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 note: Our Compass had an alert about the event, but it occurred nonetheless. The following is what is happening currently.
Press Release | Source SHARK
Riverdale, CA – The Riverdale Rodeo is under fire from animal protection group SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) for its “Barnyard Scramble” event. The event is where a large group of children chase animals including chickens, goats, pigs and rabbits for a competition. In a SHARK investigation at the May 5, 2013 rodeo, the terrified animals can be seen being dropped, kicked, held by their wings and roughly handled. The event can easily result in many serious injuries to the animals.
SHARK is demanding local officials ban the “Barnyard Scramble” and is calling on the local Animal Control to investigate the rodeo for animal abuses. SHARK president Steve Hindi stated, “It is shocking that children are being taught to abuse and dominate animals in this way. The animals are clearly mistreated.” Throughout the video animals are shown being thrown to the ground, baby ducks being picked up by their delicate wings, chickens being kicked and goats and pigs being roughly handled. The animals run terrified around the ring trying to escape their ordeal. Any animals the children catch they keep dooming them to an unknown fate.
Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns stated, “This “Barnyard Scramble” is a reign of terror, orchestrated by adults, on helpless, frightened and bewildered chickens, ducks, goats and pigs by children who are being used by their parents to act out behaviors the children do not understand. The “scramble” comprises both child abuse and animal abuse. Children are always abused whenever they are taught and, as in this situation, basically forced by the adults they are dependent on, to enjoy tormenting animals and to fear being ridiculed if they refuse or are scared to participate in such a heartless, moronic, and injurious activity that defiles a child’s natural empathy for animals.”
SHARK investigates cases of animal abuse at rodeos around the country. The illegal electro-shocking of horses at the Riverdale rodeo was also captured on tape along with other animal injuries. Video footage of these incidents will be released at a later date.
Read more…
MeatVideo: Free Vegan Starter Kits
US Friends, please order a free vegan kit HERE
Non US Friends, please download free PDF HERE or see below
Vegetarian (Vegan) Starter Kit: Mercy For Animals
All friends, please click HERE for free vegan starter kit, or see below
Guide To Cruelty-Free Eating: Vegan Outreach
Read more…
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND
The town of North Hempstead , New York , located on Long Island, announced its hiring USDA “Wildlife Services” agents to annihilate hundreds of Canada geese and newly born goslings in town parks and likely plans to gas the geese to death in an intolerant, misguided assault. NY Newsday reports on the town’s disastrous plan to spend $8,602.71 in tax dollars for the kill plan, in addition to $6 per goose to process the slaughtered geese who they absurdly claim will go to food banks.
North Hempstead Parks and Recreation officials complain that droppings from the geese are a nuisance—yet there is no mention of the town utilizing machines available for commercial use which quickly and effectively remove goose droppings from grassy areas and parks. How can the town leadership ignore such an obvious solution in favor of a mass slaughter?
Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Council Members who ordered the killing need a different mindset, and a plan to clean up goose droppings in fields and parks. Officials must make it a policy to clean up waste matter instead of saying all geese within town limits must die. Posting signs and enforcing no-feeding and littering rules are also sensible steps.
The town claims they’ve tried everything to “scare off” the geese, and that nothing worked.” Friends of Animals could have predicted that. Harassing geese from areas won’t work if flat, grassy areas remain unchanged. Geese will move in when others leave, occupying those areas for nesting, especially in the summer.
Habitat and landscape modifications are environmentally sound, long-term ways to deter geese from areas where they are seen as problematic — clearly what’s needed in North Hempstead . Co-existence with geese and other wildlife neighbors is required as a part of evolved suburban living. Are Supervisor Jon Kaimin and Town Council Members prepared to spend the residents’ taxes each year to kill geese instead of implementing the effective strategies Friends of Animals endorses?
Geese are attracted to areas with short, mowed grass and open sight lines as safe nesting areas. Growing grass longer in areas, planting native shrubs and trees to block sight lines (geese like to watch for predators), will deter geese from ponds, shores and parkland — reducing the time they spend in any one spot — especially for the 6 week period in summer when they’re molting.
Friends of Animals produces a Canada Goose Habitat Modification Manual detailing this process, and plans to meet with North Hempstead officials to present them with the manual. We’ll urge them to implement the changes and spare the geese.
The towns of Mamaroneck and Scarsdale , in Westchester , NY recently cancelled their plans to kill Canada geese in park areas after feedback and meetings from Friends of Animals and from outraged residents opposed to the killing— North Hempstead can and should do the same.
