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Greyhound Action

A new organisation called Lurcher Link has been set up try to help find
homes for discarded lurchers and save them from being "put to sleep". An
article about Lurcher Link can be seen at:-
http://www.ourdogs.co.uk/News/November2003/News141103/newdating.htm
about which we have the following comment:-

In many ways Lurcher Link are doing an excellent and very much needed job.

They need to realise though, that the root cause of the problem of discarded
lurchers is the fact that people "work" these dogs (i.e. use them to kill
other animals) - in the same way that the root causes of the problem of
discarded greyhounds are the racing and coursing industries.

Just as, if racing and coursing were banned, there would be a massive
reduction in the problem of abandoned greyhounds (because breeding would be
far less), a properly enforced ban on the "working" of lurchers would
massively reduce the number of these dogs abandoned and killed every year
(because the demand for the breeding of lurchers would then become greatly
reduced).

Dog thieves are despicable, but they are not the major cause of the problem
of discarded lurchers. The fact that these dogs are "worked" is - and all
those who really care about lurchers would do better to fight to make this
practice illegal, rather than cosy up to those lovely people who take
pleasure from watching dogs kill other animals. "Working" is such a
wonderful euphemism, isn't it?

Tony Peters, Greyhound Action
http://www.greyhoundaction.co.uk

Please help save the Trafalgar Square pigeons from starvation

Negotiations between Animal Aid and the Greater London Authority may now
have reached a stalemate and within the next two weeks we will know whether
or not the agreement with the GLA has collapsed.

PeTA, Animal Aid and Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons group (STTSP) have
always been, and remain in principle, opposed to the Mayor's plans to reduce
the number of pigeons on the Square, but recognised the political reality
that, whether we liked it or not, he was determined to do it.

Our priority therefore was to ensure that such a reduction was achieved
humanely. All parties consented to allow mutually agreed scientists to steer
the project. The food was reduced by small amounts and behavioural and
physiological effects on the birds were monitored. If at any time the birds
showed any signs of harm, the reduction was to be slowed, halted or even
reversed.

The problem that we now face is that the GLA is refusing to listen to advice
from one of the scientific teams it employed. The GLA was advised that the
food level should be stabilised through the cold weather. The GLA not only
rejected this advice but announced that it intended to double the rate of
reduction!
Animal Aid is therefore working with the Save the Trafalgar Square Pigeons
group in making urgent preparations for the worst outcome - which would mean
that we would have to ensure that the birds are fed ourselves. Financial
donations towards the cost of food are very welcome but what we desperately
need more than anything is volunteer feeders - without volunteers the birds
could face mass starvation within a week. Even if you could commit to one
visit per week this would make a big difference
Ken Livingstone has introduced a bylaw to outlaw feeding on Trafalgar
Square. Of course, we would not ask you to contravene this bylaw but there
is an area at the north end of the Square (in front of the National Gallery)
where it is still perfectly legal to feed the birds. The Square's Wardens
may try and persuade you that you are not permitted to do this, but we know
that legally you are allowed to feed the birds in this area, so please stand
your ground!

Our feeding programme will run alongside a high profile media campaign to
embarrass Ken Livingstone but whilst keeping up the pressure on him we
cannot allow the birds to starve. Please support these efforts in any way
you can. If you cannot possibly help with feeding then please make a
donation to:

STTSP, BM Pigeon, London WC1N 3XX

e-mail: info@savethepigeons.org

PICAS (Pigeon Control Advisory Service.)

PICAS is now working withLeicester City Council as a result of an agreement
with the authority to suspend all pigeon culling. We hope that this
agreement will result in a permanent cessation of all culling As part of
the agreement not to cull PICAS has offered to assist the authority with the
humane removal of pigeons from roof spaces, derelict buildings etc. At
present a massive operation is going ahead to remove 100's if not 1000's of
adult and baby pigeons from 5 large roof spaces on authority owned
residential properties in the city. A team of volunteers from Leicester and
as far afield as Droitwich are working 6-8 hours a day to remove these birds
from the roof spaces prior to the authority boarding up the access holes and
denying pigeons entry. In the past the authority has killed 'all' adult and
juvenile birds in this type of situation and in some cases this has amounted
to 300 birds in one single roof space. It is likely that the total number
of birds saved from being killed will be well in excess of 1000.

