Diet & Health

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Thirty of 90 beef slaughterhouses inspected by

the USDA during last winter’s outbreak of E. coli bacterial

poisoning of hamburger were temporarily closed for clean-

up, Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announced May 27.

Twelve plants were put in a special enforcement program,

with which they must comply or lose USDA certification.

The last of 143 people who were hospitalized during the E.

coli outbreak, 10-year-old Brianne Kiner, was released as

an outpatient from Children’s Hospital in Seattle on June 29.

Stricken after eating a Jack-in-the-Box hamburger on

January 13, Kiner spent 41 days in a coma and lost her

large intestine. Four children died––three in the Seattle area

and one in San Diego.

Horse Tips

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Prairie Bayou, the pre-race favorite in the

June 5 Belmont Stakes, suffered a shattered foreleg

while running 11th in the backstretch among a field of

13––an indication of exhaustion or injury––and was eutha-

nized half an hour later. Prairie Bayou placed second in

the Kentucky Derby five weeks earlier, and won the

Preakness Stakes two weeks earlier as another top-ranked

horse, Union City, collapsed and was destroyed due to

similar fractures. The loss of the horses drew attention to

the theories of several experts about horse racing injuries.

Veterinarian James Rooney of the Maxwell H. Gluck

Equine Center in Lexington, Kentucky, argued that the

back-to-back collapses of Prairie Bayou and Union City

were, “Pure bloody coincidence,” claiming that only 2%

of North American races result in fatal breakdowns––but

that would still mean the deaths of 1,600 horses a year.

Further gains against pet overpopulation

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Continuing to refine the data on pound and shelter admissions and

euthanasias as more complete state statistics become available, Phil Arkow of the

Humane Society of Pike’s Peak has revised his estimate of the current U.S. euthanasia

toll, reported here in June, upward slightly to 5.7 million dogs and cats per year. This is

still the lowest total ever discovered––and reflects the most thorough research. Arkow’s

estimate is based on the 1991 totals, the most recent available in most instances, from

California (717,000); Colorado (69,766); Iowa (48,653); Massachusetts (79,500);

Maryland (90,000); New Jersey (75,263); Oregon (79,713); Texas (597,591); and

Washington (109,274). Together, these nine states include more than a third of the U.S.

human population, and are demographically almost identical to the U.S. as a whole.

Animal Control & Rescue

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

New Hampshire has followed

New Jersey and Connecticut in establish-

ing a statewide low-cost neutering pro-

gram. The New Hampshire program, man-

aged by the state department of agriculture

and funded by a $2.00 surcharge on dog

licenses, will subsidize neutering animals

adopted from shelters and those belonging

to people of low income.

The percentage of purebreds

among dogs received by pounds and shel-

ters appears to be edging up, e.g. from 22%

in 1991 to 25% in 1992 at the SPCA of

Monterey County, California, which keeps

some of the most comprehensive records on

purebreds. Other shelters claim to be

receiving as many as 30% purebreds. The

percentage may be up simply because total

admissions are generally down while the

number of dogs surrendered by owners is

holding even, and owned dogs are more

likely to be purebred.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer Noel

Leach of Chase City, Virginia, facing disciplinary action

for 46 alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act, sued

Friends of Animals on May 24 for purportedly defaming

his character and interfering with his business relation-

ships in connection with bringing many of the alleged vio-

lations to the USDA’s attention. Leach claims FoA under-

cover investigators trespassed on his property while gath-

ering evidence. FoA attorney Herman Kaufman respond-

ed to the suit with a request for dismissal, pointing out

that the action is based on an alleged tort in 1990 for

which the statute of limitations is just two years, and that

the statute of limitations in defamation cases in Virginia,

where the suit was filed, is only one year. Well known to

USDA inspectors, Leach was rapped for six previous

AWA violations in 1983. His primary business is selling

dogs and cats to research labs and dissection supply firms.

Who’s in charge at the National Humane Education Society? FOUNDER, 83, TAKES NO PAY; FUNDRAISER TAKES $512,909

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

LEESBURG, Virginia––The history of the

National Humane Education Society is in microcosm the

history of the humane movement in the 20th century––and

perhaps that’s the problem.

Financially struggling for 37 years, NHES con-

tracted with the fundraising firm Steve Cram and Associates

in July 1986. Tear-jerking direct mail campaigns increased

revenue from $852,007 in fiscal year 1986 to $2,230,076 in

fiscal year 1990: almost a three-fold jump. The growth in

revenue enabled the three NHES no-kill shelters to more

than double the number of animals in their care, from circa

300 to the present 800. But expenses in connection with

fundraising have claimed an increasingly large share of the

income: 39% in 1990, and as much as 52% in fiscal year

1992.

HUNTING & FISHING

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The Illinois Department of Agriculture in June

banned captive pigeon shoots on advice of the state attor-

ney general, bringing its policy into line with the state

Humane Care for Animals Act of 1973 and a January 1992

amendment to the state Conservation Code. The ban was a

major victory for anti-pigeon shoot activist Steve Hindi, of

Plano, Illinois, who has struggled since 1990 to get

enforcement of the laws against pigeon shooting.

The Fund for Animals has announced that it

will not protest against the annual Fred Coleman Memorial

Labor Day Pigeon Shoot in Hegins, Pennsylvania, this

year. Major protests orchestrated by the Fund and PETA in

1991 and 1992 backfired when they became confrontational.

Nearly twice as many shooters and shoot supporters attend-

ed the Hegins shoot last year as before the Fund got

involved, possibly attracted by the chance an activist might

get killed in the act of rescuing a bird. The Coalition

Against Live Bird Shoots in Pennsylvania will hold a small-

er protest this year; details have not yet been announced.

Wildlife

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

British and Danish mammologists have con-

firmed the discovery of a previously unknown hooved ani-

mal in the Vu Quang Nature Reserve of northwestern

Vietnam, along the Laotian border. Dubbed Psuedoryx

nghetinhensis, the animal resembles a cow, is about the

size of a goat, and has antelope-like horns. Psuedoryx

nghetinhensis is the biggest new land animal to be found in

more than 50 years.

An investigation of the cash value

Pennsylvanians would assign to various wildlife-related

experiences, upcoming in The Journal of Environmental

Management, found a day of fishing assessed at from

$4.80 to $53.40, depending on the site, while a day of

bird-watching would go for $15.00, and the chance to

view an elk at close range would fetch $24.52. The prices

are over and above the actual cost of the activity.

Wolf Hollow

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

IPSWICH, Massachusetts––One of the newest and smallest

of the groups fighting to save Alaskan wolves is the North American

Wolf Foundation, the lifelong dream of retired clamdigger Paul

Soffron and his wife Joni. Incorporated in 1988, NAWF opened a 5-

acre wolf sanctuary two years later in the back yard of the coastal

Massachusetts home where Paul grew up. Funding thus far comes

mainly from the Soffrons’ savings, sympathetic relatives, and the sale

of Paul’s art prints and other wolf-related merchandise to the visitors

who crowd the facility every afternoon throughout the summer to see

and learn about the only grey wolves in New England.

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