Category: Companion Animals

$25,000 & up for lifelong care

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

HOUSTON, Texas––Texas A&M University
on March 26 dedicated an animal shelter, of sorts. For an
endowment of $25,000 per cat or dog, and $50,000 per
horse, the Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center
will keep an animal for the rest of his or her life, after the
owner dies. The animals will be used to study how ani-
mals bond to humans and what role facilities and caretak-
ers play in their well-being, according to associate director
Sally Knight. “The center was developed in response to a
real need in the human community,” Knight said, adding
that 25 to 30 animals are already enrolled.

Lifelong Friends

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico––It isn’t easy
to pay rent, buy food, and keep a pet on just $500 a
month, but hundreds of New Mexico senior citizens do it,
with the help of the five-year-old Lifelong Friends pro-
gram, a project of Sangre de Cristo Animal Protection.
Coordinated from Albuquerque by Shirley Hendrickson,
Lifelong Friends provides free and/or assisted veterinary
care to the pets of seniors.
“Pets are extremely valuable to seniors,” explains
SCAP vice president Frances Bentley. “Studies show that
they live longer when they have animal
companionship––so many seniors don’t have other humans
they can talk to and relate to. And here in New Mexico,”

Read more

New tricks for old dogs and cats

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1993:

PORT WASHINGTON, New York––Already adopting out 43,000 animals a year, the North Shore Animal
League isn’t satisfied. While NSAL helps 21 other shelters around the U.S. place most of their puppies and kittens, older
animals are in low demand. The animal over five years of age stands virtually no chance of adoption anywhere, even if
housebroken, docile, affectionate, and likely to live at least another five years in excellent health.
The answer, Seniors for Seniors program director Myron Gould thinks, may be matching older pets with senior
citizens, who often want an animal companion but are reluctant to take in a young animal because of the extra work
involved and because of anxiety that they may die, leaving
the animal homeless.

Read more

Heroic Dogs

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

A six-year-old German shep-
herd brought home a lightly dressed
three-year-old boy she found wandering
alone in sub-freezing weather on
February 17 near Midland, Ontario
––and just in time. The boy was trying
to visit his mother, who gave birth the
night before in a hospital 25 miles away,
and slipped out while his father slept.
The Michigan Anti-Cruelty
Society on February 17 rescued a mon-
grel named Brownie, who survived a
Detroit housefire that killed seven chil-
dren in front of a barred window.
Though suffering from smoke inhala-
tion, Brownie hadn’t allowed firefight-
ers to separate him from the victims.
A survey of convicted bur-
glars published by Special Reports
found that 59% consider a dog in the
home the most effective deterrent to
break-ins.

CHILDREN AND ANIMALS

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

1,000 selected elementary
schools are now evaluating Best
Friends, a curriculum guide developed
by the American Kennel Club. The
guide “introduces elementary school
students to the world of purebred dogs
and teaches responsible dog owner-
ship,” according to a press release.
Included are lesson plans in the areas of
reading, writing, math, art, and oral
presentation. After the trial period, the
guide will be offered––free––to all
schools. For details, call 212-696-8336.

Read more

Vivisection

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

A page one expose in The New York Times on March 23 reviewed the mounting evi-
dence that animal testing is not a valid means of measuring human risk from exposure to tox-
ins––especially carcinogens. The Clinton administration is believed likely to reduce governmen-
tal reliance on animal studies in assessing public health risks.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on March 24 lifted a 16-year-old ban on the
use of female volunteers in drug safety testing. Imposed to protect unborn children, the ban had
the effect of exposing women to greater risks from new drugs––and increased the number of
female animals used in developing some drugs.

Read more

COURT CALENDAR

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Humane Enforcement

Miami primate trafficker
Matthew Block abruptly withdrew his
guilty plea March 16 in connection with
arranging the 1990 Bangkok Six orang-
utan smuggling incident, in which three
orangutans of a shipment of six died en
route from Borneo to Yugoslavia. The
shipment was intercepted in Thailand.
Block pulled out, apparently, because of
the likelihood he would draw jail time.

Read more

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

Legislation In Support of
Animals has awarded the St. Tammany
Humane Society a “platinum” star for being
the top shelter in Lousiana three years in a
row. The Louisiana SPCA won LISA’s gold
star this year; Ouachita Animal Control of
West Monroe and the no-kill Morehouse
Humane Society each earned a silver star;
and Slidell Animal Control received a bronze
star. The award winners include both public
and private facilities, with some of the
biggest and smallest budgets in the state. A
golden heart award went to two anonymous
sheriff’s deputies who arrested a pair of men
they caught torturing a mouse by dunking her
repeatedly in a beer glass, and threw the
book at them. The black star for worst shel-
ter of the year went to the Leesville Animal
Shelter. “The shelter is actually clean and by
most appearances, well run,” LISA execu-

Read more

Elvis manager Tom Parker made first fortune from animal shelter

Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1993:

TAMPA, Florida––While playing
Elvis Presley’s longtime manager Colonel
Tom Parker in the recent NBC made-for-TV
movie Elvis & the Colonel, actor Beau
Bridges mentioned to Canadian Press TV
writer Wendy McCann that Parker was “one
of the first people to come up with the con-
cept of a pet cemetery,” as a fundraiser for
an animal shelter he ran in Tampa, Florida.
Since every tabloid needs an occa-
sional Elvis story, even once removed, we
jumped right on it. And it’s as true as any
story involving either the King or the
Colonel; truer than most.

Read more

1 … 92 93 94 95 96 … 99