IDA Blog

Wildlife

Washington State’s Governor Chris Gregoire has signed into law a ban prohibiting the sale and trade of shark fins in the state. This historic bill passed unanimously in the state Senate and by a vote of 95 to 1 in the House. We at IDA want to thank the Washington state government for making the compassionate and environmentally sound choice to end the terrible practice of shark fining off the coast of Washington.
A California bill that would ban the possession, sale, trade and distribution of shark fins in California, Assembly Bill (AB) 376, will be up for a vote very soon. This bill was introduced by Assembly members Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). A similar ban in Hawaii passed in 2010 has help start a much needed cascade effect of legislation on the coast of the Western United States to protect the top predator in the ocean.

Shark fining is an industry where the fins and tails of sharks are cut off and the remainder of the often still living fish is thrown back into the ocean. Sharks then sink to the bottom, unable to swim and die a slow, agonizing death. Every year, tens of millions of sharks are killed in this manner for shark fin soup, a tasteless, Asian delicacy. This unnecessary dish has been a major contributor to the near collapse of many shark species world-wide as well as in California. Sharks maintain the natural balance in our oceans marine food web. Scientists are warning that the massive decline of sharks is having a devastating effect on the marine ecosystem.

California’s (AB) 376 will give important protection to sharks to help preserve the ecosystem and biodiversity of the California coast and the world’s oceans.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION:  If you are a California resident, please contact your representative and ask them to support (AB) 376.

Join us for IDA’s Day of Online Action on Monday March 28 to ask Mayor Michael Bloomberg to cancel all plans to kill Canada geese in New York City!

For the past two years, the city has contracted with the Wildlife Services division of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to kill Canada geese. So far more than 2,800 Canada geese have been cruelly rounded up during molting season, when the geese shed their flight feathers and cannot fly away.

After being rounded up in pens, the geese are transported to mobile gas chambers where they are cruelly asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas. It is a slow, painful and utterly unjustified death for these beautiful birds.

The city claims the geese are killed to make air travel safer, but killing geese does nothing to enhance airline safety.

For the past two years, new populations of geese have moved in to replace those killed. Repopulation by new flocks of geese is inevitable, totally undermining the effectiveness at reducing their numbers. It is abundantly clear that these repeated killings do not limit the traffic of Canada geese in the airways around NYC airports, and most likely, just increase it.

This year, everyone can speak up for Canada geese, from the comfort of your home, by participating in our demonstration on Facebook and Twitter. It’s easy to do and a great way to tell Mayor Bloomberg to stop the gassing of geese.

Here’s how it works:

Facebook Instructions – Speak up for Geese in 3 easy steps!

1. Make sure you have your protest “sign“. All you have to do is right click on the “Canadian Geese” image and choose “Save” to get this “sign”. Replace your profile photo to your “sign” and keep it up all week!

2. Follow this link and “Like” Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Facebook page. This will allow you to post comments on his page – under his posts. He has recently changed his profile to block comments, posts and tags but you are still able to respond to his posts. So even if what he posts has nothing to do with Geese – you can still leave a comment on his page letting him know that as a voter – you expect him to represent you and save these geese! Here is a sample comment that you can use :

The senseless gassing to death of hundreds of Canada geese must be stopped immediately! Make NYC’s airways truly safe by coming up with a plan that is humane and effective at keeping geese out of the pathway of airplanes. Other cities are doing it. NY can too!

3. Post a comment! Remember that your comments will be seen by followers of all ages and comments that include profanity or can be interpreted as “abusive” will probably be removed before the general public gets a chance to read them and may result in your profile being reported and/or deleted by Facebook. IDA is not responsible for any comments you may leave or action that results.

Twitter Instructions – Speak up for Geese in 3 easy steps!

1. Make sure you have your protest “sign“. All you have to do is right click on the “Canadian Geese” image and choose “Save” to get this “sign”. Replace your profile photo to your “sign” and keep it up all week! You can also change the background of your Twitter page to show this sign too!

