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A monthly Magazine edited and published by Maria Lopes - March 2007

Dear Friends,

The Written Declaration 0002/2007 (calling for a ban on bullfighting and  bull breeders subsidies)  had been signed by 176 MEPs on the 15th of  March, according to European Union official numbers. Probably the real  number is higher because the EU does not update their website regularly.  It hasn't been updated since that date. The lapse date is 15th April and  we are far away from the 393 signatures needed.
It's not brilliant but hope is the last thing to die so please continue to  send emails to convince the MEPs of the importance of signing this  document to end the subsidies to bull breeders. Please send emails to  Italy, Sweden, Danemark, Germany, Hungary, Romania, etc, because the  majority of British MEPs have already signed. All details can be found at  our website at http://www.iwab.org/campaign.html

For the Animals
Maria Lopes
Coordinator


DENMARK
 
UPDATE - PROTEST AGAINST RODEOS AT COPENHAGEN
 

Good News! The Hilton Hotel Copenhagen has removed its sponsorship for this rodeo event. So there is no further need to write to them, but please continue to send protest emails to the ohter sponsors.
INDIA
 
India's Chinese-style dog culls!
 
Source: It's Their Destiny http://itstheirdestiny.2kat.net
 
With successful Animal Birth Control programs operated throughout most of India, few would have thought that this country would have such a problem with stray dogs that they would feel a need to resort to extreme measures. Although generally this is true in the rest of India, the State of Karnataka has never really embraced the concept of spay and release. The population growth of these dogs is encouraged by the countless unauthorised and illegal meat shops in its cities, which not only kill their animals without any enforced regulations, but dispose of their waste and surplus meat by throwing it into the streets.
 
When a couple of children were killed by packs of homeless dogs recently, the authorities acted quickly to cover their incompetence by putting the blame squarely on the street dogs. The fact that the kids were killed in the close proximity of some of these illegal meat shops was ignored. Originating in Bangalore, culls of strays are now underway in the cities of Mysore and Mandya and are spreading throughout the state. Contrary to some reports, the culls have not been declared illegal - this is happening NOW and the victims are expected to number many thousands.
 
Unlike their Chinese counterparts, the Indian dog killers are not targeting pet dogs, but any homeless dogs they find on the street are being killed using methods very reminiscent of China. No humane euthanasia here. Strangled, gassed, beaten to death, injected with cyanide or electrocuted, the dogs of Karnataka fare no better than in some of the worst areas of China.
 
You can read more on these culls at the following links;
http://catsofbangalore.blogspot.com (images, videos and eye-witness accounts)
 
Newspaper reports
http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/05/stories/2007030514070100.htm
 
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/04032007/323/bangalore-targets-street-dogs-child-mauled-death.html
 
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main28.asp?filename=Cr240307Bangalore_vs.asp
 
TV report (video)
 
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/36004/03_2007/india360_130307_2a/trai%20ler-mira-nairs-the-namesake.html
 
What you can do
Our Indian colleagues are asking that you write to the email addresses below expressing your abhorrence at these culls and the scapegoating of the street dogs. A sample letter is provided, but as always please write your own if you can. Please keep it polite - expressing yourself too forcefully may make you feel better but may not help the animals.
 
Mr.Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister, Karnataka
cm@kar.nic.in
 
Mr.Ashok, Health Minister, Karnataka
contact@egovernments.org
 
Contact details for Indian Embassies can be found at:
http://www.thokalath.com/embassy/index.php

 
Dear Sir,
 
I was horrified to learn that, unlike other States of India, Karnataka is dealing with the problem of street dogs with a campaign of mass-killings.
 
Throughout India homeless dogs are commonplace, yet in many States their numbers are being controlled effectively by Animal Birth Control programs. No animal population can grow more than available food permits and when dogs are neutered, vaccinated and returned to their own territory, they prevent other dogs moving in, thus limiting their numbers naturally.
 
When, as in Karnataka however, ample supplies of food are thrown into the streets by illegal meat sellers, their numbers will obviously increase. By simply killing the dogs you are encouraging the breeding of replacements. Nature abhors a vacuum and you are creating a situation in which the culls will have to be repeated indefinitely.
 
