Unity ...
Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel 1952)
Friends of Animals
BACKGROUND | SOURCE MARC BEKOFF
Following up on the good news about the release of two dolphins into the wild, I learned this morning about a most heinous and perverse situation in Alaska. Healy, Alaska trapper Coke Wallace “apparently walked a horse out to an area off the Stampede Trail near the boundary of Denali National Park – an area made famous by the 1996 book ‘Into the Wild’ – shot the horse, and set snares all around the area hoping to catch wolves attracted to the carcass. Wolves from Denali National Park were drawn to the dead horse, resulting in the killing of a primary reproductive female wolf from the Grant Creek (also called Toklat West) pack from the park, along with at least one other wolf. It is unknown how long the two wolves were alive in the snares before being killed and collected by the trapper. The Grant Creek wolf pack has been one of the three packs most often viewed in Denali National Park.”
All of this happened in a former buffer area where wolves were protected from 2002-2010 when the Alaska Board of Game eliminated the protected area. The loss of these wolves puts the fate of this long-lived and long-studied pack in jeopardy. Observations began on this pack back in the 1930s. Of course, the loss of any wolves due to killing another animal to use as bait is reprehensible, legal or not.
This kind of hearltess slaughter must not be tolerated and it’s important to call attention to it and to protest it loudly and clearly. While “the incident does not violate state law, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is looking at potential violations of state water quality regulations, which prohibit discarding carcasses in surface waters of the state.”
WHOM TO CONTACT
According to Friends of Animals, here are some people you can contact (the area code is 907):
Tom Meier, Wildlife Biologist, Denali National Park. Tom_Meier@nps.gov; 683-9572
Susan and Dave Braun, Healy: braun@mtaonline.net; 683-2654
Trooper James Ellison, Cantwell: james.ellison@alaska.gov; 768-2202
Chris Foley, Water Quality, ADEC, Anchorage: chris.foley@alaska.gov; 269-4632
Marybeth Holleman, Anchorage: marybeth@alaskawriters.com, 360-4512
Coke Wallace, Midnight Sun Safaris, Healy: info@midnightsunsafaris.com; 683-4868
EMAIL BLOCK
Tom_Meier@nps.gov , braun@mtaonline.net , james.ellison@alaska.gov , chris.foley@alaska.gov , marybeth@alaskawriters.com , info@midnightsunsafaris.com
SAMPLE MESSAGE
To Whom It Concerns,
I am writing to protest the brutal slaughter of a horse to attract and subsequently viciously kill wolves, one of whom was likely pregnant. Humans have adopted dangerous constructs of speciesism, the prejudicial regard of non-human species, to validate the brutality inflicted upon them. Using this manufactured status of superiority, humans have sanctioned the use of animals as commodities, regarding them only as products to benefit our goals and needs. We embrace inequity to justify our treatment of animals, yet euphemistic descriptions meant to facilitate morality cannot disguise the fundamentally unethical parameters with which we surround ourselves to distinguish our dominance. As dangerous as racism and sexism, speciesism further divides the chasm between species, which desensitizes us to cruelty and inevitably leads to human inequality and injustice.
This disregard of your most vulnerable group of beings is unacceptable, and until this barbarism is appropriately addressed including a mandatory ban of such, I will boycott. I and others will collectively voice condemnation, resulting in the sacrifice of vital tourism and commerce profits. Please act responsibly and with compassion and choose to protect, rather than sanction harm, to animals.
NAME
Read more…
PETA
Click HERE to submit your comment; please use United States for country, and I wrote “self” for organization and used “Drug Association” for category, the only two required fields besides your comments.
BACKGROUND
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products has issued draft recommendations for the testing of some tobacco products. This guidance would allow companies to conduct cruel animal tests to demonstrate the “reduced risks” of new products and ingredients. These deadly tests are included in the guidance even though they are irrelevant to human smokers and there are more modern and accurate non-animal methods available, such as computer simulation, tests using human cells, and clinical studies with human smokers.
In some of the horrendous tobacco tests that could be conducted, rats would be forced to breathe tobacco smoke for as long as six hours a day for months at a time by jamming the animals into tiny canisters and pumping concentrated cigarette smoke directly into their noses. The animals would then be killed and their bodies dissected.
For decades, the tobacco industry used results from these misleading animal tests to deny the link between smoking and cancer because animals forced to inhale cigarette smoke don’t develop the same diseases that human smokers do.
Belgium, Germany, the U.K., and other countries have banned the testing of tobacco products on animals, and all the tobacco safety tests required by the Canadian government are modern, non-animal methods.
We need to tell the FDA loudly and clearly that no more animals should suffer and die for these archaic, inaccurate, and cruel tests on products that we already know are deadly when used as directed!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please exercise your right as a U.S. citizen to submit a polite comment to the FDA urging it to remove any language recommending or allowing animal tests from its draft guidance on tobacco product testing.
Note: Comments must be submitted before June 4, 2012. Click HERE to submit your comment now; please use United States for country, and I wrote “self” for organization and used “Drug Association” for category, the only two required fields besides your comments.
