Justice for Animals ires South African National SPCA over Zulu bullfight

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
KLOOF, KwaZulu-Natal–Justice for Animals founder Steve
Smiths sought to support the National SPCA of South Africa in a
December 4, 2006 e-mail to news media, protesting against the
annual mob killing of a bull at the First Fruits Festival, a
traditional Zulu celebration.
National SPCA executive director Marcelle Meredith’s December
5 response took Smits and much of his lengthy cc. list much by
surprise.

Read more

BOOKS: The Case Against Bullfighting

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

The Case Against Bullfighting
by Michael A. Ogorzaly
Author House (1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, IN 47403), 2006
248 pages, paperback. $14.95.

Michael Ogorzaly, who died at age 58 on
October 14, 2006, suffered a broken neck as a
college student, when a car in which he was a
passenger was involved in an accident. Confined
to a wheelchair thereafter, Ogorzaly completed
his education and went on to teach Spanish and
Latin American history at Chicago State
University. When Bulls Cry was his second book,
addressing a topic which had become one of his
focal concerns.

Read more

BOOKS: Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:

Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras:
A Menagerie of 100 Favorite Animals
by Jeffrey Mousaieff Masson
Ballantine Books (1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019), 2006
429 pages, hardcover. $ 27.95.

This is a collection of 100 short essays, each about a
different animal. Beyond describing the appearance and habits of the
subject animals, psychologist turned author Jeffrey Mousiaieff
Masson wants to know what kind of “person” each animal is.
Seeking personality in animals is a challenge, requring
much research, but Masson has proved equal to it.

Read more

The case for Ernest Hemingway

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January-February 2007:
Michael Ogorzaly in The Case Against Bullighting appears to
have quoted Ernest Hemingway far out of context. The reference is
from the opening chapter of Death In The Afternoon, in which–from
the first sentence–Hemingway bluntly acknowledged the cruelty of
bullfighting, with emphasis on the injuries done to horses.
Hemingway described his horror at how Greeks evacuating
Smyrna in 1922 broke the legs of their pack donkeys and pushed them
into the sea to drown, an episode he covered for the Toronto
Telegram Syndicate as a young reporter and described again in his
1924 short story On The Quai At Smyrna. Heming-way recounted his
intervention on many occasions (also described by others) to assist
downed horses in the streets, and his fondness for dogs and
cats–especially cats, who were his desk companions for most of his
life.

Read more

2006 saw biggest fighting dog seizure ever

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

HOUSTON–Among the grimmest jobs in the 71 years that the
Houston Humane Society has operated an animal shelter was
euthanizing 258 pit bull terriers in August 2006, seized from the
property of murder victim and fighting dog breeder Thomas F. Weigner,
Jr.
Investigators impounded 285 pit bulls in all from the Liberty
County site. Twenty-seven puppies were initially to have been
auctioned, without being sterilized first, by order of Liberty
County justice of the peace Phil Fitzgerald, but the Houston Humane
Society pointed out that Texas state law requires impounded dogs to
be sterilized prior to adoption or sale. Most of the pups were later
found to be ill with either parvovirus or the tick-borne disease
babeosis.

Read more

Shooting dogs is a sensitive subject in the Canadian far north

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
WINNIPEG–“The solution,” to attacks by stray dogs on Native
American reservations in northern Canada, “is to cull the dog
population, and provide spay and neuter services to native
communities at the same time,” Winnipeg Humane Society executive
director Vicki Burns told Brookes Merritt of the Edmonton Sun on
November 19, 2006.
Though Burns apparently said nothing about shooting dogs,
her remark was summarized in the headline of the resulting article as
“Annual dog shoot proposed,” and in the lead sentence as “An annual
‘dog shoot’ would help keep dog packs on native reserves from killing
any more helpless children, says an animal welfare worker in
Manitoba.”

Read more

Greyhound racing updates

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

The Alabama Supreme Court on December 1, 2006 ruled
unanimously that the MegaSweeps video sweepstakes gambling games at
the Birmingham Race Course violate the state law against slot machine
gambling. Track owner Milton McGregor asserted that losing the
machines, installed in 2005, might put the track out of business,
costing 250 jobs. Two lower court rulings favored video sweepstakes
gambling. “Soon, small storefront [gambling] operations began
popping up across the state,” wrote Philip Rawls of Associated
Press–and Christian Action Alabama began trying to close them.

Read more

Bonney Brown to head Nevada Humane

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:

RENO–The Nevada Humane Society on December 15, 2006
introduced as executive director Bonney Brown, 48, who directed
Alley Cat Allies’ relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
Brown founded the no-kill Neponset Valley Humane Society in
Massachusetts in 1992, co-organized the annual No-Kill Conferences
1996-1999, was outreach director for the Best Friends Animal Society
1998-2005, coordinated the No More Homeless Pets conference series
1999-2005, and was with Alley Cat Allies for about 18 months.
Michelle Williams, DVM, who preceded Brown at Nevada
Humane, was hired in September 2005 but resigned in May 2006 amid a
dispute that originated when she had a Rottweiler euthanized as
potentially dangerous, unaware that an employee had shown the dog to
members of a rescue group who wanted to take him.
“The groups want seven days notice to rescue an animal. I
wish people surrendering the animals would do the same for us,”
Williams told Frank X. Mullen of the Reno Gazette-Journal. “We have
space one day and 20 animals come in and then we’re full. Logistics
make giving a week’s notice impossible, but [rescuers] don’t want to
listen.”
After Williams’ departure the Nevada Humane board introduced
new policies to improve relations with rescue groups.

Dog attacks raise issues for lawmakers

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
At least 32 U.S. communities adopted or
considered adopting breed-specific dog control
legislation in 2006, responding to attacks
involving pit bulls and Rottweilers.
The debate over whether possession and
sale of pit bull terriers, Rottweilers, and
possibly other dog breeds should be restricted to
protect public safety is in essence a debate
about possibly the oldest of all philosophical
questions vexing lawmakers.
Since Biblical times opinions have
conflicted as to whether laws should seek to
prevent harm by forbidding potentially injurious
behavior, or merely punish those whose behavior
results in actual harm.

Read more

1 141 142 143 144 145 648