Kenyan wins Natl. Geo. Award

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

 

NAIROBI-Paula Kahumbu,  executive director of the Kenya Land Conservation Trust and WildlifeDirect,  was on June 17,  2011 named recipient of the $25,000 National Geographic Annual Award.  “Through WildlifeDirect,”  founded by Kahumbu’s longtime mentor Richard Leakey,  “she has created Africa’s largest wildlife blogging platform,”  wrote Gatonye Gathura for AllAfrica.com.  Kahumbu is author of four books for children,  in collaboration with Isabella and Craig Hatkoff,  describing the initial friendship and further adventures of a baby hippopotamus and a 120-year-old male giant tortoise.  Translated into 27 languages,  the books have sold more than a million copies.

Owen,  the hippo,  was swept out to sea by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  Washed ashore and rescued by coastal fishers several days later,  Owen was taken to the Haller wildlife park near Mombasa.  Upon release,  he ran to Mzee,  the tortoise,  and hid behind him.  Not yet weaned,  Owen ate what Mzee ate,  and as tortoises eat much the same food as hippos,  Owen survived and thrived.

 

BOOKS: What Everyone Needs to Know / The Animal Rights Debate

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Animal Rights:
What Everyone Needs to Know
by Paul Waldau
Oxford University Press
(198 Madison Ave.,  New York,  NY 10016),  2010.
224 pages,  paperback.  $16.95.

The Animal Rights Debate
by Gary L. Francione
& Robert Garner
Columbia University Press
(61 West 62nd St.,  New York,  NY  10023),  2010.
272 pages,  hardback,  $24.50.

My practice,  in reviewing works of philosophy,  is to save them for long flights to far-away places,  when I will have the rare luxury of being able to read for hours without interruption.  Then I write about what I remember well enough to be still thinking about it a week or two later. Read more

BOOKS: Thoughts and stories about people and the dogs they love

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

A Bond Unique:
Thoughts and stories about people and the dogs they love
Edited by Reg Green
Iroquois County Animal Rescue
(100 NW Lincoln,  Iroquois,  IL  60945),  2010.
60 pages,  illustrated,  paperback.  $25.00

I never tire of reading books about dogs and their owners. This one is as uplifting as any other book I have reviewed for Animal People. Read more

U.K. to ban wild animal acts from circuses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

LONDON–The United Kingdom appears to be poised to join a growing number of nations which have banned wild animals from circuses.

Defying Prime Minister David Cameron,  the U.K. House of Commons on June 23,  2011 unanimously endorsed a resolution stating that “This House directs the Government to use its powers under Section 12 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to introduce a regulation banning the use of all wild animals in circuses,  to take effect by 1 July 2012.” Read more

BOOKS: Training Your Dog the Humane Way

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Training Your Dog the Humane Way
by Alana Stevenson
New World Library
(14 Pameron Way,  Novato,  CA  94949),  2011.
194 pages paperback.  $15.95.

Training Your Dog the Humane Way,   by Alana Stevenson, squeezes into a crowded market of training manuals,  but stands out for emphasizing non-violent methods.  Stevenson doesn’t believe in the use of shock collars,  or the spiked collars often seen on bully breeds. Read more

Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

“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

 

Peter Falk,  82,  died on June 23,  2011.  Born in New York City,  Falk was introduced to acting at age 12 by Camp High Point counselor Ross Martin,  who also went on to Hollywood success.  After World War II duty in the U.S. Merchant Marine,  and a six-month stint as a railroad worker in Yugoslavia,  Falk earned a Master of Public Administration degree and became a management analyst with the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford.  After hours he acted at a local community theatre and took acting classes.  Falk was nearly 30 before acting professionally,  and his first professional stage appearance was in a play that closed after just one performance,  but within the year he landed his first Broadway role,  and by 1958 was getting small film parts.  His 1960 performance in Murder,  Inc. won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  Falk rose to stardom playing a variety of roles,  but is best remembered for playing the detective Columbo in made-for-TV films produced between 1968 and 2003,  and in the  1971-1978 television series Columbo.  “Falk generously donated his time to help animals by supporting In Defense of Animals’ Guardian Campaign,  to convince people that the word ‘guardian’ is a more appropriate word than ‘owner’ to describe our relationship with animals,”  recalled In Defense of Animals founder Elliot Katz.  “In IDA’s 30-second  ‘Be A Guardian:  Adopt and Save A Life’ public service announcement,”  Katz contined,  “Falk and his wife Shera Danese appear with world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall,  and actors Wendie Malick and Kristen Bell.  They urge people to save animal lives by adopting from shelters, and to always act as guardians of animals,  not owners.  Falk and his late wife were passionate about rescuing dogs,”  Katz said,  “and lived with rescued shelter dogs.”

 

Edward Gardner,  38,  of Naperville,  Illinois,  was killed by an airport limousine on May 30,  2011 while trying to shoo a family of ducklings off the roadway near the O’Hare Oasis at Schiller Park.  Gardner apparently did not use his vehicle to block oncoming traffic.

[For more on this, please click here.] Read more

BOOKS: Rescue Pup

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

Rescue Pup
by Brenda Fiorini
Joyful Journey Books
(P.O. Box 216,  Rock Falls,  IL 61071),  2011.
32 pages,  paperback,  illust.,  $7.95.

Stranded by his people,  Buddy sits and waits for their return.  He doesn’t know yet that they are not coming back.  Gnawing hunger leads him to break through a screen door.  Like most stray dogs and cats,  he confronts hardships such as unfriendly people and road hazards,  and lack of food.  Eventually a car stops.  The driver takes Buddy to the local shelter where he finds comfort.  A family adopts Buddy and his story ends happily. Read more

Humane Society of the U.S. cuts deal with United Egg Producers to seek federal law

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2011:

WASHINGTON D.C.–“For years we’ve been clashing with the United Egg Producers over the treatment of laying hens,”  e-mailed Humane Society of the U.S. factory farming campaign manager Paul Shapiro from a July 7,  2011 press conference.  “If someone had told me that we’d be doing a joint press conference with the UEP,  I’d have thought they’d eaten some bad egg replacer. But indeed, that’s exactly what’s happening right now.  We’re announcing that both the UEP and HSUS will endorse federal legislation intended to improve the treatment of the 280 million laying hens used in the U.S. each year.” Read more

BOOKS: The Domestic Cat: Bird Killer, Mouser and Destroyer of Wild Life

The Domestic Cat:  Bird Killer,  Mouser and Destroyer of Wild Life;  Means of Utilizing and Controlling It
by Edward Howe Forbush
Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture,  1916.   [Free 112-page download from <http://books.google.com/books>.]

The November/December 2010 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE noted on page one that the American Bird Conservancy had on December 1,  2010 issued a media release extensively praising what publicist Robert Johns termed “a new peer-reviewed report titled, Feral Cats & Their Management from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,”  which advocated killing feral cats.

“The report began in an undergraduate wildlife management class,”  revealed Associated Press writer Margery A. Beck,  “with students writing reports on feral cats based on existing research.  The students’ professor and other UNL researchers then compiled the report from the students’ work.” Read more

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