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New law proposed in response to art exhibition
San Francisco city commissioner Christine Garcia, who wrote the bill, told The Art Newspaper: “If you allow forums that find this type of work acceptable, more people will produce it and can gain fame from the suffering of animals.” The bill, which is still in the process of being drafted, must go before the city legislature before it can become law.
The proposal comes in response to a recent video installation by Algerian-French artist Adel Abdessemed at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) showing the killing of six farm animals. The Art Institute was forced to close the show in late March after only one week when Abdessemed, curator Hou Hanru and staff members received a series of death threats from animal rights extremists (The Art Newspaper, May 2008, p3). The SFAI says that Abdessemed was documenting traditional methods of food production in Mexico and that no gratuitous violence took place to make the videos.
In mid-March, the California-based animal rights group In Defense of Animals, which has testified before the city commission, sent an “action alert” email to 30,000 of its subscribers asking that members demand the immediate closure of Abdessemed’s exhibition.
At the time Okwui Enwezor, dean of academic affairs at SFAI, told us that the exhibition’s sponsors, including the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Peter Norton Family Foundation, had sent letters in support of the show. The same exhibition attracted no protests when it was seen in Grenoble, France, earlier this year but was cancelled by curators in Glasgow in April.
NEW YORK. A committee in San Francisco’s city government has introduced a bill that would allow misdemeanour or felony criminal charges to be brought against any artist or financial backer who causes “the death, abuse or suffering of an animal” when making a work of art.
San Francisco city commissioner Christine Garcia, who wrote the bill, told The Art Newspaper: “If you allow forums that find this type... more -
Parents urge teen to 'nail everything you can' in 'Sex Talk' ad
Animal rights group PETA is rolling out its latest ad titled 'Sex Talk'.
In the controversial ad, parents urge their teen daughter to "get out there and nail everything you can", have a lot of sex and "pop out all the kids you want" - all to promote spaying and neutering of pets. Animal rights group PETA is rolling out its latest ad titled 'Sex Talk'. ... more -
7 pandas remain at famed breeding center in China
BEIJING - Only seven pandas remain at China's most famous breeding center, after a final group of 13 animals were transferred from the earthquake-damaged facility, an official said Tuesday.
Most of the pandas at the Wolong Nature Reserve, tucked in the lush mountains of Sichuan province, had already been moved following the powerful May 12 quake that rattled Sichuan province and killed nearly 70,000 people.
The quake killed at least one panda and left the Wolong center vulnerable to aftershocks and landslides.
The 13 giant pandas arrived at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in the Sichuan province town of Ya'an on Monday night, said Li Desheng, research director at Wolong. Only seven 1-year-old cubs remained at the center.
"This is because the staff at Wolong really loves pandas, and they wanted to keep some little ones," he said in a telephone interview. "They are the hope for the future reconstruction of the panda base."
There were 63 pandas living at the Wolong center when the quake struck. The others have been moved to Bifengxia and a breeding center in the provincial capital of Chengdu. Facilities in the Chinese capital of Beijing, the eastern province of Fujian and the southern province of Guangdong are also keeping Wolong pandas.
The Wolong reserve is at the heart of China's effort to use captive breeding and artificial insemination to save the giant panda, which is revered as an unofficial national mascot. Plans for the facility's reconstruction have not been decided, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Meanwhile, an 8-year-old panda evacuated from Wolong gave birth to a set of twins on Monday at her new home in Bifengxia, state broadcaster CCTV reported. News footage showed a staffer holding a newborn panda, hairless and squirming, in an incubator.
Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan. An additional 180 have been bred in captivity, many of them at Wolong, and scores have been loaned or given to zoos abroad, with the revenues helping fund conservation programs.
BEIJING - Only seven pandas remain at China's most famous breeding center, after a final group of 13 animals were transferred from the... more -
Animal rights group protests over Pope's fur
One of Italy's leading animal rights groups is launching an internet petition to demand Pope Benedict XVI stop wearing fur during religious ceremonies at the Vatican.
