Our Compass

From PETA
Immediate, please demand justice for elephants HERE

PETA has acquired shocking photos from a former Ringling trainer that show frightened baby elephants at Ringling’s breeding center undergoing barbaric training methods used to make them perform in the circus.

They are cruelly bound with ropes and wrestled by several adult men to learn circus “tricks.” The baby elephants scream, cry, and struggle as they are stretched out, slammed to the ground, gouged with bullhooks, and shocked with electric prods.

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Contrary to all the assurances given by Ringling about “positive” reinforcement training, the photos tell a starkly different story. For years, baby elephants at Ringling’s breeding center have been subjected to violent training sessions that last for three to four hours a day until they learn out of fear of punishment to perform confusing “tricks.”

At Ringling, still-nursing 18- to 24-month-old baby elephants are captured rodeo-style, roped around all four legs, tethered neck-to-neck to an “anchor” elephant, and dragged from their mothers. From this point forward in their lives, every movement, every instinct, and every natural form of behavior is subjected to suppression and discipline at the whim of the trainer. Ringling restrains baby elephants with ropes or chains on a concrete floor in a barn for up to 23 hours a day to break their spirits. The babies are never allowed to play outdoors or enjoy anything that is natural or important to them. Experts condemn these practices and have said, “[E]lephants should not be used in circuses.”

Gary Jacobson, general manager for Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation, falsely testified in March 2009 in Federal District Court in the District of Columbia, “We use hot shots primarily for self-defense and protection,” yet Mr. Jacobson is seen in the photographs provided by a Ringling whistleblower using a hot shot (an electrical shock device) on a defenseless baby elephant for training purposes.

PETA is calling on parents to stop taking their kids to the circus and on Ringling’s sponsors not to support elephant abuse, but there is more that we can do. Write to USDA officials and urge them to revoke Ringling’s license and pursue criminal prosecution of Ringling’s trainers today!

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Immediate, please demand justice for elephants HERE

RELATED:
EARTHLINGS
WHAT CAN I DO?

April 2010, Broward County Animal Control: 24 hours before Angelina was to be euthanized. Literally seconds before she was to be killed, Top Paw Rescue saved her.

Who is Princess Angelina?
Angelina is a pocket pit who someone abused, neglected, mistreated, starved, and who took advantage of her love. Angelina has proven to be nothing but pure love, innocence and a divine creature. She has the saddest face yet she trusts already. When we went to pick her up from Broward County Animal Control she started wagging her little butt in excitment that she was going to be safe at last! The vet she is at being cared for is absolutly in love with with her and shocked at her condition and is thankful she has been saved!

After months of loving and nurturing care, Princess Angelina is in prime health and has been adopted into a very compassionate, loving family who adore her.

Watch her story:

Who is Top Paw Rescue, Inc.?
Top Paw Rescue, Inc., is a NO KILL, NOT-FOR-PROFIT RESCUE open since April 2009 saving canines in Broward county and parts of Miami-Dade, Florida. We care for animals in need until they are ready to be placed into permanent, loving, and forever homes. We do not believe an animal should be put to sleep just because of “anger issues” as defined by people. There are many families willing to adopt an animal that has behavioural issues and turn his/her life around. Companion animals are like people, and I have yet to hear of a case where a human was “put to sleep” because the person had a hard life and was always angry. The same goes for animals. They all deserve a chance at life and love!

Join her Facebook fan page Princess Angelina

Top Paw Rescue, Inc., on Facebook is HERE

Visit Top Paw Rescue on Cafepress to purchase Princess Angelina items.

Princess Angelina today, in robust health and very happy! Top Paw Rescue and other angels transported her 1200 miles from Florida to her new home.

RELATED: Adopt, Don’t Shop: Millions of cats and dogs are killed annually, “unwanted” and “overpopulated”. Don’t breed, don’t buy bred …
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/campaigns/index.html
http://www.petfinder.com/index.html

From BBC News

True equality will only have been achieved when women are punished as harshly as men for their misdemeanors, says Lisa Jardine in her Point of View column.

