On Loving Animals...

Back in November 2008, animal rights advocates and organizations were disappointed when the trial of Ringling Barnum & Bailey Circus didn't begin as scheduled due to another dilatory tactic by the defendants. They introduced another set of experts that necessarily had to be vetted, or cross-examined, by the plaintiffs before the trial could begin. Ringling has successfully delayed their court appearance by several years by employing such dilatory tactics. In August 2007, Tracy Silverman , General Counsel for the Animal Welfare Institute , said "After five years of legal wrangling, we look forward to unveiling the curtain at trial to expose the suffering and death of elephants at the hands of the so-called 'Greatest Show on Earth". These magnificent animals will finally have their day in Court." Back then, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the federal district court in Washington D.C. scolded the circus for "wasting a considerable amount of time and resources...

In case you haven't heard, truck driver Kevin McCaskill (37) of Willingboro , NJ was sentenced to three years in the state prison for dogfighting. He lives on Tower Lane where local police found paraphernalia consistent with dogfighting, items he claimed he used as a breeder. A breeder? Well, the dogs in his possession appeared to be in bad shape which was the very issue that led his neighbors to call the authorities. Five emaciated and injured pit bulls were found in outside pens in his yard plus blood-stained carpet and fighting ring boards were discovered in the basement. Stephen Eife , an assistant Burlington County prosecutor stated that equipment such as treadmills, collars, ropes and sticks were found inside the home in March 2007. Sy Goldberg , deputy superintendent of the state Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, asked " Neighbors and public utility workers should take notice if they see four or five pit bull dogs in a yard and should contact us or th...

Learn more about Lowe's at peta.org Capturing a mouse with a glue trap is probably one act of animal cruelty that many of us have committed. I know that years ago I set the traps in a rental apartment in New York City, and I didn't think much of the cruelty that resulted from it. It was just catching mice for all I know. Yes, I was a neanderthal once. I am sure that many people right now are like me back then, and it's time to make a change. Lowe's has been specially targeted by PETA for selling these traps. You don't have to be a Nobel Prize winner to know that animals experience hours of agony before death actually occurs. The problem with these glue traps magnifies when you have other animals in the house. Can you really be sure that they won't put their paws or noses into the glue? Even birds can get trapped. It seems to me that leaving a glue trap on the floor is like leaving a burning candle unattended. PETA offers a humane mouse trap at their website. htt...

I am crossposting an announcement from the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance. ============================================================== Kaya's Kitchen 817 Belmar Plaza, Belmar, NJ 07719 Phone: 732-280-1141 www.kayaskitchennj.com (for directions) Sunday, April 5, 2008 10am - 1pm (please show up as close to 10am as possible) BREAKFAST BUFFET [ALL VEGAN] MENU Tofu Scramble, Thick-Cut French Toast Pancakes & Waffles, Sausage & Ham, Fruit Salad, Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Coffee, Tea. RESERVATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 4/1/09. We always sell out, so reserve early.Send your check/money order, for $35 per person to: New Jersey Animal Rights AlliancePO Box 174Englishtown, NJ 07726 Please write "Kaya's Brunch" in the memo line.Or, make a quick payment by PayPal through: www.nj-ara.org/events.htm . Call 732-446-6808 with any questions.

Behold, the new logo for the Vancouver Winter Olympics---that is if the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee chooses to ignore the painful truth. Sorry, Canada, but some of your citizens choose to wage a war on seals, making an annual olympic sport out of killing hundreds of thousands of baby seals in the most horrific, brutal, and crude way. The killings have been described as " the anguish that a mother seal feels as she watches her baby being beaten to death just a few feet away from her is horrifying and can be heard in her desperate cries and seen in her attempts to get to her baby ." Believe it or not, last year's hunt killed 205,000 seals for their fur. It's all business for some people, but for many people like us that's inhumane, brutal, and the killing of innocent living beings for the sake of fashion. Please express your objection to the annual Canadian seal hunt by sending a formatted email to the Vancouver Olympic Committee. It takes only a few seco...

