Protect Rhinos

Rhino horn means big business to wildlife traffickers, and the growing demand for it as traditional Chinese medicine -- despite the fact that it has no medicinal properties --  has exploded into a poaching epidemic across Africa and Asia.  

Poachers are slaughtering rhinos, already threatened with extinction, by the hundreds every year for the payoff. Not even nursing mothers have been spared the corruption and greed, leaving their dependent calves on their own to grieve and starve.

Sadly, in South Africa -- home to 70 percent of the world’s rhinos -- trophy hunting of rhinos is legal. But now, with poaching at an all-time high, the South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs is considering a moratorium on all rhino hunting, a bold move that would at the very least give rhinos some of the protection they desperately need.

South Africa allows hunters to take horns back home as trophies, so people from Asian countries have traveled to the country as "hunters." Hundreds of horns have ended up in East Asia, almost certainly for the traditional medicine trade.

A full moratorium on rhino hunting would close any such loopholes.

Take Action and Sign Up for this cause.

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=105&ea.campaign.id=12045&ea.tracking.id=e65db3ea

Stop Sharks from Being Killed In The Bahamas!

Shark slaughtering has become so popular in recent years that at least 30% of the species in the Bahamas are now endangered. In over-fished waters, sharks are being killed for their skin, fins and meat--and to support tourism.

Profit gain is not a valid reason to slaughter animals and threaten entire ecosystems. Humans should take responsibility for damage caused to the environment and defend its creatures, not endanger them to the point of 
near extinction. Write to the Bahamian government and sign the petition asking to end the shark slaughter.


http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=SharkSlaughter&ThirdPartyClicks=ETA_091311_SharkSlaughter_F

End Bull Fiesta Cruelty In Spain

Every September, in the town of Tordesillas in the Castilla y León region of Spain, a bull is chased down by men brandishing long spears on horseback. The bull is pursued, stuck, and then -- finally cornered and cowed by his assailants -- stabbed to death. The horror is unimaginable.

Today, together with our colleagues in Spain, we launched the "Break a Spear" campaign -- named in memory of the animals tormented and killed during the annual spectacle -- to bring awareness and an end to the barbaric killing for good.

Take Action!

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=105&ea.campaign.id=11950&s_src=globalemail&s_subsrc=091211

Texas Gets Its First Puppy Mill Law

There is some good news regarding puppy mills from Texas as Governor Rick Perry has signed into law the Commercial Dog and Cat Breeders Act (CDCBA), which means there will be minimum standards for the humane handling, care, housing and transportation of dogs and cats by large scale Texas breeders.

Till now, the animals were unprotected completely due to the absence of such a law and there was a lot of suffering caused by the many bad breeders. However, from September on wards, the commercial breeding facilities will undergo inspection for the first time and the monitoring will continue in the future.

This law applies to any cat or dog breeder with 11 or more female breeding animals and who sells 20 or more animals per year. It requires the breeders to be inspected and to maintain adequate drainage, comfortable and safe space for animals.

Although, everything that was demanded such as prohibition of wire flooring and stacking of cages was not included in this law but all in all, animal rights activists consider it a big victory and a first major step in Texas for the protection of the breeding animals in the puppy mills.

No More Playing Around With Dog Fighting

Controversy around violent video games is nothing new, but now a shocking cell phone game exists that marries animal cruelty with video game violence. KG Dog fighting is a game that allows the player to virtually train dogs to fight against other players' dogs. Despite the cruel nature of the game, Google refuses to remove it from its cell phone application marketplace.

Dog fighting is illegal in all 50 states because of the cruel nature of this "sport" in which dogs must fight until they are too injured to continue, or until one of the dogs dies.Injured dogs are often used as bait to excite other fighting dogs.

To make matters worse, statistics show that people who abuse animals are exponentially more likely to harm human beings. This behavior shouldn't be encouraged--even in game form. Tell Google to remove this game from their marketplace.

Take Action!

5 Seals Shot Dead In Cape Cod Beaches

The latest update from Massachusetts is the announcement that at least five adult grey seals were shot dead on the Cape Cod beaches. Biologists from the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team is investigating these cases.

Often the seals get stranded on the beaches at this time of the year but these particular ones had obvious wounds on their bodies. It is evident that some form of human interaction took place and the humans killed them. All the five seals had gun shot wounds.

Although, grey seals are supposed to be protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act but the animals are suffering. The criminals do not fear punishment.

