HighestWelfare.Humane.Assured.GoodPractices.Vegetarian. Regenerative.Flexitarian.Lies...
What is the difference between No Welfare, High Welfare, and Highest Welfare when they all require animals to die? Only human comfort, NONE protect the actual animals. The most humane, ethical, and honest Webster-defined "welfare" is NOT exploiting animals - not using, not wearing, not eating, not killing - animals. The only meaningful position is vegan, everything else is just how humans euphemize animals' required suffering and violent deaths: no human exploits animals because they honestly believe that NOT exploiting animals is UNethical or INhumane.
NYC Carriage Horses | Please take two actions …
When they are no longer "useful" as slaves, they're "retired" as food ...
Please click on and sign the following two petitions:
1. Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in New York City – new bill needs support | Sponsored on Change
2. Ban all horse drawn carriages from the City of New York | Sponsored on PetitionOnline
From Change
By Stephanie Feldstein
The conflict surrounding New York City’s horse-drawn carriages isn’t new. Local and national groups have fought for years to get horses out of the city, where the animals are forced to work long hours nose-to-tailpipe, surrounded by frightening noises and the risk of accidents. Both city residents and out-of-state tourists often express concern for the animals’ welfare, and celebrities regularly urge people to stay away from the carriages.
Yet despite all the opposition, the campaign hasn’t made much headway. But this month, there’s new hope: New York State Senator Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan) introduced legislation (S.5013/A.7748) calling for a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City.
Why is this measure different than the attempts that have come before it? After all, the language of this bill is very similar to the one that Avella introduced as a City Council member in 2007. The difference is that, this time, the issue has been taken out of the city, where the carriage horse industry holds the reins, and is in the hands of state legislators.
It wasn’t for lack of interest that a carriage-horse ban hasn’t succeeded in the city. But since the bill was opposed by Speaker Christine Quinn, it was ignored by the city council.
Elizabeth Forel, president of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, has worked closely with Assemblymember Rosenthal and State Senator Avella on this legislation. After several years of frustration with the New York City Council, Forel hopes the carriage horse ban will get a fair shake in Albany. “The people do not want this inhumane and unsafe industry spoiling the streets of Manhattan anymore. Several media polls have shown about 75 percent of respondents in favor of a ban of the industry.”
As the press release announcing the new bill said: “The horse-drawn carriage ride in Central Park may be an iconic New York activity – one that has been romanticized in movies and in the minds of countless tourists over many decades – yet there is nothing romantic about the often brutal conditions that many carriage horses are forced to endure.”
The carriage horse industry often argues that their trade helps lure tourists, despite the fact that major destination cities around the world have banned the archaic attraction. As Assemblymember Rosenthal stated: “New York is not a one horse town: we have hundreds of thousands of attractions to draw and delight those who come here seeking the authentic New York experience. We certainly do not need to continue this barbaric industry in the name of keeping our tourism industry thriving.”
In addition to outlawing the operation of horse-drawn carriages in New York City, S.5013/A.7748 also calls for humane disposition of the animals to ensure that the horses aren’t simply sold off to slaughterhouses.
Senator Avella rightly calls this legislation “long overdue.” Whether you’re a New York resident or a potential tourist, join the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages in supporting this humane bill.
Related | Lea Michele on Horse-Drawn Carriages
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See More:
- Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages | www.banhdc.org
- Horses Without Carriages International | www.horseswithoutcarriages.org
Stop The Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners from shutting down spay/neuter clinics …
Image | Plus Pets
Please click on and sign Help Save Alabama Spay & Neuter (Speuter)
Background | From Change
Please sign this petition to help save the Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic from being unjustly shut down by the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners! Over the last three years Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic has performed over 33,000 high quality, low cost surgeries to many people who otherwise could not afford to fix their animals. We have, since inception, been approved & sanctioned by the Alabama Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, the licensing agent for all clinics & veterinarians in the State.
On June 9th, we received a certified letter from The Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, signed by Tammy S. Wallace, executive director of the state board. The letter alleges that the Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic is not owned by a licensed veterinarian and is therefore in violation of Alabama Code and must cease operations. We believe this is a politically motivated attack on the clinic, spearheaded by a few of the Board members who do not subscribe to our mission for one reason or another. The State Board has already effectively closed the North Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic in Huntsville and is now taking aim at us! We feel they will move on to the other non-profit Clinics in the State and we need your help to stop them!
In accordance with state law, Dr. William Weber owns the practice performing veterinary service in the Clinic- he employs, manages & pays the veterinarians. The Clinic owns the equipment, plus we hire support staff for the veterinarians. We feel strongly that we are operating within the law, as we have been for the past 3 years. It appears that we will be going to court to resolve this – an unfortunate waste of precious resources! In addition to fighting this in the Judicial system, we need a loud outcry from our supporters. Please sign this petition and help us stop the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, as spay/neuter clinics are very important to our community and we can’t afford to have the board unjustly shutting down clinics across the state of Alabama!
Related | Do you still find it outrageous?
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Related | The Vacuum Effect: Why Catch And Kill Doesn’t Work
Read more…
Image | Zimbio
EU ONLY – Please click on and sign:
EVERYONE – Please click on and sign the following:
- Cargill: Stop Destroying Rainforests, Communities, and Our Global Climate!
