Closing stray kennels to the general public reduces adoptions, increases killing

January 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
Closing stray kennels to the general public
reduces adoptions, increases killing

by Bill Meade, founder, Shelter Planners of America
It is common for some shelters to maintain stray kennels
which the public are not allowed to enter, unless they say they have
lost a specific type of animal.
This is done because of concern that people may claim animals
who are not theirs; because the staff may be burdened with having to
explain that certain animals are not ready for adoption; because
explaining why an animal must be euthanized may be awkward; to
protect the public from bites; and to reduce the spread of disease
by keeping people from touching animals.
However, when an animal shelter prevents stray animals from
being seen–and touched–by the public, the shelter reduces the
number of interactions that may lead to the animals being adopted.
Failing to give each animal maximum exposure to the adopting public
can lead to avoidable killing.

Editorial: Developing compassion for feral pigs

January 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2007:
Here come the pigs! See page one and the constellation of
related sidebars beginning on page 12 for particulars.
Nobody expected feral pigs and street pigs to become a
ubiquitous humane concern in the early 21st century–but not because
of indifference toward pigs. Most people just didn’t think of pigs
as a free-roaming species who might turn up almost anywhere, capable
of thriving without human help. But the timing is right for feral
pigs and street pigs to claim humane attention. More pigs may be at
large today, worldwide, than ever before. Certainly more pigs are
at large in North America.
Pig hunters are all but exempt from most of the laws that
govern other forms of hunting, since pigs are considered a
non-native invasive nuisance. So-called hog/dog rodeo, in which
packs of pit bull terriers are set upon captive feral pigs, has only
been illegal in many Southern states for under two years, and–like
dogfighting and cockfighting–still has a substantial following.

Editorial: Strategies for changing the world

December 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
In the 1940 Walt Disney animated cartoon feature Dumbo, The
Flying Elephant, the first and perhaps still most vivid screen
depiction of circus animal handling produced for a paying mass
audience, a troupe of drunken clowns speculate that if circus-goers
laugh at an elephant made to jump from a platform made to look like a
burning building, they will laugh twice as hard if the elephant has
to jump from twice as high.
Activists in every cause could be accused of committing the
same logical fallacy, presuming that if a problem is exaggerated or
described as a crisis it will get more attention, resulting in more
effective response.
However, Che Green, executive director of the Seattle-based
Humane Research Council, pointed out in the November 2006 edition of
the HRC newsletter Humane Thinking that, “According to a study
recently published by Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council,
the most effective strategies for encouraging behavior change are
those that are motivational and informative rather than negative,
such as those that induce fear, guilt, or regret.”
In other words, exaggerating a bad situation is not the best
way to make it better.

Editorial: Voting to help animals

October 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
On midterm election day, November 2, 2006, depending on
the will of the U.S. electorate, both the House of Representatives
and the Senate may shift from Republican to Democratic control.
President George W. Bush, a Republican, will remain in the White
House until 2008, but history suggests that if either the House or
the Senate goes to the Democrats–or both–the outcome for the next
two years will probably be much better for animals than if either
party controlled all three elected branches of the federal government.
That possibility alone should be sufficient incentive to get
pro-animal voters out to the polls in the many closely contested
districts, even where neither candidate has a record on animal
issues that especially inspires either support or opposition.
Pro-animal voters will obviously want to support strongly pro-animal
candidates of either party, and oppose those with anti-animal
records, as indicated by the legislative scorecards published by
such organizations as Humane USA PAC and the Humane Society
Legislative Fund, but this year there is a further consideration.
Almost all of the major pro-animal federal legislation, including
the Animal Welfare Act, Endangered Species Act, and Marine Mammal
Protection Act, was originally passed and has been most positively
amended by divided Congresses. Precedent thus indicates that this
year the outcome of every seriously contested House and Senate race
matters to people who care about animals.

