In press coverage surrounding the gay rodeo in Ohio this week, the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA) says that “No one faces discrimination during the LGBT event.” In other words, everyone is invited to twist the neck of a terrified cow and wrestle him to the ground. Andrew Zollman, a San-Francisco-based activist with LGBT Compassion said during one of his LGBT rodeo protests, “As gay people, it is personal to us that people in our community would, after experiencing oppression and abuse and having to fight for their own rights and protections, turn around and unnecessarily abuse and bully animals.”

Rodeos are animal-bullying events masquerading as sport. How can LGBTs, many of whom, like me, have been bullied, organize a spectacle centered around abusing animals who have no voice? If anyone, gay or straight, did to their dogs what is done to the bulls, steers, calves, horses and other animals at rodeos, they would be charged with animal cruelty. Also disheartening is to see gay people bullying and attacking other gay people who stage peaceful protests outside of these events. Learn more and consider protesting at one of the many upcoming LGBT rodeos.

Activists in Wisconsin protested St. Patrick Parish’s 44th annual pig wrestling match in Wisconsin during which the animals are “punched in the face, kicked, body-slammed, jumped on, yelled at and thrown into a bucket,” according to the Global Conservation Group of Watertown, which collected 60,000 signatures on a petition that describes the event as animal fighting.  The video footage shows pigs squealing as they are being held down after being chased around a muddy ring. Ken Bilgrien, a deacon at St. Patrick said, “It’s strictly fun.”

How can hundreds of people pay money to watch helpless pigs squeal in terror as they are wrestled to the ground — at a church fundraiser, no less?  Shouldn’t these Christians intervene to stop the abuse when they hear the pigs cry out? Let’s help put a stop to this by signing the Change.org petition and contacting the church that produces this abusive event.

Price is Right host and animal rights activist Bob Barker sent a high profile letter to the Oregon Zoo demanding that they send Packy to a sanctuary. Packy is an elderly elephant with tuberculosis who has spent his entire life at the zoo.  “After 52 years of service, Packy deserves to be sent to a place where he can enjoy his final years in peace and serenity,” said Bob Barker. During Packy’s recent birthday “celebration,” the animal rights group Free Oregon Zoo Elephants, which campaigned to get Packy elected to the City Council via write-in ballots, staged a protest in front of the zoo.

Elephants want freedom, not cake. Photo: Michael Durham

If social media is any indication, the world is waking up to the plight of captive elephants — intelligent and socially sophisticated animals who are deprived of virtually everything that comes naturally to them in zoos and in circuses, where they are also beaten into submission with bull hooks, confined for up to 100 hours at a time in box cars and forced to perform tricks in exchange for nourishment. Please support Free Oregon Zoo Elephants in their effort to send Packy to a sanctuary.

Excitement surrounding the opening of Aspen’s new $45 million art museum has been overshadowed by anger over a two month exhibit of African tortoises walking around with iPads mounted to their shells. The iPads are displaying photos of “Aspen Ghost Towns” (whatever that means). In response to protests, a local vet issued a statement: “The tortoises have adapted well to their new habitat, and the iPads have not interfered in any way with their natural behavior.” Aspen resident Lisbeth Oden, who has experience working with tortoises, says, “To have anything attached to them is exploitation for human enjoyment.”

African turtles belong in Africa, not in Aspen — serving as mobile TV stands for a thoughtless artist and museum curator. According to the museum, these turtles were “rescued” from a breeder where they were living in an over-crowded pen. Is the artist going to take care of these turtles for life when the exhibit ends?  Doubtful!  This museum should place these tortoises in a sanctuary and then have an exhibit of photos entitled “From Museum Captivity to Freedom.” Here’s an online petition to shut down his exploitive exhibit. Please share.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the federal Animal Enterprise Act (AETA), claiming it violates the First Amendment. Under AETA, which was passed in 2006, anyone who causes the loss of property or profits to institutions that use or sell animals can be prosecuted and face up to 20 years in prison, depending on the amount of profit loss. CCR claims that AETA is vague and “makes no distinction between loss caused by criminal acts and loss caused by constitutionally-protected activity.”

Trespassing = terrorism?

What’s scarier?  The fact that big business was able to convince Congress to pass a law describing non-violent animal rights activists as “terrorists” or the fact that exercising our first amendment right to free speech can land us in jail, if it’s animal abusers we are targeting. Does that mean I can be arrested for protesting horse-drawn carriages in midtown Manhattan if potential customers decide not to take a ride after seeing my poster? Activists have already been prosecuted and sent to prison under AETA, but the law, which is so clearly unconstitutional, will eventually be overturned.  Learn more about AETA and see how you can help at the Center for Constitutional Rights.