ANIMAL HEALTH

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Epidemiology

New York and Rhode Island

health officials said February 24 that a mys-

terious hantavirus caused the January 20

death of Rhode Island School of Design stu-

dent David Rosenberg, 22, who may have

become infected via rodent droppings while

sweeping out a warehouse in Queens. The

case is among the first known human cases in

the U.S. that apparently does not involve deer

mice. Four days earlier, the Centers for

Disease Control confirmed that the hantavirus

afflicts Florida cotton rats, and announced

the death of three Kansans from suspected

hantavirus infections. Of the 60 known U.S.

human victims, 27 have died; 23 have

recovered after suffering debilitating illness.

What makes a scandal?

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Over the past decade, the following issues have become the

focus of 219 public scandals involving 101 U.S. animal shelters, of

which 60 were municipal animal control facilities; 18 were convention-

al humane societies, some of which held animal control contracts; 14

were no-kill shelters; and eight fell into other categories.

The total number of scandals is quite small, considering that

there are more than 6,000 shelters and animal control holding facilities

in the U.S. However, an evident pattern of repeated scandals at the

same shelters reflects a combination of administrators unwilling to rec-

tify problems and a resulting growth of public mistrust, so that eventu-

ally even relatively minor problems become scandals.

Getting a leash on no-kills

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

PHOENIX, Arizona––”As a volunteer at a no-

kill animal sanctuary in Utah,” Lynda Foro wrote to 230 no-

kill shelter directors last summer, “and as a supporter of no-

kill sanctuaries in the Phoenix area, I believe a directory of

the no-kill animal sanctuaries in the U.S. will be a useful

tool for communication and support.”

Foro compiled her mailing list from a combination

of personal contacts and responses to a classified ad in ANI-

MAL PEOPLE. About half the addressees responded,

enabling her to publish the 1994 No-Kill Directory i n

January. Sales were brisk enough, at $10 apiece, to meet

most of her expenses. (Order from POB 10905, Glendale,

AZ 85318-0905.) Already she’s assembling a 1995 edi-

tion––and is attracting notice from those who research trends

in humane work. Stereotypes of no-kills abound, but hard

data is lacking, largely because no one has had the roster of

such facilities necessary to do serious surveying.

Animal Control & Rescue

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

International

Police in the East City dis-

trict of Beijing, China, beat 351 dogs

to death during the second week of

February. “Our policy is to annihilate

them,” said district deputy chief of pub-

lic security Li Wenrui. Some other dis-

trict police bureaus spared smaller pure-

breds––if their owners could find homes

for them outside the city. Still others

killed dogs by strangulation, electrocu-

tion, and dragging them behind jeeps.

Press releases said the dogs were taken

to a shelter run by the Public Security

Ministry, but Jan Wong of the Toronto

Globe and Mail’s China Bureau reported

there is no such place. The Communist

government banned dogs as a nuisance

and a waste of food when it came to

power in 1949. Dogs have been hunted

out and killed every few years since

1951. Despite the killing, stepped up

since 1986, an estimated 100,000 dogs

inhabit Beijing, where a black market

dog can cost as much as many workers’

annual income. Foreigners and others

who can get dogs licensed and vaccinat-

ed may keep them––but rabies vaccine is

so scarce that the disease has killed as

many as 60,000 Chinese since 1980,

and most license applications are denied.

BOOKS: Sterling references

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

The Reptile and Amphibian Keeper’s

Dictionary, by David C. Wareham. 1993. 193 pages,

hardcover, $24.95 ($34.95 in Canada).

Dolphins & Porpoises: A World-wide

Guide, by Jean-Pierre Sylvestre. 1994. 160 pages,

hardcover, $19.95 ($25.95 in Canada).

The Greenpeace Book of Coral Reefs, by

Susan Wells & Nick Hanna. 1992, 160 pages, hard-

cover, $35.00.

All from Sterling Publishing Co. (387 Park

Ave. South, New York, NY 10016-8810).

ANIMAL WELFARE ACT ENFORCEMENT

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Matthew Block and Worldwide

Primates, of Miami, Florida, were fined $16,000

on January 27 for failure to provide primates with

adequate food, water, ventilation, and sanitation.

Block is under sentence for his role in arranging a

multinational 1990 orangutan smuggling deal,

exposed by the International Primate Protection

League and known as the “Bangkok Six” case.

The USDA has filed stiffer charges

against Class B animal dealer Jerry Vance, of

Europa, Mississippi. Charged in September with

improper recordkeeping, after the TV news program

Eye to Eye with Connie Chung documented the dis-

covery of several missing pets at his facility, Vance

is now accused of improper dog identification, fail-

ing to provide veterinary care, and failing to provide

adequate shelter.

Was it a rescue––or a theft?

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

WADSWORTH, Ohio– – The

samoyed/chow paced the dark garage. A

broken chain, wired together, cut into his

neck. He suffered from heartworms. His

overgrown toenails curled downward, and

his fur was matted with feces. Feeding and

watering were irregular. His mother had

died the year before in that same garage.

Brian Gilligan, 36, felt com-

pelled to act. Frustrated with “weak state

laws that humane officers must follow,” he

says, he took the dog in January 1993.

Veterinary records document the

dog’s condition. His “overall appearance

was poor because of neglect,” according to

Larry Markley, DVM, who performed an

examination and provided treatment.

COURT CALENDAR

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Humane Enforcement

The toughest cruelty sentence ever

issued in Vermont went to Donald Bliss, of

Barre, on a December 14 plea bargain. Bliss

admitted to keeping a starving Belgian mare staked

outside for most of the winter of 1992-1993. He

drew a year in jail with immediate probation, a

suspended fine of $2,000, was ordered to donate

$1,000 to the Central Vermont Humane Society,

and was obliged to pay the town of Barre $1,100

for boarding the mare until she was adopted by

Anne Cole Butler, of Orange.

Good deeds

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

Veterinarians Jeff Young and

Mark Chamberlain of Planned

Pethood Plus held their third annual

male cat neuter-a-thon in Boulder,

Colorado, on January 30––and donated

their $7 per cat fee to Mission Wolf, a

refuge for wolves and wolf hybrids in

Silver Cliff, Colorado.

Tucson veterinarians Reuben

Merideth and Barbara Page in early

January donated a $1,400 cataract

removal operation to give partial sight to

a bighorn lamb, who was apparently

abandoned by her mother after going

blind but was rescued by hikers who

turned her over to the Arizona Game

and Fish Department. The lamb will

probably be donated to a zoo or a cap-

tive breeding program.

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