In California, Going All Out to Bid Adieu to Foie Gras
The New York Times
by Adam Nagourney
October 15, 2011

LOS ANGELES — A line up of people streamed into an unmarked, dimly lighted storefront on Fairfax Avenue as night fell Friday, on a mash-up Los Angeles block catering to religious Jews and hungry hipsters. Before long, a smattering of protesters arrived. Behind the glass doors, an act of culinary defiance was taking place. In eight months, the sale of foie gras will be banned in California. Read more here

GourmetCruelty.com: The Truth about Foie Gras

GourmetCruelty.com is a coalition dedicated to exposing the cruelty of the foie gras industry. Just two companies are responsible for the barbaric practice of foie gras production in the United States—Hudson Valley Foie Gras in New York and Sonoma Foie Gras in California.

Over the course of many months, the coalition conducted a nationwide investigation into the domestic foie gras industry. GourmetCruelty.com uncovered filthy, crowded conditions and documented an industry standard of disregard for the pain and suffering inherent to foie gras production. Read more here

NoFoieGras.org 

What is Foie Gras?

Foie gras (translated literally from French as "fatty liver" and pronounced 'fwah grah') is produced by cruel and inhumane farming practices. At just a few months old, ducks are confined inside dark sheds and force-fed enormous amounts of food several times a day. A farm worker grabs each duck and, one by one, thrusts a metal pipe down their throats so that a mixture of corn can be forced directly into their gullets. In just a matter of weeks, the ducks become grossly overweight and their livers expand up to 10 times their normal size. Read more here

Britannica Advocacy For Animals
Foie Gras: Too High A Price?

Foie gras (French for "fat liver"), the enlarged liver of a duck or goose, is a food currently inciting much controversy. It is produced through the force-feeding of large quantities of grain to the bird, a process usually referred to by the French term gavage. Historically, foie gras was produced from geese; most today comes from ducks. Although foie gras is prized by many gourmets, it has been singled out, like fur and veal, by animal rights activists and some consumers as a product of unnecessary and offensive cruelty. Read more here

It is estimated that perhaps 5,000 tigers live in captivity in the United States, compared to as few as 3,200 tigers in the wild. Americans keep these tigers in backyards, urban apartments, sideshows, truck stops and private breeding facilities. In some states, buying a tiger is easier than adopting a dog from a local animal shelter.

The United States must monitor tiger ownership more closely. When tiger ownership and breeding aren’t monitored, captive tigers become easy targets for black market sales, and those sales end up threatening wild populations. This lack of regulation also means that tigers can be held in areas that may not be adequately secured, which is a major danger to both tigers and humans.

It’s time to take action and better regulate the captivity of tigers in our own backyard. Read the full story and explore an interactive tiger map

Duke

Sergeant Allen Cockfield arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty and killing a police dog

Felony Animal Abuse
Why? This is beyond comprehension
by Wolf Walker

Allen Cockfield

According to the original e-mail, the reason that Duke, a 4 year old German shepherd, Sergeant Cockfield's K-9 partner, was kicked to death was that during an obedience training exercise Duke barked when he shouldn't have. When Duke barked, Sgt. Cockfield, in a "fit of rage," jerked Duke up by the collar around his neck and then kicked him several times. At the time of Sgt. Cockfield's "fit of rage", there were other Officers and K-9s present in the training compound.

I next went to The Police News, a BLOG for policemen; they had a post (#143) up in regard to Sgt. Cockfield's arrest for kicking Duke to death. The report on Police News was quite short, simply stating that Sgt. Cockfield is a 27 year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department, had been a K-9 Officer and handler for 25 years and had been placed on administrative duty with pay during the investigation of the incident. The Police News report further stated that when Sgt. Cockfield realized that Duke was unconscious, he had rushed him to Knowles Animal Clinic. The Police News stated that their information had come from WPLG Local 10 News.

I sent WPLG Local 10 an e-mail asking for any follow up information they might have on Duke's death, including the necropsy report that Local 10 had stated was forthcoming. That was on 11/01/07. My reason for waiting was so that I could calm down and write a factual report. I am presently "owned" by 4 German shepherds and shepherd mixes, 2 of each, all animals I have rescued from intolerable conditions. It is inconceivable to me that kicking is the sort of "discipline" that is ever needed by either a canine or a child.

