IDA eNews: 2/14/07

IDA ACTION ALERTS
1. Congress Considers Permanent Ban on Sale of Meat from Downed Animals
2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Requesting Public Comments on Proposed Delisting of Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Population
3. Teens Make & Post Video of Dog Killing Cat

NEWS & CAMPAIGN UPDATES
1. Global Day of Action against Chinese Fur a Success
2. Meatout 2007 is coming March 20th
3. Get Discounted Tickets for IDA's Benefit Concert


IDA ACTION ALERTS

1. Congress Considers Permanent Ban on Sale of Meat from Downed Animals
Promising bill addresses both public health and animal welfare concerns

In 2003, the first mad cow in the U.S. was discovered in Washington State. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more popularly known as mad cow disease, is a prion disease that eats holes in the brain, and can be transmitted from animals to humans by the consumption of contaminated flesh. Around the world, about 300 people have contracted the fatal disease since it was first identified in 1985.

Mad cow disease spreads by the factory farming practice of mashing up cows and feeding them to other cows: including their brain and spinal tissue where the deadly prions accumulate. Though the USDA banned this practice in 1997, fears of mad cow persist. One of the symptoms of mad cow disease in animals includes the inability to walk or stand: in fact, 10 of the 11 animals with BSE found in North America were non-ambulatory. Many farmed animals on their way to slaughter are too sick to walk on their own due to a variety of illnesses and injuries caused by cruel and abusive factory farm conditions. Workers on the killing floor call these severely suffering individuals "downers."

It used to be legal just a few years ago to slaughter and sell meat from downed cattle, but after mad cow was found in the U.S., Congress put a temporary ban on the sale of downed cattle meat for human consumption that is still in effect. However, sheep, pigs, goats, horses and other species are not protected by this ban. In addition, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns believes U.S. beef to be mad cow-free, and wants to lift the ban.

The Downed Animal Protection and Food Safety Act, introduced to both houses of Congress in late January 2006, will help protect the public against mad cow and reduce the horrific pain that downed animals endure. They may be left for days in a corner of the factory farm or slaughterhouse, unable to move, without food, water or veterinary attention. To get these animals onto the killing floor, workers prod them with electric shocks, tie chains to their legs and drag them, or push them with bulldozers. This can tear flesh, break bones and pull joints clear out of their sockets.

This bill would make the temporary ban passed in 2003 permanent and also protect many other species in addition to cows. Banning the sale of downed animal meat would also be an incentive for agribusiness to improve conditions so that fewer animals get too sick to walk to their own deaths. Perhaps most importantly, the law would require that non-ambulatory animals be quickly euthanized, saving them from an excruciatingly slow and painful end.

What You Can Do:

Please "Take Action" to ask your Senators and Representative to support and co-sponsor the Downed Animal Protection and Food Safety Act ( %takeaction-dapfsa% ), which already has 89 co-sponsors. Feel free to edit the sample letter to your liking and print it out as a letter to mail. You can also contact your elected officials by phone and postal mail. Get mailing addresses and phone numbers for your elected officials ( http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/leg-lookup/search.html ).



2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Requesting Public Comments on Proposed Delisting of Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Population
Urge feds to raise wolf recovery goals above minimum levels and postpone delisting until state management plans comply.

On February 8, 2007 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Service) published their official proposal to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain (NRM) states from the Federal List of Threatened and Endangered Species. The Service wants to delist wolves in all of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, the eastern one-third of Washington and Oregon, and a small part of north-central Utah.

The Service only requires that a minimum 300 wolves made up of 30 breeding pairs or 30 packs is maintained in the NRM area. Currently, the wolf population in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming is at least 89 breeding pairs (or 89 packs) and 1,243 gray wolves live in the NRM which means that close to 59 breeding pairs and 943 wolves can be killed, (or culled depending on the attitudes of the state legislatures) before wolves become relisted and protected again by the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The combination of federal protection, reintroduction programs and the dispersal of gray wolves from Canada have allowed wolves to occupy 6% of their historic territory. Wolves once roamed over all of the U.S. before they were hunted, trapped and poisoned to the brink of extinction by ranchers and government agencies.

The ESA has protected gray wolves and allowed them to thrive for decades. Despite this success, FWS is ready to hand over wolf management to state legislatures that have been eager to kill off most of the wolves inhabiting their states. This is the same attitude that fueled the worst extermination plan of a non-human species in North American history.

