BACKGROUND

From Aljazeera

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has said Arab troops should be sent to Syria to end the political unrest in the country that the UN says has left more than 5,000 people dead.

In an interview due to be aired on Sunday with US broadcaster CBS for the news programme 60 Minutes, Sheikh Hamad was asked if he was in favour of Arab nations intervening, to which he replied: “For such a situation to stop the killing … some troops should go to stop the killing.”

The interview was recorded in mid-November.

Sheikh Hamad is the first Arab leader to publicly suggest foreign intervention in Syria, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad is now in its tenth month.

Speaking about his own influence on the uprisings in the Arab world, he said: “We are supporting the people of those countries … [who are] asking for justice and dignity.

“If this [is] influence, I think this is a healthy influence. I think all the world should support this.”

Continued violence

Sheikh Hamad’s remarks came as Syrian activists said that at least 26 people were killed across the country during protests supporting the armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army, on Friday.

Amateur video posted on YouTube by Ugarit News, an opposition news outlet, purported to show an armoured personnel carrier engulfed in flames in the flashpoint city of Homs on Friday after allegedly being targeted by the group.

The narrator in the video says army defectors attacked the vehicle with a rocket.

The Arabic caption that goes with the video suggests the attack was part of a “special operation by the Free Syrian Army on an armoured personnel carrier after it attacked protesters”.

The content, date, location or authenticity of the videos could not be independently verified. Syria has banned most foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting, making activist accounts and amateur videos posted online key sources of information about the uprising and crackdown.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition group, said security forces killed one protester in the central city of Hama and another in the town of Ariha in the northwestern province of Idlib, where more than 20,000 people were demonstrating on Friday.

The group reported violence in the southern province of Deraa, the eastern region of Deir ez-Zor and the central province of Homs, all centres of frequent protests.

US sees Iran link

Against this backdrop, a senior US official has accused Iran of aiding Assad’s government in its efforts to crush the uprising.

The official, who did not want to be identified, has told Al Jazeera: “Iran is standing behind the al-Assad regime and continues to provide support to suppress the Syrian people.”

The US has long suspected that the Islamic Republic is aiding Assad as he tries to avoid the fate of other Arab leaders toppled by the Arab Spring uprisings.

“A number of senior Iranian officials have visited Syria to co-ordinate with Syrian officials the repression of Syrian citizens. In addition, Iran has provided security-related equipment – including munitions – to the Syrian security services that is being used against the Syrian people,” the official said.

“It has come to our attention that the Commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force, Ghasem Soleimani, was in Damascus, Syria in early January 2012.

“Given Soleimani’s rank within the Iranian government, we are confident that he was received at the highest levels of the Syrian government, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Moreover, the visit was likely related to further Iranian support to Syria’s efforts to suppress its people.”

Soleimani has repeatedly been the target of US sanctions.

Under scrutiny

The accusations come as the US remains locked in confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme and maritime tensions between the two states simmer in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route.

Signs of direct co-operation between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Syria came under the spotlight after Mahmoud Souleiman Hajj Hamad, a former official in Assad’s government, accused Iran and Iraq of financially aiding the Syrian crackdown.

He made the allegations at a news conference in Cairo after announcing his defection from the government.

Iran has also been standing firmly by Syria after the Arab League suspended the country over the crackdown on opposition protesters and compelled the Assad government to accept a peace plan.

Iran has been concerned about the possible collapse of Syria, its principal regional ally, a scenario that would leave it even more isolated in its own region amid tightening nuclear sanctions. It has accused Israel and the US of stirring up trouble in Syria.

WHOM TO CONTACT

Click HERE for webform for His Highness Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani

SAMPLE LETTER

See More HERE

Please click on and sign HERE

• Enter your name and email address

• Click ‘Next’

• Click ‘Sign Petition’

Target: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

Goal: To phase out animal brutality in circuses and instead employ animal-free entertainment.

The population of the largest of all land animals, elephants, is now confined to decreasing habitats in Africa and Asia. In the wild, they are hunted for their tusks and face the perpetual threat of habitat loss. Sadly, the plight of the elephant worsens outside of its natural environment and inside of the circus tent. Elephants are subjected to cruel training and constant confinement, being held captive and forced to perform stressful acts, with most of the creatures facing whips, sticks, and bull-hooks. These poor animals need to be freed from the stage and given the fighting chance to survive in the wild.

It is no secret that in many circuses, elephants have been reported to be beaten, poked, prodded and jabbed with sharp bull-hooks, many times until blood pours from their leathery skin. Their spirits are broken as mere calves, sometimes with lives destroyed after excruciating fractures occur within their bones and the elephant babes are deemed useless in the show. In just months, many elephants suffer a dramatic decline in health, and without adequate veterinary care, an overwhelming amount of the large mammals succumb to a preventable death. Similar to the fate of their babies, aged elephants that suffer from painful ailments, mostly arthritis, are spared no torture, as they are still forced on their hind legs adding pressure to their joints.

Not only are these animals in danger, but they also endanger the public. Often times, after elephants engage in erratic behavior- a clear indication of psychological distress- these gentle beasts become aggressive and react wildly. There have been a reported 35 cases within the past decade of elephants rebelling against trainers, attacking the audience, bolting from circuses, and wreaking havoc through towns. People have been killed during these moments of rebellion, and in the end, the bulls are often times shot and killed as well. As a result of having to perform night after exhausting night, it should come as no surprise that an animal would snap. The only answer is to provide elephants their natural environment.

Fortunately, there is a solution. Not all circuses are dangerous to animals. Many animal-free venues exist, complete with trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, and other various forms of entertainment. With that in mind, it is imperative that elephants and other circus animals are taken out of the boxcar and left to remain in their proper home– the wild.



International Animal-Free Circuses

BACKGROUND

Emerald Isle, North Carolina, has decided to allow bowhunters to kill deer in an attempt to reduce local deer populations. Our office received reports that deer who were wounded by arrows were left to suffer during last year’s hunt. Your voice is needed!

Bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.

Please urge Emerald Isle officials to halt bowhunting—and then forward this alert widely! If deer control is insisted upon, please share these tips.


WHOM TO CONTACT


Email block

aschools@ec.rr.com
frush@emeraldisle-nc.org
fmesser@ec.rr.com
nhedreen@coastalemail.com
trhoover@ec.rr.com
jwootten@earthlink.net
maripatw1@yahoo.com


Individual

The Honorable Art Schools
Mayor of Emerald Isle
aschools@ec.rr.com

Frank Rush
Emerald Isle Town Manager
frush@emeraldisle-nc.org

Please also e-mail the members of the Emerald Isle Commission using these addresses: fmesser@ec.rr.com; nhedreen@coastalemail.com; trhoover@ec.rr.com;
jwootten@earthlink.net; maripatw1@yahoo.com


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Honorable Schools, Town Manager Rush, and Emerald Isle Commission Members:

I have just learned that Emerald Isle is considering bowhunting, the cruelest of all hunting methods, of deer populations in a misguided attempt to reduce their numbers in populated areas. Although this proposal is inherently cruel based on its premise alone, it is important to recognize it is based on erroneous information.

Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the deer for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.

Second, killing deer would artificially increase food supplies to the remaining deer, the consequence of which would be increased reproduction and an ensuing greater deer population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger herd populations, in subsequent years.

Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to move forward with such a cruel and unnecessary killing, and although I do not currently reside in Emerald Isle I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull transpires.

Furthermore, bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.

Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols when using these methods, which have all proven successful in curtailing deer populations.

I know your time is limited and I want to thank you each for your attention to this urgent matter.

NAME

See More:

• Vegan Guides
• Cruelty-Free
• Video Library

From ALDF

Santa Cruz, Calif. – This morning, represented by Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) attorneys, Compassion Over Killing (COK) filed a complaint  in the California Superior Court in Santa Cruz to stop alleged ongoing animal abuse at Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, Inc., a Santa Cruz chicken hatchery that handles millions of chickens per year. Undercover video footage, taken by a COK investigator working inside Cal-Cruz Hatcheries, reveals shocking abuse of newly-hatched chicks. As described in the lawsuit, this video documents numerous routine abuses—including acts amounting to felony animal cruelty—that are in violation of the California law, and which in turn constitute unlawful and unfair business practices under the California Business and Professions Code.

