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.
Speak Out for Sled Dogs Chained Without Shelter
BACKGROUND
For years, the conditions for Brian Ladoon’s sled dogs in Churchill, Manitoba, have caused outrage among residents and tourists alike. Dozens of dogs are kept chained in extremely cold, windy conditions without any shelter. Reports that dogs are periodically mauled by polar bears and wolves have made it all the worse. Photos provided to PETA can be viewed here.
Manitoba’s Animal Care Act requires an owner to “provide … reasonable protection from injurious heat or cold.” Although the Chief Veterinary Office of the Manitoba Agriculture, Food, and Rural Initiatives reportedly inspected Ladoon’s dogs in the fall of 2010 and recommended that Ladoon provide doghouses and bedding, these animals are suffering through yet another frigid winter without these necessities.
Please politely urge the CVO to act in behalf of Ladoon’s dogs immediately.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Dr. Megan Bergman, Chief Veterinary Officer
Dr. Terry Whiting, Manager, Animal Health and Welfare
Office of the Chief Veterinarian
Manitoba Agriculture, Food, and Rural Initiatives
204-945-7663 (phone)
204-945-4327 (fax)
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.
Email
animalcare@gov.mb.ca
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Chief Veterinary Officer Lees and Manager Whiting,
I have learned of extremely disturbing cases of animal cruelty in which Brian Ladoon’s sled dogs in Churchill, Manitoba, are currently suffering in the frigid temperatures. Incidentally, this is not an isolated occurrence and the Chief Veterinary Office of the Manitoba Agriculture, Food, and Rural Initiatives reportedly inspected Ladoon’s dogs in the fall of 2010 and recommended that Ladoon provide doghouses and bedding, which he failed to do.
Please allow me to elaborate. Our global communities share laws, moral and written, and when one person demonstrates such a gross lack of respect for both, our societies must react with concern for the innocent and potential victims. It is our obligation to protect them from cruelty, and Mr. Ladoon’s callous disregard, so easily adopted as demonstrated by his unprovoked and negligent behaviour, needs to be regarded rather than dismissed.
Please respect the victims by demonstrating your commitment to to them and imploring upon Mr. Ladoon to furnish protection from the weather and other animals. 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
Read more…
Children spending a lifetime in prison — only in the USA.
Please click on and sign No More Children Locked Up For Life: Clemency for Christi Cheramie
Locked up for life at 16. No possibility of parole. Christi Cheramie is living a nightmare.
When Christi was 16 years old, back in 1994, she couldn’t vote, drink alcohol, serve on a jury, or buy lottery tickets. She was considered a minor — a child. But that didn’t stop the state of Louisiana from giving this 16-year-old a sentence of life without parole.
Ask Louisiana’s governor and the state Board of Pardons to grant clemency to Christi Cheramie.
Only in the U.S. — where children as young as 11 have faced life in prison — are such harsh sentences against juveniles allowed. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits life without parole for offenses committed under the age of 18. This is not about excusing or minimizing the consequences of crimes committed by children, but about recognizing that children are not yet fully responsible for their actions and have special potential for rehabilitation and change.
Christi, now 33 years old, has spent more than half of her young life in prison. She’s earned her high school equivalency diploma and an associate’s degree in Agriculture Studies, and teaches classes to her fellow inmates. A prison warden who oversaw Christi considers her a “model inmate” who has grown into a “remarkable young woman” deserving of “a second chance in society.”
But if we don’t act, a mandatory sentence of life without parole means that Christi will die in prison. A victim of sexual abuse and depression, and caught in the web of an aggressive and controlling older fiancé, Christi found herself at the grisly murder scene of her fiancé’s great aunt. She was charged with murder just for being there — even though it was her fiancé who wielded the knife.
The victim’s closest family members are sympathetic to Christi’s case. But Christi’s fate is now in the hands of Louisiana’s governor and Board of Pardons.
Our 2011 Write for Rights campaign highlighted Christi’s case, and thousands of letters have already poured into Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s office. Next week, the Board of Pardons will meet to decide whether or not to move forward with Christi’s clemency application — a decision that the governor can influence. We must keep the momentum going from Write for Rights — and the time to act is now!
Christi has already changed people’s lives through her work at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, but she will never be able to realize her full potential — and society won’t benefit from her potential contributions — if she spends the rest of her life behind bars.
It’s time for the U.S. to join the rest of the world and end the cruel and unusual punishment of juvenile life without parole. People convicted of crimes while still children — like Christi Cheramie — should be given a chance at rehabilitation. They shouldn’t be left to grow old in a jail cell.
You can make a difference in Christi’s case. Sign our petition now calling for clemency for Christi Cheramie.
