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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.

Victory for Ferrets at the University of Washington | Please contact UVA and ask that they replace the use of cats

March 23, 2012
by

Alfredo Gutiérrez

Please contact UVA president Teresa Sullivan, Ph.D. and ask to replace the use of cats with  human-based medical simulation.

Source: PCRM

I am very excited to be able to share with you another victory for animals. The University of Washington (UW) informed us this week that it has replaced the use of ferrets with human-based medical simulators to teach future pediatricians.

This change is the result of PCRM’s campaign, the support of our members, the hard work of the local advocacy group Seattle Animal Defense League, and the willingness of UW to adopt current best practices. We could not have done this without you, who, along with 59,000 PCRM supporters flooded UW administrators with e-mails and written petitions over the past year encouraging the school to take this progressive step. And UW finally listened!

A UW spokesperson informed PCRM that instead of ferrets “tetherless simulators are being employed at the point-of-care at the bedside to simulate resuscitations and enhance teamwork among healthcare providers.” The spokesperson also stated that “simulation will be a more cost-effective way to train intubation techniques.”

Ferrets used in endotracheal intubation training at UW suffered through multiple intubations and were used for several sessions. Also, some of the animals used were later killed. Fortunately, the school has now joined the 95 percent of pediatrics residency programs in the United States that view nonanimal methods as not only more humane but educationally superior.

While UW has decided to make this necessary change, there are still 9 other schools that need to do so. The University of Virginia (UVA) continues to use cats in endotracheal intubation training. Please contact UVA president Teresa Sullivan, Ph.D., and ask her to replace the use of cats with human-based medical simulation.

Read more…

2 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Vivisection / Testing

Wild Horse Herd Killing in Alberta: Please send sample letters

March 22, 2012
by

Prince Roy



SOURCE: ESA

BACKGROUND | EVIDENCE

Source: Details from Canadian Horse Defence Coalition

Alberta Government Decimates Wild Horse Herds

http://canadianhorsedefencecoalition.wordpress.com/

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Canadian Horse Defence Coalition.

In a ruthless ploy to protect grasslands from wild horse herds that have roamed Alberta for centuries, the province s Sustainable Resource Department (SRD) has put a large dent in the population of horses living in the Sundre/Olds area of Alberta. According to Bob Henderson of WHOAS (The Wild Horses of Alberta Society: http://northernhorse.com/wildhorses/), Over 130 horses that we know about were taken. Evidently the government is so anxious to rid the province of these majestic wild horses that even its customary capture application and license process has been waived this year. The horses have been rounded up and many have gone to slaughter.

Why would the SRD think to rob wild horses of their land and their lives? The usual answer in similar situations has been greed, and once again, the burgeoning needs and wants of ranchers seem to have been given the upper hand. Even with miles and miles of grassland rolling on farther than the eye can see, the wild Alberta horses, whose birthright would surely include the capacity to remain on those lands, have become the target of greed and corruption amongst ranchers and short-sighted government officials who are paranoid that the horses will somehow impact upon the livestock industry.

Only small herds of these iconic, breathtakingly beautiful horses now remain. If the ranchers and the government have their way, the wild horse herds of Alberta will become extinct. It is believed that these horses could be descendents of Spanish Mustangs, introduced from Spain during the early conquest of the Americas, but that doesn t seem to matter to those whose world revolves around profits.

The Alberta government needs to hear from citizens everywhere who are opposed to the mindless roundups and killing of these horses. Please consider contacting the following officials with your concerns:

Hon. Frank Oberle Minister of Sustainable Resource Development Legislature Office 420 Legislature Building 10800 97 Avenue NW Edmonton, AB Canada T5K 2B6 Phone: (780) 415-4815 Fax: (780) 415-4818 E-mail: SRD.minister@gov.ab.ca

Premier Alison Redford 307- Legislature Bldg 10800-97 Ave Edmonton, AB T5K 2B1 Ph.: (780)-427-2251 E-mail contact form: http://alberta.ca/premier_contact.cfm

Excuses from the Albert Government via form letter

From: SRD Minister (SRD.Minister@gov.ab.ca) Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:13:13 +0000 Subject: RE: Alberta’s wild horses

Thank you for your email of March 15, 2012 regarding free roaming horses in Alberta. I am pleased to provide the following information.

Horses indigenous to North America became extinct several thousand years ago. Although some people refer to free-roaming horses on today’s landscape as “wild,” these animals are descendants of domestic horses that have escaped captivity or have been turned loose and allowed to run freely. As soon as horses escape captivity – whether from early European explorers or by stock ranchers – they are defined as an introduced or exotic species.

The Government of Alberta considers free-roaming horses to be feral and protects them through the Stray Animals Act and its associated Horse Capture Regulation. Under this legislation, Sustainable Resource Development designates areas of Crown land where licences may be obtained to capture feral horses.

People who apply for horse capture licences are screened to ensure they use safe and humane methods of capture, have a satisfactory level of experience in capturing horses and have adequate facilities to care for captured horses. Sustainable Resource Development staff monitor horse-capture operations to ensure horses are treated humanely and if any branded horses are captured, the department notifies Alberta’s Livestock Identification Services. On average, 30 horses have been captured in each of the past few years.

Alberta’s increasing feral horse populations are resulting in a number of impacts on resources. In 2010, more than 1,000 feral horses were identified in the south of Alberta’s Eastern Slopes – up significantly from the 650 in 2009. This growing number of horses compete with native wildlife for habitat and can damage rangeland and reduce the forage available for livestock. They can also impede forest regeneration by damaging young trees. Feral horses pose a public safety risk on Alberta’s highways, which was especially apparent last winter when heavy snow conditions drove the animals east toward public roadways.