Why are animal advocates and attorneys up in arms over conditions for chickens at Cal-Cruz? COK’s investigation uncovered abuses including:

• Dead hatchlings and their body parts, and mutilated but still living hatchlings, trapped in and under processing machinery;⁞
• Hatchlings with ripped or  missing skin, exposed organs, and severely injured feet and legs left in bins for several hours at a time, where they gasped, shook, and struggled to move;
• Baby birds cruelly tossed in a bucket of liquid waste where they struggled to escape before drowning;
• Hatchlings tossed like garbage into bins and then forced down a clogged disposal chute with a pole and hose.

ALDF and COK argue that these unlawfully abusive practices violate the California Business and Professions Code, undermining the integrity of the market. By grossly disregarding the welfare of animals, Cal-Cruz is cutting corners that allow it to produce hatchlings at a reduced cost. The lawsuit seeks an immediate end to the abusive and neglectful practices causing unnecessary suffering at Cal-Cruz.

 
Compassion Over Killing immediately turned over the video evidence to law enforcement authorities upon completion of the investigation; a follow-up investigation conducted by humane law enforcement corroborated the evidence of abuse and neglect and resulted in the impoundment of 88 hatchlings.

Cal-Cruz hatches thousands of chicks per week—amounting to millions of birds  per year—for shipment to growers who house and feed the birds until they are ready for slaughter. ALDF was recently informed by a Cal-Cruz representative that many of these chicks are sent to Bauer Family Farms and Carlson Family Farms and are ultimately destined for meat counters at Northern California grocery stores.

“The systematic torture and reckless neglect of baby birds at Cal-Cruz is not only shocking—it is also illegal under the California Business and Professions Code,” explains ALDF’s director of litigation Carter Dillard. “These mistreated and abused baby birds deserve justice. It’s time that their suffering be recognized under the law and permanently stopped,” says Cheryl Leahy, general counsel of Compassion Over Killing.

Copies of the lawsuit and footage of COK’s investigation at Cal-Cruz are available upon request.

ALDF was founded in 1979 with the unique mission of protecting the lives and advancing the interests of animals through the legal system. For more information, please visit www.aldf.org.

Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal protection organization based in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Since 1995, COK has worked to end the abuse of animals in agriculture through undercover investigations, public outreach, litigation, and other advocacy programs. COK is on the web at www.COK.net.
 

Viva Vegan Basics

how dare anyone treat
another living being
this way
if the tables were turned
they would have
a lot more to say
let us hope the legal
system does not fail
and these evil abusers
end up in jail!!!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Huffington Post

From The Huffington Post
By Lynne Peeples

Thousands of pounds of primate parts, rodents and other dry, smoked or raw animals — so-called “bushmeat” — are smuggled into the United States as food every year, frequently hidden inside cases of similarly stinky but legal fish. Scientists now warn that the increasing practice may also be bringing deadly disease into the country.

“We know a fair amount about the risks of harvesting and slaughtering the animals in countries far away,” said Nina Marano, branch chief of quarantine and border health services at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But we wanted to know more about the persistence, if any, [of pathogens] once the animals have been slaughtered.”

In a small study published Tuesday in the journal PLoS ONE, Marano and colleagues from several institutions tested samples of some 44 nonhuman primates and rodents seized by customs agents at JFK International Airport in New York, as well as a few other U.S. points of entry. They then ran sophisticated genetic tests to detect pathogens.

Sure enough, the researchers found that several bugs had made the trip, including diseases that belong to the same family as HIV — which also originated in African bushmeat.

“This is good example of why we want to know about these viruses. We want to prevent any kind of future epidemic similar to what happened with HIV,” said Bill Switzer, a microbiologist at the CDC and preeminent expert on the simian foamy virus. First identified in the mid-1990s, SFV is common in nonhuman primates and known to spread quickly. It has also made the jump to humans, though it has yet to cause obvious symptoms.

Among the other pathogens found in the confiscated bushmeat were several forms of herpes, all of which could pose threats to humans.

“We are also worried about the viruses that we haven’t identified yet,” said Kristine Smith, the study’s lead researcher and the associate director for health and policy at EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based organization of scientists dedicated to the dual goals of conservation and public health.

Overall, an estimated three of every four emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in wildlife. As HuffPost reported last month, the live wildlife trade can also expose humans to infectious diseases such as monkeypox, bird flu and rat bite fever. Boris Pavlin, the head of the Northern Micronesia office of the World Health Organization who was not involved in the Smith study, warned of potential exposures from close contact with pets that can bite and scratch, noting that “a living being can create an infectious aerosol, which bushmeat normally would not.”

Pavlin said he was not surprised by the results of the Smith study. “My research has shown that there are myriad species of imported animals that are known to be potential carriers of zoonotic pathogens,” he said. “This study is the first to demonstrate virus directly in imported bushmeat, but it basically confirms what we all suspected.”

A person handling meat may be directly exposed to an animal’s blood and internal tissues, which Pavlin said “could be extremely dangerous, particularly as the bushmeat being prepared may be ‘double-dead.’” In other words, the animal may have initially died from disease before being found and processed for consumption. This is the scenario that likely gave rise to the deadly Ebola virus.

People may also be exposed to disease by eating the bushmeat. As with chicken and salmonella, the level of risk depends on how well the meat is cooked, but millions of Africans rely on bushmeat for protein, and surveys of West African communities have found that many people are unaware that they could get sick from this practice.

While greater travel and immigration between the United States and Africa means the potential for more direct U.S. exposure, Smith suggests that even a bushmeat hunter contracting a disease abroad could affect health, economy, food and natural resources here.

“Unfortunately, it is ‘One Health‘,” said Smith, referring to the emerging movement that seeks more recognition of the connections between the health of the environment, animals and human beings.

To get a better handle on just how much bushmeat is entering the country — currently estimated at 15,000 pounds a year — as well as the range of diseases that are traveling with it, Smith and her team are now expanding their study to include most of the U.S. airports that have a CDC quarantine.

Any bushmeat found by U.S. customs agents is already confiscated and destroyed. Ideally, the CDC would like to intervene earlier — say, before someone abroad even plans their trip. “We are hoping that as we go along with these studies, we can develop educational campaigns to better inform people coming into the U.S. about the risks of bringing bushmeat,” said Gale Galland, leader of the CDC’s zoonoses team.

Such efforts may well pay dividends, Pavlin said. “The end users of bushmeat are likely to be very specific communities, which may benefit from targeted efforts to educate them about the potential risks associated with bushmeat,” he said. “If we can decrease the demand, we can decrease the risk.”

you are what you eat
what else can one say
if you eat this sad meat
you could end up
D.O.A.

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

BACKGROUND

According to news sources, Québec resident Normand Girard has pled guilty to shooting puppies in the head with a nail gun. Reportedly, after his attempts to gas to death a mother Labrador retriever and her puppies proved unsuccessful, Girard began driving nails into their skulls! When he failed to kill his first two victims, Girard just dumped the whole canine family on the side of the road.

Girard now awaits sentencing, and your voice is needed! Please contact the prosecutor handling this case and thank him for taking the case seriously. Let him know that you support the maximum penalty for Girard: a $10,000 fine and 18 months in prison!

WHOM TO CONTACT

Me. Karim AinMelk
Office of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions
77 Main St.
Office 20.1
Granby QC J2G 9B3
karim.ainmelk@dpcp.gouv.qc.ca

And please forward this alert widely!

