Petfinder.com sold

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
Maureen Smith, chief executive of the Animal Planet cable
television channel, on November 2, 2006 announced that her company,
Discovery Communications Inc., is paying “about $35 million” to
purchase the adoption web site Petfinder.com and pet training video
firm PetsIncredible. Petfinder.com and PetsIncredible will become
part of the Animal Planet cable business unit.
The deal was disclosed just as Animal Planet caught flak from
Canned-Lion.com, founded by ANIMAL PEOPLE book and screen reviewers
Chris Mercer and Bev Pervan, of Cape Town, South Africa. Animal
Planet recently aired a documentary called White Lions: King of
Kings. The documentary, said Mercer, “presented Marius Prinsloo,
a notorious canned lion breeder in South Africa, as a paragon of
conservation working to preserve the white lion gene. The South
African canned lion industry is one of the cruelest industries in the
world,” Mercer alleged. “The South African environment minister,
himself a former hunter, has publicly described the canned hunting
fraternity as ‘environmental thugs.’ How could Animal Planet stoop
to whitewashing this industry, and present canned hunting as
conservation?”

Where IFAW $$ goes

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
The International Fund for Animal Welfare on October 25,
2006 began building new offices in Yarmouth-port, Massachusetts. A
1.5-acre open space in the center of the complex will be named after
Juliana Kickert, of Sedona, Arizona, who died at age 64 in March
2006, leaving IFAW $10 million. IFAW raised $17.3 million in the
most recently reported fiscal year, but by its own reckoning spent
just $11.5 million on programs, and by ANIMAL PEOPLE reckoning spent
$6.8 million on programs, less than went into fundraising and
reserves.

Editorial: Strategies for changing the world

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
In the 1940 Walt Disney animated cartoon feature Dumbo, The
Flying Elephant, the first and perhaps still most vivid screen
depiction of circus animal handling produced for a paying mass
audience, a troupe of drunken clowns speculate that if circus-goers
laugh at an elephant made to jump from a platform made to look like a
burning building, they will laugh twice as hard if the elephant has
to jump from twice as high.
Activists in every cause could be accused of committing the
same logical fallacy, presuming that if a problem is exaggerated or
described as a crisis it will get more attention, resulting in more
effective response.
However, Che Green, executive director of the Seattle-based
Humane Research Council, pointed out in the November 2006 edition of
the HRC newsletter Humane Thinking that, “According to a study
recently published by Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council,
the most effective strategies for encouraging behavior change are
those that are motivational and informative rather than negative,
such as those that induce fear, guilt, or regret.”
In other words, exaggerating a bad situation is not the best
way to make it better.

Read more

Letters [Dec 2006]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:

Elephant advocate leaves Zimbabwe

With disappointment, disillusionment, and regret, Sharon
Pincott has decided to leave Zimbabwe, and the Presidential
Elephants to whom she has dedicated (on a voluntary basis) the past
six years of her life.
Sharon fought tirelessly for the ongoing protection of
Zimbabwe’s flagship herd of elephants, for the land which used to be
their key home-range, and for their well-being and safety.
Sharon produced two successful books about her time amongst
the Presidential Elephants, and recently released important
information on the negative impact of gunfire on elephant conception
rates, reported in the October 2006 ANIMAL PEOPLE article “Gun-fire
no aphrodisiac for African elephants.”
Sharon spent years monitoring the elephants’ social structure
and population, and successfully raised awareness about the dreadful
snaring situation.
Sharon leaves her work incomplete. Proof, however, of her
dedication and tenacity is that she has stayed on full-time in the
Hwange bush for as long as she has, even in the face of past
threats, intimidation, and the ongoing apathy of some.
Read more

First Beijing dog purge in five years brings unprecedented rally

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
BEIJING–Either “The Year of the Dog” ended in Beijing with
the first major dog purge in the city since March 2001, or with the
introduction of world-standard animal sheltering and adoption
practices, depending on whether one asks activists or officials.
Possibly a bit of both happened.
The few certainties are that the dog laws enforced in
November 2006 by the Beijing Public Security Bureau, Agriculture
Bureau, and Administration for Industry & Commerce were of dubious
value in ensuring public safety; that the crackdown was openly
motivated by concern for keeping the streets clean and safe before
the 2008 Olympics; and that the outcome may have been “killing the
dog to scare the monkey,” as animal advocates gathered on November
11 outside the Beijing Zoo in a globally reported protest.

