SEPTEMBER 2005

 ORLANDO SENTINEL PIECE IN RESPONSE TO SCIENTIST'S ARTICLE ON ANIMAL RIGHTS TERRORISTS 9/1/05

On Sunday August 28, the Orlando Sentinel reprinted a piece from the July 17 Washington Post in which a researcher describes an attack on his laboratory by animal rights activists he calls terrorists. The alert about the original piece is on my website at

www.DawnWatch.com/7-05_Animal_Media_Alerts.htm#LAB  and the August 28 reprint is on the Orlando Sentinel website at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-insinsanimalrights28082805aug28,0,2528536.story

Today, Thursday, September 1, the Orlando Sentinel has run an opinion piece in response, headed "Appreciate animal-rights restraint." The author, Christopher Murphy, challenges the hyperbolic terms Blumberg uses to describe the attack. His piece is on line at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-myword0105sep01,0,6203015.story?coll=orl-opinion-headlines  and I will paste it below.

We can keep the issue of animal testing alive in the paper with letters either wholeheartedly supporting Murphy's piece, or condemning militant action but still discussing the tremendous suffering of animals in laboratories, in experiments often done for trivial purposes. The Orlando Sentinel takes letters at insight@orlandosentinel.com and advises, "Each letter should be 250 words or fewer and include the writer's name and day and evening telephone numbers for verification purposes."

Appreciate animal-rights restraint

Christopher Murphy

September 1, 2005

University of Iowa researcher Mark S. Blumberg's Sunday Insight piece describing vandalism and harassment by the Animal Liberation Front, whose members he suggests should be labeled as "terrorists," was so whiny and weak I was embarrassed for him, his family and the university. Intruders rescued rats and mice on which Blumberg and others were experimenting. They spilled chemicals and damaged equipment. They videotaped their visit and sent a copy to the university. They also called Blumberg and his colleagues mean names, sent him mean e-mails and signed him up for a lot of magazine subscriptions.

There was disruption, expense and loss of data. No one died. No one was injured. No one so much as suffered a paper cut, yet Blumberg describes the incident in terms so hyperbolic, I am concerned for his sanity. My favorite example, one that should get him fired from the university and laughed into hiding, was that he found the vandalism and insulting e-mails more harrowing than having his house broken into in the early 1980s by armed robbers who tied him up and stuck snub-nosed revolvers in his face. I mean, really, I can't think of a victim of a violent home invasion who wouldn't have preferred having his office wrecked while he was on vacation.

Blumberg goes on, with weepy righteousness, about how difficult it was for him to learn that after freeing them from their cages, the animal-rights intruders mixed baby mice with adult mice that weren't their mothers, all but ensuring they would be eaten. How much nicer it would have been for them to be killed by Blumberg via poison or freezing or other methods as painful. Readers aren't sure because nowhere in the piece does its author mention what really happens to them. Further, it's convenient that only rats and mice were saved from that University of Iowa lab. That way, Blumberg also can avoid mentioning the armies of cats, dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees he and others in the research industry torture and kill annually.

How stupid he must think his readers are.

Blumberg claims the folks who trashed his laboratory have a distrust of and disdain for science. I don't think that's true. I think they like science but have a distrust of and disdain for people who torture and kill animals in its name. Science can be furthered without animal experimentation. Regrettably, those who make money breeding mice, monkeys and beagles, the dog of choice for animal experimentation, are able to spend it in amounts sufficient to convince most people it can't.

No group in United States history has won rights without inflicting, and suffering, violence. The Revolutionary War, abolition, women's suffrage, labor rights, civil rights, rights of the unborn -- all these movements have been, and continue to be, stained with violence. Blumberg and his crybaby colleagues got off with broken computers, graffiti and subscriptions to Time and TV Guide. Instead of likening animal-rights activists to actual terrorists, they should be thanking them for their restraint.

Christopher Murphy lives in Orlando.

(END OF SENTINEL OP-ED)

HURRICANE KATRINA ON ANIMALS -- GUARDIAN AND OTHER PAPERS ON SNOWBALL -- 9/1/05

Much of our attention this week is turned to Hurricane Katrina. The suffering there is compounded by society's refusal to acknowledge the bond many of us have with our companions of other species. We read of people who could not evacuate because the shelters would not take animals.

On the front page of the Tuesday, August 31 Los Angeles Times we read about Billy:

"Patricia Penny had begged her son, Billy, 34, to leave. But he was afraid to abandon his five cats and the dog he was watching for friends, so he and his girlfriend stayed at their home on the east side of New Orleans. Penny last heard his voice in an 8 a.m. phone call. He was blunt: 'It's bad.' An enormous magnolia tree had fallen over in the front yard, and the storm had ripped a deck off the house. The water was rising and it was too late to leave."

There is a current Associated Press article, which appears in the Friday, September 2, International Herald Tribune and will probably be in many other Friday papers. It includes the following heart-wrenching story:

"The Superdome, where some 25,000 people were being evacuated by bus to the Houston Astrodome, descended into chaos as well.

...Many people had dogs and they cannot take them on the bus. A police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. 'Snowball, snowball,' he cried. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog."

The full article is on the Guardian website at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5249122,00.html

Many animal groups have relief efforts. Best Friends, the wonderful no kill sanctuary in Utah is among them, and has a comprehensive website providing regular news updates not just on its own work but also on that of other groups. It is set up as a clearinghouse of animal-related hurricane news and information for the media. You may wish to encourage your local media to visit it.

The site has chat areas and areas that provide information on ways people can help, not just with monetary donations (though they are needed and accepted!) but also with animal fostering. For example you can add yourself to a list of places able to foster horses.

Specific offers to help can be emailed to hrf@bestfriends.org

And the Best Friends website includes a "Good News Journal" where you can read good news, such as that about hotels relaxing their pet policies, and also includes an audio interview with their representative in the area. Check out www.BestFriends.org

NY TIMES ARTICLE QUESTIONS US AND THEM ATTITUDE TO OTHER SPECIES 9/4/05

The Magazine section of the Sunday, September 4, New York Times includes an article by David Berreby, headed, "Deceit of the Raven." (Page 20.) It opens noting studies of human-like intelligence in apes and ravens:

"It began with apes. In the 1960's and 70's, scientists taught captive chimps to use words and documented wild ones using tools and planning hunting expeditions. Then other smart mammals -- monkeys, elephants and porpoises among them -- also proved to have surprisingly ''human'' mental powers. And in the last few years, the circle has expanded to still other mammals and beyond.

"Last year, in the journal Animal Cognition, the behavioral biologist Thomas Bugnyar described a twist in an experiment he was conducting with laboratory ravens. The birds' job was to find bits of cheese hidden in film canisters, then pry open the lids to get the food out. One raven, Hugin, was best at this, but a dominant bird, Munin, would rush over and steal his reward.

"So Hugin changed his strategy: when the other bird came over, he went to empty canisters, pried them open and pretended to eat. While the dominant bird poked around in the wrong place, Hugin zipped back to where the food really was. He was deceiving Munin.

"To do that, Hugin had to grasp that 'what I know' and 'what he knows' are different. He had to understand, on some level, that other ravens have their own individual perceptions, feelings and plans, just as he does. It was big news when scientists found evidence that apes could grasp this. That some birds can as well is even more remarkable."

In a discussion reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's movie "AI," Berreby goes on to describe machines with increasingly human-like powers.

He then notes Mary Tyler Moore's plea on behalf of lobsters:

"In 1995, Mary Tyler Moore wrote an appeal for lobsters, saying they're 'fascinating beings with complex social interactions, long childhoods and awkward adolescences. Like humans, they flirt with one another and have even been seen walking 'claw in claw'! And like humans, lobsters feel pain.'''

He ends his article with:

"In other words, even as the clear list of differences between human and nonhuman gets shorter, the ancient rhetoric of Us and Them remains. People will never have any trouble dividing the human from the nonhuman. We've been doing it to one another for thousands of years."

You can read the whole piece on line at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/magazine/04IDEA.html

It presents a great opportunity for letters to the New York Times magazine that give specific information on the impact our Us and Them mentality has on other species. You may wish to write about factory farming (www.FactoryFarming.com  is a great resource) or vivisection. Or those empathizing with what the nonhuman victims of Katrina are experiencing might make that link to this article. The Magazine section takes letters at magazine@nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

COVERAGE OF KATRINA ANIMALS - CBS EARLY SHOW, UK DAILY TELEGRAPH AND MIAMI HERALD - 9/6/05

There has been some coverage of the animal disaster on the news networks. CNN's Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper (who never ignores the plight of animals in his coverage of disasters) have covered the issue. Today, Tuesday September 6, CBS's Early Show did a piece, which you can read or even watch on line at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/06/earlyshow/living/petplanet/main817239.shtml

It covered animals being kept at the Houston SPCA for people who had smuggled them in bags and under clothing on the buses headed to Houston, telling us that 400 animals arrived that way. The coverage was touching, including, for example, the Houston SPCA president telling us: "There was a man in his 80s and he was with his wife, who came off the bus in a wheelchair. They were clutching a little white poodle. And he said 'This is Tasha. This is the most important thing in our lives. And this is all we have left."

The reporter told us, "the story is much darker for countless pets still stranded in Hurricane-affected areas. After a week of evacuating people, relief workers are now turning to the work of rescuing pets still trapped on rooftops and front porches." There is a list of relief agencies on the site. And there is a photo essay of animal rescues.

Please thank the Early Show for the coverage. (Note: Email to the Early Show will not be jamming up Blackberries of reporters in the field.) The show takes comments at: earlyshow@cbs.com

While the American Press has mostly avoided the animal issue, the Tuesday, September 6, Daily Telegraph (London) has a hard-hitting piece. It opens:

"Hundreds have drowned in the flood waters, their carcasses littering the city, and the yelps and cries of countless others echo through the deserted streets of New Orleans. Thousands of pets are stranded and starving to death, their owners dead or forced to abandon them as they were evacuated to emergency shelters. More than a week after the city was flooded, distraught owners have started coming forward to plead for information about the beloved animals they left behind. Others had to watch their pets die - or in some cases, had to kill them themselves - after being told they could not bring them along in rescue vessels."

We read how stubbornness can save the lives of our loved ones:

"Others refused to be evacuated without their animals. Diana Womble, who was picked up by boat six days after the flood waters surrounded her house, would not leave unless she brought her 15 cats. Her rescuer told her no shelter would accept them and said that on the previous day they had been shooting the dogs they were forced to leave behind. Miss Womble held fast and her cats were eventually boxed up and loaded into the boat."

And then one of the most heartbreaking stories to make the press:

"Gary Lee Mullins, 55, a lorry driver who was rescued after five days clinging to a tree, said he had to kill his beloved 16-year-old dachshund-chihuahua. He had saved her from the water, but was not allowed to take her with him. He said: 'I could not leave her alive in the tree, she was too old to survive.'"

That article is on line at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/06/wkat206.xml

You may wish to thank the Daily Telegraph for the kind of coverage we wish we had in the US. The Daily Telegraph takes letters at: dtletters@telegraph.co.uk

The Miami Herald also published a story on the issue, on Monday September 5. It is headed, "Stranded pets facing starvation;

People evacuating New Orleans left thousands of pets behind. Animal advocates are trying to save some of the dogs, cats and other animals." It discusses the pets abandoned because they were not allowed on evacuation buses. It tell us about James Lalande who "like many city residents, refuses to evacuate without his dog, Charlie, and his cats, Miranda and Babettes." Lalande is quoted:

''I've never cried in my life, but the saddest thing in the world is when all night long you hear dogs crying; big dogs, little dogs, medium dogs. People left thinking they'd be gone two or three days, but now they can't come back and their pets are starving. Tomorrow, I'm breaking in and feeding dogs.''

You can read that whole article on line at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12566435.htm  and send an appreciative letter to the editor at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/contact_us/feedback_np1/

The local zoos survived the storm and its aftermath. Two otters were killed but the other animals are safe in their cells. You'll find a piece on that issue the CNN website at: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/09/05/katrina.zoos/index.html

CHICAGO SUN TIMES PUBLISHES KAREN DAVIS'S DISCUSSION OF PETA'S ANIMAL LIBERATION SLAVERY COMPARISON 9/6/05

On Tuesday, September 6, the Chicago Sun-Times has chosen a response from Karen Davis to PETA's animal liberation campaign as its featured letter. It is available on line at http://www.suntimes.com/output/letters/cst-edt-vox06a.html and I will paste it below. The controversial "Animal Liberation Project" discussed in the letter can be viewed on line at: http://www.peta.org/AnimalLiberation /

-----------------------------------

Animal suffering similar to human slaves’

By Karen Davis

African Americans and other groups have expressed outrage over a PETA exhibit that compares animal slavery with human slavery. Yet not so long ago, anyone who dared to compare black people with white people in my neighborhood provoked similar outrage. As a 1960s civil rights activist, I fought with my parents and others incessantly over this point.

Now, as then, I uphold these dreaded comparisons. Reduction of a sensitive being to an object imprisoned in a world outside any moral universe of care links the human slave to the animal slave in laboratories, factory farms and slaughterhouses in ways that diminish the differences between them. Instead of bickering over who’s superior and who’s inferior, why not own up to the preventable suffering we cause and do what we can to stop it?

Resentment of comparisons between the suffering of humans and the suffering of animals in conditions of atrocity is not an isolated attitude, anyway. It’s part of a broader psychology of resentment at having one’s suffering linked with that of anyone else.

Resentment aside, it is reasonable to assume that animals in confinement systems designed to exploit them suffer even more, in certain respects, than do humans similarly confined, just as a child or a mentally challenged person might experience dimensions of suffering in being rough-handled, imprisoned, and shouted at that people capable of conceptualizing the experience can’t conceive of.

Indeed, those who are capable of conceptualizing their own suffering may be unable to grasp what it feels like to suffer without being able to conceptualize it.

But even if it could be proven that chickens and other animals suffer less than humans condemned to similar situations, this would not mean that these animals do not suffer profoundly or justify harming them. Our cognitive distance from animal suffering constitutes neither an argument nor evidence as to who suffers more under horrific circumstances, humans or nonhumans.

If we cannot imagine what it must be like for a bird or a sheep or a cow to be placed in a situation comparable to a human being shoved in a cattle car packed with other terrified people headed toward death; if we cannot imagine how chickens must feel being grabbed by their legs in the middle of the night by men who are cursing at them while pitching and stuffing them into the crates in which they will travel to the next wave of terror at the slaughterhouse, then perhaps we should try to imagine ourselves placed helplessly in the hands of an overpowering extraterrestrial species, to whom our pleas for mercy sound like nothing more than bleats and squeals and clucks – mere "noise" to the master race in whose "superior" minds we are "only animals."

Karen Davis,

United Poultry Concerns

Karen Davis is the founder and president of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. ( www.upc-online.org  ) Her latest book is The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities (New York: Lantern Books, 2005)

(END OF PIECE BY KAREN DAVIS)

----------------------------------------------------

You can respond to Karen Davis's commentary, either in support of the PETA campaign or not, but keeping the discussion of animal suffering alive, by sending a letter to the Chicago Sun Times from the paper's website at: 

http://www.suntimes.com/geninfo/feedback.html

OPRAH (9/6/05) and LARRY KING LIVE (9/8/05) ON IMPACT OF KATRINA ANIMAL POLICIES

Oprah's Katrina special on Tuesday, September 6, had a touching segment about animals.

Nate Berkus is a designer who is a regular on the Oprah show. He is no stranger to this type of tragedy, having been in the midst of the Tsunami and having lost his partner to it. He is down in New Orleans with the Oprah team.

Berkus says to the camera: "One of the saddest things about what's going on here, that people have saved their animals by putting them on rafts and keeping them out of the water. And now they're here and they're not allowed to take their dogs with them on the buses."

We see shots of beautiful dogs running around a mostly abandoned bus area, including a Chihuahua who could almost have fit in somebody's pocket.

We see a young man sitting and clutching an older rusty colored dog, who looks like a chow mix. He is crying. Another man, with his arm around him says, "We've been waiting here for days for everybody to go with everybody else, so we can get on with the dog, and then they just told us at the last minute we can't take the dog. Well, this guy and his dog rescued me off my roof. He's only 24, and he's had the dog for 14 years. Well, we're not leaving without the dog. We don't know what we're going to do."

Berkus says, "All right, guys. You know what? I'm not doing this for the camera. We don't give a (censored) about that."

(Note: Swearing can be a good way to make sure a piece doesn't make the show, so I think Berkus was sincere, but I am glad the producers decided to show the segment anyway.)

Berkus says, "We have a solution for you. Here's the story. We are going to send the dog," whose name, he learns, is Rafiki. "We're going to take him and two other dogs that we met here, and we're going to send him to a house in Baton Rouge. It's a private house where we're sleeping. And when you get back..."

At this point the young man collapses into Nate Berkus's arms, sobbing. Nate also begins to sob. The accompanying man is saying, "I told you it was going to be OK. I told you.."