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Me. Karim AinMelk,

I have learned of extremely disturbing and malicious cases of animal cruelty in which Québec resident Normand Girard has pled guilty to shooting puppies in the head with a nail gun. Reportedly, after his attempts to gas to death a mother Labrador retriever and her puppies proved unsuccessful, Girard began driving nails into their skulls! When he failed to kill his first two victims, Girard just dumped the whole canine family on the side of the road.  I am therefore writing to thank you for taking this case seriously and to request you sentence Mr. Girard to the maximum penalty allowable under the law: a $10,000 fine and 18 months in prison.

Please allow me to elaborate. Our global communities share laws, moral and written, and when one person demonstrates such a gross lack of respect for both, our societies must react with concern for the innocent and potential victims, who include both non-human and human animals. It is our obligation to protect them from cruelty and although past behaviours are not indicative of future actions, Mr. Girard’s callous disregard, so easily adopted as demonstrated by his unprovoked, barbaric,  and  lethal behaviour, needs to be regarded rather than dismissed.

Please respect the victims by penalizing the guilty and demonstrate your commitment to justice, responsibility, and integrity, attributes unquestionably necessary in a law enforcement  setting: rejecting cruelty by maintaining an unyielding position towards it would be a model for all community members and would serve to characterize this type of behaviour as both impermissible and punishable.

I know your time is limited, and I thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.

NAME

See More: Companion Animals

normand girard
a waste of air
and space
needs to be removed
from every
civilized place
locked in a jail cell
dark and cold
with pictures of his victims
until he gets very old

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

PETITION

Please applaud the EL-AL airline management for taking a compassionate stand and ask that it does not bow to pressure from the research industry to carry primates.

A petition has been started by the Israeli Anti-Vivisection Organization “Behind Closed Doors”, with English translation, that can be found here:

https://www.atzuma.co.il/elalsupport

(To sign the petition just enter your full name into the box on the right hand side and hit the green submit button.)

TEXT

Many airlines all over the world refuse to transport animals destined for vivisection. Following a prolonged public campaign, the Israeli airline El-Al declared in September 2010 that its management decided to join the growing list of airlines that refuse to transport animals destined for vivisection.

Now, more than a year after El-Al stopped such transportation, vivisectionists are trying to force it to change this policy, through a lawsuit filed by The Council of University Presidents against El-Al.

The transportation of animals to labs is an integral part of the severe abuse animals endure in vivisection – they are transported in extreme packed conditions in a journey which may last tens of hours, while suffering extreme physical and mental stress, and many are found dead upon arrival.

In recent years, a significant part of the air transportation of animals for vivisection to and from Israel has comprised of monkeys imported to the Mazor Facility from Mauritius.  The Mazor Facility is a private business that has been responsible for kidnapping monkeys from the wild in Mauritius, confining and breeding them in Israel, and selling their babies abroad, for vivisection.

We the undersigned applaud the El-Al management for its moral policy, which ensures us that while we fly on vacation or on business, there will not be animals kept with our luggage on their way to hell.

el al you have stepped up
to the plate
by not transporting animals
to a terrible fate
we thank you for
taking this moral stand
a round of applause
and a show of grateful
hands♥☻

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

From Newser

By Mark Russell

Today’s bullfights at the 97-year-old Plaza de Toros Monumental arena in Barcelona will be the last ever for the venerable—and brutal—sport in Catalonia province, reports the BBC.

The province voted to end bullfighting last year, the first ban on the corrida de toros in mainland Spain (it’s been banned on the Canary Islands since 1991).

“This is such a beautiful arena, with a lot of tradition both for bullfighters and this national celebration,” said one matador. Although attendance for bullfighting has been poor for many years, tickets to the last matches at the 20,000-seat Monumental sold out quickly, and have been selling for five times their original value on black markets.

The ban came partly from Catalonians’ desire to distinguish themselves from the rest of Spain and partly because of declining interest, but animal rights groups say they hope to extend their campaign to the rest of the country.


See More:

League Against Cruel Sports

whatever the reason
good news,
we will take it
and work even harder
tomorrow,
to make it

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

1. Please click and sign HERE to ban duck hunting in Australia.

2. Please click HERE to ban greyhound export in Australia.

1. Background | From Animals Australia

The beautiful wetlands of South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria should be safe havens for wildlife; instead every year in Autumn and early Winter they become killing fields.

At this moment the lives of hundreds of thousands of native waterbirds are under threat. Tasmania and Victoria have already confirmed that they will permit a duck hunting season in 2012 and South Australia will also soon decide.

While numbers of active shooters dropped substantially during the opening weekend of the 2011 season, there was no reprieve for ducks, with numbers of birds killed and captured more than doubling from an estimated 270,000 in 2010 to more than 600,000 in 2011, in Victoria alone. For every bird killed and captured it is estimated that at least one more escapes injured. So in excess of one million birds will have been harmed or killed during the 2011 shooting season — with those who escaped likely to have suffered prolonged pain and even death from their untreated wounds.

Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia have already banned duck shooting due to the extreme suffering caused to birds.

Please help us protect these defenceless birds and send a strong message to the Governments of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, urging them to ban duck hunting.


2. Background | From Animal Australia

Australia’s greyhound racing industry is not one with a glowing track record for animal welfare. Just like in the horse racing industry, animals whose only fault is that they are not fast enough to win are disposed of in the thousands. A very small portion of these unwanted animals are rehomed, however the vast majority are killed. But perhaps the grimmest fate that can await these unlucky dogs is export, and this export trade may soon grow if not stopped.

A primary export destination for greyhounds from Australia is Macau, with hundreds of racing dogs facing cruel conditions in this region of China. In Macau’s greyhound racing stadium, the Canidrome, these dogs are kept in cages so small they can barely turn around and must literally run for their lives on the track.

Greyhounds from Australia were killed at the Canidrome at a rate of more than 1 every day in 2010. Nearly all of these dogs were healthy and not even five years old. All they had done wrong is fail to finish in the top three for five consecutive races. With an ongoing supply of dogs from Australia, this unethical practice can continue, and is even threatening to expand.

Macau is the only place in China where greyhound racing is currently legal. But with racing industries from around the world pushing for the legalisation of greyhound racing on mainland China many more greyhounds are at risk.

The Australian government can help stop this cruel practice by banning the export of greyhounds. Please call on Minister for Agriculture, Joe Ludwig, to stop Australia’s export of greyhounds.

See More: Animals Australia

common sense to us
would be
not killing any animal,
being a peaceful
society
but apparently to many
these notions exist not
so our world sits in decline
so sickens the plot

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

BACKGROUND

The Delaware County, New York, District Attorney’s Office has filed charges of cruelty to animals as well as a drug-related charge against Susan Marino, the woman responsible for the horrific suffering of hundreds of animals at Angel’s Gate, Inc., which she founded, operates, and dares to call “a hospice and rehabilitation center.”

PETA’s investigation of this hellhole exposed the daily neglect and terrible suffering of disabled, elderly, and ailing animals, many of whom had been shipped to Marino by well-meaning but severely uninformed individuals and agencies, including the New York Center for Animal Care and Control (NYCACC), which doomed Malcolm the Chihuahua and hundreds of other animals to die slowly at Angel’s Gate through its “New Hope” program.

PETA had provided the District Attorney with the evidence that our investigator gathered while volunteering at Angel’s Gate. Our investigator saw Marino allow animals to suffer, sometimes for weeks, from treatable conditions as well as terminal illnesses without providing veterinary care, medication, or pain relief. Paralyzed animals dragged themselves until they developed bloody ulcers. Animals developed urine scald after being left in soaked diapers for up to two days. Dehydrated animals were denied water, and others were forced to stay outside in freezing temperatures. The bodies of dead animals were left among those of the living for days.

While Marino has been charged, the nightmare is not over for the animals at Angel’s Gate, as they have not yet been seized. Please help us ensure their welfare and the safety of future victims by joining us in urging the New York State Attorney General to revoke Angel’s Gate’s nonprofit status and ensure that the animals are removed from Marino’s custody. Please click here to send a letter to the Attorney General, and please, when your animal companions become elderly or ill, let them live out their final days with dignity in the comfort of their own homes, surrounded by their families, not at the mercy of a conniving stranger.

