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.
Stop Greyhounds Racing in Wichita
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BACKGROUND
Kansas state officials are considering bill 319, which would allow the Wichita Greyhound Park racetrack to reopen for business and profit from the breeding and training of greyhounds. If passed, the bill would allow slot machines at Kansas racetracks, thereby providing the revenue necessary for the Wichita Greyhound Park racetrack to reopen and continue racing greyhounds. The bill is sponsored by the Kansas Committee on Federal and State Affairs and is set to be discussed by the Kansas Senate soon. Greyhound racing is not a sport; the dogs run because they are forced to. An estimated 50,000 greyhounds are killed each year by the dog racing industry because they sustain injuries such as broken legs or backs or fail to win. Most of those killed are less than 3 years old, and breeding dogs for racing contributes to the already severe dog overpopulation problem.
Please send a polite e-mail to U.S Representative Mike Pompeo here and also make a quick and courteous call to his office at 316-262-8992. Please also contact U.S. Senator Jerry Moran via e-mail here and call him at 316-631-1410. Urge both Pompeo and Moran to prevent cruelty to animals by opposing Senate Bill 319, which would allow the greyhound racetrack to reopen. (Please note that only constituents can send an e-mail using the Web form provided. Others should call the offices.)
WHOM TO CONTACT
The Honorable
Steve Brunk
Kansas State Representative
785-296-7645
steve.brunk@house.ks.gov
The Honorable
Judith Loganbill
Kansas State Representative
785-296-7669
judith.loganbill@house.ks.gov
Please also use the above webform links if you live in Kansas, thank you.
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Brunk and Honorable Loganbill,
I am writing today to share with you my shock at learning about the brutality inflicted on innocent greyhounds for racing purposes and the subsequent push to approve Senate Bill 319, which would allow the Wichita Greyhound Park racetrack to reopen for business and profit from the breeding and training of greyhounds.
The logistics of greyhound racing are inherently cruel as the industry profits immensely from the exploitation of greyhounds, causing thousands of greyhound deaths annually. These unfortunate animals are forced to endure horrible conditions and are subjected to unethical practices. If a dog fails to perform according to racing standards, for example, the dog will be abandoned or killed. Puppies, sadly, are sold into vivisection if deemed unsuitable. Shockingly, retired greyhounds are treated with indifference and even cruelty, abandoned or killed as well. These animals are also forced to endure upwards of 23 hours per day in confinement due to limited space.
Animals, including humans, are sentient, capable of love, pain, grief, and suffering. It is our obligation to provide compassion and protection, and when we fail at our most important of responsibilities, we invite grief and indifference to our society. These animals are objectified and forced to either perform or die torturous deaths. We cannot allow this barbarity to continue while ignoring the suffering humans cause. The goal of this industry, as like any industry, is profit. It is cost prohibitive to provide comfort, room to move, superior diet, and medical care. Instead, these animals are discarded, treated no better than garbage, if the performance does not match racing requirements. I therefore ask that you please provide your support to prohibit greyhound racing.
For additional information, please review the following websites:
http://www.greytexploitations.com/
http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk/
Thank you for taking the time to read this message.
NAME
Read more…
URGENT: Put a Stop to Cruel Pigeon Shoot in South Carolina, Part 2
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Please send one email using two email addresses and one fax using the below contact information and sample letter, or compose your own. This is the same alert done previously with different targets.
BACKGROUND
Reportedly, the Broxton Bridge Plantation in Ehrhardt, South Carolina, is currently holding a “pigeon shoot”—a grotesque event in which contestants compete for money and prizes by shooting at birds launched from spring-loaded boxes, with the goal of having bodies fall within a ring on the ground. Pigeons used in these events are typically trapped in urban areas and then trucked to properties, where, disoriented and terrified, they are launched into the air and shot at. Many pigeons are maimed—but not killed—by the shots. There is no shortage of video footage on the Web depicting the horrors of these notorious events.
Pigeon shoots may violate South Carolina law (§47-1-40) which prohibits “knowingly or intentionally … inflict[ing] unnecessary pain or suffering upon any animal.” While hunting is exempt from this law, pigeon shoots are contests or games and should in no way be considered “hunting” or “wildlife management.”
Please politely urge Colleton County officials to bar Broxton Bridge Plantation from holding pigeon shoots, possibly via a formal injunction. And please, forward this alert widely!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Sheriff George A. Malone
Colleton County Sheriff’s Office
843-549-1449 (fax)
gmalone@colletoncounty.org
The Honorable Isaac McDuffie Stone III
14th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office
843-255-9512 (fax)
J. Kevin Griffin
Colleton County Administrator
kdaddieco@colletoncounty.org
Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, registering, or credit card required. Please remember to confirm the fax via your email after submitting.
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Sheriff Malone, Honorable Stone III, and Administrator Griffin:
I am greatly disturbed to learn that Broxton Bridge Plantation, in Ehrhardt, South Carolina, is hosting the savage slaughter of thousands of pigeons for entertainment in a pigeon shoot. Indeed, I have even witnessed footage of such events, with severely injured and dying birds thrown in piles, casually ignored, in obvious states of agony, following such a primitive and reckless game.
Furthermore, it is my understanding that this type of “sport” is against the law: these shoots are in violation of S.C. Code Ann. ß 47-1-70 (2011), which makes it illegal to “abandon” any animal by “deserting, forsaking, or intending to” give up an animal “without securing another owner or without providing the necessities of life.” An “animal” under the South Carolina animal cruelty laws clearly includes pigeons because “animal” is defined as “a living vertebrate creature except a homo sapien”. This repeatedly sanctioned exploitation of animals is an unacceptable practice, and I therefore respectfully request you uphold the law and subsequently cease these events immediately.
