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.
Ban shark finning and fishing in Costa Rica
BACKGROUND | SOURCE FACEBOOK
The Sharks in Costa Rica are abandoned. Over 200.000 are brutally chopped alive and thrown into the sea while still conscious.
Shark slaughter continues in Costa Rica. Taiwanese finning ships now dock illegally, at private facilities, to escape the reach of the law. The act is cruel, inhumane and misrepresents a country recognized for biodiversity protection. Learn more by visiting http://www.sharkwater.com/
Every year around 200.000 sharks are slaughtered,chopped alive in Costa Rica.
Last month the international shark finning fleet’s boats (the same ones that previously arrived at Costa Rica’s private docks) began docking and landing shark fins in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. What’s more, the fins are loaded into trucks and driven/imported back into Costa Rica where they are prepared for export.
Voice your disapproval of shark finning and be a part of the movement to save sharks and restore their populations.
PETITIONS
1) http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Stop_the_trade_in_shark_fins_in_Costa_Rica/?launch
2) http://www.change.org/petitions/ban-shark-finningfishing-in-costa-rica
3) http://www.thepetitionsite.com/703/908/499/stop-ilegal-shark-fining-in-costa-rica/
WHOM TO CONTACT
consulate@costarica-embassy.org , embassy@costarica-embassy.org , ambassador@costarica-embassy.org , ldachner@costarica-embassy.org , jsalas@costarica-embassy.org , aoduber@costarica-embassy.org , achacon@costarica-embassy.org , gnavarro@costarica-embassy.org
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
I am writing today to request you immediately ban shark finning, a process of extreme animal suffering and environmental destruction. Please allow me this opportunity to elaborate. Shark fin commerce is a vicious business; indeed, the unprincipled nature of such operations includes mutilating the shark for fins and then discarding the still-living shark to die in what can only be considered prolonged agony and fear. To deliberately inflict a non-human animal to such an incredibly savage practice is contrary to any established animal protection policies, and the majority of citizens, including voting constituents, has repeatedly voiced condemnation of such abuse.
Additionally, it has been factually established that shark meat is essentially toxic: shark products contain harmful levels of mercury, the content of which could prove potentially harmful to people, particularly women and children, who have been advised to discontinue consumption. Furthermore, claiming a desire to be a leader in environmental protection, Costa Rica has instead contradicted such assertions by sanctioning such an environmentally unsound business. To promote oneself as environmental while enabling shark harvesting is both unethical and fraudulent. Indeed, killing sharks has been proven ecologically detrimental, harming an extremely fragile and vitally important ecosystem, the consequences of which negatively affect all other marine and land life. Because these systems exist amongst each other in symbiotic relationships, no animal, human or non-human, is immune.
As such, I am encouraging you to make the ethical and ecologically-beneficial decision to ban the commerce of shark finning in your country; until such a time, I feel my only recourse is to promote a boycott. Sacrificing vital business during the current financial climate may prove commercially damaging, and my hope is that this letter finds you willing to consider your actions and implement changes to ensure the safety of all animals, sharks and humans, as well as the vital ecology being continually eroded because of such damaging practices.
I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this important issue.
NAME
Stop the Torture of Children in Syria
Avaaz
Please click and sign HERE
Background | Source Avaaz
“My son’s throat was cut,” she said. “He was 12.”
“Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children.” — Albert Camus
Syrian army and security officers with the help of Iranian mercenaries have been torturing children with impunity during the past year. There have also been cases documented of children who were shot while in their homes or on the street. Syrian Human Rights Activists told us that they have seen the government use schools as detention centers, military bases or barracks and children have been arrested from their schools!
Witnesses from the towns of Baba Amr, al-Janoudyah, Kafr Nabl, Kafr Rouma, and Ayn Larouz in the Idlib governorate in northern Syria told us that they saw the army and pro-government armed men, referred to locally as shabeeha, force people especially children to march in front of the advancing army during the March 2012 offensive to retake control of areas that had fallen into the hands of the opposition. From the circumstances of these incidents, it was clear to the witnesses that the purpose of this was to protect the army from attack.
Slaughtering and torturing children is now considered as a profession for Al-Assad thugs, that’s why you gotta (sign, share and let the whole world know about these soulless creatures). I hope you can sign this petition, or at least spread it, and once enough people have signed, we will get decision makers’ attention directly!
I believe that this horrible human rights violations done by Al-Assad thugs must be stopped as soon as possible.
We need a real/responsible action, guys.
–Mouaaz Al-Ajami
Read more…
Wikimedia Commons
Please click and sign HERE
Background | Source PCRM
We need your help to stop the abuse of kittens by Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. This week, PCRM filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explaining that the medical center is violating the federal Animal Welfare Act by using live kittens in its pediatrics residency program. Please help this effort by asking the medical center to end the use of animals today.
In the pediatrics residency program at Albert Einstein Medical Center, breathing tubes are pushed down the throats of live kittens to teach endotracheal intubation. This painful procedure is repeated numerous times on each animal and can cause tracheal bruising, bleeding, and severe trauma. Nonanimal training methods are widely implemented in accredited pediatrics programs, making this use of animals not only cruel but unnecessary.
