Contact:

Mark Barnes, J.D., LL.M.
Interim Managing Director
New England Primate Research Center
neprc@hms.harvard.edu

Stop the Road to Ruin in Alaska!
Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service NOT to allow a road to tear through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Please take action now — the deadline for public comments is Friday, May 18th.
Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is one of Alaska’s most ecologically unique refuges, with lagoons, tundra and stunning mountain peaks. This incredible habitat is home to brown bears, wolverines, caribou and other wildlife.
But federal officials are under pressure to move forward with a terrible plan to slice through this special place with an expensive, unnecessary road that would devastate fragile habitat and the wildlife that lives there.

contact:

Vanessa Kaufman
Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
phone 703/358-2138

Summary of Washington State Legislature Animal Welfare Bills – 2012

Beagles, kept in testing labs, get new chance at life
For the first time in their doggy lives, a group of beagles are stepping out into a world they have never known.  “They were kept in cages. They never saw the outdoors,” said Shannon Keith from the Beagle Freedom Project. “They had no enrichment in their lives like toys or quality food.”  For the past seven years the dogs have been living in animal testing labs.

USDA seeks to close loophole in animal welfare law to cover breeders who sell pets on Internet
Dog breeders who skirt animal welfare laws by selling puppies over the Internet would face tighter scrutiny under a rule change proposed Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The change would subject dog owners who breed more than four females and sell the puppies electronically, by mail or over the phone to the same oversight faced by wholesale dealers as part of the Animal Welfare Act.

Exotic animal farm in Zanesville, Ohio, is in trouble again
The Zanesville, Ohio, farm where dozens of wild animals were released from cages and then killed by law enforcement officials now faces foreclosure because the owner owes more than $14,000 in back taxes on the 70-acre property. The animals remaining from the October incident were housed and monitored at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium before being returned to the farm earlier this month.

Mysterious Mass Deaths Claim Dolphins & Pelicans
Nearly 900 dead dolphins have washed up on the beaches of northern Peru since February. Autopsies have revealed air bubbles and blood in their sinuses, indicating they suffered from “the bends,” or decompression sickness, after a panicked, rapid ascent to the ocean’s surface. If this is the case, what is spooking so many dolphins, and is that why they died?

Going Vegan: You don’t need to be wealthy to go vegan
When high-profile celebrities decide to go vegan, they cast a bright spotlight on the benefits that can come with plant-based eating, ranging from lowering your carbon footprint to improving overall health. And because we know them from other aspects of their lives, it makes it easier for us to relate to their new food choices.

Medical Firm Strikes Back at Animal Rights Group
A Los Angeles-based medical equipment supplier asked for a restraining order against an animal rights group it claims has terrorized its employees by holding protests every weekend for months at their homes and offices.  Beckman Coulter Inc. sued for an injunction and restraining order against Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, affiliated group Band of Mercy Inc., and group members.

Veganism a human right, says law grad
A Toronto law school graduate from P.E.I. is making a case for vegans to have their beliefs protected under human rights legislation.  Camille Labchuck recently made the argument before the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which has been holding hearings to define the word “creed”.

 
“Pink slime” label forces beef plant closures
The top U.S. producer of ammonia-treated beef that critics called “pink slime” said on Monday it will close three of its four plants after sales dropped and did not recover following recent attacks on the product.  In March, public outcry erupted over the filler for ground beef, which is made from fatty trimmings that are more susceptible to contamination than other cuts of beef. The trimmings are therefore sprayed with ammonia – more often associated with cleaning products – to remove pathogens such as salmonella and E.coli.

Baby Hawk Freed of Plastic Bag
The bird is free.  The plastic bag that had been twisted around the ankle of a baby hawk for nearly a week up in the Hawk Cam nest released its grip on early Tuesday morning. According to viewers of the Hawk Cam, when the eyas stood up at about 6:30 a.m., the bag was gone.

