New post on Horseracing Wrongs |
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Monday, August 7, 2017
HORSE RACING WRONGS -- Another horrific activity, right up there with hound hunting, rodeos (all types), and other animal exploitation activities that relish cruelty for the sake of a cruel need to dominate, or in this case, to place a $2 bet. Check out the daily deaths reported at www.horseracingwrongs.com and keep in mind that these are stats only of horses killed at races. Harness racing deaths are not counted, and worse, neither are deaths that occur when NO ONE is watching or monitoring during training. The death lists for the year are diabolical--all horse racing must be stopped! Also, to save money, "non-winners" or "broke down but still alive" are sent to auctions where kill buyers purchase for very little. They are jammed into stock trailers for often day-long treks (no food or water; some fall and are trampled) to extremely inhumane slaughter in Mexico or Canada.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
STOP proposed GPS Hound Hunting of Deer in California
Sign the petition as soon as possible. Go to the website below or click here:
The above petition was started on 1/25/16. Below is an update from 2/12/16:
Sign the petition as soon as possible. Go to the website below or click here:
Scroll down for the original petition, followed by the first Update, on 2/12/16.
Second petition update, from 3/24/16:
- - - - - - -
Petition to: California
Fish and Game Commission
Hound hunting of deer is what hunters may label it, but having
a pack of hounds run a deer to the ground can hardly be called ethical hunting.
The lives of targeted and non-targeted wildlife are disrupted and uprooted when
a pack of hounds comes crashing though the brush near their secluded resting
places. They flee in fear, become exposed, and are chased—often only to be
mauled or killed by the hounds.
Currently, houndsmen may use radio telemetry collars to track the whereabouts of their hounds after they release them in the wild. However, the California Fish and Game Commission is considering an amendment to Mammal Hunting Code of Regulation 265 to allow GPS collars on hounds while hunting deer, pigs and for training. Houndsmen claim GPS collars will allow faster "finding" of lost dogs and allow faster intervention (when hounds maul/kill other animals or are attacked themselves or are trespassing on property where they are not welcome) than the radio collars. GPS collars may help retrieve lost hounds, but if houndsmen have so little control over roaming hounds with radio telemetry, why should they be allowed to release even more hounds to disrupt wildlife species and cause havoc in wildlife habitat? Either they have control of their dogs or they don't. If they cannot control them, then letting more loose in the wild is only going to make existing unacceptable, negative hound impacts even worse. A GPS collar on a hound in dense forested lands, miles from the houndsmen owner or handler, is not going to help wildlife, which should be the commission’s primary mission.
Also, for the unscrupulous houndsmen (there are hours of sickening video online that show the seamy side of this often dog-abusive activity), a GPS collar will tell where bears, bobcats, mountain lions, and other wildlife may be trapped in trees. Why give potential poachers an advantage?
Please politely ask the California Fish and Game Commission to (1) deny any changes to Mammal Hunting regulation 265 that currently prohibits the use of GPS collars on hounds for training, deer and/or pig hunting. And (2) ask them to join the 39 other enlightened states in the U.S. that completely ban deer hunting with hounds. Deer can run fast but only for relatively short distances. A pack of hounds can easily overtake them and the results are never pretty. Instead of encouraging this madness, it's time to put a halt to it.
Currently, houndsmen may use radio telemetry collars to track the whereabouts of their hounds after they release them in the wild. However, the California Fish and Game Commission is considering an amendment to Mammal Hunting Code of Regulation 265 to allow GPS collars on hounds while hunting deer, pigs and for training. Houndsmen claim GPS collars will allow faster "finding" of lost dogs and allow faster intervention (when hounds maul/kill other animals or are attacked themselves or are trespassing on property where they are not welcome) than the radio collars. GPS collars may help retrieve lost hounds, but if houndsmen have so little control over roaming hounds with radio telemetry, why should they be allowed to release even more hounds to disrupt wildlife species and cause havoc in wildlife habitat? Either they have control of their dogs or they don't. If they cannot control them, then letting more loose in the wild is only going to make existing unacceptable, negative hound impacts even worse. A GPS collar on a hound in dense forested lands, miles from the houndsmen owner or handler, is not going to help wildlife, which should be the commission’s primary mission.
