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.

NWF

Please click on and sign the following:

1. End Canada’s commercial seal hunt
2. End the military’s use of animals in combat trauma training courses
3. Don’t Let the ‘Gracia Del Mar’ Tragedy Happen Again
4. Protect Vital Habitat for Mule Deer




1. From IFAW

Four issues today
We need to address
Every petition we sign
The world we “unmess”

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Change

BACKGROUND

For Australian fashion designer Arthur Galan to use fur knowing what a ‘bloody’ truly evil trade it is, is simply unconscionable. Mr Galan clearly has no empathy for animals who are violently killed so he can profit from their fur. There is no such thing as humane fur and Mr Galan must know this. For this high-profile designer who has 19 stores across Australia to continue using fur when the treatment of animals is now more important to the public than it ever has been, is very worrying. We must not allow Mr Galan to hide his head in the sand and pretend the fur he uses doesn’t come from animals who are tortured and skinned alive. We must ensure Mr Galan holds his head in shame.


PETITION

Please click and sign HERE


WHOM TO CONTACT

Please fill in webform HERE


SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover that Arthur Galan and associated brands supports the fur industry. Due to the savage business of fur, any products derived from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that until Arthur Galan discontinues profiting off the exploitation of animals, consumers sever ties with them.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry promoted: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma.

FurStop.Com

Regrettably, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you or your associated brands. Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities. Arthur Galan, why not act on principle and become a company that promotes compassion fashion? You can create very stylish clothing and accessories using synthetic materials.

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate businesses and designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME

mr galan as your empire grows,
sadly, your lack of compassion
shows.
in your 19 stores, filled with once
blood soaked pelts,
have you stopped to think
how those animals felt.
screaming in horror and
terrible pain,
if you think about it,
it iscruel and insane.
so please stop selling fur
and join the ranks of
the humane

FUR BELONGS ON WHOM IT WAS BORN,
NOT BY THE VAIN AND FRIVOLOUS,
WORN

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Mick Lobb

BACKGROUND

You have probably been following PETA Asia-Pacific’s campaign against mulesing. If so, you know that the Australian wool industry promised to phase out mulesing by 2010 but then reneged on that agreement. Seeing that the industry had no intention of doing the right thing, PETA Asia and its affiliates have been talking to manufacturers and retailers around the world asking them to boycott mulesed wool, which virtually all comes from Australia. Please join PETA in speaking up for lambs by sending an e-mail to Uniqlo, now the fourth largest retailer in the world, asking them to stop purchasing Australian wool from mulesed flocks.

To make sure your letter has a good chance of being read, follow these tips:

• Put “Please boycott mulesing” in the subject line of your e-mails.
• Be brief! Sometimes one short, pithy paragraph is enough – try to stay under half a page.
• Make sure you include your name and address in your letter. Anonymous letters are usually disregarded.

For more tips on writing effective letters, please see PETA U.S.’ letter-writing guide.

The following talking points can be rephrased in your e-mail to get you started:

• Mulesing is an extremely painful and totally unnecessary procedure performed on Australian sheep in which farmers force sheep onto their backs, restrain their legs between metal bars and cut huge chunks of skin and flesh from their backsides – often without administering any painkillers.
• More humane methods exist for preventing flystrike and are used by many Australian farmers.
• The Australian wool industry will not listen to appeals that they ensure animal welfare – only lost sales will move them.
• Many major international retailers – including H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Perry Ellis, HUGO BOSS, Liz Claiborne, Next, Adidas, Gap Inc., Talbots, Giordano and Korean retail giant Kukdong Corporation – have pledged to move away from mulesed wool or implemented an outright ban on wool from mulesed lambs.

More information is available at PETAAsiaPacific.com/Issues-NotToWear.asp#Wool.

Thank you in advance for your action for animals.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Please note that one email was undeliverable, but I will keep it in in case it gets reactivated:

Delivery to the following recipients was aborted after 1 second(s): * r_g_frgcsr@fastretailing.com

Mr Yukihiro Nitta
Managing Director
Fast Retailing
fr_g_frgcsr@fastretailing.com

Mr Tadashi Yanai
President
Fast Retailing
tyanai@uniqlo.co.jp


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Managing Director Nitta and President Yanai,

I am writing to ask that you please stop purchasing Australian wool from mulesed flocks and, favorably, that you ban wool altogether in favor of stylish and profitable synthetics. Nevertheless, as a procedure, mulesing causes extreme pain, and is characterized by sheep being forcefully restrained and huge chunks of skin and flesh cut from their backsides. Animal welfare standards are often ignored in favor of profit: the Australian wool industry ignores appeals that mulesing be banned and only lost sales will affect their actions. Your decision to ban mulesed wool would equal that of corporate giants H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Perry Ellis, HUGO BOSS, Liz Claiborne, Next, Adidas, Gap Inc., Talbots, Giordano and Korean Kukdong Corporation who have pledged to move away from mulesed wool or have implemented an outright ban on wool from mulesed lambs.

Your decision to ban wool will have a positive, ethical, and profitable impact on your company.  Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.

NAME

i think the farmers
would be in unhappy
sh*t, deep
if they found
themselves
shorn just like
their own
sheep

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

3Dayz

SOURCE: 3DAYZ

Please click HERE for example texts to send three messages: Twitter, Facebook, Email, or see below.


BACKGROUND

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney is about to decide what action, if any, to take about mink farming in Ireland. In November 2011 the Minister established a Review Group in his Department to review fur farming. Animal organizations in Ireland made detailed submissions to the Review Group, calling for fur farming to be banned.

There are 5 licensed mink farms operating in the Republic of Ireland. Figures from the Central Statistics Office in Ireland show that 141.812 mink pelts were exported in 2010 (the annual figure for 2011 is not available yet). The type of mink farmed for fur is the American mink. One of the mink farms used to also rear and slaughter foxes for their fur. The types of foxes farmed for fur are silver foxes and arctic foxes. According to the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine no foxes are being farmed at present. However, fox farming continues to be legal in the Republic of Ireland, with no licensing requirement for the farming of foxes for their fur.

At this moment Minister Simon Coveney awaits the report from the Review Group, after which he will make an announcement on the future of this most shameful industry.

Support the campaign to ban fur farming in Ireland! Send a protest letter today!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Tweet: @SimonCoveney

Facebook: facebook.com/SimonCoveney

Email: simon.coveney@oireachtas.ie, protest@3dayz.com


SAMPLE MESSAGES

Example tweet:

There are more than 140.000 reasons to ban fur farming in Ireland! Please decide for a ban @simoncoveney #FurFreeIreland

Example Facebook message:

With only 5 licensed mink farms in Ireland there is no economical reason to sustain this cruel industry. At the same time there are more than 140.000 ethical reasons to ban fur farming in Ireland. Please ban fur farms! More information: www.3dayz.com

Example Letter:

Dear Minister Coveney,

I understand from the “Government Legislation Programme for Summer Session 2011″ section B titled “Bills in respect of which heads have been agreed and texts are being drafted” that the Animal Health and Welfare Bill will include a ban on fur farming.

This states that:

“Animal Health and Welfare Bill: To consolidate and update existing legislation in the areas of animal health and welfare, including the repeal of several extant statutes, the responsibility for the welfare of all animals within the Department and to ban fur farming”.

Please ensure that this happens as quickly as possible and that this ban occurs from the end of 2012 if not earlier.

The fur industry is based on animal exploitation and is a violation of their rights to live free from harm, being exploited, or being locked up . I would urge you in your position of Minister of Agriculture to use all of your influence to help stop this now.

I fully support that fur factory farming and the fur trade should be outlawed on the grounds of cruelty to animals and rights violations. Keeping an animal trapped in a small wire mesh cage for his entire life until he is killed by anal electrocution or gassing is not acceptable and should end immediately. Pretending our weak animal welfare laws are appropriate will not ensure this exploitation ceases. Only outlawing fur factory farming and the fur trade will. Please give this matter your full attention. I will look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

SEE MORE: 3DAYZ

i am a little mink
why am i here
my future is so grim
that is very clear
i want to run i want to play
i want to live my life
the little mink way
but humans have decided
that a coat i should be
tortured, my fur debrided
why is this happening to me?

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Wikimedia Commons

Please click on and sign the following:

• End Namibia’s Seal Cull

• Stop the Namibian Seal Slaughter

Source: Kelly Morehead

Background | From Change

Cape fur seals, also known as South African fur seals, historically inhabited the islands off the coast of South Africa. But overhunting and harassment from humans have forced them from the islands and onto the mainland of Namibia and South Africa. Now, the Cape fur seals are threatened by a commercial hunt that grows larger every year.

Namibia is the only country in the Cape fur seal’s range in which commercial hunting is permitted. Sealing occurs on two mainland colonies, Cape Cross and Wolf/Atlas Bay, where 75 percent of the pups are born. From July 1 through Nov. 15, commercial hunters hire approximately 160 part-time workers to kill the seals, most pups between the ages of 7 and 11 months. Hunters club the pups on the head with large, ice-pick-like clubs, and then stab them in the heart. The much larger bulls are shot.

Despite a declining population of Cape fur seals and high mortality rates among the seal population, the hunting quota increases every year.

Cape fur seals are listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Species on Appendix II are not threatened with extinction, but their survival is dependent on conservation measures.

The hunt in Namibia is the second largest commercial seal hunt in the world, and it would not comply with most other nations’ laws protecting marine mammals. It is inhumane and unsustainable. Its high quotas are non-precautionary and violate modern basic principles of good wildlife management.

Louise du Toit – Seals of Namibia

See More:

• Animal Wrongs
• Cruelty-Free
• Compassionate Eating

for those who hunt me because i am a seal
did you ever stop to think just how i feel
i just want to sit on my rocks and ice
if you would leave me be, that would be so nice
my fur is mine, not yours for the taking
just look at all the red blood you are making
go back to your homes, your families, your wives
and leave us seals alone to enjoy our lives

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Wikimedia

Please click on and sign the following:

1. UK Friends: Stop the sale of manta ray leather

2. Tell Hong Kong Airlines: No more live dolphin shipments!

3. Act Now or Animal Abuse Will Be Illegal to Film and Expose

4. Urgent! Stop Plans to Build Intensive Egg Production Facility in Lincolnshire


1. Background | Source Oceana

Manta rays are threatened with extinction, but that doesn’t stop businesses from selling their parts.

Alibaba.com, the world’s largest business-to-busness commerce website, sells boots and wallets made out of manta ray leather. This is inexcusable, and they should know better.

Three years ago, Oceana supporters and other ocean activists successfully petitioned Alibaba.com to stop selling shark products. Now we’re calling on you again. We need your help to tell them the world is watching, and they need to stop selling products that threaten ocean species. We did it once—we can do it again.

Sign today, and tell Alibaba.com founder and CEO Mr. Jack Ma to be an ocean leader and stop selling manta ray products.


2. Background | Source HSI

The capture and trade of live dolphins for captive display is strongly opposed by the general public. Yet in January 2012, Hong Kong Airlines cashed in on a deal to fly five dolphins from Japan to Vietnam to be displayed in dolphinariums – for a paying public’s amusement. Most likely, these animals were taken during the brutal slaughter known as drive hunts that occur in Japan. The cruelty was featured in the 2009 Oscar winning documentary The Cove. More than 1,200 dolphins were killed in the 2010-2011 hunting season, and at least 150 were set aside alive, destined for a life in captivity.

The capture, transport, and lifelong confinement of wild dolphins pose severe welfare and conservation concerns. The potential for harmful mental and physical effects is incredibly high, such as stress-induced illness and premature death. Additionally, the removal of these marine mammals from the wild presents a threat to the continued survival of some populations.

Hong Kong Airlines has indicated that this shipment was not a one-off deal – it means to continue this lucrative and highly controversial business of transporting live dolphins. Please send a message today and urge the president of Hong Kong Airlines to enact a corporate policy to end any future shipments of live dolphins.


3. Background | Source PETA

Utah House Bill 187, which has passed through the Utah House of Representatives and is now before the Senate, could subject whistleblowers to criminal prosecution for their efforts to expose animal abuse on factory farms. The bill would make it a crime to photograph or record video or sound of a farm without the farm owner’s consent and could stop vital undercover work that exposes routine abuse of animals in the factory-farming industry. This absurd and unconstitutional bill, which infringes on Americans’ basic rights, is a desperate attempt by agriculture industry giants to prevent consumers from learning the truth about the lives and deaths of animals on factory farms.

In 2008, prompted by a whistleblower’s report, a PETA undercover investigation of an Iowa factory farm that supplied pigs for Hormel Foods revealed that workers were beating pigs with metal rods, sexually abusing them with canes, and more. Six workers faced a total of 22 charges of livestock neglect and abuse, and all of them admitted guilt, bringing the state’s first convictions for abuse or neglect of factory-farmed pigs. Other whistleblower reports and undercover investigations of factory farms, such as those done by PETA, have resulted in historic convictions after documenting that farm workers were beating, sexually abusing, stomping, kicking, and throwing animals. This bill is designed to shroud factory farming in secrecy, and it could deprive animals of the already minimal protection that they have under the law and hide from the public the truth about what happens behind the closed doors of factory farms.

Even if you live outside Utah, your voice is still needed. The meat from slaughtered animals crosses state lines, and the government needs to hear from consumers across the country who care about the way animals killed for food are treated.

Fill out the form HERE to urge Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to veto this bill should it reach his desk!


4. Background | Source PETA UK

North Kesteven District Council has received an application to build an intensive egg production facility which, if approved, would condemn 83,700 hens to a life of misery and suffering.

These inquisitive, highly social birds would be forced to spend their lives in cramped cages if this horrific plan goes ahead. Even so-called “enriched cages” do not allow hens to move freely, dust bathe or forage for food. Hens may still face the agonising pain of having the ends of their sensitive beaks cut off with a red-hot blade in a futile attempt to stop the frustrated birds from pecking at each other, and severe crowding and often filthy conditions would leave the hens highly susceptible to chronic respiratory diseases. In addition to this suffering, each year, millions of male chicks are drowned, gassed or ground up alive shortly after birth because they considered a by-product of the cruel egg industry.

Please urge North Kesteven District Council to reject this application. The closing date for objections is 4 March.

the earth
the land
the sea
the sky
a world
so grand
we cannot
watch her
children die

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

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

Ilse Vandecappelle, Artist

From: 3Dayz.com

Welcome to Maxfield… and their 2012 collection

At the beginning of a campaign by Fur Free West Hollywood, celebrity-driven Maxfield agreed to remove and end the sale of all fur – like baby blankets and motor cycle helmets – from their West Hollywood store. They removed the fur, but then restocked it and actively oppose to a planned fur ban in West Hollywood by writing letters to the Mayor and other people of importance.

This Saturday (11th of February from 12 pm – 2 pm) Fur Free West Hollywood organizes an anti-fur protest outside Maxfield.

Important! Leading up to the protest we ask you to let Maxfield know what happens when they break their promise to the animals: send them as many protest mails as possible for the next 3 days and tell your friends to do the same!

This is an action by Fur Free West Hollywood


What You Can Do:

• Email them. Create your own message or simply copy and paste the example letter at the bottom of this page (don’t forget to sign it at the end) and send it to the address below.
• Send them our example Facebook message.
• Call and leave this page open. The example letter contains all the information you need!
• Send a fax. Simply use the example letter below.
• Share this action with your friends and ask them to send a protest mail to Maxfield as well.
• Let us know when you receive a reaction in response to your email, fax, etc. You can reach us using our contact form, Facebook or Twitter.

