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In NYC, Hundreds Protest Nike’s Kangaroo Slaughter

August 30, 2022 by 8 comments


The News

Accompanied by a giant mobile billboard, several hundred animal rights activists descended upon the Nike store in Soho to protest the company’s use of kangaroo skin in its soccer shoes. It was the fourth and largest protest staged in New York City as part of the Center for a Humane Economy’s global #KangaroosAreNotShoes campaign. During two of the previous protests, activists disrupted business inside of the store, but NYPD officers and Nike security guards blocked the entrance as the activists who were participating in the 2022 Animal Rights March arrived at the store.

“Nike’s dirty little secret is that its commercial hunters chase down hundreds of thousands of kangaroos in the dark of night, shoot them in the head and steal their skin to make soccer shoes,” said Donny Moss of TheirTurn, an organizer of the NYC protest. “Instead of massacring innocent animals and using their skin as fabric, Nike should make the obvious switch to cruelty-free materials.”

Photo of a mobile billboard in NYC displaying video footage of commercial hunters in Australia shooting wild kangaroos for companies like Nike that use the animals' skin to make soccer shoes

A mobile billboard in NYC displays video footage of commercial hunters in Australia shooting wild kangaroos for companies like Nike that use the animals’ skin to make soccer shoes

The protest comes two weeks after the Los Angeles Times published an editorial calling on the California state government to enforce the law banning the sale of “k-leather” and encouraging consumers not to buy the contraband. “There are plenty of quality soccer shoes in material that doesn’t require killing kangaroos.” California is the only U.S. state to ban the sale of kangaroo products, including skin, but The Kangaroo Protection Act, federal legislation introduced in 2021, would ban the importation of kangaroo products into the entire country.

Photo of Los Angeles Times editorial calling on the government to enforce the state law banning the sale of kangaroo parts

The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times called on the state government to enforce the law banning the sale of kangaroo parts

The massacre of kangaroos in Australia represents the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife in the world. According to the Center for a Humane Economy, 70% of the approximately two million kangaroos killed each year for commercial purposes are used to make soccer shoes for sportswear companies like Nike.

Photo of animal rights activist protest Nike's use of kangaroo skin

During the 2022 Animal Rights March, hundreds of activists in New York City descended upon the Nike store in Soho to protest the company’s use of kangaroo leather. (photo: Lori Hillsberg)

Some of the female kangaroos who are shot have babies (joeys) in their pouches or by their side. Code dictates that hunters either decapitate or bludgeon to death the joeys who are in the pouches. The joeys who are not in their mother’s pouch often die slowly from exposure and predation. Each year, an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 joeys die during the nightly kangaroo hunt.

Photo of kangaroo joey in mother's pouch

Commercial hunters shoot and kill kangaroo mothers for Nike and other companies decapitate or bludgeon to death the joeys in their pouches

Animal rights activists in Los Angeles, Portland, where Nike is headquartered, and several Australian cities have also staged protests inside and outside of Nike stores.

Photo of an animal rights activist in Los Angeles protesting Nike's use of kangaroo skin

Animal rights activists with Los Angeles for Animals stage an anti-kangaroo skin protest at Nike’s Santa Monica store (photo: Cory Mac)

Several retailers, including Nordstrom, Gucci, Prada, and Versace, have stopped selling kangaroo skin products. Animal rights activists plan to continue protesting Nike and other clothing and shoe manufacturers that use kangaroo leather, including Adidas and Puma, until they remove it from their inventory voluntarily or a nationwide ban.

The Center for a Humane Economy, which is leading the #KangaroosAreNotShoes campaign, has a petition calling on Nike CEO John Donahoe to “stop profiting from the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife!”  Approximately 77,000 people have signed the petition to date.

Photo shows a petition calling on the CEO of Nike to stop slaughtering kangaroos

Center for a Humane Economy petition calling on Nike CEO John Donahoe to stop slaughtering kangaroos for soccer shoes

 


What Happened to Carolyn Maloney’s Pandas?

August 24, 2022 by 1 comment


The News

Carolyn Maloney, a U.S. Congresswoman who spent several years attempting to lease a pair of giant pandas from China and put them on display in New York City, has been voted out of office. Maloney lost the Democratic primary to fellow incumbent Congressman Jerry Nadler, who signed Voters for Animal Rights “No to Pandas in Captivity” pledge.