Editorial: Culture, coonhunting, & child hunters

September 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:

Americans who express broad disgust toward Asian cultures
over the many cruelties of dog-eating and cat-eating might usefully
compare the persistence of those behaviors in South Korea and China
to the persistence of American participation in sport hunting.
About three million (6%) of the 50 million South Koreans eat
dogs, consuming about 2.6 million dogs per year at present. If the
same ratio of consumption applies to the estimated annual production
of about 10 million dogs for slaughter in China, about 11.4 million
Chinese eat dogs–or less than 1% of the human population of 1.4
billion. Cat-eating in both China and South Korea continues at a
much lower level.
Among about 300 million Americans, the U.S. now has slightly more
than 13 million active hunters: 4.3%. Another five million people
identify themselves as hunters but no longer hunt, chiefly due to
advancing age.
A traditional if often elusive goal of deer hunting is to effect a
quick kill, but causing prolonged animal suffering is built into the
method of many other forms of hunting.

Editorial: Crabs are animals too

September 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:

The poster for an August 27, 2006 crab feast planned by the
Prince Rupert SPCA looked like a bizarre parody. A grinning cartoon
crab, pink as if already burned, sprawled beneath a beach umbrella.
“Live crab, cooked to eat at the park or cooked to take home,” the
poster advertised. A photo of a real crab affirmed that real animals
were really to be boiled–until on August 17 the parent British
Columbia SPCA cancelled the event under pressure personally directed
by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson. Watson
then pledged to personally make a donation and urged others to donate
to the BC/SPCA.
Though the crab feast was averted, the episode raised issues
of posture and strategy which should be of pre-eminent concern to
every humane organization.
“Our mission,” the Prince Rupert SPCA web site predictably
proclaims, is “the prevention of cruelty to animals, and promotion
of animal welfare.”

Editorial: What cruelty to animals tells us about people

April 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

To behave unethically by the standards of
hare coursers is no easy feat. Hare coursing
consists of setting dogs, usually greyhounds,
on captive rabbits. Recently banned in Britain,
it continues in Ireland, and in parts of the
U.S. and other places where most people do not
yet realize that anyone is doing something so
depraved for kicks.
Vinnie Jones, however, is no ordinary
man. Playing for Wimbledon against Newcastle in
1987, Jones became “football’s most infamous
hardman,” according to Ben Hoyle of the London
Times, when photographed in the act of
backhandedly squeezing the testicles of opponent
Paul Gascoigne of Newcastle.
After Gascoigne protested, Jones sent
him a dozen roses, in an attempted further
insult to his manhood. Gascoigne told Jones that
if he wanted that kind of relationship, he could
do some chores, and sent him a toilet brush.

New Legislation: Austria, New Jersey, Ohio

January 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2006:

Austria no longer allows biomedical research on chimpanzees,
gorillas, bonobos, orangutans, and gibbons, effective on January
1, 2006, unless the studies are in the animals’ own interest. The
last apes actually used in experiments in Austria were retired by
Baxter Laboratories in 2002.

Less popular with animal advocates is a new Viennese
ordinance requiring that dogs born after January 1, 2006 must be
insured to a minimum liability of $864,000.

End of E.U. live cattle export subsidies may change Eid al-Adha

January 2, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2006:

BERUIT, BRUSSELS–Eid al-Adha slaughters on January 10,
2006 marked both the end of the haj, the season of pilgrimage to
Mecca for the Islamic devout, and the end of nearly $80 million per
year in European Union live cattle export subsidies.
Much of the money underwrote the sale of cattle killed during
the annual Eid al-Adha ritual bloodbath.
Most of the cattle killed for Eid al-Adha this year were
shipped before the European Union cancelled the subsidies on December
23, 2005.
European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development
Mariann Fischer Boel emphasized the importance of animal welfare
considerations in persuading the electorate.
“This is tremendous news for the welfare of cattle,” added
United Kingdom Member of the European Parliament Neil Parish.
“British taxpayers have been unwittingly sponsoring this abhorrent
trade for too long. The subsidy is not necessary,” Parish asserted,
“as cattle can be slaughtered under humane conditions in the E.U. and
shipped abroad on the hook, rather than on the hoof.”

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