Save Ben the Bear!
The Animal Legal Defense Fund, PETA, and two residents of Cumberland County, North Carolina appalled at the living conditions that they’ve witnessed for Ben and other animals at Jambbas Ranch in Fayetteville, North Carolina, have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture challenging its decision to renew Jambbas’ federal Animal Welfare Act license. The USDA has for years repeatedly cited Jambbas for AWA violations, including unsanitary conditions, hazardous enclosures, failure to provide adequate veterinary care, and failure to supply sufficient quantities of food and potable water. Yet the agency has continued to renew Jambbas’ license, despite the fact that the AWA clearly prohibits the licensing of a facility that is not in compliance with the Act.
Urge the USDA not to renew the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) license of Jambbas Ranch in Fayetteville, N.C. due to its repeated and ongoing violations, resulting in the suffering of Ben, a solitary bear, and the other animals kept there.

Contact:

Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, DC 20250
phone (202) 720-3631
fax (202) 720-2166
AgSec@usda.gov

Protect Thousands More Birds from Death in Oregon
Tell the Secretary of the Interior to direct more water to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge (Oregon-California border) to avert more deathly disasters for birds.  More than 20,000 birds have already died in the Refuge as water levels reach dangerously low levels. The Refuge is widely considered the most important habitat for migratory waterfowl in the Lower 48, and yet the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has failed to provide adequate water to support the millions of birds arriving for spring migration. With more than two million birds forced to bunch together in the remaining wetlands, an outbreak of avian cholera has caused the massive die-off.

Contact:

Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street N.W.
Washington DC 20240
phone (202) 208-3100
fax (202) 208-6950stop
feedback@ios.doi.gov

TALKING POINTS

I am writing to urge you to direct the Bureau of Reclamation to send additional water resources to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and avert a catastrophic disaster for migrating birds. As I write this, the Bureau has not sent adequate water, and the resulting low water levels have caused the deaths of more than 20,000 waterfowl–and that number is rising.
The Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge is the most important habitat for migratory waterfowl in the Lower 48. Millions of birds moving north along the Pacific Flyway rely on this Refuge to successfully complete their spring migration. Letting it dry out would break one of the most important links in a migratory chain that stretches from Alaska to Patagonia.
Clearly, the situation in the Klamath is complicated, and a number of interests compete for scarce water resources. In a dry year, all of these interests suffer. But letting the Refuge go completely dry would be an untenable disaster.
The short-term solution to this problem is for the Bureau of Reclamation to release enough water into the Refuge to support the waterfowl journeying north through spring and summer.
The recurring need to ensure water for the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge will continue until a comprehensive plan is put forward to balance all of the interests in the Klamath Basin. Until that plan becomes a reality, the Bureau needs to release enough water to get the birds by for now. Please send the water now to avoid a catastrophic disaster for this incredible natural resource.

Stop the Slaughter, Protect U.S. Turtles
Millions of wild-caught freshwater turtles are exported to Asian food and medicinal markets each year.
Tell U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to propose and actively lobby to list U.S. freshwater turtles under CITES to require adequate documentation and by ensuring that trade in turtles is contingent on their survival. Export permits for species listed on Appendices I and II are issued only if the trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species.

Contact:

Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
ATTN: FWS-R9-IA-2011-0087
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., M.S. 2042-PDM
Arlington, VA 22203
phone (703) 358-1729

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

The United States is a key player in the international turtle trade, exporting millions of live, wild-caught turtles each year. Most turtles harvested in the United States are exported to supply food and medicinal markets in Asia, where turtle consumption rates have soared and native turtle populations have already been drastically depleted.

Scientists warn that freshwater turtles cannot sustain any significant harvest from the wild without a population crash. Wild collection for meat and pets is a leading cause of turtle endangerment in the United States.

Listing under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species would help remedy this situation by requiring adequate documentation and by ensuring that trade in turtles is contingent on their survival. Export permits for species listed on Appendices I and II are issued only if the trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species.

Thus I am writing to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to propose that the following freshwater turtle species be included in Appendix I or II:

– Alligator snapping turtle (Macroclemys temminckii)
– 13 species of map turtles (Graptemys spp.)
– Spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata)
– Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)
– Diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin)

Each of these species is exported for their meat or for the pet trade, and wild collection could hurt the species. Commercial collecting of wild turtles also intensifies the effects of water pollution, road mortality, incidental take from fishery devices, and habitat loss, which are already contributing to declining turtle populations.

