A n i m a l W r i t e
s © sm
The official ANIMAL
RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Established 1997
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Issue # 10/26/03
Publisher ~ Susan
Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Journalists ~ Greg Lawson -
ParkStRanger@aol.com
~ Michelle Rivera -
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~ Dr. Steve Best -
sbest1@elp.rr.com
THE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ USDA Buying More Vegetables for School Lunches by
Greg Lawson
2 ~ Happy Halloween For All Creatures Great and Small
3 ~ Fund for Animals Warns That Hunting Can Be Fatal
--And Not Just for the Animals
4 ~ Pass the Buck! Tips on How to Reduce Deer/Auto Collisions
5 ~ Liberation Now! The National Student Animal Rights Conference
6 ~ Act Radio, Animal Concerns of
Texas
7 ~ Desecrating the Ark: Animal Abuse and Law's Role in Prevention
8 ~ Animal Compassion & Human Cruelty
9 ~ Memorable Quote
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~1~
USDA Buying More Vegetables for School Lunches
By Greg Lawson - ParkStRanger@aol.com
On October the 19th, the Associated Press reported that
the United States Department of Agriculture is buying record amounts of fruits
and vegetables for the national school lunch program. The USDA bought close to
a billion pounds of fruits and vegetables for schools in the fiscal year which
ended on September 30. That's 22 percent more than in 2002 and 38 percent more
than in 1999.
Unfortunately, 90 percent of those veggies were canned or frozen and only 10
percent was fresh produce. Eric Bost, USDA Undersecretary for Nutrition was
quoted as saying, "There has been a concerted effort on our part to
increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables. (ten percent of the
total? Come on USDA, try harder.)" He continued, "It helps to address
issues with the obesity that's affecting children in our country." Last
year the government reported that 15 percent of the children in the US are
overweight, that's twice as many as in the 1970s.
Each year the USDA buys an average of 1/2 billion pounds of meat, poultry and
fish for the school lunch program. The fact that the USDA now buys twice as
much fruit and vegetables as meat has livestock farmers worried.
Kara Flynn, a spokeswhiner for the National Pork Producers Council whined,
"We would hope that in the future the USDA would purchase some additional
meat products to sort of even things out." I'm sorry you're losing a piece
of the action, Kara, but there seems to be some small effort to decrease the
nation's obesity related disease problems caused mostly by the meat and dairy
industry.
The Associated Press also reported that 6 million federal tax dollars was given
for a study to determine if school children will pick fresh produce over french
fries and candy bars. "Hey, kid, would you rather have this chocolate
covered coconut and almond bar or this serving of beets?"
That's a six million dollar grant I would have liked to have secured to study
whether anyone in our government understands kids or nutrition.
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~2~
Happy Halloween For All Creatures Great and Small
Compiled and annotated by
Demnymets@aol.com
Halloween
Trick-or-Treat Safety Tips : From YankeeHalloween.com, the most
comprehensive Halloween Safety List on the net. Features safety tips for
adults, children, parents, pets and homeowners. Comes in a printable format,
available option, at the bottom of the page. Why not make a copy for your
neighborhood's elementary school! (http://www.yankeehalloween.com/safety.html)
Screech Out : Tricks
& Treat for a Pro-Animal Halloween - from Animal Advocacy.net,
suggestions for Halloween fun at your office party! Also, more safety tips,
can't have too many of those this time of year!!
(http://www.animaladvocacy.net/halloween.html)
Recipe of the Month
-- Vegetarian Baby and Child - healtthy homemade Halloween treats to pass
out to the kids. This mom recommends you include a tag with your name, address
and phone number for concerned parents. Why not include the recipe too!
(http://www.vegetarianbaby.com/magazine/recipe.html)
Canine
Spooktacular Halloween Party - presented by the Greyhound Hope Connection
(greyhoundwalkingclub.com), a fundraiser assisting adoption groups who help special
needs greyhounds. (http://www.greyhoundwalkingclub.com/spooktacular.htm)
Fun
Halloween Recipes & Activities - from vegetarian.about.com, more
recipes, activities and decorations.
(http://vegetarian.about.com/library/holidays/blhalloween.htm)
Go Vegan Radio: Go Vegan Radio
- Information and tickets to the "VVEGAN HALLOWEEN REGGAE
BOOGIE-BALL-BENEFIT for the animals, children and the environment"
(fundraiser to help support the radio station)
(http://www.goveganradio.com/info.php)
Vegetarians in
Paradise/Halloween Vegetarian Meal/Halloween Vegan Meal - a vegan Halloween
party for 12! (http://www.vegparadise.com/cookingwith.html)
PETA: Elvira's Halloween Treats
- Halloween wouldn't be complete withoutt animal friendly advice from the
"Mistress of the Dark." Quick - what rhymes with "gelatin"?