2. Follow this link and “Follow” Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Twitter Page. This will allow you to Tweet targeted comments to his page using @ and #! Here’s an example of what that looks like :

#@MikeBloomberg  Make #NYC’s airways truly safe by coming up with a plan that is humane and effective at keeping geese out of the pathway of airplanes. Other cities are doing it. NY can too! @IDAUSA

By adding the @ before his name and IDAUSA (our Twitter Page so that he can see that all the comments are originating from the same action) – this will send your Tweet as a message to Mayor Bloomberg’s page. The #s help make your Tweet go viral by showing up in a search page for other people also tweeting about that topic. By putting a #in front of NYC or NewYork City – you are increasing your chances of getting other New Yorkers to Tweet your message too and joining your demo!

3. Tweet! Because Twitter is a constantly moving message system – you’ll want to Tweet your messages to Mayor Bloomberg a few times that day to make sure your Tweet doesn’t get buried. But remember messages and Tweets that include profanity or can be interpreted as “abusive” may result in your profile being reported and/or deleted by Twitter. IDA is not reasonable for any messages or Tweets sent or action that results.

We’ll have a staff person on IDA’s Facebook all day to answer any questions you might have that day! Don’t forget to also send a message via this alert too!

Thank you for speaking up for the Canada geese in NYC. Their survival depends on your voice!

Sara Gruen’s book, Water for Elephants, was a runaway best seller – an internationally acclaimed novel told as the reminiscences of an old man, Jacob, about his experiences with a Depression-era circus where he witnessed the brutalities inflicted on people and animals alike. Jacob is the moral center of the book, recognizing and, where possible, preventing those cruelties, and in the end saving the elephant Rosie from a harsh fate. The movie version of this blockbuster is set for release on April 22, and it will be huge. The stars (Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson), the story, and the pre-release buildup will combine to sell a lot of tickets.

Many people will be drawn to the movie as a lovely – though sometimes gritty – historical romance. They will watch the abuses heaped upon the animals and think about how sad it “used to be” and how much better everything is today. They will be wrong.

Elephants forced to work in circuses today, like those in the era depicted in Water for Elephants, are forced to lead unnatural, deprived lives. They suffer as Rosie suffers, year after year, with no Jacob to come to their rescue. It is no better for the other wild animals used by circuses, who spend their lives in cages and are brutalized into performing tricks for the public. They need your help.

The opening of Water for Elephants will provide us with a unique opportunity to tell people that the kind of cruelty depicted in the movie still goes on. So please save these dates: April 14 (Los Angeles premier), April 17 (New York premier), April 22 (general U.A. release).

Please plan to join IDA in bringing attention to the suffering endured by animals in the circus. You can help by coordinating or joining in events outside your local theaters to let moviegoers know that circus cruelty is not a thing of the past.

Please join our Elephant Task Force and Sign Up for IDA’s Enewsletter for more information about this opportunity to enlighten the public about circus cruelty.

The circus industry is hoping that the film will bring a shot of glamor and glory to a fading form of entertainment. There have already been efforts to use the film to generate sympathy for “Rosie” and to raise money for the International Elephant Foundation, an organization created and run by and for the circus and zoo industries. We need to inform the public that there is nothing glamorous or romantic about the kind of animal abuse rampant in circuses today.

Rather than helping circuses to flourish, Water for Elephants can and should be a catalyst for bringing about an end to the use of animals in entertainment. Elephants used in circuses, films, commercials, and other forms of entertainment are deprived of all that is natural in their lives. They have been torn from their families and subjected to unimaginably cruel training to break their spirits and make them easier to control. They are dominated through negative reinforcement, and trainers and handlers carry the constant threat of the bullhook, a steel-tipped device similar to a fireplace poker used to prod, stab, beat and intimidate elephants into submission.

Please note: Though the film portrays the circus’s treatment of animals in a negative light, IDA cannot endorse it. Unfortunately, the film’s producers did not take the book’s message to heart, instead choosing to use live animals during production of the movie. Rosie is played by the elephant Tai, who is owned by Have Trunk Will Travel, a California-based company that uses elephants for rides and for entertainment.

This blog was contributed by Deborah Robinson, IDA’s Captive Elephant Specialist.

California has the incredible opportunity to once again be a leader in animal protection and environmental conservation with a new bill that would ban the possession, sale, trade and distribution of shark fins in California, Assembly Bill (AB) 376. Introduced by Assembly members Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), this bill follows a similar ban in Hawaii passed in 2010 and could help start a much needed cascade effect of legislation to protect the top predator in the ocean.

