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In Defense of Animals news
You may recall that several weeks ago, we asked you to urge Stonewall Kitchen - a gourmet and specialty foods retailer - to stop selling foie gras. I am delighted to report that Stonewall Kitchen has made the humane decision to remove this "delicacy" (in reality, the enlarged liver of a sick duck) from its catalog and Website. Stonewall said in a letter to IDA that the decision was "due to the response we got from your organization and other valued consumers." So thanks to you, for making your voices heard: your emails and phone calls really made a difference for the ducks! If you'd like to thank Stonewall Kitchen for listening to customers and making a compassionate business choice, e-mail guestservices [at] stonewallkitchen.com or call (800) 207-5267.
Each individual person who calls or writes to a company or a government official is casting a "vote" on the animals' side. The more people who vote, whether as a consumer or a constituent, the more powerful our collective voice becomes. It is when we speak in numbers that decision-makers really start to listen.
Each individual person who calls or writes to a company or a government official is casting a "vote" on the animals' side. The more people who vote, whether as a consumer or a constituent, the more powerful our collective voice becomes. It is when we speak in numbers that decision-makers really start to listen.
Table of Contents:
1. Sri Lanka Shelves Plan to Poison Stray Dogs (For Now)
2. Help Save America's Wild Horses
3. What's Up with Down and Pier 1?
4. School's Duck Hatching Project is NOT for the Birds
5. Foie Gras Campaign Update
6. The Third Annual Guardians For Life Essay Contest
7. Oppose the Korean Dog Meat Trade
1. Sri Lanka Shelves Plan to Poison Stray Dogs (For Now)
The tsunami that killed so many people in Southern Asia has also left thousands of animals without food, shelter or caretakers. These animals must now survive alone, competing with humans for scarce food and water. Many roam the land starving and desperate. Rescue workers can tell that many of these animals were formerly well-loved companion animals that have been orphaned by the tsunami. Now, they are weak from malnutrition and suffering from injuries (probably due to escaping the tsunami or fighting with other dogs).
In Sri Lanka, this problem has been compounded by a rabies scare that is making people afraid of stray dogs. One case of rabies, presumably resulting from a dog bite, has already been reported in Ampara province. Six other people have also been bitten by stray dogs recently, but none has contracted the virus. Reacting to this news, officials in Sri Lanka made plans to exterminate hundreds of stray dogs now wandering the region by feeding them meat laced with deadly cyanide. Fortunately for the canines, government officials couldn't obtain enough cyanide, so they had to put the plan to destroy the dogs aside for the time being.
Rabies is usually lethal to people in Third World countries, where vaccines, medicine and good health care are rare. However, killing all the stray dogs in the area is not the solution to the threat of rabies. One alternative is a rabies vaccination program for which IDA provides financial support. Vaccination teams have traveled all over Sri Lanka, inoculating hundreds of stray dogs against the rabies virus using needles attached to long sticks.
What You Can Do:
1. Write or call the Sri Lankan Minister of Healthcare and thank him for putting off the poisoning plans. Also urge him to seek humane alternatives to extermination that will protect both people and animals. Click here (http://www.ga0.org/campaign/sri) to send a letter online.
Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, MP - Minister of Healthcare, Nutrition and Uva Wellassa Development Tel. & Fax: 94-11-2662982, 2694132, 2694227
E-mail: Minister [at] health.gov.lk
"Suwasiripaya", No.385
Rev. Baddegama Wimalawansa Thero Mawatha, Colombo 10 Sri Lanka
2. Donate to the animal relief coalition fund
(http://www.idausa.org/tsunami_frame.html) which is collecting money for organizations providing care for stray animals in the countries hit hardest by the tsunami. To contribute money toward this crucial effort, visit http://www.animalpeoplenews.org or call
(360) 579-2505.
2. Help Save America's Wild Horses
Congress passed a bill in December 2005 containing a rider sponsored by Montana Senator Conrad Burns that radically reduces the protections wild horses have had since the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Because of this rider, thousands of wild horses - including any over ten years of age and those who have not been adopted after three attempts - can be sold by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for slaughter with no restrictions.
What You Can Do:
Please help us create a phone tree to make sure that your Congressperson and two U.S. Senators receive at least 1,000 letters from their constituents this month on this issue. Click here (http://www.ga0.org/campaign/horsephonetree) to send a letter to your Representatives online . Don't forget to use the "Tell a friend" feature and follow up a week later to ensure that your friends sent their letters.
