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• If You Love Animals - Please Sign to Get This Man Stopped!!!
  by Angela Harburn

  My dear Animal Loving Red Bubblers – my good friend Elisabeth – ferndesign – posted this in her journal today – it is extremely distressi…

  My dear Animal Loving Red Bubblers – my good friend Elisabeth – ferndesign – posted this in her journal today – it is extremely distressing to read. May I ask that you take a couple of moments to click on the link at the bottom and sign your name to the petition to stop this appalling thing happening. Please spread the word about this to your friends both on and off RB – the more people that put their name to this – the more chance it will be stopped! Thank you for taking the time to care for those that cannot speak for themselves! / Angela x Taken from ferndesign’s journal An Artist that shouldn’t be recognized in the Art world!!! In 2007, the ‘artist’ Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art gallery, and starved him to death. For several days, the ‘artist’ and the visitors of the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful ‘masterpiece’ based on the dog’s agony, until eventually he died. Does it look like art to you? But this is not all… the prestigious Visual Arts Biennial of the Central American decided that the ‘installation’ was actually art, so that Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel action for the biennial of 2008. PLEASE HELP STOP HIM. It takes a second to help put a stop to animal abuse – Sign the petetion to stop this by Clicking Here Another animal advocate and dear friend Sally Omar has added a further link that we can contact – please visit her journal page Click Here / if you wish to email PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to help get this terrible thing stopped – Thank you! xxx Additional Comment Added 14/04/08 – If anyone can suggest any other organisation that could be contacted to help stop this – please leave a comment to let us know – I will post it on as a further journal message. Thank you! xxx

• Please read and sign.
  by salsbells69

  clickhere Abhorrent treatment for art. If this g…

  clickhere Abhorrent treatment for art. If this gets your blood boiling please sign the petition. Thanks all. Sal

• The Cruelty of Aerial Culling
  by Estelle O'Brien

  I live in a narrow valley surrounded by beautiful mountains with rocky escarpments and rugged steep slopes. I climbed half way up there o…

  I live in a narrow valley surrounded by beautiful mountains with rocky escarpments and rugged steep slopes. I climbed half way up there once to rescue one of my dogs who had gotten stuck on a ledge…the view was like looking down from an aeroplane. It took all of my courage and strength to climb up and I would never have done it if I didn’t love that little dog so much! Living high in the rocky mountain are three families of wild goats. They are lovely animals; intelligent, proud and nimble. They often came down from the mountain to graze in our back paddock and say hello. A year or two ago a neighbour found a kid and brought it to me to rear. I named her Millie (the Kid) and she lived in my chicken house with my chooks. She would jump up onto the roost with them at night to sleep. I soon won her confidence and tamed her and during the day she would play with me and follow me about my garden, helping me to trim the weeds. Goats are smart and funny, they love to interact and play. She was a beautiful friend for a while, she grew up sleek and strong and pure white…and one day she happily ran off with a mob of big black goats. We would catch glimpses of her sometimes high up on the mountain, a white princess among a bunch of long-haired black “bikie” goats! If we called out her name – a shout echoes around the hills- she would raise her head and give a little kick of recognition, as if remembering our kindness when she was an orphaned baby. A couple of weeks ago we had a letter from the Dept of Parks and Wildlife asking permission to shoot on our property, which we declined to give. A ranger subsequently appeared on our doorstep to try to convince us that the wild goats are a menace to society. Their argument is that there is some sort of plant that grows only up on the rugged rocky terrain on the top of our mountain and the goats are eating it. My answer to that is that the bush is so rough and rocky and rugged up there, it is only accessible by mountain climbing and helicopters -who would ever know whether a plant was or was not there? And which beaureacrat who thinks he’s God makes the decision that a plant is more important than an animal? He thought I was mad as a hatter when I told him I would tell the goats to hide- bad men were coming with guns. He thought my husband was even madder when he challenged the prevailing “wisdom” of killing animals from the air. He left without the permission he sought, and advised us that they would shoot around our boundary. The next day we heard the ominous deep ratta-tat of the helicopter as it flew over the mountain. The chopper was so loud it was almost deafening as it hovered above the trees, low enough to cause the leaves to swirl off. We only own the land half way up the mountain…the top belongs to the State Parks Authority and so they swept up and down our fenceline, pausing and hovering every time they saw goats. My horses were terrified, I ran out to their paddock to reassure them and keep them as calm as I could. Pilgrim had been galloping about in fear as the gunshots began, and both horses stood beside me with their heads over my shoulder as chopper thundered around and we heard BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. Every time there was a rifle shot, the horses flinched in fear. I stood with them with tears running down my face as I heard each shot and thought of my dear little friends up the mountain. After about 45 minutes, their cruel work was done. I couldn’t bear to look, but Dennis had been watching them through binoculars. He saw the goats standing petrified on the rocks and saw them fall one by one, too scared to run away. He saw our little Millie lying on a rocky ledge high upon the mountain. I am crying again as I write about it…it is such a distressing thing to write about. But people should know what is done in the name of “conservation”. For hours afterwards we heard desperate bleating…some were probably injured and lying where they fell… to die a slow agonising death. It is too rough for us to climb to the top and try to help the ones who were gut shot. Even with the high powered army rifle they were using, it is impossible for the rangers to have clean shots from the air. It is so cruel. In Canberra the same week, they were culling some kangaroos, who were “over-grazing the native grasses” What rubbish- kangaroos don’t stay where there is no feed…they move on. But these kangaroos had some animal loving friends who were activists and attracted some publicity…and so the government made them tranquilize the roos before they killed them. Why do they think kangaroos can feel fear and pain… but goats can’t? Because it was done in the nation’s capital in view of the public, humane methods were used…but goats on a mountain where no-one can see what happens, is a different matter. Why is one animals life more important than anothers? Who makes these illogical decisions? I am a realist and I sometimes eat meat, so I am not against killing animals altogether…but only if it is to eat them and only if they are killed humanely. I would never buy caged chickens eggs or eat lot fed beef, both are terrible practices. But I cannot understand why so called civilized people think that aerial culling is acceptable. It is terribly cruel – they have no way of knowing how many animals they left up there injured to die slowly. It is barbaric and should be stopped.

