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 . . . against all odds. And full of hope, I just stared at the loaded trap . . . thinking I might just get blessed with some good luck after all. Then a few minutes later a hungry Mitzi dashed into the trap to eat. A n d BANG, like music to my ears, that clanging metal door came down and my heart sang . . . we saved Mitzi from starvation and death! November 2002 It was when I ran up to her to put a towel over her cage, that I Dear Partner, realized Mitzi was not feral. She didn’t fight, or try to get out. One day, while I was filling a feeding station in the woods, She just looked at me with those big golden eyes. Someone had I saw a gray flash out of the corner of my eye. It didn’t move like abandoned her. a squirrel. L a t e r, at our shelter, we found out that she’s barely a year old, I spun around toward the heavy brush, and I caught a quick and that she’s afraid of other cats because she’s been alone all her short glimpse of Mitzi’s tail as she dashed into the thickness. l i f e . So we’ll keep her apart from our other cats. I couldn’t believe it . . . a cat! Out here in the middle of S a d l y, Mitzi doesn’t ask for love . If she gets it, she is grateful. nowhere . . . in the midst of the many dogs who visit our forest All she wants is a safe harbor, a place to live without being hungry . . . feeding stations . . . a little cat! or hunted . . . again. I set a trap and waited for hours, but she was gone . . . and I Thanks to people like you, Mitzi has found this place . . . with knew I’d never see her again. over 1,500 other animals who were also let down by people and As night fell, I feared for her life because coyotes prowled dumped in the wild. this area too . . . and owls stationed themselves in nearby trees so Here, as long as you care about them and support them every they could dive down on some unsuspecting rabbits. month, these animals will be safe . . . and showered with love . . . for When I returned the next day, there was no sign of Mitzi . . . the rest of their lives. though the food I put out for her under the bush was gone. But For the animals, anyone could have eaten it. And gliding just a few feet above the bushes was a beautiful large red-tailed hawk. I usually see them as dark shapes in the sky, but seeing this one’s topside, as the sun lit up the red in him, was Le a gift. Three more circled above. Leo Grillo, founder I put more cat food out under that bush, but in my heart I knew that Mitzi didn’t have a chance. A few days later, I watched an eagle take off from the D.E.L.T.A. Rescue ground where I saw Mitzi that first time. Weeks passed. Coyotes, PO Box 9, Dept AP, Glendale, CA 91209 owls, hawks . . . even eagles. Poor Mitzi must be long gone . . . Attention: Rescuers and Shelters Build your own inexpensive straw bale dog house for your pets’ maximum protection, comfort and fun! Here at D.E.L.T.A. Rescue, we invented a better housing system That’s why we now build the deluxe “stucco” version. Our mate- for our more than 859 dogs. Using 25 common bales of straw, and rials cost for this stucco version is about $400, while you can put up three sheets of plywood, two people can build a straw bale dog house the simple building for under $150. Good news! We put all the in under 10 minutes! This is the same simple structure that withstood building instructions for both versions on video tape for anyone to our terrible El Nino rains in 1998. The simple straw design can last use, or copy in its entirety. And it’s FREE! To help us help precious 20 years, but because we are a permanent sanctuary, our houses animals, besides our own 859 dogs and 552 cats, please get this must last longer. video today and pass it around!
Our dogs love to play on the straw ... Simple straw house, 4x6 foot interior, Newly finished “deluxe” stucco version, before, during and after construction! 10 x10 foot rooftop play area, and steps! which will last 100 years or more!
We spent a year making this video tape. Now, for the sake of cold, unsheltered dogs everywhere, we are offering it to anyone for free. To pay for duplication and postage, we are asking for a $6 donation per tape, but only if you can afford it! And we can send the tape to anyone you want. Or you can get one, copy it yourself, then give it to friends. Write today to get your free video, and then build a house your dog will truly love and enjoy. Send to: D.E.L.T.A. Rescue, Our dogs climb their steps and play on top One village at D.E.L.T.A. Rescue. Two P.O. Box 9, Glendale, CA 91209. and inside their houses. They have a ball! dogs per yard, and a deluxe house for both! Or call us at 661-269-4010 and get it faster! ANIMA L PEOPLE, November 2003 - 3 Editorial Sheltering is pointless until the need is reduced “We live in a deeply depressed, impoverished, remote and backward corner of the Poor areas, rural areas, and developing nations, Vicente emphasizes, cannot afford far side of hell,” someone laments to us almost every day. “We have never had low-cost or to repeat the mistakes of the rich. Animal shelters will always become death camps and free pet sterilization and vaccination, let alone a neuter/return program for feral cats and street slaughterhouses, Vicente points out, if dog and cat reproduction is not controlled before the dogs. People poison or shoot dogs and cats with impunity. The dogcatcher sells dog meat, shelters are built. dog leather, cat pelts, and live animals for use in laboratories. Millions of animals are in If the population is controlled, which must always be the first priority, the relatively urgent need. Please help us fund a shelter to house 100 of them.” few animals who require special care could be housed as efficiently in all but the biggest cities Such pleas are heartrending, but under such circumstances, either operating or fund- by shelterless nonprofit humane societies, using foster homes or boarding facilities. ing a shelter is pointless, mindless, and likely to only rearrange the misery in that particular This is especially true of remote and rural areas, where the distance to be traveled to part of hell’s overcrowded and starving half acre. a centrally located shelter tends to become an incentive to dumping animals instead. No humane society anywhere should even think about starting a shelter until and Rather than spending money to run a shelter in any community which lacks the con- unless it receives a gift or bequest of the land and money needed to build and run the shelter centrations of donors and adoptors to make sheltering economically viable, animal rescuers without diverting resources from sterilization, vaccination, and public education. need to set up networks which enable the nearest rescuer to collect any animal who is being Later, if sterilization, vaccination, and public education are successful, starting the surrendered, or may be redeemed and rehomed with reasonable effort after pickup by govern- right kinds of shelter at the right times might represent worthwhile expansions of the mission. ment animal control, and then deliver the animal to the most appropriate foster home. But until the numbers of homeless dogs and cats are markedly reduced, and until the public The coordinating office needs no more than a desk, a telephone, Internet service, shows increased sympathy and tolerance toward them, putting funds into shelter work makes the knowhow to ensure that participating foster homes furnish quality care, and the fundrais- less sense than using money as cat litter. ing capacity to help the fostering volunteers cover their costs, including the costs of immedi- Fortunately, putting sterilization, vaccination, and public education first is the least ately sterilizing and vaccinating all incoming animals. costly way to get started. Public education can begin with as little as one volunteer sharing Adoptions can be arranged in at least four ways without any need to have a shelter: knowledge by word-of-mouth. Providing low-cost or free sterilization and vaccination • By using the adoption programs of pet supply superstores such as PETsMART, requires paying veterinarians, which necessitates fundraising, but does not require building or and Petco, wherever they exist. buying a clinic, of either the fixed-site or mobile variety, until the funds become available. • By arranging frequent adoption events at other heavily frequented public places. Other than hiring vets, the most useful investment a sterilization and vaccination • By using a web site with photos to help advertise the availability of the animals. program can make will usually be in providing transportation to relay animals to and from the • By partnering with a high-volume adoption center in a big city which can place veterinarians, on behalf of elderly, disabled, and poor people who have no transportation of puppies, kittens, and otherwise easily adopted animals. their own. If volunteers with vehicles are not available, vans can be rented as needed. These days many U.S., Canadian, and western European big-city shelters have a Street dog catching and feral cat trapping for sterilization and vaccination can like- shortage of highly adoptable animals, though still no scarcity of hard cases. Remote and rural wise be done by volunteers, if necessary. animal rescuers, however, along with those in other parts of the world, are still receiving This work must come before sheltering, because whether or not petkeepers can huge numbers of puppies, kittens, and small dogs. Transferring these animals to adoption afford sterilization and vaccination, or are responsible enough to do it, it still needs to be centers, in exchange for sterilization funding, helps everyone, and enables the adoption cen- done. Ignoring that need is like ignoring that a neighbor’s house is on fire just because you ters to compete successfully for “market share” against pet shops and puppy mills that sell happen to know that he smokes in bed. Ideally the neighbor can be educated into more respon- unsterilized, unvaccinated animals. sible behavior, but either way the fire must be extinguished. If sterilization and vaccination is properly promoted, and humane education is suc- When and how to build a shelter cessful, a community will never need conventional animal control shelters. The most successful approach to preventing dog and cat overpopulation in impover- After successful sterilization, vaccination, and humane education programs are ished and remote areas that ANIMAL PEOPLE has ever seen is the “No-kill, no-shelter” con- underway, expanding into sheltering should begin with establishing an adoption center. An cept pioneered in Costa Rica by Alex Valverde, DVM, Gerardo Vicente, DVM, and adoption center is a shelter of sorts, but the most successful are more like fashionable bou- Christine Crawford, founder of the McKee Project. We think enough of it that we recently tiques than shelters in the conventional sense, displaying relatively small numbers of adopt- sponsored Dr. Vicente to address the Asia for Animals conference in Hong Kong and then do a able dogs and cats in a convenient location, where it is easy for them to attract notice, be speaking tour of India. happy, healthy, and comfortable, and––while awaiting adopion––get whatever training they Vicente, like Valverde, is a past president of the Costa Rican Veterinary Licensing may need to succeed in a home. Board. His background is in public health. From that background and perspective, Vicente The adoption center should not be used for longterm care, nor for large numbers of emphasizes that without community support, nothing can be accomplished. The public must animals, since offering too many animals tends to leave prospective adopters unable to understand a successful anti-pet overpopulation project, and must feel inspired to cooperate choose. If animals cannot be placed quickly, they do not belong in an adoption center. The with it. This excludes the blame-the-public attitudes and rhetoric that persist among too many idea behind an adoption center is to help reduce the numbers of animals in custody, and help animal rescuers, especially those who maintain shelters as a perceived bastion against a cruel fill vacant niches in homes with sterilized, vaccinated animals. Animals who are not promptly and uncaring world that they seldom actually try to engage. adopted should be rotated off exhibit and back to foster care to de-stress. Vicente proudly points out that Costa Rica has no animal control shelters, has closed A successful adoption program––or shelter program of any kind––cannot operate those it once had, and does not want or need any more. from dreary rows of parasite-infested stinking-out-loud steel-and-cement cages beside the As Vicente explains, shelters of any kind take a lot of money to build and run. Even town dump. Placing animals in good homes requires treating them as if they have value. the U.S., spending $2 billion a year on animal sheltering, between public and nonprofit Treat animals as if they have value, and people will want them––and the way a humane orga- investment, does not yet have complete shelter coverage of every community. nization treats animals will be perceived, by default, as the community standard of pet care. Indeed, after more than 125 years of shelter-building, half of the rural counties in Bear in mind that dogs and cats do not go kennel-crazy from being in a shelter too the U.S. still have no shelter, public or private––and shelter-building has meanwhile proved long. Rather, they go kennel-crazy because mad scientists whose sole object was to drive futile, because enough shelter space can never be built to contain every dog and cat without a dogs and cats insane probably could not devise an instrument to do it more effectively than the home so long as dogs and cats breed freely or are intentionally bred. typical traditional shelter. The standard cement-floored, cement-and-chain-link walled, tin- Nor is it possible to lastingly reduce dog and cat numbers by killing the surplus. The roofed dog run is an atrocity, whose basic design came from the spare horse stalls in which U.S. amply demonstrated that fallacy during the 20th century, catching and killing more dogs hunting packs were kept during the Middle Ages. and cats in shelters than the probable sum of all the dogs and cats who were eaten in the whole Dogs need compatible companions, they need room to run, they need security from of Asia. Only in the past 12 years has U.S. shelter killing fallen below that appalling volume. being stared at strange dogs, they need outdoor air and light, and many have a reflexive urge No matter how many dogs and cats are killed, the fertile remainder can always breed to dig, especially when stressed. Give a dog what a dog needs, and it is very easy to keep rapidly up to the carrying capacity of the habitat, somewhere between becoming a public nui- dogs happy and healthy. Deprive a dog of any of these things, and you will soon have sick sance and suffering actual starvation. and despairing dogs. Teach a community to deprive a dog of these things, and you will have a community full of maladjusted dogs being surrendered to shelters or dumped on the street. SEARCHABLE ARCHIVES: www.animalpeoplenews.org Cats need to be able to climb—and they prefer quiet. There is no animal easier to Key articles now available en Español et en Français! care for than a cat. Even great apes in zoos often keep pet cats successfully—and so has at least one now deceased grizzly bear. Unfortunately, great apes and the occasional bear seem to have a better sense of what a cat needs than many shelter directors. Too often ANIMAL ANIMAL PEOPLE PEOPLE visits humane societies full of nervous, panic-stricken, and sneezing, runny-eyed News for People Who Care About Animals cats, sometimes confined to sterile laboratory-style cells the size of a microwave oven, who have to listen to kennel-crazed dogs barking around the clock. Publisher: Kim Bartlett If the ancient Egyptians were right that human beings will face a cat on Judgement Editor: Merritt Clifton Day, many a shelter director may be passing a very hot eternity. Web site manager: Patrice Greanville If dogs and cats are kept in a facility that looks like a jail, smells like a cesspool, Newswire monitor: Cathy Young Czapla and sounds like hell in full cry, dogs and cats for miles around will be treated like doomed souls on a chain-gang, because the condition of the shelter sends the message that the humane POB 960 community considers this okay. Treat dogs and cats as honored visiting friends, conversely, Clinton, WA 98236-0960 and the community standards will rise to that standard. ISSN 1071-0035. Federal I.D: 14-175 2216 Finally, after a community has effective outreach sterilization, vaccination, and humane education programs, and adoption facilities that place every animal who can be Telephone: 360-579-2505. quickly placed, and after the resources become available to do more, it is worthwhile to start Fax: 360-579-2575. a care-for-life sanctuary as a backup to the rest of the system. This is for the relatively few E-mail: [email protected] animals who cannot be adopted, when all other components of no-kill animal control are up Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org and running. Copyright 2003 for the authors, artists, and photographers. People give up pets for many reasons. Whether or not we think the reasons are Reprint inquiries are welcome. “valid,” giving up pets is a fact of life which must be accommodated. Many are given up not because they are not loved, but because desperate people feel they have no choice: they have ANIMAL PEOPLE: News for People Who Care About Animals is published lost their job, lost a home, an animal has bitten or scratched a child, the spouse hates the ani- 10 times annually by Animal People, Inc., a nonprofit, charitable corporation dedicated to mal, the landlord is threatening to evict them, or the pet-keeper has died. exposing the existence of cruelty to animals and to informing and educating the public of If the people feel that a pet is going to either find a home or be well looked after at a the need to prevent and eliminate such cruelty. sanctuary, they will bring the animal into the adoption-and-care network. The animal will not Subscriptions are $24.00 per year; $38.00/two years; $50/three years. end up being abandoned in the misguded hope that the animal “will have a better chance” than ANIMAL PEOPLE is mailed under Bulk Rate Permit #2 from Clinton, if brought to a shelter that routinely kills “unadoptables.” Washington, and Bulk Rate Permit #408, from Everett, Washington. Animal control agencies that can respond immediately to nuisance animal complaints Executive subscriptions, mailed first class, are $40.00 per year or $70/two years. and act as a dog-and-cat lost-and-found are nice to have. So are full-service humane societies The base rate for display advertising is $8.50 per square inch of page space. that can provide emergency veterinary care, do humane education, do animal rescue, and Please inquire about our substantial multiple insertion discounts. investigate cruelty complaints, all under one roof. The editors prefer to receive queries in advance of article submissions; unsolicit- They are not, however, what it takes to end dog and cat overpopulation. ed manuscripts will be considered for use, but will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope of suitable size. We do not publish fiction or poetry. 4 - ANIMAL P EOPLE, November 2003 UKRAINIAN ANIMALS GET NEWSPAPER LETTERS We are glad to inform story, picture, project to improve that our Centre is starting a month- lives of wild, domestic, stray ani- ly newspaper on animal rights mals, scenario for a cartoon, film, Kitten in Beijing called Time to Protect Animals. or video, etc. I want to tell you how This will be the first such publica- We have already hon- much I enjoyed reading your October tion in the Ukraine and the former ored a poet from Dnepropetrovsk cover feature, “Four shelters serve Soviet Union. The project will be for her wonderful poem about a Beijing.” The vignette at the end realized with financial support former champion horse who ran about your son holding a kitten on a ––Wolf from the World Society for the away from a slaughterhouse. The Clifton Beijing street and attracting attention Protection of Animals. The pilot poem has become a song and a was very sweet. Wolf was using his edition of 5,000 copies will be dis- well-known singer has recorded it act of holding that little life to send “Make it so.” tributed during the first week of for us. Now the song will be messages to those who came around November 2003. The famous heard on local radio stations. him. Wasn’t that the most beautiful Know that I stand in awe of Ukrainian newspaper V r e m j a If you have any interest- scene on the streets of Beijing? the work you have been doing with (Time), which publishes 80,000 ing material you would like us to ––Peter Li ANIMAL PEOPLE. I truly believe copies three times a week, is ask- publish or if you know about any Houston, Texas we must learn to live in harmony in ing their readers who would like to competition, action, campaign we
ASPCA 8 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, Nov e mbe r 2003 Roadkills of cats fall 90%––are feral cats on their way out? (from page one) and income strata. The Salt Lake County data, projected to the As many as half of all catkeepers still allow their cats then heading the Tufts Center for Animals and Public Policy, total current U.S. population of 281 million, would indicate a to roam, Carol Fiore of the Wichita State University now chief of staff for the Humane Society of the U.S. current national roadkill toll of 577,000 cats––a drop of only Department of Biological Sciences found in a 1999 survey of The U.S. dog population since circa 1990 has been about a third since 1980. Wichita catkeepers. reproducing at approximately the rate of replacement and no The drop is still significant, considering the increase However, catkeepers whose cats do not roam now longer seems to have any influence on cat numbers. in the U.S. pet cat population from circa 38 million to 73 mil- have from two to three times as many cats, a trend that in hind- The U.S. pet cat population has reproduced at less lion during the same years. The 32% decline in roadkilled cats sight can be seen developing in Childs’ data even though he did than 70% of replacement, while absorbing up to 28 million for- points toward a steep reduction in the numbers of outdoor cats, not directly remark on it. This reflects the much higher mortali- merly feral cats, primarily from litters collected by including both free-roaming pets and ferals. ty among outdoor cats, which appears to be from two to three neuter/return practitioners as kittens. But there is still better news for workers against pet times greater than among cats who are kept indoors. Despite the enormous overall increase in the numbers overpopulation and outdoor cat proliferation––because there ANIMAL PEOPLE affirmed the higher mortality of pet cats, the free-roaming pet cat population today appears would have been much worse news circa 1992, if anyone had among outdoor cats in a 1992 survey of about 170 feral cat res- to be down somewhat, perhaps mainly because of attrition then assembled the roadkill data. cuers, who supplied data pertaining to the deaths of 2,638 cats among older cat-keepers, who are more inclined to think of Data gathered by ANIMAL PEOPLE from sources in all. Half were killed in shelters; 10%, or 20% of those not cats as outdoor pets. including surveys of cat rescuers in 1992 and 1996, the annual killed in shelters, were roadkilled. Predation by coyotes, Dr. Splatt roadkill counts directed since 1992 by Brewster foxes, fishers, badgers, hawks, owls, eagles, and alligators Predation triples Bartlett of Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, and was noted, but appeared to claim no more than 4% of the cats. The decline in roadkills has apparently been so steep the monthly tabulations of roadkilled cats kept since 1993 by In 1996 a follow-up survey of about 60 feral cat res- that since 1996 it has no longer been possible to presume, as Mentor, Ohio municipal transportation department employee cuers produced data pertaining to the deaths of 361 outdoor the 1992 survey data indicated, that roadkills represent 10% of Cathy Strah, indicate that in the early 1990s the number of cats. About 25% were killed in shelters, only half as many as free-roaming cat mortality at population turnover rates of 100% roadkilled cats nearly equaled the numbers killed in shelters, at four years earlier, but 28% were roadkilled and 9% were killed among ferals and 33% among roaming pets. about 5.4 million per year. by predators. If that was still true, there would now be only five The neuter/return technique of controlling feral cat If roadkill mortality among outdoor cats in 1980 was million free-roaming cats left in the U.S., counting ferals, even numbers was introduced to the U.S. in a big way during the about 10% of total mortality, as in 1992, total outdoor cat though as many as 24 million pet cats are still allowed to roam. early 1990s, chiefly through the 1991 formation of the national mortality was about 8.4 million. Shelter killing probably What actually seems to be happening is that while the advocacy organization Alley Cat Allies and a heavily publi- accounted for half, also as in 1992, with surrenders of unwant- feral cat population is falling like a rock, predation has over- cized experimental neuter/return project undertaken by A N I- ed litters from pet cats accounting for most of the remainder of taken both roadkills and shelter killing as a cause of free-roam- MAL PEOPLE in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut. the eight million-plus cats who were killed in shelters. ing cat mortality. By 1996 the indicators that had pointed toward a U.S. If feral cats survived an average of one year, while Estimating predation is awkward because of a paucity roadkill toll of 5.4 million cats per year were suggesting that it pet cats who were allowed outside lasted an average of three of data to work from, but ANIMAL PEOPLE found two ways had fallen back to about 2.4 million, even though roadkills had years, as indicated in Childs’ 1978-1980 data, the U.S. popu- to do it. become almost three times as significant a source of mortality lation of true ferals as opposed to roaming pets and strays might First, there were the reports of predation produced by among feral cats. Shelter killing had dropped in importance by have been as low as three million––but it was about to explode. the 1992 and 1996 cat rescuer surveys. half, along with other human-caused mortality including poi- Among the pet cats allowed outdoors, as few as 26% Second, ANIMAL PEOPLE in 1996 began tracking soning, shooting, and captures by fur trappers. were sterilized according to one northern California study, “predator panics” resulting from the discovery of cat remains, As neuter/return continued to gain popularity, the although another northern California study done at about the typically misattributed at first to human sadists. From 1996 roadkill toll on cats continued to fall at a comparable rate. In same time found that 58% of pet cats were sterilized overall. through 2000, the numbers of such panics around the U.S. Mentor, for example, the number of roadkilled cats relative to Childs found two years later that 62% of the pet cats in ranged from a high of 19 in 1997 to a low of seven in 1999, residents fell by more than 50% from 1993-1996 to 2000-2002. Baltimore were sterilized. averaging 11 with a median of 10. What that means is best illustrated with a graph: Even the most conservative projection indicates that Then the number of “predator panics” tripled in 2001, at least 10 million cats––and perhaps twice as many––were at remaining at the same level in 2002 and 2003. Shelter killing = S (dogs & cats) large and breeding in 1980. The combination of data suggests that wildlife preda- Cats killed in shelters = C The gradual removal of free-roaming dogs from U.S. tion on outdoor cats was constant but relatively infrequent com- Roadkilled cats = R cities and suburbs during the 1960s and 1970s had meanwhile pared to roadkills until the numbers of cats fell to the point that Predation = P (italics indicate hypothetical trajectory) opened habitat and food sources to feral cats at a possible bio- enough prey was left unclaimed to sustain larger predators Year / Millions killed mass replacement ratio of about three cats able to survive in capable of killing a cat as well as mice, rats, and rabbits. 20 19 1 8 17 16 1 5 1 4 13 12 1 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 place of each dog. The balance apparently tipped in 2001. 1 .5 80 S 16 to 20 million pet cats (40%-50%) roam. R p By 1992 the U.S. pet cat population was already two- Perhaps not coincidentally, 2001 also appears to 81 s C r p thirds larger than in 1973 and about one third larger than in have been the first year in decades that the U.S. whitetailed 82 s r p 1980. Possibly half were still roaming at large; perhaps half of deer population and roadkills of deer began to dip significantly, 83 s r p those were breeding. after 40 years of rapid increase. Instead of scavenging as many 84 s r p deer as previously, suburban coyotes in particular were forced 85 S r p Fecundity drops to more vigorously hunt small prey, including cats. 86 s r p 87 S r p If 10% of the free-roaming cats were roadkilled, as The U.S. feral cat population may have been reduced 88 S r p the 1992 ANIMAL PEOPLE survey indicated, the 1992 to as few as five million. Now free-roaming pet cats are at pro- 89 S r p national toll included about 2.8 million pet cats and 2.6 million portionally greater risk from wild predators––and are more like- 90 S r p feral cats, for a total of 5.4 million. ly to be missed by grieving keepers. 91 S r p This neatly coincides with the 1992 ANIMAL PEO- Those who have lost pet cats to wild predators often 92 Up to 28 million (50%) pet cats roam. S r p PLE projection that up to 40% of the total U.S. cat population respond by clamoring for the deaths of the predators, as in 93 S R P at that time were feral, including approximately 26 million Rutland, Vermont, where state wildlife officials in October 94 s r p adult feral cats, rising to 40 million during the spring/summer 2003 trapped and killed a pair of rare fisher cats (cat-like rela- 95 s r p 96 s RP “kitten season.” tives of ermine) for having killed house cats in back yards. 97 S p r This is probably when the U.S. feral and outdoor pet The recent rates of progress against pet overpopula- 98 s p r cat populations both peaked, even as sterilization of pet cats tion in the U.S. and of reclamation of urban and suburban habi- 99 sp r rose and shelter surrenders of home-born litters plummeted. tat by native wildlife have been so rapid that it is possible to 00 p S r At some point circa 1992 pet sterilization efforts anticipate a future, not far away, when animal advocates will 01 p S r reached the 70% target that prevents population growth. have to turn much of the effort now put into sterilizing feral 02 Up to 24 m. (33%) pet cats roam. p S C R By 1994 surveys in many parts of the U.S. began to cats toward teaching the public how to live peaceably with 20 19 1 8 17 16 1 5 1 4 13 12 1 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 confirm that about two-thirds of pet dogs and 80% of pet cats native wildlife. 1 .5 were sterilized. The researchers included Karen The capital letters in the graph represent the years for Johnson of the National Pet Alliance, Carter Luke which ANIMAL PEOPLE has actual survey data. The lower of the Massachusetts SPCA, and Andrew Rowan, case letters provide the implied trajectory of the data during the remaining years. The italicized lower case letters represent a hypothetical projection of predation on outdoor cats, in absence of any data previous to KARE 1992. The shelter killing tolls plotted on the graph are taken from surveys done by the American Humane Association until 1992, and from data collected and ana- lyzed by ANIMAL PEOPLE for subsequent years. About two-thirds of the animals killed in shel- ters circa 1980 were dogs. By 1990 about half were cats. Today up to two-thirds are cats; more in some regions. The effect of subtracting dogs from the shelter killing toll , as indicated by the “C” axis, is to move the lines of descent in recent shelter killing and roadkills into near parallel. The three major factors in the apparent steep decline in roadkills of cats since 1992 appear to be that fewer pet cats roam; feral cat fecundity has collapsed to substantially less than the replacement level; and preda- tion on outdoor cats by native wildlife has approximately tripled since 1996. Roaming continues As of 1980, James E. Childs discovered in a study published by A n t h r o z o o s (Volume III, #4), approximately 42% of Baltimore cat-keepers permitted their cats to go out. The cats who went out spent up to 45% of their time outside, meaning that pet cats who went outdoors may have had no more than 45% as great a likelihood as feral cats of being roadkilled, picked up by animal control, or killed by wild predators. ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2003 - 9 Study confirms: corruption kills wildlife N A I R O B I ––Corruption kills wild- some of these countries experience high levels wildlife products can prevent the growth of an life, confirms data published in the November of political corruption, which may limit the unsustainable illegal traffic in poached animal 6, 2003 edition of the British scientific journal success of conservation by reducing effective parts, somewhat as legal alcohol sales drove Nature. funding levels and distorting priorities.” bootleggers out of business after the U.S. The findings were based on a com- Transparency International assigns a experiment with prohibition of alcoholic bev- parison of elephant and rhino populations with “Corruption Perception Index” on a scale from erages ended in 1933. the national “Corruption Perception Indexes” 1-10, with the lowest scores being worst. However, alcoholic beverages are produced by the watchdog group Transparency Currently 102 nations have been rated, with inexpensively produced in abundance. International during the years 1987-1994. about 70% falling below 5.0. The U.S. scores By contrast, it is not possible to The findings support the arguments 7.7 and Britain scores 8.7. raise animals in captivity for less than the cost of Youth for Conservation, the David Sheld- Among the lowest-scoring nations of poaching wild specimens, and not easy to Waterbucks, Kenya. (Kim Bartlett) rick Wildlife Trust, and the Nairobi office of from 1987 through 1994, also suffering cata- protect wildlife from poaching if any market ing industry efforts to repeal the ban on hunt- the International Fund for Animal Welfare, in strophic losses of wildlife, were Angola, the exists for their parts. The partial recovery of ing, “will almost surely lead to increased their continuing effort to maintain the 1977 Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, whales and African elephants since the imposi- poaching and be an incentive not for conserva- Kenyan national ban on sport hunting. Somalia, and Sudan––but all of these were tion of the 1984 global moratorium on whaling tion but for the black market worldwide. Yet study authors Robert J. Smith, afflicted by warfare. and the 1989 moratorium on international “Killing or capturing even a few R.D.J. Muir, M.J. Walpole, Andrew Balm- Among nations at peace, Zambia ivory sales illustrate that only total suppression endangered animals is hardly the best way to ford and Nigel Leader-Williams paradoxically had a CPI of 2.7 with elephant losses of 44.3% of a market for wildlife products can prevent protect endangered species or their habitat,” concluded with an implied endorsement of and rhino losses of 79.3%. Tanzania had a poaching––and only then to the extent that Itela wrote, “and this draft policy is nothing “sustainable use,” such as hunting, to fund CPI of 3.2, elephant losses of 45.8%, and governments refrain from allowing exceptions. more than an effort to cater to individuals and conservation. This was probably because the rhino losses of 52%. Zimbabwe had a CPI of Every rumor of relaxation of the businesses who profit from animal exploitation study made no effort to trace the relationship 3.7, elephant losses of 42.5%, and rhino loss- ivory trade ban, for example, has been fol- at the expense of genuine conservation.” between legal hunting and corruption. es of 78.5%. lowed by explosions of elephant poaching, as Youth for Conservation cofounder Wildlife policy changes proposed in All three nations heavily promoted traffickers anticipate selling illegally gotten Josphat Ngonyo also wrote in opposition to the both the U.S. and Kenya––backed by much of trophy hunting during the years surveyed, and ivory under cover of the legal trade. Bush administration proposal, and circulated a the same money––threaten to replace the prin- still do, while their corruption problems have shorter version to The New York Times, ciple of protecting rare species with the notion worsened. Zambia now scores 2.6, Tanzania Kenyans respond Washington Post, and other U.S. news media that even endangered wildlife should “pay for 2.7, and Zimbabwe 2.7. “The idea that reversing the long- as an op-ed column submission, which as itself” by being hunted or captured for sale. “These results stress the need for standing policy against trafficking in endan- ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press had not The public comment period on a conservationists to develop and implement gered species will somehow provide an incen- been published. proposal by the administration of U.S. policies that reduce the effects of political cor- tive for poor countries to conserve species “The Bush administration claims President George W. Bush proposal to relax ruption,” Smith et al agreed, but then wrote, deserves to be rejected,” wrote Steve Itela of that the profits generated from legal trade in U.S. standards on the imports of endangered “In this regard, we question the universal the Kenya group Youth for Conservation, in a endangered species would allow poor nations and threatened species expired on October 18. applicability of an influential approach to con- letter of opposition to the Bush administration to pay for the conservation of the remaining “Most of the world’s biodiversity servation that seeks to ban international trade proposal for trade in endangered species. animals and their habitats,” Ngonyo began, occurs within developing countries that require in endangered species.” “Kenya has inadequate capacity to “but what do Africa’s local communities say? donor support to build their conservation Smith et al echoed the longstanding enforce the existing protection,” Itela contin- Stated a May 2002 report by the Masai capacity,” Smith et al wrote. “Unfortunately, “sustainable use” claim that legal traffic in ued. “This new policy,” paralleled by hunt- (continued on page 10) Events
Nov. 21: ACES Shelter Planning & Capital C a m p a i g n s s e m i n a r , Orlando, Florida. Info:
Humane Education Free publications for teachers, as well as curriculum units on hunting, cir- cuses, companion animals, and much more. Kids can order free comic books and coloring books on ani- mal protection issues, and can enter The Fund for Animals’ annual essay contest.
Multimedia View streaming video footage of The Fund’s Public Service Announcements featuring Frequent Flyer Miles celebrities such as Ed Asner and Jerry Orbach. See trailers and clips from award-winning documen- You Aren't Using? taries and view educational videos about humane ways to solve urban wildlife problems. If you have enough frequent flyer miles to obtain award tickets -- News and Updates See photos and read current updates about the rescued residents at The especially enough for Fund’s world-famous animal sanctuaries. Link to news articles about The Fund, as well as to other ani- international travel -- mal protection organizations and resources, and subscribe to a weekly email alert telling you what’s they could be used to new at The Fund. send representatives of animal groups in Online Store Use The Fund’s secure online server to order merchandise such as t-shirts, developing nations mugs, and companion animal items, and activist resources such as bumper stickers, buttons, books, to conferences and and videos. training programs. Contact: [email protected] Find out more at www.fund.org! 10 - ANIMAL P EOPLE, November 2003 Corruption kills wildlife (from page 9) Environmental Resource Coalition (MERC) on claiming property in fulfillment, they assert, the hunting operations of Ortello Business of promises made by Mugabe during the Win or Die. Company in Tanzania: ‘The voices of the Zimbabwean war of independence more than Loliondo Masai echo those of other indigenous 20 years ago. Most of the “war veterans” communities across the country, whose com- appear to be too young to have actually fought. plaints about mistreatment and overexploita- The poaching soon got worse. tion of their natural resource by profit-driven Zimbabwean Conservation Task hunting companies have continued to go Force chair Johnny Rodriegues alerted Thiel www.GREY2KUSA.org unheeded. Like the Loliondo Masai, Tarangire, that Matabeleland governor Obert Mpofu, Oloonkiito, and Mkomanzi Masai say the among Mugabe’s closest allies, “has just sim- Government-sanctioned, unregulated hunting ply taken the Hwange Wildlife Estate,” the operations have detrimentally affected their 35,000-acre home of about 500 elephants who basic rights, environment and wildlife.’ have been protected since 1991 as Mugabe’s belonging to a Christian organization” for International–which named George W. Bush The report added, “Not only have so-called presidential herd. allegedly illegally killing a black rhino and “Governor of the Year” in 1999 for his support these voices gone unheeded, they sometimes “The land will now become a free- two elephants on conservancies and game of Texas canned hunts. have been suppressed in the interest of local for-all for poachers,” Rodriegues predicted, ranches which had either been taken over by The Competitive Enterprise Institute, and foreign commercial interests.” anticipating that Mpofu might next annex land the “war veterans” or were scheduled for redis- influential in shaping U.S. policy since the “In Kenya,” Ngonyo continued, from the adjoining Hwange National Park. tribution by the official government land Reagan administration, made the captive “cropping (licensed killing of ranched wildlife) The poachers had official competi- reform program. wildlife propagation success of the Zimbab- was began in 1991. A review of this program tion. Purportedly responding to hoof-and- “There is a new scam being worked wean conservancies a central exhibit in urging in 2001 not only revealed malpractice, abuse, mouth disease outbreaks that caused the loss of along Zimbabwe’s southern border,” Kelly the U.S. to emulate the Zimbabwean national and mismanagement, but also documented European markets for Zimbabwean beef, the McParland of The National Post confirmed in conservation strategy. local communities expressing concern about Department of National Parks and Wildlife October. “South African hunters are buying As a model for aid to conservation the continued killing of wildlife. Management declared an urgent need to exter- licenses that allow them to strip the area of its abroad, CEI touted CAMPFIRE, the USAid- “Both the MERC report and the minate all buffalo on private land. Impala and remaining game. A South African newspaper subsidized Communal Areas Management cropping evaluation revealed corrupt deal- kudu were also identified as potential carriers reported that one hunter bragged of bringing Program for Indigenous Resources. Gener- ings,” Ngonyo pointed out. “For example, a of hoof-and-mouth. back 400 zebra skins from a single trip.” ating about $2.5 million a year in program rev- German trophy hunter told MERC, when “There were 4,000 or 5,000 buffalo Amid the bloodbath Meryl Harrison enue, chiefly through promoting trophy hunts asked if he knew the consequences of hunting as of three months ago, when we got run off,” of the Zimbabwe National SPCA found herself in Zimbabwe, CAMPFIRE from 1997 through inside a park, replied ‘There are none because former Hwange Wildlife Estate co-owner H.A. investigating the starvation of whole herds of fiscal 2000 funneled as much as $28.5 million most of the time we let the money do the talk- de Vries, 69, told New York Times correspon- dairy cattle, marooned by hoof-and-mouth dis- to Mugabe regime insiders. ing. Before too long, you find the park dent Michael Wines in late October. ease quarantines and left unfed by absentee But neither the conservancies nor rangers becoming the guides, both inside and “Impala––thousands and thousands. Kudu, landlords for as long as three years. CAMPFIRE passed enough wealth down to outside the park. They also stop paying atten- thousands. Elephants, 500 or 600. There was Wildcare Africa director Karen the community level to stop the land invasions. tion to the species and quota restrictions.” lion research going on there, and wild dog Trendler, of Pretoria, South Africa, offered Neither did they stop corruption even when Kenya, with a current CPI of 1.9, research. I’d be surprised if there are 20% of to rescue a baby elephant who had wandered purportedly functioning at peak. A World has the combination of corruption and abun- the animals left,” de Vries added. near Lake Kariba since June with a snare on Wildlife Fund survey acknowledged that ele- dant wildlife to become extremely vulnerable The Lion and Cheetah Park, fea- his leg, but was refused a permit. Instead––a phant ivory poaching doubled in the Zambese if sport hunting is permitted. tured in films including Mountains of the month later––Zimbabwean officials shot the River region during 1999. Other investigators Moon, King Solomon’s Mines, and A Far Off elephant as being beyond help. found hints that nearly five times as many ele- Zimbabwe P l a c e , fell in early September to a militia The Zimbabwean state newspaper, phants may have been poached as Naked corruption and the collapse of headed by retired Zimbabwean Colonel K. the Harare Herald, sought to counter criti- Zimbabwean officials acknowledged. wildlife law enforcement in Zimbabwe accel- Makavanga. Police took the park back two cism of animal suffering under the Mugabe Wrote Michael DeAlessi, director of erated after the August 2003 disclosure that weeks later, but mobs of “war veterans” regime on October 22 with an account of the the CEI subsidiary Center for Private President Robert Mugabe is building a retire- remained in the vicinity, apparently waiting rescue of two wandering pangolins by Conservation, shortly before the Zimbabwean ment mansion worth $9 million U.S. for the police to leave. Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans land invasions started, “Photo safaris and Bambo Kadzombe, chair of the Charged the opposition Democratic Association chair Patrick Nyaruwata and one other non-consumptive activities can be quite Zimbabwe Wildlife Advisory Council, told Alliance party in a statement to News-24 of of his employees, Handsome Muripa. lucrative, but take a great deal of time and Gustav Thiel of the KwaZulu-Natal M e r c u r y Johannesburg, “The invasion of game reserves investment to set up. Guests expect comfort- that, “3,000 animals have been poached so far by war veterans has permitted some profes- Bush model able accommodations, quality meals and a on commercial game farms and conservancies, sional South African hunters to poach animals Nominally a socialist, Mugabe range of activities. This means a fair number mainly at Save Valley, Mahenye, Bubiyana, who otherwise would be protected.” wooed economic support from the Ronald of staff. Hunters are often happy with Spartan Bubye Valley, and Chiredzi River.” ANIMAL PEOPLE about then Reagan and George H. Bush administrations amenities, and one or two game scouts,” Since 2000 the game farms and con- received an undated fax from Commercial by turning “conservation” in Zimbabwe over meaning “low overhead and high return.” servancies have been seized, one after the Farmers Union, Matabeleland Branch chief almost entirely to the now destroyed private Instead of creating jobs and broadly next, by mobs of rampaging “war veterans” executive Ben Zietsman describing the arrest conservancies. sharing wealth, which would have given many of “a party of 12 South African hunters The owners put into Zimbabweans a vested interest in protecting practice the “sustainable use” wildlife and habitat, the conservancies and rhetoric of the World Wildlife CAMPFIRE further entrenched the disenfran- Fund, while catering to the chisement and bitterness lingering from No More Homeless Pets well-heeled and influential apartheid––and stoked the feeling of the hun- membership of Safari Club gry and uneducated poor that their misery Conference resulted from rich people raising and shooting April 23-25, 2004 Join the No More Homeless Pets Forum Las Vegas, Nevada Join us to spend a week with some of the leaders of this lifesaving, sponsored by Best Friends Animal Society nationwide movement. They’ll share an inside view of their thoughts and daily work and answer your questions about subjects that are How can your community bring an end near and dear to their hearts. to the killing of healthy homeless pets? Coming topics: Cities, counties, and entire states across the country are doing it. 11/ 3 - 11/7 Are you getting good press? ... And yours can, too! Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, will answer your questions about media relations for your shelter; everything from managing a crisis Meet the people who are creating a new world for homeless pets to proactively reaching out to the public through the media. at this landmark gathering of experts from across the country 11/10 – 11/14 Could you start a “Friends of the Shelter” group? as we explore strategies to Julie Bank of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control and Rich develop no-kill communities. DuCharme of First Coast No More Homeless Pets will answer your questions about why and how you could launch a program to support You’ll learn about: the shelters in your community. Adoptions: Simple steps 11/17 – 11/21 Internet adoptions. How can they work for you? to get more animals out of the Kim Saunders of Petfinder.com and Kate Schnepel of No More Homeless Pets in Utah will answer your questions and offer advice on shelter and into good new homes. how you can use the internet to find good new homes for animals. Spay/Neuter: Model programs 12/1 - 12/5 Birds, rabbits, and ferrets. Oh my! that really work. Karalee Curry, of the House Rabbit Society, Alicia Drakiotes of Ferret Plus: Saving feral cats, fundraising, Wise, Eileen McCarthy of the Avian Welfare Coalition and Denise Kelly preventing burnout, recruiting the of Best Friends, will offer advice on how you can help homeless rabbits, ferrets, and birds. best volunteers, building coalitions To join, visit the Best Friends website: and much more. www.bestfriends.org/nmhp/forum.html Best Friends Animal OR send a blank e-mail message to: [email protected] Society Best Friends Animal Society phone: 435-644-2001 x129 Phone: 435-644-2001 fax: 435-644-2078 E-mail: e-mail: [email protected] [email protected] ANIMAL P EOPLE, November 2003 - 11 Cat-eaters may get, spread SARS G U A N G Z H O U – – Jill Robinson and publicist Health said in November. Laboratory studies of Severe Annie Mather, Chinoy and Guangxi Diseases Acute Respiratory Syndrome his crew “were clearly shak- Prevention and Control directed by virologist Albert en by the high volume of Center deputy chief Yang D.M.E. Osterhaus of the cruelty inflicted upon both Jinye asserted that, “The Erasmus Medical Center in wild and domestic animals–– increase in pet ownership in Rotterdam, published in the frankly the worst that Annie Guangxi was the major cause October 30 edition of the and I have seen in nearly 20 of the rapid rise in rabies.” British journal N a t u r e , years, and worse than pre– There are about 6.2 million demonstrate that cats and fer- SARS,” Robinson told ANI- dogs in Guangxi, Yang rets could potentially carry MAL PEOPLE. Jinye said, of whom fewer the disease from filthy live SARS has not than 20% have been immu- markets to humans. recurred in Guangdong–– nized against rabies. Osterhaus said his yet––but other zoonoses Not acknowledged experimental goal was sim- associated with the live mar- was that the vast majority of ply to find out if either cats kets have erupted. On Nov- the dogs in the region are not or ferrets could be used as a ember 2, for example, the pets at all, but rather are Beijing Public Security Bureau opens shelter to public laboratory model for SARS. Haifeng County Disease raised for meat. Dogs raised His findings imply, howev- Control Center in the Guang- for meat are customarily not B E I J I N G ––The Beijing Public were dumped at large during the SARS panic, er, that cats raised for human dong city of Gongping vaccinated. Chinese officials Security Bureau has opened the city animal often by terrified neighbors rather than by the consumption may become a issued an alert about an out- have argued that vaccinating control shelter to the public and has begun animals’ caretakers. SARS vector––especially if break of hepatitis-A that has dogs raised for meat is adopting out dogs for the first time, Associ- Until now, there was little way for the cats are caged at live been tentatively traced to unnecessary, because unlike ation for Small Animal Protection founder Beijing residents to reclaim lost dogs. Most markets near whatever as yet drinking a beverage contain- most pet dogs, they are kept Betty Zhao e-mailed to ANIMAL PEOPLE dogs found at large were simply killed. unidentified wildlife species ing frogs’ eggs. penned, unable to wander. on November 6, 2003. The PSB policy changes coincide is the primary SARS vector “Rabies killed 312 Dogs from many The PSB has also begun accepting with moving into a new building. It is business as people in the Guangxi different small breeders are volunteer help. Zhao recently mobilized 18 “The cages are decorated with car- usual again in the notorious Zhuang Autonomous Region typically bunched for sale volunteers [above] to groom dogs for adoption toons [to welcome human visitors], with a live markets of Guangzhau, in the south from January to and transport, however, and display. As dogs are still relatively scarce in bowl for water and a bowl for food inside each China, capital of Guangdong September 2003, a 152.9% if even one dog has rabies, Beijing, Zhao anticipated that all of the cage,” Zhao said. “It is easy for the staff to do province and also the reputed rise over the total number of among a pen of dozens, the groomed dogs would soon find homes. clean-up. But the dogs still have to stay in a global capital of eating dogs, rabies cases in 2002,” the disease can swiftly be trans- Most dogs picked up in recent cage. We have recommended that they should cats, and wildlife. Regional Department of mitted to all of them. months are believed to have been pets who establish a place for the dogs to run.” On October 20, a year after SARS emerged from the live markets, even- tually killing at least 916 ® people worldwide, Guang- Maddie’s Fund Congratulates zhou authorized local restau- rants to resume serving palm civets, six of whom were ® found to be carrying SARS MADDIE’S PET RESCUE PROJECT IN last May. SARS antibodies were also found in a ferret badger and a tanuki. ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA Chinese national vice minister of health Huang Jiafu pledged on a visit to Hong Kong that, “If Dog and cat adoptions are up 32%; civets are confirmed to be the source of SARS, we will shelter deaths are down 18% definitely ban exports,” not reassuring in view that there is little open demand for at the end of Year One civets in Hong Kong, while Hong Kong residents with a ® taste for wildlife typically The goal of Maddie’s Pet Rescue Project in Alachua County, Florida, is to end the killing of visit Guangdong to indulge. Any disease they healthy shelter dogs and cats in the city of Gainesville and the surrounding Alachua County might acquire in China could within five years. quickly spread, whether or not any of the infected ani- mals came to Hong Kong. After just one year, the community collaborative project has increased adoptions by 32% and CNN senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy decreased deaths by 18%. returned to the Guangzhau live markets in November to The coalition’s lead agency is the no-kill Alachua County Humane society. Other partners tape a SARS retrospective. Guided by Animals include Alachua Animal Services, Gainesville Pet Rescue, Puppy Hill Farm, West End Asia Foundation president Animal Hospital, and Haile Plantation Clinic (both of these private veterinary hospitals have More events a pet adoption program). Humane Essay Contest, for students in grades 2-12. For more information about Maddie’s® Pet Rescue Project in Alachua County, Florida, Info: 240-675-6396 or
The Watchdog monitors fundraising, spending, and The political activity in the name of animal and habitat pro t e c - tion—both pro and con. His empty bowl stands for all the bowls left empty when some Watchdog take more than they need. Conservation group experts urged dog shooting (from page 1) hybridisation prevention (through domestic recalled “how once Ethiopian Wolf Conserv- dog sterilization). The EWCP receives its core ation Progamme coordinator Dr. Claudio financial support from the Born Free Sillero was vexed by a dog and shot her from Foundation, with additional funding from long range,” an incident Sillero denies. “The Frankfurt Zoological Society and Wildlife bullet made her lame,” Hussein said. “During Conservation Society.” the past two years she brought more dogs, and British actors Bill Travers and always escaped from any shooting.” Virginia McKenna started the Born Free Her luck ran out on November 6, Foundation in 1984, with their son Will 2003, Legesse e-mailed, when she and four Travers, who now heads it, 20 years after other dogs “were shot together near the park making the film Born Free in Kenya to tell the headquarters.” stories of renowned lion conservationists George and Joy Adamson. EWCP denial “The Born Free Foundation cam- “Contrary to what has been suggest- paigns for the protection and conservation of ed in recent e-mails,” Sillero asserted that animals in their natural habitat and against the day, “the EWCP and Born Free have no Enlarged, this photo taken and transmitted by Efrem Legesse on November 10, 2003 may keeping of animals in zoos and circuses and as involvement whatsoever with any current or sbow as many as five dogs running away through the brush. The closest dog is exotic pets,” declares the top paragraph of the planned destruction of domestic dogs in Bale.” centered in the white circle. Legesse said his camera startled the shooter, who missed. Born Free Foundation web site. “Born Free, But there was the name of EWCP inspired by the true story of Elsa the lioness, veterinarian Zelealem Tefera on the October HAPS pointed out to Williams that the CDC confirmed the presence of rabies in believes that individuals matter. Born Free 20 recommendation that the dogs be killed. shooting at even one dog would scare all of the all wolf samples sent to them.” stands for compassion and a commitment to There was also Sillero’s own history dogs into the bush, closer to the wolves, and Frustrated by the delay, Legesse as encourage a more caring world.” of antipathy toward the dogs, though the chap- would make catching them for vaccination and HAPS president on October 17 appealed via Yet the report co-authored by Tefera ter on “Disease, Domestic Dogs and The sterilization even more difficult. the Humane Society International electronic recommended “to tie dogs at all time(s) at their Ethiopian Wolf” in the Ethiopian Wolf Action When Williams seemed disinclined bulletin board
Conservatation group experts urged dog shooting (from page 17 received an automated reply advising that “What makes us very sad and sick is 12, demanding that it be published in full: a s reported. In 1989 (six years before the “Karen Laurenson is on holiday until 12th that they are shooting dogs in front of our BORN FREE FOUNDATION STATE- inception of the EWCP), at the request of the October but may check mail intermittently.” branch office, where we started our humane MENT government, Dr. Sillero shot 12 dogs Awel Adem learned later on October education program and got support from the 1) BFF makes no bones about the fact that which had been exposed to rabies. No dog 17, Hana Kifle e-mailed to ANIMAL PEO- local community, epecially children,” wrote Dr. Zelealem Tefera signed the report entitled was left unaccounted for. PLE, “that Laurenson and Stuart Williams are Legesse and Hana Kifle together on November Field Report on the Current Mortality of 9) There is no ‘massacre’ of dogs being trying to get medicine into the country from 6, 2003. “This is done purposely to push our Ethiopian Wolves in the Bale Mountains carried out in Bale––either by the govern - wherever they are,” outside Ethiopia. heads down and make lose hope. They are National Park. The other signatories were ment, the EWCP or the BFF. “We are upset that the EWCP are not upset that we informed the world,” Legesse Government officials. This document pre - Born Free believes that the current action being taken by the EWCP is consistent with informing the people [what is happening] and Kifle alleged. sents a suite of short-term measures neces - our animal welfare and conservation agenda. through the media,” Kifle continued, adding sary to contain the spread of the disease (rabies) to the wolves and other wild and In a crisis situation, as currently exists, we “Four wolves have been found eaten by carni- The smoking gun domestic stocks. They include, but are have no options other than to support the vores; I think this will make the problem more ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim not restricted to, the destruction of feral Government’s policy to shoot such feral dogs serious. Once it gets into the ecosystem it will Bartlett by return e-mail asked Legesse and dogs. under the strict terms already set out above. be very difficult to control.” Kifle to photograph the shooting. Later on 2) Dr Zelealem signed this report and its rec - Any other course of action would be grossly Recalled the EWCP press release, November 6, Legesse e-mailed that appearing ommendations in a personal and professional irresponsible and could lead to more suffering “A disease epidemic in 1991-92, coupled with with a camera had interrupted the shooting. capacity. His decision to do so draws on and more deaths, including a real risk for the some killing by humans, resulted in the deaths Bale National Park warden Fekadu his substantial knowledge and experience. people of Bale Mountains. of three-quarters of wolves in the Web valley Gardew told HAPS member Awel Adem that He has the full support of the BFF. and two-thirds of the known Bale population. no dogs would be killed at Dinsho, one of the 3) It is self-evident that unvaccinated feral Perspective “The EWCP has been vaccinating largest towns near the park. dogs roaming inside Bale Mountains National Shooting animals of any species on domestic dogs within wolf range in the Bale But Legesse and Kifle found and Park that have or which may be exposed to mere suspicion of possible exposure to rabies rabies must be destroyed in the most Mountains since 1996,” the release continued, transmitted to ANIMAL PEOPLE both in is not recommended by the current (2000) edi- humane way possible. In this situation, “in an attempt to reduce the risk of rabies, dis- translation and in the original Ethiopian format tion of the National Animal Control Associa- temper and other canine diseases. Despite shooting is the most humane and safest tion Training Guide, nor was it recommended another written report from Gardew to the option. It would be irresponsible to adopt occasional reluctance among local communi- by the 1989 first edition, nor does it appear to Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Organization any other policy. This position is ties to allow their dogs to be vaccinated, over headquarters, confirming that the strategy rec- endorsed by BFF’s Head of Conservation, have been recommended within the past 15 80% coverage of dogs has been achieved,” ommended on October 20 was being pursued. Dr. Claudio Sillero. years––if ever––by the Compendium of Rabies about 10% more than the usual threshold need- The report tallied the deaths of 26 4) Born Free and the EWCP believe that the Control, updated annually by the National ed to prevent the spread of an epidemic. wolves from seven packs since September 27, targeted, limited destruction of feral dogs Association of Public Health Veterinarians, “In addition to the vaccination and concluded by explaining that an eight- exposed to rabies and likely to come into nor is it recommended by Animal Control efforts,” the EWCP said, “education and dog member dog-killing team had been dispatched contact with Ethiopian wolves, can only be Management: A Guide for Local Govern- sterilization has led to a decrease in the dogs. to the two primary wolf habitats. endorsed as a last resort. m e n t s , published by the International City/ “Between 2001-2003,” the release Legesse and Kifle on Sunday, 5) Plainly if there was any other option at this County Management Association. finally asserted, “the EWCP also carried out a November 9 journeyed to the town of Goba time, the EWCP would exercise it. The pro - Shooting animals on mere suspicion detailed research project on domestic dog ecol- “to get transportation for Hana to go to Addis ject has gone to extraordinary lengths to of possible exposure to rabies is also not rec- reduce, in a non-lethal way, the number ogy revealing that there are no feral dogs in the Ababa so that she can brief the government ommended by the Animal Welfare Board of of dogs in the park and also to reduce Bale Mountains; all dogs are owned.” officials,” Legesse explained that evening. India, whose handbook Questions & Answers the threat of disease and to address the prob - But if that was true, whose were the on Rabies, authored by Maneka Gandhi, was “While we were away from the park headquar- lem of hybridisation in a non-lethal way. dogs whom Williams wanted to shoot? written for use in economically, educationally, ters, the EWCO team, convinced by Dr. 6) These non-lethal alternatives continue to Legesse in The dogs of Bale quoted Zelalem’s report [that dogs should be shot] be employed in the hope that the need for and technologically disadvantaged locations. seven different sources who described the sent three well-equipped scouts to assist the lethal government intervention can be Expanded, updated, and revised for presence of local feral dogs, and sent with his park team in destroying dogs.” further reduced and possibly eliminated in the multinational use by ANIMAL PEOPLE pub- manuscript submission to ANIMAL PEOPLE Awel Adem pursued them with his future. lisher Kim Bartlett, with the help of interna- several dozen photographs showing some of camera. “Due to this,” Legesse said, “Awel 7) Currently any killing of dogs in Bale tionally experienced rabies and animal popula- the dogs, plus a tablecloth-sized hand-drawn was sent to Addis Ababa by the park warden to that has taken or may take place is carried tion control expert Ray Butcher, VMD, of map illustrating their approximate numbers keep him out of the area. I am also kept busy out by the government, not the EWCP. Britain, Questions & Answers on Rabies may and pack locations. in the office to make sure I cannot follow any 8) Dr. Sillero did not shoot and wound a dog be downloaded from the ANIMAL PEOPLE “The EWCP is currently reviewing shooter with my camera. “ the options available to attempt to contain the But the busywork disease,” concluded the October 31 release. was not enough to enable the “Ultimately, the decision of whether or not an dog-killing to proceed in intervention to contain the spread of rabies in secrecy. “Once I tried my this critical population of Ethiopian wolves best to take a photo by hiding SHARK takes place lies in the hands of the Ethiopian myself in the bush, and lit the authorities.” flash of my camera at the “We are reacting to these outbreaks same time the gunman tried to WANTS as determinedly as possible,” Williams wrote pull the trigger, and finally in a web statement. “Indeed, they have given the dog escaped. Attached is us the opportunity to enforce some of the out- the scanned photo of the YOU –– standing issues surrounding the vaccination shooter,” Legesse finished in campaign and the lack of compliance among his November 10 update. TO HELP BUILD the local people. We have been in discussion ANIMAL PEO- THE TERMINA- with the local authorities, who support our P L E promptly shared that suggestions that having unvaccinated dogs in photo and others with con- TOR FLEET! critical areas such as this is unacceptable. cerned persons including They fully support our proposal, if it came to Alison Hood of the Born Free that, that dogs would be killed by euthanasia Foundation. Hood on Nov- if the dog could not be caught despite all ember 10 was still distribut- SHARK is building two efforts. We will be following this up in the ing––above her own name–– more Tiger video trucks that will surpass even the unprecedented Tiger prototype that has for next few days.” Sillero’s November 6 asser- three years sent animal abusers nationwide running for cover. This is your chance to support Williams did not explain how a dog tion that “The EWCP and the most effective educational concept in animal defense. could be “killed by euthanasia” if the dog Born Free have no involve- could not be caught. ment whatsoever with any The next two Tigers will be even more advanced. One will prowl the East Coast, another will The 2000 American Veterinary current or planned destruction patrol the West Coast, and the third will roam in between. Medical Association Report on Euthanasia of domestic dogs in Bale.” The original Tiger has already addressed more issues than many animal advocacy groups will recognizes death by gunshot as “euthanasia” After advising ANI- ever tackle, including bullfights, rodeos, circuses, horse slaughter, vivisection, fur, only if “the projectile enters the brain, causing MAL PEOPLE that “We are canned hunts, dolphin massacres, dog-and-cat-eating, and the slaughter of kangaroos in instant loss of consciousness…A gunshot to consulting our lawyers,” Australia. Most recently the Tiger had a huge role in ending bear abuse at Baylor University. the heart or neck does not immediately render Hood e-mailed a very differ- animals unconscious, and thus is not consid- ent statement on November Corporations, government agencies, whoever the target and whatever the issue, education ered to meet the definition of euthanasia.” is the key, and nothing educates the public like the Tiger. The videos the Tiger shows to the public are hard to watch, but the results are undeniable. I hope I can count on your support!
For more information: www.sharkonline.org • [email protected] SHARK P O Box 28 Geneva, IL 60134 Phone: 1-630-557-0176 • Fax: 1-630-557-0178 ANIMAL PEOPLE, Nov e mbe r 2003 - 14
Paul Siegel
Badger culls ANIMAL PEOPLE spread bovine thanks you for your generous support! Honoring the parable of the widow's mite––in which a poor woman gives but one coin to charity, yet that is all she possesses–– tuberculosis we do not list our donors by how much they give, but we greatly appreciate large gifts that help us do more for animals. L O N D O N – – B e n Nelson Babb, E. Bruce Barber, Louis Bertrand, Harriet Carpenter, Cristina Cartledge, Janet Christrup, Bradshaw, Parliamentary under Emily Chung, Dave & Susana Crow, Anne Galloway Curtis, June Daly, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue, secretary for the British Depart- Betty Dole, Bonnie Douglas, Theresa Downer, Anne Dubin, Johanna Elias, Pamela Fanning, Dorothy Fairweather, Russell Field, William & Linda Fischbach, ment of Environment, Food and Janet Forman, David & Carol Foster, Jacquelin Fox, John Frederick, Ann Cottrell Free, Joyce Gauntt, Raymond & Lise Giraud, Florrie Goldman, Rural Affairs, on November 4 Edith J. Goode Residuary Trust for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Laurie Goodman, Marilyn Grindley, Diana Hadgis, Josephine Harchick, halted five years of reactively Patricia Haslett, Virginia Hillger, William Holliday, Violet Jones, Lisa Kane, Ann & Bill Koros, John Laden, Kitty Langdon, Kathy Lapham, Richard Lattey, killing badgers near bovine Carol Lushear, Pat Maio, Alice Marcoux, Nancy Matyasovsky, Donna McCammon, Esther Mechler, Judy Meincke, Lola Merritt, Marilyn Miller, tuberculosis outbreaks because Christine Million, Shirley Moore, Christina Negrete, Norman Nikodym, North Shore Animal League America/Pet Savers Foundation, Nancy O'Brien, culls at 20 locations produced a Roberta Perlis, Lillian Phillips, J.A. Piccola, Linn Pulis, Randy Randall, Jane Robins, Yvonne Saunders, Robert Schultz, Bonny & Ratilal Shah/Maharani, consistent 27% rise in the num- Lois Shandling, Gloria Shell, Magda Simopoulos, Alice Soliman, Violet Soo-Hoo, Elizabeth Stacy, Tanya Szuba, John Taft, Marilyn & Jack Weaver, ber of bovine TB cases com- Eileen Weintraub & Mark Johnson, Mr. & Mrs. Doug Wiegand, Elaine Woodriff, Judith Youngman, Patricia Zajec, Carla Zimmer, Walter Zippel pared to the numbers detected at outbreak sites where badgers are not culled. The $40 million trial cost the lives of 8,000 badgers. Known to become infected by HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT bovine TB, badgers are blamed by farmers for spreading it, but the data shows that they spread it less if they are not hunted. …….. “IF ONLY……”?? Two parallel tests continue. One, the control experiment, involves taking no You have an idea that if implemented would help action against badgers. The other is “proactive culling,” in members of the animal kingdom considerably. which the badger population is You have a project that if the funding could be eradicated as completely as pos- sible before bovine TB appears. found would “make a real difference.” Beginning in 1998, You then sit back and say to yourself “If only…”!! each test method was applied uniformly within a 38-square- If so, then the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust mile area. The experiment was wants to hear from you. not due to end until 2006, but trial steering group leader John Bourne told news media that the MARCHIG ANIMAL WELFARE GRANTS – results from reactive culling were so bad that continuing to These are made to organisations and individuals do it was no longer appropriate. for positive contributions towards preventing “I think [the data] shows very clearly that badgers animal cruelty and relieving animal suffering. are involved in the transmission Since it was founded in 1989, the Trust has of TB,” Bourne said. “What it goes on to show is that localised supported a wide variety of projects including culling will not control TB in spay/neuter programmes and mobile clinics, cows, but will be likely to make it worse. This data should indi- the search for alternatives to the use of animals cate very clearly that that is counter-productive,” Bourne in research, anti-fur campaigns, anti-poaching continued to Mchael McCarthy, programmes, establishing a network of sanctuaries as well as giving a much needed boost environment editor of T h e Independent. to assist smaller groups committed to the cause of animal welfare to get established. Bourne attributed the The Trust is constantly on the look out for ideas and projects that “will make a real difference” findings to “perturbation” of the badger population, as young to the way animals are treated. The Trust’s current priority area is to help animal welfare badgers go farther to mate when organisations in the developing world. their habitat contains abnormal- ly few potential partners. Wrote McCarthy, Grant Application Forms are available from the Trust’s administrative offices or can be “The study throws into doubt downloaded from the website: whether culling badgers can ever be a realistic policy option in the fight against bovine TB, CONTACT US AND LET US SEE IF THE TRUST CAN which is slowly increasing in Britain’s cattle herds. Many MAKE YOUR “IF ONLY...” A REALITY farmers have been strongly in favour of culling, but animal welfare groups have been THE MARCHIG ANIMAL WELFARE TRUST opposed.” Said National Feder- P.O. Box 9422, Carnwath, ML11 8YG, Scotland ation of Badger Groups chief Tel/Fax: 0044 (0) 1555 - 840349 executive Elaine King, "These extraordinary results confirm Email: [email protected] Web: www.marchigawt.org the warnings that I and other scientists have been giving for years. Farmers who have ille- The Marchig Animal Welfare Trust is a UK registered charity (Reg No: 802133) gally killed badgers have actual- ly made their situation worse." ANIMAL PEOPLE, Nov e mbe r 2003 - 15
Flood, fires, deadly hailstorm hit animal refuges around the Pacific rim Three weeks of fires threatening shelters, sanctuar- square. Another helicopter flew within five miles with a 120- Helen V. Woodward Animal Center executive director Mike ies, and sensitive wildlife habitat around the Pacific Rim were gallon water bucket before being recalled because of a safety Arms took an early shuttle to the airport on October 26 after followed on the night of November 2 by flash flooding that all rule forbidding firefighting flights within half an hour of sunset. learning that one of the fires was racing toward the Chula Vista but obliterated Bukit Lawang, Indonesia. At about the same time Morphew awakened to the shelter complex. “Bukit Lawang is the site of the original Sumatran approaching Cedar Fire, San Bernardino county sheriff’s Intending to take the first flight home he could catch, orangutan rehabilitation centre, established in the early 1970s deputies woke Wildhaven Ranch wildlife rehabilitation center to personally supervise the anticipated evacuation, Arms was by PanEco Foundation president Regina Frey and her colleague cofounders Diane Drogotto Williams and Roger Williams, still in Philadelphia, pacing and relying on cell telephone Monica Borner,” the Sumatran Orangutan Society e-mailed to warning them about the oncoming Old Fire. updates, more than eight hours later. Thick smoke had forced International Primate Protection League founder Shirley Their evacuation, with two bears, two raccoons, a the cancellation of all flights to any nearby destination. McGreal. “The village had developed into a thriving resort.” coyote, and 15 raptors, took seven hours. The large mammals Evacuating the dogs, cats, and birds from the “The Bohorok river began to rise slowly,” SOS were taken to the Windhaven Kennel in Hesperia. The raptors Woodward Center became complicated because the fires men- described, based on survivor accounts, but “around 10.00 p.m. went to the Coachella Valley Wild Bird Center. Soon after- aced so many of the other shelters that participate in the region- came a deluge bearing hundreds of fallen trees. The town was ward the fire razed the Williams’ home and most of the other al disaster relief plan. The animals were prepared for moving, located directly in the path of the surge as it hit a bend and buildings on the 35-acre Wildhaven site, a former amusement Arms said, with nowhere to go, but luckily the wind shifted thrust over the Bohorok banks at full force. Together, the park near Lake Arrowhead that opened in 1955 as Santa’s and the fire headed away before a full evacuation had to begin. water and timber pummeled the village for about three hours.” Village. Later called Fantasy Forest, it closed in 1998. The Woodward Center horse stables were emptied Wrote Suzanne Plunkett of Associated Press, “The The Wildhaven web site expressed hope of reopen- earlier. The horses relocated temporarily to the Del Mar race- death toll hit 112 on November 6 as authorities promised to ing, using the remaining buildings, and of rebuilding. track, Arms told ANIMAL PEOPLE. punish illegal loggers held responsible for the disaster. At least Fire threatened the California Wolf Center in Julian The largest available horse facility that seemed to be 135 other people are reported missing and feared dead.” from October 25 until October 28, founder Patrick Valentino e- safe, Del Mar housed more than 1,200 horses from fire zones Among the dead were five ecotourists: two from mailed. Site manager James McCoy and retired firefighter Bill on the night of October 27. Another 100 horses were Germany, two from Austria, one from Singapore. Hurd led a seven-member volunteer team in a successful bivouacked at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley. Two orangutans were found dead, but five orang- defense of all the major structures and all the wolves, but a Wild Burro Rescue, 4,800 feet above sea level near utans kept in cages by the Pongo Resort survived the flood and food storage shed was lost, among about $37,000 worth of Olancha, California, was well beyond the fire zone, but took a were released the next day to seek food. Wild orangutans near- total damage. hit from one of the wind storms that drove the flames. by apparently scrambled to high ground before the logs hit. Four wolves were killed when the California Wolf Recounted Seattle volunteer Cindy Taylor, “The “Government officials admit that illegal felling in Center was partially overrun by a brushfire in June 2002, an wind picked up a $15,000 aluminum four-horse trailer, crash- Gunnar Leuser Park may have blocked a waterway high in the experience that probably contributed to saving more than 30 ing it upside down into a fence, then tossed it into the corral mountains, causing the huge flash flood when the logs col- wolves from a much larger 2003 conflagration. holding the rescued male burros. Luckily no burros were lapsed,” Associated Press reported. “Kermit, a red-shouldered macaw, and Tango, an injured. The trailer rolled and landed right side up, on top of arctic fox, were among the Simi Valley fire casualities,” wrote huge boulders. This was the only trailer available to transport California fires Ventura County Star reporter Staci Haight. Both apparently burros from Death Valley,” where WBR has collected burros Southern California on the night of November 2 slept died from stress and heat exhaustion after exotic animal train- since 1994 to keep them from being shot by the Park Service. uneasily, with firefighters’ hoses still cooling the embers of ing and management students temporarily evacuated about a wind-driven blazes that killed at least 20 people and countless third of the 150 animals from America’s Teaching Zoo at Other disasters animals between the Mexican border and the Simi Valley, Moorpark College. The students were given only 20 minutes to Other fires jeopardized the survival of the last 200 north of Los Angeles. The fires, the largest of which were- grab animals and go, and had just six vans to take them in. wild horses in western Canada and the last 30 Far East Russian called the Cedar Fire and the Old Fire, seared an area larger America’s Teaching Zoo escaped, however, with only light leopards. than Rhode Island. damage from smoke and falling ashes. Identified by biologist Wayne McCrory as probable Among the first human victims whose name was The San Bernardino County shelter in Devore descendants of a 16th century Spanish herd brought north from released was equestrian instructor Nancy Morphew, 51, of received “62 dogs, 47 cats, 8 horses, a cow, a goat, and some Mexico, the horses roam the Chilcottin Valley in the remote Valley Center. pigs and birds due to the fire,” wrote Bonnie Stewart of the Brittany Triangle of British Columbia. Explorer Simon Fraser Surviving similar fires in 1991 and 1996, “The Riverside Press-Enterprise. “Flames reached the shelter’s noted their presence in 1807. Morphews hadn’t wasted time,” reported Los Angeles Times fence line, but firefighters fought them with a backfire.” The British Columbia government for more than 50 staff writers Mike Anton and Anna Gorman. “After Nancy The San Bernardino city shelter took in more than years, beginning in 1924, offered various incentives to entre- Morphew woke to smoke just before 2 a.m. on October 26 and 300 animals, Stewart continued. preneurs in hopes of exterminating wild horses, but the saw the glowing sky, Steve Morphew, 53, her husband of 31 SPCA/Los Angeles animal rescue team captain David Brittany herd fell under the territorial protection of the Xeni years, said he headed to the hoses out back, she to get the Havard told Danica Kirka of Associated Press that he had han- Gwet’in aboriginal nation. horse trailer out front. The couple had 10 Arabians on their 11- dled 250 horses, a donkey, a pig, and 50 to 100 dogs, cats, An August 2003 forest fire ignited the Chilco Lake acre property. She was moving a horse trailer into position chickens, and ducks in just three days. peat bogs. The smouldering peat fire had by mid-October con- when,” possibly blinded by smoke, “she accidentally drove Arriving to help were disaster relief teams coordinat- sumed almost a third of the horses’ known range. her truck into a ravine. As she tried to climb out, the fire over- ed by Terri Crisp of Noah’s Wish and Randy Covey and Lisa The fire threatening the leopards razed a protected took her, Steve Morphew said. Swanson of the Oregon Humane Society. Noah’s Wish looked habitat near Vladivostok after “people looking for scrap metal ”Their daughter Micaela, 24, walked a pregnant after more than 500 animals at the Victorville fairground, Crisp emptied containers filled with napalm and other toxic sub- horse of theirs four miles to safety,” Anton and Gorman con- faxed to ANIMAL PEOPLE, while the Oregon Humane stances they found at a disused military base,” World Wildlife tinued. Micaela Morphew “said her mother’s last words to her Society team recovered 180 animals in five days of searching Fund official Pavel Fomenko told Agence France-Presse. concerned that horse: She threw Micaela a halter and told her the San Bernardino hills. A catastrophe of another kind hit the Currumbin to get the horse out.” San Bernardino County supervising animal control Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast of Australia on October The other nine horses saved themselves. officer Daryl Brawley anticipated that the influx of displaced 26. “Hailstones killed more than 100 birds and mammals, Morphew was among 13 people killed by the 272,00- pets would be followed by arrivals of injured or disoriented including a dozen kangaroos and wallabies,” the Brisbane acre Cedar Fire. wildlife picked up by private citizens, and warned that wildlife Courier-Mail reported. “More than 60 possums, lorikeets, and “Southern California was already besieged by flames rescue attempts could be dangerous. kookaburras are being treated for hail-related injuries.” when the San Diego County Sheriff’s helicopter went to search Several endangered or threatened species may have The hail also “destroyed roofing, broke windows, for a lost hunter who allegedly lit a beacon fire,” wrote been annihilated or left with habitat too badly damaged to sus- and damaged cars,” the Courier-Mail said. Associated Press reporter Justin Pritchard of the start of the tain them, including the mountain yellow-legged frog, torrent blaze. Pilot Dave Weldon found and retrieved the hunter, and salamanders, and at least two kinds of butterfly. is a nonprofit, no- at about 5:45 p.m. radioed for a water drop to extinguish the In Philadelphia to speak at the No More Homeless RescueCats, Inc. fire, which still was within an area measuring about 50 yards Pets conference sponsored by the Best Friends Animal Society, kill, all-volunteer cat rescue group in Please make the most generous gift GREYHOUND TALES The Write Cause Fayetteville, Ga. you can to help ANIMAL PEOPLE “Writing for the Earth and Her Animals” shine the bright light on cruelty TRUE STORIES OF RESCUE, In 2002 we placed 469 kittens and greed! Your generous COMPASSION AND LOVE Founded in 1989 –– For $48/year–– and cats in new loving homes. gift of $25, $50, $100, edited by Nora Star, $28/6 months, you receive a $500 or more helps to build monthly newsletter plus 2 free per- www.rescuecats.org a world where caring counts. with introduction by Susan Netboy. sonalized letters of your choice Please help us continue our work by Learn more about these animals making a tax-deductible donation to: Please send your check to: along with addressed envelopes. and how you can help them. Give a gift of compassion for the RescueCats Inc. ANIMAL PEOPLE holidays––Give a membership to: POB 960 Send $15.95 to: P.O. Box 142882 Clinton, WA 98236 Nora Star The Write Cause Fayetteville, GA 30214 (Donations are 9728 Tenaya Way P.O. Box 577 –– Valley Ford Here is my gift of: $10 $25 $50 $100 $250 $500+ tax-ductible.) Kelseyville, CA 95451 CA 94972 –– (707) 876-9276 16 - ANIMAL PEOP LE, November 2003 Raptor rescue in Beijing & the BEIJING, China; KATHU, South Africa–– On August 26, 2003, for example, two days before Eagles, like feral cats, are potentially fierce yet are sometimes publishing the feature about the egret rescuer, the P e o p l e ’ s tamed. More accurately, they may choose to tame themselves. Daily announced that 20,000 of the estimated 70,000 wild don- Many are curious enough about humans to dwell as close to keys living in the Quiangtang Nature Reserve would be culled, human habitation as they are allowed, and are appreciative along with unstated numbers of blue sheep and wild yaks, to enough of gentle care, especially when sick or injured, to per- reduce conflicts with herders in the Shuanghu Special Zone, a mit judicious handling. part of Quiangtang, which is in turn a major portion of the Though most eagles could quickly shred human flesh, Tibet Autonomous Region. even through protective gloves, they seldom do. Some seem to According to “local public security authorities,” the consciously decide to do no harm. People’s Daily r e p o r t e d , “wild yaks killed one person and The Beijing Raptor Center has two highly gregarious injured 32 in the last 10 years while taking at least 450 domes- resident golden eagles, closely related to the golden eagles of tic yaks away [to join wild herds] and killing 23 [chiefly in mat- North America, and one resident steppe eagle. Too imprinted ing competition] during the last 10 years.” upon humans to be released, the eagles remain in custody Zhoima Yangzom, “an official in charge of wild ani- while Scops owls and eagle owls, Amur and peregrine falcons, mal protection with the forestry bureau of the autonomous kestrels, and sometimes a buzzard come and go. region,” promised that no killing would be done without a “sci- The Kalahari Raptor Centre has black eagles, snake entific feasibility review.” eagles, and crested eagles. Some of them are also too imprint- A hint that Zhoima Yangzom was not enthusiastic ed to release. about the proposed culling came in the next paragraph: “Some The eagles of the Beijing and Kalahari raptor centers experts also proposed that herders and farmers be moved out- look as strikingly different as everything else about the two side reserves to concede pastures to wild animals. They also rehabilitation facilities. The premise of the Beijing Raptor believe the number of domestic livestock should be controlled Center is that humans and wildlife can and must co-exist. The in order to alleviate the demand for grasslands.” premise of the Kalahari Raptor Centre is that wildlife does best The chief obstacle to that approach, the P e o p l e ’ s in the absence of humans, to whatever extent that can be D a i l y explained, is that very little of the vast Quiangtang Golden eagle, Beijing Raptor Center. (Kim Bartlett) accomplished. Nature Reserve would be any more suitable for the herders, scape, exterminating large predators such as lions, wild dogs, The Beijing Raptor Center occupies offices and flight who have nowhere else to go. leopards, and hyenas, and reducing most hooved species to a cage space on the campus of the Beijing Normal University, an Earlier in 2003, a region of western China the size of fenced existence on hunting ranches along the margins of institution whose main job is teaching future teachers. This is Switzerland was reportedly ravaged by mice and gerbils, after water-filled pits and mountain-sized slag heaps. also the main job of the Beijing Raptor Center. The center market hunters and poachers extirpated snakes, small mam- Small hooved wildlife such as duiker are still easily exists to help raptors survive within the almost entirely human- malian predators, and raptors. The regional government hoped seen, however, and careful observation can discover mid-sized created Beijing environment, partly through healing the to combat that problem by reintroducing eagles. predators such as bat-eared foxes, jackals, and caracals. wounds of injured specimens, but mostly by teaching humans The China State Forestry Administration acknowl- Within the KRC fencelines, taking six to seven hours to appreciate and tolerate wildlife. edged on October 6, 2003, that more than 300 species of land- to walk, with the mining communities of Kathu, Kiruman, The Beijing Raptor Center staff commonly see two dwelling vertebrate animals and 410 plant species native to and Hotazel invisible over the horizon, one can easily imagine types of injuries: those inflicted intentionally by gunshots, China should be considered either endangered or threatened, that the southern Kalahari desert is still unsettled wilderness, traps, or hurled stones, and those suffered by accident when among them 156 species listed among the 640 species whose but not altogether without people. Even inside the fence far the birds collide with power lines, vehicles, or windows. The use in global commerce is restricted by the Convention on enough that it too cannot be seen, burrowing ground squirrels, staff are encouraged that the cases of intentional wounding International Trade in Endangered Species. Since 1999 the meerkats, and the occasional aardvark have in at least two seem to be relatively few, and that even rural people with tradi- Forestry Administration has returned more than 33 million places unearthed small stone circles which appear to be the tionally negative views of wild predators sometimes go to great acres of marginal farmland to woods, but habitat restoration remains of ancient campfires. The Bushmen, possibly the old- effort to bring them injured birds they have found. alone will not be enough to save all the species in trouble. est surviving human culture, are believed to have occupied the Nearly exterminated during the Mao years, wildlife The future of wildlife in China, if wildlife is to have Kalahari since before humans spread beyond Africa. in China is beginning to recover and spread from marginal a future, must be coexistence with more than 1.3 billion people, Bev Pervan either does or supervises most of the habitat into renewed proximity to people, especially in the 10% of them within the Beijing area. hands-on animal care and education of visitors. Chris Mercer regions where wild animals are not reflexively killed as alleged If wildlife cannot coexist with the people, especially focuses on lobbying and litigation directed at ending indiscrimi- crop pests or to be eaten. Modern Beijing is such a place. The in Beijing, bird species may decline from Siberia to India. nate predator control and canned hunts. official People’s Daily now encourages positive attitudes “Beijing is on the migration route of many endan- Raptors are the best-recognized part of the KRC mis- toward wildlife, including with an August 28, 2003 full-page gered birds,” said International Bird Rescue Research Center sion, but the name of the center has become somewhat a mis- feature by staff reporter Wen Jiao about retiree Xu Yougong of spokesperson Karen Benzel in October 2001, when the forma- nomer, since the most original and successful KRC campaigns Shanghai, reputedly a much less animal-friendly city, who tion of the Beijing Raptor Center was first announced. “As a have been on behalf of the midsized mammalian predators. found and successfully rehabilitated an injured egret. major global transit point, Beijing is also where hundreds of Mercer is best known for leading opposition to In early September 2003 the People’s Daily wild birds fall prey to illegal capture, trade, and smuggling.” canned lion hunts and the apartheid-era Problem Animal announced the reinstitution of a ban on hunting in Liaoning The International Bird Rescue Research Center, of Control Ordinance of 1957, which in effect declares open sea- Province, adjacent to North Korea, which was previously Fairfield, California, trained the first five Beijing Raptor son on foxes, jackals, and caracals, and compels landowners enforced from 1987 to 1993. Effective on October 1, the ban Center staff, before the Beijing center formally opened in to cooperate in exterminating them. Pervan ventured into liti- protects all land mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. January 2002. Beijing Raptor Center founder and director Dr. gation and lobbying far enough to have Cape foxes removed The People’s Daily also described the establishment Song Yie received his training earlier at the California Raptor from the list of target species. of bird care facilities similar to the Beijing Raptor Center at the Center in Berkeley. Both make extensive use of the Internet, even though Yellow River Nature Reserve, the Yellow River Estuary The International Fund for Animal Welfare under- their only access is through a slow and awkward satellite con- Management Station, and the Dawenlieu Management Station, wrote the Beijing Raptor Center start-up, giving it until 2008 to nection. The Beijing Raptor Center by contrast enjoys near all in Shandong province, between Beijing and Shanghai. The achieve self-sufficiency. state-of-the-art high-speed connections, but political activism first is already operating, and the others are to open soon. at the KRC level would be problematic. Only three years ago the Khadourie Farm nature cen- Habitat restoration Their worlds could scarcely be more different, ter in the New Territories of Hong Kong was the only avian The Kalahari Raptor Centre has had no such boost. except for their determination to help animals. ––M.C. rehabilitation center in China. Self-educated in wildlife care, former attorney and sheep rancher Chris Mercer and his partner Bev Pervan took charge of Contacts: Habitat crunch their first birds after the local veterinarian who founded the cen- Beijing Raptor Rescue Center, c/o Prof. Song, Jie, Yet even if attitudes are transformed, wildlife eating ter, at least in name, retired to England. Institute of Ecology, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal is stopped (as the Chinese government retreated from trying to Entirely with their own money, Mercer and Pervan University, Beijing 100875, China. 86-10-62205666. do after the spring 2003 outbreak of Severe Accute Respiratory bought the KRC land, put up the perimeter fencing, built two Kalahari Raptor Centre, P.O. Box 1386, Kathu, Syndrome was traced to wildlife consumption), and wildlife spacious cage complexes for raptors and Northern Cape ZA 8446, South Africa;
Left: Chris Mercer and Bev Pervan of the Kalahari Raptor Center and ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton in September 2003 moved four black eagles and three snake eagles from their old quarters to two new flight cages. Inset: snake eagle. (Kim Bartlett) TRIBUTES In honor of the Prophet Isaiah, St. Martin de Porres, and Albert Schweitzer. ––Brien Comerford ANIMAL PEOP LE, November 2003 - 17
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into species as different as the tree-dwelling known for dancing acts, the cubs learn to vervets and the mostly ground-dwelling moun- “dance” from the use of hot coals as their first tain gorillas. “stage” while the ring is jerked by a chain. From the bear/raccoon continuum Mostly Islamic from the earliest came the versatile, highly social red pandas, written record of their existence, the raccoons, ringtails, and coatis. From the pri- Kalendars and their dancing bears spread mate line came the baboons, of similar size, throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, social habits, and diet. and were among the earliest regular conduits From the bear line came the large of learning between East and West. They brown bears, the smaller black bears, and the introduced the Asian style of chronology to sun bears, smallest of all the non-raccoon Europe: hence the word “calendar.” They bears, as the line pushed south, into habitat may have brought chess to Europe. where retaining body heat became far less Persecuted from the Inquisition to important than minimizing skin surface to the Nazi Holocaust and ghettoized even today avoid dehydrating. in much of Europe, the Kalendars and their From the primate line came gibbons descendants and relatives mostly retreated into and orangutans, who invaded Asia, and chim- the portions of Europe which still have large panzees and protohumans, who pushed north. Islamic populations––especially within the for- For a time the bears had the advan- mer Ottoman empire. tage over primates in the northern hemisphere. There, in Greece, Turkey, and the At the Agra Bear Rescue Center. (Wildlife SOS) Glaciers enabled bears to colonize as far south many former Ottoman states that were swal- Unfortunately, the Wildlife Act was The strategy was copied from that of the U.S.- as the Atlas Mountains of north Africa. lowed or dominated for most of the 20th cen- not enforced to confiscate dancing bears and based National Wildlife Federation, formed in Primates were unable to extend their range into tury by the Soviet Union, the Kalendars and other species illegally used in traveling perfor- 1936, with the additional twist that WWF Europe north of Spain and beyond the their dancing bears persisted, often as part of mances until Maneka Gandhi, the Indian min- envisioned funding itself with public contribu- Himalayas. Even if they could get past the government-sponsored circuses, until the ister of state for animal welfare from 1998 tions from animal lovers of ordinary means. mountains and the cold, they could not sur- Communist governments themselves fell apart until mid-2002, moved to enforce it by fight- Since animal lovers would be unlike- vive among bears, who monopolized the food in 1990-1991 and threw the bear-trainers back ing and winning a series of court battles culmi- ly to donate to further the blood sports pursuits sources and ate the primates too. on the streets. nating in a favorable verdict from the Supreme of the likes of WWF founding directors Prince Climate change and the human The World Society for the Protection Court of India on May Day, 2001. Philip of England, Prince Bernhardt of the development of weapons tipped the balance. of Animals in 1993 began a campaign to retire May Day, coinciding with the inter- Netherlands, and the whaler Aristotle Onassis, For more than two million years now dancing bears to sanctuaries that WSPA national celebration of Communism, was an founding president Peter Scott chose the giant bears have been in steady retreat. Only in the promised to build in Greece, Hungary, India, appropriate date because even though India panda as the WWF emblem. The giant panda late 20th century did the backyard raccoons of Pakistan, Turkey, and Thailand. has never been a Communist nation, Marxist looked cute and cuddly, was easily depicted in North America become the first members of The first WSPA-built bear sanctuary politics had much to do with protecting the black-and-white, could not be hunted because the bear/raccoon continuum to proliferate opened in Turkey in 1995, and was handed Kalendars––and other “scheduled caste” users China was then closed to westerners, and within human-dominated habitat––and then over to the Turkish government in 2001. of wild animals––from prompt enforcement of WWF did not actually have to do much to save only because humans mostly quit trapping and Others were completed and opened, but the the Wildlife Act. giant pandas from extinction because panda shooting them, left food sources accessible, process of building the sanctuaries and turning Every Indian government since inde- bear habitat was inaccessible. removed free-roaming dogs from suburban them over to local management typically pendence from Britain was achieved in 1948 Almost immediately, however, the neighborhoods, and began vaccinating rac- turned out to take much longer than was ini- has struggled to contain the Marxist rebel fac- People’s Republic positioned itself to seek coons against rabies. tially anticipated, as construction costs often tion known as the Naxalites. Armed and heav- panda conservation funding from the WWF as The likeness of bears to humans was soared beyond estimates and substantial fric- ily influenced by Chinese Communist leader soon as politics permitted. easily recognized by the Asiatic people who tion developed between WSPA and some of Mao Zedong, the Naxalites were in the 1970s The effort began in earnest with the fought them through the mountains of China the local partners. and 1980s near the height of their strength, 1972 People’s Republic donation of two panda and Siberia, through coastal Alaska, and into As the need for dancing bear sanctu- recruiting guerilla fighters among the rural bears to the National Zoo in Washington North America. Joaquin Miller recalled in aries expanded beyond the capacity planned by “scheduled castes” by exploiting almost any D.C.––the first major transaction of any kind True Bear Stories (1900) that the Native WSPA, other organizations became involved kind of grievance. between the U.S. and the then-25-year-old Americans he grew up among in Oregon and in building them, notably Vier Pfoten of Confiscating wildlife from traveling Communist government. northern California believed themselves to be Austria, which in partnership with the Brigitte performers with widespread contacts and the Giant pandas and ping-pong players descended from the union of a red-haired Bardot Foundation and the Bulgarian govern- ability to quickly muster an audience might emerged as China’s most successful interna- woman and a bear. ment opened the Belitsa Dancing Bear Park at have turned thousands of essentially apolitical tional ambassadors. Their kin still in China called bears Rila, Bulgaria in November 2000. poor people into dangerous foes, including the Within 20 years more than 100 giant “the people of the mountains.” Kalendars, who as Muslims were already pandas were sent to zoos around the world. In Siberia, northern Russia, and as Wildlife SOS somewhat suspect to many Hindus. A succes- Between the popularity of giant pandas with far into Europe as Romania and Poland “the The Wildlife SOS Agra Bear Rescue sion of governments therefore disregarded the zoo-goers and the difficulty of inducing the people of the mountains” were indirect benefi- Centre, the last sanctuary built under the anti-captivity portions of the Wildlife Act. bears to breed in captivity, the People’s ciaries of Communism, because Communist WSPA “Libearty” program, opened in Mrs. Gandhi won in court, but at Republic gradually discovered that it had the dictators reserved bear hunting to themselves December 2002 after more than five years of cost of being reputedly now a Naxalite assassi- most lucrative monopoly in the history of ani- and their minions. Some, like Nicolai development. Completing the Agra facility nation target. mal exhibition, and moved to exploit it. Ceaucescu of Romania, killed prodigious and beginning to look after more than 50 bears Wildlife SOS Agra Bear Rescue To ensure preservation of the giant numbers of bears, but most shot a bear only who flooded in during the first six months of Centre cofounders Kartick Satyanarayan and panda supply, the last 14 fragments of giant occasionally with important guests. operation eventually required financial help Geeta Seshamani in late August met A N I - panda habitat were declared protected Left mostly alone in regions unsuited from Care For The Wild, of Britain; Free The MAL PEOPLE at the Chengdu airport, visit- reserves, later split into 27 “protection zones.” to agriculture and relatively inaccessible, Bears, of Australia; One Voice, of France; ing the Chengdu sanctuaries en route to the To keep the price of pandas up, out- bears thrived until the fall of Communism in and International Animal Rescue, based in Asia for Animals conference in Hong Kong. right sales of pandas were halted in favor of 1990-1991 brought western logging technolo- Britain but also raising funds in the U.S. “breeding loans,” which actually resulted in gy, trophy hunters, and openings for poachers Free The Bears, One Voice, Inter- Panda profits births only in Mexico City. to use military equipment stolen or bought on national Animal Rescue, and WSPA have also Panda bears and Asiatic black The World Wildlife Fund, by 1981 the black market to exploit the international made commitments toward the ongoing sup- bears––like other “peoples” caught up in the the richest animal charity in the world, was market for bears’ body parts and byproducts. port of the Agra Bear Rescue Centre. forced transformation of the People’s tapped for $1 million to build a state-of-the-art In India and China, by contrast, Wildlife SOS, managing the Agra Republic––were among the more direct vic- panda breeding center at the Wolong Reserve, bears were further victimized by Marxist ide- facility, is a rescue and rehabilitation society tims and casualties of Communism. 90 miles northwest of Chengdu. By 1991 ology. formed in Delhi by Kartick Satyanarayan, “In 1958 Mao Zedong initiated the WWF had been persuaded to invest $1.5 mil- now the fulltime sanctuary director, and Geeta ‘Great Leap Forward’ with a plan to double lion more in building new homes for 5,200 Dancing bears Seshamani, director of the Friendicoes animal steel production in only one year,” explained farmers who were relocated out of the protect- The victimization in India was actu- hospital and sanctuary in Delhi. political scientist Peter Li in a September 2003 ed habitat, and in building a hydroelectric ally nothing new. It just took a new twist. If the Indian Wildlife Act of 1973 keynote address to the Asia for Animals con- power station to keep the farmers from burning For centuries––perhaps two or three had been strictly enforced 30 years ago, the ference. “Huge swaths of forest were cut to bamboo as fuel. thousand years––the Kalendar gypsies of India last dancing bears in India should have been feed millions of backyard smelters. Among Despite the investment, the estimat- and Pakistan have captured and cruelly trained confiscated then, and should have died of old the enduring effects was the fragmentation of ed panda population plummeted from about bear cubs. Fitted with nose rings similar to age by now. Sanctuary space built for them panda bear habitat into widely separated tracts 2,000 circa 1980 to barely 1,000 a decade those worn by Kalendar women, who are also should have been available to other animals. within which the remaining bear populations later, and has stayed in that vicinity. The cost may lack the genetic diversity to survive.” of obtaining pandas for exhibition, even tem- The People’s Daily reported in 2001 porarily, soared from circa $500,000 to more that “China established its first giant panda than $3 million. Even at that price, the popu- protection zone in the 1950s and banned lation of pandas in zoos is now 140. poaching of the creatures in 1957. China put The People’s Republic also hit upon the rare animals under first-class state protec- a new moneymaker: instead of exporting giant tion in 1962.” The best-known panda reserve, pandas to the world, it could bring the world at Wolong, was designated in 1963, the same to the giant pandas. Wolong was too remote to year that the Beijing Zoo achieved the first become a major tourist destination. Therefore birth of a giant panda in captivity. the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center Panda conservation was stimulated was built on the outskirts of Chengdu, within by the 1961 formation of the World Wildlife an easy bus ride of the airport, and has been Fund, albeit perhaps mainly because everyone growing ever since. involved recognized a financial opportunity. Called “the Chengdu Zoo” by early The WWF founders, trophy hunters western visitors, the Giant Panda Breeding all, had as their top priority preventing the and Research Center won credibility by closure of former British colonies to trophy achieving the first successful artificial insemi- hunting, as eventually occurred after India and nation of a giant panda in 1980, and the first Kenya won independence. The WWF central successful giant panda embryo transplant sev- theme, then as now, was promoting the doc- eral years later. The center was instrumental trine of “sustainable use,” meaning that hunt- in achieving a record 19 captive births world- ing license fees should finance conservation. wide in 2003, of whom 16 survived infancy. Residents of the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center. (Kim Bartlett) (continued on page 19) ANIMAL PEOPLE, Nov e mbe r 2003 - 19
Visitor accounts and photographs heavily hunted for their gall bladders and other from the 1980s suggest the Chengdu facility parts used in traditional Chinese medicine, but was initially a complex of traditional cement the worst was still ahead for them. bear pits and the boxy, determinedly ugly While pandas became the most pop- office buildings typical of Mao-era Chinese ular icons of modern China, North Korea in construction. By the 1990s it was described as the early 1980s developed the technique of one of the better Chinese zoos, amid a boom factory-farming Asiatic black bears for bile, of zoo-building, but some giant pandas and the substance produced by their gall bladders, red pandas were purportedly held for photo which has medicinal qualities comparable to opportunities in barren cages near the main synthetic steroids and other anti-inflamatory entrance concession stands. drugs including aspirin. Now housing 38 giant pandas, the Imprisoned within cages that hold Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center them virtually immobile, with metal shunts today offers animal habitats that match the best permanently inserted into their abdomens, bile western standards. Barren cages and cement farm bears endure a torment resembling the pits are no longer evident, though the chance worst aspects of the treatment of veal calves, to cuddle a baby panda is offered for a steep sows in gestation crates, battery-caged laying Red pandas at the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center. (Kim Bartlett) price, as is fishing at a zoo pond. Similar con- hens, and the mares whose urine is collected But the Chinese Wildlife Conserv- tious Chengu project. cessions were once common at U.S. zoos, but to make Premarin. ation Association, though a branch of the fed- Already, under contract with the largely disappeared more than 20 years ago. Beyond that, the shunt insertion eral ministry of forestry, did not have the clout China Wildlife Conservation Association, Safety precautions are behind U.S. points typically become painfully infected. to stop bile farming outright, or even to slow Robinson had agreed to take into sanctuary norms. At least one teenaged male visitor and Although the compounds that do the the growth of it. Bile farming expanded dur- care as many as 500 bears from 200 small bile one female staff member have been hurt by same things as bear bile are easily synthesized, ing the mid-1990s and crossed into Vietnam. farms scheduled for closure by the Sichuan giant pandas in recent years after stumbling and are much less expensive to produce, offi- Unknown to IFAW and other outside provincial government before 2005. into their habitats ––but the pandas do not cials who erroneously anticipated a growing activist groups at the time, and therefore not Leasing a former forestry department seem to have treated the intruders more rough- demand for bear bile began building produc- inquired about in surveys of Chinese views of complex near Chengdu, Robinson hired flu- ly than they treat each other in brief territorial tion capacity as fast as they could. Bile farm- animal issues funded in 1998-1999 by IFAW ently multi-lingual ex-California motorcycle squabbles. Humans are just more fragile. ing was described as a means of protecting and the Animals Asia Foundation, there was salesman Boris Chiao to turn it into the biggest The most dated aspect of the Giant bears in the wild by undercutting the market cautiously expressed but growing opposition to bear sanctuary ever built. Chiao had little Panda Breeding and Research Center is a for poached bear products––which did not hap- bile farming within China, too. Some of it background in animal work, but brought to the museum of badly preserved mounted speci- pen, as bear poaching increased around the may have evolved out of the positive image of job the right combination of persuasive skills, mens of Chinese wildlife. world, even as the number of bears on bile bears created by the effort to conserve pandas. technical know-how, and personal drive to get Though the resident giant pandas are farms soared over 10,000, with plans The Chinese opposition emerged in the site ready on short notice to receive the charismatic and quite at ease with visitors, the announced to tap at least 39,000 bears. an April 1998 China Daily essay entitled bears, who began coming in October 2000. red pandas make an energetic effort to steal the That would have put nearly twice as “Extracting gall from live bears is appallingly Hong Kong SPCA architect Jill Cheshire did show. Usually exhibited alone or in pairs in many Asiatic black bears into bile extraction inhumane,” by recent bile farm visitor Yu the design work. Gail Cochrane, now operat- the U.S., and usually asleep during daylight cages as remain in the wild. Yunyao.” Peter Li, who came to the U.S. ing an active private practice in Hong Kong, hours, in Chengdu as many as 30 share one from China in 1993 to study and teach, trans- began commuting to Chengdu to supervise the large habitat, within which they are as interac- China Bear Rescue lated the Yu Yunyao essay and sent it to ANI- bears’ veerinary care. tive as a room full of kittens. Protest against bile farming began in MAL PEOPLE. By the December 2002 grand open- In May 2003 the city of Chengdu the early 1990s, amplified first by the “Since this industry is widely seen as ing of the China Bear Rescue Center, the announced plans to expand the Giant Panda International Fund for Animal Welfare. part of the Chinese economic miracle,” says Animals Asia Foundation had already received Breeding and Research Center into a 550-acre Recalled Paul J. Seigel, then IFAW Li, “contributing to the glorification of 97 bears. The facilities include a bear quaran- theme park. A model of the proposed develop- director of animal welfare, now representing Chinese culture, combatting it presents a com- tine hospital with upstairs volunteer quarters, ment indicates that the animal population is Direct Mail Systems Inc., “In 1986 we opened prehensive challenge.” indoor and outdoor bear housing, an outdoor expected to stay the same, but the giant pan- our Far East office in Hong Kong and our rep- As with raising dogs for meat, both acclimation habitat, visitor lodgings, and two das will gain enough habitat to live more as resentative began going into China. We real- the consumption and the opposition occur enclosed bamboo forests. they would in the wild, and visitor facilities ized then that the bear was highly prized for mainly in affluent urban areas. The economic Much more is yet to be built or reno- are to be improved, to attract more traffic and culinary and medicinal value, but we did not benefits are felt chiefly in remote rural areas, vated from the existing structures on the prop- encourage longer stays. discover that the animals were being farmed where dog meat and bear bile production are erty, as soon as Robinson can raise the funds. for their bile until 1990. We first learned this often still perceived at the village level as Bile farm bears in South Korea, and through the Korea being .among the more profitable branches of Strategic debate Asiatic black bears, or moon bears, Animal Protection Society were able expose animal husbandry. The sanctuary approach to the bile also felt the habitat crunch as result of the the practice and have it banned.” Reality is that both bile farming and farm bear issue has been vocally rejected by Great Leap Forward, and had already been The IFAW campaign against bile raising dogs for meat appear to be glutted WSPA, the same organization that instigated farming debuted in Britain in June 1993, fol- niche markets, neither growing nor attracting building sanctuaries for former dancing bears. lowed by similar efforts from the World new investment, but their profitability may be The number of dancing bears may Society for the Protection of Animals. declining less rapidly than that of older pig and exceed the present sanctuary capacity, but Directing the IFAW campaign was poultry farms which cannot compete against they can be counted in the low hundreds. Jill Robinson, an immigrant to Hong Kong the introduction of U.S.