IDA eNews: 9/19/07

IDA ACTION ALERTS
1. Nominate Your Local Zoo for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007 List
2. City Offers Residents Prize Money in Dog Catching Contest
3. Help Animals Suffering Desperately in Puerto Rico Zoo

CAMPAIGN NEWS & UPDATES
1. IDA India Uncovers Deadly Dog Sterilization Scam
2. Florida Postpones Decision on Downlisting Manatees
3. Iceland Ends Commercial Whaling

IDA ACTION ALERTS

1. Nominate Your Local Zoo for IDA's 2007 Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants List!
Put the Spotlight on Your Local Zoo and Help Elephants, Too!

For the last few years, IDA has released its annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants to draw attention to the appalling treatment of Earth's largest mammal in captivity and pressure zoos to provide the space and natural conditions elephants need or stop keeping elephants altogether.

As in previous years, the media enthusiastically reported on our 2006 list ( http://www.helpelephants.com/10_worst_2006.html ), bringing more scrutiny to the zoos that were singled out as being particularly sad and sorry places for pachyderms. As the controversy surrounding elephants in zoos rages on, the 2007 list is sure to grab people's attention once again, and we need you to tell us which zoos are most deserving of this undesirable publicity.

Are the elephants at your local zoo kept in a barren enclosure better suited for a bathroom than an elephant exhibit? Do the elephants compulsively bob and sway? Do they spend their lives standing on concrete and other hard surfaces? Does it have just two elephants? A solitary elephant? Has there been a spate of elephant deaths resulting from their captive environment? If you can answer Yes to any of these questions, then your city's zoo is eligible for IDA's Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants list!

If you think your local zoo (or another zoo you've visited) has earned the distinction of being named one of the worst for elephants in country, just let us know why by filling out the form at http://www.helpelephants.com/10_worst_2007.html .


2. City Offers Residents Prize Money in Dog Catching Contest
Citizens not trained in humane animal capture will endanger dogs' welfare

The Selayang Municipal Council is holding a dog catching contest in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, offering a grand prize of MYR 15,000 (US $4,300) to the city resident who brings in the most dogs (at least 150) over the next six months. Critics of the program charge that this and other large cash awards will encourage people who are untrained in the humane capture of dogs to resort to any means, including abuse, to catch strays. The competition could also lead to increased dog-nappings by those who don't care what they must do to win.

Most stray dogs have little contact with humans and some even have rabies, so they can be extremely dangerous to those who don't know how to handle these animals. There are ways to catch feral dogs safely and without hurting them, but this takes training and practice. The only restriction on residents participating in the contest is that they bring the dogs in alive, leaving them open to danger from dog bites and seriously jeopardizing the dogs' welfare.

The city council believes that the contest is a way to get citizens involved in reducing the number of homeless dogs on the streets, but this could be done without endangering their welfare. A far more effective and humane solution would be using the prize money to instead hire professional dog catchers and fund spay/neuter programs. Another option would be to award prizes to the communities that adopt the most stray dogs.

What You Can Do:

Please "Take Action" to urge Selayang officials to cancel the dog catching contest and instead implement a humane and effective strategy of managing the city's stray dog population ( %takeaction-takeaction_selayang% ). Also follow up with a polite letter, fax, or email. Postage for international letters is 90 cents. Click here ( http://www.countrycallingcodes.com/ ) for instructions on making international phone calls.

Selayang Municipal Council
Tel: 603 6138 9898
Fax: 603 6138 8933
Email: selayangmesra [at] mps.gov.my

Dato' Tang See Hang, State Assemblyman for Rawang
Selayang Municipal Council - Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS)
Persiaran 3, Bandar Baru Selayang
68100 Batu Caves, Selangor
Tel: 603 6138 9898
Fax: 603 6138 8933
Email: selayangmesra [at] mps.gov.my

Selangor State Secretariat Office
Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah
40503 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 603 5544 7000
Email: webadmin [at] selangor.gov.my


3. Help Animals Suffering Desperately in Puerto Rico Zoo
Urge Bayamón's mayor to fund improvements in animal housing and care

At el Parque de las Ciencias (The Science Park), a zoo in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, the animals live in very unnatural enclosures composed largely of concrete and metal. The 15-foot-long alligator has to keep his tail bent in order to fit in a dirty pool that doesn't accommodate his size, and the hippopotamus has to remain in one spot to stay submerged underwater because the space is so small. The zoo does not even meet the minimum standards set by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), yet it remains open to the public.

