A sad place for a pit bull

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

by Shannon Lentz

Founder and Director, Kalamazoo Animal Rescue

We had Nikki euthanized this morning. She was a

purebred pit bull terrier, rescued from an animal collector

here in southwest Michigan. When we responded to the call

from Children’s Protective Services, who had gone to the

home for other reasons, we found Nikki chained to a dog-

house. The chain was bolted to her collar. It was the dead of

August, and Nikki had been without food or water for who

knows how long. She lay in the dirt, barely moving. We

were able to convince the collector that her dog was days

away from death, and she finally consented to let us take her.

At our veterinarian’s clinic we took photographs, in

case we were able to pursue cruelty charges against the col-

lector. Nikki was grossly underweight at 25 pounds, and was

full of worms, fleas, and mange. Her age was estimated as

two years. When her heartworm test came back negative, we

determined that she was salvageable. I took her on as a foster

project, and watched this pitiful wreck of a creature bloom

into a healthy, handsome dog. It took weeks. We kept her

indoors, though she was smelly and crusty from the mange.

Companion Animals

Letters [May 1994]

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Thanks

I just wanted to write and

say that I think you do a great job. I

read ANIMAL PEOPLE cover to

cover. Through ANIMAL PEO-

PLE I found out about the North

Shore Animal League. Last July a

flood damaged homes and property

in Denison, Iowa. I run the

Denison Animal Shelter, and the

shelter building had nearly four feet

of mud and water go through it. No

animals were injured or drowned,

but we lost all our supplies and pet

food and had damaged doors,

pens, etc. I contacted NSAL, and

Glenn Kachetsky was very helpful.

We received financial assistance

from NSAL in a short time, and

that made a big difference. Thank

you North Shore Animal League,

and thank you ANIMAL PEOPLE,

for caring.

––Brynne Cue

Denison Animal Shelter

Denison, Iowa

Letters

Sex and animal protection

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Chances are, most of the people who attended the seminar on “Differences

between men and women” at the American Humane Association’s annual training confer-

ence last fall wondered what this had to do with animal protection. Presenter Judy Lang

asked the same question––after delineating the many behavioral differences found by recent

l research. By then the audience was bursting with examples of specific situations where a

better understanding of sex differences might significantly help.

One difference of note, applicable to both humane education and anti-cruelty

enforcement, is the disparate degree to which men and women recognize personal feelings.

As Lang pointed out, women have a much stronger neurolink between their brain hemi-

spheres, which results in greater capacity for connecting thought with emotion. Thus

women are less likely to blindly react. Some research suggests women are less likely to

abuse children and animals in part because they are more likely to recognize their own anger

and frustration before it emerges in hostile behavior, and are therefore quicker to use empa-

thy as a brake upon negative feelings. Men commit both violent crimes and suicide far

more often; women are far more likely to seek psychological help. Lang stressed that the

physiological difference is a matter of degrees, not of absolutes, and should not be consid-

ered a handicap or an excuse for inhumane behavior: men can and must be taught to

“count to a thousand” before reacting. What is important is recognizing that men often need

to be taught a mode of responding that for women may be inuitive.

Editorial: The cause of the homeless

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The ink wasn’t even dry on the New York Times edition of April 4 when we

received our first outraged call from a dog rescuer. A full-page advertisement placed by the

Coalition for the Homeless showed a forlorn-looking dog at the top. “According to statis-

tics,” the caption read, “his chances of finding a home are 70%.” Below, the photo

expanded to include the homeless woman sitting beside the dog. “Now they’re next to

zero,” said the caption. “Some might say the homeless are treated like dogs. But actually,

a homeless dog is better off than a homeless person. Over 100,000 people bedded down on

New York City’s streets and in shelters last year. But only 2,000 homeless single adults

ended up in homes of their own.”

The statistics cited are accurate, but out of context. As we pointed out to the

Coalition for the Homeless on behalf of our upset readers, the 30% of New York City stray

dogs who don’t find a home within a week to 10 days of pickup are euthanized at one of the

American SPCA shelters. The numbers of stray dogs euthanized are falling much faster

than the number of homeless people on the streets, but the ASPCA still killed 16,760 dogs

in 1991, the most recent year for which we have complete statistics, plus 22,595 cats,

whose chance of adoption ran around 20%.

