Please take action on three issues: birds tortured for down, primates, wolves

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1. Please click on and Sign the Pledge to be Down Free

2. Please click on and sign Help Us Ban the “Pet” Primate Trade

3. Please click on and sign Save Idaho’s Wolves from Aerial Hunting

1. Background | From PETA

In order to produce down clothing, pillows, and comforters, birds are often pinned down or lifted by their necks or a delicate wing and have their feathers painfully ripped out while they are alive and able to feel pain.

Many birds are plucked so hard that they are left with gaping wounds, which workers sew back together using a needle and thread, without any painkillers. Some birds are left paralyzed by pain and fear, and some even die as a result of this violent process.

Buying down can also support the notoriously cruel foie gras industry because feathers from birds killed for their liver or meat are often sold as down.

Help birds suffering in the down industry by pledging not to buy down products and looking for clothing and bedding made from cruelty-free materials.


2. Background | From Born Free

Born Free USA again is spearheading an important congressional initiative to protect nonhuman primates. Sponsored by U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), David Vitter (R-La.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and introduced July 6, 2011, the Captive Primate Safety Act (S. 1324) prohibits interstate commerce in monkeys, apes and other primates in the exotic “pet” trade. Please ask your two U.S. senators to co-sponsor the bill today.

The commercial trade in primates involves tremendous suffering and grave dangers to human health and safety. Nonhuman primates also pose disease risks, including transmission of Ebola, tuberculosis and herpes B.

Even though nearly half of the states already prohibit private possession of these wild animals as “pets,” primates are easily obtained over the Internet and through out-of-state dealers and auctions, making federal legislation necessary to support the efforts of state law enforcement.

Born Free USA knows the cruel effects of the trade firsthand. Many of our Primate Sanctuary residents were rescued from abusive situations in which they were forced into captivity as someone’s “pet.” As documented by Born Free USA’s Exotic Animal Incidents Database, numerous incidents involving nonhuman primate escapes and injuries to humans — including small children — have occurred nationwide in recent years. Tragically, in many of these cases the nonhuman primates were then killed.

Please contact your U.S. senators today and help us pass the Captive Primate Safety Act.



3. Background | From The Center for Biological Diversity

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game wants to reduce wolf numbers in its Lolo Zone from an estimated 70-120 wolves to just 20-30 wolves in a misguided attempt to increase the elk population. Because this region is largely wild and inaccessible, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services intends to gun the wolves down from the air.

Killing wolves is unlikely to increase elk numbers, because long-term changes in habitat have caused elk decline in the Lolo Zone — but even if elk numbers do increase, this will only harm the ecosystem as a whole. Elk will browse too heavily on cottonwood, aspen and other trees that support a great variety of wildlife.

In Yellowstone National Park, scientists have found that the return of wolves caused elk to browse fewer cottonwood sprigs, enabling growth of new trees, which led to more nesting songbirds, more beaver dams and more fish.

There is no good reason for the federal government to spend money to kill imperiled wolves in national forests, where they help to keep the natural balance. Please take action now and fill out the form to protect these wolves from pointless slaughter.

trying to pray the tears away♥

a gentle wish
airborne aloud
carried by winds
so swift
head held so proud
♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson