The animal awareness thread

Furry friends :heart:

 

Saw this documentary about tiger farms in China last night. They were created to save the tiger, but in reality, that is certainly not what they do.
It was downright depressing but an eye opener. I highly recommend it

http://current.com/shows/vanguard/videos/tiger-farms/

The wild tiger is among the world’s most endangered species, pushed to the brink of extinction in large part by poachers who are killing the animals for profit. The illicit tiger parts trade is worth billions of dollars and nowhere is it more active than in China, the world’s leading consumer of illegal wildlife. Nearly two decades ago, the Chinese government instituted a series of conservation efforts ostensibly aimed at saving the tiger from what appeared to be its imminent demise, but correspondent Adam Yamaguchi goes undercover and exposes flagrant and widespread violation of China’s tiger trade laws.

At the heart of Yamaguchi’s investigation are China’s many tiger parks, touted as safe-haven preserves. In truth, as evidenced by the material that “Vanguard” gathers, these parks may be anything but.

 

The ALF strikes again

:smt023

Third fur farm raid in one month

August 14th: 2,000 mink released in Illinois Link to Animal Liberation Front-Line: In yet another large action this summer, 2,000 mink are released from a small farm in Illinois. Local media is reporting 2,000 mink were released on August 14th from a fur farm in Morris, Illinois. Police state they received a call at 5am on August 14th from the farm owned by Bob Dodeghero. 2,000 mink had been released, two trucks had been doused with paint stripper, and a barn had been spray painted with “Liberation is love.”

The farm is one of the smallest mink farms in the country. A farm of its size (as shown in the photo below) is typical of a farm that can hold somewhere in the range of 2,000 animals, making it likely that every animal was freed.

The ALF’s “freedom summer” continues

This is the 6th major US action of the summer, which has seen a horse slaughterhouse arson, two releases of birds from game farms, and three releases of animals from fur farms.

All three fur farm raids have taken place in less than one month. In late-July, as many as 4,800 mink were released from a fur farm in Burley, Idaho. And earlier in August, the last bobcat imprisoned at a Montana fur farm was released from its cage.

This small wave of ALF fur farm activity comes after the slowest period since the Animal Liberation Front began its fur farm campaign in the mid-1990s. Last year, there was only a single release of animals from a fur farm: The release of 13 foxes from a farm in Elkton, Virginia.

No claim of responsibility – yet

News of this action comes almost two weeks late, and it was not known of publicly until a Morris, IL newspaper ran the story today. No communique has (yet) been received, and there are no known details beyond what is reported in the article. The fur industry has (so far) remained quiet about the incident.

 

Reunion of baby and mother panda :heart::heart::heart:

[YOUTUBE]RP5VqPt_c38[/YOUTUBE]

 

:smt088

Ready, Set, Slaughter: Dolphin Killings to Begin in Infamous Cove

Sunday, September 1 marks the start of Taiji, Japan's annual dolphin slaughter, made famous by the Oscar-winning documentary, 'The Cove'.

The killing season opens Sunday, September 1 in Taiji, heralding a six-month orgy of mass terror, suffering, kidnapping, bloodshed and slaughter inflicted upon hapless pods of whales and dolphins unlucky enough to swim near the coast of Japan’s Kuman-nada Sea.

Herded by boats and terrifying banger poles into an inlet popularized by the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, the stressed-out animals will be separated: younger, cuter ones will be sold to theme parks to spend a life in “show business.” The rest will be impaled, speared, sliced, and gutted in the crimson-red waters, destined for East-Asian dining tables.

For ten years, Ric O’Barry, star of The Cove, and his wife Helene have journeyed to Taiji every September 1 to kick off a long, often depressing and chilly season of volunteers witnessing, monitoring, protesting, and—something that gets more difficult each year—trying to attract media attention.

 

Disgusting!

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Fuck you, Japan.

 

Exactly. Such beautiful and INTELLIGENT mammals that these fucktards want to serve up for dinner. Absolutely disgusting.

 

The bunny has been watching the dog herding; now bunny thinks he can herd too

Something positive and cheery after this sad post about the dolphins.
I need to get me another bunny.
I miss living with one. Mine thought she was a dog as well....


[YOUTUBE]qeuL5IGimCQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

so cute how the dog sits back to watch the rabbit herd...I have a rabbit that is now 12+ years old...I think he may just live forever...

this is an amazing thread! I am not only an animal lover with a dog, cats and a rabbit but very much an activist for animal rights...it s so difficult to read some of these stories...so sad to see animals dying at the hands of humans...

 

Glad to meet another person who feels like me :freehug:
Wow, you are blessed that your rabbit is with you for such a long time.
My last one only got 5

Yes, it is hard and painful to read some of the stories or look at some of the horrible pictures. But I think it is necessary to help raise an awareness, so people may sign petitions or get active in any way they can.

If you have a few minutes and didn't do it already, maybe you could sign this important petition?:

http://www.change.org/petitions/abolish-trapping-in-the-u-s-a

 

absolutely! the last time I took hopper to the vet he couldn't believe that we have had him for 12 years...he gave me a lecture on feeding him grains and hay after I told him hopper likes corn on the cob, strawberries, carrots and yogurt drops...lol...I figure if hopper lived to be 12 eating what he likes why change it now

 

Exactly :smt023
Sometimes I think those vets have no clue what they are talking about.
If he is happy and healthy for that long, you obviously did the right thing.

