What really can I say about this? Scary…yes. Strange…yes.
Unbelievably, “There are an estimated 650 live clones in the U.S., mostly cattle produced by closely held ViaGen Inc., based in Austin, Texas, and Trans Ova Genetics, of Sioux Center, Iowa. ViaGen charges about $13,500 to copy a cow.”
There was a concerted effort to not allow this to happen. Unfortunately though, when you have such big donors such as Smithfield Foods for it, there’s little hope for it not to be accepted.
Article:
Cloned Animals Are Safe for U.S. Food, Agency Says (Update7)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1wQUkg_c3c8&refer=home
By Catherine Larkin and Beth Jinks
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Cloned cows, pigs, goats and their offspring are safe to enter the U.S. food supply, regulators said over protests from lawmakers, consumer groups and worried eaters.
The Food and Drug Administration backed the use of cloning in livestock after a seven-year review found no special risks associated with the technology. The Agriculture Department said it plans to keep in place a 2001 voluntary moratorium on the sales of such products until industry and consumer groups can agree on labeling and marketing restrictions.
The FDA received 30,500 comments on its initial proposal in 2006, and Congress urged more research. The agency's decision to move ahead anyway benefits closely held companies that have already cloned hundreds of elite animals. Food producers, including Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. meat processor, and Dean Foods Co., the biggest dairy distributor, said they won't use cloned foods anytime soon.
``It will likely be a long time before such animals would even be available for market,'' said Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson in an e-mail today. ``Whatever measures we ultimately take will be guided by government regulations and the desires of our customers and consumers.''
Cloned products may not reach the U.S. market for years, said Bruce Knight, the Agriculture Department's undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programming, at a press conference.
Equally Safe
``We conclude that meat and milk from cattle, swine, and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day,'' said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, in a statement today. Authorities lack the authority to require labeling of products from cloned animals, Sundlof said.
European regulators came to the same conclusion as the FDA in a draft assessment of cloning released Jan. 11. The European Food Safety Authority is taking comments until Feb. 25 on its proposal to allow meat and milk from cloned animals.
Cloning has stirred public fascination and ethical debate since Scottish scientists announced in 1997 that they had produced a cloned sheep named Dolly. Concern that eating products from such animals may be unsafe -- and that the animals themselves are needlessly exposed to more health problems -- increased after Dolly, suffering from an incurable lung disease, was euthanized at an early age.
The FDA said today that there isn't enough data to support the safety of food from cloned sheep.
650 Live Clones
Cloning allows ranchers to replicate a prize-winning animal or replace one that is injured or aging. There are an estimated 650 live clones in the U.S., mostly cattle produced by closely held ViaGen Inc., based in Austin, Texas, and Trans Ova Genetics, of Sioux Center, Iowa. ViaGen charges about $13,500 to copy a cow, and it expects the clones to be used exclusively for breeding bigger, stronger and perhaps tastier herds.
``The number of cloned animals in the barnyard today is minuscule compared to the size of the total livestock population,'' ViaGen President Mark Walton said today in an e- mailed statement. ``In addition, clones are to be used as breeding animals, not for consumption.''
Surveys show that many American consumers are reluctant to eat animals produced through biotechnology, although artificial insemination and other reproductive technologies are often used on ranches. A third of adults said they would never buy milk or meat from cloned animals even if the FDA determined it was safe, according to a poll released in 2006 by the Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy, at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Smithfield Foods
Smithfield Foods Inc., the world's biggest pork processor, said it would avoid sales of products from cloned animals while reviewing the science, rules and public opinion.
``We will continue to monitor further scientific research on this technology,'' while focusing on ``careful selective breeding and genetic research,'' Smithfield, of Smithfield, Virginia, said today in a statement. The company already has an agreement with ViaGen for genetic research.
Dallas-based Dean Foods won't use milk from clones, though it hasn't reached a decision on their progeny, spokeswoman Marguerite Copel said on Jan. 7.
ViaGen and Trans Ova have pledged to register all of their livestock clones to ensure that food manufacturers can exclude the animals if they choose. The program won't apply to the natural-born offspring of replicated animals because they are considered impossible to track or identify through tests.
Industry groups, including the American Meat Institute, the National Milk Producers Federation, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute, have said they support registering clones as a way to ease public queasiness.
Rodeo Horses, Bucking Bulls
About 80 percent of ViaGen's animals so far have gone into the entertainment business as rodeo horses, bucking bulls and show cows. The rest went to ranchers betting the FDA would repeal the voluntary moratorium on sale of food from clones and their offspring.
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat who has raised objections to cloned food, sent a letter in December to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach telling him not to ``pull a fast one'' by acting on cloned foods without conducting additional studies sought by lawmakers.
``The FDA has acted recklessly and I am profoundly disappointed in their rush to approve cloned foods,'' Mikulski said today in an e-mailed statement.
The Senate included an amendment that would have required more study of cloning in a $286 billion farm bill that awaits negotiation with the House. Congress earlier added language urging the FDA to delay action in an omnibus spending measure signed by President George W. Bush.
Call for Hearings
``Congress should hold hearings on the animal-welfare, ethical, and environmental implications,'' said Gregory Jaffe, director of biotechnology for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocacy group, in an e-mail today. ``FDA is charged with assessing the safety issues surrounding animal cloning. It is not the agency's job to address other objections that make cloned animals controversial.''
To produce clones, scientists grow copies of cells from the original animal in a lab dish, and then extract genetic material. The DNA from the animal to be cloned is inserted into an egg whose nucleus has been removed, and the resulting embryo is implanted in an animal that will serve as the clone's surrogate mother.
Supporters say the technology isn't a big leap from artificial insemination or genetically modifying rice and corn, tools that are now widely used on cattle ranches and farms.
``This is an additional technology that will find a place to contribute to an increased food supply and a safer food supply,'' said Jerry Baker, chief executive officer of the Federation of Animal Science Societies in Savoy, Illinois, in a Jan. 7 phone interview. The group represents more than 40,000 scientists in animal agriculture around the world.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
European Union Ban on Keeping Laying Hens in Small Battery Cages Confirmed To Begin 2012
2012 is a long time away. Yet, nice to see these changes will be made.
Article:
EU confirms 2012 date for ban on raising hens in small battery cages
http://www.pr-inside.com/eu-confirms-2012-date-for-ban-r376460.htm
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - A European Union-wide ban on keeping laying hens in small battery cages will come into force as planned in 2012, the European Commission said Tuesday.
The commission pointed to a new report showing the ban will benefit animal welfare benefits without significantly harming farmers' incomes.
«There is scientific and economic support for
the ban on conventional battery cages,» said EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. «We are maintaining the deadline of 2012.
EU nations agreed in 1999 to phase out the cages by Jan. 1, 2012, after lengthy campaign by animal rights groups who claimed that farming hens in small cages was cruel.
After the deadline, laying hens will have be raised in the open air or barns, or be kept in cages of at least 750 square centimeters (116.28 sq. inches) per bird equipped with a nest, litter, perch and clawing board.
In a statement, the European Commission cited a report which said that cost of switching to the so-called «enriched cages» could be less than 1 percent per egg. The EU's executive branch said improving conditions for hens could boost sales, as consumers are increasingly concerned about animal welfare.
Animal rights campaigners welcomed the statement.
«This is the right decision for the welfare of millions of hens kept for egg production across Europe,» said Sonja Van Tichelen, director of the Eurogroup for Animals.
The Brussels-based federation of animal welfare organizations said some battery hens are currently kept in wire cages no bigger than a sheet of typing paper.
Some leading supermarket chains in Britain announced last week they were planning to phase out sales of eggs from battery hens before the ban.
Article:
EU confirms 2012 date for ban on raising hens in small battery cages
http://www.pr-inside.com/eu-confirms-2012-date-for-ban-r376460.htm
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - A European Union-wide ban on keeping laying hens in small battery cages will come into force as planned in 2012, the European Commission said Tuesday.
The commission pointed to a new report showing the ban will benefit animal welfare benefits without significantly harming farmers' incomes.
«There is scientific and economic support for
the ban on conventional battery cages,» said EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. «We are maintaining the deadline of 2012.
EU nations agreed in 1999 to phase out the cages by Jan. 1, 2012, after lengthy campaign by animal rights groups who claimed that farming hens in small cages was cruel.
After the deadline, laying hens will have be raised in the open air or barns, or be kept in cages of at least 750 square centimeters (116.28 sq. inches) per bird equipped with a nest, litter, perch and clawing board.
In a statement, the European Commission cited a report which said that cost of switching to the so-called «enriched cages» could be less than 1 percent per egg. The EU's executive branch said improving conditions for hens could boost sales, as consumers are increasingly concerned about animal welfare.
Animal rights campaigners welcomed the statement.
«This is the right decision for the welfare of millions of hens kept for egg production across Europe,» said Sonja Van Tichelen, director of the Eurogroup for Animals.
The Brussels-based federation of animal welfare organizations said some battery hens are currently kept in wire cages no bigger than a sheet of typing paper.
Some leading supermarket chains in Britain announced last week they were planning to phase out sales of eggs from battery hens before the ban.
Famous Chefs Joining Effort to Raise the Standards of Chicken Production
An important move. Let’s hope that celebrity status will help lead to the change they seek.
Article:
Inside the battery chicken sheds
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7178254.stm
By Chris Impey
Farming Today, BBC Radio 4
Farmers have defended their poultry farming techniques
A concerted campaign to raise the standards of chicken production has been launched by celebrity chefs, the RSPCA and the animal rights group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF).
They're trying to persuade shoppers that intensively-reared chicken meat and eggs affect animal welfare, and must be changed.
Broiler chickens are birds that have been selectively bred and reared for their meat rather than eggs.
The industry began in the late 1950s. About 75% of the world's food animals are broiler chickens and some 200 billion are produced annually - 800 million of them in the UK.
Windowless sheds
This huge demand for poultry has meant that over the last 60 years commercial breeding has grown in scale.
The farming takes place in large and usually windowless sheds, often containing tens of thousands of birds which have been bred to grow more quickly: typically a broiler reaches a finished weight of 2.5kg within nine weeks. It's sold in the shops for a price of around £2.50.
I hope it will stimulate the industry in[to] being more pro-active in getting over what we're doing better to the consumer
Charles Bournes
NFU
Animal welfare lobbyists argue that as a result of a lack of space and quick growing, the birds are prone to lameness as well as heart and respiratory problems.
CIWF claims that one in 20 broilers dies because of a heart attack. And, they say, birds can be left to go hungry, suffer stress and unsanitary conditions.
There's also been fierce criticism of battery egg production, where producing birds are housed in small cages.
An EU regulation due in 2012 will see the banning of such practices with larger cages such as a perch and litter being introduced.
Many supermarkets have already banned or are about to ban battery eggs from their shelves.
'Misleading the public'
But British farmers have fiercely defended their farming methods in the wake of such criticism.
The British Poultry Council says it believes the campaign will mislead the public and maintains that its own standards are high, and protect animal welfare.
Chef Jamie Oliver is raising awareness of chicken production
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme, poultry producer Nigel Joice, who with 800,000 birds runs one of the country's largest indoor operations, was adamant that his poultry were well cared for.
With seven staff employed to monitor the birds, he said welfare was the number one consideration on his farm and that the CIWF figure of one in 20 deaths being caused by heart stress was "absolute rubbish". He said the mortality rate of his flock was just 1%.
But the poultry spokesman for the National Farmers Union, Charles Bournes, believes the campaign is actually a wake-up call for the industry.
He told Farming Today: "I hope it will stimulate the industry in[to] being more pro-active in getting over what we're doing better to the consumer, and to let the public know that if [it] wants improved breeding systems, then it's going to have to pay for it."
Article:
Inside the battery chicken sheds
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7178254.stm
By Chris Impey
Farming Today, BBC Radio 4
Farmers have defended their poultry farming techniques
A concerted campaign to raise the standards of chicken production has been launched by celebrity chefs, the RSPCA and the animal rights group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF).
They're trying to persuade shoppers that intensively-reared chicken meat and eggs affect animal welfare, and must be changed.
Broiler chickens are birds that have been selectively bred and reared for their meat rather than eggs.
The industry began in the late 1950s. About 75% of the world's food animals are broiler chickens and some 200 billion are produced annually - 800 million of them in the UK.
Windowless sheds
This huge demand for poultry has meant that over the last 60 years commercial breeding has grown in scale.
The farming takes place in large and usually windowless sheds, often containing tens of thousands of birds which have been bred to grow more quickly: typically a broiler reaches a finished weight of 2.5kg within nine weeks. It's sold in the shops for a price of around £2.50.
I hope it will stimulate the industry in[to] being more pro-active in getting over what we're doing better to the consumer
Charles Bournes
NFU
Animal welfare lobbyists argue that as a result of a lack of space and quick growing, the birds are prone to lameness as well as heart and respiratory problems.
CIWF claims that one in 20 broilers dies because of a heart attack. And, they say, birds can be left to go hungry, suffer stress and unsanitary conditions.
There's also been fierce criticism of battery egg production, where producing birds are housed in small cages.
An EU regulation due in 2012 will see the banning of such practices with larger cages such as a perch and litter being introduced.
Many supermarkets have already banned or are about to ban battery eggs from their shelves.
'Misleading the public'
But British farmers have fiercely defended their farming methods in the wake of such criticism.
The British Poultry Council says it believes the campaign will mislead the public and maintains that its own standards are high, and protect animal welfare.
Chef Jamie Oliver is raising awareness of chicken production
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme, poultry producer Nigel Joice, who with 800,000 birds runs one of the country's largest indoor operations, was adamant that his poultry were well cared for.
With seven staff employed to monitor the birds, he said welfare was the number one consideration on his farm and that the CIWF figure of one in 20 deaths being caused by heart stress was "absolute rubbish". He said the mortality rate of his flock was just 1%.
But the poultry spokesman for the National Farmers Union, Charles Bournes, believes the campaign is actually a wake-up call for the industry.
He told Farming Today: "I hope it will stimulate the industry in[to] being more pro-active in getting over what we're doing better to the consumer, and to let the public know that if [it] wants improved breeding systems, then it's going to have to pay for it."
Lyon County Near Reno, NV Puts Forth Amendment To Prohibit Certain Acts And Conditions Related To Animals, Especially In Relation To Rodeos
An important move. As stated below, these include, "The additional paragraphs (M-Q) deal with fighting of animals (instigated or baited), injury and overwork, enclosures and restraints, cruel and unusual uses and horse tripping (intentionally trip or fall any equine animal by the legs for entertainment or sport).”
Article:
Prohibited acts regarding animal cruelty proposed to be added to Lyon ordinance
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/FERNLEY01/801090347/1306/BIZ01
KEITH TROUT
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 1/9/2008
An amendment to Lyon County Code to prohibit certain acts and conditions related to animals was proposed at the Jan. 3 Board of Commissioners meeting.
Commissioner Larry McPherson, who requested the agenda item, proposed the amended ordinance, which adds five paragraphs regarding treatment of animals to Title 7, Chapter 1 (Animals and Animal Services), subchapter 5 (prohibited acts and conditions).
The additional paragraphs (M-Q) deal with fighting of animals (instigated or baited), injury and overwork, enclosures and restraints, cruel and unusual uses and horse tripping (intentionally trip or fall any equine animal by the legs for entertainment or sport).
The proposed ordinance will be advertised and a public hearing will be conducted, likely at the first meeting in February.
Bob Rubis of the Tri-Counties Rodeo Association, which puts on rodeos at the arena at the Dayton Valley Events Center, spoke at the meeting to say the Mexican rodeos conducted at the arena don't involve "horse tripping", which involves roping a horses's hind legs. He said, "We've never done it in the past and we don't plan to in the future."
Commissioner Bob Milz asked about something he'd heard about involving grabbing a cow's tail and flipping it.
Rubis said "steer tailing" is done at the Mexican rodeos sponsored by Tri-Counties at the Dayton Valley Events Center and explained it is done by following a cow along a fence and see who can flip the steer by grabbing its tail in the shortest length. He said money isn't won at these rodeos.
Rubis said some think all rodeos are cruel and added, "If we damage a horse, we lose money," up to $600 per animal. He also added three other arenas in Lyon County have Mexican rodoes, including one in Mason Valley and the steer flipping wasn't more cruel than events at professional rodeos.
McPherson told Rubis the proposed ordinance didn't mention cow flipping.
Commissioner Phyllis Hunewill said the term "target" in paragraph P under cruel and unusual uses could include calf roping or steer wrestling where the steer's head is twisted but she was told by District Attorney Bob Auer this proposal wouldn't include traditional events now conducted at sanctioned rodeos.
