Action Alerts

European Coalition to End Animal Experiments (ECEAE): Help Us Stop Primate Experiments. For Good.
We currently have a real opportunity to get a ban on all primate experiments across Europe – but we need your help.

The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights (FTCR) / OilWatchdog: Stick It to Big Oil
Send a free fax to your U.S. Senator by clicking here, and ask him or her to support McCaskill’s “Fair Fuel” bill, S. 1997!

Four Paws: Join us in a protest against the ruthless dog mafia in Europe
FOUR PAWS wants to thwart the unscrupulous trade in puppies. Take part! Support our protest and sign our online petition.

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Get Tina and Jewel Out of the Circus
Urge USDA to send suffering elephants to a sanctuary now

In Defense of Animals (IDA): Ask Prosecutor to seek maximum sentencing for animal hoarders
Over 100 Animals Removed from Animal Hoarders’ Home; Supplies needed to care for 68 surviving dogs and cats

(More below the fold…)

UPDATE, 6/20/07, via Four Paws:

European Parliament Votes for Strict Import Ban of Dog and Cat Fur

Milestone for International VIER PFOTEN Campaign

Today, the EU Parliament voted for an import and trading ban of dog and cat fur throughout the European Union. With that, the aim of VIER PFOTEN to get a regulation without a huge loophole for animal cruelty comes closer. The Members of Parliament rejected an exception proposed by the European Commission. Following this suggestion, dog and cat furs would continue to be imported if the furs do not originate from fur farms. “VIER PFOTEN welcomes this vote for animal welfare by the European Parliament”, as Thomas Pietsch, expert on wild animals at VIER PFOTEN, explains. “The deletion of the loophole is a big success for animal welfare, import of pelts from brutally tortured pets will be a thing of the past soon”.

In the context of an online campaign by VIER PFOTEN more than 160.000 e-mails were sent to the EU Ministers of Agriculture within the last ten weeks. Celebrities support the campaign: In Germany, Hannelore Hoger, Juli Zeh, Barbara Rütting and Peter Horton side with animal welfare and demand, together with VIER PFOTEN, to delete the exception clause in the draft regulation. According to a representative opinion poll from April 2007, more than 88,1 percent of the Germans support a strict import ban of dog and cat fur. [to be adjusted nationally]

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: FOUR PAWS – newsletter [at] vier-pfoten.org
Date: Apr 13, 2007 6:39 AM
Subject: Import prohibition for dog and cat fur

More than two million dogs and cats give up their lives for fur products every year in Asia. Many animals are specially bred for the fur industry, others are simply caught on the streets. Furs from dogs that often land on the dinner plate in Asian countries could also make their way into international trade. These dogs and cats generally vegetate in tiny wire cages. Brutal methods of killing are the order of the day, with some animals having their fur ripped off their still living bodies.

Hundreds of thousands of these furs make their way into the European Union each year where they are then sold to unsuspecting consumers as trimming on clothes, blankets, decoration articles or toys. Please help us close the European market to these products and stop this cruelty to animals!

There is a proposal for an import and trade prohibition being discussed at the moment in the EU. However, this prohibition is just limited to dog and cat furs that expressly originate from fur farms. The import of furs from other sources will continue to be allowed. For this reason VIER PFOTEN is starting an international campaign today for a loophole-free import prohibition! With your help, we would like to convince the European Parliament and the EU Member States to close the existing “loophole for animal cruelty” and to furthermore campaign for a statutory labelling obligation for all fur products. Our aim: No dog or cat fur to be allowed to make its way into the EU anymore! Time is running out as the final decision of the Council of Ministers is expected to be made on 7 May.

(More below the fold…)