LETTERS [Jan/Feb 1995]

January 1, 1995 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1995:

Moral idiocy

If this country had devot-

ed a thousandth of the media time it

has spent on O.J. Simpson and his

similarly good-for-nothing

mur-

dered wife on another issue, say the

crimes of an opportunistic Alaska

against its non-commercially valu-

able wildlife, something of real

value might have emerged. As it is,

let’s take heart that even an atom of

exposure was able to detonate an

uproar, and that it takes an almost

total blackout to keep ugly deeds

and traditions in place. I remain

convinced that it is the cultural and

media superstructure that dominates

our waking hours, built every inch

of the way on the system’s central

values, that should be blamed for

the state of moral idiocy in which

we dwell.

––Patrice Greanville

Westport, Connecticut

Letters

WHO GETS THE MONEY? BUDGETS, ASSETS, FUNDRAISING, AND OVERHEAD

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

BUDGETS, ASSETS, FUNDRAISING, AND OVERHEAD

The major national animal and habitat protection

groups are listed below in alphabetical order, together with

selected other organizations of note. Each group is identified in

the second column by apparent focus and philosophy: Astands

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, P for publica-

tion, R for animal rights, S for shelter and sanctuary mainte-

nance, V for focus on vivisection issues, and W for animal

welfare. The R and W designations are used only when an

organization seems to have made a point of being one or the

other. Although many groups are involved in multiple activi-

ties, space limits us to providing only four identifying letters.

AGRICULTURE

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

Famine driven by drought is devastating the

Tarahumara tribe, of Chihuahua state, Mexico––a shy people

known for vegetarianism, endurance running, and such usually

good health that their language reportedly lacks a word for malnu-

trition. Their plight became known when health officials reported

in late October that Tarahumara women––who hadn’t eaten in

days––were carrying starving and dehydrated babies out of the

mountains to find help, walking up to five hours to reach a clinic.

At least 34 Tarahumara babies died at clinics during September

and October. The toll in remote villages is believed to be far high-

er. The crisis was apparently aggravated by ranchers whose cattle

drained local water sources before more than 100,000 head suc-

cumbed. Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari finally

promised food aid on October 27, but refused the appeal of

Chihuahua governor Francisco Barrios Terrazas, a member of the

opposition, for disaster relief funds. While the politicos dithered,

photographer Ismael Villalobos, 60, trucked tons of rice and

beans to the Tarahumara, gifts from a Mexico City women’s group.

ANIMAL HEALTH

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

India on November 4 declared itself free of

plague, two months after a bubonic plague outbreak hit the

Beed district of Maharashtra state while pneumonic plague

broke out in the city of Surat. The last Beed case was

reported on October 2; the last Surat case was diagnosed

three weeks later. A bubonic plague outbreak possibly

related to the one in Beed raged on in Matabeleland

province, Zimbabwe, killing 21 people and afflicting more

than 200 by November 10. Dr. Lalit Dar and staff at the

India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi meanwhile

questioned whether the diseases in question really were

plague in a letter to The Lancet, a prestigious British med-

ical journal. They noted that while most of the victims had

plague-like symptoms, only 272 out of 6,000 reported cases

were unequivocally identified, and the death toll was unex-

pectedly low. “Even within families more than one case

was uncommon,” they wrote. “The diagnosis of plague

should definitely be confirmed by culture. Conditions that

need to be excluded are viral infections such as hantavirus

pulmonary syndrome, meliodisis and leptospirosis.” The

latter three diseases, like plague, are often spread by infect-

ed rodents and tend to follow flooding, which hit western

India just before the first plague cases occurred.

LABORATORY ANIMAL NUMBERS: GOOD NEWS OR BAD? by Andrew Rowan

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

In March of this year, I reported that the number of

laboratory animals used annually had declined by up to 50%

in many European countries and also probably in the United

States. I based this conclusion on a variety of sources. In

Europe, Great Britain and the Netherlands have collected

data on laboratory animal numbers with reasonable diligence,

and their records are usually regarded as being reliable. In

both cases, laboratory animal use has fallen by approximate-

ly 50% since the mid-1970s. Switzerland also reports a 50%

decline between 1980 and 1990; the sources for this claim

are news reports in the scientific literature. Similarly,

France, Italy, Sweden, and Germany all report declining

use, although their records are incomplete and cover only a

few years in the 1980s and 1990s. Canada, via the Canadian

Council on Animal Care, also reports significant declines in

the use of the common laboratory mammals.

LETTERS [Dec. 1994]

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

S.F . Zoo responds to HSUS charges

I am writing to respond to reports

about the San Francisco Zoo regarding transac-

tions with alleged hunting ranches made by the

Humane Society of the U.S. and reported in

your October article, “Easy targets.”

The San Francisco Zoo is an accred-

ited institution that abides by the standards and

ethical policies set forth by the American Zoo

and Aquarium Association. In 1992 we adopt-

ed one of the most stringent transaction agree-

ments anywhere. Recipient institutions are

required to sign a disposition and acquisition

transaction agreement that prohibits the sale of

animals to auctions or hunting ranches or to

anyone who provides animals to either.

Letters

Editorial: Where our money goes

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

Our fifth annual report on “Who gets the money?” starts on page 11 of this issue.

Once again you may be shocked and dismayed to discover the extent to which the purported

“program expenses” of many of the biggest and best-known organizations are actually direct

mail costs written off as “public education.” Indeed, some such organizations have few if any

programs beyond direct mail. We view this as an abuse of public trust.

We stress accountability at ANIMAL PEOPLE––and we practice what we preach.

We don’t just tell you our “investigations department” is working on this or that: you see our

original investigative coverage of all the news about animal protection, ten times a year.

Like other animal protection charities, we exist through your concern and your gen-

erosity. Your generosity is critically important, because while your paid subscriptions and

advertising cover most of the cost of printing and mailing ANIMAL PEOPLE, your personal

gifts support our information-gathering. Your donations make possible our calls and faxes to

the people in the know––or who ought to be in the know––wherever animals need help. Often

it’s our call seeking information on your behalf that gets both authorities and animal advocacy

groups moving in response to situations that might otherwise be pushed aside.

Dirty pool: (Part II of a two-part investigative series)

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

VANCOUVER, KANSAS CITY,

CHICAGO––Propaganda wins converts to

causes by reducing issues to good against evil,

forcing observers to take sides. Propaganda is

among the most effective tools of warfare;

but like warfare itself, it exacts a high price

from those who use it. Much as the dead

from either side don’t “win” a war, propagan-

dists for any cause often find themselves

obliged to wage wars they can’t afford simply

because they chose to use exaggerated

rhetoric in trying to win a simple reform. The

nature of propaganda is that in making broad

accusations of bad faith by the opponent, it

cuts off communication, making enmity out

of disagreement and mendacity out of misun-

derstanding.

Friends of Animals saves elephants at CITES: YEARS OF AID TO AFRICAN ANTI-POACHING EFFORTS PAYS OFF

December 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:

FORT LAUDERDALE––Facing 14 other African nations aligned as a block,

South Africa on November 15 withdrew a proposal to remove elephants from protection

under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

South Africa sought the downlisting in order to sell parts from elephants culled to

limit park populations. The funds, it claimed, would go to conservation. The most con-

tentious item on the agenda at the triennial two-week CITES conference, ended November

18, the downlisting was backed by Zimbabwe, Japan, Australia, the World Conservation

Union, the trophy hunting lobby, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service head Mollie Beattie,

striving to ingratiate herself with hunting groups which have privately lobbied for her ouster.

Officially, the U.S. and the European Union

were committed to abstain––leaving elephants

with few influential friends.

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