Lorenzo Croce, chairman of the Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment (AIDAA), denied being provocative or wanting to make an anti-religious statement.
"We just want to ask him in a message of love and peace to give a strong signal towards the protection of animals and the environment through a small but very significant personal sacrifice," Mr Croce told the Italian news agency ANSA.
Since his election Pope Benedict has taken to wearing a number of traditional religious garments, including a small red velvet cape with a white ermine border, which he wears in winter along with a hat the same colour.
The association has created a website to accept signatures and Mr Croce wants to present the petition to the Pope in September.
Pope Benedict returned to Rome late today after an eight-day visit to Sydney for World Youth Day. One of Italy's leading animal rights groups is launching an internet petition to demand Pope Benedict XVI stop wearing fur during reli... more -
Plastic bags kill up to one million sea creatures every year
"You can't leave the ocean to take care of itself," says a surfer interviewed in the remarkable film "Hawaii: Message in the Waves".
"One of the saddest signs of the times for me is seeing what the dolphins are playing with."
The toys that she is talking about are the detritus of our consumer society; the plastic bags, briefly used, thrown away and now clogging up our oceans.
Across the world more than 13 billion bags are issued every year to shoppers -- that's about 220 per person. On average they are used for 12 minutes before being discarded, but then they remain in the environment for thousands of years.
In Hawaii, due to the action of tides and currents, the bags congregate in the coastal waters, and "Message in the Waves" shows the horrendous consequences of our throwaway culture for the wildlife -- the turtles, sea birds, whales and dolphins tangled up and choking on the trash we throw away.
The world awash with plastic bags
Environment California estimate that plastic bags kill up to one million sea creatures every year, and the British Antarctic Survey have found them floating far north of the Arctic Circle, and as far south as the Falkland Islands.
In June 2006 a United Nations Environmental Program report estimated that there is an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic debris in every square mile of ocean.
There is an area of the Pacific the size of Texas known as the "trash vortex" or "plastic soup" where gyrating currents hold an estimated six kilos of plastic for every kilo of plankton, according to Greenpeace.
In April 2002 a dead minke whale was washed up on the coast of Normandy, France, with nearly a kilogram of plastic bags in her stomach that she had mistaken for food. The plastic also acts as a chemical sponge absorbing some of the worst pollutants in the sea and increasing its toxicity when swallowed.
"You can't leave the ocean to take care of itself," says a surfer interviewed in the remarkable film "Hawaii: Message in the Waves". ... more -
Please help Jenny the Elephant now! | Animal Law Coalition
Please act to stop the Dallas zoo from sending Jenny, the elephant, to a small amusement park in Mexico. There will be NO U.S. Animal Welfare or Anti-Cruelty Laws covering Jenny in Mexico. Several SANCTUARIES will take Jenny! Please X-POST!
http://www.animallawcoalition.com/wildlife/article/548
PLEASE read Jenny's story:
On Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News ran a story entitled "Dallas Zoo's lone elephant to be moved to wildlife refuge in Mexico" about the zoo's controversial decision to dump Jenny, a 31-year-old African elephant, at a safari amusement park in Mexico . Since the death of Jenny's elephant companion, Keke (39), in May, Concerned Citizens for Jenny has urged the zoo to send Jenny to The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
The Mexican park offers an unnatural, confining exhibit of only 4.9 acres --a small fraction of the 2,700-acre Elephant Sanctuary, where Jenny would share a spacious, 300-acre natural habitat with three other African elephants.
It is shocking that the Dallas Zoo is moving Jenny to a distant facility in a foreign country where she will not be protected by U.S. animal welfare and anti-cruelty laws, especially when there is a nearby U.S. facility with hundreds of acres that is prepared to take her.
After being torn from her mother's side in Africa at the age of two, she was forced into seven years of brutal training. Jenny has been at the Dallas Zoo for 22 years, where she has had a traumatic and troubled stay. Between 1996 and 2001, the Dallas Zoo medicated her with the tranquilizer Acepromazine because of aggression and self-mutilating behaviors. Federal regulators characterized Jenny's long-term treatment with this psychotropic drug as "highly unconventional."