Be assured it is our government’s intent to help ensure the survival of these animals while balancing their impact on the environment.

Thank you for the opportunity to share this information about feral horses.

Sincerely, Frank Oberle Minister

WHOM TO CONTACT | COPY/PASTE INTO YOUR TO:

SRD.minister@gov.ab.ca , carol.chawrun@gov.ab.ca , dave.ealey@gov.ab.ca

SAMPLE LETTERS (CHOOSE ONE OR FEEL FREE TO SEND MORE)

Sample Letter One

To The Ministry of Sustainable Resource Department:

It is disgraceful that the Alberta government has succumbed to rancher greed and is killing off wild horses. Such an attitude shows not only lack of foresight, but also reflects the untrustworthiness of a government towards the population it is supposed to serve.

Thank you for taking the time to read this brief, yet urgent, message.

Sample Letter Two

Dear Minister Oberle:

It has come to my attention that the Government of Alberta has been complicit in conducting roundups of wild horses roaming in the Sundre/Olds area. I also understand that their demise (a trip to the slaughterhouse) is defended on the grounds that they are descendents of domestic horses who have escaped captivity or have been turned loose, and that these horses are considered by the government to be “feral” rather than “wild”.

Mention has even been made of increasing horse populations impacting on resources. Please clarify what studies have been conducted on the populations of free-roaming horses, as it is my understanding from local residents that the herds have diminished substantially, yet the government claims that there are over 1000 horses populating the area.

I would like to inquire whether the government has given any thought to the fact that many of these strikingly-beautiful horses may be descendents of Spanish Mustangs, introduced to the Americas centuries ago. To totally eradicate them would be a travesty. It is interesting that preliminary DNA testing on some wild horses from the area indicates that they may have evolved into their own distinct breed. In truth, no matter what their roots, these horses are no longer “domestic” and they do not deserve to be caught and transported to slaughter where their end to life is anything but “humane euthanasia”. Equine slaughter in itself is brutal, as exposed by undercover investigations in Canada as recently as 2011.

I am also aware of the fact that the Government of Alberta is so anxious to get rid of these animals that license applications are being waived and consequently anyone can capture the horses.

With regard to “resources”, perhaps the most important resource to the government is the huge expanse of grassland that these horses call home. Since the livestock industry (ranching) is closely aligned with government, I would like to suggest that perhaps SRD is pandering to greedy ranchers who cannot share the land with wild horses, animals whose birthright should include access to the land and the right to roam freely there. They do not “compete” with wildlife for a place to stay – they, like all wild animals, belong there. I call upon the government of Alberta to put a stop to these roundups immediately and institute a protective program for the horses that would include allowing them to live with their herds – as they have for centuries.

Yours truly,

Sample Letter Three

To The Ministry of Sustainable Resource Department:

Please don’t kill the horses! They belong on the land. People have already taken much of their habitat. Destroying the wilderness for profit will only leave less for future generations.

Thank you for taking the time to read this brief, yet urgent, message.

Sample Letter Four

Dear Minister Oberle:

I find it appalling that you can sanction the mindless rounding up and killing of these beautiful creatures – all in the name of greed. Preliminary DNA testing on some wild horses from the area show that these horses may be considered their own breed. Thus any argument that they originated from domestic horses and thus can be considered domestic is unfounded. These horses have a birthright to roam freely in their home. They do not deserve to be rounded up and slaughtered! The fact that you have waived licence applications in your anxiety to be rid of these horses is simply dictatorial – you bypass your own rules – rules that are in place to monitor and have some controls on the potential for abuse of vulnerable beings.

I will spread the word of your untrustworthiness and betrayal of these innocent animals.

Yours truly,
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15 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Animals Exploited for Ritual

Shut Down WSU Painful Dog Experiments Lab: Cyber Action Week 2, please send sample letter

March 22, 2012
by

Facebook

BACKGROUND | SOURCE: FACEBOOK EVENT

Our first Cyber Action week @ Shut Down WSU Painful Dog Experiments Lab was a great success and I hope to see the same enthusiasm this week …..

There were a few people who were unfamiliar with WSU and what they are doing so I am including a link:

http://pcrm.org/research/resch/dog_heart_failure_exp/wayne-state-university-inhumane-dog-experiments

This is for those of you who are unaware of the horrific crimes being committed against the animal at this educational institution. Also telling you that WSU is Wayne State University, which is a well-renowned university in Detroit, MI.  We are targeting the dog heart experiments to begin with and I say this is just the beginning.

This weeks targets are the school’s Deans of many departments along with any I saw along the way.  We must persuade WSU to abandon the cruel and inhumane animal experiments and end this suffering….

Thank you everyone for a fantastic 1st week, let’s see if we can do even better the 2nd week. Now let’s blast em’ and shut this horrible lab shut down for good!