Also, for the unscrupulous houndsmen (there are hours of sickening video online that show the seamy side of this often dog-abusive activity), a GPS collar will tell where bears, bobcats, mountain lions, and other wildlife may be trapped in trees. Why give potential poachers an advantage?
Please politely ask the California Fish and Game Commission to (1) deny any changes to Mammal Hunting regulation 265 that currently prohibits the use of GPS collars on hounds for training, deer and/or pig hunting. And (2) ask them to join the 39 other enlightened states in the U.S. that completely ban deer hunting with hounds. Deer can run fast but only for relatively short distances. A pack of hounds can easily overtake them and the results are never pretty. Instead of encouraging this madness, it's time to put a halt to it.
- - - - - - - -
The above petition was started on 1/25/16. Below is an update from 2/12/16:
UPDATE: Stop GPS
Hound Hunting of Deer in California
First, thanks to all 23,800+ of you
(and still growing!) who have signed the petition to STOP the CA Fish and Game
Commission from lifting the current ban on GPS
collars and tree switches on hounds for so-called “hunting” of deer and
pigs. Currently in CA hounds can be
equipped with radio telemetry collars as they terrorize and chase innocent
wildlife to exhaustion, or worse. As one
of our allies pointed out in testimony, GPS
collars are not needed--dogs are not lost if houndsmen know what they’re doing
with radio collars, and if the hounds are well trained BEFORE being
released.
As an aside, we believe CA should
join the vast majority of other states that ban hound hunting of deer
altogether. Currently CA plus nine
deep-south Confederate states and Hawaii
are the only ones where this cruel, barbaric activity is still legal. Unfortunately, that is not the issue being
decided at this time.
Second, at yesterday’s CA F&G
Commission “discussion” hearing (2/11/16)
in Sacramento, a houndsman made a
most outrageous claim: That GPS
collars are needed because it’s an “animal welfare” issue to find their dogs
faster. Really? GPS are
simply more “convenient” for houndsmen.
These are the folks who let hounds chase, maim, maul, and tree animals,
often before they kill them. How is that
“animal welfare”? When the CA law was
passed to ban hound hunting of bears and bobcats in 2012, houndsmen were first
in line to make derogatory remarks about “animal welfare” people. Yet they now claim to be animal welfare
proponents? Let’s not let their
smoke-screen and deception gain any traction.
Last, at yesterday’s hearing, after
over four hours of waiting, the agenda item came up for “discussion” near the
end as part of a longer list of proposed CA mammal hunting amendments. The commissioners voted to move all the items
along. Depending upon when the final
vote is scheduled (March or April), we still have time to oppose this proposed
amendment and NOT allow hounds in CA to wear GPS
collars to hunt deer and pigs. We will
let you know as soon as we know when this horrible proposal is back on the
agenda for a final vote, but in the meantime, please keep sharing the
petition. FYI: The mailing address is:
California
Fish and Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA
94244-2090
Subject: Vote NO on amendments to CCR
Sec 265—Keep GPS Collars and Treeing
Switches BANNED on Hounds
Thank you everyone!
Stop GPS Hound Hunting of Deer in California
Please consider signing this important petition:
By signing the petition, you will help send a message to the California Fish and Game Commission to vote NO on the proposed amendment. The final vote on this horrible proposed amendment will be on April 14, but to be in the meeting packet, they need to be sent in by April 1, 2016.
Update
As of today, 3/24/16, in a little less than one week (on March 30) the above petition, with all its signatures (hopefully 29,000 or more) and comments will be sent to the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) for their April 14, 2016, meeting. A critical final vote is scheduled to be taken on a hunting amendment, which if approved, will wrongfully allow GPS Collars and tree switches on hounds for deer hunting. This nothing more than releasing dogs so that they can hunt deer. The humans come along after the exhausted deer is caught, trapped or injured and fire away. This cannot possibly be called “hunting.”
If you have already signed
the petition, we hope you can help with one last push by asking your friends, family,
and animal welfare advocates to please sign, or email the FGC directly (fgc@fgc.ca.gov), or mail them a letter: The mailing address is:
California
Fish and Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street
P.O. Box 944209
Sacramento, CA
94244-2090
Please ask the commissioners to VOTE NO on amendments to CCR
Sec 265 and keep the ban on GPS Collars and
Treeing Switches for hound hunting—both for “fair chase” and “ethical hunting” issues. Message or emails do not have to be lengthy.