Note: the NY Newsday article has a poll – please vote yes here that the town’s plan is inhumane: http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/is-the-town-s-plan-inhumane-1.5244371
You can also post to the town’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/townofnorthhempstead
PETITION
Please click HERE to sign petition
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email Block
kaimanj@northhempsteadny.gov ; grossl@northhempsteadny.gov ; tax@northhempsteadny.gov ; russellv@northhempsteadny.gov ; dwyert@northhempsteadny.gov ; ferraraa@northhempsteadny.gov ; kaplana@northhempsteadny.gov ; seemanl@northhempsteadny.gov ; degiorgiod@northhempsteadny.gov
Individual
Supervisor
Hon. Jon Kaiman
516.869.6311
kaimanj@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Clerk
Hon. Leslie Gross
516.869.6311
grossl@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Receiver
of Taxes
Hon. Charles Berman
516.869-6311
tax@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Board
Councilperson District 1
Hon. Viviana L. Russell
516.869.7701
russellv@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Board
Councilperson District 2
Hon. Thomas K. Dwyer
516.869.7702
dwyert@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Board
Councilperson District 3
Hon. Angelo P. Ferrara
516.869.7703
ferraraa@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Board
Councilperson District 4
Hon. Anna M. Kaplan
516.869.7704
kaplana@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Board
Councilperson District 5
Hon. Lee Seeman
516.869-7705
seemanl@northhempsteadny.gov
Town Board
Councilperson District 6
Hon. Dina M. DeGiorgio
516.869.7706
degiorgiod@northhempsteadny.gov
Please attend the Tuesday, May 14th North Hempstead Town Board Meeting to speak out against this plan during the public comment period of the meeting:
Tuesday 5/14/13 at 7:30 PM
North Hempstead Town Hall
220 Plandome Road
Manhasset , NY 11030
Call: 516.869.6311
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorables Kaiman, Gross, Berman, Russell, Dwyer, Ferrara, Kaplan, Seeman, and DeGiorgio:
I am extremely alarmed to learn of North Hempstead’s decision to cruelly massacre geese who reside in park areas via USDA agents. I respectfully request suspension of this violent strategy.
Please allow me to elaborate. First, killing geese does nothing to modify landscapes and waterways that attract them in the first place. I encourage officials to work with avian experts on population stabilization and site aversion.
Second, sweeping eradication does not reduce long-term growth. Killing geese artificially increases food supplies to the remaining geese, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal eradication is responsible for a rebound, or larger gaggle populations, in subsequent years.
Third, using such barbaric strategies in such a visible location will most certainly affect visitation: agents typically enter the pond area during early morning, roughly separating goslings from parents, and then stuff the bound, panicked geese and babies into crates. Next, the geese are gassed or shot to death. In fact, although I do not currently reside in North Hempstead, I would be unwilling to consider it, or a nearby location, for tourist purposes if this cull ensues.
Please practice compassion and integrity: let the geese live and institute responsible policies that promote respect and tolerance of wildlife, and commit to habitat/landscape modification as outlined in Friends of Animals’ Canada Goose Habitat Modification Manual, http://friendsofanimals.org/sites/default/files/Goose%20Habitat.pdf, in addition to instituting a formal clean-up plan for goose droppings in parks.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this urgent appeal.
NAME
Mothers Scream for Babies
Background | Source PETA
Right this very moment, mothers are having their babies taken away from them just days after their infants are born.
The kidnapped babies will be sold to a violent, bloody industry, and after just a couple of weeks, they’ll be shipped to slaughter and have their throats slit!
This is how animals used for the dairy and veal industries will spend their Mother’s Day.
Let everyone know that every time they consume dairy products, they’re supporting an industry that steals babies from their moms and tortures them.Give these moms the ultimate Mother’s Day gift by spreading the word.
Watch and share this video on Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.
Click HERE to learn how to go vegan.
Read more…
Petitions, please take action
1. Please click HERE to stop horses tortured for fun
2. Please click HERE to help put an end to dog fighting in trunks
3. Please click HERE to ask Gordon Ramsay to ditch diseased duck livers
4. Please sign HERE to stop the Rotten Egg Bill
5. Please click HERE to urge Marriott to drop down
6. Please click HERE to stop the sea otter slaughter
1. Background | Source Avaaz
The pain and suffering inflicted on the horses is immense. The fact that this is a “public event” witnessed by all, including children is very harmful to all. THIS EVENT TEACHES THAT VIOLENCE AND CRUELTY IS FUN.
They call it a feast. In the state of Yucatan, Mexico there is a “rodeo” type event called “Torneo de Lazo” where bulls ram horses and eviscerate them. THIS CAUSES A VERY HIGH LEVEL OF PAIN TO THE HORSES. These horses usually collapse and while still alive continue to get trampled by bulls and other horses during the length of this violent and cruel event where horsemen try to lasso the running, charging bulls (the bulls are specifically bred and trained to ram horses).
