Baboon rescuer fights for her life

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
CAPE TOWN–Baboon rescuer Jenni Trethowan, 45, was
hospitalized in Contantiberg under heavy sedation in early September,
suffering from central nervous system damage including “violent
spasms, balance problems while walking, and a slurring of speech,”
reported John Yeld of the Cape Town Argus on September 9.
“Trethowan is believed to have been affected by dieldrin,”
an insecticide banned more than 25 years ago, Yeld wrote, “after
handling three young baboons from the Slangkop troop who all died
after being poisoned with the same deadly substance–probably
deliberately,” in mid-August.
“Her husband Ian said she was hooked to an EEG mach-ine,
linked to a video camera, and was being constantly monitored,” Yeld
added.

Rocky Mountain Wildlife sanctuary struggles on–for now

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
KEENESBURG, Colorado–The Rocky Mountain Wildlife
Conservation Center “has received donations and pledges that will
help to keep it operating for now,” the sanctuary management
announced in a September 2, 2006 web posting, but closed to public
visits “for an undetermined period of time,” the web page said,
“so that the board of directors will have time to evaluate the entire
situation.
“The animals are in no danger,” the posting added. “It is
the desire of the board that the animals remain at their current
location…If no solution to keeping the sanctuary operating is
found, the board will proceed with closure and the placement of as
many animals as possible.”

Read more

N.J. Consumer Affairs prosecutes another coin-can fundraiser

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
HACKENSACK, N.J.–Exiting New Jersey Office of Consumer
Affairs director Kimberly Ricketts on August 2, 2006, her last day
with the agency, appealed for public help to locate and impound an
estimated 1,400 to 1,500 coin collection canisters believed to have
been placed by an entity calling itself Lovers of Animals.
The Office of Consumer Affairs has filed suit, reported
Newark Star-Ledger staff writer Brian T. Murray, alleging improper
accounting for about $7,500 raised and spent in 2005.
The case followed the state shutdown of coin can fundraiser
Patrick Jemas in June 2006. Jemas did business as the National
Animal Welfare Foundation.
“Lovers of Animals was incorporated when Russell Frontera,
49, of Beachwood was furloughed from state prison in late 2004 after
serving two years of a seven-year sentence for loan sharking,” wrote
Murray. “His name appears on documents filed with the Internal
Revenue Service and the state that year, when he also opened a post
office box for the charity.

Read more

Case against Primarily Primates tossed out, but president Wally Swett resigns under fire

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:

 

SAN ANTONIO–Bexar County Civil District Court Judge Andy
Mireles on September 8, 2006 ruled that former Ohio State University
chimp caretakers Klaree Boose and Stephany Harris, along with
California veterinarian Mel Richardson, lacked standing to pursue a
PETA-backed lawsuit against the Primarily Primates sanctuary.
Named as co-plaintiffs and also denied standing were seven surviving
chimpanzees and two capuchin monkeys from the research colony
formerly kept by OSU psychology professor Sally Boysen. OSU retired
the colony to Primarily Primates in February 2006, with an endowment
of $324,000 for their quarters and upkeep, over the objections of
Boysen and PETA.

Read more

HSUS absorbs Doris Day Animal League

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
WASHINGTON D.C.–The Humane Society of the U.S. on August 31,
2006 announced that it has absorbed the Doris Day Animal League by
merger, affirming nearly three months of speculation.
Founded in 1987 by actress Doris Day’s son Terry Melcher,
who died of cancer in November 2004, DDAL in 20 years never spent
less than half of its revenues on fundraising and administration,
cumulatively spent more than two-thirds of all the money it ever
raised on direct mail, and in the most recent fiscal year reported
on IRS Form 990 operated at a loss of more than $400,000, with
revenues of just over $2.5 million, raised from approximately
180,000 donors.
HSUS claims 9.5 million donors, with a 2006 budget of $103
million and 2005 revenues of $145 million.

Read more

Lebanon war animal victims still need help

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
BEIRUT, HAIFA–More than a month after Hezbollah militia
members quit rocketing northern Israel and Israel quit bombing
southern Lebanon to try to stop them, animal rescuers continued
efforts begun under fire to help the many nonhuman victims.
Best Friends Animal Society rapid response manager Richard
Crook, a Chilean veterinarian, and a vet tech flew to Lebanon on
September 7, 2006 with 175 pounds of kitten food, along with
veterinary supplies, en route to help arrange the evacuation of
about 300 dogs and cats to the U.S.
Calling the evacuation “Paws for Peace,” Best Friends
reportedly raised $182,000 of the estimated $300,000 cost of that
project and other rescue work in Lebanon and Israel before Crook’s
departure.

Read more

Comparing costs of carbon monoxide v.s. sodium pentobarbital

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
After claims that gassing is safer for employees, the most
persistent argument for killing animals by carbon monoxide instead of
sodium pentobarbital is that carbon monoxide is less expensive–if
only because most of the gas chambers now in use were installed and
paid for decades ago.
“Switching to lethal injection would mean investing in drugs
and training staff,” reported Raleigh News & Observer staff writer
Marti Maguire in February 2006. “That could strap counties that now
spend as little as $20 per animal. The Orange County shelter spends
$150 per animal,” using lethal injection, Maguire wrote.

Read more

Marine mammal exhibitors join protest against Japanese coastal dolphin killing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:

 

More than 60 organizations demonstrated
outside Japanese embassies and consulates in 32
cities against “traditional” coastal whaling on
September 20, 2006, the second annual Japan
Dolphin Day declared and coordinated by Ric
O’Barry of One Voice. Most notoriously practiced
at Taiji, the coastal whaling method consists of
driving dolphins into shallow bays from which
they cannot escape and then hacking them to death
en massé, after some are selected for live
capture and sale to swim-with-dolphins
attractions and exhibition parks.
The so-called “drive fisheries” have been
protested for more than 30 years by marine mammal
advocates including Sakei Hemmi of the Elsa
Nature Conservancy/Japan, film maker Hardin
Jones, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder
Paul Watson, and Steve Sipman, who invented the
name “Animal Liberation Front” in connection with
releasing two dolphins from a Hawaiian laboratory
in 1976. The Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks &
Aquariums and the American Zoo & Aquarium
Association finally issued statements of
objection to the “drive fisheries” in March 2004,
as did the World Association of Zoos & Aquariums
in June 2006.

Read more

Harsh monsoons test rescuers

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
VISAKHAPATNAM–At least 49 people were reported dead in
Bangladesh and 46 in India on September 22, 2006, following the
ninth cyclone to hit the western coast of the Bay of Bengal in as
many weeks. The animal toll was not immediately available.
“We are hoping to get some help to add to our efforts,”
e-mailed Visakha SPCA president Pradeep Kumar Nath. “Help is needed
urgently for feed.”
The Visakha SPCA continued assisting animals elsewhere along
the stricken Bengal coast while rebuilding its own facilities,
destroyed by a cyclone and landslides on August 3, just 11 months
after a typhoon destroyed the previous facilities in September 2005.
“We send our deepest gratitude from the animals and villagers
for the flood relief help we have received from the World Society for
the Protection of Animals and individual donors,” Nath said before
the ninth cyclone hit. “So far we have been able to help more than
27,000 animals with over 66 ton of food, vaccinations, wound
treatment and deworming.”

Read more

1 69 70 71 72 73 250