World-News

The U.S. Forest Service is planning to withdraw proposed protections for crucial grizzly bear habitat in the Cabinet-Yaak wildlands of northwestern Montana.

We need your immediate action to fight this proposal, which jeopardizes the future of North America's most endangered grizzly population.

Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/takeaction.asp and urge the Forest Service to help save the 20 or so grizzlies that survive in the Cabinet-Yaak wildlands, part of our Yellowstone/Greater Rockies BioGem, by restoring its plan to protect key habitat areas.

The lush valley bottom and rugged alpine slopes of this region provide a vital ecological link between endangered grizzlies in Yellowstone and more robust bear populations in Canada. This untouched stretch of the Kootenai National Forest also provides expansive ranges and rich food sources for wolves, bighorn sheep, elk and trout.

With proposals looming to expand mining, logging and roadbuilding in this region, it is more important than ever that the Forest Service abide by a congressional mandate requiring it to recommend appropriate lands for wilderness designation.

Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/takeaction.asp
and urge the Forest Service to help protect the last grizzlies of the Cabinet- Yaak and revise its Kootenai Forest management plan to include life-saving habitat protections.

Thank you for all your efforts to help save endangered grizzlies in the lower 48 states.


Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President Natural Resources Defense Council

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Scientists Oppose Grizzly "Delisting" Plan

More than 250 scientists and researchers have signed a letter protesting a federal proposal to no longer protect grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area under the Endangered Species Act.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/032106EC.shtml



http://freepage.twoday.net/search?q=grizzly

You have received a message from Eleanor:

Original Message:

PLEASE VOTE FOR THE SEALS, THANK YOU, Ria.

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm

Should the seal hunt be banned in the Gulf? · Yes (81%)· No (19%)

You have received a message from Eleanor:

Original Message:

From my friend Kym. There is going to be panic killing of cats - let's try to save as many as we can! Demand vaccination programmes ASAP - Whatever it takes. Love and hugs,

Jessie


Original Message:

Do sign this petition to protect cats from precautionary slaughter and hunting in the Avian Flu affected areas of Europe! It's been shown that cats can be infected by the AI as well, and they need to be protected; not only from the flu, but also from people's attitudes.... Not everyone loves cats, or cares for their wellbeing. We can make a difference here.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/367323504?ltl=1141312877

I wanted to let you know about this news and action opportunity. It's an opportunity not only for polar bears, but for some action on global warming as well.

Best,

Nick


This year's winter Olympics had it all - except for much snow. Even primetime news was making a connection to global warming. But Torino isn't the only place lacking snow. The sea ice in the Arctic has been disappearing, and the polar bear may disappear right along with it if we don't stop global warming.

We've joined forces with other environmental groups to list the polar bear on the endangered species list. Now it's your turn to lend polar bears a hand. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is officially considering listing the polar bear, and they want to hear from YOU.

TAKE ACTION: Help polar bears stay afloat. http://members.greenpeace.org/action/start.php?action_id=84&ref_source=listspolarbear


Sincerely,

Melanie Duchin
Clean Energy Campaigner

The USDA has passed a new regulation that will use U.S. taxpayer money to pay for the slaughter of tens of thousands of horses annually in the U.S. for export overseas. The USDA rule contradicts a previous Congressional mandate that banned the use of federal funding for the horse slaughter industry. In a letter to the USDA, 40 members of Congress wrote, "The agency (USDA) has absolutely no authority to circumvent a Congressional mandate and effectively rewrite an unambiguous law at the request of the horse slaughter industry." The USDA has not responded. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/horse021006.cfm

http://www.BuffaloFieldCampaign.org

In the past two months, Yellowstone National Park rangers have captured and slaughtered nearly 900 wild buffalo. Others have been harassed, chased onto thin ice and drowned or shot by the Montana Dept. of Livestock. As if this wasn't enough, still more wild buffalo were shot by "hunters" just outside Park boundaries in Montana's first public buffalo hunt in 15 years. Another 100 wild buffalo calves and yearlings are being held captive behind double electric fencing as part of a mad hatter?s science project called the ?bison quarantine feasibility study?. And this is only just the beginning. Many hundreds more buffalo will be chased, captured, slaughtered or shot in the coming months...unless...

We put a stop to this madness!

