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.
Texas School Rejects 4-Year-Old Daughter Of Lesbian Couple
From Care2
By Judy Molland
An Anglican school in Bedford, Texas, has denied admission to the 4-year-old daughter of a lesbian couple who wanted to enroll the girl in preschool.
In a statement, the dean of St.Vincent’s Cathedral School in the Dallas suburb said the school is standing on its principles in “matters of marriage and sex outside of marriage” by rejecting 4-year-old Olivia Harrison. The school said its decision was based on what is considered best for all students and “in conformity with scripture and our own church’s doctrinal standards.”
Jill and Tracy Harrison were married in Canada in 2006. When Jill filled out admission forms to enroll their daughter, Olivia, into the Anglican school, she wrote her name next to the word “mother” on the forms. She crossed out “father” and wrote in “mother” next to Tracy’s name as well.
School officials said they assumed Tracy was a man. But after the couple attended parents’ night, Olivia was denied admission.
Parents’ Reactions
In a swift response, Olivia’s mother, Jill Harrison, announced that this was “fine with her.” Tracy Harrison said she and her partner thought St. Vincent’s could give little Olivia a good education and impact “the basic Bible teachings…follow the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, be kind to your neighbor.” She added “The God that I know and the God that I love will love me and love my children no matter what.”
Un-Christianity
As someone who was raised in the Christian church, (my father was a Church of England minister), I can absolutely affirm that the behavior of St. Vincent’s Cathedral School is not Christian. Steve Williams wrote here a few weeks ago about novelist Anne Rice’s decision to quit the established Christian church because of how the religion is increasingly being used to push an agenda that is anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-science. This school seems to fit right in here.
From This Is Leicestershire
By Tim Healy
A sanctuary for rescued horses faces an uncertain future.
Donations to Horse’s Voice rescue centre have dropped so much because of the recession that it cannot take in any more animals.
Pat Dargue, who owns the centre, in Husbands Bosworth, has had to tell people who cannot pay for their animals that they may have to have them put down.
She also fears if the centre does not have the money to feed its horses over the winter, it may have to consider putting them to sleep.
Mrs Dargue, who has run the charity for 20 years, said she had never known such hard times.
She said: “In the past two years donations have fallen by 50 per cent.
“Things are desperate. We have had to lay off our paid staff and are relying on volunteers.
We desperately need to raise funds to care for our horses over the winter (our most expensive time of the year). The economic situation is making feed prices rocket – hay will be around £7.50 per bale (it was £3 last winter) and we use three bales per day. Can you please help? By donating just £2 per month or sponsoring a horse, you will help us to continue caring for our residents and horses like Spider.
We cannot take any more animals unless it is an emergency.
“Costs are increasing and if we cannot get enough money to feed our horses over winter we may have to consider putting some of them to sleep. Even calling in the vet to do that costs money.
“Obviously, putting horses to sleep is not something we would want to do.”
The centre has room for 24 animals but currently has 11.
It costs the centre £4,000 a year to a keep a horse.
From Freedom Jackson (you can only see the link if you are a Facebook member).
& Nature Alert, Dedicated to helping save orangutans and their forest homes
Dear Friend of the Orangutans,
Please could you (re)send the letter below as soon as possible? Norway has agreed to give $1 billion to Indonesia in the hope it will save trees. This money should at least buy him some influence, so let’s give this another shot shall we? I wrote to the Prime Minister two weeks ago, but have yet to receive a reply.
If any email is ‘rejected’ it will only be because their inbox is full – a good sign, so please just send the next day, etc. Besides these emails COP is active on this issue in Indonesia, as are friends in Thailand.
Once again on behalf of the orangutans, thank you. 2000 emails every day will make an impression on these officials. At some stage one is going to give us what we want to see – 11 oranguatns going home to Indonesia.
p.s. Please feel free to add your name to the end of the letter. It is not essential, but will help. Sean
It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up. Babe Ruth
Over 150 Women Gang Raped in Congo
From Care2
By Ximena Ramirez
The use of rape as a tactic of war is nothing new – especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo – but the anger and sadness I feel every time I read yet another story about the horrors these women and girls face every day is something I don’t think I can ever escape.
Take, for example, the rage I left when news surfaced that at least 150 women were gang raped during a raid last month by Rwandan rebels in a community of villages in eastern Congo.
Although the men who entered the village during the day claimed they were only there for food and rest, another group of men arrived after dark to wreak havoc on the village’s women. Most women were raped by two to six men at a time and some even in front of their children and families.
Coincidentally, the rebels left the area on the same day that the village’s chief traveled through the area and soon began reporting the sexual violence. The International Medical Corps who were also documenting the rape cases note that “the numbers keep rising…We had heard first 24 rapes, then 56, then 78, then 96, then 156.”