I urge you instead to catch, neuter and vaccinate the strays of Karnataka, release them back onto the streets, and close down the illegal and unhygienic meat traders that are the real cause of this problem.
 
India has a reputation throughout the world as a humane country, and its people are renown for their kindness. I beg you not to let this reputation be so tarnished by cruel, inefficient, and easily avoidable methods of animal control.
 
Yours sincerely
Name/Country
SOUTH AFRICA
 
Urge South Africa to 'Cull' Elephant Killing >From Policy
 
Source: Linda Furness
 
South Africa’s newest elephant “management” policy includes killing as an option for controlling elephant populations.
 
These mass killing operations tear apart elephant families and leave the survivors permanently scarred. Between 1967 and 1995, 14,562 elephants in South Africa’s Kruger National Park were culled. Terrified elephants were herded into groups with helicopters while people on the ground and in the air opened fire with high-powered weapons. Elephants are capable of communicating over long distances, and their death screams were undoubtedly heard by other elephants miles away. Innumerable orphaned calves, who were regarded as valuable collateral, were sold to zoos and circuses, where many were beaten into submission, chained, and confined and had their precious freedom taken and their spirits broken. And scientists are now determining that these individuals were left with lifelong emotional trauma from witnessing the violent executions of their families.
 
Although elephants are considered by many to be the quintessential symbol of the African continent and ecotourism plays an important role in the South African economy, many of the country’s officials treat elephants as nuisances to be “controlled,” marketed, and profited from. These magnificent animals are viewed by some as commodities to be killed, hacked into pieces, skinned, canned, carved, and sold bit by bit.
 
Numerous scientists have condemned South Africa’s proposal to kill elephants. There is no evidence that elephants pose an imminent risk to biodiversity. Reducing the elephant population is arbitrary and scientifically unsound, and it reflects outdated wildlife-management principles. Please urge South Africa to remove culling from the list of options for elephant “management” and implement the humane, sensible suggestions advocated by scientists and reported by Care for the Wild International, including the following:
 
• Reduce the number of artificially created watering holes—this would divert elephants to previously underutilized areas.
• Expand protected elephant habitats by linking them to adjacent areas, and develop migration corridors to other regions.
• Develop community-based wildlife-conservation programs outside the existing protected areas to increase the benefits of tourism to nearby rural areas.
• Protect vulnerable and valuable areas by erecting and maintaining fences and implementing other nonlethal deterrents.
• Administer contraception, which is affordable and involves minimal intervention that can reduce the number of elephants in a large population.
 
Please send polite comments to:
 
Her Excellency Barbara Joyce Masekela
Ambassador of South Africa
Embassy of South Africa
3051 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20008
202-232-4400
202-265-1607 (fax)
ambassador@saembassy.org
vanheerdenm@foreign.gov.za
 
Even though elephant culling has generated a worldwide outcry, the zoo community has remained strangely silent. If zoos truly foster respect for wildlife, as they purport to do, they should be leading the charge to prevent this tragedy. Please contact your local zoo officials and ask them to do the following:
 
• Speak out publicly against any elephant “management” proposal that includes culling as an option.
• Pledge not to obtain elephant calves orphaned in culls, thus removing African countries’ financial incentive to slaughter adult elephants.
 
UNITED KINGDOM
 
 

European Commission turns its back on the seals / 3 simple ways you can help the seals
 
Source: seals seals
 
With the Canadian Seal 'Hunt' due to start in a matter of days, the European Commission has said 'no' to banning the import of seal products into the European Union.
 
Despite unprecedented support from 425 MEPs, the European Commission has ruled that it will not implement a ban, but will instead commission a study into the 'hunt' to gauge whether it is humane or not (even though numerous other studies and extensive video footage prove the inherent cruelty involved).  This study could take years to complete - in the meantime, many hundreds of thousands of Harp seal pups will be slaughtered on the ice floes of Canada's east coast.
 
Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, together with other co-sponsor MEPS of the European Parliament, have been pressing the Commission to implement a ban.  Other countries in Europe and beyond, have already put bans in place, or are expected to do so within the very near future.
 
The UK government (through the UK minister for trade) has stated that it is: 'deeply concerned about the reported cruelty of the Canadian seal hunt and that the UK will press the European Commission to put forward an EU-wide ban on harp and hooded deal products.'  Now that no such ban is imminent, the UK government needs to be lobbied to implement its own ban.
 
With the UK being the second largest importer of Canadian seal skins (Denmark being the largest), any ban would send a very strong message to the Canadian government.
 
What can you do?
 
Sign a petition urging the Prime Minister to implement a ban: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SAVESEALS/ 
  
 
urge your MP to sign EDM 83, asking for a ban (http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=31652&SESSION=885). 
 
E-mail: Ian McCartney, Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs  tlo.mccartney@tlodti.gov.uk and dti.enquiries@dti.gsi.gov.uk 
Urge him to implement a ban.
 
_________________________________________________________________
 
Tail Docking
 
Source: South Devon Greyhound Action
 
The new Animal Welfare Law comes into force next month but some tail docking is still permitted after MPs were lobbied during its final stages, no doubt by those who have managed to find loopholes in the anti hunting act.
No 10 has a petition you can sign against docking IF YOU ARE A UK CITIZEN LIVING IN THE UK OR ABROAD OR IF YOU ARE A FOREIGN NATIONAL RESIDENT IN THE UK The link to the petition is
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/antitaildock/
 
The closing date to sign is in May and when I signed earlier today there were only 54 signatures. Please sign and spread the word to anybody you know who is elligible.
 
U.S.A.
 
Ironweed Films Promotes Rodeo Propaganda
 
Source: SHARK
 
Recently a SHARK supporter and Ironweed member brought to our attention the surprising news that Ironweed Films is promoting the movie Rank as the highlight of its March selection.
 
Surprising because Ironweed promotes itself as a progressive, socially-conscious film club, and the documentary Rank is just that, but not in the way the filmmakers meant.  Rank is a glorification of the thugs that choose to make a living by attempting to dominate, often through abuse, the bulls they ride as unwilling participants in their cowboy charade.
 
However, Ironweed is promoting this film on its website and to its members describing it thus, "Through breathtaking cinematography, gritty action and starkly honest storytelling, "Rank" paints the portrait of three Professional Bull Riding champions and the beautiful bulls they ride...The dance between human and beast, the balance with the natural world and the theme of the American Western are fleshed out against the backdrop of the high intensity PBR World Finals."
 
Any caring, thinking person would realize that these tormented creatures, who are trucked around the country, shocked, spiked, and beaten, are not doing anything like "dancing."
 
Please contact Ironweed, especially if you are a member, and let them know just how abusive and reprehensible the rodeo industry truly is. Their description and promotion of this film is not a 'critical look' at the realities of bull riding; it is a propaganda piece choreographed by those that make their living from the abuse of animals.
 
 
phone: 866-456-9333 (Monday through Friday, 9-6 PM PST)
write:
 
Ironweed Films
660 York St., #102
San Francisco, CA 94110
 
Below is a letter sent by a caring and insightful Ironweed member.  The sender reports that her letter caught the attention of Ironweed's decision makers and the film club, while regrettably not willing to pull Rank from the March selection or change their glowing description of the film, responded that they are having "renewed discussion of the film and Ironweed's social goals and responsibilities." 
 
Ironweed needs to hear from more people on this issue! Please read the letter below and then contact Ironweed with your own comments. Please write a different letter.
 
Dear Ironweed,
 
I've been a member for about a year now, and for the most part I really do enjoy the movies you provide members. However, looking ahead to March, I'm rather disturbed. I thought that perhaps your July 2006 issue was an anomaly, with its inclusion of The Wildest Show in the South: The Angola Prison Rodeo. Since you market yourselves as a progressive organization dedicated to promoting socially-conscious cinema, I thought surely you included that short film because of its focus on the criminal justice system and used some sort of cost-benefit analysis to deem the portrayal of the exploitation of animals in such a fashion. However, seeing that you've chosen Rank as your March 2007 feature, I'm no longer sure of that. Indeed, I must say that I am appalled by your choice, and though I appreciate Ironweed I am seriously reconsidering my membership.
 
