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.
Please Ask the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to End the Use of Pigs in ATLS Courses
Immediate, please sign and send:
Ask the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to End the Use of Pigs in ATLS Courses
FROM PCRM
Please take a minute to let University of Pittsburgh Medical Center executive vice president Elizabeth Concordia know that you want her to stop the use of live pigs in the hospital system’s Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses. 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 UPMC’s ATLS courses before the next course on Nov. 18 and 19.
- Human-based training methods have been approved to teach these procedures by the American College of Surgeons.
- Ninety-five percent of ATLS courses in the United States use the TraumaMan System or other human-based methods.
- Of the 12 ATLS courses in Pennsylvania, UPMC’s is the only one that still uses live animals.
After you input your details, click the Send Message button HERE
BACKGROUND
Two weeks ago, I asked you to contact the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) administration and urge them to end their cruel and unnecessary use of pigs in trauma training courses. Your response was overwhelming.
More than 20,000 people contacted the hospital system’s administration, and they heard your voices loud and clear. Last week, UPMC announced that it plans to transition away from the use of animals in its Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses “within the next few months.” But, considering UPMC will hold another one of these courses next month, that is not soon enough.
Please call or e-mail Elizabeth Concordia, executive vice president of UPMC, and tell her to eliminate animal use before the next ATLS course, which takes place Nov. 18 and 19.
Elizabeth Concordia
Executive Vice President
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Phone: 412-647-8788
E-mail: concordiaeb@upmc.edu
UPMC is among only 5 percent of U.S. institutions using animals for these courses. Furthermore, UPMC already has a state-of-the-art simulation center that could easily provide nonanimal training methods for ATLS courses.
Please contact Ms. Concordia today and ask her again to join the 95 percent of institutions that use human-based trauma training methods.
You’ve got to be kidding!
Herd of mountain goats casually climb near-vertical 160-ft dam …
From Mail Online
At first look you could be forgiven for thinking this photo of the Cingino dam in the Italian Alps is unremarkable, but for the feat of civil engineering it represents.
However, look a bit closer and you might feel like a bit of a silly billy for not realising those specks on its sheer 160ft face are something altogether more amazing.
These incredible pictures show Alpine Ibex goats wandering across the face of the near-vertical dam in Northern Italy without a care in the world.
Click on each picture to see it full-size.
The gravity-defying goats typically live in very steep and rocky terrain at altitudes of up to to 4,600m and have no fear of falling whether climbing up or down the 160ft dam wall.
And they aren’t doing it just to show off.
It is thought the goats are actually grazing, licking the stones for their salts.
The photos have captured the imagination of bloggers across the internet including Jolle Jolles, a 25-year-old zoologist working at Cambridge University.
5 Arrested, 7 Dogs Seized in Alleged Fighting Ring … Please send message to support tougher laws.
RELATED: US friends, please visit ADLF and send an automatic letter to your representatives to Support Tougher Dogfighting Laws
From ABC 13WHAM
By Jane Flasch
jflasch@13wham.com
She is so friendly she gets up to greet visitors in spite of her pain. Dozens of bite wounds cover the body of this 2 year old pit bull. Police found her bleeding in the attic, fresh from a prolonged fight.
“It’s not a quick couple of bites like you’d see in a street fight,” says animal cruelty investigator Reno DiDomenico. “These dogs are trained to fight for 2 hours or more so they go though a lot of trauma and tearing of the flesh.”
Police called to investigate alleged drug crimes at this empty building on North Street instead found a wooden fighting ring set up in a rear wear house area. A second dog-injured but in better shape – was seized from a car.
Investigators discovered five other pit bull-mixed breed dogs in a pen in the basement. Two of them had deep scars on their muzzles and heads from previous fighting.
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Carlos Contreras and Andrew Liberi now face felony animal fighting charges. Benji Hood and brothers Darius and Robert Peterson were later arrested and charged with owning dogs used for fighting.
Cruelty investigators say animal fighting goes on in the Rochester area often, most likely weekly. The motive is money, many gamble on the fights. Because the wooden rings are portable they are moved from place to place and infiltrating these operations is difficult.
In this case, the irony is that all of the seized dogs are affectionate, even timid around people. “They have very good temperaments,” says investigator DiDomenico adding “they are friendly to people but not to other animals.”
Please Urge Donna Karan to Dump Fur — Again!
From PETA
Please send message to DK to protest their use of fur once again; you may feel free to use the Sample Letter below, but PLEASE modify and shorten, thank you.
Fashion Week may have just ended in New York City, but PETA’s latest campaign is just heating up.
