BOOKS: The Blessing of the Animals

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

The Blessing of the Animals:
TRUE STORIES OF GINNY, THE DOG WHO RESCUES CATS
by Philip Gonzalez and Leonore Fleischer
Harper/Collins (10 E. 53rd, N.Y, NY 10022), 1996. 177 pages, cloth, $17.50

This sequel to The Dog Who
Rescues Cats (1995) offers more true
accounts of some of the incredible happenings
in the life of New York City animal rescuer
Philip Gonzalez and his adopted partner,
the dog Ginny, who involved him and
keeps him involved in saving, healing, hospicing,
feeding, and neutering sick and
inured homeless cats. It is heartening to hear
that Gonzalez now takes her to classrooms,
where she edifies while the children delight.

BOOKS: Cats Are Not Peas

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

Cats Are Not Peas: A CALICO HISTORY OF GENETICS
by Laura Gould
Copernicus (c/o Springer-Verlag, 175 5th Ave., New York, NY 10010), 1996.
228 pages, hardback, $22.00.

Are there male calico cats, despite
old wives’ tales to the contrary? Why do cats
seem to randomly differ from their presumed
parents? Why do even black cats often bear
dim tabby stripes, at least as kittens?
Laura Gould answers these questions
and many more as she tries to trace the
genetic circumstances that resulted in her
George, a rare male calico cat, who swaggers
through the pages with her, destroying
any air of academic exclusiity.

BOOKS: The Cat I.Q. Test

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

The Cat I.Q. Test by Melissa Miller
Viking Penguin (375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014-3657), 1996.
198 pages, paperback, $8.95.

When I think of feline intelligence,
five cats among the hundred-odd I’ve known
come to mind. My first cat, Catapuss, was a
creatively malevolent yet oddly compassionate
misfit who terrorized dogs, did not hunt,
objected if other cats tormented prey in his presence,
thrashed the barnyard bully in his only
big fight, let every other cat steal his dinner,
rarely socialized with other cats, and yet was
often first to alert us to another cat who was
hurting. He was behaviorally so different, and
so obviously inclined to work out detailed plots,
that one could not observe him without concluding
that he exercised considerable capacity for
abstract thought. Yet he did not seem clever at
basic feline survival.

Animal control & rescue

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

The multi-party Home Affairs Committee recommended to the
British Parliament on December 18 that the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act be amended
to eliminate mandatory death penalties for alleged pit bull terriers and other
dogs of purportedly dangerous breed who haven’t committed an offense; provide
“bail” for dogs pending a hearing; allow owners to visit dogs kenneled for cause
more often; and reintroduce national dog licensing, scrapped as unenforceable
about a decade ago.

PetsMart buys 50 British stores

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

PHOENIX––PetsMart, only founded in
1989 but already operating 311 U.S. stores in 33
states, on October 25 expanded to Great Britain,
purchasing the 50-store Pet City Holdings chain for
$239 million. PetsMart CEO Mark Hansen said the
acquisition “provides a platform for expansion in
Europe,” which he said “represents a 900-to-1,000-
store opportunity,” about the same size as the niche
PetsMart seeks in the U.S. market.
One secret of PetsMart success is privatizing
and making profitable at affordable prices some
of the otherwise money-losing functions of nonprofit
humane societies. PetsMart stores provide local
humane societies with an adoption venue, rather
than selling purpose-bred dogs and cats, and frequently
include in-house low-cost neutering clinics.

BOOKS: A Cat’s Christmas

December 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:

A Cat’s Christmas
by Stefanie Samek
Illustrated by Larry Ross
Dutton (375 Hudson St., New York,
NY 10014), 1996. 180 pages,
hardback, $14.95.

This is a fun little frivolity to tuck
in your pocket for dull moments, or stress
reduction breaks, or for a hostess gift all will
enjoy, probably on the spot. Author
Stefanie Samek’s previous book, Purring In
The Light: Near-Death Experiences of Cats,
I carried about inflicting aloud favorite bits
on all and sundry. One word of caution:
while Samek mostly spoofs the secular, the
pre-Christian, etc., the very devout might
disapprove of her use of some of the most
cherished old carols; but then, how much
harm could a small furry paw do after so
much crass commercialization? Samek
crams the 180 pages with stories, poems,
and songs given feline remake.

Herpetology

December 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:

Norris Simpson, 88, of Charles County, Maryland, was
killed on October 22 along with all 16 of his grandson’s pets when an iguana
upset a heat lamp, starting a housefire. The fire was at least the fourth
in Maryland caused by an iguana upsetting a heat lamp since 1993. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that iguanas are not suitable
pets in classrooms or homes with small children for a different reason:
about 90% carry salmonella, which tends to hit children harder and faster
than adults, and can kill or cause permanent disability even before parents
recognize that the children are seriously ill. The U.S. pet industry imported
under 28,000 iguanas per year a decade ago, but brought in 800,000 in
1993, and total sales, including of iguanas bred in the U.S., now exceed a
million a year.
A colony of about 130 Blanding’s turtles has survived in the
marshes of Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, since the ocean receded
5,000 years ago to isolate them from the main populations now located
in Maine and Ontario, says Blanding’s Turtle Recovery Project chief Tom
Herman, of Acadia University. Cold weather, predation, and nest flooding
have inhibited their reproduction, but since they live up to 70 years,
Herman hopes to have time to insure that some young do survive.

TURNING CAT-ASTROPHE TO CASH FLOW

December 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:

Your organization is in desperate
trouble. Inspired by the success
elsewhere of low-cost neutering,
neuter/release, or no-kill high-volume
adoption, you started such a program––
but now, just a year to three years later,
instead of seeing a dramatic drop in
your workload, you’re asked to handle
more cats than you ever imagined could
exist. Your volunteers are exhausted
and demoralized. You’re broke.
It’s time for a serious pep
talk. Your problems are––ironically––a
predictable indication of your success
and bright prospects. You are well
embarked on a journey that enough others
have made that the mileposts are
marked. Believe it or not, you are at
the breaking edge of perhaps the most
rapidly successful grassroots transformation
of public policy in global history,
and it’s not surprising that you
sometimes feel as if you’ve stepped
through the Looking Glass into chaos.

Animal control & rescue

December 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:

Expanding from eight students to 31 in
just three years, the Burlington County
(Pennsylvania) veterinary technician program has
added an internship at the Burlington County animal
shelter. The internship gives aspiring shelter
vet techs experience with hard-to-handle, starved
and abused animals. Formerly, current intern
Kathleen Westphal recently told Louise Harbach
of the Philadelphia Inquirer, “All the animals
we’d see were well-behaved and had been well
cared for. The worst we’d see were some pets who
hadn’t been groomed properly.”
The Vernon A. Tait All-Animal
Adoption Preservation and Rescue Fund Inc.
plans to hit the road soon in Connecticut with a 24-
foot mobile neutering clinic, staffed by John A.
Caltabiano, DVM, and funded by the $500,000
first installment of an unexplained bequest from
Tait, who drowned in a 1992 accident at age 71.

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