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Animal Rights is Wrong by Loretta Baughan

Posted by Unknown Sunday, 10 November 2013 0 comments
It always amazes me to see how many people fall prey to the slick photos of puppies and kittens national animal rights groups use to solicit donations. Too often, people who support these organizations are misled into thinking they are actually helping animals or their local humane societies. Despite having a name that suggests an active role in overseeing or operating local humane societies, in reality the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is little more than a $200-million dollar lobbying organization tirelessly working to ramrod their anti-animal, anti-people agenda into law.
On occasions where cases of animal abuse or neglect become the focus of media attention, HSUS jets into town to hog the spotlight while soliciting donations from the unsuspecting public. Like a thief in the night, HSUS packs up and exits - along with the public's donations - as soon as the media's attention fades, leaving struggling, underfunded local animal shelters and rescue groups bearing the financial burden of care for the confiscated animals.
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"The Humane Society of the United States works with local Humane Societies across the country. We don't control every local Humane Society in this nation. These organizations strive to the greatest degree to provide homes for animals and to encourage adoption, to spay and neuter animals. And if a decision is made to euthanize, it is a failure of society, not the local organizations who are striving to do their best."
--Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) testimony at the Methamphetamine Enforcement and Treatment Act of 2007, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007, and the Preventing Harassment Through Outbound Number Enforcement (Phone) Act of 2007 hearing before the subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security; Committee of the Judiciary in the House of Representatives, February 6, 2007, pg 104
"Primarily they felt that the organization took on many issues purely for their publicity value, regardless of the facts of the case; subtly misrepresented itself in its fund-raising efforts by leading contributors to believe they were donating to local humane societies for animal rescue, when in fact these groups received no money from HSUS; and frequently sought to gain credit for the work of smaller less funded organizations."
--Dogs Best Friend by Mark Derr (2004), pg 257
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It doesn't help when the media interviews HSUS or PETA representatives every time a news story related to animals comes along. Those involved in animal rights groups are largely ignorant of animal husbandry practices. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone associated with any animal rights group who was raised on a farm or who ever raised a litter of puppies or kittens. Yet, these people are viewed as "experts" in all things animal? Hardly. Instead of rushing to mouthpieces for animal rights organizations who exaggerate non-existent "problems" and demonize those who have dedicated their lives to their animals, the public would be much better served if the media would turn to the true "experts" who actually care deeply about animal welfare: legitimate organizations that represent farmers, hunters, fishermen, ranchers and dog breeders, to name a few.
In order to understand the issue, one has to first grasp the difference between "animal welfare" and "animal rights". Some animal rights groups, seeking to appear less radical so as to gain members and increase donations, will claim they are "animal welfare" organizations. But the terms are not interchangeable. In fact, they are opposites.
"While those who adopt the animal welfare position seek merely to reduce animal suffering, supporters of animal rights aim to abolish it, demanding not bigger cages and "humane treatment", but rather, empty cages and total liberation. Animal welfare philosophy accepts the property status of animals, but animal rights philosophy insists that animals are subjects of their own life and no one's to own."
--Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?, Reflections on the Liberation of Animals by Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella (2004), pg 26
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are two high profile animal rights groups. While PETA is best known for their outlandish publicity stunts, HSUS is often referred to as "PETA in suits". In recent years, HSUS has attempted to distance themselves from the "animal rights" label in an effort to appear mainstream so as to appeal to more donors. They often refer to themselves as "animal advocates" or "animal protectionists". So what does that mean?
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"Animal advocacy groups are, in a sense, attempting to interfere in the relationship between property (the animals) and the property owner."
--Animals, Property, and the Law by Gary Lawrence Francione (1995), pg 81
"I regard myself as an advocate of animal rights - as part of the animal rights movement. That movement, as I conceive it, is committed to a number of goals, including: the total abolition of the use of animals in science; the total dissolution of commercial animal agriculture; the total elimination of commercial and sport hunting and trapping."
--Tom Regan, known as the "father of animal rights", The Struggle for Animal Rights, published in Animal Rights by Andrew Linzey and Paul A.B. Clarke, pg. 176 (2004)
"Much of the work of animal advocates is aimed not at research but at hunting, trapping, animal farming, and the slaughter of animals for food... However, a great deal of the currently much-expanded activity of animal activists seeks not the humane treatment of animals but their total "liberation" from all uses by human beings, including the wearing of fur and leather, eating of meat and poultry, and keeping of pets."
--Morton M. Hunt, The New Know-nothings: The Political Foes of the Scientific Study of Human Nature (1999), pg 307
"But antivivisectionists and animal protectionists have been a significant part of that landscape as well, lobbying for the restraint or abolition of animal use in research. Are they friend or foe to the veterinarian?"
--What Animals Want: Expertise and Advocacy in Laboratory Animal Welfare Policy by Larry Carbone (2004), pg 125
Philosophically, there is no difference between groups or individuals who identify themselves as "animal rights" or "animal advocates" or "animal protectionists" since they share a common belief that animals should not be owned or used by people.
