Colorado Bill that would Increase Regulations on Confined Animals Raised for Pork and Veal (Pigs and Baby Cows) Moves Forward

Nice to see at least the start of a bill like this. Of course, it doesn’t go far enough, but it definitely sends a message and will educate people to the absolute hell that gestating pigs and of course, veal calves go through.

For proof as to the cruelty of veal (abused baby cows) including video proof see http://www.noveal.org

Here is a summary of the bill found in the writing below: “Senate Bill 201, sponsored by District 6 Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, would prohibit the confinement of gestating sows or calves raised for veal in a way that does not allow the animal to stand up, lie down and turn around without touching the enclosure’s sides.”

Article:

Farm animal confinement bill moves forward

http://www.journal-advocate.com/articles/2008/
03/19/news/local_news/local2.txt

Bill would cause suspension of initiative petition drive on issue

By K.C. Mason

Journal-Advocate Capitol correspondent

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 1:04 PM MDT

DENVER — Under threat of a petition drive for a ballot question, Colorado lawmakers and state Agriculture Commissioner John Stulp are moving forward with a bill to increase regulations on confined animals that are raised for pork and veal.

Senate Bill 201, sponsored by District 6 Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, would prohibit the confinement of gestating sows or calves raised for veal in a way that does not allow the animal to stand up, lie down and turn around without touching the enclosure’s sides.

“My concern is to avert a ballot initiative, which I feel this does,” Stulp said during testimony last week before the Senate Agriculture Committee. “This recognizes the need ... to address future husbandry issues and hopefully get out ahead of the curve.”

Unlike the potential ballot measure, the bill does not include regulation of caged egg-laying hens.

Stulp said the bill also deals with confinement of milk calves, even though Colorado as yet has no veal production facilities. He said veal producers have expressed interest in moving to the state at the invitation of dairy farmers.

“The dairy industry has been involved in some of the discussions around how we will treat veal calves if that industry does come to Colorado,” Stulp said.

The committee, which Isgar chairs, unanimously approved the bill for full Senate debate.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, whose eastern Colorado district contains several hog farms, said he reluctantly voted for the bill, despite what he called “the interference of a bunch on animal rights do-gooders.”

“I don’t like using the power of government to force people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise be doing,” said Brophy, who is a wheat and vegetable farmer. “I would have preferred to let the marketplace dictate how we produce things in this country and not government.”

The head of a national animal rights group said that as long as the bill moves forward without amendment, a petition drive for a ballot issue will be held in abeyance.

“We proceeded with the ballot initiative as a place holder in case negotiations went off the track” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Washington D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States.

HSUS recently received approval of a ballot title — Farm Animal Confinement — which clears the way to begin gathering petition signatures. Pacelle said a petition drive would remain on hold unless something happens to kill the bill.

While the legislation covers only pregnant sows and milk calves raised for veal, the ballot initiative also would prohibit confinement of egg-laying hens in battery cages.

“We certainly want to ban these inhumane battery cages that won’t allow birds to extend their wings,” Pacelle said. “We consider that a piece of unfinished business, but we will wait to see what happens with this (new regulation) first.”

Pacelle, noting his group was behind two successful ballot issues that banned bear baiting and steel-jawed leg-hold traps in Colorado, said he is confident a ballot issue on confined animals would pass.

“Colorado has a great tradition of Coloradans fighting to protect animals from these inhuman practices,” he said.

Brophy asked Stulp if horses could be next on the humane society’s list, given that legislation is being considered in Congress “that severely limits the ability of horse producers to deal with their animals.”

Brophy said rural residents already deal with unwanted cats and dogs being dumped on farms and ranches, and predicted horses similarly could be abandoned if their owners cannot find a way to get rid of them.

Stulp said his department is seeing an increase in horse rescues, adding that “the whole unwanted horse issue is something that we must address as a society.” He said SB 201 contains a process that would bring stakeholders together to fund solutions to such problems.

“People have big hearts to take care of these animals but may not have the financial resources to take care of them,” Stulp said.

The biggest impact of the bill will be on Colorado’s swine industry, which the Colorado Livestock Association’s Web site touts as the 15th largest in the nation.

“The swine industry will have an opportunity over a 10-year time frame to develop their criteria and standards for implementing the regulations,” Stulp said. “This bill will put into state statute a process that industry supports.”

Paul McCartney Speaks on what Caused his Move to Vegetarianism and Cruelty-Free Lifestyle: Fishing

This is a great short article. Interestingly, this is one of the first realizations I had before moving into the cruelty free lifestyle. I literally had the exact same realization under the same circumstances. This realization is usually what it takes for one to make the move.

Article:

McCartney hooked vegetarianism on fishing trip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080312/wl_uk_afp/entertainmentbritainmccartney

29 minutes ago

LONDON (AFP) - Pop legend Paul McCartney turned vegetarian after going on a fishing trip, he reveals in a new celebrity campaign for an animal rights group launched on Wednesday.

The former Beatle, 65, poses next to the words: "I Am Paul McCartney, And I Am A Vegetarian" in the advert for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).

"Many years ago, I was fishing, and as I was reeling in the poor fish, I realised, 'I am killing him -- all for the passing pleasure it brings me'," he said.

"Something inside me clicked. I realised as I watched him fight for breath that his life was as important to him as mine is to me."

Sir Paul, who is pictured wearing a trilby and a T-shirt with the words "Eat No" over a picture of a cow, said he believed if the world rejected meat it could bring an end to famine.

His late wife, Linda, who died of cancer in 1998, launched a line of vegetarian food in Britain.

Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker, former "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson and Hollywood actress Alicia Silverstone are among other celebrities posing for the vegetarianism campaign.

Wyoming Makes Dog-Fighting a Felony

Incredible move. To make it a felony really says a lot, especially in a state like Wyoming.

Article:

Wyoming Becomes 50th State to Criminalize Dogfighting

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,335390,00.html

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

WASHINGTON — With enactment of Wyoming's new law making dog-fighting a felony, all 50 states now have criminalized the bloodsport, a move that the Humane Society of the United States ushers in as a new era for man's best friend.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal signed the legislation Tuesday to up the penalty for participating in dog fighting from a misdemeanor to a felony. Wyoming followed Idaho, whose governor signed similar legislation last week.

With the case of jailed former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick shedding light on the practice, Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle is calling it a new era for dogs and a moment for Americans to savor.


"This is a real reason to celebrate — a landmark moment in the struggle to rid our nation of this hideously cruel activity that destroys so many innocent animals and is so corrosive to the ideals of a decent and civil society," Pacelle said.

Dog fighting involves more than 250,00 dogs each year and is a criminal enterprising involving as many as 140,000 human participants, HSUS says.

The Humane Society argues that cruelty to animals is an indicator of socially maladapted individuals, and cites a Chicago Police Department study that showed 65 percent of people charged with animal abuse crimes were also charged with violent crimes against people.


HSUS has also repeatedly asked the Pentagon to investigate alleged cases of animal cruelty by soldiers in Iraq, suggesting that any soldiers involved in animal cruelty could be suffering psychological trauma from the war zone.

On Monday, Pacelle repeated his request to the Defense Department to insert an explicit prohibition and punishment for cruelty to animals within the Universal Code of Military Justice, citing an Internet video that allegedly showed a U.S. Marine in Iraq tossing a puppy off a cliff.

Kashmir Area of India Begins Poisoning Stray Dogs: Plan to Kill 100,000

Sad once again to see a state or political entity rely on killing to solve a problem. And to use such a painful method to do it.

Article:

Indian Kashmir to poison 100,000 stray dogs in attempt to halt rabies

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/indian-kashmir-to-poison-100000-stray-dogs-in-attempt-to-halt-rabies-792780.html

Independent.co.uk Web

By Hilal Ahmed in Srinagar
Friday, 7 March 2008


Authorities in Indian Kashmir have begun poisoning stray dogs in an anti-rabies programme that aims to kill 100,000 dogs in the region's main city.

Animal rights activists vowed to go to court in an attempt to stop the slaughter planned in Srinagar, saying it is an illegal and cruel solution to a problem that could be better addressed with other methods.

Riyaz Ahmad, the city's health officer, said: "These dogs have become a big nuisance and they are threatening humans. We have placed orders for the poison and then we will launch a large-scale drive."

Dr Ahmad said some 500 dogs had been killed so far and that the target was to exterminate all the city's strays –estimated at more than 100,000.

While the drive has been touted as an anti-rabies initiative, Dr Ahmad acknowledged that with only two deaths from 1,341 dog bites reported in Srinagar last year, it was more about appeasing a public that seems overwhelmingly to support the plan.

Shabir Ahmad, a construction worker in the city, said: "They should have done it earlier; these dogs have made our lives hell."

Animal rights activists said they would try to stop the killings. "We are going to file a suit against the municipal corporation if they go ahead with this, because this poisoning drive will be against the prevention of cruelty act," said Javaid Iqbal Shah, the deputy head of the Srinagar Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals. He said the poison used, strychnine, was particularly cruel. "It cripples the nervous system and then chokes the animal," he said. "It is not a good sight to see these animals die by the roadside."

Mr Shah has urged the city to carry out a sterilisation programme instead but acknowledged that his organisation had only managed to sterilise 400 dogs in the past two years.

India accounts for more than 60 per cent of the estimated 35,000 annual global rabies deaths, according to the World Health organisation, and stray dogs are often blamed.

Cruel South Africa Revises 1994 Ban and will Allow the Killing of Elephants

What more can I say but how absolutely ridiculous, callous and plain stupid. Killing elephants for the flawed decisions of human encroachment on native elephant lands is just tragic.

As stated below, the only thing now to do is to boycott South Africa. Anyone who thinks they'll find a legitimate eco vacation in South Africa had better reassess that thought. Killing elephants proves that the government of South Africa cares nothing about wildlife.

