———- Forwarded message ———-
From: United Poultry Concerns – news [at] upc-online.org
Date: Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 2:20 PM
Subject: [UPC] Call for Entries: CHICKEN RUN RESCUE PHOTO CONTEST!

United Poultry Concerns
17 March 2009

Call for Entries: CHICKEN RUN RESCUE PHOTO CONTEST!

Submissions are being accepted for this year’s Chicken Run Rescue Photo Contest.

To view entries so far and vote for your favorite – visit and vote often:

www.brittonclouse.com/chickenrunrescue/photos09/index.php?x=browse

You will join Chicken Run Rescue and United Poultry Concerns in recognizing May as International Respect for Chickens Month by capturing the beauty, joy, intelligence, dignity, agility and zany exuberance of your birds in a photograph. Each year, twelve winning photos will be published in a calendar and winners will receive a free calendar. An exhibit of the winning photos will also be shown at the Justice for Animals Exhibition Space in Minneapolis, Minnesota. All calendar sales proceeds will enable Chicken Run Rescue to continue helping chickens for another year.

TO ENTER:

CONTEST RULES

Photograph everyday activities that are natural for your birds – no costumes, staged stunts or props. Chicken Run Rescue reserves the right to decline any images that conflict with our mission to promote the adoption of homeless chickens as companion animals and discourage breeding or buying. There are never enough homes for displaced animals.

Submission Deadline: May 15
Voting: Ongoing thru May 15
Winners Announced: June 4

Send HIGH RESOLUTION DIGITAL PHOTOS to chickenrunrescue [at] comcast.net. Include your name, title or bird’s name, address, phone number and email address.

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Action Alerts

Center for Biological Diversity: Save Panama Biosphere Reserve From Dams
Please join the growing international movement to protect this ecological jewel and voice your opposition to the proposed Hydroelectric Projects.

DawnWatch: UK media on meat and global warming 9/9/07
“Activists take Gore to task on his diet”

Defenders of Wildlife: Protect Utah Prairie Dogs and Other Wildlife
Fill out the form below to urge your Representative and Senators to support the Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2007 (H.R. 1422 and S. 700), important legislation that would help private landowners protect Utah prairie dogs and other imperiled wildlife that live on their property.

Earthjustice: Say No to the Blowing Up of Appalachia
Tell the administration to stop trying to diminish the buffer zone rule and start enforcing it!

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Tell the U.S. Navy to Stop Killing Whales!
Ear-splitting military sonar is needlessly killing whales and other marine mammals throughout the world’s oceans. Yet the Navy has refused to put effective safeguards in place during testing and training.

(more…)

Action Alerts

American Freedom Campaign: Encourage the presidential candidates to sign the American Freedom Pledge
I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from assault by any President.

Animal Welfare Institute (AWI): Pro-Animal Bills Pending in U.S. Congress: Please Visit Your Legislators
Pet Safety Protection Act, American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act & Dog Fighting Prohibition Act

Consumer’s Union: Don’t lick Elmo!
Urge your members of Congress to ensure that the products and food that end up on our shelves are safe.

Earthjustice: Stop the Owl Extinction Plan: Political Interference Puts Birds, Forests, and Science At Risk
Please take action to tell the Fish and Wildlife Service by August 24 not to bow to the timber industry while our nation’s forests, rivers, and wildlife pay the price.

Ecological Internet / Climate Ark: Jet-Setting Leonardo DiCaprio the Convenient Environmentalist
Growth in aviation threatens the Planet, celebrities flying in private jets are no friend to the environment, and shared climate sacrifice means the super-rich must swear off jet-setting ways.

(more…)

Action Alerts

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): TELL CONGRESS: DON’T FAIL FREEDOM
Stand with the ACLU and demand that Congress live up to its promise to protect and defend the Constitution, starting with immediate fixes to the outrageous FISA legislation that made warrantless NSA spying on Americans legal.

DawnWatch: NPR commentary on dog fighting and canned hunting 8/8/07
“National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, Wednesday, August 8, 2007, aired a piece by commentator Frank Deford on dog fighting and on various forms of hunting”

DawnWatch: Wall St Journal front page on pig castration 7/6/07
“These Little Pigs Get Special Care From Norwegians But Meat People Squeal, And a Lot of Other Folks Are Holding Their Noses”

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): Pull Congress Back Into the Wiretapping Fight to Restore Your Rights
Tell your representatives to repeal this legislation and restore your rights now.

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Urge Congress to clean up our beaches
Your senators and representatives have the opportunity to help clean up contaminated beaches and to make sure sources of beach pollution are identified and addressed.

