tagged w/ Animal Rights Activism
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Top Secret Writers...
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Undercover Activists Expose Duck Abuse at Foie Gras Farms
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Duck Abuse
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It was like a scene out of a horror movie – a metal tube shoved down the throat of one duck at a time, food forced down into the stomachs, and the duck tossed aside.
Many survived to become lethargic up until slaughter, while a few fell ill and died.
This true story came to light after activists from the Animal Protection and Rescue League infiltrated duck factory farms that produced the ducks from which the “foie gras” appetizer is made.
Foie Gras is fattened liver, and it is produced by using a compressed-air feeder tube that “shoots” food into the duck’s throat in what can only be described as force-feeding.
Activists infiltrated the dark farms in California and New York, and video-taped the horrid health conditions the ducks had to survive after suffering through the force-feeding sessions.
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Clear Animal Abuse
Activists posing as farm workers captured troubling video of the farm conditions, and the degraded health conditions of the ducks after being force-fed with an air gun shoved down the throat.
Bryan Pease, an attorney for the group, stated that the activists should be regarded as heroes, rather than being charged with crime as previous activists have been after rescuing some ducks from these same locations.
“These young activists took great personal risk to expose cruel conditions at these factory farms. Activists who previously rescued ducks from these same locations were charged with felony burglary.”
The Animal Protection & Rescue League has posted the full video of the abusive conditions at StopForceFeed.com. The video includes very graphic footage of the force-feeding process, where an air-gun is shoved deep into the throat of each duck, as food is “shot” into the stomach.
According to a press release from the group, the activists point out that the ducks huddle in the corners of the pens as workers pull them over to the force-feeding tube. This is in stark contrast to previous claims by Hudson Valley Foie Gras that ducks don’t try to escape the force feeding process.
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Why Force Feed?
The reason the farms force-feed the ducks several times a day for the last month of their lives is because the process causes the duck’s liver to swell nearly 10 times larger than normal.
During the force-feeding process, many of the ducks die – clearly evidenced in the activists’ video showing several ducks lying motionless on the ground.
The force-feeding also causes the ducks to become completely lethargic. In one clip of the video, one duck is so slow to respond that it can’t fend off a rat that starts to attack it.
The process produces a large liver, which is extremely high in fat content. The surviving ducks are then processed to produce the “gourmet” foie gras appetizer.
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The War Against Activists
Earlier in January, Top Secret Writers reported on the Butterball Turkey abuse case, where Activists infiltrated Butterball Turkey farms to show workers kicking, throwing and abusing the turkeys there.
This duck force-feeding investigation wasn’t the first time the APRL discovered such abuse. The organization also discovered and exposed animal cruelty from 2002 through 2004.
In 2011, agricultural companies started fighting back by lobbying state legislatures to pass laws that would prohibit animal rights activists from investigating and reporting on those abuses.
According to the NY Times, in April of 2011, Iowa legislators presented a bill that would make it illegal to distribute or even possess videos or photos taken at an agricultural facility without permission.
Both Florida and Minnesota explored similar measures after agricultural company lobbyists pushed hard to have such laws proposed and passed.
Wayne Pacelle, the president of the U.S. Humane Society, made it very clear what the motives were for States that were attempting to pass such laws.
“It’s because they don’t want you to see what’s going on that we’ve [the companies] resorted to employee investigations.”
The efforts of the agricultural lobbyists fly in the face of new laws being passed by U.S. Congress that seek to protect whistleblowers from being prosecuted for reporting wrongdoing by their employers.
Clearly, the lobbyist activity to create such laws is an effort to cover-up questionable actions taking place on agricultural farms that the industry would like to keep hidden from the general public.
There are some businesses that recognize public sentiment against such practices, and have banned serving the food. The APRL reports that hundreds of California restaurants have banned foie gras from the menu.
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To see the video of the abuse captured at the two farms, check out the activist website StopForceFeeding.com.
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Ryan Dube is editor-in-chief of TSW and an electrical engineer in the automation industry. He spends his time investigating declassified government documents, legends and conspiracy theories. Ryan has 297 post(s) at Top Secret Writers
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Undercover Activists Expose Duck Abuse at Foie Gras... more
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Los Angeles Times...