For more information on the wild horse crisis, go to http://www.ispmb.org .
3. What's Up with Down and Pier 1?
VIVA! USA recently conducted an undercover investigation of Maple Leaf Farms, the largest duck producer in the U.S. Maple Leaf Farms raises 15 million ducks a year to supply duck meat an to restaurants and grocery stores, as well as feathers (or "down") to the textile and home furnishings industries. Investigators documented that ducks are crowded together in filthy sheds and are completely denied access to water for wading, swimming, and bathing - activities that are absolutely essential to the health and well-being of ducks. Jammed together and unable to express natural behavior, ducks start to peck each other to the point of injury or even death. To counter the effects of overcrowding and prevent fatalities, Maple Leaf Farms simply "debills" the ducks, a painful procedure that is usually done without anesthesia.
Pier 1 Imports sells down-filled pillows from the Eurasia Feather Company (a subsidiary of Maple Leaf Farms), perpetuating Maple Leaf Farms' cruelty to ducks.
What You Can Do:
Tell Pier 1 Imports to stop purchasing products from a company that tortures ducks by crowding them together and then chopping their beaks off. Write to:
Marvin J. Girouard, CEO
Pier 1 Imports
301 Commerce Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102
http://www.pier1.com/company/customerrelations.asp
For more information about the conditions for ducks on Maple Leaf Farms, visit http://www.vivausa.org/ducks .
4. School's Duck Hatching Project is NOT for the Birds
Recently, NEWS 12 Long Island ran a story on their show "The Family Pet" about a duck-breeding program in elementary schools. During this episode, a representative from The Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank tried to explain what children learn from such a program. When host Dr. Jonathan Greenfield asked, "What happens to these animals after the classroom experiment is complete?" his guest did not give a clear answer, probably because she didn't want everyone to know that the fate of these ducks is far from pleasant: most certainly do not become "the family pet." Usually, they are slaughtered for meat or used again in the school breeding program to birth more ducks. Some ducks die in the classroom from mishandling, while others wind up helpless and alone in a local pond, not knowing how to survive after being raised in captivity.
Interactive computer programs can teach children much more about how animals live in their natural environment than breeding animals in classrooms can. What children really learn from such "educational" programs is that, once we have used animals for our own purposes, they are disposable. Rather than reverence for life, this program teaches disregard for it.
What You Can Do:
Contact Dr. Greenfield and let him know your opinion of the duck-breeding program.
Dr. Jonathan Greenfield
Syosset Animal Hospital
700 Jericho Turnpike
Syosset NY 11791
greenfield [at] familypetshow.com
Tel. (516) 921-0700
Fax (516) 921-0640
5. Foie Gras Campaign Update
IDA's foie gras campaign made front-page news last week with a cover story in the Sunday Oregonian. The article, "An Order of Duck Liver, Food Fight on the Side," has shed some much-needed light on the growing debate over the diseased liver dish in Portland's culinary circles. Click here to read the article.
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1105885989156340.xml?oregonian?fpfp
Unfortunately, the reporter failed to accurately describe what happens to the ducks unlucky enough to survive the force-feeding process and whose livers swell to gigantic proportions (five to ten times their normal size). These ill-fated birds suffer severe neurological damage and become so weak that they can barely walk. In one scene of the undercover footage taken at Sonoma Foie Gras, ducks are literally being eaten alive by a rat, too ill to escape or defend themselves. To understand why foie gras is so controversial, readers need accurate information about what it does to ducks.
What You Can Do:
1. Please write a letter to the Editor of the Oregonian (letters [at] news.oregonian.com). Let them know that while putting this story on their Sunday cover helped inform readers of the ongoing foie gras debate, the lack of information about what force-feeding actually does to ducks shows a failure to represent the animal welfare side of the issue.
2. Spark a debate in your community over the brutal treatment of birds for a so-called delicacy. Visit http://www.stopforcefeeding.com for more information about what you can do.
6. The Third Annual Guardians For Life Essay Contest
Hi, I'm Jennifer Forrest, IDA's Education Director. We here in the IDA Education Department love this time of year because we get to find out how students really see animals. Every winter, we are touched and enlightened by the essays that flow in at the closing of our annual Guardians For Life Essay Contest. Will we hear from more of you than ever this year? Only time will tell.
We know you've got a lot to say, so click here (http://www.guardiancampaign.com/StudentContestsEssay.htm) to get started right away!