Tonight, 11/12/07, I telephoned WPLG asking for the information I had requested by e-mail. Even though I called at what was probably a most inconvenient time (right in the middle of the 6:00 PM news cast), Ms. Antonio was very polite, helpful, compassionate and professional. She e-mailed me the information I had requested.

The information Ms. Antonio sent comes from the Miami Herald, dated May 31st, 2007, section B-1 and is written by Mr. David Ovalle. It states that: Duke was killed by a lethally timed heart-disrupting kick delivered by his handler, Miami-Dade Police Sergeant Allen Cockfield. This means that the kick disrupted the electric flow of the heart, a painful but almost instantaneous death. There would have been no chance of resuscitation, even if canine CPR was started immediately. Duke would have yelped in pain, convulsed and died.

Ms. Valerie E. Maddix sued the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in small claims court over the treatment of her German Shepherd  Casey.

http://www.fluffythebunny.com/lawsuit.html

Unrelated to the lawsuit, UF-CVM refunded $1,700 to Ms. Maddix.

Maddix vs. UF College of Veterinary Medicine, Alachua County Small Claims, case no. 2001-SC-001341

Teen in U.S. charged in death of family hamster

Reuters
by Aman Ali
March 10, 2011

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A U.S. teenager has been charged with a felony, and could face a two-year prison sentence if convicted, for killing her family's pet hamster, authorities said.

Monique Smith, 19, of Brooklyn was arguing with a family member in June when she reached for the hamster, choked it and threw it outside the house, police said on Wednesday.

She was arrested following an investigation after Smith's father contacted the America Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, according to the society's assistant director Joe Pentangelo.

Smith is charged with one felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals.

"Sadly, very often, pets find themselves in the middle of these situations," said Pentangelo. "A family will have a disagreement and unfortunately the animal is the recipient of misdirected or redirected rage."

The hamster died from blunt force trauma, liver damage and a brain hemorrhage, he said. Read more here

Ginger

The Rabbit, Poster Child for Animal Rights

"I should be the poster child for animal rights. I am slaughtered for my fur. I am slaughtered for my meat. I am factory farmed in rabbit mills. I am tortured by vivisectors in their ‘labs.’ I am the third most commonly ‘euthanized’ companion animal. I am hunted and snared. I am the object of blood sports. I am often cruelly abused. I am given as a live animal prize. I languish in pet stores. Why aren’t I?"

—Poster from RabbitWise, Inc., a rabbit advocacy organization.

This rabbit makes a very good point. One would be hard-pressed to find another animal upon whom so many exploitative and abusive practices converge. The rabbit, in both its domesticated (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and wild (various genera worldwide, notably Sylvilagus, the cottontail rabbit of North and South America) species, is perhaps the prime exemplar of prey animals. It is a gentle, herbivorous, unassuming, and relatively silent creature. This mildness, which is so charming to observe and contemplate, unfortunately seems to practically invite the rabbit’s exploitation in myriad ways by the stronger and more powerful—namely, humans.

The European-centered rabbit-fur trade (producing countries include France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Portugal) likewise breeds and raises rabbits in factory-like conditions that reduce the animals to mere commodities for profit. The most recent figures available (1997) were that France alone produced more than 70 million rabbit pelts in that year; the increasing popularity of fur indicates that the figure has since grown.

Contrary to the claims of the industry, fur is not a “by-product” of the rabbit-meat industry. The rabbits raised for their fur constitute a whole other population. The requirements of the meat and fur industries are at odds, and different production methods—and sometimes different breeds—are used in each. The velvety-soft fur of the Rex rabbit yields particularly high profits; New Zealand White and California White breeds are also commonly farmed for fur as well as meat.

The rabbits are bred frequently, live in crowded cages until separated at the age of about 7 weeks, and are killed at the age of 10-12 weeks (White rabbits) or 8-9 months (Rex rabbits). The bare wire mesh cages in which they are kept hurt their paws, which have no pads. Veterinary care is poor. The buildings in which the cages are kept may be cleaned only a few times a year, after several generations have lived and died there. The rabbits are unable to engage in any kind of normal social behavior or exercise. Stress and other psychological and physical damage are common.

Rabbits raised for their fur are stunned by electrocution or by a blow to the head (smashing against a wall); this method may be used to kill the rabbit or to merely stun it before the throat is slit and it is hung up to bleed out. Some incisions are made in the skin and the fur is then ripped off. This is done in full view of the still-living rabbits who are awaiting their own slaughter.