• The Woman Inside
  by InfinityRain

  The woman inside There is a person within myself / She longs to come out / Everyone can see the outside; / Isn’t it fun for them to whisp…

  The woman inside There is a person within myself / She longs to come out / Everyone can see the outside; / Isn’t it fun for them to whisper. / They snicker and point / All they see is the outside. / Can’t they see the hurt? / I’ve tried and I’ve tried to free her. / She’s locked up so tight. / Starving, walking, pills, vomiting / Diets and fads. Exercise bikes, treadmills, videos and books / My heart breaks every time that I fail / Nobody sees that, I pretend I don’t hear / When they point, it’s like a sword cutting deep / Their laughter is like gunshots in my ears. / Everyone loves me, but just for a moment / They hear the woman that is locked up tight / They see the eyes, smile and hair. / They love what they imagine I am. / So long as I can hide from them everything else / They will stick around / But one day.. one day, they will see just what the others do.. / Then it’s silence in my life again, they go away / No good-bye thanks for the day / No hug or smile, no explanation at all. / They slink back to their holes / Back where they feel it’s perfect. /

• Help Oink, with Jen
  by Julie Langford

  Poor Oink! Jennifer is trying to help Oink Here Go take a look i…

  Poor Oink! Jennifer is trying to help Oink Here Go take a look if you have a spare minute please Thanks Jul

• Please Help
  by Julie Langford

  Lovely Oink

  Lovely Oink

• FINALLY!!! The Seal Collages are DONE!
  by Crockpot

  Whew! My back is killing me and my foot is asleep, but they images are up and ready for you to buy!! Please check them out ~ and ke…

  Whew! My back is killing me and my foot is asleep, but they images are up and ready for you to buy!! Please check them out ~ and keep in mind that 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd has been making international headlines recently with their no-BS approach to ending the seal hunt. So… without further adieu… I present Save Our Seals by the Voices for Animals group!

• Smart Choices
  by Ashlee Maegan

  I just want to inform you guys about which companies in the cosmetic/beauty industry do and don’t test on animals! Hopefully based on thi…

  I just want to inform you guys about which companies in the cosmetic/beauty industry do and don’t test on animals! Hopefully based on this list you will make the choice to change your brand for the animals if you’re not already conscious about it and pass this info on! NOTE: This list is doesn’t cover all brands, they are the most common brands found in most supermarkets and are common choices made by consumers. For a list of boutique beauty/cosmetics brands that don’t test on animals see this website: http://www.choosecrueltyfree.org.au/printlist.html. DO TEST: Palmolive, Clean and Clear, Lux, L’Oreal, Maybelline, Rimmel, Max Factor, Covergirl, Elizabeth Arden, Cutex, Colgate, Oral B, Listerine, Reach, Dove, Impulse, Lynx, Norsca, Rexona, Brut, Gillette, Mum, Speed stick, Palmolive, Johnson’s, Neutrogena, Garnier Fructis, Clairol, Head and Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Pantene, Pert, Vidal Sasson, All Clear, Dimension, Dove, Fruitience, Pears, Sunsilk, Timotei, Decore, Wella, Wella Balsam, Bic, Ponds, Vaseline, Olay, Dettol, Velvet, Kleenex, Wondersoft. DON’T TEST: Popular: Deep Heat, Voltaren, Elastoplast, Radox, Strepsils, Nyal, Australis, Revlon, Macleans, Nivea, Libra, Blistex, Chap Stick, Nurofen, Panadol, Advil, Herron, Aesop, Schwarzkopf, Blackmores, VO5, Schick, Clearasil, St Ives, Redwin, Sorbent, Wet Ones, Cenovis, Banana Boat, Le Tan, UV Triple Guard, Reef Dencorub, Eulactol, Natures Organics, Doccia Shiuma, Sanex, Ease a Cold, Robitussin, Dick’s True Blue, Rite Aid, Dove (cotton buds), White Glo, Cedel, Pearl Drops, Herbal Fresh, Red Seal, Sensodyne, Aquafresh, Polident, Mayvers, Fa, Herbon, Imperial Leather, Graphite, Mitcham Evoke, Tena, Cottons, De Jour, Lip Eze, Natures Way, Panafen, Abba, Schwarzkopf, Taft, Fruits, Organic Care, Turning Point, Ossential Wash, Flex, Alberto, Faulding, Pure, Yellow Clay, Purex, Quilton, Safe, Merino, Symphony, Eco Soft, Softly, Aust Cancer Council For more info about Animal Testing here is a good website (that doesn’t have horrific images) that will tell you more about the topic so you can form your own opinion. http://www.actnow.com.au/Issues/Animal_testing.aspx So next time you purchase new items for you and your body choose cruelty free! It’s not hard to do.