A ship carrying humanitarian aid, “manned” entirely by women, is ready to leave Lebanon on the first leg of its journey to Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. Named the Mariam (the Aramaic version of Mary), it has a multi-faith international passenger list, including doctors, lawyers and a group of American nuns.

History is full of unexpected precedents where human behaviour is concerned. Although the Mariam initiative has been dubbed by some a publicity stunt, the historian of 16th and 17th-Century Europe encounters groups of ordinary working women acting in a disorderly manner surprisingly often.

Women turn up telling off priests, berating the local fiscal authorities, leading grain and bread riots and participating in tax revolts. In England in the early 17th Century, a significant percentage of the rioters against the enclosure of common land were female.

We have vivid first-hand descriptions of some of these disturbances, and we even know what some of the female ringleaders looked like. In 1653 the judicial authorities in Alkmaar, Holland, circulated the descriptions of two women who had led a women’s riot against the local administration and its taxes, and had evaded arrest:

Griet Piet Scheer, age 36, blonde hair, thin face with blue eyes, fairly tall, lean figure, soberly dressed. Sometimes she wears black and at others she wears a blue overall with red sleeves; she acted as captain. Alit Turfvolster, who carried the flag, is also tall but somewhat stouter than the above-mentioned Griet; she tends to sniff through her nose, is of brown complexion with black hair and untidy clothes; she wears a bodice with a linen apron, and is aged 30.

Read more…

Editor’s Note: No country is safe for animals: speciesism knows no boundaries to depravity, exploitation, and suffering. In this alert we are protesting massive, ritualistic torture in Nepal, but please understand, all countries participate in some form of hideous animal sacrifice, be it for food, fur, fun, or pharma. I was verbally accosted with an ignorant, righteous statement a few weeks ago regarding a different form of ritualistic slaughter, and the indignant party exclaimed, “this does NOT happen in the US, what savages!” On the contrary, the United States has perfected torture, it’s called steak, circuses, vanity, and drugs, no industry treats animals as anything other than commodities, the animal who is skinned alive for fur, eviscerated while conscious for hamburgers, ripped tracheally for religious exemptions, and beaten to perform are ALL treated in hellish manners, please reject every manner of such. SR

1. Sign Stop the Gadhimai Massacre 2014
2. Sign Stop animal sacrifice Nepal
3. Send SAMPLE LETTER
4. Please join SAVE THE GOATS OF KHOKANA on Facebook (can only be accessed via a valid Facebook profile)

Please note: Sample letter, addresses, faxes, and phones numbers all courtesy of Stop Animal Sacrifice, feel free to visit the site for additional protest information and background.

From Care2

From Stop Animal Sacrifice Organization

BACKGROUND:

Gadhimai is the name of one of the Hindugoddesses of power, though the term usually refers to the world’s biggest animal sacrifice conducted at the Gadhimai temple area in central Terai of Nepal.

Animals are sacrificed as part of the Hindu festival, with the hope that the sacrifice will lead to the fulfillment of wishes by the goddess. It is estimated that more than 250,000 animals were killed during the period of sacrifice in 2009 while 5 million people visited Gadhimai during the festival.This centuries-old tradition is observed every five years in Gadhimai premises located in the village of Bariyapur of Bara District of Nepal near the border with India.Male domestic Asian water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)(locally called “PaaDa”) are the preferred species to offer to the goddess. Several other species including male goats(Khasi), chickens(Murgha), Pigeons(Parewa), Ducks(Batakh) and some rats(Moos), are also killed.

WHERE TO SEND YOUR LETTERS:

Complete address details below, followed by postal-only contacts; the following email grouping is from the individual email addresses listed in the complete address details, one automatic response from UCPN went to my spam, please check for verification in your email program.

Please copy/paste into your TO: and hit one carriage return:

ncparty@wlink.com.np
communistparty@hotmail.com
rppnepal@enet.com.np
tmdp64@gmail.com
ucpnm.chq@gmail.com
cpnunified@gmail.com
eon@nepembassy.org.uk
officesecretary@nepembassy.org.uk

SAMPLE LETTER, courtesy of Stop Animal Sacrifice

Dear Prime Minister & Whom It Concerns,

I would like to express my deep concern about extreme cases of animal cruelty being conducted in the name of religion in Nepal.

