FYI: PETA also has a sample letter/action alert available here.

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From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Nov 30, 2006 8:23 PM
Subject: LETTER/ Tears Of A Cow – India’s Leather Trade

Kinship Circle Primary – PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN
(Please do not delete identity/disclaimer information)

WARNING: 2 graphic photos before sample letter

11/30/06: Tears Of A Cow – India’s Leather Trade
KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN

www.KinshipCircle.org

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

The Horror of the Indian Leather Trade

www.petaindia.com/feat/f-leathertrade.asp

Help Cows Skinned For Leather In India

getactive.peta.org/campaign/p2indianleather?c=peta2_enews

Most American leather goods begin in foreign countries. In India, a top leather producer, cows die miserably inside slaughterhouses swarming with flies. Fallen cows drape their heads across each other in 100-degree heat as they await inhumane death: Workers saw through their necks with dull knives… PETA investigative video: www.petatv.com/tvpopup/prefs.asp?video=skin-trade-ili

Anyone who wears leather is likely clothed in leather from from India or China. Shoes or other goods produced in Italy, the U.S. and other countries use raw materials (skins) imported from India or China…

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Nov 30, 2006 4:54 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: Fantastic anti fur column in UK Daily Mail — 30 November 2006

Liz Jones, the UK’s Daily Mail fashion columnist, has written another strong anti-fur piece, headed, “Fur is back…and the fashion industry should hang its head in shame.”

She writes about the difficulty of finding anything not covered or trimmed in fur at designer stores such as Prada. She tells us her friends are wearing, though some wear only vintage. And she writes, “Vintage is, when it comes to ethics, no defence. Although the animal has long been dead, wearing the coat still gives off the message that fur is beautiful, and acceptable.”

She wonders, “how on earth did British women become so, well, cruel?”

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Farm Sanctuary – info [at] farmsanctuary.org
Date: Nov 30, 2006 4:38 PM
Subject: Farm Sanctuary’s E-News & Action Alert 11/30/06

New York Shelter’s Ducks and Geese Move into Their New Home!

After months of diligent construction work, the first phase of Farm Sanctuary’s new Duck & Goose Habitat Project is finished! Move-in day went off without a hitch for the Farm Sanctuary flock. Our avian ambassadors were moved to their spacious abode in the new main barn. The next phase of this project will include the construction of a new pond for the main barn, a new special needs barn and renovation of our old pond for the special needs flock. Click here to read more about this new development at the sanctuary and the birds’ big day.

Empower Our “Fast Food Nation” to Change

Factory farming issues are reaching the mainstream like never before. With the opening of “Fast Food Nation,” viewers are given a behind-the-scenes look at how our food gets to our plate. Now is the time to empower people to make the leap to a cruelty free life! Help spread the word by distributing our Veg For Life or Factory Farming literature before and after local screenings of the film. Stay connected to the issues by visiting Participate.net, where Farm Sanctuary staff will blog to continue the conversation, and forward the Flash film, “Backwards Hamburger” to your friends and family. We CAN change our fast food culture…one person at a time.

www.foxsearchlight.com/fastfoodnation/

secure.vegsource.com/farmsanc/literature_landing.html

New York & California Thanksgiving Celebration FOR the Turkeys 2006

For Farm Sanctuary’s Celebration FOR the Turkeys, hundreds of people flocked together to honor birds rather than eat them. Garnering generous media attention, events at both shelters delighted young and old alike with festive feasts, shelter visits and, of course, our famous turkey feeding ceremonies. Energetic and positive, animal and disability rights activist Lawrence-Carter Long brought humor and inspiration to our California Celebration, while vegan nutrition and fitness consultant John Pierre motivated his audience in New York with tips on healthy living. CA Event Photos. NY Event Photos.

Holiday Gift Donations

Give the gift of life this holiday season by making a gift donation for a loved one. Your gift will spread a message of peace and compassion for all beings and help so many farm animals in need. For donations of $25 or more, we’ll send one of our holiday gift cards acknowledging your special present. To make a gift donation today, please click here or contact us at 607-583-2225 ext. 221 or mailto:info [at] farmsanctuary.org.