However, as long as South Carolina supports the torture of animals, complicit in their abuse and death, I will discontinue visiting as a tourist and will share this information with friends, family, colleagues, and online social networks. It is important to accept that, what is indeed valuable, is the life itself and the capacity to experience emotion and suffering. Please observe this basic moral principle and act with justice rather than react with cruelty and cease these illegal pigeon shooting events.
I understand your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this important issue.
NAME
Read more…
700,000 chicks seized in factory farms: what you can do – go vegan
Image: Animals Australia
Source: Animals Australia
Last weekend, authorities in Victoria legally seized 700,000 factory farmed chickens within four farms owned by a major poultry producer. The birds — some less than a week old — were at risk of starvation due to the company’s financial trouble and inability to continue to feed them.
Whilst charges against this producer are likely, others will continue to operate despite thousands of ‘meat’ chickens dying in their sheds under ‘standard’ operating conditions every week.
According to the Australian Chicken Meat Federation’s own statistics, about 4% of chickens die — or in their terms, ‘are lost’ — before they are sent to slaughter. With more than half a billion chickens raised for their meat in Australia just last year, this amounts to an estimated 22 million birds every year, or 60,000 per day — suffering and dying in their sheds. Despite this appalling situation, industry operators remain free from prosecution, protected by a ‘code of practice’.
‘Meat’ chickens have become some of the worst victims of industrialised farming’s never ending desire for expediency and profit. Through selective breeding, chickens now grow at four times their natural growth rate. As a result, their immature bodies are often unable to cope, and many birds suffer from leg problems and are unable to properly move or stand. This leaves some birds incapable of reaching food or water and they are left to die from thirst or starvation.
In an attempt to disguise the cruel nature of their business, some major chicken producers are using misleading claims to convince consumers that the animals are well cared for.
Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took the producers of chicken brands Steggles and La Ionica, and the Australian Chicken Meat Federation to court for using the slogan ‘free to roam’. Factory farmed chickens in reality each have less space in their sheds than the size of an A4 piece of paper, and the high population densities make it impossible for them to roam around freely.
Early January, La Ionica’s owner Turi Foods settled the case and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, but the remaining defendants are less keen to give up their misleading label and will face the ACCC in court in March. In the mean time, hope for millions of birds rests with informed consumers refusing to buy into cruelty. Click here to learn how to become a compassionate shopper, and how you can make a difference to the lives of animals every time you shop.
What You Can Do
Vegan food, recipes, and more … Click on the upper right arrow to view the full tab names, scroll down to see all entries.
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Operation: Revenge of the murdered monkeys and beagles of Lovelace
BACKGROUND
On July 19, 2011, SAEN & WAR Launched a Joint Campaign
Operation: Agitate to Liberate 2011 to save the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute Lab Animals
Last summer, “…a whistleblower contacted SAEN revealing that Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI), as a result of financial reverses, had plans to exterminate 300 monkeys and a colony of beagles whose size we do not yet know. The whistleblower has told us that the monkey slaughter began on Monday, July 11th. 30 monkeys are being killed every day. When they have all been wiped out, the beagles are next.”…Michael Budkie, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN)
On August 1, 2011, SAEN & WAR announced that 300 monkeys and an unknown number of beagles were murdered by Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute. Lovelace denied this emphatically.
Now, SAEN reported that USDA documentation confirms that Lovelace did, in fact, slaughter 300 monkeys and 100 beagles.
Why did they do this? Lovelace did not want to feed and care for them.
Why not allow them to go to sanctuaries? Lovelace is managed by callous murdering scum.
Not only that, we have recently learned that Lovelace is appealing to their local government officials to exempt the animals at Lovelace from rudimentary and basic animal welfare requirements. More on that later this week.
On Tuesday, February 7, 2012, local New Mexico activists will be holding a protest at LRRI. Although we cannot be with them on the picket line, we can act in solidarity with them to avenge the killing of 300 monkeys and 100 beagles. Start making calls and sending e-mail and letters immediately and keep on eye on this event page as we will release new targets and new contact information. This campaign will continue indefinitely.
