Kinship Circle: Which Candidates Speak For Animals?
By Kelly
Obama on links between animal cruelty and violence in society: “I’ve repeatedly voted to increase penalties for animal cruelty and violence and, importantly, to require psychological counseling for those who engage in this behavior… …
easyVegan.info - http://www.easyvegan.info
This link sends you to a page which provides you a list of companies that do not test their products on animals > See List .
AAVS recently assumed responsibility over leading the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), which manages the Leaping Bunny Program. Formed in 1996 by AAVS and six other animal advocacy organizations, the CCIC works with companies to verify the elimination of all new animal testing from their products and promote the use of an international ‘leaping bunny’ product logo that is easily recognizable for consumers seeking trust-worthy, animal-friendly products.
AAVS only lists companies that have joined the Leaping Bunny Program in its Compassionate Shopping Guide, giving consumers confidence in the cruelty-free products they are buying. Request a free Guide! Or view and print our pocket-sized Compassionate Shopping Guide in Acrobat PDF format:
Product Testing on Animals
Every year, millions of animals, mostly rabbits, mice, and rats, are subject to tests that assess the safety of personal care and household products. However, there is no law that specifically requires that animals be used as human models to test personal care products such as soap, cosmetics, or deodorant and household products such as floor cleaner or laundry detergent, and neither the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the Consumer Product Safety Commission require companies to use animal tests to prove that their ingredients and finished products are safe. Furthermore, reactions to the exposure of these products vary among species, making it difficult to extract data from animal tests and apply them to situations in which humans are exposed.
Additionally, there is no ethical justification for the use of animals in testing the effects of personal care and household items. The Draize eye irritancy test, for example, subjects animals, usually rabbits, to procedures where they are restrained and a test substance is placed into one of each animals’ eyes, with the opposite eye serving as the control. During the experiment, little veterinary care is given and the use of topical anesthetics is rare. The animals¹ eyes are evaluated for up to three weeks to gauge ocular changes, including damage to their eyelids, conjunctiva, iris, and cornea, and the animals are likely killed upon completion of the experiment. Other toxicity tests include the Draize skin irritancy test, which is similar to the Draize eye test, only done on shaved skin, and acute toxicity tests, also called the LD50 and LD100, which involve the poisoning of animals until half or all the test subjects die. While consumers do deserve safe products, animal tests such as these have never been subjected to rigorous scientific testing to assess their ability to predict human safety yet are readily accepted, having never been validated.
Be confident about your cruelty-free choices.
Look for the leaping bunny logo!
Although it has been over 30 years since an amendment to the federal Animal Welfare Act imposed minimum standards on wholesale breeders, the fact remains that life is still brutal in the mills, whose operators often refer to themselves with the much less threatening title of “dog farmers.â€
Numerous eyewitness accounts from puppy mill raids describe animals being fed maggot-infested food and confined to chicken coops filled with their own excrement. The pups, who virtually all suffer from various skin infections and open sores, receive very primitive or most often no veterinary care. Kennel cough, diarrhea, parasites, and chronic ear infections are routine.
Private animal rights investigator, Jamie Reno was recently hired to report her findings of one puppy mill in Kansas. She says, “I’ve seen so many things, from bleeding paws to absolutely filthy dogs, especially the popular breeds with longer hair, like Pomeranians and Yorkies and so forth. But the most disturbing thing for me is the behavior of the dogs. They don’t behave like your dog or my dog. They are wary of humans. They want to reach out and want your attention, but they’re afraid of you at the same time. There’s the endless circling in cages, which indicates that the dog is not well adjusted. It’s the consequence of living in a small cage his whole life.â€
Moreover, the puppies have not been socialized and tend to act in other disturbing and aggressive ways, making them poor companion animals and uncharacteristically poor pets. They are touted as purebred, but their lineage is often haphazardly inbred, resulting in eye and heart abnormalities, hip dysplasia, and other genetically linked health problems.
Life is undoubtedly miserable for the puppies but, incredibly, is still worse for their mothers. “They are kept in tiny cages their entire lives and receive no care and are inadequately nourished,†says Doug Hanbicki, a companion animal specialist for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The dogs are bred during their first heat and continually for every six months thereafter until their reproductive capacity drops at the age of four or five usually because their reproductive organs have been virtually ripped out from being overworked; then they are mercilessly killed, asserts Hanbicki and others working for the reform of animal abuse. …read more of the article by Amanda Burke
Source:Â Puppy Mills by By Amanda Burke
The Humane Society hopes to get a bill introduced in Virginia that would limit the number of puppies bred and sold by breeders each year. “It wouldn’t stop people from breeding dogs or selling puppies,” Markarian said. “But there would be some cap that would say you just can’t turn this into a factory farm.” ...Read more .
Ways You Can Help the Animals
(Source: The Humane Society of Canada)
* If you decide to add a pet to your family, adopt a dog or cat from an animal shelter. Don’t buy a pet from a pet store or a breeder. Always microchip and keep ID tags on your pets; both are a lost pet’s ticket home.
* Don’t wear fur in any form: fur coats, fur hats, or fur-lined gloves, boots or jackets. Don’t buy fur novelty items, such as mink teddy bears. By wearing or buying fur, you are promoting the ruthless slaughter of furry animals.
* Do your part to help the pet overpopulation problem. Spay or neuter your pets. Encourage other pet owners to spay or neuter their pets, too.
* Spread the word. Write messages on your checks, such as “Stop pet overpopulation-spay/neuter your pet.” Take advantage of opportunities to speak at schools, churches, and at other public forums about how we all can help animals.
* Avoid forms of “entertainment” such as rodeos, horse races, dog races, circuses, roadside zoos, animal pulls, and travelling shows in which animals are abused. Also avoid films and television programs whose production caused animals to suffer.
* Report animal abuse to your local animal shelter, animal control department, humane society or SPCA. You will be helping animals, and you may be helping people. Studies show that in a home in which animals are being abused, children may be suffering from abuse as well.
* Buy cosmetics and personal care products that are not tested on animals. Use cruelty-free household cleaners, or make your own cleaners from natural products.
* Donate your time to help animals. Volunteer at a local animal shelter or humane society. Work to pass legislation that protects animals.
* In consultation with your doctor or nutritionist, reduce the amount of meat in your diet, and if you can eliminate it altogether.
From tattooed wild woman to humanitarian heroine — what a difference a few years has made for Angelina Jolie, who topped a Reuters poll released on Thursday of the best celebrity humanitarians of 2007.
Hollywood star Jolie commanded the greatest public respect of all celebrity public do-gooders this year due to her work as a U.N. goodwill ambassador and as the adoptive mother tried to raise awareness of suffering in Africa. Read more here …
Source: Yahoo News
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