Whom To Contact

Maxfield LA
8825 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, California
90069-5603

Phone: 310 274 8800
Fax:  310 657 8880
Email: info@maxfieldla.com, protest@3dayz.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Maxfield.LA

Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer.  No fax machine, registering, or credit card required.  Please remember to confirm the fax via your email after submitting.


Sample Facebook Letter

I call on you to hold true to your agreement with Fur Free West Hollywood to remove and end the sale of all fur. I also ask everybody who’s reading this to support this protest by visiting http://www.3dayz.com.


Sample Maxfield Letter

Dear Representative of Maxfield,

West Hollywood has been a leader in passing groundbreaking legislation in the area of animal welfare. In 1989, West Hollywood passed Resolution Number 558 proclaiming West Hollywood a “Cruelty Free Zone for Animals.” It is time to further the effort to make good on that promise. West Hollywood has the opportunity to once again be a leader for animal welfare by becoming the first Fur Free City in the Nation, to be a place that is free of cruelty to animals and to be a place that no longer supports the barbaric fur trade by selling products made of fur.

Please watch the following account of the fur trade:

http://furstop.com/

I call on you to hold true to your agreement with Fur Free West Hollywood to remove and end the sale of all fur.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]



See More:

• Fur | Skin
• 3 Dayz
• Band of Mercy
  

Fur belongs on whom it was born
Not by the vain and frivolous,
Worn
If spacemen decided that
Humans were a coat
The humans would
Cry out in horror
And that not all
She wrote
So treat all beings
As you wish to be treated
Or you are no more
Than an expletive, deleted

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Please click on and send automatic message: Urge Danish Designer ‘By Malene Birger’ to Go Fur-Free

From PETA

Despite knowing that the killing of animals for their fur is a violent, bloody and cruel industry in which millions of animals endure tremendous suffering, Danish designer brand By Malene Birger continues to use fur in its collections.

Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages, where they are exposed to all weather conditions. They often go without adequate shelter, clean water and veterinary care, and they are denied the opportunity to engage in natural behaviours. The intensive confinement causes many of them to go insane.

But By Malene Birger has made the cruel decision to continue using the skins of dead animals in its clothing lines.

Many leading designers have dropped all fur from their collections, including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

Speak up to help prevent animals from being killed for their fur. E-mail By Malene Birger and ask the brand to make the compassionate decision to go fur-free.



See More:

Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing- Quick Reference Guide

• Fur | Skin
• Cruelty-Free
• Earthlings
  

malene birger
do your part
fashion is kindness
so have a heart
stop using the fur
of those who belong
safe and free
add compassion
to the repetoire
of your company

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

From 3Dayz

27th of January 2012 - A spokesperson for Completely Bare confirmed on the phone with 3dayz yesterday that Cindy Barshop, former Real Housewives of New York star and owner of luxe spa chain Completely Bare, will stop using real fox fur for her newly launched Foxy Bikini and will start to replace it by faux fur!

It was further confirmed that the main reason for their decision was the amount of protest they received. Just now we also received written confirmation:

It’s true, we have began using faux fur instead of fox.

Only one day after releasing the news about our involvement of saving 1000′s of beagles from vivisection, this is yet another amazing victory for fur-bearing animals!

“Our campaign against Completely Bare was one of the most visited campaigns on 3dayz.com. A lot of people were angry, disgusted and offended by the fox fur bikini and for good reasons. It’s a very good thing these people shared their anger with Completely Bare!”, a spokesperson for 3dayz said. “We’re very pleased the concept of 3dayz seems to work and we will continue to motivate people to keep contacting those who are responsible for animal cruelty.”

See More: 3Dayz – Plans of largest farm for breeding beagles for vivisection rejected

we work so hard
our fingers sore
our hearts so sorely
tested
we want to say
“no more”
but every time we
feel defeat
we receive news of a
victory
the sweetest
treat
so ourselves off we dust
and we do that which
we know
we
must♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

FROM ARAN & BAN FUR FARMING IN IRELAND

A group of Irish and International animal welfare organisations have joined forces in an effort to ensure this Irish government does not renege on the previous government’s policy of a phase out of fur farming. Organisations supporting this call include ARAN, Respect for Animals, Anima, and the international coalition of animal welfare groups opposed to fur farming, The Fur Free Alliance.

Mark Glover of Respect for Animals, the UK’s leading anti-fur organisation, said today: “Fur factory farming has been banned in Northern Ireland for nearly a decade, and the rest of the UK for over 11 years. These bans reflected public opinion and that the farming of animals for nothing other than their fur offended public morality. The Northern Ireland Assembly and Parliament of Westminster studied extensive evidence on the issue before concluding that only bans on this cruel practice could resolve the problem.

“With the very best intentions in the world, fur farmers cannot adequately provide for the welfare of mink on Irish fur farms,” says ARAN’s Campaign Director, John Carmody. “ This latest investigation shows that its business as usual on Irish fur farms and that this suffering must come to an end, nothing has changed since the previous coalition government’s pledge to ban fur farming back in 2010. Today there should be no need to cage and treat animals in such a manner”

“Fur breeding is not consistent with good agricultural practice and Britain is a better place without it, as Ireland could be.”

Mary-Anne Bartlett of Compassion in World Farming-Ireland said today: “At the time, Compassion in World Farming-Ireland very much welcomed the agreement to ban fur farming as a major step forward for animal welfare. We sincerely hope that the current government now puts this major reform in place without delay.”

Facts:

• The Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Council, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in its annual review 2009-2010 refers to the commitment to phase out fur farming over three years in the previous government’s Renewed Programme for Government.

• In 2001, the EU’s Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare concluded that, “current husbandry systems cause serious problems for all species of animals reared for fur…..”.

• The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, has established a Review Group to review all aspects of fur farming and is accepting submissions from interested parties until the end of the year with a view to making recommendations to government.

• A Private Members’ Bill to ban fur farming (Fur Farming Prohibition Bill 2004) was debated in the Dáil on 22 and 23 March 2005. Although the bill was defeated by the then government’s TDs 67 to 50, it won support from all opposition parties, including Fine Gael and The Labour Party.

• An opinion poll conducted in 2004 showed that 63% of people in Ireland agreed that fur farming should be banned, despite the fact that only 51% were aware that it took place.

• In 2010, 141,812 mink pelts were exported from Ireland, valued at 4.9 million Euro whilst 5,910 (444,000 Euro) were imported, showing net exports of 135,902.

• The North American Mink is an alien species to Ireland and mink attacks on wildlife and domestic animals are becoming increasingly frequent. In 2010, the Department of Agriculture planned to spend 60,000 Euro on the control of predators, including wild mink.

WHOM TO CONTACT

Please click on and write and send message HERE, click on TAKE ACTION

SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover the savagery inherent in the  fur industry. Due to the malicious business of fur, any products derived from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that until Ireland discontinues profiting off the exploitation of animals,  consumers and tourists will be likely to sever ties with you.  It is obvious that this cruelty cannot be regulated and only an outright ban will ensure animals are not barbarically treated and slaughtered, all for frivolous products.

Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities.  The animals in Ireland are counting on compassionate people who would rather help, rather than harm, animals.  Indeed, why not act on principle and become a country that promotes compassion fashion?  Very stylish clothing and accessories can be made using gorgeous synthetic materials.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry promoted: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma.

FurStop.Com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZQnQeAPJc&feature=player_embedded

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to ban fur farms immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate countries, businesses, and designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME

SEE MORE: ARAN

farming fur
whatever for
so the vain
and frivolous
can walk
out the door?
please stop this
ugly, bloody trade
being coats is not
why animals were made

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

I’m happy to share some terrific news on PETA’s global fight to stop Canada’s annual baby-seal slaughter. Ryan Cleary—a member of Parliament from the Canadian province where much of the seal slaughter is scheduled to take place—has now gone on the record stating that it may be time to end the massacre for good as the market for seal skin dwindles as a result of animal rights campaigns. This is terrific news and an indication that PETA’s vigorous efforts are beginning to change the minds even of politicians from regions where the seal slaughter takes place.

Cleary’s statement comes after a string of victories against the seal slaughter. Thanks in part to the help of thousands of caring members and supporters like you around the world, the U.S. and the European Union (E.U.) have banned seal imports, and just last month, Russia—which buys 80 percent of Canada’s seal pelts—took steps to ban imports as well. This move came after Pamela Anderson made an international appeal to Vladimir Putin on PETA’s behalf. In just the past year, Iggy Pop and Ke$ha starred in PETA’s edgy “Canada’s Club Scene Sucks” ads, Sarah McLachlan and Joan Jett penned letters urging Canada to give up its challenges of the E.U. ban, and Canada native William Shatner led our Canadian Tax Day campaign to show citizens and lawmakers that millions of Canadian taxpayer dollars are propping up the dying annual massacre. At last, after all these efforts, national media outlets across Canada are exposing the wasteful slaughter for what it is.

We have finally reached a tipping point in this campaign—the time is now to call on Canada to end the slaughter once and for all. Please take a few minutes and click here to urge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stop this annual massacre.

Thank you for your unwavering commitment to these animals.

every second of every day
we take a step
closer in every way♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Send two letters: Please use first sample letter (or compose your own) and send via Max Mara’s online webform.  Please also send second sample letter to listed email addresses. Due to spam-blocking software, the second letter contains spam-free characters versus letters that would be bounced back by their spam filter.

BACKGROUND | FROM 3DAYZ

With their 2300 shops all around the world Max Mara Fashion Group is one of the biggest retail companies worldwide. Max Mara is considered one of the most important pret-a-porter brands, promoting a classic and sober style. But what this company doesn’t say is how many animals die for their collections every year. Fur is used in the form of trims, hats, scarves or even coats.

All over the world campaigning networks and organizations are fighting to make designers and clothing companies “fur-free”. We think it is time to ask the same ethical stand to Max Mara Fashion Group, owners of world renowned brands like Max Mara, Max&Co, and many more like Maxsport, Marina Rinaldi, Marella, Pennyblack, Newpenny, Persona, Iblues.

The Max Mara campaign is similar to those waged at department stores, or similar to the internationally coordinated campaigns that have made important fashion companies like Zara, Guess and Stefanel fur-free. This is a campaign with international support and demos in front of Max Mara stores in different countries.


1. WHOM TO CONTACT

Online contact form HERE


SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover that Max Mara and associated brands supports the fur industry. Due to the savage business of fur, any products derived from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that until Max Mara discontinues profiting off the exploitation of animals consumer sever ties with them.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry promoted: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma.

FurStop.Com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZQnQeAPJc&feature=player_embedded

Regrettably, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you or your associated brands. Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities. Max Mara, why not act on principle and become a company that promotes compassion fashion? You can create very stylish clothing and accessories using synthetic materials.

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate businesses and designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME


2. WHOM TO CONTACT

Max Mara Fashion Group
Via Giulia Maramotti 4
42124 Reggio Emilia, Italy

Phone: 00 39 05 22 3991
Fax: 00 39 05 22 399 3993
Facebook: facebook.com/maxmara

Email block | Easily copy and paste all relevant addresses:

guidotti.g@mmfg.it, info@maxandco.com, franchisingita@maxandco.com, franchisingexp@maxandco.com, info@marella.it, otb.iblues@marella.it, laurenzi.m@maxmara.it, proffice@maxmara.it, fasi.l@maxmara.it, guidotti.g@mmfg.it, info@marinarinaldi.it, negozimaxmara@maximasrl.it, info@maxmarafashiongroup.com, info@pennyblack.com, businessopp@pennyblack.com, caroggio.l@usa.maxmara.com, lusuardi.l@maxmara.it, mazzali.m@maxmara.it, ferretti.e@maxmara.it, info@maxmarafashiongroup.com


SAMPLE SUBJECT

Please stop s3lling fvr


SAMPLE LETTER, COURTESY 3DAYZ

To the attention of Max Mara Fashion Group,

Being informed by 3dayz.com, I send this message to show my svpport for the internat1onal campa1gn aga1nst the pr3sence of fvr trims and fvr jackets in the collections of Max Mara and the other brands of your company. As you may be aware every year d0zens of milli0ns anim4ls are raised in sm4ll c4ges and 4wful c0nditions to be sk1nned and tr4nsform their p3lts into tr1ms, hats or jackets sold in shops and collections like yours.

There is a gr0wing numb3r of companies and designers refvsing to use real fvr and i think the same decision is a choice that also Max Mara Fashion Group should consider, to create a fashion fr3e of this appalling crvelty. Until I will see this eth1cal decision I will take part in the b0yc0tt of all your brands products and shops and will inv1te all the people I know to do the same.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

SEE MORE:

• 3Dayz.com

• Fur | Skin

• Cruelty-Free

Fur is not pretty
On human clothes
It is rather sh*tty
As many people
Know
Fur is meant
Only to be worn
On the backs of
Those wearing
It when they were
born

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Design Against Fur | Fur-Free Alliance Slides

Please take action on the following 2 alerts from Born Free USA

1. ACT: Tell Upscale Retailer Barneys to Stop Carrying Fur

Help us move toward a fur-fashion-free society: Sign our petition that urges upscale retailer Barneys New York to stop selling fur. Then check out our Consumers for a Fur Free Society website to find out what stores — national and worldwide — have formally pledged to not sell fur.

2. ACT: Urge State Officials to Crack Down on Fur Farms

If you live in one of the 12 states with the most fur farms — the “dirty dozen” — please use our online form to urge your elected state officials to take action against fur farms. Simply click on your state and sign the letter. (Feel free to personalize!)

Find a zip code HERE

See More: Fur | Skin

From 3Dayz: Actively Compassionate for Animals

Cindy Barshop, former Real Housewives of New York star and owner of luxe spa chain Completely Bare, has created two new lines of ‘luxury’ merkins. The first line is called the Foxy Bikini, in which the bikini line is waxed bare and replaced with a pubic wig made from real fox fur. The second is the Carnivale Bikini, utilizing neon-colored feathers.

3dayz.com is disgusted to hear about such a twisted and sick thing. Innocent animals with real feelings suffer and die in horrible camps for such a controversial and cruel product as fur. There was no need for Completely Bare to use [real] fur or feathers and our belief is that it’s their perverted way of seeking attention.

To people around the world we say: let’s give them that attention and send them our protest mail!

For more information about fur and fur farming, please visit the website of FurBearerDefenders.com


WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Write to Completely Bare. Create your own message or simply copy and paste the example letter below (don’t forget to sign it at the end) and send it to the address below.
2. Leave a message on their facebook or twitter accounts. You can copy and paste parts of the example letter or leave something personal. Please be polite since the decision is not yet final!
3. Share this action with your friends and ask them to send a protest mail to Completely Bare too.
4. Let us know when you receive a reaction in response to your email. You can reach us using our “Contact Us” form, Facebook or Twitter.

WHOM TO CONTACT

Email: info@completelybare.com
Facebook: facebook.com/completelybarespas
Facebook: facebook.com/CindyRHONYC
Twitter: twitter.com/completelybare
Twitter: twitter.com/cindybarshop


EXAMPLE MESSAGE

Dear Cindy / Completely Bare,

I am shocked to read about the Foxy Bikini and the Carnivale Bikini on 3dayz.com. The use of fur is highly controversial to say the least and very cruel and unnecessary at best.

