Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation

CCF Ads Are Kitty Litter

I must offer a thanks again to the contract shillers at the Center for Consumer Freedom. They've done us a favor. I am not kidding.

CCF is best known as a front group for tobacco, alcohol, restaurant and agribusiness special interests. It has become tiresome with its attacks on The Humane Society of the United States, other animal welfare groups, environmental organizations, public health groups, anti-obesity advocates, and even Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Recently, the outfit placed a $10,000 ad in The New York Times' daily email of headlines, complaining about The HSUS. The response was quite extraordinary—if a bit counterintuitive to the flaks at CCF. 

We did not receive a single critical email here. Not a one—and I should know, since CCF had listed my personal email address on one of the web articles it linked to. Instead, most of those who wrote me were curious enough to follow up on the ad with a visit to our website, humanesociety.org. They said they had no idea The HSUS was fighting animal abuse on so many fronts. New members rolled in.

I became a believer in web advertising after the experience. People really do click on the ads sometimes.

CCF has apparently not discerned that most Americans dislike animal abuse, and that they fancy HSUS campaigns against factory farms, dogfighting and cockfighting, canned hunts, puppy mills, the exotic animal trade, the Canadian seal hunt, and other unfair and inhumane misuses of power. In a head-to-head match up of the organizations, the readers took the side of the one defending the helpless, rather than the one peddling cruelty.

This month, CCF took a similar-looking, full-page ad in The New Yorker, with an adorable picture of a kitten to draw readers in. This one again cost tens of thousands. 

"Think you know about the Humane Society of the United States?" dully blared the ad headline. "Think again."

"Most supporters of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) don't understand that their donations don't support hands-on care of cats and dogs," the ad continued. "HSUS is a $150 million animal rights lobbying group that doesn't run a single pet shelter anywhere."

Yes, the ad is inaccurate, ignoring the work of our Rural Area Veterinary Services program (which offered nearly 40,000 treatments last year to dogs and cats), omitting mention of the millions we put into other spay and neuter work for pets, neglecting to say a word about our Animal Services Consultation work for local shelters, and disregarding our other hands-on work, including our Disaster Services activities. Of course, it did not mention our hands-on care of orphaned wildlife, horses, captive exotics—with no mention of our two top-flight wildlife rehabilitation centers or our world-famous Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, one of the world's largest sanctuaries for large mammals.  But we can excuse those errors and omissions.

CCF, to its credit, did generally get one thing kind of right: it pretty plainly intimates that The HSUS is big and powerful and is lobbying to change the laws to protect animals. Thanks for the compliment, CCF. Yes, that's true. At my last glance in fact, The HSUS has helped to pass 73 animal protection laws in the states this year. But who's counting.

If CCF wants to clean up its glaring inaccuracies and run another kitten ad like this one, we'll put up the first $500 for it. Note to CCF: call us. We'll talk.

Reform Needed to Rid Cruelty From Horse Competitions

Social change comes about not just with vision, but with practical action.

Horse industry leaders have joined with The Humane Society of the United States and other humane groups in urging a ban on horse slaughter. Wolfgang Puck and other food industry leaders have joined with us to combat inhumane factory farming practices. Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole and other fashion industry leaders have gone fur-free.

This year, we are seeing hopeful signs in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry.

The industry places horses in show ring competitions, and has been the subject of scrutiny for decades because of the practice of "soring." Some of the trainers sore horses by deliberately injuring their feet and the lower parts of their legs—by chemical and mechanical means—in order to make them step higher and exaggerate their gait. If they step higher, the horses presumably do better in the competition.

Last year the breed’s premier annual show, “The Celebration,” was shut down when more than half of the finalists in the most prestigious World Grand Championship class were cited for violations of the Horse Protection Act, and declared ineligible to compete.

The USDA has in recent years been doing an admirable job of enforcing the Horse Protection Act, which in 1970 banned the cruel practice of soring. The USDA's enforcement efforts have heartened the honest people within the industry and angered the cheaters. And as a result of the 2006 debacle, the issue of soring was brought to light in newspapers and newscasts all around the world. The industry’s credibility plummeted in the eyes of the equine community and the general public.

Now, one year later, several industry groups are demonstrating leadership and a desire to restore their breed’s reputation through positive change. TWHBEA, the Tennessee Walking Horse breed registry, has taken a firm stand against soring, and hired the toughest industry inspectors to eliminate sore horses from its shows. The managers of the Celebration—which runs from August 22 through September 1—have sought our input on ways to improve compliance with the minimal standards of the law.

Others, including many prominent owners and trainers, have tried to sabotage these efforts, hired expensive lobbyists, and boycotted shows, all in the name of giving them an unfair leg up on the competition and continuing to break the law. These people are prepared to torment horses and sacrifice sportsmanship and the law in pursuit of profits and winning.

