AR-News: ANIMALS THROUGH THE WORLD MAGAZINE- APRIL 2004

[סמדר]

From: Maria Lopes
marialopes at 2kat.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 8:04 PM
Subject: ANIMALS THROUGH THE WORLD MAGAZINE- APRIL 2004


ANIMALS THROUGH THE WORLD
April 2004

Dear Friends,

Once again the EU bureaucrats show contempt for the wishes of European
citizens by blatantly ignoring the democratic vote of the EU Parliament,
more cruelty to animals but also this time involving perhaps the most
vulnerable children as well, and another restaurant in the USA serving live
lobsters.

For the Animals
Maria Lopes

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life
on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. It is my view that
the vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on the human
temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."
Albert Einstein (Nobel Prize)

EUROPEAN UNION

THE WRITTEN DECLARATION 17/2003

Source: "It's Their Destiny" http://itstheirdestiny.2kat.net


Those of you that have been receiving our Updates for a while may well
remember the one of 17th December 2003. We were pleased to be able to report
then that the majority of Euro MPs had backed a call for the banning of dog
and cat fur within Europe.

For reasons known only to themselves, the EU Commissioners have delayed
implementing this democratic decision. If they do not act before the end of
this EU Parliament in May, Declaration 17 will become automatically shelved.

At ITD we try to avoid making political comments of any kind. This is
however an exception. Should they not implement a ban that has the backing
of the majority of democratically elected Euro MPs and of European citizens,
the EU Commissioners will show themselves to be not only ineffectual, but
unfit for the position of trust that they hold.  Although they may be
replaced in the next Parliament, they will have displayed dishonour and
contempt for the citizens in whose name they supposedly act.

Please read the report from the Daily Record below, then email the
Commissioners expressing your outrage at their inactivity.


RED TAPE HOLDS UP BAN ON FUR TRADE
Apr 17 2004


CAMPAIGNERS are facing a race against time to ban the evil trade in cat and
dog fur.

Euro MPs finally backed a ban on the imports of household pet skins last
year following a lengthy campaign led by the Daily Record.

But despite winning the support of a majority of MEPs, the ban has been
caught up in Euro red tape with less than a month before the European
Parliament breaks for the May elections.

Scots Euro MP Struan Stevenson has hit out at the European Commission who he
claims are trying to stall the ban for political reasons.

Our campaign highlighted the shocking trade in the furs of cats and dogs,
which are brutally killed and skinned by furriers in China, Thailand and
South Korea before being imported to Europe.

MP Stevenson said: 'It is now up to the Commission to draft the legislation
and put it before the Council of Ministers who can then approve the ban.

'But, even although it would only take five minutes for them to write up the
legislation proposal to go before the Council, they still haven't done it
and it could all soon be too late.'

Send emails to the Commissioners  below:
Antonio.Vitorino at cec.eu.int;David.Byrne at cec.eu.int;
Erkki.Liikanen at cec.eu.int;kabinett-fischler at cec.eu.int;
Frits.Bolkestein at cec.eu.int;Margot.Wallstrom at cec.eu.int;
Mario.Monti at cec.eu.int;Michaele.Schreyer at cec.eu.int;
Neil.Kinnock at cec.eu.int;Pascal.Lamy at cec.eu.int;
Poul.Nielson at cec.eu.int;Romano.Prodi at cec.eu.int,
Viviane.Reding at cec.eu.int

Sample email, but PLEASE write your own if possible.


Dear Commissioner

I was dismayed to learn that Declaration 17, which was endorsed by a clear
majority of Euro MPs in December 2003, has not yet been acted upon by the
Commissioners and, as a result, may not become a Directive.

Declaration 17 calls for the ban of the reprehensible trade in dog and cat
fur and has the support of the majority of EU citizens. This support was
reflected in the votes of their democratically elected Members within the EU
Parliament.

You must be aware that, should you not act upon this within the current life
of the EU Parliament, Declaration 17 is likely never to become legislation.
I therefore urge you to take a few minutes from your busy schedule to draft
the paperwork required to put this before the Council of Ministers, thus
allowing the wishes of the European people to be enforced. The democratic
process demands no less.

Yours sincerely

Name/email address



JAPAN

ASK THE MAYOR OF SANUKI CITY TO REVOKE A PERMIT THAT PROMOTES
DOLPHIN-ASSISTED THERAPY

Source: Alan Cooper

Please write a letter to the Mayor of Sanuki City to revoke a permit he
issued to an organization that promotes dolphin-assisted therapy.