Article:

South Africa to allow elephant killing

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080225/
ap_on_re_af/south_africa_elephants

Mon Feb 25, 7:01 AM ET

PRETORIA, South Africa - South Africa said it will allow elephants to be killed to control their population, reversing a 1994 ban and immediately drawing criticism from animal rights activists.

In a government statement given to reporters Monday, killing elephants is described as one way of managing growing populations.

The government in 1994 banned culling the elephant population, but since then, the number of the giant beasts in the country has ballooned from 8,000 to more than 20,000. The new policy becomes official Friday.

Animal rights defenders threatened to call for tourist boycotts and protests and to take legal action against the measure.

Kosher Jewish Method of Slaughter Known as “Shackle and Hoist,” Exposed For Its Inherent Cruelty: Illegal In the US, It Is Practiced Around Wo

Another religion that has absolutely no concern for animal welfare.

In the “shackle and hoist,” method, the animal is pulled up into the air by one of its hind legs and then dropped onto the ground before its throat is slit.

It should be noted that this method is illegal in the United States. Unfortunately though, Jewish rules dictate that the animal must be upside down when it is slaughter.

This cruelty is mandated (hence, strongly supported) by Israel’s chief rabbis (and hence, Judaism.)

Another sad example of how ignorance in religion leads to no concern for animal cruelty.

Article:

Widespread Slaughter Method Scrutinized for Alleged Cruelty

http://www.forward.com/articles/12666/

By Nathaniel Popper

Wed. Feb 13, 2008

Over the past few decades, kosher meat producers have learned what many others in the industry know: The broad expanses of rural Argentina and Uruguay have everything needed to make great beef, with a stable climate and seemingly endless pastures for grazing. The labor is cheap, and the open pastures on which the cows are raised mean that much of the meat can be marketed with those increasingly alluring tags of “natural” and “free range.”

As a result, a majority of Israel’s beef — and a large portion of America’s kosher meat — now comes from South America. In recent years, every major American kosher meat producer has set up a South American operation.

There is just one, big problem: the way the animals are killed. A majority of the South American slaughterhouses producing kosher meat use a method known as “shackle and hoist,” whereby the cow is pulled up into the air by one of its hind legs and then dropped onto the ground before its throat is slit. The method is illegal under most conditions in the United States, but remains popular among kosher producers elsewhere because it allows the cow to be upside down when it is slaughtered — as is required by Israel’s chief rabbis, the final authorities on kosher meat entering the Jewish state.

The method will be given a public airing this week with the release of a video taken by the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. According to exclusive information given to the Forward, the video was shot in late October 2007 by an undercover investigator during two days of kosher slaughter at a plant in Uruguay. PETA has not yet released the video, but a copy was given to the Forward, which has been investigating the practice since last fall. In it, the animals can be seen hanging from a single leg, struggling in the air and bellowing. Once the animal is put on the ground, it is shown writhing and being restrained by multiple workers who step on it and prod it before the cut.

“It is in a category by itself for badness,” said Temple Grandin, an American animal rights expert who has advised many kosher meat companies, referring to “shackle and hoist.”

“It’s cruel to the animals and it’s dangerous for the employees,” Grandin added.

PETA raised controversy in the past with undercover videos from kosher plants, sparking some to accuse it of anti-Jewish bias — a charge PETA has denied. In this case, PETA appears to have come to an issue already being pursued behind closed doors by certain kosher authorities. Over the last year, the Forward has learned, America’s largest kosher supervision agency, the Orthodox Union, has been concerned enough about “shackle and hoist” slaughter to begin a quiet campaign to have the Israeli rabbinical authorities change it.

“It’s not the kind of system that we want to have, that we would be proud of,” Rabbi Menachem Genack, the CEO of the Orthodox Union’s Kosher Division, told the Forward.

The Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism passed a ruling in 2000 calling the “shackle and hoist” method a “violation of Jewish law.” In anticipation of the new revelations, the organization reiterated its opposition at a meeting earlier this week.

The plant shown in the PETA video is located in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo. According to Orthodox Union authorities, the kosher plant in question produces meat for Israel. The Orthodox Union’s top expert on South American meat, Rabbi Seth Mandel, says that even within the problematic realm of “shackle and hoist,” the new video shows an unusually bad case.

“Not only is it unusual — this would not be allowed to go on in plants [slaughtering] for the U.S.,” said Mandel.

Despite the concerns of the Orthodox Union, the organization still certifies kosher plants in South America that use “shackle and hoist”; indeed most kosher meat entering the United States from South America is produced using the method, according to Genack. Genack said change has been slow to come because the Israelis are the major market force in South America and thus dictate the standards of meat production in the region.

“This will not succeed unless we have the support of the Israeli companies, and that requires a push from the chief rabbis there,” Genack said.

The willingness of the Orthodox Union to continue to allow “shackle and hoist” has already drawn fire from PETA.

“I think it’s shameful,” said Aaron Gross, a PETA consultant who has worked on the organization’s projects involving kosher slaughter. “Anything they’ve been doing to improve the situation, I applaud. I just wish they would do it more publicly.”

Over the last year, Genack said, he has had numerous private talks about this issue with both Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, and Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi. In late 2007, Metzger and Amar convened a meeting of rabbis in Israel to discuss the issue, according to people involved. Afterward, Genack said he received a letter in which he was assured that the Israeli chief rabbis were looking to change the practice. Just last week, Genack said he spoke with Metzger on the phone about pushing for change.

Partially at Genack’s insistence, the chief rabbis invited a veterinarian who specializes in kosher slaughter, Rabbi I.M. Levinger, to attend their meeting last fall. Levinger told the Forward that the issue was discussed, but that the chief rabbis were hesitant to commit to anything.

“They want to see what they can reach with recommendations,” Levinger said. “I feel that this will not be much, I am afraid.”

PETA has said that they have tried to speak with the Israeli chief rabbinate in the past, but have not heard back. When reached by the Forward on Tuesday, the head of the Israeli chief rabbinate’s import division, Rabbi Ezra Harari, said he was not familiar with the issue and declined to comment.

Rabbinical authorities say that the chief rabbis mandate that cows be upside down because the blood drains faster and the animal cannot fall on the knife.

The current PETA campaign builds on the publicity the group garnered with an undercover video released in 2004 from America’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, AgriProcessors, which is located in Iowa. AgriProcessors is the only kosher meat producer in America that is certified to export meat to Israel. The company uses what is known as a rotating pen to meet the Israeli standard that the animal be upside down when it is slaughtered.

AgriProcessors’ use of the rotating pen was criticized in 2005. Ironically, it is the rotating pen — a mechanized corral that holds the animal while it is flipped over — that many animal rights activists see as the best alternative to the “shackle and hoist” method in South America. In fact, in South America, AgriProcessors has led the way, being the first and only kosher company to install a rotating pen in its slaughterhouse, according to the Orthodox Union. This has earned it praise from PETA.

“I think it’s great that AgriProcessors has taken that step,” said PETA’s Gross. “It shows you how bringing this stuff out in the open motivates change.” AgriProcessors did not respond to requests for comment.

The kosher rush into South America began in 1950, according to the Israeli chief rabbinate. Today, close to 60,000 tons of meat come into Israel each year from South America.

South America’s biggest draw is its cheap labor, which is also a primary reason that companies opt for the “shackle and hoist” method. The technique relies on little technology but a comparatively large number of laborers to restrain the cattle.

Most American companies use their South American product for processed meats like salami and bologna — a choice driven in part because the cows are raised on grass, which does not make the meat as fatty as corn-fed American beef. Recently, though, grass-fed beef has taken on its own allure with the explosion of demand for free-range meat. Both kosher authorities and animal rights activists say that before the slaughtering begins, conditions in South America make for more pleasant living conditions than in America, where most cattle are confined to feed lots for their entire lives.

“In Uruguay, the animals are blessed,” said Mandel, the rabbi who oversees meat production in South America. “They are lolling outside — plenty of grass to eat. There is nothing to mistreat them — until the day they are loaded on a truck.”

That final step — the “shackle and hoist” — was common in America in the early 20th century, when labor was cheaper and before Congress passed the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act.

In American kosher slaughterhouses today, the Orthodox Union mandates standing slaughter, which it promotes partially for humane reasons.

The Israeli animal rights group, Concern for Helping Animals in Israel, has recently written to both chief rabbis questioning whether the South American practice could be compatible with Jewish law.

The letter, which was written by Rabbi Adam Frank, an activist with the organization, asked: “Since less painful and more humane methods of animal restraint and treatment exist and are used in the kosher slaughter process, is the Shackling & Hoisting of a conscious animal an unnecessarily cruel practice, thus defining it as prohibited under Jewish law?”

Officials with Frank’s organization said they have not heard back from the chief rabbinate.

Two Employees of Hallmark Westland Meat Packing Company Charged for Felony Animal Cruelty: Company Supplies School Lunch Program

Last week we posted on this disturbing story. In it, you will see video proof of egregious animal torture.

We posted on this at: http://geari.blogspot.com/2008/01/video-footage-exposes-truth-behind.html

The video proof can be seen directly at: http://video.hsus.org/

Very glad these charges were brought. However, torture of animals is still very rampant in slaughterhouses. These people were just unfortunate to be caught. The government has not added enough investigators to look at every operation in the country. As such, these crimes of abuse will go on.

Article:

Animal Cruelty Charges Filed

http://americanagriculturist.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=32291&fpstid=8

Compiled By Staff


February 17, 2008

On Friday, two former employees of the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company were charged by the San Bernadino District Attorney for felony animal cruelty. On Sunday, USDA announced additional actions as a result of the ongoing investigation.

"USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service has evidence that Hallmark/Westland did not consistently contact the FSIS public health veterinarian in situations in which cattle became non-ambulatory after passing ante-mortem inspection, which is not compliant with FSIS regulations," says Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer. "Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection FSIS has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall."