Welcome to the launch of Operation: Revenge of the murdered monkeys of Lovelace
Contact the Management Team of Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) to ask them why they lied about the mass murder of 300 monkeys and 100 beagles.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email block
rwrubin@lrri.org, rmcgivney@lrri.org, cdevaul@lrri.org, rblea@lrri.org, rleclaire@lrri.org, jmcdonal@lrri.org, rsherwood@lrri.org, sstemkowski@lrri.org, wbechtol@lrri.org, mreed@lrri.org, cdicarlo@lrri.org, cmerriam-leith@lrri.org, pholeman@lrri.org, bhendzel@lrri.org, jtaylor@lrri.org, dfox@lrri.org, dgriego@lrri.org, rmorrow@lrri.org, info@lrri.org
Individual
Robert W. Rubin, PhD
President and CEO
(505) 348-9365
rwrubin@lrri.org
Richard C. McGivney, MS, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
(505) 348-9430
rmcgivney@lrri.org
Cheryl N. DeVaul, BEd, MBA
Chief Human Resources Officer
(505) 348-9191
cdevaul@lrri.org
Rachel M. Blea, MBA
Director of Information Services
(505) 348-9597
rblea@lrri.org
Ross D. LeClaire, DVM, PhD, MSS, DABT, Fellow ATS
Director of Federal Programs
(505) 348-1795/9113
rleclaire@lrri.org
Jacob D. McDonald, PhD
Director, Chemistry and Inhalation Exposure Program
Director, Environmental Respiratory Health Program
(505) 348-9455
jmcdonal@lrri.org
Robert L. Sherwood, PhD
Director of Applied Life Sciences and Toxicology
(505) 348-9459
rsherwood@lrri.org
Stephen A. Stemkowski, PhD
Director of Center for Pharmacoeconomic and Outcomes Research
(704) 775-3515
sstemkowski@lrri.org
William E. Bechtold, PhD
Director of Technology Transfer
(505) 348-9456
wbechtol@lrri.org
Matthew D. Reed, PhD, DABT
Director of Preclinical Drug Development
(505) 348-4980
mreed@lrri.org
Cheryl D. DiCarlo, DVM, PhD, DACLAM
Director Comparative Medicine/Attending Vet
(505) 348-1935
cdicarlo@lrri.org
Chris Merriam-Leith, MS, PMP
Director of Business Affairs
(505) 348-9650
cmerriam-leith@lrri.org
Penny H. Holeman, MS, MPH
Director of Biosafety, Training & Biosecurity Solutions
(505) 348-9415
pholeman@lrri.org
Bret Hendzel, BA, MBA
Senior Director of Operations
(505) 348-9450
bhendzel@lrri.org
James Taylor
Federal Capture Manager
(505) 348-9518
jtaylor@lrri.org
Donii D. Fox, MSPH, CIH, CBSP
South Biological Safety Officer
(505) 348-1953
dfox@lrri.org
David D. Griego, BSME
Director of Facilities
(505) 348-9406
dgriego@lrri.org
Ricky L. Morrow
Consultant Director of Office of Research Contracts
(505) 348-9405
rmorrow@lrri.org
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI)
2425 Ridgecrest Dr. SE
Albuquerque, NM 87108-5127
Phone: 505-348-9400
Fax: 505-348-8567
Email: info@lrri.org
Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, registering, or credit card required. Please remember to confirm the fax via your email after submitting.
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
I am ashamed to be part of a species that objectifies animals, seen as commercial products to eat, wear, and exploit for entertainment and testing. However, of all the inherently cruel conditions humans inflict on animals, nothing is more destructive and immoral than vivisection, unparalleled in both its cruel intent and apathetic nature. To subject animals to unnatural medical conditions and practices for the purpose of theorizing potential human treatments is not only scientifically illegitimate but it is also fundamentally inhumane. As a means of fostering social validation, vivisectors consistently promote the idea that animals are responsible for producing lifesaving equipment and treatments and that those who are against vivisection are opposed to medical advancements. That illogic would be laughable if millions of animals were not tortured to support such.
I am horrified that you maliciously slaughtered 300 monkeys and 100 dogs to save costs on food. How utterly violent. Allow me but another moment to correct your disclaimers that animals are treated well, absent suffering and pain. The arrogance of such proclamations is astounding. Humans are unable to adequately describe pain in other species other than to accept its existence; to attempt such is based on pure conjecture and open to interpretation. Furthermore, tens of thousands of animals are deliberately denied pain relief while in obvious states of such, the theory being that introducing pain relief would compromise testing results. How can you honestly submit that introducing diseases to animals, subjecting them to pain, suffering, and agony, denying them companionship and comfort, and imprisoning them for life as done from a position of caring? Your claims are nothing but disingenuous rhetoric meant to deceive unknowing people: if you honestly cared about the well-being of animals, you would adamantly oppose vivisection.
Animal experimentation is unnecessary, unjustified, and unprincipled, its only function to financially benefit those who exploit animals; you are not invisible and your actions are indefensible. Animals have rights to live free from pain and suffering regardless of your objections to acknowledge such, and as long as you profit on the torture of animals, complicit in their abuse and death, I will continue campaigning on their behalf.
NAME
Read more…
Protest Chicken Slaughter “Art” Project in Lawrence, Kansas
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By Karen Davis, PhD, President, United Poultry Concerns
Protest Chicken Slaughter “Art” Project in Lawrence, Kansas. Post your objections on the Spencer Museum of Art’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/spencerart
Dear Friends,
Here is the promotional description of this slimy chicken “art” project that’s due to start in March. We need to stop it. Please post your opposition and urge cancellation of “The Story of Chickens” at https://www.facebook.com/spencerart. (You do not need to join or like the page to write your objections.) Feel free to circulate this alert and get others to join you in saying No to slaughter as “art.” Thank you!
Promotional Description
“The Story of Chickens: A Revolution” by artist Amber Hansen will debut in March 2012 with a ceremonial ribbon cutting for a chicken coop on wheels, and the installation of 5 chickens. During the event, community members will be invited to share personal stories about their relationships with animals and to discuss the project.
The coop will be a nomadic sculpture that will relocate every 4 days. It will be created with the technical assistance of Cotter Mitchel and will be designed to be both functional and beautiful. A public message board in the form of a chalkboard will be mounted on it, to update and inform viewers about the birds and the project.
The chickens will inhabit the coop for one month. During this time many members of the community will become engaged through storytelling, proximity, and caring for the birds. The project aims to create a daily interaction with animals on a communal level. Volunteers and community members alike will become guardians of the chickens and they will have the opportunity to build a relationship with the birds.
At the end of the month, the chickens will be removed from the coop and butchered under the guidance of Hank Will. The public will be invited, and encouraged to witness this phase of the life cycle that is often hidden from our perception. Such slaughter takes place on a mass scale every day, but each generation becomes further removed from this reality.
Participants will then be invited to a potluck that will take place the next day, when the birds will be prepared for consumption by 715 restaurant head chef Michael Beard. The meal will take place at the Percolator Art Gallery, an alternative community-run space in downtown Lawrence.
By building a relationship with the birds, the project will transform the contemporary view of chickens as merely “livestock” to the beautiful and unique creatures they are, while promoting alternative and healthy processes of caring for them. It will also make visible local groups who are already making efforts to do so.
