November 2003 Volume XII, #9 This Roadside Zoo Was Closed by the USDA in 1997
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SHELTERING IS POINTLESS Rehabilitating UNTIL THE NEED IS REDUCED (Editorial, page 3) Asian bears CHENGDU, AGRA––The Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center and the China Bear Bill to ban exotic cat traffic clears Rescue Center stand just miles apart, on opposite sides of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan state in Senate, has key House support southwestern China. The Wildlife SOS Agra Bear Rescue WASHINGTON D.C. – – sion of dangerous exotic animals, a Centre is 1,500 miles away, on the far side of the Scaring exotic cat breeders and sellers goal beyond the constitutional reach of Himalayas, 10 miles from the Taj Mahal, within for Halloween, the U.S. Senate on federal legislation because the relevant the Sur Sarovar Sanctuary, near Agra, India. October 31 unanimously approved. the jurisdiction is allocated by the Ninth The giant pandas, red pandas, and Captive Wildlife Safety Act. Amendment to each individual state. Asiatic black bears of two subspecies whom the “The bill bars interstate and House Resources Committee three sanctuaries host were all caught in the cross- foreign commerce in dangerous exotic chair Richard W. Pombo (R-CA) on fire of late 20th century Marxist class struggle, but animals for the pet trade, including November 10 “announced consensus on that was just the latest of their species’ misfortunes. lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, now Each are descended from some of the first jaguars, and cougars,” explained prepared for full consideration before bears to lose habitat to humans. Humane Society of the U.S. publicist the House,” said a press release by Products of parallel evolution, bears and Peg McCarthy in a prepared statement. Resources Committee communications large primates, including humans, developed to fill Jill Robinson with anesthetized bear. (K.B.) Co-sponsored by Nevada director Brian Kennedy. approximately the same ecological niches. All of the bears and raccoons and all of Republican John Ensign, DVM, and Sponsored by Rep. Buck Bears came from the carnivore family, the large primates appear to have become perhaps Vermont independent Jim Jeffords, the McKeon (R-CA), the House version of emerging in the northern hemisphere only slightly the most intelligent and adaptable mammals within Captive Wildlife Safety Act evolved the Captive Wildlife Safety Act cleared earlier than the first raccoon-sized advanced pri- their range. Most of the bear/raccoon continuum, out of the Shambala Bill, promoted the Resources Committee in September mates emerged in northeastern Africa. along with humans, chimpanzees, and baboons, since 1999 by Shambala Sanctuary after exemptions were added for all Most bears and the most widely distrib- are able to forage for edible vegetation, hunt, scav- founder and actress Tippi Hedren. holders of valid federal permits, uted large primates developed omnivorous diets. enge, or even fish for food as necessary. In original form the Shambala The biggest bears evolved limited bipedalism and While the bear/raccoon continuum split Bill sought to outlaw all private posses- (continued on page 6) relatively small, little used tails; some of the into regionally specialized species ranging from the largest primates became fully bipedal and shed their lemur-like ringtails of South America to the giant tails. Primates developed opposable thumbs. So polar bears of the Arctic, large primates divided did the raccoon branch of the bear/raccoon line. (continued on page 18) ANIMAL PEOPLE News For People Who Care About Animals November 2003 Volume XII, #9 This roadside zoo was closed by the USDA in 1997. (Kim Bartlett) Roadkills of cats fall 90% in 10 years ––are feral cats on their way out? BALTIMORE, SALT LAKE species, since the volume of traffic, exposure CITY, MENTOR (Ohio)––Is the U.S. out- of species to roadways, and the behavior of door cat population down 90% since 1992? the species around vehicles all tend to be con- The feral cat population might be. sistent from year to year. Roadkills of cats appear to have fall- If roadkills of any species rise or fall, en 90% in 10 years, after apparently rising it is usually safe to suggest that the species is sixfold while the pet cat population nearly increasing or declining proportionately. doubled during the 1980s. The American Journal of Veterinary An eightfold surge in the population Research in 1986 published a study by James of feral cats, mostly descended from aban- E. Childs and Lloyd Ross which found that doned and free-roaming pets, probably from 1978 through 1980 the city of Baltimore, accounted for about two-thirds of the roadkill Maryland, picked up an average of 2,721 increase during the 1980s, but the trend is now roadkilled cats