Operations at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing remain under suspension by FSIS. The products destined for the Federal food assistance programs, including the National School Lunch Program, will now be removed from schools and other holding facilities and destroyed.

"We applaud state and federal actions to investigate and correct the situation it found in this single plant among the thousands that work every day to deliver our high-quality, nutritious and safe beef products to consumers in this country and around the world," says Dave Bateman, chairman of the Cattlemen's Beef Board. "The beef checkoff remains committed to doing what it can to maintain these high standards."

The Office of the Inspector General and the Food Safety and Inspection Service continue the investigation. We will respond immediately if further findings warrant. Details about this recall and USDA actions are available at www.usda.gov/actions.

Mercury in Dolphins may be only Issue that Stops Cruel Annual Japanese Dolphin Slaughter

Unfortunately, the Japanese were not going to see the obvious cruelty in the horrible dolphin slaughter. Perhaps the presence of mercury in their meat will be the only thing that does.

To see video proof of the horror of the annual Japanese dolphin slaughter see our posting on it at http://geari.blogspot.com/search?q=dolphin+japan

Article:

Mercury risk poses threat to Japanese dolphin hunt

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/
asia/dolphin.php

By Martin Fackler

Published: February 20, 2008

TAIJI, Japan: For years, Western activists have traveled to this remote port to protest the annual dolphin "drive." And for years, local fishermen have ignored them, herding the animals into a small cove and slashing them until the tide flows red. But now a new menace may succeed where activists have failed: mercury.

This town of 3,500 residents on a majestic, rocky stretch of coast is fiercely proud of its centuries-old tradition of hunting dolphins and whaling. Residents are used to the international scorn that accompanies the dolphin drive, almost as much an annual ritual as the drive itself, and have closed ranks in the face of rising outrage - until now.

Dolphin meat is a prized local delicacy, served raw as sashimi or boiled with soy sauce. But in June, laboratory tests showed high levels of mercury in dolphin and pilot whale, a small whale that resembles a dolphin, caught and sold here. At the urging of two town council members, schools promised to stop serving pilot whale for lunch, and some local supermarkets removed it and dolphin from their shelves.

Rather than embrace the changes, this tight-knit community has been divided, with most local officials and the fishermen's union insisting that the mercury threat is being overblown, while a minority here has begun to question a tradition.

"We are not against whaling," including the dolphin hunts, said Junichiro Yamashita, one of the council members, who paid for the mercury tests himself after the town refused to pay. "This is a small town,

The problems are not limited to Taiji. Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of whales and dolphins, yet the Health and Agriculture ministries, as well as the media, have said little about the growing mercury levels in whale and dolphin meat.

Indeed, the whaling industry seems to enjoy a protected status here, mainly as a symbol of tradition, defended against foreign interference.

"There is a real danger in whale and dolphin meat, but word is not getting out," said Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and an expert on mercury in sea animals.

Japan kills 1,000 minke and other great whales every year in controversial research whaling off the coast of Antarctica and in the northern Pacific. Japan calls the hunt "research" in order to avoid an international ban on commercial whaling, but then sells the meat to supermarkets. One hundred more whales and 21,000 dolphins are killed annually in coastal waters, according to Japan's Fisheries Agency.

Still, the meat is hardly a vital food source: only a minority of Japanese eat whale, and dolphin is even less common, consumed in a handful of rural areas and regional cities like Osaka.

Taiji is the best known source of dolphin meat, partly because it kills the most animals, about 2,000 annually, in a season that runs from September to April. In Taiji, fishermen use a method called oikomi, or "the drive," in which they bang on metal poles to create a wall of sound that pushes panicked dolphin and pilot whales into a cove for killing.

Gruesome photos of the blood-filled cove, and protests by mostly Western environmental groups, seem to have only strengthened the town's resolve to hold fast to its customs. According to the town's whaling museum, the people of Taiji have hunted coastal whales for 400 years. With few other sources of livelihood, whaling is a mainstay of the local economy.

"We are a whaling community, and we don't want to lose that," said Katsutoshi Mihara, chairman of Taiji's town council. "Here, all boys grew up dreaming of hunting whales." (The Japanese word for whaling, hogei, also encompasses hunting dolphins.)

The mayor and most town leaders point to a Health Ministry report that said the meats are safe in moderation.

Strong proponents of whaling like Mihara say they fear that the mercury scare may damage the popularity of dolphin meat, which accounts for about a third of the town's $3 million fishing industry, according to the fishermen's association. Dolphin also fetches higher prices than other locally caught seafood: in a Taiji supermarket, a pound, or about half a kilogram, of frozen dolphin meat recently sold for about ¥1,500, or $14, roughly the price of sashimi-grade tuna.

Taiji's mercury debate comes amid rising worldwide concern over mercury in other, more globally accepted types of seafood, particularly tuna. Like tuna, dolphins and small whales are predators that appear to be accumulating mercury as they feed on fish in the world's increasingly contaminated oceans.

In fact, dolphins can build up far more mercury than tuna because dolphins live to about 40 years, versus a decade for large tuna species, said Endo, of the University of Hokkaido.

When consumed by humans over an extended period, mercury can cause birth defects, brain damage and death. In fact, the world's worst case of mercury poisoning occurred in Japan in the 1950s, when thousands were killed, made ill or crippled in the city of Minamata from mercury dumped into the sea as industrial waste.

Endo participated in the studies that first brought mercury risks in dolphin to light. Since 2000, he has tested hundreds of samples of dolphin and whale meat around the country. In dolphin and pilot whale, he has typically found mercury levels ranging from 10 to 100 parts per million, far above the Japanese government's advisory level of 0.4 parts per million.

The most contaminated sample he ever found was from the internal organs of a pilot whale sold in a Taiji supermarket - 2,000 parts per million.

Despite the extreme sensitivity to mercury poisoning in Japan because of the Minamata case, the Health and Agriculture ministries have done little to inform the public about mercury in whale and dolphin meat, say Endo and other biologists. While the Health Ministry has done its own surveys of dolphin and pilot whale that show mercury levels of 10 to 50 times the advisory level, the only warning it has issued is for pregnant women.

Ministry officials say broader warnings are not needed because the higher levels are not a health risk for most people if they eat the meat infrequently, giving the body time to discharge the mercury. But critics accuse the government and media of ignoring the mercury issue, including the dispute in Taiji.

The same wall of silence exists in Taiji, many residents said. Yamashita and the other council member who raised the mercury issue, Hisato Ryono, said local newspapers had not written about their warnings, and city hall has said little in public about mercury.

To get word out, the two paid to have 1,900 fliers printed and sent to locals.

Several residents said they were shocked and alarmed when they read the fliers last summer. They also said they were angry at the town government's failure to address the concerns over mercury, adding that they no longer ate dolphin meat.

The residents refused to give their names for fear of being ostracized by their neighbors. "The flier is all I know about the mercury issue," said one 42-year-old woman, who said she was worried because her third-grade child had eaten pilot whale meat at school.

Older residents dismissed the mercury fears, saying they had eaten dolphin all their lives without ill effect.

Such generational differences may be what finally ends the dolphin hunt. Most of those under 40 no longer eat the meat, according to many residents.

"We're not saying that consumption of dolphin should disappear, but I think it's inevitable that it will," said Ryono, the council member. "As the older generation disappears, so will demand for dolphin meat."

Yellowstone Bison Still Victims of Ignorance – Even Calves (babies) Sent to Slaughter

This story really points out the true reality of Bison in Yellowstone. For one, anytime they even slightly stray from the artificial boundaries they have to face, they are harassed. Two, the only solution the government ever comes up with is slaughter. Sadly, this happened again, and will include putting 17 calves (babies) to slaughter.

As stated below, “…under a controversial program to limit contact between bison and cattle, state and park officials were sending another batch of 40 captured bison, including 17 calves, to a slaughterhouse, in a move further inflaming the passions of animal rights campaigners.”

Article:

Yellowstone’s Departed: Bison Calves Head to Slaughter, a Long-Lost Hare

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/a-vanishing-from-yellowstone-and-bison-calves-head-to-slaughter/

By Andrew C. Revkin


A biologist proposes reintroducing the long-vanished white-tailed jack rabbit to Yellowstone National Park. (Credit: Joel Berger, WCS)So-called wildlife is ever less wild these days, it seems, and ever more managed, something like props on a stage. Here’s a brief update on the comings and goings of some mammals in Yellowstone National Park, where a new study finds there was a mysterious vanishing long ago of the white-tailed jack rabbit, not only from the sprawling park but the greater Yellowstone ecosystem all around. Some biologists seek its reintroduction. In the meantime, the park’s expanding herd of bison is finding itself in harm’s way once again.

First, the rabbits. Joel Berger, a University of Montana researcher and biologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society (who was just interviewed in Science Times), scoured records back into the 1800’s and found that the jack rabbit was abundant 130 years ago, yet no one has seen one since 1991 in Yellowstone, with only three spotted in the adjacent Grand Teton National Park since 1978.

The disappearance, cause unknown, may mean the ecosystem that is considered the norm in Yellowstone may not, in fact, reflect its historical biological patterns. This species gap could, for instance, explain why coyotes there have been hunting and killing young elk and pronghorn antelope more than is typical, according to Dr. Berger, who reported his findings in the journal Oryx. His paper suggests that wildlife managers consider reintroducing the jack rabbits into the two parks. “Reintroduction may result in the establishment of dynamic ecological processes that were intact before rabbits vanished from the ecosystem,” Dr. Berger said.

My guess is that reintroduction might go a tad easier than others attempted in and around Yellowstone, most notable that of the gray wolf, which I blogged on here recently when neighboring states were given expanded latitude to allow hunters to kill the predators.

It’s a strange reality of these times that parks, which even at the vast scale of Yellowstone are islands, have to be managed. Species are added or culled to suit the limited real estate, satisfy our longing for restoring some pre-modern ecological norm, or sometimes — as in the case of wolves and bison — to accommodate the interests of neighbors, like Montana’s ranchers.