I applaud the efforts of the breed registry and others to take a step forward in the face of this intense hostility within their ranks. This has taken true leadership and courage. Their reforms are far from perfect. Even in compliance with the law, trainers may still use chains which can inflict pain, and platform shoes that are so unnatural a horse cannot be turned out in a field for exercise. But the reforms are movement in the right direction.

I hope progressive industry leaders will continue to stand tall against those who defy federal law, and that going forward the industry will work to encourage and reward the horse trainers and owners who present this magnificent animal in the most humane and natural manner possible.

Talk Back: A Plea for the Animals

Monday, after pleading guilty to a federal dogfighting conspiracy charge, Michael Vick issued a public apology (which you can see portions of here). His statements drew a mixed reaction from readers, with many finding them hard to swallow. Among the mass of comments we received:

I too appreciate the fact that Vick apologized and appears to show some sort of remorse. I'm struggling with the fact, however, that someone is capable of doing something like this and can snap out of it so quickly. I'm skeptical. I'm also concerned that, when apologizing to his young fans, that he called it "immature." Immature is ringing a doorbell and running... immature is switching the letters around on a store sign.... this is not immature in the slightest. When I was a kid, I never violently killed an animal. I just don't feel the sincerity at this point. —4PugClub

I believe Vick was sincere in his apology to the kids and fans but I did not hear any apology to the many animals that were murdered and abused. I think his fines he pays should go to the many shelters that care for these poor animals and he should have to see the suffering and pain that they go through after the fact. —Renae Yost

I seriously doubt the truthfulness of Vick’s apology. He tortured and killed dogs in the name of blood sport. Now he deplores the sport? Come on, give us all a break. Bottom line is the money he is losing; nothing more, nothing less. —Dennis Doling

I have a hard time feeling sympathy for Michael Vick. His apology came only after repeated denials and certain conviction after his co-defendants decided to plea. I truly feel the only thing Michael is sorry for is getting caught. The ones who deserve our sympathy are the dogs currently awaiting their fate—at least it is not a fate as cruel as Michael would have subjected them to. —Angela

Michael Vick saying he "rejects" dogfighting is not believable. He funded it, was involved in it, and killed dogs. Suddenly, when he is caught, he says it is terrible? What if he weren't caught? He would still be doing those heinous acts. —Wendy Hinzman

Turning the Tide After Katrina

There is no question that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 reoriented us as a nation. In a different way, Hurricane Katrina did, too. We as a society were not prepared for a disaster of Katrina's magnitude, and she exposed our full array of weaknesses in preparedness and response capabilities.

Naturally, this included the response to the needs of animals in disasters.

© The HSUS
Rescuers found thousands of animals stranded after Katrina.

Since Katrina struck two years ago today, hardly a day has passed when I have not thought about its ruinous effects on the lives of people and animals, especially in Louisiana. For me, the events of late August and September 2005 are a searing memory. I went down to Louisiana for nearly three weeks, and I stared into the face of this disaster and felt the frustration borne of a lack of preparedness.

In the wake of the disaster, I vowed that The Humane Society of the United States would focus on three longer-term, big-picture goals. First, after the rescue operation ended, I vowed that we'd leave the humane infrastructure in Louisiana and Mississippi stronger than it had existed before the hurricanes. Unfortunately, neither state had a particularly strong network of humane societies, animal care agencies, spay and neuter operations, and other humane institutions. For example, Louisiana was one of the last redoubts for legal cockfighting (we broke through this year and finally got a law passed to outlaw the barbaric practice). We had to fortify the humane infrastructure, and the philanthropic response to the disaster provided that opportunity. That task is ongoing, and I hope you'll read about our work on humanesociety.org. We've prepared a number of stories to mark the two-year anniversary of Katrina, and those will be posted throughout the week.

© The HSUS
The HSUS's response to Hurricane Katrina
included short- and long-term strategies.

Second, I vowed that we as a nation would have stronger laws to protect animals in disasters. Nearly the entire burden for disaster response for animals—preparedness, rescue, shelter, transportation to in- and out-of-state facilities, reunions and other tasks—fell upon the shoulders of the humane community. There was a massive failure of responsibility on the part of governments—partly because there were no laws or other policies to guide government responders. In order to have an effective response, animal groups and government had to work in tandem. Responding to the needs of animals in disasters could not rely so heavily on the private sector.

And third, I vowed that The HSUS would itself be far better prepared for the next disaster by building our response capacity. Before Katrina, we had been foresighted in having the movement's most developed disaster planning program, but did not have enough resources to get the job done. In disaster work, I learned that any successful response hinges on preparedness and capacity building.

I think we are well on our way toward achieving each goal. I am particularly proud that since Katrina struck, we have shepherded to passage a strong new federal law dealing with animals and disasters (the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act) and 16 state laws. That is a watershed in terms of policy making, and we are in a far better position as states and as a nation to respond. And we are working with state agencies and with State Animal Response Teams to see that planning and preparedness remain a priority.