The public will be notified of the coop’s location via the Lawrence Journal World, so that they can watch its location as it moves throughout town.
Hansen: “Interacting with animals allows us a more complete understanding of humanity; it reminds us of our relationship with the natural world, and our responsibility in caring for it.”
About the “Artist”
Amber Hansen is currently the Artist in Residence at The University of Kansas living in Hashinger Hall. Amber has been involved in numerous community-based projects and has experience painting murals, film-making, caring for farm animals. It is from your childhood experience, being surrounded by animals, that this project was inspired.
Cotter Mitchel: Born, last century, and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. Mitchell began his “Art Support” career in 1984 at the Spencer Museum of Art as an Exhibition Technician. Since 1989 Mitchell has managed the Common Shop for the Art & Design Departments, assisting students and faculty with all aspects of fabrication in varied mediums. Mitchell freelance works with local and international artists, and galleries including the fabrication of public sculptures, packing, shipping and display of art objects.
Hank Will : Hank Will-Will’s career in agriculture began while working toward his Ph.D. in plant biochemistry and molecular biology from The University of Chicago. After leaving Chicago, Hank put his rural Harrisburg, South Dakota, farm to work. He grew and direct marketed several thousand free-range broilers annually from that location. His substantial laying flock supplied the Banquet and other local food charities with hundreds of dozens of donated eggs year round and he has also donated hundreds of pounds of free-range turkey to the Banquet and Sioux Falls Food Pantry. He is currently the editor of GRIT Magazine.
——————————–
UPC posted the following comment on the Spencer Museum’s Facebook Page:
United Poultry Concerns opposes Amber Hansen’s proposed “The Story of Chickens: A Revolution.” A traveling carnival of animals through Lawrence, culminating in the communal bloodletting execution of the five birds, most likely in front of each other, seems like a desperate attempt on the part of the gallery and the “artist” to be “original.” But it isn’t. It’s stale, cruel, and impoverished.
In addition, the birds so used are most likely the very genetically-engineered, industrially produced hatchery chickens locavores claim to oppose as part of their opposition to “factory farming” of which this is in fact not an alternative but an example. Cloying rhetoric notwithstanding, there is nothing kind or respectful about turning a helpless bird into a degraded spectacle, and contrary to claims that throat-cutting is “humane,” it is not. Throat-cutting is extremely painful to the victim, made worse when the victim is immobilized in a killing cone that prevents him or her from struggling, while conveniently hiding the evidence of suffering (apart from the hoarse cries of the birds) from view.
Cuddling these chickens and gaining their trust, then turning on them with a knife, while this may be a standard farming practice, is neither humane nor necessary, and it certainly isn’t art. It’s plain old gratuitous cruelty seeking a legitimized outlet. The project is completely misconceived. It is not revolutionary in any worthwhile sense. We urge its immediate cancellation.
Sincerely,
Karen Davis, PhD, President
United Poultry Concerns
Machipongo, VA 23405
757-678-7875
karen@upc-online.org
Read more…
BACKGROUND
Please send one of the two sample letters below.
Every year, UBC conducts thousands of experiments involving animals, including pigs, mice, cats, monkeys, and others. Many of the experiments are highly invasive and painful. Most of the research is conducted with little public scrutiny. In 2010 alone, UBC used a shocking 200,000 animals in research.
‘Stop UBC Animal Research’ has discovered UBC researchers have:
– Cut open the backs of cats, inserted screws into their spines, and built restraint chambers along the cats’ spinal columns
– Administered electroconvulsive shock to monkeys to induce seizures
– Poured saline solution into newborn piglets’ lungs to induce respiratory failure
– Injected toxins into the brains of monkeys to cause a form of “parkinsonism”
– Exposed mice to cigarette smoke for six months in emphysema research
– Blinded monkeys in vision studies
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Send a card, letter or call to UBC President President Toope and urge him to “have a heart” by ending animal research at UBC.
WHOM TO CONTACT
UBC President Stephen Toope
Office of the President
The University of British Columbia
6328 Memorial Road
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2
Phone: 604-822-8300
OR
Email UBC President Toope to urge him to “have a heart” by ending animal research at UBC. To contact President Toope:
TO: presidents.office@ubc.ca , stephen.toope@ubc.ca
BCC: stopubcanimalresearch@gmail.com
SAMPLE LETTER ONE
Dear UBC President Toope,
I am ashamed to be part of a species that objectifies animals, seen as commercial products to eat, wear, and exploit for entertainment and testing. However, of all the inherently cruel conditions humans inflict on animals, nothing is more destructive and immoral than vivisection, unparalleled in both its cruel intent and apathetic nature. To subject animals to unnatural medical conditions and practices for the purpose of theorizing potential human treatments is not only scientifically illegitimate but it is also fundamentally inhumane. As a means of fostering social validation, vivisectors consistently promote the idea that animals are responsible for producing lifesaving equipment and treatments and that those who are against vivisection are opposed to medical advancements. That illogic would be laughable if millions of animals were not tortured to support such. Indeed, to grant animals the power to cure and prevent disease while experimenting on those same animals is a contradiction in both practice and thought. With respect to such idiotic assertions, when do you establish the innately flawed practice of animal experimentation as the fault when people die as the result of unpredicted drug reactions?
From a pragmatic standpoint, if we could adequately determine the effects of drugs using animals in general, then, as I see it, human trials would be completely unnecessary. Therefore, if we acknowledge that data from animal testing cannot be extrapolated to humans, as demonstrated by the need for human testing trials prior to a general administration of drugs, then why are animals used at all? To determine a general idea relative to safety of them? If animals cannot be used to predict a human outcome in general, then how can they be used to predict safety? It’s a ridiculous premise, one on which you place the lives of humans and the death of animals with a publicity machine using deceptive statements and misleading assertions fabricated by unscrupulous “scientists” to garner social approval. Indeed, to establish your legitimacy, you constantly promote the idea that those opposed to animal testing are supportive of human suffering. What an insidious remark, effective in its subtlety to gain public endorsement while at the same time fostering a hatred towards anti-vivisectionists, labeling us as misanthropists. I can assure you, I am neither ethically challenged nor stupid: your false assertions are nothing but pathetic attempts to rationalize a morally deficient industry where you capitalize on the fear of people and exploitation of animals.
Allow me but another moment to correct your disclaimers that animals are treated well, absent suffering and pain. The arrogance of such proclamations is astounding. Humans are unable to adequately describe pain in other species other than to accept its existence; to attempt such is based on pure conjecture and open to interpretation. Furthermore, tens of thousands of animals are deliberately denied pain relief while in obvious states of such, the theory being that introducing pain relief would compromise testing results. How can you honestly submit that introducing diseases to animals, subjecting them to pain, suffering, and agony, denying them companionship and comfort, and imprisoning them for life as done from a position of caring? Your claims are nothing but disingenuous rhetoric meant to deceive unknowing people: if you honestly cared about the well-being of animals, you would adamantly oppose vivisection.
Animal experimentation is unnecessary, unjustified, and unprincipled, its only function to financially benefit those who exploit animals; you are not invisible and your actions are indefensible. Animals have rights to live free from pain and suffering regardless of your objections to acknowledge such, and as long as you profit on the torture of animals, complicit in their abuse and death, I will continue campaigning on their behalf.
(NAME|ADDRESS|COUNTRY)
SAMPLE LETTER TWO
Dear UBC President Toope,
I am disturbed after discovering that live animals are subjected to mutilating experiments and killed in your institution, a practice that inflicts immense suffering upon them. These animals are marvelously intelligent and sentient beings, capable of thought, love, pain, and fear, and to expose them to this archaic method of training is alarming. In a recently-conducted survey, it has been determined that in greater than 95% of similar programs and schools in the US, the TraumaMan System has been utilized (PCRM). The TraumaMan System has been proven a superior model to the live animal “model”, and I fear any student or researcher not trained on the most advanced method will have a diminished learning experience. This should be concerning to any potential patient.
Additionally, since animals cannot be substituted for human beings, subjecting them to this exploitative process reflects a blatant disregard for life; how can we teach our future medical professionals ethics while enforcing courses and research that maims and kills live, sentient beings? This represents a conflict of interest as well as a contradiction in both morals and actions: if non-human animals are deemed similar enough to humans physiologically, then you must acknowledge that, as sentient beings, they should not be exploited and killed either. Any other conclusion would be considered a discord and would serve as a detriment to the learning process, especially in such a critical field of study.
It would be regrettable not being able to recommend your fine institution; however, because I value the most sophisticated and innovative learning techniques, it would be remiss of me to consider UBC based on your reliance of such an obsolete method of study. As such, I respectfully ask that you please accept the superior method of study, the TraumaMan System, for your university and students, and make yours an institution of credibility and honor.
I know that your time is limited, and I want to thank you for your attention and consideration.
(NAME|ADDRESS|COUNTRY)
Read more…
Please protest Maxfield’s use of fur, sample letters, event details
Ilse Vandecappelle, Artist
From: 3Dayz.com
Welcome to Maxfield… and their 2012 collection
At the beginning of a campaign by Fur Free West Hollywood, celebrity-driven Maxfield agreed to remove and end the sale of all fur – like baby blankets and motor cycle helmets – from their West Hollywood store. They removed the fur, but then restocked it and actively oppose to a planned fur ban in West Hollywood by writing letters to the Mayor and other people of importance.
This Saturday (11th of February from 12 pm – 2 pm) Fur Free West Hollywood organizes an anti-fur protest outside Maxfield.
Important! Leading up to the protest we ask you to let Maxfield know what happens when they break their promise to the animals: send them as many protest mails as possible for the next 3 days and tell your friends to do the same!
This is an action by Fur Free West Hollywood
What You Can Do:
- Email them. Create your own message or simply copy and paste the example letter at the bottom of this page (don’t forget to sign it at the end) and send it to the address below.
- Send them our example Facebook message.
- Call and leave this page open. The example letter contains all the information you need!
- Send a fax. Simply use the example letter below.
- Share this action with your friends and ask them to send a protest mail to Maxfield as well.
- Let us know when you receive a reaction in response to your email, fax, etc. You can reach us using our contact form, Facebook or Twitter.
Whom To Contact
Maxfield LA
8825 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, California
90069-5603
Phone: 310 274 8800
Fax: 310 657 8880
Email: info@maxfieldla.com, protest@3dayz.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Maxfield.LA
Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, registering, or credit card required. Please remember to confirm the fax via your email after submitting.
Sample Facebook Letter
I call on you to hold true to your agreement with Fur Free West Hollywood to remove and end the sale of all fur. I also ask everybody who’s reading this to support this protest by visiting http://www.3dayz.com.
Sample Maxfield Letter
Dear Representative of Maxfield,
West Hollywood has been a leader in passing groundbreaking legislation in the area of animal welfare. In 1989, West Hollywood passed Resolution Number 558 proclaiming West Hollywood a “Cruelty Free Zone for Animals.” It is time to further the effort to make good on that promise. West Hollywood has the opportunity to once again be a leader for animal welfare by becoming the first Fur Free City in the Nation, to be a place that is free of cruelty to animals and to be a place that no longer supports the barbaric fur trade by selling products made of fur.