While African elephants in the wild are known to reproduce into their 50s and live into their 60s, in zoos they commonly die decades short of their natural time. In short, the Dallas Zoo's decision is a matter of life and death for Jenny.
The sanctuaries who will accept Jenny have thousands of acres versus 4.9 acres at the Safari Amusement Park. The 4.9 acres is likely subdivided so Jenny may actually have far less space than that. However, the Elephant Sanctuary in TN ( http://www.elephants.com/) is a state of the art, 2,700 acre elephant refuge. It is the largest natural habitat refuge in the world and has a four star charity rating from Charity Navigator. The PAWS Sanctuary ( http://www.pawsweb.org/) in California has hundreds of acres and is also a state of the art, internationally recognized facility. Both U.S. sanctuaries are excellent and Jenny should be able to retire to one of these.
Please act to stop the Dallas zoo from sending Jenny, the elephant, to a small amusement park in Mexico. There will be NO U.S. Animal ... more -
Army shoots live pigs for medical drill
The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.
Despite opposition by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Army proceeded to shoot live pigs and treat their gunshot wounds in a medical trauma exercise Friday at Schofield Barracks for soldiers headed to Iraq.
Maj. Derrick Cheng, spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said the training was conducted as scheduled under a U.S. Department of Agriculture license and the careful supervision of veterinarians and a military Animal Care and Use Committee.
"It's to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury," Cheng said.
The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said.
PETA, however, said there are more advanced and humane options available, including high-tech human simulators. In a letter, PETA urged the Army to end all use of animals, "as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done."
"Shooting and maiming pigs is outdated as Civil War rifles," said Kathy Guillermo, director of PETA's Laboratory Investigations Department.
The Norfolk, Va.-based group demanded the exercise be halted after it was notified by a "distraught" soldier from the unit, who disclosed a plan to shoot the animals with M4 carbines and M16 rifles.
"There's absolutely no reason why they have to shoot live pigs," PETA spokeswoman Holly Beal said.
The bloody exercise, she said, is difficult for soldiers because they sometimes associate the animals with their own pets.
Cheng said the exercise is conducted in a controlled environment with the pigs anesthetized the entire time. He had "no doubt whatsoever" in the effectiveness of the instruction, which he called the best option available at the base.
"Those alternative methods just can't replicate what the troops are going to face when we use live-tissue training," he said. "What we're doing is unique to what the soldiers are going to actually experience."
Cheng didn't have details about the number of pigs, how they were acquired or the weapons involved in the training.
The soldiers being trained are with the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, which is deploying to Iraq this year.
"We understand (PETA's) concerns and point of view. At the same, the Army is committed to providing the soldiers with the best training possible," Cheng said.
PETA has instructed its 2 million members to inundate the Army with calls and e-mails.
"We are not going to let it drop," Guillermo said Friday. "We'll continue to press both Schofield and the Department of Defense for a ban on these trauma training exercises."
The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated. ... more -
8 Signs the Animal Kingdom Is Out of Whack
A polar bear clinging to a melting iceberg may the poster child for global warming, but rising temperatures, pollution and other human activity are also affecting the animal kingdom in far subtler ways. Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, the natural world could be giving us other signs that human intervention has knocked it way off kilter.
Some recent examples:
1. Earlier Migration: Several bird species are making their annual northward jaunt slightly ahead of schedule in recent springs, as the East Coast of the United States heats up, according to a study detailed in the June issue of the journal Global Change Biology.
2: Jellyfish Rule: An outbreak of jellyfish in oceans across the planet has resulted from the stinging creatures hitching rides on ships that circumnavigate the globe.
3: Food Web Contaminated. Scientists said last month that they found toxic pollutants in nine deep-sea species of cephalopods, a class of mollusks that includes octopuses, squid, cuttlefish and nautiluses.
...(check for more) A polar bear clinging to a melting iceberg may the poster child for global warming, but rising temperatures, pollution and other human... more -
Canadians bid to free 100-year-old lobster
Lobster-loving Canadians are trying to persuade a fish market in easternmost New Brunswick province to set free a huge crustacean believed to be more than 100 years old, its owner said Friday.