So far, the responsible Albert Einstein faculty and administrators have refused pleas to change this practice. Please e-mail Albert Einstein Healthcare Network president and CEO Barry Freedman, and urge him to end this cruel and unnecessary practice. Send an automatic e-mail.
Gaumard’s Premie HAL and PREMIE Blue simulators, designed to mimic the airway of a premature newborn; Laerdal’s SimNewB, which was developed in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics; and METI’s BabySim can all be used for this type of training. The medical center even teaches a pediatrics critical care course that includes intubation at the simulation center.
More than 95 percent of pediatrics residency programs in the United States and Canada—including every other program in Pennsylvania—do not use animals. It is time for Albert Einstein Medical Center to join the majority. Please e-mail Mr. Freedman today and ask him to replace the use of animals in the medical center’s pediatrics residency program.
You can read our complaint to the Department of Agriculture here.
Thank you for your help.
BACKGROUND | SOURCE PETA
Reportedly, GOLDMARK Property Management, Inc., and Sand Companies, Inc.—property management groups that own multiple apartment complexes in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska—require tenants to declaw their cats. PETA has reached out to both companies several times, but to no avail. We need your help!
Outlawed in 22 countries, declawing is a cruel and permanently crippling surgery involving the amputation of the last joint of every toe, including bones and cartilage! Persistent pain, loss of balance, nerve damage, bone chips requiring additional surgery, gangrene, and skin disorders are associated physical complications; and nails can later grow back painfully and unseen, within the paw! Declawed cats often become reclusive, depressed, and insecure and begin eliminating outside the litterbox. Psychologically changed, these animals are then bounced around from home to home or wind up at animal shelters.
Please politely urge GOLDMARK Property Management and Sand Companies to join the numerous property management groups that do not require declawing. And please, forward this alert widely!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Polite comments can be sent to:
Kenneth Regan
Chief Executive Officer, Chair, and Owner
GOLDMARK Property Management, Inc.
ken.regan@goldmark.com
Jamie Thelen, President
Sand Companies, Inc.
jjthelen@sandcompanies.com
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Chief Executive Officer Regan and President Thelen,
I am writing to ask that you please discontinue your requirement to declaw cats homed in any of your properties. This is a cruel, archaic procedure that causes suffering and pain, undesirable patterns and behaviour and has been recognized as such internationally. Declawing is illegal or restricted in over 20 countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. Cities such as San Francisco, West Hollywood, and Norfolk, VA ban declawing — while Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Berkeley, Malibu and Santa Monica are evaluating similar legislation. The Humane Society of the U.S. and ASPCA oppose declawing. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons rejects the operation, describing it as “mutilation.”
Overwhelming evidence demonstrates declawing causes severe behavioral problems that often lead guardians to abandon their animals in overcrowded shelters; 33% of declawed cats begin post-procedure, according to a 2001 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association (JAVMA). National shelter surveys reveal that 70-80% of cats surrendered for offensive behavior are declawed. Declawed felines enter shelters with behavioral issues like biting or not using the litter box, claims shelter director William Lombardi of Gloucester County, New Jersey. For the estimated 70% of declawed cats who are euthanized, the surgery is a death sentence.
Moreover, declawing generates suffering and permanent disability. The invasive procedure amputates not only the claw, but also the entire last “knuckle” of a cat’s toes. Veterinary experts recognize laser or scalpel declawing as among the most painful surgeries routinely performed.
Please reconsider this cruel policy and ban the declawing requirement for tenants’ cats in your properties.
Thank you,
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND | SOURCE PCRM
Live cats are used in a cruel pediatrics residency training program at the University of Virginia. PCRM’s recent federal complaint says this is unlawful and that the university already owns a simulator that better mimics newborn anatomy.
Pediatrics training at the University of Virginia (UVA) includes repeatedly forcing a plastic tube through the mouth and into the windpipe (trachea) of a live cat. Animals used in this training procedure can suffer tracheal bruising, bleeding, scarring, severe pain, and they are at risk of death.
“It is unnecessary to traumatize and harm animals to teach pediatric emergency procedures, especially when validated simulators developed to replace animals are widely used,” says Josie Kinkade, M.D., a local physician who co-signed the federal complaint. “A newborn’s anatomy is different from a cat’s, and residents at UVA can get a better education using human based medical simulators.”
UVA’s state-of-the-art medical simulation center already owns a simulator validated for this training. Numerous pediatrics residencies use the Gaumard Premie HAL and Premie Blue simulators, which mimic the airway of a low birth weight premature newborn.
PCRM’s complaint, which was filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Eastern Region Animal Care office, states, “UVA is violating the AWA because superior training methods exist that could replace the university’s use of live animals and alleviate this severe pain.” The complaint also cites inadequate oversight in the approval of the training protocol by the school’s animal care and use committee.
The Animal Welfare Act’s implementing regulations “require that a principal investigator—including course instructors—consider alternatives to procedures that may cause more than momentary or slight pain or distress to any animal used for research purposes.”
Nonanimal education methods are exclusively used by 94 percent of U.S. pediatrics programs, including those at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Inova Fairfax Hospital and Hospital for Children, and Virginia Commonwealth University Health System in Richmond, according to an ongoing PCRM survey.