 

I always hated people who throw their gum on the ground!

 

Me too. :smt085

 

Chinese Restaurateur Refuses To Cook Rare Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Saves It Instead

:smt038:smt038:smt038

A Chinese restaurateur, Ng Pak-yan, saved a rare Hawksbill sea turtle from an unpleasant end Tuesday evening when a fisherman brought the endangered animal to his restaurant and asked him to cook it for his dinner. The owner of Royal Dragon Seafood Cuisine in Hong Kong refused the customer’s request, and instead purchased the turtle for thousands of Hong Kong dollars before handing it over to wildlife authorities, according to the South China Morning Post.

“I want to save its life. It is very beautiful," Ng told The Standard, another Chinese publication. He says he believes turtles are “spiritual creatures” that “bring good fortune,” according to SCMP. The turtle was taken to a marine park by the local environmental authority for rehabilitation and will be released into the wild if they determine it’s healthy enough to survive.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service classifies the Hawksbill turtle as an endangered species and estimates that the population of adult nesting females is about 15,000 each year.

Indeed, China’s food and restaurant industry has a history of being criticized for consuming rare species by Western media. For example, China as a nation is one of the world's biggest consumers of shark fin soup, a traditional Chinese dish. Millions of sharks -- including species that face extinction -- are killed each year just for their fins, The Independent notes.

 

Important petition: Stop the euthanization of orphaned wildlife in Alabama

http://www.change.org/petitions/ala...euthanization-of-orphaned-wildlife-in-alabama


The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division) issued a letter on August 29, 2013, to all Alabama Wildlife Rescue Centers and licensed Alabama wildlife rehabilitators. The letter states that due to a policy change, they will not be allowed to rehabilitate any fur bearing animals including orphaned/injured baby bats, skunks, opossums, foxes, coyotes, feral pigs and raccoons. Furthermore they are to be turned over to specified locations for euthanization.

The original concern was for what is believed to be an overpopulation of raccoons in the state and the threat from rabies and other diseases which raccoons "can" carry as can ANY mammal. The small number of these animals that are orphaned each year, rehabilitated and returned into the wild is not significant enough to be causing an overpopulation.

Statistics gathered by the Alabama Department of Health for 2013 shows the number of documented cases of raccoon rabies is eleven. THERE HAVE BEEN NO DOCUMENTED CASES OF HUMAN INFECTION SINCE 1994.

Statistics gathered by ADOH from 1950-2012 show an average of 29 cases of raccoon rabies per year while the same time span shows dogs to be the highest with an average of 47 cases per year. Clearly dogs have been more of a threat then raccoons. These numbers are for the whole state of Alabama.

RABIES IS NOT AIRBORNE. We do not need to be killing perfectly healthy animals who are zero risk to anyone. Any mammal can get rabies if they are bitten by an infected animal. There are documented cases of cows and horses having rabies. Raccoons are not born with rabies, they can only get rabies by being bitten by an infected animal. So what this amounts to is a war on orphaned/injured baby bats, skunks, opossums, foxes, coyotes, feral pigs and raccoons.

There is no way to test for rabies without killing the animal and necropsy of the brain. Millions are tested every year and only a tiny percentage are ever positive.

As far as the concern for "public safety": People will always be finding orphaned wildlife and will need a place to turn them in for rehabilitation. With this new policy, do they really think people will turn babies in to be killed? NO, this will only drive rescuing and rehabilitation underground and make it much more difficult for the public to find someone to help therefore causing the animals to be raised by well intentioned people who have no idea what they are doing. By doing this they will be putting many more people and domestic animals in potential contact with the diseases they are so worried about. Please urge Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to rescind this policy.

People HAVE always and WILL always try to help the helpless, especially little animals. How do you explain to children that all Fish & Game will do with a wild baby is kill it? What kind of message does that send? Please do not tie the hands of the trained proffessional rehabilitators and wildlife centers. They are the buffer zone between our wild life and the general public.

There is absolutely no cost to the state of Alabama nor to the taxpayers to allow the continued rehabilitation of these orphaned babies. All rehabilitators and wildlife centers are funded through donations and out of the personal pockets of the rehabilitators...a true labor of love. By what authority can any government agency, established to protect our resources, go against the very wellbeing that has been entrusted to them to protect.

 

Pit Bull Terriers Rescued From Suspected Dog Fighting Ring In Plant City, Florida

Twenty-six pit bull terriers were rescued from a suspected dog fighting ring in Plant City, Fla., this week -- and it seems the pups could not be happier with their newfound freedom.

According to ABC Action News, the dogs -- at least some of which are believed to have been used for fighting -- were rescued on Monday afternoon after animal control officers received an anonymous tip as to their whereabouts.

"Some of them are severely injured," Pam Perry, a Hillsborough County Animal Services officer, told the station. "Clear cuts to their faces, forelimbs, head -- they are still bleeding."

In this photograph, Perry can be seen holding one of the rescued pit bull terriers in her arms after the pup was freed from heavy chains:



"The closest house was probably about 100 yards away but clearly somebody came forward with enough concern about what was going on behind the 6 foot privacy fence and we saved these animals' lives," Perry said, according to Bay News 9. All the dogs rescued are expected to survive.

Animal control officers say the investigation is ongoing and charges are imminent, ABC Action News reports.

While it is hoped that the rescued animals will be successfully rehabilitated and placed into loving homes, Reddit users have pointed out that pups raised in dog fighting environments can struggle to readjust.