ASPCA: Petition

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"The ASPCA has recently launched CATvsDOG.org, an online campaign to raise awareness about some of the most critical animal welfare issues today and to urge animal lovers across the country to support its drive towards ending animal cruelty.

"The goal of the nationwide online campaign is to incite one million Americans to sign a pledge to prevent cruelty and abuse," said ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres. "By signing the pledge and casting their vote, people are helping the ASPCA ensure animals have a voice in the upcoming election."

The campaign highlights eight important animal welfare issues such as puppy mills, “dangerous breed” bans, pets and family violence through the eyes of candidates Mittens-the-Cat and Rowdy-the-Dog. Candidate Mittens and Rowdy take humorous, opposing positions on each of the issues through intriguing debates that are summarized with facts to bring light to the seriousness of each topic.

"The ASPCA will deliver one million signatures collected from the online campaign to the newly elected president shortly after the presidential election is concluded," said Mr. Sayres. To date 366,533 signatures have already been collected.

Wildlife and the Killers

I would like to share with you a recent comment that was left by a very informative reader.

"What is now "Wildlife Services" (under the USDA) used to be called the Biological Survey. In the 1900's, W.S. went on an all out war to exterminate wolves and other predators to 'sanitize the West" for livestock owners! They hired people to do the killing who were generally low life kinds of people desperate for money.

These federal agents would kill wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, foxes, and many other animals deemed to be "a risk" to the livestock industry by any grisly means possible, poisoning, trapping, shooting....

Every year, Wildlife "Services" kills over 1.4 animals on behalf of the livestock industry (mostly). This includes the killing of about 10,000 MAMMALS per year -- foxes, coyotes, wolves, carnivore bears, beavers, mountain lions, and more. The worst part? They use OUR TAX MONEY TO DO IT! I am very sorry but that is NOT OK with me! Feel free to contact the agency in D.C. to get figures. They will refer you to their website which they have INTENTIONALLY made difficult to get that kind of information.

The Safari Club, (the most elite trophy hunting organization with millionaire members) helped Sarah Palin with her promotion of aerial hunting of wolves in Alaska, financially backing the state promotion of it. Palin used taxpayer dollars to promote it as well for a total of over $700,000! They've killed 800 wolves so far since the program began (5 years ago?) by aerial killing. They run the wolf to exhaustion and then shoot it. They often have to shoot it several times to kill it, so the animal writhes in pain and agony. It's brutal -- it's horrible -- and it should be illegal. In fact, twice -- voters in Alaska voted it down -- and both times, hunting interests pushed it through! Now how can that happen except in a corrupt government?

It's not "hunting" in the sense that they're "hunting" them for food, etec. But they are hunting them to "get rid" of them to increase the moose and caribou population as Alaska gets a lot of money in from both in and out of state hunting licenses. Palin wants to ensure her hunters will get the moose and caribou they want. The problem is - it's at the expense of the wolves! And the taxpayer's money!

Back to "Wildlife Services." They are funded by taxpayers with the primary intention to protect the livestock industry. That is how they started, that is still what they do at their heart. It's wrong to use taxpayer money in this way -- they will actually go out in airplanes and shoot coyotes from airplanes IN ADVANCE of "calving season!" They're killing coyotes before the coyote even went after an animal.

Wildlife Services has no shame what they do to our animals. It's interesting though because they have recently made it much more difficult to find out how many animals they kill per year as they know it's BAD PR."

More about this on Monday. Stay tuned.

Palin: Champion Barracuda

"As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has championed aerial gunning of wolves and bears. Using powerful images of this needless and brutal practice -- and the indisputable facts about Palin's promotion of it -- we've created a hard-hitting new television ad to educate voters about what Governor Sarah Palin really stands for.

As governor, Sarah Palin...

Proposed paying a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf.

Approved a $400,000 state-funded propaganda campaign to promote aerial hunting.

Introduced legislation to make it even easier to use aircraft to hunt wolves and bears.

Help run our new ad and support wildlife-saving efforts across the country. Please donate now!

Palin and Painful

"The wolf is an intelligent, handsome creature and, for many visitors to Alaska, an integral part of the state’s wild appeal. Wolves live in complex social structures, mate for life and don’t attack humans — it’s easy to see in them the family resemblance to mankind’s best friend.

That’s what makes it so painful to look at the video of an aerial wolfhunt in Alaska that has been circulating since Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated as Sen. John McCain’s running mate on the Republican ticket."

Please watch the video here.

Houston SPCA

" Noah would feel right at home at the Houston SPCA, which has taken in about a thousand animals from communities enduring a major beating from Hurricane Ike.

In addition to hundreds of dogs and cats, the shelter collected horses, ducks, goats, iguanas and even a bear as part of its menagerie in the days leading up to the storm — which crashed ashore before dawn Saturday.

Houston SPCA President Patricia Mercer compared it to the Biblical ark, and the rescue center has taken in the Galveston Island Humane Society animals as well as those from the Brazoria County and Bay Area SPCA in Galveston County, she said. Some of the staff from the other organizations accompanied "

Cat Reunited With Family

"A couple have been reunited with their missing cat after nine years, the RSPCA said on Wednesday.

Dixie, a 15-year-old ginger cat, disappeared in 1999 and her owners thought she had been killed by a car.

She was found less than half a mile from her home in Birmingham after a concerned resident rang the animal charity to report a thin and dishevelled cat who had been in the area for a couple of months.

RSPCA Animal Collection Officer Alan Pittaway checked her microchip and confirmed it was Dixie. She was returned to her owners, Alan and Gilly Delaney, within half an hour.

"In 29 years of working for the RSPCA I have never seen anyone so excited and happy as Mrs Delaney," Pittaway said. "It made my day to return Dixie to her owners."

The couple were "overjoyed" to be reunited with their missing cat after so many years."

George Bush: Endangered Species

"For more than 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected wildlife at risk of extinction. Now the Bush/Cheney Administration wants to make some serious changes to this landmark law -- changes that would eliminate vital checks and balances that are crucial to protect our wolves, polar bears and other imperiled wildlife.

Speak out now for polar bears, wolves and the nearly 1,400 species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act! Fill out the form below to urge your U.S. Representative and Senators to do whatever they can to stop this eleventh-hour assault on protections for our endangered wildlife.

We’ve provided some text below to help get you started, but personalized messages will be most effective. Please be sure to include any personal…

* Education or special expertise on wildlife
* Experience that informs your opinion
* Beliefs that shape your views on protecting wildlife"