WHOM TO CONTACT

Two are undeliverable at the moment but I will keep them in in case they are reactivated to receive targeted messages:

;The following addresses had permanent fatal errors —–

(reason: 550 5.1.1 … User unknown)

(reason: 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected grossman@wayne.edu)

Please copy and paste e-mails and put into your TO:

dczajkow@med.wayne.edu, prognosis@med.wayne.edu, pvanhulle@med.wayne.edu, OfficeoftheDean@med.wayne.edu, dbacon@med.wayne.edu, beplerg@karmanos.org, mcher@med.wayne.edu, jflack@med.wayne.edu, mguthikonda@neurosurgery.wayne.edu, mguthikonda@neurosurgery.wayne.edu, lhorn@wayne.edu, jin@med.wayne.edu, mjuzych@med.wayne.edu, okhan@med.wayne.edu, akonski@med.wayne.edu, rmathog@med.wayne.edu, dmehreg@med.wayne.edu, jmeythal@dmc.org, bmitra@med.wayne.edu, pmontgo@med.wayne.edu, kprzykle@med.wayne.edu, epuschec@med.wayne.edu, wsakr@med.wayne.edu, asarnaik@med.wayne.edu, wlsmith@med.wayne.edu, dweaver@med.wayne.edu, pbridge@med.wayne.edu, rafrank@med.wayne.edu, scott.gruber@va.gov, shassan@med.wayne.edu, mpjacks@med.wayne.edu, kplee@med.wayne.edu, hlim1@hfhs.org, lmaclean@med.wayne.edu, tmarkova@med.wayne.edu, snorman@med.wayne.edu, rpage@med.wayne.edu, vparisi@med.wayne.edu, rpauley@med.wayne.edu, dpieper@med.wayne.edu, hsmither@med.wayne.edu, rsonnino@med.wayne.edu, bstanton@med.wayne.edu, dwalz@med.wayne.edu, grossman@wayne.edu, mguthikonda@neurosurgery.wayne.edu

SAMPLE LETTER

To whom it may concern:

This letter is to inform you that the WSU and all who support it therein are directly responsible for allowing horrific dog heart failure experimentation to continue in the labs at the WSU, including the imprisonment, torture, maiming, and murdering of innocent shelter dogs.

In turn, as a supporter of this school, you, too, are responsible for this scientific fraud, especially since technologically-advanced alternatives are available.

WSU is allowing former companion dogs purchased from Michigan Animal Shelters to be forced to run dozens of treadmill experiments with catheters protruding from bodies and incisions leaking blood and other bodily fluids, causing pain and distress, with no anesthesia or compassion whatsoever, until they die!

This is not only totally unacceptable, but also a barbaric and completely inhumane act which is being allowed to continue on the Wayne State University Campus. This cruelty has been continued at WSU for two decades while the number of people with poor heart health continues to rise.

We are far from the only ones who will no longer tolerate this abuse! PCRM has filed a legal complaint, you may view this at the following:

http://www.pcrm.org/pdfs/research/research/WayneStateUSDAComplaint101911Final.pdf

Now I urge you to see the truth of this matter, take charge, and stop these atrocities within your educational institution! Everyone involved by sponsoring and/or supporting WSU in any fashion is culpable and, therefore, I will no longer patronize your establishment.

Please make an ethical decision. Consider withdrawing your support at WSU.

Sincerely,

NAME
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19 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Our Compass, Vivisection / Testing

Close Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo: sample letter

March 21, 2012
by

BACKGROUND | SOURCE PETA

Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo has recently come under fire yet again for keeping animals in filthy, severely crowded, inadequate enclosures and for the long list of animals who have died or gone missing at the decrepit facility. The most recent death was the zoo’s only remaining giraffe, who died after ingesting plastic, which is believed to have been thrown into the animal’s enclosure.

Last year, the Ministry of Forestry demanded a change in the zoo’s management, but there have been no improvements in the welfare of the animals at the facility. Please write to the Ministry of Forestry and Surbaya city officials and demand that the suffering of animals at the hands of the Surabaya Zoo be ended for good. Please ask them to close the zoo and transfer the animals to more suitable facilities.

WHOM TO CONTACT

Please note that komwsh@embassyofindonesia.org is disabled, but I will keep it in in case it gets reactivated. But you can send a free fax, directions are below, it only takes a minute or two, thank you.

The Honorable Zulkifli Hasan
Minister of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia
menhut@dephut.go.id
+62-21-570-4501-04; +62-21-573-0191

Please also write or call the Indonesian embassy in the U.S. and ask the ambassador to do everything in his power to intervene on behalf of these animals.

His Excellency Dr. Dino Patti Djalal
Indonesian Ambassador to the United States
2020 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
komwsh@embassyofindonesia.org
202-775-5200
202-775-5365 (fax)

Contact details for Indonesian embassies outside the U.S. can be found here.

Click HERE  for access to free faxing from your computer.  No fax machine, registering, or credit card required.  Be sure to click the fax confirmation link in your email so your fax delivery will succeed.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Honorable Zulkifli Hasan and His Excellency Dr. Dino Patti Djalal,

I am writing today to encourage Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo to close and relinquish the animals to appropriate sanctuaries, rescues, or reserves, and I am respectfully requesting that His Excellency Dr. Dino Patti Djalal do everything in his power to intervene and help these animals.

Please allow me to elaborate. Despite new management, the zoo has once again been exposed to inadequate care, neglect, and abuse. These beings have been subjected to enslavement; forced to endure inadequate, dirty spaces; given inferior medical treatment and care if any; suffer from lack of companionship; and are denied food and fresh water. In fact, a giraffe recently died and was found to have ingested exorbitant amounts of plastic that was believed to be thrown to him. As the result of a more attentive and compassionate group, individuals comprising a large global audience concerned with these animals have been respectfully offering scientific and medical evidence establishing the debilitating natures to which these animals are exposed. Sadly, however, corporate greed and indifference have resulted in their deteriorating mental and physical states. By refusing to release them, management has established their approval of animal cruelty, and I am appalled to learn of the deliberate involvement in the exploitation of animals.

