Via Animal Advocacy:

Boys Continue Stoning Geese to Death; Ask Police to Investigate

The Washington Post reported that boys are stoning nesting geese to death in a park in Springfield, Virginia (Fairfax County). (source)

Please contact the Fairfax County Police and ask them to assign a detective to this case. Mention that these animal abusers are exhibiting severe psychiatric disorders and the FBI has found they often progress to crimes against humans. Make your request online here.

For ideas to include in your request, you may want to reference information found here.*

The letter is short, but heartbreaking:

Senseless Violence in Springfield

A Canada goose guards his mate’s body at a pond in Springfield.
(Courtesy Of Tom Norato; photo via The Washington Post)

There is a pond near a bike path between the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station and the Greenwood Community in Springfield. Each year, Canada geese arrive at the pond in the fall to nest and raise their families.

Recently, some young neighborhood boys have found a new hobby: They have been stoning the geese to death. Above is a photo of their latest prize and his mate, standing over the body. The goose has been standing vigil for many days now, waiting for her to join him. They mate for life, you know.

He wards off all other geese that come near, as if he were protecting her in a nest. Her final repose does give that illusion. I am beginning to worry that he may himself expire for lack of nourishment, and I had thought of removing the body in the hopes that he might move on. But then I thought I’d just be making things worse. I have a tendency to think that his reactions are instinct and just nature’s way.

But nature didn’t cause this.

Perhaps the boys who did this will see this picture and reflect on what they have done. Perhaps not.

– Tom Norato, Springfield

While this instance of animal abuse is characterized as “senseless violence,” it’s no more (less?) senseless than slaughtering billions of animals for food annually, when a pant-based diet will do. Nor are geese the only non-human animals who feel grief and sorrow, or form deep family and social ties.

Just…remember that, before you start decrying the sociopathy of today’s youths. They’ve got to learn it somewhere, right?

(More below the fold…)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Kinship Circle – kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 9:14 PM
Subject: Act/ Demand Whale Conservation Over Killing

KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY / PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST
3/29/09: Demand Whale Conservation Over Killing

LT: Minke whale. Juergen Freund. OCEANS. Ribbon Reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

RT: A Bryde’s whale lies on the deck of a Japanese whaling vessel. The species is listed as “Data Deficient” on the IUCN Red List and current population numbers are not known. (Institute for Cetacean Research)

(More below the fold…)

Update, 5/11/09:

In an email dated May 5, 2009, SHARK updates us on its campaign against Coke:

Coca-Cola’s Feeling the Heat

Keep Pressuring Coke About Sponsoring Animal Abuse

Thank you to everyone who has contacted Coke about its sponsorship of rodeo animal abuse. We appreciate all the responses you have been sending us from the Company.

Under intense pressure the Company is now issuing yet another form letter response. In bold is the relevant change.

Thank you for contacting The Coca-Cola Company, Mrs. Hunter. We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Like you, The Coca-Cola Company cares about the welfare of animals and supports their proper treatment. That is why the Company and our U.S. bottling will not sponsor events or attractions that feature animals unless the event organizers have policies and procedures in place to support the humane treatment of animals and provide ready access to quality veterinary care to protect the animals’ health and safety. Additionally, the Company’s trademarks may not be used to promote an event or an attraction that violates local, state or national laws or is contrary to the Company’s policy and guidelines.

We hope we have addressed your concerns. If you have questions or comments in the future, feel free to contact us again.

Tom Barber
Industry and Consumer Affairs
The Coca-Cola Company

Coke has a policy in effect that says:

“The Coca-Cola Company does not endorse or condone any practice of cruelty to animals, and the Company does not sponsor or promote events where there is a risk of physical harm to animals.”

Clearly, rodeos violate that policy.

They should have no presence in rodeos.

No matter how many times you have already contacted Coke, please contact them again. We have to remind them of their policy, and we have to keep discrediting their claims and exposing them. It is your calls, letters and e-mails that has them dancing around this issue.

Please let them know that you will not buy their products until they stop supporting animal abuse and will encourage others to do the same.

What You Can Do:

You can help the animals by sharing your thoughts about Coke’s insensitivity with the company’s CEO and President:

Muhtar Kent
President and CEO
The Coca-Cola Company
P.O. Box 1734
Atlanta, GA 30301
Phone: 770-989-3000
Toll Free: (800) 438-2653 (Get-Coke)

Please also send a separate letter to the same address to the Board of Directors at Coca-Cola.

