Who’s on top for top job at HSUS?

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

The Humane Society of the U.S., expected to accept the scheduled retirement of president Paul Irwin at its fall 2001 annual meeting, in May published an ad in the Chronicle of Philanthrophy soliciting applications from would-be successors. Insiders told ANIMAL PEOPLE in late 1999 that vice president for government relations Wayne Pacelle had been chosen but not yet announced as Irwin’s successor, but sources close to Pacelle said a year later that other candidates might be favored by the board, and that Pacelle, if rejected, would leave HSUS to enter politics. HSUS staff who have previously held top posts include current HSUS executive vice president Patty Forkan; former North Shore Animal League president David Ganz; former American SPCA president John Kullberg; former American Humane Association animal protection division chief Dennis White; and Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy founder Andrew Rowan.

Fundraising

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

Foundation Giving Trends 2001, published recently by The Foundation Center, indicates that of all the grant money distributed by U.S. private foundations in 2000, just 1.3% was given to help “Animals and wildlife.” This was marginally more than was spent on science and technological research exclusive of health care, however, and was nearly three times as much as was spent on “Religion” and “International affairs, development, and peace.”

Crime, punishment, and mega-rewards

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
SAN JOSE, Calif.–Andrew Burnett, 27, on July 13 drew the maximum sentence of three years in prison for felony cruelty from Santa Clara County Superior Court judge Kevin J. Murphy. A jury on June 20 convicted him of grabbing a bichon frise named Leo from Sara
McBurnett of Incline Village, Nevada, after a minor freeway accident in San Jose airport, and hurling the dog to his death in heavy traffic.

The February 2000 incident drew global attention, not only as a dramatic example of a “Link” case, in which a man kills an animal to intimidate a woman, but also because a reward fund for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer soared to $115,000.

ARM!/Chicago to stand down, but ARM!/PAC stands up

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:
DENVER, CHICAGO–Just as the last visible remnant of Animal Rights Mobiliz-ation! seemed to be fading from the movement it helped to launch, the ARM! Political Action Committee emerged seeking felony penalties for extreme cruelty to animals in Colorado and Wyoming.

ARM!/PAC claimed a preliminary victory on July 6 when Circuit Judge Randal Arp of Torrington, Wyoming, sentenced Travis Wilson, 20, to serve eight months in jail for beating, mutilating, and burning alive his ex-girlfriend’s basset hound. Wilson may get two to five years more for stealing the hound. More than 1,000 letters and 300 telephone calls resulting from ARM!/PAC alerts had urged an aggressive prosecution and stiff sentencing.

U.S. courts reshape dangerous dog law

July 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2001:

SAN FRANCISCO–Legal experts and news media commented on how unusual the charges were back on March 27, 2001, when a San Francisco grand jury indicted lawyer Marjorie Knoller, 45, for alleged second-degree murder. The grand jury also indicted both Knoller and her husband and law partner Robert Noel, 56, for alleged involuntary manslaughter and failure to control an animal. Both Knoller and Noel have been jailed since leading police on a 200-mile car chase later on March 27, under suspicion of trying to escape the jurisdiction of the court.

Knoller and Noel were custodians of two Presa Canario dogs owned by prison lifers Dale Bretches, 44, and Paul Schneider, 38, whom police identify as reputed leaders of the white supremacist Aryan Nations gang. On January 26, the two dogs broke away from Knoller and
killed neighbor Diane Whipple, 33. The dogs had a history of attacking people and animals, witnesses testified, and one dog had allegedly injured Noel.

Tropical Storm Allison kills 35,000 lab animals

June 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

HOUSTON–Flash-flooding caused by Tropical Storm Allison killed an estimated 30,000 animals between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m. on June 9 at the Baylor College of Medicine, and killed 4,700 more at the nearby University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center.

The UT losses included several hundred rabbits, 78 monkeys used mostly in longterm intelligence research, and 35 dogs. Most of the other animal victims were mice and rats. The flooding revealed an unforseen weakness in the design of the two basement animal care facilities.

AWA, rats, mice, birds

June 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

WASHINGTON D.C.–The Animal Welfare Act is more secure and the likelihood of the USDA promptly issuing new enforcement regulations requiring federally inspected laboratories to report their use of rats, mice, and birds is greater as result of Senate restructuring due to the resignation from the Republican Party of Vermont Senator James Jeffords.

Jeffords’ resignation cost the Republicans the Senate majority–and meant that Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) succeeded Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) as chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture.

Animal care & control

June 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

The San Francisco SPCA on June 1 announced a 22-position, 10% staff cut and termination of the contract it has held for about one year to provide night veterinary care at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control shelter, both effective on July 1 as part of a 15% budget cut. The budget cut was reportedly the first for the SF/SPCA in more than 20 years. Critics of SF/SPCA president Ed Sayres noted that the cuts closely followed recommendations issued by former SF/SPCA operations director Nathan Winograd in an October 27 memo to SF/SPCA vice president Daniel Crain.

Viagra vs. sealing–it might help the sealers, too

June 1, 2001 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2001:

ST. JOHN’S, New-foundland–Seal pelt prices tripled and a two-week extension of the Atlantic Canada seal hunt, originally to have ended on May 15, encouraged sealers to kill two to three times as many infant harp seals in 2001 as in 2000. Just 91,000 seals were landed in 2000. By early May 2001, the toll stood at 186,000.

But even selling pelts for $40 in Canadian money, up from $13, will not leave sealers with more than a marginal profit. A June 15 report by Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment president Gary Gallon, commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, found that federal and provincial governments have spent $20.5 million [Canadian funds] since 1995 to prop up sealing via 38 different subsidy programs.

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