Although Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo may assert that humane protocols must be followed, the visual evidence validates the position that these directives are being ignored in favor of park management profit; nevertheless, establishing a threshold of humane treatment is ambiguous at best, these standards being implemented by those with questionable interests, its oversight managed by those who exploit animals for funds.

I hope Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo makes the compassionate decision to close the facility; please discontinue your imprisonment of these animals and reject complicity in the unethical industry that profits from their suffering. However, as  long as the Surabaya Zoo continues to unnecessarily capitalize on the exploitation, imprisonment, and maltreatment of them, I will not financially support Indonesia. It is important to recognize that consumers are increasingly rejecting those destinations via tourism and commerce that are complicit in the suffering and unnecessary treatment of animals by shifting their loyalties to those places that do not participate in the exploitation of them, and I hope that Indonesia’s Surabaya Zoo will extend such an ethical and empathetic gesture as well.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention; I look forward to a positive response.

NAME
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1 Comment
from → Action Alerts, Animals Exploited for Fun & Sport, Our Compass

Ban the brutal festival at Nem Thuong village, Vietnam: petition, sample letter

March 21, 2012
by

Vodpod videos no longer available.

EXTREMELY GRAPHIC: Not recommended for sensitive viewers

1. Please click on and sign Ban the brutal festival at Nem Thuong village, Vietnam

2. Please copy and paste the below Sample Letter (or choose your own words) and send it to the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam using their contact form on their website:
http://www.vietnam.gov.vn/portal/page/portal/English/contact


3. You can also send an email to the embassy of Vietnam in your country, or to your country’s embassy in Vietnam. Email addresses can easily be found using the following online portal:
http://www.embassyworld.com/embassy/Vietnam/vietnam.htm

BACKGROUND

This is one Vietnamese festival that makes even non animal lovers cringe.

Every year, at a village near Hanoi, a pig is brutally chopped into two so that people can smear banknotes with its blood in the belief that it would bring luck.

SAMPLE LETTER

To whom it may concern,

I wish to express my deep concern about animal cruelty being conducted in the name of tradition in Vietnam.

On 28th of January 2012 – like every year – citizens at Nem Thuong village have celebrated their cruel festival during which a pig is brutally chopped into two. Every year, thousands of people from the village and nearby villages gather to smear the blood of the pig on their banknotes in the belief that it would bring luck in the new year. The festival is known as the most brutal in your country and is condemned by many, including some who called already on your government to stop the festival.

http://www.occupyforanimals.org/the-brutal-festival-at-nem-thuong-village-vietnam.html

No one can adequately explain why these practices are carried out year after year – except to say they are “traditional”. This however is not a valid argument to continue these practices.

I urge the Government of Vietnam to abolish the above practice for the following reasons:

1. It hurts the animals – contrary to what many believe, animals suffer tremendously before and during such festivals.

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

3. It is bad for tourism – as tourists are abhorred by such practices, the festival will have an adverse effect on tourism, an industry which provides the country with much-needed financial returns. Those foreigners who experience or come to know of this practice leave Vietnam confused and with a heavy heart, rather than uplifted by its paradoxical beauty and friendliness.

I implore you to end these violent practice and help Vietnam move towards a truly peaceful country in keeping with its international image.

I trust that you will support these measures (which are becoming more widespread around the world) and thus promote non-violent cultural practices in Vietnam. Until such a time, however, I regret that it will be necessary to boycott Vietnam both as a tourist and by way of commerce and to encourage others to participate in a boycott as well.

Yours sincerely,

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13 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Animals Exploited for Ritual

Prosecute the killer of our son, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin

March 21, 2012
by

Change

Please click on and sign Prosecute the killer of our son, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin

Background | Source: Change

On February 26, our son Trayvon Martin was shot and killed as he walked to a family member’s home from a convenience store where he had just bought some candy. He was only 17 years-old.

Trayvon’s killer, George Zimmerman, admitted to police that he shot Trayvon in the chest. Zimmerman, the community’s self appointed “neighborhood watch leader,” called the police to report a suspicious person when he saw Travyon, a young black man, walking from the store. But Zimmerman still hasn’t been charged for murdering our son.

Trayvon was our hero. At the age 9, Trayvon pulled his father from a burning kitchen, saving his life. He loved sports and horseback riding. At only 17 he had a bright future ahead of him with dreams of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. Now that’s all gone.

When Zimmerman reported Trayvon to the police, they told him not to confront him. But he did anyway. All we know about what happened next is that our 17 year-old son, who was completely unarmed, was shot and killed.

It’s been nearly two weeks and the Sanford Police have refused to arrest George Zimmerman. In their public statements, they even go so far as to stand up for the killer – saying he’s “a college grad” who took a class in criminal justice.

Please join us in calling on Norman Wolfinger, Florida’s 18th District State’s Attorney, to investigate my son’s murder and prosecute George Zimmerman for the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin.
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11 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Human Rights

Action Alert: SAS Scandinavian Airlines transport lab animals! Please send sample letter

March 20, 2012
by

Facebook

SOURCE: FACEBOOK EVENT

BACKGROUND

SAS Scandinavian Airlines transport lab animals including the Beagle dogs from Harlan Laboratories along with other animals.
SAS are 1 out of the 2 remaining airlines transporting lab animals in and out of the UK please send emails and make phone calls to express your disgust and boycott of the company.

WHOM TO CONTACT

Emails: sasmedical@sas.dk, sas.cargo@sas.dk

Phone: 02087594999, 08712267767

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am extremely disturbed to learn the cruelty inflicted on primates as captured, imprisoned, and exported by SAS Scandinavian Airlines for research, the efficacy of which is unproven, demonstrably cost-prohibitive, and lethal, not only on non-human animals, but also on human animals. These experiments subject these sentient animals to enormous suffering and pain, and I respectfully request that you immediately cease your participation in such an unethical practice.

