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.
Bumble Bees In U.S. Suffer Sharp Decline, Joining Countless Other Species Disappearing Worldwide, as Human Population Explodes to SEVEN BILLION
From The Huffington Post
By Travis Walter Donovan
North American bees are disappearing at a rapid rate, signaling a dire threat to the production of countless food sources. The Guardian reports that four common species of U.S. bumble bees have declined 96 percent in recent decades, and scientists allege that disease and inbreeding are responsible.
Honey bees have long been known to be in decline, suffering from the enigmatic colony collapse disorder, and the latest research on U.S. bumble bees only exacerbates concerns over future food production, as bees are responsible for pollinating 90 percent of the world’s commercial plants, from fruits and vegetables to coffee and cotton.
While a correlation between the Nosema bombi fungus infection and the declining bumble bee populations was discovered, the culprit isn’t clearly defined. One of the study’s researchers told LiveScience that the data doesn’t necessarily verify that the disease is driving the decline, and other factors — like reduced adaptability to environmental changes as a result of inbreeding — are likely at play.
The bees join other pollinating insects that have been suffering increasing declines since the end of the 20th century, including moths and hoverflies, and the U.S. findings mirror similar studies examining bee declines around the world, with everything from increasing city development to pesticide use suggested as contributing causes.
Related | 7 Billion, National Geographic Magazine
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Unfortunately, insects aren’t the only creatures suffering drastic losses to their populations. Tigers could be extinct in 12 years if efforts to protect their habitats and prevent poaching aren’t increased. A recent study across three continents showed snakes to be in rapid decline due to climate change. Overfishing and changing weather patterns have left 12 of the world’s 17 species of penguins experiencing steep losses in numbers. A recent World Wildlife Fund report found that all animals in the tropics have declined by 60 percent since 1970, with everything from gorillas to fish thinning out.
DNA Clears Texas Man After Three Decades in Prison
AP/Mike Fuentes | At Left: Innocence Project Senior Staff Attorney Nina Morrison, Cornelius Dupree, and Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck
Moments ago, a Texas judge declared Cornelius Dupree innocent and tossed out his conviction, bringing 30 years of injustice to a close.
Dupree, an Innocence Project client, told reporters that “it’s a joy to be free again.” Six other Texans who had been exonerated through DNA testing joined Dupree at the hearing, and he is now speaking with reporters from around the country. Check the Innocence Blog later today for more.
From Associated Press
By Jeff Carlton
DALLAS – A Texas man had his conviction overturned Tuesday for a rape and robbery he didn’t commit after serving 30 years in prison, more time than any other inmate subsequently exonerated by DNA evidence in his state.
Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, was formally cleared of the aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon conviction that had kept him behind bars from December 1979 until July of 2010. He served 30 years of his 75-year sentence before making parole in July. About a week later, DNA test results came back proving his innocence.
“It’s a joy to be free again,” Dupree said after the ruling in a Dallas courtroom.
Dupree is the longest-serving inmate cleared by DNA evidence in Texas, which has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through DNA since 2001 — more than any other state.
Nationally, only two others who have been exonerated by DNA evidence spent more time in prison, according to the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center representing Dupree that specializes in wrongful conviction cases. James Bain was wrongly imprisoned for 35 years in Florida, and Lawrence McKinney spent more than 31 years in a Tennessee prison.
The DNA testing in Dupree’s case also excluded a second defendant, Anthony Massingill, who was subsequently convicted in another sexual assault case and sentenced to life in prison. Massingill remains in prison but maintains his innocence. DNA testing in that second case is ongoing.
Related | Marvin Anderson, Virginia Exoneree
Marvin Anderson served 15 years in prison in Virginia for a crime he didn’t commit. In this short interview, he talks about his arrest and conviction and the day the Innocence Project told him his evidence had been located and would prove his innocence.
Sitting on the courtroom benches were at least six other Texas men wrongly imprisoned but later cleared by either DNA testing or other means. The men have made a habit of showing up together every time a new man is declared innocent.
Dupree was charged in 1979 with raping and robbing a 26-year-old woman. He was sentenced a year later to 75 years in prison for aggravated robbery. He was never tried on the rape charge.
According to court documents, the woman and her male companion stopped at a Dallas liquor store in November 1979 to buy cigarettes and use a payphone. As they returned to their car, two men, at least one of whom was armed, forced their way into the vehicle and ordered them to drive. They also demanded money from the two victims.
The men eventually ordered the car to the side of the road and forced the male driver out of the car. The woman attempted to flee but was pulled back inside.
The perpetrators drove the woman to a nearby park, where they raped her at gunpoint. They debated killing her but eventually let her live, keeping her rabbit-fur coat and her driver’s license and warning her they would kill her if she reported the assault to police. The victim ran to the nearest highway and collapsed unconscious by the side of the road, where she was discovered.
Stop the U.S. Bear Bile Trade!
PLEASE CLICK ON AND SIGN THE FOLLOWING TWO MESSAGES:
1. Stop the U.S. Bear Bile Trade
2. Stop the Trade in Bear Parts
FROM Change.org
BY Stephanie Feldstein
BACKGROUND
Among other things, bear bile is used to treat hangovers. You may not be recovering from your New Year’s Eve party with a wine-bile concoction — and, according to recent survey by Animals Asia, 76 percent of traditional healers said their patients aren’t using it either — but enough people do use this traditional Chinese remedy that thousands of bears across Asia endure extreme confinement, mutilation and painful procedures as they’re farmed for their bile.