- Click on and see Below for ways you can reduce/eliminate your use of palm oil, thank you.
Background | From Call4 Org
We asked our supporters across Europe to write to their MEPs and ask them to ensure that the new EU regulation on ‘food information to consumers’ includes the mandatory labelling of palm oil on food packaging.
On Tuesday 19th April, the Clear Labels, Not Forests campaign moved a big step closer to success – the European Parliament’s Environment Committee voted YES to making the labelling of palm oil compulsory!
This is a fantastic result, but we need to keep up the pressure. The next step of the campaign, calling on the European Council to back the move, is absolutely crucial, as both Parliament and Council must agree in order for the amendment to be accepted.
Palm oil is the world’s most popular vegetable oil, primarily produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, and with rapid expansion now being seen in Africa. The development of oil palm plantations is often at the expense of tropical forests and carbon-rich peatlands, which has disastrous consequences for critically endangered species, including the orangutan, elephant, rhino and tiger, as well as local communities and indeed the global effort to reduce carbon emissions to prevent dangerous climate change.
Please click on the link below to write to your government’s Minister who is responsible for this decision in the European Council. This will help keep up the pressure and ensure that palm oil is clearly labelled on food packaging.
Message Text
I am deeply concerned about a frequently unlabelled ingredient, palm oil, which is found in close to half of all top-selling grocery brands in supermarkets across Europe. Palm oil is the world’s most popular vegetable oil, primarily produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, and with rapid expansion now being seen in Africa. The development of oil palm plantations is often at the expense of tropical forests and carbon-rich peatlands, which has disastrous consequences for critically endangered species, including the orangutan, elephant, rhino and tiger, as well as local communities and indeed the global effort to reduce carbon emissions to prevent dangerous climate change.
Currently, there is no mandatory requirement in the EU for food manufacturers to label palm oil or palm kernel oil on packaging. Palm oil is usually labelled as ‘vegetable oil’ and consumers are therefore unable to make informed decisions about the products they purchase not only on health grounds (due to its high saturated fat content) but also based on the palm oil industry’s well-documented negative environmental and social impacts.
The second reading of a new EU regulation on the “Provision of food information to consumers”, also known as the Sommer Report, is currently in progress. Amendment number 124, tabled by Glenis Willmott MEP and Nessa Childers MEP, calls for the mandatory labelling of palm oil. Mandatory labelling will enable consumers to make informed choices, and will help to drive demand for certified sustainable palm oil from European food retailers and manufacturers; alternative voluntary labelling schemes will not have the same impact.
The European Parliament voted on this issue on 19th April, and voted in support of labelling palm oil on food packaging.
Driven by consumer pressure many leading European supermarkets and food manufacturers have joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and have made commitments to purchase palm oil only from certified sustainable sources by 2015. In November 2010, all Dutch palm oil suppliers made the same pledge.
A voluntary labelling scheme would fail to provide the much needed impetus for the remaining companies to commit to buying only certified sustainable palm oil. To address the difficulty of labelling the frequently changing composition of vegetable oils, the phrase ‘vegetable oil (including palm oil)’ is a practical alternative.
I am writing to you in your capacity to influence this decision in the European Council, to ask you to support this provision.
I look forward to receiving your response on this issue.
Related | Save the Orangutan, Stop Palm Oil
What you can do | From Green, The Film:
Do not buy any wood products like out-door furniture, flooring, doors, window frames, beams and plywood made of Indonesian wood such as Merbau, Kempas, Bangkirai, Keruing, Meranti, Teak, etc. Consume as little paper as possible and never buy anything printed in China or South East Asia (most chances are the paper will be coming from Indonesia). When you do buy paper, try to avoid the brands which are all involved in the Indonesian paper industry: see below on PDF.
When buying your foods and cosmetics, avoid the brands that use Indonesian Palm Oil: see below on PDF.
Please report any errors so that the company name may be removed from the list.
Read more:
Deforestation is Made Possible By…
Green, The Film | Facts
Palm Oil | Key Players
Image: SecondClaw, deviantART | http://secondclaw.deviantart.com/
Please click on and sign the following actions to request Tony be set free now rather than December 2011:
- Free Tony the Truck Stop Tiger Now, Not Later
- Petition to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
- Speak Out for Tony the Truck Stop Tiger
Background | From Free Tony The Tiger and ALDF:
Join the Animal Legal Defense Fund in urging the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to immediately revoke the permit that allows Michael Sandlin to display Tony, a ten-year-old Siberian-Bengal tiger, at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana, where he has lived with no other tiger companions since 2003.
On April 11, 2011, ALDF filed a lawsuit against the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and its secretary Robert Barham, arguing that he violated state law in granting a permit allowing Sandlin to exhibit Tony at the Tiger Truck Stop. On May 6th, ALDF won its lawsuit, preventing the Department from renewing the annual permit that allows Sandlin to display Tony. When the current permit expires in December 2011, Sandlin will no longer be able to keep Tony confined as a roadside exhibit at the truck stop where he has languished for over a decade. However, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has the power to revoke this permit today—meaning that Tony need not suffer until Sandlin’s current permit expires in December. Your support is still need to urge the state of Louisiana to free Tony immediately!