Animals are sentient beings, capable of thought and emotion, including love and suffering. I plea with you to acknowledge this important condition that both humans and non-humans share. We must teach our children respect for, and empathy towards, animals, for our children are undeserving of this cruel legacy whereby animals are exploited and suffered for human greed and egotistical motive, which only fosters the dangerous premise of acceptable suffering against all animals, human and non-. Please consider my request, immediately cease causing harm to these inquisitive and intelligent animals by discontinuing your participation in the testing business.

Many other international companies have already made the decision to stop the transportation of animals for such unethical practices, and I hope you, too, make the similar decision.

Sincerely,

NAME
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9 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Vivisection / Testing

Badger cull in Wales scrapped for vaccination programme

March 20, 2012
by

BadgerHero

Source: The Guardian
By and agencies

A controversial cull of badgers in Wales aimed at cutting TB in cattle will no longer go ahead, Welsh environment minister John Griffiths announced on Tuesday, with the plan replaced by a multimillion-pound vaccination programme.

The decision was met with delight from animal rights groups, and came following a review of the science behind an original government study saying the cull should go ahead. Farming groups and rival politicians have accused the government of “betraying” the rural community with the U-turn. Bovine tuberculosis leads to the slaughter of thousand of cattle a year and costs taxpayers millions. England is pushing ahead with culling plans, which environment secretary Caroline Spelman argues may reduce infections in culling areas by 16%.

But Griffiths, who stressed he was “personally committed” to the eradication of TB in cattle in Wales, told the Press Association he was not satisfied that the mass killing of badgers, who can carry the disease, would bring a major halt to its spread. “Bovine TB has a significant financial and social impact on farmers and the wider community in Wales,” he said. “Last year alone, the Welsh government paid out just over £12m in compensation for cattle slaughtered. But I am not at present satisfied a cull of badgers would be necessary to bring about a substantial reduction in the incidence of bovine TB in cattle.”

Mark Jones, veterinarian and executive director of the Humane Society UK, said: “At last, a genuinely science-led policy to tackle to bovine TB without slaughtering thousands of badgers, and one that will actually help to solve the problem instead of making things worse. This puts added pressure on Caroline Spelman to withdraw its disastrous plans to cull English badgers.”

Brian Walters, a spokesman for the Farmer’s Union of Wales, said: “Culling has consistently been shown to reduce bovine TB incidences in cattle herds, and since the 1970s thousands of herds have achieved TB-free status following badger culling. When Welsh assembly members previously voted in favour of a badger cull, it demonstrated that Wales was willing to take positive steps to eradicate TB, even if those steps were controversial.”

Tuesday’s announcement marked another twist on the issue of bovine TB in Wales. The focus is an “intensive action area” of north Pembrokeshire and neighbouring parts of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, where officials say the disease among cattle and badgers is rife. In 2010, the Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition government was forced to shelve a cull after the Badger Trust won a legal appeal. But Elin Jones, then rural affairs minister, said she would be pushing ahead with a new order.

However, last May’s election saw Labour return to power alone – and last summer, ministers announced they were to conduct a “science-led” review into the eradication programme. Griffiths said the government’s decision on Tuesday means the Welsh government can now get on with its five-year vaccination programme, which is expected to start this summer and cost an estimated £5m.

Both the Welsh Conservatives and Plaid criticised the government’s decision. “The minister has today hamstrung the bovine TB eradication programme by abandoning culling, despite voting in favour of that policy less than a year ago,” said Conservative assembly member and shadow rural affairs minister Antoinette Sandbach. “The previous eradication strategy had cross-party support in the assembly and the full backing of the industry. This U-turn is a betrayal of rural Wales.”

Plaid AM Llyr Huws Gruffydd added: “The Labour minister has displayed blind ignorance by disregarding the scientific evidence, and all because he has to fall in line with Labour’s new policy in London. Wales is now swimming against the tide of scientific evidence that has seen England adopt a culling policy, with Northern Ireland also moving in that direction.”

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8 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Animals Exploited for Food, Animals Exploited for Ritual

Arrest Now: Bring War Crimes Suspects to Justice

March 20, 2012
by

George Clooney arrested at Sudan rally on March 16th | Amnesty International



Please click on and sign Arrest Now: Bring War Suspects to Justice
Source: Amnesty International

Global attention on LRA leader Joseph Kony has also shone a light on the 11 other suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide — including Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

On Friday, Amnesty joined actor George Clooney, members of Congress, and other NGOs in a demonstration against ongoing human rights violations in Sudan, a war-ravaged country where nearly half a million people are on the brink of starvation.

Fugitives like al-Bashir and Joseph Kony are shielded by powerful supporters and states. The failure to bring them to justice means that they are free to commit more crimes, placing civilians in the areas in which they operate at great risk.

Write to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urging the UN to provide all the necessary resources to protect civilians and to support the arrest and surrender of all those wanted by the ICC.

Message Text

I welcome the United Nations’ efforts to end abuses being committed, including against children, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, Sudan and Libya. I support the UN’s vital role in bringing about the arrest of individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

However, I am deeply concerned that civilians continue to be at serious risk.

