2004 Animal Cruelty/Human Violen

2004 Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week

Movie Director Canada's Seal Hunt Traumatizing Images Inspired "Free to a Good Home"
04/07/2005
New Age Media Concepts - USA

VENICE, CALIFORNIA, (NAMC) – Venice Filmmaker, Judy Crozier, director of "FREE to a Good Home," a new feature film about abandoned animals, discusses what inspired her start on a five year journey of indie filmmaking of Animal Rescue Movie.

Says Crozier, "One of the most impressionable images was of the Baby Seals being traumatically clubbed to death. I remember crying myself to sleep. The image of a woman rescuer trying to save two but having to stand within a certain range of the seal was too far to cover the two seals near her, lost them both when those dreadful clubbers came at her from both sides, she ran to one and lost the other and the second she turned to go back, they killed had them both. How it is that we have gone back in time instead of forward?"

"A person has to be affected by seeing that. How screwed up are we as a world when we do not learn from the past?"

Crozier continues, "And the way these seals are clubbed is the most inhumane way to die."

300,000 baby harp seals, as young as 12-14 weeks are estimated to killed by May. "We drop our "pets" off at shelters to be killed when they are old, sick or misbehaving, should this behavior really shock us?"

"But people do listen when money talks, boycott Canadian seafood."
Several organizations have coordinated a boycott, for further information see: http://www.hsus.org or http://www.protectseals.org (web sites of the Humane society of the United States)

For further information about adopting pets, please go to http://www.freetoagoodhomemovie.com. Crozier provides guidelines about adopting animals and links to animal welfare sites.

SENATE RESOLUTION DENOUNCES VIOLENT HUNTING AND SLAUGHTER OF DOLPHINS AND SMALL WHALES

WASHINGTON, DC (April 7, 2005) – Condemning the hunting of dolphins and small whales for slaughter as meat and fertilizer or for eventual sale to theme parks and aquaria, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-
NJ) today introduced a senate resolution, S.RES.99, to help end the practice known as "drive hunts" and urged participating countries to stop the brutal treatment of these animals.

Drive hunts are run by fishers who use scare tactics to herd, chase, and corral the animals into shallow waters where they are trapped and then killed or hauled off live to be sold into captivity. The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society oppose all killing of marine mammals in commercial hunts.

"The inhumane slaughter of these animals is utterly senseless and it must be stopped," Sen. Lautenberg said. "The over-exploitation of these highly social and intelligent animals for decades has resulted in the serious decline, and in some cases, the commercial extinction of these species."

Today's resolution also calls on the United States government to take affirmative steps to expand the purview of the International Whaling Commission to allow it to protect dolphins and small whales, referred to as small cetaceans, as part of its mandate and to make full use of all appropriate diplomatic mechanisms and laws, including trade measures, to put an end to the drive hunts in Japan and other countries.

The cruelty endured by dolphins and whales caught in drive hunts is immense. Aboard motorized boats, drive hunt fishers loudly bang metal pipes over the side of their boats to disorient the animals and drive them toward shore where they are trapped by nets and stabbed with long knives, usually just behind the blowhole or across the throat.

Many of the animals eventually die from blood loss and hemorrhagic shock or their spinal cord is severed. Fishers sometimes use cranes to haul them out of the water by their tails, often while still alive, to transport them to a nearby slaughterhouse where they are butchered away from public view.

"Senator Lautenberg is to be applauded for taking the important step of introducing this resolution to protect the animals from the brutal treatment of drive hunts," said Kitty Block, director of treaty law, oceans and wildlife protection for The Humane Society International, the international arm of The HSUS. "We will continue our efforts to expose this cruelty and educate the public to put an end to this inhumane practice."

Fishers have killed small cetaceans along the coastlines of Japan for centuries with no regard for the humaneness or sustainability of the hunt. Currently, up to 20,000 small cetaceans of several species are killed in Japanese drive and harpoon hunts each year. In the last two decades, more than 400,000 have been slaughtered in Japan alone.

Today, some dolphins caught during Japanese drive hunts are kept alive and set aside for sale to theme parks and aquaria, fetching tens of thousands of dollars each. The high pay off by theme park officials for these animals provides fishers with motivation and justification to continue the drives.

"If marine park patrons knew the brutality and misery suffered by these magnificent animals who appear `happy' as they jump through hoops and perform other tricks for the audience, most would undoubtedly be horrified," said Dr. Naomi A. Rose, marine mammal scientist for The HSUS. "The fact that facilities purporting to be caretakers of marine mammals also subsidize slaughters of those same species must be publicized worldwide."

"Procurement of animals for entertainment through these grisly drive hunts is not only a violation of the code of ethics of many of these facilities, it is a violation of the public trust on the grounds of conservation and animal welfare," said Courtney S. Vail, U.S.
representative for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

The gruesome conduct of drive hunts was first caught on film in the 1980s by Hardy Jones, executive director of Blue Voice (bluevoice.org), an organization that works to end the killing of dolphins and whales. Today, Jones continues to document this and other marine atrocities, and his work in the field has been a major impetus in bringing the issue to the current legislative table.