The use of rabbits in biomedical and product testing is a longstanding and well-known practice. Their small size and docility, as well as the relatively inexpensive cost to obtain and breed them, make them desirable as test subjects. The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) reports that in 2004, the number of laboratory rabbits in use was over 260,000, and some 43 percent of those individuals were subjected to tests that caused pain, distress, or both, sometimes without any drug relief.

A previous Advocacy for Animals post (“Scientific Alternatives to Animal Testing”) described a very common test on rabbits, the Draize test: “A chemical, such as a cosmetic or pharmaceutical agent, is applied to the skin or eye of a rabbit. The results are supposed to indicate how toxic a chemical is to human skin. The inaccuracy of the Draize test has been recognized for many years.”

Rabbits are also used in vaccine, cardiovascular, reproductive, and other kinds of research, subjected to stress tests and infected with sexually transmitted diseases, for example. Living conditions in the laboratory are poor, as the rabbits are test subjects and as such are fed a controlled diet of pellets (rather than the hay and greens on which they normally live) and are kept in isolation. This results in boredom, illness, and stereotypical behavior such as chewing on cage bars and excessive licking. Rabbits are often killed after the test is over so that their organs can be examined.

Rabbit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rabbits (or, colloquially, bunnies) are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are eight different genera in the family classified as rabbits, including the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), cottontail rabbits (genus Sylvilagus; 13 species), and the Amami rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi, an endangered species on Amami O-shima, Japan). There are many other species of rabbit, and these, along with pikas and hares, make up the order Lagomorpha. The male is called a buck and the female is a doe; a young rabbit is a kitten or kit. Read more here

Illumination in the Flatwoods: A Season with the Wild Turkey

Joe Hutto, Author

Wildlife artist Hutto embarked on an unusual study of wild turkeys: he obtained two dozen eggs, incubated them and imprinted himself on the hatchlings, with unexpected results. It was, he says, exhausting, enlightening and one of the most rewarding experiences of his life. His account of raising the brood is an engaging story of an unlikely relationship between species. For six months Hutto spent nearly every waking moment with the young turkeys (four males and 10 females reached maturity), accompanying them on walks in the flatlands of northern Florida, roosting with them at night (until they went to sleep) and observing their behavior. By late summer, he felt so much a part of the flock that smooth green grasshoppers began to look appetizing. In October, Hutto's flock met native wild turkeys, and they dispersed. In an epilogue, he tells how they fared. This tale should have wide appeal to hunters and nature- and animal-lovers. Who would have dreamed turkeys could be so interesting? From Publisher’s Weekly Read more here

My Life as a Turkey
PBS Nature

After a local farmer left a bowl of eggs on Joe Hutto’s front porch, his life was forever changed. Hutto, possessing a broad background in the natural sciences and an interest in imprinting young animals, incubated the eggs and waited for them to hatch. As the chicks emerged from their shells, they locked eyes with an unusual but dedicated mother.

Deep in the wilds of Florida’s Flatlands, Hutto spent each day living as a turkey mother, taking on the full-time job of raising sixteen turkey chicks. Hutto dutifully cared for his family around the clock, roosting with them, taking them foraging, and immersing himself in their world. In the process, they revealed their charming curiosity and surprising intellect. There was little he could teach them that they did not already know, but he showed them the lay of the land and protected them from the dangers of the forest as best he could. In return, they taught him how to see the world through their eyes.

Based on his true story, My Life as a Turkey chronicles Hutto’s remarkable and moving experience of raising a group of wild turkey hatchlings to adulthood. Read more here

Wild Turkey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey (not to be confused with the Meleagris ocellata native to the forests of the Yucatán Peninsula).

Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green legs and a black body. Males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. When males are excited, a fleshy flap on the bill expands, and this, the wattles and the bare skin of the head and neck all become engorged with blood, almost concealing the eyes and bill. The long fleshy object over a male's beak is called a snood. When a male turkey is excited, its head turns blue; when ready to fight, it turns red. Each foot has three toes, and males have a spur behind each of their lower legs. Read more here

Untied Poultry Concerns

Promoting the Compassionate and Respectful Treatment of Domestic Fowl

Turkeys have a zest for living and enjoying the day. Treated with respect, they become very friendly. At a distance, turkeys look like otherworldly visitors moving gracefully through the grass. Up close one sees their large, dark almond-shaped eyes and sensitive fine-boned faces. In nature, turkeys spend up to 5 months close to their mothers. Turkeys raised for food never know the comfort of the mother bird’s wings or the joy of exploring the woods and fields with her. Read more here