The UN has a critical role to play in providing protection, monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in affected areas. Despite its strong protection mandate, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) is still under-resourced for the provision of effective civilian protection. For example, MONUSCO has been instructed by the Security Council to give priority to protection of civilians, but in your own recent report, you admitted that limited resources are hampering the mission’s efforts. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan should take a proactive approach to implement its mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of violence, including against abuses committed by the LRA. In the CAR, there are no UN peacekeepers. The UN should, through your representatives, work with regional and governmental authorities to protect civilians from armed actors committing crimes under international law.

I urge you to take urgent measures to define and secure the additional resources required by all relevant UN missions and agencies in affected states to protect civilians and give all necessary political, diplomatic, and logistical support to states to effect arrests of ICC fugitives.
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from → Action Alerts, Human Rights

MAS Worker Shuts Cage Door on Puppy’s Leg Four Times : Send Sample Letter to MAS

March 19, 2012
by

Vodpod videos no longer available.

SOURCE: YES BISCUIT!

This is a clip of security camera footage obtained via FOIA request from the Memphis pound.  At about 9:33am on the timestamp, a worker scruffs a puppy out of his cage, failing to support his weight from beneath, and roughly places the puppy into a small wire cage on the floor.  The puppy’s leg is hanging over the side of the cage and the worker closes the door on the leg 4 times until the puppy finally frees his leg.  Another puppy is scruffed and put into the small cage and the worker then goes out of camera view.  At approximately 9:34, the worker returns, stuffs 2 more puppies into the cage and carries the cage off camera.  At about 9:42am, the worker returns with an empty wire cage, scruffs 2 more pups, putting them into the small cage and carrying them away.

If you choose to contact city leaders in Memphis, please keep your comments respectful. We can condemn what’s going on at the pound while maintaining civility and a sense of professionalism. If the city receives 2000 well written complaints and 2 filled with hate speech, it will take those 2 to the media as representative of all animal advocates. In order to have the greatest impact on helping the pets at MAS, please keep your comments courteous when writing to city officials.

WHOM TO CONTACT EMAIL BLOCK | COPY & PASTE INTO YOUR TO:

ac.wharton@memphistn.gov, janet.hooks@memphistn.gov, james.rogers@memphistn.gov, MASBoard@memphistn.gov, Berlin.Boyd@memphistn.gov, Bill.Boyd@memphistn.gov, bill.morrison@memphistn.gov, Myron.Lowery@memphistn.gov, janis.fullilove@memphistn.gov, harold.collins@memphistn.gov, wanda.halbert@memphistn.gov, Joe.Brown@memphistn.gov, shea.flinn@memphistn.gov, Kemp.Conrad@memphistn.gov, edmund.fordjr@memphistn.gov, reid.hedgepeth@memphistn.gov, Jim.Strickland@memphistn.gov, doctower@aol.com, info@utopiaanimalhospital.com

SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

I have seen video footage of the inappropriate handling of puppies and I am writing in opposition of the treatment of animals by Memphis Animal Services; I am respectfully requesting that policy changes be implemented immediately.   A few of my concerns include the killing of animals when there are empty cages or who have not been given the chance to integrate with a potential forever home; failure of shelter to vaccinate all incoming animals; the killing of pets who are not medically hopeless and suffering nor have they been declared a danger to society by a qualified party; failure of the shelter to provide daily aerobic exercise for dogs for social stimulation and in order to reduce stress and make the population less susceptible to disease; failure of the shelter to remove dogs and food from cages during cleaning as per standard disease prevention protocol; failure of the shelter to utilize their Chameleon software to interface with PetHarbor so that every pet is viewable online by the public; failure of the shelter to properly train and/or enforce humane handling of pets by the staff; and the killing of pets due to disease outbreak without ever making a public plea for help with quarantine to save lives.

This type of mass abuse using such a brutal and inappropriate type of treatment 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 treatment, and although I do not currently reside in Memphis, I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this type of handling continues.

I am in favor of a no-kill policy, and I believe you will find it matches your needs and would be both ethical and compassionate for the animals, who deserve respect, compassion, and dignity. Please find information HERE.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your considerations and attention to this urgent matter.

NAME
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11 Comments
from → Abuse/Depravity, Action Alerts, Companion Animals, Our Compass

Stop the Mayo Clinic from creating genetically engineered kittens for FIV testing.

March 19, 2012
by

Prskavka

Please click on and sign: Stop the Mayo Clinic from creating genetically engineered kittens for FIV testing.

The Mayo Clinic’s Eric Poeschia is inserting a rhesus macque gene – producer of an anitviral protein into unfertilized feline eges and adding luminescent protein from a jellyfish so they can monitor the genes under lights and microscopes because the cat will glow in the dark. These animals and small kittens will be laboratory animals whose lives will be living under a microscope and being injected with FIV disease to see if this helps with the false hope that this will help find a cure for AIDS.

Humans are not kittens nor do we have any of the genes that would make this research applicable to humans. Laboratory animals have a bleak existence and only have pain and discomfort to look forward to after which they will be killed.

There is a control group of kittens, too. This control group will be normal kittens infected with FIV in the lab. After being purposely infected these kittens will suffer from the illness without treatment to see how they differ from the kittens made immune genetically.

Lab animals are killed after experimentation is finished. No one is allowed to adopt them or bring them home. Articles about this specific research said the animals are well-cared for because they are well-nourished and better off than homeless animals. They do not say that their lives will be shortened to the time length of the experiment or discuss the daily routines of being poked with needles, having blood taken, or given drugs, and that their entire lives are spent in small cages where they cannot run or play or be given love. The kittens also have no voice in the matter. Those of you who have been in hospital know how uncomfortable it is when they come to take blood several times daily and give you drugs intravenously. Thank you for taking your time to read this.

