tagged w/ animal advocacy
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Japan to launch massive search for quake bodies
By SHINO YUASA, AP
4 hours ago
TOKYO — Japan will send nearly 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone Monday on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month's earthquake and tsunami, the military said.
Agriculture officials also plan to send a team of veterinarians into the evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant to check on hundreds of thousands of abandoned cows, pigs and chickens, many of which are believed to have died of starvation and neglect. The government is considering euthanizing some of the dying animals, officials said.
About 14,300 people have been confirmed dead so far in the catastrophic March 11 tsunami and earthquake. Another 12,000 remain missing and are presumed killed. Some of their bodies were likely swept out to sea, while others were buried under the mass of rubble.
Cleanup crews have discovered some remains as they gingerly removed rotting debris to clear the area for rebuilding.
But the two-day military search operation will be far more extensive, Defense Ministry spokesman Ippo Maeyama said Sunday.
"We will do our utmost to recover bodies for bereaved families," he said.
A total of 24,800 soldiers will scour the rubble, backed by 90 helicopters and planes, he said. Another 50 boats, along with 100 navy divers, will search the waters up to 20 kilometers off the coast, he said. Police, coast guard and U.S. troops will also take part.
"It's been very difficult and challenging to find bodies because the areas hit by tsunami are so widespread," he said. "Many bodies also have been swept away by the tsunami."
The operation will be the third intensive military search for bodies since the disaster last month. With the waters receding, Maeyama hopes the teams will have more success.
The search was complicated by the decomposition of some of the corpses, he said. Some had already turned into skeletons.
"You have to be very careful in touching the bodies because they quickly disintegrate. We cannot tell the bodies' gender anymore, let alone their age," he said.
The searches will continue, however, "as long as families want us to look for their loved ones," Maeyama said.
Meanwhile, the government in the Fukushima prefecture will send a team of six veterinarians into the 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation zone around the radiation-leaking Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to survey the livestock there.
Farmers in the area were estimated to have left 3,000 cows, 130,000 pigs and 680,000 chickens behind when they hurriedly fled the area last month when the nuclear crisis started.
With no time for burials, veterinarians who find dead livestock will spray lime over them to prevent them from spreading disease, agricultural officials said.
The government is also considering euthanizing dying animals, but only after getting permission from their owners, said Yutaka Kashimura, an agricultural official in Fukushima.
"Killing animals is the very last resort," he said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewriJapan to launch massive search for quake bodies
By SHINO YUASA, AP
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December 7, 2010
Bob Barker Honored by Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
By Nathan Runkle
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Bob Barker is perhaps best known as the host of the popular TV game show The Price is Right, which he turned into a forum for encouraging millions of Americans to help control the pet population by having their companion animals spayed or neutered. This many-time Emmy-award-winning television personality and much-beloved animal rights advocate has since been named an Honorary Fellow by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics for his groundbreaking contribution to the establishment of animal studies within academia.
By generously endowing America's top law schools, including Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Duke, Georgetown, Columbia and the University of Virginia, and by endowing a chair in animal rights at Drury University (his own alma mater), Barker has pioneered the teaching of animal law in the United States. These endowments have enabled, for the first time, hundreds of university students to study animal law and ethics.
"We cannot change the world for animals without also changing people's ideas about animals. Almost single-handedly in little more than a decade, Bob's sagacity and generosity have propelled animal ethics from a marginal issue into the academic mainstream. This is a colossal achievement," says Professor Andrew Linzey of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.
Earlier this year, Barker helped expose the routine abuses that calves raised for veal are forced to endure by narrating hidden-camera video footage secretly shot by an MFA investigator at one of the nation's top veal producers. Pleading for baby calves who are chained inside 2-feet wide wooden stalls - so narrow they cannot turn around, walk, run, play, socialize with other animals, or engage in other basic natural behaviors, Barker encouraged consumers to withdraw their support for this needless cruelty by boycotting both dairy and veal.
From the work that he has done to bring animal studies programs into universities across the country to consistently speaking up for the most defenseless among us, Bob Barker is a true hero for animals. MFA commends Mr. Barker for his decades of outspoken animal advocacy and congratulates him for this prestigious and well-deserved honor.December 7, 2010
Bob Barker Honored by Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
By Nathan... more
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BROEDERSTROOM, South Africa – Lions raised in captivity in South Africa are set loose in enclosed areas where hunters, many from the United States, gun them down. The toll: about 1,000 lions each year.