As Katrina was unfolding, The HSUS was the most visible presence for animals, sharing the stories of the affected animals with a nation that became transfixed with their plight. We shaped public debate in a beneficial way for animals, and the American people responded with extraordinary charity and with a will to see governments and private groups in a better position to respond in the future. Never again will animals be forgotten when disasters strike. 

Spectacle of Bullfighting Losing Fans

Dogfighting has been in the news like never before. But there are other horrible spectator sports involving the torment of animals that are staged throughout the world, and none is better known than bullfighting.

Fortunately, bullfighting is banned in the United States, except a limited exception in a couple of states for so-called "bloodless" bullfighting—where stabbing the bulls is strictly forbidden.

© iStockphoto

Spain is still the international capital of lethal bullfighting and draws thousands of spectators to its rings, though tourists fill most of the seats. The mythology is that this sadistic public killing of a bull doubles as some sort of dramatic artistic expression. The reality is, there's no drama—since we know who always prevails. And it is just a trumped-up display of human dominance and callousness done in the pursuit of profit.

Fortunately, few young Spaniards attend bullfights, and in-country opposition to the bloodletting is growing.

The latest indicator of a challenge to bullfighting in Spain is that state-run Spanish television has stopped airing bullfighting programming. We're thrilled with the news and hope it's a harbinger of more change to come in Spain.

To read an AP story on the decision, click here.

Apology From A Fallen Star

Michael Vick just made a live, direct statement to the public regarding his circumstance. What he said today was spot on. 

I felt real sympathy for Vick in watching him speak. I saw a man whose life has been turned upside down. No one can feel good about seeing someone take this kind of fall. It's tragic. 

I deplore what he did. Many animals experienced immense and sustained suffering at the hands of men who used their power in the wrong way. There's no defense for it, and Vick offered no excuse for it today. I am heartened that Michael Vick spoke about his mistakes and took responsibility for his actions, calling dogfighting "terrible" and indicating "I reject it."

I also was very pleased that Michael Vick noted how he failed America's young people. He apologized to them. Michael Vick now can tell a powerful, personal story and show young people that you must take responsibility for your actions and that dogfighting is not a benign hobby, but a sickening, barbaric and criminal action. The practice has been surging in urban centers around the nation, so that message is timely and relevant. 

Vick Puts America on Watch

Last Friday, the federal government released Michael Vick's statement of facts in his plea deal in U.S. District Court in Richmond—and another round of press attention was showered on the case. Vick admitted to being centrally involved in a multi-state professional dogfighting operation, centered around Bad Newz Kennels on his former property on Moonlight Road in Surry County Virginia. Here is a link to the terms of his plea.

Today, Vick walks into federal court and formalizes his plea. Sentencing happens down the line, along with that of his three co-defendants who also struck pleas.

The Humane Society of the United States hopes that U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson will issue a stern penalty commensurate with the gravity of this awful crime. And while the penalty must be just, this case is no cause for celebration. Many dogs suffered in the years before the arrests occurred, and the lives of four men who went down the road of organized crime are now in disrepair. Michael Vick fell furthest, and his losses will surely exceed $100 million, in addition to his freedom and the potential loss of his entire professional football career.

But the point of The HSUS's involvement in this case was not just to ferret out whether Michael Vick and his co-defendants committed federal crimes related to dogfighting and to see justice served. A closely related goal was to strike a blow against the larger societal problem of dogfighting. We hope you think we've done this job well.

Dogfighting has moved from a second-tier animal protection issue to the first tier, and the sordid details of this underworld “sport” have been bared for all to see. We have heard from so many of you who are shocked to learn of the prevalence of this senseless cruelty, and eager to take action to stamp it out.

Let me assure you that each of you can help us build on this momentum. We need eyes and ears in every community across the country to report animal fighting activities, and to help us wipe out the epidemic.

And we need to continue to spread the word, so here is one more opportunity. A few weeks ago, we invited concerned citizens to express their feelings about animal fighting by posting a video on YouTube. The response has been tremendous, and we are truly impressed with the quality of these works. We’ve chosen three stand-out submissions, and now we are asking you to choose a winner.

You can watch the three videos here. Let me tell you: they are powerful. They stand as an important reminder that each individual can speak uniquely against dogfighting and that every voice matters.

Please vote for your favorite, and then share the videos with your friends and family. Help us circulate them far and wide.

Circus Elephants Get Day In Court

Here's a splash of good news from U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan in the federal court case initiated by a number of animal protection groups against Ringling Brothers. The Fund for Animals, ASPCA, Animal Protection Institute and Animal Welfare Institute are co-plaintiffs in a case against the world's best-known circus, charging that Ringling's mistreatment of elephants amounts to violation of the Endangered Species Act.

A federal judge yesterday rejected Ringling's claims to throw out the suit. The case now goes to trial, perhaps early next year.

At trial, the court will hear and see ample evidence of the abusive treatment of elephants by the handlers, and the terrible and unsatisfactory transport and living conditions that the animals endure on a regular basis. A successful outcome would halt the company's severe mistreatment of the elephants.

The elephants owned by Ringling are transported on rail cars from city to city, kept on chains for 20 hours or more each day, and not able to live in their family groups, as they would in the wild. Ringling casts itself as a friend of elephants, when just the opposite is true.

You'll hear more from me on this later. For now, here's the AP story.

Cruelty—On All Fronts—Must be Condemned

During the Katrina crisis two years ago, I expected to hear more of this: why are you helping the animals when there are people suffering? Fortunately, that false-choice manner of thought was reserved for only the strident opponents of animal protection or the most cynical and morally selfish of our lot. Most people recognized that the animals deserved rescue and relief, just as the people did. And a tremendous number of folks recognized how the fate of people and animals were intertwined in the Gulf Coast.

© iStockphoto

In the Vick case, I was confident that the public would respond with disgust to the allegations of cruelty, and also that the press and the public would recognize that this sort of violence toward animals cannot easily be contained—it is the sort of numbness to suffering that cannot help but spill over into the larger society. At The Humane Society of the United States, we've long said that animal cruelty is an antecedent to violence toward people. And sometimes, it's not a sequential circumstance, but side-by-side. Violence toward others—whether human or animal—springs from the same dark place in the human spirit, and its victims may vary from day to day.

Overall, the public and press response has been sharp and strong, recognizing that the allegations laid out against Vick and his co-defendants are reprehensible. Most are demanding a stern penalty. Sports columnists in particular have carried the flag and condemned this cruelty—simply horrified by the chilling details set forth in the 19-page federal indictment and the statements of fact by Vick's co-defendants. Yesterday, Selena Roberts of The New York Times called on the NFL to take the matter of animal cruelty and dogfighting more seriously, since it appears that Vick is not the only dogfighting enthusiast within the ranks of the NFL.

Out of every 10 columnists on the subject, there is one who says says it's much ado about nothing or an overreaction. Long-time Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy had a particularly weak column yesterday, invoking the banner of moral consistency. His writing reflected a man who has not spent much time thinking about our responsibilities to animals.

"While eating a porterhouse the other night, I began to see the steak for what it was: a hunk of meat, blood and bone," wrote Milloy. "I managed to disgust myself even more by imagining that a charbroiled piece of pit bull would not have looked much different from the gristle of beef on my fork." Dismissively, he added, "Then I came back to my senses and continued to enjoy my meal."

He then meandered over the terrain of our societal inconsistency over its treatment of animals and concluded by saying that the feds had more important things to worry about, like illegal guns.

On the latter point, let's concede that there is always a more important moral issue to confront in society. But our wellspring of compassion is not finite, and we as individuals and as a society can think about and confront more than one injustice at a time. All forms of injustice and unfairness need attention, including animal cruelty.

And, on his point of moral consistency, this is a convenient escape chute for those who do not want to confront these issues. Yes, there are a variety of forms of animal exploitation in society, but dogfighting is a crime, and a felony at that. The presence of laws against this action reflects our society's considered moral judgment for this conduct. We cannot and must not disregard this cruelty when we see it just because Mr. Milloy and others have made the lazy observation there are there other forms of animal mistreatment in our society.

Talk Back: Food for Thought

Many readers contemplated two recent blog entries—a spotlight of Rabbi Marc Gellman's essay regarding the ethics of keeping animals in zoos and our responsibilities to animals, and an update on the increased focus on factory farming abuses.

Among the reactions to Gellman's essay:

I'm always torn about zoos... they offer a great opportunity to teach our children about the various animals; when else will my son see a tiger just a few feet away? But at the same time my heart breaks for the animals' loss of freedom. I've been deeply depressed after trips to zoos seeing animals that clearly look bored, frustrated and anguished. What is the right thing to do? I'm at a loss... I can't even answer these questions for myself. —Lisa

I understand Rabbi Marc Gellman's essay, and I agree with him if this was a perfect world, but it is not. If we had no zoos, there would be no animals at all. Because of the human ego, s/he has decided that s/he is the only one that counts and that animals are subject to us, and if we just allow animals to be in the wild then we subject them to certain extinction. Humans don't know how to give them space to just be. Already, many of our magnificent animals are close to extinction and it is not because of natural selection; it’s because man is greedy and heartless. Zoos allow humans to see that these animals exist, and they also allow us to learn about animals; otherwise humans wouldn't relate to them and would dismiss animals even more. One last thought; I don't think that humans have a right to destroy another species and I wouldn't want to be the person to tell God that his creation is gone because humans decided that they needed a rug or a fur coat, would you? The Bible says multiply and be prosperous, but it didn't say destroy everything on the way and it never said to overpopulate the Earth either. —Regina Mastrogiacomo

Breakthrough Moments Broadcast Our Message

No matter how hard we try in the animal-protection movement, sometimes the message just doesn’t get through, and problems of cruelty are denied the public attention they deserve. So many cruel practices persist, not because reform could not command enough support, but because people just aren’t aware of the problem. Animal issues are so easily crowded out by other concerns. In every debate, too, the usual industry groups can be counted on to spread misinformation and to sow doubt about the need for reform.

