From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Building a safety net for pets
“How do we get the word out that pet ownership is a
commitment for the entire life of the animal? How do we educate
people to not give up or dump their animals?”
We at Maricopa County Animal Care & Control were asking
ourselves these questions just over a year ago, but chose not to
find fault with the people we encounter and instead find ways to help
these people and their animals.
We began by reducing the days in which we would accept owner
relinquishments to Tuesday through Friday. We are inundated with
lost pets over the weekend and typically had to euthanize
owner-relinquished animals to make room for the lost pets picked up
by animal control or found by the public, whom we are required to
hold.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

Prayer

The letter from Patty Finch in your May edition, “Where
there is meat, I don’t eat,” is a very special tribute to farmed
animals. If humanity is ever going to rise to a higher level, it
has to do with the whole animal kingdom. After turning vegan at age
50, and realizing I had been responsible for around 50 animal deaths
per year, I composed a prayer to say for each one. I say it a few
times a day.
–Duncan Myers
Vegetarian Society
of West Michigan
P.O. Box 485
Grand Haven, MI 49417
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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2002:

Meat
After more than a quarter of a century as a vegetarian,
then vegan, I feel a need to expand that commitment, because my
sorrow and horror about the abusive treatment, genetic altering,
and cruel confinement, transport and slaughter of farmed animals has
only intensified over the years. When meat is served in my presence,
I now feel the need to somehow symbolically honor and acknowledge the
immense suffering that animal endured.
“Where there’s meat, I don’t eat,” came to me suddenly. I
will never again eat in a room in which meat is being served.
Know-ing this has brought me some measure of inner peace. I’m not
sure it is a politically sound decision, for it is surely wise to
encourage the offering of vegetarian/vegan alternatives. Yet to eat
contentedly in the presence of meat now feels to me like a betrayal
of the animal sacrificed.
“Where there’s meat, I don’t eat” is a one-person protest,
on behalf of those whose cries of protest were never heard, never
heeded. Even more so, this is something I am doing for myself.
When meat is present, I will still sit at the table and enjoy
myself and my friends, but I can only do so knowing that by not
eating, I am symbolically and publicly acknowledging the pain I
feel on behalf of those who suffered unspeakable and enduring horrors
to become the feast.
–Patty Finch
Phoenix, Arizona
<pfinch@Vview.org>
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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2002:

The right stuff
Bonny Shah of Ahimsa wrote to us that the readers of Animal
People have mailed to her a lot of t- shirts and other stuff which
has reached her by carton loads! Last December she helped us run a
stall at the Cricket Club grounds here, and we collected 10,000
rupees by selling all sorts of things donated by your readers. All
the money went towards purchaing essential medicines for our street
dogs. May God bless you and your readers!
–Rita Vazirani
People For Animals ( Mumbai )
130, Sindhi Society
Mumbai 400 071, India
<v_rita@vsnl.com>

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2001:
Letters

Adoption criteria

I worked for years in Virginia and Maryland as a humane investigator, yet am still horrified by the cruelties inflicted upon helpless creatures, both human and animal. I am also outraged at the practices of many so-called “humane
societies,” both local and national. But then, when you stop and think about it, you can rarely find two people who agree upon what the word “humane” really means. The bottom line is that no one should contribute to any charity without knowing what it really does.

If a group brags about the number of adoptions it does, then find out what the quality of the adoptions is. Is quality better than quantity? If you believe, for instance, that animals should be kept inside and treated as members of the family, then be certain that the group to which you contribute practices that kind of adoption. Many do not!
–Mollie McCurdy
Waynesboro, Virginia

High-volume adoption and strict standards often go together. High-volume adoption shelters with longstanding policies against placing “outdoor” pets include the Helen V. Woodward Center in El Rancho, California, whose executive director, Mike Arms, has supervised more than 250,000 adoptions during his career in humane work; and the North Shore Animal League, annually leading the U.S. in adoptions for more than 20 years.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2001:
Letters
Tolstoy Center
We are glad to inform you that the Leo Tolstoy Center for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals held a press conference on October 4
that attracted more than 30 reporters and the Supreme Soviet deputies
of the Ukraine. We discussed stray dogs, animal experimentation,
bullfighting and other forms of animal fighting for entertainment,
factory farming, hunting, fur, circuses, zoos, and legislation
to protect animals’ rights.
On November 2 we hosted an inter-college conference at the
Kharkov teacher training college, attended by more than 300 students
from 12 academic institutions in Kharkov, Moscow, and Kiev.
We brightened the conference with anti-fur and anti-hunting
skits, an anti-fur fashion show, and dancing by famed Ukrainian
gymnast Helen Sljusarchik.
Appreciating your support and understanding,

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2001:

Little Ecologists

I teach French and English at both a school and a nursery
school in my town. Last year I started “The Little Ecologists Club,”
to educate children about the need to preserve nature, including our
Romanian brown bear, wolf, lynx, and chamois, who are all in
danger of extinction. More than 100 children have joined.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult for me to buy materials such as
books and videos about animals and nature, which my students would
otherwise not see.
I shall be grateful for any materials that can be sent to us
for use in wildlife education.
–Oana Boghean
Str. Lt. V. Marceanu #20
Gura Humorului 5900
Jus. Seceava, Romania
Phone: 030-231185
<boghean@yahoo.com>

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

Letters

Flying foxes

Shots have been fired over activists heads, and many cold nights were spent hiding from dogs and sleeping rough in the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens but we have succeded in stopping the planned slaughter there of grey-headed flying foxes. After hiring gunmen to kill many thousands of the bats, and having activists chase the bats out, the Gardens management has finally realised that they cannot win and has called off further plans for a `cull`.

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