First prize for essays in each of the categories (grades 4 through 6, grades 7 and 8, grades 9 through 12) is a $100 cash award. Second prize in each grade-level category is $75 in cash, and third prize is an IDA tank top or tee shirt, just in time for the spring thaw!
But what if you're not a student? Well, this year we've got something for everyone, no matter what your age. It's our Animal Opinion Survey, and it's designed to help us find out what people of all ages think about animals. Thirty schools will win prizes (http://www.guardiancampaign.com/StudentContestPrizes.htm) for submitting the greatest number of survey responses between now and February 15th, 2005. So go ahead, make your voice heard:
take the survey by clicking here (http://www.guardiancampaign.com/SurveyCont.htm).
7. Oppose the Korean Dog Meat Trade
Recently, we reported in our e-news that the Korean Government was considering a proposal to legalize the sale and consumption of dog meat by setting standards for hygienic slaughter and processing. In response, IDA has placed an ad in Animal People, the leading independent animal protection newspaper, and another in the Korean Journal, which is read by over 100,000 Korean-Americans. These ads urge readers to contact the Korean Government and strongly express their opposition to legalization of the dog meat trade.
What You Can Do:
1. You can get IDA's ad placed in your college, weekly or daily paper. Contact kristie [at] idausa.org to learn how.
2. Click here (http://www.ga0.org/campaign/koreandogs) to send a letter to Korean Government officials.
The Cat Therapist Shares Her Wisdom
Please take a moment to read the latest advice from the Cat Therapist. Click here for her new column:
http://www.idausa.org/cat_therapist/index.html
--------------------------------------------------
Team IDA encourages teammates to take part in local athletic events to raise awareness of animal issues and much-needed funds to rescue and protect animals from cruelty and abuse. You don't have to be an avid runner or a serious athlete to sign up. Just by cheering and wearing your Team IDA apparel you can show your pro-animal attitude.
Wear your Team IDA t-shirt whenever you are running, biking, walking, or just hanging around your neighborhood to help promote a cruelty-free world. If you have a Team IDA t-shirt and have received comments about it, we want to hear from you! If you do not already have a Team IDA t-shirt, please call (415)388-9641 to receive one. Also, if you have participated in any events in your area on behalf of Team IDA, or would like your picture and bio posted on our website, please let us know!
You can also make Team IDA even more successful by spreading the word: a great way to do this is by distributing Team IDA brochures at races and placing them in athletic stores and clubs. Team IDA brochures are always available free of charge by (415) 388-9641.
We are always interested in learning more about your experiences and hearing your ideas regarding Team IDA. Please send an email to teamida [at] idausa.org and tell us your story. Visit http://www.teamida.org for more information. Join Team IDA today!
http://ga0.org/join-forward.html?domain=indefenseofanimals
You can sign up for emails from In Defense of Animals Action Center at:
http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/join.html
1. Sri Lanka Shelves Plan to Poison Stray Dogs (For Now)
2. Help Save America's Wild Horses
3. What's Up with Down and Pier 1?
4. School's Duck Hatching Project is NOT for the Birds
5. Foie Gras Campaign Update
6. The Third Annual Guardians For Life Essay Contest
7. Oppose the Korean Dog Meat Trade
1. Sri Lanka Shelves Plan to Poison Stray Dogs (For Now)
The tsunami that killed so many people in Southern Asia has also left thousands of animals without food, shelter or caretakers. These animals must now survive alone, competing with humans for scarce food and water. Many roam the land starving and desperate. Rescue workers can tell that many of these animals were formerly well-loved companion animals that have been orphaned by the tsunami. Now, they are weak from malnutrition and suffering from injuries (probably due to escaping the tsunami or fighting with other dogs).
In Sri Lanka, this problem has been compounded by a rabies scare that is making people afraid of stray dogs. One case of rabies, presumably resulting from a dog bite, has already been reported in Ampara province. Six other people have also been bitten by stray dogs recently, but none has contracted the virus. Reacting to this news, officials in Sri Lanka made plans to exterminate hundreds of stray dogs now wandering the region by feeding them meat laced with deadly cyanide. Fortunately for the canines, government officials couldn't obtain enough cyanide, so they had to put the plan to destroy the dogs aside for the time being.
Rabies is usually lethal to people in Third World countries, where vaccines, medicine and good health care are rare. However, killing all the stray dogs in the area is not the solution to the threat of rabies. One alternative is a rabies vaccination program for which IDA provides financial support. Vaccination teams have traveled all over Sri Lanka, inoculating hundreds of stray dogs against the rabies virus using needles attached to long sticks.