• Featured Frog
  by Crockpot

  I Wouldn’t Dissect You! has been featured in the Reptiles and Amphibians...

  I Wouldn’t Dissect You! has been featured in the Reptiles and Amphibians group! Thanks Erin!!

• FINALLY!! Journalist Puts Spotlight on Animal Cruelty
  by Crockpot

  *Th…

  The Sadist Show on Earth? / Posted by Joel Schwartzberg April 14, 2008 1:12PM / Categories: Family & Kids, Hot Topics, New Jersey Life, Policy Watch My kids and I went to the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus on Saturday at the Izod Center. I can’t remember the last time I’d been to the circus – possibly never – but we all have associations to the circus and know what to expect: clowns, animals, trapeze artists, overpriced souvenirs, and other shocks. / Irate at Izod Just outside the entrance was something I didn’t expect: a group of anti-circus protesters from the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, shouting gory details of animal mistreatment and holding signs. There were only a handful of them, corralled in a yellow iron-gated playpen, but their point was compelling, especially when I had to explain it to my five year-old daughter. “Why are those people mad?” she asked. “They’re saying it’s cruel to train animals to perform for humans.” “Why?” “Well, sometimes the training involves…” As I tried to find the right word, the image of Jack Bauer came to mind. “Sometimes the training hurts.” This was enough information for all three of my kids to take a hard stance against the circus, but I said it was important to go at least once, to see what it’s all about. Animal cruelty aside – and audience cruelty considered – “The Greatest Show on Earth” was, to these grown-up eyes, a bit underwhelming. The clowns were earnest and energetic, but nothing about them mitigated the “evil clown” imagery that takes frequent residence in our nightmares and phobias, so the resulting combined impression is that they’re just…creepy. / Uhhhh…I’ll pass on that balloon, thanks. When we stood for the National Anthem as a bedazzled lady held an American flag and rode past us atop an elephant, I knew we were in for something incredibly, and perhaps annoyingly, over-the-top. In fact, “Over the Top” was the theme of the show, in which a head clown steals the hat of the ringmaster and…oh, never mind. There were some incredible, daring feats to be sure: seven Paraguayan motorcyclists criss-crossing each other at full speed inside a steel sphere, triple-somersaulting trapeze artists, Chinese acrobats, and powerful Russian gymnasts. But the comic segments were painfully slow and dumb, the songs were excruciatingly cheesy, and the gorgeous tigers and snow-white horses in particular seemed decidedly unhappy about being prodded with an electro-whip. Looking resigned to their fate, majestic elephants traveled tail-to-trunk in a slow parade around the ring. Occasionally they sat back and raised their front legs like poodles, among other completely unnatural tricks. It’s apparently open season for making elephants act completely out of character. All of the animals were trained to act in direct opposition to their natural inclinations, probably to make them seem as lovable as their stuffed counterparts at the concession stand. PETA’s anti-circus site circuses.com puts it this way: The fact is, animals do not naturally ride bicycles, stand on their heads, balance on balls, or jump through rings of fire. To force them to perform these confusing and physically uncomfortable tricks, trainers use whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods, bullhooks, and other painful tools of the trade. As I waited on line to spend $10 on a box of popcorn and a bottle of water, I began to think the animals weren’t the only ones being trained. The human audience was being guided, instructed, and occasionally duped as well. Complaining about the price of a Diet Coke would probably have gotten me zapped by a bystanding attendant. / Pachydermocracy? Izod Center, April 12 On the way out of Izod, we saw the protesters arguing with police about their signs. Maybe they should have been a little more creative in their tactics. “Everyone is WATCHING!” one protester yelled, but in fact, few were watching at all. We were busy herding our children into cars and following the exit ramps as directed. “Everyone’s got a complaint about something,” I heard a man tell his wife dismissively. But the protesters made an impact on me, enough to investigate further. Turns out the facts are pretty disturbing. A report by the the Animal Welfare Institute, the Fund for Animals, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals details not just abuse and mistreatment of circus animals, but also evidence that the USDA has looked the other way when it comes to circus animal mistreatment. Ringling Bros. extols its own dedication to ethical animal handling in a document buried on their website, though it’s weirdly short on details. Maybe because Ringling’s history of past violations has a sizable lead in the details department. The circus strongly encourages you to watch the animals during the show with your own eyes to understand if they’re being mistreated. That’s like watching a Michael Jackson video to determine if he’ll be a good babysitter. Considering one of the Meadowland Sports Center’s biggest sponsors, you’d think someone would be answering to a higher authority. I’ll probably steer myself and my family toward non-animal circuses in the future. All beasts deserve a free-to-roam home in their natural habitats, be it in a wildlife preserve, the jungle, or – in the case of our cats – the master bedroom.

