Animal Cruelty and Animal Crime Weekly report

It's National Wildlife Refuge Week... but Trapping Persists.
FLOAT Apparel
You'd think that a national wildlife refuge would be a place for wild animals to live peacefully and for people to safely enjoy the beauty of nature. But, sadly, cruel, hidden dangers lurk within what President Teddy Roosevelt called "inviolate sanctuaries." Trapping is currently allowed on more than half of the 565 national wildlife refuges in the U.S. As a result, countless animals are killed within the borders of federal protected land, all in the name of the fur "fashion" industry!

In honor of National Wildlife Refuge Week, Born Free USA has again teamed up with FLOAT Apparel to launch a brand new t-shirt design that condemns trapping. Wear it and remind our fellow Americans that trapping should not be allowed on national wildlife refuges—or anywhere in our country! This week only (Monday, October 10 - Sunday, October 16), FLOAT will sell limited-edition t-shirts that say, "SHUT YOUR TRAP. Stop Fur Trapping," with an image of a trap with a "no” symbol over it.

For each t-shirt sold, FLOAT will donate $8 to Born Free USA to aid in our efforts to end brutal trapping everywhere, including on national wildlife refuges.

If you haven't yet read our new undercover trapping investigation, Victims of Vanity II, be sure to check it out. Our investigator followed trappers in New York and Iowa, and documented intense cruelty toward coyotes and beavers, illegal trapping, and trapping on protected, public lands.

We're fighting against trapping every day, and you can help us spread the word. Get your t-shirt before they’re all gone!

Save the Ocelot -- Stop Cruel Traps

The Center for Biological Diversity is going to court, and we need your help. Wildlife Services, the government's rogue animal-killing program, is at it again. This time it's ocelots -- the highly endangered, small native leopards of the American Southwest -- that are collateral damage in the feds' out-of-control predator-trapping program.

You can help us protect these elegant wildcats with a donation to the Center's Stop Wildlife Services Fund today.

Once there were thousands of ocelots across the United States, but they were wiped out to make room for cattle and development. With fewer than 100 remaining in the country, we need to protect every one. Instead, Wildlife Services' outdated predator-killing agenda has turned their few last safe havens in Texas and Arizona into killing fields laced with steel traps, foothold snares and exploding cyanide M-44 land mines. These paid assassins don't mind if they maim or kill wildcats as long as they protect the profits of the livestock industry calling the shots.

Help us shut down their traps, snares and poisons with a donation to the Center's Stop Wildlife Services Fund. With your support we'll take on the feds and force them to follow the law to protect this highly endangered species.

Last year Wildlife Services killed more than 3.2 million animals, including 385 wolves, 284 mountain lions, 731 bobcats, 3,437 foxes and 68,905 coyotes. This butcher bureaucracy carries on as if it's above the law -- which is why we're dragging it into court to face the law. We won't let it add ocelots to that kill list.

The Center has gone to court countless times for wildlife. We know how to shut down these needless and inhumane slaughters. And the law is on our side. With your support, we can win again and protect our last ocelots -- so please, help us stop these beautiful creatures from being wiped off the face of America's wilderness.

We work to expose and end the cruelty inflicted on animals in the name of sport
It is time to drive grouse shooting to extinction. 

Since August 12th sickening scenes have played out on moorlands all over the UK. Beaters march through the heather flushing terrified grouse from hiding and out into the open where they take off, flying low over the moors to try and find safety. Instead they are driven to their deaths – met by an unrelenting barrage of shotgun fire, maiming and killing them in their thousands.

It is time for the gun fire and savage cruelty to stop. Please make a donation today and help us bring an end to this merciless sport.

Many birds are shot and killed instantly. Many more are mortally wounded, desperately trying to fly on before tumbling out of the sky. They scramble to hide where the retrieving dogs cannot get to them, only to die slowly and agonisingly anyway.

Since August, this carnage has continued day in day out. On 10th December the guns will at last be quiet for a few months, but only until it all starts again next year.