Read more…
BACKGROUND
Contact these gallery sponsors and ask them not to support animal neglect. Ask them to sever ties with Primary Flight who purchased two pigs to be used for profit during their Art Basel display by artist Miru Kim. The sick pigs were then abandoned at Earth-N-Us Farm without money for food or urgent medical care. They had to be rescued on December 23rd and transported for medical attention and safe placement at CJ Acres Animal Rescue: http://www.cj-acres.org/
WHOM TO CONTACT | EMAIL BLOCK
info@ugstrategies.com, jeremiah@indiewrecked.com, info@subversiveinc.com, info@wearetheunderground.com, admin@jakprints.com, info@jakprints.com, Sales@TheSeventhLetter.com, Webstore@theseventhletter.com, Info@theseventhletter.com, info@metro1properties.com, matt@icecreamman.com, gooch@icecreamman.com,james@icecreamman.com, cory@icecreamman.com, consumer.relations@adidas.com, tom@cpop.com, info@cafeinamiami.com, editor@juxtapoz.com, evan@juxtapoz.com, trent@hsproductions.com,
erin@juxtapoz.com,rick@hsproductions.com, consumer@asicsamerica.com, rcayetano@levi.com, LDowney@levi.com, support@mtncolors.com, feedback@mtncolors.com, info@newimageartgallery.com, amber@newimageartgallery.com, privacy@33third.com, matthew@33third.com, curator@midcity-arts.com, newaccounts@dcshoes.com, privacypolicy@dcshoes.com, dboring@dcshoes.com, intlsales@dcshoes.com, info@spinelloprojects.com, mcollection@bellsouth.net, info@fountainheadresidency.com, info@bacfl.org, sales@lombardiproperties.com, alexsaa@bellsouth.net, info@culturekings.com.au, webmaster@QUIKSILVER.COM, domain.billing@PBSG.COM, alexone@pacbell.net, domain@morganshotelgroup.com
SAMPLE LETTER
To Whom It Concerns,
I am shocked to learn that you are a sponsor or a contributor to Primary Flight Art Gallery in Miami. I am writing to you as part of a national action campaign, to ask that you withdraw all financial support of this gallery who purchased two pigs to exploit during Art Basel. Primary Flight neglected these two very sick pigs, causing them to suffer and almost die from lack of food and medical care. Please see media coverage below.
Read Jan 12, 2012
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-01-12/news/miru-kim-s-nude-art-with-pigs-made-them-sick-activist-says/
Read Jan 5, 2012
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/01/pigs_from_naked_artists_basel.php
Primary Flight Aric Kurzman has stated they will never financially or physically help with the care of the animals they abandoned, neglected, and who had to be subsequently rescued. Anyone who exploits animals for profit and allows them to suffer must be held accountable.
By continuing to sponsor or contribute to Primary Flight, now and in the future, you are supporting animal cruelty and neglect. I urge you to sever all ties with Primary Flight gallery immediately.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
NAME
Read more…
Urge Officials to Investigate Child, Animal Abuse Case
Vodpod videos no longer available.
BACKGROUND
In August, an extremely disturbing video depicting a very young girl being forced by her parents to repeatedly shoot an opossum who wandered onto their porch was posted to Facebook. Visibly shaken and exclaiming in distress, “I don’t want to shoot him!” the girl is directed, in front of two even younger children, to fire pellets again and again into the helpless animal. The traumatized girl pleads, “I don’t like doing this,” but to no avail, and the opossum, having been struck only about the body, suffers terribly during the ordeal. The video was posted with the caption “Well our dogs kept us up all night long cause that possum was eating their food. So I’m glad it’s dead. [The girl] was a little sad cause her dad made her shoot it. 😦 she didn’t like it…[sic]”. The family reportedly lives in Bee County, Texas.
PETA provided officials with everything they need to investigate (including names and an address) and has for months urged them to do just that, but our public records request reveals that no action was taken! Your voice is now needed! Please politely urge officials to take this matter seriously for the sake of the children and the animal who suffered that day.
WHOM TO CONTACT
The Honorable Martha Warner
Bee County District Attorney’s Office
martha.warner@co.bee.tx.us
Sheriff Carlos Carrizales Jr.
Bee County Sheriff’s Office
carlos.carrizales@co.bee.tx.us
Major Larry Young
Texas Parks and Wildlife Division Law Enforcement
Region 10
larry.young@tpwd.state.tx.us
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Warner, Sheriff Carrizales, Jr., and Major Young:
It has come to my attention that a gross case of animal cruelty has occurred in Bee County, Texas, in which a parent allegedly forced a child to brutally shoot an opossum with other children nearby. I therefore respectfully request a case be immediately initiated with the adequate information as gathered by PETA to investigate the deliberate abuse of the child and animal and that the most severe subsequent penalty be pursued as well.
Although not required, I do feel it important to validate my concerns: when I try to imagine what possible motive abusers entertain for subjecting their victims to such malicious, heinous acts of emotional brutality as well as physical cruelty, I fail, but I am thankful for a lack of cognitive understanding and rationalization. To engage in such malevolent behaviour absolutely suggests sociopathic and sadistic tendencies and 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 animals has, disturbingly enough, the ability to show such indifference towards humans. This link between animal and human abuse has been established, and if we excuse or ignore the opossum’s violent killing and the indirect killer, the parent, we would be serving an injustice to both animals and society’s children.
When animals are subjected to such brutality with no human accountability, our society inaccurately concludes that animals are not worthy of empathy, compassion, or rights. We become desensitized to the issue of animal abuse, and our children learn troubling lessons that are contrary to respect of and towards animals, which often evolves into a lack of empathy for humans. We must do everything in our power to allocate necessary resources to investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of animal cruelty cases. I understand that yours can be a challenging position, limited by vague and inadequate laws as well as insufficient funds; however, we are intelligent people with loud voices and tireless determination, and I believe we can make a difference or initiate change to better protect our animal friends. Please proceed with the most severe penalties and examine where existing legal mandates may be rewritten to address the current inadequacy of such.
I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this important, urgent issue.
NAME
ADDRESS
No Circus Animal is Safe: Demand Animal-Free Circuses
From Force Change
Please click on and sign HERE
- Enter your name and email address
- Click ‘Next’
- Click ‘Sign Petition’
Target: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
Goal: To phase out animal brutality in circuses and instead employ animal-free entertainment.
The population of the largest of all land animals, elephants, is now confined to decreasing habitats in Africa and Asia. In the wild, they are hunted for their tusks and face the perpetual threat of habitat loss. Sadly, the plight of the elephant worsens outside of its natural environment and inside of the circus tent. Elephants are subjected to cruel training and constant confinement, being held captive and forced to perform stressful acts, with most of the creatures facing whips, sticks, and bull-hooks. These poor animals need to be freed from the stage and given the fighting chance to survive in the wild.
It is no secret that in many circuses, elephants have been reported to be beaten, poked, prodded and jabbed with sharp bull-hooks, many times until blood pours from their leathery skin. Their spirits are broken as mere calves, sometimes with lives destroyed after excruciating fractures occur within their bones and the elephant babes are deemed useless in the show. In just months, many elephants suffer a dramatic decline in health, and without adequate veterinary care, an overwhelming amount of the large mammals succumb to a preventable death. Similar to the fate of their babies, aged elephants that suffer from painful ailments, mostly arthritis, are spared no torture, as they are still forced on their hind legs adding pressure to their joints.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Not only are these animals in danger, but they also endanger the public. Often times, after elephants engage in erratic behavior- a clear indication of psychological distress- these gentle beasts become aggressive and react wildly. There have been a reported 35 cases within the past decade of elephants rebelling against trainers, attacking the audience, bolting from circuses, and wreaking havoc through towns. People have been killed during these moments of rebellion, and in the end, the bulls are often times shot and killed as well. As a result of having to perform night after exhausting night, it should come as no surprise that an animal would snap. The only answer is to provide elephants their natural environment.
Fortunately, there is a solution. Not all circuses are dangerous to animals. Many animal-free venues exist, complete with trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, and other various forms of entertainment. With that in mind, it is imperative that elephants and other circus animals are taken out of the boxcar and left to remain in their proper home– the wild.
Read more…
Urge Emerald Isle, North Carolina, to Halt Deer Massacre
BACKGROUND
Emerald Isle, North Carolina, has decided to allow bowhunters to kill deer in an attempt to reduce local deer populations. Our office received reports that deer who were wounded by arrows were left to suffer during last year’s hunt. Your voice is needed!
Bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.
Please urge Emerald Isle officials to halt bowhunting—and then forward this alert widely! If deer control is insisted upon, please share these tips.
WHOM TO CONTACT
Email block
aschools@ec.rr.com
frush@emeraldisle-nc.org
fmesser@ec.rr.com
nhedreen@coastalemail.com
trhoover@ec.rr.com
jwootten@earthlink.net
maripatw1@yahoo.com
Individual
The Honorable Art Schools
Mayor of Emerald Isle
aschools@ec.rr.com
Frank Rush
Emerald Isle Town Manager
frush@emeraldisle-nc.org
Please also e-mail the members of the Emerald Isle Commission using these addresses: fmesser@ec.rr.com; nhedreen@coastalemail.com; trhoover@ec.rr.com;
jwootten@earthlink.net; maripatw1@yahoo.com
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Schools, Town Manager Rush, and Emerald Isle Commission Members:
I have just learned that Emerald Isle is considering bowhunting, the cruelest of all hunting methods, of deer populations in a misguided attempt to reduce their numbers in populated areas. Although this proposal is inherently cruel based on its premise alone, it is important to recognize it is based on erroneous information.
Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the deer for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.
Second, killing deer would artificially increase food supplies to the remaining deer, the consequence of which would be increased reproduction and an ensuing greater deer population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger herd populations, in subsequent years.
Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to move forward with such a cruel and unnecessary killing, and although I do not currently reside in Emerald Isle I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull transpires.
Furthermore, bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.
Please 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…
Santa Cruz Chicken Hatchery Sued for Unlawful Business Practices Due to Shocking Animal Abuse
From ALDF
Santa Cruz, Calif. – This morning, represented by Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) attorneys, Compassion Over Killing (COK) filed a complaint in the California Superior Court in Santa Cruz to stop alleged ongoing animal abuse at Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, Inc., a Santa Cruz chicken hatchery that handles millions of chickens per year. Undercover video footage, taken by a COK investigator working inside Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, reveals shocking abuse of newly-hatched chicks. As described in the lawsuit, this video documents numerous routine abuses—including acts amounting to felony animal cruelty—that are in violation of the California law, and which in turn constitute unlawful and unfair business practices under the California Business and Professions Code.
Why are animal advocates and attorneys up in arms over conditions for chickens at Cal-Cruz? COK’s investigation uncovered abuses including:
- Dead hatchlings and their body parts, and mutilated but still living hatchlings, trapped in and under processing machinery;⁞
- Hatchlings with ripped or missing skin, exposed organs, and severely injured feet and legs left in bins for several hours at a time, where they gasped, shook, and struggled to move;
- Baby birds cruelly tossed in a bucket of liquid waste where they struggled to escape before drowning;
- Hatchlings tossed like garbage into bins and then forced down a clogged disposal chute with a pole and hose.
ALDF and COK argue that these unlawfully abusive practices violate the California Business and Professions Code, undermining the integrity of the market. By grossly disregarding the welfare of animals, Cal-Cruz is cutting corners that allow it to produce hatchlings at a reduced cost. The lawsuit seeks an immediate end to the abusive and neglectful practices causing unnecessary suffering at Cal-Cruz.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Compassion Over Killing immediately turned over the video evidence to law enforcement authorities upon completion of the investigation; a follow-up investigation conducted by humane law enforcement corroborated the evidence of abuse and neglect and resulted in the impoundment of 88 hatchlings.
Cal-Cruz hatches thousands of chicks per week—amounting to millions of birds per year—for shipment to growers who house and feed the birds until they are ready for slaughter. ALDF was recently informed by a Cal-Cruz representative that many of these chicks are sent to Bauer Family Farms and Carlson Family Farms and are ultimately destined for meat counters at Northern California grocery stores.
“The systematic torture and reckless neglect of baby birds at Cal-Cruz is not only shocking—it is also illegal under the California Business and Professions Code,” explains ALDF’s director of litigation Carter Dillard. “These mistreated and abused baby birds deserve justice. It’s time that their suffering be recognized under the law and permanently stopped,” says Cheryl Leahy, general counsel of Compassion Over Killing.
Copies of the lawsuit and footage of COK’s investigation at Cal-Cruz are available upon request.
ALDF was founded in 1979 with the unique mission of protecting the lives and advancing the interests of animals through the legal system. For more information, please visit www.aldf.org.
Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal protection organization based in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Since 1995, COK has worked to end the abuse of animals in agriculture through undercover investigations, public outreach, litigation, and other advocacy programs. COK is on the web at www.COK.net.
Read more…
‘Bushmeat’ Trade May Import Disease, Study Suggests
Huffington Post
From The Huffington Post
By Lynne Peeples
Thousands of pounds of primate parts, rodents and other dry, smoked or raw animals — so-called “bushmeat” — are smuggled into the United States as food every year, frequently hidden inside cases of similarly stinky but legal fish. Scientists now warn that the increasing practice may also be bringing deadly disease into the country.
“We know a fair amount about the risks of harvesting and slaughtering the animals in countries far away,” said Nina Marano, branch chief of quarantine and border health services at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But we wanted to know more about the persistence, if any, [of pathogens] once the animals have been slaughtered.”
In a small study published Tuesday in the journal PLoS ONE, Marano and colleagues from several institutions tested samples of some 44 nonhuman primates and rodents seized by customs agents at JFK International Airport in New York, as well as a few other U.S. points of entry. They then ran sophisticated genetic tests to detect pathogens.
Sure enough, the researchers found that several bugs had made the trip, including diseases that belong to the same family as HIV — which also originated in African bushmeat.