We were disappointed to see several designers, including Donna Karan, using fur in their collections. Just over a year ago, Karan had publically announced that she had “no plans” to use fur in the future.
The state of the fur industry today is just as gruesome as it was when we were last in touch with her. Foxes, minks, coyotes, and rabbits—and even dogs and cats—are bludgeoned, genitally electrocuted, and often skinned alive for their pelts on fur farmsaround the world.
Click here to speak out against the killing of animals for their skins. Write to Donna Karan executives and urge them to dump fur—for good this time.
It’s easy to get a killer look without killing anyone. Because of the cruelty in the fur industry, designers such as Stella McCartney, Marc Bouwer, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and Liz Claiborne have all chosen to create wonderful work without using animal fur.
Please join us in boycotting Donna Karan’s collections as long as she continues to support this cruel trade, and spread this message to everyone you know. With the help of compassionate people like you, we can put an end to the suffering felt by animals on fur farms.
One of the best ways you can help animals who are beaten and tortured for fur is by telling Donna Karan executives you’ll boycott her collections until she removes fur from them. Please e-mail Carole Kerner, president of Donna Karan New York, and Mark Weber, chair and CEO of Donna Karan International Inc, now.
WARNING: GRAPHIC
Have you ever heard a bunny scream?
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WHERE TO SEND YOUR MESSAGE:
Carole Kerner
President of Donna Karan New York
ckerner@dkintl.com
Mark Weber
Chairman and CEO, Donna Karan International Inc.
Judy.lugo@lvmh.com
SAMPLE LETTER – PLEASE modify and shorten so they receive a variety of messages:
Dear President Kerner and CEO Weber,
I was shocked to discover that Donna Karan is once again commercially engaged in the fur industry, especially given your assertion earlier that you would no longer use fur in any collections. Due to the inherently-brutal industry of fur farming, any products derived for or from the suffering and killing of animals should be rejected, and I am respectfully requesting that you discontinue profiting off the exploitation of animals.
Please watch the undercover footage of the industry you promote, a barbaric demonstration of greed and vanity:
From FurStop.Com | Bloody Harvest: The Real Cost of Fur http://furstop.com/
Humans are capable, indeed obligated, to acknowledge animals as sentient beings who, like humans, experience love, anguish, pain, and suffering. Human apathy as established by the usage of fabrications and euphemisms reflects a lack of respect, not only for animals, but also for humans, and I implore upon you to examine your role in the suffering of animals and your unscrupulous conduct as host to such a cruel business. As such, as long as you unnecessarily and selfishly capitalize on the mutilation, torture, and death of animals, I will not financially support Donna Karan or your associated products.
Please make both the ethical and responsible decision to discontinue your commercial support of fur immediately: join an 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 fur farming in all stages of “production”. I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize your own involvement and desire to protect, rather than harm, animals.
Thank you for taking the time to read this important message from a former client.
NAME, ADDRESS
Every year, millions of animals are killed for the clothing industry, and 85 percent of fur comes from the hell-on-Earth known as the “factory farm.” Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages where they have only enough room to take a few steps in any direction.
Fur farmers use the cheapest killing methods available, including neck-breaking, suffocation, poisoning, and anal or vaginal electrocution. Many animals are electrocuted by having rods inserted into their rectums and 240 volts of electricity sent through their bodies, frying the animals from the inside out in order to keep from damaging the pelt. The animals convulse, shake, and often cry out before suffering painful heart attacks. Crude killing methods aren’t always effective, and sometimes animals “wake up” while they are being skinned.
More than half the fur in the U.S. comes from China, where millions of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and sometimes even skinned alive for their fur. And Chinese fur is often deliberately mislabeled, so, if you wear any fur, there’s no way of knowing whose skin you’re in.
Two vital action alerts for dogs, please help!
1. Immediate, please sign: Lucky Returned to Owners – Please Protest !
Started by: Carin Zellerman
Lucky, the dog that had been confined in a basement for most of his life, has now been returned to his owners due to insufficient evidence of abuse. Despite photographs of the property and testimonials from neighbours, the King County Regional Animal Services and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office have stated that there are insufficient grounds for criminal charges and have returned Lucky to his owners.
Please protest against this decision and insist that Lucky’s owners be charged with animal cruelty!
Letter text:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to express my great dismay over the case of Lucky, the dog that was recently confiscated after neighbours reported he had been locked in a Shoreline basement, and who has now been returned to his owners, despite protests.
