From:
[email protected]
SOURCE: Fund for Animals
Recent Victories for Animals: Keep this list for
inspiration!
* North Carolina grand jury handed down first ever
felony animal abuse indictment against pig farmers.
* The Smithsonian canceled plans for a foie gras
celebration due to pressure from many animal groups and celebrities.
* European government Farm Ministers signed an agreement
banning battery cages for hens (taking effect in 2012).
* President Clinton signed HR1887, barring the Internet
sale of "crush videos."
* New York passed a bill elevating intentional and
extreme animal cruelty to a felony offense.
* New Mexico, Maryland, Maine, Virginia and Nevada
enacted laws to allow courts to order psychological counseling for
animal abusers.
* Tennessee, Louisiana and North Carolina enacted
animal-friendly vehicle license plate programs to benefit spay/neuter
efforts.
* National Institutes of Health banned the use of mice
in monoclonal antibody production, saving the lives of up to one million
mice each year, and admitted that animals feel "pain, distress or
discomfort."
* Twenty-one chimps, formerly owned by the Air Force and
then awarded to the Coulston Foundation for research, will instead be
retired to a Florida sanctuary.
* Nationwide protests dramatically altered the
Environmental Protection Agency's HPV industrial chemical testing
program, reducing the number of animals used from 1.3 million to
500,000, saving the lives and torture of 800,000 animals.
* Colgate-Palmolive declared an "immediate and voluntary
moratorium on all animal testing of its personal care products designed
for adults and the ingredients used in those products." (Moderator's
Note: And P&G is working with PETA, DDAL & other AR Groups to
incorporate ICCVAM "Alternatives" wording into certain federal laws.)
* Mary Kay Cosmetics signed an agreement pledging not to
use animals to test its products or to buy ingredients from companies
that do, becoming the largest company to so pledge.
* The New Zealand Parliament banned the use of all great
apes in research, testing or teaching "unless such use is in the best
interests of the nonhuman hominid" or his/her species.
* The nation of Slovakia banned all cosmetic tests on
animals after a three-year campaign by Slovakian animal protection
groups.
* Pepsi withdrew its sponsorship of Mexican bullfighting
events and ordered all its signs removed from bullfighting arenas.
* Oregon passed the strongest law in the country banning
"canned hunts" of exotic mammals in any enclosed area, irrespective of
the size of the enclosure.
* The Hegins (Pennsylvania) pigeon shoot was permanently
canceled after a 15-year campaign by animal protection groups and a
ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
* Sears ended sponsorship of Ringling Bros. circus after
a disastrous year of animal-related incidents, including the death of
Kenny, a baby elephant.
* Redmond, Washington's City Council unanimously banned
exotic animal acts.
* Alexandria, Virginia's City Council voted to deny
permission for Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus to perform there (they
will now consider a complete ban on all circuses and animal acts).
* A Sacramento jury convicted two cockfighters of felony
animal cruelty, marking the first time the California cruelty to animal
statute was used to prosecute cockfighting promoters.
* Another Sacramento jury sentenced a pit bull trainer/dogfighting
promoter to seven years in prison, the longest dogfighting sentence ever
in the nation.
* Bunny the elephant, after 45 years of living in
solitary confinement in Indiana, and Sissy, the elephant, after public
airing of a videotape involving her beating at the El Paso Zoo, were
both transferred to an elephant sanctuary.
* The Arizona Fish and Game Commission voted 3-2 on the
side of animal protection advocates to ban the contest killing of
coyotes, prairie dogs and other wildlife. The ban was overturned by the
Governor's Regulatory Review Council but the Fish and Game Commission
voted 4-1 to resubmit the rule for consideration.
* Southwest Airlines removed Outdoor Life magazine from
its airplanes due to complaints from passengers about hunting articles.
* Hasbro and USAOPOLY agreed to stop manufacturing
"Iditarod Monopoly."
* France became the final member of the European Union
to ratify the Treaty of Amsterdam, recognizing animals as sentient
beings capable of feeling fear and pain, and of enjoying themselves when
well treated. (The EU must now "pay full regard to the welfare
requirements of animals" when formulating policies on agriculture,
transport, research and internal trade.)
* San Francisco and Boulder, Colorado adopted new
language referring to animal "guardians" rather than "owners," thus
recognizing companion animals as more than objects.
* Montgomery, New Jersey Township passed an ordinance
prohibiting electric prods at its annual benefit rodeo. Johnson &
Johnson, the top supporter of the rodeo, dropped its sponsorship. Coca
Cola has also dropped its sponsorship of rodeos and those who support
rodeos.
* Estes Park, Colorado voters passed a ballot initiative
banning the caging of animals for exhibition, thus defeating the
proposed "plexiglass zoo" and also prohibiting zoos and most circus
acts.
* Israel banned animal experiments in junior high and
high schools, including dissection, after animal rights advocates worked
for years and provided information to the Israeli Minister of Education.
* Harvard and Georgetown law schools began teaching
classes on animal law. The first Animal Law casebook was published.
* Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine became
the first veterinary school to eliminate dog labs.
* Congress substantially increased funding for
enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act.
* San Diego and Houston banned "pound seizure" (stopped
selling shelter animals to research laboratories).
* Major British supermarkets withdrew "exotic meat" from
their shelves.
* Meat alternatives became increasingly more popular and
more available at supermarkets and restaurants in the U.S. and
worldwide.
* Congress directed the National Institutes of Health in
its appropriations bill to stop using animals from random-source "B
dealers."
* Congress took the first ever vote on trapping with the
House of Representatives voting overwhelmingly to ban leghold traps in
National Wildlife Refuges; the Senate defeated the measure.
* The Queen's Speech in the British Parliament vowed to
abolish fur farms.
* The Food and Drug Administration approved Cenestin, a
plant-based estrogen replacement that can be used instead of Premarin
(the drug made from the urine of pregnant mares).
Thank you for each and every single thing you did
towards to help achieve these victories for animals. Every small action
we take becomes part of a larger breakthrough!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed
citizens can
change the world...indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!"
-- Margaret Mead
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