Then we go to Oprah, who is in the announcer role. She is crying and says, "I've been crying for two days here, but I have to tell you, I'm a dog person, and that's pretty moving. Nate kept his word to Patrick and he and his beloved dog Rafiki were reunited the next day."

We see a shot of Patrick and Rafiki happily united and snuggled together on a bench-swing in a clean dry yard.

Nothing brings home a message like a personal story, and this one clearly showed the impact that the no-pet policies have had on people. Please thank Oprah for the coverage:

http://www.oprah.com/email/tows/email_tows_main.jhtml

I send thanks to Lori Golden from the Pet Press for making sure we knew about the Oprah coverage.

And here is good news. Thursday night, September 8, Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, will be on Larry King Live (9pm and midnight Eastern, and 6 and 9pm Pacific) talking about the tragedy that results from evacuation strategies that do not include people's beloved animal companions. Watch if you can. Larry King Live asks for comments on the show. After the piece has aired, please post a thank you.

The URL is http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12

COVERAGE OF KATRINA ANIMALS - CNN, OPRAH, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, LOS ANGELES TIMES, NY TIMES 9/7-9/8/05

After a week of almost no coverage of the animal issue, this week the news shows are getting on it. Brian Williams has announced that NBC nightly news will cover the issue tonight, Thursday September 8. He mentioned that the network had been flooded with requests for animal coverage. Thank you to all who wrote.

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, is scheduled to appear on CNN's Larry King Live tonight, Thursday September 8. (9pm Eastern.)

He was on Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday, September 7.

Pacelle said, "People treat their dogs and cats like family members. And if you say you must evacuate, and you must leave your pet, as if you're just saying you must leave your television set, people who have this emotional connection are going to say you're nuts. So I think the issue for us is trying to convey that whether you agree or disagree, it is the reality. People are bonded to their animals and they are not going to discard them."

Brian Todd commented, "Now that means, according to Wayne Pacelle, that many people have placed themselves in danger as a result. If there is not a better response planned soon for gathering pets, he says, more people will die."

Jack Cafferty, a reporter who has often made animal friendly comments, said "Yes, you know, there's a reason for those bonds between people and their pets being as strong as they are. The reason is that most pets are probably more dependable and reliable than a lot of people are. I mean, I've got a house full of pets, and I'd be hard pressed to leave any of them behind."

The Situation Room takes feedback at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?65

Please thank them for having for their sensitive coverage of the issue.

Inside Edition had a report on the nonhuman victims of Katrina, on Wednesday, September 7, described on its website as follows:

"Back in the hurricane zone, the priority has been saving human live, but also stranded by the storm, countless dogs, cats and other animals. Inside Edition set out to find just what's happened to so many pets lost and abandoned in the chaos of the hurricane region."

Activist Cheryl Kuscera saw the report and tells me it was moving.

http://www.insideedition.com/

Inside Edition asks for viewer comments at iemail@kingworld.com

Please thank them for the story and ask for more on the animal issue.

Anderson Cooper, consistent with his past coverage of tragedies such as the Tsunami, and dogs left behind by the military heading to Iraq, has devoted good chunks of his show this week to the animal issue. We learned from him the astounding story of a woman who is legally blind, but whose dog, Abu, who she says is her service dog, was refused rescue. So for ten days she has stayed put. We saw police officers who said that she had to come with them but the dog would have to stay behind "temporarily." But the woman, Ms Connie, says, "No, dear. No, dear. I’m sorry. I’m not a being hard case. But I can’t see. My dog goes where I go.... I don’t trust very much law officials ..."

Then we learn that finally, the police rescue boats are relaxing their no dog policies. The rescue boats leaving now are full of animals, since most of the people still in the city were there because they would not leave without them. After ten days, with Anderson Cooper filming, the police decide to let blind Ms Connie take her service dog Abu.

Reporter Adaora Udoji, also on Cooper's show, followed a volunteer animal rescue team from San Diego going to addresses where people had reported leaving their animals. She reports, "On New Orleans’ waterlogged streets, you can hear the dogs for miles. They are trapped on boats, roofs, porches surrounded by blackened, putrid water."

Anderson Cooper takes comments at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10

Please thank him for the coverage. Public awareness of these issues will be important if we hope for change in the future.

Oprah's second Katrina special included another touching animal story, this time about a human hero. Matthew McConaughey arrived at a hospital where an anesthesiologist, Dr. James Riopell had been living in his office since the storm hit, with over fifty dogs and cats he had promised to do his very best to keep safe when their humans were forced to evacuate. (Oprah said he had been there with no food or water but he and the animals seemed exhausted but in good health so they must have had some nourishment.) McConaughey and Oprah's team loaded the animals onto boats and then helicopters. Riopell told McConaughey, "I'm tired. I wasn't sure I could go much longer. I'm mighty

glad to get out." And he said, "Every one of these dogs is highly loved, I can promise you that." There was a lovely shot of McConaughey on a helicopter surrounded by dogs he was petting, and shots of reunions of people with the animals who had been in Riopell's care.

If you haven't thanked Oprah for her wonderful coverage, please do. It will encourage similar coverage and also encourage good feeling between her show and the animal advocacy community, so that she may be more attuned to animal issues in the future. Oprah takes comments at http://www.oprah.com/email/tows/email_tows_main.jhtml

ABC's Good Morning America covered the reunion between a couple and their animals, who had left their dogs with Dr Riopell. That show will have a special "town hall meeting" on Friday and invites viewers to participate with: "Do you want answers about the government's relief effort or want to know what you can do to help the victims? Send your toughest questions to 'Good Morning America.' We'll give you straight answers on Friday's show." Many questions about the shortsighted way the relief effort dealt, or didn't deal, with animals, will mean that issue is covered. You can submit your question at:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1107020&page=1

The Thursday, September 8, Los Angeles Times (pg A15) has a strong story on the issue headed "Katrina's Aftermath;

Time Is Running Out for Stranded Pets; Thousands of dogs, cats and other animals left behind by hurricane evacuees are slowly dying as rescuers struggle to save them." It tells us of the animals: "They sit forlornly on the rooftops of flooded homes, slowly starving to death as rescuers in boats ignore them, looking for people instead. Some have even tried swimming to boats, only to be rebuffed. Many other pets didn't make it, and their bodies now lie in pools of scummy water or by the side of highways. Even those lucky animals whose owners refused to part with them, come hell or high water, have been suffering right alongside their masters."

Wayne Pacelle is quoted. He says there may be 50,000 pets in New Orleans homes. HSUS has received 2,000 calls and emails from people who left their pets and pleading for HSUS to rescue them.

And the article follows animal advocate Jane Garrison (an elephant specialist who worked for years with PETA) who is going house to house rescuing animals. You can read the article on line at

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-et-pets8sep08,0,3817557.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=pacifictime  or http://tinyurl.com/anlb5

The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com

The New York Times story on the issue, "Shelters for Pets Fill With Furry Survivors" (Pg 23) also quotes Garrison. We read,

"Jane Garrison, who is working with a Humane Society rescue team in New Orleans, said her best rescue was on Wednesday, when she heard a dog's cries and looked up to see a Labrador mix marooned on the second-story awning of a house that was completely crumbled.

'We went up by ladder and threw a leash around her neck,' Ms. Garrison said. 'She jumped down into my partner's arms and immediately started licking her.''' The article ends with this lovely line, "In the meantime, accounts trickle in of how pets and their owners escaped the wrath of the storm. A woman who came to claim her chow told Ms. Mercer, 'We swam out together, and she didn't give up on me, and I'm not giving up on her.''' You'll find the New York Times story on line at http://tinyurl.com/awp7s

The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

Since every paper has coverage of Hurricane Katrina, please consider a letter to your local paper discussing how the official attitude to animals has devastated people. Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

KATRINA EVENING NEWS UPDATES FOR THURSDAY SEPT 9 -- CBS, NBC

Unfortunately HSUS President Wayne Pacelle's appearance scheduled for Larry King Live on Thursday September 8 has been postponed.

But from CBS Evening News, Thurssay, September 8:

"Also tonight, correspondent Lee Cowan will show us what's being done to care for the pets of hurricane victims. Many pets were separated from their owners during the evacuation and are now in temporary shelter until they can be reunited with their families."

Those on the West Coast can still catch that.

And from NBC Nightly News:

FOUR-LEGGED FRIENDS: The tragedy has separated families-- including precious pets from their owners. NBC's Martin Savidge has more on this story. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9174390/

If you have missed that piece you can watch the story on line. Go to the link above and click on the picture marked,

"Video: Saving animals -- NBC's Martin Savidge reports on the teams racing to rescue the four-legged victims of Katrina." 

CBS Evening News takes comments at: evening@cbsnews.com

NBC Nightly News takes comments at Nightly@NBC.com

Please thank them for the coverage.

FINANCIAL TIMES FRONT PAGE, NPR, AND GUARDIAN ON HLS AND NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE --  9/8/05

There is a story on the front page of the Thursday, September 8 Financial Times, UK and US editions, headed in the UK, "Animal test group postpones US listing." (Also in the Guardian, and on NPR, see below.)

It opens:

"Huntingdon Life Sciences, the medical research company, said it had postponed its listing on the New York Stock Exchange at the NYSE's request because of potential protests from animal rights activists.

"Shares in Life Sciences Research, the US parent company formed solely to buy the troubled HLS in 2001, were due to start trading yesterday. But LSR said the move was postponed at the request of the exchange. The NYSE had not responded to calls at the time of publication yesterday.

"HLS moved its headquarters to the US after a long campaign by animal rights activists in the UK, who objected to the company's use of animals in testing."

(For more details on the use and objections, see below.)

It tells us, "Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, the most prominent British group that campaigns against HLS, has targeted suppliers and other companies connected to HLS" and mentions the SHAC 7, who are awaiting retrial after being accused of conspiring to commit "animal enterprise terrorism".

The first few paragraphs are on line at:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bbe094ae-2006-11da-853a-00000e2511c8.html

Only subscribers can read the full article on line. You can get a free 15 day trial subscription. However the Financial Times article on the topic was brief -- not worth subscribing for, even for free.

The September 8 Guardian (UK) had a more detailed story headed, "Huntingdon delays listing after attacks." We learn that "The parent company, Life Sciences Research, was due to upgrade its listing to the NYSE yesterday but was asked by the exchange to delay the move. The exchange offered no explanation and refused to comment on the request."

About HLS, we read:

"Huntingdon was forced from the UK market in 2002 after a vigorous campaign by animal rights extremists during which bombs were planted in the cars of people loosely associated with the firm. US investors bought the company and it has since been listed on the junior OTC market in the US. It continues to conduct research....Huntingdon shot to fame in the late 1990s when activists recorded undercover film of mistreated animals."

You can read the full Guardian article on line at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1565018,00.html

The "mistreatment of animals" to which it refers can be viewed on the www.SHAC.net website. You'll find footage of a scientist yelling profanities at a beagle puppy and punching him in the face, and a primate conscious on an operating lifting her head with her chest cut wide open.

The place of militant action is hotly debated within the animal protection movement. But most people agree that there is no place for horrendous cruelty visited upon animals in laboratories for often trivial purposes. Regardless of how we feel about the manner in which the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty or SHAC campaign is conducted, this story gives us the opportunity to discuss the appalling status quo of the biomedical testing system. Interestingly, the Guardian has published too strong letters today questioning the role of animal testing. A great site for more information on that issue is www.CureDisease.com. And I will paste today's letters below:

The Guardian (London), September 8, 2005

Research and destroy:

Vioxx was tested on animals, so was Thalidomide (What have guinea pigs ever done for us? September 1). Why does Vivienne Parry ignore this when she assumes successful drugs work because they were tested on animals? The tests are invalid because animals have very different anatomies, physiologies and metabolisms to humans.

Martin Hunt

Pontllyfni, Gwynedd

Penicillin was delayed a decade by misleading rabbit tests - and would have been shelved forever, had it been tested on guinea pigs, which it kills. Kidney transplants were performed sucessfully in humans before success was achieved in animals. Cyclosporin revolutionised transplantation, though it was almost abandoned due to animal tests. Tamoxifen showed success in human breast cancer patients before it was ever tested in animals. It causes cancer in rats. Tamoxifen, like all medicines, came to market despite not because of animal tests.

Kathy Archibald

Europeans for Medical Progress

(END OF GUARDIAN LETTERS)

One doesn't have to know details such as in the letters above to write a short effective letter. A look at the SHAC footage, and the knowledge that the UK and US governments have propped up rather than closed down HLS, will probably be enough to inspire you.

The Financial Times takes letters at letters.editor@ft.com

The Guardian takes letters at letters@guardian.co.uk

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

Finally, NPR's 'Day to Day' covered the issue. (I send thanks to Ken Guttman for pointing us to that story.) The coverage was balanced, though Stephen Beard from the Marketplace London Bureau said that Huntingdon Life Sciences is "in some quarters a very unpopular company because it uses live animals in some of its testing." The situation is considerably more complex than that. And Beard oddly described the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign as an "animal welfare group." You can listen to the story on line at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4837503

Day to Day takes comments at http://www.npr.org/contact/  -- Select "Day to Day" from the program pull-down menu.

LOS ANGELES TIMES ON MILITANT TACTICS AGAINST LOS ANGELES ANIMAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT -- 9/8/05

The Thursday, September 8, Los Angeles Times has a story on the front of the B section headed, "Animal Activists Toughen Tactics. Some have moved beyond protesting to vandalism and threats against city officials."

It discusses harassment tactics being used against "David Diliberto, a high-ranking official in the Los Angeles Animal Services Department, whom activists blame for failing to stop the city from euthanizing thousands of stray dogs it picks up each year."

We read,

"The number of dogs euthanized in city shelters has dropped from 39,086 in fiscal 2001-02 to 29,624 in fiscal 2003-04, according to city officials. The Animal Services Department says it has pursued an aggressive campaign to get more dogs adopted and to persuade owners to spay or neuter their pets. There are also privately run shelters in the county that have no-kill policies.

"Activists, however, are not satisfied with the changes. They picketed the home of the agency's former chief, Jerry Greenwalt, until he quit, and also protested in the street in front of the home of former Mayor James K. Hahn.

"Greenwalt was replaced by Guerdon Stuckey, who has also drawn the wrath of animal rights advocates. Ferdin (of Animal Defense League of Los Angeles) said that the only reason activists haven't protested at Stuckey's home is because they haven't yet figured out his address."

There is a quote from Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California:

"When protesters move beyond protesting and break windows or write graffiti that's breaking the law. But passing an ordinance that says you can't protest in a residential neighborhood violates the 1st Amendment."

The article ends with a quote from Charlie Hutchinson, president of the Larchmont Village Neighborhood Assn: "My concern is that they're not using what I consider a constructive way to get their message across."

Many in the animal protection movement would agree. However this article offers us a truly constructive way to get our message across as it provides a great opportunity for letters to the editor regarding California's pet overpopulation crisis, encouraging spay-neuter and adoption, and legislation that encourages or enforces them.

You can read the full Los Angeles Times article on line at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-animal8sep08,1,1399264.story

The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

ABC, CBS, NBC,MSNBC and KCAL ON KATRINA ANIMAL COVERAGE -- 9/8/05

ABC, CBS and NBC all covered the Katrina animal issue tonight, Thursday September 8 - see below.

PLUS...

On the KCAL website you can see a lovely story about a black Labrador who had saved a man from the water, was left behind afterwards, but who the KCAL team went back to rescue. Go to http://kcal9.com/homepage and scroll down the video list to "Heroic Black Lab 'Katrina' Rescued In New Orleans." KCAL takes comments at http://kcal9.com/feedback/

If they know the story is popular, they will run more animal friendly stories.

Lew Regenstein tells me that the coverage was beautiful on the Thursday night edition of the MSNBC show Scarborough Country, and that Joe Scarborough "got so chocked up he could hardly speak." That show repeats at 2am so you can watch or tape it.

Scarborough takes comments at: joe@msnbc.com

Please thank him for his sensitive coverage.

Also, Rita Cosby covered the rescue of two dogs on her MSNBC show "Rita Cosby Live & Direct." Apparently she said they were the most beautiful guests that had been on her show. If you caught the segment, and liked it, please take a moment to thank her -- Rita@msnbc.com

The Thursday, September 9, CBS Evening News show on the issue was terrific. It is now on line at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/08/eveningnews/main829079.shtml

I will paste the web-site print edition, more or less a transcript, below, then the ABC World News Tonight story below that. Please thank CBS Evening News at evening@cbsnews.com

Again, the more positive feedback news shows get for animal stories, the more they will cover.

Here is the CBS story print version -- though it is worth watching the video on line at the link above if you can:

Katrina Leaves Pets In Peril

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 8, 2005

They aren't counted among the dead, they aren't pointing fingers at who's to blame, but their suffering is hard to ignore.

Katrina's four-legged victims seem utterly alone, either left behind on purpose or turned away from evacuation buses.

We hear them barking from abandoned homes, we see them stranded on rooftops, and wandering the streets barely able to keep their heads above water, CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan reports from New Orleans.

"They're living out on the streets right now, and they're very sweet lovable dogs," New Orleans resident Kate Cummins says.

The rescue efforts we've seen are nothing short of heroic. A dog named Sam had to be cut out of a roof.

"Hey Joe, happy birthday dude, I've got Sam. I got him, he's alive," a man announces proudly to his friend over the phone.

Noah would have been proud. We've seen sea-going snakes, turtles, birds, even a pot-bellied pig.

"Once you get your hands on them, you can almost feel their body relax, they're so happy to have that human contact with them," Shirley Minshew of the International Fund for Animal Welfare says.

Shirley Minshew is the Dr. Doolittle of this disaster. She has a list of some 3,000 pets she's determined to save.

Minshew adds that she is basically going door-to-door, or, better put, rooftop-to-rooftop, to rescue the animals.

You might wonder who would risk their lives in this muck to save a dog, or a cat or a pot-bellied pig. It's not just about those eyes or those wagging tails. It's because the pets may very well be the only thing in these people lives that they can actually save.

"It's very heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching to see that they come here and all they want is their pets, because it's the only thing they have left," says Margaret Del Rossi, a pet rescue volunteer.

Daniel Lorentz lost his home and his two labs.

"It would be the greatest thing to me to get my dogs back," Lorentz says.

We watched as Lorentz searched every pen in this animal shelter, and nothing.

"I guess you gotta really be a pet owner to know how much it hurts," Lorentz says.

In a community of so much loss, the power of a pet seems boundless.

More information on animal rescues is available on the Louisiana SPCA Web site.

(END OF CBS story)

-------------------------

And here is the ABC story from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1107049  which was the same story that played this morning on Good Morning America:

Reuniting Pets and Owners After Katrina Rescuers Scramble to Save Pets in New Orleans, Gulf Coast States

Valerie Bennett was reunited with her beloved dogs, Oreo and Lady. (ABC News)

Sept. 8, 2005 — Calls to pet shelters from animal lovers have prompted the rescue of thousands of pets left behind in Katrina's wake. In New Orleans, teams are going house to house in search of marooned animals. But uniting this growing city of beloved pets with their owners is another matter.

Lorne and Valerie Bennett were forced to leave their four pets behind when Katrina chased them from their Slidell, La., home to an Atlanta hospital. A local doctor had promised to stay behind and care for the pets.

"We never thought we'd see them again," Lorne said.

And miraculously from their Atlanta hospital room, they did. The doctor had kept his word, spiriting their four animals to a shelter, where they appeared on TV.

Then a Texas couple, hearing of the Bennetts' plight, drove 1,200 miles to pick up the pets. "It got put in our laps and we were destined to do it," said Jeff Caldwell, who helped with the reunion.

And then this miracle story ended in a happy sea of tears, as the Bennetts were reunited with their English springer spaniel, Oreo, their dachshund, Lady, their cat, P. Kitty, and their guinea pig, Piggy Wiggy.

It's difficult to estimate how many pets got left behind in New Orleans, said Racelle Carlson, field manager for the American Humane Society. But the AHS is performing lots of rescues, which are mostly dogs, she added.

"We've been in boats, getting descriptions of the houses and the pets and just going in and getting them," Carlson said.

"We're tranquilizing the ones that are aggressive," she added. "They're just scared right now."

The AHS is bringing all pets to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, La., where there are vets to care for them.

"We're not seeing many cats, but we have gotten about five so far. They're mostly just dogs," Carlson said. "We did have a report that a man had alligators and snakes he couldn't get to."

To reach the American Humane Society, call 800-486-2631.

To reach the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, call 888-773-6489.

You can view homeless pets on Petfinder.com

----------------------------------------

You can send a thank you to World News Tonight at netaudr@abc.com . Put WORLD NEWS TONIGHT in the subject line.

And for those who missed my earlier email, you can watch the terrific NBC Nightly News story on line at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9174390/

Click on the picture marked, "Video: Saving animals -- NBC's Martin Savidge reports on the teams racing to rescue the four-legged victims of Katrina."

NBC Nightly News takes comments at Nightly@NBC.com 

BEST FRIENDS REPORTS FROM KATRINA FRONT LINES -- 9/9/05

Over the last few days, I have sent out major major media reports about Katrina's aftermath, which show some of the animal suffering but tend to focus on the few happy reunions. If you missed them they are on the www.DawnWatch.com website under "Recent alerts and Archives." Today, I am forwarding reports from the front line from Paul Berry and Troy Snow of Best Friends. (www.BestFriends.org)

Paul urges people to contact their local media and get them to cover the animal story. If the public sees the horrible truth, and there is public outcry, policies may change. I recommend talking with your local media and finding somebody to whom you can forward these reports. You will find that your media are looking for stories and will be interested. If you know anybody in your local area heading down to the hurricane region to help the animals, that can be a perfect hook for a local story.

Also, on Wolf Blitzer's CNN show "Situation Room" Jack Cafferty (an animal friendly reporter) asks viewers to respond to questions. Today, Friday September 9, check out question number 3 and please respond:

"Cafferty File -- Each hour between 3 and 6 p.m. ET, Jack Cafferty will ask viewers a question keyed to the news of the day. Send your comments. Some will be presented on the show each day.

"3 p.m. ET: Should FEMA director Michael Brown be fired?

4 p.m. ET: Do we need a tax increase to pay for Hurricane Katrina?

5 p.m. ET: How much priority should be placed on getting people’s pets out of New Orleans?

"Send your comments to The Situation Room: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5t.html?65"

Here are the reports from Best Friends:

----------------------------------

Time running out for our boat in St Bernard Parish

Sept 8: Paul Berry reports from rescue ops on the water in New Orleans

We had two teams out on boats on Thursday. Troy Snow has written about his crew in an earlier posting. Ours was similar, so I’ll keep this brief.

Our team was me and Dr. Debbie Rykoff DVM. Also aboard and helping out was a crew from the Salt Lake Tribune. Leah Hogsten took photos for the Trib and gave these to us. (Thanks, Leah.)

The thing I want to say is simply that there are thousands upon thousands of animals stuck out here, on car roofs, on porches, cats on roofs of houses. We saw no other animal rescue orgs anywhere. I know they’re all doing good work on the peripheries … but, oh man … you see and hear these fluff pieces on TV of people being reunited with their pets, and you look around out here on the boats at this vast, endless wasteland of toxic water and animals hanging on, 11 days after the hurricane, and their time is running out.

What on earth is going on? We’re just on two boats. Heard about a veterinarian who’s on another boat. We need a whole freaking navy!

This is the story that’s not being told. Animals clinging to life, and dead human bodies lying and floating all around.

Please call your local media and tell them to get on to this. We just got a call from German TV – ZDF. Trying to hook up with us for today’s marathon on the water.

The only other boat we saw yesterday was an airboat from Fish & Game. They were scouting the ground behind. Rumors are they’re beginning to shoot the animals today. I believe these stories are now true. That’s what’s going to be happening.

WE NEED ALL THE OTHER ANIMAL RESCUE ORGS TO BUY/BORROW BOATS AND FOCUS ON THIS. These animals only have days at most, and are clinging to life. They are the forgotten ones. We can only manage about 10 at a time. They’re emaciated, starved, dehydrated. Literally “water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.” Dr. Debbie revives them in the boat as they start to lose consciousness. Gives them fluids. All those we took yesterday have survived.

Keep us in your prayers,

Paul.

-------------------------------------

Where time is running out

Sept. 8: In Orleans Parish, animals still cling to life and to trees, standing on car tops, in flooded areas as rescue grows more urgent

Reported by Troy Snow: We exit the I-10, drive down the off-ramp, and park our truck at the water’s edge of what were once the streets of New Orleans. Two bloated human bodies lies half-in, half-out, looking like they may explode any moment.

Ken Ray unhitches the boat. He’s a volunteer from Alabama, who came out to help, discovered we need boats, and drove another 700 miles to go and get his own boat.

We spend the day in roughly just a 3-block area. Three of us are on this boat: Ethan and Jeff, staffers from Best Friends Dogtown, and me, Troy, helping them and taking a few photos. First, we see two pit bull dogs standing on the edge of a recreational boat parked in a driveway. They must have been standing there since the hurricane blew in 11 days ago. We cut through the fence to let our boat come closer and pull up to the dogs. They jump aboard and smother us in kisses. These must have been fighting dogs. One of them is covered in old scars.

Next, we see two more pit bulls standing on the roof of a car. One of them dives into the water and starts swimming to us as we pull closer. We pull him aboard and navigate our way toward his pal. He looks just like Tawny – but tired and fearful and not sure whether we’re friend or foe. … OK, now we have him. He’s smiling now. He knows he’s safe.

In all, we gather up just 10 dogs. Each one means navigating up to fenced yards, cutting through the fence to get the boat in, grabbing tree branches to pull up toward the porch. Some pets are on porches, some still indoors. At one address where we have permission to enter, we hear a dog barking through the windows. We pull up to the window and see him inside, standing on the bed to stay above the water line. At other houses, we can’t break through the fence although we hear meowing.

Several times during the day, we go back to the freeway off-ramp to deliver the dogs to Ken who’s waiting at water’s edge. On one trip, we’re joined by a reporter from the Los Angeles Times who’s seen us from the freeway and stopped to see what we’re doing.

At the end of the day, with a boatful of dogs, we return to the freeway ramp once again. It’s beginning to get dark. We hitch the boat back up to the truck and are about to leave when we hear an eerie howl in the dusk, echoing across the neighborhood. First we say to ourselves, we’ll get him tomorrow. Then we look at each other, and unhitch the boat again. The dog is about 300 yards away, standing in the back of an old truck. Again, he’s been sitting there for 11 days, bewildered, emaciated, dehydrated. The water there is about five-foot deep. We bring him aboard.

On the way back we see a cat on a roof. Try to get there. Can’t do it.

We have photos, details, and addresses of every animal we’ve picked up. Hopefully, one day, they’ll all be reunited with families – at least if their families are not like the ones lying there on the off-ramp, half-in half-out of the water.

What we’ve done today is really just a drop in the bucket. There are thousands upon thousands more animals stranded like this, with only days, if that, before they too will just give out.

Why are we the only people in this entire area of town? Why are others being turned back when there is so much to be done? Will we even be allowed in tomorrow? At least, as we drive back to the sanctuary out of town, we have a few furry refugees with us. We comfort them as they comfort us.

(END OF BEST FRIENDS REPORTS)

WASHINGTON POST OP-ED BY KAREN DAWN ON DISASTER RELIEF NO PET POLICIES  9/10/05

I have an opinion piece in the Saturday, September 10, Washington Post, on the 'no pet' polices of disaster relief agencies. It is on line at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901824.html and on the DawnWatch website here, and I will paste it below.

I have received some wonderful notes from people who would never leave their animals. I hope people will direct those notes to the media. The Washington Post takes letters at letters@washpost.com  and advises, "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers." However, since Katrina is covered in every paper, I urge people to consider sending letters about the animal issue to their local papers. Also, I believe the piece below will be distributed on the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post news wire service, which is accessed by many papers, so you may be able to encourage your paper to publish it. It would be great to see this issue discussed in every paper, with op-eds, or letters, or both.

Washington Post

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Page A23

Best Friends Need Shelter, Too

By Karen Dawn

The week after Hurricane Katrina hit, the media covered the thousands of low-income people trapped for lack of means to get out. Almost two weeks later, thousands still hadn't left, in many cases because official policy would not accept the bond between people and their nonhuman family members. Members of a frustrated rescue team simplified it for a "Dateline" news crew: They said people were refusing to be evacuated simply because "they won't leave their pets."

There is a class issue involved here. While Marriott hotels welcomed the pets of Katrina evacuees as "part of the family," people who had to rely on the Red Cross for shelter were forced to abandon that part of the family or attempt to ride out the storm. It cannot be denied that many poor people are dead as a result of "no pets" policies.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Patricia Penny, who wondered whether her son Billy had survived. She had begged him to leave, but he was afraid to abandon his animals. CNN showed the rescue of a family, including a dog, sitting on a rooftop as a boat pulled up. The boat left without the dog. Staying with a dog and risking their own lives is not an option for people who have children to provide for. The parents were given no choice but to abandon the dog, and to break their children's hearts. As they pulled away they all watched their trusting, confused and terrified canine family member alone on the roof.

At Red Cross shelters there are families that have lost their homes and all of their possessions but are thanking God that they are all safe. Others are frantic, unable to think of anything besides the slow deaths of beloved companion animals they were forced to leave on rooftops or at bus boarding points. One woman, with no other possessions left, offered her rescuer the wedding ring off her finger to save her dog, to no avail.

A young boy carried a dog in his arms as he tried to board a bus to the Houston Astrodome. Dogs were not allowed. The Associated Press story reported that "a police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. 'Snowball, Snowball,' " he cried." In a similar story, an old woman, traveling alone except for the poodle in her arms, was forced to leave him behind to wander the streets. We have read other stories of elderly people forced to choose between their lifesaving medications or their life-affirming pets. CNN's Anderson Cooper even reported on a woman, legally blind, who for 10 days had been told that she could not take her service dog with her if she was evacuated. She had stayed put until the CNN cameras arrived and the police relented.

Many large hotel chains, aware of the human-animal bond, now allow guests of varied species. Sadly, those organizations on which we rely, not when on vacation but in life-or-death circumstances, are not up with the times.

The pets pulled from people's arms would not have taken seats meant for humans. There is no reasonable explanation for abandoning them. They were the last vestiges of sweetness, in some cases the only living family, of those who had nothing left. But the police officers were just following orders -- orders that reflect an official policy inconsistent with how people feel about their animals.

Red Cross shelters that do not have animal-friendly areas, or do not coordinate with humane groups to make sure that there are animal shelters nearby, are out of touch with the needs of a society in which 60 percent of families have pets and many view them as intrinsic members of the family.

Karen Dawn runs the animal advocacy Web site DawnWatch.com and is a contributor to "In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave," edited by Peter Singer.

URGENT CALL FOR KATRINA VOLUNTEER HELP, PLUS NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, CHICAGO TRIBUNE AND LARRY KING LIVE COVERAGE -- 9/11/05

This is a combined alert, including information on the desperate need for help in the Hurricane Katrina Disaster region and an update on some of the weekend's media stories (9/10-9/11) and suggestions for letters to the editor.

First -- I have spoken with Mark Garrison, whose wife, Jane Garrison, is in New Orleans, rescuing animals. She is the activist who was featured in the Los Angeles Times story on the issue on Thursday September 8 (Katrina's Aftermath; Time Is Running Out for Stranded Pets.) Jane says there is a desperate need for more people in the region to help. People are needed to go in and get the starving animals out, do food and water drops for those who cannot yet be removed, and to care for animals that have been removed to holding facilities. At first only trained emergency rescue people were being sought, but as holding sites fill up with animals, there are not enough people to do basic jobs such as feeding, watering and walking the animals. Sometimes animals, with nobody to get them out of cages, are sleeping in their own feces. The need for help is urgent.

Brenda Shoss, from Kinship Circle, has put together a list of places needing volunteers, contacts in the area, vaccinations one should have, and supplies one should bring. I have it on my website here -- www.DawnWatch.com/katrina.htm

Also, I have received an ASPCA alert calling for boats, which are desperately needed by rescuers. 12-15 foot flat bottom boats with outboard motors are ideal, but the alert suggests that boats of any kind are needed immediately. If you have any way of getting a boat to the rescue teams, please do. The alert says, "The staging area is in Gonzales LA. Lamar-Dixon Horse Expo Center 9039 Saint Landry Rd. From

Baton Rouge > I-10 Eastbound as though driving to New Orleans > Head for the city of Gonzales > Exit 177 (Tanger Mall and Lamar Dixon

Center) Report to the ASPCA volunteer center ASAP. And the alert concludes, "PLEASE GIVE THIS WIDEST DISSEMINATION IN ANY WAY YOU CAN AS WE ARE OUT OF TIME."

Best Friends, the UTAH sanctuary, has two boats on the water and a sanctuary in the region. Michael Mountain tells me that tomorrow their website will have detailed information as to the various ways people can help. www.BestFriends.org

Here is an update on some media coverage:

Larry King interviewed Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, and Michael Feinstein, a spokesperson for the ASPCA, on CNN's Larry King Live, Saturday, September 10. Please express your appreciation to King. Larry King takes comments at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12

The Sunday, September 11, New York Times, includes a column by John Leland (section 4, page 3) headed, "Dogs Are People, Too."

He writes, "As reactions to the Katrina rescue efforts have been divided along lines of class, race and political party, they have also highlighted another schism: between dog haves and dog have-nots. Animal owners around the country have responded with outpourings of sympathy, hurt and outrage: How could rescue workers have barred pets from helicopters and shelters?"