Please watch the following video to learn about established protocols in the fur industry and the utter savagery involved:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cz8XLh5crDA

I urge you to do the right thing and stop selling these cruel products.

Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

SEE MORE: Fur | Skin

completely bare
you are not all
there
do you know
what happens
to fur animals
or maybe
you just don’t
care:(

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

From Girliegirl Army

An expensive fur won’t get you past the velvet rope at Johnny Barounis’ East Side bars — in fact, it will stop you in your tracks, according to a new article in DNAinfo. Barounis, who owns establishments on the Upper East Side, the Lower East Side and in the East Village, is refusing to serve patrons who come in wearing pelts.

The 51-year-old vegetarian has won many fans and a few critics with his anti-cruelty stance, which has vetted customers at his bars for more than ten years and also extends to bans on certain foods, like veal and foie gras.   “It has been something I have done my whole life,” said Barounis,  the 51-year-old Upper West Side resident whose bars include the Lower East Side’s Revision Bar and Gallery and the Back Room.“I was always anti-hunting, anti-fur.”

As the evening crowd roll into his trendy establishments, doormen question the pelts of patrons for their authenticity and even inspect the furs if there is any doubt.  “We tell people you are welcome to come in, but the fur stays out” said Barounis, as he sat in  Revision, on Avenue B and 14th Street, that is furnished with recycled materials.

Animals who  are raised for their fur are often kept in small spaces like battery hens and meet there end by suffocation, electrocution, gas and poison, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA), of which Barounis is a member.  While many regular patrons are aware of the rule, some have been caught off guard. Last winter at the Back Room one woman became irate when she was denied entry due to her coat.

“She called the police and they almost locked her up for the false alarm,” Barounis said, who also owns the Auction House and Fetch on the Upper East Side.  Not only does the cruelty aspect to fur upset Barounis, but that the animal’s death is often worn as a status symbol only adds to the frustration. “I guess she felt entitled enough [to call the police] because she could not get into a bar with a fur coat,” he said, comparing it to “wearing a trophy.”

However, most patrons are graceful when their outfit is rejected. Another woman who also wanted to drink at the Back Room, a speakeasy with an unassuming entry at 102 Norfolk Street, simply took her fur coat off. “She rolled it up and stuck it in a dark corner in the alley,” said Barounis, adding that the woman fetched it after her night out. “She made no bones about it.” While Barounis sticks to his rule, he understands the conviction is a personal matter and is not interested in enforcing his views outside the walls of the bars he owns.“No radicalism here, there is no red paint, the fur thing is basically what I can do to help change some behavior,” he said.

PDF Fur-Free Retailers

View this document on Scribd

Fur belongs running in the wild
Not on decadent humans
In the name of style
Class and true style
Means no one harmed
No animals trapped
No obscene fur farms!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

1. Take Action to Protect Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks

2. Tell Congress to Sign the Consumer Rights Pledge

3. Tell Skechers Not to Promote Greyhound Racing in New Ad

4. TJX Corporation: Stop Selling Animal Fur

5. Tell bebe to Ditch Fur!


1. Background | From Turtle Island Restoration Project

The scalloped hammerhead is a beautiful and mysterious schooling shark that congregates by the thousands over underwater seamounts. This species is extremely vulnerable to targeted fishing by industrial longlines fishing for the shark fin trade. Because of this, its populations are experiencing drastic declines.

Adding this species to the Endangered Species Act will trigger new policies to protect these sharks and their habitat. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) as endangered and warns of a very high risk of extinction for this species in the wild. Like all sharks, scalloped hammerheads play an important role in the health and balance of marine ecosystems. Threatened coral reef ecosystems seriously suffer from the removal of this top predator.

The photo on the right was taken in Cocos Island National Park, where the Sea Turtle Restoration Project and allies conduct research to better understand the habitat use and conservation needs of sharks and sea turtles. Even in this protected area, scalloped hammerhead sharks are illegally caught for their lucrative fins.

Take action today and send the letter HERE, then use the buttons above to share this important action alert with friends on social networks.


2. Background | From Public Citizen

In a set of decisions this fall, the WTO ruled against our country-of-origin labels on meat, dolphin-safe labels on tuna and our ban on candy- and clove-flavored cigarettes. These are the policies we rely on to allow us to protect children’s health and make informed decisions as consumers. Under current rules, the U.S. will have to water down or eliminate these policies, or face trade sanctions.*

Tell your members of Congress to get into the holiday spirit and sign the Consumer Rights Pledge.

Each policy was the result of a hard-fought, decades-long battle against corporations that wanted to deny consumers information and government officials who were in the pockets of Big Business. It is unconscionable that unelected WTO “judges” would impose yet another barrier to the public’s will.

The press and Congress have been asleep at the switch. In the past, when these outrageous WTO rulings were issued, everyone saw it in the press. Not this time. That means it’s up to you to raise a stink. We need to crank up the heat so the Obama administration and Congress do not just quietly follow these WTO orders and gut our laws.

And we need to make sure that they do not extend these anti-consumer rules in future trade deals, like the major Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement that the Obama administration wants to sign with a bloc of countries next summer!

It’s the WTO and our other corporate power tool trade agreements that have to change—not consumers’ right to know!

Contact your members of Congress and have them sign the Consumer Rights Pledge.


3. Background | From PETA

PETA recently learned that Skechers filmed an advertisement at a greyhound racetrack. The ad, which will air during the Super Bowl in February, features greyhound dogs in racing jackets and Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

We immediately contacted the company to provide information on how greyhounds suffer when used in the racing industry, and asked Skechers not to air the ad. The company has not been responsive and is moving forward with its plans to air the ad.

Greyhound racing is an industry fraught with cruelty. Greyhounds used as racers typically live their entire lives in cramped cages and are kept muzzled by their trainers at all times. These gentle dogs are extremely sensitive, yet they rarely know the comfort of a kind word or a gentle touch. When too old, injured, or tired to continue racing, the dogs are often discarded like garbage. Since 2001, more than half of American greyhound-racing tracks have closed because of the public outcry against the cruelty inflicted upon dogs. The remaining tracks have seen a decrease in ticket sales.

Using the form HERE, please contact the president and the vice president of media at Skechers and politely ask them not to run this commercial and to agree never to feature greyhound racing in future Skechers ads and promotions.


4. Background | From Change

85% of the world’s fur comes from factory farms where animals are kept in inhumane conditions and skinned alive. Companies that buy fur products to sell in their stores keep this industry going. TJX is one of those companies, selling fur boots, purses, vests, fur-trimmed coats and gloves in T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s stores. Join us in teling the CEO it’s time to go FUR FREE.


5. Background  | From PETA

Cross bebe off your list of stores to shop at this holiday season! Despite knowing about the suffering that goes into every fur hat, scarf, and coat, bebe continues to sell fur. Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages that are so small they prevent animals from taking more than a few steps in any direction. Wire cages cut into rabbits’ delicate foot pads, and the animals are denied the opportunity to engage in natural behavior such as running and burrowing. Fur farmers use the cheapest killing methods available, including neck-breaking, suffocation, poisoning, and genital electrocution. Crude killing methods aren’t always effective, and sometimes animals “wake up” while they are being skinned. One of the best ways that you can help animals who are beaten and tortured for their fur is to tell bebe’s executives that you won’t buy while animals die.

Please don’t shop at bebe this holiday season, and let the company know why! Use the form below to tell bebe’s CEO to dump fur and let him know that you will not shop at bebe until all real fur is off the shelves.



See More:

• Fur | Skin
• Compassionate Eating
• Cruelty-Free
  

A new year
Some lives
To protect
A few clicks here
Shows our
Earth mother
Respect

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

We’ve had our INTERMIX: Please Stop Selling Fur campaign going  on for several months now. Not only has INTERMIX continued to ignore us, but they’ve continued to flaunt their sale of fur. Perhaps INTERMIX is under the assumption that if they continue to ignore us, that we’ll just go away. They could not be more wrong…

If INTERMIX wants to continue selling fur and contribute to the barbaric fur trade, then we’re going to have to make this campaign even louder. The Fur Free Los Angeles team is currently meeting with other animal rights organizations to tag team on this campaign, but if INTERMIX’s actions have showed us anything, our free free message cannot come just from our side.

I’d like to introduce Wolff Public Relations. INTERMIX is one of their clients, and I think we should all politely remind them that fur is dead! In an interview with one of INTERMIX’s top fur “designers”, Adrienne Landau, Lauren Wolff writes,

“We Canadians love a good fur, and nobody does it quite like Adrienne Landau. To keep stylishly warm in cooler months, we suggest topping off with this designer’s signature furs in fox, rabbit and mink.” … Heartless! Disgusting!

I don’t think Wolff Public Relations understands that not only is fur horrifyingly cruel, but it’s bad for PR. I highly suggest contacting Wolff PR and write them to urge INTERMIX to go Fur free. INTERMIX should stop carrying Adrienne Landau’s Cruela DeVille coats and start selling faux!

Please write them and urge INTERMIX to go fur free!


PETITION

Intermix: Please Go Fur Free!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Email block

lauren@wolffpublicrelations.com,
sales@adriennelandau.com,
saulo@adriennelandau.com,
customerservice@intermixonline.com

Individual

To contact Wolff Public Relations they can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at lauren@wolffpublicrelations.com.

To contact Adrienne Landau they can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at sales@adriennelandau.com and saulo@adriennelandau.com

To contact INTERMIX they can be reached on Facebook, Twitter or by email at customerservice@intermixonline.com


SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover that Wolff Public Relations supports the fur industry via INTERMIX clientele. Due to the savage business of fur, any products derived from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that until INTERMIX discontinues profiting off the exploitation of animals including dropping Adrienne Landau fur products, Wolff Public Relations sever ties with them.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry promoted: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma.

FurStop.Com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZQnQeAPJc&feature=player_embedded

Regrettably, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you or your associated clients including Intermix and Adrienne Landau . Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities. INTERMIX, why not act on principle and become a company that promotes compassion fashion? You can create very stylish clothing and accessories using synthetic materials.

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate businesses and designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME

SEE MORE:

• Fur | Skin

• Cruelty-Free

Image | CTV News

From The Globe and Mail
By Gloria Galloway

Canada’s biggest market for seal skin has closed its doors, saying it will no longer accept the pelts in any form – a move animal-rights activists say heralds the end of this country’s commercial seal industry.

Russia, along with Belarus and Kazakhstan, have informed the World Trade Organization that, effective last August, they have banned the import and export of raw, tanned and dressed fur skin of harp seals and their pups.

That follows a similar ban imposed by the European Union, which is being challenged by the Canadian government.

Sheryl Fink, the director of the seal program for the International Fund for Animal Welfare said Monday the ban took her organization by surprise. It was discovered, she said, when members of her group were poring over WTO documents online and noted an entry under Belarus.

“If Russia is 90 per cent of the market, that’s a huge chunk gone, and it’s not a great market to start with,” Ms. Fink said. “So the question is, is Canada going to admit that people don’t want seal products, or are we going to keep fighting this one?”

Rebecca Aldworth, the executive director of the Humane Society International/Canada, said the move demonstrates the global momentum to close the international market for seal products.

“It clearly spells the end of Canadian sealing as so many other trade bans have done over recent years,” Ms. Aldworth said. Her organization, she added, is calling on the federal government offer a one-time buy-out the commercial sealing industry in Canada.

It is impossible to tell exactly what percentage of Canadian seal pelts go to Russia. But the representative of two seal processing plants in Newfoundland was quoted in The Globe and Mail in 2006 as saying 90 per cent of Canadian pelts go to Russia and China and that Russia is the No. 1 customer.

Alan Herscovici, the executive vice-president of the Fur Council of Canada, said his organization was trying to check the veracity of the Russian ban on Monday morning. There have been “false alarms” before, he noted.

“I know that Russia is one the markets that seal skins do sell in. They like seal skins, always have,” he said.

There has been much confusion in the last few years, and markets have been weak because of bans like those in the European Union, Mr. Herscovici added.

But there is no scientific justification for a ban on the seal industry, he argued. “What’s really at stake here is the question is the principle of the sustainable use of wildlife.”



See More:

canada
some major
customers gone
sealing is something
most
frown upon

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Please click on and sign the following:

1. Stop a Dutch genetically engineered (GM)-vaccination study in foals from 3 days old until 6 month

2. Stop Canada’s FURociousness!


Background | From Change

This is a petition to the Dutch Minister of Environment who has agreed on a genetically engineered (GM) vaccination study re foals in foals from 3 days old until 6 months.

They use a GM-bacterium. The little horses will stay with their mothers in stables and on grassland and the manure with the GMO in it will be put on the land. The little horses shall eventually be killed (in case of biopsy) after the study is done. The European GMO-free Citizens agree with a Dutch signer who wrote that, GM-vaccines are very dangerous. There is a real risk of the generation of new pathogens with greater virulence and a broader host-range than the original pathogen. And there is no possibility of undoing it.The European GMO-free Citizens don’t want this GM vet-vaccine and have written this petition, which you can sign.

We will go to the Dutch Council of State in the Hague. This topic and these signatures are brought to their attention. The hearing will be on October the 3rd 2011.

 The Dutch Council of State

Advisory body on legislation and administrative court
The Council of State has two primary tasks, carried out by two separate divisions. The Advisory Division, as its name implies, advises the government and Parliament on legislation and governance, while the Administrative Jurisdiction Division is the country’s highest general administrative court. The basis for these responsibilities can be found in articles 73 and 75 of the Constitution.

Like the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Netherlands Court of Audit and the National Ombudsman, the Council is one of the High Councils of State. These are bodies regulated by the Constitution, which carry out their tasks independently of the government.

Voor de Nederlandse mensen klik hier voor meer Nederlandse informatie.

Translation: For Dutch people click here for more information in Dutch.

2. Background | From Change

Every year, thousands of innocent animals such as Coyotes, Elk, Deer, and Bears are slaughtered cruelly for their fur, for coats that a minority of the population buys into anyways. Sign here to STOP the pointless slaughter of these animals and help in the first step to abolishing the fur trade worldwide!



See More:

• Animal Wrongs

• Fur | Skin

This is murder
Not science
We stand together
In defiance!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

1. Lane Bryant: Stop Using 5% Rabbit Fur in your Sweaters

2. Ask Skechers officials not to air dog track ad

3. Petland USA: Stop Selling Pets – Fire Puppy Mills – Petland Canada Has!

4. Help Michigan Students Stop the “License to Bully” Bill


1. Background | From Change

Angora Rabbit fur is factory farmed. Angora rabbits usually live to be about 10-13 years old, but factory rabbits are killed after 6-9 months. The rabbits live out their short lifespans in cramped cages, inside dimly lit warehouses, in cages that have wire bottoms and hurt their little rabbit feet.

There is no good reason to include 5% rabbit fur in a Lane Bryant sweater; the fur is not necessary for a good quality garment. Lane Bryant has had a long-standing history of quality clothing and has the ability to create a high-quality sweater with no rabbits in it. Additionally, we would like to be able to trust that the clothes we buy from our favorite clothing store do not have torture in them.

For the love of rabbits, the 5% should go!

