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Stop Michael Vick From Having Another Dog
To keep Michael Vick from hurting another animal.
1. Vick says he wants to have another pet dog,we have to stop another dog from getting hurt
2. The only winners if we stop it are the dogs.
http://www.causes.com/causes/556695-stop-michael-vick-from-having-another-dogTo keep Michael Vick from hurting another animal. 1. Vick says he wants to have... more-
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Chinese Restaurant Busted For Serving Dog Meat
[IMG]http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/Plukx/korea-dog-meat.jpg[/IMG]
Fido, Rover & Lassie On the Menu watch video at link
http://waneenterprises.ning.com/video/chinese-restaurant-busted-for-serving-dog-meat[IMG]http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m265/Plukx/korea-dog-meat.jpg[/IMG] Fido,... more-
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Two Herds of Wild Elephants Walk 12 Hours to Gather Inexplicably to Mourn the Death of Their “Elephant Whisperer” at His Home
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PART ONE...
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Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony died March 7. His family tells of a solemn procession on March 10 that defies human explanation.
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For 12 hours, two herds of wild South African elephants slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of late author Lawrence Anthony, the conservationist who saved their lives. The formerly violent, rogue elephants, destined to be shot a few years ago as pests, were rescued and rehabilitated by Anthony, who had grown up in the bush and was known as the “Elephant Whisperer.”
For two days the herds loitered at Anthony’s rural compound on the vast Thula Thula game reserve in the South African KwaZulu – to say good-bye to the man they loved. But how did they know he had died March 7? Known for his unique ability to calm traumatized elephants, Anthony had become a legend. He is the author of three books, Babylon Ark, detailing his efforts to rescue the animals at Baghdad Zoo during the Iraqi war, the forthcoming "The Last Rhinos", and his bestselling "The Elephant Whisperer".
There are two elephant herds at Thula Thula. According to his son Dylan, both arrived at the Anthony family compound shortly after Anthony’s death.
They had not visited the house for a year and a half and it must have taken them about 12 hours to make the journey,” Dylan is quoted in various local news accounts. “The first herd arrived on Sunday and the second herd, a day later. They all hung around for about two days before making their way back into the bush."
Elephants have long been known to mourn their dead. In India, baby elephants often are raised with a boy who will be their lifelong “mahout.” The pair develop legendary bonds – and it is not uncommon for one to waste away without a will to live after the death of the other.
But these are wild elephants in the 21st century, not some Rudyard Kipling novel. The first herd to arrive at Thula Thula several years ago was violent. They hated humans. Anthony found himself fighting a desperate battle for their survival and their trust, which he detailed in "The Elephant Whisperer:“
"It was 4:45 a.m. and I was standing in front of Nana, an enraged wild elephant, pleading with her in desperation. Both our lives depended on it. The only thing separating us was an 8,000-volt electric fence that she was preparing to flatten and make her escape. Nana, the matriarch of her herd, tensed her enormous frame and flared her ears. ’Don’t do it, Nana,’ I said, as calmly as I could. She stood there, motionless but tense. The rest of the herd froze. ’This is your home now,’ I continued. ‘Please don’t do it, girl.’ I felt her eyes boring into me.
“’They’ll kill you all if you break out. This is your home now. You have no need to run any more.
"Suddenly, the absurdity of the situation struck me,” Anthony writes. “Here I was in pitch darkness, talking to a wild female elephant with a baby, the most dangerous possible combination, as if we were having a friendly chat. But I meant every word. ‘You will all die if you go. Stay here. I will be here with you and it’s a good place.’
"She took another step forward. I could see her tense up again, preparing to snap the electric wire and be out, the rest of the herd smashing after her in a flash. I was in their path, and would only have seconds to scramble out of their way and climb the nearest tree. I wondered if I would be fast enough to avoid being trampled. Possibly not. Then something happened between Nana and me, some tiny spark of recognition, flaring for the briefest of moments. Then it was gone. Nana turned and melted into the bush. The rest of the herd followed. I couldn’t explain what had happened between us, but it gave me the first glimmer of hope since the elephants had first thundered into my life.”
It had all started several weeks earlier with a phone call from an elephant welfare organization. Would Anthony be interested in adopting a problem herd of wild elephants? They lived on a game reserve 600 miles away and were “troublesome,” recalled Anthony. They had a tendency to break out of reserves and the owners wanted to get rid of them fast.
" If we didn’t take them, they would be shot."
The woman explained, "The matriarch is an amazing escape artist and has worked out how to break through electric fences. She just twists the wire around her tusks until it snaps, or takes the pain and smashes through."
“’Why me?’ I asked."
“'’I’ve heard you have a way with animals. You’re right for them. Or maybe they’re right for you.’”
What followed was heart-breaking. One of the females and her baby were shot and killed in the round-up, trying to evade capture.
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CONTINUED...
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PHOTO: A line of gentle elephants approaching Lawrence Anthony's house.
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.. . PART ONE... . Author and legendary conservationist Lawrence Anthony... more-
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Unimaginable Horror as Helicopter-Borne Poachers Massacre 22 Elephants Before Hacking Off Their Tusks and Genitals
Daily Mail...
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Unimaginable horror as helicopter-borne poachers massacre 22 elephants before hacking off their tusks and genitals
Record numbers of ivory seizures amid rise of organised crime gangs
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PHOTO:
Barbaric: In a scene too graphic to show in full, the carcasses of some of the 22 massacred elephants lay strewn across Garamba National Park in the Congo after being gunned down by helicopter-borne poachers
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By Simon Tomlinson
PUBLISHED: 17:35 EST, 24 April 2012 | UPDATED: 17:53 EST, 24 April 2012
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In a scene of inconceivable horror, these slaughtered elephant carcasses show the barbaric lengths poachers will go to in their hunt for nature's grim booty.
The bodies were among a herd of 22 animals massacred in a helicopter-borne attack by professionals who swooped over their quarry.
The scene beneath the rotor blades would have been chilling - panicked mothers shielding their young, hair-raising screeches and a mad scramble through the blood-stained bush as bullets rained down from the sky.
When the shooting was over, all of the herd lay dead, one of the worst such killings in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in living memory.
'It's been a long time since we've seen something like this,' said Dr Tshibasu Muamba, head of international cooperation for the Congolese state conservation agency, ICCN, as he surveyed the macarbre scene at Garamba National Park.
After the slaughter, the killers set about removing their tusks and genitals before likely smuggling them through South Sudan or Uganda, which form part of an 'Ivory Road' linking Africa to Asia.
Elephant and rhino poaching is surging, conservationists say, an illegal piece of Asia's scramble for African resources, driven by the growing purchasing power of the region's newly affluent classes.
When the shooting was over, all of the herd lay dead, one of the worst such killings in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in living memory.
'It's been a long time since we've seen something like this,' said Dr Tshibasu Muamba, head of international cooperation for the Congolese state conservation agency, ICCN, as he surveyed the macarbre scene at Garamba National Park.
After the slaughter, the killers set about removing their tusks and genitals before likely smuggling them through South Sudan or Uganda, which form part of an 'Ivory Road' linking Africa to Asia.
Elephant and rhino poaching is surging, conservationists say, an illegal piece of Asia's scramble for African resources, driven by the growing purchasing power of the region's newly affluent classes.
A record number of big ivory seizures were made globally in 2011 and the trend looks set to continue in 2012 as elephant massacres take place from Congo to Cameroon, where as many as 200 of the pachyderms, listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as 'vulnerable', were slain in January.
In South Africa, nearly two rhinos a day are being killed to meet demand for the animal's horn, which is worth more than its weight in gold. More are being killed each week now than were being taken on an annual basis a decade ago.
Conservation group TRAFFIC, which monitors the global trade in animals and plants, said 2011 was the worst year for large ivory seizures in the more than two decades it has been running a database tracking the trends.
After the trade in ivory was banned at the end of the 1980s - a policy implemented to stem a slaughter of elephants at the time - the illegal trade declined sharply, helped by the co-operation of Japan from where most of the demand had been coming.
Conservationists say there was a spike in the mid 1990s driven by emerging Chinese demand that bubbled for a few years, then dropped off as red flags were raised.
Zimbabwe-based Tom Milliken, who manages TRAFFIC's Elephant Trade Information System, said since 2004 'the trend has been escalating upwards again, dramatically so over the last three years.'
Ben Janse van Rensburg, head of enforcement for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the international treaty that governs trade in plants and animals, said: 'The biggest challenge is that in the last few years there has been a big shift from your ordinary poachers to your organized crime groups.'
This was on display in Congo last month, where investigators determined the poachers shot from the air because of the trajectory of the bullet wounds.
Helicopters do not come cheaply and their use points to a high level of organization.
Ken Maggs, the head of the environmental crimes investigation unit for South African National Parks, said one person recently arrested for trade in rhino horn had 5.1 million rand ($652,400) in cash in the boot of his car.
South Africa is the epicenter of rhino poaching because it hosts virtually the entire population of white rhino - 18,800 head or 93 per cent - and about 40 per cent of Africa's much rarer black rhino.
As of the middle of April, 181 rhinos had been killed in South Africa in 2012, according to official government data.
At this rate, more than 600 will be lost to poachers this year compared with 448 in 2011.
A decade ago, only a handful were being taken.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134696/Scene-unimaginable-horror-helicopter-borne-poachers-massacre-22-elephants.html#ixzz1tbKCGg2f
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.Daily Mail... . . Unimaginable horror as helicopter-borne poachers massacre... more-
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Peru Investigates Mystery Dolphin and Pelican Deaths
CNN...
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Peru investigates mystery pelican deaths
By Marilia Brocchetto, CNN
updated 10:29 AM EDT, Mon April 30, 2012
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Mass dolphin die-off in Peru
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Hundreds of dead birds are found on shore, authorities say
It's not clear what killed them
The discovery of the dead birds comes weeks after hundreds of dead dolphins were found
The dolphin deaths remain a mystery
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(CNN) -- Authorities in Peru are investigating the death of over 538 pelicans, along with other birds, on the northern coast of the country, the Peruvian ministry of production said Sunday.
The new environmental investigation comes on the heels of an incident earlier in April when 877 dolphins washed up dead on the same stretch of coast.
It was not immediately clear if the deaths were connected.
The birds appear to have died on the beach, and more tests are needed to determine the cause of death, the ministry of production said.
