HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-03-04, Page 15The theme for this year's carnival was A Trip Through Space and
featured a number of skaters as astronauts, rnermaids.,..Cyclopse
and meteorites.
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Trip
Through Space
Skaters shine in club's
annual skating show
and carnival Saturday
Sarh Adamson has her skates tied by mom Connie .Adamson prior
• to Saturday afternoon's figure skating ednival. Waiting for mom
• to put on her skates is younger sister Lacey Adamson. The
Goderich Figure Skating Club presented its annual figure skating.
carnival on Saturday at the arena. Th4iayeac's theme was A Trip
Through Space and featured astronauts; ttFO's• stars, Neptune -
mermaids, Princess Leah and Luke Skywalker: (photo by Lou -Ann
Hope) ..
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Taking part hi Saturday's A .Trip Through Space figure skating carnival was thi5'group
of Novice 3-4 skaters as,Stars..
These two y ung skaters were part of Saturday's figure skat?na carnival at the Goderich
Arena. Thi• year's them, A Trip Through Space, .saw sl number of•skaters perform such as�=wy =, A�,'�" " "fes^
these two.yptune Mermaids.' Takingpart in the Goderich Figure Skating Clubs annual carnival.
held Saturday was this group of senior skaters as Mars- Martians.
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F3Y
WILLIAM
4. THOMAS
iiety discusses rabies at annual meeting
� 3y David Emslie
CLINTON - Members of the Huronia
Branch of he ,Ontario Humane Society
(OHS r 'recei ed an education in a few dif-
ferent areas M'hen their annual meeting; Was
held here on uFebruaR' 19.
The first siiibject they were tutored in w
rabies. Dr. L Peter Wiley, of. the Clinton-
Seaforth Vet
the meeting
"Rabies ai
days. It has,
around here,
probably the
rinary Services was present at
o discuss the deadly virus.
e on everybody's minds these
reached epidemic proportions
' Dr, Wiley began. "Canada is
worst country for rabies the
climate is rght."He added that rabies is
like the cold, and if an an animal were to die
of the virus the winter, the disease could
stay in the animal, until spring.
The virus began it's march across Canada
in Alaska, he explained, and spreads 100 to
200 miles every year.
According to Dr. Wiley, the clirnate, add-
ed to a high concentration of wildlife, people
and pets in this area are all causes for the
high number of rabies cases in this area.
Comparatively, a country such as Africa
has very little rabies even though they have
a lit of wildlife. This is again because of
climate because if the virus is exposed to the
sun it will last only two or three hours.
"The rabies virus has a little scheme
worked out; it can make animals vicious
and give them the urge to bite. It's a great
system for passing on the virus," Dr. Wiley
noted, adding the disease is usually passed
on through bites.
Although many animals do become
violent when afflicted with rabies, this is not
the rule as there is a strain of the virus that
makes an animal become slow and lethargic
before it gets convulsions and dies.
The virus travels through the•nerve cells
in an animal's body until it reaches the
brain. Because of this method of travel, it
can be many months before a rabid animal
shows signs of the disease.
"If a cow was nipped on the tip of -the tail
by a rabid fox it,could be six to nine months
before it , wed signs," said Dr. Wiley. "If
animals do show signs, they'll be dead
within 10 days time, but it's usually five to
seven 'days."
He said cats are about the worst animals
when hit with the virus. "Typically, a cat
with rabies will hide in a ditch or on the side
of the road, and when someone comes by
they'll bite ancf scratch them, then take off."
Rabies has reached epidemic
proportions in Huron County
To control rabies; Dr. Wiley' said there are
two things to do. The first is to prevent ex-
posure by keeping dogs around the house
and not letting cats out at night. The second
is to make sure pets are vaccinated every
year. Although som&vaccines are said to
last two or three years, he said vaccinations,
should be done yearly.
To meet one of these goals, Huron County
veterinarians, in co-operation with the
Huron County Health unit have established
Huron County Rabies Prevention Week. At
participating clinics rabies shots will bepro-
vided to all pets for $6 per animal on March
4 and March 7.
"If you have a dog or cat it should be vlc-
cinated," Dr. Wiley stressed.
Although he has been vaccinated against
rabies, he said he still feels uneasy when
having td deal with ancanimal that might
have rabies.
"It's quite a scary disease, really. I
always get shivers up my backbone when
I'm handling that type of animal," he said.