Even though the veterinary report states that Lucky appeared to be in good physical health , it is undeniable that he suffered mental trauma from the stress of isolation and confinement, which is supported by reports of his incessant barking (dating back to 2008). Dogs are social animals – any dog who is left alone risks becoming anti-social and even aggressive, showing neurotic behavior. Obsessive barking, when left alone, is a serious sign that the dog was indeed suffering either from separation anxiety, boredom, or frustration over being left alone or from loneliness and lack of socialization due to isolation. Purposely leaving a dog alone locked in a basement for such long periods constitutes nothing short of animal cruelty, as it endangers the mental welfare of the animal.
Lucky was living amid his feces. Witnesses have vouched for the unsanitary conditions of the basement. According to the released reports, the feces was confined to areas that appeared to be cleaned regularly. According to a statement made by the daughter of the family, the owners were quite aware that Lucky defecated in the basement, but the basement was cleaned “once a month”. The accumulation of feces and urine in the animal’s environment will have created a significant odor that will have made it unpleasant for Lucky to breathe, and very likely in some instances even difficult to breathe. Feces in the surrounding will have inhibited Lucky’s movement in the already-cramped confinement of the basement, as he will have tried to avoid contact with the feces. This accumulation may have also easily resulted in the spread of infectious disease, wherein the owners also jeopardized Lucky’s health by not acting on the unsanitary conditions.
Lucky was, according to the veterinary examination, well-fed and hydrated, which is contrary to testimonials from neighbours, stating that Lucky was only fed every 2-3 days and did not have any access to a water source of any kind. Dogs should be fed preferably twice a day and should always have a bowl of fresh water available.
The unsanitary conditions of the basement and irregular feedings should give enough cause for an intervention in order to ensure the welfare of this animal. All the above points clearly constitute neglect. Failure to provide humane care is punishable under the King County Code. The owners have been incapable of providing for Lucky’s needs and should be held accountable for the suffering Lucky has endured due to their negligence.
I strongly object the return of Lucky to his owners. His welfare is put at risk if he remains in this home. Lucky must be placed in a foster home or an animal sanctuary, and placed in the care of people who will be capable of meeting all his requirements, including the basic need of companionship and love.
Sincerely,
Initial footage:
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Related history:
- Owner could take back neglected Shoreline dog
- Neglected Shoreline dog update
- Shoreline dog returned to owner
2. Immediate, please sign Stray Dog Stabbed by Butcher in Skopje
Started by: Carin Zellerman
A butcher in Skopje, Macedonia, recently murdered a stray dog by repeated stabs using a butcher’s knife. The dog, who was looked after by local residents, had never shown any signs of aggression. The butcher has confessed to committing the murder, claiming that the dog had attacked his wife and child the previous day, although according to the local clinic, no person had required medical attention for a dog bite on that day.
Unfortunately, animal abuse occurs on a regular basis in Macedonia, due to the lack of proper legislation. Please demand for a severe punishment for this horrendous crime and for the implementation of stricter animal abuse laws !
UK ‘Cat Bin Lady’ Pleads Guilty to Animal Cruelty, Fined About $400
From AOL News
By Paul Wachter
The “cat toss lady” or “cat bin lady” has ‘fessed up to her crime in a court of law.
Mary Bale became an international villain when video footage surfaced in August showing her dumping a 4-year-old tabby into a Dumpster (or bin, as Brits say). On Tuesday morning, she appeared at a Coventry court and pleaded guilty to a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. The fine was 250 British pounds ($393).
“The cat was trapped in the bin for approximately 15 hours before her owners heard her cries. They posted video footage of the incident on Facebook and YouTube in an attempt to trace the culprit, “The Guardian reports. The footage became an Internet sensation.
Nicola Foster, an animal rights spokeswoman, said she was pleased with the verdict. “We are pleased that the court agreed that a complete disregard was shown for the cat’s welfare and that the cat suffered as a result of being stuck inside the bin for so many hours,” she said, according to The Guardian. “However, we hope that this sentence will act as a deterrent to anyone who feels that it is acceptable to mistreat animals in any way.”
It’s a good thing for her that she’s not a resident of Suffolk County, N.Y., where a new public watch list for animal abusers is being set up, modeled on those used to keep track of sex offenders.
On a semi-related note, a cursory glance through 4chan, the notoriously vile (but cat-loving) image-sharing board that helped ID the woman and bring her to justice, revealed no reaction to the news, at least as of this morning.
Read more…
Four actions to help end bear farming …
- If you have not taken action on this issue previously, please click on the picture or visit HERE to sign your name against the practice of bear farming.
- Please sign WSPA’s Care2 petition against bear farming HERE.