“This is good example of why we want to know about these viruses. We want to prevent any kind of future epidemic similar to what happened with HIV,” said Bill Switzer, a microbiologist at the CDC and preeminent expert on the simian foamy virus. First identified in the mid-1990s, SFV is common in nonhuman primates and known to spread quickly. It has also made the jump to humans, though it has yet to cause obvious symptoms.
Among the other pathogens found in the confiscated bushmeat were several forms of herpes, all of which could pose threats to humans.
“We are also worried about the viruses that we haven’t identified yet,” said Kristine Smith, the study’s lead researcher and the associate director for health and policy at EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based organization of scientists dedicated to the dual goals of conservation and public health.
Overall, an estimated three of every four emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in wildlife. As HuffPost reported last month, the live wildlife trade can also expose humans to infectious diseases such as monkeypox, bird flu and rat bite fever. Boris Pavlin, the head of the Northern Micronesia office of the World Health Organization who was not involved in the Smith study, warned of potential exposures from close contact with pets that can bite and scratch, noting that “a living being can create an infectious aerosol, which bushmeat normally would not.”
Pavlin said he was not surprised by the results of the Smith study. “My research has shown that there are myriad species of imported animals that are known to be potential carriers of zoonotic pathogens,” he said. “This study is the first to demonstrate virus directly in imported bushmeat, but it basically confirms what we all suspected.”
A person handling meat may be directly exposed to an animal’s blood and internal tissues, which Pavlin said “could be extremely dangerous, particularly as the bushmeat being prepared may be ‘double-dead.'” In other words, the animal may have initially died from disease before being found and processed for consumption. This is the scenario that likely gave rise to the deadly Ebola virus.
People may also be exposed to disease by eating the bushmeat. As with chicken and salmonella, the level of risk depends on how well the meat is cooked, but millions of Africans rely on bushmeat for protein, and surveys of West African communities have found that many people are unaware that they could get sick from this practice.
While greater travel and immigration between the United States and Africa means the potential for more direct U.S. exposure, Smith suggests that even a bushmeat hunter contracting a disease abroad could affect health, economy, food and natural resources here.
“Unfortunately, it is ‘One Health‘,” said Smith, referring to the emerging movement that seeks more recognition of the connections between the health of the environment, animals and human beings.
To get a better handle on just how much bushmeat is entering the country — currently estimated at 15,000 pounds a year — as well as the range of diseases that are traveling with it, Smith and her team are now expanding their study to include most of the U.S. airports that have a CDC quarantine.
Please Demand Jail Time for Dog Torturer!
BACKGROUND
According to news sources, Québec resident Normand Girard has pled guilty to shooting puppies in the head with a nail gun. Reportedly, after his attempts to gas to death a mother Labrador retriever and her puppies proved unsuccessful, Girard began driving nails into their skulls! When he failed to kill his first two victims, Girard just dumped the whole canine family on the side of the road.
Girard now awaits sentencing, and your voice is needed! Please contact the prosecutor handling this case and thank him for taking the case seriously. Let him know that you support the maximum penalty for Girard: a $10,000 fine and 18 months in prison!
WHOM TO CONTACT
Me. Karim AinMelk
Office of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions
77 Main St.
Office 20.1
Granby QC J2G 9B3
karim.ainmelk@dpcp.gouv.qc.ca
And please forward this alert widely!
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Me. Karim AinMelk,
I have learned of extremely disturbing and malicious cases of animal cruelty in which Québec resident Normand Girard has pled guilty to shooting puppies in the head with a nail gun. Reportedly, after his attempts to gas to death a mother Labrador retriever and her puppies proved unsuccessful, Girard began driving nails into their skulls! When he failed to kill his first two victims, Girard just dumped the whole canine family on the side of the road. I am therefore writing to thank you for taking this case seriously and to request you sentence Mr. Girard to the maximum penalty allowable under the law: a $10,000 fine and 18 months in prison.
Please allow me to elaborate. Our global communities share laws, moral and written, and when one person demonstrates such a gross lack of respect for both, our societies must react with concern for the innocent and potential victims, who include both non-human and human animals. It is our obligation to protect them from cruelty and although past behaviours are not indicative of future actions, Mr. Girard’s callous disregard, so easily adopted as demonstrated by his unprovoked, barbaric, and lethal behaviour, needs to be regarded rather than dismissed.
Please respect the victims by penalizing the guilty and demonstrate your commitment to justice, responsibility, and integrity, attributes unquestionably necessary in a law enforcement 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
7 universities sue El Al to carry primates: please sign petition
PETITION
Please applaud the EL-AL airline management for taking a compassionate stand and ask that it does not bow to pressure from the research industry to carry primates.
A petition has been started by the Israeli Anti-Vivisection Organization “Behind Closed Doors”, with English translation, that can be found here:
https://www.atzuma.co.il/elalsupport
(To sign the petition just enter your full name into the box on the right hand side and hit the green submit button.)
