"“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her.”"
~Ellen DeGeneres
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society plans to return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to oppose illegal Japanese whaling activities. This year's campaign is called Operation Musashi in reference to the legendary Japanese strategist, Miyamoto Musashi.
Over the past few summers Greece has lost over 60 per cent of it's forests due to fires - most of which are caused by arson. Clearing up our precious trees, only to make way for new concrete houses is unacceptable.
Act now and save the forests of Greece. Urge the Hellenic ministry of the environment to stop destroying the beautiful forests of Greece forever.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced plans to kill America's wild horses rather than effectively manage our wild natural heritage.
BLM claims it can no longer afford to round up wild horses and confine them until it finds people to adopt them.
They want to euthanize these majestic wild beauties or sell them to the highest bidder without limitation - meaning sell them to anyone, even if the bidder also plans to kill these horses
The BLM claims that the agency can't "allow horses to multiply unchecked on the range without causing an environmental disaster." But there are less than 30,000 wild horses on the range versus at least 3 million grazing cows.
So rather than address the environmental damage caused by cattle overgrazing and expanding oil and gas exploration on our public lands, the BLM would rather drive wild horses to extinction.
Stand up for our wild horses and send a comment to BLM today.
Australia Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) is creating a dedicated shark fishery at a time when shark populations worldwide face unprecedented fishing pressure.
Although the DPI&F’s measures intend to bring "sustainability" to shark fishing, they appear to be driven by short-term financial gain
The fact is that the establishment of shark fisheries will deplete shark populations and produce negative impacts to the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem.
Short term economic interest of a small number of fishermen should not be placed above one of Australia's – and the world's - most precious resources: sharks and the Great Barrier Reef.
Sign the petition to strongly oppose licensed shark fishing in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
Every year, the global leather industry slaughters more than a billion animals.
Most of the leather in the U.S. and Europe comes from India and China.
Because India's animal transport and slaughter laws are not enforced, many of the animals used for leather are so sick and injured by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse that they must be dragged inside.
Once inside, their throats are cut open—often with dirty, blunt knives and in full view of one another—on floors that are covered with feces, blood, guts, and urine. Some animals are even skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious.
Participate in Peta’s campaign and add your voice against this inhumane treatment of animals for leather products.
Japan's stockpile of whale meat has doubled in the past decade as a result of more and more animals being killed each year.
The whale meat is packaged for sale in restaurants and supermarkets in Japan, and even included in school lunch programs.
Whatever is left over is now being sold as dog food in the latest attempt by Japan to stimulate the market and shift the hundreds of tons of whale meat piling up in Japanese warehouses.
Over 5000 tons of whale meat sits in cold storage, unsold and unused. Tell the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan to stop the wasteful harpooning of whales and to truly respect the IWC's ban.
The red knot sandpiper is in danger of extinction. A new report by the world's leading shorebird biologists confirms a 90 percent decline in the bird's population over the past ten years.
Scientists predict that the red knot may become extinct as soon as 2010.
In 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) designated the red knot as a "candidate species" for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). But being on the candidate list confers no statutory protection.
Please support the petition drive sponsored by the “Defenders of Wildlife” urging for an emergency listing of the Red Knot sandpiper under the Endangered Species Act!
The Bush/Cheney administration continues to be a one-trick pony for Big Oil, proposing more of the same disastrous drilling plans that further benefit oil speculators and the oil industry – at the expense of our coasts and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Ultimately, America needs long-term solutions focused on renewable energy and better fuel efficiency -- not more drilling. But the oil markets have weak oversight and accountability, which allows wealthy investors from around the world to drive up the price we pay for gas by buying up large amounts of oil and selling it back to each other over and over again.
In the short-term, reining in oil speculators could make a real difference in the cost of gas – and save our natural resources for our planet's future.
Please sign the petition today urging President Bush to rein in oil speculation and give Americans better alternative energy choices to reduce energy costs across the board.
The Amur Leopard, a very rare and critically endangered big cat, is on the verge of extinction!
With only a few left remaining in the wild, it has become vital to take action immediately.
Sign the petition and do your part to get the media attention they need so that more people may be educated on their critical endangerment.
Dr. Susan Lark, a popular Internet physician, promotes squalane - an ingredient found in shark liver oil - for its ability to help skin "maintain its moisture and elasticity."
But squalane can be obtained from a much more abundant source: olives.
Deep-sea sharks are some of the most vulnerable sharks in the world. They typically grow slowly, mature late in life and have only a few young during their long lives. As a result, deep-sea shark populations are at extreme risk from exploitation and recover very slowly.
Tell Dr. Lark she ought to leave deep-sea sharks alone. The health - and beauty - of our oceans depends on it. Urge Her To Keep Shark Liver Oil Out of Beauty Products!
Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) is Europe’s largest contract animal testing laboratory.
They have about 70,000 animals on site, including rabbits, cats, hamsters, dogs, guinea-pigs, birds and monkeys.
These animals are destined to suffer and die in cruel, useless experiments. 500 of them die each day.
Take action to have this disgrace of a company closed down.
In the UK, 40,000 greyhounds are needlessly slaughtered every year. When Greyhound used in
racing retire, the owners are free to do whatever they want with them.
Puppies that are not good
enough to race are mindlessly slaughtered before their first birthday.
Join the fight to urge the greyhound industry to regulate its practices.
A recent study found that American pets suffer from significantly more contamination from synthetic industrial chemicals than people.
Our homes are permeated by untested chemical compounds that pets absorb through their grooming habits and proximity to household furnishings.
The potential result is higher incidence of health problems, for example cancer in dogs and hyperthyroidism in cats. Worse yet, the risks faced by pets are shared by humans too, especially the most vulnerable.
Infants and toddlers play close to the floor and put household objects in their mouths, and in the process they are exposed to the same dangers as pets.
We need a new system of public health protections in which companies have to prove chemicals are safe before they are sold. Not only would it help protect our pets, but ourselves as well. Act today!
Indonesian Goverment Regulation No 2/2008, released on February 2008, allows 13 mining companies to use protected forests with the highest rental tariff of US$325/ha.
However in the decree, a number of oil companies have also been mentioned. In fact, an official said that other companies may also be eligible.
The areas of protected forests in Indonesia are decreasing rapidly. As well as its massive ecological impacts, this also causes indigenous people to lose their of land and livehood which lead to poverty and marginalization.
Please urge the Indonesian Government to revoke this regulation.
Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet - home and nursery for almost a million fish and other species. Unfortunately, about 70 percent of the world’s coral reefs are threatened or destroyed, and 20 percent of those are damaged beyond repair.
2008 has been designated as the International Year of the Reef. Wherever you live, you can help restore this amazing habitat. Pledge to:
Use ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions threatening coral reef survival.
Use naturally-derived and biodegradable detergents and cleaning products.
Do not give coral as presents. Corals are already a gift, and it takes corals decades or longer to create reef structures.
The link between animal cruelty and other forms of societal violence is a national concern. The practice of dogfighting perfectly illustrates this connection, as it is almost always linked to illegal drug and weapons violations, gambling, aggravated assault and gang violence.
When local and state police agencies report animal cruelty incidents to the FBI, they are labeled "other offenses". This makes it nearly impossible to access and respond to even the most basic information about animal cruelty crimes and their perpetrators.
