What the Government Shutdown Means for Animals, Yummy...Goose Livers, Dog Meat and Cat Meat, Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn, Bill in Israel to ban live imports, Third Offense Dogfighter, 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants, The Bandung Zoo, Sybelle Foxcroft, Cee4life, Farfetch, 360 dogs at the Zarcovica shelter in Dubrovnik are shivering, freezing, wet and alone and much more on the Animal Welfare Weekly Report!
What the Government Shutdown Means for Animals
The temporary shutdown of the federal government that began on December 22 has dragged into the new year without a clear end in sight. Not only does this lapse in federal funds affect government employees and curtail important services for people—it also directly impacts animals. Here are some examples of how animals are affected by the shutdown.
USDA Inspections of Puppy Mills
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) at commercial facilities that breed, sell or exhibit animals, including puppy mills. During the shutdown, all routine inspections of AWA-licensed facilities have ceased. This means that puppy mills that house hundreds of dogs are currently operating without any government oversight. When properly conducted, APHIS inspections of puppy mills ensure that bare minimum standards, such as access to water and food, are met. Past APHIS enforcement of the AWA has been notoriously weak; animals deserve better, but they certainly won’t be protected at all while the government is closed for business. When the USDA isn’t able to do its job, puppy mills can operate with zero accountability and dogs will continue to suffer.
Horse Soring
APHIS is also charged with enforcing the Horse Protection Act (HPA) to combat the abusive practice of soring, the use of painful chemicals and devices to inflict pain in horses to compel an exaggerated, high-stepping gait. APHIS oversees the inspection of at-risk show horses to ensure that they have not been sored and assesses penalties for violations. We are concerned enough as it is about whether inspectors are adequately enforcing the HPA and preventing trainers from harming horses. Suspension of this program during the government shutdown could mean that unscrupulous trainers will take advantage of this lapse in oversight.
During the shutdown, APHIS has retained a small number of staff who can be deployed to respond to serious animal welfare concerns. Unfortunately, APHIS does not consider routine oversight of animal care an “essential function” during government shutdowns. We urge the agency to reconsider how animal care activities are categorized, since there is a higher potential for animals to be harmed without government oversight.
Farm Animals Heading to Slaughter
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) upholds the requirements of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act related to the treatment of animals prior to and during slaughter. FSIS’s shutdown contingency plan does not specifically address continued enforcement of humane slaughter laws. However, meat and poultry inspection operations, and most employees who support those activities, have been deemed essential, so it’s likely that any humane handling violations are still being monitored and recorded during the shutdown as required by the Federal Meat and Poultry Inspection Acts.
Wild Horses & Burros
Two federal agencies—the Bureau of Land Management (part of the Interior Department) and the U.S. Forest Service (part of the USDA)—are responsible for managing herds of wild horses and burros that roam our public lands. The ongoing care of wild horses and burros who have been gathered from the range and held in corrals is considered an essential government function, so those animals are continuing to receive care during the government shutdown. However, the lapse in government funds means that the federal agencies will not initiate any new gathers of wild horses and burros during this time. Additionally, wild horses from the Devil’s Garden herd in California could get a reprieve from a planned sale by the U.S. Forest Service that would put them in danger of being slaughtered for meat in Mexico and Canada.
Overall, the government shutdown is bad news for animals. The government agencies that help protect animals can’t enforce animal-protection laws without funding. We urge Congress and President Trump to work quickly to restore funding to the government so our federal agencies can resume operating important programs aimed at protecting animals from cruelty.
If you have a question about the government shutdown or if you’d like to speak directly with our Legislative Engagement team directly about our work in this arena, please email grassroots@aspca.org.
