Sandy Rowland, 77, longtime Humane Society of the U.S. representative

Car crash ends 20-year career in Bowling Green civic affairs & politics

BOWLING GREEN,  Ohio––Sandy Rowland, 77,  for more than 30 years a dynamic Great Lakes Region representative for first the Fund for Animals and later the Humane Society of the U.S.,  died on April 17,  2024 “from extensive injuries sustained in a car accident on April 3, 2024,”  reported David DuPont for BG Independent Media.

Rowland “spent the last two weeks in the Toledo Hospital intensive care unit,  and was not allowed visitors due to her medically fragile condition,”  DuPont wrote.  “She peacefully passed away surrounded by loved ones.”

Early rock-&-roll fan

Born Sandra Elaine McMaster,  Sandy Rowland grew up in Findlay,  Ohio,  twelve miles south of Bowling Green,  where she spent most of her life.

An honors student at Glenwood Junior High School in Findlay,  Sandra McMaster became known for enthusiastic letters to rock-and-roll fanzines by age 13,  winning five free records with one letter praising then-teenaged disc jockey Errol Wuertz,  who became a longtime realtor in Hays,  Kansas.

Attending high school in Bowling Green,  Sandra McMaster in her senior year directed the class play,  Arsenic & Old Lace.

Moving on to Bowling Green State University,  Sandra McMaster became Sandy Rowland,  housewife and mother of a daughter,  Heidi,  born in 1971,  through marriage to then-Athens Messenger student reporter Dean Rowland.

Starling shoot

Her life changed abruptly,  at age 26,  when Hillsboro mayor Dean Hill in September 1973 enlisted 12 local hunters to massacre purportedly problematic starlings.

The resulting rain of dead birds occasioned television commentator Bill Grosscup of CKLW in Windsor,  Ontario,  to award Hill his “Dummy of the Week” award,  and brought a two-sentence telegram of rebuke from Fund for Animals founder Cleveland Amory.

When Hillsboro Press Gazette editor Don Baird ridiculed Amory,  but did not publish the actual wording of his telegram,  “Mrs. Dean Rowland,  representing the Fund for Animals,”  shamed Baird into publishing the telegram beneath her letter of protest.

What Amory had said was simply,  “The Fund for Animals is shocked by your city plan to carry out the massive kill of starlings and possibly other birds by the shooting to take place on September 8,  as many biologists agree there are better,  more effective and humane ways of controlling bird populations.  We urge you to postpone this carnage until all avenues have been more thoroughly explored to find a method safer to your community and agreeable for all concerned.”

Wolf education

Becoming a volunteer Fund for Animals “area coordinator,”  Sandy Rowland promoted the “Jethro the Wolf” educational video and classroom visits by “the traveling wolf team of Rocky and Maria.”

She also worked with then-Fund for Animals national director Patricia Forkan to organize protests on behalf of whales coinciding with the 1974 meeting of the International Whaling Commission.

Soon after Forkan moved into a similar position,  as a senior vice president at the Humane Society of the United States,  she hired Sandy Rowland in 1977,  around her 30th birthday,  as Great Lakes Regional Director,  responsible for overseeing HSUS activity in the four states of Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  and West Virginia.

Ohio Committee for Humane Trapping

Sandy Rowland meanwhile formed the Ohio Committee for Humane Trapping,  unsuccessfully seeking an amendment to the state constitution which would have banned leghold traps.

The Hillsboro Press Gazette reported that “She became concerned about leghold traps after buying a number of furs in Alaska for members of her family.  To her dismay,  she later learned the animals had been trapped by a steel-jawed device that cripples or maims,  but seldom kills.”

Opposed by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation,  the Ohio Department of Natural Resources,  and many other well-funded pro-hunting and trapping organizations,  the proposed amendment was defeated in November 1977 by a two-to-one margin,  but gave the hunting and trapping industry a lasting scare because a third of the voters supported it,  even though there was no significant money behind it.

Coonhound racing

Sandy Rowland next stirred controversy in opposition to the 1981 World Championships of Coon Dog Racing,  essentially a swimming race for coonhounds,  held in Kenton,  Ohio.

That campaign also failed;  such events continue.

But Sandy Rowland was much more successful in defeating bills repeatedly introduced into the Ohio legislature between 1982 and 1989 which would have encouraged dog pounds to sell dogs to laboratories,  already a long-established practice but not specifically endorsed by state law.

Dogfighting raid

On August 25,  1983,  Sandy Rowland joined 40 Illinois police officers and then fellow Humane Society of the U.S. personnel Franz Dantler,  Bob Baker,  and Tim Greyhavens in a raid on a dogfight in Bond County,  Illinois,  near East St. Louis,  that nabbed 65 suspects plus 40 pit bulls who were euthanized at the scene.