The park has been repeatedly cited for its inability to provide adequate food, water, and living conditions for the animals. Yet city leaders have no real plan for improving the situation beyond a slapdash suggestion that they be moved to spaces around the city in two years or so. Critics maintain that there are no places to put them in Bayamón, a city made up almost entirely of cement, roads, highways, and buildings, and that the animals cannot be left to suffer for another two years without some action being taken to help them.

It's not that Bayamón doesn't have the money to fix the problem. The mayor has already approved construction of a Holiday Inn, a casino, two restaurants, a gymnasium, and a convention center in the same park where the zoo is located. The city hopes these amenities will bring more tourists to the area, but the terrible conditions at the zoo are guaranteed to make most of them question where the city's priorities really lie.

What You Can Do:

1) Please "Take Action" to urge Bayamón's mayor to investigate why the zoo remains open when they are in violation of the AWA, and to either substantially improve conditions for the animals right away or send them to accredited sanctuaries without delay ( %takeaction-bayamon% ). Also follow up with a polite letter, fax, phone call or email to the mayor.

Ramon Luis Rivera, Mayor
Municipio de Bayamón
Casa Alcaldía Bayamón
Box 1588
Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00960
Tel: (787) 780-5411
Fax: (787) 780-5552
Email: igbayamon [at] coqui.net

2) Also sign a petition urging the mayor to take swift action on this issue:
- Petition in English ( http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/238521535 )
- Petición en Espanol ( http://www.petitionthem.com/?sect=detail&pet=3857 )

Learn more about conditions at the zoo ( http://www.myspace.com/pranimalhelp ).


CAMPAIGN NEWS & UPDATES

1. IDA India Uncovers Deadly Sterilization Dog Scam
Contractor paid to spay and neuter dogs instead dumped them on highway to die

Fizzah Shah, Vice President of IDA India ( http://www.idaindia.org/ ), has dedicated her life to helping the hungry, stray dogs who roam the streets of Mumbai. Having worked so closely with animals for so long, Shah can often sense when animals nearby need help -- even under circumstances when it may be the least expected.

This happened recently on the evening of Saturday, September 1st as Shah was moving slowly along a highway through a traffic jam. She noticed a van parked on the opposite side of the road, and three men throwing living dogs out of the van and onto the highway. Alarmed and knowing that something was seriously amiss, Shah grabbed her camera, jumped out of her car, and ran over to the van, where she confronted the men.

When Shah demanded the men explain what they were doing, they told her they worked for a nearby sterilization center and were releasing the dogs after their operations. Sterilizing and then bringing stray dogs back to where they were found is common practice in India, but releasing them in such a dangerous place is not. Shah knew this, and took the keys from the van's ignition so the culprits could not drive away before being questioned by police.

Soon, traffic started moving again, and some of the 20 dogs were trying to cross the highway -- right in the path of oncoming vehicles. Tragically, Shah's worst fear came true: two innocent dogs were run over by a speeding truck as she watched helplessly from the roadside. Struggling through the shock and overwhelming grief of witnessing such horror, Shah managed to focus on the other dogs, who were now barking in terror. Fortunately, she always has dog biscuits in her pocket from working with animals all day, so she threw the treats on the ground and immediately three female dogs came forward to eat them. They got close enough for Shah to pet them, and she picked them up to check whether they were spayed and saw that they were not.

"The puzzle pieces now fell into place," said Shah. "The whole swindle was that the men work for a company that has a contract with a municipal stray dog sterilization center. They pick up intact dogs, mark in their log book that they have sterilized them, and then claim the money -- 800 rupees (US $20) per dog. Meanwhile, they do not perform the operations, but merely throw these dogs onto highways where they either get run over by vehicles, or die from starvation and dehydration."

Shah brought the three men into the police station, where they were arrested under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Under questioning, the offenders insisted that they were innocent because they were merely following the orders of their superior, Mr. Vivek Patil, who holds a contract with the Vasai municipal council that pays him to spay and neuter dogs. Patil has denied he instructed his employees to dump the dogs on the road.

