Romanian pound dog massacre was a test of pending legislation, veterinarian charges

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

BOTOSANI, Romania–A May 10, 2011 dog massacre that shocked
Romania was undertaken as a political trial balloon, Bucharest
veterinarian Liviu Gaita alleged to news media.
The killing occurred in Botosani, a small city in the
extreme northeastern corner of Romania, about six hours’ drive from
Bucharest. Volunteers who fed the dogs at the Botosani city pound
arrived on the morning of May 10 to find that more than 230 dogs had
already been killed by muncipal workers, purportedly by order of
mayor Catalin Mugurel Flutur. The killing was still underway, said
to be necessitated by a disease outbreak that the volunteers were
unaware of. “The volunteers called the TV stations and the police
but nothing happened,” said an anonymous message distributed within
minutes via Facebook. “They were in shock and tried to get out of
the shelter the last few puppies that were alive. They were
assaulted and offended by the guards.”

Refusing to make “donation” to politicians, Visakha SPCA loses animal control contract; rabies outbreak follows suspension of subsidized dog sterilization & vaccination service

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:

VISAKHAPATNAM–Rabies is reportedly raging again in northern
Andhra Pradesh state, India, a year after a newly elected Greater
Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation government took responsibility
for operating the local Animal Birth Control program away from the
Visakha SPCA.
The action in effect dismantled what was by far the largest
anti-rabies campaign in the region, and led to the Visakhapatnam
street dog population reportedly increasing from about 7,000 to as
many as 10,000.

National Zoo bird researcher is charged with attempting to poison feral cats

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
WASHINGTON D.C.–Alley Cat Allies and
Alley Cat Rescue on May 26, 2011 asked the
Smithsonian Institution to suspend National Zoo
Migratory Bird Center researcher Nico Dauphine.
Dauphine was charged three days earlier with
attempted animal cruelty for allegedly trying to
poison feral cats. If convicted, Dauphine could
be fined up to $1,000 and could be sentenced to
180 days in jail.
Dauphine denied the offense in a brief
statement issued by her attorney.

BOOKS: The Animal Shelter

June 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
Humane education classic:

The Animal Shelter by Patricia Curtis
Lodestar Books (c/o E.P. Dutton), 1984.
164 pages, hardcover. $13.95 original price.

The Animal Shelter, by Patricia Curtis, introduced a
generation of young people to humane work.
“I wrote The Animal Shelter 28 years ago, so it is badly
out-of-date,” Curtis told ANIMAL PEOPLE in May 2011, seemingly
surprised to be looked up and asked about it after all this time. “I
hope things have improved since then, both in the numbers of animals
surrendered to shelters and in the condition of shelters. My
impression is that the book got a mixed reception,” Curtis
continued. “I hope it did some good. Some shelters wrote to me that
they were grateful that I had drawn attention to their problems. But
some people couldn’t handle the truth as I tried to tell it.

Contraceptive research firm SenesTech splits with “600 Million”

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
PORTLAND, Oregon–The Arizona-based contraceptive research
firm SenesTech and the Florida-based nonprofit 600 Million Stray Dogs
Need You are no longer working together to develop the product that
600 Million has touted to prospective donors for more than a year as
“‘super’ birth control pellets for animals.”
Both organizations remain involved in seeking non-surgical
contraceptive products.

Move to reinstate tailpipe gassing in the Philippines

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:
MANILA–A tambucho, in Philippine slang, is either a
vehicular exhaust pipe or the human rectal orifice.
If dogs impounded by Philippine animal control agencies are
killed by tambucho gassing, the remains of the dogs may be
clandestinely sold for meat. If dogs are killed by pentobarbital
injection, the remains are considered unsafe for consumption.
Though not acknowledged on the record, the common Philippine
practice of dogcatchers doubling as dog meat dealers may underlie
recent action by the misleadingly named national Committee on Animal
Welfare to undo an August 24, 2010 decision to prohibit tambucho
gassing.

BAWA achieves Bali rabies turnaround

May 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2011:

UBUD, Bali, Indonesia–Vaccinating 210,000 dogs in the six
months ending on March 31, 2011, the Bali Animal Welfare
Association achieved a 48% reduction in human rabies deaths and a 45%
decrease in dog rabies cases. This was the fastest containment of a
rabies outbreak in the history of Indonesia, achieved even as a
13-year-old outbreak continues in Flores, where officials have
fought rabies mainly by culling dogs.
During the six-month vaccination sweep, BAWA established by
counting dogs from house to house in every village that the Bali dog
population is “just over 300,000 dogs, about 1 dog to 12.5 people,”
BAWA founder Janice Girardi told ANIMAL PEOPLE–exactly the ANIMAL
PEOPLE estimate produced in late 2008 when the rabies outbreak was
first recognized. Government estimates were half again to twice as
high.

Talk of dogs in Bahrain amid demos & shooting

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:
MANAMA– Thousands of opponents of the regime of King Hamad
bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain reoccupied central Manama on February
20, 2011 after troops were withdrawn, following gunfire that left
at least five protesters dead and 25 missing.
Amid the demonstrations, which began on Valentine’s Day,
“Residents across Bahrain have come out in force with suggestions on
how to tackle the increasing number of stray dogs plaguing the
country,” reported Basma Mohammed of Gulf News. “Dozens of e-mails
have been sent to Central Municipal Council chair Abdulrazzaq Al
Hattab following his appeal,” on February 8, “for ideas to find a
solution to the problem. The animals have been accused of attacking
cattle and leaving many residents too afraid to leave their homes at
night.”

Equine illness kills big cats in Iran–feral cats blamed

March 1, 2011 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2011:

TEHRAN–A Russian/Iranian zoo animal exchange reportedly
promoted by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin came to grief, the
Iranian National News Agency and the Russian ITAR-TASS agency
disclosed in January 2011, after an Amur tiger sent from the
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Zoo in Russia to the Eram Zoo in Tehran died from
the bacterial disease glanders. Fourteen African lions were later
euthanized after also becoming infected.
Russian natural resources minister Yury Trutneve and Iranian
counterpart Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh brokered the deal in early
2010. In April 2010 a Russian aircraft flew a pregnant female Amur
tiger and a male to Tehran, picked up a pair of Persian leopards,
and returned to Moscow.

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