Tongdaeng the street dog reawakens Thai sense of duty toward animals

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

BANGKOK–For the second time in five years a street dog has
grabbed the attention and affection of Thailand, reminding Thais
that kindness toward animals is a national tradition as well as a
Buddhist teaching and moral obligation.
Among modern nations, only India has a longer documented
history of acknowledging duties toward animals. At that, the
difference is slim. The animal-loving Indian emperor Asoka sent
missionaries to Thailand to teach Buddhism in the third century B.C.,
only 250 years after the Buddha died.

BOOKS: Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Dominion:
The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy
by Matthew Scully
St. Martin’s Press (175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010), 2002.
464 pages. $27.95 hardcover.

In November of 1998 I received a copy of
an article from the National Review. As editor
of Humane Religion, a bi-monthly journal, I was
used to getting all kinds of clippings from our
readers, negative and positive. And when I saw
this was taken from the very conservative
National Review, I was sure it was going to be
disheartening, at best. But I couldn’t maintain
that attitude. The article began with the
statement “Respect for God’s creatures should be
a conservative impulse.”

MSPCA in a labor dispute

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.–Rowley Memorial Animal Hospital, a
branch of the Massachusetts SPCA, has “demanded that newly hired
certified veterinary technicians not be part of” Service Employees
Union Local 285, and that vet techs already on the job “be given an
option to leave the union,” according to Springfield Valley Advocate
reporter Chris Kanaracus.
In addition, the MSPCA is asking Rowley staff to pay 10% of
their health insurance premiums, now entirely paid for them. Local
285 representative Tim Oppenheimer noted that while the MSPCA lost
money in 2001, all six of the top-paid MSPCA officers received
substantial raises, including president Gus Thornton, due to
retire, whose pay was boosted 18% to $258,400.

BOOKS: Welfare Ranching

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Welfare Ranching:
The Subsidized Destruction of the American West
edited by George Wuerthner and Mollie Matteson
Island Press, (P.O. Box 7, Covelo, CA 95428), 2002.
346 pages. $75.00 hardback, $45 paperback.

As a southerner now living in the West, I am intrigued by
the similarities between what is happening today to the Western
cattle culture and what happened more than a century ago to the old
Southern plantation culture.
Both were products of an entrepreneurial spirit that
exploited people and the environment for economic gain. Both
developed romanticized veneers that appealed to Americans trying to
formulate a national identity–but Southern genteel society attempted
to mimic European aristocracy, while the rugged individualism of
pioneering Westerners symbolized, to some degree, an escape from
Old World trappings.

BOOKS: Sightings: The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Sightings: The Gray Whales’ Mysterious Journey
by Brenda Peterson & Linda Hogan
National Geographic Society (1145 17th St. NW, Washington, DC
20036), 2002. 286 pages., hardcover. $26.00.

Defenders of gray whales migrating along the Pacific coast of
Mexico, the U.S., and Canada won two important court decisions
within 18 days as 2002 closed and 2003 began.
First, on December 20, a three-judge panel of the Ninth
U.S. circuit Court of Appeals ruled in San Francisco that Makah
tribal treaty rights granted in 1855 do not supersede the intent of
Congress in enacting the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The verdict
requires the National Marine Fisheries Service to conduct an
extensive environmental impact review before authorizing the Makah to
hunt any more gray whales.

BOOKS: From The Horse’s Mouth

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

From the Horse’s Mouth
by Eugene Davis
Rhoman Books (1708 21st Ave. S., #146, Nashville, TN 37212),
2002. 181 pp, paperback. $14.99.

In this novel, Tennessee Walking Horses talk and dream about
their lives. Unfortunately, their lives are filled with horrible
abuse by men who care only about the financial rewards of winning at
competition. The book is rich with history and facts about the world
of Tennessee Walking Horses.

Human Obituaries

January 1, 2003 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2003:

Edward J. Blotzer Jr., 78, died on November 28, 2002 in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A retired locomotive engineer and local
newspaper editor, Blotzer served on the board of the animal rescue
group Animal Friends from 1960 until 1997. In 1970 Blotzer and his
late wife Katherine, who owned a printing business, founded the
Animal Care & Welfare SPCA. Claiming an 85% conviction rate in
prosecuting cruelty cases, Blotzer was among the first humane
officers licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture after
it gained authority to regulate who could be a humane officer in
1994. He was also a founding member of Mobilization for Animals,
and an active supporter of many other animal advocacy groups, as
well as a frequent news source for ANIMAL PEOPLE.

Obituaries

Obituaries

December 1, 2002 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2002:

Annelisa M. Kilbourne, DVM, 35, was killed in a light
plane crash on November 2 at the Lope Nature Preserve in Gabon,
Africa. Earning her veterinary degree from Tufts University in 1996,
Kilbourne worked in Malaysia for the Wildlife Conservation Society,
in Chicago for the Lincoln Park Zoo and Shedd Aquarium, and in
Borneo for the SOS Rhino project, before returning to the Wildlife
Conservation Society to investigate the impact of Ebola virus on wild
gorillas. Her work helped to establish that the spread of Ebola is
an important factor in the recent decline of gorilla populations,
and that eating poached gorillas is one way the deadly disease
spreads among humans.

Obituaries

Who Gets The Money? — 13th annual edition

December 1, 2002 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 2002:

Starting on page 13 is our 13th annual report on the budgets,
assets, and salaries paid by the major U.S. animal-related
charities, plus miscellaneous local activist groups, humane
societies, and some prominent organizations abroad. We offer their
data for comparative purposes. Foreign data is stated in U.S.
dollars at average 2001 exchange rates.
Most charities are identified in the second column by
apparent focus: A for advocacy, C for conservation of habitat via
acquisition, E for education, H for support of hunting (either for
“wildlife management” or recreation), L for litigation, N for
neutering, P for publication, R for animal rights, S for
shelter/sanctuary maintenance, V for focus on vivisection, and W
for animal welfare. The R and W designations are used only if a
group makes a point of being one or the other.

Activists & Organizations

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