Will you make a donation today to help our work to stop this sickening cycle of cruelty? 

Your donation could help us to:
• Lobby and inform MPs of the reality of driven grouse shooting in the lead up to the upcoming Parliamentary debate

• Get more investigators on the ground to gather the vital evidence we need to expose the truth about driven grouse shooting

• Use this evidence to produce a report the Government can’t ignore

Driven grouse shooting has no place in a modern caring society, and with your help we can end this brutal cycle of cruelty for good.

You can make a donation securely online by credit/debit card or via PayPal, or you can make a telephone donation by calling 01483 524 250

Save Lily: Roadside zoo must surrender its animals to reputable sanctuaries.
Deer Haven Mini Zoo is a roadside zoo in Keymar, Maryland, with deplorable conditions. Deer Haven's featured attraction is a young Asian black bear named Lily who's confined to a tiny, barren cage with nothing to do and no way to escape the heat and humidity. There is also a pig who appears to have an injured hind leg and struggles to walk. 

PETA has offered to place Lily and the other animals in reputable sanctuaries at no cost to the roadside zoo, but its owners have refused to do what's right.

Please urge this horrible faility to surrender the animals and close its doors. 81,220 of the 85,000 Goal have already signed it.

Stop the Trophy Hunting of Yellowstone Grizzly Bears! (Click to help!)
Since 1975, grizzly bears have been on the federal Endangered Species List, offering them protection against hunters. But now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing grizzlies from the list, effectively bringing open season to trophy hunters who want to shoot the bears for ‘sport.’

If the proposal goes through, management of grizzly bears will go to the states in the Greater Yellowstone Region: Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. All three states have said that they are open to big-game hunting, and that they will only review the bears' status if hunting leads to a significant and documented decline in the bear’s population. (There were 136 grizzlies in the wild when they were originally put on the Endangered Species List; today, there are 700.)

Allowing the hunt isn’t just bad for the bears who face slaughter --  it could also have a drastic effect on the Greater Yellowstone Region as a whole. Grizzly bears are a crucial part of the local ecosystem, and keep prey populations in check.

Plus, the bears boost the local economy—the tourism industry in the Greater Yellowstone Region is worth $1 billion, with many visitors coming expressly to see large predators like grizzlies.

Please help stop the bloodshed. Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that grizzly bears must remain on the Endangered Species list, keeping them safe from sport hunters and poachers. Sign now and let the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service know that you want grizzly bears to be protected so they can live their lives in peace!

Don’t Drop Live Turkeys from Airplanes. How is This Allowed?! Town in Arkansas Drops Turkeys From an Airplane For People to Hunt. People nowadays entertain themselves in the strangest ways. Some visit a beach and instead of laying out to tan or playing some beach volleyball, spend their time yanking marine animals out of the ocean for selfies. Some people spend their summer planning out and participating in festivals that kill hundreds of marine animals, and even promote it as an event for “conservation.” And in Arkansas, this month, a man by the name of Dana Woods will fly around in a single-engine airplane, while his cousins fling turkeys out of it, all for the sake of a festival where families will get a chance to chase, catch, and kill the birds. Oh, and it’s all perfectly legal.

We know what you’re thinking – what kind of bizarre town is this? Or maybe you’re thinking “what time century are we in?” These are some valid questions. Sadly, we must report that this is, in fact, a thing and it takes place in Yellville, Arkansas at the annual Turkey Trot Festival. According to Woods, the birds “can fly a long way” and seem to glide to a landing. Then, once they’re on the ground, they are chased and kept as hunting trophies, pets, or used as dinner during the holiday season.