Dogfighting in Illinois was then still just a misdemeanor,  but became a felony effective on January 1,  1984.

Sandy Rowland thereafter became active in further investigation of dogfighting,  pit bull attacks on humans,  and encouraging legislation to ban or restrict possession of pit bulls.

250,000 pit bulls per year fought?

Ohio dog attack victim Caress Garten told ANIMALS 24-7 that Sandy Rowland helped her for ten years to write her 2001 book On Behalf of Innocents: A True Story of a Mission, Faith, and a Promise Fulfilled,  describing her attack and years of physical and emotional recovery.

Sandy Rowland in May 2002 guesstimated to Akron Beacon-Journal staff writer Carol Biliczky that as many as 250,000 pit bulls may be fought each year in the U.S.

At the time that guesstimate seemed at least 10 times too high.  In the preceding three years,  791,  896,  and 869 pit bulls had been impounded in dogfighting raids,  and those were the three highest totals on record.

More than 20 years of pit bull proliferation later,  the Rowland guesstimate appears as if it might have been more accurate than any hard evidence suggested.

Tried to make cockfighting a felony

Also in 1984 Sandy Rowland helped to stop the use in Ohio of the injectable paralytic drug T-61 to kill shelter animals.  Use of T-61 was prohibited by federal law two years later.

In 1986 Sandy Rowland helped to thwart efforts by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation to put a statewide bounty on coyotes.

In addition,  beginning in 1991,  Sandy Rowland pushed legislation to make cockfighting a felony in Ohio.  Although bills that would accomplish this have repeatedly passed the Ohio state house of representatives,  by overwhelming margins,  cockfighting in Ohio remains only a fourth degree misdemeanor.

Mentor

Recalled Dave Pauli,  longtime Humane Society of the U.S. program manager of wildlife conflict and wildlife protection,  whose first big assignment was coordinating the HSUS disaster relief response after Hurricane Andrew in 1992,  “Sandy was a mentor for my first year at HSUS.”

Added Jim Tedford,  formerly a Humane Society of the U.S. regional representative,  now president and chief executive for the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (formerly known as the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators):

“Sandy Rowland was brilliant,  hilarious,  and a powerful force for animals.  She took me on my first cockfighting raid and it was a doozy.”

“Sandy was always just a phone call away”

Posted former Humane Society of the Huron Valley and Humane Society of the U.S. staff member Sally Fekety,  now retired,  “Sandy was a coworker,  friend,  mentor,  comrade,  teacher,  leader,  advisor,  and someone I realize now that I always thought of as my ‘humane-mother.’

“Sandy was always just a phone call away.

“In 1991,  when I was the adoptions coordinator at the Humane Society of the Huron Valley,  I agreed to cover for our cruelty officer,  who was on leave.  So of course we immediately got a complaint involving 223 cats.  I had no cruelty field services experience whatsoever.

“I called Sandy.  She stayed on the phone with me for hours and hours,  prepping me about every detail.  Thanks to her,  we rescued all 223 of those sweet kitties the very next day.”

Fekety also remembered that Sandy Rowland facilitated her hiring by the Humane Society of the U.S. in 1993,  after the Humane Society of the Huron Valley laid her off,  “by connecting me to Marc Paulhus,”  then the HSUS vice president for companion animals,  “at Animal Care Expo in 1993.”

“Welcome to San Francisco!”

Offered Carol Moulton,  a now retired 40-odd-year humane professional,  “Sandy and I worked for HSUS mostly at the same time, but she was in Ohio and I was in Washington D.C.  We had business communications but no personal bond.  But one day in San Francisco changed that totally.  We were both at an HSUS conference in San Francisco and at one point we sneaked out together to a little cafe to relax.  We saw lots of buses full of tourists driving past and silliness overcame us.

“We began to wave at every bus and yell ‘Welcome to San Francisco!’  After a while people around us noticed our antics – someone gave us a bunch of flowers and somehow we got a paste-on mustache that I wore.  It was such a good, crazy, nonsensical afternoon that I’ve never forgotten it – and I’m sure Sandy didn’t either.”

Office closed after 28 years

Sandy Rowland left the Humane Society of the U.S. when on February 1,  2005 the organization closed the Great Lakes regional office in Bowling Green,  laying off all four office employees.

One of them,  Linda Reider,  was hired by the Michigan Humane Society.  None of the rest returned to humane work.

