ANIMAL HEALTH

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

“Often dogs show signs of lead intoxication

before children, and the signs in humans are more subtle

than in dogs,” University of Missouri veterinary toxicologist

Stan Casteel advises. Canine symptoms include prolonged

diarhea, vomiting, and stomach upset.

Fort Dodge Laboratories, a division of

American Home Products, has introduced the first vac-

cine for treating and preventing ringworm in cats. T h e

vaccine replaces traditional oral and topical treatments.

Michigan State University professor of veteri-

nary medicine Sally Walshaw, 49, on May 1 became the

ninth annual winner of the Leo K. Bustad Companion

Animal Veterinarian Award––and the first female recipient.

Walshaw teaches laboratory techniques. Said Richard

Walshaw, her husband and a fellow member of the MSU

veterinary teaching staff, “Before Sally, few people really

ever bothered understanding laboratory animals’ feelings,

and they indeed have a lot of feelings.”

Hartz Mountain ignites a powder keg

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

HARRISON, New Jersey––The Hartz Mountain

Corporation on May 6 lit a powder keg by donating 10 cases

each of Blockade flea and tick repellent to numerous animal

shelters. Blockade hasn’t been controversial recently, but

some shelter staff recalled the history of the product and

responded by not only rejecting the gift, but also setting up

a telephone tree to warn other shelters.

The initial furor erupted in 1987, when Blockade

was introduced. Within a year it was blamed for 366 pet

deaths, 2,700 pet injuries, and 56 “alleged unsubstantiated

human injuries,” according to a letter Hartz Mountain sent

the EPA in December 1987, when it took Blockade off the

market for further testing.

Who needs low-cost neutering? PART ONE OF A NEW NATIONAL STUDY

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

PORT WASHINGTON, New York––Low-cost neutering doubles the number of

poor people who get their pets fixed––and cuts animal shelter intakes in half.

Any doubts that either shelter administrators or veterinarians may have about the

efficacy of low-cost neutering should be laid to rest by the results of a new national study car-

ried out over the past six months by ANIMAL PEOPLE, under sponsorship of the North

Shore Animal League. The first part of the study, investigating the impact of low-cost neu-

tering on pet overpopulation, is published here. The second part, a comprehensive review of

veterinary experience, will appear in our July/August issue––including veterinarians’ ideas

about how to improve low-cost neutering pro-

grams to get even better results and resolve

grievances that often hamper programs.

Birds

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Virtually insuring the mass destruction of spar-

rows, who provide much of China’s insect control, Beijing

Weekend magazine on April 1 published the assertion of profes-

sor Chen Wenbo of the Beijing Drum Tower Hospital of

Traditional Chinese Medicine that eating six sparrows and 15

grams of Chinese wolfberries per day for three months can cure

male sterility. The professor, 57, claimed to have cured

30,000 patients with a diet of sparrows over the past 13 years:

86% of their wives became pregnant. Since 1991 the price of

sparrows at the bird market outside the hospital has reportedly

doubled from three U.S. cents apiece to six.

Siberian cranes failed to arrive this winter at

Keolado National Park, near Bharatpur, India, for the first

time in 30 years. Only six were seen in Iran, and none in

Pakistan, marking the virtual extinction of the western flock,

which numbered 200 about 30 years ago. About 2,900 Siberian

cranes survive in the eastern flock, wintering in eastern China.

Horses

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Wyeth-Ayerst spent $9.2 million to push the estro-

gen supplement Premarin in 1992, according to Advertising

Age, while Ciba-Geigy spent $4.7 million promoting Estrace,

the leading rival product. Both drugs are sold to treat symp-

toms of menopause. Premarin is based on urine from pregnant

mares, who spend winters strapped to collection apparatus

under conditions similar to those of dairy cattle. More than

80% of the foals are sold to the horsemeat trade. Estrace is by

contrast a synthetic product. The estrogen supplement market

is expected to grow fast: only 7.4 million women take them

now, of an estimated potential U.S. market of 26.2 million.

The American SPCA, a leading foe of the New

York City carriage horse trade, now has its own carriage,

a replica of the horsedrawn ambulance it used in rescue work

circa 1895, built by former board member LeRoy Swindell.

The carriage is to debut at the Steuben Day Parade in October .

ANIMAL HEALTH

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Zoonosis

The politics of rabies took a twist

on April 1 when in all seriousness Patricia

Munoz, public health director for

Washington County, New York, told the

county public health committee that she need-

ed an infectious disease control nurse on her

staff to handle the growing rabies-related

caseload. The Washington County public

health department handled about 500 more

cases of all types during the first three months

of 1994, including 16 cases of possible expo-

sure to rabid animals. Munoz got the com-

mittee to recommend the hiring, then dis-

closed that the nurse would also handle

hepatitis and salmonella cases, both of which

are far more numerous.

Animal control & rescue

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

A DISMAL TUNE FROM DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE OHIO

MANSFIELD, Ohio––A recent

survey of Ohio county animal control depart-

ments done by neutering advocate Diana

Nolen found that 64% consider their shelters

to be overcrowded, 58% see parvovirus as

their greatest health problem (a disease associ-

ated with overcrowding), and only 27%

expect to be able to expand or improve their

facilities soon. Two-thirds of the departments

depend wholly upon dog licensing, fines, and

redemption fees for their income.

Nolen’s survey forms were returned

by the animal control departments in 33 of the

88 Ohio counties, containing 47% of the

human population. The findings indicate that

Ohio animal control agencies took in about

197,000 dogs and cats in 1993; euthanized

135,000, or 69%; adopted out 37,000 (19%);

and returned 25,000 (13%) to their owners.

Thirty percent reported declining intake and

euthanasia figures, 42% reported no change,

and 24% reported increases.

BOOKS: If Wishes Were Horses: The Education of a Veterinarian

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

If Wishes Were Horses: The

Education of a Veterinarian, by Loretta

Gage, DVM, and Nancy Gage, St Martin’s Press

(175 Fifth Ave, New York NY 10010), 1992, 295 pages,

paperback $4.99 U.S., $5.99 in Canada.

Nearly everyone who loves animals has at some

point dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. Loretta Gage was

one: this is her account of the reality behind that dream. With

relentless attention to detail, she and her sister describe the

process of becoming a doctor of veterinary medicine.

At times her dream seems more like a nightmare, an

endless boot camp of classes taught by insensitive instructors,

of animals sacrificed for knowledge of basic procedures.

Still, there are moments of friendship, human and nonhuman,

and Gage is impressively determined to succeed.

COURT CALENDAR

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Crimes Against Humans

Larry Gibson, 33, ex-deputy

sheriff for Douglas County, Oregon,

was arrested April 14 in Townsend,

Montana, for the alleged murder of his

two-year-old son Tommy on March 18,

1991. Gibson claimed he was jogging

when the boy disappeared, while his wife

was indoors; their daughter, then four,

said strangers drove off with him.

Unconvinced, investigators theorized in

May 1991 that Gibson shot his son by

accident while killing a neighbor’s cat

near the time of the disappearance.

Gibson’s wife, daughter, and another

son born since then recently left

him––whereupon the daughter, now

seven, told police she actually saw

Gibson strike Tommy, then stuff him

into a garbage bag.

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