I understand that it is a common misconception that rodeos cause little harm to animals or that they are purely fun or a challenging sport. I encourage you to visit Shark online to disabuse yourselves of that notion; perhaps by educating yourselves about this issue you will refrain, in the future, from indirectly promoting such an abusive and cruel "sport" as "progressive" or "socially conscious" cinema. In the mean time, if I decide to cancel my subscription, how would I go about doing that?
 
Best,
A.H.
 
_____________________________________________________
 
Panasonic now sponsoring cruel Iditarod
 
 
Source: The Sled Dog Action Coalition, http://www.helpsleddogs.org
 
Panasonic has just become an Iditarod race sponsor. Please help the Iditarod dogs by sending Panasonic protest emails. A sample letter and email addresses are below.
 
The Iditarod dogs are helpless victims of profoundly inhumane treatment and cannot speak for themselves. What happens to them during the Iditarod includes death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, ruptured discs, viral diseases and pneumonia.
 
For the dogs, the Iditarod is a bottomless pit of suffering. Throughout this eight to 16-day competition, Iditarod personnel encourage mushers to race diseased dogs. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running.
 
Veterinarians also work to help the mushers before the Iditarod begins. Although the dogs are often sick, veterinarians allow them to start the race anyway. One chief Iditarod veterinarian even published a musher/veterinary handbook advising mushers on how to avoid having prohibited substances detected in pre-race veterinary checks.
 
The email addresses for the other Iditarod supporters can be found  on http://www.helpsleddogs.org/sponsors.htm . At the bottom of the page you'll find addresses in block with commas and semi-colons.
 
 
SAMPLE LETTER TO PANASONIC:
 
Dear Mr. Greenberg:
 
I protest your organization's support of the Iditarod dog sled race. For the dogs, this barbaric event is a bottomless pit of suffering. What happens to them during the Iditarod includes death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, ruptured discs, viral diseases and pneumonia. Please end your involvement in this cruel race.
 
In the Iditarod, dogs are forced to run 1,150 miles, which is the approximate distance between Miami, Florida and New York City. 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."
 
Please visit the Sled Dog Action Coalition website http://www.helpsleddogs.org and be sure to read the quotes on http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks.htm . All the material on the site is true and verifiable.
 
Throughout this eight to 16-day competition, Iditarod personnel encourage mushers to race diseased dogs. Instead of pulling sick dogs from the race, veterinarians frequently give them massive doses of antibiotics to keep them running.
 
Veterinarians also work to help the mushers before the Iditarod begins. Although the dogs are often sick, veterinarians allow them to start the race anyway. One chief Iditarod veterinarian even published a musher/veterinary handbook advising mushers on how to avoid having prohibited substances detected in pre-race veterinary checks.
 
At least 130 dogs have died in the Iditarod. No one knows how many dogs die after this tortuous ordeal or during training.
 
On average, 52 percent 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 percent have lung damage. A report published in the Journal of  Veterinary Internal Medicine said that 61 percent of the dogs who finish the Iditarod have ulcers versus zero percent pre-race.
 
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, March3, 2000 in Jon Saraceno's column.
 
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, including those who have outlived their usefulness, are killed with a shot to the head, dragged or clubbed to death. "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."
 
Please end your organization's association with this horrific race.
 
Sincerely,
Name/Country
 
PETITIONS
 
Help persuade Tesco to stop selling live turtles in China
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/518761759?ltl=1174939953
 
 
'Say No to a New Primate Research Center in Canada'
http://www.cah-research.com/petition_INRS.htm
 
 
Save Man's Best Friend from the Dog Meat Trade - Say YES to House Bill 2991
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/879609320?ltl=1172530821
 

 

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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.

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www.iwab.org

 

This Magazine published by Maria Lopes
marialopes@iwab.org

 

  

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