PETA has turned over evidence to the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Please join us in urging Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to revoke the non-profit status of Angel’s Gate and ensure that Marino’s victims are seized and helped.

WHOM TO CONTACT

The Honorable Eric T. Schneiderman
Office of the Attorney General
The Capital
Albany, NY 12224-0341
518-474-5481
Click HERE for online webform


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Honorable Schneiderman,

I have learned of extremely disturbing and malicious cases of animal cruelty in which Susan Marino, owner and operator of Angel’s Gate, deliberately and with malice caused the suffering and death of numerous animals as well as cheated well-meaning people out of enormous sums of money. I am respectfully requesting that you revoke her non-profit status, charge her with the harshest penalty allowed, and seize and care for animals still suffering.

The following, courtesy of PETA, are the conditions witnessed by an undercover volunteer of Angel’s Gate:

Paralyzed animals dragged themselves until they developed bleeding ulcers, even though wheelchair carts were readily available. One dachshund suffered a wound so deep that it exposed the bone.

Animals whose bladders should be expressed every few hours were kept in the same diaper for up to two days until the diapers were urine-logged, and animals suffered from urine scald.

Animals, even severely dehydrated ones, were confined without access to water.

Animals kept outside in freezing temperatures without access to proper shelter.

Animals were confined to a bathtub, which they could not climb.

Animals were confined to bathrooms.

Small dogs were confined to Marino’s bed, several feet off the ground, with no way to leave it.

Animals were suffering from treatable conditions without veterinary examination or care, including open wounds and respiratory, eye, ear, mouth, and skin infections. One dog’s infected, rotten jaw snapped in half.

Crowded conditions so stressful that fights broke out daily, leaving animals with wounds that were left untreated.

Animals suffering from pain, seizures, and hydrocephalus (water on the brain) were denied veterinarian-recommended and/or prescribed medication.

Horribly suffering animals on death’s door were deprived of the dignity and relief of euthanasia.

The bodies of dead animals were left out for days among live animals.

Animals were fed rancid, raw meat that had been left unrefrigerated.

Please respect the victims by penalizing Ms. Marino and demonstrate your commitment to justice, responsibility, and integrity, attributes unquestionably necessary in a law enforcement setting: rejecting cruelty by maintaining an unyielding position towards it would be a model for all community members and would serve to characterize this type of behaviour as both impermissible and punishable.

I know your time is limited, and I thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.







SEE MORE:

• Compassionate Eating
• Vegan Guides
• Cruelty-Free
  

Please click on and sign petition HERE

From Force Change

Target: The Humane Society

Goal: Apologize for the death of Daniel Dockery’s cat and review the procedure regarding payment for veterinary services

Lovers of animals and compassionate people will feel sorrow and even outrage at the story of Daniel Dockery and the cat that saved him from addiction and despair.  After rushing Scruffy to the Humane Society’s Campus for Compassion in Arizona for treatment of non-life threatening wounds, Dockery discovered that because of his inability to pay in a timely manner, his beloved kitten had been euthanized.  This callous lack of compassion is unacceptable in any circumstance, but especially from an organization known for their compassion for animals.  Tell the Humane Society that they need to apologize for Scruffy’s death and review Dockery’s case to make sure something like this never happens again.

Daniel Dockery raised Scruffy since she was 4 years old.  He claims that through raising and caring for her, he was able to recover from his 20 year heroin addiction.  When he brought her to Humane Society’s clinic on December 8th, he was confronted with an inexplicable lack of compassion, understanding and common sense.  When Dockery presented them with his mother’s credit card, they refused it according to their “no credit card” policy.  He then asked for 24 hours to come up with the cash and was again refused.  Instead, they insisted he sign ownership over to them.  The Humane Society would later confirm that Scruffy was euthanized a few hours after being brought in because they were only able to treat two cats at their clinic.  The 49 year old Dockery is devastated, feeling like he has failed the cat that he loved so dearly.

Dockery received a massive outpouring of financial and emotional support from the people of Arizona.  We also stand with Dockery in asking the Humane Society of Arizona to issue a formal apology and to review their policies concerning payment for services.  No animal should be killed because their owner can’t pay, especially an animal that brought such joy into the life of someone who suffered for so long.

See More: Force Change

Very sad that
In the name of
Cost,
Living creatures
End up, dead
Or lost

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

From One Green Planet
By Nick Pendergrast

2011 has seen veganism move into the mainstream more than any other year. It has seen growing awareness of the animal rights, environmental and health arguments for veganism, a number of well-known people becoming vegan and increasing vegan options at restaurants and supermarkets.

An increase in the number of famous vegans has certainly led to greater awareness and visibility of veganism this year. This year, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres not only continued to promote veganism on her popular talk show, but she also established the website Going Vegan With Ellen and set up a vegan restaurant chain and standalone vegan restaurant.

Some celebrities have also demonstrated the health benefits of a vegan diet. The most obvious example of this is former U.S. President Bill Clinton. After eating a diet high in animal products and narrowly escaping death due to heart problems, Clinton has adopted a vegan diet and tests have shown that he is starting to reverse the damage to his heart and blood vessels caused by cardiovascular disease, has lost over nine kilograms, and claims he has more energy than before.

Clinton’s story was featured on a recent hour-long CNN documentary on heart attacks and his vegan diet success story was also featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, and the ABC – to name just a few of the endless amount of outlets that have covered this story.

The release of the documentary Forks Over Knives has also drawn attention to the health benefits of a vegan diet. This documentary ‘examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.’ This documentary has convinced celebrities like comedian Russell Brand and musician Ozzy Osbourne to adopt a vegan diet for health reasons, which has led to greater awareness of the health reasons to remove animal products from the diet.

The growing diversity of vegans, particularly famous vegans, has helped in bringing down stereotypes about veganism and is likely to have made veganism more appealing to a wider variety of people. It is not just animal advocates who are busting the myth that vegans fit some narrow stereotype, but also mainstream media outlets like Bloomberg Businessweek.

2011 has also seen growing awareness of the environmental arguments for veganism. In 2009, a study by the World Watch Institute found that animal agriculture accounts for 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions – far higher than the 18% figure cited by the United Nations in 2006. This year, the website 51percent.org was set up, increasing awareness of this statistic and the environmental reasons to give up animal products.

As the term ‘vegan’ and arguments for veganism increasingly enter the mainstream media and consciousness, it is becoming easier and easier to be a vegan. Mainstream supermarkets increasingly provide vegan staples like tofu and tempeh, as well as more “luxury” products like vegan meat substitutes and desserts, and chain restaurants as well as university cafeterias are offering more and more vegan options.

As veganism reaches the mainstream, it is important to reflect on the definition of the term. In 1944, Donald Watson began The Vegan Society and coined the term ‘vegan’ to mean a vegetarian who also avoided other animal products in their diet, such as dairy and eggs.

In 1951, the definition of veganism was extended to be far more all-encompassing than just a diet. The Vegan Society redefined veganism to mean seeking ‘to end the use of animals by man for food, commodities, work, hunting, vivisection and all other uses involving exploitation of animal life by man.’

Although some recent articles have acknowledged that veganism goes beyond diet, unfortunately it has mainly been the dietary aspect of veganism, rather than the broader philosophy and lifestyle (often referred to as ethical veganism), that have become mainstreamed.

The mainstreaming of the vegan diet is obviously a positive thing for other animals, as an overwhelming majority (often suggested to be approximately 99% in the United States) of non-human animals killed by humans are killed for food.

However, from an animal rights point of view, ethical veganism is essential. The non-human animals harmed and killed for other uses beyond food, such as entertainment, clothing and experimentation are just as important.

The concept of animal rights gives other animals inherent value and challenges the dominant idea that they are just “things” for us to use and kill for our enjoyment and profit. Ethical veganism puts this concept into practise for all non-human animals, not just those used and killed for food.

It has been great to see the term ‘vegan’ mainstreamed and normalised this year. From an animal rights point of view, it is important that the broader philosophy and lifestyle of veganism gets wider recognition in the years to come.