- US friends, please also sign and send Stop the Trade in Bear Parts
- Write a letter, sample message and instructions below from Animals Asia
Right now, there are at least 12,000 bears suffering in Asia. They are held captive in tiny cages and shocking conditions. These bears are farmed needlessly for the bile contained in their gall bladders which is used to make Traditional Asian Medicine. Their reality is a lifetime of suffering and pain.
Your support can help us end bear farming in Asia. Protect bears – lend your support by signing the appeal today.
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Some bears used for bile extraction were seen to wear iron corsets around their chest and abdomen. These bears wear corsets 24 hours a day. According to the staff this was to assist with handling the bears and because they were concerned about being bitten by the bears. A metal ring is attached to the corset so that workers can use a metal stick to grab the bear and control it while the bile is extracted … Customers can get bear paws from this farm. If the customer requests fresh paws, they can be directly cut off from a bear. WSPA (document below)
Over 12,000 bears are captive in bear farms in Asia. Most are held in cages the size of a telephone booth, in which they are unable to stand and can only turn around with difficulty.
The bears in these farms are visibly in severe distress. They are often hurt or scarred from repeatedly rubbing or hitting themselves against the bars of their tiny enclosures.
Farmers prevent bears from hibernating – the cage floors are iron bars to stop the bears lying on firm ground.
Painful surgery
Bear bile can be accessed in a number of inhumane ways. All are likely to be carried out by untrained farm workers, with no veterinary experience.
Depending on the region, farms will use one of three methods:
- A tube leading into the gall bladder is created, allowing bile to be extracted. To stop the tube closing up, the abdominal wound is reopened up to three times a day.
- Ultrasound equipment is used to locate the gall bladder, before a syringe is inserted deep into the bear’s body to extract the bile.
- Bears are caged, left to reach a certain age and then killed. The bile is extracted once the bear is dead.
Lifelong suffering
A caged, farmed bear with bile extraction wound
Infections to the open wounds, tumours, internal abscesses, gallstones, and other related illnesses are common. It is a life of unremitting pain and distress.
Bears may stop producing bile after only a few years. They are then left to die or are killed for their paws or gall bladder.
From Animals Asia
Write a letter and add your voice to the call to end bear farming in China.
Taking the time to write a letter is a valuable way you can support our campaigns. Whether expressing appropriate concern or writing a letter of thanks, a brief letter provides international support which will further assist us to promote change.
Write a letter to your local Chinese Embassy:
Please write a polite letter to the Chinese Government thanking the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the Sichuan Forestry Department for closing the farms and releasing 500 bears into the care of Animals Asia. Please ask that they continue to promote the herbal and synthetic alternatives to bear bile and urgently appeal to them to end bear farming as a matter of priority.
Please address your letter to the Chinese Ambassador and send to the main Embassy address for your country. Embassy addresses can be found at: www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy
US email addresses (press@chinaconsulatela.org and admin@chinaconsulatela.org both were returned as invalid) :
webmaster@chinaconsulatesf.org
Sample letter: if you would like to use use the sample letter below, please feel free to copy and paste the text into your own document.
Editor’s note: You may also want to modify sample letter – personally, I don’t think it’s appropriate to thank people for a morally obligatory gesture, we don’t thank people for being anti-racist or anti-sexist, why thank them for being anti-speciesist? But that is my personal viewpoint, you may feel differently and choose to thank them.
***************************************************************************************
Dear Excellency,
I would like to express both my concern over the deplorable practice of bear farming and my sincerest appreciation to the Government authorities in China for their admirable work towards eliminating such a practice.
The agreement between the Animals Asia Foundation and the Government departments of the Beijing China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and the Sichuan Forestry Department (SFD), to rescue 500 suffering and endangered moon bears, is one of the most remarkable and significant steps ever taken to address the welfare of individual animals, as well as the conservation of a species as a whole and I applaud their efforts wholeheartedly.
In recent years, China has experienced dramatic change and growth in all areas, which has led to an increased interest in business investments and tourism opportunities from the international community. It would seem only natural that these advances should extend to ending such mediaeval and disgraceful practices as bear farming, which have no place in our civilised world.
I implore you to add your voice and encouragement to the growing call from within China and right across the world, to end bear farming. Please support the good work of Animals Asia, the CWCA and SFD and urgently help their endeavours to end this barbaric and unnecessary industry once and for all.
Yours respectfully,
************************************************************************************
RELATED:
- The Horror Behind Bear Bile Farming
- US Friends, please send automatic message to Stop the Trade in Bear Parts
- Earthlings
- What Can I Do?