Asked who defines cruel and unusual punishment, McPherson said Lyon County Animal Services had reviewed the proposal and would make that determination.
McPherson in a separate interview said he'd been approached by several people about such an ordinance, noting they have them in Clark County and several counties in California, that he hadn't brought up this proposal on his own. McPherson said he was given extensive paperwork including other ordinances and he had given it to the District Attorney's Office, which had written the draft ordinance.
He said among those who spoke to him about it included deputies, with at least one who had been upset by what he had seen at a rodeo in Dayton and word of animal injuries had been a spark and this was something he wasn't aware of before being contacted.
Milz said the county hadn't seen a necessity for such a rule before and just because a deputy thought something was cruel, didn't mean it was so. "What is cruel?"
McPherson, a horseman who has ridden with the Pony Express rides and was a leader in that organization, said the idea was that the ordinance amendment not be too specific and that it "covers a lot of territory."
Eventually Auer halted the discussion and questioning, saying such discussion was what the public hearing was for.
Article:
Prohibited acts regarding animal cruelty proposed to be added to Lyon ordinance
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/FERNLEY01/801090347/1306/BIZ01
KEITH TROUT
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 1/9/2008
An amendment to Lyon County Code to prohibit certain acts and conditions related to animals was proposed at the Jan. 3 Board of Commissioners meeting.
Commissioner Larry McPherson, who requested the agenda item, proposed the amended ordinance, which adds five paragraphs regarding treatment of animals to Title 7, Chapter 1 (Animals and Animal Services), subchapter 5 (prohibited acts and conditions).
The additional paragraphs (M-Q) deal with fighting of animals (instigated or baited), injury and overwork, enclosures and restraints, cruel and unusual uses and horse tripping (intentionally trip or fall any equine animal by the legs for entertainment or sport).
The proposed ordinance will be advertised and a public hearing will be conducted, likely at the first meeting in February.
Bob Rubis of the Tri-Counties Rodeo Association, which puts on rodeos at the arena at the Dayton Valley Events Center, spoke at the meeting to say the Mexican rodeos conducted at the arena don't involve "horse tripping", which involves roping a horses's hind legs. He said, "We've never done it in the past and we don't plan to in the future."
Commissioner Bob Milz asked about something he'd heard about involving grabbing a cow's tail and flipping it.
Rubis said "steer tailing" is done at the Mexican rodeos sponsored by Tri-Counties at the Dayton Valley Events Center and explained it is done by following a cow along a fence and see who can flip the steer by grabbing its tail in the shortest length. He said money isn't won at these rodeos.
Rubis said some think all rodeos are cruel and added, "If we damage a horse, we lose money," up to $600 per animal. He also added three other arenas in Lyon County have Mexican rodoes, including one in Mason Valley and the steer flipping wasn't more cruel than events at professional rodeos.
McPherson told Rubis the proposed ordinance didn't mention cow flipping.
Commissioner Phyllis Hunewill said the term "target" in paragraph P under cruel and unusual uses could include calf roping or steer wrestling where the steer's head is twisted but she was told by District Attorney Bob Auer this proposal wouldn't include traditional events now conducted at sanctioned rodeos.
Asked who defines cruel and unusual punishment, McPherson said Lyon County Animal Services had reviewed the proposal and would make that determination.
McPherson in a separate interview said he'd been approached by several people about such an ordinance, noting they have them in Clark County and several counties in California, that he hadn't brought up this proposal on his own. McPherson said he was given extensive paperwork including other ordinances and he had given it to the District Attorney's Office, which had written the draft ordinance.
He said among those who spoke to him about it included deputies, with at least one who had been upset by what he had seen at a rodeo in Dayton and word of animal injuries had been a spark and this was something he wasn't aware of before being contacted.
Milz said the county hadn't seen a necessity for such a rule before and just because a deputy thought something was cruel, didn't mean it was so. "What is cruel?"
McPherson, a horseman who has ridden with the Pony Express rides and was a leader in that organization, said the idea was that the ordinance amendment not be too specific and that it "covers a lot of territory."
Eventually Auer halted the discussion and questioning, saying such discussion was what the public hearing was for.
Animal Rights News Year End Round Up for 2007 from DawnWatch
What better site to offer such an important synopsis.
Article:
DawnWatch Animal News year end round-up – 2007
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/07/18470939.php
by karen dawn
Monday Jan 7th, 2008 10:15 PM
DawnWatch Animal News year end round-up -- 2007
It's Christmas morning. Before I shut down my computer until January 3, 2008, I will enjoy fulfilling what has become a DawnWatch tradition -- a scan of the media stories of the year. Because I feel so blessed to do this work, Christmas morning seems the most perfect time to sum up a year of it.
For dogs, 2007 was the year of "fake fur" coats made from real dog fur, of the Menu pet food crisis, of celebrity pet store blunders, and the year of Michael Vick.
In February the Humane Society released a report telling us it had tested garments being sold at popular outlets and had found many garments labeled faux but containing real fur. Also, fur labeled as raccoon was sometimes from wild dog, or domestic dog, including a German shepherd-collie mix. The story got widespread media play, even in People magazine. While animal advocates may dislike the suggestion that dog fur coats are more repugnant than others, the dog angle got the media. The widespread coverage reminded the public that all fur coats were once live sentient animals.
On March 16, Menu Foods announced a recall of 91 pet food products sold under some of the country's best known brands. Early coverage reported 10-15 cats and dogs dying after eating canned and pouched foods. Sadly, that number was widely repeated by the media even when it became clear that it only included the cats and dogs who died in Menu's test lab -- not the true number of animals, which is estimated to be in the thousands. A superb piece published on the San Francisco Gate website, by Christie Keith, told us "Nearly one month passed from the date Menu got its first report of a death to the date it issued the recall. During that time, no veterinarians were warned to be on the lookout for unusual numbers of kidney failure in their patients. No pet owners were warned to watch their pets for its symptoms. And thousands and thousands of pet owners kept buying those foods and giving them to their dogs and cats." We have since learned, from the Toronto Globe and Mail, that the
chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund sold nearly half his units in the pet food maker less than three weeks before the massive recall. He called the timing a "horrible coincidence."
This year the media occasionally featured Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Falling into that focus were their purchases of puppies from a Bel Air pet store. For years, with limited success, animal folks have been trying to get the media to cover the horror of the puppy mills that supply pet stores. The Britney and Paris hook did the trick. The story gained momentum throughout the year, with Entertainment Tonight, in October, airing a puppy mill segment recorded for PETA by Charlize Theron some years ago. On the Saturday before Christmas, the biggest puppy buying day of the year, actorvist Carole Davis led others such as Law and Order's Richard Belzer and comedian Carol Leifer, in a protest outside the usually celebrity stocked pet store, and closed it down for the day. The protest got some great media, and you can watch the fun original video covering the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyZdkCi-JzQ
In 2007, the hideous practice of dog fighting finally got massive media attention when Michael Vick was arrested for it. There were reports that he was involved in many dog deaths including the electrocution of a dog after she lost a fight. After failing polygraph tests while denying he killed dogs, Vick finally admitted to hanging a dog and eventually owned up to another dog killing. He was sentenced, in December, to twenty-three months in prison. The dogs taken live from his property have been retired to the Best Friends sanctuary. For a short time there was so much media ,Vick seemed to be the new Britney.
The scandal inspired a storyline on the hit drama series CSI, detailing the cruelties of dog fighting. It aired December 13 under the title "Lying Down With Dogs."
That brings us to the remarkable coverage this year of animal issues on mainstream television, in hit drama and comedy series:
In January, on the popular show "Veronica Mars," Veronica was hired to investigate the disappearance of a monkey stolen from the campus lab. We learn that while the animal rights kids were suspected, the monkey, Oscar, was actually taken by a science student who couldn't bear the thought of the monkey being euthanized, which was Oscar's fate at the lab. Thus millions of American teenagers learned the fates of monkeys who die in laboratories for trivial purposes. Of course, Veronica decided not to turn in the science student for his act of compassion.
Also in January, ABC's Boston Legal took a look at animal testing. Bethany defended Matthew, accused of harassing a woman named Bella who owned a cosmetic company that tested its products on animals. Matthew's organization had been protesting outside the business and saying it kills and tortures animals. When Bethany cross examined Bella, she said: "The truth is, you do kill and torture animals, do you not?...Your company uses rabbits..You lock them in stocks so that just their heads stick out. You clip their eyelids open and poor chemicals into their eyes while they are left there for two weeks to experience ulceration, bleeding, and massive iris deterioration. Do you not subject these animals to excruciating pain?...Sometimes the rabbits break their own necks trying to escape."
Later in the year, in December, David Kelly and Boston Legal took on meat and the environment. In one episode, the head of an environmental organization was distressed to see massive energy waste at the law firm's offices. He sued, claiming that the firm had misrepresented itself as green. Cross examining the head of the green group, the lawyer asked if he eats meat, and explained, "I only ask because studies show eating meat contributes more to greenhouse gases than driving a car. Denny says you two often have rib-eye together. Is that true?" When the defendant said he didn't believe eating meat is worse for the environment than driving a car, the lawyer responded, "It is. Contaminated runoff from slaughterhouses is a major source of water pollution. Livestock itself contributes 18% of greenhouse gases just from, pardon me, farting. That's more than all the planes, trains and automobiles put together."
Boston Legal takes its storylines from current affairs. How wonderful that this year both animal testing and the impact of meat diets on the planet were current affairs deemed important and topical.
Even on comedy shows, serious animal issues were tackled. In April, on The King of Queens, Doug found a live chicken for whom he developed affection. He and the audience were treated by his neighbor to a film about slaughterhouses. Doug went veggie. By the end of the episode he could no longer withstand the onslaught of the fast food advertising campaigns; he gorged on burgers. But the issue was portrayed in such a way that Doug's lack of will power, while funny, was also sad. In fact the topic of animals and meat was handled with surprising sensitivity throughout the episode.
The boys on HBO's Entourage rescued a racehorse who was bound for "the glue factory," reminding viewers of the fate of the losers.
And even reality TV got into the act. On Fox's "The Two Coreys," one Corey supported PETA and invited a PETA representative over to show slaughterhouse footage to the other.
HBO, known for its superb documentaries, this year aired "I am an Animal," about Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA. If you missed it, you can get it "On Demand" or on Netflix. It is a fascinating documentary, which includes animal cruelty information everybody should know - and which, thanks to HBO, quite a few people now do know.
The Wall Street Journal covered Smithfield's announcement that it will phase out sow gestation crates. Those are individual cages in which sows spend much of their lives. They are too small for the animals to turn around or lie down in with legs outstretched. The phase-out will be over ten or twenty years, so we continue to push for bans. This year Oregon became the first state to pass a legislative ban on the crates. In 2008 we hope to make California the third state to do so by ballot initiative. The initiative will include bans on restrictive cages for calves raised for veal, and for laying hens.
Even Wolfgang Puck went welfare, announcing early this year that he would no longer sell foie gras, and that he would introduce animal welfare standards for the meat prepared in his food empire. He also vowed to introduce more vegetarian dishes.
Last year there was much news about elephants; this year some of it turned good. Los Angeles's Ruby was retired to the PAWS sanctuary in Northern California. And Maggie, the lone elephant in Africa for years, has just joined her. The Alaskan zoo finally agreed to let Maggie go after she collapsed in her barn twice in a week, unable to stand without the help of local firefighters. We thought we were going to lose her but she is now safe at the sanctuary.
While we continue to spread the word about the animal cruelty of circuses, unfortunately the widely watched Bachelor took a group date to one this year. But we see other signs of light. Last weekend, as Ringling arrived in Florida, the Palm Beach Post published a searing indictment by Florida radio host Duncan Strauss. You can read it at http://tinyurl.com/ywpr44
The Bachelor also swam with dolphins. The UK Independent did a piece in January focusing on the link between dolphin slaughter and the use of live dolphins for human entertainment -- such as in swim with dolphins programs. It told us that thousands of dolphins are chased and killed, with a few of the best specimens being sold live to the highest bidders, for tens of thousands of dollars each. Only a celebrity ensures coverage in America, and this year, during Japan's annual dolphin slaughter in November, the dolphins got Hayden Panettiere, the young star of Heroes. She accompanied Ric O'Barry to the Taiji killing beach. The media went mad. Shows such as "E" and "The Insider" covered the story. Even though they needed the celebrity hook, the coverage was not fluff. The Insider included horrifying footage and pointed viewers to http://www.savejapandolphins.org/ to get involved and try to help bring the annual slaughter to an end.
Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd's work for the whales was featured in a lengthy New Yorker story, and in an interview on NPR's Diane Rehm Show with the author of Whale Warriors.
Efforts to ban horse slaughter remained in the news through 2007. We learned from a Houston Chronicle front page story that the closure of US slaughterhouses has led to mass trucking of unwanted horses on long journeys to Mexico for slaughter - in facilities where no humane laws apply. The American Horse Slaughter Prevent Act, which would ban not only US horse slaughter but also the transport of horses to slaughter elsewhere, is now needed more that ever. At https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2007_horse_slaughter3 you can send letters to your legislators urging their support.
Animal issues also got indirect but important coverage this year as those who refuse to eat or wear animals hit the trendy mainstream. 2007 was the year of Vegan Chic. We saw Today Show coverage of Vegan accessories, a piece in The Boston Globe on a professional image consultant whose specialty is vegan fashion, an article in Forbes magazine on a high-end vegan shoe-designer, and leading papers publishing articles such as "Style goes vegan."
The New York Times Dining Section featured vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz on its cover, in an article titled, "Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted With Hedonism." Newsweek broached marriages between vegans and omnivores. And, astounding to many of us, this year Gourmet Magazine announced that it would start running regular vegetarian features, and editor Ruth Reichl wrote "how much more food there would be if we all ate vegetables instead of feeding the plants to the animals and eating their meat." She also wrote, "It is becoming increasingly clear that we ought to change our ways. We live in a society that consumes more meat than any other group in history. There are currently more than three billion domesticated cattle, sheep and goats in the world - and that number does not include the 100 million pigs or the 9 billion chickens that we consume every year in this country alone. Livestock grazing and feed production now use 30 percent of the surface of the planet, and that takes
a toll on the environment. Eating so much meat takes a toll on us as well: Most health professionals agree that we would be better off if we consumed less meat and more vegetables."
The same magazine, in June, covered chicken slaughter, sharing gruesome details of standard practices. Gourmet!
Veganism's move to the mainstream got a push from Skinny Bitch, a vegan diet book that sold well from the start, but which hit the number one spot on the New York Times best seller list after Victoria Beckham was spotted with a copy. 850, 000 copies are now in print!
Vegan fighter Mac Danzig won Spike TV's "Ultimate Fighter" championship.
And the New York Times Magazine section's "7th Annual Year in Ideas" included "Vegansexuality," the term for those who seek intimate partners who share their compassionate lifestyle.
Perhaps vegetarianism saw its hottest mainstream spike when vegan actress Alicia Silverstone promoted vegetarianism in an advertising campaign - naked. If you missed the spot you can still see it at http://www.peta.org/feat/alicia_psa/index.asp.
And check out Jimmy Kimmel's monologue from his September 20 show. It includes a spoof on the ad that is well worth watching. The monologue is on line at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYOVELcTnu4 and you can skip to 7:50 to watch the Alicia segment.
This year, at Thanksgiving, there were so many articles on vegetarian feasts that DawnWatch couldn't possibly cover them all. I had to "settle" for the New York Times Thanksgiving Day front page article on turkey rescue!
Activists taking the animal protection message into faith based communities made news with a lead article in The Los Angeles Times. The article noted the work of Best Friends, and of the new "animals and religion" program at HSUS, and of Bruce Friedrich from PETA. The Los Angeles Times also covered PETA's undercover investigation of a hen farm run by a Trappist Monastery in South Carolina. We learned that the monks were raising the hens under standard industry conditions, and learned the cruelty of those conditions. Just before Christmas the monastery announced that it will halt its egg farming business.
Also late this year, Foxnews.com published two groundbreaking pieces about shocking cruelty at a pig slaughterhouse - just in time for the Christmas ham season.
We wish Gretchen Wyler had been alive to see them - and all of this years' amazing coverage. In May we lost the Golden Age Broadway star who founded the Genesis Awards, an award show as glamorous as she was, which honors animal friendly media. We will miss her but know that her legacy, the Genesis Awards, is stronger than ever. What a media selection there will be to choose from this year!