After spending the night in lockup, the three men were released on bail in the morning, but will be called into court to face charges. Even if they are convicted, they are not being charged with killing the dogs, so their sentencing will not be very harsh, and Patil himself has so far not been charged with any criminal offense. The dogs who survived the incident were returned to the stray dog sterilization center, and the municipal council has started an investigation of the matter.

What You Can Do:

1) Please write the Navghar Vasai Nagar Palika and urge them cancel Vivek Patil's contract with ABC. Since Mr. Patil works as an executive in a government department, he took the contract in the name of his wife, who has no experience with animals. Note that postage for international letters is 90 cents.

Chief Executive Officer
Navghar Vasai Nagar Palika
Opp. ST Stand, Vasai Road
Vasai (W), Thana District
Maharastra
India

2) The Animal Welfare Board of India controls all the ABC centers in the country, so they have the authority to disqualify any non-governmental organization from participating in the sterilization program. Please write a letter to the Animal Welfare Board urging them to cancel Vivek Patil's registration and disqualify him from contracting to provide sterilization services.

General Kharab
Secretary and Chairman
Animal Welfare Board of India (AWB)
Fort St. George, Secretriat
Chennai 600 009
India


2. Florida Postpones Decision on Downlisting Manatees
Governor responds to public's call to ensure protection of species

After the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) recently voted to downlist the Florida manatee from "endangered" to "threatened" status at the state level, IDA sent our members in Florida an Action Alert asking them to urge Governor Charlie Crist ( http://www.flgov.com/ ) to oppose the plan. He subsequently sent a letter to the FWC expressing concern for the manatees, and the next day the commission announced they would postpone their decision. This means that manatees will remain in the endangered threat category for the time being. Thank you to everyone who responded to our alert, and also to those who attended the FWC meeting on September 12th: you really made a difference for the manatees.

As a member of the Save the Manatees Club ( http://www.savethemanatee.org/ ), IDA has joined with other animal protection and conservation organizations to oppose the FWC's plan for downlisting the manatee because reclassification would aggravate the principal threats to manatee survival at a very unstable period. These threats include:

- Boating Deaths: The legal basis for boat speed restrictions, already unevenly enforced, would be weakened by downlisting, despite the fact that speedboat collisions and propeller maiming are already the primary cause of manatee deaths.

- Water Pollution: A new ongoing outbreak of red tide may have already claimed the lives of scores of manatees in Southwest Florida where researchers agree the sub-population is declining. This new threat source, along with algal blooms, will be aggravated by the growth in the region's human population.

- Habitat Loss: The destruction of the manatees' aquatic habitat to make way for new coastal development is already proceeding at a breakneck speed, and will only accelerate if protections are weakened.

In addition, the manatee population could experience large die-offs as aging power plants go off-line. Power plant outfalls that serve as warm water refuges would no longer be available, leading to the possible loss of hundreds of wintering manatees to cold stress syndrome. Moreover, many of the Florida springs that manatees depend upon are declining in flow. Removal of the manatee's endangered status would likely undermine efforts to find alternative warm water sources.

At a time when Florida is facing unparalleled development pressures, it is heartening that the state's governor is concerned about protecting this species as "one of (the) state's most beloved natural resources."

What You Can Do:

1) Please "Take Action" to thank Governor Crist for speaking out for manatees ( %takeaction-govcrist% ). You can also thank the Governor by phone, fax, webmail, or postal mail.

Governor Charlie Crist
PL-05 The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Tel: (850) 488-7146
Fax: (850) 487-0801
Email: Charlie.Crist [at] MyFlorida.com

2) Also "Take Action" to urge the FWC not to downlist the manatee, and to oppose cutbacks in on-water law enforcement officers and funding for the rescue of injured manatees ( %takeaction-fwcmanatees% ). Then follow up with a polite letter, phone call, fax or email.

