Many wealthy women throughout history have left some or all of their fortunes to some sort of animal welfare cause.
Leona Helmsley, Tobacco heiress Doris Duke, philanthropist Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, candy heiress Helen Vorhees Brach and Thelma Doelger, the widow of famed architect Henry Doelger, all established foundations intended to benefit animals.
All of these woman, whose trustees and attorneys were all male had their bequest wishes either overturned, ignored, or used for the bare minimum.
These women’s trustees and attorneys – all or mostly male – either completely ignored their wishes as regards animal welfare causes, or over time came to honor them to an increasingly bare minimum.
In 2007, Rhoda Hogan left $125,502.30 to (her words), “An organization to be used to publicize and educate the public about the cruel effect of de-clawing cats and to support legislation forbidding it.”
Cornell talked a good talk and Mrs Hogan’s attorney, Fred Hall, awarded her bequest to them, even though Hall stated to the courts that the PawProject.org “most closely meets the criteria overall. It conducts a publicity and education campaign in Ca and has supported local and state legislation in Ca, and has an outreach program to encourage legislation in other states, including Florida and Michigan.”
This is what the court order said about why Mrs Hogan’s lawyer awarded the bequest to Cornell, “It is understood that it would use the money to develop an extensive research program focused on educating veterinarians about behavioral alternatives to, and ethical and welfare consequences of, declawing.”
Please sign our petition to Cornell –Cornell Petition
You can read our full story about Cornell and Rhoda Hogan’s bequest here. Cornell Gave a Big FU to Rhoda Hogan
Could Rhoda Hogan be another example since Cornell lied about how they used her $125, 502 bequest, did the minimum that they had to do with it, and 14 years later they still haven’t used the remaining $25,502.
(2020. Cornell told the NH DOJ that they were going to make a brochure that outlines the destructive scratching behavior that is inherent to cats and different ways to deter this behavior to preclude declawing. They said if the funds are available, Cornell is also considering creating an additional brochure that outlines what to expect when adopting a cat, including behaviors a new owner might encounter (such as scratching) and strategies to manage these behaviors. They said the brochures will be distributed free of charge to approximately 200 cat adoption agencies located in states that do not currently have declawing bans and in which there is no current pending legislation to ban declawing in cats.)
Please send a polite email to Cornell Feline Health Center and their director, Bruce Kornreich and ask them what they really did with Mrs Hogan’s $100,000 and when are they going to show us the brochures they made with her remaining $25,502. FHC@cornell.edu and bgk2@cornell.edu
Let us know if you get a reply. Citythekitty@gmail.com
Always take the high road, be polite, and educate.