Shark fining is a process where the fins and tails of sharks are cut off and the remainder of the often still living fish is thrown back into the ocean. Sharks then sink to the bottom, unable to swim and die a slow, agonizing death. Every year, tens of millions of sharks are killed in this manner for shark fin soup, a tasteless, Asian delicacy. This unnecessary dish has been a major contributor to the near collapse of many shark species world-wide as well as in California. Sharks maintain the natural balance in our oceans marine food web. Scientists are warning that the massive decline of sharks is having a devastating effect on the marine ecosystem.

At the heart of the debate is “culture”. Assemblyman Fong, an Asian-American, supports the bill and is fighting for the preservation of the oceans and the sharks. Senator Leland Yee, also an Asian-American, feels that the ban is an attack on the Asian culture as shark fin soup is a traditional Asian delicacy. It is true that cultures and traditions should be respected and preserved, but not if that tradition is causing suffering or environmental destruction. If sentient beings are being exploited, coerced, or are victims of genocide, the global community must step in and aid the oppressed. If a tradition is causing unbalance in the ecosystem, international intervention is needed and necessary- for the ultimate survival of the culture effected. Sharks are being hunted to extinction, and what befalls the oceans, affects us all. The health of the ecosystem is not confined by cultural boundaries and the planet must be protected by the international community.

There is also the culture of the shark to consider. Sharks are amazing creatures in their own right and deserve to live free of human imposed suffering. There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks and most sharks as we know them today developed about 64 million years ago during the age of the dinosaurs. After mating, some female sharks can retain the male’s sperm in their bodies for use when she is ready to reproduce, even if that does not happen until next season. Lantern sharks can glow in the dark. Sharks have a unique culture all to themselves that deserves to be preserved for future generations.

AB 376 will give important protection to sharks to help preserve the ecosystem and biodiversity of the California coast and the world’s oceans. Please support this important legislation and if you are a California resident, click here for more  information on how to help .

Unfortunately, city leaders abstained from voting to remove elephants Susi and Yoyo from the Barcelona Zoo in Spain, with Mayor Jordi Hereu stating that scientists and not politicians would decide the elephants’ future.

According to the publication El País, the day before City Hall was scheduled to meet and decide whether to send Susi to another facility and ban the zoo from acquiring more elephants, the zoo held a press conference at which it presented plans for an exhibit expansion. Despite the health problems Susi has been suffering, the zoo claimed she is in good physical and psychological shape.

Despite this setback, elephant advocates in Barcelona are continuing to fight for Susi and Yoyo, and to educate lawmakers and the public about their plight. They are hopeful that elections in May, which will bring a change in zoo leadership, will create an opportunity to finally relieve the elephants’ suffering. Even with an exhibit expansion, the zoo cannot provide the space elephants need to live longer and healthier lives at the Barcelona Zoo.

You can read the El País story by clicking here.

City to determine elephants’ fate at Wednesday meeting…

On Wednesday, January 26th, the City of Barcelona will decide the fate of suffering African elephants Susi and Yoyo, who are held in a tiny exhibit at the Barcelona Zoo in Spain. The mayor and city lawmakers will consider whether to send the elephants to a larger facility in Europe and end the practice of displaying elephants at the zoo.

Action: Please send a message to Barcelona lawmakers. Susi and Yoyo should be sent to a larger facility where they can live with other elephants and where Susi can regain her health. Urge the city to take the progressive step of permanently ending the practice of displaying elephants at the Barcelona Zoo because it simply cannot provide the space and natural conditions that elephants need. Please include your country of origin so Barcelona lawmakers know that the world is watching!

Background: Susi’s health has been seriously deteriorating ever since the death of her pen-mate, Alicia, in 2008. She recently took a turn for the worse, reportedly suffering an intestinal disorder that caused her to temporarily stop eating. Yoyo was brought to the zoo in 2009 as a companion for Susi, though the two have remained in separate yards. Yoyo repetitively bobs her head up and down, a sign of psychological distress.

Send your message NOW to:

Mayor of Barcelona, Mr Jordi Hereu: alcaldia@bcn.cat / jhereu@bcn.cat

Mrs. Emma Balseiro: ebalseiro@bcn.cat

Mr. Xavier Trias: x.trias@ciu.cat

Mr. Jordi Portabella: jportabella@bcn.cat

Mrs. Sonia Recasens: srecasens@bcn.cat

Thank you for taking action! For more information, please contact zoos@idausa.org.