In addition to being subjected to noise and diesel fumes 24-hours a day, Tony is also frequently harassed and taunted by visitors at the truck stop. His enclosure is devoid of adequate enrichment, such as logs, trees, or complex vegetation that would allow him to engage in natural tiger behaviors. He has no pool of water large enough to allow him to submerge himself to cool off in the blazing heat of the summer. As a result of the stress of his confinement, Tony constantly paces on the hard concrete surface of his enclosure, putting him at risk for dangerous and painful veterinary conditions. Michael Sandlin, the owner of Tony and the truck stop, has been cited by the USDA due to violations of the Animal Welfare Act, including a lack of proper sanitation and improper feeding practices.
Join the Animal Legal Defense Fund in urging the state of Louisiana to immediately revoke the permit that allows Tony to be kept at the Tiger Truck Stop—a permit that violates both state and local ordinances designed to protect people and wild animals like Tony.
Message Text:
I join the Animal Legal Defense Fund in urging the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to revoke the permit that allows Michael Sandlin to display Tony, a ten-year-old Siberian-Bengal tiger, at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana, where he has lived with no other tiger companions since 2003.
Tony has spent every day and night of the last decade at the Tiger Truck Stop, where he is subjected to the stench of fuel and the deafening noise of diesel engines 24-hours a day.
What’s more, Tony is frequently harassed and taunted by visitors at the truck stop. His enclosure is devoid of adequate enrichment, such as logs, trees, or complex vegetation that would allow him to engage in natural tiger behaviors. He has no pool of water large enough to allow him to submerge himself to cool off in the blazing heat of the summer. As a result of the stress of confinement, Tony constantly paces on the hard concrete surface of his enclosure, putting him at risk for dangerous and painful veterinary conditions.
Tony’s confinement is clearly inhumane — and, as the Animal Legal Defense Fund argued in court, it is also illegal, as your Department violated state law in granting Michael Sandlin’s permit. Please follow the regulations already set by the State of Louisiana to protect members of the public and tigers such as Tony by revoking Sandlin’s permit immediately.
Related from ALDF | This Is Who We Are
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1. Please go vegan!
2. Send automatic email to urge the discontinuation of pig vivisection.
3. Write Nestle to stop testing on mice, Sample Text provided.
From Mercy For Animals
A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation provides a shocking look into one of the nation’s largest pork producers – Iowa Select Farms in Kamrar, Iowa. At this factory farm, mother sows and their piglets are forced to suffer brutal abuse and lives of unrelenting confinement and misery.
Between April and June of 2011, an MFA investigator documented:
- Mother sows confined to barren metal crates barely larger than their own bodies – unable to turn around or lie down comfortably for nearly their entire lives
- Workers ripping out the testicles of conscious piglets
- Piglets suffering with herniated intestines, due to botched castration
- Conscious piglets having their tails painfully sliced into and yanked off with dull clippers
- Large, open, pus-filled wounds and pressure sores
- Sick and injured pigs left to languish and slowly die without proper veterinary care
- Mother pigs – physically taxed from constant birthing – suffering from distended, inflamed, bleeding, and usually fatal uterine prolapses
- Management training workers to throw piglets across the room – comparing it to a “roller coaster ride”
Footage | Warning, graphic:
Upon reviewing the undercover footage, world-renowned animal behaviorist Dr. Jonathan Balcombe denounced the facility, stating that “this video depicts scenes of unbearable suffering and inexcusable neglect. … This farm should be closed down at once.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Become VEGAN and reject all abuse.
From PCRM
Please take a minute to click on and ask University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine dean James E. Keeton, M.D., and University of Mississippi chancellor Daniel W. Jones, M.D., to stop the use of live pigs in the school’s medical student physiology lab. 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:
- Please replace the use of animals in UMMC’s physiology lab.
- Anatomical and physiological differences between pigs and humans render this type of training suboptimal.
- UMMC is one of only seven schools in the United States and Canada that still use live animals for training.
- High-fidelity human-patient simulators more accurately represent human anatomy and allow for repetitive training.
- UMMC already has a state-of-the-art simulation center than can easily provide nonanimal training methods.
Click the “Send Message” button and your e-mail will automatically be sent to Dr. Keeton and Dr. Jones.
Can You Do Just a Little Bit More?
If you haven’t already done so, please participate in the following actions:
- Contact Tulane University School of Medicine senior vice president and dean Dr. Benjamin Sachs, M.B., and urge him to end the practice of using live animals
- Ask the University of Tennessee to End Its Cruel Pig Lab at its Chattanooga campus
- End the Use of Live Pigs at Baystate Medical Center
In these cruel tests, mice and rats were tormented and then killed by such means as decapitation. The following are some details of the horrors endured by the animals used in Nestea’s tea experiments:
- Mice bred to suffer from brain dysfunction and rapid aging were fed green-tea extracts and then locked in a dark chamber, only to receive painful electric shocks to their feet; the mice were then killed.
- Mice bred to suffer from muscle degeneration were fed green-tea extracts, after which experimenters cut open the animals’ leg muscles and then decapitated them.
- Experimenters injected toxic chemicals into mice to destroy insulin-producing cells, causing the animals to develop diabetes. After this cruel procedure, the mice were force-fed tea extracts and then killed.
- Rats made to suffer from high fat and cholesterol levels were forced to consume tea extracts through a tube that was forced down their throats; the rats were then killed and dissected.