Three opposing comment letters made
it into the FGC “Meeting Documents” for the FGC February 11 meeting. They are relatively short. To read them, go to:
http://fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2016/index.aspx
. Scroll down to the February 10-11, 2016, meeting, and in
the center column, click on “Meeting Documents.” Because that will open an enormous 951 pages,
it’s difficult to find the three opposition letters, but you can scroll to each
one:
from PEACE: page 839;
from Public Interest Coalition: page
948; and an email from Ojai Wildlife
League, page 951.
More
comment letters came in after the February 11 meeting and should be included in
the April 14 “Meeting Documents” once it is posted (possibly by around April 4).
Thank you!
Monday, October 12, 2015
Don't Buy or Wear "Angora"--Urge Friends, Family and Retailers to BAN It!
"Angora"--Buying and Wearing It Creates Cruel and Horrific Rabbit Suffering
Visit: http://campaigns.peta2.com/chinese-humane-angora-farm-audit/?utm_campaign=1015%20free%20people%20angora%20EA&utm_source=peta2%20E-Mail&utm_medium=Alert
Please take action here http://headlines.peta.org/humane-angora-farms-china-audit/?utm_campaign=Angora%20Investigation%2010122015&utm_source=PETA%20E-Mail&utm_medium=Alert#takeaction
Excerpt:
In China, there are no standards in place to regulate the treatment of animals and no penalties for their abuse, and this indifference toward the welfare of animals is often reflected in the culture. What would be considered horrific cruelty in the West—such as feeding live animals to big cats for the amusement of audiences—might be commonly practiced in China and therefore be acceptable to a Chinese auditor. Such cultural differences inevitably influence the findings of an audit.
Farm
evaluation forms are open to broad interpretation. Even when a checklist
appears to be objective, the questions might, in fact, be highly
subjective. For example, the response to a question such as “Are the
rabbits given water?” might be “Yes” because some animals do have water,
even though others don’t have any. Or the answer might be “Yes” if an
owner says that the bowls are empty because the rabbits have already drunk
the water they were given, even if this happened a day earlier. Another
question open to interpretation might be, “Is there a veterinarian on duty
at the farm?” Even if the veterinarian comes only once a week or once
every two weeks, an auditor might nevertheless answer “Yes.” Or perhaps
the person tasked with providing animals with veterinary services didn’t
attend a traditional veterinary school or is ineffective, drunk, or on
vacation.
Many
auditors and farm owners are friends. When the group visited the farms,
they were welcomed into the owners’ homes, given refreshments, and even
taken out to lunch. And in many cultures, including in China,
it’s considered rude not to accept an invitation. However, accepting such
invitations makes it more difficult to report later that a farm owner
abuses animals.
As heartbreaking as this trip was,
it was also extremely meaningful because it exposed the failure of the auditing
system on which so many companies rely—breaking the “humane farming” myth wide
open. To date, more than
110 companies have banned angora, yet Free People continues to sell it.
Friday, September 25, 2015
TWO Great Websites:
First, from this website:
Warning: These Movies Could Change Your Life
Thanks to Netflix,
Hulu, HBO, and Amazon, many life-changing movies about food and animals are
available and easily accessible. Here is a compilation of 18 to 19 favorites
that everyone (vegan or otherwise) should watch. Each one listed on the website has a video trailer
on the website with a short explanation.
Well
worth a visit….
===========================
Second, “Emma: Calf Loses Leg, Gets a Fighting Chance to Walk”
There’s
a short video clip and a very moving narrative.
Enjoy!
==========================
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Animal rights groups sue Salinas Rodeo
Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) Are HEROES
The lawsuit by the nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund on behalf of SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) accuses the Salinas Rodeo and head veterinarian Tim Eastman of failing to report 38 injuries to animals.
“California law requires the reporting of rodeo animal injuries,” said Steve Hindi, founder and president of SHARK. “The intent was to make rodeos transparent. Instead, the law has not been enforced, but rather, manipulated to make rodeos appear harmless.”