The numbers and severity of the attacks are devastating and have been for years. “Evil in its basest form,” said Hilary Clinton of the widespread rape in the region when she traveled to the Congo in 2009.
Three very quick actions to protest the upcoming murder of 250,000 innocent geese and their babies
- 1. Sign and send
TELL the USDA to STOP KILLING CANADA GEESE - 2. Please visit Paula’s site to send
Sample letter urging NYC not to kill hundreds of thousands of Canada geese - 3. Please visit Kinship Circle to protest
New York Plans To Kill Two-Thirds Of Its Canada Geese
***Please note that some emails will be returned as invalid or undeliverable.
BACKGROUND from IDA
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services continues to systematically round up and exterminate entire flocks of resident Canada geese all over the country. IDA is calling on our supporters to get involved to stop this needless killing. In 2010, thousands of innocent Canada geese across the country have been or will be gassed to death or sent to slaughterhouses if we do not take action to stop it. Since non-lethal population control programs for resident Canada geese have proven successful throughout the country, the USDA must change course and switch to non-lethal, humane, and progressive population control.
With your help, we can make a positive difference for the Canada geese who call the United States home.
Act to protect Canada geese in your community by contacting your city manager’s office to request a copy of their goose management plan. If it includes lethal methods, object! Also, please submit the form to send an e-mail to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to immediately end the slaughter of Canada geese.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Avatar, Avarice and Animals: It’s Not All About Us
What will the end look like? We may not see it, but our actions NOW have repercussive consequences ALWAYS: "What we do in life, echoes in eternity ..." Do you care? Then please do something. http://www.veganoutreach.org/globalwarming.html
From Change.Org
By Marc Bekoff
The highly successful movie Avatar, which will return to theaters in two weeks, points out just how invasive and inconsiderate we can be, blind to those who suffer as we incessantly redecorate nature, be they nonhuman animals, less fortunate humans, or humans we assume to be lesser than we are.
Avatar is the story of a corporation that’s trying to drive the indigenous Na’vi on the planet Pandora away from their ancestral home, because it happens to sit on a mineral the company wants to mine for profit. As Nathaniel Whittmore noted on the Social Entrepreneurship blog, the film teaches us at least three important lessons: 1) the profit motive is dangerous when unchecked (which we’ve seen recently played out in El Salvador); 2) there are things that humans — big-brained, arrogant, and invasive mammals — don’t understand; and 3) persistence matters and with hard work we can make positive differences in the world.
Individuals, of any species, have inherent or intrinsic value because they exist and this alone mandates that we coexist with them. That was the Na’vi way of life. Yet through a combination of habitat loss and climate change, we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction of species. In both the movie and in reality, humans are the major cause of an incredible loss of biodiversity; researchers have coined the term “anthropocene” to highlight humans’ significant impact on the Earth’s ecosystems and climate.
Right now, we can all start making more humane and ethical choices in our daily lives — the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the products we buy, and the cars we drive, for example. It doesn’t have to take much effort to make a positive difference.
Simply put, there are far too many of us. Many people don’t like to talk about our own tendency to over-produce, but at the core, that’s the major problem of why we’re losing species at an incredible rate. We also shamelessly over-consume.
Theologian Thomas Berry stressed that our relationship with Nature should be one of awe, not one of use. The world of Pandora was visually stunning, which no doubt helped make the movie so successful, but I’ve learned first-hand that the worlds of other animals on our own planet are laden with magic and wonder.
Mr. President, Congress. Interior Secretary Salazar must go, before all the wildlife does!
IMMEDIATE: Please sign Mr. President, Congress. Interior Secretary Salazar must go, before all the wildlife does!
Targeting: The President of the United States, The U.S. Senate and The U.S. House of Representatives
Started by: Paul Hester
This is a work in progress of Mr. Salazar’s – BLM “Wild Horses and Burros” Round-Up Program! A National Disgrace. How Do You Make 2000 Horses Disappear? Let BLM Manage Them.
