Category: Activists & Organizations

Primarily Primates

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

LEON SPRING, Texas–– Wally
Swett of Primarily Primates president Wally
Swett was among the first to advocate form-
ing the Association of Sanctuaries, and par-
ticipated in many of the founding discus-
sions, with the proviso that he not have to
attend meetings or be elected to any office
due to lack of time to perform the duties.
Pressured to attend meetings and take an
office anyway, he recalls, he withdrew
instead.
Swett’s non-participation still hurts
TAOS. Few sanctuarians in the world have
more credibility with peers than Swett, who
is considered the pioneer of the art of reso-
cialing institutionalized primates. Long
before Zoo Atlanta rehabilitated Willie B.,
the gorilla who spent 27 years in solitary con-
finement and is now Exhibit A for the suc-
cess of resocialization, Swett was routinely
taking monkeys who had spent a decade or
more caged, alone, in homes, roadside
zoos, and laboratories, and successfully
reintroducing them to family groups––some-
thing other experts had believed impossible.
When Swett backed away from TAOS, other
sanctuarians held back too.

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She began with a bobcat

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

BOERNE, Texas––Association of Sanctuaries president-
elect Lynn Cuny started Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation in 1977
incorporating one year later. She knew from childhood that she wanted
to work with animals. “My brother worked at the zoo and I couldn’t
wait to be old enough to follow him into zoo work,” she
remembers––but that was the steel-and-concrete era, when zoos were
more like dungeons than natural habitat. “When I got there,” she con-
tinues, “it broke my heart. I decided to found an organization that
would serve the needs of wild animals in free-roaming and captive situ-
ations, because there was simply no assistance available for such ani-
mals” when they became sick or injured.
Cuny began by distributing business cards “to any individual
or agency that might come in contact with any animals in need of help.
The very first call was from a woman who had seen a skunk with a
mayonaise jar stuck on his head, stumbling through a neighborhood on
the far northeast side of San Antonio. A well-placed nail with a tap
from a hammer, and the little guy was free.”

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Watson says pirate took submarine

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

The Sea Shepherd Conser-
vation Society, according to a Nov-
ember 30 advisory, “is pursuing legal
action” to shut down Paul Watson pre –
sents the great whales, “a fraudulent
whale education exhibit presently tour-
ing Switzerland,” operated by Marine
World Expo, no relation to the Marine
World oceanariums, “which is owned
by John Buegler, a German ciizen
from Rodenbach. In September,” the
statement continued, “Captain Watson
agreed to allow Buegler to use his
name in return for 30% of the ticket
sales, to support the conservation
activities of Sea Shepherd.” Buegler
also was authorized to exhibit the Sea
Shepherd submarine on lease, and was
to return the submarine at the end of
October 1994. “Buegler has refused to
honor his agreement,” Sea Shepherd
alleged, “and has instead kept all
money raised from the exhibit. He also
refused to pay for shipping the subma-
rine.”

Animals in laboratories

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

Legislation In Support of Animals has asked the Department of the Interior for a sta-
tus report on the condition of about 100 sooty mangabey monkeys kept by the Delta Primate
Center at Tulane University. Explains LISA president Jeff Dorson, “After an intense lobbying
effort, Tulane obtained a federal permit to buy wild or captive sooty mangabeys from west and
central Africa and through interstate commerce in
1987. The permit allows Tulane to buy up to 150 of
these endangered monkeys for use in leprosy exper-
iments, and is good for 10 years. In granting the
permit, however, the National Institutes of Health
agreed to fund, conduct, and complete a survey to
determine the remaining number of wild primates in
west and central Africa. The survey would cost tax-
payers $250,000. The agreement also stipulated
that Tulane would set up a captive breeding pro-
gram for sooty mangabeys. If the survey was not
completed, Delta would be forced to release 150

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WHO GETS THE MONEY? BUDGETS, ASSETS, FUNDRAISING, AND OVERHEAD

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

BUDGETS, ASSETS, FUNDRAISING, AND OVERHEAD

The major national animal and habitat protection
groups are listed below in alphabetical order, together with
selected other organizations of note. Each group is identified in
the second column by apparent focus and philosophy: Astands
for advocacy, C for conservation of habitat via acquisition, E
for education, H for support of hunting (either for “wildlife
management” or recreation), L for litigation, P for publica-
tion, R for animal rights, S for shelter and sanctuary mainte-
nance, V for focus on vivisection issues, and W for animal
welfare. The R and W designations are used only when an
organization seems to have made a point of being one or the
other. Although many groups are involved in multiple activi-
ties, space limits us to providing only four identifying letters.