If you see a live or dead stranded marine mammal, please report it to the IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548. If you have any information regarding the above cases, please contact Special Agent Nickerson at 508-990-8752.

Source:http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/5-gray-seals-found-shot-on-cape-cod/

Stop Driving Sharks to Extinction!

Many sharks are now the victims of unthinkable violence, due to a practice called "shark finning." Shark finning is a brutal process that involves capturing sharks, cutting off their fins and tails, and then throwing the still-alive sharks back in the water.

Unable to swim, the helpless sharks then bleed to death or drown. Together with over fishing, this practice is putting several shark species at risk of extinction.

Shark finning is exceptionally cruel and completely unacceptable. Tell California Governor Jerry Brown to support Assembly Bill 376, a bill that will ban the possession, sale, trade and distribution of shark fins.

Please Take Action!

Double Trouble for Sea Turtles

Last year's devastating Deepwater Horizon disaster was a serious blow for sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. But the catastrophe for the sea turtles hasn’t ended yet.

Already this year, more than 340 dead sea turtles have washed ashore on the Gulf Coast -- more than three times the annual average -- and the death toll is likely to be much higher. Signs point to shrimp fishing as a likely cause for the spike in deaths -- perhaps combined with the lingering effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Yet the government has not taken action to save these animals struggling to survive. Defenders and our conservation partners have launched a lifesaving lawsuit to protect sea turtles, but federal officials need to hear from you.

Take action now: Urge the National Marine Fisheries Service to enforce lifesaving protections for threatened and endangered sea turtles in the Gulf.

Save The Saddest Dolphins

The pod was swimming peacefully in Samoa when nets closed in from behind -- trapping 25 wild dolphins for a luxury resort's latest exhibit. They are now locked in tiny pens, starved of food -- but we can free them.

For wild dolphins captivity is torture, their powerful sonar bounces off the walls back at them -- as if they are trapped in an endless house of mirrors. Most die young from stress induced illness, but some even commit suicide. If the wealthy Resorts World Sentosa succeeds in keeping them captive then half the dolphins will die in the first 2 years -- and it will legitimise the widely banned practice of capturing dolphins in the wild. We can’t let that happen -- let's use our voices to set them free.

Resorts World was forced to abandon plans for a whale shark exhibit two years ago because of the huge outcry that threatened their reputation. Let’s build a massive call now to free these intelligent, beautiful creatures -- and make this a turning point in the fight to end the global wild-dolphin trade. When we reach 500,000 our petition will be delivered to Resorts World and the media. Sign now and forward this to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/saddest_dolphins/?vl

3,000 Wild Horses Need Your Help

All Americans please take action and consider this post seriously as only you can sign up for this particular link.

Violating their own protocol of waiting until mid-August (after the foaling season) to begin helicopter roundups of wild horses, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) started a Nevada roundup in the blazing July heat last summer, resulting in the deaths of at least 21 horses. Several other horses required treatment for painful colic and brain swelling due to dehydration and exhaustion.

Despite this tragedy, the BLM is planning to do early roundups again this July. Thousands of additional wild horses and burros--including newborn foals--are slated for removal in frightening and dangerous helicopter roundups in California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah just weeks from now--paid for with the federal tax dollars.

Help stop this massacre of America’s wild horses! Contact your U.S. Representatives and Senators and urge them to:

1. Call on the Interior Department and President Obama to halt the BLM’s summer roundups; and
2. Use their appropriations authority to strip funding for this abusive practice while the National Academy of Sciences conducts its independent review of the program (to be completed by 2013).

Stop Bear Baiting in Pakistan

I grew up listening about bear baiting in Pakistan. I thought with the international coverage that this deadly sport has received it would have ended by now. I haven't seen a bear in Karachi for some 15 years at least. But just a while back, I read a report on bear baiting in Pakistan that it does exist in the rural areas of Punjab and Sindh even today.

Ironically, the sport has been illegal in Pakistan since 1890 through the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. But, in Pakistan people just go on doing whatever they can especially if it is against the law. It is said, that the British introduced this dirty sport in the years they ruled over Hindustan and we all know that Pakistanis can never learn anything positive from the world but they can hardly give up their bad habits. It is quite shameful.

The feudal landlords in tribal areas arrange bear baiting events where the poor bear is tied to a post. His/her claws are cut, the canine teeth are removed and a ring inserted on the nose. Then at least two dogs are let loose to attack the tied bear. Till the bear submits to the dogs by falling down on the ground the game continues. The bearing can hardly defend himself. This sort of sport can take place at least ten times a day and the poor bear has to suffer immensely.