In Nepal, animal sacrifice is widely practiced. There are no rules of regulation; rather, the government supports blood sacrifices by providing subsidies.

Apart from regular sacrifices at Goddess temples, extreme cruelty is conducted at certain festivals including the live skinning and burning of animals, slow killings through throat slitting, killing with unsharp knives, public beheadings, et cetera.

Well-known is the annual sacrifice taking place during Kalratri, Dasain, when the priests of Taleju Temple kill waterbuffaloes throughout the night, followed by the sacrifice of 108 buffaloes by the army in the Kot courtyard during the next day.

Another is the Khokana Festival, held in August, during which a terrified goat is thrown in the Deu-pond close to the Rudrayani temple, after which the animal is torn apart whilst still alive by a group of young men.

Another is the Gadimai Festival in Bara District which is ‘celebrated’ by sacrificing around 200,000 animals. Here innocent creatures are killed en masse in an unorganised manner by devotees, which includes the public beheading of 20,000 buffaloes.

A similarly barbaric event is the Sasarimaiko Mela in Mahottari, which is held every twelve years and witnesses the killing of at least 10,000 animals.

No one can adequately explain why these practices are carried out year after year – except to say they are ‘traditional’. This however is not a valuable argument to commence these practices; Nepal, realizing the adverse effects, has abolished a number of ‘traditions’ in the past, including human sacrifice and widow burning.

I encourage you to abolish the above practices for the following reasons:

1. It hurts them – Contrary to what many believe, animals suffer tremendously before and during sacrifice. They are generally hurt during transportation, starved and dehydrated, and they are often purposely killed slowly and painfully, as it is believed that the goddess prefers slow deaths. In certain rituals animals are skinned alive, torn apart by human teeth or tortured to such an extent they die from stress and shock.

2. It hurts us – Cruelty against animals harms society as a whole; it signals and normalizes insensitivity in children who can become numb to the suffering of living beings, and it is also proven to influence certain people to commit violence on other humans.

3. It strengthens vested interests – Sacrifices generally boost the interests of those who benefit from superstition-based beliefs and rituals. As Nepal is moving ahead to become a more fully democratic, egalitarian society, it is crucial to challenge age-old beliefs which are not beneficial and drain the resources of the poor and needy.

4. It contradicts the spirit of laws – Nepal is concerned about the welfare of its precious flora and fauna, and has signed a number of international Wildlife Treaties. The cruelty displayed in these so-called traditions completely contradicts the spirit and gestures of these treaties and acts.

5. It is bad for tourism – As tourists are abhorred by such practices, the festivals will have an adverse effect on tourism, an industry which provides the country with much-needed financial returns. Those foreigners who experience or come to know the extent of sacrifice in this country leave Nepal traumatized, disgusted, and deeply saddened, rather than uplifted by its paradoxical beauty and friendliness.

I urge you to end the violent practices and help Nepal move towards a truly peaceful country, and in keeping with its international image. This can be done by introducing and enforcing a much-needed Animal Welfare Act and promoting genuine animal welfare activities across the country.

I trust that you will support these measures, which are becoming more popular by the day, globally, and thus promote non-violent cultural practices in Nepal. Until such a time, however, it will be necessary to boycott Nepal both as a tourist and via commerce as well as encourage others to participate in a boycott as well.

