From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

Drive Fishery

Thank you for helping to stop the “drive fishery” dolphin
slaughter in Futo, Japan.
The Ito City Fishing Co-operative gave up the drive fishery
this year. The season for the fiscal year 2002 drive fishery expired
on March 31, 2003. We gladly report that no drive fishery was
carried out. According to the Yomiuri newspaper, the Ito City
Fishing Cooperative abandoned the drive fishery because it feared the
criticism of animal protection groups.
The Elsa Nature Conserv-ancy collected nearly 3,500
signatures on our petition seeking to stop the drive fisheries and
promote dolphin and nature watching in Futo instead, reinforced by
more than 2400 signatures against the drive fishery from
organizations abroad.
We also received 3,000 e-mails against the drive fishery from
abroad through the efforts of <www.BlueVoice.org>. According to Blue
Voice more than 9,000 e-mails were already sent to public officals.
We appreciate such strong support!

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2003:

Drive Fishery

Thank you for helping to stop the “drive fishery” dolphin
slaughter in Futo, Japan.
The Ito City Fishing Co-operative gave up the drive fishery
this year. The season for the fiscal year 2002 drive fishery expired
on March 31, 2003. We gladly report that no drive fishery was
carried out. According to the Yomiuri newspaper, the Ito City
Fishing Cooperative abandoned the drive fishery because it feared the
criticism of animal protection groups.
The Elsa Nature Conserv-ancy collected nearly 3,500
signatures on our petition seeking to stop the drive fisheries and
promote dolphin and nature watching in Futo instead, reinforced by
more than 2400 signatures against the drive fishery from
organizations abroad.

Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2003:

Welfare Ranching

Although I am highly biased towards the merits and strengths
of the arguments put forth in Welfare Ranching: The Subsidized
Destruction of the American West, edited by George Wuerthner and
Mollie Matteson, the ANIMAL PEOPLE review of the book was among the
best I have read (80-plus reviews so far). Congratulations to
reviewer Andrea Lococo!
Hopefully you may publish other articles and editorials about
this issue. Nowhere in all of North America are there as many acres
affected as in this issue of domestic livestock on public lands
(nearly 300 million acres!) Few people understand this and it is
important to get out the word.
–Doug Tompkins
President
Foundation for Deep Ecology
Building 1062
Fort Cronkhite
Sausalito, CA 94965
Phone: 415.229.9339
Fax: 415.229.9340
<info@deepecology.org>
<www.deepecology.org>

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2003:

Lion-tamers vs. dull accountants

Thank you for sending me your fascinating publication. I
have just returned from meetings in Kenya and a visit to Mount Elgon
National Park to find your December 2002 edition in my pile of post.
I enjoyed your editorial on “Lion-tamers vs. dull
accountants.” Having watched a number of organizations evolve from
“founder’s passion” into “professional institution,” I am very
familiar with that difficult process. Difficult, but necessary, I
would say, because unless the “founder’s passion” is enough to solve
the problem, the organization must outlive the founder to continue
the work. Finding the balance is the challenge, and I agree with
your conclusion, though I fear your plea will fall on deaf ears in
the case of those receiving salaries in the hundreds of thousands of
dollars.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Underfunded herp rescue

We noted that in the list of animal organizations’ income and
expenses in your December 2002 edition, there was not one reptile or
turtle group among them. No reptile sanctuaries make enough money to
even have to file IRS Form 990. This is a sad commentary on the
survival of the oldest living creatures in the world. Turtles, at
200 million years old, have outlived the dinosaurs. Yet wild turtles
may be lucky to see 2012. In the past 50 years, the cruel pet trade,
collectors, hunters and others have tremendously reduced the numbers
of some of God’s gentlest creatures.
We feel as if wealthy donors, including grant-giving
entities like the foundation arms of the National Wildlife Federation
and the Nature Conservancy and pet chain charities, have
deliberately snubbed reptile rescue organizations like American
Tortoise Rescue, perhaps in part because we represent coldblooded
animals without fur.
We have pumped thousands of dollars of our own money into the
rescue since 1990 and are determined to keep it going. But we would
also welcome donations from the big groups you listed, especially the
ones that have had the nerve to ask us to take abandoned turtles and
tortoises, yet have neglected to assist us with any financial
support.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2002:

Fighting bulls in Moscow

I singlehandedly run my own animal sanctuary in England for
over 160 sick, elderly or needy animals. I read ANIMAL PEOPLE and
recall your September 2001 article regarding bullfighting being
banned in Moscow. In recent years I have become very involved with
animal welfare (or the lack of it) within Russia, visiting several
times and helping the individuals and the few small organisations
there who stand up for animal rights.
I am currently seeking funds to support a small group of
young and determined people who are trying to help the bulls who were
originally brought into Russia for the purpose of fighting them.
The situation is that after your article was published and
bull fighting was banned in Moscow, the bulls were moved 300
kilometers north to Yaroslav, where permission was again sought to
hold a bullfight. This was not granted. Since then, the “owner”
of the bulls has kept them in appalling conditions while continuing
to seek permission to fight them. Many bulls have died from neglect,
but a small group called People for Animals are now trying to raise
funds to purchase these bulls and start the first farm animal
sanctuary in Russia. This would be a massive step forward for animal
rights in a country where the very notion of an animal having any
rights is totally unthinkable. So far I have been the only person
who has shown any interest or offered any support from the West. My
sanctuary is not in a position to help financially. I have begun to
sell my own possessions to raise funds to help these poor animals,
as I feel that if the opportunity is lost in Russia to show people
that farm animals should be treated with love and respect, it may
be a long time before another opportunity comes.
I have asked many large organisations for help, including
the World Society for the Protection of Animals, but have been
refused. WSPA says they are trying to ban bullfighting worldwide,
but if they achieve this, someone must take responsibility for the
animals who have been bred for this purpose.
–Fiona Oakes
Towerhill Stables Animal Sanctuary
Asheldham, Essex
CM0 7DZ, U.K.
44-1621-774-471
44-1621-772-109
<info@drwrinkle.freewire.co.uk>
<www.towerhillstables.com>

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

Australian “aliens” in their native land

Thank you for speaking out against the illogical mass killing
of both introduced and native animals in Australia. It will be
beneficial for people with no understanding of the fact that animals,
feral or not, are each and every one the experiencing subject of a
life, to learn that Australia is being criticised overseas for its
callous attitudes.
An item last night on our national ABC Seven Thirty Report
absolutely bore out everything in the September 2002 ANIMAL PEOPLE
cover feature, “Aliens in their native land.” There was a big story
about the “plague” of kangaroos, said to be in “pest proportions,”
eating all the grass that should be left for the starved cattle
during the drought. Many farmers were interviewed, all saying we
need a vast slaughter of kangaroos, and that kangaroos are the most
prolific breeder, and that we should be farming kangaroos, not
sheep, without a single animal rights person included to even
comment that the kangaroos were here first and we took their land,
and they have come in to eat in the paddocks because all their
rangelands have been destroyed by sheep and cattle grazing.
This year the legal kangaroo kill has already been increased
25% from last year. The topsoil that belonged to the forests and the
aborigines and the kangaroos is blowing away. If the earth was left
unploughed and ungrazed, there would be enough dry grass and scrub
to hold the soil until the drought passes. It has been known for 100
years that the Australia inland has erratic rainfall which cannot be
depended upon, yet in times of plenty the paddocks are still
overstocked, so that in the bad seasons the earth is degraded,
cracked and eroded.
–Christine Townend
Leura, NSW
Australia
<CJTownend@bigpond.com>

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2002:
 
Education

It occurred to me that math should be
part of the humane education curriculum.
For example, if there are 500 female and
500 male dogs in a town whose mayor kills 499 of
the females and 499 of the males, and the
surviving female and her female offspring have
two female and two male puppies twice a year,
who survive disease, accidents and the mayor’s
death squads to reproduce at the same rate, how
many dogs will there be after five years,
assuming that there is plenty of edible rubbish
for the dogs to eat and plenty of water to drink?
If the carrying capacity of the habitat
is 3,000 stray dogs and the mayor hires someone
to kill 2,500 of them each winter, how many dogs
will there be within six months?
Another question could be on rabies: if
70% of the dogs in town are vaccinated against
rabies, and a rabid dog is dumped on the edge of
the town, will rabies spread throughout the town?
If we can communicate to the next
generation the basic math of animal population
control and disease control, we will have much
less difficulty in advancing sterilization and
vaccination in the future, in place of the
present endless cycle of cruel and ineffective
killing.
–Robert Smith
<Robert.Smith@TangoFashions.com>

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