USDA Inspections of Puppy Mills
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is responsible for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) at commercial facilities that breed, sell or exhibit animals, including puppy mills. During the shutdown, all routine inspections of AWA-licensed facilities have ceased. This means that puppy mills that house hundreds of dogs are currently operating without any government oversight. When properly conducted, APHIS inspections of puppy mills ensure that bare minimum standards, such as access to water and food, are met. Past APHIS enforcement of the AWA has been notoriously weak; animals deserve better, but they certainly won’t be protected at all while the government is closed for business. When the USDA isn’t able to do its job, puppy mills can operate with zero accountability and dogs will continue to suffer.
Horse Soring
APHIS is also charged with enforcing the Horse Protection Act (HPA) to combat the abusive practice of soring, the use of painful chemicals and devices to inflict pain in horses to compel an exaggerated, high-stepping gait. APHIS oversees the inspection of at-risk show horses to ensure that they have not been sored and assesses penalties for violations. We are concerned enough as it is about whether inspectors are adequately enforcing the HPA and preventing trainers from harming horses. Suspension of this program during the government shutdown could mean that unscrupulous trainers will take advantage of this lapse in oversight.
During the shutdown, APHIS has retained a small number of staff who can be deployed to respond to serious animal welfare concerns. Unfortunately, APHIS does not consider routine oversight of animal care an “essential function” during government shutdowns. We urge the agency to reconsider how animal care activities are categorized, since there is a higher potential for animals to be harmed without government oversight.
Farm Animals Heading to Slaughter
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) upholds the requirements of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act related to the treatment of animals prior to and during slaughter. FSIS’s shutdown contingency plan does not specifically address continued enforcement of humane slaughter laws. However, meat and poultry inspection operations, and most employees who support those activities, have been deemed essential, so it’s likely that any humane handling violations are still being monitored and recorded during the shutdown as required by the Federal Meat and Poultry Inspection Acts.
Wild Horses & Burros
Two federal agencies—the Bureau of Land Management (part of the Interior Department) and the U.S. Forest Service (part of the USDA)—are responsible for managing herds of wild horses and burros that roam our public lands. The ongoing care of wild horses and burros who have been gathered from the range and held in corrals is considered an essential government function, so those animals are continuing to receive care during the government shutdown. However, the lapse in government funds means that the federal agencies will not initiate any new gathers of wild horses and burros during this time. Additionally, wild horses from the Devil’s Garden herd in California could get a reprieve from a planned sale by the U.S. Forest Service that would put them in danger of being slaughtered for meat in Mexico and Canada.
Overall, the government shutdown is bad news for animals. The government agencies that help protect animals can’t enforce animal-protection laws without funding. We urge Congress and President Trump to work quickly to restore funding to the government so our federal agencies can resume operating important programs aimed at protecting animals from cruelty.
If you have a question about the government shutdown or if you’d like to speak directly with our Legislative Engagement team directly about our work in this arena, please email grassroots@aspca.org.
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'Game of Thrones' Star Jerome Flynn Exposes Horror of British Farms. During Veganuary, Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn has joined forces with PETA to highlight the horrors of the British farming industry and expose misleading labels like "high-welfare" and "free-range". Watch Now and read more about it!
A bill has been proposed in Israel to phase out the import of live animals from Australia and Europe for slaughter, and we need your help to get it passed! While the initial vote in the Israeli Cabinet was a success, receiving unanimous support, the bill needs to go through three more rounds of voting before it can be passed into law.
Animals transported from Australia to Israel spend three weeks at sea on average. The terrified animals are crammed onto ships that are many storeys high and forced to endure a gruelling trip across thousands of kilometres in all weather extremes. Many starve to death or succumb to heatstroke or disease.
Figures from the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources indicate that more than 2.5 million animals have died on live-export ships before reaching their destination.
The Australian government considers it acceptable for up to 2 per cent of sheep and 1 per cent of cattle to die during each journey. A veterinarian who used to work on these ships released a study stating that live export can never be humane. You can find out more about her findings here.
Those who survive are dragged from the ship and face a terrifying death. Some are slaughtered en masse, while others are thrown onto trucks and into cars to be slaughtered by individual purchasers.