Let's remove the mask and identify the Humane Society of the United States by their actions, not their lip service. HSUS has demonstrated on numerous occasions a complete intolerance for hunting, as evidenced by their ongoing efforts to effect bans against hunting in various areas of the country. They also seek to abolish other animal-related activities and uses, as well.
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"In recent years, HSUS has succeeded in helping enact laws that ban certain especially cruel hunting practices. For example, it was able to end such practices as bear baiting and hound hunting of bears, mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx in the state of Washington; same-day airborne shooting of wolves and other predators in Alaska; hound hunting of bears and bobcats in Massachusetts; hunting of bears in Colorado with bait and dogs, as well as bear hunting there in the spring and summer..."
--Losing Paradise by Paul G. Irwin, Hunting - Sport or Slaughter? (2000), pg 83
"The HSUS is now anti-circus, anti-rodeo, recommends eating less meat as the first line of attack on the cruelty of factory farming, and encourages the use of alternatives to animal testing. Would it be such a bad thing if violent animal rights activity made the HSUS look very mainstream..."
--Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?, Reflections on the Liberation of Animals by Steven Best and Anthony J. Nocella (2004), pg 124
"By contrast, animal rights advocates oppose any and all human "use" of animals. They invoke the Kantian idea that human beings should be treated as ends, not means - but they extend the idea to animals, so as to challenge a wide range of current practices. These include the use of animals in rodeos, circuses, zoos, agriculture, hunting and scientific experimentation. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society of the United States are committed to this basic approach."
--Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions by Cass R. Sunstein and Martha Craven Nussbaum (2005), pg 5
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The whole premise behind animal rights is a belief that animal ownership is the same as owning slaves and that their struggle to achieve rights for animals is the moral equivalent of the civil rights or women's suffrage movements. These radicals view those who own animals as committing what they call "speciesism", an offense they claim is equal to sexism or racism.
"...a central goal of the animal rights movement - eliminating the idea that animals are property..."
--Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions by Cass R. Sunstein and Martha Nussbaum (2005), pg 11
"Animal slavery has a grip on our society that is entirely like the stranglehold that African slavery had on the antebellum South."
--Norm Phelps, The Longest Struggle (2009), pg 280
Some fanatic animal rights believers advocate for "non-human" animals to be granted "personhood" and legal rights enabling individuals and groups to take owners to court on behalf of their animal. In reality, it is human life they wish to devalue, lowering us to a status equal with - or less than - animals.
"Animal rights promotes the idea that people should have no more rights than animals. As PETA cofounder and national director Ingrid Newkirk puts it, "I don't believe human beings have the 'right to life'. That's a supremacist perversion. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."
--AnimalScam by Kathleen Marquardt, Herbert M. Levine and Mark LaRochelle, pg. 5 (1993)
"A chimpanzee, dog, or pig, for instance, will have a higher degree of self-awareness and a greater capacity for meaningful relations with others than a severely retarded infant or someone in a state of advanced senility. So if we base the right to life on these characteristics we must grant these animals a right to life as good as, or better than, such retarded or senile humans."
--quoting Peter Singer in The Animal Rights, Environmental Ethics Debate by Eugene C. Hargrove (1992), pg 20
"The animal rights movement would allow people no more rights than rats or cockroaches. The real agenda of this movement is not to give rights to animals, but to take rights from people - to dictate our food, clothing, work, recreation, and whether we will discover new medicines or die. Animal rights pose an extraordinary threat to our health, freedom, and even our lives."
--AnimalScam by Kathleen Marquardt, Herbert M. Levine and Mark LaRochelle (1993), pg 6
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The concept and doctrine of "animal rights" is far from mainstream. It is a radical belief. It is un-American. It is dangerous. You don't have to take my word for it because I have included a multitude of published quotes right from the horses' mouths... the leaders and founders of the animal rights movement, as well as a few well-versed experts. Their words are disturbing and, at the same time, revealing. Please read them carefully. These people are committed to their cause, are extremely well-funded and have well-established connections in all levels of government. Their words should be a wake-up call for those who support any animal rights organization - financially or otherwise.
"If we are serious about animal rights, we have a responsibility to stop bringing them into existence for our purposes. We would stop bringing all domestic animals into existence for human purposes."
--Gary L. Francione, Professor of Law, Rutgers University School of Law, when asked if he supports the use of dogs to assist the blind and disabled in An Interview with Professor Gary L. Francione on the State of the U.S. Animal Rights Movement, Friends of Animals, published on The Animal Spirit website.
Our "one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all" is quickly becoming a land of intolerance as these and other special interest groups seek to gain the power of the law to advance their fanatic agendas at the expense of liberty and justice. These radical animal rights groups believe that they should dictate to the rest of us how to live; what we can and can't do. Their demented goal is to create an utopian society where people cannot eat meat, eggs or dairy... cannot wear leather, fur or wool... cannot enjoy aquariums, zoos, circuses, rodeos, dog or horse races, field trials, hunt tests or dog shows... cannot hunt, trap or fish... cannot own, use or breed any animals... where advances in medicine are stiffled and a place where guide dogs for the blind and service animals for the disabled are forbidden. These animal rightists have no respect for other peoples' freedom to decide these things for themselves... no respect for the US Constitution. Just intolerance. That's not the America I believe in and that our founding fathers sacrificed so much to establish and preserve.
Tell everyone you know that animal rights is wrong.

