February 8, 2011
** Phoenix Trial Shocker in Baltimore
** Companion Animals in Egypt
** DDB Has Lease on Bad Newz Kennels
** Protect Gulf of Mexico Wildlife
** “Pet Food: A Dog’s Breakfast”
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-- Will Phoenix Ever Get Justice? –
The trial of Travers and Tremayne Johnson, accused of setting a young pit bull named Phoenix on fire in Baltimore in 2009, ended just 2-1/2 days after it began. A mistrial was declared! Animal welfare advocates, of course, hope that another trial will be scheduled by prosecutors. The good news isthat Phoenix’s case so far has focused the public’s attention on animal cruelty, given this harsh subject a face, and created awareness. A second trial would keep this momentum going. Plus, the jury deliberated for hours, showing that they took the charges very seriously. This is a good indication that change is occurring. According to a WBAL news story, one member of the jury said he was angry and disappointed that a verdict could not be agreed on. He also said that for one juror the surveillance video was just too blurry to identify the guilty parties, and she could not be persuaded to consider other evidence that would lead to a conviction. For more details about the trial, read the entire story at: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/26781621/detail.html
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-- American Companion Animals in Egypt –
The world has been following therebellion of the Egyptian people against the Mubarek government. The uprising is becoming more violent and the U.S. State Department is evacuating Americans – but not with their pets! Bruce Friedrich of PETA reported on this policy and lamented that the evacuees are faced with an “impossible choice: leave their beloved companions behind to face certain death, or risk their own lives by remaining in Egypt in order to stay with their animals.” So many of us thought our government had learned the error of this position from the Katrina tragedy, but evidently not. The companions left behind in Egypt face almost certain death and even if they somehow survivewill have almost no chance of being reunited with their human family. PETA and change.org have actions we can take to urge the State Department to allow animal evaluations from Egypt. Go to the PETA site below and click on the email form link to politely send a message to the State Department asking them to change the policy:
http://www.peta.org/action/Urge-US-Department-of-State-to-Allow-Animal-Evacuations-From-Egypt-.aspx
PETA has sent a second letter to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton asking that State allow U.S. citizens in Egypt to evacuate with their companion animals. PETA believes that “evacuation of companion animals from disaster zones is a life-or-death issue affecting animal and people.” Here is a portion of the February 4 PETA letter to Secretary Clinton; use this as a sample and personalize your own plea to the State Department.
According to the 2009/2010 National Pet Owners Survey, 62 percent of American homes have companion animals. When Americans live abroad, there is no reason to believe that this cultural trend abates. More likely, Americans living abroad are exposed to a population of homeless animals suffering in the streets that surpasses what the typical American witnesses on a daily basis and react by rescuing those animals from miserable fates. Most surely take their own beloved animal companions with them when they reolocated.
The evaluation of companion animals from disaster zones is a life-or-death issue affecting animals and people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now offers a wealth of information about traveling with pets and evacuating pets from disaster zones. Recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the 2006 war in Lebanon, and the earthquake in Haiti prove over and over that many people will not seek safety if their animal companions cannot also be saved, and many others will jeopardize their own safety in order to rescue abandoned animals and their caregivers.
The 2005 Gulf Coast hurricane disaster spurred the passage of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act. As you know, the law requires emergency-preparedness authorities to include in their plans accommodations for household pets and service animals. The safety of Americans and their families—human and nonhuman—should not be subject to boundaries.
Just days ago, the February 2 Office of the Spokesman Media Note (“Status of U.S. Citizen Evacuations in Egypt”) stated, “... the Department continues to send personnel into Cairo and to our safe haven locations to assist U.S. citizens.” Secretary Clinton, if it’s true that “[t]he welfare and safety of U.S. citizens in Egypt remains one of the State Department’s top priorities,” won’t you please provide companion animals with a safe haven and allow them to evacuate with their human guardians.”
