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The following article can be found at www.wpbf.com

The West Palm Beach City Commission unanimously passed a resolution opposing the factory farming practice keeping egg-laying hens in small battery cages.

The resolution stated that the commission “opposes battery cage egg production, based on the inherent cruelty of confining egg-laying hens in battery cages,” and further “encourages consumers of eggs not to purchase eggs produced by caged hens.”

Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell introduced the resolution. “Animal cruelty has no place in our society, and I’m proud that West Palm Beach has joined the growing number of cities opposing battery cage confinement in the egg industry. Keeping animals in restrictive cages so small they can hardly move is inhumane,” Commissioner Mitchell said.

West Palm Beach becomes the third Florida city and seventh in the nation to pass a resolution condemning battery cage confinement, joining other Florida cities Winter Springs and New Port Richey.

Florida-based Burger King has also announced it is moving away from using eggs from caged hens.

Animal activists claim that U.S. factory farms confine approximately 280 million hens in barren battery cages that are so small, the birds can’t even spread their wings.

————- Mr. SoVeg - Talk about a step in the right direction. If I was not such a happy and proud Canadian, I would totally be on my way to Florida. This puts lack-luster announcements like the recent one made by the American Veal Association to shame. Baby steps get you nowhere. Slow and steady does not win the race (as much as I do love that Care Bears episode). Real announcements, that make a real impact, are what is needed here.

Just like plastic shopping bags, battery cage usage should not be phased out. They should be simply eliminated. What is wrong is wrong.

-Mr. SoVeg

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So the AVA (The American Veal Association) has made a bit of an announcement… They are Phasing out the method of chaining their calves by the neck inside their lonely crates by 2017. They are of course chained and crated in order to immobilize them and create tender veal.

2017?!?! Phasing out?!? This is a pathetic announcement in my honest opinion. It is truly so hard to stop chaining them by their necks that it is going to take 9 or 10 years?

GoVeg.com calls this a “historic change”, and I guess it could be considered a baby step, but one baby step that will take a decade to hit the ground.

These insanely slow baby steps are becoming more common news. In the past year, Smithfield Foods, Maple Leaf Foods, and Cargill Meat Solutions have all pledged to phase out the use of those horrible gestation crates. Again with the phasing out! The fact that they are phasing it out at all, is them admitting that it is a cruel practice, and therefore these methods should not be phased out, but stopped in their tracks.

Some fast food joints are hopping onto that baby step bandwagon as well. It took SIX years of negotiations with PETA to get Burger King to give in and pledge to purchase 20 percent of it’s pig meat from suppliers that do not use the gestation crates, and 5 percent of it’s eggs from suppliers that do not use battery cages (a 5 to a filing cabinet drawer-sized cage). It did not take long for Wendy’s to jump in sign practically the same deal.

20 percent?!?! 5 percent?!?! It took six years for them to sign up?! Again, pledging at all is the admission of cruelty, and deciding that they are only going to be 80% as cruel to pigs and only 95% as cruel to chickens does not exactly impress me. More than anything, it angers me. If you even buy a small fry from these guys as a vegetarian, then they will feel like they have done enough.

-Mr. SoVeg

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By Anna Driver - http://uk.reuters.com/

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Growing up in East Texas, Dian Avriett loved to watch the turtles sunning on the banks of local rivers and lakes. But now she says it’s rare to see them on those same waterways, and the reason is clear — China’s taste for Texas turtle meat.

Hundreds of thousands have been sold to dealers who ship the animals to Asia where the meat is considered a delicacy with health benefits. Some also fetch high prices around the world as pets.
Photo

“In Texas, anyone with a $50 dollar non-game permit can take as many (turtles) as they want,” said Avriett, who chairs the Piney Woods group of the Sierra Club.

Global turtle populations are at risk, but conservationists said the problem is growing acute in Texas where there are no limits on the collection of unprotected varieties.

An average of 94,442 turtles per year are taken by dealers, mostly for export from the state, according to figures from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

Data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request showed more than 267,000 wild turtles were exported to Hong Kong from Dallas from 2002 to 2005, said Chris Jones, an environmental attorney who has lobbied for turtle protections.

Although there are no state-wide statistics showing declines in Texas turtle population, Jones said abundant anecdotal evidence exists. For example in one section of the Rio Grande river that had been a trap site, an adult turtle has not been seen in 10 years.

