SUPPORT ANTI-DEVOCALIZATION LEGISLATION

HOW YOU CAN HELP ANIMALS!

SUPPORT ANTI-DEVOCALIZATION LEGISLATION

As ISAR's supporters know, one of our major programs is STOP DEVOCALIZATION NOW.

New York activists have once again tried to stop the barbaric, almost always unjustifiable medical procedure.

They need all the help they can get, especially in the face of predictable opposition by the American Kennel Club.

The relevant public information follows..........

Wed, Jan 29th 2014 10:55 pm

Assemblyman John Ceretto co-sponsored and passed legislation to ban "convenience" animal devocalization in New York. The procedure poses significant and unnecessary health risks to healthy animals and is done simply to silence more boisterous animals. Ceretto considers this an inhumane procedure to perform on a healthy animal.

"I was happy to help sponsor and pass this humane legislation for our four-legged friends," he said. "Removing the vocal chords of a loud animal is an extreme, Byzantine solution that should not be allowed in New York.

We love our dogs like family, and there are better solutions to stop dogs from barking, such as professional training. We don't remove our kids' vocal chords when they start talking back, and we shouldn't devocalize animals that bark too much."

Exceptions are made for situations where the procedure is necessary for treatment of an illness, disease or injury.

The legislation will now be sent to the Senate and, if passed, it will then go to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk to be signed into law.

No surprise that the AKC promptly informed its supporters to lobby the New York Senate to kill the bill or vote it down.

DO NOT SANCTION THE EXISTENCE OF ZOOS (PART II)

HOW YOU CAN HELP ANIMALS!

DO NOT SANCTION THE EXISTENCE OF ZOOS (PART II)

In International Society for Animal Rights' January 15, 2014 How You Can Help Animals blog -- entitled "Do Not Sanction The Existence Of Zoos" -- we made the case that "zoos are an abomination, and should not be supported by individuals, taxpayers, organizations or anyone else."

Among our stated reasons was that "zoos are an immoral enterprise because they exploit and abuse living creatures for the entertainment of the crowd."

Even ISAR didn't contemplate the "bread and circuses" savagery that just occurred at the Copenhagen zoo. The closing lines in our blog of January 15, 2014 were these: "It is in the name of moral principle that zoos should be abolished, for the benefit of the captive 'living trophies'. If one wants to help animals, this way is among the easiest: Boycott zoos, and tell everyone you know to do the same. And tell them why."

To which we now add: And tell them about the Copenhagen zoo, whose name will now forever live in infamy.

Why "savagery"? Why "bread and circuses"?

Here's what the renowned Born Free Foundation has had to say:

Born Free Statement on Copenhagen Zoo

9 February 2014

In the wake of the unnecessary and much-publicised euthanasia of a healthy 18 month-old giraffe named Marius, the Born Free Foundation is calling for an immediate change in European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) policies regarding euthanasia of animals in zoos. Born Free believes that euthanasia should only be employed to prevent suffering of an individual animal and all other options have been exhausted.

Will Travers OBE, President of the Born Free Foundation [upon whose life the movie Born Free was based] said: "Born Free, and the majority of the right-thinking world, is appalled at the killing of Marius the giraffe. The slaughter of healthy animals by zoos must stop."

The unnecessary slaughter of Marius by a captive bolt gun at Copenhagen Zoo, Denmark, has sent shockwaves across the world, and exposed the grim reality of zoos, says the Born Free Foundation. The Zoo apparently took the decision to kill Marius after determining that he was closely related to the other giraffes in European zoos and therefore of no value to their breeding programme. The killing of Marius occurred at the same time that Longleat Safari Park in Warminster, UK had decided to kill six of their lions - one on welfare grounds as a result of injuries from a fight in their enclosure; and five others due to suspected neurological problems from inbreeding.

Travers added: "Zoos claim that their breeding programmes are contributing to conservation - I say: show me the evidence. If keeping and breeding threatened species are priority for zoos, why then do they keep mostly common species?" Research by the Born Free Foundation has shown that the majority of species kept in zoos are not threatened with extinction in the wild.

Virginia McKenna OBE, Founder of the Born Free Foundation [and lead actress in the movie Born Free] said: "I am appalled by the decision to kill this poor, healthy young giraffe. This is an outrage that highlights the urgent need to look more closely at all zoos and the welfare of animals forced to survive in zoo enclosures. Now is the time for people throughout Europe to demand that no more captive wild animals suffer the same tragic fate."

The Born Free Foundation is calling for an immediate review and amendment to EAZA euthanasia policies, to ensure healthy animals who can be relocated are not killed, and for increased transparency in zoos across Europe, with accurate recording and publication of the numbers of healthy animals that are destroyed in each licensed zoo in the region.

Furthermore, Born Free is calling for a meeting with the Government Minister responsible for zoos, at which they intend to ask him to implement an urgent review of breeding and euthanasia practices in zoos in the UK.

Actually, the savage act done at the Copenhagen zoo is even worse than Will Travers' has said. There have been reports that Marius was euthanized outdoors in full view of a public, including children, apparently eager to watch. Zoo officials performed the autopsy in public, and then fed Marius' remains to some of the zoo's carnivores. For additional details see "The death of Marius the giraffe," "Zoo Kills 'Unwanted' Giraffe Marius, Feeds Carcass to Lions."

What was Marius' crime?

The answer suggests an obscene irony.

"His genes are already well represented at the zoo," said a spokesperson for the Copenhagen zoo.

In other words, Marius was a giraffe untermensch (according to Wikipedia, "German for under man, sub-man, sub-human . . . ." Marius the giraffe was a sub-animal . . . unwanted . . . surplus. He was slaughtered because his genes were useless to the humans who imprisoned him.

This from Danish zookeepers whose country long ago courageously refused to allow human genes to determine who lived and who died.