Please watch the following account of the fur trade:
I call on you to hold true to your agreement with Fur Free West Hollywood to remove and end the sale of all fur.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
Read more…
More goldfish appeals, please protest goldfish races
BACKGROUND
Hoping to draw in customers, several restaurants and bars in the U.S. are holding weekly “goldfish races”—events during which patrons armed with bottles or water guns squirt goldfish down the length of plastic gutters. Making matters worse are reports that drunken patrons have impaled some fish with cocktail straws and have swallowed others alive. We’ve asked these establishments to replace the cruel events with alternatives, to no avail. We need your help now!
Fish are complex beings who have personalities, communicate with each other, form bonds, and even grieve when family members and companions die. Being handled and subjected to loud noises and bright lights is a terrifying ordeal for such tiny, defenseless animals who have no opportunity to escape and who are viewed by the bar managers as expendable commodities.
Please join us in urging the below establishments to cancel these weekly events and replace them with activities that do not cause harm.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Schulyer Holes
Co-owner
Woodsky’s
Seattle, Washington
206-547-9662
The Fillin Station Grille
Southaven, Mississippi
662-510-5423
http://fillinstationgrille.com/?page_id=14 (e-mail web form)
Kristie Gadino
Manager
Sol Cantina
Kansas City, Missouri
816-931-8080
http://www.solcantina.com/contact/ (copy and paste for email web form)
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
It has come to my attention that you have created a cruel event known as “goldfish races”, and I am respectfully requesting that you cease this activity.
Please allow me to elaborate. Fish are complex animals who experience suffering and joy, and who also have the capacity to nurture complex relationships and display grief upon separation. Furthermore, despite an almost-universal apathy towards their sensitivity, fish indeed experience pain and react negatively towards stressful situations including loud noises, lights, enclosures, shooting water, and disturbed environments. Although patrons may find this amusing, it is indeed a painful and terrifying experience for the fish.
Please take this opportunity to express compassion and empathy for our animal friends and decide to help rather than harm them by discontinuing the fish race.
Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent appeal.
NAME
Read more…
McDonald’s apologises to dog owners after ‘insensitive’ ad claims eating a Chicken McBite is safer than petting a pit bull
Source Mail Online
By Leon Watson
Fast food giant McDonald’s has apologised after an advert that annoyed dog owners came back to bite it.
The ad said eating a Chicken McBite was less risky than petting a stray pit bull, shaving your head, naming your son Sue or giving friends your Facebook password.
It enraged pit bull owners and their supporters.
This was the response to the McDonald’s advert which so riled dog owners posted on the Facebook page Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s
The radio ad for Chicken McBites only ran for a few days in the Kansas City area before the complaints started.
The campaign against the ad circulated on social media sites, and the apology was delivered the same way. People who called a well-publicised toll-free number got a recorded apology.
Ashlee Yingling, spokesman for McDonald’s Corp, said: ‘The ad was insensitive in its mention of pit bulls.
‘We apologise. As soon as we learned of it, we tracked the source and had the local markets pull the ad immediately.
‘We’ll do a better job next time. It’s never our intent to offend anyone with how we communicate news about McDonald’s.’
Rachele Lizarraga, of Sacramento, said: ‘I found it extremely offensive and reckless. Why would you try to promote the safety of food?’
Lizarraga, who owns a pet-sitting business and is social media coordinator for Chako Pit Bull Rescue, started a Facebook page called ‘Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s,’ launched an online petition calling for an end to the ad and started one of many Twitter threads.
Many of the 8,200-plus people who liked the Facebook page said an apology wasn’t enough – they wanted a donation to some pit bull organisations and a McDonald’s ad featuring a pit bull.
Others thought the apology was enough.
‘We are just asking them to promote positive pit bull imagery. We are not asking for donations. I don’t think that should be a demand,’ Lizarraga said.
‘It was stupid marketing, playing into the media hysteria about pit bulls,’ she added.
‘The McDonald’s response was immediate, unambiguous and apologetic – not sure what more anyone could ask. I’ll soon be ordering those McBites, and likely lovin’ it,’ radio host and syndicated pet columnist Steve Dale said.
The campaign against the ad built swiftly and fiercely on Friday. Then the ad disappeared, except on YouTube and online.
It was not a national radio ad, Yingling said. ‘Working with the local market, we took immediate action to pull the ad and apologised for the mistake. Again, it’s never our intent to offend anyone,’ she said.
Read more…
Please take action if you have not already. Thank you! Click HERE
Editor’s Note: No country is safe for animals: speciesism knows no boundaries to depravity, exploitation, and suffering. In this alert we are protesting massive, ritualistic torture in Nepal, but please understand, all countries participate in some form of hideous animal sacrifice, be it for food, fur, fun, or pharma. I was verbally accosted with an ignorant, righteous statement a few weeks ago regarding a different form of ritualistic slaughter, and the indignant party exclaimed, “this does NOT happen in the US, what savages!” On the contrary, the United States has perfected torture, it’s called steak, circuses, vanity, and drugs, no industry treats animals as anything other than commodities, the animal who is skinned alive for fur, eviscerated while conscious for hamburgers, ripped tracheally for religious exemptions, and beaten to perform are ALL treated in hellish manners, please reject every manner of such. SR
1. SignStop the Gadhimai Massacre 2014
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Please protest deer hunts in Essex County – South Mountain and Eagle Rock Reservations and Hilltop
BACKGROUND
The Essex County deer hunts in South Mountain and Eagle Rock Reservations and Hilltop which began in mid-January continue. A West Orange resident who was hiking in Eagle Rock Reservation yesterday briefly describes what he saw and his comments:
“My dogs led me to a deer that was struggling in a few feet of water but unable to get up (deer1 photo, attached). It was alive, but clearly dying. I suspected that it might be a still-living victim of the deer hunt. I returned to the scene a few hours later and the deer had died and rolled over. There was a clear puncture in its underside, just above its left front shoulder. It appears to have been shot.