Kevin Richardson hopes a new movie "White Lion," which opens in a few U.S. cities on Friday, will give people second-thoughts about participating in such hunts.
"I just can't understand how anyone would want to shoot a lion that is clearly confined to a finite space with absolutely no hope in hell of ever escaping the so-called hunter," said Richardson, a self-taught "Lion Whisperer" and first-time film producer. "Canned lion hunting, in my opinion, is likened to fishing with dynamite in a pond and then calling yourself a fisherman."
"White Lion" is about a rare white lion, who as a cub is cast out of his pride because of his color. He is near starvation when he befriends an older lion who teaches him the ways of the wild. John Kani, a Tony Award-winning actor and playwright, is the storyteller. A young man helps the lion, whose name is Letsatsi, because his Shangaan tribal tradition says a white lion is God's messenger and must be protected. Tension builds as Gisani becomes a tracker on a game farm where he and a foreign hunter encounter Letsatsi.
Trophy hunting is big business in South Africa, worth $91.2 million a year, according to the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa. Foreign tourists pay up to $40,000 to shoot a lion.
The government promotes hunting as a revenue source and calls it a "sustainable utilization of natural resources." Provincial governments sell permits allowing hunters to kill rhinos, elephants — even giraffes. Hunters killed 1,050 lions in 2008, the last year for which figures are available, according to the South African Predator Breeders Association.
The hunters' association says 16,394 foreign hunters — more than half from the United States — killed more than 46,000 animals in the year ending September 2007.
Almost all lions hunted under permit in South Africa are bred in captivity. But a new report by Animal Rights Africa says animals that wander out of the huge Kruger National Park into neighboring private reserves have become fair game.
About 3,600 lions were kept in breeding facilities in 2009, to be sold to zoos, safari farms and for hunting on game farms, said Albi Modise, spokesman for South Africa's Department of Environment.
Animal Rights Africa says trophy hunting is incompatible with South Africa's push into ecotourism, noting that ad campaigns promoting tourism and game viewing showcase the same species that are offered up to be hunted. The government in 2007 introduced legislation that would reduce the financial incentive to breed lions for the hunt but the Predator Breeders Association challenged the laws and earlier this year won an appeal.
Richardson, the movie's producer, first befriended a pair of lion cubs at the Lion Park outside Johannesburg 12 years ago, when the cubs were 6 months and he was 23. He began shortening his hours as a therapist in postoperative rehabilitation to play with his new friends. Soon, park owner Rodney Fuhr offered him a part-time job which became full time.
Today, Richardson cares for 39 lions at his 800-hectare (2,000-acre) Kingdom of the White Lion in Broederstroom, an hour and a half drive from Johannesburg, where the film was shot to include tawny gold lions as well as those born white because of a recessive gene.
Lions are nocturnal and spend most of the day sleeping, so filming was limited to a couple of hours in the morning and perhaps another couple in the afternoon — if the cats were willing. Letsatsi was portrayed by several different lions over the four years it took to make the movie. A cuddly cub filmed in the summer of 2006 might be sprouting a mohawk-style tuft of hair the following year, the precursor to a mane.
Richardson said he breaks every rule in the book in handling lions. On a recent morning, the lions welcomed Richardson with rumbling purrs. One shut his eyes in ecstasy and rolled onto his back as Richardson scratched his chin. Another licked Richardson's hand, the tongue as rough as sandpaper. Too many licks can cause bleeding.
Two 400-pound (180-kilogram) lions wrestled him to the ground and a lioness jumped on his back, covering Richardson for a tense minute. He emerged from a tangle of furry blond limbs, face red. One lion threw a casual paw on Richardson's shoulder.
"Ugh, no claws you naughty boy!" he admonished, slapping away a paw larger than his face.
He's been attacked by his lions twice. Once during filming, a lion named Thor grabbed Richardson's arm and pinned him against the cage holding the camera crews, who looked on terrified and unable to help.
"I thought: There goes my arm, and it's my own fault. I was provoking him to get a fight sequence that we needed," Richardson said. The lion stared him in the eyes for what seemed five minutes but couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, before releasing him, he recalled.
"Lions are 99 percent chill and 1 percent lethal," Richardson said.;_ylt=AkcLm5W.4n_zZaE9v2PwZT5g.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTRjaW1nNTB1BGFzc2V0Ay9zL2FwX3RyYXZlbC8yMDE... more
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tim gier
A Vegan World in 8 Years
Posted on July 28, 2010 by timgier
UPDATED below to counter the nay-sayers!!