Email Coke on their web form by clicking here.

Email Coca-Cola’s Corporate Responsibility Review directly at crreview [at] na.ko.com

Please forward any response you may receive from Coke to us at info [at] sharkonline.org, so we can keep track of what corporate lie(s) they are handing out at any given moment.

——————-

Excerpted from the latest edition of SHARK’s enewsletter:

SHARK wants to give a giant Thank You to everyone who took the time to contact Coca-Cola. We know that our letters and phone calls are having an effect. Coca-Cola is responding to our emails by sticking to their ridiculous story that they don’t support rodeo, but bizarrely, they then go into a lengthy defense of rodeo. We believe that this shows that Coca-Cola is feeling the pressure.

We are going to ask you to call Coke again and keep calling Coke this year until they withdraw their support of animal abuse and cruelty. A message needs to be sent to the corporate sponsors of animal cruelty that sponsoring animal cruelty will not be tolerated. PLEASE CONTACT Coca-Cola again or if you haven’t told them how you feel yet, please do so today! We need your support on this issue.

We also have one correction to make: E. Neville Isdell’s proper title is Chairman of the Board and Coca-Cola’s CEO is Muhtar Kent.

Please crosspost to everyone you know and to other organizations.

For more information visit: CokeCruelty.com

Contact Coke Today!

Call Toll Free (800) 438-2653 (GET-COKE)

Email Coke on their web form by clicking here: www.thecoca-colacompany.com/contactus/cokefeedback/index.html

Email Coca-Cola’s Corporate Responsibility Review directly at crreview[at] na.ko.com

Snail Mail:
Muhtar Kent, President & CEO
The Coca-Cola Company
P.O. Box 1734
Atlanta, GA 30301-1734

E. Neville Isdell, Chairman of the Board
The Coca-Cola Company
P.O. Box 1734
Atlanta, GA 30301-1734

Please also send a separate letter to the same address to the Board of Directors at Coca-Cola.

Please forward any response you may receive from Coke to us at info [at] sharkonline.org, so we can keep track of what corporate lie(s) they are handing out at any given moment.

SHARK offers proof of Coke’s rodeo love on their website, including this banner from the 2007 CFD Rodeo.

If you’re going to endorse cruelty, the least you can do is have the backbone to stand behind your decision. If it’s such a PR nightmare that you’ve got to deny the sponsorship, then here’s an idea – withdraw your support!

(More below the fold…)

Action Alerts

Anti-Fur Society: Ask the Washingtonian Mag Not to Advertise Fur
“I am appalled to learn that a respected publication like The Washingtonian promotes wearing fur in both its feature articles and advertising. In a time of green living, and in light of the recent economic downtown, your magazine has a prime opportunity to present a “better,” more responsible capital city to your readers.” [Incidentally, I'm disappointed to see the Anti-Fur Society use the term 'fur hag' in its action alert, i.e., "We are going after local fur hags and their adepts, starting with the Washingtonian Magazine -- "THE" Washington DC social mag."]

Colorado Daily (via IDA): Only in Boulder: A home for pet ‘guardians’; Campaign to rename pet ‘owners’ started in Boulder, soon spread
Please vote in their online poll, “Pet lovers: What is your relationship with your pet?” – “Guardian” or “owner”

Ecological Internet / Climate Ark: Action Alert: Tell Leading Climate Scientists, Industrialists and Negotiators to Stop Promoting Industrial Scale Biochar
“Please protest proposals for large scale use of charcoal in soils for climate change mitigation, and against their inclusion into carbon markets. Biochar, along with agrofuels, will result in devastating expansion of industrial agriculture which threatens people, climate and ecosystems.”

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Tell President Obama: Strengthen Ban on Commercial Whaling!
“Ever since the Presidency of Richard Nixon, the official policy of the United States has been to oppose commercial whaling. But the Bush Administration had, for the past two years, been pushing a “compromise” at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) that would legalize the killing of thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoises by Japan, Iceland and Norway. [...] President Barack Obama must hear from the public that he needs to reverse the US position and stop these negotiations. His new Administration is very busy with other priorities, but a deal with Japan on whaling may be reached soon, and he must hear that we oppose such a deal.”