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Tucson zoo fight involves elephants, Bob Barker
January 18, 2012 | 3:52 pm
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Elephant herd at San Diego Zoo's Safari Park
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Connie is an Asian elephant, Shaba an African one. Nonetheless, they formed a bond, paling around together for three decades at Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo.
So when zoo officials announced plans last year to move Connie to the San Diego Zoo –- without her buddy Shaba -– animal activists were enraged.
The Tucson zoo was planning to bring in a herd of African elephants from San Diego, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Because zoo accreditation standards demand that new herds not mix African and Asian elephants, "due to multiple species differences and possible disease transmission issues," Connie would join other Asian elephants in San Diego.
But local activists Tracy Toland and Jessica Shuman considered the separation cruel. It “defies everything we know about elephants: their intelligence, profoundly deep social bonds (females remain with their mothers for life) and the capacity for deep emotion,” they wrote in the Daily Star.
The women launched a campaign to keep Connie, 44, and Shaba, 31, together and added some celebrity sizzle to the debate. At their behest, former “Price Is Right” host and well-known animal advocate Bob Barker recently offered to contribute $500,000 to send the elephants to a California sanctuary if others could raise matching funds.
This week, Tucson zoo officials reversed course, announcing that Connie and Shaba could both move to San Diego, the Daily Star said. Turns out, San Diego’s Asian elephant herd already has an African member, so Connie and Shaba’s cross-species kinship will fit right in.
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Tucson zoo fight involves elephants, Bob Barker
January... more
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Animal Equality...
International Organization for the Abolition of Animal Slavery
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31 December 2011
Make it your New Year's resolution to Help Animals!
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Each year Animal Equality carries out many vegan outreach activities and investigations in defence of animals. With this work we aim to touch peoples’ hearts, in the hope that they will discover a lost empathy towards non-human animals. We aim to show them that it is easy to create a world without animal exploitation.
Much impassioned work was carried out during 2011, and it would not have been possible without the dedication of new volunteers and supporters just like you.
Read ahead to see how we carried out activism for animal rights in the UK and elsewhere in Europe throughout the year.
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2011: a year growing up!
We believe that human education is the first step to equality, and a truly kind world. During 2011, we carried out dozens of events and info-stalls in the UK.
Here are some examples of our work:
• In the UK alone, during our Demonstrations promoting veganism and free vegan food giveaways, we handed out 12,000 vegan leaflets.
• We launched a brand new website called ChooseVeganism.org, Thanks to the website’s new video, 'A message of respect', we received more than 11,000 visitors in a few days.
• Hundreds of vegan outreach events were carried out in Spain, Poland, UK and Venezuela, more four undercover investigations.
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Our dedication did not stop in these countries; in India we started to work to convince the Indian Government to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks.
Another important event during 2011, was the creation of a new branch of Animal Equality in Italy, based in Rome!
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International Animal Rights Day 2011:
A fantastic celebration of the International Animal Rights Day 2011, marked this year as being such a success in terms of recruiting new activists and achieving excellent worldwide media coverage on our activities. A brief summary of our events to mark this important day are as follows:
• LONDON (UK): Crime scenes featuring the outlines of the victims of the speciesism calling on passers-by to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
Photo gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxhi5Na
• MADRID (Spain): 400 activists gathered to show 400 corpses of dead animals, and demand justice for the billions of animals who continue to die each year as victims of speciesism.
Photo gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxgLviM
• ROME (Italy): For six hours, the Pincio's square was covered with 100 crosses, each one accompanied by a photo of an animal who had been exploited and/or killed for human consumption.
Photo gallery: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxhWfTD
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Investigations:
Behind the closed doors of the animal exploitation centers, Animal Equality's Investigation Team with hidden cameras exposed the reality and misery of animals' lives. With our investigation work, we aim to change society into one that respects animals by promoting a vegan lifestyle.
Some examples of our investigation work are as follows:
• We recording of the brutal killing of minks on one of the biggest fur farms in Spain.
• We carried out a unique and intensive undercover investigation into the most important zoos in Spain.
