Pets and Fireworks

Your July 4th obligatory pets and fireworks story. This is from Best Friends though, so it's worth checking out. In fact, their site is always worth checking out as they are one of the coolest animal groups out there.

Another Pet Store Goes Out of Business

This time it's Scamps, who used puppy mills as suppliers and sold sick animals to the public.

Good riddance.

Amy Goodman Interviews Former Animal Rights Prisoner

Here's a video and transcript of Amy Goodman's interview with Andrew Stepanian, an animal rights activist who was jailed at a secretive prison known as a Communication Management Unit, or CMU. He is believed to be the first prisoner released from a CMU.

He was jailed along with six other activists for violating the Animal Enterprise Protection Act.

Texas Tech Allowed to Withhold Info on Animal Testing

The Texas Attorney General ruled earlier this month that the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center can withhold records of a committee that oversees the use of animals in training and research.

PETA was trying to get the information to find out why the university is buying cats and dogs from a West Texas animal shelter for university training or research.

I bet there's probably some ugly stuff in those records. From the Avalanche-Journal:

The university has purchased cats already scheduled for euthanasia from Odessa Animal Control since the 1980s, a shelter spokesperson, Cpl. Sherrie Carruth, told The A-J {Avalanche-Journal.}

Students training to save babies and small children in emergencies insert breathing tubes and needles into the cats, which are anesthetized during the training and then euthanized, according to HSC officials.

The university also purchased dogs from the shelter up until 2007, Carruth said.

Clemson Researcher Investigates Impacts of Cages on Laying Hens

It's a study funded by the US Department of Agriculture.

One would think it would be elementary. Crowded and filthy conditions mean suffering for hens. But it's not just about the hens....it's about the money. How much suffering can and should they endure without significantly affecting the human pocketbook. Or corporate net income.

From the Clemson press release....

More is at stake than just the comfort of chickens, though the well-being of 284 million U.S. laying hens is no small matter. Nearly 95 percent of the 90 billion table eggs produced in the United States come from high-density cage systems. The value of all egg production in 2007 was $6.68 billion. In South Carolina egg sales tally about $90 million annually. Changing production conditions are bound to affect the bottom the line.

Northwestern University NOT Signing HSUS Pledge to Prevent Pain in Lab Animals

The Humane Society began a campaign in March 2008 to get 600 university presidents to sign a pledge to prevent severe pain and distress in animals used in research. So far only 37 presidents have signed it.

HSUS is now attempting to reach students through Facebook.

Here's a campus article about Northwestern University, one of the schools that have NOT signed.

Animals Dying in Virunga National Forest

Lots of animals have died since the beginning of the year. From AFP...

Dozens of animals have been killed by armed groups at Africa's oldest national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the start of the year, park officials and environmental groups said Tuesday....

"Four chimpanzees were killed last week in the central zone and 11 elephants since the start of the year," park director Emmanuel de Merode told AFP.

He added "a large number of game animals", including antelopes, had also been slaughtered.

Bantu Lukamba, from local environmental NGO Innovation, said: "At least 31 animals, including 11 migratory birds and three hippos were killed over 21 days."

They died between May 25 and June 16, he said.

Here's sobering statistic. In 1980, Lake Edward had a hippopotamus sanctuary with 27,000 animals. Now there are only 300.

More Info on Humane Society University

I came across this article in Inside Higher Ed.

Animal Research Booming in State of Victoria

Animals for research purposes are coming from municipal shelters, breeders and the greyhound trade. Unwanted farm dogs are another source.

From the Herald Sun...

In 2007, 394 dogs died during procedures for canine and human research.

The fate of many others remains unclear. None of the animal shelters contacted by the Herald Sun have come across ex-research dogs in need of a home.

RSPCA state president Dr Hugh Wirth slammed municipal pounds for being involved in the research trade.

"The selling of dogs from the pound for this purpose is morally wrong. They are owned by somebody," he said.

Dr Wirth said animal testing was increasing, with Victoria doing more research than any other state.

Slow News Day at ALF?

A canary liberated in Mexico!

With the desire to add ourselves to the call to action to carry out wild sabotage, we of the Frente de Liberación Animal-Comando Verde Negro (FLA-CVN) have not sabotaged any institution or company, however on the morning of June 15 we rescued a canary from a cage where he was kept captive in Mexico State; we have taken a prisoner from cells which had condemned him to live his entire life in captivity. When we had happened to be passing down the street and we saw a cage with this individual inside, we jumped the fence and we carried away the canary in his cage.

Get that? They "have not sabotaged any institution or company", but they did free a small yellow bird. Far be it from me to tell a group who's tactics I disagree with how to do things, but that isn't exactly "communique worthy".

National Animal Rights Conference in LA Starts July 16

You can sign up here. Some of the groups attending will be:

FARM
In Defense of Animals
Sea Shepherd
ACT Radio
Anti-Fur Society
E/Environmental Mag
Eko Zone
Healing Species
League of Humane Voters
Mercy For Animals
Stop Animal Exploitation Now!
Vegetarian Times
VegNews Magazine

The link came from ALF, but they aren't listed on the site. It sounds like they are participating in some form or another.

Quote of the Week

The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.

Havelock Ellis

Sea Shepherd Attends Whaling Conference

This makes for an entertaining read. First up, Paul Watson goes through Portuguese Customs:

At one point the officer came into the room and asked if I had ever been in trouble in Portugal and then added, “Something about a Dutch ship about 10 years ago?”

“Hmmm, I don’t know anything about a Dutch ship 10 years ago,” I answered.

A few moments later he returned and said, “Excuse me, did you do anything illegal in the 70’s in Portugal?”

“I don’t think so. I uphold laws I don’t break them,” I responded.

“Well, it appears that you did something in Northern Portugal in the 70’s,” He said.

“Oh, they’re probably referring to when I chased the pirate whaler Sierra into Lexioes Harbor and rammed it twice. I don’t think that was illegal, I was never informed of any charges. The Port Captain was going to charge me with gross negligence but I told him there was nothing negligent about it, I hit the ship exactly where I intended to hit it. He told me he could not determine who the owner of the Sierra was and that I was free to go.”

A Llama!

We're on vacation. As is this llama. Enjoy.

Huge Effort to Rescue 60 Elephants in Malawi

They are being moved to a wildlife sanctuary. There has been a lot of violence between the elephants and subsistence farmers (unfortunately, I think the violence is pretty one-sided.)

From Wildlife Extra News....

Rescuers have started evacuating the first of around 60 elephants that have been suffering in an ongoing human-elephant conflict in the southern African country of Malawi, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare - IFAW.

...IFAW has partnered with the government of Malawi to rescue the animals which are at the centre of fierce human-elephant conflict in an area populated mostly by subsistence farmers just south of Lake Malawi.

{Jason Bell-Leask, IFAW Director Southern Africa} said "For years the herd has been maimed by local villagers, sometimes using appallingly cruel methods to protect their crops and granaries from raids by the elephants. To bring this desperate situation into sharp focus, our team on the ground reports that one of the elephants darted this morning is missing the bottom portion of her trunk - probably as a result of a snare."