Yellowknife and Connecticut incidents feed the “humane relocation” debate

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories, Canada–Overcrowded
with 64 dogs seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police from
itinerant rescuers Harry and Pat Shermet, the 12-cage Yellowknife
SPCA on September 16, 2003 sent 25 puppies to the Edmonton SPCA.
First Air donated the 650-mile flight. The Great Slave
Animal Hospital donated the required vaccinations.
“We’re glad to help,” Melissa Boisvert of Edmonton SPCA
told Nathan VanderKlippe of the CanWest News Service.
The Edmonton SPCA had only six dogs in its 60 kennels before
the puppies arrived, a legacy of successful pet sterilization and
rehoming.
The Yellowknife rescue exemplified both the promise and the
problems associated with transferring shelter animals to match supply
to demand. The Shermets actually had almost the same idea, after
they were evicted from the cabin where they had amassed 66 dogs in
three years. Loading all the dogs into a trailer on September 5,
the Shermets hoped to find homes for them in Manitoba, but were
intercepted by the RCMP in Rae, just 100 miles down the road. Six
dogs escaped and two were shot during the ensuing chaos.

Hong Kong evicts big dogs from public housing

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

HONG KONG–The Hong Kong Housing Authority on September 25,
2003 approved new rules, recommended by the regional government,
that will ban from public housing any dogs weighing more than 40
pounds and any dogs acquired after August 1.
Possession of the dogs prior to August 1 must be verified by
licensing, vaccination, or sterilization certificates. All dogs
must be licensed, vaccinated, sterilized, and registered with the
Housing Authority by the end of November.
Dogs will be excluded from elevators from 7 a.m. until 9
p.m., and will be evicted if they occasion two verified complaints.
Pigeons, wildlife, and domesticated farm animals remain
excluded, as under the previous regulations.
Cats, cage birds, rabbits, turtles, and fish continue to
be permitted.
About 30% of Hong Kong residents live in public housing.
Heatedly debated since May, the new rules represent the
first significant update of the Housing Authority provisions
pertaining to animals in 40 years, Hong Kong legislator David Chu
Yu-lin told the Asia for Animals conference in early September.

China may push vaccination

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

BEIJING–Appalled by the dog-killing they recently witnessed
in eight provinces of southern China, officials of the China Health
Ministry and Agriculture Ministry are recommending that future rabies
control efforts should focus on vaccination, a well-placed source
told ANIMAL PEOPLE on October 10, 2003.
The China Daily on September 3 blamed “the increasing number
of dogs and mismanagement of the canine population, including
insufficient and improprer vaccination against rabies” for the
deaths of 550 people in the first six months of 2003, 90 more than
in the first six months of 2002.
The most rabies deaths occurred in Guangdong: 74 total, 46
of them in the Maoming area. As many as 60,000 dogs were reportedly
killed in a futile effort to contain the outbreak, which closely
followed the SARS panic. At least 12 more Guangdong residents,
including six children, died from rabies in August.

Palau bans shark hunting at request of divers

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

KOROR, Palau–Shark-hunting of any kind is illegal within 50
nautical miles of any part of the western Pacific island nation of
Palau, effective since mid-September 2003.
The shark-hunting ban is part of a new national marine
conservation law that also “protects reef fish, sea turtles, rays,
and any marine mammal from foreign fishing,” Agence France-Press
reported.
“A bold move for a developing nation struggling to balance
generating tax revenue with environmental protection,” Agence
France-Press observed, the new law may prove difficult to enforce.
Whether Palau has enough patrol boats and aircraft to intercept
alleged violators remains to be seen.
However, the new law is a sweeping first victory for the
Micronesian Shark Foundation, formed in April 2003 by Boston
University marine biologist Philip Lobel in partnership with Fish ‘n
Fins, a Palauan firm that outfits diving expeditions and promotes
diving tourism.

BOOKS: The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa’s Wildlife

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa’s Wildlife by Kobie Kruger
Ballantine Books (c/o Random House, 299 Park Ave., New York, NY
10171), 2001. 381 pages, hardcover, $26.95.

The Wilderness Family, as published in the U.S. and Britain,
is actually two former South African best sellers combined under one
cover. The first book, Mahlangeni, appeared in 1994. All Things
Wild & Wonderful followed in 1996.
Both are autobiographical accounts of the lives of Kruger
National Park ranger’s wife Kobie Kruger and family.
Inspired by Born Free, the autobiography of the late Kenyan wildlife
advocate Joy Adamson, Kobus and Kobie Kruger in 1980 took over
management of the remote Mahlangeni ranger station, taking their
three young daughters with them into the bush.

REVIEWS: Living With Tigers

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

Living With Tigers
Discovery Channel Video (www.discovery.com), 2003.
Two hours. $19.95.

Among the many “sanctuary” projects involving tigers that
appear to have more entertainment and fundraising value than either
humane or conservation merit, possibly the most bizarre is the
effort of South African wildlife film makers John and Dave Varty to
“save” tigers by introducing captive-born specimens to the “wild” at
their game ranch.
The idea, supposedly, is to prepare the tigers and their
descendants to return to freedom in China, on the eve of the 2008
Olympic Games, if China can protect enough habitat and prey for the
tigers to survive.

BOOKS: Animal Control Management: A Guide for Local Governments

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

Animal Control Management: A Guide for Local Governments
by Geoffrey L. Handy
International City/County Management Association (777 North Capitol
St. N.E., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20002), 2001. 107 pages.
Order c/o <http:/bookstore.icma.org>.

Animal Control Management: A Guide for Local Governments has
been much expanded and updated since the 1993 report of the same
title on which the current edition is based, but the most
significant expansion is a broadening of mind, toward accepting the
roles of privately funded no-kill animal shelters and neuter/return
feral cat control.
Compiled by Geoffrey L. Handy and other personnel at the
Humane Society of the United States, Animal Control Management is
not an official HSUS publication, yet may be seen as the HSUS
“gospel” on animal care-and-control. At least until the next edition
appears, it will stand with the 2001 revision of the National Animal
Control Association Training Guide as “the book” for the animal
control field.

Reviews

BOOKS: Sea Turtles of the World

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

Sea Turtles of the World by Doug Perrine
Voyageur Press (123 N. 2nd St., Stillwater, MN 55082), 2003.
144 pages, 100 color photos, hardcover. $29.95.

The Voyageur Press standard of accuracy applies even to back
cover descriptions, to the point that improving on them can be
frustratingly difficult.
“Through vivid photographs and engaging text, Sea Turtles of
the World provides an in-depth look at the natural history and
conservation issues of these prehistoric-looking reptiles,” says the
back cover of this one, noting chapters on green sea turtles,
loggerheads, hawksbills, olive ridley and Kemp’s ridley turtles,
Australian flatbacks, and leatherbacks.
The only possible argument is that sea turtles are not just
prehistoric-looking. They are in fact prehistoric. Ancestral sea
turtles go back at least 200 million years, and many more varieties
have come and gone than are still with us.

BOOKS: Justice on Earth

October 2, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2003:

Justice on Earth:

Earthjustice and
the people it has served
by Tom Turner
Chelsea Green Publishing
(distributed by Earthjustice,
416 17th St., Oakland, CA 94161), 2002.
224 pages, hardcover. $40.00.

Originating from a 1971 internal split within the Sierra
Club, Earthjustice called itself the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund
until 1997. Essentially an environmental law firm structured as a
nonprofit activist group, Earthjustice mostly sues government
agencies to seek enforcement of legislation including the habitat
protection provisions of the Endangered Species Act and Migratory
Bird Treaty Act.

Reviews

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