The Buffalo Field Campaign has been working tirelessly for the past nine years to stop the slaughter of the Yellowstone buffalo herd. Volunteers stand in defense of the buffalo as they follow their ancient migratory instincts in search of winter forage and spring calving grounds. Unfortunately, this journey leads the buffalo to the killing fields of Montana, where the buffalo are shown no mercy, given no reprieve.

Less the 150 years ago, some 30 million wild buffalo roamed the continent of North America. The great herds stretched from west of the Rockies to the shores of the Atlantic. from Canada to Mexico across the Great Plains. Today, only about 3,500 genetically pure buffalo with a continuous history of being wild and unfenced in their native habitat are left in the United States. If we don't act soon to stop the slaughter, this great treasure may be lost forever.

If you have ever considered taking a stand for the wild, now is the time to act. More volunteers are urgently needed to defend the buffalo. The remainder of winter and the coming spring are a crucial time for the buffalo.

For more information on volunteering with BFC or other actions you can take for the benefit of wild buffalo, please visit http://www.BuffaloFieldCampaign.org or call us in Montana at 406-646-0070.


Urgent call for volunteers to help defend the Last Wild Buffalo in The U.S.

Most Americans are unaware that only 23 bison escaped the mass extermination of the 1870s, finding refuge from extinction in the world's first national park. Yellowstone's bison are the genetically-pure descendants of those 23 survivors, our nation's last continuously-wild herd. Today, under assault again, they need help from people of conscience. In the park, they are beloved wildlife. But their migratory instinct leads them to lower elevation land in Montana to escape the park's harsh winter. Here they are greeted with capture, quarantine, experimentation, bullets, and slaughter. Family groups are torn apart. Mothers and babies are separated. They suffer terror and injury as they are hazed and harassed relentlessly with snowmobiles, ATVs, helicopters...

Where does this happen? In Yellowstone National Park and on surrounding public land...land belonging to ALL Americans, whether we live near or far. Who is perpetrating this? The State of Montana. The National Forest Service. Even the National Park Service itself!

Why is this happening? The politically-powerful Montana livestock industry sees bison as competition for grazing resources. They claim that bison will infect their cattle with brucellosis (a bacterial cattle disease), but this has never occurred in the wild, never once since cattle first infected bison in the early 1900s.

Who pays for this? YOU do "the American taxpayer" at over $3 million per year.

What can YOU do? If you do nothing else, pass this message on to your e-mail contacts across the country and around the world. But if you want to learn more, visit www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/action.html

Buffalo Field Campaign volunteers are in the field every day documenting the activities that pass for bison management in Montana
(view video footage at the website), and working for the day when these beautiful native creatures are welcomed home onto designated habitat where they are truly free to roam America's public land. Sign up for weekly BFC up-dates at: bfc-media (at) wildrockies.org Subject line: "Subscribe.

"Want to do more? Consider writing to one or both of the following: Gov. Brian Schweitzer: (406) 444-3111, governor.mt.gov/contact/comments.asp (Montana is responsible for hazing, hunting, capture & quarantine, & slaughter.) In your own words, ask the governor to designate bison habitat and manage bison as America's treasured wildlife using science, not politics.

Suzanne Lewis, Superintendent, Yellowstone (307) 344-2002, suzanne_lewis (at) nps.gov (Yellowstone is responsible for capture within the park & shipment to slaughter.) In your own words, ask Ms. Lewis to stop killing bison to prevent them from leaving the park, contrary to everything the national park stands for.

Edward Abbey said, "A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." In defending America's last wild bison, we stand up to greed and dishonesty. We stand up for justice and the enduring qualities embodied in our great nation's symbol of freedom, the magnificent American bison.

KEEP IT GOING! PASS THIS MESSAGE ON

SPREAD THE WORD TO SAVE THE HERD!

Learn More at: http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/action.html

-- Buffalo Field Campaign P.O. Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 bfc-media (at) wildrockies.org http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org


Informant: Scott Munson

The Little Smoky Caribou herd is one of Alberta's most endangered woodland caribou herds. Industrial activities in their range have led to a serious loss of suitable habitat that is threatening the very existence of this herd.

The government of Alberta has decided that the best way to protect the Little Smoky caribou herd is a wolf cull. Killing predators is a last-resort option where caribou populations are in crisis. Caribou need secure habitat in which populations can be restored. But in Alberta, the needs of caribou are being trumped by resource extraction.

