NYC animal control chief resigns

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2012: (Actually published on November 1,  2012.)

NEW YORK,  N.Y.— The New York City Center for Animal Care & Control will have a new executive director for the ninth time in 10 years and the 12th time since 1994,  after the September 26,  2012 resignation of Julie Bank for “family reasons.”  Bank left on October 19,  2012,  six months after receiving a two-year contract extension and only two months after winning a $10 million city funding increase over the next three years,  after two years of budget cuts. Read more

Trophy hunters lose positions

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

WWF/Spain votes out King Juan Carlos

World Wildlife Fund/Spain honorary chair King Juan Carlos was dethroned on July 21,  2012 when 94% of the membership opposed continuing his appointment.  Juan Carlos had held the honorary chair since helping to form WWF/Spain in 1968.  He tried to save his position with an unprecedented April 2012 public apology for participating in an ill-fated $60,000 elephant hunt in Botswana, during which he broke his hip and was airlifted home to Spain, reportedly at taxpayer expense. Read more

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson jumps bail

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

TOKYO--The international police agency Interpol on September 16, 2012 at Japan’s request asked for the cooperation of member nations in arresting Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson.  The Interpol “red” notice superseded an earlier “blue” notice which only sought information about Watson’s whereabouts. Read more

Walking horse shows are watched more closely than some would like

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

CHATTANOOGA–U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice on September 19,  2012 fined Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Hall of Fame trainer Jackie McConnell $75,000,  three years on supervised probation, and 300 hours of community service to be done for the USDA.

“It’s the stiffest sentence ever handed down under the 1970 Horse Protection Act,” exulted Humane Society of the U.S. president Wayne Pacelle.  “McConnell in 2011 was captured on tape by a Humane Society of the U.S. undercover investigator intentionally injuring the animals under his charge in order to get them to step higher and win ribbons at horse shows,” Pacelle elaborated.  “McConnell still faces 15 charges of violating Tennessee’s cruelty to animals statute in a pending case, and his guilty plea in federal court virtually guarantees the charges will stick.” Read more

South Korean activist sentenced

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2012:

SEOUL--Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth founder So-Youn Park was on August 30,  2012 sentenced to serve a year on probation for “special larceny,”  an offense in South Korean law similar to violation of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act in the U.S.Park,  said a CARE prepared statement, “witnessed five dogs and eight chickens miserably abandoned while walking by a farm.  She visited the farm three times with other CARE animal rights activists, but they could not find any trace of food or the owner.  They rescued the dogs and chickens from the cages on November 26, 2011.  Days later, upon discovering the dogs and chickens were gone, the owner of the farm called the police.  The farm owner admitted that the dogs were raised for slaughter and that the environment in which they were kept was inadequate,” CARE said, but this was not illegal and had no bearing on the charge against Park. Read more

Rotich to head ANAW board

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Nehemiah Rotich has been elected board president of the Nairobi-based Africa Network for Animal Welfare, ANAW founder Josphat Ngonyo announced on September 22, 2012.  Rotich has previously headed the Kenya Wildlife Service and East Africa Wildlife Society, and was a senior program officer for biodiversity and genetic resource issues with the United Nations Environment Program.  Ngonyo also announced the election of Ruth Mutheu Wamboa as board treasurer.  The previous ANAW board resigned en masse on July 16, 2012, citing conflicts with Ngonyo.  Ngonyo told ANIMAL PEOPLE that the major issues were unspecified conflicts of interest. Read more

Former Pennsylvania dog law chief sues vocal critics

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Jessie L. Smith, who headed Pennsylvania dog law enforcement 2005-2011, on August 15, 2012 filed a defamation case in Dauphin County Court against Main Line Animal Rescue founder William Smith, of Chester Springs, North Penn Puppy Mill Watch founder Jenny Stephens, of Lansdale, and blogger Teresita Delgado, of Lancaster. Read more

Animal shelter leadership transitions

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Bill Bruce, 58, director of  Calgary Animal & Bylaw Services since 2000, retired on August 3, 2012.  Dubbed “Bylaw Bill” by Sherri Zickefoose of the Calgary Herald, Bruce worked for the City of Calgary for more than 31 years. Like his predecessor as animal control chief, Jerry Aschenbrenner,  who headed the department for 25 years, Bruce advocated incentive-based animal control.  Under Aschenbrenner, Calgary achieved by far the highest rate of dog licensing compliance in North America and perhaps the world, exceeding 80%, more than twice the highest rate ever achieved by any U.S. city of comparable size.  Bruce boosted compliance to more than 90%.  Read more

ASPCA, PetSmart Charities, and IFAW change chief executives

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

American SPCA president Ed Sayres, 63, on July 25, 2012, announced his retirement, pending selection of a successor.  “I am going to take a breath and assimilate the lessons of the past 10 years,” Sayres told ANIMAL PEOPLE.  “The A has been a great fit for me. I realized I could implement the no kill vision more effectively through the ASPCA than San Francisco SPCA,” where Sayres was president 1999-2003, “and [Mayor’s Alliance executive director] Jane Hoffman has been an outstanding partner in transforming New York City.  Now with Community Partners,” the ASPCA national outreach program, “we have created many different and transparent examples of how to sustain life saving efforts.   We have been fortunate to recruit some of the best in the field, and I am leaving a very strong organization for the next leader. Read more

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