Please act now to stop unsustainable international trade of these native freshwater turtle species.

Animal Tracker

Exotic-animal keeper’s widow can have surviving creatures back, officials say
State officials will return five surviving exotic animals to a woman whose husband released dozens of wild creatures, then committed suicide…Once the animals are returned to Thompson, nothing in Ohio law allows state officials to check on their welfare or require improvements to conditions in which they are kept, Pitchford said

Vegan confessions
If you invented a pill that offers long life, good health, and a body to be proud of, you’d make a fortune. Bottles would fly off the shelves.  Suggest a change in behavior that achieved the same result, however, and what do you get? Catcalls, derisive comments, and rude e-mails…Studies have found that a little meat is better for you than a lot, no meat is better than a little, and a vegan diet — no meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products (in others words, 90 percent of the farm economy) — is best of all. Good luck trying to sell that one. The Bad Food lobby is one of the most powerful in Washington, up there with guns and oil.

Meet Deuce Lutui, vegan
By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard the coach Pete Carroll dropped a bit of a dietary bombshell on Friday by proclaiming that Deuce Lutui had become a vegan…“My whole family is vegan,” he said of his wife, Puanani, and their four children. Lutui then cracked the slightest of smiles before adding, “It’s a little different from the Tonga traditional cuisine. But it’s a lot of education, really, that has kind of opened that insight for me…Added Lutui, “It’s beautiful, and it’s true. I’ve gone vegan.”

 
USACE employee finds vegan diet possible in Afghanistan
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important regardless of where you live, and for Cornelius Cheatham, an engineer at the Afghanistan Engineer District-South, eating well is not negotiable but wholly possible, even in Afghanistan.

Safeway grocery says moving to crate-free pork supply
Safeway Inc, the second-largest U.S. grocery chain, said on Monday it plans to stop using pork suppliers that cage pregnant sows as part of their production process, a practice animal rights groups have called inhumane.

Activists trying to save animals at testing facility in Chandler
“Animal advocates across the country are cautiously pleased that the Covance facility is shutting down,” said animal rights activist Cathy Lasusa.  The company announced restructuring in their first quarter reports, which includes shutting down the Chandler facility, saving $20 million a year.  While cutting costs was Covance’s top priority, activists say their concern now is what will happen to the hundreds of animals tested at the laboratory.

City of Strays: Detroit’s Epidemic of 50,000 Abandoned Dogs
Estimates vary, but groups place the number of strays in the city at anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000. The latter number, which would mean 350 strays per square mile, seems quite inflated; still, there’s no question the dogs are a serious problem. Detroit remains the poorest major city in the United States, and some residents who can no longer afford to take care of their dogs turn them loose, or else leave them behind when fleeing the city themselves. (Local shelters have a euthanization rate of 70 percent, so abandoning the dogs to fend for themselves might not even be, in some instances, the least humane of options.)

Atypical BSE Has Never Led To Human vCJD – But Could It?
There is good news and bad news about the “L-type” atypical mad cow phenotype, found in the nearly 11-year-old, dead dairy cow discovered two weeks ago in California…Spontaneous vCJD occurs in humans in about one in one million cases.  Dr. Michael Hansen, a Consumers Union scientist who has long tracked mad cow disease, thinks there is a possibility L-type BSE is “not necessarily a spontaneous case.”

The Vilsacks May Disagree on USDA Plan to Revamp Poultry Inspection
Tom Vilsack reportedly told the president of the American Federation of Government Employees last month that expanding HIMP was fueled by budget cuts: “He said it’s budget cuts — we have to do it,” John Gage told the Washington Post.  But consumer advocates, government employees unions, and ABC News have been extremely critical of the plan and on Wednesday Democratic congressional candidate Christie Vilsack went on the record with her concerns as well.