Also, information on the Game Show Network's Halloween Auction of Elvira's
items to benefit PETA. (http://peta.org/feat/halloween01/)
Vegan
Halloween - A Different Daisy - vegan candy and ghoulish recipes. Bloody
Eyeballs and Fake Snot. Yum!
(http://differentdaisy.safeshopper.com/666/cat666.htm?895)
PETA Kids >> Vegan Candy is
Dandy! - I didn't know that the red coloring in some candy is made from
ground-up bugs? That ingredient would be carmine!
(http://www.petakids.com/candy.html)
Vegan
Halloween - Tricks and Treats - from vegfamily.com, a nice article from a
vegan mom. ( http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-children/vegan-halloween.htm )
Press
Release - October 1, 2003 - Halloween Can Spook Animals - from the BCSPCA,
more safety tips, but it reminded me that all humane and welfare societies
should be issuing similar releases to the media about Halloween pet safety in
their communities. (http://www.spca.bc.ca/media/Halloween_Oct12003_Press.htm)
For black
cats, the trick on Halloween may be to stay in - a news article discussing
Black Cat "AllHallows Eve" lore from Seattlepi.com. Superstition or
not ? Keep all pets inside! ( http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/93301_cats29.shtml
)
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~3~
Fund for Animals Warns That Hunting Can Be Fatal
--And Not Just for the Animals
10/2/2003, The Fund for Animals
www.fund.org
Silver Spring, MD -- Hunting season is here again, and The
Fund for Animals, a national animal protection organization with more than
200,000 members and supporters nationwide, warns that hunting can be a deadly
pastime for humans as well as animals. Hunters often make the claim that
hunting causes fewer injuries per participant than many other sports, but
Michael Markarian, President of The Fund for Animals, points out, "While
injuries may occur during sports ranging from football to ping pong, those
injuries are generally not on a par with gunshot or arrow wounds. And they
usually don’t result in fatalities to non-participants who are enjoying the
outdoors or even their own property—as hunting does." In Maryland, it is
the threat to non-hunters that has raised public scrutiny over recent decisions
to increase hunting activities—including a controversial new regulation
allowing the use of crossbows and a bill signed into law by Governor Robert
Ehrlich that allows hunting on Sundays for the first time in centuries. Also, a
recent ruling by Maryland's Supreme Court that leaders of hunting parties are
not liable for accidental shootings by other hunters in their groups does not
add any incentive for hunters to practice increased safety measures.
Added Markarian, "Sundays used to be safe for horseback riding, hiking,
camping, and other outdoor activities, but non-hunters in Maryland will be
stuck at home more than ever this fall if they don’t want to risk being
shot." The crossbow and bow-hunting season for deer is currently underway
in Maryland, with the shotgun/rifle season commencing on November 29. The two
Sundays on which hunting will take place this year, for the first time, are
November 2 and 30.
The Fund recommends exercising extreme caution when venturing out into the
woods during hunting season. Be sure to wear at least one item of bright orange
clothing. If you see hunters trespassing in a posted "No Hunting"
zone, do not confront them as they are carrying weapons and might shoot intentionally
or accidentally. Instead, contact the Natural Resources Police at 800-628-9944
and ask them to investigate. Try to collect as much information as possible on
your own, such as license plate numbers, descriptions of the people involved,
and photos or videos of any illegal activity.
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~4~
Pass the Buck!
Tips on How to Reduce Deer/Auto Collisions
From Friends of Animals
www.friendsofanimals.org
The quickest way to reduce deer/auto collisions is to get the
hunters out of the woods. With hunters gone, the deer will be less stressed,
and less likely to run in blind panic across a roadway. That should reduce the
current major intensification of deer/auto collisions during the autumn and
early winter.
Friends of Animals has researched other tips that motorists can
use to reduce the risk of a collision with a deer. Here are some of the
important ones:
1. Be extra vigilant when driving at
dawn, dusk and the first few hours of darkness, the hours when most collisions
occur.
2. Be especially alert during mid-
to late-fall, when hunters have made the deer panicky and incautious.
3. Slow down when driving through
deer habitat, such as wooded areas and fields. Keep your eyes moving, glancing
frequently into the habitat on both sides of the road, and anticipate having to
brake. Don’t focus your eyes on the middle of the road.
4. Brake firmly when you notice a
deer in or near your path. Do not swerve. It can confuse the deer as to where
to run. It can also cause you to lose control and hit a tree or another car.
5. Always wear a seat belt.
Insurance professionals tell us that most persons injured in deer/auto
collisions were not wearing their seat belts.
6. If you see one deer, it is
extremely likely there are others around. Be careful!