I have been working on DawnWatch for eight years. Every year, as I look back and see the immense increase in the amount and depth of coverage of animal issues I get a little weepy. We are getting somewhere. I thank all of you who care. This year I particularly thank the many of you who made my job easier and helped out everybody, by sending me media tips and links when I could not find the time to dig them up. Many of you know I have spent most of the year writing and putting together a book. It is called "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals," and will be published by Harper Collins in March. I so look forward to readings and to meeting some of the thousands of wonderful activists behind the email addresses I see on my screen. Your care and commitment is changing the world.
Wishing us all joyous holidays that renew our strength for the compassionate campaigns of 2008,
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Article:
DawnWatch Animal News year end round-up – 2007
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/07/18470939.php
by karen dawn
Monday Jan 7th, 2008 10:15 PM
DawnWatch Animal News year end round-up -- 2007
It's Christmas morning. Before I shut down my computer until January 3, 2008, I will enjoy fulfilling what has become a DawnWatch tradition -- a scan of the media stories of the year. Because I feel so blessed to do this work, Christmas morning seems the most perfect time to sum up a year of it.
For dogs, 2007 was the year of "fake fur" coats made from real dog fur, of the Menu pet food crisis, of celebrity pet store blunders, and the year of Michael Vick.
In February the Humane Society released a report telling us it had tested garments being sold at popular outlets and had found many garments labeled faux but containing real fur. Also, fur labeled as raccoon was sometimes from wild dog, or domestic dog, including a German shepherd-collie mix. The story got widespread media play, even in People magazine. While animal advocates may dislike the suggestion that dog fur coats are more repugnant than others, the dog angle got the media. The widespread coverage reminded the public that all fur coats were once live sentient animals.
On March 16, Menu Foods announced a recall of 91 pet food products sold under some of the country's best known brands. Early coverage reported 10-15 cats and dogs dying after eating canned and pouched foods. Sadly, that number was widely repeated by the media even when it became clear that it only included the cats and dogs who died in Menu's test lab -- not the true number of animals, which is estimated to be in the thousands. A superb piece published on the San Francisco Gate website, by Christie Keith, told us "Nearly one month passed from the date Menu got its first report of a death to the date it issued the recall. During that time, no veterinarians were warned to be on the lookout for unusual numbers of kidney failure in their patients. No pet owners were warned to watch their pets for its symptoms. And thousands and thousands of pet owners kept buying those foods and giving them to their dogs and cats." We have since learned, from the Toronto Globe and Mail, that the
chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund sold nearly half his units in the pet food maker less than three weeks before the massive recall. He called the timing a "horrible coincidence."
This year the media occasionally featured Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Falling into that focus were their purchases of puppies from a Bel Air pet store. For years, with limited success, animal folks have been trying to get the media to cover the horror of the puppy mills that supply pet stores. The Britney and Paris hook did the trick. The story gained momentum throughout the year, with Entertainment Tonight, in October, airing a puppy mill segment recorded for PETA by Charlize Theron some years ago. On the Saturday before Christmas, the biggest puppy buying day of the year, actorvist Carole Davis led others such as Law and Order's Richard Belzer and comedian Carol Leifer, in a protest outside the usually celebrity stocked pet store, and closed it down for the day. The protest got some great media, and you can watch the fun original video covering the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyZdkCi-JzQ
In 2007, the hideous practice of dog fighting finally got massive media attention when Michael Vick was arrested for it. There were reports that he was involved in many dog deaths including the electrocution of a dog after she lost a fight. After failing polygraph tests while denying he killed dogs, Vick finally admitted to hanging a dog and eventually owned up to another dog killing. He was sentenced, in December, to twenty-three months in prison. The dogs taken live from his property have been retired to the Best Friends sanctuary. For a short time there was so much media ,Vick seemed to be the new Britney.
The scandal inspired a storyline on the hit drama series CSI, detailing the cruelties of dog fighting. It aired December 13 under the title "Lying Down With Dogs."
That brings us to the remarkable coverage this year of animal issues on mainstream television, in hit drama and comedy series:
In January, on the popular show "Veronica Mars," Veronica was hired to investigate the disappearance of a monkey stolen from the campus lab. We learn that while the animal rights kids were suspected, the monkey, Oscar, was actually taken by a science student who couldn't bear the thought of the monkey being euthanized, which was Oscar's fate at the lab. Thus millions of American teenagers learned the fates of monkeys who die in laboratories for trivial purposes. Of course, Veronica decided not to turn in the science student for his act of compassion.
Also in January, ABC's Boston Legal took a look at animal testing. Bethany defended Matthew, accused of harassing a woman named Bella who owned a cosmetic company that tested its products on animals. Matthew's organization had been protesting outside the business and saying it kills and tortures animals. When Bethany cross examined Bella, she said: "The truth is, you do kill and torture animals, do you not?...Your company uses rabbits..You lock them in stocks so that just their heads stick out. You clip their eyelids open and poor chemicals into their eyes while they are left there for two weeks to experience ulceration, bleeding, and massive iris deterioration. Do you not subject these animals to excruciating pain?...Sometimes the rabbits break their own necks trying to escape."
Later in the year, in December, David Kelly and Boston Legal took on meat and the environment. In one episode, the head of an environmental organization was distressed to see massive energy waste at the law firm's offices. He sued, claiming that the firm had misrepresented itself as green. Cross examining the head of the green group, the lawyer asked if he eats meat, and explained, "I only ask because studies show eating meat contributes more to greenhouse gases than driving a car. Denny says you two often have rib-eye together. Is that true?" When the defendant said he didn't believe eating meat is worse for the environment than driving a car, the lawyer responded, "It is. Contaminated runoff from slaughterhouses is a major source of water pollution. Livestock itself contributes 18% of greenhouse gases just from, pardon me, farting. That's more than all the planes, trains and automobiles put together."
Boston Legal takes its storylines from current affairs. How wonderful that this year both animal testing and the impact of meat diets on the planet were current affairs deemed important and topical.
Even on comedy shows, serious animal issues were tackled. In April, on The King of Queens, Doug found a live chicken for whom he developed affection. He and the audience were treated by his neighbor to a film about slaughterhouses. Doug went veggie. By the end of the episode he could no longer withstand the onslaught of the fast food advertising campaigns; he gorged on burgers. But the issue was portrayed in such a way that Doug's lack of will power, while funny, was also sad. In fact the topic of animals and meat was handled with surprising sensitivity throughout the episode.
The boys on HBO's Entourage rescued a racehorse who was bound for "the glue factory," reminding viewers of the fate of the losers.
And even reality TV got into the act. On Fox's "The Two Coreys," one Corey supported PETA and invited a PETA representative over to show slaughterhouse footage to the other.
HBO, known for its superb documentaries, this year aired "I am an Animal," about Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA. If you missed it, you can get it "On Demand" or on Netflix. It is a fascinating documentary, which includes animal cruelty information everybody should know - and which, thanks to HBO, quite a few people now do know.
The Wall Street Journal covered Smithfield's announcement that it will phase out sow gestation crates. Those are individual cages in which sows spend much of their lives. They are too small for the animals to turn around or lie down in with legs outstretched. The phase-out will be over ten or twenty years, so we continue to push for bans. This year Oregon became the first state to pass a legislative ban on the crates. In 2008 we hope to make California the third state to do so by ballot initiative. The initiative will include bans on restrictive cages for calves raised for veal, and for laying hens.
Even Wolfgang Puck went welfare, announcing early this year that he would no longer sell foie gras, and that he would introduce animal welfare standards for the meat prepared in his food empire. He also vowed to introduce more vegetarian dishes.
Last year there was much news about elephants; this year some of it turned good. Los Angeles's Ruby was retired to the PAWS sanctuary in Northern California. And Maggie, the lone elephant in Africa for years, has just joined her. The Alaskan zoo finally agreed to let Maggie go after she collapsed in her barn twice in a week, unable to stand without the help of local firefighters. We thought we were going to lose her but she is now safe at the sanctuary.
While we continue to spread the word about the animal cruelty of circuses, unfortunately the widely watched Bachelor took a group date to one this year. But we see other signs of light. Last weekend, as Ringling arrived in Florida, the Palm Beach Post published a searing indictment by Florida radio host Duncan Strauss. You can read it at http://tinyurl.com/ywpr44
The Bachelor also swam with dolphins. The UK Independent did a piece in January focusing on the link between dolphin slaughter and the use of live dolphins for human entertainment -- such as in swim with dolphins programs. It told us that thousands of dolphins are chased and killed, with a few of the best specimens being sold live to the highest bidders, for tens of thousands of dollars each. Only a celebrity ensures coverage in America, and this year, during Japan's annual dolphin slaughter in November, the dolphins got Hayden Panettiere, the young star of Heroes. She accompanied Ric O'Barry to the Taiji killing beach. The media went mad. Shows such as "E" and "The Insider" covered the story. Even though they needed the celebrity hook, the coverage was not fluff. The Insider included horrifying footage and pointed viewers to http://www.savejapandolphins.org/ to get involved and try to help bring the annual slaughter to an end.
Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd's work for the whales was featured in a lengthy New Yorker story, and in an interview on NPR's Diane Rehm Show with the author of Whale Warriors.
Efforts to ban horse slaughter remained in the news through 2007. We learned from a Houston Chronicle front page story that the closure of US slaughterhouses has led to mass trucking of unwanted horses on long journeys to Mexico for slaughter - in facilities where no humane laws apply. The American Horse Slaughter Prevent Act, which would ban not only US horse slaughter but also the transport of horses to slaughter elsewhere, is now needed more that ever. At https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2007_horse_slaughter3 you can send letters to your legislators urging their support.
Animal issues also got indirect but important coverage this year as those who refuse to eat or wear animals hit the trendy mainstream. 2007 was the year of Vegan Chic. We saw Today Show coverage of Vegan accessories, a piece in The Boston Globe on a professional image consultant whose specialty is vegan fashion, an article in Forbes magazine on a high-end vegan shoe-designer, and leading papers publishing articles such as "Style goes vegan."
The New York Times Dining Section featured vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz on its cover, in an article titled, "Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted With Hedonism." Newsweek broached marriages between vegans and omnivores. And, astounding to many of us, this year Gourmet Magazine announced that it would start running regular vegetarian features, and editor Ruth Reichl wrote "how much more food there would be if we all ate vegetables instead of feeding the plants to the animals and eating their meat." She also wrote, "It is becoming increasingly clear that we ought to change our ways. We live in a society that consumes more meat than any other group in history. There are currently more than three billion domesticated cattle, sheep and goats in the world - and that number does not include the 100 million pigs or the 9 billion chickens that we consume every year in this country alone. Livestock grazing and feed production now use 30 percent of the surface of the planet, and that takes
a toll on the environment. Eating so much meat takes a toll on us as well: Most health professionals agree that we would be better off if we consumed less meat and more vegetables."
The same magazine, in June, covered chicken slaughter, sharing gruesome details of standard practices. Gourmet!
Veganism's move to the mainstream got a push from Skinny Bitch, a vegan diet book that sold well from the start, but which hit the number one spot on the New York Times best seller list after Victoria Beckham was spotted with a copy. 850, 000 copies are now in print!
Vegan fighter Mac Danzig won Spike TV's "Ultimate Fighter" championship.
And the New York Times Magazine section's "7th Annual Year in Ideas" included "Vegansexuality," the term for those who seek intimate partners who share their compassionate lifestyle.
Perhaps vegetarianism saw its hottest mainstream spike when vegan actress Alicia Silverstone promoted vegetarianism in an advertising campaign - naked. If you missed the spot you can still see it at http://www.peta.org/feat/alicia_psa/index.asp.
And check out Jimmy Kimmel's monologue from his September 20 show. It includes a spoof on the ad that is well worth watching. The monologue is on line at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYOVELcTnu4 and you can skip to 7:50 to watch the Alicia segment.
This year, at Thanksgiving, there were so many articles on vegetarian feasts that DawnWatch couldn't possibly cover them all. I had to "settle" for the New York Times Thanksgiving Day front page article on turkey rescue!
Activists taking the animal protection message into faith based communities made news with a lead article in The Los Angeles Times. The article noted the work of Best Friends, and of the new "animals and religion" program at HSUS, and of Bruce Friedrich from PETA. The Los Angeles Times also covered PETA's undercover investigation of a hen farm run by a Trappist Monastery in South Carolina. We learned that the monks were raising the hens under standard industry conditions, and learned the cruelty of those conditions. Just before Christmas the monastery announced that it will halt its egg farming business.
Also late this year, Foxnews.com published two groundbreaking pieces about shocking cruelty at a pig slaughterhouse - just in time for the Christmas ham season.
We wish Gretchen Wyler had been alive to see them - and all of this years' amazing coverage. In May we lost the Golden Age Broadway star who founded the Genesis Awards, an award show as glamorous as she was, which honors animal friendly media. We will miss her but know that her legacy, the Genesis Awards, is stronger than ever. What a media selection there will be to choose from this year!
I have been working on DawnWatch for eight years. Every year, as I look back and see the immense increase in the amount and depth of coverage of animal issues I get a little weepy. We are getting somewhere. I thank all of you who care. This year I particularly thank the many of you who made my job easier and helped out everybody, by sending me media tips and links when I could not find the time to dig them up. Many of you know I have spent most of the year writing and putting together a book. It is called "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals," and will be published by Harper Collins in March. I so look forward to readings and to meeting some of the thousands of wonderful activists behind the email addresses I see on my screen. Your care and commitment is changing the world.
Wishing us all joyous holidays that renew our strength for the compassionate campaigns of 2008,
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
22 Of The 47 Surviving Pit Bulls From Michael Vick Dog Fighting Abuse Case Headed To Best Friends Animal Society
An excellent place for them to end up after their lives of hell.
Article:
Vick Dogs Go To Utah Sanctuary
http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=7568007&nav=ZolHbyvj
The last of the dogs taken from suspended NFL star Michael Vick's dog fighting operation in Virginia have been sent on their way to a sanctuary.
Twenty-two of the 47 surviving pit bulls boarded a charter flight today to the Best Friends Animal Society, a no-kill sanctuary in Utah.
In all, eight rescue organizations took the animals. Some will remain at sanctuaries, others will be trained for possible adoption by the public. One of the seized animals was euthanized for medical reasons.
Vick is serving a 23-month sentence for a dogfighting conspiracy. The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback and three co-defendants raised pit bulls and trained them for fighting behind his home. Several dogs that did not perform well were killed.
Article:
Vick Dogs Go To Utah Sanctuary
http://www.wtkr.com/Global/story.asp?S=7568007&nav=ZolHbyvj
The last of the dogs taken from suspended NFL star Michael Vick's dog fighting operation in Virginia have been sent on their way to a sanctuary.
Twenty-two of the 47 surviving pit bulls boarded a charter flight today to the Best Friends Animal Society, a no-kill sanctuary in Utah.
In all, eight rescue organizations took the animals. Some will remain at sanctuaries, others will be trained for possible adoption by the public. One of the seized animals was euthanized for medical reasons.
Vick is serving a 23-month sentence for a dogfighting conspiracy. The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback and three co-defendants raised pit bulls and trained them for fighting behind his home. Several dogs that did not perform well were killed.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Veterinarian in Iraq Risks Life to Care for Sick Animals
Now here is an example of a human who knows the meaning of sacrifice. Thankfully he continues his work in such a dangerous place.
Article:
Baghdad vet risks all as he tends to sick animals
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gKBRVI20a7vXNdNlmZJVxez-TTew
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Nameer Abdul Fatah has shrapnel holes in his vehicle and wounds in his leg suffered during hazardous trips across conflict-ridden Baghdad to treat injured and sick patients.
But Fatah is not an ambulance driver. His patients are animals that receive expert care thanks to one Iraqi veterinarian who is determined to keep on working.
Treating all creatures great and small, from pure-bred poodles to fierce guard-dogs, parrots and even tigers, Fatah has been on duty in Baghdad for 26 years.
Since the US-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, he has continued to tend to needy animals in the violent and chaotic times that have engulfed the city.
"People in Baghdad still want to look after animals despite everything," he told AFP during a short break in his daily round of house calls.
"More Muslims keep dogs as pets than is generally believed," Fatah said, despite Muslim tradition that holds dogs are unclean and discouraged as pets.
"There are many expensive dogs like Pekinese in the city. People keep them inside at home and don't take them for walks because of the danger."
Fatah, 46, who qualified as a vet in Baghdad before specialising in small animals while training in the former East Germany, rushes around the Iraqi capital with a large case crammed with surgical instruments and medicine bottles.
"It was very difficult to get the right drugs under Saddam because taxes made it impossible to travel and UN sanctions difficult to import anything. Now I can buy the medicine I need privately from abroad," he said after injecting an adopted stray cat with antibiotics and vitamins to help it recover from a road accident.