Vegan food, recipes, shopping list, and more … Click on the upper right arrow to view the full tab names, scroll down to see all entries.

2012 we will make it be
the best year yet
for all societies
people and animals
and the planet
on which we live
share our love
and forever, give

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

BACKGROUND

Please read the message below and please, please, please contact the officials.

My friend, Jacqueline, who lives in Kentucky (which is the worst state for NOT prosecuting animal abuses-email to follow) just lost one of her precious canine babies in a trap set out for wild life.

These traps should be outlawed.

I’m asking all the animal advocates out there to please let your voice be heard:

(1) prosecution of the person who set the trap (it’s in an area where children play and families walk/run their dogs

(2) push for KY to prosecute animal abusers

(3) get these traps outlawed.

I know we have many battles on our hands and it’s probably years down the road before we see progress on some, but we must push for change.

Billy Boy was a happy doggie in a home with a great person who loved him dearly.

My heart breaks and I am still in shock just thinking about his horrible death.

Thanks for caring about the animals.


MESSAGE

Since his death on Sunday, I find I am unable to feel much of anything.

Where once a heart as big as a city block swelled with beat after beat of passion, nothing sounds but hollow breathing. Shattered is the word that comes most often to mind.

Not until today have I been able to find the strength to face the screen before me.

Four days ago, on Sunday, December 11, 2011, my beautiful, loving boy was savagely killed by a steel trap laid for the purpose of snuffing out some poor, wild creature.

Fur from other victims, I later observed, was caught in its metal jaws.

I can’t feel much of anything. I should feel rage but no, nothing. After years and years of saving animals I find my heart has taken a beating.

Hours spent before his death were beautiful ones and like every day my lovable lug had on this embattled planet, Billy Boy was out and about following that Geiger counter nose that in the end drew him to his death.

Oh, how that boy loved life.

I could actually find myself smiling just by virtue of watching his face light up into a smile.

His very last moments were agony: From the moment he poked his head into that lethal device until he was gone maybe one minute elapsed.

As soon as I heard his cry of pain, I went running. Within seconds I was at his side. About all I can remember of the location was being in the creek, near the culvert located directly under the road. My muddy, bloody jeans still lie on the floor. I’m not sure if he was still alive.

I couldn’t first grasp what had happened. He was writhing so I thought he could still be saved. Not so. That dreaded glassy look that appears in the eyes of the dead was soon staring at me. Still I tried to free him from that steel deathtrap.

I kept screaming for help that did not come and even if someone had been there, it would have been too late.

On my hands and knees, I tried to lift him from the streambed onto the road but he was now 55 lbs of dead weight. I weigh 105.

The children I saw earlier playing next to the very same creek with their Boxer heard my cries. I suspect I frightened them.

No creature deserves to die like that let alone a member of the family.

Billy Boy was the embodiment of devoted love and loyalty.

The other four dogs with me at the time fled the scene, all except little Sassy. She alone stayed with her hysterical mother. Baby, Daisy Mae and Muchacho ran for their lives having witnessed what happened to their friend and frightened by the crumbled bodies of me and Billy Boy on the wet asphalt.

Tears that have long been a stranger to these cheeks are now streaming down my face.

I have witnessed too much cruelty in my life.

Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of my loss.

Last night, each night and for many nights to come I will miss the warmth of that burly body huddled next to mine.

He was the consummate Mama’s Boy who never, but never knew a stranger.

He was only three-years-old.

Yes, I dread going to bed.

Just the other night, I dreamt a dream of terrible sorrow. I dreamt of my lost boy. Somewhere in the darkness I could hear him crying for me but as much as I tried I could not find my darling Billy. I awoke from my nightmare and reached over to what had now become a place empty of my nightly familiar.

Billy Boy is gone.

I want his death to stand for something other than just another poor beast robbed of the life he loved.

The creek where he met his death either sits on or borders the sheriff’s property: It could have been one of his beautiful Shepherds.

Tina, up the street, has a gorgeous, white Spitz called Rooster, just yards from the place of death. It could have been her boy.

These traps do not discriminate.

Whatever luckless being ventures close to its lethal grasp is not long for this world.

That being the case, these coiled mechanisms of death have no business close to companion animals and children who play in these streams.

If it hadn’t been Billy Boy, it could have easily been Sarge, Rooster, Baby, Sassy, Summer, Daisy Mae, or Muchacho.

Billy Boy with his Labrador nose found it first and well, the rest you know.

This is my story.

Jacqueline Muth
859- 499-1920


WHOM TO CONTACT

***Please note the emails may not work, some people have had them returned.

Block

kevin.cockrell@ky.go,  nik.fegenbush@ky.gov

Individual

The Montgomery County Attorney is Kevin Cockrell:  kevin.cockrell@ky.gov
and his Assistant County Attorney is Nick Fegenbush: nik.fegenbush@ky.gov

Their phone number is 859-498-8713

The fax is 859-498-8714

Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer.  No fax machine, registering, or credit card required.  Please remember to confirm the fax via your email after submitting.


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Attorneys Cockrell and Fegenbush:

I am writing in response to a tragedy that occurred in which a loved family dog, named Billy Boy, died from capturing his head in a possibly illegal steel trap. Specifically I request the following:

(1) prosecution of the person who set the trap (it’s in an area where children play and families walk/run their dogs)

(2) push for KY to prosecute animal abusers

(3) outlaw traps

 According to Born Free USA following their in-depth campaign to ban traps:

Our investigation proves that despite industry claims to the contrary, leghold traps and snares cause serious injuries and extreme suffering to trapped animals. We also revealed that archaic killing methods such as suffocation, drowning and chest crushing are widely used today — methods that in fact would be considered cruelty to animals (a felony offense in some states) if inflicted intentionally upon domestic cats or dogs.

The investigation also demonstrates that despite years of research, there have been no significant advances in reducing “collateral damage.” In other words, non-target animals still are captured in traps set for other species. No animal is safe from these diabolical devices — dogs, cats, squirrels, bears, hawks and even threatened and endangered species can become victims of vanity. (Find hundreds of examples of non-targeted animals being caught in traps and read about our Trapping Victims Fund.)

Our investigator documented that what few trapping regulations do exist are regularly flouted by trappers: They openly use illegal snares to capture animals, they leave traps out after the close of the trapping season, and they capture animals out of season.

The whole operation of trapping is built on a very weak foundation of trust, as there are no authorities present when traps are set or an animal is killed, and most states don’t even require trappers to report the number of animals they kill.

Please exercise your influence to ban traps so that no animal will be tortured and maimed by such archaic and barbaric contraptions.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for the attention to this urgent issue.



SEE MORE

• Compassionate Eating
• Vegan Guides
  

to the hunters and those whose support them

how would you like to be
caught in a trap
unable to move
pain much worse
than a slap
hours pass,
alone you cry
slowly, in agony
alone, you die
any animal
is
damage
collateral

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

From Mercy For Animals

Butterball has become synonymous with turkey. But how do the millions of turkeys who end up in the grocery store, or served at restaurants, under the Butterball brand, really live and die?

A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation reveals the truth: extreme cruelty and violence is the harsh reality for birds on Butterball’s factory farms.

Between November and December of 2011, an MFA undercover investigator documented a pattern of shocking abuse and neglect at a Butterball turkey semen collection facility in Shannon, North Carolina.

Hidden-camera footage taken at Butterball reveals:

• Workers violently kicking and stomping on birds, dragging them by their fragile wings and necks, and maliciously throwing turkeys onto the ground or into transport trucks in full view of company management;
• Employees bashing in the heads of live birds with metal bars, leaving many to slowly suffer and die from their injuries;
• Turkeys covered in flies, living in their own waste, with some unable to access food or water and suffering from severe feather loss
• Birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, rotting eyes, and broken bones; and
• Severely injured turkeys, unable to stand up or walk, left to die without any veterinary care, because treating sick or injured birds was too costly and time consuming, as the farm manager explained to MFA’s investigator.

