Our Compass

Wikimedia Commons

BACKGROUND | SOURCE IDA

After learning that the National Park Service (NPS) announced plans to kill hundreds of deer this December at Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C., IDA joined forces with local D.C. residents to file suit in federal court to stop the NPS from taking this horrific action. Click here to read the Reuters report on our lawsuit, and click here to read the Washington City Paper story.

The NPS plan calls for luring hungry deer at night with food and then shooting them with high-powered rifles. In areas where deer might be close to residential homes, they would be killed with crossbows and arrows, to prevent gunfire from potentially injuring people. IDA’s suit seeks to immediately and permanently block this killing.

Rock Creek Park is a refuge of natural beauty nestled in the nation’s capital. Our lawsuit alleges that by choosing to kill native wildlife for the first time since the park was established in 1890, NPS is violating the law that created the park, which requires NPS to preserve wildlife in their “natural condition, as nearly as possible.”

This unprecedented and extreme approach to reducing the population of native wildlife is wholly unwarranted. The Park Service could have implemented less drastic ways to control the deer population, including fencing and contraception – which have successfully controlled wildlife populations elsewhere in the United States.

Our suit further alleges that the NPS failed to consider the impact of turning a tranquil oasis of wilderness in the middle of our nation’s capital into a killing field, and how this will destroy the character of this special place and the ability of local residents and visitors, including IDA’s members and supporters, to continue to enjoy it. Click here to read more in Washington DC’s The Northwest Current newspaper, and stay tuned for updates!

WHOM TO CONTACT

Click HERE for NPS’s online webform

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Officials,

National Park Service (NPS) announced plans to kill hundreds of deer this December at Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C. in a misguided attempt to reduce deer numbers in populated areas. Although this hunt is inherently cruel based on the premise alone, it is important to recognize it is based on erroneous information.

Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the deer for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.

Second, killing deer artificially increases food supplies to the remaining deer, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater deer population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger herd populations, in subsequent years.

Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to continue with such a cruel and unnecessary killing, and although I do not currently reside in Washington D.C., I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull continues.

Fourth, hunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer, if they look at all. Many deer are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.

Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols when using these methods, which have all proven successful in curtailing deer populations.

I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter; I look forward to a positive resolution to this situation.

NAME

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Guzoo – PETA

BACKGROUND

For years, both locals and visitors from around the world have spoken out against a decrepit private menagerie in Alberta called GuZoo, widely considered to be the worst roadside zoo in Canada. A retired Toronto zookeeper called the zoo a “disgrace to the people of Alberta and those who care about animals,” while a Calgary keeper said that the facility was “[g]rossly substandard and filthy.” A report by our colleagues at Zoocheck Canada found more than 100 violations of the standards for zoos, which provide for only the bare minimum of husbandry practices.

In June 2011, Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development announced that it would decommission GuZoo, largely because of the risk of disease transmission to the public from filthy, feces-ridden animal enclosures in which carcasses were left to rot. In October 2012, despite not providing any assurance that the zoo was in compliance with Alberta’s standards for captive animals, the ministry’s Fish and Wildlife Division quietly issued another permit to GuZoo.

Celebrity activists such as Bob Barker have already expressed their concern for these animals, and you can, too.

Please contact those responsible for captive animals in Alberta and ask that GuZoo be closed permanently and that the animals be relocated to reputable sanctuaries.

To personalize your letter, you can read Zoocheck’s latest report on GuZoo.

TWO PETITIONS

Please click HERE and HERE to sign

WHOM TO CONTACT

calgary.elbow@assembly.ab.ca; draytonvalley.devon@assembly.ab.ca; highwood@assembly.ab.ca; edmonton.highlandsnorwood@assembly.ab.ca; edmonton.meadowlark@assembly.ab.ca

SAMPLE LETTER | SOURCE CCAAWPS

Dear Premier Redford, Honorable McQueen, Wildrose Party Leader Smith, NDP Party Leader Mason, Liberal Party Leader Sherman:

I am writing you to express my concern regarding the appalling living conditions of the animals and the lack of safety precautions for visitors at Guzoo Animal Farm, in Three Hills, Alberta. The court case dealing with Guzoo’s judicial review has been adjourned for many months with no explanation from any party, and Guzoo remains open, despite the order to decommission and close Guzoo from the Alberta government in June 2011.

After over 20 years of government inaction regarding this deplorable roadside zoo, I was ecstatic when the Alberta Government’s Department of Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) announced they were shutting it down with no appeal in June 2011.

However, even though Guzoo owners claimed that they didn’t have enough money to upgrade the facilities, they were able to afford to hire a lawyer for an expensive appeal process. Thousands of people, including myself, are shocked, frustrated, and disillusioned that the SRD has apparently caved to Guzoo with no explanation.

Although concerned people, myself included, are pleased that this matter will eventually be resolved in court, we are concerned that Guzoo is no longer a pressing issue for the Alberta Government. Above all, we are concerned that the Guzoo will continue to disregard legitimate complaints regarding public safety and animal welfare. This concern is not unfounded, considering the Guzoo’s blatant disregard for the court-ordered conditions that had been agreed upon prior to the facility being permitted to reopen. Guzoo is supposed to be operating under multiple court-ordered conditions, many of which have been violated, including public contact with controlled species such a wolves.