SAMPLE COMMENT
I am shocked to learn that the FDA continues to support animal experimentation on tobacco products. Considered archaic and fundamentally flawed, product testing on animals lacks social legitimacy and validation.
Furthermore, to foster an idea that consumers continually support animal experimentation due to some inaccurate notion that it will prevent them from being harmed is unprincipled. Animals suffer drastically different effects from tobacco use than humans. Tobacco use and abuse can factually lead to harm regardless of how many animals are wrongfully killed during the product testing phase.
Please make both the ethical and financially-responsible decision to discontinue animal experimentation immediately: remove any language recommending or allowing animal tests from its draft guidance on tobacco product testing; join an increasing body of countries who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious and ineffective industry of animal experimentation.
Read more…
Please email, call to free Captain Paul Watson
BACKGROUND | SOURCE SEA SHEPHERD
Urgent Call to Sea Shepherd Supporters – Help Save Captain Watson from Extradition to Costa Rica!
In shocking news, German officials have decided to proceed with the extradition of Captain Watson to Costa Rica. Our last hope of saving Captain Watson from extradition is to convince German officials at the Ministry of Justice to step in and overturn their decision. Show your support for Captain Watson by contacting Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the Federal Minister of Justice in Berlin, Germany. Let her know that the warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest is politically motivated and thus should be ignored by the German goverment. With international support we can set Captain Watson free, and keep him from the possibility of facing an unfair trial in Costa Rica.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Federal Ministry of Justice
Mohrenstrasse 37
10117 Berlin, Germany
Telephone: +49 (030) 18 580-0
Telefax: +49 (030) 18 580-9525
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Federal Minister of Justice
Deutscher Bundestag
Platz der Republik
11011 Berlin
Telephone 030 – 227 751 62
Fax 030 – 227 764 02
E-Mail: sabine.leutheusser-schnarrenberger@bundestag.de
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Ms. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger,
I was very concerned to hear that Germany has detained Sea Shepherd’s Captain Paul Watson for possible extradition to Costa Rica. I understand that the warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest is politically motivated and possibly due to an incident in which Sea Shepherd uncovered an illegal shark finning operation.
I support Sea Shepherd’s efforts to monitor and publicise illegal fishing and whaling around the world and recognize that some illegal fishing operations try to use international law to shut down the Sea Shepherd operations.
I urge you to consider the valuable work Captain Watson and Sea Shepherd are undertaking globally to highlight the dangers to our oceans in considering this extradition request.
Sincerely,
NAME
Read more…
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND | SOURCE: FACEBOOK
If you have the time, could you please call the governor each day this week in regards to the bear hunt, and tell him how disappointed again we are in the NDOW (Nevada Department of Wildlife)? We need the governor to act on this! It only takes 2 minutes a day for each of us to call and express how the NDOW consistently is still going unchecked. What specifically we want to know is how come Lackey’s so-called science is so far off base from a nationally-renowned bear biologist, Dr. Stephen Stringham. Here are other talking points. WE MUST TIE UP THE PHONES!!!!!
1. No unit-specific hunt, which could lead to potential over hunt
2. No density studies or numbers
3. Not enough information about the immigration/emmigration with CA bears
4. Not enough understanding about the fringe population
5. Unclear on human-interfaces and impacts on the bears
6. There is no DNA on the bear populations
7. Concerned about the females
With respect towards talking points, certainly 1-3 above, I feel, are strong ones. Here are a few other suggestions as well:
1. The Mark Capture method assumes that bears do not leave the area. In short, there is no immigration/emmigration between CA. This is a serious flaw, particularly that 2007 is included because of the drought and angora fire. The capture/mortality rate was more than 150% compared to 2006 and 2008.
2. If it’s based on science then why isn’t there specific hunt unit quotas and why aren’t there density studies to support this?
3. If it’s based on science then why does NDoW even make reference to how many applications there are?
If you have the time and ability, phone, email, and fax would be great!
See further information at No BearHunt Nevada
PETITIONS
No Bear Hunt Nevada
WHOM TO CONTACT
State Capitol Building
101 N. Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: (775) 684-5670
Fax: (775) 684-5683
Las Vegas
Grant Sawyer State Office Building
555 East Washington Ave, Suite 5100
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 486-2500
Fax: (702) 486-2505
Click HERE for free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, credit card, or registering required. Please be certain to confirm you message by clicking on the link sent to your email address or else your fax will not be sent.
Webform: Contacting the Governor
Please remember to click the authorization box at the top and select a topic such as “wildlife”
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Governor Sandoval,
It has come to my attention that Nevada is reportedly considering allowing bear hunts in an attempt to reduce bear populations. Although this hunt would be inherently cruel based on the premise alone, it is important to recognize it is based on erroneous information.
Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the bears for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.
Second, killing bears artificially increases food supplies to the remaining bears, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater bear population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger populations, in subsequent years.
Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to continue with such a cruel and unnecessary killing, and although I do not currently reside in Nevada, I would be unwilling to consider it as a potential vacation destination if this bear cull continues.