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LABORATORY ANIMAL NUMBERS: GOOD NEWS OR BAD? by Andrew Rowan

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

In March of this year, I reported that the number of
laboratory animals used annually had declined by up to 50%
in many European countries and also probably in the United
States. I based this conclusion on a variety of sources. In
Europe, Great Britain and the Netherlands have collected
data on laboratory animal numbers with reasonable diligence,
and their records are usually regarded as being reliable. In
both cases, laboratory animal use has fallen by approximate-
ly 50% since the mid-1970s. Switzerland also reports a 50%
decline between 1980 and 1990; the sources for this claim
are news reports in the scientific literature. Similarly,
France, Italy, Sweden, and Germany all report declining
use, although their records are incomplete and cover only a
few years in the 1980s and 1990s. Canada, via the Canadian
Council on Animal Care, also reports significant declines in
the use of the common laboratory mammals.

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Editorial: Where our money goes

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

Our fifth annual report on “Who gets the money?” starts on page 11 of this issue.
Once again you may be shocked and dismayed to discover the extent to which the purported
“program expenses” of many of the biggest and best-known organizations are actually direct
mail costs written off as “public education.” Indeed, some such organizations have few if any
programs beyond direct mail. We view this as an abuse of public trust.
We stress accountability at ANIMAL PEOPLE––and we practice what we preach.
We don’t just tell you our “investigations department” is working on this or that: you see our
original investigative coverage of all the news about animal protection, ten times a year.
Like other animal protection charities, we exist through your concern and your gen-
erosity. Your generosity is critically important, because while your paid subscriptions and
advertising cover most of the cost of printing and mailing ANIMAL PEOPLE, your personal
gifts support our information-gathering. Your donations make possible our calls and faxes to
the people in the know––or who ought to be in the know––wherever animals need help. Often
it’s our call seeking information on your behalf that gets both authorities and animal advocacy
groups moving in response to situations that might otherwise be pushed aside.

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Dirty pool: (Part II of a two-part investigative series)

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

VANCOUVER, KANSAS CITY,
CHICAGO––Propaganda wins converts to
causes by reducing issues to good against evil,
forcing observers to take sides. Propaganda is
among the most effective tools of warfare;
but like warfare itself, it exacts a high price
from those who use it. Much as the dead
from either side don’t “win” a war, propagan-
dists for any cause often find themselves
obliged to wage wars they can’t afford simply
because they chose to use exaggerated
rhetoric in trying to win a simple reform. The
nature of propaganda is that in making broad
accusations of bad faith by the opponent, it
cuts off communication, making enmity out
of disagreement and mendacity out of misun-
derstanding.

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Friends of Animals saves elephants at CITES: YEARS OF AID TO AFRICAN ANTI-POACHING EFFORTS PAYS OFF

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

FORT LAUDERDALE––Facing 14 other African nations aligned as a block,
South Africa on November 15 withdrew a proposal to remove elephants from protection
under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
South Africa sought the downlisting in order to sell parts from elephants culled to
limit park populations. The funds, it claimed, would go to conservation. The most con-
tentious item on the agenda at the triennial two-week CITES conference, ended November
18, the downlisting was backed by Zimbabwe, Japan, Australia, the World Conservation
Union, the trophy hunting lobby, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service head Mollie Beattie,
striving to ingratiate herself with hunting groups which have privately lobbied for her ouster.
Officially, the U.S. and the European Union
were committed to abstain––leaving elephants
with few influential friends.

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