To take action and learn more, visit PCRM.org/Pediatrics.
GROUP TO JOIN
End the Suffering of Cats at the University of Virginia
PETITIONS
UVA President: Stop Cruel, Outdated Trainings On Cats
Stop Live Cat Testing at the University of Virginia
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email Block
dekosky@virginia.edu , sd3zc@Virginia.EDU , jpn2r@virginia.edu
Individual
Steven T. DeKosky, MD, Vice President and Dean, UVA School of Medicine, dekosky@virginia.edu, sd3zc@Virginia.EDU P.O. Box 800394, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, Ph: 434-924-5118
James P. Natarro, MD, PhD, Pediatrics Chair, UVA Medical Center, jpn2r@virginia.edu, P.O. Box 800386,Charlottesville, VA, 22908, Ph: 434-924-5093
Fax number for Dean DeKosky: 434-982-0874
Click HERE for free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, credit card, or registering required. Please be certain to confirm you message by clicking on the link sent to your email address or else your fax will not be sent.
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Dean DeKosky and Pediatrics Chair Natarro,
I was shocked to learn the cruelty inflicted on cats by the University of Virginia Medical School, which continues to use live cats as test subjects for students learning intubation procedures for research, the efficacy of which is questionable at best, and lethal at worst. I am part of a group whose mission is to effect an end to experimenting on cats: http://www.facebook.com/groups/144828258983731/. These experiments subject the cats to enormous suffering and pain, forcing breathing tubes down their throats, up to 22 times per day; the dats are used a few times a year, which means that over the course of their time in the lab, they will undergo dozens of administrations of anesthesia and hundreds of intubations! These tests cause bleeding, bruising, and significant residual pain.
We are requesting you immediately discontinue testing on cats, given the enormity of the issue and the unnecessary abuse: human simulators are available and have proven superior to outdated and inhumane testing on cats. The majority of schools in the US and Canada use human patient simulators, and Canada uses no animals for their testing programs: unlike animals, whose anatomy is different from human babies, the infant models of this simulators are anatomically correct and provide a greater and more efficient mode of testing. Students who use human simulators achieve a greater understanding and performance of intubation procedures.
As such, it is important to recognize that the University of Virginia causes considerable abuse on cats, which is significantly unethical, especially concerning the alternative humane human simulators. It would be a shame to have to dismiss the University of Virginia, but until this outrageous abuse stops, I and others will collectively boycott your school.
Thank you for your time.
NAME
Read more…
Friends of Animals
BACKGROUND | SOURCE MARC BEKOFF
Following up on the good news about the release of two dolphins into the wild, I learned this morning about a most heinous and perverse situation in Alaska. Healy, Alaska trapper Coke Wallace “apparently walked a horse out to an area off the Stampede Trail near the boundary of Denali National Park – an area made famous by the 1996 book ‘Into the Wild’ – shot the horse, and set snares all around the area hoping to catch wolves attracted to the carcass. Wolves from Denali National Park were drawn to the dead horse, resulting in the killing of a primary reproductive female wolf from the Grant Creek (also called Toklat West) pack from the park, along with at least one other wolf. It is unknown how long the two wolves were alive in the snares before being killed and collected by the trapper. The Grant Creek wolf pack has been one of the three packs most often viewed in Denali National Park.”
All of this happened in a former buffer area where wolves were protected from 2002-2010 when the Alaska Board of Game eliminated the protected area. The loss of these wolves puts the fate of this long-lived and long-studied pack in jeopardy. Observations began on this pack back in the 1930s. Of course, the loss of any wolves due to killing another animal to use as bait is reprehensible, legal or not.
This kind of hearltess slaughter must not be tolerated and it’s important to call attention to it and to protest it loudly and clearly. While “the incident does not violate state law, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is looking at potential violations of state water quality regulations, which prohibit discarding carcasses in surface waters of the state.”
WHOM TO CONTACT
According to Friends of Animals, here are some people you can contact (the area code is 907):
Tom Meier, Wildlife Biologist, Denali National Park. Tom_Meier@nps.gov; 683-9572
Susan and Dave Braun, Healy: braun@mtaonline.net; 683-2654
Trooper James Ellison, Cantwell: james.ellison@alaska.gov; 768-2202
Chris Foley, Water Quality, ADEC, Anchorage: chris.foley@alaska.gov; 269-4632
Marybeth Holleman, Anchorage: marybeth@alaskawriters.com, 360-4512
Coke Wallace, Midnight Sun Safaris, Healy: info@midnightsunsafaris.com; 683-4868
EMAIL BLOCK
Tom_Meier@nps.gov , braun@mtaonline.net , james.ellison@alaska.gov , chris.foley@alaska.gov , marybeth@alaskawriters.com , info@midnightsunsafaris.com
SAMPLE MESSAGE
To Whom It Concerns,
I am writing to protest the brutal slaughter of a horse to attract and subsequently viciously kill wolves, one of whom was likely pregnant. Humans have adopted dangerous constructs of speciesism, the prejudicial regard of non-human species, to validate the brutality inflicted upon them. Using this manufactured status of superiority, humans have sanctioned the use of animals as commodities, regarding them only as products to benefit our goals and needs. We embrace inequity to justify our treatment of animals, yet euphemistic descriptions meant to facilitate morality cannot disguise the fundamentally unethical parameters with which we surround ourselves to distinguish our dominance. As dangerous as racism and sexism, speciesism further divides the chasm between species, which desensitizes us to cruelty and inevitably leads to human inequality and injustice.
