Books for children who love animals

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

A Place for Grace, by Jean Davies Okimoto, illustrated by Doug

Keith. Sasquatch Books (1931 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98101), 1993, 36 pages,

hardcover $14.95.

The amazing Grace of this story is a small stray dog on the streets of San

Francisco, who aspires to become a guide dog, fails the height requirement, and becomes a

hearing dog instead with the aid of Charlie, an astute human. Children, who are always

finding themselves too small to do things, will readily identify with Grace and will love

Doug Keith’s gently funny illustrations. But A Place for Grace isn’t just a good dog story.

It’s also a quick introduction to the duties, requirements, and training of hearing dogs, who

usually are clever mongrels, and, somewhat as an afterthought, to the world of the deaf.

If A Place for Grace has a fault, it’s that it presumes too much prior knowledge of deaf cul-

ture on the part of the very young readers. “Signing” pops up with no explanation of what it

is, although the sign alphabet appears on the cover liner, and there is relatively little discus-

sion of the difficulties of functioning in mechanized society without hearing. Fortunately,

many children will infer the essentials from the art. A must for school libraries!

4-H, FFA seek to clean up image

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

4-H and Future Farmers of America

chapters in Ohio, Oregon, and Washington are

developing a criteria and curriculum for medal

competition in the areas of animal well-being,

quality control, and show animal ethics, under-

written with $95,000 from the USDA.

“It’s important for the livestock indus-

try to show the public that we care about the

well-being of meat animals,” says Ohio 4-H

extension agent Sherry Nickles, who adds that

the new medal categories will “open up another

opportunity for members who aren’t going to be

the grand or reserve champion.”

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.

Agriculture

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on August 9

announced plans to hike grazing fees on 280 million acres

of public lands, from the present $1.86 per animal unit per

day to $4.28––still below market value, and half the $8.70

fee the House passed in July 1991, later killed by the

Senate. An earlier attempt by Babbitt to up grazing fees

was delayed by President Clinton until his budget cleared

Congress.

The European Commission on July 13 proposed

that horses in transport should be watered and fed every six

hours; calves under four weeks old, every eight hours; and

adult cattle every 16 hours. Horses and pigs would get 10

hours of rest after traveling 12 hours. If adopted, the new

rules will protect all animals traveling between member

nations.

Horse Tips

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Reporters Rans Pierson of The New York Post and Phillip

Nalbone of the Wall Street Journal recently followed Phyllis Orrick of

the New York Press in amplifying ANIMAL PEOPLE’s April and

July/August exposes of the treatment of horses in making the estrogen

supplement Premarin. Up to 75,000 pregnant mares spend half of each

year catheterized for urine collection and confined to narrow stalls;

most of their foals are sold to slaughter. Their numbers could triple

when the manufacturer, Ayerst Organics Inc., completes expansion of

its urine processing plant in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. According

to Pierson, more than eight million American women take Premarin

for menopausal symptoms. Costing half as much as synthetic alterna-

tives made by Ciba Pharmaceuticals, Mead Johnson, and Abbott

Labs, Premarin holds 80% of the estrogen supplement market, and is

now the most prescribed drug in the U.S. An Ayerst spokesperson said

the number of horses involved is much lower than the 75,000 estimate

produced by longtime estrogen industry observer Tom Hughes of the

Canadian Farm Animal Care Trust, adding that the firm isn’t responsi-

ble for the fate of the foals anyhow. Medical columnist Zoltan Rona,

M.D., meanwhile argued in the July issue of Alive magazine that

menopausal women could avoid needing estrogen supplements by

avoiding meat and taking appropriate vitamins, minerals, and herbs.

FUR

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

“The American Veterinary

Medical Association considers the steel-

jaw leghold trap to be inhumane,” accord-

ing to a single-sentence policy statement

issued in mid-July, culminating years of lob-

bying by George Clements of the

Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing

Animals. The AVMA had long been reluc-

tant to oppose trapping because many mem-

bers wish to avoid being associated with ani-

mal rights militancy. At that, the words

“steel-jaw” were reportedly added under

pressure from the National Trappers

Association, which feared that the statement

might otherwise be taken to include padded

leghold traps and foot snares. This could

have been devastating to the fur industry

push to get padded leghold traps, snares,

MIDWEST FLOOD RESCUE EFFORT: Forty days, forty nights, and still the rain kept pouring

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

MISSISSIPPI BASIN––Two

months of record rainfall that brought

record flooding in nine midwestern states

probably displaced more animals than

any high waters in North America since

the glaciers melted. Of the 791 counties

in the nine states, 421 were declared fed-

eral disaster areas. Clean-up and repairs

are expected to cost more than $13 bil-

lion. But animal rescuers didn’t dwell on

the immensity of the big picture. They

just pitched in however they could, wher-

ever they were, with whatever they could

scrounge by way of equipment and sup-

plies.

COURT CALENDAR

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Undercover probe nabs Wisconsin dog dealer; local judge lets him go

Circuit judge Donald Poppy, of

Calumet County, Wisconsin, on June 14

dismissed a felony cruelty charge against

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer

Ervin Stebane, 72, for tying, shooting,

and disemboweling a dog he sold as meat.

Poppy claimed Wisconsin law allows peo-

ple to kill their own dogs in a humane man-

ner, called the slaughter humane, and

added, “If the legislature intended for peo-

ple not to kill dogs as food, the legislature

should pass such a law.”

Animal Health & Behavior

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

CDC goes to rat-@#$%

The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention blame an unknown Hantaan virus probably

transmitted by rodents for causing flu-like symptoms that

killed 19 residents of the Four Corners region of New

Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado during May and

June. Most of the victims were Native Americans.

Hantaan viruses are typically transmitted through inhala-

tion, after becoming airborne with evaporated urine.

The transmission route for this as yet unidentified virus

has not been found, and investigators have been thwarted

by the reluctance of Navajo victims’ families, in particu-

lar, to speak either of the dead or of matters involving

their religion and rituals. However, Nevada paleoenvi-

ronmental researcher Peter E. Wigand, who seeks clues

to ecological history in ancient deposits of crystalized rat

urine, may have unwittingly provided a clue to the out-

break last January, before it actually occurred. Wigand

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