Pasado’s Safe Haven Outreach Manager Brenna Anderst sent this email alert last week:
| The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) *automatically* renews breeders’ Animal Welfare Act (AWA) licenses every year, EVEN if a breeder fails to meet the incredibly low USDA licensing standards.This means that puppy mill operators can stay in business without any worries of enforcement.
The USDA recently released a proposal to fix its abysmal licensing system. However, the proposal has two key problems: 1) It doesn’t stop bad breeders from getting or keeping a license and 2) It indicates that the USDA plans to keep withholding basic information about the breeding industry from the public. Will you lend your voice to help the countless animals trapped in puppy mills, hidden from public view? The comment period for this new proposal ends May 21st – so please act now! PLEASE TAKE 2 MINUTES and tell the USDA that they need to redraft the Animal Welfare Act licensing requirements and do more to enforce the animal welfare laws that protect innocent animals. Your voice matters RIGHT NOW! And it only takes 2 Minutes! |
Photo by Jo-anne MacArthur, WeAnimals.org
The city of Tenino, Wash., near Olympia plans to host the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus at a city park on June 1.
The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus uses wild animals such as big cats as part of their acts and have received numerous citations from the USDA,
including:
Please contact Tenino’s mayor and city council and politely request that they not welcome a circus that uses animals.
Tenino Mayor Wayne Fournier: (360) 264-2368, mayor@ci.tenino.wa.us
Tenino City Council members:
Animal cruelty is not entertainment, as a recent expose by the Humane Society of the United States found. Its reporter, Karen E. Lange, sums up the situation well: “Without expert knowledge of tigers or training methods, many in the crowd probably feel they’ve seen a fun show: happy, if somewhat lazy, tigers performing for meat treats. Distracted by the excitement of live tigers and by the trainer’s spiel, they have missed troubling signals—the way the trainer’s assistant used a heavy metal pole to prod the tigers to move, the way the “Royal Bengal” leapt from the trainer when he jabbed the meat treat pole at the ground, as though shocked by an electric current. They have not seen what animal behavior experts who watch the same show readily do: a man using threats of pain to coerce wild animals into doing tricks.”
It’s abusive to the animals and can be dangerous for spectators, according to the report.
AThe Mountain Lion Foundation just posted this urgent alert:
HB 1516 has passed the Washington State Legislature and would require the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to select hound hunters to train their dogs by chasing cougars, bobcats, or bears.
But there is still hope – Governor Jay Inslee [who’s running for the Democratic presidential nomination on a climate platform] can veto HB 1516!
Cougars need your help now. The bill is on its way to the Governor’s desk.
Please ask Governor Inslee to VETO HB 1516 by contacting him at his official message page or by phone at (360) 902-4111.
Here’s why:
The people of Washington believe that individuals should take personal responsibility to coexist with cougars.
With 63% of voters approving Initiative 655 in 1996, the people of Washington prohibited hunting bear, cougar, bobcat, and lynx with dogs.
WDFW’s own 2008 Cougar Attitude Survey showed overwhelming citizen support for these two statements:
Let’s not needlessly train a new generation of hound hunters!
Ask the Governor: Why now? In Initiative 655, the Fish and Wildlife Commission was authorized to allow the use of dogs to hunt or pursue black bear, cougar, bobcat, or lynx onlyif there was a public safety need; to protect livestock, domestic animals, and private property; for scientific purposes; or to protect endangered species.
We believe that no such new need has been established.
It has not been demonstrated scientifically that additional hounding of mountain lions will provide livestock producers with better protection for domestic animals, or people with greater safety. Washington’s relatively rare cougar conflicts are far better managed using less dangerous techniques.
This legislation is an excessive overstep. It is unreasonable to sanction harassment and possible death by hounds given all the threats cougars face with a human population that is growing exponentially, and alongside increasing competition with wolves to survive in less and less wild habitat.
Hounding is inhumane.
Hounds kill cougar kittens, and cougars often injure or kill hounds (Lindzey et al. 1992, Logan and Sweanor 2001, Elbroch et al. 2013).
Mountain lions are caused significant stress by hounding (Harlow et al. 1992, Bryce et al. 2017).
Hounds also chase, stress and change the behavior of other wildlife species including deer and other ungulates (Hristienko and McDonald 2007, Grignolio et al. 2011, Mori 2017), as well as putting pets and livestock at risk.
Please, take action immediately:
Ask Jay Inslee to VETO HB 1516 by contacting him at the Governor ‘s official message page or by phone at (360) 902-4111.
Hounding is not necessary. It’s clearly against the will of Washington voters. Hounding causes stress, injury and death to both wild and domestic animals. There’s no upside to this bill.
Please be respectful and clear in all communications. Discourteous communications reflect poorly on advocates for wildlife and the conservation community.
There’s more YOU can do!
State Senate Bill 5211, which would ban the use of live animals given invasive medical procedures during paramedic trainings, made it through the state house but is stuck in Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-Spokane)’s Appropriations Committee.
Here’s his number: (360) 786-7946. If you know anyone in Spokane, encourage them to call too: That’s the area he represents.
It’s tight, but there’s still time for him to get this bill out of his committee and up for a vote.
Please call and leave a quick message today! Let’s get SB 5211 passed!!
Amazingly, House Bill 2097 that threatens the endangered status of wolves in Washington state is still alive in the state Senate. It’s passed the full House and is now up for a second reading before the full Senate.
