MINDY'S CORNER:
Columns, etc. from Mindy Gilbert, Alabama State Director, HSUS
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Federal animal bills: text from 8/2/10 email by Mindy Gilbert, Alabama State Director of HSUS:
Hello, Action Alert Team Members! Your state legislatures are adjourned for the summer, but there are a lot of animal welfare issues brewing in our nation’s capitol that I wanted to update you on! I was in Washington, D. C., last week with nearly 1,000 fellow animal advocates from around the country at the HSUS’s 6th annual Taking Action for Animals Conference, which culminated with our National Humane Lobby Day in front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday. HSUS president Wayne Pacelle, actress Wendie Malick and U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va) all gave impassioned speeches on the importance of having our voices heard in Congress to help with many of the important issues outlined below. Mark your calendars for next year, when the conference will take place at the same location July 15-18, 2011. Hope to see you there!
Truth in Fur Labeling
This past Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Truth in Fur Labeling Act (H.R. 2480) by a voice vote. This legislation would protect consumers by bringing much-needed accuracy and disclosure to fur products. The bill closes a loophole in federal law that allows some animal fur garments to go unlabeled if the value of the fur is $150 or less, leaving consumers in the dark as to whether they are buying faux or animal fur. HSUS investigations have found jackets trimmed with animal fur being sold without labels and falsely advertised as “faux fur” across the country. Please urge your Senators to support this common sense legislation!
Chimps Deserve Better
The government-run National Center for Research Resources is planning to move 202 chimpanzees to a biomedical research laboratory in Texas where these endangered animals would be readily available for harmful and invasive research experiments. Many of the animals are already elderly and have spent decades languishing in research laboratories already. These chimpanzees have suffered enough and it would be more humane and economical to instead retire them to sanctuary. Ask the federal government to save these chimps today.
Torture Videos
New information released today shows that videos depicting extreme forms of animal cruelty remain available online. The animal torture videos show the intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating and impaling of puppies, kittens and other live animals for the titillation of viewers. The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5566 last week by a vote of 416-3. Please contact your federal Senators today and ask them to quickly pass legislation to ban interstate and foreign commerce in these obscene animal "crush" videos., and thank your NH and VT Representatives for their “yes” vote in the House.
No More Horsing AroundOver the past 10 years, the costs of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro Management program have skyrocketed; the agency keeps removing more horses from public lands, but fewer people are willing to adopt them. Illogically, the BLM hasn’t made controlling reproduction a part of its efforts to control the number of horses in the wild. Just this past July in Elko County, Nevada (the hottest month of the year in that region), the BLM removed more horses. At least a dozen mustangs have died from dehydration, water intoxication, and related complications. The HSUS has called for a moratorium on roundups.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) intends to remove another 12,000 wild horses from the range. If all goes as planned, by the end of 2011, there will be nearly twice as many wild horses in holding facilities (45,000) as are on the range (around 26,000). The BLM estimates that holding costs alone will rise to over $47 million annually. This is not a cost-effective or humane way to manage wildlife. The BLM is accepting public comments on its latest plan until August 3. Tell the agency make good on the change it has promised in the past and steer the program in a new, sustainable, and more humane direction.
The Humane Scoreboard
The Humane Scoreboard is a new and powerful on-line tool for animal advocates. A project of the Humane Society Legislative Fund, it provides a real-time snapshot of where U.S. Senators and Representatives stand on animal protection legislation, votes and policies. The Humane Scoreboard also provides an easy way for constituents to assess where their own federal lawmakers stand on animal protection issues, and helps chart the progress of HSLF's public policy work on behalf of animals. More than ever, animal protection is being treated like the serious societal issue it is on Capitol Hill, and lawmakers are debating policies that have enormous implications for animals.
205-471-5541
mgilbert@humanesociety.org
Hot summer “bunns” —
(6/5/10) Just when I believed I could no longer be surprised at the stupid things people do with their pets, along comes a phone call that leaves me shaking. An animal control officer phoned the other day to tell me about a case involving two baby rabbits. Incredulous, he arrived at the scene to discover two small rabbits tied out in a yard unattended. They were tethered on a nylon line. No one was home, but concerned neighbors called and watched over the rabbits until the officer arrived. What did he see? A circle of cats were hunkered down like, well, like hunting felines, with a bead on the bunnies, which were frozen with fear.
Fortunately, the bunnies survived this close call and are in a new home now. I wondered why someone would acquire two rabbits with no provision for housing them, and then I remembered that it’s summer fair season. All across the state families will be attending fairs, riding the crazy rides, getting cotton candy in their hair and in many cases, winning free bunnies in contests. A lot of rabbits will be going home with folks who did not start the day with the intent of adding to their family.
This is one of the worst things about what should be a celebratory time of year. Thousands of little rabbits will be transported all over the south during the fair circuit. Some will be proudly won and go home as treasured new pets. The majority, though, will be provided for, if at all, as an afterthought. I wonder if the tethered bunnies came from a situation like this.
