Category: North America

Guest column: We can learn from Detroit

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

by Margaret Anne Cleek
An open mind is damned near
impossible either to have or to find. The
response I’ve received to my September
ANIMAL PEOPLE guest column, “Don’t
call me a pimp” bears out the opening
premise of it: that we all have our own per-
ceptual set which colors our view of reality.
This leads to stereotyping and prejudice,
which in turn can produce polarization and
counterproductive strategy in pursuit of
mutually accepted goals.
To re-introduce myself, I am by
profession an industrial/organizational psy-
chologist. I am by avocation a dog enthusi-
ast––not just a purebred dog enthusiast.
While I have concerns about the adoption of
unsuitable dogs, the true mutt is just plain
fine in my book, and I would urge the
adoption of the right mutt over the wrong
purebred in a heartbeat.

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Ducks scarce; gunners go after resident geese

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Migratory waterfowl populations
are down again, according to the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, continuing a 20-year
slump, during which mallards, the most
commonly hunted species, have declined
33%. This year’s fall duck count of 59 mil-
lion is the lowest on record, down 4.8%
from last year, when the count of 62 mil-
lion matched the then-record low first
reached in 1985. Goose and swan numbers
increased slightly in most areas, but the
Atlantic and southern James Bay flights of
Canada geese fell––the latter by 28%.
More than 100 million ducks flew
south each year in the 1970s, and 74 mil-
lion as recently as 1987, when the U.S.
and Canada set up the $1.5 billion, 12-year
North American Waterfowl Management
Plan to try to rebuild the population.

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Can San Francisco quit killing pet surplus? SPCA moves toward national precedent; ANIMAL CONTROL COMMUNITY ANXIOUS, SKEPTICAL

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

SAN FRANCISCO, California––Known for controversial innovation, San
Francisco SPCA president Richard Avanzino touched off perhaps the biggest furor of his
career in September by proposing that the city pound should stop euthanizing animals purely
for the purpose of population control––and offering to take care of adopting out the animals.
Not just an idealistic gesture but a detailed plan, Avanzino’s strategy for increasing
placement of adoptable animals is backed by a million-dollar special budget and an SFSPCA
shelter expansion already underway. If Avanzino achieves the goal, San Francisco will
become the first major city ever to achieve victory over pet overpopulation.
And the goal is within sight. Since Avanzino returned the municipal animal control
contract to the city in 1989, the SFSPCA has concentrated upon promoting adoptions, discount
neutering, humane education, and improving relations between landlords and tenants with
pets. The payoff has become evident in plummeting euthanasia rates not only at the SFSPCA
itself, which has virtually become a no-kill shelter, but also at the city Animal Care and
Control Department shelter.

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Blind trust: Dogs for people who can’t live without them

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NEW YORK–– The
July 7 accident stunned New York City. Before dozens of
witnesses, a blind woman fell from the platform at
Pennsylvania Station, losing her grip on her guide dog’s
harness. As she scrambled back toward safety, and the
frantic dog barked a warning, the 9:18 southbound express
thundered into the station, and though the motorman threw
his full weight against the emergency brake, it knocked her
20 feet through the air.
Five minutes before 10:00 a.m., when she would
have reported for work, Vision Services for the Blind asso-
ciate executive director Pamela Schneider, 49, died of her
extensive injuries.

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PERFORMING ANIMALS: Iditarod race critic John Suter has poodle skeletons in closet

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Reporter Doug O’Hara of the mag-
azine We Alaskans revealed October 17 that
Iditarod sled dog race critic John Suter, of
Chugiak, Alaska, is “the man who drove
poodles in the trans-Alaska race until the
practice was effectively banned as inhumane
two years ago.” Suter has mailed more than
2,000 letters to animal rights groups since,
alleging cruelty by trainers and breeders,
including dicing cull puppies to feed adult
dogs. His letters have been used as source
material by numerous national organizations
in organizing opposition to the Iditarod.

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FUR IS STILL DEAD: Industry numbers confirm collapse, despite claims

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Daniel A, the successor to the bankrupt Antonovich fur chain, itself declared bank-
ruptcy in early October. The high-profile collapse, on the heels of a previous collapse, under-scored the continuing crash of the fur trade. Despite the Fur Information Council of America claim that retail fur sales rose to $1.1 billion last year, ending a four-year decline, other data newly released by the fur trade itself confirms the ANIMAL PEOPLE projection based on gar-ment and pelt prices that sales actually fell to between $648 and $750 million. Evans Inc., annu-ally accounting for about 10% of U.S. fur sales, sold $107 million worth of goods––but trim items with minimal fur content accounted for $30.4 million of it. The fur trade claimed mink pelt prices were up 30%, but Wisconsin, accounting for nearly 25% of U.S. mink production, recorded a 16% drop in sales and a 13% drop in revenue, indicating only a marginal price rise. The number of U.S. fur garment wholesalers also fell, from 2,200 at the start of 1992 to just 1,500 going into this winter. Finally, a study of the fur trade done by Southwick Associates for the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies confirms the accuracy of the ANI-MAL PEOPLE model of fur trade economics, coming within 11% of the ANIMAL PEOPLE projections in 17 of 18 major categories of information. The only wider variance is in the esti-mates of retail jobs produced: Southwick found four times as many by counting all employees of retailers who sell fur, instead of counting only those who actually work in fur sales. The ANI-MAL PEOPLE model was developed in early1988 by editor Merritt Clifton, under contract with the Humane Society of the U.S., and has been used to produce yearly estimates of fur trade eco-nomic data ever since. The Southwick Associates model is based on 1990 statistics obtained directly from the fur trade and state wildlife departments.

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Diet & Health

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Men who eat a lot of animal fat,
especially the fat from red meat, have more
than two and a half times the risk of develop-
ing prostate cancer than men who eat little or
none, a team of Harvard University and
Mayo Clinic researchers reported in the
October Journal of the National Cancer
Institute. The study investigated the eating
habits of 47,855 men. Over 165,000
American men develop prostate cancer each
year, often losing their sexual function in
consequence; 35,000 American men per year
die of prostate cancer.

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AGRICULTURE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

A House/Senate conference com-
mittee agreed October 7 to raise the grazing
fee on federal land from $1.86 per animal unit
month to $3.45 over the next three years, and
to increase government supervision of ranching
activities on leased federal land. The higher
fee––still far lower than the going rate for leas-
ing privately owned grazing land––is expected
to sharply reduce the number of cattle and
sheep on the range in 16 western states. Final
approval of the grazing bill is pending.
October 16, both the House and the Senate
voted to eliminate $500 million in subsidies to
the slumping sheep industry. Wool and lamb
prices have fallen to record lows in each of the
past three years. The American Sheep Industry
Association predicted 25% to 30% of U.S.
sheep ranches would go out of business.

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