- Vegan Guides
RESOURCES:
Bear Farming, WSPA Report
Man Kicks Dog in Knee Hill Park ( London ): Do you recognize him?
Update & petition for administration of greatest punishment available can be found HERE.
A jobless thug has been exposed as the man filmed viciously kicking a puppy in a public park.
Arthur Kent, 24, was yesterday interviewed by police and the RSPCA after the appalling video appeared on the internet.
The dog was seen being kicked, dragged up a hill and hoisted up by its neck.
At one stage, it was kicked so hard it was lifted off the ground at Knee Hill Park, Abbey Wood, in South East London. Footage of the incident caused a public outcry.
But Kent, one of five children brought up by single mum Angela Jones on an estate in Bexleyheath, South London, was dismissive of the incident.
When friend Craig Connan called him, he answered: “Battersea Dogs Home.”
Kent, of nearby Welling, is understood to have handed himself in to police after the story was published in the Daily Mirror.
He was released without charge before RSPCA officials took over the case.
The puppy has since been seized from an address in Welling by police officers.
From VeganThis.org
The RSPCA is appealling for people to identify the man (in the video below) responsible after he was caught on film kicking his dog in Knee Hill Park near Woolwich, in South London, on October 1.
This abuse should not be ignored, please help get this dog out of this situation by helping find the coward kicking the dog victim in the video. It makes me sad that the person behind the camera did not do something, but at least the person helped in putting up this video to get the word out there.
- Contact RSPCA for leads
- Cruelty line: 0300 1234 999
Do you recognize him?
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Dedicated to the Horses who Spilled their Blood, Lost Their Lives, and gave up their Freedom for BLM.
From The Persian Horse Blog
By Jude Love
Nothing will Stop Equine Cruelty to American Horses in Foreign Slaughter Houses except for a Federal Law.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- Please Call Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid and demand a Vote on S 727 : (202) 224.3542
- Please Call Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and demand a Vote on H.R.503 : (202) 225.0100
Passage of this Federal Law will Prohibit the Transport of Horses to Slaughter for Production of Food for Human Consumption.
NATIONAL CALL IN DAY FOR THE HORSES IS OCTOBER 19, 2010:
- Please refer to the picture above and Make your Calls for the Horses, who cannot Speak for Themselves.
- Please advise the secretaries that you do NOT want to be transferred to a Voice Mail to leave your request. State that you wish to leave your message with a live human.
Please watch video showing the tragic and final journey for family pets, loyal working horses, unwanted race horses, and the many horses who are simply discarded. Don’t let any more horses suffer the Cruelty of the Slaughter Houses at the hands of uncaring, untrained workers, only to be turned into a piece of meat on someone’s dinner plate.
Join The Movement to Combat Slavery
1. Please sign and send Help Major Airlines Become Leaders in the Fight Against Human Trafficking
2. Please sign and send Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act
Please be aware that your message may not be submitted if a representative requires additional information; if the following message appears, please input relevant information, thank you: “The recipient has requested more information to send this message. Please fill in the following fields and click Submit to continue.”
3. Please sign Join The Movement to Combat Slavery
Target: President Barack Obama, United Nations
Sponsored by: Crystal W.
Modern day slavery is the second largest criminal industry in the world.
Human trafficking is the modern day practice of slavery, based on the recruitment, harboring, and transportation of people solely for the purpose of exploitation. Every year, traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits at the expense of victimizing millions of people around the world.
Victims of human trafficking are people forced or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. Labor trafficking is widespread in variety of situations that encompass domestic servitude and small-scale labor operations, to large-scale operations such as farms, sweatshops, and major multinational corporations. Sex trafficking is one of the most lucrative areas regarding the illegal trade in people, and involves forms such as prostitution, pornography, bride trafficking, and the commercial sexual abuse of children.
An estimated 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked annually in the U.S. alone.The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher. An estimated 200,000 American children are at risk for trafficking into the sex industry each year.
Despite this staggering reality, governments around the world are only beginning to address the problem. In most countries, traffickers operate without almost any punishment even in the most severe cases. A lack of awareness in the public makes it harder to act on the part of the authorities.
More awareness should be made. Everyone should get educated on this growing issue.
Here’s the “Dirty Dozen”- twelve states in the U.S. that have failed to enact basic human trafficking provisions or have provisions that fail to adequately address the growing crime. The ratings indicate how equipped states are to respond to human trafficking and serve as a resource for lawmakers on what specific provisions should be enacted to improve each state’s comprehensive approach to combating the issue. Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming.
This entire map should be green! Let’s make it that way!
Click on the image to view full size.