Yours sincerely,

NAME
ADDRESS

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COMPLETE ADDRESS DETAILS

Nepal Political Parties, Individual emails (same as above group, different sending capability):
ncparty@wlink.com.np, communistparty@hotmail.com,rppnepal@enet.com.np, tmdp64@gmail.com,
ucpnm.chq@gmail.com, cpnunified@gmail.com , eon@nepembassy.org.uk , officesecretary@nepembassy.org.uk

Nepali Congress Central Office
B.P. Smriti Bhawan, B.P.Nagar, Sanepa, Lalitpur, Nepal
Fax : ++ (977-1) 5555188
E-mail: ncparty@wlink.com.np

Communist Party of Nepal (CPN ML)
C.P Mainali
Address: Maitidevi
Email: communistparty@hotmail.com
Rastriya Prajatantra Party

Head of Party: Pashupati Sumsher Rana
Address: Chabahil
Email:rppnepal@enet.com.np

Nepal Workers and Peasants Party
Head of Party: Narayan Man Bijukche
Address: Bhaktapur
Fax No: ++(977-1) 6613207

Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik Party
Head of Party: Mahanta Thakur
Address: Baneshwor
Email: tmdp64@gmail.com
Fax No: ++(977-1) 4462383

Madhesi’s People’s Right Forum
Upendra Yadav
Address: Kupondole
Fax nr: ++ (977 -1) 5541278

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Head of Party: Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Address: Buddha Nagar
Email: ucpnm.chq@gmail.com
Fax: 01 4602289
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified)
Head of Party: Ram Singh Shris (Rajbir)
Address: DhobiKhola
Email:cpnunified@gmail.com

POSTAL
Honarable Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister, Singha Durbar
Faxes: + 977 1 227 286 or 428 570

Honarable State Minister for Foreign Affairs
Address: Maharajgunj, Kathmandu
Tel: 977-1-4416011, 4416012, 4416013, 4416014, 4416015
Fax: 977-1-4416016

Right Honarable President Dr Ram Baran Yadav
Office of the President
Sheetal Niwas, Kathmandu
Fax no ++ 977 – 1 – 4416495

Honarable Minister
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives,
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Phone: 4211706,4211950,4211981,4211898,4211841,4211648,4211961, 4211905
Fax: 977-1- 4211935, 4211839

Hon’ble Minister
Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel.: 4211992, 4211669, 4211846, 4211847, 4211711, 4211685, 4211825, 4231196, 4211909
Fax: 977 1 4211758

Honorable Minister
Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction
Singh Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Tel: +977 1 4211189, 4211090, 4211176, 4211092
Fax: +977 1 4211186 and 4211173

Ministry of Law and Justice
Address: Singha Durbar, Kathmandu
Tel: 977-1-4223727, 4224633, 4220672
Fax: 977-1-4220684

Ministry of Home Affairs
Address: Singha Durbar, Kathmandu,Nepal
Tel: 977-1-4211261, 4211212, 4211274, 4211249, 4211224
Fax: 977-1-4211264
Read more…

From Shelter Rescue

http://www.shelterrescueinc.org/id24.html

Georgia friends, many dogs are available for adoption, but these two are EXTREMELY URGENT. Please open your home if you can!

**** THERE IS A PERSON WILLING TO PAY THE PULLING FEES FOR THESE TWO! *****

Please contact:
Coweta County Animal Control
Telephone: 770-254-3735
The address: 91 Selt Road, Newnan, GA.

B-18 EXTREMELY URGENT!

• Breed:     Labrador Retriever Mix
• Sex:         Male
• Age:         Adult
• Size:        Medium
• ID:           A015304
• Vaccinated

PLEASE CONTACT COWETA COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL TO ADOPT THIS PET: 770-254-3735.  The address is 91 Selt Road, Newnan, GA.  This fella was very nice when we took him out of his kennel to get to know him.  He was very calm and easy going and tried his best to please.  He is very, very handsome and sweet as can be! Will you open your heart and home?  PLEASE HURRY!  This pet has been in the shelter since 8/5/10 and is available on 8/12/10!   NOTE:  CCAC CANNOT ADOPT ONLINE OR OVER THE PHONE.  ADOPTIONS MUST BE DONE IN PERSON.

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I-3 EXTREMELY URGENT!