After viewing the undercover footage, Dr. Sara Shields, research scientist, poultry specialist and consultant in animal welfare, said, “Turkeys are fully capable of feeling pain, fear, stress and of suffering, and the way they are treated in the video is clearly abusive.”

Dr. Debra Teachout, a practicing veterinarian with experience in farmed-animal welfare, agrees, stating, “The birds are not living a life remotely worth living. Their world is full of fear, distress, pain, injury and illness as witnessed by this video. A culture of blatant and severe animal mistreatment has been allowed to flourish unchecked, and for that reason, this facility should be shut down immediately.”

Following the investigation, MFA immediately went to law enforcement with extensive video footage and a detailed legal complaint outlining the routine violence and cruelty documented by the investigator at this Butterball facility. On Thursday, December 29, state law enforcement officials obtained a warrant and raided the facility on grounds of cruelty to animals.

Unfortunately, the lives of turkeys in Butterball’s factory farms are short, brutal and filled with fear, violence and prolonged suffering. While wild turkeys are sleek, agile and able to fly, Butterball’s turkeys have been selectively bred to grow so large, so quickly, that many of them suffer from painful bone defects, hip joint lesions, crippling foot and leg deformities, and fatal heart attacks.

This genetic manipulation creates birds that are so large they cannot even reproduce naturally, meaning that artificial semen collection and insemination have become the sole means of turkey reproduction at Butterball facilities.

Even though domestic turkeys have been genetically manipulated for enormous growth, these birds still retain their gentle, inquisitive and social natures. Oregon State University poultry scientist Dr. Tom Savage says that turkeys are “smart animals with personality and character, and keen awareness of their surroundings.” In fact, animal behaviorists, veterinarians, and scientists now agree that turkeys are sensitive and intelligent animals with their own unique personalities, much like the dogs and cats we all know and love.

While MFA works to expose and end animal abuse at Butterball and other giants of the meat, dairy and egg industry, consumers can help prevent the needless suffering of turkeys and other animals by adopting a compassionate vegan diet



COK’s Vegan Starter Guide

.

BACKGROUND

The Mission Inn in Riverside, California, is exhibiting reindeer at the Festival of Lights through January 8, 2012. These undomesticated animals—their wild instincts still very much intact—are transported to and from the hotel each weekend and subjected to a constant barrage of strange noises and sights, flashing cameras, and crowds trying to pet them. PETA contacted the hotel’s owners and urged them to cancel this exhibit, but our request has fallen on deaf ears.

Animals used in such traveling exhibits are cruelly carted from one event to the next during the holiday season. Deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, they often become despondent and develop neurotic and self-destructive behaviors, including pacing, rocking, swaying, bar-biting, and self-mutilation. Their instinctual needs, such as seeking mates, raising young, and grazing, are completely stifled. Neglectful practices, such as withholding food and water to keep them from eliminating, are routine. Such events also pose risks to public health, as reindeer can transmit numerous diseases to humans, such as contagious ecthyma, brucellosis, anthrax, salmonellosis, rabies, toxoplasmosis, sarcoptic mange, and ringworm.

Please contact the Mission Inn and politely implore it to cancel this cruel exhibit.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Duane Roberts, CEO
The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa
3649 Mission Inn Ave.
Riverside, CA 92501
951-784-0300
concierge@missioninn.com

Shannon Mueller
Executive Assistant
949-500-7327


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear CEO Roberts and Executive Assistant Mueller,

It has come to my attention that Mission Inn in Riverside, California, is exhibiting reindeer at the Festival of Lights.  Since animals used in traveling exhibits display many negative consequences, such as despondence  and  neurotic and self-destructive behaviors, including pacing, rocking, swaying, bar-biting, and self-mutilation, I am therefore respectfully urging you to help these reindeer and instead protect them from such destructive habits.

Please allow me to elaborate. Reindeer are complex animals who experience suffering and joy, communicate with each other, and who also have the capacity to nurture complex relationships and display grief upon separation. Furthermore, their instinctual needs are suppressed from the lack of a nurturing environment and are they are instead subjected to noise, strange sights, and flashing cameras.  Additionally, food and water is routinely withheld so the animals won’t relieve themselves while on display.

This also proves medically dangerous to humans considering that reindeer can transmit numerous diseases to humans, such as contagious ecthyma, brucellosis, anthrax, salmonellosis, rabies, toxoplasmosis, sarcoptic mange, and ringworm.  I would hope any organization that shares a core principle of human enrichment via entertainment, such as yours, would be equally concerned with any disease-spreading forms of exhibits.

Please instead take this opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to protect rather than harm animals, and be a model for other cities by discontinuing using the reindeer in your exhibit.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention regarding this important message.

NAME



SEE MORE:

• Compassionate Eating

• Animal Wrongs

• Cruelty-Free

reindeer do not belong on display
they are not cartoon animals
that pull santa’s sleigh
they have feelings and
they want to be
in their quiet habitat
with their own company

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

By Sarah Kiser

I picked up a dead animal today. I did. I was driving home, and out of the corner of my eye on a small road, I saw a squirrel lying on the curb. He looked dead to me, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t see any obvious trauma on his body as I passed by in my car, he almost looked like he was just sleeping, so I thought maybe just maybe he’s alive and just slightly injured. I pulled my car over and I went up to the squirrel. His eyes were closed mostly, and glazed over just a bit, his body was still palpable and warm (but some of the warmth could just be attributed to the sun as it was a warm day today), but yet at the same time felt heavy and as though he was starting to stiffen.

I turned his body over so that he lay on his back so I could check his underside. That side also had no damage. I checked him for signs of life, but I couldn’t find any. His chest did not move, his belly didn’t move, his legs didn’t move, nothing at all…..there was no heartbeat, no sign of life. I watched him for awhile, and checked him again and again to just be completely sure. When I was sure that he was no longer alive, I picked him up gently and moved him to a spot away from the road, atop some mulch surrounded by bushes to kind of shield him, even though he was no longer alive, it felt like the least I could do for him. Surely nicer than leaving him on the curb by a road.

I figured what must have happened to him is that he ran out into the road, and perhaps ran right into the side of a tire as a car was passing. The impact of that could have killed him without leaving any visible signs of trauma or damage. I pet his sweet little head a few times, and left the scene with a heavy heart.

While I was there with the squirrel, many cars passed by me ( I was safely out of the road far off onto the grass by the sidewalk). I am sure there were at least some people who saw what I was doing that were perplexed by my actions. Possibly some people were aghast at what I was doing. I can imagine they must have been thinking something like “EWW she’s picking up a dead animal!”….But here’s the thing, most everyone picks up dead animals every single day. They pick them up at the grocery store, they pick them up at restaurants, they pick them up at the drive-through, they pick them up for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And these dead animals they pick up weren’t accidentally killed. They were killed intentionally and suffered beyond comprehension before they were killed. Funny, isn’t it, how our perception of things can be so different? ……..one thing, an act out of compassion, can be seen as so disgusting and strange and the other, eating animals who suffered unimaginable cruelty and died violently, can be seen as so normal……

See More:


Vegan Shopping List

• Click here for the Change.org petition:  “Bring Animal Killing Artist, Katinka Simonse To Justice”.

• Click here for the Change.org petition:  “Bring to Justice Torch Gallery and Katinka Simonse”.

• Click here for the videos of “Tinkebell”.  

• Click here for slideshow

• Click here for more information about this “artist”.
  

Background | By Brennan Browne

A Dutch woman who calls herself a “performance artist”, Katinka Simonse (aka Tinkebell) believes that killing animals and displaying them in gruesome and controversial ways is performance art.

For one “performance”, Simonese actually broke her own cat’s neck and then skinned the animal, making it into handbags.  She even provided a “how to” manual for those seeking to do the same with their own animals.  The picture of her holding the cat as his/her skin is being taken from his/her body is revolting.

