———- Forwarded message ———-
From: DawnWatch – news [at] dawnwatch.com
Date: Mar 30, 2007 7:20 PM
Subject: DawnWatch: Horse slaughter halted in US — 3/30/07

There has been good news for horses this week. An editorial in the Friday March 30 Washington Times, a paper which has consistently taken a strong stand against horse-slaughter, is headed, “The horse is saved.” It opens with:

“It took a court order for Congress’ 2005 horse-slaughter ban to finally take effect. The last slaughtering facility closed its doors Thursday morning in DeKalb, Ill. after the U.S. District Court struck down a Department of Agriculture scheme designed from the start to circumvent the year-and-a-half-old legislation to outlaw the slaughtering of horses for human consumption. The whole episode shows the lengths to which federal regulators will go to disobey Congress if an agency stands to lose regulatory powers — or, in this case, a regulated constituency.”

It reminds us, “Congress stripped funding in November 2005 for USDA’s horsemeat-inspection activities. Without inspections, there’s no meat.” But, “In blatant disregard of congressional intent, the Agriculture Department devised a ‘fee-for-service’ scheme whereby the horsemeat industry, not taxpayers, would finance the inspections.” However, “The matter went to court, and finally this week the U.S. District Court threw out USDA’s attempt to get around Congress.”

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Farm Sanctuary – info [at] farmsanctuary.org
Date: Mar 30, 2007 4:26 PM
Subject: Farm Sanctuary’s E-News & Action Alert 03/30/07

Help Push Progress!

Recent weeks have seen unprecedented progress in curtailing the worst abuses of animals raised for food in the United States. The nation’s largest veal and pork producers announced they will phase out confining animals inside tiny crates, and Wolfgang Puck announced he would drop foie gras, as well as products from animals subjected to intensive, factory farm confinement. Now, the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act has been introduced in Congress to prevent the USDA from buying products from animals subjected to certain factory farm abuses. Click here to support this precedent-setting federal legislation!

Wheels make joys of life more accessible to California rabbit

Sombra the rabbit was sometimes sidelined by problems with her back legs. But these days, her physical challenges don’t keep her down. With the help of a new, lightweight cart, the curious and playful rabbit has a new lease on mobility, able to zip around her digs at the California Shelter, munch on choice grass and spend time with her best friend Goldie. Read more.

It’s Tour Season at our California Shelter!

Long gone are our winter woes and here again are the bright, cheerful days at our California Shelter! Come for a guided tour of our beautiful sanctuary, and celebrate the spring by kissing cows, talking with turkeys and rubbing pigs’ bellies. Visitor season begins on April 7 and tours are held on Saturdays thereafter, every hour on the hour from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Find out more about visiting Farm Sanctuary today!

Emergency Rescue Fund

As public awareness about farm animal cruelty increases, Farm Sanctuary receives more reports of abuse and neglect each year. By making a donation to the Emergency Rescue Fund, you enable us to respond immediately, to those calls and bring suffering farm animals to safety. Farm animals are counting on us to be there in their time of need…and with your support, we can. Make a contribution today!

In the News

Farm Sanctuary is looking for a qualified applicant to lead our advocacy efforts. Apply for the Campaign Director position today!

Govt. Looks to Continue Handouts for Factory Farm Pollution
The New Standard – March 29, 2007

Wolfgang Goes Humane
The Huffington Post – March 25, 2007

Judge Allows Private Testing for Mad Cow
Associated Press – March 29, 2007

In the Store

Buddha Quote T-shirt
“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life.”

About Farm Sanctuary

Photo via texwurld

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.

–

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

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts farm sanctuary meat wolfgang puck veal foie gras restaurants eggs battery cages factory farming USDA Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act congress 110th congress

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: ASPCA – news-alert [at] aspca.org
Date: Mar 30, 2007 7:00 AM
Subject: Pet Food Recall Update/Animal Cruelty Q & A

ASPCA WEEKLY UPDATE

March 30, 2007

Welcome to our weekly email newsletter, your source for the latest news from our animal welfare community and information on pending humane legislation.

