PETA

PETA might not be all that they say they are..

1)PETA put to death 1065 cats out of a total of 1608 at its Norfolk, Virginia headquarters in 1999, PETA also euthanizes a high percentage of animals with a low percentage of adoptions and transfers. Because PETA has excessive amounts of cash, last year they raked in nearly $29 Million dollars, and because PETA prez (Ingrid Newkirk complained that actually taking care of animals costs more than killing them) admitted they could immediately become a no-kill shelter, but it appears that PETA has other financial priorities.

2)like, givng money, tens of thousands of dollars, to convicted arsonists and other criminals. Just one example, PETA paid $70,400 to the ALF [Animal Liberation Front- an extremist terrorist organization-that caused over $45 million dollars of damage to the fur industry and medical research] activist Rodney Coronado (who burned down a Michigan State University research Lab with a fire bomb)

3) PETA targets young children with comics.

4) In June 2005, police staked out a dumpster in Ahoskie, North Carolina after finding over 100 corpses of dead animals in one month. There they saw 2 PETA employes in a registered PETA van dump 18 dead animals it to the trash container. 13 more dead animals were found inside the van. Each PETA employee were charged with 25 felony charged [22 of animal cruelty and 3 charges of obtaining property under false pretense (PETA had euthanized 3 cats from a vet after promising to find the animals a new home)]. PETA prez, Newkirk disapproved the aninmal dumping and stated "PETA has never made a secret of the fact that most of the animals picked up in North Carolina are euthanized." PETA has argued that there are far more unwanted dogs and cats than there are good homes. (In the US, millions are euthanized every year.) and that euthanizing dogs and cats is more humane than leaving them on the street or putting in a cage in a shelter for the rest of their lives. Though the charges were all dropped because the animals were not killed 'cruelly', PETA's views have not changed and they would rather kill animals than give them the change to be adopted.

You decide if PETA is good or bad, don't believe what anyone says without confirming that it is right. PETA appears good but isn't and the center of consumer freedom and activist cash view the humane society as the same low level with PETA. We need our opinions.

for more information go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETA
http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

for PETA pro sties go to
www.peta.org
_________________________________________________________
PETA's response

Thank you for your e-mail to PETA. I am happy to address the issues you raise.

The information you have forwarded to us appears to have been copied directly off the Web site for a group called the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF). The CCF is a front group for KFC, Outback Steakhouse, Philip Morris, logging interests, cattle ranchers, and other animal exploiters who kill millions of animals every year, not out of pity, but out of greed. While I would be happy to address all of these issues, doing so would require a response that is dozens of pages long. I will therefore be supplying you with general information; if you have a few more specific questions you would like to ask, please let me know and I will answer them for you.

As for the CCF, they feel threatened by our efforts to put an end to such abusive practices as eating meat, wearing fur, and hunting. In order to discredit us, this reactionary group posts prejudicial and untrue material on their Web sites, including quotations that are either entirely false or are taken out of context and misleading or otherwise inaccurate statements. In addition to PETA, this group targets the HSUS, Farm Sanctuary, National Public Radio, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). To learn more about the CCF, please visit http://www.ConsumerDeception.com.

Please be assured that PETA works to educate the public about the horrors of animal suffering through peaceful means; we do not engage in activities that are harmful to anyonehuman or non-human. PETA is a legally registered charity organization, and despite the efforts of detractors like the CCF, our tax-exempt status with the government has once again been reaffirmed. For details, please go to http://www.PETA.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=6401.

As for our euthanasia statistics, it is first important to note that PETA does not operate a shelter. Because we don't run a shelter, the majority of the animals we accept are those than are injured, aggressive, elderly or otherwise unadoptable. We are a shelter of last resort, offering humane euthanasia to animals who are often rejected by the local shelter in Norfolk (a so-called "no-kill" facility), and who would otherwise suffer a slow and painful end. For the adoptable animals we do accept, we refer most to known shelters with high public traffic, although we have managed to place many animals in excellent, lifelong homes.

We certainly believe as many animals as possible should be placed in loving homes, and we've found homes for thousands of animals over the years. As I'm sure you know, however, loving homes are in limited supply, and we don't believe that animals should be warehoused in substandard shelters, or "euthanized" in horrific ways, as they are at many rural shelters we've tried to help (http://www.helpinganimals.com/spay_turnAwayShelters_pounds.aspnorthhampton).