per year. At least 20%, Childs completely reversed. and Ross believed, were pets or former pets. Current indications are that without That was the earliest comprehensive continuing replenishment from wandering pet count of roadkilled cats known to A N I M A L Village dogs near Bale National Park, Ethiopia. (Efrem Legesse) cats, the fast-falling feral cat population would P E O P L E . Since many studies indicate that probably stabilize at a thinly distributed level both the U.S. pet cat and feral cat populations Conservation group experts urged resembling the norms for other small felines tend to mirror human population distribution, such as bobcats, lynx, and caracal. and Baltimore lies close to the climatic mid- The large suburban feral cat colonies point for the U.S. as a whole, the Baltimore dog shooting in Ethiopia seen in recent decades may be an anomaly ratio of one roadkilled cat per 270 residents GOMA, Ethiopia––Why were spent one night in the first habitat and half a made possible only by the extirpation of street can be projected to the nation with reasonable free-roaming dogs shot in November 2003 in day in the other. Then they went to Addis dogs and the temporary absence of native hope of accuracy. and around Bale Mountains National Park, Ababa with the park warden and prepared their predators capable of eating either rodents or The U.S. had 226 million residents Ethiopia? How much did the Ethiopian Wolf report. Their report convinced the top authori- cats. Only in high-rise communities like Hong according to the 1980 census, and thus proba- Conservation Programme and Born Free ties to allocate a budget and borrow the gun, Kong and inner cities ringed by miles of pave- bly had about 839,000 roadkilled cats. Foundation have to do with it? with ammunition. Then the warden sent dog- ment, like the oldest part of Rome, are large The Baltimore data can also be com- Why, after Homeless Animal shooting teams to the two wolf habitats. cat colonies likely to persist––and then only if pared to the 2000-2003 roadkill toll in Salt Protection Society of Ethiopia cofounder Hana “We found a copy of the report,” humans supply enough food to sustain them. Lake County, Utah, of one cat per 488 resi- Kifle photographed a probable rabid wolf in Legesse said. “Our friend Naji Mohammed,” Roadkill counts are among the dents, published on October 14 by D e s e r e t August, was the EWCP vaccination program a contributor of information to Legesse’s May sources of animal population data considered News reporter Lynn Arave. for pet dogs and working dogs, underway 2001 ANIMAL PEOPLE essay The Dogs of most reliable by wildlife biologists. Roadkill Salt Lake County in recent years is since 1996, not extended to homeless dogs? Bale, “helped us to scan and send it to you.” counts cannot tell in isolation how many ani- actually much more representative of the U.S. Oral rabies vaccination of the The scanning assistance was just one mals are at large, but roadkills tend to be a rel- as a whole than Baltimore was in 1979-1980, Ethiopian wolves was reportedly approved by example among many of community coopera- atively constant source of mortality as a per- offering a good balance of both habitat types the Ethiopian government on November 7, tion described by the HAPS volunteers as they centage of the total number of deaths within a (continued on page 8) apparently long after the EWCP first requested scrambled to try to save the local dogs. permission to use it. Dated October 20, the seven-page But the dog-shooting continued. report identified as co-authors Ethiopian “After we reported that the health Wildlife Conservation Organization research problem occurred among the critically endan- and veterinary team leader Fekadu Shiferaw, gered wolves,” HAPS president Efrem EWCO veterinarian Kifle Argaw, Bale Legesse told ANIMAL PEOPLE, “the vet National Park warden Fekadu Gardew, and team came to the area [weeks later] and decid- EWCP veterinarian Zelealem Tefera. ed to destroy all dogs. Without spending “The EWCP has been working in the much time at all where the wolves are dying, Bale Mountains since 1995,” according to a they finally convinced the park warden that web site self-description, “to implement activ- shooting is the only solution. ities including education, disease prevention “There are two main wolf habitats in (through vaccination of domestic dogs), [and] the park,” Legesse continued. “The team only (continued on page 12) another silent victim of man’s inhumanity . and “nature.” But then, one morning, a month after I first saw her, Mitzi broke cover and raced up to the food dish that I faithfully kept filled! My jaw dropped in amazement. I called to her so she wouldn’t eat just yet. Mitzi ducked back into the bushes. Then I ran to her food dish, scooped it up, and laid it in the trap. I couldn’t believe Mitzi was still alive .