Even for those who practice traditional healing, bear bile isn’t necessary. Animals Asia also learned of cases where bear bile poisoning resulted in the death of the patient. Jill Robinson, founder of Animals Asia, said, “No one will die from the lack of bear bile. Ironically, though, it seems people are now becoming sick and even dying from taking it.”
Obviously, it’s killing bears, too, and not just in Asia.
In the U.S., black bear poaching has been on the rise. In November, a young bear in Virginia’s Prince William Park was found dumped, with his gallbladder missing. As bear populations in Asia dwindle, bears the U.S. become increasingly vulnerable to the black market demand for bile. Wildlife officials are investigating the crime, but there may not be much they can do about it.
While many Americans are critical of laws and enforcement around Asia that allow bear farming to continue, there are big gaps in our own laws. According to Born Free USA, five states have no laws against the sale of bear parts, eleven states allow interstate trade of parts, and several others have such a high burden of proof that, for instance, a poacher can’t be convicted without DNA testing of the gallbladder. All this creates a patchwork of laws that Born Free USA calls “a wildlife law-enforcement nightmare.”
And like most wildlife crimes, the penalties tend to be so weak that the payoff makes the risk worthwhile. A bear’s gallbladder can sell for more than $3,000 on the black market. This puts a bounty on the heads of American black bears.
Last year, the Bear Protection Act (H.R. 3480) was again introduced to the House of Representatives. This bill would prohibit interstate and international trade in bear organs, including buying, selling, transporting or possession. It would also require the Secretary of the Interior to engage in international efforts to address the bear bile trade worldwide.
This bill has been passed by the Senate twice in recent years, but it keeps getting stalled in the House of Representatives because special interest groups, like the National Rifle Association, see it as an attack on hunting. But, as Born Free USA points out, “this is an issue not about sport hunting but about poaching and commercializing wildlife.”
There are a lot of threats to our bears, like habitat loss and climate change, and killing them for their bile shouldn’t be on the list.
Please click on and Ask your representative to make this the year that the U.S. takes a stand against the bear bile trade. And don’t forget to also click on and sign Stop the Trade in Bear Parts
Related | Bears Rescued from Torturous Bear Bile Farm
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PETITION TEXT
In November, a bear was found in Virginia’s Prince William Park with his gallbladder missing. Bear bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine, and a bear gallbladder can be worth more than $3,000 on the black market. Currently, the patchwork of state level laws makes it impossible to stop this gruesome trade, and as Asian bear populations dwindle, bears in the U.S. are increasingly vulnerable.
The Bear Protection Act (H.R. 3480) would prohibit interstate and international trade in bear organs, including buying, selling, transporting or possession. It would also require the Secretary of the Interior to engage in international efforts to address the bear bile trade worldwide.
The Senate has passed this bill twice in recent years. Special interest groups see it as an attack on sport hunting, but it’s not; it’s about poaching and the black market trade in wildlife parts.
Our bears face a lot of threats, and killing them for their bile shouldn’t be on the list. I urge you to co-sponsor and do everything you can to ensure that the Bear Protection Act (H.R. 3480) passes.
Please make 2011 the year that the U.S. takes a stand against the bear bile trade.
Thank you.
What Caused Thousands of Birds to Fall From Sky? And What Caused all the Fish to Die as Well?
From KATV | Officials estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 similar red-winged blackbirds fell out of the sky.
Ongoing | Tens of Billions of Animals are Butchered for Food, Fur, Fun, and Pharma …
January 6 | 279 Dead Manatees in Florida and Thousands of Dead Fish in South Carolina
January 6 | Is it an animal apocalypse? Here are the facts and theories about recent mass die-offs
January 5 | Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Sweden, Millions Of Dead Fish Found In Maryland, Brazil, New Zealand
January 4 | Bizarre blackbird, fish deaths spread: 500 birds dead in Louisiana; 100 tons of fish die in Brazil
January 3 | CNN Blogs
It has become one of the strangest stories to come out of the New Year and one of the most puzzling for scientists and local officials: Just what caused 5,000 birds to fall from the sky just before midnight New Year’s Eve in Beebe, Arkansas?
As news of the story spread across the globe, so did speculation about what caused the Hitchcockian scene. And as officials wait for the official necropsy (animal autopsy) report, we’re taking a look at some of the theories that officials and scientists have suggested.
Weather-related
Karen Rowe, an ornithologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the incident is not that unusual and is often caused by a lightning strike or high-altitude hail. This theory could hold in this case, she said, especially because a strong storm system moved through the state earlier Friday.
Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the commission, told Reuters that storm weather, including hail or lightning, could be the culprit, but so far, he had yet to see any sign of injury on birds that were collected.
Rowe told Live Science that events like this have happened across the globe, and generally, weather is to blame. She said birds have been swept up and moved when caught up in hurricanes, wind can force them into a large object like a cliff, or large groups of birds can clash and crash in heavy fog, killing them.
Mysterious bird, fish deaths in Arkansas at same time.
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Why are fish as well as birds dying in Arkansas together?
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Fireworks
On CNN’s “American Morning,” Stephens told Kiran Chetry and Jim Acosta that in addition to weather, local New Year’s Eve celebrations may be to blame.
“We’re leaning towards maybe a stress event,” he said.
Stephens said revelers, “possibly shooting some fireworks while the birds were roosting,” could have scared them, causing trauma.
“That could have been what caused their deaths,” he said.