Staten Island pol targets cosmetic cruelty to animals
You may have to forget those facelifts for your feline and piercings for your pooch.  Saying that she was “sickened” by a TV program about cosmetic procedures for pets, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis has introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor to subject a dog, cat or other companion animal to piercings, tattoos and unnecessary appearance-altering surgeries.

Fighting season — for animals — peaks in Afghanistan
Spring marks the start of the “fighting season” for humans involved in Afghanistan’s decade-long war — but for birds, dogs, camels and even kites it reaches its peak…Animal fighting was banned as un-Islamic under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 regime, but is once again a violent feature of daily life in Afghanistan — as is the war between Taliban insurgents and 130,000 NATO troops.  “No doubt the continuous fighting in the country has added to the violent character of the people,” says Dr Temorshah Mosamim, head of a mental health hospital in Kabul, referring to more than 30 years of war since a Soviet invasion in 1979.

Help Elephants with 3 Actions!

FYI: POPVOX bridges the gap between the public and members of Congress. It is a real-time metric of public sentiment and that’s why it’s so important to “vote” your beliefs.

• 52% of respondents support restricting the use of certain animals in circuses.
• 48% want circuses to go on just as they are.

Your VOTE is desperately needed. You don’t need to register in order to vote.

Another quick action: 

Send this easy form asking the Toronto City Council not to be bullied by the AZA and go forward with their decision to send their three elephants to PAWS elephant sanctuary. https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2155

Another even quicker action:   http://forcechange.com/19769/save-lucy-the-elephant/#gf_1

Save the Lovelace Monkeys
Cincinnati-based SAEN has revealed it has been contacted by another inside source connected to the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, which said the Dept of Defense-funded experiment is currently a pilot project and is yet to be fully-funded.  The experiment will subject non-human primates to blast induced head injuries. In one aspect of the study, some of the monkeys may not receive anesthesia during the blast. Initial measurements of the primates have begun.  An Official Complaint has been filed with the United States Department of Agriculture, requesting a thorough investigation of the pilot project. Concerns exist about legal requirements for use of anesthesia, adequate veterinary care for the monkeys, consideration of alternatives, etc. The USDA has confirmed that an investigation is underway.
It is believed that the project has been proposed solely to attract DOD funding, in spite of the scientific invalidity of the study.

ACTION NEEDED:

(1)
Contact the Mind Research Network/Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute Traumatic Brain Injury project be IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED!

Jeffrey Lewine
Jlewine@mrn.org
505-272-5028 or toll-free 866-254-6463
(These are general numbers, please ask to speak to Jeffrey Lewine)
The Mind Research Network
1101 Yale Blvd. NE,
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106

(2)
Please contact Dr. Gibbens and demand that he take immediate action against the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute for all violations relevant to the Traumatic Brain Injury Project at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute.

Dr. Robert Gibbens
Director, Western Region
USDA/APHIS/A
2150 Center Ave.
Building B, Mailstop 3W11
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117
(970) 494-7478
Robert.M.Gibbens@usda.gov

(3)
Please contact Robert W. Rubin, CEO Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) insist that the joint Mind Research Network/Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute Traumatic Brain Injury project be IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED

Robert W. Rubin, CEO
Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute
2425 Ridgecrest Dr. SE
Albuquerque, NM 87108-5127
(505) 348-9365
rwrubin@lrri.org

Contact your Representative and Senators about the 2012 Farm Bill
The Senate Agriculture Committee just released its draft of the 2012 Farm Bill. It’s time to voice your support for food and farm policies that maximize well-being for people, the planet, and animals. Message: “I’m a constituent and I’m calling to ask you to reduce commodity subsidies in favor of subsidies that support fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Contact your U.S. Senators
http://www.senate.gov/

Contact your U.S. Representative
http://www.house.gov/

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

Steps to A Well-Fed World:

1st –> Reducing Commodity/Feed Subsidies

Reducing the massive subsidies to large-scale feed crops significantly increases the cost of meat, dairy, eggs and other animal-based products. The government provides about $20 billion every year in direct farm subsidies. Feed grains (mostly corn) account for the largest share of farm subsidy support, more than double the next commodity crop.