Fourth, I have concerns regarding a few points: There are no unit-specific hunts, which could lead to potential over hunt; no density studies or numbers; not enough information about the immigration/emmigration with CA bears; not enough understanding about the fringe population; unclear on human interfaces and impacts on the bears; there is no DNA on the bear populations.
Furthermore, the Mark Capture method assumes that bears do not leave the area. In short, there is no immigration/emmigration between CA. This is a serious flaw, particularly that 2007 is included because of the drought and angora fire. The capture/mortality rate was more than 150% compared to 2006 and 2008. And if it’s based on science then why isn’t there specific hunt-unit quotas and why aren’t there density studies to support this? If it’s based on science then why does NDoW even make reference to how many applications there are?
Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols, which, when using these methods appropriately, have all proven successful in curtailing populations.
I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
NAME
Atlanta May End All Animal Control Services and Allow Elephant Abuse! Please send sample letter.
PETA
BACKGROUND
Because of the Ringling Bros. circus’ shenanigans, Atlanta may lose its animal control services! No strays picked up, no calls about injured animals answered. How? Last year, Fulton County passed an important animal control law that banned the use of bullhooks—sharp metal tools used by circuses to goad and prod elephants. As Atlanta has incorporated Fulton County’s animal control laws into its own, the ban legally applies in the city. But Ringling is trying to convince Atlanta not to abide by this law. If Atlanta does not agree to allow the ban on bullhooks to be enforced, the city risks losing its animal control services altogether.
The use of bullhooks to abuse elephants in circuses is routine. An undercover investigation of Ringling revealed that elephants are struck repeatedly with them in order to intimidate the elephants and remind them that they must do as they’re told or suffer the painful consequences. A longtime elephant trainer with the Carson & Barnes Circus was caught on video viciously attacking elephants with a bullhook and instructing others to sink bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist it until they screamed in pain.
If Atlanta opposes enforcement of the ban on bullhooks, the city’s whole range of animal control services may be suspended—no injured dogs picked up, no responses to dog attacks, no rabies vaccination enforcement, nothing. Please don’t let this happen. The mayor must sign an enforcement agreement with the county without further delay.
Please contact Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and urge him to enforce the bullhook ban in Atlanta and ensure that the city keeps its animal control services. Please be sure to note if you are an Atlanta resident. We encourage you to use your own words, but feel free to use this sample letter (see below).
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please send polite comments to:
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: kreed@atlantaga.gov
SAMPLE LETTER
Suggested Title:
Please Don’t Leave Atlanta Without Animal Control Services
Suggested Letter:
Dear Mayor Reed:
I strongly urge you to ignore Ringling’s threats and enter into an agreement with Fulton County so that we can keep animal control services in Atlanta. This includes enforcing the bullhook ban. It’s not fair to leave all animals unprotected just so that circuses can use bullhooks to beat and torment elephants when they come to town once a year. Constituents no longer want this blatant form of animal abuse to be tolerated in Atlanta, and they certainly do not want all animal control services to be suspended because city officials are picking and choosing which laws they want to follow.
Can I please have your assurance that you will enter into an agreement with Fulton County to ensure that all cruelty laws are enforced in the city—including the bullhook ban?
Sincerely yours,
Urge Avon Lake, Ohio, to Oppose Bowhunting
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND
Avon Lake, Ohio, is reportedly considering the use of bowhunting in an attempt to reduce deer populations. Your voice is needed!
Bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.
Please urge Avon Lake officials to toss bowhunting—and then forward this message widely! If deer control is insisted upon, please share these tips.
WHOM TO CONTACT
The Honorable Greg Zilka, Mayor of Avon Lake, and the Avon Lake City Council using these e-mail addresses:
gzilka@avonlake.org; modonnell@avonlake.org; dbucci@avonlake.org; jshondel@avonlake.org; rjames@avonlake.org; jfenderbosch@avonlake.org; lmeiners@avonlake.org; dkos@avonlake.org
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Zilka and Avon Lake City Council Members,
It has come to my attention that Avon Lake, Ohio, is reportedly considering allowing bowhunters to kill deer in an attempt to reduce deer populations. Although this hunt would be inherently cruel based on the premise alone, it is important to recognize it is based on erroneous information.
Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the deer for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.
Second, killing deer artificially increases food supplies to the remaining deer, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater deer population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger herd populations, in subsequent years.
Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to continue with such a cruel and unnecessary killing, and although I do not currently reside in Avon Lake, I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull continues.
Fourth, bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer, if they look at all. Many deer are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.
Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols, which, when using these methods appropriately, have all proven successful in curtailing deer populations. Please see these tips.
I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
NAME
Read more…
Three alerts: please help dogs, marmosets, horses
Wikimedia Commons
Please click on and sign the following:
1. Help Stop the Mass Dog Killings in Ukraine!
2. Ask Harvard to End Deadly Marmoset Experiment
3. Stand Up for America’s Horses
1. Background | Source PETA
The 2012 European Football Championship is just about to start, and the host countries, Poland and Ukraine, have been busily preparing for a surge of sports tourism. In Ukraine, that means shocking efforts to reduce the number of homeless animals across the country in an attempt to hide the country’s neglected and abandoned dogs from tourists.
