Two bills in Congress would put limits on cruel animal trapping:
It’s also expected that the Limiting Inhumane Federal Trapping (LIFT) for Public Safety Act, which would ban traps on federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior and Wildlife Services, will be reintroduced.
Please call your representatives and urge them to support these bills.
The executive director of the Oregon nonprofit Predator Defense recounts a story in this Dodo post about a coyote he once found in a trap set by Wildlife Services, a branch of the USDA that kills tens of thousands of coyotes every year — including 76,963 coyotes in 2016 — by trapping, shooting, snaring and poisoning them. The coyote who Brooks Fahy found had been trapped for at least a week and was drinking water from melted snow next to him and eating small animals that someone — apparently his mate — had brought to him.
Sadly, the coyote was in too much pain to live and had to be euthanized. Fahy has seen animals who broke teeth trying to get out of traps, among many other horrors — but this is the animal he remembers most. The coyote died in 1992. Last year, 19,000 of the coyotes the government killed were caught — and often died — in leg traps.
Traps are cruel, bone-crushing torture devices. Animals suffer with agony in their legs, necks and other body parts for unconscionable lengths of time.
There are unintentional victims, too, including humans: “We have seen it happen too many times: a mountain lion cub caught in a leghold trap; a dog who breaks her teeth to the gum line in her panic to free herself from a trap; a boy rushed to the ER with a Conibear trap on his arm; a young man getting ensnared in a Conibear trap set near a park playground. These traps are cruel, archaic and terrifyingly indiscriminate, and they can be found anywhere,” Jennifer Place, a program associate at Born Free USA who specializes in trapping issues, told The Dodo.
I’m reposting this from a month ago, because the Senate votes on it tomorrow. It already passed the House.
The House of Representatives voted last month to allow the stuff of wildlife snuff films to happen in Alaska’s 16 wildlife refuges: The denning of wolf pups, the killing of hibernating bears, the spotting of grizzly bears from aircraft and then shooting them after landing, and the trapping of grizzly bears and black bears with steel-jawed leghold traps and snares.
Talk about turning back the clock — and turning the refuges into “game farms,” as retired Arctic National Wildlife biologist Fran Mauer put it.
Top scientists had backed a ban on those practices last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying such killing would not increase moose and caribou numbers.
Don Young, the Alaskan representative who proposed this unsound legislation, said on the House floor that he has killed wolves in their dens. Bizarrely, he also argued that denning and hunting from the air don’t occur. Hmmm.
And he called it a states rights issue — but these are federal refuges.
Five Democrats voted with the Republican majority: Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela of Texas, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, and Collin Peterson of Minnesota.
Ten Republicans opposed the killing, including Dave Reichert of Washington. Here’s his number, if you’d like to thank him (it was House Joint Resolution 69): 202-225-7761.
And here are numbers for Washington’s Senators. Please ask them to block Senate Joint Resolution 18:
Sen. Patty Murray: 202-224-2621
Sen. Maria Cantwell: 202-224-3441
Here’s the heartbreaking story of another research monkey dead at the UW. In a new inspection report, federal regulators say a female pigtail macaque went without water for at least two or three days, and that she was “severely dehydrated.”
Her water line had become disconnected from her cage.
Shame.
Please send letters to the editors of The Seattle Times and the UW Daily.
And contact UW President Ana Mari Cauce:
Phone: 206-543-5010
Email: pres@uw.edu
And ask the USDA to fine the UW’s Primate Center (WaNPC – Washington National Primate Center):
Fort Collins, CO Office
USDA/APHIS/AC
2150 Centre Ave.
Building B, Mailstop 3W11
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117
E-mail:acwest@aphis.usda.gov
Phone: (970) 494-7478
Fax: (970) 494-7461
From the Animal Legal Defense Fund:
A proposed new Ag-Gag bill is being considered by Arkansas lawmakers, and we need your help to stop it from becoming law. Factory farms want to keep their cruel practices hidden from the public, and industry lobbyists push Ag-Gag laws to accomplish that goal.