(more…)

Action Alerts

Amnesty International: Demand safety for environmental activists in Ecuador

DawnWatch: Outstanding veggie coverage on DC NBC affiliate 7/31/07

National Wildlife Federation: Pass a Wildlife-Friendly “Energy Independence Package”

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Urge Your Representative to Vote YES on a Stronger Energy Bill!

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS): Who will your representative listen to? You or corporate interests? [Talking points]

United Poultry Concerns (UPC): Protest Orthodox Union Event

Newsletters

VegCooking.com: Recipe of the Week: Crepes With ‘Cream’ Filling and Tart Cherry Sauce

(more…)

UPDATE, 6/8/07:

See also: AMAZON.COM SUPPORTS COCKFIGHTING Please Protest!, from United Poultry Concerns (UPC)

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Via the Humane Society of the United States:

Amazon.com Continues to Fight the Bad Fight

For at least two years, Amazon.com has been infamously—and incorrectly—touting its “right” to sell materials promoting illegal animal fighting, blatantly peddling dogfighting videos as well as cockfighting magazines like The Gamecock and The Feathered Warrior.

Amazon.com seems so determined to profit from illegal animal fighting that, rather than simply drop its sales of animal fighting materials, it has filed a motion against The HSUS in federal court, essentially asking that federal and state laws to protect animals be gutted to accommodate Amazon.com‘s sales of animal fighting paraphernalia.

Amazon.com‘s persistence is all the more disturbing because it comes just weeks after Congress passed legislation making it a felony offense to ship publications containing “commercial speech” for the purpose of promoting or “in any other manner furthering” animal fighting, in addition to the mailing of all other materials that promote animal fighting.

Fight Back!

Please tell Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon.com’s CEO, that it’s not too late to change course and do the right thing—and comply with the law.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts hsus humane society of the united states dog canine rooster dog fighting cockfighting animal fighting amazon amazon.com first amendment freedom of speech free speech censorship upc United Poultry Concerns

Via United Poultry Concerns:

Please Thank IRA GLASS for Promoting Veg Change

Yesterday we announced that media celebrity Ira Glass, host of the wildly popular Public Radio International’s This American Life aired on National Public Radio, and now on TV, appeared on Late Night with David Letterman Friday, April 20th where he told Letterman and millions of viewers that his visit to United Poultry Concerns’ chicken sanctuary inspired him to become a vegetarian.

Please thank Ira Glass for bringing this important message to the public. We are So Honored & So Grateful to Ira Glass!

Contact Ira Glass at:

Ira Glass
This American Life
153 West 27th Street, Suite 1104
New York, NY 10001
Email: ira [at] thislife.org, web [at] thislife.org
Website: www.thisamericanlife.org/About_Contact.aspx

After the flip: the original alert, as well as a video (via You Tube) of the appearance.

Karen Davis, Chicken Advocacy, Vegetarianism Discussed On David Letterman

Ira Glass appeared on Late Night with David Letterman Friday April 20th promoting the television version of his radio show This American Life. Since 1995, Ira Glass has been host of Public Radio International’s This American Life. For 16 years before that, he worked as a producer, editor, and reporter on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

At the midpoint of his conversation with Letterman, Glass described his encounter with Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns and the huge letter-writing campaign UPC mobilized several years ago. He commented with amazement on the overwhelming task of advocating for chickens in a world where their death is everywhere you look, an “Armageddon” as he described it.

He described UPC’s sanctuary in the midst of a large poultry production area, where “little escaping chickens” falling off trucks are brought to UPC’s sanctuary for safety, how he was invited to visit and upon meeting the chickens discovered they are indeed little individuals with personalities – “this one’s shy, that one’s outgoing.”

When he asked Letterman if he had ever met a chicken, Letterman quipped about meeting one on the end of his fork. He asked Glass if he had made dietary changes since then and Glass replied that he thought of those chickens every time he took a bite of chicken after that and that he has indeed become a vegetarian.

To view the segment on You Tube, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1TcL0wZ-pM

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts UPC united poultry concerns karen davis ira glass david letterman Public Radio International This American Life National Public Radio NPR vegetarian vegetarianism chicken meat eggs poultry you tube

UPDATE, 2/28/07, via United Poultry Concerns:

We’re pleased to announce that the Kansas State University administrative offices have issued an open letter to KSU fans condemning the mistreatment of chickens at the basketball game on Monday, Feb. 19th.

KSU letter: www.k-statesports.com

UPC Action Alert: www.upc-online.org/battery_hens/22607ksu.html

During our investigation, United Poultry Concerns discovered that a Sports Illustrated website, SIOnCampus.com, encouraged and gave instructions on how to conduct a “chicken toss” as #32 of the “102 More Things You Gotta Do Before Your Graduate.” We are pleased to announce that as a result of our conversation today with the site’s producer, Andy Gray, the “chicken toss” has been deleted. Mr. Gray said he agreed it was not appropriate for the site to encourage college athletes and their fans to mistreat animals.