The 10-kilogram (22-pound) male named Big Dee-Dee was caught earlier this month in the Bay of Fundy and is now on display at the Shediac fish market Big Fish.
According the store owner, Denis Breau, it was to be auctioned off in the coming weeks.
But a massive campaign to stop it from landing in a pot of boiling water has unexpectedly kicked off, with online petitions and a woman in Vancouver on Canada's Pacific Coast enlisting the help of the Vancouver Humane Society and animal rights group PETA.
Lobster-loving Canadians are trying to persuade a fish market in easternmost New Brunswick province to set free a huge crustacean beli... more -
US army to shoot live pigs for medical drill
The Army says it's critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated.
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Naked protest arrests - but police not annoyed
Animal rights group PETA claims three of its activists have been arrested under new "annoyance" laws after a semi-naked protest at KFC in Sydney's CBD today.
The group believes the trio are the first to be arrested under the powers of causing annoyance or inconvenience to World Youth Day pilgrims.
However, a police spokesman said the arrest was due to offensive behaviour, an offence that existed prior to the new laws.
The three women, wearing only underwear and some tape to cover their nipples, were protesting inside a cage outside the KFC restaurant on George Street, at the corner of Bathurst Street.
They had a banner that read: "Chicks agree, boycott KFC", PETA Asia-Pacific's director Jason Baker said.
Police arrived and arrested the women - aged 20, 22 and 31 - and placed them inside a paddy wagon, Mr Baker said.
"One of the officers said: 'We have the new nuisance regulation this week for World Youth Day,'" he said.
"I said: 'Are you serious?' I thought it doesn't start until tomorrow, and was [being challenged in court] anyway."
However, a police spokesman said the women were arrested for protesting naked, "which is an offence".
"I don't think they were arrested under the new legislation, if that's what you are asking."
The women have not been charged yet and are being questioned at a police station, the police spokesman said.
Failure to comply with the new WYD laws can attract a penalty of up to $5500.
But Mr Baker said the group had conducted naked protests in the city before, and no members had been arrested.
"I'm shocked. We have protested many times in Sydney, and at this KFC before.
"We had 24 people naked in Pitt Street just six weeks ago ... we've never had problems."
Animal rights group PETA claims three of its activists have been arrested under new "annoyance" laws after a semi-naked protest at KFC... more -
Running of the Bulls vs Running of the Nudes
The annual Running of the Bulls macho fest in Pamplona resulted in 13 injuries (but none impaled) officials said today. Most of the injuries were minor ones like being trampled on, head injuries, and/or broken ribs. This is just the first of eight stages so expect more shishkebabbing in the days to come. Like many things at The Gritty and the Pretty we don't "get" a lot of things and this one isn't an exception. Why would you run in front of a herd of bulls just to prove penis size? Isn't it easier to just drive around in a Camaro?
For the past five years, PETA has been protesting this "outdated tradition" by staging their own "Running of the Nudes" where hundreds of activists clad in little more than a red scarf and plastic horns run through the streets of Pamplona. While I don't understand Running of the Bulls I can't say Running of the Nudes makes much sense to me either. I don't think protesting by running around naked (lot of supermodels are PETA members) will convince the Running of the Bulls Committee to change their ways.... What do you think?
post your comments at thegrittyandthepretty.com or here on Current The annual Running of the Bulls macho fest in Pamplona resulted in 13 injuries (but none impaled) officials said today. M... more -
Spanish protesters: "Bulls die a bloody death in Pamplona"
The annual running of the bulls begins in Pamplona today and animal protesters have invaded Spanish bullrings.
Campaigners claim that this truculent and sanguinary sport is no longer followed by the general public (a recent poll found that 72 per cent of Spaniards have no interest in bullfights).
PETA and other groups hope to mobilise their compatriots and obtain the abolition of tauromachy.
The annual running of the bulls begins in Pamplona today and animal protesters have invaded Spanish bullrings. ... more -
Animal Murder
Can you watch this video?