Modern, cruelty-free research methods are available and are in use by other leading beverage companies around the world. We need YOU to join us in telling Nestea to ditch its cruel-tea to animals and to use non-animal methods instead.
Please take a moment to ask Nestea to stop testing on animals and join other brands—such as Lipton, Arizona, Snapple, Honest Tea, Tazo, Twinings, Stash Tea, Celestial Seasonings, Luzianne Tea, and others—that don’t experiment on animals.
Send polite comments to the below Nestle executives.
Individual:
Paul Bulcke
CEO
Nestlé S.A.
Paul.Bulcke@nestle.com
Brad Alford
CEO
Nestlé USA
Brad.Alford@us.nestle.com
Group:
Paul.Bulcke@nestle.com , Brad.Alford@us.nestle.com
Sample Text:
Dear CEOs Alford and Bulcke:
I am shocked to learn that Nestle continues to support animal experimentation, namely outdated and irresponsible cruel tests using mice and rats. Considered archaic and fundamentally flawed, product testing on animals lacks corporate legitimacy and social validation; indeed, numerous other beverage corporations have discontinued subjecting animals to such unprincipled testing. As such, as long as you continue to capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support you.
Please make both the ethical and financially-responsible decision to discontinue animal experimentation immediately: join the increasing body of corporations who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious industry of animal experimentation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this important message.
NAME | ADDRESS
RELATED: Need a vegan grocery shopping list? Check out PETA’s:
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
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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
Read more…
‘Quirky’ not the right term for vegetarians
Image | Health EzineMark
From Asheville Citizen Times, Opinion
Written by Stewart David
A recent Asheville Citizen-Times article referred to vegetarians as “quirky”, hardly an appropriate adjective in this day and age. Asheville now has five vegetarian restaurants and dozens of other local dining establishments offering multiple meat-free options. It’s hard to open a newspaper or magazine or turn on your TV or computer without seeing articles and recipes about vegetarianism. Oprah Winfrey and her staff of 378 recently took a weeklong “Vegan Challenge”, Martha Stewart and Ellen DeGeneres (a vegan) have both repeatedly covered the topic, and the list goes on.
The Number One reason people are adopting plant-based diets is the growing awareness of the horrific cruelties inflicted upon animals raised for food.
The veil of secrecy surrounding modern agriculture has been lifted, mostly due to undercover investigations conducted by animal rights groups.
It’s no surprise that legislation has been introduced in multiple states to make it a crime to produce, distribute or possess photos and video taken without permission at an agricultural facility. The truth is ugly, and, as the adage goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. As noted in a recent New York Times editorial, “The legislation has only one purpose: to hide factory-farming conditions from a public that is beginning to think seriously about animal rights and the way food is produced.”
The editorial concludes, “We need to know more about what goes on behind those closed doors, not less.” To take a peek at the systematic, institutionalized cruelty of food production that the industry wants to keep hidden, watch Glass Walls (narrated by Paul McCartney) at www.meat.org (or see directly below). Hurry, because if this powerful industry has its way, viewing this video may soon be illegal.
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A whopping majority of Americans agree that cruelty to animals is just plain wrong. Yet most of these same people consume animals that were subjected to egregious abuse. There truly is bliss in ignorance, and the industry is determined to keep it that way. Once you know the facts, you are forced to consider aligning your actions with your beliefs. If you cringe at what you saw on the video, it’s probably not something you yourself would do to an animal. Why is it acceptable to pay others to do it for you? If dogs or cats were treated this way, the perpetrators would go to jail.
As vegetarianism moves from the margins to the mainstream, making the switch gets easier every day. It’s often as simple as walking down a different aisle at the supermarket or opening to a different section of the menu.
What are you waiting for?
Stewart David is a retired certified public accountant who spent most of his life eating animal products at every meal. In the late 1980s, his concerns about animal protection, the environment, global hunger and social justice led him to adopt a vegan diet. He has lived in Asheville since 1990.
Free vegan guide courtesy International Vegetarian Union
Please sign to help end the live-export industry …
Image BBC
Editor’s Note: Those who embrace an abolition ideology, including me, may be reluctant to support a campaign that focuses on the discontinuation of only one factor, the vicious transport, of the slaughter process, and it does not save the lives of animals, animals who, regardless of environment, will still be killed. However, rejecting the mass globalization of ALL animal exploitation by following a vegan lifestyle automatically saves hundreds of animals each year; being vegan accepts that ALL exploitation is wrong and isn’t based on deriving self-serving exoneration via support of welfarist endeavors. It is therefore this understanding, via banning the live transport of animals, that brings awareness and evolution of thought to protect animals unconditionally, rather than only make the process less intolerable to people and why OC is sharing this important campaign. SR
IMMEDIATE: Please click on and sign Ban Australia’s Live Export Industry (From the link, please select “Submit” to be directed to the automated letter you can sign and send; it is not necessary to view video to sign.)
BACKGROUND: From Animals Australia, RSPCA
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.
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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.
Please click on and sign the following four actions, thank you:
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?
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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:
- Please end the use of pigs to train medical students on the UTCOM Chattanooga campus.
- The use of live pigs in the surgery clerkship 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.
- UTCOM Chattanooga is one of only seven medical schools (out of 176) in the United States and Canada to use live animals for training.
