Happy ending, new beginning

A year ago, Animal Place took on a challenge - to help place 100 hens and 30 chicks rescued from a cockfighting breeding operation.

The birds came to the sanctuary parasite-ridden and with respiratory problems. Most survived, some just couldn't overcome their previous mistreatment.

We called on our members, volunteers, friends and family to help. And a year later, we are proud to say that all of the rescued hens and roosters have been placed in permanent, loving homes.

Along with the placement of all the birds comes good news that Louisiana has become the final state to outlaw cockfighting - it is now illegal in all 50 states! The battle isn't over - we want to see all fifty states consider cockfighting a felony, along with being present at a cockfight. We will continue to advocate on behalf of all the farmed animals, including the unfortunate roosters and hens used to fight and breed more fighting animals. Our society must take a stand against animal cruelty - banning all blood-sports is a step in the right direction.

USDA sued over fund misappropriation

The USDA is being sued for illegally allowing the American Egg Board to use $3 million to fight Proposition 2, a California ballot measure that would require pregnant pigs, egg-laying hens, and veal calves have enough room to turn around and stretch their limbs.

The San Francisco Chronicle accepts letters, please submit yours in support of Proposition 2 and in opposition to the outrageous behavior of the USDA in permitting an industry group to use federal funds in swaying governmental policy.

Submit letters to: letters@sfchronicle.com - keep letters under 200 words, include your full name, address and phone number for verification purposes.

The L.A. Times ran a small story about this issue in one of its blogs. The blog accepts comments.

PA residents - help stop shooting of dogs

In Pennsylvania, it is currently legal for kennel and puppy mill operators to kill dogs by gunshot. This is not an appropriate or humane method of euthanasia. Just this past week, 80 seemingly healthy dogs were shot to death by puppy mill owners Ammon and Elmer Zimmerman. The animals were killed after an inspection revealed 39 of the dogs needed simple and affordable medical treatment from flea bites. Instead of seeking medical treatment, rehoming or humane euthanasia, the owners shot all 80 dogs, burying their bodies in the compost pile.

If you are a Pennsylvania resident, contact your representative, encouraging support of House Bill 2525, which would make shooting a dog as a form of euthanasia illegal. Sadly, the bill has met with fierce opposition from breeders who seem more interested in maintaining the status quo (i.e. making money) than the welfare of the animals in their care.

You can find your representative by visiting http://www.house.state.pa.us/index.cfm and inputting your zip code or county in the upper right hand box (Find Members By).

If you are not in Pennsylvania, be sure to write letters to the newspapers and agencies publicizing this story. Pennsylvania legislators should know that they are in the spotlight and need to do something post-haste to make sure this does not happen again in the state.

Feel free to crosspost.

The Unusual Cluckspects need homes!

Three roosters and ten hens – they need new digs and fast! They are on the lam, ready to start a new life somewhere safe. Right now, they are “on probation” at Animal Place (www.animalplace.org) but are looking for that home where they can live a long, peaceful life.

Can YOU give these “unusual cluckspects” a new home?

Available as a group or individually, these birds will provide hours of entertainment, show of their superb weeding and gardening skills, and make wonderful companions to the chicken-loving family. Two of the roosters (Oz and Rufus) get along (if there are enough girls to distract them) but cannot go into homes with other roosters. The third rooster, Calvin, would prefer to be an only rooster.

Of course, what’s more important than getting to know your future feathered friends? Their rap sheets may be a mile long, but they have some skills and personalities any bird-brain would appreciate. Bird brain is a good thing, too.

Information on adoptions is below – won’t you help a rooster brother and hen sister out?

Oz
Charged with: Being a highly effective organic gardening machine.

Needs: A new home (preferably with his girlfriends…), may consider allowing accomplice to tag along (though he did botch that infamous yellowjacket sting operation)

Personal statement: Yo! I’m Oz and if you have bugs that need catching, I’m your man. I I’ll also help you out in the weed-eating department.

Rufus
Charged with: Being an accomplice to Oz.

Needs: A place to relax, sun bathe and a nice spot to munch on grapes and lettuce.