IDA has released the 2010 list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants, exposing the hidden suffering of elephants in zoos, where lack of space, unsuitably cold climates and impoverished social groupings condemn Earth’s largest land mammals to lifetimes of deprivation, disease and early death. The list is an SOS for suffering elephants and a call for mammoth change.

Visit www.HelpElephants.com for detailed entries, photos, videos and links to documents with information on IDA actions for zoos on the list, including: San Antonio Zoo (Texas), Edmonton Valley Zoo (Canada), Buttonwood Park Zoo (Mass.), Central Florida Zoo (Fla.), Niabi Zoo (Ill.), Topeka Zoo (Kan.), Honolulu Zoo (Hawaii), Wildlife Safari (Ore.), York’s Wild Kingdom Zoo (Maine) tied with Southwick’s Zoo (Mass.), Pittsburgh Zoo’s ICC (Penn.). San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Calif.) earns a dishonorable mention.

And be sure to read the follow-ups on IDA’s Hall of Shame inductees, including the Los Angeles Zoo, Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, Wash.), St. Louis Zoo, El Paso Zoo and Dickerson Park Zoo (Mo.).

For the first time in the seven years that IDA has been producing the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list, IDA is recognizing a zoo – the Dallas Zoo in Texas – for improvements in elephant welfare and policies that help elephants in need.

A special note about IDA’s recognition of the Dallas Zoo: IDA knows that its new exhibit is still not large enough for elephants, but we felt it was important to recognize Dallas Zoo for its improvements in animal welfare and for its beneficial policies that include taking elephants from worse situations such as circuses. For example, Gypsy was was used for rides and performances, and Kamba and Congo were forced to perform in a circus. In fact, in 2009 Kamba escaped the circus and was injured when struck by a SUV. While elephants Mama and Stumpy did not come from a circus, the Dallas Zoo enabled these older females who have lived together for 38 years to remain together, rather than being sent to separate zoos, as was their companion Ladybird in 2006. And Jenny, who is so emotionally fragile, has a companion in Gypsy. It is very important that the zoo has eschewed breeding, meaning that more elephants will not be born into a captive world that cannot meet their complex needs. Finally, the Dallas Zoo practices “protected contact” management, which is more humane for the elephants and safer for keepers.

In a perfect world, all elephants already in captivity would be living in sanctuary-like conditions and zoos would stop breeding and phase out their elephant programs. But until we see that time (and it will happen!), elephants need to be cared for. The truth is that even if all the elephants in the U.S. were suddenly released from their cages, the nation’s two sanctuaries could not accommodate them all. So we need to push hard for changes in zoos and acknowledge those zoos that are trying harder and making changes that improve elephant welfare.

As for those zoos that refuse to do the right thing and continue to provide completely inadequate conditions for elephants, you’ll see them on next year’s list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants!

Photo Credit : Mike Lorden

I recently returned to the United States from Japan, and while my body is now thousands of miles away from Taiji and the Cove, my thoughts remain with the dolphins and the daily horrors  occurring there.  The killings that took place on the last days of my visit haunt me, but it is in loving memory of those whose lives were lost or shattered that I share their tragic story.

During the early morning of Saturday, December 4th, a pod of over 100 migrating dolphins were ruthlessly hunted down and corralled into the Cove by Taiji fishermen. I watched from the shore as several of the dolphins got caught up in nets, their heads struggling desperately to come up for air, only to be pushed under by the fishermen trying to drown them.  I can still hear the sounds of blowholes spouting rapidly in distress as many were forced to listen to the anguished cries of their family members being killed. And I’ll never forget the sight of a lone baby swimming in isolation from the others in search of his mother. Forty-three dolphins were slaughtered before the fishermen decided to call it a day and leave the others to await their gruesome fate the next morning. Their trauma and terror as they swam close together, entrapped all night in the cove, is unimaginable.