Post a Farm Sanctuary banner or link on your website and help reach others with a message of compassion!

In the News

Rearing cattle produces more greenhouse gases than driving cars, UN report warns
UN News Center – November 29, 2006

Turkeys Find Sanctuary in Upstate New York
NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO – November 23, 2006

In the Store

*NEW – Bird Flu
Dr. Michael Greger traces the human role in the evolution of this virus.

About Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, we have worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and legislative actions, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Our shelters in Watkins Glen, NY and Orland, CA provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. For more information about Farm Sanctuary or our programs, please visit www.farmsanctuary.org or call 607-583-2225. To become a Farm Sanctuary member or to make a donation today using our secure online form, www.farmsanctuary.org/join/donate2.htm. For updates on previous action alerts, www.farmsanctuary.org/actionalerts/update.htm.

Please forward and distribute widely! Thank you
Farm Sanctuary, P.O. Box 150 Watkins Glen, NY 14891.

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To subscribe: www.farmsanctuary.org/signup.htm

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts farm+sanctuary turkeys thanksgiving fast+food fast+food+nation vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism

Here’s the TOC from IDA’s 11-29-06 newsletter.

Click on the links to take action, or read the whole newsletter online.

IDA Action Alerts

IDA Joins Unified Response to Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Equal Justice Alliance enacts strategy in wake of AETA’s passage

Avian Flu Outbreak Prompts Massacre of Cats and Dogs in South Korea

Scientific experts say slaughter will not prevent spread of disease

Helpful Holiday Tips for Animal Companions

How to keep your family safe and happy throughout the season

Campaign News & Updates

Fur Free Friday Takes a Bite out of Animal Cruelty

Activists from coast to coast bring message of compassion to holiday shoppers

Conservationists File Lawsuit to Stop Aerial Wolf Hunt

Groups say wildlife control program is unscientific and illegal

IDA-India Celebrates 10 Years of Dedicated Service to Animals

Launch of Free Mobile Clinic for Street Animals marks auspicious occasion

An archive of past IDA eNews newsletters is available here.

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts ida in+defense+of+animals wolves wolf wolf+slaughter hunting fur+free+friday fur aeta Animal+Enterprise+Terrorism+Act bird+flu avian+fluu dogs canines cats felines pets dog+slaughter south+korea christmas holiday

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Nov 29, 2006 9:26 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: ABC Nightline on penguin crisis as their food goes to farm-raised salmon 11/28/06

ABC’s Nightline gave us more wonderfully animal friendly coverage on Tuesday, November 28. Using the new movie “Happy Feet” as his jump-off point, reporter Bill Blakemore looked at the real plight of penguins. He told us they are struggling to survive because of global warming, now threatening to melt the frozen sea surface many penguins need for survival, and because of extensive over-fishing. We learned that the colony of emperors made famous in the popular documentary “March of the Penguins” has lost 50% of its number over the past half-century. Blakemore explained that their main source of food is tiny shrimp-like creatures called krill, and that the krill are being taken in enormous catches, mostly to be ground up and fed to farm-raised salmons. He ended his report by telling us that scientists say that unless humanity figures out how to reverse the course down south, the happy ending in “Happy Feet” will be just wishful thinking.

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UPDATE, 12/3/06: Green Is the New Red cites the Schumacher Furs case as an example of how legal, nonviolent protest is being decried as “terrorism” by those “animal enterprises” which were deemed worthy of an extra level of protection via AETA. You can read the whole post here.

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: In Defense of Animals – takeaction [at] idausa.org
Date: Nov 29, 2006 5:45 PM
Subject: Writing Alert: Fur store says it’s had enough

The Portland Oregonian published an article on the announcement by Schumacher Furs that after a year of anti-fur protests, they will be moving their store.

Please write a letter to the editor of the Oregonian on the inherent cruelty of killing animals for fur.

Send letters via letters [at] news.oregonian.com. You can also fax or postal mail your letters to:

Letters to the editor
The Oregonian
1320 S.W. Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
FAX: (503) 294-4193

You can read “Fur store Says its had enough” online here.