TEXT
Many airlines all over the world refuse to transport animals destined for vivisection. Following a prolonged public campaign, the Israeli airline El-Al declared in September 2010 that its management decided to join the growing list of airlines that refuse to transport animals destined for vivisection.
Now, more than a year after El-Al stopped such transportation, vivisectionists are trying to force it to change this policy, through a lawsuit filed by The Council of University Presidents against El-Al.
The transportation of animals to labs is an integral part of the severe abuse animals endure in vivisection – they are transported in extreme packed conditions in a journey which may last tens of hours, while suffering extreme physical and mental stress, and many are found dead upon arrival.
In recent years, a significant part of the air transportation of animals for vivisection to and from Israel has comprised of monkeys imported to the Mazor Facility from Mauritius. The Mazor Facility is a private business that has been responsible for kidnapping monkeys from the wild in Mauritius, confining and breeding them in Israel, and selling their babies abroad, for vivisection.
Bullfighting Ends In Barcelona
Related, please click on and sign Help to End the Suffering of Bulls in Nimes
From Newser
By Mark Russell
Today’s bullfights at the 97-year-old Plaza de Toros Monumental arena in Barcelona will be the last ever for the venerable—and brutal—sport in Catalonia province, reports the BBC.
The province voted to end bullfighting last year, the first ban on the corrida de toros in mainland Spain (it’s been banned on the Canary Islands since 1991).
“This is such a beautiful arena, with a lot of tradition both for bullfighters and this national celebration,” said one matador. Although attendance for bullfighting has been poor for many years, tickets to the last matches at the 20,000-seat Monumental sold out quickly, and have been selling for five times their original value on black markets.
The ban came partly from Catalonians’ desire to distinguish themselves from the rest of Spain and partly because of declining interest, but animal rights groups say they hope to extend their campaign to the rest of the country.
See More:
whatever the reason
good news,
we will take it
and work even harder
tomorrow,
to make it
Karen Lyons Kalmenson
Help End Duck Shooting and Greyhound Export in Australia
1. Please click and sign HERE to ban duck hunting in Australia.
2. Please click HERE to ban greyhound export in Australia.
1. Background | From Animals Australia
The beautiful wetlands of South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria should be safe havens for wildlife; instead every year in Autumn and early Winter they become killing fields.
At this moment the lives of hundreds of thousands of native waterbirds are under threat. Tasmania and Victoria have already confirmed that they will permit a duck hunting season in 2012 and South Australia will also soon decide.
While numbers of active shooters dropped substantially during the opening weekend of the 2011 season, there was no reprieve for ducks, with numbers of birds killed and captured more than doubling from an estimated 270,000 in 2010 to more than 600,000 in 2011, in Victoria alone. For every bird killed and captured it is estimated that at least one more escapes injured. So in excess of one million birds will have been harmed or killed during the 2011 shooting season — with those who escaped likely to have suffered prolonged pain and even death from their untreated wounds.
Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia have already banned duck shooting due to the extreme suffering caused to birds.
Please help us protect these defenceless birds and send a strong message to the Governments of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, urging them to ban duck hunting.
2. Background | From Animal Australia
Australia’s greyhound racing industry is not one with a glowing track record for animal welfare. Just like in the horse racing industry, animals whose only fault is that they are not fast enough to win are disposed of in the thousands. A very small portion of these unwanted animals are rehomed, however the vast majority are killed. But perhaps the grimmest fate that can await these unlucky dogs is export, and this export trade may soon grow if not stopped.
A primary export destination for greyhounds from Australia is Macau, with hundreds of racing dogs facing cruel conditions in this region of China. In Macau’s greyhound racing stadium, the Canidrome, these dogs are kept in cages so small they can barely turn around and must literally run for their lives on the track.
Greyhounds from Australia were killed at the Canidrome at a rate of more than 1 every day in 2010. Nearly all of these dogs were healthy and not even five years old. All they had done wrong is fail to finish in the top three for five consecutive races. With an ongoing supply of dogs from Australia, this unethical practice can continue, and is even threatening to expand.
Macau is the only place in China where greyhound racing is currently legal. But with racing industries from around the world pushing for the legalisation of greyhound racing on mainland China many more greyhounds are at risk.
The Australian government can help stop this cruel practice by banning the export of greyhounds. Please call on Minister for Agriculture, Joe Ludwig, to stop Australia’s export of greyhounds.
Victory! Angel’s Gate Founder Charged : Please Send Sample Letter for Additional Penalties
BACKGROUND
The Delaware County, New York, District Attorney’s Office has filed charges of cruelty to animals as well as a drug-related charge against Susan Marino, the woman responsible for the horrific suffering of hundreds of animals at Angel’s Gate, Inc., which she founded, operates, and dares to call “a hospice and rehabilitation center.”
