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A monthly Magazine edited and published by Maria Lopes - August 2004 Dear Friends,
We wish sometimes we had good news for a change but unfortunately it rarely happens. China is planning a bullfight for October in Shanghai. As you know it won't be easy to prevent this barbarity. China is well known by the way it treats his animals. Some months ago the Chinese Government released plans to create an animal welfare law. They even publicize it in their website. If this law was for real bullfights wouldn't be allowed. The problem is then later they come saying that this law only would have immediate effect. Let's put pressure on the Chinese Government to prevent this to happen. Also next month another barbarity will take place in Spain, the annual savagery called the "Bull of Vega", where a bull is speared to death. Please send a postcard to the Spanish authorities.
For the Animals Maria Lopes Coordinator of the International Movement Against Bullfights
"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."
CHINA
PROTEST AGAINST BULLFIGHS PLANNED FOR
SHANGHAI
Source: International Movement Against
Bullfights
According to reports in the newspaper Shanghai
Daily News, on Ocotber the 6th a bullfight will take place in the Shanghai
Stadium as part of the "Amazing Spain, Shanghai 2004".
Initially the organizer intended to buy the
bulls in Spain and transport them by plane to China, but due to the restrictions
in importing bulls from Europe (B.S.E.) now the bulls will be imported from
Mexico or other country.
To read the articles:
http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1371/class000100022/hwz208736.htm http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1373/class000100005/hwz209129.htm You may remember that in April there were plans
to perform bullfights in Beijing that end to be scrapped by the authorities due
to the protests of several animal associations.
We know that avoid a bullfight in China is
difficult but please send protest letters to try to avoid it.
Don't forget that the bulls are not there still
there must be held negotiations with some American country to buy them and also
that China will host the Olympic Games of 2008.
So, let's press the authorites.
Below the emails and a sample letter, try to
modify.
Shanghai Government
Chinese Government
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Culture
Ministry of Public Health
National Tourism Administration
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of
China
TO: With CC to the
newspapers:
Dear Sirs,
I understand that a bullfight is being
organized on Ocotber the 6th at the Shanghai Stadium as part of the "Amazing
Spain, Shanghai 2004".
I wish to express my dismay that you are
intending to allow the murder of six innocent animals. You should be aware that
this bullfight will irrevocably stain the image and reputation of your city as
well as your country as host of the Olympic Games of 2008.
Throughout the world the number of people that
fight for a better and more compassionate society grows daily.
You still have time to change your minds and
prevent this bullfight. Please show the world that you respect living animals,
and the people that are fighting for a better world.
Hoping for a positive answer.
Yours sincerely
Name/Country
ITALY
HELP US TO SAVE THE HORSES OF SIENA
Source: Ilaria Ferri
During the last horse race in the famous
(infamous) "Palio di Siena" (medieval and traditional festival in Tuscany) on 16
th of august, one of the horses died and 4 were injured. The horse named
"Amoroso", a bay eight years old, crashed his head on a iron post placed
laterally the course and consequently break his neck. The image was terrible:
none stopped the race so the other horses were forced to trampled him, the horse
kicked his legs in the last minutes of his life. None of the tv journalists said
one word re the terrible dead. The party went on despite the animal suffering.It
was absolutely horrible. Since the 70' about 50 horses died. The Mayor of Siena declared: "the horse death it was a casual mix between human mistakes and animal behaviour......We are together and unite, ready to defend the "Palio di Siena" against all the attacks from animal rights associations. We are convinced that we have done all is it possible in order to prevent all the incidents and adopt all the safety measures." We want to stop this shame and we ask to you support. We want to boycott Siena and all the wonderful Tuscany if they will not stop this massacre. It isn´t a question of traditions, it´s simply a question of respect. Please send fax, email, letter of protest to: Sindaco di Siena (Siena Mayor ) Maurizio Cenni Piazza del Campo 1 53100 Siena Phone : ++39 0577 292207; ++39 0577 292473 Fax: ++39 0577 292343 Email: sindaco@comune.siena.it With CC to:
Dear Sir,
It's outrageous the barbarity involved in the "Palio di
Siena", the images shown all over the world where horrible.
How many more horses have to die in this so called
"tradition"?
Animals are not ours for our entertainment and they deserve
respect.
Since you insist in the continuation of this barbaric horse
race, I will not visit Tuscany and I will advise my friends and acquaintances to
follow my example.
Sincerely
Name/Country
SPAIN
PROTEST AGAINST THE "TORO DE LA
VEGA"
Source: International Movement Against
Bullfights
Postcard: Created by Gabriela
Lima
Every year in September in Tordesillas, a bull
is tortured and murdered in a spectacle called "Toro de la Vega". Hundreds of
men run with medieval spears after a bull, sticking them into his body until his
death.
This year in the 14th of September "Rodanero"
will be speared to death. Please send the postcard (created by Gabriela
Lima) and the text below to (for those who receive this Magazine in simple text,
you can copy the postcard from our website at www.2kat.net/iwab . Please click in
campaigns).
ayto.tordesillas@dip-valladolid.es, soturmadrid@cict.jcyl.es, presidente_responde@cpat.jcyl.es, alfonso.fernandez@cpat.jcyl.es,  How is it possible that in 2004 non human animals are still tortured and
killed?
How is it possible that Spain that pretends to be a civilized
country allows the existence of such a barbaric and savage spectacle like
this?
We don't understand that in the 21st century, hundreds of men
with medieval spears chase a bull stabbing him to death.