- Visit the website: Spanishzoos.org
• We infiltrated Tordesillas, one of the biggest bullfighting traditions in Spain.
• We documented the gruesome ritual slaughter of 6.000 lambs for the ‘Feast of Sacrifice’ in Melilla, Spain.
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.Animal Equality...
International Organization for the Abolition of Animal Slavery... more
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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Animal Rights Activism Lawsuit Against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hiBq32WYajbxiTSP-kaKE4Z4zzOw?docId=deda6c3aa956465db3fb5cb0be82b3cb
AP | The Associated Press...
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Appeals court upholds dismissal of elephant suit
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press – 15 hours ago
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by animal rights activists that claims the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus abuses its elephants.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington agreed with a lower court judge that the Animal Protection Institute and a former Ringling employee Tom Ryder did not have the legal standing to sue the circus. The lower court found that Ryder was "essentially a paid plaintiff" because he received at least $190,000 from the animal rights activists pursuing the case.
The lawsuit claimed the circus is violating the elephants' protection under the Endangered Species Act with the use of bullhooks for training and prolonged chaining during train rides between shows.
Feld Entertainment Inc. argued the elephants are not hurt and that the instruments are necessary to keep the animals under control and protect public safety. The Vienna, Va.-based company runs the circus and has an elephant sanctuary in Florida.
Feld attorney John Simpson said the appellate ruling supports the company's $20 million racketeering lawsuit against Ryder, animal rights groups and their attorneys that claims they committed bribery, obstruction of justice and other illegal acts in filing the elephant suit. Simpson said the purpose of the company's suit is to keep animal rights groups from using the federal court system to pursue "radical agendas."
"Feld Entertainment is the target today and some other businesses are going to be targets tomorrow," Simpson said in a telephone interview. "And at some point it has to stop."
The Animal Protection Institute declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. But they are asking a judge to dismiss Feld's racketeering suit, calling it "a transparent effort to stifle any criticism of FEI's elephant treatment practices" and to bankrupt and punish the animal rights groups.http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/article-0-07af1e86000005dc-547_634x38... more
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treehugger...
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"Why Love One But Eat the Other?" Billboards Stir Controversy in Toronto Subway System
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They are pretty careful about who gets to put ads up in the Toronto subway system, and animal rights activists usually don't make the cut. But through September and October, subway riders have come face to face with a powerful campaign to convince people that if they like cute kittens and puppies, then they shouldn't be eating chickens and pigs. Kimberly Caroll, an organizer of the campaign says:
Pigs, cows and chickens are remarkable beings," says campaign spokesperson Kimberly Carroll. "Cows will walk for miles to reunite with a calf after being sold at auction. Pigs have intelligence beyond that of a 3 year-old human. Chickens mourn the loss of their loved ones. We hope that in connecting with these animals and the grievous suffering that is behind every burger, omelette, and hot dog, people will be motivated to make more compassionate food choices.
I was surprised that the campaign got approved at all; Kimberly explained:
We ran a similar campaign back in 2009 on the TTC at about a quarter of the size of the current one. At that point the ad had to go through various levels of approval while we waited on pins and needles, but it was approved! This time around, it seems there were no concerns. We've been very impressed with the TTC for this. We believe this is the first animal rights campaign to run on the TTC.
While the puppy and pig comparison is probably not a stretch for most people, the kitten and chicken one is probably a bit more difficult. But they make a case that chickens are "inquisitive, affectionate and personable."
It is not a new message, that animals are animals and it is crazy to treat one kind so differently from another; the British Vegetarian Society did it decades ago. But it is new, seeing it in Toronto plastered all over the subway, where the TTC says it will be seen by 5.7 million people every week. Kimberly says that it is effective; she is getting "several emails, posts, and twitters a day from folks saying they're going veg after seeing the ads."
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"Why Love One But Eat the Other?" Billboards Stir... more
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NBC NEWS | LOS ANGELES...
Glendale Considering Ban on Pet Sales
The Glendale city council is considering a ban on dog and cat sales in pet stores and from backyard pet breeders.