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has introduced the Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act of 2007, which would require the FBI to add animal cruelty as a separate category in its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
Tell your senators to co-sponsor and support the Tracking Animal Cruelty Crimes Act of 2007!
The "P" in the REPAIR Act now before the Senate stands for "Protection," yet this bill does the opposite of protecting. It authorizes the killing of free roaming cats and dogs, wild horses, and any other animals unfairly deemed "invasive."
Killing programs, using federal money and under few federal restrictions, would exterminate virtually any feral cat found in the wild. In the past these programs have used painful poisons, body-gripping traps, snares and other cruel procedures to kill animals.
Congress should instead support more humane programs like Trap-Neuter-Return ones that avoid taking animal life. It doesn't have to and shouldn't allow indiscriminate murdering of innocent domestic cats and other animals. Sign the petition to tell your Senator to say "No" to cruel mass killing of feral animals.
Stop the Dangerous Privatization of Oceans!
It’s hard to imagine there is an entire industry out there dedicated to privatizing the vast, wild oceans, and threatens the livelihood of Gulf Coast fishing families.
This largely untested industry threatens the safety of our food, hurts the marine environment, and endangers the livelihood of fishing communities that depend on healthy wild fish to make a living.
The council has been operating under the radar. Let them know they are being watched and that you care about our oceans and our health.
Tell the Fishery Management Council that fishing communities and the public need more time to weigh in. Sign the petition and help stop the giveaway of our oceans!
Great news for one of the world's most endangered animals: researchers have discovered some 125,000 western lowland gorillas that were previously uncounted in the Congo Basin. Until now, scientists believed there were only about 50,000 of these endangered gorillas left.
But this exciting new population estimate does not mean gorilla numbers in the wild are now safe.
The western lowland gorilla continues to come under threat as timber companies move into the Congo Basin, home to more than a quarter of the world's tropical forest. Without careful management of the forest resources, western lowland gorillas and other gorilla subspecies will remain severely endangered.
Now more than ever authorities need to stem rampant deforestation, to preserve the habitats of the great apes and to support long-term sustainability of the region's natural resources.
Please urge Congo's Ministry of Environment to deny all deals that were signed illegally under the country's moratorium on new logging contracts.
Congress passed a law thirty five years ago to put an end to aerial hunting. But Alaska is exploiting a loophole in federal law to resume the practice, not only for wolves, but bears as well.
Hundreds of scientists have condemned what Alaska is doing, even as other states threaten to follow Alaska's lead. It's time to stop aerial hunting once and for all.
Rep. George Miller (CA) has introduced the Protect America's Wildlife (PAW) Act, legislation to close a federal loophole and curb Alaska's brutal aerial hunting program -- and prevent programs like it from spreading to places like the Greater Yellowstone region.
Please urge your Representative to sign on as a cosponsor to Rep. George Miller's PAW Act. Sign the petition!
Greece has got animal welfare laws which are being blatantly ignored by the authorities, therefore thousands of animals are suffering needlessly at the hands of 'man'!
Examples of cruelty are poisoning of dogs and cats which leaves the animal to suffer an agonizing death; hanging and shooting of dogs especially hunting dogs, drowning, abandoning, chaining of dogs for all their lives outside in the heat of summer and the cold of winter; horrific abuse of animals who have sulphuric acid on them, clubbing to death, torturing, the list is endless.
It is an abomination and has to be stopped.
Farm animals do not fair better, sheep, goats are hobbled leaving them unable to walk as god intended, donkeys made to carry tourists in the heat of blazing sun. Some of these donkeys are ill and full of scars from ill treatment; over grown hooves are also common.
These atrocities must be stopped and the law applied, these animals have suffered in silence long enough please be their voice and help them out of this hell!!
The Japanese government is allowing a few fishermen to slaughter thousands of dolphins and small whales in drive hunts.
During drive hunts, fishermen panic and confuse migrating pods of dolphins and other small whales with loud banging, then herd them, by the hundreds, into shallow coves, and then butcher them one by one.
Every year, some 20,000 small cetaceans of several species, some of which are endangered, including bottlenose dolphins, striped dolphins, spotted dolphins, Risso’s dolphins, short-finned pilot whales, white-sided dolphins, and false killer whales, are killed or taken in the drives, sometimes illegally.
The hunts have been universally condemned by marine experts around the world as brutal, inhumane, and unsustainable, but pleas to stop them have fallen on deaf ears.
Please Help Save the Olive Ridley Sea Turtles
Tata Steel, one of India's biggest names in business has proposed the construction of a huge port in Orissa (East India) that will severely effect the highly-endangered Olive Ridley turtles. The Dhamra port site threatens one of the most popular breeding destinations for these turtles that swim all the way here from places as far away as Australia and the Philippines.
With turtle mortality from mechanized fishing being extremely high, this move by the Tatas could be the final nail in the turtle’s coffin, ensuring that this area is never safe for turtles again. Please click the banner below and help save these endangered animals:
The Atlantic Forest is considered one of the world's biggest and more endangered tropical forests -- only 7% remains.
When you place the Chevy gas-friendly to gas-free widget below on your profile, $1 will be donated in your honor to the Nature Conservancy. $1 = 1 Tree.
Every month we cover interesting and little known facts about animals. This month we cover dolphins. Are you a dolphin lover ? Would you like to share something with us ? Write to us and we may feature your story on one of our blogs.
Interesting Facts About Dolphins
Dolphins are capable of performing complex tasks, and through training, to approximate the sounds of a few human words. Because of this, some investigators have suggested that the animals might be capable of learning a true language and communicating with humans.
Dolphins spend about 30% of their day in some form of touching, caressing, or mating.
Dolphins are conscious breathers. i.e., they have to remain awake in order to remember to breathe. In other words, dolphins must "remain in the present" (as yogis of the seas!), and perhaps it is this state of conscious awareness that humans find so magical and magnetic.
They sleep by shutting down one half of their brain at a time, with one eye open, the one connected to the side that remains awake.
Research suggests that dolphins are able to receive images telepathically and respond to them before verbal commands are given. Dolphins "see" holographically. They are able to scan an object or a person and see all states of being multi-dimensionally in an instant.
Dolphins are always connected to the dolphin pod as a whole entity itself, synchronized and unified. There is no separation between them and it. This also means they sense the world that way as well, so like a hologram they are a whole entity that is part of a larger whole = the pod awareness.
Most people who have a dolphin encounter have found that their brain wave patterns shift from the alpha state of consciousness to the theta state. The theta brain wave patterns induce states of expanded consciousness such as those found during meditation or transcendental states of being.
In dolphins, both hemispheres of the brain are synchronized unlike in most human beings. When both hemispheres are synchronized, meaning the electromagnetic frequencies put out are the same pulse rate, higher states of consciousness are accessed much easier.
This beautiful red wolf that is proudly displayed on Australian post
cards is heading down the slippery path to extinction.
The Australian govt has listed the dingo as a 'vermin' and has put a
$50 bounty on their heads!!
Day in and day out, these animals
suffer long agonizing deaths throughtrapping, 1080 poisoning and professional doggerstotally unconcerned that they are helping a species disappear
forever.
Take action today before it’s too
late!
We would
appreciate it if you could share this information with others. Select all the code below
(Ctrl-a), copy it (Ctrl-c) and put it on your page!
