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Just seconds after two women climbed into a bathtub, naked, on a busy sidewalk in midtown Manhattan, dozens of reporters and hundreds of pedestrians descended upon them to snap photos and take video of their bold (and cold) protest against Macy’s.

Photo: Donny Moss

PETA organized the street spectacle to protest Macy’s inclusion of a SeaWorld float in its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. TV host Jane Velez-Mitchell posted this report from the protest:

When asked by Jane why she was protesting in the frigid weather, one of the naked orcas said, “This is just an hour of our time. Orcas spend their entire lives in the equivalent of a bathtub.”

Activists protest SeaWorld float at Rose Bowl Parade

On its website, SeaWorld of Hurt, PETA says, “SeaWorld enslaves animals in small tanks at marine parks around the country, where they are forced to perform unnecessary tricks for “entertainment.” It’s a business built on the suffering of intelligent, social animals who are denied everything that is natural and important to them.”

Urge Macy’s to cancel SeaWorld float in Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Please use this form to send a letter to the CEO of SeaWorld asking that he release their orcas to coastal sanctuaries.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) has filed a lawsuit against a county in Central Florida for failing to hold a public hearing about the construction of a 32 acre monkey breeding facility.

Hendry County, FL

In a statement to the press, Hendry County claims that seeking public input for an “agriculture” facility is not required by law. Some locals suspect that the County intentionally kept the project a secret, knowing that members of the public would oppose the presence of monkeys who could carry infectious diseases in residential area. Florida already has a population over 1,000 non-native wild macaques, many of whom carry the hepatitis B virus, according to published reports.

Primera and SoFlo Ag cannot be reached

Primera Science Center, the company building the breeding center, reportedly intends to transport 3,200 macaque monkeys from Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa, to Florida, where they will be bred and sold to laboratories for use in experiments. The macaques, who will presumably have direct contact with workers, can carry infectious diseases like tuberculosis and hepatitis.

Photo: buav.org

Dwight Bullard, the State Senator who represents the area, has called for the project to be delayed until Primera and Hendry County provide more information about how public safety will be protected: “We are calling on Primera to hold a public meeting with the state and federal agencies that will be involved in the safety and care of these primates during their time at this facility. If primates get loose, what does that mean to the surrounding counties in terms of potential outbreaks?”

In a statement to the press, Primera says it “is in full compliance with the rules, guidelines and laws at the local, state and federal levels” and that it “is committed to meeting the highest standards with the utmost respect for the safety and preservation of the surrounding environment and its residents.”

To see the lawsuit in its entirety and the statement released by Hendry County in response to the suit, please visit news-press.com.

Please ask Hendry County officials to halt the construction of Primera’s monkey breeding facility until the County and company provide the public with an answers to its questions and gives local residents the opportunity to provide input at a public hearing.

Phone: 863-675-5220

Email: welcome@hendryfla.net

Recent attacks on humans by captive tigers in India, China, Australia and Singapore have shined an international spotlight on the danger and cruelty of keeping one of the planet’s top predators in captivity. In the United States, captive tigers and other big cats have, in the past twenty-four years, killed four children and eight adults.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, approximately 5,000 tigers are being held captive in the United States. Six percent of them reside in zoos and similar accredited facilities. The remainder are warehoused in squalid cages in backyards, unaccredited zoos, sideshows, circuses, private breeding facilities, and even a roadside truck stop.

Tiger in NYC apartment

Thirty-two states have banned private ownership of tigers; 10 require a license; and eight states have no regulation. What little regulation does exist to prohibit and protect big cats in captivity is often unenforced. A federal bill to ban the private possession and breeding of big cats – The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act – has 114 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.

https://youtu.be/q-xN0HmXqrk

Of the 5,000 captive tigers in the U.S., only a lucky few will be rescued and relocated to sanctuaries where their needs take priority. In October, four tigers hit the feline lottery with the opening of a new habitat at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas. Ben Callison, director of the Ranch, speaks to Jane Velez Mitchell about the new sanctuary and big cat captivity:

Anastasia & Natalia at Black Beauty Ranch. (Photo: Brandon Wade/HSUS)

Even the best of sanctuaries, however, cannot meet the needs of nature’s top predators. In the wild, tigers carve out large territories based on the availability of prey animals and mating partners. They hunt and, in spite of the fact that they are solitary animals, they sometimes share their kill with other tigers. The run 30 – 40 mph, and they can swim up to 18 miles a day.

