Can San Francisco quit killing pet surplus? SPCA moves toward national precedent; ANIMAL CONTROL COMMUNITY ANXIOUS, SKEPTICAL

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

SAN FRANCISCO, California––Known for controversial innovation, San

Francisco SPCA president Richard Avanzino touched off perhaps the biggest furor of his

career in September by proposing that the city pound should stop euthanizing animals purely

for the purpose of population control––and offering to take care of adopting out the animals.

Not just an idealistic gesture but a detailed plan, Avanzino’s strategy for increasing

placement of adoptable animals is backed by a million-dollar special budget and an SFSPCA

shelter expansion already underway. If Avanzino achieves the goal, San Francisco will

become the first major city ever to achieve victory over pet overpopulation.

And the goal is within sight. Since Avanzino returned the municipal animal control

contract to the city in 1989, the SFSPCA has concentrated upon promoting adoptions, discount

neutering, humane education, and improving relations between landlords and tenants with

pets. The payoff has become evident in plummeting euthanasia rates not only at the SFSPCA

itself, which has virtually become a no-kill shelter, but also at the city Animal Care and

Control Department shelter.

Report to Congress on Animal Enterprise Terrorism

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

WASHINGTON D.C. – – The newly released Department of

Justice/USDA Report to Congress on Animal Enterprise Terrorism man-

dated by the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 found that “The

FBI has categorized only a few animal rights-related incidents as acts of

domestic terrorism,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Sheila Anthony and

Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Eugene Branstool stated in presenting it.

Therefore, they explained, “for purposes of this report, the term

‘animal rights extremism’ includes all acts of destruction or disruption per-

petrated against animal enterprises or their employees.”

Thus widening the topic to include petty vandalism, the report

recorded 313 “animal rights-related incidents” from 1977 through June 30,

1993. None involved significant injury to either people or animals.

Among the incidents were 160 cases of petty vandalism, 77 thefts or

releases of animals, 29 personal threats, 26 cases of major vandalism, 21

arsons, 16 bomb threats, 14 fire bombs, nine bombing hoaxes, and three

actual bombing attempts. The report failed to note the role of security

agents hired by U.S. Surgical Corporation in encouraging, aiding, and

abetting Fran Trutt in the best known bombing case. Trutt, who had only

marginal involvement in animal rights, served a year in jail for placing a

pipe bomb in the U.S. Surgical parking lot in November 1988––paid for by

the operatives for U.S. Surgical, one of whom drove her to the site.

Watson trial Dec. 6 ––if Canada dares

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUND-

LAND––Enjoying his new reputation in

Canada as “Captain Cod Hugger” for his July

28 confrontation with foreign dragnetters in

the North Atlantic, Paul Watson of the Sea

Shepherd Conservation Society is to go to

trial December 6 before a St. John’s jury for

allegedly endangering the lives of his crew,

the crew of the Cuban dragger Rio Las Casas,

and the Rio Las Casas itself––if the

Canadian government actually has the nerve

to try Watson for an action applauded from

coast to coast, including by many of the

same people who have long reviled him for

his protests against seal hunting.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

THE WISE USE WISE GUYS ET AL

George Frampton’s last major task

before leaving the presidency of The Wilderness

Society to become Assistant Secretary for Fish,

Wildlife, and Parks in the Clinton administration

was to preside over the assembly of a 50-page

report called The Wise Use Movement: Strategic

Analysis and 50-State Review. It calls upon the

mainstream environmental movement to distance

itself from radical environmentalism, deep ecolo-

gy, and animal rights, while rebuilding alliances

with farmers and hunters.

The fall 1993 issue of Friends of

Animals’ ActionLine magazine features ANIMAL

PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton’s “Attack of the

Wise Use Wise Guys,” an investigation of vio-

lence against animals and animal defenders by

members of the self-named “wise use movement.”

It’s $1.95, from POB 1244, Norwalk, CT 06856.

Having run low on friends in Washington D.C.,

Putting People First is relocating this month to

Helena, Montana––PPF president Kathleen

Marquardt’s birth state.

