ALASKAN WOLF MASSACRE: SIERRA CLUB BREAKS BOYCOTT

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska––Alaska’s “ground-based” wolf-killing campaign in

Game Management Unit 20A, south of Fairbanks, was more than $50,000 over bud-

get in early February, with only 84 wolves killed out of a quota of 150––tending to

affirm the view of wolf expert Gordon Haber, Friends of Animals, and the Alaska

Wildlife Alliance that the state greatly overestimated the wolf population of the area

to begin with. Only $100,000 was to be spent on the wolf-killing, including $30,000

for personnel and $15,000 for helicopter rentals, but by mid-January personnel costs

were already over $60,000 and helicopter rentals were at $23,000, the AWA reported.

Finding the federal Airborne Hunting Act impossible to enforce when state

law allows “trappers” to spot wolves from the air, land, walk 300 feet, and shoot

them, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on December 22 proposed a ban on killing

any free-ranging wolves or wolverines on Alaskan National Wildlife Refuges the

same day a hunter is airborne. Killing trapped wolves would still be permitted.

SPECTACLES

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

A group of Ecuadoran school children

in late January donated their allowances, sold toys,

and performed on street corners to raise funds to

feed polar bears, elephants, seals, and horses aban-

doned in Quito by the Circus of Czars, from St.

Petersburg, Russia. The circus manager vanished

with the receipts from a successful tour, leaving the

human performers stranded, as creditors seized

their equipment. As ANIMAL PEOPLE went to

press, help was reportedly en route from business

leaders and environmental groups.

Good deeds

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Veterinarians Jeff Young and

Mark Chamberlain of Planned

Pethood Plus held their third annual

male cat neuter-a-thon in Boulder,

Colorado, on January 30––and donated

their $7 per cat fee to Mission Wolf, a

refuge for wolves and wolf hybrids in

Silver Cliff, Colorado.

Tucson veterinarians Reuben

Merideth and Barbara Page in early

January donated a $1,400 cataract

removal operation to give partial sight to

a bighorn lamb, who was apparently

abandoned by her mother after going

blind but was rescued by hikers who

turned her over to the Arizona Game

and Fish Department. The lamb will

probably be donated to a zoo or a cap-

tive breeding program.

Fur

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

While the ISO moved to accept

padded leghold traps as “humane,” a

Massachusetts judge ruled they are not on

December 27, 1993, overturning a 1989 rul-

ing by the state Division of Fisheries and

Wildlife that padded traps were not banned by

the state law that banned steel-jawed leghold

traps in 1974. “It is apparent from the opera-

tion of the Woodstream ‘soft-catch’ trap,”

Suffolk Superior Court judge Patrick King

wrote, “that it will cause injury to many ani-

mals.”

L.A. earthquake aid

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

LOS ANGELES, Calif.––

The City of Los Angeles was among

the first animal control jurisdictions

to have its own disaster prepared-

ness manual, but not even manual

author Lt. Frederic Michael antici-

pated two major natural disasters

hitting the area within four months:

first the devastating brushfires of

late October and early November,

and then, January 17, a 6.6-

Richter-magnitude earthquake that

collapsed overpasses, ruptured

water mains, killed 43 people out-

right, and left more than 20,000 at

least temporarily homeless.

Animal Control & Rescue

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

The Canadian SPCA

was stunned February 3 when it

lost the Montreal pound contract

to a private bidder, Berger Blanc,

for at least a two-month trial period.

Berger Blanc handles animal control

for several Montreal suburbs, but

has been accused of selling animals

to biomedical research. The

Montreal contract forbids such sales.

The CSPCA was nearly bankrupted

under its previous two-year pound

contract, loosely modeled after the

contract New York City has long

had with the ASPCA, under which

it was expected to provide pound

service at a substantial loss––

$450,000 in 1993––in exchange for

the proceeds from all dog licenses

sold after the first 10,000.

Woofs and growls

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Who gets the money?

Animal and habitat protection

groups currently failing to meet the National

Charities Information Bureau’s wise giving

standards include the Cousteau Society, the

National Anti-Vivisection Society, the

National Humane Education Society and

PETA. The Cousteau Society and NAVS

flunked on criteria designed to prevent nepo-

tism and material conflicts of interest among

board members and administrators; the

Cousteau Society also flunked for excessive

fundraising expense; NHES flunked for lack

of accountability and excessive fundraising

expense; and PETA flunked for having only

three board members instead of the requisite

five. Additionally, the NCIB questions

whether Humane Society of the U.S. fundrais-

ing costs are reasonable relative to income.

Texas to refile vs. Primarily Primates

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS– –

Texas assistant attorney general John Vinson

on January 14 filed a federal court petition

seeking to return jurisdiction over complaints

against Primarily Primates to state court, in

order to reinstate a suit seeking to remove

Primarily Primates president Wally Swett and

secretary Stephen Tello from the administra-

tion of the San Antonio-based sanctuary.

Vinson alleged that Swett hadn’t met the

terms of an out-of-court settlement reached in

November. As the terms were eventually

finalized, Swett was to undertake structural

revisions to the Primarily Primates bylaws

which would take away a defacto veto he had

held over board decisions; was to pay the

Texas attorney general’s office partial reim-

bursement from Primarily Primates of costs

incurred in handling the case, in the amount

of $15,000; and was to expand the Primarily

Primates board to nine members, including

“at least two persons from the San Antonio

area and a veterinarian or someone with for-

mal animal care training.”

SCANDAL AT THE ASPCA

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

NEW YORK, N.Y. – – A

year ago Garo Alexanian and his

Companion Animal Network were lit-

tle-known gadflies, the mayor of New

York City was former American SPCA

board member David Dinkins, and the

ASPCA held the seemingly firm

monopoly on providing animal control

service to the five boroughs of New

York City that it received in 1896.

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