Action Alerts: Animal & Environmental Advocacy

American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS): Encourage USDA to Shut Down R&R Research [a Class B Dealer in Howard City, Michigan]

Animal Person: Online Survey on Ethics and Animals [Deadline: July 13]

Campaign for America’s Wilderness: Alaska’s Bristol Bay Needs Your Help [If you choose to use the sample letter provided, please edit for speciesism.]

Center for Biological Diversity: Help Protect Pikas From Global Warming

DawnWatch: 60 Minutes on protecting animals in Mozambique’s National Park 6/28/09

Earthjustice: High Court Rules Against Clean Water Protections, But Hope is Not Lost

Ecological Internet / The Rainforest Portal: Action Alert: Mighty Mekong River Must Forever Flow Freely [If you choose to use the sample letter provided, please edit for speciesism.]

Farm Sanctuary: Isn’t It Time for California Dairy Farmers to Stop Cutting Cows’ Tails Off?

Farm Sanctuary: Michigan: Hurry - Help Keep the Fox Out of the Henhouse

PETA: Urge Texas Lottery Commission to Yank Elephant Ad!

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Eco-friendly in life, eco-friendly in death. Current reports on “organic” burials in this short, quirky little segment.
 

 

The film is way too long for me to transcribe, but here’s the gist:

Death as part of the natural life cycle has been forgotten in the UK. The biological process of what happens to the body and the environment during burial and cremation is largely unknown. In an ultimate bid to recycle, should we take more responsibility for what we leave behind?

If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend The American Way of Death Revisited by Jessica Mitford (2000), a muckraking exposé of the American funeral industry, as well as Lisa Carlson’s Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love, a sort of DIY guide to nontraditional funerals. For more on “green” burial practices, start with the Wiki entry on “Natural Burial,” where you can find external links to a number of associations and websites.

Finally, you may want to consider bypassing the whole funeral spiel altogether, and do something useful with your corpse - like donating it to science.

Of course, there’s also the “Jim shoes” option.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle - info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Subject: Part 1/ UPDATES: APR - JUN 2009

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST

VICTORIES * SETBACKS * PROGRESS

PART 1: APRIL - JUNE 2009 / KINSHIP CIRCLE UPDATES

1. Pig Abusers At Hormel Supplier Get 1-2 Year Probation
2. Bureaucrats Reach No Decision On Whaling
3. Lax Officials Knew Travis The Chimp Might Attack
4. Kitten Killer’s Accomplice Is Now Charged Too
5. Pet Food Poisoners Plead Guilty And Face Jail Time
6. Foie Gras Producer On Trial For Cruelty
7. Atlanta Falcons Bid Michael Vick A Permanent Farewell
8. “Change” Doesn’t Look Much Different Under Obama
9. California Spay/Neuter Law Passes Senate, Moves To Assembly
10. Groups Sue Salazar In Effort To Save Delisted Wolves
11. Way To Go SAEN! Research Industry Meltdown
12. Cheyenne Frontier Rodeo Bans Video Instead Of Abuse
13. California Bullfight Busts Continue; Humane Officer Assaulted
14. Repression Of Austrian Animal Activists Worsens

PART 2: KC UPDATES / APRIL - JUNE 2009
RESEND PART #2 TO ME: info [at] kinshipcircle.org

15. HSUS And Michael Vick Team Up To Fight Dogfighting?
16. Armed To Kill In National Parks: Guns Allowed
17. Maine Is 6th State To Ban Cruel Confinement Crates
18. NC Pro-Gas Chamber Bill Gets A “No” Vote
19. USDA Cites New Iberia Primate Lab For Violations
20. U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Against Canada Sealing
21. Canadian Sealers Lose Biggest Customer — EUROPE!
22. EU Votes To Let Most Primate Research Continue
23. Karley’s Sociopath Killer Ordered To Stand Trial
24. Horse Slaughterhouses Now Legal In Montana
25. Michigan Pound Gives R&R Research The Boot
26. Big Surprise: Swine Flu, Born On U.S. Factory Farms
27. Los Angeles DA Drops Charges Against Dog Dragger
28. Obama Accepts Breeder Dog As Gift For Daughters

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Because I’m just a wee bit late in posting this Friends of Kinship Circle action alert, item #1 is no longer active. The good news is, California SB 250 (The Pet Responsibility Act) was voted outed of committed 6-3, so now it’s on to the state legislature. Or so I assume; who knows how many committees and sub-committees must be navigated before the issue comes up for a general vote? Either way, you can sign up to receive future action alerts at www.yesonsb250.com; please do so.

