Five Issues to Watch for Wildlife as Congress Returns This Week, Animal Cruelty Report, Dog meat trade, TAMU, Tony the Tiger, Maple Lane Wildlife Farm, Brazil's Farra do Boi festival, Turkey Drop, World Dog Show in China, Rabbit Scramble, Natural Bridge Zoo and much more to report this week!
Five Issues to Watch for Wildlife as Congress Returns
Congress has returned from August recess and we are prepping for what could be a decisive time for our cherished wildlife and wild places.
Congress is back in session and while its immediate focus will be on relief funding for Gulf states in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, anti-wildlife Members of Congress are sure to reignite their continued attacks on our wildlife and wild places. Defenders will be fending off attempts to undermine the Endangered Species Act (ESA), attacks on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as assaults on the National Wildlife Refuge System and other public lands that provide important wildlife habitat.
Here are the top five issues we are keeping an eye on in the coming weeks and months, and how they could affect wildlife and their habitats.
One of Congress’s highest priorities now that they’re back is to pass
legislation to keep the federal government running. Current funding for the
federal government is set to run out on September 30. We expect initial
supplemental funding for Hurricane Harvey relief, which could possibly be
attached to a clean debt ceiling increase, to pass as soon as this week. We will
likely also see a clean temporary bill to fund the federal government while
Congress works on the final full year funding bill. A quick note about “clean”
bills: when Congress refers to passing a clean bill that means a bill free of
riders or amendments that are often used to delay the decision-making process or
pass legislation that would otherwise not get through on their own.
As part of their efforts to move forward on a final full-year bill to fund the government, the House of Representatives is expected to consider legislation this week to fund the Department of the Interior. This legislation already contains a number of anti-wildlife provisions, including: language that would delist wolves in the Great Lakes region and reaffirm a court decision that delisted wolves in Wyoming, a rider that would defund wolf conservation for all wolves in the continental United States, including the endangered Mexican gray wolf, and a provision that would prohibit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from listing the greater sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered species under the ESA for at least a year. Additional anti-wildlife provisions have been offered on the bill and we are waiting to find out which ones will receive votes on the House floor. Later this month we may also see the Senate Appropriations Committee advance its version of the Interior funding bill which is likely to include anti-wildlife provisions.
We are also keeping close watch on and opposing efforts to fund a $1.6
billion border wall through the appropriations process. The proposed wall would
not only cut through human communities, it would also bisect wildlife habitat
like the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, and cut off crucial wildlife
corridors, which would impede the recovery of species like the ferruginous
pygmy-owl, Mexican gray wolf, ocelot, and jaguar.
Don’t be fooled by the name of this bill from the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee.
The so-called “HELP for Wildlife Act” would delist wolves in the Great Lakes region and reaffirm a court decision that delisted wolves in Wyoming. The American public overwhelmingly agrees that decisions about our threatened and endangered wildlife should be left up to scientists, not politicians. Adding insult to injury, the bill also contains language that would prohibit judicial review of these decisions. That means that even if Defenders and the public fight tooth and nail for wolves, we would not be able to file lawsuits to challenge these delisting decisions.
This bill would undermine the ESA, the rule of law, and the necessary role of science in protecting imperiled species. On top of it all, a bill like this – in the current political climate – could become a vehicle for even more attacks on wildlife.
Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), the chairman of the Environment and Public
Works Committee, is expected to introduce a damaging bill that would weaken the
ESA sometime this fall. During several committee hearings on the ESA earlier
this year, Senator Barrasso said that he wants to “modernize” the statute.
However, this is not some altruistic attempt to strengthen protections for
imperiled species. In fact, this is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to
weaken the ESA and undermine its effectiveness. If Senator Barrasso and other
lawmakers really wanted to do more for our imperiled species, they would fully
fund the ESA and urge the FWS to implement it more effectively.
The ESA has proven its value and efficacy time and time again – all while facing severe funding constraints. It is one of our nation’s most successful environmental laws, having helped prevent 99 percent of listed species from going extinct. The ESA has recovered beloved American species to our skies, lands and waters including the bald eagle, brown pelican, American alligator and humpback whale. These iconic species, as well as many others, rely on the protections afforded by the ESA. Any legislation to rewrite this effective and popular conservation act would have devastating impacts on our ability to protect and restore at-risk species. Defenders will continue to fight off all attempts to erode this landmark law.