But birds don’t fall out of the sky whenever there are fireworks, so what makes this event different? Stephens said that in rural areas, birds can be more concentrated. And if fireworks were set off near them in a roosting area while they were sleeping, such a trauma could have killed them.
Poisoning or disease
Rowe said it wasn’t likely that poisoning or another illness could be to blame.
“Since it only involved a flock of blackbirds and only involved them falling out of the sky it is unlikely they were poisoned, but a necropsy is the only way to determine if the birds died from trauma or toxin,” she said in a commission press release.
Officials have also said that because the situation was isolated, and because other groups of the birds in separate areas were not killed, they don’t suspect the birds were poisoned.
For reasons similar to why they don’t suspect poisoning, officials told Fox 16 in Arkansas that the bird deaths probably aren’t related to any kind of disease.
Ashtiani’s Sentence Could Be Dropped But Hanging Still Possible
If you have not already, please click on and Sign the petition to free Ashtiani and bring a permanent end to stoning.
From Care2
Posted by Kristina Chew
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman and mother of two who was sentenced to death in Iran for allegedly committing adultery, may not face death by stoning. While prosecutors in East Azerbaijan province say that it is ‘possible’ that her original sentence may be dropped, she may still face death by hanging, the January 2nd Guardian notes.
Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006. Sentenced to death by stoning, it is thought that support around the world has helped to keep her alive. Her sentence was commuted last year but she still could be hanged for the murder of her husband.
In an unusual, and potentially puzzling, move, Iranian authorities allowed Ashtiani to leave prison to speak to foreign media in Tabriz on January 1st. Ashtiani said that she intends to sue two German journalists from the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, on the grounds that they ‘”embarrassed”‘ her. The journalists, who (according to Iranian authorities) entered the country on a tourist visa without the necessary accreditation, were arrested after interviewing Ashtiani’s son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh. Her son was detained but later freed.
Related | Fighting against the death penalty in Iran
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In her remarks to the foreign media, Ashtiani also ‘denied she had been tortured in prison and criticised Mina Ahadi, a prominent anti-stoning campaigner.’
As the Guardian states:
Not for the first time, it was difficult to distinguish between truth and propaganda by a regime anxious to deflect international anger over the case, which has highlighted the wider issue of human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic.
Indeed: Ashtiani is still in prison, as are the German journalists. One gets the feeling that what she said to the foreign media yesterday is very likely not the truth, but what she was told by someone—someones—to say.
Let’s keep the pressure on. Sign the petition to free Ashtiani and bring a permanent end to stoning.
Please read the following news brief and background of pigeon shoots and call and/or write to Berks County DA John Adams and tell him, respectfully, your feelings. You may use the Sample Letter as a guide, but please modify, shorten, and personalize, thank you.
From WFMZ TV News
By Miranda Villei | Web Producer
Perry Township, PA – A local university group and an animal rights group are protested a pigeon shoot in Berks County this weekend.
The Kutztown University Vegetarian Education Group and Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, were outside the Wing Pointe hunting resort Sunday.
The groups were protesting a day-long live pigeon shoot held at the resort.
“We hope to just spread awareness not only for our group as far as our campus, but for this cause. It’s something that, you know, celebrities from all over the U.S. are against and it’s particular to our state,” said Letecia Garcia, a member of the Vegetarian Education Group at K.U.
Pigeon shoot organizers said it’s form of pest control.
Pennsylvania is one of the last states to allow pigeon shoots.
RELATED:
- Does the PA District Attorney Protect Animal Abusers?
- Is This Pennsylvania’s Most Corrupt Politician?
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BACKGROUND | From SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK)
Pigeon shoots are competitions wherein hundreds to thousands of live birds are shot at to win prizes. A typical 3-day shoot contest can kill and injure up to 15,000 birds.
The pigeons are captured and collected for weeks ahead of time, then released from trap boxes only yards away from the so-called “sportsmen”. The birds are generally dazed and suffering from dehydration or starvation as they are sprung out of the boxes.
70% of the birds are injured when shot and either left to suffer slow deaths or collected and killed by pigeon shoot “trapper boys” or “wringers”, traditionally children, who break their necks, step on them, tear off wings, suffocate them, or cut off their heads with garden shears, among other abuses.
Pigeon shoots are nothing more than a vile excuse for entertainment for the dull-witted or psychopathic. Illegal in other countries and in all but a couple of American states, most people realize the despicable nature of these bird-killing contests.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please contact Berks County District Attorney John Adams and let him know how you feel; please modify the sample letter below and remain courteous:
- Telephone number | 610.478.6000
- Calling codes can be found HERE
- Calling code plus telephone number to DA Adams in PA, USA, is: 00 + 1 + 610 + 478 + 6000
- Email: da@countyofberks.com
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear District Attorney Adams,
I am greatly disturbed to learn that Berks County Pennsylvania continues to host the savage slaughter of thousands of pigeons for entertainment. Indeed, I have even witnessed footage of severely injured and dying birds thrown in piles, casually ignored, in obvious states of agony, following such a primitive and reckless game of juvenile glee and participation. It is my understanding that this type of “sport” is illegal yet is repeatedly sanctioned due to certain alleged relationships; indeed, the District Attorney in nearby Dauphin County allowed a humane officer to level 100 charges against those involved in a similar event, and there has not been another shoot there since. This exploitation of animals is an unacceptable practice, and I therefore respectfully request you uphold the law and subsequently cease these events immediately.
Please allow me this opportunity to elaborate. Our society considers other beings disposable, to be used as commodities and discarded in accordance with egotistical human-focused goals and benefits. It is within this rigid definition of human acceptability absent accountability that humans embrace speciesism, the prejudicial regard of other species as undeserving of either rights or freedom from exploitation. Speciesism is immoral and dangerous, a precept built upon a foundation of arrogance, greed, and inequality, promoted with solicitous validations meant to foster approval. However, regardless of euphemistic descriptions meant to disguise exploitation, this practice is indeed unethical, the animals being intentionally subjected to suffering and pain and then killed. Although you may find the lives of these birds as immaterial and therefore expendable, you should understand they value their own lives and possess the capacity to experience trauma, fear, and suffering.
This reckless destruction is unnecessary, unjustified, and unprincipled, its only function to egotistically benefit those who exploit animals. Animals have rights to live free from pain and suffering regardless of objections to acknowledge such, and as long as Berks County profits on the torture of animals, complicit in their abuse and death, I will discontinue visiting as a tourist. It is important to accept that, what is indeed valuable, is the life itself and the capability to experience emotion and suffering. Please observe this basic moral principle and act with justice rather than react with cruelty.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue.
NAME | ADDRESS
Not a Single Whale Dead (yet): Japanese Harpooners Preoccupied With Protesters Instead
The organisation in charge of Japan’s “scientific” whaling programme has accused the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society of endangering its crews in the Southern Ocean.
The two sides have clashed for the first time during this season’s Antarctic hunt.
Sea Shepherd says it is determined to pursue the Japanese whaling fleet through the icy waters of the Antarctic.
It says the whaling ships used water cannons on their inflatable boats during high-speed chases.
But the Institute of Cetacean Research has accused the Sea Shepherd activists of throwing glass bottle projectiles and deploying ropes to try and foul the propeller and rudder of one of its ships.
It has accused the group of dangerous and violent tactics, and is calling on Australia to take criminal action against the activists reports the ABC.
Two groups clash in Southern Ocean
Sea Shepherd’s founder Paul Watson says his three-strong fleet located the whalers in the Southern Ocean on Friday before they could start hunting.
On Saturday, inflatables launched by the protest fleet got between three Japanese harpoon vessels and the factory ship Nisshin Maru amid ice floes 3000km south-east of New Zealand.
Mr Watson says the Japanese fired a water cannon and stink bombs were thrown onto the decks of the whaling ships.
Related | Save the Whales
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The protest fleet resumed its pursuit of the Nisshin Maru, with the Japanese harpooners pursuing the protesters in turn, he says.
“Once we are on the Nisshin Maru we’re just going to block it to prevent their whaling operations. We do know they are not whaling because all three harpoon vessels are chasing after us instead of chasing whales.
“We’re trying to get a zero quota here and make sure they don’t kill any whales.”
The Japanese fleet left for the Southern Ocean at the start of December.
The governments of New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and the United States in December jointly condemned in advance any confrontations that could threaten human life, and called on both sides to act responsibly.
The governments say they are disappointed that the Japanese fleet intends to hunt whales again.
Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide since 1986 but Japan justifies its annual hunts in the Southern Ocean as lethal “scientific research”.
English and Speciesism
English and Speciesism
By Joan Dunayer
Standard English usage perpetuates speciesism, which is the failure to accord nonhuman animals equal consideration and respect. Like racism or sexism, speciesism is a form of prejudice sustained in part by biased, misleading words. However, whereas racist slurs rightly elicit censure, people regularly use, and fail to notice, speciesist language. Unlike sexist language, speciesist language remains socially acceptable even to people who view themselves as progressive. Speciesism pervades our language, from scholarly jargon to street slang. Considered in relation to the plight of nonhuman beings, the words of feminist poet Adrienne Rich express a terrible absolute: “This is the oppressor’s language.”
Speciesist usage denigrates or discounts nonhuman animals. For example, terming nonhumans “it” erases their gender and groups them with inanimate things. Referring to them as “something” — rather than “someone” — obliterates their sentience and individuality. Pure speciesism leads people to call a brain-dead human “who” but a conscious pig “that” or “which.’
Current usage promotes a false dichotomy between humans and nonhumans. Separate lexicons suggest opposite behaviors and attributes. We eat, but other animals feed. A woman is pregnant or nurses her babies; a nonhuman mammal gestates or lactates. A dead human is a corpse, a dead nonhuman a carcass or meat.
Everyday speech denies human-nonhuman kinship. We aren’t animals, primates, or apes. When we do admit to being animals, we label other animals “lower” or “subhuman.” Dictionary definitions of man exaggerate human uniqueness and present characteristics typical of humans (such as verbal ability) as marks of superiority, especially superior intelligence.
Nonhuman-animal epithets insult humans by invoking contempt for other species: rat, worm, viper, goose. The very word animal conveys opprobrium. Human, in contrast, signifies everything worthy. Like the remark that a woman has “the mind of a man,” the comment that a nonhuman is “almost human” is assumed to be praise. Both condescend.
While boasting of “human kindness,” our species treats nonhumans with extreme injustice and cruelty. Directly or indirectly, most humans routinely participate in needless harm to other animals, especially their captivity and slaughter. Whereas true vegetarianism (veganism) promotes human health and longevity, consumption of animal-derived food correlates with life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and hardening of the arteries. Still, our language suggests that humans must eat products from nonhuman bodies. As if we possessed a carnivore’s teeth and digestive tract, thoughtless cliché places us “at the top of the food chain.”