While we have some doubts about just how easy it is for these birds to land and how “graceful” it is for them, to argue about the safety of this event, would be to accept its absurdity, which we definitely do not. 
Turkey Drop in text
We didn’t think we had to point it out, but just because bird have wings and can fly, that doesn’t mean you should just drop them out of the sky and force them to out of fear. Secondly, the entire ideology of this festival is based around the idea that turkeys are simply objects or toys that exist for our entertainment instead of the living, breathing, feeling animals that they are. Not only is this a cruel act for adults to participate in, but it’s incredibly irresponsible to teach children that this is okay. It reinforces the thinking that animals exist on Earth simply for our own use and gives children a warped perception of how our relationship with animals should be. With events like this in existence, it only becomes harder for children to realize how similar animals are to us, how deserving they are of respect, and that they are not ours to use for anything, be it medication, food, or entertainment.

Unfortunately, Woods doesn’t seem to see a problem in the festival at all, having the audacity to claim that the act should not be construed as abuse. “We treat the turkeys right. That may sound ironic, but we don’t abuse those turkeys. We coddle and pet those turkeys. We’re good to them.” Woods said in an interview with Arkansas Online. While the act of dropping the turkeys out of the plane is not technically illegal because Woods and his team are not dropping the birds over a crowd, it is without a doubt, abuse.

People are not staying silent about this issue, though. For as long as the festival has been held, there has been public outcry from animal welfare activists. Gemma Vaughan, an animal-cruelty caseworker with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) even spoke out, saying the “turkey drop is a throwback to a sorry time when human beings were bone ignorant of animals’ feelings.” According to Vaughan, PETA is even offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any participant for a violation of law, “including the destruction of personal property, as a turkey plummets to the ground.”

Despite all of the concern from the public, Woods and his team do not seem perturbed at all and will move forward with the event. If you’re as disturbed by this event as we are, share this article to spread awareness and let Yellville know you don’t think this is an appropriate way to treat an animal! Image source: Kaitlyn Schwers

A Cruel Person Abandoned This Dog in a Ditch, So One Kind Man Decided to Right This Wrong. There are millions of homeless animals wandering the streets in the U.S. Unfortunately because they have no guardians, it’s virtually impossible to know each and every one of their personal stories. Some have ended up on the street  after being cruelly abandoned by their guardians. Others were born into a feral colony and are simply in a group of many homeless animals. And a few have gotten lost and sadly never made their way back home. How ever they got there, animals, like stray dogs, have to deal with several challenges while trying to make it on their own. They have to search for food constantly, usually from the trash. They have to make sure they are able to locate water to drink every once in a while. And of course, they must be careful and try to avoid being hit by cars while out on the streets.

Recently, a kind man, that goes by the username nizzle on Imgur, stumbled upon a dog in a ditch while out driving. Clearly, a lover of animals, the fellow immediately stopped the car and tried to approach the pup. Unfortunately, it appears the skittish pup was not used to much human interaction, so he bolted onto the street. Determined to help, the Imgur user spent two hours trying to coax the little fella towards him. 

Eventually, he was able to grab the fearful pup and settle him into the front seat of the car. He even wrapped him in a towel for comfort. 
Kind Man Saves Dog He Found in Ditch While Driving
Considering the puppy had been taking up home in a ditch, the Imgur user figured the best first course of action was drawing a bath. But first, a picture to commemorate the rescue! 
Kind Man Saves Dog He Found in Ditch While Driving
The little guy definitely seemed in better spirits after the scrub down. 
Kind Man Saves Dog He Found in Ditch While Driving
After inspecting further, the Imgur user realized that the puppy had an injured leg and fleas. Thankfully, most of the fleas were washed off during the bath, and flea medication was given to take care of the rest. 
Kind Man Saves Dog He Found in Ditch While Driving
Now, this kind man is doing everything he can to make the puppy as happy and healthy, as possible. We think there are a lot of fun times ahead for these two! 
Kind Man Saves Dog He Found in Ditch While Driving
Without the help of this kind Imgur user, there’s no telling how much longer this little pup would have survived in the ditch, especially considering he had an injury and fleas. Not everyone is necessarily able to welcome a stray animal into their home, but there are other ways you can help these innocent creatures. Click here to learn how! All image source: nizzle/Imgur


Horses Left with Open Sores, Left to Suffer
Pig Truck Crashes in Ontario