In Defense of Animals, Elephant In The Room, Elephant PINS, Nosey, Melbourne Zoo & DEADLINE TODAY: Support Regulatory Changes to Protect Animals from Repeat Offenders of the Animal Welfare Act...
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is supposed to enforce the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) for zoos, petting zoos, and circuses - but it doesn’t. Despite incurring years of AWA violations, most of these abusive facilities have their exhibitor licenses renewed - automatically every year- by the USDA! Now there is a public comment period with the USDA asking for your comments about this inane policy. Now is the time for you (from anywhere in the world) to speak up for the animals whose lives are at the mercy of repeat offenders of the Animal Welfare Act!
The USDA must enforce its own stated regulation of “Prevention or cessation of the inhumane treatment (of animals)” by taking a licensee’s violation history more seriously, and increasing the number of inspections it conducts before blindly granting license renewals.
Despite their decades of violations of the Animal Welfare Act, repeat offenders get away with animal cruelty and exploitation year after year, licensed by the USDA. Examples include Hugo Liebel, who “owns” Nosey the elephant, and Karl Mogensen, who exploits the solitary elephant Asha at his roadside atrocity in Virginia at the Natural Bridge Zoo.
The USDA must hold licensees accountable to a humane standard of care, or exhibitor licenses must be revoked altogether, with the animals removed and placed in accredited sanctuaries. Too many violators, for far too long, have been getting away with unimaginable cruelty and exploitation. It's time to break the cycle!
What You Can Do
You have until Monday, October 23 to tell the USDA/APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) that you Support Regulatory Changes to Protect Animals from Repeat Offenders of the Animal Welfare Act.
Follow these simple steps:
1) Click on our link to the regulations.gov website which will take you to the page that says you are commenting on The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Proposed Rule: Animal Welfare: Procedures for Applying for Licenses and Renewals
Occasionally the government's official comments site gets overwhelmed, so if you can't get the comment page to load correctly for you, please don't give up. Try again later today, over the weekend, or on Monday up until the one minute until midnight deadline (Eastern Time).
Direct link is: https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=APHIS-2017-0062-0001
2) In Section 1, where it says "Your Information," please put your simple and concise comment in the top box that says "Comment." You can copy and paste one of our three sample comments which appear at the end of this blog, but it is more effective to write your own if you can take the time to do so. Please take care to be polite and articulate. Emotional, angry rants (though understandable) will not be considered or taken seriously.
3) Ignore the "Choose Files" box, and continue by adding your first and last name, then fill in your fields that are marked as required in the "Contact Information" section.
4) Ignore the "I am submitting on behalf of a third party" checkbox.
5) Click "Continue" to be taken to the "Your Preview" page.
6) Click the box for "I read and understand the statement above" and click the "Submit Comment" button which will take you to the "Your Receipt" page.
Congratulations! You've successfully submitted your comment! You have the choice to have it emailed to you from this page as well.
Thanks so very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this!
Sample Comments:
I support the USDA in enacting a strong policy change that would prevent repeat violators of the Animal Welfare Act from having their licenses automatically renewed, and to prevent those with a history of violations from applying for new licenses under different names. Time and again, repeat offenders who are not meeting the most basic humane standards of care, are putting animals, and often public health and safety, at risk. The USDA makes it too easy to procure and maintain licenses for exotic animal ownership and exploitation. As stated in their duties and responsibilities, the USDA/APHIS should consistently achieve the “Prevention or cessation of the inhumane treatment (of animals).”
I support the USDA’s efforts to enact strong policy changes that would help protect animals from repeat violators of the Animal Welfare Act. Notorious abusers, like Hugo Liebel - with nearly 200 Animal Welfare Act violations in regard to his exploitation of Nosey the elephant - repeatedly receive their exhibitor licenses. Thousands of emails and signatures on petitions against Liebel’s abuse of Nosey are unheeded by the USDA as he continues to risk public health and safety by offering elephant rides on a crippled, sick and abused elephant. The USDA must end this rubber stamping of licenses and protect animals, not abusers.
I support changes in policy that would stop rubber stamping licenses for Animal Welfare Act violaters. For instance, Karl Mogensen of Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia continues to exploit Asha the elephant, and other desperate animals, depite his decades of AWA violations for his decrepit, unsafe facility, lack of veterinary care, and mishandling of animals. Please protect animals, not abusers.
Goal: End the captivity of elephants at the Melbourne Zoo. Click to help Out!
An elephant that was held captive for 40 years at the Melbourne Zoo has died due to a degenerative foot and joint disease. Despite concerns that his living conditions were too cramped, the Asiatic bull elephant named Bong Su was forced to spend his days in a concrete exhibit for the purposes of allowing the public to gawk at him. The Melbourne Zoo has stated that Bong Su’s condition had deteriorated to the point that they had no other option but to euthanize him.
Elephant experts and zoo consultants say that Bong Su’s death was entirely preventable and that his arthritic condition was the result of his unnatural living circumstances. Bong Su first showed signs of arthritis in 2005, but concerned observers noted that the elephant had developed severe behavioral problems far earlier. It was known that Bong Su would turn in circles endlessly each night in his barn, walking through his own feces, as a result of his boredom and distress. This constant confined motion may have led to his debilitating condition.
Elephants are intelligent, social creatures that do not do well in captivity, and it is time that they are removed from all zoo exhibits. Sign this petition to demand that the Melbourne Zoo put an end to their elephant program and transfer all remaining elephants to a wildlife sanctuary so they can live out the rest of their lives with the dignity and space they need. PETITION LETTER
“Nosey is a crippled female African elephant sanctioned by USDA/APHIS to be kept in circus chains her entire life under the fear of the bull hook, guide or whatever you want to call it. USDA/APHIS must correct this longstanding injustice, stop their lip service, grant Nosey her freedom, take away the pain, and revoke their agency's permit which serves only to prolong her suffering." – Philip K. Ensley, DVM, Dipl. ACZM” Click to help out...
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