A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Beg: A radical new way of regarding animals by Rory Freedman Running Press (2300 Chestnut St., Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103), 2013. 201 pages, hardcover. $18.00.
Beg: a radical new way of regarding animals is an honest, even blunt look at human relationships with animals. Rory Freedman shares two adopted dogs with her ex and adopted her own dog named Lucy, the result of a foster failure. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper Bantam Books (1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019), 2013. 317 pages, hardcover. $26.00.
Cat rescuer Gwen Cooper follows up her 2010 best-seller, Homer’s Odyssey, about the former strays who kept her company near Ground Zero on September 11, 2011, with Love Saves the Day, another superb work told from three viewpoints: Prudence the cat, the cat’s deceased person Sarah, and her daughter Laura, who saves the day. Each narrator’s personality sparkles. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Elephants Among Us: Two Performing Elephants in the 20th Century by Mike Jaynes Earth Books (15200 NBN Way, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214), 2013. 199 pages, paperback. $22.95.
Elephants Among Us is a lengthy, detailed and meticulously researched e-book about the life and death of two performing elephants. Born in captivity in 1973 and later purchased by animal trainers Mike and Sally LaTorres, the elephant Stoney began performing in 1977. He was trained by methods including food deprivation and use of the ankus, a traditional Indian elephant training device also called, in the west, a “bull hook,” since similar instruments were used to drive cattle to slaughter before the advent of electric prods. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
Saving the White Lions: One Woman’s Battle for Africa’s Most Sacred Animal by Linda Tucker North Atlantic Books (2526 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94704), 2013. 489 pages, paperback. $16.95.
In November 1991, not long after Nelson Mandela was released after serving 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid, South African author Linda Tucker and several friends drove to a favorite childhood haunt of hers in the “middle of the untamed African bushveld,” as Tucker describes it. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July-August 2013:
The Dog Care Field Manual: How to care for mangy run-down dogs in 2nd and 3rd world countries (and in developed countries, too) by Harrell Graham 46-page free download from this location.
The Dog Care Field Manual, by Harrell Graham, covers wound treatment; treatment of both internal parasites such as worms and external parasites such as mange; emergency response to poisoning; and avoidance of rabies. Each topic is reviewed in depth and detail, recommending crisis care that almost anyone can give when the nearest veterinarian is many miles and hours away. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Led Astray: Reforming New York City’s Animal Care & Control by Scott M. Stringer, Manhattan Borough President (lead researcher/writer Shaan Khan), January 2013 Free download from: www.mbpo.org/uploads/FINALLedAstrayReport.pdf
Led Astray is the latest of many evaluations and exposés of alleged deficiencies within the New York City Center for Animal Care & Control, originally known as the CACC, now abbreviated AC&C.
Twenty years after AC&C was formed on short notice to take over the New York City animal control contract, held for the preceding 100 years by the American SPCA, the city rate of shelter killing has fallen from about six animals per 1,000 residents, which would still be very low today, compared to the national rate of 9.7, to 0.82. This is the best record of any major U.S. city, bar none, even factoring in that New York City residents keep about half as many pets as the U.S. national average. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
The Secret Life of Dog Catchers: An animal control officer’s passion to make a difference by Shirley Zindler 2270 Gravenstein Highway South, Sebastopol, CA 95472 https://www.createspace.com/4096859?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026 250 pages, paperback. $18.00.
One New Year’s Day, rain flooded Rohnert Park, California. The county animal shelter was closed, but Sonoma County animal control officer Shirley Zindler worked emergency calls. “Muddy, rapidly rising water swirled and eddied around the small sandbar where the old dog lay,” recalls Zindler in The Secret Life of Dog Catchers. The senior dog, wet and cold, had obviously struggled to pull herself onto a dry sliver of land as the raging creek almost swallowed her up. Sizing up the precarious situation, Zinder realized there was a nearby fire station. Within minutes four firefighters arrived in a truck and pulled the dog to safety. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Trident K-9 Warriors by Mike Ritland with Gary Brozek St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010), 2013. 272 pages, hardcover. $25.99.
A health issue forced Navy SEAL Mike Ritland to retire from active duty. While serving in Iraq, the precision of military dogs impressed him. So Ritland combined his love of dogs and service to the U.S. by forming a company that trains military dogs. Read more
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:
Loyal Forces: The American Animals of World War II by Toni M. Kiser & Lindsey F. Barnes Louisiana State University Press (3990 W. Lakeshore Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808), 2013. 192 pages, hardcover. $35.00.
Loyal Forces: The American Animals of World War II honors the many animals who helped the U.S. military during the war. The informal use of dogs for military purposes in previous wars was made official in 1942 by the creation of a U.S. Army program called Dogs for Defense. The program debuted by soliciting donations of German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, collies, and mixes of their configuration who might have the intelligence, disposition, and ability to obey the commands that they had to learn to do guard work and to carry messages. Contrary to the claims of pit bull enthusiasts today, bully breeds were not used, and are not shown among the 157 dogs depicted in Loyal Forces. Read more