ANIMAL HEALTH

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

IN THE VETERINARY CLINIC

Despite concerns about bites and animal-transmitted

disease, veterinary staff are as often hurt on the job by ordi-

nary slips, trips, falls, and lifting injuries, according to sta-

tistics supplied to ANIMAL PEOPLE by the American

Veterinary Medical Association Professional Liability Insurance

Trust. From 1988 through 1992, dog bites accounted for 16.3%

of claims, cat bites for 13.8%, kicks by horses and cattle for

5.2%, and all other injuries done by animals combined amounted

to just 4.1%––but slips, trips, and falls came to 17.2%, while

lifting totaled 16.2%. Three-fourths of the lifting injuries

involved lifting “small” animals, whose weight and ability to

struggle were probably underestimated by the injured. Average

costs per claim were $2,808 for animal-related lifting injuries;

$6,253 for other lifting injuries; $6,212 for slips, trips, and falls;

$4,174 for horse and cow-kicks; $1,527 for dog bites; and $678

for cat bites. Job safety statistics have apparently never been

compiled for animal control officers and shelter workers, but

similar ratios may apply.

National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

The newly formed National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy held its

first working meeting September 18 at the American Humane Association headquarters in

Englewood, Colorado. The discrepancy between the AHA projections and the shelter-by-

shelter, state-by-state statistics was briefly raised, but not discussed in detail.

Formed last July 17 at the 1993 annual convention of the American Veterinary

Medical Association, the NCPPSP plans to conduct an epidemiological study of pet over-

population, using yet-to-be-established regional data collection centers.

MEMO FROM ANDREW ROWAN

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

I have questioned the validity of

the national shelter statistics for more than

10 years. After discussing the issue with

the late Phyllis Wright in the early 1980s,

and with her support, we organized a work-

shop on the question at the Tufts Center for

Animals and Public Policy in 1984. The

workshop included the AHA, MSPCA,

HSUS, and ASPCA, plus a number of

local shelters known to have good statistics

and quality programs. As a result of the

workshop, I concluded that the animal

overpopulation problem had been dramati-

cally reduced, from shelters killing 20% of

the national owned dog and cat population

in 1973 to only 10% in 1982. As far as I

can tell, my claim for this progress has

been virtually ignored by nearly everyone

in the business, Phil Arkow being a notable

exception. Certainly no one has ever tried

to challenge it.

Squirrels, cats top count to date: Student roadkill census heads into second year

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

DERRY, New Hampshire––Roadkill Monitoring

Project coordinator Brewster Bartlett, a.k.a. Dr. Splatt, has

announced that March 14 through May 15 will be the 1994

roadkill survey period for school groups.

Last year students at 31 schools participated, all of

them in New England. This year, Bartlett hopes to recruit

several hundred, from all parts of the U.S. and Canada.

“Each student is assigned a road that is frequently

traveled going to and from school,” Bartlett explains. “This

road is to be monitored at least twice a day for at least eight

out of the nine weeks.” Each Monday, student roadkill

counts from the preceding week will be tabulated and

relayed by computer modem to a Roadkill Bulletin Board

maintained by Simmons College, in Massachusetts.

Count finds 5 million euthanasias a year–– AHA SAYS 12 MILLION; WANTED TO DISCREDIT PET BREEDERS

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado––

Knowing that an ongoing shelter-by-shel-

ter, state-by-state count has demonstrated

the annual U.S. euthanasia toll due to pet

overpopulation to be under six million

animals per year, the American Humane

Association on September 7 told mass

media that, “In 1992, a dog or cat was

euthanized every two seconds in this

country––12.1 million dogs and cats in

all.” The AHA release also maintained

that euthanasias are again increasing after

eight years of decline.

COURT CALENDAR

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Activism

A federal grand jury in Grand

Rapids, Michigan, on July 16 indicted fugi-

tive activist Rodney Allen Coronado, 27, on

five felony counts including arson, pertaining

to a 1992 firebombing that gutted the

Michigan State University mink ranching labo-

ratory. The fire also destroyed the files of an

MSU staffer who was developing alternatives

to the use of animals in biomedical research.

Coronado, who has acknowledged involve-

ment in other direct actions including scuttling

two Icelandic whaling vessels, was reportedly

last seen in Oregon in early November 1992.

He is also sought for questioning by grand

juries probing arsons at animal research facili-

ties in Oregon, Washington, and Louisiana,

and by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in

connection with laboratory vandalism at the

University of Edmonton, in Alberta.

Los Angeles and New Jersey will stay in neutering business

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

The pioneering Los Angeles and New Jersey

discount neutering programs, in financial trouble a few

months ago, are back up to speed, top officials have

assured ANIMAL PEOPLE.

“As you noted in your June edition, City of Los

Angeles general manager Elza Lee wrote, “the city did

indeed close its low-cost neutering clinics due to a budget

crisis. But I am pleased to inform you that we have insti-

tuted another program to take its place. The Department

of Animal Regulation, with assistance from many com-

munity humane groups, is now issuing vouchers valued

up to $28 toward the sterilization of pet cats or dogs. Pet

owners who receive a voucher are referred to a participat-

ing private practice veterinarian, who will accept the

voucher as payment in full or as partial payment toward a

reduced fee surgery. Another program which is new for

us is the pre-release sterilization of dogs and cats adopted

from our animal care centers.” All six centers were “on

line with this project,” Lee said, by July 5.

Animal Control & Rescue

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Animal shelters, public or private, must hold

animals at least five days including a Saturday before

releasing them to Class B dealers or researchers, under an

amendment to Animal Welfare Act enforcement regulations

that took effect August 23. Written certification that the

holding period has been met must accompany each animal.

The Bronx SPCA, recently incorporated by

American SPCA officers Stephen Zawistowski, Eugene

Underwood, and Harold Finkelstein, exists “to make sure

we would have consistent law enforcement authority” with-

in the whole of New York City, Zawistowski told ANI-

MAL PEOPLE. The ASPCA was incorporated before the

Bronx was, and therefore the charter granted to the ASPCA

by the state of New York does not specifically authorize it

as the sole animal protection law enforcement agency for

the Bronx, as it does for the other New York City boroughs.

Guest column: Don’t call me a pimp by Margaret Anne Cleek

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

When I lived in Detroit, I had a close friend who

was a state welfare fraud investigator. To hear him tell it,

every welfare mom was living it up on the dole, thought

she had a right to have the government provide for every

child she had, and had a man stashed away who lived off

her check. His solution was to cut off the freeloading and

make these people work for a living. He dehumanized all

people on welfare, calling them the “scum de la scum,”

and always expected the worst of them.

Why did he think all welfare recipients were rip-

ping off the system? The system abusers were the only peo-

ple he ever saw. His perception of the situation was distort-

ed because his sample did not accurately reflect the popula-

tion of welfare recipients. His contempt for the people and

the system left him unable to understand the complexity of

the issues and solutions. But as he saw it, he was in the

front lines and therefore he knew what needed to be done.

« 1 … 87 88 89 90 91 … 99 »