BOOKS—Led Astray: Reforming New York City’s Animal Care & Control

May 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

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

BOOKS—Unleashed: The Phenonena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs

May 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013:

Unleashed: The Phenomena of Status Dogs and Weapon Dogs by Simon Harding The Policy Press, U. of Bristol (c/o U. of Chicago Press, 427 East 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637), 2012. 286 pages, hardcover. $100.60; Kindle $23.72.

I first saw an American Staffordshire, better known as a pit bull, during a 1989 visit to Baltimore. Three youths had stolen a cocker spaniel and were encouraging their three unleashed pit bulls to tear the spaniel apart alive. The spaniel tried desperately to escape, but was held on a short leash. By the time I reached the scene, the spaniel had collapsed, possibly dead. The youths kept kicking the remains, and the AmStaffs kept attacking. By the time the cops caught up with them, they had disposed of the evidence. They laughed in the cops’ faces: “Man, you’ll never find that dead dog, and anyway we’re juvies––you can’t touch us.” Read more

BOOKS: Saving Baby: How a woman’s love for a racehorse leads to her redemption

May 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From Animal People May-June 2013—

Saving Baby: How a woman’s love for a racehorse leads to her redemption by JoAnne Normile with Larry Lindner Powder Point Publishing (P.O. Box 530, Hingham, MA 02043), 2013. 263 pages, paperback. $15.00.

JoAnne Normile entered horse racing relatively late in life, at age 43, seven years after convincing her husband to move from urban Detroit to rural Michigan, where they could keep horses.

By the end of the 1980s they had two horses. They entered the racing circuit in 1992 with Normile’s beloved Baby. Read more

BOOKS / The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna

April 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:

The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna by Michael Parfit & Suzanne Chisholm St. Martin’s Press (c/o MacMillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010), 2013. 329 pages, hardcover. $25.99

The Lost Whale is a compelling story of a lost orca, or killer whale, who as an infant in 2001 somehow became separated from his pod, the family that he depended on for survival. Read more

BOOKS: Horse Sanctuary

April 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:

Horse Sanctuary by Allison Milionis Photos by Karen Tweedy Holmes Universe (300 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010), 2013. 255 pages, hardcover. $40.00.

Horse Sanctuary offers more than 250 exquisite photos of horses at 13 facilities listed here for the interest of readers who may donate to one or more them and wonder what they look like:

The Blackburn Correctional Complex training center operated by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation in Lexington, Kentucky; the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in Hot Springs, South Dakota; the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, in Saugerties, New York; the Equine Sanctuary, in Ojai, California; Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary, in Green Valley, Arizona; Front Range Equine Rescue, in Larkspur, Colorado; the Horse Harbor Foundation, in Poulsbo, Washington; the Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio; Lope Texas, in Cedar Creek, Texas; Lucky Horse Equine Rescue, in Bolton, Massachusetts; Nokota Horse Conservancy, in Linton, North Dakota; Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, in Tehachapi, California; and Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue, in South Acworth, New Hampshire. The accompanying text uncritically describes the work of each facility. Horse-lovers will love it, but Horse Sanctuary is at best just a coffee table treatment of the issues involved in horse rescue. Several of the profiles are seriously misleading. Read more

BOOKS / The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs are Smarter Than You Think

April 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:

The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs are Smarter Than You Think by Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods Dutton (c/o Penguin USA, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014), 2013. 367 pages. $37.95/hardcover or $14.95 paperback.

Publicity for The Genius of Dogs alleges that co-author Brian Hare has done more than anyone else to change human appreciation of the intelligence of dogs. This overlooks the influence of more than 150 years of highly popular fictional Lassie stories, originating with The Half-brothers, by Elizabeth Gaskell in 1859, and countless real-life feats of resourceful intelligence performed by Lassies named after the fictional dogs, including the rescue and revival of a “drowned” British sailor in 1915 and the rescue of a drowning boy from Lake Ontario in 1936. Read more

BOOKS: How Animals Grieve

April 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:

How Animals Grieve by Barbara J. King University of Chicago Press (1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637), 2013. 179 pages, paperback. $25.00

How Animals Grieve author Barbara J. King asks, “Is it outlandish to write of animal love?” No, of course not. Some animals love and grieve differently from humans, but their expressions are real, and many animals grieve exactly as humans do. Read more

DOCUMENTS: U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, 2012 edition

April 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:

U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, 2012 edition ($195 member download; $295 non-member download; $20 extra for printed copy.) American Veterinary Medical Association, 1931 North Meacham Road, Suite 100, Schaumburg, IL 60173. 186 pages, paperback. AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 edition Free download from: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Documents/euthanasia-highres.pdf

The American Veterinary Medical Association charges from $195 to $315 for the U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographic Sourcebook, 2012 edition, depending on the membership status of the customer and the format in which the book is provided, but the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 edition are free for the downloading. Read more

BOOKS & DOCUMENTS: CITES at 40: Perspectives, trade patterns & future prospects

April 1, 2013 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2013:

CITES at 40: Perspectives, trade patterns & future prospects, compiled by United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre Free download from <www.unep-wcmc.org>

Created in 1973 by the United Nations, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora tracks and regulates commerce in about 34,000 species. About 3% are listed on Appendix I, meaning that they are endangered, or Appendix II, meaning that they are threatened. CITES compliance is voluntary. Individual nations may invoke trade sanctions against violators, but CITES itself has no enforcement mechanism. Read more

« 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 95 »