By Angie Crouch and Julie Brayton
| Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 | Updated 7:36 PM PDT
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Glendale Considering Ban on Pet Sales
Soon Sales of Cats and Dogs in Glendale Pet Stores may be Banned
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Animal rights activists say an investigation into deplorable conditions of a puppy mill in the Midwest that allegedly supplied dogs to several Glendale pet stores, helped convince the Glendale city council to consider banning the sale of dogs and cats from pet stores in the city.
"Animals that were injured," said Carole Davis, of the Companion Animal Protection Society, speaking about the conditions in the puppy mill in the midwest. "Animals that were covered in feces and urine. Animals that had hair that was matted so much that the eyes were closed off, and that they couldn't see."
The proposed ban comes on the heels of West Hollywood's city council adopting a similar policy last year. Los Angeles is also considering a ban.
"What's happening in California," according to Davis, "is a result of direct action by animal rights activists. Los Angeles is the second largest market for puppy mill dogs, after New York City.”
At Pets R Us in Glendale, the manager says they still sell rescued cats, but they stopped selling dogs a few months ago after the C.A.P.S. investigation revealed their supplier got them from a puppy mill.
Like Pets R Us, most Glendale pet stores have already voluntarily stopped selling dogs.
The new ordinance would still allow residents to sell kittens and puppies that come from unexpected pregnancies, but the ordinance would also prohibit so-called backyard breeders.
The city council voiced support for the prohibition after roughly 30 people crowded City Hall in support of the ordinance.
.NBC NEWS | LOS ANGELES...
Glendale Considering Ban on Pet Sales
The Glendale... more
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CNN...
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August 9th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
Should bullfighting be banned?
By Stephanie Garlow, GlobalPost
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First Catalonia outlawed bullfighting, which the Economist likened it to a German state banning wurst or a French region condemning berets.
Now Peru's minister of culture has said the sport is "terrible" and that it causes excessive suffering for the animals.
So is bullfighting on the way out? Is it a "tradition of tragedy," as PETA claims, that kills 250,000 bulls annually?
Activists who gathered in Lima last week to protest the mistreatment of bulls would seem to agree. "Bullfighting promotes violence, torture and cruelty to animals for no reason," William Soberon, of the Anti-Bullfighting Front of Peru, told La Republica. "We're not in the colonial era."
Peru's newly appointed minister of culture, Susana Baca, said she felt sorry for the animals and that she cried when she once attended a cockfight. "I've never been to a bullfight but from the little I've seen in the media, I know it's terrible and I had to close my eyes," she said on the program "Buenos Dias, Peru."
But protests against bullfighting are nothing new in Peru. And comments by Baca that she would analyze the practice during her tenure quickly sparked controversy.
Bullfighter Fernando Roca Rey told La Republica that bullfighting should be seen as a cultural event and that "the minister can give her opinion, but that cannot be applied to the whole country." Bullfighting celebrations have been held in Peru since 1766 and the Plaza de Toros de Acho bullring is the oldest in the Americas and second-oldest in the world, reports AFP.
And the Spanish government recently dealt a blow to efforts to outlaw the sport when it ruled that bullfighting is an "artistic discipline and cultural product." The country's Ministry of Culture will now be responsible for the "development and protection" of bullfighting, a move that supporters hope is a step toward protecting the tradition from further regional bans.
Bullfighting is also practiced in Portugal and the south of France and is widespread in Latin America. Mexico City's Plaza Mexico arena is the biggest in the world with seats for up to 55,000.
And while public opinion might be swinging away from bullfighting — a poll last year for El Pais found 60 percent of Spaniards did not enjoy bullfighting — the sport still has big-name supporters. Peruvian novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa campaigned to convince UNESCO to classify bullfighting as part of Spain's national heritage.
And in novelist Ernest Hemingway, the sport found one of its most enduring voices of support. The art of the bullfighting, Hemingway wrote in "Death in the Afternoon," "is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honor."
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August 9th, 2011
08:00 AM ET
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L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands
Officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over five years and prevent possible closure. Critics question the savings and say the move could mean less transparency in animal welfare.
Los Angeles Zoo
Photo: Zoo patrons view a pair of Masai giraffes at the Los Angeles Zoo. Two potential private operators have expressed interest in running the zoo. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times
July 28, 2011
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Someone else may soon be tending to the misty artificial rain forest at the Los Angeles Zoo where Bruno, a 300-pound orangutan with a wispy orange beard and a hulking frame, makes his home.