This disregard of your most vulnerable group of beings is unacceptable, and until this barbarism is appropriately addressed including a mandatory ban of such, I will boycott. I and others will collectively voice condemnation, resulting in the sacrifice of vital tourism and commerce profits. Please act responsibly and with compassion and choose to protect, rather than sanction harm, to animals.
NAME
Read more…
PETA
Click HERE to submit your comment; please use United States for country, and I wrote “self” for organization and used “Drug Association” for category, the only two required fields besides your comments.
BACKGROUND
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products has issued draft recommendations for the testing of some tobacco products. This guidance would allow companies to conduct cruel animal tests to demonstrate the “reduced risks” of new products and ingredients. These deadly tests are included in the guidance even though they are irrelevant to human smokers and there are more modern and accurate non-animal methods available, such as computer simulation, tests using human cells, and clinical studies with human smokers.
In some of the horrendous tobacco tests that could be conducted, rats would be forced to breathe tobacco smoke for as long as six hours a day for months at a time by jamming the animals into tiny canisters and pumping concentrated cigarette smoke directly into their noses. The animals would then be killed and their bodies dissected.
For decades, the tobacco industry used results from these misleading animal tests to deny the link between smoking and cancer because animals forced to inhale cigarette smoke don’t develop the same diseases that human smokers do.
Belgium, Germany, the U.K., and other countries have banned the testing of tobacco products on animals, and all the tobacco safety tests required by the Canadian government are modern, non-animal methods.
We need to tell the FDA loudly and clearly that no more animals should suffer and die for these archaic, inaccurate, and cruel tests on products that we already know are deadly when used as directed!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please exercise your right as a U.S. citizen to submit a polite comment to the FDA urging it to remove any language recommending or allowing animal tests from its draft guidance on tobacco product testing.
Note: Comments must be submitted before June 4, 2012. Click HERE to submit your comment now; please use United States for country, and I wrote “self” for organization and used “Drug Association” for category, the only two required fields besides your comments.
SAMPLE COMMENT
I am shocked to learn that the FDA continues to support animal experimentation on tobacco products. Considered archaic and fundamentally flawed, product testing on animals lacks social legitimacy and validation.
Furthermore, to foster an idea that consumers continually support animal experimentation due to some inaccurate notion that it will prevent them from being harmed is unprincipled. Animals suffer drastically different effects from tobacco use than humans. Tobacco use and abuse can factually lead to harm regardless of how many animals are wrongfully killed during the product testing phase.
Please make both the ethical and financially-responsible decision to discontinue animal experimentation immediately: remove any language recommending or allowing animal tests from its draft guidance on tobacco product testing; join an increasing body of countries who are listening to a concerned and attentive consumer population who refuse to be complicit in the inherently malicious and ineffective industry of animal experimentation.
Read more…
Please email, call to free Captain Paul Watson
BACKGROUND | SOURCE SEA SHEPHERD
Urgent Call to Sea Shepherd Supporters – Help Save Captain Watson from Extradition to Costa Rica!
In shocking news, German officials have decided to proceed with the extradition of Captain Watson to Costa Rica. Our last hope of saving Captain Watson from extradition is to convince German officials at the Ministry of Justice to step in and overturn their decision. Show your support for Captain Watson by contacting Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the Federal Minister of Justice in Berlin, Germany. Let her know that the warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest is politically motivated and thus should be ignored by the German goverment. With international support we can set Captain Watson free, and keep him from the possibility of facing an unfair trial in Costa Rica.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Federal Ministry of Justice
Mohrenstrasse 37
10117 Berlin, Germany
Telephone: +49 (030) 18 580-0
Telefax: +49 (030) 18 580-9525
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Federal Minister of Justice
Deutscher Bundestag
Platz der Republik
11011 Berlin
Telephone 030 – 227 751 62
Fax 030 – 227 764 02
E-Mail: sabine.leutheusser-schnarrenberger@bundestag.de
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Ms. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger,
I was very concerned to hear that Germany has detained Sea Shepherd’s Captain Paul Watson for possible extradition to Costa Rica. I understand that the warrant for Captain Watson’s arrest is politically motivated and possibly due to an incident in which Sea Shepherd uncovered an illegal shark finning operation.
I support Sea Shepherd’s efforts to monitor and publicise illegal fishing and whaling around the world and recognize that some illegal fishing operations try to use international law to shut down the Sea Shepherd operations.
I urge you to consider the valuable work Captain Watson and Sea Shepherd are undertaking globally to highlight the dangers to our oceans in considering this extradition request.
Sincerely,
NAME
Read more…
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND | SOURCE: FACEBOOK
If you have the time, could you please call the governor each day this week in regards to the bear hunt, and tell him how disappointed again we are in the NDOW (Nevada Department of Wildlife)? We need the governor to act on this! It only takes 2 minutes a day for each of us to call and express how the NDOW consistently is still going unchecked. What specifically we want to know is how come Lackey’s so-called science is so far off base from a nationally-renowned bear biologist, Dr. Stephen Stringham. Here are other talking points. WE MUST TIE UP THE PHONES!!!!!