2. Background | From Change

It has come to our attention that Skechers wants to use Tucson Greyhound Park as the backdrop for a new TV commercial.  Please sign this petition to ask them not to support the cruelty of dog racing.

At TGP, greyhounds are kept confined in small cages which are barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around. They are fed raw 4-D meat, the meat of downed, diseased, disabled or dead livestock. This was documented in a recent video investigation and in news reports available on our web site at: http://grey2kusa.org/action/states/az.html

While racing, greyhounds face the risk of serious injury. According to the Arizona Department of Racing, nearly 1,000 greyhound injuries occurred between January 2007 and November 2009, the last year such records were made available to the public. To read more about injuries and Arizona greyhound racing in general, please see our 128-page report at http://grey2kusa.org/pdf/AZ2011.pdf


3. Background | From Change

More than 95% of animals for sale at Petland USA stores are from commercial puppy mills. According to transport and shipping records from the Department of Agiculture involving more than 5 States,17,000 puppies delivered to Petland were sourced from puppy mills. USDA inspection records were cross-checked and source facilities were visited to confirm this fact. HSUS led this investigation.

Petland Canada has announced they will stop selling pets, why not Petland USA? Successful Petland franchisee conversions to adoption models are operating in PA with help from local shelters.

We know the Master Franchisor (Petland USA, Ohio) cannot by fiat dictate that everyone follow a new policy.  They can announce their intention and new policy, and current franchisees are free to run their businesses as they see fit.  Yet a sea-change in policy from the top would be a giant leap in saving lives and changing Petland’s reputation and market share. It would not take long for laggards to follow as we push for legislation against selling pets and picket with ‘adopt don’t shop’ signs.

Turn your ship around, Petland USA – change your policy! Stop selling pets, fire puppy mills, choose instead the benefits of community support. Your voicemail message says you care about animals. Prove it – step up, be a policy leader and save lives!


4. Background | From Change

It’s tough being a student when bullies are allowed to physically and verbally hurt you at school. Unfortunately, because of a dangerous new bill passed by the Michigan State Senate, it’s only going to get worse.

On November 2, minutes before voting to pass a new bullying bill, the Michigan State Senate added special language that provides a blueprint for bullies. According to this language, as long as the bullying is done because of “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction,” then it’s ok.

As students, we deserve better. 

I was in 7th grade putting my books in my locker when a few guys game up behind me. They called me a faggot and a dyke and asked me why I even bothered to show my face at school because no one liked me. I ignored them because I was scared of what else they might say and who else they might tell if I stood up to them. I went to shut my locker when an 8th grader pushed me against the wall. I didn’t know what to do so I stood there, alone and afraid. One of his friends slammed my locker shut on my hand breaking my fourth finger. I held back tears while I watched them run away laughing. When I got home I lied to my parents about what happened to my finger because I didn’t want them to tell the school. I was afraid the school would do nothing accept call me out in front of everyone.

My name is Katy Butler, I am now a junior at Greenhills School in Ann Arbor Michigan and I am lesbian. For me, 7th grade was four years ago and writing about that event, even thinking about it, I still tear up. Stopping the “License to Bully” bill and passing real anti-bullying legislation is so important to me because I don’t want anyone else to have to have such strong, painful memories. Being bullied because of something I couldn’t change hurt, but it hurt even more that my school did not do anything about something that they could change.

My story is not unique. Students all across Michigan have stories just like mine. Students like my friend Carson Borbely, who is currently in eighth grade:

A few weeks ago in class, I brushed a friend’s hair away from her face. A loud voice sharply interrupted, ‘Don’t touch her. Trannies carry diseases.’ The teacher didn’t do anything. That was the fourth incident in her class that I had been harassed by the same boy. Nothing was done. The only reprimand he got was a sharp calling of his name. The teacher asked him passively to stop. He continued.

Carson and I are speaking out for all those students who suffer every day at school. We’re speaking out because we deserve a bill that will actually protect us at school, not make it more dangerous, or give bullies a free pass. People keep telling us youth “It Gets Better”. Well it can’t get better if you don’t make it better. I’m doing my part to help, please do yours.

Please stand with students across the state and sign our petition demanding that the Michigan State Legislature pass a real anti-bullying bill. One that doesn’t have special exceptions, but does list the reasons students are bullied most often, and does add reporting requirements. A bill that actually protects students.

Sincerely,

Katy Butler, Michigan high school student
Carson Borbely, Michigan junior high school student



See More:

• Fur | Skin
• Human Rights
• Cruelty-Free
  

a click or two
can travel many miles
just take a few
moments
and create
one million smiles

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Please click on and sign the following:

1. Tell Kohl’s to Ditch Fur!

2. Animals at Thailand Shelter Urgently Need Your Help!

3. Tell Ohio school district to protect LGBT students

4. In Memory of Basie, the Sr Dog Euthanized Within Hours of Being Lost: Change VA Law

5. Don’t Let Chevron Get Away with Environmental Crimes in Brazil!


1. Background | From PETA

Despite knowing about the suffering that goes into every fur-trimmed coat, hat, and bag, Kohl’s has made the cruel decision to continue selling the skins of dead animals in its stores.

Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages, and fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available. Foxes, minks, coyotes, and rabbits—and even dogs and cats—are bludgeoned, genitally electrocuted, and often skinned alive for their fur.

One of the best ways that you can help animals who are beaten and tortured for their fur is to tell Kohl’s executives that you’ll boycott the clothing retailer until it stops selling fur. Many of Kohl’s competitors and other top retailers—including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap Inc., Perry Ellis, Express, Cole Haan, bebe, Wet Seal, Forever 21, and Limited Brands—have stopped selling fur.

Speak out against the killing of animals for their skins. Write to Kohl’s executives now and urge them to dump fur for good.


2. Background | From PETA

Tony’s Shelter in Pattaya, Thailand, confines hundreds of dogs to severely crowded pens. The dogs are not separated by age, gender, or health, leading to problems such as food competition and injuries from fighting. During routine visits to the shelter, PETA Asia inspectors documented that sick and injured animals were not given veterinary care.

Investigations revealed that many dogs at the facility suffered from severe mange and that others were extremely emaciated. Several dogs had large open wounds, and one dog suffered from what appeared to be a prolapsed uterus. Investigators also witnessed dogs being castrated with elastic bands. Even though Tony’s Shelter claims to be in desperate need of supplies, medicine that PETA took to the shelter to help alleviate the suffering of animals who were infected with mange was never used.

Confining animals to an environment that can’t meet their physical and psychological needs and providing them with limited exercise and care can lead to kennel stress, a condition in which the physical and mental frustrations of confinement lead to abnormal, neurotic, and even self-destructive behavior. Kennel stress is common among animals in shelters, and the condition is an even bigger issue at Tony’s Shelter because of the sheer number of animals who are kept there.

Wealthy businessperson Surapol “Tony” Sanguancharti-Sorakrai—who owns Tony’s Shelter as well as Tony’s Disco, Tony’s Gym, Tony’s Entertainment Complex, and other businesses—has been unresponsive to PETA Asia’s requests for changes and offers of help. Please use the form below to ask the shelter to immediately improve conditions for the animals who live at the facility. Tony’s Buddhist beliefs are no excuse for allowing animals to continue to suffer and for not providing adequate care to animals.


3. Background | From Change

Zach Huston, a 15-year-old student who was attacked for being gay, said he experienced taunts for more than a year while the school did nothing to help him. Now the ACLU has joined 80,000 people to ask the school district to pass a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation.


4. Background | From Change

Occoquan, VA: Anyone who owns a dog knows there may be a time when the dog sees a squirrel or just has a case of wanderlust and may escape the yard. But no one expects their dog to be euthanized within a few short hours of setting out on her own. Especially when missing pet flyers are posted and people are diligently searching for the lost dog.

But that is what happened to Basie, a 17-year old Corgi/Border Collie mix that got out of her yard. The beloved pet would be dead at the hands of the Crosspointe Animal Hospital within 3 hours of leaving her owner’s home.

On November 1st at 12:06, Basies owners took a picture of her while she was outside. Fifteen minutes later, since they often checked on her, the owners discovered she was missing.

Their search turned up nothing until the next day, when all that was left of Basie was her cremated remains. She had been euthanized by the veterinarian at the Crosspointe Animal Hospital in Fairfax Station. An unknown person had found Basie, and apparently thinking she was a stray, took her to the Crosspointe Animal Hospital. She was dropped off at 12:20 p.m., shortly after her owners discovered she was missing. According to newspaper reports, the veterinarian at Crosspointe Animal Hospital did not attempt to locate her owners, or wait for them to claim her, but euthanized her shortly after she was brought in.

Basie was not wearing a collar. Her owners removed it, saying it irritated her neck.

According to Virginia Code § 3.2-6507, a licensed veterinarian may euthanize a dog without the owner’s permission if the dog is injured or sick. WUSA-9 reports: “Crosspoint’s examination report of Basie found several health problems, including respiratory disease and neurologic abnormalities. But it also says she was “alert” and “responsive.” Her owners admit that Basie had some age-related health issues which they were monitoring, however, she was well taken care of and she was not ready to die. She was clean, her nails were clipped, and she recently had a tooth extracted, which should have alerted the veterinarian that she was someone’s pet.

This petition respectfully requests that an investigation be conducted into the procedures used in this case, as well as prior instances by the Crosspointe Animal Hospital veterinarian, and that Virginia code § 3.2-6507 be reviewed and modified so that immediate euthanization of animals by veterinarians without owners consent can only occur if the animal has life-threatening injuries or illnesses. Not because the animal shows signs of old age.

For more information on this story:

http://fairfaxstation.patch.com/articles/owners-of-euthanized-dog-may-file-lawsuit

http://wusa9.com/news/article/174297/373/Dog-Euthanized-Without-Owners-Permission

A page has also been set up on Facebook, called In Memory of Basie


5. Background | From Amazon Watch

We’re going to show [Chevron] that they can’t come here and create whatever environmental mess they want.

Those were the words of Carlos Minc, Rio de Janeiro state’s environment secretary, in response to Chevron’s oil spill off the coast of Brazil. Anyone familiar with the ongoing battle to bring Chevron to justice in Ecuador knows that the company will do everything it can to protect its profits even at the expense of the planet and human health. Write to Brazilian officials now and urge them to hold Chevron accountable for every drop of oil it spilled into the Atlantic Ocean.

Anyone familiar with the ongoing battle to bring Chevron to justice in Ecuador knows that the company will do everything it can to protect its profits even at the expense of the planet and human health. Brazilian officials are determined to make Chevron pay for the impacts of its reckless business operations. Send key environmental officials in Brazil a message now to let them know you’ve got their back.

It isn’t just Chevron’s response to the spill that has been criticized. Before and after the spill occurred, Chevron showed shockingly little concern about the risks involved. The company reportedly drilled deeper than it was licensed to, and had to borrow sonar equipment to even locate where the leak was occurring. Chevron was completely unprepared for an oil spill – or perhaps I should say, completely unconcerned. Production and profits are all that really matter to Chevron.

No wonder Carlos Minc has also been quoted saying: “We believe the accident could’ve been avoided. There was an environmental crime. [Chevron] hid information and their emergency team took almost 10 days to start acting.”

Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency says more than 110,000 gallons of oil have spilled into the Atlantic Ocean. Write to Carlos Minc and other key Brazilian environmental officials now and urge them to hold Chevron accountable for every last drop.

For a cleaner future.


See More:

• Fur | Skin

• Human Rights

• Compassionate Eating

Chances are, if you’re hosting a holiday feast this year, you’ll have at least one friend or family member who will be a little flustered by the feathered fowl at the center of the table. For either ethical or health reasons, many people are making the switch to a vegetarian or vegan (vegetarian minus the eggs, dairy products, and other animal products) diet. Although this is all well and good for them (and for turkeys), it can present a definite challenge for their carnivorous hosts.

These delicious recipes will please every palate and make it easier to give up the giblets, giving everyone—including animals—something to be thankful for this holiday season:

• Appetizers and Snacks
• Soups and Salads
• Entrées
• Side Dishes
• Gravies
• Faux Turkeys
• Desserts
• Beverages
• Meals

In order to avoid ruffling any feathers this holiday season, PETA has dished up these handy tips:

• Make the holiday stuffing vegetarian-friendly by using vegetable broth instead of a meat-based broth.
• Great gravy is a cinch with canned Franco-American mushroom gravy or Hain instant vegan gravy, available in traditional brown or “chicken” flavors. Just add water and simmer.
• Serve any one of these tasty vegan turkeys instead of the traditional fowl.
• When baking the holiday bread, be sure to use an egg replacer and soy milk in place of eggs and milk.
• Not sure what to make for hors d’oeuvres? Check out our recipe page and choose from a variety of tasty vegan recipes.
• Swap the milk and butter with soy milk and margarine for vegan mashed potatoes that everyone will love.
• Whip up a vegan dessert using one of our recipes, or if you’re in a pinch, pick up some nondairy ice cream for a quick and delicious dessert.
• Be sure to have a vegan dressing for the salad; our shopping guide has a list of vegan dressings that can be found at most grocery stores.
• Forgo the butter this year and use margarine instead. Try Earth Balance (OC Note: contains palm oil), or check out our shopping guide for more vegan margarines.
• Save time in the kitchen by having each of your guests bring a vegan dish to share. Our holiday recipe guide has loads of tempting dishes that will satisfy even the pickiest of palates.
• Still not sure about how to make a vegan cake or what to use in place of gelatin? Our handy substitution guide will answer all your vegan cooking questions.

Fur-Free Friday 2011: Make This Season Cruelty-Free

It’s time to get into the fur-free spirit! November 25 (the day after Thanksgiving) is Fur-Free Friday—the day on which animal advocates all around the globe will educate holiday shoppers about the cruel fur and leather industries. Every year, the fur industry heartlessly kills 50 million animals—many of whom are skinned alive. The leather industry is no friend to animals either—the global leather industry slaughters more than a billion animals annually.

Last year, we kicked off the season with 250 registered Fur-Free Friday events around the globe! Want to take part in the Fur-Free Friday festivities this year? It’s simple!






Register Your Event

Register here to make sure that your protest gets added to the list of Fur-Free Friday events.

Find an Event

Click on your country and then state below to find out if there is a Fur-Free Friday event in your area, or plan one of your own.

Click here for some tips on organizing your Fur-Free Friday event. Already have an event planned but still need to spread the word? Click here for three simple ways to publicize your event.

Together we can make this Fur-Free Friday bigger than last year!

USA

Canada

Other Countries

See More:

• Gentle Thanksgiving
• Fur Kills
• International Anti-Fur Coalition
  

the real day of celebration
will be animal liberation♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Stop Raccoon Dogs Being Skinned Alive in China for fake Ugg Boots Suffering Slow, Sickening Horrendous Deaths

From Change

Thousands of unsuspecting people may be buying imitation Ugg boots made from the pelts of animals skinned alive. The fur comes from Raccoon Dogs, a species related to domestic dogs, farmed in China.

A sickening video of the skins being collected has led activists to demand a ban on the trade and call for clearer labelling.

(One picture shows) Brutal: Workers in China Skinning a Raccoon Dog, but the Raccoon Dog is still ALIVE and Suffering.

The raccoon dog is indigenous to Asia and related to dogs and foxes.

