A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Animals killed YEAR 1,000s Animals per 1,000 people of people killed
New York City 0.8 2013 8,336 6,872 VERMONT 1.2 2011 626 778 Springfield, MA 1.9 2011 153 295 Tompkins County, NY 2.4 2011 102 243 Buffalo/Erie County 3.6 2012 919 3,336 MAINE 4.3 2012 1,329 5,772 Monroe County, NY 6.2 2011 734 4,556 NORTHEAST (36%) 1.8 34,131 61,436 Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Dogs most often listed for sale or adoption 2010 2011 2012 2013 Avg. Ppltn.
Large retrievers 8.7% 5.2% 8.2% 8.2% 7.6% 5.3 m.
Pit bull class 4.1% 3.3% 4.6% 6.0% 4.5% 3.2 m.
Small terriers 2.2% 2.1% 2.1% 5.2% 2.9% 2.0 m.
Collie class 1.3% 2.2% 3.4% 4.1% 2.8% 2.0 m.
Poodles 1.4% 2.0% 2.8% 2.8% 2.3% 1.6 m.
Setter class 1.0% 2.3% 2.3% 3.6% 2.3% 1.6 m.
German shepherds 1.7% 1.4% 2.3% 2.1% 1.8% 1.3 m.
Spaniels 1.2% 2.0% 2.0% 2.0% 1.8% 1.3 m.
Beagles 1.2% 1.2% 2.3% 2.0% 1.7% 1.2 m.
Chihuahuas 2.4% 0.7% 0.4% 2.6% 1.5% 1.0 m.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Train Your Dog Positively, by Victoria Stilwell Ten Speed Press (c/o Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019), 2013. 248 pages, paperback, $14.99.
Whether rescued or from a breeder, all puppies need training to learn potty manners, basic commands, and how to walk on a leash. Adopted older dogs may need to brush up on their skills. Television dog trainer Victoria Stilwell offers her perspective on how best to do this in Train Your Dog Positively. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
CHANDIGARH––Kennel Club of India general secretary Harinder Singh Aulakh in mid-April 2013 advised dog breeders via the Indian Kennel Gazette that they may resume cropping the ears and docking the tails of dogs, after the Madras High Court ruled that the Animal Welfare Board of India lacked the authority to ban ear-cropping and tail-docking if done by a “qualified veterinarian.” The AWBI had issued an order against ear-cropping and tail-docking in November 2011. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
DENVER––Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on May 13, 2013 signed into law bills designating shelter animals the official state pet and requiring Colorado police and sheriff’s departments to provide personnel with three hours of online training on dog behavior recognition and the use of nonlethal dog control methods. The training must be made available by September 1, 2014. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Unleashed: The Phenomena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs by Simon Harding The Policy Press, U. of Bristol (c/o U. of Chicago Press, 427 East 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637), 2012. 286 pages, hardcover. $100.60; Kindle $23.72.
I first saw an American Staffordshire, better known as a pit bull, during a 1989 visit to Baltimore. Three youths had stolen a cocker spaniel and were encouraging their three unleashed pit bulls to tear the spaniel apart alive. The spaniel tried desperately to escape, but was held on a short leash. By the time I reached the scene, the spaniel had collapsed, possibly dead. The youths kept kicking the remains, and the AmStaffs kept attacking. By the time the cops caught up with them, they had disposed of the evidence. They laughed in the cops’ faces: “Man, you’ll never find that dead dog, and anyway we’re juvies––you can’t touch us.” Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
WASHINGTON D.C.––Adoption failure rates may now be as little as half of what they were 20 years ago, suggests a newly published study by the American Humane Association’s Animal Welfare Research Institute ––but also appear to be about twice as high as is now conventionally believed. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
WELLINGTON, New Zealand––Forty-eight percent of New Zealand households keep cats, the highest rate of cat-keeping in the world, according to the New Zealand Pet Food Manufacturers Association. But prominent New Zealand birders disagree over whether free-roaming pet cats and feral cats have much to do with losses of rare bird species. Economist Gareth Morgan argues that cats should be eradicated from New Zealand through universal sterilization and non-replacement. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:
The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs are Smarter Than You Think by Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods Dutton (c/o Penguin USA, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014), 2013. 367 pages. $37.95/hardcover or $14.95 paperback.
Publicity for The Genius of Dogs alleges that co-author Brian Hare has done more than anyone else to change human appreciation of the intelligence of dogs. This overlooks the influence of more than 150 years of highly popular fictional Lassie stories, originating with The Half-brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1859, and countless real-life feats of resourceful intelligence performed by Lassies named after the fictional dogs, including the rescue and revival of a “drowned” British sailor in 1915 and the rescue of a drowning boy from Lake Ontario in 1936. Read more