Wolves

October 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1995:

The Denver-based Mountain States Legal
Foundation, a leading wise-use group, on September 7
sued the U.S. government for $500 on behalf of rancher
Eugene Hassey, 74, of Lemhi County, Idaho, who claims
the sum in compensation for a calf he says was killed in
January by a wolf released as part of the Yellowstone/central
Idaho wolf restoration project. An unknown party shot the
wolf as she ate the carcass. Defenders of Wildlife was initially
prepared to pay Hussey out of a fund that since 1987
has paid about 20 Michigan, Montana, and Minnesota
ranchers a total of circa $17,000 for alleged wolf predation
losses––but a federal autopsy found the calf died during
birth, and the wolf only scavenged her remains. Hassey
claimed at a March 29 Congressional hearing that he was
abused by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents Tom Riley,
Steve Magone, and Paul Weyland when they tried to execute
a warrant to search his property for evidence in the wolf
shooting. Idaho attorney general Alan Lance compared
them to “the secret police or the Keystone Kops.” But a transcript
of a tape recording the agents made during the incident,
released September 13, revealed that they remained
calm and professional while Hassey cursed them and threw
rocks at them until sheriff Brett Barsalou arrived and ordered
them to leave.

Book Reviews

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

CANINE CLASSICS

War Against The Wolf : America’s

Campaign to Exterminate the Wolf, edited by

Rick McIntyre. Voyageur Press

(POB 338, 123 N. 2nd St., Stillwater,

MN 55082), 1995. 495 pages; $24.95

cloth.

Between the grim subject and the

brick-like heft of War Against The Wolf,

we weren’t looking forward to the

read––but it was in the office less than an

hour when we first used it as a reference.

A compendium of news coverage and relat-

ed historical documents, it doesn’t exactly

include all the best writing about wolves or

all the most important details of recent pro-

wolf campaigns. Omitted, for instance,

are any mention of either Jack London,

Farley Mowat, or Friends of Animals,

respectively wolves’ leading image-makers

past and present and the leading organiza-

tion in the defense of Alaskan wolves.

Enough important stuff is included, how-

ever, to make War Against The Wolf a

worthy addition to wildlifelibraries.

Tales from the Cryptozoologists

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

A fanged skull two boys found along a river-

bank on the edge of Bodmin Moor, England,

belonged to a leopard, but the leopard was apparently

killed and skinned years ago in India, the London Zoo

reported on August 7. The find came just a month after

an eight-month study by the Ministry of Agriculture con-

cluded that the only wild felines on the moor, contrary

to longtime rumors of black leopards on the loose, were

feral domestic cats.

Wang Fangchen, leader of a 30-member

team who spent June and July seeking a mysterious

“apeman“ in heavily wooded Shennongjia National

Park, of central Hubei province, China, says he’ll lead a

second search perhaps as early as September, “as soon

as the rainy season is over.” All he found this time was

some unidentified hair, but a 1993 video convinced

Wang that the creature exists. “It is possible that their

numbers dwindled as the environment changed in recent

years,” he said.

Tapirs in trouble

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

“The insatiable human appetite for meat and

animal products is devouring the mountain tapir’s pre-

cious Andean home,” writes wildlife ecologist Craig

Downer, “even within Sangay National Park,

Ecuador, a UNESCO World Heritage area. In my six

years there, my study area has gone from lightly to

grievously invaded by cattle. Fires set by vaqueros

have substantially reduced the cloud forests, the

tapirs’ most essential habitat. Hunters have killed at

least 50 tapirs within the park, including four of the

seven I have radio-collared. As a member of the

International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Species survival commission, I am presently prepar-

ing an action plan for the rescue of this species.”

Why call it science? by Ric O’Barry

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

A lot of people have a misconception about how

we prepare captive dolphins to return to the wild. They

think we t r a i n them for that. We taught them to jump

through hoops; now we teach them to survive in the wild.

And how do we teach them? Scientifically.

Even many of the people working to readapt and

release captive dolphins think this is what we’re doing. But

how could dolphins be taught what they ought to know when

what they need to know is not to listen to me or anyone else?

What I actually do is so simple that most people

don’t get it. There is no mystery to it. In my protocol for the

readaption and release of captive dolphins, I have three

basic rules: 1) Assume you know nothing. 2) Maintain

sustained observation. 3) Consider the obvious.

Wildlife & people

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

A day camp worker and a park

ranger on July 28 captured a three-foot

alligator in Kissena Park Lake, Queens,

New York. Days later, two young alligators

were found roaming Central Islip––and then

two pet rhesus monkeys escaped from their

owner’s home in Hauppauge, one of whom

bit an animal control officer. When an 11-

year-old hooked a piranha in Lake

Ronkonkoma, Long Island Newsday probed

the local exotic pet trade and found an Oyster

Bay store displaying alligators, monkeys,

ferrets, pythons, bobcat cubs and a wallaby,

all in violation of both state and town law.

Animal control & rescue

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

New legislation

An update of Louisiana animal

protection laws long sought by

Legislation In Support of Animals, the

Coalition of Louisiana Animal Advocates,

and other state groups includes the stiffest

felony cruelty statute in the U.S., mandat-

ing a fine of not less than $1,000, up to

$25,000, plus from one year in prison up

to 10 years at hard labor; fines for misde-

meanor cruelty of up to $1,000 and 48

hours of community service plus jail time;

the extension of the cruelty law to cover

parrots, parakeets, and lovebirds (but not

fighting cocks); the extension of the state’s

anti-dog theft law to cover other pets, with

stiffer penalties; and the creation of a fund

to help save the scarce Louisiana specta-

cled bear, funded by sales of a special

license plate. Known for gung-ho effica-

cy––on a budget of just $50,000/year––

LISA celebrated by bringing the

Spay/Neuter Assistance Program mobile

clinic from Houston to New Orleans for a

weekend of providing free neutering to

low-income families.

ANIMAL HEALTH

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

RABIES NOTES

Post-exposure shots for 665 people

who came into contact with a rabid kitten in a pet

store in Concord, New Hampshire, last October,

together with other essential follow-up, cost $1.5

million, says the CDCP.

The Pet Savers Foundation has pro-

posed establishing a National Rabies Awareness

D a y. “Letters to Congress supporting Rabies

Awareness Day would be very helpful,” Charlie

McGinley of Pet Savers told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

Get details c/o 14 Vanderventer Ave., Port

Washington, NY 11050; 516-944-5025.

Two residents of San Rafael,

California, were bitten by rabid bats in June,

including a 5-year-old boy playing near a backyard

pool and a woman who was swimming. The bats

in each case were apparently attracted by insects

hovering over the water.

A laborer from Anhui province,

China, bit four people including a pregnant

woman on July 19 in the city of Suzhou, a month

after he was bitten by two rabid dogs.

Hunting & trapping

September 1, 1995 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1995:

Results of a major public

opinion survey commissioned by

the Colorado Division of Wildlife

“indicate that a substantial major-

ity of Coloradans would vote to

ban wildlife trapping,” human

dimensions coordinator Linda

Sikorowski advised the brass on

July 13. “A substantial proportion

of Colorado residents are positively

oriented toward wildlife rights and

wildlife welfare values,” she contin-

ued. “Trapping solely for the pur-

pose of recreation or for economic

gain is not adequate justification for

trapping to the Colorado public.”

The survey found that trapping

could best be sold as a means of

rabies prevention and wildlife popu-

lation control––but this might not be

for long, as the advent of oral rabies

vaccination of wildlife reinforces the

22-year-old position of the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention

that trapping is neither effective

against rabies nor in lastingly

depressing wildlife populations.

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