Editorial: Where there’s a will, there’s a way

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

Quite a number of items in this issue have to do with provisions for life after one’s

own death, and not in the spiritual sense. Though we die, our animal companions and

organizations may live on, not necessarily as we’d have chosen. One of our major investiga-

tions this month involved conflicting interpretations of an ambiguous will that eventually

resulted in a protracted legal battle, during which the lawyers for the opposing sides may

have gotten more of the bequest than the cause it was intended to aid. A page of features

describes contrasting arrangements the North Shore Animal League and Texas A&M

University offer for the orphaned cats and dogs of deceased humans––alternatives costing

nothing but perhaps a small donation on the one hand, and $25,000 on the other. An obitu-

ary notes the death of a lady who left a fortune to her local humane society. If space

allowed, a longer item could further describe the two-month search for her will. But for

luck, her intended bequest might never have been delivered.

Editorial: Welcome, brother or sister. Come on in.

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

A recent study by Western Carolina University psychology professor Harold A.

Herzog Jr., published in the Journal of Social Issues volume 49, #1, concluded after inter-

viewing 23 grassroots animal rights activists that there are “several parallels between an

involvement with the animal rights movement and religious conversion.” In particular,

Herzog discovered that “animal rights activism,” for his study subjects, “usually entailed

major changes in lifestyle,” including both subtractive changes such as giving up eating

meat, hunting and fishing, and wearing fur, and additive changes such as becoming politi-

cally active: writing letters, carrying petitions, giving speeches, picketing, prosletyzing.

Herzog’s findings probably surprise neither committed activists nor critics of the animal

rights movement, many of whom frequently disparage the overt missionary zeal of some

activists (especially new converts). A few opponents of animal rights have even called the

cause a new religion. At least one member of the fur trade press has warned that animal

rights threatens the fundamental premises of Judaism, while several prominent anti-animal

rights authors have claimed the idea challenges Christianity.

$25,000 & up for lifelong care

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

HOUSTON, Texas––Texas A&M University

on March 26 dedicated an animal shelter, of sorts. For an

endowment of $25,000 per cat or dog, and $50,000 per

horse, the Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center

will keep an animal for the rest of his or her life, after the

owner dies. The animals will be used to study how ani-

mals bond to humans and what role facilities and caretak-

ers play in their well-being, according to associate director

Sally Knight. “The center was developed in response to a

real need in the human community,” Knight said, adding

that 25 to 30 animals are already enrolled.

Lifelong Friends

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico––It isn’t easy

to pay rent, buy food, and keep a pet on just $500 a

month, but hundreds of New Mexico senior citizens do it,

with the help of the five-year-old Lifelong Friends pro-

gram, a project of Sangre de Cristo Animal Protection.

Coordinated from Albuquerque by Shirley Hendrickson,

Lifelong Friends provides free and/or assisted veterinary

care to the pets of seniors.

“Pets are extremely valuable to seniors,” explains

SCAP vice president Frances Bentley. “Studies show that

they live longer when they have animal

companionship––so many seniors don’t have other humans

they can talk to and relate to. And here in New Mexico,”

New tricks for old dogs and cats

May 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

PORT WASHINGTON, New York––Already adopting out 43,000 animals a year, the North Shore Animal

League isn’t satisfied. While NSAL helps 21 other shelters around the U.S. place most of their puppies and kittens, older

animals are in low demand. The animal over five years of age stands virtually no chance of adoption anywhere, even if

housebroken, docile, affectionate, and likely to live at least another five years in excellent health.

The answer, Seniors for Seniors program director Myron Gould thinks, may be matching older pets with senior

citizens, who often want an animal companion but are reluctant to take in a young animal because of the extra work

involved and because of anxiety that they may die, leaving

the animal homeless.

BOOKS: The Albert Schweitzer Activity Book

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

The Albert Schweitzer Activity Book:

curriculum guide for grades 1-6. Albert

Schweitzer Center (50 Hurlburt Road, Great Barrington,

MA 01230). 1992, 40 pages, $5.00 paper; $10 with

28-minute video, The Spirit of Albert Schweitzer.

Albert Schweitzer’s life and philosophy of service

are presented as a teaching tool to instill in children a sense

of responsibility to the earth and to life, through simple,

almost cost-free activities which lead into community

involvement. Schweitzer’s biography is linked to ways chil-

dren can act to deal with and thus be less frightened by

some of the major problems of today: AIDS, the homeless,

pollution, dwindling resources, animal suffering, and the

quest for meaning and purpose to life in a cynical time.

Included are versions of the Golden Rule as taught by nine

major religions.

Making a home for magical migrating monarchs by Nicole Kraft

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

There once was a time when millions of monarch

butterflies dotted the skies each fall, the eastern band

migrating south to Mexico and the western population fly-

ing to the coastal regions of central California. That was a

time before development ruined much monarch habitat,

leaving them struggling to find the safe haven of a milk-

weed field in which to lay the eggs of their next generation.

Judith Levicoff, a habitat educator in Jenkintown,

Pennsylvania, has worked for the past two years in class-

rooms throughout the Delaware Valley to help children

restore monarch numbers, by creating their own butterfly

gardens, and by raising and releasing their own butterflies.

Energetic humane educator: “Bow to the cat!” (Or she’ll change you into a mouse?)

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

PORT JERVIS, N.Y. –– Jan Matthews is over-

worked, and that’s the way she likes it. A classroom elementary

school teacher for 17 years, she now visits 72 classrooms a

month at four different schools, as humane educator for the

Humane Society of Port Jervis/Deerpark, New York. Her dedi-

cation is such that when her husband took a temporary job in

Alaska, she commuted between New York and Alaska for seven

months to keep her program going.

“Three of those months were during the summer,” she

explains, “when we were only visiting summer classes.”

Oh.

NABT president moves against dissection alternatives

April 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

RESTON, Virginia –– National Association of Biology

Teachers members’ comments were due April 1 on proposed major revi-

sions to the organization’s 1989 Position Statements on Animal Use. I f

adopted, the revisions would effectively overturn NABT’s policy of encour-

aging teachers to seek alternatives to dissection and vivsection.

The 1989 statement begins, “NABT believes that all biology teachers

should foster a respect for life,” and continues to state in the second para-

graph that, “NABT supports alternatives to dissection and vivisection

wherever possible in the biology curricula. These alternatives must satisfy

the objectives of teaching scientific methology and fundamental biological

concepts.”

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