I am still wondering how the government’s enforcement arm, SRD, can ignore the report from the May 2011 CAZA-led investigation of Guzoo, based on Alberta Zoo Standards? The report clearly shows that the June 1st, 2011, decommission was not recommended solely due to record-keeping or aesthetic problems with Guzoo Animal Farm, as Guzoo’s owners have claimed.

There are many shocking revelations mentioned in the investigative report. One particularly heartbreaking and stunning piece of information is the account of a bear who died recently after attempting to dig out of her enclosure and become trapped in the resulting hole. The bear was not removed and perished in the pit she had dug. Animals were often fed unsafe road kill, and one tiger died as a result of consuming “dead stock tainted with barbiturate”.

Deficiencies with regard to animal care, husbandry, staff training, animal health, public safety, and public health are all outlined within the report. The report also makes it very clear that not only does Guzoo have deficiencies in all areas of zoo operations, but it also outlines how unlikely, if not impossible, it would be for the zoo to ever be brought up to the arguably minimal Alberta Zoo Standards.

You can read the report at http://tinyurl.com/cazafullreport.

The operation of Guzoo Animal Farm has been an ongoing issue for over two decades, and it is an embarrassment to the majority of Albertans. The internet is full of reviews from foreign visitors decrying Alberta for our lack of animal welfare concern after their visits to Guzoo; there is no reason for this facility to remain open. Please consider the mountains of evidence against this facility and what keeping them open says about the regulatory powers of this government.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

NAME

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Wikimedia Commons

Source PETA

Kentucky residents will be voting next week on House Bill 1, which would make hunting and trapping a right, thereby protecting the use of “traditional” hunting and trapping methods. If this amendment is passed, Kentucky would never be able to ban cruel traps, nor would its cities and counties be able to prohibit bowhunting!

Steel-jaw, body-gripping, and snare traps are exceedingly cruel. Even rubber-coated traps cause immense pain and injury! Body-gripping traps crush bones and slowly suffocate animals, while snares jerk tightly around victims’ necks, faces, bodies, or limbs. With all these traps, terrified animals, in their frantic struggles to escape will commonly injure themselves further, snapping bones or tearing flesh—some animals even chew off their own limbs to break free. Bowhunting is also horribly inhumane. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow (taking several weeks in some cases) and painful.

Please vote “No!” on this hunting and trapping bill (H.B. 1), and please forward this alert widely!

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BACKGROUND | SOURCE PETA

This Wednesday, October 31, the Enterprise Town Advisory Board in Clark County, Nevada, will be considering an application for a permit that would allow notorious animal exhibitor and breeder James “Mike” Casey to keep exotic animals at a private residence in Clark County owned by Stacey Jones, who has submitted the application on Casey’s behalf.

Casey, who has a lengthy history of abusing and neglecting animals and endangering the public, is currently keeping at least three chimpanzees and a capuchin monkey at this residence. It is imperative that we convince the county to deny this permit application and to give these animals another chance.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture records, Casey has hit a chimpanzee with his fist and thrown hot water on a chimpanzee. In addition, a whistleblower who previously resided with Casey has made a sworn statement that Casey regularly punched the chimpanzees forcefully, threw hot water on them, and struck them with a rod. Based on this evidence, leading experts have advised that these animals are in urgent need of rescue and should be immediately removed from Casey.

Allowing Casey to keep these animals would not only facilitate such abuse and neglect but also put the public at risk. Indeed, just earlier this year, two chimpanzees escaped from a household in the Las Vegas area, one of whom was shot dead by the police. The surviving chimpanzee managed to escape again, just one month later.

Chimpanzees are dangerous and unpredictable animals. According to world-renowned primatologist and chimpanzee expert Dr. Jane Goodall, chimpanzees—who have at least five times the strength of humans as adults—can and will bite, especially when frustrated by an unnatural existence.

Casey himself was attacked by a chimpanzee who bit off a good portion of his nose. One of the chimpanzees currently held by Casey in Clark County previously bit a child, and at least four chimpanzees have escaped from facilities operated by Casey. And in 2009, Travis—a chimpanzee born and bred at Casey’s Missouri compound—attacked and severely mutilated a woman who required more than seven hours of stabilizing surgery by four teams of doctors after reportedly losing her hands, nose, lips, and eyelids in the attack. The bone structure of her face was also damaged, and ultimately she had a full face transplant.

Please speak up right away and let the Enterprise Town Advisory Board know that Casey and Jones should not be allowed to keep exotic animals. You can contact the board through its liaison, Tiffany Hesser, at 702-455-7388 or tlh@clarkcountynv.gov.  

Feel free to use the sample letter below, but remember that saying it in your own words is always more effective. Also, please mention any connection that you may have to Clark County or the Las Vegas area.

WHOM TO CONTACT

tlh@clarkcountynv.gov

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Board Members,

I strongly urge you to protect both Clark County residents and the chimpanzees who are kept by serial animal abuser James “Mike” Casey and deny the permit application that Stacey Jones submitted on his behalf.

Casey is a notorious animal abuser who regularly beats, punches, and throws hot water on chimpanzees. As much as he disregards animals’ well-being, Casey ignores public safety. In 2009, a chimpanzee he bred and sold mauled and severely disfigured a woman who required a face transplant after reportedly losing her eyes, nose, lips, and hands in the attack.

Please make the right decision for Clark County and the chimpanzees and deny Jones’ and Casey’s permit application.

Sincerely,

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