Program of June 28, 2009
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature author and roadrunner expert, Jim Cornett. In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will be speaking with Dr. Eric VanNice, a veterinarian specializing in animal dentistry and oral surgery. Also in the second half, Dr. Peter Borchelt will be available to answer your pet behavior questions.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
"Th-th-th-that's all folks!": Henry Cohen's Review of Steven M. Wise's New Book
These immortal words were spoken at the end of every Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated short movie cartoon. They were stuttered by “Porky Pig,” an overweight, cuddly, smiling, technicolor, blue-jacked, walking-talking “ham” who sometimes wore a blue beanie.
The Porky Pig cartoons were yet another example of the obscene disconnect between the fantasy and the reality—and the ability of literally countless humans to evade the knowledge that the Porky Pig they and their children love and laugh at in the fantasy world is in reality the bacon and Porky chops on their dinner plates. (One can imagine Jack and Harry Warner screening the latest Porky Pig cartoon—and adjourning for lunch at the studio commissary to dine on bacon, or perhaps Porky chops.)
ISAR hopes that disconnect will be ameliorated by the grotesque revelations in Mr. Wise’s new book, as reviewed by Henry Cohen, Esq. WARNING: Mr. Wise’s book, while sparing the reader from some of the most grisly aspects of how hogs are treated, nonetheless goes into heart-wrenching detail about how they are abused. Necessarily, Mr. Cohen’s review refers to some of that abuse. ISAR’s position is that the many abuses to which animals are subjected should be publicly exposed, no matter how painful that knowledge may be. Only through the truth can progress be made toward ameliorating, if not eliminating, those abuses. Neither we, nor our supporters should shrink from that truth.
An American Trilogy: Death, Slavery, and Dominion on the Banks of the Cape Fear River
By Steven M. Wise (Da Capo Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2009. 289 pages, $26.00).
Reviewed by Henry Cohen (Mr. Cohen is a lawyer with the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, and book review editor of The Federal Lawyer. The opinions expressed in this review are solely his own.)
The Porky Pig cartoons were yet another example of the obscene disconnect between the fantasy and the reality—and the ability of literally countless humans to evade the knowledge that the Porky Pig they and their children love and laugh at in the fantasy world is in reality the bacon and Porky chops on their dinner plates. (One can imagine Jack and Harry Warner screening the latest Porky Pig cartoon—and adjourning for lunch at the studio commissary to dine on bacon, or perhaps Porky chops.)
ISAR hopes that disconnect will be ameliorated by the grotesque revelations in Mr. Wise’s new book, as reviewed by Henry Cohen, Esq. WARNING: Mr. Wise’s book, while sparing the reader from some of the most grisly aspects of how hogs are treated, nonetheless goes into heart-wrenching detail about how they are abused. Necessarily, Mr. Cohen’s review refers to some of that abuse. ISAR’s position is that the many abuses to which animals are subjected should be publicly exposed, no matter how painful that knowledge may be. Only through the truth can progress be made toward ameliorating, if not eliminating, those abuses. Neither we, nor our supporters should shrink from that truth.
An American Trilogy: Death, Slavery, and Dominion on the Banks of the Cape Fear River
By Steven M. Wise (Da Capo Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2009. 289 pages, $26.00).
Reviewed by Henry Cohen (Mr. Cohen is a lawyer with the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, and book review editor of The Federal Lawyer. The opinions expressed in this review are solely his own.)
"You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Fate.”
One could hardly guess from the title of this book that at its heart is a powerful exposé of the pork industry, focusing on the horrors of hog farming in America today. The heart of this book, unfortunately, beats within a skeleton that is weak and disjointed, but no matter – the heart keeps the book very much alive.
The only allusion to the main subject of the book in its title or subtitle is the word “dominion,” as in the statement in Genesis that man shall have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the earth. Some religious believers use this statement to justify the use and abuse of animals by humans. But first I’ll explain the rest of the title, which lays out the skeleton of the book.