- 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).
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.
Four issues, please take action …
PHOTO | Li Bo: Live animals being sold as keyrings
Please click on and sign the following:
1. Urge Belfast City Council to free imprisoned dog
2. Protect Polar Bears And Other Arctic Animals
3. End Tiger Farming in the U.S.
4. Stop Live Animals From Being Sold As Keyrings In China!
1. Background | From Action For Our Planet
In Belfast, Northern Ireland the city council has been holding an American bull dog named Lennox for nearly a year in a kennel. Recently, a Belfast judge ordered Lennox to be destroyed because he was considered a danger to the public. This decision has caused outrage across the world, with thousands of people campaigning to save the wrongly convicted dog. According to Save Lennox campaign, the 6 year old dog has never attacked anyone but he was wrongfully seized because he looked like a pitbull, a dangerous dog breed under the Dangerous Dogs (NI) Order 1991. Please urge Belfast City Council to overturn this decision by freeing Lennox and allowing him to return to his loving family.
Message Text
Subject: Please release Lennox the dog
Dear Belfast City Council,
It is of great concern to me that you continue to keep a Belfast dog, named Lennox imprisoned in one of your kennels. Nearly a year ago, your council wrongfully seized the American bull dog under the Dangerous Dogs (NI) Order 1991. This seizure occurred despite the fact that Lennox had never attacked anyone and was not considered a dangerous dog. Recently, a Belfast judge ordered Lennox to be put to death even though thousands of people worldwide including celebrities and politicians appealed to your council to release Lennox. Instead of addressing the concerns of animal lovers worldwide, your council has continued to keep Lennox imprisoned in a concrete pit, filled with excretion.
I urge you to release Lennox immediately and return him to his loving family.
Thank you for your time.
Save the Polar Bear Please view video and sign the associated petition HERE
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2. Background | From In Defense of Animals: DFA
The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – sometimes called the Polar Bear Seas – are vital to the survival of America’s threatened polar bears, walrus, bowhead whales and so many other Arctic species.
Yet Shell Oil and other companies are charging ahead with plans to industrialize this crucial area without proper protections for the animals who could be devastated by an oil spill.
Stand up to Big Oil. Urge the Obama administration to nix new drilling in the Polar Bear Seas.
Message Text
As someone who cares about protecting Arctic wildlife, I strongly urge your administration to exclude new drilling plans for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas from the five-year plan for oil and gas development on the Outer Continental Shelf.
The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, sometimes called the Polar Bear Seas, are vital to the survival of America’s threatened polar bears, walrus, bowhead whales and so many other Arctic species.
Yet Shell Oil and other companies are charging ahead with plans to industrialize this crucial area without proper protections for the animals who could be devastated by an oil spill.
Here are the facts:
* Big Oil can’t clean up a spill in these remote waters. Last year’s BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and recent new spills off the coasts of Norway and in the Gulf of Mexico show how ill-prepared these companies are when disaster strikes.
* Arctic drilling won’t reduce American gas prices. It will take years, even decades, to get oil from the Arctic. Even then, there is no guarantee that oil won’t simply be shipped abroad to meet the rising demand in China, India and other countries.
* Drilling could devastate Arctic wildlife. Thousands of sea otters were killed when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. The BP disaster claimed the lives of hundreds of threatened and endangered sea turtles and other wildlife. Now imagine the damage that could be wrought on polar bears, walrus and other wildlife by a spill in an area that is more than 1,000 miles away from the nearest Coast Guard station.
For all of these reasons, I strongly urge you to exclude these vital waters from future offshore drilling plans.
Thank you for considering my comments.
3. Background | From Big Cat Rescue
Breeding for Pay to Play Sessions Results in Thousands of Tigers Ending Up in Awful Situations
If you could do just one thing to save the most tigers, this is it.
Tigers are being farmed openly in China for their bones, fur and meat but when CITES tries to pressure them to stop, they point to the U.S. and say, “but you do it too!” It isn’t as openly done in the U.S., but it has been proven to happen in the US Fish & Wildlife Service sting called Operation Snow Plow.
It starts with breeders who breed “generic” tigers (that are inbred, crossbred or otherwise not considered purebred) that are used for pay to play sessions where the public pays to pet or pose with a baby tiger or lion cub. They are only cute and cuddly for about a month of “service” and then they are discarded into the pet trade, warehoused in tiny, barren cells or worse; ending up on dinner menus, skinned, stuffed or disappearing into the black market trade.
Back in the 1980s the US Fish & Wildlife Service decided it was too much bother to deal with every back yard breeder who wanted a permit to breed tigers, so they created a “generic” tiger loophole. It essentially states that if you are not a legitimate AZA accredited zoo, which must conform to permitting requirements to breed purebred tigers, then you can breed, exploit and discard tigers at will and with virtually no oversight. It was the worst move the U.S. has ever made for tigers.
Now the problem is of epidemic proportions with thousands of tigers languishing in tiny, filthy cages and daily dropping off the radar as there is no one monitoring what happens to them next. The problem in China is largely the fault of the U.S. having taken such a lax stance on the issue and setting such a poor example to the rest of the world.
YOU can change that now! Send this quick and easy letter to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, USDA / APHIS, and the Secretary of State asking that they rescind the “generic” tiger loophole.