Chairman Rodney Barreto
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
620 South Meridian Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600
Tel: (850) 487-3796
Fax: (850) 921-5786
Email: Commissioners [at] MyFWC.com

3) As we reported in April ( http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/marine/feature_070418.html ), the Florida manatee is in danger of losing its protections as a federal endangered species. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) still wants to downlist the manatee from its present "endangered" status to "threatened" under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Please urge this federal agency not to downlist the Florida manatee with a polite letter, phone call, or webmail.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Tel: (800) 344-9453
Email webform: http://www.fws.gov/duspit/contactus.htm


3. Iceland Ends Commercial Whaling
Meanwhile, a whale is illegally killed of U.S. coast

After resuming commercial whale hunting last year, Iceland has announced that the country will stop the practice because there is no market for whale meat. The fisheries minister said that whale hunting would resume if the market improves, but this is not likely.

Iceland plans to continue hunting whales for "scientific" purposes, even though the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission and many conservationists around the world oppose it. Whale experts agree that there are more ways we can learn about whales by studying them in their natural habitat than by killing them. So long as Iceland continues its "scientific" hunts, it will continue to tarnish the country's image and hurt their whale watching industry.

Meanwhile, members of the Makah tribe illegally killed a Grey whale off the coast of Washington State last week. The five men who shot the whale with 21 bullets did not have a permit to do so, and made the whale suffer for 10 hours as he struggled to escape their pursuit. The accused could face charges under Makah tribal law, U.S. federal law, and international law.

The Makah Tribal Council has apologized for the incident, and says it will punish the offenders under tribal law in hopes that they will not be prosecuted under federal or international laws. The whalers' illegal kill comes at a time when the tribe is seeking an exemption from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that would allow them to kill as many as five whales a year. One council member called the whale's death "a public relations setback," but the truth is, it is much more than that.

Of the five men involved in the killing, two are official members of the tribe's whaling crew, one of them being the captain, and another one is a whaling commissioner. The average time to kill a whale using traditional aboriginal hunting techniques is about 15 minutes, but this whale, executed using modern weapons, suffered for 10 hours, tailed by motorboats and trailing harpoon lines as he bled to death in the water. The Makah Tribal Council chose these men to hunt whales, so they must also be held responsible for their actions, and should be denied the NOAA permit.

What You Can Do:

1) Please "Take Action" to urge officials from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a division of the Department of Commerce, to pursue charges against the whalers under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) ( http://ga0.org/campaign/nmfswhales ). Also follow up with polite letters, phone calls, or emails to these officials.

Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230
Tel: (202) 482-2000
Email: cgutierrez [at] doc.gov

Bob Lohn
Northwest Regional Administrator
Office of Protected Resources
National Marine Fisheries Service
7600 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115-0070
Tel: (206) 526-6150
Email: bob.lohn [at] noaa.gov

2) Also "Take Action" to urge Washington State's two U.S. Senators to use the power of their office to ensure that the five renegade whalers are prosecuted under federal law ( http://ga0.org/campaign/whaleswashsens ). Also follow up with polite letters, phone calls, faxes, or emails to these elected officials.

Senator Patty Murray
2988 Jackson Federal Building
915 Second Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98174
Tel: (206) 553-5545
Fax: (206) 553-0891
Email: patty.murray [at] leg.wa.gov

Senator Maria Cantwell
915 Second Avenue, Suite 3206
Seattle, Washington 98174
Tel: (206) 220-6400
Fax: (206) 220-6404
Email: maria.cantwell [at] leg.wa.gov

Read more about this story ( http://seashepherd.org/ ).


World Veg Festival Weekend in San Francisco, 9/29-30

Be sure to save the date for the upcoming World Veg Festival Weekend in San Francisco ( http://www.sfvs.org//wvd ), co-presented by IDA and the San Francisco Vegetarian Society ( http://www.sfvs.org ). This year's festival will be held on the weekend of Saturday, September 29th and Sunday, September 30th from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the San Francisco County Fair Building in beautiful Golden Gate Park (http://tinyurl.com/pbrzd). At this fun and educational event, thousands will enjoy world-renowned speakers, international vegan cuisine and healthy food demos, vegan vendors and non-profit booths, and live cultural and musical entertainment.

The World Veg Festival Weekend is free to kids under 12 and seniors over 65. It is also free to everyone who comes before 10:30 a.m., after which a $5 donation is suggested. If you don't live in the Bay Area, it's a great excuse to take a vacation and enjoy some wonderful weather during San Francisco's famed Indian summer. Learn more about the World Veg Festival Weekend ( http://www.sfvs.org//wvd ).