Steven M. Wise is an animal rights lawyer and the author of three previous books, two on animal rights and one on the end of slavery in England. Wise learned that a large hog-breeding factory (the word “farm” would not be appropriate) in Bladen County, NC, was on a site once inhabited by Native Americans and later by African-Americans. The Native Americans became victims of genocide, the African-Americans were enslaved, and the hogs are viewed as part of man’s dominion. The treatment of all three groups – Native Americans, slaves, and factory-farmed animals – constitutes an American trilogy of horror: hence the title of this book. Sensibly, Wise does not attempt to compare the evils inflicted upon these three groups, but, if you think it inappropriate even to mention the maltreatment of hogs in the same sentence as the maltreatment of Native Americans and African-Americans, then you haven’t read this book. What you will learn from it about hog farming will shock you.
Now, what is significant in the fact that Native Americans, slaves, and a hog factory all occupied the same site in North Carolina? Not much, in my view. Although linking the three may have seemed a good idea, Wise should have abandoned the notion when he saw how much better the heart of the book about the pork industry (chapters 5 through 9) was than the rest of the book. The rest of the book is interesting in parts, but it is a mishmash, covering, among other things, the history of Bladen County, including its slave and Indian populations; Indian attitudes toward animals (they killed animals, but respected them and believed that the animals gave themselves willingly to be killed and, in any case, would be resurrected – attitudes that, to some, are superior to the white man’s callousness, but, to me, still leave the animals dead); the history of the English translations of the Bible; historical Christian attitudes toward slavery (some Christians justified enslaving black people as the Curse of Ham); the spread of disease from the Old World to the New, and the view of Cotton Mather and others that God was killing off “those pernicious creatures” – Indians – to benefit the English; the breaking up of slave families when members of such families were sold; and disputes within today’s fundamentalist Christian community over the environment, as some of the younger members of that community have come to believe that a Christian can be pro-environment. A theme that runs through these non-hog chapters of the book is that Genesis has been a disaster for Native Americans, black slaves, and animals. But Wise does not consider the extent to which Genesis has caused these disasters, or has merely been used to justify them. (Admittedly, citing Genesis to justify an evil can cause more of the evil.) In any case, some of these sundry subjects make for dull reading, but, when Wise begins his exposé of the pork industry, An American Trilogy becomes impossible to put down. The exposé begins with a chapter titled “Wilbur.”
Wilbur is a pig, and Wise traces Wilbur’s genealogy, conception, birth, and life, from nursing, through castration without anesthesia, teeth clipping, tail cutting, ear notching (nine notches on each ear for identification purposes), weaning before he is old enough to be weaned, being jammed in a pen for six months with just three square feet of space, and, finally, at the end of those six months, his bloody slaughter. The pigs raised in these factories are not named, of course, and I do not believe that Wise knew of a particular pig named Wilbur (other than the Wilbur of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, who, unlike Wise’s Wilbur, was saved from being slaughtered). Rather, Wise apparently created Wilbur as an exemplar of the more than 100 million pigs raised and slaughtered in the United States every year. There is nothing dishonest in Wise’s creating Wilbur, however, because each of the more than 100 million pigs raised and slaughtered in the United States every year is an individual who could have a name. Pigs are at least as intelligent as dogs, and, despite their being treated as if they are unfeeling and interchangeable parts in an assembly line, each pig has a unique personality, according to people who know them.
Did I refer to Wilbur’s “conception” in the previous paragraph? Yes, Wise tells us about Wilbur’s parents and how they might have conceived him. Sows gestate for just under three months, and, on factory farms, they live in seven-foot-by-two-foot metal “gestation crates” while pregnant. Wilbur’s mother could scarcely move in the crate, because she weighed more than 400 pounds and stretched the length of the crate. When Wilbur was born, she had given birth eight times in the previous three and a half years, which means that she spent almost two of those years in a gestation crate. After each time she gave birth, she was not given freedom to move, but was transferred to a “farrowing crate” to nurse her piglets; it too was only seven feet long, but, to make room for the piglets, it was five feet wide instead of two. Unfortunately, by the eighth time she gave birth, Wilbur’s mother’s PPSY (the number of pigs produced per sow per litter each year) had decreased, so she had to be killed and replaced by a more profitable sow. I will spare you Wise’s description of how she was killed.
Wilbur’s mother was impregnated by artificial insemination, because that procedure is a more efficient means to ensure pregnancy than is the natural procedure. That means that 700-pound boars must be masturbated and their semen collected; every ten days is ideal. Wise quotes animal science professor Temple Grandin:
The only allusion to the main subject of the book in its title or subtitle is the word “dominion,” as in the statement in Genesis that man shall have dominion over every living thing that moves upon the earth. Some religious believers use this statement to justify the use and abuse of animals by humans. But first I’ll explain the rest of the title, which lays out the skeleton of the book.
