And are still rippling, 20 years later SAN FRANCISCO, PHILADELPHIA, KNOXVILLE––The San Francisco SPCA and San Francisco Animal Care & Control in calendar year 2000 together killed fewer than 2,000 cats and dogs. That was under 2.6 cats and dogs per 1,000 human residents, 15.6% of the national average, 1,001 fewer than the 1999 previous […]
Wills bankrupt; Horse thief too?; Ex-HSUS vp Wills cops a plea
by Merritt Clifton Wills bankrupt Former Humane Society of the U.S. vice president David Wills on August 22 filed for personal bankruptcy. Among his 17 listed creditors were HSUS, which in October 1995 fired Wills and later sued him for allegedly misappropriating $93,000; John Hoyt, president of HSUS and Humane Society International from 1970 until […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
People’s Park
(From Betrayal, SAMISDAT #96, 1980.) Vietnam in Berkeley (about the May 1969 Peoples Park riots) The Hueys shrieked in low, so low I might have downed one with a well-aimed rock. But there were no rocks. Entering Sproul Plaza at the end of Telegraph Avenue, each spewed a yellow-green cloud, rising slightly to clear […]