1. No unit-specific hunt, which could lead to potential over hunt
2. No density studies or numbers
3. Not enough information about the immigration/emmigration with CA bears
4. Not enough understanding about the fringe population
5. Unclear on human-interfaces and impacts on the bears
6. There is no DNA on the bear populations
7. Concerned about the females
With respect towards talking points, certainly 1-3 above, I feel, are strong ones. Here are a few other suggestions as well:
1. The Mark Capture method assumes that bears do not leave the area. In short, there is no immigration/emmigration between CA. This is a serious flaw, particularly that 2007 is included because of the drought and angora fire. The capture/mortality rate was more than 150% compared to 2006 and 2008.
2. If it’s based on science then why isn’t there specific hunt unit quotas and why aren’t there density studies to support this?
3. If it’s based on science then why does NDoW even make reference to how many applications there are?
If you have the time and ability, phone, email, and fax would be great!
See further information at No BearHunt Nevada
PETITIONS
No Bear Hunt Nevada
WHOM TO CONTACT
State Capitol Building
101 N. Carson Street
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: (775) 684-5670
Fax: (775) 684-5683
Las Vegas
Grant Sawyer State Office Building
555 East Washington Ave, Suite 5100
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 486-2500
Fax: (702) 486-2505
Click HERE for free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, credit card, or registering required. Please be certain to confirm you message by clicking on the link sent to your email address or else your fax will not be sent.
Webform: Contacting the Governor
Please remember to click the authorization box at the top and select a topic such as “wildlife”
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Governor Sandoval,
It has come to my attention that Nevada is reportedly considering allowing bear hunts in an attempt to reduce bear populations. Although this hunt would be 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 bears for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.
Second, killing bears artificially increases food supplies to the remaining bears, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater bear population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger 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 Nevada, I would be unwilling to consider it as a potential vacation destination if this bear cull continues.
Fourth, I have concerns regarding a few points: There are no unit-specific hunts, which could lead to potential over hunt; no density studies or numbers; not enough information about the immigration/emmigration with CA bears; not enough understanding about the fringe population; unclear on human interfaces and impacts on the bears; there is no DNA on the bear populations.
Furthermore, the Mark Capture method assumes that bears do not leave the area. In short, there is no immigration/emmigration between CA. This is a serious flaw, particularly that 2007 is included because of the drought and angora fire. The capture/mortality rate was more than 150% compared to 2006 and 2008. And if it’s based on science then why isn’t there specific hunt-unit quotas and why aren’t there density studies to support this? If it’s based on science then why does NDoW even make reference to how many applications there are?
Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols, which, when using these methods appropriately, have all proven successful in curtailing populations.
I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
NAME
Atlanta May End All Animal Control Services and Allow Elephant Abuse! Please send sample letter.
PETA
BACKGROUND
Because of the Ringling Bros. circus’ shenanigans, Atlanta may lose its animal control services! No strays picked up, no calls about injured animals answered. How? Last year, Fulton County passed an important animal control law that banned the use of bullhooks—sharp metal tools used by circuses to goad and prod elephants. As Atlanta has incorporated Fulton County’s animal control laws into its own, the ban legally applies in the city. But Ringling is trying to convince Atlanta not to abide by this law. If Atlanta does not agree to allow the ban on bullhooks to be enforced, the city risks losing its animal control services altogether.
The use of bullhooks to abuse elephants in circuses is routine. An undercover investigation of Ringling revealed that elephants are struck repeatedly with them in order to intimidate the elephants and remind them that they must do as they’re told or suffer the painful consequences. A longtime elephant trainer with the Carson & Barnes Circus was caught on video viciously attacking elephants with a bullhook and instructing others to sink bullhooks into elephants’ flesh and twist it until they screamed in pain.
If Atlanta opposes enforcement of the ban on bullhooks, the city’s whole range of animal control services may be suspended—no injured dogs picked up, no responses to dog attacks, no rabies vaccination enforcement, nothing. Please don’t let this happen. The mayor must sign an enforcement agreement with the county without further delay.
Please contact Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and urge him to enforce the bullhook ban in Atlanta and ensure that the city keeps its animal control services. Please be sure to note if you are an Atlanta resident. We encourage you to use your own words, but feel free to use this sample letter (see below).
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please send polite comments to:
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: kreed@atlantaga.gov
SAMPLE LETTER
Suggested Title:
Please Don’t Leave Atlanta Without Animal Control Services
Suggested Letter:
Dear Mayor Reed:
I strongly urge you to ignore Ringling’s threats and enter into an agreement with Fulton County so that we can keep animal control services in Atlanta. This includes enforcing the bullhook ban. It’s not fair to leave all animals unprotected just so that circuses can use bullhooks to beat and torment elephants when they come to town once a year. Constituents no longer want this blatant form of animal abuse to be tolerated in Atlanta, and they certainly do not want all animal control services to be suspended because city officials are picking and choosing which laws they want to follow.