Fur store says it’s had enough

Downtown – Hounded by protesters and citing safety issues, Schumacher is pulling out of Portland after 111 years

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

by SPENCER HEINZ and SETH PRINCE

Schumacher Furs & Outerwear, after 111 years of business and one solid year of fervent animal-rights protests, is hanging it up in Portland.

Owner Gregg Schumacher, who depicts the city’s core as dangerous and not conducive to retailers, said Tuesday that he’s moving his shop to the suburbs, though he wouldn’t say where.

“We’re leaving downtown Portland because we feel that it’s losing its appeal for people to shop in” said Schumacher, 51, rattling off a list of what he called his customers’ complaints. “The panhandling, the musicians on the street, the urination in the parking garages. Yes, the protests. But the whole place is not conducive to running a retail operation.”

Officials from City Hall to the Portland Business Alliance, while making it clear they’re sad to see downtown lose any merchant, particularly such a longtime institution, called Schumacher’s claims, in effect, bunk.

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Via the Center for Biological Diversity:

Penguins threatened by global warming – Act Now

The Center petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week to list 12 species of penguins under the Endangered Species Act. Like the polar bear in the Arctic, these Antarctic and sub-Antarctic birds are threatened primarily by global warming.

Global warming threatens everything we care about, and yet we still do not have laws explicitly capping greenhouse gas emissions in this country. Please urge your senator to support the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2006, which would require greenhouse gas reductions of the magnitude that scientists tell us are necessary to avoid true climate disaster.

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts Center+for+Biological+Diversity environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist global+warming penguins Global+Warming+Pollution+Reduction+Act

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: API Newsletters – donotreply [at] api4animals.org
Date: Nov 29, 2006 12:16 PM
Subject: Ask Your City Mayor to Officially Recognize National Bird Day

Ask Your City Mayor to Officially Recognize National Bird Day

With National Bird Day just around the corner, the Animal Protection Institute (API), in coordination with the Avian Welfare Coalition (AWC), is calling on activists around the U.S. to take action on behalf of captive birds, by drawing attention to the exploitation of birds by the U.S. pet industry.

A few of the facts:

*Nearly 12% of the world’s 9,800 bird species may face extinction within the next century, including nearly one-third of the world’s 330 parrot species.

*Many of the world’s parrots and songbirds are threatened with extinction due to pressures from the pet trade and habitat loss.

*Millions of birds are captured from the wild or produced in captivity only to lead miserable lives languishing in conditions that fail to meet their instinctive behavioral and physical needs

Help us spread the important message about the plight of captive birds by asking your city mayor to proclaim January 5, 2007 “National Bird Day.”

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – info [at] kinshipcircle.org
Date: Nov 28, 2006 8:56 PM
Subject: LETTER/ Plaid Goes Bad In Burberry Fur Designs

Kinship Circle Primary – PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN
(Please do not delete identity/disclaimer information)

11/28/06: Plaid Goes Bad In Burberry Fur Designs
KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN

www.KinshipCircle.org

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

Bloody Burberry

www.bloodyburberry.com/

BURBERRY: Where Animals Are The Victims Of Fashion

www.furisdead.com/feat-burberry.asp?int=peta_newsfeed

Note: Postage to the United Kingdom from the U.S. is $0.87

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SAMPLE LETTER

Feel free to use portions of our letter, but please add some original thoughts. Hundreds of identical letters may lessen the impact.

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Here’s the TOC from the 11/28/06 issue of The Sierra Club’s Currents.

You can read the whole newsletter online – just click here!

Sierra Club Currents – Global Warming Goes on Trial
Volume VI, #42
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

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Quote of Note:

“It’s basically being fiscally conservative, being socially moderate and you know, being environmentally progressive.”

– Arnold, on Meet the Press, on what it means to be a “Schwarzenegger Republican”

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(1) Supreme Court: Global Warming Goes on Trial

(2) Take Action: Get Serious about Change

(3) Building Better: Sierra Club Names America’s Best New Development Projects

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Tagged: environment environmentalist environmentalism action+alerts sierra+club global+warming president+bush