Humane Society of the United States (HSUS): A radical animal rights group

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An organization with a name as misleading as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) would be hard to find, unless the animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is considered. Both of these radical groups work to eliminate the use by humanity of all animals for any purpose, including farm animals and pets. In order to achieve this goal, they propose intermediate steps, such as banning certain types of common farming methods that, if adopted, would make
commercial farming impossible and raise the price of meat beyond the ability of most people to purchase it. These groups also oppose the use of animals to test medicines which may save millions of people’s lives, and relieve the suffering of millions of others. They maintain strong lobbies in the federal and state governments, and are currently trying to put a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in Ohio and other states that, if adopted, would make commercial farming economically unfeasible. They oppose hunting at every opportunity, and in West Virginia lobbied strongly to stop Sunday hunting in 2002.
The HSUS also propagandizes against pet abuse, most recently in what appears to be a blatantly copied television ad with spokesperson Wendie Malick, who played aging model Nina Van Horn on the television series “Just Shoot Me”. This ad, which opens with videos of abused and neglected pets while sad music is played in the background, uses Malick to appeal for $19 per month sustaining contributions to adopt an abused animal. Kind of like the “Feed the Children” program, only for dogs and cats.
Unfortunately, this HSUS commercial is apparently a blatant rip-off of an earlier ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) ad, featuring videos of pets while the music of singer Sarah McLaughlin plays in the background, after which Ms. McLaughlin appeals for contributions to the ASPCA. The ASPCA was the first animal care organization in the United States, and has a much more moderate agenda than the HSUS or PETA, and is much more in tune with traditional American values regarding animal care and use.
The HSUS and PETA are connected financially, politically and many times with overlapping leadership to many other radical groups in the United States and internationally that work to curtail Americans’ rights. A partial list of these groups follows:
The Center for Food Safety- a radical group partially funded by the HSUS that promotes extreme measures regarding our food, targeting animal based foods.
Center for Media & Democracy- Both the Center for Media & Democracy and the HSUS were members of the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Foodspeak coalition. This lobby tries to bypass or overturn laws against false food disparagement claims.
Center for Science in the Public Interest- a group that uses scare tactics to frighten the public about the use of medications in livestock farming.
EarthSave International- ran “Turning Point” ads disparaging commercial farming with the help of HSUS.
Environmental Working Group-another group trying to eliminate laws against making false claims of “food disparagement”.
Farm Sanctuary- works on legislation that would ban “gestation crates” for pregnant sows, and bar veal farmers from raising animals for slaughter. It has been successful in some states.
Sierra Club- its activists have worked with the HSUS against livestock farming. In 2002, Sierra Club members in Florida worked with HSUS to pass a ballot initiative that extends constitutional rights to pregnant pigs.

