Month: July 2008

Misunderstanding over what HFAC “Certified Humane” means

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
WASHINGTON D.C.–A mix-up by Eggology liquid egg white
company founder Brad Halpern and publicist Amy Dunn about the
relationship between the Humane Farm Animal Care “Certified Humane”
program and the Humane Society of the U.S. led to late-summer
headaches for both HFAC and HSUS, after the web site
www.HumaneMyth.org alleged that HSUS had endorsed Eggology despite
opposing debeaking hens, which HFAC allows.
The HumaneMyth web site was launched in June 2008 by Tribe of
Heart sanctuary founders and video producers James LaVeck and Jenny
Stein in response to “An idea propagated by the animal-using industry
and some animal protection organizations that it is possible to use
and kill animals in a manner that can be fairly described as
respectful or compassionate or humane.”

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“Crush video” law overturned

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
PHILADELPHIA–The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
on July 18, 2008 held unconstitutional the 1999 federal law that
forbids selling videos of cruelty to animals. Passed in response to
videos depicting women and transvestites crushing small animals with
their feet, the law was used just once, to convict Robert J.
Stevens of Pittsville, Virginia, for selling videos of dogfighting
and “hog/dog rodeo.” His conviction was reversed by the 10-3
verdict.
“Usually, videos and photographs are protected as free
speech, even if they show illegal or abhorrent conduct,” explained
Los Angeles Times staff writer David G. Savage. “But in 1982, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sexual depictions of children could be
prosecuted as a crime despite the 1st Amendment. Government lawyers
said the animal cruelty law should be upheld on the same basis.
However, wrote Judge Brooks Smith for the majority,
“Preventing cruelty to animals, although an exceedingly worthy goal,
simply does not implicate interests of the same magnitude as
protecting children from physical and psychological harm.”

Does the Balluch arrest have anything to do with the price of free-range eggs in Austria?

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:

 

VIENNA–Arrested on May 21, 2008,
Association Against Animal Factories founder
Martin Balluch and nine other Austrian activists
remained in jail three months later, on charges
described by Balluch in a July 7, 2008
arraignment statement as “seven butanoic acid
stinkbombs, seven cases of broken windows,
three cases of sprayed graffiti or
paint-daubing, two cases of damage to hunting
platforms and to an empty, deserted pheasant
enclosure; two rescues of pigs and pheasants
without any damage to property; and one
threatening letter.”
The incidents occurred from 2002 through
2007. Fifteen of the 22 incidents targeted a
single furrier. Balluch and supporters have
alleged that the arrests, originally detaining
13 activists linked to seven organizations, were
timed to prevent the launch of an initiative
campaign seeking passage of an amendment to the
Austrian constitution that would incorporate a
guarantee of animal welfare.

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Feds funding egg industry effort to defeat California anti-caging initiative, suit alleges

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:

 

SAN FRANCISCO–U.S. Agricul-ture
Secretary Ed Schaefer personally approved giving
$3 million collected from egg producers for
co-promotions by the American Egg Board to the
agribusiness campaign against the California
Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, alleges a
lawsuit filed on August 13, 2008 by Californians
for Humane Farms.
The California Prevention of Farm Animal
Cruelty Act, Proposition Two on the 2008
California state ballot, would reduce the
stocking density for caged laying hens by 2015,
and after 2015 would prohibit raising pigs and
veal calves in crates that prevent them from
turning around and extending their limbs.
The American Egg Board money would more
than double the campaign fund in opposition to
Proposition Two, which had raised $2.16 million
as of August 12, 2008, according to the
California Secretary of State’s office.

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European Commission proposes a seal product import ban–maybe

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
BRUSSELS–The European Commission on July
23, 2008 adopted a proposal “for a regulation
banning the trading of seal products within,
into, and from the European Union,” said the EC
press agency, “to ensure that products derived
from seals killed and skinned in ways that cause
pain, distress and suffering are not found on
the European market. Trade in seal products
would only be allowed,” the EC announcement
continued, “where guarantees can be provided
that hunting techniques consistent with high
animal welfare standards were used and that the
animals did not suffer unnecessarily.”
The caveats may set animal advocates up
for another disappointment like the one that
followed a 1991 proposed European ban on imports
of leghold-trapped furs. Enforcement,
originally to start in 1995, was repeatedly
delayed by U.S., Canadian, and Russian
diplomatic pressure. In July 1997 the ban was
amended by the European Union General Affairs
Council into a mere agreement to establish
“humane” trapping standards.
“After certain leghold traps and even
drowning sets, illegal in many countries, were
included in the standard” that was eventually
adopted by the International Standards
Organization, “the whole exercise lost impetus
and credibility,” summarized World Animal Net
founder Wim de Kok.

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Letters [July/Aug 2008]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
 
Saving turtles

In your July/August 2000 edition you mentioned that I had put
up $2,500 worth of turtle crossing signs at my own expense, with an
under-cost contribution of materials by Western Signs Inc. For an
update of how much this project has grown, please visit our web site.
–Michele Andre-St. Cyr
Safety Habitat Education Long Life
Rockland, Ontario
Canada
Phone: 613-446-9927
<motherturtle@lincsat.com>
<www.turtleshelltortue.org>
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Editorial: Updated expectations of animal charities

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2008:
If for just 15¢ you could ensure that
every donation you make to animal charity goes to
a charity that does what it claims to do, and
does it well, would you spend the 15¢?
The ordering price of the newly published
10th annual edition of the ANIMAL PEOPLE Watchdog
Report on Animal Charities is $25.00–about the
same as the average donation to any type of
charity these days. Divide the Watchdog Report
price by the 165 succinct reviews of prominent
animal charities that it contains, and the
average price per review is 15¢, barely a third
of the cost of mailing a donation.
The ANIMAL PEOPLE Watchdog Report on
Animal Charities helps you to target your
donations and bequests to accomplish more for
animals. The ANIMAL PEOPLE Watchdog Report
gives you an informed independent investigative
perspective on the 117 U.S. animal charities that
you are most likely to hear from by direct mail
or through e-mailings, or hear about in the
news, and on 48 foreign animal charities whose
work is of particular note. People who make large
donations, frequent donations, or are planning
their estates will find the ANIMAL PEOPLE
Watchdog Report especially helpful.
There are free online resources to which
the Watchdog Report may be compared– but only
superficially.

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