CRIME & PUNISHMENT

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Crimes Against Humans

* The FBI and local police are seeking a

serial killer who is believed responsible for

shooting a bowhunter, a deer hunter, two

fishermen, and a jogger since 1989 in rural

eastern Ohio. An anonymous letter to a local

newspaper from the purported killer indicates

he himself is a hunter; he demonstrates a

hunter’s knowledge of firearms. The man

boasted that these are not his only murders.

* Imperial Food Products owner Emmett

Roe pleaded guilty Sept. 14 to 25 counts of

manslaughter in connection with a Sept. 3,

1991 blaze at the company’s chicken process-

ing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. Similar

charges against Roe’s son and another plant

official were dropped as part of a plea bar-

gain. Roe was setenced to 20 years in prison

for locking exits and neglecting fire precau-

tions. Roe was earlier fined $808,150 for fire

code violations, and still faces 19 civil suits

from bereaved survivors.

DOGS & CATS

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* Wildlife officer Ric Nattrass of the Queensland (Australia) National Parks

and Wildlife Service has concluded that, “Based on data collected by wildlife staff

at the Moggill Centre (in Brisbane), there is no evidence to date that the domestic

cat is a major threat to the long term survival of the city’s native fauna. From a

purely conservation point of view, neither the numbers nor the species taken by cats

are cause for alarm when compared with the losses to urbanization, industrializa-

tion, motor traffic, and the creation of the horse paddock.” Nattrass’ report is

based on the experience of a single metropolitan area, as critics are quick to note,

and flies in the face of conventional belief; but it is worth pointing out that the only

other major study of domestic cat predation to date, by John Lawton and Peter

Churcher, was also based on the experience of a single location, a village in thesub-

urbs of London, England, and also concluded that while cats kill significant num-

bers of animals, the overwhelming majority are common mice, voles, and birds

(principally sparrows).

Animal Health

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* Over a year and a half after the mid-

Atlantic raccoon rabies pandemic hit south-

eastern Connecticut and was expected to

spread throughout New England, confirmed

outbreaks have yet to hit Massachusetts,

Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. All

four states have had only the usual handful of

rabies cases, mostly involving bats and foxes.

Bat rabies has been endemic in parts of New

England for decades, while outbreaks of fox

rabies have been sporadic along the Canadian

border at least since the 1950s. While some

rabid raccoons have been found in northern

New England during the past year, they are

not known to have carried the mid-Atlantic

strain of the disease, and there is no evidence

that the forms they appeared to have are wide-

ly distributed in the raccoon population.

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* The Sprint telephone service and the

American Humane Association have set up a

nationwide hotline to help reunite lost pets

with their keepers. Reporting a stray is free:

call 1-800-755-8111. To report a lost pet, call

1-900-535-1515. The cost for lost pet calls is

$1.95 per minute, a portion of which is donat-

ed to AHA. The average lost pet report takes

four minutes to complete, according to Sprint.

* Paige Powell and Tama Janowitz of

New York City produce a TV show in cooper-

ation with the animal rescue groups Being

Kind and the Animal Project to promote pet

adoptions. Called It’s A Dog’s Life, the show

airs on channels 16 and 17.

Religion & Animals

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Pope John Paul II was scheduled to

issue “A solemn appeal for animal welfare” on

eptember 30, from the Vatican. The appeal

will not have the force of ecclesiastic law, and

is expected to be quite conservative.

A San Francisco Board of

Supervisors subcommittee on August 18

approved an ordinance to ban animal sacrifice,

modeled after similar ordinances now in effect

in various Florida and southern California

cities. Supervisor Carole Migden introduced

the ordinance after the city Department of

Animal Care and Control reported having

found evidence of at least 1,000 animal sacri-

fices during the past year. The ordinance now

goes before the full Board of Supervisors for

enactment. Migden meanwhile withdrew a

proposed to ban the sale or ownership of wolf

hybrids, since so many are already in San

Francisco that enforcement might prove

impossible.

Shelter bashing wasn’t planned

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

A late summer wave of shelter-bashing by

animal rights groups took humane workers by

surprise, including some of the most outspo-

ken critics of shelter administrations. Protests

outside numerous shelters on Homeless

Animals Day, August 22, coincided with

campaigns against the management of the

Primarily Primates shelter in San Antonio,

Texas, and the Defenders of Animal Rights

shelter in Phoenix, Maryland. (See separate

items.)

Hurricane Andrew: Noah was there! Disaster spotlights preparation

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

MIAMI, FLORIDA — Thousands of

animals drowned, were swept to their deaths

by winds reaching 200 miles an hour, or were

crushed by falling trees and collapsing build-

ings. Fragile habitat was harmed from southern

Florida to coastal Louisiana. But while

Hurricane Andrew hit too suddenly for anyone

to build an ark, thousands more animals were

saved from the August 24 disaster through the

prompt efforts of volunteer rescuers. As the

human relief response came under critical

scrutiny from victims and the media, observers

had only praise for the contributions of animal

control and humane workers.

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