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Soldiers Getting Away With Animal Cruelty In Texas
“Two recent cases of animal cruelty by soldiers at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas raise cause for alarm. In the first case, Fort Bliss soldier Dwayne Sumter left his dog enclosed in a crate alone in an off-post house for weeks. The dog, dubbed “Little Pit Girl,” ate her way out of the crate but with no food and water, she died. Her body was found later lying in a suitcase that was left in the abandoned house. Sumter was charged with animal cruelty by the El Paso District Attorney’s Office but has never been to trial. He was transferred to Fort Hood. The second case involved another Fort Bliss soldier accused of killing a small dog and injuring another. Spc. Frank Zimmerman, who was charged by military police last week with not following the post’s animal cruelty policy, allegedly broke the leg of a dog he’d recently adopted from an animal shelter. That dog, Wrigley, has since had surgery and is recovering. A second dog, Tinkerbelle, was killed allegedly after Zimmerman stomped on her neck.”

(More below the fold…)

Yesterday, Gentle Barn sent out the following plea for donations. Coming on the heels of this post, I couldn’t help but consider the former in the context of the latter.

Read on, and see if you don’t agree.

When It Rains, It Pours

We’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that because of the economy a lot of dairies are shutting down, which means a lot less needless suffering for mommy and baby cows. The bad news is that the now unaffordable dairy cows are being sent to slaughter. And, they are being sent to slaughter pregnant. When they get to the auction house to be purchased by the meat companies, some are having their babies in the auction house. The meat buyers take the moms and leave the orphaned newborns on the floor of the auction house to die. In addition, many of the older separated veal calves are also being sent to the stockyard sickly and premature due to lack of funds as well.

The Gentle Barn received a call from the auction house this morning asking us to please come get these babies because they didn’t want them to die on their floor and become a problem for them. We immediately sprang to action and drove the 2 hours to the stockyard where the site was absolutely devastating. Hundreds of cows terrified and screaming, crying for each other, many of them sick, blind, and some downed (an animal that can’t get up on their own due to fatigue and illness). Mommies and babies were being separated, best friends were desperately looking for each other – the pain and the fear was horrific. We loaded up six orphaned babies, one blind from malnutrition and one almost lifeless from having no nourishment since God knows when. The Gentle Barn rescue team had to physically carry these two downed calves into the trailer.

As we write, The Gentle Barn staff quickly heads home to meet the veterinarian. With the vet’s help, dedicated volunteers, and prayers, we hope that we can keep these babies alive. We know that if we can get through the next 48 hours, these cows are promised a peaceful, loved life at The Gentle Barn. As with all that we do, we cannot do this without you. For the next 48 hours, these calves will need round-the-clock care. They will need to be bottle fed, loved, and reassured that it will be OK. Even though the next 48 hours are especially critical, these cows will need the constant attention for at least the next two weeks.

(More below the fold…)

Action Alerts

ACORN: Show Sheriff Joe we mean business
“Thanks to your efforts, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has set Congressional hearings into his civil and human rights abuses for tomorrow, Thursday, April 2 at 10 AM EDT. [...] Please send Chairman Conyers a message thanking him for his stand for justice. Your actions won these critically important hearings that will expose Sheriff Joe in front of the entire country.”

Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday: Sign the Petition for a Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday!
“I call on the US Congress to establish an official federal paid holiday in honor of Cesar E. Chavez, the late President of the United Farm Workers, on his birthday March 31st. This should include a Cesar E. Chavez day of service, learning and community action.”

Common Cause: Urge Congress to Support Fair Elections
“Instead of focusing on their constituents and the important issues of the day, elected officials in Washington spend too much time raising money from wealthy donors and lobbyists – often from the very industries they’re supposed to oversee! It’s time to get our leaders out of the fundraising game and let them do the jobs we’ve elected them to do.”

DawnWatch: Alternatives to animal testing in Boston Globe 3/30/09
“The Monday, March 30, Boston Globe included an important article, by Colin Nickerson, headed “More accuracy seen in living cell stand-ins for human organs.” (Business, Pg 5)”

DawnWatch: 60 Minutes on lion pesticide poisonings and danger of extinction 3/29/09
“On Sunday, March 29, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired a heartbreaking segment about the danger or extinction of the African lion due to poisoning with Furadan, a pesticide made by FMC. Kenyan cattle farmers, to whom the loss of a single cow is a catastrophic burden, can poison a full pride of lions with a few drops of Furadan after a cow is taken. The story in beautifully presented, with compassion for the people and the magnificent animals. It ends on a slightly hopeful note, as those protecting the lions find they can dissuade the local farmers from killing them if they compensate them for their losses of cattle taken by lions. There is also a discussion about bans on Furadan sales.”

(More below the fold…)