You can also write the Mayo Clinic and tell them you are against their practice of creating animals genetically to use them to experiment on. Thank you for your time and caring.

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7 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Companion Animals

St. James Church starving cats: please send letter

March 19, 2012
by

Luis García

FROM ANIMAL ALLIANCE NYC

Church Groundskeeper Threatens Poisoning as Next Step

New York, NY – Monday, March 19, 2012 – The small colony of eight feral cats has not been fed for almost two weeks at historic St. James Church in lower Manhattan. Father Lino Gonsalves and Father Walter Tonelotto have locked out caretakers there in an effort to starve the cats off church property. The priests refuse to meet with the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals to discuss any plan for cat care, though caretakers are willing to address any concerns the church may have for security or hygiene. Where will the cats be welcomed if even a church is throwing them out?

BACKGROUND | FROM NY DAILY POST

Historic Manhattan church in catfight over feral colony

A historic Manhattan church that has served as a sanctuary for eight stray cats wants to evict its four-legged squatters — handing them a death sentence, says an animal rescue group that manages the colony.

Officials at St. James & St. Joseph’s Parish in Chinatown have stopped allowing rescuers to enter its property to feed the feral cat colony they have tended to for years.

The situation has grown increasingly tense in recent weeks, with one groundskeeper hinting the cats would be poisoned and rescuers threatened with arrest for trespassing.

Mike Phillips, community outreach coordinator of the Feral Cat Initiative, a program of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, fired off a letter to Cardinal Dolan this week and begged him to intervene.

“That area near St. James is besieged with rodents, but none can be found anywhere in that tiny strip of the neighborhood thanks to the presence of the very healthy and well cared for cats” he wrote. “We are worried for their safety and would simply ask permission to access the inner courtyard to clean and offer daily sustenance to the cats.”

The Rev. Lino Gonsalves, who was recently named pastor of the church, said there was never a plan to poison the cats.

“If they want, they can take the cats,” he said. “These people are destroying our property by putting food all around.”

He said rescuers are free to place food outside the church grounds for the felines.

“The cats have the freedom to do whatever they like,” he said. “People are coming in and trying to make it as if they are helping the cats.”

But the caretakers of the colony said it’s not that simple. Feral cats are extremely territorial and will continue to return to the same location expecting to be fed.

Relocating them is a long and tricky process.

“There aren’t any ‘sanctuaries’ or horse barns where they can go,” said Elizabeth Eller, a 20-year trap-neuter-return (TNR) volunteer, who has been managing the colony since 2009.

All the cats were vaccinated for rabies and spayed or neutered, which controls the population and keeps catfighting and howling at bay.

It also keeps the rats away.

“If they are retrapped and released in another part of Chinatown or on the next block, they will return to the back of the rectory,” Eller said, noting that once they are removed, another group of stray cats — which have not yet been spayed or neutered — will move in to replace them.

“It’s just the law of their particular jungle,” she said.

She urged the church to follow in the path of Pope Benedict, a known lover of felines, who has shown great kindness toward the strays of Rome.

Ousting the cats, Eller said, “is not a very Christian thing to do.”

amy.sacks2@gmail.com

WHOM TO CONTACT

Those who wish to comment directly to St. James Church officials can e-mail Father Lino Gonsalves at sjc@stjosephnyc.org. (The Archdiocese of New York and the Vatican will be copied on your e-mail.)

You may also call Father Lino Gonsalves of St. James Church at  (212) 267-8376  or Joseph Zwilling, Communications Director for the Archdiocese of New York , at  (212) 371-1011 x2997.
You may use the sample letter provided below, but it would be best for you to write brief statements in your own words.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Father Gonsalves,

I am gravely disturbed to learn of the deliberate starving of a cat colony on the grounds of St. James Church and I am writing to respectfully request that access to that these innocent creatures, God’s own creation, be granted so they can be fed and cared for immediately. This is TNR colony and should be respected for its sentience, one, and for its success, two. It is obvious that approval has been extended to kill these animals, and as such, I am demanding immediate intervention to protect them; even The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, is widely known to adore and care for feral cats.

Allow me this moment to elaborate. Animals are sentient creatures who, as humans, experience joy, loneliness, fear, and pain. As humans, we unethically elevate ourselves to a status of superiority over all other beings, thereby rationalizing the brutality to which we subject them. We embrace this position as an elite class of six billion individuals, adopting euphemistic descriptions and apathetic banalities to justify this inequity. Speciesism, the discrimination of other beings, is a dangerous precept on which to stand, as immoral as sexism and racism; when human animals allow the exploitation and killing of 60 billion non-human animals globally and annually, we have become a group willingly complicit in such brutality, apathetic and selfish, disguising such maliciousness as excusable necessity, which is not only grossly unjust and immoral, but it is also exceedingly wrong.

Ours is not a challenge to be regarded as humans against humans but rather as a welcomed obligation, indeed privilege, to maintain an international attitude of compassion and justice to our non-human animal friends. We do not gain power or control by degrading animals but rather we desensitize ourselves to all cruelty and victims become mere numbers, statistics, or unethical financial means. Objectifying animals by condoning their abusers’ violent acts or rejecting animals as undeserving of empathy and respect only erodes our capacity for humaneness towards all living creatures.

It is impossible to contemplate supporting any church that excuses such blatant animal cruelty; as a direct consequence, I will condemn any further exploitation through a personal boycott. As such, please provide immediate relief for these innocent animals, allow access to them, and be a representation of animal compassion and strive to foster an ideal whereby animals are respected and empathized by your citizens.

