Our Compass

1. Please click HERE to stop horses tortured for fun
2. Please click HERE to help put an end to dog fighting in trunks
3. Please click HERE to ask Gordon Ramsay to ditch diseased duck livers
4. Please sign HERE to stop the Rotten Egg Bill
5. Please click HERE to urge Marriott to drop down
6. Please click HERE to stop the sea otter slaughter

1. Background | Source Avaaz

The pain and suffering inflicted on the horses is immense. The fact that this is a “public event” witnessed by all, including children is very harmful to all. THIS EVENT TEACHES THAT VIOLENCE AND CRUELTY IS FUN.
They call it a feast. In the state of Yucatan, Mexico there is a “rodeo” type event called “Torneo de Lazo” where bulls ram horses and eviscerate them. THIS CAUSES A VERY HIGH LEVEL OF PAIN TO THE HORSES. These horses usually collapse and while still alive continue to get trampled by bulls and other horses during the length of this violent and cruel event where horsemen try to lasso the running, charging bulls (the bulls are specifically bred and trained to ram horses).

Although it is against the law, this is only in name. Mexico’s federal government as well as the local authorities do nothing to stop this. This event takes place state wide all year round.

Please demand the Mexican government to put and end to this barbaric event.

2. Background | Source Force Change

Target: Florida Governor Rick Scott

Goal: Investigate and raise awareness about the shocking new fad that forces dogs to fight in the trunk of a moving car.

A new kind of dog fighting using cars is gaining popularity in Florida. “Trunking” involves placing two dogs in the trunk of a car, playing loud music to aggravate them, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. The dog that is either dead or the most injured by the end is then thrown away. Police in the southern part of the state have seen an increase in these cases in recent months and something must be done immediately to stop it.

The practice has largely come about in urban and more residential areas where space is limited. Trunking does not require a ring or a yard, nor does it require a basement, which most Florida residents are without, to provide discretion. It can be done anywhere at anytime.

Perhaps the worst case of trunking so far was recently uncovered in Miami-Dade County. Five pit bulls and four puppies were discovered at a residence in the Goulds neighborhood after animal services received an anonymous tip. In the back of the home cages were covered in urine and feces. The dogs exhibited clear signs of fighting and are currently being treated for open wounds and broken bones. The face of oldest dog of the group, Max, is obscured by cuts and scars.

The case is currently ongoing and once the owner of the dogs is found, he or she will likely receive third-degree felony charges. It is bad enough that dog fighting has proliferated as much as it has over the past decade, but we cannot allow it to grow and expand into other forms of abuse. Something must be done to stop this now. Please sign the petition below to ensure that trunking does not become a common practice across the country.

3. Background | Source PETA

It calls itself the “premier producer of foie gras in America.” But, in 2013, a PETA investigator visited Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFG), a factory farm, and saw workers shove steel tubes down ducks’ throats and pump huge amounts of grain into them. The investigator recorded HVFG’s manager stating that this is done three times a day, every day, for weeks.

The birds’ livers become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Fatty duck livers from HVFG are served at Gordon Ramsay at the London, a New York City restaurant licensed by Chef Ramsay.

Not surprisingly, experts opine that force-feeding causes ducks painful injuries, including, according to world-renowned avian welfare expert Dr. Ian Duncan, tearing of the esophagus. Dr. Duncan writes, “[T]he regular insertion of a feeding tube down the esophagus several times a day will inevitably lead to damage of the esophagus. When the esophagus becomes damaged, then the painfulness of every force-feeding episode will be exacerbated.”

Veterinarian Holly Cheever, who has studied force-feeding’s effects on ducks, explains, “Due to the enormous size of the livers … the birds have no room for their air sacs to fill with oxygen, and therefore all birds in the last 10-14 days of [force-feeding] show respiratory distress … analogous to feeling as if one is smothering for that entire length of time” [emphasis added].

HVFG condemns ducks to huge, dark sheds, where there is no water for them to bathe or swim in or eat from. They are denied any opportunity to live naturally like ducks.

After weeks of being force-fed, the ducks are hung upside down and their throats are slit. Many ducks sent to slaughter by the cruel foie gras industry are still conscious as their throats are cut and they bleed to death.

4. Background | Source Stop the Rotten Egg Bill

We, the undersigned, urge our representatives in Congress to strongly oppose H.R. 1731/S. 820 the United Egg Producers’ (UEP) proposed amendments to the “Egg Products Inspection Act” that would:

Nullify existing state laws that ban or restrict battery cages.
Deprive voters of the right and ability to pass ballot measures banning cages.
Deny state legislatures the ability to enact laws preventing cruelty to laying hens.

This egg industry legislation is rotten to its core. It would establish egg factory cages as a national standard that could never be challenged or changed by state law or public vote. It would take away states’ and citizens’ rights. And it would keep hens locked in cages throughout the United States.

5. Background | Source PETA

To produce down pillows, comforters, or jackets, birds are often pinned down as hurried workers yank fistfuls of feathers from the birds’ sensitive bodies while they are still alive, often plucking them so violently that they rip open the birds’ delicate skin before sewing up the gaping wounds using a needle and thread, without any painkillers.

Many also use the feathers of ducks and geese who are force-fed for foie gras. Birds raised for this cruel foodstuff have tubes rammed down their throats and their stomachs pumped so full of corn mush that their livers swell to as much as 10 times their normal size, which is very painful.

Please join us in asking Marriott to drop down.

6. Background | Source Center for Biological Diversity

Through important protections, Alaska’s curious and charming sea otters are finally on the path to recovery after being pushed to the brink of extinction after over-hunting. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Alaska Native hunters alone are allowed to kill sea otters — and they can only do so to create “authentic native handicrafts.”

Unfortunately those protections could be weakened if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collapses under the greedy pressures of the commercial fishing industry — rules may be expanded to include nearly unaltered sea otter pelts under the “handicrafts” definition.

Sea otters play an important role in Alaska’s coastal ecosystems by encouraging the growth of kelp beds, which serve as nurseries for fish and create important carbon dioxide sinks. But sea otters also eat some species that are targeted by commercial fishers, which is why the fishing industry is pushing to control sea otter populations.

Sea otter populations in some parts of Alaska appear to be increasing — though there are still nowhere near as many of the animals as there used to be — but otters in southwest Alaska are not recovering. They’ve been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Service’s new rule doesn’t have this distinction; it would apply to all sea otters — even those listed as threatened.

Please take action now to tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Alaska’s sea otters.

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