The Peruvian Sea Institute surveyed about 43 miles (70km) of beach coastline on Sunday and estimated that 592 birds were dead along the shore.
State-run TV Peru estimated that up to 1,200 birds had been found dead on the 100 miles (160km) of northern shoreline extending from Punta Negra in Piura to San José in the state of Lambayeque.
The deaths began less than two weeks ago, local fishermen say.
The investigation into the mystery surrounding the dolphins is still ongoing. Peruvian Deputy Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria told CNN the dolphins may have died from an outbreak of Morbillivirus or Brucella bacteria.
The Peruvian government has put together a panel from different ministries to analyze a report by the Peruvian Sea Institute (IMARPE). Officials have been able to conclude that the dolphins' deaths were not due to lack of food, interaction with fisheries, poisoning with pesticides, biotoxin poisoning or contamination by heavy metals.
"When you have something this large, my gut would tell me that there's something traumatic that happened," Sue Rocca, a marine biologist with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, told CNN. She raised a number of possibilities as to what could have killed the animals, including acoustic trauma.
Preliminary reports ruled out that seismic sound waves created by oil exploration in that stretch of sea could have killed the birds, the environment ministry said.
They also expressed concern for the fishermen in the area and restated their commitment to protecting the country's marine ecosystem.
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Click on photo to view video
.CNN... . Peru investigates mystery pelican deaths By Marilia Brocchetto,... more-
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Laboratory Chimps Get a New Lease on Life | Photos
CNN...
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Laboratory chimps get a new lease on life
By Kim Segal and John Zarrella, CNN
updated 4:50 PM EDT, Sat April 21, 2012
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Save the Chimps spent nearly a decade rehabilitating chimps from the Coulston Foundation
The 266 chimps were used as medical research test subjects until 2002
The animal welfare group recently transported the chimps to a sanctuary in Florida
It's the first time these chimpanzees have lived outdoors
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PHOTO:
More than a decade ago, more than 265 chimpanzees -- including Howard, pictured here in 2002 -- spent their days at a New Mexico medical research facility being poked, prodded and confined to small cages. Then, the Save the Chimps foundation intervened. After nearly a decade of rehabilitation, the chimps were transported to a 150-acre sanctuary in Florida. CNN went along with the last group as they made the journey and experienced their first time outdoors.
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PART ONE...
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Alamogordo, New Mexico (CNN) -- Shortly after her birth, Moesha was taken away from her mother and sent to a laboratory for a life of medical testing.
Like the 265 other chimpanzees at the Coulston Foundation's facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico, Moesha would be poked and prodded in the name of medical research. Moesha was one of the lucky ones: She survived. Others were not so fortunate. Three chimpanzees housed at the Coulston Foundation were literally cooked to death when their enclosures heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
When federal authorities found out about the facility's mistreatment of these animals, it lost its funding and went bankrupt.
That's when a team of animal welfare experts stepped in and changed these chimpanzees' lives forever.
With the help of a $3.7 million grant, the Save the Chimps organization purchased the facility in 2002 and transformed it into the world's largest sanctuary for chimpanzees. It would serve as temporary housing for the chimps until the organization could create a more permanent outdoor sanctuary in Florida.
But first, Moesha and the others -- isolated for most of their lives -- would have to learn how to live as family units. And that process would take nearly a decade of rehabilitation.
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Learning to become chimps again
One of the first priorities in rehabilitating the chimps was modifying their cages, known by the Save the Chimps team as "the dungeon." This gray, concrete structure housed 54 chimpanzees, most of them crammed into small, individual cages. The cages where the rest of the chimpanzees were housed weren't much bigger but they shared the space with another animal or two.
"It was six months of cutting doors into six-inch thick concrete walls so that chimps could actually see each other for the first time and meet each other for the first time," said Save the Chimps sanctuary director Jennifer Feuerstein.
Even with the new doors and skylights, the dungeon still had a dark feel to it, and resembled a concrete block of prison cells. Once the buildings were modified, the care of the animals became routine and the team began to slowly create diverse family groups for the chimps.
"The ultimate goal was forming family groups of 20 to 25 chimpanzees," explained Feuerstein, "We did it by introducing one chimpanzee at a time, so we're talking over the past 10 years thousands of thousands of introductions."
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CONTINUED...
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.CNN... . . Laboratory chimps get a new lease on life By Kim Segal and John... more-
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"Major Wildlife Trafficker" Gets 21 Months for Smuggling In Live Turtles, Tortoises and Lizards in Snack Food Boxes
CBS News...
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‘Major Wildlife Trafficker’ Gets 21 Months For Smuggling Live Turtles, Tortoises In Snack Food Boxes
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April 30, 2012 1:30 PM
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LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A man federal authorities call “a major wildlife trafficker” was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison for smuggling 55 live turtles and tortoises inside snack food boxes into the United States last year.
Atushi Yamagami, 39, of Osaka, Japan, was sentenced Monday morning and additionally ordered to pay a $19,403 criminal fine.
Yamagami pleaded guilty to smuggling the 55 reptiles from Japan in August. Most of the smuggled animals were species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Federal prosecutors had also argued that the method of cramming the turtles into snack food packages, that were then stuffed into suitcases, constituted animal cruelty and that the animals posed the risk of transmitting salmonella.
Since his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport in January 2011, Yamagami has been held without bail.