I hope this letter finds you willing to scrutinize both your own involvement in the intentional exploitation of animals and your desire to therefore protect, rather than harm, them. I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.

NAME
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13 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Companion Animals, Our Compass

End the use of child soldiers

March 18, 2012
by

Amnesty International

Please click on and sign End the Use of Child Soldiers
Source: Amnesty International

From South Sudan down to the DRC, the Lord’s Resistance Army, other armed groups, and all too often the national armies of the countries in which they operate, forcibly recruit children into armed conflict.

While the United States is supporting efforts to apprehend LRA leader Joseph Kony, it must also ensure that other armed groups and governments in the region cease recruiting child soldiers and help rehabilitate the children who are already soldiers.

Message Text

I am writing to urge you to take a strong stand against the use of child soldiers by fully complying with the Child Soldier Prevention Act.  With so much of the world’s attention on Joseph Kony, I was shocked to learn that Kony’s case represents just the tip of the iceberg in a region, and that children are being forcibly recruited and used in armed conflict by other armed groups as well as governments.

I believe that effective pressure should be brought to bear on any and all armed groups and governments throughout the Great Lakes region of Africa who continue to recruit or abduct children. I also strongly support programs to help child soldiers demobilize, begin their rehabilitation and regain a semblance of normal life.

I commend the U.S. Government for assisting efforts to apprehend Joseph Kony.  I urge you to also send a strong message other armed groups and governments in the region so that they understand that the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict will not be tolerated. To that end, I ask that you please comply with the Child Soldier Prevention Act by prohibiting military assistance to the DRC until the government meets specific benchmarks.  These benchmarks should include: 1) demonstrating that it no longer recruits child soldiers; 2) showing concrete progress in demobilizing or releasing children from existing forces; and 3)engaging in credible efforts to render persons suspected of recruiting child soldiers to justice.
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6 Comments
from → Action Alerts, Children's Rights, Human Rights

Scotts Miracle-Gro pleads guilty to selling poisoned bird seed

March 18, 2012
by

Mick Lobb

Source: Grist List
By Sarah Parsons

Scotts Miracle-Gro products are known for zapping weeds dead. But it turns out they could be killing decidedly more attractive creatures — birds.

Scotts pled guilty this Tuesday to charges that the company illegally put insecticides in its “Morning Song” and “Country Pride” brands of bird seed. That’s right: The company knowingly coated products intended for birds to eat with substances toxic to birds and wildlife.

According to court records, in 2008, Scotts distributed 73 million packages of bird seed coated with the insecticides Storcide II, containing the active ingredient chlorpyrifos, and Actellic 5E, containing the active ingredient pirimiphos-methyl, intended to keep insects from destroying the seed.

The company continued to produce and market the insecticide-coated seeds despite being alerted to toxicity dangers by a Scotts’ staff chemist and ornithologist.

And here’s the icing on the toxin-loaded cake: Storcide II, one of the insecticides in Scotts seed, comes with a huge warning label that reads: “Toxic to birds, toxic to wildlife” and “Exposed treated seed may be hazardous to birds.” Must be that a senior exec at Scotts got shat on by a pigeon one day and took it real personal.

In addition to the bird seed, Scotts is in big trouble for selling chemical-loaded gardening products without first obtaining registration from the EPA. The federal government alleges that a Scotts manager even went so far as to fabricate documents and correspondence with the agency. It seems they find forgery easier than just not poisoning wildlife.

The judge hasn’t decided what, exactly, Scotts’ punishment will be yet, but the company has proposed paying a $4 million fine and donating $500,000 towards wildlife conservation. Maybe all the house finches, sparrows, and mourning doves Scotts has poisoned over the years will file a class-action lawsuit and push for a lot more than that.
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13 Comments
from → Abuse/Depravity, Our Compass

Red Meat Linked to Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer and Early Death

March 18, 2012
by

Wikimedia Commons

From Indian Country Today
By ICTMN Staff

Eating both processed and unprocessed red meat is linked to premature death, according to a recent Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study, published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine on March 12, reported The State Column.

The study, Red Meat Consumption and Mortality, was partially funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute.

Why can eating too much red meat lead to early death? Researchers say it contains ingredients (e.g. heme iron, saturated fat, sodium, nitrites and some carcinogens) associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The good news is substituting healthy proteins for red meat can greatly benefit your chances of living a longer, healthier life, researchers say. According to the study, replacing one serving of total red meat—roughly the size of a deck of cards—with fish reduced mortality risk by 7 percent, poultry by 14 percent, nuts by 19 percent, legumes by 10 percent, low-fat dairy by 10 percent, and whole grains by 14 percent.

Researchers calculated 9.3 percent of deaths in men and 7.6 percent in women in the follow-up could have been prevented if all study participants had eaten less than half of a serving of red meat (42 grams) per day—also comparable to the size of one hot dog.

HSHP researches examined data that tracked 37,698 men ages 40 to 75 at baseline from 1986 to 2008, and 83,644 women ages 30 to 55 at baseline from 1980 to 2008. In the study, unprocessed red meat was defined as beef, pork, lamb, or hamburger, and processed red meat included bacon, hot dogs, sausage, salami, and bologna. The study counted 23,926 deaths, including 5,910 from cardiovascular disease and 9,464 from cancer.

“In other words,” Dean Ornish, MD, of the University of California San Francisco, wrote in accompanying commentary, “what we include in our diet is as important as what we exclude, so substituting healthier foods for red meat provides a double benefit to our health.” He also added that “plant-based foods are rich in phytochemicals, bioflavonoids, and other substances that are protective.”

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from → Animals Exploited for Food, Veganism
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