To speciesists, needless killing is murder only if the victim is human. In animal “farming” and numerous other forms of institutionalized speciesism, nonhuman animals literally are slaves: they’re held in servitude as property. But few people speak of nonhuman “enslavement.” Many who readily condemn human victimization as “heinous” or “evil” regard moralistic language as sensational or overly emotional when it is applied to atrocities against nonhumans. They prefer to couch nonhuman exploitation and murder in culinary, recreational, or other nonmoralistic terms. That way they avoid acknowledging immorality. Among others, Nazi vivisectors used the quantitative language of experimentation for human, as well as nonhuman, vivisection. Slaveholders have used the economic language of farming for nonhuman and human enslavement. Why is such morally detached language considered offensive and grotesque only with regard to the human victims?
The media rarely acknowledge nonhuman suffering. Only human misfortune garners strong words like tragic and terrible. When thousands of U.S. cattle, left in the blazing sun on parched land, die from heat and lack of water, reporters note the losses “suffered” by their enslavers.
Belittling words minimize nonhuman suffering and death. As expressed in a New York magazine caption, antivivisectionists “oppose testing on any creature—even a mouse.” The word even ranks a mouse below humans in sensitivity and importance. There’s no reason to believe that mice experience deprivation and pain less sharply than we do or value their lives less, but our language removes them from moral consideration. Who cares if millions of mice and rats are vivisected each year? They’re “only rodents.” What does it matter if billions of chickens live in misery until they die in pain and fear? They’re “just chickens.”
In speciesism’s fictitious world, nonhumans willingly participate in their own victimization. They “give” their lives in vivisection and the food industry.
Further belying victimization, the language of speciesist exploitation renders living animals mindless and lifeless. They’re “crops,” “stock,” hunting “trophies,” and vivisection “tools.”
University Vet Quits Over Animal Treatment
From Care2
Posted by Mac McDaniel
The University of Wisconsin has been accused of bullying a senior veterinarian into resigning after he spoke out against animal welfare abuses at their research facility.
UW has been cited over twenty times for violations of the Animal Welfare Act in the past year and a half, and its consistent noncompliance with even the bare minimum of standards imposed by the AWA has been a source of criticism, both from within the university and without.
From within the university, Dr. Richard “Jim” Brown has raised concerns about the welfare of the animals in the school’s labs. Brown was a senior program veterinarian at the university’s Research Animal Resource Center, where he says he was bullied and retaliated against for raising such concerns.
Brown quit earlier this month after over five years on the job, and called his resignation a “coercive termination,” saying he made many enemies at the RARC for constantly raising concerns about animals in their facilities that weren’t being properly cared for.
Dr. Brown isn’t an animal rights activist, but can see that the university is pulling in enormous amounts of money and isn’t using the funding to fulfill the promise made to the public that the animals used for experimentation are “well-cared for.” The University of Wisconsin receives over one billion dollars annually for research.
Related | Save the Primates, ADI
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The problem here is obvious: that even in the most prestigious and well-funded research facilities in the developed world, the animals are denied proper medical care, and their needs for food and water are neglected, all while being subjected to what which would be called torture if it were done to a human. And if anyone tries to raise an alarm about it, they are told – as Jim Brown was – that “silence was a condition of continued employment.”
Animal testing is more than just a scientific farce and inhuman torture, it’s also big business. A billion dollars a year in research funds means a lot of people have a vested interest in seeing the continuation of vivisection at UW, no matter the cost in animal life. Just like every other industry that exploits, tortures, and murders animals, the bottom line is the only concern.
Jim Brown contacted me in regard to this story, and he referred to animal testing as “expensive, time-consuming, misleading and addictive,” and said that the lure of research funds will keep animal testing going until the government mandates non-animal research in laboratories.
The solution to these problems isn’t complicated, but it is daunting. We have to end all animal testing forever.
More regulation or stricter consequences will not solve the problem. If these facilities cannot meet the laughably minimum standards in place now, it is obviously a sign of a broader and more serious problem: that animals can never be treated with respect and compassion as long as they are viewed as the inanimate property of humans to be used for whatever frivolous purpose we see fit.
To end the greed, the bullying, the scientific regression, and the torture and murder of innocent animals, there is no other way but to end vivisection altogether.
Victory … Alamogordo Chimpanzees, Sea Lions
Victory for Chimpanzees at Alamogordo | From PCRM
As you know, we’ve been fighting hard to stop the U.S. Government from transferring 186 chimpanzees from Alamogordo, NM, to a Texas facility where they would be used in experimentation again. Last night, we received some very good news. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson received a call from the National Institutes of Health letting him know that, for now at least, the chimpanzees will not be moved. NIH will not push for the chimpanzees to be transferred until it can complete a lengthy review, and that process is expected to take about two years. This extends our window of time to find a way to keep the chimpanzees permanently out of the laboratory.
Through PCRM’s campaign, several of the chimpanzees in Alamogordo have become familiar faces. Flo, a 53 year old and one of the elders, has captured the hearts of everyone who visits her in her Alamogordo home, and her story of a life spent in a cage and being used for unthinkable experiments has motivated people all over the country to support this important effort. Now Flo and the other chimpanzees who reside in New Mexico have a chance to stay there and live out their lives in a protected, caring environment.
