BOOKS: 100 Birds and How They Got Their Names

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

100 Birds & How They Got Their Names
by Diana Wells, illustrated by Lauren Jarrett
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (708 Broadway, New York, NY 10003), 2002.
297 pages, hardcover. $18

The title 100 Birds & How They Got Their Names is somewhat
misleading, because only a small part of each of Diana Wells’
species entries actually concerns how or why the likes of the booby,
goatsucker, and titmouse came to be identified as they are.
At that, some of the entries could be disputed, as Wells
consistently favors descriptive origins over the onamatopoeic, even
when the onamatopoeic explanation is seemingly obvious. Wells
insists, for instance, that the titmouse is named “from the Old
Icelandic titr, meaning ‘small,’ and the Anglo-Saxon mase, ‘small
bird,'” though she concedes that, “The chickadee’s name is
onomatopoeic, from the sound of its call; the Cherokee Indians
called it tsikililt.”

Read more

Busting an abuser? Get a warrant!

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

RALEIGH, N.C.–The North Carolina Court of Appeals on April
16 threw out six cruelty convictions against Carolyn Nance of Rowan
County because county animal control officers seized her six horses
in December 1998 without a warrant.
The county contended that no warrant was necessary because
the horses were in imminent jeopardy and were clearly visible from
public property. However, three days elapsed between when the
horses were first seen and when they were taken.

Read more

Human obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

Jason Trotman, DVM, 48, of Atlanta, Georgia, stayed an
extra five hours at the Southern Crescent Animal Emergency Clinic on
Sunday, March 31, to assist another veterinarian with a surgery.
He was killed at a stoplight on his way home at about 11 p.m., when
his vehicle was hit by the getaway car used by twin brothers Melvin
and Marvin Mitchell, 22, who had allegedly just robbed a grocery
store of $6,500 and were under police pursuit. The Mitchells were
charged with felony murder, armed robbery, and reckless driving.
Trotman left his wife and three children.

Read more

Animal obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

A.J., a 21-month-old male dolphin, died on March 22 at the
Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach, Florida. He fell ill
soon after the late February death of his half-sister Jasmine. Their
causes of death are unknown. A.J., Jasmine, and Allie, a
half-sister of both, were sired by Albert, the longtime Gulf World
star attraction. More than 40 years old, and unsuccessful in 30
years of breeding attempts, Albert suddenly fathered the three young
dolphins, by three different mothers, just before his death in 1999.

Read more

Survivors of Farallon de Medinilla shelling get a break–& wise-users get judicial blast

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2002:

WASHINGTON D.C.– Judge Emmit Sullivan of the U.S. District
Court for the D.C. Circuit on March 13 ruled that the U.S. Navy and
Department of Defense are violating the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty
Act by using the island of Farallon de Medinilla in the northern
Marianas for bombing and gunnery practice.
The island is nesting habitat for at least two dozen
protected bird species, including great frigatebirds, masked
boobies, and endangered Micronesian megapodes. Admitting that birds
are often killed, the Navy applied for an incidental take permit from
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1996. The Fish and Wildlife
Service refused to issue the permit. Then the Navy claimed no permit
was needed.

Read more

New lions for Kabul

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2002:

BEIJING–The Badaling Wildlife Park, of Beijing, announced
on March 19 that in May it will donate two handreared lions, Zhuang
Zhuang and Canny, to the Kabul Zoo, to replace Marjan, the
one-eyed lion who died on January 26, and his mate, killed in the
1993 grenade attack that injured Marjan. Abdul Basir Hotak, Afghan
interim government charge d-affaires in Beijing, accepted the gift
in person.
The Badaling Wildlife Park, with 84 lions at present, was
formerly notorious for feeding live calves to lions to thrill
visitors. Chinese President Jiang Zemin banned the practice in
August 1999, at request of French activist Brigitte Bardot, but
live feeding is believed to continue at some other Chinese wildlife
parks.

Fundraising & the Kabul Zoo

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2002:

As anticipated, the March 2002 ANIMAL PEOPLE investigative
feature “Plight of Kabul Zoo brings dubious fundraising claims”
brought prompt response from Brian Werner, founder of Tiger Missing
Link and cofounder of Great Cats In Crisis, and Bruce Eberle, the
fundraiser who produced an appeal soliciting funds on behalf of Great
Cats In Crisis, purportedly to aid Marjan, the Kabul Zoo lion who
was already dead two weeks before the appeal reached any of the
ANIMAL PEOPLE readers who brought it to our attention.

Read more

LETTERS [April 2002]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2002:

The right stuff
Bonny Shah of Ahimsa wrote to us that the readers of Animal
People have mailed to her a lot of t- shirts and other stuff which
has reached her by carton loads! Last December she helped us run a
stall at the Cricket Club grounds here, and we collected 10,000
rupees by selling all sorts of things donated by your readers. All
the money went towards purchaing essential medicines for our street
dogs. May God bless you and your readers!
–Rita Vazirani
People For Animals ( Mumbai )
130, Sindhi Society
Mumbai 400 071, India
<v_rita@vsnl.com>

Read more

State legislative roundup

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2002:

Anti-cruelty bills

INDIANAPOLIS–Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon in mid-March
signed into law bills enabling felony cruelty prosecutions and
criminalizing possession of animal fighting paraphernalia, annonced
American SPCA Midwest representative for government affairs Ledy Van
Kavage.
Bills to introduce felony cruelty penalties were still alive
in Alaska and Kentucky as ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, while law
enforcement officers joined humane advocates in Fort Smith,
Arkansas, on February 25 to announce a petition drive by Citizens
for a Humane Arkansas to put a proposed felony cruelty bill on the
2002 state ballot. Citizens for a Humane Arkansas must gather 75,000
voter signatures in favor of the bill by June 30.

Read more

1 303 304 305 306 307 648