Although it is against the law, this is only in name. Mexico’s federal government as well as the local authorities do nothing to stop this. This event takes place state wide all year round.
Please demand the Mexican government to put and end to this barbaric event.
2. Background | Source Force Change
Target: Florida Governor Rick Scott
Goal: Investigate and raise awareness about the shocking new fad that forces dogs to fight in the trunk of a moving car.
A new kind of dog fighting using cars is gaining popularity in Florida. “Trunking” involves placing two dogs in the trunk of a car, playing loud music to aggravate them, and driving around for about fifteen minutes. The dog that is either dead or the most injured by the end is then thrown away. Police in the southern part of the state have seen an increase in these cases in recent months and something must be done immediately to stop it.
The practice has largely come about in urban and more residential areas where space is limited. Trunking does not require a ring or a yard, nor does it require a basement, which most Florida residents are without, to provide discretion. It can be done anywhere at anytime.
Perhaps the worst case of trunking so far was recently uncovered in Miami-Dade County. Five pit bulls and four puppies were discovered at a residence in the Goulds neighborhood after animal services received an anonymous tip. In the back of the home cages were covered in urine and feces. The dogs exhibited clear signs of fighting and are currently being treated for open wounds and broken bones. The face of oldest dog of the group, Max, is obscured by cuts and scars.
The case is currently ongoing and once the owner of the dogs is found, he or she will likely receive third-degree felony charges. It is bad enough that dog fighting has proliferated as much as it has over the past decade, but we cannot allow it to grow and expand into other forms of abuse. Something must be done to stop this now. Please sign the petition below to ensure that trunking does not become a common practice across the country.
3. Background | Source PETA
It calls itself the “premier producer of foie gras in America.” But, in 2013, a PETA investigator visited Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFG), a factory farm, and saw workers shove steel tubes down ducks’ throats and pump huge amounts of grain into them. The investigator recorded HVFG’s manager stating that this is done three times a day, every day, for weeks.
The birds’ livers become diseased and swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Fatty duck livers from HVFG are served at Gordon Ramsay at the London, a New York City restaurant licensed by Chef Ramsay.
Not surprisingly, experts opine that force-feeding causes ducks painful injuries, including, according to world-renowned avian welfare expert Dr. Ian Duncan, tearing of the esophagus. Dr. Duncan writes, “[T]he regular insertion of a feeding tube down the esophagus several times a day will inevitably lead to damage of the esophagus. When the esophagus becomes damaged, then the painfulness of every force-feeding episode will be exacerbated.”
Veterinarian Holly Cheever, who has studied force-feeding’s effects on ducks, explains, “Due to the enormous size of the livers … the birds have no room for their air sacs to fill with oxygen, and therefore all birds in the last 10-14 days of [force-feeding] show respiratory distress … analogous to feeling as if one is smothering for that entire length of time” [emphasis added].
HVFG condemns ducks to huge, dark sheds, where there is no water for them to bathe or swim in or eat from. They are denied any opportunity to live naturally like ducks.
After weeks of being force-fed, the ducks are hung upside down and their throats are slit. Many ducks sent to slaughter by the cruel foie gras industry are still conscious as their throats are cut and they bleed to death.
4. Background | Source Stop the Rotten Egg Bill
We, the undersigned, urge our representatives in Congress to strongly oppose H.R. 1731/S. 820 the United Egg Producers’ (UEP) proposed amendments to the “Egg Products Inspection Act” that would:
Nullify existing state laws that ban or restrict battery cages.
Deprive voters of the right and ability to pass ballot measures banning cages.
Deny state legislatures the ability to enact laws preventing cruelty to laying hens.
This egg industry legislation is rotten to its core. It would establish egg factory cages as a national standard that could never be challenged or changed by state law or public vote. It would take away states’ and citizens’ rights. And it would keep hens locked in cages throughout the United States.
5. Background | Source PETA
To produce down pillows, comforters, or jackets, birds are often pinned down as hurried workers yank fistfuls of feathers from the birds’ sensitive bodies while they are still alive, often plucking them so violently that they rip open the birds’ delicate skin before sewing up the gaping wounds using a needle and thread, without any painkillers.
Many also use the feathers of ducks and geese who are force-fed for foie gras. Birds raised for this cruel foodstuff have tubes rammed down their throats and their stomachs pumped so full of corn mush that their livers swell to as much as 10 times their normal size, which is very painful.
Please join us in asking Marriott to drop down.
6. Background | Source Center for Biological Diversity
Through important protections, Alaska’s curious and charming sea otters are finally on the path to recovery after being pushed to the brink of extinction after over-hunting. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Alaska Native hunters alone are allowed to kill sea otters — and they can only do so to create “authentic native handicrafts.”
