IDA Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Legal’

By the amazing Dan Piraro

Of all the useless arguments I’ve heard to defend the carriage horse industry, none is more maddening than the argument of “tradition.” How can anyone think that honoring a tradition can be more important than basic compassion?

Don’t get me wrong. Traditions are important. They give us a feeling of security and connect us to our heritage. But blind adherence to tradition is a dangerous thing, and there are too many examples of traditions that perpetrated great suffering and oppression. These practices continued in the face of much criticism, shielded only by the argument of “tradition.”

For centuries girls in China endured a foot-binding ritual that literally broke their toes and crippled their bodies, but the practice was so ingrained that it continued. It was said that a woman with bound feet was more civilized, disciplined, and dutiful. This abomination continued for 1,000 years, affecting a billion women, before being banned in the 1900s.

In Europe, for over three centuries, hundreds of boys were castrated, many of them by the Catholic Church, so they could sing soprano as adults.  Efforts to ban this practice took 150 years because of concern by the Church that it would seriously harm attendance if there were no castrati in the choir.

Such examples are not just historical. In 2004, the British government banned the cruel practice of fox-hunting, even with loud opposition that it was an essential icon of British culture and must continue.

One only need look at those poor horses who are forced to pull carriages day-in, day-out, to see the deep despair in their eyes. What kind of existence is it for a horse to spend his days on the clogged streets of NYC pulling a carriage, followed by nights in a dark stall in a warehouse? Where is the chance to frolic, roll in the grass, or nuzzle another fellow horse?

The truth is, while traditions can be quaint, or comforting, or links to bygone era, there are probably many of them that belong in the dustbin of history. And that’s certainly where horse drawn carriages belong.

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 .

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.

This past Monday, August 30, early in the morning, IDA staff spotted on the internet a deeply disturbing video – a young girl had been filmed tossing live newborn puppies into a fast moving river. There was no indication of where or when the act had occurred. We called an emergency staff meeting and decided to do whatever we could to help catch the killer.

IDA’s Communications Team and Investigative Team that included a staff cruelty investigator, a linguist and a private detective, got to work researching and working our international contacts, including activists in neighboring Croatia, and we offered a reward for information leading to her arrest, prosecution, and conviction. We immediately reposted the video and circulated it around the world – it received over 60,000 views in four days. We issued a news release and spread it across Europe, since various elements of the video gave it a “European feel” and an earlier poster of the video felt he had identified the river as one in Bosnia.

We received dozens of tips through our Twitter and Facebook accounts and via e-mail.

We’re happy to report that a girl believed to be the perpetrator was caught today by police in Bosnia. The suspect is from the central Bosnian town of Bugojno. We’ll continue to follow this story and do whatever we can to ensure this individual, if she is indeed guilty, receives the maximum punishment allowed under Bosnian law. It appears that, under Bosnian law, she faces a fine of from $19 (US) to $6,400.

Many thanks to all of you who assisted in the search!

Hens in intensive agriculture are crammed into tiny battery cages where they are unable to walk or spread their wings.

This month’s massive egg recall is stacking up to be the largest in history with a mind-boggling half a BILLION eggs snatched back from our nation’s shelves.  Over 1,000 people across 14 states have fallen ill. What’s so crazy is that all this is the fallout from one single egg factory. That’s right, just one facility. That is how outrageously conglomerated our food system has become. A billion eggs from one hen house? Can you imagine what kind of life those chickens must have?

This is no isolated incident either. Just this week there was another recall of 380,000 pounds of deli meats with Listiria contamination, another potentially deadly bacteria which causes high fever, severe headache, nausea, neck stiffness and potential death.

The egg facility involved in the recall has a rotten history. The salmonella outbreak can be traced to Wright County Egg, in Galt, Iowa. They have been the target of government regulators for environmental violations, unsafe working conditions, and sexual harassment of workers, according to the New York Times. Wright County Egg is owned by Jack DeCoster, who also happens to own an egg facility in Maine which was the recent target of a Mercy for Animals 2009 undercover investigation.

The undercover video revealed shocking animal abuse in Mr. DeCoster’s egg factory. Birds were video taped suffering from untreated open wounds, infections, and broken bones. Hens were producing eggs for human consumption alongside their dead cage mates, standing in feces. Workers were seen breaking the necks of hens, kicking birds and throwing them live in trash bins.

Mr. DeCoster pleaded guilty to 10 counts of cruelty to animals and paid fines and restitution coming to over $130,000.  However, it appears from this historically massive egg recall and resulting salmonella epidemic that Mr. DeCoster has not cleaned up his act.  Similar appalling conditions are sure to be found at this factory.

When you keep chickens crammed 10 to a cage and a million to a warehouse, contamination is going to easily occur. These facilities are disgusting, dirty, rat-infested places you wouldn’t want to spend even a minute inside and these poor birds have to live their entire short lives in them. Hens in intensive agriculture are crammed into tiny battery cages where they are unable to walk or spread their wings. Workers have to enter the windowless warehouses with masks and goggles because the airborne fecal dust is so thick. The birds are painfully debeaked. They never set foot outside or feel the sun on their feathers. All their natural behaviors like nesting, scratching, pecking, and preening are completely denied.

So how do we keep ourselves and our family safe from contaminated eggs? The same way we help end the suffering of these tortured hens; by going vegan. We can enjoy improved health and well-being on a plant-based diet without the cholesterol and saturated fat-filled egg. In Defense of Animals has the solution not only to the safety issue, but to the cruelty issue, to the obesity issue, to the world hunger issue. It’s truly amazing how many of the world’s problems can be eliminated with a vegan diet. So recall cruelty! Recall global warming! Recall heart disease and go vegan!

IDA's Barbara Stagno at The Rally for Canada Geese in NYC

A rally for the Canada geese of New York City. It could have been a dream, with all those people lining the steps of City Hall, but it was real. A day before, I had prepared my talk, and wrote about how wildlife does not belong to government agencies. I asked the crowd – the then imaginary crowd – to join with me in demanding changes for how our government deals with wildlife.

When I wrote those words I had no idea that one day later, more than 150 people would join the IDA rally for the Canada geese. I couldn’t have imagined the passionate and enthusiastic voices of Councilmember Letitia James and State Senator Eric Adams, who spoke about growing up with the geese in Prospect Park…. playing with them, learning about them. Or, as Senator Adams so eloquently said, learning that, in essence, they are really not that much different from us.

When I saw that spirited crowd, I knew that it was true. That people cared deeply and had come to speak up about putting a stop to the government killing of wildlife. To demand change.

Those words I spoke on Thursday August 12, 2010, could be addressed to any mayor in any city. They reflect the feelings of communities all across America, who have had their precious birds taken from them and slaughtered.

Mayor Bloomberg made the ludicrous statement that it comes down to people or geese.

It’s not about people or geese.

It’s about ways to co-exist peacefully with the animals of this earth.

It’s not about making airline flights safer. Killing resident Canada Geese has absolutely nothing to do with airline safety, as these geese don’t fly that high! There are, however, real ways to make airline flying safer, ways that do not require us to kill – and ways that other cities around the world currently engage in.

We will not stand by while you kill the geese who were over bred to satisfy hunters, and who flew away from the hunted areas to come live in the cities where they are safe.

We welcome them in our parks where they can be protected.

If there are too many geese today in Prospect Park, or Central Park, or Flushing Meadow Park, it’s because of government mismanagement, and we will not stand by while you make excuses to wipe out these wonderful flocks that live in our parks.

The people here in front of City Hall today are sending a message. The government’s war on wildlife needs to end and it needs to end now. Humane solutions exist and we demand that they be used.

Let’s start right here in New York City, home of a diverse community of compassionate and tolerant citizens, who have welcomed millions of people from around the world to take refuge in our city.

Out of this heritage of kindness and tolerance, let us reverse the senseless killing of animals perpetrated by government and herald in a new era for wildlife.

Please take moment right now to send a letter to Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Council and Save Our Geese!

Wild horses gallop in the Rocky Hills HMA, southeast of Battle Mountain, Nevada. PHOTO CREDIT : USAToday

Despite tremendous public opposition and legal actions the Department of Interior is moving forward with the ill-conceived plan to remove more than 6,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands by October 2010. The Obama Administration’s policy has proven to be both deadly and devastating for wild horses. The Calico Complex roundup, which IDA fought in federal court, has to date taken the lives of 186 horses including 30 foals who have died and 40 spontaneous abortions as reported by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
On July 10, 2010 the BLM began this horrific roundup of wild horses in the summer desert heat in northeast Nevada – the Tuscarora Complex roundup. (See USA Today article.) The BLM reports, given the lack of public access to observe there is no way to verify any BLM-provided information, that 22 wild horses have been killed at the trap site and three have died at the holding facilities. After a lawsuit was filed by Nevada horse advocate Laura Leigh, the BLM began to claim the first part of the Tuscarora roundup (in the Owyhee herd management area) was a “rescue” operation – claiming there was not enough water on the range and that horses were dehydrating. Just last week, IDA had a representative on the ground in Owyhee and observed water, cows and plenty of fencing in and around the Owyhee area.

If dry conditions were so severe one would expect wildlife and cows to be suffering from the same dehydration – yet this was not the case. Rather only wild horses were in need of “rescue.” As one local rancher told IDA – antelope and other wildlife can get under and over fencing, but wild horses cannot. If a need to “rescue” horses occurred – it was clearly a BLM-created problem.

