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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
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MONTH: October 2006
Obituaries
Steve Irwin, 44, was
killed when stabbed in the heart by a stingray on September 4, 2006, while
videotaping a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" at Batt Reef,
north of Cairns. Irwin starred in the Crococile Hunter television series,
aired in Australia since 1992, later carried globally by the Discovery
Channel. An outspoken opponent of recreational hunting, Irwin led a successful
campaign against a government proposal to open trophy hunting for saltwater
crocodiles in the Australian Northern Territory. Irwin's parents, Bob
and Lyn Irwin, founded the Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane, in 1970.
"In 1991, Irwin took over the zoo when his parents retired, and began
building a reputation as a showman during daily crocodile feeding shows.
He met and married Terri Raines, of Eugene, Oregon, who came to the park
as a tourist," in 1992, recalled Brian Cassey of Associated Press.
"They invited a television crew to join them on their camping honeymoon
on Australia's far northern tip. The resulting show became the first episode
of The Crocodile Hunter. Raines and Irwin founded a pro-animal charity
together, Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, in 2002, but "Irwin's image
was dented in 2004," Cassey added "when he held his month-old
son Bob in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen. He
argued there was no danger. Later that year, he was accused of getting
too close to penguins and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a
documentary. An official investigation recommended that no action be taken
against him." Irwin died only weeks before the scheduled groundbreaking
on a wildlife rehabilitation center he intended to be the biggest in the
world, named in honor of his mother, who was killed in a car crash in
2000.
Margaret Sacre, 83, died
in Hoboken, New Jersey, on September 2, 2006. Born in England, where she
was not allowed to have pets as a child, Sacre emigrated to first Canada
and then the U.S. after World War II military service. "When she
moved to New York in the late 1950s she became aware of the stray animal
problem and began her rescue work," recalled her friend Sheila Dines.
"In 1979 she moved back to England with 28 cats," a dog she
had rescued, and "a horse she had saved from slaughter," but
she returned to the U.S. only five years later with a cat she had rescued
in Britain.
Boyd Nathaniel Lyon,
37, a University of Central Florida graduate student, was pulled underwater
and drowned near Melbourne Beach on August 10, 2006, while trying to tag
a sea turtle. A lifelong turtle enthusiast, Lyon was also noted as a soccer
player for Keystone State in Pennsylvania and for the San Diego State
University Aztecs. He later coached for the Rancho Santa Fe Attack Soccer
Club, ran summer soccer camps, and played guitar for several California
bands. The Ocean Foundation started a fund to support sea turtle student
research projects in his memory.
Don Deichman, 57, died
on August 29, 2006, from a heart attack suffered while driving in rural
Maryland. Deichman, an unsuccessful Democratic Congressional candidate
in 2002, was among the eight co-authors of the Humane Consumer & Producer
Guide, published in 1993 by the Humane Society of the U.S., billed as
"the first national listing of farmers and ranchers identified for
their humane treatment of animals and sustainable farming practices."
William Russell, 81,
died on July 27, 2006. As a research fellow at Oxford Univesity, Russell
was recruited in 1954 to develop humane experimental methods for the Universities
Federation for Animal Welfare. UFAW hired his research assistant, Rex
Burch, several weeks later. Russell and Burch in their 1959 book The Principles
of Humane Experimental Technique set forth the "Three Rs" concepts
of replacing the use of sentient animals whenever possible, reducing the
numbers used to the minimum necessary to achieve the scientific goal,
and refining methods to minimize harm to animal welfare.
L.E.L. "Bets" Rasmussen,
67, died September 17 in Seattle from the bone marrow disorder myelodysplastic
syndrome. "A research professor with the OGI School of Science and
Engineering at Oregon Health & Science University," recalled
Richard L. Hill of The Oregonian, "Rasmussen gained international
attention when she reported in the journal Nature her discovery of the
sex pheromone that female elephants secrete in their urine to let bulls
know they're ready to mate." This "led to other discoveries
about elephant communication. She found that bull elephants communicate
with each other by using two fragrances in secretions from the temporal
glands on their heads during their yearly musth, a period of heightened
sexual activity and aggression. She determined that older bulls use a
foul-smelling substance that deters younger males, while young bulls emit
a sweet, honey-scented secretion to avoid conflict with the older guys.
Another study discovered how female elephants can detect chemical cues
in the urine of other females to determine the phase of their reproductive
cycle. Rasmussen also studied whales, dolphins and manatees to determine
from their breaths whether they were unhealthy and what might be ailing
them."
Anna Marie McDonald,
24, an employee of the San Martin Animal shelter, was killed in her home
in Santa Clara, California, on September 8, 2006 by her former housemate
James Patrick Krauth, 25. Krauth fled the scene when police arrived. He
was shot by police after allegedly trying to run over an officer the next
day in Calaveras County.
Margaret Ann "Peg" Hazlett Taggart, 101, died on August 24, 2006, in Indianapolis. Taggart in 1972 cofunded the Home for Friendless Animals in Noblesville, Indiana, now located in Waynesboro, serving as board member and executive director.