Steven M. Wise is an animal rights lawyer and the author of three previous books, two on animal rights and one on the end of slavery in England. Wise learned that a large hog-breeding factory (the word “farm” would not be appropriate) in Bladen County, NC, was on a site once inhabited by Native Americans and later by African-Americans. The Native Americans became victims of genocide, the African-Americans were enslaved, and the hogs are viewed as part of man’s dominion. The treatment of all three groups – Native Americans, slaves, and factory-farmed animals – constitutes an American trilogy of horror: hence the title of this book. Sensibly, Wise does not attempt to compare the evils inflicted upon these three groups, but, if you think it inappropriate even to mention the maltreatment of hogs in the same sentence as the maltreatment of Native Americans and African-Americans, then you haven’t read this book. What you will learn from it about hog farming will shock you.
Now, what is significant in the fact that Native Americans, slaves, and a hog factory all occupied the same site in North Carolina? Not much, in my view. Although linking the three may have seemed a good idea, Wise should have abandoned the notion when he saw how much better the heart of the book about the pork industry (chapters 5 through 9) was than the rest of the book. The rest of the book is interesting in parts, but it is a mishmash, covering, among other things, the history of Bladen County, including its slave and Indian populations; Indian attitudes toward animals (they killed animals, but respected them and believed that the animals gave themselves willingly to be killed and, in any case, would be resurrected – attitudes that, to some, are superior to the white man’s callousness, but, to me, still leave the animals dead); the history of the English translations of the Bible; historical Christian attitudes toward slavery (some Christians justified enslaving black people as the Curse of Ham); the spread of disease from the Old World to the New, and the view of Cotton Mather and others that God was killing off “those pernicious creatures” – Indians – to benefit the English; the breaking up of slave families when members of such families were sold; and disputes within today’s fundamentalist Christian community over the environment, as some of the younger members of that community have come to believe that a Christian can be pro-environment. A theme that runs through these non-hog chapters of the book is that Genesis has been a disaster for Native Americans, black slaves, and animals. But Wise does not consider the extent to which Genesis has caused these disasters, or has merely been used to justify them. (Admittedly, citing Genesis to justify an evil can cause more of the evil.) In any case, some of these sundry subjects make for dull reading, but, when Wise begins his exposé of the pork industry, An American Trilogy becomes impossible to put down. The exposé begins with a chapter titled “Wilbur.”
Wilbur is a pig, and Wise traces Wilbur’s genealogy, conception, birth, and life, from nursing, through castration without anesthesia, teeth clipping, tail cutting, ear notching (nine notches on each ear for identification purposes), weaning before he is old enough to be weaned, being jammed in a pen for six months with just three square feet of space, and, finally, at the end of those six months, his bloody slaughter. The pigs raised in these factories are not named, of course, and I do not believe that Wise knew of a particular pig named Wilbur (other than the Wilbur of E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, who, unlike Wise’s Wilbur, was saved from being slaughtered). Rather, Wise apparently created Wilbur as an exemplar of the more than 100 million pigs raised and slaughtered in the United States every year. There is nothing dishonest in Wise’s creating Wilbur, however, because each of the more than 100 million pigs raised and slaughtered in the United States every year is an individual who could have a name. Pigs are at least as intelligent as dogs, and, despite their being treated as if they are unfeeling and interchangeable parts in an assembly line, each pig has a unique personality, according to people who know them.
Did I refer to Wilbur’s “conception” in the previous paragraph? Yes, Wise tells us about Wilbur’s parents and how they might have conceived him. Sows gestate for just under three months, and, on factory farms, they live in seven-foot-by-two-foot metal “gestation crates” while pregnant. Wilbur’s mother could scarcely move in the crate, because she weighed more than 400 pounds and stretched the length of the crate. When Wilbur was born, she had given birth eight times in the previous three and a half years, which means that she spent almost two of those years in a gestation crate. After each time she gave birth, she was not given freedom to move, but was transferred to a “farrowing crate” to nurse her piglets; it too was only seven feet long, but, to make room for the piglets, it was five feet wide instead of two. Unfortunately, by the eighth time she gave birth, Wilbur’s mother’s PPSY (the number of pigs produced per sow per litter each year) had decreased, so she had to be killed and replaced by a more profitable sow. I will spare you Wise’s description of how she was killed.