Related | About PCRM
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In Defense Of Animals Celebrates Monumental Victory For Sea Lions | From IDA
After a year of deliberation, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled to block the National Marine Fisheries Service’s killing of federally protected sea lions on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. In Defense of Animals (IDA) and the Sea Lion Defense Brigade (SLDB) have campaigned against the state-sanctioned sea lion killing for more than three years, and congratulate the prevailing plaintiffs, The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two private citizens.
The court said the government failed to meet the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and cannot justify killing protected pinnipeds. The sea lion predation of .04 to 4.2 percent of the spring salmon run at the Bonneville Dam could not be considered a “significant negative impact” when the same agencies allow fisherman to take up to 17 percent of the returning fish.
“This is a huge victory for sea lions and salmon. We are relieved to see an end to the unethical, politically motivated killing of native, protected sea lions,” said IDA’s Northwest Director Matt Rossell. “We hope these agencies will now address the human-caused threats to salmon recovery – over-fishing, introduction of non-native fish, dams and habitat destruction.”
Since the lethal removal program began in 2008, IDA and the SLDB have worked to protect the sea lions in the Columbia River and hold agencies accountable to the public for this controversial program. Activists organized dozens of demonstrations, met with government officials, and rallied on the steps of the Oregon capital. IDA fought a court battle to free one sea lion named “Willy,” who was misidentified by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and wrongfully removed from the river.
Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell: Buffalo forced from natural habitat?
Please click on and sign Stop the slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild free roaming buffalo
BACKGROUND
The day has come: there is new leadership in America. Promising change and a new direction, President Barack Obama has the power to help the last wild population of American buffalo in numerous ways. The time is now to call on him, and we’ve made it easy for you to do so. Please take a moment to send the following letter to President Obama urging him to take action to protect the buffalo. It is urgent that he hear from as many folks as possible so he knows how important this issue is to so many.
MESSAGE TEXT
Finding great resonance in your message of change, I write with urgency to ask that your Administration take immediate, visionary action to stop the government slaughter of America’s last wild population of buffalo and permanently protect this irreplaceable species and its habitat.
Celebrated the world over, buffalo are a symbol of America’s unyielding wildness, tenacious strength, and generous abundance. Buffalo once roamed the North American continent in the tens of millions, providing food, shelter, clothing and spiritual sustenance to First Nations. The wild buffalo living in and around Yellowstone National Park are the only buffalo to have continuously occupied their native habitat and the last buffalo to follow their migratory instincts as their ancestors did for thousands of years.
It is this wild nomadic instinct to roam that threatens their existence.
Wild American buffalo are ecologically extinct. In their absence, the land has suffered. By all measures the American buffalo should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, and restored on their native habitat.
Yellowstone National Park lacks adequate winter range and spring calving grounds–key habitats necessary for the buffalo’s survival. The immediate habitat buffalo seek and require exists within Montana, a state that does not allow them to roam freely.
Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell: Buffalo forced from natural habitat?
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When buffalo migrate to habitat in Montana, they are harassed, captured and slaughtered under a multi-million dollar American taxpayer funded scheme. Since the Interagency Bison Management Plan was signed in 2000, over 3,000 wild American buffalo have been senselessly slaughtered and hundreds of others have been wounded or starved to death from being chased off of critical habitat. The annual slaughter is carried out under the pretense that buffalo might pass brucellosis to cattle, something that’s never occurred in the wild. The real reasons for the slaughter are prejudice, intolerance, and greed, and it is long past time for a common sense solution.
The failures of the Bison Management Plan were recognized by the U.S. Government Accountability Office last April, who reported “the agencies lack accountability among themselves and to the public, and it is difficult for the public to obtain information.” House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall and Rep Maurice Hinchey have criticized the Plan as “plagued by deficiencies” and “severely limited” in it’s ability to protect bison. Clearly, it is time for a new plan.
Animal Cruelty Arrest in Case of Cat Rescued by Dog
Picture: CATERS NEWS AGENCY
Previous: Abandoned cat found “miracle on 110th Street”
From: News Channel 13
By: Dan Levy
There’s been an arrest in a disturbing case of animal cruelty. While the suspect awaits his Monday morning court appearance, a Troy woman is reflecting on the heartwarming irony involved in solving the case, a set of circumstances that proves curiosity saved the cat.
To understand why Michael T. Walsh, 48, of Albany, was seen running down State Street in Troy Thursday afternoon, you need to know what happened in a North Troy alley way one week ago, on December 23, while Melissa Lombardo was taking her pitbull Phoebe for a morning walk.
Melissa recalls, “Phoebe kind of pulled me in a direction toward a (cardboard) box and was sniffing around the box and she poked her nose through it. That’s when I saw the cat’s head peeking back out at me. Then I saw it was taped up and I knew that someone had intentionally done it.”
And so Melissa immediately called police. Police began an investigation. The investigation led to media coverage.
Troy Police Captain John Cooney says, “We received outrage from the citizenry and we received many signs of disgust from the workforce.”
Some of the disgust came from a Troy woman who couldn’t care for the kitten and asked her friend Michael Walsh to bring it to the Humane Society so that someone else could adopt it. Instead, Walsh allegedly tossed it into an alley in Lansingburgh.
Arrest Made in Animal Cruelty Case
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Captain Cooney says Walsh told investigators he thought the cat would be found in the alley and that may have prevented the animal from being euthanized at the Humane Society.
The problem with that story though is that the box was taped shut and the abandonment came just a matter of hours before a city garbage truck would have come along and perhaps crushed the kitten alive.