7. During appropriate hours, use the
high beams on your headlights when there is no on-coming traffic. High beams
will reflect light from the eyes of a deer on the road long before that part of
the road is actually illuminated by the lights.
8. If you see a deer on the road,
blow your horn with a single long blast to frighten the animal off the road.
9. Keep your windshield clean.
Dirty, pitted or fogged windshields reduce your vision and increase the risk of
collision.
10. At night time, deer are usually
visible less than 200 feet from your vehicle. It takes a car about 317 feet to
stop at 55 mph under optimum conditions. Slow down. A Kansas study has linked
increased speed to increased deer/auto collisions.
11. Don’t drink and drive. Even a
little bit of alcohol reduces reflexes that you will need for handling the risk
of a collision.
12. If your vehicle strikes a deer,
do not touch the animal. If it is alive, it will certainly be frightened and,
in attempting to move could either hurt you or cause itself further pain and
suffering. Get your car off the road, if possible, and call the police.
(Friends of Animals thanks the Insurance
Information Institute - , Fairfax County Virginia Government, Kansas
Department of Wildlife and Parks and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
for ideas included among the above tips).
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~5~
Liberation Now!
The
National Student Animal Rights Conference
American University - Washington, DC November 7th to 9th, 2003
http://www.LiberationNow.com
Check out list of CONFIRMED SPEAKERS at
http://www.defendanimals.org/libnow/speak.htm
A draft conference program is also available at
http://www.defendanimals.org/libnow/prog.htm
REGISTER NOW at
http://www.defendanimals.org/libnow/register.htm
"Liberation Now!" is the animal rights movement's biggest national
event dedicated to bringing together students and youth in the struggle for
animal rights. Join hundreds of other young animal advocates and dozens of the
leading authors, speakers, and organizers of the animal rights movement for the
third national student animal rights conference!
FOR MORE INFO, visit http://www.LiberationNow.com
Student Animal Rights Alliance
PO Box 932
New York, NY 10013-0864
212-696-7911
http://www.defendanimals.org
Other Sponsors of "Liberation Now!"
American University Animal Rights Effort
Animal Protection Institute
AnimalsVoice.com
In Defense of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Saving Our Resources Today
VegNews
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~6~
ACT Radio, Animal Concerns of Texas
By Greg Lawson - ParkStranger@aol.com
Be sure to listen to ACT Radio tonight at 9:30pm EST (7:30pm,
mountain time) with cohosts Greg Lawson, Steve Best and Elizabeth Walsh. KTEP
can be heard over the web with Real Radio, which is a free download.
Tonight we have our second conversation with James Laveck, cofounder of Tribe
of Heart and the producer of the Animal Rights film "The Witness." We
discuss his new film "Peaceable Kingdom."
El Paso NPR - KTEP 88.5
: National Public Radio for the Southwest
http://www.ktep.org/program_detail.ssd?id=103
Instructions for downloading Real Radio here...
ACT Radio
http://utminers.utep.edu/vsep/actradio
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~7~
Desecrating the Ark:
Animal Abuse and Law's Role in Prevention
By Margit Livingston
Boys may kill frogs for fun, but the frogs die in earnest.
Human violence against animals has existed for centuries. Certain kinds of
violence toward animals, such as hunting and killing them for food, have almost
always been viewed as acceptable. Historically, even the deliberate torture of
domestic animals has been regarded either as an exercise of the owners'
justifiable dominion over their property or as an amusing spectacle. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century, however, social reformers began to press
for laws forbidding intentional animal cruelty, and such laws were gradually
enacted in England and the United States.
It is debatable whether modern animal cruelty laws, many of them identical to
their nineteenth-century predecessors, have been effective in curtailing animal
abuse. Although there has been an increasing public outcry over individual
incidents of animal abuse, these acts are seemingly on the rise and are
perpetrated by both children and adults. Arguably, the flaw in the legal system
lies with inadequate penalties for animal abuse and apathetic enforcement of
existing laws.
Today, only a scant majority of state jurisdictions provide for felony- level
penalties for intentional animal abuse. In addition, anecdotal evidence
suggests that police in many jurisdictions are not trained to identify and
arrest animal abusers, prosecutors are hesitant to devote their resources to
vigorous investigation and prosecution of animal cruelty offenses, which are
frequently only misdemeanors, and courts are often reluctant to enforce the
available sanctions, particularly against juvenile offenders--perhaps on the
theory that torturing a cat is nothing more than a childish prank.
Although the relatively light criminal penalties for animal cruelty and neglect
and the underenforcement of existing laws may suggest that animal abuse is not
a serious social problem, certain evidence indicates otherwise. A growing body
of social science literature reveals that there is a link between juvenile
violence against animals and later adult violence against humans. In other
words, the rascally child prankster who burns his dog to death often develops
into a spousal batterer, a child abuser, or even a murderer. The weight of this
evidence should persuade lawmakers to modify laws to increase criminal
penalties for animal abuse, to enforce existing laws more stringently, and to
refer juvenile offenders for psychological evaluation and treatment more
frequently so that the likelihood of later adult violence is reduced.
Throughout history the law has always mirrored to some extent the philosophical
and religious views of its era. Three divergent views of the relationship
between animal and human interests characterize the philosophical and religious
literature on animals. These three perspectives ultimately have shaped our
legal treatment of other species. In the first view, animal interests are
subordinate to human interests. In the second view, animal interests are
intertwined with human interests. Finally, in the third view, animal interests
are separate from, but equal to, human interests. Over time, the law has
evolved as our society has moved away from the first view that regards animals
as merely property to be exploited for human purposes. As the second and third
views have become more prevalent in society, the law has moved toward
recognizing animals as feeling creatures deserving of at least some legal
rights.
Modern social science data also support, at a minimum, the second view--
namely, that animal interests and human interests are intertwined. More
specifically, the data suggest that humans should take cognizance of cruelty to
animals because such behavior often leads to violence against humans as well.
Taken as a whole, these studies bolster the legal reforms proposed in this
Article. Although the more animal-protective third view suggests that animals
are worthy of humane treatment because of their sentient nature, policymakers
need not adopt that view to support the legal changes advocated in this
Article. The weight of the social science research concludes that there is a
positive correlation between animal abuse and violence against humans, and
because of that correlation, investigation, punishment, and treatment of animal
abusers foster human welfare.
Part I of this Article attempts to tease out the three views of the
relationship between animal and human interests in philosophical and
theological writings. Although philosophers and religious writers over the
centuries have adopted all three views, most modern thinkers can agree that, at
a minimum, animal and human interests are intertwined. They aver that
deliberate animal cruelty injures not only the animals but also the human
perpetrators because it degrades the human spirit and hardens individuals to
the suffering of their fellow humans.
As a prelude to the arguments for the legal reform of animal cruelty laws, Part
II of this Article analyzes the changing role of the law in protecting domestic
animals from their human masters. Again, the three views of the relationship
between animal interests and human interests emerge. Part II.A describes the
shift of Anglo-American law during the nineteenth century from regarding
animals as the property of their owners to viewing them as living beings
capable of suffering and worthy of greater legal protection. Part II.B
summarizes modern statutory treatment of animal cruelty as anywhere from a
minor offense to a felony with serious penalties. Part II.B also notes the
deficiencies of many of the statutory schemes and asserts that even if society
is not ready to accord animals the full spectrum of legal rights enjoyed by
humans, animal cruelty statutes should be reformed at a minimum to protect
human interests.
Part III of this Article continues this theme of protecting human interests by
examining the social science research on the link between animal abuse by
juveniles and juveniles' later commission of violent crimes against humans.
Part III.A briefly considers the anecdotal evidence linking childhood abuse of
animals to later adult violence. Part III.B then explores in greater depth the
growing number of studies showing an above-average incidence of animal cruelty
during childhood among adult batterers and murderers.
Finally, Part IV outlines desired changes in animal cruelty laws that, it is
hoped, will reduce the overall incidence of violence against both humans and
animals. It argues for increased criminal sanctions for adult animal abusers,
cross-reporting requirements, more frequent placement of juvenile animal
offenders in treatment programs, and restrictions on ownership of animals by
convicted animal abusers.
For the rest of this article, see..
Desecrating
the Ark: Animal Abuse and Law's Role in Prevention
http://www.animallaw.info/articles/arus87iowalrev1.htm
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~8~
Animal Compassion & Human Cruelty
By Chalissa1@aol.com
A decade ago - Chicago Paper front page news
Young child slipped into the gorilla cage at Brookfield Zoo
Mother devastated, praying pleading wailing crying.......
Mama gorilla scoops child delivers to mother!
How compassionate
Ironic.......
Same Paper,
Different page News item: Group of teens camping in the forest
Separated from adult leader
Come upon a baby gorilla
Frivolous sport, throw stones
Stone it,
Stone it,
Stone it.......
To death!
The Law of the jungle
Killing for sustenance
Not for sport!
More compassionate
Than the human race!
Man exults causing pain & suffering!
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~9~
Memorable Quote
"Animals have a life of their own that is of importance to them apart from
their utility to us. They are not only in the world, they are aware of it. What
happens to them matters to them. Each has a life that fares better or worse for
the one whose life it is." ~Dr. Tom Regan
Animal Rights Philosopher
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Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal
Rights Online=-
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
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