There is much to be said concerning Secretary of the Interior Department Salazar. He is a cattle rancher in Colorado, a “trophy hunter/animal killer” and “connected” to “BIG OIL and GAS”! He has done everything in his power to kill American Wildlife for the gain of the cattle industry, hunting industry and “BIG OIL and GAS industries”! Nothing for the very wildlife he swore to protect against the very people like himself! This brief history will cover some of the issues that must be told to the American People! BLM Sold Out America and Condemns Wildlife to Death by Thirst
Gulf of Mexico Catastrophe
Many experts in the oil industry and scientists, had been warning for over a year, concerning safety issues of the oil rig Atlantis. They demanded that all work stop for a complete inspection of all machinery, safety procedures, documentation, and EMERGENCY equipment, such as BOP (Blow Out Preventors). These concerns went unheeded by Mr. Salazar and the MMS, so work continued as usual. BP had claimed “zero” percent chance oil leaking for the well and harming the environment and sealife. Early in the morning on April 20th, 2010 the exploration drilling rig, Deepwater Horizonexploded, turning into an enormous fireball, killing 11 men and sending the entire crew into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles south of New Orleans, LA. This was the beginning of the most devastating “man made” environmental disaster ever to hit the United States. BP’s initial reports said a small amount of oil may be leaking into the Gulf. Then BP said the BOP failed and 1000 barrels/day of oil was be leaking, next 5,000, 9000, 15,000, 19,000, and finally between 30,000-60,000 barrels/day. Bp started using CorExit 9500A dispersant to disperse the oil. This would later prove to be ill-advised and creating a much larger catastrophe than without CorExit 9500A.BP would not allow “independent experts” access to their internal findings, such as psi (pressure) reading, flow rate or allow “anyone” near the well head of the discharging oil and gas. 100 days later and we still don’t know! With estimates ranging from 3 million barrels of the oil/dispersant mix, and up to 10 million barrels may now be in the Gulf of Mexico, mostly underwater in the “water column” and on the sea floor due to the use of CorExit 9500A, which prohibited the oil from remaining on the surface, to be skimmed up, in a relatively routine fashion. Where was U.S. Secretary of the Interior Salazar in demanding access to “everything” and taking control and showing leadership during this crisis? Secretary Salazar’s apparent lack concern for the clean up workers, as evident by BP threatening job termination if they wear a respirator. Why is BP getting away with this?
Israel Poised to Be First Country to Ban Fur Trade
Yehuda Raizner, AFP / Getty Images
IMMEDIATE: Please click HERE to send a sample letter sharing your support of the fur ban in Israel! Thank you!
From AOL News
By Matthew Kalman
Israel is set to become the first country in the world to impose a blanket ban on the import of animal fur — a move animal rights activists hope will have a domino effect around the world.
On Sept. 2, the Knesset is due to debate the second and third readings of the groundbreaking bill introduced by Ronit Tirosh, a legislator from the opposition Kadima Party, to outlaw the production, processing, import, export and sale of fur from all animal species not already part of the meat industry.
There was some opposition from religious groups representing ultra-orthodox Jews, whose traditional festive headgear, known as a shtreimel, is made partly from fox fur. Tirosh introduced a clause in her proposed legislation allowing for the import of fox fur for religious purposes.
Israel’s fur trade is tiny — worth only about $1 million a year — compared with more than $11 billion worldwide, according to the International Fur Trade Federation.
Fur industry lobbyists in Israel and abroad, fearful of the international repercussions of the Israeli legislation, launched a furious campaign and managed to sink a similar bill earlier this year.
“A ban on all fur throughout the country would be a world first — a major stand against the animal cruelty inherent in the worldwide fur trade — and it would set an example that other countries would look to and follow,” says a report by Humane Society International, which sent two officials to testify before a Knesset committee in Jerusalem earlier this year.
The group says that fur factory farming has already been banned in Austria, Croatia and the United Kingdom. In other countries, including Denmark and the Netherlands, legislation is in place to phase out the farming of certain animals for their fur. The European Union and the United States have banned trade in seal fur products and cat and dog fur. The group says the steel-jawed leghold trap — one of the chief means used to catch wild animals for their fur — has already been banned in more than 60 countries, including Israel.
Tirosh, a former teacher and Ministry of Education official, says concern for animal rights is important in teaching humane and ethical values to Israeli children. She says she has been concerned about the issue for some time but began her campaign after watching a TV documentary produced by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Israel, broadcast in February 2009, that portrayed the cruel treatment of live animals by the fur industry. The graphic footage contained in the documentary, which showed cats and dogs being skinned alive, sparked a major debate in Israel.
She is optimistic her bill will be passed. “The chances of it becoming law are very high. I started a long time ago, and we took it step by step,” she told AOL News. “I hope that many other countries will follow us. The world is moving forward regarding the rights of animals.”
Public opinion polls commissioned by the International Anti-Fur Coalition and the Israeli animal rights group Let Animals Live found that 86 percent of Israelis opposed the killing of animals “if they are killed only for their fur,” and 79 percent said they would “support a bill to ban the trade of fur in Israel.”
JUAN DANIELS DENIED PAROLE
The Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 3-0 to deny early release to 23-year-old Juan Daniels of Montgomery, who was sentenced in 2009 to nine years and six months in prison.
From: Koerner, Richard
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 10:32
Subject: Parole Hearing Juan Daniels
I attended the parole hearing for Juan Daniels today along with many other animal advocates. There were people there who came as far as Rhode Island and Boston, Mass., to protest Daniels’ parole bid. Almost three years ago here in Montgomery, Juan Daniels asked to use the family car. Permission was denied and Daniels took out his rage on the family dog, now named Louis Vuitton. Daniels tied the helpless family dog and beat him without mercy with a shovel. Then, he doused him with charcoal lighter fluid and set him on fire. Louis suffered horrific burns and other injuries. It took him months to recover. Louis was at the hearing today and allowed to come into the hearing room. Juan Daniels was charged and convicted of felony animal cruelty and sentenced to nine and one half years in prison. It is the longest sentence for animal cruelty in Alabama. He has served about 18 months. The vet who treated Louis testified along with the Montgomery County District Attorney.
