BOOKS: The Blessing of the Animals

January 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:

The Blessing of the Animals:
TRUE STORIES OF GINNY, THE DOG WHO RESCUES CATS
by Philip Gonzalez and Leonore Fleischer
Harper/Collins (10 E. 53rd, N.Y, NY 10022), 1996. 177 pages, cloth, $17.50

This sequel to The Dog Who
Rescues Cats (1995) offers more true
accounts of some of the incredible happenings
in the life of New York City animal rescuer
Philip Gonzalez and his adopted partner,
the dog Ginny, who involved him and
keeps him involved in saving, healing, hospicing,
feeding, and neutering sick and
inured homeless cats. It is heartening to hear
that Gonzalez now takes her to classrooms,
where she edifies while the children delight.

News from abroad

June 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1996:

A ferocious spring battered central Asia into May––and got
worse when Mongolia officials seeded clouds to produce unseasonable snow,
hoping would help quell at least 288 simultaneous grassfires that killed 17
people, injured 62, burned 31,000 square miles of forest and pasture, forcing
the immediate relocation of more than 1,600 families and 436,000 cattle,
with the evacuation of another 1,600 people and 588,000 cattle anticipated.
The snow––almost the first to hit Mongolia in more than a year––put out only
a few of the fires, but froze or drowned at least 4,900 cattle, along with two
shepherd boys and their 150 sheep. Just to the south, in China, 700,000 cattle
and yaks reportedly froze to death in February during a natural cold snap.
Cyprus SPCA president Toula Poyiadjis on May 18 led 100
CSPCA members and their dogs, donkeys, and a chicken to the palace of
Glafcos Clerides, president of Cyprus, demanding enforcement of humane
laws. “Cyprus lags behind other countries in its treatment of animals,”
Poyiadjis explained. “There is prejudice, fear, and an inexplicable mania for
killing animals.”

Winter of snow and drought

April 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1996:

Severe swings in winter weather,
believed to be symptomatic of global warming,
hit animals hard around the world.
Near Bascones del Agua, in northern
Spain, more than 4,000 pigs drowned two days
after Christmas when a river overflowing with
snowmelt from the Pyranees mountains trapped
them in their barn.
At the same time, tropical fish farmers
in Hillsborough County, Florida, lost fish by the
ton to a sudden cold snap. The U.S. tropical fish
industry centers on Florida, and about 150 of
Florida’s 184 tropical fish farms are in
Hillsborough County, previously noted for climatic
stability.

Fires hit more than zoo

March 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

The December 24 electrical fire at the
Philadelphia Zoo that killed 23 endangered primates
[January/February edition] was followed by a series
of other reminders of the vulnerability of animal care
facilities of all kinds to fire: not regulated as closely
as human dwellings, frequently filled with easily combustible
hay, straw, and sawdust, and usually left
unattended overnight.
Also within the Philadelphia area, a January
10 blaze at the Rocky Top Stable in North Union,
Pennsylvania, killed 13 show horses, five dogs, and
two cows. Nearby water sources were frozen, and
because of heavy snow, pumper trucks had to stop
900 feet away. Among the victims was a Paso Fino
horse rated as the top Puerto Rican show horse in the
United States.

Fire kills primates

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

PHILADELPHIA––Fumes from
an electrical fire killed 23 residents of the
Philadelphia Zoo monkey house in their
sleep early on December 24, as alarms
failed to sound and security guards misattributed
the smell of smoke to railroad locomotives
idling nearby.
Ranging in age from 11 months to
30 years, the victims included a family of
six western lowland gorillas, three Bornean
orangutans, four white-handed gibbons,
two ruffed lemurs, two mongoose lemurs,
and six ringtailed lemurs. Ten primates
housed farther from the blaze survived.
Shocked keepers were offered
bereavement counseling.
Upon completing repairs, the zoo
is expected to rebuild its primate collection
by recalling animals it has out on loan to
other institutions––including another six
gorillas, one of whom, Chaka, 11, has
sired six offspring at the Cincinnati Zoo.
Begun in 1859, the Philadelphia
Zoo is the oldest in the U.S.