• Breed:     American Pit Bull Mix
• Sex:         Female
• Age:         Young
• Size:        Medium
• ID:           A015363
• Shelter Name:
• Available to Georgia Licensed Rescue Only

PLEASE CONTACT COWETA COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL TO ADOPT THIS PET: 770-254-3735. The address is 91 Selt Road, Newnan, GA. What a sweet and pretty lady! This sweet girl was very nice when we took her out of her kennel to get to know her. She showed no signs of aggression toward people or other dogs. Due to her breed identification, this pet is available to a Georgia licensed rescue only and cannot remain in Coweta County. Please hurry! This pet has been in the shelter since 8/11/10 and is available on 8/19/10! NOTE: CCAC CANNOT ADOPT ONLINE OR OVER THE PHONE. ADOPTIONS MUST BE DONE IN PERSON.

**** THERE IS A PERSON WILLING TO PAY THE PULLING FEES FOR THESE TWO!

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Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

From An Unconventional Thought
By Vegan

I’ve gotten this question so many times it’s truly unbelievable. “Aren’t we meant to eat meat?” There are a few different responses that I give to people and they are always shocked. None of my responses should be in any way controversial; in reality, they are all facts, but people continue to look at me like I have three heads. I suppose this reaction is normal since I’m mentioning an idea that people have never heard of — kind of when we were told the truth about Santa and the Tooth fairy. At any rate, I hope this post will show you another side to this question.
To get to the answer of this question, dwelling on the past is not the answer. Many people bring up our ancestry, but since we are not living in caves, it is not relevant. While our ancestors needed to use meat for their survival, we by no means have to; in fact, quite the opposite is true. They walked places, we drive cars. They hunted, we factory farm. The times are totally different so let’s get to the point.

Currently, there are two main types of diets — animal-based and vegetarian. When we look at the hard numbers of these diets, the consensus is clear as to which one is better for our health. I could go on and on with statistics, and I will mention a few, but if you are truly interested, I encourage you to search the internet, read the china study, or talk with a dietitian – they will all confirm that there is a strong link between the consumption of meat and diseases.

As mentioned above, I will cover one or two studies just to put everything into perspective. The first covers heart disease. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in America according to the American Heart Association. One study found that people who eat meat have a 50% higher risk of developing heart disease compared to vegetarians.[i] Next, cancer rates, found in numerous studies, are also affected by the consumption of meat. One 11-year-long German study (with 800 vegetarian men), found their cancer rates were less than half those of the general public. Another study shows vegetarians having 40% the cancer rates of meat-eaters.[ii] And just to bring everything together, according to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians have “lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; … lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.[iii]” To think we thought smoking in front of our kids is bad, maybe it’s time we stop killing them with the food we give them — eating meat is the new cigarette.( and better yet, we have to note that these studies came out before our meat is genetically modified.)

Read more…

From IDA

1. Speak Out Against The Zeroing Out Of All Wild Horses From The Winter Ridge Herd Area in Utah
Take action to oppose the removal of all horses at the Winter Ridge Herd Area in Utah. This is just the latest effort of the Interior Department to remove all wild horses from lands specifically designated for their usage – while allowing livestock grazing to continue on the same lands.

1. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT COMMENTS.

2. Oppose Removal Of 321 Wild Horses From Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area InColorado
Oppose the Interior Department’s plan to remove the majority of wild horses in Colorado’s Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area. The agency will only leave 135 horses on this 190,000-acre public land area, while allowing hundreds more livestock to graze the same public land!

2. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT COMMENTS.

3. Summer Recess – Perfect Opportunity To Visit Your Senators And Representatives At Home Through September 12.
One of the best actions you can take to help wild horses and burros is to meet in-person with your Senators and Representative. Ask your members of Congress to stop the mismanagement of America’s wild horses and burros. Despite public opposition, the Interior Department continues the unsustainable practice of rounding up, removing and stockpiling wild horses in government holding facilities – this ill-conceived and unnecessary practice is bankrupting the American tax payer wasting tens of millions of tax dollars annually.

In the next eight weeks, the Interior Department plans to remove four-thousand wild horses, using helicopters to stampede them and removing them from their families and homes on public lands only to be stockpiled in government-holding facilities. Congress must step in to stop this.

