On Loving Animals...

Our good friends in upstate New York, Farm Sanctuary , scored a great victory yesterday in the state of New Jersey. This victory is a major bust with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) in legal handcuffs after the NJ Supreme Court handed down its decision. We can thank God for our legal system through which we can disprove what has been accepted as good practice or fact. The NJDA arguments, as I understand it, rest on the premise that routine practices makes them humane, by default. Well, Farm Sanctuary argued to the contrary, and won. Farm Sanctuary expects this decision in New Jersey to affect farm practices across the country. Congratulations to Farm Sanctuary! Farm animals across our country stand to benefit from their legal effort, and their landmark victory will serve as reference to other legal actions against the inhumane treatment of farm animals. Here is a copy of their announcement which better describes their victory: " Yesterday, Farm Sanctuary scored a

This video is pretty much self-explanatory. The Animal Kingdom Foundation is based in England and it supports the campaign against the dog meat trade in the Philippines. The AKF and their local representatives struck as soon as they could based on a new law. Take a look: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2008-07-31&sec=8&aid=68504

Once again, like today, and many more times henceforth, we cross the seas to see what's happening with animal welfare in the Philippines. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), the beleaguered guardian of our common ideals in Filipino society, reported on two cat rescues that have happy endings. I have often referred to PAWS as the proverbial candle in the wind, the lone glitter of light and hope that the darkness will not overcome. They are like the Earth, a blue marble of life hanging precariously amidst the dark expanse of space. I find it quite paradoxical that in a country of devout catholics animal cruelty is rampant. It looks like the gospels aren't getting through to most people. Shaun was discovered cowering along a narrow sidewalk in a tunnel. You can see from the photo how miserable his existence was before the rescue. Vehicular traffic could have ended his life at any moment. According to the PAWS report, they don't think that he just wandered into this d

It's a Friday night, but maybe you'd be home by the time 20/20 comes on. Tonight's feature are the elephants living in free range in Tennessee in a place called The Elephant Sanctuary. I think it will be on at 10 pm here on the East coast, but check your local listings anyway. Tonight's stars will be the elephants who previously lived in captivity, and are now in recovery. The show should warm many hearts out there.

Attention New Jerseyites...Now hear this...there are three bills in the New Jersey legislature meant to make life better for both animals and children in the state. American Humane would like us to take action in support of these bills by sending an email to our respective state representatives. The first bill is Senate Bill 1989/Assembly Bill 2981 . This bill would establish animal hoarding as a criminal and civil animal cruelty offense. Think a yard full of animals, and the owner doesn't give a hoot about them. https://secure2.convio.net/aha/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=SplashPage&id=573&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr009=si41ids9j1.app26a The Second bill is Assembly Bill 2668. This bill would require veterinarians to report animal cruelty and police officers to investigate possible domestic violence associated with animal cruelty reports. I think the spirit of this bill is good, but I wonder if this could deter some people from bringing in their animals fo

Some good news concerning the war on fur and seal hunting. Back in 2006, Swedish politician Carl Schlyter went along with the Humane Society International to observe the vicious seal hunt by the Canadians. I reckon that was enough to move him to sponsor a Written Declaration in the European Parliament, calling on all 27 EU member nations to ban the sale of seal fur pelts and other seal products. It passed. 425 Members of the European Parliament endorsed it, a record level of support. The latest good news is that the European Commission reacted by adopting a proposal to ban most trade in seal products within the European Union. If this ban goes into effect, the seal hunters of Canada will lose a big chunk of their market. We're talking death knell here, but we should be guardedly optimistic about this ban. It ain't over until its over. I remember when a seal-hunting boat capsized earlier this year, killing most of its crew, I screamed karma! Well, this bit of news from the EU

A little diversion here folks...This is not related to animal welfare. Instead, this post concerns car welfare. Well, it isn't very off topic considering that animal welfare advocates usually own cars. Don't we drive to the shelters and demonstrations? Don't we transport animals in our cars? Anyway, I have two cars at the moment, one 1996 Dodge Intrepid and a 1990 BMW 735 il . Both these cars are high mileage. The Dodge has 177,000 miles on it, and the beemer most recently passed a milestone. In fact, I was oblivious of it until today. It must have passed the 150,000 mile mark yesterday considering that today the odometer reads 150,051 miles. If we do the math, this means that I averaged 8336 miles a year which is below the accepted average of 12,000 miles a year, or 1,000 a month. Those who lease their vehicles will be quite familiar with these numbers. Obviously, I don't lease my vehicles considering that one is twelve years old and the other eighteen years old.

