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The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors last year wisely voted to ban elephant rides from the annual Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, for reasons of animal welfare and public safety. California State Fair officials, though, are currently negotiating to have elephant rides at the 2005 State Fair. When not giving rides, these Asian elephants (an endangered species) are kept in chains. The travel from Southern California is highly stressful on the animals, and potentially dangerous. Elephant rides serve only to reinforce the idea that animals are here merely for our entertainment, and the animals' welfare is secondary. There's also a public health risk: elephants can carry and transmit tuberculosis to humans and if they manage to escape, can be a serious risk to people.
Read More | Update Feb 1 | Update Feb 15.
In a Presidential tradition, Bush pardoned two turkeys this year but certainly he has no qualms about eating many others.

Vegetarians and vegans, on the other hand — rebelling against meat culture conformity — ate absolutely no turkey this Thanksgiving day, but that doesn't mean they went hungry. Many cooked traditional, although turkey-free, meals for themselves and invited others over to share in their bounty. Some vegetarians went out to eat at one of the numerous high-quality, vegetarian-only restaurants in the Bay Area. And others simply passed on putting turkey on their plate, but ate all the other offerings, as they spent the day at the houses of family and friends. There are a wealth of options for those who want to enjoy the holidays without contributing to animal suffering or environmental degredation. Read More

In Bakersfield and other cities, Animal Rights advocates rallied in support of a turkey-free Thankgiving.

Some events: Bay Area Vegetarians and the Upaya Center present a vegan/raw food Turkey Liberation Day potluck as an alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving Day at 2pm. Details East Bay Food Not Bombs will hold a Vegetarian Potluck/Give Thanks Feast at 6pm at Ashkenaz.

Thu Nov 18 2004
Britain Outlaws Fox Hunting
After decades of highly charged efforts to end fox hunting throughout Europe, from sabatoging hunts to building public opposition to the sport, Animal Welfare and Animal Rights groups won a major victory in Britain. The elected House of Commons invoked a rarely used 1949 Parliament Act to force a ban on fox hunting into law despite the delaying tactics and opposition of the unelected House of Lords. Hunters vowed legal fights, huge marches like the one in September 2002 with 400,000 supporters of fox hunting, and outright defiance of the law. Without a big rout of the Labour Party in the next elections, though, the law will likely remain in effect on the up-to-now popular country sport that is despised by many urbanites. Read More
Tue Aug 31 2004
California Bans Foie Gras
9/30/04: Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed the historic bill to ban the production and sale of foie gras in the state of California. The bill makes the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese illegal by 2012, and also bans the sale of the cruel product. While some hope that the extended time before the law is to take effect will allow producers to find alternate methods to overfeed fowl, most do not see this as feasible and believe foie gras will eventually fade from tables in California and surrounding states. Read more
8/31/04: California's foie gras legislation has passed the Assembly floor by a wide margin. This could be history in the making — though several countries around the world have banned force-feeding fowl, this is the first time this type of legislation has made it this far in the U.S. Paul McCartney and other celebrities have lobbied the governor to sign the bill. Read more