How Animal Detectives Work

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Animal Welfare Organizations

Before we talk about how animal detectives enforce the law, let's find out what those laws are and which animal welfare organizations help support these investigators.
There are acts of Congress in place to protect animals. One such act is the Animal Welfare Act, instated by Congress and enforceable across the United States and all U.S. territories. The Animal Welfare Act protects any live or deceased dog, cat, monkey, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or other such warm-blooded animal, excluding livestock. Pets, research animals and animals used for exhibition must be provided humane treatment and care under the act.
There are organizations across the country, including three national animal welfare groups that you may be familiar with: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The American Humane Society and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). All three of these organizations are on animal-protection missions and advocate on issues such as animal adoption, protection of pets and livestock, rescue and shelter resources, consumer education programs and anti-cruelty legislation.
The ASPCA, founded in 1866, was the first animal welfare organization in the United States. The group successfully lobbied to pass the first anti-cruelty statute in the country and nearly 150 years later, it continues its fight.
The American Humane Association was founded in 1877, shortly after the ASPCA, with a mission to create a more humane society. While American Humane's mission includes stamping out animal cruelty, its aim is to end violence committed against both animal and child.
HSUS is currently the largest animal protection organization in the United States. Its mission for more than 50 years has been similar to the ASPCA's -- to advocate against animal cruelty, abuse and neglect [source: The Humane Society of the United States].
To enforce animal anti-cruelty laws, many animal officers/detectives carry badges, wear uniforms and are granted similar authority as police officers. While specific authority differs by state, most animal detectives have the power to make arrests, serve search warrants, use reasonable force against perpetrators and may be authorized to carry firearms (with weapons training).
Every state establishes and enforces its own anti-cruelty laws as well, and 45 states enacted felony-level penalties as of July 2008 [source: The Humane Society of the United States]. Animal anti-cruelty laws can be broken down into two basic categories: intentional acts, when a person knowingly harms an animal, and failure to act, when someone fails to provide food, water or shelter to an animal. The types of violence officers respond to include neglect, torture, organized animal fighting, animal hoarding, poisoning, shooting, illegal hunting/poaching, ritualistic abuse, bestiality and "crush videos" (videos, usually found on the Internet, of small animals such as kittens, being

stepped on or otherwise crushed).
A person found guilty of severe animal abuse may find him or herself in jail. For example, a serious crime committed against animals in the state of Alabama can carry felony status and put someone behind bars for up to 10 years (one of the strictest punishments in all 50 states) [source: The Humane Society of the United States]. Many cases of abuse end in counseling or fines, but violators may also be subject to seizure of the animal(s) and limitations on animal ownership or community service, depending on the circumstances.
Next, let's learn how forensic science is applied to animal victims and take a look inside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory.