Earth Companions is the coming together of a small group of friends with common concerns. We are dedicated to voicing issues that surround our silent friends... our animals, and also in serving all that supports the growing concerns of our planet, that has been abused through decades of exploitation and materialistic greed.
We stand for all that would help address and curb this ongoing injustice, and lead to the transformation of our planet Earth through regaining balance, and by promoting compassion for all beings thus enabling us to live in harmony within ourselves and with our environment.
Causes close to our heart
Commercial and "Scientific" Whaling
"Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures." - The Dalai Lama
The world’s oceans are opening up to a bloody and cruel slaughter. After hundreds of years of exploitation, whale populations remain at risk from hunting, ship strikes, by-catch, entanglements, marine pollution, underwater noise and global warming. Given all of these threats, whale populations cannot withstand the resurgence of commercial whaling.
Both commercial whaling and international trade in whale products are currently banned. However a growing number of governments are pushing hard for these restrictions to be lifted.
Stop Charging the Sea Shepherd "Steve Irwin" Moorage Fees
Target: Lord Mayor Campbell Newman
Sponsored by: Suzie Magann Wildlife warrior
Recently the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin was forced to leave Melbourne when the berth that the ship had been using for free for three years was suddenly changed to a $59,000 a month moorage bill. In Brisbane the ship is being forced to pay over $400 a day for moorage.
Meanwhile the Japanese whaling fleet has just returned from the North Pacific where they murdered 211 whales including 100 Sei whales, 59 Piked whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 2 Sperm whales. All these species are either endangered or threatened under international lists.
Despite the extra financial burden of outlandish mooring fees and rising fuel costs, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be returning to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to do what should be done in a whale sanctuary: protecting whales.
Please urge Lord Mayor Campbell Newman to stop charging the Sea Shepherd "Steve Irwin" for moorage fees and let them stay in port free of charge in goodwill. The Steve Irwin and crew are saving the lives of our whales - it is the least they can do.
In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) enacted a moratorium on all commercial whaling. Yet Japan, Iceland and Norway continue firing harpoons into these gentle creatures for products that nobody needs. More than 30,000 whales have been killed and brutally slaughtered for commercial purposes since the ban in 1986. The IWC does not have the capacity to enforce the moratorium.
Many of these whaling operations are carried out under the guise of "scientific research", despite the fact that there has been evidence to the contrary. For instance, recently, Greenpeace exposed evidence of widespread embezzlement of whale meat occurring right under the noses of the public officials who run the Japanese whaling program. More than a ton of whale meat was snuck from the whaling ship this year alone, and it wasn’t for "scientific research".
The best cuts of whale meat, used to make whale bacon, are smuggled into crew cabins, preserved in salt, and then shipped home in boxes marked "cardboard" or "salted stuff" to be sold on the black market. Greenpeace intercepted one such box -- worth up to US $3,000 -- and presented it to the Tokyo Prosecutor's office as evidence on May 15th, 2008.
In order to defend it's whaling program, for years Japan has been "recruiting" countries with no obvious interest in whaling to join the IWC and vote in its favour, by using development aid as an incentive. As the number of pro-whaling IWC members grows, the ban on commercial whaling becomes increasingly threatened.
Whaling in Norway
Whaling is a centuries old tradition in Northern Norway. Only Minke whaling is permitted and government officials argue that it is sustainable because Minke whales enjoy (suffer ?) non-endangered status.
The Myth
Whaling supporters from Norway argue that whaling is a green industry (!!) and while its macroeconomic importance is negligible, the livelihood (greed ?) of individuals and small businesses depend on it, and that it is an important part of culture in coastal areas.
They try to fortify their position by claiming that the use of equipment that enables selective catching of marine fish and mammals is an "environmentally-sound" means of producing food for human consumption today, as the environment remains unaffected, energy use is low in relation to yield, and there is no pollution from fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals.
The Fact
Norway's whaling operations is by no means crucial to the survival of Norway's coastal communities, which depend on the state of Norway's fisheries. Also, given Norway's sound economic position, it is paradoxical that this is one of a very small number of countries actively engaged in, and favoring the continuation of, commercial whaling, despite opposition from around the world.
Brochures published by the Norwegian government claim that whale meat is sold in Norway where it is a traditional part of the Norwegian diet. The reality is that there is little market for the meat in Norway - the real goal of Norway's whalers is export to Japan where prices paid for whale meat are several times higher than in Norway, generating as much as 4 billion yen in sales annually!
Norwegian whale hunts cause immense and unnecessary suffering for the commercial production of meat
Whales are speared by harpoons with explosive grenade heads, designed to detonate inside them causing maximum internal damage. At the same time, the head of the harpoon, which remains attached to a boat by a cord, expands like a clawed wall plug under their skin, causing drag from the whalers' boat behind them. In contrast to the strict regulations for commercial meat production in Norwegian slaughterhouses, whales are not stunned or humanely secured before they are killed. Instead, when the harpoon is unsuccessful, a rifle is often used to finish them off.
NORWAY has set its 2008 quota of minke whales for its commercial whaling, maintaining the level set in 2006, when it sharply increased the extent of the hunt. The quota is the same for the third straight year, after the government increased the number of minke whales hunters were allowed to kill by 30 per cent to 1,052 - the highest level since it resumed commercial whaling in 1993.
Whaling in Japan
Large-scale, industrial whaling in Japan started after World War II when protein was in short supply. Japan continues to kill whales and sell the meat from its hunts, despite the ban on commercial whaling. To do this it exploits a loophole in the founding treaty of the International Whaling Commission, which allows whaling for scientific research.
Some Facts about Whaling in Japan
Commercial whaling of humpbacks officially stopped in 1966, after eliminating 95 percent of the population. Tragically, the Government of Japan is set to resume hunting 50 humpbacks in the 2007/08 whaling season.
At an IWC meeting in 2006, a resolution calling for the eventual return of commercial whaling was passed by a majority of just one vote. There has been a failure to lift the ban on commercial whale hunting and Japan has since threatened to pull out of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
Currently, Japan allocates its whalers annual "research quotas" for 10 sperm, 100 sei, 50 Bryde’s and 120 minke whales in the North Pacific, and up to 935 minkes and 10 fin whales in Antarctica. A total of 1225 whales a year.
The Myth
Japan defends its whaling program, saying it meets International Whaling Commission (IWC) "scientific whaling" criteria.
It maintains that certain populations are strong enough to sustain a managed hunt. The last IWC estimate put the Southern Hemisphere Minke whale population at 761,000 approximately.
The Fact
Greenpeace argues that whales are endangered and must be protected. They also recently exposed the Japanese lie that their whaling program is essentially scientific. Their video provides ample evidence to support their position.
Sea Shepherd has also contested that Japan, as well as Iceland and Norway, is in violation of the IWC moratorium on all commercial whaling.
An international panel of independent legal experts came together in 2006 to examine the issue as it relates to international law. The panel found that Japanese scientific whaling is in fact unlawful under international law, and contravenes key international conventions.
Modern whaling in Iceland began in 1883, although whaling has been a part of the Icelandic culture since the 9th century. By 1915, 17,000 whales had been taken from Icelandic waters, mostly due to excessive whaling by Norwegian fishermen. The Icelandic Government banned whaling in its waters to allow time for population recovery, but the law was repealed in 1928. By 1935, Icelanders had set up their own commercial whaling operation for the first time. They hunted mostly Sei, Fin, and Minke Whales.
