Animal Issues Bulletin
June 14, 2010
*Loggerhead Turtles Need More Federal Protection
*Kinship Circle Goes to Off-Limit Oil Spill Zones
*"The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome" Makes News
*No Teeth in Federal Puppy Mill Oversight
*July: Taking Action for Animals Conference in DC
*Senate Leaves EPA in Charge of Climate Change
*Dogs Deserves Better Founder Gets A Miracle!
*Buying Votes at International Whaling Commission?
*Court Hearing on Wolf Hunts This Week
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-- Loggerheads Need More Protection –
The BP oil leak into the Gulf of Mexico continues to threaten many species and entire ecosystems, not to
mention the way of life and livelihoods of hundreds or thousands of people. Defenders of Wildlife has
pinpointed one thing that the public can do to help one of the oil leak's most visible victims: loggerhead
sea turtles.
Concerned people can ask the Obama administration to improve protections for these sea turtles by
recognizing them as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. You can send a quick on-line
message to the administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) at the following address:
https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=1799&autolo
gin=true&JServSessionIdr004=26n6ia3oa1.app217a
Defenders wants 75,000 letters to reach the NMFS from wildlife conservation advocates, and over
55,000 people have already responded. Here is the text of the message:
As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone deeply concerned by the ongoing Gulf oil disaster, I
strongly support the proposal to list loggerhead sea turtles as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Loggerhead sea turtles were in trouble before the Gulf oil spill disaster. The number of females nesting on
Florida beaches has declined by 50 percent in the past decade, leading many to fear for the continued existence
of the species.
Now these turtles need our help even more. The world's second-largest loggerhead nesting area is on the
beaches of the southeastern United States, some of the area most threatened by the Gulf oil tragedy.
Oil is extremely toxic to loggerheads. Exposure can cause skin loss, poisoning, drowning and death... which is
exactly why federal officials need every available tool to help save the lives of individual loggerheads and save
this species from extinction.
Key sea turtle nesting beaches in the Florida panhandle are already seeing the effects of the Gulf oil disaster,
and the danger to loggerheads will only grow as more oil makes its way toward shore, and this year's hatchlings
must make their way back to the now-toxic waters of the Gulf.
Up-listing loggerheads from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act will help craft
management policies to ensure the survival of this ecologically important species and enable wildlife managers
to better address the specific dangers presented by the ongoing Gulf oil crisis.
Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to your agency's decision
Sending this message to the National Marine Fisheries Service is something concrete individuals can do
to help save loggerhead sea turtles from extinction.
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-- Kinship Circle Heads to the Gulf Oil Disaster -One organization doing something concrete is Kinship Circle. On June 12, Kinship Circle reported that it
has gone to investigate and document oil-affected animals and alert Unified Command to the animals’
whereabouts. Currently, local officials and communities are not satisfied with the Unified Command
response capability. Before any action can be taken, decisions must be approved by BP, the U.S. Coast
Guard, and state environmental regulators. Locals insist that this is just not practical when trying to deal
with such a catastrophe. Right now, animal rescue groups cannot go into restricted zones, but select
press and documentarians can.
Kinship Circle was asked to "embed" with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Tom McPhee for his All
Eyes On The Gulf (AEOTG) expedition. McPhee’s organization, the World Animal Awareness Society, is
approved by the Unified Command. As part of the AEOTG crew, "Kinship Circle disaster responders are
on the ground to focus camera lenses and notepads on contaminated parts of Louisiana, Florida,
Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. AEOTG is a scientific tour to collect visual records. It’s also a window to
the truth."
On June 10, U.S. Fish and Wildlife reported that more than 400 oiled birds were taken to Fort Jackson
Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Buras, Louisiana in a span of several days -- over five times as
many than in the last six weeks combined. Where are the photos and clips? According to CNN, BP is
attempting to block reporters from photographing animals altogether.
According to the Kinship Circle news, “Tom McPhee's All Eyes On The Gulf is a portal to the
‘human/animal intersection’ in this disaster. Team members undergo two-day training before they
journey to oil damaged regions across five states. Volunteers gather visual evidence from ground, water
and air levels. They act as ‘spotters’ to give Unified Area Command location coordinates for suffering
animals and facilitate their capture and care. Detailed data collection procedures are used and
volunteers are prepped for encounters with oil distressed animals.”
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-- New York Times Spotlights Animal Cruelty -Page 42 of the June 13 New York Times Magazine included an article by Charles Siebert titled “The
Animal-Cruelty Syndrome.” The fact that the Times ran this article indicates that animal abuse is
getting serious attention.
“The Animal-Cruelty Syndrome” begins by recounting the Baltimore, Maryland, case of the Johnson
Brothers, Travers and Tremayne, who are going on trial later this month (June 30) for setting a young pit
bull named Phoenix on fire. Phoenix died of her injuries. This tragic case is well-known in our area and,
as Siebert notes, “It was only a matter of hours before the story, made vivid by harrowing video footage
of the wounded dog, was disseminated nationwide …. The scale, speed and intensity of the response
was striking.” For Siebert, Phoenix’s tragedy and the resulting Maryland Anti-Animal-Abuse Task Force
illustrates our country’s growing sensitivity to animal rights.
National attention riveted on dog-fighting when Michael Vick was arrested and this case also impacted
public perception. Siebert quotes a dog-fighting expert with an Ohio Sheriff’s Office who says: “With
traditional law enforcement, the attitude has been that we have enough stuff on our plate, let the
others worry about Fluffy and Muffy. But I’m starting to see a shift in that mentality now. … You have to
sell it to them in such a way that it’s not a Fluffy-Muffy issues. It’s part of a larger nexus of crimes and
the psyche behind them.”
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch quoted from the Siebert article:
"In addition to a growing sensitivity to the rights of animals, another significant reason for the increased
attention to animal cruelty is a mounting body of evidence about the link between such acts and serious crimes
of more narrowly human concern, including illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, gambling, spousal and
child abuse, rape and homicide. In the world of law enforcement — and in the larger world that our laws were
designed to shape — animal-cruelty issues were long considered a peripheral concern and the province of local
A.S.P.C.A. and Humane Society organizations; offenses as removed and distinct from the work of enforcing the
human penal code as we humans have deemed ourselves to be from animals. But that illusory distinction is
rapidly fading."
DawnWatch praised Siebert’s writing, calling it a “lengthy and fascinating article, well worth reading.”
She went on to say:
I found particularly interesting the discussion of the quashing [children suppressing their tenderness toward a
pet] but also the regeneration of empathy in people who have lived in families where animal abuse was
prevalent. And it is great to read about CSI style animal forensic science, now being used to find the perpetrators
when an abused animal is found.
Check out the article, or at the very least, go to http://tinyurl.com/26nu2w5 and hit the "recommend" button,
or "Facebook" or "Twitter" links, so that your online friends will know about it and the paper see that the topic
is popular.
We can keep the animal discussion alive with letters to the editor. Your letter might tie in any issue of animal
abuse, such as our entertainment and food systems, for example. The Magazine takes letters at
magazine@nytimes.com
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.
Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
You can read the New York Times story at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13dogfighting-t.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print
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-- FDA Moves Slowly on Puppy Mill Oversight -Thanks to Vicki Korobkin for alerting us to a May 28 ASPCA news release that the the federal
government still falls far short in protecting puppy mill dogs. The ASPCA cites a recently release Office
of the Inspector General report that details the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) "lax and ineffective
enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) against large-scale dog breeders and brokers... As part of
the investigation, auditors visited 81 facilities and reviewed records documenting 28,443 violations over
a two-year period." And despite all these infractions, the DOA allows breeders to continue breeding
dogs in inhumane conditions and does not confiscate animals in cases of severe neglect.
The USDA must do a better job, and more federal funding to hire and train inspectors to enforce the
Animal Welfare Act must be approved by Congress. To read the ASPCA news alert, go to
http://www.aspca.org/news/national/05-28-10.html#1.
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-- HSUS “Taking Action for Animals” -The Taking Action for Animals (TAFA) conference will be held July 23-26 at the Washington Marriott
Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. TAFA offers the latest ideas and tactics to take real action.
Participants can connect with other animal advocates who share the vision of a better world for us all,
animals and people alike.
Early-bird registration ends June 23. To learn more about the TAFA conference, visit:
https://hsus.expoplanner.com/index.cfm?M6I'3C5%5e;L:V(6%2BB_E1%2B56%5e76%208JLC'%3C)U10Q'
%20H%3DB%5bQP%40JP.B%5eY-%5bI%20C)A:%0A%3EDJ9TF(H%2607/Q!HYHH$)$0N'.%20%3F:UAYI0.L%20%3FJL9/%0A360ENC
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-- Senate Upholds EPA Authority –
Last week, the Senate voted to uphold the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
address climate change. By a vote of 47 to 53, the lawmakers rejected a proposal of Republican Senator
Liza Murkowski of Alaska which would have overturned the EPA’s conclusion that greenhouse gas
pollution endangers public health and welfare.
Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO, said: “We hope this vote will pave the way to Congress passing
a strong climate and energy bill very soon." We hope so too.
But one of the less hopeful souls is Bill Chanmeides, Dean of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
His rather cynical outlook is apparent in his recent blog “As the Climate Turns.” He just can’t help but
notice that the “ups and downs of the climate debate strain credulity.” Readers who can still chuckle
over this mess can enjoy his blog rerun at the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/billchameides/as-the-climate-turns_b_609270.html.
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-- Amazing News from Dogs Deserve Better –
Bulletin readers will remember that last January Dogs Deserve Better (DDB) founder Tamira Thayne was
convicted of trespassing on the property of Jason and Krystal Cann in order to provide food, water, and
straw to their two chained dogs. A June 13 DDB press release reports:
“In a twist that is being described as miraculous, dog caretakers Jason and Krystal Cann came to her
[Thayne] and Dogs Deserve Better in June with the willingness to release the dogs to her organization.
On June 6, everyone got a miracle.”
You can see the press release at:
http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/prtrespassing4-6-10.pdf
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-- Japan Allegedly Bribes Small Countries –
On June 13, a British paper claimed it had evidence that Japan has bribed small nations to support
attempts to lift the 24-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling. Allegedly officials from St. Kitts and
Nevis, Grenada, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Guinea and Ivory Coast were willing to discuss voting with
the pro-whaling group if they received aid from Japan – or because they were given cash or call girls.
Japan denies the claim. To read more about this scandal go to:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100613/wl_asia_afp/environmentwhalingiwcjapanbritain
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-- Fight's On For Wolves This Week -Tomorrow, June 15, a court hearing will take place critical to saving the lives of this spring’s wolf pups.
Defenders of Wildlife will be speaking for wolves in the face of many hostile state officials and anti-wolf
extremists. Idaho officials are allowing backcountry outfitters to target up to 20 more wolves in the
northern part of the state through the end of June, just as the pups are leaving their dens. A proposal is
also being made to allow traps and baiting for the fall wolf hunts as they target even more wolves than
last year. In Montana, even three times as many wolves could face death.
Beyond state officials, a rash of dog poisonings in Idaho have pointed to the possibility that anti-wolf
vigilantes are targeting wolves with toxic strychnine-laced sausages left along forest trails -- a terrible
poison that causes painful and traumatic deaths. A great deal hangs in the balance for wolves this week.
Stay tuned.