The contentious battle to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and
gas development is expected to pick up again in the latter part of the fall,
when Congress is expected to take up a budget resolution. The resolution is
essentially a blueprint of targets for what the government should spend as well
as what revenue it should try to raise in the upcoming fiscal year. These
targets can be sent to congressional committees who then propose legislation
that can affect spending or revenue. Recently, the House Budget Committee passed
a budget resolution instructing the House Natural Resources Committee to raise
revenues. This move should concern any friend of wildlife and public lands,
because the House Natural Resources Committee could use this directive to push
forward a provision that would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to
oil drilling and exploration. This situation is especially concerning given that
the Trump administration has been vocal about its desire to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would put countless wildlife species as well as their habitat in grave danger. The Arctic Refuge is one of the largest intact ecosystems in America. At the biological heart of the refuge lies the 1.5-million-acre Coastal Plain, which provides vital habitat for grizzly bears, artic foxes, muskoxen, wolves and hundreds of species of birds that migrate from all 50 states and six continents. Known as “America’s Serengeti,” the Coastal Plain is the principal calving ground of one of North America’s last great caribou herds, and it is our most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears. Opening the refuge to drilling would subject wildlife to harmful seismic testing, increased infrastructure disturbances and vessel traffic, potential spills, and an increased human presence – all of which would disrupt this vulnerable ecosystem and could cause irreparable harm to wildlife and the environment.
We will continue to monitor the budget resolution and fight the inclusion of any provisions that harm the Arctic Refuge.
We will also be closely tracking other bills that either already include
anti-wildlife measures, or which could be loaded up with anti-wildlife
amendments, including the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810/S.1519),
the Energy Bill (S. 1460), the Sportsmen’s Bill (H.R. 3668), and the Resilient
Federal Forests Act (H.R. 2936).
Reject
World Dog Show in China. International
outrage followed the announcement that the 2019 World Dog Show would be held in
China. The awarding body claimed it would help dogs be seen as family, but two
years later there is no sign of any animal protection law that will truly change
the fate of China’s dogs. Millions of canines are at the mercy of those who
would eat or abuse them. Hundreds more will fly out to the World Dog Show in
2019, fuelling yet more dog breeding in China with dire consequences. We must
act now to fight for a dog meat ban in China! TAKE
ACTION
Shut
Down the Natural Bridge Zoo Roadside Atrocity for Good! We're
calling for the immediate closure and sanctuary retirement of animals suffering
at Virginia’s Natural Bridge Zoo in Rockbridge County, following a new round of
animal welfare violations found by the USDA during a June inspection. We call on
the USDA, along with the Governor of Virginia, Terence McAuliffe, to enforce
regulations, and to remove Asha the elephant, and the other suffering animals to
accredited sanctuaries. Help us shut down this roadside atrocity for
good! TAKE
ACTION
For more than 400 years in India, bear cubs poached from the wild were forced into lives of slavery, "dancing" in pain from a rope crudely run through their muzzles. Over the years, with your help, we saved 628 bears from this terrible fate, rescuing India's last "dancing bear" in 2009.
The Nightmarish Lives of Animals Killed for Food
End
Cruel "Turkey Drop" in Arkansas. Almost
every year, a pilot passes over the Yellville Turkey Trot festival and throws
out live turkeys from at least 500 feet - 10 times higher than wild turkeys
generally fly. They hurtle toward the ground and their broken bodies are
snatched up by the crowd. Harming animals for entertainment is not funny. Let's
stop this turkey torture festival once and for all! TAKE
ACTION
VIDEO:
Despite Protests, Cruel Animal Scrambles Continue at Tippah County
Fair. The
announcement came, and the "Rabbit Scramble" was on. Following a prayer, the
Pledge of Allegiance, and a brief oral history of the 67-year tradition of the
Tippah County Fair proudly holding its "Farm Animal Scramble," parents of
children two-and-under were instructed to accompany their toddlers into the
arena to "catch" a group of terrified rabbits taken from crates and left exposed
in the open arena. These horrified rabbits ran at hare speed to evade capture,
but the odds were against most of them. READ
MORE
Congress has returned from August recess and we are prepping for what could be a decisive time for our cherished wildlife and wild places.