Unfortunately those protections could be weakened if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collapses under the greedy pressures of the commercial fishing industry — rules may be expanded to include nearly unaltered sea otter pelts under the “handicrafts” definition.
Sea otters play an important role in Alaska’s coastal ecosystems by encouraging the growth of kelp beds, which serve as nurseries for fish and create important carbon dioxide sinks. But sea otters also eat some species that are targeted by commercial fishers, which is why the fishing industry is pushing to control sea otter populations.
Sea otter populations in some parts of Alaska appear to be increasing — though there are still nowhere near as many of the animals as there used to be — but otters in southwest Alaska are not recovering. They’ve been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Service’s new rule doesn’t have this distinction; it would apply to all sea otters — even those listed as threatened.
Please take action now to tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Alaska’s sea otters.
Read more…
Second Appeal: Ban Live Export to Egypt
Warning: Graphic Images
Click HERE if you live in Australia
Click HERE if you do not live in Australia
Background | Source Animals Australia
Terrified animals making desperate efforts to escape after having their throats cut open; others with eyes stabbed; leg tendons slashed; and being butchered while still alive… This is the nightmare endured by animals who were exported live from Australia to Egypt. If it weren’t for the brave actions of one Egyptian vet who alerted Animals Australia, this cruelty may have gone completely unchallenged.
Tragically this systemic abuse occurred under the close watch of Australia’s live export industry — inside the ‘closed-loop’ facilities of Sokhna and Ismailia. These two locations represent the entire Egyptian live export supply chain and has been lauded by industry as ‘state of the art’. But when Animals Australia revealed that we had obtained footage from inside these facilities, the industry immediately and loudly announced a temporary trade suspension. Yet just days later, live exporters are already making moves to re-open the live export trade to Egypt — and send more animals to be killed in these same abattoirs. We cannot let this happen.
Animals shouldn’t have to pay the price for the fact that the live export trade cannot be trusted to protect them from extreme cruelty. Please take urgent action to demand that animals never again be sent to these cruel destinations, and tell our political leaders to end the cruelty of live export, forever.
Use Sample Letter
Like most Australians I’m sick of the ongoing cruelty of live export. It is now abundantly clear that this trade can never be made humane. Every day that it is allowed to continue is another day of suffering for the animals in this industry.
I urge you to listen to the will of the Australian public and end live animal export. Such a decision by you would be widely applauded – and could not come too soon.
Read more…
Wikimedia Commons
Background | Source Earth First! Newswire
By Phyllis M. Daugherty
Sonora has become the first Mexican state to ban bullfighting, recently passing the long-awaited Animal Protection Law addressing cruelty to animals.
In a statement on Formato 21 radio, Perez Rubio hailed the unanimous vote on May 2 by the legislature of Mexico’s northwestern border state.
“It has caused quite a stir because we are the first state of the republic to pass this law. I really didn’t expect–I say this with all the honesty in the world–I didn’t expect the repercussion this would have, nationally and internationally,” said local lawmaker of the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, or PVEM, Vernon Perez Rubio, the Global Post reports.
His party explained in a media release that the law “not only bans bullfighting” but “also protects other domestic animals.”
The PVEM said the new law in Sonora puts them “a step closer to achieving one of the goals the Green Party has fought for, which is the prohibition of bullfighting nationwide.” The party states that “clearly more than 70 percent of Mexicans are against the continuation” of bullfights in the country, on the basis of several public opinion polls.
In Sonora, citizens’ demand for an end to bullfighting began two years ago, when a crowd of 18,200 came out before a bullfight was to start to ask that the spectacle by banned, Perez Rubio said.
Unfortunately, the law does not include the very popular spectacle of cockfighting, local legislative officials said Saturday. Rubio explained, “I’m against cockfighting. However, if we included a discussion on that subject, the law would never have passed.”
“Now with the law in place, it’s very easy to launch a movement to end cockfighting if that’s what people want,” Perez Rubio said.
New Jersey Friends, Your Voice Is Needed
The League of Humane Voters
BACKGROUND | LEAGUE OF HUMANE VOTERS NJ
S2369, sponsored by Senator Raymond Lesniak, (D-20), is especially important legislation. Bear Smart legislation corrects the state’s signal failure to organize, implement, and enforce non-lethal solutions preferred by 74% of New Jersey voters.
We all know the terrible cruelty, and sadness, of New Jersey’s now annual bear hunt, or bait and shoot. Hunters bait mothers and cubs with pastries and other foods, using trail cameras to monitor the bears’ every movement. The bloodied bodies of cubs, mere babies, and their mothers hauled in to the weigh stations have become a news staple during the week-long December kills. The tragedy is that the killing is utterly unnecessary.