Federal agents say Yamagami was the leader of an organized group of Japanese nationals responsible for smuggling protected turtles, tortoises, chameleons and lizards into and out of the U.S., primarily through airports in Honolulu and Los Angeles. After smuggling them into the country, Yamagami would sell or trade them at reptile shows across the U.S., using the proceeds to buy snakes, turtles and tortoises native to North America, prosecutors said.
An investigation determined that between 2004 and 2011, Yamagami and his couriers took 42 trips to and from the U.S., according to federal agents.
Norihide Ushirozako and Hiroki Uetsuki, two of Yamagami’s couriers from Osaka, were arrested and prosecuted for wildlife smuggling in 2011. Ushirozako was sentenced in August to time served — approximately seven months — and Uetsuki was also sentenced to time served, approximately six months.
.CBS News... . ‘Major Wildlife Trafficker’ Gets 21 Months For... more-
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Mike Jr., A Calf, Has Escaped a Slaughterhouse | Now Safe in Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary
Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary...
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“Mike Jr.” the Escaped Calf Arrives at WFAS!
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PHOTO:
Comfy in a clean, dry stall
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On the evening of April 10th ,a calf made a break from a slaughterhouse in Paterson, NJ. He eluded capture for hours and even waded into the Passaic River (yuck!). Police used vehicles to ram into the calf in an effort to bring him under control until a tranquilizer gun could be obtained. The story was picked up by local news and in the piece the slaughterhouse owner said he would release the calf to an unspecified farm.
Suspicious of the kind of farm that he might end up at, uber-volunteer Mike Stura, who lives not too far away, called us early the next morning. We agreed we could help and Mike dropped everything to go get the calf. He has a truck and a recently-acquired trailer for just this purpose. It turns out the calf had already been transported to another slaughterhouse (not the “farm” as promised on the news), but Mike pursued it and was able to convince the owner to release him. We named him “Mike Jr.” after his rescuer. We arranged for human Mike to take bovine Mike to a local vet to clear him to cross state lines and treat the wounds and abrasions. After some blood work, vaccinations and cleaning the wounds, the Mikes were given the “go” to head upstate to WFAS.
Mike Jr. is enjoying his first days of freedom and roaming the pasture with other rescued cows and steer. Rest assured he will never end up at the end of a fork!
.Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary... . “Mike Jr.” the Escaped Calf... more-
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Cow Proves Animals Love, Think, and Act | Hides One of Her Calves After Giving Birth to Twins
Global Animal...
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Cow Proves Animals Love, Think, And Act
April 13, 2012 Megan Cross
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(TOUCHING TALE)
A dairy cow made the tough choice to hide one of her calves after giving birth to twins. As her fifth birth, the cow remembered her previous agony and knew that both of her babies would be taken away, unless she tried to save one. The intelligence and care displayed by this mothering cow is both heartbreaking and breathtaking. Read this touching tale, told by a veterinarian, about an amazing display of motherly love that proves animals love and feel. — Global Animal
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Photo Credit: APEX
By Holly Cheever, DVM, reprinted from Action for Animals
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I would like to tell you a story that is as true as it is heartbreaking. When I first graduated from Cornell’s School of Veterinary Medicine, I went into a busy dairy practice in Cortland County. I became a very popular practitioner due to my gentle handling of the dairy cows. One of my clients called me one day with a puzzling mystery: his Brown Swiss cow, having delivered her fifth calf naturally on pasture the night before, brought the new baby to the barn and was put into the milking line, while her calf was once again removed from her. Her udder, though, was completely empty, and remained so for several days.
As a new mother, she would normally be producing close to one hundred pounds (12.5 gallons) of milk daily; yet, despite the fact that she was glowing with health, her udder remained empty. She went out to pasture every morning after the first milking, returned for milking in the evening, and again was let out to pasture for the night — this was back in the days when cattle were permitted a modicum of pleasure and natural behaviors in their lives — but never was her udder swollen with the large quantities of milk that are the hallmark of a recently-calved cow.
I was called to check this mystery cow two times during the first week after her delivery and could find no solution to this puzzle. Finally, on the eleventh day post calving, the farmer called me with the solution: he had followed the cow out to her pasture after her morning milking, and discovered the cause: she had delivered twins, and in a bovine’s “Sophie’s Choice,” she had brought one to the farmer and kept one hidden in the woods at the edge of her pasture, so that every day and every night, she stayed with her baby — the first she had been able to nurture FINALLY—and her calf nursed her dry with gusto. Though I pleaded for the farmer to keep her and her bull calf together, she lost this baby, too—off to the hell of the veal crate.
Think for a moment of the complex reasoning this mama exhibited: first, she had memory — memory of her four previous losses, in which bringing her new calf to the barn resulted in her never seeing him/her again (heartbreaking for any mammalian mother). Second, she could formulate and then execute a plan: if bringing a calf to the farmer meant that she would inevitably lose him/her, then she would keep her calf hidden, as deer do, by keeping her baby in the woods lying still till she returned. Third — and I do not know what to make of this myself — instead of hiding both, which would have aroused the farmer’s suspicion (pregnant cow leaves the barn in the evening, unpregnant cow comes back the next morning without offspring), she gave him one and kept one herself. I cannot tell you how she knew to do this—it would seem more likely that a desperate mother would hide both.