Wilbur’s mother was impregnated by artificial insemination, because that procedure is a more efficient means to ensure pregnancy than is the natural procedure. That means that 700-pound boars must be masturbated and their semen collected; every ten days is ideal. Wise quotes animal science professor Temple Grandin:
Each boar has his own little perversion the man had to do to get the boar turned on so he could collect the semen. Some of them were just things like the boar wanted to have his dandruff scratched while they were collecting him. ... The other things the man had to do were a lot more intimate. He might have to hold the boar's penis in exactly the right way that the boar liked, and he had to masturbate some of them in exactly the right way. There was one boar ... who wanted to have his butt hole played with. ...
Throughout An American Trilogy, Wise nicely mixes the horrors he reports with lighter passages such as this, as well as with interesting descriptions of his own research efforts. The pork industry is not eager to allow visitors (particularly animal rights lawyers) to witness their practices. Farm animals are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act or by state anti-cruelty laws, and Wise describes frustrated workers repeatedly beating and kicking animals, as well as smashing the heads of tiny piglets onto a cement floor (this is on tape).
Things are getting worse. Wise writes, “In the eight years following 1991, the number of hogs in North Carolina surged from 2.7 million to 10 million, [and] the number of factory hog farms jumped . . . .” Having been a vegetarian for more than 30 years (since soon after reading Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation when it was published in 1975), I have nearly given up hope in our species, and have come to feel that all I can do is to heed Ralph Waldo Emerson’s admonition with which I opened this review, and not be complicit. If Emerson were writing today, of course, he’d have to mention factory farms as well as slaughterhouses, because factory farms inflict a lifetime of torture on farm animals, and not merely an agonizing death. But I think that you get the idea.
Throughout An American Trilogy, Wise nicely mixes the horrors he reports with lighter passages such as this, as well as with interesting descriptions of his own research efforts. The pork industry is not eager to allow visitors (particularly animal rights lawyers) to witness their practices. Farm animals are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act or by state anti-cruelty laws, and Wise describes frustrated workers repeatedly beating and kicking animals, as well as smashing the heads of tiny piglets onto a cement floor (this is on tape).
Things are getting worse. Wise writes, “In the eight years following 1991, the number of hogs in North Carolina surged from 2.7 million to 10 million, [and] the number of factory hog farms jumped . . . .” Having been a vegetarian for more than 30 years (since soon after reading Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation when it was published in 1975), I have nearly given up hope in our species, and have come to feel that all I can do is to heed Ralph Waldo Emerson’s admonition with which I opened this review, and not be complicit. If Emerson were writing today, of course, he’d have to mention factory farms as well as slaughterhouses, because factory farms inflict a lifetime of torture on farm animals, and not merely an agonizing death. But I think that you get the idea.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
"Animals Today" Announcement
Program of June 21, 2009
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature Laura Allen, Executive Director of Animal Law Coalition, to discuss Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal to reduce mandatory holding time in California animal shelters to save money. Also during the first segment, Dr. Lori will discuss Australia's important animal welfare issues with Wendy Lake from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital. In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will be speaking with Stacey Konwiser from The Living Desert in Palm Desert.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature Laura Allen, Executive Director of Animal Law Coalition, to discuss Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal to reduce mandatory holding time in California animal shelters to save money. Also during the first segment, Dr. Lori will discuss Australia's important animal welfare issues with Wendy Lake from the Lort Smith Animal Hospital. In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will be speaking with Stacey Konwiser from The Living Desert in Palm Desert.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
ISAR's Amicus Curiae Brief Has Been Filed In The Supreme Court
After weeks of legal and other research by ISAR's chairman, Professor Henry Mark Holzer, and Lance Gotko, Esq., of the New York law firm Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman, ISAR's friend-of-the-court brief in United States v. Stevens has been filed in the Supreme Court of the United States.
The Supreme Court agreed to review the Stevens case because a lower federal appeals court held unconstitutional the federal statute criminalizing the making, selling or possessing depictions of "crush videos" and other torture and killing of animals.