The World is Vegan, If you want it.
Did you know that the world’s current population of human beings is about 6.7 Billion?
That’s a lot of people!
If only 1% of them are vegan, that means that there are 67 Million vegans walking the earth right now. That’s a lot of people too!
So here’s the deal. Every vegan has one year to help one other person become vegan. Just one. Forget about reaching the masses, forget about starting a movement, forget about all that stuff. Just spend the next year finding one person who will commit, and I mean really commit, to ending all forms of exploitation of all other animals. If every person who is now a vegan would do that one simple thing, then 365 days from now there would be 134 Million vegans. Now we’re getting somewhere!
Guess what, in another year there would 268 million vegans. Just by having every vegan work all year long with only one goal in mind, and that goal is to find one new vegan.
In another year there’d be 536 Million, keep on working and the year after that over 1 Billion, and then there would be 2 Billion, and then 4 Billion and then, just 8 short years from now, there would be a Vegan World, if you want it.
One vegan, every vegan, each helping one new person become vegan every year for the next 8 years.
The World is Vegan, if you want it. It’s not a slogan, it’s a plan.
Go vegan.
UPDATE: Some people have asked whether I’ve taken the increasing world population into account in writing this post. I have. I looked at the UN’s projections as reported on Wikipedia which predict 9.15 Billion people by 2050, or 40 years from now.
My use of the estimate of the proportion if vegans in the world at 1% has also been questioned. I’ve seen that number mentioned in connection with a Gallup poll taken in the US in 2007, but I do not know how accurate it is. But suppose that the actual proportion of vegans is only 0.01%, meaning that I guessed wrong by a factor of 100. Suppose that instead of 67 Million vegans alive in the world today there are really only 670,000. What happens to my vegan world plan them?
Well, if every current vegan can convince just one other person every year to become vegan as well, and if each of those new vegans can do the same, then in 14 years there would be over 10 Billion vegans, more than the entire population of the world.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a realistic optimist; I am not a starry eyed dreamer. But the point remains. Advocacy for a cause is something that can be effectively done by a small group of committed activists who are intent on helping others make new decisions. We don’t need huge budgets, or high profile campaigns, or celebrity endorsements. If our message is a good one, and if our strategy is sound, and if our tactics are effective, people won’t resist. Convert a non-vegan, change the world.tim gier
A Vegan World in 8 Years
Posted on July 28, 2010 by timgier... more
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Mila the Miracle Kitty – One Year Later!
Posted in Veganism/Animal Issues with tags bobby rock, veganism, animal rescue, mila the miracle kitty, animal rights on August 1, 2010 by Bobby Rock
Friends, it’s been almost one year since I did those posts on Mila, the barely-alive kitty who my friends and I rescued from a local shelter. The Militant (great friend and rescue partner on this excursion) received a fantastic update today from Mila’s guardians, so I just wanted to relay the great news.
For those of you who missed the posts last year, here’s the quick overview:
I was at a local LA shelter with my friends the Militant and Parker, rescuing a bunch of “death row” dogs who were due to be put down any day. (See link to their story at the bottom.) The shelter was just about to close, when two women and a young girl came walking in with a shoebox that had what appeared to be a dead kitten.
Mila, as we first saw her, barely alive…
They said this kitty had pulled herself out from underneath their house where she had been trapped for at least three days, with no momma or siblings anywhere to be found. So these good folks washed the blood off of her (from all of the flea bites!) and – not knowing that they would basically be handing her over to her execution – brought her to the shelter. (Shelters are just not equipped to deal with this level of medical trauma, so they will usually euthanize animals in this condition.)
We intercepted, and then quickly set up shop over at the Militant’s house. The next 24 hours were touch-and-go. We had to bathe her, give her flea meds, massage her to keep the blood flowing, and keep her between a heating pad and blanket, since she was so cold. And since she was so malnourished and dehydrated, we had to syringe feed her and give her subcutaneous fluids… even though she hated every minute of it. She had such a will to live, though, that within 24 hours, we knew she was gonna make it.
