FUR

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

“The American Veterinary

Medical Association considers the steel-

jaw leghold trap to be inhumane,” accord-

ing to a single-sentence policy statement

issued in mid-July, culminating years of lob-

bying by George Clements of the

Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing

Animals. The AVMA had long been reluc-

tant to oppose trapping because many mem-

bers wish to avoid being associated with ani-

mal rights militancy. At that, the words

“steel-jaw” were reportedly added under

pressure from the National Trappers

Association, which feared that the statement

might otherwise be taken to include padded

leghold traps and foot snares. This could

have been devastating to the fur industry

push to get padded leghold traps, snares,

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.

BOOKS: Paws For Thought: A Look at the Conflicts, Questions and Challenges of Animal Euthanasia

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Paws For Thought: A Look at the Conflicts, Questions and Challenges of Animal Euthanasia

by B.J. Ellis. Paw Print Press (7509-I Garners Ferry Rd., Suite 164, Columbia, SC 29209), 1993, 137 pages, softcover $12.95.

Paws For Thought may be more divisive than it is

thought-provoking.

With a cursory introduction to the causes of pet

overpopulation, Ellis arrives at the anticlimactic conclu-

sion that, “Until there is a drastic improvement in the pet

overpopulation problem, a significant part of an animal

control officer’s job will involve destroying healthy ani-

mals. The effect is to put ordinary people under extraordi-

nary stress. They love animals, but have to kill them.

How unfair. How stressful.”

Further gains against pet overpopulation

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Continuing to refine the data on pound and shelter admissions and

euthanasias as more complete state statistics become available, Phil Arkow of the

Humane Society of Pike’s Peak has revised his estimate of the current U.S. euthanasia

toll, reported here in June, upward slightly to 5.7 million dogs and cats per year. This is

still the lowest total ever discovered––and reflects the most thorough research. Arkow’s

estimate is based on the 1991 totals, the most recent available in most instances, from

California (717,000); Colorado (69,766); Iowa (48,653); Massachusetts (79,500);

Maryland (90,000); New Jersey (75,263); Oregon (79,713); Texas (597,591); and

Washington (109,274). Together, these nine states include more than a third of the U.S.

human population, and are demographically almost identical to the U.S. as a whole.

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.

Help stop roadkills

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

DERRY, N.H., CHARLOTTE, Vt., and

SHUSHAN, N.Y.––You too can help prevent roadkills, by

taking a copy of the survey form on page 7 of this issue with

you the next time you go walking.

Every roadkill you record will help in a concerted

effort to identify the characteristics of “killing zones” that

attract multiple roadkills, and help as well to develop a

defensive defensive driving curriculum that could save mil-

lions of animal lives.

Two parallel but cooperating teams are collecting

roadkill observations: a nationwide network of middle

school students assembled by environmental science teacher

Brewster Bartlett of Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New

Hampshire, and the readers of Country Life magazine and

ANIMAL PEOPLE.

POUND SEIZURE FIGHT RESUMES

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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).

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.

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

June 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

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.

« 1 … 54 55 56 57 58 … 60 »