Many people will be surprised that the practice of giving away rabbits as prizes at the fair is actually illegal — as well as so often inhumane:
Section 3-1-15:
"Sale, offer for sale, barter, etc., of baby rabbits, chicks, ducklings, etc., as pets or novelties.
"It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to display, sell, offer for sale, barter or give away any baby rabbits, or baby chicks, ducklings or other fowl, but not including parrots, parakeets and canaries, as pets or novelties, regardless of whether or not such rabbits or fowl are dyed, colored or otherwise artificially treated.
"Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as prescribed by law."
(Acts 1959, No. 104, p. 590.)
Calling law enforcement to intervene is seldom successful. After all, police officers don’t receive training to determine when a rabbit is a baby. And the law does not adequately define “baby”. To complicate matters even more, there are many different breeds of rabbits, some dwarfs that make it harder to determine if they are babies. Seeing them huddled up in the heat, often without adequate water and protection from the sun is not cool.
We CAN, however, work to make things better. We can let fair sponsors, and fair owners know that we know it’s illegal. We can appeal to sponsors not to include live animals as prizes at these events. And, please, don’t give your business to the “win a bunny” booth.
Rabbits are gentle, intelligent and social animals that can make wonderful pets. For more information about what’s involved in responsible rabbit ownership, visit here.
Copyright notice:
You are hereby granted a world-wide non-exclusive right to freely make copies, distribute, publish and/or provide links to the above item in its entirety so long as attribution is made to Mindy Gilbert, Alabama State Director of the HSUS, in the byline or otherwise, and no material changes are made to the content
Spencer —
(5/21/10) It’s raining buckets outside, and Spencer, my 13 year old greyhound is asleep on the couch along with a couple of old Chihuahuas and a cat or two. He’s the fourth adopted greyhound I’ve had. Spencer is an epileptic, which is why he didn’t last on the track. Thanks to excellent veterinary care and anti seizure drugs, we have enjoyed many years together.
This morning, The Birmingham News featured an article about a greyhound at the Birmingham racecourse testing positive for cocaine. Yes, let me say that again, A DOG AT THE BIRMINGHAM RACECOURSE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COCAINE. Sorry for shouting. (link)
Of course, news stories about cocaine; use, busts, crackdowns!, are pretty much not news, but the norm these days. But come on, now we are giving it to racing dogs?? Turns out, after doing a bit of research, it’s not all that uncommon. Some tracks have found that it happens a lot. My point here is to ask when is enough, really enough?
For people who care about animals, the issues we should be concerned about are overwhelming. How can we stop all the egregious things that humans cause animals to endure? We often surround ourselves with other “animal people”, personally and professionally. We have stickers on our cars that declare, Rescue!, Adopt!, I (heart) my Dog, Cat, Hamster! We recognize our fellows in the checkout lane at Wal-Mart by the amount of pet items in the buggy. We send furious e mails and use all capital letters and urge CROSSPOSTING EVERYWHERE! (Gosh, did I just do that?) We Facebook, tweet, text and whatever else is trendy.
Here’s an idea. Do you believe in the six degrees of separation? We all have friends and family and co workers and neighbors that in turn, have friends, family, co workers and neighbors. Somewhere in there are people who are supporting greyhound racing. Maybe they think it’s cool to watch those dogs run. I’ll bet they don’t know that tens of thousands of greyhounds bred for the track don’t make the cut and are euthanized. They don’t realize the hideous injuries that they endure, or that sometimes their hearts just quit from the heat or the stress. They probably don’t know that these graceful dogs spend 20 hours a day in a cage not big enough to do more than lie in. I’m sure they don’t realize that even for those who are successful enough to retire from the track that there aren’t enough adoptive homes for them. I bet they don’t know that some trainers inject the dogs with cocaine. Let’s really explore those six degrees of separation and tell someone besides our own, concerned group. We can all do that.
I am going to make sure that tonight when I’m walking my old Spencer around the block and schmoozing with the neighbors, that they all know about what’s really happening at greyhound tracks.
(link) and (link).
Copyright notice:
You are hereby granted a world-wide non-exclusive right to freely make copies, distribute, publish and/or provide links to the above item in its entirety so long as attribution is made to Mindy Gilbert, Alabama State Director of the HSUS, in the byline or otherwise, and no material changes are made to the content.
Greyhounds and cocaine (5/21/10 email):
The following story ran in the Birmingham News today. [story by Stan Diehl] Hasn’t enough harm been done to greyhounds? They are confined on the average of 20 hours a day in small cages, they endure life threatening injuries on the track and are euthanized by the truckload because they stop making money, and now trainers are injecting them with cocaine?
Seriously. When is enough enough? Could it be that in addition to the usual mistreatment, that greyhounds are given cocaine in some sort of race fixing plot? Wouldn’t it be great if Governor Riley’s Anti Gambling task force would investigate this? Let’s let them hear from some Alabamians who think this is unacceptable. [emphasis added]
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