The Board DENIED Juan Daniels’ request for parole. Thousands of letters and petitions from all over the country as well as foreign nations wrote the Board urging denial of the parole. The Board chairman commented that Juan Daniels’ conduct while in prison has been terrible, one violation after another. This monster who inflicted such unimaginable pain upon Louis, a gentle and loving Pit Bull Terrier, will stay in prison where he belongs. Louis now lives with a wonderful family. This case has received nationwide attention and is a big step in the fight to end such heinous acts of violent cruelty to animals.
Today is a good day for animal lovers and advocates.
Richard E. Koerner
Senior Special Agent
Bureau of Special Investigations
Alabama Department of Mental Health
Post Office Box 301410
Montgomery, Alabama 36130-1410
Police believe children are targeted because of a belief by witch doctors that the blood and body parts of albinos can bring good luck and fortune when used in potions Photo: AFP/GETTY
From The Telegraph
By Aislinn Laing
An 11-year-old albino girl from Swaziland was shot dead in front of her friends and then beheaded in what police believe was a ritual murder.
The child had been washing clothes and bathing at a river with friends and was returning home when she was grabbed by a man wearing a balaclava.
As her friends looked on, the man shot her in the back before dragging her away. Her headless body was found upriver a short time later.
The murder is the latest in a series of albino killings in Sub-Saharan Africa, where sufferers of the rare skin pigmentation condition are concentrated.
Earlier this year, another 11-year-old albino child was killed close to the same spot in Swaziland and her hand was removed.
Police believe both children may have been targeted because of a belief by witch doctors that the blood and body parts of albinos – who lack pigment in their eyes, hair and skin – can bring good luck and fortune when used in potions.
Their value for black magic practitioners sees them often fall prey to human traffickers, one of whom was jailed for 17 years in Tanzania this week for abducting and attempting to sell a live albino man.
The girl murdered in Swaziland was named locally as Banele Nxumalo. A man identified as her father, Luke Nxumalo, told The Times of Swaziland that his late uncle had also been an albino.
“What happened to my child is very painful. I wonder why albinos are targeted because they are just humans like us and a gift from God,” he said.
RELATED:
People With Albinism Sold And Mutilated In Tanzania, Albino Trafficker Jailed
Whistleblower complaint by ex-SeaWorld chief Linda Simons claims negligence in drowning of trainer
From NY Daily News
By Helen Kennedy
A nasty public battle is breaking out Monday between SeaWorld and its former safety chief, who claims gross negligence led to the horrific drowning of a trainer by a killer whale.
In response, SeaWorld called ex-safety chief Linda Simons an extortionist, saying she threatened to go public with “false allegations” unless she got paid.
Simons told the Daily News she was fired for talking too much with the federal investigators who were probing the February drowning of trainer Dawn Brancheau by the killer whale Tilikum. Simons, who started work at SeaWorld in Orlando one week before the drowning, has filed a federal whistleblower complaint.
She says that just two weeks before the drowning, SeaWorld held a safety drill that went so badly – staffers didn’t show up or barely paid attention – that it was scheduled to be repeated a month later.
“It went so poorly that they stopped the drill and were going to have another one,” Simons told The News.
They didn’t have time.
When the 6-ton killer whale pulled Brancheau under by her ponytail on Feb. 24, the response was “very chaotic,” she said. As tourists watched in horror, Tilikum dragged Brancheau around the tank, scalping her and breaking her neck as well as drowning her. It took 30 minutes to retrieve her body.
Simons claims SeaWorld withheld documents from Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators and blocked interviews with trainers that might have been critical.
Late Sunday, after Simons talked to The News, SeaWorld issued a statement saying she has been using “the threat of negative publicity to seek a sizable monetary payment from SeaWorld in exchange for her not going public with these false allegations.”
SeaWorld said Simons was fired for “poor performance” during the OSHA inspection of Brancheau’s death, and that she “demonstrated an inability to conduct herself to the acceptable standard of competence, transparency, integrity or professionalism.”
Simons has begun helping People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a radical animal rights group that is asking Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint a special prosecutor to charge SeaWorld execs with involuntary manslaughter.
Brancheau, 40, broke park rules by lying on a submerged ledge in the tank with Tilikum, who had previously killed two other people by pulling them under water. Simons said the whale was considered so dangerous that new workers were routinely warned that anyone who entered his pool would “come out a corpse.” But Brancheau regularly was allowed to play with the orca as if he were “her puppy dog,” Simons said.
