Sickness in Australia

November 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

SYDNEY, LONDON– – Intro-
ducing a pest to control a pest, against
much scientific and humane advice,
Australian agriculture and wildlife authorities
in mid-October released millions of calicivirus-carrying
Spanish rabbit fleas at 280
sites, expecting to kill up to 120 million of
the nation’s estimated 170 million rabbits.
The rabbits are accused of outcompeting
endangered native marsupial species
for habitat––though they also draw predation
by feral foxes and cats away from marsupials––and
of costing farmers $23 million
to $60 million a year, chiefly by eating fodder
that would otherwise go to sheep.
Calicivirus induces internal hemorrhage,
killing about 90% of the rabbits
who contract it within 30 to 40 hours. It
spreads at about 25 miles per day.

HUMANE ENFORCEMENT

October 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

The San Francisco Commission of Animal
Control and Welfare on September 13 postponed any action
on the treatment of live turtles, frogs, birds, and other animals
sold as food until October 17. A year-long San Francisco
SPCA push for more stringent enforcement of anti-cruelty laws
in Chinatown markets burst into the public in August when the
SF/SPCA was simultaneously attacked by Chinatown market
owners for alleged cultural imperialism and by Fund for
Animals representative Virginia Handley, who asked members
to tell SF/SPCA president Richard Avanzino that “his job is to
protect animals, not animal abusers” because Avanzino told
the San Francisco Chronicle that a ban on home slaughter
advanced by the Fund, Action for Animals, and In Defense of
Animals after the controversy began would probably be unenforceable.

Dangerous dogs

October 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

Dogbite data published by
Jeffrey J. Sacks, M.D., of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention,
shows 109 Americans were killed by
dogs 1989-1994, including 11 infants
under four weeks old who were killed in
their beds. Of all the victims, 57% were
under age 10; of these, 45% were killed
by an unrestrained dog on the owner’s
property, while 29% were killed after
wandering too close to a chained dog.
Of 41 fatal attacks in which the sex of
the dog was known, 25 were by male
dogs, and 20 of those dogs had not been
neutered. Pit bulls killed 57 people;
Rottweilers killed 19.

Animal control & rescue

October 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1996:

The Whidbey Animal Shelter, of
Coupeville, Washington, is staggering under a
77% increase in owner-surrendered cats and kittens
this year, and a 48% overall increase in feline
intakes, despite the apparent huge popularity of
the Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation
low-cost neutering, fostering, and supervised
neuter/release programs. In Louisiana, the
Jefferson Animal Shelter, of Jefferson Parish,
with a 6% rise in dog and cat intakes after a 10%
decline in 1994, and the New Orleans SPCA,
with an 11% rise after a 10% decline in 1995, are
experiencing similar, amid publicity about a 28%
increase in adoptions in Jefferson Parish and the
expansion of neutering programs at both shelters.

BOOKS: One in a Million

August 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment