September 1993
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Nonprofit Organization Rabies victim U.S. Postage Paid ANIMAL PEOPLE, wasn't bitten Inc. GIRL NEVER KNEW WHAT HIT HER––DEATH DEMONSTRATES RISK TO RESCUERS SARATOGA SPRINGS, New York, and Bloomingburg, New York, collecting fossils. Her parents County Medical Center in Valhalla on July 14, where she MAMMOTH LAKES, California––The July 14 death of had warned her repeatedly to avoid raccoons and other died from viral encephalits, a symptom of rabies, shortly an 11-year-old girl from rabies and a series of human deaths potentially rabid wildlife. after admission on July 14. The evidence of rabies was not from a rodent-borne hantavirus send a heads-up message to On July 8, Aherndt complained of pains in her discovered until staff pathologists performed an autopsy, animal rescuers and health care providers everywhere: arm. The family pediatrician diagnosed a sprain and pre- and the presence of the disease wasn't confirmed until zoonosis, or animal diseases passed to people, can hit any- scribed antibiotics for a possible strep throat. July 12, the August 10. one at any time. And the symptoms can go unrecognized. pains became sharp and she began hallucinating. Her family Aherndt bore no visible bite marks. No one saw Kelly Aherndt, an athletic would-be veterinarian, interrupted a camping trip to Lake George to rush her to the her near any wild animal or any sickly animal. The Aherndt kept a horse and a coop of pigeons; shared two cats, a col- hospital in Saratoga Springs, where her symptoms again family animals remain healthy. Rabies can only be trans- lie, and a variety of ducks and chickens with her brother went undiagnosed. The next morning the family took her mitted by contact with inflected saliva, brain tissue, or and two sisters; collected nature magazines; and spent back to the pediatrician's office at the Horton Memorial (rarely) blood. Thus there was no clear cause to suspect much of her time in the woods near her home in Hospital in Middletown. She was flown to the Westchester (continued on page 9) Attention advertisers! Our guaranteed distribution has increased to 20,000–– including more than 6,500 veterinarians, and more than 5,500 personnel at 3,700 animal shelters. You get 33% more audience for your dollar. Call 518-854-9436 today to reserve your holiday season ad space. ANIMAL PEOPLE News For People Who Care About Animals September 1993 Volume II, #7 Civil war within rescue groups Primarily Primates and Colorado Horse Rescue by Merritt Clifton and Marcia King SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS; GOLDEN and ARVADA, COLORADO––B i t t e r l y contested transitions of leadership may be finalized this month at Primarily Primates and Colorado Horse Rescue. On September 13, Texas assistant attorney general John Vinson is scheduled to ask the 224th Judicial District Court in San Antonio to remove Primarily Primates founder and longtime animal caretaker Wallace Swett from any position of authority within the Tasha wasn't actually in the flood, just our pond, but what the heck. (Photo by Kim Bartlett) organization. Later in the month, the members of CHR will be asked to ratify major restructur- MIDWEST FLOOD RESCUE EFFORT ing, begun with the ouster of cofounder and INSIDE longtime president Sharon Jackson. PROCTER & GAMBLE: Classic breakdowns Forty days, forty GOOD RECORD OR BAD? The simultaneous, unrelated actions culminate long-running parallel disputes involv- Fancier explains ing two of the best-known and best-respected nights, and still the animal rescue groups in the United States. breeding etiquette Each dispute follows a pattern of internal break- down common to nonprofits, in which differ- rain kept pouring Progress in ences arise between hired help and a troubled, often overworked adminstrator; the help takes MISSISSIPPI BASIN––T w o The disaster was markedly big- non-animal the disagreement to the board of directors, months of record rainfall that brought ger than Hurricane Andrew, which test validation whose normal function is oversight and policy- record flooding in nine midwestern states brought the biggest previous animal res- making, but which has typically left most deci- probably displaced more animals than cue response on record in the U.S., but any high waters in North America since rescue coordinators Richard Meyer of the AYOFFS AT sion-making to the administrator; the board, L NEAVS instead of either backing or firing the adminis- the glaciers melted. Of the 791 counties American Humane Association and Don trator, divides administrative authority and in the nine states, 421 were declared fed- Rolla of Elsa Wild Animal Appeal U.S.A. Paul Watson makes becomes involved in day-to-day management; eral disaster areas. Clean-up and repairs agreed that the Flood of '93 was easier to friends (sort of) divided authority results in further conflict, are expected to cost more than $13 bil- handle. First, nearly everyone knew it including between the board and a now alienat- lion. But animal rescuers didn't dwell on was coming. In most cases there was in Atlantic Canada ed administrator; and eventually key personnel the immensity of the big picture. They time––not plenty of time, but just depart, often to found a competing organiza- just pitched in however they could, wher- enough––to arrange evacuations before Los Angeles & New tion. ever they were, with whatever they could the waters hit. Second, the relatively Specific issues at both Primarily scrounge by way of equipment and sup- slow pace of events permitted better plan- Jersey keep on neutering Primates and Colorado Horse Rescue have plies. ning than in the wake of Hurricane (continued on page 7) (continued on page 8) 2 - ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993 Editorials Find more men to teach love Three Brazilian military policemen shocked the world July 23 when they A burst of concern about misogyny and violence in rap music swept the U.S. in machine-gunned 45 homeless children who were sleeping in front of the Candelaris Church midsummer, following several especially vicious murders of children by slightly older chil- and Museum of Modern Art in the fashionable part of Rio de Janeiro, killing seven. So dren (most of whom had histories of animal abuse), and an explosion of gang attacks on great was the outrage that three days later the suspects were arrested. And that was the real young women in New York City swimming pools, commited by gangs who chanted rap news. In 1992 alone, 424 children were killed in Rio de Janeiro––as many as half of them lyrics as they raped and assaulted. Just as rock-and-roll took the blame for everything nega- by police, many of whom liken the murder of a street orphan to shooting a stray dog. As tive about youth rebellion from the 1950s through the 1970s, rap takes the rap today. And the very first issue of ANIMAL PEOPLE reported, the killing has previously been done certainly some rap lyrics are much more overtly threatening than anything beyond the sensu- with impunity. People trying to help the children and attempting to bring the police to jus- al beat in any popular rock before the advent of acid rock and heavy metal. But blaming rap tice have also been killed. Elsewhere in Brazil, and in other parts of Latin America, the misses the point––some rap artists may be as degenerate as bowhunting rocker Ted Nugent, situation may be worse, but only Brazil keeps good statistics, recording the murders of or as the most flamboyant degenerates of popular music in the swing and ragtime eras, for more than 1,000 children a year––mostly poor semi-orphans. In all, 700,000 Brazilian that matter, but their acts wouldn't catch on if an audience wasn't hungry for the vicarious children don't live with their mothers, and 460,000 of them don't live with either parent. expressions they provide. More than four million don't go to school, and more than 10% of adolescents can't read. Behind the dehumanizing lyrics of much rap is a cry for help, and a warning. Only two weeks later the world was horrified again when Brazilian gold miners When the only parent a child has is female, the adolescent rebellion that most young men who had been rousted from their squatters' camp by conservation agents took revenge by traditionally direct toward their fathers in specific and adult male authority in general may massacring 65 of the Yanomani natives to whom the land belongs. Most of the victims be directed instead at women. Thus women who already suffer from all the abuse that goes were children. But so, apparently, were many of the perpetrators: young men who fled with being physically, economically, and politically weaker become the victims of even urban poverty to seek their fortune the only way they knew how. Some of them were virtu- more violence because, ironically, they appear to be the controlling figures in many young al slaves to older miners. They viewed killing the Yanomani as killing wild animals. men's lives: mothers, teachers, nurses, welfare caseworkers. The first male authority fig- Appalling as the Brazilian situation is, a comparable bloodbath is erupting among ure they meet may be a policeman, a judge, or a jailer. disenfranchised children here in the U.S., where numbers and attitudes are just as scary. We are not going to develop a more humane civilization if we allow children to As many as 2,700 American children a year are murdered, slightly more per capita than in suffer inhumane conditions, learning the lessons of kill-or-be-killed. We certainly aren't Brazil, which has just over half our population––but here the police aren't doing the killing.