Item #2 - which involves reducing the mandatory hold time from six to three days in California shelters - is still in play, so check it out, take action (if you haven’t already - or, hells bells, even if you have), and spread the word.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle - info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 7:18 PM
Subject: Act Now For Spay-Neuter Bill * Oppose 3-Day Shelter Hold [Friends Of KC]

FRIENDS OF KINSHIP CIRCLE
friendsofkinshipcircle.wordpress.com

* KINSHIP CIRCLE DOES NOT WRITE OR RESEARCH THESE ALERTS.
* QUESTIONS? CONTACT ALERT WRITER. PLEASE DO NOT HIT REPLY.

IN THIS ALERT:

1. Vote For Historic Spay/Neuter Bill Is 6/30. Act Now.
2. Don’t Let Calif. Kill Shelter Animals After Just 3 Days

=======================

Vote For Historic Spay/Neuter Bill Is 6/30. Act Now.

ALERT WRITER:

Judie Mancuso, President, Social Compassion In Legislation (SCIL)
stc34 [at] aol.com * www.SocialCompassionInLegislation.org
www.yesonsb250.com/sb250-home.php

TAKE ACTION:

SB 250 will be voted on in the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions THIS TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2009

2 EASY ACTIONS TO HELP THIS BILL PASS OUT OF COMMITTEE

1. ENTER YOUR NAME/INFORMATION TO SEND AN AUTO LETTER:
www.yesonsb250.com/sb250-send-a-letter.php

2. TAKE 60 SECONDS TO LEAVE A PHONE MESSAGE:
www.yesonsb250.com/sb250-make-calls.php

BACKGROUND:

California’s SB 250, The Pet Responsibility Act

Each year, over $250 million dollars is spent housing and euthanizing homeless dogs and cats in California. Approximately 1 million dogs and cats enter California’s shelters each year, and over half are euthanized (killed) simply because there are not enough homes. California shelters are seeing an explosion of animals relinquished to shelters in this bad economy, meanwhile the shelters are faced with budget cuts and laying off staff.

SB 250 provides a reasonable, fiscally responsible step towards reducing pet overpopulation in California in two ways: by fostering responsible pet ownership through increased animal licensing, and by offering incentives for owners to spay and neuter their pets.

Please note that SB 250 does not affect feral cat caregivers. The bill applies only to pets that live on your property… Since January 1, 2009, California has spent over $100,000,000 tax dollars just to house and euthanize unwanted pets… To learn more about SB 250, including several interviews and video segments: www.YESonSB250.com

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I’m trying to clear out my inbox before the holiday weekend, so expect a flood of miscellaneous action alerts from now ’til then.

This one comes from the Yahoo Group Animal Advocacy and is reprinted in its entirety. The CounterPunch article linked to in the alert is lengthy but informative; you can find talking points there or here. (The latter being the equally long-but-informative Newsweek article, “It’s Survival of the Weak and Scrawny; Researchers see ‘evolution in reverse’ as hunters kill off prized animals with the biggest antlers and pelts.”)

Why eBay Should Stop Selling Guided Hunts for Wolves, Bears and Cougars
Blood Sport Auction
By CHRIS GENOVALI

There is an amazing array of things one can purchase on EBay, from used lawn furniture to vintage dolls to bongs allegedly used by Olympic athletes. Among the myriad items being sold on EBay are guided hunts of North America’s grizzly bears, black bears, wolves and cougars. It’s hard to believe, but these recreational killing opportunities are now bought and sold on the world’s largest internet auction site; EBay has become an online marketplace peddling the trophy hunting of the continent’s top-level predator species.

ACTION: Please email and/or write the following individuals and demand that eBay stop this atrocious practice.

Matthew J. Bannick, President, eBay International: matthewb [at] ebay.com

Bill Cobb, President eBay North America: billcobb [at] ebay.com

You can also write a letter to them at:

eBay Inc.
2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125

PLEASE WRITE AND FORWARD WIDELY!

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Though I’ve started linking to Kinship Circle’s alerts (as opposed to re-formatting and crossposting) whenever possible, I decided to publish this alert in in entirety anyhow (and even though I did indeed link to it in last week’s weekend link roundup). It’s just one of those stories that boggles the mind; even more so since it’s been dragging on for nearly four years now.

If you’ve been reading easyVegan for any length of time, you’ve probably already seen at least one alert dealing with the plight of Stu and Jeff de la Rosa. In August of 2005, Stu and another of Jeff de la Rosa’s furkids got into a scuffle, in which Stu was hurt. The “pet” sitter/assistant attempted to slip a harness over Stu’s head so that she could take him to the vet. Injured and cornered, Stu bit the assistant. Initially, there wasn’t an issue, as the bite was superficial. A month later, however, the sitter decided to sue, and Stu was confiscated without his father’s knowledge. Stu has been languishing in the “care” of LAAS (L.A. Animal Services) ever since. While experts have determined that Stu is not a danger, on death row he sits.

