BOOKS: National Animal Control Training Guide

July 1, 2001 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
National Animal Control Association Training Guide
NACA (P.O. Box 480851, Kansas City, MO 64148), 2001. 370 pages, spiral binding. $50.00.

The most influential book about animal care-and-control ever written, at the practical level, was the 1989 first edition of the National Animal Control Association Training Guide. It brought together for the very first time the corpus of knowledge about animal care-and-control “best practice,” as learned on the job by several dozen of the most respected animal care-and-control personnel in the U.S., and swiftly became “The Book” at public animal shelters not just across the U.S. but around the world.

Since 1989, to go “by The Book” has meant literally going by the NACA recommendations, reinforced at countless seminars using the NACA Training Guide as a text. “The Book” consisted of four main sections, covering animal care-and-control law, animal handling skills, occupational and public safety, and communications, plus a supplemental chapter by the late Leo K. Bustad on “The Significance of the Human/Animal Bond for Animal Control Personnel.”

Animal Obituaries

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

Ursa Minor, 35, one of the oldest polar bears on record, died on July 24 at the EcoTarium science museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she lived with her daughter Kenda, 17. Ursa Minor came from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in 1971, soon after the EcoTarium opened. Her mate, Ursa Major, died at the Stone Zoo in Boston last year at age 33.

Mocha, a brown Labrador, was fatally burned in a thermal pool near the Firehold River in Yellowstone National Park on July 26. His person, Donald E. Hansen, 39, was hospitalized for burn treatment after trying to save him.

Obituaries

Human Obituaries

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
Gunther Gebel-Williams, 66, died on July 19 from cancer, at home in Venice, Florida. Born in Germany as Gunther Gebel in 1934, Gebel-Williams was the son of a circus seamstress and a theatrical set builder who resisted the Nazis even after being drafted into the Wehrmacht. Gebel-Williams’ mother got him a job with the Harry Williams circus at age 13; he later took Williams’ surname as a gesture of appreciation. Gebel-Williams trained horses, elephants, tigers, and leopards for Williams until 1968, when Ringling Brothers bought the Williams circus to acquire his skills.

Recalled New York Times obituarist Richard Severo, “Gebel-Williams was the principal heir-apparent to the tradition of Clyde Beatty, who dominated the U.S. circus scene in the mid-20th century by walking into cages filled with huge cats armed with a chair, a whip, and sometimes a revolver. Gebel-Williams had no use for chairs or pistols or anything else that would threaten or injure his animals. Only 5’4″, he used his voice and bits of meat to make sure they understood when he was pleased.” Injured by animals many times, Gebel-Williams gave more than 12,000 performances without ever missing a call or allowing any of his animals to be killed for their deeds. “If you do right by animals,” he said, “and do not become careless, they will do the right thing in return. One can never be so certain about people.” He kept the pelts of his favorite animals on the floor of his home, but did not allow anyone to step on them. “We walk around them out of respect,” he explained, “because they are not trophies but dear old friends.” He last performed in 1998.

Obituaries

Who’s on top for top job at HSUS?

July 1, 2001 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

The Humane Society of the U.S., expected to accept the scheduled retirement of president Paul Irwin at its fall 2001 annual meeting, in May published an ad in the Chronicle of Philanthrophy soliciting applications from would-be successors. Insiders told ANIMAL PEOPLE in late 1999 that vice president for government relations Wayne Pacelle had been chosen but not yet announced as Irwin’s successor, but sources close to Pacelle said a year later that other candidates might be favored by the board, and that Pacelle, if rejected, would leave HSUS to enter politics. HSUS staff who have previously held top posts include current HSUS executive vice president Patty Forkan; former North Shore Animal League president David Ganz; former American SPCA president John Kullberg; former American Humane Association animal protection division chief Dennis White; and Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy founder Andrew Rowan.

Fundraising

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

Foundation Giving Trends 2001, published recently by The Foundation Center, indicates that of all the grant money distributed by U.S. private foundations in 2000, just 1.3% was given to help “Animals and wildlife.” This was marginally more than was spent on science and technological research exclusive of health care, however, and was nearly three times as much as was spent on “Religion” and “International affairs, development, and peace.”

Crime, punishment, and mega-rewards

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
SAN JOSE, Calif.–Andrew Burnett, 27, on July 13 drew the maximum sentence of three years in prison for felony cruelty from Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Kevin J. Murphy. A jury on June 20 convicted him of grabbing a bichon frise named Leo from Sara
McBurnett of Incline Village, Nevada, after a minor freeway accident in San Jose airport, and hurling the dog to his death in heavy traffic.

The February 2000 incident drew global attention, not only as a dramatic example of a “Link” case, in which a man kills an animal to intimidate a woman, but also because a reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer soared to $115,000.

ARM!/Chicago to stand down, but ARM!/PAC stands up

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
DENVER, CHICAGO–Just as the last visible remnant of Animal Rights Mobiliz-ation! seemed to be fading from the movement it helped to launch, the ARM! Political Action Committee emerged seeking felony penalties for extreme cruelty to animals in Colorado and Wyoming.

ARM!/PAC claimed a preliminary victory on July 6 when Circuit Judge Randal Arp of Torrington, Wyoming, sentenced Travis Wilson, 20, to serve eight months in jail for beating, mutilating, and burning alive his ex-girlfriend’s basset hound. Wilson may get two to five years more for stealing the hound. More than 1,000 letters and 300 telephone calls resulting from ARM!/PAC alerts had urged an aggressive prosecution and stiff sentencing.

Shark fins

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
WildAid, one of the newest international wildlife protection groups, announced on July 3 that 70% of a sample of shark fins it bought in Bangkok during May 2001 contained mercury, and one fin had 42 times the recommended limit for human consumption. “Sales of shark fin soup in Bangkok’s Chinatown plunged 70%” within the next week, Associated Press reported. Anchalee Kongrut of the Bangkok Post on July 14 said that “Restaurants selling shark fin soup lost up to 40% of their income,” despite Thai government and restaurant industry claims that their own tests of shark fins found no significant mercury content.

WildAid was formed in late 1999 by Suwanna Gauntlet of the San Francisco-based Barbara Delano Foundation, in whose honor the Suwanna Ranch sanctuary operated by the Humane Farming Association is named; Steven Galster of the Global Survival Network; Environmental Investigation Agency cofounder Peter Knights; and Steve Trent, who also in 1999 started the Environmental Justice Foundation. WildAid has offices in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Thailand, Cambodia, and Russia.

U.S. courts reshape dangerous dog law

July 1, 2001 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

SAN FRANCISCO–Legal experts and news media commented on how unusual the charges were back on March 27, 2001, when a San Francisco grand jury indicted lawyer Marjorie Knoller, 45, for alleged second-degree murder. The grand jury also indicted both Knoller and her husband and law partner Robert Noel, 56, for alleged involuntary manslaughter and failure to control an animal. Both Knoller and Noel have been jailed since leading police on a 200-mile car chase later on March 27, under suspicion of trying to escape the jurisdiction of the court.

Knoller and Noel were custodians of two Presa Canario dogs owned by prison lifers Dale Bretches, 44, and Paul Schneider, 38, whom police identify as reputed leaders of the white supremacist Aryan Nations gang. On January 26, the two dogs broke away from Knoller and
killed neighbor Diane Whipple, 33. The dogs had a history of attacking people and animals, witnesses testified, and one dog had allegedly injured Noel.

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