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Animal Rights Activists Protest at the NYC Homes of Trophy Hunters Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr

February 14, 2020 by Leave a Comment


The News

During the 2020 Worldwide Rally Against Trophy Hunting (WRATH) on February 8th, dozens of animal rights activists in New York City staged protests at the homes of America’s two most infamous trophy hunters, Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. Activists marched 20 blocks from Eric and Lara Trump’s apartment on Central Park South to the Central Park West home that Donald Trump, Jr. shares with his fiancé, President Trump advisor Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Throughout the day, hundreds of pedestrians stopped to engage with the activists, and many spoke to TheirTurn about their thoughts on trophy hunting.

During the 2020 Worldwide Rally Against Trophy Hunting, animal rights activists in NYC protest at the homes of Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr.

WRATH events are staged each year to coincide with an annual trophy hunting convention organized by Safari Club International, a 50,000 member association “dedicated to protecting the freedom to hunt.”  Donald Trump, Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle played prominent roles at the 2020 convention, with Trump Jr. auctioning off a hunting trip with himself and Guilfoyle hosting a fundraising breakfast for the organization.

Donald Trump, Jr. and his fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump advisor, host fundraising events at Safari Club International’s annual trophy hunting convention

“We are grateful to the activists around the world who came together to raise awareness about the ego-driven and senseless murder of countless wild animals by trophy hunters,” said Carrie LeBlanc, the Executive Director of CompassionWorks International, a Nevada-based animal rights organization that created WRATH. “We stand with conservation groups across the world in developing strategies for sustaining and growing populations of wild animals that do not involve their senseless massacre.”

Hunters Donald Trump, Jr. and Eric Trump pose with their elephant and cape buffalo trophies

Opposition to trophy hunting entered the mainstream public when an American trophy hunter, Walter Palmer, killed Cecil, a beloved lion in Zimbabwe who was well known to park rangers and a favorite among tourists on safari. In spite of the outrage and backlash against Palmer, trophy hunters continue to shoot endangered wild animals and pose for photos with their bodies. Through education, lobbying, and other forms of grass-roots activism, CompassionWorks International and several other animal protection groups around the world are working to stigmatize and outlaw trophy hunting.

Walter Palmer, a trophy hunter from Minnesota, killed and beheaded Cecil, a beloved lion in Zimbabwe.

For more information about WRATH and CompassionWorks International’s advocacy to end trophy hunting, please visit CWI’s online and TrumpAnimalHunters on Facebook.


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Australia’s Secret Kangaroo Massacre Exposed in New Doc Film

January 22, 2018 by Leave a Comment


Opinion

According to an explosive new documentary film, Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story,  kangaroo meat industry executives, ranchers, landowners and the government officials who support them have conspired to re-brand Australia’s icon as a “pest” and eradicate them in the dark of night for profit.

Meat companies want to kill kangaroos in order to sell their body parts, and ranchers and landowners want them killed in order to keep them off their land. With the help of government officials, the perpetrators disguise the largely unknown slaughter as a necessary cull to curb population growth.

The daily hunt, which takes place during the dark of night, is so brutal that it will leave even the most cynical viewers wondering how this could possibly be happening in modern day times.

Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story

While the filmmakers, Kate McIntyre Clere and Mick McIntyre, introduce us to many villains who are complicit in the atrocities, they also profile the brave activists who  jeopardize their freedom and safety in order to expose and stop the wholesale massacre of Australia’s most iconic animal.

World Premiere of Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story in NYC. From left to right: Kate McIntyre Clere; Hon. Mark Pearson, Suzy Welch, Dr. Dror Ben Ami, Mick McIntyre

Your Turn

Documentary films succeed with support from the grassroots. Please encourage your friends to see the Kangaroo: A Love-Hate Story and share the filmmakers’ posts from  their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages using the hashtag #KangarooTheMovie. 

 


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Animal Advocates Stage Rally in Memory of Cecil (VIDEO)

February 8, 2017 by Leave a Comment


The News

As part of the 2017 Worldwide Rally For Cecil, animal rights activists staged a rally  in Union Square, a social justice hub in NYC, to remember the majestic lion in Zimbabwe who was killed by Walter Palmer, a hunter from Minnesota. During the rally, advocates distributed information to the public about cruelty and impact of hunting and the lies perpetuated by hunters to justify killing animals for trophies.