Bison are hemmed in and increasingly wander off park property, particularly in winter. They’ve been harassed by helicopter to drive them back (see the video on YouTube below, posted with permission). But more and more are being sent to slaughter, as well.

On Thursday, under a controversial program to limit contact between bison and cattle, state and park officials were sending another batch of 40 captured bison, including 17 calves, to a slaughterhouse, in a move further inflaming the passions of animal rights campaigners.

As the Billings Gazette reported, the calves had initially been slated to go to a quarantined research facility, but federal officials couldn’t finish negotiations over a necessary land lease.

The roundups of bison — hundreds per year lately — have been done ostensibly to limit chances that a livestock disease, brucellosis, can move from the bison to cattle. (It is somewhat ironic to some opponents of the bison killings that the disease originated in domesticated livestock, and no transmission from wild bison to cattle has been documented. More on these questions is in a pdf here.)

The practice has inflamed passions between ranchers and animal-rights campaigners led by the Buffalo Field Campaign, which today kicked off a week of protests.

Regulators Make Some Moves Toward Non-Animal Chemical Testing Methods: Alternatives to Using Animals in Testing

We’ll see if this comes through, but good signs. If this does occur, a reduction in the number of animals used in chemical testing will be decreased.

Alternatives have been around for years. We have an entire page on alternatives to animal testing at http://www.geari.org/alternatives-to-animal-testing.html

As stated below, “The screening machines will be inspired by those developed for medical research, which can quickly test thousands of different molecules in a few days to see if any have potential as useful drugs.
Instead of using animals such as rats and mice, scientists will screen suspected toxic chemicals in everything from pesticides to household cleaners using cell cultures and computer models.”

Article:

US to replace animals with robots in toxic chemical tests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/15/animalwelfare

Alok Jha The Guardian, Friday February 15 2008

US regulators have announced plans to reduce the number of animals used to test the safety of everyday chemicals.

Instead of using animals such as rats and mice, scientists will screen suspected toxic chemicals in everything from pesticides to household cleaners using cell cultures and computer models.

According to the Home Office, more than 3.1m experiments in the UK were carried out on animals in 2006. Of these more than 420,000 were done to test the safety of chemicals. According to the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), more than 100 million animals are used annually in experiments in the US, of which 15 million are used in toxicity tests.

The plans to replace animals in the US, announced yesterday in Boston, will see researchers from the national institute of health and the environmental protection agency develop robotic machines to screen the chemicals. They said if successful the robots could test a greater number of chemicals more quickly.

The results of the research could have implications for the EU's Reach legislation, which requires retesting all synthetic chemicals used in member countries. Critics are worried that the new rules will increase the number of animals used.

The screening machines will be inspired by those developed for medical research, which can quickly test thousands of different molecules in a few days to see if any have potential as useful drugs. "We now are seeing tools newly available to us for chemical genomics research deployed for greater refinement, speed and capacity in chemical toxicity screening," said Francis Collins, director of the national human genome research institute and author of a paper, published today in Science, describing the proposed techniques.

Catherine Willett, science policy adviser at Peta, said: "This is a significant change in the perspective of US agencies, which have historically relied heavily on animal testing out of habit and have been resistant to change."

Group Raises Awareness to Cruelty of Long-Distance Livestock Hauling: Furniture Treated Better than Transported Animals

I think the second part of the title says it all – that furniture is actually treated better than animals transported.

As stated below, “On one route, about 15,000 pigs are stuffed into containers each year, then trucked from Lethbridge, Alta., to California before being shipped to Hawaii. According to the CP report, the group says the animals are exposed to extreme temperature changes, are deprived of food, water and rest for long stretches of time. Many of the animals die before reaching their destination, the coalition says. “

Hopefully changes will come from this, but we’ll see.

Article:

Animal rights group fights long-distance livestock hauling

http://www.todaystrucking.com/
news.cfm?intDocID=19106

02/14/2008

TORONTO -- An animal rights group says hauled furniture hauled is treated "with more respect" than animals transported in containers over long distances.

In a global campaign launched this week, the World Society for the Protection of Animals says pigs and other farm animals are being "brutalized" by "cruel and unnecessary" transport methods, reports Canadian Press.

An animal rights group is squealing about the treatment
of animals during transport to slaughterhouses.
"The suffering that these animals must go through is quite appalling," Melissa Tkachyk, programs officer with WSPA Canada told CP.
A year-long investigation by the group, dubbed Handle With Care, aims to expose the harsh conditions animals are subjected to during their long journeys to slaughterhouses.

Canadian carriers, claims the group, are some of the worst culprits.

On one route, about 15,000 pigs are stuffed into containers each year, then trucked from Lethbridge, Alta., to California before being shipped to Hawaii. According to the CP report, the group says the animals are exposed to extreme temperature changes, are deprived of food, water and rest for long stretches of time. Many of the animals die before reaching their destination, the coalition says.

Shipping live animals vast distances makes little sense, the groups argue. Instead, livestock should be raised and slaughtered locally, then shipped as frozen meat.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told CP that the government is proposing changes that would ban the export of live animals if transportation conditions anywhere along the route fail to meet Canadian standards.

Macaque Monkey Boiled To Death Inside an Everett, WA Research Facility of SNBL: As Usual, Laws Prevent Group From Being Held Legally Accountable

Very disturbing story. What this once again proves, is that any type of laboratory can do whatever it wants to any animal and it’s considered science. However, if an individual outside of a lab did these kind of acts, they’d be held under cruelty charges. See the hypocrisy here?

As stated below,

"According to RCW 16.52.205, a person can be guilty of animal cruelty in the first degree if they cause "undue suffering" or "unnecessary pain, injury, or death on an animal." However, the law also states when animal death and suffering is connected "with any properly conducted scientific experiments" it’s legal."

Article:

Do Animal Cruelty Laws Apply In Boiled Monkey Case?

http://www.kirotv.com/news/15216083/detail.html

Chris Halsne

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter

EVERETT, Wash. -- Calls for action continue to pour in following a KIRO Team 7 Investigation into the scalding death of a monkey inside an Everett research facility.

We discovered that a cleaning crew at SNBL left a healthy female macaque monkey in her cage, killing it by running it through a steaming hot rack washer.

The US Department of Agriculture tells KIRO that it is looking into possible Animal Welfare Act violation, but other groups are telling Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne they want criminal prosecution as well.

The National Humane Society of the United States and a Washington state-based animal rights group called Pasado's Safe Haven tell Halsne they think jail time is warranted for SNBL workers connected to the death of that monkey.

But KIRO Team 7 Investigators have discovered there are limits to Washington's felony animal cruelty statute that might make that a tough-to-win prosecution.

“There is absolutely no reason to be doing this to animals!” says Susan Michaels, who helped push through Washington's felony animal cruelty law.

She says it’s sad to say, but she’s not sure it will stop anyone from legally boiling another monkey to death at any research lab.

According to RCW 16.52.205, a person can be guilty of animal cruelty in the first degree if they cause "undue suffering" or "unnecessary pain, injury, or death on an animal." However, the law also states when animal death and suffering is connected "with any properly conducted scientific experiments" it’s legal.

Michaels tells KIRO Team 7 Investigators, “I don't even know how to put into words the kind of reaction I have, except to know that I am so grateful to KIRO that you got behind the scenes for something like this. Because according to our state law, it OK for those who experiment on animals, for them to do whatever they want to do them and there's nothing in our animal cruelty laws to stop it.”

KIRO Team 7 Investigators spoke with several attorneys representing animal rights groups who say they'd like to see prosecution anyway, arguing that the boiled monkey was "at" the lab, but not part of any experiment.

Our hidden camera expose found other problems at SNBL that might alert prosecutors as well. In an exclusive interview with us, former animal care manager Joanie McCully reported to federal inspectors animal handlers spraying acid on monkeys and intentionally dropping them on their heads.

“If the monkeys aren't cooperative, they shut them up, then they drop them on their floor on their head and spin the cage. You can see that's going on by all the dents in the floor.”

Paul Nofsinger is another former SNBL animal caretaker. He watched our investigation, thinking “I was shocked and appalled and at the same time. I thought finally!”

Nofsinger says a 2006 U.S. Department of Agriculture report, citing SNBL for poor recordkeeping, really struck a nerve. He says SNBL managers asked him repeatedly to "fill-in" animal care logbooks and documents.

“How do you get it done? You write it that it was fed or it was clean when it really wasn't. It was very common, common and sickening and nothing we could do about it if we wanted to keep our jobs,” Nofsinger said.

Primate injuries and deaths inside labs are no surprise to Jill Lute and her staff. She oversees the Folsom City, Calif. Zoo and Animal Sanctuary, where they rescue research primates from certain death, while educating the public on the importance of "enrichment" programs for captive monkeys.

Lute told us “Even though they might have to be in a research study and ultimately lose their life because of it, they should still have the decency to respect and care about them and do everything in their power to make sure the quality of life is good. They (SNBL workers) are being paid to be there to take care of those animals. They should take it very seriously.”

Lute gave names to these two research lab rescues - Wallace and Darwin.

That's something employees of SNBL say is forbidden inside here. Monkeys are only to be called by their drug-study ID numbers , so employees don't get too attached.

SNBL refuses to conduct an on-camera interview with KIRO Team 7 Investigators, but in an e-mail says it has been told that federal inspectors aren't going to issue the company a violation for the rack-washer death.

However, a spokesperson for the USDA tells Halsne there is an active and ongoing investigation.

ASPCA Launches Interactive Program To Expose Young Readers to Quality Humane Literature and Increase Awareness of Animal Welfare Among Children

What an incredible idea. This is part of their Human Education program.