Greetings from California. My wife and I arrived here last night for a two-week vacation in the San Bernardino area. We come here almost every year, around this time, to visit her family. For lunch today, my brother-in-law brought us to a newly opened vegetarian restaurant in Redlands. His wife and daughter-in-law are vegetarians and he's making his first moves towards the lifestyle. Anyway, we ordered the staple dishes---orange chicken, sizzling platter, Buddhist delight, a beef dish. I was glad we were actually in a vegetarian restaurant because my wife refuses to even try one in New Jersey. Well, she was pleasantly surprised. I have tried convincing her that vegetarian food has gone a long way from being just alfalfa sprouts and carrots. Vegetarian food is not rabbit food. There is a lot of creativity and flavor in vegetarian food. She actually liked it. I think we've made a breakthrough here.

You've heard of the ongoing bush fires in Australia where over 200 people have perished and thousands of animals have reportedly been lost. This bush fire is believed to have been intentionally started, but that is always the suspicion whenever there's a bush fire. IFAW is on the ground in Australia, and they have put together a slide show show for us.

Because I belong to an group of animal welfare advocates in the Philippines, I can read the numerous discussions between group members and people who, seems to me, just signed up to make an urgent plea for help. There were two this week who begged for assistance concerning two dogs who were tied up under rain and sun with no food nor water. One was described to be on the verge of a heat stroke. The images that filled my mind disturbed me immensely, but I am also encouraged at the same time. There is a growing number of animal welfare advocates in the Philippines and ordinary citizens are beginning to reject animal cruelty, willing to take personal action against it. Just from this website, I can see from the visitor data that many are seeking information on how to report animal cruelty in the Philippines. You can find my previous post on the subject HERE . Keep in mind that your complaint has legal standing via the Philippine Animal Welfare Act which is also known as the RA 8485 ....

PETA has decided to " relaunch " their campaign against fast food giant and cholesterol central, McDonald's, for their unwillingness or inability to curb the cruel ways of their supplier of chicken meat. Evidently, the effort to make McDonald's more humane has been going on for a while to no avail. Why continue to embrace and employ a cruel method of killing chickens when there is a humane alternative? McDonald's needs to take a vacation. They don't have to be cave people everyday of their lives. According to PETA, " All of McDonald's U.S. chicken suppliers use a system called "electrical immobilization" to kill birds, which involves dumping birds out of transport crates and hanging them upside-down in metal shackles—often resulting in broken bones, extreme bruising, and hemorrhaging. The birds then have their throats cut while they are still conscious and are often immersed in tanks of scalding-hot water while they are still alive and ab...

This is Reno. I featured his rescue by members of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) several months ago. You can read about his story HERE . The director of PAWS, Anna Cabrera, sent me this most recent photo of Reno, now fully recovered and enjoying his life at the rehab center. It looks like he's ready for adoption. According to Anna, Reno is the Houdini of the group. He's got this special talent for unlatching his kennel door as often as three times a week, sending shelter volunteers running after him inside the compound each time. Bad boy, Reno. I hope your forever family comes very soon.

Our very own New Jersey SPCA issued a bulletin pertaining to a rottweiler who was shot and killed in Warren County on or around February 2, 2009. Where the dog was actually killed is not known, but someone was seen throwing a dog from a vehicle on the long driveway approaching the Antler Ridge Wildlife Sanctuary in Frelinghuysen, N.J. Upon examination, it was found that the dog had been shot twice. The dog is estimated to be five years old. The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for any information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this murder. Yes, I called it murder. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call NJSPCA's animal cruelty hotline at 1-800-582-5979 . If this dog was five years old, then it had been seen or known by many people in the Warren County area. There must be people out there who knew this dog and its owner. They didn't live in a vacuum. It'...

An injured koala gets a drink of water from Local CFA firefighter David Tree at Mirboo North. Compassion. Love of Animals. Photo by Mark Pardew of the Associated Press.

The Animal Liberation Front and other news agencies reported that in October 2008 1500 captive mink were liberated from a fur farm on Simonsen Road in Astoria, Oregon. This is the third time in 2008 in Oregon that innocent animals were given their natural right to freedom. The mink, obviously, were destined to be adornments for the apathetic, unscrupulous, misguided, status-seeking consumers. Strange how these people refer to these items as "my fur coat. " Well, it isn't their fur coat because humans don't grow fur. That fur coat belonged to an animal whose skin and fur were forcibly ripped off and the animal dumped on a heap, left to slow death, naked and unprotected. Only the barbarians will not be moved by the cruelty and suffering. You'll know who they are on the streets.