And if you watch it, how much do you feel?
And what do you feel?
How many people have to see this until it no longer exists?
And when those people see it, how many of them will feel strongly,
and how many will not care?
Can a video really get you to care? And if a lot of people care,
does that mean anything? It is reassuring to know that other people
feel the same sense of horror that I do. But what good is that?
The wolf is still trapped. His cranium will still be smashed by that fur trapper.
I'm trying to make sense of this. I see that man's foot and I see the animal's crushed throat underneath, and I wonder how some humans can do what other humans could never.
DISCLAIMER: I could only watch about 1:20 of it.
I will watch the rest at some point.
Can you watch this video? And if you watch it, how much do you feel? And what do you feel? ... more -
PETA goes after celebrity meat eaters
Simpson reportedly was singled out after wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Real Girls Eat Meat," which was believed to be a dig at vegetarian ex-girlfriend Carrie Underwood, who previously dated Simpson's boyfriend Tony Romo.
Simpson reportedly was singled out after wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Real Girls Eat Meat," which was believed to be a dig at... more -
Pigeons killed at Wimbledon
PETA is attacking the organizers of the Wimbledon tournament for calling in marksmen to shootdown dive-bombing pigeons that were distracting players and leaving droppings on the tables of the open-air restaurant.
The main concern, Wimbledon spokesperson Johnny Perkins said, was the health hazard of bird droppings.
Perkins says that usually hawks are employed to scare off any pigeons that may interfere with the intense matches at Wimbledon, but in this case, the hawks couldn't completely cover all the areas needed.
PETA calls this action "cruel and illegal behaviour" that was used more so as an initial tactic than a last resort solely because the pigeons were a distraction to the players, not because of a public health concern as Wimbledon organizers claim.
What do you think? Were the organizers using the guise of public health to kill the pigeons?
To me, I guess the reason doesn't matter...I just which killing the pigeons was just not one of the possibilities to be taken into consideration. PETA is attacking the organizers of the Wimbledon tournament for calling in marksmen to shootdown dive-bombing pigeons that were distr... more -
PETA protest
An animal right activist of the PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) group is packed in an oversized meat packet during a protest action in the southern German city of Munich on June 23, 2008. The protest action was aimed against the industrial factory farming of animals. An animal right activist of the PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals) group is packed in an oversized meat packet during ... more
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What One Desperate Celebrity Does For Attention (Photos)
The divorce between singers Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey has turned Papa Joe’s daughter into a desperate and needy woman. She’s done some ditsy things before but her latest stunt may bite her in the butt. The divorce between singers Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey has turned Papa Joe’s daughter into a desperate and needy woman. She’s don... more
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PETA Awards Hollywood's Sexiest Vegetarians
Just what the world needs; more Hollywood awards. PETA honors the hottest meatless celebs with its second annual Sexiest Vegetarian Contest. Past winners were Carrie Underwood and Prince. This year the competition is fierce! A few of the female green-bodied stars vying for the title are Natalie Portman, Alicia Silverstone, and Pamela Anderson. As for the guys – Paul McCartney, Michael Stipe, and Tobey McGuire are all up for the honor. Cast your vote at PETA.
Come on now- it's Natalie 100%. No contest. ::swoon::
Check out info about more eco-stars, like Kristan Davis, John Mayer, and Jenny McCarthy on the link.
Just what the world needs; more Hollywood awards. PETA honors the hottest meatless celebs with its second annual Sexiest Vegetarian Co... more -
Vote for the sexiest vegeterian celebrity
Being "green," living healthy, embracing compassion, and looking fabulous are all the rage in Tinseltown right now, and more and more celebrities are figuring out that the best way to make all these things a part of their daily lives is to go vegetarian!
Whether they chose to go vegetarian to improve their health, help end global warming, or avoid contributing to the inexcusable cruelty to animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses, one thing's for sure: All these vegetarian celebrities have won our hearts and the hearts of animals. Being "green," living healthy, embracing compassion, and looking fabulous are all the rage in Tinseltown right now, and more and more ... more
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