The program can be found at http://www.aspca.org/henrysbookclub

Article:

ASPCA® Announces New Chapter In Humane Education

http://presszoom.com/story_143310.html

NEW YORK, February 4, 2008—The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®)today announced the launch of a new chapter in its national Humane Education program: “Henry’s Book Club,” at www.aspca.org/henrysbookclub. This is a new, online, interactive program designed to expose young readers to quality humane literature and increase awareness of animal welfare among children.



(PressZoom) - NEW YORK, February 4, 2008—The ASPCA® ( The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® )today announced the launch of a new chapter in its national Humane Education program: “Henry’s Book Club,” at www.aspca.org/henrysbookclub. This is a new, online, interactive program designed to expose young readers to quality humane literature and increase awareness of animal welfare among children.

“At least 30 million children use the Internet as a source of information,” said ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres. “Henry’s Book Club exemplifies the unique benefits of using the Internet to further education. It is our hope that through Henry’s Book Club, we will spread awareness of ASPCA award-winning books through online community outreach, while simultaneously teaching children the benefits of the human/animal bond.”

Named in honor of ASPCA founder Henry Bergh, Henry’s Book Club will feature ASPCA award-winning books selected for their exemplary handling of subject matter pertaining to animals and the environment. The inaugural selections for February— A Dog’s Life by Ann Martin and Buddy Unchained by Daisy Bix—commemorate the millions of animals who enter shelters each year and celebrate those who provide them with safe and loving homes.

On the first Monday of every month, Henry’s Book Club will feature two books—one for ages five to eight and another for ages nine and up—selected by “Henry,” the club’s dog mascot who will don a Henry Bergh-like top hat. For each of these two selected titles, the ASPCA will provide a brief description of the book and a list of suggested discussion questions that invite use by parents, teachers, scout leaders and kids themselves. The discussion questions are intended to educate children about humane and environmental issues as well as promote respect for their communities, neighbors and animals alike. In addition, the Web site will host special guest authors and moderated discussion groups that will be eligible for readers over age 13.

For more information on the ASPCA, or to learn more about Henry’s Book Club, please visit www.aspca.org/henrysbookclub.

International Fund for Animal Welfare Releases Report: Canada Bottom of List of 14 Countries for Animal Cruelty Legislation

Not surprising as this is the country that still carries out the bloody and cruel annual baby seal slaughter - http://geari.blogspot.com/2005/04/comprehensive-list-of-canadian.html

Article:

International Fund for Animal Welfare/Falling Behind: Canada's Shame in International Anti-Cruelty Comparison

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=817203

Canada has placed at the bottom in a comparison of animal cruelty legislation in 14 countries prepared by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

"Canada has a reputation for being compassionate and caring, yet this report demonstrates how woefully inadequate we are when it comes to basic legislation designed to protect animals from cruelty," said Kim Elmslie, IFAW Canada Campaigner.

Facts revealed in the report include:

- Canada is alone in offering virtually no protection for wild and stray animals

- Canada's legislation does not include a clear definition of 'animal' while other countries are explicit

- Canada is the only country that does not provide protection for animals being trained to fight each other

- Canada is the only country that makes is virtually impossible to prosecute cases of neglect.

"Canada's anti-cruelty legislation hasn't been updated since it was written in 1892-when it was enacted by Queen Victoria. While countries around the world are updating their legislation to better protect animals, Canada seems content to stay in the dark ages," said Ms Elmslie.

Canada's poor ranking comes as politicians are about to vote on Bill S-203-a Bill which utterly fails to improve anti-cruelty provisions, simply increases penalties.

"Better penalties do not make better laws. Bill S-203 maintains the loopholes and inadequacies that currently means less than a quarter of one percent of animal cruelty cases lead to successful convictions-the perpetrators simply walk free," said Ms Elmslie.

"As Canadians we should be embarrassed by this result. Canadians are overwhelmingly calling for better anti-cruelty legislation. It is time our politicians listened-they must vote against Bill S-203 and for legislation that will help restore our pride as a nation that condemns animal cruelty."

Legislation from 14 countries-Austria, Canada, Croatia, Great Britain, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland and the Ukraine is examined in the report Falling behind: An international comparison of Canada's animal cruelty legislation.

Copies of the report are available online at http://www.ifaw.org/.

Video Footage Exposes Truth Behind Slaughterhouses: Shows Violations of State and Federal Laws to Prevent Animal Cruelty and Protect Human Health

Violations Of State And Federal Laws that Keep Unhealthy Animals Such As Those With Mad Cow Disease, Out Of The Food Supply

Again, video show the truth. And as stated below, many things stand out as disturbing about this reality.

For proof, the video can be seen at: http://video.hsus.org/

The actions were illegal, “…all violations of state and federal laws designed to prevent animal cruelty and to keep unhealthy animals, such as those with mad cow disease, out of the food supply.”

“…The companies where these practices allegedly occurred are major suppliers of meat for the nation's school lunch programs.”

"These were not rogue employees secretly doing these things," the investigator said in a telephone interview on the condition of anonymity because he hopes to infiltrate other slaughterhouses. "This is the pen manager and his assistant doing this right in the open."

“The footage was taken at Hallmark Meat Packing in Chino, Calif. Hallmark sells meat for processing to Westland Meat Co. in Chino…Over the past five years, Westland has sold about 100 million pounds of frozen beef, valued at $146 million, to the Agriculture Department's commodities program, which supplies food for school lunches and programs for the needy, according to federal documents. “

So, one can come at this from many different areas. If from animal rights, the torture is evident and even illegal. If from health, there is risk of mad cow disease and other diseases ending up in school lunch programs.

The proof is in the video. The video can be seen at: http://video.hsus.org/

Article:

Video Reveals Violations of Laws, Abuse of Cows at Slaughterhouse

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2008/01/29/AR2008012903054.html?
wpisrc=_rsshealth

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 30, 2008; Page A04


Video footage being released today shows workers at a California slaughterhouse delivering repeated electric shocks to cows too sick or weak to stand on their own; drivers using forklifts to roll the "downer" cows on the ground in efforts to get them to stand up for inspection; and even a veterinary version of waterboarding in which high-intensity water sprays are shot up animals' noses -- all violations of state and federal laws designed to prevent animal cruelty and to keep unhealthy animals, such as those with mad cow disease, out of the food supply.

Moreover, the companies where these practices allegedly occurred are major suppliers of meat for the nation's school lunch programs, including in Maryland, according to a company official and federal documents.

The footage was taken by an undercover investigator for an animal welfare group, who wore a customized video camera under his clothes while working at the facility last year. [ Warning - Graphic Video: View the video on the Humane Society Web site ] It is evidence that anti-cruelty and food safety rules are inadequate, and that Agriculture Department inspection and enforcement need to be enhanced, said officials with the Humane Society of the United States, which coordinated the project.

"These were not rogue employees secretly doing these things," the investigator said in a telephone interview on the condition of anonymity because he hopes to infiltrate other slaughterhouses. "This is the pen manager and his assistant doing this right in the open."

The investigator and Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, said the footage was taken at Hallmark Meat Packing in Chino, Calif. Hallmark sells meat for processing to Westland Meat Co. in Chino, according to Westland President Steve Mendell, who is also Hallmark's operations manager.

Over the past five years, Westland has sold about 100 million pounds of frozen beef, valued at $146 million, to the Agriculture Department's commodities program, which supplies food for school lunches and programs for the needy, according to federal documents.

In the 2004-05 school year, the Agriculture Department honored Westland with its Supplier of the Year award for the National School Lunch Program.

In an interview, Mendell expressed disbelief that employees used stun guns to get sick or injured animals on their feet for inspection.

"That's impossible," he said, adding that "electrical prods are not allowed on the property."

Asked whether his employees use fork lifts to get moribund animals off the ground, he said: "I can't imagine that."

Asked whether water was sprayed up animals' noses to get them to stand up, he said: "That's absolutely not true."

"We have a massive humane treatment program here that we follow to the n{+t}{+h} degree, so this doesn't even sound possible," Mendell said. "I don't stand out there all day, but to me it would be next to impossible."

California law and USDA regulations do not allow disabled animals to be dragged by chains, lifted with forklifts, or, with few exceptions, to enter the food supply, all of which happened at Hallmark during the investigator's time there last fall, he said.

Video images show those activities, as well as a trailer with Hallmark's name on it.

One reason that regulations call for keeping downers -- cows that cannot stand up -- out of the food supply is that they may harbor bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. It is caused by a virus-like infectious particle that can cause a fatal brain disease in people.

Another is because such animals have, in many cases, been wallowing in feces, posing added risks of E. coli and salmonella contamination.

The Humane Society and other groups have for years urged Congress to pass legislation that would tighten oversight at slaughterhouses.

Kenneth Petersen, assistant administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service's Office of Field Operations, whose 7,600 inspectors monitor the nation's 6,200 slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants for the Agriculture Department, said he had not seen the video. He added that he would have preferred that the Humane Society contacted the agency directly.

But he said use of a Hot Shot -- a brand-name electric device used to get dawdling cows to move along -- is "not allowed" as a means of getting a downer on its feet.

In the video, handlers repeatedly apply powerful shocks to the heads, necks, spines and rectums of immobile cows.

"That's certainly not a way to have them stand up or a correct way to move them," Petersen said.

Raising a cow on the prongs of a forklift is also not allowed, he said.

"We've made it clear that mechanical means to try to elevate an animal is not considered humane," Petersen said.

If he had evidence that the practices in the video were going on at a slaughterhouse, "I would immediately suspend them as an establishment," he said. "You're done. You're suspended. Everything stops. That's what we call an egregiously inhumane handling violation."

Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and an expert in slaughter practices, called the Humane Society footage "one of the worst animal-abuse videos I have ever viewed."

The investigator said a USDA inspector appeared twice a day, at 6:30 a.m. and about 12:30 p.m., to look at each cow to be slaughtered that day. The practices occurred before the inspector's appearance, he said, with the goal of getting the animals on their feet for the short time the inspector was there.