The CCF and other groups have recently made misleading claims about PETAs euthanasia rate compared to other shelters, such as the Norfolk SPCA. When the Norfolk SPCA implemented a selective-admission policy to reduce its euthanasia rate, the number of animals taken in by other area shelters naturally increased. The nearby Virginia Beach SPCA, which accepts all animals and does not charge a drop-off fee, accepted 71 animals from Norfolk in one month alone. In 2004, the Norfolk SPCA took in only 1.7 percent of all homeless animals in the areathats only 765 out of 45,450 homeless cats and dogs. These kinds of shelters only pass the burden of euthanasia to someone else, so it is a matter of apples and oranges when compared to PETAs euthanasia rate.

While some of the animals we take in are lost companion animals or adoptable strays, most of the animals we receive are broken beings for whom euthanasia is, without a doubt, the most humane option. To cite a local instance, our caseworkers were able to gain custody of a doglocked to a 15 pound chainwho was starved until she was severely emaciated. We had to carry her into the emergency clinic because she could barely walk. A vet recommended that the most humane option for her was a peaceful and dignified release from her suffering. We pursued criminal charges against those responsible for her condition, leading to their convictions for cruelty to animals. To learn more, please see http://www.HelpingAnimals.com/f-asiasstory.asp. On another occasion, when a power-line transformer explosion burned a flock of starlings, PETA was the only agency to come to the birds aid, offering the animals a painless escape from their suffering.

PETA receives calls every week from people who do not have the inclination or money to provide vet care. Many of these people request that we euthanize their animal because they cannot afford to have them euthanized by a vet or because the animal would suffer excessive stress and pain if transported. Unlike no kill shelters, PETA does not refuse animals simply because euthanasia is the only humane option for them; so many of the animals we take in are brought to us because they have been rejected by other facilities. PETA will not turn its back on these animals simply because they will make our "numbers" look bad.

As you know, the best way to save the lives of homeless animals is through spay/neuter programs. Our spay and neuter clinic focuses much of its work in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where we offer free and low-cost surgeries. To date, we have sterilized more than 28,000 in our clinic. With $45 a person could either care for a dog in a no-kill shelter for about three days, or they could sterilize one animal, preventing the births of at least eight animals from this animal and her offspring in just one year and preventing the births of as many as 67,000 dogs in six years and 420,000 cats in seven years. For more information on PETA's low cost spay/neuter program, please visit http://www.helpinganimals.com/about_SNIP.asp.

We encourage you to visit our web site for more information on these subjects. The following pages should be useful to you:

Turn-away shelters: http://www.helpinganimals.com/spay_turnAwayShelter.asp
Shelters we've helped: http://www.helpinganimals.com/f-nc.asp
Our Community Animal Project: http://www.helpinganimals.com/about_cap.asp

I hope this information is helpful to you. Thanks again for your e-mail, and for your compassion for animals.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Collins
PETA Correspondent

"There will be no justice as long as man will stand with a knife or with a gun and destroy those who are weaker than he is."

--Isaac Bashevis Singer
http://www.goveg.com/belcross.asp

Also, this information came many different sources, not one, and, if you noticed, lots of the the things I brought up in my email to PETA were ignored

Cute but disturbing (PETA2 for kids)

PETA's attack on videogames

Pet Overpopulation

Each year, in the United States, 3-4 million cats and dogs are euthanized. And according to the ASPCA, 5 out of 10 dogs and 7 out of 10 cats are euthanized just because there aren't enough homes for them. Pet Overpopulation happens because of the birth of new puppies and kittens into a world that doesn't have space for the animals it already has. Puppy Mills and Backyard Breeders add to this problem. Puppy Mills are mass dog-breeding operations. The dogs are kept in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, exposed to the elements, and often do not receive adequate food, water, or veterinary care. People who run Puppy Mills are only interested in making money and the animals from the these mills often suffer from physical problems, temperament issues and hereditary disease. Dogs from Puppy mills can have Parvo, hurt paws from the chicken wire ground, and as they grow older they are more likely to develop respiratory infections and pneumonia. Hereditary defects include hip dysplasia. There also many deadly hereditary disorders. Backyard Breeders breed dogs for profit, they are often inexperienced and breed animals without selection for important genetic traits. To ensure that the puppy you get comes from a responsible breeder you have to see where the puppies are raised. Most responsible breeders will not sell their puppies to pet stores, because they want to ensure that their puppies will go to a good homes. This is the Humane Society's list of what a good breeder should do. The little things like neutering your own pet can help stop companion animal overpopulation.