“I’m still in shock over this,”  Sandy Rowland told Steve Murphy of the Toledo Blade.  “I just want to go on serving. I cherish the years that I have spent helping animals.”

“Talented advocate”

Recalled Wayne Pacelle,  who had just become president of the Humane Society of the U.S. in mid-2004,  and now heads Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy,  “She was definitely a talented advocate.

“We lost a bitter fight on dove hunting in Ohio in 1998,  and that remains one of my most disappointing memories in my career in animal advocacy;  the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance,  based in Columbus, spent a ton of money and they beat us pretty handily,  with a vicious attack on animal advocates as extremists,  saying that doves would just be the first step in our plan to end all animal agriculture,  animal testing,  and all hunting.

“I learned a lot from that campaign and we took the dove issue to the ballot in Michigan,”  Pacelle said,  “and won in all 83 counties.

“I did a bunch of reorganizing”

“When I took over at HSUS,”  Pacelle explained,  “I did a bunch of reorganizing – created a campaigns section, a litigation section,  an equine section,  created the Humane Society Legislative Fund as a new organization,  and started putting people around the world for Humane Society International.

“But definitely one of the biggest moves was to eliminate the nine regional offices,  including the Bowling Green Office,   and to start the process of putting people in each of 50 states.

“I don’t think any regional director was happy about it,”  Pacelle acknowledged,  “but some of the regional directors adapted to that and stayed in their state, while others didn’t.

“Sandy actually did a great job”

“Typically,  these offices covered four to five states,  and given that I was within the HSUS structure for 10 years prior,  I  felt that it was very difficult for a regional office to cover four or five states.  I believed that,  for lobbying purposes,  you needed to be at the capitol in a state and be a native presence.  I wanted five people spread out,  rather than five in one state.

“I think Sandy actually did a great job as regional director,  covering four or five states,”  Pacelle said, “but the structure was a burden in working effectively in Michigan,  Indiana,  and the other states.”

Real estate

Out of a job,  who did Sandy Rowland call?

The former disc jockey Errol Wuertz had turned to selling real estate.  So had several of Sandy Rowland’s ex-colleagues at the Humane Society of the U.S.

Sandy Rowland became a multi-time top selling realtor with The Danberry Company in Bowling Green,  a member of the Toledo Regional Area Board of Realtors,  and also of the Heartland Board of Realtors.

“I love working for Danberry Realtors,”  Sandy Rowland said in one of her last Facebook posts,  on March 21,  2024.

“Tonight we had our Annual Danberry Treasure Chest event,”  she continued.  “We raise money for Toledo Children’s Hospital to pay for expenses [of parents whose children are ill or hospitalized] not covered by insurance,  such as rent or house payments,  car repair etc.  Hopefully we raised $100,000 or more tonight!”

Bowling Green city council

But selling real estate and attending fundraisers appears to have been only a small part of Sandy Rowland’s post-Humane Society of the U.S. activity.

Elected to the Bowling Green city council in 2012,  and repeatedly re-elected,  Sandy Rowland served for 10 years as an at-large representative.  She chaired the Parks & Recreation Committee,  serving also on the Planning,  Zoning & Economic Development Committee and the Transportation and Safety Committee.

Sandy Rowland also represented the city council on the Bowling Green Convention & Business Bureau of Directors.

Volunteer

Further,  wrote Jan Larson McLaughlin for BG Independent Media,  “Rowland,  a Democrat, showed her leadership qualities in the other organizations she chose to serve – League of Women Voters,  Bowling Green Exchange Club,  BG Human Relations Commission,  Habitat for Humanity of Wood County,  Welcome BG,  BRAVE,  East Side Neighborhood Association,  and Maumee Valley Unitarian Church.

“She was a reliable volunteer with Black Swamp Arts Festival,  Project Connect,  BG Art Walk,  La Conexion,  Firefly Nights,  Winterfest,  and Not In Our Town.

“She worked closely with LaConexion to add a whistleblower clause to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinances.”

Brown Bag Food Project

Named Bowling Green “Outstanding Female Citizen of the Year” in 2020,  Sandy Rowland was particularly supportive of the local Brown Bag Food Project.

Brown Bag Food Project colleague Amy Jeffers told McLaughlin that Sandy Rowland “holds the record for most caramel apples purchased” as part of her impressive accomplishments as a fundraiser.

“For several years,  Sandy has personally gone with us to distribute food to migrant workers,”  Jeffers added.  “She is willing to use her time to sit and talk with the migrant workers that are so important to our local economy.”

Concluded McLaughlin,  “Sandy Rowland was Bowling Green’s cheerleader,  and its moral compass when it needed nudging to do right thing.”

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