"Every day, I would see downed cattle too sick or injured to stand or walk arriving at the slaughterhouse," he said. "Workers would do anything to get the cows to stand on their feet."

USDA regulations say that if an animal goes down after it is inspected but before it is slaughtered, then it must be reinspected. But that rarely, if ever, happened, according to the Humane Society.

"They wanted to do whatever they could to get them into the kill box, including jabbing them in the eye, slamming into them with a forklift and simulating drowning or waterboarding the animals," Pacelle said -- all practices that can be seen in the video.

Mad cow disease is extremely rare in the United States, but of the 15 cases documented in North America -- most of them in Canada -- the vast majority have been traced to downer cattle. When the United States had its first case a few years ago, 44 nations closed their borders to U.S. beef, Pacelle said, costing the nation billions of dollars.

To sneak downers past inspectors, Pacelle said, is "penny-wise and pound-foolish."

Reality of Mortgage Scam Crisis and Foreclosures Lead to Abandoned Animals

Very sad story. Amazing that these people didn’t even have the sense to at least take them to a “shelter” or Human Society. Leaving them to die and be victims of a system-wide scam is just unconscionable.

As stated in the story below, these quotes show the sad reality:

"They see a pet as property, no different than a worn sofa tossed into the alley when the springs pop,"

"What we've always known is that when times are hard for people, they're hard for their pets," said Stephen Zawistowski, a vice president at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.”

Article:

Foreclosures lead to abandoned animals

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080129/
ap_on_re_us/foreclosure_pets

By EVELYN NIEVES, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 3 minutes ago

STOCKTON, Calif. - The house was ravaged — its floors ripped, walls busted and lights smashed by owners who trashed their home before a bank foreclosed on it. Hidden in the wreckage was an abandoned member of the family: a starving pit bull.



The dog found by workers was too far gone to save — another example of how pets are becoming the newest victims of the nation's mortgage crisis as homeowners leave animals behind when they can no longer afford their property.

Pets "are getting dumped all over," said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. "Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies."

In one such colony in Modesto, two obviously tame cats watched alone from a distance as a group of feral cats devoured a pile of dry food Jennings offered.

"These are obviously abandoned cats," Jennings said. "They're not afraid of people, and they stay away from the feral cats because they're ostracized by them."

The abandoned pets are overwhelming animal shelters and drawing fury from bloggers, especially as photos of emaciated animals circulate on the Internet.

The first people to enter an abandoned house, such as property inspectors and real estate brokers, have discovered dogs tied to trees in backyards, cats in garages, and turtles, rabbits and lizards in children's bedrooms.

No one keeps track of the numbers of abandoned pets, but anecdotal evidence suggests that forsaken animals are becoming a problem wherever foreclosures are climbing. Stockton and Modesto have some of the nation's highest foreclosure rates.

Despite months of warning before a foreclosure, many desperate homeowners run out the clock hoping to forestall an eviction. Then they panic, particularly if they are moving to a home where pets are not permitted.

The situation has become so widespread that the Humane Society urged home owners faced with foreclosure to take their animals to a shelter.

Shelters are trying to keep up, but the spike in abandoned pets comes at a time when fewer people are adopting animals. Home sales are plunging to their lowest level in decades, and new homeowners are often the most likely to seek a pet.

Even people who are buying homes are not adopting pets.

"People are not bringing home puppies because times are tough, and animals cost money," said Sharon Silbert, president of Animal Rescue of Tracy, a community near Stockton.

The mortgage crisis showed few signs of easing Tuesday after a real estate tracking company announced that many homeowners started to fall behind on mortgage payments in the last three months, setting the stage for more foreclosures this year.

The San Joaquin Animal Shelter in Stockton is fielding more desperate calls from animal owners about to be evicted. Many call as a last resort after being turned down by various rescue groups with no room for more animals.

"They're usually breaking down on the phone," said Kathy Potter, a shelter dispatcher. "I'm quite direct with them that there's a 50-50 chance the animals might be put down."

Still, shelter operators say, half a chance is better than none.

"They may be euthanized at a shelter," said Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society of the United States. "But they'll be fed and have water and have a humane euthanization, as opposed to spending the last days of their lives eating carpet or wallboard."

Bloggers are furious with the "foreclosure pet" phenomenon, especially after seeing photos of emaciated animals on the Internet. Some critics say the pet owners have already proved they are irresponsible by buying houses they could not afford or mortgages they did not bother to understand.

"They see a pet as property, no different than a worn sofa tossed into the alley when the springs pop," says a posting about foreclosure pets on About.com.

The problem is exacerbated because most people grappling with foreclosure are returning to rental housing or moving in with relatives — two situations where it can be difficult or impossible to bring pets.

"What we've always known is that when times are hard for people, they're hard for their pets," said Stephen Zawistowski, a vice president at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Abandoning animals is illegal in most states under anti-cruelty laws, but the laws are not rigidly enforced.

In Stockton, shelter workers recently reunited a family with two rottweilers they had left behind in their foreclosed house. The family was staying in a homeless shelter, the dogs being cared for by neighbors at the family's behest. Shelter workers were able to find housing for the family and their dogs.

But happy endings elude a majority of foreclosure animals.

"Their best shot is for the owners to plan ahead some," Jennings said. "But they didn't plan when they bought their house. I don't see that happening anytime soon."

The Medical College of Wisconsin Continues To Use Live Pigs in Teaching: Group Calls To End of Unnecessary and Cruel Practice

According to the article below, here are some key points:

Thirty-six pigs are to be opened, examined and killed at the Medical College at the end of February.

According to the physicians committee, which is based in Washington, D.C., the American College of Surgeons and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education support elimination of live animal laboratories and stress the use of alternatives, including human simulators.

More than 100 other medical schools, including Harvard, Yale and Cornell, have discontinued use of live laboratory animals.

Article:

Medical College urged to stop using live pigs in labs

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20080128/GPG0101/80128041/1206/GPGnews

By SUSANNE RUST

srust@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 27, 2008

Not satisfied with the decision by the Medical College of Wisconsin to stop using dogs as live teaching tools, an animal rights group is now calling on the school to stop using pigs.

In a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is calling on the Medical College, as well as eight other U.S. medical schools, to get live animals out of the teaching curriculum.

Thirty-six pigs are to be opened, examined and killed at the Medical College at the end of February.

The group, which says the use of live animals is unnecessary and cruel, has erected a billboard on Highway 45 that calls on the school to stop.

More than 100 other medical schools, including Harvard, Yale and Cornell, have discontinued use of live laboratory animals.

This is the first year the Medical College has used pigs instead of dogs in its introductory physiology laboratory - a course designed for first-year medical students.

Although the physiology course began in January, the animal laboratory isn't scheduled until the end of February.

Richard Katschke, the associate vice president of public affairs at the Medical College, said the pigs come from local farmers and were not bred as laboratory animals.

He also said the American Physiological Society, the governing body for physiology education nationwide, endorses the use of animals in medical education.

"The definition of 'physiology' is 'the study of living systems,' " Allen Cowley, professor and chairman of physiology, said in an internal Medical College memo. "The Medical College's cardiovascular laboratory provides students with an exceptional learning experience."

He said it was the "only opportunity that students will have in their medical education to experience the cardiovascular function of a large animal with similar responses as humans before they begin clinical work with patients."

Katschke said the college has received 600 to 700 letters of protest about the pigs. About 50 of those letters came from residents of Wisconsin.

Other colleges still using live animals include the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, the University of Minnesota Medical School and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Human simulators

According to the physicians committee, which is based in Washington, D.C., the American College of Surgeons and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education support elimination of live animal laboratories and stress the use of alternatives, including human simulators.

In 2005, the Medical College unveiled a $2.5 million high-tech clinical training and teaching center, which includes three human simulators - a man, woman and child.

Katschke said the simulators are also used in the course, and students uncomfortable with the live-animal laboratory are not required to participate.

As for the letter to the USDA, Katschke said he wasn't worried.

He said the USDA was at the school this month on a surprise inspection and the agency "gave us a clean bill of health."

The Newnan-Coweta Humane Society In Georgia Looks To Build A "No Kill" Shelter: Needs $50,000 Grant To Move Closer To That Goal

As stated below, they need $10 votes to get the grant. To vote for the Newnan-Coweta Humane Society, go to www.networkforgood.org . Near the top of the home page is a green rectangle with the word "donate" in it. Click on that box.

Article:

Humane society needs $10 votes for $50,000 grant

Published 1/28/08 in The Times-Herald

http://times-herald.com/

By W. WINSTON SKINNER

winston@newnan.com

The Newnan-Coweta Humane Society would like to operate a "no kill" shelter, and volunteers are hoping to get a $50,000 grant to move closer to that goal.

The society is only about 60 "votes" — at $10 each — from getting the grant. "We can do this. I know we can," said LouAnn Jones, NCHS vice president.

Most animal shelters — including the Coweta County animal shelter — euthanize animals after keeping them for a certain period of time. No kill shelters do not euthanize animals, and their costs for feeding, shelter and medicine are therefore higher than other shelters.

The society would also like to sponsor a spay/neuter clinic in Coweta County. The clinic and shelter would be "at one location," Jones said.

The society is hoping to get a $50,000 grant through the Network for Good/America's Giving Challenge program to get the facility started. People "vote" for the charity of choice on the Network for Good Web site. A vote requires a donation of $10 or more.

The vote is based on the number of people who contribute $10 or more to a specified charity. The top four U.S. groups and the top four international groups will get $50,000 each from the America's Giving Challenge project. The deadline to contribute is this Thursday, Jan. 31 at 3 p.m.

On Friday evening, the Newnan-Coweta Humane Society was in fifth place with 697 donations. "We are hanging precariously at number five," Jones said.