We rose before dawn on Sunday to be at the Cove before the fishermen. After daybreak, it soon became clear why some dolphins had been spared the day before. Accompanying the fishermen, a group of trainers had come to select dolphins for captivity. Witnessing the selection process was sickening, as five trainers would wrestle down each dolphin for harsh examination. They would even ride them to see how they responded.  In the end, six dolphins had been chosen for a life of performance, never to be among their families again. For 36 others, death was their fate, and I listened and watched as they had stakes driven into their backs, and their bodies thrashed about violently in the waters for minutes on end.
Not all of the remaining dolphins were killed, with approximately 25 being released back to sea.  As they swam away the baby was among them, lagging far behind and certain to die of starvation without his mother. I felt I should be grateful that their lives had been spared, but I thought only of the shock and suffering these sensitive beings had just endured. How would they ever recover, and what kind of lives would they be returning to?

While the story of these dolphins in the Cove is no different than the many thousands who have come before, and, sadly, for the multitude who will come after, stories like theirs must be told until the day when all dolphins can swim free from harm.  Please help that day arrive by continuing to tell this story.

Wolves in Montana, Idaho, and the Greater Yellowstone National Park are in grave danger of the Baucus-Tester bill (S. 3864) passing, a legislative attempt to de-list wolves and remove their federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. According to a New York Times editorial, the bill sets “a terrible precedent, opening the door for special-interest groups to push other inconvenient species off the list.” Congress could get away with exempting these wolves without public hearings or comments before the end of the year.

State officials in Montana and Idaho are determined to circumvent a judge’s ruling, last August, in favor of restoring federal protection of wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains after they were illegally de-listed last year.  If the Baucus-Tester bill passes, hundreds, if not, more than a thousand wolves would be vulnerable to openly hostile hunters who are eager to eradicate them.  This type of mentality is consistent with what caused the near extinction of the species in the 1930s.  The Baucus-Tester bill (S.3864) will essentially doom the recovery process of the NRM gray wolf population, along with the necessary recovery of other imperiled species, such as the grizzly bear, also in need of federal support,

S. 3864 is scheduled to be voted on in the Senate in a matter of days.  PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW to help the recovery of wolves and other endangered species continue. Urge your Senators to OPPOSE the Baucus-Test bill (S. 3864).  

For more information, please contact Melissa@idausa.org

Photo Credit : Mia Kiander

Standing atop a promontory in Taiji, Japan, I’m enduring an agonizing wait to see if today will bring another merciless slaughter of dolphins. I’ve been in Taiji for four days now and have witnessed over 60 dolphins lose their lives at the hands of the Taiji fishermen. On November 29th, a large pod of more than 50 spotted dolphins were killed, while a pod of 10 risso’s dolphins were destroyed the following day. On both occasions, babies were among the victims. I am deeply troubled that almost a year after The Cove won the Academy Award for Best Documentary the fishermen have employed a new killing method that reduces the flow of blood into the cove’s waters. They have also perfected the transfer of dead and dying bodies under blue tarpaulins so that the bodies are rarely seen as they are moved to and from the grisly gutting barge and butcher house.

On previous days, I’ve watched as so-called “banger” boats round up the dolphins at sea by creating a wall of sound with incessant banging on metal pipes, which drives the dolphins into the cove. Once the net has been dropped, they are then driven farther into the cove and up onto the rocky beach beyond public sight for slaughter. In some instances, as with the pod of risso’s dolphins I observed, the pod gets separated in such a way that some dolphins are slaughtered well before others, and those awaiting their gruesome end must listen as their family members are murdered. The scene is a profound horror, and one can only imagine the terror, pain, and fear that these highly intelligent and sentient beings must be experiencing as they are hunted down and their lives extinguished.

Currently there are 50-60 captured dolphins being held in small pens to be trained for a life in captivity. They can spend months in these pens swimming in mindless circles, undergoing daily “training” sessions, in which they learn that food now comes from a human, and only after performing a meaningless trick like jumping in the air, touching a ball with their nose, or waving their fin. I cannot express how desperately sad and disturbing it is to see these incredible beings, who were living free and wild only days and weeks before, suffer such degradation and exploitation in this way. Their lives have been shattered, their freedom and families lost, and now their dignity taken too. It is heartbreaking and shameful.

As for the fate of the dolphins this day, I am happy to report that due to bad weather, they managed to get away and escape the hunters’ conniving trap. For all the dolphins who won’t be as lucky as these were, please take action to help them.