We thank everyone who contacted President Wefald and the athletic director and coach at KSU on behalf of the hens who were so cruelty mistreated on Feb. 19. Your letters made and are making a difference. We’re continuing to work with the University to strengthen its policy against mistreating chickens and other animals for entertainment. We will you updated.

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Via United Poultry Concerns:

Chickens Sadistically Abused at Kansas State University Basketball Game

On Monday, February 19, 2007, three, possibly four, hens were thrown onto the basketball court from the stands at KSU’s Bramlidge Coliseum at a basketball game. They were alive when they were thrown onto the court over a distance of approximately thirty feet. They were wounded, and they could not get up on their legs. One of the hens appeared to have blood on her shoulder. Another photo shows four hens painted red and blue (the school colors) in a plastic tub, apparently before they were thrown.

The images show that these hens came from a battery-caged hen facility. They landed near the cheerleaders. The following two videos show a bit of what happened:

UPC’s Letter: www.upc-online.org/entertainment/22307KSU.html

Media Coverage: www.ksufans.com/forums/index.php?topic=8472.0

www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/feb/20/keep_streakin/?sports

What Can I Do?

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UPDATE, 2/22/07:

Compassion Over Killing (COK) has more info available at Morningstar-Egg-Facts.com, including a handy-dandy contact form. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve feasted on a Gardenburger – since I made the transition from vegetarian to vegan, actually – but apparently they’ve veganized all but one of their veggie patties. Good stuff.

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Via United Poultry Concerns:

Urge MORNINGSTAR FARMS to Stop Using Eggs

Morningstar Farms, owned by the Kellogg company, uses eggs from battery-caged hens in its products. Battery-caged hens are jammed into tiny wire cages in filthy buildings. Their lives are totally miserable. For information about battery-caged hens, visit www.upc-online.org/battery_hens.

United Poultry Concerns is joining Compassion Over Killing and Vegan Outreach in urging our members and all compassionate people to ask Morningstar Farms – a leader in providing delicious vegetarian foods – to remove the eggs from its products. Tell them that many vegan consumers – would-be customers – await this positive change!

Whom Do I Contact & How?

Call the Kellogg customer feedback hotline at 1-800-962-1413.

Write to: Morningstar Farms, c/o Kellogg Consumer Affairs, PO Box CAMB, Battle Creek, MI 49016

Go to the Morningstar Farms website at www.seeveggiesdifferently.com and follow the Contact Us instructions. The problem is, you must submit your date-of-birth and name a specific product for your message to be completed and sent. Therefore, United Poultry Concerns will gladly deliver your message to Morningstar Farms via regular mail, if you will please do the following:

Compose an email request to Morningstar Farms asking the company to remove the eggs from all of its products. Include your first & last name and your regular mailing address w/zipcode, as you would in a regular letter. Ask Morningstar Farms for a reply. Be polite. Submit your email, addressed to Morningstar Farms, to Info [at] upc-online.org. We will forward your letter to Morningstar Farms.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts upc United Poultry Concerns Morningstar Farms eggs battery hens battery cages vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism Kellogg gardenburger cok compassion over killing

Via United Poultry Concerns:

KFC has recently petitioned the United States Postal Service (USPS) to create a postage stamp commemorating Colonel Sanders. Since the Colonel’s legacy includes breeding and drugging chickens to grow so large that they suffer painful diseases and broken bones, slitting their throats while they’re still conscious and dropping them into tanks of scalding-hot water, please tell the USPS that to commemorate him is to endorse cruelty to animals – something Americans oppose.

Please fill out the USPS’ Customer Service Form to let Postmaster General John Potter know that you do not want to see a stamp commemorating cruel Colonel Sanders. [...]

You can also call, write or fax the USPS:

The Honorable John E. Potter
CEO and Postmaster General
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW
Washington, DC 20260

Phone: (800) 275-8777
Fax: (303) 574-9650

Additional talking points are available at KFC Cruelty.

FYI: When I wrote the USPS using the online feedback form, I was advised to address my complaint to the following department:

CITIZENS STAMP ADVISORY COMMITTEE
C/O STAMP DEVELOPMENT
US POSTAL SERVICE
475 L’ENFANT PLAZA SW RM 5670
WASHINGTON DC 20260-2437

No fax/phone number was included. (My cynical side says that this is an obvious attempt for the Postal Service to drum up extra business – why else require printed letters when digital ones would do?)

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts UPC united+poultry+concerns KFC kentucky+fried+chicken USPS postage+stamps chickens poultry