Beginning in 1990, Iceland abided by the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) moratorium on commercial whaling. Following the 1991 refusal of the IWC to accept its Scientific Committee's recommendation to allow sustainable commercial whaling, Iceland left the IWC in 1992.
Iceland rejoined the IWC in 2002 with a reservation to the moratorium, which was not recognized by a number of anti-whaling countries. In 2003, Iceland resumed "scientific whaling". Iceland presented a feasibility study to the 2003 IWC meeting to take 100 Minke, 100 Fin, and 50 Sei in each of 2003 and 2004. They claimed the primary aim of the study was to deepen the understanding of fish-whale interactions; the strongest advocates for a resumed hunt are fisherman concerned that whales are taking too many fish. The hunt was supported by three-quarters of the Icelandic population.
Current Issues (Iceland Whaling)
In 2007 Iceland "ended" its commercial whaling programme citing low demands for whale meat and lack of profitability. The Iceland fisheries' minister said he will not issue a new quota until the market conditions for whale meat improve and permission to export whale products to Japan is secured! So, this is not a permanent ban on whaling in Iceland, and they could resume whaling the moment they can hook up some financial arrangement with Japan or some other country.
Iceland also persues commercial whaling of minke whales. Its whaling industry is asking for a quota of about 100 minke whales and a number of fin whales too. A government official confirmed it is "likely" that quotas will be issued soon, with the season starting in May, 2008.
Commercial whale hunting began on 19th May, 2008 in Iceland, following the government’s grant of a small quota of 40 minke, a number far short of the 100 requested by whalers.
The government maintains its decision is based on the country’s commercial market for minke meat.
Robbie Marsland of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) contends that the growing industry of whale watching could be an important asset during these difficult economic times for Iceland, struggling under heavy borrowing, with inflation above 11% and interest rates up to 15%.
He said: "The resumption of commercial whaling could prove to be extremely damaging to the already fragile Icelandic economy and its international reputation."
Nippon Suisan, Maruha and Kyokuyo are the Japanese seafood conglomerates who for the past 20 years, even after a global moratorium on the killing of whales, wholeheartedly supported the government of Japan's "scientific" whale hunt by purchasing, canning and selling whale products. Yet they now claim their hands are clean (!) possibly because of fear of boycott!
Please urge the CEOs of these companies and their wholly-owned subsidiaries to tell the Government of Japan the world doesn’t need to kill whales in the twenty-first century to study them.
Here is some information about these companies:
Nippon Suisan Kaisha
This company is the second-largest marine products firm in Japan. The company owns Gorton's, a US frozen seafood company. Nippon Suisan Kaisha has operations in Canada, Chile, Denmark, Indonesia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam, and the US.
Address: Nippon Bldg, 2-6-2 Otemachi, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 100-8686, Japan
As Japan's top seafood producer, this company is the big tuna on Japan's sushi tray. Maruha gets some 75% of its sales from its marine products division.
Address: 1-2, 1-chome Ohtemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0004, Japan
Lend your support for IFAW's call for the creation of a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary. The South Atlantic is an important whale conservation area that provides the bordering nations with opportunities to develop whale-watching operations. In addition, the Sanctuary would provide a safe area to conduct humane scientific research.
100,000 signatures are needed before June 23rd, 2008!!
Urge the Iceland Ministry of Tourism that you would be willing to receive an email about the options available for Icelandic tourism, if the Government of Iceland ends its whaling program.
Target: Minister of Industry and Tourism, Össur Skarphéðinsson, Iceland
Thorleifur Thor Jonsson (Iceland Travel Industry Association)
Whales Revenge, campaigned to gather 1 million signatures for a petition to stop whaling. They achieved their target on Feb 23, 2008. However, they want more signatures! Add your voice, sign the petition and spread the word to everyone you know.
Target: International Whaling Commission, Australian and New Zealand governments
Sponsored by: Mark Pelletier, Kenny Gault, and William Weaver
This petition is meant to get both the Austrailian and United States goverments to stop the Cetacean Research Co. in Japan to stop the illegal whaling activities.
Sponsored by: John Koehler (a.k.a Aquaman) - check out his myspace site! - he is also on our top friends' list!
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, owns 95.1% of the Japanese supermarket chain Seiyu - a key distributor of cetacean products in hundreds of its supermarkets in Japan. As one of Japan's leading supermarket chains, Seiyu's distribution chain has helped to maintain the Japanese whale and dolphin hunting industry in spite of the international ban on commercial whaling and repeated international criticism.
Through their business relationship with Seiyu, Wal-Mart has become, knowingly or not, a supporter of the whaling and drive fisheries industries in Japan. Wal-Mart is a silent accomplice in the cruel slaughter of thousands of whales and dolphins each year. Urge Wal-mart to stop selling cetacean products or face a boycott.
The IWPO represents more than 80 groups with over 240,000 combined members forming a united front against whaling. Sign their petition to put an end to whaling forever! 10 million signatures needed! Sign and recommend to your friends!
Help inform the Japanese public to lobby their respective Prefectures, Governments and the Japanese Royal Family to put a halt to the unnecessary slaughter of whales, dolphins and ocean fish stocks.
Target: Mr. Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister, Japanese Government and Royal Family
Canon is the world’s number one digital camera company, and a major sponsor of wildlife initiatives, environmental groups, and efforts to save endangered species.
Urge Canon to express disapproval of whaling in the Southern Ocean, and to call upon the government of Japan to use only non-lethal research methods.
Target: Mr. Mitarai, head of Canon Japan
Factory Farming and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)
“The life spark in my eyes is in no way different than the life spark in the eyes of any other sentient being.” ~Michael Stepaniak, quoted in Joanne Stepaniak, The Vegan Sourcebook, 1998
Factory farming is the practice of raising farm animals in confinement at high stocking density; and also sometimes used more generally to refer to usage of farm animals as factory parts as is typical in industrial farming. It is an attitude that regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit. In animal agriculture, this attitude has led to institutionalized animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion, and animal and human health risks.
How Factory Farming Evolved:
Factory farming began in the 1920s soon after the discovery of vitamins A and D; when these vitamins are added to feed, animals no longer require exercise and sunlight for growth. This allowed large numbers of animals to be raised indoors
year-round. The greatest problem that was faced in raising these animals indoors was the spread of disease, which was
combated in the 1940s with the development of antibiotics. Farmers found they could increase productivity and reduce the operating costs by using mechanization and assembly-line techniques.
Unfortunately, this trend of mass production has resulted in incredible pain and suffering for the animals.
Most commercial breeding facilities in the US and several other countries do not maintain even the most minimum humane standards proposed by animal welfare groups. For instance, Animals in factory farms are regularly pumped hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals and have their genes manipulated to encourage high productivity.
Animals are confined to small cages with metal bars, ammonia-filled air and artificial lighting or no lighting at all. They are subjected to horrible mutilations: beak searing, tail docking, ear cutting and castration.
Hundreds of millions of unwanted male chicks are killed by the commercial egg industry annually,shortly after hatching usually by gassing, crushing, or suffocation.