ISAR's brief is in support of the government and argues, in effect, that the statute is constitutional.
Our amicus curiae brief is now available at http://isaronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/US_v_Stevens.pdf
A brief suggestion to those interested in reading the brief . . . . . . . . . . . .
The basic issue presented to the Supreme Court by the Stevens case is whether the federal statute is constitutional.
For non-lawyers, and even for some unfamiliar with constitutional law and the task of the Supreme Court, portions of ISAR's brief may be difficult to understand completely. We have two suggestions.
First, read the brief in this order: Summary of Argument (pages 2-3); Introduction (pages 3-7); Point III (pages 16-26); Point IV (pages 26-34); Conclusion (pages 34-36); Point I (pages 7-12); Point II (pages 12-16); Interest of Amicus Curiae (unnumbered page 1).
Second, ask a lawyer of your acquaintance to explain the more technical legal aspects. ISAR is proud of our "friend-of-the-court" brief and the statement it makes in behalf of animal rights. We have gone to court for the animals before and, only if we have your financial support can we continue to do so.
The Supreme Court agreed to review the Stevens case because a lower federal appeals court held unconstitutional the federal statute criminalizing the making, selling or possessing depictions of "crush videos" and other torture and killing of animals.
ISAR's brief is in support of the government and argues, in effect, that the statute is constitutional.
Our amicus curiae brief is now available at http://isaronline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/US_v_Stevens.pdf
A brief suggestion to those interested in reading the brief . . . . . . . . . . . .
The basic issue presented to the Supreme Court by the Stevens case is whether the federal statute is constitutional.
For non-lawyers, and even for some unfamiliar with constitutional law and the task of the Supreme Court, portions of ISAR's brief may be difficult to understand completely. We have two suggestions.
First, read the brief in this order: Summary of Argument (pages 2-3); Introduction (pages 3-7); Point III (pages 16-26); Point IV (pages 26-34); Conclusion (pages 34-36); Point I (pages 7-12); Point II (pages 12-16); Interest of Amicus Curiae (unnumbered page 1).
Second, ask a lawyer of your acquaintance to explain the more technical legal aspects. ISAR is proud of our "friend-of-the-court" brief and the statement it makes in behalf of animal rights. We have gone to court for the animals before and, only if we have your financial support can we continue to do so.
Friday, June 12, 2009
"Animals Today" Announcement
Program of June 14, 2009
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature Dr. Joel Griffies, specialist in animal dermatology and co-owner of the Animal Dermatology Clinics located in the states of CA, GA and KY will be focusing on common skin ailments in pets. In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will be speaking with Tim Racer, co-founder and vice president of BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls). Also joining the show will be aviation expert Richard Dolbeer to update listeners on new developments concerning airplanes and birdstrikes, and what many airports are failing to do about the issues.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature Dr. Joel Griffies, specialist in animal dermatology and co-owner of the Animal Dermatology Clinics located in the states of CA, GA and KY will be focusing on common skin ailments in pets. In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will be speaking with Tim Racer, co-founder and vice president of BAD RAP (Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls). Also joining the show will be aviation expert Richard Dolbeer to update listeners on new developments concerning airplanes and birdstrikes, and what many airports are failing to do about the issues.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
ISAR Hits A Nerve
Corrected Version
As ISAR supporters (and by now countless others in the animal protection movement) know, our Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute has attracted considerable attention because of its unapologetic restrictions on breeding. Comes now a May 15, 2009 column—Reflections, by Frank L. Martin III, in the Missouri West Plains Daily Quill—in which the author does us a great service. After quoting at length the breeder-restrictions in our model statute, Mr. Martin regurgitates the tired and indefensible false alternative of “since when do animal ‘rights’ prevail over human rights?” As our supporters know, recognizing the one is not to denigrate the other, animal protection can comfortably coexist with human rights and, as even Mr. Martin recognizes, putting “puppy mills out of business” is a “laudable goal.” His mistake is in not understanding that while puppy mills are the worst example of breeders, there are others who contribute to the overpopulation of companion animals—and that ISAR’s Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute seeks not to put them out of business but merely to slow down their production, and thus feed fewer of them into the pipeline of death. (ISAR’s thanks to John Rothgeb, whose letter-to-the-editor observes that our Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute aims to eliminate “abusive breeding.”)