As there is a new strain of rabies in the
United States that affects an animal that
hadn't previously been afflicted with rabies,
raccoons, Dr. Wiley was asked whether he
thought the conditions in Huron County
would worsen.
"Yes, if it gets into 'coons, it's going to get
worse yet," he concluded.'
Finances
Following Dr. Wiley's presentation, Rick
Koury, inspector for the Ontario Humane
Society 4.OHS1 took the floor.
After carrying out•elections for this.year's
board of .directors and executive, Mr.
Koury, who works out of the head office of
the ',HS in New Market, discussed financial
matters with the members.
More specifically, he discussed why the
year end had changed as well as why audits
were carried out on the branch books.
One of the main reasons audits were tak-
ing place, he said, was because the amount
of money in the society's shelter accounts
had gone froeh nothing fn 1981 to $500,000 ih
1986.
"The reason we wanted the books audited
was because the auditors were saying, 'Wait
a minute, you're getting reports from your
branches, but they're not audited'. The
auditors said this was fine before, but we
didn't have half a million in shelter funds
then,' Mr.• Koury explained. "The ,long and
short of it is, the auditors said we now want
the branch books formally •,udited."
The year end was changed, he said,
because the books were previously reaching
the auditors around February, which is
their prime time with income taxes. As it is
their prime time, the work was taking
longer to get back to the OHS. There is also a
better chance the auditors will donate their
work if it is not handled at this busy time, he
added.
After coveting these two areas, Mr. Koury
went onto the subject of provincial funding.
He explained that in 1982 the govdrnment
did an assessment of the OHS and said if
they met certain criteria, such as hiring a
chief inspector and providing better train-
ing, they should receive $500,000 from the
provincial government.
�'•We have received, and still receive,
since 1977, $85,000. We did a calculation bas-
ed on 1977 dollars, and that $85,000 is now
worth $45,500 spending dollars," he said.
This lack of funds caused the society to
start winding down animal protection ser-
vices in March of 1986. After suspending
their agents working in this field, they in-
formed the solicitor general. He told them
the police would pick up the slack.
This, however, did not solve the problem
as when the police were faced with a cruelty
to animal case, they found they didn't have
money in their budget to cover it.
He cited an incident where to free a few
horses, a pony, two dogs and some geese it
•cost a police department $3,000 to $4,001)
because of veterinary costs and snow blow-
ing costs to get at the animals.
"They suddenly realized the ;costs," he
said.
4.4
"We got together with them in May of 1986
and told them that seven daysa week and 24
hours a day we'd have an inspector on call.
We said we'll, provide telephone back-up and
physical ,assistance where" possible," ex-.
plained Mr. Koury.
A financial review carried out with the
government revealed some startling
figures.
"$1,079,000 a year is being spent in Ontario'
right now on animal protection services,"
Mr. Koury pointed out.
He added that the study had a good•side.
"This exercise we had with the govern-
ment was •a very, very fruitful one. If
nothing else is Showed the government that
we're doing a gdod job in very bad
^ circumstances."
Toronto Society
Mr. Koury began his presentation on this
subject by explaining exactly why the
Toronto Humane Society is now running into
problems.
In 1986 they had their annual meeting, and
a proxy vote was held. This election resulted
in, effectively, four people running the
organization, one of whom 'was from
Washington.
After a falling out with the other
members, the Washington member left.
"There are now three people running the
Toronto society of 3,000 members," he
pointed out, adding that these three could
sell off all of the 'society's holdings, because
they are all signers;
This resulted in 'some problems for the
OHS, as Mr. Koury stated, "The general
public has the misconception that the Toron•'
to and Ontario Humane Society are the
same thing."
The problems continued with -misinforma-
tion on pound seizures, where animals are
taken from a pound as soon as they, are seiz-
ed for scientific experimentation. '
Mr. Koury explained that the OHS •
couldn't be involved in such activities for a
few different reasons.
"in Ontario there is no such thing as
pound seizures; it can't happen in Ontario.
If a dog is picked up, it is kept for three days
minimum, and at the end of this period, it
can be sold, adopted or given away. We
never have and "never will surrender
animals for research. We operate shelter's,
we don't give up animals for research."
Turn topage 3•
i
Do you need
a licence to
fly this thing
`Geez Roland, are you sure we should
be doing this??" I inquired as telephone
poles passed by like the upright slats of a
picket fence. We were leaving the city of
Welland at 90 m.p.h. on a clear Saturday
morning and I was pinned back in the
passenger seat by the sheer force ,f
speed and the raw emotion of fear.
