ANIMAL ISSUES BULLETIN
September 13, 2010
** Vote for Animal Friendly Candidates
** Animal Product Lab Cruelty Revealed
** New Book on Class B Dealers
** Police Kill Dog at DC Street Fair
** Court Will Not Stop Wolf Hunts
** Cove Star Presents Petition in Tokyo
** Whale Win One in Japan
** Costco Vows Better Treatment for Veal Calves
** Florida Illegal Horse Butchers Chargers
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-- Vote for Animal Friendly Candidates -Check out Maryland Votes for Animals for all the info on how to make a wise
choice for animals in tomorrow's Maryland primary. Please cross post to other
Marylanders. Go to http://www.voteanimals.org/.
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-- PETA Undercover Investigation –
On September 10, the Examiner reported on the latest PETA undercover
investigation. For nine-months, PETA reported horrible conditions and vicious
treatment of dogs, cats, and rabbits at Professional Laboratory and Research
Services Inc. (PLRS), a North Carolina-based contract lab that tests animalcompanion products such as flea and tick sprays and spot treatments.
Here is an excerpt from the Examiner story:
Using an undercover worker hired by the company as an animal caretaker, the attendant
had been video taping the cruel treatment of dogs, cats, and rabbits. Deliberate acts from
kicking, throwing and dropping dogs, picking rabbits up by their ears, throwing cats and
pouring bleach on a dog's face shocked Helen Sonenshine, president of the facility. She
confirmed the videos were taken at her facility. …
The videos which were released Wednesday have received national attention. A beagle
was seen cowering in his cage as a human approached and then grabbed the obviously
abused dog by the scruff of the neck. A cat was shown with an attendant purposely
allowing the cat to grasp the cage with its claw, and then yanking it away to rip off the
cat's nails. A dog was shown yelping in pain as an attendant removed the dog's tooth, and
acknowledged the sedation drug expired and was not working.
PETA has filed a USDA complaint against the laboratory for violation of the
Animal Welfare Act, improper veterinarian care, improper handling, and improper
living conditions for the animals.
Local District Attorney Frank Parrish stated his office is reviewing the case.
Please be warned the video is very explicit, and the language is harsh. Viewing
may be unsuitable for children. It is very difficult to watch.
For more on this horrible case and if you are able to watch the very disturbing
video, go to: http://www.peta.org/FeaturePLRS.asp
PETA is providing an on-line action alert that will be going to manufacturers that
use the services of PLRS. The unspeakable treatment that these poor lab
animals have endured is not repeated here. The tests that were conducted on
these animals were also cruel and painful. Here is what PETA had to say:
“In one experiment that was conducted for a major corporation whose products are
stocked on store shelves nationwide, a test chemical was applied to the necks of 57 cats.
The cats exhibited severe adverse reactions that day, suffering seizures and bleeding from
the nose and mouth. In spite of the extreme and obvious reactions, the cats were exposed
to the chemical for a second time that very same day. Rabbits at PLRS were intentionally
and repeatedly forced to "wear" a tightly wrapped capsule containing thousands of ticks
and were then killed.”
Please urge the pharmaceutical companies that are conducting business with
PLRS to permanently server their ties with this testing lab. The recipients of the
on-line PETA message are:
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Robert Scharf, President and CEO of Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc.
Dr. John Lechleiter, Chair, President, and CEO of Eli Lilly
Jeffrey B. Kindler, CEO and Chair of Pfizer
Joe Exum, President of Happy Jack, Inc.
Dr. Robert B. Grieve, Chair and CEO of Heska Corporation
Richard T. Clark, Chair and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc.
Robert E. Pelzer, President of Novartis Corporation
William E. Brown, Chair and CEO of Wellmark International
Erik R. Martinez, President and CEO of Virbac Animal Health
Jose Barella, Executive Chair of Merial Ltd.
Find the following message, which you can and should personalize before hitting
“send” button, at :
https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3187
I was deeply upset by a video that I just watched showing the horrible mistreatment of
dogs, cats, and rabbits at Corapeake, North Carolina-based contract testing laboratory
Professional Laboratory and Research Services, Inc. (PLRS), which your company has
been known to do business with. A recent PETA investigation revealed that animals at
PLRS are kicked, dragged, viciously cursed at, and violently handled. They also languish
in squalid conditions, and veterinary care at the facility is essentially non-existent.
I know you will agree, after watching this disturbing footage, that your company's
reputation will suffer if you don't immediately end your association with PLRS. Now that
you know what really goes on behind PLRS' closed doors, I hope that you will do the right
thing and pledge not to use PLRS ever again. Thank you for your consideration. I look
forward to hearing from you.
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-- New Book on Pound Seizure -Allie Phillips has authored “How Shelter Pets are Brokered for Experimentation:
Understanding Pound Seizure.” The book is about the world of Class B animal
dealers and describes in detail how pets surrendered to shelters or stolen from
their owners wind up in labs. Here are some reviews:
“[E]ngaging in pound seizure is a practice that, if discovered, can and will result
in the withdrawal of precious donation dollars, loss of community support, and
loss of compliance with stray dog laws and abuse/neglect laws. I highly
recommend this as an important book both for educating the pet-owning public
as well as for animal advocates seeking advice and a road map in their work to
ban pound seizure in our country. --Debrah Schnackenberg, Vice President of
Animal Programs, American Humane Association”
“This is not an easy book to read, but it is a necessary one, and Allie Phillips is
uniquely qualified to tell the story of "America's Dirty Little Secret." Allie takes her
own wrenching experiences with pound seizure and applies her legal background
to present the definitive volume, from the law, policy and legislation, to the
science and personal stories-and more-about the animals and people caught up
in this world. --Beatrice M. Friedlander, Animals and Society Institute, Inc.”