Tiger stalking her prey

Contact your U.S. representative and Senators to ask them to support The Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act.

Please learn more about why holding wild animals captive is cruel; boycott zoos and circuses; and speak out.

Please visit Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch’s website to learn more about the tiger sanctuary and support their efforts to provide sanctuary to animals rescued from captivity.

Less than one week after a NYC carriage horse escaped from his stable and fled down the street, NYCLASS, an organization working to end carriage rides in NYC, displayed a life-size replica of a dead horse at City Hall to call lawmakers’ attention to the dangers of mixing horses with cars in the congested streets of midtown Manhattan.

City Hall in Manhattan (Photo: NYCLASS)

TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell attended the protest and posted footage and an interview with Donny Moss, who made the documentary film BLINDERS about NYC’s horse-drawn carriage controversy:

According to large animal veterinarians, horse-drawn carriages cannot be operated humanely or safely in the congested streets of NYC. For example, horses are flight animals, and no amount of regulation can stop them from spooking and bolting down a busy street.

Spotty crashed into a car and die after spooking in NYC (Photo: Catherine Nane)

In addition, the NYC horses have no pasture where they can graze, run, roll and interact physically with other horses, as herd animals do. They are either confined between the shafts of a carriage or kept in small stalls in midtown Manhattan.

Photo: Donny Moss

If you live in NYC, please contact your Council Member

Please sign the two petitions to ban horse-drawn carriages: Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, NYCLASS

To keep apprised of developments, subscribe to the weekly newsletter of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages by sending an email to coalition@banhdc.org.

Watch the award-winning documentary film BLINDERS: The Truth Behind the Tradition that exposes the truth behind the tradition of NYC’s infamous horse-drawn carriage trade:

In a ground-breaking story, a major TV news program in Australia aired undercover footage of the country’s cows and sheep being tortured in the Middle East. The footage, taken by Animals Australia, shows the animals, who were shipped to Gaza, Kuwait and Jordan, being stabbed to death in the streets, in spite of Australian regulations requiring animals to be killed in approved slaughterhouses.

In the following clip, TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell talks to TheirTurn’s Donny Moss in the first of many reports about Australia’s live exports.

Animal welfare groups in Australia have, for years, advocated for an outright ban on the export of live animals given the treacherous journey and virtual absence of anti-cruelty laws in the destination countries. While their practical solution – shipping frozen meat instead of live bodies – is appalling to animal rights activists, it would at least eliminate the most violent abuses committed at sea and in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

At least one country that receives live animals from Australia is fighting back. In Israel, activists are using provocative street theater to expose the horrors of live transports in an attempt to shut them down. Last year, an Israeli TV station aired damning footage taken by activists of sheep being violently unloaded from a transport ship and of of the abuses they endured prior to slaughter.

Photo: Against Live Transports

After reading the story above, Simon Whitehouse, an animal protection advocate from Australia, sent us the following additional information about Australia’s live export trade:

“Due to the help of a sympathetic right wing government, the trade is experiencing rapid growth. The Australian Labor Party, which is the opposition to our current government, has a policy which also is pro live export. In the Australian parliament, the only existing party with a policy to end the trade is the Australian Greens, and their representation level is small. Politically, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“The trade is not just with the Middle East, it includes many South East Asian countries, most notably Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It also extends to such places as Russia and Mauritius. Almost all of these countries have a very poor animal welfare background. The industry is now pushing very hard to start sending animals for slaughter to Cambodia and China.”

While the footage from the Middle East could put increased pressure on Australia’s Ministry of Agriculture to curb the worst abuses, the Australian activists need our help. Please send an instant message to the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C.