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of Whales. There are two types of whaling commercial whaling and traditional whaling. Traditional whaling is very different from commercial whaling. Traditional whaling is usually done by Inuits (as it is done in Canada, America, and Greenland) or other natives and traditional hunting methods and techniques are used to hunt whales. Commercial whaling is usually done for profit and whales are hunted in greater quantities than they are in traditional whaling. The two main commercial whaling countries are Japan and Norway. The 2009 whaling quota for Japan is 850 minke whales and 50 fin whales^[1], while the 2009 whaling quota for Norway is 885 minke whales^[2]. Though, in 1986, commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling commission, it continues because of a loophole in the ban which allows for "lethal research" on whales^[3]. The purpose of lethal sampling is to obtain the age and precise dietary composition of the whale. Less precise results on dietary composition can be obtained from feces analysis. Some people believe that Japan is using lethal research as a cover to hunt whales.

"Japan initially argued that simple population distribution of whale species is enough to determine the level of sustainability of the hunt and argued that certain species of whale, particularly minke whales, are in sufficient number to be hunted. The anti-whaling side countered by arguing that more accurate composition of population distribution in term of age and sex distribution is needed to determine the sustainability, which ironically provided the justification for the Japanese hunt under the scientific research exemption."^[4]

According to a 2007 article in Time, Japanese consumption of whale meat has so low that local governments are encouraging schools to incorporate whale into their lunch programs.^[5^] Japan also argues that because of their history as a whaling nation and their past reliance on whale meat they should be allowed to hunt. Though, whale meat did not become a large part of the Japanese diet until after World War II.^[4] Pro-whalers also argue that whaling is needed to ensure that the whales do not compete with commercial fisheries. While anti-whalers argue that the 'small' number of whales does not affect the amount of fish. Anti-whalers also argue that whale watching produces more revenue then commercial whaling and that commercial whalers kill the curious whales who are not fearful of boats. Pro-whalers argue that whale watching and commercial whaling can coexist and that whaling takes place away from the coastal areas where whale watching takes place. Anti-whalers argue that whales are highly intelligent and therefore should not be killed, but pro-whales respond that pigs are also highly intelligent. Anti-whalers also say that whaling is cruel because the whales may not die instantaneously. Whalewatch said that in the 2002 to 2003 season 60% of the whales that Japan harpooned were not killed outright.^[6] They also reported that "the average estimated time to death is more than two minutes, and that some whales take over an hour to die. "^[6] Pro-whalers argue that
whaling is less cruel then the factory farming of animals.

Some controversial whaling activists are the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Greenpeace. The Sea Shepherd try to get in the way of the Japanese Whaling, there tactics include throwing rotten butter bombs and smoke bombs and trying to seal holes that drain water and blood from the whaling ships.^[7] The Steve Irwin, which holds Sea Shepherd activists, is the star of a reality show called "Whale Wars" featured on Animal Planet.

1. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25005433-2703,00.html

2. http://www.topnews.in/norway-sets-lower-quota-2009-minke-whaling-season-297722

3. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aZGKwFOpMcfo&refer=australia

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling

5. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1686486,00.html

6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3542987.stm

7.http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2009/01/22/50985_tasmania-news.html

Plastic in our Seas

Of the more than 200 billion pounds of plastic the world produces each year, about 10 percent ends up in the ocean. Nearly 90% of floating marine litter is plastic, durable materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene, Styrofoam, nylon and saran.

Most plastics don't biodegrade and take hundreds of years to break down. One type of plastic polluting the ocean are nurdles. nurdles, or Mermaid tears, are small pieces of plastic are designed to be melted down and molded into plastic materials. Nurdles are widely used by the plastic industry. Once in the ocean, nurdles attract oily toxic chemicals that don't readily dissolve in water, such as DDT and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls).

In the ocean there is two giant patches of floating trash. One is offshore of the united states and the other one is offshore of Asia. The one closer to the United States is the Eastern Garbage Patch and it is twice the size of Texas, it is larger than the one closer to Asia, the Western Garbage Patch. These giant floating trash accumulations in the ocean have occurred because of the gyres and have a very negative affect on the local marine life. Marine trash, mostly plastic, kills more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles each year. Some animals like albatross chicks ingest plastic instead of food. The plastic in their stomach gives them a false sense of fulness and they may starve to death because of it. Other animals like Sea turtles eat plastic bags which look like Jellyfish to them. Animals can also become entangled in fishing line, strapping bands and six-pack rings and die.

