Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

Obituaries

 

“I come to bury Caesar,  not to praise him.  The evil that men do
lives after them.  The good is oft interred with their bones.”
–William Shakespeare

Lynn M. Gorfinkle, 64,  of Redding,  Connecticut,  died on
December 25,  2011 in Danbury Hospital.  The longtime president of
the Animal Rights Alliance of Fairfield County,  and active in cat
rescue with her friend Natalie Jarnstadt of Project Save A Cat,
Gorfinkle was best known for opposition to deer hunting and culling.
Gorfinkle “would not, if she were stranded on a desert island with
only a rabbit, eat that rabbit in order to survive,”  wrote Rob
Inglis of Yale Daily News in 2006.  “She thinks that modern-day
American sport hunters–especially deer hunters–are morally
deficient and probably ‘hung like hamsters.'”  Hunting media
denounced Gorfinkle from coast to coast three years later,  after a
bowhunter wounded a deer who fled to the Gorfinkle property before
dying.  Her husband Mike Gorfinkle refused to allow the hunter to
retrieve the deer. “If someone’s going to eat that deer,  I want it
to be natural predators,  not some hunter,”  Lynn Gorfinkle told
reporters.  Coyotes dragged away the carcass about two weeks later. Read more

Criminal justice

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

VICTORVILLE,  California— Convicted on December 6,  2012 of
committing the 2009 contract murder of Jesus Rocha Sr. on his chicken
ranch near Helendale,  California,  Edgar Gutierrez, 40,  and David
Gomez, 18,  face life in prison without parole.  Co-defendant Oscar
Acosta,  who testified against them,  could receive 35 years to life
in prison.  A fourth co-defendant,  Jose Sosa,  who acted as lookout
during the murder and also testified against the others,  is expected
to receive a sentence of 13 years and eight months.  Gutierrez
allegedly paid Gomez and Acosta $5,000 each to kill a man who lived
with Rocha whom Gutierrez claimed had not paid him $10,000 in
connection with arranging the sale of a gamecock.  They killed Rocha
when Rocha found them on the property. Read more

BOOKS: Cat Telling Tales by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

Cat Telling Tales
by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
William Morrow  (10 E.  53rd St.,  New York,  NY 10022),  2011.
373 pages,  hardcover.  $19.99.

Mysteries don’t top my reading list,  but feline sleuth Joe
Grey and his crime-solving sidekicks,  two scrappy cats named Dulcie
and Kit,  are entertaining in Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s 18th novel,
Cat Telling Tales.  The action takes place in the coastal community
of Molena Point,  California,  where Joe always seems to be involved
in solving murders.  Plucky and persistent,  Joe tracks down details
and shares them with police chief Max Harper,  who makes the arrests.
In Cat Telling Tales,  fire leaves a 12-year old boy
homeless.  His guardian Hesmerra,  an older alcoholic,  is found dead
amidst the ashes.  Read more

Dutch ritual slaughter ban referred for study

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

DEN HAAG, The Netherlands— A proposed ban on slaughtering
animals without pre-stunning that cleared the Dutch House of
Representatives 116-30 in June 2011 was on December 20,  2011 amended
in the Senate into a pledge that undersecretary for agriculture Henk
Bleker’s office will draft standards to ensure that halal and kosher
slaughter,  practiced by Muslims and Jews,  are done in a manner that
minimizes animal suffering.  Pre-stunning has traditionally been
interpreted by most Judaic and Islamic religious  authorities–though
some differ–as a violation of the requirements of Mosaic and Islamic
religious law that animals be conscious when their throats are
swiftly cut with a sharp blade.

Proposed by the Party for the Animals,  which holds two seats
in the House and one in the Senate,  and is a part of the coalition
government,  the ban on slaughter without pre-stunning gained
momentum after being endorsed by the far right Party for Freedom,
whose focal issue is discouraging Islamic immigration.  About one
million of the Dutch population of 16 million are immigrants from
Islamic nations.

L.A. shelter deal transfers cash crunch to Best Friends

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:


LOS ANGELES
–“There is progress in Los Angeles!” exulted City
of Los Angeles Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnette on
January  5,  2012,  anticipating the imminent transition of the idle
Northeast Animal Care Center from a costly liability to an operating
asset,  run by the Best Friends Animal Society.

“The contract between the city and Best Friends for the
operation of an adoption and spay/neuter services center at the
Northeast Animal Care Center in Mission Hills was completed over the holiday break,”  elaborated city spokesperson Jason Killeen.  “Our goal is to have the facility open to the public by the end of
January.” Read more

Japan uses tsunami relief funds to defend whalers against Sea Shepherds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

FREMANTLE–Even whalers quoted by The New York Times believed
that the March 11,  2011 tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan
had probably killed the whaling industry–but that was before prime
minister Yoshihiko Noda took office in September 2011.

Noda,  from Chiba prefecture,  a longtime hub of coastal
whaling,  diverted 2.28 billion yen–$30 million–from tsunami relief
and rebuilding funds to quadruple the $10 million annual government
subsidy for “whaling research,”  to be conducted by killing from 900
to 1,000 whales in Antarctic waters designated off limits to whaling
by the International Whaling Commission. Read more

No more live birds sold in Stockton

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

STOCKTONCalif.– “Effective on January 7,  the first 2012
market,  live birds will no longer be sold at the Stockton Farmers’
Market!” Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Compassion founder Andrew
Zollman e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on January 6,  2012.
“We worked with the Animal Services division of the Stockton
Police,”  Zollman said.  “They agreed that California Penal Code
section 597.4,”  adopted in 2011 to control abuse of animals at flea
markets and other public events,  “does not exempt live poultry sold
as ‘food.'” Read more

Who is behind "Humane Society for Shelter Pets" campaign against HSUS?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

WASHINGTON D.C. –Full-page ads in USA  Today,  the Los Angeles Times,  the Chicago
Tribune,  and New York Times on November 31,  2011 marked the public debut of the Humane Society for Shelter Pets.

 

Incorporated on February 2,  2010  as the HSAP Operating Fund,  with IRS employer
identification number 27-1814295,  the original HSSP mission was “to provide grant support to needy local shelters across the U.S.”  The organization later changed missions,  “from
financial to educational support for shelters,” according to IRS Form 990. Read more

Russians will not buy Canadian seal pelts

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2012:

YARMOUTHPORT,  Mass.–“The Customs Union of Belarus,
Kazakhstan,  and the Russian Federation has banned the import and
export of harp seal skins,”  International Fund for Animal Welfare
anti-sealing campaign coordinator Sheryl Fink announced on December
19,  2011.

Not announced by the nations involved,  the ban was described
in “World Trade Association documents unearthed by IFAW,”  said
Friends of Animals Canadian correspondent Dave Shishkoff.
Russian president Vladimir Putin ended Russian sealing in
2009,  but Russia remained the largest buyer of Canadian seal pelts.

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