Raids to Free Minks Up Ante on Animal Rights

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NEW HOLSTEIN, Wis. — Next to their white clapboard house on a rural road here, in long rows of cages set beneath the roofs of seven open-air sheds, Virginia and Gary Bonlander are raising 5,000 minks. Or were, anyway, until two Saturdays ago, when the police roused them from bed at 5 a.m. with a rap on their door.
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Darren Hauck for The New York Times
The Bonlanders woke one recent morning to find thousands of the creatures zipping across their lawn.
Outside, 2,000 minks were scampering away — up to 50 top-quality, full-length and, suddenly, free-range mink coats.
“The backyard was full of mink. The driveway was full of mink,” Mrs. Bonlander recalled a few days ago. “Then, pshew” — she made a whooshing sound — “they were gone.”
And not only in Wisconsin, the mink-raising capital of the United States. After something of a hiatus, the animal rights movement has resumed a decades-old guerrilla war against the fur industry with a vengeance — and hints of more to come.
In New Holstein; in Grand Meadow, Minn.; in Coalville, Utah; in Keota, Iowa; and four other states, activists say, eight dark-of-night raids on mink farms have liberated at least 7,700 of the critters — more than $770,000 worth of pelts — just since late July. That is more such raids than in the preceding three years combined.
Two more raids in Ontario and British Columbia freed 1,300 other minks and foxes during the same period, according to the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, which bills itself as a conduit for messages from anonymous animal rights activists.
“What we’re seeing now is unprecedented,” Peter Young, a Santa Cruz, Calif., activist who was imprisoned in 2005 for his role in raids on six mink ranches, said in a telephone interview. Though still an outspoken defender of the animal rights movement and mink-ranch raids, Mr. Young says he has no contact with those who raid fur farms or commit other illegal acts and, in fact, does not know who they are.
The fur industry is not amused. “Criminal thugs, felons. And they’re committing federal crimes,” said Michael Whelan, the executive director of Fur Commission U.S.A., which represents all of the country’s 300 or so mink farms.
Also, he adds, it is not unprecedented. Mr. Whelan says raids were more common during the 1990s, and he even disputes that eight raids have occurred since July. (He says there were only seven.)
It is one measure of the venomous relationship between mink ranchers and mink liberators that they cannot agree on how big their argument is. But it is only one measure.
The two camps also call each other terrorists. Indeed, mink liberation is a federal crime under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and animal rights extremism is duly monitored by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a 2012 Congressional report.
Mr. Young, who says he is regularly searched at airport security checkpoints when he flies these days, maintains that the only violence in his old line of work occurred when farmers harvested their pelts for sale at auction.
The two sides do agree on one matter: that the raiders — the shadowy Animal Liberation Front, the best-known such group, has claimed responsibility for three of the recent attacks — are extremists.
“Fur is just a gateway product,” Mr. Whelan said. “They’re against the production of leather, meat, wool, poultry, dairy. The reason they’re after the fur industry is because it’s low-lying fruit.”
Mr. Young quite agrees. “This really isn’t about fur in particular; it’s about animal exploitation,” he said. “If cows were able to survive in the wild and had a natural habitat, we’d release cows. Unfortunately, you can’t release a cow, so we have to release mink.”
Not that cows are not on the animal rights agenda. In August, a group called Iowans for Animal Liberation poured red paint over the Iowa butter cow, a life-size cow carved in butter that is a highlight of the state fair, to symbolize the blood animals shed on the way to being eaten, worn and otherwise exploited.
But for those who release animals from captivity, fur, and especially mink, appears to deliver the most bang for the buck.
The latest burst of raids appears to stem in part from an anonymous posting on a blog this summer of an updated list of mink and fox farms and research facilities first issued in 1996. The new list, called The Final Nail #4, includes addresses, instructions on how to free animals from cages and avoid detection, and a most-wanted list of desirable targets.
But the activists may also be aiming for the farmers’ pocketbooks. Driven by demand from nouveau riche Chinese and Russians, the price of a good mink pelt has zoomed to a record $100, Fur Commission U.S.A. estimates, from just $41 five years ago, and turned a handful of mostly backyard businesses into a $350 million-a-year industry.

Extending Help as S.E. Asia Struggles with Multiple Severe Weather Events

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A call on the Romanian Government to freeze 'stray-killing' law

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Today, we regretfully heard news that the Romanian Constitutional Court is upholding the “stray-killing” law, consigning thousands of stray dogs to death after 14 days of detention in public dog pounds.

We wrote to all members of the Constitutional Court urging to rule against the law. However, the plea went unnoticed and the court decided to uphold it after less than four hours of discussion. President Traian Băsescu is expected to sign the new law immediately, meaning stray dogs will be legally killed in a matter of days.