Members of Congress are currently in their home districts on recess until September 12. This is a great opportunity to let your Senators and Representative know that you, their constituent, want them to take action to help America’s wild horses and to end horse slaughter.

Here’s what to do:

Call the district offices of your U.S. Representative and both U.S. Senators and:

1. Request a face-to-face meeting with both Senators and your Representative to discuss these issues (you may need to meet with one of their aides – try to meet with their chief of staff or lead aide on this issue);
2. Ask for specific dates of town hall meetings or open events that constituents can attend.

Find contact information for your elected officials click here. You’ll need to enter your zip code on that page to get your officials’ local contact info.
Learn more about the issues by reviewing briefing documents HERE.

Below are talking points for specifics on what to say to schedule your in-person meeting.

TALKING POINTS FOR MEETING WITH YOUR FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES

1. Call the local offices to schedule a meeting.

Here’s a suggestion for what to say:

“Hello, I am a constituent of ____ and I would like to set up a meeting with him/her while he/she is home in our district to talk about wild horse protection issues. I’m also wondering if he/she has any town hall meetings coming up that I can let others know about.”

2. For your meeting, dress professionally, be friendly and polite. Here are some suggestions of what you can say to begin the meeting:

“Thank you for meeting with me. I am very concerned about our federal wild horse management program. Public opposition to the Interior Department’s massive wild horse roundups is growing. The roundups are unnecessary, inhumane and wasting tens of millions of tax dollars.

For the first time, we now warehouse more wild horses in government holding facilities (38,000+) than are left free on the range (less than 33,000). This stockpiling of horses costs taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually. Even Interior Secretary Salazar acknowledges the program is unsustainable, yet BLM roundups continue with over 12,000 to be removed from the range this year alone. They have no solution to stop this broken cycle.

The problem is not overpopulation. Fewer than 33,000 horses live on 26 million acres of BLM-managed public land. The problem is inequitable distribution of resources within the small percentage of BLM lands that are designated as wild horse and burro areas. The majority of resources are allocated to privately-held livestock, not federally-protected wild horses.

The BLM has demonstrated repeatedly that it is not capable of reforming itself. It’s up to Congress to reform this broken federal program.”

3. Ask your Senators and Congresspersons to take the following actions:

1) Join the 56 House members who have called for a halt to roundups by sending a sign-on letter to Secretary Salazar.
2) Ensure Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations language that:

• Suspends wild horse and burro roundups in all but verifiable emergency situations;
• Prohibits the use of any funds to euthanize healthy horses or sell horses directly or indirectly for slaughter;
• Authorizes a National Academy of Sciences reevaluation of Appropriate Management Levels including analysis of resource allocation for livestock and other commercial uses;
• Phases out long-term holding and shifts BLM resources toward managing horses on the rangein a humane and minimally intrusive manner as Congress intended;
• Rejects request for $42.5 million government “preserve;”
• Funds public/private partnership solutions.

3) Co-sponsor the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act (H.R. 503/S. 727) to ban horse slaughter.

No different from a cat or dog ...

Editor’s Note:
I would submit that the one with behavioural issues is the tosspot who gave away a pig because she thought he was not “friendly”.

I suspect not many in her presence ARE friendly, and while she laments indignantly, the ONLY one whose life was ruined was the, um, pig’s, who LOST his life.

In any case, next time we’ll make certain to surrender the wife to a shelter instead and laugh over the “stupid” lady when someone eats her.

Here’s to also hoping Ivan Rogers never gets a job with a child daycare center.

SR

From The Huffington Post
By Colin Sterling

Jim Crosby, the director of Bay County Animal Control in Florida, has resigned following an investigation that determined he had “condoned” the actions of employee Ivan Rogers, who, on June 17 took home a pig in the facility’s care nicknamed “Fluffy,” butchered, cooked, and ate it.

Surprisingly, Ivan Rogers remains employed by the animal shelter, indicating that the overseeing agency was more concerned with the organizational issues that allowed the incident to happen than the actual slaughter and consumption of an animal in their care. Local news station WJHG reports:

County officials released new information Thursday that was uncovered by an investigation launched by Mark Bowen, the Director of Bay County Emergency Services.