We the undersigned, are not only pleading with these states above to take initiative and pass the laws/meet the conditions needed to combat human trafficking, but also urge the UN to focus more on these growing horrendous crimes throughout the world as well.
Join the movement to combat slavery. Together we can all make a difference.
For other resources on human trafficking and additional ways you can help, please visit the following:
- Polaris Project: Films to View & Share
- Polaris Project Action Center
- Hope For Justice: What You Can Do
- Polaris Project: Download Information on Human Trafficking in the US
- The A21 Campaign: 21 Ways To Help
- The A21 Campaign Resources
- UN.Gift : Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking
- NY Times Human Trafficking Section
- Free the Slaves: How You Can Help
- National Human Trafficking Resource Center
RESOURCES
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Shortly before the global action weekend: Escada announces to go completely fur-free!
From The Escada Anti-Fur Campaign
- English Translation
Starting in January 2011 Escada SE completely stops using any real-fur. This announcement was circulating in the industry sector. After being asked Frank Elsner, the representive for press and business communication, confirmed it to the Escada-Campaign on October, 15th. with the following words:
Starting with the Spring/Summer 2011 collection, that will be in stores beginning January 2011, ESCADA stops using fur. After already stopping the use of breeded fur or rather luxury fur in the Prefall 2010 colletion, that was already sold from May this year, ESCADA now relinquishs all fur, including rabbit and Karakul. This decision is valid for an unlimited period.
Already in June the fashion company announced to relinquish “breeded fur” in their Fall collection. Questions that tried to find out what kinds of fur were part of the fur-free-arrangement haven´t been answered clearly or have been ignored totally. But fastly it became obvious, that the fur of some animals are still part of the collection of the Munich luxury fashion company, just like rabbitfur. That for the Escada-Campaign called out for an international action weekend from the 15th to the 17th of October and to re-start the campaign. A lot of groups all over the world already announced several actions and demanded, that the company removes all kinds of fur, including rabbit- and Karakulfur from their product lines.
Now that the company decided to also stop using rabbitfur and Karakul (persian lambfur) the demands of the Escada-Campaign towards the company are fullfilled and the campaign is finished successfully! Therefore we call for a stop of all planned protests this action weekend and all the following weeks.
Thanks to everybody who took part in the campaign in the past by doing actions or supporting it in other ways!
Escada-Campaign / Global Network Against the Fur Industry
Related, from BerlinerStatement
- German
Die ESCADA SE wird ab Januar 2011 komplett auf die Verwendung von Echtpelz verzichten. Eine entsprechende Mitteilung wurde in Branchenkreisen verbreitet. Auf Anfrage bestätigte Frank Elsner, Beauftragter für Presse und Unternehmenskommunikation, diese Angabgen am 15. Oktober 2010 gegenüber der Escada-Campaign.
Im Wortlaut heißt es: Mit der Frühjahr/Sommer 2011 Kollektion, die ab Januar 2011 in den Geschäften erhältlich sein wird, verwendet ESCADA keine Pelze mehr. Nachdem ESCADA bereits mit der Prefall 2010 Kollektion, die ab Mai dieses Jahres verkauft wurde, keine Zucht- bzw. Edelpelze mehr eingesetzt hatte, verzichtet das Unternehmen nun komplett auf Pelze, also auch auf Kaninchen und Karakul. Diese Entscheidung ist unbefristet.
Der Modekonzern hatte bereits im Juni angekündigt, ab der Herbstsaion 2010 auf die Verwendung von “Zuchtpelzen” zu verzichten. Auf Nachfragen, welche Fellarten diese “Pelzfreiheit” einschließe, reagierte der Konzern ausweichend oder gar nicht. Klar wurde jedoch bald: Felle bestimmter Tierarten, wie z.B. Kaninchenpelze, sind weiterhin Teil der Kollektionen des Münchner Luxusmodeunternehmens. Die Escada-Campaign rief daraufhin zu einer Wiederaufnahme der Proteste und zu einem internationalen Aktionswochenende gegen den Pelzverkauf des Unternehmens vom 15. bis 17. Oktober auf. Zahlreiche Gruppen weltweit hatten bereits Aktionen angekündigt und gefordert, dass das Unternehmen alle Fellarten, einschließlich Kaninchen- und Karakulfelle, aus dem Sortiment nimmt.
Scientists suggest that cancer is purely man-made
Speciesism is man-made, too; our moral obligation is primary, the side-effect of superior health is a tangential benefit.