All I know is this: there is a lot more going on behind those beautiful eyes than we humans have ever given them credit for, and as a mother who was able to nurse all four of my babies and did not have to suffer the agonies of losing my beloved offspring, I feel her pain.
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Holly Cheever, DVM
Vice President, New York State Humane Association Member
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association’s Leadership Council
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.Global Animal... . Cow Proves Animals Love, Think, And Act April 13, 2012... more-
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Betty White Makes Her Political Pick | Animal Rights
CNN...
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April 30th, 2012
08:07 PM ET
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Posted by
CNN's Ashley Killough
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(CNN) - Betty White took her love for animals into the political world with the release of a new campaign ad Monday, backing longtime U.S. Rep. Howard Berman of California in his heated re-election bid.
White, 90, standing on set alongside “Hot in Cleveland” co-star Wendie Malick, praises Berman in the ad for his work with animal rights.
“Betty, if you want a friend in Washington, do you know what you do?” Malick asks White in the spot.
“Get a dog,” White replies. “At least that's what I've been told.”
Smiling, Malick asks White: “And what else?”
“Re-elect Congressman Howard Berman. The Valley leader who fights for the humane treatment of all animals,” White says, later adding: “And he has very nice blue eyes.”
White, often dubbed “America’s Grandma,” has long used her fame to promote animal advocacy groups.
The congressman also appears in the ad, holding a small white dog and delivering the standard political ad message: “I'm Howard Berman, and my friend and I approve this message.”
Berman, now in his 15th term, represents California’s 28th Congressional District, which covers parts of the San Fernando Valley. Due to redistricting plans, he faces a tough primary battle against fellow Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman.
Among his work for animal rights, Berman co-sponsored a law passed in 2010 that bans the selling of videos showing intentional animal torture.
.CNN... . April 30th, 2012 08:07 PM ET . Posted by CNN's Ashley... more-
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Pacific Reef Shark Populations Are Plummeting | Photos
CNN...
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Pacific reef shark populations plummeting, study says
By Matthew Knight, CNN
updated 10:38 AM EDT, Sat April 28, 2012
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
New study provides estimates on reef shark populations near islands in Pacific Ocean
Marine scientists find reef shark numbers dramatically reduced around inhabited islands
Over 1600 surveys make up study which forms part of NOAA Pacific monitoring program
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(CNN) -- Humans are causing a steep decline in populations of reef sharks in the Pacific Ocean according to a new study by a group of international marine scientists.
The new estimates of reef sharks compared numbers around populated islands with those living near uninhabited ones. The results were sobering, say researchers.
"We estimate that reef shark numbers have dropped substantially around populated islands, generally by more than 90% compared to those at the most untouched reefs," said lead author Marc Nadon from the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research at the University of Hawaii.
Over 1600 underwater surveys across 46 U.S. Pacific islands and atolls were undertaken in the study and combined with data on human population, habitat complexity, reef size and satellite records.
The estimates were gathered using "towed-dive surveys" where paired SCUBA divers record shark sightings while being towed behind a small boat. It's a method which provides a more accurate census of mobile reef fish like sharks over large areas, according to researchers.
"Around each of the heavily populated areas we surveyed -- in the main Hawaiian Islands, the Mariana Archipelago and the American Samoa -- reef shark numbers were greatly depressed compared to reefs in the same regions that were simply further away from humans," Nadon said.
"We estimate that less than 10% of the baseline numbers remain in these areas," he added.
Reef shark fins are not the most valuable ... but a lot of other oceanic sharks have already declined a lot so that's why fisherman are now turning to them." - Julia Baum, University of Victoria
Co-author of the study, Julia Baum from Canada's University of Victoria says the human disturbances to reef shark populations are likely down to fishing -- either incidentally caught in the nets of commercial or recreational fishermen or by direct targeting for their fins.
"Reef shark fins are not the most valuable because they tend to be smaller than other sharks, but a lot of other oceanic sharks have already declined a lot so that's why fisherman are now turning to them," Baum said.
She estimates these fins sell for around $100 per kilogram with demand coming from Asian markets where shark fin soup can be found on the menu for weddings and business banquets.
Reef sharks, which are around six to eight feet long (1.8 meters to 2.4 meters), are the "apex predators" of coral reefs Baum says, and like predators in other eco-systems play an important role in structuring food webs. But there is still much to learn about their specific role.
"Frankly, we're still trying to figure out what predators do on reefs. The reason for that is because most predators have been removed from reefs. Most reefs that coral reef biologists study are moderately to heavily degraded," Baum said.
The study forms part of the U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program and is published online in the journal Conservation Biology.
.CNN... . Pacific reef shark populations plummeting, study says By Matthew... more-
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Ever-Changing/Increasing List of Vegan "Notables"
Wikipedia...
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List of Vegans
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This is a list of notable people who are reported to have adhered to a vegan diet at some point during their lifetime, listed by nationality.
.Wikipedia... . List of Vegans . This is a list of notable people... more-
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Are Kids Too Young to Understand Veganism?
CNN...
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April 24th, 2012
08:00 PM ET
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Are kids too young to understand veganism?