• Gucci Stops Selling Seal Fur!!!
  by Crockpot

  After hearing from thousands of PETA supporters, Gucci has announced that it will not sell seal fur. Now we must push the company to be i…

  After hearing from thousands of PETA supporters, Gucci has announced that it will not sell seal fur. Now we must push the company to be innovative, ethical, and animal-friendly by not causing other animals to suffer for fur. Ask Gucci to go fur-free today! Tell Gucci to Stop Selling All Fur! Cruelty-free Clothing Guide Sign the Petition Against the Seal Hunt Take the Fur-Free Pledge

• Another Aussie Saves A Frog!!
  by Crockpot

  A HUGE THANK YOU to our mystery buyer down under who just bought “I Wouldn’t Dissect You”! Thanks sooooo much!!!!!! !http://images-...

  A HUGE THANK YOU to our mystery buyer down under who just bought “I Wouldn’t Dissect You”! Thanks sooooo much!!!!!!

• It’s a Privilege to Stop at Traffic Lights
  by avionz

  / This was not easy to write. A lot has been left out. / / Joanna loves New Zealand . The beauty of the country and relaxed way of li…

  / This was not easy to write. A lot has been left out. / / Joanna loves New Zealand . The beauty of the country and relaxed way of life are good enough reasons but it is the small things which most New Zealanders wouldn’t even register that makes her want to stay; the small things which reflect the country’s relative safety. / / It has taken her eight years to really feel settled here but now she won’t consider even a short visit to her place of birth. / / It wasn’t one experience that persuaded her to leave her family and friends, departing almost penniless for unfamiliar shores. A combination of life-threatening events persuaded her to take her traumatised children and leave forever. / / Joanna’s first brush with violence happened at home in an exclusive suburb which was considered safe in the early 1990s. When the massive stranger appeared at her front door one morning, Joanna did not consider herself to be in danger and answered his knock. He politely asked if she could give him a job. Her equally polite refusal brought an immediate response. Putting his foot inside the door, the man lunged forward and grasped her shoulder. / / Years later, describing this incident – and the many other subsequent violent threats to her- Joanna can vividly recall the scene and her reactions. She describes the cloudless day and the smell of her roses. She vividly recalls the man’s shiny skin and his smile. Joanna recalls the instant feeling of calm that overcame her, as if she were a tiny roebuck overcome by a lioness, beyond fear but resigned and totally aware of her vulnerability. / / In this first instance, the man got no further than her shoulder. Joanna’s eyes shine as she describes the speed of her German Shepherd, Jago. The dog launched himself from behind her and hit the man chest high, knocking him to the floor. Within seconds, the attacker managed to get to his feet and run off. She did not send the dog after him. / / Now a New Zealand citizen, Joanna and her sons sometimes play a little ritual when they go on shopping expeditions. They recite a litany of “freedoms” when exiting the supermarket. / / “We can carry our bags to the car without looking over our shoulders. / We can use an ATM without being mugged. / That man hasn’t got a knife. / Look, I am wearing jewelry. / We can stop at a red light.” / / / “Coming home after shopping was always scary. Even though the house was locked and security systems activated, I would always feel uneasy until I had checked each room and possible hiding place. Once I arrived home and the front door was slightly ajar. There was a blood trail inside. It went along the passage and into the master bedroom. We never discovered how it came to be there. / A friend of mine was alone in a locked house. Three men broke in through the roof. My friend jumped out the window of a second storey bedroom, breaking her leg. The intruders raped and stabbed her, leaving her for her husband to find, critically injured and permanently traumatized.” / / Ex-patriots regard our reactions to violent crime in a bemused way. Murders or abductions in New Zealand are national news. Over twenty thousand murders a year in their country of birth dwarf our statistics. Even the road toll is mind-boggling. Easter weekend realised 300 road fatalities. / / Joanna’s passion for animals drove her to be a vet nurse in her country of birth and she now works with animals in New Zealand , in arguably one of this country’s most dangerous occupations. Her colleagues sometimes question her willingness to approach P-addled gang members who have eviscerated