The city opened the zoo and botanical gardens in 1966, but officials are now considering a proposal to turn over management to a private operator. That means the gardeners, plumbers and other city employees who help run the zoo could be transferred to other departments and replaced with private workers.
Like any issue involving labor — or animals — the fight over the fate of the zoo has caused a considerable stir.
City officials say the change would save nearly $20 million over the next five years and rescue the zoo from possible budget reductions or even closure. But opponents of the plan question the savings and warn that privatization could mean steeper ticket prices for the zoo's 1.5 million annual visitors and less transparency when it comes to animal welfare.
The zoo plan is only the latest example of a shift in how budget-strapped officials think about "core services" and City Hall's basic obligations to taxpayers. They are also considering proposals to privatize the Los Angeles Convention Center, an animal shelter in the San Fernando Valley and several arts facilities.
Such public-private partnerships are common in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History are two county facilities operated by nonprofit organizations.
"It's not a revolutionary idea," said Miguel Santana, L.A.'s chief administrative officer, who came to City Hall from the county in 2009. "This model has worked across the country as a way of ensuring services are maintained in an era of declining revenues."
According to a draft proposal for the zoo plan, which the City Council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee will consider Thursday, Bruno and the rest of the animals would remain the property of the city, along with the zoo's Griffith Park grounds.
All current staff would remain employees of the city, but those who do not hold zoo-specific jobs might be transferred to other city departments. Future hires would be employees of the new operator.
Two potential operators have already stepped forward.
One is the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., or GLAZA, a nonprofit headquartered on the zoo's campus that raises money for the institution, manages its memberships and operates its concessions. In 2010-11, it raised about $13 million for the zoo, according to GLAZA President Connie Morgan
The other party is Parques Reunidos, a Madrid-based theme park operator that runs 70 amusement parks, water parks and zoos worldwide.
Dave Towne, a former consultant for the L.A. Zoo, said that if a private company takes over, the face of the zoo may change. "Any private, for-profit operation is going to Disney-fy it," he said. "That's just what they do."
Towne, former director of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, oversaw the transition of that zoo's management to a nonprofit 10 years ago. He said private operators run the majority of the nation's major zoos and are often more successful at marketing and fundraising than cities, in part because they are less encumbered by bureaucracy.
Animal activists fear that could result in a lack of transparency. Catherine Doyle, of In Defense of Animals, said that if the zoo is privatized, "it will become even more secretive and insular."
She and others have long accused the zoo's management of not being forthcoming about animal care, and have asked that the operator be required to answer to a city-appointed animal welfare commission.
Adriana Hawkins, a zoo gardener for six years, says everyone will suffer if longtime employees are reassigned. The zoo will lose expertise, she said, and the employees will lose jobs they love.
"I don't want to go down to the harbor; I don't want to spend my life on the freeway," Hawkins said. "I have a passion for the zoo."
Santana and others have said that privatizing the zoo will allow it to flourish. A report he commissioned said that under private management, the zoo would be able to reap up to $3.8 million more each year in revenue, thanks to new opportunities for corporate sponsorship, fundraising and special events.
But City Councilman Richard Alarcon said that's all the more reason to keep control of the zoo. "If a private corporation can make it profitable, why can't we?" he said.
It costs $26 million a year to run the zoo and pay the salaries, benefits and pensions of more than 200 employees. The city contributes about $14.6 million; the rest of the budget comes from ticket sales and donations.
Officials say if the city does not privatize management, that figure could grow as high as $19.4 million by 2015. But even if it does complete a deal, the city will still contribute about $13.8 million to the zoo in 2015, according to the proposal.
The savings may be small in the short term, but Santana insists that it adds up. Next year, he and other officials will have to find a way to close a $200-million budget deficit.
.L.A. considers putting zoo operations in private hands
Officials say the change... more
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CNN...
No Writer's Credit (Including Amused Caption-Writer)...
CNN PHOTO CAPTION: These geese aren't cooked, but some of their kind will be fed to Pennsylvania needy as part of a geese control plan in New York.
