Back to the Future: News from 1995

This year marks our 25th anniversary. We thought you’d like to know what was happening in the animal advocacy world 25 years ago, so each month during 2020, we will feature stories from that time.

March 1995

• Zoonotic Diseases, were also in the news 25 years ago in India: “A technical advisory committee set up by the Indian government announced … that data review had confirmed that a major disease outbreak in the city of Surat last September was indeed pneumonic plague, as first diagnosed, even though it did not spread as fast or kill as many people as past outbreaks have. A slightly earlier outbreak of a disease reported as bubonic plague in Maharashtra state is still under study. Both forms of plague may be spread by rodent infestation.

• A very optimistic view from Pennsylvania Game Commission ornithologist Dan Brauning. He “has a simple explanation for the increasing abundance and diversity of bird species around Philadelphia: ‘Human tolerance of wildlife is changing. People aren’t shooting things like they were 50 years ago. Wild turkeys [for example] would not survive if kids in the suburbs all had pellet guns.’”

• Humane organizations were beginning to respond to disasters 25 years ago. In early 1995, the following events tested the capabilities of groups around the world: “flooding in northern California, the January 17 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, and heavier flooding in western Europe––while a quake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale that hit Pereira, Colombia, on February 9 … In between, a big quake shook New Zealand but missed population centers.”

• No Kill Success Story in San Francisco: “’Every adoptable dog and cat in San Francisco’s shelters found a loving new home in 1994 … Older cats and dogs, blind animals, deaf animals, animals missing limbs or otherwise disfigured––as long as they were healthy and of reasonably good temperament, these dogs and cats were all adoptable. Each was and is guaranteed a new home under the Adoption Pact,’ which the SFSPCA negotiated with the San Francisco Animal Care and Control department just a year ago. ‘Since this group of animals would be considered unadoptable and be euthanized in most shelters,the fact that in San Francisco all these animals were saved would appear to be an unprecedented achievement.’”

February 1995

• Wolves: still a hot-button issue 25 years ago, although there was some good news from Alaska; “Doing Wolves No Favors” editorial/article by Dylan Forest, ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995 (emphasis added)

“In Yellowstone, the likelihood that wolves will soon thin out an estimated 60,000 elk, 30,000 deer, and 4,000 bison, after a 60-year absence, deals a political blow to the hope of the hunting lobby that they might open the National Parks to hunting––the only federal lands that now exclude hunting, and therefore the last refuge of many beasts with trophy-sized horns.”

---

• Canadian Seal Hunt: 25 years ago, a report on the government efforts to justify the hunt, which produced indelible images of baby seals being clubbed; “Canada Revives Seal Massacre” article by Dylan Forest, ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995 (emphasis added)

“A February 21 ‘forum on seal management’ in St. John’s is to present an economic and scientific rationale for the killing, in apparent hopes of forstalling opposition from the general public. The bloodbath is expected to follow immediately thereafter.”

---

• Outdoor cats and the extent of their predation also made the news 25 years ago, with an Australian study finding cats killed an average of 4.76 small animals per year, contradicting an earlier study; “Cats Not Guilty” article by Dylan Forest, ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995 (emphasis added):

“The study refutes the 1988 findings of Dr. David Paton of Adelaide University, who reported after a study of 700 cats that they killed an average of 32 small animals per year apiece. Paton responded to the new data by asserting that perhaps Australian cats arerunnng out of native wi[l]dlife to kill.”