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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: May 2007

Obituaries

 

Veronica Parker, 41, and her daughter Charlotte, 10, were on March 24, 2007 trampled by an elephant in musth in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, after leaving their vehicle to try for a closer look at the elephant from behind an anthill. Kelvin Parker, husband of Veronica and father of Charlotte, was uninjured. Tour guide Andy Trevillia, 38, was seriously injured after trying to stop the elephant with a rifle shot. Noted Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force founder Johanny Rodrieguez, "The elephants in Hwange have become increasingly skittish around humans because they associate them with gunfire due to subsistence poaching, commercial poaching (for ivory) and the fact that Zimbabwe is the only country in Africa where shooting game for weekly rations is legal. The recent removal of 12 juveniles from their herds for use in the tourist industry and elephants being trapped in wire snares doesn't help their mood either."

C.N. Madanraj, 67, and his wife Tara Bai, 63, of Hyderabad, India, on April 1, 2007 hanged themselves in grief, three days after burying Poppy, their dog of 13 years.

Kathy Manuela Attardo Claflin, 54, a longtime resident of New Orleans who had relocated to Franklinton, Louisiana, "died suddenly overnight" on April 2, 2007, leaving 30 rescued cats, reported Pinckney Wood of Humane Heart, who with other local rescuers tried to find homes for the cats. "She was in poor health and had been stressed for about a year and a half by a man who lives nearby, his wife, and son," Wood said. "A number of Kathy's cats were shot."

Dirk Brink, 58, owner of the Krugersdorp Game Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa, was on April 20, 2007 fatally mauled by as many as five lions. Reported Kashiefa Ajam of the Cape Town Cape Argus, "Brink had been testing a new camera given to him by his daughter when he was attacked, said family spokesman Peter Beeker. It is unclear whether Brink knew the lions were in the vicinity."
Dustin Otis, 21, of Hughes Springs, Texas, on April 15, 2007 drowned in Lake Wright Patman while trying to rescue Flash, his 8-week-old basset hound, who had jumped out of a boat that Otis was sailing with his father Dwayne Otis.

Dorothy Bush, 87, died on one of the last days of March 2007 while planting flowers near the doorway of her home in Lincoln, Nebraska. "Bush was co-founder of the now-defunct Mickle-Bush Neuter-Spay Foundation," begun in 1983 with her longtime friend Loretta Mickle, "and more recently was instrumental in forming Break the Link, which neuters, spays and helps animals from domestic violence situations," recalled Maureen Hutfless of the Lincoln Journal Star. Added Cindy Lange-Kubick, also of the Journal Star, "She served on the board of the Capital Humane Society, the Coalition for Pet Protection, and PALS. She donated seed money to start a spay /neuter program at Hearts United for Animals, a no-kill shelter near Auburn. When Dorothy's husband Gene died, she buried his ashes at Rolling Acres, a pet cemetery," where she also buried at least 10 of her favorite pets. An energetic lobbyist for animal welfare bills, Bush approached a young attorney named Mike Johanns for help in forming the Mickle-Bush Neuter-Spay Foundation, and remained in touch with him as he became mayor of Lincoln, Governor of Nebraska, and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. "She and Loretta were so committed," Johanns told Lange-Kubick. "They gave literally everything they had to the welfare of animals."

Virginia Knouse, 82, died on April 5, 2007 at her home in Edmonds, Washington. Knouse and her husband of 45 years, Fred Knouse, in 1967 founded the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, of Lynnwood. Virginia Knouse continued as board president until 1997, by which time PAWS was among the most prominent humane societies in the U.S., active in animal advocacy as well as sheltering, with an annual budget of $1.7 million and assets of $4.2 million.

Melisa Casco, 19, died on April 12, 2007, after undergoing surgery to amputate one of her legs due to injuries inflicted by a giant anteater. Her other leg had also been clawed and her abdomen opened. "Casco worked at the Florencio Varela zoo outside Buenos Aires as part of a conservation and reproduction project involving endangered giant anteaters," said Reuters. There were no witnesses to the unprecedented attack. Casco was apparently already in critical condition when found.