Can I please have your assurance that you will enter into an agreement with Fulton County to ensure that all cruelty laws are enforced in the city—including the bullhook ban?
Sincerely yours,
Urge Avon Lake, Ohio, to Oppose Bowhunting
Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND
Avon Lake, Ohio, is reportedly considering the use of bowhunting in an attempt to reduce deer populations. Your voice is needed!
Bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many 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 urge Avon Lake officials to toss bowhunting—and then forward this message widely! If deer control is insisted upon, please share these tips.
WHOM TO CONTACT
The Honorable Greg Zilka, Mayor of Avon Lake, and the Avon Lake City Council using these e-mail addresses:
gzilka@avonlake.org; modonnell@avonlake.org; dbucci@avonlake.org; jshondel@avonlake.org; rjames@avonlake.org; jfenderbosch@avonlake.org; lmeiners@avonlake.org; dkos@avonlake.org
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Zilka and Avon Lake City Council Members,
It has come to my attention that Avon Lake, Ohio, is reportedly considering allowing bowhunters to kill deer in an attempt to reduce deer populations. Although this hunt would be 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 Avon Lake, I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull continues.
Fourth, bowhunters 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, which, when using these methods appropriately, have all proven successful in curtailing deer populations. Please see these tips.
I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
NAME
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Three alerts: please help dogs, marmosets, horses
Wikimedia Commons
Please click on and sign the following:
1. Help Stop the Mass Dog Killings in Ukraine!
2. Ask Harvard to End Deadly Marmoset Experiment
3. Stand Up for America’s Horses
1. Background | Source PETA
The 2012 European Football Championship is just about to start, and the host countries, Poland and Ukraine, have been busily preparing for a surge of sports tourism. In Ukraine, that means shocking efforts to reduce the number of homeless animals across the country in an attempt to hide the country’s neglected and abandoned dogs from tourists.
Animals are poisoned, shot, and, in some cases, even burned alive. Authorities in Lysychansk, Mariupol, and other Ukrainian cities use a cremation truck, which has even advertised on national television. The animals are caught and then shot or anesthetized and thrown directly into the cremation truck!
Even the Union of European Football Associations, which PETA Germany contacted in 2009, sharply criticized the cruel practices of Ukrainian authorities and offered financial support to animal protection advocates to neuter animals. Ukrainian authorities have reacted to the efforts of animal rights advocates with repressive measures: They have put pressure on animal activists to stop the international protest!
What You Can Do
Please help the animals in Ukraine and support our protest against the mass killing of homeless dogs. Sign the petition to ask the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States to speak out against the cruel killings and push for humane animal birth control!
2. Background | Source PCRM
Harvard Medical School has a history of neglecting, harming, and even killing animals in its laboratories, and the situation just keeps getting worse. Last October, a marmoset escaped from his cage, was captured, and died during an imaging procedure at Harvard’s New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC). PCRM has uncovered disturbing new details about this incident, and we need your help to ask NEPRC interim director Mark Barnes, J.D., LL.M., to immediately end the cruel and unnecessary experiment that killed this marmoset.
From correspondence received through the Freedom of Information Act, PCRM learned that in this experiment, marmosets are forced into restraint tubes barely larger than their bodies. Then, they are placed in an EchoMRI machine while fully awake. It appears that the marmoset who died during the experiment was so panicked that he suffered lethal injury during capture, restraint and placement in the tube, or the imaging procedure.
Not only is this experiment extremely cruel, it is also completely unnecessary. Marmosets are being used to study the human aging process—something that is being effectively and ethically investigated in humans through population studies and clinical trials.
PCRM has asked federal authorities to investigate this experiment for waste, fraud, and abuse, but the marmosets still at risk at NEPRC need help this instant. The protocol has been suspended, but it must be terminated to save the remaining marmosets. Please e-mail Mr. Barnes today to ask him to end this deadly experiment and retire the marmosets who are still alive to sanctuary.
Thank you for your support on this urgent matter.
3. Background | Source ALDF
Please help stop the abuse and slaughter of horses for human consumption!
For the past six years, a provision added to the recurring Agricultural Appropriations bills has prohibited any federal funds from being used to inspect horses prior to slaughter. Without such inspections, it is illegal for horse meat to be later sold for human consumption in the U.S. and slaughterhouses closed. Instead, the industry has been shipping more than 100,000 American horses each year for slaughter in Canada and Mexico.
This year, the House of Representatives voted to again include the provision banning funds for inspections. However, in November, three members of a conference committee assigned to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation (Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) removed the ban from the final conference report. The report was subsequently passed by both the Senate and the House and signed into law.
Horse slaughter for human consumption can now re-start in the U.S. and your help is needed more than ever to end this horrific practice once and for all.
Please contact your legislators in Congress by completing the form HERE and ask them to support the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011 (S. 1176/HR 2966). This legislation – which already has 25 Senate and 100 House co-sponsors – will permanently end the slaughter of horses for human consumption, and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for human consumption.
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New York Against Devocalization
BACKGROUND | SOURCE NY AGAINST DEVOCALIZATION
The proposed NYS devocalization ban is in trouble. The legislation must pass both the Assembly and the Senate before the 2011-2012 session ends in June–and the veterinary lobby, with members who profit from devocalization, has mobilized to defeat it.
