…than oppose SSB 5187. This is legislation that would allow owners of farm or domestic animals to just go out and kill wolves whenever — no need to try non-lethal methods first, no need to even obtain permission. It has already passed the Senate. PLEASE make a quick, polite call to your state representative (if you don’t know name and number, check here).  All you need to say is ‘Please oppose SSB 5187 and protect wolves in Washington’.  Many people don’t like making these calls, but make yourself do it; it achieves a lot. You will be talking to a secretary, volunteer, or answering machine, and it will be quick and easy. Then, take 30 more seconds and fill in and submit this form as a follow-up.

I just did these things and it actually took THREE minutes.  GO!

Save Washington State’s Wolves
Wolves were once native to Washington and are now making a comeback. With the return of this magnificent species, a “State Wolf Conservation and Management Plan” was developed using an extensive public process that took five years.
Two bills now pending in the Washington legislature would gut the plan and turn over wolf-management and killing authority to county officials and sheriffs who are simply not qualified to make decisions about endangered wolves.

Tell your State Senator to OPPOSE S.B. 5188 and S.B. 5193.

Find your Washington State Senator:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

 
Up for a Vote Spay/Neuter and Animal Cruelty Bills – Contact your Senators & Representatives

Century 21 Department Store, a leading New York-area retailer, was recently discovered in an HSUS undercover investigation violating state and federal law by selling real raccoon dog and rabbit fur garments marked “faux fur,” including several by well-known designer, Marc Jacobs. Millions of animals are killed every year for their fur,  many of them skinned alive.  (I could post a video here, but it is one of the most terrible things I have ever seen.) There are so many warm and fashionable alternatives to fur nowadays, there is NO REASON to wear fur and none for Century 21 to sell it.  Please either call them at 1-877-350-2121 and ask them to say no to the fur trade, or email them and tell them.  THESE ACTIONS BY CONSUMERS WORK!!

The University of California-San Francisco (UCSF)—which receives half a BILLION dollars a year in taxpayer funds for research—has a 15-year history of violating animal welfare laws and abusing mice, monkeys, and other animals in its labs. This resulted in a $92,500 fine– one of the largest ever — for the university in 2005.  Newly obtained documents prove that the abusive and neglectful conditions have not changed. National Institutes of Health (NIH) policies require facilities receiving taxpayer money to abide by animal welfare laws and guidelines as a condition of their receiving grants, but UCSF continues to receive taxpayer money for animal experimentation in spite of violating these provisions. Contact the NIH and demand that they stop taxpayer funding for animal experimentation at UCSF.

Ask your Senator to Support Help the Spay/Neuter Assistance Bill (SSB 5202)
This bill was amended by the Senate Agriculture committee last week before it was voted out of committee. Unfortunately, the committee stripped the bill of its pet-food fee funding source that would have generated millions of dollars per year, and replaced it with another funding source that shows very little promise of generating any funds to support this statewide program. The new funding source allows (does not require) animal control agencies to contribute up to $1 per pet licensed in their jurisdictions to the statewide spay/neuter fund. The Washington Alliance for Humane Legislation will work with state senators to identify other funding options for the bill that provide fair and adequate revenues.  However, we do want the bill to pass so that it provides a framework for the program. That’s where you come in.

We ask that you urge your state senator today to support this bill’s passage.  Here’s what to do:

Go to the legislature’s website page for commenting on SSB 5202.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. The first time you submit comments you will asked to quickly set up an account.
Type in your message to your senator being concise and respectful. You can say something like “Please do everything you can to help pass SSB 5202, the companion animal spay/neuter assistance bill through the Senate Rules Committee and pass on the Senate floor.”  Tell your senator why this bill is important to you and the people in your community.

Ask your Senator to Help the Prevention of Animal Cruelty Bill  HB 1202

This bill would strengthen our state’s animal fighting and animal cruelty laws. It would also authorize animal control officers and police to remove animals confined in vehicles when the animals’ lives or health are threatened by extreme temperatures, and create penalties that can be applied in those circumstances. This bill is currently in the House Rules Committee.

Please urge your state representatives today to support this bill’s passage. Here’s what to do:

Go to the legislature’s website page for commenting on SHB 1202.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. The first time you submit comments you will asked to quickly set up an account.
Type in your message, being concise and respectful.  You can say something like “Please do all you can to help SHB 1202, a bill to help prevent animal cruelty, pass through the House Rules Committee and pass on the House floor.” Tell your representatives why this bill is important to you and the people in your community.

Note: If you already know your representatives’ email addresses you can skip the first two steps above.

Stand Up for Goats Who Can’t
Since 2007 Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (SCBT), one of the world’s largest suppliers of goat antibodies, has been cited for several egregious violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), increasing the suffering of animals who are already put through physical and mental anguish.

USDA should revoke the license of any facility that defies the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). There is little doubt that Santa Cruz Biotechnology (SCBT) is a prime example of a company that meets that criteria.

Contact the Director of the USDA’s Western Regional Office to insist that immediate serious action be taken against Santa Cruz Biotech.

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

AND

Contact Secretary of Agriculture and tell him to enforce the AWA immediately.

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

Take Action for Chimps
On January 22, the Working Group on the Use of Chimpanzees in NIH-Supported Research presented its final report to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils, which voted unanimously to support the report’s 28 recommendations. They call for the retirement of the majority of government-supported chimps as soon as new homes can be built and the suspension of half of all current studies using chimpanzees. If accepted by NIH, 350 chimpanzees will be immediately and permanently retired from research!
NIH has opened a 60-day comment period in which the public can weigh in on chimpanzee retirement and voice support and/or concerns about the Working Group’s recommendations. We need your help to ensure that chimpanzee retirement becomes a reality!
Please check out this link to send comments to the NIH

Tell Congress To End Cruel, Wasteful, Taxpayer-funded Animal Experiments
Tell Congress to end cruelty in labs and provide stricter oversight for granting money to biomedical research, and to ensure that all NIH-funded experiments comply with its stated mission to enhance human health. See this link for the cruelty and waste.