Background:
Sanuki City, located about 500 km southwest from Tokyo in Kagawa prefecture,
planned to proceed with a "dolphin healing center" project using dolphins
from the drive fishery in Taiji. The City built facilities for that purpose
and started an "experiment" to determine whether dolphins can survive in the
poor environment used by the "healing" business. ASK Japan Corporation (ASK
Japan), the owner of the dolphins, entrusted by Sanuki City,cared for the
dolphins.
Two out of five dolphins already died last year because the environment
where the facilities are located is not suitable for dolphins' health.

After receiving strong worldwide protests and petitions, the Mayor of the
City decided to stop the project and not include it in the budget for the
next fiscal year. Working with more than 40 worldwide organizations and
nearly a thousand individuals, we urged the Mayor to close down the
facilities.

Update:
1)When the Mayor decided to withdraw from the "healing" business, he made it
clear that one of the reasons he stopped the project was due to the poor
environment for the dolphins; he was also informed about the cruelty
involved with the drive fishery. Unfortunately, the Mayor decided to lease
the facilities to continue the dolphin business, giving Japan Dolphin
Assisted Therapy Association (JDAT) a permit to use the facilities.

2) JDAT and ASK Japan began working together to purchase a four- to-
five-year-old male dolphin caught by the drive fishery in Taiji. On March
26, 2004, the dolphin was moved to Sanuki and put into a special sea pen
there.

3) On April 1, 2004 JDAT and ASK Japan started their new dolphin business
using Sanuki's facilities which they newly named "Dolphin Center." They
display dolphins to visitors and also carry out Dolphin Feeding and Dolphin
Assisted Therapy for autistic children.

4) They plan to build new facilities (budget of 30million yen) near the
present facilities so they can expand the dolphin "business" into the winter
season.

Please send an E-mail or fax to:

Mr. Shinya Akazawa, Mayor of Sanuki City
5385-8, Shido, Sanuki-shi, Kagawa-ken,
769-2195 Japan
E-mail: hisyo at m.sanuki.ne.jp
Fax: +81-87-894-4440

Director of Marine Mammal Project
Elsa Nature Conservancy, Japan
P.O.Box 2, Tsukuba Gakuen Post Office
Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8691 Japan
Tel & Fax: +81-29-851-1637
E-mail: pah03724 at nifty.ne.jp


Mr. Shinya Akazawa, Mayor of Sanuki City
5385-8, Shido, Sanuki-shi, Kagawa-ken,
769-2195 Japan
E-mail: hisyo at m.sanuki.ne.jp
Fax: +81-87-894-4440

Dear Mr. Shinya Akazawa,

Please revoke the permit to use City facilities for dolphin business.

We, the undersigned, urge you to revoke the permit to use or lease Sanuki
facilities for dolphin display and business.

When Sanuki City decided to stop the "Dolphin Healing Center" project and
not include it in the 2004 fiscal year budget one of the reasons was that
the Seto Inland Sea, where the facilities are located, is not suitable for
the dolphins' health. We applauded your decision, and expected that Sanuki
City would begin an administration that shows kind consideration to wild
animals.

You understood that the environment at this location is very poor for
dolphins causing stress and health problems. You were already aware of how
the dolphins were cruelly captured and the trauma and suffering they
experienced being caught in the drive fishery. Despite this, you have
decided to continue to support the dolphin "healing" business by leasing
City facilities to Japan Dolphin Assisted Therapy Association.

You declared, evading responsibility, that Sanuki City would not participate
in this matter. However, Sanuki City is directly participating by leasing
City property for this business.  As Mayor of the City, you are responsible
for business carried out in City facilities. You cannot evade, shift
responsibility, or deny your direct involvement and support of this
cruel,unnecessary business. Issuing a permit to use dolphins in City
facilities shows that you actively support and join the animal-abusive
business.

As you know, dolphins in the facilities were and will be supplied from the
drive fishery. This means that you supported and will continue to support
the cruelest capture that will likely sharply decrease to extinction the
number of dolphins around the Japanese Sea. You should realize that your
decision and action to allow this business in Sanuki directly contributes to
the destruction of the ecosystem and aggravates the natural environmental
balance.

We strongly urge you to revoke the permit and work to stop the dolphin
business immediately.

We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
Name/Country



REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

"Stop the Carted Deer Hunt" campaign

Source: ICABS

Carted deer hunting is a blood "sport" activity carried  out by Ireland's
Ward Union Hunt. To our knowledge,  it is the only hunt of its kind in the
entire world.