Ugg boots are made from Australian sheepskin and cost up to £200 – but cheap imitations have flooded the market.

But campaigners have found that other companies in Australia, where the popular boots are made, are using raccoon dog fur farmed in China and labelling it ‘Australian sheepskin’.

Campaigners from Humane Society International (HSI) warned that the footwear could have found its way into the UK.

While the law says that no products using dog or cat fur may be imported or sold in the country, there is no ban on fur from raccoon dogs, an Asian species with links to foxes, dogs and jackals. They are not related to raccoons.

(One picture shows) Pitiful: A bloodied and dazed creature is shown still alive but helpless on a pile of corpses.

(One picture shows) Agony: A raccoon dog is beaten to stop it struggling so it can be skinned alive.

Wendy Higgins from Humane Society International HSI UK said:

‘I have been working in animal rights for more than a decade and have never seen a video that has shocked me so much.
‘It is not just the killing of the animals that is horrific, but the fact that they must endure such slow, painful deaths.

‘These animals are not dogs, so there is no legislative reason why boots containing the fur cannot be imported into the UK. There are also many problems with the labelling of fur products, so many consumers will not be aware of where the fur in their boots comes from.’

Websites found by HSI show other companies are selling the fur on gilets, coats and ear-muffs for delivery to the UK.
Ugg Australia denied they were using the fur in their own boots and pointed the finger at cheap copies.

(One picture shows) Cruelty: A raccoon dog is beaten on the head in an attempt to stun it. Another dazed animal lies on the right-hand of the image.

(One picture shows) Force: A Brutal Chinese worker stands on a Raccoon Dog’s neck to stop it struggling. The process of skinning the raccoon dogs is agonisingly slow.

Lena McDonald from Ugg Australia said the use of raccoon dog fur by other companies was tarnishing the entire industry as many people were unable to tell the different brands apart.

She said her company used its own tannery to ensure the standards of its boots, but added that up to 40 products using fur from overseas contained the word ‘ugg’.

She said: ‘As far as I can see many of these boots are not made in Australia at all yet they have the words Australia and Ugg on them. We have seen companies cutting off tags saying “made in China” and putting on a “made in Australia” tag.’

The UK Government announced its ban on importing cat and dog pelts from China in 2001 after it emerged that a fur collar, obtained from a leading store in the West End, contained dog fur.

A total ban on the trade in dog and cat fur came into force across Europe in December 2008.

Published: 5th October 2011 by Protection 4 Animals http://wp.me/p1JH8U-9P using Twitter @P4Animals

Please sign this Petition s we can all work to putting a stop to this Barbaric Act in China to Raccoon Dogs. Please use all social medial to let your friends know of this Petition.

Thank you for for kindness

Michael J, T. Kavanagh
Author & Publisher of Protection 4 Animals


Video | A Shocking Look Inside Chinese Fur Farms

Please send a letter to Ugg requesting they be fur/skin free.

BACKGROUND | FROM FACEBOOK

Directly from the official Ugg website:”UGG® Australia uses only the highest-grade sheepskin available. Twin-face sheepskin is used in many of our core products. A piece of twin-face sheepskin has been treated on both the fleece side, and the skin side, providing the soft comfort UGG® Australia is famous for.”

In the description they state that their product has been treated on both the fleece and skin side of the boot. Many people believe the sheep are sheared for the wool that lines Ugg boots: unfortunately, that wool is still attached to their skin, so they are therefore killed. They wouldn’t be advertised as sheepskin boots if they weren’t made from skin.

If you read this entire description, you will acknowledge that sheep are slaughtered for meat and their skin is used for Uggs. Although, that is still entirely not the point of the group. The point is to prove that they are, infact, skin. Because many people may think otherwise.

Please, understand that animals are killed in the making of Ugg sheepskin shoes and boots.


WHOM TO CONTACT

UGGfans@UGGaustralia.com

SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover that Ugg is commercially engaged with the fur and wool industries. Due to the fundamentally-savage business of fur and shearling farming, any products derived from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that Ugg discontinues profiting off the exploitation of animals; this request includes all brand fur products as well as your shearling merchandise. Furthermore, commercial demand is not justification to undertake such barbarism; indeed, child labor and human trafficking are considered financially beneficial as well, yet due to their inherent brutality and inequity, should not be sanctioned.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry you promote: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma. Why would you WANT to cause such suffering?

FurStop.Com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZQnQeAPJc&feature=player_embedded

Humans are capable, indeed obligated, to acknowledge animals as sentient beings who, like humans, experience love, anguish, pain, and suffering. Human apathy as established by the usage of fabrications and euphemisms reflects a lack of respect, not only for animals, but also for humans, and I implore upon you to examine your role in the suffering of animals and your unscrupulous conduct as host to such a cruel business. Regrettably, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you or your associated products. Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities. Indeed, why don’t you act on principle and become a company that promotes compassion fashion? You can create very stylish boots and accessories using synthetic materials.

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur and shearling immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate businesses and designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME

SEE MORE:

Fur | Skin

Fur-Free Retailers | Vegan Retailers

ugg…if you want to make a statement
of fashion
try a little compassion

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

IMAGE | WEEAC

BACKGROUND | FROM WEEAC

Animals raised for their fur suffer from the time they’re little until the day they are killed.

Inside the breeder rooms, the farmer looked for babies to take away from their mothers. The babies squealed and squealed as he grabbed them and carried them by their tails to the “grower room.” Their mothers were distressed, too; one climbed and pressed against the front of her cage, frantically trying to reach her baby. My partner asked the farmer if the mothers got upset when he took their babies away. “I don’t ask them their opinion,” he said.

At feeding time, the farmer walked down the rows of cages checking if the chinchillas were dead or alive. Many were asleep, since they are nocturnal animals, but the farmer banged on cages to make them move. One chinchilla didn’t move. His hindquarters looked wasted away, completely denuded of fur. The farmer had already told us that his profit margins didn’t factor in veterinary care. He tossed the body onto the festering trash heap he called “Mount Chinchilla.”

Animals who had chewed at their fur (a sign of stress), making them unsuitable for pelting, were housed on a lower rack—”death row”—so that the farmer could scoot alongside the cages in an office chair, killing one after another without exerting himself. He kills these “trash” animals by breaking their necks.

We watched him thrust his arm into a cage, corner the frantic chinchilla inside, and pull him out by his tail. Grasping the chinchilla’s head and jaw, he arched the neck awkwardly backwards. The chinchilla squealed. The farmer then pulled sharply on the animal’s tail, breaking his neck. He tossed the jerking chinchilla to the floor, where the animal writhed in continuous spasms. We asked if he was ever bothered by the killings. “I don’t feel anything,” he replied, and moments later, added, “I could do this all day.”

Other chinchillas are electrocuted so that they won’t thrash around and ruin their coats. Carrying a chinchilla by her tail, the farmer pulled a rusty wire apparatus from a drawer, dipped the sharp clamps into a jar of water, and attached one clamp to the chinchilla’s metal ear tag and the other to her foot. He plugged the device into a wall socket and dropped the chinchilla to the counter. The surge of electricity stiffened her. Her tail stuck straight out, her chest heaved, and a minute later, a yellow trickle ran down the counter—she had lost control of her bladder.

Performed this way, electrocution sends a current through the heart and immobilizes the animal, but it does not stop brain activity. The chinchillas suffer the pain of a full-blown heart attack until their hearts finally stop beating. The farmer admitted that he had been told by a veterinarian to stun the chinchillas first. But he said he didn’t see why stunning them and then electrocuting them would be any different from just electrocuting them, so he doesn’t do it.

After unplugging the device, the farmer clipped the chinchilla’s arms and legs to a pelting board in a spread-eagled position. Slitting her open, he cut her face away from her skull and cut her hands off. Working her pelt away from her body, he pulled her arms out of her skin, which turned inside out like socks. Saying, “She doesn’t need these anymore,” he took scissors and cut off her whiskers, then her ears. Her tail and feet soon followed; they were dumped, along with her naked, skinned body, into a garbage bucket, like so much trash.


VIDEO | WARNING: GRAPHIC

PETITION

Please click on and sign Brazil’s shame:

World’s biggest chinchilla killer for the fur trade


WHOM TO CONTACT

To Mrs. Rebecca Garcia, appointed by the brazilian Congress to evaluate PL-05956/2009

Email Link, click on http://www2.camara.gov.br/participe/fale-conosco/fale-com-o-deputado

• Você deseja: You want to | Solicitar: Request
• Campos obrigatórios: Required fields
• Destinatário(s) da mensagem: Recipient of the message - Select REBECCA GARCIA, in the R’s
• Nome: Name
• E-mail: E-mail
• UF: State (if not applicable, pick any)
• Mensagem: Message
• Código de Segurança: Security code
• Enviar: Send
• A Câmara dos Deputados agradece sua manifestação: The Chamber thanks you for your submission.

To Mr. Tripoli, author of PL PL-05956/2009

Email Link to Mr. Tripoli, click on: http://www2.camara.gov.br/participe/fale-conosco/ouvidoria

• Fale com a Ouvidoria: Contact the ombudsman
• Nome: Name
• Fale com a Ouvidoria: Message
• Como você quer receber a resposta? How do you want to receive the answer? | Por e-mail: By e-mail | Por carta: By letter | Por auto-consulta na internet: For self-inquiry on the internet
• Sexo: Gender
• Faixa Etária: Age
• UF: State
• Código de Segurança: Security Code
• Enviar: Send
• Informação, Mensagem inserida com sucesso. Protocolo: 3377102584686: Information, Post submitted successfully. Reference number: 3377102584686.

SAMPLE LETTER COURTESY WEEAC

Dear Representative Garcia | Dear Mr. Tripoli,

It has come to my attention that Deputy Rebecca Garcia has been appointed, by the Brazilian Congress, to evaluate the Bill that was introduced to BAN fur farming of chinchillas in Brazil. This Bill, presented in 2009 By Deputy Tripoli, if approved, will completely BAN the breeding and killing of chinchillas (Chincilla lanigera) in every state of your country.

I am writing this letter to inform you that I, along with many citizens from Brazil, as well as millions of people around the world, expect you to take a stand against this cruelty. By voting  against this practice and forbidding it, by means of a federal law, would make it Illegal for any person or group to maintain such a business that is unacceptable to the vast majority of decent people worldwide.

At this very moment we are in the process of collecting signatures from people all around the world. Against chinchilla Fur Farming in Brazil:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/brazils-shame-worlds-biggest-chinchilla-killer-for-the-fur-trade/

The Brazilian Constitution, on its article 225, parágrafo 1o, inciso VII, clearly defines as an attribution of the Brazilian State, to expressly prohibit animal cruelty. Therefore, I believe it is reasonable to demand the BAN on such horrific cruelty, as is done in the breeding and killing of these animals.

They are bred in small filthy cages their entire lives only to face a cruel and painful death, all for the sake of profit for a few, on a totally non-essential item such as “fashion” that goes to a few rich and narrow-minded customers. The following footage, made in Michigan of the United States, clearly shows the horrific methods used by breeders, such as suffocation, breaking their necks, or anal electrocution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX_VkgVsUyc

Babies squeal as they are snatched away from their mothers by their tails and brought to a “grower room” where they are confined to a tiny cage. Mothers try frantically to reach their babies who were just stolen.

Killing via the electrocution method: the farmer pulls a rusty wire apparatus from a drawer, dips the sharp clamps into a jar of water, and attaches one clamp to the chinchilla’s metal ear tag and the other to her foot. He plugs the device into a wall socket and drops the chinchilla to the counter. The surge of electricity causes the chinchilla to stiffen, her tail stuck straight out, her chest heaved, and a minute later, a yellow trickle ran down the counter—as she had lost control of her bladder.

Following this barbaric procedure, the farmer clips the chinchilla’s arms and legs to a pelting board in a spread-eagled position. Slitting her open, he cuts her face away from her skull and cuts her hands off. Working her pelt away from her body, he pulls her arms out of her skin, which turn inside out like socks. Then with a scissors, cuts off her whiskers, her ears, her tail, and then also the feet; all are dumped, along with her naked, skinned body, into a garbage bucket, like so much trash.

The Brazilian people have asked for our help and support, to put an END to this brutal industry, which we have every intention of following through until we see that it has ended.

So I ask that you please consider your decision carefully. For the decision you make will affect you directly via the impact it will have on your personal political career. And it also will bring serious consequences _ either favorable or negative _ to Brazilian tourism, as we will not hesitate to boycott your country, over all, as well as the incoming international events on Brazil soil: Copa do Mundo and Olympic Games.

We already have Brazil targeted for its insane position in relation to the non-preservation of the Amazon Forest and its commitment to deny international claims against Belo Monte, of which, we have a petition going on that as well.

Please do not disappoint us, as we certainly do not wish to be forced to retaliate.

Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent appeal.

Sincerely,

the little chinchilla
soft and furry
wants to live
his or her life
not in a hurry
but fur farms
rob these innocents
of the life they
so cherish
and in agony
and horror
these innocents,
perish:(

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

1. Previous alert, please also sign: Intermix & BCBG: Please Go Fur Free!

2. New alerts, please click on and sign: Honor your promise to not sell fur

BCBG Max Azria: Stop slaughtering rabbits

3. Letter campaign: please see below for instructions on mailing the sample Message Text as well.


Background | From IDA

High-end fashion brand BCBG has broken their promise concerning sales of fur. In 2008, BCBG signed a pledge to not sell fur, joining many in the fashion industry to go fur-free including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Stella McCartney, and Vivienne Westwood.

But BCBG’s 2011 holiday line has fur! We are disappointed that BCBG is moving in the wrong direction and has gone back on their word. Over 50 million animals a year suffer and die in an unnecessary industry and BCBG is contributing to the misery of fur-bearing animals. Please join IDA in asking BCBG to stand by their original compassionate choice and go fur free … again!


Message Text

Subject: Please honor your promise to not sell fur

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked that a reputable company such as BCBG would go back on your promise to be fur-free, with the introduction of fur into your 2011 holiday line. As a compassionate consumer, I will not support your company or buy your clothing as long as you sell fur.

Animals killed for fur suffer terribly on fur farms where they live short lives in filthy, tiny cages, exposed to extremes of weather. They are killed in nightmarish ways including gassing, bludgeoning, stomping, neck-breaking, and anal and/or genital electrocution. Some are even skinned alive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rinXw-Og6is

Please join industry leaders such as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, and many others in making your clothing and accessories fur-free. I encourage you to please make the compassionate choice, pull all fur products from your line, and make BCBG permanently fur-free.

Sincerely,

What Else You Can Do

Please also consider sending an email using the Message Text above or using a sample letter via the link below; feel free to also send a hard copy letter and/or make a telephone call

Email block

max@bcbg.com
Lalena.Luba@bcbg.com

Individual

Max Azria
CEO
BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP
2761 Fruitland Ave.
Vernon, CA 90058

Phone: 323-589-2224

Email: max@bcbg.com

Lalena Luba
Vice President of Public Relations
BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP
2761 Fruitland Ave.
Vernon, CA 90058

Phone: 212-704-4789

Email: Lalena.Luba@bcbg.com

Click HERE to see additional sample letters, there are numerous available.