Indeed, in mid-May, the BLM conducted an on-the-ground observation at Owyhee; the promotional video resulting from it, actually titled “Extreme Terrain Requires Extreme Diligence,” stated among other things that “There is little water available to sustain more than 800 horses.” (Also see transcript.) Meanwhile, the BLM warned in its own Environmental Assessment that “Given the dry conditions and the expanding wild horse numbers, along with the limited perennial water sources in the Owyhee HMA, the BLM has a very strong concern that wild horses could suffer from dehydration and possible death in the Owyhee HMA this summer” to justify the disastrous July 10 roundup.

Clearly, the BLM should have taken actions (i.e. fence removal, water delivery, etc.) to mitigate any possible problems. The Tuscarora situation is a classic case whereby the BLM refuses to conduct on-the-range management and reverts to the roundup-removal practice which has already been acknowledged by the Interior Secretary to be an unsustainable practice.  In the case of the horses at Owhyee, just like the horses at Calico, the result is needless suffering and death. Thanks to this broken system, we have more wild horses in government holding facilities (36,000) than free on the range (33,000).

In addition to the BLM-created problem in Tuscarora, the BLM proceeded with using helicopters to roundup these horses in summer-desert temperatures while foals continue to be born. This means newborns and weeks-old foals and still-pregnant mares were run up to eight miles in desert heat. IDA has called for a moratorium on summer roundups and filed an administrative appeal to stop the Tuscarora roundup. We recently received the denial on the appeal and are reviewing our legal options.

We knew fighting the deeply-entrenched BLM would not be easy. We pledge to all the wild horses and burros who have lost their lives, families and freedom that we will continue to fight until these magnificent beings are truly protected and finally given their fair share of our public lands.

Stay tuned for our next action alert – another step in this long fight to bring about the change these animals deserve and need.

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services continue to systematically round up and exterminate entire flocks of resident Canada geese all over the country, IDA is calling on every one of our supporters to get involved to stop this needless killing.  In 2010, thousands of innocent Canada geese across the country have been or will be gassed to death or sent to slaughterhouses if we do not take action to stop it. Since non-lethal population control programs for resident Canada geese have proven successful throughout the country, the USDA must change course and switch to non-lethal, humane, and progressive population control.

Every person I have spoken with, whether they be in New Jersey or New York, has been outraged, horrified or saddened by the eradication of geese in their communities.  Many are sickened that the slaughter occurred despite public protest or without considering the interests of the vast number of residents who enjoy the presence of the geese in the parks. Of course, the lack of consideration of the interests of the geese themselves is even more disturbing.

IDA has produced another video highlighting the negative impacts of the USDA’s lethal course of action against geese. Click here to watch the video.

IDA encourages you to act to protect Canada geese in your community by contacting your city manager’s office to request a copy of their goose management plan.  Also, please click here to send an e-mail to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to immediately end the slaughter of Canada geese.

With the help of each and every one of IDA’s supporters, we can make a positive difference for the Canada geese who call the United States home.

Across the United States, Canada Geese are being exterminated, in horribly cruel ways.  IDA is asking: why? Besides the inhumanity of the slaughter, past experience proves that the killings will not have the desired effect.

Brooklyn, New York residents learned this past Monday that 400 Canada Geese from Prospect Park were killed by gassing, and sent to a landfill. Last summer, 1,237 geese were killed and sent to landfill from 17 sites around Brooklyn.  This year, the USDA estimates they will kill the same number.  These extermination programs do not work, since more geese come to occupy the newly available territory.

The communities call in the USDA to do the dirty work because Canada Geese are migratory birds, thus supposedly protected under the Migratory Bird Act. But we’re seeing that rather than being protected by the USDA, they need to be protected FROM the USDA!

In June, Mount Laurel Township in New Jersey contracted with the USDA to round up and gas 133 Canada Geese. See our news release on this slaughter here. The act angered local residents who were adamantly opposed to lethal control measures. Not surprisingly, the government-approved and conducted slaughter also motivated some sick individuals to begin their own extermination program.  On Sunday July 11, more than 30 geese and ducks near the same neighborhoods were found mutilated and dead or barely breathing. IDA president Scotlund Haisley and actress Elaine Hendrix addressed Mount Laurel officials at the township council meeting to pledge a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for this latest slaughter.

Click here to view a short IDA video about the Mount Laurel Canada Geese slaughter.

Amid a growing number of complaints from residents nationwide outraged over city officials authorizing the USDA to cull entire flocks of Canada geese from community lakes and parks, IDA is stepping up to empower animal advocates with the knowledge they need to stop such grossly inhumane and ultimately ineffectual programs. In addition to the terrible suffering and death each of these wild geese experience, the participating cities will have to continue intervening year after year to keep their parks geese-free.  Instead of killing Canada geese, they can embark on a non-lethal program which would produce long term benefits and is humane.

Please stay tuned for more updates on this important issue. If you have a lake or pond in your community with geese or ducks, please contact your city official to examine their management plans. If you find they are exterminating the birds, contact IDA for advice.