“I found that management [Jim Rogers] condoned what occurred at a certain level in the organization. When that happens it does not take the responsibility from the employee that engaged in the act, but obviously it changes the dynamic of what the corrective action needs to be,” said Bowen.

County Commissioner George Gainer went so far as to say that “the pig didn’t cause Mr. Crosby’s untimely resignation,” but was just the last straw in a series of institutional disagreements with Mark Bowen, the director of Bay County’s Emergency Services.

Rogers, who wrote in a written statement that he “failed to practice proper procedure” and “deeply regret(s)” the slaughter, received only a “very, very strong” reprimand.

Read more…

RELATED, PLEASE TAKE ACTION:

• US Friends, please send automatic message to Stop the Trade in Bear Parts
• South Korean government is considering phasing out bear farming, please help

FROM BUSH WARRIORS: STOP POACHING AND BUSHMEAT

Imagine waking up day after day inside a cage so small that you cannot stand up in it, or even sit down or crouch on all fours.  You wake up and eliminate your wastes, which you inevitably end up wallowing in all day as it covers your body and eventually dries into a crusty mess.  You look to your left and see others just like you lined up in cage after cage. You look to your right and you see someone advancing toward you with a long, slender tube in one hand and a syringe with a long needle in the other.  You know they are coming for you, just like they did last time.  You know what they are about to do to your body, but you’re unable to escape your imprisonment to flee the pain they will inflict.  You do not understand why they are doing this, but they do.  They are using your body organs to make money.

This is the life that perhaps as many as 13,000 Asiatic Black Bears (also called Moon Bears because of their half-circle chest blaze) endure on a life-long basis in Asian countries like China and Vietnam. Bear farms there are holding these animals captive with only one purpose: to harvest the bear’s bile. This lucrative business sees some of the most inhumane treatment of these majestic creatures, all for a virtually ineffective substance used in traditional Chinese medicine.

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The conditions under which these bears are kept are beyond horrifying. Most are kept in cages barely big enough for the bear’s body. They are not allowed to roam freely. They are confined to the cages for life, which can be as long as 25 years! However, most of these bears do not last that long, succumbing to bacterial infections caused by the extractions and even starvation and disease. To avoid injury during the extraction process, many of the bears’ teeth are pulled out or broken off. The same is done to the animals’ claws, even entire digits may be painfully removed…

TO READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY, PLEASE VISIT: BUSH WARRIORS: STOP POACHING AND BUSHMEAT, The Horror Behind Bear Bile Farming

RELATED:

• US Friends, please send automatic message to Stop the Trade in Bear Parts

• South Korean government is considering phasing out bear farming, please help

• Please sign STOP THIS BARBARIC ABUSE OF DOGS, NOW!
• Send an email using your own words or SAMPLE MESSAGE

From PETA
For almost 30 years, Ohio State University (OSU) experimenter George Billman has used taxpayer dollars to cut dogs open and induce heart attacks in them. He inserts a cuff around an artery, sews the dogs back up, then forces the dogs to run on a treadmill. He then tightens the cuff to block blood flow to the heart, causing a heart attack.

His conclusion—that exercise strengthens the heart—has been common knowledge for decades. Of 768 dogs used by Billman, a staggering 256 of them died—either on the operating table or in the days following the surgery—before he could even test his “hypothesis.”

PETA reviewed the records for 10 dogs recently used by Billman and found evidence that the animals suffered immensely. Dog #3017—a brown hound dog with a white face—was operated on and forced to endure three heart attacks in Billman’s laboratory. Two days after her third heart attack, she died in her cement and steel cage—alone and in pain.

Please send a personal e-mail to OSU’s assistant vice president for research communications,  Earle Holland, and respectfully urge him to stop these cruel and deadly experiments on dogs. Also, send Holland a message through his Facebook page by clicking on the “Send Earle Holland a Message” link, and call his office at 614-292-8384 to make sure that your voice is heard.