SHARK said it videotaped 41 injuries to animals during the 2013 and 2014 Salinas rodeos, and according to expert veterinary opinion detailed in the lawsuit, all of those injuries required immediate veterinary treatment and care. Injuries included calves limping in pain after being dragged to the ground and a horse with a tennis ball-sized wound on his neck, the suit says.
Only four injuries were reported in the Livestock Injury Reports, according to the lawsuit and Eastman.
Injuries requiring veterinary treatment within 48 hours of the conclusion of the rodeo must be reported to the California Veterinary Medical Board, according to the California state Professions Code.
Eastman, a veterinarian at Steinbeck Country Equine Clinic in Salinas, hadn’t seen the lawsuit, but said every one of the six or seven rodeo veterinarians and the SPCA agreed with his assessments of animal health at the Rodeo. Every animal exiting the arena is examined by a veterinarian and the SPCA, he added.
“I’ve been the veterinarian out there for about 10 years and I’m always amazed at how well the rodeo livestock is cared for. They’re fed the best quality hay. They get all the veterinary care they need right away,” Eastman said. “They’re very valuable and that’s how the stock contractors make a living, it’s in their best interest to provide the best stress-free environment as they possibly can. We only use the best stock contractors that are available. That’s always been the case and it always will be.”
In 2011, SHARK filed two complaints against Eastman with the state veterinary medical board. Those complaints dealt with the underreporting of the number of injured animals and the lack of care for those same injured animals.
Eastman is at every event, every day, during the Salinas Rodeo.
“California law recognizes that rodeos endanger the animals who are forced to participate, which is why the law requires veterinarians to report animal injuries,” said executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund Stephen Wells. “Without transparency, groups such as ALDF and SHARK cannot hold rodeos accountable for the suffering they cause. This lawsuit is intended to change that.”
Eastman said he’d ask to see the entire unedited video shot by SHARK, which would show that after a couple of steps, the animals are fine with the exception of those reported.
“The veterinary committee prides itself in the care and treatment the livestock gets while they’re there,” Eastman said. “We also consider ourselves leaders in the community when it comes to care and welfare of rodeo livestock when they come to Salinas.”
See original article and photo at: http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/local/2014/12/17/animal-rights-groups-sue-salinas-rodeo/20562071/
Sunday, January 25, 2015
No Livestock Protection from Cruel Exporting
Animals' Angels Finds Evidence of US Quarter Horses Exported to Russia by Lebanese Livestock Vessel Abou Karim III — November 13, 2014
For years, Animals'
Angels has been investigating the export of US horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter.
Documenting the horrors of this predatory industry, our investigators have
visited every export facility and border crossing these animals pass through
during their last journey. Or so we thought....
A recent investigation
uncovered startling evidence including documents from the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) that proves 2,253 cows and horses left the
port of Wilmington, Delaware on July 16, 2014 on the livestock carrier Abou
Karim III.
Bills of lading received from the Port of Wilmington confirm the
distressing information that 168 Quarter horse geldings, 1,816 pregnant
heifers, and 539 angus bulls were sold to Russian importers.
(credit: Delaware Public Media)
The seller, AZTX Cattle Company, is based out of Hereford, Texas.While their
website shows a few cattle grazing happily on emerald green pastures, a total
of 140,000 animals are kept in barren, dusty pens at the company's two massive
feedlots in Hereford and Garden City (Kansas). Their access to any
fresh grass as shown on their homepage is non-existent. And as for the
horses? You will find no mention of horses on their website whatsoever.
So where are these
horses being sent to? What is their ultimate fate? The purchaser is Kaliningrad Meats, a meat processing company located in the Russian Federation. Kaliningrad Meats
and Bryansk Meats are both divisions of Miratorg, the largest pork producer in Russia. Miratorg is a huge
meat conglomerate with ties to Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and other
large food companies. They don't list horse meat as a part of their food items
anywhere on their site, so what purpose could be behind this and possibly other
purchases?
The Transport
Very little is known
about the transport and the transport conditions for the animals during this
journey. Assuming that these horses and Angus bulls were loaded in Hereford (which the company's
website suggests), the animals had to endure a 1,700 mile transport to Wilmington, DE. The chances that the
animals made it to Wilmington in less than 28 hours
as required by law are quite slim.
