From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1998:

Street dogs
Thank you for your articles
about Help In Suffering. I have always
believed that our program is part of a
much greater whole. India is the only
country in the world with such a large
number of vegetarians by choice, and
India still has the tradition of recognizing
the animal’s right to live, even if the animal
is sometimes a nuisance. E.g., yesterday
I was watching people feeding
flocks of pigeons, which were pooing
everywhere. Pigeons are considered
sacred here, but in Sydney, Australia,
my home town, they are poisoned.
Examples are many, and street
dogs are one of them. The street dogs are
definitely sometimes a nuisance, but generally
people respect their interests,
except where the people have become
modernized and westernized, and want
clean streets devoid of animals.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1998:

House Jack built
Your November 1997 editorial,
“Living in the house that Jack built,” is a
masterpiece. I’ve circulated copies to a
variety of people. Your description of the
wildlife problems on Whidbey Island
made me laugh, something that never
happens when I read other animal protection
publications, and a welcome relief
from anger, frustration, and tears.
––Linn Pulis
Gardiner, Maine

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1998:

Shocked
I contribute a substantial donation
monthly to the National Wildlife Federation,
and was shocked to read that they are a national
umbrella for state hunting clubs. I cannot
participate in that. ––Bob D. Craig
Granite Falls, Washington

Outrageous
Your December edition was very
informative in regard to the outrageous salaries
that many organizations pay their executives.
I will let the offenders know that I won’t be
supporting them any more. ––Karin Hiller
Mill Valley, California

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1997:

Servicing coyotes
The Wildlife Services division of the
USDA, formerly Animal Damage Control,
recently published findings from a study using
lithium chloride balls as an aversive conditioner
for coyotes.
Lithium chloride is an emetic. It
causes the coyotes severe vomiting. It has
been used in Saskatchewan and Manitoba for
over 30 years with excellent results. It does
not kill coyotes––just trains them to avoid certain
food sources. In Canada, ranchers inject
45% lithium chloride into dead sheep, placing
them in areas that coyotes frequent. Coyotes
learn to associate sheep with violent illness,
and therefore avoid sheep.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1997:

Greece
Thank you for sending your wonderful paper.
It’s nice to read that animal welfare issues are being
tackled globally!
As chief executive of the Greek Animal
Welfare Fund, based in the United Kingdom, I am
very involved in locating where exotic animals are kept
within Greece, seeing how they are kept, and if necessary,
doing what we can to help.
Early this year we moved 11 apes and two
crowned cranes from the Athens zoo. Last weekend I
managed to get the last monkey out of Iraklion, in
Crete. We have four more monkeys lined up to go,
from the National Gardens in Athens, a bar in Voula,
and a wildlife center in Aegina. We have been very
lucky to gain the support of the AAP Foundation in
Amsterdam [a world-acclaimed primate facility], and
to date all the apes have gone there. After a short quarantine
for tests and treatment, they have been introduced
into family groups. We hope they will eventually
be relocated into an approved venue together.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

No-kill animal control agency
The Colorado Humane Society & SPCA is an open-door
shelter that provides animal control service to a large part of the
Denver metropolitan area––while operating as a no-kill shelter. We do
not kill animals for lack of space or for time limits. We euthanize only
to end the suffering of mortally injured or sick animals; when directed
to do so by a government agency; when an animal’s aggression is
unalterable and it poses a risk to society; and when an owner asks us
to do so––and we try to talk them out of it. In all of our research, I
have found no information on other organizations which manage this
difficult feat. Do you know of another? We would like to find information
on similar organizations, and would love to share information
on our success where it may help others.
––Pat Milton
Colorado Humane Society
Littleton, Colorado

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1997:

The bear truth
Regarding the Florida “Habitat for
bears” license plate campaign that kicked off
in June, mentioned in your July/August edition,
it is essential to note that other specialty
plates in Florida, like the manatee plate,
are specifically designed to provide funds for
the conservation of particular endangered
species. The bear plate, as proposed, would
simply create a new funding source for the
Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish
Commission. If the petition drive in support
of the bear plate is successful, the
Commission will get $15 from every plate
sold, to use as needed, including to promote
blood sports.
Revenue from hunting and fishing
license sales in Florida is plummeting. Sales
of one-year freshwater fishing licenses to
Florida residents, for instance, have
dropped by more than 100,000 since 1986.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1997:

Disaster
On March 1, 1997, tornadoes
swept through Arkansas,
killing people and animals and leaving
horrible destruction. We were
responsible for Animal Disaster
Relief for the city of Arkadelphia,
one of two densely populated areas
which were flattened by the storms.
We would like to publicly thank the
four national organizations which
immediately offered help and stayed
in contact with us for the three weeks
we ran the temporary shelter.
We were first contacted by
Bill Dollinger of Friends of Animals.
Thanks to Dollinger and FoA president
Priscilla Feral, we had the
funds to buy a large number of tarpaulins
for what was left of the roof
and sides of the open hog barn we
were allowed to use to house animals
at the local fairgrounds. The tarps
were needed to keep constant rain
and cutting, freezing winds off the
animals and volunteers. Bill also put
our problems on the Internet, and as
a direct result, many people sent
bedding and donations.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:

Concern for Helping
Animals in Israel members have
been withholding contributions to the
United Jewish Appeal, Israel Bonds,
and other charities that channel funds
to Israel, in protest over the Israeli
government’s refusal to allow an
ambulance donated by CHAI to an
Israeli animal shelter to enter Israel
without payment of exhorbitant customs
duties. Ambulances for people
enter Israel duty-free, but a $40,000
customs duty was imposed on the
$26,000 animal ambulance. The
ambulance would replace mass
strychnine poisonings. Appeals from
Senators and Representatives, as
well as from many animal protection
and Jewish organizations have been
ignored. The Animal Protection
Division within Israel’s environment
ministry agreed to pay the customs
duties from their own shelter budget,
but the finance ministry insists that
the money come from Americans.

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