Australia produces 30 percent of all wool used worldwide. The most commonly raised sheep are Merinos, specifically bred to have wrinkly skin, which means more wool per animal. This unnatural overload of wool causes many sheep to collapse and even die of heat exhaustion during hot months, and the wrinkles collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. To prevent this so-called "flystrike," Australian ranchers perform a barbaric operation-called "mulesing" - where they force live sheep onto their backs, restrain their legs between metal bars, and, without any painkillers whatsoever, slice chunks of flesh from around their tail area.
Pregnant pigs are stuffed in barren, restrictive gestation crates and are unable to turn around—or even move more than a step or two. For nearly four months, they are made to languish in these cruel enclosures.
One million calves are raised for veal annually in the United States—intensively confined in individual stalls so small they can’t turn around during their entire 16- to 18-week lives before slaughter. Widely known for their inherent cruelty, veal crates are being phased out in Europe—yet remain in use throughout the United States.
Turkeys are stuffed inside restrictive slaughter-bound transport crates, and are often denied food, water, rest, or protection from extreme weather.
Ducks and geese are often forced-fed unnaturally large quantities of food through a metal tube that is cruelly shoved down their throats and into their stomachs two or three times each day. The extensive overfeeding causes their livers to become diseased. The livers become enlarged up to ten times their normal size, making it difficult for the birds to move comfortably and, for some, even walk. The meat of course, eventually ends up in the stomachs of many human beings, who have no idea of how unhealthy this meat is! The so-called gourmet delicacy Paté de foie gras, translated from French, is simply "fatty liver", and is produced from such meat!!!
The High stocking density that is a feature of almost all CAFOs and factory farms is often known to destroy vegetation and produce unacceptable pollution from the animal waste in run-off and ground water.
These campaigns support Farm Sanctuary in their efforts to end cruel factory farming methods used in the United States. You can participate in the following campaigns:
No Downers Campaign which seeks to prevent the suffering of downed animals (animals too sick even to stand) through public education to prevent the marketing and slaughter of downed animals.
No Veal Campaign which seeks to end cruel veal industry practices such as: Taking baby calves from their mothers at birth, chaining them by the neck in crates, and feeding them a diet deficient in iron and fiber to produce the anemic white meat known as veal.
No Foie Gras Campaign which seeks to ban the inhumane practices of foie gras production whcih include very cruel force-feeding techniques.
Sentient Beings Campaign which challenges the common, though insane, belief that animals are mere commodities to be exploited for food and fiber.
"Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: Because the animals are like us. Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: Because the animals are not like us. Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction." - Professor Charles R. Magel
"The very idea that one species could serve as a model for a different species ignores the basic principles of biology."
- British Medical Journal, 18th February 2002
Animal Testing is primarily used for testing cosmetics and pharmaceutical products, and studying the effect of using these products on animals to predict whether the said products would be beneficial for humans or not. It is also used in biomedical training centers and research institutes, where animals are used for the practice commonly refered to as "vivisection".
Pre-university students, not only in the United States, but also in countries such as India and Australia, also practice dissecting animals, often procured from dubious breeding houses that breed animals for the sole purpose of selling them off to these universities and colleges.
(Busting some) Myths and (exposing some) Facts about Animal Testing
The rationale behind animal experimentation rests on the belief that animals serve as good models for the human body.... an assumption that has been proven wrong time and again through modern research. Taking a healthy being from a completely different species, artificially inducing a condition, keeping him or her in an unnatural and stressed condition, and trying to apply the "results" to naturally occurring diseases in human beings is dubious at best, and dangerous at worst.
Americans have spent almost $200 billion on cancer research since 1971 (through taxes, donations, and private funding). However, more than 500,000 Americans die of cancer every year. Richard Klausner, former head of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has observed, "The history of cancer research has been a history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades and it simply didn't work in humans."
Conclusion: For cancer research, we cannot extrapolate research data across species, with any kind of reliability.
Dr. Gibbs, a renowned scientist writes: 'To the 2.6 million people around the world afflicted with multiple sclerosis, medicine has offered more frustration than comfort. Time after time, researchers have discovered new ways to cure laboratory rats of experimental induced encephalomyelitis, the murine model of MS, only to face obstacles in bringing the treatment to humans'. [Appeared in the scientific journal: Experimental and Molecular Medicine, 1999:31:115-121]
In February 2004, researchers from the Yale School of Medicine and several British universities published a paper in the British Medical Journal titled "Where Is the Evidence That Animal Research Benefits Humans?" The researchers systematically examined animal studies and concluded that little evidence exists to support the idea that animal experimentation has benefited humans.
Some Researchers claim that they have no options but to conduct animal trials. The scientifically verified fact, however, is that Human clinical and epidemiological studies, cadavers, and computer simulators are more reliable, more precise, less expensive, and more humane than animal tests.
Creative scientists have used human brain cells to develop a model "microbrain" which can be used to study tumors, as well as artificial skin and bone marrow. We can now test irritancy on protein membranes, produce vaccines from human tissues, and perform pregnancy tests using blood samples instead of killing rabbits.
Gordon Baxter, cofounder of Pharmagene Laboratories, which uses only computers and human tissues to create and test drugs once said, “If you have information on human genes, what’s the point of going back to animals?”
For decades, and up to this day, animal experimenters have been testing cigarettes and their components on animals. They have forced primates, dogs, rabbits, and rats to breathe concentrated cigarette smoke to determine what its effects are. However, after all these decades of research, their results continue to be "inconclusive" because some species suffer negative effects while others do not experience any health problems. In the meantime, millions suffer all sorts of respiratory diseases caused directly or indirectly through smoking.
The fourth biggest killer was in the UK is not cancer, road accidents or disease, but in fact, side effects from the very drugs that are meant to be saving people in the first place. Hundreds of drugs are released onto the market and are then withdrawn after causing unforeseen effects in people - such as the recent examples of Opren and Seroxat (drugs that approved through animal testing, but killed thousands of humans). So, why then do we keep testing on animals ? In a word: money.
Researchers get grants to conduct research on animals, where the experiments are funded by big businesses (such as the notorious GlaxoSmithKline - the company that was behind Seroxat), research charities (such as Wellcome Trust) and taxpayers.
Physiological reactions to drugs vary enormously from species to species. Penicillin kills guinea pigs despite being inactive in rabbits; aspirin kills cats and causes birth defects in rats, mice, guinea pigs, dogs, and monkeys; and morphine, a depressant in humans, stimulates goats, cats, and horses. Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, remarked:
"How fortunate we didn't have these animal tests in the 1940s, for penicillin would probably have never been granted a license, and probably the whole field of antibiotics might never have been realized."
Every year, cosmetics companies kill millions of animals to test their products. These companies claim they test on animals to establish the safety of their products and ingredients for consumers. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. does not require animal testing for cosmetics. In 2003, the EU passed a ban on the use of animals in cosmetics testing starting in 2009, and a complete sales ban effective in 2013. So why do some American companies still insist on conducting these barbaric and obsolete tests?
Experimenters claim a "right" to inflict pain on animals based on animals' supposed lack of reason. But if lack of reason truly justified animal experimentation, experimenting on human beings with "inferior" mental capabilities, such as infants and the mentally retarded, would also be acceptable. So, this is also a moot point. The fact is that these researchers lack basic concern for non-humans, and are more bothered about their own name and fame in the scientific circles. It is this lack of empathy for animals that allows them to come up with ludicrous justifications for their cruel "scientific" practices.
