The Good News for Animals Thread

[Rainbow]

Here's an e-mail Viva! has just sent me, I wanted to spread the good news -
January 31, 2006; immediate use

Becks Kicks Off Cruel Kangaroo Boots

David Beckham has ditched his controversial kangaroo skin football boots for synthetic ones following a four year campaign by international animal group Viva!. The soccer star had been strongly criticised for encouraging the slaughter of wild kangaroos – the largest massacre of wildlife on the planet.

Beckham’s new boots - Adidas Cardinal Red/Silver Absolutes, which he helped to design – are made from high-tec synthetic materials. Promoted as the “most accurate, lightest and most powerful” Predators ever, they will be on Beckham’s feet at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The rest of the +Predator Absolute range and much of the F50 range will continue to be made from kangaroo leather.

Aussie football legend, Craig Johnston, designed the original Predator boot from synthetic materials and has voiced his opposition to the killing of kangaroos to make football boots. Adidas is now one of the world’s biggest customers for kangaroo leather.

“We welcome the fact that Beckham has finally ditched his bloody kanga boots,” says Viva! campaigner Justin Kerswell. “If these synthetics are the best Predators ever, there can be no excuse for Adidas to carry on using the skins of dead kangaroos. If synthetics are good enough for one of the highest paid football players in the world, then they’re good enough for the rest of us!”

Last year, the slaughter of 3.9 million adult kangaroos was authorised for meat and leather. Every year, tens of thousands of baby ‘joeys’ – useless by-products of the kangaroo industry – are dragged from their dead mothers’ pouches and killed by being stamped on, bludgeoned with iron pipes or decapitated. The Australian Government has so far refused to release its kill quota for 2006.

“We hope this indicates that they are at last embarrassed by their cruel, wildlife for cash policy, encouraged by Adidas. We call on Adidas to drag itself into the 21st century and put animals and ecology before profit. Our message to the public is simple - don’t buy anything that comes from a kangaroo and don’t buy anything that comes from Adidas.”

In the past, Viva! has provided Beckham with detailed information on the massacre, including shocking video footage. The group believes that Beckham’s change of heart follows major UK press attention last year following a crash in targeted kangaroo populations.

For further information contact Justin Kerswell, Juliet Gellatley or Tony Wardle on 0117 944 1000.

Notes for Editors: Images of kangaroos and kangaroo shooting are available from Viva!

Hurray - surely this shows there must be hope for humankind :yea:

[SinnerCal]

As an Aussie I am particularly thrilled to read this! :yea:

[Bowwowmeow]

I never even knew they did this to kangaroos. :sorry:
I am glad they have stopped, but I think it is silly to call the shoes "Predators". Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't complain too much!
:kangaroo:

[Rainbow]

ASDA SUCCESS! :wow:

Thank you! Last November, thousands of you told ASDA to sort out their seafood. This month, we rigged up a huge banner on the roof of their Leeds Headquarters while volunteers dressed as fishmongers visited local ASDA stores to deliver the message to the supermarket's customers.

Within an hour, ASDA agreed to remove skate, dogfish, Dover sole and ling from its shelves immediately - and to look into doing the same with swordfish and marlin in the next six weeks. They also promised to publish a public policy on sourcing sustainable seafood.
:fish1: :fishie: :bfish: :flounder:

Our supporters are about to take on the other poor performers in our supermarket league table – watch this space!
Take Action :hourglass: before time runs out for the sealife...

Find out more about ASDA's new seafood policy » (http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/supermarkets/asdaprice.cfm)

[Bowwowmeow]

Thanks for posting that, RainbowMozbee! ;)
I wish there was a way to counterract the public's mistaken belief that they need to eat fish for their health.
:fishie: :crab: :clam:

[Bowwowmeow]

Dear Laura,

As a valued PETA supporter, I wanted you to be among the first to know about an important victory for so many animals.

In a move that will spare countless monkeys, dogs, rodents, and rabbits from painful, deadly, and useless animal experiments, Welch's has just confirmed to PETA that it will no longer fund any animal experiments.

http://isiemail.peta.org/240-welchs.jpg (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/bpMWN771XzWW/)The move came after PETA learned that the juice company was funding ridiculous "nutritional" experiments on animals—at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois, and Tufts University—and vowed to launch a global boycott of the company unless it ended the cruel experiments. No such experiments are required by law.

After we warned Welch's that we were prepared to launch an international boycott campaign to educate the public about the tests, Welch's reconsidered the experiments, and the company has now advised us of its new non-animal-testing policy: "As scientific research capability is advancing rapidly, we believe it is appropriate to adopt the following formal policy on Welch's scientific research ... Welch's will not fund animal research."

Many of Welch's major competitors—including Sunny Delight, Old Orchard, SunSweet, Tampico, Cascadian Farms, Newman's Own, Bolthouse Farms, Jamba Juice, and Campbell's V8 juices, among many others—have signed PETA's statement of assurance affirming that they do not test their juices on animals.

We're now turning our attention to Ocean Spray, POM, and Tahitian Noni, which still conduct cruel tests that aren't required by law on animals. For more information about this important victory and what's next in our campaign, please visit PETA's Web site CaringConsumer.com. (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/bpMWN771XzWW/)

We simply could not achieve important victories for animals like this one without the support of caring people like you. Thank you.

Warm regards
http://isiemail.peta.org/fur/iensig.gif
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. This important victory for animals is just the latest in our campaign to keep animals' best interests on the agenda for some of the world's largest corporations. Your compassion is helping PETA to directly improve the lives of animals every day. Please forward this exciting news (http://getactive.peta.org/PETA/join-forward.html?domain=PETA&r=-pMWN771yXvw&) to your friends and family members!

[Dexter]

very good

[Bowwowmeow]

I fail to understand why anyone finds it necessary to test juice on animals, unless its because they want to make health claims about antioxidants and the FDA won't let them without scientific documentation.

F*ck the FDA. :mad::mad::mad:

[Dexter]

psh yeah.

[Caprita]

I've received it as well.
I've never heard of this particular one, but it's always good when companies decide to stop animal testing. :agree:

To be honest, I fail to understand why any sort of product has to be tested on animals. :confused: :mad:

I love that little rodent!

[Dexter]

To be honest, I fail to understand why any sort of product has to be tested on animals. :confused: :mad:
yeah
grr





I love that little rodent!
yes

cute, isn't he? :)

[Caprita]

Yep, very cute. ;)

[Bowwowmeow]

Dear Laura,

Huge news: After months of vigorous negotiations, we have won a major victory for animals killed for their fur and skins—and I want you to be the first to hear about it.

http://isiemail.peta.org/fur/rbox55.gif (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/11MWN7716X62/)

Polo Ralph Lauren—one of the most widely recognized consumer brands in the world—has publicly announced that it will eliminate the use of fur in all its merchandise and home collections, starting with its holiday collection, in all its stores around the world. Read more about how this important victory came to be. (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/CpMWN7716X6N/).

I assure you that it is only because of your vital support that this victory has occurred.

As a result of PETA's behind-the-scenes pressure and eye-opening anti-fur investigations that have struck a chord with ethical consumers, Ralph Lauren joins an ever-increasing number of retailers that are turning their backs on fur. With your help, in the last year alone, PETA has made significant progress in the fight for animals who are slaughtered for their fur—including getting other major companies like J.Crew, Ann Taylor, and The Limited (including all the company's brands, such as Victoria's Secret) to pull fur from their stores forever!

This work and this victory represent a watershed event for the animal rights movement and for fur-bearing animals. For that, I want to sincerely thank you. Your support (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/11MWN7716X62/) has meant a world of difference in this campaign, as it has given us the resources and the help that we need. It has allowed us to add new staff, new depth, and new tactics to our campaign to stop the international fur trade—all of which mean more clout as we work for more successes like this one.

As important as this victory is, there is much more work to be done. With your continuing financial help, (http://getactive.peta.org/ct/11MWN7716X62/) we can expand our precedent-setting work to expose the hideous cruelty to animals that is the norm in the fur trade, educate consumers, push designers and retailers to stop their use of fur, and help bring an end to the horrible cruelty that animals, including dogs and cats, suffer for the sake of "fashion." We have a list of other corporate targets that we're already trying to get to join Ralph Lauren in renouncing fur, and we won't stop as long as animals are suffering. Now is the time to use the momentum from this victory to change the hearts, minds, and practices of so many others in the fashion industry.