When the President Calls About the Vick Dogs
From Best Friends Blog
By Francis Battista
Now that President Obama has jumped on the Michael Vick bandwagon with an official call to Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie to congratulate him for giving the quarterback another chance, all of us here at Best Friends are waiting for a call from the White House to congratulate us for giving Vick’s dogs a second chance. I’m quite sure that the other organizations that also took on some of the canine survivors of the football star’s dogfighting operation are similarly poised.
The conventional wisdom on this is that the president’s people have put their finger to the wind and decided that Michael Vick has been sanitized for political consumption by his success. (It’s interesting to speculate how he would be perceived if he were having a lousy year.) Personally, I’m kind of tired of hearing and reading about Michael Vick and wish that the media would lose its obsession with the man, especially since any mention of or concern about the dogs who managed to escape with their lives from his care is conspicuously absent from his public statements.
While we no longer wait by the phone for a call from Mr. Vick asking after his dogs, the likelihood of a call from the president has brought new esprit to the switchboard team and I’ve put together some notes on those we call the Vicktory dogs in case someone puts the historic call through to me by mistake. The conversation will go something like this:
“Mr. President, what a surprise! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to commend us for giving the Vicktory dogs a second chance. Sure, I’ve got a few minutes to fill you in … kind of a presidential briefing, I guess.
“To be quite honest, sir, it’s kind of a mixed bag as far as how the dogs are doing. After all, these critters were right there when Michael Vick and his friends were body slamming some of their doggie buddies to death and electrocuting, drowning and hanging others. Unlike Mr. Lurie and the NFL, Bad Newz Kennels wasn’t into second chances. What’s that, sir? Yes, he’s having a great year … yeah, a terrific arm.
Related | The VicKtory Dogs By Kidwell Productions
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Kidwell Productions is proud to present to you several of the survivors of Michael Vick’s Bad Newz Kennels NOW KNOWN AS “THE VicKtory Dogs” These dogs have and continue to make their mark on the many hearts of lives of people..I love each and every one of them..They have proven to the world that pitbulls DO DESERVE A CHANCE!
“So, as I was saying, it’s a mixed bag on the dogs, though some are doing very well, all things considered. Handsome Dan, Cherry, Mel, Oliver and Halle have all been adopted and some of these guys were pretty shut down, you know, terrified when they arrived here. Mel was mentioned in Bill Plaschke’s article in the L.A. Times about Michael Vick … yeah, he interviewed Mel’s new family in Texas. Poor dog still shakes in a corner whenever a new person comes to the house, but he’s in a great home and that’s what counts.
“What’s that, sir? Sure, we want them all to be adopted and live in homes with a nice family, but unlike Mr. Vick, the court has ordered that most of the dogs, based on their behavior evaluations back in 2007, have to pass a good citizen test before they can be adopted. No, I’m serious. It’s called a Canine Good Citizen certificate, CGC, and it means that the dogs are able to demonstrate self-control, sociability and friendliness toward people and other dogs. Actually, it’s quite an accomplishment for a dog who was encouraged to be aggressive or maybe was used as a bait dog. Sir? Oh, a bait dog is a relatively non-aggressive dog who gets thrown into the ring with a stronger fighter just to give the stronger dog confidence and a taste for blood. That’s right, sir, kinda like a press secretary.
“Anyway, 16 dogs are still at the Sanctuary: Mya, Shadow, Lucas, Layla, Willie Boy, Georgia, Meryl, Ellen, Tug, Denzel, Ray, Squeaker, Lance, Curly, Little Red and Oscar. And they get a lot of attention. Most of them have health issues; some have bebesia, a blood parasite that spreads among fighting dogs and flares up occasionally. Some have immune problems that we speculate came from excessive use of steroids, but they continue to make progress.
“Ray, who was really shy and dog-reactive when he arrived, has earned his CGC. Oscar got his CGC and Shadow has made such great progress that he has a potential adopter coming to meet him next week. We’re very pleased. Most of the dogs are now social enough to share a run with another dog and some spend a few days a week in staff offices, getting comfortable in new environments with people coming and going. Yes, I guess it is a bit like the new Congress, except that most of the dogs would never bite you and I doubt that Congress people are able to share a run, um, I mean, an office.
“Why do we do all this for these dogs? Well, Mr. President, that’s a big question but I’ll try to keep it short. First of all, we don’t believe that killing the Vick dogs, which many people and even some animal organizations wanted to do, would have been right. We know that they are individuals with the potential to have rewarding lives. They were like child soldiers kidnapped by warlords and forced to fight; no one thinks child soldiers should be killed just because they are damaged. Same thing applies here. Also, the Vicktory dogs are victims of a crime. As long as they are struggling to regain even a semblance of the life that should have been theirs from birth, then that crime continues to affect lives, dog and human, and is not yet a thing of the past, regardless of Michael Vick’s jail time or talent. You’re right, sir, it’s not funny and I’d hate to think of Bo in that situation, too.
“Of course, no worries! I’ve got a pretty busy day as well. Nothing like yours, but thanks for calling and please pass along a Happy New Year to Michelle, the girls and Bo from all the animals and staff here at Best Friends…. Oh, just one more thing: I think it would be a great message to send if you adopted a shelter dog as a companion for Bo, maybe a cute pittie girl with a big smile and wiggly butt. Sure, we can set you up. Call anytime — you’ve got the number. And a good day to you, too, Mr. President.”
Francis Battista, Co-Founder, Best Friends Animal Society
CALL on WYOMING AUTHORITIES for INVESTIGATION…Sign Petition to Save Horses from Sue Wallis
Investigate Sue Wallis
Animal Law Coalition has created a Petition asking the Authorities in the State of Wyoming to Investigate Ethics & Fraud Allegations against Rep. Sue Wallis. To Sign the Petition, please CLICK HERE.
Wyoming resident, Patricia Fazio, Ph.D. has filed a complaint (below as well) with state officials, requesting an investigation of alleged violations of ethics laws and securities fraud by Wyoming State Rep. Sue Wallis (R-Campbell). Wallis is an avid proponent of horse slaughter and is alleged to have used her position as state legislator to promote and misrepresent horse slaughter for her personal financial gain. Wallis is also accused of duping and misleading potential investors in her alleged horse slaughter facility.
Most recently, Wallis has announced she is holding a pro-horse slaughter “summit” in Las Vegas with a hefty price tag for attendees. She was to announce the winner of a raffle for a new pick-up truck. Then according to the complaint, Wallis announced she may not be able to buy the truck and asked raffle participants if she could just keep the money from ticket sales. It is alleged Wallis may be “running an unlicensed lottery, and at worst she has attempted to defraud those who bought the tickets at $100 apiece.”
RELATED |Sue Wallis CAN’T WAIT to Start Slaughtering Horses in Wyoming:
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RELATED | Sue Wallis wants to Slaughter Horses HUMANELY, LIKE THIS:
I’m a sociopathic degenerate, do you know my name?
Mail Online | The youth appears to be caring for the cats in this self-posted image in which he has disguised his face
Please note that the videos referenced by ARAN below have been removed by Vimeo. | January 2
From Animal Rights Action Network | ARAN
Dear Supporters,
ARAN has obtained full footage of the cruel and barbaric, spine-chilling killing of two innocent kittens. Although this footage had previously been removed from internet sites when originally posted by other sources, we have put this material back out in the public arena for all to see. Our reason for doing so? We are desperate to not only apprehend the person (s) responsible for the kitten cruelty, but we also want to show people around the world the dirty-face of animal abuse and the cowards that get sick kicks from it. For as long as footage like this is not shown, then the curtain on the seedy world of animal abuse will never be ripped back. ARAN have joined many other animal groups to play our part in getting those responsible and exposing this awful cruelty case, we can put you in touch with those investigating this case.
For anyone wishing to view the footage of the kitten cruelty please click here (Fore-warning – the footage is spine-chilling and heart-breaking.) Please note, we have also obtained pictures of the person in the video having a ‘sex act’ with the dead kitten, shortly after he puts both kittens into an empty cold fridge. We seriously need to make a big noise around this cruelty case, and, we desperately need to nab the person (s) involved. In the videos you will also hear a girl laughing in the background which is rightly disturbing. We are hoping that he/they will be caught before next week.
Please ensure everyone on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites are made aware of this most sickening act of cruelty, and please ensure you re-double your efforts to stamp out animal abuse without delay.
Thank you,
ARAN: ‘Fighting animal abuse around the world’
P.S. At the time of this appeal being sent out, the online videos were active and currently viewable, however we do anticipate this could change.
All images from UK Daily Online | Please click on each to enlarge and for summary
From UK Mail Online
By James White
A sick teenager who filmed himself killing two kittens by placing them inside an airtight bag and using a vacuum cleaner to suck out the air was being hunted by internet users across the world today.
In horrifying footage posted online, the young thug is seen gently stroking the tiny tabby cats before placing them in the bag.
As John Lennon’s Merry Christmas (War Is Over) plays in the background, he calmly seals the bag and attaches a vacuum cleaner hose.
Innocent: The two wide-eyed kittens appear playful as the teenager strokes them at the beginning of the film
Friendly: The youth appears to be caring for the cats in this self-posted image in which he has disguised his face
In distressing scenes, too graphic to be posted on MailOnline, the cleaner is then switched on and the air is slowly sucked out of the bag.
The mewing kittens can be seen wriggling around and clawing to escape as the polythene tightens around them.
After switching off the cleaner, the sick teen opens the bag and proudly holds up the body of one of the kittens for his camera, before displaying them on his bed.
The horrifying footage has prompted outrage across the internet, with hundreds of amateur sleuths attempting to identify the cat killer.
The ‘snuff’ film – a term for killings filmed for people’s gratification – was originally uploaded to the YouTube website, but was later removed.
It appears to have been made solely by the youngster, who is seen smoking a cigarette and wearing a blue hooded jumper in a dingy bedroom.
The footage is reminiscent of a film posted online recently of a girl in Bugojna, Bosnia, who threw puppies into a fast-flowing river. After a web hunt for her she was quizzed by police but never prosecuted.
A Facebook group entitled Find the Kitten Vacuumer has attracted almost 1,000 members.
One member, Aron Bas, wrote: ‘I can’t bring myself to watch these beautiful and innocent kittens take their last breath. I hope the evil scumbag is found and locked away.’
Others expressed fears that someone capable of killing two helpless animals could go on to kill people.
Speculation among the group’s members has suggested the killer is from Latvia or another Eastern European country.
One post said the IP address of the web user who posted the footage on YouTube showed the uploading took place in Hamburg, Germany.
Animal rights groups have vowed to help track down the teenager and PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – said it was following up a number of leads.
Read more…
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