Saving marine mammals and tigers: The balance of nature vs. the balance of terror

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

WASHINGTON D.C.––The poli-

tics of wildlife protection are at the fore this

month as Congress rushes toward renewing

the Marine Mammal Protection Act on the eve

of the annual push by whaling nations to gut

the whaling ban enacted in 1986 by the

International Whaling Commission––and

everyone has something to trade but the

cetaceans and pinapeds whose fate depends on

the outcome. Simultaneously the fate of wild

tigers and rhinoceroses worldwide would

seem to depend more upon the success of

negotiations over inspection access to North

Korean nuclear power plants than upon either

economics or ecology.

A foreshadowing of the probable

compromises ahead over marine mammals

came on April 11, as President Bill Clinton

barred U.S. imports of wildlife products from

Taiwan effective in mid-May. Said Clinton,

“The world’s tiger and rhinoceros populations

remain gravely endangered and will likely be

extinct within the next two to five years if the

trade in their parts and products, fueled by

market demand in consuming countries, is

not eliminated.”

San Francisco adopts no-kill animal control: WILL DECLARING VICTORY WIN THE WAR?

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

SAN FRANCISCO, California––Euthanasia for animal population control offi-

cially ended in San Francisco effective April 1. Taking San Francisco SPCA president

Richard Avanzino up on a challenge issued last October, the city Department of Animal Care

and Control has agreed it will no longer euthanize any dog or cat who meets Avanzino’s

“adoptable” and “treatable” criteria. The SFSPCA has agreed to accept, treat, and place all

such animals. The agreement is expected to cut by two-thirds the number of euthanasias per-

formed by the city shelter: 5,379 in 1993, already by far the smallest number of euthanasias

relative to human population of any major urban animal control district.

High-volume adoption: THE NORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE HAS MONEY–– BUT THEIR METHODS DON’T TAKE MEGABUCKS

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

PORT WASHINGTON, New York––At 10 a.m. on a

Friday morning, the North Shore Animal League adoption center

is already as crowded as most shelters ever get. The familiar ken-

nel odor assails the nostrils at the door––and stops one step

beyond. Shelter manager Michael Arms wrinkles his nose and

winces. “That’s very embarrassing,” he says. “That’s the only

place that stinks, and it’s right at the entrance. We think there’s

a problem with that drain,” he adds, pointing. Staff architect

Steve Preston looks uncomfortable. “We’ve had all kinds of guys

in here trying to sort it out,” Arms continues, “and we won’t

stop until we get it fixed, because we think it’s very important

that the adoption center smells clean and fresh. We don’t want

people walking in and thinking, ‘Oh my God, if I get a pet my

house is going to stink.’”

As the tour moves on, Preston lingers behind to peer at

the offending drain in evident frustration.

Birds

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

Virtually insuring the mass destruction of spar-

rows, who provide much of China’s insect control, Beijing

Weekend magazine on April 1 published the assertion of profes-

sor Chen Wenbo of the Beijing Drum Tower Hospital of

Traditional Chinese Medicine that eating six sparrows and 15

grams of Chinese wolfberries per day for three months can cure

male sterility. The professor, 57, claimed to have cured

30,000 patients with a diet of sparrows over the past 13 years:

86% of their wives became pregnant. Since 1991 the price of

sparrows at the bird market outside the hospital has reportedly

doubled from three U.S. cents apiece to six.

Siberian cranes failed to arrive this winter at

Keolado National Park, near Bharatpur, India, for the first

time in 30 years. Only six were seen in Iran, and none in

Pakistan, marking the virtual extinction of the western flock,

which numbered 200 about 30 years ago. About 2,900 Siberian

cranes survive in the eastern flock, wintering in eastern China.

Fur

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The Animal Welfare Institute, the World Society

for the Protection of Animals, and the Nordic Animal

Welfare Council won an upset victory on February 11 at the

International Standards Organization Technical Committee 191

meeting held in Ottawa when the committee voted to delete the

word “humane” from the description of the standards the com-

mittee is developing for submission to the European

Community. If the word “humane” had been used, the effect

might have been to circumvent the EC ban on the import of furs

trapped by inhumane methods, including the leghold trap. The

committee also agreed to admit representatives from the

American SPCA and Humane Society of the U.S.; AWI had

been the only animal protection group included in the trapper-

dominated U.S. delegation. ANIMAL PEOPLE regrets that

this information was inexplicably received nearly two months

after our March issue went to press.

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