Too many deer

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Deer overpopulation remained a hot

issue right through the winter in at least four

states. In Pennsylvania, where the legislature

recently mandated a 6.5% cut in the deer herd,

the state Game Commission enlisted the

National Guard to plow 1,200 miles of roads

and trails to enable hungry deer to reach 875

food plots at 65 public access hunting areas.

Without the feeding, some deer might have

starved––and many pregnant does would have

reabsorbed their fetuses, achieving the reduc-

tion in herd size independent of sport hunting.

What makes a scandal?

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Over the past decade, the following issues have become the

focus of 219 public scandals involving 101 U.S. animal shelters, of

which 60 were municipal animal control facilities; 18 were convention-

al humane societies, some of which held animal control contracts; 14

were no-kill shelters; and eight fell into other categories.

The total number of scandals is quite small, considering that

there are more than 6,000 shelters and animal control holding facilities

in the U.S. However, an evident pattern of repeated scandals at the

same shelters reflects a combination of administrators unwilling to rec-

tify problems and a resulting growth of public mistrust, so that eventu-

ally even relatively minor problems become scandals.

Essay was “anti-meat”

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

SACRAMENTO, California––Under heavy public

pressure for alleged racist censorship, the California state

Board of Education on March 12 reversed an earlier decision

to exclude from state achievement tests an essay and a short

story by Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker, plus a story by

Annie Dillard. The Walker essay “Am I Blue?”, was pulled

from the exams because, according to board chair Marion

McDowell, “It was anti meat-eating.”

The essay concerns a woman’s reflections upon the

loneliness of a horse kept for years in a paddock. It concludes,

“As we talked of freedom and justice one day for all, we sat

down to steaks. I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the

first bite. And spat it out.”

Getting a leash on no-kills

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

PHOENIX, Arizona––”As a volunteer at a no-

kill animal sanctuary in Utah,” Lynda Foro wrote to 230 no-

kill shelter directors last summer, “and as a supporter of no-

kill sanctuaries in the Phoenix area, I believe a directory of

the no-kill animal sanctuaries in the U.S. will be a useful

tool for communication and support.”

Foro compiled her mailing list from a combination

of personal contacts and responses to a classified ad in ANI-

MAL PEOPLE. About half the addressees responded,

enabling her to publish the 1994 No-Kill Directory i n

January. Sales were brisk enough, at $10 apiece, to meet

most of her expenses. (Order from POB 10905, Glendale,

AZ 85318-0905.) Already she’s assembling a 1995 edi-

tion––and is attracting notice from those who research trends

in humane work. Stereotypes of no-kills abound, but hard

data is lacking, largely because no one has had the roster of

such facilities necessary to do serious surveying.

Animal Control & Rescue

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

International

Police in the East City dis-

trict of Beijing, China, beat 351 dogs

to death during the second week of

February. “Our policy is to annihilate

them,” said district deputy chief of pub-

lic security Li Wenrui. Some other dis-

trict police bureaus spared smaller pure-

breds––if their owners could find homes

for them outside the city. Still others

killed dogs by strangulation, electrocu-

tion, and dragging them behind jeeps.

Press releases said the dogs were taken

to a shelter run by the Public Security

Ministry, but Jan Wong of the Toronto

Globe and Mail’s China Bureau reported

there is no such place. The Communist

government banned dogs as a nuisance

and a waste of food when it came to

power in 1949. Dogs have been hunted

out and killed every few years since

1951. Despite the killing, stepped up

since 1986, an estimated 100,000 dogs

inhabit Beijing, where a black market

dog can cost as much as many workers’

annual income. Foreigners and others

who can get dogs licensed and vaccinat-

ed may keep them––but rabies vaccine is

so scarce that the disease has killed as

many as 60,000 Chinese since 1980,

and most license applications are denied.

Woofs and growls

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

People

Resisting pressure from some of the most influen-

tial members of his own political party, Kenyan president

Daniel Arap Moi on March 10 refused to accept Wildlife

Services director Richard Leakey’s mid-January resignation,

and ordered him to resume his work. Arap Moi took two months

to review allegations of corruption and racism directed against

Leakey, 49, by leading politicians who favor economically

exploiting the vast Kenyan wildlife reserves––among them

tourism minister Noah Katana and local government minister

William Ole Ntimama, two of the most influential figures in the

government after Moi. In four years as Wildlife Services direc-

tor, Leakey won worldwide acclaim for professionalizing the

warden staff and curbing poachers, who had severely dimin-

ished the elephant and rhinoceros populations during the 1980s.

Crackdown on charities

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Assistant Treasury Secretary Leslie Samuels on March 17 proposed to

allow the Internal Revenue Service to impose sanctions on charities whose executives

receive excessive compensation and fringe benefits. Executives whose compensation

violates yet-to-be-established IRS guidelines would be forced to repay the charities.

The Philanthropic Advisory Service, a division of the Council of

Better Business Bureaus, has added to its 22 standards for charities a requirement

that direct mailings must state whether the organization is counting any part of their

cost as a program expense. The disclosure must appear in the body of the appeal,

in type no smaller and no less prominent than the rest of the text. Many national

animal and habitat protection charities write off a significant amount of their direct

mail fundraising expense as “public education.” (For a list of charities that do, see

the December 1993 ANIMAL PEOPLE feature “Who Gets The Money?”, or

send $2.00 to POB 205, Shushan, NY 12873 for a copy.)

MSPCA and ASPCA controversies

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Charges that the Boston-based Mass-

achusetts SPCA runs Angell Memorial Hospital

as a profitable venture instead of as a charity

resurfaced for the third time in six years on

February 22 in The Boston Globe. “The hospital

requires pet owners to pay for services in full up

front, or at least a 50% deposit with any payment

plan, before any medical work is done on ani-

mals,” explained reporter David Armstrong.

Said Donna Bishop of the Boston-area

rescue group Alliance for Animals, “The MSPCA

bills itself as a resource for people in need, and

they solicit funds on the basis of being a charitable

organization, but when people arrive there and

need services, they are denied.”

Responded Angell Memorial chief of

staff Dr. Paul Gambardella, “There is a perception

that because we are a nonprofit, charitable hospi-

tal, there will be or should be free care or

reduced-cost care. It’s a business. I make no

apologies for that.”

Another march on Washington?

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

BOSTON, Massachusetts––A possible

encore to the June 1990 “March for the Animals”

in Washington D.C. heads the discussion list at the

1994 “Summit for the Animals,” taking place

April 7-10 at the Omni Parker House in Boston.

The “Summit” is an annual meeting

among leaders of two to three dozen animal rights

groups. Participants are asked to pledge secrecy,

and attendance is by invitation only, However,

information sent to ANIMAL PEOPLE by multi-

ple sources indicates that the encore would be

scheduled for 1995 or 1996, and would be orga-

nized by Peter Gerard (formerly Peter Linck), who

also organized the 1990 march.

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