There are certain moments, however, when everything changes, and overnight the public awakens to a cruelty issue. One such moment came in December 2003, when a "downer cow" tested positive for mad cow disease and shook public confidence in the food supply, particularly the safeguards related to the slaughter of livestock. The Humane Society of the United States had been warning public officials and industry that it was madness to drag sick and injured animals into slaughterhouses, not just as a matter of inhumane handling, but also a matter of public health. Who wants diseased animals going in the food supply? Years’ worth of warnings were routinely ignored. But after that one incident, everything changed, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture was forced to ban the slaughter of downer cows.

© The HSUS
After Hurricane Katrina, images of animals
awaiting rescue captured the nation.

A second example was Hurricane Katrina, and the massive expression of public anguish over the plight of stranded and abandoned pets in September 2005. The gut-wrenching drama captured on television revealed that Americans of every race and class had unshakable bonds with their pets, and they'd sacrifice their own safety to protect their loyal companions. As the problem came into sharp focus, the Congress, at the urging of The HSUS, passed landmark legislation to include pets in government disaster plans. More than 15 states followed suit, too.

The most recent example involves the now infamous football star Michael Vick and Bad Newz Kennels, the dogfighting operation run from his southern Virginia property. The federal indictment handed down by a United States Attorney offered grisly details of the execution of dogs—sometimes by electrocution and strangling—who had not demonstrated  sufficient "gameness."

In his way, Mr. Vick did more to expose the viciousness of organized dogfighting than years of public-awareness campaigns by The HSUS could ever have accomplished. Only a few months ago, many Americans had no idea that dogfighting was a common and serious crime; thanks to Mr. Vick, we all know better now. Indeed, in the weeks after the federal indictment came to light, there has been a steady increase in dogfighting busts by local authorities. And it appears that a series of additional policy reforms will be enacted. The HSUS will be there to work with law enforcement and with lawmakers at every step of the process.

At The HSUS, we do not wait around for breakthrough moments like the Vick case. We are taking the battle to animal abusers every day, and with results that you can hold on to. But when these big stories hit the news, and the public is ready for serious reform, we’re ready to lead the way. 

Guilty

Michael Vick is almost certainly going to jail. For dogfighting.

That's a powerful message. You harm an animal, you lose your freedom. Perhaps also a bright career in professional sports.

Hats off to the federal investigators at the USDA's Office of Inspector General and to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. They took up the case when it appeared that the local prosecutor did not have the resolve.

The feds even brought conspiracy felony charges against Vick and his co-defendants, even though the federal animal fighting law provided only misdemeanor penalties (the law was upgraded to a felony just after the Vick case came to light).

The feds methodically flipped Vick's co-defendants one by one, isolating Vick and stumping his high-powered defense team. The very real threat of superseding charges made it plain that Vick was going to be thrown for a loss—it was just a question of how severe. Vick put his knee down to avert a potential 20-year loss of freedom on a RICO charge.

It's now up to a federal judge to impose a sentence. We are hoping for stern punishment—not only because the penalty should fit the crime, but also because it's a signal to every American that animal fighting is no petty offense.

The battle is about Vick, but the war is about animal fighting. Now it must be our task to leverage this case to wipe out the larger epidemic. We've now just reached a consensus on the moral rot of animal fighting. It was just this year that the last two states in the nation—Louisiana and New Mexico—passed laws to outlaw cockfighting, and just this year that the federal government made organized animal fighting a felony. Now that we have a social consensus, we have to clean out the rot that has festered for so long.

Bad Newz Kennels is no longer. But there are many other dogfighting kennels housing animals destined for fighting pits.

Let's not celebrate the Vick case. But now that we know the possibilities, let's press the battle on every front.

Young Boy's Bravery Offers Inspiration

It's often that people ask me how I manage to deal with the barrage of animal abuse I encounter day after day. It's gut wrenching, but I’ve found sometimes the worst cases of cruelty call extraordinary people to action. Today, I give you news about a brave little boy named Caesar, and Adam, the kitten whose life Caesar saved. Out of this awful tragedy, there is also hope and inspiration.

Caesar found Adam after the small black kitten had been set on fire. This courageous 11-year-old told authorities he saw older teens torturing the kitten. Caesar managed to rescue him and get help.

