by Merritt Clifton LYLES, Tenn.; ANAMOSA, Iowa; SALT LAKE CITY, Utah–Near Lyles, Tennessee, the shelterless Hickman County Humane Society just before Christmas 1998 seized 299 dogs, 38 horses, and various cats from an alleged puppy mill reportedly owned by one Patricia Adkisson. The site was littered, rescuers said, with the remains of dead dogs. On January 1, 1999, […]
Henry Spira, 71, founder of the animal rights movement
Henry Spira, 71, died in his sleep on September 12, 1998 from esophageal cancer, after an uncomplaining three-year battle. Encouraging Peter Singer to expand a 1973 essay on why animals should enjoy rights into the book Animal Liberation, while taking a night course from Singer, Spira virtually created the animal rights movement by leading his classmates […]
Fear and loathing in Toronto the Good
April 1996 TORONTO––A Divisional Court ruling by Justice Edward Saunders is expected soon as to whether the Toronto Humane Society must release to the public copies of the pound contract it holds with the City of Toronto. Claiming a need to protect the security of animals and staff, THS has appealed a December 29, 1995 […]
HSUS isn’t talking
by Merritt Clifton November 1995 WASHINGTON D.C. ––At deadline the Humane Society of the U.S. had neither confirmed nor denied a report from an HSUS source that the board of directors, responding to a petition signed by 41 staffers, agreed over the Columbus Day weekend, October 7-9, to prosecute David Wills, 48, for allegedly embezzling […]
Michigan stats confirm hunting, child abuse link
October 1995 LANSING––Michigan children are nearly three times as likely to be neglected and are twice as likely to be physically abused or sexually assaulted if they live in a county with either an above average or above median rate of hunting participation. Michigan sells two times more hunting licenses per capita as upstate New […]
Humane Society of the U.S. settles affairs without a Wills
by Merritt Clifton WASHINGTON, D.C.––Humane Society of the United States executive vice president Patricia Forkan is to assume authority over HSUS domestic operations effective on January 1, 1996. HSUS president Paul Irwin, now heading domestic operations, will move over to head the umbrella organization, Humane Society International, while current HSI president John Hoyt, 65, will […]
Triple trouble for HSUS: VP David Wills fired
by Merritt Clifton The puppy mill flap was just one headache for HSUS president Paul Irwin and Humane Society International president John Hoyt, whose organization is the umbrella for HSUS and several affiliated organizations. On August 9, they were obliged to put HSUS vice president David Wills on administrative leave. On August 11, after rumors […]
HSUS vp Wills sued for alleged bad debts
by Merritt Clifton (July 1995) DETROIT––Humane Society of the U.S. vice president for investigations David Wills, founder of the short-lived National Society for Animal Protection before assuming his present post, is accused of failing to repay NSAP-related loans totaling $57,411 in cash and valuables in separate lawsuits filed by William and Judith McBride, of Ortonville, […]
Moral relativism & Marine World
by Merritt Clifton March 1995 VALLEJO, California––Any day now the fishing crews of Iki, Japan, may string nets between their boats and, banging metal objects together to make a noise that carries underwater, herd scores of Dall’s porpoises and pseudorcas into an inlet to be harpooned and hacked apart with machetes. Spring […]
Dirty Pool, part 3: Keiko
by Merritt Clifton January/February 1995 I had not planned to write a third part of my “Dirty Pool” series on propaganda interfering with marine mammal protection, but as the second part went to press on November 22, 1994, Warner Brothers and New Regency Productions donated $2 million to a new Free Willy/Keiko Foundation formed by Earth […]