Facts about the cruelty involved in animal testing - A look under the hood
Millions of animals used in dissection, tens of thousands of live mice, rabbits, rats, and turtles are tortured and killed in college- and university-level physiology and psychology demonstrations. Turtles have nails driven into their brains and holes drilled into their shells so that their hearts can be viewed and manipulated, and frogs are paralyzed so that their exposed muscles can be stimulated by electricity.
Mice, dogs, rabbits and rats are subjected to highly invasive procedures at the hands of students and professors who have absolutely no veterinary medical training whatsoever. Other live animals are subjected to electric shock, starvation, maternal deprivation, aggression, and more in debilitating experiments designed to "mimic" human disorders.
In U.S. laboratories every year, lab technicians put monkeys and chimpanzees (known for their socially active lifestyles) behind cold, hard steel bars with no families, no companions, no grooming, no nests, "inducing" loneliness that goes on for so many years that most chimpanzees sink into depression, eventually losing their minds.
Animals are infected with diseases that they would never normally contract–tiny mice grow tumors as large as their own bodies, kittens are purposely blinded, rats are made to suffer seizures. Experimenters force-feed chemicals to animals, conduct repeated surgeries on them, implant wires in their brains, crush their spines, and much more.
Some U.S. Universities, like the University of North Carolina have lab employees kill mice by cutting off their heads with scissors and amputating toes of animals.... You can read more about these cruel practices that PETA documented recently here, and see for yourself the insanity of some of the so-called well educated minds that are bred by some of the top universities in the US, today, in the name of furthering scientific research.
At Covance Laboratories, where a PETA undercover investigator worked for 11 months, thick tubes were forced up monkeys’ nostrils and down their throats in order to pump doses of deadly compounds into their stomachs. After being dosed once or twice, the monkeys began to clamp their mouths shut, refusing to allow the technicians to poison them. PETA’s investigator then documented the technicians’ behavior as they violently choked, punched, and shook the animals. Read more about it here:
A PETA investigation revealed grotesque abuses to animals in laboratories at Columbia University, including subjecting baboons to invasive surgeries and leaving them to suffer and die in their cages without any painkillers. Monkeys with metal pipes surgically implanted in their skulls were traumatized for the sole purpose of inducing stress in order to study the connection between stress and women’s menstrual cycles.
There is hope that animal testing for determining toxic chemicals will be limited. U.S. government scientists proposed on 14th Feb. this year that tey are in favour of limiting the testing of potentially toxic chemicals on animals and replacing it with new high-tech testing methods. The new systems the agencies hope to use rely on human cells grown in test tubes and computer-driven testing machines. They allow the scientists to examine potentially toxic compounds in the lab rather than injecting them into animals. The agencies acknowledge that full implementation of the shift in toxicity testing could take years because it will require scientific validation of the new approaches. Read more here:
In Nepal, rhesus monkeys either co-habitat with humans as revered temple monkeys or live a tribal life deep in the high mountain forest. They are an integral part of the land's eco-system and culture and are worshipped by the Hindu population. However, commercial interests have led to the removal of monkeys from their natural environment. Instead of living a free life in temple compounds or in the jungle, some rhesus monkeys have been put behind bars. Here they undergo tests to benefit biomedical and possibly bio-terrorism research in the USA.
In 2003 Nepal allowed the breeding and export of rhesus monkeys for biomedical research. Two US primate centers with their Nepalese partners received a license.
If you are student attending school in one of the following states in the US: California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, Oregon , Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia; then you can simply say NO to dissection. These states have dissection choice laws or policies in place. Make use of them, and encourage your classmates to do the same.
If you are a student residing in some other US state or outside the US, you should meet with the instructor right away and tell him or her that you cannot participate in the dissection because of your "sincerely held religious and moral beliefs about the sanctity of all life" and ask for a non-animal alternative. These words provide the basis for a possible legal case. If your instructors disagree, propose software alternatives. Here are some that you can suggest:
V-Frog is the world's first virtual-reality-based frog dissection software designed for biology education -- allowing not mere observation, but physically simulated dissection.
Using a standard computer mouse, the software can be used to simulate nearly unlimited manipulation of specimen tissue. Students can "pick up" a scalpel, cut open V-Frog's skin, and explore the internal organs -- with true real-time interaction and 3-D navigation that actually accommodates discovery and procedures not possible with a physical frog specimen.
The award-winning Digital Frog 2 allows students to perform an in-depth "dissection" of a computer-generated frog with a digital scalpel. The program also includes animations, quizzes, videos, and information about frog behavior, ecology, and environmental issues. A study conducted by researchers at George Mason University (US) found that Digital Frog taught students lessons of anatomy more effectively—and in less time—than traditional animal dissection.
ITG Catlab, a complete virtual dissection cat anatomy, includes simulated dissections of every system, quizzes, and supplemented with over 300 laboratory-quality images.
Operation Frog includes pre-lab information, frog dissection lab simulations, post-lab materials, and a comprehensive teacher’s guide with worksheets, puzzles, and other activities.
Tangent Scientific’s DryLab series features humane interactive programs for studying the frog, crayfish, perch, rat, fetal pig, or earthworm. The company also offers a variety of virtual human anatomy programs.
Please note that if your instructors argue about the cost of the above products, you can courteously remind them that purchasing a software is a one-time expense, as opposed to purchasing animals for testing year after year!
Alternative Databases for searching more products:
The Association for Veterinarians for Animal Rights (For US Residents)
You can also write to this organization at the following email address: info@icare-worldwide.org and ask them for more details on the non-animal testing alternatives they recommend, or even for getting them to mail you their brochures for showing your school/college staff. Their postal address:
I-CARE, 33, Atthivakam Village, Red Hills, Chennai - 600052 - India
Every year in the United States, more than 50,000 nonhuman primates are used in experiments. Though it is well known that these animals are very similar to humans in their emotional traits and social organization, they are still subjected to abuse in laboratories, where they are used as "research tools" and treated as inanimate objects. Before being able to market a new drug, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that drug companies conduct all sorts of cruel, outdated experiments on animals.
By signing this petition, you will be urging FDA’s top official, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., to do his part in replacing primate experiments with humane alternatives.
Sponsored by: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
By participating in this campaign, you take the pledge to refuse to spend your money on companies that make animals suffer for their products or to support corporations that abuse animals.
Project Bioshield (http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/bioshield/index.html) is a multi-agency U.S. government initiative to identify potential bioterrorism threats and develop counter-measures. This project distributes millions of dollars to various agencies and private companies to create drugs from antibodies that neutralize potential bioterrorism threats, such as anthrax.
By signing this petition, you will help end these senseless experiments by sending a letter to the director of the NIH.
The IAMS Company (part of Proctor & Gamble) have funded and participated in laboratory experiments on hundreds of animals that caused kidney failure, obesity, malnutrition, liver damage, severe allergic reactions, stomach inflammation, diarrhoea, severe skin disorders, lesions, skin wounds and other painful illnesses, and animals have been kept in barren dungeon-like conditions. Dogs have been force-fed vegetable oil, had chunks of muscle removed from their thighs, and been 'de-barked' by having their voice-boxes cut out in a painful and bloody procedure. Read more about this shame of a company here:
Rhesus monkeys of nepal are being exported to the US for undergoing tests to benefit biomedical and possibly bio-terrorism research in the USA. Oppose this insane actovity, and also urge the authorities to annul the Wildlife Farming Act which enables individuals and organisations to rear and breed wild animals under certain conditions, and allows the breeding of Nepalese monkeys and export to US research labs.