Fall was hard on squirrels

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

ALBANY, N.Y.––Prolonged summer/fall drought had a
mixed effect on wildlife in the Northeast, generally helping birds but
hurting other species. Already menaced amphibian populations suffered
as breeding pools dried up and shallow water made both surviving tadpoles
and adult frogs easy pickings for great blue herons and
egrets––who also thrived on exposed small fish. Pennsylvania and New
Jersey delayed trout-stocking because of the risk they would be killed by
oxygen depletion in low streams and lakes. Beavers became unusually
vulnerable to foxes and coyotes. Bears and deer were driven down from
the hills to find water, into often dangerous proximity with humans.
Authorities in Ottawa, Ontario, relocated 62 black bears during the
summer, 10 times the usual number. But crickets and grasshoppers
hatched in high volume, much to the benefit of wild turkeys and quail.
New York state biologists reported extraordinary numbers of
dead squirrels on highways. New York Department of Environmental
Conservation wildlife pathologist Ward Stone said one person counted
922 dead squirrels along the New York State Thruway––where roadkills
are normally relatively few––just between New Paltz and Albany.

Hurricane season

November 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1995:

Hurricanes pounding the Caribbean in September and early
October had humane rescue teams hopping.
Gerardo Huertas of the World Society for the Protection of
Animals’ Costa Rica office reported that the worst damage from
Hurricane Marilyn was on St. Maarten, where 12 Animal Welfare
Foundation volunteers expected to spend four to six weeks catching and
caring for abandoned dogs. Learning that dogs not reunited with owners
would be shot, Huertas gave the AWF 500 doses of pentobarbital
euthanasia solution, along with antibiotics and other veterinary supplies,
and arranged for dog food deliveries. Huertas also set up a relief effort
for the Antigua and Barbuda Humane Society, which had no shelter
even before Marilyn. He said he saw 72 homeless dogs foraging for food
around dawn in the Antigua hotel district, along with “many mongooses
feeding on corpses of dead animals.” About 12,000 chickens were killed
or released by the destruction of poultry barns. Cattle, sheep, and donkeys
were temporarily left to wander, but the ABHS took in 26 llamas.
The American Humane Association evacuated 15 dogs and cats
from the roofless St. Thomas Humane Society on September 28, while
Hills Pet Foods shipped nine tons of food to St. Thomas.
United Animal Nations cleaned up after Hurricane Opal,
which ripped through the Barrier Islands along the Florida Gulf Coast.
Led by Terri Crisp, the UAN team picked up more than 100 pets in three
days, working out of the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society shelter in
Fort Walton Beach.
Donations toward the relief work are welcomed by WSPA at
POB 190, Boston, MA 02130; AHA at 63 Inverness Drive East,
Englewood, CO 80112-5117; and UAN at POB 188890, Sacramento,
CA 95818.

Animal control & rescue

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

New legislation

An update of Louisiana animal

protection laws long sought by

Legislation In Support of Animals, the

Coalition of Louisiana Animal Advocates,

and other state groups includes the stiffest

felony cruelty statute in the U.S., mandat-

ing a fine of not less than $1,000, up to

$25,000, plus from one year in prison up

to 10 years at hard labor; fines for misde-

meanor cruelty of up to $1,000 and 48

hours of community service plus jail time;

the extension of the cruelty law to cover

parrots, parakeets, and lovebirds (but not

fighting cocks); the extension of the state’s

anti-dog theft law to cover other pets, with

stiffer penalties; and the creation of a fund

to help save the scarce Louisiana specta-

cled bear, funded by sales of a special

license plate. Known for gung-ho effica-

cy––on a budget of just $50,000/year––

LISA celebrated by bringing the

Spay/Neuter Assistance Program mobile

clinic from Houston to New Orleans for a

weekend of providing free neutering to

low-income families.

YELLOWSTONE: The steam isn’t all from geysers

September 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK––Filmed in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone, the 1952 western classic Shane depicted stubborn men who thought them-selves reasonable in a tragic clash over limited range. Alan Ladd, in the title role, won the big showdown, then rode away pledging there would be no more guns in the valley.

But more than a century after the Shane era, the Yellowstone range wars not only smoulder on, but have heated up. To the north, in rural Montana, at least three times this year armed wise-users have holed up for months, standing off bored cordons of sheriff’s deputies, who wait beyond bullet range to arrest them for not paying taxes and taking the law into their own hands.

One of the besieged, Gordon Sellner, 57, was wounded in an alleged shootout and arrested on July 19 near Condon. Sellner, who said he hadn’t filed a tax return in 20 years, was wanted for attempted murder, having allegedly shot a sheriff’s deputy in 1992. A similar siege goes on at Roundup, where Rodney Skurdahl and four others are wanted for allegedly issuing a “citizen’s declaration of war” against the state and federal governments and posting boun-ties on public officials. At Darby, near the Bitterroot National Forest, elk rancher Calvin Greenup threatens to shoot anyone who tries to arrest him for allegedly plotting to “arrest,” “try,” and hang local authorities. Greenup is Montana coordinator of the North American Volunteer Militia.

« 1 … 14 15 16 17 18 19 »