Mike Baker of Brooke Hospital named to head WSPA

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2009:

 

 

Mike Baker of Brooke Hospital named to head WSPA

 

LONDON--Mike Baker, chief executive

officer of the Brooke Hospital for Animals since

June 2001, will in June 2009 succeed Peter

Davies as director general of the World Society

for the Protection of Animals, WSPA announced

on March 6, 2009.

" I hope still to be active in the

movement, " Davies told ANIMAL PEOPLE. WSPA had

announced Davies' retirement in July 2008.

Davies, previously director general of the Royal

SPCA of Britain, had headed WSPA since mid-2002.

Baker, 44, served as political manager

for the British Union Against Vivisection,

1989-1994, and then headed the BUAV in

1995-1998, after an interlude with Amnesty

International. From November 1998 until Baker

became the Brooke chief executive he was United

Kingdom director for the International Fund for

Animal Welfare.

Founded by Dorothy Brooke in 1934 as The

Old War Horse Hospital, the Brooke at Baker's

arrival raised about £3 million per year,

supporting Dorothy Brooke's original equine aid

program in Cairo, plus similar projects

elsewhere in Egypt, Ethiopia, Jordan, India,

and Pakistan.

In addition, since March 2001 the Brooke

had treated the horses and donkeys of Afghan

refugees at camps in Peshwar, Pakistan. Under

Baker, the Brooke followed U.S. troops into

Afghanistan in 2002, and by March 2003 was

operating clinics in both Kabul and Jalalabad.

The Afghan programs reached approximately 130,000

equines in 2008. Also under Baker the Brooke

added programs in Guatemala, Kenya, Nepal,

Palestinian settlements in Israel, and on the

West Bank.

Bringing to the Brooke the aggressive

IFAW approach to fundraising, Baker nearly

doubled fundraising investment in 2005, doubling

revenue by the end of 2006. In November 2006 the

Brooke elected as board president the Duchess of

Cornwall, known as Camila Parker Bowles before

her marriage to Prince Charles. Both are avid

fox hunters, and Charles is also a prolific bird

shooter. The Duchess' involvement coincided with

a further surge in income. The Brooke raised

nearly £11.1 in fiscal 2007 and slightly more in

fiscal 2008 despite the slowing world economy.

During 2008 the Brooke also extended future

fundraising reach by incorporating a U.S.

affiliate, American Friends of the Brooke.

Baker gained experience with

multi-organization coalitions as chair of the

European Coalition Against Cosmetics Tests on

Animals in both 1993-1994 and 1996-1998. He has

headed Eurogroup for Animals, which lobbies the

European Parliament, since April 2006. Baker is

also on the board of the Marwar Trust, formed in

2003 by Help In Suffering trustee Federico

Spinola to sterilize and vaccinate street dogs in

Jodhpur, India, following the model established

by Help In Suffering in Jaipur and Darjeeling.

ANIMAL PEOPLE asked Baker if he would be

personally willing to endorse, on the record,

the WSPA position statements that " WSPA is

opposed to the taking from the wild of animals

for their fur or skins, and to the farming of

animals for the same purpose, " and that " WSPA is

opposed to the manufacture, sale, possession

and use of any snares and traps which cause

suffering or death....WSPA opposes, on both

ethical and humane grounds, the harassment,

capture or killing of marine mammals for

commercial and sport purposes. "

These were among the first policies

adopted by WSPA after it was formed in 1981 by

merging older organizations which had similar

policies. WSPA board president Dominic

Bellemare, however, has for more than 25 years

been closely associated with Canadian political

factions which favor the fur and sealing

industries. At the time of his election as WSPA

board president, in June 2008, Bellemare was

unsuccessfully seeking a seat in Parliament as a

member of the Conservative Party, headed by

Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper. Harper

has outspokenly promoted the Atlantic Canadian

seal hunt.

Noting that Bellemare has apparently

never spoken out against either fur or sealing,

ANIMAL PEOPLE asked him and all WSPA board

members whether they personally support the WSPA

policies. Only one board member, Blue Cross of

India chief executive Chinny Krishna, was

willing to so state.

" I cannot yet speak on behalf of WSPA, "

Baker said, " as I do not start there for some

months. However, I have no hesitation in fully

endorsing the WSPA policies you quote on a

personal level. "

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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