Advocacy for Animals

by Oscar Espino-Padron

— Our thanks to the organization Earthjustice for permission to republish this post, which was first published on January 26, 2015, on the Earthjustice site.

Where’s the beef? In 2014, a beef slaughterhouse in Brawley, California owned by National Beef shut its doors citing a shortage of cattle. The facility was plagued by accusations that the owners discharged large amounts of polluted wastewater into the city’s water treatment plant. When the slaughterhouse was shuttered, locals got a break from its environmental impacts. But the reprieve was short-lived.

The city of Brawley, where Latinos make up more than 80 percent of the population, is already one of the most overburdened communities of color in California. Pollution from transportation, field burning and pesticide use, along with dust from the evaporating Salton Sea, has resulted in poor air quality, making Imperial County, where Brawley is located, home to the highest rate of asthma-related hospitalizations in the state. And water pollution is still a critical concern in Brawley, where the local New River remains one of the most polluted rivers in the country. In response to this widespread environmental degradation, the community is speaking out against industries and practices that harm their environment and their health.

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— Each week the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) sends out an e-mail Legislative Alert, which tells subscribers about current actions they can take to help animals. NAVS is a national, not-for-profit educational organization incorporated in the State of Illinois. NAVS promotes greater compassion, respect, and justice for animals through educational programs based on respected ethical and scientific theory and supported by extensive documentation of the cruelty and waste of vivisection. If you would like to begin receiving free Take Action Thursday emails every week, click here.

Mahalo! This week’s Take Action Thursday celebrates the introduction of student choice legislation in Hawaii, and urges advocates to keep the momentum going by helping NAVS promote laws allowing students to opt out of classroom dissection in the Aloha State and nationwide.

State Legislation

NAVS launched its new CHOICE (Compassionate Humane Options in Classroom Education) initiative last year to encourage states without student choice laws to consider adopting them in 2016. Thanks to your support and advocacy efforts, on January 22 Hawaii became the first state to introduce new legislation!

In Hawaii, SB 2698 and HB 1968 would require public schools to make educational alternatives to the dissection and vivisection of animals available to all students. This legislation would also prohibit penalties for students who exercise this option and require that alternative tests be administered without the use of animal specimens.

If you live in Hawaii, please contact your state Senator and Representative and ask them to SUPPORT student choice.

If you do not live in Hawaii, please consider asking legislators in your state to introduce student choice legislation. Let’s work together to make sure that all students have a CHOICE to say no to dissection in order to receive a more humane, safe and effective education using 21st century technology and resources.

For the latest information regarding animals and the law, visit the Animal Law Resource Center at AnimalLaw.com.

To check the status of key legislation, check the Current Legislation section of the NAVS website.

by Maggie Caldwell

— Our thanks to Earthjustice for permission to republish this post, which originally appeared on the Earthjustice Blog on January 25, 2016.

Last month just before packing up for the holiday season, we celebrated a big victory for gray wolves. President Obama signed into law a huge government spending package that did not include a policy “rider” that would have removed wolves in four states from the list of federally endangered species.

It may sound a little strange to celebrate the lack of something in a piece of legislation, but it took the help and dedication of thousands of people—from activists to congressional champions—to make sure this rider was not signed into law.

Earlier in 2015, some anti-wildlife members of Congress had slipped that wolf delisting rider into House and Senate versions of government spending bills. Fortunately, as the government spending process moved along last year, thousands of Americans stood up for wolves and wrote their members of Congress, or called the White House, or took to social media to oppose this rider. These activists were joined by 25 senators and 92 members of the House who wrote letters to the president, urging him to reject any policy riders that undermine the Endangered Species Act. continue reading…

by Dr. Valeria Ruoppolo, veterinarian with International Fund for Animal Welfare

–Our thanks to IFAW for permission to republish this post on IFAW’s efforts to aid animals injured in Australia’s Christmas bushfires. To donate to IFAW, go here.

The bushfires over Christmas in southwest Victoria, Australia destroyed numerous homes and huge areas of Eucalyptus (gum) forests, home to Australia’s iconic koala. The fires destroyed more than 2500 hectares, or almost 6200 acres of forest, resulting in extensive burned wildlife and mortalities.

IFAW was invited by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to join a team of wildlife vets at a triage centre that was established by DELWP specifically to treat wildlife affected by the fire.

I was involved for a period of five days and in that time, almost 20 koalas were admitted for treatment of burns or a health check. Some koalas that had escaped the fire were captured and assessed for general health. The burned koalas were treated for their injuries, pain and smoke inhalation.

Follow up treatment reflected our priorities over days following admittances to ensure the greatest level of success in rehabilitation. Animals that needed longer periods in care were transferred to local wildlife carers.

The DELWP and Country Fire Authority (CFA) collaborated and contributed to the rescue and collection of wildlife in the areas burnt by the fire. Staff from the Melbourne Zoo, as well as several authorised veterinarians and veterinary technicians, were involved in the triage effort.

The overall response was extremely well-organised, with a high degree of cooperation and collaboration amongst all parties involved.

While not wishing another fire, it is good to realize that the authorities are better prepared with each such fire and response.

–VP

You can help rescue, care for, and feed animal victims.

—Today we revisit an Advocacy post from 2006 by Lorraine Murray about the success in the conservation of the California condor.

—By 2013 the number of condors in the wild had grown to more than 200—with another 200 animals living in zoos—and the program continued to be heralded as a triumph of conservation. Because of the continued monitoring of these bird populations, it was possible to definitively identify lead poisoning as the greatest chronic threat to the still-recovering California condors. Condors are scavengers, often eating remains of animals left by careless hunters. Lead bullets shatter upon impact, and condors ingest these metal pieces with the carrion. Without treatment, infections can be fatal.

—According to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, 45 to 95 percent of the condor population in Arizona tests positive for lead each year. To combat this, since 2005, the Game and Fish Department has offered free non-lead ammunition to hunters in condor territory. California has prohibited lead ammunition in counties with condors since 2007, and in 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill making lead ammunition illegal to use in the state, because of its toxicity to humans, animals, and the environment. This goes into effect in 2019, and it will help secure a safer habitat for future generations of condors.

In a world in which thousands of animal species are threatened or endangered, the success story of the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is an inspiration to conservationists and wildlife lovers.

Snatched from the very brink of extinction through the efforts of organizations using captive breeding programs, the California condor—one of just two condor species in the world—is today making its home in the wild once again.

Both species of condor—the California condor and the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus)—are large New World vultures, two of the world’s largest flying birds. The adult California condor has a wingspan of up to 2.9 metres (9.5 feet). From beak to tail, the body is about 1.2 metres (4 feet) long. Both sexes of California condors may reach 11 kg (24 pounds) in weight.

Adult California condors are mostly black, with bold white wing linings and bare red-to-orange head, neck, and crop. Young birds have dark heads that gradually become red as they near adulthood at about six years of age. They forage in open country and feed exclusively on carrion. California condors nest in cliffs, under large rocks, or in other natural cavities, including holes in redwood trees. They generally breed every other year, laying a single unmarked greenish white egg measuring about 11 cm (4 inches) long.

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