Idaho’s Republican Governor, C.L. “Butch” Otter, said recently, “I’m prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself.” Though poisoning is one of the only illegal methods of killing wolves, a man in Idaho pleaded guilty last month of trying to kill wolves by using poison-laced meatballs to attract them. While his plan to illegally kill wolves failed, a coyote, fox, several birds and three dogs ate the meatballs and suffered instead.

In Wyoming, anti-wolf sentiment is far worse. In fact, even the Service is reluctant to release management of wolves to the state. Current Wyoming State Law designates wolves as “predators” which means, “All wolves, including pups can be killed by any means, without limit, at any time, for any reason, and regardless of any direct or potential threat to livestock.” This allows people in Wyoming to be very creative in how they choose to kill wolves. There have been stories of people trapping wolves, wiring their muzzles shut, punching them and then release the wolves back into the wild to starve. Digging pups out of dens and harassing and torturing wolves are all legal under Wyoming State Law. Wyoming is also considering the use of aerial hunting permits to kill wolves in their attempt to keep wolves away from livestock.

Wyoming’s Democratic Governor, Dave Freudenthal, has recently said “wolves are causing an unacceptable impact on our elk and moose populations,” while other political leaders would like to declare any wolf outside Yellowstone or the Grand Teton national parks “an unprotected predator” which again translates to killing all wolves -- young, pregnant, etc. -- by “any means, without limit, at any time, for any reason, and regardless of any direct or potential threat to livestock.” Wolf packs from Yellowstone National Park now roam in Wyoming, so this is especially alarming.

In addition, Wyoming has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to delist wolves. This is based on their allegations that delisting wolves is “urgent and a priority because of impacts to big game populations, economic impacts, introducing wolves into unnatural and fragmented habitats, and livestock depredation.” At present, the Service wants to delist wolves in all of Wyoming, but will not until the state adopts a management plan similar to Idaho and Montana which protects some wolves to keep the species alive (i.e., ten breeding pairs or packs of wolves and 100 wolves in each state). Wyoming still has a chance to submit a management plan for wolves that the Servicewill approve, but hopefully they will not. If they do not, only portions of the wolves’ habitat in Wyoming will become delisted.

This could become the worst wolf massacre in the lower 48 states in decades. And it could be executed using egregious killing methods that no civilized person would consider appropriate for "wolf management" efforts. None of the states' wolf management plans adequately address the underlying issues that once brought these magnificent animals to the brink of extinction before they were pulled back by aggressive conservation. In so doing, they ignore not only the wolves' welfare, but also the crucial role the species plays in maintaining balanced ecosystems.

Wolves are also important to the millions of nature lovers who visit our national parks every year. According to a recent study, over 150,000 people go to Yellowstone National Park each year just to see wolves, adding $35 million to the economies of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. In addition, almost 4% of the Park's nearly three million annual visitors said they would not have visited Yellowstone if there were no wolves.

Wolves live together, forming close bonds with members of their packs. They raise their young much like mother dogs raise puppies. It is a sad tragedy that these magnificent and sentient animals will be hunted down again and exterminated.

What You Can Do:

I. Submit comments (Deadline: April 9, 2007)
Please be sure your comments are personalized, polite and as concise as possible.

1) Action Alert: Please "Take Action" ( %takeaction-nrmwolves% ) to urge the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service not to delist the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountain states.

2) Fax: (406) 449-5339
Include in Subject line: RIN number 1018-AU53

3) Mail:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Western Gray Wolf Recovery Coordinator
RIN number 1018-AU53
585 Shepard Way
Helena, MT 59601

4) Hand Deliver/Courier:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Western Gray Wolf Recovery Coordinator
RIN number 1018-AU53
585 Shepard Way
Helena, MT 59601

II. Attend a meeting and public hearing:
We are looking for people to videotape the meetings at each location. Please write to wildlife [at] idausa.org ASAP if you are able to help.

In each location, the public meetings will be from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and the public hearings will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A brief presentation on the FWS proposal will be given during the public meetings at 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer period. During the public hearing, formal oral testimony will be accepted. Written comments also will be accepted at the public meeting and the hearing.