Cancer is a modern, man-made disease caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet, a study by University of Manchester scientists has strongly suggested…
The study of remains and literature from ancient Egypt and Greece and earlier periods – carried out at Manchester’s KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology and published in Nature – includes the first histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy.
Finding only one case of the disease in the investigation of hundreds of Egyptian mummies, with few references to cancer in literary evidence, proves that cancer was extremely rare in antiquity. The disease rate has risen massively since the Industrial Revolution, in particular childhood cancer – proving that the rise is not simply due to people living longer.
Professor Rosalie David, at the Faculty of Life Sciences, said: “In industrialised societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. But in ancient times, it was extremely rare. There is nothing in the natural environment that can cause cancer. So it has to be a man-made disease, down to pollution and changes to our diet and lifestyle.”
Did your dinner come from this pristine environment?
She added: “The important thing about our study is that it gives a historical perspective to this disease. We can make very clear statements on the cancer rates in societies because we have a full overview. We have looked at millennia, not one hundred years, and have masses of data.”
The data includes the first ever histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy by Professor Michael Zimmerman, a visiting Professor at the KNH Centre, who is based at the Villanova University in the US. He diagnosed rectal cancer in an unnamed mummy, an ‘ordinary’ person who had lived in the Dakhleh Oasis during the Ptolemaic period (200-400 CE).
Professor Zimmerman said: “In an ancient society lacking surgical intervention, evidence of cancer should remain in all cases. The virtual absence of malignancies in mummies must be interpreted as indicating their rarity in antiquity, indicating that cancer causing factors are limited to societies affected by modern industrialization”.
The team studied both mummified remains and literary evidence for ancient Egypt but only literary evidence for ancient Greece as there are no remains for this period, as well as medical studies of human and animal remains from earlier periods, going back to the age of the dinosaurs.
Evidence of cancer in animal fossils, non-human primates and early humans is scarce – a few dozen, mostly disputed, examples in animal fossils, although a metastatic cancer of unknown primary origin has been reported in an Edmontosaurus fossil while another study lists a number of possible neoplasms in fossil remains. Various malignancies have been reported in non-human primates but do not include many of the cancers most commonly identified in modern adult humans.
Looks completely sanitary …
It has been suggested that the short life span of individuals in antiquity precluded the development of cancer. Although this statistical construct is true, individuals in ancient Egypt and Greece did live long enough to develop such diseases as atherosclerosis, Paget’s disease of bone, and osteoporosis, and, in modern populations, bone tumours primarily affect the young.
Another explanation for the lack of tumours in ancient remains is that tumours might not be well preserved. Dr. Zimmerman has performed experimental studies indicating that mummification preserves the features of malignancy and that tumours should actually be better preserved than normal tissues. In spite of this finding, hundreds of mummies from all areas of the world have been examined and there are still only two publications showing microscopic confirmation of cancer. Radiological surveys of mummies from the Cairo Museum and museums in Europe have also failed to reveal evidence of cancer.
As the team moved through the ages, it was not until the 17th century that they found descriptions of operations for breast and other cancers and the first reports in scientific literature of distinctive tumours have only occurred in the past 200 years, such as scrotal cancer in chimney sweeps in 1775, nasal cancer in snuff users in 1761 and Hodgkin’s disease in 1832.
Yale Fraternity Pledges Chant About Rape
From Care2
By Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
Although I don’t attend Yale, this story strikes very close to home: last Wednesday night, pledges from the university’s Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity marched through Yale’s Old Campus (where, as Tracy Clark-Flory points out on Broadsheet, most of the freshman woman are housed), chanting, “No means yes! Yes means anal!” Just to make the chant more appealing, they sometimes added, “My name is Jack, I’m a necrophiliac, I fuck dead women and fill them with my semen.”
The footage, taken by a student, is below; naturally, it’s gone viral.
The frat issued an extensive apology, admitting,
We were disrespectful, vulgar and inappropriate. More than that, we were insensitive of all women who have been victims of rape or sexual violence, especially those here at Yale. Rape is beyond serious – it is one of the worst things that any person can be subjected to. It is not a laughing matter, yet we joked about it.
But as a senior at a Princeton, a university that’s culturally very similar to Yale, I have to say that although this apology seems sincere, it’s indicative of a larger cultural trend that permits behavior like this – as long as the perpetrators seem really, really sorry afterward.
As Jillian Hewitt wrote in an Equal Writes post last March, responding to the Center for Public Integrity’s broad-ranging study on campus sexual assault, “[College administrators view] offenders…as those good guys who made a one-time mistake, and thus as deserving of a second chance.” This, of course, is not the case – most rapists are repeat offenders, even on college campuses – as psychologist David Lisak proved in his twenty-year survey of college men. Those could be the same men who think it’s acceptable to march their pledges across campus shouting rape chants – or the pledges themselves, who are taught, early in their freshman year, that rape culture is the norm.