It’s time for animal advocates to mobilize too, while the legislation still has a chance to become an enforceable law.
Legislative aides say the veterinary lobby is vocal and tenacious in its quest to kill the proposed devocalization ban. It can do that by stalling the legislation in committee…or amending it into a sham law that allows, legitimizes and will encourage this cruelty.
Pro-devocalization lobbies failed in Massachusetts , which passed a strong devocalization ban thanks only to calls to lawmakers by kind people like you. That has to happen in NY too.
Don’t let those who promote abject cruelty–cutting vocal cords just to stifle a dog’s or cat’s voice–win in NYS or helpless animals will lose.
5 Minutes to Spare Dogs and Cats
Lifelong Anguish or Agonizing Death.
Every Call is Vital. Yours Matters.
WHOM TO CALL, WHAT TO SAY
Start by identifying yourself. If you represent a shelter, rescue or advocacy organization, or are a vet, say so!
Sen. Agriculture Committee Chair Patty Ritchie, 518-455-3438: “Please release Senate Bill 6167A from Agriculture quickly and favorably. I ask that it not be amended beyond the language of Assembly Bill 3431B as written, so it has a chance to become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
Assembly Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol, 518-455-4477
“Please release Assembly Bill 3431B from Codes quickly and favorably as written, without further amendments so it has a chance to become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
If you have a few more minutes, please call these two power-brokers of the NYS Legislature too:
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, 518-455-3791: “I’d like the Speaker’s help ensuring Assembly Bill 3431B is passed as written this session, without further amendments, so it can become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
Sen. Majority Leader Dean Skelos, 518-455-3171: “I’d like the Senator’s help ensuring Senate Bill 6167A is passed this session. I ask that it not be amended beyond the language of Assembly Bill 3431B as written, so it can become an enforceable law that protects dogs and cats.”
If your New York State Senator is on the Agriculture Committee, call him/her too. Click here to find his/her phone number: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators. The members of the Agriculture Committee are: Chair: Sen. Patty Ritchie Tony Avella, Patrick M. Gallivan, Shirley L. Huntley, Timothy M. Kennedy, Thomas F. O’Mara, Michael H. Ranzenhofer, James L. Seward, David J. Valesky, Catharine Young.
Don’t know who your New York State Senator is (in Albany, not Washington)? Click here: http://senate.state.ny.us/mem/?sh=search
- Use the specific wording provided–including the letters at the end of each bill number–so your message is clear. Add your own thoughts if you’d like, but be brief and always polite.
- If you get voicemail, leave a short message, then call back until you can speak with an aide. Don’t give up!
- The position of our coalition, New York Against Devocalization, is simple: Devocalization is an act of cruelty that NY must prohibit for any reason except to treat a physical ailment causing the animal medical harm.
- Learn more about the issue and proposed amendments here: http://nyagainstdevocalization.weebly.com/pending-new-york-devocalization-ban.html
Vodpod videos no longer available.
New York Against Devocalization
Footloose Montana
BACKGROUND | SOURCE FOOTLOOSE MONTANA
Stop Senseless Trapping of our Wolves and other Wildlife in Montana!
Public Comments needed to FWP, best by May 10 (comment period ends at 5 p.m. on June 18)
Dear Friend,
Your comment is needed against statewide wolf trapping on public lands. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) will present the proposal to allow a wolf trapping season on our public lands on May 10 in Helena! Update: The proposed statewide Trapping Season for wolves would be December 15 through Feb. 28; Snaring is out for now, statewide trapping using leghold traps is in… Click here for info about the proposal. Traps used for wolves have a 9 inch jaw spread! See background information for more details.
Allowing trapping of wolves could potentially put an end to our efforts to eliminate trapping in general on Montana’s public lands!
Trapping of wolves brings a whole new arsenal of weaponry to trapping on public lands! Powerful traps will further compromise the public’s safety, and increase the risk for our companion dogs.
A wolf trapping policy could be used as a “Trojan Horse” to actually loosen current trapping regulations (e.g., seasonal restrictions, setbacks, etc.)
Click here for background info. We need your help to protest trapping of wolves on public lands. Please write, call and attend this crucial meeting! The final agenda is set, with trapping disguised under ‘Wolf Hunting.’ Please spread the word to all your friends and family. We’re providing talking points at the end of this alert.
WHOM TO CONTACT
E-mail: fwpcomm@mt.gov , fwpgen@mt.gov
Mail: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, 1420 East Sixth Avenue, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT 59620-0701
Phone: (406) 444-2535
Fax: (406) 444-4952
Click HERE for free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, credit card, or registering required. Please be certain to confirm you message by clicking on the link sent to your email address or else your fax will not be sent.
SAMPLE MESSAGE | COURTESY FOOTLOOSE MONTANA
Dear Commissioners Moody, Ream, Vermillion, Stafne, and Colton:
I strongly oppose the trapping and snaring of wolves and other wildlife, as it is cruel, indiscriminate, dangerous to people and pets, and causes wanton waste.