With kind regards,

http://isiemail.peta.org/fur/iensig.gif
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

[Bowwowmeow]

New Rule Protects Alaska's Coral Gardens


By MARY PEMBERTON (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
June 29, 2006 7:22 PM EDT
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska's rare coral gardens will be protected under a new federal rule setting large areas of the sea floor off-limits to bottom trawling.
The new rule protects 370,000 square miles of ocean floor from bottom trawling, making it the largest protected marine habitat in the United States. The rule takes effect July 28.
Under the rule, more than 320,000 square miles in the Aleutian Islands - or an area approximately the size of Texas and Colorado combined - will be protected from bottom trawling. The other 50,000 square miles are in the Gulf of Alaska.
The ocean floor being protected includes six small areas, totaling just 126 square miles, where federal scientists in 2002 discovered coral gardens scattered along the Aleutian chain.
The cold water coral gardens, similar to those found in the tropics, have been observed nowhere else, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"This is the first time something like this has been found so far north," Jon Kurland, NOAA's assistant regional administrator for habitat conservation, said Thursday. "What was very unusual here was having so many different species growing together in one space, almost like a garden."
Once disturbed by fishing gear, the cold water corals are slow to recover.
The rule, adopted by NOAA Fisheries, stems from a lawsuit filed by environmental groups in 2000, said Jim Ayers, vice president of Oceana, the main plaintiff. The discovery of the coral gardens strengthened their case, he said.
"Here is this beautiful animal performing this incredible function on the sea floor that takes hundreds of years to grow and develop and can be destroyed instantly by these bottom trawls," Ayers said.
In the Gulf of Alaska, 10 areas along the continental shelf will be closed to bottom trawling to protect hard ocean bottom that may be important to rockfish.
Five small areas in Southeast Alaska also will be closed to bottom contact with fishing gear to protect dense thickets of red tree corals. Another 15 areas offshore will be closed to bottom fishing to protect seamounts, which are underwater peaks that provide important habitat to animals living at varying depths.
While describing the rule as "tremendous," Ayers said 40 percent to 50 percent of coral areas in Alaska are still open to bottom trawling.
Environmentalists had long warned that coral beds, sponge gardens and seamounts will be ruined without more protection from bottom trawlers. The trawlers, many of them out of Seattle, scrape the ocean floor with weighted nets in search of species including Pacific cod, Atka mackerel, black rockfish and some flatfish.
Bottom trawling is already off-limits over more than 100,000 square miles in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.
The rules were not expected to do major harm to the commercial fishing industry because most of Alaska's billion-dollar bottom-fish harvest occurs on the continental shelf spanning the Bering Sea.
However, the rule will have a large impact on the bottom trawlers that works the Aleutians, said Dave Benton, executive director of the Marine Conservation Alliance, which represents about 80 percent of groundfish and shellfish harvesting in Alaska.
Trawlers in the Gulf of Alaska will be far less affected, he said.
The alliance worked with NOAA and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to distinguish the areas that needed to be protected, Benton said. Skippers got out their maps and provided information on where they fished and where they knew there were corals.
Benton said the fleet, for the most part, was already steering clear of the corals.
"We recognize it will cause the fleet some difficulties," Benton said. "On the other hand, we recognize you have to protect important habitat."
---
On the Net:
Council: http://www.fakr.noaa.gov/npfmc
Oceana: http://www.oceana.org

[Rainbow]

Back to the sickening and very Victorian subject of vivisection here is some more positive news...

New NHS funded study shows up animal testing shambles (http://www.animalaid.org.uk/press/0606nhs.htm)

love Rainbow

[Tiggerwoos]

About time too that the NHS actually stood up and admitted this. This needs to be made public knowledge in the media so people will actually sit up and listen.

[Bowwowmeow]

September 18, 2006
Dear Laura,

In a historic move, the European Union has adopted a resolution calling for a ban on all trade in harp and hooded seal products. In all, 425 Members of the European Parliament endorsed the resolution -- the highest number of signatories on any written declaration in the history of the European Parliament! This is a crucial step toward achieving legislation that will save millions of seals from a horrible fate.
In the 1980s, a European ban on the import of products from newborn seals brought Canada's commercial seal hunt to a virtual standstill. Tragically, the Canadian government subverted the intent of that legislation, allowing sealers to slaughter baby seals when they are just a few days older. After a brutal death, the pups' fur is traded in European fashion markets.
A European Union ban on the trade in all products from harp and hooded seals -- regardless of the age of the animals -- would eliminate a major market for the Canadian commercial sealing industry, and help end the world's largest slaughter of marine mammals.
Now, we have to fight to ensure this resolution becomes law. Please continue to stand with us as we make sure Europe’s doors are forever closed to harp and hooded seal products.
I've witnessed horrific cruelty at the seal hunt for eight years. But this recent victory gives us renewed hope for the seals, because Europeans no longer want to buy Canada’s cruel seal products. Together with the pressure of the Canadian seafood boycott, the negative consequences of the commercial seal hunt have become undeniable.
The writing is on the wall for the Canadian sealing industry. And from here, the future looks good for the seals. For the latest on The HSUS's campaign to end the seal hunt, visit www.ProtectSeals.org (https://community.hsus.org/ct/Z1zvpeM1ZzO1/).
Thank you for staying with us in our fight to abolish the cruel seal hunt forever.
Sincerely,
https://img.getactivehub.com/an2/custom_images/humane/rebecca_sigv2.jpg
Rebecca Aldworth
Director of Canadian Wildlife Issues
The Humane Society of the United States

:yea: :yea: :yea: :yea: :yea:

[paul]

thats such good news, go to keep fighting.

[Oracl]

:thumbsup:

[forthebirds]

Ben & Jerry's to go Cage-Free! :yea:

After months of discussion with the HSUS and weeks of hearing from concerned individuals like yourself, Ben & Jerry's has declared that it will adopt an exclusively cage-free egg policy for the eggs it uses in its ice cream.

This decision will improve the welfare of tens of thousands of animals annually. As you know, Ben & Jerry's is putting the chicken before the egg and making a dramatic improvement in its animal welfare policies. By committing to exclusively purchase eggs from producers who do not confine hens in battery cages—one of the most inhumane practices in modern agribusiness—Ben & Jerry's has taken a meaningful step in the right direction.

The Vermont-based frozen dessert company will phase in the exclusive use of cage-free eggs over a four-year period. Ben & Jerry's has also pledged that all of its cage-free eggs will only come from sources that meet the animal care standards of Humane Farm Animal Care, an independent farm animal welfare certifying organization.

Please thank Ben & Jerry's for improving the plight of the laying hens whose eggs its uses.

Thank you for all you did to help win this victory, and for all you're doing to help reduce the suffering of farm animals.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

--------------------------------------

On a side note, I had seen B & J's name on a list of companies that purchases eggs from Michael's Foods which is one of the biggest abusers of caged-hens. So I wrote B&J's a letter about this, asking how a co. that claims to be "socially conscious" and supports local farmers could support such an industry.

I received a response from them about a month later, stating how they had met with HSUS and decided that since caged-hen operations are approved and regulated by the USDA, etc, they were going to continue to purchase them. Of course, I wrote another response to that. :rollingpin:

And then a few days later, HSUS started their campaign against them and BOY did they fold fast! I was going to do a petition on Care2 about it, and never even got the chance. Not complaining of course. :thumbsup:

Just goes to show you how effective a powerful animal rights group can be...

:chick:

Now if we could get them to stop using eggs all together and switch to soy milk, all will be well :dancecow:

[my3labs]

Ben & Jerry's to go Cage-Free! :yea:
Now if we could get them to stop using eggs all together and switch to soy milk, all will be well :dancecow:

I was going to say the same thing. Good for B&J's for making some improvements.
POWER OF THE PEOPLE!!

[Oracl]

It's a great start! :cheer:

[Bowwowmeow]

:cheer: Every little bit helps.

[Bowwowmeow]

Smuggled Orangutans Arrive in Indonesia

http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20061121/456287d0_3ca7_1552720061121586306246.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20061121/456287d0_3ca7_1552720061121586306246&article_path=/article/str&article_guid=20061122/4563d950_3421_1334520061122-856741822)

Orangutans sit in cages before being loaded into a waiting C-130 plane at the military airport in Bangkok on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006. SAKCHAI LALIT