Video | The Real Cost of Fur

See More:

• Fur | Skin
• Cruelty-Free

BACKGROUND | FROM CAFT

Gift and card shops around the country are selling ornamental / novelty gift animals made of real fur. They come in various shapes and sizes and most are of cats and dogs.

One of the main suppliers of these is a Surrey-based company Nauticalia Ltd who sell cats that look as though they are sleeping. These are called Intrepid Ship’s Cats and are retailed at around £25 each. The company claims they are made from rabbit fur from animals killed in China.

Others, from other companies, are shaped as small cats and dogs in baskets, and sell at a few pounds. There are also a wider variety of animals standing at about 15cm high.

All of these ornaments claim to be made from rabbit fur, although investigations in the United States found a large number of similar ones to be made from the fur of domestic cats and dogs.

The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade opposes the use of all animal fur. We believe that the suffering and death of animals cannot be justified to supply such a trade.

Rabbit fur comes from two sources – rabbits raised specifically for their fur, and rabbits raised primarily for their meat. The conditions in which the animals are raised (usually factory farming where they are crammed into bare wire cages and denied the ability to perform natural behaviours such as jump, run or dig) are similar, as is their death. Death is usually by neck-breaking or the throat being slit. The rabbits will also suffer when being transported between farm and market and / or slaughter, and are often roughly handled.

In Britain it is illegal to breed animals solely or primarily for their fur. Therefore most fur, including some rabbit fur, sold in Britain is produced in a way that would be illegal in this country.

Some people may think that if the fur is a ‘by-product’ of the meat trade then its use is acceptable. But one must consider the suffering of the animals whatever the purpose of that suffering. We don’t need toys made from real fur so how can the use of rabbit fur be justified? The use of real fur financially supports the ways in which the animals are raised and killed. It also promotes the general use of real fur – the fur trade kills 40 million animals a year worldwide, breeding them in barren cages where they go mad and mutilate themselves, or trapping them in vicious leg hold traps where many try to escape by gnawing off their own limbs. The use of rabbit fur for these toys is no different. By buying any real fur these are the acts that you are paying for.

With such an abundance of high quality synthetic materials there is no need to use real animal fur.

Some of the shops selling these toys, and many of the people buying them, do not even realise they are made from real fur until groups such as CAFT point it out to them.


WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Do not buy these fur animals. Check carefully before buying anything – if you are not 100% certain that it is synthetic then don’t buy it.
• Complain to any shop you see selling these toys, and send us their details so that we can contact them.
• CAFT contacts companies selling these and other real fur products. We provide them with information on the cruelties and ask them to stop selling real fur. If they refuse we publish their details and ask others to write polite letters to them. We also support protests outside shops selling real fur.
• Contact Nauticalia now expressing your disgust at them selling fur products. Ask them to stop selling them, and tell them you, your friends and family will boycott them until they stop!

WHOM TO CONTACT

Nauticalia can be contacted at:

Mr Lynn Lewis
Nauticalia Ltd.
The Ferry Point
Ferry Lane, Shepperton-on-Thames
TW17 9LQ

Tel: 01932 244396
Fax: 01932 241679

E-mail: mailorder@nauticalia.com

SAMPLE LETTER, COURTESY WSPA

To Whom It Concerns,

It is my understanding that your stores are currently stocking and selling fur products. This is of great concern to myself, family, friends, and colleagues due to the inherent cruelty involved in the production of fur –arguably the most indefensible of uses of animals.

All animals used for fur, whether they are trapped or farmed, experience intense suffering.  Globally, 85 percent of fur used in fashion comes from animals raised on fur farms, 80 per cent of which are in China, where there is no animal protection legislation. The fur industry makes its huge profits by using poor conditions to keep production costs to the bare minimum, and millions of animals every year are forced to endure the most profound indifference to their suffering, dignity, and most basic needs – all in the name of fashion.

On fur farms all over the world, animals are kept in appalling conditions, crammed into row after row of tiny barren cages, and left to stand on metal bars for their entire lives. Such conditions fail to accommodate even their most basic natural behaviours. Even the methods of slaughter, including electrocution and live skinning, are designed to protect the pelts without any consideration for the animals’ suffering.

Please watch the following video illustrating the cruelty involved in fur farming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cz8XLh5crDA

In light of the extreme animal suffering involved in fur production, many countries have already banned the production of fur.  For example, an increasing number of European countries have introduced legislation to curtail or prohibit the production of all fur, including the UK, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Additionally,the European Union and United States have already implemented bans on the trade in fur of dogs and cats. In addition to these great legislative achievements, many national and international retailers have ceased selling fur and have put their fur-free commitment in writing by signing onto the international Fur-Free Retailer programme.

It is my appeal to you to respond to the cruelty inherent in fur production by ceasing the sale of fur and signing up as an official fur-free retailer:

http://www.furfreeshopping.com/a_program.php. 

You have the opportunity to send a vital message to the fur industry and to your concerned customers: fur is of a bygone age and to breed and kill animals just for fashion or luxury is at complete odds with contemporary understanding of animal sentience.

I hope you will decide to eliminate all fur from your stores after considering this information.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the points raised in this letter.

Sincerely,

See More:

• Fur-Free & Vegan Retailers
• Fur | Skin

Fur is not an item to wear
Unless you were born
With it,
It is not meant to share

Karen Lyons Kalmeson

Please click on and sign the following:

1. Intermix: Please Go Fur Free!

2. Urge BCBG to Ditch Fur

3. BCBG Max Azria: Stop slaughtering rabbits


1. Intermix Background | From Change

Intermix has every type of slaughtered and skinned animal for sale: Fox fur, rabbit fur, raccoon fur, and even coyote fur. Not only is fur disgustingly cruel, but it is totally unnecessary when there are so many fabulous faux fur options available. As long as shops like Intermix continue to sell fur, the fur industry will thrive, and the senseless killing of fur bearing animal will continue. When the public speaks, the industry listens. If we put pressure on Intermix and express our feelings about their sale of fur, we can make a change. Any shopping at Intermix is supporting this bloody industry, so I encourage everyone to cease shopping at Intermix until they go fur free. Please help the animals by signing our petition and together we can put compassion back in fashion.

Facebook group can be viewed and joined HERE.


2. BCBG Background | From PETA

Luxury fashion brand BCBG has reneged on its very important pledge to be fur-free, despite knowing that animals suffer in cramped, filthy cages before they are bludgeoned, gassed, and electrocuted in the fur trade.

BCBG lags behind other fashion industry leaders that have ditched fur, including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Liz Claiborne, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, and many others. Not only has a long list of celebrities, including Eva Mendes and Lady Gaga, sworn off fur, first ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy also recently announced that they are fur-free.

Please contact BCBG and urge the company to keep the promise it made by permanently removing all fur from its collections. A small amount of your time will make a huge difference for the animals who suffer and die for their skins.


3. Background | From Change

Why This Is Important

In 2008, BCBG Max Azria pledged to go fur-free. Not any more.

BCBG’s present Fall/Winter collection includes rabbit-fur ponchos and earmuffs. How are these items made? Well…

–Rabbits raised for their fur are kept in cramped, unsanitary cages little bigger than a shopping basket. There is no room for the animals to perform natural actions such as hopping forward or raising their ears; this lack of space leads to severe physical problems such as painful spinal deformities and to abnormal behaviors such as self-mutilation, cage-gnawing and fighting.

–Rabbits bound for slaughter are often handled roughly and endure broken bones and lesions as a result of carelessness during transportation.

–Slaughter consists of stunning with either a blunt object or electric shock, followed by slitting of the throat. The UK Farm Animal Welfare Council recommends that the interval between stunning and slaughter be limited to 15 seconds; however, at one Spanish slaughterhouse that processed over 9,000 rabbits anually, investigators from Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade found that rabbits were often left unattended for long periods after stunning, with one animal left hanging by the ankles for all of ten minutes before having its throat slit while still conscious. Rabbits awaiting slaughter were kept stacked in crates one on top of the other, with excrement from the animals above dripping down onto those below, and live rabbits could clearly hear the squealing of those being killed.

Civilized, sophisticated consumers have no need for fur garments or accessories. Let’s send BCBG Max Azria a clear message: Cruelty leads only to boycotts.

Related | Whose Skin Are You In?

Dressing Cruelty Free: Vegan Companies

fur is not chic
fur is not style
it is dead,tortured
animal carcasses
in a bloody pile
if you care, do not
sell, buy or wear

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

According to news sources, the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council is considering killing 70 percent of the grey seals who live in the southern reaches of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as an “experiment” to determine if seals are hurting the fishing industry by eating the fish! If this proposal passes, 73,000 seals will be slaughtered immediately, and another 70,000 will be killed over the next four years. Terrified seals will be chased and gunned down, and many won’t die quickly. Orphaned young will be left to starve. All in the name of bad science!

Experts know that killing seals won’t determine anything because there are countless factors involved in fish population dynamics. Please politely urge Fisheries Resource Conservation Council officials to oppose this cruel experiment. Tell them that it’s not based on sound science.

***Please include your postal code and e-mail address when contacting the council.


WHOM TO CONTACT

The Honourable Keith Ashfield
House of Commons
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans
Parliament Buildings, Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1A 0A6
Email: min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

SAMPLE LETTER 

Dear Honourable Ashfield,

I am writing in response to the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council’s proposal to kill more than 140,000 seals in an effort to determine the seals’ effect on fish populations. This plan is neither scientifically sound nor socially acceptable, and I am urging you to forgo it based on fraudulent science and special interest control.

Please allow me to illustrate a couple 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 seals for human-engineered reasons is both irresponsible and unjustified. Second, killing the seals would artificially increase food supplies to the remaining seals, the consequence of which would be increased reproduction and an ensuing greater seal population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for larger populations in subsequent years.

This proposition is neither factually valid nor morally justified: animals are sentient creatures, capable of love, fear, pain, and suffering. As humans do, animals experience these emotions and have the desire to live free from exploitation and slaughter. I ask that you please consider your potential participation in this cruel plan. As intelligent people capable of sound conclusions, you should recognize the importance of life over the lies and exaggerations of unscrupulous special interest groups. Additionally, this type of mass killing would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to implement such a cruel and unnecessary killing since citizens and tourists both have quite vocally rejected seal massacres with boycott consequences.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME, POSTAL CODE, EMAIL ADDRESS

SEE MORE

• Compassion
• Vegan Guides
• Cruelty-Free

for those who hunt me because i am a seal
did you ever stop to think just how i feel
i just want to sit on my rocks and ice
if you would leave me be, that would be so nice
my fur is mine, not yours for the taking
just look at all the red blood you are making
go back to your homes, your families, your wives
and leave us seals alone to enjoy our lives

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Artist, Elyse Bryan, Tyler School of Art, Temple University

Please see below for Petition and Sample Letter to sign and send regarding Norstrom’s continuous use of fur.

From AR News, AJ Shannon

Last night (Monday, September 19) the City Council of West Hollywood passed an historic ordinance unanimously prohibiting the sale of fur apparel products within the city! This great success culminated after months of canvassing and rallies spearheaded by the Fur-Free West Hollywood Campaign made up of activists from In Defense of Animals, Last Chance for Animals, Animal Alliance, PETA, OCPA, ARME, APRL and many hard-working individuals, most notably Ellen Lavinthal, Ed Bucks, Shannon Keith and Bryan Monell. Several stores in West Hollywood had voluntarily removed fur items from their stores prior to the City Council’s actions.

In 1989, West Hollywood passed resolution number 558 proclaiming West Hollywood a “cruelty free zone for animals”. Since that time West Hollywood has passed legislation banning the declawing of cats, prohibiting pet stores from selling puppy mill animals and resolutions banning cosmetic testing on animals and steel-jaw leg hold traps. In February of 2001 they adopted IDA’s guardian language which substitutes the word “guardian” for “owner“ in all discourse.

West Hollywood is the first city in the United States banning the cruel commerce of fur. It is a remarkable historic victory.

Want to help animals killed for their fur in your city? Visit furkills.org to find out!

This year’s Fur Free Friday is right around the corner. Visit http://www.furfreefridayida.org/2010summary/ to see what activists from around the world did last year and start planning your own events soon… more details on that coming soon!


VIDEO

Bloody Harvest: The Real Cost of Fur

PETITION

Tell Nordstrom to Stop Selling Fur

WHOM TO CONTACT

contact@nordstrom.com ,
designer@nordstrom.com ,
beauty@nordstrom.com

SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover that Nordstrom is still commercially engaged with the fur industry. Due to the fundamentally-savage business of fur farming, any products derived from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that Nordstrom finally discontinues profiting off the exploitation of animals; this request includes all non-Nordstrom brand fur products as well as your shearling merchandise. Furthermore, commercial demand is not justification to undertake such barbarism; indeed, child labor and human trafficking are considered financially beneficial as well, yet due to their inherent brutality and inequity, should not be sanctioned.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry you promote: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma. Why in the world would you WANT to cause such suffering?

FurStop.Com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZQnQeAPJc&feature=player_embedded

Humans are capable, indeed obligated, to acknowledge animals as sentient beings who, like humans, experience love, anguish, pain, and suffering. Human apathy as established by the usage of fabrications and euphemisms reflects a lack of respect, not only for animals, but also for humans, and I implore upon you to examine your role in the suffering of animals and your unscrupulous conduct as host to such a cruel business. Regrettably, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you or your associated products. Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities.

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate businesses and designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME

FUR-FREE RETAILERS

SEE MORE: Fur | Skin

so beautiful
fur is on
those with it
born,
and how ugly when
by the vain and
frivolous,
worn

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Artist, Trevor Blackstock

Related, please click on and sign:

Tell Canada to End Its Shameful Seal Slaughter


From CTV News

A court ruling in Europe has struck another blow to Canada’s embattled seal products industry.

The European General Court, in a judgment released Wednesday, rejected a bid by Canada’s largest Inuit organization to challenge the European Union’s year-old trade ban on seal products.

The court in Luxembourg dismissed the group’s case, saying the challenge from the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, several seal hunters and industry organizations was inadmissible.

Even though the EU ban exempts the trade in seal products from aboriginal groups, the Inuit say their markets will plummet along with the rest of the commercial industry unless the ban is overturned.

A spokesman for the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canada’s 53,000 Inuit, said the group would comment on the ruling at a later date.

Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of the Canadian wing of Humane Society International, said the ruling “puts another nail in the coffin” of the commercial sealing industry.

“It’s a very important ruling,” she said in an interview from Strasbourg, France. “The ban remains in place and seals in Canada and around the world are going to be spared a horrible fate for many years to come.”

Aldworth said her group would like to see the industry mothballed and all seal hunters offered compensation.

Animal welfare groups have long argued that the annual hunt off the East Coast has left a stain on Canada’s international reputation because they believe the slaughter is inhumane.

“It’s time that the Canadian government recognize that the writing is on the wall,” said Aldworth, a Newfoundlander who has observed the hunt for more than a decade. “The commercial seal hunt is a dying industry.”

In June, as the hunt drew to a close for another year, federal officials confirmed this season was one of the worst since the early 1990s, when the industry struggled to recover from a European ban on white pelts from young harp seals.

The total number of harp seals killed in the 2011 commercial slaughter was about 38,000 — less than 10 per cent of the total allowable catch.

The EU ban was blamed for pushing down pelt prices to between $20 and $30 — barely enough for seal hunters to cover the cost of fuel and insurance for their boats.