Congress is back in session and while its immediate focus will be on relief funding for Gulf states in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, anti-wildlife Members of Congress are sure to reignite their continued attacks on our wildlife and wild places. Defenders will be fending off attempts to undermine the Endangered Species Act (ESA), attacks on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as assaults on the National Wildlife Refuge System and other public lands that provide important wildlife habitat.
Here are the top five issues we are keeping an eye on in the coming weeks and months, and how they could affect wildlife and their habitats.
Funding the Government
One of Congress’s highest priorities now that they’re back is to pass
legislation to keep the federal government running. Current funding for the
federal government is set to run out on September 30. We expect initial
supplemental funding for Hurricane Harvey relief, which could possibly be
attached to a clean debt ceiling increase, to pass as soon as this week. We will
likely also see a clean temporary bill to fund the federal government while
Congress works on the final full year funding bill. A quick note about “clean”
bills: when Congress refers to passing a clean bill that means a bill free of
riders or amendments that are often used to delay the decision-making process or
pass legislation that would otherwise not get through on their own.
As part of their efforts to move forward on a final full-year bill to fund the government, the House of Representatives is expected to consider legislation this week to fund the Department of the Interior. This legislation already contains a number of anti-wildlife provisions, including: language that would delist wolves in the Great Lakes region and reaffirm a court decision that delisted wolves in Wyoming, a rider that would defund wolf conservation for all wolves in the continental United States, including the endangered Mexican gray wolf, and a provision that would prohibit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) from listing the greater sage-grouse as a threatened or endangered species under the ESA for at least a year. Additional anti-wildlife provisions have been offered on the bill and we are waiting to find out which ones will receive votes on the House floor. Later this month we may also see the Senate Appropriations Committee advance its version of the Interior funding bill which is likely to include anti-wildlife provisions.
So-Called HELP for Wildlife Act
Don’t be fooled by the name of this bill from the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee.
The so-called “HELP for Wildlife Act” would delist wolves in the Great Lakes region and reaffirm a court decision that delisted wolves in Wyoming. The American public overwhelmingly agrees that decisions about our threatened and endangered wildlife should be left up to scientists, not politicians. Adding insult to injury, the bill also contains language that would prohibit judicial review of these decisions. That means that even if Defenders and the public fight tooth and nail for wolves, we would not be able to file lawsuits to challenge these delisting decisions.
This bill would undermine the ESA, the rule of law, and the necessary role of science in protecting imperiled species. On top of it all, a bill like this – in the current political climate – could become a vehicle for even more attacks on wildlife.
Weakening the Endangered Species
Act
Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), the chairman of the Environment and Public
Works Committee, is expected to introduce a damaging bill that would weaken the
ESA sometime this fall. During several committee hearings on the ESA earlier
this year, Senator Barrasso said that he wants to “modernize” the statute.
However, this is not some altruistic attempt to strengthen protections for
imperiled species. In fact, this is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to
weaken the ESA and undermine its effectiveness. If Senator Barrasso and other
lawmakers really wanted to do more for our imperiled species, they would fully
fund the ESA and urge the FWS to implement it more effectively.
The ESA has proven its value and efficacy time and time again – all while facing severe funding constraints. It is one of our nation’s most successful environmental laws, having helped prevent 99 percent of listed species from going extinct. The ESA has recovered beloved American species to our skies, lands and waters including the bald eagle, brown pelican, American alligator and humpback whale. These iconic species, as well as many others, rely on the protections afforded by the ESA. Any legislation to rewrite this effective and popular conservation act would have devastating impacts on our ability to protect and restore at-risk species. Defenders will continue to fight off all attempts to erode this landmark law.
