BOOKS: Animal Welfare & Human Values

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Animal Welfare & Human Values by Rod Preece and Lorna
Chamberlain. Wilfrid Laurier University Press (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L
3C5), 1993. 334 pages, hardcover, $45.00 U.S.
Early in Animal Welfare & Human
Values, authors Preece and Chamberlain
acknowledge that, “Sometimes the philo-
sophical complexities (of constructing argu-
ments against cruelty) are greater than the
difficulties of making judgements them-
selves.” They then quote Lord Chief Justice
Mansfield, the 18th century head of the
English judiciary, who advised fellow
judges to, “Consider what justice requires
and decide accordingly. But never give
your reasons; for your judgement will prob-
ably be right, but your reasons will certain-
ly be wrong.”

Read more

FUR IS STILL DEAD: Industry numbers confirm collapse, despite claims

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Daniel A, the successor to the bankrupt Antonovich fur chain, itself declared bank-
ruptcy in early October. The high-profile collapse, on the heels of a previous collapse, under-scored the continuing crash of the fur trade. Despite the Fur Information Council of America claim that retail fur sales rose to $1.1 billion last year, ending a four-year decline, other data newly released by the fur trade itself confirms the ANIMAL PEOPLE projection based on gar-ment and pelt prices that sales actually fell to between $648 and $750 million. Evans Inc., annu-ally accounting for about 10% of U.S. fur sales, sold $107 million worth of goods––but trim items with minimal fur content accounted for $30.4 million of it. The fur trade claimed mink pelt prices were up 30%, but Wisconsin, accounting for nearly 25% of U.S. mink production, recorded a 16% drop in sales and a 13% drop in revenue, indicating only a marginal price rise. The number of U.S. fur garment wholesalers also fell, from 2,200 at the start of 1992 to just 1,500 going into this winter. Finally, a study of the fur trade done by Southwick Associates for the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies confirms the accuracy of the ANI-MAL PEOPLE model of fur trade economics, coming within 11% of the ANIMAL PEOPLE projections in 17 of 18 major categories of information. The only wider variance is in the esti-mates of retail jobs produced: Southwick found four times as many by counting all employees of retailers who sell fur, instead of counting only those who actually work in fur sales. The ANI-MAL PEOPLE model was developed in early1988 by editor Merritt Clifton, under contract with the Humane Society of the U.S., and has been used to produce yearly estimates of fur trade eco-nomic data ever since. The Southwick Associates model is based on 1990 statistics obtained directly from the fur trade and state wildlife departments.

Read more

AGRICULTURE

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

A House/Senate conference com-
mittee agreed October 7 to raise the grazing
fee on federal land from $1.86 per animal unit
month to $3.45 over the next three years, and
to increase government supervision of ranching
activities on leased federal land. The higher
fee––still far lower than the going rate for leas-
ing privately owned grazing land––is expected
to sharply reduce the number of cattle and
sheep on the range in 16 western states. Final
approval of the grazing bill is pending.
October 16, both the House and the Senate
voted to eliminate $500 million in subsidies to
the slumping sheep industry. Wool and lamb
prices have fallen to record lows in each of the
past three years. The American Sheep Industry
Association predicted 25% to 30% of U.S.
sheep ranches would go out of business.

Read more

COURT CALENDAR

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Humane Enforcement
Concluding a three-year probe
begun in September 1990, the USDA in
October charged American Airlines w i t h
multiple violations of the Animal Welfare
Act. Seventy-one animals died aboard U.S.
domestic flights in 1990, the worst toll since
the USDA began monitoring air transport of
pets in 1976. Numerous airlines were
charged. 1992, however, was worse yet, as
50 puppies died aboard a single TWA flight
from Missouri to St. Louis. The puppies
were en route from breeders to pet shops.

Read more

Horses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Days End Farm Horse Rescue is
offering a cash reward for “any information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the
person responsible for the recent assault and
mutilation of horses in Maryland.” The
reward fund is named for Star, a mare who
was sexually assaulted and subjected to muti-
lation resembling an internal episiotomy in
Urbana on October 5. Similar attacks
occurred in the area on August 26 and
September 4; in Great Falls, Virginia, last
year; and have been baffling police in
England for a decade. The attacks may be
linked, as they seem to be done by someone
skilled at horse-handling, and there is con-
siderable traffic between the horse communi-
ties of England and the greater Washington
D.C. area. Days End Farm Horse Rescue
also seeks information about similar attacks
anywhere, at any time, by anyone, in an
effort to build a psychological profile of the
perpetrator. Send material to P.O. Box 157,
West Friendship, MD 21794.

Read more

How much of pet overpopulation do euthanasia statistics measure?

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Somehow in the deadline rush we mislaid a
letter we’d intended to publish from Cam
Martinez of San Diego, California, who
asserted that all the published shelter
euthanasia statistics are far low in providing
an index of pet overpopulation because they
don’t include the animals euthanized by vet-
erinarians, or killed by pet owners using var-
ious do-it-yourself methods.
Martinez claimed we should take
the highest available number and multiply it
at least by 10 to get an accurate count of the
surplus puppies and kittens born each year.
In fact there have been several seri-
ious attempts to estimate total pet births and
mortality, but none have yielded figures on
that order:

Read more

Get thee to a shelter, Bill!

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

BALTIMORE, Maryland–
More than 600 participants in the American
Humane Association annual conference told
President Bill Clinton on October 13 to get
the golden retriever he covets from a shelter
rather a breeder. Syndicated columnist Mike
Capuzzo told the group that in May, Clinton
unsuccessfully bid $3,500 for a golden
retriever at an auction held at the Sidwell
Friends School, which his daughter Chelsea
attends. Later he bid unsuccessfully on a
golden retriever puppy owned by Robert
Wood Johnson IV, great-grandson of the
founder of Johnson & Johnson Inc. Capuzzo
urged Clinton to emulate the late Lyndon
Johnson, whose favorite dog was a mongrel
stray his daughter Lucy found at a Texas gas
station.

Read more

Animal Control & Rescue

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

The Connecticut Humane Society,
long under fire from local no-kill groups for a
“high” euthanasia rate that is in fact better than
average for big shelters, has ceased accepting
animals from other shelters for euthanasia, and
is accepting animals for euthanasia from res-
cuers only by special arrangement. “I don’t
want to be in the business of euthanasia,” pres-
ident Richard Johnson told ANIMAL PEO-
PLE. “I want to do saving and adoption.”
CHS will now pay for neutering any animal
adopted by anyone from any municipal shelter
in Connecticut, Johnson said.

Read more

HUNTING

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Despite the scarcity of ducks,
Ohio taxpayers are shelling out $40,000
to elevate Clark Road in Franklin
Township so that wildlife officials can
open dams on nearby Killbuck Creek
without flooding it, which in turn will
bring ducks closer to the road for the
convenience of hunters.
John Paul Self, 18, of
Grovetown, Georgia, was in critical
condition October 19 after Johnnie L.
Sinns, 18, shot him in the back of the
head as both allegedly tried to poach the
same deer from beside their pickup
truck. Sinns and a third alleged poacher,
Paul Albert Johnson, 17, were charged
with six misdemeanors including hunt-
ing under the influence of marijuana.
Johnson was also charged with posses-
sion of marijuana, while Sinns was
charged with felony misuse of a firearm.

Read more

1 225 226 227 228 229 250