Editorial: Make sure you’re covered

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

On August 18, U.S. president Bill Clinton announced his design for an employer-

financed national health plan, intended to extend coverage to all Americans––not just those

who can afford it. To avoid increasing the cost of hiring so much that struggling firms

might cut jobs rather than pay the mandatory premiums, the Clinton plan would collect pre-

miums on a sliding scale. Small businesses, including charities, might be able to cover

their workers for as little as 3.5% of payroll expenditure.

Editorial: Find more men to teach love

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Three Brazilian military policemen shocked the world July 23 when they

machine-gunned 45 homeless children who were sleeping in front of the Candelaris Church

and Museum of Modern Art in the fashionable part of Rio de Janeiro, killing seven. So

great was the outrage that three days later the suspects were arrested. And that was the real

news. In 1992 alone, 424 children were killed in Rio de Janeiro––as many as half of them

by police, many of whom liken the murder of a street orphan to shooting a stray dog. As

the very first issue of ANIMAL PEOPLE reported, the killing has previously been done

with impunity. People trying to help the children and attempting to bring the police to jus-

tice have also been killed. Elsewhere in Brazil, and in other parts of Latin America, the

situation may be worse, but only Brazil keeps good statistics, recording the murders of

more than 1,000 children a year––mostly poor semi-orphans. In all, 700,000 Brazilian

children don’t live with their mothers, and 460,000 of them don’t live with either parent.

More than four million don’t go to school, and more than 10% of adolescents can’t read.

MIDWEST FLOOD RESCUE EFFORT: Forty days, forty nights, and still the rain kept pouring

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

MISSISSIPPI BASIN––Two

months of record rainfall that brought

record flooding in nine midwestern states

probably displaced more animals than

any high waters in North America since

the glaciers melted. Of the 791 counties

in the nine states, 421 were declared fed-

eral disaster areas. Clean-up and repairs

are expected to cost more than $13 bil-

lion. But animal rescuers didn’t dwell on

the immensity of the big picture. They

just pitched in however they could, wher-

ever they were, with whatever they could

scrounge by way of equipment and sup-

plies.

Civil war within rescue groups: Primarily Primates and Colorado Horse Rescue

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

by Merritt Clifton and Marcia King

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS; GOLDEN and ARVADA, COLORADO––Bitterly

contested transitions of leadership may be finalized this month at Primarily Primates and

Colorado Horse Rescue. On September 13, Texas assistant attorney general John Vinson is

scheduled to ask the 224th Judicial District Court in San Antonio to remove Primarily Primates

founder and longtime animal caretaker Wallace Swett from any position of authority within the

Rabies victim wasn’t bitten; GIRL NEVER KNEW WHAT HIT HER––DEATH DEMONSTRATES RISK TO RESCUERS

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York, and

MAMMOTH LAKES, California––The July 14 death of

an 11-year-old girl from rabies and a series of human deaths

from a rodent-borne hantavirus send a heads-up message to

animal rescuers and health care providers everywhere:

zoonosis, or animal diseases passed to people, can hit any-

one at any time. And the symptoms can go unrecognized.

Kelly Aherndt, an athletic would-be veterinarian,

kept a horse and a coop of pigeons; shared two cats, a col-

lie, and a variety of ducks and chickens with her brother

and two sisters; collected nature magazines; and spent

much of her time in the woods near her home in

Bloomingburg, New York, collecting fossils. Her parents

had warned her repeatedly to avoid raccoons and other

potentially rabid wildlife.

Marine Mammals

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The U.S. Navy on May 27 flew five dolphins

from a base on San Diego Bay to the Disney World Epcot

Center “Living Seas” pavillion in Orlando, Florida––with-

out getting prior permission from the National Marine

Fisheries Service, and in apparent contravention of lan-

guage in the current appropriation for the Navy dolphin pro-

gram, which provides “no less than $500,000 only to devel-

op training procedures which will allow mammals which are

no longer required for this project to be released back into

their natural habitat. The confreres prohibit the release of

these mammals to any alternative captive environment.”

The dolphins were moved from San Diego––on a five-year-

loan to Disney/Epcot––to make room for between 40 and 55

dolphins who are being relocated from a base in Hawaii.

Disney/Epcot plans to use the dolphins for captive breeding.

Peggy Larson, DVM and Doctor -of-Law: Committed, compassionate, qualified to castrate or sue

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

BURLINGTON, VERMONT––Among the

heroes and heroines of animal protection are ex-vivisectors

turned animal rights advocate, veterinarians who do low-

cost neutering, whistleblowers who challenge the meat

industry, articulate writers and speakers, and attorneys who

secure better humane enforcement.

Tough, skeptical, and able to debate any subject

she addresses, Peggy Larson is all the above and more. Her

37 years of professional research, activism, and advocacy

began with two years of neurophysiologic experiments on

cats at the University of Minnesota in 1956-1957, as one of

the first women to break into an overwhelmingly male-dom-

inated field. This work, she recalls, “was horrible. Succinyl

choline was commonly used at that time, which paralyzes

the cat but does not anesthetize him.”

COURT CALENDAR

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Undercover probe nabs Wisconsin dog dealer; local judge lets him go

Circuit judge Donald Poppy, of

Calumet County, Wisconsin, on June 14

dismissed a felony cruelty charge against

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer

Ervin Stebane, 72, for tying, shooting,

and disemboweling a dog he sold as meat.

Poppy claimed Wisconsin law allows peo-

ple to kill their own dogs in a humane man-

ner, called the slaughter humane, and

added, “If the legislature intended for peo-

ple not to kill dogs as food, the legislature

should pass such a law.”

Zoos

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Interior Secretary Bruce

Babbitt told the San Diego Zoo on June

25 that, “Frankly, at this time, I am not

optimistic that our biologists can issue the

permit” the zoo seeks to import three pan-

das from China under a captive breeding

loan, because the import might violate the

Endangered Species Act. Babbitt said the

zoo would be allowed to bring in the pan-

das only if it can prove that the breeding

loan “will ultimately result in enhanced

protection for the species.” He added that

his staff was concerned “that this transac-

tion will set a precedent and generate irre-

sistible pressure for the capture and export

of pandas from the only region where they

are found wild.” The San Diego Zoo has

already spent more than $1 million in

preparation to receive the pandas, who are

expected to be a record-breaking attrac-

tion, and has agreed to pay China $1 mil-

lion a year during their visit plus $600,000

per cub who lives longer than six months.

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