The chips are down in high-stakes battle over scanner tech

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

PORTLAND, Ore.; NORCO, Calif.–The microchip wars have reignited.
A decade after American Veterin-ary Identification Devices
and the Schering-Plough Animal Health Corporation resolved
compatibility problems between AVID microchips and the HomeAgain
chips made for Schering-Plough by Digital Angel Corp., lawsuits and
threats of lawsuits involving microchips are flying with surprising
velocity considering that only about 2.5% of all the dogs and cats in
homes in the U.S. carry microchip identification.
The present size of the microchip market appears to be less
at issue than growth potential. AVID and Schering-Plough donated
thousands of scanners to animal shelters just to get them into use,
and even then, the National Animal Control Association vocally
objected to having microchip scanning added to the animal control
workload.
Microchipping has now proved itself, including in alerting
shelters to the previously seldom detected practice of unhappy
neighbors or estranged “significant others” surrendering stolen pets
to shelters as their own.
A recent NACA survey indicates that about 37% of U.S. animal
control shelters now microchip the animals they adopt out. Microchip
makers are betting that soon most pets will be microchipped.

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Hired

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

James Bias is the new president of the SPCA of Texas in
Dallas, succeeding Warren Cox, who left in November 2003. Bias
previously headed the Humane Society & SPCA of Bexar County in San
Antonio, Albuquerque Animal Services, and the Humane Society of
North Texas in Fort Worth, and was operations director for Citizens
for Animal Protection in Houston. Cox, running animal shelters
since 1952, is now interim chief at the Montgomery County Animal
Shelter in Dayton, Ohio.

Mike Russell, 59, was in June 2004 named president and CEO
of the World Wildlife Fund of Canada, succeeding Monte Hummel, the
head since 1978. Russell formerly chaired AADCO Automotive Inc.,
and held marketing posts with Sunoco, Petro Canada, and Shell
Canada.

AVMA bars Association of Vets for Animal Rights from tabling

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

PHILADELPHIA–Fuming over public criticism of American
Veterinary Medical Association farm animal welfare policies, AVMA
executive vice president Bruce Little on July 21 barred the
Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights from tabling at a
booth it had already reserved and paid for during the five-day AVMA
annual conference, July 24-28.
AVAR vice president Holly Cheever was allowed to address a
pre-conference meeting of convention delegates, but AVAR was
otherwise excluded for “espousing philosophies or actions in
opposition to those of the AVMA.”
Explained Cheever on the AVAR web site, “On June 21, 2004,
a full-page ad ran in the New York Times asking, ‘Has anyone
betrayed more animals than the American Veterinary Medical
Association?’ The ad,” similar to one published in the April 2004
edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE, “was sponsored by Animal Rights
International, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
United Poultry Concerns, and the Association of Veterinarians for
Animal Rights.
“While AVAR did not create the ad,” Cheever said, “we were
asked if we wished to sign it, since it addressed many issues which
AVAR has brought before the AVMA.

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Breed-specific dog laws survive Ohio challenge, face another; related developments

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

TOLEDO, Ohio–Breed-specific dog legislation on July 8,
2004 survived a challenge in Toledo Municipal Court. Judge Francis
X. Gorman upheld an ordinance limiting possession of pit bull
terriers to one, insured for $100,000 liability, and requiring that
pit bulls be kept behind locked doors or fences at home, muzzled
when taken out.
Paul Tellings, 30, then of East Toledo, sued, backed by
the American Canine Foundation, of Belfair, Washington, after he
was charged with keeping too many pit bulls and not insuring them.
Gorman ruled that “The pit bull, as a breed, is not
inherently dangerous,” and that “There is no statistical evidence
which indicates that the pit bull bites more frequently than some
other breeds.” However, Gorman wrote, “There is substantial
evidence that pit bull bites cause a disproportionate number of
fatalities.” Because pit bulls have “been utilized extensively by
drug dealers, dogfighters, and urban gang members,” Gorman said,
they “create a substantial and real threat to the safety of the
public. This ordinance is a necessary and useful tool,” Gorman
concluded, “in controlling these undesirable dogs.”
ACF founder Glen Bui in a web posting called the verdict “a
very small victory but a major loss.”
Tellings and Bui indicated to Toledo Blade staff writer Robin
Erb that Tellings might next plead “no contest” to a misdemeanor
charge in order to pursue an appeal.

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Awards & honors

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Aryenish Birdie of Kansas City has received the 14th annual
Bill Rosenberg Award, presented by the Farm Animal Reform Movement
for outstanding work toward farm animal liberation by a teenager.
Past winners have included Mike Markarian (1992), now president of
the Fund for Animals; Students for Animal Protection founder Marc
Freligh (1995); actor Danny Seo (1996), now a major donor to Korean
animal welfare work; Compassion Over Killing cofounder Paul Shapiro
(1998); Student Animal Rights Alliance founder Patrick Kwan (2000);
and Mercy for Animals founder Nathan Runkle (2001).

Point Coupee Animal Shelter cofounder Ellen Mauck, 79, of
Jarrow, Louisiana, was on July 9, 2004 named “Humanitarian of the
Year” by the Humane Society of Louisiana. Involved in animal rescue
since early childhood, also legendary for her love of riding
powerful motorcycles, Mauck was a longtime welder for Caterpillar
Inc. in Springfield, Illinois, inspired by the World War II poster
figure “Rosie the Riveter.” In 1992 Mauck was among the charter
subscribers to ANIMAL PEOPLE.