By IRWAN FIRDAUS (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 22, 2006 5:09 AM EST
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Dozens of orangutans trained to box each other in a Thai amusement park returned home Wednesday to start a new life in a jungle reserve on their native island of Borneo, officials said.
The 48 orangutans were flown to the capital, Jakarta, on board an Indonesian military transport plane and welcomed at the airport by the wife of Indonesia's president.
"We are very happy to get the orangutans back," Kristiani Yudhoyono said at a ceremony. "They belong to our vast nation, therefore we have to take them back to their habitat in a proper way."
The orangutans' plight has highlighted Southeast Asia's thriving black-market animal and plant trade, which officials say generates some $10 billion in revenue each year - behind only the illicit arms and the drug trades.
While much of the animal trade goes on behind closed doors, many markets across the region sell rare or endangered animals, from parrots to black bears to gibbons that often end up in safari parks or circuses.
The animals were seized from the private Safari World zoo near Bangkok in August 2004 and have since been kept in a wildlife breeding center. Five other Indonesian orangutans taken from the zoo remained in Thailand for medical treatment, said forestry ministry official Mashyud, who uses a single name, like many Indonesians.
Southeast Asia's Sumatra and Borneo islands are the orangutans' last homes, and environmentalists say the estimated 60,000 animals remaining could disappear from the wild within the next decade.
The rescued orangutans were due to fly to a rehabilitation center and wildlife reserve on Borneo, said Aldrianto Priadjati, an orangutan conservationist who helped organize the homecoming.
He said the animals were in good condition, but will need medical tests and will have to be kept in cages at the center for about a month.
"Our struggle has not finished yet," he said. "Their return is only the first step."
The orangutans were to have been repatriated Sept. 23 but the generals who staged a military coup against the Thai government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra refused to allow a foreign military airplane to land in Thailand at that time.
---
On the Net:
International Fund for Animal Welfare: http://www.ifaw.org
Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation: http://www.savetheorangutan.org.uk/

[Fauxmage]

British Move to Protect Rare Mammals

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/lauralb/Animals/45ac5bd0_3ca7_155272007011644303853.jpg

A baby slender loris is seen in this undated photograph released by the Zoological Society of London on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007. It isn't often that the northern hairy-nosed wombat, the slender loris, and the pygmy hippopotamus share the spotlight.

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
January 16, 2007 9:44 PM EST
LONDON - It isn't often that the northern hairy-nosed wombat, the finger-sized slender loris, and the mountain pygmy possum share the spotlight. But these odd creatures are the focus of a conservation program launched Tuesday to safeguard some of the world's rarest mammals.
The Zoological Society of London's program highlights 100 species selected because of the peculiarity of their genetic backgrounds and the degree of danger they face. The species' lack of close relatives make their preservation particularly urgent, society scientist Jonathan Baillie said. He described them as natural masterpieces.
"Would we just sit there and watch the Mona Lisa disappear?" he said. "These are things that are just irreplaceable."
Many of the species are the only representative of groups that have otherwise died out. West Africa's pygmy hippopotamus, known for its thick, oily "blood-sweat," is the only member of its genus.
Others, like the Yangtze River dolphin, are thought to represent an entire genetic family. The dolphin, may already be gone, like some others on the list.
Those that remain act as living fossils, offering glimpses into how the animal world looked millions of years ago. That's the case of the Andean mountain monkey, the only marsupial in an otherwise extinct lineage which dates back more than 40 million years. New Guinea's long-beaked echidnas, anteater-like creatures that lay eggs like reptiles, are even older, remaining unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.
Donors are invited to sponsor a species, and track its conservation progress through blogs and discussion groups on the Web site, http://www.edgeofexistence.org. Half a million pounds (about US$1 million, euro750,000) is needed to fund the conservation projects, Baillie said.
Researchers hope the catalog of bizarre creatures might attract younger donors unimpressed by more charismatic seals or pandas.
"The younger generation is more interested in the weird and wonderful," he said.
There's no lack of either. Many are freakishly large, or small, or just long-lived. The hairy-nosed wombat can grow bigger than a dog, while the slender loris's 12 cm (4.7 inch) frame is dominated by a pair of huge night vision eyes. Mountain pigmy possums can live 12 years, a remarkable age for a 30 gram (one ounce) creature.
Others, like Madagascar's aye-aye, are just weird. The oddly-shaped primate sports an unsettlingly long, skeletal middle finger it uses to scrape insect larvae from holes in trees.
Still, some have undeniable charm, like the 2 gram (0.07 ounce) bumblebee bat or hairy-eared dwarf lemur, the world's smallest primate.
"There's nothing like them when they go," Baillie said.
----
On the Net:
Zoological Society of London: http://www.zsl.org
EDGE of Existence: http://www.edgeofexistence.org


Isn't he the funniest little thing you ever saw? :colors:

[Oracl]

Oh, he is absolutely precious! :smallheart: So tiny! :)

[Gliondrach]

Have they mistakenly shown a picture of a very old leprechaun?

[Charmagne]

He is so cute!!

More good news!!


http://www.animalliberationpressoffice.org/press_releases/pr_07_12_18_pom.htm


Yay!!:yea:

[Oracl]

That is very good news, Charmagne! :agree: :yea:

[Bowwowmeow]

I am already inclined to believe health claims made for natural foods and herbs, because of their history of use in human healing prior to the advent of capitalistic, profit-based drug pushing. I don't need animal testing to be convinced that pomegranates are good for me. And in light of how reluctant the FDA is to allow food manufacturers to make health claims on their labels, there was even less reason for POM to engage in animal testing than there is for drug-related animal testing. I'm glad it looks like they might be about to stop.

[paul]

they must have read your mind.:cheer:

Juice maker ends animal testing
From Reuters
January 18, 2007

Pomegranate juice maker Pom Wonderful, which became a target of animal rights activists because of research the company did into its juice's medical benefits, said Wednesday that it had stopped testing on animals.

"Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice has ceased all animal testing, and we have no plans to do so in the future," Lynda and Stewart Resnick wrote to all Pom retailers by e-mail or post Wednesday.

The Resnicks own Los Angeles-based Roll International Corp., a holding company that operates Pom and other businesses. A copy of their letter was obtained by Reuters.

Last month, an animal rights group claimed that it had tampered with 487 bottles of Pom juice, prompting Wild Oats Markets Inc., the No. 2 U.S. natural and organic grocer, to pull the product from shelves in some of its East Coast stores.

Pom called the tampering claim "a cruel hoax" Wednesday, and a Wild Oats spokeswoman said the grocery chain had returned Pom drinks to the shelves after testing showed that the products had not been tampered with.

"In our quest to discover how pomegranate juice can help treat human diseases and conditions such as arteriolosclerosis, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction and birth defects, it was sometimes necessary to fund animal testing," Pom said in the letter.

Pom's decision came as Whole Foods Market Inc. told Reuters that it had decided to stop selling the company's juice and associated tea blends by April 1 if Pom continued to fund studies that might include animal testing.

[Gliondrach]

Good for Whole Foods Market. And all the people who complained about the vivisection.

[Charmagne]

Yep. I sent Whole Foods a thank you e-mail for taking a stand against animal cruelty.:agree:

[Gliondrach]

What's their e-mail address?

[Charmagne]

I just googled Whole Foods Market and clicked on Customer Service and they will ask you the closest store to you and you just type in your comment.

[Gliondrach]

Thanks. I'll send one later, after I've had some sleep. Good night and sweet dreams.

[Fauxmage]

Sea Turtles Returned to Gulf of Mexico

http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20070221/45dbd1d0_3ca7_1552720070221559091678.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20070221/45dbd1d0_3ca7_1552720070221559091678&article_path=/article/top&article_guid=20070221/45dbd1d0_3ca6_1552620070221-801860942)

In a photo provided by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, employees Mike Ray, left, and Melinda Dunks help transport green sea turtles to a release site in the lower Laguna Madre near Port Isabel, Texas, Wednesday, Feb. Earl Nottingham

By LYNN BREZOSKY (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 21, 2007 10:34 PM EST
HARLINGEN, Texas - Nearly 90 sea turtles rescued after a cold snap left them comatose have been returned to the Gulf of Mexico. Jeff George, curator at Sea Turtle Inc., a nonprofit turtle rescue group on South Padre Island, said 42 of the endangered juvenile green turtles were released Tuesday and 46 on Wednesday.
The ones that remained were still on antibiotics and will be returned to South Padre waters in the summer, he said. They will be equipped with satellite transmitters to help researchers study migration patterns.
At least 130 of the cold-blooded animals were rescued after being stunned by a rapid temperature drop in the island's Laguna Madre bay in mid-January. Seven turtles were found dead.
With the water temperature in the 50s, the turtles' systems began shutting down, and they started washing ashore.
Some were trucked 180 miles to an aquarium and a fish hatchery near Corpus Christi when the island's tanks were filled.
"We don't usually see greens in the 200-pound range in the Laguna Madre," George said. "It means they're close to sexual maturity and should be migrating back to beaches in southern Mexico."
Green turtles are born in southern Mexico and spend their early years feeding on turtle grass in shallow areas such as the Laguna Madre.
They return to Mexican waters when they are mature and can grow to 500 pounds.

I'd rather they didn't take advantage of the poor things by equipping them with transmitters, but hey, if this had happened 50 years ago people probably would have just turned them into soup.

[Charmagne]

Oh - they're beautiful animals! Maybe the transmitters will do some good - if the temperature drops again maybe they can locate them next time before their body temperature drop:) too low. I've got to hope some people are really out to help the animals!