He said he had worked with police dogs during the rule of the ousted dictator, but like many Iraqis he declines to talk in detail about his career during those years.
Fatah said that since Saddam's fall, which triggered sectarian violence that has claimed thousands of lives, he has had many near-misses from shootings, rockets and mortar attacks.
"The windows of my car were blown out once when I was driving to examine a client's dog, and another time I got bad wounds in the leg from shrapnel.
"But I was never the target, and I would never stop because of the dangers."
Just days after US troops arrived in Baghdad, he was trying to visit clients in Baghdad's southern Dora neighbourhood when a gunfight broke out around him.
"The Americans blocked the road and said I couldn't go forward. But I had to go, so I took the risk and drove straight on. I got through to treat the animal."
Just a month ago the stocky and energetic Fatah saved the life of a German Shepherd dog that had been punctured with 20 pieces of shrapnel after a mortar landed near it in Baghdad's western Yarmuk neighbourhood.
The dark-haired vet, who has a small clinic equipped with an operating theatre, said many of his clients are wealthy families or diplomats but that his main concern is for the animals.
"This is how I have survived. I go to big houses but I don't ask questions. I keep myself away from politics."
Having such clients has meant that he has been called on to deal with an exotic menagerie, including rare birds, bears, monkeys and even tigers and lions.
"Only recently I had to remove a bullet from a bear that was shot," Fatah said, adding that Iraqis keep large animals in cages as prize possessions -- although US troops have confiscated most lions and tigers from private owners.
The vet prefers to treat smaller domestic animals and often looks after seriously ill pets in his clinic overnight if they need constant supervision.
"Sadly I can't have my own pets because during the day I am out of the house for 15 hours," said Fatah, who believes he is one of only two vets in the whole of Iraq specially trained to treat small animals.
He said he has turned down prestigious and highly paid job offers in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt because he prefers to continue working in Baghdad.
Fatah's seven-year-old son wants to become a vet and often accompanies his father on his rounds -- giving hope that in the future there will at least be one more person to care for Baghdad's much-neglected animal population.
Article:
Baghdad vet risks all as he tends to sick animals
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gKBRVI20a7vXNdNlmZJVxez-TTew
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Nameer Abdul Fatah has shrapnel holes in his vehicle and wounds in his leg suffered during hazardous trips across conflict-ridden Baghdad to treat injured and sick patients.
But Fatah is not an ambulance driver. His patients are animals that receive expert care thanks to one Iraqi veterinarian who is determined to keep on working.
Treating all creatures great and small, from pure-bred poodles to fierce guard-dogs, parrots and even tigers, Fatah has been on duty in Baghdad for 26 years.
Since the US-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, he has continued to tend to needy animals in the violent and chaotic times that have engulfed the city.
"People in Baghdad still want to look after animals despite everything," he told AFP during a short break in his daily round of house calls.
"More Muslims keep dogs as pets than is generally believed," Fatah said, despite Muslim tradition that holds dogs are unclean and discouraged as pets.
"There are many expensive dogs like Pekinese in the city. People keep them inside at home and don't take them for walks because of the danger."
Fatah, 46, who qualified as a vet in Baghdad before specialising in small animals while training in the former East Germany, rushes around the Iraqi capital with a large case crammed with surgical instruments and medicine bottles.
"It was very difficult to get the right drugs under Saddam because taxes made it impossible to travel and UN sanctions difficult to import anything. Now I can buy the medicine I need privately from abroad," he said after injecting an adopted stray cat with antibiotics and vitamins to help it recover from a road accident.
He said he had worked with police dogs during the rule of the ousted dictator, but like many Iraqis he declines to talk in detail about his career during those years.
Fatah said that since Saddam's fall, which triggered sectarian violence that has claimed thousands of lives, he has had many near-misses from shootings, rockets and mortar attacks.
"The windows of my car were blown out once when I was driving to examine a client's dog, and another time I got bad wounds in the leg from shrapnel.
"But I was never the target, and I would never stop because of the dangers."
Just days after US troops arrived in Baghdad, he was trying to visit clients in Baghdad's southern Dora neighbourhood when a gunfight broke out around him.
"The Americans blocked the road and said I couldn't go forward. But I had to go, so I took the risk and drove straight on. I got through to treat the animal."
Just a month ago the stocky and energetic Fatah saved the life of a German Shepherd dog that had been punctured with 20 pieces of shrapnel after a mortar landed near it in Baghdad's western Yarmuk neighbourhood.
The dark-haired vet, who has a small clinic equipped with an operating theatre, said many of his clients are wealthy families or diplomats but that his main concern is for the animals.
"This is how I have survived. I go to big houses but I don't ask questions. I keep myself away from politics."
Having such clients has meant that he has been called on to deal with an exotic menagerie, including rare birds, bears, monkeys and even tigers and lions.
"Only recently I had to remove a bullet from a bear that was shot," Fatah said, adding that Iraqis keep large animals in cages as prize possessions -- although US troops have confiscated most lions and tigers from private owners.
The vet prefers to treat smaller domestic animals and often looks after seriously ill pets in his clinic overnight if they need constant supervision.
"Sadly I can't have my own pets because during the day I am out of the house for 15 hours," said Fatah, who believes he is one of only two vets in the whole of Iraq specially trained to treat small animals.
He said he has turned down prestigious and highly paid job offers in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt because he prefers to continue working in Baghdad.
Fatah's seven-year-old son wants to become a vet and often accompanies his father on his rounds -- giving hope that in the future there will at least be one more person to care for Baghdad's much-neglected animal population.
Illinois Law Include Animals in Orders of Protection In Relation To Domestic Violence
This law was passed in May, 2007. Incredible steps as typically, those who abuse non-human animals are likely to abuse human animals
Article:
Law takes pets under its wing
http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2008/01/02/
news/local/doc477c722d4fd38014309818.txt
By AMELIA FLOOD
GENEVA – People are not the only victims of domestic abuse.
A new law that went into effect Tuesday aims to protect pets and animals from domestic violence.
Under the new law, Illinois judges can include animals in orders of protection, just as they would a human being. The bill was passed unanimously in May 2007.
Those working with domestic-violence victims say animal abuse often is a sign of more severe abuse.
“It’s just a short step between animal and person,” said Gretchen Vapnar, executive director of Crisis Community Center, a shelter for domestic-violence victims.
The animal abuse seen at the Crisis Community Center ranges from neglect to direct threats against the animal.
Anna Meier, coordinator for the center’s Batterer Intervention program, said that both victims and abusers reported incidents involving pets.
Often, Meier said, abusers ordinarily would not focus on animals at all.
“It’s generally not a thing where they’d just want to go out and hurt an animal,” Meier said. “It’s part of that power and control.”
Because it has handles situations cases with pets, Crisis Community has an agreement with Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin to house the pets of those at the crisis center.
One drawback to the agreement, Meier said, is that the animals can’t be kept indefinitely.
“They’re overcrowded, too, and they can’t always hold the pets,” Meier said.
State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, was one of the sponsors of the bill.
She supports animal rights and said it had become more of a hot-button issue since the recent Michael Vick case.
“You have to protect everybody,” Chapa LaVia said.
Vick, the former member of the Atlanta Falcons football team, was sentenced in December 2007 to 23 months in prison in a case involving animal cruelty and dog fighting.
“Some people may think that’s ridiculous but some people consider their pets members of the family. It’s my job to protect everybody.”
As far as the Kane County Sheriff’s Office is concerned, it doesn’t matter who is included in the order of protection.
“However it’s written up, we have to enforce it,” said Lt. Pat Gengler, spokesman for the department.
Article:
Law takes pets under its wing
http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2008/01/02/
news/local/doc477c722d4fd38014309818.txt
By AMELIA FLOOD
GENEVA – People are not the only victims of domestic abuse.
A new law that went into effect Tuesday aims to protect pets and animals from domestic violence.
Under the new law, Illinois judges can include animals in orders of protection, just as they would a human being. The bill was passed unanimously in May 2007.
Those working with domestic-violence victims say animal abuse often is a sign of more severe abuse.
“It’s just a short step between animal and person,” said Gretchen Vapnar, executive director of Crisis Community Center, a shelter for domestic-violence victims.
The animal abuse seen at the Crisis Community Center ranges from neglect to direct threats against the animal.
Anna Meier, coordinator for the center’s Batterer Intervention program, said that both victims and abusers reported incidents involving pets.
Often, Meier said, abusers ordinarily would not focus on animals at all.
“It’s generally not a thing where they’d just want to go out and hurt an animal,” Meier said. “It’s part of that power and control.”
Because it has handles situations cases with pets, Crisis Community has an agreement with Anderson Animal Shelter in South Elgin to house the pets of those at the crisis center.
One drawback to the agreement, Meier said, is that the animals can’t be kept indefinitely.
“They’re overcrowded, too, and they can’t always hold the pets,” Meier said.
State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, was one of the sponsors of the bill.
She supports animal rights and said it had become more of a hot-button issue since the recent Michael Vick case.
“You have to protect everybody,” Chapa LaVia said.
Vick, the former member of the Atlanta Falcons football team, was sentenced in December 2007 to 23 months in prison in a case involving animal cruelty and dog fighting.
“Some people may think that’s ridiculous but some people consider their pets members of the family. It’s my job to protect everybody.”
As far as the Kane County Sheriff’s Office is concerned, it doesn’t matter who is included in the order of protection.
“However it’s written up, we have to enforce it,” said Lt. Pat Gengler, spokesman for the department.
Goat Raped and Killed Leads to Push for Bill that Would Outlaw Bestiality in Florida
We can only hope this occurs. Amazing that in this day bestiality is not illegal. Says a lot.
Article:
Goat abuse sparks outcry
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/366527.html
The case of a goat who was raped and killed has prompted a push for a bill that would outlaw bestiality in Florida.
Posted on Thu, Jan. 03, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com
Related Content
Document Read the proposed bill
After a goat was raped and killed in a Panhandle town, animal activists, police and citizens were almost as shocked to find out that bestiality isn't a crime in Florida.
But it might be soon.
A Sunrise state senator and a St. Petersburg representative have filed legislation to make it a first-degree felony to have sex with animals or promote or advertise bestiality.
''It's true. It's sick. There needs to be a law,'' said Democratic Sen. Nan Rich, a longtime crusader for children and animal rights. ``There are 30 states that make this a crime. Florida isn't one of them.''
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who called the situation ''unbelievable,'' said Thursday he would sign the bill into law if it made it to his desk.
Rich said she was as shocked as she was disgusted when she learned of the rape and asphyxiation last year of a family pet goat named Meg -- who was pregnant with twins -- in the town of Mossy Head in rural Walton County.
A suspect in the case, a 48-year-old man, is serving an 11-month, 29-day jail sentence on animal-theft charges in connection with the attempted abduction of another goat in a separate case, according to Walton County Assistant State Attorney James Parker.
Parker said he couldn't prosecute the suspect in the death of Meg because DNA samples taken with a sheriff's office rape kit were inconclusive.
Parker said he asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement last week to retest the evidence.
But even if there's a DNA match, Parker said the suspect could only be charged with misdemeanor trespassing and animal cruelty, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Parker said the suspect could not be arrested for bestiality because it isn't a crime. The prosecutor added that the man is ''definitely a suspect'' because he was arrested trying to take another person's goat Feb. 3 shortly after Meg was choked to death from her collar that had been tightly held around her neck.
Parker said it was the suspect's second livestock-theft charge. Dee Thompson-Poirrier, of Okaloosa County Animal Services, said Meg the goat was once featured at a 4-H Club, and had been given to a family with small children by a neighbor who had suspected an area man -- she wouldn't say who -- of abusing the animal.
Thompson-Poirrier said she was called in to handle the case because Walton County locals believed it would best be handled by someone outside the county. She said Meg's owner heard a suspicious noise the night of the incident and only later learned that someone had set her dogs free and had left dog biscuits near the fence to lure the animals away from Meg.
While the rape and killing were shocking, Thompson-Poirrier said so was the fact that bestiality isn't even a crime here. ''I found out far more about goats and bestiality than I ever wanted,'' she said.
Rich said the prohibition against bestiality is important because studies show that those who abuse animals may also abuse children. She expects the legislation that she's sponsoring with Democratic Rep. Frank Peterman to pass during the spring lawmaking session, though they might reduce the first-degree felony charge calling for a maximum 30-year prison sentence for committing, promoting, abetting or possessing pornography of bestiality.
Otherwise, the bill is too little, too late.
''The fact that this happens is unconscionable,'' Rich said. ``And it should be illegal.''
Thompson-Poirrier says her PAWS society spent about $5,000 investigating the case and having the suspect's DNA analyzed.
The odd local publicity helped bring back about $300, when a man from nearby Crestview made a series of $10 goat T-shirts for sale.
One shirt depicts a goat saying ``Baaa Means No!''
Nation's Largest Cockfighting Bust in Arkansas Leads to Pleas
Good news. We’ll hope this ripples.
Article:
Animals Celebrate as Pleas Are Entered in Nation's Largest Cockfighting Bust
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=807205
Last Chance for Animals to Observe Proceedings
VAN BUREN, AR--(Marketwire - January 4, 2008) - On Monday, January 7th, in connection with the nation's largest cockfighting bust, thirty-nine people will appear in Crawford County Circuit Court to enter pleas. Judge Gary Cottrell ordered the mandatory appearance of the cockfighters. Last Chance for Animals, responsible for undercover investigation leading to bust, will also be in court, to observe the pleas of the cockfighters.
Last May, with information provided by Last Chance for Animals' Special Investigations Unit, county law enforcement officials, along with Arkansas State Police and FBI agents raided a crowded and popular cockfighting arena, operating on Shiloh Road near Cedarville. The raid resulted in 127 arrests, with both federal and misdemeanor charges. Those not represented on Monday have appeared before Crawford County Court or in Van Buren District Court.
"I will be in court on Monday to look these degenerate cockfighters square in the eye. They have been getting away with horrific acts of animal cruelty for far too long. Last Chance for Animals speaks on behalf of all the animals that have been abused and killed; we must take a tough stance against animal cruelty. Dog fighting has garnered much attention this past year, let's make sure we don't forget about the scum that cockfights," stated Chris DeRose, President and Founder, Last Chance for Animals.
The raid came after several months of surveillance, which included infiltration of the group by undercover officers. All of those in court face unclassified felony charges of keeping a gambling house and misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals. Twenty of the group faces additional charges of criminal use of property or laundering criminal proceeds and 21 face added charges of engaging in a continuing criminal or gang organization or enterprise.
Where: Crawford County Circuit Court -- Division I
300 Main Street
Van Buren, AR 72956
When: 8:30 AM, Monday, January 7th
Scheduled Time for Cockfighters to Arrive in Court
Who: Chris DeRose, President and Founder, Last Chance for Animals
Last Chance for Animals (LCA), a national non-profit animal rights organization based in Los Angeles, has been active for almost 25 years. Founded and led by animal expert, author and actor, Chris DeRose. LCA fights for the rights of animals by conducting investigations that expose animal cruelty. Visit www.LCAnimal.org.
Contact: For media interviews with Chris DeRose, call Eileen Koch & Company at 310-441-1000 . For all other information, contact Lisa Beal, LCA Campaigns Director, (818) 681-3672 , lisa@lcanimal.org
Article:
Animals Celebrate as Pleas Are Entered in Nation's Largest Cockfighting Bust
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=807205
Last Chance for Animals to Observe Proceedings
VAN BUREN, AR--(Marketwire - January 4, 2008) - On Monday, January 7th, in connection with the nation's largest cockfighting bust, thirty-nine people will appear in Crawford County Circuit Court to enter pleas. Judge Gary Cottrell ordered the mandatory appearance of the cockfighters. Last Chance for Animals, responsible for undercover investigation leading to bust, will also be in court, to observe the pleas of the cockfighters.
Last May, with information provided by Last Chance for Animals' Special Investigations Unit, county law enforcement officials, along with Arkansas State Police and FBI agents raided a crowded and popular cockfighting arena, operating on Shiloh Road near Cedarville. The raid resulted in 127 arrests, with both federal and misdemeanor charges. Those not represented on Monday have appeared before Crawford County Court or in Van Buren District Court.
"I will be in court on Monday to look these degenerate cockfighters square in the eye. They have been getting away with horrific acts of animal cruelty for far too long. Last Chance for Animals speaks on behalf of all the animals that have been abused and killed; we must take a tough stance against animal cruelty. Dog fighting has garnered much attention this past year, let's make sure we don't forget about the scum that cockfights," stated Chris DeRose, President and Founder, Last Chance for Animals.
