BOOKS: The Intimate Ape

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

The Intimate Ape
by Shawn Thompson
Kensington Publishing (119 West 40th St., New York,
NY 10018), 2010. 320 pages, paperback. $14.95

“I know more about orangutans than any normal human being
should and apparently not enough about human nature,” says Shawn
Thompson in his new book, The Intimate Ape, his account of living
among these fascinating yet sometimes unpredictable creatures and the
people who care for them.
Thompson’s relationship with orangutans, a threatened
species, began in 2001 on a trip to the swampy jungles of Borneo.
At age 50, some people think of life after retirement. Not
Thompson, a writer and editor. At 50, he expanded his career by
studying orangutans.

Ringworm, rabies, parvo, feline calicivirus, & FIP challenge animal shelters

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

Reminders of the importance of disease control in animal
shelters came in April 2010 from five shelters whose staff
cumulatively euthanized more than 400 exposed animals due to disease
outbreaks.
Most controversially, the Ontario SPCA announced on May 11,
2010 that it would kill about 350 animals due to ringworm, after
containment and treatment efforts begun on February 22 repeatedly
failed. Six workers were also infected. Tests showed that every
room at the Ontario SPCA branch shelter in Newmarket, Ontario had
become contaminated. Said Canadian Press, “The branch will undergo
a thorough cleansing and an inspection to ensure the ringworm is
eradicated.”

Judge dissolves embattled Hudson SPCA

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
JERSEY CITY–Ruling that the Hudson County SPCA “has
repeatedly conducted business in an unlawful manner, at a great
loss, with great prejudice to the interests of creditors, in a
manner prejudicial to the public,” Hudson County Superior Court
Judge Thomas Olivieri on April 22, 2010 ordered that the
121-year-old society be dissolved.
“The Hudson County SPCA has suspended ordinary activities for
lack of funds,” Olivieri found, while “The record clearly and
convincingly substantiates that at least $800,000 disappeared.”
Olivieri ruled in a case brought by the New Jersey attorney
general, Hudson Animal Advocates, and the Jersey City Division of
Health, against Hudson SPCA president Hector Carbajales, his wife
Zoey Carbalales, and unnamed board members.

Kinship Circle & Chilean coalition help in earthquake aftermath

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
ST. LOUIS–While U.S. animal rescuers watched and waited for
the Deepwater Horizon oil slicks to drift ashore and wreak havoc,
Kinship Circle founder Brenda Shoss tried to alert the world to a
little noticed humane crisis in Chile–including a growing risk that
dogs might be massacred in the tent cities housing much of the
displaced population of Talquahano.
Aftershocks from the February 27, 2010 Chilean earthquake
and tsunami continued into May. The initial earthquake measured 8.8
on the Richter scale, among the strongest ever recorded. The entire
captial city of Santiago was moved 11 inches to the west.

Money crunch brings another leadership change at Wild Animal Orphanage

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
SAN ANTONIO–Under new management for the second time since
September 2009, Wild Animal Orphanage remains mired in litigation
pertaining to the leadership transitions, and in a cash flow crisis
coinciding with the national recession of the past two years. But
ANIMAL PEOPLE was told by sources with conflicting views about a
variety of other matters that many of the most alarming rumors about
the sanctuary circulating in early May 2010 appeared to be
exaggerated.
“Our office has taken no legal action against this San
Antonio facility nor do we anticipate any, at this point,” Texas
Office of Attorney General spokesperson Tom Kelley told ANIMAL
PEOPLE. “We are monitoring their efforts daily, nothing more.”
“We have made the proper arrangements, are currently in good
standing, and are in no way getting foreclosed,” acting Wild Animal
Orphanage director Jamie Cryer told ANIMAL PEOPLE.

Royal SPCA of Great Britain “prioritizes” by declining to accept surrendered pets

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:

LONDON–Non-Royal SPCA British animal
shelters and some RSPCA affiliates are still
assessing the impact of an RSPCA policy decision
to “prioritize” shelter admissions to
“RSPCA-generated” animals.
“The only change,” insisted RSPCA chief
superintendent Tim Wass to the Times of London,
“is that spaces in our own animal centres are
being prioritised for animals rescued by RSPCA
inspectors from cruelty and neglect. This means
that the abandoned, abused, sick or injured
animals who are most in need receive our care
before animals whom people simply don’t want any
longer. We will never turn away an animal in
need,” Wass said.

JAAN reaches out to horses in the Gili Islands of Indonesia

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
JAKARTA–Encouraged by success with a working horse aid
program in Jakarta initially funded by ANIMAL PEOPLE, the Jakarta
Animal Aid Network hopes for similar results in the Gili Islands.
Located off the north coast of Lombok, Gili Trawangan, Gili
Meno and Gili Air offer reef diving and night life that attract
tourists from around the world. “No motorized vehicles are allowed
on the islands,” explains JAAN founder Femke den Haas. Horses are
the main means of transport.
Surveying the condition of the Gili horses during the first
nine days of April 2010, den Haas “learned that the horse owners all
came from Lombok in the 1990s,” she told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Many,”
den Haas found, “started with little to no knowledge about horses,
as they were mostly fishers.”

AWBI chair Kharb makes an example of Ahmedabad

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
AHMEDABAD–Animal Welfare Board of India chair Rammehar Kharb
on April 20, 2010 warned the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation against
“persisting with the completely outdated, barred practice of dumping,
and even destroying dogs” by capturing them violently with iron tongs
and abandoning them at desert dump sites.
“Not only are the Animal Birth Control rules being flagrantly
violated,” Kharb wrote, “but the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Act is also being violated. Your actions, and the actions of your
employees, constitute an offence under the Penal Code.”
Kharb released his warning to Ahmedabad media less than 60
days after asking the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation “to cancel
your ABC contract awarded to Animal Shelter & Hospital at Ahmedabad
Foundation, which is not recognized or registered with AWBI,
failing which AWBI will be constrained to initiate action in the
matter.”
Kharb notified ABC providers after the 2009 publication of
the AWBI Standard Operating Procedure Manual for Sterilization of
Stray Dogs that they must comply with the SOP to continue to receive
AWBI funding.

Is Zimbabwe loading animals two-by-two to send to North Korea?

May 1, 2010 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2010:
HARARE–“We were recently informed that two of every species
of animal in Hwange National Park are to be sent to a zoo in North
Korea,” charged Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force chair Johnny
Rodrigues in a May 13, 2010 e-mail alert.
“According to the report,” Rodrigues said, “the animals
will include two 18-month-old elephant calves. It is believed that
this is a gift from Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, to Kim
Jong-il, president of North Korea.
“Capture and spotting teams have been seen in the park,”
Rodrigues continued, “and there have been reports of armed men
standing around key waterholes waiting for the animals to appear so
they can radio the information back to the capture teams. There have
also been reports of National Parks vehicles towing cages around.

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