Carolyn Maloney pandas

Carolyn Maloney’s election loss brings an official end to her quest to import pandas into NYC. It also brings an end to the animal rights campaign to stop it.

In 2016, Maloney partnered with two prominent billionaires, John Catsimatidis and Hank Greenberg, to create a not-for-profit organization “to raise funds to bring panda bears to New York City.” Money raised by The Pandas are Coming to NYC, Inc. would be used to lease two giant pandas from a breeding facility in China; to build a “pavilion” in Central Park in which to display them; and to pay for their care. Maloney’s motives for embarking on this expensive and complicated undertaking are unclear, though she and her partners on the project claim that the presence of pandas would bring joy to New Yorkers and tourists.

New York Times story about Carolyn Maloney's quest to import pandas from China to NYC

Carolyn Maloney spent several years raising money to lease a pair of giant pandas from China and put them on display in NYC. NYC’s animal rights community fought against the plan.

From the outset, the plan had one influential detractor, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCF), which runs the Central Park Zoo. For Maloney, the zoo was the most obvious place to put the pandas on display, but the WCF didn’t want the pandas because they are expensive and require more care than most other wild animals in zoos.  WCF’s opposition did not deter Maloney, at least at first. She and her partners said they would build a stand-alone “panda pavilion” in the park.

Animal rights activist protest Carolyn Maloney's effort to lease pandas from China

Animal Rights activists protest Carolyn Maloney’s plan to lease a pair of giant pandas from China and put them on display in a “Panda Pavilion” in NYC

In 2017, Maloney, Catsimatidis and Greenberg, hosted a fundraising gala at the Waldorf Astoria to raise money to lease and display the pandas. The gala raised approximately $125,000 for The Pandas are Coming to NYC Inc., a fraction of the tens of millions of dollars needed for the project. Still, positive media coverage of the “Black & White Panda Ball” generated widespread public awareness and gave the project momentum.

Carolyn Maloney, John Catsimatidis and Hank Greenberg at the Black & White Panda Ball

U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is flanked by Maurice Greenberg and John Catsimatidis, billionaires who backed her plan to lease pandas from China and display them in NYC.

Within weeks of the Panda Ball, the NYC-based animal rights group TheirTurn launched a campaign to discourage Maloney and her partners from moving forward with this project. After sending them letters and launching a social media campaign, activists began staging provocative protests at their public events with the message that pandas, like all wild animals, exist for their own purposes; that they belong in their natural habitat, and that they should not be held captive in an exhibit for our amusement.

During an encounter with protesters in Midtown Manhattan, John Catsimatidis invited TheirTurn’s Donny Moss onto his radio show to discuss the concerns of the animal rights community. During the interview, he argued that “90% of NYers want the pandas,” according to a poll he commissioned.  He also revealed that he found a donor who is “contributing $10 million to build a panda pavilion.”

After the radio interview failed to sway Catsimatidis, TheirTurn organized a protest at the Fifth Avenue home of Hank Greenberg.  Several hours before the protest, Greenberg called Moss and asked him to cancel it. Like Catsimatidis, Greenberg defended the panda plan, scoffed at Moss’s objections and gave no indication that he and his colleagues would back down. That evening, dozens of activists staged the protest at his building.

In a subsequent letter to the plans’ backers, Moss suggested that they create a virtual reality exhibit in which visitors could observe and experience pandas in their natural habitat. In response, an executive who was working on the project wrote, “Not in a million years would these guys buy this.” Several months later and in response to the protests, the same individual wrote, “Actually I think you have done well.  It seems stalled and without constant momentum, these things die.” In the years that followed the Black and White Panda Ball, the panda project did, in fact, appear to fizzle. Maloney stopped fundraising, and the not-for-profit became inactive, according to its tax forms.

The local animal rights community does not know what impact the protests played in Maloney’s apparent decision to stop pursuing the pandas, but they are pleased.  “We encourage Congresswoman Maloney, John Catsimatidis and Hank Greenberg to donate the money they raised and no longer need for the panda pavilion to organizations that conserve wild animals in their natural habitat,” said Allie Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights, which opposed Maloney’s plan to import the pandas.