We have been told these are “humane” hunts, but I do not think the so-called sharpshooters are all they are cracked up to be, and I don’t believe they are tracking these animals after they shoot them. This deer appears to have struggled for days.”
What would it be like to be hiking with your children and find a deer in such distress? What would it be like to have a deer shot with a bullet or an arrow come on to your property to bleed out and die?
THERE IS NOTHING HUMANE ABOUT THESE HUNTS!! They are nothing but SANCTIONED ANIMAL CRUELTY. I urge you to contact the West Orange Township Council by phone and email to express your STRONG OPPOSITION to these hunts which are affecting all neighboring communities.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email block
council@westorange.org , SenCodey@njleg.org , AswJasey@njleg.org , AsmMcKeon@njleg.org , joedi@admin.essexcountynj.org
Individual
West Orange Township Council
66 Main Street
West Orange, NJ 07052
(973) 325-4155
council@westorange.org
Senator Richard J. Codey
(973) 535-5017
SenCodey@njleg.org
Assemblywoman Mila M. Jasey
(973) 762-1886
AswJasey@njleg.org
Assemblyman John F. McKeon
(973) 275-1113
AsmMcKeon@njleg.org
Online Contact Form HERE
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear West Orange Township Council, Senator Codey, Assemblywoman Jasey, and Assemblyman McKeon:
Essex County deer hunts in South Mountain and Eagle Rock Reservations and Hilltop, which began in mid-January, continue, in misguided attempts to reduce deer numbers in populated areas. Although these hunts are inherently cruel based on the premise alone, it is important to recognize they are 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, of which there have been negative eyewitness reporting already, 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 Essex County I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull continues.
Fourth, hunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer, if they look at all. Many deer are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.
Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols when using these methods, which have all proven successful in curtailing deer populations.
I know your time is limited and I want to thank you each for your attention to this urgent matter.
NAME
Read more…
Urge California Attorney General to Review Court’s Decision to Overturn Dog Killer’s Conviction
BACKGROUND
A California appeals court has overturned the conviction of Alex Castro for brutally beating his ex-girlfriend’s cocker spaniel, Copper, to death with a hammer in July 2007. According to news sources, the court ruled that the trial was tainted because Castro’s lawyer did not hire an expert to evaluate whether or not Castro wrote an intimidating letter to a witness.
Please urge California Attorney General Kamala Harris to petition the California Supreme Court or the 6th District Court of Appeal to review this decision so that Copper gets the justice he deserves and to ensure that such an egregious act of violence does not go unpunished! The attorney general must make her decision quickly, so please act now.
WHOM TO CONTACT
The Honorable Kamala Harris
Office of the Attorney General
1300 I St.
Sacramento, CA 95814-2919
Phone: 916-445-9555
attorneygeneral@doj.ca.gov
SAMPLE LETTER
RE: Alex Castro
Dear Honorable Harris,
I have learned of extremely disturbing and malicious case of animal cruelty in which Mr. Alex Castro deliberately caused the suffering and subsequent death of his girlfriend’s cocker spaniel. However, according to news sources, the court ruled that the trial was tainted because Castro’s lawyer did not hire an expert to evaluate whether or not Castro wrote an intimidating letter to a witness. I am writing today to encourage you to petition the California Supreme Court or the 6th District Court of Appeal to review this decision so that Copper gets the justice he deserves. Mr. Castro’s crime causing unimaginable agony, fear, and death in the dog, deserves social justice, not community approval.
When I try to imagine what possible motive animal abusers entertain for subjecting their animal victims to such malicious, heinous acts of brutality, I fail, but I am thankful for a lack of cognitive understanding and rationalization. To voluntarily engage in such malicious behaviour suggests sadistic tendencies, and Mr. Castro’s actions, causing unmitigated pain and suffering, demonstrates an incontrovertible lack of morality regarding other living beings and a gross disrespect for the law. In fact, a person who shows such a remarkable lack of compassion towards non-human animals has the ability to show such indifference towards human animals. This link between animal and human abuse has been established, and if society excuses Mr. Castro’s criminal behaviour, or agrees to a lesser punishment, we only harm ourselves by unjustly nullifying cruelty as acceptable behaviour.
Please respect the victim by petitioning the California Supreme Court or the 6th District Court of Appeal to review this decision; doing so will demonstrate your commitment to justice, responsibility, and integrity, attributes unquestionably necessary in a legal setting: rejecting cruelty by maintaining an unyielding position towards it would be a model for all community members and would serve to characterize this type of behaviour as both impermissible and punishable.
I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.
Name | Address
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Protest letter to the brutal festival at Nem Thuong Village, Vietnam, in which pig is cut in half
FROM FACEBOOK EVENT , PLEASE JOIN
BACKGROUND
Please protest the brutal festival at Nem Thuong village, Vietnam, in which a pig is drawn and butchered in half while fully conscious.
This is one Vietnamese festival that makes even non-animal lovers cringe.
Every year near Hanoi, thousands of people from the village and nearby villages will 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 the country and is condemned by many, including some who called on the government to stop the festival.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Please copy and paste the below text and send it to the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam using their contact form on their website (please note that for Title, I entered Ms, and I did not put anything it the “Choose File Content” and my message still went through):
http://www.vietnam.gov.vn/portal/page/portal/English/contact
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
Use the following information for the embassy in US, other countries, please use the above link:
Embassy of Vietnam United States
1233 20th St NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-861-0737
Hotline for Consular Affairs: 202-716-8666 or 202-739-1666
Fax: 202-861-0917
Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, registering, or credit card required. Please remember to confirm the fax via your email after submitting.