A heads-up from In Defense of Animals came in via email. It seems that the people at the airport are still at it. But, now, they have to answer more pointed questions. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Board of Commissioners ( Yes, their very own ) has demanded that Port Authority and JFK Airport staff explain on Thursday why the agency is continuing to round up feral cats at JFK Airport. Furthermore, the board would also like to know why they continue to refuse offers of assistance from the NYC Feral Cat Initiative to implement a humane Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program. Sounds like a bunch of out of control people out there at the airport who won't listen even to their own higher-ups. What : Rally for feral cats at JFK Airport When : Thursday, July 24th - 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Where : Port Authority Headquarters in Union Square, 225 Park Avenue South, (between 18th & 19th St.), New York City

Once again, we hear about the dedicated spirit and heroic sacrifices of animal lovers in our state of New Jersey. Ali Kazemian has gone to prison for his principles, a rare occurance nowadays i must say. It's not easy to find a stand-up-and-be-counted guy like Ali Kazemian. In my opinion, he has earned our respect and support. I have not met him personally although we belong to the same group, NJARA. I do hope that one day I will have the pleasure and honor of meeting this man. I think in the short run those who oppose him will have a say in this world, several moments of importance, but in the long run it will be Ali Kazemian who will be remembered and cherished. A true friend of New Jersey bears. Here is a recent report from NJARA: HISTORY : In July of 2007, bear activist, Ali Kazemian was arrested on public property for pouring urine in the street to stop bears from coming into a neighborhood where a bear trap was set on a homeowner's property. This trap was laced with all

We know that the Chinese authorities first rounded up thousands of cats in preparation for the summer Olympics, and then followed that up with a similar roundup of dogs in Beijing. They claimed that they sent the animals to a temporary holding area, like a shelter, outside the city. But who believes that, really. It's not a shelter if you hold them there to wait out their execution. However, no country will boycott the Olympics because of animal cruelty. Sad, but true. Here's a report concerning the serving of dog meat in Beijing restaurants when the Olympics are on: " Beijing takes dog off the menu Published: Saturday, 12 July, 2008, 01:57 AM Doha Time BEIJING: Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month's Olympics and September's Paralympics. Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China's capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants. A directive from the Bei

Here's a family that needs to be adopted! Well, you can adopt the individual dogs but right now they are a family. Cloye is the mother, and a very good mother at that. She's nursed her puppies for the last six weeks, and the puppies should be adoptable by next week. The white pup, I found, is the most playful while one of them has one blue eye. But they are all loveable and happy little dogs. Cloye is friendly and understanding. She watched us clean up her pups without any aggression towards us, as if she understands that we are there to help. They have been at the shelter, at this point, about three weeks now. We think that Cloye is an Australian cattle dog, but her pups don't seem to have taken on much of her features. Cloye has no issues and she is easy to walk. Please come to the shelter and take a serious look at them. http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NJ28.html UPDATE : Cloye adopted Aug. 24, 2008. All the puppies have also been adopted earlier.

There's an animal rescue group in Brooklyn, New York who needs some help. They've purchased a vehicle to use in their rescue work, and now there is a call to help them with some bills like car insurance. Their logic is simple: they can't rescue the needy animals if they can't get to them. They rescue animals from euthanasia lists, and they take in all animals including the sick ones. I have already sent in my humble donation, and maybe you can help them too. They do good work for the animals, and animal lovers who can't themselves help the animals directly should help those who can. In Our Hands Rescue is based at 373 92nd Street, Brooklyn, NY with a phone number of 718.836.4023. Here is their Petfinder webpage: http://www.petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?shelterid=NY558&sort=Identifier&preview=1 And their donation page is here: http://inourhandsrescue.chipin.com/the-rescue-vehicle As you can see, they are nearing their goal of $2,000. And her

Here's a good report by an NYU student on the problem of New York City's horse-drawn carriages. Yes, I said Problem. A good point was raised here, will New York City cease to be a great tourist destination if the horse-drawn carriages were eliminated? You know the answer to that. To which, I raise my own parallel point: does a ride on an NYC horse-drawn carriage figure prominently in the plans of tourists coming to New York? I don't think so. If anything else, I think it comes only as a second thought. So, why don't we get rid of this inhumane business? I mean, eliminating horse-drawn carriages isn't like closing down the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The New York Public Library or the Empire State Building, is it? I've lived five years of my life in the city, and I have worked on Fifth Avenue for nearly thirty years now. I have never ridden on a horse-drawn carriage, never had the desire even when I wasn't an animal rights activist, nor do I consider them rep

