Author: Dylan Forest

Montreal SPCA sues SPCA International to try to get back web name

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)

MONTREAL Proceedings in a lawsuit filed by the Montreal SPCA to try to recover the use of the domain name <spca.com> from SPCA International have been delayed because the plaintiffs are having difficulty finding valid legal addresses at which to serve notice on some of the defendants, plaintiff s attorney Pierre Lessard told ANIMAL PEOPLE on October 24, 2008.
Served as of the original scheduled court date in October were Pierre Barnoti, who was executive director of the Montreal SPCA from 1994 until July 2008 and is founder of SPCA International; SPCA International itself, incorporated in Delaware since 2006; Raouf Dallala of Montreal, who according to the lawsuit acted as consultant for over 10 years to the Montreal SPCA during Barnoti s tenure, and was paid during that period fees of over $500,000 ; former Montreal SPCA board members Howard Sholzberg and Michel Poulos; the Montreal firm Magi Graph Concept Inc.; the New York City firm Quadriga Art Inc., currently acting as a fundraising intermediary for the benefit of SPCA International, according to the lawsuit; and the Virginia firm Network Solutions, identified as registrar for the domain names <spca.com> and <spcamontreal.com>.

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Scams target adoptors & humane societies

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:

MONROE, Louisiana The Better Business Bureau of Northeast Louisiana on November 2, 2008 issued a warning against e-mail and classified ad scams offering puppies or rescued dogs for adoption, if the recipient will pay transportation costs in advance.
The would-be dog adoptor may also be asked to fill out an adoption screening questionaire which requests information that can be used to access the victim s personal bank and credit card accounts.

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Addis Ababa inks s/n pact

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)
ADDIS ABABA Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, home to three million people and as many as 750,000 dogs, on November 4, 2008 agreed to cooperate with the Amsale Gessesse Memorial Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, and Humane Society International to control the dog population through sterilization instead of poisoning.
The project is to begin on March 1, 2009. The pact was reached after more than a year of negotiation involving half a dozen Ethiopian government agencies, Best Friends cofounder Gregory Castle and rapid response team manager Rich Crook, DVM, and Anteneh Roba, an Ethiopian-born Houston physician who founded the Amsale Gessesse Memorial Foundation to honor his deceased mother and enlisted Best Friends involvement.

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Is non-surgical sterilization the best use for $75 million?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)

CHICAGO Anxiety tempered enthusiasm as 325 delegates to the Spay USA conference in Chicago on October 17, 2008 applauded the Found Animal Foundation pledge to invest $75 million in the quest to develop a non-surgical method of sterilizing dogs and cats. Almost everyone had questions with no quick answers.
First and easiest were questions about who Found Animal Foundation founder Gary K. Michelson is, and whether his commitment is genuine. Michelson has until now been barely known to animal advocates even in the Los Angeles area, where he lives and where the Found Animal Foundation is based.
Found Animal Foundation executive director Aimee Gilbreath and Alliance for Contraception in Cats & Dogs executive director Joyce Briggs and outreach director Karen Green repeatedly reassured Spay USA delegates that the $75 million is real money.

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Michelson won case against U.S. Surgical

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)
Animal advocates may enjoy the irony that some of the money that Gary Michelson has posted to promote developing a non-surgical method of sterilizing dogs and cats came from U.S. Surgical, via Michelson’s successful 1995 lawsuit against the company.
U.S. Surgical founder Leon Hirsch, who retired and sold the company in 1998, was for more than a decade a frequent target of animal rights protests led primarily by Friends of Animals, for using dogs in sales demonstrations of surgical products. Hirsch in response founded the pro-animal research organization Americans for Medical Progress in 1992 and helped to fund it for six years.

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Saving Animals folds but Humane Alliance model s/n program reaches 31 states

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)

HOUSTON The surgical sterilization service provider Saving Animals Across Borders on October 17, 2008 declared bankruptcy. Saving Animals founder Sean Hawkins pioneered many of the methods now used by nonprofit sterilization providers worldwide. The Saving Animals Fix Houston project was to open five surgical sterilization clinics in Houston by mid-2009, but instead closed the only one that did open.
The Saving Animals assets are to be sold to reimburse creditors.
Chapter 7, the type of bankruptcy protection sought by Saving Animals, doesn t allow an entity to reorganize, explained Bill Murphy of the Houston Chronicle. In an e-mail to the Chronicle, Hawkins said, Unfavorable financial conditions have forced Saving Animals Across Borders to cease operations…No further statement will be given.

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Big U.S. election wins for farm animals, greyhounds & pro-animal candidates

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)
SACRAMENTO, BOSTON, WASHINGTON D.C. Animals won big on November 4, 2008 on all political fronts.
California voters approved giving battery-caged chickens room to spread their wings, and banned veal crates and sow gestation stalls.
Massachusetts voters banned greyhound racing making Massachusetts the first state to ban greyhound racing while still hosting active greyhound tracks.
Arizona voters crushed a proposition which would have made it nearly impossible to pass any future ballot initiative dealing with animal protection, exulted Humane Society Legislative Fund president Mike Markarian.
At 12:47 a.m. on November 5, with ballots in many close races still being counted, 248 candidates endorsed by the Humane Society Legislative Fund had won seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Only 10 had lost.

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Puerto Rico gains a new humane law; prosecution of animal control contractor fails

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2008:

 

BAYAMON, Puerto Rico–“With very little fanfare in the rest
of the U.S., Puerto Rico has enacted a landmark animal protection
law, based, in large part, directly on Animal Legal Defense Fund’s
model laws,” announced ALDF director of legislative affairs Stephan
Otto on September 12, 2008.
“Included,” Otto said, “are felonies for neglect,
abandonment, cruelty and animal fighting; and statutory recognition
of the link between cruelty to animals and violence toward humans
through increased penalties for those with prior animal abuse
convictions,” or convictions for domestic violence, child or elder
abuse, and/or committing cruelty in front of children.
The new Puerto Rican definition of animal abuse “includes
emotional harm,” enables judges to grant protective orders on behalf
of animals, and creates a duty to enforce anti-cruelty laws, Otto
said.

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Obituaries [Sep 2008]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2008:

Thomas Doerflein, 44, renowned for
raising the Berlin Zoo polar bear Knut in
2006-2007 after the cub was abandoned by his
mother, was found dead in his apartment of a
heart attack on September 22, 2008. A 25-year
Berlin Zoo employee, “Doerflein with his burly
build and ponytail was a distinctive figure at
the side of the growing bear,” recalled
Associated Press writer Patrick McGroarty. “He
nursed young Knut in his arms behind closed doors
and wrestled with him after the bear grew old
enough to play. When Knut made his public debut
in March 2007, Doerflein was at his side. They
started a daily performance for the thousands of
visitors who flocked to see the bear at his
outdoor enclosure. But the ‘Knut show’ ended in
July of that year when the zoo’s director ruled
that the bear had grown too large for Doerflein
to frolic with in safety.” The “Cute Knut”
phenomenon reportedly boosted Berlin Zoo
attendance by 27% in 2007, and increased
revenues by $10 million.

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