Still, the Canadian government is moving ahead with its own bid to challenge the ban through the World Trade Organization.

As well, the executive director of the Fur Institute of Canada, Rob Cahill, says the fight to save the industry will continue on another front.

He said the group that initially challenged the ban is disappointed with the latest ruling, but it is pursuing another court challenge aimed at the EU legislation that implements the ban.

As well, Cahill said some additional plaintiffs have joined the group’s cause, including a Scottish manufacturer of sealskin sporrans, the traditional pouch worn with the Scottish kilt.

“He’s found the restrictions are affecting his business in a big way,” Cahill said.

See More:

• Fur | Skin

• Cruelty-Free

for those who hunt me because i am a seal
did you ever stop to think just how i feel
i just want to sit on my rocks and ice
if you would leave me be, that would be so nice
my fur is mine, not yours for the taking
just look at all the red blood you are making
go back to your homes, your families, your wives
and leave us seals alone to enjoy our lives

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Artist: Andrew Hearne, University of Brighton

Silvina Marotti is a horror exhibition of fox fur rugs, cushions, and all other sorts of sordid items being sold at a famous craft fair in Sao Paulo/Brazil. Please complain to the organizers:


WHOM TO CONTACT

Email for event organizers:

Info@craftdesign.com.br

Silvina Marotti site webform:

Click on and visit the Silvina Marotti website and then select “Register” on the left options at the bottom.  After completing the fields and using the sample letter as your comment, you’ll get the response, “la informacia sido enviada” which translates into “the information has been sent.”

Facebook:

Silvina Marotti

SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I am shocked to discover that Silvina Marotti is still commercially engaged with the fur industry. Due to the inherently-brutal business of fur farming, any products derived for or from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that both Craft Design and Ms. Marotti finally discontinue profiting off the exploitation of animals.

Please watch the undercover footage of the industry you promote: animals are forced to endure deplorable conditions including living in cramped, feces-crusted cages; suffering from sickness and disease; lacking an enriching environment; and being subjected to substandard diets and severe psychological trauma. They are then butchered via anal electrocution, gassing, skinning alive, and forced trauma. Why in the world would you WANT to cause such suffering?

FurStop.Com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTZQnQeAPJc&feature=player_embedded

Humans are capable, indeed obligated, to acknowledge animals as sentient beings who, like humans, experience love, anguish, pain, and suffering. Human apathy as established by the usage of fabrications and euphemisms reflects a lack of respect, not only for animals, but also for humans, and I implore upon you to examine your role in the suffering of animals and your unscrupulous conduct as host to such a cruel business. Regrettably, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you or your associated products. Furthermore, I will share this information with family, friends, colleagues, and members of online communities.

Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur immediately: join an increasing body of compassionate designers who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of fur farming. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.

NAME, ADDRESS

RELATED | FUR-FREE ALLIANCE ARTIST ENTRIES:

SEE MORE:


Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing – Quick Reference Guide

to silvina:

did it to your little mind
ever occur
that there is nothing chic
about using fur
that the screams of the tortured
the terrified, the dying
make a tear filled puddle of blood
on the fur you are buying

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Artist, Stanley Ashton | New College Stamford

1. Urge Miss Maryland Pageant to Drop Fur Prizes

2. Demand J Lo Stops Wearing Fur

1. Background | From Change

The Miss Maryland pageant continues to give away fur prizes despite knowing that animals killed for their skins live in cramped, filthy conditions before being killed by electrocution, neck-breaking, or gassing. Most fur comes from China, where animals—including dogs and cats—are bludgeoned and even skinned alive for their fur, as seen in this brief video narrated by Eva Mendes (below).

The Miss Florida competition has just announced that it will no longer give away fur prizes, and many top designers—including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, and Stella McCartney—and retailers such as J. Crew and Forever 21 now refuse to use or sell any fur products, in part because young consumers are largely opposed to the cruelty of fur. More and more public figures are shunning fur—and not just actors and models. Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy recently announced that they are fur-free too.

Please give a voice to the animals who suffer and die for their fur and urge the Miss Maryland pageant coordinators to set an example of compassion by pledging not to give away fur prizes in future pageants.


Related | Eva Mendes Takes a Look at the International Fur Trade

2. Background | From Change

No matter where it came from, every fur coat, trim, and trinket caused an animal tremendous pain and suffering, and ultimately took away its life. Animals in fur farms spend their entire lives confined in cramped, filthy wire cages. Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available, including suffocation, electrocution, gas, and poison.

Animals who are trapped in the wild can suffer for days from blood loss, shock, dehydration, frostbite, gangrene, and attacks by predators. They may be caught in steel-jaw traps that slam down on their legs, often cutting to the bone; Conibear traps, which crush their necks with 90 pounds of pressure per square inch; or water-set traps, which leave beavers, muskrats, and other animals struggling for more than nine agonizing minutes before drowning.

During the annual Canadian seal slaughter, tens of thousands of baby harp seals are shot or repeatedly bludgeoned with clubs tipped with metal hooks. Also in Canada, hundreds of black bears are shot at point-blank range or caught in traps and left to suffer for days so that their skins can be used to make the ceremonial hats worn by Queen Elizabeth II’s Five Guards’ Regiments.

Jennifer Lopez is one of the largest celebrity supporters of fur. She has been seen on many occasions wearing fur for photo shoots, music videos and at awards shows. Lopez claims she would like to be educated on why fur is cruel, yet after repeated videos, photos and information have been relayed to her, she continues to turn her back on the cruelty and buy fur for herself. Lopez also uses fur in her fashion line.

Please join us in asking Jennifer Lopez to stop using fur, thus saving the lives of millions of innocent animals.

See More:

• Fur-Free Retailers | Vegan Retailers
• Fur | Skin
• Fur-Free Friday 2010 Footage

beauty is as beauty does
killing for fur is not pretty
and that’s the buzz
so do not wear it
do not share it

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Image | Martin Uki, Artist

Please click on and sign the following:

1. Urge Designer Adrienne Landau to Ditch Fur

2. Urge Dean & DeLuca to Drop Foie Gras

3. Demand Humane Population Control for Brussels’ Pigeons

4.Block the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline


1. Background | From PETA

Designer Adrienne Landau shamelessly promotes fur despite knowing that animals killed for their skins live in cramped, filthy conditions before being killed by anal or vaginal electrocution, by gassing, or by having their necks broken, as seen in this brief video narrated by Tim Gunn. In a recent interview, Landau said, “Women have always loved fur, and it became ‘Should I or shouldn’t I?’ Now it’s, ‘I can wear it. I don’t feel any guilt.”‘ Landau is one of few designers to get on a pedestal and actively promote wearing fur. Please let her know what you think of this.

Because of the cruelty inherent in the fur industry, a rapidly growing number of designers—including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Marc Bouwer, Vivienne Westwood, Perry Ellis, Liz Claiborne, and retailers such as J.Crew and Forever 21—now refuse to use or sell any fur products. Not only has a long list of celebrities, including Eva Mendez and Lady Gaga, sworn off fur, first ladies Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy also recently announced that they are fur-free.

Please speak out to help the animals who are slated to suffer and die in the fur industry by urging Adrienne Landau to stop promoting fur and to ditch it for good.


Related | Fashion Victims

2. Background | From PETA

Because of the extreme cruelty involved in the production of foie gras—the diseased and “fatty liver” of force-fed ducks and geese—many restaurants and grocery stores around the world have stopped serving and selling it. PETA has shared with Dean & DeLuca—a U.S.-based gourmet grocery chain—the shocking undercover video footage of foie gras farms showing birds as they have tubes rammed down their throats, yet the company refuses to end sales of foie gras. Please write to Dean & DeLuca and urge the company to stop selling foie gras.

Investigations of foie gras farms in the U.S. and overseas have documented countless sick, dead, and dying birds, including some animals who were found suffering from holes in their necks after pipes had been forced down their throats. One investigation in New York found ducks crammed into wire cages. The birds’ beaks were bloody, and their wings were twisted together. At a foie gras farm in Europe, birds were found dangling by wires as blood spilled from their neck wounds onto the live animals beneath them.

Foie gras production is so cruel that it has been condemned by the Pope and is prohibited in 15 countries, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.


3. Background | From PETA
Earlier this year, the European animal rights group GAIA released undercover photos and videos showing Brussels’ pigeons as they are surgically sterilized without anesthetic, a practice that numerous veterinarians and avian specialists have condemned as cruel. These pigeons are beloved by tourists and appear in books and photographs around the world.

The birds, who are fiercely loyal and mate for life, undergo the terrifying experience of being separated from their loved ones when they’re captured in the wild and then shipped to Paris. Upon arrival, they are roughly handled and have their legs and wings constrained with rubber bands as their abdomens are cut open while they are still conscious.


Watch the graphic undercover video now. Warning: This video contains disturbing images.

GAIA has been respectful and patient, but the city is ignoring its appeal for humane pigeon control. Please use the form below to contact Brussels city officials and urge them to implement humane population control methods, and let them know that Brussels will not be a vacation spot for you or your family as long as they treat animals in this cruel way.


4. Background | From RAN

If TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline is approved, close to 1 million barrels of thick tar sands crude will flow each day at high pressure from Canada through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and all the way to Texas, threatening countless communities and over 2000 waterways, including America’s largest under ground water source—the Ogallala Aquifer.

Tell President Obama to block the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The tar sands represent a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet. We urge you to demonstrate real climate leadership by rejecting the requested permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and instead focus on developing safe, clean energy.

See More:

• Dissection | Testing
• What Can I Do?
• Animal Wrongs
• Fur | Skin

a gentle wish, a poem, for my painting floraluna

floraluna

Beyond the moon
Above the stars
You do not have
To travel far
A little world
Of peace and flowers
Where kindness is
The source of power

The face of wisdom,
Hearts inner being.
Gently aware,
Forever seeing ♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Image | LACS

1. Be one of the million against the cull

2. Tell Canada to end it’s shameful seal slaughter

3. Lovelace, stop killing monkeys and beagles

4. Tell banks to stop funding dirty coal

1. Background | From League Against Cruel Sports

The League opposes the proposed badger cull on two main grounds. Firstly, a cull would fly in the face of scientific evidence about how to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis, and could even exacerbate the problem. And secondly, authorising a cull would create a new bloodsport by licencing the shooting of badgers for gun-toting volunteers. We are calling for a badger vaccination programme instead of a cull.

Just enter your details below to register your support for vaccinations and not extermination.

We need 100,000 signatures to start a debate in parliament on the issue – but we think that’s too easy so we want a million. Will you help us reach our target?

We have 17219 signatures so far, help us reach a million.

Related | Canada’s Shame

2. Background | From PETA

For thousands of years, harp seals have migrated from Greenland down the coast of Canada, stopping each spring to give birth on the ice floes. Every year, a band of fishers descends on the ice to beat hundreds of thousands of seals to death and sell the animals’ pelts on the international fur market. Sealers routinely hook baby seals in the eye, cheek, or mouth and drag them across the ice, often while the animals are still conscious. Many of the seals killed in the massacre are only a few weeks old.

Baby seals stand no chance against club-wielding seal hunters—pups must look on as fellow seals are bludgeoned to death only to then meet the same bloody fate. The commercial seal slaughter is an off-season profit venture for the fishing industry, and it accounts for less than 1 percent of Newfoundland’s economy. The seal slaughter is not a subsistence activity for native peoples—Inuit sealing accounts for only about 3 percent of the annual slaughter.

The price of seal fur is plummeting as international outrage against the seal slaughter rises. The U.S. and the European Union have banned seal products, and world leaders such as President Barack Obama and His Holiness The Dalai Lama have denounced the massacre.

The annual seal slaughter will continue unless people like you speak out and take action to stop it, so please add your voice to the global outcry against Canada’s shameful seal massacre. Please write to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Canadian ambassadors around the world to demand that they bring the massacre to an immediate end.


3. Background | From Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF)

According to whistleblower reports, the Albuquerque-based Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) has begun exterminating 300 monkeys and an unknown number of beagles, allegedly for financial reasons. Last week, a whistleblower contacted the group Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN) and reported that beginning on July 11, 30 monkeys would be killed each day, and following the slaughter of all of the monkeys, the beagles would also be killed.

Just last month, LRRI agreed to pay $21,750 in fines for multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act over several years, one of which involved a Rhesus monkey who choked to death in his cage. In 2010, the lab was cited after one dog died during an experiment after not receiving enough oxygen and another was bled to death without approval.

Culls like this one illustrate how the animal research industry views animals as disposable research tools, and not the living, feeling beings that they are. Animals who are no longer used in experiments should be turned over to reputable sanctuaries or, in the case of domestic animals like these beagles, adoptive homes.

Send an email to the president and CEO of LRRI and urge him to stop killing innocent animals! Ask him to do the right thing and find new homes or sanctuaries for these animals after their lifetimes of forced service in this research facility.

A pre-written letter is available  for your convenience. Please take a moment to add your own polite comments so that your message stands out and has more impact. 

*Note: Your email will be sent to the LRRI president and CEO. If his email account fills up, your email will bounce. If this happens, please try to resend your email later or call him directly at the number provided. Thank you for speaking out for these innocent animals!


4. Background | From Rainforest Action Network (RAN)

Air pollution from the Fisk and Crawford coal plants in Chicago cause more than 40 deaths, 66 heart attacks and 720 asthma attacks every year. Big banks are enabling devastating coal projects like these to continue the contamination of communities in Chicago and all across the United States.

Enough is enough. Tell Bank of America, Citi, and Chase to take responsibility for their actions, pull financing from dirty coal projects and start banking on clean, sustainable energy.

 


See More:

• Compassion
• Cruelty-Free
• Free Vegan Guides

one day i noticed
the world was well
no more animals
or children
subjected to hell
no more women abused
war was extinct
laughter was heard,
loud and distinct
i let out a scream
it was only a dream

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Image | “Size 38” by Nicholas Poitou

1. Help Stop Donna Karan, the Bunny Butcher

2. Tell DSW Inc. to Ditch Fur!

1. Background | From PETA

Please click HERE to view pictures | warning – graphic.

Despite knowing about the suffering that goes into every fur-trimmed coat, hat, and bag, Donna Karan has made the cruel decision to use the skins of dead rabbits in her clothing lines.

Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages, and fur farmers use the cheapest and cruelest killing methods available. Foxes, minks, coyotes, and rabbits—and even dogs and cats—are bludgeoned, genitally electrocuted, and often skinned alive for their fur.

One of the best ways that you can help animals who are beaten and tortured for their fur is to tell Donna Karan executives that you’ll boycott the designer’s collections until she stops using fur. Many top designers—including Stella McCartney, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and Liz Claiborne—have chosen to create wonderful work without using animal fur.

Speak out against the killing of animals for their skins. Write to Donna Karan International and urge the company to dump fur for good.


Related | Bloody Harvest: The Real Cost of Fur

2. Background | From PETA

DSW Inc. refuses to stop selling shoes made with animal fur, despite the fact that PETA has repeatedly explained to company executives that animals on fur farms live in cramped, filthy conditions before they are bludgeoned, electrocuted, and sometimes even skinned alive. Animals who are trapped in the wild may suffer for days before trappers arrive to crush their chests, stomp on them, or beat them to death.

DSW lags behind other fashion-industry leaders who have dumped fur, such as Foot Locker, Gap Inc., JCPenney, Steve Madden, H&M, and Limited Brands, Inc.