The majority of the public now understands and opposes the cruelty of live export. People from all over the world are looking to Israel to pass this important legislation.
Please take a moment to write to the following individuals in behalf of these animals:
• The Israeli ambassador to your country (Please find contact details here. As you may be aware from our previous mission, the embassy's e-mail address may not always be up to date on the website provided. If you get a message indicating that the e-mail failed to send, please check the embassy's website directly or let me know and I can help you.)
• Knesset House Committee Chair and Likud MK Miki Zohar, who proposed this bill, at mzohar@knesset.gov.il
For 35 years, In Defense of Animals has been a world leader of elephant-focused advocacy. We've led international demonstrations, our work has been featured in countless influential venues, and we've spent decades painstakingly documenting the impoverished lives of captive individuals across North America. We have made undeniable progress.
Despite the ongoing tragedies — the deaths of infants, the punishing use of bullhooks, the kidnappings from the wild and tearing apart of families — we've simultaneously witnessed a shifting of public opinion as people come to see the truth behind what zoos claim as being their mission of education and protecting elephants. We've helped show the world that, despite zoo industry claims to the contrary, elephant captivity is not conservation — and it never will be.
We are once again putting the entire zoo industry on notice with the announcement of our 15th annual 10 Worst Zoos for Elephants list. Our respected annual list shines the harsh light of truth on the plight of captive elephants in zoos and reveals the dire reality of captivity-caused conditions like obesity, arthritis, and foot disease that are driving captive elephant deaths at rates that outpace live elephant births. No matter how much money the zoo industry spends to proclaim otherwise, elephants do not thrive in constrictive and degrading zoo environments. No one does.
We invite you to join us as partners in this fight by sharing our 10 Worst Zoos list with your friends and family. Please forward this email or share on social media to help us spread the shame of elephant captivity!
With your help and support, we will one day see all captive elephants released to accredited sanctuaries and send this cruel and outdated tradition to the dustbin of history once and for all!
360 dogs are shivering, freezing, wet and alone on a mountainside!
360 dogs at the Zarcovica shelter in Dubrovnik, the richest city in Croatia, are living on a windswept mountainside suffering through the cruel winter. This in spite of the city’s promise to create a new shelter for them.
Two years ago, when he was running for mayor, Mato Francovic, promised that if he was elected, a new shelter would be created before Christmas. He won and became mayor, but all the dogs got for Christmas was a broken promise. He’s tried twice to create a new shelter and twice local people refused to have a dog shelter near their homes.
Two years later the dogs are in desperate need. They live in terrible conditions exposed to bitterly cold, wet winters. They need food and medical care.
They have no running water, electricity or proper shelter to protect them from driving rain and freezing temperatures.
In all honesty the mayor has tried, but he did not anticipate the hostility of some of his constituents. He found two suitable pieces of land, but in both cases local people refused to allow a shelter to be built because they said the dogs would be noisy. They hardened their hearts against the suffering animals and sent the mayor away. He’s trying again. He’s found another piece of land and is doing his best to secure it.
But the bottom line is the dogs desperately need our help.
Please please help us get these poor dogs through winter. This is a nightmare situation, we can’t stop thinking about the poor dogs shivering, freezing cold, wet and miserable on a mountainside, with illness about to pounce.
They really need us! If you possibly can please give generously to Network for Animals today.
This is a nightmare situation for the dogs, we can’t stop thinking about them shivering, freezing cold, wet, alone on a mountainside. They really need us!
If the townspeople of Dubrovnik harden their hearts against suffering dogs, that is a shameful disgrace that we can do nothing about, but you and I and others like us will never condemn dogs to suffer when we can help. Please, donate today and help bring some joy into these innocent animals’ lives.
