The shelter is an art gallery

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

OAKLAND, California– –

Joining a national trend toward airy,

attractive buildings intended to compete

for traffic with shopping mall pet shops,

the Oakland SPCA on March 22

unveiled an extensively remodeled shel-

ter and the PeopleSoft Adoption and

Education Center, named for the

Walnut Creek software firm that provid-

ed $500,000 of the $1.9 million cost.

“The facility contains a central

atrium-style public area featuring adop-

tion areas for dogs and cats, educational

displays by exhibit designer Jane

Glickman, classrooms, an extensive

resource library, and original art works

by famed designer Laurel Burch depict-

ing the special relationships possible

between people and animals,” said

spokesperson Beverly Scottland.

BOOKS: The Cat Who Came to Breakfast

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The Cat Who Came to Breakfast, by

Lilian Jackson Braun, G.P. Putnam Sons (200

Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016), 1994, $19.95

hardcover.

Are there any cat lovers out there who are unfamil-

iar with Lilian Jackson Braun’s “The Cat Who…” series?

Fifteen titles are now in print. If you have missed them, they

are mysteries with minimal gore and victims characterized as

minimally missed. The real protagonists are not the humans

but the pet cats, usually Siamese. My preference among

them is The Cat Who Had 14 Tales, which differs in format

and style from the subject of this review.

COURT CALENDAR

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Crimes Against Humans

Larry Gibson, 33, ex-deputy

sheriff for Douglas County, Oregon,

was arrested April 14 in Townsend,

Montana, for the alleged murder of his

two-year-old son Tommy on March 18,

1991. Gibson claimed he was jogging

when the boy disappeared, while his wife

was indoors; their daughter, then four,

said strangers drove off with him.

Unconvinced, investigators theorized in

May 1991 that Gibson shot his son by

accident while killing a neighbor’s cat

near the time of the disappearance.

Gibson’s wife, daughter, and another

son born since then recently left

him––whereupon the daughter, now

seven, told police she actually saw

Gibson strike Tommy, then stuff him

into a garbage bag.

MEXICAN PET THIEVES SUPPLY U.S. SCHOOLS

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

MEXICALI, Mexico––The World

Society for the Protection of Animals on March

25 announced it had exposed a major Mexican

pet theft ring, operating for at least eight years.

The ring is organized by several American resi-

dents of Mexico. Bunchers pay children $1.00

apiece to catch cats, who are trucked in lots of

30 to 40 to Mexicali, where they are drowned

about 10 at a time in water barrels, preserved

with formaldehyde, and hauled to a location in

Sinaloa state, where they are sold for $7.00

each. From Sinaloa, they are trucked to U.S.

customers.

Opening Pandora’s box: ZOO SURPLUS STOCKS CANNED HUNTS, ROADSIDE EXHIBITS, PRIVATE BREEDERS

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

HOOSICK FALLS, New York––The young

Himalayan snow leopard paces the corn crib cage, situated at the

edge of a woodlot. As roadside zoos go, his home at the Flag

Acres Zoo is fairly good––comparable, even, to some accredited

zoos of 30 years ago. But it isn’t where one would expect to find

an apparent prime example of a highly endangered species.

In fact, the snow leopard is genetically redundant “sur-

plus,” neutered and loaned to Flag Acres by the Seneca Park Zoo

of Rochester, New York––a facility accredited by the American

Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. According to

Seneca Park Zoo director Dan Michalowski, the snow leopard

was removed from the captive gene pool to reduce the risk of

inbreeding. A conditional loan to Flag Acres seemed preferable

to euthanasia. The Seneca Park Zoo may reclaim him if at any

time he appears ill-treated. The deal is a model of the AAZPA-

recommended protocol for the disposition of surplus animals.

BOOKS: Jim Mason on the nature of unnatural acts

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots

of Our Domination of Nature and Each

Other, by Jim Mason. Simon & Schuster

(Rockefeller Centre, 1230 Ave. of the Americas, New

York, NY 10020), 1993. 298 pages, $24 hardcover.

“The Slave,” a powerful sculpture by Michelangelo,

depicts a man struggling to break free of the stone from which

he is partially formed. This image is repeatedly brought to

mind by An Unnatural Order, for the heart of Jim Mason’s

argument is that humankind is a coldly perverse and destruc-

tively struggling entity as a result of a futile effort to distance

ourselves from the natural and animal world from which we

evolved.

Dog attack deaths and maimings, U.S. and Canada, September 1982-April 1994

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Compiled by the editor ofANIMAL PEOPLEfrom press accounts, this

table covers only attacks by dogs kept as pets. Attacks by dogs trained specifically to

fight are excluded. “Attacks doing bodily harm” includes all fatalities, maimings,

and other injuries requiring prolonged hospitalization. “Maimings” includes perma-

nent disfigurement or loss of a limb.

COURT CALENDAR

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Wildlife and habitat

The U.S. Court of Appeals in

Washington D.C. on March 11 upset jurispru-

dence concerning endangered species protec-

tion by ruling in a case pertaining to timber rights

and spotted owl protection in the Pacific

Northwest that the government lacks authority to

protect wildlife habitat on private land. The U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service said that pending further

clarification of the ruling, perhaps by the U.S.

Supreme Court, it would make no policy changes.

The March 11 ruling directly contradicts the out-

standing precedent in such situations, established

by the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San

Francisco.

Splatt back

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

DERRY, New Hampshire––Dr.

Splatt’s Roadkill Monitoring Project is under-

way for the second year. Sixty secondary

schoolrooms are keeping an online log of

roadkills for nine weeks, starting March 14.

Thirty classes last spring compiled

the biggest data base on roadkills to date,

finding apparent peak times of vulnerability

for grey squirrels, raccoons, birds, beavers,

skunks, and rats, which may coincide with

when young leave their parents, the growth

of favored food plants, moon phases,

and––for scavengers––peaks in roadkills of

other species.

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