You can read the whole column on line at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/weekinreview/11leland.html

Supportive letters should go to letters@nytimes.com

The Sunday, September 11, Los Angeles Times, has a big story on the issue, pg A33, headed, "Animal Refuge Strives to Corral Pets -- and Despair." You'll find it on line at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-animals11sep11,1,6464227.story

You can send a letter to the editor at letters@latimes.com

On Saturday, September 10, the Chicago Tribune included a front page story that should be compulsory reading for armchair activists. It is headed, "Public howling turns tide for four-legged evacuees."

It told us:

"Heartbreaking stories about people being forced to leave pets behind--and estimates that 50,000 dogs and cats were stranded in Hurricane Katrina's wake--have filled Internet message boards. On Thursday, an urgent message told of 150 dogs on the rooftop of American Can Corp. in New Orleans, another of a man rescued through his roof who had to leave his dog and two cats with no food or water.

"Pet lovers throughout the country have joined in a massive effort to organize veterinarians, boats and food to help save displaced animals. Convoys have been coordinated through message boards at nola.com, petfinder.com and craigslist.org. And on Friday, authorities in Louisiana who have struggled for nearly two weeks to save human lives in this devastated swampland started making more time for the animals.

"The military began providing animal cages and equipment to homeowners who would evacuate only if they could bring their pets with them. 'We got the capacity,' said Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, 'and it seemed like the right thing to do.'"

Illuminating the difference one person can make, and the power those of us who are not in the disaster region have on our computers and on the phone, the article tells us: "The military's edict on pets answers a petition drive started by Margaret Barry, 64, of Webster, Mass., demanding that an evacuation order include pets. By Friday, she had collected 40,000 signatures."

You can read the article on line at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509100056sep10,1,6901925.story

On that page you will see shocking photos of emaciated animals, highlighting the desperate need for immediate help in the region -- the animals are starting to die.

Finally, an Associated Press story, appearing in many papers including on the front page of the Saturday, September 10 Chicago Tribune, ("U.S. recalls FEMA chief") quotes Michael Brown, who has been removed from his post as head of Gulf Coast relief efforts:

"I'm going to go home and walk my dog and hug my wife, and maybe get a good Mexican meal and a stiff margarita and a full night's sleep. And then I'm going to go right back to FEMA and continue to do all I can to help these victims."

With letters to the editor we can point out the disgraceful irony, given FEMA's animal policies, in Brown's acknowledgment that the comfort of walking his dog is high on his priority list.

Letters to the editor are part of the "public howling" that makes a difference.

The Chicago Tribune takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/4lsug

And please send letters to the editor to your local papers, and call your local media and politely encourage them to cover this angle of the disaster.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

NEBRASKA STAR KILLS THREE ESCAPED CHIMPS -- 9/12/05

There is disturbing news from Nebraska. The Monday, September 12, Journal Star includes an article headed, "Three chimps shot after escape from Zoo Nebraska."

It opens,

"Three chimpanzees were shot and killed by the director of Zoo Nebraska on Saturday after they escaped from their cage at the small zoo near Royal in northeast Nebraska.

"A fourth chimp returned to its cage shortly after escaping.

"Zoo Director Ken Schlueter Jr. said that when workers left the chimps' cage

after cleaning it, one of the padlocks was not clicked shut. Visitors and

employees saw the chimps lift the padlock and break out of their cage.

"Visitors were immediately moved into the office area and barricaded in for

safety, Schlueter said.

"'They were our first priority," he said.

"Deb Collins, spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said no people were

hurt in the incident, which began at about noon and lasted about 45 minutes."

One of the chimps went voluntarily back into his cage, but the others, not surprisingly, could not be persuaded to join him. We read:

"Schlueter said he tried to pacify the chimps with a zoo tranquilizer gun, hitting two of them, but even after five minutes, the tranquilizers had not taken effect on the animals. 'That's when the decision was made' said Schlueter, who ended up shooting the three loose chimps with a deputy's service revolver."

He waited a full five minutes.

You can read the whole story on line at: http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/09/12/local/doc4324fa7f3601c238007438.txt  OR http://tinyurl.com/cmmwe

It provides a good opportunity for letters to the editor about the way we treat members of other species, particularly about the captivity of wild animals for human entertainment. Good resources are the Chimp Collaboratory site http://www.chimpcollaboratory.org/  , with which Jane Goodall is affiliated, and also PETA's fact sheet "Zoos: Pitiful Prisons" which is on line at

http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=67

The Journal Star takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/8ygsh

FRONT PAGE STORIES ON KATRINA ANIMAL ISSUE -- AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE ON CHICKEN RESCUE 9/10/05-9/13/05

An update on the Katrina disaster area: they are still desperate for volunteers. I have spoken with friends at the Gonzales shelter in Louisiana who say they have plenty of supplies and boats but not enough people. They suggest that if you are able to go down there, please just go.

Of particular need are large air-conditioned rigs that can transport many animals.

Mississippi is also in dire need of volunteers. There are thousands of animals and no people to care for them. Randy Grimm, guardian of the famous dog who last year survived the gas chambers, is in Mississippi and is calling for help. I hope to speak with him tomorrow, Wednesday, and have information for those who wish to go to Mississippi.

I have contact information for the HSUS shelter in Gonzales Louisiana and the Best Friends shelter in Tylertown, and a list of vaccinations one should get and supplies one needs to bring, compiled by Kinship Circle, all on my website at www.DawnWatch.com/katrina.htm 

Brenda Shoss is an excellent resource for information on volunteering. She is at info@kinshipcircle.org 

Animal rescue in the Katrina disaster area continues to fill the news. There was a wonderful story on the front page of Canada's Globe and Mail yesterday, September 12, which I have sent to Canada subscribers. On Saturday, September 10, Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal had a superb front page story on the issue, as did the Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday September 11. And the Chicago Tribune has a great story, and the Indianapolis Star has a particularly hard-hitting story today, Tuesday, September 13.

CNN's Anderson Cooper continues to cover the issue beautifully.

Also today, Tuesday September 13, the San Francisco Chronicle looks at an often neglected disaster issue, the suffering of animals trapped in factory farms (where they were already suffering -- see www.FactoryFarming.com  ). It looks at one happy case in the midst of the horror, where chickens have a better ending than they would have had without Hurricane Katrina. The article is headed, "1,000 chickens that rode out the storm now escape the frying pan. Vacaville woman leads rescue effort at Mississippi farm." (Pg B2)

The article includes a great quote from Kim Sturla, who runs the Animal Place sanctuary in Vacaville California and traveled to Miscopy after learning about the plight of the chickens on television:

"Some folks say, 'Why save chickens when there are people and dogs and cats to save?' I'm looking at it from the perspective of their lives. The life of the chicken is as important to him as the life of the dog or cat is to them."

We read: "In just two nights, the group collected about 1,000 birds -- including 19 that had been bulldozed into a burial pit with thousands of dead chickens and inches of maggots."

Farm Sanctuary will take half of the chickens, Kim will take at least 100, and they are looking for people to adopt some. You can contact Kim through www.animalplace.org

You can read the whole San Francisco Chronicle article on line a http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/13/BAGP6EMQ951.DTL

and send a chicken-friendly, perhaps veg-friendly, letter to the editor at letters@sfchronicle.com  and advises, "Please limit your letters to 200 or fewer words ... shorter letters have a better chance of being selected for publication."

The San Francisco Chronicle's Monday, September 12 article headed, "Bay Area Response; Airlift brings stranded animals to Bay Area; Pooches and cats orphaned by storm get temporary shelter" can be found on line at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/12/BAGQQEM9ND1.DTL&hw=airlift&sn=001&sc=1000  OR http://tinyurl.com/b7zek

And you can respond at the letters address above.

The Tuesday, September 13, Chicago Tribune story is headed, "Letter from Gonzales: Refugee pets swamp holding centers."

It tells us:

"One of the great sadnesses of Hurricane Katrina and the evacuation of New Orleans is that people could be rescued, but not their pets.

Teary-eyed residents tied dogs to trees or locked their pets inside houses that had become islands, worn by the strain of living in a darkened, toxic city, lulled out by the promise that their pets would be rescued as soon as possible. In many instances, that has not been done. Even for the few thousand animals that have been brought out, it is difficult to find their owners....More than 1,200 animals are in a shelter at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, brought by people displaced in the flooding and temporarily unable to care for them....About 3,800 animals--most of their owners undetermined--were rescued and brought to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center, which has livestock holding pens and an open-air exposition house geared for 4-H shows."

You can read that whole story on line at

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0509130071sep13,1,16047.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed  OR http://tinyurl.com/azq5b  and keep the animal discussion alive in the paper with a letter to the editor.

The Tribune takes letters at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-lettertotheeditor.customform  OR http://tinyurl.com/4lsug

The Tuesday, September 13, Indianapolis Star included a short, sad, but helpful article headed, "You can help pets affected by Katrina"

It opens: "The loss of human life and property as a result of Katrina is unspeakable. But at least one survivor still had something to hold onto. On camera, as she held her soggy kitten close to her chest, she said,' No, I did not lose everything. I thank God for what is spared,' as she petted her cat while tears streamed from her eyes.

"At the airport in New Orleans, one man muttered repeatedly, 'He saved my life.' He was talking about his dog. Now, authorities were asking him to give up the pet. He refused. And they refused to transport the man to a shelter. It's uncertain how that standoff ended, but it was a scene played out countless times."

You can read the whole article, which includes a list of groups involved in the animal disaster relief (though unfortunately omitting Best Friends - www.BestFriends.org  ) on line at http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050913/LIVING/509130331

You can keep the animal related discussion alive in the Indianapolis Star with letters to the editor. The Star takes letters at:

http://www.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html

Florida's St. Petersburg Times had the story on the front page on Monday, September 12, headed, "Rescuers search city for marooned animals."

You'll find that article on line at: http://tinyurl.com/7wdsm

And you can keep the discussion alive in that paper with a letter to the editor at http://www.sptimes.com/letters/

CNN's Anderson Cooper interviewed HSUS's Wayne Pacelle at the shelter in Gonzalez, Louisiana. Cooper mentioned that his show had received hundreds of emails on the animal issue. Cooper is clearly an animal friendly person, who would not completely ignore the issue anyway, but loads of positive feedback from viewers makes it much easier for a reporter to get clearance to do these stories. Please thank the show at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10

The big front page Sunday, September 11, Salt Lake Tribune story was headed, "Animal rescuers race against death." It followed Paul Berry and the Best Friends team. It tells us:

" Rigid bodies of animals - some of which reportedly have been run over by emergency vehicles or shot by soldiers and police - line the streets. After more than 10 sweltering days without food and clean water, many of the abandoned and orphaned pets are within hours of perishing. Berry, chief operations officer for the Kanab-based Best Friends Animal Society, and his Utah team are frantically working to get them out alive." You'll find it on line at http://www.sltrib.com/search/ci_3016921  and can send an appreciative letter to the Salt Lake Tribune

at: http://www.sltrib.com/contactus

And Saturday's hard-hitting front page Akron Beacon Journal story by Connie Bloom was headed, "Very little animal rescue after hurricane. Conditions horrible; pets abandoned, suffer."

It opens:

"When you're in the path of a hurricane, you pray for your life and cling to your family. Sometimes that's a Great Dane or an eight-pack of ferrets. To part with them when all else is lost would be unbearable, yet that's been the case for many pet owners in the aftermath of Katrina.

The world watched in horror as a rescue worker wrenched a puppy from the arms of a boy."

The article says that according to Dapha Nachmiovitch, a spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, "Rescuers have threatened to shoot dogs in order to force people to leave them behind.''

The article is the only one I have seen willing to put some of the blame on those who chose to leave their animals (those who evacuated early were not all forced to). It said in Waveland people could go to their homes and pick up their pets on Wednesday, but, according to one reporter, "most of the (able-bodied) people who lived there had homes completely destroyed and have no interest in picking up their animals."

Bloom comments, "Abandonment of a helpless family pet is the most heart-breaking human failure of all."

You can read her article on line at:

http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/living/12609707.htm

The Akron Beacon Journal takes letters at vop@thebeaconjournal.com  and advises, "You must include your name, address and phone number to be considered for publication."

You'll find my alert on other coverage from last weekend -- a New York Times editorial, and stories in the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune on line at www.DawnWatch.com/9-05_Animal_Media_Alerts.htm#KATRINA7  and you'll find my Saturday, September 10 Washington Post op-ed on the Katrina animal issue at www.DawnWatch.com/op-ed-september10-2005.htm

HORSE SLAUGHTER BAN --  ST PETERSBURG TIMES, LOUISVILLE COURIER- JOURNAL and CHARLESTON GAZETTE  9/13/05

An agriculture appropriations bill amendment that would ban horse slaughter in the United States passed the House of Representatives earlier this year; it is now before the Senate and should be voted on this week, very likely tomorrow, Thursday, September 15. On the HSUS website you can learn more about the bill and electronically send a letter to your senators asking for their support.

Please, today, go to https://community.hsus.org/campaign/ensign_amendment

Most importantly, legislators expect and take close count of calls from constituents supporting or opposing bills. It takes just a moment to call your senator, state your name and where you live, and say that you are calling asking them to vote yes on the upcoming Ensign-Byrd horse slaughter amendment on the Agriculture Appropriations bill. If you are shy, you need not worry that you will be engaged in conversation. Please call.

You can reach your two Senators by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Yesterday, Tuesday, September 13, three newspapers included editorials (the newspaper editorial department's official opinion) in support of the ban.

The St Petersburg Times piece, headed, "Bring an end to horse slaughter" noted: "Each year, nearly 100,000 horses are subjected to a cruel end to their lives. Horse meat for human consumption hasn't been sold in the United States for decades and isn't even used in pet food here. If a horse is near the end of its useful life, there are more humane ways for an owner to get rid of it. Adoption groups offer horses a peaceful retirement, and if the horses need to be euthanized, it can be done painlessly and humanely for a couple hundred dollars."

You can read the whole article on line at: http://stpetetimes.com/2005/09/13/Opinion/Bring_an_end_to_horse.shtml  and send a supportive letter to the editor at: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/ . You might wish to use horse slaughter as a jump off point for a letter on other aspects of how we treat members of other species -- animals used for food are excluded from the federal Animal Welfare Act. Birds, approximately 95% of the animals slaughtered in the United States, are even excluded from humane slaughter laws.

The Louisville Courier-Journal (KY) piece is headed, "Horse sense in Senate." It tells us American horse meat is shipped to Japan and several European countries, and that "no horse is currently safe from that fate. Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, was killed in a Japanese slaughterhouse when his stud services were no longer needed. This past spring, 41 wild mustangs were slaughtered for food in a Texas plant after being purchased through a program meant to give them new homes."

You can read that whole piece on line at

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050913/OPINION01/509130345/1055/OPINION  and send a letter to the editor at http://www.courier-journal.com/cjconnect/edletter.htm

And the Charleston Gazette (WV) piece, headed "Bill would stop slaughter" opens:

"Around 90,000 American horses are slaughtered each year for human consumption. Foreign-owned slaughterhouses on American soil kill about 50,000 of them; the other 20,000 are sent live to Mexico or Canada. Some are wild horses that still wander ranges of the West; others are unwanted, disposed of by their owners or unscrupulous dealers who promise they will go to good homes. Many of these creatures undergo extreme suffering en route to their final destination. Transport law allows them to go for 24 hours without food, water or rest, even if they are badly injured or heavily pregnant.

You can read the whole piece on line at http://wvgazette.com/section/Editorials/200509129  and send a letter to the editor to gazette@wvgazette.com.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

OP-ED BY KAREN DAWN IN NY NEWSDAY ON NO-PET EVACUATION POLICY 9/14/05

I have an op-ed on the effect of "no pet" evacuation policies in the Wednesday, September 14, edition of New York Newsday. It is similar in theme to my September 10 Washington Post piece (see http://www.dawnwatch.com/oped-september10-2005.htm ) but it is not the same piece. It has new information and new arguments. It is on line at http://www.nynewsday.com/news/opinion/nyc-opdaw144425166sep14,0,636960.story?coll=nyc-viewpoints-headlines and I will paste it below.

Newsday has the eighth largest circulation in the USA so we should do what we can to encourage a discussion of these issues on the editorial pages. I have received many heartfelt notes from people who tell me they would never abandon their animals. I urge people to send such notes to the letters page. Newsday takes letters at http://cf.newsday.com/newsdayemail/email.cfm. Select "letter to the editor" from the pulldown menu.

And please consider a letter to your local paper on the issue. Local papers publish a large proportion of letters they receive. Public discussion and public outcry will help change official policy.

Here is the Newsday piece:

Shameful policy caused many pets' deaths

The ban against pets in Katrina rescues and shelters hampered the evacuation and killed people and animals

BY KAREN DAWN

Karen Dawn runs the animal advocacy media watch Web site DawnWatch.com and is a contributor to "In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave."

September 14, 2005

Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina, many of us have seen distressing coverage of animals discarded on rooftops or at stations where people boarded buses for Red Cross shelters. We have read stories of small dogs grabbed by police officers from the arms of old people and sobbing young children.

