Category: Stray & Feral Animals

BOOKS: A Novel Exploring the Challenges and Triumphs of Running an Animal Shelter

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

THE RIPPLE EFFECT A Novel Exploring the Challenges and Triumphs of Running an Animal Shelter

by Marcy Eckhardt 268 pages,  paperback ($17.99) or e-book ($7.99.) http://marcyeckhardt.com/

Probably close to 100% of the ANIMAL PEOPLE readership have at some point either worked or volunteered in an animal shelter. Thus probably close to 100% will either intensely identify with the characters in The Ripple Effect,  by longtime shelter worker and consultant Marcy Eckhardt,  or at least recognize them–and probably most who start to read The Ripple Effect will read it cover-to-cover  in just a couple of sittings,  as I did,  feeling that The Ripple Effect is by,  for,  and about us,  the people who know animal sheltering from the inside out, as opposed to them, who interact with shelters in various ways and often vocally criticize shelter procedures, but have little understanding of why things are done as they are. Read more

Sanitation role of Indian street dogs quantified

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

NEW DELHI–-The Supreme Court of India on September 3, 2012 weighed the ecological and public health role of street animals in a case brought by the nonprofit organization Safai Karmachari Andolan on behalf of the poorest of the poor.

Describing itself as “a national movement committed to the total eradication of manual scavenging and the rehabilitation of all scavengers for dignified occupations,”  Safai Karmachari Andolan extracted data from the 2011 national census to show that of 2.6 million public dry latrines still in use in India, 1.3 million discharge illegally into open drains, 794,000 are cleaned manually by humans, and 497,000 are cleaned entirely by animals– mostly dogs and pigs. Read more

Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

RALEIGH,  N.C.–About 80% of feral cat colony caretakers believe feral cat management can be done in a manner that accommodates the concerns of birders, but only 50% of bird conservation professionals share this view, according to a study published on September 6, 2012 by the online science journal PLOS One.Opinions from the Front Lines of Cat Colony Management Conflict, by North Carolina State University wildlife mangement professor Nils Peterson and four colleagues, “began as a class project in Peterson’s “Human Dimensions of Wildlife” course last year,” reported Jay Price of the Raleigh News & Observer.  “The researchers surveyed nearly 600 Americans who identified themselves as cat colony  caretakers or bird conservation professionals affiliated with groups such as the Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy,” Price summarized. Read more

New Pennsylvania dog law chief is Michael Pechert

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

Michael Pechert,  previously Pennsylvania executive deputy secretary for agriculture,  on July 31,  2012 succeeded Lynn Diehl as director of the Pennsylvania Dog Law Enforcement Office. Philadelphia Inquirer animal beat blogger Amy Worden described Diehl, a former bank manager, as “a Republican Party volunteer who had no prior experience in animal welfare or law enforcement.” Read more

Surrender prevention programs brought drop in New York City shelter killing

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

As the July/August edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE reported, New York City has reduced municipal shelter killing to just one dog or cat per 1,000 human residents.  The previous lowest ever ratio was 1.3 in San Francisco, which has a human population base of only 750,000.

How did New York City accomplish this?  By introducing two major surrender prevention programs:  a telephone hot line to assist pet keepers in crisis, and a super low-cost mobile full veterinary service.  Both of these programs were initiated by the Companion Animal Network. Read more

Trial of calcium chloride to fix dogs succeeds in Nepal

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2012:

YORK,  U.K.–The First International Conference on Dog Population Management concluded in York, United Kingdom on September 8, 2012 with optimism that calcium chloride–which can be made for less than the cost of bottling it–may already be suitable for widespread chemosterilant for use in male dogs.

Recent advances came as a surprise to Parsemus Foundation medical research programs director Elaine Lissner, who has funded calcium chloride trials for several years.  “At the November 2011 Animal Grant-makers meeting,” Lissner told ANIMAL PEOPLE, “we informed other funders about research on calcium chloride dihydrate nonsurgical male dog and cat sterilization, and showed how simple the sterilant is to make, mixing it right at the lunch table.  The Greenbaum Foundation told grantees about it.  But we heard no more about it until August 2012,” when the Greenbaum Foundation reported successful use of calcium chloride by an organization called DREAMS in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. Read more

Vier Pfoten sees a new era for animals in Ukraine; locals are doubtful

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2012:

Vier Pfoten sees a new era for animals in Ukraine; locals are doubtful
KIEV–Spain took home the Euro 2012 football championship trophy, but the biggest winners, hopes Helmut Dungler, chief executive of the Austrian-based animal charity Vier Pfoten, are more than 4,000 street dogs in Kiev, Lviv, Donetsk, and Zaporozhye whom Vier Pfoten has sterilized, vaccinated, and treated for any evident illnesses or injuries, with the help of local organizations and volunteers. “Both our stray dog neutering program and our bear rescue project,” which recovered four bears from illegal private possession, “will continue,” Dungler pledged. Read more
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