Message Text
None of the tigers being bred outside of American Zoological Association Species Survival Plans serve any conservation value. It is time to end the tiger trade in the U.S. and set a better global example of how we should protect tigers rather than exploit them for profit.
Related: Illegal tiger trade ‘killing 100 big cats each year’
4. Background | From Treehugger, Change
By Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Keyring ornaments are perhaps the most useless item you’ll ever carry in your pocket or stuff in your purse — but now, thanks to an increasingly popular item being sold in China, it can easily be the cruelest, too. For the price you might expect to pay for some kitschy trinket, Chinese street vendors are selling live animals, permanently sealed in a small plastic pouch where they can survive for a short while as someone’s conversation piece. Apparently, these unimaginably inhumane keyrings are actually quite popular — and worst of all, it’s totally legal.
According to The Global Times, these keyring accessories containing live animals are widely available and sold publicly in subway stations and on sidewalks. Potential buyers (read as animal-abusers) have the choice between a living Brazil turtle or two small kingfish, sealed in an airtight package along with some colored water. One vendor claimed that the trapped creatures “can live for months inside there” because the water contains “nutrients,” though veterinarians have already disputed this claim.
“I’ll hang it in my office, it looks nice and brings good luck, ” said one customer who purchased the turtle.
As the cruel trinkets continue to gain in popularity, thankfully so to have the voices of animal rights supporters in opposition to the inhumane treatment of the animals they contain. “To put a living thing inside a sealed and confined space for profit is immoral and pure animal abuse,” Qin Xiaona, director of the NGO Capital Animal Welfare Association, told the Global Times.
Even some right-thinking passersby are trying to do their part in saving the animals’ lives where they can. “I bought one to free it. It looks so miserable,” said one woman, unnamed by the Times.
Despite the fact that the selling of animals as keyring ornaments is a clear-cut case of animal cruelty, it is actually entirely within the law. Chinese law prohibits the sale of wild animals — a designation which evidently does not apply to the Brazil turtles and kingfish being sold.
For the time being, in lieu of legislation which may or may not come to pass outlawing the sale of living creatures as objects of amusement, Xiaona suggests people use their better sense to squelch the trade. “If nobody buys it, the market will die,” she says.
Sadly, it is likely that so too will the animals which have already been sealed in their colorful, transparent tombs — gasping for the final breath of air they’ve been packaged with, as they peer out to a world in which their lives are considered essentially worthless. And in such a dark hour, it’s hard not to believe our very humanity awaits a similar fate.
From Change.org, by Madeline Kennedy
Please click and sign HERE
Stop Animal Torture!
Greetings,
We can work together to stop animal cruelty and torture, and to start I am writing to ask if you will please sign my petition to tell the Chinese government that they need to make putting live turtles and king fish into permanently sealed keychains illegal. These keychains, which include the live animal and some colored water in a sealtight plastic container, are fastly growing in popularity. They are cruel and unnessecary, and someone must speak out for them since they cannot speak for themselves!
These keyring accessories are widely available and sold publicly in subway stations and on sidewalks. Vendors claim that the trapped creatures “can live for months inside there” because the water contains “nutrients,” though veterinarians have already disputed this claim, Do you think it’s right that these helpless animals live trapped and starving in peice of plastic in the dark of someone’s pocketbook? I don’t! Join me in telling the Chinese government that this needs to stop!
GoDaddy.com CEO Kills Wild Elephants: two actions
Image | Pro Wildlife: http://www.prowildlife.de/
Please click on and sign the following, thank you:
1. I have a concern about GoDaddy
2. Tell Go Daddy’s CEO: Real Men Don’t Kill Elephants
1. Background | From IDA
Bob Parsons, CEO of the internet domain hosting company Go Daddy, posted a video blog that shows him shooting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. This is not the first time he has publicly bragged about killing elephants and other hunting activities.
Parsons says he’s not ashamed of his reprehensible action, claiming to be helping villagers whose crops were trampled. But his lame excuse doesn’t hold water. Parsons is just another trophy hunter looking to justify murdering an innocent animal.
Real conservationists are working toward real solutions that include promoting responsible land use policies that address the needs of elephants and people so the two can live in harmony. And they work with farmers to implement methods of alleviating human-elephant conflicts without injuring or killing elephants, including the use of proven elephant-repellers such as chile peppers and bees, and guards to make noise and shine spotlights on the elephants when they approach the crops at night.
Despite Parsons’ self-serving claims that elephants are not endangered in Africa because populations may have increased in some countries, the recent increase in poaching and civil strife continue to drive the African elephant toward extinction.
If Parsons has any real interest in helping African farmers and feeding the people of Zimbabwe, he should dip into his overflowing pockets and contribute to the efforts of real conservation groups working to protect farmers and the wildlife around them. Killing elephants will not solve Zimbabwe’s problems.
- Use the form HERE to send a message to Go Daddy Group president Warren Adelman, telling him that Parsons’ appalling actions will have negative consequences for the company. We’ll cc their PR Department also.
- If you have a Go Daddy account, cancel it at the next available opportunity. Do not do business with Go Daddy until the killing stops.
- Share this information with all your friends, family and colleagues.
Related video | GoDaddy CEO shoots elephant
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2. Background from Change | By Laura Goldman
In his video blog, Hunting Problem Elephant — My 2011 Vacation, that was posted on GoDaddy.com last week, Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons shoots and kills an elephant in Zimbabwe.
