant hook.
“Elephant guides are husbandry tools that consist of a shaft
capped by one straight and one curved end,” states the new AVMA
policy. “The ends are blunt and tapered, and are used to touch
parts of the elephant’s body as a cue to elicit specific actions or
behaviors, with the handler exerting very little pressure. The ends
should contact but not tear or penetrate the skin. The AVMA condemns
the use of guides to puncture, lacerate, strike or inflict harm
upon an elephant.

Cat-skinning in Switzerland

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
GENEVA–How many cats are skinned for fur in Switzerland?
Probably not nearly as many as the thousands or even tens of
thousands recently alleged to media by Tomi Tomek, founder of the
Swiss group SOS Chats, and Patricia Dolciani, president of the
French Society for the Protection of Animals in Thonon-les-Bains,
near the Swiss border–but enough to shock Europe as the trade comes
to light.
“As far as we are aware, only a couple of dozen cat furs are
produced annually in Switzerland,” Swiss Federal Veterinary Office
spokesperson Marcel Falk told Tony Paterson of the London Independent
in April 2008.

Meat-eating drives global grain crunch

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
LONDON, NEW YORK CITY, WASHINGTON D.C.–History may
remember 2008 as the year that world economic analysts and planners
belatedly recognized that people eat too much meat.
Whether that recognition translates into cultural and
political changes of direction remains to be seen, but by January
2008 the global consequences of excessive meat consumption were
already evident.
“The food price index of the Food & Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally
traded foodstuffs, climbed 37% last year,” observed Keith Bradsher
of The New York Times. “That was on top of a 14% increase in 2006.

Letters [May 2008]

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:

Fostering instead of sheltering

Since the local Ontario SPCA shelter closed, I started–with
a group of like minded people–It’s A Dog’s Life Fostering Network.
We take dogs from the local pound who have not been claimed by their
owners, after their 4-day holding time expires. We have taken all
the dogs who would have been killed, had them spayed or neutered,
and placed them in foster homes. Since February 2008 we have taken
in 12 dogs. Of these, four were surrenders who probably would have
ended up on the streets of Kenora, and ultimately at the pound. We
have adopted out 10 dogs. We just received one dog today, so we
presently only have two dogs up for adoption.
This all came about from your November 2003 editorial
“Sheltering is pointless until the need is reduced.” I now promote
fostering over shelters.
Read more

Letters

Virginia becomes first state to limit the number of dogs at breeding kennels

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
RICHMOND–Virginia dog breeders may not keep more than 50
dogs over the age of one year after January 1, 2009.
Virginia on April 23, 2008 became the first U.S. state to
limit the size of dog breeding kennels. At least 30 states
considered “puppy mill” bills of various sorts during 2008 spring
legislative sessions, with several others believed likely to pass as
the May 2008 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press.
Introduced by Spotsylvania state representative Bobby Orrock,
and amended by recommendation of Governor Tim Kaine, the Virginia
bill was pushed by the Humane Society of the U.S. and the Virginia
Animal Control Association.
The bill received a boost from a five-month HSUS
investigation that discovered more than 900 active dog breeders in
Virginia, only 16 of whom held USDA permits to sell dogs across
state lines. HSUS released the findings on November 1, 2007.
The next day, responding to a tip from Virginia Partnership
for Animal Welfare and Support, of New River Valley, Carroll County
animal control officers raided Horton’s Pups, of Hillsville.
Licensed to keep up to 500 dogs, proprietor Lanzie Carroll Horton
Jr. reportedly had more than 1,100, including about 300 puppies.
About 700 dogs were taken into custody. Horton was charged in
January 2008 with 14 counts of cruelty, 25 counts of neglect, and
one count of failing to update his license.

Prominent alleged rescue neglect cases

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
PITTSBURGH–Linda a.k.a. Lin Marie Bruno, 45, who founded
Tiger Ranch Rescue in 1993, was on May 6, 2008 ordered to stand
trial in Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, for 593 counts of cruelty.
A March 13, 2008 raid by the Alleghany County Sheriff’s
Department and the Pennsylvania SPCA removed 380 live cats and the
remains of 108 others from the 27-acre Tiger Ranch Rescue sanctuary
in Frazer Township, Pennsylvania. Of the live cats, 117 died soon
afterward or were euthanized as irrecoverable. The rest were housed
at a shelter in Clarion County.
Pennsylvania SPCA investigator Rebecca McDonald testified at
an April 28 preliminary hearing that Tiger Ranch records indicate
receipt of 6,482 cats in 2007 and 786 in the first 10 weeks of 2008,
of whom just 23 were adopted out.

Abolition of gas chambers and heart-sticking progresses nationwide

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
RICHMOND–Virginia Governor Tim Kaine on April 13, 2008
signed a bill by Spotsylvania representative Bobby Orrock that
prohibits using a carbon monoxide chamber to kill dogs and cats.
“The bill passed the state senate just as Scott County animal
control officers received final certification in injectable
euthanasia,” Margaret B. Mitchell Spay/ Neuter Clinic chief
operating officer Teresa Dockery told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Scott County
was the last shelter in Virginia to convert to injectable
euthanasia,” Dockery said.
Dockery, then president of the Virginia Federation of Humane
Societies, and longtime Humane Society of the U.S. staff member Kate
Pullen initiated the drive to abolish gas chambers in Virginia in
November 2000. They obtaining grant funding to provide equipment and
injectible euthanasia training to the 23 shelters then using gas.
But the money ran out before Scott County, Lee County, and the city
of Martinsville were able to make the transition to using sodium
pentabarbital.

Editorial feature– Culturing meat

May 1, 2008 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:

Now among the most talked-about
scientific conferences of 2008, the three-day In
Vitro Meat Symposium was little noticed by anyone
but the handful of participants when convened on
April 9 in the Oslo suburb of Aas.
Home of the Norwegian University of Life
Sciences, best known for associations with the
Nobel Prize, Aas almost every week hosts obscure
and esoteric scientific conferences. Few rate
even a press release. The timing of the In Vitro
Meat Symposium, however, could not have been
better. In Aas, the assembled scientists and a
few investors compared notes on products most
often described as “test tube,” “synthetic,” or
“cultured” meat. Around the world, mass media
reported near-simultaneous civil unrest in
multiple nations resulting from a global grain
shortage.

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