Trappers already set tens of thousands of baited traps and snares across our public lands, which lure in any animal or person unfortunate enough to step into these hidden devices. The hidden nature of trapping and the sheer number of traps means no monitoring or enforcement of trapping regulations is possible. Allowing yet another layer of larger, lethal traps across the public landscape for wolves will cause the by-catch of non-target animals to increase exponentially. Already, 50,000 animals are reported killed in traps or snares annually, and the real number is likely three times that.
Currently, publicly-owned ‘furbearing’ wildlife is being managed as a ‘natural renewable resource’ for trappers’ recreation and profit. However, wildlife and public lands are owned by the public, and as a taxpayer, I want to have my voice considered. The public wants less trapping and not more. If FWP needs to manage wolf populations, they need to find more ethically responsible methods of doing so.
Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.
NAME
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Wikimedia Commons
BACKGROUND | SOURCE FACEBOOK
Based in South Florida, Primate Products, Inc. (PPI) is a vile company that imprisons, breeds, mutilates, and sells monkeys for experimentation in U.S. labs. Aside from providing the vivisection industry with live captive animals, PPI is also a key supplier of primate restraint devices and “bioproducts” (i.e. blood, organs, tissue samples, etc).
Primate Products’ executives and personnel have built their entire careers on the misery of countless innocent animals, but not without help. The company currently maintains a close business alliance with Indianapolis-based Harlan Laboratories. Given their grim financial outlook and shortage of willing business partners, PPI is largely reliant on Harlan’s continued support to remain in operation.
Please take a moment to email Harlan and let them know what you think of their dealings with the killers at Primate Products.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email block (please note that you will receive undeliverable mailings back):
harlan@harlan.com, rms.na@harlan.com, tekladinfo@harlan.com, hbps@harlan.com, transportation2@harlan.com, rms_mx@harlan.com, crs.ch@harlan.com, crs.de@harlan.com, crs.es@harlan.com, crs.uk@harlan.com, rms.nordic@harlan.com, rms.uk@harlan.com, rms.nl@harlan.com, rms.be@harlan.com, rms.fr@harlan.com, rms.ch@harlan.com, rms.de@harlan.com, rms.at@harlan.com, rms.hu@harlan.com, rms.es@harlan.com, rms.it@harlan.com, crs.jp@harlan.com, crs.kr@harlan.com, rms.in@harlan.com, rms.il@harlan.com, hbi@harlanisrael.com, secr@harlan.com, orders@harlan.com, tekladuk@harlan.com, hnlcsd@harlan.com, verkauf@harlan.com, HITInfo@harlan.com, harlanfrance@harlan.com, HfrServiceClientele@harlan.com, csdhsc@harlan.com, harlanclientes@harlan.com, bramani@harlan.com, hbps@harlan.com, teklad@teklad.com, hpbm@netvision.net.il, kweber@harlan.com, jfallet@harlan.com, mwormuth@harlan.com, gochs@harlan.com, dpitts@harlan.com, rcarter@harlan.com, tbheffner@harlan.com, lknarr@harlan.com, dschreiner@harlan.com, csdorders@harlan.com, TechServ@harlan.com, jbeyers@harlan.com, webmaster@harlan.com, hr-jobs@harlan.com, PKazeminy@harlan.com, askanutritionist@harlan.com, rbrady@harlan.com, Nwhited@harlan.com, mtengle@harlan.com, bbayne@harlan.com, technicalservices@harlan.com, rguest@harlan.com, aburghdorf@harlan.com, khoetzer@harlan.com, agraunstrup@harlan.com, bmickelson@harlan.com, TBurns-Heffner@harlan.com, PressRelease@harlan.com, njarvis@harlan.com, sbohnenberger@harlan.com, harlancommunication@harlan.com, mthompson@harlan.com, fhermann@harlan.com, hr1croeurope@harlan.com, askanutritionist@teklad.com, customerservice@teklad.com, hkim@harlan.com, ldurst@harlan.com, sgaehler@harlan.com, wnef@harlan.com, kwerner@harlan.com, RMS.Nordic@harlan.com, Jgillespie@harlan.com, dcooper@harlan.com, harlan@netvision.net.il, hans@harlan.com, kkelly@harlan.com, JMcginley@harlan.com, jstradling@harlan.com, SCapdevila@harlan.com, jeasley@harlan.com, jchick@harlan.com, jgoerge@harlan.com, efrische@harlan.com
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
I was disappointed to learn that Harlan Laboratories does business with the notorious Primate Products, Inc., a Florida-based company with a record of shoddy animal care and reckless decisions that have led to animal suffering. There have been a number of serious incidents that suggest serious problems at Primate Products:
– In July 2009, Primate Products dumped close to 100 owl monkeys that they could not sell at a roadside zoo in Homestead, Florida. Within a week, at least 25 of the monkeys were dead!
– In 2010, disturbing photographs surfaced of monkeys inside Primate Products suffering from horrible wounds and crude surgical mutilations.
– In April 2011, Primate Products was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for leaving monkeys who were still under anesthesia in an enclosure without supervision, and in the hot sun.
Your business with Primate Products is no secret. Poor employee morale at Primate Products has made the company leakier than an old rusty bucket!
Please, do the right thing and permanently sever your ties with Primate Products.
Thank you.
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Our Compass 