© Tina Wright, Forgotten Felines
Adam is receiving round-the-clock care after being badly burned.

Even though Adam suffered burns over much of his body, thanks to the help of the Animal Hospital of Cotati and Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County (Calif.), Adam has undergone several skin grafting surgeries and is on the road to recovery. Amazingly, this kitten has learned to love and trust humans, despite what people did to him.

It’s unusual that in this case two 15-year-old girls stand accused of setting Adam afire—a very rare occurrence, since it is almost always boys involved in such acts of pathology. The HSUS has requested that the Sonoma County prosecutors ensure that the teens get serious and long-term psychological counseling.

Hundreds of people from around the world have donated money to pay Adam’s medical expenses. In times of tragedy, good people stand tall.

Just as inspiring is the bravery of Caesar. This 11-year-old must have been terrified and confused, yet he relied on his internal moral compass, did not turn away, helped the kitten, and reported the crime. We wish every reward we post would be claimed, but it is especially gratifying to know this heroic boy will receive our $2,500 reward. Some day, I want to meet this young boy—and his parents, too. Caesar is a true humane hero, and I hope his act of courage will inspire both children and adults to speak up for animals by confronting cruelty.

Monkey Business

On Aug. 8, a man had a monkey on a leash at a Madison, Wis. beer garden. A woman walking by reached over the fence to pet the monkey and was promptly bitten on the thumb. After several hours on the loose, the monkey was quarantined and then declared a dangerous animal for this bite and two others.

© iStockphoto

The day before, a man smuggled a marmoset into the United States by keeping the small monkey under his hat. The animal went undetected on the first leg of the trip from Peru to Fort Lauderdale. Passengers on the second flight noticed the animal, and officials were on hand to meet the man when the plane landed at LaGuardia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the marmoset for quarantine and testing.

And Oliver, a capuchin monkey at a Mississippi zoo, escaped twice in the past two weeks. The first time Oliver got out because his enclosure was dummy locked—unlocked but looked like it was locked. His Aug. 13 escape is harder to explain. The park manager reportedly purchased $300 worth of new locks for the cage on the 10th and still found two capuchins outside it Monday morning. Oliver's companion was recaptured immediately, and thanks to a tip, Oliver was found Tuesday in a backyard about four and a half miles from the zoo.

At least 100 people have been injured by captive primates over the past ten years, many of them children. In 2005, two chimpanzees escaped their enclosure at an exotic animal facility and attacked a man, in a haunting and gruesome mauling.

In response to people fancying wild animals as pets, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and David Vitter (R-La.) and Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.) and Mark Steven Kirk (R-Ill.) have introduced the Captive Primate Safety Act—S. 1498 and H.R. 2964. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved the bill unanimously on July 31, and it now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

The primate bill does not prohibit possession of primates—states are responsible for that, and since 2005, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, and Washington all banned primates as pets, joining about a dozen other states that already had such laws. The federal bill addresses the interstate trade and transportation of the animals, who are often sold over the Internet and at auctions around the country. 

Wild animals belong in the wild—not in basements or backyards. Keeping primates as pets is inhumane and plain dangerous for all involved. Please contact your federal lawmakers in support of these important bills.

Protecting Wildlife by Preserving Places

The HSUS has always recognized that the destruction of habitat is life-threatening to wild creatures.  When habitats are fragmented or demolished for roadbuilding or commercial or residential development, animals are driven from their homes and often displaced or destroyed.

In the United States, there are 300 million of us, and we are paving and building upon millions of acres of wild lands every year. More than 5,000 acres a day are being developed in this country, in fact. The problem is especially acute in coastal regions, and wild animals who live in these habitats are suffering.

One way The HSUS helps is by acquiring and protecting wild lands through our HSUS Wildlife Land Trust.  It is an antidote to development and offers sanctuary for wild animals in 33 states. If you know landowners who have an ethic of protecting that land (and do not allowing hunting on it), introduce them to the Wildlife Land Trust. (If you'd like to volunteer for duty to walk our properties and help monitor them, contact us.)

Short of acquiring a tract or enforcing permanent restrictions on one, The HSUS also tries to work with developers on compromises that limit destruction of the animals (such as rescue, relocation, or onsite habitat preservation).

In recent months, The HSUS has spotlighted the grim plight of the gopher tortoise. A burrowing animal located only in the southeastern United States, the tortoises are often crushed by construction equipment or buried alive.  The HSUS’s Jen Hobgood, regional coordinator for our southeast office, has worked mightily to protect the tortoises, advocate for habitat preservation, and rescue these victims of our inexorable development.

She and The HSUS recently worked with a Florida developer and a sanctuary to save an estimated 500 gopher tortoises before their habitat was destroyed. Watch the video as—one by one—these terrestrial creatures are excavated from a near-certain death.