"The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy Bentham
Every person who buys or wears fur is contributing directly to this pain and suffering.
Some Facts about Fur Trading
Each year over 50 million animals, including millions of dogs, cats, foxes, mink, chinchillas and rabbits, are killed for their fur worldwide. Intense suffering is a very common ingredient in all methods of procuring fur, from fur factory farming to trapping.
These animals are violently killed in the name of "fashion", most of them having to spend the entirety of their lives in grim conditions in fur farms, being stuffed in tiny wire cages until they are killed by cruel methods such as neck-breaking and anal electrocution.
Kangaroos are slaughtered by the millions every year; their skins are considered prime material for soccer shoes. Although the Australian government requires that hunters shoot the animals, orphaned joeys and wounded adults are, according to government code, to be decapitated or hit sharply on the head “to destroy the brain.” Upon learning about these cruel methods, soccer star David Beckham switched to shoes made from synthetic materials in 2006.
Millions of dogs and cats in China are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, and strangled with wire nooses so that their fur can be turned into trim and trinkets.
This fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species and is exported to countries throughout the world to be sold to unsuspecting customers in retail stores.
China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in the United States.
Tigers are killed for their body parts, with their skins prized for fashion reasons and bones used in medicines. Pelts are sold for more than £8,000 apiece in China.
Hundreds of millions of rabbits slaughtered for their fur and their flesh every year are kept in tiny, filthy cages, surrounded by their own waste. They spend their entire miserable lives standing on the thin cage wires, never having a chance to dig, jump, or play. Finally, they are killed by having their necks snapped or having their skulls beaten before being strung up by the legs and having their heads cut off.
Canadian hunters regularly sell bear pelts to fur auctioneers, whose clients include companies hired by Britain's Ministry of Defence to supply Britain's illustrious Guards regiments with bearskin hats for use in ceremonial duties such as the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony to mark the Queen's birthday.
Bear hunters in Canada employ an indefensible practice known as "baiting and shooting." Hunters place bait in a barrel to attract the bears, and when these intelligent, gentle, and curious animals come to eat, they are shot—often several times before they die. Many bears escape wounded and face a slow death from blood loss, gangrene, or other infections, dehydration, or starvation.
Canadian government sanctions killing of 275,000 seal pups
Weeks before the start of the Canadian seal hunt, the largest and most brutal marine mammal hunt in the world, the Canadian government has announced (10 March) that up to 275,000 seal pups can be clubbed and shot to death during this year’s hunt.
Consumers who buy and wear fur are not always the callous individuals they appear to be. Most of them simply do not realise the tremendous suffering involved in creating a single fur coat or trim. Others cannot bring themselves to believe that "respectable" corporations could be involved in such barbarism. Some continue to be dazzled by the glamour of the fashion world and its multi-million dollar PR campaigns, which increasingly paint a compassionate, caring view of the industry's relationship with its animal victims. The right information can change all this and bring to light what has been hidden for reasons of profit or greed.
Help cut-off the supply of funds that continue to drive the fur trade:
When shopping, beware of clothes sporting a fur trim. Though reasonably priced or even cheap, these may be manufactured from real rather than fake fur. Check the label, or ask the sales assistant. If in doubt, take your business elsewhere.
Boycott shops that sell fur, and politely but firmly explain your actions to management.
By participating in this campaign, you will be supporting PETA in their efforts to put an end to the abominable practice known as "baiting and shooting" adopted by Canadian hunters that causes terrible suffering to black bears often left wounded with the grim prospect of facing a slow death from blood loss - in front of their cubs, who are left orphaned.
By signing this petition, you will help enforce the Dog and Cat Fur Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007, a bill to protect consumers and animals by requiring all fur products be correctly labeled.
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men." ~Alice Walker
Puppy mills are commercial mass dog-breeding facilities that put profit above the welfare of dogs.
Some Facts about Puppy Mills:
Most puppy mill dogs are housed in shockingly poor conditions, especially the ones kept in cages to be bred over and over for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever joining a family. After they're no longer profitable, these dogs are simply discarded.
Puppy mills contribute to millions of unwanted dogs who are euthanized each year in the United States alone.
Mill puppies are more likely to have severe health problems, genetic defects and behavioral issues.
Dogs kept for breeding in puppy mills suffer for years and are bred as often as possible before they are killed, sold through auction like used cars or abandoned.
Unscrupulous breeders use attractive websites to hide the truth and to dupe the public into thinking that they are dealing with a reputable breeder. Reputable breeders never sell puppies over the Internet or through a pet store. They will insist on meeting the family who wants to buy the dog.
This lawsuit is the latest step in a multi-year legal battle by The HSUS against a company called Wizard of Claws and its owners in response to widespread reports that this store routinely sells sick and dying puppy mill puppies to unsuspecting customers.
If you sign this petition, you take the pledge to not buy your next pet from a pet store or Internet site, and to refuse to buy supplies from any pet store or Internet site that sells puppies.
If you sign this petition you will help build pressure on PetSmart for discontinuing to obtain animals from a mass-breeding mill and broker called Rainbow World Exotics, and therefore stop supporting this cruel mass-breeding industry.
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Calcutta sounds like a fable in a song, but in reality, it is where John, my colleague and successor, was murdered. He was on the job for only three days when he got his throat slashed. As an undercover investigator targeting the illegal wildlife trade, especially in tiger parts, his real name was unknown, even to me, nor mine to him. We were just John and James to each other. All I know is that he was Chinese American, while his predecessor James - real name Anthony Marr - is Chinese Canadian, and how sincere he was in helping to save the Bengal tiger from being poached out of existence, while its habitat continues to dwindle due to human pressure.
It would have been me who got killed had I not been called to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh - the "Tiger State" - to investigate a dreadful wave of poaching which wiped out10 of their 40 tigers in 12 months. What John and I were after was the identities of the trading party/ies, the location/s of the loot, and the routes and means by which it was transported to its destination, usually China. Once these were uncovered, we would inform police, who would then go and make arrests and seizures. How we did it is confidential. Suffice to say that we were both posing as Chinese buyers...
To read the rest of the story, go to: http://homosapienssaveyourearth.blogspot.com/2009/11/undercover-operation-in-india.html
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE.org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
Join the greatest Anti-Hunting forum - 95,000 comments! Blast a hunter today! http://www.topix.com/forum/baltimore/TCH7UNUUJ3I2OJ6KO
On September 14, 2007, Wisconsin activst Amy Burns sent out a circular urging her readers to go to the Baltimore Sun to join in what is destined to be one of its hottest forums ever, a war of minds over the "sport" of hunting, with emphasis on bow-hunting. While her readers began pondering, comments from the pro-hunting side came in hard and fast. "America's most-hated Anti" Anthony Marr jumped in head first, and so did leading anti-huntresses Tierra and Mamasita. Amazingly, the battle is still raging as we speak, more than two years later in November 23, 2009! The total number of comments so far has exceeded 93,000, and growing. This is a phenomenon, and destined to be a classic, not to be missed if you care about animals at all.