Human-derived foods, be they unsecured trash or bait for bear and deer, condition bears to associate food with humans and lead to the very conflicts the state hunting agency claims baiting and hunting alleviate.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please contact your legislator today. Find your legislator HERE.
SAMPLE COMMENT
Dear Senator,
Please co-sponsor Senator Raymond Lesniak’s Bear Smart legislation (S2369) to require bear-resistant trash containers and disallow baiting in bear habitat. Please remember that 74% of New Jersey voters, in all geographic regions, prefer non-lethal solutions.
S2369 is especially important legislation. Bear Smart legislation corrects the state’s signal failure to organize, implement, and enforce non-lethal solutions preferred by 74% of New Jersey voters.
We all know the terrible cruelty, and sadness, of New Jersey’s now annual bear hunt, or bait and shoot. Hunters bait mothers and cubs with pastries and other foods, using trail cameras to monitor the bears’ every movement. The bloodied bodies of cubs, mere babies, and their mothers hauled in to the weigh stations have become a news staple during the week-long December kills. The tragedy is that the killing is utterly unnecessary.
Human-derived foods, be they unsecured trash or bait for bear and deer, condition bears to associate food with humans and lead to the very conflicts the state hunting agency claims baiting and hunting alleviate.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this urgent appeal.
NAME
Read more…
Cat makes 8-mile trek home after being lost by family displaced due to Hurricane Sandy six months ago
WCAU NBC News
Source Animal Connection , Daily Mail
A cat (who) went missing after Hurricane Sandy reappeared at his owner’s home last week.
Looking as sleek and unassuming as he did the day he left six months ago, Porsche showed up at the door of his owners’ New Jersey shore home Wednesday as if he’d never left.
‘It’s a miracle,’ she said Uranie Roberts.
The Toms River, New Jersey woman had long given up on her cat ever returning. And not just because so much time had passed.
Roberts and her daughter Carol Baumann live in the Chadwick Beach Island section of town, an area that was brutally lashed by the October 2012 storm.
The women were forced to evacuate by boat and stayed, temporarily, with family 8 miles inland.
While still staying with family, the cat went missing.
‘He got out of the house and that was the last we saw of him,’ Baumann told WCAU.
When they were finally allowed to return to their home, they would do so without the company of Porsche.
Six months passed.Neither Baumann nor Roberts believed they’d ever see their dear pet again.
But on Wednesday, Baumann heard a familiar sound from the back deck of their home.
The sight that greeted her as she approached the door was familiar, too.
‘I saw the green eyes and I said, “My God in heaven, it’s Porsche!”’ said Baumann.
After half a year and across miles of storm-ravaged coast–and even across a bridge–Porsche made his way back home.
And the happy mother and daughter say he doesn’t look like the trip fazed him at all.
‘You could see he was eating,’ Roberts said. ‘His fur is sleek and soft.’
The two aren’t sure how Porsche made it back, but they don’t really care, anyway.
‘It’s just amazing how he found his way home,’ said Baumann. ‘I wish he could talk.
‘It’s wonderful, I missed him so bad.’
Stop Capture & Slaughter of Wild Buffalo
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
Please click HERE to sign and send letter, or send individually below
Background | Source Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone National Park officials and other Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) entities are aiming to kill hundreds of wild buffalo this winter through hunting, slaughter, or both. Over 200 wild buffalo have already been killed in state and treaty hunts, yet Yellowstone intends for hundreds more of America’s last wild buffalo to be permanently removed from the population. When buffalo are captured within Yellowstone National Park’s Stephens Creek bison trap, they will suffer captivity, sorting and separation from their families, horrors of being tested and handled by humans, and transport to USDA-APHIS-run research prisons and slaughter facilities.
Yellowstone says they want to “even the sex ratio” of wild buffalo, stating that a “skewed sex ratio” has resulted from years of capture and slaughter operations. Now in response to these earlier crimes against buffalo, Yellowstone plans to kill more cow than bull buffalo, some of them just weeks away from giving birth. In other words, the government is saying they will slaughter more buffalo to mitigate the impact of slaughtering so many buffalo. Talk about playing God in Yellowstone.
Up to sixty-three young buffalo would be handed over to USDA-APHIS for use in their experiments with GonaCon, a chemical pesticide birth control. APHIS claims this research is about brucellosis, but in reality, it is a population control experiment.
Yellowstone National Park threatens the buffalo’s immediate survival and evolutionary potential and are are absolutely contrary to their mission to preserve and protect plant and animal species unimpaired for present and future generations. The wild bison of the Yellowstone ecosystem are America’s last continuously wild herds and number fewer than 4,200. Wild bison are ecologically extinct throughout their native range.