"Aren't yot,afraid of cops up ahead?"
I asked, more of a plea of mercy than a
question requiring an answer.
"Naw" Roland shrugged, "Watch
this" and the needle on the speedometer
jumped from 90 m.p.h. up to 118 m.p.h.
That did• it. I tightened my seat belt,
loosened my collar and took 10 quick
gasps of air to stave off hyperventilation..
"You know Roland" I yelled, my
watering eyes still staring in disbelief
throughthe windshield at a world defined
by wi•ndnoise,. "it's a damn good thing
this is an airplane and not a car or I'd ar-
rest you myself ! ".. '
I am far from fond of flying. It is a fear
founded entirely by ignorance- - I just
don't understand how the • dang thing
stays 'up there. To me aeronautics is just
a fancy word for levitation, Doug Henn;=
ing style. When they dropped the pro-
peller off the big ones a few years ago,
that did it.
From that time on I've come to look
upon airplanes as long range vertical
elevators. The operator hits'a few but-
tons, pine passes, the door opens and.,
Presto! You're somewhere else. Press
the wrong buttonsand time stands still
and you're really somewhere. else.
I'm a member of the Infrequent Flyer
Club'. I give myself 'valuable bonus
points every time I can take a bus, -a boat
or a train instead of a plane.
But none of the above could get. me to
the northern Ontario town of Emsdale by
noon of said .Saturday. Why anyone
would want. to go to Emsdale•and in a
hurry remains a mystery even to me.
Hence it was hello Roland, goodbye
ground and Ave were two for the high
road, in a rented Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
Roland Meisel is a quietly competent
Port Colborne pilot who pushed and pull-
ed, tried and tested every dial, drum and
flap on the Skyhawk before take -Off. But
he worried me.
The first thing he pulled out of his flight
bag was a wineskin. "Water" said the
man' of few words. .
Just as I had mustered all my false
confidence and resigned myself to the
mode of transportation best suited to
pigeons, Roland looked me straight in, the
eye and said: -Last chance?"
"To bail out? I shrieked, deflated by
his offer and reduced to the babbling
idiot that heretofore confidence' and
resignation had cleverly disguised.
"To go to the bathroom," he said calm-
ly, starting the engines and wiping out
the first option entirely.
Once on the runway and rolling I lost
control again. Nearing the end of the run-
way as fields and trees loomed larger per
second I began screaming: "Roland,
more throttle! We'll never make it up!
More speed! We're all going to die',,"
"We're just taxiing" he said with that
same aggravating tone of profes-
sionalism as he turned the plane around,
came full length up the runway and took
off.
At the top of,take-off with the plane
straining for altitudeand my brain
screaming for oxygen, I lunged for the
wineskin only to learn the awful truth -
water in the wineskin.
1t worried me that I had a steering
wheel and a complete set of instruments
on my side of the plane as well, but I said
nothing. Roland was always looking
something up in a little book he kept in
the .pouch of the door. My God, I thought,
5,000 feet above frozen. ground and I'm
flying with a guy who suffers from short
term memory loss. I could hear his mind
working as he thumbed the pages: "Now
was that noSe up on takeoff and down on
landing or was it down on takeoff
and...?"
1;'or awhile 1 began to suspect Roland
was one of those people who had read a
lot about flying and woke up that morn-
ing thinking he'd give it a shot.
When the air traffic controller at Pear-
son International assigned us a radar
number of 4366 I panicked. I was certain
it meant there were 4365 other guys like
Roland flying around in that area and I
instinctively went for the door. It was
locked.
"We'll be flying directly over the con-
trol tower of Pearson International" an-
nounced Roland, just like one of those
blue -suited real pilots. "Safest place ac-
tually" he added.
'Sure, I thought, like pushing a baby
carriage diagonally across the intersec-
tion of Yonge and Bloor Streets at 4:30 on
a Friday afternoon.
1° smiled at him and made a mental
note to throw -up in the flight bag, if and
when we landed.
Not a plane in sight over Toronto.
"Maybe they closed the airport down
for us. Ha. Ha;" laughed Roland. Yeah,
maybe they Closed it down, period
because they know something we don't
like a twister or a typhoon.
The mid-air conversation went on like
that - professionalism challenging
paranoia, instruments versus insafiity,
the pilot and the idiot. ,
Turn to page 3 •