Carolyn Maloney petition

A petition calling on U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to call of her plan to put pandas on display in NYC garnered almost 100,00 signatures


Activists Confront Humane Society of New York Vets Over Animal Warehousing 

August 23, 2022 by 9 comments


The News

During two protests in August at the Humane Society of New York (HSNY), a prominent animal shelter and clinic in Manhattan, animal rights activists called on the staff veterinarians to put a stop to the warehousing of animals at the organization’s adoption center.

“The veterinarians know that adoptions came to a virtual standstill 28 months ago when the Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, closed the building to the public,” said Matthew Schwartz, an organizer in the effort to help the animals. “Instead of using their influence to compel DeFeo to send the animals to shelters that are open to the public or to foster homes, they are turning a blind eye in order to avoid confrontation with her. Their complicity has victims.”

Petition calling on Sandra DeFeo, Humane Society Executive Director. to send the animals to shelters that are open

Animal rights activists are calling on the Humane Society of New York to send the homeless animals in its shelter, many of whom have been languishing in adoption center for 28 months or longer, to shelters that are open to the public.

During the two protests, the activists confronted four of the HSNY’s veterinarians: Shingo Soeda, Ellen Hirshberg, Lauren Postler and Ralph Gutierrez. According to a source inside the building, DeFeo told the veterinarians and other staff members not to engage with the activists. While exiting the building, one employee stated “No comment” when asked why the HSNY isn’t sending the animals to adoption centers that are open to adopters.

Veterinarians Lauren Postler and Ellen Hirshberg of the Humane Society of New York are confronted by animal rights activists

Animal rights activists confront Drs. Lauren Postler and Ellen Hirschberg, staff veterinarians at the Humane Society of New York, over animal warehousing at the organization’s adoption center.

“The veterinarians and other senior staff members have a choice,” said Donny Moss of TheirTurn. “They can help the beleaguered animals being warehoused by their boss, Sandra DeFeo, or they can subject themselves to protests for the indefinite future. We’re not going away.”

The protests come 13 months after a whistleblower at the HSNY informed local animal rights activists that the HSNY was sending very few animals home since closing its building to the public in April 2020. The whistleblower also reported that DeFeo is keeping the building closed to the public under false pretenses. DeFeo claims that the building is closed due to COVID. However, according to the whistleblower and lawyers advising the activists, she cannot reopen the building because of violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The HSNY already settled one ADA lawsuit and, unless it takes steps to make the building wheelchair accessible according to ADA guidelines, it cannot reopen to the public without subjecting itself to another.  

Humane Society of New York donors believe they are contributing to a bona fide animal shelter

The Humane Society raises millions of dollars each year from individual donors, foundations and estates. These donors are under the mistaken impression that they are contributing to a bona fide animal adoption center.

Bonnie Tischler, who served as the HSNY’s Adoptions Director for 22 years before retiring in early 2020, was so distraught by the whistleblower allegations, which were corroborated by an investigation by TheirTurn, that she came out of retirement to support the efforts to help the animals. 

Humane Society of New York lists just 13 animals for adoption on its website

As of August 21, 2020, The Humane Society of New York’s website listed just 13 animals, a small fraction of the dozens of animals languishing in cages who need homes. Because the adoption center is closed to the public, potential adopters have no way of knowing that the unlisted animals exist.

“Cages are stressful, lonely and mentally debilitating, which is why shelters work so hard to find loving homes for the animals,” said Tischler.  “When I heard my former boss, Sandra, describe cages as ‘apartments’ and the shelter as a ‘foster home,’ I knew then that most of the animals would be stuck in cages indefinitely if we didn’t intervene on their behalf.”

During a call in July 2022, DeFeo told Christina Fritz, a client of the vet clinic who expressed concern about the shelter animals, that the HSNY had adopted out about 150 animals since closing its building to the public 27 months earlier. If that number is accurate, which the activists doubt, then the HSNY has sent home an average of 1.4 animals per week.

Humane Society of New York protest

During a protest at the Humane Society of New York, animal rights activists call on staff veterinarians to put a stop to the warehousing of animals in the organization’s adoption center.