June 16th, 2011
08:23 PM ET
The overpopulation of geese in New York City is going to help those in need in Pennsylvania this summer, according to a spokesman for the New York Department of Environmental Protection.
Last summer, 1,676 Canada geese were slaughtered in an effort to control the city's goose population and improve aviation safety, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report. But this year, instead of being sent to landfills, the geese will be transported to Pennsylvania and used to feed the hungry there, DEP spokesman Farrell Sklerov said.
The USDA reached out to Pennsylvania on the city's behalf since New York state does not currently have a system in place to donate slaughtered geese to shelters, whereas Pennsylvania does. "It's something the city had always wanted to do, but there wasn't a process in place in New York," Sklerov said. "We're hopeful that by next year we should be able to feed people in New York."
For this year, the city will cover the cost of transporting the geese to Pennsylvania, where they will be processed and distributed to food banks, shelters, and other places that feed those in need, according to Sklerov.
The USDA started to control the geese population in New York three years ago after geese got into the engines of US Airways flight 1549, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing into the Hudson River.
"The city's main priority is the protection of the flying public, so if there are large pockets of geese near airports we will take the same steps as previously, but if we can use the geese for those in need, we thought it would be worthwhile to do so," Sklerov said.
Meanwhile, animal rights activists still oppose killing geese to control the population. In a statement, the ASPCA said, "The ASPCA strongly recommends a combination of non-lethal alternatives in order to prevent circumstances that call for the elimination of large populations of Canada geese." They did not comment specifically on the new plan to donate the geese to those in need.
According to the DEP, the USDA is conducting site surveys to determine where the geese are and how many there are around New York City this season.
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No Writer's Credit (Including Amused Caption-Writer)...
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Photo: Shot in the head with 40 pellets, bound at the legs and muzzle, and buried alive, Star's miraculous will to survive has inspired citizens of the tiny island to pass stricter animal cruelty laws.
Credits:
Facebook photo
Continue reading on Examiner.com Animal cruelty protest in Malta brings about huge support - National Pet Rescue | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-national/animal-cruelty-protest-malta-brings-about-huge-support#ixzz1OSzhxwwN
Animal cruelty protest in Malta brings about huge support
June 5th, 2011 6:25 pm ET
Cheryl Hanna
Pet Rescue Examiner...
It was an afternoon of protests against animal cruelty in Sliema, organized by Fleur Cilia Buckett, Joanna Attard, and Myriam Kirmond united as the March Against Animal Cruelty. Nearly two-thousand people were expected to attend.
Protestors carried signs stating "Stop Animal Cruelty," and many were accompanied by their dogs who wore colored ribbons in their collars symbolic for the support of Star, the dog who was cruelly beaten, shot with pellets in her head, and bound and buried alive in a shallow grave near Ghar Hasan in Birzebbuya. The dog's miraculous will to survive helped her scratch and push the dirt away from her nose at the spot her abusers left her to die.
Popular singer Shauna Vassallo sang Fejn, a song about animal cruelty.
The egregious torture and suffering of Star serves as a reminder for the country and for the people to enact stronger animal cruelty laws - not just for Star, but for all of the animals whose lives wind up in similar tragic fates. Buckett also wants the courts to invest in psychological counseling and provide help for animal abusers stating these offenders often abuse again.
Star was not able to attend the rally today since she is still too weak, but continues to slowly recuperate at St. Francis Animal Welfare Center in Tal Qali. The dog's horrific story and her amazing survival has touched people from all over the world - as far as Canada, Venezuela, and Australia.
Star's Facebook page entitled, " Star, the dog who lived," has more than 50,000 fans. Her page has become a place to encourage help for other dogs in dire need as well as a place for people to vent their anger. A reward page has been set up to help find the people responsible for Star's injuries.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Animal cruelty protest in Malta brings about huge support - National Pet Rescue | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/pet-rescue-in-national/animal-cruelty-protest-malta-brings-about-huge-support#ixzz1OSzbnNvcPhoto: Shot in the head with 40 pellets, bound at the legs and muzzle, and buried... more
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Updated News | Australia...