The OSHA report due out today is much awaited in South Florida, where SeaWorld employs 6,000 people and attracts 6 million visitors a year to see trainers swim with killer whales.
The only thing that will prevent misery and death in the future is for SeaWorld to stop capturing and confining wild marine mammals and to let these orcas go,” said Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
End Bear Baying (Baiting) in South Carolina
Immediate, please sign HERE
From Care2
By Sharon Seltzer
Undercover video captured “bear baying,” a practice so cruel that animal advocates thought it had been outlawed since the 1800’s. Hunters in rural South Carolina are popularizing the activity.
Bear baying or “bear baiting” is the act of chaining a defenseless bear to a stake while a pack of dogs are released to attack the animal.
Bears are either declawed or have their claws filed down and are defanged or have their teeth pulled. Activists compare the “staged fights” to those in the Roman Colosseum.
The Associated Press released news about the resurgence of bear baying with undercover video shot at four separate events by the Humane Society of the United States. HSUS is using that video to pressure South Carolina’s Attorney General, Henry McMaster to outlaw the practice.
South Carolina is the only state that allows bear baying and animal fighting when it is used as a method of dog training. Hunters in the state say the practice helps prepare their dogs about what to do if they encounter a bear during hunting season.
But the videos filmed by HSUS show that more than training is going on at these events. Hunters have turned bear baying into a weekend sport with cash prizes and trophies. Events are attended by hundreds of spectators and the bear attacks go on relentlessly for hours.
What Happens At Modern Day Bear Baying Spectacles
The HSUS video shows an adult black bear tethered to a short chain which is attached to a wooden fence. The animal is enclosed in a chain linked pen.
A team of 3 hunting dogs are released into the pen where they lunge, swat, show teeth and sometimes bite the defenseless bear.
This is what occurs in our state wildlife agencies when WE the PUBLIC do not get involved. SWA’s have no watchdogs – epitome of “The Fox guarding the Hen-house”. We blindly trust “wildlife conservation”, but in reality they are running a business and completely controlled by special interests. They are pimping our wild animals for blood-sports!
Hunters do not “pay for their sport”, we all do, and we are all equal stakeholders. Besides, even if they did pay for it, when did we agree to sell our wildlife to them?
If they want to preach heritage and tradition, then we have every right to demand ethics that used to exist with that heritage! Not this “how many hunting licenses can we sell to win more federal gun tax funding” foundation they sit on now, kissing hunters’ butts to keep them engaged and happy. ~Katherine McGill
The goal is to make the bear stand up on its hind legs and the team that makes this happen in the shortest amount of time, wins the contest.
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Hunters want a bear to stand upright because it makes the animal easier to shoot and kill when they are encountered in the wild.
However the bears used in the contest are not wild.
They are part of a small group of animals that came as part of a limited one time permit process in 2005 where 38 bears were released to private owners as pets or for small zoos.
These bears also came with an exception to the law that allowed them to be used in bear baying events, as long as there was no “repeated contact” between the animals.
The HSUS video shows clear violations to that clause as the bear suffers from bites and gashes in her effort to escape the teams of dogs. The events filmed went on for 4 hours while nearly 100 teams of hounds attacked the bear.
HSUS representatives expressed concern over the “psychological trauma”this imposed on the bear.
And to make matters even more depressing, the same kept showing up at each bear baying spectacle filmed by HSUS. Records show that her name is Mandy.
The HSUS blog said, “The bear…may endure this treatment every weekend throughout much of the year.”
Michael Markarian of HSUS said, “At least eight other animals are used for baying in the three counties where bear hunting is permitted.”
Attorney General McMaster issued a statement saying “he views the practice as illegal under the state’s animal cruelty law.” But State Rep. David Hiott of Pickens County, where bear baying is legal said, “It’s unlikely the Legislature will revisit a ban on bear baying.”
HSUS doesn’t plan on giving up. If they are unable to change the minds of lawmakers, the group plans to address the problem with wildlife managers. They hope to revoke all of the captive bear permits that were issued in 2005.
Click Here or on the picture to sign the petition to stop bear baying in South Carolina.
From HSUS
HSUS investigators recently attended several bear baiting (also known as bear baying) events in South Carolina. What they found will shock you.
In each event, a captive bear—claws and many teeth cut down or removed—is tethered in an arena. Team after team of dogs is released into the arena to bark at, jump on, and bite the frightened, defenseless bear for hours at a time. These events are billed as training exercises for hounds but are nothing more than public spectacles.
Please sign the petition asking the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to prohibit bear baiting (which they call bear baying) and revoke the permits for people who torment bears so cruelly.
If you could only experience for one second the pain, agony, torture, and fear the animals endure because of your GREED!
As HIDEOUS as the trash who support, endorse, promote, and buy! Say "no" to ugly fur hags and disgusting bastards and say "yes" to innocent, sentient, beautiful animals.
By Loredana Versaci & Brennan Browne
1. Help protest fur! Please take a few moments to email Simonetta Ravizza using one or both of the SAMPLE LETTERS below; modify and shorten if you use one, however, if possible; please note that Sample Letter One is courtesy of Brennan Browne.
2. Watch the VIDEO below and share.
BACKGROUND
The designer, who produces her brand with the family business (Annabella di Pavia), has reinterpreted the classic sneaker using sable, mink, and colored rabbit. The result is a limited edition, which will be distributed under the brand name “Simonetta Ravizza” in selected shops in Italy and worldwide.
Presented during Milan Fashion Week in 2008, Mrs Ravizza states:
My new idea of fur – Simonetta says – is that a piumino, or a tasty chinchilla vest, a pair of Superga with colored rabbit, or a reefer in sable, breaking the rules, let us play with fashion with fun and personality. People want optimism and that is why I chose turquoise, orange, fuchsia, purple [dyed fur] to give color also to the white, gray and black. Why not, optimistic fur?
WEBSITE:
http://www.simonettaravizza.it/en/index.php#
VIDEO (Included in the letters):
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- Individually
Boutique Montenapoleone: montenapoleone@simonettaravizza.it
Administration: uff.amm@annabella.it
Press Office: helpdesk@annabella.it
Marketing: rira@annabella.it
- As a group, please copy/paste into your TO: and hit one carriage return:
montenapoleone@simonettaravizza.it
uff.amm@annabella.it
helpdesk@annabella.it
rira@annabella.it
SAMPLE LETTER ONE [Courtesy of Brennan Browne , tweak to make it your own]:
Mrs. Ravizza:
Optimistic fur?—fun?—playful? Fur with “personality?” It almost sounds as if you knew your victims BEFORE they were captured/raised, tortured and murdered, to be made into such trivial symbols of hedonistic vanity as your grotesque and gaudy line of vests and sneakers.
Perhaps you need to take a “vacation” to one of the fun, playful fur “farm” hellholes which supply you with the skins of tortured souls; put through some of the most vile acts of brazen evil against complex beings known to our species. I’m quite sure your “optimism” will remain unwavering in the face of witnessing uplifting anal electrocutions.
In order to kill animals without damaging their fur, trappers strangle, beat, or stomp them to death. Animals on fur “farms” may be gassed, electrocuted [as mentioned], poisoned with strychnine, or have their necks snapped. These barbaric methods are not always 100% effective and some animals regain consciousness while being skinned.
Does this kind of intentional and absolutely needless infliction of excruciating torment and murder on helpless beings lift your spirits? When you receive the blood-soaked money from their deaths, do you then go out and party without another thought as to the ghosts of the hapless victims you killed simply for a fashion fling?
Many people on this planet believe that they can live their lives without ethics or morals. There appears to be no accountability for those without a conscience. Those individuals are fooling themselves. For every evil knowingly inflicted, the perpetrator WILL PAY a spiritual price.
Please consider that the evil you do will come back to you. I would appeal to you based on compassion, but there is little evidence that you possess any. So for your sake, please remove fur from your fashions in the future. For the present, one can only hope that your line of skins ripped from the backs of the innocent, will be a monumental flop and will be boycotted around the world. That’s my hope as I share this alert with passionate animal lovers — who happen to also be consumers.
Please watch, and know that evidence has established these practices as GLOBALLY common: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_8Ko-9uKRs&feature=player_embedded
Name
Country
SAMPLE LETTER TWO
To Whom It Concerns,
I am writing to you today regarding fur farming, and after watching a compelling and disturbing video, the link to which I’ve included, you should feel encouraged to immediately discontinue your involvement in the hideous, obscene industry of fur.
Please watch, and know that evidence has established these practices as GLOBALLY common: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_8Ko-9uKRs&feature=player_embedded
Please allow me to elaborate. As is established in the included footage, these animals are given no comforts or consideration, any improvements cost-prohibitive, any laws marginal considering the gross abuse and extensive hellish conditions. As is demonstrated, they are subjected to a variety of cruelties and pain while denied companionship and comfort, their suffering both obvious and prolonged; they are incapacitated, forced to endure disease both internally and visibly, made to exist in a cesspool of conditions. When their lives have reached a concluding growth if not a premature death, in a human culmination of indecency, they are genitally electrocuted, anally electrocuted, gassed, or skinned alive, standard industry killing protocols chosen to inflict the least pelt damage.
To actually contribute to such depravity is so shameful, a waste of human ingenuity and empathy. Human animals possess compassion, but like the moral cornerstone of conscience and decency, it has decayed, eroded by egotism, greed, and self-serving purpose. Contrary to our adopted status of superiority granting ourselves permission to subject non-human animals to global exploitation and suffering, extinction of species, ruination of ecologies, and perversion of thought, all species possess an inherent right to live free from deliberate maltreatment, savagery, and death. Humans perceive the world as our stage, to manipulate parts and roles in creating a production celebrating only our species, but what we have instead written is a tragedy, complete with pain, complacency, apathy, and killing.