The raid came after several months of surveillance, which included infiltration of the group by undercover officers. All of those in court face unclassified felony charges of keeping a gambling house and misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals. Twenty of the group faces additional charges of criminal use of property or laundering criminal proceeds and 21 face added charges of engaging in a continuing criminal or gang organization or enterprise.
Where: Crawford County Circuit Court -- Division I
300 Main Street
Van Buren, AR 72956
When: 8:30 AM, Monday, January 7th
Scheduled Time for Cockfighters to Arrive in Court
Who: Chris DeRose, President and Founder, Last Chance for Animals
Last Chance for Animals (LCA), a national non-profit animal rights organization based in Los Angeles, has been active for almost 25 years. Founded and led by animal expert, author and actor, Chris DeRose. LCA fights for the rights of animals by conducting investigations that expose animal cruelty. Visit www.LCAnimal.org.
Contact: For media interviews with Chris DeRose, call Eileen Koch & Company at 310-441-1000 . For all other information, contact Lisa Beal, LCA Campaigns Director, (818) 681-3672 , lisa@lcanimal.org
Friday, December 28, 2007
U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd from West Virginia Has Been Named "Person of the Year" By Peta for His Efforts to End Animal Abuse
My respect to the senator as well. Perhaps the only one who cares one bit about animal issues.
Article:
PETA singles out Byrd for pro-animal animal activism
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-wv--
peta-byrd1226dec26,0,7149319.story
By the Associated Press
December 26, 2007
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd has been named "Person of the Year" by Virginia's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The animal rights group conferred the title on the longest-serving U.S. Senator on Wednesday, citing the West Virginia Democrat's passionate July speech against dogfighting. PETA also cited his efforts to improve the treatment of animals.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said "much animal suffering has been alleviated" because of Byrd.
Past recipients of the award include owners of a company that makes cleaning products without testing them on animals and the designer of a "humane" rodent trap.
Article:
PETA singles out Byrd for pro-animal animal activism
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-wv--
peta-byrd1226dec26,0,7149319.story
By the Associated Press
December 26, 2007
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd has been named "Person of the Year" by Virginia's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The animal rights group conferred the title on the longest-serving U.S. Senator on Wednesday, citing the West Virginia Democrat's passionate July speech against dogfighting. PETA also cited his efforts to improve the treatment of animals.
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said "much animal suffering has been alleviated" because of Byrd.
Past recipients of the award include owners of a company that makes cleaning products without testing them on animals and the designer of a "humane" rodent trap.
Following Michael Vick Conviction, the ASPCA and the National Football League to Debut Anti-Cruelty Public Service Announcement
Very interesting. I hope it has some effect. Curious too if the NFL will stick with this message or will it be business as usual next year?
More on the campaign can be found at http://www.fightcruelty.org/
Article:
ASPCA and NFL Team Up to Fight Animal Cruelty
http://www.itchmo.com/aspca-and-
nfl-team-up-to-fight-animal-cruelty-4346
The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) and the National Football League will debut a new anti-cruelty public service announcement (PSA) featuring Miami Dolphins DE Jason Taylor, it was announced today. The PSA, produced by NFL Films, is scheduled to begin airing December 22 on NFL Network and ESPN.
In June 2007, the ASPCA and the league announced a collaboration on the development of educational materials to enhance awareness on the proper treatment of animals among players and employees. In addition to educating its players and teams on the importance of caring properly for animals, the league has extended its efforts in this area by partnering with the ASPCA to help raise awareness of animal cruelty across the nation. Featuring Jason Taylor and Bear, his Akita of 11 years, the PSA encourages viewers to help the ASPCA put an end to animal cruelty, and can be viewed at www.fightcruelty.org.
"We applaud the NFL's commitment to raising awareness of animal cruelty and championing the humane treatment of animals," said ASPCA President & CEO, Ed Sayres. "In joining our efforts to eradicate animal cruelty, the NFL is sending a strong message to players, fans and the general public -- that the mistreatment of animals will not be tolerated and is, in a word, simply unacceptable."
"Jason is one of many players in the league who shares his home with a pet," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "We are pleased to be partnering with one of the most respected animal welfare organizations in the world in support of a cause embraced by so many NFL players -- and one that is important to millions of Americans."
Jason Taylor was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. Since then, he has firmly established himself as one of the premier defensive ends in the league. Taylor was awarded the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, and is widely-recognized as a leader in off-field community service in South Florida and beyond. He lives in Florida with his wife, three children and the esteemed four-legged member of his family, Bear.
About the ASPCA®:
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) was the first humane organization established in the Americas, and today has more than one million supporters throughout North America. A 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA provides local and national leadership in animal-assisted therapy, animal behavior, animal poison control, anti-cruelty, humane education, legislative services, and shelter outreach. The New York City headquarters houses a full-service, accredited, animal hospital, adoption center, and mobile clinic outreach program. The Humane Law Enforcement department enforces New York's animal cruelty laws and is featured on the reality television series "Animal Precinct" on Animal Planet. For more information, please visit http://www.aspca.org/.
Contact:
Melissa Treuman
(212) 876-7700 x 4521
More on the campaign can be found at http://www.fightcruelty.org/
Article:
ASPCA and NFL Team Up to Fight Animal Cruelty
http://www.itchmo.com/aspca-and-
nfl-team-up-to-fight-animal-cruelty-4346
The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) and the National Football League will debut a new anti-cruelty public service announcement (PSA) featuring Miami Dolphins DE Jason Taylor, it was announced today. The PSA, produced by NFL Films, is scheduled to begin airing December 22 on NFL Network and ESPN.
In June 2007, the ASPCA and the league announced a collaboration on the development of educational materials to enhance awareness on the proper treatment of animals among players and employees. In addition to educating its players and teams on the importance of caring properly for animals, the league has extended its efforts in this area by partnering with the ASPCA to help raise awareness of animal cruelty across the nation. Featuring Jason Taylor and Bear, his Akita of 11 years, the PSA encourages viewers to help the ASPCA put an end to animal cruelty, and can be viewed at www.fightcruelty.org.
"We applaud the NFL's commitment to raising awareness of animal cruelty and championing the humane treatment of animals," said ASPCA President & CEO, Ed Sayres. "In joining our efforts to eradicate animal cruelty, the NFL is sending a strong message to players, fans and the general public -- that the mistreatment of animals will not be tolerated and is, in a word, simply unacceptable."
"Jason is one of many players in the league who shares his home with a pet," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "We are pleased to be partnering with one of the most respected animal welfare organizations in the world in support of a cause embraced by so many NFL players -- and one that is important to millions of Americans."
Jason Taylor was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. Since then, he has firmly established himself as one of the premier defensive ends in the league. Taylor was awarded the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, and is widely-recognized as a leader in off-field community service in South Florida and beyond. He lives in Florida with his wife, three children and the esteemed four-legged member of his family, Bear.
About the ASPCA®:
Founded in 1866, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) was the first humane organization established in the Americas, and today has more than one million supporters throughout North America. A 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation, the ASPCA's mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States. The ASPCA provides local and national leadership in animal-assisted therapy, animal behavior, animal poison control, anti-cruelty, humane education, legislative services, and shelter outreach. The New York City headquarters houses a full-service, accredited, animal hospital, adoption center, and mobile clinic outreach program. The Humane Law Enforcement department enforces New York's animal cruelty laws and is featured on the reality television series "Animal Precinct" on Animal Planet. For more information, please visit http://www.aspca.org/.
Contact:
Melissa Treuman
(212) 876-7700 x 4521
Group Raises Awareness to Plans by University of California at Santa Cruz to Destroy 120 acres of Forest for Development of Animal Testing Facility
As stated below, the facility will allow practices such as “…biotechnology, nanotechnology and invasive experimentation upon living animals (vivisection). “
There also is the environmental aspect. I’ve been to that campus and I have to agree – it is probably the most beautiful campus in the US. Just knowing that the school is even thinking of destroying the surrounding tress is disturbing
You can learn more about resistance to the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) at UC Santa Cruz by visiting http://www.lrdpresistance.org and downloading a pdf of the first issue of the Long Range Resistance newsletter.
Article:
Tuesday Dec 25th, 2007 8:37 PM
Delivering Food to Tree-sitters at UCSC on Christmas
In 2003, the Princeton Review ranked UC Santa Cruz as having the 'most beautiful campus' in the nation. This year's rankings are in and UCSC placed 8th in the 'most beautiful campus' category for "The Best 366 Colleges: 2008 Edition."
Since November 7th, 2007, Coast Redwood trees on UCSC's Science Hill have been bases of resistance to campus expansion with students sitting on platforms situated in the crowns of numerous trees. Many students, staff and faculty at UCSC, as well as residents of Santa Cruz County, feel that UCSC's campus expansion plans are anything but beautiful. UCSC's 2005 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) includes an additional 4,500 students by 2020, the destruction of 120 acres of forest, and a Biomedical Sciences Facility engaging in controversial, corporate-driven practices such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and invasive experimentation upon living animals (vivisection).
On December 25th, I explored a little bit of the UCSC campus and stopped by the parking lot on Science Hill to see if anything was going on at the tree-sit. This contentious parking lot is located where UCSC plans to build their Biomedical Sciences Facility. The facility would be the first project under UCSC's 2005 LRDP. During my brief time on Science Hill, numerous people brought food to the tree-sitters, including Michael Urban, a professor of politics at UCSC.
Stop UCSC Expansion! Support Arrested Tree Sitters. Come to Court on January 3rd 8:30am. Bring Good Vibes.
The Biomedical Sciences facility would be the first project under UCSC's plan to develop 120 acres of forest in order to accommodate 4,500 new students by 2020. The Biomedical Sciences facility will have no allotted classroom space, despite student complaints about overcrowded class sizes. However, the facility will have room for live animal experimentation, which includes such practices as food/air deprivation, infection, and non-anesthetized surgery, according to UCSC campus guidelines.
In Defense of Animals (IDA) is a registered 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization based in San Rafael, California that states, "Our mission is to end animal exploitation, cruelty, and abuse by protecting and advocating for the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals, as well as to raise their status beyond mere property, commodities, or things." In addition to their principal website, www.idausa.org, IDA also maintains a special website called, "The Truth about Vivisection" located at www.vivisectioninfo.org. The following information about vivisection was taken from VivisectionInfo.org. Learn more by reading the Frequently Asked Questions at VivisectionInfo.org.
The Truth about Vivisection
Every year, tens of millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities throughout the U.S. Still more animals are used to test the safety of cosmetics, household cleansers and other consumer products. These innocent primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents and other animals are used against their will as research subjects in experiments and procedures that would be considered sadistically cruel were they not conducted in the name of science.
Researchers claim that they must be allowed unfettered access to animals for experiments in order to find cures for human diseases, yet they refuse to address the serious ethical problems of torturing sentient creatures for research purposes. On top of that, over-reliance on animal experimentation has historically hindered scientific advancement and endangered human safety because results from animal research typically cannot be applied to humans. In fact, scientists could save more human lives by using humane non-animal research and testing methods that are more accurate and efficient.
For these reasons, IDA has been fighting to end the needless torture and death of animals and advance human medicine since 1983. Here are some of the major campaign victories we have achieved for animals in that time.
USDA Charges UCSF for Animal Welfare Act Violations
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) charged the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) with 89 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The USDA's action followed years of protests by IDA and other Bay Area groups to expose the cruelty secretly taking place behind the walls of UCSF's laboratories. Instead of defending themselves in court and revealing their mistreatment of animals to public scrutiny, UCSF chose to pay a $92,500 fine, one of the largest ever levied against a research institution by the USDA.
In Defense of Animals has an active campaign against Stephen Lisberger's Monkey Experiments at the University of California - San Francisco. You can learn more about the campaign by visiting: http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/lisberger.html
You can learn more about resistance to the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) at UC Santa Cruz by visiting http://www.lrdpresistance.org and downloading a pdf of the first issue of the Long Range Resistance newsletter.
There also is the environmental aspect. I’ve been to that campus and I have to agree – it is probably the most beautiful campus in the US. Just knowing that the school is even thinking of destroying the surrounding tress is disturbing
You can learn more about resistance to the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) at UC Santa Cruz by visiting http://www.lrdpresistance.org and downloading a pdf of the first issue of the Long Range Resistance newsletter.
Article:
Tuesday Dec 25th, 2007 8:37 PM
Delivering Food to Tree-sitters at UCSC on Christmas
In 2003, the Princeton Review ranked UC Santa Cruz as having the 'most beautiful campus' in the nation. This year's rankings are in and UCSC placed 8th in the 'most beautiful campus' category for "The Best 366 Colleges: 2008 Edition."
Since November 7th, 2007, Coast Redwood trees on UCSC's Science Hill have been bases of resistance to campus expansion with students sitting on platforms situated in the crowns of numerous trees. Many students, staff and faculty at UCSC, as well as residents of Santa Cruz County, feel that UCSC's campus expansion plans are anything but beautiful. UCSC's 2005 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) includes an additional 4,500 students by 2020, the destruction of 120 acres of forest, and a Biomedical Sciences Facility engaging in controversial, corporate-driven practices such as biotechnology, nanotechnology and invasive experimentation upon living animals (vivisection).
On December 25th, I explored a little bit of the UCSC campus and stopped by the parking lot on Science Hill to see if anything was going on at the tree-sit. This contentious parking lot is located where UCSC plans to build their Biomedical Sciences Facility. The facility would be the first project under UCSC's 2005 LRDP. During my brief time on Science Hill, numerous people brought food to the tree-sitters, including Michael Urban, a professor of politics at UCSC.
Stop UCSC Expansion! Support Arrested Tree Sitters. Come to Court on January 3rd 8:30am. Bring Good Vibes.
The Biomedical Sciences facility would be the first project under UCSC's plan to develop 120 acres of forest in order to accommodate 4,500 new students by 2020. The Biomedical Sciences facility will have no allotted classroom space, despite student complaints about overcrowded class sizes. However, the facility will have room for live animal experimentation, which includes such practices as food/air deprivation, infection, and non-anesthetized surgery, according to UCSC campus guidelines.
In Defense of Animals (IDA) is a registered 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization based in San Rafael, California that states, "Our mission is to end animal exploitation, cruelty, and abuse by protecting and advocating for the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals, as well as to raise their status beyond mere property, commodities, or things." In addition to their principal website, www.idausa.org, IDA also maintains a special website called, "The Truth about Vivisection" located at www.vivisectioninfo.org. The following information about vivisection was taken from VivisectionInfo.org. Learn more by reading the Frequently Asked Questions at VivisectionInfo.org.
The Truth about Vivisection
Every year, tens of millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities throughout the U.S. Still more animals are used to test the safety of cosmetics, household cleansers and other consumer products. These innocent primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents and other animals are used against their will as research subjects in experiments and procedures that would be considered sadistically cruel were they not conducted in the name of science.
Researchers claim that they must be allowed unfettered access to animals for experiments in order to find cures for human diseases, yet they refuse to address the serious ethical problems of torturing sentient creatures for research purposes. On top of that, over-reliance on animal experimentation has historically hindered scientific advancement and endangered human safety because results from animal research typically cannot be applied to humans. In fact, scientists could save more human lives by using humane non-animal research and testing methods that are more accurate and efficient.
For these reasons, IDA has been fighting to end the needless torture and death of animals and advance human medicine since 1983. Here are some of the major campaign victories we have achieved for animals in that time.
USDA Charges UCSF for Animal Welfare Act Violations
In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) charged the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) with 89 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The USDA's action followed years of protests by IDA and other Bay Area groups to expose the cruelty secretly taking place behind the walls of UCSF's laboratories. Instead of defending themselves in court and revealing their mistreatment of animals to public scrutiny, UCSF chose to pay a $92,500 fine, one of the largest ever levied against a research institution by the USDA.
In Defense of Animals has an active campaign against Stephen Lisberger's Monkey Experiments at the University of California - San Francisco. You can learn more about the campaign by visiting: http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/lisberger.html
You can learn more about resistance to the Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) at UC Santa Cruz by visiting http://www.lrdpresistance.org and downloading a pdf of the first issue of the Long Range Resistance newsletter.
Recent Study States the Obvious: Processed Meats, Including Bacon and Sausages Carry Significant Cancer Risk
Not that we didn’t already know this, but….
Article:
Bacon, other processed meats especially risky, scientists say
http://www.star-telegram.com/health/story/378921.html
By COLIN BARRAS
New Scientist magazine
If you want to avoid cancer, it may be time to ditch those breakfast fry-ups. A comprehensive report on the link between nutrition and cancer recommends avoiding all processed meats, including bacon and some sausages. It also advises against eating more than 6 grams of salt per day.