Even if you’ve already written, now is the time to call your state senator (type your address in here) and let him or her know that you oppose this bill. Leave a message tonight (Sunday) so they get it in the morning, or call first thing Monday before they vote.
While you’re on the phone, ask them to vote FOR HB 1026, which is also up for a Senate vote. It would prohibit a city or county from prohibiting the possession of a dog based upon its breed, imposing requirements specific to possession of a dog based upon its breed, or declaring a dog dangerous or potentially dangerous based upon its breed unless certain conditions are met.
Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals
A bill by Washington Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, that asks the state to revisit whether wolves are endangered in Washington has passed the state house and is moving through the Senate, on track to pass.
H.B. 2097 calls for the Department of Fish and Wildlife—which has overseen the killing of wolves on behalf of Washington ranchers whose cattle graze on state land—to determine whether wolves are no longer endangered either statewide or in parts of Washington.
It also calls for more resources to implement nonlethal deterrents to wolf-livestock management, which would be a relief given that a former Washington State University wolf expert said he thought such deterrents were not being implemented properly.
A better solution would be for ranchers to stop grazing their livestock on public land. Barring that, if they do raise their cattle on public land, they could accept the risk that a small percentage might be lost to wolves. The state’s ratio of cattle to wolves is about 1 million to 120, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Yet 20% of the wolves have been killed, most of them for a single rancher.
The center calls for wildlife officials to “follow the science by ramping up nonlethal measures, opening their decisions to scientific peer review and public comment and do more to protect our endangered wolves, which after all is the agency’s mission.”
H.B. 2097 gets it half right. Asking an agency that’s acted on behalf of ranchers to decide whether to delist the wolves as endangered is the other half, and the reason to kill the bill.
Please contact your Washington state legislators (find them here) and ask them not to pass this bill.
From Citizens to Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation:
“In a groundbreaking move, global drug developer Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has filed a lawsuit and taken a principled stance against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its senseless demand that the company conduct an additional nine-month, large animal toxicity study in order to proceed with clinical trials for Vanda’s new drug, tradipitant.
The FDA’s decision means that dozens of animals, most likely dogs, will be put to death after enduring painful side effects from high levels of the drug.”
Support Vanda by filling out this form to be sent to the FDA and the Health and Human Services Secretary.
“While harsh and inhumane, the stipulation is also unnecessary. Vanda has already conducted numerous FDA-required animal tests, including three- and six-month trials with rats, mice and dogs at 300 times the human dosage amounts, and (according to the company) with no significant safety concerns.
It is highly unlikely that outcomes from an additional nine-month trial would deviate from previous results, but it is 100% certain that dozens of dogs will die a miserable death because of it.
CAARE emphatically supports Vanda’s lawsuit and has already reached out to the company letting them know we will back their position to the fullest extent.
We’re asking you to join us in supporting Vanda’s historic stance opposing the FDA’s senseless requirement for additional animal tests.
Fill out the form above to send your letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, letting them know you support Vanda’s efforts to waive these additional animal tests.
Vanda has released an open letter that unequivocally states its position, and urges all concerned individuals to get involved: “The FDA has relied on industry complacency for too long. Vanda refuses to sacrifice young beagles or other animals in a study that serves no scientific purpose. … Vanda is therefore standing up to the FDA and hopes that other scientists, drug companies, animal advocates, and the public will do the same.””
Thank you to CAARE for bringing this oppportunity for action to light!
Cooper Tires and others are sponsoring Professional Bull Riders (PBR) at the “Tacoma Invitational” on March 30 and 31.
Let’s speak up for the bulls, who are cinched with tight straps or ropes and spurred to make them buck. They often sustain serious injuries, from burns to neck and back damage.
That’s not to mention the electrical “hotshot” used in the chute to cause tremendous pain.
They’re often so bruised and injured that they’re sold to slaughterhouses.
Please speak out using PBR’s social media outlets:
And write to the businesses that support this treatment of animals:
These bills either made it into committees or have a chance. Either way, they need an extra push to pass or fail in the current session of the legislature — so please call (if you have time) or email soon!
Find your legislators here — and fill out a single simple form for all three of your representatives.
ASK LAWMAKERS TO OPPOSE
HB 1323: Would provide funding for Woodland Park Zoo, which is a PRIVATE zoo with a horrible track record with elephants and other animals. More information here.
ASK LAWMAKERS TO SUPPORT
HB 1919: Would expand the circumstances under which a person may commit an Animal Fighting offense to include, among other things. Read more here.
HB 1026: Prohibits a city or county from prohibiting the possession of a dog based upon its breed, imposing requirements specific to possession of a dog based upon its breed, or declaring a dog dangerous or potentially dangerous based upon its breed unless certain conditions are met.
SB 5004: Save Washington Pets says: “This important bill authorizes public animal shelters and nonprofit humane societies to provide expanded veterinary services to benefit low-income pet owners. Under current law, services are limited to spay/neuter, electronic ID (microchipping) and vaccinations. Those restrictions are lifted under this bill.”
HB 1476: [NEEDS TO GET OUT OF COMMITTEE BY NEXT WEEK!] would prohibit contracts that use dogs or cats as security or collateral, so that these pets cannot be repossessed.
SB 5211: Prohibits the use of live animals to practice invasive medical procedures in paramedic training programs.
SB 5212: Promotes the adoption of dogs and cats that have been used for science or research purposes.
If you have time to write more, here are talking points:
THANKS for you help in stopping the zoos from getting more of our tax dollars which they will use to confine and breed/capture wild animals.