MEMO FROM ANDREW ROWAN

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

I have questioned the validity of

the national shelter statistics for more than

10 years. After discussing the issue with

the late Phyllis Wright in the early 1980s,

and with her support, we organized a work-

shop on the question at the Tufts Center for

Animals and Public Policy in 1984. The

workshop included the AHA, MSPCA,

HSUS, and ASPCA, plus a number of

local shelters known to have good statistics

and quality programs. As a result of the

workshop, I concluded that the animal

overpopulation problem had been dramati-

cally reduced, from shelters killing 20% of

the national owned dog and cat population

in 1973 to only 10% in 1982. As far as I

can tell, my claim for this progress has

been virtually ignored by nearly everyone

in the business, Phil Arkow being a notable

exception. Certainly no one has ever tried

to challenge it.

Editorial: Fighting the good fight

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

Those of us who have worked with cattle know that there are two ways to get a

balky cow to move. Cowpunchers yell, push, and beat the animal, who often becomes

even more obstinate. Milkmaids by contrast just walk in front of the cow, hands in pock-

ets, and she follows from curiosity. One experienced milkmaid with a pocket full of apples

could probably move more cattle farther, faster, than all the cowpunchers west of the

Mississippi, if she had a mind to, but no one has ever convinced the punchers, who con-

tinue to rave and kick and beat on almost every farm and feedlot.

Persuading the public to adopt humane attitudes and practices often seems similar-

ly frustrating. Problems and solutions evident to those of us in animal protection are

ignored and overlooked time and again by governmental authorities, whether we’re talking

about violence to animals as precursor of violence to humans, the folly of spending mil-

lions for animal control but next to nothing on animal population control, or the hidden

costs of the meat industry to human and environmental health. Undeniably, progress is

being made, and even in comparison with a few years ago, it is impressive in many areas:

the rapid drop in animal shelter euthanasia rates, the decline of sport hunting, the collapse

of the fur trade, and the exponential increase of interest in vegetarianism, to cite just a

handful. Still, the progress can seem as slow relative to the size of some of the issues as

the pace of Old Bossy may seem to a young cowhand who’d rather be traveling at the pace

of a souped-up pickup truck.

Count finds 5 million euthanasias a year–– AHA SAYS 12 MILLION; WANTED TO DISCREDIT PET BREEDERS

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado––

Knowing that an ongoing shelter-by-shel-

ter, state-by-state count has demonstrated

the annual U.S. euthanasia toll due to pet

overpopulation to be under six million

animals per year, the American Humane

Association on September 7 told mass

media that, “In 1992, a dog or cat was

euthanized every two seconds in this

country––12.1 million dogs and cats in

all.” The AHA release also maintained

that euthanasias are again increasing after

eight years of decline.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

The Better Business Bureau has announced that the National

Anti-Vivisection Society fails to meet requirements that “an

organization provide on request an annual report containing

information on governance (such as a roster of the board of directors) and

financial activities (such as total income and a break-

down of expenses); that its financial statements present

adequate information to serve as a basis for informed

decisions; and that it substantiate on request its applica-

tion of funds, in accordance with donor expectations,

to the programs and activities described in solicita-

tions.” Exposes by ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt

Clifton recently documented the generous compensation

NAVS provides to president Peggy Cunniff and other

members of her family, who dominate the NAVS board

and payroll. NAVS told BBB that it “has changed its

accounting and auditing methods to meet the standards

for fiscal year 1993,” but recent forced resignations,

dismissals, and staff transfers have left the Cunniffs

more firmly in control than ever.

Guest column: Don’t call me a pimp by Margaret Anne Cleek

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

When I lived in Detroit, I had a close friend who

was a state welfare fraud investigator. To hear him tell it,

every welfare mom was living it up on the dole, thought

she had a right to have the government provide for every

child she had, and had a man stashed away who lived off

her check. His solution was to cut off the freeloading and

make these people work for a living. He dehumanized all

people on welfare, calling them the “scum de la scum,”

and always expected the worst of them.

Why did he think all welfare recipients were rip-

ping off the system? The system abusers were the only peo-

ple he ever saw. His perception of the situation was distort-

ed because his sample did not accurately reflect the popula-

tion of welfare recipients. His contempt for the people and

the system left him unable to understand the complexity of

the issues and solutions. But as he saw it, he was in the

front lines and therefore he knew what needed to be done.

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