While many foods carry a cancer risk, most of them can be eaten in moderation without noticeably endangering health. However, for salted or cured meats, there is no clear safe dose, says Martin Wiseman, project director of the report, published in November by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research.
One reason for avoiding processed meats is that they often contain nitrates -- preservatives that may contribute to the production of suspected carcinogens called N-nitroso compounds. Processed meats also contain high levels of salt, which is linked to stomach cancer.
The report gives 10 lifestyle recommendations for reducing the risk of cancer. While some of these measures are rather severe, Wiseman is optimistic that the report will persuade people to change their eating habits, at least in terms of cutting out unhealthful foods, such as processed meat.
"It won't be straightforward, but it's not impossible," he says. "There's this idea that diet is immutable, but there have actually been huge changes, even in the last 10 years." For example, the scare over mad cow disease in the UK had a substantial impact on the nation's beef consumption in the 1990s, he says.
The report also reveals clear links between obesity and a range of cancers, but Wiseman doubts that this will easily persuade people to lose weight.
"The public has the notion that fat gives you heart disease and diabetes, but they don't realize it also gives you cancer," he says. "After smoking, obesity is the highest preventable cancer risk."
Wiseman concedes that "the risk from processed meat is an order of magnitude less than that from smoking" but is nevertheless "not trivial." For example, the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 21 percent for every 50 grams of processed meat eaten every day, on average. By comparison, smoking 20 cigarettes per day can lead to a 20- to 40-fold increase in the risk of lung cancer.
Linda Geddes contributed to this report.
Ten ways to avoid cancer
1. Body fat. Aim for a body mass index of 21 to 23, and avoid weight gain during adulthood.
2. Physical activity. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, every day.
3. Junk food. Avoid sugary drinks and energy-dense fast food.
4. Meat. Eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week, and avoid processed meats.
5. Alcohol. Limit daily intake to one drink for women, two drinks for men. Do not binge drink.
6. Fruit and vegetables. Eat five portions of fruit and non-starchy vegetables each day and limit refined starchy food.
7. Preservatives. Avoid salt-preserved foods. Limit salt intake to 6 grams per day.
8. Dietary supplements. Avoid them, except in special cases such as folic acid during pregnancy.
9. Breastfeeding. Try to breastfeed for six months.
10. Cancer survivors. Seek professional nutritional advice
Article:
Bacon, other processed meats especially risky, scientists say
http://www.star-telegram.com/health/story/378921.html
By COLIN BARRAS
New Scientist magazine
If you want to avoid cancer, it may be time to ditch those breakfast fry-ups. A comprehensive report on the link between nutrition and cancer recommends avoiding all processed meats, including bacon and some sausages. It also advises against eating more than 6 grams of salt per day.
While many foods carry a cancer risk, most of them can be eaten in moderation without noticeably endangering health. However, for salted or cured meats, there is no clear safe dose, says Martin Wiseman, project director of the report, published in November by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research.
One reason for avoiding processed meats is that they often contain nitrates -- preservatives that may contribute to the production of suspected carcinogens called N-nitroso compounds. Processed meats also contain high levels of salt, which is linked to stomach cancer.
The report gives 10 lifestyle recommendations for reducing the risk of cancer. While some of these measures are rather severe, Wiseman is optimistic that the report will persuade people to change their eating habits, at least in terms of cutting out unhealthful foods, such as processed meat.
"It won't be straightforward, but it's not impossible," he says. "There's this idea that diet is immutable, but there have actually been huge changes, even in the last 10 years." For example, the scare over mad cow disease in the UK had a substantial impact on the nation's beef consumption in the 1990s, he says.
The report also reveals clear links between obesity and a range of cancers, but Wiseman doubts that this will easily persuade people to lose weight.
"The public has the notion that fat gives you heart disease and diabetes, but they don't realize it also gives you cancer," he says. "After smoking, obesity is the highest preventable cancer risk."
Wiseman concedes that "the risk from processed meat is an order of magnitude less than that from smoking" but is nevertheless "not trivial." For example, the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 21 percent for every 50 grams of processed meat eaten every day, on average. By comparison, smoking 20 cigarettes per day can lead to a 20- to 40-fold increase in the risk of lung cancer.
Linda Geddes contributed to this report.
Ten ways to avoid cancer
1. Body fat. Aim for a body mass index of 21 to 23, and avoid weight gain during adulthood.
2. Physical activity. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity, like brisk walking, every day.
3. Junk food. Avoid sugary drinks and energy-dense fast food.
4. Meat. Eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week, and avoid processed meats.
5. Alcohol. Limit daily intake to one drink for women, two drinks for men. Do not binge drink.
6. Fruit and vegetables. Eat five portions of fruit and non-starchy vegetables each day and limit refined starchy food.
7. Preservatives. Avoid salt-preserved foods. Limit salt intake to 6 grams per day.
8. Dietary supplements. Avoid them, except in special cases such as folic acid during pregnancy.
9. Breastfeeding. Try to breastfeed for six months.
10. Cancer survivors. Seek professional nutritional advice
Recent Event at San Francisco Zoo Regarding Siberian Tiger Attack Once Again Proves Unnatural State of Zoos and Animals in Captivity
As stated below, it is possible that the teens were taunting the captive tiger. Life in captivity and this taunting could easily cause an already-stressed tiger to act.
A tragedy for all sides.
Article:
Cops: Tiger attack victim helped friend By JORDAN ROBERTSON and MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071228/
ap_on_re_us/tiger_escapes
SAN FRANCISCO - The last minutes of a 17-year-old boy's life were spent trying to save his friend from the tiger that was mauling him at the San Francisco Zoo, only to have the animal turn on him, police and family members said.
Carlos Sousa Jr. and his friend's brother desperately tried to distract the 350-pound Siberian tiger, but the big cat instead came after Sousa.
"He didn't run. He tried to help his friend, and it was him who ended up getting it the worst," the teen's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Thursday after meeting with police.
The heroic portrait of Sousa and a timeline of the dramatic Christmas Day attack emerged as officials revealed that the tiger's escape from its enclosure may have been aided by walls that were well below the height recommended by the accrediting agency for the nation's zoos.
San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high, after previously saying it was 18 feet. According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high.
Mollinedo said it was becoming increasingly clear the tiger leaped or climbed out, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge. Investigators have ruled out the theory the tiger escaped through a door behind the exhibit at the zoo, which remained closed Friday.
"She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me."
Mollinedo said safety inspectors had examined the wall, built in 1940, and never raised any red flags about its size.
"When the AZA came out and inspected our zoo three years ago, they never noted that as a deficiency," he said. "Obviously now that something's happened, we're going to be revisiting the actual height."
The 4-year-old tiger, a female named Tatiana, went on a rampage near closing time Tuesday, killing Sousa and severely injuring the two others before police shot it to death.
Brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were at San Francisco General Hospital with severe bite and claw wounds. Their names were provided by hospital and law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the family had not yet given permission to release their names.
After interviewing the brothers, police said Kulbir Dhaliwal was the animal's first victim.
As the tiger clawed and bit him, Sousa and the younger brother yelled in hopes of scaring it off him, police said. The cat then went for Sousa, slashing his neck as the brothers ran to a zoo cafe for help.
After killing the teenager, the tiger followed a trail of blood left by Kulbir Dhaliwal about 300 yards to the cafe, where it mauled both men, police said.
Four officers who had already discovered Sousa's body then arrived and found the cat sitting next to one of the bloodied brothers, police Chief Heather Fong said. The victim yelled, "Help me! Help me!" and the animal resumed its attack, Fong said.
The officers used their patrol car lights to distract the tiger, and it turned and began approaching them, leading all four to open fire, she said.
Police are still investigating how Tatiana was able to leave the enclosure.
At least one expert said the wall was low enough for the tiger to leap to the top.
Zoo officials said a "moat" separating the habitat from the public viewing area that measured 33 feet across contained no water, and has never had any. They did not address whether that affected the tiger's ability to get out.
"I think it could be feasible for a cat that has been taunted or angered," Jack Hanna, former director of the Columbus Zoo, said Thursday. "I don't think it would ever just do it to do it."
Police have not addressed whether the victims had teased the tiger.
On Thursday, Fong denied earlier reports that police were looking into the possibility that the victims had dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat, after a shoe and blood was found inside the enclosure. No shoe was found inside, but a shoeprint was found on the railing of the fence surrounding the enclosure, and police are checking it against the shoes of the three victims, she said.
AZA spokesman Steven Feldman said the minimum recommended height of 16.4 feet is just a guideline and that a zoo could still be deemed safe even if its wall were lower.
Accreditation standards require "that the barriers be adequate to keep the animals and people apart from each other," Feldman said. "Obviously something happened to cause that not to be the case in this incident."
Many other U.S. zoos have significantly higher walls around their tigers.
Mollinedo said surveillance cameras and new fencing will be installed around the exhibit.
A tragedy for all sides.
Article:
Cops: Tiger attack victim helped friend By JORDAN ROBERTSON and MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071228/
ap_on_re_us/tiger_escapes
SAN FRANCISCO - The last minutes of a 17-year-old boy's life were spent trying to save his friend from the tiger that was mauling him at the San Francisco Zoo, only to have the animal turn on him, police and family members said.
Carlos Sousa Jr. and his friend's brother desperately tried to distract the 350-pound Siberian tiger, but the big cat instead came after Sousa.
"He didn't run. He tried to help his friend, and it was him who ended up getting it the worst," the teen's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., said Thursday after meeting with police.
The heroic portrait of Sousa and a timeline of the dramatic Christmas Day attack emerged as officials revealed that the tiger's escape from its enclosure may have been aided by walls that were well below the height recommended by the accrediting agency for the nation's zoos.
San Francisco Zoo Director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal's pen was just 12 1/2 feet high, after previously saying it was 18 feet. According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the walls around a tiger exhibit should be at least 16.4 feet high.
Mollinedo said it was becoming increasingly clear the tiger leaped or climbed out, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge. Investigators have ruled out the theory the tiger escaped through a door behind the exhibit at the zoo, which remained closed Friday.
"She had to have jumped," he said. "How she was able to jump that high is amazing to me."
Mollinedo said safety inspectors had examined the wall, built in 1940, and never raised any red flags about its size.
"When the AZA came out and inspected our zoo three years ago, they never noted that as a deficiency," he said. "Obviously now that something's happened, we're going to be revisiting the actual height."
The 4-year-old tiger, a female named Tatiana, went on a rampage near closing time Tuesday, killing Sousa and severely injuring the two others before police shot it to death.
Brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were at San Francisco General Hospital with severe bite and claw wounds. Their names were provided by hospital and law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the family had not yet given permission to release their names.
After interviewing the brothers, police said Kulbir Dhaliwal was the animal's first victim.
As the tiger clawed and bit him, Sousa and the younger brother yelled in hopes of scaring it off him, police said. The cat then went for Sousa, slashing his neck as the brothers ran to a zoo cafe for help.
After killing the teenager, the tiger followed a trail of blood left by Kulbir Dhaliwal about 300 yards to the cafe, where it mauled both men, police said.
Four officers who had already discovered Sousa's body then arrived and found the cat sitting next to one of the bloodied brothers, police Chief Heather Fong said. The victim yelled, "Help me! Help me!" and the animal resumed its attack, Fong said.
The officers used their patrol car lights to distract the tiger, and it turned and began approaching them, leading all four to open fire, she said.
Police are still investigating how Tatiana was able to leave the enclosure.
At least one expert said the wall was low enough for the tiger to leap to the top.
Zoo officials said a "moat" separating the habitat from the public viewing area that measured 33 feet across contained no water, and has never had any. They did not address whether that affected the tiger's ability to get out.
"I think it could be feasible for a cat that has been taunted or angered," Jack Hanna, former director of the Columbus Zoo, said Thursday. "I don't think it would ever just do it to do it."
Police have not addressed whether the victims had teased the tiger.
On Thursday, Fong denied earlier reports that police were looking into the possibility that the victims had dangled a leg or other body part over the edge of the moat, after a shoe and blood was found inside the enclosure. No shoe was found inside, but a shoeprint was found on the railing of the fence surrounding the enclosure, and police are checking it against the shoes of the three victims, she said.
AZA spokesman Steven Feldman said the minimum recommended height of 16.4 feet is just a guideline and that a zoo could still be deemed safe even if its wall were lower.
Accreditation standards require "that the barriers be adequate to keep the animals and people apart from each other," Feldman said. "Obviously something happened to cause that not to be the case in this incident."
Many other U.S. zoos have significantly higher walls around their tigers.
Mollinedo said surveillance cameras and new fencing will be installed around the exhibit.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Mars, Inc. Creator of M&M's, Snickers, Starburst, Twix, Milky Way, Skittles, etc. Supports Cruel Animal Testing: Tell Mars to Stop Deadly Animal Tests
Unbelievable. What useless, meaningless and ridiculous tests. The link to the story is here - http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/marsuk07 .Please read and act.
Article:
Tell Mars to Stop Deadly Animal Tests
Got a sweet tooth?
Think twice before picking up a Mars bar! You should know that candymaker Mars, Inc – the creator of M&M's, Snickers and other sweets – continues to fund deadly animal tests, despite the fact that more reliable human tests are available and that none of the tests are required by law.
Mars in the US is currently funding a deadly University of California experiment on rats to determine the effects of chocolate ingredients on blood vessels. Experimenters force-feed the rats by shoving plastic tubes down their throats and then cut open the rats' legs to expose arteries, which are clamped shut to block blood flow. After the experiment, the animals are killed. Mars' US division has also funded other cruel experiments. Mice were fed a confectionery ingredient and forced to swim in a pool of paint and water. The mice had to find a hidden platform to avoid drowning, and after the experiment they were killed and dissected. In yet another experiment supported by Mars, rats were fed cocoa and then anaesthetised with carbon dioxide. Their blood was collected by having needles jabbed directly into their hearts, which can lead to internal bleeding and other deadly complications.
Mars' US division is also lying to the public, claiming that Mars doesn't fund cruel animal tests for foods, even though PETA US have uncovered a history of such experiments – including the current programme at the University of California.
Mars' top competitor in the US, Hershey's, has pledged that it will not fund or conduct experiments on animals. Please urge Mars to follow Hershey's lead and immediately end all support for animal tests!
Mars UK produces Bounty, Galaxy, Celebrations, M&M's, Mars, Snickers, Twix, Topic, Milky Way, Tracker, Revels, Starburst and Skittles as well as Tunes and Lockets.
You can contact Mars, Inc's American office directly using the form below. Personalised letters always work best: feel free to use the text we've provided, but your message will carry more weight if you use your own words. If you do this, be sure to keep it polite and factual.
To act, visit http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/marsuk07
Article:
Tell Mars to Stop Deadly Animal Tests
Got a sweet tooth?
Think twice before picking up a Mars bar! You should know that candymaker Mars, Inc – the creator of M&M's, Snickers and other sweets – continues to fund deadly animal tests, despite the fact that more reliable human tests are available and that none of the tests are required by law.
Mars in the US is currently funding a deadly University of California experiment on rats to determine the effects of chocolate ingredients on blood vessels. Experimenters force-feed the rats by shoving plastic tubes down their throats and then cut open the rats' legs to expose arteries, which are clamped shut to block blood flow. After the experiment, the animals are killed. Mars' US division has also funded other cruel experiments. Mice were fed a confectionery ingredient and forced to swim in a pool of paint and water. The mice had to find a hidden platform to avoid drowning, and after the experiment they were killed and dissected. In yet another experiment supported by Mars, rats were fed cocoa and then anaesthetised with carbon dioxide. Their blood was collected by having needles jabbed directly into their hearts, which can lead to internal bleeding and other deadly complications.
Mars' US division is also lying to the public, claiming that Mars doesn't fund cruel animal tests for foods, even though PETA US have uncovered a history of such experiments – including the current programme at the University of California.
Mars' top competitor in the US, Hershey's, has pledged that it will not fund or conduct experiments on animals. Please urge Mars to follow Hershey's lead and immediately end all support for animal tests!
Mars UK produces Bounty, Galaxy, Celebrations, M&M's, Mars, Snickers, Twix, Topic, Milky Way, Tracker, Revels, Starburst and Skittles as well as Tunes and Lockets.
You can contact Mars, Inc's American office directly using the form below. Personalised letters always work best: feel free to use the text we've provided, but your message will carry more weight if you use your own words. If you do this, be sure to keep it polite and factual.
To act, visit http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/marsuk07
Friday, December 14, 2007
Cast Your Vote for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007 List: Take Part in Raising Awareness to the Plight of Captive Elephants in Zoos
What an innovative way to tackle this important issue. I encourage all to at least visit the page. You’ll quickly be able to see just how many zoos are listed. This gives you a good idea on how many places have had incidents that have either killed or harmed an elephant. Unfortunately, the list is long.