Australia considers livestock ban to Indonesia due to animal cruelty
Australia/Antarctica Friday, June 3rd, 2011
Sydney, Australia – Footage of cattle being brutalized in Indonesian slaughterhouses has prompted calls here for a ban on Australian livestock exports and highlighted international gaps in animal welfare standards.
The footage, secretly gathered by animal rights activists and shown on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television earlier this week, provoked an unprecedented public outcry. Australia’s Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig immediately banned the export of cattle to 11 slaughterhouses featured in the current affairs program, and is considering suspending the trade to Indonesia altogether.
Animal welfare groups and some politicians are urging him to go further and ban all live exports out of Australia. But livestock farmers and industry groups say the economic impact of such a move would be harsh, and they are calling instead for better training of overseas slaughterhouse workers and improved monitoring.
“It would have major economic ramifications,” says Luke Bowen, executive director of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association, which represents many livestock farmers.
The world’s biggest exporter of live animals, Australia sends hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep to dozens of countries around the world every year. Half a million cattle – 60 percent of the total – go to its northern neighbor, Indonesia, for fattening and slaughtering, in a trade worth $351 million.
Now that trade is in jeopardy, following the backlash over scenes of cows dying long, apparently agonizing deaths after being whipped, beaten, and kicked.
“Watching it was the most distressing experience I’ve ever had, in 20 years working in animal welfare,” says Bidda Jones, chief scientist of the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). “And the fact that the cruelty was so systemic was extremely disturbing.”
Humane slaughter of animalsThe Australian meat and livestock industry has been training Indonesian slaughterhouse workers for the past decade, but it admitted this week that the treatment of cattle exposed by ABC was unacceptable. “It [the footage] was horrific,” says Mr. Bowen.
In Australia as in the United States, Canada, and the European Union – cattle must be stunned before being slaughtered. While stunning is less common in developing countries, Indonesia is a signatory to an international standard set by the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health that requires animals be slaughtered humanely.
Animal rights groups have long condemned Australia’s live export trade, questioning the conditions in which animals are transported on long sea voyages and the welfare standards at their destinations. Dr. Jones says that it’s not uncommon for at least 2 percent of sheep shipped to the Middle East and other regions die en route.
There was an international outcry in 2004 after 5,000 sheep died on an Australian ship bound for Saudi Arabia. The Australian government suspended the export of live sheep to Egypt in 2006 after a television program exposed cruel practices in slaughterhouses there. The trade has since resumed but is limited to one designated feedlot and processing center.
Government under pressureWith MPs bombarded by protests from their constituents this week – some veteran politicians say they have never experienced such a massive response to a single issue – analysts say Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor government is under intense pressure to act robustly. Some Labor backbenchers, along with some independent and Greens Party MPs who prop up the minority government, want a ban on exports to countries that fail to meet Australian standards.
While observers say that is unlikely to happen overnight, Mr. Ludwig has not ruled out a total ban on exports to Indonesia. Bowen, of the cattlemen’s association, acknowledged that cattle farmers were “sickened” by the ABC program, but warned that a ban would cause hardship to thousands of people.
“The stark reality, particularly in northern Australia where there is no processing facility [slaughterhouse], is that we’ve got an industry that for many producers is entirely reliant on the Indonesian live market.”
Jones, who analyzed the footage, says that animals died after an average of 11 cuts to the throat, and some were stabbed as many as 33 times.
Indonesia responded by promising to investigate its processing facilities, but it admitted that an animal welfare law drafted two years ago had yet to be implemented. The country’s largest Islamic organization, the Indonesia Ulema Council, condemned cruel slaughter practices as “sinful.” In Indonesia, halal authorities permit cattle to be stunned before being killed.
- CSMUpdated News | Australia...
Australia considers livestock ban to Indonesia due... more
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A LIFE SPENT MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Houston vegan & animal rights activist Shirley Wilkes-Johnson dies, but her mentoring legacy lives on
By Joel Luks
04.16.11 | 02:01 pm
"Some things are so wrong they cannot be tolerated," vegan blogger Rhea Parsons writes, quoting Shirley Wilkes-Johnson.