2nd –> Increasing Subsidies for Fresh Produce

The next step is advocating that subsidies be redirected towards fresh produce (thus lower the prices). This benefits SNAP (the food stamps program), the general public, producers, and farm workers if applied fairly.

Farm Bill Facts

Fact: The government provides about $20 billion every year in direct farm subsidies.

Fact: Feed grains (mostly corn) account for the largest share of farm subsidy support, more than double the next commodity crop.

Fact: In the United States, 3/5 of farmers don’t get any subsidy payments, while the richest 5% average $470,000 each.

Fact: The Natural Resources Conservation Service reports that nearly two billion tons of cropland soil is still lost and less than 10% of the USDA budget is linked to conservation practices.

Fact: Of the conservation practices that are funded, clean-up of factory farming pollution is included (so tax payers bear the cost instead of the agribusinesses that are causing the pollution).

Fact: Only 2% of children (2-19 years old) meet the five federal requirements for a healthy diet. Although certain calories are cheaper than others, these foods are usually lacking any nutritional benefit, and are contributing to the growing malnutrition epidemics in the U.S. and globally.

What’s the Breakdown?

The 2008 Farm Bill was divided into 15 titles, with 97-99% of the funding split between four categories:

67% Nutrition –> food stamps, school lunches, and related programs.
15% Commodities –> subsidized animal feed giving unfair advantages to factory farms. These commodity crops are heavily used in processed foods which deflates their price to the disadvantage of fruits, vegetables and other fresh, whole foods. To further exacerbate the problem, fruits and vegetables are considered “specialty crops” and receive very little support.
9% Conservation –> includes using public taxes to clean-up after factory farms instead of making the agribusiness corporations pay for their pollution.
8% Crop Insurance –> another way to affect commodities and farming practices… notable differences in shallow loss and deep loss assistance.

Compassionate Communities

Animal rights group to be freed this evening
Members of an animal rights group, arrested on Saturday for attacking a center that breeds dogs used in scientific experiments, will be freed this evening. Twelve members of the group, eight women and four men, were interrogated today for attacking the Green Hill breeding station at Montichiari in Brescia that raises beagles. a Montichiari (Brescia).

Animal-rights group files complaint against University of Washington
An animal-rights group that watchdogs research facilities across the country has filed a federal complaint against the University of Washington, citing multiple incidents in which animals were injured, escaped from their cages or were found dead.

FDA approves plague treatment as animal testing ethics resurface
It’s been a busy week for animal-rights with a federal complaint against UW, the storming of a Beagle farm by Italian activists and the FDA approving the drug Levaquin for the treatment of plague, after it was tested on African green monkeys.

Ohio Senate Approves Exotic Animal Bill
The state Senate has passed a bill to ban Ohioans from acquiring new exotic animals and regulate the current owners of tigers, lions and other creatures.

Animal lovers, hunters pack Capitol over hunting dog ban bill
Hundreds of animal lovers and hunters packed the Capitol on Tuesday to testify about a bill seeking to ban the use of dogs to hunt bears and bobcats in California, legislation that arose after a top state fish and game official drew heat for killing a mountain lion during a legal hound-hunting trip in Idaho.

Lucy the elephant staying in Edmonton despite animal-rights campaign
Lucy the elephant appears to be staying put after a ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday that it will not hear a case regarding her future.  The court rejected an application to hear the case between animal-rights activists, who want the elephant moved, and the City of Edmonton, which owns the Edmonton Valley Zoo where Lucy lives.

Fur, Feathers, Ivory and Bone: The U.S. Military and Endangered Species Souvenirs
The links between conflict and contraband are as old as war, and have been the subject of extensive research. The reasons are easy to grasp, if sometimes hard to trace. Wars disrupt economies and can create acute shortages, often while encouraging lawlessness and the breakdown of borders and institutions. In these circumstances, smugglers are both in demand and can thrive.

Vets in Scotland train to spot domestic abuse victims
Vets in Scotland will be trained to spot signs of abuse in both animals and their owners, in a bid to help victims of domestic violence.  The Domestic Abuse Veterinary Initiative (DAVI) has been developed by six charities including Medics Against Violence (MAV) and Crimestoppers.

