Oakland, California: Protest Urban Animal Slaughter

From Animal Place (Vacaville, California 95688)

Some in Oakland are trying to make it easier for folks to raise and kill animals in urban, residential areas. This despite the fact our state and federal governments have a difficult time regulating and overseeing commercial slaughterhouses.

On July 21, 2011, there will be a community planning meeting. If you live in Oakland, do try and attend.

Can’t attend? Show your support for plant-based agriculture by leaving a nice comment on a recent radio piece here.

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Stop Massachusetts Livestock Board Bill – Your Action Needed

From Farm Sanctuary

In an attempt to thwart our efforts to protect farm animals from extreme confinement in the Commonwealth, agriculture interests are promoting a misleading bill that would likely bolster the inhumane status quo. By establishing a livestock care standards board, S335 would allow unelected officials to advise the Department of Agriculture about animal agriculture practices and, by creating the illusion of regulation, deter legislators from enacting true animal welfare reforms.

The purpose of S355 — supported by industry groups like the Farm Bureau — is to stop the Massachusetts Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act and prevent the banning of battery cages, gestation crates and veal crates in Massachusetts. Creating agribusiness-dominated “livestock care boards” such as the one proposed in S355 is a common tactic employed by the industry to fight even modest farm animal welfare reforms.

On July 21, 2011, S355 will be heard by the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture at 10 a.m. in the State House in Boston, and we need all the help we can get to fight this potentially damaging bill. Please join us in protecting Massachusetts’s farm animals by taking action today.

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Resolution No. I.R. 1545-2011, “A Local Law Banning the Retail Sale of Puppies in Suffolk County to Combat the Problem of Puppy Mills”

From the North Fork Animal Welfare League (Southold, New York 11971)

Dear Friends: The NFAWL is in full support of the following. Please forward this message to all those concerned.

FROM THE OFFICE OF SUFFOLK COUNTY LEGISLATOR JON COOPER

Dear Animal Rights Advocate,

As you are probably aware, an estimated two million puppies are purchased, sold or adopted each year, while four to five million unwanted dogs die in shelters across America. The vast majority of puppies purchased at retail pet stores come from puppy mills in the Midwest, South and/or portions of Pennsylvania. These are primarily large commercial breeding businesses that breed dogs like livestock and sell them at five to six weeks of age, despite federal regulations banning the sale of puppies less than eight weeks of age. Puppies and their mothers are exposed to stark conditions. They are often kept in small, unsanitary wire cages in close proximity, frequently in their own excrement, that are unprotected from extreme temperature fluctuations. Puppies and their mothers are chronically undernourished, not provided with veterinary care or socialization, and often suffer from serious health problems.

In an effort to promote animal welfare, I have introduced legislation that would ban the retail sale of puppies by pet stores in Suffolk County, unless they are obtained from animal shelters, animal rescue organizations or local breeders. This effort will provide the additional benefit of increasing consumer awareness of the horrors of puppy mills.

If you would like to express your support for Resolution No. I.R. 1545-2011, “A Local Law Banning the Retail Sale of Puppies in Suffolk County to Combat the Problem of Puppy Mills,” please note that two public hearings have been scheduled.

The first public hearing will take place on Tuesday, June 21st at 2:30 p.m. during the next General Meeting of the Legislature at the Evans K. Griffing Building at the County Complex in Riverhead.

The second public hearing will be held at the General Meeting of the Legislature on Tuesday, August 2nd at 6:30 p.m. at the William H. Rogers Legislature Building in Hauppauge.   I have attached the resolution as well as directions to both County Complexes for your information.

I would also like to invite you to attend a press conference that will be held in support of this legislation at the William H. Rogers Legislature Building in Hauppauge at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 2nd.  If you represent an organization and would like to attend this press conference, please contact my office so we can plan accordingly.

If you cannot attend either public hearing, please contact your Suffolk County Legislators and express your support for this very important bill.

Thank you for your support and advocacy for the most innocent among us. Together, we will improve the lives of puppies and dogs alike in Suffolk County.

Please feel free to contact my office at (631) 854-4500 if you have any questions or comments.

Best regards,

Jon Cooper
Suffolk County Legislator
18th Legislative District
(631) 854-4500

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Rhode Island SPCA Needs Your Help to Urge State Representatives to Toughen Animal Cruelty Laws

From the Rhode Island SPCA (Riverside, Rhode Island 02915)

We need everyone’s support to urge their state representatives to pass HB-5522 SubA and SB-92 SubA with more powerful language to help toughen animal cruelty laws in Rhode Island. Alone we can do little, but together there is nothing we cannot do. This is the time for all of us to come together and finally speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Together we can truly make a long overdue difference.

The passage of this bill will put Rhode Island on the map as being a state that will not tolerate animal abuse. Too many people have worked too hard and for too long for this not to pass. Your voices will be the voices of those who depend on each of us for their safety; please do not let them down in the 11th hour.

Please email your Senator and Representative in the General Assembly today voicing your support of this bill. Following is some suggested language to use:

“Dear Senator/Representative (          ),
I am writing to you today as a concerned citizen of (your town), I urge you to support HB-5522 SubA  and SB-92 SubA to help toughen animal abuse laws in our state.
Thank you,
(your name)”

View the story on ABC6

Find your Senator and Representatives in the General Assembly

 

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The High Price of Horse Slaughter

The Equine Welfare Alliance and Animal Law Coalition applaud Rep. Jim Moran and House of Representatives Appropriations Committee members who stood up for the horses this week. Rep. Moran introduced an amendment to the proposed agriculture appropriations bill to make sure commercial horse slaughter in the U.S. remains illegal.

