Zoo notes

June 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1994:

A deal to move Ivan the gorilla to the 17-member

colony at Zoo Atlanta has collapsed. Ivan has been kept in a

cage at a now-bankrupt shopping mall in Tacoma, Washington,

for nearly 30 years. Bankruptcy trustee Bianca Harrison claims

the obstacle was that Zoo Atlanta wouldn’t let his keepers to stay

with him during quarantine, wouldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t

be moved again, and wouldn’t promise that he wouldn’t be elec-

troejaculated. Zoo Atlanta says the real issue is that the creditors

think they can get more money for Ivan abroad than the $30,000

the Progressive Animal Welfare Society offered to send him to

Atlanta.

Four gorillas have died at the Columbus Zoo in the

past year––Oscar of a heart attack, Molly and her baby as result

of a premature birth, and Colbi, age six, of apparent severe coli-

tis on May 3. Antibiotic treatments failed.

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.

WILDLIFE

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Fourteen years after being

declared an endangered species and 11

years after being pronounced extinct, the

Palos Verdes blue butterfly has been resdi-

covered. University of California geography

professor Rudi Mattoni, believed to be the

last person to see the butterfly before it pur-

portedly vanished, recognized it again on a

mid-March insect collecting visit to the U.S.

Navy’s Defense Fuel Supply Point in San

Pedro. The site is protected as critical habi-

tat for the also endangered California gnat-

catcher, a small songbird.

Editorial: The cause of the homeless

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The ink wasn’t even dry on the New York Times edition of April 4 when we

received our first outraged call from a dog rescuer. A full-page advertisement placed by the

Coalition for the Homeless showed a forlorn-looking dog at the top. “According to statis-

tics,” the caption read, “his chances of finding a home are 70%.” Below, the photo

expanded to include the homeless woman sitting beside the dog. “Now they’re next to

zero,” said the caption. “Some might say the homeless are treated like dogs. But actually,

a homeless dog is better off than a homeless person. Over 100,000 people bedded down on

New York City’s streets and in shelters last year. But only 2,000 homeless single adults

ended up in homes of their own.”

The statistics cited are accurate, but out of context. As we pointed out to the

Coalition for the Homeless on behalf of our upset readers, the 30% of New York City stray

dogs who don’t find a home within a week to 10 days of pickup are euthanized at one of the

American SPCA shelters. The numbers of stray dogs euthanized are falling much faster

than the number of homeless people on the streets, but the ASPCA still killed 16,760 dogs

in 1991, the most recent year for which we have complete statistics, plus 22,595 cats,

whose chance of adoption ran around 20%.

Saving marine mammals and tigers: The balance of nature vs. the balance of terror

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

WASHINGTON D.C.––The poli-

tics of wildlife protection are at the fore this

month as Congress rushes toward renewing

the Marine Mammal Protection Act on the eve

of the annual push by whaling nations to gut

the whaling ban enacted in 1986 by the

International Whaling Commission––and

everyone has something to trade but the

cetaceans and pinapeds whose fate depends on

the outcome. Simultaneously the fate of wild

tigers and rhinoceroses worldwide would

seem to depend more upon the success of

negotiations over inspection access to North

Korean nuclear power plants than upon either

economics or ecology.

A foreshadowing of the probable

compromises ahead over marine mammals

came on April 11, as President Bill Clinton

barred U.S. imports of wildlife products from

Taiwan effective in mid-May. Said Clinton,

“The world’s tiger and rhinoceros populations

remain gravely endangered and will likely be

extinct within the next two to five years if the

trade in their parts and products, fueled by

market demand in consuming countries, is

not eliminated.”

San Francisco adopts no-kill animal control: WILL DECLARING VICTORY WIN THE WAR?

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

SAN FRANCISCO, California––Euthanasia for animal population control offi-

cially ended in San Francisco effective April 1. Taking San Francisco SPCA president

Richard Avanzino up on a challenge issued last October, the city Department of Animal Care

and Control has agreed it will no longer euthanize any dog or cat who meets Avanzino’s

“adoptable” and “treatable” criteria. The SFSPCA has agreed to accept, treat, and place all

such animals. The agreement is expected to cut by two-thirds the number of euthanasias per-

formed by the city shelter: 5,379 in 1993, already by far the smallest number of euthanasias

relative to human population of any major urban animal control district.

High-volume adoption: THE NORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE HAS MONEY–– BUT THEIR METHODS DON’T TAKE MEGABUCKS

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

PORT WASHINGTON, New York––At 10 a.m. on a

Friday morning, the North Shore Animal League adoption center

is already as crowded as most shelters ever get. The familiar ken-

nel odor assails the nostrils at the door––and stops one step

beyond. Shelter manager Michael Arms wrinkles his nose and

winces. “That’s very embarrassing,” he says. “That’s the only

place that stinks, and it’s right at the entrance. We think there’s

a problem with that drain,” he adds, pointing. Staff architect

Steve Preston looks uncomfortable. “We’ve had all kinds of guys

in here trying to sort it out,” Arms continues, “and we won’t

stop until we get it fixed, because we think it’s very important

that the adoption center smells clean and fresh. We don’t want

people walking in and thinking, ‘Oh my God, if I get a pet my

house is going to stink.’”

As the tour moves on, Preston lingers behind to peer at

the offending drain in evident frustration.

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.

Fur

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The Animal Welfare Institute, the World Society

for the Protection of Animals, and the Nordic Animal

Welfare Council won an upset victory on February 11 at the

International Standards Organization Technical Committee 191

meeting held in Ottawa when the committee voted to delete the

word “humane” from the description of the standards the com-

mittee is developing for submission to the European

Community. If the word “humane” had been used, the effect

might have been to circumvent the EC ban on the import of furs

trapped by inhumane methods, including the leghold trap. The

committee also agreed to admit representatives from the

American SPCA and Humane Society of the U.S.; AWI had

been the only animal protection group included in the trapper-

dominated U.S. delegation. ANIMAL PEOPLE regrets that

this information was inexplicably received nearly two months

after our March issue went to press.

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