Want to stick up for the billions of chickens slaughtered for KFC each year? Join local activists this Thursday in a peaceful demonstration to show KFC that abusing chickens doesn't fly. We hope you’ll attend the demonstration and encourage your community to boycott KFC, which supports cruel practices like breaking birds' wings and legs, cutting their throats while the animals are still conscious, and scalding them to death in defeathering tanks: What : Demonstration outside KFC Where : KFC, 780 Main St., Passaic When : Thursday, July 10, 2-5 p.m. If you have any questions or to RSVP for the demonstration, please contact Ronald at xunspokenwordsx@live.com . Visit KentuckyFriedCruelty.com for more information and to check out our undercover investigations of KFC supplier slaughterhouses. For all animals, Brooke Jones Activist Liaison People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals BrookeJ@peta.org

PETA has once again been able to root out those who practice animal cruelty in the name of science, those who hide behind their white lab coats, rubber gloves and plastic goggles, their high education, proclaiming that they are at the cutting edge of science, those who say it's all for our own good and we should just turn a blind eye to the suffering of lab animals. How nice of them to think of us. As for me, if my own good comes at the expense of innocent animals undergoing cruel and painful experiments, maybe it's time they don't think of my welfare. Leave my own good to myself and let those hapless, imprisoned and miserable animals go. Heck, I am not even a smoker, and so Marina Picciotto's work on nicotine addiction is as relevant to me as another person's toe fungus. The scientific community has done enough study and experimentation in the past to come to the basic conclusion that nicotine is addictive, bad for you, but can be overcome. That's all you need

Meet Jimbo. He's extra large, and so is his heart. Jimbo has no issues, and he is simply a good and sweet dog. Maybe his large size is a disadvantage, but there are people out there who prefer large dogs like Jimbo. As you can see, some bright individual fooled around with his ears and now poor Jimbo no longer has his ear flaps. The things people do to animals! Anyway, Jimbo is unfazed by it and his hearing has not been compromised. Jimbo walks nicely on a leash with no tug-of-war going on between him and the human. If you're looking for a gentle giant, Jimbo is the one. Please take a look at him at the Bloomingdale Animal Shelter Society in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. He'll be a great companion. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11236251 UPDATE : Jimbo adopted August 3, 2008!

Here's some good news from the Humane Society of the United States. They raided a puppy mill in Tennessee, shut it down, and liberated all 700 animals from their hellish existence. From the video, it looked like a pretty large operation with numerous volunteers and dog carriers. The rescue cost HSUS $105,000 altogether. There is no animal control in Hickman County so these animals will be kept at a temporary shelter. The property belongs to a certain Patricia Adkisson. Adkisson, in 1998, was charged with 195 counts of animal neglect and cruelty whenr police and animal officials found hundreds of malnourished dogs and puppies on her property. Three convictions resulting from these charges were overturned in 2001 after an appeals court found that police had searched her property improperly. Thus, violating her constitutional rights. Don't buy animals at a pet store . You will only perpetuate the cruelty of puppy mills. Only 15% of the pet-seeking Americans go to shelters to find

A Happy Fourth of July to all Americans. God Bless America

Ignorant me. I can't even tell you what kind of bird this is. It's a beautiful one though. So, I took a picture. I love nature. Everything in it. I don't match one's beauty with another. I feel that every living being has its own unique beauty to it.

In anticipation of the Fourth of July celebrations, I am presenting some photos of the USS Missouri, now on permanent exhibit at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. I believed it ended its service to the country in 1992 when it sailed into the harbor and docked not too far from the USS Arizona Memorial. Its sister ship, by the way, is the USS New Jersey which is now docked somewhere in the City of Brotherly Love ( I expect you to know what city that is ). Anyway, this is one magnificent ship. On the starboard side, towards the second gun turret, you'll find a plaque marking the spot where the Japanese finally surrendered to the Americans, ending the war in the Pacific. You've seen that photo before somewhere, haven't you? That took place on this ship in Tokyo Bay. You'll take more than an hour to go through this ship, up and down steep ladders, through open hatches, making your way through a labyrinth of officers' mess halls and quarters. Towards the end of its service, this s

Of course, for those of us who are in our middle ages, or a little past it, when we hear the name Linda Blair we think of the little girl with a twisting head in the movie... Well, you know it. It seems that Ms. Blair continues to twist her head, but now in search of animals to help. She practices compassionate living, and here is her website: http://www.lindablairworldheart.com/