I hope you are willing to examine this unprincipled behaviour based on human-defined goals and determine to reject such complicity instead. This is not an ambiguous goal with intangible benefits, this is a fundamental application of justice and our ethical responsibility to extend a gesture of consideration beyond our rigid definition of necessity and validation. To intentionally cause such considerable abuse while disguising it as personal need is not an altruistic pursuit based on an overwhelming concern for humans, it is, rather and indeed, an acceptance of human failure, indifference, and insignificance. We are not made better because of our ability to enslave and kill others, we merely define it as such to justify it; instead, by failing to observe our potential to incorporate non-human animals as deserving of equitable treatments and values, we ignore our capacity to regard human animals as such, too.
Please do not confuse your commerce-inspired toleration with immunity, the victims’ pain and suffering not disposable like your ethics, at will as you design. Not many people outside the wealthy and greedy consider fur as anything other than the bloody business it represents, a cost of maliciousness for the pomposity of the few, and this global collective will voice censure of Simonetta Ravizza to condemn your actions. Indeed, as long as you capitalize on the deliberate exploitation of animals, I will promote a boycott of you and your products, resulting in both an international rejection of Simonetta Ravizza as a business complicit in the unnecessary abuse of animals. I therefore hope this letter finds you willing to consider your contribution to the violent treatment of animals and decide to instead extend compassion rather than embrace cruelty.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
NAME
ADDRESS
RELATED:
- …the rest of the animals tortured for fur
- Undercover investigation reveals horrific animal cruelty at Swedish mink farms, please help
- URGENT: Help Pass the Israeli Fur Ban, Send one sample letter
- EARTHLINGS
- What Can I Do?
Georgia may execute an innocent man, please protest!
1. Immediate, please sign:
Oppose the Death Penalty for Troy Davis
2. Please send automatic message to Governor Perdue:
Don’t let them kill Troy Davis
3. Please write to Troy Davis, he receives a lot of mail but he will reply! The address is:
Troy Anthony Davis
P.O. Box 3877 GDCP
657378 G-2-39
Jackson, GA 30233
If writing, please do not embellish envelopes or send anything other than the letter and/or postcards and photos.
From Amnesty International USA
Troy Davis faces execution for the murder of Police Officer Mark MacPhail in Georgia, despite a strong claim of innocence.
Seven out of nine witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, no murder weapon was found, and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime. The Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles has voted to deny clemency, yet Governor Perdue can still exercise leadership to ensure that his death sentence is commuted. Please urge him to demonstrate respect for fairness and justice by supporting clemency for Troy Davis.
Troy Davis has been scheduled for execution three times without ever having a hearing on evidence that he may be innocent. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Troy a long-awaited evidentiary hearing which concluded on June 24. While we await the outcome of this hearing, we must continue to let Georgia authorities know that we support full justice for Troy Davis.
For additional information and case history, please visit the Troy Anthony Davis website HERE
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Excerpt: Amnesty International Report on theCase of Troy Davis, Where is the Justice for me? A plea from Troy Davis
Where is the Justice for me? In 1989 I surrendered myself to the police for crimes I knew I was innocent of in an effort to seek justice through the court system in Savannah, Georgia USA. But like so many death penalty cases, that was not my fate and I have been denied justice. During my imprisonment I have lost more than my freedom, I lost my father and my family has suffered terribly, many times being treated as less than human and even as criminals. In the past I have had lawyers who refused my input, and would not represent me in the manner that I wanted to be represented. I have had witnesses against me threatened into making false statements to seal my death sentence and witnesses who wanted to tell the truth were vilified in court.
For the entire two years I was in jail awaiting trial I wore a handmade cross around my neck, it gave me peace and when a news reporter made a statement in the local news, “Cop-killer wears cross to court,” the cross was immediately taken as if I was unworthy to believe in God or him in me. The only time my family was allowed to enter the courtroom on my behalf was during the sentencing phase where my mother and sister had to beg for my life and the prosecutor simply said, “I was only fit for killing.” Where is the Justice for me, when the courts have refused to allow me relief when multiple witnesses have recanted their testimonies that they lied against me?
Because of the Anti-Terrorism Bill, the blatant racism and bias in the U.S. Court System, I remain on death row in spite of a compelling case of my innocence. Finally I have a private law firm trying to help save my life in the court system, but it is like no one wants to admit the system made another grave mistake. Am I to be made an example of to save face? Does anyone care about my family who has been victimized by this death sentence for over 16 years? Does anyone care that my family has the fate of knowing the time and manner by which I may be killed by the state of Georgia?