This short video details everything. Scope it real quick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZJnUkiSr8E&feature=player_embedded
Mila’s New Life
As a result of the Militant’s tireless efforts in finding Mila a perfect forever home – which included live adoptions, postings at petfinder.com and her very own YouTube video – potential adopters went nuts for this little kitty. (So ironic, given her initial condition.) The Militant eventually placed Mila with what has turned out to be the perfect family.
Mila today – wow! Can you believe this is the same kitty we first saw in that shoebox?
These days, we understand from her papa guardian that Mila is quite the princess in her new home, with somewhat of an independence streak in her by day. (No surprise there.) By night, though, she becomes an affectionate “cuddle monster.” She adores – and is adored by – her big brother and sister cats, and she could not have found cooler human guardians to have invited her into their family. Basically, all is perfect!
To anyone who deals with animal advocacy, animal rights, animal rescue… you know how often you can potentially feel anger, depression, extreme frustration, and hopelessness. And then there’s the dark side of it all! Seriously, it’s rough, and we seldom are privy to the full, quantifiable results of our efforts. So when a story like this comes along, I think we all have to take it in, to savor it, to fully assimilate it… and remember the powerful karmic ripples that are set in motion with every act of compassion and sacrifice that you offer… even if those ripples remain unknown to you.
Until the next one,
BRMila the Miracle Kitty – One Year Later!
Posted in Veganism/Animal Issues... more
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Just go to http://www.OurLocale.com and click the "Our Locale Entrance" tab in the top left to see the link to our facebook page so that you can become a local food ambassador in your own Locale.Just go to http://www.OurLocale.com and click the "Our Locale Entrance" tab... more
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Supreme Court strikes down law banning dogfight videos
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
April 20, 2010 3:31 p.m. EDT
Washington (CNN) -- The Supreme Court has struck down a federal law designed to stop the sale and marketing of videos showing dogfights and other acts of animal cruelty, saying it is an unconstitutional violation of free speech.
The 8-1 decision was a defeat for animal rights groups and congressional sponsors of the unusual legislation.
The specific case before the court dealt with tapes showing pit bulldogs attacking other animals and one another in staged confrontations.
The justices Tuesday concluded the scope and intent of the decade-old statute was overly broad.
"The First Amendment itself reflects a judgment by the American people that the benefits of its restrictions on the government outweigh its costs," said Chief Justice John Roberts. He concluded Congress had not sufficiently shown "depictions" of dogfighting were enough to justify a special category of exclusion from free speech protection.
The high court threw out the conviction of Robert Stevens, a Pittsville, Virginia, man who sold videos through his business, Dogs of Velvet and Steel. According to court records, undercover federal agents found he was advertising his tapes in Sporting Dog Journal, an underground magazine on illegal dogfighting.
"This is what I was hoping for," Stevens told CNN just after the ruling was announced. "I am not nor have I ever been a dog fighter or a promoter of dogfighting. I am a journalist and an author."
Among the products Stevens advertised was "Catch Dogs," featuring pit bulls chasing wild boars on organized hunts and a "gruesome depiction of a pit bull attacking the lower jaw of a domestic farm pig," according to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based appeals court that ruled on the case earlier.
Stevens was charged in 2004 with violating interstate commerce laws by selling depictions of animal cruelty. He was later sentenced to 37 months in prison, and promptly appealed. That sentence was put on hold pending resolution of this appeal.
He argued his sentence was longer than the 14 months given professional football player Michael Vick, who ran an illegal dogfighting ring.
It was the first prosecution in the United States to proceed to trial under the 1999 law.
The video marketer is not related to Justice John Paul Stevens, who turned 90 Tuesday. The court made no mention of the milestone as it held a two-hour public session.
Nearly every state and local jurisdiction have their own laws banning mistreatment of wild and domesticated animals, and usually handle prosecutions of animal cruelty.
Several media organizations had supported Stevens, worrying the federal law could implicate reports about deer hunting, and depictions of bullfighting in Ernest Hemingway novels.
Roberts agreed, saying, "We read [the federal law] to create a criminal prohibition of alarming breadth."
"Jurisdictions permit and encourage hunting, and there is an enormous national market for hunting-related depictions in which a living animal is intentionally killed," said Roberts. "An otherwise-lawful image of any of these practices, if sold or possessed for commercial gain within a state that happens to forbid the practice, falls within the prohibition of [the federal law]."
During oral arguments in October, the justices offered a number of wide-ranging hypotheticals over what the law could forbid, including: fox hunts, pate de foie gras from geese, cockfighting, bullfighting, shooting deer out of season, even Roman gladiator battles.
