From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2008:
 
Collaborating to save “garbage dogs” in Turkey

As “the” international print and online
animal news periodical, I think Animal People
should inform its tens of thousands of
international readers about how collaboration can
bring about major changes around the globe
without people even leaving their seat.
I recently received an e-mail about a
Turkish dog with paralyzed legs who according to
a Facebook posting was allegedly crushed in a
garbage truck. Although I am Armenian, I was
born and spent the first 10 years of my life in
Turkey. I contacted a Turkish group to whom our
organization has sent medicine, supplies and
money. They had already been in touch with the
mayor of the Turkish city of Van, where the
incident occurred. The garbage men did not crush
the dog in the garbage truck. They merely used
the truck to transport the dog to the town’s
garbage dump, where they left him, thinking he
could at least find food there.
Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2008:
(Actual publication date 11-5-08.)

 
Animal welfare vs. conservation

I really enjoyed your September 2008 editorial feature Animal welfare & conservation in conflict. It certainly raised some interesting discussion points in the welfare vs. conservation debate. As an animal welfarist and conservationist is it possible to be both?! I find myself conflicted over such topics. I think its great to raise awareness of these conflicts and hopefully work toward solutions.
Heather Bacon, DVM
Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2008:
 
Turtles

I had my tickets ready to fly to Bali for the 2008 Asia for
Animals conference, but was forced to stay back, as I had to take
care of around twelve types of endangered tortoises in a pond
constructed some 700 years back by a king for his people inside the
premises of the Hargrib Mahdab Temple, around 40 kilometers from my
home.
The Kamrup deputy commissioner, with funding from the prime
minister, in April 2008 constructed a five-foot-high concrete wall
around the pond, preventing the tortoises from coming to the shore
of the pond to bask in the sun and laying their eggs. They developed
fungal infections from staying inside the pond continuously, with
water leeches feeding on them. Fifteen tortoises died recently
within one months time. Three hundred fifty coconut trees around the
pond were felled in the name of beautification, so there was no
shade for the tortoises, and the pump for a fountain installed
within the pond made the water even hotter.
Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
 
Saving turtles

In your July/August 2000 edition you mentioned that I had put
up $2,500 worth of turtle crossing signs at my own expense, with an
under-cost contribution of materials by Western Signs Inc. For an
update of how much this project has grown, please visit our web site.
–Michele Andre-St. Cyr
Safety Habitat Education Long Life
Rockland, Ontario
Canada
Phone: 613-446-9927
<motherturtle@lincsat.com>
<www.turtleshelltortue.org>
Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2008:

Sofia city sterilization program excludes pets

Two days prior to the Orthodox Easter, the Municipal Council
of Sofia adopted a stray dog population control program for
2008-2011. Municipal animal control director Miroslav Naydenov
stressed in the media that the new national animal protection act
gives the municipalities until January 2011 to shelter all stray dogs.
Unfortunately the Sofia program does not include adequate
solutions for the problem. The situation was already complicated by
the national prohibition of killing animals for population control,
while failing to provide adequately for sterilizing pets. The only
pet population control measures included in the municipal program are
the introduction of dog registration with increased fees for keeping
unsterilized dogs. Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:
 
Fostering instead of sheltering

Since the local Ontario SPCA shelter closed, I started–with
a group of like minded people–It’s A Dog’s Life Fostering Network.
We take dogs from the local pound who have not been claimed by their
owners, after their 4-day holding time expires. We have taken all
the dogs who would have been killed, had them spayed or neutered,
and placed them in foster homes. Since February 2008 we have taken
in 12 dogs. Of these, four were surrenders who probably would have
ended up on the streets of Kenora, and ultimately at the pound. We
have adopted out 10 dogs. We just received one dog today, so we
presently only have two dogs up for adoption.
This all came about from your November 2003 editorial
“Sheltering is pointless until the need is reduced.” I now promote
fostering over shelters.
Read more

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2008:
 
Training Saddam’s royal guard

Thank you so much for s ending ANIMAL PEOPLE to me here in
Australia. I encourage everyone to subscribe. Many people I know
who love animals and belong to animal welfare groups tell me they
have never read anything quite like ANIMAL PEOPLE, that covers so
many global issues in depth.
Your reports from war zones pull the heartstrings of soldiers
I know who have made note of their own experiences with animal
suffering and blatant cruelty during war or training.
My former husband served in Iraq as one of Saddam Hussein’s
royal guard. He told me they were trained by being given a goat,
then a pig, then a donkey, whom they had to run down and wrestle to
death with their bare hands. He felt bad about killing these
animals. He described them as “My friends when I was a child, and
not my enemies. Never my enemies.”
–Rebekah Blackwolf Mitchell
Victoria, Australia

Read more