What You Can Do:
1. Write or call the Sri Lankan Minister of Healthcare and thank him for putting off the poisoning plans. Also urge him to seek humane alternatives to extermination that will protect both people and animals. Click here (http://www.ga0.org/campaign/sri) to send a letter online.
Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva, MP - Minister of Healthcare, Nutrition and Uva Wellassa Development Tel. & Fax: 94-11-2662982, 2694132, 2694227
E-mail: Minister [at] health.gov.lk
"Suwasiripaya", No.385
Rev. Baddegama Wimalawansa Thero Mawatha, Colombo 10 Sri Lanka
2. Donate to the animal relief coalition fund
(http://www.idausa.org/tsunami_frame.html) which is collecting money for organizations providing care for stray animals in the countries hit hardest by the tsunami. To contribute money toward this crucial effort, visit http://www.animalpeoplenews.org or call
(360) 579-2505.
2. Help Save America's Wild Horses
Congress passed a bill in December 2005 containing a rider sponsored by Montana Senator Conrad Burns that radically reduces the protections wild horses have had since the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Because of this rider, thousands of wild horses - including any over ten years of age and those who have not been adopted after three attempts - can be sold by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for slaughter with no restrictions.
What You Can Do:
Please help us create a phone tree to make sure that your Congressperson and two U.S. Senators receive at least 1,000 letters from their constituents this month on this issue. Click here (http://www.ga0.org/campaign/horsephonetree) to send a letter to your Representatives online . Don't forget to use the "Tell a friend" feature and follow up a week later to ensure that your friends sent their letters.
For more information on the wild horse crisis, go to http://www.ispmb.org .
3. What's Up with Down and Pier 1?
VIVA! USA recently conducted an undercover investigation of Maple Leaf Farms, the largest duck producer in the U.S. Maple Leaf Farms raises 15 million ducks a year to supply duck meat an to restaurants and grocery stores, as well as feathers (or "down") to the textile and home furnishings industries. Investigators documented that ducks are crowded together in filthy sheds and are completely denied access to water for wading, swimming, and bathing - activities that are absolutely essential to the health and well-being of ducks. Jammed together and unable to express natural behavior, ducks start to peck each other to the point of injury or even death. To counter the effects of overcrowding and prevent fatalities, Maple Leaf Farms simply "debills" the ducks, a painful procedure that is usually done without anesthesia.
Pier 1 Imports sells down-filled pillows from the Eurasia Feather Company (a subsidiary of Maple Leaf Farms), perpetuating Maple Leaf Farms' cruelty to ducks.
What You Can Do:
Tell Pier 1 Imports to stop purchasing products from a company that tortures ducks by crowding them together and then chopping their beaks off. Write to:
Marvin J. Girouard, CEO
Pier 1 Imports
301 Commerce Street
Fort Worth, TX 76102
http://www.pier1.com/company/customerrelations.asp
For more information about the conditions for ducks on Maple Leaf Farms, visit http://www.vivausa.org/ducks .
4. School's Duck Hatching Project is NOT for the Birds
Recently, NEWS 12 Long Island ran a story on their show "The Family Pet" about a duck-breeding program in elementary schools. During this episode, a representative from The Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank tried to explain what children learn from such a program. When host Dr. Jonathan Greenfield asked, "What happens to these animals after the classroom experiment is complete?" his guest did not give a clear answer, probably because she didn't want everyone to know that the fate of these ducks is far from pleasant: most certainly do not become "the family pet." Usually, they are slaughtered for meat or used again in the school breeding program to birth more ducks. Some ducks die in the classroom from mishandling, while others wind up helpless and alone in a local pond, not knowing how to survive after being raised in captivity.
Interactive computer programs can teach children much more about how animals live in their natural environment than breeding animals in classrooms can. What children really learn from such "educational" programs is that, once we have used animals for our own purposes, they are disposable. Rather than reverence for life, this program teaches disregard for it.
What You Can Do:
Contact Dr. Greenfield and let him know your opinion of the duck-breeding program.