Beryl Mutonono-Watkiss, Campaign Director at WSPA says:

“The Constitutional Court ruling for dogs to be culled in Romania is both inhumane and ineffective. The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has urged the Court to consider a more effective, sustainable and humane solution to manage the stray dog population. It is imperative that the government adopts a rational approach to address this problem.

WSPA calls for the new law to be frozen and for the Romanian government to work more closely with animal welfare organisations, such as WSPA, to implement humane and sustainable solutions, for the benefit of both people and dogs”.

The euthanasia law comes four weeks after a four-year-old boy’s alleged mauling in Bucharest prompted the government to rush through the legislation allowing the killing of strays. Doubts have since been cast over the exact details concerning the boy’s tragic death. 

Our extensive experience of working on dog management programmes around the world shows clearly that this legislation is neither practical, humane or effective and will not provide a long-term solution to Romania’s long-standing issues with stray dogs.

More updates coming soon as we prepare to mobilise our supporters into action.

Supporting Better Dairy is proud for European Cows

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The Supporting Better Dairy campaign is celebrating! Thanks to you we’ve achieved a whopping 293,511 signatures in support of improving dairy cow welfare in Europe. In fact,  Andrea Gavinelli, Head of the Animal Welfare Unit at the EU described the total as “unprecendented” on his twitter feed:

ASPCA Teams Up with Best Friends to Save More Animals’ Lives in Los Angeles

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Great news! We’re excited to announce that the ASPCA has teamed up with Best Friends Animal Society to help save more shelter animals’ lives in Los Angeles this holiday season.
The ASPCA has pledged $70,000 and Best Friends has contributed $50,000 to offset Los Angeles shelter costs including vaccinations, micro-chipping and spay/neuter procedures through the end of 2013. As a result, these animal welfare groups will have increased capacity to bring in, care for and adopt out animals from overcrowded city shelters.
Our contribution will cover fees for LA Animal Services’ New Hope Partners, qualified 501(c)(3) organizations that meet a basic set of standards set by the City of Los Angeles Animal Services. Best Friends will cover fees for those New Hope Partners that are also partners in the No Kill Los Angeles (NKLA) Coalition, a Best Friends’ initiative launched in 2012.
It is our goal to help find forever homes for many more cats and dogs in Los Angeles in the coming months, and we’re excited to be a part of this innovative collaboration.
To learn more about adopting a shelter pet of youAdoption Center online.
r own, visit our

Consider the Distinguished Senior Pet!

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November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month, and we think it’s the perfect time to consider bringing a special, older animal companion into your life. After all, what could be more in the spirit of the season than giving an older adoptable a new home for the holidays? Adopt now, and they’ll be all settled in and part of the family by the time you’re decorating your tree or lighting the menorah!
As you know, shelters are full of animals of all shapes, sizes, breeds and ages, but the older ones are typically the most difficult to place. Yes, puppies and kittens are hard to resist, but senior animals have so much love to give—plus, when you adopt an older pet, you know what you’re getting into: They’re fully grown, their personalities have developed, and many are already trained. Senior pets can be great matches for senior people and others who enjoy a less active lifestyle.
If you’re inspired to give a senior pet a chance, please visit your local shelter soon! And if you’ve already opened your heart to a golden oldie, tell us about your experience in the comments below.

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Reward Offered in Two Red Wolf Shootings in North Carolina

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The Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust are offering a reward of up to $5,000 per case for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for illegally shooting two endangered red wolves. The HSUS and HSWLT offer adds to an existing total reward of $2,500 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The case: According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, on Oct. 28 one red wolf who had been shot was discovered near south of Roper and west of Lake Phelps, in Washington County.  A second wolf was found shot on Oct. 30 in the same area. Red wolves are protected under federal law and shooting them is illegal.
“Red wolves are teetering on the brink of extinction and these illegal shootings are devastating for the species,” said Kim Alboum, North Carolina state director for The HSUS. “We applaud the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their tireless work to investigate these shootings.”
The Investigators: Anyone with information about these cases is asked to contact Resident Agent in Charge John Elofson at 404-763-7959, Refuge Officer Frank Simms at 252-216-7504, or North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Officer Robert Wayne at 252-216-8225.