The amendment was accepted by the Committee on a vote of 24 to 21, and it’s now on to a vote by the full House on the agriculture appropriations bill on June 15.

The amendment de-funds (prohibits funds from being spent on) ante-mortem inspections of horses to be slaughtered for human consumption. Without these inspections required by federal law, horses cannot be commercially slaughtered for human consumption in the U.S. The inspections have been de-funded since 2006.

The next step must be a ban on exports of U.S. horses for slaughter for human consumption.

Read more on the Animal Law Coalition web site.

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The Vote for Oreo’s Law is NOW! We Need Your Help!

From Pets Alive (Middletown, New York 10940)

On Monday or Tuesday, Oreo’s Law (now known as CAARA – Companion Animal Adoption & Rescue Act ) will be voted on by the New York State Assembly Agriculture Committee. But it is not likely to pass without a large showing of community support between now and then. That is because the opposition has been lobbying strongly against the bill once again. We told them last year we would NOT allow this to happen again.

WE NEED YOU NOW.  “Where New York goes, SO GOES THE NATION.”

CAARA would:

• End “convenience” killing when there are empty cages and when animals can share kennels or be sent to foster care
• Require pounds to post strays, including photographs and descriptions, on the Internet so their families can search for them online
• Require transparency in operations by requiring shelters to make their statistics public
• Require pounds to scan for microchips, maintain lost/found lists, and match lost with found animals in the shelter
• Require fresh food and water, environmental enrichment, clean living environments, as well as prompt and necessary veterinary care

If CAARA is defeated, thousands upon thousands of cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, rabbits, and other animals will continue to be needlessly killed in NYS shelters every year—animals CAARA has the power to save.

This is Oreo. She was killed even though Pets Alive offered her sanctuary. Don’t let this happen to another animals.

A statewide survey of NYS rescue groups found that over 70% were being turned away because the shelters were hostile to rescue groups, and then those shelters turned around and killed the very animals the rescuers were willing to save. We have experienced this time and time again, right here in Orange County, in our own backyard. Time and again we offer to take in animals that other local shelters are about to kill and they turn us away. THIS HAS TO STOP!

WITHOUT YOU MAKING THESE CALLS AND SENDING THESE EMAILS – CAARA is dead – just like Oreo is today, even though Pets Alive offered to give her sanctuary.

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Emergency Rescue Alert: Abused Goats in Urgent Need at Farm Sanctuary

From Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary has just rescued 11 terrified goats from an abhorrent scene of neglect and abuse.

Urgent medical attention is critical to the survival of these goats. To provide that care, we  need your emergency support.

The goats had been left with no food, no water and no care at a run-down farm. Making matters worse, three of the eight female goats are pregnant.

We are in a race against the clock to bring these goats back to health so they can deliver healthy babies and start brand new lives full of the love and care they’ve been so brutally denied.

Farm Sanctuary’s Emergency Rescue Team is doing everything they can to help these goats, but resources are stretched to their limits. Please donate immediately to help provide the around-the-clock care the goats need to survive and ensure that our shelters are ready for the next emergency call.

We cannot turn our backs on these abused animals.

Just looking at our 11 rescued goats is heartbreaking. They are severely underweight, undernourished and teeming with lice and parasites. But the most striking evidence of the horrors they’ve endured is their trembling fear of humans. Our rescue team arrived to an awful scene of sick, terrified goats frantically trying to avoid human contact.

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Prevent the Proliferation of Backyard Livestock and Animal Slaughter in Oakland, CA

Live in Oakland? Love animals? Help stop a proposal that would permit the raising and slaughter of cows, pigs, goats, rabbits, chickens, turkeys and other animals.

The Oakland Food Policy Council has some great ideas for greater food availability, but backyard slaughter in residential areas is not one of them.

Sign petition.

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Take Action for Veterinary Medicine

From the American Veterinary Medical Association

Call your Senators and urge them to be an original cosponsor of the Veterinary Services Investment Act, which will help address our nation’s most pressing veterinary needs.

This bill was introduced during the last session of Congress and is now being reintroduced. The AVMA needs your help to get it passed in this Congress.

The bill would establish a grant program under the jurisdiction of the USDA to assist states in addressing their own unique veterinary workforce needs, from recruiting and retaining practicing veterinarians and veterinary technicians to work in underserved areas, to bolstering knowledge in food safety/protection and food animal medicine. After all, what is needed in one state may differ greatly from what is needed in another.

Congress wants to hear from you on these issues. Call your Senators and forward this alert to your colleagues. Together we can make a difference to the veterinary profession.

More info.

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Public Comment Needed Regarding Planned Nevada Bear Hunt Thursday

From the Nevada Humane Society (Reno, Nevada 89502)

On Thursday, May 12, there will be a Wildlife Commission Hearing at the Nevada Department of Wildlife Headquarters located at 1100 Valley Road, Reno. The meeting begins at 1:00 pm and the Bear Hunt is agenda item #7. From what we understand, the public is allowed to comment at the beginning of the meeting about any matter before the Commission. If you are upset about the bear hunt, this is an opportunity to be heard.

If you are interested in learning more about a local effort to help stop the hunt, visit the web site of No Bear Hunt Nevada, which is a coalition of individuals and organizations. This web site provides additional information and many ways that you can voice your opinion.

Thanks again for your concern about the animals.

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