WHERE TO SEND YOUR EMAIL:

holland.8@osu.edu

SAMPLE EMAIL (courtesy of PETA):

Subject:
Please Stop Cruel Heart Attack Experiments on Dogs

Body:
I was horrified to learn that Ohio State University has been conducting invasive experiments on dogs in which the animals are cut open, have cuffs inserted around an artery, and are then forced to run on a treadmill until they have heart attacks.

It’s also shocking that these experiments have been happening for almost 30 years in an effort to conclude that exercise strengthens the heart—something that has been common knowledge for decades.

I urge you to put an end to these cruel experiments immediately.

NAME

Editor’s Note/Update

I received the following message as a response to the email I sent this afternoon, I suspect everyone else has, too:

• On 8/19/10 5:14 PM, Earle Holland wrote: PETA has once again decided to use inaccurate information and claims to condemn Ohio State University research as a means to stimulate its own fund-raising. We have repeatedly tried to correct the misconception that PETA continues to promulgate. Accurate information about the research in question has been posted on the web for years and interested individuals are advised to review it for their own education. That information can be found at http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/billmannew.htm.

So I went to that site. A glance at the provided tome of self-gratification does nothing but identify Mr. Billman as the monster that he is, I fail to understand the legitimacy of his actions based on those speciesist, self-serving points. Does he walk on water in his mind? Because that list that does nothing but exemplify the sham that vivisection is: can we all rise up to give Mr. Billman a hand for pursuing such a noble, self-absorbed “profession” ? Honestly, if they were not so depraved, the banal excuses meant to promote social approval would be laughable: it’s culturally rewarding to “altruistically” sacrifice one’s life for the betterment of mankind, thank you for being such a beacon in these ill dark times. Oh, wait, those points only serve to deflect attention from the savagery inflicted on animals; your use of glorified, heroic rhetoric meant to incite metaphorical applause from the “stupid masses” really only demonstrates pathetically-inadequate rationale.

Cardiac disease? The FACT is that cardiac disease would be substantially reduced in the absence of animal flesh consumption; numerous cancers have been proven to be linked to diets that include animal flesh and secretions, don’t PREACH about the importance of CARDIAC research when we ALL KNOW that DIET and bad habits, including alcohol and smoking, are what CAUSE CARDIAC DISEASE.  Admit it, this nation in particular is FAT on FLESH and is diseased because of it. Rather than dolly about maiming and murdering animals who have NOTHING to do with your obsession and self-love, you should behave ETHICALLY, ENVIRONMENTALLY, and MORALLY by LEAVING ANIMALS ALONE and instead endorsing PREVENTION: now THAT would strengthen the heart.

Oh, but prevention is neither as financially nor sadistically satisfying, is it? What would be the fun in playing God if you couldn’t KILL while making money?

I have no prejudices against obese people. I have a problem, however, with people who deliberately, complicity gorge on animal flesh knowing the depravity involved and then who turn to charlatans who continue to kill animals trying to cure such!

And another point: “only 30 dogs are used annually”.  USED.  Exactly!  In other words, 30 are unnecessarily mutilated, subjected to pain and misery, and then murdered, and to attempt validation using an ONLY qualifier is SUCH an outlandishly malignant assertion that words almost fail me. Almost.  Imagine if ONLY 30 people are killed in a traffic accident as the result of a drunk driver, and your entire family was included, how would you feel to such unnecessary death?  Would it be fine for the defense to say, “well, it was ONLY 30 people…”

Each year in the United States, two million people fall victim to unanticipated severe reactions as the result of medications that were previously determined to be SAFE as the result of testing on animals. Those two million people react with pain, debilitation, and death.

But, hey, it only happens to two million people.

Oh, and I never gave PETA any money.

What an utter tosspot.

SR

RELATED:

• EARTHLINGS
• 2010 Humane Student & Educator Awarded at National Animal Conference in DC & CRITICAL ALTERNATIVES
• Directive on Vivisection: the European Shame
• University of Wisconsin Cited for Animal Welfare Violations
• Pharmaceutical Roulette