House Bill 1665 has already passed the Arkansas House and moved out of committee in the Senate. The law would allow factory farm employers to sue whistleblowers directly, making them vulnerable to expensive lawsuits all for trying to do the right thing. Such intimidation will effectively keep those who see animal cruelty from speaking up. Arkansas’s version of Ag-Gag is written so broadly that it would also ban undercover investigations of virtually all private entities, including daycare centers and restaurants. This law would silence conscientious employees who wish to report wrongdoing.
Call or email the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism to politely inform them that if this bill passes, you won’t be visiting the state.
Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism: 501-682-7777
It’s incredibly important to always be calm and polite when speaking with decision makers and other officials who might influence them. Keep your call short and simple, and consider using the script below.
“Hello, my name is __________ and I’m calling to let you know that even though Arkansas is a beautiful state, I will not be visiting if HB 1665 becomes law.”
Please find your State Senator here and ask them in a short phone call to support SB 5094, which would limit dog breed discrimination.
You can also send a written online comment here.
SB5094 would require local governments with dog breed restrictions to exempt dogs who pass a canine behavioral test, such as the AKC canine good citizen test.
The original bill overturned some breed restrictions, but that lacked support in committee. The compromise bill is at least a step forward.
Some background reading:
Shame. The House of Representatives voted Thursday to allow the stuff of wildlife snuff films to happen in Alaska’s 16 wildlife refuges: The denning of wolf pups, the killing of hibernating bears, the spotting of grizzly bears from aircraft and then shooting them after landing, and the trapping of grizzly bears and black bears with steel-jawed leghold traps and snares.
Talk about turning back the clock — and turning the refuges into “game farms,” as retired Arctic National Wildlife biologist Fran Mauer put it.
Top scientists had backed a ban on those practices last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying such killing would not increase moose and caribou numbers.
Don Young, the Alaskan representative who proposed this unsound legislation, said on the House floor that he has killed wolves in their dens. Bizarrely, he also argued that denning and hunting from the air don’t occur. Hmmm.
And he called it a states rights issue — but these are federal refuges.
Five Democrats voted with the Republican majority: Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela of Texas, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, and Collin Peterson of Minnesota.
Ten Republicans opposed the killing, including Dave Reichert of Washington. Here’s his number, if you’d like to thank him (it was House Joint Resolution 69): 202-225-7761.
And here are numbers for Washington’s Senators. Please ask them to block this legislation in the Senate. (Here’s a fact sheet from the Humane Society of the United States.)
Sen. Patty Murray: 202-224-2621
Sen. Maria Cantwell: 202-224-3441
It’s time to put animals atop your agenda for calls to Congress.
Congressman Don Young of Alaska has proposed House Joint Resolution 69 to stop the repeal of a ban on aerial hunting and other cruel practices. It would restore the practice of shooting grizzlies from airplanes in the National Wildlife Refuges of Alaska.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last August finalized a rule prohibiting this cruel form of hunting.
If it passes the House, it’s likely to pass the Senate and be signed by the President.
Please call now to make sure HJRes 69 is stopped! Phone calls are most effective.
Pramila Jayapal is the representative for Seattle: 202-225-3106.
To find your rep: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
Here’s a fact sheet compiled by the Humane Society of the U.S.
Photo: Frank van Manen/USGS<br />
Link to license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
When dolphin hunters in Taiji, Japan, last week captured a pod of hundreds of bottlenose dolphins and separated about 80 young ones from their mothers, one mother fought frantically to stay with her baby in a video that made news around the world.
While some dolphins are caught for meat — the modern-day version of a whale-hunting tradition in Taiji — that is not where the big money is. The non-traditional driver of the hunt is dolphins sold for “entertainment.”
A dolphin sold for meat brings in hundreds of dollars. Untrained dolphins sold to marine parks garner $10,000 each, according to The Dodo. By that math, Taiji made at least $3 million from about 300 dolphins it sold alive in the late 2010 to early 2011 hunting season, and maybe $1 million on the nearly 2,000 dolphins it sold for meat.