[Fauxmage]

They really are beautiful animals, Charmagne, I was just thinking that as I looked at that picture. I love to watch films of them swimming, too. :colors:

[Oracl]

They are quite helpless out of the water aren't they? It's amazing how they are just lying there in those tub things. :rubchin:

[Fauxmage]

http://www.wolfgangpuckcruelty.org/images/WP_top2.jpg
Farm Sanctuary campaigns woke Wolfgang Puck to the cruelty in his restaurants, and the renowned chef responded. Off the list are crated veal and foie gras; on the list are fine vegetarian options.After being alerted to the cruelty involved in several of his offerings, Wolfgang Puck removed foie gras and crated veal from the menus of all of his businesses, including his fine dining restaurants; catering and events services; franchises; and store shelf products. The chef is also implementing a series of other animal welfare improvements to be completed by the end of 2007, and expanding his offerings of animal-free meals. Farm Sanctuary is very pleased that a chef of Wolfgang Puck's stature has taken such important steps away from factory farming by refusing to purchase or offer products derived from several egregious practices. His decision reflects a growing wave of concern about the way farm animals are treated.
http://www.wolfgangpuckcruelty.org/images/FG.jpg (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-e..Gq0pK8Dp7o%402339052-9EHOGQRl8UOIM)
http://www.wolfgangpuckcruelty.org/images/V.jpg (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-ELuK6WLFa/kcI%402339053-vA.8Q9nXeZWFY) Campaign History
Farm Sanctuary first contacted Wolfgang Puck in 2002 as part of its campaign to inspire major dining establishments to help us eliminate the cruelest of factory farming practices. Dedicated animal advocates reached out to this celebrity chef about menu items that were especially inhumane in order to educate him about the extreme cruelties involved in foie gras (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-8vPjrfc/7/9Fk%402339052-8Q6Pl2qbQKfa6) and veal (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-a7TtAii5ndaYM%402339053-BNZ8lGbtJpLTI)production. More recently, Farm Sanctuary worked with the Humane Society of the United States to help Wolfgang Puck companies create a plan to address a wide range of farm animal and vegetarian issues. Now that Wolfgang Puck's plan is a public pledge, many animals will be spared a terrible fate, giving Farm Sanctuary and all of its supporters cause to celebrate another precedent-setting victory.

What You Can Do Now
When a highly respected icon in the food industry takes a humane position like this, it has an impact. You can help continue to make a huge difference by asking other chefs and establishments to follow Wolfgang Puck's example.
Click Here (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-EBpsZQmkMeTpg%402339054-GPOafBPVxAXKQ) for information on asking restaurants to sign Farm Sanctuary's Say No to Foie Gras pledge and to encourage celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Todd English to follow Wolfgang Puck's lead.
In the News Los Angeles Times (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-Ek0pE5FZ3xv6E%402339055-5EQ6t6vzynb7M) - March 22, 2007
Puck says it's time to hold the foie gras
New York Times (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-e9ZW/nbg3iJhA%402339056-38l6GvpD65Aks) - March 22, 2007
Celebrity Chef Announces Strict Animal-Welfare Policy
Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, we have worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and legislative actions, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Our shelters in Watkins Glen, NY and Orland, CA provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. For more information about Farm Sanctuary or our programs, please visit farmsanctuary.org (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-bcX1d6s94QiA2%402339057-c0KJdcaBFz7lE) or call 607-583-2225. To become a Farm Sanctuary member or to make a donation today using our secure online form, please click here (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-zFYuhACsgnmUE%402339058-kyTi4.bmVGQR2). For updates on previous action alerts, please click here (http://m1e.net/c?65817697-p0bNgNMXkt00.%402339059-w4iZRf5Kt2UIk).
Please forward and distribute widely! Thank you.


Chef Wolfgang Puck Bans Foie Gras
http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20070322/46020d50_3ca7_1552720070322-1649776739.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20070322/46020d50_3ca7_1552720070322-1649776739&article_path=/article/top&article_guid=20070322/46020d50_3421_1334520070322-112996611)
Chef Wolfgang Puck tastes one of the dishes that he's preparing for the Daytime Emmy Awards post-awards dinner during a press preview on April 27, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. RIC FRANCIS

From Associated Press
March 22, 2007 9:33 PM EST
LOS ANGELES - Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is cooking up kinder, gentler menus. As part of a new initiative to fight animal cruelty, Puck said Thursday he will no longer serve foie gras, the fatty liver produced by overfeeding ducks and geese.
His 14 fine-dining restaurants, more than 80 fast-casual eateries and 43 catering venues will use only eggs from hens that have lived cage-free; veal from roaming calves; and lobsters that have been removed from their ocean traps quickly to avoid crowded holding tanks. Puck said guests at his restaurants want to know their food is made with fresh, organic ingredients and that the animals were treated well.
"We want a better standard for living creatures. It's as simple as that," Puck said.
The move came after three years of protests by Farm Sanctuary, an animal-rights group that launched wolfgangpuckcruelty.org - relabeled Wolfgang Puck Victory as of Thursday - and organized a leaflet campaign outside Puck's restaurants.
Puck worked with the Humane Society of the United States on the new initiative. He said he wasn't responding to pressure from animal welfare advocates, but instead believes the best-tasting food comes from animals that have been treated humanely.
"We decided about three months ago to be really much more socially responsible," he said. "We feel the quality of the food is better, and our conscience feels better."
Chicken and turkey meat served at Puck's restaurants will come from farms that are compliant with progressive animal welfare standards, and menus will feature more vegetarian selections, he said.
The venues also will only serve certified sustainable seafood.
Puck's chefs will continue to kill lobsters by cutting them in half while they're still alive, rather than by using stun guns. And stingray-like skate and Russian caviar, both of which are on an "avoid" list compiled by Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, remain on his menus. His restaurants include Spago and Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Express.
The Humane Society applauded the efforts.
"Wolfgang Puck's policies send a strong message to the agribusiness industry that it needs to start phasing out its most abusive practices," said Wayne Pacelle, the group's president and chief executive.
Banning any food, especially luxury ingredients, has been a thorny issue for chefs, who generally defend their right to use whatever they want.
Still, as Americans have had eating healthier food, many chefs at high-end restaurants, some smaller food-service chains and grocery chains like Whole Foods have refused to buy meat and eggs unless animals were raised under certain conditions.
In 2000, McDonald's became the first major American food company to impose minimum animal-welfare standards such as increasing cage size on its egg producers.
California has decided to ban the production and sale of foie gras starting in 2012. Chicago imposed a ban last year, and bans are being promoted in Illinois, New Jersey and New York.


:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
:duck: :duck: :duck: :duck: :duck:

[Oracl]

:yea:

[paul]

:thumbsup: :cheer:

[Gliondrach]

Good news but he has a long way to go. It only took him three years.

[Fauxmage]

The big animal news this week is that Wolfgang Puck has announced plans to bring in animal welfare standards. No, his hundred or so restaurants and other food outlets are not yet going totally vegan -- though he is catering a totally vegan HSUS pre-Genesis dinner tonight -- but this is a big step in the right direction. It acknowledges that the way animals are treated matters, and that animals raised for human food are generally treated horrendously.

Please send an appreciative and encouraging note to contactus@wolfgangpuck.com

You can read more about the activist campaign behind the announcement at
http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/wolfgang_puck_animal_welfare.html
and http://www.wolfgangpuckcruelty.org/alert_3-21.htm

As we read the news articles it seems clear that HSUS and Farm Sanctuary have found themselves in a classic good cop/bad cop scenario. Years of protests (legal), by Farm Sanctuary, outside Puck's restaurants no doubt helped bring Puck to the table -- with HSUS.

One of the best things about this move is the publicity it has brought to the plight of animals. Today's USA Today story, Friday March 23, headed, "Puck puts mercy on menu" (Jerry Shriver; Marco R. della Cava pg 1D) tells us:

"Pioneering celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is putting his empire's financial and PR muscle behind an initiative that will guarantee that the vast majority of the meals served in his restaurants are made only with all-natural and certified organic ingredients and meats that come from animals that have been treated humanely. Once the WELL (Wolfgang's Eating, Loving and Living) program is phased in over the next few months, it will affect the standards at his 14 fine-dining restaurants, 80-plus Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Express fast-casual eateries and 43 catering venues, which served 10 million customers last year. It's an expansion of a philosophy that already governs his fine-dining establishments.

"I want to be certain that only animals who are able to freely engage in natural behaviors are used to provide the products for our tables," Puck said in a statement.

"Under the program, the restaurants will eliminate from their menus foie gras, eggs from battery-caged hens, and crated veal and pork; expand their vegetarian offerings; and only serve certified sustainable seafood."

Yesterday's story (March 22) by Corie Brown on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, headed, "Puck says it's time to hold the foie gras" includes this great quote from HSUS's Paul Shapiro:
"Wolfgang was very interested, really horrified actually, by how animals are routinely abused on factory farms."