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ASPCA NEWS ALERT
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PET FOOD RECALL UPDATE: CONTAMINANTS IN ADDITION TO RAT POISON MAY BE INVOLVED

Since the massive pet food recall on March 16, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center has been flooded with calls from pet parents and animal professionals alike. Based on data we’ve collected, clinical signs in cats affected by the contaminated foods are not fully consistent with the ingestion of rat poison–suggesting that additional contaminants may be involved.

ASPCA SUCCESS STORY OF THE WEEK: MANY HAPPY RETURNS

When Linda Visnaw’s beloved rat terrier, Max, passed away, she knew that another dog would come into her life when the time was right.

ASPCA ON THE NET: Q & A WITH DR. RANDALL LOCKWOOD

Check out our expert on Encyclopedia Britannica.com‘s Advocacy for Animals blog.

DID YOU MISS LAST WEEK’S CHAT WITH ASPCA PET POISON EXPERTS?

The next best thing to being there–read a transcript outlining our experts’ answers to your questions about potentially poisonous substances.

USE YOUR PURCHASING POWER TO HELP ANIMALS–ON ASPCA DAY AND EVERY DAY!

Every time you make a purchase with the ASPCA credit card, you’re supporting efforts to prevent animal cruelty.

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ASPCA ADVOCACY
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MISSOURI TRYING TO IMPROVE NEGLECT LAW

SB 73 and companion bill HB 157 will remove the requirement that an animal must be harmed substantially before a person can be found guilty of animal neglect. The Missouri Senate held a hearing on SB 73 earlier this week, and soon will be voting to pass it out of the Judiciary Committee!

MORE ALERTS FOR YOUR AREA…

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ASPCA GOES MOBILE!
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Sign up to receive text messages on pet care and pending legislation from ASPCA experts.

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ASPCA ANIMALAND
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Know any kids who love animals? Tell them to visit ASPCA Animaland!

ASK AZULA

The Web’s wisest parrot tackles kids’ toughest animal questions.

NOSE FOR NEWS

What’s happening in the animal world–written just for kids.

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Tell a Friend!

© 2007 The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®
424 E. 92nd St
New York, NY 10128
Visit us online at www.aspca.org

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts aspca American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals dog canine cat feline pet companion animal pet food dog food cat food menu foods recall capitalism animal abuse animal neglect cruelty to animals MO Missouri Randall Lockwood

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] brick.net
Date: Mar 30, 2007 1:41 AM
Subject: 1 Horse Plant Left…And Now There Are None?

Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Relief
PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN

If you receive this alert in duplicate, it is because you are subscribed to Kinship Circle Primary (animal issues worldwide) AND Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Relief. While these two separate mail lists rarely overlap, we apologize for this inconvenience.

3/29/07 — 1 Horse Plant Left…And Now There Are None?
NEWS + LETTER CAMPAIGN

www.KinshipCircle.org

Pic via moi

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

COURT DECLARES HORSE SLAUGHTER TO BE ILLEGAL

Help Save Horses Right Out of the Gate

Court Declares Horse Slaughter in Texas Illegal

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

www.saplonline.org/Legislation/USDAviolatedlaw.htm

For Immediate Release

COURT DECLARES HORSE SLAUGHTER TO BE ILLEGAL

Washington, D.C. (March 28, 2007) – In a 51-page opinion issued just hours ago, United States District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly held that the slaughter of horses in America violates federal law. In her opinion, issued in response to a lawsuit filed in February 2006 by the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL) and other humane organizations and individuals, Judge Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct an environmental impact review of its decision to allow the continuation of horse slaughter.

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Via the World Wildlife Fund:

Protect Polar Bears From Global Warming

Deadline: 4/9/2007

U.S. activists: Help protect polar bears from the impacts of global warming by endorsing a proposal to list them as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Being added to the Endangered Species list would give the bears important protections, such as prohibitions on killing, harming or otherwise “taking” the species.

The listing would require that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designate critical habitat for polar bears and would ensure that the federal government’s actions do not jeopardize the bears’ existence or adversely modify or destroy their critical habitat. The government also would need to prepare a recovery plan that specifies measures needed for the bears’ protection.

