March 2013 SAN RAFAEL, California––Four executive directors and founder Elliot Katz have left the top management position at In Defense of Animals since 2009. Joe Haptas, the IDA executive director since July 2012, was suspended by the board on February 9, 2013, and responded on February 12, 2013 by demanding the resignations by 6:00 p.m. […]
L.A. shelter deal transfers cash crunch to Best Friends
LOS ANGELES–“There is progress in Los Angeles!” exulted City of Los Angeles Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnette on January 5, 2012, anticipating the imminent transition of the idle Northeast Animal Care Center from a costly liability to an operating asset, run by the Best Friends Animal Society. “The contract between the city and […]
Mercy for Animals exposes cruelty at a Texas factory catfish farm
First undercover video from inside the catfishing industry DALLAS––Probably more fish consumers were puzzled––at first––than shocked on January 19, 2011 when Mercy for Animals released undercover video of alleged criminal animal abuse at Catfish Corner, in eastern Dallas County. “I don’t get too many calls about inhumaneness to fish,” Dallas fish market owner Rex […]
Post-Hurricane Katrina pet custody cases challenge adoptions
“A movement of animals from poor blacks to middle-class whites.” BATON ROUGE, Louisiana––Pet custody cases arising out of the post-Hurricane Katrina animal rescue effort are presenting a nationwide challenge to some animal advocates who have worked for decades to promote recognition of pets as family members, and to strengthen anti-pet theft laws. “People who first […]
Humane success makes market for mixed-breed pups
“Jo Jo the Dog Man” dies on puppy-scouting mission to Poland TACOMA, Washington––Why did the Humane Society of Tacoma & Pierce County fire one 15-year employee on May 25, 2006, and suspend another without pay for three days, for mistakenly euthanizing five Labrador-mix puppies? Why did Joseph P. “Jo Jo the Dog Man” O’Neill, 70, die alone of a heart […]
Hurricane Katrina & Rita rescuers shift gears from rescue & reunion to rehoming
Holding periods expired NEW ORLEANS––All animals rescued from the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita became eligible for adoption on December 15, 2005, following the expiration of the last mandatory holding periods prescribed by the Louisiana and Mississippi state veterinarians. “We’re setting up two new rescue centers, in New Orleans and Gulfport,” Best Friends Animal Society […]
Aftershocks ripple from SF/SPCA (December 2000)
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 […]