Name/Country
SWEDEN
PROTEST AGAINST FUR FARMING
Source: Mark
Richards
Send a polite letter to Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, asking him to support a ban on fur farming in his country. Please copy your letter andthen click on this weblink of the Swedish Government and press on Göran Persson's email so that you can paste your message: http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/3469;jsessionid=aJAem5-BmLF4 Dear Prime Minister , Fur farming is cruel: animals are confined for their entire lives in tiny, filthy cages; many mutilate themselves or others out of stress and boredon; they may suffer the extreme pain of a heart attack when viginally or anally electrocuted; gassing and suffocation may only stun animals resulting in them being skinned alive. It is illegal to fur farm in Great Britain, Scotland, most of Austria, and Northern Ireland. Please follow suit. Thank you very much indeed for your time. Yours sincerely, Name/Country Please email your Swedish embassy asking the Swedish Government to support a ban on fur farming. To find the Swedish embassy in your country please visit one of these weblinks: http://www.embassyworld.com/dev/result.php?guest=193&host=%25&count=0&menu=1 http://www2.tagish.co.uk/Links/Embassies/Countries/S.htm Dear Swedish Embassy, Fur farming is cruel: animals are confined for their entire lives in tiny, filthy cages; many mutilate themselves or others out of stress and boredon; they may suffer the extreme pain of a heart attack when viginally or anally electrocuted; gassing and suffocation may only stun animals resulting in them being skinned alive. It is illegal to fur farm in Great Britain, Scotland, most of Austria, and Northern Ireland. Please ask the Swedish Government to follow suit. Thank you very much indeed for your time. Yours sincerely, Name/Country
UNITED KINGDOM
PROTEST AGAINST THE CONSTRUCTION OF A GREYHOUND
TRACK IN NORTHERN IRELAND
Source: Greyhound Action Scotland
A new track proposal has come to light in Northern
Ireland. Its amongst proposals for a new football stadium and it transpires that
the local councillor behind the proposal is also Chair of the football club -
how is that for a conflict of interests!
Newtonards Council has a proposal to turn an area of natural
beauty into as new greyhound stadium. Northern Ireland is one of the worst
areas for greyhounds in the UK. There is little potential of any greyhound
found there to face any fate but death after racing. There is no active
campaign highlighting the plight of the greyhound there at present. Greyhound
are not seen as pets, but racing machines. There is more information about the
situation in Northern Ireland on our website. We need to help persuade the
local councillors to stop this track plans going through.
It is now time to show the local council the reality behind
greyhound racing. Please email the local councillors stating the darker side of
greyhound racing and asking them not to support this proposed
stadium.
List of councillors email addresses:
Dear City Councillors,
I am deeply concerned and shocked to hear that a new track proposal has come to light in Northern Ireland.
Another greyhound track will just
create extra demand for the breeding of even more greyhounds. Most of these
sensitive and loyal dogs will be killed if they fail to make the grade, or when
they are no longer fit, as there is a shortage of rescue homes.
Yours sincerely,
Name/Country
U.S.A.
GROUP THINKS IDITAROD CRUELTIES ARE
INSPIRATIONAL FOR WOMEN
Source: Sled Dog Action Coalition
Wild Women Unite, a group that seeks to empower
women, invited Iditarod musher DeeDee Jonrowe to be a guest speaker at its
Wilderness Weekend, Sept. 16 to 19 in Pulaski, New York. In the 2002 Iditarod,
Jonrowe's dog Mark died from a bleeding stomach ulcer. On the All About Animals
Radio Show, Dr. Paula Kislak, President of the Association of Veterinarians for
Animal Rights, said that before Mark's ulcer ruptured there would have been
signs that an ulcer was present. He would have showed "a lack of interest in
food, more vomiting than normal, discomfort in the abdominal area."
Jonrowe has admitted having over 100 dogs
chained on five foot tethers in her kennel, sleeping on the sled while the dogs
race and breezing through checkpoints. When mushers blast through checkpoints,
the dogs do not get veterinary physical examinations.
Ask Yvonne Kopy and Annette Snedaker, the
directors of Wild Women Unite, to
cancel Jonrowe's speech. SAMPLE LETTER TO PERSONALIZE:
Dear Ms. Kopy and Ms. Snedaker:
I understand that Wild Women Unite invited
Iditarod musher DeeDee Jonrowe to
speak at its Wild Women of the Wilderness Weekend. I hope you will cancel her talk after reading the information I provide. In the 2002 Iditarod, Jonrowe's dog Mark died
from a bleeding ulcer. In an interview on the All About Animals Radio Show, Dr.
Paula Kislak, President of the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights,
said that prior to Mark's ulcer rupturing there would have been signs that an
ulcer was present. He would have showed "a lack of interest in food, more
vomiting than normal, discomfort in the abdominal area."
Jonrowe has admitted to having over 100 dogs
tethered on 5 foot chains in her kennel, sleeping on her sled while the dogs
race and breezing through check points. When mushers blast through check points,
the dogs do not get veterinary physical examinations.
In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run 1,150
miles, which is the approximate distance between Binghamton and Tampa, Florida,
over a grueling terrain in 8 to15 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."
Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition
(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.
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.
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. No one knows how many dogs die in training or after the race each year. 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
finish, 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 Iditarod could not be legally held in most
states because doing so would violate animal cruelty laws. The California law's
(§ 597) description of a person who commits animal cruelty is typical: "Every
person who overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures,
torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats,
mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal, or causes or procures any animal to be
so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured,
tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter, or to be cruelly
beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed...or otherwise uses the animal when unfit
for labor, is, for every such offense, guilty of a crime punishable as a
misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively punishable as a misdemeanor or a
felony and by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars
($20,000)."
The race has led to the proliferation of
concentration-camp-like 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 do not promote this barbaric race by having Jonrowe
speak.
Sincerely, Name/Country PETITIONS
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Your help needed to save whales
http://www.savebiogems.org/watchlist/takeaction.asp?camp=31&step=2&item=52240 Enquiry into Marineland
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
This Magazine published by Maria Lopes |
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