Thus far, Stu has spent four of his nine years imprisoned, the victim of injured pride, ego and bureaucracy (all of them human). Stu, now a senior, has not shown aggression towards any of his handlers since the August 2005 incident, and yet the city remains dead set on killing him. They continue to fight for his death, in fact. Four years of food, housing, medical care and legal bills - you’d think the city of Los Angeles could find a better use of its money, no?

The whole sad, sorry affair seems even more egregious in light of the “small victories” we celebrate daily - victories such as Gramby’s adoption after 2 1/2 years spent in a kenneled rescue facility. Gramby’s story, while unfortunate and commonplace, is also somewhat understandable - after all, he had no home to return to. His prison sentence was one of both necessity and compassion. But Stu - Stu has a life and family waiting for him. Stu remains imprisoned not out of human kindness, but rather human ugliness. There are no excuses for the injustices committed against Stu. The electric chair for a misdemeanor, indeed.

Please take a moment to read the Examiner article referenced below, and contact the LA City Attorney, the LA Public Safety Committee, LA City Officials and the LAAS. Kinship Circle has helpfully provided contact info and a sample letter (see below), but personalize the letter if possible. By all means, be indignant, stern and outraged - but also polite and respectful.

And also, spread the word - feel free to crosspost the Kinship Circle alert as written!

Previous alerts:

04/13/09 - Kinship Circle: Friends of Kinship Circle Alerts - #3. Save Stu – Wrongfully Impounded Since 9/15/05

12/25/07 - Kinship Circle: UPDATES: Year-End Victories & Setbacks, SEPT - DEC 2007 (Parts 1 & 2) - #17. Stu Is Spared, But NOT Free Or Exonerated

09/17/07 - Kinship Circle: September Kinship Circle Digest (Parts 1 and 2) - #44. Unhappy Anniversary For Stu! Will He Ever Be Freed?

06/20/07 - Kinship Circle: JUNE KC DIGEST: Saving Stu, Dolphin Captures, Oasis In Trouble + MORE - #1. Saving Stu - Legally They Can Kill Him Any Day Now

06/20/07 - Kinship Circle: Saving Stu: Legally They Can Kill Him Any Day Now

01/10/07 - Kinship Circle: Stu In Grave Danger. Again. [KC MEMBER ALERT]

09/08/06 - Kinship Circle: UPDATE: Stu Is Safe!

09/06/06 - Kinship Circle: LETTER / End Stu’s Nightmare Inside LAAS

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As much as I love me some Sarah Haskins, sometimes it’s weeks before I remember to check for a new installment of her Target Women series. I’d blame it on my scatterbrain, except I’m usually organized to a fault. There are just too many distractions on the interwebs to keep track of, dammit.

Anyhow, I had ample time to catch up this week, since I haven’t been feeling all that well. (Stomach bug, food poisoning, who knows.) Though she rarely covers “animal issues” per se, a number of her skits do indirectly touch upon animal exploitation, as we saw with her take on the Carl’s Jr. franchise. So it is with her discussions of “lady food” - namely, chocolate and yogurt.

There are a number of feminine corollaries to the tired old “meat = masculinity” meme. For example, women eat “like birds” (and sundry other adorable-but-harmless wildlife), daintily pecking at fruit, vegetables and (one would assume) scattered nuts and seeds, our weak lil’ bodies having little need for muscle-building protein. (Protein is only found in the rotting flesh of animal corpses, dontchaknow!?)

Additionally, whereas men crave meat (and heart disease), women literally lust after sugary highs - especially if they come coated in chocolate. What better foodstuff for already hysterical, irrational and moody beings, no? Plus, consuming the milk of our enslaved sisters is the perfect night cap to a shitty blind date.

 

 
The marketing of yogurt - specifically, probiotic-rich yogurt - is a newer trend. (Or at least “new” in the retro sense of the word; I’ve no idea what the picture was like in the ’70s, but the Mr. swears that he remembers similar gynocentric yogurt advertising in his youth.) Whether you want to attribute it to IBS, yeast infections or diet fads, yogurt most definitely falls into the “lady food” category.