Honestly speaking I find no entertainment or fun in such form of sport. It is absolutely gross and cruel. This means that a bear who suffers like this in Pakistan can hardly live up to 7 years. A healthy bear can live up to 20 years in the wild though.

The least that we can do is to sign up the Care2 petition to stop bear baiting in Pakistan. We are magnificently behind the set target of 10000 signatures.

Please Take Action!

Bullfighting Is Not Culture; It Is Cruelty

Bullfighting is one of the most abhorrent forms of animal abuse for entertainment still in existence -- the bloody spectacle is responsible for the deaths of up to 250,000 animals worldwide every year.

Right now, supporters of bullfighting are starting the process to have this cruelty protected by having their ‘sport’ listed as a form of cultural heritage. Politicians in both France and Tordesillas in Spain have voted on this issue recently.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) preserves many expressions of genuine Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Any successful listing of this despicable activity by UNESCO would not only give a veneer of respectability to animal cruelty for public entertainment, but it would also mean that subsidies may be made available to financially safeguard the future of bullfighting.

Please speak out today -- sign our letter to UNESCO now.

Stop The Federal Wolf-Killing Program in Idaho

Aerial wolf killing has come to Idaho. People from all over the world can take action against the aerial killing of wolves by signing the petition mentioned in this post.

In one of its first moves since retaking the reins of wolf management,Idaho officials last week called in Wildlife Services -- the federal government's chief wildlife-killing agency -- to kill wolves in the central part of the state.

Federal marksmen took to the skies in Idaho's Lolo wilderness, targeting up to 60 wolves to help artificially boost game populations in the region.

Using radio collars to track down wolf packs in the area, the airborne marksmen only managed to kill five wolves. The mission was quickly abandoned, described as both inefficient and expensive by the Wildlife Services agents themselves.

But that's not stopping Idaho's plan to kill dozens of wolves in the region to artificially boost elk populations. Wildlife Services could continue gunning from the skies and trapping on the ground.

Wildlife Services is a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Their mission is to "create a balance that allows people and wildlife to coexist peacefully."

But instead, they have become the federal government's de facto wildlife hitmen -- heavily relying on killing wildlife rather than using proven, effective non-lethal methods of control.

Now, it seems, Wildlife Services has gotten into the business of killing wolves to artificially boost elk populations.

Idaho officials claim that wolves are a major cause of elk declines in certain parts of the state. But the science says otherwise: In 23 of 29 elk management zones, populations of these animals are at or above targets. In fact, many of the areas experiencing declines contain few or no wolves.

Take action now: Urge Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to abandon aerial wolf-killing in Idaho by Wildlife Services.

We Need Your Help To Save Elephants!

Twenty years ago, illegal poaching to support the commercial ivory trade nearly wiped out elephant populations. In 1989 after international public outcry, elephants were given the highest level of protection, and the international trade of ivory was banned. But the battle isn't over. Over the past 12 years, a number of political decisions have led to a partial lifting of the ban, which has led to an increase in illegal poaching, especially in West and Central Africa, putting these majestic animals in danger once again.

To defend and save elephants, the legal ivory trade must be banned. If ivory had no commercial value, there wouldn't be a reason for these gentle giants to die. Tell the U.S. government to help protect elephants by opposing the international ivory trade.

Please sign the petition since we are quite behind the target at the moment.

Take Action Here!

Help The Horses And Burros Of Nevada!

The fight to protect animals against cruelty is a really long one. Just after hearing some good news, one cannot sit with ease because there are far too many places around the world where animal cruelty is common.

For the longest time, we have been signing petitions to help horses in Nevada against BLM’s flying helicopters that round the horses in an inhumane and unnecessary manner. This time round, the legislation is denying them access to water so the horses are always threatened by humans in one way or the other.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign have joined hands to urge Nevada state legislators to reject AB 329 – a bill that redefines the definition of ‘wildlife’ and excludes wild horses and burros in the appropriation of water.

As a result, horses and burros will be denied water and will die due to lack of drinking water. The bill has already passed the Assembly with a vote of 35-7 and is now pending in the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

The rationale behind this law is that cattle ranchers want to remove wild horses and burros from public lands and denying water to them is the easiest way to solve their problem. However, the horses and burros are protected under the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which ensures their right to beneficial use of water.

Thus, we need to stand up against the cruel humans and grant the horses the right to drinking water.