Emails
info@vietnamembassy.us (for general information)
vnconsular@vietnamembassy.us (for consular affairs)
SAMPLE LETTER COURTESY OF FACEBOOK
To Whom It Concerns,
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.
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,
NAME and ADDRESS
PETITION
Please sign petition HERE
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Undercover Activists Rescue Ducks From Foie Gras Farms in CA and NY
From Eating Plants
Please see below for an action you can take against the restaurant Incanto that sells Foie Gras.
From The Sacramento Bee
FARMINGTON, Calif. and FERNDALE, N.Y., Feb. 3, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Activists from the Animal Protection and Rescue League have once again penetrated security at the two main factory farms that force feed ducks in the U.S. to make the gourmet appetizer “foie gras,” or fattened liver.
The activists took video of conditions and rescued several ducks in both California and New York. “Hot in Cleveland” actress Wendie Malick narrated a video of the animal cruelty investigations, which is now posted at www.StopForceFeeding.com.
“These young activists took great personal risk to expose cruel conditions at these factory farms,” states Bryan Pease, an attorney for the group. “Activists who previously rescued ducks from these same locations were charged with felony burglary.”
Some of the video obtained includes footage from hidden cameras the activists installed to capture the actual force feeding process. Hudson Valley Foie Gras repeatedly claims their ducks do not try to escape the force feeding, but the undercover footage shows them huddling in the corner of their pens as a worker grabs them by the wings and shoves a large metal pipe down their throats.
In order to make their livers over 10 times their normal size and almost entirely fat, foie gras producers force feed the ducks massive quantities of food three times per day for almost a month. Many ducks do not survive the process, and the activists found trash barrels filled with dead ducks in both factory farms.
The animal cruelty investigation mirrors conditions found in 2002-2004 when APRL previously exposed the force feeding industry. A California statewide ban on sale and production of foie gras takes effect this July. Some chefs opposed to the ban have been claiming the ducks “go to the feeders.” An investigative reporter recently confronted a chef who claimed this, and the chef was unable to back up this statement with any evidence:
http://iteamblog.abc7news.com/2012/02/ducks-want-to-be-force-fed.html
According to APRL, less than a tenth of a percent of all restaurants in the U.S. serve foie gras. Over 100 restaurants in California have removed the item without waiting for the ban to take effect, and only about 300 restaurants in the state are still serving it. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, West Hollywood, Berkeley, Carlsbad and Solana Beach have all passed resolutions in support of the statewide ban.
More info is online at www.StopForceFeeding.com.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
WHAT YOU CAN DO | FROM STOP FORCE FEEDING
Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore are fanatical promoters of foie gras and routinely lie about how it is produced. Please contact them at Incanto Restaurant, 1550 Church St., San Francisco, CA 94131 / 415-641-4500 / reserve@incanto.biz and let them know the public does not support animal cruelty!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Incanto Restaurant
1550 Church St.
San Francisco, CA 94131
Phone: 415-641-4500 (Please note I was unable to confirm this information – the phone maze disallowed contact with a live person.)
Email: reserve@incanto.biz
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Mr. Cosentino and Mr. Pastore,
I am shocked to learn that Incanto continues to serve foie gras despite continual protest and upcoming law against this barbaric food. Surely you are aware of the cruelty involved to create foie gras, and your continual offering of it leaves me appalled.
Incomprehensibly, these animals savagely used for foie gras are granted no protections under any humane standards; in fact, this is one of the most heinous and violent methods of animal-food production. This is such an inherently painful and cruel practice that many countries and other cities have banned its production. In fact, as much as it gives me great distress, allow me to share with you footage of foie gras production:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ozws-u4xb0
You are obviously familiar with how animals are treated as demonstrated above, yet you remain ambivalent. You must know that animals are sentient creatures, capable of thought, emotion, and suffering, and to knowingly enable and encourage such exploitation merely for an unnecessary menu item is appalling.
As such, I respectfully request you please reconsider and make the compassionate and ethical decision to ban foie gras from Incanto. You may be interested to know that many establishments recently removed foie gras from their menus, and I would love to inform my friends and colleagues that you have joined them. Indeed, you would be joining an ever-increasing number of eating establishments and people who have also rejected this torture by eliminating foie gras. Until such a time, however, I maintain the only ethical decision is to promote a boycott of your establishment and visiting instead the ones that have removed foie gras already.
I look forward to a positive response, however, so that I may visit Incanto once again.
Sincerely,
NAME
Read more…
FROM FACEBOOK EVENT
Anyone wishing to express their feelings over the live animals being sold as key rings can write or email the Chinese President (Leader) on the links below.
WHOM TO CONTACT
His Excellency, Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
9 Xihuang-Chenggen Beijie
Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Email: info@cppcc.gov.cn, info@china.org.cn
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Excellency and Those Concerned,
It has come to my attention that you have created a novelty item by putting live animals in key chains, and I am respectfully requesting you use your influence to cease offering them.
Please allow me to elaborate. The victims are complex animals who experience suffering and joy, and who also have the capacity to nurture complex relationships and display grief upon separation. Furthermore, despite an almost-universal apathy towards their sensitivity, these animals indeed experience pain and react negatively towards stressful situations including loud noises, lights, enclosures, and disturbed environments. Although consumers may find this amusing, it is indeed a painful and terrifying experience for the animals.
Please take this opportunity to express compassion and empathy for our animal friends and decide to help rather than harm them by discontinuing the live animal key chains.
Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent appeal.
NAME
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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