Contact:

Find and contact your U.S. Senators
http://www.senate.gov/

Find and contact your U.S. Representative
http://www.house.gov/

Ask your Representative and Senator to Support the Spay/Neuter Assistance Bill (HB 1229 and SB 5202)
Spay/neuter assistance bills have been introduced in the 2013 Washington State Legislature: SB 5202 and HB 1229. Hearings were held on February 5 and 6 in Olympia.

Please let your Senator know that you want to see SB 5202 passed, and your Representative know you want HB 1229.
Emails, phone calls & letters are best.

To find your legislature and their contact info, see this link

Elephant Tania Needs Your Help
Tell the European Commissioner for the Environment, who is responsible for implementing and enforcing the EU Zoo Directive to investigate Tania’s situation, and work toward raising standards to improve the lives of millions of zoo animals in the European Union.
Tania is a 37-year-old elephant suffering a life of solitary confinement at the Targu-Mures Zoo in Romania, transferred from an Italian zoo in September. Although the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria requires that zoos house female elephants in groups, Tania continues to languish without the company of other elephants. This is cruel punishment for female elephants, who are profoundly social.

Contact:

Mr. Janez Potocnik
Commissioner for the Environment
European Commission
Environment DG, B-1049
Brussels, Belgium
janez.potocnik@ec.europa.eu

Also, ask the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria to take immediate action to alleviate Tania’s suffering and integrate her with other elephants.

EAZA Executive Office
Dr. Lesley Dickie
Executive Director
c/o Artis Zoo – Amsterdam
PO Box 20164
1000 HD Amsterdam
The Netherlands
lesley.dickie@eaza.net

For more information, see IDA

Save the AstraZeneca Beagles
Contact AstraZeneca TODAY urging them to release the beagles for adoption and NOT send them to labs.
Please support calls being made by our Swedish friends at Djurrättsalliansen (Animal Rights Alliance) that hundreds of beagles currently housed at AstraZeneca kennels in Sweden, earmarked for closure, be rehomed, instead of being sent to facilities to be used as research tools.
The beagles near Örkelljungain are currently destined to be sent to the UK, to AstraZeneca labs in Cheshire, and we have been informed Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), where they will be subjected to cruel and painful tests.
According to The Times, the closure is part of a £1 billion cost-cutting drive involving 7,300 job cuts and the company buying in, rather than breeding, dogs. In addition to the Swedish facility, AstraZeneca is also closing kennels in the UK.

Contact:

Please contact AstraZeneca TODAY urging them to release the beagles for adoption. Send a polite email to kontakt@astrazeneca.com and IR@astrazeneca.com

Please ask the airline Aeronova not to transport animals for research. Send a polite email to info@aeronova.com and info-cargo@aeronova.com

Contact the UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt asking them to take immediate action to prevent the beagles being sent for research

Comment in Support of Listing Lesser Prairie Chicken as Threatened

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is accepting public comment in its proposed rule to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken as Threatened. The listing would protect many acres of wild grasslands in Northern Texas and surrounding states and restrict oil drilling, development, and ranching operations in those areas. This would not only help the listed species, but many other species and the environment as a whole.

Please go here to submit a comment in support of listing the Lesser Prairie Chicken as Threatened: http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FWS-R2-ES-2012-0071-0001

You do not need to fill our every field in section 1 but make sure you post your comment [section 2] and submit it [section 4]. The more you can write in support the better. Be articulate and professional so your comment will carry more weight.

For some background you can view the USFWS news release here: http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/Documents/R2ES/LPC_Proposed_Listing_NR_Final_30Nov2012.pdf

Help End Maternal Deprivation Experiments at UW-Madison

Tell UW-Madison System President Kevin P. Reilly that depriving baby monkeys of their mothers and then terrorizing them is unacceptable, is NOT useful for humans and is horrifically cruel. Tell him to put a stop to Ned Kalin’s ridiculous experiments once and for all.

Over the past 18 years, Dr. Kalin’s research using monkeys to study the neurobiology of fear has cost taxpayers many millions of dollars. In the past ten years alone, it has cost us $5,075,798. [National Institutes of Health. Grant R01MH046729. Development and Regulation of Emotion in Primates.]

Contact:

Kevin P. Reilly, UW System President
phone (608) 262-2321
fax (608) 262-3985
kreilly@uwsa.edu
1720 Van Hise Hall
1220 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Kate Wodyn, Assistant to the President
kwodyn@uwsa.edu

Tell AFAR Travel Magazine To Stop Glorifying Fur Trapping

In the January-February 2013 issue of AFAR (a travel magazine), in an article featuring Quebec City, travel journalist Jennifer Kahn glorifies fur trapping, and marvels at pelts from beavers, wolves, ermines and lynx – animals killed by a local trapper.
As an educational and sophisticated travel magazine, AFAR should be aware of the incredible cruelty and torture of innocent animals involved in trapping for animal fur. Even companion animals like dogs and cats are frequently injured or killed in indiscriminate trapping devices.
Tell AFAR’s EVP Publisher and VP Associated Publisher that you oppose recreational and commercial trapping because it devastates animal populations, and the cruelty inherent in trapping should not be glorified in AFAR’s magazine or website.

Contact:

EVP, Publisher Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio
phone (646) 430-09894
ellen@afar.com

VP, Associate Publisher Bryan Kinkade
(phone (646) 873-6136
bryan@afar.com

Sales and Marketing
fax (212) 382-3559