It is great to read about anything good that is happening in the animal world, and
a place that I go to often to find some of this is all-creatures.org. Frank and
Mary Hoffman's internet site is a throve site of animal news and related articles, and
as their intro says, is hopefully "Moo-ving people toward compassionate living."
A gem from Pastor Hoffman's sermon of the week: "A truly strong person is a
compassionate person." I concur.
I can never read all the good articles at one sitting, but this day I concentrated on
their "Good News for Animals" section. It is so important to read about successes
in our endeavors to make this a better place for our animal friends and there were
five good happenings listed for them in this October 13th post.
70 MALLS ACROSS US TO BAN PET SALES. Madison Rootenberg wrote in Global
Animal that the Macerich mall developer's pet sales ban was a year in the making and
is largely the result of the efforts of one caring and determined animal activist - Jennifer
Peterson. As they say - never discount the work and dedication of only one person
and Jennifer was that one special person in this case. Because of her efforts:
"Global Animal just received news that shopping center developer Macerich is
banning sales of live animals in more than 70 malls across the US. This new humane
policy designed to break the puppy mill business chain is taking effect nationwide
within 30 days. Macerich confirmed that they will not renew the leases of existing pet
stores that sell animals and in their place, are opening humane stores offering adoptions
of rescued pets." Kudos to the Macerich mall developers!
How I wish that our no-kill Animal Protective League could get such help from any
Cleveland pet stores in our environs. Sadly, the APL is swamped with so many cats and
dogs needing good homes because of irresponsible breeding and lack of using their
very reasonable spay/neuter services.
CALIFORNIAN'S VICTORY FOR SHARKS. On October 7th Governor Brown signed
AB376 into law. Co-authored by Assembly members Fong and Huffman, this act bans
the sale and possession of shark fins in California. Once again California is leading
the states in compassionate laws for the animals or fish. The governor remarked with
the signing of this new law:
"The practice of cutting the fins off of living sharks and dumping them back in the ocean
is not only cruel, but it harms the health of our oceans. Researchers estimate that some
shark populations have declined by more than 90 percent, portending grave threats to
our environment and commercial fishing. In the interest of future generations, I have
signed this bill." Thank you Assembly members Fong and Huffman. Thank you Gov.
Brown.
MONKEY BREEDING FACILITY CONSTRUCTION DENIED BY COURT. "For more
than two years PCRM (Physicians for Responsible Medicine) and other groups have
worked to stop construction of the breeding facility proposed by the Mauritius-based
company. Members of the Puerto Rico government also stepped in to try to stop the
building. In November 2009, a commission established by the Senate of Puerto Rico
released a scathing report citing a number of government agencies for poor oversight.
The commission also found that Bioculture supplied misleading and contradictory
information to obtain permits for the project."
Thank you PCRM and the other groups who squelched this horrible project in the bud.
Thank you -the judges on the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals who saw through the subterfuge
and shenanigans of the Bioculture Primate Supply Company in denying a permit to build
a breeding facility in Puerto Rico. When I think of how over many, many years we have
used so cruelly the monkeys and other primates, I am relieved that at least this one will
never become a reality.
I sometimes remember sadly so many cruel experimentations using primates like
the poor monkeys who were used in testing a better football helmet. These monkeys
were subjected to repeated blows to their helmeted heads for this test. I don't know
what the results were for the football industry, but I imagine these poor monkeys
probably died from this unnecessary cruelty, and can you even imagine their
excruciating pain? Surely a better, more humane test could have been devised.
At this site (all-creatures.com) there was an editor's note to watch COVANCE CRUELTY
to see some of what animals endure in laboratories.
CATALINA ISLAND BISON BIRTH CONTROL IS WORKING. From In Defense of
Animals (IDA):
"Following the 2011 calving season, Catalina now has only three more baby bison,
compared to 29 in 2010. A humane solution to the problem of bison overpopulation on
Catalina Island has been found."
Would that Yellowstone National Park also use birth control instead of shooting the
buffalos because their numbers "seem" to have become unmanageable. Why don't we
use our heads instead of guns and use contraceptives to address animal overpopulation?
Perhaps the same can be said about the supposed overpopulation of the Mustangs of the
West. Instead of cruelly running these beautiful horses off the range -supposedly because
of over-population, we should have been employing contraceptive use- a gentler
way than running some of them to their deaths in hot weather for miles on end. Of course,
the over-population reasoning could well be a myth. It's more like they are being run off
public lands because the BLM is ceding THEIR land to the cattle barons. Another reason,
besides your health, to stop or greatly reduce the eating of red meat.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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