TAKE ACTION
Using the sample letter HERE, or in your own words, tell Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk that you absolutely oppose any capture or slaughter of wild buffalo, and that you oppose them handing wild buffalo over to USDA-APHIS for birth control or any other experiments. Yellowstone is mandated by law to protect wild bison, not cater to Montana’s cattle politics, which are driving these unjust and unnecessary actions against the gentle giants. Tell Superintendent Wenk to stop being a puppet for Montana livestock interests, pull out of the draconian Interagency Bison Management Plan, and to stand up for the wildlife that the American people have placed in Yellowstone’s care. Wild bison are a natural, national treasure, the prehistoric and rightful roamers of North America, and we will not stand by and allow Yellowstone or Montana’s cattle industry to jeopardize their future for any reason.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Alternately to using this sample letter, you can contact Superintendent Wenk directly at:
Daniel Wenk, Superintendent
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190-0168
(307) 344-2002 phone
(307) 344-2014 fax
Dan_Wenk@nps.gov
SUBJECT
Protect Wild Buffalo! No Capture!
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Superintendent Wenk,
I am aware of your continued plans to capture, kill or transport to research facilities our wild buffalo, and want you to know that I am strongly opposed to this.
It makes no sense for Yellowstone to undertake the killing of wild buffalo for any reason, and even less sense for you do take these action to further trouble their sex ratio that you feel should be even. This is totally unnatural, and since your past actions have caused such harm, the best thing you can do for wild bison is to leave them alone. Your actions are continuously placing wild bison in dire straights.
Nowhere in nature do even sex ratios occur. You cannot justify or defend taking such action against wild buffalo.
Further, I have written to you repeatedly about my opposition to handing over wild buffalo to USDA-APHIS for their birth control experiments and I state again that, as a tax paying citizen and lover of Yellowstone, implore you to cease such plans. You are setting a very dangerous precedent here and you are going against the nature of the National Park Service.
I am appalled by your actions towards wild buffalo and urge you make an about face. Stop bending over backwards for livestock interests and champion wild bison as you are meant to do. You will never be able to do enough harm to wild buffalo that the livestock industry will quietly go away. They will always want more killing and more mismanagement of wild buffalo, and you need to take a stand and tell them no.
You can pull out of the Interagency Bison Management Plan and end your role in wild bison abuse. Montana will likely take other actions, that is for certain. But you are fooling yourself if you think that your participation and funding of the IBMP has been helping wild buffalo. You have become one of the larger adversaries of wild bison, and you must instead take the necessary steps to be their friend.
The Organic Act of 1916 that established the National Park Service requires your agency “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Yellowstone National Park’s maltreatment of America’s last wild buffalo populations runs absolutely contrary to the intent of “this most important provision of law.”
You know that wild bison are ecologically extinct, and you know that Yellowstone harbors the last continuously wild population. You cannot continue to hide behind the Interagency Bison Management Plan nor the indefensible arguments about brucellosis.
Your participation in the Interagency Bison Management Plan is shameful and I absolutely oppose Yellowstone’s involvement. You are causing irreparable harm to the buffalo, all to placate the selfish whims of Montana’s livestock industry. This is not your charge. You are responsible for protecting wild bison, the American people have entrusted you with this great honor and.
Please protect the wild bison of Yellowstone! Pull out of the Interagency Bison Management Plan and abandon any and all plans to harass, harm, capture and kill wild bison!
I appreciate receiving a written response from you, and I trust that you will provide a real response to my concerns and not hide behind the language of the Interagency Bison Management Plan.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this urgent appeal.
Animals Are Worth Saving
Please note that this is a welfarist issue, which is typically contrary to Our Compass’s philosophy: people should not just stop dehorning cattle, they should stop using cattle completely, period. I thought, however, that this alert was important to raise the issue of the necessity of veganism, which can, at times, take steps, rather than just an all-out change. See action below from Animals Are Worth Saving.
BACKGROUND | PETA
Many people are surprised to learn that nearly all cows used for milk are born with tissue that will develop into horns. That’s because most farmers remove the sensitive horn tissue or the horns themselves from the cows’ skulls using searing-hot irons, caustic chemicals, blades, or hand saws.
Animals often struggle violently and have to be restrained manually or in a head bail (a metal apparatus for restraining a cow by the neck) during the painful dehorning process, which is frequently performed without anesthetics or painkillers and results in severe pain that lasts for hours and can become chronic.
This procedure is extremely traumatic to young calves, who are often just a few weeks old when their horn buds are burned or cut out of their heads. Older cows fare even worse. Dehorning in mature cattle usually requires amputation of the horn, which has already attached itself to the skull. Tools used for this procedure include saws, sharp wires, or gruesome guillotine dehorners, which also slice off the surrounding skin. Horn removal in older animals can lead to post-operative problems of hemorrhage, tissue necrosis, bone fracture, sinusitis, and even death. The wound caused by this amputation can take three months or more to heal.