Only Justice Samuel Alito dissented in the case, and he focused on one of the most disturbing aspects raised in the appeal, the marketing of so-called "crush" videos, in which women -- with their faces unseen -- are shown stomping helpless animals such as rabbits to death with spiked-heel shoes or with their bare feet.
"The animals used in crush videos are living creatures that experience excruciating pain. Our society has long banned such cruelty," he said. The courts, he said, have "erred in second-guessing the legislative judgment about the importance of preventing cruelty to animals."
He predicted mores crush videos will soon flood the underground market, because the ruling has "the practical effect of legalizing the sale of such videos."
Roberts suggested a law specifically banning crush videos might be valid, since it would be narrowly tailored to a specific type of commercial enterprise.
Alito noted that would not help dogs forced to fight each other, where, he said, "the suffering lasts for years rather than minutes."
The government had argued a "compelling interest" in stopping people who would profit from dog attack tapes and similar depictions. Roberts dismissed suggestions by the Justice Department that only the most extreme acts of cruelty would be targeted.
"The First Amendment protects against the government," Roberts said. "We would not uphold an unconstitutional statute merely because the government promised to use it responsibly."
The Humane Society, other animal rights groups and 26 states backed the government.
If the law had been upheld, it would have been only the second time the Supreme Court had identified a form of speech undeserving of protection by the First Amendment. The justices in 1982 banned the distribution of child pornography.
This is the second time this year the high court has tossed out federal legislation on free speech grounds. The justices in January nullified parts of a sweeping campaign finance reform law, giving corporations, unions, and advocacy groups more power to bankroll federal elections.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/02/xinsrc_3320106022052718138819.jpgSupreme Court strikes down law banning dogfight videos
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme... more
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Getting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any white-knuckled cocaine experience hands down. And that's exactly what happened to some lucky sheep in a new study that tested the effects of Tasers on meth-addled targets.
Funded in part by Taser International, the study aimed to test whether Taser devices have caused heart-related problems or death in meth-addled suspects. So there's at least some scientific reasoning behind all the apparent madness. Growing abuse of methamphetamines has led to arrest-related deaths in situations where law enforcement officers used their Tasers on drug-intoxicated suspects. The latest study was designed to test whether electronic control devices (e.g. Tasers) can lead to dangerous cardiac responses in meth-intoxicated humans, with sheep standing in for people.
The less-lethal device of choice was the Taser X26, a standard law enforcement tool which can fire at suspects from a distance of 35 feet. Researchers shocked sixteen anesthetized sheep after dosing the animals with an IV drip of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Some of the smaller sheep weighing less than 70.5 pounds suffered exacerbated heart symptoms related to meth use. But neither the smaller nor larger sheep showed signs of the ventricular fibrillation condition, a highly abnormal heart rhythm that can become fatal.
The study that appears in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine openly lists a few caveats. Aside from being partially funded by Taser International, the study authors include two physicians who represent medical consultants and stockholders of the company. One of the two is also the medical director of Taser International.
Still, Taser has an understandable interest in assessing the safety of its less-lethal devices in these types of extreme conditions. Taser devices have evolved into a wide-ranging family that includes Taser shotgun cartridges that fire from a 12-gauge shotgun at up to 100 feet. The company has also teamed up with the Pentagon to develop shock cartridges for a grenade launcher.
Taser has even had its employees put themselves on the firing line to vouch for the safety of its products.
Certainly police would rather have less-lethal options for tricky situations involving meth. We can all probably agree that less Taser use is better, but that they are certainly preferable to more lethal methods of subduing criminals in certain situations. Outraged animal rights activists, however, can begin writing their letters of protest now.
http://io9.com/5516248/in-safety-study-sheep-on-meth-are-shocked-with-tasersGetting shocked with a Taser while riding high on methamphetamines probably beats any... more
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SAN DIEGO - A San Diego animal center rescues a puppy from a Utah shelter that shoots or runs-over pets as a means of euthanasia.
Jed, six-month-old puppy, escaped death at a Utah animal control facility that keeps orphaned pets for 72 hours. At the facility, animals that haven't found a home after the 72 hour period, the shelter shoots the pets. If they run out of bullets, they drive over the animals with their trucks. The dead animals are then thrown into a sewage pit.
According to the Helen Woodward Animal Center in San Diego County, the mayor of the community that does this believes it's efficient and cost-effective.
