A Project of Animal People, Inc., 1992-2013
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
Halfway through a two-year investigation of the
possible impact on marine mammals of the ATOC low-frequency
sound experiments, used to measure global warming,
University of California marine biologist Dan Costa says no
harm is apparent. “The animals are not abandoning the study
site,” explained Costa. “We’re finding whales and lots of dolphins
and lots of seals. The abundance has not changed, so
there’s no dramatic effect.”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
MONTGOMERY, Alabama––Contrary to the
insinuations of an October 1996 appeal for donations issued by
Tina Fields and Ronald Denney under the name Saving
Animals From Euthanasia, listing Louis Jones, DVM, as
“attending veterinarian,” SAFE is not a legitimate charity and
Fields, Denney, and Jones remain under indictment for alleged
theft by charitable fraud and theft of charitable property in the
amount of $60,195, attorney Dennis Wright of the Alabama
Office of the Attorney General confirmed on December 16.
Wright said a trial date would probably be set in early
1997. The SAFE newsletter states that all charges against
Fields, Denney, and Jones were dropped on March 14, without
mentioning that they were promptly refiled after correction
of a technical error in the first filing.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
Louisiana governor Mike Foster gave “the first
indication that he plans to run for re-election in 1999,” said
the New Orleans Times-Picayune, by hosting a fundraising
three-day “Spirit of ‘96 Governor’s Duck Hunt” at the Oak
Grove Hunting Club in Creole, December 21-23. Lafayette
businessman Henry Mouton, identified as one of Foster’s
longtime hunting buddies, invited 54 people to join the hunt at
$5,000 apiece. Amenities included a 4:30 a.m. breakfast of
quail and a commemorative shotgun for each participant.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
WASHINGTON D.C.––Humane Society of the
U.S. staffers Virginia Bollinger and Cristobel Block, suing
former HSUS vice president for investigations David Wills
since August 1995 for alleged injuries “sustained as a result
of Wills’ repeated battery,” on October 21 filed counterclaims
to Wills’ countersuit stating that, “Wills’ repeated battery
of Block and Bollinger was consistent with his pattern
and practice of sexually assaulting and sexually harassing
female employees with whom he worked, threatening them
with adverse action if they reported his unlawful conduct,
and terrorizing them through his verbal and physical threats
and attacks. Over a 10-year period,” the document continues,
“Wills has subjected at least 13 female employees with
whom he has worked, including Block and Bollinger, to
such sexual battery.” The filing goes on to describe alleged
repeated rapes of Bollinger and alleged rape attempts on both
women that Wills was purportedly unable to consumate.
Wills, also sued by HSUS for purportedly embezzling
$93,000, has denied all charges.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
VANCOUVER––Sixteen self-described founding
members of Greenpeace upstaged ceremonies in Vancouver to
mark the 25th anniversary of the start of the group with an open
letter demanding “a ceiling on salaries,” a “leveling out of the
hierarchical structure,” and other changes to insure that “the
organization which broke new ground in environmental campaigning
continues in that tradition, continues to be at the cutting
edge of environmental reform, and does not simply
become part of the institutionalized political landscape.”
The “founding members,” whose actual founding
roles came at various points from the 1969 formation of the
Don’t Make A Wave anti-nuclear testing expedition that
evolved into Greenpeace to the 1976-1977 formation of
European chapters, argued that a decline in global membership
from 4.8 million in 1990 to 30 million today reflects the treatment
of members as a source of funding, without real input
into setting policy and choosing campaigns.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
Franklin M. Loew, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine a t
Cornell University since September 1995, on December 10, 1996 announced his
resignation effective January 31, 1997, to become president and chief executive
officer of Medical Foods Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A 1965 Cornell
DVM graduate, Loew was founder and dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine
at Tufts University in North Grafton, Massachusetts, near Cambridge, 1982-
1995. Medical Foods Inc. makes products for people with special dietary needs,
e.g. a candy bar for diabetics that helps sustain blood glucose as they sleep.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
WASHINGTON D.C.––Renewing efforts
to gut the Endangered Species Act, House of
Representatives Resource Committee chair Don
Young (R-Alaska) “will want to move an ESA bill
‘as early as possible’ in the 105th Congress because
the issue would be ‘too politicized’ in 1998,” Roger
Featherstone of Defenders of Wildlife advised in the
November 28 edition of GreenLines, an online daily
newsletter, quoting an unnamed Republican aide.
“On the Senate side,” Featherstone continued, “the
ESA is ‘absolutely a top priority’ for Senator Dirk
Kempthorne of the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction.”
Kempthorne also offered attempts to dismantle
the ESA in the 104th Congress.
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1997:
A month before the scheduled January 6 hearing date for legal action
between factions identified with the Fund for Animals and PETA over control of
the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, attorneys for the two sides were
reportedly drafting a memorandum of understanding agreed to in principle on
December 5 by NEAVS president Theo Capaldo, representing the “Fund” faction,
and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine president Neil
Barnard, representing the “PETA” faction. In 1988 a board slate organized by
The Fund and PETA won control of NEAVS, after a two-year battle against the
administration of probate judge Robert Ford, who was later convicted of mishandling
funds. Fund president Cleveland Amory also served as NEAVS president
until his retirement, announced in November 1995. PETA president Alex
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1996:
Jim Cook, 37, founder of the Yoknapatawpha Exotic Animal Refuge in of Oxford,
Mississippi, “passed away this weekend while at work,” JES Exotics Sanctuary president Jill
Shumak faxed to ANIMAL PEOPLE on November 19. “We were devastated at the loss of this
awesome, wonderful man,” a longtime sufferer from juvenile onset diabetes who had undergone
installation of an insulin pump just two weeks earlier. Cook and David Mallory of the nearby
Ceder Hill Sanctuary in May bought 84 large exotic cats––46 African lions, 21 tigers, and various
others––at the foreclosure of property owned by Lawrence and Katherine Twiss, of
Philadelphia, Mississippi, who were recently convicted of cruelty for allowing the big cats and
other animals including bears to starve on an 800-acre rented farm. JES Exotics in October
accepted transfer of 10 of the cats.