Carted deer hunting is effectively the hunting of a  domesticated deer.
Twice a week between November  and March, two deer are taken out in a cart
to a hunt  location. One deer is released and forced to run. The  other deer
is kept on standby in case the first deer is  caught too soon. During the
hunt, the deer frantically  tries to outrun the horseback hunters and the
pack of  dogs.

Being in unfamiliar terrain, the animal has an extremely  hazardous route
ahead. Crashing through hedges, over  walls, across busy public roads and
even into lakes and  rivers, the terrified creature does everything it can
to  stay ahead.

At the end of the hunt, the exhausted and bloodied  deer is wrestled to the
ground by hunters before being  returned to the hunt's deerpark enclosure.
Here it  awaits a future hunt when it will be subjected to the  same abusive
treatment.

In a suppressed 1997 report (finally obtained by ICABS  last year), a
Department of Agriculture veterinary  inspector concluded that the deer hunt
was inhumane -  "The transportation of the stags in the cart is
inhumane...The enlargement of the stags is inhumane in  that they are
ejected suddenly into a strange  environment...A stag which has been hunted
previously  appears, before the hunt starts, to be distressed and  aware
that he is about to be hunted again...Stags being  hunted appear to be
terrified of the hounds." Despite  these utterly damning conclusions, the
Ward Union  Hunt continues to receive a licence from the Ireland's
Environment Minister.

About the deer: The deer used are effectively  domesticated. They are
captive-bred and are kept in  captivity between hunts. They are fed by a
deerpark  manager and have constant human contact. They have  their antlers
sawn off to avoid injury to the dogs and  hunt members. At nine years of
age, the deer are sold  to commercial deer farms or slaughtered for their
meat.


Please appeal to Minister Joe Walsh (he is responsible  for animal welfare
and the Protection of Animals Act) and Minister Martin  Cullen (he issues an
annual licence to the Ward Union deerhunt under the  1976 Wildlife Act) to
end carted deer hunting.

Minister Joe Walsh
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: minister at agriculture.gov.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1-607 2892 or LoCall: 1890-200150.
Fax: +353 (0)1-661 1013.

Minister Martin Cullen
Department of the Environment and Local Government
Custom House, Dublin 1.
Email: minister at environ.irlgov.ie
Tel: +353 (0)1-8882000 or Locall 1890-202021  (Request to speak to Minister
Cullen or his Secretary).
Fax: +353 (0)1-8882888.


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Minister,

I wish to register my outrage at the licensing of a hunt  club which hunts
domesticated animals. I refer to the  Ward Union deerhunt which, I
understand, is the only  hunt of its kind in the world.

I call on you to please ensure that no further licences  are given to this
hunt.

Thank you. I look forward to your positive reply.

Yours sincerely,

Name/Country




SPAIN

CHARITABLE BULLFIGHT TO COLLECT FUNDS FOR CHILDREN WITH DOWNS SYNDROME

Source:INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST BULLFIGHTS www.2kat.net/iwab


On 22nd April a charitable bullfight took place in Granada, Spain to collect
funds for children afflicted with Downs Syndrome. As if this was not
regretable and disgusting enough, what is really appalling is that this
Charity, the Down Syndrome Association, takes these children to watch
bullfights.
On their website they have a section called "Toros 2003" where you can see
several photos of these children in a bullring.

To see these photos just click at http://downgranada.org/ - at the bottom of
the home page you will see a photo of a bull. Just click on "Toros 2003" to
see this sickening photo gallery.

This is simply outrageous. We all know that sufferers from Downs Syndrome
are just as sensitive as other children, perhaps more than their years would
indicate. Is it fair to expose them to such bloody displays? What effects
will witnessing this torture have on their innocent minds? Please send a
protest email to the following entities.

For once, no sample letter is provided. It is better that you write this in
your own words, in your own language, and from the depths of your heart.

Down Syndrome Association
asociacion at downgranada.org

and to the City Hall of Granada
ayuntamiento at granada.org,analopezandujar at granada.org,
alcalde at granada.org,milailundain at granada.org,
emoralga at granada.org,mmartingarcia at granada.org,
jantoniofuentes at granada.org,juangarciamontero at granada.org,
jfernandezb at granada.org,mfpeinadorgarcia at granada.org,
malopezzambudio at granada.org,lromerov at granada.org,
lbasruizjimenez at granada.org,isabeljimenezme at granada.org,
teijeiro at granada.org,



U.S.A.