Vivisection: a 'moderate' proposal.
By Derrick Jensen.

The problem with vivisection, argues Derrick Jensen, is that we're
experimenting on the wrong sort of animals.

To the dismay of many of my friends, I'm not unalterably
opposed to vivisection. In fact, I'd wholeheartedly support
it were vivisectors to make one minor administrative change.
It would be that scientists perform the experiments not on
nonhumans but on themselves and their colleagues.
Scientists keep telling us how beneficial the experiments
are for Science with a capital 'S', Progress with a capital
'P' and, of course, Man with a capital 'M'. If the
experiments really are Necessary with a capital 'N', the
scientists should be willing to make this sacrifice (with a
small 's') for the greater good.

In any case, according to no other than Lord Sainsbury,
UK minister for innovation and science,
advocate of genetic engineering and owner of a
large supermarket chain, strict regulations ensure that
experiments generally cause no more than 'moderate'suffering.

If this is actually true, scientists shouldn't object too much to
throwing their hats into this ring.
Now, I'm sure you can spot the problem: there are too many
important experiments for the number of vivisectors. In
Europe alone an animal is killed in a laboratory every three seconds.

In Britain it's one every 12 seconds, in Japan one every other second and in the USA one per second.
I'm not sure even full-fee scholarships and high salaries will
suffice to bring in enough scientists to fill this bill.
But that's okay, because every problem carries within it the seed of its own solution.
The solution comes through the words of Sainsbury, or rather his existence:
add another category of those eligible to be vivisected.
This would, of course, be those politicians who speak or vote in favour
of experimenting on live animals.
Given the importance of these experiments to everything from
the economy and national security to shiny, clean hair and new cosmetics,
I think the politicians will be glad to serve the public in this manner.

Unfortunately, this won't solve the problem entirely; I just don't think
we have enough politicians (and I'll bet you never thought you'd hear anyone say that).

At first I toyed with the notion of putting vivisectors' families on the short list,
but decided to keep them in reserve in case they're needed to provide 'spare parts',
as the xenotransplantation literature so elegantly puts it, for those humans rich enough
to afford their own personal organ donors.

The use of vivisectors' families should eradicate the technical and moral problems
caused by the current planned use of pigs and should also bring in some extra cash
for the corporations that hire the vivisectors (and that's always been the real point,
hasn't it?); some estimates put the market for pig organs to
transplant into humans at $6 billion per year, just in the USA.

But we still have the problem of numbers, won't we? Not enough vivisectionists,
not enough politicians. Naturally,CEOs of companies that profit from vivisection need to go
on the list, and in these desperate straits - how could we possibly live
without the draize eye-tests - I think we'll just need to add everyone who
works for those companies,too.
Certainly the shareholders. Especially the shareholders.

I suspect, however, that we still won't have enough; our culture's appetite
for subjects on which to inflict 'moderate' suffering seems insatiable.
We feel the need to force-feed agrochemicals and household products
to dogs through tubes directly into their stomachs and to transplant
the hearts and kidneys of pigs into the necks of baboons.



We immobilise monkeys, lizards, cats, dogs, then take off the
tops of their heads. We break the necks of baboons. We force
macaques to become addicted to cocaine, and give them electric shocks
if they will not use. We create super-viruses that kill everyone they contact.
We cut out portions of the brains of marmosets and leave them as stupid
as the experimenters themselves.

We cut off the heads of live animals using scissors, then study their brains.
We put live animals in freezers and let them try to claw their way out.
We teach chimps sign language, then put them in cages the size of cupboards;
when they signal that they want to get out, we ignore them
and inject them with pesticides.
We separate monkeys from their mothers, infect them with HIV,
then put painful coils in their eyes to track where they look.

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