The article focuses on foie gras, telling us:

"For Puck, the banishment of foie gras is the most notable menu change and represents a politically charged issue. Most chefs defend their right to use whatever ingredients they want, particularly when it comes to luxury ingredients.

"Yet California, prodded by Farm Sanctuary, already had decided to ban the production and sale of foie gras in 2012. Chicago imposed a ban last year. Farm Sanctuary is promoting similar bans in Illinois, New Jersey and New York and leading efforts to put an end to containment rearing in pork, chicken and veal production....

"Foie gras, produced by overfeeding ducks and geese through tubes slipped down their gullets during the last two weeks of their lives, has long been championed by Puck as an ingredient. But keeping foie gras on the menu, Puck said, would have undermined his stand on what he considers the more significant issue of confinement rearing, a practice he said he abhors."

Yesterday's New York Times article, by Kim Severson, includes a photo of a duck on a foie gras farm having a tube shoved down his gullet. It is headed, "Celebrity Chef Announces Strict Animal-Welfare Policy." (Pg A17)

The article gives readers some information on the standard treatment for sows, veal calves, and egg-laying hens:
"He has directed his three companies, which together fed more than 10 million people in 2006, to buy eggs only from chickens not confined to small cages. Veal and pork will come from farms where animals are not confined in crates..."

There is a nice quote from Puck:

''I have been telling people we have to stand for something for the next 25 years. It's time for us to make a statement and a time for us to see how we treat what we eat.''

The brief Chicago Tribune piece, Pg 7, headed, "Chef adopts strict policy on animals" includes the same line as New York Times article about caged hens and animal crating.

You'll find the above-mentioned articles on line at
USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2007-03-22-wolfgang-puck_N.htm
New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/dining/22puck.html
Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-puck22mar22,1,1750268.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

They present wonderful opportunities for letters about the way animals raised for food are treated. People on plant-based diets can write letters singing their praises.

USA Today takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/cee7
The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com
The New York Times letters at letters@nytimes.com
And the Chicago Tribune takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/4lsug

And if you see this story covered in your local media, please write there!

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published. And please be sure not to use any comments or phrases from me or from any other alerts in your letters. Editors are looking for original responses from their readers.

[thevegantwins]

I'm surprised, I thought he was one of those pro-foie gras a**holes like Gordon Ramsey who didn't care about animals. Glad to hear different.

[my3labs]

Dear Tami,

I have some very exciting news to share with you. In 2001, when PETA halted its “Murder King” campaign (after Burger King adopted some animal welfare standards), Burger King agreed to continue behind-the-scenes discussions with PETA about ways to further reduce the horrific abuse of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses. Now, after nearly six years of negotiations with PETA, those discussions have resulted in Burger King’s agreeing to enact a new industry-leading animal welfare plan to improve conditions for the animals used and killed for its products.

According to its news plan, Burger King will:

* Immediately begin purchasing 10 percent of its pig flesh from suppliers that do not use cruel gestation crates—metal enclosures that confine mother pigs and are so restrictive that the animals cannot even stretch a limb or take a step—and double that amount by the end of 2007.
* Immediately begin purchasing 2 percent of its eggs from hens who are not confined to tiny wire battery cages and more than double that amount by the end of 2007.
* Issue a statement to its egg suppliers that it will give purchasing preference to those that do not use battery cages.
* Issue a statement to its chicken-flesh suppliers that it will give purchasing preference to those that use or switch to “controlled-atmosphere killing” (CAK), the least cruel method of poultry slaughter in existence.

PETA applauds Burger King for this groundbreaking announcement, and we will continue to work with the company to improve its animal welfare requirements.

Tragically, some of the biggest fast-food companies—like KFC—have refused to eliminate even the very worst abuses of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses. Numerous celebrities, including Pamela Anderson, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Pink, and Good Charlotte, have called on KFC to halt the horrific abuse of the more than 850 million chickens raised and killed every year for its restaurants. PETA will continue to put pressure on KFC to stop torturing animals, but we urgently need your help! Please visit KentuckyFriedCruelty.com to learn more about what you can do.

Of course, the best way to help chickens, pigs, and other farmed animals is by not eating them. Be sure to visit GoVeg.com for a free vegetarian starter kit!

Thank you for your continued support of PETA as we work to end cruelty to animals.

Sincerely,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals



10% and 2%???? Why not 100%, or why not just stop killing them all together. I guess it's a start.

[Oracl]

10% and 2%???? Why not 100%, or why not just stop killing them all together.
Exactly. :( :sigh:

[thevegantwins]

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/11587432/detail.html?taf=orlc

5-Foot Fish Jumps In Man's Boat, Bites Him

POSTED: 9:21 am EDT April 9, 2007
UPDATED: 9:33 am EDT April 9, 2007

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A Brevard County man had to go to the hospital after a 5-foot fish jumped into his boat and bit him.

Josh Landis had been fishing with friends last week. They were leaning over the edge of the boat to reel in a smaller fish when the 57-pound king mackerel jumped into their boat.

Landis said the fish tore into his hand and leg. He had to get more than a hundred stitches.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Gliondrach]

I hope this is the start of the fish fightback.

[paul]

good for the fish.

[Fauxmage]

Whoa! A Gary Larsen cartoon come to life! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Oracl]

5-Foot Fish Jumps In Man's Boat, Bites Him
:sharknsmilie:

:thumbsup:

[Gliondrach]

This page of Gary Francione's blog has links to BBC and Channel 4 documentaries about so-called humane and organic farming. It's good that these programmes are shown on national television. They might influence a few people.

http://garyfrancione.blogspot.com/2007/03/most-misleading-label.html

[Bowwowmeow]

Dear Laura,


Last night at 8:06 p.m., I watched history happen. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act.
The House of Representatives passed the same bill, H.R. 137, late last month by a vote of 368 to 39. What this means is that after an almost six-year battle, the struggle to enact meaningful federal penalties for animal fighting has passed its final congressional hurdle. The legislation now is headed to the desk of President Bush, who is expected to sign the measure into law. The new law will take effect immediately, and I can assure you that this is a dark and long-dreaded day in the dogfighting and cockfighting worlds.


I cannot tell you know grateful I am for the efforts of each of you who sent emails, made phone calls, wrote letters and visited your federal legislators on Capitol Hill and in their home districts. You kept the pressure on and your tireless efforts and support made the difference. The cockfighting lobby was organized, and its leaders poured hundreds of thousands of dollars to derail the legislation -- but we out-hustled them and we carried the day.
Nearly every week, there are reports of dog fighting and cockfighting crimes in the United States. It is a vast underground network of people who revel in seeing animals tear one another apart and gamble on the outcomes of the staged spectacles. Now federal law enforcement officials have the tools they need to uproot these underground animal fighting enterprises and put a halt to the the abhorrent cruelty inflicted on dogs, birds and other animals.

I hope this victory inspires you to keep working on behalf of public policies to protect animals. Animal fighting pits will be closing throughout the nation, and it is joyous day for animals. This victory reminds us to never to give up, and that there are rewards for compassionate action and perseverance. Please share this tremendous news with others and let them know that you had a part in making it happen.
:yea: :yea: :yea:

[Oracl]

:cheer:

[Charmagne]

Great news and about time!:yea: :cheer:

[Gliondrach]

Great news. But it will continue underground. Cock fighting and dog fighting were banned here well over a hundred years ago but it still goes on. The police and others must remain vigilant and must stamp down hard on the scummy perverts who organise and watch these evil spectacles. These people must be hit with the full force of the law.

[paul]

Bush signs animal fighting bill.

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8OT6M900.html

http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/04200766319.htm

At least bush has done one good thing.

[Gliondrach]

That's at least one good thing Bush has done. I wonder why it took five years?

[Oracl]

Um, he's a little slow? :beanie: ;)

[thevegantwins]

May 5, 2007
Circus Threatens Boycott Over Law
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 1:53 p.m. ET

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The circus might not come to town anymore.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is threatening to bypass P.T. Barnum's home state if Connecticut's legislature passes a bill prohibiting the use of an elephant-herding tool known as a bullhook.

Animal rights activists say the hooks can injure elephants.

If it is passed and signed into law, Connecticut would be the first state to prohibit the steel tool, circus officials said.

''It is the proven, approved time-tested, safe,Macro running ....... humane tool for properly working with elephants,'' said Tom Albert, vice president for government affairs for Feld Entertainment Inc., parent company of Ringling Bros.

The circus will be in Hartford for four days beginning Wednesday and officials invited lawmakers to visit the elephants and decide for themselves.

Circus officials said the economic impact of canceling annual appearances in Hartford and Bridgeport would be about $2.6 million, including $200,000 in state and local taxes and $400,000 in locally purchased supplies.

Animal rights lobbyist Karen Laski said money should not play a role in deciding whether the use of the hooks amounts to animal cruelty.