Read more

Olympics to showcase growing Chinese animal testing industry

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
BEIJING–The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will showcase the
fast-growing Chinese animal testing industry, the official Xinhua
news agency disclosed on November 15.
“All food and ingredients to be prepared in Olympic kitchens
will be fed to white mice a day before they are served to athletes,”
explained Beijing Municipal Health Inspection Bureau representative
Zhao Xinsheng.
Translated the BBC, “The mice will be fed milk, alcohol,
salad, rice, oil and seasonings. Mice show adverse reactions [to
common forms of food poisoning] within 17 hours, while laboratory
tests take much longer,” Zhao Xinsheng said.
The Olympic connection surfaced amid publication of frequent feature
articles about animal testing in China by Beijing-based business
writer Jehangir S. Pocha.

Read more

New Congressional leaders have pro-animal history

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
WASHINGTON, DC.–Seldom if ever has a newly elected Congress
looked more friendly toward animals.
To be inaugurated on January 3, 2007, the Democratic
majorities elected in both the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives on November 7, 2006 will take control of Congress
from the largely unfriendly Republican majority who prevailed for the
preceding 12 years, and will introduce into key positions some of
the Senators and Representatives with the voting records most
favorable to animals.
The Humane Society of the U.S. Legislative Fund publication
Humane Scorecard gave perfect 100% scores during the 109th Congress
to two of the five top-ranking members of the Democratic majority in
the 110th Senate: Charles Schumer of New York, who will be vice
chair of the Democratic caucus, and Patty Murray of Washington, who
will be conference secretary. Steering Committee chair Debbie
Stabenow of Michigan scored 80.
Humane Scorecard also gave perfect scores to six of the 19
committee chairs named to serve in the 110th House of
Representatives. Among the six were Budget chair John Spratt of
South Carolina; Education & Workforce chair George Miller of
California; Govern-ment Reform chair Henry Waxman of California;
International Relations chair Tom Lantos of California; Judiciary
chair James Conyers of Michigan; and Rules chair Louise Slaughter of
New York.

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European Commission votes to ban dog & cat fur

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2006:
Brussels–The European Commission on November 20 adopted a
proposal to ban the import, export, and sale of cat and dog fur
throughout the European Union.
“The draft regulation will now be considered by the European
Parliament and the Council of Ministers for adoption by the
co-decision procedure,” explained the EC announcement.
“There is evidence that cat and dog fur is being placed on
the European market, usually undeclared as such or disguised as
synthetic and other types of fur,” the EC announcement summarized.
“The vast majority of the cat and dog fur is believed to be imported
from third countries, notably China.”
Fifteen of the 25 EU member nations have already individually
introduced legislation against cat and dog fur. “The proposed
regulation adopted today addresses EU citizens concerns, and creates
a harmonized approach,” the EC announcement stipulated. “It also
establishes a system of information exchange on the detection of cat
and dog fur.”

Read more

BOOKS: One At A Time: A Week in an American Animal Shelter

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:

One At A Time: A Week in an American Animal Shelter
by Diane Leigh & Marilee Geyer
No Voice Unheard (P.O. Box 4171, Santa Cruz, CA
95063), 2005. 146 pages, paperback. $16.95.

One At A Time is a heartbreaking account
of one week in an animal shelter. While many
animals will find a new home, many other
exquisite animals will not. The pictures of the
cats and dogs at the shelter are compelling; it
is tempting to recommend that this book should be
part of a national humane education curriculum at
schools.
“This is how companion animal
overpopulation works,” Leigh and Geyer write.
“Simple math, where the numbers are lives and
those responsible are unaccountableÅ ”

Read more

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