Please Take Action!

Stop Driving Sharks to Extinction!

Nearly a third of all shark species, including mighty hammerheads and graceful whitetips, are at risk of extinction; and up to 73 million sharks are killed annually at the hands of ruthless shark finners. This gruesome practice involves catching sharks, cutting off their fins and tails--usually while they're still alive--and throwing them back into the water to drown or bleed to death.

Why? The prized fins are harvested primarily to make soup.

Urge California Governor Jerry Brown to support Bill 376 that would ban possessing, selling, trading and distributing shark fins.

Please Sign The Letter!

Ban Wild Animals in Circuses

The UK government is expected to make an announcement about the fate of wild animals used in travelling circuses soon, and these animals desperately need our help to ensure nothing short of a complete ban is implemented.

Recent sickening undercover footage captured by Animal Defenders International showed Annie the elephant as she was beaten and abused while shackled in Bobby Roberts Super Circus. This followed the exposé of the Great British Circus, where elephants were chained for 11 hours every day and were beaten, jabbed with hooks and hit with pitchforks.

For up to nine months of the year, wild animals in circuses in the UK are forced to live in temporary accommodations. For lions and tigers, this means spending most of their time in small cages on the backs of trucks. Animals like camels and zebras are kept in small pens or on short tethers.

Wild animals should have been banned from circuses a year ago after the results of a Defra consultation in which 94 per cent of respondents were in favour of a complete ban. We now have a real opportunity to finally end the use of lions, tigers, elephants and other animals in circuses in Britain.

Please take immediate action for animals by urging the government to introduce a full and permanent ban to end the misery of animals in circuses for good.

Stop The International Polar Bear Trade

Polar bears are majestic creatures that deserve to roam free unharmed. Shockingly, in some countries, souvenirs made from polar bear skin, claws, skulls and more are still available for purchase. Each year, hundreds of polar bears die senselessly to support this barbaric trade.

Tell Canada to stand up for their polar bears! Ask Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to strengthen protections for these threatened creatures and support an international ban on polar bear souvenirs.

Take Action Here!

Stop Icelandic Whaling

In 2010 alone, Icelandic whalers slaughtered 148 endangered fin whales and 60 minke whales and exported more than 750 tons of whale meat and products - despite global treaties and bans. "Modern" whaling methods, such as those used by Iceland's whalers, raise serious animal welfare concerns because it is impossible to humanely kill a whale at sea. The slaughter of whales is inhumane, unnecessary, unsustainable and needs to end.

In December 2010, WSPA and several other groups, on behalf of the WNUS coalition, filed a petition with the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Interior to formally identify - or "certify" - Iceland under the Pelly Amendment, due to the country's increasing whaling activities. Already, thousands of WSPA supporters have sent messages to the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior to express their support in certifying Iceland. While we're optimistic that the U.S. will impose economic sanctions on Iceland, it's still unclear whether direct action will be taken.

It's critical that we continue to keep pressure on the U.S. government to ensure that Iceland's whaling program is stopped - this time by sending a message to Acting Assistant Director, Teiko Saito of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

Please thank FWS for reviewing the initial Pelly petition and politely urge them to take the necessary steps to certify Iceland under the Pelly Amendment so that President Obama has the right to impose trade sanctions.

Forensic Team Set To Find 100 Slain Sled Dogs From Mass Grave

This is a very shocking piece of news from British Columbia. It is hard to grasp that animal cruelty is being carried out at such a massive level even in these times.

A renowned team of 26 forensic experts will work together now to investigate and exhume the mass grave in British Columbia where it is said some 100 dogs were buried last year when the company that owned them felt tourism had gone down in that area.

SPCA announced that the investigation will bring evidence that there is a strong case of animal cruelty against the dog owners.

It all began in April 2010 but it was revealed in January when the tour operator, Robert Fawcett who carried out this gross operation to kill the 100 dogs at the order of his bosses filed a worker's compensation claim saying that he suffered post traumatic stress from shooting and slitting the throats of 100 dogs. He verified he even buried the bodies while some were still alive in the mass grave north of Whistler.

The news has grabbed media attention and calls for tougher animal welfare laws in Canada. Thus, the forensic team that comprises of veterinarians, archaeologists and anthropologists from North America will be busy collecting evidence once the bodies of the dogs are recovered.

I hope a strong case is built with strong evidence against these bosses who were so damned. How can they be so cruel to just simply order killing 100 dogs. It is a shame.