Six petitions, please take action

Wikimedia Commons

1. Please click HERE to sign to protect sea turtles
2. Please click HERE to sign to save caribou
3. Please click HERE to discontinue chimpanzee experimentation
4. Please click HERE to stop University of Southern Mississippi from testing on animals
5. Please click HERE to protect wolves from pointless trophy hunting
6. Please click HERE to protect Sea Turtles, Whales, and Seabirds

1. Background | Source
National Wildlife Federation Action Fund

Along our Atlantic coast, rising summer temperatures fueled by climate change are causing fewer eggs of endangered loggerhead sea turtles to produce males–so much so that whole populations of sea turtles along our southern coast could become entirely female.

Sea turtles are depending on us now to help curb climate change and one solution is just waiting for us off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean–clean energy from offshore wind.

The fossil fuel industry is funding efforts to prevent the growth of clean energy, but together, we can make sure offshore wind along the Atlantic coast plays a major role in America’s energy future.

Help sea turtles by editing and sending a message to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, urging them to speed efforts to develop offshore wind energy off the Atlantic coast.


2. Background | Source National Wildlife Federation Action Fund

Right now in Alberta, Canada, booming tar sands operations will push already threatened local caribou herds towards extinction as more and more of their dwindling boreal forest habitat is destroyed.

In order for Big Oil to continue expanding this destructive effort, they need President Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline–which would pump up to 830,000 barrels per day of toxic tar sands oil from Canada through the United States.

President Obama is expected to make a final decision on Keystone XL in early 2013.

Speak up for caribou today! Edit and send the message HERE, urging President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline now.


3. Background | Source In Defense of Animals

In January, 2013, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-appointed panel of experts unanimously recommended steps that would lead to the retirement of most government-held chimpanzees from laboratories to sanctuaries. While not a complete ban on chimpanzee research, it is an enormous step forward and represents a stunningly positive shift in philosophy for the NIH.

We’ve never been this close to getting chimpanzees out of labs and we can’t ease up now. But we want them ALL retired. No Chimp Left Behind!

The “Report from Council of Councils Working Group on Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research” recommended that almost all of the 451 chimpanzees “owned” or supported by the NIH who are now at research facilities should be permanently retired from research and moved to sanctuaries. This is great news!

However, the panel called for holding on to 50 chimpanzees – denying them the freedom the experts admit is ethically required – just to keep them available for experiments in the future. This is not acceptable, and goes against the growing scientific consensus that chimpanzee research simply is not necessary. And the panel failed to advocate for freeing the estimated 350 chimpanzees who are imprisoned and tortured in privately-operated laboratories.

What you can do: Send an email to the Director of the NIH, Dr. Francis Collins. Tell him that while the Working Group recommendations are mostly positive, he needs to go further and retire all federally “owned” chimpanzees to a sanctuary. Then he needs to work with the U.S. Congress to free ALL chimpanzees from laboratories, not just those who are federally “owned.”

Personalize and submit the form HERE to email your comments to: Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH)


4. Background | Source Force Change

A research facility at the University of Southern Mississippi has been allowing ticks to feast on rabbits and hamsters. This torture leads to a massive deterioration of health for the animals, and many have to be euthanized because of their injuries. The tick feedings become so extreme that many of the animals are effectively eaten alive.

The hamsters and rabbits suffer from rectal bleeding, ear discoloration, and holes in their ears. It has also been found that this treatment causes the animals to later suffer from anorexia and significant weight loss. The extreme discomfort that the animals suffer through is eventually put to an end when many of them are euthanized.

This type of behavior from a university is unacceptable. The level of abuse that these animals endure is cruel and unnecessary. The workers at the facility should know better than to let innocent animals suffer like this. The fact that the workers can sit back and watch this torture take place without doing anything about it is disgusting. Sign the petition HERE to demand that the university puts an end to this severe animal abuse.


5. Background | Source Humane Society Legislative Fund

With fewer than 700 wolves left in the state, Michigan’s wolf population is only now starting to recover from the brink of extinction. Wolves have been on the protected list in Michigan for nearly 50 years. But sadly, Michigan state politicians just signed a bill allowing wolves to be hunted, putting the fragile wolf population in danger once more.

It’s not right to spend decades bringing the wolf back from the brink of extinction only to turn around and allow them to be killed for sport.

Keep Michigan Wolves Protected is seeking to collect more than 225,000 signatures of Michigan voters to place a referendum on the ballot in 2014 that would allow voters to choose whether or not to enact the legislature’s wolf hunting law.

TAKE ACTION: Please sign the pledge today to show your support for protecting Michigan’s wolves and receive alerts from Keep Michigan Wolves Protected.


6. Background | Source Sea Turtle Restoration Project

We have a chance to expand the protective boundaries of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries thanks to the support of thousands of activists like you and the tireless work of Northern California’s Congressional representatives. If approved, the expansion would block all future offshore oil and gas activity from an additional 2,700 square miles of California’s ocean. Please take action today!

Protect Sea Turtles, Whales, and Seabirds

The new Sanctuary boundaries would expand north to include the Sonoma and Mendocino Coasts, and a critical upwelling zone that supports one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world. Pacific leatherback sea turtles, white sharks, blue whales, seabirds and coho salmon are just a few of the endangered and charismatic creatures that rely on this marine habitat for their continued existence.

Oil and Gas Developments Banned Forever

All oil, gas, and mineral developments are prohibited within the National Marine Sanctuaries. Ocean activists and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (now retired) fought for decades to keep Northern California’s coast free from oil drilling. A Marine Sanctuary expansion would mean a historic victory that broadens the protections gained through their years of work.

Take action now:

Click here to add your name in support of expanding California’s National Marine Sanctuaries.

at the tip of your fingers,
a click or two,
just think of all
the good
that you
can do☺♥☻

Karen Lyons Kalmenson