A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Louise van der Merwe, South African representative of Compassion in World Farming since 1991, founder of the Humane Education Trust in 1998, and principal author of the South African national humane education curriculum, on June 5, 2013 was honored by the City of Cape Town for “outstanding contributions and commitment to humane education and environmental awareness.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Led Astray: Reforming New York City’s Animal Care & Control by Scott M. Stringer, Manhattan Borough President (lead researcher/writer Shaan Khan), January 2013 Free download from: www.mbpo.org/uploads/FINALLedAstrayReport.pdf
Led Astray is the latest of many evaluations and exposés of alleged deficiencies within the New York City Center for Animal Care & Control, originally known as the CACC, now abbreviated AC&C.
Twenty years after AC&C was formed on short notice to take over the New York City animal control contract, held for the preceding 100 years by the American SPCA, the city rate of shelter killing has fallen from about six animals per 1,000 residents, which would still be very low today, compared to the national rate of 9.7, to 0.82. This is the best record of any major U.S. city, bar none, even factoring in that New York City residents keep about half as many pets as the U.S. national average. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013
SAN DIEGO, RENO––Suzanne Kogut, formerly executive director of the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA in Virginia, was on May 15, 2013 introduced as successor to Petco Foundation founding executive director Paul Jolly. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
SINGAPORE– The Singapore High Court on May 27, 2013 awarded the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society the equivalent of $19.4 million U.S. for damages resulting when the construction firm ANA Ltd. built most of the ACRES wildlife rehabilitation center on a footing of woodchips contaminated with toxic waste. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
LANCASTER––The Pennsylvania SPCA on April 30, 2013 announced the hiring of veteran cruelty investigator Keith Mohler to cover Lancaster County. Mohler will work from an office provided by Lancaster County district attorney Craig Stedman. His hiring expands the Pennsylvania SPCA humane law enforcement team to 13 officers in 17 counties. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
NEW YORK, N.Y.––The American SPCA on May 2, 2013 promoted 12-year staff member Matthew Bershadker to succeed Ed Sayres as president, effective June 1. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
HANOI––Longtime Tam Dao National Park director Do Dinh Tien on April 30, 2013 lost his job, after losing a two-year effort to evict the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre from park property and redevelop the site as a “bear rescue and breeding center” open to the public, adjacent to a hotel and other tourist accommodations and attractions. The facilities were to be developed by the Truong Giang Tam Dao Joint Stock Company, which listed Do Dinh Tien’s daughter Do Thi Ngan as one of four investors. The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development on May 1, 2013 named former Tam Dao National Park deputy director Ha Cong Khai to succeed Do Dinh Tien, reported An Dien of Thanh Nien News. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Anna Merz, 83, died on April 4, 2013 at a hospital in Melkriver, South Africa, her home since 1996. Born in England, Merz was among the many London children who were relocated to Cornwall during the Nazi bombing attacks of early World War II. Studying politics and economics at Nottingham University, she read for the bar at Lincoln’s Inn, but instead of practicing law, she relocated to Ghana with her first husband. There, recalled The Times of London, she “owned a crankshaft grinding workshop, developed a love of riding, worked as honorary warden in the game department and took off on expeditions across the Sahara and around Uganda and northern Kenya.” Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
WASHINGTON D.C.––National Audubon Society president David Yarnold on March 26, 2013 announced that Audubon magazine editor-at-large Ted Williams had been reinstated after a 10-day suspension for allegedly urging the use of the over-the-counter pain reliever acetaminophen to poison feral cats. Read more