“They are taking them so fast the scientists can’t study them,” Jones said. Now some varieties including the Texas river cooter could have some protection because the TPWD commissioners on May 24 approved a measure to prohibit the collection of wild turtles on public land.

But under that regulation, which is not yet on the books as law, collectors may harvest three varieties of turtles on private land; the red-eared slider, the common snapping turtle and five types of soft-shell turtles.

SLOW GOING

Turtles need protection from overharvesting because they are slow to mature and their young have a high mortality rate, said Lee Fitzgerald, an associate professor of herpetology at Texas A&M University who has published research on the Texas turtle trade.

“Their population can’t take the removal of adults,” said Fitzgerald. “If it continues, the population will collapse.”

For example he said it takes a female box turtle 15 years to reach sexual maturity. Once at that stage she lays four or five eggs, and most of the hatchlings will not survive.

But Bob Popplewell, the state’s largest exporter of live turtles to Asia, disagrees. He said there are plenty of turtles in Texas. And many are a nuisance to ranchers who say the turtles eat fish eggs and birds, and overcrowd their lakes and ponds, he said.

“People tell me they don’t want one nasty, stinking turtle in their lake,” said Popplewell, who is known as “Bayou Bob.” “I’ve seen a decent-sized snapper pull down a full-grown goose. They are trained, stealthy predators.”

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The Atlanta Falcons quarterback has been accused of a federal felony alleging that he has been a dogfight sponsor since 2001. He owns a house that has been used for nothing but dog fights in Smithfield, VA.

Vick and three other dicks were indicted in United States District Court in Richmond, VA. Vick still claims that he is innocent, but it is clear that he is not only involved, but that he could be considered a heavyweight of dog fighting. He claims he had no idea the property was being used for such purposes.

If convicted the four dicks will be charged $350,000 (chump change for Vick), and face up to six years in prison (no where near long enough in my opinion).

Dog fighting is one nasty hobby. Before the fights the dogs are weighed and washed to remove any poison or chemicals that may have been placed on the dog. They are often starved so that they will be hungry for their upcoming opponent.

A dogfight ends when the loser dies, or just gives up. Losing dogs are often put to death by horrible methods such as drowning, strangulation, gunshot, eletrocution, hanging, or just a hard slam to the ground.

Puppies are tested early, and if they show any sign of weakness early, dog fighters know they have a “dud”. The “nicer” dog fighters will leave the pups on someone’s doorstep. The not so nice ones, like Vick, put them to death by hand.

This is really such a sick story. The Humane Society of the United States website has been so busy the last two days that it temporarily shut down. People are outraged that anyone claims that this is entertainment.

While writing about this it brings me back to a post I wrote just a few days ago about the rodeo. The level of cruelty is not the same, but the general idea of putting animals in harms way for entertainment purposes is. Animals are not here to entertain us!! Make it stop.

Do you feel Micheal Vick should be suspended from the NFL for his actions? I hope so. Sign this petition

-Mr. SoVeg

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By NOAKI SCHWARTZ

 LOS ANGELES - Four dead dolphins have washed ashore with fatal bullet wounds and fifth with lacerations on its pectoral fin, said authorities who have offered a reward for information on the slayings. The long-beaked common dolphins were all discovered between Carlsbad State Beach and Oceanside Harbor between May 29 and June 5. Photos showed their normally sleek gray skin mottled and stained with blood from the bullet wounds.

“It’s a horrendous thing that happened,” said Mark Oswell, spokesman for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. “That someone would go out there and shoot four dolphins.”

Necropsies revealed that the dolphins, which were healthy with bellies full of fish, may have been shot at the same time with the same gun. Four had between one and three bullets of the same caliber in the same part of their heads.

Federal officials say that nationwide, they normally get one report of a dolphin shooting a year. The last time San Diego reported such a death was five years ago. Before that there hadn’t been one in the area since the 1960s.

“It usually turns out to be a fisherman,” said Oswell, adding there have been cases when anglers take out their frustrations on dolphins and other mammals that eat their catch. The agency is offering up to $2,500 for information on the deaths. If caught, the perpetrator could face civil penalties of up to $12,000 or a criminal fine of up to $20,000, as well as jail time.

Harassing or killing dolphins is a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, a federal law that protects seals, sea lions, dolphins, whales and other marine mammals.

www.animalsinthewild.org

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ

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