According to CompassionWorks International (CWI), the organizer of the Worldwide Rally for Cecil, similar events took place in 41 Cities, 20 U.S. states and 10 countries, including Australia, Ireland, Macedonia, Serbia and Zimbabwe.

Activists with CompassionWorks International stage a Rally For Cecil at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the weekend of a convention for hunters

The largest rally took place in Las Vegas, where the nation’s leading hunting organization, Safari Club International (SCI), held its annual convention. During the convention, CWI hired a mobile billboard company to drive along the Las Vegas strip with a message condemning trophy hunting.

Anti-trophy hunting mobile billboard travels the Las Vegas trip during a hunting convention

LUSH, a cruelty-free cosmetics company, provided CWI with a grant to pay for the mobile billboard. The company also posted a “KILLING IS NOT CONSERVATION” sign in the window of its retail store in the Mandalay Bay Hotel, where hunting convention took place.

LUSH, a company that supports animal rights, sent a strong message to attendees of the hunting convention that took place in Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas

In a message to rally organizers and the media, Carrie LeBlanc, CWI’s Executive Director, said of trophy hunting, “Killing for fun and for ego is vile and lacking in compassion and morality. We have a shared responsibility to protect and conserve our natural world, not to kill it for bragging rights and a rug.”

Your Turn

In 2018, the Worldwide Rally For Cecil will become the Worldwide Rally Against Trophy Hunting (WRATH). To join the campaign to end trophy hunting, please visit WRATH and CompassionWorks International.


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Animal Rights Activists Protest State-Sponsored Mass Shooting of Bears in NJ

December 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment


The News

Dressed in a bear costume and hauling a dummy of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Friends of Animals’ Edita Birnkrant fearlessly paraded into the state capitol building to disrupt business as usual. That’s because she, like many other animal advocates across the state, is outraged about the upcoming state-sponsored mass shooting of black bears. TheirTurn reported on location:

Some of the bears will be lured out of their habitat with food. During a press conference about the bear hunt on the steps of the statehouse, state Senator Raymond Lesniak, who introduced legislation to ban the hunt, said, “Baiting isn’t hunting; it’s target shooting.”

From left to right: NJ State Senator Raymond Lesniak, a dummy of NJ Governor Chris Christie in a bear-proof garbage can, Friends of Animals' Edita Birnkrant

From left to right: NJ State Senator Raymond Lesniak, a dummy of NJ Governor Chris Christie in a bear-proof garbage can, Friends of Animals’ Edita Birnkrant

During the massacre, which starts on Monday, December 7th, hundreds of bears, including cubs and nursing mothers, will be hunted down and killed with guns and arrows.

NJ Governor Chris Christie receives a manual pat down at the NJ State House

NJ Governor Chris Christie receives a manual pat down at the NJ State House

Governor Christie claims that the annual hunt protects the public from bear attacks, but Senator Lesniak and the advocates who gathered at the capitol building argue that only bear-proof garbage cans coupled with public education will keep the bears out of residential areas. Dispensing licenses to kill, they say, doesn’t protect the public; it merely rewards Chris Christie’s pro-hunting campaign donors.

NJ Fish & Wildlife promotes killing, not protecting, its animal residents

NJ Fish & Wildlife promotes killing, not protecting, its animal residents

Your Turn

For more information about the bear hunt and to take action on their behalf, please visit Friends of Animals and the Animal Protection League of NJ Action Center.

A Fish & Wildlife employee weighs a bear during a previous hunt (photo: AP)

A Fish & Wildlife employee weighs a bear during a previous hunt (photo: AP)


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“I am Cecil.”

July 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment


Opinion

In the past couple of days, millions of people on social media, who don’t normally address animal cruelty, have expressed sorrow and outrage about the murder of Cecil, the beloved lion in Zimbabwe. While we have people’s attention, how can we tap into these powerful emotions to awaken them to the plight of other animals who are equally deserving of a life free from harm? How can we help people connect the dots between Cecil, who endured 40 hours of agony, and the billions of farm animals whose entire lives are consumed by suffering?

I-am-cecil

Please use this rare moment in time when the world is paying attention to ensure that Cecil did not die in vain and that his murder is wake-up call to the millions of people who have not made the connection between the animals we love – like lions, whales and dogs – and the animals we consume. They are all the same.

One easy way to help people make the connection is to share these images on Facebook and convey your thoughts about why farm animals deserve to live in peace just as much as Cecil.

Cecil4

Cecil5

cecil3

 


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