Ahead of the society were the Bubel-Aiken Foundation, a Raleigh, N.C. group that helps special needs children, 755 votes; the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, a Eugene, Ore. organization seeking a cure and treatment for Fanconi anemia, 1,096 votes; A Place To Bark, a no kill shelter in Portland, Tenn., 1,245 votes; and 11th Hour Animal Rescue, a no kill shelter in Rockaway, N.J., 1,390 votes.

To vote for the Newnan-Coweta Humane Society, go to www.networkforgood.org . Near the top of the home page is a green rectangle with the word "donate" in it. Click on that box.

When the next page appears, "find any charity" will be near the top of the page. Type "Newnan-Coweta Humane Society" under "Charity Name" and then click the orange "search" box. When the next page appears, click the green "donate now" icon and follow the directions for donating online.

The "America's Giving Challenge," which began Dec. 31 is jointly sponsored by Parade Magazine, Network for Good, the Case Foundation and SixDegrees.org .

Network for Good brings together donors, volunteers and charities online. The non-profit was founded in November 2001. Steve and Jean Case, excecutives with America OnLine, founded the Case Foundation in 1997 "to reflect their family's heartfelt commitment to finding lasting solutions to complex social challenges," according to the group's Web site. The foundation has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

SixDegrees.org was founded by entertainer Kevin Bacon.

Jones said she hopes a local no kill shelter can be up and running within six months. She said the society will continue to work closely with the county's animal control program.

She said Fayette County now has a no kill program. County workers deal with animal cruelty cases and pick up strays, and the humane society there handles animals turned in by owners. "We definitely will continue a strong partnership with animal control," Jones said.

The society has already been awarded a grant that will cover rent for the shelter. The America' Giving Challenge would give NCHS funds to move ahead with the no kill shelter effort. Kennels, vaccines and supplies will have to be purchased.

The society already has partnerships locally that will provide pet food and veterinary care. "It's all about working as a team," Jones said.

She said the group's volunteers have worked hard to help get the $50,000 grant for the society. "We could not be any more proud of our volunteers," she said.

Now NCHS members are hoping the community will help push them into the winner's circle. Local caterer Jennifer Hanna, who is an enthusiastic NCHS supporter, said she hopes Coweta County's residents will come through.

"We absolutely need to be a no kill shelter," Hanna said. "We need to win this thing."

Video Proof Shows Hand-Held Electrical Devices Used To Prod Rodeo Horses at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado

The proof is in the video! Can’t argue with that. See the video proof at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Zj59ton9w

The National Western Stock Show says they’re investigating, but we all know how that goes.

Article:

Prods on broncs prompt complaint

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8088925?source=rss

Stock show panel looking into matter

By Ann Schrader

The Denver Post

Article Last Updated: 01/27/2008 02:38:53 AM MST


In a video posted on YouTube.com by SHARK, an anti-animal-abuse group, men use what appear to be hand-held electrical devices to prod rodeo horses at the National Western Stock Show. (SHARK.com )
Jan 25:
Activist aims to jolt with rodeo video

Allegations that several saddle broncs performing last week in the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo were prodded by small hand- held electric devices are being investigated.

An animal-cruelty complaint was filed Friday with the Denver Animal Care & Control division by the group SHARK — Showing Animals Respect & Kindness.

"Our goal is not to knock out rodeos," said Steve Hindi, president of the Illinois-based group. "We just want them to follow their own rules and stop certain practices."

Video shot by Hindi at three National Western rodeos shows handlers leaning into the bronco chutes and touching the horses' necks or hips with the cellphone-sized devices.

The horses then bolted and bucked out into the arena and

The National Western's animal care and use committee also is looking into contentions that "hot shots" were used.

"We're not taking this lightly," said National Western spokeswoman Kati Anderson.

In a statement released Thursday, Anderson said the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association allows the use of livestock prods to get an animal to move safely.

The PRCA rules state: "Standard electric prods may be used only when necessary and may only touch the animal on the hip or shoulder area," and "The use of prods and similar devices is prohibited in the riding events unless an animal is stalled in the chute."

"The livestock prod is powered by nine-volt batteries and allows for harmless encouragement of the horse to leave the chute," the statement said.

PRCA spokeswoman Cindy Schonholtz said a prod is used only when the judge, the animal's owner and the contestant agree.

There are no specifications in the PRCA rules about the types of prods. Schonholtz said the judges, who receive training as part of their PRCA certification, must approve the device. She did not know what type of prod may have been used.

Hindi said the device resembles the Hot-Shot Power-Mite, which runs on two nine-volt batteries and delivers a 4,500-volt charge.

An official with Miller Manufacturing, which makes the Hot-Shot Power-Mite, said Friday that it was designed to move cattle and hogs.

"We don't condone the use of this on horses and not in rodeos," said Miller marketing director Amy Scheel.

The Hot-Shot Power-Mite produces a shock that "feels like a slight tingle, a little jolt," Scheel said.

Temple Grandin, an animal science professor at Colorado State University, said the "hot shot" sensation for horses would be like getting shocked on an electric fence.

"It doesn't burn them. There is no damage to the hide of the horse," Grandin said.

Grandin, a well-known animal behavior expert, watched the SHARK video posted on YouTube.com. She confirmed the prods were being used at the National Western rodeo.

"I'm surprised they were doing it," Grandin said. "They might need to be used when you're first training them."

Bush Goes Around Court Decision and Puts Whales in Danger: Gives OK to Allow Navy Sonar Training Exercises Linked to Whale Stranding and Deaths

Not surprising at all.

Article:

Bush decision on sonar a blow for whales

New Scientist

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/us/
mg19726403.200-
bush-decision-on-sonar-a-blow-for-whales.html

IT'S not quite full speed ahead and damn the whales, but this week President Bush has given the US navy special dispensation to use sonar in training exercises off the southern California coast, in spite of restrictions imposed by a district court judge to protect marine mammals.

At issue are mid-frequency sonars, which have been linked to whale strandings and deaths, but which the navy considers essential for spotting ultra-quiet diesel-powered submarines. Earlier this month, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper imposed restrictions on sonar training missions in a case filed by the National Resources Defense Council and the California Coastal Commission.

Navy officials appealed to President Bush, who last week exempted the training exercises because of their importance to national security. At the same time, the administration's Council on Environmental Quality allowed the navy to operate without an environmental impact statement. The judge temporarily dropped the two restrictions the navy considered most troublesome - to shut down sonars when marine mammals come within 2 kilometres of the transmitters, and when conditions allow sonar pulses to travel long distances.

Hollywood Superstar Natalie Portman to Launch Vegan Footwear Line: Ethical Vegan Sticks by Beliefs

Amazing that in this age there are still some superstars who live by an ethical conviction. Much respect to Natalie Portman for staying strong in the land of Hollywood.

Article:

Portman To Launch Vegan Footwear Line

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=23550

Natalie Portman has collaborated with a fashion firm to launch a line of vegan footwear.

The Natalie Portman Collection -- made in partnership with specialty shoe retailer Te Casan and the actress' stylist Kate Young -- will feature 20 pairs of limited-edition, hand-crafted designs that are completely animal-friendly, with a price tag of $200 each.

The star says, "As a vegan, I don't wear leather, fur or feathers. Shopping for clothes hasn't proved too difficult, but finding chic footwear has definitely been a challenge."

Yaniv Shirazi, Te Casan president, adds, "We met with Kate and Natalie to discuss what Natalie was looking to do and it was immediately clear that this would be a fantastic collaboration.

"There are so few animal-free collections out there, and Natalie's ideas were really great, in terms of style."

The line will debut in stores February 1 with 100 percent of proceeds benefiting The Nature Conservancy, an organization dedicated to protecting the environment.

A Report by European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies States Speaks Against Use of Cloned Animals in Food

Group Claims that Negative Effects Should Keep Products Off the Market

Finally a statement not put out by industry.

Article:

Europe’s Ethics Panel Says Cloning Harms Animals

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/business/
worldbusiness/18clone.html

Thomas Terry/Associated Press

By JAMES KANTER

Published: January 18, 2008

Just days after being told that milk and meat from cloned livestock were safe for human consumption, Europeans were warned Thursday that cloning causes suffering to the animals.

A report by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies says that the risks of negative effects were grave enough to keep cloned products off the European market.

There are “doubts as to whether cloning animals for food supply is ethically justified,” the group said in a statement. “At present,” the group said, it does “not see convincing arguments to justify the production of food from clones and their offspring.”

The group’s assertions come after a separate preliminary report by the European Food Safety Authority. That group, which advises members of the European Commission and governments, said last Friday that cloned products appeared to be safe for human consumption. The food authority’s definitive report is expected in May.

“Both studies are important, and you can’t say we will favor either one of them,” Nina Papadoulaki, the commission’s spokeswoman on health issues, said Thursday.

The group on ethics consists of 15 experts appointed by the commission and reports directly to its president, José Manuel Barroso. Its mission is to examine ethical questions arising from science and new technologies and to advise on possible legislation to govern those realms.

The group said that surrogates carrying cloned embryos could suffer and that the clones themselves experienced a high rate of disease and other health problems that include increased weight, malformations, respiratory problems, enlarged livers, hemorrhaging and kidney abnormalities.

In cattle, the group’s statement said, about 20 percent of cloned calves do not survive the first 24 hours after birth and an additional 15 percent die before weaning.

Ms. Papadoulaki said the commission would weigh the opinions it had received so far and would soon open a period of public comment. But she was unable to give a time frame for a commission decision on cloned food, or to say whether legislation would be necessary.

Cloning remains expensive, so consumers will be unlikely to find cloned products on supermarket shelves anytime soon, she said. “We don’t believe that someone would make a clone just to slaughter it and make it into steaks,” she added.

The dueling opinions in Europe are circulating as the Food and Drug Administration in the United States has determined such products are safe.

The European authorities are at a more preliminary stage than their American counterparts in assessing cloning and are looking at a broader spectrum of issues before making a decision, Ms. Papadoulaki said.