Personal statement: Hey everyone, I’m Rufus and if I could go to school, I’d be too cool for it! I love grapes and lettuce. A lot. I even share with my girl friends, even though I could eat about five million grapes a day. Sometimes Oz steals my grapes but that’s cool, I share.

Calvin
Charged with: Strutting around without a care in the world.

Needs: A place to strut, preferably with a nice garden patch to relax and sunbathe.

Personal statement: I’m quite the ladies man, if I do say so myself; and I do. My ideal life would be spending time with a few friendly hens and being able to walk around looking handsome. I don’t think that’s asking much – do you?

THE GIRLS

Bella, Mabel, Alice, Violet, Sandy, Felicity, Delia, Esther, Scarlet, and Penelope combined have a rap sheet the length of a small football field. And they’re proud of it! All have been charged with liking cantaloupe a little too much, stealing corn from each other, and sometimes hogging the perches.

Personal Statements
Bella
I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. Most of my days are spent preening, making myself look good and spending some quality time with Oz (and Rufus, but that’s a secret!) So what if I “bumped” Sandy off the perch? She wasn’t really using it.



Sandy, Esther & Mabel
Esther : I love cantaloupe. If it was considered okay, I’d marry one. Or at least share my nest with one. Or two, even. I’d really love a place where cantaloupes were given to me 24/7, maybe even more than that (48/12? I’m not so good with time).

If you can open up your barn doors (or backyard gate) to these birds, please contact us at Marji@animalplace.org or 707 449 4814. We do ask you to fill out an adoption questionnaire, which we will gladly email to you. If you are zoned for roosters, please help out Oz, Rufus, and Calvin they are wonderful boys who are looking for the right spot to rest their wings. Not in northern California? We are considering out of the area adoptions, so please don’t let distance deter you.

If you cannot adopt, please spread the word about these wonderful birds.

California closes downer animal loophole

We are mildly pleased that Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 2098 (Krekorian) into law, making it a misdemeanor to kill downed animals (for human consumption) or to sell their flesh for human consumption.

Of course, we encourage consumers to make compassionate food choices, like eating a plant-based diet instead of the standard meat-centric Americanized diet. We can prevent the suffering downed animals - ALL farmed animals - endure by choosing a vegan diet.

A "reformed" vegetarian

From the Detroit Free Press - Female butchers find themselves on the cutting edge (ha. get it? cutting edge? creative).

Did you know:

"Butchering is primal. It's really primal. One of my favorite stories is this butcher that we hired, we were sawing a veal in half ... and I was holding the legs and he was sawing it in half -- I felt like I was a cavewoman or something. It was pretty awesome."

In the primal, caveman days, 16-week old male calves housed in crates and produced by neolithic Holstein cows were called veal and cut in half inside a butcher's shop. They had butcher caves back in the day.

After the ancient custom of cutting a baby calf in half, the "reformed" vegetarian ran through the streets of San Francisco naked, spearing anyone who got in her way - you know, just trying to stay in touch with her primal cavewoman roots. Sarcasm aside, primeval in the middle of San Francisco is not possible. Being lost in the woods with only the clothes on your back and alone with a hungry mountain lion - now that's primal!

One customer has this to say:

We were all sort of deciding to go vegetarian and (her husband) was having a hard time with it and he was, 'All right, I'm going to go humanely raised, humanely slaughtered animals.'

There is no such thing as "humane slaughter" - the two words are antonyms. Watching your herdmates die, hearing their screams, and then having your throat cut is never going to be lumped in with hugging puppies and helping grandma cross the road.

If you are so inclined, please write a letter to the editor at the Detroit Free Press:
editpg@freepress.com or letters@freepress.com

Keep it to under 250 words. Include your full name, address and phone number. Avoid the sarcasm used in this post.

Topics to consider:
- Writing about a vegan diet which is healthier than a meat-based diet as well as environmentally friendly and kind to animals.
- Writing about the incongruity of "humane" and "slaughter", emphasizing that no matter the size of the slaughterhouse, an animal's life is needlessly ended to sate a want, a taste, not because we "need" meat. Not to mention that the animal needs to be transported (very stressful) and hears, smells and sees the slaughter of his/her fellow herdmates.