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Action Alerts: Animal & Environmental Advocacy

Animals Australia: Aussie Company Supports Cruel Seal Cull

Center for Biological Diversity: Help Ban Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

DawnWatch: AR activism and CMU prisons on Democracy Now 6/25/09

DawnWatch: Parrot crisis beautifully covered on CBS Sunday Morning News 6/21/09

Defenders of Wildlife: Save Frogs and Protect Human Health [Ban Endosulfan]

Farm Sanctuary: Isn’t It Time for California Dairy Farmers to Stop Cutting Cows’ Tails Off? (Update: June 24, 2009)

Farm Sanctuary: Michigan: Don’t Let the Fox Guard the Henhouse

Forest Ethics: Tell Hillary Clinton to Stop Dirty Oil in its Tracks

Greenpeace: Petition to Stand up for the Whales

Jane Goodall Institute (JGI): Take Action Against the Bushmeat Trade—Watch the Video and Show your Support for Great Apes

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I’ve been feeling kind of crappy since Friday, so I all I have to offer is this link roundup. Happy reading…or not.
 

 
Kelly Garbato @ Animal Rights @ Change.org: Egypt’s Pigs: Beaten, Stoned, and Burned Alive (Part 1) and Religious Discrimination and the Killing of Egypt’s Pigs (Part 2)

In my second round of guest posts at change.org, I look at the recent pig culls in Egypt, and explain how the mass killings may have less to do with concerns over the swine flu than with religious discrimination directed at the country’s Coptic Christians - as well as “their” pigs.

I, Bonobo: Guess who’s really at the bottom of the shitpile? and

Vegan Soapbox: Why Women Should Care About Animals

Bonobobabe and Eccentric Vegan both respond to a recent piece that appeared in the community section of Feministing. Not surprisingly, the author asserted that animal rights and feminism are unrelated movements, such that the animal rights movement has nothing to contribute to feminism and vice versa. Thus, it’s perfectly acceptable for good liberal progressive feminists to eat meat, wear fur and shit on animal advocates when they complain. I’m taking liberties, of course, but you get the idea.

Bonobobabe’s reply, in particular, is a must-read. I skimmed it over several times, trying to boil it down to an excerpt or two to illustrate her argument, but it’s all awesome. This about sums it up, though:

So, while I think it’s fine for a woman who calls herself a feminist to put her time and energy towards women-centered things, I also feel that if a feminist is supposed to be sensitive to class and race issues, that she should also be sensitive to speciesist issues. It’s not OK to say that you are better than an animal. Besides, hierarchies are the invention of men. Being a speciesist, even if one is a feminist, is playing by men’s rules. You’re better than that.

Hat tip to Stephanie for this one.

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On Wednesday, journalist Peter Laufer appeared on The Daily Show in order to discuss his newest book, The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists. While the material might seem rather lighthearted - especially in comparison to his previous subjects, which include neo-Nazism, illegal immigration and the Iraq war - the illegal butterfly trade is nothing to scoff at, as he explains:
 

 
Naturally, even the so-called “butterfly huggers” (e.g., the North American Butterfly Association, the International Butterfly Breeders Association) view butterflies as a collection or a part of nature or ecology as opposed to the many individual beings that they are. Or, put another way, butterfly conservation is more about environmental protection than animal rights - or even welfare. Even so, The Dangerous World of Butterflies sounds like an interesting read, since butterfly collecting isn’t normally a “hobby” that’s equated with danger (nor are butterflies the first group of animals to come to mind when one thinks of wildlife “poaching”).

During the interview, Jon wonders why one might want to collect butterflies, due to their short life spans of a week or two. According to Wiki, this is a bit of a misconception:

It is a popular belief that butterflies have very short life spans. However, butterflies in their adult stage can live from a week to nearly a year depending on the species. Many species have long larval life stages while others can remain dormant in their pupal or egg stages and thereby survive winters.

Butterflies may have one or more broods per year. The number of generations per year varies from temperate to tropical regions with tropical regions showing a trend towards multivoltinism.

Not that the butterfly’s life span really matters - for, as Laufer explains, it’s not the aim of collectors to house a population of living butterflies. Rather, collectors view butterflies as objects to be exhibited, much like artwork. In this way, the appeal of “owning” the corpse of a butterfly belonging to a protected or endangered species is much like that of owning a stolen piece of art.

As morbid as this attitude is, I’m not sure it’s all that different from that of butterfly conservations, who view their objects of admiration as pieces of a whole, cogs to be manipulated and controlled in order to achieve a desired result. A thousand Schaus Swallowtails, for example, aren’t significant as a thousand living beings, but as representatives of an endangered butterfly species. To conservationists, the beings are all interchangeable members of a species, much as their corpses are interchangeable pieces of valuables and artwork to poachers and collectors.

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