Photo: VanessaNYC07 at Wikimedia Commons
To its huge credit, the Japanese Assocation of Zoos and Aquariums banned the buying and selling of dolphins from the Taiji hunt in 2015. It was a brave move, made under threat of expulsion from the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, National Geographic reported.
However, that does not mean the end of suffering for dolphins, even in Japan. The marine parks could breed dolphins, like their counterparts in the United States have bred orcas and other animals. Taiji’s mayor has also said that, if hunting is banned, the city may rope off its infamous cove (site of the Oscar-winning documentary, “The Cove”) and breed dolphins there.
The only real way to make headway against the dolphin hunt — and captive breeding — is to stop visiting marine parks. If people are forced to look at how their own behavior leads directly to suffering, that will do more to save these beautiful, brilliant, compassionate animals than any amount of shaming of Japan.
In case you missed NARN’s letter-writing party on Sunday, it’s not too late to write letters in support of Trans Prisoner Day of Action & Solidarity (Jan. 22). Find names, addresses and more information here.
www.supportnicoleandjoseph.com
Another prisoner who could use our support is Nicole Kissane, who was sentenced last week to 21 months in federal prison after a judge accepted her non-cooperating plea agreement.
She and Joseph Buddenburg are animal advocates from California who were indicted in 2015 for alleged conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. They are charged for allegedly releasing thousands of animals from fur farms and destroying breeding records in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
You can write to Nicole here:
Nicole Kissane #20651-111
San Diego MCC
808 Union Street
San Diego, California 92101
Joseph had already been sentenced to two years in prison. Here’s his address:
Joseph Buddenberg #12746-111
FCI Victorville Medium I
P.O. BOX 3725
ADELANTO, CA 92301
For more information, visit the Support Nicole & Joseph website and Facebook page.
Join us for our next letter-writing party, which will be posted here.
Have you read the In Defense of Animals’ list of the Top 10 Worst Zoo for Elephants? Not surprisingly, Oklahoma City Zoo (OKC Zoo) took the top (i.e.: worst) slot for 2016. OKC Zoo has questionable health care, dangerous housing practices, and continues to breed elephants in a herpes virus-infected environment.
Please email the Oklahoma City Mayor and City Council asking them to stop the inhumane treatment of these endangered animals by closing the elephant exhibit and retiring the elephants to the 2,100 acre Asian habitat at The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.
Contact:
Mayor Rick Cornett (who happens to be on the Zoo Trust Board!), (405) 297-2424, mayor@okc.gov
Ward 1: James Greiner, (405) 297-2404, ward1@okc.gov
Ward 2: Ed ShaDid, (405) 297-2402, ward2@okc.gov
Ward 3: Larry McAtee, (405) 297-2402, ward3@okc.gov
Ward 4: Pete White, (405) 297-2402, ward4@okc.gov
Ward 5: David Greenwell, (405) 297-2569, ward5@okc.gov
Ward 6, Meg Salyer, (405) 297-2404, ward6@okc.gov
Ward 7: John Pettis, (405) 297-2569, ward7@okc.gov
Ward 8: Mark Stonecipher, 405) 297-2569, ward8@okc.gov
Bamboo and Chai were sent to OKC Zoo in 2015. Poor Chai, who you can see in this video, died within 8 months of arriving at the zoo. She died from emaciation, after rapidly losing 1,000 pounds, and from an infection in her blood, likely caused by 25 puss-filled abscesses—both conditions went untreated!
Bamboo, the last surviving elephant from Woodland Park Zoo is still languishing at OKC Zoo. She’s been attacked by the other elephants, and has sustained multiple injuries, including a gash to her trunk and a bite that amputated the end of her tail. As a result, this social creature is frequently kept isolated.
Please write a polite but firm email to the Oklahoma City Mayor and City Council asking them to stop this inhumane treatment of elephants. Tell them to allow these elephants retire to the 2,100 acre Asian habitat at the accredited Elephant Sanctuary in TN.