State legislative summaries

July 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

A felony cruelty penalty and a statewide system of
registration, regulation, and inspection governing private animal
rescuers take effect in Virginia on July 1.
The felony cruelty provision applies only to deliberately
fatal injuries inflicted upon owned pet dogs or cats. Offenders may
be jailed for up to five years.
The bill governing rescuers was requested by the Virginia
Federation of Humane Societies in response to complaints about lost
animals not being reunited with their families, because the
discovery of the animals running at large was never reported to local
shelters. The bill also anticipates the possibility that dogfighters
may use “breed rescue” as cover to obtain animals, a scam recently
uncovered in several other states.

GAO hits nonprofits for hiding professional fundraising fees

July 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

WASHINGTON D.C.–Echoing criticisms of IRS disclosure
standards often voiced by ANIMAL PEOPLE, the General Accounting
Office urged a crackdown on misleading declarations of fundraising
expense in a new report formally known as GAO-02-526: Tax-Exempt
Organizations: Improvements Possible in Public, IRS, and State
Oversight of Charities.
“Public watchdog groups have expressed concerns about expense
reporting, and the IRS has found and acted on instances of
inaccurate reporting,” the GAO acknowledged. “However, the IRS has
not assessed, and is just beginning to develop plans to assess, the
extent to which charities are properly reporting expenses.”

Will wild orca capture and Makah whaling resume on Puget Sound?

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

SEATTLE, SHIMONSEKI– Decisions announced on May 24, 2002
by the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington D.C. and the
International Whaling Commission in Shimonseki, Japan, hint that
the next big battles over both whale captivity and whale-hunting
might be fought on Puget Sound, Washington state.
But again, maybe not, as the issues of captivity and
“cultural subsistence” whaling that sparked high-profile protest in
the mid-1990s have all but dropped from public view.

When mobile units work, and when they do not

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

WESTBROOK, Connecticut; ST. LOUIS, Missouri–Mobile
neutering project results could scarcely contrast more than those of
the TEAM Mobile Feline Unit and a similar unit recently deployed in
St. Louis.
Sponsored since 1997 by the Vernon A. Tait All-Animal
Adoption, Preservation, & Rescue Fund, TEAM in May 2002 announced
completion of more than 50,000 cat sterilizations, at the rate of
about 12,000 surgeries per year.

On the animal news beat

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

ANIMAL PEOPLE has received messages from several different
Ohio activists and organizations crediting WOIO-Channel 19 television
reporter Scott Taylor, of Cleveland, and Carolyn Lyders of
WBNS-Channel 10 in Columbus, with helping to expose and halt animal
control dog shooting and gassing with vehicular exhaust in several
rural counties. Taylor was praised especially for his reporting
about Vinton and Morgan counties, which alerted other people who
were in a position to help. Wrote Michael Sangiacomo of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Jeff Driggs shot 600 dogs to death in
Morgan County last year. The dog warden did nothing about it.

Cat show breeder Rexelle convicted

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

Prominent show cat breeder Debra Rexelle, 50, was on May 17
convicted of four felonies and four misdemeanors pertaining to the
alleged gross neglect of 212 cats found at her rented home near
Modesto, California, in August 2000. She was acquitted of nine
other charges, including a felony count relating to the discovery of
about 50 dead cats at the same site.
Rexelle was fined for keeping more than 50 cats on the
property without the correct license in 1993, but claimed to have
passed an inspection by local animal control officers in February
2000.

Greyhound abuse

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa; EAGLE CREEK, Oregon; LILLIAN,
Alabama–Three greyhound racing scandals broke in different parts of
the U.S. within just three days preceding the Memorial Day weekend,
and all three seemed to confirm the darkest allegations of
anti-greyhound racing protesters about how the dogs are trained and
culled.
“Investigative reports released by the Iowa Racing and Gaming
Commission show that Victor ‘Jay’ Rangel, 33, of Council Bluffs,
was accused by witnesses of using a whip on the greyhound Primco
Glasco, and striking the dog with his hand,” William Petroski of
the Des Moines Register reported on May 20.

Wise-users kill Canadian ESA, anti-cruelty bill

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

OTTAWA–Canadian Alliance leader John Reynolds gloated on
April 30 that the third attempt of the Liberal government to pass a
national endangered species act appeared to be dead. The current
Parliament is to adjourn on June 21. Liberal house leader Ralphe
Goodale–insisting that the currently introduced Species-at-Risk Act
will “get to the finish line by mid-June”–had by May 28 made no new
move to push it. The Liberals are strongest in Quebec and Atlantic
Canada; the Canadian Alliance dominates the west.

Friends of Animals board chair resigns over anti-chaining bill veto

June 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2002:

HARTFORD–Connecticut state representative Kenneth Bernhard
(R-Westport) has resigned his longtime position as Friends of Animals
board chair, in protest against the role of FoA president Priscilla
Feral in persuading Governor John G. Rowland, a fellow Republican,
to veto what would have been the first state law to explicitly limit
the number of hours per day that dogs could be chained, caged, or
kenneled.
Drafted by Animal Advocacy Connecticut founder Julie Lewin,
the anti-chaining bill was approved 124-17 in the state house and
30-6 in the state senate. Lawmakers backed the bill partly out of
sympathy for dogs chained outdoors alone in all kinds of weather,
and partly due to increasing recognition that prolonged chaining,
caging, or kenneling tends to make dogs more territorial and
reactive, resulting in more frequent bites and more serious bites
than if the dogs have the option of moving away from a threat or
challenge.

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