The pictures provided with this article are sickening.  They show several of her exhibits at the galleries as well as her demonstrations on how she accomplished these exhibits.  Simonse is very pleased with herself in the picture holding her dead cat as she pulls the skin off his/her body.

Also provided is a translated video, where this woman attempts to justify her art form, claiming it is not cruelty.  There are numerous videos of her, which can be found at the link provided below that includes videos of visitors to various galleries with their reactions to her “art”.

The very thought of innocent animals having to die so this woman can earn money from their misery and murder is simply horrifying.
There are two petitions currently being circulated regarding this woman and her performance art.

The first petition is directed at Den Haag of the Ministry of Security and Justice in the Netherlands, asking that justice be served against the Torch Gallery and Simonse for these horrendous exhibits.

The second petition is directed at the Netherlands State Senate, and is asking that Simonse be brought to justice for her heinous acts involving these helpless animals in the name of “art”.

Please consider adding your voice to these two petitions.  They are Change.org petitions, which can be signed by anyone.  You can access them here and here, or at the links provided above.

The fact this kind of horror is allowed at all perpetuates the belief that it’s perfectly fine to murder an animal as long as you label it “art”.

This is similar to another situation where in 2007 Guillermo Vargas, another performance artist, chained a dog to a wall in a gallery and slowly starved him to death, again in the name of “art”.

Word had spread quickly through the animal advocacy community when it was learned that a gallery had asked the artist to “perform” this again.  A petition was circulated regarding this and was recently closed.  Hopefully the voices of advocates were heard and this atrocity was not allowed to be repeated with another dog slowly dying of starvation.

This type of horror must not be allowed to continue.  As long as humans continue to pay to see this “performance art”, it will continue to go on.  The suffering of an animal is never an art form, but is instead is the needless suffering and death for the amusement of humans.

Advocates need to speak up now to hopefully stop this horror from continuing and to keep any more animals from having to needlessly suffer and die for Simonse’s “art”.

as an artist and
as a human being
i stare in horror
at what i am seeing
art is about beauty
truth and kindness
not out and out sadism,
cruel and mindless
their performance art
of vile smell
should be behind bars
cowering in their
jail cells

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

BACKGROUND

Shoot To Kill Commanders Named

Courtesy of  Human Rights Watch

Related Materials:

WHOM TO CONTACT

Postal Address

Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands

Email Address

otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int

Telephone Number

31 (0)70 515 8515

Fax Number

31 70 515 8555

• Click HERE for access to faxing from your computer. No fax machine or registering required.
• Be sure to click the fax confirmation link in your email so your fax delivery will succeed.

Click HERE for Chinese Embassy contacts

Click HERE for Russian Embassy contacts


SAMPLE LETTER

Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands

Dear Prosecutor,

Pursuant to Article 9 Section 2. (c) of UN General Assembly, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (last amended January 2002), 17 July 1998, A/CONF. 183/9, please begin an investigation of the 70 individuals named in Appendix 1 – Structure and Command of Armed forces and Intelligence Agencies in the report “By All Means Necessary!” published by the nonprofit organization Human Rights Watch in December of 2011 for crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The Human Rights Watch report gives details of crimes defined in Articles 7 – Crimes against humanity, Article 8 – War crimes, and Article 8 bis – Crime of aggression of individual and command responsibility of Syrian military commanders and intelligence officials for these crimes. It is based on interviews with 63 defectors both from the army and from the intelligence agencies, generally known as the mukhabarat.

These violations continue as of the writing of this letter, or of the gravest nature, and necessary due to ineffective remedy by all other international bodies with the authority to stop them. Time is of the essence.

Please see the pdf report written by Human Rights Watch By All Means Necessary: Individual and Command Responsibility for Crimes Against Humanity in Syria

NAME

See More:

Syria, Shoot to Kill Orders

By All Means Necessary: Individual and Command Responsibility for Crimes Against Humanity it Syria

syria a nation
in distress
its brave protestors
getting the worst
of this mess
dictatorship
living in fear
knowing they
they are not
wanted here

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Background | From Vandaag.NL

On December 16th 2011, the Japanese police in Taiji arrested Sea Shepherd volunteer and Dutch citizen Erwin Vermeulen, while attempting to take photos of Risso’s dolphin being transferred between holding pens in the sea and the Dolphin Resort Hotel.

An employee of the Dolphin Resort Hotel merely accused Erwin of shoving him and this allegation was immediately acted upon. No witnesses saw Erwin shove the employee and Erwin was not even questioned. The Taiji police handcuffed Mr. Vermeulen and took him to the Shingu police station where he is currently being held. Recently his pre-arrest has been lengthened with 10 more days.

Out of compassion for the dolphins being slaughtered in Taiji, Mr. Vermeulen travelled to Japan at his own expense to devote his time and energy to the Cove Guardian mission. The Cove Guardian mission is to be ever present, recording every activity, and constantly on vigil in the face of the dolphin killers, day in and day out, for as long as dolphins are being killed. All Cove Guardians are cautioned that every move must be nonviolent and within the boundaries of Japanese law.

Erwin Vermeulen did not break any laws. But he was accused of doing so. Which law, we do not know, because the Japanese police refuse to divulge that information.

We, PiepVandaag and concerned citizens of The Netherlands, urge the Japanese ambassador in The Netherlands, Mr. Kazaki Koezuka to make any effort needed, to have Mr. Vermeulen, citizen of The Netherlands, released from prison immediately.

who really is the criminal here?
look at the blood red taiji
waters
the answer is quite clear
this man only tried to
save some cetacean
friends
jail is not where this
story should end
free erwin
and see to it
that the killing
is no more
or scores of
activists will
be forever
at your doors

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Upset residents in Brigham City, Utah, report that Pioneer Park Pond is being drained for dredging purposes and that hundreds of fish who call the pond their home have been left to die in agony. The water level is dangerously low, and the pond is freezing over. So the animals are slowly suffocating and freezing to death! This is entirely unnecessary.

Experts know that the nervous system of fish is strikingly similar to that of mammals and that fish are capable of great suffering. They are complex beings who have personalities, communicate with each other, form bonds, and even grieve when family members and companions die.

Please urge Brigham City officials to help these fish.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Email block

dfife@brighamcity.utah.gov,
bleonard@brighamcity.utah.gov,
dwrcomment@utah.gov

Individual

The Honorable Dennis J. Fife
Mayor of Brigham City
dfife@brighamcity.utah.gov

Brigham City Council
bleonard@brighamcity.utah.gov

Northern Regional Supervisor
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
801-476-2740
dwrcomment@utah.gov


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Honorable Fife, City Council Members, and National Regional Supervisor:

It has come to my attention that Pioneer Park Pond is being drained for dredging purposes and that hundreds of fish who call the pond their home have been left to die in agony due to low levels that are freezing over.  I am therefore respectfully urging you to help these fish and liberate them from agony.

Please allow me to elaborate. Fish are complex animals who experience suffering and joy, communicate with each other, and who also have the capacity to nurture complex relationships and display grief upon separation. Furthermore, despite an almost-universal apathy towards their sensitivity, fish indeed experience pain and react negatively towards stressful situations including disturbed environments.

Please take this opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to protect rather than harm animals, and be a model for other cities.

I know your time is limited and I thank you for your attention to this urgent issue.

NAME

it is obvious what you think of fish
that they are something meant
for your dish
we wholeheartedly disagree
fish have feelings, have lives
have families
by dredging that pond
a society you kill
would you like to die
that way, choking
and chilled?

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

PETITION

Support the demand of REZA PAHLAVI to prosecute KHAMENEI for Crimes against Iranian People and Humanity

BACKGROUND

By Reza Pahlavi

The exiled son of the toppled shah of Iran said Thursday he plans to ask the United Nations to bring Iran’s supreme leader before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.

Reza Pahlavi is among exiles working for regime change in Iran. He said at a Paris news conference that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must be held responsible for the executions, jailing and torture of political dissidents.

Pahlavi said he will submit a complaint about Khamenei to the five permanent U.N. Security Council members along with a report of the cleric’s alleged crimes that will be constantly updated.

Pahlavi’s father, the late Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed a clerical hierarchy. The ultimate leader of the government running the country now is Khamenei.

Iran has not ratified the Rome statute that established the International Criminal Court, the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal, known as the ICC. It is therefore not subject to the court’s jurisdiction — unless the Security Council decides to step in and refer Iran to the court as it did in the case of Libya.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, asked about Pahlavi’s announcement, said “citizens around the world are learning to request the court’s intervention.”

“In this sense, I think it’s great to show people who are looking for justice. Now they know how to do it. We are providing a new institution to the world, to make the world better,” Ocampo told a news conference in New York.

WHOM TO CONTACT

Mr Luis Moreno–Ocampo
The Prosecutor
International Criminal Court
Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands

Email: otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int


SAMPLE LETTER | OR COMPOSE YOUR OWN BRIEF ONE

I support the statements as written and signed by Secretary General Hamid Taqvaee:

Dear Mr Luis Moreno–Ocampo

I am writing on behalf of the people of Iran to call on the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, for crimes against humanity.

There is ample documentation of such crimes since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, however, the repression meted out on the recent June protesters, is sufficient evidence for such a prosecution.

On Friday June 19, during his speech at Friday prayers, Khamenei called for an end to street protests and threatened protesters saying that he would not be held responsible for any “bloodshed and chaos” that followed. The next day, the government’s security forces, including the Baseejis, Pasdaran, police forces and plain-clothed agents, poured onto the streets and indiscriminately attacked protesters. Though precise information is unavailable, we have gathered 56 names of those killed; clearly the numbers are higher. Thousands have also been arrested – we have heard reports of as many as 3,000 in Tehran alone. We have put together a list of several hundred names so far. Many more have been wounded.

Protestors Killed

The day after Khamenei threatened protesters, 27 year old Neda Agha-Soltan was shot dead by security forces on 20 June. Eyewitnesses said they clearly targeted her and she was shot in the chest. There is even a warrant out for the doctor who was on the scene, tried to help her, and first informed the world of what had happened. Others dead include Chemistry student Kianoosh Asa who was taken from his university dormitory and found dead in a morgue 10 days later, bearing signs of torture, 25 year old Hossein Tahmasbi who was beaten to death by the regime’s forces and Ashkan Sohrabi who was shot thrice in the chest and died on the way to the hospital. They are included in the list of 56 dead that is attached to my letter.

There are also reports of many who have disappeared and feared dead. Reports have quoted a prison guard saying that bodies are being taken out of Evin prison and buried in unidentified graves from no go areas in the prison that are only accessible to the Baseej and Pasdaran intelligence.

There are also reports of the families of the dead being asked to pay up to an equivalent of $3,000 to secure the bodies of their loved ones. One example highlighted in the media is that of Neda Agha-Soltan’s family who had a difficult time persuading the Iranian authorities to release her body. According to her fiancé in an interview with BBC Farsi, “She was taken to a morgue outside Tehran. The officials from the morgue asked if they could use parts of her corpse for body transplants for medical patients.” “They didn’t specify what exactly they intended to do. Her family agreed because they wanted to bury her as soon as possible. “We buried her in the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery in southern Tehran. They asked us to bury her in this section where it seemed the authorities had set aside spaces for graves for those killed during the clashes.” This section has been labelled the section of the ‘hypocrites’ by the regime. The government has also banned her family and the families of the dead from holding public funerals.

Treatment of the wounded

We have received many reports of people wounded, including in horrific ways. Doctors and nurses at two hospitals have taken to the streets in protest to the treatment of the wounded. Many have been denied access to their families. Some have been dragged out of hospital beds and taken to prison.

Torture and mistreatment and situation of detainees

Reports of torture and rape are rampant. We have received reports saying that prisoners are being brutally tortured with the aim of killing them. According to an eye witness at a recent gathering of family members in front of Evin prison, one of the imprisoned who was released whilst people were gathered said that he had been arrested around Afsariyeh in Tehran and taken to an undisclosed location. He was denied food for 48 hours. There were 500 people detained on the floor where he was and they had no access to showers or sanitation. After 48 hours, they were given bread, potato and cheese. When they complained, they were told ‘you are anti-revolutionaries; be grateful you have not been killed.’ The released prisoner said everyone was brutally beaten. A 48 year old man who was given electric shocks died whilst he was there. Many of the prisoners in his cell were badly wounded with broken arms and legs. He said he was then taken to Evin prison, where he was told: ‘you protested against the Islamic regime; we will do something to you so that you won’t be able to find your house when you are released.’ He said, in Evin, the lives of many were at risk.

We have also heard from a woman whose daughter had been beaten indiscriminately for four days and then thrown out of prison on to the streets late at night. A passerby picked her up in their car and drove her home. Since her release, she has attempted to commit suicide several times. Her mother fears she has been raped.

Several of those detained have confessed to having been influenced by outside powers on Iranian state television – clearly under duress.

I attach a list of some of those who have been arrested. Families of those arrested have been gathering at Evin Prison or the courthouse in Tehran calling for the release of their children and asking about their situation. The families have been threatened. Mothers of the missing or dead have also been gathering at several parks and have been attacked by security forces.

The Worker-communist Party of Iran has begun collecting people’s grievances against Ali Khamenei via New Channel television station broadcast in Iran and would be willing to hand over the necessary evidence to help with the prosecution of Ali Khamenei.

I look forward to your response and prompt action.

Sincerely,

Hamid Taqvaee
Secretary-General



See More: Human Rights

We live in a world with modern tools
primeval torture,twisted rules
Cruel excesses, bloodshed, spent
Every part of this, by evil meant
Do we sit, heads turned and quiet
Or do we rise, with goodness
And defy it

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

BACKGROUND

The Gregory Housing Authority in Portland, Texas, has been handing out glue traps to its tenants for rodent control in their apartments. PETA informed housing authority officials of the extreme cruelty and disease risks inherent in the use of glue traps, but our concerns have apparently fallen on deaf ears.

Glue traps are some of the cruelest products on the market, causing immense and prolonged suffering. Panicked rodents often rip themselves to pieces in their frantic struggle to escape the sticky mess. Exhausted and terrified, they die from shock, dehydration, asphyxiation, or blood loss. Death can take more than 24 hours. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Health Canada warn against using glue traps because of the disease risks posed by the many pathogens in the waste of ensnared rodents, who eliminate out of stress and fright. This should be a concern for any housing authority!

Please urge the Gregory Housing Authority to join the many agencies, companies, and schools that have sworn off glue traps.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Yvette Nieto
Executive Director
Gregory Housing Authority
Phone: 361-643-5014
Fax: 361-643-0281

• Click HERE for access to free faxing from your computer. No fax machine, registering, or credit card required.
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SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Director Nieto,

I have just learned of your organization’s, the Gregory Housing Authority, use of glue traps to capture and kill mice. Killing the mice is fundamentally cruel, but using glue traps to do so compounds the issue as it is an extremely painful and fearfully agonizing experience for animals. These animals are further traumatized trying to free themselves, causing skinning, tearing, ripping, and dismemberment, a profoundly agonizing ritual of attempting to escape for hours upon hours; death sometimes can take days.

This also proves medically dangerous to humans considering that, according to the CDC and Health Canada who both warn against their use, glue traps create optimal conditions to spread pathogens and cause disease. I would hope any organization that shares a core principle of human health, such as yours, would be equally concerned with any disease-spreading forms of rodent control. Interestingly, many agencies, companies, and schools have already discontinued the use of glue traps due to their cruelty and exorbitant cost.

Please consider, instead, using humane traps to capture and release mice in an ethical and painless manner. These can be found at hardware stores and local animal rescue groups, who would be willing to assist you.

Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue.



See More:

• Compassionate Eating

• Cruelty-Free

• Earthlings

glue traps mouse traps
do you not comprehend
that all this cruelty
must come to an end
in the larger picture
manunkind is but a speck
in a universe
that will wash its hands
of our “dreck”

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

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