Please take a stand against feline feeding bans
From Alley Cat Allies
Please sign and send I am taking a stand against feline feeding bans!
In our ongoing monitoring of communities and cities across the country, Alley Cat Allies is tracking a disturbing and increasing trend of feeding ban proposals as a way to “eradicate” cats from their outdoor homes.
Feeding bans are cruel, ineffective, and foolish. It’s time to put a stop to this practice once and for all.
Let America’s decision makers know that you’re taking a stand against feeding bans by signing our petition HERE.
Save This Cat
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Alley Cat Allies’ “Save this Cat” advertisement has run in big cities including Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. If you would like to place our advertisement on your local cable network contact our communications department and request a “Save this Cat” DVD.
More than 70% of all cats brought into our nation’s animal pounds and shelters are killed. Alley Cat Allies is changing the fate of our nation’s cats by leading the massive movement to stop the killing across the country. Join today to add your voice to this life-saving grassroots campaign!
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Alley Cat Allies News, scroll on the sidebar and select
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Cat Fatalities and Secrecy in U.S. Pounds and Shelters
“Euthanasia” * in animal control pounds and shelters is the number one documented cause of death of all cats in the U.S. The most comprehensive study to date indicates that 72% of all cats entering these facilities are killed. Just 23% are adopted, and only 2% are reunited with their owners.
These statistics are from the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy Shelter Statistics Survey, 1994-97. It surveyed roughly 5,000 shelters annually for four years, receiving responses from about 1,000. Although dated, it remains the most comprehensive and rigorous study that exists. More recent, less complete studies reflect the same trends—for instance, the 2006 National Animal Control Association Statistical Survey showed that 66% of cats were killed.
Feral Cats
For feral cats, the kill rate in pounds and shelters rises to virtually 100%.
Cats entering traditional animal pounds and shelters have only three possible outcomes: being adopted, reunited with an owner, or killed. Yet feral cats are unsocialized to humans and can’t adjust to life in a human home, and they have no traditional “owners” to claim them. For them, the only possible outcome is death.
Although the exact number of feral cats in this country is not known, some scientists estimate it is same as the house cat population, that is, 82 million. These animals are one of the most significant populations facing animal control pounds and shelters today.
Free Government-Held Wild Horses to Madeleine Pickens’ Sanctuary
Please visit HERE to sign petition
Targeting: Mike Pool (Deputy Director, Bureau of Land Management), Marcilynn Burke (Deputy Director, Bureau of Land Management), and Bob Abbey (Director, Bureau of Land Management)
Started by: Stephanie Feldstein
The federal government’s controversial wild horse roundups have resulted in tens of thousands of wild horses being removed from public lands. Some of these horses are adopted out, but the government is currently keeping around 34,000 horses in expensive, inadequate holding facilities.
Madeleine Pickens, long-time horse advocate and wife of Texas billionaire, T. Boone Pickens, has purchased a 14,000-acre ranch in Nevada, which she plans to convert into an eco-sanctuary for horses. She has petitioned the government to free 1,000 horses from holding facilities to the sanctuary to start; she eventually hopes to buy enough land in the surrounding area to save all 34,000 wild horses in captivity.
The proposed government stipend would cost a fraction of what is being spent annually on the holding facilities, and the horses would get to return to their natural range.
Tell the Bureau of Land Management to approve Madeleine Pickens’ proposal and free the wild horses.
PETITION TEXT
I recently read on Change.org that Madeleine Pickens has submitted a proposal to move wild horses from long-term government holding facilities to a non-profit-run eco-sanctuary in Nevada. I strongly urge you to accept this proposal.
Under the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, any management plan for wild horses is supposed to be undertaken with the welfare of the horses in mind, and the goal of allowing them to continue to roam free. In addition, the horses are supposed to remain on land that was their home range at the time the legislation was enacted. The long-term government holding facilities around the country are inadequate and far from the horses’ natural habitat.
The sanctuary proposed by Ms. Pickens would allow for the horses to return to their natural territory and environment. In the spirit of the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, these American icons would be preserved in a way that the public could view them and learn about our nation’s heritage. In addition, the sanctuary would save taxpayers money compared to the costly holding facilities.
This proposal is a solution that helps the government resolve the issue of housing the horses and provides for the animals’ welfare. Please accept the proposal and work with Ms. Pickens to start moving horses as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Our Compass 