their pit bulls, or violent farmers who have neglected their herds to the point of starvation. Recounting her previous experiences with knife and gun-wielding men, Joanna is aware of the danger but feels confident in her ability to sense when a situation is too dangerous and in her interpersonal skills when confronted. She has become much more aware since that day when Jago saved her. / / Once more she becomes preternaturally calm. / / “ I know I am deeply angry at these people for threatening me but I remain quiet. My senses become acute and I find the right words. Of course, if I feel bad vibes I will not enter a property without backup.” / / New Zealand ’s relatively safe environment did not impact on her immediately. It took three years before Joanna relaxed enough to let her teenage daughter share a taxi to town with friends. She would not let her younger children walk by themselves the two hundred metres to the corner dairy. Once, at an airport in her homeland, when she was momentarily distracted, her two-year-old son was taken by the hand and led away. Fortunately Joanna spotted the pair and was able to snatch her son back. From then on, for outings, the little boy was kept on a lead. Abductions of children are not rare and the reasons for them are of nightmare material. Young boys are in high demand. Their penises are removed for medicine. Men with AIDS are under the impression that having sex with babies will provide a cure. Joanna recounts a story of a friend’s twelve-year-old who was abducted and never seen again. / / Muggings are routine, almost expected; certainly not remarkable. Joanna’s mugging was in a busy shopping mall. She was hit from behind and knocked to the ground. Shoppers threaded their way around her and her children as money was taken. When it was over, after a few minutes of dazed inaction, still unaided, she managed to get up and move away, thankful that she had not worn her wedding ring and therefore still had all her fingers. / / For Kiwis, the Sunday drive in the country is taken for granted. Such an excursion would not be have been considered, unless a group of friends decided to form a convoy. / One windy night in the Waikato , I was driving with Joanna when a work gang flagged us down. A tree had blown across the road and the friendly road worker gave us advice on the appropriate detour. Joanna admitted later that she would have found it difficult to stop and wind her window down to talk to the man. / / Arriving home after work necessitated a close scrutiny of bushes by the gate before leaving the relative safety of the car. / / Nights in her home country’s capital were times of unease. Even the feel of the .38 under the pillow offered little comfort. / / “It was a big gun, heavy. It was hard to hold but anything smaller would not have stopped a big man.” / / Houses are fortresses. Armed guards, dogs, massive, double-glazed windows with bars and lockable, security bedroom doors are features of contemporary town houses. / / I have met several immigrants. Each one has confirmed Joanna’s description of beautiful scenery and terrifying humanity. / / Joanna has always had an affinity for animals. She has developed bonds with many, not the least with Jago. She has a seemingly endless store of horror tales of unimaginable cruelty from her time as a vet nurse. Ritualistic torture was commonplace.. There is one particular memory that is too horrific to recount, even after ten years. Often her only recourse was euthanasia, sometimes in the presence of the perpetrator. / / Her compassion for animals drove Joanna to another country to assist with the release and rehabilitation of bears, permanently crushed into immobility in small cages, teeth and claws removed, with catheters inserted into their gall bladders for the extraction of bile. On arrival, airport police berated her for hours, yelling into her face. Joanna did not understand a word but it didn’t require a great deal of insight to guess the reason for their anger. Her ability to remain calm and quiet was, once more, a boon. Eventually, her passport was thrown at her. The full story of her work with bears and the brave people who continue to do so can be told at a later date. / / I am not writing this to criticise any other country. Cruelty can be found everywhere. So can compassion and great kindness. It is just that I am profoundly grateful to be living in New Zealand . It has beauty, in nature and in its people. Let us preserve that ,so we don’t ever have to suffer experiences such as Joanna’s.

• Canadian Newspaper Speaks Out Against Seal Hunt!!!
  by Crockpot

  *The millions Ottawa spends subsidizing the seal hunt...

  The millions Ottawa spends subsidizing the seal hunt / By Murray Teitel Whether you think killing seals is a bad thing or a good thing, whether you think it barbaric or humane, you should oppose Canada’s annual seal hunt. / According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) the justification for the hunt is to provide economic opportunities for Canada’s coastal communities. Last year, according to its Web site, this entire economic opportunity amounted to $12-million, the value of all seal pelts landed. They fetched on average $52 a pelt. According to evidence given to Parliament’s standing committee on fisheries and oceans on Nov. 6, 2006, half of that is eaten up by expenses, so we are talking, at most, $6-million that flowed to the sealers themselves: one-tenth of 1% of Newfoundland’s GDP. (This year it will be even less, because pelts of three to four week old “beaters” that make up 95% of the catch are selling for between $6 and $33.) This $6-million costs Canadians at least 10 times as much and does so year after year. First of all, there is the cost of deploying the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) to the seal hunt for seven weeks each year. Last year it involved 10 vessels, many of them icebreakers, helicopters and patrol planes. Nobody in government knows, even less wants to know, what this costs. DFO claims it costs nothing because the boats and aircraft are owned and the crews are on salary. Does it cost nothing to put out fires in Toronto because it owns the trucks and firefighters aren’t on piecework? Toronto hires firefighters and buys trucks based on the anticipated number and severity of fires. A significant part of what CCG does is rescue sealers. Some 24% of its 2003 fishing vessel rescues derived from this hunt. Without it, CCG’s annual budget could be significantly reduced. One hunt-deployed icebreaker, the Amundsen, costs $50,000 per day to operate in winter. Given DFO’s lack of transparency, one can only estimate the annual CCG cost attributable to the hunt at $5-million. Secondly, every year some disaster occurs. Last year, it was heavy ice that trapped sealers for days on end. Some even ran out of cigarettes! DFO calculated the extra CCG costs due to heavy ice at $3.41-million. It also paid $7.9-million to owners of boats damaged by ice. This year, it is the drowning of four sealers and the near drowning of two while being rescued by CCG. This resulted in the cost of an unsuccessful week-long 2,800 nautical square mile search for one of the drowned and his boat involving patrol planes, helicopters and three icebreakers. The inevitable lawsuits and legal bills will easily cost more than $6-million. Thirdly, millions are spent every year trying to counter bans on the importation of seal products. Our NAFTA partners and four European countries have imposed bans. Four countries have announced intentions to do so. Italy and Luxembourg have suspended imports. The European Parliament resolved to impose an EU-wide ban. The Council of Europe has called on its 46 members to do so. Canada has taken Holland and Belgium to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. Aside form being terribly expensive, it jeopardizes a relationship with two countries with which Canada has a trade surplus. $5.2-million of raw seal products constitutes less than 1/1,000 of what we export to Europe. The DFO, since at least 2003, has been flying high-level delegations to Europe to argue against the bans. Last year, there were at least six such junkets. For example, on March 27, 2007, a 17-person delegation was dispatched to the British Parliament for a meeting attended by only five British MPs. Last month, seven Canadians, including Loyola Sullivan, ambassador for fisheries conservation, the Premier of Nunavut and a Newfoundland Cabinet minister flew to four European capitals for a week. Unfortunately, they seem to use a travel agent who excels at finding the most expensive fares available. When Mr. Sullivan flew on seal business to five European capitals this January, the airfare alone was $10,270.80. The DFO’s Kevin Stringer flew to Paris for $4,459.65 on Sept. 5, 2007. Of course, this is nothing compared with the $16,025.25 spent on airfare to Australia and New Zealand by the DFO’s director general of economic analysis whom I wish would do an economic analysis of his own expense accounts. With hotels, wines, meals and support staff, this adds up. They have as much chance of stemming this tide as Germany did of stopping the Allies after D Day. The battle is lost. But because of ideological fanaticism they keep fighting, secure in the delusion that the Canadian taxpayer, like the cod, is an inexhaustible resource that will forever fund this foolishness that only benefits the high-end European tourism industry. Fourthly, there is the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) led boycott that is largely responsible for the inflation adjusted $465-million drop in the value of Canadian exports of snow crabs — the main seafood export to the United States from Canada’s sealing provinces — since April, 2005. The value of 2007 snow crab exports is 44% lower than it was in 2004, the year prior to the boycott. HSUS has to date persuaded almost 3,600 U.S. businesses to participate, including heavy hitters Publix (annual sales $24-billion), Whole Foods ($7-billion), WinCo Foods, Lowe’s Foods, Harris Teeter ($3-billion each) and smaller, seafood-driven ones like Legal Sea Foods ($400-million). Sealing creates less than 1% of the value of the sealing provinces’ fishery. Sacrifice 99% for the sake of 1%. Now there’s a business plan! Finally, there is the cost of the DFO seal-hunt bureaucracy, which alone has to cost more than the sealers earn: license issuers, accountants, typists, file clerks, inspectors, quota setters, regulation drafters, “scientists,” “statisticians,” “economic analysts,” speech writers, media relations officers, anti-boycott propagandists, writers of replies to angry letters, arrangers of tours of European journalists (when the seal hunt is not taking place), all in the service of what DFO says is 5,000 to 6,000 (more like 2,000, I believe) people averaging $1,000 a year from killing 275,000 seals. There is a conflict of interest in the DFO having jurisdiction over the Coast Guard. If it were controlled by the Minister of Defence, he’d immediately see that for what he is spending on the seal hunt, he could outfit an artillery regiment. Enough already. This is a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money. And the sealers? Sealers should prefer these monies be used to train them for jobs in the 21st-century economy, rather than to preserve them as relics of a hunter/gatherer one. Financial Post / Murray Teitel is a Toronto lawyer and journalist.