When I was in Africa a couple of decades ago, I camped for a stretch in the territory of a lion pride comprising 3 males, 10 females and 22 cubs.
The 3 pride-males, named Agamemnon, Achilles and Hector (AAH), were about 6 years of age and very much in their prime. Their 22 cubs were thriving under their protection - protection against predators, and the coalition of four 4-year-old prideless bachelors, who had been loitering in the neighborhood.
Due to the superior fighting prowess of AAH, they had been kicking the butts of the Gang of Four (GOF), so far. If the GOF drove out or killed AAH, they would kill all their cubs so that the lionesses would have cubs bearing their genes. AAH would be able to repel GOF for another couple of years, which was a fairly stable long term scenario in lion terms. What was unforeseen was that a trophy hunter killed Achilles.
Now with only Agamemnon and Hector holding the fort, they were no match for the GOF. Valiantly, AH tried to defend their offspring, but it was a matter of fighting to the last cub before they both were killed. The 10 lionesses became the spoils of war. And so, a new leonine dynasty was born. But through it all, 25 lives were lost, all due to one single bullet fired by one egomaniacal trophy hunter. Shame on Safari Club International! And shame on you Mr. President, for support hunting.
Anthony Marr, founder and president www.HOPE-CARE.org
Dolphin brains are larger than ours (1600 CC vs1450 CC). Who are we to say what they can or cannot think? Anthony Marr's latest creation: [Conversation with a Dolphin], was the jewel of last Friday's Animal Voices talkshow.
If you missed it, just go to his space www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr where it is set on auto-play, or go to http://files1.mailboxdrive.com/mp3s-new/a/anthony_marr@yahoo.com/944268.mp3. Its transcript will be blogged at www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com and www.ThomasPainesCorner.org.
Dr. Steven Best and Jason Miller, will be Anthony Marr's guests on Animal Voices this Friday, when we will be charting a course for humanity.
Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE.org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
If you prefer the 3rd alternative, please join the Anti-Hunting-Alliance (AHA) currently being forged by Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE - www.HOPE-CARE.org), which initially will seek to accomplish the following:
1. Support local campaigns against the culling and bow-hunting of deer in urban, suburban and park environments.
2. Integrate the local deer-battles into a national Deer War.
3. Launch massive internet and media campaigns on local and national levels.
4. Launch federal-level class-action legal challenges against the state-level Hunter Harassment laws for violating the freedom of speech and property rights of non-hunters and anti-hunters as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution (listen to the Jan Haagensen interview by Anthony Marr on Animal Voices in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr).
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Though we live in trying times, we're the ones who have to try. Though we know that time has wings, we're the ones who have to fly. - ~Rush, Everday Glory~
The seasons are changing. Autumn has always been loved. But lately, sadly, I've heard cries of "they've made me hate the fall", due to the annual bloodbath (of deer) in the woods, and even in people 's backyards. To sooth your frazzled nerves, may I present to you [Nocturnal Meditation: a gift of peace] - music by Chopin (Nocturne in E-flat) and Massenet (Meditation in Thais, performed by Anne Sophie Mutter); photography by Anthony Marr. If you have already seen/heard it, be enchanted all over again, and pass it on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLWILuwtckc
Descending from the sublime to the ridiculous, a hunter addressed me as "Dear Rush Limbaugh of Animal Rights". Haha! No thanks. But if Limbaugh can do it on his medieval mindset, so can I on my futuristic one. This coming Friday, 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT, on Animal Voices, I will just bare my soul, open my heart, and speak my mind. And you are invited to do likewise. Just call 1- 604- 684- 7561, and speak your mind.
Listen online-live www.coopradio.org, radio CFRO 102.7FM Vancouver, archive www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: global online live at www.CoopRadio.org / radio CFRO 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC / archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE.org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
[Anthony Marr: Champion of the Bengal Tiger] the award-winning episode of the TV-documentary series
[Champions of The Wild] aired on Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Outdoor Living Network and Knowledge Network in 20 countries worldwide..
Part 1 of 2 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63718104
Part 2 of 2 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63713703
Anthony will be interviewed by Tracy Zuber this coming Friday on his Animal Voices talkshow - on the plight of the tiger and his work in tiger conservation in North America and Asia. Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE..org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
[Anthony Marr: Champion of the Bengal Tiger] the award-winning episode of the TV-documentary series
[Champions of The Wild] aired on Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Outdoor Living Network and Knowledge Network in 20 countries worldwide..
Part 1 of 2 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63718104
Part 2 of 2 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=63713703
Anthony will be interviewed by Tracy Zuber this coming Friday on his Animal Voices talkshow - on the plight of the tiger and his work in tiger conservation in North America and Asia. Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE..org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
Halloween is past, but we do have a barbarian at the gate, a demon lurking in the ground, frozen there for eons, now being thawed and released into the living world, where it will roast life alive. If you want to really scare yourself silly, watch this 50 minute video in one go. Turn off the light, and the phone..
"Each of us, a cell of awareness, imperfect, and incomplete. Genetic blends, with uncertain ends, on a fortune hunt that's far too fleet." ~Rush, Freewill~
Thank you for being our friend! We work on behalf of farm animals and we appreciate your support. "We are there with the animals." www.animals-angels.com
I haven't been on MS in awhile or able to respond to comments & emails. Thanks for photos of beautiful animals. Some are healthy & happy, others are distressed & badly need our help. I love all images of innocent creatures, they move me deeply.
Thanks for the music downloads & videos. I'll try to catch up listening this weekend & give feedback.
Anthony Marr attempts to plant GPS on whaling ship. To read the full story, please go to www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
Sinikka Crosland, President of The Responsible Animal Care Society (TRACS), leading and winning activist in British Columbia, who has a thing or two to show her American counterparts, will join Anthony Marr this Friday on Animal Voices to talk about this and other issues.
Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE.org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
The tigers I have known, and will always love (to see their pictures and read their stories, go to www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com - all photos by Anthony Marr):
Sita, Pipal, Ajuna, Shiva, Barabicha and Charger
Anthony Marr will be telling more fascinating tiger tales, and discussing how to save life on Earth, this coming Friday on Animal Voices.
Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE.org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
Anthony Marr will tell the story of Tigress Sita of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, India, on Animal Voices this coming Friday, Oct. 12, and recount his work in the Chinatowns of N. America and his 3 deep-rural-India expeditions to save her, her mate Charger, her cubs, her kin and her wild habitat, and incite the world to save her species and its planet. . Animal Voices is aired every Friday 3-4pm ET/12-1pm PT: - global: online live at www.CoopRadio.org - radio: CFRO Radio 102.7FM Vancouver + 17 stations in BC, Canada. - archived in www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr - call-in # 604- 684- 7561
Anthony Marr, founder and president Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE) www.HOPE-CARE.org www.MySpace.com/AnthonyMarr www.YouTube.com/AnthonyMarr www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com www.ARConference.org www.AnimalVoices.org
"I salute you for your courage, and I applaud your perseverance, and I embrace you for your faith in the face of adversarial forces." - ~Alanis Morissette, Surrendering~
Dolphins are capable of performing complex tasks, and through training, to approximate the sounds of a few human words. Because of this, some investigators have suggested that the animals might be capable of learning a true language and communicating with humans.