We continue to advocate for greater protections for these animals, and last fall, under pressure from The HSUS, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) created a rescue relocation policy that allows citizens to save tortoises living on lands slated for development.  On August 1, 2007, the FWC finally stopped issuing permits that allow developers to "pay and bury" gopher tortoises, requiring developers with new permit applications to move tortoises out of harm's way before construction begins.  Even though the gopher tortoise's protected status is expected to be upgraded to Threatened in September, many unused, "grandfathered" kill permits would still allow the destruction of thousands more tortoises.

Keeping the Gloves on till Animal Fighting's Gone

In keeping with this week's theme of showcasing our hands-on work and our video resources, I want to direct you to The Final Round, an HSUS video on the ugly world of animal fighting (warning: video contains graphic footage). The HSUS devotes major resources to investigating illegal animal fighting activities, training law enforcement, and upgrading laws so that animal fighters do not merely get a slap on the wrist.

Two weeks ago, we increased our standard reward to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any illegal animal fighter. Today, a Louisiana law to ban gambling at cockfights that The HSUS worked to pass—an antecedent to a full-out ban on cockfighting to take effect next year—goes into force. We'll be doing our best to work with law enforcement and the citizens of Louisiana to see that this law is enforced. Our reward fund applies here, too. And of course, we remain fixed on the Michael Vick case.

Last night, I appeared on CNN's Nancy Grace show as a result of the news that two of Vick's co-defendants are expected to plead guilty to charges related to dogfighting later this week. One other co-defendant did so a couple of weeks ago. So Michael Vick may soon stand alone. If he doesn't plead, there are reports that the feds will bring superceding charges against him.  And then his legal exposure becomes even more significant.

Whatever the legal outcome with Vick, the prime target for The HSUS is the entire world of organized animal fighting. We'll hope that this case has brought to light the surprising prevalence of this activity; that it results in stronger state and federal laws against animal fighting; that police and prosecutors crack down on these perpetrators; and that it results in citizens reporting illegal animal fighting activities to law enforcement.

Take this case example. Last week in New Jersey, a landlord was taking a look at one of his buildings, and he noticed dogfighting paraphernalia on the premises that he had learned about while watching recent television coverage of the Michael Vick case. He said all he could think about was last month's indictment of NFL quarterback Michael Vick on dogfighting charges. He reported the circumstances to police, they investigated, and the people involved with an alleged dogfighting operation were arrested.

Hats off to this hero. It's because of such behavior that we have a civil society. And it offers us hope in stamping out cruelty.

Saving Lives in the Community

If urgent matters don't disrupt my plan, I want to showcase two themes this week—first, to shine a spotlight on a few hands-on programs at The HSUS and, second, to point you to our tremendous in-house video capabilities and resources.

Yesterday, I introduced you to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch and the rescued animals there.  Today, I want to draw your attention to two of our hands-on programs that promote spaying and neutering. 

I am so proud of The HSUS's Rural Area Veterinary Services program, which deploys veterinarians and close to 900 vet students every year to treat animals in poverty-stricken regions of the country and to provide free spay/neuter services.  Our staff and volunteers visit Native American reservations and other rural areas, where people not only have trouble coming up with funds for vet care, but where vets are in very short supply to begin with. You may not hear about it often, but your dollars support a remarkable program that gives hope to thousands of people and animals.

We also work on the spay/neuter issue by organizing Spay Day USA, The HSUS's annual campaign  (which we were thrilled to adopt when we merged with the Doris Day Animal League), to inspire people to save animal lives by spaying or neutering pets and feral cats.

This year, participants spayed or neutered more than 20,000 cats, dogs and rabbits, and raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for spay/neuter services. You can see the success of Spay Day USA 2007, from one local shelter to Capitol Hill, in this video.

I hope you take a few minutes to view some of the videos.  Also, I want to direct you to the HSUS Animal Channel, our online video resource.  We have a supremely talented staff of professionals who produce some of the most compelling videos about animals and animal issues.  It's a resource you'll want to draw upon time and time again—not only to inspire and inform you, but to provide you with an online tool to inform others interested in animal issues.

Safe Haven for Abused and Abandoned

If you are part of our online community, you get a steady stream of calls to action—combatting animal fightng, horse slaughter, puppy mills, factory farming, and a wide range of other abuses.  But you may not hear much about our hands-on work for animals.  From time to time, I want to share with you images and video from some of that work—which is enormously fulfilling to all of us at The HSUS and The Fund for Animals.   

Today, I invite you to take a virtual tour of the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch—one of the world's largest animal sanctuaries—in Murchison, Texas, where nearly 1,300 animals rescued from abuse and neglect find a safe haven.  Cleveland Amory and The Fund for Animals started the sanctuary nearly 30 years ago.  A generous animal advocate remembered The Fund for Animals through a bequest, and that money provided the capital to buy the land and fulfill Cleveland's dream to have a large animal sanctuary that could take in animals in desperate need.  The name of the ranch was inspired, of course, by Anna Sewell's Black Beauty—one of the first books about the humane treatment of animals to reach a mass audience in the 19th century.   