Dr. Jonathan Greenfield
Syosset Animal Hospital
700 Jericho Turnpike
Syosset NY 11791
greenfield [at] familypetshow.com
Tel. (516) 921-0700
Fax (516) 921-0640
5. Foie Gras Campaign Update
IDA's foie gras campaign made front-page news last week with a cover story in the Sunday Oregonian. The article, "An Order of Duck Liver, Food Fight on the Side," has shed some much-needed light on the growing debate over the diseased liver dish in Portland's culinary circles. Click here to read the article.
http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1105885989156340.xml?oregonian?fpfp
Unfortunately, the reporter failed to accurately describe what happens to the ducks unlucky enough to survive the force-feeding process and whose livers swell to gigantic proportions (five to ten times their normal size). These ill-fated birds suffer severe neurological damage and become so weak that they can barely walk. In one scene of the undercover footage taken at Sonoma Foie Gras, ducks are literally being eaten alive by a rat, too ill to escape or defend themselves. To understand why foie gras is so controversial, readers need accurate information about what it does to ducks.
What You Can Do:
1. Please write a letter to the Editor of the Oregonian (letters [at] news.oregonian.com). Let them know that while putting this story on their Sunday cover helped inform readers of the ongoing foie gras debate, the lack of information about what force-feeding actually does to ducks shows a failure to represent the animal welfare side of the issue.
2. Spark a debate in your community over the brutal treatment of birds for a so-called delicacy. Visit http://www.stopforcefeeding.com for more information about what you can do.
6. The Third Annual Guardians For Life Essay Contest
Hi, I'm Jennifer Forrest, IDA's Education Director. We here in the IDA Education Department love this time of year because we get to find out how students really see animals. Every winter, we are touched and enlightened by the essays that flow in at the closing of our annual Guardians For Life Essay Contest. Will we hear from more of you than ever this year? Only time will tell.
We know you've got a lot to say, so click here (http://www.guardiancampaign.com/StudentContestsEssay.htm) to get started right away!
First prize for essays in each of the categories (grades 4 through 6, grades 7 and 8, grades 9 through 12) is a $100 cash award. Second prize in each grade-level category is $75 in cash, and third prize is an IDA tank top or tee shirt, just in time for the spring thaw!
But what if you're not a student? Well, this year we've got something for everyone, no matter what your age. It's our Animal Opinion Survey, and it's designed to help us find out what people of all ages think about animals. Thirty schools will win prizes (http://www.guardiancampaign.com/StudentContestPrizes.htm) for submitting the greatest number of survey responses between now and February 15th, 2005. So go ahead, make your voice heard:
take the survey by clicking here (http://www.guardiancampaign.com/SurveyCont.htm).
7. Oppose the Korean Dog Meat Trade
Recently, we reported in our e-news that the Korean Government was considering a proposal to legalize the sale and consumption of dog meat by setting standards for hygienic slaughter and processing. In response, IDA has placed an ad in Animal People, the leading independent animal protection newspaper, and another in the Korean Journal, which is read by over 100,000 Korean-Americans. These ads urge readers to contact the Korean Government and strongly express their opposition to legalization of the dog meat trade.
What You Can Do:
1. You can get IDA's ad placed in your college, weekly or daily paper. Contact kristie [at] idausa.org to learn how.
2. Click here (http://www.ga0.org/campaign/koreandogs) to send a letter to Korean Government officials.
The Cat Therapist Shares Her Wisdom
Please take a moment to read the latest advice from the Cat Therapist. Click here for her new column:
http://www.idausa.org/cat_therapist/index.html
--------------------------------------------------
Team IDA encourages teammates to take part in local athletic events to raise awareness of animal issues and much-needed funds to rescue and protect animals from cruelty and abuse. You don't have to be an avid runner or a serious athlete to sign up. Just by cheering and wearing your Team IDA apparel you can show your pro-animal attitude.
Wear your Team IDA t-shirt whenever you are running, biking, walking, or just hanging around your neighborhood to help promote a cruelty-free world. If you have a Team IDA t-shirt and have received comments about it, we want to hear from you! If you do not already have a Team IDA t-shirt, please call (415)388-9641 to receive one. Also, if you have participated in any events in your area on behalf of Team IDA, or would like your picture and bio posted on our website, please let us know!
You can also make Team IDA even more successful by spreading the word: a great way to do this is by distributing Team IDA brochures at races and placing them in athletic stores and clubs. Team IDA brochures are always available free of charge by (415) 388-9641.
We are always interested in learning more about your experiences and hearing your ideas regarding Team IDA. Please send an email to teamida [at] idausa.org and tell us your story. Visit http://www.teamida.org for more information. Join Team IDA today!
http://ga0.org/join-forward.html?domain=indefenseofanimals
You can sign up for emails from In Defense of Animals Action Center at:
http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/join.html
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