Some stories are almost unbelievable in a civilized nation. One man survived for five days in a tree with his 16-year-old dachshund-Chihuahua. His rescuers would not let him carry the dog onto a boat. He killed his beloved companion rather than leave her to starve in the tree.

In the midst of such tales we also read the quote from Michael Brown as he left his post as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It began with, "I am going to go home and walk my dog." His policies stole that last sweet comfort from those who had nothing else left.

The refusal to acknowledge the bond people have with their animals hampered the evacuation, since some people refused to leave. It also increased, exponentially, people's loss.

Further, the official animal ban illuminated the class issue: Whereas Marriott hotels welcomed pets as part of the family, Red Cross shelters forced people to abandon that part of the family or to ride out the storm. Many people died as a result. Others remained for weeks in the disease-infested area.

Media stories have focused on the plight of the animals and of people frantic over the fate of their pets. Only a few have been insensitive to the issue. Perhaps most confused was a column in Slate Magazine that contended that although it was sad the dogs were starving, "their owners should have evacuated them - and themselves - before the storm hit, when pets could be accommodated more easily." As if the destitute folks without gas or even cars, who didn't head for the nearest pet-friendly hotel before the storm, had only themselves to blame.

That column actually suggested that the deaths of people who would not part with their pets were tragic, but not as tragic as the "chaos" pets would have caused at shelters. Interestingly, hospitals and nursing homes actually invite dogs in to raise patients' spirits. The presence of dogs, although inconvenient, also could have been a morale booster, whereas their absence has caused the greatest suffering for many people who are frantic about their fate.

If dog bites are a concern, then surely cheap disposable muzzles should be part of FEMA and Red Cross deployment equipment. And, yes, some people are allergic to animals, particularly cats, which is why people traveling with cats might have to be transported separately. It would also be fair to recommend that cats be placed in adjoining shelters - anywhere, as long as their families knew they were safe.

Let's compare our nation's treatment of animals to that of other countries: In France, official policy allows dogs in restaurants. One cannot imagine it would call for their abandonment during disasters. Do the French care more about their animals than we do? The photos of Katrina's aftermath answer that: people on rooftops or wading or swimming through filthy water, having left every one of their worldly possessions, but desperately clutching their beloved pets. But U.S. official policy is out of touch with that reality.

In Cuba last September, more than 1.5 million people were evacuated to higher ground before a storm. About 20,000 houses were destroyed, and nobody died. The people were told to take their animals, and veterinarians were provided. Far from causing chaos, the evacuation of animals prevented it. The Cuban government did not have to deal with people refusing to leave their animals and did not have to force them to leave them.

Gandhi said, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." How embarrassing it must be for our government to see that in emergencies the United States lags behind Cuba, whose treatment of animals saved the animals' lives and those of the people who care for them. In the wake of Katrina, the shameful no-pet policies of American relief agencies killed some people, mostly poor. It devastated many more, who will rebuild their homes but will never get over the awful choice a great nation should not have forced them to make.

NEW YORK TIMES AND CHICAGO TRIBUNE ON ATTEMPT TO BAN FOIE GRAS FROM CHICAGO RESTAURANTS 9/15/05

The proposed ban on foie gras in Chicago restaurants is the subject of a Wednesday, September 15, New York Times article, as well as a Chicago Tribune editorial, and was also a lead story in the Tuesday, September 14 Chicago Tribune.

The New York Times story, (pg A14) is headed, "A Chicago Alderman's Proposal to Ban Foie Gras Stirs Up a Debate."

It opens:

"This city is considering a proposal to trim fatty goose and duck livers from the menus of Chicago restaurants, stirring debate over whether it has a right to tell people what they can put on their plates.

'''Our laws are a reflection of our culture,' said Joe Moore, an alderman who has proposed banning the sale of foie gras in the city, as he addressed the council's health committee on Tuesday. 'Our culture does not condone the torture of innocent and defenseless creatures. And we as a society believe all God's creatures should be treated humanely.'

"Foie gras, which means'fatty liver' in French and is most commonly served in upscale restaurants, is produced by force-feeding grain to ducks and geese several times a day through a pipe that is inserted in their throats, causing their livers to expand up to 10 times their normal size within weeks."

We read about other anti foie gras legislation, "The proposal follows a unanimous vote in the State Senate to ban force-feeding birds for the production of foie gras in Illinois. It will be considered by the House next year. Last year, California banned the production and sale of foie gras starting in 2012, and legislation regulating it has been introduced in New York, Massachusetts and Oregon."

You can read the full article on line at: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/national/15chicago.html

The editorial in the Wednesday, September 15, Chicago Tribune is headed "Duck, duck, goose." It says of foie gras: "The way it's made is pretty grisly and cruel, especially if you're a duck or goose selected for the honor. Tubes are jammed down the birds' gullets, and they are force-fed repeatedly until their insides swell and turn to a buttery goo."

But then it unfortunately takes the following stand:

"But why in the world does the City Council feel the need to meddle in something so small and so personal and so ... inconsequential ... as what a restaurant chooses to put on its menu?"

You can read the whole piece on line at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509150101sep15,1,7605442.story

The Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, September 14 article, "Why is foie gras a big honking deal?" is on line at: http://tinyurl.com/9822h

I will share a terrific letter in response to it that was printed in today's paper:

-----------

Banning foie gras

Published September 15, 2005

As a veterinarian with over 30 years experience, I applaud Ald. Joe Moore for proposing a ban on foie gras in Chicago ("Why is foie gras a big honking deal?," News, Sept. 14).

The birds suffer greatly during the feeding process. The stomach tube that is forced into the bird's esophagus is done with great haste, leading to injury to some birds, which can include tearing of the esophagus, crop or stomach. The large amount of food being forced into the stomach in itself causes injuries in some of the birds due to expansion of parts of the upper gastrointestinal tract. The livers not only become enlarged, they also malfunction.

The ducks are kept in crowded, unnatural conditions which unquestionably deter from their well-being. Portions of their bills, which are rich in nerve endings, are removed with scissors and without anesthesia. It has been shown that this type of 'trimming' causes acute and chronic pain. Furthermore, bill trimming prevents normal feeding and preening. When comparing the privation these animals must endure to the reality of so many already available food choices, it seems that promoting duck products in the market reflects human indulgence at its worst.

Nedim C. Buyukmihci, V.M.D.

Professor of Veterinary Medicine (Emeritus), Univ. of California Davis

Dilley, Texas

(END OF LETTER)

Please don't think you need to be a veterinarian to weigh in the issue. Those unfamiliar with foie gras production can visit www.nofoiegras.com . Check out the photo gallery and the video from French activists. And you'll find footage shot on US farm at www.gourmetcruetly.com

The Chicago Tribune takes letters at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-lettertotheeditor.customform

And the New York times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

ELEPHANTS: NEW YORK TIMES AND WASHINGTON POST FLUFF PIECES, CHICAGO SUN AND PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER ON ZOOS, CALGARY SUN PIECE ON CIRCUSES 9/13/-9/16/05

Elephants have been in the news this week (9/13-9/16). There have been some terrific pieces (see Calgary Sun and Philadelphia Inquirer below) and some fluff pieces that have, no doubt unintentionally, made light of their suffering.

Many animal advocates are familiar with the plight of Maggie, the lone elephant at the zoo in Anchorage Alaska. A superb article in the February 17 Anchorage Press is one of the best resources for information on her. You'll find it at http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives-2005/coverstoryvol14ed7.shtml . It includes photos of her in the miserable cell in which she spends much of her life given Alaska's long, freezing winters. We learn from that article that she was one of five baby elephants who, during a cull in Zimbabwe in 1983, watched "as all the adults in their herds, all the elephants they'd ever known, were cut down around their ears." She was eventually taken to Alaska to accompany Annabelle, who has since died. Female elephants are highly social and do poorly alone. They also do poorly without miles of walking every day, so Maggie's health is failing. Animal advocates have urged the zoo to let her spend her remaining years in the company of other elephants on the thousands of acres at the elephant sanctuary

in Tennessee ( www.elephants.com   ) but the zoo's solution was to order her a treadmill. It arrived this week. Sadly, an Associated Press story on the issue ignored the sorrow of her plight, and the major media stories have followed its tone.

The Thursday, September 15, New York Times gave the story just a few lines with the humorous heading "Now, If She Can Cut Back On Sweets." (Pg A20) You'll find it on line at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/national/15brfs.html

Please send the New York Times a letter suggesting they treat Maggie's plight, and that of all elephants suffering in zoos that cannot provide for them, as something other than a light story. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

The Friday, September 16, Washington Post, has the story in the Style section (page C12) headed, "If you're a slightly overweight elephant facing an icy Alaskan winter where you can't get out and exercise much, what should you do? Work out on a treadmill, of course." That story, at least, notes, "Animal-rights activists worry that the frigid winters are too hard on Maggie, a 23-year-old African elephant." You'll find the brief article on line at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR2005091502028.html  The Washington Post takes letters at letters@washpost.com

Earlier this week, on Wednesday, September 14, the heading of a story in Chicago's Sun Times asked, "Are elephants just a memory for some zoos?" You'll find it on line at: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-eleph14.html.  The Sun Times takes letters at http://www.suntimes.com/geninfo/feedback.html

With serendipitous timing, on Tuesday, September 13, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an op-ed by Dr Eliot Katz the veterinarian who founded 'In Defense of Animals' ( www.idausa.org ) headed, "The real remedy for zoo elephants is to set them free" (Pg B02). It tells us,

"Inadequate zoo conditions such as hard, compacted dirt and concrete and a lack of space lead to a host of ailments for elephants, including digestive troubles, reproductive problems, degenerative joint disease, lameness, and chronic foot infections. Evidence that such maladies do not befall elephants in the wild has led growing numbers of experts to conclude that zoo life itself is killing them. How else can one explain that elephants in zoos live just half their natural 70-year life expectancy?"

You can read that piece on line at: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/opinion/local2/region/126289  Please send appreciative letters.

The Philadelphia Inquirer takes letters at: Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com 

A superb resource on this issue, where you can learn the history and sad fates of many elephants in zoos, for example the three elephants who died within two years of being transferred to Chicago's zoo, despite animal rights activists' warnings, is www.SaveWildElephants.com

Finally, the Thursday, September 15, Calgary Sun (Canada) included a piece by editor Licia Corbella that should be compulsory reading for anybody tempted to take their kids to see elephants in a circus, who does not know much about the show backstage. I will paste it below. Some of the footage she describes can be seen at www.Circuses.com

Here is the piece from the September 15, Calgary Sun, pg 4:

------------------------

CIRCUS ANIMALS FORCIBLY TRAINED; VIDEOS OF CRUELTY ARE VERY SHOCKING

BY Licia Corbella, editor

The other day one of my twin eight-year-old sons was playing Rollercoaster Tycoon II on the computer.

It's a game that requires the player to set up his own amusement park.

The longer one plays, the more attractions the player can offer his virtual guests. Eventually, my son was given the option of buying a small circus -- a round, red tent -- for $1,000.

But about 10 minutes later he called out that he had to get rid of the circus. I asked him why.

While the player cannot see inside the tent, my son said he heard an elephant's trumpet call from behind the canvas walls.

"I just can't support a circus that uses elephants or other wild animals in their show," said my animal-loving son.

Oh, how my heart swelled with pride.

I had told my sons that recently I had the opportunity -- or rather, the severe misfortune -- of watching several videos, made with the use of hidden cameras, that showed how wild circus animals are treated.

These hours of videos, shown to me by Carol Tarcey, a kind-hearted Calgary animal lover, gleaned from circuses across North America and Britain, showed the "training," transporting and the treatment of elephants, tigers and lions.

In one nine-minute video, a man described as an "animal care director" and a longtime elephant trainer with various circuses was caught on tape by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- an admittedly often extreme animal-rights group. Nevertheless, video doesn't lie.

In this gut-wrenching recording, this trainer, who learned the craft from his father, was then with the Carson & Barnes Circus. In the video, he instructs other wannabe elephant trainers how to use the bullhook, a metal rod with a knife-sharp hooked blade at the end, which is also called an ankus.

"Tear that foot off! Sink it in the foot! Tear it off! Make 'em scream!", he yells as he approaches Becky, an elephant he refers to as "you mother f****r." At that, this trainer attacks Becky with the bullhook and Becky screams four times.

This trainer continues. "When you hear that screaming, then you know you got their attention. Right here in the barn. You can't do it on the road. I'm not gonna touch her in front of a thousand people. She's gonna (expletive) do what I want and that's just (expletive) the way it is."

The video also shows an elephant dying in a trailer after spending countless hours being transported in sweltering heat. Some other tortured elephants can be seen going insane in front of a large live audiences, in some cases killing their trainers in the ring, or rampaging with children on their backs.

Yesterday I spoke with another elephant trainer, Libby Garcia, 25, a fifth-generation circus performer travelling along with her elephant trainer husband, Bill Morris and their son with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, which is in town until Sunday performing at the Stampede Corral.

Calgary Humane Society constables visited the site and determined the circus is not violating Alberta's weak animal protection laws, though it did find an alligator with a bite wound to one leg. The CHS does not support wild animal acts.

Garcia, pulled back the tarp of a 40 by 20-ft. tent where two sister elephants, Angelica, 8, and Ruby, 3, stood on bare cement.

Asked about training methods, she admitted that they use the ankus. When asked if we could see one, she said: "No, I don't have one with me right now."

But Sun photographer Carlos Amat got a photo of one just around the trailer corner.

Garcia said she uses rewards and repetition to train these elephants, who tour usually 50 weeks a year.

Ringling Bros. has been cited several times by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for failing to provide proper care for its wild animals.

Julie Woodyer, campaigns director for the Toronto-based animal-rights group, Zoocheck, said Ringling Bros. Elephant Conservation Centre in Florida is really a training and breeding centre to produce animals for the ring, but of the 197 Asian elephants forced to perform in circuses in North America, 154 were wild-caught. That means the mother elephants had to be killed and their babies forcibly removed so we humans can watch them walk on their hind legs or stand on their heads.

My eight-year-olds refuse to perceive that as cute. Too bad a click of a button can't make it all go away.

(END OF CALGARY SUN PIECE)

-------------------------------------------

Please send appreciative letters to the Calgary Sun. The Calgary Sun takes letters at callet@calgarysun.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

NBC'S DATELINE ON HURRICANE KATRINA ANIMAL RESCUE -- 9/18/05

On Sunday, September 18, Dateline aired a moving segment on the animal situation in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I will paste the transcript below. Please thank Dateline -- appreciation expressed for animal friendly coverage will encourage more of it. 

Dateline takes comments at: dateline@nbc.com 

Here's the transcript:

PET RESCUE

STONE PHILLIPS: For many long days and nights, the focus was on saving the people trapped in the chaos of Katrina. Only in recent days have rescuers been able to turn their attention to the other victims of the storm: the trapped, stranded and starving pets left behind. Teams of animal rescuers are still scouring the Gulf Coast for surviving pets, hoping to reunite them with their families. Here's Rob Stafford.

ROB STAFFORD reporting: (Voiceover) They are perhaps the forgotten victims of Katrina.

(Photo of a dog; dog barking; photo of a dog)

How many dogs are you seeing as you're patrolling the streets?

Unidentified Man: They are all over. Everywhere we go we find dogs.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) They were reluctantly left by their fleeing owners.

(Photo of dog)

Mr. BART SEGAL: It's like leaving your kids behind. You know to--to see--I didn't know what would happen.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Left behind to live in a ghost town. Devoid of food, clean water, and most other life.

(Various dogs in the flooding)

STAFFORD: Man, he is terrified.

Mr. JEFF POPOWICH: Mm-hmm.

STAFFORD: Look at him shaking.

(Voiceover) Now in a desperate race against time, volunteers are struggling to save as many pets as they can.

(Pets being saved)

Mr. PAUL BERRY: There are not dozens and hundreds, there are thousands in here.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) The Best Friend's Animal Society sent a pet rescue team 1800 miles from Utah to Louisiana to help. We followed along, and their first stop on this day: an office building in St. Bernard Parish just east of New Orleans.

(Pet rescue team)

STAFFORD: People were evacuated from this building by boat and had to leave their pets behind. There's a report that a dog and several cats are still here.

Mr. POPOWICH: This way.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Jeff Popowich and Ethan Gurney are leading the search. Walking through darkened hallways. They at first find nothing. Then suddenly a cat darts out of its hiding space, a move that probably saved its life. His name tag says Bubba. Bubba would be their first rescue of the day, but they hope not their last. We next head towards residential areas. Jeff and Ethan prepare for the worst. That's because it's been nearly three weeks since the hurricane hit. And this is the first time this area has been searched for pets. They expect to find many dead animals.

(Jeff Popowich, Ethan Gurney and others searching for pets; catching a cat; searching for pets)

STAFFORD: The residents of this house had to leave in a hurry and leave their pets behind. They gave the rescue team permission to break in. Not much of the inside survived the storm as you can see. The question is, did their animals?