''It's a violent weapon and should be outlawed,'' Laski, of Manchester, said told the Connecticut Post. ''And for them to say they won't come to Connecticut is like saying 'we won't bring our corporation into the state unless we can beat up our employees.' ''

The legislation is on the House calendar, but is expected to be sent back to committees before being brought up for a final vote.

:crossfingers: I hope this law passes. Ringling circus is pure evil. :devil4: The elephants are treated horrificly. This would be a fantastic step in the right direction. I have a better idea, Ringling Bros. should boycott all states! Donate their elephants to a sanctuary.

[Gliondrach]

I hope it gets passed. Are there any petitions being organised, do you know?

[thevegantwins]

Don't know, I'm sending the article to my vegan coworker who writes alerts for NJARA. I'm sure she'll know or get one started. I'll post it here once I hear.

[Bowwowmeow]

Rare Pygmy Bunnies Now Having Babies

http://my.eimg.net/harvest_xml/NEWS/img/20070614/4670bd40_3ca7_1552720070614-1302821953.jpg (http://enews.earthlink.net/article/pho?guid=20070614/4670bd40_3ca7_1552720070614-1302821953&article_path=/article/nat&article_guid=20070614/4670bd40_3ca6_15526200706141245937225)

This undated image provided by Washington State University shows an endangered pygmy rabbit in the wild in eastern Washington state. LEN ZOELI

By JOHN K. WILEY (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
June 14, 2007 9:54 PM EDT

SPOKANE, Wash. - The only surviving pair of endangered pygmy rabbits released as part of a program to increase their numbers in the wild have dodged coyotes, badgers, hawks and owls and found time for love.
Proud scientists announced Thursday that the rabbits have successfully bred.

"We were worried. It took them a little while, but they did what rabbits do best," Rod Sayler, a Washington State University conservation biologist, said from Pullman.

The rabbits, slightly larger than a man's hand, eat sagebrush and are the only rabbits in the United States that dig their own burrows.

No Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits are known to be left in the wild. Predators nearly wiped out the population of 20 captive-reared Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits released in March in central Washington.

Two males that wandered outside the study area were captured and taken back to the captive breeding program, leaving only an adult male and female in the wild as of June 1.

But spirits were buoyed last week when doctoral student Len Zeoli found the female digging a burrow and lining it with grass, an indication she was preparing to give birth. Later, Zeoli spotted a juvenile rabbit near another burrow from what is believed to be a second litter of babies, called kits, Sayler said.

The male, which WSU students nicknamed Utapau after a planet in the Star Wars movies, and Impala, the female, could breed again this year, Sayler said, noting that rabbit pairs can mate two to three times a season. Each litter produces from four to six kits.

It is not known whether the two litters came from the same female, or if one was the offspring of another female that was later killed by predators, he said.

But it's encouraging that there is more than one litter, Sayler said.
"We considered that our first goal; to have that breeding success," he said. "Our next goal is to have animals survive longer and have more kits."

The Sagebrush Flat Wildlife Area where the captive rabbits were released is considered the last native home of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit. The rabbit was listed as a state endangered species in 1993 and protected under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2003.

The reasons the Columbia Basin rabbits declined are not precisely known, although scientists suspect inbreeding among such a small population was a major factor. Range fires, farming, disease and predators also are thought to have taken their toll.

No more rabbits are known to exist in the wild. Descendants of the last 16 wild rabbits captured at the site have been crossbred with pygmy rabbits from Idaho, and some of those animals were released at Sagebrush Flat. Because the offspring have at least half of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit's genes, they are considered the real thing.

WSU's Department of Natural Sciences, the Oregon Zoo and Northwest Trek near Tacoma, working with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are raising between 75-100 pygmy rabbits for eventual release.

Another release could come as early as this fall, Sayler said. Additional steps will be taken to protect the females, such as erecting fences or cages around burrows to keep predators out, Sayler said.

"We're going to do everything we can to really increase the survival of the females," Sayler said. "It will take years, maybe three to four years, of releases to get a population large enough to be sustaining. This is the first really tiny step." :dancebun: :dancebun:
:dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun:
:dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun:
:dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun::dancebun: :dancebun: :dancebun:

I think we need this bunny in our avatar collection. :colors:

[Oracl]

Very cute pic! :colors:

[thevegantwins]

Speaking of bunnies, today I was at the playground with the kids. Ben was sitting on a bench and asked for rice milk. I got it out of the diaper bag and he then said, "bunny rabbit" very clearly. As you know, he is speech delayed and I was wondering why he said that until I noticed that there really was a bunny rabbit in the grass across from where we were sitting. It was very hard to spot because of another bench, a fench and plants but he saw it and told me about it. I was very proud. :D

[Bowwowmeow]

Awwww! :yea:

[paul]

what a cute bunny,it would make a loverly avatar

[paul]

Serbian President adopts kitten to boost animal protection
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/01825.shtml

[Gliondrach]

Speaking of bunnies, today I was at the playground with the kids. Ben was sitting on a bench and asked for rice milk. I got it out of the diaper bag and he then said, "bunny rabbit" very clearly. As you know, he is speech delayed and I was wondering why he said that until I noticed that there really was a bunny rabbit in the grass across from where we were sitting. It was very hard to spot because of another bench, a fench and plants but he saw it and told me about it. I was very proud. :D

Well, Ben is obviously going to be a man who will feel like talking when he has something important or interesting to say. At other times he might just enjoy the silence. All true wise men are like that. So we are.

[Gliondrach]

Serbian President adopts kitten to boost animal protection
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/01825.shtml

Good for Boris.

[Oracl]

Good for Boris.
:agree: :thumbsup:

[Bowwowmeow]

Sort of.
Court: UK Downplays Animal Pain in Labs

From Associated Press
July 27, 2007 7:54 PM EDT

LONDON - Britain's government has overlooked the extent of the pain inflicted on animals in some scientific labs, the High Court ruled Friday.

Judge John Mitting ruled that the Home Office, which sets guidelines for animal experiments, acted unlawfully by describing highly invasive procedures as causing only "moderate" rather than "severe" suffering.

Activists said the judgment's impact will be that getting approval for such experiments will be more difficult than it has been.

The Home Office said it was examining the judgment, which it has the option to appeal.

"This case demonstrates it has ridden roughshod over the public's trust in this matter," said Michelle Thew, chief executive of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.

The group, which wants to abolish all animal experiments, took the government to court claiming it was failing in its legal duty to ensure animal suffering is kept to a minimum in laboratories.

The government has said Britain's animal testing laws are the toughest in the world. Experiments can only be carried out if the expected benefits outweigh the hurt caused and no alternative technique exists. Cosmetics testing on animals is banned.

More than 3 million animal experiments were carried out in Britain in 2006, according to government statistics - the vast majority on mice. Less than 1 percent involved primates.

[Oracl]

3 million experiments on animals is a hell of a lot. :(

[thevegantwins]

August 13, 2007
Scared Cat Found in Couch After Fire
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:47 p.m. ET

WEST ORANGE, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey cat may have only eight lives left after it survived a house fire by hiding in the couch.

Firefighters initially thought the feline, who belonged to one of the tenants in the two-story house, had been killed by flames and smoke Saturday night. But after putting out the blaze and surveying the damage, they found the cat wedged into the couch.

''To our amazement, it had survived,'' Fire Chief Peter Smeraldo told The Star-Ledger of Newark. ''They should change that cat's name to Lucky.''

No one was injured, and the cat's owner, who was ecstatic to have the animal back, took the cat to stay at a relative's house.

:kittyinbag: :yea:

[Bowwowmeow]

Aw, how scared that poor kitty must have been!
I wouldn't leave my burning house without finding my animals first though.

[Gliondrach]

Great news. Lucky moggy.

[Charmagne]

Aw, how scared that poor kitty must have been!
I wouldn't leave my burning house without finding my animals first though.


Me too! Very lucky kitty.:)

[thevegantwins]

September 4, 2007
NY Lifeguard Rescues Shark From Swimmers
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:51 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- When a Coney Island lifeguard spied a shark near an upset group of swimmers, he did what he thought was right: He rescued the fish.

Marisu Mironescu, 39, said he was prompted to action Monday after seeing about 75 to 100 people circling the 2-foot sand shark off the beach and ''bugging out.''

''They were holding onto it and some people were actually hitting him, smacking his face,'' said Mironescu. ''Well, I wasn't going to let them hurt the poor thing.''

He grabbed the largely harmless shark in his arms and carried it, backstroking out to sea, where he let it go. ''He was making believe like he's dead, then he wriggled his whole body and tried to bite me,'' Mironescu said.

''We had a little bit of a punctuation mark at the end of summer with 'Jaws' junior showing up and frightening people,'' said Adrian Benepe, the city Parks Commissioner.