• "Another Sealer Bites the Dust"
  by Crockpot

  04/16/2008 Another Sealer Bites the Dust / [to be beat of “Another One Bites the Dust”] Commentary by Captain Paul Watson / Found…

  04/16/2008 Another Sealer Bites the Dust / [to be beat of “Another One Bites the Dust”] Commentary by Captain Paul Watson / Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society And Another One Gone and Another One Gone…………… Oh! Shepherds Let’s go / The sealer walks warily on the ice / With his club and knuckles dragging low, / No mercy in his heart, he isn’t very nice, / Hak-a-pik ready to go / Are you ready hey are you ready for this? / Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? / Out of the gloom the Sea Shepherd does rip / To the sound of the beat yeah / Another sealer bites the dust / Another sealer bites the dust / And another sealer gone and another one gone / Another one bites the dust hey / Hey we’re gonna get you too / Another sealer bites the dust / How do you think we’re going to get along / Without them the seals are gone / You took from the ice everything that they had / And kicked them in the face. / Are you happy, are you satisfied? / How long can you stand the pain. / Out of the ice the Sea Shepherd rips / To the sound of the beat look out / Another sealer bites the dust / Another sealer bites the dust / And another one gone and another one gone / Another one bites the dust hey / Hey I’m gonna get you too / Another sealer bites the dust / Hey / Oh take it – Bite the dust bite the dust / Hey Another sealer bites the dust / Another one bites the dust ow / Another sealer bites the dust he he / Another sealer bites the dust hay yay ya ya ya / Ooh shout / There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a seal / And bring him to the ground / You can beat him / You can skin him alive / You can wound him bad and leave him / When he’s down yeah / But we’re, yes we’re for you / We’re standing on our own two feet / Out of the fog you can see us rip / Repeating to the sound of the beat / Another sealer bites the dust / Another sealer bites the dust / And another one gone and another one gone / Another sealer bites the dust yeah / Hey we’re gonna get you too / Another sealer bites the dust / Shoot out / E-he! Alright! And yesterday two more sealing ships bit the dust. The Newfoundland sealing vessel Lacey May burst into flames and burned to the waterline some 37 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. All five seal killers were rescued by the coast guard after the men abandoned their boat and hopped onto an ice floe. About the same time a 15 metre sealing vessel the B S Venture ran onto the rocks on the coast of Newfoundland. Apparently their engine broke down, they lost power, and went up on the rocks. Now that was a sight for a poor seal’s eyes. Two weeks ago the sealing boat L’Acadien II capsized while being towed through the ice by the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander. Four men died in that tragedy. That was not the first time this bizarre accident has happened. In 1997, the Newfoundland sealing boat Angela and Brother’s flipped and sank while being towed by the Coast Guard ice-breaker Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Sealing vessels were crushed and sunk last year in thick ice and numerous vessels have been damaged again this year. Not that the sealers care. The government of Canada is always ready to pay compensation for losses just as they subsidize the slaughter with surveillance to locate seals, they break the ice to allow access to the seals and they march around the world trying to drum up markets for seal products ranging from seal fur to powdered seal penis. Tax-payer founded purveyors of snake-oil sex potions and heavy metal laced seal oil “health” tablets. The seal slaughter is a glorified welfare scheme and the sealers nothing more than uneducated welfare bums seeking to practice their barbarous trade at the expense of Canadian tax-payers and Canada’s reputation. All of this because Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn is encouraging sealers to use flimsy non-ice class wooden and aluminum hulled vessels in extremely hazardous ice conditions. In their lust to kill seals the sealers are being encouraged by a man seeking to further his own political ambitions by declaring himself the champion of fishermen and the scourge of seals and seal defenders. After all, most Canadians did not elect Hearn, he only needs to keep the fishermen in Newfoundland happy to win re-election. He can ignore the concerns of all Canadians because only the sealing vote counts for him. Meanwhile the ever hilariously hysterical Hearn is having his thugs tear apart the Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat looking for safety violations. It appears that a steel hulled, Norwegian built, ice class ship is suspected of not being safe to navigate the ice yet flimsy little boats are being blessed by the same Coast Guard and sent off to sea to be dashed on rocks, burnt or sunk by the Coast Guard. Meanwhile Hearn distracts the anger of the fishermen away from government incompetence by scape-goating seals and seal defenders. In his effort to harpoon all opposition to the barbaric sealing industry, Hearn has made a spectacle of himself, spouting off with juvenile schoolyard name-calling, shooting mis-information from the hip and sending his gun-toting henchmen onto a foreign registered yacht in international waters and then bold faced lying about it, obviously completely ignorant of the fact that there is a device called GPS that can pinpoint the position of vessels to within a few metres anywhere in the world. As sealing boats sink, get crushed in the ice, burn and smash themselves on the rocks, images of horrific cruelty are being published worldwide. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s campaign to defend the seals has been an enormous success and everything has gone better than planned as we take the battle off the ice for now and into the courtrooms. Meanwhile, another sealing boat bites the dust and another one gone and anther one gone – alright!