To take additional action by signing a petition and taking a quick poll, go to:
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/pets-abandoned-as-americans-leave-egypt/
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-- Will BadNewz Kennel Get a Makeover –
Dogs Deserve Better (DDB), a nonprofit dedicated to ending the cruelty of chaining and penning dogs for life, has taken a 45-day contract on the property that formerly housed Michael Vick's Bad Newz Kennels. The group wants to transform it into the Good Newz Rehab Center for Chained and Penned Dogs. DDB must raise at least $595,000 within 45 days to get the center started. In order to raise funds they are asking for a public vote with a donation: should they purchase the property where dogs were not only chained and penned but fought and killed in order to bring light to the darkness and symbolically bring hope full circle, or should they buy property elsewhere and build their rehab center from scratch? All votes are $1, and all money will go to the Rehab Center. The group is hoping to get votes from 999,999 people.
To see the site page dedicated to the center and 'like' the Facebook page, visit the link at http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org/ddbcenter.html.
To contact Tamira Thayne or Dogs Deserve Better, call 877.636.1408 or 814.207.4586
• http://www.dogsdeservebetter.org
For a recent update on the continuing rehabilitation of Vick’s dogs, see the January 29 article at
http://www.wbaltv.com/sports/26662069/detail.html
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--To Be or Not To Be: Longlines & Weak Hooks –
Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), wants humanitarians to protect the Gulf of Mexico Wildlife from Longlines. She tells us that:
Turtles, whales and other wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico have struggled to recover from the extensive, long-term damage done to their ecosystem by last year's BP oil disaster. They have been fighting another threat for much longer, however. Surface longlines, used by fishermen in the open ocean to catch swordfish and yellowfin tuna, also hook and kill large numbers of non-target species, including bluefin tuna, blue and white marlin, marine mammals, seabirds and endangered sea turtles.
In an effort to protect the highly depleted Western Atlantic bluefin tuna in their only known spawning grounds, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has proposed a requirement that longline fishermen in the Gulf use a device known as a "weak hook" - designed to bend and release the largest bycatch. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, weak hooks are an ineffective solution to a very serious problem:
Weak hooks are experimental; their efficacy in reducing bluefin tuna mortality is unknown and may be highly variable.
Weak hooks will provide little or no benefit in preventing the deaths of other non-target marine life caught by surface longlines.
Weak hooks, in appearance, are nearly identical to standard longline hooks - thus making enforcement of the weak hook rule extremely difficult.
NMFS needs to do more. A year-round prohibition on surface longlines in the Gulf of Mexico is the only way to provide effective long-term protection from indiscriminate fishing gear. Alternative gear is available for fishermen to continue to catch targeted species without harming other wildlife. NMFS should facilitate the transition away from longlines and toward more selective fishing gear.
NMFS is accepting comments on its proposal until February 12, 2011. Please send a short letter urging NMFS to provide a strong, long-term solution to protect bluefin tuna and other Gulf wildlife by closing the Gulf of Mexico longline fishery.
Submit comments online at:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=NOAA-NMFS-2011-0007-0001
OR by mail to:
Margo Schulze-Haugen
Supervisory Fish Management Officer, HMS Division
National Marine Fisheries Service
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Use Cathy’s appeal to write your own short personal comment to NMFS.
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-- Pet Food Document Airs in United States, FINALLY! –
“The Truth About Pet Food” website announced that a very information documentary will soon be broadcast in our country, but it has taken three years to get here. The film first appeared in Canada in 2008, but when American television was approached by the producers, they were told this subject was not of interest. That opinion is certainly no longer valid after American pet owners experienced the terrible pet food recall in 2010. Perhaps the film’s welcome in American would not have been so great in 2008. But even so, corporate and public television’s previous lack of interest in the documentary still creates speculation about the influence of U.S. corporations on American media. Check out the rumors at http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/finally-a-dogs-breakfast-will-air-on-us-television.html.
But this month Americans will have an opportunity to view "Pet Food: A Dog’s Breakfast," a documentary that shows people what is being done to regulate what our dogs and cats eat and tries to answer the ultimate question, is your pet's food safe? The film will premiere on Thursday, February 10 at 10pm and will repeat that evening at 1 am. The documentary will also repeat on Sunday, February 13 at 10pm. Information at:
http://www.newsonnews.net/cnbc/7208-cnbc-documentary-to-examine-the-pet-food-business.html
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