PETA’s investigation of this hellhole exposed the daily neglect and terrible suffering of disabled, elderly, and ailing animals, many of whom had been shipped to Marino by well-meaning but severely uninformed individuals and agencies, including the New York Center for Animal Care and Control (NYCACC), which doomed Malcolm the Chihuahua and hundreds of other animals to die slowly at Angel’s Gate through its “New Hope” program.
PETA had provided the District Attorney with the evidence that our investigator gathered while volunteering at Angel’s Gate. Our investigator saw Marino allow animals to suffer, sometimes for weeks, from treatable conditions as well as terminal illnesses without providing veterinary care, medication, or pain relief. Paralyzed animals dragged themselves until they developed bloody ulcers. Animals developed urine scald after being left in soaked diapers for up to two days. Dehydrated animals were denied water, and others were forced to stay outside in freezing temperatures. The bodies of dead animals were left among those of the living for days.
While Marino has been charged, the nightmare is not over for the animals at Angel’s Gate, as they have not yet been seized. Please help us ensure their welfare and the safety of future victims by joining us in urging the New York State Attorney General to revoke Angel’s Gate’s nonprofit status and ensure that the animals are removed from Marino’s custody. Please click here to send a letter to the Attorney General, and please, when your animal companions become elderly or ill, let them live out their final days with dignity in the comfort of their own homes, surrounded by their families, not at the mercy of a conniving stranger.
PETA has turned over evidence to the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Please join us in urging Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to revoke the non-profit status of Angel’s Gate and ensure that Marino’s victims are seized and helped.
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WHOM TO CONTACT
The Honorable Eric T. Schneiderman
Office of the Attorney General
The Capital
Albany, NY 12224-0341
518-474-5481
Click HERE for online webform
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Honorable Schneiderman,
I have learned of extremely disturbing and malicious cases of animal cruelty in which Susan Marino, owner and operator of Angel’s Gate, deliberately and with malice caused the suffering and death of numerous animals as well as cheated well-meaning people out of enormous sums of money. I am respectfully requesting that you revoke her non-profit status, charge her with the harshest penalty allowed, and seize and care for animals still suffering.
The following, courtesy of PETA, are the conditions witnessed by an undercover volunteer of Angel’s Gate:
Paralyzed animals dragged themselves until they developed bleeding ulcers, even though wheelchair carts were readily available. One dachshund suffered a wound so deep that it exposed the bone.
Animals whose bladders should be expressed every few hours were kept in the same diaper for up to two days until the diapers were urine-logged, and animals suffered from urine scald.
Animals, even severely dehydrated ones, were confined without access to water.
Animals kept outside in freezing temperatures without access to proper shelter.
Animals were confined to a bathtub, which they could not climb.
Animals were confined to bathrooms.
Small dogs were confined to Marino’s bed, several feet off the ground, with no way to leave it.
Animals were suffering from treatable conditions without veterinary examination or care, including open wounds and respiratory, eye, ear, mouth, and skin infections. One dog’s infected, rotten jaw snapped in half.
Crowded conditions so stressful that fights broke out daily, leaving animals with wounds that were left untreated.
Animals suffering from pain, seizures, and hydrocephalus (water on the brain) were denied veterinarian-recommended and/or prescribed medication.
Horribly suffering animals on death’s door were deprived of the dignity and relief of euthanasia.
The bodies of dead animals were left out for days among live animals.
Animals were fed rancid, raw meat that had been left unrefrigerated.
Please respect the victims by penalizing Ms. Marino and demonstrate your commitment to justice, responsibility, and integrity, attributes unquestionably necessary in a law enforcement 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.
Read more…
Cat Euthanized Because Owner Couldn’t Afford Vet Bill
Please click on and sign petition HERE
From Force Change
Target: The Humane Society
Goal: Apologize for the death of Daniel Dockery’s cat and review the procedure regarding payment for veterinary services
Lovers of animals and compassionate people will feel sorrow and even outrage at the story of Daniel Dockery and the cat that saved him from addiction and despair. After rushing Scruffy to the Humane Society’s Campus for Compassion in Arizona for treatment of non-life threatening wounds, Dockery discovered that because of his inability to pay in a timely manner, his beloved kitten had been euthanized. This callous lack of compassion is unacceptable in any circumstance, but especially from an organization known for their compassion for animals. Tell the Humane Society that they need to apologize for Scruffy’s death and review Dockery’s case to make sure something like this never happens again.