Once their arduous
trip ended at the Port of Wilmington, the animals were
loaded onto the massive livestock carrier Abou Karim III.
The ship can hold
approx. 9,000 heads of cattle and is 123 meters long and 20 meters wide. Its
sister ship, the Abou Karim IV (both operated by the Lebanese Khalifeh Shipping
Line), is
slightly smaller. Both used to be standard container ships but have since been
converted to livestock vessels.
The Abou Karim IV
(credit: SeaNews Turkey)
click for news
story
Both ships are en
route between the US and Russia on a regular basis.
Between January 2014 and September 2014 alone, 19,779 animals were shipped from
the port of Wilmington. Public documents
show that the July 16th. shipment left Wilmington and traveled straight
to Baltiysk, Russia. It arrived on August 1st, 2014 after spending 15 long days at sea.
Taking into consideration the amount of water and food each animal needs per
day, it is highly questionable that these ships can provide sufficient
quantities for 2,523 animals.
Inside the ship is a
bleak reality. Despite the ships' size, the room allocated for the horses and
cattle is small. Horses and cows are squeezed together in holdings that are
reminiscent of auction pens but with even less movement allowed. No natural
light reaches most of these pens where the frightened animals will spend the
next two weeks.
Another major concern
is the waste disposal. Cows produce an estimated 145 pounds of waste per day.
Livestock vessels are equipped with large tanks capable of holding only a
certain amount of manure and urine. Once the tank is full, the contents are
discharged into the ocean. However, once the ship gets close to the European
coast line, environmental laws prohibit further manure disposal. It is
questionable if the storage tank on the ship is capable of holding all of the
waste for the remainder of the journey, or if the manure is left in the pens or
illegally dumped along the shorelines.
Should any of the
animals become injured or need medical aid, there is rarely, if ever, a
veterinarian on board. The horses and cattle are likely left to suffer with
their ailments and injuries for days on end.
In December 2013 and
then again in July 2014, several cow carcasses were found on Danish, Swedish,
and German shores. Their bellies had been cut open, their legs were tied, and
their ear tags had been removed. The investigating agencies in these countries
came to the conclusion that the animals had been dumped from these livestock vessels, further proof of
the unlivable conditions these animals are subjected to on a regular basis.
After losing their lives, they are dumped
like trash [http://www.seanews.com.tr/article/worldship/118576/] into the Baltic Sea...but only after
being mutilated in an attempt to keep their abusers from being identified.
(credit: Ein totes
Kalb am Westrand von Prerow)
click for news story
Vesseltracker reported
that on the morning of July 31, 2014, when near Denmark, three Syrian crew
members of the Abou Karim III jumped overboard. Two
of the men reached the Danish coast where they were detained by police. The
third man made it to Helsingborg, Sweden, and promptly
disappeared. Either they were all planning to get asylum, or there was some
trouble on board. While not necessarily pertaining to horses or cattle, this
speaks to the morale among the crew, which is concerning to us given they are
in charge of caring for thousands of living, sentient beings. If such dissent
exists among the crew, what concern must they have, or rather not have, for their cargo?
Once the animals
arrive at the port of destination in Russia, they
"vanish." It is unknown to which facility they are transported and
what exactly happens to them.
Animals' Angels will
continue to investigate to find out more details about this horrific trade and
if there are more US companies providing
live horses to the Russian Federation.
What You Can Do
Getting this knowledge
out to the public is a crucial part of bringing about the change we wish to
see. But this is only part
of the battle! We also need to band together to call for government
intervention.
Please, contact your
representatives and let them know that we will not stand by and watch our animals being shipped
to countries where there are few, if any, animal welfare laws. Send an email or
make a phone call to your local representatives denouncing the shipment of live
animals overseas. It only takes a moment but the lives you will save are
innumerable.
As in the past, we at
Animals' Angels know we can count on you to speak up for these poor creatures.
They need you now more than ever!
-----------
Thanks to Animals' Angels -- PO Box 1056 -- Westminster, MD 21158 and the website they provided:
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs161/1101655399670/archive/1119136075560.html
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