No radio talk of Reno rodeo

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

RENO–The first rule of journalism is “get both sides,” but
trying to do it cost KPTT-630 Radio sales manager and talk show host
Lee Adams his job on June 28, 2004.
A 28-year veteran of radio work, employed by KPTT since
December 2000, Adams learned on June 25 while preparing for his
weekly Friday afternoon talk show that the Reno Rodeo was ending that
evening, and that Steve Hindi, founder of the animal advocacy group
SHARK, has done extensive documentation of animal abuse at rodeos.
“I telephoned Hindi and invited him to participate in the
show,” Adams told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “I then learned that Professional
Rodeo Cowboys Association animal welfare coordinator Cindy
Schoenholtz was in Reno, tracked her down, and invited her to be on
the show.
“When I informed her that I would also have Hindi, she told
me she would have to clear it with her superiors at the PRCA. Within
an hour she cancelled her appearance. I then got a call from my
boss, general manager Dave Wilt of Lotus Radio in Reno.”
Lotus owns 26 radio stations in California, Arizona, Texas,
and Nevada. Among them is the official Reno Rodeo station.
“Wilt was very upset,” Adams continued, “demanding to know
whose idea it was to put an animal rights activist on the air. Since
Schoenholtz had just cancelled and I wanted to have both sides, I
told him that I wouldn’t put Hindi on the air, and he hung up.

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Pro-animal coalitions organize to seek new laws in Egypt, Canada

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

Ten Egyptian animal charities on June 21, 2004 formed the
Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare, electing attorney Ahmed El
Sherbiny to be founding chair. “Ahmed is also the chair of the
Egyptian Society of Animal Friends and the driving force behind
creation of the federation,” ESAF volunteer Robert Blumberg told
ANIMAL PEOPLE. “The Federation’s initial mission is, by invitation,
to help draft Egypt’s first comprehensive animal welfare legislation.
The strength of the Federation will now be used to help push the law
through the legislative process.” Contact EFAW c/o Blumberg,
<rblumberg@attglobal.net>.

The Canadian Horse Defense Coalition is “a collective of
national groups that have joined forces to ban the slaughter of
equines for human consumption in Canada, as well as the export of
live horses for the same purpose,” says founder Sinikka Crosland.
Crosland in 2003 formed the Women’s Health and Ethics Coalition “to
bring further attention to the health, humane, and environmental
concerns surrounding the use of Prempro and Premarin,” and to seek
“an end to the manufacture and export” of all products made from
pregnant mare’s urine. In 2002-2003 Crosland led the opposition to
the Ken Turcot Memorial Gopher Derby, a killing contest held to
raise funds for the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation. The event was not
held in 2004. Contact Crosland c/o P.O. Box 26097, Westbank,
British Columbia, V4T 2G3, Canada; 250-768-4803;
<info@defendhorsescanada.org>; <www.defendhorsescanada.org>.

The Terminator kills proposal to terminate animals sooner

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

SACRAMENTO–“I realized last night that I made a mistake on
the budget,” California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted at a
hastily convened June 26 press conference. “My daughter called me.
I have reinstated the six-day waiting period for lost animals,”
Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger spoke 24 hours after media revealed that his fiscal
2004-2005 budget included repealing the 1968 Hayden Act. Humane
organizations responded almost immediately, but irate individual
citizens were already flooding the Capitol with messages of protest.
The Hayden Act requires shelters to hold impounded animals
for at least six business days before killing them, unless they are
deemed incurably injured, ill, or vicious. The Hayden Act also
requires that impounded animals be scanned for microchip
identification, and bars animal abusers from adopting shelter
animals within three years of conviction.
Schwarzenegger had initially endorsed a December 2003
recommendation by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office that
the holding time for dogs and cats be cut back to 72 hours, the
pre-Hayden requirement, and that there be no required holding time
at all for small mammals, reptiles, and livestock. Facing a budget
deficit of $15 billion, the Legislative Analyst’s Office advised
that repealing the Hayden Act could save the state $10 million a year
in reimbursements paid to animal control shelters.

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PetCo tests adopting out rabbits instead of selling them

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2004:

SAN DIEGO–In lieu of selling rabbits, four PetCo stores in
the Minneapolis area have begun offering rabbits for adoption from
the Minne-sota House Rabbit Society.
Since 1965 PetCo has offered dogs and cats for adoption from
shelters, instead of selling puppies and kittens from breeders.
PETsMART has done likewise from inception in 1986. Neither chain,
however, has felt before that rescue groups for small mammals,
birds, and reptiles could provide a sufficiently reliable supply of
animals to enable the stores to hold market share.
The test of rabbit adoptions brought PetCo some good
publicity in an otherwise difficult year, including a PETA pledge
to boycott PetCo until it quits selling animals.
Settling suits brought by five California communities, PetCo
in May 2004 agreed to pay a total of $711,754 in fines and
investigative costs for allegedly neglecting animal care and
overcharging customers, and to spend at least $202,500 to improve
store equipment.
In January 2004 Texas district judge Darlene Byrne ordered
PetCo to pay $47,000 to Carol Schuster of Austin, including $10,000
each for emotional anguish, loss of companionship, and punitive
damages. Schuster’s minature schnauzer had escaped from a PetCo
employee while being walked after grooming, and was killed by a car.
The verdict was overturned in June by the Texas 3rd Court of
Appeals, upholding an 1893 precedent limiting damages for the loss
of a dog to material costs plus legal expenses.
Schuster’s attorney told Veterinary Practice News that the
case will be taken to the Texas Supreme Court.

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