Editorial: 10 years and still flying for the animals!

October 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

Ten years ago this month, they said
ANIMAL PEOPLE would never take off. The runway
was too short, too shaky, we were hauling too
much weight, and we would be flying blind,
dodging flak all the way.
No one had ever before done what we set
out to do–to independently report about animal
protection, for a global audience, with a
proactive and self-starting approach to getting
things done.
We started out flat broke, hopeful, yet
lacking even a tangible promise that help would
come from anyone.

Nevada, Hong Kong shelter planners learn to see like dogs

October 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nevada– The Pet Network of North Lake
Tahoe had a lot to show off on August 25, as host of the 2002
Conference on Homeless Animal Management and Policy shelter tour,
beginning with the two-year-old shelter itself.
The talking points–except for one –were neatly set forth on
fact sheets inside a folder given to each of the 25 CHAMP visitors.
The point omitted, the most remarkable of all, is that
approximately 250 residents of Incline Village and nearby communities
volunteer for the Pet Network, contributing 400 to 600 service hours
per month.

Crackdown on SHAC hits activist for child porn, brings Boston busts

October 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

BOSTON; CAMBRIDGESHIRE, U.K.–A year after Stop Huntingdon
Animal Cruelty activists thought they were on the verge of victory,
the campaign appears to be collapsing under the weight of the
ruthless and often violent tactics that have characterized it.
British campaigner Robert Moaby, 33, in mid-August 2002
pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to kill executives of
Huntingdon and other firms, and 17 counts of making pornographic
pictures of children.
According to BBC News, “Moaby sent e-mails containing
violent threats to financial backers of the Cambridgeshire-based
animal research organization, Southwark Crown Court was told. The
messages were full of obscene language and threats of sexual assault,
the court was told. When police examined his computer, they also
found that he had more than 2,800 pornographic imagines of children,”
reportedly as young as age five.

BOOKS: The Pet Surplus

October 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

The Pet Surplus:
What Every Dog and Cat Owner
Can Do to Help Reduce It
by Susan M. Seidman
Xlibris Corporation
(www.xlibris.com; 1-888-795-4274), 2001.
234 pages, paperback.

Written for average U.S. petkeepers, The Pet Surplus sums up
the basics about pet overpopulation and other preventable causes of
dog and cat killing by animal shelters. Susan Seidman emphasizes the
need for pet sterilization, adopting animals from shelters, and
correcting misbehavior that often leads to owner surrenders. She
also discusses finding pet-friendly housing, finding lost pets, and
how to return strays to their homes.

Unusual histories are almost the norm among exotic animal keepers

October 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2002:

DALLAS–Enthusiasts of exotic and dangerous animals are
almost by definition unusual people–and that poses one of the
perennial complications of the sanctuary dilemma.
Many and perhaps most sanctuarians became involved with
dangerous and exotic animals through breeding, trafficking,
exhibiting, and/or performing with them. They may obtain nonprofit
status, and may actually do a significant amount of animal rescuing
between continuing previous activities under the name of a sanctuary,
yet even then may contribute more to the proliferation of dangerous
and exotic wildlife in private hands than to containing it.

No-kill success and fiscal reality collide in Reno

September 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2002:

Succeeding the No-Kill Conference, after seven annual events
that transformed the ambitions of the global animal care and control
community, will be the much less provocatively named Conference on
Homeless Animal Management and Policy, convening in Reno on August
22, 2002.
Retiring the term “no-kill” in deference to the sensitivities
of conventional shelter directors, CHAMP hopes to attract a broader
constituency to learn new approaches, and join the worldwide trend
away from accepting high-volume killing of homeless animals as an
inevitable part of animal control and humane work.

Why sanctuaries scare the Crown

July 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Governmental agencies are usually happy to step in and
regulate: expanded duties make bureaucrats more secure.
Yet the whole idea of recognizing sanctuaries as a class of
entity distinct and separate from zoos, game preserves, and
dog-and-cat-oriented animal shelters tends to make regulators
nervous–and not just because of the many contentious practical
issues and personalities they might have to deal with.
Historically, the concepts of “sanctuary” and “civil
government” have rarely harmonized for long. The whole notion of
“sanctuary” is of religious rather than secular origin, and
abolishing it was among the major accomplishments of the
post-Protestant Reformation separation of church from state.

Principle Must Come First

July 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Principle must come first, by Patrice Greanville
ANIMAL PEOPLE board of directors

“Downplaying the ‘animal rights angle’ will be
counterproductive,” ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett advised
animal advocates who were preparing their lobbying strategy for the
spring 2002 legislative sessions.
“If the legislators believe the charade,” Kim continued,
and reiterated in the March 2002 ANIMAL PEOPLE editorial, “it
perpetuates the notion that nobody cares much about animals. If they
don’t buy it, it confirms the view that animal suffering is so
inconsequential a concern that even animal advocates are afraid to
acknow-ledge their true interests.”

The costs versus benefits of making a big bust

July 1, 2002 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August, 2002:

Four almost simultaneous June cases spotlighted the costs and
often unpredictable risks to humane societies of confiscating large
numbers of animals in cruelty and neglect cases:

On June 6, the city of Edgewater, Florida, severed an
animal control impoundment contract with the Southeast Volusia Humane
Society because the shelter killed 14 dogs and cats who were taken in
April from the home of Valerie White, 38. The animals were killed
within hours after Volusia County Judge Mary Jane Henderson issued a
handwritten order that, “The City of Edgewater may advise the Humane
Society that those animals are available for adoption.” Edgewater
officials disputed the contention of shelter director Suzy Soule that
the animals were in poor health. White was charged nearly two weeks
later with three counts of unlawful abandonment or confinement of
animals, and one county of cruelty.

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