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Parents have many talks with their kids as they grow up. There's the "birds and the bees" talk and the "sharing is caring" talk, or even the "don't be a bully" talk. Now, author Ruby Roth wants parents to have the "If it's too scary to talk about while we're eating, it's too scary to eat" discussion with their children.
Roth is talking about veganism. Like vegetarians, vegans don't eat meat, but they take that philosophy a few steps further. Vegans won't consume or use any products that contain any part of an animal. For example, they don't eat eggs or dairy and won't wear leather.
Her new children's book, "Vegan is Love," is causing quite a stir, with some critics saying she's scaring children into a lifestyle choice that young kids aren't equipped to make.
The 40 page book, officially geared towards 7-year-olds, features bright illustrations by Roth herself. Some of the illustrations are graphic. One depicts mice and bunnies and dogs and cats in a lab. They have oozing sores on their bodies and appear to be in a great deal of pain and suffering. Another is of a family of polar bears huddled on a tiny ice sheet.
In the book, Roth also advocates that children not go to zoos, aquariums or the circus: a potentially difficult concept for a young child to understand.
Roth herself is stepmother to a 7-year-old vegan and knew there would be some backlash. "These are all things every vegan hears on a daily basis. Of course there are going to be questions about misinformation," she says.
Roth became a vegan after being challenged to do so, and the lifestyle stuck. "I lost weight, had more energy, and never went back." Asked what she missed the most about her non-vegan lifestyle, "Shoes!" she says. "I cannot wait for more mainstream shoe lines to get a clue."
She has written two children's books on the subject, the first one is called "That's Why We Don't Eat Animals".
On the seemingly graphic nature of some of the illustrations she says, "I don't think that there's anything in my book that a kid wouldn't see walking in a supermarket or watching TV. I didn't exaggerate anything. I wanted kids to recognize what they see in the book."
One of the book's themes is to "teach kids we don't have to fear anything that we have the power to change." Roth also wants the public to look into what she calls the truth behind the animal and agricultural industries in America. She claims, "If the American public knew about the abuse, the outrage would be directed at the industry and not this children's book."
Asked how she'd react if her daughter decided to leave veganism, Roth says "I will never try to control what she eats, in the end it's up to her. The best we can do is make sure our kids have the information [they need] to make choices. My hope was to reach people who raise kids to love deeply."
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Studies fault Bayer in bee die-off
A corn pesticide manufactured by the German chemical company Bayer has come under scrutiny in two scientific studies that indicate that it is responsible for mass deaths of pollinating bees.
By Josephine Marcott, Minneapolis Star Tribune / April 6, 2012
Minneapolis
In a spring ritual as old as life itself, Steve Ellis' bees return to their hives day after day loaded with pollen from the dandelions and flowering trees that are in full bloom across central Minnesota.
But for too many of them, a day of foraging ends in convulsions and death.
"You wouldn't think people could get attached to insects," said Ellis, a commercial honey producer from Barrett, Minn. "But it's hard for us to see our bees getting injured like that."
Hard enough that Ellis and other beekeepers from across the country last month asked the federal government for a temporary ban on one the most widely used pesticides until its effect on bees is clear. They fear it is contributing to a worldwide die-off and the inexplicable phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder" that is devastating honeybee hives.
"We are asking the EPA to do its job," said Jeff Anderson, a commercial beekeeper from Eagle Bend, Minn. "Give us products that are safe."
The beekeepers and several environmental groups argue in an emergency petition filed with the EPA that the agency failed to require some legally mandated field testing before the pesticide was approved in 2003. New research, including two studies published last week in the journal Science, raises serious questions about its effect on pollinators of all kinds, they maintain.
The EPA said it has based its continued approval on hundreds of studies. In 2010, the agency said no data show that bee colonies are harmed by exposure. Nevertheless, it agreed to accelerate its routine review of the pesticide – meaning it will be completed in 2018.
Meanwhile, officials with the manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, say they are confident that the research will continue to prove the product is safe for bees when used appropriately.
"I tend to believe that science will win out over emotion," said Jack Boyne, director of communications for Bayer CropScience.
The beekeepers and others say they filed the emergency petition because they fear that the EPA's review process will deliver a verdict too late for the nation's honeybees and the farmers who rely on them.
"Seventy percent of crops – apples, oranges, zucchini, melons, strawberries – they all need pollinators," said Vera Krischik, an associate professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota who studies the pesticides and bees. "It's a huge issue."
Then there are the unknown numbers of bumblebees, wasps, butterflies and other wild pollinating insects that fill the same role across the natural world.
"We are headed in a very dangerous direction," Ellis said.
Anderson said beekeepers have always been on the front lines of the nation's pesticide wars; that's how he got into business in the first place. His wife's grandfather moved his California beekeeping business to Minnesota in the early 1960s after another pesticide, Sevin, critically damaged his agricultural pollinating business.
Anderson went on to win a landmark case at the Minnesota Supreme Court against the state Department of Natural Resources over pesticide drift that killed his bees.
Like Ellis, he is among the gypsy beekeepers who follow the seasons, pollinating almonds, cherries and other crops in the South and West in winter and returning to Minnesota in the spring to make honey.
The pesticides beekeepers are fighting now are different than those of the past, Anderson said. Those were applied at predictable times, making it easy to keep bees out of harm's way.
