Alaska and the Yukon: The silence of the wolves

January 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, and WHITEHORSE, the Yukon––At least 63 of the

wolves the world sought to save in Alaskan wildlife management unit 20-A, south of

Fairbanks, have been killed by airborne state trappers––and that may be almost all the

wolves who lived there, a fraction of the number state officials claim have ravaged moose

and caribou to the extent that sport hunting in the area has been suspended since 1991.

A comparable massacre has resumed in the Yukon Territory, Canada, where

officials last winter killed only 61 of a quota of 150 wolves in the beginning of a five-year

push to cut the estimated wolf population of the Kluane-Aishihik region near the Kluane

National Park and World Heritage Site by 85%. As in Alaska, the Yukon killing is pur-

portedly part of a “caribou enhancement” program, and also as in Alaska, independent

experts believe the official quota is several times higher than the actual wolf population of

the sector. The Kluane-Aishihik caribou herd has crashed and other Yukon herds have lev-

Birds

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Cowbirds, native to the

midwest, invaded California 10 to 15

years ago and are now blamed for extir-

pating at least four threatened or endan-

gered songbirds from key parts of their

range. Female cowbirds indirectly kill

as many as 48 young songbirds apiece

per nesting season by laying their eggs

in songbirds’ nests. The songbird par-

ents then raise the fast-hatching cowbird

offspring ––who push the songbirds’

own eggs out before they hatch.

Songbird species such as the Bell’s

vireo, willow flycatcher, yellow-breast-

ed chat, and white crown sparrow are

believed capable of withstanding losses

of 10% of their eggs, but decline quick-

ly when the losses exceed 20%. Studies

of white crown sparrow nests in San

Francisco’s Golden Gate Park indicate

losses to cowbirds may exceed 50%.

Hopes for the eventual recovery of the

highly endangered Bell’s vireo were

raised this year when one or two pairs

reportedly nested along the Ventura

River, near Santa Barbara, for the first

time since 1908––but a lone Bell’s vireo

seen in Monterey County, a former

stronghold of the species, failed to find

a mate. Bell’s vireos apparently haven’t

nested successfully there since the cow-

birds arrived, circa 1983.

Deer overpopulation: Hunters caused it. What can we do about it?

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

DUPAGE COUNTY, Illinois––It isn’t deer

overpopulation that has the Dupage County Forest

Preserve commissioners, Steve Hindi of the Chicago

Animal Rights Coalition, Don Rolla of the Elsa Wild

Animal Appeal, and local hunting groups all at four-cor-

nered loggerheads. It’s what to do about it.

They’re agreed there are too many deer in the

six-square-mile Waterfall Glen preserve: 537 at last

count, even after 253 were culled last spring. They’re

agreed there’s nowhere to relocate them. They’re agreed

deer roaming out of the preserve are a hazard to cars and

perhaps to passing trains as well. They’re agreed that the

deer are eating songbirds and other brush-dwelling

species out of cover. They’re even agreed that there prob-

ably won’t be any ideal solution––quick, humane, and

inexpensive.

Hunting & Fishing

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

“We just don’t believe that

public safety is our responsibility,”

Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen direc-

tor Robert Crook told a recent Connecticut

legislative hearing on whether hunting

license fees should be raised to support hir-

ing more wardens. The CCS is backed by

the National Rifle Association.

The Texas chapter of the NRA

is up in arms over a U.S. Forest Service

proposal to limit target shooting to the

safest 500 acres of the 20,309-acre Lyndon

Johnson National Grasslands. Incidents

involving use of firearms have increased

from 286 in fiscal 1990 to 510 in 1993.

The Coalition to Ban Pigeon

Shoots will protest this Labor Day outside

a private shoot at the prestigious

Powderbourne Gun Club in East

Greenville, Pennsylvania, rather than at

the simultaneous public shoot in Hegins.

Animal Control & Rescue

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Animal shelters, public or private, must hold

animals at least five days including a Saturday before

releasing them to Class B dealers or researchers, under an

amendment to Animal Welfare Act enforcement regulations

that took effect August 23. Written certification that the

holding period has been met must accompany each animal.

The Bronx SPCA, recently incorporated by

American SPCA officers Stephen Zawistowski, Eugene

Underwood, and Harold Finkelstein, exists “to make sure

we would have consistent law enforcement authority” with-

in the whole of New York City, Zawistowski told ANI-

MAL PEOPLE. The ASPCA was incorporated before the

Bronx was, and therefore the charter granted to the ASPCA

by the state of New York does not specifically authorize it

as the sole animal protection law enforcement agency for

the Bronx, as it does for the other New York City boroughs.

Animal Health & Behavior

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

CDC goes to rat-@#$%

The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention blame an unknown Hantaan virus probably

transmitted by rodents for causing flu-like symptoms that

killed 19 residents of the Four Corners region of New

Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado during May and

June. Most of the victims were Native Americans.

Hantaan viruses are typically transmitted through inhala-

tion, after becoming airborne with evaporated urine.

The transmission route for this as yet unidentified virus

has not been found, and investigators have been thwarted

by the reluctance of Navajo victims’ families, in particu-

lar, to speak either of the dead or of matters involving

their religion and rituals. However, Nevada paleoenvi-

ronmental researcher Peter E. Wigand, who seeks clues

to ecological history in ancient deposits of crystalized rat

urine, may have unwittingly provided a clue to the out-

break last January, before it actually occurred. Wigand

Animal Control & Rescue

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

New Hampshire has followed

New Jersey and Connecticut in establish-

ing a statewide low-cost neutering pro-

gram. The New Hampshire program, man-

aged by the state department of agriculture

and funded by a $2.00 surcharge on dog

licenses, will subsidize neutering animals

adopted from shelters and those belonging

to people of low income.

The percentage of purebreds

among dogs received by pounds and shel-

ters appears to be edging up, e.g. from 22%

in 1991 to 25% in 1992 at the SPCA of

Monterey County, California, which keeps

some of the most comprehensive records on

purebreds. Other shelters claim to be

receiving as many as 30% purebreds. The

percentage may be up simply because total

admissions are generally down while the

number of dogs surrendered by owners is

holding even, and owned dogs are more

likely to be purebred.

Animal Control & Rescue

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

Chicago, New Jersey, Macon: Model animal control programs meet fiscal reality; SHORT-TERM SAVINGS MAY MEAN LONG-TERM TROUBLE

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

CHICAGO, Ill., SPRINGFIELD, N.J., and MACON, Ga.–– The financial pres-

sures of the 1990s threaten to undo the model animal population control programs envisioned in

the late 1980s, just as their benefits are beginning to be realized.

The budgetary ax fell first and hardest in Los Angeles, California, where on July 1,

1992, the city closed the public low-cost neutering clinics that helped cut animal control pickups

from 144,000 in 1970 to 87,000 in 1991, even as the estimated city pet population rose by 21%.

Euthanasia rates were cut proportionately. Animal control officials estimated that for every dollar

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