"We're still trying to wrap our heads around this," says Helen Woodward Animal Center (HWAC) spokesman John Van Zante. "How does an animal control facility call itself a, 'shelter' then take such inhumane actions to deal with orphaned pets?
The community claims that some of the pets are not always dead when they are thrown into the pit.
Adoptions Manager LaBeth Thompson works with animal welfare groups across the country to help find families for pets.
"Never during my 28 years at Helen Woodward Animal Center have I heard of any animal welfare organization that uses such cruel and antiquated methods to deal with an animal entrusted to their care!" Thompson said about the Utah shelter that shoots or runs-over pets as a means of euthanasia.
An article on www.henryslaw.com says that residents of Hinckley, Utah are speaking out on the city's animal control policy.
One resident says, "They had collars on them. They were people's pets." She adds that some of the wounded crawl onto her property and die.
Jed is available for adoption at Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe. Van Zante says that Jed is a sweet, healthy puppy in spite of his background.
"He seems to be a German Short-haired Pointer mix," VanZante described. "Right now he's around 40 pounds. He'll grow up to be a medium-to-large dog with lots of energy."
For more information about Helen Woodward Animal Center, click: http://www.animalcenter.org/SAN DIEGO - A San Diego animal center rescues a puppy from a Utah shelter that shoots... more
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A zoo in China is facing criticism for allowing visitors to participate in an unlikely form of entertainment: They can pay to see tigers feed on a live animal.
The incredible moment at Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, China was captured by a tourist who said visitors can choose from a menu what they’d like to see the ferocious beasts eat. He witnessed chickens served as appetizers to the tigers (at a cost of $5.50), followed by a live cow (at a cost of $205)–dumped from a truck–and pounced on immediately. “It was dragged to the ground within seconds,” he told The Sun. And tourists relished in the attraction–taking photos and watching with binoculars from a bus nearby.
http://www.tabloidprodigy.com/?p=10233A zoo in China is facing criticism for allowing visitors to participate in an unlikely... more
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Switzerland will hold a referendum next month on whether domesticated animals should have the right to be represented by lawyers in court.
Farmers and the government are against the proposal, but the issue will be put to a nationwide vote after animal rights activists collected enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
"Animal rights advocates are useless to animals," a committee composed of members of various political parties and called No to the Useless Animal Lawyers' Initiative told The Sunday Times.
"They can't prevent animal abuse because they only get involved after it has been perpetrated."
But Antoine Goetschel, a lawyer who in 2007 was appointed the "animal advocate" of Zurich, disagrees.
"Humans accused of animal cruelty can hire a lawyer or get one assigned but animals can't," he said. "Which is where I come in."
"Pet keepers think that a so-called love for a guinea pig is enough," he told The Sunday Times. "But this ignores the animal's needs as a species, such as having a companion."Switzerland will hold a referendum next month on whether domesticated animals should... more
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New Yorker writer Michael Specter, on his first visit to a chicken farm:
"I was almost knocked to the ground by the overpowering smell of feces and ammonia. My eyes burned and so did my lungs, and I could neither see nor breathe….There must have been thirty thousand chickens sitting silently on the floor in front of me. They didn’t move, didn’t cluck. They were almost like statues of chickens, living in nearly total darkness, and they would spend every minute of their six-week lives that way."New Yorker writer Michael Specter, on his first visit to a chicken farm:
"I... more
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"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Mohandas K. Gandhi"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its... more
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I know that this is very local story but, nonetheless, it was disturbing (understatement) to learn of the abduction of a deer in my own city (Santa Clarita, California) this morning.
I never appreciated that Jane was a CAGED animal, but now I'm sick to my stomach with fear for her life, because I can think of only two reasons why one deer (and no other animals) was cut out of her cage, and that blood was found. Either there's cult activity or a person or persons decided Jane's life was worth a lot more as food on the plate.
I'm disgusted about this, and feeling immensely sad.
Here's the brief article from our local right-wing newspaper:
POSTED Jan. 1, 2010 4:55 a.m.
Authorities on Thursday were searching for a missing deer after someone apparently cut open the animal's chain-link cage at William S. Hart Park, leaving blood on the ground nearby.
About 7 a.m., a park worker checking the animal barnyard noticed the 12-year-old deer, named Jane Doe, was missing. The worker also noticed a hole in the back of the fence, said Regional Park Superintendent Norman Phillips.