Write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now to endorse adding the polar bear to the Endangered Species list.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts wwf world wildlife fund wildlife conservation esa endangered species act polar bears climate change global warming

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: API Newsletters – donotreply [at] apiforanimals.org
Date: Mar 29, 2007 1:41 PM
Subject: Pet Food Recall — and more

National Alert: Pet Food Recall – What You Can Do to Save Your Animal

With recent news reports of the tragic results of contaminated dog and cat food, The Animal Protection Institute would like to be sure that you have the necessary resources at your disposal to help ensure the safety of your beloved companion animals.

As many of you may already be aware, recently there has been a large scale recall of dog and cat food. The food is manufactured by the Menu Foods company and is sold under a variety of brand names. Animals who have ingested the contaminated food have quickly succumbed to the effects of acute kidney failure. Some animals have died as a result.

For more information and a list of useful resources on this issue, click here.

As news from the recall continues to develop, we urge you to remain vigilant in keeping up with the latest media coverage by checking your local news or the national news daily.

(more…)

UPDATE, 5/15/07, via the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Over the past 60 days you’ve given wolves a fighting chance against the Bush Administration’s proposal to strip them of their Endangered Species protection and leave them vulnerable to mass killing.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that more than 200,000 citizens registered their opposition to a dangerous plan that could doom up to one half of the wolves in Greater Yellowstone to a cruel and senseless death.

I’m proud to report that NRDC Action Fund supporters like you generated 137,000 of those 200,000 comments!

Thanks to your support, we also made sure that concerned citizens turned out in force at public hearings across the Northern Rockies to testify for wolf protection. Wolf supporters outnumbered opponents at key hearings in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Boise, Idaho, where the wolf faces fierce hostility from state officials.

And the outcry we raised was bolstered by more than 250 scientists, who expressed their own opposition to the Bush Administration proposal.

What’s next? The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will review all the comments it has received and will make a decision in about six months on whether or not to maintain protection of the wolf under the Endangered Species Act.

Way to go, guys and gals!

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UPDATE, 4/11/07:

Allrighty then…yet another action alert and sample letter, from the Natural Resources Defense Council: Tell the Bush Administration to Protect Gray Wolves!

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Here’s the TOC from IDA’s 3-28-07 newsletter.

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

IDA Action Alerts

Alaska Offers Wolf Bounty: $150 Each; State may bring in helicopters to meet predator-control kill goals

Help IDA Save Elephants Ailing in Zoos; Give today to stop the exploitation of Earth’s largest land mammal

Navy Proposes Training Marine Mammals for Undersea Warfare; Enlistment could endanger welfare of dolphins and sea lions

Campaign News & Updates

Victory for the Heber Horses; IDA and others win court battle preventing wild horse roundup in Arizona

IDA Uncovers Horse Starvation Case; Man charged with cruelty after animal found near death

IDA’s Portland Meatout Events Spread Message of Compassion; Free Vegan Starter Kits and food samples open minds and please palettes

An archive of past IDA eNews newsletters is available here.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts ida in defense of animals animal abuse cruelty to animals horse alaska wolf wolves bounty eradicate elephants zoos navy mammals warfare dolphins sea lions Heber Horses arizona wildlife wild horses conservation meatout portland

UPDATE, 5/29/07, via Ecological Internet:

See also EI’s 5/27 press release, PRESS RELEASE/VICTORY: Important Ugandan Protected Area Saved from “Deforestation Biofuels”, 2nd Major Rainforest Spared in a Week.

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UPDATE, 5/23/07, via Ecological Internet:

VICTORY: Ugandan Protected Rainforests Saved from Clearing for Plantation

Whoo, whoo a major rainforest victory! Uganda’s cabinet has suspended a proposal to give away part of the Mabira rainforest near its capital and on the shore of Lake Victoria [more | search]. The significance of the protection remaining on this important Ugandan rainforest from sugar cane production (possibly for biofuel) lies not in the extent of the area — some 7,000 hectares were to be removed from the area — but more in the cooperation between local and international civil society to bring about the victory. Local activists organized boycotts of the sugar company that was to expand into the area. And Ecological Internet internationalized the issue, with 8,627 Earth Action Network participants generating 1,833,279 protest emails to the parliament that has now blocked the project.