In its statement Thursday, the group on ethics said assurances about animal welfare, product tracking, public acceptability and steps to preserve domesticated breeds were required before food from cloned animals could be made available in Europe.

The group also recommended further research on species of farm-raised animals, in addition to those covered in the report by the European Food Safety Authority, which dealt only with pigs and cattle.

Police Find 12 Dead Dogs Inside Animal Shelter Managed By Benton County, Tennessee Mayor Jimmy Wiseman: Calls Made For Resignation

And it doesn’t stop there. As stated below, “a veterinarian had to euthanize 25 more puppies because of sickness.”

Let’s hope the calls work.

Article:

Protesters Call For Mayor's Resignation

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=7738948

Posted: Jan 17, 2008 09:34 PM
Protesters Call For Mayor's Resignation
Shannon Dykstra

CAMDEN, Tenn. - Police in Camden plan to make an arrest Friday in connection with the discovery of sick and dead animals at the Benton County Animal Shelter last week.

Police found 12 dead dogs inside the animal shelter managed by Benton County Mayor Jimmy Wiseman.

A veterinarian had to euthanize 25 more puppies because of sickness.

A concerned citizen told police that animals at the shelter hadn't been fed or watered in days.

Police also found dozens of hungry dogs and animal waste throughout the facility

On Thursday, activists picketed the county courthouse, calling for Wiseman's resignation.

Protesters blamed Wiseman for problems at the shelter.

"I'm not going to resign because I was elected by the people of Benton County to do a job and the majority of the people are behind me," Wiseman said. "They know I'm truthful."

Protesters are collecting signatures for a petition to remove Wiseman from office.

They said he was fully aware of the problems at the animal shelter and failed to improve conditions.

Investigators said the animals were living in horrible conditions.

"It was hard," said Shannon Dykstra of West Tennessee Animal Rescue. "It was really hard to walk in there and know with the amount of feces, seeing the animals that were laying there dead. Little Miracle Myrtle, who was barely able to breathe, that was very hard to handle."

"I don't think it's right to put those dogs in cages," said one resident. "If the county ain't going to take care of them, they don't need people out there trying to take care of them. If you do that to a dog you'd do it to a kid."

Wiseman said all of the animals were removed to a safer facility.

Police did not disclose whether animal abuse charges would be filed against Wiseman or the woman who ran that facility.

Wiseman said he fired Jackie Boyette, shelter director.

Protesters plan to rally Friday morning.

Ingrid Newkirk Arrested During Protest in India to Raise Awareness to Cruel Sport of jallikattu

Ingrid was successful as she raised awareness to an act that many didn’t know existed.

Article:

PETA founder held in India over bullfight protest

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080118/
ts_nm/india_peta_bulls_dc_1

Fri Jan 18, 7:26 AM ET

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - Police arrested the head of the animal rights group PETA for a breach of public peace and insulting religious feelings while protesting against a bullfighting festival in south India, officials said on Friday.

Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was held on Thursday after she blindfolded a statue of Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi to protest against cruelty towards bulls in the ancient sport of "jallikattu."

Organized as part of the January harvest festival of "pongal," jallikattu is India's version of the running of the bulls which takes place every year in the Spanish city of Pamplona.

Fighters and muscular wild bulls -- often pepped up with large amounts of homemade liquor -- dash after each other in the streets of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Unlike the Spanish version of the sport, the aim is not to kill the bulls but to dominate and tame them, and pluck away bundles of money or other treats tied to their specially sharpened horns.

Police said Newkirk was held on charges of breaching public peace, hurting religious sentiments and damaging statues after she entered a park in Coimbatore town and put a cloth around the eyes of Gandhi's statue.

She then hung a placard saying: "Reject cruel sport jallikattu." She was released on bail.

Newkirk told Reuters she did not mean any disrespect to Gandhi but blindfolded his statue to symbolically shield him from the cruelty of the sport.

"In the name of taming of the bull, 10, 20, 50 people torment the animal and thousands cheer," she said. "You can see fear and confusion in the eyes of the animal as it tries to flee."

India's animal welfare board has also criticized the festival saying men beat the animals and throw burning chilli powder in their eyes, ears and mouth to enrage them.

India's Supreme Court banned jallikattu last year, saying it was cruel and not in keeping with what it described as the country's non-violent traditions.

But that ban was watered down this month, and the court said the popular sport could be held under strict government vigil.

Fighters and spectators have been gored or trampled to death, and the number of injured fighters has often run into the hundreds. The festival has been marketed as a tourist attraction in recent years.

Anti-Whaling Activists from Sea Shepherd Conservation Group Board Japanese Whaling Ship to Bring Awareness to it’s Illegal Whaling

Very brave act and it seems to have worked. Awareness has been raised as to the continual illegal whaling by Japan.

As stated below,

“Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on whaling because Tokyo says the kill is for scientific purposes. The program is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.”

For more about the Sea Shepherd conservation group see http://www.seashepherd.org/

Article:

Anti-whalers seek release of activists

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/
ap_on_re_as/antarctica_whaling_5

By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jan 16, 5:48 AM ET



TOKYO - Japan's whaling fleet in the Antarctic halted its operations Wednesday and scrambled to arrange the turnover of two activists who boarded one of its harpoon ships after a tense, high-seas chase, accusing the Sea Shepherd conservation group of piracy.

The captain of the activists' ship, meanwhile, told The Associated Press the two were "hostages" and vowed to continue to harass the fleet.

"We will only accept an unconditional release," Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson told the AP by satellite phone from the anti-whaling ship Steve Irwin. He said he wanted action immediately.

"We're going to chase them until they stop their hunt," Watson said. "As long as we're chasing them, they're not killing any whales."

The Japanese Fisheries Agency said it told the anti-whaling group to pick up the two activists, who boarded a harpoon ship on Tuesday to deliver a protest letter. The agency said its only demand was that the Sea Shepherd promise not to mount any attacks during the rendezvous.

Watson, however, said Japan was also demanding the group end its harassment of the whaling fleet as a condition of securing the pair's freedom.

Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research, which organizes the hunt, accused Sea Shepherd of stalling to get publicity.

"It is completely illegal to board anyone's vessel ... on the high seas," he said. "So this can be seen as nothing more than an act of piracy by the Sea Shepherd group."

Australia criticized both sides for behaving in a potentially dangerous way in a region that is thousands of miles from the nearest help in case of an emergency.

Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35, boarded the Yushin Maru No. 2 after chasing it in a rubber boat, and were tied up on deck while other Sea Shepherd activists threw bottles of acid onto the deck, Japanese officials said.

Watson said the activists wanted to deliver a letter demanding an end to the whale hunt and then leave, but were roughed up and held against their will.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australian officials had twice contacted their Japanese counterparts to press for the release of the two activists, and were assured this would happen.

He urged both sides to work together to urgently bring about the "safe and speedy" return of the men to the Steve Irwin.

"From the very first day, I urged all parties in this matter to exercise restraint," Smith told ABC radio, referring to previously known plans for the environmentalists to chase the whalers. "It's quite clearly the case that restraint hasn't occurred here."

He warned later at a news conference: "We're dealing with the great distance of the Southern Ocean. The capacity for adverse incidents is high, and the capacity for rescue or assistance is low."

In Tokyo, Japanese Fisheries Agency official Takahide Naruko told reporters the whalers decided to release the activists because they had done no damage to the ship, but Sea Shepherd had not responded to efforts to arrange the handover.

Whaling has been halted until the two are handed over, Naruko said.

Hideki Moronuki, a spokesman for the Japanese Fisheries Agency's whaling section, said it sent safety instructions for the hand-over, but attached no further conditions in terms of Sea Shepherd's activities.

But Watson said Japan was demanding Sea Shepherd stop harassing, filming or photographing the whalers, and that the transfer of the pair be conducted by small boat, 10 nautical miles from the Yushin Maru.

"I find it very strange that people who are holding hostages are calling us the pirates," Watson said.

The event was a rapid escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's controversial whale hunt in the ocean at the bottom of the world and the environmental groups that try to stop them.

Smith said Australian Federal Police were evaluating whether any laws had been broken.

Naruko said whalers briefly tied up the two activists near the bridge of the Yushin Maru, and later moved them to a cabin.

Japan sent ships to Antarctica in November to kill about 1,000 whales under a program that skirts an international moratorium on whaling because Tokyo says the kill is for scientific purposes. The program is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.

Under intense international pressure, Japan abandoned its plans to include 50 humpback whales in this season's hunt, which is due to run until April.

__

Austria Court Rules that Chimp Is Not a Person

An unfortunate decision for a couple of reasons. The first is obvious. The second, as stated below, is that “Donors have offered to help support him, but under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts.”

Hopefully other ways of funding will come forth.

Article:

Austria Court: Chimp Is Not a Person

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8zJPVs
WkbZyzlqCSCChgL40-WWwD8U6INCO1

5 hours ago

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — A chimpanzee cannot be declared a person, Austria's Supreme Court has ruled, activists said Tuesday.

An animal rights group had sought to have the chimp, Matthew Hiasl Pan, declared a person in hopes of gaining guardianship of the animal.

The shelter where Matthew has lived for 25 years is going bankrupt, threatening to leave him homeless. Donors have offered to help support him, but under Austrian law, only a person can receive personal gifts.

The Vienna-based Association Against Animal Factories sought to have him declared a person and petitioned to be appointed Matthew's trustee.

But the high court upheld a September ruling by a judge in the town of Wiener Neustadt rejecting the petition, the group said Tuesday.

The rights group said it would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Matthew and another chimp at the shelter, Rosi, were captured as babies in Sierra Leone in 1982 and smuggled to Austria for use in pharmaceutical experiments. Customs officers intercepted the shipment and turned the chimps over to the shelter.

Organizers said they may set up a foundation to collect donations for Matthew, whose life expectancy in captivity is about 60 years.

But they argue that only personhood will ensure that he isn't sold outside Austria.