Biao Skincare Joins The HSUS Be Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Campaign

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Biao Skincare, Beautiful Inside and Out has joined the effort to end unnecessary animal testing for cosmetics in the U.S. The Humane Society of the United States’ Be Cruelty-Free campaign welcomes the support of BIAO Skincare, which was launched in 2010 by U.S. Army soldier Nicole Baldwin.
While on deployment in Iraq, Baldwin was subjected to sun damage, dust, stress and other environmental factors affecting the health of her skin. After returning from Iraq and unsuccessful trials of skin products promising improvements, Baldwin became a licensed esthetician and learned everything about skincare.
Her line of products is natural, sustainable and cruelty-free. The packaging uses 100 percent post-consumer content embedded with seeds, which turns into a vase for the flowers harvested in the plant box. Baldwin recruited friends and colleagues to test her products, and now Biao boasts the motto: “beautiful women tested,” not animal tested.
Be Cruelty-Free, spearheaded by The HSUS and Humane Legislative Fund in the U.S. and by Humane Society International around the world, is the largest global campaign to end cosmetics animal testing
.

To The Rescue! Florida to Benefit The Humane Society of the United States’ Life-Saving Stop Puppy Mills Campaign

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The Humane Society of the United States presents To the Rescue! Florida on Jan. 23, 2014, to benefit and celebrate the life-saving work of its Stop Puppy Mills Campaign. Responsible for saving thousands of dogs and puppies, The HSUS travels across the country to help animals in need from deplorable conditions at puppy mills.
The first annual Florida gala will gather social, business, entertainment and political leaders to support one cause vital to animal welfare in the United States at Club Colette, in Palm Beach, Fla. The evening will include dinner, exclusively created by Sublime’s Nanci Alexander and executive chef Jose Oliver, entertainment and an award ceremony.
The award will be presented to Paige Rense Noland for her dedication to stopping puppy mills, including her help to establish The HSUS Puppy Mill Tip Line Reward Fund to help law enforcement catch illegal mill operators. Paige was the driving force behind the Breeder Surrender Fund, which helps with the rescue, medical care and placement of discarded mill dogs.
The event is co-hosted by James Berwind, member of The HSUS National Council, and Therese Mersentes, member of The HSUS Florida State Council. The event’s leadership committee includes, Jeffrey Arciniaco, Arthur Benjamin, Anthony Cummings, Kristen Kelly Fisher, Frances Hayward, Deborah Robinson, Ardath Rosengarden, Wendy Safchik, Leslie Sardinia, Richard Schechter and Jolene and Larry Shapiro.
Puppy mills contribute to pet overpopulation and condemn countless dogs to a lifetime of suffering in squalid living conditions. Over the past five years, The Humane Society of the United States has partnered with law enforcement to help rescue 10,000 dogs and shut down 50 mills. The HSUS works to inform consumers of dangers of buying puppy mill dogs, though its investigations and educational and outreach campaigns, and also works for stronger policy reforms at the state and federal levels, including new U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations on commercial dog breeders who had previously escaped oversight by selling to consumers using the Internet, mail or phone.