As ISAR supporters (and by now countless others in the animal protection movement) know, our Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute has attracted considerable attention because of its unapologetic restrictions on breeding. Comes now a May 15, 2009 column—Reflections, by Frank L. Martin III, in the Missouri West Plains Daily Quill—in which the author does us a great service. After quoting at length the breeder-restrictions in our model statute, Mr. Martin regurgitates the tired and indefensible false alternative of “since when do animal ‘rights’ prevail over human rights?” As our supporters know, recognizing the one is not to denigrate the other, animal protection can comfortably coexist with human rights and, as even Mr. Martin recognizes, putting “puppy mills out of business” is a “laudable goal.” His mistake is in not understanding that while puppy mills are the worst example of breeders, there are others who contribute to the overpopulation of companion animals—and that ISAR’s Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute seeks not to put them out of business but merely to slow down their production, and thus feed fewer of them into the pipeline of death. (ISAR’s thanks to John Rothgeb, whose letter-to-the-editor observes that our Model Mandatory Spay/Neuter Statute aims to eliminate “abusive breeding.”)
Friday, June 5, 2009
"Animals Today" Announcement
Program of June 7, 2009
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature attorney Laura Allen, Executive Director of Animal Law Coalition to discuss canine devocalization otherwise known as "debarking." In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will discuss common eye ailments in pets with Veterinary Ophthalmologist Dr. Allison Hoffman. Pet behaviorist Dr. Peter Borchelt will also be available to answer your questions about peculiar pet behavior.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
This Sunday's 2:00-3:00 PM Pacific Daylight Savings Time segment will feature attorney Laura Allen, Executive Director of Animal Law Coalition to discuss canine devocalization otherwise known as "debarking." In the broadcast's second hour, Dr. Kirshner will discuss common eye ailments in pets with Veterinary Ophthalmologist Dr. Allison Hoffman. Pet behaviorist Dr. Peter Borchelt will also be available to answer your questions about peculiar pet behavior.
For more information on how you can participate in the ISAR-sponsored "Animals Today" radio show, please visit our blog ISAR and "Animals Today" Radio Show.
In case you have missed any of the "Animals Today" radio shows, previous broadcasts are now archived at the show's website: http://www.animalstodayradio.com/. At the top of the page, the link "Click here to listen" will take you to a new screen showing the dates and guests of previous shows. Click on the links to listen to a particular show.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
ISAR Amicus Curiae Brief in U.S. v. Stevens
ISAR's chairman, Professor Henry Mark Holzer, together with attorney Lance Gotko of the New York City law firm Friedman Kaplan Siler & Adelman, have just completed ISAR's friend-of-the-court brief in United States v. Stevens -- the case in which a lower federal appeals court held unconstitutional the federal statute criminalizing the making, selling or possessing depictions of "crush videos" and other torture and killing of animals. ISAR's brief, in support of the United States government, will be filed next week in the Supreme Court of the United States.
On behalf of ISAR and its many supporters throughout the United States and abroad, ISAR is most grateful to Mr. Gotko for his efforts. ISAR is equally grateful to Friedman Kaplan Siler & Adelman for providing Mr. Gotko's services (and that of his associate, Andrew Park) on a pro bono basis, as well as for absorbing the costs (e.g., copying, clerical, printing) associated with preparation and submission of the brief.
When the brief is filed with the Supreme Court, it will be available in pdf on ISAR's website.
Those persons and organizations wishing to receive notice of the brief's posting and have not already registered to ISAR's E-Newsletter "brief updates" file should simply register on our website by typing in the "comments" box "Please notify about brief."
On behalf of ISAR and its many supporters throughout the United States and abroad, ISAR is most grateful to Mr. Gotko for his efforts. ISAR is equally grateful to Friedman Kaplan Siler & Adelman for providing Mr. Gotko's services (and that of his associate, Andrew Park) on a pro bono basis, as well as for absorbing the costs (e.g., copying, clerical, printing) associated with preparation and submission of the brief.
When the brief is filed with the Supreme Court, it will be available in pdf on ISAR's website.
Those persons and organizations wishing to receive notice of the brief's posting and have not already registered to ISAR's E-Newsletter "brief updates" file should simply register on our website by typing in the "comments" box "Please notify about brief."
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