I truly understand a life has been lost and I have prayed for that family just as I pray for mine, but I am Innocent and all I ask for is a True Day in a Just Court. If I am so guilty why do the courts deny me that? The truth is that they have no real case; the truth is I am Innocent.
Where is the Justice for me?
By Troy A. Davis
Immediate, please sign:
Oppose the Death Penalty for Troy Davis
Please send automatic message to Governor Perdue:
Don’t let them kill Troy Davis
RELATED:
Death Penalty Information Organization: Executed but possibly innocent
The Huffington Post: Innocent, but Executed By Barry Scheck
The Innocence Project
Do You Know Me? I’m a Sociopath and Your Animals Are Not Safe
If you recognize her, call the Daily Mail newsdesk on 0207 938 6372
Editor’s Note: Oh, fabulous, the morally indignant are poking their righteous heads out of the holes and condemning those who “dare” verbally assault the human garbage who abused the cat. Give me a break: the victim is the cat and the cat’s family, yet when you wax offense at the people who exercise their protected speech to voice censure of the trash who harmed the cat, you do nothing but ignore the victims while supporting the abuser. Had Lola been a human, you’d be verbally roasting the abuser, too. Congratulations for endorsing speciesist, abusive behaviour, with such radical support such as yours, animal rights will never be realized.
One more point: if you are not vegan, neither your righteous bellowing nor your verbal assault are anything but pointless, hypocritical hot air. Sixty billion Lola’s are tortured and murdered annually, in despicable, obscene manners, inflicting agony, fear, and death upon innocent, sentient animals, needlessly. Don’t believe me? I know, it’s easier to ignore me than to accept the truth. Watch Meet Your Meat and EARTHLINGS. And remember that in some countries the people eat cats. And dogs.
Please click HERE for an update, the sociopathic tosspot has been identified.
Please click HERE for the most recent update. Apparently Mary Bale is a “cat lover”. Hm.
This CCTV footage captures the moment a middle-aged woman picks up a cat – and drops it into a wheelie bin.
The grey-haired woman, aged around 50, is filmed stroking tabby Lola on a wall outside a house on Brays Lane in Coventry at around 8pm on Saturday.
But she then suddenly grabs the four-year-old cat by the scruff of the neck before throwing it into a wheelie bin and slamming the lid closed. She then calmly walks away.
Terrified Lola was trapped in the bin for 15 hours before her owners Stephanie Andrews-Mann and husband Darryl finally found her the following morning.
Watch footage, if you recognize her, please call the Daily Mail newsdesk on 0207 938 6372
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Footage of the attack was captured by a CCTV camera which the couple use to monitor the front of their home.
They have now posted the video on YouTube and Facebook in a bid to track down the culprit.
Darryl, 26, a mobile phone repair man, said: ‘I’d like to know how she would feel if she was stuck in a bin for 15 hours without food or drink.
‘I came down to feed Lola on Sunday morning but couldn’t find her anywhere.
‘It was really hot day and outside and I searched nearby alleyways but suddenly heard a tiny meowing coming from the bin.
‘I looked inside and I found her in the bin, she was terrified and covered in her own mess.
‘At first I thought she’d somehow climbed inside the bin herself but when I checked the CCTV I was gobsmacked to see some woman had done in deliberately.’
Darryl lives with Stephanie, 24, a customer services worker with Ford and her eight-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, Chloe.
Stephanie said: ‘I find the entire thing sickening. I cannot believe someone would do this to an innocent family pet.
‘Lola was a rescue cat and was wary of people when we first got her.
‘She has a lovely disposition and really wouldn’t hurt a fly. This is what makes the attack on her so shocking.
‘I really want to find the woman who did this to her, she must be stopped.
The couple installed CCTV outside their home two years ago after their car was repeatedly knocked by careless drivers.
Darryl and Stephanie have put the 1.27 minute clip on YouTube in a bid to track down the woman, which has shocked internet users.
Web user Robert Fletcher commented: ‘The cat was okay, found shortly afterwards, but there’s a mass hunt to find out who the old lady is.
‘If you know the woman, get in touch with like the police.
‘Actually not the police, probably the RSPCA. Yeah them.
‘There’s obviously a massive outcry and hunt on to find the lady who did it.’
Lynsey Skinner, wrote: ‘Oh my god steph this is insane. Someone must know who she is? ‘Have you spoken to your neighbours about it? Crazy and cruel. ‘I hope you do report her and she is caught.’
The RSPCA and West Midlands Police are now investigating the incident.
A police spokeswoman said: ‘The cat was left in the bin for 15 hours but emerged unhurt.
‘The RSPCA were informed and the investigation into the incident will be led by them, as it is a matter of animal cruelty.
‘The police will support the RSPCA’s investigation and are currently collecting CCTV of the incident.’
If you recognize her, call the Daily Mail newsdesk on 0207 938 6372
Our Compass 