China Plans to Phase Out Mandatory Cosmetics Animal Testing

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HSI and The HSUS’ Be Cruelty-Free Campaign Celebrates Major Victory
Humane Society International
Humane Society International and The Humane Society of the United States’ Be Cruelty-Free campaign welcomes the announcement by China's Food & Drug Administration that from June 2014, China plans to remove its mandatory animal test requirements for domestically manufactured cosmetic products. For the first time ever, Chinese companies producing "non-special use cosmetics" such as shampoo or perfume will have the option to substantiate product safety using existing safety data for raw ingredients, or European Union-validated non-animal tests instead of having to submit product samples to the government for testing on rabbits, mice and rats. HSI estimates that as many as 300,000 rabbits, mice and other animals may be subject to cosmetics chemical testing each year in China alone.
The CFDA's announcement comes less than five months after the successful launch of HSI’s groundbreaking Be Cruelty-Free China campaign. Based in Beijing, HSI's team has been working diligently with Chinese policymakers and regulators to advance the acceptance of non-animal tests and accelerate a move away from animal testing. This culminated in the first-ever review of China's cosmetics law in 20 years, with Be Cruelty-Free China submitting a detailed technical proposal outlining cosmetics safety testing without animals.
Troy Seidle, HSI's Be Cruelty-Free director, said: “This news from China marks a major milestone in our campaign and could constitute a significant watershed moment in our global effort to end cosmetics animal testing worldwide. HSI's team has prioritized efforts to transform the future for animals in laboratories in China. This development is only the beginning of what we hope to be a paradigm shift towards 21st-century science without animals. We will meet with Beijing officials in the coming days to look closely at the detail of this cosmetics announcement, but it looks like there could at last be a bright future for cruelty-free companies in China and hope on the horizon for an end to cosmetics cruelty.”
Initially the new rules will only apply to cosmetics manufactured in China. However, CFDA has stated that once the new system has been established, it may be expanded to include imported products and certain “special use” cosmetics as well. This would be a major step towards removing trade barriers between China and the EU, enabling cruelty-free companies worldwide to sell their products on the Chinese mainland without compromising their 'no animal testing' policies.
Be Cruelty-Free will continue to work with Chinese officials toward a complete ban on cosmetics animal testing, and in the meantime will work with its cruelty-free corporate partners to assess the new system once implemented next year. HSI, along with The HSUS and The Human Toxicology Project consortium, recently awarded an $80,000 grant to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences to provide hands-on training in non-animal tests to China’s government regulators and scientists.
Be Cruelty-Free China is part of the largest campaign in the world to end cosmetics animal testing. Globally, Humane Society International and its Be Cruelty-Free partners are leading the charge to end cosmetics cruelty in Australia, Brazil, China, Korea, New Zealand, Russia and beyond. Be Cruelty-Free USA is spearheaded by The HSUS and Humane Society Legislative Fund.

Ahold USA Pledges to Eliminate Controversial Pig Cages from Pork Supply Chain

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Nation’s fourth largest grocery chain becomes latest food company to address this critical animal welfare issue
Ahold USA, the parent company of Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Carlisle and Giant Landover with nearly 770 supermarkets in 13 states, along with Peapod, the nation’s leading online grocery shopping and delivery service, announced it is eliminating the lifelong confinement of pigs in cages from its supply chain.
The cages, used to confine breeding pigs so they are unable to turn around, have been criticized in recent years by animal welfare advocates, animal scientists, veterinarians and the food industry alike. This announcement earned applause from The Humane Society of the United States.
“We have set the goal that our suppliers will have moved from the daily use of gestation crates to open housing by 2022,” Ahold wrote. “Our intention is to work with suppliers who share our company’s values and who take a progressive approach to animal welfare.”
Josh Balk, director of food policy for The HSUS said, “We applaud Ahold USA’s move to join its peers in the food industry in addressing one of the most critical animal welfare issues in food production today. This industry titan’s decision to eliminate the perpetual confinement of breeding pigs inside small cages from their supply chain reinforces the food industry’s view of gestation crates as unsustainable and inhumane.”
Similar announcements made recently by Oscar Mayer, McDonald’s, Costco, Safeway, Kroger,  Quiznos and nearly 60 other leading food companies signal a reversal in a three-decade-old trend in the pork industry that leaves most breeding pigs confined day and night in gestation crates during their four-month-long pregnancies. This confinement system has come under fire from veterinarians, farmers, animal welfare advocates, animal scientists, consumers and others.
Facts
  • Nine U.S. states and the European Union have passed laws to ban the continual gestation crate confinement of breeding pigs, while many family farmers have been raising pigs without the use of gestation crates for generations.
  • Renowned animal welfare scientist and pork industry advisor, Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is clear on this issue: “Confining an animal for most of its life in a box in which it is not able to turn around does not provide a decent life.” Grandin further states, “We’ve got to treat animals right, and the gestation stalls have got to go.”

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