Farmers are fully aware that dehorning is painful, and it is up to the industry to phase out this excruciating mutilation. One simple solution is to breed for naturally hornless cows. A single gene determines whether or not a cow will have horns, and this approach has proved effective in the beef industry.
However, the easiest and most effective way for consumers to save cows from the misery of factory farms is to stop buying cow’s milk and other dairy products and choose instead from the dozens of vegan milks, cheeses, yogurts, coffee creamers, and ice creams available in grocery stores. Browse PETA’s website for hundreds of free vegan recipes, and pledge to be vegan today!
If you are not already vegan, please watch this two-minute video
WHOM TO CONTACT
gjhart@cpk.com
SAMPLE LETTER
To California Pizza Kitchen, G.J. Hart President, CEO, and Executive Chair:
I was shocked to hear that California Pizza Kitchen refuses to address the issue of dehorning by your cheese suppliers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kWscTrpBVOM
Casey Affleck Exposes Mutilation of Cows in Dairy Industry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxV35EZ1px4
Cow Dehorning
Your company has learned about the cruelty of burning hot irons into calves’ heads or gouging developing horns out of their skulls as well as the proven solution of breeding for naturally hornless, or “polled,” cows.
Instead, young calves fight back in pain and fear as their horns are painfully removed.
I won’t eat at California Pizza Kitchen and will tell all my friends and family to do the same until CPK takes action to stop this unnecessary suffering.
Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent appeal.
Sincerely,
Read more…
Help the Louisiana Black Bear
Wikimedia Commons
Background | Source Animal Connection, Save Our Environment
Have you heard of the Louisiana black bear? Very cute, right? And also very threatened.
There are only 300-400 left in the wild and 80% of their habitat has already been destroyed. And what’s left is repeatedly threatened by destructive and unnecessary Army Corps of Engineers projects.
It’s gotten bad enough that they’re officially listed as a threatened species.
Unfortunately, a bill that’s about to hit the Senate floor tomorrow threatens our ability to protect these little guys.
The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) contains two provisions that would allow the Army Corps of Engineers to skimp on or bypass crucial environmental reviews when pushing for large scale structural projects that typically cause significant environmental damage.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 80% of Louisiana black bears’ habitat has already been destroyed. The remaining bears live in wetlands along the Mississippi River, but even this last bit of habitat is at risk from potentially devastating Army Corps construction projects.
If the Army Corps of Engineers gets its way, the crucial protections (like environmental impact studies and adequate review time for proposed projects) will be steamrolled by two dangerous provisions in the Water Resources Development Act.
The WRDA bill is expected reach the Senate floor as early as tomorrow so please contact your Senators today with your request to remove the provisions rolling back critical environmental review
Protect People who Protect Animals – Stop Ag-Gag
Wikimedia Commons
1. Please click HERE to sign petition for PA
2. Please click HERE to sign petition for TN
3. Please click HERE to stop ag-gag
1. Background | Source Causes
Billions of animals in factory farms are forced to live in cruel and inhumane conditions. From chickens who are squeezed into tiny cages to the inhumane slaughter of cows, the transport of horses across the borders to be slaughtered for human consumption, animals are treated cruelly and politicians (with their corporate supporters) are trying to keep this practice a secret.
Corporate backers of factory farms are trying to silence and criminalize brave individuals that expose the cruelties that animals face in farms across the US. Not only does this go against our free speech but we as consumers and animal lovers have a right to know how these creatures are treated. We need to join together to stop these “Ag-Gag” bills. Please sign the petition today and forward it to friends.Below is an excerpt from the Pennsylvania House Bill 683.
This bill will allow factory farms to act in secrecy and criminalize those that try to stop them.
From Pennsylvania House Bill 683:
Offense defined – A person commits the offense of interfering with agricultural operations if the person:
- Without consent from the owner of an agricultural operation or the owner’s agent:
- (i) records an image of, or sound from, the agricultural operation by leaving a recording device on the agricultural operation; or
- (ii) uploads, downloads, transfers or otherwise sends recorded images of, or sound from, the agricultural operations over the Internet in any medium.
- Also: (iii) while employed at, and while present on, the agricultural operation, records an image of, or sound from, the agricultural operation
2. Background | Source PETA
We urgently need your help to stop Tennessee Senate Bill (S.B.) 1248, which has passed through the legislature and is awaiting the signature of the governor, who has just 10 days to make a decision. If signed into law the bill could subject whistleblowers to criminal prosecution for their efforts to expose cruelty to animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses. The bill would require those who document abuse to report it within 48 hours, stopping undercover investigators from documenting a pattern of routine cruelty that has helped authorities across the country enforce the law. It is a desperate attempt by agriculture industry giants to prevent consumers from learning the truth about the miserable lives and gruesome deaths of animals killed for food.