The rescue ended a holiday weekend that began with another city shark scare Saturday, when a 5-foot thresher shark washed up on Rockaway Beach, sending hundreds of swimmers out of the water. About 10 blocks of the beach were also closed down for hours on Labor Day weekend.

:thumbsup:That lifeguard deserves a bonus. :shark:

[dreamer]

I agree, TVT. And isn't it obnoxious how it's referred to as "Jaws Jr." That's probably why those people felt justified in attacking the poor shark...I mean, we're in their habitat and then get mad when they show up:shakehead:

[Oracl]

:thumbsup:That lifeguard deserves a bonus. :shark:
:agree: :cheer:

[Phoenix]

Poor little cat. :bmoon: Poor little shark. :bmoon:

[paul]

:catw/b::shark2:poor kitty and poor little sharkerkins

[Bowwowmeow]

Schumachers ordered to pay $97,000 in protesters' legal fees
Posted by The Oregonian (http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/about.html) January 25, 2008 22:00PM

A federal judge has ordered one of Portland's last furriers to pay nearly $97,000 in legal fees to the animal-rights protesters he has accused of destroying his family business.

U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman ordered Gregg Schumacher and Schumacher Furs & Outerwear to cover $43,186 in legal fees to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; $34,735 to In Defense of Animals; and $18,950 to protester Kevin Mieras, court records show.

Schumacher and his wife Linda sued animal-rights protesters for a relentless campaign of Saturday protests that the couple maintains stepped over the bounds of free speech into crimes and violations of city ordinances.

But Mosman threw out such claims in a series of rulings last year. This week, he signed an order compelling the Schumachers to pay the protesters' legal fees in the case.

In his order, Mosman called the facts of the case "extraordinary" but said the Schumachers had abused the legal process.

"Although the (Schumachers) may have had meritorious claims against people whose names they did not know, or even against the City of Portland," Mosman wrote, "they sued people against whom they had no evidence for $6.6 million, sought to restrict their First Amendment rights, and disparaged their reputations with accusations of criminal conduct, terrorist affiliations and responsibility for 'shutting down' a business whose financial solvency was questionable before the protesting activities began."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one of the nation's most influential animal-rights organizations, hailed the decision.

"The court's decision is a victory for the First Amendment -- and for animals, who rely on groups like PETA to convey their pain and protest their slaughter for fur," the organization's legal counsel, Bonnie Robson said in a prepared statement released Friday.

"The judge stopped the Schumachers' scheme to silence anti-fur critics and ordered the furriers to pay PETA's attorney fees."

Neither the Schumachers nor their lead attorney, Herb Grey, could immediately be reached for comment.
-- Bryan Denson
I know its just a little step, but I am heartened to see that the AETA was not used to help these murdering fur mongers win their case.

[my3labs]

Wow! That is fantastic. It does set precedence for fighting future AETA cases as well.

[Tails4wagging]

I wish British judges were like that, they even go fox hunting, bastards, so theres no hope out justice system would support PETA or any other campaign group.

[Oracl]

That is good news, BWM. :thumbsup:

[Gliondrach]

Good news. And the murdering scum will be out of pocket.

[veggiesosage]

A happy story involving Monkey world

http://tinyurl.com/2qrtnw

[my3labs]

Thank god they're out!!

[Oracl]

Excellent! :thumbsup:

[Gliondrach]

I've just seen them on the news. Poor little devils are safe from the scum now. I hope all the vivisection victims are freed soon.

[my3labs]

A link (including video) of one of the Michael Vic dogs (good news):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25214356/

[Bowwowmeow]

Thanks my3labs. That's a beautiful story.

[Oracl]

What a sweetie that dog is! :)

[Gliondrach]

I wished I'd seen this yesterday to remind me to say that pitbulls are having training to untrain them as fighters. I signed a petition to be sent to some country that is trying to ban certain breeds.

[Gliondrach]

By Martin Roberts

MADRID, June 25, 2008 (Reuters) — Spain's parliament voiced its support on Wednesday for the rights of great apes to life and freedom in what will apparently be the first time any national legislature has called for such rights for non-humans.

Parliament's environmental committee approved resolutions urging Spain to comply with the Great Apes Project, devised by scientists and philosophers who say our closest genetic relatives deserve rights hitherto limited to humans.

"This is a historic day in the struggle for animal rights and in defense of our evolutionary comrades, which will doubtless go down in the history of humanity," said Pedro Pozas, Spanish director of the Great Apes Project.

Spain may be better known abroad for bull-fighting than animal rights but the new measures are the latest move turning once-conservative Spain into a liberal trailblazer.

Spain did not legalize divorce until the 1980s, but Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government has legalized gay marriage, reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in education and set up an Equality Ministry.

The new resolutions have cross-party or majority support and are expected to become law and the government is now committed to update the statute book within a year to outlaw harmful experiments on apes in Spain.

"We have no knowledge of great apes being used in experiments in Spain, but there is currently no law preventing that from happening," Pozas said.

Keeping apes for circuses, television commercials or filming will also be forbidden and breaking the new laws will become an offence under Spain's penal code.

Keeping an estimated 315 apes in Spanish zoos will not be illegal, but supporters of the bill say conditions will need to improve drastically in 70 percent of establishments to comply with the new law.

Philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, arguing that "non-human hominids" like chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos should enjoy the right to life, freedom and not to be tortured.

ht tp://ww w.newsdaily.com/stories/l2565863-spain-apes/

[Gliondrach]

Of great apes and men As Spain takes one great step forward for animal rights and liberty, activists elsewhere are persecuted

Peter Singer The Guardian, Friday July 18, 2008

In a historic vote last month the Spanish parliament's commission for the environment, agriculture, and fisheries declared its support for The Great Ape Project - a proposal to grant rights to life, liberty, and protection from torture to our closest nonhuman relatives: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans. Other countries, such as New Zealand and the UK, have taken steps to protect great apes, but no national parliament has declared that any animal could be a person with rights.

Keeping great apes in captivity will be allowed for purposes of conservation only, and then under optimal conditions for the apes. Moreover, the resolution recommends that Spain take steps in international forums to ensure that great apes are protected from maltreatment, slavery, torture and extinction.

Paola Cavalieri and I founded The Great Ape Project in 1993 to break down the barriers between human and nonhuman animals. Researchers such as Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey and Birute Galdikas have shown that great apes are thinking, self-aware beings with rich emotional lives, and thereby prepared the ground for extending rights to them.

If we regard human rights as something possessed by all human beings, no matter how limited their intellectual or emotional capacities may be, how can we deny similar rights to great apes? To do so would be to display a prejudice against other beings merely because they are not members of our species - a prejudice we call speciesism, to highlight its resemblance to racism. The Spanish resolution marks the first official acceptance of that view. The use of the term "slavery" in relation to animals is especially significant, for it has been assumed that animals are rightly our slaves, to use as we wish, whether to pull our carts, be models of human diseases for research, or produce eggs, milk, or flesh for us to eat. Recognition by a government that it can be wrong to enslave animals is a significant breach in the wall of exclusive moral significance we have built around our own species.

While Spanish parliamentarians were sympathetically considering the rights of animals, in Austria 10 leaders of lawful animal welfare organisations were beginning their fifth week in prison. Police had roused people from their beds, put guns to their heads and seized computers and files, disabling the animal-rights movement on the eve of it launching a new initiative to enshrine the protection of animals in the Austrian constitution. The leaders are being held without charge under a law aimed at members of criminal organisations such as the mafia, and a court has remanded all 10 to be held until September.

One, Martin Balluch, has been given a 1,500-page police file to justify his arrest. In the file his name is mentioned only three times, all in connection with media interviews or articles. Ironically Balluch, a brilliant man with doctorates in both physics and philosophy, is one of the foremost spokesmen in the worldwide animal rights movement for pursuing the nonviolent, democratic road to reform. In recent years, Austrian animal welfare organisations have been remarkably successful in persuading voters and legislators to support laws phasing out cages for egg-laying hens, cages for raising rabbits for meat, and raising animals for fur. As Balluch writes: "A law banning a whole industry does far more economic damage to the animal abuse industry than anything else the animal movement could do."

The police persecution appears to be an attempt by the conservative party, which controls the ministry of the interior, and its animal industry supporters to strike back at a legitimate, peaceful challenge to the way we treat animals. That this can happen in a European democracy is shocking.

Peter Singer is professor of bioethics at Princeton University and author of Animal Liberation

h ttp://ww w.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/18/animalwelfare.animalbehaviour

[Gliondrach]

Kenneth Damro, the hunter who became a vegan.

An interview on Go Vegan Radio. About 9 or 10 minutes each.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yb03ajTnWRE

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NcciajEGi10

[Fauxmage]

I saw Bob Linden at the veg fest. He was the emcee.
Still waiting for the youtube to download....