Daniel Dockery raised Scruffy since she was 4 years old. He claims that through raising and caring for her, he was able to recover from his 20 year heroin addiction. When he brought her to Humane Society’s clinic on December 8th, he was confronted with an inexplicable lack of compassion, understanding and common sense. When Dockery presented them with his mother’s credit card, they refused it according to their “no credit card” policy. He then asked for 24 hours to come up with the cash and was again refused. Instead, they insisted he sign ownership over to them. The Humane Society would later confirm that Scruffy was euthanized a few hours after being brought in because they were only able to treat two cats at their clinic. The 49 year old Dockery is devastated, feeling like he has failed the cat that he loved so dearly.
Dockery received a massive outpouring of financial and emotional support from the people of Arizona. We also stand with Dockery in asking the Humane Society of Arizona to issue a formal apology and to review their policies concerning payment for services. No animal should be killed because their owner can’t pay, especially an animal that brought such joy into the life of someone who suffered for so long.
2011: What a Year for Veganism!
From One Green Planet
By Nick Pendergrast
2011 has seen veganism move into the mainstream more than any other year. It has seen growing awareness of the animal rights, environmental and health arguments for veganism, a number of well-known people becoming vegan and increasing vegan options at restaurants and supermarkets.
An increase in the number of famous vegans has certainly led to greater awareness and visibility of veganism this year. This year, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres not only continued to promote veganism on her popular talk show, but she also established the website Going Vegan With Ellen and set up a vegan restaurant chain and standalone vegan restaurant.
Some celebrities have also demonstrated the health benefits of a vegan diet. The most obvious example of this is former U.S. President Bill Clinton. After eating a diet high in animal products and narrowly escaping death due to heart problems, Clinton has adopted a vegan diet and tests have shown that he is starting to reverse the damage to his heart and blood vessels caused by cardiovascular disease, has lost over nine kilograms, and claims he has more energy than before.
Clinton’s story was featured on a recent hour-long CNN documentary on heart attacks and his vegan diet success story was also featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, and the ABC – to name just a few of the endless amount of outlets that have covered this story.
The release of the documentary Forks Over Knives has also drawn attention to the health benefits of a vegan diet. This documentary ‘examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.’ This documentary has convinced celebrities like comedian Russell Brand and musician Ozzy Osbourne to adopt a vegan diet for health reasons, which has led to greater awareness of the health reasons to remove animal products from the diet.
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The growing diversity of vegans, particularly famous vegans, has helped in bringing down stereotypes about veganism and is likely to have made veganism more appealing to a wider variety of people. It is not just animal advocates who are busting the myth that vegans fit some narrow stereotype, but also mainstream media outlets like Bloomberg Businessweek.
2011 has also seen growing awareness of the environmental arguments for veganism. In 2009, a study by the World Watch Institute found that animal agriculture accounts for 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions – far higher than the 18% figure cited by the United Nations in 2006. This year, the website 51percent.org was set up, increasing awareness of this statistic and the environmental reasons to give up animal products.
As the term ‘vegan’ and arguments for veganism increasingly enter the mainstream media and consciousness, it is becoming easier and easier to be a vegan. Mainstream supermarkets increasingly provide vegan staples like tofu and tempeh, as well as more “luxury” products like vegan meat substitutes and desserts, and chain restaurants as well as university cafeterias are offering more and more vegan options.
As veganism reaches the mainstream, it is important to reflect on the definition of the term. In 1944, Donald Watson began The Vegan Society and coined the term ‘vegan’ to mean a vegetarian who also avoided other animal products in their diet, such as dairy and eggs.
In 1951, the definition of veganism was extended to be far more all-encompassing than just a diet. The Vegan Society redefined veganism to mean seeking ‘to end the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection and all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man.’
Although some recent articles have acknowledged that veganism goes beyond diet, unfortunately it has mainly been the dietary aspect of veganism, rather than the broader philosophy and lifestyle (often referred to as ethical veganism), that have become mainstreamed.
The mainstreaming of the vegan diet is obviously a positive thing for other animals, as an overwhelming majority (often suggested to be approximately 99% in the United States) of non-human animals killed by humans are killed for food.
However, from an animal rights point of view, ethical veganism is essential. The non-human animals harmed and killed for other uses beyond food, such as entertainment, clothing and experimentation are just as important.
The concept of animal rights gives other animals inherent value and challenges the dominant idea that they are just “things” for us to use and kill for our enjoyment and profit. Ethical veganism puts this concept into practise for all non-human animals, not just those used and killed for food.
It has been great to see the term ‘vegan’ mainstreamed and normalised this year. From an animal rights point of view, it is important that the broader philosophy and lifestyle of veganism gets wider recognition in the years to come.
Nick Pendergrast is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Curtin University in Western Australia. His research focuses on the animal advocacy movement, primarily in Australia and the US. He also teaches Sociology and Anthropology at Curtin University, co-hosts the podcast Progressive Podcast Australia and runs the website Vegan Perth with Animal Rights Advocates.
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