Another restaurant serves lobsters to be eaten ALIVE

Source: Animal Rights Activist Resources

Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia offers live lobster sashimi. This
grotesque "dish" is prepared by cutting into and tearing the tails off live
lobsters and serving the tails next to the still-moving torsos and heads to
ensure "freshness" and "crunch". The animal is then slowly eaten---alive!
It takes 20 minutes for the animal to die that way.

There is indisputable scientific evidence that lobsters, like other animals,
feel pain and are sentient beings.

Our calls, faxes, emails, and letters recently stopped another restaurant
chain in NY from serving this cruelty. But so far, Morimoto has not
responded to polite letter and calls.

Please contact this restaurant and ask that it stop serving live lobster
sashimi and start ensuring that all animals are killed using the most humane
method possible before being dismembered:

Randal Mrazik, General Manager
Morimoto Restaurant
723 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-413-9070, ext. 11
215-413-9075 (fax)
info at morimotorestaurant.com

Masaharu Morimoto, Chef and Owner
Morimoto Restaurant
info at chefmorimoto.com


After you send a polite respectful letter to the manager and chef/owner of
Morimoto's restaurant, if you can, please send an email to the Philly
newspapers, about this issue.
For contact info. go to:
http://www.congress.org./congressorg/dbq/media/?command=state_search&state=pa

>From that site, you can pick out up to five newspapers and send one email to
all five at once, or for an even better chance of having your letter
published, click the name of each Philly paper and under departments click
"letters to the editor," to email each separately.


Dear Sir

I was sickened to read that you are serving lobsters to be eaten alive in
your chain of restaurants as a "delicasy".

Reknown invertebrate zoologist Jaren G. Horsley states, “The lobster does
not have an autonomic nervous system that puts it into a state of shock when
it is harmed. It probably feels itself being cut. ... I think the lobster is
in a great deal of pain from being cut open ... [and] feels all the pain
until its nervous system is destroyed”.

The belief propagated by some chefs that lobsters feel no pain when boiled
alive is clearly disproved by the desperate manner in which they thrash
wildly in a frantic attempt to escape the boiling water.

Slitting a lobster down the middle so that it can be eaten alive over 20
minutes or so whilst suffering unimaginable pain, curling its claws in
agony, defies belief. To attempt to justify this atrocious torture by
calling it an Oriental "tradition" is inexcusable. This practise has already
been banned in many countries where it has surfaced, and I strongly urge you
to voluntarily remove this obscenity from your menu.

Yours sincerely
Name
Email address

_____________________________________________


CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS PROMOTING IDITAROS DOG TORTURE


>From the Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org

According to the Los Angeles Times, Claremont Unified District board member
Joan Presecan promotes the Iditarod to children by visiting schools and
helping teachers develop lessons about the Iditarod dog sled race. Because
the race has a long, documented history of dog deaths, illnesses and
injuries, it is a violation of the letter and the spirit of California's
Humane Education Law for teachers to promote the Iditarod.

Please tell the district's superintendent to follow the law by instructing
her teachers not to promote this barbaric race.

EMAIL: drsmith at chs.cusd.claremont.edu


Sample letter to personalize:

Dear Dr. Smith:

According to the Los Angeles Times, Claremont Unified School District board
member Joan Presecan is promoting the Iditarod dog sled race. The Iditarod
has a long, documented history of dog deaths, illnesses and injuries. By
allowing the Iditarod to be promoted in your schools, you are violating the
letter and spirit of the Humane Education Law of California: "233.5. (a)
Each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils the
principles of morality, truth, justice, patriotism...and the meaning of
equality and human dignity, including the promotion of harmonious relations,
kindness toward domestic pets and the humane treatment of living
creatures...." Please follow the law by instructing your teachers not to
promote this barbaric race and all the evils associated with it.

In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run 1,150 miles, which is the
approximate distance between Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada, over a
grueling terrain in 8 to 15 days. Dog deaths and injuries are common in the
race. USA Today sports columnist Jon Saraceno called the Iditarod "a
travesty of grueling proportions" and "Ihurtadog." Fox sportscaster Jim Rome
called it "I-killed-a-dog." Orlando Sentinel sports columnist George Diaz
said the race is "a barbaric ritual" and "an illegal sweatshop for dogs."
USA Today business columnist Bruce Horovitz said the race is a
"public-relations minefield."

The Sled Dog Action Coalition (SDAC) was founded in 1999 to educate America
about the exploitation of sled dogs in Alaska's annual Iditarod dog sled
race. The SDAC and its efforts to educate people about the brutalities
associated with the Iditarod was profiled in USA Today and in the Miami
Herald. I am emailing copies of these and other articles.

Please visit the SDAC website http://www.helpsleddogs.org
to see pictures, and for more information. Be sure to read the quotes on
http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm . All of the material on the site is
true and verifiable.

At least 122 dogs have died in the Iditarod. There is no official count of
dog deaths available for the race's early years. In "WinterDance: the Fine
Madness of Running the Iditarod," Gary Paulsen describes witnessing an
Iditarod musher brutally kicking a dog to death during the race. He wrote,
"All the time he was kicking the dog. Not with the imprecision of anger, the
kicks, not kicks to match his rage but aimed, clinical vicious kicks. Kicks
meant to hurt deeply, to cause serious injury. Kicks meant to kill."

Causes of death have also included strangulation in towlines, internal
hemorrhaging after being gouged by a sled, liver injury, heart failure, and
pneumonia. "Sudden death" and "external myopathy," a fatal condition in
which a dog's muscles and organs deteriorate during extreme or prolonged
exercise, have also occurred. The 1976 Iditarod winner, Jerry Riley, was
accused of striking his dog with a snow hook (a large, sharp and heavy metal
claw). In 1996, one of Rick Swenson's dogs died while he mushed his team
through waist-deep water and ice. The Iditarod Trail Committee banned both
mushers from the race but later reinstated them. In many states these
incidents would be considered animal cruelty. Swenson is now on the Iditarod
Board of Directors.

In the 2001 Iditarod, a sick dog was sent to a prison to be cared for by
inmates and received no veterinary care. He was chained up in the cold and
died. Another dog died by suffocating on his own vomit.

On average, 54% of the dogs who start the race do not make it across the
finish line. According to a report published in the American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, of those who do cross, 81% have lung
damage.

Tom Classen, retired Air Force colonel and Alaskan resident for over 40
years, tells us that the dogs are beaten into submission:

"They've had the hell beaten out of them." "You don't just whisper into
their ears, ‘OK, stand there until I tell you to run like the devil.' They
understand one thing: a beating. These dogs are beaten into submission the
same way elephants are trained for a circus. The mushers will deny it. And
you know what? They are all lying." -USA Today, March 3, 2000 in Jon
Saraceno's column

Beatings and whippings are common. Jim Welch says in his book Speed Mushing
Manual, "I heard one highly respected [sled dog] driver once state that "
‘Alaskans like the kind of dog they can beat on.'" "Nagging a dog team is
cruel and ineffective...A training device such as a whip is not cruel at all
but is effective." "It is a common training device in use among dog
mushers...A whip is a very humane training tool."

Mushers believe in "culling" or killing unwanted dogs, including puppies.
Many dogs who are permanently disabled in the Iditarod, or who are unwanted
for any reason, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to
death. "On-going cruelty is the law of many dog lots. Dogs are clubbed with
baseball bats and if they don't pull are dragged to death in harnesses....."
wrote Alaskan Mike Cranford in an article for Alaska's Bush Blade Newspaper
(March, 2000).

Jon Saraceno wrote in his March 3, 2000 column in USA Today, "He [Colonel
Tom Classen] confirmed dog beatings and far worse. Like starving dogs to
maintain their most advantageous racing weight. Skinning them to make
mittens. Or dragging them to their death."

The race has led to the proliferation of horrific dog kennels in which the
dogs are treated very cruelly. Many kennels have over 100 dogs and some have
as many as 200. It is standard for the dogs to spend their entire lives
outside tethered to metal chains that can be as short as four feet long. In
1997 the United States Department of Agriculture determined that the
tethering of dogs was inhumane and not in the animals' best interests. The
chaining of dogs as a primary means of enclosure is prohibited in all cases
where federal law applies. A dog who is permanently tethered is forced to
urinate and defecate where he sleeps, which conflicts with his natural
instinct to eliminate away from his living area.

Iditarod dogs are unhappy prisoners with no chance of parole. Please abide
by California's Humane Education Law and instruct your teachers not to
promote this cruel race.

Sincerely,
Name/Country




PETITIONS
Campaign for a Dolphinarium-free Belgium
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/548503976
Stop the killing of seals in Canada
http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/236982184
Free The CU 34
http://www.petitiononline.com/cu34/petition.html
Judicial inquiry into animal experiments
http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=316
Save The Gorillas, stop mining Coltan!
http://www.gopetition.com/online/459.html



Disclaimer: All items published in this magazine were received by us and we
pass them on in good faith. We are not responsible for incorrect email
addresses, errors, omissions etc. by the originators.

INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST BULLFIGHTS
www.2kat.net/iwab

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