Animals are poisoned, shot, and, in some cases, even burned alive. Authorities in Lysychansk, Mariupol, and other Ukrainian cities use a cremation truck, which has even advertised on national television. The animals are caught and then shot or anesthetized and thrown directly into the cremation truck!
Even the Union of European Football Associations, which PETA Germany contacted in 2009, sharply criticized the cruel practices of Ukrainian authorities and offered financial support to animal protection advocates to neuter animals. Ukrainian authorities have reacted to the efforts of animal rights advocates with repressive measures: They have put pressure on animal activists to stop the international protest!
What You Can Do
Please help the animals in Ukraine and support our protest against the mass killing of homeless dogs. Sign the petition to ask the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States to speak out against the cruel killings and push for humane animal birth control!
2. Background | Source PCRM
Harvard Medical School has a history of neglecting, harming, and even killing animals in its laboratories, and the situation just keeps getting worse. Last October, a marmoset escaped from his cage, was captured, and died during an imaging procedure at Harvard’s New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC). PCRM has uncovered disturbing new details about this incident, and we need your help to ask NEPRC interim director Mark Barnes, J.D., LL.M., to immediately end the cruel and unnecessary experiment that killed this marmoset.
From correspondence received through the Freedom of Information Act, PCRM learned that in this experiment, marmosets are forced into restraint tubes barely larger than their bodies. Then, they are placed in an EchoMRI machine while fully awake. It appears that the marmoset who died during the experiment was so panicked that he suffered lethal injury during capture, restraint and placement in the tube, or the imaging procedure.
Not only is this experiment extremely cruel, it is also completely unnecessary. Marmosets are being used to study the human aging process—something that is being effectively and ethically investigated in humans through population studies and clinical trials.
PCRM has asked federal authorities to investigate this experiment for waste, fraud, and abuse, but the marmosets still at risk at NEPRC need help this instant. The protocol has been suspended, but it must be terminated to save the remaining marmosets. Please e-mail Mr. Barnes today to ask him to end this deadly experiment and retire the marmosets who are still alive to sanctuary.
Thank you for your support on this urgent matter.
3. Background | Source ALDF
Please help stop the abuse and slaughter of horses for human consumption!
For the past six years, a provision added to the recurring Agricultural Appropriations bills has prohibited any federal funds from being used to inspect horses prior to slaughter. Without such inspections, it is illegal for horse meat to be later sold for human consumption in the U.S. and slaughterhouses closed. Instead, the industry has been shipping more than 100,000 American horses each year for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.
This year, the House of Representatives voted to again include the provision banning funds for inspections. However, in November, three members of a conference committee assigned to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation (Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) removed the ban from the final conference report. The report was subsequently passed by both the Senate and the House and signed into law.
Horse slaughter for human consumption can now re-start in the U.S. and your help is needed more than ever to end this horrific practice once and for all.
Please contact your legislators in Congress by completing the form HERE and ask them to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (S. 1176/HR 2966). This legislation – which already has 25 Senate and 100 House co-sponsors – will permanently end the slaughter of horses for human consumption, and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption.
Read more…
New York Against Devocalization
BACKGROUND | SOURCE NY AGAINST DEVOCALIZATION
The proposed NYS devocalization ban is in trouble. The legislation must pass both the Assembly and the Senate before the 2011-2012 session ends in June–and the veterinary lobby, with members who profit from devocalization, has mobilized to defeat it.
It’s time for animal advocates to mobilize too, while the legislation still has a chance to become an enforceable law.
Legislative aides say the veterinary lobby is vocal and tenacious in its quest to kill the proposed devocalization ban. It can do that by stalling the legislation in committee…or amending it into a sham law that allows, legitimizes and will encourage this cruelty.
Pro-devocalization lobbies failed in Massachusetts , which passed a strong devocalization ban thanks only to calls to lawmakers by kind people like you. That has to happen in NY too.
Don’t let those who promote abject cruelty–cutting vocal cords just to stifle a dog’s or cat’s voice–win in NYS or helpless animals will lose.
5 Minutes to Spare Dogs and Cats
Lifelong Anguish or Agonizing Death.
Every Call is Vital. Yours Matters.
WHOM TO CALL, WHAT TO SAY
Start by identifying yourself. If you represent a shelter, rescue or advocacy organization, or are a vet, say so!