This Website below is one of the best places for more information on the garbage patches and other types of marine pollution.
Website for more information.

Factory Farming

Proposition 2 is the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act that will appear on California's November 2008 ballot.This Act would ensure that farm animals have enough room to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs and it affects cows, chickens, and pigs. The Humane society, ASPCA, and the Sierra Club support this bill. This a link to the prop 2 website. This is the Video we watched on factory farming (It is the 3rd one from the top), and here is a link to a pro-prop 2 video that we didn't watch but is funny.

Vote Yes! on California's Proposition 2.

Written Information
http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/research/practices/welfare_intensively_confined.html

Dog fighting

Dog fighting is illegal in many countries (including North America) but it still happens. The American Pit Bull Terrier is commonly used as a fighting dog and has increased lately, popularised by some Rap music videos and movies. Dog fighting is practised by gangs and if someone has an 'intimating dog' (aka Rottweiler or Pitt Bull) they are given "street cred." Dog fighting was once legal in the US and was even promoted during the colonial period,1600s through 1776, and continued until the late 19th century (1800's). However, by the early twentieth century, the violent "sport" was no longer allowed. Now, dog fighting is a felony in 48 states and a misdemenaor in Idaho and Washington.It is also against the law (and often a felony) to even attend a dog fighting event. Other people also think that by watching dog fights it desensitizes them to violence and animal cruelty. Also when an animal loses they are often shot, drowned, or killed in a icky way.
^{Other
animals are also used as bait animals. Some people pick up feral cats
and puppies (and others get them from 'free pet' newspaper adds) and
train and put them in a cage, the dog that will be a fighter has been
starved and goaded into trying to get the animal in the cage by
sticking is paws between the bars and etc. When the dog is extremely
riled up the animals is released and the is killed the the fighter dog
in training.
The Rules of Dog fighting}Diagonal 'scratch lines' are drawn on opposite corners of the pits, behind which the dogs must remain until the referee commands them to be released. Before the match, the dogs are weighed and washed to ensure that they are not covered in poison. During the match, the dogs quietly maul each other until one dog actually turns away from his opponent without trying to grab a hold of him (a turn). When this occurs, the dogs are separated briefly and returned to their handlers. The dogs are repositioned behind the 'scratch lines' and the match resumes once the referee orders that the dog that turned be released. The dog must then 'scratch' his opponent, or run to the opposite corner and attack the dog that is still being held by the handler. If this happens, the opponent is released and the fight continues, if not the match is over. The process of separating the dogs continues each time there is a turn or if both dogs fail to grab hold of each other for a specified amount of time. Matches end when a dog quits or dies, when a handler pulls a dog from the ring, if a dog jumps out of the pit, or if the fight is raided by the police

Humane society dog fighting fact sheet

There are 40,000 dogfighters in America.
They have trade journals which keep them informed on dog fights. The most popular is "The Sporting Dog Journal". It circulates 10 thousand copies worldwide.

Tips from the HSUS to keep your pet safe on Halloween. Also on Petfinder there is a video on Halloween Safety Tips. Do not give your dog candy, especially Candy with Chocolate, Raisins, and Nuts. Chocolate contains theobromine, from the cocoa bean, which causes nerve damage and death in dogs. The darker the chocolate, the more concentrated the drug is. Grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs, The estimated toxic dose of grapes is 32 g/kg (grams of grapes per kilograms of mass of the dog), and for raisins it is 11 to 30 g/kg. The end result in nearly all reported cases of grape or raisin toxicity is acute kidney failure. Macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs. The Toxic dose is around 0.9 grams per pound of body weight. There are others so, here is a list of potentially poisonous food for the Humane Society.

If you think your pet is poisoned call your vet right away. If you can not reach your vet call the ASPCA Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 (A $60 consultation fee may be applied to your credit card).

Foie Gras

Foie Gras in french for "fat liver". Don't eat it unless you buy the humane Foie Gras that does not use gavage.

Good Search

Use goodsearch.com to search the internet because once you pick a charity, when you search they will donate money to the charity of your choice.

convance labs

Covance Labs...

...is a large drug developement company

What's wrong with it..

Ebola virus
In 1989 Covance lab monkeys from the Philippines were found to have the Elboa Virus. The US center for Disease control and Prevtion were able to avoid a potentially disastrous outbreak by eradicating the infected animals and burning down the complex.
In 1990 some monkeys, in Virginia and Texas, were also found with the airbourne strain of the virus. More infected monkeys were discoverd in Italy in 1992 and Texas in 1996.

