No amount of helicopters, night-vision goggles and park rangers can stop the poaching of elephants as long as state-sanctioned carving factories in China are creating ivory products that are meeting the demand of Chinese consumers. If  China banned the import and sale of ivory, the sophisticated poaching operations that supply the market would probably vanish, as demand in the rest of the world is much lower. That said, we must also strengthen the anti-ivory laws in the U.S.

Over the objections of PETA, Lawmakers in Pima County, Arizona (Tucson area) approved a trap, neuter & release (TNR) program to reduce the overall number of feral cats while preventing existing cats from being euthanized. In a letter to the County’s Board of Supervisors, PETA encouraged the County to euthanize feral cats on the grounds that they are not meant to live outdoors; they prey on wildlife; and they send a message to it’s okay for humans to abandon their pets. PETA also says that euthanasia is less painful than the deaths experienced by cats in the street.

I know I open up a can of (faux) worms when I ask this question, but are some feral cats better off being killed in a shelter than sent back into inhospitable and dangerous streets where their demise could be far more painful or where they are they abused by people? Do they depend on the kindness of strangers for food, only to be neglected? Do they prey on local wildlife?  Does their presence give people license to abandon their own cats, as PETA claims? Does the presence of feral cats give people license to abandon their cats? I don’t know. What I do know is that we are reckless and cruel by domesticating animals and then tossing them out into the street like garbage when taking care of them becomes inconvenient. I also know is that we must continuously remind the general public to spay and neuter companion animals and adopt from shelters instead of buying from pet stores and breeders.

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.

A bill to ban gestation crates, an intensive form of confinement for breeding pigs, did not pass Massachusetts.  In the National Hog Farmer, hog farmer Lisa Colby declared a victory for “the rights of local farmers,” stating “Massachusetts family farmers are relieved the legislature had the good sense not to waste time debating a law prohibiting farmers’ choices in taking care of their animals.”

Gestation Crates

Agribusiness owners, who describe themselves as “farmers” to garner public support, justify the use of extraordinarily cruel gestation crates for sows by claiming that they “allow for individualized care and eliminate aggression from other sows.”  This is the ultimate in hogwash.  “Individualized care?”  Sows locked in gestation crates are among the most abused animals on the planet.  “Eliminate aggression from other sows?” The sows are so stressed and traumatized by their inability to so much as turn around that they go insane, chewing on the metal bars that imprison them. Farm Sanctuary and other advocacy groups are supporting legislation at the state level to ban gestation crates.   Please see how you can help.

The zookeeper at the Giza Zoo in Cairo, Egypt didn’t intervene when teenagers used a pellet gun to shoot at lions in a small cage.  According to news reports, the zookeeper himself has taunted the caged animals to get a rise out of them in exchange for tips from zoo visitors.

I don’t know what’s worse: teen bullies shooting lions at the zoo or the fact that the cages are so small that the lions have virtually no space to move. Even in the best of circumstances, zoos are prisons for animals because they are unable to do anything that comes naturally to them, such as hunting, traveling long distances, teaching their children how to survive and thrive in the wild. They are bored, listless, lethargic, stressed and often lonely.  Please learn more about the inherent cruelty of zoos and what you can do to help.