The pesticides most widely used now are among a class of nicotine-based chemicals called neonicotinoids that are designed to become an intrinsic part of the plant. They were developed in large part because they are much less toxic to humans and other mammals than previous pesticides. But in high doses, they are a neurotoxin to insects.
Since their introduction in the 1990s, they have exploded in popularity among farmers and in products for home gardeners. Today, 90 percent of seed corn is coated with the pesticides before planting, and the chemicals are the active ingredient in hundreds of backyard products.
The pesticide is sprayed on plants and, when used as a seed coating, it grows into all parts of the plant, including the pollen and the nectar that bees eat.
When used properly, say both Bayer and the EPA, the toxin levels are not high enough to hurt bees. But many scientists and beekeepers say that, as in all pesticide regulation, the field research is questionable because it's done by the manufacturer.
The emergency petition, filed by 30 beekeepers and national environmental groups that includes Beyond Pesticides and the Center for Food Safety, targets just one of the six neonicotinoids, clothianidin, in part because they say the field study for that one was inadequate. Officials from Bayer and the EPA disagree.
The attorney for the environmental groups said he hopes the petition will prompt the agency to open up the issue up for public comment and discussion. EPA did not respond to questions about the petition, but it previously announced plans to hold a scientific meeting in the fall to consider the entire class of pesticides, which will include the latest research.
All pesticides in the group work the same way, and none of the research underlying their approval by the EPA has taken into account "the cumulative effect" in bees, Krischik said.
Beekeepers say it helps explain what they are seeing.
"During corn planting we have a light kill on our bees," Anderson said. "And the inability of the colony to produce a good brood."
He thinks that as farmers plant millions of acres of corn, dust from the pesticide-coated seeds floats out over the countryside. It lands on bees and other flowering plants and builds up over time in the soil.
"My theory is that some of the things that come up, like dandelions, are coming up toxic," he said. "Every year they come up more toxic."
Continued at linkA corn pesticide manufactured by the German chemical company Bayer has come under... more-
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Idaho Wolf Hunt Over In Most Of The State Leaving 374 Wolves DEAD….
There is no excuse for this needless slaughter of wolves, and it needs to be stopped.-
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Veganism: A Truth Whose Time Has Come
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VEGANISM: A TRUTH WHOSE TIME HAS COME
............Our Next Evolutionary Step.....
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1.) Because you really don’t want to fund the exploitation of animals; of a different face, that suffer; much like us. Because you’re a decent, reasonable and fair person and you want to show basic respect to other aware animals, by not paying someone to use and kill them on your behalf.
2.) Because you want to extend and expand your sense of empathy for others and therefore don’t want to be part of the demand for death. You no longer want to take part in stealing the breath of life from innocent, intelligent and magnificent animals; who come into this world with the birth-right not to be harmed and hurt by humans (who have no physical requirement to do so). You want to honor their inherent rights – just as you want that respect shown to you.
3.) Because you don’t want to participate in the system that commodifies the lives of breathing, feeling, conscious and communicative animals. Animal exploitation wrongly and deceitfully turns ‘a someone’ into ‘a something’ – thereby hardening the heart of humanity.
4.) Because you DO believe that oppression, enslavement, rape, assault, kidnapping and murder are wrong – no matter who the victim is; and an animal is a ‘who’ not a ‘what’. Remember the old “person”, “place” or “thing”…well animals are not things, and not places. That makes them persons.
5.) Because you want ‘Peace on Earth’ and hope we can curb the rampant violence plaguing our planet, and now see that most of humanity sustains themselves from a diet and lifestyle that is inherently violent towards other animals. The world’s people adopting vegan living would bring about a whole new world that a whole lot of people have been dreaming about…a peaceful, non-violent world where all sentient beings would have no reason to live in fear. A world where slaughterhouses are a thing of the past, and commercial feedlots that so resemble Nazi concentration camps cease to be, and macho men roping baby calves at rodeo’s is just a nightmare that we woke up from; they have no place in this new world; a more civilized world that was not literally built upon slavery and exploitation.
6.) Because you realize that the violence and suffering inflicted on other animals by humans is oh so unnecessary, and what kind of person would want to cause unnecessary harm to someone else? Humans have obviously evolved to be able to thrive off the plant kingdom as evidenced by many long-time vegans. The vegan pioneers are happy and healthy, but deeply disturbed about the animal’s plight and lack of awareness shown by people to the healing of our shared planet and the other species that we share it with. Species extinction is happening at such an inconceivable rate that it appears to be a “wake-up call” that humans must put an end to animal agriculture; the most significant culprit in humans creating greenhouse gas emissions. We need to stop breeding and using animals. The human race needs to finally grow into their name and become a ‘humane’ race; a vegan humanity.
7.) Because you want to become a part of the solution; not a part of the problem of what ails our planet. You want to join a great social justice movement that gives your life real purpose. You want to help steer the course from the direction our planet is heading. You want to help usher in a vegan world. Because it’s a hope for restoring balance to the planet and quite possibly what is needed for the very survival of planet Earth and its inhabitants. Animal agriculture is killing the planet. Harming other animals is killing the heart of human-not-so-kind. Many noted great minds of history believed that the masses adopting a vegetarian diet would lead to a more peaceful society; because of its effect on human temperament. Becoming vegan is the first step to realizing a sustainable and better world for all.