-style factory methods Capturing and training more dancing bears is from Nottingham, England. in more accessible places. now illegal virtually everywhere. Thus it can Although tapping the bears for bile Leaving IFAW, Jill Robinson be hoped that the last dancing bears can all be ended, more than 1,300 bears remain caged at formed the Animals Asia Foundation in 1998 housed comfortably for the rest of their lives. former South Korean bile farms. to carry on a variety of projects through Even Robinson admits that the “They have apparently had catheters Southeast Asia that she had begun with IFAW Animals Asia Foundation cannot save all of removed, but a ridiculous regulation imple- support. The most ambitious was starting the the bears who are now on bile farms. Her mented around two years ago allows farmers first sanctuary for ex-bile farm bears at an belief is that by saving some of them, and to kill bears over 22 years old and sell their IFAW-built facility in Panyu, China, several showing them to the public as much as possi- gall bladders. With breeding still allowed on hours up the Pearl River from Hong Kong. ble, both in China and abroad, she can col- the farms, this exposes a huge loophole,” Opened in 1995, on two acres leased lapse demand for bile products, ensuring that Robinson told ANIMAL PEOPLE. from Hong Kong legislator David Chu Yu Lin, no more bears are imprisoned. In December 1994, IFAW, the the Panyu sanctuary housed nine bears A week before the China Bear Hong Kong group EarthCare, and the Chinese Robinson obtained from the defunct Hui Zhou Rescue Center grand opening, WSPA director Wildlife Conservation Association announced hospital bile farm––the first she had ever seen. of wildlife Victor Watkins hinted to London a protocol “To reduce the production of bear Scots-born veterinarian Gail Sunday Times Beijing correspondent Lynne farms by one third, close down the worst bear Cochrane, then working for IFAW, removed O’Donnell that the sanctuary might provide farms as soon as possible,” prevent caging the bears’ shunts and invented methods of cover for expansion of bile farming and bear additional bear cubs, “eliminate bear farming strengthening their atrophied arms and legs. poaching, by leading the public to believe that completely in the future,” and “conserve all Profiled by ANIMAL PEOPLE i n bear bile production is contracting. bear species in China in their natural habitat.” January/February 2001, the Panyu sanctuary Panda-hugs for sale. (Kim Bartlett) became the prototype for the far more ambi- (continued on page 20) The 2003 ANIMAL PEOPLE Watchdog Report on 113 Animal Protection Charities provides the background you need to make your donations most effective: $20, c/o ANIMAL PEOPLE, P.O. Box 960, Clinton, WA 98236. YES! I’M AN ____Please enter my subscription for one year (10 issues.) Enclosed is $24. ANIMAL PERSON! ____Please enter my subscription for two years (20 issues.) Enclosed is $38. ____Please enter my subscription for three years (30 issues.) Enclosed is $50. ____Please send additional subscriptions as gifts to the addresses I have listed below or on a separate sheet. Enclosed is $24 apiece. ____Please send the 2003 ANIMAL PEOPLE Watchdog Report on 101 Animal Protection Charities. Enclosed is $20. ____I want to help with a tax-deductible contribution of: $25 ____ $50 ____ $100 ____ $250 ____ $500 ____ Other ____ Name: Name of gift recipient: Number and street: Number and street: City and state: City and state: ––Wolf Clifton Please make checks payable (in U.S. funds) to: ANIMAL PEOPLE, P.O. Box 960, Clinton, WA 98236-0960 20 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2003 Rehabilitating Asian bears (continued from page 19) Pressed by ANIMAL PEOPLE t o 1998. He said that if some farms were on behalf of the Central Government. He attracting far more attention––including from support Watkins’ argument, WSPA press aide allowed to trade internationally, then China emphasized many times that Dr. Fan was Chinese media, as ANIMAL PEOPLE saw. Amanda Jones shared an internal report about could satisfy the whole market in Asia…This speaking from a personal perspective. As the China Bear Rescue Center the November 2002 Convention on Inter- does represent our worst fears,” the WSPA “Chen Run Shen advised that the grows, Robinson hopes, it could draw national Trade in Endangered Species trienni- report concluded. China Wildlife Conservation Association was tourists, who come to Chengdu to see the al meeting in Santiago, Chile. Responded Robinson, “Dr. Fan’s collating figures for the number of bears on pandas, then hear about the bile farm bears “We had several meetings with Mr. statements are not new. He has consistently farms and confirmed in the meantime that and visit them too. Fan Zhiyong, of the Chinese CITES maintained over the years I have known him Sichuan Forestry figures showed that the The People’s Republic economic Management Authority (part of the State that it is China’s intention to apply for interna- numbers of farmed bears had been reduced in and strategic planners may discover that much Forestry Administration), in order to discuss tional trade in bear bile. To this date they that province from a high of 2,700 bears to as saving pandas proved to be good business, the bear farm and bear trade issues,” the have not made any formal application. 2,300 today. This is the province where our exhibiting ex-bile farm bears in happy condi- WSPA report stated. “We had been directed “Chen Run Shen is secretary general China Bear Rescue campaign is based.” tions may be worth more than the market to speak with Mr. Fan on these issues by a of the China Wildlife Conservation These are still the most recent offi- value of the bile now extracted from them. more senior member of the Chinese delega- Association, a department on equal seniority cial statistics. There are bears to be freed in nearly tion, Dr. Meng Xianlin (also of the State with the Beijing CITES department and simi- While the Animals Asia Foundation every city. ––Merritt Clifton Forestry Administration). On three separate larly part of the State Forestry Administration. accepts ever more bears at the sanctuary, the occasions, Mr. Fan stated that there were now “Chen Run Shen specifically current WSPA anti-bile farm campaign con- CONTACTS: 9,000 bears on 167 farms…Fan is the Chinese advised us during meetings in November and sists of a traveling puppet show, endorsed by Animals Asia Foundation, P.O. official who produced the previous official December 2002 in Beijing that Dr. Fan is not celebrities, featuring a bear puppet created by Box 374, General Post Office, Hong Kong; report (of which we have a copy), which stat- the head of his department and did not have the Henson Group of “Muppets” fame. 852-2791-2225; fax 852-279-2320;
Peter to put away his sword and in effect sacrificed himself to poured resources into breeding them and protecting their habi- the predation of both theocracy and secular government. To tat, reserving to himself the privilege of semi-ceremonially MONSTER OF GOD: whatever extent an attitude toward predation may be read into massacring them as a frequent demonstration of his potence. The man-eating predator in the the words and deeds of Jesus, his views appear most similar to Saltwater crocs have recovered from the verge of extinction in those embodied in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, which two of their most important habitats because of schemes to mar- jungles of history and the mind tolerate the existence of predators but recognize an obligation ket their hides––successful in Australia, a failure in India. to protect one’s flock and family. Quammen is quite uneasy about both the premises by David Quammen Quammen explores that attitude among the Maldhari and practice of “sustainable use,” and says so, several times. herders who co-exist, somewhat uneasily, with the Asiatic But Quammen is even less hopeful that eco-tourism can pro- W.W. Norton & Co. (500 5th Ave., New lions of the Gir forest in western India. Ancestrally and cultur- vide an economic motive for saving large predators. York, NY 10110), 2003. ally related to the Sindhi of Pakistan, and more distantly to the In Africa, Quammen points out, where eco-tourism Bishnoi of Rajasthan, the Maldhari mostly seem to accept that has historically been most successful, the habitat of lions, 384 pages, hardcover. $26.95. the price of their life in the forest is that lions will eat some of cheetah, hyenas and crocodiles is relatively open. The preda- Certain to be classified by most librarians as “natural their cattle, and that if the lions find enough wild hooved ani- tors are easily seen and photographed. history,” Monster of God has already been mistaken by many mals to eat, they will eat neither cattle nor humans. This In India, conversely, good tiger habitat is notorious- reviewers as a screed in defense of “sustainable use.” understanding is encouraged to some extent by recognition that ly dense. Eco-tour promoters have learned that the surest way Monster of God is actually a book mostly about faith, if the Gir lions decline, the Indian government under foreign to provide tiger sightings is to leave only narrow corridors of exploring the influence of the human evolutionary role as prey pressure may resume efforts to evict all of the Maldharis from habitat beside wild-looking jeep roads––which does not allow upon concepts of religion, and of the more recent human the forest. Thousands were evicted, along with their cattle, the few remaining tigers to increase their numbers. ascendance as a top predator on our ideas about conservation. prior to the rise of the present Hindu nationalist government. If eco-tourists require only the illusion of wilderness, David Quammen is profoundly skeptical that humans Much of Monster of God ponders the paradox that the eco-tourism will preserve only quasi-zoos. Even Yellowstone and predators capable of eating us are capable of coexisting for Gir forest lions, the saltwater crocodiles of eastern India and National Park, Quammen observes, is more-or-less a zoo, longer than another 150 years. He presents a strong circum- northern Australia, and the brown bears of Romania have all though in recent years efforts have increased to expand the stantial case that the protohuman concept of God evolved as a been saved (so far) chiefly by the interest of a few wealthy and opportunities for grizzly bears and wolves to migrate out of the psychological response to swift and seemingly random predator well-connected people in perpetuating their existence not as protected parkland into the less guarded national forests that strikes. Sacrifice, Quammen suggests, began as appeasement predators but as prey. The Gir lions survived the 19th century adjoin the park. of predators, and in some remote places continues as such. only because they were so coveted as trophies that one particu- Reviewing the data that Quammen presents, it is dif- Others have written extensively about the emergence lar sultan saved their habitat. Romanian brown bears survived ficult not to share his pessimism about the future of predators. of sacrifice as the ritual sustenance of a learned priestly class, the 20th century chiefly because the dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu Yet Quammen has all but ignored the increasing success of coinciding with the rise of animal husbandry, and have dis- international efforts to restore predators, of every size. cussed especially the role of religion in rationalizing slaughter. Examples include the reintroductions of wolves to the Without taking much note of of this, Quammen explores the Yellowstone region, red wolves to the Southeast, and Mexican role of the earliest monarchs in recorded history as lion-slayers, grey wolves to the Southwest; the introduction of legal protec- pointing out that the dawn of civilization coincided with the tions for sharks in U.S., Australian, and Palauan waters; the emergence of humans as quasi-apex predators, able at last to recovery of bald eagles and other raptors from near-annihilation do with weapons what natural predators do with tooth and claw. by DDT; the conquest of U.S. cities by pigeon-eating peregrine Quammen goes on to trace the rise of Christianity on falcons; the growing public appreciation of coyotes; the emer- every continent parallel to the introduction of superior gence of foxes and fisher-cats as suburban species; the recov- weapons, demonstrated between wars of subjugation against ery of pumas throughout much of North America; Chinese non-Christians in countless episodes of dragon-slaying and tro- efforts to bring back tigers and raptors; global restriction of the phy-shooting. Christianity not only gave believers license to traffic in bear parts; and the post-Free Willy! rise of the once exterminate the predators whom pagans appeased, but also pro- hated “killer whale” to iconic status. vided the means to do so. Quammen is correct that humans mostly love preda- Quammen seems no more concerned that predator- tors at a safe distance, and that it is critical to give people who killing is not in the recorded theology of Jesus than most of the live and work in proximity to predation as much security and purported followers of Jesus have been concerned that he told ––Wolf Clifton economic reward for tolerance as possible. Yet one of the triumphs of science and civilization is Hunt Club Management Guide that predation is no longer a mystery, no longer an apparent Deer Diary instrument of a vindictive and wrathful God. In coming to by J. Wayne Fears by Thomas Lee Boles understand the ecological role of predation, growing numbers Stoeger Publ. (17603 Indian Head Hwy, Xlibris Corp. (
No one really knows why certain problems, which made it impossi- pets come into our lives. Is it an ble to keep this loveable golden outcome that is predestined? Is it a lab mix. Paloma had environmental s pec i al bon d that co mes a bout and food allergies, which made when a companion animal spots a her a special needs adoption. potential guardian? As far as Dona Dona said, “I fell in love with and Bill Buck are concerned, Paloma Paloma. Her sweet face and biog- came into their lives for a most raphy about loving cats sold me. explicit reason. Read Best Friend s Her special needs don’t worry Barbara Williamson s story sub- me.” mitted as the nomination for this month s Lewyt Award: Paloma immediately befriended Dona and Bill’s mischievous cat. In Dona and Pal oma When Dona and Bill Buck adopted fact, the two became inseparable. Paloma in June of 2002, they like that has ever happened. I knew they were getting a great One day in February 2003, Paloma hate to think of the outcome had dog. What they didn’t know was started barking incessantly in the Paloma not let us know!” that they were getting a real live laundry room. She just would not It’s no cats in the laundry room superhero, too. Paloma came to stop. The Bucks raced in to see now, and that inquisitive kitty is Best Friends in December 2001 what the matter was. Why was certainly lucky to have Paloma as because her person had medical their sweet dog barking vehe- mently at the clothes a best friend. “This is just one of dryer? She’d seen it the many wonderful reasons she runnin g be fo re. Why came into our lives,” says Dona. wouldn’t she stop? It N o r t h S h o r e A n i m al L e a gu e turned out that her cat A m e r i c a’ s L e wy t A w ar d f o r fr i e n d , G a bb y, w as November 2003 has been pre- stuck in there and tak- sented to Paloma to honor her ing a spin. Gabby is a exceptional heroism as he saved tailless calico who was the life of her feline friend Gabby. also a rescue. As a symbol of the award, the “ In al l th e ye a r s w e League is sending Dona and Bill have had house cats,” B u ck a c e r t i fi c a t e d e s c r i b i ng s a ys Do na , “n o th i ng Paloma’s heroism. The Bucks will Paloma and her friend Gabby
In a world plagued with human injustice and violence, have a pet that has shown unbelievable courage or North Shore Animal League America takes great pride in amazing tenderness to another animal or person, nomi- rewarding heroic and compassionate pets and the shel- nate your furry friend for a future Lewyt Award. Let the ters that keep them safe. There are many dogs and world know the exceptional dedication and affection cats that are loving, caring, and compassionate. If you pets have for those they love as well as for those who
Nomination Form
P l ease compl ete thi s for m, attach wr i tten descr i pti on, photo and documentati on and send to: M er r i tt Cl i fton @ Ani mal P eopl e • P .O.
The fol lowing pet has demonstrated extraordinary heroism or Please send a matchi ng award to the fol lowing nonprofit shel ter. compassi on. I would li ke to nominate him /her for North Shor e Name of Shelter ______Animal League Ameri ca’s Lewyt Award. Attached is a descript ion of the pet’s remarkable de ed as well as a publishable photograph and Director ______documentation. Street ______Name ______City ______State ____ Zi p______Street ______Phone ______City ______State ____ Zip ______Emai l address ______Phone ______Email address ______SIGN PETITION TO END CRUEL We have rescued many DOG AND CAT SLAUGHTER IN dogs and cats, including this KOREA: International Aid for Korean mother and her kittens. Animals/ Korea Animal Protection Society, Your donation to our sanctuary POB 20600, Oakland, CA 94620; fund will help us save many
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