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Stop
Egypt from Poisoning & Shooting & Exporting Dogs and Cats for
Meat. The
Egyptian government has declared one of two fates for street dogs and cats:
either be poisoned or shot to death or be exported for cruel slaughter. The
Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation plans to export over four thousand
homeless dogs and cats to Asian meat dealers unless we join forces with local
activists to stop them. We can't let this happen! WARNING:
Graphic Images TAKE
ACTION
Keep
Ban of Rhino and Tiger Parts in China! The
Chinese government faced international outrage when it announced its intentions
to legalize the trade of tiger and rhino parts for medicinal use. These wild
creatures already face grave threats to their survival due to illegal
trafficking, and so authorizing the trade of rhino horns, tiger bones, and other
parts of their bodies would push these animals even closer to extinction. Please
keep the pressure on China to keep the ban on rhino and tiger parts in
place! TAKE
ACTION
Behind the Bars at Bandung Zoo
Does this picture of 2 porcupines kept in small rusty cages, with no access to water in the tropical heat, depict kindness and compassion?
Note the food debris on top of the cage, a result of feeding food through the cage bars. This picture was taken on November 17th 2018 by/for #fixindonesia.com who saw through the "smoke and mirrors" of the Bandung Zoo and are outraged by what they saw. They also observed that many animals are being kept in improper habitats (cages), and demanded answers from the zoo management and asking the public for their opinions.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqxCu3FHuX9/
http://fixindonesia.com/2018/11/29/kandang-yang-buat-meradang/
I have never been to Bandung Zoo but I can clearly see the suffering of the animals from videos and pictures captured by visitors.
Sybelle Foxcroft of CEE4Life, Bandung Zoos “exclusive” NGO partner, has:
* made numerous trips to the Bandung Zoo (since March 2017).
* had hands on involvement with the Bandung Zoo and the captive animals.
* carried out several "educational programs" for and with the Bandung Zoo.
* conducted numerous strolls around the zoo with her live stream videos.
and somehow, she failed to see the suffering and exploitation of the animals.
Cee4Life’s core mission statement claims: to oppose "systemic misuse of wildlife trade, exploitative misuse of wildlife animals or negligent mismanagement of zoo". Yet they prop up the Bandung Zoo, defend them at every turn and even denied that Karditt was eating his own excrement despite video evidence. ( To read her entire core mission please visit https://behindbarsbandungzoo.blogspot.com/2018/11/turning-blind-eye.html )
Anyone who calls out the Bandung Zoo, Cee4Life or Foxcroft are vilified as animal haters, liars and criminals by the employees of Bandung Zoo, Foxcroft and Cee4Life supporters.
Animal champions like yourselves, who signed and shared this petition know that when someone chooses to side with the animal exploiters, they become part of the problem, they disservice the animals and allow the vicious cycle of abuse and exploitation to continue.
To all who brag about how well the animals in the Bandung Zoo are cared for and loved and vilify anyone who speaks out against the animal cruelty there, what does it make you when you turn a blind eye to animal cruelty and exploitation?
Please sign and continue to share this and the following 2 petitions as they linked to this petition:
1) https://www.change.org/p/minister-of-forestry-and-environment-siti-nuraya-bakar-shut-down-indonesia-zoos-association-pkbsi
2) https://www.change.org/p/boycott-tourism-to-cruel-indonesia-now
 Urge Farfetch to Stop Selling Angora Wool From Tortured Rabbits. PETA's expos̩ of Chinese angora farms reveals the horrifying screams of rabbits as they're being plucked Рa process they'll endure repeatedly for two to three years before they're ultimately killed. Farfetch recently ditched fur, so please urge the retailer to stop selling angora, too. Take Action Now! |
Urge Kent Brushes to Stop Supporting the Chinese Badger-Brush Industry. Kent Brushes sells badger-hair brushes sourced from China, where PETA Asia's investigation revealed that workers violently killed fully conscious badgers for their hair. Urge the company to stop selling badger hair immediately. Act Now!
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