"We get bonded to the animals and we are all very, very upset that this happened," said Phillips, who added that he personally bottle-fed the animal when she first arrived at the park in 1997. "We want to see her back here."
The doe, which is part of a county animal education program, was used for teaching children about wildlife.
Children would handfeed her food pellets as they learned about mule deer, Phillips said.
Los Angeles County Police officers were investigating the disappearance.
Park staff members are worried the human-raised deer could be wandering around in the wilderness.
"She doesn't know anything but human contact, so I'm very scared in that respect," Phillips said.
Park officials are asking anyone who sees a friendly brown doe wandering around to contact the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station.
"We've worked with law enforcement, and we're asking for the public's help," said Kaye Michelson, special assistant with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.
"We hope somebody will come forward with any information so we can get her back."I know that this is very local story but, nonetheless, it was disturbing... more
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By Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer
National Park Service officials have called off this winter's long-planned and highly controversial deer kill at Valley Forge National Historical Park.
Park Superintendent Michael Caldwell confirmed yesterday that the planned shooting of 500 deer would not go forward, as officials evaluate contractual matters and a pending lawsuit by two animal-rights groups.
"We're still committed to implementing the plan," Caldwell said. "If we don't have [it] this year, then we'll begin when we can."
Yesterday, it was unclear when that might be.
A federal judge is not scheduled to rule on the legality of the plan before May 31. That means, as confirmed to the Associated Press by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Bernstein, that the first deer kill could not occur until next November at the earliest.
And there were signs that other groups may be planning additional legal action to stop deer from being shot.
"It's a victory," said Michael Harris, who prepared the animal-rights suit as director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver. "They were going to go out and commence this hunt this winter, and [now] we've got our opportunity to have this decided."
The Friends of Animals, a co-plaintiff, is pleased the deer have a "holiday reprieve," Harris said. He added the group "will continue to fight on their behalf until this illegal plan is fully set aside."
The plan called for sharpshooters to eliminate at least 1,500 deer in four years - 500 this winter, 500 the next, and between 250 and 300 each in the third and fourth years. That would eradicate 86 percent of a herd that park officials say has grown big and destructive.
Caldwell gave two reasons for the postponement. First, the November-to-March window for conducting the shoot was fast closing, and the park won't be able to award a sharpshooting contract before next year, he said. At the same time, he said, the park is determining how to proceed with the lawsuit.
The superintendent declined to comment on the litigation. Friends of Animals and a second group, Compassion for Animals, Respect the Environment, of West Chester, filed suit last month against Caldwell and other park service officials to stop the kill.
Animal advocates met yesterday's news with delight.
"I think the longer we can delay it and the more information we can get out, the better," said Betty Madden of Keep Valley Forge Safe, which maintains that gunfire could injure people living or traveling near the park. "There's a lot of flawed information in the plan itself. We need a new public hearing."
Caldwell has expressed full confidence in the science behind the plan, its safety provisions, and the hearing process that led to its adoption. The park maintains that deer eat so many plants and saplings that the forest cannot regenerate.
The lawsuit claims that the park study that blamed deer for ruined vegetation was flawed and that the law requires administrators to protect natural resources, including deer.
The plan to kill deer at Valley Forge has provoked enormous controversy. Some see deer as a welcome part of the park scenery. Others see them as four-legged nuisances that devour neighborhood gardens and run into backyards and onto highways, putting people and cars in danger.
The lack of natural predators and public hunting, combined with an ideal habitat, have spawned an exponential expansion among deer. In 1985, the deer population was estimated at 165 to 185. The herd peaked at 1,398 in 2003, according to park officials, and now has about 1,275 deer. Officials want to reduce the herd to 1985 levels.
The plan was for federal employees or contractors to fire silencer-equipped rifles, mostly at night, at deer lured to areas baited with apples and grain. After four years of this, officials said, the smaller herd could be maintained through contraceptives and further shoBy Jeff Gammage
Inquirer Staff Writer
National Park Service officials have called... more
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Encouraging Truth, Transparency and Integrity in Animal Advocacy
HUMANE MYTH DEFINED
Humane myth. An idea being propagated by the animal-using industry and some animal protection organizations that it is possible to use and kill animals in a manner that can be fairly described as respectful or compassionate or humane.Encouraging Truth, Transparency and Integrity in Animal Advocacy
HUMANE MYTH... more
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