Ellen DeGeneres says her vegan diet wasn’t always easy, but glad she made the change
She first tried to quit meat 15 years ago, she said in a telephone interview, but lasted only six months.
“I’ve always called myself an animal lover. And yet I ate them,” she said. “Until four years ago I would be driving past these cows on pastures, and think ‘What a lovely life that is,’ and I’d go and order a steak. It takes a click, just one light bulb, and you’re like ‘I can’t do that anymore.’”

As Bison Return to Prairie, Some Rejoice, Others Worry
“Populations of all native Montana wildlife have been allowed to rebound except bison; it’s time to take care of them like they once took care of us,” said Robert Magnan, 58, director of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation’s Fish and Game Department, who will oversee the transplanted Yellowstone bison program.  But with several groups now navigating a complex and contentious path to return bison to these plains, agribusiness is fighting back. Many farmers and ranchers fear that bison, particularly those from Yellowstone, might be mismanaged and damage private property, and worry that they would compete for grass with their own herds.

A Place for Old Chickens, Outside the Pot
While many Portlanders still pluck aging birds for the broiler, others seek a blissful, pastoral end for them. Because most chickens lay the majority of eggs early in life, and can live about 10 years, the quest for a place where chickens can live out their sunset years has brought a boom to at least two farm animal sanctuaries and led Pete Porath, a self-described chicken slinger, to expand the portion of his business that finds new homes for unwanted birds.

To effect change, should the 99% go vegan?
“Fact: Diet-related disease is the biggest killer in the United States, right now, here today,” said Jamie Oliver in his 2010 “TedTalks” presentation. “Your child will live a life 10 years younger than you because of the landscape of food that we’ve built around them.”  Is it child abuse? Oliver argues that it is, and that in addition to nourishing our children, we should also educate them on how and what to eat. His critics accuse him of overstepping and say he should pack up and go back to Britain. Who is he to tell us what’s right for our children? “All I can say is: I care. I’m a father, and I love this country, and I believe truly, actually, that if change can be made in this country, beautiful things will happen around the world. If America does it, I believe other people will follow.”

Urge Congress To Re-Open Investigation Of NIH!
With a budget of $32 billion, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the world’s largest funder of biomedical research. But the agency continues to fund wasteful and ridiculous animal experiments which have nothing to do with its stated mission “to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.”
Please help reform the broken NIH funding system and end decades of repetitive animal research by asking the Chair of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Rep. Cliff Stearns (FL), to re-open the subcommittee’s investigation of the NIH.

Contact Cliff Stearns and ask him to investigate NIH funding

2306 Rayburn House Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-5744
email contact form

Tell USDA to deny ALL horse slaughter plant applications
Horse slaughter proponents are taking steps to open horse slaughter plants in the United States. Unless citizens object, horses may soon be commercially slaughtered in our communities for human consumption overseas. There is already a slaughterhouse in New Mexico being considered for government approval to slaughter horses.
According to a national poll conducted in January 2012, 80% of Americans are strongly against horse slaughter. Americans do not raise horses for food or eat horse meat. Horse slaughter will benefit only foreign-owned corporations who profit by catering to overseas specialty markets. These corporations have no regard for the welfare of our nation’s horses or the communities we call home.
Horse slaughter plants are not clean/green enterprises. They are an economic and environmental nightmare: polluting local water supplies, lowering property values and filling the air with a foul stench. Five years after the closure of a horse slaughter plant in Kaufman, Texas, the community is still trying to recover from the damage that the plant caused.

Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue S.W.
Washington, DC 20250
phone (202) 720-3631
fax (202) 720-2166
AgSec@usda.gov

Save Our Bees and the Food We Eat! Ban Bayer’s Chemicals Now!
The EPA must act now to ban the sale of Bayer’s neoniconitoid products. When the bees suffer, we all suffer. We must do everything possible to protect this essential pollinator. Our bees, and the plants that depend on them, can’t wait.

Contact

Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20460
EPA general number (202) 272-0167
jackson.lisap@epa.gov