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge
The contentious battle to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and
gas development is expected to pick up again in the latter part of the fall,
when Congress is expected to take up a budget resolution. The resolution is
essentially a blueprint of targets for what the government should spend as well
as what revenue it should try to raise in the upcoming fiscal year. These
targets can be sent to congressional committees who then propose legislation
that can affect spending or revenue. Recently, the House Budget Committee passed
a budget resolution instructing the House Natural Resources Committee to raise
revenues. This move should concern any friend of wildlife and public lands,
because the House Natural Resources Committee could use this directive to push
forward a provision that would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to
oil drilling and exploration. This situation is especially concerning given that
the Trump administration has been vocal about its desire to open the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would put countless wildlife species as well as their habitat in grave danger. The Arctic Refuge is one of the largest intact ecosystems in America. At the biological heart of the refuge lies the 1.5-million-acre Coastal Plain, which provides vital habitat for grizzly bears, artic foxes, muskoxen, wolves and hundreds of species of birds that migrate from all 50 states and six continents. Known as “America’s Serengeti,” the Coastal Plain is the principal calving ground of one of North America’s last great caribou herds, and it is our most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears. Opening the refuge to drilling would subject wildlife to harmful seismic testing, increased infrastructure disturbances and vessel traffic, potential spills, and an increased human presence – all of which would disrupt this vulnerable ecosystem and could cause irreparable harm to wildlife and the environment.
We will continue to monitor the budget resolution and fight the inclusion of any provisions that harm the Arctic Refuge.
Amendments
We will also be closely tracking other bills that either already include
anti-wildlife measures, or which could be loaded up with anti-wildlife
amendments, including the National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810/S.1519),
the Energy Bill (S. 1460), the Sportsmen’s Bill (H.R. 3668), and the Resilient
Federal Forests Act (H.R. 2936).
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For oxen, Brazil's Farra do Boi festival is anything but a celebration.
In the weeks before Easter, many will be kicked, punched, and beaten with sticks and whips. Some will sustain broken limbs, while others' eyes will be gouged out or their tails will be hacked off. Still others may be doused with gasoline and set ablaze. One way or another, every ox will be violently killed.
Bulls in Spain's Toro Jubilo don't have it any better, as balls of flaming tar or pitch attached to their horns scorch their eyes, faces, and bodies. Many will spend their last moments in utter agony as they're left to burn for hours, their tortured bodies eventually hacked apart and consumed by those hoping to boost their fertility.
From the streets of Mexico to the mountains of Nepal, PETA is determined to prevent bulls, dogs, goats, and other animals from suffering in the name of cruel tradition.
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For more than 400 years in India, bear cubs poached from the wild were forced into lives of slavery, "dancing" in pain from a rope crudely run through their muzzles. Over the years, with your help, we saved 628 bears from this terrible fate, rescuing India's last "dancing bear" in 2009.
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The problem is solved for now, but to truly abolish it forever we're trying to go one full generation in India without a dancing bear — a generation of children who have never seen the practice and would never think of it as a viable livelihood. To achieve this, here's what we need to do:
1. We want to build a memorial to honor all the bears who were forced to endure the dancing bear trade — so we can remember, reflect, and never repeat that tragic history.
2. We want to protect wild bears from poachers looking to reinstate this despicable trade.
3. We want to ensure that at-risk communities such as the Kalandar tribe have opportunities to prevent the economic desperation that led them to exploit bears in the first place.
4. And finally, we want to provide the best-quality care and support for the bears we currently look after, be they victims of the dancing trade or not.
We're hoping to raise $62,800 for the project — that's $100 for all 628 bears we rescued from the dancing trade — in the next 30 days. Please help us remember the past and protect the future by joining our bear defense project!
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Stop
the Bow Hunting of Deer by City of Charlottesville. Bow
hunting is one of the most inhumane and utterly barbaric ways to kill any
animal. Injury rates are very high and many deer are tracked for long periods by
the blood trails they leave. Sadly, the City of Charlottesville now allows
citizens to obtain free licenses to bow hunt deer on their property, and so
property owners with a half-acre or more of property to their names can brutally
bow-hunt deer. To add to the misery, the city has earmarked $50,000.00 to hire a
hunting firm to sharpshoot deer. Let's join forces with local activists to tell
the Mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia and the Charlottesville City Council that
bow-hunting of deer is both profoundly inhumane and utterly ineffective in
reducing deer/auto collisions. TAKE
ACTION