Meet the residents and get a slice of ranch life on a virtual tour.

Dog Devotion, Pedestrian and Presidential

The dog days are upon us. This is the season when the brightest star in Canis Major, Sirius or the “dog star,” once rose with the sun. Ancient astronomers believed Sirius added to the sun’s heat during these summer months.

Credit: Library of Congress
Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin
Coolidge, with two of the family's dogs.

But never mind the swelter or the stars. From the terrace of my apartment in Washington, D.C., I look upon a street and see a steady parade of dogs, real-life dogs, outnumbering the cars at that hour as the first bands of light signal a new day. When I get home late in the evening, there they are again, dogs and their people, taking a break from their routines and, as far as the dogs are concerned, doing their business before calling it a day.

There are an estimated 75 million dogs in our country. That’s 20 million more than the total number of registered Republicans in the nation. And it’s three million more than the number of registered Democrats—including the familiar “Yellow Dog” Democrats of the South. By the way, that appellation came from an actual dog—the once-wild Carolina Dog of the southern seaboard.

Likewise, “Blue Dog” Democrats also take their nickname after a dog—the blue dog in the paintings of Louisiana artist George Rodrigue. This famous dog is a stylized rendition of a black-and-white spaniel of Rodrigue’s childhood, a dog named Tiffany.

As with many things in Washington, dogs come to be associated with politics and with presidents. Calvin Coolidge had nothing to do with the Internet age, but he nonetheless named one of his dogs Blackberry, according to the Presidential Pet Museum here. Lyndon Johnson, who got himself in a twist over his public mishandling of his dogs, had beagles named Him and Her. James Garfield’s wife, Molly, had a dog called Veto.

But of course, it’s not just in Washington, and not just during the dog days of August. Americans everywhere are connected to their dogs all year long. Indeed, our affection for dogs is one way that we express our humanity. It’s a bond worth celebrating.

Shark on the Menu Puts Species in Peril

I'll admit that when I swim in the ocean, I have thought more than a few times about the presence of sharks. I guess it's like walking in grizzly bear country or in mountain lion habitat. In these environs, we are not top dog, and it's human nature to have a pang of fear.

© Mass. Dept. of Fisheries

But, as a general matter, these creatures have a lot more to fear from us. Sharks especially. There are a few human victims each year of shark attacks. But there are more than 100 million successful human attacks on sharks.

To meet the demand for shark fin soup—a few strands of shark collagen in chicken or fish broth—tens of millions of sharks are killed annually in oceans around the world. Reported in writings of the Ming Dynasty, shark fin soup was once limited to Chinese emperors and the very elite. But since the 1980s the popularity of this delicacy, which can sell for as much as $100 per bowl, has grown in China and Asia.

The sharks’ fins are cut off when the fish are still alive; then the mutilated sharks are thrown back into the sea to perish.

If a fishing crew takes a whole shark, the boat soon runs out of freezer space and fishing must stop. If the crew takes only the valuable fins, dries them, and throws the rest of the shark back to sea, it can carry on fishing, killing a mammoth number of sharks.

For a time, the only country that required all sharks be landed whole was Costa Rica. We've advocated that other countries follow suit, and recently El Salvador and Colombia both enacted “fins-attached” legislation. We are pushing the United Nations to adopt a resolution that requires sharks be landed whole.

Here at home, if you see shark fin on a restaurant menu, please speak with the management and ask them to stop serving it. Also, here at home, we are opposing shark killing contests. We need not make victims of these creatures to satisfy our egos or our appetites.

Talk Back: Shame on the Shillers

Many readers responded to the series of blogs exposing the fatuous claims of HSUS critics (you can see those here, here and here). Among the comments we received:

I don't know what's worse: organizations that mislead the public and falsely claim to support animal welfare or groups that have no involvement with animals whatsoever, but for some reason feel the need to play devil's advocate in an attempt to discredit The HSUS and their wonderful efforts. True animal lovers are behind you 100 percent, Wayne. —Kara

Even in the face of horrible groups like the ones mentioned, we always have to believe that the truth will always come out. —Lisa Jenkins

I think it is a good idea for HSUS members to be alert to online news and op-ed items that present fallacies and to politely comment with the facts on articles that allow reader comments. Email the writer and politely correct falsehoods if a reader forum is not available. Happily the electronic age also allows for immediate letters to the editor. Google Alerts is a handy tool for finding mentions of animal issues on many different news sites. —S Williams

What a dreadful shame that you have to waste your precious time on such B.S. Your supporters love you and are deeply grateful for the work you do. —Lorraine

Farm Animals Front and Center

The plight of farm animals has always been a concern of The Humane S