Nevada may kill wild horses

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering killing thousands of wild horses in Nevada - your help is needed to stop this massacre. Horses are being killed because ranchers think their "right to farm" supersedes the horses' right to live. The BLM has traditionally rounded up these beautiful animals and kept them in long-term holding facilities. Citing the struggling economy and lack of adoptions, the BLM is considering killing the horses.

How YOU can help:
1) Write a letter to the Nevada State Office of the BLM and the Las Vegas Field Office. Time is of the essence, so get your letters in as soon as possible!

Nevada State Office of the BLM
1340 Financial Blvd.
Reno, NV 89502
(775)-861-6400

Las Vegas Field Office
4701 Torrey Pines
Las Vegas, NV 89130
(702) 515-5000

Talking Points for your letters/calls:

-The wild horse has been a striking symbol of the South West for as long as we can remember. They remain an important part of our history and represent our freedom. By killing these beautiful animals, we not only destroy one of the most important residents of Nevada, but we destroy a piece of our state’s history.

-Methods of euthanasia include shooting the animals. Shooting feral, fast-moving animals is dangerous and can result in unnecessary suffering. Further, these are herd animals - watching their herd-mates be shot is cruel.

-Suggest that the BLM entertain alternatives to killing by suggesting tax breaks to large landowners that allow wild horses to run on their land.

-Humane forms of birth control are available and can contain population growth, and help the horses retain their freedom.

2) Adopt a horse! If you or anyone you know can adopt one these animals or shelter them, please contact Shari Warren at shari@nwha.us or Jerrie Bertola, Wild Horse and Burro Specialist at (702) 515-5000

New York School Considering Chicken Slaughter

Source: UPC Alert

High School Curriculum to Include Chicken Slaughter?
ISSUE:
(Ontario County, NY) Due to vocal supporters of the high school's previously banned hands-on chicken slaughter project, the Canadaigua Academy is now considering reversing its earlier decision to eliminate the project. The project, which had been part of the school's curriculum for the last 3 years, was canceled earlier this spring following a public outpouring of objections. The ecology class project had students raising chicks in pens and ultimately slaughtering, plucking, gutting, and barbecuing them. While the supervising teacher argued that the class serves to "educate people to the true cost of today's diet," the inherent violence of the meat industry does not justify its reenactment in our classrooms.

Recent News Story:

Canandaigua classroom chicken slaughter rethought
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, June 12, 2008

Related Links:

The Canandaigua Academy
The Canandaigua City School District

ACTION:
Since the Academy and School Board seem to be influenced by public opinion, please weigh in and let them know the world is watching. Polite letters may be sent to the addresses below, encouraging Principal Erdle and the School Board to follow through with their previous decision to cancel the project, thereby demanding compassion in their classrooms and adhering to their high standards.

Lynne Erdle, Principal
Canandaigua Academy
215 Granger Street
Canandaigua, NY 14424

Tarry Shipley, School Board President
Jeanie Grimm, School Board Vice-President
Canandaigua City School District
143 North Pearl Street
Canandaigua, NY 14424

Letter Writing Tips

Chickens are not usually protected by state anti-cruelty laws due to built-in exemptions such as those for 'traditional farm and animal husbandry practices.' Download a free copy of your state's laws here: Animal Protection Laws of the United States and Canada

When CAFOs attack!

In flooded Missouri, Governor Matt Blunt decided that industrial farms with manure "lagoons" (aka shit-pools) could bypass the minimal environmental laws and saturate wet fields with mushy-feces. Yum! Tomatoes anyone?

No doubt this will help make 2008 The Year of the Dead Zone.

Where's the beef?

Nebraska Beef Ltd. is expanding its beef recall to 5.3 million pounds.

According to the US government, the meat may contain disease-causing bacteria. This is strikingly similar to claims that the earth may revolve around the sun or that air may contain oxygen.

In other news, tomatoes may no longer be the prime suspect in The Salmonella Outbreak. Its salsa cohorts jalapeños, spring onions, and cilantro are also being thoroughly examined. Funny enough, salmonella do not spring forth from the juicy goodness of a saucy san marzano; salmonella "are microscopic living creatures that pass from the feces of people or animals to other people or other animals." Scapegoat tomatoes - the caprine residents at the sanctuary sympathize.