Sen. Agriculture Committee Chair Patty Ritchie, 518-455-3438: “Please release Senate Bill 6167A from Agriculture quickly and favorably. I ask that it not be amended beyond the language of Assembly Bill 3431B as written, so it has a chance to become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
Assembly Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol, 518-455-4477
“Please release Assembly Bill 3431B from Codes quickly and favorably as written, without further amendments so it has a chance to become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
If you have a few more minutes, please call these two power-brokers of the NYS Legislature too:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, 518-455-3791: “I’d like the Speaker’s help ensuring Assembly Bill 3431B is passed as written this session, without further amendments, so it can become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
Sen. Majority Leader Dean Skelos, 518-455-3171: “I’d like the Senator’s help ensuring Senate Bill 6167A is passed this session. I ask that it not be amended beyond the language of Assembly Bill 3431B as written, so it can become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
If your New York State Senator is on the Agriculture Committee, call him/her too. Click here to find his/her phone number: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators. The members of the Agriculture Committee are: Chair: Sen. Patty Ritchie Tony Avella, Patrick M. Gallivan, Shirley L. Huntley, Timothy M. Kennedy, Thomas F. O’Mara, Michael H. Ranzenhofer, James L. Seward, David J. Valesky, Catharine Young.
Don’t know who your New York State Senator is (in Albany, not Washington)? Click here: http://senate.state.ny.us/mem/?sh=search
- Use the specific wording provided–including the letters at the end of each bill number–so your message is clear. Add your own thoughts if you’d like, but be brief and always polite.
- If you get voicemail, leave a short message, then call back until you can speak with an aide. Don’t give up!
- The position of our coalition, New York Against Devocalization, is simple: Devocalization is an act of cruelty that NY must prohibit for any reason except to treat a physical ailment causing the animal medical harm.
- Learn more about the issue and proposed amendments here: http://nyagainstdevocalization.weebly.com/pending-new-york-devocalization-ban.html
New York Against Devocalization
Footloose Montana
BACKGROUND | SOURCE FOOTLOOSE MONTANA
Stop Senseless Trapping of our Wolves and other Wildlife in Montana!
Public Comments needed to FWP, best by May 10 (comment period ends at 5 p.m. on June 18)
Dear Friend,
Your comment is needed against statewide wolf trapping on public lands. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) will present the proposal to allow a wolf trapping season on our public lands on May 10 in Helena! Update: The proposed statewide Trapping Season for wolves would be December 15 through Feb. 28; Snaring is out for now, statewide trapping using leghold traps is in… Click here for info about the proposal. Traps used for wolves have a 9 inch jaw spread! See background information for more details.
Allowing trapping of wolves could potentially put an end to our efforts to eliminate trapping in general on Montana’s public lands!
Trapping of wolves brings a whole new arsenal of weaponry to trapping on public lands! Powerful traps will further compromise the public’s safety, and increase the risk for our companion dogs.
A wolf trapping policy could be used as a “Trojan Horse” to actually loosen current trapping regulations (e.g., seasonal restrictions, setbacks, etc.)
Click here for background info. We need your help to protest trapping of wolves on public lands. Please write, call and attend this crucial meeting! The final agenda is set, with trapping disguised under ‘Wolf Hunting.’ Please spread the word to all your friends and family. We’re providing talking points at the end of this alert.
WHOM TO CONTACT
E-mail: fwpcomm@mt.gov , fwpgen@mt.gov
Mail: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, 1420 East Sixth Avenue, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT 59620-0701
Phone: (406) 444-2535
Fax: (406) 444-4952
Click HERE for free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, credit card, or registering required. Please be certain to confirm you message by clicking on the link sent to your email address or else your fax will not be sent.
SAMPLE MESSAGE | COURTESY FOOTLOOSE MONTANA
Dear Commissioners Moody, Ream, Vermillion, Stafne, and Colton:
I strongly oppose the trapping and snaring of wolves and other wildlife, as it is cruel, indiscriminate, dangerous to people and pets, and causes wanton waste.
Trappers already set tens of thousands of baited traps and snares across our public lands, which lure in any animal or person unfortunate enough to step into these hidden devices. The hidden nature of trapping and the sheer number of traps means no monitoring or enforcement of trapping regulations is possible. Allowing yet another layer of larger, lethal traps across the public landscape for wolves will cause the by-catch of non-target animals to increase exponentially. Already, 50,000 animals are reported killed in traps or snares annually, and the real number is likely three times that.
Currently, publicly-owned ‘furbearing’ wildlife is being managed as a ‘natural renewable resource’ for trappers’ recreation and profit. However, wildlife and public lands are owned by the public, and as a taxpayer, I want to have my voice considered. The public wants less trapping and not more. If FWP needs to manage wolf populations, they need to find more ethically responsible methods of doing so.
Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.
NAME
Read more…
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND | SOURCE FACEBOOK
Based in South Florida, Primate Products, Inc. (PPI) is a vile company that imprisons, breeds, mutilates, and sells monkeys for experimentation in U.S. labs. Aside from providing the vivisection industry with live captive animals, PPI is also a key supplier of primate restraint devices and “bioproducts” (i.e. blood, organs, tissue samples, etc).
Primate Products’ executives and personnel have built their entire careers on the misery of countless innocent animals, but not without help. The company currently maintains a close business alliance with Indianapolis-based Harlan Laboratories. Given their grim financial outlook and shortage of willing business partners, PPI is largely reliant on Harlan’s continued support to remain in operation.