The HSUS is the nation's largest animal protection organization with nearly nine million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animals and sustainable agriculture.
The HSUS protects all animals through education, advocacy, litigation, investigation, legislation and fieldwork. The non-profit organization is based in Washington, DC and has regional offices across the country. On the Web at www.hsus.org.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is the global voice for the protection of whales, dolphins and their environment. WDCS aims to reduce and ultimately eliminate continuing threats to cetaceans and their habitats through campaigns, field projects, scientific research, educational outreach and legal advocacy. The charity was established in 1987 and now has supporters worldwide and offices in the U.S., the U.K., Argentina, Australia and Germany. On the web at wcds.org.

With disturbing headlines about domestic violence so often in the news, it's not difficult to understand the damaging situations victims of family violence frequently face.

What people may not realize, however, is that pets in these homes are often hurt, too. Animals in these situations may be silent victims, who may be threatened, injured or killed by a violent family member to control or intimidate other members of the household. And just like other family members, animals need a place to be safe.

To bring more attention to the connection between animal cruelty and domestic violence, The HSUS has chosen the theme "Animal Cruelty IS Family Violence" for the 2004 Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week, April 18–24, 2004.

During the week, The HSUS will highlight the importance of Safe Haven for Animals™ programs, which involve collaborative relationships between domestic violence shelters, animal shelters, and care and control agencies to provide temporary housing for victims' pets. We've also launched an online directory of such programs and will introduce a new booklet to assist animal care professionals, domestic violence advocates, and veterinary professionals in creating these life-saving programs.

The week will also see the debut of a poster emphasizing the importance of providing a safe place for companion animals who live in homes where family violence is present. The HSUS will be promoting the poster to animal shelters, domestic violence shelters, and other social service agencies nationwide.

Among other awareness efforts, The HSUS will also release its 2003 Report of Animal Cruelty Cases and the results of a recent survey of several of the largest domestic violence shelters around the country.

Three national domestic violence advocacy organizations—National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Family Violence Prevention Fund; and Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network—have teamed with The HSUS to promote the Awareness Week to their members.

The 2003 Report of Animal Cruelty Cases, Safe Haven for Animals online database, and booklet will be available on this website beginning April 18, 2004. Animal care and human services professionals who would like to receive a free poster and/or First Strike information kit can e-mail The HSUS at firststrike@hsus.org. Please include your mailing address. You can also call First Strike toll free at 1-888-213-0956.

	Get 2004 Awareness Week Materials
	How to Help Promote Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week
	Safe Havens for Animals™

For those who may not know about them, there is a fantastic group of legal professionals who have gotten together to form Georgia Legal Professionals for Animals. One thing they are doing is holding seminars for law enforcement officials (animal control officers, cops, DAs, solicitors, etc) and showing them how to successfully prosecute animal cruelty cases. I have called on them many times for help and when the starvation cases were discovered in Clayton County I could not believe that intentionally starving an animal was a misdemeanor - but they reviewed the law and sure enough it was specified that starving an animal can ONLY be prosecuted as a misdemeanor. I'm hoping we can get enough people caring about this to put some real bite into the law and GLPA has indicated that they are interested in doing that too.

GLPA is having it's first seminar tomorrow and it might be too late to sign up for it but here's the contact info for anyone interested in finding out more about GLPA, possibly going to the seminar tomorrow, or maybe the next one. One thing they will cover in the seminar is that the cops do NOT have to actually witness a dog fight for an arrest to be made and for the case to be sucessfully prosecuted.

http://georgialpa.org/

State Bar Seminar
Animal Cruelty - Investigations and Prosecutions
Date:
Friday, April 23, 2004

Location:
Sheraton Colony Square Hotel
Peachtree & 14th Streets
Atlanta, GA
(404) 892-6000

Credits:
6 CLE Hours including 3 Trial Practice Hours Veterinarians will receive 6 Continuing Education hours Police/Peace Offi cers will receive 6 Continuing Education hours

27 Page Booklet on How to Prosecute Animal Cruelty:

http://georgialpa.org/download/GLPA_booklet.pdf

What You Can Do about Web Sites that Promote Animal Cruelty

The Humane Society of the United States frequently receives correspondence from individuals concerned about sites on the Internet that celebrate and encourage the exploitation of animals. In many cases, what appears to be illegal activity is actually protected under the law as free speech.

If you see a web site that promotes or glorifies animal cruelty or exploitation, take these steps:

1. Do not contact the person running the site. In many cases, creators of offensive web sites are encouraged by the negative attention they receive in response to their site. For this reason, we discourage people from e-mailing or otherwise contacting the individuals who run offensive web sites.

2. Contact the Internet Service Provider (ISP) hosting the site. In response to complaints they receive from concerned visitors, ISPs have in many cases removed sites because they determined that the sites' content violated the ISP's User's Agreement. Click here to find the ISP for a site that ends in .com, .net, or .org. Click here to find the ISP for a site in an international domain (such as .uk or .ch).

3. Resist spreading the word. If you have concerns about a web site, contact your elected officials. Please do not contact friends and neighbors. Many well-intentioned individuals believe that the best course of action is to tell all of their friends and relatives about such web sites. Sometimes online petitions against a site will be generated. Ultimately, such petitions or mass emails only increase the number of visitors to a web site, encouraging the site's creator.

The HSUS shares your concern and frustration over the content of sites that promote animal suffering or otherwise glorify the exploitation of animals. The HSUS consistently works to increase public awareness of many animal exploitative issues, including those encouraged by offensive web sites. Thanks for your concern and active participation in monitoring potentially harmful sites.