Film to help Turkish street dogs

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
ISTANBUL–“It is with pleasure that we launch the trailer of
Ghosts of the City, a documentary explaining the situation of stray
dogs in Turkey,” e-mailed Spanish activist and film maker Ivan
Jiminez to ANIMAL PEOPLE on Valentine’s Day 2007.
Ghosts of the City, Jiminez said, explains “the necessity
to implement sterilization of both stray animals and house pets, and
elaborates on issues such as the status of the dog in the Qu’ran and
responsible pet care.” Jiminez is involved in
efforts to pressure the city of Istanbul into properly fulfilling a
national mandate adopted by the Turkish government in 2004 to replace
killing dogs with an Animal Birth Control program similar to the one
underway in India since 1997. (See page one.)

Nylon twine ensnares Montana ospreys, too

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
MISSOULA–Nylon baling twine similar to the kite strings that
wreak havoc among the birds of India and Pakistan also kills ospreys
in Montana, say Ken Wolff of the Grounded Eagle Found-ation, in
Condon, and Rob Domenech, executive director of the Raptor View
Research Institute, in Missoula.
Nylon baling twine isn’t coated with crushed glass, and the
ospreys are not flying into it by accident, but the
non-bio-degradable twine is none-theless deadly, Wolff and Domenech
in February 2007 told Perry Backus of the Missoulian.
“Ospreys seem to go out of their way to pick it up for their
nests,” Dom-enech observed. “It’s so strong that once they get
tangled up in it, they’re doomed.”

People & positions

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
The San Francisco SPCA on February 7, 2007 named Jan
McHugh-Smith to become only the eighth president of the SF/SPCA since
1868, but the third since 1998, when Richard Avanzino crossed San
Francisco Bay to head Maddie’s Fund, in Alameda. A 23-year veteran
of humane work, McHugh-Smith had headed the Humane Society of
Boulder Valley in Boulder, Colorado, since 1995.

Activists & Organizations

Appeals Court upholds Texas horse slaughter ban

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
NEW ORLEANS–The 5th U.S. Circuuit Court of Appeals on
January 20, 2007 ruled that Dallas Crown Inc. of Kaufman, Texas,
and Beltex Corp., of Fort Worth, have killed horses for human
consumption in violation of a 1949 state law. The ruling in effect
reinstated the law, but halted horse slaughter at the two facilities
for only two weeks.
Holding about 100 horses who were already on the premises or
en route when the court ruled, Dallas Crown refused an offer from
the Humane Society of the U.S. to take them to a sanctuary, and
killed them on February 5, said HSUS media contact Polly Shannon.
“A trailer from Cosco Container Lines Americas, Inc. was seen parked
outside the plant,” Shannon said, but what was actually done with
the horses’ meat was unknown.

Doc rapped for dog use in sales demo

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
CLEVELAND–The Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute,
a national leader in researching brain aneurisms, on January 19,
2007 disclosed that it has barred from research for two years a
neurosurgeon who used a dog in a January 10 sales training
demonstration.
The neurosurgeon was suspended at recommendation of the
Cleveland Clinic’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, wrote
Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Sarah Treffinger. The committee
reported the incident to the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection
Service as a possible Animal Welfare Act violation on January 11.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer and Associated Press disclosed the
use of the dog and the clinic response later the same day.

Vealer drops crating

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
HARLEYSVILLE, Pa.–Wayne Marcho, founder of the 36-year-old
Marcho Farms integrated veal production empire, on January 29, 2007
announced that his company has already moved thousands of calves from
veal crating to loose housing, and will shift entirely to loose
housing within the next few years. Marcho is believed to supply 15%
to 20% of the U.S. veal market.
“Smithfield and Marcho Farms were both strong proponents of
keeping animals in narrow crates,” said Farm Sanctuary president
Gene Bauston. “Their back flip begs the question: what else are
pigs, calves and other farm animals rightfully entitled to?

BOOKS: Fox & Cat

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:

Fox, by Martin Wallen, & Cat, by Katherine M. Rogers
Reaktion Books Ltd. (33 Great Sutton St., London
EC1M 3JU, U.K.), 2006. 206 pages each,
paperback. $19.95.

Fox and Cat are the most recent editions
to a Reaktion Books series now including 21
titles.
Martin Wallen, an English professor at
Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, presents
not a book about fox behavior by an expert on
animals, but rather a study of the relationship
between fox and human as gleaned from books,
history, and film. Although Wallen offers a
taxonomical look at the fox family tree, he
mostly deals with myths, folk tales, and
allegories.

American Humane lands $34 million from UPS estate

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
DENVER–A $34 million bequest from United Parcel Service
heiress Doris DiStefano has tripled the American Humane assets and
allowed it to nearly double its projected annual operating budget
from $11 million to circa $20 million.
The paid staff will double in coming years from about 80 to
160, reported Joanne Kelley of the Rocky Mountain News after the
mid-February 2007 American Humane board meeting.

What will be the future of cow shelters in computer-age India?

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
What is to become of Indian cow shelters?
Enduring frequent spasms of reform and reinvention ever since
automobiles began to replace ox carts, cow shelters are among the
most distinctive Indian traditions, and are the oldest form of
organized humane work.
Perhaps more ubiquitous in India than either schools or
firehouses, often endowed with substantial inherited assets, cow
shelters appear certain to survive in some form, but their future
role and relevance is a matter of intensifying debate.
Among the issues are whether cow shelters should be religious
or secular institutions, whether they should be supported by
taxation or strictly by charity and the sale of milk and byproducts,
and whether they should lead cultural reform, becoming actively
involved in politics, as many do, or merely endure as quaint
cultural symbols.

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