Meeting Locations:
- February 27, 2007 at Holiday Inn Cheyenne, 204 West Fox Farm Road, Cheyenne, WY ( http://tinyurl.com/yvatyx )
- February 28, 2007 at Plaza Hotel, 122 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT ( http://tinyurl.com/yupl7k )
- March 1, 2007 at Jorgenson’s Inn & Suites, 1714 11th Avenue, Helena, MT ( http://tinyurl.com/yt7j6a )
- March 6, 2007 at Boise Convention Center on the Grove, 850 W. Front Street, Boise, ID ( http://tinyurl.com/2zby62 )
- March 7, 2007 at Pendleton Red Lion Inn, 304 S.E. Nye Street, Pendleton, OR ( http://tinyurl.com/ywg5qo )
- March 8, 2007 at Oxford Inns and Suites, 15015 East Indiana Avenue, Spokane Valley, WA ( http://tinyurl.com/264xdf )

For more information, please contact wildlife [at] idausa.org.


3. Teens Make & Post Video of Dog Killing Cat
Urge D.A.'s office to prosecute animal abusers to fullest extent of the law

Police officers pulled two 10th graders out of class at Angleton High School in Texas last week and arrested them on animal cruelty charges for posting a video on MySpace.com of a dog tearing a cat to pieces. Paul Miguel, 17, allegedly tied a stray cat he'd found in his neighborhood to the bumper of a minivan, and provoked his otherwise docile dog, a female pit bull named Brook, to attack and dismember the orange feline. An unnamed 16-year-old accomplice videotaped the incident, which lasted several minutes, and Miguel posted it on the Internet.

Janet Keleher from Burt, New York learned about the video from an online chat group and immediately contacted police after viewing it. Authorities who investigated the scene of the crime discovered the cat's mangled corpse discarded in the brush behind Miguel's home. After police downloaded the video as evidence, MySpace quickly removed it from the site in compliance with their strict policy against posting clips showing illegal activities.

Miguel expressed no remorse for the cat's death or posting it for others to see. When asked by a television reporter whether he thought at the time he made the video that killing the cat might be a bad idea, Miguel responded, "I didn't think nothing about it. Any person would have done it… They'd record that." Miguel also told police that he doesn't like cats, and that he ordered his dog to attack because the cat was trying to hurt him.

Animal cruelty is a felony in the state of Texas. If Miguel is convicted, he could face up to two years in prison. Violence to animals is a precursor to violence to human beings. This crime should be taken seriously.

What You Can Do:

Write to Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne urging her office to prosecute both of these teens to the fullest extent of the law for so viciously and brutally taking the life of a helpless cat. The teens, if prosecuted, should be forced to undergo psychological evaluation and should be barred from ever "owning" animals.

The Honorable Jeri Yenne
Brazoria County District Attorney's Office
111 Locust, Ste. 408A
Brazoria, TX 77422


NEWS & CAMPAIGN UPDATES

1. Global Day of Action against Chinese Fur a Success
IDA holds protests at four Chinese Consulates as part of International Anti-Fur Coalition's worldwide action

On Tuesday, February 13th, IDA joined animal rights advocates around the world in exposing the horrors of the Chinese fur industry, where animal welfare laws are non-existent and dogs and cats are slaughtered for their fur, sometimes skinned while still fully conscious. As an active member of the International Anti-Fur Coalition ( http://fur.arforum.org ), we were proud to do our part for the annual global day of action against the Chinese fur trade by hosting demonstrations at the Chinese Consulates in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston. Other members of the coalition held protests in other major U.S. cities and in more than 26 countries around the world.

A story on ABC News last week shed new light on the sale of dog and cat fur in the U.S. While it has been against the law to sell products made from dog or cat fur in this country since 2000, ABC News reported that an undercover investigation revealed that many major department stores (including Macy's, J.C. Penney's and Neiman Marcus) are selling jackets made from dog fur that are labeled as being faux fur or the fur of another animal species. Watch this news story online ( http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2862512 ).

Part of the reason for this is that there is a loophole in the Fur Products Labeling Act of 1951 that exempts garments with less than $150 worth of fur from having to list the name of the species, the manufacturer, the country of origin and other pertinent information on clothing labels. Congressman Jim Moran ( http://moran.house.gov ) of Virginia recently introduced a bill called the Dog and Cat Fur Prohibition Enforcement Act which aims to protect consumers and animals by outlawing the import of fur from raccoon dogs and requiring all garments trimmed with fur to be labeled, regardless of value.