Animal abuse

Recently, in 2005, a laboratory belonging to Covance has performed animal cruelty to primates and other animals.German Jornalist, Friedrich Mlln, while working undercover, obtained photographs, video, and other evidence of it.

Convance filled a lawsuit after some of Mlln's footage was shown on German television and a "leading German court" forbid further distribution of the footage. Thankfully, a higher court "ruled that the right of the public to be informed on the subject prevailed over the company's privacy rights" and footage can now be publibly displayed though it may not be used by any animal-rights ground and can not be used in its current form

.
information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covance

Laika

Laika--the first living creature in space

Laika--the first dog [living creature] in space



By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2367681.stm

The dog Laika, the first living creature to orbit the Earth, did not live nearly as long as Soviet officials led the world to believe.

The animal, launched on a one-way trip on board Sputnik 2 in November 1957, was said to have died painlessly in orbit about a week after blast-off.

Now, it has been revealed she died from overheating and panic just a few hours after the mission started.

The new evidence was presented at the recent World Space Congress in Houston, Texas, US, by Dimitri Malashenkov of the Institute for Biological Problems in Moscow.

Noted space historian Sven Grahn told BBC News Online that the new information was surprising and significant as it ended more than 40 years of speculation about Laika's fate.

Space pioneer

Laika's mission on board Sputnik 2 stunned the world. Sputnik 1, the world's first satellite, had been launched less than one month before.

TV image of Laika from the capsule, courtesy Alexander Chernov

Laika had been a stray

It was a metal sphere weighing about 18 kg (40 lbs) and was far heavier than anything the United States was contemplating launching.

An astonished world witnessed the launch of Sputnik 2 weighing 113 kg (250 lbs) and carrying the first living thing to go into orbit - the dog Laika.

The animal had been a stray wandering the streets of Moscow when she was captured and prepared for a space mission.

Shortly after launch the Soviets said that Laika was not destined to return alive and would die in space. The statement caused outrage to many observers.

Racing pulse

Dr Malashenkov has now revealed several new details about Laika's mission, such as her food being in jelly form and that she was chained to prevent her turning around.

There was a carbon dioxide absorbing device in the cabin to prevent the accumulation of this toxic gas, as well as an oxygen generator.

A fan was automatically activated to keep the dog cool when the capsule's temperature exceeded 15 deg Celsius.

According to Dr Malashenkov, a great deal of work had to be done to adapt a group of dogs to the conditions in the tight cabin of Sputnik 2. They were kept in gradually smaller cages for periods up to 15-20 days.

Three dogs were trained for the Sputnik 2 flight: Albina, Laika and Mushka. Albina was the first "backup", having flown twice on a high-altitude rocket. Mushka was used to test instrumentation and life support.

Death in space

Medical sensors placed on Laika indicated that during launch her pulse rate went up by a factor of three above its resting level.

At the start of weightlessness, her pulse rate decreased. It took three times longer than after a centrifuge ride on the ground to return Laika's heartbeat to pre-launch values, an indication of the stress she was suffering.

Dr Malashenkov also revealed how Laika died. Telemetry from the Sputnik 2 capsule showed that the temperature and humidity increased after the start of the mission.

After five to seven hours into the flight, no lifesigns were being received from Laika. By the fourth orbit it was apparent that Laika had died from overheating and stress.

Previously, it has been thought that Laika survived at least four days in space and perhaps even a week when Sputnik's transmitters failed.

Despite surviving for just a few hours, Laika's place in space history is assured and the information she provided proved that a living organism could tolerate a long time in weightlessness and paved the way for humans in space.

Laika's "coffin" circled the Earth 2,570 times and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere on 4 April 1958.

The name "Laika" means "barker" in Russian. Laika had stamps honoring her in several countries


1962 Albania	1964 Poland	1957 Romania	1957 Romania

"Exactly 40 years after she was blasted into orbit aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2, becoming the first living creature in space, Laika was remembered on a plaque at the Moscow research center where she was trained."*

*http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9711/03/mir/

Random

It's free, so help feed the animals

theanimalrescuesite.com

click on the button that says
fund food for animals
It's free.
It's helps.

iams cruelty

http://www.iamscruelty.com/iams-feat-returns.asp

for more information on iams cruelty, what you can do and etc.

Save a life

9.6 million animals are euthanized annually in the United States.

56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized

Save a life by adopting instead of buying a new buddy, if you are looking for purebreed dogs there are purebreed rescues

Saluki International Cover #13