Article:
Cast Your Vote for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007 List
http://www.helpelephantsinzoos.com/10_worst_2007b.php
For the last few years, IDA has released its annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants to draw attention to the appalling treatment of Earth's largest mammal in captivity and pressure zoos to provide the space and natural conditions elephants need or stop keeping elephants altogether.
The media has enthusiastically reported on our lists, bringing more scrutiny to the zoos that were singled out as being particularly sad and sorry places for pachyderms.
As the controversy surrounding elephants in zoos rages on, the 2007 list is sure to grab people's attention once again, and we need you to tell us which zoos are most deserving of this undesirable publicity.
This year, we are letting you—the people decide which zoos make the ignoble list. Cast your vote below and click on the zoo names for information to help you decide. The "losers" will be announced in 2008.
Cast your vote here: http://www.helpelephantsinzoos.com/10_worst_2007b.php
Article:
Cast Your Vote for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007 List
http://www.helpelephantsinzoos.com/10_worst_2007b.php
For the last few years, IDA has released its annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants to draw attention to the appalling treatment of Earth's largest mammal in captivity and pressure zoos to provide the space and natural conditions elephants need or stop keeping elephants altogether.
The media has enthusiastically reported on our lists, bringing more scrutiny to the zoos that were singled out as being particularly sad and sorry places for pachyderms.
As the controversy surrounding elephants in zoos rages on, the 2007 list is sure to grab people's attention once again, and we need you to tell us which zoos are most deserving of this undesirable publicity.
This year, we are letting you—the people decide which zoos make the ignoble list. Cast your vote below and click on the zoo names for information to help you decide. The "losers" will be announced in 2008.
Cast your vote here: http://www.helpelephantsinzoos.com/10_worst_2007b.php
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Morningstar Farms Commits to Using Fewer Eggs and More Egg-Free Products
Very important move. We’ll see if this stands over time. Seems they will move to a greater commitment to vegan products.
Article:
Morningstar Farms Responds to Demand for Egg-Free Foods
Company commits to using one million fewer eggs in 2008
http://sev.prnewswire.com/food-beverages/
20071212/DC0968812122007-1.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Morningstar Farms, a Kellogg subsidiary that has been making vegetarian products for more than 25 years, has stated it will use one million fewer eggs in 2008 while also offering more egg-free products.
According to company spokeswoman Kathleen Eckler, in 2008 "Kellogg is reducing the amount of eggs we use in our Morningstar products by a minimum of one million eggs. We're committed to announcing even more new vegan products for our customers."
After months of discussion on the topic with the Michigan-based company, Compassion Over Killing (COK) and Vegan Outreach, two nonprofit animal protection organizations, wholeheartedly applaud Morningstar Farms for implementing this policy. By reducing Kellogg's egg usage by more than a million eggs per year, nearly 4,000 fewer laying hens will suffer in factory farms each year.
"A growing number of consumers are choosing egg-free foods as a way to protect their health and protect animals," says COK's executive director Erica Meier. "We applaud Morningstar Farms for committing to offer more vegan items, and we encourage other companies to follow its compassionate lead."
More than 95% of eggs produced in the U.S. come from hens confined inside barren wire battery cages so restrictive, the birds can barely even move, let alone engage in many of their most natural behaviors including spreading their wings, perching, or walking. Battery-caged hens are typically provided with a meager 67 square inches of space in which to live -- that's less floor space than the size of one sheet of notebook paper.
Jack Norris, RD, president of Vegan Outreach, commented, "Consumers asked Morningstar Farms to remove eggs from its products, and the company heeded their call. Vegan Outreach is pleased to congratulate Kellogg on this important humane move."
Morningstar Farms has long been a leader in supplying vegetarian products sold in grocery stores nationwide. Its decision to use fewer eggs and create more vegan products further demonstrates the company's leadership in offering healthier and more humane food choices in the marketplace.
Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Since 1995, COK has worked to end the abuse of animals in agriculture through undercover investigations, public outreach, litigation, and other advocacy programs. On the web at COK.net.
Vegan Outreach is a national nonprofit advocacy group. Since 1993, Vegan Outreach has been on the cutting-edge of grassroots advocacy against cruelty to animals. Distribution of Vegan Outreach literature exposes these animals' suffering -- otherwise hidden in factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses -- while promoting more compassionate, humane choices. On the web at VeganOutreach.org.
Website: http://www.cok.net/
Website: http://www.veganoutreach.org/
Article:
Morningstar Farms Responds to Demand for Egg-Free Foods
Company commits to using one million fewer eggs in 2008
http://sev.prnewswire.com/food-beverages/
20071212/DC0968812122007-1.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Morningstar Farms, a Kellogg subsidiary that has been making vegetarian products for more than 25 years, has stated it will use one million fewer eggs in 2008 while also offering more egg-free products.
According to company spokeswoman Kathleen Eckler, in 2008 "Kellogg is reducing the amount of eggs we use in our Morningstar products by a minimum of one million eggs. We're committed to announcing even more new vegan products for our customers."
After months of discussion on the topic with the Michigan-based company, Compassion Over Killing (COK) and Vegan Outreach, two nonprofit animal protection organizations, wholeheartedly applaud Morningstar Farms for implementing this policy. By reducing Kellogg's egg usage by more than a million eggs per year, nearly 4,000 fewer laying hens will suffer in factory farms each year.
"A growing number of consumers are choosing egg-free foods as a way to protect their health and protect animals," says COK's executive director Erica Meier. "We applaud Morningstar Farms for committing to offer more vegan items, and we encourage other companies to follow its compassionate lead."
More than 95% of eggs produced in the U.S. come from hens confined inside barren wire battery cages so restrictive, the birds can barely even move, let alone engage in many of their most natural behaviors including spreading their wings, perching, or walking. Battery-caged hens are typically provided with a meager 67 square inches of space in which to live -- that's less floor space than the size of one sheet of notebook paper.
Jack Norris, RD, president of Vegan Outreach, commented, "Consumers asked Morningstar Farms to remove eggs from its products, and the company heeded their call. Vegan Outreach is pleased to congratulate Kellogg on this important humane move."
Morningstar Farms has long been a leader in supplying vegetarian products sold in grocery stores nationwide. Its decision to use fewer eggs and create more vegan products further demonstrates the company's leadership in offering healthier and more humane food choices in the marketplace.
Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. Since 1995, COK has worked to end the abuse of animals in agriculture through undercover investigations, public outreach, litigation, and other advocacy programs. On the web at COK.net.
Vegan Outreach is a national nonprofit advocacy group. Since 1993, Vegan Outreach has been on the cutting-edge of grassroots advocacy against cruelty to animals. Distribution of Vegan Outreach literature exposes these animals' suffering -- otherwise hidden in factory farms and industrial slaughterhouses -- while promoting more compassionate, humane choices. On the web at VeganOutreach.org.
Website: http://www.cok.net/
Website: http://www.veganoutreach.org/
International Animal Rights Day: An Introduction
December 10th is International Animal Rights Day. It actually corresponds with National Human Rights Day. This article provides an interesting introduction to this day.
Article:
International Animal Rights Day passes decade mark
http://www.ouraynews.com/Articles-i-2007-12-12-168767.112113-International_Animal_Rights_Day_passes_decade_mark.html
December 12, 2007
Dec. 10 is National Human Rights Day, marking the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948.
This document, attesting to the basic rights of all individuals, was created at the tail end of one of the most destructive and devastating wars in human history and it marked a new era framed by compassion, justice, and individual rights assuming precedence over the dictates of government or other powers.
Although the implementation of the Declaration of Human Rights has yet to be fulfilled to the extent that it was intended, National Human Rights Day does represent a time to reflect upon the progress made and yet to be made, our individual responsibility toward furthering this intent, and to appreciate the ideals that the Declaration reflects. Such ideals are the particular focus of this week's pet column, as December 10th also marks the 10th Anniversary of International Animal Rights Day.
International Animal Rights Day is a natural progression and extension of the principles of the Declaration. Including non-human beings within the Declaration submits to the moral imperative humanity holds toward protecting and respecting other living beings as we do ourselves. Many may ask why animals should be considered for this inclusion while hopefully more will ask why they haven't already been.
It is undeniable that human beings are now recognizing the capacity of animals to experience pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering. We know that animals possess and express distinguishing characteristics as individuals and although they may not be able to communicate their interests in our language, the existence of such interests — to live their lives according to their own priorities — is beyond question.
As we look at the damage to our environment caused by living under the pretense that human affairs exist in isolation from those of all other living creatures on the planet, we know that this approach can not be sustained. International Animal Rights Day challenges us to redefine our understanding of "progress" with a consideration of our responsibility to protect the rights of all living beings.
As noted in previous Pet Columns the mission of Second Chance encompasses the "promotion of responsible pet ownership and the human-animal bond." We recognize that to create a community, country, and world where animal humane societies are no longer needed we have to foster and nurture this human-animal connection. International Animal Rights Day envisions this shift and leaves us with the question of how would we best like to see it expressed in our community.
Even defining animal rights can be a daunting task, as for example some vegetarians would likely set different parameters than a rancher might. How can these varying opinions be honored in an inclusive definition of animal rights?
Remember the Declaration of Human Rights was "declared" almost two decades before the Civil Rights movement gained acceptance in the U.S. Thus like the U.S. Constitution it needed to be based upon the current environment with an ability to progress as humanity does.
Although International Animal Rights Day doesn't receive much press or recognition, for that matter neither does National Human Rights Day, Second Chance Humane Society would like to offer Pet Column readers an opportunity to participate in the intentions of this day. We would like to hear from you about ideas to promote animal rights in our local communities, that would hopefully be accepted and adopted by all. Please email us your thoughts.
Article:
International Animal Rights Day passes decade mark
http://www.ouraynews.com/Articles-i-2007-12-12-168767.112113-International_Animal_Rights_Day_passes_decade_mark.html
December 12, 2007
Dec. 10 is National Human Rights Day, marking the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948.
This document, attesting to the basic rights of all individuals, was created at the tail end of one of the most destructive and devastating wars in human history and it marked a new era framed by compassion, justice, and individual rights assuming precedence over the dictates of government or other powers.
Although the implementation of the Declaration of Human Rights has yet to be fulfilled to the extent that it was intended, National Human Rights Day does represent a time to reflect upon the progress made and yet to be made, our individual responsibility toward furthering this intent, and to appreciate the ideals that the Declaration reflects. Such ideals are the particular focus of this week's pet column, as December 10th also marks the 10th Anniversary of International Animal Rights Day.
International Animal Rights Day is a natural progression and extension of the principles of the Declaration. Including non-human beings within the Declaration submits to the moral imperative humanity holds toward protecting and respecting other living beings as we do ourselves. Many may ask why animals should be considered for this inclusion while hopefully more will ask why they haven't already been.
It is undeniable that human beings are now recognizing the capacity of animals to experience pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering. We know that animals possess and express distinguishing characteristics as individuals and although they may not be able to communicate their interests in our language, the existence of such interests — to live their lives according to their own priorities — is beyond question.
As we look at the damage to our environment caused by living under the pretense that human affairs exist in isolation from those of all other living creatures on the planet, we know that this approach can not be sustained. International Animal Rights Day challenges us to redefine our understanding of "progress" with a consideration of our responsibility to protect the rights of all living beings.
As noted in previous Pet Columns the mission of Second Chance encompasses the "promotion of responsible pet ownership and the human-animal bond." We recognize that to create a community, country, and world where animal humane societies are no longer needed we have to foster and nurture this human-animal connection. International Animal Rights Day envisions this shift and leaves us with the question of how would we best like to see it expressed in our community.
Even defining animal rights can be a daunting task, as for example some vegetarians would likely set different parameters than a rancher might. How can these varying opinions be honored in an inclusive definition of animal rights?
Remember the Declaration of Human Rights was "declared" almost two decades before the Civil Rights movement gained acceptance in the U.S. Thus like the U.S. Constitution it needed to be based upon the current environment with an ability to progress as humanity does.
Although International Animal Rights Day doesn't receive much press or recognition, for that matter neither does National Human Rights Day, Second Chance Humane Society would like to offer Pet Column readers an opportunity to participate in the intentions of this day. We would like to hear from you about ideas to promote animal rights in our local communities, that would hopefully be accepted and adopted by all. Please email us your thoughts.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Cruel Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick Sentenced to 23 Months for Dog Fighting and Dog Killing
Well, it’s now over. Unfortunately, cruel Michael Vick only received 23 months when he could have been sentenced up to five years.
I’m not sure why the judge put a lenient sentence, as he was very clear that Vick engaged in gross cruelty, abuse and killing. As the judge stated, "You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity."
The judge was also clear that Vick lied about actually killing the dogs.
It later came out that he most certainly did take part in cruel killing dogs. As stated in another posting we put out on Vick at http://geari.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-vick-former-quarterback-of.html “According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions last April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.”
"Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.
The judge was clear that he knew that Vick lied about killing the dogs:
“Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.” “On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.”
Almost two years in jail for years of cruelty. I’m happy he is found guilty and is going to jail, but it’s a lenient sentence.
Article:
Vick gets 23 months for dogfighting
By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/
ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vick_sentencing
RICHMOND, Va. - Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for running a "cruel and inhumane" dogfighting ring and lying about it.
The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.
After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."
"Yes, sir," Vick answered.
The 27-year-old player acknowledged using "poor judgment" and added, "I'm willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions."
Although there is no parole in the federal system, rules governing time off for good behavior could reduce Vick's prison stay by about three months, resulting in a summer 2009 release.
"You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity," Hudson told Vick.
Before the hearing, Michael Vick's brother, Marcus Vick, sat with his right arm around their mother, comforting her as she buried her head in her hands and wept.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank called the sentencing another step in Vick's "legal journey."
"This is a difficult day for Michael's family and for a lot of us, including many of our players and fans who have been emotionally invested in Michael over the years," Blank said. "We sincerely hope that Michael will use this time to continue to focus his efforts on making positive changes in his life, and we wish him well in that regard."
Vick was suspended without pay by the NFL and lost all his lucrative endorsement deals. The league had no comment Monday on the judge's ruling.
One of Vick's attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, asked for leniency. He said Vick "grew up on some of probably the meanest and roughest streets in this commonwealth," but had never been in trouble with the law and had done much for charities.
Vick was denied any credit for taking responsibility for his crime. Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.
Hudson recalled that Vick at one point said he only handed over two dogs to co-defendant Quanis Phillips, who killed them. On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.
"I'm not convinced you've fully accepted responsibility," Hudson told Vick.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for a term of 18 months to two years. Federal prosecutor Michael Gill asked for a sentence at the high end, meaning Vick would get more time than either of the two co-defendants sentenced last month.
"He did more than fund it," Gill said, referring to the "Bad Newz Kennels" dogfighting operation. "He was in this thing up to his neck with the other defendants."
Outside court, Woodward said Vick didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him.
"He just wants a chance to prove himself when all this is over," he said. "But the other thing he said to me, which I also think is important for everyone to know, is that he understood that some of the things he was doing in life and off the field were dangerous, and he told me he feels lucky that he's alive and not hurt and now it's all about the future."
U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg sounded a similar theme.
"This was an efficient, professional, and thorough investigation that well exposed a seamy side of our society," he said in a statement. "I trust Mr. Vick learned important lessons and that his admission of guilt will speed his rehabilitation."
Vick pleaded guilty in August, admitting he bankrolled the dogfighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs. He has been held at a jail in Warsaw, Va., since he voluntarily began serving his sentence.
In a plea agreement, he admitted bankrolling the dogfighting ring on his 15-acre property in rural Virginia and helping kill pit bulls that did not perform well in test fights. He also admitted providing money for bets on the fights but said he never shared in any winnings.
At a news conference after pleading guilty last summer, Vick apologized to the NFL, the Falcons and youngsters who viewed him as a role model and vowed: "I will redeem myself."
Court papers revealed gruesome details about Vick's dogfighting operation, including the execution of underperforming dogs by electrocution, drowning, hanging and other means. Those details prompted a public backlash against the once-popular NFL star and outraged animal-rights groups, which used the case to call attention to the brutality of dogfighting.
John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States called the sentence appropriate.
"People that are involved in this blood sport are on notice. You can throw your life away by being involved in this," he said.
Two co-defendants were sentenced Nov. 30. Purnell Peace, of Virginia Beach, got 18 months. Phillips, of Atlanta, got 21 months. Another co-defendant, Tony Taylor, will be sentenced Friday.