What You Can Do:

Please "Take Action" now to encourage your Representative to support and cosponsor the Dog and Cat Fur Prohibition Enforcement Act ( %takeaction-dcfpea% ). Feel free to edit the sample letter to your liking and print it out as a letter to mail. You can also contact your elected officials by phone and postal mail. Get mailing addresses and phone numbers for your elected officials ( http://ga0.org/indefenseofanimals/leg-lookup/search.html ).


2. Meatout 2007 is coming March 20th
IDA Co-sponsors annual campaign to promote compassionate vegan lifestyle

The first day of spring is just around the corner, which means it's time once again for the Great American Meatout ( http://www.meatout.org ), an international educational campaign sponsored by the Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM) ( http://www.farmusa.org ) and co-sponsored by IDA.

Every year on March 20th, thousands of caring people of different ages and walks of life from all 50 states celebrate Meatout by educating their communities about the joys and benefits of a compassionate plant-based diet and ask their friends, families and neighbors to "kick the meat habit" (at least for a day). This year marks the 22nd consecutive annual Meatout, making it again the largest and longest-running annual grassroots diet education campaign in history.

What You Can Do:

Visit http://www.meatout.org/events/mevents.htm to find out what events are scheduled for your area so you can participate. There's still time to plan and register your own Meatout event ( http://www.meatout.org/events/registration.htm ). Examples include festivals, lectures, public dinners, cooking demonstrations, feed-ins, leafleting, street theater, information tables (i.e., "steakouts"), exhibits, farm animal walks, activism skill-building workshops and video screenings of pro-animal documentaries.

The theme of this year's Meatout is "Stop Global Warming!" With the popularity of the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth, more people are aware than ever before of the dangers that the greenhouse effect poses to the planet, along with every living being on it. The United Nations recently produced a report ( http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm ) warning that raising cattle for meat and dairy generates more greenhouse gases than all the automobiles in the world. Therefore, the most effective tactic to reduce global warming is encouraging people to go veg.

It's easy to incorporate an environmental component into your event. When you register your event and request an Event Pack, FARM will send you their brand new "Stop Global Warming" poster and related handouts, as well as an official Meatout banner, color posters, leaflets, stickers and more! Start planning today!


3. Get Discounted Tickets for IDA's Benefit Concert
Valentine's Day Special: Limited seating available for just $100

Please join IDA and our host, America's Sweetheart, Paula Abdul, on February 17th for an extraordinary evening of music and entertainment at IDA's first-ever star-studded Benefit Concert. Purchase tickets by Friday and take advantage of a special offer of a limited number of seats available for only $100. If you and your sweetheart enjoy music, dancing, and tantalizing gourmet vegan cuisine and you want to give your Valentine a gift that will also benefit a great cause, order your tickets today ( http://www.idausa.org/benefit-concert/buytickets.html ).

This special event will help the animals affected by Hurricane Katrina, who are still wandering streets searching for food, water and shelter. This event will also launch IDA's Disaster Relief Fund to help animals in future disasters and help fund other IDA rescue operations throughout the world. Get your tickets today! ( http://idausa.org/benefit-concert/buytickets.html )


Bid for Awesome Items in IDA's eBay Auction for the Animals

IDA's eBay Auction for the Animals starts on Monday, February 19th, so be sure to visit http://www.idausa.org and click on the Auction for Animals button to see and bid on the exciting items we have to offer. New items will be added on the 23rd, and every Friday thereafter until the auction ends. And remember, every item purchased helps animals by supporting IDA's important work.

IDA is also still accepting items for the auction. To donate items or for more information about the auction, please contact Nicole Otoupalik at (800) 338-4451 or via e-mail at nicole [at] idausa.org . All donations are tax deductible.


The Cat Therapist

Twice a month, Carole Wilbourn, the Cat Therapist, answers questions and offers advice on how guardians can enrich their relationships with their beloved feline companions. Read the latest Cats on the Couch column ( http://idausa.org/cat_therapist/index.html ). Also visit Carole's Cat Store ( http://www.thecattherapist.com/cat_store.htm ) to purchase a copy of her classic book, "Cat Talk: What Your Cat is Trying to Tell You."