A 2007 PETA investigation at a Tyson chicken slaughterhouse in Tennessee that supplied KFC found that workers violently threw birds and yanked them out of shackles with such force that their legs were broken. Other past undercover investigations have resulted in criminal convictions after revealing systematic abuse, including footage collected at Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., in West Virginia that documented workers beating, stomping on, and maliciously killing birds. These abuses continued even after being brought to a supervisor’s and the management’s attention. Over the course of two months, the investigator collected meticulous evidence showing that these abuses were routine—and not just isolated incidents—helping officials obtain 23 indictments for cruelty to animals against three former employees, all of whom were convicted and one of whom was jailed.
S.B. 1248 is designed to shroud industries that exploit animals for profit in secrecy and to shield criminals from accountability under the law. Because of the help of compassionate citizens, similar bills have died in Florida, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Arkansas, Illinois, California, and New Mexico, and one was recently declared unconstitutional and gutted in Indiana.
Even if you don’t live in Tennessee, we still need your help. The meat from slaughtered animals crosses state lines, and the government needs to hear from consumers across the country who care about the way animals killed for food are treated. Please urge Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to veto S.B. 1248 right away!
3. Background | Source ALDF
Animal abuse, food safety violations, and illegal working conditions are rampant on factory farms. In 2011, the corporate agriculture lobby attempted to pass ag gag laws which would have made it illegal to photograph or videotape at agricultural facilities, or to possess or distribute such evidence. In the 2011-2012 legislative session, 10 states introduced ag gag bills, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Utah. In 2013, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Wyoming introduced ag gag legislation, and many other state legislatures are poised to do the same. Ag gag bills are already on the books in Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Utah, and Missouri.
The goal of ag gag laws is insidious: to silence whistleblowers and eliminate access to critical evidence of farmed animal and other abuses. What’s more, restrictions or prohibitions on these records would decrease the opportunities for food safety violations to be discovered, thereby increasing the risk that consumers could be exposed to and contract illnesses from the consumption of unsafe food products and produce from jurisdictions that pass ag gag legislation.
Factory farms, like other industries, are already fully protected from illegal activities that could detrimentally impact them by trespass, fraud, and other existing criminal and civil laws – despite corporate agriculture’s claims to the contrary. Ag gag bills were designed to place restraints on free speech by making it a crime to take photos or video on a factory farm without the written permission of the owner. Under the guise of property rights, ag gag bills are intended to prevent consumers from ever seeing the horrors of animal abuse, contaminated crops, illegal working conditions, and risky food safety practices—the sort that result in massive food safety recalls and all too frequently lead to outbreaks of food-borne illness—that are common practice behind factory farm gates.
ALDF and a broad range of stakeholders have raised concerns about the potentially devastating impacts of these and newer ag gag legislation efforts. Ag gag is a grave concern for everyone from journalists to whistleblowers to animals to mothers concerned about the safety of their children’s food.
Wikimedia Commons
Please click HERE to sign petition
If you do not live in the UK, use postcodes SE1 9QQ or SW1X 7RN
Background | Source 38 Degrees
The government has announced plans to start culling badgers. There’s been a big debate among 38 Degrees members about these culls. Some of us believe killing badgers would be wrong under any circumstances. Some of us believe that if the science really proved that shooting badgers could make a real dent in the cow TB problem, it would be a tragic necessity.
But 87% of us agree on this: the government’s current plans to shoot England’s badgers simply don’t stack up. The government’s own scientific advisers warn that it won’t solve the problem of TB in cattle, and could even make it worse.
Government scientists say that if a cull isn’t carried out “in a co-ordinated, sustained and simultaneous manner according to the minimum criteria, then this could result in a smaller benefit or even a detrimental effect.”
Can you take 30 seconds now to add your name to the petition?
Read more…
Innocence Project
UPDATE
Breaking News: Execution Stayed in Mississippi
Please click HERE to sign and send letter
Background | Source Innocence Project
Willie Manning is on death row in Mississippi, awaiting execution for the abduction and murder of two college students in 1992. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence, including the testimony of a jailhouse informant who had previously given a statement implicating another person. No physical evidence has ever linked Willie to the crime, and he has always maintained his innocence. He has been seeking DNA testing of crime scene evidence for years.
Incredibly, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that there is “overwhelming evidence of guilt,” so no DNA testing is needed. His execution has been set for May 7th. Eighteen men have been exonerated by DNA testing after being sentenced to death, including Kennedy Brewer of Mississippi. We are asking the Governor to stay the execution and order the DNA testing that will definitively prove Willie Manning’s guilt or innocence. Join us in calling on Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to stay Willie’s execution and order DNA testing!
Our Compass 