“A large, well-funded animal shelter in a bustling neighborhood that claims to have between 125 and 175 animals should be processing adoptions every day,” said Christina Fritz, a former client of the HSNY’s vet clinic who attempted, without success, to adopt and volunteer at the shelter. “In addition to doing hardly any adoption promotion and ignoring adoption applications, they won’t let anyone into the building to meet the animals. Why aren’t the leaders in the New York City’s shelter community speaking out?” 

In 2021, Donny Moss contacted the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, a prominent and historically influential shelter animal advocacy group where DeFeo serves on the board, to sound the alarm about the animal warehousing, but the organization’s Executive Director, Jane Hoffman, refused to help and stated, “Sandra’s presence as an Alliance Board member does not give me the authority to dictate the internal operations of HSNY.”

Moss, along with Tischler, the former Adoptions Director, also contacted the HSNY’s 15 board members, sending letters by email and regular mail. Two of them, James Gregorio and Alexandra Rowley, responded to Tischler, stating that they would provide her with the number of adoptions that had taken place since DeFeo closed the building to the public. Instead, they and one other board member, attorney C. Jones Perry, resigned. The Chair of the Board, Virginia Chipurnoi, who is 88 and lives out of state, has not commented on the warehousing scandal or responded to inquiries. Letters sent to her daughters, Alexandra Gore and Sarah Gore Reeves, both of whom have been active at the shelter over the years, have gone unanswered.

Where is Humane Society of New York Board President Virginia Chipurnoi?

Virginia Chipurnoi, the President of the Board of the Humane Society of New York, has neither commented on the animal warehousing scandal nor responded to inquiries. She is 88 years old and lives out of state.

After the second protest at the HSNY, an anonymous whistleblower sent Moss an email calling on the activists to stop confronting employees and to direct their anger at DeFeo, the sole decision maker. In the message, this individual acknowledged the warehousing: “Look at the most recent Instagram with dogs Lila and Teuscher. Both have been at HSNY since 2016. A shih tzu that has aggressive possessive tendencies and a chihuahua mix that doesn’t get along well with dogs she doesn’t know. Why have they been here for so long? They can’t possibly be that difficult to find experienced owners for.” 

Humane Society of New York whistleblower acknowledges animal warehousing in anonymous email to TheirTurn

In an anonymous email to TheirTurn, an employee at the Humane Society of New York acknowledged that adoptable animals have been held in cages for six years

The message confirmed what the activists already know — that animals have been needlessly languishing in cages for years at the Humane Society of New York.


Activists Protest Humane Society of New York Over Animal Warehousing

August 10, 2022 by 2 comments


The News

Animal rights activists staged a protest at the Humane Society of New York (HSNY) to sound the alarm about the plight of the animals who have been warehoused at the Manhattan shelter for 28 months. During the 90 minute protest, the activists spoke to dozens of area residents and clients of HSNY’s vet clinic, who are not allowed in the building with their companion animals for exams or euthanasia appointments. They also confronted several employees exiting the building, including staff veterinarians Dr. Ralph Gutierrez and Dr. Shingo Soeda. Many of the interactions were caught on camera. 

The protest comes 13 months after a whistleblower at the HSNY informed local animal rights activists that adoptions had come to a virtual standstill since the HSNY closed its building to the public in April 2020. The whistleblower also reported that the HSNY’s Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, is keeping the building closed to the public under false pretenses. DeFeo claims that the building is closed due to COVID. However, according to the whistleblower and lawyers advising the activists, she cannot reopen the building because of violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The HSNY already settled one ADA lawsuit and, unless it takes steps to make the building wheelchair accessible according to ADA guidelines, it cannot reopen to the public without subjecting itself to another.  

Animal rights activists display posters calling on the Humane Society of New York to stop warehousing animals

Animal rights activists are calling on the Humane Society of New York, which has been closed to the public for 28 months, to send the animals to adoption centers that are open to adopters.

During the protest, activists spoke to several area residents who said that they attempted to adopt from the HSNY in recent months but were either ignored or turned away. These and other neighbors said they were perplexed by the ongoing closure of the building and disturbed to learn that the building is filled with homeless animals who hadn’t been seen by adopters in over two years. Clients of the vet clinic who spoke to the activists expressed frustration about not being able to be with their companion animals during exams and about being forced to wait outside in the extreme heat instead of in the HSNY’s air-conditioned lobby. 