I am crossposting an email from the Caring Activist Against Fur Group (CAAFGROUP) about their planned demonstrations in the near future. =============================================== Have A Heart Don't Buy Fur anti fur march & protest Sat. Feb. 14th 12:45 gather at Columbus Circle 1:00 March down Central Park South 1:30 to 3:00 Protest Bergdorf Goodman 754 5th Ave. btwn. 58th and 57th Streets Feb. 14th is the anniversary of when we at Caring Activists Against Fur started! Please join us. info@caafgroup.com President's Day Week anti fur protest NJ Where Steven Corn Furs 358 Route 17 North Paramus NJ When Sat. Feb. 21 1:00 to 2:30pm Please be prompt, we will reach a ton of cars that day! info@caafgroup.com Any questions: 201-927-3617 (Caring Activists Against Fur)

Here is the ad that everyone is talking about. Banned by NBC from the Superbowl, this ad has now been viewed over a million times all around the world. I don't really know if being a vegetarian can bring about a better sex life than others. We don't know what other people do and feel, for sure, and so how can we compare? But I do believe that being a vegetarian will make you a healthier person, and your sexual desire and satisfaction will improve. That's probably where the better sex comes in. Inversely, if you are not well, sex is the last thing in your mind. Give up the meat. Live humanely and cleanly. Respect your body. Why eat a dead animal?

I am crossposting an email I received from the NJ Animal Rights Alliance: ATTN: Residents of Skillman, Belle Mead, Harlingen, Rocky Hill and Montgomery Township . A group of concerned citizens are seeking to halt the development of 88 acres of undeveloped land in Montgomery Township. A large portion of this tract is wetlands and contains an abundant amount of wildlife. They have strong reason to believe that this land is the home of a few of New Jersey’s endangered species: Bog Turtle, Corn Snake, Short Eared Owl and the Northern Goes Hawk as well as threatened species Coopers Hawk and the Barred Owl. If you would like to join them in fighting the destruction of these, and other, animals' homes, they ask that you attend the next planning board meeting on Monday, February 9, 2009 at 7:30 pm at the Montgomery Township Municipal Building, 2261 Van Horne Road (Route 206), Belle Mead. Here is more information: Montgomery Township Residents We Need Your Help! Hello fellow Montgomery Tow...

I was looking over some of my issues of PETA's AnimalTimes , and returned to the article about Stella McCartney . If you don't know her yet, she's a prolific fashion designer and the daughter of famous parents. They don't need any introduction, only that they've made this world a better place by raising a better person. Stella shares her parents' love and respect for animals. Unlike Armani and Karan , Stella refuses to use fur in any of her designs. Forgive me, Stella, for uttering those noxious names in the same breath. The only things I would buy from those labels would be a doormat with their names on it. This anti-fur policy stems from Stella's own personal conviction, not induced by bad publicity from animal rights groups. Here are some quotes from Stella McCartney: " I, frankly, don't think most designers have the balls to watch animals' writhing and being slaughtered; they don't want to admit they're responsible for such sufferi...

From the Multiply site of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society , a couple of photos of a homeless, orange tabby who was rescued by a concerned citizen during, of all times, midnight mass. So, this was back in December 2008. This citizen witnessed neighborhood kids bullying this kitten, manhandling it, treating it like a a rag doll. Yes, animal abuse right under the shadow of a catholic church, believe it. So, the lady got up from her pew, in the middle of the mass, to confront the kids and save the kitten from further abuse. This kitten has lived with the lady since the rescue. Love of animals. Personal action. Compassion. From all these, a better world.

Something happened on the way to Heaven. For those who love and adore the purity of breeds, take note. There is a BBC documentary on the evils of inbreeding. Pure breeds could be spelled H-E-L-L if your pet happens to be at the point in genetic engineering that is more akin to a train wreck than perfection. I truly hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you need to be aware of the problems stemming from pure-breeding. Be warned. This video report contains images of convulsing animals, sick animals, and stressed out pet owners. For those who have no heart/verve/stomach for euthanasia, you will beg for it when you find your pet in these conditions: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44215931

Reading up on animal experimentation, I came upon some information on companies who raise animals for experimentation. So, you've got universities and their white labcoated pseudo-scientists and then you've got people whose only business is to breed animals for a miserable and torture-filled life(?) in the laboratories. Isn't this so sick? Well, of course, our state of New Jersey has a few of these devil's laboratories. Just for your information, in case, you happen to live around these areas and you didn't know that such barbarity existed under your noses: