Cats & Dogs

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The older men who get the most emotional benefit

from keeping pets are those who have the least free time, the most

difficulties in personal relationships, and the most financial trouble,

according to a newly published study by Ohio State University psy-

chology professor Sara Staats––whereas the women who derive the

most satisfaction from pets are those with the most free time and

the most satisfactory relationships with other people. Staats’ data

came from a survey of 250 people over age 50. The findings appar-

ently reflect the role of pet as family member for women, contrast-

ed with the role of pet as surrogate for family among many men.

Alaska resumes wolf killing; SUES FRIENDS OF ANIMALS FOR CALLING TOURISM BOYCOTT

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska––As

many as 450 Alaskan wolves will be

trapped, snared, and shot during the next

three winters to make more moose and

caribou available to hunters, under pro-

posals adopted July 1 by the Alaska

Board of Game.

ANIMAL PEOPLE waited to

go to press until the Board of Game deci-

sion became final—a week after the nor-

mal deadline––because of the signal

importance of the wolf issue in the ongo-

ing clash between ecology-based and

hunter-driven philosophies of conserva-

tion. The board was expected to revive

the wolf control strategy scrapped last

winter under threat of a tourism boycott,

but the details were obscured in a blizzard

of 92 wolf management proposals on the

summer meeting agenda, two of them

from the Alaska Department of Fish and

Game and many others from influential

hunting associations.

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.

Reprieve for Alaskan wolves, But the Yukon opens fire; Tourist boycott of Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta underway

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

WHITEHORSE, Yukon, Canada –– Dispatched in near-secrecy circa

February 5 by the Yukon territorial government, a helicopter attack team will have killed

150 of the estimated 200 wolves in the Aishihik Lake region, and be heading home again

as ANIMAL PEOPLEgoes to press.

The scheduled 20-day mission was undertaken in direct defiance of international

appeals and threats of a tourism boycott. Protests held at various points in Canada and the

U.S. on February 8 were ignored by Yukon minister of renewable resources Bill Brewster.

Animal Health & Behavior

March 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1993:

Studying the relationship between brain evolution and the death of fetal cells, University of

Tennessee researcher Dr. Robert Williams has discovered that cat species seem to have an unusual capacity for

fast biological adaptation to suit their circumstances. All mammals seem to select adaptive capabilities through

the death of up to half of their neural brain cells just before birth, enabling the remainder to grow, but cats shed as

many as 80% of their fetal neurons––and this explains the key differences between domestic cat brains and those

of Spanish wildcats. Williams studied the brains of domestic cats and Spanish wildcats who had been euthanized

due to illness and/or injury.

Throwing wolves and sharks to the tourists: ALASKA AND HAWAII PLAN PREDATOR MASSACRES

December 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

JUNEAU, ALASKA––Hoping

to hype tourism, the Alaska Board of

Game on November 17 announced plans

to kill up to 80% of the 700 wolves who

inhabit the 43,000-square-mile region

between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The

same day, for essentially the same rea-

son, the Hawaii Shark Task Force

nnounced it would begin killing tiger

sharks on sight.

The Alaskan massacre is to

commence as early as January, while

shark-killing off the coast of Hawaii may

already be underway. In each case, state

officials called the killing necessary to

boost the tourist industry, but in each

case and especially vis-a-vis Alaska, the

immediate result was a wildcat (sponta-

neous) boycott by potential visitors,

which within 10 days seemed likely to

become an international campaign by

animal protection and environmental

groups.

Guest Column: An Avoidable Conflict by Dan Namowitz

November 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

Would you fly in an airplane if upon boarding you beheld a

sign proclaiming, “Notice: the flight crew is trained to cope with nor-

mal operations only. The management is not responsible for the per-

formance of the pilots under emergency conditions.”?

Would you ride aboard a train or an ocean liner, if the engi-

neer or captain had received no emergency training?

What kind of emergency training should the driver of an

automobile undergo? With all the loss-of-control accidents that occur

on icy roads at the beginning of each new winter, and all the

animal/automobile collisions that occur each spring and summer, it is

obvious that drivers whose normal operating environments involve

certain predictable hazards are doing a poor job of dealing with emer-

gencies, resulting in unnecessary death and injury.

A voiding roadkills: Secrets of animal behavior that can save your life!

November 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

You’re cruising near the speed limit late one night,

tired from a long drive. You catch a glint of eyes in your

headlight beams, a dark shape breaking from the shadows

to your right, an oncoming car to your left––

Do you jam on the brakes? Speed up to get past

before the animal bolts? Risk swerving? Take your foot off

the gas?

Combat pilots memorize silhouette cards and air-

craft specification sheets, in order to recognize every other

plane in the sky even if all they see is a fleeting glimpse of

something on radar. They need to know instantly what’s out

there: whether it’s hostile, how fast it can go, how far it

can shoot. At Mach 2, there isn’t time for second-guessing.

But at 60 miles an hour your car is outracing the

focal distance of your headlights even faster than a fighter

pilot outraces radar range. And like most other drivers, you

haven’t had any training in how to respond to an animal in

the roadway.

Horse notes…

November 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

In the first two years since

California began requiring necropsies of

all race horses who die while under Calif.

Horse Racing Board jurisdiction, on or off

a track, 538 horses have been exam-

ined––271 in 1990-1991, and 267 in 1991-

1992. The examinations are revealing a

much greater amount of stress damage

from training than experts previously sus-

pected.

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