(Voiceover) What becomes striking is just how much damage has occurred inside these homes. It appears the water was at least 15 feet high here. Sadly, their search turns up nothing. But then a few minutes later at another house, a different story.

(Searchers in a house)

STAFFORD: Sometimes you don't need an address to find the dogs. They're barking out the second-floor window.

(Voiceover) Two dogs appear to have been roaming alone inside this destroyed and empty house.

(Destroyed home)

Mr. ETHAN GURNEY: Here we go.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) They're frightened.

(Rescuing pets)

Mr. POPOWICH: Hey, hey. It's all right.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) One even appears poised to jump out the window.

(Catching the dogs)

Mr. POPOWICH: No, don't jump. Don't jump. We're leaving, we're leaving. Come on.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Soon, they're both under control and the calming hands of these volunteers make them quiet.

(Rescuing the dogs)

STAFFORD: Ethan, what do you encounter when you come across these dogs?

Mr. GURNEY: The range is just huge in how they react. Some of them territorial, aggressive, scared...

(Voiceover) ...to jumping off the roof into the water and swimming right up to the boat. Just desperate for people.

(Pets being rescued)

STAFFORD: What's it feel like when you go inside one of these homes and you find the animals alive?

Mr. POPOWICH: It's a life saved because we know we'll get them out.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Throughout the day, we find more and more pets. This older dog was seeking refuge under a mobile home...

(Pets being rescued)

Mr. GURNEY: Come on.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) ...where he was determined to stay. He eventually gives up and is rescued. Jeff and Ethan's worst fear of finding many dead animals is fortunately not turning out to be true.

(Dogs being rescued)

Mr. POPOWICH: They've lost some weight, but a lot of them were either porkers before or have food stashed away somewhere because they looked OK.

STAFFORD: Better than you thought?

Mr. POPOWICH: Better than I thought.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) But then, a stark reminder that not all have made it.

Our day winds up with about 70 animals being rescued, including this small dog who was found floating on debris in this pool. They all arrive at night at a huge temporary shelter in Mississippi. Included is Bubba the cat, the first animal rescued in the day, who is understandably very upset. All will be examined by a vet, cared for and even groomed. This refugee center has become a Noah's ark of communal living. This dog nursing her own three puppies has adopted two whose mother is missing.

(Beware of Dog sign; dead dog; man catching a dog; dog; pool; cars driving at night; animal shelter; cat; vet checking out an animal; dog being groomed; various animals)

Mr. BERRY: All right. We'll get her to Dr. Deb.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Paul Berry is director of operations of the Best Friend's Animal Society.

(Paul Berry)

STAFFORD: For all the people who died here, why should people be concerned about the animals right now?

Mr. BERRY: A lot of these people, all they're going out with is the shirt on their back and many of them with the hope that they'll be reunited with their family. And for some of these, for many of these, the only family they've got left is their pet.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) This temporary facility financed by donations is currently holding about 1,000 animals. Berry worries there are many more pets still stranded in the flood areas.

(Animal facility)

Mr. BERRY: They are starting to get confused and a bit more desperate. We've got to get resources in quickly.

STAFFORD: Time's running out.

Mr. BERRY: It is. It is. Three to five more days. I think if we can get some good resources in, I think we can save a lot of these guys.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Best Friends says none of these animals in the shelter will be euthanized, and his staff hopes to reunite as many pets as possible with their owners. So they're posting photographs an Web sites such as petfinder.com. And remember Bubba? We were able to track down his owner, Bart Segal, from information on the cat's tag.

(Various animals; Web site; cat)

Mr. SEGAL: All kinds of people calling from coast to coast and Canada--from Canada to Mexico trying to find them.

STAFFORD: Looking at animal shelters.

Mr. SEGAL: Everything. We called Pet Cent--Pet Finders, this finders, animal shelters, ASPCA, everything we could think of.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) Segal, who's temporarily living in Dallas, drove 10 hours overnight to pick up his beloved pet, whose real name it turns out is Romeo.

(Bart Segal walking)

Mr. SEGAL: You guys are doing some job here. I never seen anything like it.

Unidentified Woman: We'll help you find him.

Mr. SEGAL: Oh, come here.

STAFFORD: (Voiceover) And for all the suffering and misery in this region, finally a moment of happiness.

(Segal and cat)

PHILLIPS: For more information on how you can help people and pets displaced by Hurricane Katrina and see photos of rescued pets waiting to be reunited with their families, visit out Web site.

(Voiceover) The address is www.dateline.msnbc.com   .

NEW YORK TIMES FRONT PAGE STORY ON CHILDREN HUNTING -- 9/18/05

The front page of the Sunday, September 18, New York Times has a story headed, "Girls and Boys, Meet Nature. Bring Your Gun." There is a picture of a nine year old girl in camouflage, carrying a shotgun. We learn that she is hunting for bear, having " won a 'dream hunt' given away by a Vermont man whose goal is to get more children to hunt."

The man is Kevin Hoyt. We are told, "His efforts reflect what hunting advocates across the country say is an increasingly urgent priority, and what hunting opponents find troubling: recruiting more children to sustain the sport of hunting, which has been losing participants of all ages for two decades."

We read:

"This year, three pro-hunting groups...started Families Afield, a program to lobby states to lower the age at which children can hunt or to loosen the requirements for a child to accompany a parent on a hunt....The group says the 20 most restrictive states set 12 as the minimum hunting age and do not let a child accompany an adult on a hunt without completing hunter education training.

Vermont, by comparison, allows children of any age to hunt if they have passed a hunter's safety course and have parental consent."

And:

"More than 90 percent of hunters are 35 or older, and nearly 80 percent of current hunters started between ages 6 and 15, the shooting sports foundation says. Hunting advocates say children are much less likely to become adult hunters if they wait until they are 16."

Kevin Hoyt "also tries to speak at schools, but he says that of 114 he has contacted, only 10 have invited him in."

Towards the end of the article, we read more about the young girl in the photo:

"Samantha Marley's father first took her hunting at age 6. When she was 7, during a New Hampshire youth hunting day, she shot her first deer, and Mr. Marley welled up with tears of pride. Later that year, she shot her first turkey. Both animals now hang on a wall at home, the deer wearing silly glasses and a camouflage hat."

It is a long article (continued on page 22) which you can read on line at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/national/18hunting.html 

Legislators and others look to newspaper letters sections as barometers of public opinion. Please write. The New York Times take letters at letters@nytimes.com 

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

WASHINGTON POST ON EGG HUMANE LABELING SCAM -- 9/19/05

The Monday, September 9, Washington Post has an article headed, "Advocates Challenge Humane-Care Label on Md. Eggs. Birds Are Cruelly Caged, Lawsuit Argues."

It opens:

"The 'Animal Care Certified' stamp on the grocery store egg cartons declared that the chickens were raised in humane conditions, but the tapes tell a different tale.

"The videos -- shot by Takoma Park animal advocates who say they have spent years sneaking into local poultry farms -- show hens closely packed in wire 'battery cages,' some missing most of their feathers, with open sores and burned beaks, and dead fowl caged with the living.

"In February, the videos prompted the group, Compassion Over Killing, to file a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court against area retailers Giant Food, Brookville Supermarket and Lehman's Egg Service and the organization that administers the Animal Care Certified certification, United Egg Producers.

"Giant recently agreed to drop the logo from egg cartons sold under its brand name while it reviews Compassion Over Killing's claims that the birds are kept in inhumane conditions.

"The group, which seeks to ban the use of the label, will go forward with claims against the other parties, including United Egg Producers, which has filed a motion to dismiss the case...."

We read, "Erica Meier, the director, said then that conditions at the farms that produced the certified eggs were indistinguishable from those at farms that produced non-certified eggs" and that "Last year, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Review Board ruled that the label was misleading."

The article notes, "In most of Europe, for example, birds have more space. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, battery cages have been banned."

"High density production" gives American cheap eggs but the article says, "There is some evidence that the trend may be changing. Some stores, such as Whole Foods Market, sell eggs only from birds raised on cage-free farms. The February 2005 issue of Egg Industry, a trade publication, identified cage-free production as the fastest-growing sector of the egg industry."

Note: "Wild Oats" also recently proclaimed itself cage-free.

The trend is encouraging, but even if egg-laying hens are given a life less horrendously cruel than current standard practice, their end is still brutal, as birds, approximately 95% of the land animals killed for food in the United States, are excluded from the humane slaughter laws.

You can read the full article on line at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091801449_pf.html  It presents a great opportunity for letters about our treatment of other species -- and pointing to the fact that our welfare laws are out of step with the sensibilities of a humane nation. If you are currently enjoying a plant-based diet, you may wish to sing its praises.

The Washington Post takes letters at letters@washpost.com  and advises, "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers."

To see photos and video of COK's latest investigation, visit: http://www.cok.net/camp/inv/mdefi/index.php

And a terrific website, where you can learn about the "Animal Care Certified" label and all that it doesn't mean, with lots of photos and footage, is www.EggScam.com

KATRINA SHELTER UPDATE - A PLEA FROM JANE GARRISON 9/19/05

The Monday, September 9, Washington Post has an article headed, "Advocates Challenge Humane-Care Label on Md. Eggs. Birds Are Cruelly Caged, Lawsuit Argues."

It opens:

"The 'Animal Care Certified' stamp on the grocery store egg cartons declared that the chickens were raised in humane conditions, but the tapes tell a different tale.

"The videos -- shot by Takoma Park animal advocates who say they have spent years sneaking into local poultry farms -- show hens closely packed in wire 'battery cages,' some missing most of their feathers, with open sores and burned beaks, and dead fowl caged with the living.

"In February, the videos prompted the group, Compassion Over Killing, to file a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court against area retailers Giant Food, Brookville Supermarket and Lehman's Egg Service and the organization that administers the Animal Care Certified certification, United Egg Producers.

"Giant recently agreed to drop the logo from egg cartons sold under its brand name while it reviews Compassion Over Killing's claims that the birds are kept in inhumane conditions.

"The group, which seeks to ban the use of the label, will go forward with claims against the other parties, including United Egg Producers, which has filed a motion to dismiss the case...."

We read, "Erica Meier, the director, said then that conditions at the farms that produced the certified eggs were indistinguishable from those at farms that produced non-certified eggs" and that "Last year, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Review Board ruled that the label was misleading."

The article notes, "In most of Europe, for example, birds have more space. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, battery cages have been banned."

"High density production" gives American cheap eggs but the article says, "There is some evidence that the trend may be changing. Some stores, such as Whole Foods Market, sell eggs only from birds raised on cage-free farms. The February 2005 issue of Egg Industry, a trade publication, identified cage-free production as the fastest-growing sector of the egg industry."

Note: "Wild Oats" also recently proclaimed itself cage-free.

The trend is encouraging, but even if egg-laying hens are given a life less horrendously cruel than current standard practice, their end is still brutal, as birds, approximately 95% of the land animals killed for food in the United States, are excluded from the humane slaughter laws.

You can read the full article on line at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/18/AR2005091801449_pf.html  It presents a great opportunity for letters about our treatment of other species -- and pointing to the fact that our welfare laws are out of step with the sensibilities of a humane nation. If you are currently enjoying a plant-based diet, you may wish to sing its praises.

The Washington Post takes letters at letters@washpost.com  and advises, "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers."

To see photos and video of COK's latest investigation, visit: http://www.cok.net/camp/inv/mdefi/index.php

And a terrific website, where you can learn about the "Animal Care Certified" label and all that it doesn't mean, with lots of photos and footage, is www.EggScam.com

HORSE SLAUGHTER ON WALL STREET JOURNAL FRONT PAGE AS AMENDMENT PASSES 9/21/05

The Wednesday September 21 Wall Street Journal has a front page story headed, "Why Belgians Shoot Horses in Texas For Dining in Europe" while the Thoroughbred Times announces "Slaughter amendment passes U.S. Senate."

The Thoroughbred Times piece explains, "The United States Senate on Tuesday joined the U.S. House of Representatives by overwhelmingly passing an amendment to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Appropriations Bill that will remove federal funding for mandated meat inspectors at the three remaining, foreign-owned horse slaughterhouses in the United States. If signed into law by President George Bush, it effectively would shut them down when the 2006 fiscal year begins October 1....The bill to end horse slaughter permanently in the United States, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503), was re-introduced into the House of Representatives last February and is before the House Energy and Commerce Committee."

For more information on that bill, and you can help, go to https://community.hsus.org/campaign/2005_horse_slaughter

The Wall Street Journal front page story points out that the three horse slaughter plants in the US are foreign owned and sell their meat overseas. It says, "Federal law doesn't ban eating horse in the U.S., but the meat is now no longer sold for human consumption domestically....The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects the horses headed for foreign tables, says 58,736 horses were slaughtered in the U.S. last year for human consumption, yielding 13.6 million pounds of meat for export to the European Union, Japan, Mexico and Switzerland. A decade ago, there were around a dozen U.S. facilities slaughtering horses for export. Today, with demand declining, that's down to just two in Texas and one in Illinois."

It discusses the attempts to ban horse slaughter in the USA and tell us, "While the debate goes on, an American Airlines flight takes off every day from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, headed for Paris's Charles DeGaulle airport with a load of horse carcasses in its cargo belly. ...So far, economic arguments have prevailed over the emotional appeals of the antislaughter forces. Mr. Bradshaw, the slaughterhouse lobbyist, tells lawmakers the Texas plants spend $6 million a year shipping horse meat with American Airlines and other U.S. carriers."

The passage, yesterday, of the Ensign-Byrd horse slaughter amendment suggests the tide is turning.

Wall Street Journal subscribes can read the whole article on line at http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112726478131246913,00.html

The front page story presents a great opportunity for letters to the editor in support of a permanent horse slaughter ban. Those who are horrified by the treatment of animals that America considers it acceptable to eat (see www.factoryfarming.com  ) can use this as a jump-off point for letters on that issue.

The Wall Street Journal takes letters at: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com . Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

I send thanks to Roy Fassel for making sure we saw the Wall Street Journal article.

BILL THAT WOULD REQUIRE ANIMAL EVACUATION PLANS, PLUS NEW YORK TIMES ON NEW ORLEANS SITUATION AFTER KATRINA AND PBS SHOW "NOW" LOOKS AT THE EFFECTS NO-PET EVACUATION 9/22/05-9/23/05

While the Thursday, September 22 New York Times has a story on abandoned dogs running in packs in New Orleans, and the PBS series "Now" plans a show on the New Orleans animal situation (Friday, September 23, see below) an Associated Press story, available on the CNN, CBS, San Francisco Gate, and some other websites, discusses a bill that would require state and local disaster preparedness plans to "include provisions for household pets and service animals." It is being sponsored by Reps. Tom Lantos, D-California, Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut, and Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts.

The AP article quotes Lantos: "I cannot help but wonder how many more people could have been saved had they been able to take their pets."

You'll find the article on line at http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/22/katrina.pets.ap/

and at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/09/22/national/w093817D59.DTL

You can respond with a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle: letters@sfchronicle.com

I will forward more information on the bill when I have it.

The September 22 New York Times article (p 26) is headed, "Workers Trying to Rescue Pets Abandoned in New Orleans." It describes packs of dogs in New Orleans:

"They roam this city gaunt and uncomprehending, at turns frightened and menacing, loping directionless between ruined buildings, drinking the muck, staring at cars, waiting to die. They are omnipresent. A week ago, their self-appointed rescuers spoke of the odds of rejoining them as pets to masters, but that talk has ended. Now these dogs make for an infestation, untold thousands unwell, unrestrained, unrecognizable and left to their devices. "

We read:

"More than 400 rescuers are based at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, La., 60 miles away, said Julie Morris, director of national outreach for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. With credentials from New Orleans, they enter the city to chase animals, and they have captured about 7,000. How many remain no one knows. Based on human demographics, the American Veterinary Medical Association has estimated that 50,000 to 70,000 dogs were kept as pets in New Orleans."

You can read the whole article on line and view heartbreaking photos at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/22/national/nationalspecial/22dogs.html

It presents a great opportunity for letters on the importance of animal evacuation, perhaps in support of the new bill. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

Finally, the PBS show "Now," which airs on Friday nights (check your local listings for the time on your local PBS station) advertises the following for September 23:

"Also: a look at the public-policy debate about evacuating pets from New Orleans."

And Anne Sullivan has sent me this more detailed outline from her station:

"Friday, September 23, 2005

In New Orleans, an estimated 50,000 household animals left behind after the evacuation have become a major health concern as the clean up moves forward. Today, with Rita bearing down on the Gulf, Texas officials are evacuating pets with their owners, because they believe it will save lives. On Friday, September 23, 2005 at 8:30 p.m. on PBS in 'Left Behind,' NOW reports on rescue efforts in New Orleans where surviving animals are starving and beset by disease."

(Note: "Now" airs on my local station, KCET, at 8pm so please do check your local airtime.)

"Now" takes comments at http://www.pbs.org/now/feedback.html

Please thank the show. Positive feedback for animal friendly coverage will encourage more of it.

PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PET EVACUATION BILL AND COMMENTS ON PBS'S "NOW"  9/24/05

"Now," the Friday night show on PBS, has a web page on the topic of the September 23 segment, "No Dogs Allowed: Pets in Crisis Areas" at http://www.pbs.org/now/society/petsandcrisis.html . That webpage links to message boards on which you might like to post. Also, the show welcomes feedback at http://www.pbs.org/now/feedback.html  . It is always a good idea to send positive feedback for animal friendly coverage as positive feedback encourages similar coverage in the future.

The "Now" segment was strong. I was, however, troubled by the teaser for it, at the top of the show. The voiceover asked if leaving animals behind posed a risk to humans, but the clip chosen from the segment (for balance, I assume) was a line from Major Ed Bush of the Louisiana National Guard: "If I have to choose, for a spot on my boat, between a human being and the family dog, I am going to choose a human being every time." His words seem reasonable enough to make the animal advocacy position seem unreasonable, but he was setting up what in the legal field is known as a strawman -- misrepresenting the other side's argument such that it is easy to knock down. Those who stayed tuned for the animal segment heard a woman describing her husband's tears after being forced to leave their granddaughter's tiny poodle behind, a dog he had offered to put in his shirt or his pocket.

Activist Dr Pia Salk sent me similar stories after her return from New Orleans. For example:

"Jack was quietly hidden in a bag and an officer forced Glenn to open the bag and place Jack on the bridge if he wished to be rescued himself. Glenn pleaded but the officer wouldn't hear it and Glenn relinquished Jack instructing him to go home and wait for him. Glenn recounted how so many people were forced to do the same with little animals that could easily have been carried to safety. Ironically Glenn was permitted to take the very same bag with him that Jack had been hidden in - so the issue of not having the room for these animals was ridiculous."

Good news: I noted, in my last Katrina related alert, a bill introduced that would require evacuation plans to include pets. There is a petition you can sign in support of the bill. As I send this out it has 13,000 signatures -- they are shooting for 100,000. Please go to http://go.care2.com/e/gfO/bR/oco4  and sign.

SCULLY'S ARTICLE ON FACTORY FARMING AND CONSERVATIVE ANIMAL ADVOCACY IN DALLAS MORNING NEWS  9/26/05

The Sunday, September 25, Dallas Morning News, has published an edited version of Matthew Scully's article slamming factory farming and other shocking practices, and discussing why conservatives should support animal protection. I hope many people (particularly those in Dallas) will respond with letters to the editor. The Dallas Morning News takes letters at http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/lettertoed.cgi

I am sending this to my whole list since many people have signed up since the longer version of the article, headed, "Torture on the Farm," was the cover story of the May 23 edition of Pat Buchanan's magazine "The American Conservative." Some new subscribers may not be familiar with the work of Matthew Scully. Scully is an ex senior speechwriter for George W. Bush, and author of the powerful book "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy."

(DawnWatch Amazon link: http://tinyurl.com/8p7dy  )

Animal protection has traditionally been seen as a liberal cause. Matthew Scully's efforts have done much to make it bi-partisan, linking it to traditional Christian and to politically Conservative values. I will paste below the article from Sunday's Dallas Morning News. I recommend, however, if you have time, reading the longer version from the American Conservative. It is on line at

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_05_23/cover.html . Scully's beautifully written work, though appreciated by many animal advocates, will carry particular weight with those who share his religious beliefs and political views. I urge you to forward it, accordingly, to others in your life whom he might influence.

Here is the piece from the Dallas Morning News:

-----------------------

Matthew Scully: Down on the factory farm

Animal welfare isn't just for liberals

Afew years ago, I began writing a book about cruelty to animals and about factory farming in particular. At the time, I viewed factory farming as one of the lesser problems facing humanity – a small wrong on the grand scale of good and evil but too casually overlooked and too glibly excused. This view changed quickly. By the time I finished the book, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, I had come to view the abuses of industrial farming as a serious moral problem. Little wrongs, when left unattended, can grow and spread to become grave wrongs, and precisely this had happened on our factory farms.

The book also provided an occasion for fellow conservatives to get beyond their almost instinctual dislike of animal-rights groups and to re-examine issues of animal cruelty. Conservatives have a way of dismissing the subject, as if, where animals are concerned, nothing very serious could ever be at stake. It is assumed that animal-protection causes are a project of the left and that the proper conservative position is to stand warily and firmly against them.

I had a hunch that the problem was largely one of presentation and that if they saw their own principles applied to animal-welfare issues, conservatives would find plenty of reasons to be appalled. More to the point, having acknowledged the problems of cruelty, we could then support reasonable remedies.

Conservatives, after all, aren't shy about discoursing on moral standards or reluctant to translate the most basic of these into law. Setting aside the distracting rhetoric of animal rights, that's usually what these questions come down to: What moral standards should guide us in our treatment of animals, and when must those standards be applied in law?

We don't need novel theories of rights to do this. The usual distinctions that conservatives draw between moderation and excess, freedom and license, moral goods and material goods, rightful power and the abuse of power, will all do just fine. Treating animals decently is like most obligations we face, somewhere between the most and the least important, a modest but essential requirement to living with integrity.

Conservatives like the sound of "obligation" better than "right," and those who reviewed my book were relieved to find me arguing more from this angle than from any notion of animal rights. "What the PETA crowd doesn't understand," Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online wrote, "or what it deliberately confuses, is that human compassion toward animals is an obligation of humans, not an entitlement for animals."

If one is using the word "obligation" seriously, however, then there is no practical difference between an obligation on our end not to mistreat animals and an entitlement on their end not to be mistreated. Either way, the entitlement would have to arise from a recognition of the inherent dignity of a living creature. Animals cruelly dealt with are not just things, not just irrelevant details in some self-centered moral drama of our own. They matter in their own right. All creatures sing their Creator's praises, as this truth is variously expressed in the Bible, and are dear to him for their own sakes.

A certain moral relativism runs through the arguments of those hostile or indifferent to animal welfare – as if animals can be of value only for our sakes. In practice, this outlook leaves each person to decide for himself when animals rate moral concern. It even allows us to accept or reject established facts about animals, such as their cognitive and emotional capacities and their conscious experience of pain and happiness.

There is a disconnect here: Elsewhere in contemporary debates, conservatives consistently oppose moral relativism by pointing out that, like it or not, we are all dealing with the same set of physiological realities and moral truths. We don't each get to decide the facts of science on a situational basis. We do not each go about bestowing moral value upon things as it pleases us in the moment. We do not decide moral truth at all: We discern it.

Likewise, the great virtue of conservatism is that it begins with a realistic assessment of human motivations. We know man as he is, not only the rational creature, but also, as Socrates told us, the rationalizing creature, with a knack for finding an angle, an excuse and a euphemism. Whether it's the pornographer who thinks himself a free-speech champion or the abortionist who looks in the mirror and sees a reproductive health care services provider, conservatives are familiar with the type.

So we should not be all that surprised when told that these very same capacities are often at work in the things that people do to animals – and all the more so in the United States' $125 billion-a-year livestock industry. The human mind, especially when there is money to be had, can manufacture grand excuses for the exploitation of human beings. How much easier it is for people to excuse the wrongs done to lowly animals.

Corporate farmers hardly speak anymore of "raising" animals, with the modicum of personal care that word implies. Animals are now "grown," like so many crops. Barns somewhere along the way became "intensive confinement facilities" and the inhabitants "production units."

The result is a world in which billions of birds, cows, pigs and other creatures are locked away, enduring miseries they do not deserve for our convenience and pleasure. We belittle the activists with their radical agenda, scarcely noticing the radical cruelty they seek to redress.

At the Smithfield Foods mass-confinement hog farms I toured in North Carolina, the visitor is greeted by a bedlam of squealing, chain rattling and horrible roaring. To maximize the use of space and minimize the need for care, the creatures are encased row after row, 400- to 500-pound mammals trapped without relief inside iron crates about 6 feet long and less than 2 feet wide. They chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw, or engage in stereotypical nest-building with straw that isn't there, or just lie there like broken beings.

While efforts to outlaw the gestation crate have been dismissed by various conservative critics as "silly," "comical" and "ridiculous," it doesn't seem that way up close. The smallest scraps of human charity – a bit of maternal care, room to roam outdoors, straw to lie on – have long since been taken away as costly luxuries. The pigs know the feel only of concrete and metal.

They lie covered in their own urine and excrement, with broken legs from trying to escape or just to turn, covered with festering sores, tumors, ulcers, lesions or what my guide shrugged off as the routine "pus pockets." But not to worry, as a Smithfield Foods executive assured me, "They love it." It's all "for their own good." It is a voice conservatives should instantly recognize, as we do when we hear that the fetus feels nothing.

Everything about the picture shows bad faith, moral sloth and endless excuse-making, all readily answered by conservative arguments, based on tradition, faith, moral certainty and efficiency.

We're told that they're just pigs – or cows or chickens or whatever – and that only urbanites worry about such things, estranged as they are from the realities of rural life. Actually, all of factory farming proceeds by a massive denial of reality – the reality that animals are not just production units to be endlessly exploited but living creatures with natures and needs. The very modesty of those needs – their humble desires for straw, soil, sunshine – is the gravest indictment of the men who deny them.

Conservatives are supposed to revere tradition. Factory farming has no traditions, no rules, no codes of honor, no little decencies to spare for a fellow creature. The whole thing is an abandonment of rural values and a betrayal of honorable animal husbandry – to say nothing of veterinary medicine, with its sworn oath to "protect animal health" and "relieve animal suffering."

For the religious-minded, and Catholics in particular, no less an authority than Pope Benedict XVI has explained the spiritual stakes. Asked recently to weigh in on these very questions, then-Cardinal Ratzinger told German journalist Peter Seewald that animals must be respected as our "companions in creation." While it is licit to use them for food, "We cannot just do whatever we want with them. ... This degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me, in fact, to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."

Those religious conservatives who, in every debate over animal welfare, rush to remind us that animals are secondary and that man must come first are exactly right – only they don't follow their thought to its moral conclusion. Somehow, in their pious notions of stewardship and dominion, we always seem to end up with singular moral dignity but no singular moral accountability to go with it.

Lofty talk about humanity's special status among creatures only invites such questions as: What would the Good Shepherd make of our factory farms? Where does the creature of conscience get off lording it over these poor creatures so mercilessly? "How is it possible," as Christian convert Malcolm Muggeridge asked in the years when factory farming was beginning to spread, "to look for God and sing his praises while insulting and degrading his creatures?"

If reason and morality are what set human beings apart from animals, then reason and morality must always guide us in how we treat them, or else it's all just caprice, unbridled appetite with the pretense of piety. When people say that they like their pork chops, veal or foie gras too much to give them up, reason hears in that the voice of gluttony, willfulness or, at best, moral complaisance. What makes a human being human is precisely the ability to understand that the suffering of an animal is more important than the taste of a treat.

Factory farmers also assure us that all of this is an inevitable stage of industrial efficiency. Leave aside the obvious reply that we could all do a lot of things in life more efficiently if we didn't have to trouble ourselves with ethical restraints. Leave aside, too, the tens of billions of dollars in annual federal subsidies that have helped megafarms undermine small family farms and the decent communities that once surrounded them and to give us the illusion of cheap products. And never mind the collateral damage to land, water and air that factory farms cause and the billions of dollars it costs taxpayers to clean up after them. Factory farming is a predatory enterprise, absorbing profit and externalizing costs, unnaturally propped up by political influence and government subsidies much as factory-farmed animals are unnaturally sustained by hormones and antibiotics.

So it shouldn't be surprising that every conservative who reviewed my book conceded that factory farming is a wretched business and a betrayal of human responsibility. And having granted that certain practices are abusive, cruel and wrong, we must be prepared to do something about them.

Americans, conservatives and liberals alike, need to start by confronting such groups as Smithfield Foods (my candidate for the worst corporation in America in its ruthlessness to people and animals alike), the U.S. National Pork Producers Council (a reliable Republican contributor) and the various think tanks in Washington subsidized by animal-use industries for intellectual cover.

If such matters were ever brought to President Bush's attention in a serious way, he would find in the details of factory farming many things abhorrent to the Christian heart and to his own kindly instincts. Even if he and other world leaders were to drop into relevant speeches a few of the prohibited words in modern industrial agriculture (cruel, humane, compassionate), instead of endlessly flattering corporate farmers for virtues they lack, that alone would help set reforms in motion.

The law that's needed would apply to corporate farmers a few simple rules that better men would have been observing all along: We cannot just take from these creatures; we must give them something in return.

We owe them a merciful death and a merciful life. And when human beings cannot do something humanely, without degrading both the creatures and ourselves, then we shouldn't do it at all.

Matthew Scully, a Los Angeles writer, served until last fall as special assistant and deputy director of speechwriting to President Bush. He is the author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy." This essay is adapted from a longer version first published in The American Conservative ( www.amconmag.com  ). You may contact Mr. Scully through www.matthewscully.com .

WASHINGTON POST ON ANIMAL AGRICULTURE POLLUTION AND SHELTER WORKERS 9/26/05

The Monday, September 26, Washington Post has two articles of importance to animal advocates. A front page story discusses the effect of animal agriculture on the environment, and a sensitive story inside the paper discusses the effect that shelter euthanasia has on those who work in animal shelters.

The front page story is headed, "In California, Agriculture Takes Center Stage in Pollution Debate." It tells us that in California's San Joaquin Valley, responsible for a fifth of US milk production, "Fifteen percent of the region's children have asthma, a rate three times the national average. Fresno -- the valley's biggest city -- has the third-highest rate of asthma in the country, and the San Joaquin Valley rivals Los Angeles and Houston for the dubious title of worst air quality in the nation."

We read: "Michael Kleeman, an environmental and civil engineering professor at the University of California at Davis, estimates that agriculture accounts for as much as half of the valley's air pollution. The health problems caused by agriculture emboldened state Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter) to push to abolish farming's exemption from state air pollution laws."

You can read the whole article on line at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092501172.html

While exploring the effect of intensive farming on the environment, it does not discuss the impact on the animals. Letters to the editor can do that. You can check out www.factoryfarming.com  to learn more on that issue and see photos from factory farms, including dairy farms.

Those new to DawnWatch may like to check out an op-ed I had in the Los Angeles Times on August 13, as the issue of dairy farm pollution made headlines in the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. It is headed, "Got Milk? You've Got Problems." You'll find it on line at

http://www.dawnwatch.com/oped-august13-2005.htm

The other article in the September 26 Washington Post that should inspire letters from animal advocates is headed, "Euthanasia A Strain for Animal Care Workers; Loudoun, Other Shelters Try to Help Staffs Cope." (P B5)

It tells us that "many shelter workers adore animals but must bear the emotional brunt of animal overpopulation while putting up with a public that often derides their work and treats animals callously. The job can be so traumatic, shelter directors and psychologists say, that workers are often afflicted with nightmares, depression, suicidal thoughts and fears of going to hell."

It discusses their attempts to stop from bonding with "animals that do not stand a chance" such as very sick animals or "the sweet-as-can-be pit bulls" that many shelters do not make available for adoption. And we read of shelters that cannot keep up with the sheer volume of discarded animals, where "Life-or-death decisions can come down to hue: Too many black dogs can mean some have to go, and workers must make the wrenching choices."

It continues, "Euthanasia, experts say, is just one stressor. Shelter workers say it can be harder to deal with people who treat animals as disposable, offering a litany of excuses -- about moving or about the cat not matching the carpet -- when surrendering them."

One shelter worker, who was eventually taken off euthanasia duty because he would be in tears after it, describes one of his most heartrending experiences:

"One dog was licking my face as they were using the syringe. It took me days to get over it."

You can read the whole article on line at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092501525.html

Either of the articles above open the door for letters on our society's treatment of other species.

The Washington Post takes letters at letters@washpost.com  and advises, "Letters must be exclusive to The Washington Post, and must include the writer's home address and home and business telephone numbers. Because of space limitations, those published are subject to abridgment."

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR AND NEW YORK TIMES ON HUNTING  9/27/05

The front page of the Tuesday, September 27, edition of the well-respected internationally distributed "Christian Science Monitor" has an article headed, "Hunters as endangered species? A bid to rebuild ranks" and sub-headed, "Youth hunt days in several states attempt to attract young people to a fading sport." On the website, the story includes a pole that asks, "What do you think of efforts to introduce young people to hunting?"

Please go to the page and vote.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0927/p01s02-ussc.html

Similar to the New York Times September 18 story (see below for today's New York Times story) the piece tells us "With the urbanization of America... Few kids learn to hunt and go on to hunt as adults. To reverse the trend, state and private efforts range from trying to repeal laws that limit youth hunting to psychology-based campaigns aimed at getting young people familiar with gun use."

The article discusses legislative attempts to open more public land in all 50 states to hunting and a program "targeting 33 states that currently make it illegal for youths to go deer hunting before age 12."

But we read: "Public agencies should serve a wider constituency, including far more wildlife watchers, some 66 million participants who spent $38 billion in 2001, and quit catering to the hunting industry, antihunting advocates say....Animal preservation groups say more than 100 million animals are needlessly killed for sport annually nationwide."

