Please take action on 5 issues: deer, human rights, puppy mills, pig labs, puppy death

Please click on sign:

1. URGENT: Stop the senseless killing of deer at Binghamton University (NY)!

2. Talisman, Leave the Achuar in Peace!

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

4. Please End Deadly Pig Labs at University of Michigan

5. NC Couple Skins and Guts Puppy, Then Feeds to Their Dogs – Demand Maximum Sentence!


1. Background | From Change

Over Christmas break, December 21, 2011, Binghamton University in Upstate New York is planning to slaughter 90% of the deer in their Nature Preserve, at a cost of $20,000.00 dollars +. As we understand, this is NY taxpayers’ dollars.

Julian Shepherd Ph.D., who heads up The Committee of the University Environment, and Dylan Horvath, steward of nature areas at the university, are blaming the deer for eating flowers and for forest regeneration problems. However, their claims are not supported by any scientific evidence. B.U. didn’t even do a deer survey or an environmental impact study.

Many forest experts disagree with the general premise of their claims. “Acid rain is more responsible than white-tailed deer for forests not regenerating … They can kill all the deer, but it will take a lot more than that to fix the forests.”, claims Bill Sharpe, a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences forest hydrologist, “Penn State Expert Blames Forest Problem on Acid Rain, Not Deer”, Penn State Live, 5/17/02. In a recent landmark study, “Regional-Scale Assessment of Deer Impacts on Vegetation Within Western Connecticut, USA”, Angela C. Rutherford, et al., School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, (Journal of Wildlife Management 74(6):1257-1263. 2010) concluded that deer density is not a leading factor determining variation in vegetation impacts. And a recent study at Ohio State University, “Indirect Effects of a Keystone Herbivore Elevate Local Animal Diversity”, Katherine Greenwald, et al., Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology (Journal of Wildlife Management 72(6):1318-1321; 2008) found that the presence of deer is actually helpful to other animal species, and that programs to reduce their populations may be detrimental to a region’s biodiversity. “Culling deer may cascade into affecting plants, salamanders and other creatures in ways we can’t even imagine,” said OSU researcher Katherine Greenwald. “Officials need to know more about the forest ecosystem before making decisions about wildlife management.” Another study showed that some forest understory-dwelling birds benefit from deer-grazing, and that the presence of deer decreased populations of rodents that preyed on ground birds’ nests.

This deer slaughter will not achieve B.U.’s objectives, and trying to keep deer at unrealistic low levels poses an insurmountable challenge. Culling or hunting deer will trigger compensatory reproduction. The deer population will rebound quickly, and deer from adjacent areas will quickly fill the void, leading to an endless cycle of killing.

The forest ecology in B.U.’s Nature Preserve is no different than the rest of the forest areas in New York State. That said, a nature preserve should remain untouched and allowed to evolve naturally without human intervention. In reviewing the history and mandate of B.U.’s Nature Preserve, it said that, ” In order to preserve its natural beauty and intrinsic value it was suggested that hunting, littering, use of motorized or wheeled vehicles, picking of plant life, and harassment of animal life be prohibited throughout the entire area.”

If B.U. wants to create a protected environment to grow wildflowers that can’t be affected by wildlife, then B.U. should explore creative fencing alternatives, or build an arboretum. If B.U. insists on interfering with the natural processes within the Nature Preserve, then a deer contraception program should be considered. Contrary to what Mr. Horvath believes, there are a number of scientific peer-reviewed studies that document deer contraception effectiveness, reducing deer populations by approximately 40-60%.

The DEC spends millions of dollars annually to artificially propagate the deer population for maximum sustained yield for their 3% hunter constituents. Deer populations stabilize on their own in relation to the available food supply. Culling or hunting will only reduce the deer population temporarily and trigger compensatory rebound, which will increase the deer population the following year. Please refer to the article, “The Paradox of Killing Wildlife to Control Populations” (http://politicswildlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/paradox-of-killing-wildlife-to-control.html). And just an update for Mr. Horvath, there are 20-30,000 coyotes (predators) in New York State, i.e. he said that coyotes were hunted out a century ago.