Please take a moment to email Harlan and let them know what you think of their dealings with the killers at Primate Products.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email block (please note that you will receive undeliverable mailings back):
harlan@harlan.com, rms.na@harlan.com, tekladinfo@harlan.com, hbps@harlan.com, transportation2@harlan.com, rms_mx@harlan.com, crs.ch@harlan.com, crs.de@harlan.com, crs.es@harlan.com, crs.uk@harlan.com, rms.nordic@harlan.com, rms.uk@harlan.com, rms.nl@harlan.com, rms.be@harlan.com, rms.fr@harlan.com, rms.ch@harlan.com, rms.de@harlan.com, rms.at@harlan.com, rms.hu@harlan.com, rms.es@harlan.com, rms.it@harlan.com, crs.jp@harlan.com, crs.kr@harlan.com, rms.in@harlan.com, rms.il@harlan.com, hbi@harlanisrael.com, secr@harlan.com, orders@harlan.com, tekladuk@harlan.com, hnlcsd@harlan.com, verkauf@harlan.com, HITInfo@harlan.com, harlanfrance@harlan.com, HfrServiceClientele@harlan.com, csdhsc@harlan.com, harlanclientes@harlan.com, bramani@harlan.com, hbps@harlan.com, teklad@teklad.com, hpbm@netvision.net.il, kweber@harlan.com, jfallet@harlan.com, mwormuth@harlan.com, gochs@harlan.com, dpitts@harlan.com, rcarter@harlan.com, tbheffner@harlan.com, lknarr@harlan.com, dschreiner@harlan.com, csdorders@harlan.com, TechServ@harlan.com, jbeyers@harlan.com, webmaster@harlan.com, hr-jobs@harlan.com, PKazeminy@harlan.com, askanutritionist@harlan.com, rbrady@harlan.com, Nwhited@harlan.com, mtengle@harlan.com, bbayne@harlan.com, technicalservices@harlan.com, rguest@harlan.com, aburghdorf@harlan.com, khoetzer@harlan.com, agraunstrup@harlan.com, bmickelson@harlan.com, TBurns-Heffner@harlan.com, PressRelease@harlan.com, njarvis@harlan.com, sbohnenberger@harlan.com, harlancommunication@harlan.com, mthompson@harlan.com, fhermann@harlan.com, hr1croeurope@harlan.com, askanutritionist@teklad.com, customerservice@teklad.com, hkim@harlan.com, ldurst@harlan.com, sgaehler@harlan.com, wnef@harlan.com, kwerner@harlan.com, RMS.Nordic@harlan.com, Jgillespie@harlan.com, dcooper@harlan.com, harlan@netvision.net.il, hans@harlan.com, kkelly@harlan.com, JMcginley@harlan.com, jstradling@harlan.com, SCapdevila@harlan.com, jeasley@harlan.com, jchick@harlan.com, jgoerge@harlan.com, efrische@harlan.com
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
I was disappointed to learn that Harlan Laboratories does business with the notorious Primate Products, Inc., a Florida-based company with a record of shoddy animal care and reckless decisions that have led to animal suffering. There have been a number of serious incidents that suggest serious problems at Primate Products:
- In July 2009, Primate Products dumped close to 100 owl monkeys that they could not sell at a roadside zoo in Homestead, Florida. Within a week, at least 25 of the monkeys were dead!
- In 2010, disturbing photographs surfaced of monkeys inside Primate Products suffering from horrible wounds and crude surgical mutilations.
- In April 2011, Primate Products was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for leaving monkeys who were still under anesthesia in an enclosure without supervision, and in the hot sun.
Your business with Primate Products is no secret. Poor employee morale at Primate Products has made the company leakier than an old rusty bucket!
Please, do the right thing and permanently sever your ties with Primate Products.
Thank you.
Read more…
The Persian Horse Blog
Please click HERE to sign petition.
Member of Parliament Canada, Alex Atamanenko, of the New Democratic Party, feels that if he can present Parliament with 10,000 Signatures Protesting Horse Slaughter in Canada, and Supporting his Bill C-322, An Act to amend the Health of Animals Act and the Meat Inspection Act (slaughter of horses for human consumption), thus prohibiting the importation or exportation of horses for slaughter for human consumption as well as horsemeat products for human consumption, that he will be able to have the bill adopted into LEGISLATION.
Click HERE for more information about the progress of C-322.
We only need 2,000 more signatures to reach the 10,000, which Mr. Atamanenko feels will be significantly influential.
Please click HERE to sign petition.
From Care2
Every day, trucks carry horses hundreds of miles in cramped, sweltering quarters across the border from the United States to Canada. After the ones that survive the trip wait for hours at auction without hay or water, slaughterhouses shoot each between the eyes with a .22 calibre pistol.
Horse slaughter may be illegal in the United States, but both the U.S. and Canada play horrifying roles in the $70 million industry. Farms across America raise thousands of horses every year for shipment, slaughter, and export to Europe and Asia.
Many of these farms feed horses a steady diet of medication specifically labeled as hazardous for human consumption. Still, Canadian slaughterhouses sell the arguably contaminated meat at up to $12 a pound.
The horse slaughter industry is both inhumane and risky to public health. Call on Canadian Parliament to ban horse slaughter in Canada and stop the cycle of cruelty.