[Gliondrach]

I found a good you tube downloader. You can download and save anything from there to your computer or disc.

downloader9.com/

I've saved some good ones of the firing of a Lee Enfield 303 rifle. And a bren gun.

[Gliondrach]

This seems the best place to put this. A new animal rights website:

animal-rights-central.com/

Temporarily off the air, it seems.

[Fauxmage]

CANADIAN SEAL HUNT QUICKLY CRASHING (redOrbit) --


According to Canadian officials, the country’s annual
seal hunt —- the largest in the world —- has drawn to
a close with hunters fulfilling only about a quarter
of the maximum quota allowed by the government.
Although the government-monitored event permits the
commercial killing of more than a quarter of a million
seals per year, officials have reported that fishermen
in the easternmost province of Newfoundland and
Labrador only brought in approximately 70,000 animals
at the close of this year’s season. Hunters say that
falling prices for the seal pelts on the world markets
have made the activity only marginally profitable at
best. Currently, the furs are fetching a meager $12
dollars apiece —- less than half of what they were
worth last year and a mere fraction of their $100 peak
just a few years ago. In recent years, public opinion
has turned sharply against the practice, aided largely
by vigorous campaigning efforts by numerous
conservation and animal rights groups such as The Sea
Shepherd Conservation Society and the Animal
Liberation Front.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708332/canadian_seal_hunt_quickly_crashing/

[Gliondrach]

Well done, Sea Shepherd and the ALF!

[Gliondrach]

Swiss Supreme Court rules against researchers in landmark case for the protection of primates

The Swiss Supreme Court ruled this week against the Polytechnic School of the University of Zurich, which was appealing a decision to deny them the license for two scientific projects involving the use of primates.

The two neurological projects using macaques were aimed at studying learning processes and involved maximum suffering of the animals on the Swiss scale of severity. Originally submitted in 2006, the projects did not have any direct benefit for human health.

The researchers were planning to severely restrain the monkeys, deny them any access to water for 12 hours and implant devices into their brains before killing them.

The Zurich Cantonal Committee on Animal Experimentation lifted the researcher's authorisation in 2006, on the basis that the cost to the animals (pain, injury, intensive fear, significant disturbance of general condition) did not balance the benefits for humans. A three year legal battle followed, but at each stage the Swiss courts ruled in favour of the Cantonal Committee, until the Supreme Court finally halted the scientists' proceedings this week.

The Swiss Constitution and the Swiss Animal Welfare Act protects the dignity of animals. This concept protects them from unjustifiable suffering, but also humiliation and excessive use as research tools. This ruling practically bans the use of primates in basic research in Switzerland.

Animal Defenders International applauds the decision and calls on the EU to follow Switzerland's lead. A new Directive on animals in experiments is currently being discussed by the Council of Ministers. The European Parliament's report on the Directive, drafted by Neil Parish MEP, shamefully removed all restrictions on primates in experiments in May 2009.

In September 2007, the European Parliament adopted a Declaration co-originated by ADI calling for bans on the use of wild-caught primates and great apes, along with a timetable for phasing out the use of all primates in experiments. 55% of MEPs signed the Declaration, making it the most supported on an animal protection issue ever.

Jan Creamer, ADI Chief Executive, said: "This is a critical time as Europe decides on animal experiments. Our investigations have shown the terror that monkeys experience as they are torn from the wild, the grim conditions in the centres that provide primates for research, and the horrendous experiments that these animals endure in laboratories around the world. We welcome this key decision by Switzerland and urge the EU to act decisively to protect lab animals."

Ends

General enquiries: info@ad-international.org

[gabbles]

Excellent news. One small step. :yea:

[Gliondrach]

From ADL-LA:

Austin (Texas) City Council says ......

No more pet shops or flea markets selling puppy mill puppies in the city of Austin, and 'No Kill' has to be in place by 2011!

:yea:

[Bowwowmeow]

Wow! My step-Mom is from Austin. I think it is the least texan city in Texas.

[Gliondrach]

In which way is it the least Texan city - is it not full of cattle rustlers and gunslingers like the rest of Texas? I've seen all that in films and I know what Texas is like.

[gabbles]

From ADL-LA:

Austin (Texas) City Council says ......

No more pet shops or flea markets selling puppy mill puppies in the city of Austin, and 'No Kill' has to be in place by 2011!

:yea:

:yea: :cheer:

[Bowwowmeow]

In which way is it the least Texan city - is it not full of cattle rustlers and gunslingers like the rest of Texas? I've seen all that in films and I know what Texas is like.
Well let's just say that people born and raised in Austin don't get the typical Texan accent, and leave it at that. ;)

[Gliondrach]

Didn't know where else to put this. It could be good news for chickens - if it makes some people treat them with more compassion.

Chickens are capable of feeling empathy, scientists believe

Domestic chickens display signs of empathy, the ability to ''feel another's pain'' that is at the heart of compassion, a study has found

09 Mar 2011

The discovery has important implications for the welfare of farm and laboratory animals, say researchers.

Empathy, long thought to be a defining human trait, causes one individual to be affected by the emotional state of another.

Feelings are ''mirrored'' in the observer, leading to a shared experience of being happy, sad or distressed.

The research demonstrated that hens possess a fundamental capacity to empathise, at least with their own chicks.

Scientists chose hens and chicks for the study because it is thought empathy probably evolved to aid parental care.

A number of controlled procedures were carried out which involved ruffling the feathers of chicks and mother hens with an air puff.

When chicks were exposed to puffs of air, they showed signs of distress that were mirrored by their mothers. The hens' heart rate increased, their eye temperature lowered - a recognised stress sign - and they became increasingly alert. Levels of preening were reduced, and the hens made more clucking noises directed at their chicks.

Researcher Jo Edgar, from the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: ''The extent to which animals are affected by the distress of others is of high relevance to the welfare of farm and laboratory animals.

''Our research has addressed the fundamental question of whether birds have the capacity to show empathic responses.

''We found that adult female birds possess at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of 'empathy', the ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another.''

The findings were reported online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Under commercial conditions, chickens regularly encounter other birds showing signs of pain and distress ''owing to routine husbandry practices or because of the high prevalence of conditions such as bone fractures or leg disorders'', said the researchers.

The study was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council's Animal Welfare Initiative

h--ttp://ww--w.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8370301/Chickens-are-capable-of-feeling-empathy-scientists-believe.html

[Gliondrach]

I don't know anything about this and I don't have a mobile 'phone but it might be something to look into:

As a SIM only mobile network we don't think you should be locked to your phone or contract. We don't think chickens should be locked up either. That's why we've teamed up with Wood Green, The Animals Charity so that every time someone unlocks their phone and joins giff gaff, a battery hen gets unlocked too.


htt--ps://giffgaff.com/orders/chicken?utm_source=GDN&utm_medium=Banner&utm_campaign=B-GDN-Chick

[Gliondrach]

Bullfighting in Barcelona ends with Catalonia ban

25 September 2011

Bullfighting fans in Catalonia have seen the last fights before a ban on the age-old tradition comes into effect in Spain's north-eastern region.

About 20,000 spectators filled Barcelona's famous Monumental arena, where top matadors performed.

Lawmakers voted for the ban last year - the first in mainland Spain - after 180,000 people signed a petition.

They say the bullfighting is barbaric, but opponents say they will challenge the ban in Spain's top court.
Sell-out show

The ban takes effect on 1 January, but Sunday's fights in Catalonia were the last events of the 2011 season.

Spain's top three matadors performed at the arena on Sunday, including legendary Jose Tomas.

They killed six half-tonne bulls to loud shouts of "Ole!" of the fans.

After the last animal was killed, the crowd carried the three matadors on their shoulders out of the arena to the applause of onlookers.

"For a city like Barcelona to close this arena is like throwing a Picasso painting into the garbage," Cristobal, one of the fans at the Monumental, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Tickets for the historic bullfights in Barcelona sold out at record speed. They were trading on the black market for up to five times their original value, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Spain reports.

Many corrida (bullfighting) fans protested outside the arena, carrying posters which read "RIP" in blood-red letters and blowing whistles.

But such large crowds have been rare at the Barcelona bullring for some time, and this dwindling support is one reason the regional parliament voted in favour of banning the corrida, our correspondent adds.

She adds that there is also a growing awareness of animal rights and, crucially, the desire of Catalan nationalists to distinguish the region from the rest of Spain and its traditions.

Bullfighting is permitted in all other regions of Spain except in the Canary Islands, which banned it in 1991.

Campaigners hope to extend the ban across the country, but they face a far tougher task in traditional bullfighting heartlands like Andalucia and Madrid, our correspondent says.

She says many people there dismiss all talk of cruelty and argue that the corrida is an age-old art form that must be protected and preserved.

ht--tp://w--ww.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe

[Kindness]

Factory Farmed Turkeys see sunlight for the first time!!! :) Beautiful video - http://vimeo.com/33690654