LAB ANIMAL UPDATES

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

The American Humane Association on September
16 took custody of 40 beagles who were scheduled for use in
osteoporsosis research at Huntingdon Life Sciences Inc. in
Franklin, New Jersey, but became surplus instead when the
firm that hired the study, Yamanouchi Inc. of Japan, cancelled
it in response to a May public appeal by actress Kim
Basinger. Basinger tried to collect the beagles in person in
July, but Huntingdon would only release them to an accredited
sheltering organization. AHA arranged for them to be
accepted for socialization and eventual adoption through nine
local shelters.
Responding to a Humane Society of New York
petition asking that the USDA require research facilities to
scan incoming dogs and cats for identification microchips,
USDA assistant secretary for marketing and regulatory programs
Michael Dunn announced in August that Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service officials “are launching a
pilot program to use microchip scanners in inspections to
determine their effectiveness, accuracy, and the frequency of
the use of microchips in cats and dogs.”

Berkeley langurs go to Primarily Primates

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

SAN ANTONIO––After 25 years in the hills above
Berkeley, California, at a quiet facility overlooking Tilden
Regional Park, the University of California’s 14 Hanuman langur
monkeys are to go to Primarily Primates, of Leon Springs,
Texas, by January 1, 1998. The langurs, native to India and
Pakistan, have been used in non-invasive behavioral study.
University funding for the Berkeley site ended this
fiscal year, raising activist concern––despite repeated university
denials––that the langurs might be killed. All captive-born,
and all neutered, they could not be returned to the wild.
While the Coalition to Free the Langur Monkeys
demonstrated and petitioned to “save” the colony, led by In
Defense of Animals staffer Josh Trenter, a U.C. Berkeley team
headed by Roy Henrickson, DVM, former campus head of
animal care, reviewed the roster of zoos, sanctuaries, and
wildlife parks willing to take the langurs. The team decided the
two best choices were Primarily Primates and another San
Antonio-area sanctuary, Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation.

Dioxin. E-coli. It’s what’s for lunch.

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

LOS ANGELES––As many as 650 cases of fried
chicken possibly containing trace amounts of dioxin were
divided among 77 Los Angeles Unified School District
cafeterias, an internal memo revealed in mid-August––of
which 649 cases and part of the last case were served to
children before the contamination was detected. The dioxin
came from a kind of clay, mined in Mississippi, that was
mixed into the chickens’ feed to absorb moisture that might
have clogged automatic feeders.
Some of the dioxin-tainted chicken was also
believed to have been sent to schools in Georgia during
January and February 1997, and October 1996.
The dioxin flap shortly preceded the Hudson
Foods recall of more than 25 million pounds of hamburger
that might have become contaminated with e-coli, but
whether it will actually presage any drop in school-promoted
hamburger consumption is yet to be seen.

GOOD THINGS KIDS DID

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

As students settle into the 1997-
1998 school year, we hope recognition of
some of the many outstanding youth accom –
plishments during the past school year and
over the summer might inspire more:
Sarika Sancheti, 17, of New Delhi,
India, won a precedent-setting verdict on May
19 when the federal Ministry of Human
Resources Development made classroom animal
dissection optional, after Delhi High
Court justices V.K. Sabharwal and D.K.
Jain agreed with her attorney, R a m
Panjwani, that the 1960 Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals Act had intended that dissection
should be banned.
Five weeks earlier, Gina Raynor,
14, and Heather Sauders, 15, of
Hagerstown, Maryland, lost a two-year legal
battle when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected
without comment their contention that they
should be compensated for the confiscation
and killing of their pet ferret in a rabies test,
after he bit Christina Lee Heitt, also of
Hagerstown, at a December 1994 slumber
party. The ferret was killed for testing because
Heitt’s mother objected to obliging her to
undergo post-exposure rabies vaccination.

Caras says gays are key to no-kill city

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

NEW YORK CITY–– ”Spay
/neuter and responsible pet ownership are
the ways to reduce the numbers” of animals
killed in shelters due to pet overpopulation,
American SPCA president Roger
Caras wrote on August 21, declining an
invitation to attend the 1997 No Kill
Conference as a guest of the Humane
Coalition of Massachusetts.
“Running on about no-kill as the
answer is maybe okay in San Francisco,
with a population of 70,000, one third
who are gay,” Caras continued, as “the
gay community is traditionally the most
animal-friendly,” but in New York City,
he went on, where the ASPCA is the primary
humane agency, “The numbers do
not work.”

DINOSAUR TOWN SAYS NO TO EXTINCTION

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

BOZEMAN, Montana––With much less fanfare than in San Franciso, the
Humane Society of Gallatin Valley in mid-1995 introduced no-kill animal control to the
city of Bozeman, a college town of 22,600 best known for its dinosaur museum.
“The challenges were almost overwhelming,” recalls board member Bruce
Jodar. “The staff worked until they were ready to drop as the number of animals in their
care skyrocketed. In the end, the response of the citizenry turned the tide. People came
from all over the county to adopt a pet from Montana’s only no-kill shelter. Hundreds of
animals who would have been killed in the past now share loving homes.”

Animal control & rescue

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

Potbellied pigs
A study by Linda Lord and Thomas Wittum,
published in the September 1 edition of the Journal of the
American Veterinary Medical Association, found that 802
U.S. humane societies reported receiving 4,380 requests to
accept owner surrenders of Vietnamese potbellied pigs in an
18-month period, taking in 3,149, including 615 found running
at large. The major reasons for owner surrenders of pigs
were large size (58%), zoning restrictions (34%), and
aggressive behavior (19%). Of 485 hog slaughtering plants
surveyed, 255 had been asked to kill potbellied pigs, and
had among them slaughtered 2,640, refusing to slaughter
another 1,407. Commented Jim Brewer of PIGS: A
Sanctuary, “It’s even worse than that. We’re actually
receiving more distress calls these days from would-be pig
rescuers who are in over their heads than from individual
owners––and we’re still getting plenty of those calls, too.”

Updates on Carroll Cox investigations done for Friends of Animals

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

While employed by
Friends of Animals, Carroll Cox
investigated––among many other
topics––the U.S. Navy practice
bombing of Farallon de Medinilla,
an uninhabited Pacific island used
extensively by endangered, threatened,
and otherwise protected
seabirds; the reason why the
Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species secretariat
last year rejected the fiscal 1994
U.S. wildlife import/export data
submitted by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service; the alleged misuse
of a scientific research permit
issued to Albright College professor
Marsha Green, both by Green herself

Mystery firing at WSPA, too

October 1, 1997 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:

Named special projects director by
the World Society for the Protection of
Animals in June, after 12 years in similar
roles with the American SPCA, Kathi
Travers immediately won headlines with
high-profile rescues of pets from the volcano-wracked
Caribbean island of
Montserrat, but was fired August 20, appare-
ntly – –ANIMAL PEOPLE understood
then––due to conflict with other WSPA staff.

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