I can't say that I knew Wilkes-Johnson well. What I do know, is that she appeared to be omnipresent in all and every conversation that revolved around doing the right thing. Though our interactions were mostly limited to thoughtful and sometimes humorous conversations via social media channels — always encouraging as I continued to adapt to veganism, developed recipes and shifted paradigms — her passion came through clearly, befriending those making similar journeys and creating allies with others who didn't quite see the world her way.
On the occasion that we serendipitously met while she and her husband Ben were campaigning at Pepper Tree Veggie Cuisine, we made an instant connection and knew that I needed to learn from her.
She had a knack for being successfully and pleasantly persistent, making becoming vegan easy and natural, always speaking on behalf of those that couldn't speak for themselves.
It was as recent as early last week that we were speaking and scheming on making a vegan cuisine video and my being a guest on her popular Vegan World Radio show on KPFT FM 90.1. So it came as a shock when I learned that one of my mentors had suffered a stroke and passed away on April 9. She would have been 74 on April 11.
A Native Texan, Wilkes-Johnson's became vegan in 1984, shifting from 23 years living a vegetarian lifestyle. She was director of the Lone Star Vegetarian Network (LSVN) for 13 years, director of the South Texas Vegetarian Society for seven years, board member of the Houston Vegetarian Society for two years, board member of the Houston Animal Rights Team for two years, radio talk show host and newspaper reporter in the mid-1970s, vegan cooking teacher from 1987, public speaker and co-host of Go Vegan Texas! on KPFT Pacifica Radio. For 22 years, she sponsored a statewide vegan chili cook-off.
Survived by her vegan husband of 44 years, her daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter are also following in her vegan footsteps.
Wilkers-Johnson was in the midst of preparing for the release of a 300 recipe vegan cookbook with the help of Carol Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat. She had a virtuosic reputation for veganizing any recipe and teaching anyone how to eliminate animal products from their lives and diets.
Adams writes on her blog that Wilkes-Johnson said "that creating a vegan world is the most important social justice change in the history of this planet. Vegan activists are kindred souls to the abolitionists who worked to end slavery. I think that meat eating is the foundation of violence on this planet. Like Alex Hershaft, founder of FARM told me in an interview, I too can never stop being an activist until the world goes vegan or until I die — whichever comes first.”
A memorial celebration took place Saturday at Niday-Fairmont Funeral Home in Pasadena. In lieu of flowers, her family is requesting donations on her name to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
A memorial dinner hosted by the Houston Vegan Vegetarian Lifestyle Meet-up group is also scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. at Loving Hut, the vegan restaurant on Kirkwood. Fitting, given that it was Wilkes-Johnson that requested Supreme Master Ching Hai bring her chain of restaurants to Houston during an interview.A LIFE SPENT MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Houston vegan & animal rights activist Shirley... more
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Los Angeles Times...
Poll: Scientists say animal research ethically complicated, but necessary
Scientists polled by the journal Nature reported mixed feelings about animal research. In April 2009, animal rights activist Graciela Iparraguirre, center, talked with UCLA student Martin Ducker,23, left, as pro-animal research supporters walked behind her on UCLA campus. (Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times)
By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times
February 23, 2011, 10:30 a.m.
Animal research has helped scientists understand human disease, and in some cases, develop cures. But it has also exposed them to an onslaught of attacks -- some violent -- from animal rights activists who question the ethics and necessity of animal experiments.
This week, the journal Nature takes a look at the complicated case of animal activism and its effects on scientific research, publishing the results of a poll of 980 biomedical scientists from around the world.
The vast majority -- 91.7% -- said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that "Animal research is essential to the advancement of biomedical science." About 70% of those polled said they conduct experiments on animals.
At the same time, almost 16% said they had experienced misgivings about the role of animals in their research -- and half of those said that the misgivings had led them to change the direction of their research. Thirty-three percent said they had ethical concerns about the role of animals in their current work.
Many said that discussing the issue of animal testing with the public was very difficult, but there were signs that communication efforts might be improving. More than half said that the institutions they work for encourage them to speak with the public about their work (less than a third reported this to be the case in a 2006 Nature poll.)Los Angeles Times...
Poll: Scientists say animal research ethically complicated,... 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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