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UPDATE, 4/12/07, via Ecological Internet:

UPDATE: Ugandan police have opened fire at hundreds of Mabira rainforest protection campaigners in Uganda protesting against government plans to allocate forest land to a sugar company. Ecological Internet is sad to report that two local rainforest conservationists, protesting to save the Mabira protected rainforest from being 1/3 cleared for sugar cane have, were shot dead when protesting as well as two innocent bystanders were beat to death. Stopping the “Great Mabira Rainforest Give-Away” has been something the Ecological Internet Earth Action Network has been deeply involved with internationally (media coverage below). This in support of one of Africa’s first grassroots modern ecological protest campaigns – with local peoples organizing boycotts against the sugar company involved, setting up cyber-petitions and text messaging via cell phones to organize protests. Efforts to save Mabira rainforest are a spontaneous, home-grown rainforest conservation protest that deserves our continued support.

Search “Mabira”…

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Via Ecological Internet / The Rainforest Portal:

Last Chance to Stop Great Ugandan Mabira Rainforest Give-Away

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni continues to pursue legally dubious plans to destroy large areas of Uganda’s last important intact and protected rainforests. Some one-third of Mabira Forest Reserve, about 7,000 hectares of an area which has been protected since 1932, will lose its protection for sugar cane production by the Mehta Group. Ecological Internet was the first to bring a thriving Ugandan rainforest protection and protest movement to an international audience. Since that time many more local and international groups have joined the campaign, and a dramatic discussion is being held in Ugandan society and in the media regarding the legitimacy of giving away forest reserves to private business interests. What is so exciting is that the level of protest in Uganda is substantial and growing, with boycotts of the sugar company and online petitions. [...]

Mabira must be protected to maintain water, biodiversity and future development potential. But already the movement for sustainable rainforest use and development in Uganda has won. Maintaining and expanding rainforest protection has been established as a critical pillar of climate change mitigation, water availability and national ecological sustainability for Uganda’s future. Please contact President the entire Ugandan parliament, and Ugandan ministries and embassies and insist that these projects be abandoned, and Uganda’s remaining rainforest strictly protected as ecological reserves while restoring forests where they historically occurred.

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Tagged: environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts ecological internet the rainforest portal greeen uganda rainforest Mabira Forest Reserve sugar cane Mehta Group capitalism

Personally, I’m not all that impressed by BK’s promises (purchasing 2% cage-free eggs ASAP, and then doubling that to 4% by 2008?; wtf, are you kidding me?!), but FYI….

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Ingrid Newkirk – newsmanager [at] peta.org
Date: Mar 28, 2007 7:55 AM
Subject: Victory! Burger King Adopts New Industry-Leading Animal Welfare Policies

I have some very exciting news to share with you. In 2001, when PETA halted its “Murder King” campaign (after Burger King adopted some animal welfare standards), Burger King agreed to continue behind-the-scenes discussions with PETA about ways to further reduce the horrific abuse of animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses. Now, after nearly six years of negotiations with PETA, those discussions have resulted in Burger King’s agreeing to enact a new industry-leading animal welfare plan to improve conditions for the animals used and killed for its products.

According to its news plan, Burger King will:

* Immediately begin purchasing 10 percent of its pig flesh from suppliers that do not use cruel gestation crates—metal enclosures that confine mother pigs and are so restrictive that the animals cannot even stretch a limb or take a step—and double that amount by the end of 2007.

* Immediately begin purchasing 2 percent of its eggs from hens who are not confined to tiny wire battery cages and more than double that amount by the end of 2007.

* Issue a statement to its egg suppliers that it will give purchasing preference to those that do not use battery cages.

* Issue a statement to its chicken-flesh suppliers that it will give purchasing preference to those that use or switch to “controlled-atmosphere killing” (CAK), the least cruel method of poultry slaughter in existence.

(more…)