You can help by writing a letter to David Coutts, Alberta's Minister of Sustainable Resource Development, to let the Alberta government know that habitat protection must be a priority if caribou are to survive.

Take a minute right now to send a letter!
http://www.actionworks.ca/clientfiles/cpaws/actioncentres/nat-edmonton/takeaction.jsp

Learn more about the Little Smoky herd
http://www.cpaws.org/action/littlesmoky.php

Send a Message to China

We need 75,000 pledges by March 5! Sign The Pledge Tell Yor Friends I'm writing to follow up on my recent e-mail and to urge you to help stop the suffering of millions of animals on fur farms in China, Europe, and the United States.

Our goal is to, by March 5, sign up 75,000 people to take the pledge to go fur-free. If you haven't already done so, please sign the pledge today, and tell everyone you know about the horrors of the fur trade and urge them to sign the pledge too.

http://getactive.peta.org/ct/x1SOQpp12mbI/

No animal abusers are more callous or arrogant than those in the fur trade. And the horrors that they force innocent animals to endure are unconscionable. What our shocking undercover video footage of Chinese fur farms shows is awful, so please prepare yourself.

http://getactive.peta.org/ct/xdSOQpp12mb7/

All sorts of animals suffer, including raccoons, rabbits, minks, foxes, dogs, and cats. While animals are still alive and struggling desperately, workers flip them on their backs or hang them upside-down by their feet or tails to skin them. In one case, as workers began to cut skin and fur from a dog's leg, her free limbs kicked and writhed. When she struggled too much for the workers to get a clean cut, they threw her to the ground and stomped on her neck and head.

When the fur was finally peeled over her head, her naked and bloody body was thrown onto a heap of carcasses. Some of the animals were still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. Before they are skinned, animals are pulled from their cages, slammed against the wall, and thrown to the ground. Workers beat them with metal rods, causing broken bones and convulsions, but not always death. Meanwhile, the other animals watch helplessly from their cages, awaiting their turn.

Please, please, please—help us stop this unimaginable cruelty today:

1 Sign our pledge to never buy or wear any fur.
http://getactive.peta.org/ct/x1SOQpp12mbI/

2 Make a donation and help PETA spread the word about fur to consumers around the world.
http://getactive.peta.org/ct/x7SOQpp12mbu/

3 Send a letter to the Chinese ambassador urging China to enact animal welfare standards to stop the cruel handling and killing of dogs, cats, and other animals in the fur industry.
http://getactive.peta.org/ct/s7SOQpp12mbO/


Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President
PETA
501 Front St Norfolk, VA, 23510
United States

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Let us now kill all the dogs

San Francisco Chronicle
by Mark Morford

08/09/06

Chinese officials killed 50,000 dogs the other day. Just walked along the streets and lured them out of their homes and bushes and doghouses using whistles and firecrackers and then clubbed them to death with giant sticks, right there in the residential streets, tossed the bodies into big dump trucks and drove on. It was a particularly horrific scene, seemingly unimaginable in our "enlightened" age, a fully sanctioned slaughter ordered up by the local Chinese government in response to the recent deaths of three local people felled by rabies. Without some sort of action, more people could die, the government deduced. Solution: Kill all the dogs. Problem solved, right? Well, not quite...

http://tinyurl.com/r9d57


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Posted at 6:30am on 21 Feb 2006

Sheep dog triallists have joined the clamour of protest against micro-chipping farm dogs, saying they have already experienced the technology and do not want a bar of it.

Farmers are opposed to working dogs being included in a law due to take effect in July that requires all dogs registered from that time to have an identification micro-chip implanted.

They say it is an unnecessary expense that will do nothing to prevent attacks from uncontrolled dogs.

Sheep Dog Trial Association president, Selwyn Dorward, says the group ran into problems last year after having to implant micro-chips in dogs competing in world championships in Ireland.

He says one dog was rejected from the competition as the micro-chip could not be read properly following damage.

Federated Farmers still holds out hope that the Government will agree to exempt working dogs from micro-chipping before the new law takes effect.

However, the Veterinary Association, a strong advocate of micro-chipping all dogs, says exempting farm dogs would not work in New Zealand.

Copyright © 2006 Radio New Zealand

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/bulletins/radionz/200602210629/f9fb0e