Please send Binghamton University a strong message to stop the deer slaughter, and not to turn their Nature Preserve into a private hunting and killing preserve.


2. Background | From Amazon Watch

The Achuar of the northern Peruvian Amazon are fighting to keep Canadian oil company Talisman Energy out of their ancestral territory, but the company continues to ignore the Achuar’s demands and expand operations. Recent testimony from Salesian Priest Father Diego Clavijo highlights the heightened tensions and risk of conflict caused by Talisman’s “divide and conquer” strategy.

Petition Text

Dear Mr. Alan Murray,

I stand with the Achuar and support their struggle to defend their Amazon homeland from oil drilling and destructive development.

I am deeply concerned about the escalating situation on the ground around your operations in Block 64. Recent testimony from two Catholic priests in the region describe a situation where Talisman Energy is responsible for heightening divisions between indigenous communities which could lead – in their words – to “genocide.”

I understand that the majority of Achuar people of the Pastaza and Morona river basins, represented by the National Achuar Federation (FENAP), have repeatedly called on Talisman Energy to withdraw from their ancestral homeland. I am concerned that attempts to seek “community agreement” are causing division and the risk of conflict.

I write now to demand that Talisman immediately cease divisive tactics on the ground and respect the Achuar people’s demand and cease operations in their ancestral territory.

Yours sincerely,


3. Background | From Change

4. Background | From PETA

Following a year-long PETA campaign, the University of Michigan’s (U-M) Survival Flight program has replaced the use of cats in cruel intubation training exercises with modern human-patient simulators. Unfortunately, the program continues to have trainees cut holes into pigs’ limbs, throats, and chests and stab needles into their bones and hearts for trauma training exercises. This still happens even though the school already uses state-of-the-art human-patient simulators to teach the same skills in other courses for nurses and physicians.

Studies by leading medical experts have repeatedly found that in addition to saving animals, the use of simulators is superior to the use of animal labs for preparing trainees to perform the lifesaving skills taught in U-M’s Survival Flight course. The Air & Surface Transport Nurses Association, which is the professional organization representing flight nurses, endorses the use of simulators to teach these skills as well.

Please take a minute of your time to contact university officials and respectfully ask them to continue to modernize the Survival Flight curriculum and immediately replace the use of pigs with human-patient simulators that are already available at U-M.


5. Background | From Change

Deputies and animal control officers were called out to the home of Marie Alfano and Kevin John Diers after an anonymous complaint. There they discovered a gruesome case of animal abuse: an eight week-old puppy had been skinned and gutted, then fed to their other dogs. One dog was found eating the leg of the puppy. The other dogs were fed the puppy’s internal organs and meat. Yet another dog was found dead in a cage.

It is unknown if the puppy was intentionally killed for this purpose or died from other causes. The puppy’s remains have been collected for analysis.

WARNING – GRAPHIC PHOTO: http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com/?p=4159

Alfano and Diers were charged with cruelty to animals and failing to dispose of a deceased domesticated animal. Under North Carolina law, animal cruelty (§ 14-360) is a Class H felony.

The next court date for Alfano and Diers will be on January 6, 2012. Please sign to show your support that animal abusers cannot get away with such horrendous acts.

This petition respectfully requests that Marie Alfano and Kevin John Diers be given the maximum sentence allowable under law and that they never be allowed to own animals again.

For more information on this story: http://www.jdnews.com/articles/puppy-98233-animal-couple.html

Image courtesy of www.carolinacoastonline.com

Carteret County Sheriff’s Office image courtesy of: JDNews.com

This petition will be updated as more information becomes available; however, the intent will remain the same.

four three two one
we will never give up
until cruelty
is none♥

Karen Lyons Kalmenson