Image is an excerpt fro Vanity Fair Magazine which describes a protest about animal warehousing at an adoption event in the theater district

Vanity Fair, the Today Show and several other mainstream media outlets reported on an animal warehousing protest against the Humane Society of New York during Broadway Barks, a star-studded adoption event during which Bill Berloni, the HSNY’s animal trainer, was brought onto the stage.

Activists attempted to speak to two of the HSNY’s staff veterinarians as they exited the building, Dr. Ralph Gutierrez and Dr. Shingo Soeda, but both ignored them. As if swatting away a fly, Dr. Soeda used a hand gesture to dismiss the activists and their concerns about the animals.

“Veterinarians take an oath to relieve animal suffering,” said Christina Fritz, a former client of the HSNY’s vet clinic who joined the activists. “Turning a blind eye to the cats and dogs who have been stuck in cages right under their noses makes them complicit in the cruelty.”

Image shows animal rights activists confronting two veterinarians from the Humane Society of New York about the warehousing of animals at their employer's adoption center

Dr. Shingo Soeda and Dr. Ralph Gutierrez, veterinarians at the Humane Society of New York’s vet clinic, ignore the activists attempting to talk to them about animal warehousing at organization’s adoption center.

During a call in July 2022, DeFeo told Fritz that the HSNY had adopted out about 150 animals since closing its building to the public 27 months earlier — in April 2020. If that number is accurate, which the activists doubt, then the HSNY has sent home an average of 1.4 animals per week, an appalling amount for a large, wealthy shelter in Manhattan that claims on its tax forms to have 125 – 175 animals.

Image of the Humane Society of New York includes a visual of the only 14 animals posted on the shelter's website

In an apparent effort to minimize the number of adoptions she facilitates while keeping the Humane Society of New York closed to the public, Executive Director Sandra DeFeo lists just 14 animals on its website and does virtually no adoption promotion on social media.

“The Humane Society of New York is located in a bustling neighborhood at the crossroads of the Upper East Side and Midtown,” said Matthew Schwartz, a New Yorker whose adoption application was ignored by the HSNY. “A shelter in that location with ample resources should be doing adoptions every day.”

Image shows an animal in a cage with text stating that the Humane Society of New York is closed to the public under false pretenses

For the past 28 months, no adopters have entered the Humane Society of New York to meet the animals who need homes because the Executive Director, Sandra DeFeo, refuses to make the building wheelchair accessible. If she reopens the building without making the renovations, then she would be subjecting the organization to another ADA lawsuit.

In February 2022, HSNY’s Adoption Director of 22 years, Bonnie Tischler, recorded a testimonial about the plight of the animals being warehoused. Tischler, who retired in early 2020, has since joined dozens of animal rights activists in NYC calling on the HSNY to send the animals to foster homes and/or adoption centers where adopters can meet them. 

“Twenty eight months is far too long for homeless animals to not be seen by adopters who would otherwise be rescuing them,” said Tischler. “And, because the HSNY lists just a small fraction of its animals on its website and does little adoption promotion on social media, potential adopters don’t even know that the animals exist.”

During a phone call in August 2021, Donny Moss of TheirTurn asked DeFeo, the Executive Director, to send the adoptable animals to shelters that are open to the public or to foster homes. In response, she claimed that she has been “doing adoptions all along,” which Moss knew to be false based on his own two-month investigation. DeFeo also said that the shelter is the animals’ foster home; that their cages are like “apartments;” and that she would barricade the building if anyone tried to take out the animals.

“My heart sank when I heard the Director of an animal shelter describe cages as ‘apartments,’” said Moss. “Shelters are stressful for animals and are no substitute for loving homes where they can roam freely. Forcing cats and dogs to live in cages indefinitely is animal cruelty.”

Image is a tweet showing a "Wanted for animal warehousing" poster of Humane Society of New York board member Alexandra Rowley that activists put up around New York City.

Three members of the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of New York have resigned amid the warehousing scandal – photographer Alexandra Rowley and attorneys C. Jones Perry and James Gregorio

Since launching the campaign to help the animals being warehoused at the HSNY, activists have staged seven protests — five at the home of Alexandra Rowley, a board member who resigned amid the protests; one at Broadway Barks, an adoption event in the theater district; and one at the HSNY. Activists say they will continue to protest the HSNY and the individuals enabling the organization’s bad behavior until DeFeo and her board of directors send the adoptable animals to adoption centers that are open to adopters.


Animal Rights Activists Disrupt Nike Flagship Store in NYC

August 5, 2022 by 3 comments


The News

Approximately 20 animal rights activists with NYCLASS and TheirTurn slipped past the four man security team at the entrance of Nike’s flagship store in New York City to protest the company’s ongoing use of kangaroo skin as a soccer shoe fabric. This was the third protest in New York since the Center for a Humane Economy launched the #KangaroosAreNotShoes campaign to pressure Nike into replacing “K leather” with a cruelty-free alternative.  

“Shooting wild kangaroos in the head after chasing them down in the dark of night is an act of terror,” said Donny Moss of TheirTurn.net, a NYC-based animal rights group that co-organized the protest. “How do Nike executives sleep at night knowing that they inflict so much pain and suffering on the kangaroos whose skin they steal?”

Once inside Nike’s multi-story store, the activists captured the attention of hundreds of shoppers by displaying posters, chanting and conducting speak outs about the massacre. Fearing for their jobs, the security guards who were hired to prevent the activists from entering the building in the first place pled with them to leave.

The New York Daily News announced the kangaroo skin protest at Nike

“Instead of hiring extra security in an effort to prevent in-store protests, Nike should stop engaging in the behavior that causes them,” said Edita Birnkrant, the Executive Director of NYCLASS, a NYC-based animal rights group that co-organized the protest. “As long as Nike makes sneakers out of kangaroos, we will keep disrupting business. That’s the least we can do for Nike’s victims.”

Customers inside of Nike’s flagship store in NYC watch as protests demand that Nike discontinue the use of kangaroo skin in its soccer shoes

The massacre of kangaroos in Australia represents the largest slaughter of land-based wildlife in the world. According to the Center for a Humane Economy, 70% of the approximately two million kangaroos killed each year for commercial purposes are used to make soccer shoes for sportswear companies like Nike.

The Guardian selected an image from the kangaroo skin protest at the Nike flagship store in NYC as one of it’s “Photos of the Day”

The Australian National Code of Practice for the Humane Shooting of Kangaroos and Wallabies for Commercial Purposes governs the industry and sanctions this cruelty. An estimated 40% of kangaroos are shot in the neck or body instead of the head, in violation of the federal code, resulting in wounding and non-instantaneous death. Those who escape die slowly from their gunshot wounds. 

Nike kangaroo skin protest

Nike slaughters wild kangaroos to make soccer shoes out of their skin

Some of the females who are shot have babies (joeys) in their pouches or by their sides. Code dictates that hunters either decapitate or bludgeon to death the joeys who are in the pouches. The joeys who are not in their mother’s pouch often die slowly from exposure and predation. Each year, an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 joeys die during the nightly kangaroo hunt.

In Australia, hunters shoot wild kangaroos in the head, steal their skin and sell it to Nike, which uses it to make soccer shoes

The Center for a Humane Economy says that Nike rationalizes the mass slaughter of wild kangaroos by engaging in green washing and humane washing. According to Nike, “Suppliers must source animal skins from processors that use sound animal husbandry and humane animal treatment/slaughtering practices.” Activists say that hunting down wild animals who want to live in peace with their families is inherently inhumane.

After disrupting business inside of Nike’s flagship store in NYC, animal rights activists educated customers and pedestrians on Fifth Avenue about Nike’s massacre of kangaroos to make soccer shoes

The Kangaroo Protection Act, federal legislation introduced in 2021, would ban the importation of kangaroo products into the United States. Several retailers, including Nordstrom, Gucci, Prada, and Versace, have already stopped selling kangaroo skin products. The sale of kangaroo parts is banned in California.

New York City is one of many American and Australian cities participating in the global #KangaroosAreNotShoes campaign.