ANIMAL HEALTH

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

IN THE VETERINARY CLINIC

Despite concerns about bites and animal-transmitted

disease, veterinary staff are as often hurt on the job by ordi-

nary slips, trips, falls, and lifting injuries, according to sta-

tistics supplied to ANIMAL PEOPLE by the American

Veterinary Medical Association Professional Liability Insurance

Trust. From 1988 through 1992, dog bites accounted for 16.3%

of claims, cat bites for 13.8%, kicks by horses and cattle for

5.2%, and all other injuries done by animals combined amounted

to just 4.1%––but slips, trips, and falls came to 17.2%, while

lifting totaled 16.2%. Three-fourths of the lifting injuries

involved lifting “small” animals, whose weight and ability to

struggle were probably underestimated by the injured. Average

costs per claim were $2,808 for animal-related lifting injuries;

$6,253 for other lifting injuries; $6,212 for slips, trips, and falls;

$4,174 for horse and cow-kicks; $1,527 for dog bites; and $678

for cat bites. Job safety statistics have apparently never been

compiled for animal control officers and shelter workers, but

similar ratios may apply.

National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

The newly formed National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy held its

first working meeting September 18 at the American Humane Association headquarters in

Englewood, Colorado. The discrepancy between the AHA projections and the shelter-by-

shelter, state-by-state statistics was briefly raised, but not discussed in detail.

Formed last July 17 at the 1993 annual convention of the American Veterinary

Medical Association, the NCPPSP plans to conduct an epidemiological study of pet over-

population, using yet-to-be-established regional data collection centers.

MEMO FROM ANDREW ROWAN

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

I have questioned the validity of

the national shelter statistics for more than

10 years. After discussing the issue with

the late Phyllis Wright in the early 1980s,

and with her support, we organized a work-

shop on the question at the Tufts Center for

Animals and Public Policy in 1984. The

workshop included the AHA, MSPCA,

HSUS, and ASPCA, plus a number of

local shelters known to have good statistics

and quality programs. As a result of the

workshop, I concluded that the animal

overpopulation problem had been dramati-

cally reduced, from shelters killing 20% of

the national owned dog and cat population

in 1973 to only 10% in 1982. As far as I

can tell, my claim for this progress has

been virtually ignored by nearly everyone

in the business, Phil Arkow being a notable

exception. Certainly no one has ever tried

to challenge it.

Squirrels, cats top count to date: Student roadkill census heads into second year

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

DERRY, New Hampshire––Roadkill Monitoring

Project coordinator Brewster Bartlett, a.k.a. Dr. Splatt, has

announced that March 14 through May 15 will be the 1994

roadkill survey period for school groups.

Last year students at 31 schools participated, all of

them in New England. This year, Bartlett hopes to recruit

several hundred, from all parts of the U.S. and Canada.

“Each student is assigned a road that is frequently

traveled going to and from school,” Bartlett explains. “This

road is to be monitored at least twice a day for at least eight

out of the nine weeks.” Each Monday, student roadkill

counts from the preceding week will be tabulated and

relayed by computer modem to a Roadkill Bulletin Board

maintained by Simmons College, in Massachusetts.

Animal and habitat protection groups split on North American Free Trade Agreement

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

NO IMPACT STATEMENT REQUIRED

WASHINGTON D.C.––The U.S. Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled September 24

that the Clinton administration doesn’t have to produce an

environmental impact statement on the North American

Free Trade Agreement before it takes effect. The ruling

reversed a lower court ruling that would have required sev-

eral years of study before the pact could be submitted to

Congress for ratification.

Public Citizen, one of three plaintiffs in the bid to

delay or stop NAFTA, pledged to appeal to the Supreme

Court within a matter of weeks.

“This decision has cheated the American public

out of the right to know,” said Friends of the Earth director

Jane Perkins.

LETTERS [Oct. 1993]

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

Premarin vs. horses

Your articles on the connec-

tion between the production of

Premarin female estrogen therapy

drugs and the overbreeding and

slaughter of horses were shockers. I

thought that by now I was shockproof,

but I suppose I am not. Just when you

think you know the worst, there is

more. It is important that we not let

depression take over; we have to act.

I phoned my pharmacist and

learned that I was taking the “natural”

Premarin. I then spoke to you; you

gave me the names of three synthetic

substitutes; I phoned my doctor and I

switched to one of them, Estrace. The

office nurse was appalled when I

explained the reason for my switch. I

am sending her copies of your articles.

I’m sending copies to some organiza-

tions and individuals as well. If just

some of them take action, some hors-

es will be saved––thanks to you.

Letters

Editorial: Lies, damned lies, and statistics

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

Most ANIMAL PEOPLE readers probably remember the saying, variously attrib-

uted to Benjamin Disraeli and Abraham Lincoln, that there are lies, damned lies, and sta-

tistics. In popular interpretation, the saying equates three categories of misinformation. In

practice, however, as both Disraeli and Lincoln knew, accurate statistics are perhaps the

most powerful means we have of demolishing lies and damned lies––which often reside in

purported statistics that don’t withstand scrutiny.

Inaccurate statistics are correspondingly an invitation to public demolition by one’s

opponents. When animal advocates take outdated or sloppily compiled numbers into public

debate, they figuratively stand up with pants unzipped. Some activists believe a big number

is most convincing and dramatic, whether or not it can documented. Yet people are more

often moved by the plight of one animal than that of many. “Millions” are overwhelming

and abstract. Smaller numbers are more hopeful. People feel empowered to save a certain

number; after that, the effort seems impossible and response diminishes.

Editorial: Fighting the good fight

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

Those of us who have worked with cattle know that there are two ways to get a

balky cow to move. Cowpunchers yell, push, and beat the animal, who often becomes

even more obstinate. Milkmaids by contrast just walk in front of the cow, hands in pock-

ets, and she follows from curiosity. One experienced milkmaid with a pocket full of apples

could probably move more cattle farther, faster, than all the cowpunchers west of the

Mississippi, if she had a mind to, but no one has ever convinced the punchers, who con-

tinue to rave and kick and beat on almost every farm and feedlot.

Persuading the public to adopt humane attitudes and practices often seems similar-

ly frustrating. Problems and solutions evident to those of us in animal protection are

ignored and overlooked time and again by governmental authorities, whether we’re talking

about violence to animals as precursor of violence to humans, the folly of spending mil-

lions for animal control but next to nothing on animal population control, or the hidden

costs of the meat industry to human and environmental health. Undeniably, progress is

being made, and even in comparison with a few years ago, it is impressive in many areas:

the rapid drop in animal shelter euthanasia rates, the decline of sport hunting, the collapse

of the fur trade, and the exponential increase of interest in vegetarianism, to cite just a

handful. Still, the progress can seem as slow relative to the size of some of the issues as

the pace of Old Bossy may seem to a young cowhand who’d rather be traveling at the pace

of a souped-up pickup truck.

Count finds 5 million euthanasias a year–– AHA SAYS 12 MILLION; WANTED TO DISCREDIT PET BREEDERS

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado––

Knowing that an ongoing shelter-by-shel-

ter, state-by-state count has demonstrated

the annual U.S. euthanasia toll due to pet

overpopulation to be under six million

animals per year, the American Humane

Association on September 7 told mass

media that, “In 1992, a dog or cat was

euthanized every two seconds in this

country––12.1 million dogs and cats in

all.” The AHA release also maintained

that euthanasias are again increasing after

eight years of decline.

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