“Allie Phillips reveals a tragic failure to protect former pets from unnecessary-and
at times, unlawful-use and abuse in science labs. She lays out the issues and the
influences that have evolved over decades, and points to a solution that starts
with each of us. She is an inspiring, model advocate, with courage and tenacity. -Sue Leary, American Anti-Vivisection Society, President”
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-- Police Kill Dog at Adams Morgan Street Festival -Over the weekend, a rescue dog looking for a new home was shot and killed by a
DC police officer. Investigations are being conducted by the DC Police
Department and the rescue organization. Repeated here is the statement from a
Lucky Dog Animal Rescue spokesperson:
Parrot is [a] two-year-old dog for whom we have cared for almost a month. He has never
bitten another dog and is regularly walked along 17th street during the busiest times of
day without incident. He's extremely friendly.
Today, there was an unexpected scuffle between Parrot and a poodle. Aaron, subdued
Parrot, who was wearing both a leash and a harness. To do so, he placed his hands in
Parrot's mouth and held it open, which he has done when Parrot gets overexcited when
romping in the apartment. As it had in the past, this calmed Parrot down.
At this point, the policeman knocked Aaron off of Parrot. The policeman put his knee in
the middle of Parrot's back while pulling Parrot's forelegs behind him, as one would do
with an armed criminal. Without waiting to determine whether this technique would calm
Parrot, the policeman grabbed Parrot, lifted him off the ground, and brought him to the top
of the concrete staircase. He threw Parrot over the banister, down twelve steps, and onto
the concrete floor. Then, the policeman stood at the top of the stairs, drew his weapon,
and executed Parrot. Aaron cannot recall the number of shots fired.
The Bulletin will report more on this story and any letter campaign that might be
initiated.
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-- Wolf Kills In Overdrive –
States want to ramp up killing and removal of gray wolves in the Northern
Rockies and Great Lakes. Proposals are even being made to gas wolf pups in
their dens, surgically sterilize adult wolves, and allow “conservation” or “research”
hunts to drive down the predator numbers. The actual plan to bury pups in their
dens and poison them with carbon monoxide would be used only where the
entire pack has been killed for preying on livestock. .According to a recent
Associated Press story, about 1,700 wolves now occupy Idaho, Montana and
Wyoming. More than 4,000 are estimated in Michigan, Wisconsin and
Minnesota. New populations are emerging in Oregon and Washington. Wolves
have allegedly been sighted in Colorado, Utah and New England.
According to statistics, wolves kill fewer sheep and cattle than coyotes, bears,
mountain lions or even dogs. However, local reprisal again wolf packs is brutal
even when they are declared endangered by the federal government.
On September 9, US District Judge Donald Molloy said plains to kill about 20
percent of the 1,350 wolves in Idaho and Montana would not cause long-term
harm to the population. He based his opinion on a federal biologist report that
wolves could sustain a 30 percent annual reduction. But the judge stuck with his
initial opinion that by retaining federal protection of wolves in Wyoming, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service appears to violate the Endangered Species Act
because its decision is based on political boundaries. See the MSNBC news
story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32757255/
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-- Dolphin Hunt Petition Presented in Tokyo –
Ric O'Barry, the man who trained Flipper more than 30 years ago and then
started the world movement to end the capture and killing of dolphins, was just in
Tokyo to protest this year's dolphin hunt. While there, he presented a petition -with more than 1.7 million signatures -- against the dolphin slaughter. Star of the
movie, The Cove, O'Barry now has such notoriety in Taiji, where the dolphin
killings take place, that it is no longer safe for him to return. But O'Barry says it's
thanks to the backlash against his actions in Japan that have led the movie to
garnering a great deal more attention than it would have otherwise received. If
the killings can be stopped, O'Barry wants to help Taiji find other sources of
income, such as tourism. For a video, go to:
http://www.care2.com/causes/animal-welfare/blog/cove-star-submits-petitionagainst-dolphin-hunt-video/
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-- A Win for Whales -The anti-whaling movement scored a partial victory in Tokyo, where two
Japanese activists affiliated with Greenpeace were convicted of stealing whale
meat, but were only given a suspended sentence. Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki
were found guilty of stealing 50 lbs. of whale meat from a delivery company's
warehouse in April 2008, meat that came from Japan's whaling research
program. From the Time Magazine, September 6, story, Oceans: a win—over the
long term—for the whales in Japan, at
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/09/06/oceans-a-win%E2%80%94over-thelong-term%E2%80%94for-the-whales-in-japan/
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-- Update on Veal Calf Cruelty –
Following the release of a video purportedly showing animal cruelty at a
supplier's farm, Costco Wholesale vowed Wednesday to make sure the calves
that produce the veal on its shelves are treated humanely. The video was taken
at the Buckeye Veal Farm in Apple Creek, Ohio. See the NBC News coverage of
September 2 titled Costco responds to animal cruelty charge at
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Costco-Responds-to-AnimalCruelty-Charge-102032583.html
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-- Florida Horses Butchered -Two men accused of butchering horses alive to sell their meat on the black
market will return to court Tuesday. Santiago Cabrera, 20, and Luis Cordero, 19,
will be in court for a pre-trial hearing. Both are charged with multiple counts of
armed burglary, grand theft, killing a registered breed horse and possession of
burglary tools. See the September 7 Miami Herald article, Activists: get tough in
Miami-Dade horse slaughters, at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/06/1811327/activists-get-tough-in-horsekillings.html