The case began in April when a drug investigation of Vick's cousin led authorities to the former Virginia Tech star's Surry County property, where they found dozens of pit bulls — some of them injured — and equipment associated with dogfighting.
Vick initially denied any knowledge about dogfighting on the property. He changed his story after the three co-defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.
By 8 a.m. Monday, about 50 people were in line outside the courthouse waiting for the doors to open. About two dozen animal rights activists stood across the street holding posters showing injured pit bulls and the messages, "Report Dogfighters" and "Dogs Deserve Justice."
"We want to make sure the focus on the animals in this case isn't lost," said Dan Shannon, spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Julia Novak arrived with her small beagle, Frankie, who wore a sandwich board with the message on one side: "Dogfighters use dogs like me for bait."
Ryan Eanes, 27, of Richmond, wore his No. 7 Vick jersey as he waited in line.
"We all make mistakes," Eanes said. "I don't support the situation with the animals, but I support him. I believe his apology is sincere."
I’m not sure why the judge put a lenient sentence, as he was very clear that Vick engaged in gross cruelty, abuse and killing. As the judge stated, "You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity."
The judge was also clear that Vick lied about actually killing the dogs.
It later came out that he most certainly did take part in cruel killing dogs. As stated in another posting we put out on Vick at http://geari.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-vick-former-quarterback-of.html “According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions last April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.”
"Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.
The judge was clear that he knew that Vick lied about killing the dogs:
“Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.” “On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.”
Almost two years in jail for years of cruelty. I’m happy he is found guilty and is going to jail, but it’s a lenient sentence.
Article:
Vick gets 23 months for dogfighting
By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/
ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vick_sentencing
RICHMOND, Va. - Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for running a "cruel and inhumane" dogfighting ring and lying about it.
The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.
After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."
"Yes, sir," Vick answered.
The 27-year-old player acknowledged using "poor judgment" and added, "I'm willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions."
Although there is no parole in the federal system, rules governing time off for good behavior could reduce Vick's prison stay by about three months, resulting in a summer 2009 release.
"You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity," Hudson told Vick.
Before the hearing, Michael Vick's brother, Marcus Vick, sat with his right arm around their mother, comforting her as she buried her head in her hands and wept.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank called the sentencing another step in Vick's "legal journey."
"This is a difficult day for Michael's family and for a lot of us, including many of our players and fans who have been emotionally invested in Michael over the years," Blank said. "We sincerely hope that Michael will use this time to continue to focus his efforts on making positive changes in his life, and we wish him well in that regard."
Vick was suspended without pay by the NFL and lost all his lucrative endorsement deals. The league had no comment Monday on the judge's ruling.
One of Vick's attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, asked for leniency. He said Vick "grew up on some of probably the meanest and roughest streets in this commonwealth," but had never been in trouble with the law and had done much for charities.
Vick was denied any credit for taking responsibility for his crime. Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.
Hudson recalled that Vick at one point said he only handed over two dogs to co-defendant Quanis Phillips, who killed them. On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.
"I'm not convinced you've fully accepted responsibility," Hudson told Vick.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for a term of 18 months to two years. Federal prosecutor Michael Gill asked for a sentence at the high end, meaning Vick would get more time than either of the two co-defendants sentenced last month.
"He did more than fund it," Gill said, referring to the "Bad Newz Kennels" dogfighting operation. "He was in this thing up to his neck with the other defendants."
Outside court, Woodward said Vick didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him.
"He just wants a chance to prove himself when all this is over," he said. "But the other thing he said to me, which I also think is important for everyone to know, is that he understood that some of the things he was doing in life and off the field were dangerous, and he told me he feels lucky that he's alive and not hurt and now it's all about the future."
U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg sounded a similar theme.
"This was an efficient, professional, and thorough investigation that well exposed a seamy side of our society," he said in a statement. "I trust Mr. Vick learned important lessons and that his admission of guilt will speed his rehabilitation."
Vick pleaded guilty in August, admitting he bankrolled the dogfighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs. He has been held at a jail in Warsaw, Va., since he voluntarily began serving his sentence.
In a plea agreement, he admitted bankrolling the dogfighting ring on his 15-acre property in rural Virginia and helping kill pit bulls that did not perform well in test fights. He also admitted providing money for bets on the fights but said he never shared in any winnings.
At a news conference after pleading guilty last summer, Vick apologized to the NFL, the Falcons and youngsters who viewed him as a role model and vowed: "I will redeem myself."
Court papers revealed gruesome details about Vick's dogfighting operation, including the execution of underperforming dogs by electrocution, drowning, hanging and other means. Those details prompted a public backlash against the once-popular NFL star and outraged animal-rights groups, which used the case to call attention to the brutality of dogfighting.
John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States called the sentence appropriate.
"People that are involved in this blood sport are on notice. You can throw your life away by being involved in this," he said.
Two co-defendants were sentenced Nov. 30. Purnell Peace, of Virginia Beach, got 18 months. Phillips, of Atlanta, got 21 months. Another co-defendant, Tony Taylor, will be sentenced Friday.
The case began in April when a drug investigation of Vick's cousin led authorities to the former Virginia Tech star's Surry County property, where they found dozens of pit bulls — some of them injured — and equipment associated with dogfighting.
Vick initially denied any knowledge about dogfighting on the property. He changed his story after the three co-defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.
By 8 a.m. Monday, about 50 people were in line outside the courthouse waiting for the doors to open. About two dozen animal rights activists stood across the street holding posters showing injured pit bulls and the messages, "Report Dogfighters" and "Dogs Deserve Justice."
"We want to make sure the focus on the animals in this case isn't lost," said Dan Shannon, spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Julia Novak arrived with her small beagle, Frankie, who wore a sandwich board with the message on one side: "Dogfighters use dogs like me for bait."
Ryan Eanes, 27, of Richmond, wore his No. 7 Vick jersey as he waited in line.
"We all make mistakes," Eanes said. "I don't support the situation with the animals, but I support him. I believe his apology is sincere."
Cruel Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick Sentenced to 23 Months for Dog fighting and Dog killing
Well, it’s now over. Unfortunately, cruel Michael Vick only received 23 months when he could have been sentenced up to five years. I’m not sure why the judge put a lenient sentence, as he was very clear that Vick engaged in gross cruelty, abuse and killing. As the judge stated, "You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity."
The judge was also clear that Vick lied about actually killing the dogs. It later came out that he most certainly did take part in cruel killing dogs. As stated in another posting we put out on Vick at http://geari.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-vick-former-quarterback-of.html “According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions last April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.” "Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.
The judge was clear that he knew that Vick lied about killing the dogs:
“Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.” “On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.”
Almost two years in jail for years of cruelty. I’m happy he is found guilty and is going to jail, but it’s a lenient sentence.
Article:
Vick gets 23 months for dogfighting
By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vick_sentencing
RICHMOND, Va. - Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for running a "cruel and inhumane" dogfighting ring and lying about it.
The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.
After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."
"Yes, sir," Vick answered.
The 27-year-old player acknowledged using "poor judgment" and added, "I'm willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions."
Although there is no parole in the federal system, rules governing time off for good behavior could reduce Vick's prison stay by about three months, resulting in a summer 2009 release.
"You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity," Hudson told Vick.
Before the hearing, Michael Vick's brother, Marcus Vick, sat with his right arm around their mother, comforting her as she buried her head in her hands and wept.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank called the sentencing another step in Vick's "legal journey."
"This is a difficult day for Michael's family and for a lot of us, including many of our players and fans who have been emotionally invested in Michael over the years," Blank said. "We sincerely hope that Michael will use this time to continue to focus his efforts on making positive changes in his life, and we wish him well in that regard."
Vick was suspended without pay by the NFL and lost all his lucrative endorsement deals. The league had no comment Monday on the judge's ruling.
One of Vick's attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, asked for leniency. He said Vick "grew up on some of probably the meanest and roughest streets in this commonwealth," but had never been in trouble with the law and had done much for charities.
Vick was denied any credit for taking responsibility for his crime. Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.
Hudson recalled that Vick at one point said he only handed over two dogs to co-defendant Quanis Phillips, who killed them. On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.
"I'm not convinced you've fully accepted responsibility," Hudson told Vick.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for a term of 18 months to two years. Federal prosecutor Michael Gill asked for a sentence at the high end, meaning Vick would get more time than either of the two co-defendants sentenced last month.
"He did more than fund it," Gill said, referring to the "Bad Newz Kennels" dogfighting operation. "He was in this thing up to his neck with the other defendants."
Outside court, Woodward said Vick didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him.
"He just wants a chance to prove himself when all this is over," he said. "But the other thing he said to me, which I also think is important for everyone to know, is that he understood that some of the things he was doing in life and off the field were dangerous, and he told me he feels lucky that he's alive and not hurt and now it's all about the future."
U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg sounded a similar theme.
"This was an efficient, professional, and thorough investigation that well exposed a seamy side of our society," he said in a statement. "I trust Mr. Vick learned important lessons and that his admission of guilt will speed his rehabilitation."
Vick pleaded guilty in August, admitting he bankrolled the dogfighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs. He has been held at a jail in Warsaw, Va., since he voluntarily began serving his sentence.
In a plea agreement, he admitted bankrolling the dogfighting ring on his 15-acre property in rural Virginia and helping kill pit bulls that did not perform well in test fights. He also admitted providing money for bets on the fights but said he never shared in any winnings.
At a news conference after pleading guilty last summer, Vick apologized to the NFL, the Falcons and youngsters who viewed him as a role model and vowed: "I will redeem myself."
Court papers revealed gruesome details about Vick's dogfighting operation, including the execution of underperforming dogs by electrocution, drowning, hanging and other means. Those details prompted a public backlash against the once-popular NFL star and outraged animal-rights groups, which used the case to call attention to the brutality of dogfighting.
John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States called the sentence appropriate.
"People that are involved in this blood sport are on notice. You can throw your life away by being involved in this," he said.
Two co-defendants were sentenced Nov. 30. Purnell Peace, of Virginia Beach, got 18 months. Phillips, of Atlanta, got 21 months. Another co-defendant, Tony Taylor, will be sentenced Friday.
The case began in April when a drug investigation of Vick's cousin led authorities to the former Virginia Tech star's Surry County property, where they found dozens of pit bulls — some of them injured — and equipment associated with dogfighting.
Vick initially denied any knowledge about dogfighting on the property. He changed his story after the three co-defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.
By 8 a.m. Monday, about 50 people were in line outside the courthouse waiting for the doors to open. About two dozen animal rights activists stood across the street holding posters showing injured pit bulls and the messages, "Report Dogfighters" and "Dogs Deserve Justice."
"We want to make sure the focus on the animals in this case isn't lost," said Dan Shannon, spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Julia Novak arrived with her small beagle, Frankie, who wore a sandwich board with the message on one side: "Dogfighters use dogs like me for bait."
Ryan Eanes, 27, of Richmond, wore his No. 7 Vick jersey as he waited in line.
"We all make mistakes," Eanes said. "I don't support the situation with the animals, but I support him. I believe his apology is sincere."
The judge was also clear that Vick lied about actually killing the dogs. It later came out that he most certainly did take part in cruel killing dogs. As stated in another posting we put out on Vick at http://geari.blogspot.com/2007/08/michael-vick-former-quarterback-of.html “According to the statement, Vick also was involved with the others in killing six to eight dogs that did not perform well in testing sessions last April. The dogs were executed by drowning or hanging.” "Vick agrees and stipulates that these dogs all died as a result of the collective efforts" of Vick, Phillips and Peace, the statement said.
The judge was clear that he knew that Vick lied about killing the dogs:
“Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.” “On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.”
Almost two years in jail for years of cruelty. I’m happy he is found guilty and is going to jail, but it’s a lenient sentence.
Article:
Vick gets 23 months for dogfighting
By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vick_sentencing
RICHMOND, Va. - Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison Monday for running a "cruel and inhumane" dogfighting ring and lying about it.
The suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback could have been sentenced up to five years by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson. Vick, who turned himself in Nov. 19 in anticipation of his sentence, was wearing a black-and-white striped prison suit.
After Vick apologized to the court and his family, Hudson told him: "You need to apologize to the millions of young people who looked up to you."
"Yes, sir," Vick answered.
The 27-year-old player acknowledged using "poor judgment" and added, "I'm willing to deal with the consequences and accept responsibility for my actions."
Although there is no parole in the federal system, rules governing time off for good behavior could reduce Vick's prison stay by about three months, resulting in a summer 2009 release.
"You were instrumental in promoting, funding and facilitating this cruel and inhumane sporting activity," Hudson told Vick.
Before the hearing, Michael Vick's brother, Marcus Vick, sat with his right arm around their mother, comforting her as she buried her head in her hands and wept.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank called the sentencing another step in Vick's "legal journey."
"This is a difficult day for Michael's family and for a lot of us, including many of our players and fans who have been emotionally invested in Michael over the years," Blank said. "We sincerely hope that Michael will use this time to continue to focus his efforts on making positive changes in his life, and we wish him well in that regard."
Vick was suspended without pay by the NFL and lost all his lucrative endorsement deals. The league had no comment Monday on the judge's ruling.
One of Vick's attorneys, Lawrence Woodward, asked for leniency. He said Vick "grew up on some of probably the meanest and roughest streets in this commonwealth," but had never been in trouble with the law and had done much for charities.
Vick was denied any credit for taking responsibility for his crime. Hudson agreed with a federal probation officer's finding that Vick had lied about his hands-on killing of dogs and about his drug use. Vick tested positive for marijuana Sept. 13, violating conditions of his release while he awaited sentencing.
Hudson recalled that Vick at one point said he only handed over two dogs to co-defendant Quanis Phillips, who killed them. On another occasion, Vick said he dropped a dog after Phillips tied a rope around the animal's neck, the judge added.
"I'm not convinced you've fully accepted responsibility," Hudson told Vick.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for a term of 18 months to two years. Federal prosecutor Michael Gill asked for a sentence at the high end, meaning Vick would get more time than either of the two co-defendants sentenced last month.
"He did more than fund it," Gill said, referring to the "Bad Newz Kennels" dogfighting operation. "He was in this thing up to his neck with the other defendants."
Outside court, Woodward said Vick didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him.
"He just wants a chance to prove himself when all this is over," he said. "But the other thing he said to me, which I also think is important for everyone to know, is that he understood that some of the things he was doing in life and off the field were dangerous, and he told me he feels lucky that he's alive and not hurt and now it's all about the future."
U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg sounded a similar theme.
"This was an efficient, professional, and thorough investigation that well exposed a seamy side of our society," he said in a statement. "I trust Mr. Vick learned important lessons and that his admission of guilt will speed his rehabilitation."
Vick pleaded guilty in August, admitting he bankrolled the dogfighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs. He has been held at a jail in Warsaw, Va., since he voluntarily began serving his sentence.
In a plea agreement, he admitted bankrolling the dogfighting ring on his 15-acre property in rural Virginia and helping kill pit bulls that did not perform well in test fights. He also admitted providing money for bets on the fights but said he never shared in any winnings.
At a news conference after pleading guilty last summer, Vick apologized to the NFL, the Falcons and youngsters who viewed him as a role model and vowed: "I will redeem myself."
Court papers revealed gruesome details about Vick's dogfighting operation, including the execution of underperforming dogs by electrocution, drowning, hanging and other means. Those details prompted a public backlash against the once-popular NFL star and outraged animal-rights groups, which used the case to call attention to the brutality of dogfighting.
John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States called the sentence appropriate.
"People that are involved in this blood sport are on notice. You can throw your life away by being involved in this," he said.
Two co-defendants were sentenced Nov. 30. Purnell Peace, of Virginia Beach, got 18 months. Phillips, of Atlanta, got 21 months. Another co-defendant, Tony Taylor, will be sentenced Friday.
The case began in April when a drug investigation of Vick's cousin led authorities to the former Virginia Tech star's Surry County property, where they found dozens of pit bulls — some of them injured — and equipment associated with dogfighting.
Vick initially denied any knowledge about dogfighting on the property. He changed his story after the three co-defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.
By 8 a.m. Monday, about 50 people were in line outside the courthouse waiting for the doors to open. About two dozen animal rights activists stood across the street holding posters showing injured pit bulls and the messages, "Report Dogfighters" and "Dogs Deserve Justice."
"We want to make sure the focus on the animals in this case isn't lost," said Dan Shannon, spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Julia Novak arrived with her small beagle, Frankie, who wore a sandwich board with the message on one side: "Dogfighters use dogs like me for bait."
Ryan Eanes, 27, of Richmond, wore his No. 7 Vick jersey as he waited in line.
"We all make mistakes," Eanes said. "I don't support the situation with the animals, but I support him. I believe his apology is sincere."
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