9.) Surprisingly, I‘m not going to say for your own health, though that would be true if we were talking about being an herbivore, pure vegetarian, dietary vegan, plant-based eater and then a subcategory of that could be a raw foodist, but we’re talking about 'veganism' or 'becoming vegan'. Because vegans choose to live ethically towards other animals as far as practically possible, they are not consuming rotting corpses and not consuming bodily secretions from other species that is not suited to ours, resulting in most vegans enjoying improved health. It’s a reward of righteous living. There’s no health guarantees, but vegans have less risk of heart disease, many forms of cancer, obesity, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and the list goes on. Vegans are concerned about the health of other animals, not just their own.
10.) Because you want to feel the great pleasure of walking this Earth knowing you're vegan. Many pre-vegans or non-vegans call living vegan “a choice". I don’t really see the choice here? Do you? Becoming vegan is an ethical imperative for all humans, from my point-of-view, and now hopefully also from yours. And finally, because, when Washoe; the gorilla (who was wrongfully enslaved) was taught American sign language, the first thing she said when she could form a sentence of her own thoughts was “Let me Out!” Other animals don’t need to speak the same language as us; any more than a foreigner does, for vegans to understand that they hold basic ‘rights’, for example: not to be owned, sexually assaulted, or harmed by humans.
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Posted by Vegan Poet at 1:02 PM
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Animal Acres
. Animal Acres is a lovely, inspiring farmed animal sanctuary. .-
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Baby Chicks Deserve Consideration, Too...
Intellectualyst...
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Baby Chicks Deserve Consideration, Too
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Easter is right around the corner, and unfortunately, while children and families across the nation are celebrating with large baskets filled with goodies, the baby chicks, whom we gush over as cute and sweet little creatures, are the ones who suffer the most harm.
One of the most widespread and careless trends is to give baby chicks as presents to children during Easter. The Humane Society notes that while they are adored for a few days, that baby chick you’ve just given to your four-year-old will soon grow into a full-sized hen or rooster, complete with all the responsibility that entails. The usual solution is simply to give it away. But what happens to all these abandoned animals? As you can guess, they are either dropped at roadsides, given to farms (who will eventually slaughter and serve them on a plate), or simply left to fend for themselves.
The eggs in that Easter basket, as well, likely came from a factory farm, where the chicken can’t flap her wings, or bathe, or perform many other natural behaviors and has only inches in which to live her whole life.
There are better presents to give your children for Easter this year, presents that are not living, breathing creatures which require compassion and energy to raise. Try a stuffed toy, or perhaps board game, or even a book.
And remember, too, that the animal on your plate also wanted to live, so get some Sweet & Sara vegan marshmallows, try some new plant-based recipes, and celebrate a cruelty-free Easter this year.
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Anjali Sareen
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Anjali is the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Intellectualyst, as well as a vegan and lawyer in NYC, owner of the law firm SareenLaw.com. She loves trying new vegan recipes and meeting new people! Email her at anjali@intellectualyst.com or find her on Facebook and Twitter today!
.Intellectualyst... . Baby Chicks Deserve Consideration, Too . Easter is... more-
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Ellen DeGeneres Asks for Help for Sanctuary's Rescued Animals
Ecorazzi...
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DeGeneres Asks for Help for Sanctuary’s Rescued Animals
by Jennifer Mishler April 6, 2012
Photo: The Gentle Barn
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Ellen DeGeneres has been a long-time supporter of The Gentle Barn. She and wife Portia have adopted two cows, Holy and Madonna, that were rescued by the organization.
The nonprofit organization rescues and rehabilitates animals saved from “severe abuse, neglect or slaughter,” while also working with at-risk children and children with disabilities. The Gentle Barn recently rescued over 20 animals from a “backyard butcher,” and Ellen is asking for help. She tweeted yesterday, “There are 20 new animals that could use our help. Donate here. http://say.ly/FDc1HNn.”
The Gentle Barn writes on their blog, “There are over 20 goats and sheep that were brought to us yesterday. They are sick, infested with parasites, malnourished, emaciated and terrified. They have such bad eye infections they are going blind! We are working hard to save them but cannot do it without your help, please support us, we need you now more than ever!” The first of the animals in the group to be rescued was a horse who is also in bad condition. “She is hundreds of pounds underweight and every bone protruding, covered with mud, she has hair falling off in clumps, sores on her face and body, a huge wound on her leg that is infected down to the bone, both eye[s] are infected, her knees are swollen and we are fighting hard to save her life.”
The “backyard butcher,” located in Santa Clarita Valley, has been arrested and according to NBC, the founders of The Gentle Barn Jay Weiner and Ellie Laks have been following the situation for four years. They and other staff call it “one of the worst cases of animal abuse and cruelty they’ve ever seen.” They had been buying animals from the butcher, picking ones that were in the worst conditions and bringing them to the sanctuary.
.Ecorazzi... . DeGeneres Asks for Help for Sanctuary’s Rescued Animals... more-
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Gray Wolf Information Links
I wonder why people are so misinformed and afraid of wolves? Is it because of the fake wolf attacks people see in the movies, stories and movies about werewolves, propaganda you see floating around in the media about wolves, or what? It really doesn't make any sense to me...I wonder why people are so misinformed and afraid of wolves? Is it because of the fake... more-
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