• cruelty is not art! we win!! for now..
  by Cacciatore Del Demon

  repost if you signed!! Lets sign the next one to enforce better protection. NCREDIBLE UPDATE!!! (4.23.08): / A group member just…

  repost if you signed!! Lets sign the next one to enforce better protection. NCREDIBLE UPDATE!!! (4.23.08): / A group member just sent me this article from WSPA (world society for the protection of animals) and, if everything written is true, WE DID IT! Vargas WILL NOT be allowed to repeat his “installation” at the Biennial: http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/2341_no_excuses_for_cruelty.cfm?searchterm=guillermo_varn. / “No excuses for cruelty In 2007, artist Guillermo Vargas showed an emaciated live dog in a Nicaraguan gallery. Despite public outcry, the country’s lack of animal welfare laws meant he faced no consequences. This year, when Vargas was invited to compete in an art show in Honduras, WSPA and member society the Honduras Association for the Protection of Animals and their Environment (AHPRA) acted to ensure this cruelty could not be repeated by any artist. Elly Hiby, WSPA’s Head of Companion Animals, commented: “Information regarding the treatment and fate of the dog used in the 2007 exhibition is inconsistent, but for WSPA – irrespective of the exact outcome – chaining a dog without food or water for public entertainment is a reprehensible abuse”. Our attempts to discuss the matter with Vargas’ representative were met with silence. But images from the Nicaraguan gallery were not forgotten. When Vargas was invited to enter the VI Central American Visual Arts Biennale (to be held in Honduras this year), an independent internet petition against the artist and his work attracted over two million signatures. WSPA sought a meeting with Business Owners for Art (Empresarios por el Arte), one of the sponsors of the Honduras Biennale. In the meeting, WSPA’s representative gave sound welfare arguments against the work shown in Nicaragua and formally requested that the Honduras AHPRA be invited to observe the Biennale exhibition. After pressure from WSPA, the Honduras AHPRA and the public, the Biennial organizers have agreed not only to make AHPRA official observers but also to include new competition rules that prohibit the abuse of animals. While we are satisfied that no-one will be able to abuse animals in the name of art during this forthcoming exhibition, stronger laws need to be in place that prohibit animal cruelty. WSPA and member society UCC are currently supporting a campaign, led by the Commission for Natural Resources and Environment of the Nicaraguan Assembly, calling for legislation to protect animals in Nicaragua. You too can support the protection of animals worldwide by signing the Animals Matter to Me petition. This calls for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, an internationally accepted set of principles about the treatment of animals that would encourage countries to improve their legislation.” http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/1706_animals_matter.cfm?redirect=yes Congratulations everyone. YOU are the difference :o)

• Bali Dogs
  by Simon Hodgson

  BALI ADOPTION REHABILITATION CENTRE (B.A.R.C) / Please check out this website: www.freewebs.com/balidogs It is a shelter in Ubud, Ba…

  BALI ADOPTION REHABILITATION CENTRE (B.A.R.C) / Please check out this website: www.freewebs.com/balidogs It is a shelter in Ubud, Bali, dedicated to saving street dogs in Bali. They rely on donations to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home these poor animals. With my girlfriend, we are travelling to Bali in a few weeks and are going to help in any way we can. Including taking towels/blankets etc in our luggage. Check out the website, and if you can help in anyway, please do so. Also, if you can donate anything which we can take over, please let me know. Next time you’re on a surfing trip/holiday in Bali, please think about these poor animals and take something over for them. Cheers, / Simon and Sarah

• Saving the Seals through Sales!
  by Voices4Animals

  HUGE THANKS to wynity2 and ECGardner for purchasing…

  HUGE THANKS to wynity2 and ECGardner for purchasing the seal collages as cards and tees!! Thank you, thank you, thank you on behalf of the seals!

• ANIMALS NEEDING OUR HELP!!!
  by Adrena87

  Dear Friends and Fellow RedBubblers, A great injustice is soon to happen in Clinch Mountain, TN. They are opening a “canned hunting” ...

  Dear Friends and Fellow RedBubblers, A great injustice is soon to happen in Clinch Mountain, TN. They are opening a “canned hunting” site that will allow hunters to pay from $500 to $10,000 to SLAUGHTER animals such as turkey, boar, the critically endangered Pere David’s deer, and ZEBRAS! Have they lost their ever-loving minds? This facility is scheduled to open in September. PLEASE help by taking a stand against this blatantly selfish, inhumane facility determined to MURDER beautiful animals for BLOOD MONEY. PLEASE check out their website (warning… MOST will be APPALLED like me!). There are petitions to sign in an effort to STOP this before it STARTS! We MUST be the VOICE of those that cannot speak for themselves. We must stand up for our beautiful animal friends! Thank you from the bottom of my heart… / Adrena / The Petition Site: / http://thepetitionsite.com/petition/715323651/taf / The Monsters Allowing the Canned Hunting Slaughter to Occur To “Get Rich” : http://clinchmountainhuntingadventures.net