Millions of animals who are cruelly trapped, farmed, and killed for their fur every year around the world, and they need your help now. Please politely write to DSW and demand that it join other top retailers that have dumped fur.

Please send a message to DSW’s CEO, Michael R. MacDonald, and urge him to end DSW’s sale of fur immediately and implement a fur-free policy.

See More:

• Fur | Skin
• Fur-Free Retailers, Designers, and Brands
• Fur-Free Friday 2010 | Footage from various events

fur belongs on whom it was born
not by the vain and frivolous,
worn

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

From Action For Our Planet

Please click on the following links and complete the listed actions (directly below Lennox alert).  You need only enter your email address, a subject, and your message (sample letters are provided); feel free to participate in the other available actions as well:

1. Urge online retailer, Porta Gadgets, to ditch exotic skins

2. Nauticalia – Stop selling cat fur models

1. Background | Porta Gadgets

Millions of reptiles including turtles, snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles are slaughtered every year using cruel and outdated methods. Reptiles can be nailed to trees, stabbed to death, skinned alive, bludgeoned and smashed over the head with a hammer and chisel before being cut open. These animals are victims of the exotic skins trade, a thriving industry in parts of South-East Asia, Africa, Australia and India. One such retailer of exotic skins is Porta Gadgets which lists watches made from python, alligator and lizard. The company may not be aware of the cruelty involved in exotic skins, so please let them know how reptiles are slaughtered for their skins.

Sample message text:

Dear Porta Gadgets,

It has come to my attention that a selection of items featured on your website are made from exotic skins. The items I am referring to are watch straps made from alligator, lizard and python. Reptiles are slaughtered using inhumane and outdated methods which include: nailing snakes to trees and skinning them alive, hammering a chisel into the head of alligators and bludgeoning lizards to death. While you may not be aware of the cruelty involved in the exotic skins industry I am asking that you research the issue further and stop selling all watches with exotic skin straps.

Thank you for your time.

Related | Joaquin Phoenix Reveals Exotic-Skins Horrors

2. Background | Nauticalia

U.K based gift company Nauticalia sells a number of different model cats, known as Ship’s Cats which are supposedly made with rabbit fur. However, the fur on these cats appears to be real cat fur. On the Nauticalia website they state the ‘models are surprisingly lifelike’. Is it possible that they are so ‘lifelike’ because they are made from real cat fur?

Sample message text:

Dear Nauticalia,

According to the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT), your company has stated that Ships Cat’s are made from rabbit fur deriving from China. However, many fur pelts and fur items derived from China are often mislabelled dog or cat fur. I believe that the Ships Cats you sell are real cat fur, as you have said yourself the ‘models are surprisingly lifelike’. Nauticalia has been aware of the fur issue for a number of years yet still continues to sell the Ships Cats. I am asking that you discontinue selling these products immediately in order to put an end to animal suffering whether these animals be rabbit or cat.

Thank you for your time.

See more from CAFT



Related, from FUR | SKIN:

Fur-Free Retailers, Designers, and Brands

To view only Fur-Free, Vegan retailers in list/country form, please click Fur-Free Retailers | Vegan Retailers

Whom Do I Contact for More Information about the Fur Free Retailer Program in My Country?

PDF List of Fur-Free Retailers

Leather and Fur Alternatives

Dressing Cruelty Free: Vegan Companies

Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing- Quick Reference Guide

fur belongs on whom it was born

not by the vain and frivolous,

worn

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Image BBC

About live animal export

Every year millions of Australian animals are exported live for slaughter. Cattle, sheep and goats are sent all through the Middle East and South East Asia — to countries where animal welfare laws do not protect them. Tens of thousands of animals don’t survive the sea journey and those (who) do, disembark into countries where they are transported, handled and then slaughtered in appalling ways. Most animals slaughtered overseas have their throats cut while they are fully conscious, leading to an incredibly painful and prolonged death.

Over the past seven years Animals Australia has conducted investigations in the Middle East into the treatment of exported Australian animals. The evidence from these investigations across seven different countries has consistently revealed the willingness of Australia’s live export industry, and consecutive Federal Governments, to export live animals to the Middle East regardless of how cruelly they will be treated. Only last November, Animals Australia investigators once again documented horrendous abuse of Australian sheep in Kuwait. The footage, which aired on ABC1′s 7.30 Report,outraged Australians, yet once again the Federal government maintained its support of this cruel trade.

Ban Live Export TV Ad

Indonesia has been the main destination for Australian cattle with 4.6 million exported to this country over the past decade. Animal protection groups had hoped that the treatment of cattle in Indonesia would be better than that of sheep in the Middle East because of the greater level of Australian industry involvement. What we have discovered however, is that we couldn’t have been more wrong. Evidence gathered in Indonesia reveals that the involvement of Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and LiveCorp in Indonesia has actually contributed to and facilitated brutal treatment of Australian cattle.

The evidence gathered against Australia’s live trade during the recent Indonesian investigation and in the Middle East in the eight years prior is damning. No amount of profit, no amount of excuses can justify Australia’s continued involvement in live animal export — the associated cruelty inflicted on animals — and the message that we are sending to other nations as to what is acceptable treatment of animals.

When Australia’s live trade was exposed as supplying cattle to Egypt in the full knowledge that it was routine practice for cattle to have their leg tendons slashed to disable them prior to slaughter — the Federal Government should have ended the trade then and there. This further evidence of Australian interests knowingly supplying animals to even worse abuse in Indonesia demands that the Federal Government acts now.

In an historic union — Australia’s two peak animal welfare bodies RSPCA Australia and Animals Australia have joined forces to demand the Gillard Government announce an end date for live animal export. If you care about animals then and help us end this cruel trade once and for all.

SEE MORE:

RELATED:

• Animal Wrongs
• Compassion
• Cruelty-Free
• Earthlings
  
• Free Vegan Guides
• Fur | Skin

1. Get dog fur (and all fur) products out of Australia!

2. End the use of pigs at UTCOM

3. Help Us Tell It Like It Is: Animal Research Is Murder (US Friends)

4. Improve School Lunches and Save Farmed Animals’ Lives

1. Background | From Animals Australia

In 2004 Australia banned the import of fur from dogs and cats, but recent tests by Humane Society International have shown that dog fur items can still be bought in Australia.

Imported dog and cat fur products are often deliberately mislabeled as ‘rabbit’, ‘fox’ or ‘raccoon dog’ in an attempt to escape import bans in Australia, the EU and US. The bans are virtually impossible to police because of the difficulty of distinguishing between cat or dog fur and fur from other animals that can legally be imported.

Most fur comes from China where there are no animal welfare laws. An estimated 2 million dogs and cats are killed for their fur in China each year, but many millions more rabbits, mink, foxes and other animals are also victims of this industry; many are even skinned alive.

Every fur product causes unnecessary cruelty and suffering — no matter which type of animal it was stolen from. Please help us call on the Australian Government to extend the import ban on dog and cat fur to include all fur products.

Message Text

A recent investigation showed that dog fur garments are still available in Australia despite a ban on importing dog and cat fur.

Dog and cat fur is often falsely labelled as rabbit, fox or raccoon dog fur and the import ban which was imposed in 2004 is almost impossible to police.

The majority of fur products come from China where there are no animal welfare laws. Apart from an estimated 2 million dogs and cats, millions of rabbits, mink, foxes and other animal species suffer immensely in this industry and many are even skinned alive.

I am appalled that any animal should suffer the immense cruelties that are common in the fur industry. Fur is an unnecessary product that has no place in a civilised society. I therefore urge you to extend the current ban on the import of cat and dog fur to an import ban on all fur products to Australia. Such a move would be applauded by all caring Australians.

RELATED | Whose Skin Are You In?

2. Background | From PCRM

Please take a minute to let University of Tennessee College of Medicine (UTCOM) executive dean Steve Schwab, M.D., know that you want him to end the school’s deadly pig lab on its Chattanooga campus. We have provided text for you, but if you decide to write your own message, please be polite and encouraging. Here are some talking points:

1. Please end the use of pigs to train medical students on the UTCOM Chattanooga campus.
2. The use of live pigs in the surgery clerkship is unnecessary due to the availability of widely-used nonanimal alternatives.
3. Neither the UTCOM campus in Memphis nor Knoxville uses animals for medical student surgery training.
4. UTCOM Chattanooga is one of only seven medical schools (out of 176) in the United States and Canada to use live animals for training.
5. The school already has a state-of-the-art medical simulation center, so there is no justification for this cruel animal use.

A Special Note for Non U.S. Residents: to send this alert, enter your postal code at the bottom of the form instead of the main portion of the contact form.

Message Text

I am writing to ask that you immediately end the use of live pigs in the surgery clerkship at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine (UTCOM) campus in Chattanooga. It is clear that the use of live pigs in this course is unnecessary due to the availability of widely used, nonanimal alternatives.

Neither the UTCOM campus in Memphis nor Knoxville uses animals for medical student surgery training. Further, UTCOM Chattanooga is one of only seven medical schools (out of 176) in the United States and Canada that continue to use live animals for medical student training. UTCOM Chattanooga already has a state-of-the-art medical simulation center, so there is no justification for this continued use of animals. Please stop this cruel and unnecessary practice immediately.

3. Background | From PETA

In laboratories across the United States, millions of animals are suffering in horrible ways—and you’re paying for it. On the taxpayers’ dime, animals in laboratories are routinely mutilated, poisoned, deprived of food and water, forcibly immobilized in restraint devices, infected with painful and deadly diseases, burned, decompressed, electrocuted, irradiated, shot, drug-addicted, and psychologically tortured.

We recently placed these ads in Boston and in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park near universities that funnel public funds into animal suffering.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) received an estimated $150 million in public funds in 2010. Approximately $1.7 million have gone to experimenters who drilled into the skulls of monkeys and implanted electrodes into their brains. Metal coils were implanted in their eyes, and experimenters strapped the monkeys into restraint chairs for hours at a time, forcing them to stare at a monitor. The monkeys were kept thirsty in order to force them to cooperate.

• Harvard University received an estimated $329 million in public money in 2010—much of it went to the school’s enormous New England Primate Research Center. More than $3.2 million has already been spent on just one experiment in which monkeys have tubes surgically implanted into their veins so that experimenters can inject cocaine and amphetamine into the monkeys, turning them into “tweakers.”

• Duke University received an estimated $439 million in public money in 2010. More than $1.4 million has already been spent on pointless xenotransplantation experiments in which pigs are killed so that experimenters can try in vain to implant their hearts and lungs into baboons. Despite repeated failures, Duke University has wasted decades of time and tens of millions of dollars pursuing this road to nowhere.

• The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received an estimated $382 million in public money in 2010. In one study, experimenters fractured baby rabbits’ noses and implanted plates and screws in four different places on their faces.

Please help PETA end this cruelty by using the form HERE to contact your representative and senators in Congress. Respectfully urge them to divert public money from cruel animal experiments into promising, lifesaving, and relevant clinical and non-animal research.

Message Text

I was shocked to learn that billions of tax dollars are funneled into cruel, deadly experiments on animals every year. With these public funds, countless animals are burned, shocked, starved, poisoned, mutilated, psychologically tormented, and killed in laboratories across the U.S. What happens to animals in laboratories would be considered criminal cruelty to animals if it occurred elsewhere. To waste public money on outdated and unethical animal experiments when superior methods are available is unjustifiable.

I urge you to earmark research funds for progressive and relevant clinical and non-animal studies rather than for experiments that harm and kill animals.

Thank you.

4. Background | From ALDF

***To skip details, please see Steps, Sample Letter

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking public comments on changes to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) by April 13, 2011.

This is a chance to support a win-win approach to providing children with nutritious, wholesome food choices while simultaneously reducing the number of animals used in the food industry. Current standards and their reliance on meat and dairy products have contributed to rising rates of childhood obesity and chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, with taxpayers footing the bill in the form of rising health care costs and huge subsidies to animal agriculture.

Submit your comment today! (see below for Steps and Sample Letter)

The FNS recently published a proposed rule (PDF) and the stated purpose is to “increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium and saturated fat in meals; and help meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements.”

The number of children affected by the programs is immense. According to the proposed rule:

• “The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is available to over 50 million children each school day; an average of 31.6 million children per day ate a reimbursable lunch in fiscal year (FY) 2010. The School Breakfast Program (SBP) served an average of 11.6 million children daily.
• In FY 2010, schools served 2.9 billion free NSLP lunches, 0.5 billion reduced price lunches, and 1.8 billion full price or ‘paid’ lunches. Schools served 1.5 billion free breakfasts, 0.2 billion reduced price breakfasts, and 0.3 billion paid breakfasts.”

Children should have wholesome meal options based primarily on nutrition content, not based on the availability of cheap surplus agricultural products.

Furthermore, the NSLP and SBP should facilitate the availability of healthful milk alternatives, particularly fortified ones that provide protein, calcium, and Vitamin D without the cholesterol or saturated fats in dairy milk. Cow milk is naturally formulated to nourish baby cows, so it is not surprising that frequent consumption of dairy products by humans has negative health effects.

Many children have milk allergies or lactose intolerance, particularly in populations that are not of Northern European descent. According to a report published in 2002 by the American Academy of Family Physicians, “Lactase deficiency is present in up to 15 percent of persons of northern European descent, up to 80 percent of blacks and Latinos, and up to 100 percent of American Indians and Asians.” These statistics should be taken into account in the “Civil Rights Impact Analysis” section of the proposed rule in light of allowing schools to offer healthful beverage alternatives to milk as part of the reimbursable meal.

To ameliorate these problems, the USDA should make the following important modifications to the proposed rule:

• Require healthful beverage alternatives to dairy milk — such as soy milk or rice milk — be available at every meal;
• Require at least one vegan meal choice be available at every meal based on naturally nutrient-dense whole grains, legumes, fresh vegetables, and fresh fruits.

Submit comments through one of the following methods:

Preferred method

Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments (or see below for Steps and Sample Letter).

Mail

Comments should be addressed to:

Julie Brewer, Chief
Policy and Program Development Branch, Child Nutrition Division,
Food and Nutrition Service, Department of Agriculture
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 640
Alexandria, Virginia 22302–1594

Please be aware that your comments are public record. All comments submitted in response to this proposed rule will be included in the record and will be made available to the public. FNS will make the comments publicly available on the Internet via http://www.regulations.gov.



Steps

a. Click HERE for Regulations.Gov

b. Select Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs (under Title)

c. Click Submit a Comment (Use Sample Letter below or provide your own words; only your name is required.)

Sample Letter (Courtesy ALDF)

The proposed rule for nutrition standards in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) needs to put a higher priority on providing children with nutritious, plant-based foods in order to combat the rising rates of childhood obesity and its related health conditions. The NSLP and SBP have maintained an over-reliance on “cheap” surplus meat and dairy products, with taxpayers footing the bill in the form of rising health care costs and huge subsidies to animal agriculture.

To ameliorate these problems, the USDA should make the following important modifications to the proposed rule:

• Require healthful beverage alternatives to dairy milk — such as soy milk or rice milk — be available at every meal;

• Require at least one vegan meal choice be available at every meal based on naturally nutrient-dense whole grains, legumes, fresh vegetables and fresh fruits.

RESOURCES …


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