Go Daddy, of course, is the web-hosting company infamous for its sleazy Super Bowl commercials featuring scantily clad women — er, “Go Daddy girls.” According to CNN, Parsons has received hate mail saying the ads promote pornography.
As for what his elephant snuff film promotes, if you were to ask Parsons, his answer might very well be … heroism.
“Each year I go to Zimbabwe and hunt problem elephant,” Parsons wrote. “It’s one of the most beneficial and rewarding things I do.”
In the almost 4-minute video, which begins with a viewer discretion advisory for graphic violence, Parsons and his team are “flagged down by a desperate farmer,” according to the titles. “When crops are lost subsistence farmers risk starvation.”
“The elephants have been here three nights in a row,” Parsons says to the camera. “We’re hoping they come back for a fourth. And if they do? We’re gonna be here to greet them.”
Three bull elephants enter the field that night. According to a title that evidently wasn’t spell-checked, “Team waits until the elephant are close then turns on lights duct tapped to their rifles & opens fire.”
Parsons shoots first, and an elephant falls. “Bob fires again,” the title says. “Both shots hit home.” The two other bulls run off.
Parsons is shown smiling and leaning back against his kill, his rifle perched victoriously on the dead beast’s head. The next morning, dozens of villagers — all sporting Go Daddy baseball caps — merrily butcher the elephant as “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC plays in the background.
“Bulls do not return to fields. Crops are saved. Team leaves to find another farmer in need of help,” the end title says.
As much as Parsons wants to portray himself as a hero for saving the farmer’s livelihood, in actuality there are many other humane ways to deal with the elephants vs. crops problem in Africa.
As Stephanie Feldstein wrote on Change.org last November, conservationists and farmers have already devised plenty of clever and harmless methods of keeping elephants away from precious crops. For example, chili-infused string and beehives on poles — not bullets — can keep elephants away. In Sumatra, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Crop Protection Unit stands guard over crops, and when elephants approach, they bang bamboo and shine spotlights to scare them off. Not a single bullet is necessary.
Parsons has built and runs a very successful company. While it may not be as testosterone-spiking as blowing away a 6-ton bull elephant in the dark, if Parsons truly wants to help Zimbabwe farmers, he can put his business savvy to use by helping farmers protect their crops while sparing elephants’ lives. Sign the petition telling Parsons that real men don’t kill elephants — they find ways to save their lives.
Read more…
2005 DAF Third Prize, Natalia Lazarashuili | Tbilisi State Academy of Arts: Tbilisi
Related actions, please click on and sign/send the following if not done already, thank you:
2. Tell Donna Karan: Stop Using Rabbit Fur
From Animal Equality
Activists from the Animal Equality Investigation Team have recorded for the first time in Spain the killing of minks. The images were taken in one of the largest mink farms in Spain, Eurozeltifur, which is located in Carral (Galicia) on March 24. Using HD cameras and hidden cameras, the activists documented the end that awaits over 300,000 minks in the fur industry. Over 50 million individuals are killed each year for the clothing industry — all in the name of fashion.
animalEQUALITY films the killing of minks | short version
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animalEQUALITY films the killing of minks | long version
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This video also includes images taken last December at the farm of Santa Maria de la Cabeza in Madrid. We show the bodies of asphyxiated newborn animals piled on the floor. Some of the animals found in this farm had all four limbs severed as a result of cannibalism, an indicator of the extreme suffering they had endured throughout their lives in the cages.
Most of the mink on fur farms are killed between November and December, except for the animals that are kept for breeding stock for the following year. These animals are killed in March and frozen for their pelts until the winter. They are gassed to death.
Animal Equality has documented how minks are forced out of their cages by farmers and thrown violently into the gassing box. Seventy minks are crammed inside. Once inside, they can remain alive for over fifteen minutes, making desperate attempts to escape.
The death of these animals by inhalation of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide is painful. Animals can suffer from seizures for more than 12 seconds, and then collapse. Carbon dioxide is irritating and, as with carbon monoxide, causes edema and bleeding in the lungs. This occurs whilst the animals are still conscious.
The Animal Equality Investigation Team has managed to contact an ex-employee of one of these fur farms. In his testimony he states that many times, minks inside the gas chambers stay on top of other animals and do not die outright. Some remain unconscious but alive whilst they are skinned.
This abominable death is the end for animals who have suffered a life full of pain, stress and deprivation. The entire process has been documented by Animal Equality, during a two-year investigation which has been carried out in almost all the mink farms in Spain (accessible Granjadevisones.es).
Animal Equality calls for a ban on fur farms in Spain and an end to the exploitation of animals for clothing. Respect for the interests of animals requires that we stop using them for clothing, food, entertainment, research or any other purpose.
Despite the fact that minks and other animals do not belong to the human species, each of these individuals is sentient – able to feel emotions and sensations such as pain or pleasure – and has interests that can no longer be ignored. Founded in 2006, Animal Equality has revealed harrowing images never before seen in Spain or around the world and carried out pioneering work on numerous areas of animal exploitation. Animal Equality exists to give a voice to non-human animals; and to demand that they receive the respect they deserve.
A photo gallery of the investigation can be found by clicking Flickr HERE.
Animal Equality has published a detailed report, accompanied by appropriate scientific references, on the suffering of minks killed in gas chambers (mouse over middle for “fullscreen version” or over bottom for other menu options):
Death Inside Gas Chambers | From animalEQUALITY issuu
Media Contact:
Laura Gough | Animal Equality Spokesperson
Phone: 07538 431754
Email: lauran@animalequality.net
Please Protect Nova Scotia’s Grey Seals
PHOTO | Wikimedia Commons
OC NOTE: If you have contacted OC and have not received a response, it is because I have not received your communication due to my Facebook and Yahoo accounts both being hacked and deactivated. Please resubmit, thank you!
PLEASE CLICK ON AND SIGN: Protect Nova Scotia’s Grey Seals
BACKGROUND | From IFAW
The government of Canada has authorized the slaughter of 60,000 grey seals for 2011. That amounts to roughly 80% of the grey seal pups born this year, and the first kills are expected to take place in the protected wilderness area of Hay Island, Nova Scotia.
Please urge Nova Scotia’s Minister of Tourism to stop this hunt immediately. Click HERE.
We have prepared a template letter for you to send. This copy is displayed in the window. We encourage you to personalise this copy to make the email or letter more effective.
RELATED, GRAPHIC | Grey Seal Hunt, Hay Seal Slaughter
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MESSAGE TEXT
Dear Minister Paris,
I believe that wildlife should be protected and that the government-supported grey seal hunt in Nova Scotia should cease immediately. It is a cruel and unnecessary slaughter unsupported by the majority of the global audience witness to such barbarism. Indeed, there is no economic, scientific, or ethical argument that can support the herding, clubbing, and skinning of defenseless grey seal pups, and there is no scientific evidence that killing grey seals will help fish stocks recover. The government-sanctioned extermination of wildlife is not only a terrible embarrassment for Canada, but off-putting to tourists. The few dollars to be earned by a handful of sealers who conduct this slaughter does not justify the extremely negative image this activity brings to Nova Scotia and to Canada.
Please let me know that your government will support an end to the grey seal hunt in Nova Scotia.
Breast milk ice cream goes on sale in Covent Garden
From BBC News
The makers say the ice cream is pure, organic and totally natural.
A restaurant in London’s Covent Garden is serving a new range of ice cream, made with breast milk.
The dessert, called Baby Gaga, is churned with donations from London mother Victoria Hiley, and served with a rusk and an optional shot of Calpol or Bonjela.
Mrs Hiley, 35, said if adults realised how tasty breast milk was more new mothers would be encouraged to breastfeed.
Each serving of Baby Gaga at Icecreamists costs £14.
Mrs Hiley’s donation was expressed on site and pasteurised before being churned with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest.
RELATED | Behind the Mustache
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Icecreamists founder Matt O’Connor placed an advert appealing for breast milk donations and believes his new recipe will be a success.
“If it’s good enough for our children, it’s good enough for the rest of us,” he said.
“Some people will hear about it and go yuck – but actually it’s pure organic, free-range and totally natural.”
Mrs Hiley, who gets £15 for every 10 ounces of milk she donates to the company, said it was a great “recession beater”.
“What’s the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash?” she added.
“I teach women how to get started on breastfeeding their babies. There’s very little support for women and every little helps.”
Mr O’Connor said 14 other women had come forward to offer their services. Health checks for the lactating women were the same used by hospitals to screen blood donors.
“Nobody has done anything interesting with ice cream in the last hundred years,” he added.
I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan!
Related:
A great and wonderful wild woodland gone because of a supermarket: please take action
Please click on and sign the following to prevent further destruction:
1. GO PETITION | We need more Trees and less Supermarkets
2. THE PETITION SITE | We need more Trees and less Supermarkets
3. CHANGE | We need more Trees and less Supermarkets
From Mena, Lo
Background
Until a few weeks ago in the town of Melksham (UK) there was a riverside walk wild with woodland gracious, fabulous to walk whether you were a dog walker or just a couple with children. Woodland full of wildlife, beautiful scenes of wild flowers, amazing in the snow scenes.
Well, everything is finished because of Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Woodlands, small groups of trees and individual trees are a vital component of the Wiltshire landscape, providing visual beauty, habitats for important species, cover for animals, and a valuable recreational resource.
Woodland was once the natural vegetation cover over most of the UK and is our richest wildlife habitat, supporting many hundreds of species of invertebrates, fungi, bryophytes, flowering plants, and birds. Local geology, land form, and environmental conditions give rise to distinct sub-types (communities), each with a characteristic flora.
Biodiversity encompasses the whole variety of life on Earth. It includes all species of plants and animals, their genetic variations, and the complex of ecosystems of which they are part.
We have a duty to ensure that a diverse and thriving natural environment is maintained for the economic, social and spiritual health and wellbeing of this and future generations.
Now everything is gone.
RELATED | Bluebells North Wiltshire
Message Text
We, the undersigned, respectfully ask to rethink your decision, and stop the massacre of our land.
We don’t need further Supermarkets, we do need more Woodland! We don’t need to buy, we need to breathe! Our Planet is suffering, we should protect the Environment. Sainsbury can use an abandoned industrial area, there are so many!
Do it for the Earth, for the animals, for us, and for the future generations.
Thank you for your time.
Our Compass 