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND | SOURCE CIRCUS ANIMALS IN QUERTARO
Intolerable Treatment of Circus Animals
On Sunday, April 29, 2012, we were walking past Plaza de Toros Santa Maria in Querétaro, Mexico when we noticed a circus with animals corraled outside. It was the Circo Union, owned by Hermanos Fuentes Gasca, as shown on the trucks. I went home and returned with a camera to record these conditions:
- An elephant was chained in leg irons on the front and back legs. The elephant was struggling continuously to get out of the sun shining on its backside. This animal seemed to be in distress and was vocalizing continuously…like it was talking to itself. In fact, it just seemed miserable.
- Two juvenile tigers were dozing in a cage that had a water dish, but I do not know if it was full.
- During the heat of a 90 degree afternoon, a semi-truck containing large, adult tigers was closed on one side. That reduced any hope of ventilation as only one side remained open.
- When the other side of the truck was opened up, I saw the semi was sectioned off into 8 compartments. Adult tigers were caged here, with as many as 3 in a single small section! Only half of the compartments had small water dishes, while the rest were empty.
- A male employee came up with a long, metal pole which he shoved into the cages and began screaming at the tigers. To say the cats were disturbed is an understatement. He did not see me on the other side, so this behavior continued for a while.
I am writing up this episode and displaying photos in order to get some help for these animals. As I am not a local here, I don’t understand the mechanisms for reporting animal welfare/cruelty violations and my Spanish is atrocious. But, I find animals suffering through such heat, restraints and a lack of water intolerable. As for the man screaming at the cats as he poked them with a metal rod….who knows what to do with that kind of human?
WHOM TO CONTACT
Send letter of complaint with heading ‘Circo Union in Queretaro Cruelty’ to: denuncias@profepa.gob.mx
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
I am writing to request that action be taken immediately on behalf of the animals in the Circo Union, owned by Hermanos Fuentes Gasca, who are living in less-than ideal conditions, forced to endure inadequate space and diets, inferior medical treatment and care, lack of companionship, and involuntary training.
The documented negligence to which the animals are subjected has been well established and can be seen at http://circusanimalsinquertaromx.shutterfly.com/, and although you may assert that humane protocols must be followed in accordance with certain standards, the visual evidence validates the position that these directives are often ignored in favor of park management profit; nevertheless, establishing a threshold of humane treatment is ambiguous at best, these standards being implemented by those with questionable interests, its oversight managed by those who exploit animals for funds.
I hope you make the compassionate decision to discontinue the negligence of these animals and reject complicity in the unethical industry that profits from their suffering. However, as long as Circo Union continues to unnecessarily capitalize on the exploitation, imprisonment, and maltreatment of animals, I will not financially support them. It is important to recognize that consumers and tourists are increasingly rejecting those destinations that are complicit in the suffering and unnecessary treatment of animals by shifting their loyalties to those countries that do not participate in the exploitation of them, and I hope that you will extend such an ethical and empathetic gesture as well and return a superior standard of care to these animals or relinquish them to accredited sanctuaries and preserves.
I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent situation.
Read more…
BACKGROUND | SOURCE INSIDE SCOOP SF
California’s top chefs are walking the halls at the State Capitol this afternoon, asking lawmakers to repeal the state foie gras ban. Sunday’s big Chronicle story has more on the chefs’ petition to overturn the ban.
Not all chefs are aboard, of course, most prominently Wolfgang Puck. He has made it known that he is in favor of the looming California foie gras ban, and wrote a very strongly worded letter earlier this year, saying how much he hates foie gras and how he hasn’t served it since 2007. However, it’s long been rumored that Puck’s restaurants still offer foie gras, particularly if specifically asked for as an off-menu item. Urban legend no longer.
Turns out Puck is more of a talker than a doer, as Carolyn Jung gets the confirmation that Puck still serves foie gras. (Puck’s people have denied that same question from Scoop in recent weeks. He also denied to be interviewed in the Sunday article.)
But here’s the smoking gun: Rick Bishop, Hudson Valley Foie Gras’ director of marketing, tells Jung in Food Arts that Wolfgang Puck has continued to buy from Hudson Valley Foie Gras since early 2010.
And then Wolfgang Puck PR machine admitted it. As reported by Jung:
“We do, unfortunately, have private events where people want foie gras on their menu,” says Stephanie Davis, director of communications for the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. “We do our best to steer them in a different direction, but sometimes people just want it.”
Discuss.
UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter for pointing out that foie gras is still on the menu at Wolfgang Puck’s Singapore branch of CUT. Actually, as of today, it’s on the menu twice.
The below screenshots are from the menus presented on the website for the restaurant’s resort, Marina Bay Sands; interestingly, there’s no foie gras on CUT Singapore menu on Puck’s own website. Guess someone’s going to have to check it out first hand to see which one’s true. Either way, CUT Singapore opened just last year, so Puck’s claim of a 2007 foie gras strike doesn’t appear to hold water. For what it’s worth, there are even various user reviews that refer to foie gras at CUT in recent months.
Here are the screenshots taken this afternoon, preserved for posterity:
Inside Scoop SF
Inside Scoop SF
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please click HERE for webform
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
Despite a commitment to discontinue offering it since 2007, Wolfgang Puck, I am greatly disturbed to learn, is still selling foie gras, the production of which inflicts incredible suffering and cruelty upon sentient animals. As such, I respectfully request you take immediate steps to eliminate foie gras from your product list.
Foie gras, French for “fatty liver,” is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese. The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. Pipes are repeatedly shoved down the birds’ throats, and up to 4 pounds of grain and fat are pumped into their stomachs two or three times every day. The pipes puncture many birds’ throats, sometimes causing the animals to bleed to death. This cruel procedure causes the birds’ livers to become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Many birds become too sick to stand up. The birds who survive the force-feeding are killed, and their livers are sold for foie gras.
Globally, people have spoken out against the cruelty of foie gras. In 2004, as you know, California passed a law banning the sale and production of foie gras, effective this year; his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI denounced foie gras, the force-feeding as being in violation of Biblical principles; and foie gras production has been outlawed in the U.K., Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and Israel.
As such, I respectfully request you please reconsider and make the compassionate and ethical decision to ban foie gras. You may be interested to know in addition to those people and places indicated above, many regional chefs and colleagues have recently removed foie gras from their menus, and I would love to inform my friends and acquaintances that Wolfgang Puck has joined them by also rejecting this torture and eliminating foie gras. Until such a time, however, I maintain the only ethical decision is to promote a boycott of your establishment and visiting instead the ones that do not sell foie gras.
I look forward to a positive response, however, so that I may visit your establishment again.
Please feel free to watch the following video illustrating in disturbing detail the inherent cruelty of foie gras production:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzrSl0ztsQ&feature=youtu.be
Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
NAME
Read more…
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Click HERE to urge Canadian senators to support Harb’s bill to end seal hunt.
Source: PETA
I’m delighted to share some exciting news. Today, Canadian senator Mac Harb introduced a historic bill to end Canada’s commercial seal slaughter. Now that Russia—which had imported 95 percent of Canadian seal pelts—has joined the U.S., the E.U., Mexico, and others in banning seal fur, there are no markets for this fur. If passed, Harb’s bill would transition people in sealing regions into sustainable economic programs. Senator Harb’s bill comes on the heels of Sarah McLachlan’s recent appeal on PETA’s behalf to Prime Minister Harper urging him to end the slaughter and consider a government buyout of the sealing industry.
We are finally near ending the seal slaughter once and for all, but we need your help. Please take a few minutes and click here to urge Canadian senators to support Harb’s bill.
A victory is within reach, but it is not possible without your support. Please share this urgent alert with your friends and family on Facebook, and ask them to join you in speaking up for seals today.
Thank you for everything that you do to help animals.
Pregnant dog shot in the face and blinded
Animals Lebanon
Source: Animals Lebanon
Eva is only a few years old but has spent her entire life as a homeless dog. Trying to find enough food and avoiding dangers of the streets is hard for every homeless cat and dog, especially with the shooting and poisoning that is often used to kill large numbers of animals.
The only thing she had to look forward to in her days is waiting until evening when a kind man put food out each night.
Nadim had been looking after Eva ever since she was born and she was very friendly to him.
On 17 April, like almost every night, when Nadim finished work he came with food and Eva was waiting – wanting attention and her daily meal.
The next morning Nadim woke to a terrible sight. Eva was laying in the bushes near Nadims apartment building, her eyes closed tight, head bleeding, and though she was in obvious pain she didn’t make a noise. Eva might have known that Nadim would likely be the only person who would help her.
All at once we received a phone call, email, and Facebook post about this poor dog. Nadim was desperate for help, quickly explaining that it seems like Eva had been shot and needing assistance to transport her to a vet and help with her treatment.
Eva was safely moved to the car and brought to vet clinic.
She was still quiet with blood on her face, and she was shaking from pain or fear.
X-rays showed that she had been shot repeatedly with a pellet gun, pellets were still lodged under the skin of her face and head. This can be treated and she can recover, but the pellets also harmed both of her eyes and Eva might never be able to see again.
She was also heavily pregnant, and about to give birth.
The vet put her on pain killers and antibiotics but had to be careful to protect the unborn puppies. She was resting by herself, scared and stressed out from what she had endured and now being unable to see, but she would be fine.
Later that day when the vet went to check on her one puppy had already been born. Then another, and another, until later that evening six newborn puppies were all nursing and cuddling up against Eva.
Eva and her puppies were taken to a quiet home so she can recuperate from her wounds and the puppies can be safe.
Dogs on the street are often shot or poisoned as an inhumane and ineffective way of controlling the population, but Eva was shot and blinded for no reason at all. She was no harm to anyone and was never aggressive.
Eva and her five puppies will require a couple months of care and treatment, and possibly a surgery to remove any of the remaining pellets.
Please donate now to help this family of dogs and they will all be ready for adoption soon.
Read more…