The full article is available on the page at the link above, where you will also find the poll. After you vote, you may like to send a quick letter to the editor on the issue. The Christian Science Monitor takes letters at http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=CFF0C5E4 

You might like to check out the "Learn the Facts About Hunting" web page from the Humane Society of the United States: http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/issues_facing_wildlife/hunting/learn_the_facts_about_hunting.html 

The Tuesday, September 27, New York Times has an article on the front page of the Arts section (E1) headed, "Vegans, Keep Out: It's Hunting Season." It is about a new reality show, starring rocker Ted Nugent, on the Outdoor Life Network, called "Wanted: Ted or Alive." The article opens with a description of Nugent gutting a deer, watched by "five contestants who were in various states of awe and nausea."

An interesting line is: "He extols hunting as a way for people to get back in touch with what they're eating, and themselves."

Indeed the horror of factory farming, from where most people get food, is hidden from public view. (See www.factoryfarming.com  for photos.) 

You can read the full article on line at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/television/27ted.html 

It presents a nice opportunity for letters to the editor, on whichever aspect of our treatment of other species you find yourself moved to discuss. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com 

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN COVER STORY ON ANIMAL RESEARCH  9/28-10/4/05

The weekly paper, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, features, on the cover of the September 28 - October 4 issue, three articles, by Tali Woodward, on animal experimentation taking place at UCSF. You can view the cover, a shocking drawing of a primate during a brain procedure, and the headline, "Monkey Business" on line at: http://www.sfbg.com/

Inside the magazine, "Animal Instincts" presents a balanced take on animal experimentation. "Monkey Business" looks in detail at gruesome experiments on primates. And "Dogtown" discusses the outcry over experiments that kill 750 dogs per year in the university laboratories.

"Animal instincts" asks in its opening line, "As the struggle between animal rights activists and scientists rages on, what's really happening inside UCSF's animal labs?"

Woodward writes, "The struggle over animal research is polarized and emotional. It's not uncommon for animal rights activists to characterize researchers as barbarians who cut up innocent animals out of joy or greed – or for the scientists to regard the activists as fringe extremists who only care about mice and monkeys and not their fellow humans. The intensity of this debate leads many people to simply turn away – and has given UCSF an excuse to hide almost everything about animal research from the public....So the general public knows very little about the 600 to 800 animal experiments, supported largely by taxpayers, being conducted at UCSF at any given time.

"But there have been some real problems behind those closed laboratory doors. In fact, last year UCSF was formally charged with violating federal law in a scathing complaint about animal conditions. And it wasn't some animal welfare group lodging the allegations – it was George W. Bush's Agriculture Department....Last fall the USDA charged UCSF with 75 specific AWA violations. 'The gravity of violations is great,' the complaint stated."

The article discusses some of the violations. It then refers to the work of Scott Anderson, a veterinarian who has served as one of the public members on UCSF's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for more than a decade. He says of the researchers, "They're not a bunch of crazy, maniacal people that want to kill and hurt animals. They're actually very sensitive, and they have pets of their own, and they try to do the best thing for each animal that they deal with."

But then Woodward writes, "Over the years, Anderson says, UCSF has had to cope with a handful of scientists who haven't always had the best attitude toward animals. (See "Monkey Business," page 20)."

"Monkey Business" discusses the work of Stephen Lisberger. Since 1992 he has received grants from the National Institutes of Health -- taxpayer money -- totaling more than $12 million. The article describes his experiments:

"First, each monkey has a restraint device attached to its head with a combination of metal plates, bolts, and screws. That will later allow the monkey's head to be locked in place for experiments. One or two holes are drilled in the skull, and then cylindrical recording chambers are secured over those holes so that microelectrodes that will allow precise neural activity to be measured can be inserted into the brain with ease. (The electrodes themselves don't cause discomfort because the brain lacks pain receptors.)

"Sometimes, small wire coils are sutured to the monkeys' eyeballs. Other times the monkeys have spectacles attached to their faces that either magnify or miniaturize everything they see.

"The monkeys in Lisberger's lab are put on a fluid-restriction program, so that each day they are scheduled to 'work' they will obey commands for 'rewards of water or Tang....

We read that Lisberger's protocol states that his work could eventually lead to "the cure for many diseases of learning and memory such as Alzheimer's Disease." But the article quotes Lawrence A. Hansen, a neuropathologist at UC San Diego: "He's picked a part of the brain that's not even involved in Alzheimer's."

Hansen wrote, regarding Lisberger's protocol: "I have never previously encountered experiments that would deliver quite so much suffering to higher primates for so comparatively little scientific gain....While I do not doubt that these experimental manipulations will generate valid scientific data, such information is purchased at too high a moral and ethical cost. Even the primary investigator seems to feel it necessary to disguise his actual motivations, which are those of a fundamental research scientist, by invoking a link to a cure for Alzheimer's disease. This is one of the more ludicrous stretches from basic science to human application that I have ever encountered in my 20 years of research into Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases affecting human beings."

The article goes on to detail the condition in which some of Lisberger's research subjects have been found. Then we learn that Lisberger sometimes lectures UCSF students on "Philosophical/ethical issues in animal experimentation."

In "Dogtown" we learn that Dr. Jeffrey Olgin's experiments on dogs, also funded by the National Institutes of Health, "have prompted the farthest-reaching public outcry over any animal experiment at UCSF in many years." That is perhaps not surprising since though dogs suffer no more than primates or even rats and mice (who are entirely exempted from the federal Animal Welfare Act that offers such meager protection to other species) many of us are most moved by horror visited on members of a species with whom many of us share our lives.

The article describes the experiments:

"According to protocols approved in April and June of 2004, Olgin is hoping to figure out the how cardiac arrhythmias – specifically, atrial fibrillation – lead to chronic heart disease. It's a goal many people would find laudable. But Olgin's research also involves the deaths of roughly 750 dogs over three years. Many of the dog have one or two pacemakers implanted. The pacemakers are then used to speed up the dogs' heart rates until their hearts basically wear out. Another group of 150 dogs undergo a surgical procedure in which their hearts' mitral valves are torn with a small hook so that some of the blood flows backward. After 2 to 24 weeks in the study, each dog is subjected to an eight-hour 'terminal study,' during which researchers deeply anesthetize the animal and then open its heart cavity to poke around and take measurements. At the end of the study, the dog is euthanized."

We read that cardiologist Dr. John J. Pippin has written to the university chancellor, "Other researchers have conducted similar canine studies and we find Dr. Olgin's research to be duplicative and wasteful...." And pediatrician Jake Sinclair told the Guardian, "His goal is something that we already know. We know that atrial fibrillation causes congestive heart failure. We know that from studying humans."

You can read the full articles on line at:

Animal Instincts http://www.sfbg.com/39/52/cover_animal.html 

Monkey Business http://www.sfbg.com/39/52/cover_monkey.html 

And Dogtown http://www.sfbg.com/39/52/cover_dogtown.html 

The paper takes letters at letters@sfbg.com  and advises, "letters should be as brief and to the point as possible" and must include a name and phone number. The paper also solicits opinion pieces. You can find out more at: http://www.sfbg.com/send_letter.html 

You can learn more about the experiments at UCSF at http://www.vivisectioninfo.org/ucsf/index.html 

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER FRONT PAGE ON PET EVACUATION BILL -- 9/28/05

(Note: Updates on fostering/adoption and another plea for help from Jane Garrison are at the end of this media/legislative alert.)

The front page of the Wednesday, September 28, Philadelphia Inquirer has an article headed,

"How to save people? Save their animals;

Katrina lesson: Evacuees won't leave pets."

It tells us, "After New Orleans residents died because they wouldn't abandon their pets, emergency planners from across the country began embracing a new reality: They can best save people by saving animals, too."

And we learn that many states have started to plan for animal evacuations, and that "On Thursday, five U.S. congressmen introduced a bipartisan bill that would mandate states and municipalities to provide evacuation plans for pets and service animals, such as guide dogs, in order to qualify for FEMA funding."

That bill is H.R. 3858, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, or PETS Act. Please sign a petition in support of it at http://go.care2.com/e/gfO/bR/oco4

The front page story, which you'll find on line at http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/12759675.htm , opens the door for letters on various aspects of how we treat members of other species. The Philadelphia Inquirer takes letters at Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com

The Katrina aftermath is no doubt still covered in your local paper, providing opportunities for letters on this issue. Please consider a letter to your editor, in support of the bill. Feel free to ask me for help if you have any difficulty finding the correct email address for a letter to the editor. And I am always happy to edit letters. Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.

Some of you have written asking where to find out about fostering or adopting Katrina animals. Best Friends has a form at http://www.bestfriends.org/HF/FI.cfm

Finally: An update from New Orleans: A few days after forwarding Jane Garrison's letter pleading for help with New Orleans animal rescue, I received a gratifying note from Jane's husband telling me, "She has 45 teams in the city; the largest yet since the beginning." However Priscilla Gargalis, a superb activist with whom Jane and I have both worked, is in regular touch with Jane and has just heard that Jane still needs to get to thousands of addresses where people have reported they left animals -- animals who are being found barely alive or have starved to death. Jane is again begging for help. As the Lamar-Dixon cite winds down, her location may change, but Priscilla will have the information, is urging people to get down to Jane immediately, and has written, "If you need more information, or have any questions, please email me at pgargalis@yahoo.com ."

I urge you to contact her and to go if you possibly can, and I send my heartfelt thanks to those who have already been.

I send thanks, on behalf of the animals, for any helpful step taken, whether it be monetary support, or letters to legislators or the media, which contribute to the pubic debate and influence public policy.

METRO SANTA CRUZ ASK ABOUT CHICKENS -- "PETS OR FOOD"  9/28-10/5/05

There is a delightful piece in the dining section of the September 28-October 5 issue of Metro Santa Cruz headed "Pets or Meat? Santa Cruz takes a leading role in the chicken rescue movement."

It opens:

"Have you seen the Carl's Jr. chicken-sandwich ads? You know, the one where they taunt a chicken because it can't 'sit' or 'juggle' and then conclude with the tag line 'There's only one thing a chicken's good for: eating.'

"It may surprise you to know that chickens make fine pets. They come when called. They follow around their humans. They like to be held and petted. They jump on shoulders. In Santa Cruz, there's a Pet Chicken Meet-up group with more than 50 members. Chicken owners say their chickens are as intelligent as their other, more traditional pets, and that they're even friendlier than their cats.

"I spent some time talking to one of those members, Cheryl Potter. Cheryl not only has dozens of pet chickens of her own, but recently pitched in to help with a large-scale battery chicken rescue in Gilroy, organized by the Animal Place (www.animalplace.org). Cheryl has taken in more than 100 chickens, cleaned them up and had them tested and treated by vets, and is quite successfully finding homes for them everywhere from Sacramento to Monterey.

"What are battery chickens, and why did they need to be rescued? These are the chickens that lay our eggs. And while you may have visions of hens happily pecking about a farmyard clucking in your head, the harsh truth is that most eggs are laid by debeaked chickens packed in cages that they can't stand or turn around in. They are piled high, with the feces from the chickens in cages above them dripping down on the chickens below. Everything is automated, from food and water to egg collection, so no human ever has to go in and be overpowered by the noise or smell. And then after 1 1/2 to two years, hens kept in this condition are considered "spent" and sent to slaughter.

"By the way, once they leave the battery cage, what few regulations there are about humane treatment (and you have to question what kind of teeth are in such regulations once you see how the hens that are covered by the regulations are treated) no longer apply. Yes, the poultry industry got a specific exemption from 'humane treatment' for 'spent hens."

You can read the whole article on line at

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/09.28.05/dining-0539.html

The Metro Santa Cruz website says, "Please don't forget to write! Metro Santa Cruz welcomes letters. Like any great work of art, they should be originals -- not copies of letters sent elsewhere. Include address and daytime phone (for verification purposes only). Letters may be edited for length and clarity or to correct factual inaccuracies known to us.... Email msc@metcruz.com . Metro Santa Cruz emailers, please include name, city of residence and phone number. Letters printed will list email address unless otherwise specified."

KQED PERSPECTIVES GIVES THE VEGETARIAN VIEWPOINT 9/27/05 --10/2/05

On Tuesday, September 27, "Perspectives" on KQED featured a piece by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of www.CompassionateCooks.com  (a terrific site, complete with recipes, a DVD, and information on cooking classes, all worth checking out). The piece will air again for those in the San Francisco area this Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2. Others can listen to it on line at http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R509270737

It opens with, "An unwritten social rule says that vegetarians must always be considerate, respectful, and sensitive to meat-eaters."

Patrick-Goudreau wishes that "the respectful attitude expected of vegetarians were a two-way street." She makes some great points, such as: "Vegetarians tend to avoid asking meat-eaters why they eat animals, or where they get their vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants -- nutrients people are genuinely deficient in, unlike the Great Protein Deficiency Myth that vegetarians are forever doomed to debunk."

Listen if you can, and if you like what you hear, please thank the show for including the vegetarian perspective.

The email address provided for Perspectives is that of producer, mtrautwein@kqed.org

ANDERSON COOPER COVERS DOG SHOOTING ON CNN'S NEWSNIGHT WITH AARON BROWN 9/29/05

Tonight, Thursday September 29, CNN's Anderson Cooper covered, on NewsNight with Aaron Brown, the story of dogs that rescuers found shot to death, apparently killed by police officers. The dogs had been left on the third floor of Beauregard School Middle in St Bernard Parish, with plenty of food and water, when their human families were forced to evacuate without them. You can find out more about the issue at http://www.ericsdogblog.com

Anderson Cooper's coverage of the Katrina animal disaster has been frequent and sympathetic. If you have not yet thanked him, please do. Appreciative comments on the coverage of the dog shooting can be sent to NewsNight at

http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?13  . Positive feedback for coverage of animal issues will encourage more coverage.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

A VEGETARIAN PERSPECTIVE ON SAN FRANCISCO RADIO KQED -- 9/27/05- 10/2/05

On Tuesday, September 27, "Perspectives" on KQED featured a piece by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of www.CompassionateCooks.com  (a terrific site, complete with recipes, a DVD, and information on cooking classes, all worth checking out). The piece will air again for those in the San Francisco area this Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2. Others can listen to it on line at http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R509270737

It opens with, "An unwritten social rule says that vegetarians must always be considerate, respectful, and sensitive to meat-eaters."

Patrick-Goudreau wishes that "the respectful attitude expected of vegetarians were a two-way street." She makes some great points, such as: "Vegetarians tend to avoid asking meat-eaters why they eat animals, or where they get their vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants -- nutrients people are genuinely deficient in, unlike the Great Protein Deficiency Myth that vegetarians are forever doomed to debunk."

Listen if you can, and if you like what you hear, please thank the show for including the vegetarian perspective.

The email address provided for Perspectives is that of producer, mtrautwein@kqed.org

"PETS OR MEAT" ON CHICKEN RESCUE IN METRO SANTA CRUZ  9/28/05

There is a delightful piece in the dining section of the September 28-October 5 issue of Metro Santa Cruz headed "Pets or Meat? Santa Cruz takes a leading role in the chicken rescue movement."

It opens:

"Have you seen the Carl's Jr. chicken-sandwich ads? You know, the one where they taunt a chicken because it can't 'sit' or 'juggle' and then conclude with the tag line 'There's only one thing a chicken's good for: eating.'

"It may surprise you to know that chickens make fine pets. They come when called. They follow around their humans. They like to be held and petted. They jump on shoulders. In Santa Cruz, there's a Pet Chicken Meet-up group with more than 50 members. Chicken owners say their chickens are as intelligent as their other, more traditional pets, and that they're even friendlier than their cats.

"I spent some time talking to one of those members, Cheryl Potter. Cheryl not only has dozens of pet chickens of her own, but recently pitched in to help with a large-scale battery chicken rescue in Gilroy, organized by the Animal Place (www.animalplace.org ). Cheryl has taken in more than 100 chickens, cleaned them up and had them tested and treated by vets, and is quite successfully finding homes for them everywhere from Sacramento to Monterey.

"What are battery chickens, and why did they need to be rescued? These are the chickens that lay our eggs. And while you may have visions of hens happily pecking about a farmyard clucking in your head, the harsh truth is that most eggs are laid by debeaked chickens packed in cages that they can't stand or turn around in. They are piled high, with the feces from the chickens in cages above them dripping down on the chickens below. Everything is automated, from food and water to egg collection, so no human ever has to go in and be overpowered by the noise or smell. And then after 1 1/2 to two years, hens kept in this condition are considered "spent" and sent to slaughter.

"By the way, once they leave the battery cage, what few regulations there are about humane treatment (and you have to question what kind of teeth are in such regulations once you see how the hens that are covered by the regulations are treated) no longer apply. Yes, the poultry industry got a specific exemption from 'humane treatment' for 'spent hens."

You can read the whole article on line at

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/09.28.05/dining-0539.html

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