Category: North America

Tough sledding

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The United Coalition of
Iditarod Animal Rights Volunteers is
asking that letters be sent to sponsors of
the 1,100-mile Anchorage-to-Nome dog
sled race, asking them to either withdraw
or back rules that would require teams to
be rested at all checkpoints; disqualify
mushers who have a dog die during the
race; bar competitors from holding orga-
nizing or officiating posts; and require
independent drug testing of dogs. The
major sponsors include Chrysler Corp.,
12000 Chrysler Drive, Highland Park, MI
48288-0857; IAMS, 7250 Poe Ave.,
Dayton, OH 45414-5801; Timberland,
P.O. Box 5050, Hampton, NH 03842-
5050; and ABC Wide World of Sports,
47 West 66th St., New York, NY 10023.

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POUND SEIZURE FIGHT RESUMES

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The term “pound seizure” may be
unfamiliar to animal protection people who
have been involved for less than a decade,
but the battle over it is heating up––again.
The most bitterly fought issue in
humane work for decades, “pound seizure”
is the practice of laboratories requisitioning
dogs and cats from shelters for research use,
which is known to discourage many people
from surrendering animals to shelters. After
the National Society for Medical Research
formed in 1945 to promote pound seizure, it
became mandatory in Minnesota (1948),
Wisconsin (1949), and New York (1952).

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Animal Control & Rescue

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The North Shore Animal League
on May 13 became official sponsor of Spay
USA. NSAL sponsorship is expected to
result in a major expansion of the program,
a hotline to help pet owners locate afford-
able neutering (1-800-248-SPAY; 375-
6627 in Connecticut).
The New York State Humane
Association is supporting 13 bills to
strengthen state humane laws, including
measures to set up a state Animal
Population Control Fund similar to those in
New Jersey and Connecticut, and to give
judges the authority to take animals away
from convicted abusers. New York resi-
dents may get details from 914-255-7099.

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Performing Animals

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The Louisiana state senate on
May 12 passed a bill to make attending an
illegal dogfight a crime, 33-0, but reduced
the offense from a felony to a misdemeanor,
and cut the maximum penalty from three
years in jail and a fine of $3,000 to one year
in jail and a fine of $1,000. A bill to ban
cockfighting meanwhile remained stalled in
a legislative committee headed by cock-
fighting fan Rep. Raymond Lalonde.

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Calif. neutering bill stalled; SEEN AS THREAT TO NEUTER/RELEASE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

SACRAMENTO, California––
Apparently ready to clear the California
state legislature without opposition, a bill to
require that free-roaming cats be neutered
was stalled at the last minute by unexpected
objections from the San Francisco SPCA.
The bill, AB 302, by assemblyman Paul
Horchner, reads simply, “An owner of a
cat over the age of six months shall have the
cat sterilized if the cat is permitted outdoors
without supervision.” Violators would be
given citations similar to traffic tickets,
with all penalties waived if their cats were
neutered within a 30-day grace period. The
bill had the active support of the California
Veterinary Medical Association, numerous
national organizations, and almost every
humane group in the state, including sever-
al who neuter and release feral cats.

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National survey finds both high neutering rate and indifference

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Newly published statistics collected last November by the polling firm Penn &
Schoen Associates shed new light on the human aspects of pet overpopulation.
Interviewing 803 randomly selected Americans who had owned pets within the preceding
five years, Penn & Schoen found that 77% of cat owners and 58% of dog owners had
neutered their animals. Five percent of cat owners and 11% of dog owners were intention-
al breeders, but the data, published in the May 1993 edition of Shelter Sense, did not dis-
tinguish between breed fanciers, who may breed only once in several years, and backyard
commercial breeders, who in effect run small-scale puppy mills and catteries.
Approximately 12% of cat owners and 31% of dog owners would appear to be accidental
breeders, responsible for producing at least one unwanted litter per animal (although with
what frequency the unwanted litters are born was not clear).
The Penn & Schoen telephone poll also asked owners of unaltered pets why they
did not have them neutered. Among this group, 23% percent of dog owners and 31% of
cat owners said neutering is unnecessary; 26% of dog owners and 14% of cat owners
cited interest in breeding; and 4% of dog owners (1.7% of all dog owners) and 11% of cat
owners (2.5% of all cat owners) said neutering is too expensive.

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Direct action

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

U.S. District Judge Fremming Nielsen freed
Jonathan Paul, 27, from the Spokane County Jail on April
10, 158 days after Paul was held in contempt of court for
refusing to testify to a federal grand jury probing an Animal
Liberation Front raid on a Washington State University labo-
ratory in August 1991. Paul had been asked to testify about
his former housemate Rod Coronado, a suspect in several
ALF actions who has been sought for questioning for over a
year. Paul’s twin sisters, one of whom is TV actress
Alexandra Paul, waged a national campaign to free him that
eventually led to a two-page spread in People magazine.
Activists John Paul Goodwin, 20, Michael
Karbon, 20, and Jesse Keenan, 19, all of Memphis,
Tennessee, pleaded guilty April 19 to petty vandalism in
connection with spray-painting three fur stores last year,
slashing the tires of a truck, and signing the action “ALF.”
They drew a year in jail apiece (which may be suspended),
fines of $2,000 each, and were ordered to make restitution.

Mountain lion mix-up

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Last October, Predator Project Newsletter extensively
quoted and paraphrased from a letter by Michael Horan of Eagle’s
Nest, New Mexico, protesting the relocation of 13 mountain lions
as part of a study of their population dynamics which has yielded
strong evidence that the species should not be hunted. Horan linked
the relocation to older and ongoing mountain lion killing projects
undertaken to protect livestock.
Various animal protection groups picked up and echoed
Horan’s claims, condensing his account each time, dropping source
identification, and eventually adding appeals for letters of protest to
be addressed to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.
Then someone, remembering that the original item had been pub-
lished on newsprint, wrongly cited ANIMAL PEOPLE as the
source, although the first issue of ANIMAL PEOPLE hadn’t even
gone to press yet when Horan wrote his letter.

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It’s to make you turn green

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

The United Conservation Alliance,
an association of hunters and trappers whose
name only sounds like an environmental group,
teamed with the Fur Information Council of
America to distribute 100 public service
announcements to 50 leading TV stations just
before Earth Day. The 30-and-60-second
announcements ––which apparently were not
aired by most of the stations––quoted Greg
Lincombe of the Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries, claiming, “Commercial
trapping through the fur industry is the only
viable solution to keep muskrat and nutria in
check.” Actually, Louisiana alligators eat a lot
more muskrat and nutria than trappers catch, and
they’d eat even more if Linscombe’s department
didn’t remove as many as 75,000 alligator eggs a
year for resale to alligator farmers––but it’s the
sale of trapping permits (down 90% in five years)
that keeps him in a job.
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