Welcome to your next issue of

E-Source

An electronic newsletter highlighting veterinary issues for Illinois veterinarians

December 1, 2005                                                                                                Volume III, Number 12

 


Royal Tern
©Peter S. Weber

In This Issue

·  Obituary: Dr. Darrell Jessen

·  Chicago City Council to Consider Breed Specific Ban

·  Veterinary Heritage Museum

·  About This Photo


Index of Links

· Tribune Article on Breed Specific Bans

· Information Sheet on Breed Specific Bans

· Royal Tern Photo
 

Contact Us

 peter@isvma.org

Dr. Darrell Jessen
 

Dr. Darrell Jessen, 75, of Girard died yesterday at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL. He was born in Hennepin, IL and graduated with honors from the University of Illinois Veterinary College in 1955 and was a life member of the University of Illinois Alumni Association. He practiced as a veterinarian with Dr. A.I. Starkey in McLean from 1955-57 before opening a practice in Girard where he practiced for 48 years.

 

Dr. Jessen was a Life Member of the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association and served on the judicial and ethics committee. He was also a 50-year member of the American Veterinary Medical Association and was involved in many civic organizations.

 

He is survived by his wife Barbara and three sons: Jay Jessen of Chatham, Jon Jessen of Rochester and James Jessen of Columbia.

 

Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 4, 2005 at the First Christian Church in Girard. Davis-Anderson Funeral Home in Girard is in charge of arrangements.

 

Chicago Aldermen To Consider Outlawing Breeds That Have Been Involved in Vicious Attacks

 

Pit bulls, a breed involved in highly publicized and particularly vicious attacks on people and other animals, eventually would be outlawed in Chicago under a controversial proposal introduced Wednesday. Click here for the full story in today's Chicago Tribune.
 

The ISVMA opposes efforts to ban specific dog breeds because they neither address the larger issues of protecting the public from vicious animals nor promote responsible pet ownership. ISVMA supports a comprehensive review of the Illinois Animal Control Act that will result in effective enforcement and administration of animal control and take constructive steps toward protecting the public.


The review of the Animal Control Act should include veterinarians, animal control officials, public officials, pet owners and humane organizations.
 

Click here to download a Fact Sheet on Breed Specific Bans that you may share with your clients

ISVMA Encourages Support for a Veterinary Heritage Museum
 

The ISVMA recently organized a 501(c)3 foundation for the purpose of supporting projects related to veterinary medicine. Contributions to the Illinois Veterinary Medical Foundation (IVMF) are tax-deductible, so as you are preparing to make charitable contributions at the close of this tax year or if you are looking to make contributions to limit your exposure to the Capital Gains Tax, please consider a donation to the IVMF.

One of the initial projects being support by the IVMF is the development of a Veterinary Heritage Museum at the University of Illinois. The purpose is to organize a collection of hundreds of artifacts, research and historical documents that chronicle the everyday efforts and extraordinary achievements of Illinois' veterinary practitioners, educators and researchers.

Please support the development of a Heritage Museum with your contribution to:

Illinois Veterinary Medical Foundation
c/o ISVMA
133 South Fourth Street
Suite 202
Springfield, IL 62701
 

About the Photo in This Issue...
 

The Royal Tern is a large, crested tern that is easily identified by its size, orange bill and deeply forked tail. The species has a black cap in spring and early summer. The cap turns to white with black fringes by mid-summer.

 

The Royal Tern breeds in large, dense colonies. Nests are sometimes washed away by storm tides, but the birds usually make a second attempt, often at a new location. This bird has fewer young than other terns but maintains its numbers wherever it has protection from disturbance. It feeds almost entirely on small fish, rather than the crustaceans and insects taken by most other terns.

 

The Royal Tern breeds along the coast from Maryland to Texas, regularly wandering farther north in summer. The bird winters from North Carolina, Gulf Coast, and southern California southward. Also winters in West Africa.

 

Cool Facts

  • The Royal Tern makes its nest scrape on the ground on low-lying islands. The pair defecates directly on the nest rim, perhaps to reinforce the nest against flooding. After a few weeks, the nest rim hardens.
     
  • Young Royal Terns leave the nest scrape within one day after hatching and congregate together in a group known as a crèche. Eventually all of the chicks in a colony come to the crèche, which can have thousands of chicks ranging in age from two to 35 days old. A pair of Royal Terns will feed only their own chick, and manage to find it in the crowd, probably by recognizing its call.

 

I photographed this Royal Tern in Port Aransas, Texas in November 2005.

  

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